Because the site is about to shut down and I have to put these somewhere just in case. ._.

( Creature/Animal Design )

...

CAN REPUBLICAN SENATORS MAKE THEMSELVES LOOK ANYMORE WORSE

I need a job.

Someone give me a job.

僕は完全に充電しました！

じっと立っていありがとう、ばか。

歩哨を建ている。

奴らは地獄で...一緒に己なければならないだろう！！

僕のスーツは血を得た。

僕たちは囲んでもらう, せめて側面から！

ディスペンサーをここに必要がある。

あなたはとても小さい、それは僕におかしいだ。

Try and guess them all!

Some of you may or may not know that I'm a little biased against American imitations of the manga style. For some reason, a lot of it looks very displeasing to my eyes, and for the longest time I've wondered why. Well, actually, I know at least one little thing that really bugs me about it: badly-drawn mouths in profile view.

( READ ON IF YOU DARE... )

...

Hmm. Not sure if I'd want to x-post this to DeviantArt this time...

Yeah, I remember when I was twelve.

It was kind of a confusing time in my life. I had just moved from sunny California to this dark, moist realm known to some as Oregon. Out of all my 'friends,' only two were really any kinds of close to me, and the rest were pretty much just kids I sat next to during lunch. It didn't help that I was all kinds of awkward with pretty much everyone that I didn't know, and since I just moved here, that was a lot of people. Long story short, I was due for some sort of outcast/rebel reawakening.

One Sunday afternoon, I watched an episode of Invader Zim.

I don't remember the name of the episode, but it was surprisingly funny! It had this short alien invader dude who sucked at being an alien invader, and he had a shorter robot dude that sucked at being a robot, and they were stalked by this one paranormal investigator kid who sucked at being a paranormal investigator. Who knew that a show with so much fail be full of so much win? Natural, I was hooked... until I read that the show was just canceled not long before.

Preteen rage ran through my veins. "How dare they cancel the only good show on Nickelodeon?" I snarled. But luckily (or unluckily) for me, I was born in the Cyber Age. Having visited forums and such ever since I was nine, I looked for others that shared my unfathomable anger at this. And lo and behold, there were tons of others. I was not alone in my love for Invader Zim. I participated many online activities, such as fanart (which I shall never show to anyone again), fanfiction (which I shall gouge my eyes out if I ever read it again), and just... stupid things like this one fanfic where you put in your OC/some other character and the writer will write that OC/some other character into her story where everyone goes on a rampage killing Nickelodeon and their crappy shows that aren't Invader Zim. Unfortunately, I did not make this up. Looking back on it, some of the stuff I did was... well, it was retarded, even if it made me happy.

So. You might be wondering right now, "Christina, what the deuce? It's 2009. Where did all this come from?" You see, while wandering around DeviantArt, I heard talk of an Invader Zim convention. Let that set in for a while. A convention for a show that lasted only twenty-or-so episodes. Seven years ago.

Yes, I still like the show. I still laugh at every episode. I even roleplayed as Dib not too long ago. But ladies and gents, it's time I wrote a rant about this. This is something directed to anyone who is still actively writing Invader OCs, still actively copying Jhonen Vasquez's style almost to the point of plagiarism, and still angrily complaining that Nickelodeon canceled the bestest show ever: move on with your lives.

Surely there must be something else just as entertaining as Invader Zim! Surely you can draw stuff other than your Irken character making out with Zim/Dib/IdunnoMs.Bitters! Surely there must be something much more important to be angry at than a studio deciding to cancel a cartoon (oh, and FYI, Jhonen wanted it canceled too)!

I guess the thing that really gets me is that these people love this show so much, and yet they don't realize what made it so great in the first place. It wasn't the lol so randum!1 XD humor, it wasn't the stick-armed, angular art style, it was the fact that it was different. Amidst all the bright-colored, happy-go-lucky cartoons that surrounded it, Invader Zim was a show that said, "You know what? Screw it. I'm not going to be like you guys. I might not last more than two seasons, but at least I'm going to be original."

And guess what, kids? Slavering to just this one show, repeatedly quoting it daily, and never drawing in any style other than a bastardized Vasquez-style IS NOT BEING ORIGINAL. You know all those other cartoons you don't like, that you feel is all just the same? You are just. Like. THEM. If you really wanted to honor the show, then be yourself. I don't just mean hate whatever's cool right now, I mean be yourself. Carve your own path in your art, your writing, or whatever you do. It's fine to pay some tribute to it every now and again, just don't completely wrap your entire life around. It isn't just counter-intuitive, it's depressing.

---

Man, I should rant more often! I feel all sorts of good now. Also x-posting this on my DA journal because maybe more people will read it. Or not. I dunno.

World Superhero Registry

It's a registry... of superheroes. In real life.

I can't tell if this is for real or not. The terrible HTML doesn't help either.

