Thread "Rant, Moan and Rave - 2010 edition" in forum "Comic Talk and General Discussion *"

Posted at 1:02PM, Feb. 6, 2010

…Starting this Monday, we are gonna spend a week in the woods, in a small-ass tent with 11 other guys in it. We'll get about 2-4 hours of sleep per night, carry around 25kg of equipment (and that doesn't include the tents and other related material we have to carry around too.), march 15 clicks by ski and 25 by foot. We'll have to cook our own food on a trangia that's a decade old. And we will be practising how to set up mines over and over again.

I miss doing that. Except that I had to do that in the desert. And instead of pup tents we had nice big canvas tents with heater stoves to keep us warm at night.

Of course we had things to worry about, such as rattlesnakes and Meals Ready to Eat… er… Exit… ugh… Unlike most of my platoon I never had to see the medic for a bad cough…

Posted at 1:02PM, Feb. 6, 2010

I'm so happy I managed to avoid the army.

Lack of sleep = I get… unpredicable. (one of the reasons I don't mess with drugs, haha, cause if I get some crazy idea in my mind… hell, I'd probably do it).

- - - - - -

Man, trying to promote a new webcomic = hard work at times.

Posted at 4:02PM, Feb. 6, 2010

So, where I live there's this mandatory 6 months of service in the army-thing. I still got 5 months to go. Everythings been p good, but…

…Starting this Monday, we are gonna spend a week in the woods, in a small-ass tent with 11 other guys in it. We'll get about 2-4 hours of sleep per night, carry around 25kg of equipment (and that doesn't include the tents and other related material we have to carry around too.), march 15 clicks by ski and 25 by foot. We'll have to cook our own food on a trangia that's a decade old. And we will be practising how to set up mines over and over again.

ARGL.

So screw yo' pokemons.

Doesn't sound all that bad. Pretty much just like boyscouts when I was a kid. It's about a 55 lb pack and 25 miles. My old troop used to do week-long hikes like that at camp Philmont during the summer.

Speaking of Army stuff, I just put a 2" roofing spike through the bottom of my boot. It didn't go all the way through, but I could feel it as a nice, hard lump through the rubber. The thing took forever to pull out of that rubber. When they said self-sealing, they friggin' meant it.

Posted at 3:02AM, Feb. 7, 2010

Wow… looks like I won't be using MP3 music in my games. Apparently that file format is "owned" by a lot of people and if I want to make games I can sell I have to pay to use it. Luckily there are free alternatives out there like .ogg and acc, both of which are of higher quality or so I've been told.

Hopefully I don't get a nasty surprise and find out other video game elements are also "owned" (such as making sprites, or controlling things with the keyboard, etc…)…

I still remember long ago when I panicked because I was told that companies ownd the various genres that games came in, meaning that if I wanted to make a side scrolling shooter I'd have to pay to make/sell a game that falls in that genre… x_x

Posted at 8:02AM, Feb. 7, 2010

Wow… looks like I won't be using MP3 music in my games. Apparently that file format is "owned" by a lot of people and if I want to make games I can sell I have to pay to use it. Luckily there are free alternatives out there like .ogg and acc, both of which are of higher quality or so I've been told.

Hopefully I don't get a nasty surprise and find out other video game elements are also "owned" (such as making sprites, or controlling things with the keyboard, etc…)…

I still remember long ago when I panicked because I was told that companies ownd the various genres that games came in, meaning that if I wanted to make a side scrolling shooter I'd have to pay to make/sell a game that falls in that genre… x_x

Ogg is a good one, use that :D

A 96k ogg file will sound better than a 128k mp3. And a vbr ogg is a dream come true (it does eat a little bit more cpu power to play though, but I don't think it'd be an issue even on my pc and it is 6 years old at this point).

- - - -
In other news: There's nothing like waking up in the morning and seeing that your new comic broke into the top 1000, yay :D

Posted at 11:02AM, Feb. 7, 2010

babies and fat kids are f**kin' hard to draw. Especially the faces. I keep ending up with little fat angels that look like ancient Japanese oni.

