fredart : blogbits

I’m sitting here thinking through just how to tell my story about how each year i plan to go to winter comiket, but how those plans are never really feasible, and how it’s always ‘next year’ that things will settle down enough for me to go. It’s kind of amusing really. I always tentatively try to plan to go to Winter Comike because it’s less intense (and happens at a much cooler time of year) than Summer Comike, but i’m starting to think that there just isn’t going to be a year where the last week of December is going to be a good time to hike my way to japan and try to run a booth and sell small books i had to work hard to create specifically for the show.

(what is comiket? here’s the wikipedia article on it Knowledge is p0w4 :P)

Recently i’ve been finding myself using Omni Outliner Pro more and more. It’s been pulling me away from text based notes, writing and other things. I used to write in plaintext, but over the past year i’ve been refining the way i work on scripts and general free writing in Omni Outliner, and i’ve been finding that it’s been working quite well for me. The most difficult thing about any application used in the creative workflow is that its really hard to find things that help you and not get in your way and hinder the organized recording of your thoughts. It took a while to develop a setup that worked well with my thought processes, but now that i have, writing has been going a lot smoother. One of my goals this week is to have the rest of chapter 7 laid out and organized to a certain level of detail, and so far things have been going fairly well. To do lists are a pretty obvious use of the program, but i’ve also been using it to keep a record of a lot of the things i come across while doing research and dealing with these annoying little links people have a tendency to send me. (To Heart 2 and Alien Cat Girls. Yes, i think i watched it 10 times.)

The fact that i was able to pull that link back up is a testiment to how nice it works in recording stuff like that (timestamps, url embedding, etc) Nice program — It’s probably the main reason i wont be able to ever leave macs and go back to the PC world

Now if only it can help me get ahead enough so i can go to Comiket next year…

(you should read Shigeo’s awesome articles on How to Comiket, just in case you ever do find yourself able to go :P)

- pirotunes: Canvas OST - Boring Early Afternoon -

First off, I hope you had a good holiday weekend and are either enjoying a few days off or having a more or less relaxing week here before the start of the new year. It’s been a busy year for Sarah and I, and it’s always interesting to look back on the year and look at the what you accomplished, rather than my normal mode of operation which is all about the watching unfinished things zoom by and crash to the ground.

We did it to ourselves, of course, but this last week of December is probably always going to be an insane one for Sarah and I. There is Christmas, New Years and our Anniversary. There is also the big push in the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas for the MegaGear store, and then end of year inventory, accounting, etc… Not exactly a month that is set up for rest and relaxation. Yet, we’ve managed to squeeze a little of that in over the past few days, it’s been a nice holiday. Not that it involved a lot of rest

The other thing that most of us do at the end of the year is not only look back at the current year, but look ahead and try to set goals for the next year. I’ve been thinking a lot recently about what is good about Megatokyo, what is ok about it, and what really needs work. I’ve taken a serious look at some personal goals i’d like to hit for 2006, and i’m going to do my damnedest to reach those goals, if i can. That was part of the impetuous of taking this week between Christmas and New Years off of the comic itself, i wanted some time to regroup, do some planning, tie up some loose ends from 2005… things like that.

I’m not going to list my goals, you can probably guess some of them, but i know how difficult some of them will be for me, and I don’t like disappointing people by not being able to do the things i say i’m going to do. I’ll admit, these are very difficult goals for me, and i am worried that i wont be able to reach all of them, but if i do i think it will improve not only the comic, but the way i connect with readers. I’ve been a little too reclusive over the past two years, i think, and i’m going to try to change that.

I’m going to be around quite a bit more as the week moves on, so please excuse my random ramblings here and there. I’ll be posting some more sketches as the week progresses as well.

- pirotunes: Stars Of The Lid - The Artificial Pine Arch Song -

Things are finally slowing down a little as we get closer to christmas… most people have done their online holiday shopping already, and with the exception of those who are willing to send stuff 2 day or next day air. I really would like to thank everyone who purchased stuff from our store this holiday season - after being down for almost a month in november, it was a relief to see people come back to the store

I’ve been doing a LOT of thinking about how i work recently. Even after five years of doing this, there is still a very haphazard nature to the way i work. It’s pretty evident sometimes that this nature really catches up to me on a regular basis, and one of my goals for next year is to try to improve on this. I have a series of goals i would like to attain for the new year, goals that i won’t make public because i don’t want to promise anything to people - these are goals i need to reach, and they are very difficult goals for me, and the last thing i need is to be harassed by certain types if i don’t reach them.

