prototype killswitch

House of Wolves

2009-07-13T03:28:58Z

Okay, so I finally got off my arse and did another drawing, yay! This one is of a slightly higher quality than the last, because it's not an oekaki for once (*gasp*), it's done in photoshop and painter.

I'm quite happy with it, althought it could use some more development in the face, and maybe, gee I don't know, some actual detail in his clothes?

But um, anyway, this was for the lovely saint_sorrows and was inspired by her lovely story Where the Animals Go. <3

Why is he lit from below in a forest? WHO KNOWS? My current theory is there is a hench-person of some description beneath him with a flashlight. ~~Shut up.~~

Also I took screenshots as I went, so if people are interested, I can put up a WIP to show how it evolved. It's pretty funny. Y/N? edit: here is a WIP.

Also also, dragonwhishes, you're up next - I'm so sorry, I have been the hugest slacker on the face of the earth drawing for you - I've been so ridiculously exhausted. Would you still like the drawing of your girl reading, or would you like to change ideas?

"Total eclipse of the heeeeart..."

2009-06-19T08:04:29Z

Workplace advice from the Fashion Director:

"If you're going to sing, you have to do it loudly."

This should tell you something about my workplace.

Just quietly...

2009-06-16T07:59:03Z

...spray adhesive is evil.

I don't think 'evil' actually adequately conveys the strength of the horrible and disgusting feeling of sticking to things very faintly for hours after you use it.

It's just not right.

Curiouser and curiouser...

2009-06-08T14:15:31Z

For some reason right now I look like a greasy, creepy delinquent who stayed inside for all of the long weekend to play video games.

I WONDER WHY?

Okay, I did go out on Saturday to see an apartment and a zombie film with nazi zombies in it, but my point still stands.

brrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiinssss.....

2009-06-02T12:11:48Z

At work, in front of a bad print-out of a picture of a girl which hadn't yet been colour-corrected:

Art Director: "She looks like something out of Resident Evil II."
Production Manager: "Are you going to fix her?"
Art Director: "Of course not. The zombie look is in this season."

For some weird reason, I've been having lots of conversations about zombies lately. I've decided they must have slowly become the new topic du jour or something...

I met a friend's new firefighter boyfriend, and when I commented his fire station was giving me flashbacks to Quarantine, it started an epic conversation about the merits of old vs new zombies.

And at a friend's birthday party, there was an odd side-track of a large group of people into an hour-long discussion of various zombie-related topics, including how we'd improve the so-called "zombie walks", which somehow ended up suggesting staging full-scale military actions in the city.

I decided that people love talking about zombies because they're one of the few traditional enemies that don't require brute strangth to fight. People like to talk about strategy, or technique, or whatever... thus they appeal to everyone, because a la Sean of The Dead, white-shirted cubicle-dwellers can take them down just as easily as anyone else. Nerds love that shit, don't we?

Also, World War Z is an absolutely excellent book.

The Saga is finally complete

2009-05-24T13:40:13Z

For all of you who've been wondering what on earth happened to our pink squawky resident...

We managed to find a home for her with someone from a wildlife organisation - really awesome guy with a kind of raspy whiskey voice and a gigantic aviary in the bushland. His older parrot just shuffled off this mortal coil (I even thought that in a John Cleese kind of voice, forgive me!), and so he was really happy to have a new bird around the place. I think he's meant to re-home the wildlife he finds, but he was so keen on keeping her.

He sent me some pics this week, and it all looks super-awesome. I mean, there's always the outside chance that you're the unlucky one who got the bird psychopath, however good your research on them and their wildlife refuge, but the pics put my mind at rest. Poor thing'll have to wait for her next moult to fly, but she looks really happy, and look, she has outdoor friends, so MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. YAY.

We will now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

awk redux

2009-04-25T02:04:40Z

Okay - turns out he's a pet that my sister rescued from an irresponsible owner who didn't want him any more (which wasn't entirely her fault - he was an unexpected present for her, too. Poor bird!).

I can tell he needs better care taken of him - his cage is far too small, and I don't know if he's been well socialised or anything (hyper emo bird!). We're taking him to the bird vet this week to get checked out, and to be talked through the responsibilities of owning, if she decides she wants to keep him.

Argh.

He's so beautiful, but parrots are a lot of work - they need money, time and care and a lot of love (and patience with bird poo on everything). We don't know if we can take care of him properly, so I'm hoping she'll be happy to let me take him to a good refuge. *sigh* Especially as my sister said "I wish he wasn't clipped so I could just let him go," which resulted in me clapping my hands to my face in a kind of horrified gesture and going, "noooooooooo!"

