I'm a little Disappointed with the Current Japanese comics publishing scene....Why? Read on. I'll tell you...NO ACTION!!!

Am I influenced by most modern manga? Hardly. Modern manga retailers in Japan these days are so deprived of the modern day Katsuhiro Otomos and Hiroaki Samuras. I log onto Japanese Amazon, and all I see is sexy girl manga, or really perverted hentai, or eloquent boy's love or Yaoi. Nothing like what I'm used to in the states. It's all very naughty. It left me high and dry. Where is all the ACTION and Manly Martial Arts Comics I wondered. Does Japan even make real action comics anymore. Shows and studios like Avatar: The Last Airbender, Teen Titans, The Boondocks, and Titmouse have got Japan's comic books beat in the contemporary action department, hands down. I guess all this isolation from Japanese society left me blind to the reality of it. That most Japanese manga nowadays is just porn!

But not all Asia has lost it's martial arts way like Japanese manga has. Fortunately for readers worldwide, there's two countries in particular that make comics of the manga variety with TONS of good old fashioned ASIAN Action Martial Arts and Ass-Kicking in them: China and Korea.

Chinese and Korean comics are still being made quite often today, and it's obvious the Koreans and Chinese know how to draw fighting and martial arts in sequential art form just as much as the Japanese do. They're picking up a lot of the slack Japan is leaving lately when it neglects action and martial arts combat in favor of pornographic imagery. 

Some actual GOOD comics that are action?

Avatar The Last Airbender
Naruto
One Piece
Bleach (Lotta filler material though)
Rurouni Kenshin
Priest
Jackal(s)
Tales of the Blood Sword
Trigun
Claymore
Berserk 
Dragonball Z
Star Wars Comics
Blade of the Immortal
Felipe Smith
Batman
Spawn
Scud: The Disposable Assassin 
Tank Girl
Queen and Country
The Gunwitch
The Nocturnals

It Almost feels like action and martial arts comics have fallen out of fashion in Japan

The era of great fighting manga that isn't just shonen coming out of Japan seems to  be over, or at least on hiatus. I go to the Japanese comics stores online, and what do I mostly see? Porn. Cute girls. Hentai, fanserice. And boatloads of it. Arousing, but not to testosterone!

If you want action shows and comics, watch stuff like Toonami. Because chances are you won't find that kind of thing in Japan mostly. Toonami packages its anime and action in it's own branded way. Toonami action is way more intense than most manga in Japan. 

Japanese anime is slightly better and less vulgar than manga. It still makes porn, but not as much as Japanese manga does!

Animation Race Card, Till recently...

I always felt like the online international Asian art community took me less seriously than 100% as an artist, ironically enough, seemingly because my genes are not 100% Asian. The harder I worked, the more I realized it had more to do with international reputation and stature in the Asian and American communities than ANY kind of artwork I could ever produce. No matter what I did, and STILL do, no matter what I draw it will probably never be taken seriously by white artists OR Asian artists. Many of elite artists despise me and my so-called ":big ego" purely because I don't fully belong to any one specific culture, but am instead a new  generation of cultural artists: The Mutts. The Half-Bloods. The Mixed Bloods. The Multiracial artists.

But yeah, I've always got that kind of reaction from the fans. THEY HATE IT. And I mean,  the REALLY hate it, American and Japanese anime fan alike.

To Americans, my style is "too detailed, too Asian."

To ASIANS, my style is "too simple, too white, too abstract, too American and Western"

I get rejected enough equally by most artists in  BOTH countries

The RACE CARD has always influenced my popularity, or LACK THEREOF

Fine, I can accept this. You'll never accept me Asia. Great....

I have yet to see if the race issue affects my employment status in animation and comics.

I started off in this world with NOTHING. Zip. Zero. Zilch. Ground Zero. No money. No family. No friends. No education. No overwhelming talent. No connections. NOTHING!!!!

Whatever legacy I leave on this earth at the end of my life, whatever revolution and empires I start in art, literature, comics, animation, computers, technology, and media business will have  been 100% self made. Built from the ground up.  Built by an Builder and Architect who had to build his empire using NOTHING to aid him at the beginning. Any money I earn from my career, any fame I achieve, any power I have, CAME FROM ME. I inherited a big fat NOTHING from my family resource and connections-wise. Even my genetic lineage is questionable. But it does exist somewhere, far off in posterity records of future researchers and outer space. 

