C2Comics Blog

So of course I’ve been thinking about characters.  And I’ve been thinking about art.  By random chance – googling for something completely different – I came across this (old) entry/article on characterization through art. It’s quite interesting – and I don’t think just because I do enjoy Mello and Near as characters, it’s quite informative.

Of course, the worst thing about this is…I’m always saying, “oh, I bet other people would have known this already”….but I think I was actively subscribing to this person’s writing when they were written.  Did I just ignore these writings, or just completely forget about them?  Euuurg.

Hmm, been a while since the last post – boo.  Failing my “post once a week” goal, aren’t I?

The last volume of Fullmetal Alchemist has just come out – how sad that it’s over.  This morning, though, I realized the major reason why FMA resonates so much with me – and this goes back to my last post – FMA is the only thing I can recall having watched/read where all the characters’ actions make sense.  Now, I might not agree with all the actions and responses, but they all make sense, and it’s taken a while for me to realize how important that is.  Admittedly I’m not a film/tv/literature buff, so I may not have a huge breadth of reference – maybe there’s a ton of stuff out there like that – but it seems that while all of the media I keep in viewing/reading rotation does make an attempt at creating strong characters (if it doesn’t even make an attempt, it get’s tossed out) it does not hesitate to change these characters to suit the plot.  As much as I enjoy current shows like Sherlock, Dexter, and Breaking Bad, and even old shows like the X-Files, the L-Word, and Buffy, they all drive me crazy at some point for having people behave out of character just to drive home a plot…this goes for comics, as well.  Working with characterization it’s interesting to note just how important the characters – not the plot – become in a storyline.  Just like last post, I’m sure these are things writers have realized a long long time ago and I’m just getting it now.  As a child I never did enjoy the book reports that made you explain why you liked something – at the time I just knew I liked them or didn’t.  …Hmm.  If my life were a game this is probably the point at which I’d re-roll.

ANYWAY.  This winter I decided to enroll in an oil-painting class.  First class was this Friday – the actual content is the topic for another post, I think – but during the class I realized how rusty my art skills were.  The instructor spoke about angles, proportions, and tones….things that rang bells, but I hadn’t used for about five years.  Eurg.  I’m working on some comics, but I need to brush up my actual skills.  So I did a tonal study this weekend in pencil.  I realize all the components weren’t correct but I think I got my main goal – tones.  ….Contrast is a big problem, oh no, I need to work on that.  …also elimination of lines….hmm.  ah well.  New Year’s resolution….do more serious sketches XD

 

 

I’m sure seeing someone vomit outside a pub on a Saturday is not that uncommon a sight.  When it’s barely past three in the afternoon, though, it’s a different story.  When that someone is me, though, it’s an entirely different story.

I wanted to tell the young man who’d just pulled into the parking lot and was watching me that it wasn’t what he thought – I’d been feeling sick all morning.  I’m not the kind of person who gets drunk on a Saturday afternoon – hell, I’m not the kind of person who gets drunk period.  I wanted to tell the bystander this, but had I attempted to I’m sure the faint smell of alcohol on my breath wouldn’t have helped my case.

Earlier in the day my class had been asked to do character profiles – go out into the world, we were told, observe five people.  Give them names, ages, professions, etc.  Sketch out a background for them.  Make them a real character.  A classmate and I elected to sit outside a bar for our observations.  I quickly caved into the non-existent peer-pressure exerted by my classmate, who actually is an afternoon drinker and ordered a gin and coke.  I decided it was too early for a normal drink – i.e. hard liquor – and opted for a beer.  The alcohol did actually deaden the pain of my upset stomach for a while, allow me to perform my voyeuristic assignment in relative comfort.

While driving home from class the radio program announced a “return of the three-minute fiction” contest.  I’d heard of this a while ago – last November I’d randomly tuned to the station while they were reading some of the entries.  ”Wow, that’s interesting,” I’d thought, and promptly forgot about it.

But this contest was just beginning, and I’d realized that my writing quota for the week was becoming backlogged, as that is my least favorite creative activity (why I even put it on the list of things to do in the first place, don’t ask).  So I figure, might as well give it a try, eh?

The judge of this contest had stated, “some people say there are only seven plots in the world – but others say there are actually only two.”  These two plots are what she wanted stories about – a person coming to town, and a person leaving town – but both plots in one story….a story under 600 words.

Coming fresh from a character class I decided to start there.  Who was my character, what do they do, what do they want?  I realized that starting with a well-established character allowed the story to come together much more easily than in my normal writings.  There are details about my character, my character’s hometown, his family, that are never actually mentioned in the final story.

