BodyWorlds

Tonight I went to Science World to see the BodyWorlds exhibit, and it was crazy awesome. In short, corpses that have been plastinated are displayed in various poses and states of dissection. They have in-depth displays and cross sections of every major body part, showing both healthy and diseased organs. I learned more about the body tonight than I have in any biology class I've taken or anatomy book I've read. I only wish I could have brought my sketchbook (I went with family, and I doubt they would have wanted to sit around watching me draw), or at least taken photos to remind me of what I saw.

I seriously recommend going to see this if it shows up in a town near you. It really makes you think of body in a whole new way. If you're an artist, it's the best anatomy lesson you'll ever get for $20.

Misogyny in geek culture

My homeboy Toadpole has been writing a few really good posts on his blog about how misogyny is not only tolerated, but celebrated in certain areas of geek culture, specifically in reference to Sin City, and the upcoming Grindhouse.

The original post
A response to criticism of the original post

While I totally agree with what he says, I loved Sin City and I'm really looking forward to Grindhouse. But it's despite these flaws, not because of them. So I guess I don't take the same zero tolerance stance as he does, but that doesn't mean I'm going to deny the faults just because I happen to like the rest of the movie.


Wait, does anyone besides Toadpole even read this blog anyway?

Portfolio Redesign

I redesigned my portfolio site, to do away with that godawful design I had once and for all. I even learned HTML and CSS and coded this one all by myself rather than using Frontpage. Now I can be that elitist jerk who whenever someone asked what a good web design program is, responds "NOTEPAD!"

You can check out the new design at www.WhereIsMyEyeball.com. Please let me know if anything doesn't work, I tested it as well as I could. It won't be real pretty in any screen resolution under 1024x768, but that's pretty much a necessity since I'm showing off my artwork at fairly high resolutions.

I'm back!

I'm back from my vacation! I had a total blast, got my mind blown, and then came home and slept for 12 hours straight.

I'll post photos and talk more about it in the next couple days.

An adventure to the magical land of San Francisco

Hey folks, tomorrow morning I'm flying to San Francisco for the Conceptart.org InSOMAnia workshop! I'll be back on the 19th, hopefully with plenty of stories and photos and loads of newfound inspiration and talent. Should be a blast!

Of course this morning I woke up with a runny nose and a sore throat, and have been feeling progressively worse all day. Blast you cold and flu season, with your impeccable timing!

Firefly: The MMO

Over the last couple days, the gaming blogosphere (the only thing I hate more than the word blogosphere are people who use the word blogosphere and then complain about how much they hate the word) has been reporting that Multiverse has secured the rights to an MMORPG based on the not-so-hit TV series Firefly. Generally, the news has been reported with a pretty hefty dose of understandable skepticism. People are disappointed nothing has been mentioned of Joss Whedon's involvement with the game (meaning it will probably be negligible), they say the property has a very niche fanbase, or it doesn't lend itself incredibly well to the MMO genre, or that by the time the game comes out, a large part of the fanbase may have moved on. Some of these may be true, but this doesn't necessarily mean this was a bad move on Multiverse's part.

For those that don't know, Multiverse is trying to launch a universal MMO platform. Their plans include a single client that connects to any game developed on the Multiverse engine, as well as development tools to greatly reduce the difficulties in developing and running an MMO. All for free. They make their money by taking a cut of any subscription fees or microtransactions you charge (that is, if you choose to charge anything for it). Overall, not a bad idea at all. It could lead to a lot of really cool experimentation in a genre that's generally lacking in that kind of thing. Or it could become the next Second Life, where the gaming and tech press is enamored with it, but nobody actually plays it. Unfortunately, so far they don't have any games that look compelling or interesting enough to draw much of an audience. Mostly generic fantasy adventures through generic fantasy worlds. They need a high profile game to draw a fanbase. The easiest way to draw a fanbase is to pay for one that's already established.

Firefly was actually a pretty inspired choice for Multiverse. It has a somewhat small, but very loyal fanbase that I imagine has a pretty strong intersection with the MMO demographic. It has at least a few strengths that lend themselves to MMO gameplay: an interesting universe with a wide variety of locations, two competing factions (outlaws versus the oppresive empire), no complicating technologies (things like the replicator in Star Trek that would tend to destroy any economy the game might have if implemented faithfully), and the Reavers make a nice constant threat and enemy. Best of all, since Fox has probably written Firefly off as a viable property by now, I bet Multiverse was able to pick it up for relatively cheap.

This game is not meant to compete with World of Warcraft. Heck, the game doesn't even need to make a profit. The game's purpose is to give people a reason to download the Multiverse client. Even if the players end up not liking Firefly, Multiverse has already got a big group of people past the platform's biggest barrier to entry. From there, they just have to show all those people the dozens of other games they can try, many of them completely free.

That said, if they really want the game to be a success (and why wouldn't they?), they really need to get Joss Whedon involved in some way. There's nothing more ferocious than a rabid fanbase that thinks you're abusing their favourite property. Being able to say the original creator is involved will do a lot to assuage any potential backlash.

One of those "girl" people.

She seems fun.

The Demented Mentalist

It's the Demented Mentalist! He can read your thoughts, he just can't distinguish them from the voices that were already in his head.

On another note, I upgraded to the new version of Blogger, so let me know if anything broke.

Help! I'm stuck in a giant hot dog!

Why? I can't possibly explain why.