Better Than It Was

Once I had it all planned out
My dirty fingers moved about
to make a mess of everything around me
Now I don't claim to know my way
I still run in circles every day,runnin' around half blind
Life can be unkind
But it's better than it was
It's better than it was
Oh, I complain very little because
it's better than it was
I get to remembering we
had a lot more money then
to make a mess of everything around us
Now that money comes and goes
a bit faster than my confidence grows
Everybody knows
there ain't nothin' new about money woes
But it's better than it was
It's better than it was
It's better than it was
It's better than we ever could have wished it to before
It was bad awhile ago,better this I know
It's better than it was,
Better than it was
I complain very little because it's better than it was
Better than it was
Better than it was
Better than it was

Battle - You want to battle ME?

Gangstarr (gang Starr) - Battle
{*scratched: "What? You wanna battle ME?"*}
{*scratched: "Yo man, how much money you got?"*}
{*scratched: "What? You wanna battle ME?"*}
{*scratched: "Yo man, how much money you got?"*}

[Guru]
I used to guzzle 40's, and own a beat up Caddy
Since the hood still love me, I'll turn the heat up daddy
I went from mackin fly honies on the train
to straight relaxin on the beach, countin money gettin brain
Soon as you rappers get a chance you wanna floss a lot
You buy a iced out watch because it cost a lot
Then you in the club, stylin with dough
Profilin with hoes that we boned, a while ago
You rookies haven't done enough laps around the track
You had one hot single, but then your album sounds wack
Son you bore me with your war stories
You ain't even do that shit, so that's just more stories
How you expect us to take you seriously?
The look in my eye punk, has got you scared of me
I'm blastin your sons, I'm snatchin your funds
You catch a royal ass-whoopin, you've been askin for one

{*scratched: "I'm bout to slap rappers around and bruise the game"*}
"What.. what?" {*scratch: "We thorough to the end"*}
"Yo man.." "You know the drill"
{*scratched: "I'm bout to slap rappers around and bruise the game"*}
"What.. what?" {*scratch: "You wanna battle me?"*}
"Yo man.." "How much money you got?"

[Guru]
Bitch you don't even know, the half about me
I bring it straight to your chest, ask your staff about me
I'm just a little bit older, plus a whole lot wiser
I might advise ya, or I might pulverize ya
I can visit any city, get respect in the street
While you alone in your room, shook to death of the streets
I'll take a second to speak, I keep my weapon in reach
I ain't talkin romance but you'll get swept off your feet
I keeps a ghetto chick, that loves to blast and she peddle shit
Groupies fake moves, I get her to settle shit
You can't compare to the status right here
Legendary worldwide, we can battle right here
Listen junior, I'ma tear back your wig
This ain't TV but I'll show you what a "Fear Factor" is
Stop grillin me, and all that frontin is killin me
You leave me no choice but to hurt your feelings G

{*scratched: "I'm bout to slap rappers around and bruise the game"*}
"What.. what?" {*scratch: "You wanna battle me?"*}
"Yo man.." "How much money you got?"
"What.. what?" {*scratch: "We thorough to the end"*}
"Yo man.." "You know the drill"
{*scratched: "I'm bout to slap rappers around and bruise the game"*}
{*scratched: "I'm bout to slap rappers around and bruise the game"*}
{*scratch: "We thorough to the end"*}
{*scratched: "I'm bout to slap rappers around"*}
"You know the drill"
{*scratch: "We thorough to the end"*}
{*scratched: "I'm bout to slap rappers around and bruise the game"*}
"You know the drill"

Being on the "Losing" Team

The “Harsh” reality? No American manga-ka, or American manga creator, has ever sold 1 million copies or more of anything, pretty much. Ever. Manga made by Americans doesn’t really sell. I don’t see why so many American artists want to draw manga and anime. The market points out quite obviously that world manga doesn’t really sell. Some of it looks pretty good, but for the most part no one really pays it much mind. They never have. It makes a miniscule amount of money at bookstores. It’s pretty much neither marketable nor profitable.

Current Favorite Book I'm Also Making an Effort to Read?

"How To Write Science Fiction & Fantasy", by Orson Scott Card

For everything you wanted to know about writing speculative fiction, but were afraid to ask...

To sum up, Do you like the strange and exotic? Do you have powerful visions you can't control? Do you like building your own characters, worlds, and universes?

Then read that book!

"Fear", and His Much Vilified Little Adoptive Brother: "Actually Attempting Things in Real Life"

Before I became an animation screenwriter professionally, I used to be very afraid of writing for animation. “I don’t understand the logic. How do I structure someone else’s world in a medium constructed of artwork?” I would ask…until I wrote what is now documented by Historians as The Most Original and Complex Animation Script Ever Written in the History of the Medium, based on my own idea. After a while it was “Hey! This isn’t so hard! I don’t know why I never tried this before! I’m great at this! As an animation writer, I’m amazing!” And now I’m a screenwriter, when I’m not a novelist or a cartoonist. It’s always harder, or looks harder until you try it yourself. Then it’s quite literally the easiest thing in the world. 

I’m a writer who just happens to write for animation too. I write the ideal brand of animation for adults and mature adult audiences. Something not so childlike, infantile, simple, humorous, or traditional. I write about all sorts of topics that would be taboo in a children’s program, which is why I don’t write those. I write about subject matter I either appreciate or understand. And things I find cool and that apply to my own life. Topics that fascinate me, or that come from my subconscious, which would therefore make it all me. 

