Farsong Blog-o-Matic

Packing up to head over to Whidbey Island for the weekend. I'll be in contact, just probably not blogging. There will be comicing, but no scanning till I get back to town.

It's finally summer; time to put fans in windows. It's also time to venture into the basement room of boxes (of doom). Seriously, that room's probably a fire-hazard. Or an Indiana Jones trap or something. I shut the door as soon as I grabbed the fan, and booked it back up the stairs.

(Drawn in like 20 minutes ... blargb ... I need to get back into drawing things from life — I haven't been looking for that make me go "that would make a great comic," and I need to start doing that again).

To-day was super hot, though. Hoopfest (the world's largest 3-on-3 basketball tourney) was going on downtown this weekend, and it was packed. The festivities bring something in the neighbourhood of $25 million into the city. We also need to get the A/C recharged in the family car, as it provided no relief from the heat whatsoever.


Also, saw Wall•E today. It's a story told almost entirely without words, and so uses the inherently visual medium of film to tell a story almost perfectly. I need to watch it several more times (preferably on DVD so I can pause it) to catch all the nuances of the signs and graphic design — especially in the first few minutes. You are doing yourself a disservice if you don't see this wonderful masterpiece of a movie.

I just got my MacBook's keyboard replaced this afternoon. I had ordered a new keyboard/topcase (it's all one piece, including power button, keyboard, and trackpad) when I went to replace my power supply (after it had died in an epic, sparking death), but somehow the repair shop forgot to call me to let me know the topcase had come in. There had been some reorganisation on their end, so the phonecall had been lost in the shuffle, and then I had gotten busy with finals on my end, so it took until now that I actually followed up on it.

But I have a new keyboard on my MacBook now (with no squeaky keys or cracks); it's got a new matte finish, is clean, and the keys feel fine. They're not as snappy as the old ones — feel a little mushier (but I do have a heavy hand when typing on this machine), but it's sill very new and I haven't used it much. If anything, the keyboard is a little more like the new Aluminium Apple keyboard that I detest, but it still feels different on the MacBook than on a desktop. Also of note is the fact that none of the keys are shiny, yet.

The matte finish of the unworn keys is almost sticky — it feels that way perhaps because it's hot to-day, and my fingers stick lightly to the keys. The trackpad is also somewhat granular, also not yet worn smooth, and the mouse key is slightly “clickier” than before and will take a little getting used to.

Regardless of how the keys feel, the keyboard is accurate, smooth, and new. Moreover, the new keyboard still has the num-lock, the open-apple key, and the function keys in the right place on the keyboard. The machine looks fine, and the keyboard is of Apple's usual high quality.

All the software works fine, too; no modifications necessary in software because it was simply a hardware replacement. I was very pleased with the service at Computer Business Solutions just east of Downtown (by the old Costco, and just before the Office Depot) on the south side of Third. They were friendly, quick, smart^*, and even remembered my name. I'll take my Macs to be repaired there when need be.


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* The repair tech thought that it was amusing that I had my Mac set to boot in Verbose mode. He also liked my shirt.

As per the usual, I have signed up for more classes. This happens every quarter, and the tradition has been to note the classes in this format:

Summer Quarter 2008:

• Pre-Calc II — Math 106-01 — M-F, 8:30-9:35 Kingston Hall 330

Fall Quarter 2008:

• Programming Principles I — CSCD 210-01 — M-F, 9:00-9:50 Computer Science and Engineering Building 227
• CSCD 210-01 lab — W, 8:00-9:50 CEB 207 (and I’ll have to get up early)

• Calculus I — Math 161-04 — M-F, 12:00-12:50 TBA (though, I’m assuming Kingston

• Intercultural Communication — CMST 340-01 — M, W, F, 13:00-14:20 Communications Bldg 225 (this one fulfils an “intercultural understanding” GUR thinger; it's also all the way across campus from Kingston hall; however, this is not any worse than my Kingston–CEB trek; moreover, this is merely three times per week, not daily, as it is now. I walk quickly, too.)

The amusing thing is the bureaucracy involved in getting registered. I had to go and talk with my advisor because there was a hold on my account. Evidently, the school thought I was a “First–year student” (the PC term for “Freshman” now–a–days). Both my advisor and I thought that this was a load of bollocks, mostly because I have enough credits to be a senior, being a transfer student who is clearly not in his first year of college (also: being one who fairly clearly has the classes for the next couple years mapped out).


And that, as they say, is that, mattress man.


