Month: January 2011

  • StarTrek Federation Recruitment Posters

    Okay so i’m still being distracted by Xanga but at least i’m sort of over feeling annoyed at myself for a bit.

    I’ve recently been watching StarTrek (yes i’m that desperate for distraction) and after trying to sit through some TNG episodes i though i’d give the eariler Kirk years a go.

    Turns out they are much more fun, because your basically laughing the whole way through at the Trekkieness of it all. So far i’ve watched two old episodes from the middle of season 2 and in those two alone the RedShirt body count has reached 10!!! it seriously sucks to be a RedShirt in the federation, and the blues have had a good poisoning and electrocuting too for that matter.

    But it got me thinking about what sort of recruitment posters might have been about for young hopefuls looking to join the Federation and explore the galaxy, so here are the three main shirt colours posters, which tempts you the most? lol

     

     

  • SlideShow 2 (And a I think my first Rant)

    Okay as suggested by the charming and Graceful Days_likethis :) another slideshow (minus the Kraftwerk soundtrack) about various things of mild interest that have happened recently….unfrotunately i discovered while making this, my current life is really quite dull so don’t expect anything too exciting.

    And since I really feel that this post should offer something more rewarding than the slideshow here are a few thoughts that have been pestering me.

    Sometimes (like now) I get tired of my own BS, By that i mean I know that i’ve been using Xanga recently to avoid doing things that i should, I must have logged on to check whats happened 50 times today alone, and if i wasn’t using Xanga then i would let silly little distractions get in my way, or i’d do a littel token bit of ‘work’ and then feel just about justified enough to go and play a game.

    All of this isn’t new i’m always doing this sort of thing unless i have a specific limitation of time or responsibility, whats irritating is that despite know what i’m upto and seeing all the justifications and ‘reasons’ that i’m using to skive and distract myself I don’t seem to be able to stop from falling into the same old pattern.

    So i get stuck running through annoying do-loops with an ever growing sense of frustration. And i know that if i just stopped messing about and ‘did’ something i would feel really good, but i can’t seem to focus. And then of course having looked at and used many self help type systems I know that thinking or writing something like this isn’t really helping as it’s actually just another type of distraction in the form of over analysis.

    So round and round i go on ever more elaborate spirals of frustration, thoughts, distractions and imaginations. Untill all i want to do is tell myself to shut up! and get on with it…get on with anything!.

    The real question is what is it that i’m so desperate to get on with? well earning money would be nice….but then what do i need the money for? well what about my goals?….ah you mean the goals i had to basically invent because the truth is i really don’t want anything strongly enough to change my current circumstances.

    So no matter what i settle on or logically think would be useful it always has the sense of dishonesty. But then i’m currently living off the good will and love of my family and I honestly would love to be able to pay some of that back or make other peoples lives easier with my efforts….but still here i am it’s almost another day over and i’m sitting writing a Blog after having just watched an episode of a Devil May Cry anime and no closer to completing some of my current goals……..

    Arrrgh is all i can say……..

     

    Frustration, you eat at me, you burn me, you torture me, you taunt me.

    Yet you live because of me, from and within me, and if I were willing I could break us apart.

    But perhaps your there for me, perhaps you can teach me, perhaps not with force and pain but with acceptance and understanding we’ll finally merge and be free.

     

    Not really a poem i know but it’s just sort of an idea thats also been in my mind about creativity.

    When i draw something from my imagination it often feels like i’ve de-charged it and many times ideas and mind games that have been so vivid and bright become less powerful and even sometimes fade away.

    So my conclusion is that creativity is the ability to reach into the infinate of potential or for it to reach out to us and from that connection to earth something Inconceivable as best we can, perhaps this is why for me it can be a struggle trying to find the right way to ‘create’ something and once it’s done the ‘right way’ it almost feels like it’s died or been de-energized….so maybe i need to create something from my frustration to use it to channle energy….or maybe i just need to get off my arse and do something….rather than just rant online :P  

  • SlideShow Vlog

    Urrgh, this is not a wildly impressive bit of Vlogging…but i made it so i may aswell post it and although the content is random and dull perhaps my awkwardness will be amusing.

