Sunday, September 30, 2001
Info about the big collaberation:
I suppose it's been two or three months now since Krista had the original idea. Why she came to me with it, I don't know. We've been best friends for a little over four years and have stayed best friends even though we've been roommates for a little over a year. No small feat for a misanthropic grouch and slob like myself. Anyway, in all that time we've both been releasing anime fanfiction on a fairly regular basis. She pre-reads my stuff and I am priveleged to pre-read hers. But we've never ever worked together on a project before. Not beyond the simple 'I think it would be really cool if ...' variety of suggestions about stories. For whatever reason, once she told me the original concept, she asked me to work with her on developing characters and story ideas. Needless to say, I was thrilled and flattered.
Collaberating is easier than I ever dreamed it would be. I suppose it depends greatly on whom you are collaberating with. I had nightmare visions of a junior college English class group project where one person makes all the decisions, one person does all the work, one person coasts, and the last person makes timid suggestions and gets mocked or stared at or actually yelled at by the rest on a regular basis.
Okay, so I don't normally play well with other children. I admit that openly. This time, I'm happy to say that it's different. I throw out an idea and she throws out an idea and we nod and think about how we could make any or all of these ideas fly, and then one of us says something (probably joking) that's crazy and goofy and absolutely *can't* work, but we both stop, and I look at her, and she looks at me, and either we simultaniously burst out laughing, or just stay really really quiet because we both know at the exact same moment that that's It. That's the exact idea that we didn't even know we were looking for. The one piece that we absolutely couldn't do without. It's the most fun I've had in a long time.
The project itself is actually a webcomic which will be called 'Utukki.' Keenspace says that our account will be operational in four to eight weeks. Until then, the sneak peak is here.
Let me know what you think!
Namaste!
6:34 PM
Tuesday, September 25, 2001
I appologise for the general silliness of Friday's entry. I'll be good today. Really.
Sick roommate update:
Krista is feeling much better. She's displaying a disturbingly manic genkiness that scares us all. Bad case of cabin fever? Michael is also feeling better, though still not quite 100%. He stayed home from work again today, but will probably go back tomorrow or Thursday. It may depend on how far he gets in Final Fantasy Tactics today. (Hi, Michael! Love You!) So things are getting back to what passes for normal at Geek House.
Speaking of Geeks, Michael showed us his X-box back in August before our trip. It was really really ... ugly. No style points at all. I will reserve judgement on all other criteria until I actually get a chance to use one.
About my fics, I'm beginning to feel like the main character of 'The Unstrung Harp, or Mr Earbrass Writes a Novel' by Edward Gorey. Right now everything I read back over seems dreadful *dreadful* DREADFUL. ^-^ I'll probably get over it. In the mean time, I'll probably be doing some revising and editing until I can look at it without wanting to reach for the lighter fluid.
Namaste!
2:18 PM
Friday, September 21, 2001
Both of my roommates are sick sick sick. Like, five to ten days bedrest and lots of fluids sick with miserable miserable colds. This has been going on since last Saturday. I woke up with a minor cough this morning myself, but normally don't catch stuff that's going around. At least not seriously. We'll see what happens, I guess. I would pick Friday to start getting a cold.
I finally managed to put my hands on an actual copy of Read or Die episode two. I saw it in Dallas, but was only able to score ep one for my personal collection. I know that there's a wealth of fansubbed anime on the internet, but I don't have the hardware to access it and have to rely on the old VHS method. I've now seen exactly three different translations of the first episode. From what I understand, though, no one has released a sub of the third one yet.
I am soooo very close to finished with the first draft of 'wasteland.' The last half or so is still only hand written, though. I'm hoping to have lots of time today to type and edit and get stuff put together in a way that makes sense. Not too much longer now. Then I shall read back over the whole thing a couple of times just to be sure that it still makes sense, then I will send it to my pre-readers for same, and then I'll send it to the plant for processing and packaging in neat little cartons with our logo on them which will be shipped directly to you, the fic reading public. If you would like 'wasteland' brand products to be available for purchase in your area, contact your local grocery or department store.