Poor birdie. He's adorable... see?

awk!

2009-04-24T15:10:13Z

There is a galah in my living room.

I'm a little baffled. I only noticed the bird cage after I'd been home a while - I lifted the cover expecting a budgie or at most a cockatiel or something, and was really startled when I came eye to eye with a giant pink bird. My sister has obviously aquired it somehow, but she's not awake so I can't find out what on earth is going on. I'm guessing it's on loan only... I adore birds but we're not exactly set up to take care of something like this long-term - we're rather lacking in the aviary department.

It's in a small cage for its size, although it looks very healthy - I have no idea if it's injured wildlife or a pet. I'm so very very curious - why do we have a random parrot?! There must be a story behind this. I hope it's just being rehabilitated, because it's a beautiful bird, but I've always felt pretty bad about large parrots in captivity - it seems unfair to me.

Does anyone else ever come home to surprise exotic pets, or am I just lucky...?

twitter-o-matic

2009-04-21T14:02:50Z

22:53 There's something perversely fun about watching Lara Croft smack headfirst into walls when I mess up the cut-scene button-pressing sequence. #

Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter

standing eight feet tall

2009-03-30T09:00:05Z

"Highlights" of the job...

When a gigantic runway model casting turns walking your hallway into a frightening gauntlet run past roughly thirty, seven(ty) foot tall, bizarrely gorgeous women.

The whole office spent the morning grumpily joking about feeling short, fat and ugly.

Funnily, at one point I beat a model around the corner as she was called to be seen by the fashion team. They looked very slightly surprised, but with a straight face asked me to turn around, pose, and stand up at the wall to take photos. I just posed with my cup of tea, then kept walking... I love our fashion team.

Staaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand and deliver!

2009-03-15T10:03:34Z

1 hr 30 mins oekaki, my first in practically FOREVER, so out of practice!

I would like to be a dandy highwayman. Is there a training school? Are they accepting new recruits? Pls advise.

I've been contemplating office slang lately, and how much I've picked up. I'm now prone to saying that things are "super cute", which is art department slang. From the fashion team, I've gained the tendency to talk about things in the singular - "a tapered pant", or "a leather flat". And I thought this made sense, but I confused a number of people by relating the compliment I'd gotten, which was that I was looking very on-trend that day. That makes sense though, right... right?

Things like that always make me think of medical slang, which is mainly for the black-humoured...

Also randomly, does anyone out there use a Blackberry? Whassit like? I was vaguely considering getting the Bold (3G and thus not hideously slow internets), but do people have any general complaints about them that I should take into account before I decide to get one? I've read reviews, but I was just curious. Thaaaaaanks!

KNIFEGUN

2009-03-03T12:39:24Z

Gun... Eyes... Guneyes.

What on earth is wrong with all of us? Also just a note in passing, apparently this hurts a lot.

splish splosh

2009-02-17T11:54:26Z

Today my boot heel broke at work, on my favourite pair of boots. One of the fashion girls took pity on me and lent me a pair of (probably) fashionable gumboots, and we talked about how we both love wearing gumboots to work and splashing in puddles.

I walked through every puddle I could find on my way home. I wish I didn't have to give them back tomorrow...

I'm trying to do more sketching now, and worrying less about quality. Although obviously this is like, well quick and well sketchy. :( But hopefully more to come?

Does my bum look big in this?

2009-02-05T10:31:20Z

I was reading the relationship advice page in our local free newspaper, and I came across advice for men on what to say when your partner asks, "Does my bum look big in this?". I come across this all the time when I read these kind of pages (shut up, I find them kind of funny...).

Seriously, does any woman actually ask this question at all?

Ever?

Is this some kind of urban myth, or is there a huge cadre of women out there who like asking kind of self-sabotaging questions? Or is it just a generalisation that represents any scary question girls ask?

I mean, I've asked if an outfit works, which pair of shoes is better, if my scarf looks odd or whatever - although unless I look either like a complete idiot, or fluke really hot, I tend to just get a smile and a "You look good!", which is totes cool. I'm generally happy with whatever honest answer I get (eg. "That scarf is a bit over the top, you know..." Sadly, he was right, even though I secretly kind of loved that it was over the top).

I'm really curious, though - what questions do guys actually get asked that really piss them off? Have you ever been asked the bum question? Are there any women who've asked about their bum...?