I began to realize that a character in a story is not there to help the story – they are the story.  And then I started getting philosophical about it, about how that applies to life as well.  Essentially there is only one plot in life, you’re born, you live, you die.  It’s the things between those points, those minor things that we do in addition to these major themes, that make us who we are.  I also realized that if I hadn’t been such an anti-establishment art snob, eschewing rigid instruction in the arts that I would have learned all this years ago.  That, however, is just part of my character I suppose.

That, and not (normally) throwing up outside pubs on Saturday afternoons.

Ug is that really what my site looks like in Firefox?!  UG.

So….not to harp on the whole Google Plus thing again…. but I got my suspension notice yesterday.

I’m actually not in the group of “I want to use a fake name on Google Plus!” – initially I actually used my real name.  Hell, I actually used a real photo of really myself for it – something I don’t recall I’ve *ever* done before.

I am in the group that doesn’t want the Google Plus name to be everything, especially if it must be your full, legal name.  I honestly don’t remember when I started using Google – it’s been that long.  I use a number of their services – Docs, Picasa, Reader, Google ID (for commenting on blogs).  I’ve used these for years, and used various forms of my name, depending on how public it is – G-mail gets my first initial and full last name as if I’m e-mailing you you probably know at least that much, Google ID gets only first and last initials.   It’s pretty public, and I really don’t want it attached to my private life – my job’s been threatened once because of relatively benign activity and, for all I complain about it, I would like to keep my job.  Unfortunately my name is one in a million – you do a search for my name?  You’re finding *me*.

Anyway, back to the point.  Upon finding that my Google Plus name suddenly becomes my Google ID name, Picasa name, etc.  I put it on lockdown to the least revealing name possible – which boils down to my initials, what I’ve been using on Google ID for years.

Since this naming debacle began, as my previous post states, I basically gave up on Google Plus.  Why waste time and energy posting to a site that a) almost none of my friends are one and b) I will probably get banned from very soon?

I still checked in every few days though, and it’s a good thing, because although you will get multiple redundant notifications for any activity relating to anything on your Google Plus account (ooh, Michele’s like’d my post and commented on it? That deserves no fewer than two e-mails and two color boxes!) I suppose suspension does not rate as high.  There was absolutely no notice besides the one posted to my profile.

Deleting Google Plus is certainly an option, but there have been cases where a removal of Google Plus had led to a lockdown of other services, including G-mail.  Now, I’m not sure whether this has also applied to voluntary deletions or simple bans, but, as I’ve been using Google for years I’ve grown dependent enough on them that I worry about even *risking* deletion of my G-mail account.  That’s….that’s where I keep all my stuff!

So what to do, what to do?

Oh!  I know!

I’ll make up a completely fake name!

It will have the same initials as my name, but have any other similarity to my real name at all!

So I enter this fake name.

By the end of the day?

The suspension notice disappears.

That’s it.  No additional fuss, no additional muss.

Moral of the story: Google’s real names and connected-ness policy, in an attempt to force everyone to use their real names so as to create an internet where people are easily identified to be held accountable for statements online and found by friends and family has just forced me to change my half-decade old Google ID association, but it did not actually require it to be my real name.  So not only do people I’ve interacted with for half a decade online not know who, let’s say, Sam Tuttle is (being able to recognize S T far more easily and be all, “oh, that’s the yob who mouths off about gays and science and science about gays”), it also prevents me from just saying to friends and family, “Oh, I’m just going by my initials” – something they’d be able to remember and look up.  When I’m looking up people, I actually do try different versions of their name.  Joe Smith on Facebook might be Joseph S. on Metafilter and might be JTdog on Twitter.  You know who I don’t expect Joe to be?  ”James Samson”.  I wouldn’t investigate that name further the way I might even something like jtdog.

Blech.  But anyway.  Now I’ve got my fully-approved fake name.

And what will I do with this fake-name Google Plus account?  Will I spout garbage with it and insult people willy-nilly?  Isn’t that all pseudonyms do?

No.  Because being able to hide behind a fake name does not automatically make you into a jerk.  Of course, being able to hide behind a fake name does allow someone to say stuff like, “sometimes my boss is a jerk” or “my student plagiarized and both she and the Dean are made at me what!?” without fear of repercussion.

But, bottom line, this Google name business isn’t helping people, and it’s certainly not doing what Google intended it to do.  They need to give it up.

Sincerely,

Sam…Smith…son.  Yeah.  That’s it.

