Blame Game

This is all Daniel's fault.  Let us blame him.

We Are Back (Kinda)

Yea, so Kyle did graduate way before we did. What a chump.

Daniel is actually graduating soon but is confirmed.

I graduated and still live on the East Coast.

Supposedly, Daniel and I will be posting more often now that we are done with school. Kyle will still probably be a recluse amongst us and appear randomly. We need a fanbase to pull him out of his blogging shelter.

What Are We Doing?

Click to enlarge?

This is what we seem to be up to lately.

Or so I think...so I think....

The Artist's Enemy

(click to enlarge picture)

What? Color!? Holy crap!

So this is my revenge against Daniel for his attempts at haggling me down into doing work for him for a beer.
Ha

-Joe

Lux

A flashlight points in one direction.  You can't see what's behind you, without turning around.  But in doing so, you may lose what you were supposed to be looking for.

A lantern only shines so far.  You can't see beyond it's reach or what surrounds you, waiting and lurking in the darkness.  Taking a step forward is a gamble between life and death.  You could be devoured whole or left to die in pain.  But it may set you on a path that is scattered with gems that sparkle from your light.  You follow the shimmering road even when you can only see so far.  You don't know where it leads but it guides you nonetheless.  The gleam of the gems guide you through the darkness.  Where do you come out of when the path is at it's end?  Did you arrive where you thought you would?  Did your lantern fade and leave you in the pit of darkness?  Where are you?

I wrote this on my personal blog on Friday at like 3 in the morning.  I'm re-posting it here cause I wanted to share the experience for those of you who were not in NY.  While the descriptions of this entry are lacking, do keep in mind that I was up late and therefore brain-dead.

 As many people should know, the New York area was devastated by a fierce storm yesterday afternoon.  I was actually walking home from my first day of work at the New York Film-Maker’s Cooperative when the storm grew worse in Manhattan.  Luckily for me, Manhattan was quite possibly the only borough not damaged heavily by the storm.
But as I was walking home and the time between lightning and thunder shrunk, the sky grew dark at a pace that was very much foreboding.  At that moment, I thought of the passage in the Bible right after Jesus drew his last breath and he had truly died on the cross.

One passage is from Luke 23:44-47.
⁴⁴It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, ⁴⁵for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. ⁴⁶Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.  ⁴⁷The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.”

A much more descriptive passage is from Matthew 27:51-53.

⁵¹At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. ⁵²The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. ⁵³They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus’ resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people.

Yesterday’s storm was truly frightening.  The flash of lightning pierced the dark skies and the hammer of thunder crashed upon the heavens, shaking me to my core.  The vibrations echoed throughout me as I looked up and saw rain starting to fall slowly.  It was a great experience to have been through.  I do wonder if anyone else felt the same about the storm.  I imagine that the biblical passage was far more intense by a hundred fold.
The rain did start coming down like a sheet of arrows while a block away from my dorm.  Even with umbrella, the rain thoroughly drenched me within the 8 sec it took me to walk the rest of the way to the building.  I went inside, dried off, went on the internet and found that three hurricanes are off the coast of the US.  I don’t know if that had anything to do with the storm here, but seriously, three hurricanes?  Is that normal?  Also, I had no ideas that tornadoes actually can form in this part of the US.  I took it much more of a Midwest/West thing.



Here is a video of the storm rolling into Brooklyn.  Like the Angel of Death on the land of Egypt.  
=(

He's Just Sulking, Don't Mind Him

I saw Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. I wrote a review on the blog. If you thought mine was a weak review, wait for Daniel's review once he sees it. He will be filling the holes and have his say about what he thought.

Daniel looks at hats. A lot. I don't know what he does exactly, but he's always working or moving from place to place. He does stuff. As soon as he buys the DSLR he says he's getting, I want to start a photo scavenger hunt Midwest vs. East Coast...and Japan. If we do have readers, I welcome you to join in.