In the midst of how over the top busy i’ve been, it has been an interesting month creatively. Not that my output has been all that great, but the wide range of creative zones i have been in - from the ‘dead stop’ to ‘gliding along at full speed’. I like the later one, the first one is a bitch. The trick is to get into that later zone more often that i am now.

It was an OK year for Megatokyo, i think, but there’s no question i can do a lot better. In 2006 i’ll see what i can do to do that.

- pirotunes: - stranger from “Fate/hollow ataraxia ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK” -

Boy, that sure sucked.

Around Wednesday last week, i got hit with some of the worst creative block i’ve had in ages. Now, i’ve had less severe writers/artist block and produced far less output (like loosing entire weeks to DPDs), so this may not SEEM like it was bad, but it was. I’ve never fought against a creative block so hard before.

I suppose what triggered it were some seemingly minor shifts in some story threads that came as a result of of some resonance between some adjacent threads — causing some rethinking about some things that made some rough spots work better and helped clarify some story elements that haven’t be as fully defined as i would like. My writing is, unfortunately, very organic. I throw down a lot of seed, and the difference between good comics and good arcs and so-so stuff is when bits and pieces have enough time to germinate, when i can refine and prune and weave and trim and graft… its hard to describe, and i am a crappy gardener, but it’s that kind of process. Bits and pieces of things that seem to go nowhere or ripe situations that fall flat and don’t seem to reach their full potential are a sad byproduct of this kind of process, and i try to avoid it as much as possible.

Anyways, It seems that having to mucky-muck with this this process started me down a path that drove me right into a brick wall so dense it took me almost 6 days to beat my way through it. I was finding myself more willing to clean the litter box than write it was getting so depressing

It’s always a mess when this happens, but right now, with how busy we are with MegaGear, it felt like a disaster. Not a good time to have this happen The ‘Saturday’ comic that i pulled down was a hiccup - i really should have just accepted the fact that a DPD was needed and worked my way through things. I really should not have tried to force it. It was an experiment to see what happens when if i did, and it proved to me that this creative mule of mine reacts as poorly as ever to force

The good news is that mr. creative mule (AKA mr. major pain the ass) is trotting along happily now, and while he’s still as slow and morose as ever, and hopelessly overloaded with baggage, he’s at least trotting along now. trotting is better than sitting. I’ll take it.

Oh, and as for being busy with Megagear - that’s a good thing. It’s what keeps MT online, so its my job to do a good job with both. It goes without saying, but Seraphim and I really appreciate your business, and hope you are happy with your stuff (whether it be a gift for friends and family, or for yourself :P) Thank you.

After finishing up last night, i took a little time to finish watching the last few episodes of Mahoraba, Heartful Days. Ahh, very nice. I suppose it makes me smile more than some people, since i write and draw stories and know what its like to have people enjoy them, but still, it really was a fun anime, and the way the anime handled things wasn’t too bad at all. There are some really amusing things in the manga that they were not able to do with the anime (you gotta love Nanako-chan :P) and as usual my fave really is Saki-chan… it all made me smile.

Also been managing to keep up with Rozen Maiden Traumend. After the last episode, i had a story preminition that i hope to god isn’t where this is going. Not because it’s bad story writing, but because it’d really make me sad ;_; Gyah… at least i’m not writing it. I know where i’d find myself having to take it, and it wouldn’t make me happy one bit…

- pirotunes: DJ Cam - Mad Blunted Jazz -

Arc dug through his massive archive of Haibane Renmei images, and was able to find that picture i was talking about, as well as a few other amusing ones relating to Reki’s lighter. Here are some links:

Several IMCO lighter & a mock up of Reki’s cigs.

Reki’s lighter, from the anime.

Uhm… not really sure what to make of this one…

enjoy

- pirotunes: Lia - Light colors from “Tomoyo Again - It’s a Wonderful Life Original SoundTrack” -

mou~~ what is with me today? For some reason i can’t even get this comic to come together! >_< I can’t complain about specific problems because it gives too much away >_< (beats head on table, would give a lot today for some clever inspiration (sigh))

The problem with writing is, i think, that you just know when there’s something there staring you in the face that is just waiting for you to find it, to follow thru on the sequencing of ideas and thoughts that will lead to story scenes, sequencing and dialogue that will be enjoyable from an experiential point of view (the reader) and satisfying for the writer (the guy who likes to mess with the reader’s minds). It’s very frustrating when you can’t find it, or it’s just not coming for you. You KNOW when its not right. I can’t even start drawing this comic till i find it.

