Of Fish and Tarts

For those of you who may not know, SequentialTart.com is an online news service and editorial column that promotes itself as "working towards raising the awareness of women's influence in the comics industry and other realms".

I hardly read them… if ever. Usually because the substance of their articles consists of things like how the Wonder Woman of the late 60's was depowered longer than the Superman of the late 90's. [*]

Occasionally though, I will hold out hope that maybe they have gotten better and my next visit won't be as bad as I last remembered it. Sadly, my trip there yesterday was not that day.

What was it that I found? Well, I’m going to warn you. It’s really stupid. And strangely enough, had nothing to do with feminism or comics. I guess it fell in that “other realms” category.

The reviewer apparently took a trip to a Red Lobster and was disappointed that it wasn't a five star meal.

Think about that for a moment.

This person actually wrote a “snotty, food-critic” review, on a comics site, to share the brilliant discovery that Red Lobster is a run-of-the-mill fish house.

Unless you've been living in the jungle for the last twenty years (or have never heard their jingle) you know that Red Lobster is NOT a high class restaurant.
Will you get a better meal than at Long John Silvers... Yes.
Will you get a better meal than Apple Bee's... that's debatable.
NOBODY goes to Red Lobster and expects to be eating at a classy establishment. That's just silly.

So what was her “high and mighty” review of her visit? Well, besides the required gripes about the food quality, she objected to the restaurant patroned by many families with children under the age of seven, people liked lots of butter on their lobsters, and she got her entree before she had finished eating her salad.
And no “feminist “ commentary would be complete without at least one reference to porn, which was her description of their commercials and her excuse as to why she went there in the first place.

Wow.

I spent the better part of last night randomly bursting out into fits of giggles thinking of this article. Not because of the content so much, but that this review was posted on Sequential Tart of all places. What does this have to do with comics, or feminism? It’s like the reviewer ran out of ideas and just decided to gripe about her dinner because she had a deadline coming up.
If you want to read this article, you can go HERE. Because I believe that people who are willing to make a fool of themselves publicly should be shared with friends. That way, we can all laugh together.
-Kat

Power Girl, WTF?!

It's up! It's up! It's up! Whoo Hoo!!!

My editorial on Power Girl is up on ComicRelated.com

POWER GIRL, WTF?!
Female creator, Kat Rocha talks boobs, feminism, and DC's new Power Girl series.
By Kat Rocha (with a little help from Josh Finney).

Growing up, as I did, an awkward tomboy teen with big breasts and absolutely no interest in being "girlie," finding females role models I could relate to was nearly impossible when it came to film and TV. Throughout the 80's and 90's, if a woman was tough, she was always shown as a bra-burning dyke, or made "approachable" by way of a strong maternal instinct. Terminator 2, Red Sonja, Aliens --these films are remembered for their strong female leads, but think about it. Were any of these women kick ass simply for the sake of being kick ass? No, Ripley was an motherly protector, Sonja an avenging man-hater, and Sarah Connor a little of both. And as much as I enjoyed these films, I can't say I identified much with any of these so-called feminist role-models. Someday, maybe, the rest of Hollywood will figure out what Joss Whedon did a long time ago, and that is feminine strength has nothing to do with being a frigid harpy...but I'm getting ahead of myself.

So yeah. For me, the media's portrayal of strong women remains lackluster at best.
And when it came to the portrayal of women who shared my particular bra size, it absolutely sucked. Television, movies, even novels --if a woman has a D-cup or more, she is automatically a slut, a buffoon, or worse, the resident bubble-headed foil for the “Plain Jane” to make look stupid. It's no wonder beautifully endowed actresses now routinely hack off their breasts to improve their marketability in Hollywood.

So growing up, as I did, an awkward tomboy with big breasts, who enjoyed action movies and sci-fi, who wanted to be the hero-adventurer in my own right. Where did I find my role-models? Where in the world would a budding young geek girl find sexy, no-nonsense heroines who were gutsy and powerful and not weighted down with the tired mommy/man-hating baggage that Hollywood likes to pin on its tough chicks? Where indeed.

As you can tell, I don't buy into the whole "comics are sexist" bull that pervades so many editorials on a certain other website. For me, comics have been a sanctuary. It is the only medium where I can routinely find strong, beautiful women to cheer for and inspire me.