Edit: Note, the song title is not DIVE 12" (“twelve–inch”); if it were, I’d have used a foot mark, followed by a closing quote. As it is, there is only a closing-quote. Artists’ names have plain formatting, album titles are italicised, and song titles are set off in quotes. Proper typographer’s quotes I might add. Because I’m retentive about formatting like that. There’s not enough proper formatting on the interbutt.

I'm going to hit you with bloggish philosophical ramblings:

I think I've figured it out, at least in part (and formed in part as a reaction to the fact that Weezer is releasing a new album in a couple weeks, and the fact that the last few albums have been somewhat lacklustre; but still, even then, I have high hopes for Weezer).

A problem is comparing new music to old music. I can't help it. Things like the last Weezer album. These things will always be judged based on the previous merits. I don't have to listen to anyone else to like something. I can like it because I like it, even if it's crap. I can like albums for their own sake, not because they're good (yes, I like the ones that are lauded as amazing by places like pitchfork — which shows that I have good taste — but I like other things that don't exist there. There's some amazing scum I listen to, and I need more of that.)

But I like things based on their own merits, and I need to be more self-assured of these convictions my own brain concocted. I'm also convinced that not all of the things I like might have real merit. Some of the music I like is crappy or annoying to others, but I like it. Sometimes that's because of the artistic merit of the music. Sometimes it's edgy, pushing the envelope of what's really music. Other times, it's just the repetitive, somewhat-robotic music that I find insanely dancable and gets my feet moving. Great for walking, dancing, working, background music. But in all cases, if I don't like it, I won't listen to it.

(Another funny thing about being self-assured is that I'll feel more assured about the comics I make, and might even make more).

Music is very much the product of where we are when it first moves us (I have memories of listening to the blue album's “Holiday”, and how it's tied so closely to Farsong when I first started writing it — the blue album, Pinkerton, and my junior year of High School). Perhaps I was feeling nostalgic yesterday. Not really sentimental, but I was feeling blocked in by all the things I thought were freeing as a junior and senior in High School.

This blocking-in is almost like the feeling of being trapped in one's skull. It's the feeling of becoming locked in one position in society, and I doing like it. Despite my best intentions, I feel this congealing. It's pigeonholing. It's categorisation, and I revile labels applied to me; I like doing my own thing. I fight it with every ounce I can muster, but I'm distracted.

But yesterday, I realised that I could take the position and make it what I want. That's still a little subversive. More than most.

But this idea ties in closely with the idea of liking things because I like them: it's not letting others decide what I like or what I do. I think I'm finally getting to the point that I'm comfortable enough with myself and know the things I like well enough to decide. To know. To not listen to other people.

You know, this would be called “being stubborn” if I were not the open-minded sort.

A .pdf does seem strange, but should be fine.
Liz

On 5/19/08, Steve Johnson wrote:
Professor,

Attached is the properly-formatted version of my annotated bibliography, with coversheet.

Again, thank you for being accommodating with this assignment. Please let me know if you have any issues with the PDF file.

--
Steve

She let me know she had issues with it. I’m guessing most students send Microsoft Office Word files.

I had this conversation with @nicolerae yesterday: I put things in PDF because they’re easier to open.

Back in the day (up until Office 2000/Office X, really), it was a point of fact that even files between different versions would always be formatted wrong, and sometimes would not even work.

It was even worse switching files between Macs and PCs. Classic (OS 7.6+) didn’t play well with PC-format diskettes, and the translation between a Word document and a Clarusworks Document most formatting went “poof.” And good luck if you had any font formatting.

Enter the PDF. Portable Document Format. It preserves not only formatting, but the fonts as well. Plus, the files are super-tiny, and super-fast (as long as you don’t use the Adobe Acrobat Reader — it’s bloated and slow, even on a fast multi-core system).

I was super-pleased when I switched to OSX because it offered the option of printing and saving directly to a PDF file from anywhere in the system — Safari, Word, Finder, Photoshop. Anything that hooked into the modified CUPS system implemented in OSX.

I can send a PDF to anyone, and they can open it and see it and print it, regardless of the OS they’re using. On OSX, Linux, or even Windows, my documents display properly in the right font with the right formatting. Plus, the files are light and easy to email.

I should probably note the font as well. I’ve been bouncing around between different serifed fonts, lately — between Hoefler Text and Adobe’s Pro setting of the classic Caslon — both of which are great classic serifed text fonts (ie, body text), and neither of which are available on most machines, and certainally not public computers. Now, most won’t notice the differences between Hoefler Text and Adobe Caslon Pro, let alone their difference from the default Times New Roman. It’s not a bad font, but I like the original Times better — Times New Roman being too tall and thin for my tastes. I don’t think I’ve ever liked it — and yet, everyone uses it without thinking.

