Toren Atkinson’s Absolute Blog

Also here’s a pic of the new me. (Every day has a new me!)

Well I did it – now let’s see who bites:

http://groups.myspace.com/slackademicsvancouver

I’m not sure about how the invite settings work (it’s my first myspace group) so if you want to be invited you may have to let me know.

I had a dream I was back in high school, which I hate, but this one had a perk: Josh walked into class and I said “You’re going to have a daughter.” He seemed puzzled and then a tear opened up in the space/time continuum nearby and I said to myself “aw yeah, rifts in the fabric of time….”

First, here is a drawing.

This was drawn while I was working on the Preston Blair cartooning book. You may be able to see the influences. Just screwing around (still).

Con Fu was this weekend and though there were a lot of cancellations (this was the first con that I had a SSZ game that was cancelled due to insufficient players), it was still a successful event. The Pentathlon went over pretty well – everyone who participated walked away with something, especially since the clown who won the grand prize distributed 75% of his winnings to the other participants. This was the first con where we had three LARPS, and the Clix turnout was great, as usual. Even I played in the Mage LARP and had a surprising amount of fun. It inspired me enough to consider running a very small LARP for H.P. Lovecraft’s Birthday Party. I think it would be fun to do a LARP about cannibalistic castaways called “Twelve Hungry Men.” Dan talked about a superhero LARP and I would be into that. Unfortunately, they double-booked the club and it was not a smooth hello. Vampire LARPers and wedding guests doing the chicken dance do not mix.
Then, as if three days of gaming wasn’t enough, I had my usual Mutants & Masterminds game tonight, though it was an intimate affair (ook) with Caleb and Mike. Extremely fun though, for me and for them. Lot’s of intrigue, investigation, and crazy characters. The players are double undercover, which is very fun to play. There was virtually no combat. There will be next session though, I can pretty much guarantee it!

Here’s lesson two on stretching & squashing the face. As a bonus, I include sketches of Uncle Eddie Fitzgerald! You can see the photos here!

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OTHER STUFF:

Today was supposed to be the day that Comet 73/P Schwassmann-Wachmann (phew!) was to impact the Earth and cause tsunamis and whatnot. That is, according to some no-nothing crackpots. It was also Towel Day, for you Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy fans.

Plus, the Enron goons were convicted of fraud and conspiracy and face many years in jail. Which I think is wrong, and I’ll tell you why. I read that the judge “set a $5 million US bond.” I don’t know what the difference between bond and bail is, but I’m going to publicly renew my stance on non-violent criminals. See, some criminals definitely need to be taken out of society and institutionalized, like sex offenders and murderers. Actually they need to be tied to the Tree of Woe, but that is another post. But jail is “too good” for hucksters and corporate criminals. They should be made to pay for their crimes in a way that benefits society. These Enron goons don’t need to be locked up. Clearly they have some kind of business skills and these could be put to use – put back into the workforce.* BUT! the vast, vast majority of their earnings should go into social services, environmental programs, funds for scientific research on the hyena’s pseudo-penis, or combating invasive species, or whatever the prospect du jour may be. Basically, they should be taxed up the wazoo in all aspects of their finances**.And if they can’t pull in their expected profits for someone in their line, then they’re put to work cleaning streets or whathaveyou for 8 hours a day, or as long as will pay for their auditors.

The sentence time should reflect the damage done in monetary terms. It’s said that the Enronalds may have cost billions of dollars, so they’d be sentenced to life in my scheme.

Felons could still live comfortable lives if they are willing to work hard enough–they would get to keep a certain percentage or whatever they can earn over and above their quota–but they’re entered into a semi-communist system where most of what they can earn is going to worthy endeavors.
* heavily monitored, of course.

John “Ren & Stimpy” Kricfalusi is teaching the masses the basics of animation, via Preston Blair’s book “Cartoon Animation.” I walked down to Oscar’s Books yesterday and picked up the combined volume 1 & 2, which is slightly different than the pages that John and Steven Worth have put up on their sites.