As for the comic, I tried to mess around with the squares. Sometime in the future, I want to mess with the no squares concept. Also notice our mascot, Tuff The Mountain Goat. He's slowly replacing Kyle as the third member.

I happened to see The Expendables on the same day. Oh. My. God. The movie was so bad, I wanted to get up and leave. I usually can sit through a bad movie. But wow! My patience was rewarded though by the ridiculous final action scenes in the movie, it's only saving grace. Story and dialogue-wise, it was worse than a student film, and if you have talked to me before, you know how much I hate student films.

[edit] I noticed the title was pouting, when I meant to say sulking. MA BAD

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World Review - Joe Edition

As I entered the theater and sat down in my chair, I was highly anticipating a movie that would live up to it's trailer and far beyond it at the same time.  As the previews ended and the lights fully dimmed, the Universal logo came on in 8-Bit graphics and music and at that moment, I was sold that this movie was going to be awesome.  The introduction started off very well with the problem that Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) was dating a high school girl which would eventually lead the entire story to it's ultimate climax.  His girlfriend is introduced and the characters personalities are identified as they start off with their band rehearsal.  After the title sequence, which I admired for the intense work they must have put in except for the mind seizure it induced, it builds up the plot device that leads him to encounter the additional characters such as Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead)  and the Seven Evil Exes [I'm not ruining anything, you saw this in the trailer.] 

I'm not going into the story in detail so that those who may have not seen it will not complain about it being ruined and such nonsense.  What I will say is that the story, originally written by Bryan Lee O'Malley as a comic, has a solid story.  It has everything in the movie that defines each point as a certain point in the movie that should be there.  [For more info, go read the late Blake Snyder's book "Save the Cat!"]  I went to the theater with someone who said she had read the original comics.  She noted that there were parts here and there that were missing from the original but what movie doesn't?  She still commented that it was an amazing movie and did not steer clear off the course like The Last Airbender. [god damn you M. Night Shyamalan]  Despite it missing certain points of the comics, it still did an amazing job of getting the flow of the movie right so that no one moment was boring or dragged out.  The acts connected well and the main character was given enough reason and time to go through what we call "The Hero's Journey".  His character begun flawed, shown to him, and then he reaches the end with the right tools to win.

The effects in the movie were what first pulled me to see this movie.  When I think Michael Cera in a movie, I just think, oh god, another movie about teenage awkwardness.  The use and timing of the effects in the film was very satisfying and "beast".  Though it was not a serious film whatsoever, the post production crew did not skimp on the details of each effect that was needed.  The whole idea of the game life bars and such added to the film in a most positive manner.  The movie was rather surreal at times, and the editing and the effects strongly supported those transitions from reality to his inner thoughts.  I am sure that this film will cause a great number of Youtube children and adults to start making short skits and pieces much in the style of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.

The soundtrack was very fitting for the indie crowd the character's band was aiming for.  I could totally see the music playing behind Michael Cera if I saw him walking down the street. [Cause you know, Michael Cera acts like Michael Cera in every movie.]  Though the indie music scene is clearly not on my list of favorites, I very much enjoyed the use and story development with the music.

The randomness and uncertainty of the jokes was the defining feature of the film.  What would be rather awkward if the dialogue was straight forward, the speech and train of thought of Scott Pilgrim and his friends were very amusing and interesting to watch.  I happened to see The Expendables right after this movie, and I must say, that it is one of the worst movies I have ever seen in my life.  The dialogue was so weak and confusing that it deducted what little that movie had.  Unlike that movie, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World was solid and well timed.  The jokes made sense and the jokes and speech matched each character as they should have if they were real.

Now Daniel was telling me about how old time reviewers did not like the movie.  It all makes sense though.  This movie clearly is not a movie that would be understood by the older generation.  Very modern in it's style, the whole idea of fantasy and music does not seem to mesh well with the tastes of the people like Ebert and his peers.  This is a movie which is meant for a younger generation but clearly not targeted for children.  If one had to give an age range, I would say 15-34 years of age.  It almost like a cultural thing and is understandable that many people may not like this movie.  But it doesn't stop me from believing it was awesome.

