Archive for November, 2009

(Instant Ramen Sketchbook) Snowscheme 2009 Part 1: Garm Friday

Saturday, November 28th, 2009

Some history here: Last year I meant to do a Snowscheme with Deeum and a baby Garm but ran out of time. So, as compensation, such a piece would go first this year.

…but as you can see, that’s not a *baby* Garm. It’s… er… well, you know when a dog is in that awkward-looking transition between puppy and adult? Yeah, that would be the closest thing to what happened here. Point being, I don’t draw pooches very often (despite living with three obnoxious bulldogs) and it kinda shows here. >_>;

Chelsea got added in at the last minute. I don’t know what triggered it… but it would be funny if someone were made to carry all the stuff that Deeum bought.

I’m working on a smaller “canvas” this time, so things get done faster. I’ll also be pulling fodder from the queue unless someone pipes up with other things. Let’s see what happens as far as frequency goes!

A shiny delayed is a little shinier

Friday, November 27th, 2009

Dear loyal Across minions (and other relevant parties):

As you know, a new machine joined my network last month. However, the unexpected situation regarding his motherboard… ended with me burning that pile of coins I was going to use to spoil you all. >_>;;; Terribly sorry about that. I know, Christmas isn’t supposed to be fixated on loot and such (me, I like the light displays and food more than anything these days) but it cannot be denied that deep down everyone likes a little shiny. AND I HAPPEN TO LIKE SPOILING MY MINIONS BECAUSE THEY ARE AWESOME AND SHOWING UP EMPTY-HANDED IS KINDA MADE OF FAIL, OKAY?!

…*ahem*…

BUT… I reload the Magic Coin Block in the first week of January (and because it appears CD rates are doomed to continue sucking for a long time, I’m just going to empty the contents of the Bigger Magic Coin Block into my on-site Magic Coin Block and my Reserve Coin Block). And in Ragnarok TWILIGHT there is a certain holiday that falls on January 25… one I shall co-opt for my own ends in addition to its real-world parallel of conveniently falling on [info]neophoenixte‘s birthday. Crimson Day, anyone? :D

So, please be assured that your overlord is not some coin-pinching twit who is holding out on you for the holidays, it was just bad timing (or rather, me failing to check to see if that inherited motherboard actually worked before I threw it inside Yggdrasil). >_>;

In the meantime, I must find warm munchies (because holy crap cold room is COLD) before I fire up Painter for Snowscheme-y awesome.
Or Robert summons me into WoW.
Whichever happens first.

Brr.

Loot fodder, already

Friday, November 27th, 2009

WTF. I may have to ask for an iPod Touch (I like Verizon too much to consider jumping ship to AT&T for the iPhone). I thought the whole “lol app for that” was kinda lame but now all these cool things are surfacing: Slingplayer, LogMeIn Ignition and now EFFING TRILLIAN! Hell, I think there’s even a Metal Gear on that, too.

(Corel, while it may very well be technically impossible, if you make an iPod Touch/iPhone port of Painter, I’ll… er… I don’t know what I’d do aside from LOL FOREVER. I know there are already drawing apps but if there are actually any apps remotely approaching that level…)

Anywho, the other purpose for this post: now that Thansgiving has GTFO…. CHRISTMAS TIME, HELL YEAH.
The Christmas icon comes out now for the LJ edition (because everyone likes cats ‘n racks) and I need to go find my widdle 1-foot tree with the blue lights. Also Snowschemes imminent! While Yggdrasil can function well enough as an Instant Ramen machine (Painter on an HDTV… *Homer drool*), Blastoise will get awakened tomorrow for some hot Ramen action. Mwahahahaha!

I’ll end with a relevant Craig Ferguson youtube… because I’m a awful, awful fangirl. >:P

Stupidly adorable stuff my cat does, part… something

Sunday, November 22nd, 2009

In many respects I still consider myself a newbie cat owner, as I’ve only had cats for a couple of years. At the same time, I realize that every cat is unique. I am fortunate that my first and current kitty is considered the sweetest, most well-behaved cat EVER, and every so often he’ll start some new behavior that is just… ridiculously cute.