In the world of Adult and Mature animation writing, I've come to realize that for all innovators in the field of adult animation, the subject matter and topics you write about (and what form you take to write about them in), ultimately comes down to one question, if it's innnovative and not terribly stereotyped. That question any mature write must ask is "What does it mean to be an adult? What is being an adult really about? Is it about mindless sex and booze and working. Or is it about being a real, chivalrous, honorable masculine man? Or is it about the meaning of life and culture and society and politics in general? Only you, the writer and author of the screenplay, will determine that. It's an existential challenge. If you're truly going to write great adult animation, one must first decide and determine just what exactly it means to be an "adult", and not a child, which is a type of person who could never truly write an adult script, because they're not entirely in that state of mind (adulthood) yet. Adult animation writing needs to be written...by adults. Not teens. Not kids. Adults.. I’ve always felt the best mature animation is about more than just the alleged fanboy fundamentals: “Curse words, sexual content, drugs, blatant sadistic violence, and a snarky attitude.” In other words, 80-90% of what we see nightly on Adult Swim, sans the former anime lineup  they did some years back. Adult animation was originally just intended to be vulgar and offensive. I strive for something that is at least a little complex and deep in content, story, and form. But yeah. Way back in the early days of the first pioneering American Adult Animation in TV and film, it was one big party - sex, drugs (both on screen AND off), violence (pretty much only on screen, if not completely), and rock and roll. Stuff like Ralph Bakshi, The Simpsons, MTV Animation, South Park. It was primarily animators and storyboard artists (writers), and a few Actual Writers, doing things...because they could, a primal reaction, that the censors previously wouldn't allow, because it had previously been targeted at families and kids, and you don't want kids seeing that stuff, let's be honest here. It was censored initially for a reason, because the older audience demographic wasn't there in America in the very beginning, just in Japan, which led to sophisticated animated things like Ghost in the Shell, and Akira. Which influenced more sophisticated American Adult Shows like Batman: The Animated Series, Spawn, Adult Swim, The Boondocks, and Star Wars: The Clone Wars, along with some equally sophisticated children's shows like Avatar: The Last Airbender on TV, Code Lyoko, Oban Star-Racers, Toonami, and Thundercats

Hmmm...

Y'know, maybe I SHOULDN'T rely on piracy to save the day, every day, every time....

Nah! What am I sayin'. I'm a pirate, and damn proud of it. Why fix what's not broke anyway....

If Adult Swim can keep relying on something as shitty as Family Guy for royalty money, instead of original shows they actually created themselves, intead of, you know, Pirated Fox Show Licensing, I can rely on piracy, too. Pretty much evens things out.

Aftermath of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami: My Take on That Thing

Before the earthquake and tsunami, it was always this thing where Every Young Kid studying animation and anime on the side wished he could go to Japan one day.

After all this, is that Japan Tourism dream still alive, or is the industry dead?

Do people still want to visit Tokyo and Japan as American tourists and expatriates to learn about anime and manga, after such a frightening disaster?

As for me, I might want to one day, but I have to see how the recovery plays out.

In the meantime I'm going to Paris or China, heh.

Classics From the JM Journal Vault:

"My art confused and shocked my brother. He thinks the drawing I did today (5/11/11) was the fault of the drugs I’m taking, and admitted he “doesn’t see the person in it”. “That does NOT look like a person!” he shouted.

“But it’s not supposed to look like one! It’s abstract art! Analytical Cubism! It was a whole art movement Pablo Picasso started”

He then drew a stick figure on a small piece of paper. “This is a stick figure. It’s a person. That’s not a person,” he lectured rather loudly. “You USED TO be able to draw people. The stuff you’re doing now is just fucking weird and crazy.”  "

Oh well.

Word Association

Words That Describe Me As An Artist:

Arrogant. Non-Spiritual. Secular. Unsteady. Unreliable. Sensitive. Iconic. Abstract. Aesthetic. Textural. Lacking Confidence. Simple. Ignorant. Sloppy. Lazy. Lost. Human. Grounded. Undisciplined. Weak-Willed. Temperamental. Emotional. Blind. Lethargic. Afraid. Embarassed. Slow. Conspicuous. Heavy. Mechanical Pencil. Shaky/Unsteady Hand. Fragile. Delicate. Beautiful. Mysterious. Guarded. Public. Ink Pens. No money. Poor. Crappy. Simplistic. Detailed. Heavy (black). Black. Patterns. Composition. Bleak. Gaunt. Macabre. Wannabe Virtuoso. Wannabe Epic. Auteur. Cinematic (sort of). Graphic. Filmmaking. Partially Productive. Sometimes Productive. Unproductive. Vulnerable. Afraid. Mocked. Cyber-Harassed. Cyber-bullied by envious people. Seniority. The more praised/discussed of the two manifestation talents. Heroic

Older Journal Excerpt - Being Famous

"Being a famous artist is a lot more restricting than I thought. If you’re Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, you’re work is your prison. Your movement is restrictive, restricted, and limited. As a matter of fact, that doesn’t just go for celebrity artist. It goes for celebrities in general. I’ve begun to understand what Damon Albarn meant when he said “In America, they box you in”. You’re not allowed to act outside of your fans set of expectations for you, and if you do act outside that line, it upsets the fans and they want to punish you “for being a talk show host” or “pundit”."

If There Were No Oceans, If Earth Were Still Pangea, We'd ALL be neighors and friends.

It's true. So very true.

People are less likely to hate, misunderstand, and not judge other people they know and live with, and often, live around as well. The internet and technology travel across millions of miles of oceans, day and night, every day, 24/7, and because of that, people have become less afraid and  biased toward one another. The Internet increases communication, contact and understanding that transcend tribalism or entertainment, and promotes understanding of our fellow humans, mending the very fabric of human culture.

Think About it.

I didn't get straight A's in all my English Classes for nothing.

Thanks Internet (Thank You World Audience Speech)

A lot of people helped me get to where I am today. Thanks YouTube. Thanks to them, I'm not worried about succeeding anymore. I already have. We already have. They and I already have.

Because of my ingenuity on the web...
my engineering work has helped over 1+ Billion People in 6 Continents
(...according to estimates)

You're welcome. Guess I was right after all.

Maybe I should talk about my art book that's about to be released....

Eh, dunno. It's kind of the Sears Catalogue of Art Of books.

Whatevs....

You'd think with all the power I have in TV, one would think I'd actually be able to get more actual good shows on TV during the daytime. But daytime cable TV program scheduling is one of my LEAST powerful areas. If there's one area I've NEVER controlled, it's what's playing on TV at the moment, during the day, any day. I'm actually pretty powerless when it comes to scheduling what plays on Daytime TV, When, and Why it does. I have no clue how to control that. Quite the opposite of that actually. It's well beyond my control. I'm not sitting at some master control room. Nope.

Super Fun Documentary!: Searching For Bobby Dingly....