And this is why I am so upset about DC's new Power Girl series. They've taken my favorite caped goddess and reduced her to a third-rate Emma Frost. She's snotty, prudish, and her inner-monologs read like the spoiled rich girl who found her way into a women's studies major. This is not Power Girl. This is not the Kryptonian tough girl Geoff Johns wrote so well in JSA. In the hands of Gray and Palmiotti, DC's number-one sexy tomboy not only falls flat, she hits an all time low. Now, I am aware there's been an event recently with the word "Crisis" in the title, and naturally, the DCU has become even more convoluted, but I'll say it again, THIS IS NOT MY POWER GIRL!

How so? Why not start with the most obvious --Power Girl's bountiful chest. Or more specifically, how it is handled under Gray and Palmiotti. Right out of the gate in issue #1 they've got Karen bad mouthing a young man, a nice guy, no less, just because his eyes wandered southward for a moment and noticed those huge cans of hers (which just happened to be packed into a cleavage revealing top that's cut just above the nipples). Being a woman with a sizable rack myself, I can tell you this is the biggest load of crap I've seen in a while. It's a cheap shot, it's completely out of character for Karen, and smacks of the kind of thing "sensitive men" equate with being a strong female. For the record, gentlemen, strong women aren't afraid of their sexuality. They don't need to put down men who find them attractive. Only the most insecure of females would flaunt their goods in a low-cut top and then complain at the first hint of notice.

This, of course, brings me right back to Geoff Johns and his take on Karen. There is a subtle, but huge difference between the way the writers handle the same subject. Here's an excerpt from Johns' JSA Classified when Power Girl notices Jimmy Olson eyeing her chest at an inappropriate moment. Karen's internal monologue reads, "But he's still a guy...They all take a quick glace down, some of the women too." Now let's take a look at a very similar scene in the Palmiotti/Gray Power Girl #1, "I can overlook his staring at my chest. It's something I had to get used to a long time ago." The difference is subtle, but it's an important one.

Johns' Power Girl is stating a fact. She aware of her attributes. She's aware that men (and women) find her voluptuous figure attractive, if not down right distracting. She doesn't hold it against Jimmy for noticing. Is she a little annoyed for him taking a peek at an inappropriate moment? Sure. But clearly she doesn't think less of him. Why? Because Johns' Power Girl is a woman who is comfortable with her body and has nothing to prove (on that front, at least). On the other hand, Palmiotti/Gray takes a similar situation and turns Power Girl into a dismissive, stuck-up, jerk. Really, if she's so concerned about people noticing the twins, she should cover the damn things up! There, done! Fixed! Now shut up!

Really, I think Johns nailed the boob issue best in JSA Classified when Power Girl saved the window washer from falling...you know, the popular "eyes up here" scene that has proliferated onto nearly every Power Girl fan site on the net. A warm smile and a little good nature ribbing was all Karen needed to make her point. And by her expression, you even get the sense she found the whole situation, dare I say, a little cute.

But it isn't just about the boobs. If it were, maybe I'd be willing to give Gray and Palmiotti a pass. But no, it gets worse. Much much worse. Not only do they turn Power Girl into a snotty prude, Gray and Palmiotti then fall back on the most predictable of plot devices for a female hero...a megalomaniac nemesis who also happens be a raging sexist. In fact, Gray and Palmiotti are so sure this plot device is still fresh they give us not one, but two, yes TWO sexist Neanderthals for the audience to hate. And just for good measure to ensure no one misses that they're making a "feminist" statement, one of these sexist men actually happens to be an ape-man. Gosh, guys, laying it on a bit thick, aren't you?

Every good writer knows that villains are the standard by which a hero's worth is measured. Superman has Luthor, Green Lantern has Sinestro, Batman has...well, the Bat has more cool villains than anyone. Who does Power Girl get? Ultra-Humanite. The dollar-store version of Gorilla Grod. You want to talk about sexism? THIS is sexism! This is freakin' Power Girl! A member of the JSA! A full-powered Kryptonian! This woman can hold her own in a knock-down drag-out with Black Adam! And Gray and Palmiotti choose to stick her with Ultra-Humanite!?!?! The guy is the Fisher-Price "My First Nemesis" of villains! His big master plan in the story is to steal Power Girl's body and conquer the world by gender-bending. What the hell?! Batman never has to put with this kind of crap...okay, well maybe sometimes he does, but you get my point.

