Thread "Rant, moan, rave and share - for all your chatter, natter, ETCETERA! 2013/2014" in forum "Comic Talk and General Discussion *"

Posted at 10:02AM, Feb. 15, 2014

kawaiidaigakusei wrote:
lba wrote:
The taser training isn't anywhere near as bad. It hurts like hell for about 5 seconds, and you lock up and fall over, then you're sore and occasionally twitchy for a half hour while your nervous system recovers, but at least the pain doesn't last for days. Since I'm the boss, I at least get the fun of watching the privates squeal and react when it happens to them right after they giggle at me being used as the demonstration. There's a really satisfying feeling of schaudenfreude when you get to watch a bunch of kids who just moments ago thought it was funny to watch the LT twitch realize just how much it actually sucks.

Somehow, reading this whole description of you twitching while getting tasered and staring at your avatar of red caped bears flying in the clouds did not make sense. You are like this macho renegade by day and comic graphic artist by night–it just does not add up!! Actually, the whole tasering scenario would totally fit into your “Last Words” comic.

I try to keep it the other way around honestly. I'd prefer to be known in the final balance as a graphic artist who happened to have served his time. There's a long line of comic artists and graphic designers who served their time in the military and then moved on to do great things elsewhere from the Monuments Men, to Jack Kirby and Joe Kubert. That's really more what I'm aiming for here. Modesty and probably reality dictate I acknowledge that I'm a hell of a better artist than soldier. I mainly ended up in the military because I needed money for school and I obsessively hunt good stories wherever I think I can find them and I just try to do the best job I can at it.

————————————–

And Bravo, have you ever made any indications you want the promotion? I know that used to be my big mistake when I worked for other people was that I didn't ever give any indication that I wanted to be promoted. So I got used as though I was this really helpful, but not terribly inspired or motivated employee and I was always stuck on the crappy shifts in place of people who were seemingly more motivated. Sometimes being nice and good at the job isn't enough to get you noticed.

Posted at 4:02PM, Feb. 15, 2014

I'm having trouble finding the perfect routine that will allow me to continue on with my comic. At least, I have been able to get a diet and exercise routine going. Work has been exhausting, I already have been moved down from the position I was in October and now I'm back where I was. I walk around the salesfloor the entire day while answering questions and trying to be helpful to the management, but feeling like I'm at a deadend. At least, I didn't have to go back on to the phones. At least my husband is now certified to teacher and is looking for a new job.

Posted at 4:02AM, Feb. 16, 2014

I'm to much into self-sabotage. I get promoted I will do my darndest to screw it up.

As fr being a sergeant type? I was always more a Harper than a Sharpe. A supporting character in my own life story. You make the decisions and I'll implement them. Except when they're messed up. Then I'll improve upon you messed up ideas and give you the credit. I get passed over and it's my own fault because it's my greatest fear that someone will recognize what I can do and call me on it.

Anyone have $500 I could beg, borrow or steal? It's what is required to start the pre-development work on my movie project. I've researched it and it's the standard to get started. But I keep spending all my money on model kits, even money I don't have. Just a voracious appetite that way.

Posted at 5:02PM, Feb. 16, 2014

bravo1102 wrote:
I'm to much into self-sabotage. I get promoted I will do my darndest to screw it up.
As fr being a sergeant type? I was always more a Harper than a Sharpe. A supporting character in my own life story. You make the decisions and I'll implement them. Except when they're messed up. Then I'll improve upon you messed up ideas and give you the credit. I get passed over and it's my own fault because it's my greatest fear that someone will recognize what I can do and call me on it.

That's what sergeants are supposed to do. I get paid to use my brain and think up the plan, they get paid to use their brains and figure out how to make the plan happen. Officers come up with what, when, where and why. Sergeants come up with who and how and use their greater experience to double check the boss. If I expected my squad leaders to make the decisions and big decisions, I'd hand in my commission and go back to being an E-5 because it wouldn't be any different then.

I learned the hard way that you're only as capable as you imagine yourself to be man. I spent the better part of my teenage and 20-something years thus far self-sabotaging myself until I learned that occasionally it's ok to let that arrogant little part of your brain take over and say, "fuck yeah, I know I'm good at this shit! Now get out of my way and let me do my job." You eventually rise to your own level of ambition and competence. It wasn't until I wound up in the army and away from the immense amount of talent I co-habitated my school with, that I realized just how capable and useful my particular skill set and way of thinking could be. If all you aspire to be is a sergeant who back checks their boss and makes the real work happen there's absolutely nothing wrong with that, but if you want more, you have to aggressively follow it and not let you drag yourself down. As much as I hate sounding like the old cliche and I know personal change is hard as hell, if you know it's a problem for you, you've gotta make that change to move forward as a person.