A message from the fic farmers of America.
Namaste!
11:24 AM
Thursday, September 20, 2001
akane.org is technically freaky in a number of ways, but in particular as some of you may have noticed, it will utterly refuse to show updated pages on any computer that's viewed any of its urls any time in recent memory. You can hit the 'refresh' key all you want, but unless you actually move to a different machine and try again, you probably won't be able to view these updates at all. I personally find this very frustrating, but since I don't pay for the space and since in all other ways it's a very cool place to be, I don't complain too much. Does anyone out there know what might be causing this? As far as I can tell, it's only akane.org that does it.
Still no work computer net access. Sorry for the lack of updates. Please be patient, and hopefully by the time the problem is fixed, I'll have something truly worthy of posting.
Namaste!
11:17 AM
Monday, September 17, 2001
I've made an important discovery. In the course of a day, I *either* play video games like a mad woman, *or* I write at a decent pace. I'm always doing one or the other, but I can't play video games even for half an hour without losing the urge to write.
I don't want anyone to get the idea that I'm a crazed gamer. Nothing could be further from the truth. When I buy/borrow/rediscover a game, I play it obsessively for about three weeks. I come home, I play Dark Cloud (or Final Fantasy, or Chrono Cross, or Ledgend of the Dragoon) I go to bed. My homework suffers, my writing and personal corespondance suffers, my eating habits suffer. And then the three weeks end, and I've finished the game, or I'm bored with it, and I'm done. Usually I won't start another game for another two or three months. I won't be tempted by video games at *all* during those months. I'm bored with the whole passtime. And that's when I write.
I suppose every artist goes in cycles. You need time off from creating once in a while or your work suffers. I just sometimes wish that my temporary obsessions could be something more noble or constructive than RPGs for Playstation.
Guess a girl can't have everything.
Namaste!
1:48 PM
Thursday, September 13, 2001
Shari has started releasing Sketch of Love again. ^-^ It looks really good too. The flash features let you zoom in on points of interest (and there are many) and the new storyline is more traditionally gripping. I really loved the old SOL with it's stunningly raw sketchy visuals and the meandering tale it had begun to tell so elegantly. I feel sad that I won't know how that turned out for a long time, if ever, but I really like all of the new stuff so far. She still has the old pages accessible. I hope that never changes.
Good luck, Shari!
Other favorite webcomics:
Alice
RPG World
Irritability
Sluggy Freelance
hmmmm...
What am I forgetting?
Namaste!
10:18 PM
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
I've been good. I promise. I went to ff net today to post the first part of 'wasteland,' and the site was down. Again. I'll try again tomorrow.
I really like the quality of stories on the CLAMP list. Most of the writers there are very talented. I wish they weren't so X obsessed. I'm sure that it's a very good series, and I'm looking forward to the day when I can get ahold of it and start reading it, but until then I want to stay away from spoilers, so 70% of the stories that get posted I can't read. I read all the CCS and Rayearth stories, and I try very hard to send comments for most of them. I get very discouraged when I don't get any comments on the stories I post there. For all four parts of 'wasteland' that I've sent in so far, I've gotten replies from only 4 people. Is that typical? If it is, then I may rethink my presence there. I don't wish to be negative, but the *only* reason I send stories there is to get some feedback on them before I put together a final draft. If I don't get helpful comments, then it makes no sense for me to continue to send them my stories before anyone else. I'm not sure what to do.
Well, now that I've totally offended and alienated a whole bunch of people, I think I'll wander home. It's Krista's birthday today (Happy Birthday, Onee-sama!) and we (we being defined as Krista and her sister and her brother-in-law and our roommate Michael and I) are going out to celebrate.
I wish I had something to say about yesterday. I don't. My personal diary was blank yesterday for the first time in months. I have a horrible feeling that weeks from now the shock will wear off and I'll have a major psychotic episode. Until then, please forgive me if I seem self absorbed or petty. It really is true that we all deal with these things in different ways.