     

    Having issues with adding this video…so it might not appear right away…..yay got it working :)

  • Imagination Seeds

    CMDR. Nova Shepard

    Computer Games are one of the best uses of time I’ve currently found and there are a few good reasons why:
    First of why do I play them. Well it’s not for achievements or points I don’t even usually end up finishing games all the way through instead I (and usually my brother) play games to enter different worlds and inhabit them for a while.

    Much like when your really into a film a good Game draws you in and takes on a life of it’s own especially if you play games with someone, for the most part I spent years simply watching my brother play games, but at no point did I feel like I wasn’t also playing them because together we could weave and create elaborate worlds based on the events or characters in the game, often these imagined worlds held more interest than the game it’s self.

    One of the best examples of this was with an old game called UFO enemy unknown or X-Com. This game is incredible it’s very big and complex with a fantastic story and huge potential for fun all the way through. The mechanics of the game puts you in charge of the X-Com planetary defence team who are fighting against a full on alien invasion, not only do you have to manage your base, research and interceptors but you also get to lead teams into battle against the alien hordes.

    We played it with my dad and all three of us would have four squad members each who we controlled while in mission. This alone was amazingly good fun but me and my brother also built characters for each of our squad mates and created elaborate stories for each one, favourites even had a continuation in a sort of afterlife is they died in the game.

    By far the power of games to enhance your imagination and show you worlds you can get totally engaged with is the best part, but they also offer some other interesting features such as after you’ve played them for sometime you begin to project your senses into them more and more. For example during FPS (first person shooter) games I can actually ‘feel’ when I am being shot including the direction, it’s the same with jump distance and level mapping, you build more and more game senses as you get better.

    The benefits of gaming are numerous too (of course there are downsides too but I’m pro games so screw them ;) ) You gain better special awareness because you have to appraise and learn the extent of local areas quickly in games. You also can begin to look at the world like a game in the way that in digital worlds nothing is irrelevant, all items and events are planned and important to be aware of. Approaching the world like this makes you more attentive to detail and less aware of the possibility of failure, in games you have no choice but to succeed and this is true in the world too it’s just we sometimes get into the habit of thinking negatively or imagining that something is ‘impossible’ this is not the case for the hero of a computer game.

    They also help you deal with moral choices. Games like Baldurs Gate, Fallout and Mass Effect give you sometimes complex and troubling moral choices, personally I try to be as good as possible in games but some even deliver you both sides of an argument.
    This sort of thing and the abundance of puzzles in digital worlds also helps to get you thinking and interacting, rewarding methodical and careful approaches while also forcing you to think laterally.

    I am I admit addicted to games I even sometimes get a bit touchy when I’ve not played one for too long but apart from the pointlessly super violent and hero-less ugly ones in general I think that Computer Games offer worlds of experience that are much more interactive that other entertainments and if you spend sometime (especially with a friend or close relative) playing them you are given the opportunity to enjoy some wonderful and memorable adventures.

    {Right i’m off to play something ;)

    (X3-Reunion)

    (Serious Sam 2)

    Morrowind (Enhanced with Diffuse Glow)

  • Xanga Legion: Dawn of the Super Villain.

     


     

    Well better late than never here are more Supers, again hoped to have them done quicker but it turns out drawing them is easy, the digital colouring in is seriously slow, took me all day to do these.

    And i’m sure some of you will notice that i’ve not done ones for a few people who asked, this is just because i wanted to get some out first, I will be doing ones for Carolinavenger and Elizabeth_Ho later on.

     

    This batch introduces two of the first Villains, members of the Bedlam and Destruction.

    To clarify all Xanga Legion Heroes are marked by the symbol and all BAD heroes are marked by some heroes are both and thus are marked by both symbols.

