More Mythicman

I forgot to mention. There are a couple more parts of Mythicman up and available.

They're over on the MM blog. Check 'em out if you like.

Mythicman - The Origin

Updates

I have to admit, one of the things I hate about blog reading is the inevitable "gee, it's been a while since I updated this thing" post. We somehow feel guilty because we just haven't been inspired to update, or there just hasn't been anything going on we felt was blog worthy. I think the whole point of a blog is just to be able to write something down when we have something to say, and shouldn't feel obligated to always update.

Of course, with that in mind . . .

Gee, it's been a while since I've updated this thing!

Yeah, I've had a few short posts, and the beginning of the Superman Rant, which I pre-wrote. And I have had a few things happen which I could have blogged about, but when I stopped and thought about how long it would take me to get my thoughts down - truth be told, I simply couldn't have been bothered. I can be a little long winded sometimes, so writing this thing can take a fair bit of effort on my part.

So. A lot of my recent post were quoting on my mental state. I had a really bad bout of depression there for a while. Brought on by my job. I'm over it. The erratic schedule, the hypocritical management style, the work itself, the way it keeps me away from my friends and family and the all over dead end nature of it. I've been getting these huge waves of rage come over me because of it. I'm sick of what it's doing to my life, to my health and to my state of mind. I just fucking hate it! I'm desperately looking for a new job, but I'm not having much luck. Most of the time I can't even get an interview. I wish I knew what I was doing wrong, because I'm getting increasingly frustrated. My beautiful Vanessa told me she has a feeling I'll get a new, better job very soon. I hope she's right.

On the comic side of things, I have a bunch of older, smaller stories which I'm trying to get finished. There's a four page Spider-Duck story, which will be going in the book I'm doing that will reprint the original online strip. There's The Death of Captain Cliche, which takes the piss out of the Death of Superman. There's also Coalition of the Willing, which I'd kinda like to get done and gone, but it's further down the line. I also have the pages from the next issue of Ozslaught to get done. And then there's RoboToon 3, which I have started. One page, admittedly, but it's a start.

Film wise - I've been doing a lot of editing over the last month or so. I did a quick edit on a little thing called "Knock Knock", which was a translation of an old gong show sketch. I should get that done so I can get it up on the net. I've been putting a lot of work into trying to get "Horrorflix" version 2 finished. To my eye, it doesn't work. I'm going to get it finished, so its' the best I can make it, but - well, the phrase about polishing a turd comes to mind. I'm still cursing Lisa's name for bailing on us the way she did. She completely fucked us over, and I am not happy! I had gotten the shits with HorrorFlix, so I went back and tried to finish "Fearless Monster Hunters". I love this little thing. It got me inspired, so were going out this weekend and filming another episode. At some point I'm going to redo "Why Not?" as well, cause I still love that film, and would like to have a HD version. There's a show on Channel 31 that is putting out the call for short film, so we're going to start sending off some submissions to that. AS I said earlier, we didn't get shortlisted for Trasharama. I think The Lot is a really good film, but it probably wasn't what they were looking for. I'm going to go to the screening just to see what kind of thing they were after. I'm already planning to try and make 'Aborted' for next year. More on that later.

My health's OK - I'm tired a lot - my home's all right. I'm glad Summer seems to be kicking in nicely. And I'm more in love with my beautiful girl than ever. She's the main thing that's keeping me going at the moment, and I thank whoever for having her in my life.

I'm hungry, want breakfast, and have to get ready for work. This should hold you.

First of many, I'm sure

The short list for Trasharama was finally released.

'The Lot' wasn't one of them.

Pretty much saw that coming.

Mythicman

I'm trying something

http://mythicmantheorigin.blogspot.com/

Don't vote. It encourages the bastards

I've been watching with some interest the build up to the upcoming election in the states. To start off with, this election is significant because we're finally getting rid of Alfred E, uh, George Dubya Bush. Personal opinion, but no one has done more to fuck up the world than this clown.

Some people are born great, others have greatness thrust upon them. Then there are those who get it as a graduation gift.

The current race was interesting for a while, cause it was the Black guy versus the Chick. America was going to have a first in the white house. The first African American President, or the First Female president. For a country who's intelligence and evolution seems to be going backwards, this was a pretty positive step. Unfortunately, Hillary dropped out. But she did put her support behind Obama. I really want Obama to get in. Not sure why, but my money's behind him.