In this case, Kestine’s latest thing is to physically crawl on and sit on my chest if I’m sitting on a reclining chair. Blatantly attention-seeking? Oh yes. (Fortunately, if I’m sitting in one of those chairs… it is EXTREMELY UNLIKELY that I’m doing something that requires significant attention. Only thing I could think of is if I were playing my DS or PSP, but those I could easily set aside for a few minutes.) But it seems there’s something more to this… because once I start petting him or what-have-you, he is not only already purring, but he’ll actually knead my shirt or cloak or whatever I happen to be wearing.

It is, of course, SLIGHTLY uncomfortable when he’s walking around on me (it’s a weight distribution thing… you try having a 13-pound cat walk on your chest! Oof!) but hardly noticeable when he sits/lies down and, more importantly, he knows not to use his claws. :P

Is this kitty for “hug tiem nao?” Because that’s the closest translation I can come up with. Whatever the case, it’s just stupidly adorable. :P

Now that the dust has settled…

Saturday, November 21st, 2009

One could easily say that if I wanted a media center box, I could have just dragged Blastoise over here. Except I like having dual monitors, not to mention there are things that Blastoise can do better than Yggdrasil. Blastoise and Dinah have been off for the past few days so I could make myself break in the newcomer. :P

As far as oomph goes… well, technically Iggy IS superior to Blastoise. 3 GHz vs. Blastoise’s 2.2, 1GB video card vs. Blastoise’s 512mb (but Blastoise’s is gaming-grade)… the old man is, numerically, only really lacking in RAM and that gets fixed in January. However, Blastoise is preferred for gaming because I don’t have to crank up text so I can read stuff and he has an actual mouse (albeit with a broken scrollwheel). If it’s something that isn’t text-heavy, Iggy will suffice.

though it can’t be denied that WoW and CoH are nothing short of drool-inducing on an HDTV…

I may look into getting a more appropriate keyboard to use on Iggy… at the very least, something backlit. The Logitech diNovo looks really nice…

Iggy is OMFG generous with the USB ports… potentially. His mobo has four on the rear, the case provides an additional two on the front… but his mobo has 3 more pin blocks for USB things, so if I really wanted to I could put in 3 mods that could give me a crapton of USB ports. o_O

What Iggy truly reigns at, and the reason he exists, is video playback. SD, HD, any format you could think of… he runs it, and it is HAWT. (Yes, this even includes YouTube!) Well, of course it is, he’s hooked up to a bloody HDTV! And this is on a VGA connection, though I could plunk down some coin and get an HDMI adapter (because like hell am I going to use the one on his mobo, that would involve giving up my GeForce for onboard Radeon). Despite being capped at 2-channel sound due to TV speakers, sound isn’t bad either. But, then again, considering there are 3 easily-provoked bulldogs downstairs, maybe it’s a good thing Iggy lacks the full surround setup…. bass triggers CACOPHONY OF WOOF, and that is bad.

I’ve Painter installed on here and my workspace imported from Blastoise (I didn’t know I could do that, up until now I was reconstructing my toolbox every time I reinstalled or configured a new unit) but I’ve yet to actually draw anything yet. I suspect Blastoise may still end up being favored for Instant Ramen because I’m so used to dual monitors, but I gotta try at least once on Iggy, if only to see how an HDTV affects things…

On that note, very soon I’ll be starting on the 2009 Snowscheme pieces– since I ran out of time last year, it looks like a Deeum+Baby Garm piece will be first.

ALSO:
Phantasy Star Zero or as I still call it, Lunar in SPAAAAAAAACE.
I has it! Got it for $23 after eCerts and free shipping.
Sega brought in one of my favorite character designers for this one (hence all the “Lunar in Space” jokes) so unlike PSU you will never hear me bitch about lolified costume designs and such. Kubooka has come a loooong way since Lunar, and for the better, and I think he might have slipped in nods to Gundam and Tales of the Abyss, bwahahaha. XD (seriously, a lot of the male CASTs look like mini-Gundams, and I coulda sworn I saw short-haired Luke and Natalia’s hairstyles in here… and RAmarl uniforms look very, VERY much like Jade’s clothes, hah)
ANYWHO, because I’m sure some want to know: I rolled Blastoise (HUcast), Dinah (HUcaseal) and Leslie (RAmarl). Poke on the AIM or what have you if you want friend code-ness, I know LF will. :P

And now I shall nom on pringles while watching Craig Ferguson. >_>