Of course, part of that is my own reaction I think. For whatever reason, at some point in my life I came to the realization that the human face is one of the creepiest things I know of. When I was little I could look straight into people's eyes no problem. Now I find myself looking at any other portion of their anatomy first in order to avoid looking at their face. I wonder if this is a cultural thing I've picked up as I grew older or just my own weird form of interpersonal awkwardness. It's something worth considering. If it is cultural I'm curious to know what it's reflective of, if it's based in some old superstition or if it's a human thing in general to avoid looking people directly in the eye.

Posted at 1:02PM, Feb. 7, 2010

Ogg is a good one, use that :D

A 96k ogg file will sound better than a 128k mp3. And a vbr ogg is a dream come true (it does eat a little bit more cpu power to play though, but I don't think it'd be an issue even on my pc and it is 6 years old at this point).

- - - -
In other news: There's nothing like waking up in the morning and seeing that your new comic broke into the top 1000, yay :D

owch… if I ship a certain number of games containing MP3 music, I have to pay $2500 for each MP3 that's in the game…

The format .ogg sounds good, but I'm also tempted to use ACC as well. Hopefully someone doesn't come out to claim those two formats and force us to pay for them as well…

Posted at 1:02PM, Feb. 7, 2010

If it is cultural I'm curious to know what it's reflective of, if it's based in some old superstition or if it's a human thing in general to avoid looking people directly in the eye.

i think we had this discussion somewhere already…. but it's a great thing to look people in the eye. that's what i was taught when i was but a wee lad. however, i've since learned that it makes some people uncomfortable. it's not just a regional thing either.
————–

saints this, colts that…blah blah blah. the only reason i'm going to a superbowl party is for the free food.

Posted at 1:02PM, Feb. 7, 2010

I don't want to quote anyone but I'm talking about/to some of you here:

To Same's relationship issues: Really sorry man, but if she's gonna be like that then she probably doesn't care about you. :(. Lothar put it in a harsh way but yes, he's kinda right.

About the "hot" conversation: It's bugging cold everyday where I live. Lucky peoples…

To Graceh Faceh's contest: Enter the contest and win. It's as simple as that. :)

To Seventy2 reading Naruto: I really just gave up on Naruto when Shippuden came out. It just…annoyed me. But I do love Hinata (and Gaara)!

To Skullbie and Pokemon: GO POKEMON. But what the hell's a Gible/Altaria/Iarvitar? These new ones? If so then PHBBT! I cannot deal with new pokemon games past Fire Red/Leaf Green; there's just…too many… I myself am still playing Sapphire and only like halfway through it having no time to play it alot.

To Lonnehart about handwashing laundry: Handwashing anything is a pain. Such as my dishwasher's broken and I'm stuck with the duty of washing them.

To skoolmunkee and work: Because what else are you going to do? Rest? The world doesn't allow for that anymore. :(

To Futon in the army: Ooh…that sucks…physical activity? Yuck!

To Iba: I kinda like drawing faces. Anything else…um…no.

On other news that pertains to my life rather than my idiot comments on all of yours, caberet went awesome, tryouts for Annie (I HATE ANNIE) take place next week, I have february vacation soon, I am reading Wicked by Gregory Maguire, I cannot update like anything, I should be doing the next page in Bocaj's "The Traveling Assist" soon, I learned how to play Tenacious D's "Beezleboss" and Radiohead's "Creep", I am tired as hell, and other various things none of you care about. Well I'm off to do something interesting like read a book or go for a walk so until next time.

The 1337 Master (oh and I now like to sign everything I type)

PS: Could an Admin tell me about copywright laws on this site? Like if I put up a novella I wrote would I still be able to sell it to a magazine? MAybe I should just look through the policy…
PS2: Number one, I always think playstation 2 here…Number two, I wonder if anyone will read this. A final goodbye, the 1337 Master

Posted at 2:02PM, Feb. 7, 2010

whoa, applause to 1337 for reading other people's posts and replying!
congratz on yer cabaret dude!

—

power plant about 20 miles south-east of here blew up, well there was an explosion anyway, don't know if the whole thing necissarly went. dont think so. so far there's 2 dead, 4 critical, and around 100 other injuries. last i knew they were still finding people. ya just never know when shit's gonna strike. i didnt know anyone inloved, but my condolences to Middletown, CT.