Here is my attempt at Lesson 1: Construction: The Head

What’s happening is I am copying Preston’s drawings in blue, then scanning them in and laying them overtop the original. I’ve marked in red and added notations where my drawing deviates from Preston’s.
(I have not put up every drawing – there’s just too many. But trust me, I did them. And I’ll put up more for lesson two soon.)

I think that would be a good name for a song.

This weekend past I went into Chilliwack for a good three days. I got a CD of six new songs by The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets. All I have to do is put lyrics to them. It’s just a demo, but it will help us suss out the rough bits before we record them for reals. Don’t tell Warren, but I let Stewie listen to them, and he gives his stamp of approval (with comments).

I also played D&D with the old group. And when I mean the old group I mean the OLD group (but not the oldest group – that would be Ken, Garett & co). Chris, Bob & Warren and I played for over ten hours on Saturday in celebration of Chris’ birthday. I played a female halfling rogue who poisoned herself and was out of action for 6 hours because of it. Haha…ahem. Well at least I didn’t get killed like Bob’s character! Next time I’m going to make my legendary monk/wizard who specialized in touch attacks.

This weekend X3 opens and I’m going to see it at 11am at Tinseltown if anyone cares to join us (Taytay, Stewie & the gang). We’re going to play “spot the Toren.” I hope I win.

Also this weekend – Con Fu Gaming Extravaganza. Promises to be a low-key but extremely fun convention at ye olde Marpole Curling Club. Dig out your d4’s.

Thanks for all the migraine advice, y’all. No recurrence as of yet.

Here’s a test for you about the age we live in. How many can you answer without cheating?

Our current epoch is the _________ (hint: Greek for ‘entire’ and ‘new’)
Our current period is the _________ (hint:named for Latin word for ‘four at a time’)
Our current era is the _________ (hint: Greek for ‘new life’)
Our current eon is the ___________ (hint: ‘revealed life’)

I was working on a new Horribles at work to post tonight, but at about 3pm I noticed a hole in my vision. A blind spot that is the precursor to a migraine. I’ve had 5 or 6 of them in my life. The very first was when I was working at The Book Man and I couldn’t read the titles of the books I was putting away. I was in the band Pam at the time and there was a practice at the Brotherhood of Evil Humans that night. I managed to get home and Bean was adamant about practicing even though I had the most killer of dillers of headaches. I thought that I had some kind of brain tumor and I was going to stroke or something.

The next one came probably two years later, while I was working at Macneill Library Service. I couldn’t read what was on the computer screen – which is exactly what happened today. Knowing now the warning sign that something terrible is going to descend on my head in short order, I packed up and left work. I biked home like a madman, hoping that I would be home before the headache proper hit. By the time I got home, about 30-40% of my vision was a blurry squiggly mess. I had a terrible feeling this one was going to be the worst ever – and I’ve had a couple that have been so bad I vomited.

But it turned out to be the least bad. Bad enough that I wouldn’t have been able to work, but good enough that I could sit in my room in the dark and watch Battlestar Galactica for 4 hours.

Of the half dozen migraines I’ve had, three of them were strung together over a four day period. I hope there won’t be any more this weekend because I’m planning on hanging out in Chilliwack and doing important things that require a painless brain!

OK, back in the saddle…

Sometimes when I restructurize (as the hair product commercials like to say) my room in anticipation of making a sound booth out of my closet, I find hilarious things from my past.

Yes, this is a for-real, in-my-mailbox junkmail that I’ve held on to for over a decade.

ps – if you’re looking for a haircut, Tanis Renata says “Mens cuts are $27 and ladies are $32. However for your first time in…I will give you 50% off! As well for each person that you refer to me you will get $5 off your next service. So refer five people and thats pretty darn close to a free cut!  604.733.7246 and the salon is located at W2nd and Fir. Also, because you are a paying client…you can enjoy one of our many beverages that we serve you for free….coffee, tea, latte, americano, water, BEER OR WINE! “