I'm Becoming Quite the Expert at Making Contacts in Hollywood and Los Angeles, Digitally

I've emailed at least 3 to 4 main players in the Greater Los Angeles Area in the last 3 years alone, and because of my willingness to network in animation and comics through email, I've gained some very influential contacts in my inbox.

I'm surprised more artists don't think to sell themselves in this way (email).

How to Get a Larger Audience on Blogger (From a Comic Artist Perspective)

1. Always Link the Articles You Actually WANT the world to see, which would probably be all of them, to your TWITTER ACCOUNT.
2. Use as many pictures in your article as possible. People enjoy picturess
3. Post comics you've created and your NEWEST work no one's seen before.

Ah, I see they have a pre-prepared response for EVERY SINGLE THING I will ever say.....Well, in that case....

Reads from the phonebook aloud...for the next ten years.

Promotional Tour

I do love Travel. God how I love Travel!

I want to Travel The World some day.

I'd really like to travel the world to promote my mainstream work some day. If I've got any mainstream work to promote, and even if not.

Dammit, I just wanna get out!

Anybody want to fund my travel expenses?

Just thought I'd ask. It would go to a good cause. Mainly the cause of getting me out of an away from my parents house.

Fashion Sense

Hmm, let's see here. When I'm not drawing Trenchcoats, cloaks, Japanese Young Man School Uniforms, and Chinese Dynasty and Trappist Uniforms with my own spin on them....

I'm drawing suits.

The biggest influences on my suit design Japanese Silhouette aesthetic (this side of the John Woo / Jason Statham, and Jet Li brand of Yakuza and Triad movies) is Tarantino's 2 most famous films this side of Kill Bill (which also has suits). Of course, I'm talking about the films Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. Characters such as Vincent Vega and Jules and their various hilarious and cool conversations and shenanigans in Pulp Fiction, and the gangsters in Reservoir Dogs and Al Pacino films, the Italian and Independent Miramax brand of filmmaking, just kind of carried over into the way I draw many of my character costume design in my manga. Wolfwood from Trigun, Heat Guy J, Yu Yu Hakusho, and Gungrave set the anime bar pretty high in terms of fashion design and the rhythm of the clothing. The sleekness of it all. Young Adult Males in particular LOVE this sort of thing! Even when they're an organized crime member, they still look like a million bucks.



As for AUTHORS and Screenwriters who most influence the literature I produce:

They would include (currently, not all time) Tolkien, Frank Miller, Tom Clancy, HP Lovecraft, Mario Puzo, Robert E. Howard, Aaron McGruder, and the Shaw Brothers Studio in the 1960s (good luck finding and reading any of their scripts though. I'm more influenced by the actual choreography than the literary of 1960s Hong Kong. Script examples, online for 1960s Hong Kong Wuxia, are scarce. Asian cinema, from a literary perspective actually has more journalism and scholarly text (by writers like me) written about it in the United States and Asia than actual production writing and scripts on display. In other words, most people don't know how kung-fu and Asian Wuxia and Japanese cinema is actually drafted and written by it's own authors. The emphasis, historically has been visual. Until I CAME ALONG of course! Heh. I always found that kind of weird.

Crotchety Old Man Geezer "Dad"

My adoptive father is 63 years old, and he acts the part too. Pretty much being a crotchety old man who's going senile and yells at me a lot. He eats food that resembles his own stool sample. Rot in Pieces, Cary. Have fun choking down your 50 pills a day.

He's such a nasty disgusting man it's more than a little  gross.

I'm 29.

You know, I've always said "If it's good enough for my Bank Account It's Good Enough For ME"

Naw. I'm just shitting you. I've NEVER said that. I Don't even HAVE a bank account. But I WILL...

New Tech [Concept] Unveiled...Coming to YouTube, in 2015, New Software that Will Revolutionize Uploading to the Web 2.0

YOUTUBE DIRECT DVD UPLOADER

This upcoming software will function as an all in one package that merges the technology of DVD file management, Magic DVD Ripper, and the YouTube/Google Uploading System.

Just as soon as I find a programmer to hire to build the technology.

Or if someone else beats me to the programming punch. Either way, YOUR DVDs are all gonna end up getting uploaded to YouTube, or competing companies with more liberal uploading copyright policies who will put YOUTUBE's copyright fascism to SHAME some day.

It WILL happen. Just you watch.