Overall, this is one of the best movies I've ever seen in my life.  Highly amusing and entertaining, the film clearly was worth the discounted price I bought the ticket for and I would have paid full price to watch it and would not mind watching it again.  I would highly recommend it to people and I plan on purchasing it somehow when it is released on a DVD [or a Blu-Ray if I can afford a player]. 

 

The Death of Thomas Sable

Thomas Sable was a most distinguished writer that published works about the evils of the liberal population and their beliefs.  So when his wife ran off with the leader of the hippies rioting outside his estate that February morning, his anger burned a most passionate blaze.  Hurt and betrayed by whom he had thought was his greatest supporter, Thomas closed himself off in his house, away from the voices and the light of the world.  He took his 9-iron and smashed his computer, then his television, his phone, and eventually, he cut the power lines to the house.  He locked himself in the basement and sat on the floor.  Thomas Sable was isolated from everything.  He had returned himself forcibly into an era in which man was shrouded in darkness.  He had put himself into a state much like a embryo in it's mother's womb.  Thomas Sable needed to be reborn.

When night fell, the temperature dropped much lower than it should have that time of year in that particular part of the country.  Thomas, encased in a number of blankets he had found, sat quietly in the darkness.  His eyes saw nothing, his ears heard nothing, and his body, numb from the cold, felt nothing.  The only sound he heard was his heart pumping as it got slower and slower, succumbing to the chill of the night.  Thomas did not sit there without thought.  While his heart was falling asleep, his brain raced for a reason.  He searched for an explanation.  Why?  The simplest question but yet the most profound.  Why was he here in this basement dying?  Because his wife left him.  Why?  She didn't love him anymore and fell in love with the liberal freaks.  Why?  Because he was wrong?  Why?  Thomas Sable did not know why his wife had left him, a respectable, well-to-do man, for a fool dressed in dead flowers and so he continued to ask the question "Why?" till the cold eventually closed his eyes and his breathing got slower and eventually till he slumped onto the barren floor.

Thomas Sable stood on a barren ice field.  The dark sky was illuminated by the light of the auras of the heavens.  He eyed the stream and it's path as it went off toward the horizon.  A single stream of light fell to the earth and it lit the ice a orange hue.  He walked towards the falling light. As he got closer, he felt warmer and started to take off the coat he was wearing.  A hundred yards closer, he threw off his sweater.  When he was close to the light, he wore nothing, stark naked as the day he was born.  The orange light illuminated his figure as it contrasted with the barren blue of the ice behind him.  He stepped forward.  A vision of himself sitting in the darkness pierced his mind. He looked down, the number 266 blazed red by his foot.  He took another step forward and he was smashing his belongings with his 9-iron.  A 265 marked his step.  Each foot forward, a shard of his past flashed in his mind and a new number was seared the ground.  Thomas stepped through his life's memories till he reached the number 1.  His vision of his past for this number was only darkness.  He looked down at the number.  Breathing in, he lifted his head high and stepped into the light.  The light hissed as it consumed him.  His body began to char and crack.  Thomas didn't let out a scream as if he was in pain.  He didn't clutch his body in agony.  Thomas Sable simply breathed out as his body simply turned to ash and flew off. toward the shining lights in the sky.

Thomas could not tell if his eyes were open.  He stumbled around looking for the stairs.  When he found them, he slowly ascended the steps, breathing heavily from the cold air.  He unlocked the door and stepped out into the morning light.  The light was pale against the white floors and the wall.  Thomas headed slowly for the kitchen.  He grabbed a kettle and filled it with water.  He put it on the gas stove and waited patiently for the kettle to whistle.  He poured himself a cup of the hot water and sat at the table.  He took a sip and breathed out.  Breathing in and out, again and again, Thomas Sable was glad he was alive as he stared at the cup and took another sip.  The doorbell rang.  He ignored it's cry as he looked out the window and fell asleep.