I generally save the usage of sans-serifed fonts for my design and titles, using the serifed fonts for body text. I just don’t think sans-serifed text looks as good in print, though that’s more opinion than anything, and there are certainly instances where sans would be preferred to serifed. I think that serifed letters read better, though; Schliebe can attest to that, and how I agonisingly hand-serifed the letters on the signs we made for the concert. It looked good.

As serifed fonts go, though, I do love Helvetica and its whole family. Yes, the font is utterly ubiquitous in today’s world, but it’s a clean, crisp font. It reads well, and it prints well (though, it’s not a good screen font, and its leakage into interfaces needs to be stemmed — we have well-made screen fonts for that already, including Lucidia Grande and Arial, both Helvitica look-alikes that look good on the last 15 years’ displays).


Edit: I forgot the entire reason why I started rambling about this: I sent the professor a PDF because I formatted the paper in InDesign, because Word was bothering me. Since it’s in InDesign, I can't exactly send the professor a simple text file.

And it reminds me: the current state of files these days is like that 15 years ago: just after we thought that Word Document files would work everywhere, Office goes and makes a new version with their “open document format” that only MS Office reads, and only the newest version. It makes life hard again, because unless you have the latest version of the software to read and write, the files are extremely hard to parse for their content.

And now Windows users with old versions of Office know what it was like to be a Mac user a decade ago.

Fifteen-minute sketchcomics. On notecards.



My group totally owned the presentation. I had about fourteen notecards with points (the powerpoint had only three slides with quotes for me, and I actually referenced it only once, having it show different things than I was explaining). I didn't read the first half of the notecards and ended up tossing the last for or five on the table as I was talking. Apparently, I did so in a manner as if I were disgusted with said notecards.

The speech in the bubbles is actually apropos of nothing.

I should also add that the MacBook is awesome when I can control PowerPoints with its little remote-control.


I need to get a new Molskine notebook. And a new, 8.5" by 11" spiral-bound sketchbook. And some markers or something.

Inland Northwest Multimedia User Group

Attended a presentation about typography this evening, over at the Riverpoint campus in the U–district, invited by a member and classmate. It’s one of those subjects I find fascinating, especially since it’s all around us — and making things look good is as important as making sure they work well.

I’m going to be paying closer attention to web typography now.

Here are the haps, my friends:

Monday:
• Left my cell phone on the bus. Freak out for about ten minutes, then fret for another twenty before meeting the bus on its way back and claiming said phone from the driver.
• Noted that the laptop-end of the AC/DC adapter/power supply was unusually warm, and more kinked than remembered. Also: kind of melty.

Tuesday:
• Noted that the kink in the wire, where it enters the laptop plug, was not just warm, but more hot and melty. Predicted failure the next day.
• Noted that the topcase (keyboard, trackpad, and palmrest) has cracked more. Decide to look into repair, Friday, after presentation for which laptop is needed.

Wednesday:
• Woke up to find that the laptop-side plug was behaving erratically, 12h ahead of schedule at least. Decide to wait until Thursday afternoon to see about replacing it, and steal borrow father's MacBook Pro's power supply if needed. Disconnect laptop and take it with.
• Return with a 30% charge, plug in the laptop, dick around on the internet for a few minutes before noting "OH SHIT IT'S SPARKING AND SMOKING!" Quickly unplug it, grab a MacBook Pro adapter, and inspect the plug. Large holes in the plastic sheath. Welp, looks like it's time to replace it.
• Go find local apple-care place. Get replacement power supply, get topcase ordered, chat about how the topcase replacement will take 30 min tops, and about how it's a pain to open iBooks. Will return Friday to replace the topcase when it comes in. Leave with shiny, new power supply which should not have the design flaws of the Rev b Magsafe power adapters.


Basically, that's as bad as it gets for me + tech. I mention it not because I'm complaining, but because I find life really amusing. If it's software, I can usually fix it.

I didn't realise how long it would actually take to draw/ink/scan six-and-a-half-pages of comics.

This would have taken entirely less time if I had a faster scanner and faster hardware to render the pages. However, I like the way that my scanner works, and how it works with SANE. I do, however, need a new Wacom tablet.


It seems that my style has been influenced by:

Bryan Lee O'Malley
Ryan Estrada: ryanestrada
Mark Smith & Paul Maybury
Mitch Clem: rainofbastards
Calvin


I should probably also mention that this is my first all-nighter ever. Never made it all the way through before, and I can't stop now that it's after 5. That's <2 h sleep, and I can't do that.