Now, I know NOTHING about his running mate. The old guy with the white hair. But it seems that no one really cares about him. All the interest is around the little lady he's chosen as his potential VP. Senator Palin. The ex beauty queen from Alaska who's pro gun, anti abortion and very evangelical. The lady who shoots reindeer's for fun in front of her kids. The woman who is behind the war in Iraq, because she believes it's 'God's Plan'.

This woman scares the living shit out of me.

This woman is the American equivalent of an ignorant Pauline Hanson. Redundant, I know. But the thing that gets me the worst is that final line about it being God's plan. Anyone who thinks that their right is difficult to argue with. Sometimes they may begrudgingly admit you have a point, but that's about it. Anyone who not only thinks they're right, but believes that God's on they're side, is fucking dangerous. Because they believe that anything that they do is not only justified, but it's 'Morally correct'.

I believe politicians should have a fairly open mind. They have to be able to hear both sides of the argument, then make the best decision from all the facts. This ignorant backwater bitch has already got her mind made up. And NO ONE is going to be able to tell her any differently.

Why is it the Americans have the ability to scare the living crap out of everyone else on the planet?

Time's up

So today is the final deadline for Trasharama. I got my entry in for the first deadline, which was back in August.

This means that they will; finally start working towards the short list. So I should hear - hopefully soon - how my entry went.

This is excruciating. It really is.

The Superman Returns Rant Part 1 - The History

Get comfy folks. This is going to be a long one.

First up, a little bit of back story. Anyone who knows me knows I’m a HUGE Superman fan. I started reading Superman comics back when I was in college, which was also the time of Superman’s death. I can’t tell you why the character captured me, it just did. Superman was one of the few characters that – at the time – had a new book out every single week. I was there for his death and eventual return, I have the wedding issue where he finally married Lois Lane after a 75 year courtship, I've been there through a lot of trials and tribulations in the characters life. And, believe it or not, he’s been there for me. I’ve been able to get through some very rough stuff with a little help from the Man of Steel. My favourite quote of his is not the one that he’s so well know for, but a simpler one. “There’s a right and a wrong in this universe. And that distinction is not hard to make.” And it’s true. There’s shit you do, and shit you don’t do. You already know which is which. That’s something I try to follow. I fail sometimes. But I try. Unlike him, I’m only human.

Anybody wants to pick on me for any of the above, stop reading now.

So, with that in mind, I had been a very close follower of the attempts at trying to get a new Superman film made. Believe it or not, this was a process that had been going on for years. Superman 4, the last Christopher Reeve film, was made in 1987. The film flopped, mostly because it wasn’t a very good film. An original idea for Superman to fight an evil, twisted version of himself was micro managed and focus grouped into Nuclearman, who looked like a cross between a beach bum and a Mexican wrestler. The franchise sort of ground to a halt around then.

After the first Batman film was a hit back in ’89, they stepped the attempt to get a new film into cinemas up a notch. A script had been going around Hollywood, which Kevin Smith took great delight in slagging off to Studio Execs after reading it. I’ve read it. It’s absolutely shit. I think whoever read it took one glance at the cover of a comic and wrote the script from there. Kevin Smith was then hired to write a version of the screenplay. It’s funnier to hear him talk about it.

His version was tossed out when Tim Burton was brought on. Classic Hollywood thinking – if he made the bat work, he could make the Boy Scout work. All superheroes are the same anyway, aren’t they? Apparently Tim worked one the project for over a year before it was scrapped again. What I’ve heard and seen of it, it would have been a fascinating film, but it would not have been Superman. I think that was the closest they got for a while – there was even promotional poster released to cinemas in certain places in the states. But, instead of Superman, we got Wild Wild West. And the world is such a better place for it (Insert sarcasm here).

After Tim disappeared to Sleepy Hollow, several Directors were signed to do the film. McG from Charlies Angels fame was attached, Brett Ratner who destroyed the Xmen franchise with his third installment called ‘Storm, and the others show up’. Or at least, it should have been. All these directors were working on pretty much the same story, which was the death and return of Superman. They wanted Doomsday in it, the wanted Braniac in it, they wanted Polar Bears in it – any thing that would look good as an action figure. There was all this talk about changing the suit – making it black, losing the cape, having the S shield morph into Knives. No, I’m not making that up – changing the man – making him blonde, making him African-American. Some of the casting decisions were just ludicrous. Nicholas Cage was attached for the Tim Burton version as Supes, they asked Will Smith to put on the cape – Beyonce Knowles was going all out trying to get the role of Lois Lane. . . All of this stuff just resulted in sending shivers up the spines of any Superman fan. And of course, while all this was going on, we were no closer to getting a new Superman film.