BLACK EXPERT AND GUEST COMMENTATORY

"Bobby Dingly? Oh yeah, Bobby Dingly. Wayel, I'd like to say I knew Bobby Dingly and tell you the inspirational tale of his in-progress life story, but two days ago these people with cameras broke into my house by shootin' the lock offa thah front door, put a sack over my head, duct taped it up so I could barely breath, toss me into the backuva van, let me sit there for a day, shihtin mah britches, then after that horrible night of torture was over, they took my bag and tape off, shoved me into a Documentary Channel TV studio, started filmin' me right now, and told me "Say somethin good about Bobby Dingly bitch!", and so I did. But wait. WHO the HELL's "Bobby Dingly!" Did you make that name up? Why won't you let me on Wikipedia!? If you want me to talk about someone on TV as an expert, you could at least let me look dey ass up ohn Wikipedia!. Oh lawdy lawd!"

Welcome to Hell, Where You Are Welcome To Sell...

WHY should I "have to" conceal my name like it's a loaded weapon or something again? Why am I putting up with liars again?

Do tell!

Control Freaks on the Other Side...

I don't know if it's some kind of twisted game, or people get off on "taking their own control" by attempting to deny me power. I don't know why people try to push that bill. It's insane, just like them.

How in the world are you going to pretend MY power doesn't exist. I'm already well aware of it. It's too ubiquitous for anyone to NOT notice it. How in the world are you going to attempt to "hide" MY power. It's everywhere. You can't hide something ubiquitous. You can't hide something that's everywhere.

I'm well aware of the scope of my own power, on numerous levels and accounts. Most people don't have what I have. I don't have a monopoly on power, and i'm not the only person WITH power, but I am well aware I control the media and communications market, business, and medium. In General. Does the public and big business media types really think I'm unaware of this power level of mine? How are YOU going to "step in front of that to block my vision of it" when it's pretty much out in the open, pretty much everywhere we go? Especially TV and the web. You can't go 20 feet without someone copying, quoting, looking like, or referencing me. How in the world do you think I'm oblivious to all this. I'm not. I'm well aware of it. And it all started with the internet. Nice.

On a certain level, even though they are quite oblivious to the obvious sometimes, my family's aware of it too, even though they don't enjoy talking about MY influence (at all really), not half as much as my friends do. But no, they're not THAT stupid. They know what's going on with me and the media. They've admitted it on numerous occassions. My family is gullible, but not THAT gullible, to think that the world and me have nothing to do with eachother even though we look "exactly alike". Gee, who ARE these people trying to fool anyway. What you thought you could pull an epic PR plagiarism stunt and no one in my family but me was gonna call you out on it. Doesn't work that way.

Awww. Too bad. Poor Bay-Bee!

SOPA and PIPA "postponed"

Speaking of greedy and invasive, where's MY money anyway, boss? Oh wait, that's right, you were trying to use my salary money which you never paid me for my work for fund your precious SOPA and PIPA Bill!

Totally forgot! Thanks anyway! Worst of luck to you.

"Low"-Budget Live Action TV and Video Footage

Live Action TV footage isn't Live Action TV footage without Hong-Kong style martial arts choreography, directed by Hong Kong choreographers. Everything else is mighty boring.

Hyah!!!



The Difference Between Nerds/Geeks and Actual Smart People...

Nerd has become a poplular trend in pop culture. But because it's become such a popular classification with stupid as fuck models and actresses on TV, it's lost all recognizability and respectibility. Being a nerd is NOT cool in my opinion...BECAUSE the stereotype nerds we see AREN'T smart. What smart things do the douchebag actors on the Big Bang Theory actually say. They're self-hating self-defeatists, never uttering a single word that's  SMART OR INSIGHTFUL.

Cool Smart Things is what I'm into, NOT "being a nerd". The fact that people make up a social category for it only proves how Darwinian it's becoming to call yourself a nerd. It's like calling your self a jock. You're only there to chase the vintage Hollywood-actress-pussy.

Actual SMART people like myself. Now they're actually cool. People with beards on PBS, the Science Channel, and C-SPAN. Daniel Dennet, Richard Dawkins, Billy Gates, Michio Kaku, Dexter of Dexter's laboratory. Ken Wilber. Classic philosophers and authors from history. Albert Einstein. Grown men who authenitically care about science and systematic analysis, without that pretentious empty sitcom or talk show element to it.

Those guys are the definition of Cool!

Not some drama fag playing pretend, watching Adult Swim or G4 in a pair of Buddy Hollys. That's the opposite of cool. It's an insult to REAL intellectuals. Clowns.

Y'know, kids. I may be old, but I also have a good memory. Goosebumps wasn't that scary back in the day....

Now let's talk about REAL scary stuff: Cult horror movies and cult horror directors like Wes Craven.

Speaking of those, which is the more vomit-inducing and scarier movie?

Killer Klowns From Outer Space? Or the original Nightmare on Elm Street w/ Freddy Krueger?

Both I can't stomach, but I saw parts of each movie, and yes, they did in fact scare me shitless as a kid. Not recommended for children. Well, not children like the kind I was anyway, which is to say mute and sensitive.

Good "Warmup" Exercise(s). OC Anime Design/Practice Doodles, by Me

Once you get ONE anime face/head in proportion, not so hard to do it over again. These are my first anime heads outside of Mono that I consider to be "in proportion" to your typical anime in some ways. It actually wasn't painful to draw at all, which is uncommon for me. Usually drawing well is a pain in the fucking ass.

These? Eh, essentially painless. Proportions are easier when you're focused and paying attention to what your drawing. "Being Mindful" as Zen refers to it.

Boos and Hoos: Some Comics-Based Hollywood movies that are actually really crappy by "regular movie" standards...

Nobody asked you, INTERNET!

1) The Dark Knight
2) Watchmen
3) Kick-Ass
4) 300
5) Sin City
6) Iron Man

These, to me, are overhyped by pro-superhero websites. By top Hollywood director standards I'm pretty sure, they're pretty fucking bloated and retarded. Bloated scripts, bloated cinematography. Bloated everything. But still REALLY profitable, just like Transformers. Sin City and Dark Knight had MOMENTS and nothing more. I'd hardly call any of these anything more than bloated budget Michael Bay school of filmmaking suckfests. I don't care WHO directed Sin City. It was stiff and bloated. It sucked. If they had real balls, they'd do a Sin City HBO animated show, like Spawn on HBO or something. The two are brothers in arms. I don't see why not.