Which brings me to the second cookie-cutter misogynist to appear in Power Girl #1, Bevlin. Please, can somebody tell me why is this guy in the book at all?! He is such a cliché he doesn't even qualify as an actual character. Far as I can tell, Bevlin's only function is to be the stereo-typical sexist white guy in a scene that could have been ripped straight from the Lifetime network. I mean, Karen actually says to him, "Get out and take your sexist nonsense with you?!" Seriously, what the hell is this?! Gray... Palmiotti... Stop for a minute. Think about who you're writing for. This is POWER GIRL. This is the woman who offered to introduce Isis to her fist. And the best you could come up with is, "...take your sexist nonsense with you?!" Guys, did your brains slip out?! Did you suddenly think you were penning an Ally McBeal episode?

I guess what it all comes down to is I expected more from a stand alone Power Girl series. I mean, she's part of the big leagues now. She's got her name as the masthead. And THIS is how she gets to make her debut? Matching wits with a gender-bending gorilla and a corporate douche? Imagine if this had been The Flash? Or Martian Manhunter? How about Doctor Fate? Would Doctor Fate ever be pitted against a villain who hates him because he's a man, yet wants his body? I didn't think so.

Yes, Power Girl is female. Yes, she's going to run up against some gender issues from time to time. But this? This is just, I don't know...embarrassing. If you are going to tackle the gender issue, put a new spin on it. Give readers something we haven't seen before. And most importantly, keep the character true to herself --strong, sexy, and kick ass. Like I said before, growing up as an awkward tomboy with absolutely no interest in being "girlie," Power Girl spoke to me on a personal level. She has all the qualities that make many male heroes awesome, and a few others that are awesome in a uniquely female sort of way. All I'm asking is that she be treated with a little respect in her own damn book.

Eh....who knows, maybe in a few issues Gray and Palmiotti will reveal that Karen is actually a robot, or from Bizzarro world, or heck, even a Skrull. We can only hope.

-Kat

I hate my car.

:sigh:
New battery for Saturn = $86
Estimate on a new starter for Saturn + labor = $486
Getting Honda registered and smog checked w/ DMV = $280

Knowing I’m not driving a crappy American car anymore… priceless.

Yep, my car died last weekend in front of my in-laws’ house. A month ago in AZ I had the same problem. Lights turned on but no sound. Thought it was the battery so I replaced it. Obviously that wasn’t the only problem.

Now, normally I’d try to cash in the warranty on the new battery and replace it again… but this time the stupid thing won’t even start when I jump it. It’s dead dead. Which tells me that it’s most likely the starter that has gone. And that, I simply can’t afford to replace.

So, we got Josh’s Honda all re-registered (don’t ask why it wasn’t before) and it’s all good now.

As for my car, I’m planning on either selling it for parts or donating it to charity. I haven’t decided yet. Probably sell it for parts… depends on how much they offer.

On to happier news!
Got the postcards back from the printer for Titanium Rain! Whoo Hooo!! They look awesome. Josh did a fantastic job. I’ll post a picture of what they look like soon. We’re planning a trip up and down the Southern CA coast, going to every comic book shop we can think of at the end of May. We will also be mailing them out to different stores around the country so if you have a store to recommend, please do so.

Comic Geek Speak just updated their website (yah!) and both Josh and I have contributed an art piece each that will rotate with others on the homepage. Please visit their site at ComicGeekSpeak.com to check it out.

And last, in my quest/obsession to completely master Portal, I have purchased the Orange Box. Why? Because the version of Portal there has different achievements than the Still Alive version downloadable through Xbox Live. So, I was whittling away at that this weekend. Whoo Hoo. I will master it all! Bwaaa haa haaa!

-Kat

Update and Rants 2/2/09

Spent this weekend getting new furniture!! Hurrah!! I don’t care what people say, Ikea rocks and their instructions are NOT hard to follow.

We got a new entertainment center (because the old one took up too much room w/ not enough storage space) and a new computer desk for me (a wood plank on top of a set of drawers does not a desk make.) As well, we rearranged the room now so the Josh and I have a much better, more sensible work space. Now the next project is to get either a new dresser or get a bed with storage under it. Would prefer the later, but we’ll see.