Posted at 2:02PM, Feb. 7, 2010

whoa, applause to 1337 for reading other people's posts and replying!

He only replied to all those to make a point of deliberately not mentioning mine: I'm on to you 1337 - your numbers up.>:)

—

Talking of absolute bounders, I Emailed a guy and he didn't bother to reply. Nothing unusual in that of course, people or busy, but this guy took the trouble to come and check out my comic before deciding not to reply. He checked my pages and thought "ok, he's a nobody, no need to waste my time here". I call that not replying to make a point of deliberately not replying. I call that not replying as an offensive weapon - he's an even bigger jerk than 1337!

Posted at 3:02PM, Feb. 7, 2010

1337- anything you post on DD is yours, Platinum isn't going to go claiming anything. It's in the site policy somewhere. Not sure where you'd post a novella though. :] On the forums I guess?

Why do I always forget to eat until it's too late to eat?

Posted at 3:02PM, Feb. 7, 2010

Does anyone know how to save a pdf file from a link instead of having it try to open in a new tab? For some reason, Firefox keeps telling me that my version of Acrobat doesn't support the functionality to open it in a new tab. I've got the newest version of both Firefox and Acrobat, but it still keeps giving me this error.

Posted at 6:02PM, Feb. 7, 2010

power plant about 20 miles south-east of here blew up

Wow! I heard about that on the news this morning. Small world isn't it?

Does anyone know how to save a pdf file from a link instead of having it try to open in a new tab? For some reason, Firefox keeps telling me that my version of Acrobat doesn't support the functionality to open it in a new tab. I've got the newest version of both Firefox and Acrobat, but it still keeps giving me this error.

For a start I'd uninstall Acrobat reader and then reinstall it.
Saving from a link is always easy in Firefox–> Right click and then click "save link as"

Posted at 6:02PM, Feb. 7, 2010

power plant about 20 miles south-east of here blew up
Wow! I heard about that on the news this morning. Small world isn't it?

wouldnt be so small if shit stopped blowing up.

Posted at 7:02PM, Feb. 7, 2010

For a start I'd uninstall Acrobat reader and then reinstall it.
Saving from a link is always easy in Firefox–> Right click and then click "save link as"

Yeah. I tried that. reinstalling didn't do anything, and that's not even an option on my right click menu for that link. It's probably the school courses site itself that's causing the problem. I'll just have to see if someone else around here has what I need sitting on their desk.

Posted at 7:02PM, Feb. 7, 2010

wouldnt be so small if shit stopped blowing up.

Damn it. I must have left Drannik wander outside again.

Posted at 7:02PM, Feb. 7, 2010

wouldnt be so small if shit stopped blowing up.

lol!

and that's not even an option on my right click menu for that link.

I wonder what sort of link it is…? Could be some moronic javascript thing. -_-
That'd mean it wasn't really a direct link. Try a different browser?

Posted at 7:02PM, Feb. 7, 2010

Wow… just came back from the Doctor's office feeling really shaken… fell asleep in the waiting room and had a bad dream.

In the dream, I'm watching MC Hammer's video. Except it's not an MC Hammer video. A row of muscular me wearing nothing but pink sneakers, speedos, and raybans were dancing in the background and the guy singing the lyrics wore the same… except he also wore a tie and cuffs on his wrists. The name of the video? "Can't Jack This!" while he points at a certain part of his anatomy that only men have…

Next time I visit the doctor's office I'm gonna make sure I don't fall asleep there… O_O;

Posted at 12:02AM, Feb. 8, 2010

finally finished my taxes. took me forever. the company kept auto updating that my wife was a resident of Indiana, because i am, even tho she denounced her residency years ago. so it would freak out, and then claim her money as untaxed, causing us to owe several hundred….but fixing it also meant i have hand mail that one.
and then a program that said it was "free for military members" then said that in order for it to actually file the tax returns it'd be $80…the free service was just doing the taxes…
but then i remembered the site that i was actually supposed to use. (via military means) and then i went thru the entire butt pain of the state thing again, but it was slightly quicker because i knew how to circumvent it.

and i should have been in bed 2 hours ago…

Posted at 6:02AM, Feb. 8, 2010

Kids, never slice a new partition on your hardrive without reformatting the whole thing first. It just screws everything up.
Looks like i have to wipe my entire hardrive now, install my os (both of em), transfer everything back (which will take light years) and I really really really don't want to.

