Wicked. Can't believe how much I'm getting into the second season. So many red herrings and things to ponder about. I'm thinking more and more that the island is some kind of nuclear test facility or fallout shelter. I hope I'm wrong since it would snap the fantasy element of the story. There are tons of theories swirling over at the official LOST message boards which I visit after each show. One thread outlines (in detail) the relevency of the numbers. Some really crazy stuff like on last week's show, how Jack tested the chick's leg four times with four being the first of the 6 mystery numbers. Tons of other bits you wouldn't even consider are there.

This week we got a nice shot of Kate in the ventilation shaft. Dude, you know what I'm talkin' about;) Mike was whining incessantly but that's what I like about him. And Sawyer had some wicked comebacks. Man, SO good.

What's in store for BFX:

Yesterday, I picked up BECK number 23 and the October issue of the monthly magazine Afternoon. BECK is getting a bit lame for me. I liked it up till now but it seems it's getting a little too technical with labels, studios and recording details. I guess it was pretty foreseeable since they've gotten this far as a band and this is the logical next step. I'll give it a good read tonight and see if it's still something I want to keep following. Afternoon was full of great titles. Blade of the Immortal is freakin' rockin'. I don't wanna give anything away for those following the American releases but I WILL say Manji is about to EXPLODE. Genshiken has been and always will be another good read. Lovin' the character development in that. Now they have, like, white chick otakus in the comic who speak English well. Something you don't usually find in J-comics. It's awesome. Historie is cool. I liked his previous work Kiseichu more. Rabu Roma is losing me. I liked the innocence when it initially began. Now, they're, like, doin' it and stuff. The art has stayed steadily the same which I find funny for some odd reason. EDEN is cool in that it looks like it's done by one of Otomo's assistants or something and has lots of shooting and blood. Some nice designs to the characters too. One other cool thing they had in this issue is a bonus cover jacket to the recent Mushishi GN. It's a nice printed sleeve on stiff rice paper with beautiful water colour work on it. This is definitely something to think about for future bonus material when I go to cons and promote.

I'll be attending the annual Word on the Street festival today. I have a panel on webcomics at 3 p.m. and a portfolio review panel at 4 p.m. From what I understand, the comics and art end of things are being held in a space underneath the Vancouver library. Never been there myself so it'll be good to finally check the place out.

So, if you are reading this and live in Vancouver, drop by. If not, then, too bad.

I'm noticing more and more that there are times when it's just set to groove. Take, for example, rolling outta bed and hitting the shower. It's such a daily unevent that I forget if I've shampooed or not. Did I just wash my face or my crotch? Taking a dump is another. I like reading shit while I shit. It's more entertaining that way no matter what anyone else says. Bowel movements kinda just happen themselves. Luckily, I always remember to wipe and flush. The above 2 moments of daily routine are the best times when I think as well. BFX was pretty much a spark while on the can. This new book I'm putting together for ******** was a flash of inspiration while lathering. Man, if not for the bathroom I don't know where I'd be.

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The best thing about working all night is that it's super quiet. No rowdy neighbours, no telemarketers, no street noise, no nothin'. It equals full concentration. This is when I bust out the pages. Seeing the sunset and sunrise has it's perks, too. Of course, I can't do anything during the day cuz I'm out like the dead. Can't pay my bills, can't answer calls from friends or co-workers, can't get any sun. Frig. My building manager and some maintenace people came by today to install some water saving equipment and I barely had enough energy to open the door. I let them do their thing and don't remember them leaving. I miss SO many calls. Frig. I wouldn't make any sense if I answered anyway. When I go out I lose a day as well. When I'm on this schedule I usually get up around 5pm, have a bite to eat then go drinkin' and by the time I get back I'm too drunk to do any work so I check e-mail and go to bed. There goes another day. Frig. Weekends are meaningless to me anymore. Everyday is a work day in my mind. Frig. Frig. Frig. Life is frig.

New cover that's just been released. Coloured by the always charming Christina Strain.

Also, making good headway on a new BFX week. I've been taking extra time on the toning so it's been taking a while to get them done. It'll be a good week. Trust me;)

A little preview:

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New cover for Jenna by Narwain Publishing. It's the cover to the third issue.

So, yeah. I'm getting shit done. Feels pretty good. Finished 2 covers today, did some BFX pages and finally found out what was causing my computer woes. When photoshop crashes 5 times a day you know you have a problem. I'm planning on getting a new machine next month anyway, so I'm not too worried about it. Still debating whether I should get 2 monitors or not. All the cool kids are doing it so I've been tempted.

I've been playing some online poker as well at pokerstars.net. I'm still pretty new to the game so I go belly up often but when that ONE sweet hand comes along it's worth all the misery. You start with 1000 chips and I've been able to get myself up to 5000. Not too shabby.