( Since Alex hasn't been checking LJ for a while, I'm going to post a picture of him when he was in Beaverton. )

GUESS WHICH ONE IS ALEX

Good News: I found my copy of Starcraft!

Bad News: it doesn't work.

I hate my life. :(

HEY ALEX

YOU DIDN'T TELL ME YOU STARRED IN AN ASTRONAUT ANIME

Okay just so you know, Alex, turns out I have your copy of Neverwinter Nights after all. So, uh, remind me to give it back to you when you come back, hurrr.

Also, as I just typed my previous sentence, I finished downloading the Gurren Lagann movie. GUESS WHAT WE'RE GOING TO DO AT THE NEXT OA MEETING





NO, WE ARE NOT GOING TO BE LAME AND LEAVE AFTER TWENTY MINUTES.

Right, so, Alex and I realized that we have the perfect Scooby Doo cosplay set-up.

Freddy - Michael
Daphne - Ali
Velma - Me
Shaggy - Alex

We have to do this for something. Gasukan, Halloween, whatever.

IT HAS TO BE DONE.

Yeah, so, I'm kinda totally hosed. 8'D

I decided to look up 'Portland Community College and BYU' just to see if I can get any details on transferability, and lo and behold! I found out I'm trying to earn the wrong Associate's Degree. Instead of General Studies, I should be instead heading towards either Arts or Science. I looked up the degree requirements and, well, turns out I have four more classes to take than I expected, which means I'll need to take an extra term.

So much for graduating from PCC before Winter Term! Hopefully BYU will like my grades anyway and take me in next time, but chances have now slimmed for that.

In other news, for my comics class we have to do a mini-comic as the final, and I was thinking of it being the origin story of Detective Deringer and Cello. However, much gun research is needed, so if any of you know any good... gun sites I guess, be sure to ring me up. Also, Alex, how does bullets ricocheting against a lamppost have to do with the murder?

SteamPunk Magazine

They're good reads, check 'em out.




I want Alex here right now so we can work on our steampunk clothing and watch Kaiji together. :(

I colored one of my previous steampunk sketches.

And also, for those who haven't seen this, here's a way to make cheap brass goggles.

Going to Stumptown Comics Fest tomorrow. Woo!

( Monoggle FTW )

( Full Outfit )

Yeah, uh, ignore the random doodles I've got surrounding Flowen. Also, feel free to ignore my poor excuse of a gun there, although I'm sure Alex won't. Out of all the costume designs I've done so far, this is probably my favorite, because it makes him look both like a detective (mainly because of the cap, lol) and somewhat of an adventurer at the same time. The cravat makes him extra-classy too. It might be a good idea to put on a trenchcoat, though, because Alex is, of course, the Trenchcoat Samurai.

Feel free to suggest some improvements.

So far I have:

- dowsing rod
- revolver
- bubble pipe
- smoke bombs
- grappling hook
- net launcher
- magnifying lens, with a row of little magnifying lenses that pop into place
- mag light with coal batteries
- fake spy bugs (put it on your shoulder or something; could look something like a St. Nick)
- ...sword cane? I dunno, it would be awesome.

I've been looking through my steampunk photos, trying to figure out what separates them from EGA, and here's some stuff I've decided:

- goggles or a monogoggle makes you steampunk
- tool kit makes you steampunk
- making yourself look like a Victorian-era raver makes you steampunk
- carrying a cool-looking gun makes you steampunk

And that's it so far. I guess the problem is that I don't know how to design an outfit that conveys a sense of... detective-ness while holding a steampunk aesthetic. It sounds like it should be easy, but it isn't.

...huh. What if we make glasses or goggles that has additional lens attached to it? Kinda like, well, I can't think of a better example right now, but like the toy repairman in Toy Story 2. It might even be a monocle. 8D

Anyway, I oughta go to bed. G'night

EDIT: Okay, I lied. But if we're really going to do Steampunk costumes, we ought to consider getting something from this line of perfumes.

( SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH ME )

I just spent time doing... *shudder*... shipping art.

I figured I should do something since Neuro is ending soon and stuff (yes that's Neuro on the right; currently in the manga he's completely blonde, has no triangles, and has cracks all over his face). But MORE IMPORTANTLY, I thought that I really oughta draw more stuff that has character interaction, because believe it or not, it's really hard. It doesn't help that I can't seem to draw heads in proportion (BIG NEURO HEAD, tiny Yako head). And I'm having a hard time making Yako look like a girl. :\ And, also, hands, my mortal enemy, strike me down to the core once again! So in short, this drawing is giving me a bajillion problems, and that's wonderful.

Not gonna post this on DeviantArt until I finish it up and actually scan it instead of taking a crappy picture of it. Though, seeing my track record of posting art, this might be the last time you'll all see this. :0

Oh yeah, and Sakura-con was pretty cool. Definitely better than last year. HAVE SOME PHOTOS.

EDIT: I should say that Neuro's head looks flatter than it does in real life. It only looks like that because I photographed it at a dumb angle.