New sketches

These are mostly what I was doing at the Swimming Sports today. Good to use the time constructively !! :

Kinda a Jedi


Scary Ghost


Deathbot


Killer Robot Ape


That must catch me up a little with my 'Thing a Fortnight' backlog !

Coverwork - Drabblecast Art Reclamation Project

Hey there - thanks for stopping by ( possibly again ! ).

Here's what I've been working on lately. It's something for the Drabblecast Art Reclamation Project. They're trying to get a bunch of art for old episodes that didn't have any, so I signed up for an episode. This is for episode #52 I think - 'Eggs'. It came out on the day Angelo was born, so I thought that would be fitting in some way.



It's SUPPOSED to be like an electron microscope picture. It's about as good as it's going to get in that way. Not perfect, which is annoying, but there you go. I had a heck of a time with this one. I had to ask a very talented friend for advice on the texturing process ( which I then promptly ignored when I discovered the 'texturalize' filter option in Photoshop ! ). It's vaguely successful I guess - and it looks alright. I'll try and tart it up a little more - but I don't think I can make it that much better.

More rehearsal sketches - Thing a Fortnight

Some more drawings from production down time :

Power Armour #2

Alien Armour Suit

Knife Grrl

Encounter Suit - Hightlighting and background

Highlighting done ( pretty much ) and a new background added. I like the circuit board pattern ( though I might need to have a different eye colour now ! ).

Encounter Suit - first round of shading / eye highlights

Really liking the new techniques I've learned. I mean, they're nothing amazing - but clipping layers are very useful !

Encounter Suit - first colour application

I've been working on this little drawing for a wee bit now.



I've been learning how to use solid colour layers combined with mask layers to quickly colour a picture. It's a really good technique for a couple of reasons. First - you can tweak the colours REALLY REALLY easily afterwards. Second - it's VERY easy to colour in areas efficiently via the fill tool in the mask layer.

I know it doesn't look like much now - but it'll pick up once shadows and highlights are in.

More as it happens.

Sketches

With this and that ( read - new child and school production ) I've had precious little time to do any drawing. I have been doing some stuff on my 'encounter suit' pic - but that's not ready for publication just yet.

As a bit of a catch up - here are some sketches I did during rehearsals over the last weekend or two when I had a second :

Late for a good reason this time.

You might have noticed there is no new 'Thing a Fortnight'.

This is largely because of the birth of my second son, Lorenzo Alexander Moretto.

He was born on the 24th of March, at 7.51pm.

He is healthy, and a good deal more relaxed than Angelo was at his age ! Which is good.

More soon - but I have started a new blog for Lorenzo ( largely to facilitate picture viewings by grandparents who - for very good reasons - don't want to deal with that 'Facebook nonsense' ). You can check out the little guy here :

Lorenzo : OMG - ALMB !

Thanks for your patience !

SSS Cover - More colour, more reflections, a reg.number

The latest version - quite a few changes. Some feedback for the last version was that there was too much gray, so I colour shifted the robo-cat to a more orange / coppery tone. Also added some darker patches via a new layer and reduced opacity. Mice are now a range of tones too ( that was a bit of a pain to do - had to re-colour a number of layers. Kinda finicky ). There are some more reflections, and the cast shadow of the cat is darker to help ground it ( looked like it was floating a bit before ). There were a couple of other things I did too - but I can't be bothered talking about them here !
This may well be the last one - we'll see what the art-director for SSS says. :-)

Thing a Fortnight #4 - Flying Robot

Just a quick one this time to keep up with the quota ! Quickly did this tonight while watching an episode of Fringe. I think I'll have to do more giant robots.

Thing a Fortnight #3 - Frost Wyrm

Fairly late ( I think that'll be a theme with this ) but here it is - a sort of dragony thing. The name 'frost wyrm' jumped to mind when I was drawing it.

Thing a fortnight - teaser post !

I have yet to scan the official thing-a-fortnight ( it's coming ! ) - so here are some things to keep you going !

I loved loved LOVED my magna doodle thing when I was a kid ( until some idiot acquaintance of my folks split beer on it at a Christmas party - which ruined it ).

I was having a play with one on the weekend - here are a few ones I did :


Robot with guns !


Spider with bugging out eyes !

Stripy thing !

Damn I love magna doodle !

Some actual writing !

So - I tried to to write a drabble today. The first draft came in at around 500 words instead of the required 100. Still - for the first thing I've written for ages, not too bad an effort. It needs redrafting - but here it is, just to prove I did it !

Scrape

I know what you’re thinking.

I’m not insane.

She’d asked me to scrape off the old wall-paper to help the renovations. It was a old house, and it needed some attention. Insulation. Double-glazing. Keep out the cold – keep the little guy from getting sick.

Sure, I’d said. I like the simple hands-on monotony – kinda zen-like.

It was slow work – taking me well into the late night. It was downstairs though – I didn’t disturb her, or the toddler, with the gentle splash of sponge into bucket or the grind of the scraper in my rubber-gloved hand.

The first thing I noticed were the numbers. Penciled into the drywall, hidden under the layers of garish wall paper. But there’s nothing usual about that. Measurements. Tallies of construction material perhaps. How long to cut the wallpaper. How wide the next piece of dry-wall needs to be. Practical.

Normal.

But then the other things crept in, revealed piecemeal as the sodden paper sloughed away.

The symbols.

Circles. Triangles. Spidery stars – slanted hexagons – spirals.

Interlocking and eldritch.

But they were only shapes, right ? In pencil. I mean – that’s normal. Right ?

Perhaps a child. All those years ago – when the house was new. A son or daughter. Whiling away the long stretches of tedium, while dad is busy papering. And dad doesn’t mind – it’s all going to be hidden soon anyway. Hidden away. Under the paper.

That’s normal.

So I didn’t pay it any particular mind.

I carried on. Heaven help me, I carried on. Spash and scape.

Splash.

Scrape.