Recently I took a workshop on accents.  It was awful.  BUT.  When I got home it led me to look up some accents on YouTube….which led to John Barrowman….which led to a clip of his “gay-off” with the host of Never Mind the Buzzcocks.

“Gosh,” I said, “that skinny boy with the shaggy hair and big mouth is rather funny.  I wonder what he’s up to now.”

Which led to me staying up well past a normal decent human bedtime to watch what Simon Amstell’s been doing now.

A…dorable.

“Grandma’s House” is quite intriguing.  Written by Simon Amstell and Dan Swimer, it’s certainly not uproariously funny, but it definitely has its moments.  About halfway through the first episode I noticed a familiar feeling creeping up on me – I identified it as the same feeling I get while listening to David Sedaris – it’s a slightly nauseous, depressed, but amused feeling.  I stare at the speakers blaring the contents of my book-on-cd (read by the author) in abject horror going, “my god, can this get any worse?” and, inevitably, it does.  At the conclusion I say, “Boy!  I can’t wait to hear the next one!”  You know – that feeling?  Or maybe that’s just me?

At first I blamed the similar feelings evoked by Amstell’s on its basic similarities to Sedaris’s own medium (or, the one he’s best-known for at least) – both are, essentially tales of awkward gay men interacting with their families, not quite sure what they want to do or how to go about doing it.  I worried for a moment that this might lead to the same-old-same-old.  Then again, I wouldn’t consider “True Blood” the same-old-same-old as “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” just because they both deal with vampires (“True Blood” deals with vampires, right?  Why do I ever bring up current, popular viewing trends when I’m never sure what they’re about?)?  Why should I lump these two together.

The feeling has more to do with being privy to an awkward moment (or series of awkward moments).  I’m not a fan of awkwardness – I curl up in a ball and will try to alienate myself from the inducer of those feelings as soon as possible.  Yes, yes, sometimes these two things are counter-productive.  What Amstell and Sedaris really have in common is that they are engaging enough to make me want to stay through the awkward moments with relatability and quick payoff humor. Amstell’s incredibly awkward portrayal of, well, himself (or a version of himself), in “Grandma’s House” is incredibly relatable for me – something which just doesn’t happen. I don’t watch television or movies very much and I’ve come to realize it’s very likely due to my inability or unwillingness to relate to the characters – not so, here.

Of course, when I gushed about Simon’s relatability to a friend she immediately inquired, “wait, you’re a gay Jew?”  So, okay, I’ve never (nor hopefully ever will) bought a $400 coat, and I’ve yet to play paintball with the Sugarbabes – but these things are not the main focus of the show.   The focus is simple interactions with family – and this is where he truly reveals he’s a white hot mess.  In the first episode, when confronted with a relative’s medical emergency, Simon asks, “Why are you telling me this?  Should I get an adult?”  As Simon is about 30, he is well past the age at which he’d be considered an adult – he should be able to deal with this.  But he can’t.  He faces almost every challenge with indecisiveness and inaction and the remaining challenges with just plain wrong decisions.  Just like me!  …god, that’s depressing….to see it actually written out like that.  ….man….

Anyway, at the end of the first series, the kinks still need to be worked out.  Unfortunately they’ve trapped themselves into a location with the title and watching a thirty-something interact with almost no one but his family can get to be a bit tedious.  Simon’s foul-mouthed rape-happy high school cousin I wouldn’t mind seeing vanish…..  One interesting thing is that Amstell doesn’t appear nearly as relaxed as we’ve seen him in other areas, and before watching the show I’d read an article interpreting this as bad acting.  I’m more inclined to think the opposite – in Buzzcocks and Popworld we saw the showmanship – the character of a snide, yet witty bitch.   Now we’ve moved on – we’ve had almost two decades of the one character – now we’ve moved on (hopefully just for now….cause I apparently do love me some bitchy Amstell).

It had been renewed for another season….until that time I will get my Amstell fix by watching old episodes of …Popworld.  Eurg.

 

 

 

So at my last apartment I dedicated a small garbage to food scraps, the logic being food stinks up a garbage, so my larger one would be for non-food and my small one would be the one that would be changed frequently enough that it wouldn’t smell.  It was a bit shocking how quickly that food garbage filled up – most of it fruit and veg (I’m not quite a vegetarian, but I do rarely cook/eat meat).  I decided to get a composter.  But man, they are expensive and bulky!  :-/  So here’s my attempt at building a composter for about $20.00

Materials used:  (3) 5-gallon Home Depot buckets – $2.60 ea.), (1) lid for a Home Depot bucket – less than $1, (2) cheap plastic cultivators – $1 ea., chicken wire – $7/roll, drill bit/driver, wire-cutters, duct (Gorilla?) tape, 1″ bit.

