A Little Book Promotion (My Own)

OK, here's the breakdown.

In the beginning of February, this month, I self-published my first book, an art book, Art: Manifested by J.M. Matthews. Published through Greater Amazons and Barnes & Noble online outlets everywhere.

Here's the Official Press Release

So far the book has been in various news write ups 16 times, at least according to my co-publisher.

Anyone can buy a copy of the book. I'm happy if anyone owns my publishing work.

Available now.

Enjoy!
-J.M. Matthews

BOOM! BOOM!

Oh no! Giant footsteps! The GIANT found me!!!

fwup fwup fwup fwup fwup ccrrrrUMM EEEEERRRRRRRRR CRASH!

Oh no, he just destroyed the ghetto copter that was flying over my house. Not GIANTS! I HATE GIANTS! I'm scared of GIANTS! I'm allergic to them!

Ladies and Gentlemen! And a lot more Gentlemen than Ladies!

They respond to you, and therefore you have power over them. You forced their hand to speak and announce things, without even having to really even try very hard. They have no power. Not when they're the ones scurrying around like roaches and rats exposed to light, to react to what you say and not the other way around.

Pig

Chinese Pig Zodiac “people need to focus on their daily work and do not make any unforgivable mistakes, otherwise (or else) your competitors will take advantage to ruin your reputation.”

—Chinese Horoscope

This is Japan kid. We don't know how to do Black Goth here...

You could never do a Jhonen Vasquez or Ted Naifeh comic book in Japan. Not like how you could in America. Black will always be considered villainous in Japan. In the 90s, half the countercoulter was goths who listened to metal music about murder, violence, and suicide. The anti-hero is a Western hero. The Japanese know NOTHING of real anti-heroes. In Japan they have a belief-Fail in terms of realizing Black is Good.

Pure-heartedness is not the only element of aesthetics that matters, and I say this as one of the more pure-hearted. In my earlier years, my life and heart were so incredibly pure and white at the beginning of my life that during my adolescence, I found myself very in love with the dark-hearted Black Noir Goth aesthetic side of life. When I was a child, everyone, my parents, family, teachers, classmates, and friends, couldn't stop talking to me about how pure, innocent, kind, happy and light I was. They all admired the innocence and purity they perceived in my heart, because I never got in trouble for anything. It got kind of boring to me after a while, always being viewed by others as innocent, justified, and good, "Are you an angel?" one frightened old woman in a hospital once asked me, when I was staying at a hospital once and had been singing to myself in the other room when she overheard me, apparently mistaking me for a real life angel. Made me yearn for something a bit darker and more macabre and especially black. Something that wasn't really what I was in real life, but that I found cool, and stylish anyway.

Then again, maybe it's the difference between the collective psyches of the United States and Japan. I guess the world's "perennial hero" (America) simply reacts differently to power colors than the world's "perennial victim" (Japan). Or SOMETHING like that, I guess.

Anime and Art

The best example I can think of that reminds me of how people react to anime and manga now in the art world, would be Cubism. Cubism is Western. Anime (&) Manga are Eastern. But location matters very little. Key point is, they're both art. Both made a lot of money in the same time they were appreciated and known about in.

The biggest criticism both schools of art faced (aesthetics aside) is that they both had many detractors that said they weren't "real art". BUT, the same thing was said about Walt Disney's work in his early cartooning and animation career, and look how that worked out. Manga is cartooning. Anime is both design-based animation and filmmaking.

I gotta hand it to LucasFilm. At least they're actually honest, and not LIARS like some people in art....

At least LUCASFILM isn't running around trying to convince the world they came up with MY OWN DESIGN(S) before I MYSELF DID, unlike SOME anime artists...

Not really ashamed ah bein' ugly...

We're ALL ugly in American TV animation. And we LIKE it that way. I dun wanna be pretty!

People yelling stupid crap at me, laughing at me, mocking me, talking down to me, ignoring me...you know. Stupid shit like that....

I drink and smoke, mostly just to forget about that kinda shit. I'd rather get cancer than remember the kind of bullshit I've had to deal with in interacting with other people....Fuckin assholes.