Also, iodinesoup tagged me for a meme, but my brain is cheese right now. But I shall attempt it later!

amongst all the inaugurating

2009-01-21T11:50:12Z

Overheard on the train this morning...

Some Guy: "...I thought you said you weren't eating?"
Some Girl: "I am! I mean, I wasn't, but I started again..."

On a theme that's somewhat both related and unrelated (and stolen from wredwrat)...

Oh lols, 1938... ugh. (☝ﾟ∀ﾟ)☝

art and zombies

2008-12-18T11:03:20Z

Selected Quotes From My Work:
"He wants to be a starburst, but he is only a drop shadow...."

"There's juice on the table and it's called Nathan."*

"Labradors are not dogs, they are gifts from the heavens"

and my favourite...
"What have I done with my valium?! I'm going to have a nervous breakdown!!!"

Also, someone has decided to start a kind of gaming + fashion + lifestyle magazine - it's called Amusement and there's a link to a heap of stuff on it. It's pretty much as if they've reached into my brain, swirled around my current interests a bit and pulled a magazine out. I MUST HAVE A SUBSCRIPTION IMMEDIATELY IF NOT SOONER! ;_;

Speaking of culture - zombies. Has anyone else seen Quarantine? I enjoyed it immensely, despite my general cynicism towards 'shaky camera' work - this is the best I've ever seen it used. It's not life-changing, but I really, really enjoyed it as an excellent example of the zombie and more old-skool horror film genre.

I think the next challenge for the zombie movie industry is to use slow zombies again. I think it's more of a challenge than using zoombies**.

*Nate, you may be interested to hear that Nudie juices are running a competition called 'Win a date with Nate'...
**Yes, you may hurt me for that one...

not dead yet!

2008-12-08T11:31:30Z

I went past this on the way home.

Culture jamming feels a little old-ish to me somehow (isn't that weird? I guess when advertising brands started trying to make their own stuff look culture-jammed on purpose it all got a little sad), but I still like that people are doing it occasionally.

In other news, apparently last week was cursed, because every single shoot we had was rained out. We got rained out in places that supposedly hadn't seen rain for years. We had journalists and photographers who were rained out and flooded out in a desert. Our photo editor (who organises the shoots) nearly had a nervous breakdown. I only escaped because my shoot was indoors, and I was still terrified a pipe would burst and flood the whole building.

Apart from that... um... maybe I need to post more. I'm sure I had more to say, but right now I really need to play Fallout 3.

ps: does anyone else remember 'Dakota' by The Stereophonics? I can't believe this song isn't from the 80s somehow. It's tachikoma's favourite karaoke song. [/apropos of nothing]

the recovery position

2008-11-14T11:37:36Z

Yeah, I have no idea. It's not quite the recovery position either, shhhhh....

Randomly, I'm worried I might be becoming a little more of a fashion nerd. It's vaguely embarrassing because it's not as though I actually need more things to be a nerd about. I've already got books, the internet, games, design and technology sorted... don't worry, though, if I ever start buying like, gold Fendi fur coats rather than a PS3, I have friends I can trust to shoot me.

But yes, I got excited today because one of the fashion editors put me in contact with a designer so that I could buy the sample of a dress of theirs. Samples are the cheaper and possibly slightly dodgier versions of a garment that are made before it goes into production, I believe?

But anyway, the dress is a ridiculously obnoxiously orange and blue and black checked thing, and everyone will probably be horrified but I love it. YAY. You guys will seriously laugh, it'll be awesome.

fish and high drama

2008-10-18T12:19:30Z

I've never been so angry at a fish before.

When my sister went overseas, she left me with her tropical fish. Her friend was supposed to come and relieve me of them, but after a bad day at work (he got held up in an armed robbery), he kind of forgot, so I've been left with them for months.

They're been fine so far, but this morning when I was about to leave, I noticed a little guppy who was looking worse for wear. All the rest of the fish were healthy, shiny, and perky, but this one looked like it was about to die on the spot, or explode, or turn zombie or something.

I thought it would be a bad idea to leave him in there - if he died while I was gone for the weekend, he could poison the rest of the fish (right...?). I called a few friends to figure out the ethical ramifications of flushing fish vs leaving them in a bowl by themselves to die. I felt horrible.

I finally put in a panicked call to mum, and she told me he sounded like he had fin rot. I should quarantine him in our old, smaller fish bowl, treat him with fish medicine, and treat the rest of the tank for good measure. Yes, he was probably going to die, but I should make a valiant effort to save him anyway.

