Preview of PGzine 1:12 PM

2 Big Shows! 2:44 PM

And I'm still not sure where we'll be doing this. But hey, don't that flier look nice? Golden!

Vector Dump 12:50 PM

Did some inking and scanning last night. Inkscape does a really good job tracing bitmaps, so I'm cleaning up the vectors for miffysgotagun right now. Looks pretty good, too.

And I'm not even trying anymore 12:52 PM

What's the point? 12:15 PM

Useless. That's me.

The way things are going I think I'm gonna phone it in at AnimeFEST. I'll just run Gavv's FanimeCon discs and leave it at that. Why work so hard for this kind of abuse? Yeah, that's about the size of it. That's where I'm at.

Another animation loop 9:03 PM

Click to Play

Monkey!  Monkey!  Monkey!

A weird little thing 12:26 PM

Click to Play

Trying to master this flash animation thing.  Weird.

blip.tv 11:50 AM

I need to use my blip.tv page more. It works quite well with the flash animations. More of that as I can.

Got the EZScreen screen printing kit today. Maybe I can get it working over the weekend. Have to pick up some new screen printing ink for it. But It looks like it could work pretty well for what I have in mind. That is printing on stuff like panties and the like.

Papercuts 9:11 AM

Click To Play

It's tougher then I thought. I guess it's easier to make papercraft on paper then in computer. At least that's what I'm finding. Cut and fold!!!

And glue, too.

I'm probably doing something wrong with Inkscape, but I'm thinking I can redraw everything and make it work, somehow.

Papertoys and such 10:13 AM

I've got an idea for a papercraft thingy for the AnimeFEST OtakuHELL show. It's something that I'll admit was inspired by the Speakerdog designs. But I'm hoping that it's different enough that It can be something for the show. I'm building it in Inkscape, I think. I've already done a few sketches, so I think it should work.

More later...

Another Tuesday 11:05 AM

Did some inking last night. Had to add ink to the brush pens. Now I'm almost out of ink. What the heck happened to all that ink I bought? I thought I had a big ass bottle of it somewhere. Of course that was 4 moves ago, it could be anywhere in any box somewhere. I really need to go through those boxes and throw all that shit out. Really. How many years has it been? Crap.

Thinking about the AnimeFEST flyers, which means I'm early for once. Thinking about papercraft dolls/toys for the graphic. Think It could be a good idea. Thinking some more. Monkey or Robot? Or Heino? Or maybe something else?

Password blues 11:56 AM

Last week it was trying to remember the password for the animehell myspace account. This week it's the password and account for the lycos htmlgear eventsgear. Passwords that were saved on the old accounting dell, but now lost. Since I scrubbed the harddrive. ugh.

Cool, wanna do this.

Make my own PSA 10:54 AM

Strange how all these projects just start coming to me lately. Yeah, I'm thinking about doing a coffee table book and working on the HELL Nurse Katie pages and then I think about turning this old saw into a PSA. And why not? I could put this together with flash and some bits edited from the Prelinger Archives and make a quick audio track and slap dash it's....a lot of work isn't it? Eh. Why not? I'm a sucker for this kind of crap anyway.

Sleeping somewhere else 12:34 PM

Housesitting for Ms.Echo. Had some trouble sleeping last night. It was too quiet. Never thought that'd be a problem.

Focus people 9:00 AM

No wonder I can't get anything done. I'm too damn lazy to actually finish anything! I suck.

Testing my PSP camera 9:14 PM

Click to Play

Testing out my new PSP camera's video capabilities...

The OtakuHELL Project 8:38 AM

Find the time and get something done.

Of all the projects that have suddenly demanded my attention the OtakuHELL DVD project has come up, again. I just really need to get the damn equipment and sit everybody down and finish the damn thing. If I can't find the contact mics I'll just have to buy some new ones.

The only advantage of waiting so long is that I can now use my laptop as a recording device to record the sessions. With the mixing board and the contact mics I'll be able to get a good recording. I'm hoping. There's only so much money I can throw at this project. But I've gotten halfway done, it's time to finish the job.

