Touch me. Touch me like you didn't touch me last night.

Have to do an edit for DrMaster, namely a SVC CHAOS: SNK vs Capcom, v.7.

This title is ridculous, insanely over-the-top fun.

Also, fucking hell ass shit fuck, my Tourette's is bad tonight.

So be it.

Maybe I'll also do another Five Questions tonight or a Photo Of My Life.

b

At home from work with a migraine that's down to about 30% now. In the mean time...

More PHOTOS OF MY LIFE? Love to.

This time we choose one from the ridiculously demanding graymalkan. Seriously, he demanded five shots, I think.

Anyway, here we go...

THE FLOOR OF MY MESSIEST CLOSET!!!


















Still accepting requests.

b

Quote of the Moment from the manga I'm currently editing, Chinese Hero: Legend of the Blood Sword, v.3:

"Suddenly, the corpse explodes!"

Right, I'm partially dehydrated and my skin hurts from THE DAYSTAR IT BURNS!

Time to drink a lot of water and chase it with Pabst.

b

FUCK!

Fell asleep on the couch--c.f. this--now have ONE night instead of TWO to edit v.23 of Iron Wok Jan. Which is 200 pages long.

Balls.

b

Can you handle SUPER REAL FICTION?

Will you be able to survive PRO WRESTLING STARWARS?!





Uncle Drinky does this all for you.

benjamin

On Saturday, Sara's family arranged to get me in to see a traveling art exhibition at Columbia College in Chicago called Girl Power! Shojo Manga!

Holy shit, was it incredible. It had ORIGINAL art from Osamu Tezuka to CLAMP represented.
Dead brilliant.

We got to go in, even though it wasn't open, because Sara's mother and stepfather told them I was "in the business"--i.e. editing for DrMaster and writing articles for Shonen Jump. As such, there was nobody in there while we were, so I busted out my camera.

The collection of photos I took are over here in a set at Flickr. For the best view, obviously, click on ALL SIZES and then choose ORIGINAL.

Damn. It was a small room, yet we spent 50 minutes in there...

benjamin

It's been a long time since I've actually felt a New Year like this.

In theory, my first published article (non-fiction, famous female pirates) will be in the issue of Shonen Jump that comes out this week...February cover date. Plus, based on its ass-rockingnessosity, I have another one finished, potentially for the March issue.

I've kept it hush from lots of people, but at midnight tonight, I'm no longer employed by the library at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, as the project I was hired for comes to an end. I have an exam on Tuesday to qualify for another position that SHOULD open up...but won't know the results for weeks, and won't know about the job for longer.

Still editing manga for DrMaster, but I have promised that "time off from work" really means "time on for writing."

I might have decided that I'm not up for grad school, prefering to shoot for library job and writing as my "real jobs." With luck and asskick, the latter will eventually be my only job.


2006 will be my bitch.

benjamin sTone

As though you hadn't had enough with my cat rubbing up against Scott Pilgrim for my vague review of it, now I'm going to scar you forever with this:



I lick like Steady Beat by lilrivkah very much.

It's a manga-style OGN (Original Graphic Novel. What, do you live on the moon...hmh?...oh, just not Planet Geek...got it...) that popped into stores a little bit ago, and it's really quite damned good.

No, you're not going to spend 4 hours reading it, or disect it like B for Bendetta, but that's not the point. It's one of those teen books that anybody can read and enjoy, and I certainly did.

Basic plot: Leah may not be the best soccer player in high school, but her older sister seems to be. Leah's got nothing but respect for her older sister until a she finds a love letter to her...signed "Jessica." What the Stonewall is going on here?

Begin Teh Dramaz. This is where Steady Beat really stands out to me. Sure, it's got the kind of situations that only occur in comic books, but the approach is completely different from what you're used to seeing. Basically, this is written the way things would probably unfold, emotionally and mentally.

Stylistically, this kicked my ass. It's mangesque without making you think "Hey, this looks like Ranma 1/2!" lilrivkah has developed a style that's completely her own, and it's working incredibly well...especially impressive when you hear that this is her first book. Talent to spare, and she's just getting started.

This is just v.1, and Rivkah is busting ass on v.2, so it's good that this is a solid piece that will stand up to multiple readings while I wait for the next installment.

The fan community--the only place she's responding to comments these days, as her LJ is now mostly for character sketches--is at steady_beat.

Click on the pic of me being weird to jump to the Steady Beat section of TokyoPop's website.

b
"String Quartet in B Flat Major" - Mozart

    I have some a fiction bit later, about Gun Smith(tm) and his Fabulous Weapons...
    But for now, just a few choice bits from tonight's editing of KING OF FIGHTERS: MAXIMUM IMPACT (v.7):

    "RETURNING FROM HIS TRAINING, RYO CAME BACK TO FIND SOMEONE HAD DESTROYED HIS DOJO. HIS STUDENT, KHUSHNOOD BUTT WAS SERIOUSLY INJURED, DURING THE ATTACK.     KNUSHNOOD WAS CERTAIN THAT MEPHISTOPHELES WAS BEHIND THE ATTACK ON RYO'S DOJO."

    Is that the coolest name in history, or am I on heroin? I mean, I thought the book and game had pretty choice ones with "Geese Howard" and "Mignon Beart." Seriously...KHUSHNOOD BUTT?  The hell did that awesomeness come from?

    Ooh, here's another tasty one, straight out of EVERY low-rent kung-fu movie ever: "HERE'S THE TRUTH AGENT SETH!  YOU'LL DIE BY OUR HANDS!" Guess he should be thankful for the honesty.

    His response is pretty buff, though: "THIS IS PATHETIC.  I'LL PUT AN END TO YOUR MISERABLE EXISTENCE SO YOU AND YOUR BROTHER CAN SPEND SOME QUALITY TIME TOGETHER...IN HELL!"

...

How come situations never arise in my life where I get to say shit like that?

benjamin
Current Music: "Unmarked Helicopters" - Soul Coughing
Last Book I Read a Page of: Barefoot Gen: From the Ashes by Keiji Nakazawa
Last Movie: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (Godzilla, Japan, 1974)
Next Movie: Platform (Drama, China, 2000, Dir: Zhang Ke Jia)