Now, now before you write me hate mail, ask yourself, do you want to watch a "comic book movie" (fuck no if you ask me) that blatantly cowtoes and panders to the most mindless fanboy pseudo-ultra-nerd mainstream demographic of loser stereotype, or do you want to watch a REAL movie that just happens to be based on one of your favorite works of graphic fiction. Tim Burton's Batman, AKIRA (the 80s anime), and Ghost in the Shell became classics not by showiness, boastfulness "Hollywood connections" and Transformers/Matrix-like theatrical Broadway-esque spectacle (i.e. business), but instead were:

A) Trying to achieve real art through film.
B) Weren't Transformers wannabes (Peter Cullen's still the man. Michael Bay isn't.).
C) They had real directors with actual real visions that went somewhere, that built something.
D) They weren't trying to be Transformers. Transformers is entertaining, the CGI and lighting is good, but unfortunately it's become the de-facto adaptation and lighting cinematography style of almost all Hollywood so-called "Junk"-culture adaptations. These movies would be better if they WEREN'T so blatantly driven by box office performance, final-box-office gross figures, and an overeagerness to please the so called "internet critics". That wasn't even in existence in the era of anything made in 1995 and 1994, with Pulp Fiction, Ghost in the Shell and essentially anything made earlier than that. There were websites, sure, but they were NOT powerful, influential, and destructive enough to destroy small countries like they are now, in the case of the biggest websites, like YouTube and Twitter.

But the internet isn't the only important factor at play here. Comic book movies never used to attract the MTV typical jock, bimbo, fratboy, John Stewart, Superbowl crowd either. Now they do.

And then there's that "I'm making money. And you're definitely NOT thing." Collectively even lower budget comic book movies, like Scott Pilgrim make a whole boatload of profits, with the highest budgeted ones like The Dark Knight making billions in Box Office and DVD sales. That's going to attract what I like to refer to as "The Greedy Celebrity Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll Excess crowd". Those people we counterculture types love to bash and hate. You know the ones, the guys/gals Kurt Cobain killed himself over, "Back in the day", for lack of a better terms. That's the kind of stuff that's at stake here. But the Frank Millers of the world aren't going to tell you that. It's the truth of the situation though.

Thanks for reading, All of Hollywood,
-Sincerely

JM Strebler

The MYSTERIES and AWE-INSPIRING WONDERS of 3 a.m. cable TV.

So, I’m channel surfing. Or I WAS the other day, when I saw the most incredible thing on TV. Tom Cruise actually being a nice guy. He’s such a NORMAL and NICE guy. I can’t believe how normal he looked in his new reality show. That’s what it was: A reality show, and a damn confusing one at that. I was flipping through channels, then I turned on MTV.

ME

Is that…Is that TOM CRUISE. On MTV?? What’s he doing there? I thought he was a jerk.

Tom Cruise on the TV is on the street, wandering about, walking up to random people, who don’t actually recognize him on the street

TOM CRUISE

Hi there

OLD WOMAN ON STREET

Oh hi. Who are you.

TOM CRUISE

HI! I’m Tom Cruise, and I’m here to prove what a nice normal celebrity I am, just like you, the viewers at home, or anyone else really. Would you like me to show you that?

OLD WOMAN

Of course. Oh wait, you’re not GAY are you. I hate those GAY reality TV show hosts.

TOM CRUISE

I’m sorry. What?

OLD WOMAN

I said GAY! You’re not GAY are you? I hate fags.

TOM CRUISE

FAGS!? I’ll SHOW YOU A FAG

AT which point on screen, tom takes a butcher knife from out of his pants that was resting no his  back, and stabs the old lady, repeatedly, in the chest, leaving numerous open chest wounds.

OLD WOMAN

Geeeee!!!! Why god WHYYYYY!!! WHY DO I HAVE TO DIE LIKE THIS!!! What I ever do to you god, huh, HUH!!!!

The old woman then vomits blood, and collapses face  first onto the concrete in a pool of her on blood.

CAMERA MAN / PRODUCER

You do…like. KNOW your on TV. Right TOM?

TOM CRUISE

Riiiight. TV. Yeah, TV. I’m on TV. Livin’ the dream. Look, I gotta get the heck outta here.

Tom Cruise then proceeds to run off screen, down the street. Credits roll.

I’m never watching you again MTV! Why do you fuck with people’s minds! FUCK YOU!

Man. I gotta stop watching Man Bites Dog. But I love Criterion so much!

Bonjour, Zee French Science Fiction auteur comique booques.

Zey may look aye leetle scay-lay on zee suffoce. But the interior artworqu is tres magnifique.

Blackouts over for now. Thanks World...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:CongressLookup?new=yes

Stepping Up Security Measures

I’ve never written fiction over an extended period before. This is a first for me. I might be writing more and more outline sheets by hand from this point on, to combat Hollywood plagiarism and people who want to release my ideas before they’re actually completed.

Spoke to a (media and defamation) attorney today:

Total settlement amount I would recieve if I WON my suit against certain media companies, collectively:

Total Money Earned From Settlements:

$295 million in loss & damages, IF I pursue them.

Not a bad haul actually. And honestly, it would be like suing Enron. It would be so easy to win that suit if I pursued it. This isn't over. Not at all.

The Hiring Process...Interview Questions....

A: Do I like you. Do YOU like ME? Can you DRAW like me?

B: Can you work for free until there actually is any money? (honestly, I don't know why this question in particular gets some young and inexperienced artists so riled up. I worked on a TV show, in what was essentially an intern like position contributing writing content, wasn't paid a dime when I worked for a famous anime dubbing studio, And I've had voice actors do readthroughs for one project of mine and they didn't ask for anything in return. He just thought it was a cool thing to do, and it was!, but for the show I wrote for, my name went into the credits, as does any intern get their name credited onscreen who usually worked for no pay. This is "suprisingly" common in the broadcasting industry. Experience can lead to money. Or at least lasting work in the beginning, and a killer demo reel.

C: Do you love anime and animation and/or comics?

D: Do you know how to format a script or be an art director/voice actor?

These are the types of things you ask people you hire.

Surely there must be some college art and animation school majors interested in learning the ropes of storybaording, writing for animation, production theory and tactics, and business administration, from an animation studio standpoint. Central Florida's not THAT bad of a place to live. We have good burgers and radio.