Ok, time to rant about things on my mind:

Quentin Tarentino: WTF Happened?! Josh and I watched Grindhouse this weekend. “Planet Terror” = amazingly awesome … “Death Proof” = god awful!!! Don’t think I’m giving anything away by saying that it really freaking sucked. Didn’t even get through it all. Just fast forwarded to the end. It was like watching a Kevin Smith movie. Lots of witty, wonderfully written dialog that went NOWHERE and NOTHING HAPPENED!

BORING!!

What happened to him? Has he just given up on making “movies”? A bunch of talking scenes strung out together does not make a movie. A movie has a plot and a story structure and actually goes somewhere. This did not. Act One in a two hour movie should be done within 20 minutes max. I should know the characters, the setting and possibly have the set up for the conflict established in that time.

Hell, LOTR did that, and they had a full 9hrs.+ of story to tell. Our main character and the 4 supporting characters that the story followed were all established as well as an introduction to “The Ring” by the end of Bilbo’s party.

This is what watching tons of MST does. Makes you very critical. I think every film student should routinely watch MST because they point out all the things NOT to do when making a film. And lots of scenes of nothing is definitely on the list.

Political reporting: Don’t want to get too much into politics here but this I gotta say. Obama hasn’t even been in office for two full weeks yet…. Why are you already keeping a running tally of what promises he “has and has not” kept? Why people? Give the man a fucking chance! I mean, I’d expect something like that from the Limbaugh crowd but from CNN?!

And why did you give it such a stupid name? The Obameter?! *pulls hair* You think we’re all morons don’t you? Or at least, you think the weekend crowd is a bunch of morons, right? *shakes head* first the “science expert” and now the Obameter. I’m really growing to hate their weekend programming.

-Kat

Random thought...

What is our facination with pictures of very cute, small, or weird looking animals and adding captions on how they want to kill us. Why do we all find these funny? I don't know... but it works. No matter how "tired" of these things you may be you'll eventually find one of these pictures that will bring a smile to your face.

Why do I bring this up? Because usually these things don't get me, but this one got me laughing. I just can't get over the wall-eyed cat w/ no ears. Kinda reminds me of the Bizarro version of Krypto from the Superman Animated Series. Like it wants to claw your eyes out... it just doesn't know where you are.

-Kat

"Save the Sea Kittins!" It's too stupid to keep to myself.

Oh PETA. :shakes head: words fail me on how stupid this is.
It
Just
Baffles.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Would you eat a sea kitten?
January 16, 2009
Posted: 12:46 PM ET

You don’t have to look at the page views of Web sites like cutelittlekittens.com to know that a lot of people adore
kittens. Conversely, not as many people adore fish — in fact, cutelittlefish.com gives a “page load error,” and
cutefish.com has only the number 0.

The animal rights campaign group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, PETA, has decided to play off of
our awe of kittens by re-branding fish as “sea kittens” in order to discourage people from killing and eating them.

“Would people think twice about ordering fish sticks if they were called Sea Kitten sticks? Help us save fish by
changing their names!” PETA writes on its Web site.

The new sea kitten Web portal is complete with a petition, cute little stories about sea kittens — some attend
Clamster University! — and a tool to design your own sea kitten. The petition has more than 4,544 signatures as of
this writing.

“Given the drastic situation for this country’s sea kittens — who are often the victims of many major threats to their
welfare and ways of life — it’s high time that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) stop allowing our little sea
kitten friends to be tortured and killed. Who’d want to hurt a sea kitten anyway?!” the Web site says.

How far will this “sea kitten” label extend? Will people find themselves ordering the “Chilean striped sea kitten with
mashed potatoes”?

Certainly there are already vegetarians out there who do not consume fish for ethical reasons. Princeton professor
Peter Singer, famous for his arguments about why not to consume meat, similarly advocates avoiding eating fish in
Animal Liberation, although notes that things do get fuzzier when considering simpler forms of marine life, such as
mollusks and oysters.