    Links to previous SuperHero posts====First====Second====

     

     


     

    William_McGonagall
    Airusto
    Airusto Was a normal man until he found a mysterious book hidden in the back of a dingy book store, almost unconsciously he was draw to the book and when he returned home with he began reading almost in a trance.
    For the next week Airusto could do nothing but read this mysterious tome as if he was possessed. What mysteries the book holds is unknown but when he finally finished Airusto was deeply connected to everyone around him.
    Airustos powers are absorption, he can draw power and influence from those around him to become super humanly powerful by multiplying many consciousness’ but with this power comes danger, if those around him are good and on the side of right he too is good…but if the balance tips towards evil then so too will Airusto.  

     


    Bluepillorredpill
    Choice
    Choice had his taken away. A convict on death row for a crime he didn’t commit Choice spent his time reading books on philosophy and Buddhism. Finally after all his appeals had failed he was taken to the chair.
    At the moment when the power was turned on Choice left his body and began moving towards an indescribable light, but as he moved he realised that this was his choice, he had life, death but also that which encloses both.
    And in that moment Choice was re-born, he had fallen between the gap of life and death and now holds powers usually reserved for gods. His physical for is mutable and due to the nature of his ‘death’ he can transform into the Electrolem an electrical elemental of immense force, he is also supremely capable of learning almost any skill or technique and wields many weapons with consummate skill.    


    Libris of Vanity
    LibrisDark
    With light there also must be darkness and LibrisDark is the other side of the coin for Libris. When Libris first used the Pure Cube Prism he unleashed the power of light and darkness creating a clone of himself in that moment.
    LibrisDark lives only in the blackest shadows and at night when he wields terrible power with his blacklight lazer and ability to bring the darkness to life around those unfortunate enough to face him.


    A_NY_Zone61

     

    Zone61
    Zone61 was the code name for a secret government project to create an army of super airborne commandos equipped with the best cutting edge technology. For the team they recruited various exceptional people from around the world but one member quickly began to out strip the others, he was faster more intelligent and could control the flight suits as if it was normal.
    Eventually the project was closed down all apart from one member, now simply know as Zone61.
    Zone61 further developed his innate skills and now has power over the air it’s self using it to generate storms, throw whirlwinds and his enemies.
    He can fly faster than any other Super hero and with the grace and ease of a hawk.  


     


    TheBigShowAtUD
    BigTop
    Hile at a country fair BigTop came across an old man dieing behind a large circus tent. As he went over to the man to try and help, the old man grabbed his arm and locking his gaze with twinkling eyes the old man wordlessly pressed a deck of playing cards into BigTops hand, and then the old man was gone.
    BigTop is an illusionist and trickster who with his twisting and turning powers of illusion, confusion and disillusion either leads evil doers to their doom or instructs the lost back to the path.
    His magic deck of cards can be used to create a number of incredible spells and powers, and also doubles as a future predicting tarot.


    MJ_Dagreat
    The Great
    For every age there is a Hero someone chosen to by the hand of fate to bear the mantle of greatness, some take this power and use it to conquer the world leaving their mark in the history books. Alexander, Genghis and many others have been bearers of the line of greatness. But those that go untold are the ones who truly embody the powers they are given, The Great is one of those number.
    He was always faster stronger and better than those about him but it was only when he was drawn to an ancient temple on a little visited Greek island that he unlocked his full potential by discovering the shield plate he wears on his chest.

    While wearing this he has unmatched strength and the ability to project his will with powerful telekinesis. Unbreakably good and true The Great is the ultimate weapon against evil.


    CPKviperphoenix
    ViperPhoenix
    An Archaeologist who discovered a lost crypt while on a dig in China, within was an ornate pedestal that held a huge egg. While trying to recover the egg the dig team trigger several traps all but Viper fell to them, but his eye firmly on the goal Viper left his fellows to their fate and escaped with the relic.
    Upon opening the egg he realised he had found the last remaining Dragon, the mythical beast was weak and young but still barely alive, sensing its terrible power ViperPhoenix cut out it’s heart and ate it. Within him the Dragon was reborn and so was he in a new body of fire.
    Together they became ViperPhoenix. With the ability to fly generate firestorms and take incredible damage he is almost unstoppable, when his powers run low he must regenerate by draining the energy from the dead razing the corpses as a skeleton army that are bound to his will. 

