19-Help Yourself

When I was coloring Clara's eyebrows in the last panel of this page, I was reminded of the fact that one of my pet peeves is girls who are afraid of eyebrows.  Eyebrows are a funny thing.  Not too long ago, it used to be very fashionable to have very thin eyebrows.  Thick eyebrows were just not okay.  But now thicker eyebrows are more of a trend, and I'm glad for that trend.  I mean, within reason.  Obviously, if you have a unibrow, you should deal with it, but yeah.  It's amazing what bold eyebrows will do for one's face.  Especially in comparison to thin eyebrows, or no eyebrows.  There should probably be some kind of eyebrow festival to make up for all of the undeserved shame that eyebrows have gotten over the years.  Eyebrowfest 2014!

18-The Catter of Matering

Admittedly, one of the funnest things about being a part of organizing a wedding is the food.  You get to taste all kinds of delicious things.  And, well, the way the story will go, the tasting will be kind of unbridled, ridiculous, and hopefully a lot of fun.

Speaking of fun, I am especially in the mood for playing old games.  Not that a game has to be old.  I guess I'm just looking for a good game to play that has a classic feel to it.  I might try my hand at NEStalgia again--it's an MMO inspired by the original Dragon Warrior/Dragon Quest games.  Quite fun.  If you can suggest any other games to me of that variety, please do!

17-Kidney For A Venue

Seriously, though.  Venues are highly challenging.  And easily one of the most expensive parts of any given wedding, especially with a large guest list.  It's surprisingly expensive to put a bunch of people in one place for a few hours, feed them, and do whatever else you are going to do.  Venues can be quite troublesome when it comes to throwing the wedding you want--they kind of define the whole event in a lot of ways.

16-Chances

Why, that crafty little....  If I didn't like her so much, I'd say she's just being downright manipulative right now.

Geez, I am still hooked on Nisekoi, but it lost a lot of its original charm.  I'm on volume 50-something-whatever if that's any indication as to how the story hooked me.  And it definitely has, but many manga tropes have emerged.  Sorry, but just because you are the male lead in a manga doesn't mean that every girl has to love you.  But what do I know?  Also, I feel like it's made the blunder of not knowing where to go with the story and trying to solve that problem by introducing more characters.  But I still like it.  I'm too far into it now to give up before knowing how it ends.  Curse you, addictive manga!  You have claimed another victim by stringing me along with the bait of an unresolved romantic plotline.  This better pay off BIG in the end or else I will be as mad as a hungry dwarf hamster in hamster ball stuck in the middle of a barrel of hamster food.  HAMSTERS!

Plugnet.  Plugnet will make me feel better.  More plugnet.

15-A Pepperoni Concession

I find pepperoni to be the neutral ground of pizza.  People may disagree about meat lovers, supreme, or ham & pineapple pizza, but I find most people are okay with pepperoni.  That is, unless you're one of those cheese-only people, or a vegan.  Terran is neither of those, so letting her have her pepperoni is kind of like offering a small olive branch.

Also, check out this FLYING FUCKING PIZZA IN SPACE:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fdr-Fiv92c

14-Freakishly Early

Gods, I know so many people who are more than content with being 15 minutes late to everything.  It bugs the crap out of me.  I'm not one of those on-time-is-late kind of people, but still.  There gets to a point where it can be disrespectful.  At the same time, I know people usually don't mean any offense by it.  A lot of people are so beta that they just go with whatever and lose track of time.  Some people just aren't brought up to be time conscious, and that's cool and all.  Though I have met one person who blatantly told me that she basically doesn't give a fuck who she pisses off by being late to anything.  Anyhow.  Rant over.

I am very sad today.  I just took another gander at 8bitpeoples.com and was reminded that there will be no more blip festival "for the forseeable future."  I know 8-bit music is kind of a weird niche, but I love it.  There will be a huge void in my musical life knowing that blip festival is gone, pretty much forever.  But I guess I should just be glad that there are talented people out there still making music, not the least of which is Bit Shifter, with whom I am pretty much in love.

13-A Missing Piece

Gods, I'm just like Cyrstal when it comes to pizza.  The evil pizza must be vanquished!

12-Rationalizations

So here comes the other side.  The scheme itself begs the objections that Terran is posing.

I'm growing more to appreciate Anamanguchi's album Power Supply.  It's just so... sharp and energetic?  I dunno.  I have very few adequate ways to describe music that I love and the reasons for which I do.  My favorite song on that album is still Fast Turtle.  The title just brings up so much fun imagery.  Go, turtle, go!