Anyway, yeah, starting my own production studio might actually work out if I save up some money to fund it. But I'm going to need to eventually interview and hire some writers, animators, and suits. Maybe some art directors and storyboarders, if I'm not already doing half those production jobs myself.

But yeah, I definitely wanna hire co-producers at some point, hopefully ones who understand the Euro and Pan-Asian markets and their growing lists of potential clients. I could also use some form of an organized support team research and writing staff. I'm really gung ho about starting up an operation. Maybe start as an indie comics manga operation and expand outward into TV Pilots at some point, assuming we ever get the budget to handle such an undertaking. We don't discriminate. Can't afford to.

JM (aka James A.)
Unnamed Company
Gmail: spindack@gmail.com
Twitter: @ManjiBlade 

OKAY! WHO PUNCHED ME IN THE NUTS!!! Rise of a Webcomics

I took End Times down for a limited time (NOT FOREVER OF COURSE, people like my comic too much to let it vanish), Had to get into like 5 seperate fistfights with my webmaster to take it down. He really wanted to promoted and didn't want to let my little thing go. But I got it back. Jeeze, I had no idea that comic was such a big deal to some people's BUSINESSES. But thanks, I guess.

"Mono vs. Mono" a New Comic That Will Probably Never Appear on the Internet.

"MONO VS. MONO": It's a fight sequence where mono duels against himself and kicks his own ass! In some ways, Mono doesn't mind Mono. In other ways, Mono fucking hates Mono. Especially the one that's not really him. So there must be a duel between the two Mono's at some point. And I'm currently drawing that duel now.

I love kenjutsu swordfights.

The length of the fight has yet to be determined. Maybe 1 page, maybe 20. You never really know with me.

Feel free to attempt talking me out of drawing my comic in your usually-sad-pathetic-wannabe-internet-way. Which is annoying I might add. I doubt you'll actually succeed. Thanks for trying though!

Gay. Truly gay. Uhp! What's that? School bells! Class is in session. Don't you have somewhere to be that's not here? Don't you have a teacher to fuck, girl?

Screw hypnosis....Use reverse psycho-logy.

Fuck hypnosis for getting real work done. Use self-directed reverse psychology. It's effective as all hell

How? Easy. You don't have to sell or "convince" yourself. But you need to have what I like to refer to as a double mind, where your mind is 2 places at once.

Just lie to yourself, and say I have to get around to doing [insert useless hobby here], screw [real work], it's slowin' me down man. I gotta not do the [real work] thing.

My work rate increased by 40% in 1 week alone.

I love visiting whores, I mean DeviantART. They ALWAYS whisper sweet nothings in my ears

You're...like, Everything you said you were never gonna be...baby. N' like some junk

\|

Recognize this face? I thought so. If you said "yes" you're a fucking perv, just like me. Sort of... Eh, not really.

Oh GOD, He's BLOGGING AGAIN!!!! Everybody take shelter!!!! Agggggghhh!!!!

Uh, yeah. Um, well, anyway, I've started adjusting the size of the blank paper I draw on. I'm increasing the size of the paper I draw comics on. I'm easing back onto 11" x 17" paper. Far as I care, the bigger, the better. I'd draw my comics pages on the side of a fucking BUS if I could, but there's no buses around here, so it's 11" x 17" comics, industry Golden Standard. Most professional comic book artists who work for the biggest publishers typically draw on 11" x 17" and I'm beginning to see why, easier to fill in with details, and looks more crisp and finely rendered when one scans it and shrinks it down. How does one scan an 11" x 17" page at home and not at a publishing house though? I'm baffled by this. The 11" x 17" inch paper I've drawn my comics page on won't fit in either of my scanners. Seriously. Sucks.

But hey, looking on the bright side, Me! At least the details stand out more, as opposed to using this dinky little shitty ass computer paper that hates detailed art.

The Children Are Expecting Me, So Please Come To Your Senses

Though the state of Adult Swim, Cartoon Network, and the other of the big 3 children's networks looks dire, as does publishing superhero books, if you're an aspiring creator, or writer, or author, there's a lot of awesome stuff in growing industries you can still do. Career-Wise, you WANT TO be a generalist, not a "Specifist" or Specialist.

Things any writer, artist, or creator can still do:

• Write a book or novel (a REAL book or novel. None of this light novel crap)
• Author your own webcomic, and publish it to a website
• Draw manga in the United States for just about any publisher of World Manga, who ISN'T Tokyopop.
• Write a script of just about any sort (Comics, Movies, TV, Animation, Anime). Scripts lead to work more often than portfolios.
• Broadcast content online (Be a general content provider. Even smaller content providers online like myself have their place in the industry. Don't let the trashtalkers fool you.
• Sell an idea to up and coming animation studios in America or France. Not Japan though. Sorry. Even the BIGGEST diehard down syndrome Bleachtard can probably see Japan kinda has its hands full at the moment, due to how much demand shows like Naruto and Bleach drum up each year online.

"Death" of creator driven animation? What death? I'm/We're all still here.

The title says it all.

Design Influence

For the most part, I appreciate the artwork and design in manga, but for a long time now, I pretty much never copy from manga. I used to emulate Trigun Maximum, Priest, Evangelion, Blade of the Immortal, and AKIRA.

But in terms of intentional borrowing, there's really only 1 artist who I've borrowed a lot from, and he's American. Todd McFarlane and Spawn, the 90s version, not so much the current one. In Middle School, I copied from Spawn a LOT. Todd McFarlane is a real master of Fabric and shading, in both comics and animation. Ichigo was pretty irrelevent. Ichigo looks like a pussy compared to Spawn. He'd break Ichigo Kurosaki in HALF like a twig if the two ever met. I'm aware of Bleach, but I was never all that impressed with it. Certainly not impressed enough to "copy" from manga crap like that.

"Cult-Following Indie Internet Brand Status"

I didn't realize how successful and recognizable I was compared to other creators of similar stature, until now, and...Because of my popularity on the internet and YouTube, and all the struggle and strife (and success, not financially of course, but that's normal for an indie artist) I’ve had in the public eye, locally and nationally, nationally and internationally. I now have one of the most recognizable faces, properties, and names in all of animation and comics, for better AND worse.

Newest Fiction Writing Badges from "I Write Like" . Dot Com

Story 1 "World War II Narrative"

I write like
William Gibson

I Write Like by Mémoires, journal software. Analyze your writing!

