So For Tax Reasons has some really for real work going on that is very exciting and very time consuming. I’ll be sure to drop more information when it becomes appropriate, but for now, here’s what went on for the better part of yesterday and last night. This is what it looks like when you animate for a television show in an apartment in Queens.

There was a fourth computer going in another room assisting with coloring.

Holy cats, people. Youtube is bugging the fuck out lately. But we won in the end, and now you get what we’ve been promising: INTERROGATION VACATION, Episode 3 of the Digital Pirates of Dark Water Saga. CAN YOU DIGG IT?

Emily Tarver is back voicing Agent Wilkins in this episode of thrilling heads talking at one another, as is Tim Martin voicing. . . well, watch the episode. Continuity!

Thanks for watching and keep an eye out for the next episode next month, as we quickly approach this epic’s endgame. Hopefully you’ve been so eager to see what kind of shit Mark and Barry have found themselves in that you’ve already watched the episode, otherwise this closing image isn’t going to make a lick of sense.

Well, that idea about posting all the time was a disaster. I’m breaking my hiatus to tell you how much I wish my mom wasn’t such a hippy and had gotten me something like this when I was a kid:

More on G.I.Joe later, but even sooner than that. . . RONIN DOJO. Final cut of the new episode is rendering as I type/you read. Emily Tarver is back, and so is Tim Martin, but he’s not voicing Seth. You have like 20 minutes to guess who he’s playing this episode before its posted.

The irony of the gradual, then very sudden, departure of key figures from the 1Up Podcasts, is that, over the last couple of weeks, the number of internet radio shows I’ve been listening to has jumped significantly. Rebel FM gets credit for being the first, but Ryan Scott’s The Geekbox is also a worthy listen. It was great to hear a number of personalities I’ve grown used to having in my ear during the day back to business as usual, even if they weren’t collecting a paycheck for it anymore.

Then Robert Ashley, a freelance game journalist and frequent guest on the defunct GFW Radio, dropped A Life Well Wasted on us all, and changed the game.

His podcast title is close to my blog name, but SO MUCH BETTER.

I’ve seen it said by others today, and it’s the first words that came to mind about minute into the first episode: Robert Ashley made a gaming podcast that wouldn’t be out of place as a segment or episode of This American Life. This isn’t the unedited round table conversation that makes up your typical gaming podcast, or podcast, period. ALWW is written, researched, thought out and edited to tell a story; in the case of its first episode, it’s the death of Electronic Gaming Monthly, and subsequently the greater questions its shuttering raises about the print medium versus the internet. It’s an audio version of The Escapist Magazine, a comparison I feel completely confident with despite only hearing one episode. I trust Robert Ashley.

I’m excited at what A Life Well Wasted could be.  I doubt it will become a weekly show.  It’s a fairly production heavy affair.  But it’s clear Ashley has modeled it after This American Life and other public radio programs, and I wonder if he will open it up to other contributors.  Imagine a piece about griefing, or Second Life, by Shawn Elliott. A Sean Baby story, looking at the weird demographic that made up the Nintendo Power readership. Could other people submit ideas for stories, or even finished pieces themselves? I know it’s something I’d be interested in.  Maybe I’ll rough out my idea for a story in a future post.

This is essential, nerds.  I won’t even qualify this with a line like, “If the only interest in video games you have is shooting hookers in Grand Theft Auto, this may not be for you.”  This is for everyone.  Challenge yourself.  Robert Ashley has taken our stupid little obsession with video games and made it feel important.  And for a guy who often wrestles with the thought that he’s wasted his life, it’s reassuring to know that it was a life well wasted. LISTEN.

Here’s the result of more thought on the robot design. Originally I was going for something more detailed and more Zaku inspired, but it’s starting to look more Tetsujin 28. Which is just as well. Fewer lines means an easier time animating. If it comes to that.

I’m about to go to the gym for the first time since college, but here’s something I got down on paper, inspired by some sweet art books at the Asian book shop I was in today. Would have bought them if they weren’t so darn expensive. Anyways, expect to see some more robots soon. . . I need to start designing one for a new project.

Whoops.  I somehow turned off comments for the last two posts.  If you were looking to comment on those posts. . . feel free to do that now.  If not. . . carry on.

Yesterday I received this random text message from my girlfriend, who has read about as many comics as I have fashion magazines:

“Omg Scott Pilgrim just dumped knives!”

If that’s not a testament to the genius of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s work, I don’t know what is.