Revenge is a Beer Best Served Cold

(click to enlarge)

Did someone just say epic? Or rather, why is Daniel in an unknown place drinking a beer, with a hand wrapped in some cloth? What happened to stick figures and stuff like that?

I've been wanting to draw this for a few weeks now but I've been busy with summer school. But since I finished courses today, I let myself have fun. There's an entire story behind this comic, by the way. Come back for more. =D

Daniel is the Odd One.

(click to enlarge... I think)

I mean, it's not our fault white people are afraid of a little "Hiya!" They just don't teach em the old school hunt and kill like they used to. I mean go watch The Patriot. Mel Gibson taught his kids how to shoot well enough to kill a bunch of redcoats. With a musket. Nuff said.

EDIT:

Daniel didn't think he was getting enough action in the comic. So to make him feel better since he isn't Asian, I drew this for him.

this is how Daniel goes fishing. By the way

http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/shark-week/

Shark Week is Aug 1st.

Unicorns Stole My McGriddle

(click to enlarge the comic... DO IT)

I tried summarizing what Daniel has been telling me these past two weeks.

You can ask Daniel for a post detailing what he has been talking about if you want.

But as the comic says. You're better off getting a intelligent answer from Daniel instead of me cause I have random sleep schedules.
I'll try to make more comics about Kyle as well cause he seems to be the odd man out right now.
It's cause he's busy with his lady friends. kyuk kyuk

EDIT: Daniel told me the second panel was wrong, so I fixed it. But apparently the Photoshop on Mac and PC are bit different concerning font, so ignore that. you simpletons. I also spelled "that" wrong, but seriously, corn beef hash is more important that spell check

Believe me, it'll happen.

I was watching Eragon this morning (terrible movie, I choose David Spade and Sean Connery in Dragonheart over that..well I guess it did have Jeremy Irons) and I realized that something was curious about the phrase "Prophesy Fortells" or "Legends Say."

Of course since I am Christian, my beliefs are in a monotheistic creationism by God.

But if we put aside my religious beliefs which people would claim bias, the idea that humans believe in prophecy and legends is fascinating. Where did this theory come from that there is a divine truth that dictates what will come to pass?

Most easily referenced would be ancient civilizations who believed in a higher being. God, the Olympians, The Mayan Gods, the Asian Gods, are all deities supposedly created by the people and according to atheists, are the manifestation of the weak human mind (you think y'all so special). By saying "there will be a time" means that they understood time was a limitless idea, unfathomable by the human brain. How far does time go? How long ago did time begin? Is this the present? By the idea of time, we came with the idea of future. Things shall come and things shall pass. So were prophecies and legends the creation of people's desires from the suffering that is humanity? Is it simply a story that they told themselves to help them go to sleep in a terrible world? How was an entire globe of different civilizations able to come to the same conclusion that there was a defined future of things that will come. We say that time is uncertain for we don't know what will happen because of the numerous variables that combine to lead us to infinite results.

Then according to religions, there must be a divine being(s) who know time or rather transcend it and bestows its knowledge to the people. God sent his prophets to his people. The Greeks listened to the mystical powers of the Oracle at Delphi. The Mayans supposedly thought the world would end on 2012.

Many stories of old tell of legends. Why, movies today use the idea of a gifted being to save the rest. Star Wars by George Lucas has Luke Skywalker as "A New Hope" that was foretold by the predecessors of the Jedi Council. Heck, even Dragonball Z had prophecies that Bardok could tell. How were humans able to believe in what someone was saying?