The GANTZ site I was visiting for my weekly dose of the comic shutdown and I'm sad. I've resorted to reading text write ups of weekly events on a japanese site. It's cool and all but I still wanna see Kurono kickass on the page.

Saw Transporter 2 today. It wasn't BAD but it wasn't necesarily all that GOOD, either. Statham was good. I'll give him that. I loved a certain scene where he side-kicks, recoils and uncoils to punch a baddy. I think it was on the trailer as well. That was hawt. On the downside, some of the dialogue and outragious action sequences were, like, whateva. WHATEVA! That toothpick chick that wore too much mascara? Not cool. The absentee father who realizes he loves his family in the end? Pshh. And why does every movie seem to boil down to a gatorade-esque antidote in a vile? Dude...

I know most people go through this. It doesn't necessarily pertain only to people who write or draw. Sitting in a cubicle can be tiring, answering phones, demoralizing and shuffling papers, pointless. I'm currently experience a backlog of work and feeling all the above pressures at once. I've had shitty jobs before and know what that feels like but this is different. I think it's more of an overwhelming sense of things I WANT to do but don't know how to organize my time in order to finish them all. It's complicated.

This week, I had 7 separate jobs to get outta the way. I've finished 2 so far... Not good. Thankfully, only a couple of them have been pressing matters requiring immediate attention but guilt still seems to set in. I should be more like my dad. (shudder) Making a daily list of things to do and not sleeping until they all get done. I've heard a saying that goes something like "doing and organizing come hand in hand. The more organizing you do, allows for more time to do." I've been pretty lax with the organizing end of my life for the past 2 years. I stopped using a pocket organizer soon after returning from Japan and barely look at my calender unless it's to reassure myself of a deadline. I don't even wear a watch anymore. On the plus side, I don't have that white band of skin on my wrist;)

I know some friends who plan out each day and stay on a strict schedule. I think it's about time I adopt something along these lines. Maybe not as finite as a daily but a weekly at least.

Small steps.

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My parents with some of their friends from Japan were in town this weekend so I was busy playing chauffeur to their various needs. Setting up hotel rooms, renting a van, going to various tourist traps in Vancouver and such. I found it to be a nice break from my normal daily routine, although, I was totally wiped after spending time with them. Something about hanging with old people that completely drains me. I DID however find the time to take pics of cool piping and industrial things on the ferry over to Vancouver Island.

SO sexy. I'm amassing a huge bank of ref photos like this for use in future projects. One I have a good foothold in already. If any of you readers find anything along the lines of the above, snap a pic and send them my way. You may just see your finds in one of my pages;)

Otherwise, playing catch-up to all the work I didn't do during this past week. Yikes...

My dream has been realized. I'm officially bloggin' like all the other kids.

Kudos to Tu.

09.08.05 - Help >>>>>>>>>>

Okay, so I spent all morning scouring through "How to" books at the local Chapters on inserting blog onto this page and I've come to the conlusion that I'm hopelessly retarded in this area. PHP, CSS, RSS, WTF? Seriously. I need help. So, if you or anyone you know can guide me through this process please e-mail me and school me. There'll be a nice sketch in it for you if you do.

TAK

09.08.05 - Odds & ends >>

I'm still sick. Can't seem to kick this head cold in the arse. The smoking isn't exactly helping either. Everytime I hang out with a smoker buddy we keep telling each other how we suck. We suck even more cuz we're not doing anything about it. My parents and some friends from Japan will be in town this weekend and they will be bringing me cigarettes as a gift. (I asked for 2 packs) I've decided that those will be the last packs I ever smoke. I'll set up some smoke-free countdown on my site once I finish those as extra incentive.

I recently did an interview with Comic Foundry.com. You can find it here. I talk mostly about my Runaways fill-in and a bit about Mary Jane. Thanks to Tim for the interview.

Some more convention sketches from Toronto have been posted. You can find the second half here. I've also put up the rest of the Runaways designs I did for the current 2 issue arc. You can find those in the gallery section.

What else...

My buddy Daxx will be taking off to Japan on Monday. I'm jealous. I miss the big J. Ever since getting back 2 years ago, I've wanted to go back and live there again. I was thinking about moving over late next year just to see how it goes. My dream has always been to publish in a weekly or a monthly magazine over there and I feel that I'm almost ready to make that commitment. In the meantime, I've been talking with a friend from ******** about doing a GN through them. Gotta put a quick pitch together this weekend. They seem really open to some of my ideas and just to have a book all to myself would be freakin' amazing.

Oh, I was also hacked recently. So was BFX. To the person who took the time to screw with my site, "Up yours!"

TAK