Posted at 7:02PM, Feb. 16, 2014

Bravo, you're awesome and I respect you highly.

Posted at 3:02AM, Feb. 17, 2014

ozoneocean wrote:
Bravo, you're awesome and I respect you highly.

Don't patronize me. ;-) Thanks man. The feeling is mutual. So when are we recording the second half of my Quackcast interview? (kidding, nothing could be worse programming than me trying to describe what I do.)

Everything went well and there was even a repeat performance the following day. Seems my advice was in accord with the two shift supervisors too. Fortunately there was also plenty of time to edit 20+ panels for the comic and put together four pages. And rewatch six hours of the Soviet WW2 epic Liberation and then White Tiger. Yeah, plenty of down time at work.

Posted at 12:02PM, Feb. 17, 2014

Wow… I feel so old. Heard this old song on the radio and looked it up. Hopefully it brings back memories for those of us who grew up in the '80s. :)

Alias- "Waiting for Love"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=to0UO82kGtI

Now for something completely random…

I have this superheroine character in Champions Online named "Omega Soldier". Her powers come from the power armor she wears. How did she get her power armor? Well…

It dropped off a speeding military truck right onto her flower garden, the crate containing it opening upon impact with the ground…
Something tells Sgt Bravo will have a few pokes at this type of superhero origin… O_O

Posted at 9:02PM, Feb. 17, 2014

Ah, Alias! The band that was created to capitalize on the one massive hit they had when they were in a band called "Sheriff".

Slightly before my time, Sheriff was, but I remember when Alias appeared with several songs that sounded like "When I'm With You"

Let's sing it, everybody…

Baaaaayyyyybaaaayyyyeeeyaaaaaayyyyyeeeyayaaaa…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyIGlUoTh9I

Posted at 11:02PM, Feb. 17, 2014

Hahaha! '80s power ballads LOL
Baaaaayybaayyyyyyeaaaahhhyeaaaah! That is Hillarious!
Those balads were like their hairstyles- They all aspired to be Robbert Plant while their songs all spired to be movie theme song power ballads. ^__^

Posted at 12:02AM, Feb. 18, 2014

ozoneocean wrote:
Hahaha! '80s power ballads LOL
Baaaaayybaayyyyyyeaaaahhhyeaaaah! That is Hillarious!
Those balads were like their hairstyles- They all aspired to be Robbert Plant while their songs all spired to be movie theme song power ballads. ^__^

So that's what they're called? I learn something new every day.

Didn't like the Sheriff one so much. I guess I liked the one I posted better thanks to rhythm and how the guitars worked. Or maybe it's just because I think it sounds nice. :)

Posted at 1:02AM, Feb. 18, 2014

Oh yes indeedy! The Power Ballad is a venerable style that may have excelled at!
We associate it with the '80s because that's where it was really at its peak. But it's still very comon.

See Banes here singing "Right here waiting" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_E2EHVxNAE

The classic genre defining hit "I want to know where love is" by Foriegner - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raNGeq3_DtM

A much later incarnation of the style by Aerosmith (I don't wanna miss a thing), a huge fave for some, I hate it myself - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vo_0UXRY_rY

And a much later crack at it still (I think it was in the 2000s?) by The Darkness, "Love is only a feeling" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWljnSf20cc

The last is a slightly winking, satirical take on the style by a band who were deliberitly imitating the 1980s soft metal genre, though it seems just as good as anything from that time, it's one of my faves!
Those versions stay true to the original conventions of the thing I think, but all pop muscians belt our their own from time to time, from Pink, to Miley Cyrus.

Posted at 1:02AM, Feb. 18, 2014

Oh, oh, oh! My fave '80s power bllad of right this moment:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Cw1ng75KP0
"Alone" by Heart.
Starting out as a much more raw rock group in the '70s they embraced the '80s hairspray, big speakers and reverb thing with a vengance! The lead were two sisters, Anne and Nancy Wilson. Anne got rounder and rounder as the years went on but her voice lost none of its power. She STILL has an extremely powerful voice even now.

Posted at 2:02AM, Feb. 18, 2014

Yep. I remember reading about how Heart's lead had weight gain issues. She still has a powerful voice. My favorite song from them is "These Dreams". I thnk that was the title. Trying not to confuse my Van Halen favorite with a similar title.

O… kay… now that Valentines is over, I'll show you DDers the creepiest local Valentine's commercial I've ever seen….. Especially at the end. O_O

Docomo Pacific Valentine's Special
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Wvs0a_EFhU

Posted at 7:02AM, Feb. 18, 2014

ozoneocean wrote:
Anne and Nancy Wilson. Anne got rounder and rounder as the years went on but her voice lost none of its power. She STILL has an extremely powerful voice even now.