(sigh)

Keep in mind that everytime you feel your mind is being played with by the Megatokyo story, that the story itself has thrown down with me and given me a mega beatdown. That could explain some of my neurotic writing

- pirotunes: Omicron - The Surface Of A Young Planet -

After Otakon this year, while cleaning up the booth and packing up the truck i found something unusual on the table. It was a small, silvery metallic thing wrapped in an Anime Gamers flier. At first i wasn’t sure what the heck the thing was, then my inner fanboy reaction kicked in and i realized what it was — it was a cigarette lighter.

Why on earth would a cigarette lighter give me the warm fuzzies? Because it was an Imco Triplex Super. Still not ringing any bells? It’s the lighter that Abe based Reki’s lighter on that she uses in Haibane Renmei They still make em today - basically, the design comes from trench lighters used during WWI. It was a gift from my old friend Arc Ressiv (you know him, he’s a mod on the Fredart Forums) and i never did properly thank him for the gift. Thank’s Arc Of course, if anyone knows how to touch a haibane fanboy’s fancy, it’s Arc. (there is a site that has pictures of an older Imco lighter even closer to Reki’s and a mock up of the cigarettes she smokes, but damn if i can’t find the link. For now, here’s another site that has more pictures and info on Imco lighters)

(edit: here’s a screenshot of Rakka using Reki’s lighter. :P)

Now, Seraphim’s first comment to me about being so amused with the lighter was that me carrying a lighter around was like a Star Wars fanboy carrying around a light saber - i don’t smoke, what could i possibly use the thing for? Heh, no way to really defend myself there…

Now, the amusing part of all this is the fact that i don’t think the lighter had much fluid in it (ok, i played with it a lot) because recently it ran out. Not a difficult thing, really - i just bought some lighter fluid and figured that i’d fill it. Now, the only problem was… if you ever play with a wick based cigarette lighter that has run out of fluid, you are going to burn away some of the wick.

This is where the melding of multiple fanboy worlds come together

After doing a little research, i came upon some maintenance info for the triplex super, and learned about replaceable wicks and how you should be able to just pull more wick out if it gets too short. Recently, I picked up a Leatherman (you know, the multi tool plier thing that Largo uses - we will soon be carrying them in the store (it won’t be till after christmas, more info on that in January - no, i’m not gonna tell you which one Largo uses yet :P)) and like any new cool thing, i had a period of time where i wanted to use it for everything. Now it’s just kinda there on my belt and really has become a nice thing to have with me. Using the pliers i was able to pull out a nice new length of wick, and using the scissors i was able to trim it nicely. It was like this beautiful simpatico of fanboyness and tinkering.

Pretty soon i had a nicely functioning, filled and fully working Haibane Renmei lighter to plop back in my pocket for nor reason other than to have something cool in my pocket… sorta like the leatherman i wear around too.

God, i am so pathetic.

- pirotunes: Torch Song - Raphael -

It’s at this time of year that it really comes down hard on me that i really have two full time jobs that i’m trying to do: Megatokyo and Megagear.

For the comic, there is the obvious 8 to 12 hour block of time required to produce each comic three times per week. Add to that story development time (which i have been shorting big time this month) and all the other MT related things that i just simply don’t do as much as i wish i could (rants, email, advertising stuff, working on the new site, working on extra artwork for the MT, etc).

For MegaGear, the work load has been pretty heavy for both Sarah and me. Believe it or not, it’s just the two of us who run the whole kitten caboodle. (yes i know its kit -and- caboodle, but i like kitten caboodle better :P) Aside from the fact that it could be argued that a lot of the time i spend on our retail operation would be better spent drawing and writing and creating… honestly, i like being hands-on with the retail side of things. Sarah has done a wonderful job of setting things up at our warehouse so that its actually possible for the two of us to manage it all — and i like the fact that i often pack and ship stuff to fans myself. Of course, with the Boo shipment having to be completely re-done and having to change shopping cart software right smack at the start up of the busiest time of the year were not pleasant experiences, but we got through them.

Anyways… i feel like i’ve been spinning around in circles this month The comic has been a bit challenging of late (not sure how well it all came off, but its not too bad) I suppose it all keeps me out of trouble.

Yes, i snuck in episode 7 of Rozen Maiden Tramued, and even episode 5 of Karin… but the remainer of Shuffle is waiting, and i really am curious to pick up on where THAT show has been going. whee!

- pirotunes: チェリーV.S.セクサドール・キャニー from “SMガールズ セイバーマリオネットR” -