     

  • Photoshop Fun

    Hehe I know what i should have done but i’m not sure I’m all that keen on spending time photoshopping that sort of thing lol.

    Alex did ask for someone to Photoshop poor Cakalusa

    Any suggestions?

  • What do you look for in a good blog? Who are your favorite bloggers?

    What makes a good blog for me is a unique perspective or opinion (unique to me) something i’d either not thought of or some very particular approch, but i also like it when there’s a sense of humor or light heartedness I rarely take anything seriously so i tend to look for other people who don’t.

    Favorites are hard because everyone is different and good for thier own reasons, there are a few bloggers here that i try to read every new post of though….

    Roadlesstaken: is of course a really seasoned blogger and a really nice guy too, his posts are often very well constructed and always entertaining.

    HelloKitty0809: She’s just really nice, I always come away from her posts with a smile which makes them worth reading on it’s own, but also she writes them well and puts across often very empathic and sensible concepts and ideas.

    UltimatePartyPanda: She has a lot of the same opinions as me so it’s nice to really ‘get’ her posts a lot of the time. But also she has a very strong religious belife which is very different from my own view so it’s facinating to see that perspective.

    VixenElectric:She has an incredible writing style that is so far one of the most beautiful i’ve read, i’m not sure why it gets to me so much but the worlds she can create with only a few paragraphs almost come to life, plus she has a very magical taken on strange and random things which i find really interesting.

    There are of course many other Xangans i love to read, and what i really enjoy is slowly feeling like your getting to know the person blogging esspecially if you can think of them as friends, as i do for several lovely Xangans :)
    It’s often when i start to get a sense of the person behind the writing that i really get involved with the posts.

    Also i just remembered while writing very specific interests are great too like Elizabeth_ho’s food blog which is really well done clear and show her passion for what she’s blogging about, and real genuine interest is always a treat to see. Just writing this has make me think about all the friends i’ve made so far on Xanga and how i’m so grateful to them all for sharing their worlds and minds and how i value everyone of them for their own uniqueness.

    Thanks Xangans :D (I think i’m going to have to do a all of my friends shout out audio log soon)

       

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  • Do you have a “the one that got away”, whether it be a person or an opportunity? What happened?

    Aww i hate those missed oppertunities they haunt me, if i let them.

    I already sort of mentioned this before but not this detail of the story. Years ago i went on holiday to Antigua for a couple weeks and got to know one of the girls that worked in the resort. I developed a bit of a crush on her and tried to bump into her as much as possible, but one day there was a boat race and the resort reps were organising the various teams.

    Now I had been put in a team with another holiday maker who was also quite young and together it was decided that we didn’t have enough weight to man the Catamaran so we needed a third team mate who could also pilot (neither of us had experiance) the annoying part of it is that i’d previously had a chat with Marissa (the girl i liked) and she’d mentioned wanting to be part of the Cat race….if i’d just had slightly more confidence I could have got her to be the captian of our team which would have been perfect weight wise and a much better memory than having said nothing as i did.

    In the end this a-type bleached very loud chap who was organising everyone took control of my boat and we won but he was way too serious about it and i’ve always kicked myself for not taking that oppertunity.

       

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  • What’s a funny story you like to tell or recently heard?

    There’s an amusing and quite odd story i only just this evening remembered and told which is way too much of a coincidence to ignore with this question popping up so…..

    I was on a long Coach trip down the UK, it was an over night coach and the journey is about 12 – 14 hours so there’s an onboard toilet. About three quaters through the trip when most people were either asleep or pretty spaced out, I and few other people saw a middle aged asian guy go into the tiny toilet room at the back of the bus, this is not a big coach really and the toilet is as small as possible with nothing in it more than just the necessary.

    After about 20 mins as far as i could tell and from the way people were looking about as far as the other ppl could tell also the guy had not emerged, roughly another 10 mins past and finally either the driver got curious or someone mentioned it and the bus actually stopped and the driver went back to open up the toilet and check to see if the guy was okay.

    When the door opened to by now pretty much everyones suprise the toilet was found to be empty.