[Straight From the Source of the Upload Master]

Cyber City Internet Cafe of Winter Park

Sounds like a fun place to log into my YouTube and Netflix Accounts! I'll be stopping by at some point. I want to see what that's all about...ever since I drove past it one day.

I think YouTube, Netflix, and streaming copyrighted material are gonna help a LOT of fledging internet cafes catch up to Starbucks in the long run, IF they draw in enough business.

Might as well.

Finally, a place in public to hang out that isn't Borders! My needs are met.

List of Sites I Visit Online When I'm not Writing/Drawing Offline

Sites I visit weekly

• Adultswim.com
• Boards.adultswim.com
• Megatokyo.com
• Funimation.com
• Amazon.com
• Gmail.com
• Adsense.com
• AnimeNewsNetwork.com
• AnimationMagazine.net
• YouTube.com
• Webcomicsnation.com
• Twitter.com
• DeviantArt.com
• Viz.com
• Naruto.com
• Blogspot.com
• Google.com
• Wikipedia.org
• Manga.com
• Anime.com
• Rhapsody.com
• Google Play
• LinkedIn
• Questionsleep.com

I don't visit all these sites each day, except sometimes, but within the course of the week, I drift to them, on and off.

Yes, like everyone else out there, I CRAVE interaction with the fans. But unfortunately, many of the sites I go to are deserted.

So if you're trying to find where I am, I'm probably behind the curtain on one of these sites...

JM Pontificates on the New Rules of Fame.....

Fame is a powerful thing. But one thing to remember about the power levels of fame.

In a fame chart that seems to reward more with less and less with more, it's weird how celebrity works in America especially. In Western society in general really.

I've been around the block more than a few times, and therefore I'm closer than ever to sensing and measuring what my limitations are.

A) If someone's the MOST famous. There are people camped outside their home or wherever it is they are. They get mobbed. It's noisy everywhere. That is what a true superstar is. You can't do much without every nanosecond of it being documented. I'm closer to that level in the last few years, even when it's by "proxy". But doing things by proxy still counts as doing things, technically in my opinion.

B) And then there are the people working in showbiz who are professionals, but their job or their lifestyle isn't conducive to fame. They DON'T get mobbed for autographs and pestered for comments, photos, and interviews. They're more the creative and business stars, and not the musicians, real celebrities, and performers.

I'm somewhere between Crowd A and Crowd B.

The truth is, the more famous your lifestyle is, the less easier it IS to work, and the less work you're  going to be ABLE to do. Fame interferes with both life and work, be it positive or negative. Famous OR Infamous. When you're a workaholic, both types of fame, celebrity and infamy, suck.

Great!

Now some of my fans on YouTube are bragging about being the first ones to comment on certain videos I do. Not that I'm COMPLAINING!.....I seem to have a large group of fans on YouTube...

Man, maybe I HAVE reached the next level...

About copyright, YouTube, and originality....If you ask me....

It's OKAY to use copyrighted material like anime, music, and music videos or anime music videos (because that is what the public demands and loves and wants to actually see. Audiences don't care about the legality of YouTube, they just want their videos....Plus it's a great way to make a few dollars on the side while you work on your "real" projects), just so long as you don't do it for the rest of your life, and as long as you at least strive to write, draw, produce, create, and sell your own projects in animation, comics, or internet entertainment someday, which YOU YOURSELF own the rights too. Think of it as working your way up in the industry. 

How Computers and the Internet Will KILL TV Eventually, Especially BAD TV....

Progress:

Turns out 2.4 billion people in 6 different continents worldwide are online at any given time each day. And Google and YouTube make up an enormous percentage of that usage.

That's more than half as much as TV's total worldwide current broadcasting audience of 4.5 billion or so

Eventually the audience of the internet will match and surpass the audience size of TV within the next 40 years. TV is on its way to computer dependence, and undeniable obsolescence.

One day more people will use websites than ever will TV. We're already starting to see it all headed in this direction already. Things are not looking good for non-digital TV.

Now it's MY Turn! Here Goes!

How to Draw MY BRAND of HIGH FANTASY.....

You really only need ONE book to vividly manifest MY BRAND of Happy Rainbow Colored Magical Gumdrop Disneyland Fantasy.

And it's THIS BOOK. How to Annihilate Everything, Manga Style....

Seriously. I OWN a copy of this book now. And I FUCKIN' LOVE IT!!!

I'm all for wielding a Blade while Blowin the White Knight's Brains all onto the Shrapnel littered canvas......