I'm make a disc of all the shorts and we'll schedule a time for everybody to sit down and riff on it. And I've got a good idea of what I'll put on that disc.

UPDATE: Ordered a couple lapel microphones from Amazon, should be here by the end of the week. I'll stop by Radio Shack and see what they've got, too. Next step? Make the disc and talk to everybody about recording time.

AnimeFest 2007 1:35 PM

Where am I? 9:46 AM

I'm not from around here. So my sense of direction is pretty limited. When somebody starts talking about Grand Prairie or Garland I really have no idea where that is. I know where Dallas is and I know where Fort Worth is. And I know that Arlington is between those two cities. and I know the DFW Airport is also between those two cities. Beyond that, I'm lost...

AC is fixed 11:21 AM

Took my time, but I really needed it now. Summer has returned to Texas and it's the plunder of the sun time. Hotter then sin...

My favorite moment on the trip to Houston was when Bruce and Josh broke out into song:

I love those guys.

Showtime 11:45 AM

Although the show didn't start until 10pm I was playing kung fu trailers and a countdown intermission reel leading into the show. Which worked out for all the people who showed up expecting the show to start at 9pm. I'm glad I had that intermission reel set up the night before.

This was the first show I'd done with two working DVD players. It worked much MUCH better then one DVD player. Very little to no lag time, I think I showed more clips then I did at A-Kon's show. And I didn't go to the OtakuHELL dot com loop like the older shows. Only when I needed to make a comment or stop and throw some candy.

It turned out that the girl running the soundboard for us was gonna run YaoiFEST after we finished the show, and she was a real pro. I wish I'd gotten her name. I'll have to ask AtsuiCon. Out of respect for her and her hard work I ended the show a few minutes early so we could pack up and get out of the way. That and I was really REALLY tired at that point.

Of course everybody wanted to go to the greenroom and party and hangout. As tired as I was I decided to go. But after sitting down for awhile fatigue set in. And I had to bow out and crash. And I crashed hard. I didn't even notice when the kids got back to the room.

Sunday was the Charity Auction. So I got up around 9am and showered and started the day in the greenroom with a strip of bacon and a plate of scrambled eggs. But I was a bit worried about getting out of the room in time. And we sorta made it out, eventually. We had the Caravan loaded by noon-thirty. By then Michael was working the Auction. 2pm we grabbed Michael and hit the road. We stopped at BABINS for supper and then Michael took over driving the Caravan back home.

And that was the trip.

Neko Case 12:39 PM

More Houston 9:30 AM

The road trip to Houston was fun. We had Josh's video iPod plugged into his FM transmitter and we got good tunes from his vast CD library to carry us through. With a few bathroom stops at the DQ we charted a course straight through the middle of Houston to SPECS Superstore! Yeah, we got lost and had to call SPECS for directions. BUT WE MADE IT THERE! And we got some snackage and liquor for the night. Then we turned around and headed back to the con hotel. Yeah, we got lost and had to call the hotel for directions. But we made it there.

And that's when the trouble begain.

I'd been told to go straight to the front desk and get the room. So I did just that. I said, "I'm with AtsuiCon," and told 'em my name and they got a little odd behind the front desk. "Your room had been reserved since Thursday but since you didn't check in the room had to be released. If you like you can check in to your room for $90." I told the guy he was really funny and called the con guest relations head.

"There's a problem," she tells me. I tell her I already knew. "Come up to the Green Room and we'll explain it to you," she sez. We have no choice but to go to the Green Room.

So, we lug our luggage to the Green Room. There we hear the official word that they're out of money. If they don't come up with 12 grand the hotel will shut them down. So while the con asks for donations to keep the show going we're told to wait. And that's what I did. For hours. I really wanted to take a nap or take a bath or something but instead I sat in the Green Room. Bruce and Michael headed off to be in the BECK panel and Josh went around and took some pictures and Katie hung out in the Green Room and I had just finished driving like 5 hours and was really really tired with no where to crash.