Story 2 "The Haunted Aviator"

I write like
Chuck Palahniuk

I Write Like by Mémoires, journal software. Analyze your writing!

For my Dialogue Writing, I got this:

I write like
David Foster Wallace

I Write Like by Mémoires, journal software. Analyze your writing!

Click the Writers' Name Badges to see THEIR books

There's a saying I remember hearing somewhere...

That goes something like "Childhood teaches us what we want to do. Adulthood teaches us what we can't actually do with the older we get".

It's true

Youth teaches us values and ambitions

Maturity teaches us realism and limitation.

Doesn't matter who you are. Everyone has limits. I know I do. At some point, you WILL meet your limitations. And it might not be the most peaceful meeting or encounter. But it will teach you a lot about making realistic (and not just idealistic) self-assessments. Things factor in: The economy. Business. Society. The market. The culture.

Realistically speaking, there are MANY impossible things that exist for many people. Only a very select few people live with few impossibilities. Most people are all too aware of the impossibilities in their life. But the thing is, it's not so bad once you know other people have tried and gone through similar experiences. That is how the world works. Maturity is not knowing exactly what you can do. Maturity is knowing when to stop and knowing exaclty what you can't do. And what others can't do for you. And why all that is.

Turned on the TV the other day.

"moneymoney, money money money money money money money money money mone money the only thing we care about is money money. Moneymoneymoneymoney,money,money,money,money. And now for our 2 hour long commercial break!"

FUCK!!! Click.

MSTV3K

“We’ll send him cheesy TV. The worst we can find. La la la.

He’ll have to sit and watch them all and we’ll monitor his mind, la la la.

No keep in mind Joe can’t control when the TV begins or ends

That’s why he used his special bots to make the YouTube Friends

YouTube Roll Call

Google

Adult Swim

Toonami

Crow”

Overnight Chess Match Marathon....

Chess is such a difficult game
There's so many pieces
So many squares where you can go
So few promises

Never you mind all the others
Anticipating your next move
I know it's hard
'Cause you got a lot to do

Street signs and traffic lights
Ever confusing me, too
Stop left, go right, no U-turn
Where's the God damn exit?

Never you mind all the others
Influencing your next move
I know it's hard
'Cause you've got a lot to prove

La la la, la la la

Sex and drugs and rock and roll
Pieces lie right before you
This puzzle can't be done wrong
So come along while you can

Never you mind all the others
Anticipating your next move
Never you mind all the others
Never you mind what they do

Don't let them get you down
'Cause if they do
You'll be trapped forever under their shoe
Here is a paintbrush of gold
I know it's hard
'Cause you've got a lot to do

La la la, la la la

------------------------------------------

Dayum. Pardon my French. I'm a bit on edge from insomnia. Couldn't get that song out of my head while I was playing video games for 5+ hours on my computer console. I miss being a gamer. Particularly an RPG gamer.

I was up all night, from 9 or 10 p.m. until, like 2 or 3 a.m. playing 22 straight nonstop EPIC Chess matches against my computer on Chess Titans. El. Oh. El! Lotta fun stayin up till the early mornin', playin with myself. It always is! Well, at Chess matches anyway. I lost all 22 matches. My tactical board game and strategic tactical skills apparently suck.

Peace! I'm out for this second.

The Extreme Polarity of Publicity

There are no real gray areas in the way people are presented in the media to other people. Truth is, people for the most part only want their heroes to look real good (good beautiful heroes), or real bad (evil, ugly villains). The concept of self-deprecation is lost on the media. When you put your image out there, or someone else does…You’re either going to look REAL GOOD or REAL BAD. Beautiful or ugly. Because the media thrives on image, it also, as a result thrives on the extreme polarity of image elements as well. No one looks moderately ANYthing in the world of publicity. They either look good or they don’t. The media personality, and business people think in this way. I’ve learned this from doing business with them.

EM

So I've actually managed to learn how to execute some beginner techniques in Energy Manipulation (EM). I actually figured out how to create a Chi Ball and everything. Very amazing stuff. Helps with Meditation, Energy, Zen, and learning to teach myself stuff.

I've been pursuing the spiritual, mystical path lately. My Chi Ball/Egg color is Violet.

Badass! I can bend the nature of the spirit of reality!

Because my Chi energy-ball color was Violet, that would probably mean that:

My most powerful Chakra is: Sahasrara: The Crown Chakra

Sahasrara, which means 1000 petalled lotus, is generally considered to be the chakra of pure consciousness, within which there is neither object nor subject. When the female kundalini Shakti energy rises to this point, it unites with the male Shiva energy, and a state of liberating samadhi is attained. Symbolized by a lotus with one thousand multi-coloured petals, it is located either at the crown of the head, or above the crown of the head. Sahasrara is represented by the colour white and it involves such issues as inner wisdom and the death of the body.

Its role may be envisioned somewhat similarly to that of the pituitary gland, which secretes hormones to communicate to the rest of the endocrine system and also connects to the central nervous system via the hypothalamus. According to author Gary Osborn, the thalamus is thought to have a key role in the physical basis of consciousness and is the 'Bridal Chamber' mentioned in the Gnostic scriptures. Sahasrara's inner aspect deals with the release of karma, physical action with meditation, mental action with universal consciousness and unity, and emotional action with "beingness".^[25]

In Tibetan buddhism, the point at the crown of the head is represented by a white circle, with 32 downward pointing petals. It is of primary importance in the performance of phowa, or consciousness projection after death, in order to obtain rebirth in a Pure Land. Within this chakra is contained the White drop, or Bodhicitta, which is the essence of masculine energy.

JM: The Evil Twin Saga

My life is an epic mythology saga, just like Mono and New-Earth. So of course there’s going to be an Evil Twin Saga Archetype. I’m not the first celebrity to battle an army of evil twins.

Is Cartoon Planet on CN...

Ever going to be available on DVD, Amazon Instant, Hulu, or Netflix Instant?

For the love of god hopefully eventually.

Do they still give out the Pre-School Good Apple Award to little kids in school?

I don't know I'm not a kid. Nor am I a parent. But I sure as hell won me a good apple award in pre-school. And an art award for my hyper-realistic recreation of Van Gogh's Starry Night. With Crayons!