Anne's look only matches that of her aging audience. How many reed thin teens who rocked out to Heart in the 1980s are now obese moms with minivans full of kids?
Or just peruse the pictures from my 30th anniverary high school reunion. Welcome to the Soft Rock hits of the FM 107.1 your hits at the shore, next up Heart…

Posted at 7:02AM, Feb. 18, 2014

I think the thing with Anne is that she started changing shape back in the late '80s, while her sister Nancy didn't so that's why it's notable- not the fact that she did, but that it was rather sudden. She's lost a lot of size since actually.

Appart from that it's really irrelevent of course. I hadn't realised what a tallent she was; just saw their performance of Stairway to Heaven to honour Led Zepplein, and it looked like the guys really were honoured!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xufuZ0dCmLA

Posted at 8:02AM, Feb. 18, 2014

Lonnehart wrote:
Yep. I remember reading about how Heart's lead had weight gain issues. She still has a powerful voice. My favorite song from them is "These Dreams". I thnk that was the title. Trying not to confuse my Van Halen favorite with a similar title.

O… kay… now that Valentines is over, I'll show you DDers the creepiest local Valentine's commercial I've ever seen….. Especially at the end. O_O

Docomo Pacific Valentine's Special
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Wvs0a_EFhU

Oh my god, that's terrible! XD

The guy is pretty cute, I feel bad for him that his friends and family will almost definitely bring this up his whole life. :P His "checking out a hot babe" face is hilarious. Even before she does the voice it looks a lot more like a mix of horrified and disgusted.

Posted at 6:02AM, Feb. 19, 2014

ozoneocean wrote:
I think the thing with Anne is that she started changing shape back in the late '80s, while her sister Nancy didn't so that's why it's notable- not the fact that she did, but that it was rather sudden. She's lost a lot of size since actually.

Actually Ann has had a lifelong problem with her weight and had gastic band surgery in the early 2000's. She starved herself in the 1970s and 80's to stay thin. She's a real ive person with a wieght problem and the resulting stress and panic our culture places on being thin. Just like all of her supportive fans with those minivans and kids listening to hit stations. Though named into the top Heavy metal bands of all time and such the first three albums were very folksy with only a handful hard rocking songs. Especially Dog and Butterfly. I got that one and was like "This is Heart?" aren't they hard rock? Thought the tape was labeled wrong or something but Ann's vocals were too distinctive.

Wow the memories of me and car's tape deck with the big blue box of cassettes in the bck seat. I think that box is still in my front shed and those cassettes are in wooden racks on the wall in my den collecting dust.

Posted at 2:02PM, Feb. 19, 2014

I guess it's just something she couldn't avoid. I still love Heart's songs though.

A screenshot from Champions Online…
Showing off Omega Soldier. :)

And a question. Her origin story (as I mentioned) involves her gaining her powered armor after a carless military truck driver accidentally drops a crate containing her armor (and doesn't notice).

Do you think real life militaries can be this careless? I guess this is why even covert transport requires convoys instead of just a single vehicle….

Posted at 2:02AM, Feb. 20, 2014

The truck hit a pot hole and the crate just kind of… you know… fell out. Some real militaries aren't that careless. Others misplace all kinds of stuff all the time.

I mean walk into forest in Russia and there's a whole field of tanks they kind of forgot about and only use for spare parts. And look brand new aircraft with still crated spares that there's noone to uncrate.

The armor's red? It's probably ex-Soviet that was sent to Iraq in 2003 for secret battle testing and forgotten about in all the hub-bub. The Russians sent a pile of brand new anti-stealth radar that all didn't work and then hotfooted it out of there fast it got forgotten.

Or lost out its place to some last minute finds of WMDs they had to move to Syria. Hey it's a comic book super hero feel free to indulge in any conspriacy theory that floats your boat.

Posted at 3:02AM, Feb. 20, 2014

I used to bike ride every Saturday morning with my dad down to the port at Fremantle for coffee and breakfast- one morning cycling along the warf a saw a bulky grey shape just sitting on the concrete, with no one ele in sight anywhere.
It was a nice new F/A-18 Hornet jet fighter, with its wings neatly folded and red plastic wrapping intakes and other parts, I cycled up and looked it over pretty well and then cycled off.

Now I wouldn't have been able to steal it… the most I could have done was broken off a piece from somewhere, or bushed it over the warf into the ocean, if I were to hop in a big 4WD.
But still, that was a multi-million dollar peice of gear, left ungaurded, unatended, and unpacked, so like Bravo says I think your armour story is pretty sound.

Posted at 5:02AM, Feb. 20, 2014

ozoneocean wrote:
I used to bike ride every Saturday morning with my dad down to the port at Fremantle for coffee and breakfast- one morning cycling along the warf a saw a bulky grey shape just sitting on the concrete, with no one ele in sight anywhere.
It was a nice new F/A-18 Hornet jet fighter, with its wings neatly folded and red plastic wrapping intakes and other parts, I cycled up and looked it over pretty well and then cycled off.