Of course, besides being a favorite delicacy at restaurants and family dinners, fish also form part of specific eating
rituals in certain cultures. For example, in China, the fish is served whole — with the head and tail intact — to
represent prosperity, especially on Chinese New Year’s Eve. In Slovakia, it is traditional to let a carp swim in the
family bathtub in the days before the feisty critter becomes part of the Christmas meal. And, it is a Jewish custom eat
fish on the Sabbath, one reason being that the numerical value of the Hebrew word for fish, “dag,” adds up to 7, and
the Sabbath is the 7th day.

So what do you think: Is it ethically acceptable to eat fish? Will the sea kitten campaign be effective? Would your
goldfish mind being called a sea kitten?

http://scitech.blogs.cnn.com/2009/01/16/would-you-eat-a-sea-kitten/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
All I can ask is... "why?"

-Kat

Name Changing... Whoo Hoo!!!

I’ll write about X-mas in my next post (I know, this will be the second time I’ve said that but I want to put up pictures and just haven’t downloaded them to my computer yet.)

For now, I’m going to rant about something that’s been on my mind for a while now. For anybody that may not have read my mini-rant on twitter earlier, I’m finally changing my legal name to my married one. I will still go by Kat Rocha professionally, but legally I am now Kat Finney. Just in time for new years, huh.  Feels good to be doing this actually… ok, getting sappy here but I’m starting to cry just thinking about it.

Why didn’t I do this before… well, honestly, there were two main reasons why.

The first is most of my life I was told that changing your name was “oppressive” and “loosing your independence” etc. “If you take on your husband’s name, you are no longer an individual.” Ack. Bull shit I know (now at least) but that’s what I was taught. There was a lot of bull shit being taught to kids in the 90’s and I was dumb enough to believe a lot of it. Feminism was a great thing but modern day feminists got a LOT of things wrong and I’m going down that hard road of realizing just how much of it is bull.

“But Kat,” some would say, “you don’t have to change your name fully, just use a hyphen. Lots of women do that.” Well, I’d seen women hyphenate their names before (some I’m even related to) and that always seemed very wishy-washy. Hyphenating means that you can’t make up your mind to change or not. Look, either you change your name or you don’t. Doing both just looks stupid and makes you seem indecisive.

The second (which, in all honesty should be the first reason but for editorial reasons I’m listing it second) is too fucked up to voice online. I started to write about it, realized how horrible and monstrous it really was and decided it was best left between me and my therapist.  I will say that divorced parents left me with some really strange views on marriage… views I’m not proud of. And name changing is one of them.

Me, I only ever wanted to get married once. I was going to find the perfect man and get married and live happily ever after. And you know what, Josh is most definitely that perfect man  And Damn It! I’m Josh Finny’s wife! I’m proud of it, so why shouldn’t I take his name?! There is absolutely nothing wrong with it… and it honestly does feel good to call myself Mrs. Finny.

And, on a side note, I have felt more welcome with his family than I have ever with mine. I love my family… but they are “relatives.” where I actually feel like part of a… um… closest word I can find is “clan” with the Finnys, so it just feels right to legally take on the name.

Ok. I think I’m done with that rant now.

Next Time on Now Loading…
See the Pimp Nutcracker in all is bling and glory!
See the Tiki Gundam! :oooga chaka oooga chaka:
Gaze into the majesty that is Kat’s New Computer! “oooooooh, aaaaaaaah”And all the fun that was had on Christmas Eve at the in-laws house.

Will have that up by New Years. 

-Kat

Don't know how to feel about this...

I just read on LITG that Birds of Prey is being canceled. Now, after Gail Simone left I stopped reading it because the guy they got to replace her was just writing soap operas for girls and I hate that crap... but I thought the title was still worth keeping around. I guess DC didn't agree. :shrug: Oh well. Yes, I'm kinda sad... but not as much as I would be if Gail was still on the title.

:shrug: Oh well.

On another note, the Art Adams fraud is both messed up and hilarious. Since I work with identity theft victims to keep a steady income, I am very familiar w/ the world of false impersonation and this... this is something else. Incredibly messed up in fact since not only is this person preying upon the good name of a good artist, but they are taking advantage of other artists.

It's hilarious because of how LITG did his investigation... not even covering up who he was or hiding what he was doing... and the dumb ass STILL fell for it. Serves the bastard right.
I hope that somebody finds out specifically who this person is and brings to them proper justice.