Namaste!
1:44 PM
Monday, September 10, 2001
My work computer is *still* not hooked up to the network! Aaarrgh!
I have a real copy of WordPerfect on it so I can still write and edit and proofread, it's just very very difficult to post or update my webpage without moving all my files to another computer which may or may not have editing/uploading software that I know or can figure out. Please be patient. I am still writing. I will have updates of 'The Wasteland' out here and on fanfiction.net just as soon as is humanly possible. If you positively can't wait that long, email me and I'll forward you the rough drafts of chapters 3 and 4 that have gone out to the CLAMP list.
Namaste!
6:15 PM
Sunday, September 09, 2001
Spent yesterday at the Greek Festival down town with friends. Lamb and baklava and dancing. ^-^ Life is beautiful.
I'm working on my very first creative collaberation. It's weird being part of something like this. I'm used to having all the ideas on my own and having them fly or die without anyone being the wiser. Now I'm just contributing what I can, throwing out ideas, trying not to mind the blank stares when it's obvious that I'm just being a raving nutter. It's liberating in a way to just be able to make a suggestion and see someone else make it really live. It's a lot of responsibility too. With luck, we'll have something really amazing to show for it in a few weeks or months or years.
Tha's all I'm gonna say for now. Details forthcoming I hope.
Namaste!
6:46 PM
Thursday, September 06, 2001
Blogger, as far as I can tell, was down for a significant period of time yesterday.
Last night at club, I showed off my new acquisitions. I managed to score some fansubs from two of the other authors at AnimeFEST. A film that is definitely *not* an early Miyuzaki directed feature about a princess in a windy valley and her pet cat fox squirell thing that Disney still owns the rights to even though they vow never to release it in any form, and the first of three episodes of a hillarious Bondesque OAV action series called 'Read or Die.' British National Library Special Ops Division. ^-^ Both were very well received.
I learned last night at club that the x-boyfriend mentioned below is also going to NanDesuKan. I'm not sure how I feel about this. If he's there, it'll be in a professional capacity, and we haven't seen each other since we broke up. I'm not sure it'd be fair to him to just show up and say 'Here I am.' I mean, I want to see him and I want to talk to him, but the last time I wrote to tell him so, his response was rather cryptic. I can't stay home just because of that, but I feel like I should at least write and warn him. 'By the way, I'll be at NDK. It's a big con and if you say the word, I'll do my best never to be in the same room you're in.' Maybe that'd be overly melodramatic.
This weekend, I plan to copy fansubs like a woman posessed, and write a chapter or more of 'The Wasteland,' and maybe work on cleaning my room. Or maybe I'll sleep a lot and watch tv.
Namaste!
6:01 PM
Tuesday, September 04, 2001
Home home home.
Home.
It was a wonderful trip and a wonderful con. I must admit it's nice to be sleeping in my own bed again.
I met all sorts of very cool people in Dallas. Two adorable voice actors, two adorable web comic artists (the creators of Mega Tokyo and Player Vs Player) a whole slew of fanfic authors, and hundreds of fanboys and girls. Weirdest of all, I got a chance to talk to Steve Bennet of Studio Ironcat. Turns out he knows my last boyfriend. (It's Krista's Fault! I just said he was a friend of mine! *She* spilled the beans about the X-boyfriend part!) He didn't come out and say so, but I got the impression that the two of them had spent a significant part of A-kon talking about me and what an evil bitch I am. And if you don't think that's intimidating ...
He was very friendly, though. A thoroughly nice guy. And we agree that there is a lot of anime that is crap. ^-^
I'm really glad we had the chance to go. It looks like we may also be going to NanDesuKan in a couple weeks as well. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I mean, it's for a good cause, but... I'm just soooo tired. Maybe I'll feel differently when the time rolls around.
Namaste!
3:16 PM
|