Seriously, my tolerance for Namby Pambers is a bit low

WAH HAH HAH HAH HAH!!!! I always HATED that Muppet...

UNMASKED: It's True Also

Honestly, I don't act like Woody Allen, contrary to presumptuous asinine beliefs in pop culture. And I don't look like "Jonas Racist Brothers" so much as I look like some Arab World news footage guy and a Chinese guy minus the narrow eyes. Berber, Moroccan, and Mongolian, to be specific. If you know what someone (a late 20's young MAN with facial hair) living in Berber, Morocco, and Mongolia (China) looks like, you know what I Look Like. Minus the stiff personality and accent. TV Lies. I have the black frizzy unruly hair, glasses, the copper skin tone, and the facial structure to verify this.

And also, I'm a descendant from an ancient Mystical, Regal, and Eurasian Warrior Class on my Biological Father's Side.

STILL wanna "date me", puny little teenage high school white girl?

Didn't think so.

But yes, my existence is the result of an interracial biological American parental relationship, a closed American adoption, a white birth mother with a high I.Q., a multiracial father with diverse Eurasian heritage, and a white American adoptive family with no interest or regard for my racial identity or the status of my birth family ("We ADOPTED YOU. That's ALL that should MATTER."). Just lots of geographical and racially statistical information and data that's been kept and concealed from me, purely because I grew up in a closed adoption.

Speaking of the Arab World as it Exists Outside of the United States...

WHY IS the Arab world so....Muslim and violent? Why DO Arabs and Jews and Christians hate and kill and slaughter each other so much anyway? Why are they so passionate about death and violence? Haven't they got better things to do than set car bombs off, fund concentration camps in Germany, and crash planes into architecture? You'd think people would have  better things to do with their time, ethically, and intellectually. 

Israel, Palestine, and Jerusalem. Jesus and the Jews. These people clearly hate each other and don't get along. They're like my own neighbors and brother, times a Million in terms of Animosity.

It probably has more to do with the cultural history of the "Holy" Bible more than anything else. If the Bible is so "Holy", how come it's setting and the location of its narrative is one of the most violent, uncultured places in existence today. All that fighting, and what do they have to show for it. Certainly not a Renaissance like Italy and Southeast Asia had in the late Twentieth Century. 

And I say this as an Arab Man living in America. People want to understand Arab Culture, but honestly, what is there to understand? War, the Bible, and Car bombing? I'm glad I live in America and the Western World, quite frankly.

Brand New Book Out, Totally Similar to My OWN Art Style: Urban Sketching

The Art of Urban Sketching: Drawing on Location Around the World

One of the cool things about this art book, aside from the textures of its architecture which is drawn freehand for a different country on each page, is the fact that its the first Art Book I've ever seen that used a Praise Blurb written by someone living in the United Arab Emirates. That's right. It has an Arab review blurb, and as insiders know, the Arab world is a part of the world notorious for NOT being artistic or creative. They definitely could use some improvement in that area.

Well actually, technically, I'M the World's Most Famous International Arab Artist, Illustrator, Writer, and Designer, but I can appreciate when other Arab people are creative too!

With "Friends" Like J.G., Callin' You A "Loser" and Tryin' To Steal Your Girl (and in Every Episode, Too), Who needs Enemies???

Seriously. Why does that guy hate his friends so much?

Setting up an HTPC

Setting up a home installation bare knuckles HTPC installation home electronics system is like selling lemonade. No matter how much it sells, there's still a shitload of people who don't know how to assemble one. It's like Steve Jobs selling the Apple-1 or something! HTPC is the lemonade stand of home electronics. Knowledge is Valuable apparently. Well, Franchisable anyway.

Independent Manufacturing (Indie Manufacturer). That's My Job

• DVD
• Ripped videos
• Websites
• Blogs
• Uploads
• Comic Books
• Books
• Animation Studio
• Comic Book Publisher
• Media Company
• MP3 Playlist
• Inventions
• Short Film
• Software
• HTPC

I've manufactured my own  brand of ALL of these things. Not RICH, but I guess you never know

"Report, but DON'T Interact. Okay?" This blog has an absentee audience (much like an absentee ballet)

The amount and volume of people eves dropping on my conversations with myself is actually quite staggering. Got to be at least a few million.

Wish there was a better way to keep track of the response I get though.

Cuz I get a shitload. Tons of people keep tabs on just about everything I do. Used to it by now....