By the time I noticed that the symbols had given way to language, to words, spiked with harsh consonants and coughing vowels, I guess it was too late.

I had read them. And then I couldn’t stop reading them.

And then I was saying them. Echoing the words with lips and tongue, the words rolling in my mind like a broken body down a cliff face – all snap and hiss and whispered, mangled scream.

And though I tried, heaven help me – I tried, I couldn’t stop saying them.
And when I finally did stop, stopped those terrible words – that abominable alien litany, and opened my stinging eyes – I could see them.

The things behind the walls.

Not the walls of the house, you understand. The walls of this world. This universe. This dimension. This reality.

All hooks, claws. Faceted eyes. Snapping maws. Sniewy quivering limbs and tongues.

Writhing.

Scraping against the walls. Trying to get in.

And in those last patches of uncleared wall, hidden only beneath a few breaths of glue and paper – traced in unearthly curving lines of pencil – I knew there was a door.

Did I start the fire ? You already know.

It had to be done.

I wasn’t thinking straight. I was so desperate, so out of my mind with terror. It wasn’t till the house was well ablaze that I remembered.

I tried to go in.

Look at me. Can’t you see the skin crafts I’ve suffered through ? I tried.

I’m sorry. I wish I’d gotten them out first. I wasn’t thinking straight.

I’m so sorry.

I know I deserve to be in here for that. I have to pay. There’s no need for the padding on the walls though.

I’m not insane.

And it doesn’t hide them. Heaven help me – I wish it did. I can still see them. Pressed against the walls.

Writhing. Undulating. Scraping against the barrier between us and them.

Trying to get in.

Bonus sketch : Ape vs Robot

A wee bonus sketch for you ! I found this in a clip board - I think I started it during a sports / cultural exchange with the sister school of the one I work at. Those things can be pretty tedious. I also fleshed it out more at the dance auditions for the school production last year.



Inspiration ? I saw someone else doing a 'monkey vs robot' drawing and thought I could do one too.

Thing a Fortnight #2 - Weresquid

Second 'Thing a Fortnight' and I'm on time this time !

I posted a plea for help on the FB, because I couldn't thing of anything to draw - and one of my pals said something like 'Weresquid - circa 1910'. I don't think I got the '1910' bit - but the rest isn't too bad.



I tried to post this yesterday - but whenever I tried to add the pic, I kept getting an 'internal error' message. Finally I looked at the image - it was immensly huge ! The canvas size was something like 8000 cm !! WTH ??

SSS Cover - Generally darker / mice shadow

Had to knock out another draft. The other one was just too annoying. Like a torn-nail for my brain.



This one is better I think. Now that it's darker the lens flare looks better.

The mice are still bothering me. I think when I fix them this mess will be done. Yay !

SSS Cover - Thicker lines / lens flare / darker walls

Getting near the end now. I'm a little annoyed with it at the moment.



It took ages to go over the mice again - but the other ones weren't well scaled. I like the lens flare effect of the eyes. I'm not thrilled with how it looks with titles though...



Seems a bit too 'busy' now. Hmmm.

Might have to try and fix that...

Thing a Fortnight #1 - Only three days late !

A new year's resolution of sorts for me this year is to publish a sketch or drawing here every couple of weeks. Y'know - just to keep me motivated to actually draw something !

Here is number one - some kind of robot thing.

SSS Cover - Some highlights. Lighter walls.

Some highlighting on the cat ( which I'm not totally thrilled with - I might have to do it again ), and a different lighter colour in the background.

It's a bit better.

SSS Cover - More shading and sci-fi eyes

Another few steps. Shading on the robo-cat and mice and wires.
Glowing eyes for robo-cat.
Slowly shaping up !

Cool thing from last year - SSS Cover #1 !

Happy new year to you, faceless internet wanderer ! I hope this planetary revolution brings to you many victories against the vicious squid-men of the Atlantic trench.

I bear you this gift in accordance with ancient custom - the cover art I made for the Hugo award winning pod-cast Star-Ship Sofa !



And here's a quick mock-up I did to see how it would look with titles. The titles on the actual publication were a bit different.



I was pretty happy with how it turned out - and it was neat to see it used and published. A highlight of 2010 !

SSS Cover - More colour, reflection and some shading

More progress.



I like the reflection - though the robo-cat's shadow on the floor isn't as good as I'd like.

I'm going to have to do something with the background though. Darken it up so the cat pops a bit more. It's merging into the background a bit too much right now.

Hmmm.

SSS Cover - first base colour application

Only a DAY later ! Can you even believe it ??

Cover update. First colour application !



It's looking better already !

New post - new project

Well. Over a year since the last post.

All I can say is - oops.

I'm going to try to do better in 2011 ! I'm going to be using this place to post pictures of my drawings for the next year. It's all going towards a new resolution I've got coming.

Here's the first. This is the current outline drawing of my new cover project for Star Ship Sofa. I did one last year - I'll post a pic of the last one soon !



It doesn't look like much at the moment - though they usually get better when colour is added !

New post soon. In under a year this time. I promise.

Bad Family cover - final draft 1 !

So here's the big drawing thing I've been working on for AGES ! The cover art for my pal Steve's RPG game 'Bad Family'.



This is the first 'final' draft. Steve's a bit unsure about the fridge magnet title ( I think it looks pretty groovy - but there you go ). I still need to add a tag-line for the game at the bottom. I've got an idea - but I'll run it by Steve first.

Here are all the other bits and pieces that made up the cover. The fridge drawing thing I didn't do - I stole it from somewhere on line and adapted slightly. The business cards are modified web-images ( though the phone is pretty heavily modified - and I'm pretty pleased with how that turned out ). The receipt is all my own work though ( with a tiny bit of help via a LED font dowloaded from 'DaFont' ).

What would Aristotle say ?

So, I'm down at the toy library with Viva, helping her get the toys back into the storage area, and I pick up this girls bike.