And then something happened. The announcement came out of yet another new director attached. None other than young Bryan Singer. Bryan, at that time, was very revered in the comic community, for managing to not only turn the convoluted Xmen franchise into a viable and entertaining film, but he managed to capture lightning in a bottle twice, by delivering a sequel that not only lived up to the original movie, but slightly surpassed it. I was working in the comic book store when the news came out. The only way to describe the feeling that came with that announcement was a huge sigh of relief. Fans finally felt that, not only was this movie FINALLY going to get made, but that the character was in good hands. We felt we could trust Singer.

How wrong we were.

More to come.

Never under-estimate the healing power of Mumbles Happyfeet.

Sunday night. At work. Depressed again.

Found the 'Happy Feet' soundtrack CD in a drawer.

A couple playings of Stevie Wonder's "I wish" later, and I was back to me again.

Cool penguin.

Get me the hell out of here!

So I think my job has me on the fast track towards a complete emotional breakdown. How you doing?

Work has been getting me depressed lately. And not just the usual "I'd rather be at the beach" type of depression. I'm talking about life draining, energy sucking, no motivation, crawl up into a ball depression. And that ain't fun.

The thing that gets me the most is that this job doesn't allow you to have a life. It's a cinema, which runs from 9 to after midnight every day, 365 days a year. It's casual shift work, which means you can work any time. Day, mid, night, Monday through Sunday. I don't have a set roster, or any kind of regular shifts, so I can't ever plan anything without up to a month of notice. And don't talk to me about spontaneous.

Yesterday, Ness did her final presentation for her course. She has one last show to work on, and that's it. She's done. I went to watch the presentation, and it was really good and really fun to watch. After it was done, Ness came up to me and said that one of her class mates was having a party to celebrate. Mid sentence I think she realised what she was about to ask, cause she finished by saying "but you can't come because you're working". She's accepted this. She knows how my life works. I don't think she likes it much, but she takes it. But it upset me. I would have loved to help celebrate my girl's achievement. But no. I had to work. Her dad asked me when I was going to come over for dinner again. I had to honestly answer "I don't know". And I LIKE Ness's family. And to add insult to injury, I get a call from my boss, asking me to start earlier today. They don't even think about how it affects you! We need something here, you show up.

And this is the way it works. I get calls from friends, saying this is going on, or this event is on and can I show up, and I always have to turn them down. I'm sick of it! I took this damn job so I could have a life. I didn't realise would have to revolve around and be consumed by the damn thing.

I'm looking for a new job. I check seek every week, send off a bunch of applications - I've finally made it up to getting call backs. But it's just not moving fast enough. I desperately want to get out of that fucking place and away. Truth be told, if it wasn't for Ness, I'd pack up my shit and move to Wagga, take my chances out there.

Anyway, that'll do for now. I've got to get ready for work!

IT begins . . . AGAIN!!

Go help me, I penciled the first page of Issue 3 of Robotoon.

I had the day off today and experienced a boredom the likes I haven't felt for a while. This feeling was palatable, I could feel it on my skin like a rash! I realised later that, after the last month of the shooting spree, then prepping before that, today was the first day off in a while that I didn't have something I needed to do. It always shocks me how much I need that, that feeling of purpose. Without it . . . well, I tend to go a little crazy.

So, after finally cleaning up my room - I forgot there was a rug on this floor - and organising enough that I could get to my Drawing table, I thought I'd make a start. If you're one of the people who are looking forward to this book, don't get too excited. I've plotted this book at 22 pages, and I have three pages to do for Tony's OZSLAUGHT before hand. I didn't do anything for the last issue, which I think hurt Tony a bit. Only He and Tania contributed last time. I don't yet know when the next convention is, but I'm giving myself 4 months to get the book done. The last one took 7. The one before that 12. Years.

ON the flip side, I finally completed my first professional - read, Paid for! - drawing assignment in years. I had to draw a sick forklift for a logo. If you live in Sydney, keep an eye out for this image airbrushed to the side of a van, which is apparently the future destination for it.

ON yet another note, the second deadline for Trasharama is coming up in the next week or so. Hopefully after that, I'll get some word as to how my entry went. I don't mind saying, I'm sweating bullets. I desperately want to be short listed - not win, just short listed.

And for those who are interested, Tony's OK. Really, really hurt, but I think he's made some kind of peace with it. He had a chat to the girl, and even though he doesn't like it, can accept her reasons. You want details, ask him. Not my story to tell.