    What happened to the guy i really can’t say, I couldn’t see him in the bus but maybe he had just slipped out somehow and sat down at the back but whatever happened it was a pretty good trick :)

       

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  • 7 More SuperHeroes join the Xanga Legion

    Okay here’s the second batch of supers. It took me way longer than I thought and I’ve yet to add redpillorbluepill mj_degreat or thebigshow, but I have plans for them already and one drawn just not digitized so they’ll be done soon.

    Also as I mentioned before (thanks to Librisofvanity’s idea) I’ve added the Super Villains of Xanga, but due to the desire not to offend anyone by pegging them as baddies I will only add you to it if requested, so if anyone (previously drawn or not) wants to be a villain just ask :) .

    Here’s a brief description of the baddies and their logo.

    The BAD (Bedlam and Destruction) are a dark group of evil heroes and villains bent on disruption argument and the acquisition of top blog spot via low moral tactics.
    They spread trolls, flames and other disruptive elements through the online universe.


    And now the superhero back stories for the next 7 XL Heroes

    Jennylovve

    FireFly
    The only survivor of a terrible plane wreck caused when a mysterious fireball struck a passenger jet mid flight. Afterwards FireFly discovered she had incredible abilities to control and generate flame, heat and light radiation.
    The crash left her blind but with her ability to detect thermal radiation she is able to see by detecting heat.
    (Jen sorry you can’t see this and I hope you don’t mind that I drew you, it’s just your tattoo gave such a perfect idea for a superhero, I’ll try to describe it as best as possible)
    (I’ve drawn you flying with your right arm up past your head and your left pointing down, both your hands are engulfed in flame and there are glowing fireflies surrounding you.
    You wear a yellow mask over your eyes and you have a yellow neck piece and shoulder pauldrons, your upper body, hip the fronts of your thighs and your shins are covered by dark orange circles of armour. While the rest of your body is covered in a classic yellow superheroes bodysuit thing. Your hair is long and black and reaches to your upper waist )

     


    (This drawing turned out really well, I’m quite proud of the perspectives even if the proportions are a bit off)

     

    charleimaria
    Ava Maria
    A student who while visiting a museum accidentally came into contact with the most perfect crystal ever found. A single shard broke off and became lodged in her hand and the crystalline structure spread throughout her body giving her incredible powers over sound, and allowing her to regenerate any wounds completely over time.


     

    Jess I cuh
    Track-Star
    TrackStar was a runner who while taking part in a marathon was given a cup of water by an unknown spectator. The spectator was a scientist fleeing from government agents who were trying to take control of his discovery a formula designed to create super soldiers. Cornered and desperate he hid his discovery by giving it to TrackStar.
    The mysterious formula gave her super speed and strength allowing her to move at incredible speeds. 

     


     

    LibrisofVanity
    Libris
    The Inventor of the Pure Cube Prism. With it’s power he can control light and use it not only to teleport but also as an incredibly powerful weapon when focused.
    Libris can also absorb light allowing him to artificially darken localised areas.


     


    (Sorry about skin colour but I just took a guess since I don’t know what you look like)

    ThePrince
    Prince
    The last descendant of an ancient line of Paladins sworn to protect the world by any means necessary. Prince carries his family sceptre that grants him super strength, agility and senses. The sceptre also contains huge power that can only be released and controlled by a Paladin of the line.

     


     

    VixenElectric
    Vixen
    While driving at night through I quiet forest road Vixen hear the yelps of an animal in distress, stopping the car she headed into the forest to find a Fox caught in a hunter snare. The creature was incredible and it’s eyes glowed with a fierce but benevolent fire. Vixen freed the creature and in return it bit her giving her it’s powers.
    Now vixen has incredible agility and acrobatic skill, she can also become invisible and mesmerise assailants. Her agility allows her to use her scarf and whip as deadly weapons to ensnare or strike opponents. 


     

    (This one incase you didn’t guess is me….I drew my own face really weird)
    1131
    A human host to a mysterious alien power source. 1131 was abducted and merged with the alien presence but managed to maintain part of his own mind forming a kind of symbiosis with the Alien. With the 1131 presence within him he is capable of super human awareness, teleportation and flight.