Conversely when I was in the service there were some ancient RF-4E's sitting on the tarmac, it was the last unit to use them… and the guard chased me away even though I was in uniform. So being a smart ass I went to the PAO (public affairs officer) spun a story about pictures for a IPMS model building article on the last unit to use the RF-4E and got all the pictures I wanted. Sometimes as a model builder I'd know more about a piece of equipment than the geek guarding it.

Then there were the guards who chased us away from the new AH-64 Apaches. On our flight home we were housed in their maintenence hanger waiting for our plane and there they were with all the panels open just screaming TAKE PICTURES OF THE SENSITVE BLACK BOXES! And you think a mechanic cares if you take a picture of sensitve equipment? Not on your life. Nowadays he'll give you his email so you can send him a copy of the picture.

Then there was the AFSOC (Air Force Special Operations Command) hush-hush stuff that got parked on the tarmac for a air show/open house. Wouldn't tell you anything about anything. So I'd tell him who he was and what his equipment was and he'd turn pale under his facepaint. "How'd you know that?" "I built models of your AC-130 and HH-60 last year and it was in the IPMS magazine model build-up review article and the Squadron UH-60 in action book"

Yeah model builders are better spies than the KGB. Want to find out about the latest military equipment? Walk into a hobby shop and buy the most recent model kit of one. The air force went crazy when Testors released the YF-19 Stealth fighter but Lockheed was laughing up a storm because it had purposely given Testors the incorrect information on how stealth would work. But another designer did the MiG-37 Ferret and they guessed a lot closer to the still top secret F-117.

Conversely when the super secret MiG-25 landed in Japan some of the first people invited on site to look at it were designers from the local big model airplane company Hasegawa. They wanted it splashed everywhere and sold to kids in hobby shops.

Posted at 5:02AM, Feb. 20, 2014

I like phantoms, the way the ends of the wings tilt up and the tail plains tilt down is such a lovely effect :)

That reminds me of when I was back in primary school- a friend of mine's dad was a professional model maker, like you. His house was valhalla, filled with detailed, beautifully painted models of every sort… I went to one of their group meetings once and won the door prize of a swordfish torpeedo bomber! :D

Anyway, when the US aircraft carriers came into port he'd get special invitations to visit and inspect stuff, ahead of the public visits, as well as trips to the air base and the navel base. All because of his being head of the model making group.
I always wondered at that wierd sort of elite status.

Posted at 6:02PM, Feb. 20, 2014

Well, the armor is actually created by an ex-Soviet scientist (old habits die hard and red is apparently a color of strength) who was killed by members of a Soviet supervillain faction who wanted the armor for themselves, but the military managed to get the armor out of his lab before they could find it. Perhaps being in a hurry the driver of the truck doesn't realize what happened to it.

As for the current wearer of the armor, they can't take it back as its computers now identify her as its permanent owner (the sensors within the armor require a specific type of person to wear it and she apparently fits that description). And any attempt to change it (and her death) will cause the armor to self destruct.

It's amazing how much stuff "professional" militaries leave outside and unsecured…

Posted at 7:02PM, Feb. 20, 2014

Speaking of military harware-
On Tuesday morning as I was crossing the road to the trainstation I saw this large, bulky tan coloured vehicle driving up, which stopped in front of me because I was at a pedestrian crossing.
It was a weird layout looking at it from the front, so I thought it was some large old crane or mining tow vehichle, till I got a closer look.

It was really pretty big. I've never seen that model of vehicle anywhere, not in real life, not in a game, not in photos or movies- The base structure seemed to be based on those new anti-mine trucks: high wheelbase, big wheels. But the upper part was all tube steel. All elaborate framework, with the driver sitting completely out in the open. As it drove away I noticed a big heavy duty mount in the centre for a heavy machine gun or grenade launcher. The driver was dressed in a blue jumpsuit, like the navy wears here as a work uniform.

At a guess I would say it was a new replacement truck for the SAS unit that's in he area. They normally use 6x6 wheel drive Landrovers that are open top like that, with framework- they're not as big a wehicle and the framework isn't as eleborate as this new one though. This thing was a beast.

Posted at 8:02PM, Feb. 20, 2014

I'm apartment hunting for the first time in my life. It's hard but also exciting!

I'm trying to find a place that will let me stay for just a month while I take a spring course, which is pretty tricky. Most people want to sublet for the entire summer so I'm getting a lot of responses like "If we can't find anyone to take it all summer we'll let you know." Which isn't very useful.

I was also hoping to find somewhere that would let me take my cat but I haven't had any luck with that so far. :(
(No worries, she'll just stay behind with my family while I'm gone. I would just be happier with her there.)