There's always that "fake" outrage when I point this out.

Don't know why people are so touchy about admitting their members of my audience. WEIRD people.

With WEIRD responses. Pretty much 24/7.

TouchEY!

The Sentence That Helped Me Realize I Wanted To Work in Animation....The Words I'll NEVER FORGET

Were words I heard an animator say in a Behind the Scenes Short of one of the NickToons, at the early-on 90's NickToons Studio.

One bearded animator in his 40s, I don't know who once said on TV, and I'll never forget this,

"When you work in animation, you never have to grow up"

SOLD! Words to live by.

And I know some of the more ruthless and coldblooded and humorless "merrymaker" clowns and "comedians" in the audience for this blog broadcast to a humorless world may have trouble accepting or believing this modesty philosophy of mine, but it's the truth. Unlike YOU bunch of happy little bastard bitches, I personally never had the heart to MURDER the memory of my own childhood and become a RUTHLESS ADULT WITH NO COURAGE OR HUMOR. Yeah, you know who you are. A COLD BLOODED BASTARD. Sorry, but I don't trust the intentions of people who murder their own inner children....and lock them in a room somewhere. Sorry!

Why has no one invented a laptop where...

The interior is both a hard drive and a scanner. Sure would make it easier to get pages on your computer if you could just lift your keyboard up, pop a piece of paper in there, and scan it up...

Why has no one made such a thing??!! Am I the first to conceive such a technological function??

Certainly would be useful.

Maybe someone will read THIS blog entry, get inspired, and actually BUILD ONE.

Yeah, that'd be cool too.

But the real trick would be finding a glass surface, or imitation glass that was both clear and non-flammable so laptops wouldn't get overheated.

Hmmm.....

Heh! Ha! I can already just picture a mincing idea-hungry Bill Gates tapping his fingers together as he looks over this blog, plotting to steal my idea and package it as a Microsoft product", sitting back and laughing. Maniacally. 

BILL GATES

"AH HAH HAH HAH HAH! FOOL! You know better than to give out free ideas mortal!! AH HAHAHAHHAAAHAHAHHHH!!!"

Joe will not receive credit for this particular invention.

Everyday I Draw The Book

Everyday I Draw the Book

Don't tell me you don't know what love is
When you're old enough to know better
When you find strange hands in your sweater
When your dreamboat turns out to be a footnote
I'm a man with a mission in two or three editions

And I'm giving you a longing look
Everyday, everyday, everyday I draw the book

Chapter One we didn't really get along
Chapter Two I think I fell in love with you
You said you'd stand by me in the middle of Page Three
But you were up to your old tricks in Pages Four, Five and Six

The way you walk
The way you talk, and try to kiss me, and laugh
In four or five paragraphs
All your compliments and your cutting remarks
Are captured here in my quotation marks

Don't tell me you don't know the difference
Between a lover and a fighter
With my pen and my Strathmore Sketchbook
Even in a perfect world where everyone was equal
I'd still own the film rights and be working on the sequel

World Art and Artistic Preference

It wasn't until later in my career, and after seeing a lot of art by Americans, Europeans, and Asians, when I noticed something on sites like DeviantART. 

The motivations and desires of a Japanese or Chinese, or French Artist, are not necessarily the in the same order of priority as the majority and/or minority of North American artists. Artists from different cultures are raised and treated differently. There is an element of "culture shock and offend" that goes with seeing world culture on the internet.

Artists in Japan value honor and copyright in certain ways a lot more than American filmmakers. Piracy and plagiarism exists both in Japan and America, but in different ways. It isn't viewed or treated the same way. As a matter of fact, plagiarism is one of the most controversial and infamous things on the internet worldwide. But if my character is emulated in style by a Japanese or Chinese artist, will I get as upset as if an American's doing it. SHOULD I get more or less upset? Should I be honored they're copying me, or offended they're not doing their OWN thing. Seeing how artists react to and treat other artists and writers online, when both sides exist in different regions and cultures, is interesting. But it can also be a bit shocking if the interaction goes poorly. Unfortunately, due to the fact that I DO have international credibility, many in Asia and Europe seem to view me as some kind of mentor, big brother type figure, and role model. So there's that. The added element of respect and emulation I often find

Unfortunately, while I view myself as just a guy trying to get by, some seem to view me as THE GUY...writing THE RULES on INTERNET ETIQUETTE in general, trying to make me a "Founding Father of the Internet Generation", and other scary shit. 