Time-Consciousness; Time-Conscientiousness

I didn't notice it until recently, but in terms of my drawing process, I'm actually probably incredibly unconscientious of the amount of time I spend drawing, and the amount of time I spend on each drawing and illustration. I mean, I'm sort of aware of how much time I'm spending on each drawing, but I just don't know on a more quantified and specific level. This is because time tends to stand still when I draw.

So I decided to download a digital stopwatch, and have begun timing how long each sketch and drawing takes to complete. some take a few minutes, like my sketch archive. Some take 2-3 hours (the most detailed ones).

My workdays for actual art production in the past have been short. I think being more time-conscious will increase the amount of time I spend on my art process.

Started a FaceBook account today

Over at here.

Best Software for Editing an AMV (anime music video)...Final Cut Pro and Pinnacle Studio 15.

If you have a lot of money, Final Cut Pro is the Hollywood standard of editing.

I don't really recommend Windows Movie Maker, as it's not good at synchronizing shot clips.

Probably the best kind of editing software would be the current version of Pinnacle Studio, Pinnacle Studio 15.

It can be found here: CLICK HERE

The reason I like Pinnacle 15, is because it divides each video camera shot, or "clip" individually. They're pre-cut in certain ways, so it makes it easier to mix and remix together various camera shots with other shots.

I edited what is probably my most famous video, Anime Megamix 1, on Pinnacle software. It really makes each cut seamless, and makes a PC-based editor's job a whole lot easier and simpler. The current version of Pinnacle (15) is around $50 bucks, but if you've devoted your life to making a hobby of amateur anime remixing and re-editing like I have, you'll probably find Pinnacle to be well worth the cover price, once you get the hang of it. You can also author DVDs on Pinnacle software, if I'm not mistaken, but I'm not sure if it's Pinnacle Studio 15 that does that, but one version of Pinnacle DOES author DVDs, so that way if you want to, you can give copies of your AMV work, on a few DVDs you've made, to friends, as gifts, like I do.

So yeah: For Editing AMVs: Pinnacle Studio Pro 15
For authoring AMVs to DVD for gifts: Pinnacle Dazzle Video Creator Platinum

Regions. Goddamned Fucking Regions...

Part of the thing I don't like about traditional general mediums like TV and DVD, is that, when content is distributed digitally on the web through sites like YouTube, or on another website, the signal is universal, and not hindered by regional technological blocks vaguely referred to as "region coding". With YouTube and Funimation.com, you can watch stuff at the same time as people in Japan and France, Britain, Canada, South America, and Germany. All the major players in animation on a world scale. Region coding on DVDs and "localized" signals or broadcasts of TV broadcasts blocks people in America from seeing what's really getting played on TV in another country instantly, and vice-versa. The internet is a truly international broadcasting tool, in terms of how it's used on sites like YouTube. Local and National TV is like Radio. We only see what's local. Not what's international. It sucks that its divided like that!

Take good old Huntik for example, just now being seen in Canada online.

Simulcasting just might be a solution to such a cultural-technological divisiveness problem.

You know, I noticed something...about Wikipedia. Anyone else catch this?

When you look up "animated series" on Wikipedia, every country has a broadcaster listing BUT Japan. What are the main broadcasting channels of anime in Japan that have aired all these famous anime. Do you know? You might want to fill that info out on that list then.

WHAZ GOOWD NYUGA?? WHAZ REELLY GOOD! Grab ya popcorn

I'll tell you whaz good. KILL BILL: VOL 2. The lesser seen sequel to the first movie! Hellz yeah! Thanks Spike TV! Play more wuxia.

I saw volume 1 a long time ago in the theatre in 2003. Glad they're airing pt. 2 on TV more. My laziness kept me from searching for it on Netflix.