Yeah, I was a cool kid. At least I still remember SOME things about my early childhood.

2012 Entertainment Product, Distributor and Publisher Review: The Best Thing Since Slave Labor Graphics and Image Comics

Here's the List:

My Favorite Products and Companies I've discovered in the Last Few Years (Companies that show a TON of promise)

• Roku Streaming Media Player
• Roku Player Channels
• Planet Stories Publishing (Science Fantasy Publishing company)
• Dragon Dynasty DVD Distributors (Hardcore Action Martial Arts Asian Cinema, with actual GOOD fight choreography. The best actually, straight Hong Kong Fresh)
• Shout Factory DVD Distributors (90s animation, vintage cartoons, and quirky international and comedy shows. I love their DVDs!)
• Revolutionary Studios
• Lions Gate Films
• Boomerang Network
• Nicktoons Network
• I don't much care for Disney XD, Naruto and Kick Buttowki aside.
• #90sAreAllThat
• Uncyclopedia
• The disease-ridden Hollywood sluts and whores on SyFy channel original series (kidding! sort of)
• The Hub
• Marathon Animation Studios (Paris, France)
• Focal Press (Information-Educational Animation and Media Books)
• Ovation TV
• Twitter

All you guys get a five star review in my book, for putting out great products!

Am I...

The only person who would read one of Quentin Tarantino's early novels that he wrote but never finished because he directed Pulp Fiction? I remember him mentioning that in a Rolling Stone interview once, about Kill Bill PR.

Something tells me he'd write like a cross between Carl Hiaasen and Mario Puzo if he was offiically a novelist. I don't know what kind of books he'd write, but I'd sure as hell read it...

I mean, if James Cameron can be a production designer

Quentin Tarantino could write novels.

Being a Digital Designer: The Next Generation of Animation and Comics Design Submission (How to get your character/costume/background designs on TV)

Getting one of my designs to show up on anime art sites and on TV, manga, anime, comic books, or movies is often as simple as uploading, or “submitting” my designs to the public domain of the internet, public internet art hosting sites, where people working on TV and film animation staffs can see them and incorporate some of my design elements into their own design. You don't get credited for this kind of thing, but yes, this kind of submissions process is how it works.

The more other artists and designers at studios and on websites see your designs online and emulate them, the more influential you become.

I could go into further detail about the legal and financial hazards and complications that go with this area of design, but why ruin the secret to my success. If you want to be on top, you have to learn to take the good with the bad, and not be so possessive about your own design work. If you design a true archetype, you'll soon learn often, the truth is everyone borrows from it (your work), but no one credits you for it as the original designer. That's just how it is sometimes. You won't always get credit. But the people who see your design, even if they're the one's copying from it, will know you're the originator, as in the first one they saw produce the archetype.

But yes, the internet has created a new kind of submission process to comic book publishers and animation studios and staff artists in media storytelling. One primarily in the public domain,  that exists on a semi-honor system.

"Black Multiracial 2012 Apocalypse" Diversity in the Media Workplace: Can't We All Just Get Along

Well, I do gotta hand it to the anime, co-production, LucasFilm, Dark Horse, Tokyopop, videogame, webcomics, comic book, JM Animation, DeviantART, Funimation, YouTube, and Hollywood industries: They get an A+ for diversity.


In media, there are primarily two kinds of diversity in the entertainment and media industry:


Diversity, and Token Diversity. The Former is progressive, the latter is a facade.

High Praise for American Comic Books, from Animation Magazine: The Best American Comics

Article quote:

Review: The Best American Comics

"Not only are most of these offerings cleverly drawn and beautifully observed,  but they also show how fortunate we are to be living in this renaissance period of the art form. If more animated feature producers look at this fertile ground to find inspiration for their projects, we'd see less CG animated nonsense about loud and annoying critters in our movie theatres."

High praise indeed.

Parental Advisory: Explicit Content: A Disclaimer About Fan Websites

If there IS anything inappropriate material of me circulating on the web, it's the work of illegal hacktivity, and it certainly isn't sanctioned by me. If it was I'd say so. If there is any inappropriate material of me on ANY website, it was not attained with my consent or knowledge. And it still isn't either. I've never even seen any websites like that in reality, so as far as I know I'm the subject of rumors I suppose, not much more...

Media, Free Speech, and The Internet: For Better and Worse...

If there were no internet, I certainly wouldn't be as talkative of a creator as I am. I think that goes for a lot of creators who would otherwise only be a book in your hands and not an opinion on your screen if there wasn't the limitless freedom of speech that the internet offers. Everyone is so much more animated and opionated on the internet. It's seductive to shoot your mouth off online, instead of just drawing comics pages or writing chapters in a book and calling it a day.

My original intent was not to become opinionated. The internet kinda made me and many others that way, because of it's free, topical, and uncensored nature. I'll have to work on watching my mouth. So far no one's really ever punished me for speaking out. Not direcctly anyway.

Biggest Mystery In The World: Success and "Failure"

I'm nobody. I don't make any money. So why does one of the most powerful, famous, and downright rich and spoiled Hollywood animation producers in the world (who makes a $50 million salary no less)...why is he so psychotically obsessed with me? Why does he want to live my life for me in his stupid TV shows he created. Why is someone so rich, famous, and powerful obsessed with being little old me, and living MY life. I have nothing. He has everything. So why does he want to be me? Why does he keep trying to be me? What's his motive? What does he stand to gain from such exploitation?....of me.

I find myself asking myself that a lot. Why him/them? Why me? How can someone so successful be so dissatsified and bored with his own million dollar Hollywood life and still want to live through the life of someone else, who has next to nothing?? That would be me.

I don't get it. I don't understand the motivation  behind such actions. I never have.

Why are people with so much, who are so spoiled so obsessed with someone who has it so difficult? I can't for the life of me figure this one out. It's not like he'd ever admit why he's stalking me. And his show is full of lies, so it's not like I'd find any truth there either.

I can't wrap my mind around it. If I had that kind of money, I'd probably ignore someone like me. I'd be satisfied with my own life. I don't know, maybe success makes it too easy for us or something. But why does someone with such high status and who's so very, very rich, obsess over and write about someone who's so very very unlucky and poor. I've always admired and been obsessed with rich and famous people...until I got a taste of my own obsessive admiration medicine from people who were already where I wanted to be at that age, at least in terms of career status.