Soon I will be attempting my first multiplayer game of Civ V with some dudes that I know.  I haven't yet played an entire game through the year 2050 yet, so it should be interesting.  I've had a decent go at the one solo game that I started, but I think that was on the lowest difficulty level.  So I dunno.  I will let you know how it goes.  Maybe.  ^v^

11-All Aboard

So, I'm quite a ways into Nisekoi, and I'm rather enjoying it.  I wasn't sure whether the whole Tsundere trope would get old, but it's been entertaining so far.  I don't want to talk too much about the story, but I will say that I've been pleasantly surprised by how I'm kept guessing as to which girl the main character is ultimately destined to be with, given the premise of the story.  I'm a sucker for a good love triangle.  But I'm not sure it can ever end well.  Of course with recent developments in volume 16, there are more possibilities.

Anyway, I'm noticing how many of these entries contain "so," followed by "anyway."  ANYWAY.  Liz continues to be Liz.  And, of course, Terran.  I swear these characters show the worst sides of themselves during this first part of the story.  They are not that bad.  Promise.  ^v^

10-False Dilemma

So unfortunately the story thus far only shows the worst side of Liz.  I actually quite like her as a character for reasons that are not yet apparent.  And I am afraid if I keep typing that I will spoil the story, so I will stop.

I guess bachelorette parties are definitely considered part of the main events, if I'm going to nitpick at my dialog.  But I will defend the statement by saying that she was driving her point home by bringing up a main event that is especially relevant to her plan, which hasn't been mentioned yet.  If cake tastings are a catalyst for gluttony, then bachelorette parties are even more so.

My own experience with bachelorette parties has been interesting.  Each friend seems to bring a certain taboo, scandalous, or questionable-in-terms-of-legality thing or activity, and hijinks ensue.  Of course that depends on the bachelorette party.  I've experienced two extremes in terms of "unsavory" activities.  One extreme of course is the expected revelry, naked men, and  phallic paraphernalia, the other is a family party where everyone is expecting revelry or impropriety and instead there is just this pervasive awkwardness due to the odd aunt, mother, or grandmother in attendance.  God that's fun.  >.>  Of course, there are grandmas out there who wouldn't bat an eye at the sight of a bong or a penis cake.

9-Examples

Yep, Cyrstal is that person.  She is always the one to blame when you expectantly make that trip to the pizza box, hoping that there might be a few slices left, only to find it empty.  And not only empty, but also clear of all evidence that there was pizza there to begin with, except maybe the telltale grease spots.  She doesn't even ask, either.  In fact, the only time she WILL ask is when there is a collection of leftovers on your plate that you haven't touched for some time, or that half finished soda that will inevitably make its way to the garbage can.  Sure, it's kinda gross, and Crystal may or may not have had a bout or two with mononucleosis because of it, but this little quirk of hers has its perks.

Also, smoking.  I've experienced such a wide range of opinions about smoking in my conversations with people.  I've known people who have quit cold turkey as Crystal has here.  I've known people who are opposed to smoking to a religious degree.  I've known people who smoke even though they are acutely aware of the risks and drawbacks.  I'm not one to judge anyone's opinion or conduct this way or that.  But I hope that this tiny little detail in the story won't make light of the fact that people have battled addiction or suffered through the consequences of habitual smoking.  OF COURSE IF YOU ARE OFFENDED MAYBE YOU SHOULD HAVE ALREADY BEEN OFFENDED BY OTHER THINGS THAT I HAVE MAYBE POSSIBLY MADE IN THE PAST.  Like bad puns about the act of making puns.  Punmanship.

8-Easier Than You Think

In part, this story is about extreme personalities put into a situation where those personalities particularly manifest.  For some reason, extreme personalities seem the most interesting, even in real life.  Sometimes those personalities are difficult to deal with by their very nature, but the people in whom they are found I find profoundly lovable.  Or something like that.

I had a conversation with a friend of mine about Diablo III today.  Like many people, I enjoyed the second game in the series decently, but I've heard mixed reviews about the third.  The storyline itself, he told me, is a bit short, but there are a few non-storyline-related aspects to enjoy about the game as well.  In the brief research I did on the game, I've heard people complain about the constant rebalancing of their classes during beta testing, which resulted in many characters being nerfed, which would be upsetting.  Perhaps by now they've resolved these issues.  I might try it out if I find the time.  But anymore I'd rather be working on comics.  ^^

7-Who Brought A Giant Fan, Anyway?