Le' Sigh.

Horrible Parents and Historic Creative Projects....

I have 2 horrible adoptive parents and 1 really awesome creative project. 

Hopefully at some point the positive will cancel out the negative.

Both my adoptive parents are a couple of Last One Percenters. All the MORE reason to hate them.

Anime-Influenced Things

A lot of people think Teen Titans and Avatar the Last Airbender were the first anime influenced shows. But people in their late 20s and older probably know better. Teen Titans was one of the first COMMERCIAL mainstream anime-influenced shows that MADE MONEY.

But Bruce Timm and Todd McFarlane were the first quality anime-influenced artists, what with Spawn and Batman: The Animated Series. Spawn is even credited for helping to get the Japanese anime studio Madhouse off the ground, which played a big part in Spawn's early and later production during its brief run on cable outlet HBO.

Can't really say much, cuz it's early in the correspondence....

But I'm currently in talks with a mainstream animation studio producer.....about....stuff.

Going well so far.....

With All the Hours of Drawing Practice I Put In Over the Years,.....I LEARNED something...

I'm better with effects, color, painting, and CGI, and Effects Shot Design than I once thought.

Must have been all those years watching Dragonball Z and Industrial Light and Magic films.....

I learned by osmotic power....

No More Sketchbook Artwork for At Least a Few Months, if not Years From Now

That's the secret plan anyway.

I don't know if it's a secret plan and strategy or not...

But from recently onward, the only comic books and sketchbooks I'm going to devote any work to WILL NOT BE published online for a good long while.

I found that the more stuff I put online, the more grief I get, so no more of that.

You only have yourselves to blame for that one, not me I'm afraid.

You WOULD HAVE Gotten more art uploads from me if you actually gave some feedback of my work once in a while....which 98% of you don't. So FUCK sharing it with you.

Hopefully that'll take some of the pressure off.

I'd say I'm being too punitive towards my fans, but how do you think everyone else makes ME feel?

Man Alive!

Being one of the most ubiquitous, influential, and simultaneous voices and mainstream content providers in broadcasting, internet, comics, and animation on a DAILY BASIS (and ugliest and most unfoto-generic according to Seth!) (with an audience of millions worldwide) really takes it out of a guy.

How do you shut this thing off???

I'm on a Pen and Ink Disney-Level Quality Production Design Binge, sooo........Here's what I bought....

Here's some research and reference material I bought, purely for my enlightenment and entertainment.

I've always loved these things, pretty much. Well, I liked that one Disney film's production design and Mass Effect's Production Design more recently. But I've ALWAYS liked those comic book series and the publishers that distribute them...Lately I've been on a bit of a J Alexander and Ted Naifeh kick. I'm a sucker for well composed black/white Goth comics art. Gloomcookie is one of the better ones out there.....

Yes Kiddos. This is the kind of material I turn to when I get artist's block. Or often, not so much when I'm uninspired as when I need to look at something creative, well executed, and beautiful.

Let's Watch Television! That's Always Fun.

Click.

Oh boy! Television. I grew up on TV! It's ALWAYS fun.

Wait a minute. What's this. This isn't what I grew up on.

So ugly. What's that.

Oh GOD. Feeling woozy. Feeling sick..

I think...The TV's...making me...wanna PUKE.

Uhllll. Oh God, so ugly. So annoying. I think I'm gonna....THROW UP.

Oh god. What's happening now!

This is the ugliest most disgusting, creepiest thing I've ever seen.

Can't. Breath. Walls...CLOSING IN......OH GOD HOW DID TV GET SO HORRIBLE!!!!

Okay. So I'm NOT watching TV today. Too horrifying.

Or Ever Again, from the looks of it.

Not Really Much to Do These Few Days After My Birthday.....

Except watch TV, watch the weather change, and snuggle with my pets, my cats, Baby and Sammy, while watching TV and then there's the other cat that's afraid of....everyone.

That is right. Even the Mighty Majestic J the Lion enjoys affection from fellow sentient beings every once in a  while. It is humans that can be difficult to live and watch TV with. I get along with my pet cats GREAT!

Back in MY DAY.....

When I was growing up, all the cool stuff WAS on TV. Well, that and literary retailers and CD Music Stores. Very little of it was on the internet. 

Now most of the cool stuff is on the internet, but it's concealed by a lot of stuff we don't give a shit about.

How'd that happen?