It's VERY much a girl bike. It was a vivid, almost violent, pink colour. There were spangly bits. There were star designs on it. There was a rainbow or two. I even think there was a unicorn.

Then I notice the name of the bike.

"Apollo".

What ?

The ultimate girly bike is named after one of the most quintessentially MALE gods ever ? God of the sun and medicine ?? Does that make any sense ? Shouldn't it have been called the Artemis, or the Diana ?

Or am I being too cerebral here ?

Things I Made #4 - Year 12 Play set

Yeah yeah - I know. I've been busy. It's the standard answer I know - but here's evidence of something that's been taking up my time.

It's the set for the Y12 play I've been directing - "A Place in the Present". It takes place in a train station waiting room.



The tricky things were getting the stencil style writing done ( found a font on 'DaFont' - penciled it on, painted over ). It didn't totally look like I wanted it to - but it was okay enough I guess. Getting the door on was a pain. We tried to fit it into a flat, but that was a disaster, so I just bolted it into the sides of two flats in the end. It worked fine.

The graffiti tagging was mostly done by me. I took some shots of some real tags at the local train station and then copied them. That's probably breaking some code of 'the street' - but screw 'em ! You show me a copyright for your optically offensive vandalism and I'll give a monkeys.

So, all in all I was pretty happy with the set. The production wasn't half bad either !

The humming-ning

Poor Viva. She's not feeling well. She's got at a attack of the hay-fever, a cold and an ear ache.

And the humming has returned.

Oh no.

Viva can hear this humming. It comes and goes - but every now and then she'll accost me and start demanding to know if I can hear it.

"Can you hear that ? That humming ! DON'T look at me like that ! I can HEAR it ! Are you seriously telling me you can't hear that ? Listen ! Can you hear it ?"

And so on.

I've told her that I can't hear it and she's never quite believed me. She also has trouble accepting that I DON'T want to even TRY to hear it - in case I DO and then I can't NOT hear it again.

I suggested tonight that maybe it was like those people who can pick up radio signals with their teeth fillings. That seemed to spark her to look for symptoms on-line. Low and behold - there are quite a few people who suffer from this. Apparently it sounds a bit like hearing a light-saber from about 50-100 meters away. A bunch of people in Auckland were driven to almost madness by it.

Hmmm.

Time to hide the sharp objects, program the emergency services number into the phone and sleep on the couch maybe.

Things I found posted out the cat-door by Angelo this morning

1. My blue and red beanie.
2. His striped blue and green hat.
3. The pig piece from his farmyard jigsaw puzzle.
4. A pair of his socks.
5. A large multicolured duster.
6. A 'glad' plastic box container.
7. His 'That's Not My Dragon!" book.
8. A plastic part of something I couldn't readily identify. But it was quite big.
9. The 'Panic Button' novelty toy that Angelo has claimed from me.

But not the jar full of fish-oil tablets that he's taken from the pantry and hidden somewhere ...

*UPDATE*
The fish-oil tablets turned up the next day in the lounge floor. I still have no idea where he had hidden them. I sense trouble developing here...

Thing I made #2 - Production 'animation' video

Woah - mega long since an update.
Anyway - I've been meaning to add this for a while, I just haven't been able to find the copy with the cool music in the background ( which I would love to say I created as well - but which would be a total lie. Magnificent music HOD composed that ).

This was a wee expositional poem right at the start of the play, and I had the brillo idea of making a set of pictures to go along with it that we could turn into a wee film to play ( y'know - get that whole multi-media feel coming in nice and strong ).

Man - it took WAY longer than I thought it would ! It was the photoshopping of the drawings which took the time - the actual conversion into the film wasn't so bad, particularly when I found that you could save the files in photoshop to a format which uses transparency - but that's getting needlessly complicated.

Anyway - hope you like it.

Can I share this with you ?

In lieu of anything interesting to say ( too tired to talk about the ordeal that was the production. Just thinking about it makes me sweat blood ... ) here is a song that I love. It's Death Cab for Cutie again - an amazing song and equally cool video.


Your assessment task is to discuss the deeper meanings present in the text. How are 'grapevine fires' a metaphor ? For what ? What is the significance of the graveyard and the picnic? Remember to use specific detail from the text to support your ideas. ( 2 credits )

The family is back ! Horay !

After three long weeks Viv and Angelo have returned from merry olde England - jubilation ! It's so nice to have them back ! In some ways it was good that they were away during that time - I was getting killed with the school production, and was at school a LOT - so they wouldn't have seen much of me anyway. Thankfully that's over too - but maybe a little more on the production later.

Skype was a godsend for that time - I was able to see Viva and my little boy a fair bit while they were away, as well as seeing my nephews and niece as well ! They had a good time and did some fun things, so that's alright !

It's amazing to see how much Angelo grew in just that small amount of time. He's made some good developments over those 21 days :

1. He's beginning to climb on things now. He can quite easily scale the couches - which gave the cat a hell of a fright ! Poor Shadow was curled up in her usual position on a cushion stack on the larger of the two couches - a position that was before quite safe from baby raids. Angelo bowls in, is up on the couch in a couple of seconds flat - and has tackled the cat in the next one !

He really needs to be more gentle with Shadow. Viva told me that he got hold of her and was yanking on her tail - and she screamed / hissed at him. That gave Angelo a bit of a fright - but not as much as a decent swipe with the ole claws would give him ( I think that might be very soon if he doesn't start behaving ).

2. He's babbling even more now. It looks like he's trying to communicate more deliberately. During dinner the last couple of nights he's pointed at the living room light and said "Gah ! " quite a few times. He's also seen the cat walk/run by and said "kiki", and I'm pretty sure he something which sounded very much like "hello dada" - though I might be imagining things.

3. He waves now ! He waved goodbye to me this morning as I was going to work ( after a bit of coaxing ) and he waved goodbye to his grandparents on Sunday ( far more readily ).

