Meandering Diatribes: October 2003 Archives

Not mine. But it's still true.

Some things to consider.

• The Internet does not run on fairy dust, elfin magic, and the hopes and dreams of children. The Internet runs on bandwidth.

• Gnomes do not sneak into my house at night and leave me bundles of bandwidth under my pillow. I buy my bandwidth from an ISP.

• ISPs do not accept wishes, everlasting gratitude, or magic beans in exchange for their bandwidth. They want money.

If you play video games and download third party add-ons, whoever constructed them has every right to ask you to pay for them. They don't have to, but they can. If that annoys you, you are an idiot.

If you read magazines or newspapers online and want to find a specific article you saw three weeks ago, It's perfectly reasonable to think the newspaper might ask you for a small payment in exchange for the report. It doesn't have to, but it can. If that annoys you, you are an idiot.

And yes, if you read webcomics and want access to the archives, the artist is not out of line if they ask to be reimbursed for the hours of work they put into drawing the comics. They don't have to, but they can. If that annoys you, you are an idiot.

Of course, you don't have to pay for any of that. Plenty of sites are giving it away for free, you can go there. And if you're going to be offended by the prospect of paying for information you would happily shell out three times as much for if it were printed on paper or came in an embossed cardboard box, I encourage you to do so.

Please.

Because your whining makes me want to kill you.

As much for my benefit as it is for yours, really. I have to get everything straight. Writing it out helps.

Current Projects

• Lucas and Odessa, for Girlamatic. Once a week, every week, until it's done.
  
• Sparkneedle, for Girlamatic. Already finished, in a holding pattern.
  
• Gazelle. Stupid fucking comic for this site that I refuse to take responsibility for. Coming along, should be finished before the weekend. There, I've ruined the surprise.
  
• Templar, another comic for this site. Weekly, like Sparkneedle. Multichaptered and drawn as we go, like Lucas and Odessa. Black and white, like Gazelle. A personal comic I've been needing to do for ages and ages. I plan on uploading each chapter page by page, then BitPassing completed past chapters. It's safely out of "idle talk" phase, with a handful of pages already finished. But I'll like to get a nice, two-month buffer in before I post anything. Since this comic will be (initially) free, it'll be the first to suffer if I ever fall behind. But rest assured, It won't be abandoned. It's too personal. This comic stars those notorious "had-em-since-I-was-twelve!" characters most cartoonists maintain.
  
• Holiday card, for whoever wants one. Sketched out. I'll probably do the final next week. Then, I've got to find a printer. (Currently taking suggestions...?) I'd like to get this done before the rush.
  

Second Tier Stuff

• I'll be illustrating a chapter or two for another BadAzzMoFo project for m'buddy Dave Walker. Not sure how much I can say about it, so we'll leave it at that. Can't do much until I get the scripts in January or thereabouts, though.
  
• RPG book illustrations. Former side job, active again without warning, really ought to get on top of it. Actively ashamed how long this is taking me, especially considering the people involved are actually paying decent rates.
  
• Collaboration with a really nice guy, Charles, on a really freaky comic book. Again, waiting on script completion before this goes ahead. Charles worked on the first draft of Brazil, so you can kind of imagine what this thing is like.
  
• Fan Art for Dirk, Derek, Zack, and Lisa. I will get to this, I will get to this, I WILL.
  
• The Exquisite Corpse. Round-robin comic project. Slow moving, but beautiful results. Think I might have to sit out the next round, though, or at the very least, go last. It'll all eventually be a book or BitPassed webcomic.
  

Backburner Territory

• BLIKADA, The Atrocity Buddies, Ordinary, Al & Gideon, Wreckers, Anything, Inc., Creation Myth, and the other goddamn ideas I've had for other comics. I'm not saying they'll never get done, but no one should go on a hunger strike, mmkay?
  
• The Freak Portfolio. I've just got too much going on right now. It can wait, other things can't. You know how it is.
  
• Learning to paint. Slowly. Slooooowly. And finally...
  
• Re-opening freelance. Maybe, when things slow down. But again, not anytime soon.
  

Sorry. Had to do this. MY HEAD IS VERY FULL.