And I didn't blame the con, it was their first year and they over estimated the number of folks who came to the con and they were dealing with it the best way they could. In fact I think they handled it better then most first year cons would have. They faced up and asked for help and the fans stepped up and helped out. It didn't bother me if I did a HELLshow or not. I just really needed a nap.

So, by the time they herded all the guests into Panel Room One I was mister cranky pants. They'd made their goal and the con was saved. But we still didn't have a room to sleep in.

By this time it was close to the scheduled start of OtakuHELL. So I go and get the gear and bring it back to the Panel Room. Everybody is still waiting for the Con Chair to come back or something. I guess I wasn't clear on the subject. Eventually I'm told that everything has been pushed back an hour. So, now HELL starts at 10pm. But they want me to set up to see if everything works. And so I set up and I'm ready to go by 9pm. Yeah.

Somewhere during this we get our room. I get the keys and start passing 'em out to everybody. Bruce and Josh and Michael show up with the cooler and we start moving chairs and letting people into the room. I start the intermission disc and we count down the minutes until showtime. Everybody got into that.

Next: Showtime.

Houston...Houston 10:16 AM

What a weekend. Where to start? What the heck?

Woke up Saturday morning and finished packing for the show. I'm running early. So I figure I'd just head over to Bruce and Mundee's and pick up Bruce and Katie and then over to Joshua's to get Josh and Michael.

I turn on my phone and there's a voice message from Michael. There's word that AtsuiCon is in financial straits. Heck, there may not even be a con there when we get there. Then the phone rings and it's Josh, I tell him I'm heading over. But first I stop to get Bruce and Katie.

Bruce and Katie aren't even up yet. So, I go to Josh's and talk to the guys. Michael tells me what he heard at Funi while recording on Friday. I think about it. I tell them that I'm already into this venture to the tune of $250 and I think we should just go to Houston and see what happens. If there's no con we'll have our own fun. It's a good excuse to get out of town.

So, we pack up and head over to get Bruce and Katie. This is, of course, like herding cats. But eventually we get them into the Caravan, then it's back to get Michael and we're off....

To be continued...

HELLsquared 10:03 AM

Minivan aquired 1:06 PM

Got the transportation for the trip to Houston. It's only gonna set me back $250. And there's the deal with giving a credit card to the Hotel. sigh. It costs a lot to do this stuff. No wonder I only do this a couple times a year...

So, it works after all 1:53 PM

Yeah, it's all beat to hell, but that Toshiba DVD player does what I wanted it to do. Which was simply play DIVX files. I threw in a few archived discs and they played wonderfully. Found out that my NANA files are all but crap, need to replace 'em. Turns out that the Toshiba has really good speakers, too. But there's no region hack for it. Still, being able to play AVIs is worth the hassles. And playing from SD memory cards is another bit of coolness that could be useful in future HELLshows.

Getting a Minivan for the trip to Houston has turned out to be a real pain. We'll have to go pick it up at the Airport tomorrow morning after 9am. I hope Bruce is free. Or maybe I'll ask Ms. Echo. Turns out that all the close RACs are sold out any Minivanage for the near future. Something to do with everybody wanting to go on summer vacation before school starts up again or some such b.s. Makes it tough on me.

lolHELLz 12:05 PM

IMG_5088
Originally uploaded by tohoscope

Remember to pick up panties for Saturday's show....

Burned again 9:41 AM

It's a crap shoot when you order refurbished electronics. Sometimes you get something as good as new. And then there's times like now where it just looks like they reboxed a return without even looking at it.

Yeah, I finally got that refurbed Toshiba portable DVD player, and it's hashed to hell. Tool marks on the case of the battery, missing feet, adhesive gum all over the spot where the feet are gone. One pair of headphones crushed and jammed into the box like an after thought. Yeah, really freaking nice. Should I return it? What? And wait for it to sit in a warehouse for another week before I get it back. Maybe a month later? Nope. Time to just let it go. I just need to let it all go and mark it up to another freakin' loss.

No idea if it even works. I don't have a disk on hand to try it out with.