If the adult-type channels on TV like Spike, AMC, MTV, VH1 Classic, Ovation, The History Channel, The Science Channel had better stuff to air, and actually aired it, I'd watch those channels INSTEAD of CN or Nicktoons. I'm tired of watching kiddy networks nonstop. Kinda makes you feel like a loser after a while when you realize many of the "quirky" kids shows are actually more annoying, less deep and less mature and sophisticated than the adult shows. Whatever ever happened to older demographic TV for smart adults? And not just adolescent crudeness and chauvanism. Sorry, but REAL men don't "party". That's for children, kids and  boys and twerps. Piece of shit teenagers. REAL adults discuss current events, drink in their home, alone. Watch their video collection. Sound familiar guys? I thought so, men.

AMVs. Whoa. What fun!

Just watched an old hidden Naruto AMV I have stashed away on my computer. The timing and rhythm of the video was actually very fast and very good! I liked it a lot. I think I might shift back to AMV-making mode again. You never know, I just might. AMV-making is one of my new favorite hobbies! I am kind of the King of YouTube. Wouldn't hurt to contribute to the already healthy AMV culture on there I guess.

Here's what you need to make good AMVs:

• Songs that DON'T suck. A good taste in music and a good music collection.
• Ripped anime footage. From actual good anime.
• Rhythm and Timing (you should really understand this part of music education if you want to make music videos)
• Good nonlinear video editing software (know how to use it, read the tutorials and learn how. Either buy the software or download it)

[Master Has Spoken, Kids!]

You know, many people like me USED TO think "anime" "is a Time Warner thing"....It's not!

Yes, in the 90s and early 2000s, Time Warner's Toonami and Adult Swim developed an anime "monopoly" where the common knowledge was "Anime is a Time Warner Thing". Wrong! Time Warner doesn't OWN anime. Broadcast all the anime you want, legit or not, sanctioned by a real network or on YouTube. There's too much anime out there for one nation, city, state, network, or website to claim it. Anime belongs to everyone, not just Japan and Time Warner. Forget those guys. If they stay in power, anime could die altogether. They DID have power in the area of anime, but sometime between 2005 and 2012 when they killed Toonami and stopped playing adult anime on any day but Saturday. Anime is good ANYWHERE, with ANYONE, ANYTIME, ANY DAY. It's precious, it's a commodity, but it shouldn't be selfishly hoarded by a few shortsighted broadcasting multimedia conglomerates, ESPECIALLY when they don't actually own the Dubbing RIGHTS OR OR DVD Distribution Rights.

Drink it in kids. Anime needs us all to stay alive. Don't Forget about anime, and it will NEVER DIE. Tom has passed on, but what he stood for still stands...

But really, I never thought YouTube should be a full on "hate Toonami for cancelling itself" zone. That was unexpected. It reflects a lot of pent up rage in the fans at being deprived of something so good.

But the thing is, Toonami, Adult Swim, and YouTube/Google aren't all that different. Both make money, both air anime, and both win fans repeatedly. They have all the popularity in the world with Otaku. It's just that anime aired on regular TV is sanctioned and contractually obligated by Japanese anime and American dubbing studios, licensed by them. But in a way, Time Warner is pirates too. After all, they broadcast the shows to the fans at home. They don't own any of the DVDs other than the shows they comission, so CN's money obviously isn't in merchandise or DVD sales. It's in their ratings money, which goes to their budget. But that budget better as hell at least partially go to re-embursing costs of FUTURE anime licensing, and not go to stuff like, oh I don't know, Squidbillies, and other rotten shit like that? More of the studios excess, in other words. Money made from anime should go to creating MORE future anime. That is the model Osamu Tezuka set with his manga and Japanese anime studio, and that should be what EVERY anime dubbing company, studio, merchandise house, and broadcaster should do..take chances on new properties, but essentially bring us, the fans, more of the same. PLEASE! I'm asking nicely...I am the Lorax. I speak for Dr. Seuss!

Why would I post ANYthing....

.....when I can just sit around drinking and sleepin' all day? Fuck the internet. Seriously.

Most of the time, you can get by on rum and cigarettes....

Other times, we must go without. Much to the detriment of the arts.