Posted at 7:02AM, Feb. 8, 2010

wouldnt be so small if shit stopped blowing up.
lol!
and that's not even an option on my right click menu for that link.
I wonder what sort of link it is…? Could be some moronic javascript thing. -_-
That'd mean it wasn't really a direct link. Try a different browser?

Yeah. The entire site is pretty much one big java app and it's all set up for macs because the school is primarily run on them. I borrowed someone else' macbook and it opened no problem. We have a lot of issues like this for the PC users here. For almost all of first semester last year, the PC's had no access to the school internet, and even now we've got to manually connect every time.

The big kicker that makes it amusing to me, is that the person who set up the school network and websites, is also the person who teaches the web design course on cross-compatibility.

dream stuff

That reminds me of a dream I used to have a lot about the Max Headroom hacker. In my dream, instead of unintelligible gibberish, you could actually understand what he said and it actually affected people.

Posted at 7:02AM, Feb. 8, 2010

The big kicker that makes it amusing to me, is that the person who set up the school network and websites, is also the person who teaches the web design course on cross-compatibility.

Ahh, but that's how it works. Doesn't work on a mac = no cross-compatibility.
Works on a mac = cross-compatibility (even if it doesn't work anywhere else). :D

Kind of like people making a site with effects supported only by internet explorer and thinking everyone can access it properly.

Posted at 11:02AM, Feb. 8, 2010

Booo! Stupid asthma acting up…And mother refused to let me sleep. I mean, I did, but she refused to allow me to rest in peace! Grrr….
—
So I purchased one (1) copy of Nintendo's official magazine today, and learned they screwed me over!
Yeah! Give me awesome posters, but print them on either side of each other so I have to decide…Gah!
Donkey Kong Country 3 on one side, Pokemans on the other….(Actually that's an easy decision, but both would've been nice I guess!)
And then there's Zelda and Mario on either side….CURSE YOU DECISIONS.
Then they put two games I don't care about on the same poster - TvC and Professor Leyton. Although that TvC is a pretty cool poster regardless…Then again, Leyton has a top hat… Grrrr…Darn you, ONM.

And also Sega All-stars racing looks weird. SONIC IN A CAR? THAT'S LIKE….Mario….Using stilts or something else ridiculous that he doesn't need.
Although then again, I do like the idea of playing as Ryo Hazuki and letting out some wicked cold-blooded one liners when I knock people off the course with him.
"HOW ABOUT LUCKY HIT?"
"KNOW WHERE I CAN FIND SOME SAILORS? IN THE SEA? OKAY. *BARGES YOU IN TO SEA*"
"DO YOU KNOW SOMEONE WHO CAN READ THIS? *FLIPS THE BIRD*"
(Edit: Also I'd have started a games thread about it, as that's the correct place, but, A) I couldn't give any less of a shit about Sonic or his compadres anymore, and
2) Neither could anyone else)

Posted at 12:02PM, Feb. 8, 2010

Still don't want to quote.

Ironscarf and Pit_Face: If I can't say something witty, funny, or it doesn't relate to me then F it! :D. No but thanks for paying attention.

To Ironscarf alone: If it was me not replying to you well I was busy and still am busy. Hence vacation needs to come tomorrow rather than next week.

To Pit_Face alone: WOW…that's like more intersting than my life will ever be. Terrible, but interesting…OoO…

To skoolmunkee: Thank you. It's stuff I'm making in my creative writing class and my own personal f*cked up stuff to prove I do more than just comedy. The novella still needs to be edited a bit. And also, thanks for the idea about my Book Reviews. Maybe I'll run it like VegaX does the Comic Reviews…I don't know, can't think. Didn't sleep till 1:30Am this morning and then woke at 6am for school.

Speaking of school…I should be writing my essay right now…