Two new albums to-day:

Envelopes — Here Comes The Wind
A little bit Architecture in Helsinki, a little bit Firey Furnaces, a little bit Ima Robot, a little bit Broken Social Scene, and a little bit B-52's.

Excellent little Swedish indie-pop band. Each song is different, but they actually fit together as a whole. This is on this year's The List*.


Don't Stop: Recording Tap
Funk/dance/disco/pre-rap beat poetry. Good stuff.


Now, I'm sitting here drawing things, and have been for hours. I'll post the completed comic later, but this week is busy. It's seriously the cheesiest thing I've ever drawn. I just realised a few minutes ago that I need to keep all the micron pens in order, otherwise I'll go insane because I can't find the nib/tip size micron pen I need.

Also, this inking 6 pages of comics business goes slower than I anticipated. I don't think I've actually ever done this many full pages before. Fortunately, I can devote all my time till Thursday on this project as a whole (the comic is a small part of the overall presentation); then it'll be smooth sailing for the most of the semester.

I'm totally strung out on Dr Pepper and sour cream and onion Sun Chips right now. I neglected to get the Nutter Butters, but I think I can survive.

I just realised that this is the first real "24-hour-comic" style thing I've ever done. I need to do more of those.


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* dragon is too lazy to look up The List (of albums for the year). Click the "music" tag and find it maybe. Last year's is probably towards 31-Dec-2007 or 1-Jan-2008.

More amusing things about twitter.

Frankly, I'm obsessed with it. It helps me not deal with real life problems.

It has been an ever increasing series of this:


Not bad, just terribly amusing.

This stuff is almost like poetry in its odd grammar and such:

NOTICE:
• Do not keep it in a hot and humid place
• Avoid direct sunshine
• Avoid liquid in
• Do not touch the metal parts
• Prevent in from being heavily squeezed
• Twisting the cable is prohibited
• Be sure not to disassemble the body

Anyway, I'm busy working on things. Drawing a comic about NAFTA for class. Busy all weekend.

So there's this meme going around where you draw yourself as a teenybopper. So I did.


2002 (my sophomore year) wasn't that long ago, but it feels like it was forever-ago that I was 16. At least by this time I had lost the strap that I had for my glasses. There's also a reason I don't draw myself with glasses.

It would still be a year from this point until I found the internet, Rock-n'-roll, writing, my laptop, and dragons.


Also, I still have both the birks (never out-of-fashion, never in-fashion), and the shorts. Seriously, they're like the only pair of awesome, comfortable shorts I've ever been able to find.

Edited: Colored.

So, I mislaid my blue pencil*. It was probably lost on the bus taken as tribute by the bus demons**. That's at least two useful things claimed by the bus demons, and that's probably more like three.

( I spent far too long searching for it to no avail )

Of course, after searching for it for more than a half hour, I realised — much to my own chagrin — that I spent more time than my time clocked at minimum wage would be worth to pay for the pencil + its blue leads.

The thing that irks me is that, inevitably after I purchase more leads*** I'll find the missing pencil.

Invariably.


Fortunately, the act of drawing is cathartic. Then again, so is House music.



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* It makes dropping pencil lines in scanning many times easier.
** I need to draw these fellows
*** And probably a new pencil as well. Probably a nicer drafting pencil — and at the very least, a different-enough drafting pencil so I can tell the one with the blue leads apart from my regular pencils. The lost pencil that I used with blue leads had a blue sticker on the end to mark it. It might be nice to get one that looks or feels somewhat different. However, I really do swear by these little Pentel P205 pencils — for the same reasons I'm a geek for Pilot Precise V5 Rolling Ball pens and the IBM Model-M.

Just a reminder that Public Transit is not always Sunshine and Pancakes.

In the future, I'm going to stick with the spiral-bound kind.

I've been listening to M83's new album, Saturdays = Youth almost continuously since last night, and I love it. It's exactly like what I was looking for seven years ago when I started watching 80s movies and listening to more than just Jazz. It's full of detached and sometimes buzzing synth, and it's big. It's M83. It's the 80s if they happened two decades later, full of quiet utterances of darkness in major keys. It's a view of the black and white of teenage years, filtered through the never-absolute greys of adulthood.

It's M83, without a doubt. It's one of those albums that I can sit and listen to repeatedly, all the way through. Yes, there are some tracks I love more than others, but it's a whole thing; an album, and it's genuine.

The track “Graveyard Girl”: