Ego – Raging

Nerdy Anticipation

~ J.Ho ~ 3 Comments

Perhaps you will recall that I am a huge Transformers fan? And perhaps you will recall that I enjoyed Michael Bay’s first outing in the world of Transformers? And perhaps you will understand that I am bitterly jealous that the sequel, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, premiered two weeks ago in Japan, and was released last week in the United Kingdom, while Canadians living in America (like myself) are forced to wait until this week?

And perhaps you will not be surprised that 24 hours from the posting of this blog, I will be sitting in an IMAX theater watching said movie, at long last?

For the haters, let’s get some things straight here… I’m not expecting Citizen Kane. I’m not expecting Shakespeare. I’m not even expecting Shakespeare in Love. I am expecting pretty much the best special effects around, lots of robots getting blowed up good, and Megan Fox looking Megan Foxxy.

The surge of nerdy anticipation within me is overwhelming, threating to manifest itself as a wave of destructive energy that will burn the surface of the planet to a crisp whilst arguing whether or not the new Revenge of the Fallen Human Alliance toyline portrays human characters in proper scale to their Autobot counterparts. Also, I drew this:

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What started out as kind of a quick sketch to commemorate the release of Revenge of the Fallen actually became a decent exercise in color and lighting, I think.

._.

PLEASE READ: On a serious note…

~ J.Ho ~ 2 Comments

Now, I don’t really talk about anything serious on this blog. I talk about seriously nerdy stuff, but I never talk about serious topics. Today, I thought I’d make a little exception–I hope you all don’t mind if I get a little personal, and a little serious.

Some time ago, I suffered a great loss. No one died, but it was a great blow to my morale… and in a way, my innocence died. I realized how fragile happiness can be. I found myself lacking motivation. I was anxious and listless at work. In short, my heart was broken. Over time, I healed–the loss faded from the forefront of my mind. I moved on, but I never truly forgot.

But recently–as I suspect you all know by now–something amazing happened. Something big. This didn’t just affect me, but the whole world. A move that gave me a reason to hope, to dream… to live again. The loss that I had suffered, was now erased, and replaced by something more stable. Something beautiful, and inspiring.

Of course this loss and subsequent inspiration that I’m talking about is the death of Scrabulous and its recent rebirth as Lexulous.

I have a reason to live again. Praise Thor, god of thunder and wordplay! I think that’s right, isn’t it?

Bonus Post: Obsessive Dork Wastes Time

~ J.Ho ~ 3 Comments
I’ve been seeing a lot of anime/manga-esque avatars on the internets recently, and Jodi kindly informed me that they were generated at FaceYourManga.com.

I made an avatar that resembled me fairly well, but felt the need to waste further time by customizing it even more. A few quick google image searches, some cheap Photoshop tricks, and voila:

Still feeling that time needed to be wasted, I slapped together a quick diagram showing the base elements I used to mod my avatar, and pointing out some of the smaller cosmetic changes I made:

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As a bonus, here’s an avatar I created a few months ago, through the Photobucket/Meez website:

This is basically exactly how I spend my weekends–chillin’ out during a nuclear holocaust, with a dragon hatchling on my shoulder, a ray gun in hand, and a devil-may-care grin on my face. Basically.

What’s wrong with me?

(That’s a rhetorical question.)

Our Numbers Are Many

~ J.Ho ~ 6 Comments
Some highlights and lowlights from Comic-Con (you decide which are which):

  • I saw Stan Lee almost die on an escalator–some guy got his messenger bag tangled up in the railing and almost took out everyone behind him, with Stan being the first in line. After the crowd helped Stan clear the obstacle and get to his feet, he blurted, “What was that?!” in his Stan Lee voice. Surreal.
  • I saw Riker and La Forge walking the convention floor, without security and unharassed by the nerdy masses. What has transpired in the world of geekdom that these demigods can traverse freely? Should not these heroes be lavished with geeky worship? Hast thou forgotten Gargoyles? Reading Rainbow? To say nothing of ST:TNG?!? For shame, ye ungrateful dorks. Thou hast forsaken thou nerdy roots! Repent! Repent, lest repeats of classic sci-fi shows be replaced by blighted, hateful sports highlights! REPENT!
  • Whilst working the booth for the day job, a kid ran up, saw the comics and exclaimed, “grab everything in sight!” Thankfully, his mother was accquainted with the modern system of exchanging goods for money, and restrained him immediately.

Lastly, I discovered that nerdy Asian guys with mohawks are a dime a dozen at Comic-Con. In aisles crowded with cosplayers, action figure collectors, fanfic writers, and miscellaneous dweebs, I would encounter my dopplegangers… each time we would lock gazes, and time seemed to stand still. Sizing up each other’s mohawks, a hypothetical battle would be waged in the deadly electric path betwixt our steely eyes. In another time and place, under different circumstances we might have been friends, but here and now, we were fated to be enemies. There would be no conflict yet–the pact of the immortal mohawk forbade endangering the lives of mortal nerds. But soon… soon, our destinies would be fulfilled, for there can be only one.

Sorry, sometimes I lose my damn mind. Comic-Con will do that to you.

Pure Genius.

~ J.Ho ~ 2 Comments
It’s about 4:30am as I begin typing this blog. I started my blog illustration very late, just a few hours ago. I was almost done coloring it in Photoshop, and then my twitchy hand closed the file without saving. The really great thing is that I literally had not saved anything. So instead you get this last minute rage doodle:

As I generally refrain from cursing on this blog (unlike my ultra-profane RL), I have nothing more to say.

Pardon Our Dust…

~ J.Ho
(Posting early)

Today’s post is still under construction! Or, at least what was today’s post is still under construction. So instead, you get this quickie:

Two manifestations of my raging ego in one week. WHAT A TREAT.

I Know How To Party.

~ J.Ho ~ 5 Comments
(Posting early, why not?)

This is how the weekend was spent. For those who don’t live in the ‘States, 1040’s, W-2’s, and 1099’s are various super-fun tax forms.

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‘Hawk and Croc

~ J.Ho ~ 7 Comments
I did get a mohawk this past weekend. I did not get a pet crocodile. Which is fortunate… for my enemies.

I’ve been lazy/tired/whatevs, so this was a last minute deal. I’m happy with it, which I guess means that I should work under pressure more often.

Some Days I Would Rather…

~ J.Ho ~ 4 Comments
I was hard up for a post today, so I asked Hammers to suggest a subject for a quick sketch. He came up with “badger,” though I’m pretty sure this is not what he had in mind:

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A few people have requested more pics of my noodly cartoon persona. Since my noodly real-life persona is wildly ego-centric, I’m glad to comply. I actually had the “I would rather jump into a pit full of [BLANK]” idea last week, but I couldn’t think of a fitting animal to plug in. Badgers seemed a good fit. However, dear reader, I don’t want you to think that the sentiment is any less sincere this week rather than last–right now, I would definitely rather jump in a pit full of badgers than deal with… anything.

But I’m all out of badgers.