4. Four of his bottom molars have come through. He's able to eat things a little more readily - but the teething process is causing him a little distress ( I was up applying Bongela from 3 to 5 this morning ... ).


In all it's great to have them back. No more coming home to an empty house ! Things are good.

Thing I made #1 - Skull and Crossbones

Yet another thing keeping me from blogging - the school production. It's not going so well at the moment unfortunately. Anyway - I was asked by the producer if I could make a 3D skull to go in front of the ships wheel. I agreed.

It took me about a week and a half off and on to do. Trickiest bit was the chicken-wire 'skeleton' of the model. The rest was easy - just time consuming. Fun though.
I gotta say - I'm pretty happy with the finished result and it looks pretty cool on set.

And shouldn't it be 'skull and crossED bones' ??? Hmmmm.

Jetpack trooper

Just finished this - I put it up in lieu of any interesting stories. I have been pretty boring of late, just looking after bubba really. And while this is usually FAR from boring for me - I know from my time before being a parent that kiddie stories arn't all that interetsing for those removed from that world. It's kinda like cat stories I guess.

Anyway - this drawing turned out not too bad in the end. I'm not too sure about the light bloom effect, but I couldn't think of anything to have in the background.

I was sorta expecting this

Angelo has quite a large supply of toys. He has generous grandparents and older cousins and friends who have outgrown things. Many stuffed and soft animals, trucks and such.

Do you know what his favorite toy is ?

An empty plastic jar that once housed fish oil capsules.

He loves that freaking thing.

Oh - and he's very fond of cardboard boxes as well. But he's very enamored with jars. He got into the pantry last night while Viva was cooking and swiped a jar of marmite. He was BESIDE himself with joy - almost running away and laughing to himself, partly because he had stolen a treasure from 'the cave of wonders' ( aka pantry ), but mostly because he had another jar.

Stars ?

I maintain that New Zealand should not be allowed a tv show called "Danicing with the Stars".
By law it should be named "Dancing with the sad minor celebs".
Less catchy, I know, but far more honest.

I also assert that no country should be allowed a new "Whatever-Nation Idol" until the old one is DEAD.

I have spoken !

Why I love my job

In so far as you can ever love a job - I love the job I have. Mainly it's the place. I may have said this before, but the school I work at is a freaking AMAZING school. It really is. Seriously - I could not go back to the schools I started at. I am a hot-house flower now n... I would wither and die in those environments. Or mutate and destroy all around me.

But it's the weird things that happen over in the Performing Arts department which are really something. Take for example this phone conversation I heard my HOD have with the HOD of P.E. :

"Hi, is that the gym ?
...
Hey - good morning guys ! I wonder if you could do me a favour ?
...
Yeah - do you have any hula hoops ?
...
You do ? Great - can we borrow some ?
...
Oh - about 20 ? 25 ?
...
How long ? It's hard to say - we're using them to make some giant squid tentacles, so it might be awhile ..."

The one later when we'd had a run through with said tentacles where he was calling auto places looking for around 40 inner tubes we could use for the suckers was equally surreal.

You gotta love that !

I feel I haven't said anything for a while...

I blame Fallout 3.

It's delightfully addictive.

There's something blissfully hypnotic of seeing a Super-Mutant's head explode off their shoulders in a mess of bone and ripped flesh, seeing their bodies rag-doll an a cartwheeling arc.

How I laugh.

I've racked up a bunch of trophies now so I should be able to write more now.

I've still got the school production, teaching and fatherhood to syphion off my time.

I'll do my best.

In Angelo news - the little guy is pretty much walking now. He's gone from two steps three weeks ago, to over twenty today ! Yay !

First word ?

I was minding Angelo while he was having a bath - and he had managed to haul himself up and was clinging to the side of the tub. Viv came in from the backdoor with some dry washing and Angelo saw her come in. Then he said 'hello' !

It SOUNDED very much like 'hello' anyway. It was more a 'heh-wooah' if you wanted to be technical - but it was pretty amazing none the less ! He said it again the next morning too !

Unofficial first word perhaps ? :-)

Top 5 Angelo induced injuries

I've been rather boring of late. I've been spending most of my time either hanging out with / looking after / trying to entertain Angelo, or battling nature in the terraced yard behind the house ( believe me - a HUGE undertaking ... ).

So - in an effort to be interesting, here is at least a vaguely amusing kiddy related thing. The awful ways in which Angelo has sought to harm his dada.

5. Full-on, Hollywood styled, sfx : rump steak slapped on marble table top, slap in the face.

4. Punch to the throat.

3. Back-hand upper punch to the right eye.

2. Alphabet block smashed into head.

and at number one, a tie !

1. Double foot stomp to the groin / 'brain-buster' falling head-butt to the groin.

I really can't work out which was worse. They both hurt pretty damn bad.

Still - at least he didn't give me carpal tunnel syndrome ...

What goes on in his head ?

Viva went to the supermarket to get something and took Angelo along for the ride. She told me that when they were in the checkout there was a little girl ahead of them in line who had the hiccups.

Apparently this struck Angelo as being hilariously funny, and he was laughing his head off every time she hiccuped !

I wish I'd seen it !

Which were worse ?

Ewoks or gungans ?

By a hair - I'd say gungans. But it's a close run thing. MIGHTY close ...

Singular or plural ?

Advert for a bar I heard on the radio today :

" ... and make sure you come on down on weeknights for our daily Happy Hour - 4pm till 6pm !"

Tee hee !

Star Wars Alphabet Set !!!

V is for Ventress !!!




H is for Hutt !!!

Sweet jumping chilli bean !! This alphabet set is freaking amazing !! How can I get a set for Angelo's room ? Hell - how can I get one for MY room !!!

The Nature of Grudges

I was doing a lot of yard-work today. Much of it was pruning back errant branches of rogue trees. I'm not normally one for work in the great-out-doors, but you know what really makes a difference ? A MP3 player ! I've been listening to audio books and all sorts while I've been waring war on our little section of mother nature. It's been great !