Coming back to the point, humanity has always been telling stories. Whether for fun or for religious purposes, the idea that a future will come is what drives the human race to keep on living. A business man can look forward to his kids growing up and himself retiring comfortably. A child works toward a future to achieve their dreams. It is plausible to say, that people of old, too weak to do anything themselves, believed that someone would come, or some event would pass that would ease their suffering. But what of prophecies of drought, famine, and death? Why would a race that desires survival foretell of disaster? Man understands the vague concept of time. Past, present, future. Man understands that in order to grow, trials must be overcome. Man is born, lives, and dies. This is the natural course of man. People understood that the heart of man was wicked and filtered that into the concept. We do not know how we're going to die. We may fall from a ledge, be shot, or just cease to exist. This leads me to think of a circle.

Why a circle?

The ancient Chinese believed that the Emperor was called by heaven to take the throne. A mandate from the heavens. When a new emperor arose, it was a cycle. A emperor rose to serve the purpose of the Heavens and to serve it's people. When the Emperor did not serve the citizens well, disaster came and a new Emperor arose. (By the way, I started singing the Circle of Life at this point.)

The circle loops. There will be life and death. There will be good and bad. Dark times shall come and a hero shall arrive to save the day. (Hopefully in green clothing and an annoying fairy following.) The concept of prophecies and that something we deem will come to pass in an uncertain future, often at an uncertain time, is intriguing. Simply that these legends and prophecies continue on from human faith and the idea that we are able to pass on our beliefs and cultures to others is simply the foundations of civilizations.

So how does one understand why people were able to speak of a future? I believe that it was human faith, the undying spirit within us attempting to be happy and fulfill our desires. My beliefs lead me to believe that God already knows everything that was, is, and is to come. Human faith that there will be another day and perhaps they have a reason and a mission is what I believe drove the people to dream big.

The Many Working Positions of Joe

Awake

I'm awake, again. Been awake. Don't like it much.
Eyes open. My brain makes the whirling sound a computer makes when it's compensating for the heat during processing. I don't particularly like being awake.

But the fact is, I love being awake. I love it when I see with my own eyes and hear with my own ears. When I touch something with my hands, an electrical shock sends my brain a message, "this is real." Time is short. Life is measured in time. How old are you? You still don't have a job? When are you going to get married? Life is short. Time keeps running. No time for sleep.

Move! There are thing to be done! You can't sleep till the deadline in 3 days! Sleep is for the weak. 48 hours in, your eyes, they droop. Your mind slips. The alluring darkness that seduces you each time you blink, gets longer as your eyelids take another second before opening again.

I love sleep. I dream. I see visions of grandeur, of fantasy, and of love that cannot be real. The sands on the beach dig into my heels as I press them further in, hoping to root myself in this realm. But Time, you terrible beast, you turn the gentle waves into raging fires, turn the sands into maggots, and turn the sun into a black hole.

Work. I hate it. But after that 48th hour, when you're heart beats like a smithy's hammer and you gasp for air like a man on the moon and when your legs give no strength as if Atlas has passed you his globe, it is a feeling of ecstasy. The pain, the wonderful fulfillment of Time. I have outdone you once again, vile fiend! I have broken your code. I live and I tell a tale of my suffering with glee. A boast. My pride swells as the fact that I have sacrificed mind and body for a moment of satisfaction.
Time, my black-hearted foe. you rob me of what is rightfully mine, you make me crawl and beg and weep for it. You take from me satisfaction.

Time, my sweet friend, you send me on ventures that one cannot walk without a kick off a cliff. You send me hurling down into darkness, despair so that I can climb up the other side and keep moving. Time could build me a bridge, but what's the point of that? Bridges will burn, they will snap and they will rot.

I'm awake, eyes closed, deep breathing. I tell you, I'm awake. I'm just resting my eyes. See those footprints behind me, that is where I have come from, you can see them cross the horizon.

Why do I cross this desert? I hear of a land flowing with milk and honey on the other side. It's better than this desert.

No seriously, I'm awake. Stop poking me. I'm not dead.

Wheee

click to enlarge.

I'll take note that I should use a larger size next time or see if i can mess with the settings.

Joe