Well say! What do ya know! *hiccup* Now I'm actually drunk enough to read 100+ pages of novel(s) I've written! Hey, not bad!

Favorite TV Show?

I like to watch the TV shows no one else is watching, or at least the ones it seems like no else is watching.

Google Chrome: A Review

Google Chrome is awesome. It's safety and privacy features are closer to a Macs level of functioning than a PC's. PC security sucks and everyone knows it, or at the very least, everybody should.

The brutal truth of the matter is, Macs are 10,000 times safer than the PC operating system, just as Google Chrome is 10 times safer from hacktivity than regular Google. Plus it's free and doesn't cost anything. Now I'm never going back, even though I was hesitant to embrace Chrome at first...

Now that I think about it, yeah!....Y'know, that's right!

Now that I think about it, why are Americans deprived of ANY animation produced in Japan? Why CAN'T there be a streaming website or HD DVD for every Japanese animated series and film ever released. If all (and I mean ALL, and not just popular) titles were available on Digital Disc and online on an individual case by case basis, sales would probably go up, not down, considering websites often save production costs. I WANT THERE to be a place I can go to see every single last piece of animation production FROM Japan. Not just "some" of it. Screw "seeing some". I want to "see all!" Any real anime fan does, too.

Drama: The End (And The Beginning)

ME: Mom. I’ve got a little surprise for you. I’m moving out! Starting a new life, as an ADULT, on my own, finally living the dream.

MOM: No. You’re NOT. You CAN’T. You’re NEVER going to leave my house! You’re my prisoner. You know you’re a prisoner of your own room.

ME: Not for long. Mom.

MOM: How…DARE YOU! HOW DARE YOU! HOW COULD YOU. I provide EVERTHING for you EVERYTHING!!!!!! And you become a Hollywood CRIMINAL!!!!??? GET OUT OF MY SIGHT YOU FELON! I’m never speaking to you again! How DARE you leave this family.

ME: Yeah, well, sorry, but now I know why the caged bird sings. DEAL with it. (Walks out front door and calls cab on his cell phone, never to speak to his family again after that day.)

It was a beautiful day in my house outside. One of the most beautiful I've ever seen...

Normally, people just yell things at me. BAD Things.

But a few days ago, I was perplexed after briefly leaving my house to get a whiff of fresh air. I walked down to my mailbox. I usually avoid all contact when I do this. And yet, for some reason I couldn't understand or fathom, I saw this excited little 7 year old kid leave his house at the same time. He had a sparkle in his eyes I noticed, even from three houses away. He was running down his driveway excitedly, and then it hit me why he was so excited.

He was looking at...me.

That kid was excited to see Me! Of all people! It was like he was thrilled over nothing more than the fact that I was out of my house, outside and he got a chance just to LOOK at me. I've never seen someone, an innocent little kid so excited and happy just to see me, from as far as three houses away. It warmed my heart. Are people actually now starstruck by me?

-JM

[insert slogan here]

If I post ANYwhere on the internet OTHER THAN YouTube (the voice of the people), my views generally fall on def ears. Nearly every time. It’s fucking weird.

I'm okay, I'm okay! I think my spine exploded, but other than that, I'm fine!

Just need...some...recovery time. Had a big day today.

The TRUTH about Manic-Depression. The Upside: FOCUS

Doctors go on and on about "how dangerous mania is", but they fail to note it's benefits.

Mania doesn't just give you a boost and energy. It gives the person who experiences it hyper-focus.

Why is more focus a bad thing according to doctors.

The truth is, people need a lot of focus to get a lot of work done.

And I have this theory that isn't really documented very much, but I am quite certain it's true:

The theory is:

Energy level and Focus Level are Correlated. Energy makes Focusing on Your Work, Art, Writing, and tasks the easiest thing in the world.

When one does not have energy in their system, one is unable to focus. If you don't have energy, you WON'T focus, and will probably suffer from depression, lack of focus, and high amounts of sloth, tiredness, and fatigue, thus making it impossible to be a truly productive worker.

There are benefits to mania. But it's energy in general that benefits our attention, focus, and concentration levels.