While I was talking to mum, I grabbed his new home, a medium-sized glass fish bowl, and started washing the dust out of it in the sink. When I was done, I tried to pick it up the wrong way, or maybe it was just old - anyway, the side shattered in my hand.

So now on top of the fish, I had a sliced up hand and my mother on the phone freaking out because told her I had to go so I could fix my hand. I'm pretty lucky - nothing major, just a lot of blood. I probably would have thrown the fish out the window if he'd injured my right hand badly...

Once I bandaged myself up, I found a substitute bowl (hurrah for old glass fruit bowls!), and went looking for the fish so I could set him up in quarantine.

The little bastard must have heard me talking about killing him. I couldn't find him anywhere. For the last twenty minutes he'd stayed in one spot - now he'd magically turned ninja.

I had to semi-dismantle the aquarium interior to find him - he'd tucked himself under a leaf on our largest plant.

So finally I got him sorted, fed, medicated (bonus - the medicine is bright green and stains your hands!), with plants etc etc etc, got the other tank vacuumed, my hand repaired, and the rest of the fish medicated, an hour or two after I'd planned on leaving.

I feel bad being angry at a dying fish. Ben will check on him this evening and let me know if he's recovered or not... I'll keep a close eye on the tank, too. In conclusion: ARGH.

model, module

2008-10-11T06:05:53Z

Current favourite workplace slang:

Using 'module' instead of 'model'.

As in, people at work actually say things like, "Ugh, look at that fashion shoot - that's not a very pretty module." Or, "Did you watch America's Next Top Module last night?"

I like it because it makes me think of sticking them together like some kind of lego set to create a giant and terrible robot monster that looks really really good in tight jeans.

ps sorry to everyone who I should be doing art for - have been flattened by freelance illustration job of doom, yeargh... ;_;

ham

2008-09-09T12:47:13Z

Scenes From My House
(upon trying to cook frankfurts and having to call someone's mum for help (shut up, we're useless!)

Ben: "...I wasn't going to eat 5-day-old ham, I was just asking..."

vnvnvnvnvnvnvnvnvnvnvnv

2008-09-02T13:43:23Z

It's colder than before
The seasons took all they had come for
Now winter dances here
It seems so fitting don't you think?
To dress the ground in white and grey

Moments lost though time remains
I am so proud of what we were
No pain remains, no feeling
Eternity awaits

Drawn whilst listening to 'Beloved' by VNV Nation on constant repeat hello lyrics. I am in love with them right now, possibly because it makes me feel like I'm mainlining 10 years ago, which amuses me. Yay cheese!

I know I owe people art, but I'm just trying to get back into the groove so as to not do a horrible job on said art... erk. This was just an experiment. Can you say, "I found a new brush that everyone else already knew about in photoshop"?

ololololo

2008-07-17T12:34:24Z

Haha I wish I looked this cool. But I think right now I'm pretty happy, and pretty blessed. Also, trying to slowwwwly ease back into drawing ~~with very very stereotypical cute stuff, yes I know she has Junko Mizuno feets, dammit...shut up~~. yay?

Hey now, hey now-now...

2008-06-21T03:13:43Z

Right now I am bashing my head against Word trying to do page layout like I'm in InDesign, and listening to This Corrosion.

Somehow the song makes it just vaguely bearable, even though using Word is more painful than a heated spike in the eye.

;_;

I miss all my Sisters CDs - I've been wallowing in nostalgia but I can't find all my cds, OH ANGST. Hand, nail, forehead.

Siren Voices

2008-05-28T13:06:22Z

Woof...?

I'm sure you'll all be absolutely ecstatic to know my ambulance blog addiction is going along fine. I can't remember if I ever pimped Spence K's Siren Voices here - but if so, uh, well, it's getting pimped again, dammit. THIS CONNECTS TO THE PUPPIES SOMEHOW (and not badly, I promise), JUST BE PATIENT (blol, patient...do you see what I did there?).

I tend to think of Siren Voices as the literary ambulance blog, because it's written more like bits of a novel than like a blog. Very descriptive and lyrical - actually, I wish it were a book I could physically sit down with, it really has that feel to it. I always enjoy reading it, anyway, go look at it and see.

So, the puppies! I commented on Spence's blog, and he came to say hi over here, and a creative trade was suggested. He wrote a great poem inspired by my creepy dolls (which I'll link if he doesn't mind...?), and I drew some pics of what I imagine his dog to look like. They most likely don't look anything at ALL like his dog, but hopefully they both look like black and tan terriers, which is what I was going for. Concrit if you wish, as always, and remember - Cute Overload makes absolutely anything better.