 

1.  The cultivators are to act as turners for the compost – an approx. 1″ hole was drilled into the first bucket (bucket 1)’s side high up enough to allow the cultivator to be rotated.

2.  The handle of the cultivator was inserted through this opening – was a bit tough, if I do this again I might use a slightly larger bit.

 

 

 

 

3. Repeat with bucket 2.

4.  Drill 1″ holes into the bottom bucket 1.

5.  Drill smaller holes (<1/4″) in the bottom of bucket 2.

6.  Cover the top of bucket 2 with chicken wire – cut to size – and tape to secure.

7.  Repeat for bucket 3.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8.  Assemble buckets – bucket 3 on the bottom, bucket 2 in the middle, bucket 1 on the top – tape to secure.

9.  Cover bucket 1 with lid.

 

 

 

 

So the plan is to have an easy-access way to throw food scraps in (the lid) and aerate them (by turning the cultivators).  Initial break-down should occur in bucket 1 – when the pieces are about 1″ they should fall from bucket 1 to bucket 2.  Further decomposition should occur in bucket 2 and hopefully only quasi-soil particles should fall from bucket 2 to 3.

As I was assembling this I realized a small rod drilled through the bottoms of buckets 1&2/tops of buckets 2&3  would probably be a better option for keeping the buckets upright – less of a hassle and easier to get to bucket 3′s product when needed.  Ah well, maybe next time!  One of the things I’m happy with is, if bucket 1 fills too quickly I could, theoretically, just make a new bucket “1″ on top of it for less than $5.  I don’t think you can do that with other composters

I threw in a ton of food and shredded paper today.  I’ll update on this in about a month….

So here’s my obligatory Google+ post. It’s gone through a couple versions:

Upon first hearing about Google+: “Sounds neat…but it’s invite-only…and a social network?  Sure, G-mail was invite only, but at least you could send e-mail to people who didn’t have G-mail.  And, Facebook was limited, but by college, you could be suggested someone you knew but hadn’t e-mailed.  I bet this will be really awesome, but few people will use it, Google will ignore suggestions despite it actively asking for them, and in less than a year it will cave.”

Upon getting Google+:

Week 1: “This *is* awesome!  The interface is great!  So much more intuitive than Facebook!  When I click ‘circles’, my circles show up!  On Facebook when I click ‘friends’, sometimes my friends show up, sometimes just people who want to be my friends show up….and sometimes it’s on the right, sometimes it’s on the left?  Google Plus is so much better!  I’m gonna send a bit of Feedback….feedbackfeedbackfeedback!”

Week 2: “Hm.  Gosh, hardly anyone’s on.  Better check facebook.  Doo doo doo.  Oh well, back to Google Plus, oh, so pretty!  Now back to G-mail.  Wait…why is my Google Plus name now my e-mail name?  Why is my Google Plus profile pick my G-mail pic?  Gross.  I don’t want my full name on my G-mail.  This sucks, I want to use my full name for Google Plus, but keeping that private for G-mail and shared documents is more important.  Gotta delete my full name from Google Plus.  Gonna send feedback about this, too….”

Week 3:  ”Google Plus is deleting accounts, without warning, of everyone who is not revealing their entire, full name?  And when Google Plus is deleted other Google accounts are sucked down the drain, too?  ….”

So, in summary, Google Plus is disappointing me the same (or more) as Wave.  It’s great.  It’s really fantastic – there’s a lot of room for improvement in the architecture, but the starting point is really sleek, smooth, and intuitive.  But hardly anyone’s on.  Furthermore Google’s mucking things up with idiotic name and universal linking policies.

Meh.  Later, Google Plus.

So I’d written a post on how obsessed I had recently become with Simon Amstell, and did a marathon session of Never Mind the Buzzcocks.  Amy Winehouse was in one of those episodes – she was quite funny and I for one think that, no, while her death by apparent overdose might not be a shock, it still is a disappointment.

 

 

Also want to chastise my newsfeed for blowing up about Amy Winehouse but not mentioning a word about Lucian Freud’s death, but I suppose it’s not apples and apples, and this post alone makes me guilty of the same thing.  Besides, death happens all the time. We can’t mention them all. Still.  Two artists gone from the world in one week.  RIP to both of you.

PS Dinosaur Comic of the Week!