-Kat

Expert is code for Bullshit Artist

Have you ever wished that you could take a big clown hammer to every person who’s stupid in the world. A big ridiculously huge one w/ the “bonk” sound effect and everything. Either that or a shotgun to the face… yeah, I think for this case I’m leaning more towards the shotgun to the face.

:sigh: I’ve just had my fill of stupid people. In particular anybody claiming to be an “Expert” in the field of science.

Kat’s Rules for Detecting Bullshit #3: If they are calling themselves a “Science Expert” and not a “Scientist” then they are full of shit. End of story. I don’t care what the subject is. Only those who couldn’t cut it as a real Scientist call themselves an “Expert.” It’s like the difference between a police detective and the rent-a-cop at the mall. Whose authority are you going to listen to?

Experts talk in sensational definites.
Scientists don’t.
Experts will always pick the most graphic and often apocalyptic scenario to talk about or way of explaining something.
Scientists don’t.

I wish more news organizations would talk to actual Scientists rather than Science Experts.
This anger is an old one but the rant is inspired by an incident this week on CNN. They brought on some hack who worked in a planetarium somewhere as an expert on asteroids. No, not a representative from Jet Propulsion Labs. No. He was a doof from the local planetarium calling himself an “expert.”

Not only was his information 6 months out of date on a particular NEO nicknamed Apophis but he put the most overblown, sensational, Hollywood spin on it. And I know, I go to JPL regularly. I actually KNOW that this guy’s information was inaccurate. I’M MORE UP TO DATE THAN HE IS!!! That’s just not right.

Now if you saw the segment I’m talking about you’ll say “But Kat, that was part of a comedic bit.” I say BULL SHIT. I don’t care what the circumstance is. They are a news channel. They have a responsibility to report things accurately and I don’t care that it was part of a comedy routine, the guy they brought on was speaking seriously… as an “expert” on this particular subject. Is it too much to ask that he have his damn facts correct?

He didn’t even get what Apophis meant correct (people getting ancient Egyptian facts wrong is another pet peeve of mine.) :sigh: why must people suck.

There was another “science expert” incident this week involving a theory not related to the above... I don't want to go into it here. To put it mildly, I want to break this guy’s nose very badly w/ my fist. Make him bleed. Make him cry.
The article he wrote was extremely sensationalistic.. and the paper he was citing as where he got his information from debunked his ENTIRE write up. All of it. Even the parts he got correct were so grossly exaggerated and misleading it might as well have been a fabrication. But, then you find that, hey, he has a book to sell. Well gee, no wonder he wrote it that way. You can’t sell books if you’re going to tell people the truth. Truth does not get you noticed. Big, impressive claims and apocalyptic predictions get your books sold. So what if it’s not true. At least you made a few bucks… and you get people who don’t know any better calling you an “Expert.”

:sigh:

Ok, changing the subject now.. to porn.
I started another piece for my “Joy of Sex: 2150” art book. That’s a working title but you get the idea. The “Techno-Love” piece is the first in the series. I plan on doing an entire book of these two cyborgs. At least 15-20 pieces... possibly more. Depends on how inspired I get… and creative. :evil grin: Toying with the idea of making an overarching story… but I think that might get in the way. We’ll see.

Oh, and I almost forgot, HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

-Kat

The King is Dead.

In the realm of video games, my most favorite type of all is not FPSs or RTSs. Nope, it’s Spacial-Puzzle games, and for nearly a decade now Soul Reaver: Legacy of Kain was the king of them all. No mater what other games came out or how advanced the graphics were, Soul Reaver was always the superior and what I used to compare other games to.

I LOVED this game… still do. How you had to flip boxes to make pictures or had to know how to crawl, float, and "bampff" around in order to set off certain things. Things you had to time just right. Things you had to line up and angle just right. How you had to be clever and use your environment to your advantage. And how there were puzzles you didn't need to solve in order to beat the game. They were just there for extra fun (something I always appreciate).

Sure other games have come close. Most notably is Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones. But none have ever bumped Soul Reaver from the top spot… That is… until Portal came along… and oh man have I been bit hard by the obsession bug. This game is amazing!!! Especially because it’s all physics so if you have an understanding of physics you can do almost anything. How you have to throw yourself off of extreme heights in order to get the momentum to leap great distances. How the environments take on an almost Escher quality as you fall through a floor in order to pop out of the wall on a ledge somewhere else.