Scott Pilgrim

I’ve been in a bit of a Scott Pilgrim overload mode the past week.  Since starting to follow O’Malley on Twitter, I’ve be inundated with hype for the movie, the cast of which is chock full of hotties on both sides of the gender line. Plus Volume 5 is due out next week. And O’Malley will be in town all week for signings, promotions and the looming monolith of the New York Comic Con. In fact, he’ll be here almost a week from tonight:

I’ll definitely be there in line, debating whether or not I should mention to him what an incredible influence Scott Pilgrim has been on me and specifically the Ronin Dojo stuff.  There’s a secret special surprise piece of merch or something that’s be put together by Oni Press for the event and other signings all that week, so, y’know, I can’t fight it. Limited edition? Exclusive? Fanboy instincts take over at the mention of those words. I’m so there.

Indoctrinating outsiders to comics is something I’m hesitant to do. I know its a niche hobby, and I am well aware of how those pushy evangelists of sequential art come across to non-readers. But Scott Pilgrim. . . I don’t know. For my girlfriend, it won’t be a gateway comic to an obsession that will match mine. But it’s a book, a character and a story that boyfriends and girlfriends can enjoy together. Unlike Twilight. I am not reading that. Ever. Deal with it, girlfriend.

So they’re not actually werewolves, they’re shapeshifters?  THIS MAKES NO SENSE TO ME.

Clearly, not what I was aiming to accomplish.  But something is seriously borked with my copy of After Effects.  Like, I can lipsync about 10 frames of audio before it totally freezes up.  No word on if this will affect the next cartoon, which is supposed to come out Monday.  Hopefully it won’t, I’ll be going to an office tomorrow to work on a computer with a legit copy of AE.

So other than the angry scribbles on the sheets of scrap paper laying around my computer, the only art I did today was this little run I roughed into Flash, intending to retrace it later into a sprite animation.  It’s not done.  He sticks to the ground for too long, and should have more hangtime in the air.  But it’s a different kind of run, and it was fun to start to think through.  I’m sure it won’t be fun to sit down and make it right.  But that’s animation.

I used to draw up my Christmas list with a passion and fervor rivaling that of our forefathers when they wrote the words that founded America.  A hand written document carefully drafted many times over, bullet pointed in an imitation of Mom’s grocery lists, complete with visual aides cut from the annual Sear’s Holiday Wishbook.  It was a work of art, and its sad that now, that list is reduced to a cold, terse email sent to my mom with four copy and pasted Amazon links.

Memories.

I guess sacrificing artistry for efficiency is worth it, though, when it insures you get that Hori Arcade Fighting Stick for your PS3 when you ask for it.

Thanks, Mom.

I really, really want to be great at fighting games.  I keep buying them up, and I just keep tanking.  Playing against computer opponents is tough, and the small pool of players I can get over to play are even worse.  Ben has literally undergone some kind of secret, Maryland-basement training to beat face at Capcom vs. SNK 2, which is the only game he’ll ever play.  I got myself a real arcade stick to give myself not an edge, but just a simple chance against him and another avid Street Fighter player I know who can pull off that crazy screen-goes-white-and-you-die Akuma move.  And it’s not working.

My man.  So strong!

I’m pretty focused on Super Street Fighter Remix HD right now.  I’ve been told I need to pick a character and stick with him. . . I’ve come to settle on muay thai master Sagat over the last few days.  I will say this: the arcade stick has made it much easier to pull off special moves.  I can almost throw out a tiger shot or tiger knee whenever I want to.  But obviously there is another level to this game, these TYPES of games, that I’m not connecting with.  And in the case of Street Fighter Remix, I really want to blame the game.

Is it just me, or is the AI in this game particularly brutal?  I’m ashamed to admit that I was getting so thoroughly stomped the first few weeks with this game, I’ve ratcheted it down to Easy mode. . . and the difficulty curve has hardly softened.  A few opponents into a game, it feels like the computer gets MAD at you for winning, and can’t stop itself from showing off some Hard mode moves in the middle of an Easy match.

I miss the days when Udon wasn’t the official fanart company of Capcom.

For instance, the last few games I played this week, my fifth round opponent has been Ken.  There’s usually one fair fight upfront which goes either way, but in the second match, the computer controlled Ken will just spam 3 or 4 consecutive flaming shoryukens the second I find myself near a corner.  It’s chaining special moves at a speed I did not think was possible in the game.  I suspect that the game, a labor of love by hardcore players for the hardcore fans, a game that was scrutinized in the context of the existing top level Street Fighter competitive scene, reflects the abilities of the hardcore player too much in the single player game.  I’m not going to starting pointing my finger, chanting “Cheap! Cheap!” over and over again.  But I feel like I’ve hit a wall, and it can’t be because of my natural shortcomings.  I can’t be this bad at Street Fighter.

Can I?

I suck at video games.