I went through a bunch of brochures with my dad today. He's planning on buying some land further east and building a house on top of it. One of those houses that come in segments and you piece it together like a gundam. It's all pretty cool actually. I think he wants to move out within 2 years and make his retirement official. Well, it's been semi-official for the past year or so but raising chickens and farming on a larger scale was part of his post-work plan so once this move goes through he'll be in retirement heaven.

This all leads me to thinking my ties with good 'ole Ajax is coming to an end. I've been on my own for about 7 years now and only come back for a week out of the summer and Christmas. I don't ever miss the place but things are comfortingly familiar so I like it. I like it but there's also nothing to do here. The bijillion Tim Horton's coffee shops are the only places to hang out and in most cases you need a car to get to one since they're all strategically placed at an intersection next to a freeway. WTF. Anyway, it's a great place to raise a family but sucks if you're a kid looking to be entertained. Maybe when I'm older I'll feel differently. In the meantime, later to the JAX.

In other news, I've got half my shopping done, trying to do some work while I'm here and sleeping and eating a lot. Oh, taking full advantage of the free laundry, too. I'll post again in the new year.

TAK

My favourite podcast is the Horcast. It's run by Brenden Fletcher of the Horhaus team and the show is an indepth look into the trials and tribulations of comic pros and various other artsy comrades. Well, I've been fortunate enough to contribute an interview for the cast and it can be heard HERE.

I talk about Mary jane and working for Marvel, my online comic and cooking. An odd mix but it works. After listening to the interview I realized I say "I dunno", "like" and "awesome" way too much... I need to work on this speaking thing.

Anyway, enjoy!

TAK

I'm currently finishing up this MJ issue. Got another 7-8 hours of solid backgrounds to polish off and then I've got a cover waiting for me. After that, well, it's getting ready for Toronto and starting my Christmas shopping. I have a general idea of what I'm getting so it'll be a breeze. I'm not a big fan of shopping so the faster I get the shit the better.

Thinking of redesigning my site soon as well. It's functional now but I'm bored of the layout and what's up there. I plan to add a music section for some of my mixes and more visuals like photos. Definitely a pic or two of my studio and some process stuff. Drawing everything that goes up tends to be a pain and time consuming...

I had a dream last night that I was in a job interview. For what kind of job I'll never know. I recall wearing a suit and tie and sitting in a chair with important people lined up behind a desk in front of me. I was accepted, though, and I was all happy for myself until I realized, "wait a sec... When am I gonna draw!?" It was one of those omfg-what-did-I-just-do moments. In my head, I was spazzing but kept my composure. Then I woke up and realized I don't own a suit. Relief.

TAK

I watched the finale of Survivor last night. Well, technically last night. I got up at 10pm... Anyway, I pretty much ignored the show all season except for this finale since I've been too busy watching LOST. So, yeah. I was curious to see who was gonna win.

My first observation was that the lust and aura of the show seems to have been lost over it's many incarnations. It all ends up being self-righteous pleas of who backstabbed who in the end. Like, get over it!. It's what the show's all about. You can't be "nice" and have everyone love you when there's a million bucks up for grabs, which brings me to thinking a million bucks for 30 days of physical and psychological torture doesn't seem all that worth it anymore. Of course, a million bones is sweet and life altering, yes, but I recently saw an episode of Boob Factor where a million was also on the line and that show only lasts a day or two for the contestants, albeit, after eating pig anuses and other nasty unmentionables. Might as well bump up the survivor ante to 5-10 mill, y'know? Also, throw in some wild animals and give each contestant a weapon. Nothing high-tech. Frying pans, a boot, empty bottles; that sort of thing. That would be cool. That would be awesome actually. I'd watch again.

TAK

A little while ago I drew a story with writer Greg Pak entitled Mastermind Excello. It features a Korean/American super-genius-kid-runaway and his fight to find his place in the Marvel universe. It was a short 8 pager in Amazing Fantasy #15 and was accompanied by 5 other new characters done by various talented writers and artists. My pal Sean McKeever was one of the writers, btw. Well, over at the Marvel site they are currently running an Amazing Fantasy poll to determine which of the 6 new characters deserves a miniseries. The poll runs all week.

So, go vote! Vote for meeeeeeee!!

TAK

So, it's December already and Christmas is just around the corner. I did a quick tally of what I accomplished this year in terms of comics and it's at about 312 pages (both BFX and Marvel work), 7-8 covers, about 50 illustrations and 5 cons. It's comforting to think that I was productive for almost every day of 2005. Compared to the previous year, I've uped my numbers in all categories and, in effect, giving me a good idea of how much I can actually create without killing myself. It's been a stressful year but a lot of it was due to my retarded handling of time. I coulda made things so much easier for myself and it's something I'll definitely be working on for next year.

This is good. Yay, me.

This is also the time of year I think ahead and try and figure out my work schedule so that I'm not left with dead time. I've commited to more Mary Jane for 2006 while getting 2 months off to pump out a graphic novel in between. I'll also finish BFX in the first quarter and try my hand at less consuming web projects during or after the summer. I also plan to move somewhere later in the year so I'm excited about that. Vancouver's great but I feel it's time to move on. My options are Tokyo, Montreal or Toronto (in that order). I'll keep up the guitar, try and get back into the DJing thing with more "umph" and maybe take a few classes in Flash or web design. I need more skillz. So, yeah, my 2006 in a nutshell.

TAK