So I was loading new music and sound files onto it this morning before the great attack, and while sifting through my music library, I chanced on 'Under the Pink' by Tori Amos, which I had not listened to for AGES. I started up 'Cornflake Girl' and 'The Wrong Band' and 'Icicle' and 'Yes Anastasia'. Great songs - but it took me back to, oddly enough to a much darker time.

I listened to 'Under the Pink' and 'Little Earthquakes' almost continually after a particularly bad break-up I went though. The songs are now faintly water-marked with that time, even after all these years. Jeesh - how long now ? Dum-de-dum ... over 15 years I think.

One of the worst things about the whole deal was that I had a MAJOR falling out with a friend / flatmate back then. He started going out with said ex-girlfriend within the space of a couple of days. There were great feelings of betrayal folded into the whole stew of the collapsing relationship. It was very bad. I was not a happy guy at that time.

Still, time goes by and tends to heal wounds of these sorts. But while I eventually did the 'forgive - forget' combo with the girl in question, I NEVER did that with the former friend/flatmate.

I have friends who are friends with him, and they have said things to me like 'Hey - that guy, he's a decent bloke !' and 'He's sorry, y'know' and 'It was YEARS ago Seraph ! Let it go !'.

And to be fair - they have various correct points to their arguments.

But they forget some pretty important things about me I think.

First and foremost - I am, no matter how I appear, Italian. And Italians know a thing or two about holding a grudge. Particularly my particular clan. In contrast to some members of my family - I am viewed as being rather too forgiving,
It's a genetic thing. It's not that I particularly WANT to feel the way I feel about the guy But I cannot help it - I feel physically ILL when I am anywhere near the guy. Thankfully, even though I believe he's still kicking around Wellington somewhere, our paths haven't crossed for a few years now - and now the season of 'Stag Nights' have ground to an end, I doubt I'll see him again. I don't think our mutual friends are dumb enough to invite us both to the same events anymore.

And second - some things you just can't forgive. No matter how much you would like to. And yes - it's just as damaging to you as it is to the other person - and you KNOW that, and you still can't.

Sigh. All this from listening to Tori Amos.

I'm not particularly sure when I'm going with any of this - it's just been playing on my mind all day and I felt like saying it.

If I had 10 million dollars ...

a) I would build a house with secret passages and secret rooms. I don't care WHAT Viv says about it - it would be seriously cool !

b) I'd buy a decommissioned missile silo and turn it into an 'evil genius' lair. There would be go-go dancers. Somehow.

c) I'd fill the Karori public swimming pool with jelly. Lime flavor - naturally.

What would you do ?

Downers of 2008

5. PC woes

My PC died early in the year. The hard-drive suffered some kind of aneurism and died, and the road to getting it back was paved with despair. There were so many problems and crap – from the technicion putting the wrong RAM in it to no sound output. Definitely a pain.

4. Missing out on some things.

The arrival of Angelo, wonderful though it is, does mean that a few things have been sacrificed on the alter of parenthood. I missed not being in the 48 hour film comp this year, and more-so my Tuesday night RPG group. Ah well.

3. Making mistakes in the order of units in my senior drama class and the subsequent heart-stopping panic for 8 weeks.

Yeah – the less said the better. It all worked out in the end. Whew

2. Actually producing the school production films.

It was fun and I learned a lot – but it was a pretty merciless grind.

1. Still having problems with my leg.

It’s over a year now and my right leg / knee isn’t yet 100%. The weight-gain from reduced exercise hasn’t been nice either.

The Top 10 of 2008

10. Discovering ‘Death Cab for Cutie’
I just don’t tend to find new music that I actually like – so discovering a whole new BAND that makes some really great music is quite a thing !

9. Discovering ‘Old Man’s War’ by John Scalzi
I tend to discover great books a little more often – and this was a seriously good find ! I had never heard of John Scalzi before, but people were talking about him on the ‘Boing Boing’ site and raving about his first book ‘Old Man’s War’. So I figure, what the heck ?
OutSTANDING story !
A cross between ‘Starship Troopers’ and ‘Cocoon’ – hilarious, sad, action packed and thought provoking. Read it at ONCE ! That’s a order !!!

8. Ran my ‘Resident Evil’ version of “The Mountain Witch” RPG at Kapcon.
Didn’t win any prizes – but the game seemed to go down well !

7. Seeing Bill Bailey live in concert.
My face hurt for hours afterwards !

6. Did a good painting !
‘Alchemy II’ for Dave. I really liked how it turned out.

5. Artwork I did for Hix’s game.
Now he only has to actually produce the product …

4. Acted in a version of “The Four Yorkshiremen” sketch.
At the school variety concert. I was the character that had the last monologue ( was killed by parents who than danced on the grave singing hallelujah ) . Good fun !

3. Renovating the spare room.
Took awhile – but done BEFORE bubba arrived – and it wasn’t half bad into the bargain.

2. Finishing the film productions for school.
Never have I been happier to finish something.

And, at number one, it should come as no surprise …

1.The birth of Angelo.
Which carries with it many wonderful moments of joy !

A late gift

Well - I don't know about you, but I find this whole parenthood thing does muscle in on my blogging time rather significantly.

Here's a late Christmas gift for you.

What? I shouldn't have ? Oh come now ! Nothing is too good for you !

If you're like me - then you like stories read aloud. So then audio books are pretty groovy things ! I discovered in my meanderings though the interwebs a trio of podcast sites which cater to specific forms of short fiction, all three of the genres being particular favorites.

First - science fiction. Escape pod is the one for you. I recommend the Union Dues stories. They are very cool ( if pretty dark ) superhero tales.

Second - horror. Pseudopod is the place to go. This was the first of the sites I found - with Boing Boing recommending "The Sloan Men" - which was pretty cool. I tend to find that the stories on Pseudopod are a little more hit and miss - but there are some really great ones there. I particularly recommend "The Skull-Faced Boy" - which is a great little zombie tale. Go listen to it now.