Such confusing feelings these TV shows create, they do.

And yet, while our lives are different, I do kind of see the point he's trying to make. We have some things in common.

He has a great sense of humor. I have a great sense of humor.
He's a prominent writer. I'm a prominent writer.
He's an animation fan/professional. I'm an animation hobbyist.
He covers a wide variety of subject matter. I cover a wide variety of subject matter.

And even though he does comedy and I do drama (for the most part), I'm aware of the commonalities.

So...

Do I get the Pulitzer and Nobel Prizes NOW, or does your jury wait until AFTER I'm dead to pay me a million Bucks of Peace? Isn't anyone going to tell me how this whole thing WORKS??? C'mon! Throw me a BONE, dammit!

Where I was in the Yalta, er, I mean ARGONAUT conferance in 1945....

Is none of ya damn bizness, biznatch. So stop askin!

And to the few Enlightened souls who have hung out with me on my blog, on some godforsaken .com gutter at 1:11 in the early morn while I'm watching TV

I thank you. You is now Spiritually Enlightened. And probably embarrassed by me singling you out. You happy now.

Today's drawing log: 5 p.m. - 11:17 p.m.

Page 1 (complete)
Page 2 (complete)
Page 3 (complete)
Page 4 (complete)
Page 5 (complete)
Page 6 (complete)
Page 7 (complete)
Page 8 (complete)
Break at 11!
Page 9 (complete)
Page 10 (complete comic book page)
Page 11 COMPLETE!

YOU EAT A DICK NYUGA!!! YOU EAT A DICK!!!!!

You'll never work in Tokyo again!

Eh. I've done a million online videos and message board posts. I guess I can live with that.... XD

Drawing Process Strategy

So just today, as in just recently, I've realized I should probably start incorporating strategy and strategic elements into my drawing process. For pencilling and inking if nothing else. And your pencilling process starts with the art and drawing supplies you use. I've realized my pencil methods up till today had been primative and ass backwards. I used a mechanical pencil for pencilling my pages. No wonder I kept messing up the lines. Until today, I didn't actually wrap my mind around the fact that good pencilling often happens in stages and revisions, not all at once. For my pencilling first draft, I've begun using a light blue Prismacolor pencil for pencilling first attempts.

Sure, it has its drawbacks (you can barely see the image your pencilling at first, the line is so delicate and light, no matter how hard you pencil.)

But once I went over the blue line first draft pencil sketch with a cleaned up darker pencil, I made noticeably fewer mistakes with my line textures, and my pencilling line was more clean and less shakey.

Worked like a charm! I can't believe I never tried to incorporate strategy into the drawing process itself before. Drawing supplies need strategy too, if you want to take art seriously.

And this is after only 2 to 3 attempts and very simple sketches WITH the light blue Prismacolor erasable pencil. It really did make that much of a difference in my art. Just thought I felt the need to write about it, to help other artists who might be heavy handed and have problems with line weight.

Well,

I've survived off of parental employment / generosity, social security, and luck, and managed to keep off the streets and away from Death by not  being too unfortunate for this long. I doubt I'll make a living on my aspirations either. It's just like being a hobo and vagabond, except I live in a North American house and always stay in one place. No one's going to give me jack shit other than what already is provided me.

My Google Adsense "Salary". How much Google actually pays me for what I contribute...

Estimated earnings $0.01 Today so far $0.02 Yesterday $0.01 This month so far $4.94 Last month Finalized earnings may be slightly lower than estimated

Finalized earnings Details » $12.33 Unpaid earnings Prior to Dec 1, 2011

2012 Entries: Money

Back on the subject of money. If you're just starting off as an artist, or want to become a Master artist like myself, don't worry about money. Concern over getting paid will only take away from your art, distract you from your art and get you into trouble. Plus it will reduce the quality of your artwork. Many of the best drawings I did when I was thinking about enjoying drawing. Money had nothing to do with it.

Leave money worries to your producers, agents, publishers, studios, and editors. Let them assess things financially, and your agent as well. Don't strategize about money if you're just an artist trying to do good work. Money gets in the way of quality, far as art is concerned. Thinking about money will do nothing more than simply always and inevitably lead to you realizing you're never getting paid enough, or what your worth, or at all. Money concerns don't help people become  better artists.

As for the market! It's simpler than it looks. TV works like this: Whoever is actually on TV, whoever has the show that YOU'RE WATCHING on TV is doing pretty well for themselves. Is Spongebob constantly in your face yelling things at you through your TV that annoy you. Well, the Spongebob staff's doing pretty well for themselves if that's the case. Is Steven Colbert and Seth MacFarlane lecturing you again. Gee, wonder how they got so rich. In TV, in big media business: Getting airtime and viewer attention (but only on a contractual basis) = a bigger paycheck. Whoever's got your attention on TV is the one making the most money. It doesn't necessarily work that way most of the time online though. The pay structure on the internet is a little more shady legally, and  a little more harsh. Scratch that. A lot more harsh.

The Power List Propaganda: And Why It's Bullshit, Why You Shouldn't Ever Draw For Money

I used to be fooled by propaganda, just like everyone else.

The media wants us to believe that the only people whose art is worth anything are the ones that get media attention, press releases, and paychecks.

Bullshit I say!

Money does not define how good an artist is. It never has and it never will. Only art does that. Just because another artist is famous and more powerful (i.e. makes 1,000 more profit and money) does not make him or her better. That's the biggest crock of shit I ever used to believe, just like most artists do. It's a lie. It's a fantasy. Money does not define worth in art. It never has and it never will.

You want power media? You want fucking power???

OK. Here goes.

Barack Obama. Anonymous. Me. Steve Jobs. Charlie Sheen. Britney Spears. Mark Zuckerberg. Justin Bieber. Twitter.

You control thee conversation, you control the power. You ARE the conversation. You ARE the power. The media's too full of shit to tell you this.

If all you can do is talk about or mimic me, then that really only means I have power over you, doesn't it. Just because you're dissing me doesn't mean I'm not controlling your conversation. Controlling ALL dialogue and conversation really. That is what I do. If all you can do is talk about me and only me every 5 minutes, that means I'm the one that controls the power. The subject of the conversation, the one who is responsible for the conversation, the subject being discussed, is the one WITH the power. NOT the losers discussing it.