So lately I've been getting back into Terraria.  I only know a couple of people in person who have played the game, and I think by now they have moved on from it.  Like most open-ended, sandbox style games, they have their appeal for awhile, but over time it takes on a flavor of vain repetition.  That's one of the bigger reasons why I don't play WoW or any other MMO for that matter.  But with Terraria, I guess I still haven't played it ad nauseam.  I still have a sense of adventure when I open up the game, and it keeps stringing me along with new gadgetry and possibilities.  My friends who are into Minecraft think I'm a little crazy for choosing to play what is essentially a platform version of the game, but I'm a sucker for nostalgia.

Also, I did have quite a lot of fun creating this page.  Hope you enjoy it too!  I might just be getting used to working with this less refined style, but it seems to work with what I was going for...

I always imagined Liz would have a sort of distorted view of how people react to Crystal, and I think this sort of unintentionally came out in my quick drawing of the rabble in the second panel.  Liz may or may not also be prone to hyperbole.  ^v^

6-Problems?

This page brings up a conundrum in my head that seems to arise in many things that I write, read, or watch.  It's the character that is considered "the hot one," or even just particularly pretty or generally recognized as beautiful.  The first part of the conundrum is that when I draw a character that I've been mulling over for awhile, he or she inevitably ends up looking just... different... than he or she was in my imagination.  Less vibrant, maybe?  Just a bit off from the ideal combination of curves and/or muscle that I envisioned?  It makes me think of the incredible things I could create if there wasn't a barrier between my brain and the paper.

The secondary aspect of this conundrum is when literary characters are put into illustration or film, and they are different than what the reader pictured.  It's compounded with many readers for obvious reasons.  I applaud the folks in charge of casting films for the work that they do, because I think it would be very difficult.  Anyway, I'm pretty much rambling now.  ぺちゃくちゃ

I'm moderately pleased with how Crystal turned out, all things considered.  And hopefully she will turn out all the better in the end.  ^-^

5-Four Weddings

So now a bit more of the major points of the plot are starting to emerge.  Though I'm sure the majority of you will be able to fill in the gaps as we go.  This story really isn't meant to surprise you, so if it does, then, well, that's just an added bonus. 

I have to write a bit of an anecdote here.  Because most if not all of my readers are male, some of you may not be entirely aware of how truly important weddings are to women.  Everyone is different of course, but for myself, and the vast majority of women I know, it's understood that a girl's wedding day is the ONE DAY in which a girl has every excuse in the world to be treated like a princess.  To be doted over.  To be celebrated.  Now, it's a debatable as to what weddings are all about, or what values they entail, but to many it can be described as the capstone of womanhood, or perhaps more fairly, the capstone of romantic relationships.

The whole idea can be spun as a bit antiquated, and even sexist, in some circles.  Conversely, it can be OVER valued in many cases.  Many people place extreme importance on the ceremony, and the marriage itself can be taken for granted--at least some say so.  I'll reserve my own judgment here, and let you hopefully be entertained by my characters' take on the issue.

4-Trust Me

I've had a series of interesting conversations regarding this comic today.  One was online where someone was questioning what it was like to be friends with girls like these, and whether or not I actually knew people who would actually scheme against one of their friends like these girls are about to do in this comic.  I think I'll elaborate more on my response in this post, as I think it's kind of a complicated issue.

First, I wanna lead with restating that these are just caricatures of people I know.  Meaning that they are a mishmash of exaggerated qualities that some of my friends possess.

But the question of plausibility comes up, which was a point of discussion that I had with one of my real life friends.  Is it plausible that these girls would plot in such a way?  Is it a true representation of what real friendship is like?

My answer, of course, is no.  But the imperfection in these relationships is the source of much of the conflict that will drive the story to its conclusion, and will cause it to come full circle in the end.

Another thing that I will always insist on is being open to criticism.  I know it's impossible to please everyone, but it's an important part of improving one's work, which is why I welcome conversations like the ones I mentioned above.  I can only hope that I have the good sense to listen to the points of criticism that are truly relevant and meaningful.  It's not an easy task, because not all complaints merit a change, but all complaints arise for a reason.  And I view sensible, well-spoken complaints as something akin to creative gold.

Look at all this serious talk about a silly story just made for fun.  Whether you have complaints, criticism, or just fits of giggles, I hope we can enjoy the ride together.  Onward and upward to giggles, jiggles, and general good times.  HOORAY!  \^^/