And when I say I’m obsessed w/ this game.. I mean obsessed. It’s only been two days now since I got the game but already I’ve got a paper Weighted Companion Cube sitting on my desk at work, I got the “Still Alive” song from YouTube.

And once I get my paycheck I’m buying the soundtrack. I’m even giving serious consideration to getting the “The Cake is a Lie” shirt from Jinx.com (and I very rarely get shirts that reference things like games.) Honestly, if they started marketing the GLaDOS eyeballs, I’d probably buy one… just to have it. It’d go nicely w/ my HAL 9000 Desktop.

EDIT 10/30: Screw the "The Cake is a Lie" shirt. On Valve's website they have this amazingly awesome GLaDOS shirt!!! AHHH!!! I want it now!! I hate being poor.
They also have their own cake shirt... which I'm considering but GLaDOS takes precedence over pastries.

-Kat

A little sad...

I did this cool design for a client the other day. I was really proud of how it came out... but they didn't want it. Said it wasn't what they were looking for. :( It really sucks because I think it's probably one of my best designs ever. :sigh: oh well, if they don't want it, then I'll just have to use it for something else and try again. :)

Hand Update: Well, the problem wasn't the hand... but the surface I was trying to have it rest on. Talked to Josh and his words of logical wisdom were (change the bomb) Well, duh... but I sometimes miss the obvious because I'm so focused on my little problem... so hopefully I'll have something to post here in a day or two.

Random Thoughts: Having a hard time not getting lazy. It's not that I don't want to draw... but I'd gotten in the habbit of being lazy so when I want to do something... the lazy habbit kicks in and I fart around too much because, even though I enjoy it, a part of my brain says "this is work." that's retarded... but true. :sigh: I'll get over it, eventually.

-Kat

I've decided...

...that I hate hands. Not the appendages themselves, but drawing them. I've got one in particular that is driving me up the wall. I spent......oh...... 3+hrs beating my head against the perverbial wall, trying everything I could think of and breaking out all my books to get this one hand to look right. And what did I accomplish? Well, now there is a blank spot where a hand should be while I work on the finishing touches of the rest of the piece until I'm able to approach it again. *sigh*. This sucks. I KNOW I can do this... it's just..... being.... difficult.

Don't you hate it when you KNOW you can do something... but the ability is eluding you all the same. ACK! It's driving me nuts. Well, I'm hoping that keeping away from that part will help me to approach it anew later today. I gotta get this piece done.

More random rants:
So, I finally got off my butt and I'm borrowing audio books from our public library to listen to while I work. Currently I'm listening to Isaac Asimov's I, Robot.

First... though I haven't seen much of the movie they made... it's painfully obvious the book and the movie have nothing to do with each other (as if you didn't already know that.)

Second... what happened with the way people view problems with technology? Now a-days the plot would have been very much like the stupid movie. "We screwed up! We never should have tried to make these things! Why didn't we listen?!" oh...a crappy Johnny 5 rip off message.... and all that other bull shit. I hate all that Luddite rhetoric.... but anyway, that's the mentality today. A robot goes bad... well, we shouldn't have built it in the first place. We created something evil. Or it's a weak ass attempt at a commentary on how we're all really the same and prejudice is bad.

But in Asimov's book, that is not the case at all. Even in a life or death situation there is NEVER a hint of "We shouldn't have meddled". Instead, they viewed it as a problem that needed to be solved... and they solved it. Pure and simple. The robots weren't evil... just different. GOD I MISS THAT MENTALITY. The view that we, as humans, can accomplish any goal and overcome any obstacle. That we are SUPPOSED to push past boundaries and continually strive to better ourselves and continue to grow in every way. We need that back.

This luddite crap we have now is really what is keeping us back. This view that we shouldn't be learning about and testing DNA and how our bodies work, that we shouldn't be researching fusion power plants, that we shouldn't be trying to learn about the universe and how it was created, that we shouldn't be trying to improve every aspect of life, that we should go back to living in caves, being hunter gatherers, being frightened by lightning and dying at the ripe old age of 22. I really want to punch people who say that crap.

ok... had to rant. Just, this book gets me excited for the future... then I turn around and see all the negative crap that is being spouted now. :( get's me depressed.
-Kat

One of those days when you wake up and ask yourself “Where did I put my gun?”