Third - fantasy. PodCastle awaits ! I've tended to enjoy the stories here slightly more than the others. You definitely should tune into "Cup and Table", which was the first Pod Castle story I heard - and I thought it was one of the best Hold Grail stories I've heard.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I have been !

Fictional slang

Okay - serious question.

What would be the slang term that super-powered teens would call those that had the power of flight ? In a , say, post-apocalyptic world ?

Or super-strength ? Speed ? Energy manipulation ?

Best I've come up with is 'zip' for a speedster - but I'm not sure it's something a teen would say.

Typical. I'm surrounded by them everyday, but the way teens think is still freaking alien to me.

Sage Advice

So I'm finished. Finished those bloody films.

Thank the gods ! Thank Krishna ! Thank Allah ! Thank Mohammed ! Thank Buddha ! Thank Hastur ! Thank Ishtar ! Thank every freaking god in the book ! My long and arduous journey is at an end... *sob*

Here is a short list of advice of what to do if you ever plan making a film with teenagers.

1. Don't.
2. See 1. Seriously.
3. Okay - if you're going to do it - DON'T let them write it unless you know damn well they can write okay. And even then - be VERY careful about what you get them to write, lest they hand you three scripts in succession that the special character of your school ( and society in general ) will never let you put on screen. Have a CLEAR word / page limit - and enforce it with ruthless and cruel means ( set fire to their work if it's a single character over the limit would be my advice ).
4. Don't be a control freak about it. Force people to help you. At gunpoint if necessary.
5. Capture your footage as soon as you can. DO NOT lose tapes with valuable footage that took hours to do.
6. While editing - hit that control + S OFTEN. You don't want a sudden system crash to scrub away that sequence you've painstakingly edited over the last two hours.
7. Do NOT work with year 7 students. Not unless you want to have to do even the simplest shot about 13 to 17 times. Do not be fooled by their enthusiasm - they have NO idea what they're doing !
8. Do NOT write down the plans of how you will MURDER that little red-haired bastard who hassled you day in and out about WHEN you were going to start, and how MUCH he wanted to do things - and then a week after shooting when you needed the little punk to actually do something important he quits to play hockey. The legal system will take note of these things quite seriously if found,
9. Steal all the equipment and sell it on trade me before you begin. Use the money to buy to buy limited edition comics or something. Blame the red-haired kid and see if you can get him lynched.
10. Just don't do it ! Okay ? Trust me on this !

Right. Now I'm going to go and hit my head against a wall until I forget all about it...

Dude ! What gives ?

So - no post in over a month. I know what you're thinking :

"Ah Seraph - you slack gitt ! Stop lounging around on your mink chez-lounge, sipping mulled wine and nibbling on raspberry slice and write something to make me giggle !".

How I wish that were true.

In short - I have been receiving a right royal pummeling from both of my jobs ( daddy and teacher ). The production-film for school has been doing a REAL number on me. More later ( when I'm a few steps further away from insanity ).

Thanks to all those who sent / phoned / posted birthday wishes a month ago - it was really nice. Special mention to my ole pal Mark ! Sorry I wasn't home man ! I lost your number somewhere in my labyrinthine domain - gimmie another call some time !

Right - back to the madness. You're regularly scheduled show will return shortly ...

4th Anniversary

So Viva and I have now been married for 4 years ! Wow ! Where did that time go ??

I was in a bit of a dilemma coming into this one though - namely because of the gift. I am trying to go the traditional route with anniversary gifts - and so is Viva. Our first anniversary ( paper ) I got her tickets to something ( a show of some sort - damned if I can remember right now what it was... ), and she got me a book of the 'Indian Ink' play scripts. We both flagged the second anniversary gifts as cotton was too hard. The third anniversary gift ( leather ) was a nice pair of gloves from me ( I know what you're thinking - and the reason I didn't go for THAT idea was that I didn't get her measurements in time. You can't just get that stuff off the shelf y'know ! ). I received a pretty sharp belt ( not round the head either ! Tee hee ... ).

But the 4th anniversary ? Flowers and fruit. Hmmm.

Hard to get something really cool there. I mean - there's the obvious idea I guess, but who wants to be obvious ?

I was quite stumped. And then I had a odd ( and mildly disturbing ) dream. I was a student in this bizarre Tim Buton-esque school. I was in a science class of some sort - and a Goth girl student was having an argument with the crusty old professor about the chemical symbol for silver ( while a hulking, shaggy haired behemoth of a student was lurching around behind us - he had rope nooses instead of hands - which was the mildly disturbing part ).

'Silver!' one would shout - pointing at a symbol on the board.

'SILVER !' the other shouted back - pointing at a different symbol.

On and on it went until I woke up - crying out a strangled 'Silver!' myself !

And then it hit me - a silver charm bracelet ! I had seen these really cool 'Pandora' ones in the window of Pacific Jewelers in Johnsonville. I did some research on line to see if there were any fruit or flower charms, found that there were, and zapped in to get one !

Freaking genius !

Viva really liked it - and it has the bonus for me that I can now get OTHER charms as other gifts !! Everyone is happy !

Thanks strange and mildly disturbing dream !

( Viva got me a selection of fruit based sweets, and a bottle of apple wine - and freaking yummy they are too ! :-) )

Fathers day and Bill Bailey

This entry is mostly to answer Debbie's comment from the last post, seeing as she has been nice enough to be leaving them !

My first father's day was very nice indeed. I spent the lion's share of the day with Angelo - who had got me a lovely framed photograph of himself for a present ( got through his PA I think ). We had visits from friends for lunch - and Grandma and Grand-dad visited later on ( which, yet again, made doing any marking difficult - but screw it ! ).