Please people… for the love of god or Hostess Cupcakes, PLEASE STOP THE FEARMONGERING!!! OMG I wanna punch somebody I seriously do. If ½ the people who were claiming that we are going to be sucked into a black hole because of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Switzerland would just shut up and read the science behind it the world would be happier place.

Fact 1: Nature slams particles into each other IN OUR ATMOSPHERE much faster than this thing can and we are still here. No black holes. This has been Emperically proven. Wanna know how. Look around you. We’re still here. Look at space. It’s still there. Nature has done this time and time again, a million time over millions of years and everything is still here.

Fact 2: The chances of any black hole being created is next to Zero. These people are good scientists. They don’t know what’s going to happen so they can’t say w/ 100% certainty… but they’ve got some pretty good ideas about what won’t happen… see Fact 1.

Fact 3: In the small, minute, tiny, microscopic chance that a black hole is created, it will be a micro black hole. What does that mean.. well, a black hole typically is the size of and has the force of the thing that collapsed to create it. The black holes we are familiar with are caused by collapsing stars. The super colider is smashing together Protons. Things that require a very expensive microscope to see. Much much much smaller than a star. These protons are going to smash into each other with the force of two mosquitoes. So, if a micro black hole is created it will be the size of a proton and have the suction force of a mosquito… which means it won’t have any suction force at all and will dissipate almost as soon as it is created.

Don’t believe me. Read it yourself on the LHC website http://lhc.web.cern.ch/lhc/. It’s all there.

:sigh: people suck sometimes…. Ok. That’s it. I’ve said me piece.

-Kat

The Results are In..

My car is back from the shop….*sigh*….. three days and $150 later to find that my car’s on board computer, in effect, blue screened and it just needed to… well, basically be restarted.

Oh that is so retarded. Luckily my garage has good people working there and they didn’t charge me anything extra besides the initial price of checking it out but still… *growl*. That was the WORST time for my car to decide to do that. The WORST. I know car problems never happen when it's convenient but last week was the worst possible time as far a stress levels and general life go.

I'm so glad that's over... at least for now.

-Kat

Back in the shop

Back in the shop with my car. They hadn't been able to find the problem last week and today was the soonest I could give it up due to errands and things. I'm going to be so mad if they can't find anything. I'm still certain that it's one of the sensors.... which is really annoying because it's going to need to be replaced. *sigh* I'm bitching... I know... just annoyed.

On the bright side I've been able to get some work done for my portfolio this week. It was DESPERATELY in need of being updated. I only had two pieces in it that were worth sharing. All my old stuff is way out of date and definitely not worth showing. Later today I'll post the one I finished last night. It's of an Asian Dom holding a fan. I LOVE how it came out.

-Kat

Car Trouble

I don't know what other people's experience might be with their cars but I've come to the conclusion that my next car is going to be a Honda or a Toyota. My Saturn is fair when it's at it's best and really anoying when it's at it's worst. I should rename it "Murphy" because it works absolutely fine till you go to look for problems... and then it's just about to fall apart.

I take my car in for an oil change on Sunday. I hate taking my car in for oil changes because every time I do I find that something else is either going to fall off or break or whatever. First my radiator is corroding... again, then I find that the battery I put in about a year ago is not holding a charge properly (luckly I have a 6yr warrenty on it). And now, just two days after the oil change my car is back in the shop because the engine light went on. They tell me it could be the sensor to the crank shaft, the crank shaft itself, or the onboard computer. My car has blown sensors before as well as fuzed the lightbulbs in my fog lamps to their sockets. My bet is on the sensor dying. Not happy about this.

The really anoying part is I don't touch the radiator. I know where it is and what to do if need be but I typically don't touch it. The dealership I usually take my car to is supposed to top off all my fluids including the coolant every time I take it in for an oil change. I suspect that they have been topping it off with tap water instead of a water and coolant solution and that is why there was almost no coolant left in the radiator and why it was starting to corrode again.

I want a new car. I want a hybrid. Man this sucks.

-Kat