The Bill Bailey concert / show / gig / whatever was very VERY funny - my face was hurting for a good hour afterwards and I think I damaged my friend's hearing. We had KILLER seats too ! We were three rows from the front, pretty close to the middle.
As is always the case with comedy - I remember very little about the show ! Why the hell is that ? Anyway - some of the funny things I remember him talking about were :

- England's potential opening ceremonies for their olympics, with a giant inflatable Winston Churchill dancing to a drum and bass 'God Save the Queen', and a robotic Queen shooting corgies from her neck
- His deep suspicion of joggers - who always find the bodies...
- A hilarious emo self-hurt song
- The Bucharest flag being two bears fighting over a pineapple ( which, I was sorry to discover, it isn't )
- An argument with various parts of his subconscious ( 'I control you!' 'No ! WE control YOU!!' )
- Satan singing Lionel Richie songs.
- How England's national anthem should be changed to "The Pink Panther"
- NZ's border patrol being obsessed with finding illicit potpourri

Laugh ? I almost died.

It was a nice break for Viva and me too - I think it might have been a little more scary for her to have been away from Angelo - but his aunt looked after him really well !

A great night out, and worth every cent of the ludicrously expensive tickets.

Sister and Babysitting

Here follows a transcript of a conversation between my sister and my father concerning the baby-sitting that she's going to do for us on Friday night so we can go and see Bill Bailey ( yay ! ) :

Dad - So ... I hear that you're going to baby-sit Angelo on Friday night.

Sis - Yup. It'll be fun.

Dad - ... Do you need any help ? I can come down you know - I should probably come down.

Sis - I've got it under control dad.

Dad - But, it's a baby - you haven't baby-sat before, have you ? I think I should come down.

Sis - I've baby-sat LOTS of times. I'll be fine.

Dad - But you might not be ! What if he needs changing ? Can you change him ? Have you even changed a baby before ?

Sis - Yeah. Loads. I'll be fine.

Dad - But ... um ... what if he starts crying ?

Sis - Oh, I'll just shake him until he stops.

Apparently a lot of conversations between my dad and sister end with my dad telling my sister to "Shut up!".

I wonder why.

Seraph's Questionable Take on World Events

Okay okay - so this hardly current in terms of events, but I've been mulling this over in my mind for a week or so and I wanted to get your take on this. Now, I'm hardly the most clued up on on the political scene of Europe or anything - but certain events there made me think of the computer game 'Civilization'.

Stay with me here.

Right - so when you're playing Civilization on easy ( and I hardly ever play on any other difficulty setting. I like to win ) and you're in the mid to end game zone, a peculiar thing often happens. You'll be advancing nicely, science and research are reaping healthy rewards. You've made many impressive monuments. The Church of Seraph-is-a-Groovy-Cat has throngs of worshippers and generally things are, y'know, quite peaceful.

And then you get an ambassador from some back-water nation demanding an audience. You graciously usher him into your palace to hear what he has to say.

"Hey!" he says "You have stuff we want ! Oil and gemstones and lumber and such ! Here is a stupidly unfair trading deal ! Give us heaps of your great stuff for our world-map !".

"But, o-honorable delegate from Retardostan" you patiently explain "We have already mapped the entire world. Whereas you have gone only twenty meters from your coast-line. I think I shall have to decline your offer, with the utmost respect to you and your proud ( if somewhat pig-headed ) people."

"Mwargh !" the ambassador shrieks "You suck ! Your country sucks ! We hate you now ! Give us twenty million euros or there'll be TROUBLE !!!!".

"I have no desire for war ! But I will NOT be giving you ANY Euros. Please leave now - and AS you return to Retardostan, you may wish to note the way the fusion-missile silo's the boys at the lab have knocked together in the last 10 years blend in cunningly with the natural beauty of Seraphi..."

The ambassador leaves, pausing only to hurl abuse at your bodyguards, shout something about 'diplomatic immunity' and 'oppressive yolk' and 'you'll be sorry'.

Later that month the glorious Crimson Legion of the proud nation of Retardostan - resplendent in their shining bronze armour, shaking their flintlock muskets above their visored heads, cross the mountain range separating your country from theirs on their trusty yak mounts. They throw themselves at the city walls of one of your weaker border cities singing their war-song "Death to the enemies of Retardostan - There will never be consequences for our actions !" in the full-throated manner so steeped in their rich military tradition.

The ECM Death-Commandos ( skull and crossed bones division ) on garrison duty there, armed with state of the art pulse-rifles, and aided by a few trusty marauder-class attack helicopters, easily hold off the attack - reducing the entire Glorious Crimson Legion to a finely textured squishy pulp.

Within a day your superior rail system has delivered ten units of stealth-tanks ( plus a few of the atomic powered mechs those boffins down in the labs suddenly got a whole lot of money to finish ) to the front lines.

Within three days you have crushed their pitiful armed forces and their border towns lie in ruin. The barded yak-steeds of the Retardostan army are simply no match for your gigantic robot and tank blitzkrieg.

Town by town, city by city - Retardostan begins to fall.

An emissary is sent to have talks with you.

"Hey you blood-thirsty monster ! You suck ! We hate you ! Even more ! But we're sick of having our arse handed to us by giant atomic robots !"

"Hey ! You freaking started this ! You attacked us ! We had a treaty and non-aggression pact ! What the hell ?" you state.

"But that was when we thought we'd win ! It's not fair that we're losing ! You suck so much for winning ! Bllleeerrrghhh !".

"Very well - I'll give you peace, but you'll hand over these three cities as a sign of good faith."

"WAAAAARRRGHHHHHH ! You unbelievable prick !! That's SO UNFAIR !!!! Gosh - how we HATE you !!"

"Look - it's up to you. Either you give me those cities, or I take over your entire country, you flipping dick-head !" you respond.

"Grumble grumble ... mutter mutter hate you mutter ... grumble alright ..."

"What was that? Did you just agree to have peace ? Did you ?"

"Grumle grumble ... YES .... ( gods we so totally hate you we hate you so much ! We hate you a whole DUMP-TRUCK full of hate ... hate you Seraphi ... think you're so cool with your running water and trousers ... )"

And so you have peace ( until Retardostan inexplicably attacks you again out of the blue and their memory is purged from the history books forever ).

That seems to happen all the time in Civ.

Now - is it JUST me, or did something not too dissimilar to that happen in real life recently ?

Like I said - NO understanding of Eastern Europe political situations. Just putting it out there.

* And big thanks to Jenni for telling me how a bunch of people of the State of Georgia in the US of A were wondering where all the Russian tanks were. I laughed and laughed.

A new low

So, I was running a warm-up exercise with my Y12 drama class this morning - and managed, in an exuberant show of energy, to punch myself right in the eye.

My students thought that was suitably hilarious.

It freaking hurt.

I blame Monday morning.

Things I have learnt about parenting #2

I never could have imagined how joyful a thing it is.

If you've known me for any length of time before becoming a parent, you'd know that I'd never been fond of babies. To be fair - I actively disliked / feared them. They were bewildering things which would decalcify your spine with their screams and expel vile matter on you from any number of orifices ( often simultaneously ! ).

During Viv's pregnancy I had pretty much steeled myself for a long, hard, grueling haul of care afterwards - and when the child was a couple of years old, THEN it would be a happy time.

I really didn't expect to be so attached to Angelo as quickly as I was ( instead of years - it was hours ). I had once ( internally ) scoffed at the talk of 'how amazing' a smile was from a baby. Now I know better.

It is hard at times ( it's awful when he cries and cries and CRIES and you don't know what's wrong or how to make him STOP... ), and certainly it's poor Viva who has to deal with more hard times than I.

But I miss him heaps when I'm at work.

And while, on some level, I am biologically hard-wired to feel this way at an evolutionary level - I really don't care.

I just feel very fortunate to have such a happy, healthy little guy.

*** Normal curmudgeonly transmissions will be restored for next post

Drawless Animation ?

Here's a 4-minute film school vid by Rob Schrab where he talks about drawless animation. It's pretty interesting stuff - mostly using green-screen techniques.

Crooked Teeth !

Don't you just LOVE discovering a cool new song? I was watching this thing about 'Drawless Animation" by Rob Schrab - and he talked about a video he did for a song by the Group 'Death Cab For Cutie' - which is also one of the best names for a band I've heard for awhile too.

I found it on YouTube - and proceeded to watch it about twenty times !



Fantastic stuff - and I SOOO want to make a wee film like this some time !!

It seemed like a good idea at the time...

If I EVER suggest / say / hint / communicate in anyway that doing a film project in a co-curricular way with kids at school is a good idea in future, you have my permission to dunk my head a barrel of piranha fish. HUNGRY piranha fish. Having fist glued a tomato flavored stetson onto me.

Classifying Angelo’s crying

In the last three months I have been learning to interpret the different kinds of crying that Angelo does. Hey – it passes the time when the poor little guy is crying ( far from a pleasant thing – but not as bad as I thought it would be ). Here are some of my findings, in order of severity :

The Houdini Grumble
Largely a thing of the past now. This was a regular when we were swaddling him before we put him to sleep. He didn’t seem to like his hands being restricted, and had an uncanny ability to wriggle out of the tightest of my swaddling ( until I was almost at the point of duct-taping him into a blanket ! ). The Houdini Grumble was the grunting exertion noises he made as he worked his way to freedom.


The Lah
Another one which seems to have largely passed now – though I’m not entirely sure why ! A cry indicating a moderate level of being upset, this was a series of short wails which would sound like he was saying ‘Lah!’. Would be almost cute, if he wasn’t feeling bad !


The Squeaky Lah
A more severe version of the Lah. The extra-loud expelling of the ‘Lah!’ would result in a sharp intake of breath, making a squeaky noise, so the overall effect sounded like ‘Lah ! Squeak ! Lah ! Squeak ! Lah ! Squeak!”. Like the Lah, seems to have gone ( for now – at least ).


The Black Lagoon Special
Angelo is getting pretty beside himself at the point of the BLS. He thrashes around making a lot of snorting / grunting sounds. He does sound a bit like a wee creature from the Black Lagoon ( hence the name – though in all honesty I can’t remember what noises the creature from the Black Lagoon made, if indeed it make sounds at ALL. Maybe


The Banshee
Baby def-con 2. Really just screaming. Not nice at all.


The Machine-gun
You can tell when Angelo is REALLY REALLY upset when you get to the machine-gun stage. This is a weird little stuttering that he does with the cry ( the side-benefit seems to be that it required more breathing power - so the actual noise level diminishes a little ... ), which sounds a bit like an uzi. Just as long as he doensn’t get HOLD of an uzi at these moments – I think we’ll be okay !

Bad Family Art Assignment

My good pal Hix is publishing his RPG 'Bad Family' ( formerly known as 'The Lucky Jones' ) and he asked me if I would help by contributing some art for it. Hey - I'm up for helping out a pal in a artistic way - and seeing as it was the holidays and I would have the necessary time, I was up for the challenge.

Seeing as Matt has put his contributions up ( and a fine collection of images they are too ), I thought I'd do the same.

Hix gave me a number of starter ideas to work from - and this is what I came up with :

1. A little girl being taunted by the tree she's scared of climbing.

I had initially worried that the tree looked a little too evil - but Hix had way more problems with the tree's non-pointing hand ( at first it was wrapped around it's tree-like belly ). Got it sorted in the end though !

2. A grandfather being pursued down the highway by cops, cars and helicopters

I had to change this to a grandmother as Matt had done a grandfather in a hi-tech wheelchair. I like the grandmother better !


3. A drunk mother trying to deliver a lecture to her kids

I went for only the one kid. I thought the sermon on the horrors of soda-pop while wasted out of your head was a nice ironic touch.

I fair degree of work here, but time well spent I think ! Hix liked 'em I think, and I'm looking forward to seeing them in print !