If I Were the Most Powerful Animator in Hollywood, Los Angeles, [What I'd Do]

If I had enough power over Hollywood like Spielberg or George Lucas, and had the power and influence to get any film made....I know exactly what I'd do.

I'd either produce or direct an R-Rated Animated Action-Adventure Feature Film, produced and Consulted by Quentin Tarantino, and released theatrically by Legendary Pictures, Lion's Gate, OR Miramax.

I've always wanted to do the American equivalent of Ghost in the Shell or Pulp Fiction.

This was all inspired by Quentin Tarantino and Kill Bill Vol. I to begin with!

Here's the story behind it.

The last film I saw in the  theatre, was Kill Bill Vol. I. I saw the film with a female friend. I had a GREAT time!

It was the O-Ren Ishii anime sequence in Kill Bill. 

Imagine watching that anime short film sequence in the theatre, and you'll see where my enthusiasm comes from. The theater me and my friend saw the movie in was half full. No one was talking during the film. Everyone was just watching, enjoying the movie, the anime O-Ren Ishii sequence, and that was the moment I realized the truth about animation in theaters and said to myself "Hey! This is a Miramax film. It's R-Rated, but it's animation, and people are watching it like any OTHER movie. Was anyone protesting animation being played in a theater? Was anyone offended or disgusted? Was anyone walking out? NO! This was R-Rated Theatrical Animation (O-Ren Ishii Sequence), anime even! And people were enjoying it like any other theatrical release! Changed my whole outlook!

I had a Vision in that theater that night. A vision that adults DO and WILL watch adult theatrical animation.

But with Theatrical Animated Feature Films, you need marketing, visibility, and promotion, but not the WRONG kind.

A perfect example of all the ways promoting a feature film can go wrong is the most obvious culprit, the Aqua Teen film bomb scare. It was almost sad to watch such a great show get such poor treatment theatrically and be promoted so poorly. Clearly Adult Swim doesn't know how to promote films. Just TV shows.

Miramax knows how to promote films, and so does Legendary. NOT Williams Street.

The real sad part about the Aqua Teen Movie, the real reason it lost money and was one of the biggest bombs of the entire year?

Simple, too much controversy and negative publicity. By the time the film hit the few theaters that WOULD accept it, it was a NEWS STORY. Not a movie. No one wants to buy tickets to a NEWS STORY.

SHITTIEST. MOVIE MARKETING GIMMICKS. EVER!!!! That's never happened with Pixar, hence their profitability.

And just to prove that a pleasant movie going experience is important for business, let's look at sales figures:

Aqua Teen Hunger Force Feature Film (limited release): $5 million gross
Kill Bill: Volume 1: $180 million gross

Yes, negative publicity DOES kill films.

29

I'm turning 29 tomorrow.

Ya know...

I've seen a lot of people, things, and places come and go in my 30 years of experience.

But...where was I going with this thing anyway?

Nowhere probably. I'm just glad I'm finally in my 30s! Fuck. Yeah.

People don't get YOUNGER. They get older, and I don't have a problem accepting that like some.

I LOVE getting older!

Welcome to Disney XD...The Network....

That SAYS it "wants to have more male viewers"...

Yet shows nothing but girl-oriented shows.

Way to fail.

New Archetype: The Discoverer. "If You Dig For Gold, You Will Find a Fortune."

I'm not just an entrepreneur.

I'm a Discoverer. I find and discover things before the rest of the world does. Particularly in media, tech, business, and pop culture. Truth is, I'm not usually the first to get rich or big off of something myself. But I AM the first to discover it and its potential for growth and profit!

When you're The Discoverer, you go digging for Gold. Rest Assured, ever half a year or every other year, you'll FIND GOLD.

My Earliest (and probably most offensive) Online Persona...First time I pretended to be someone else online

Had to be on the Celebrity Atheists Forums. I relished being the bad guy back in the day. Not so much now.

I role played the part of a rational atheist bigot, Jared, who was determined to wipe out Western Religion and Christianity in particular.

Jared was rude, abrassive, a troll, ranting, cyber-bullish, foul mouthed, a racist xenophobic homophobic mysogynist, who would talk about how "God wants to rape us all", and make constant references to the time-space continuum, consciousness, and existentialism. He was insulting people for their race our nationality, when he wasn't reciting partial quotes from philosophy textbooks.

Yes. A total badass that Jared was. 

Jared was....complex. A complex persona. 

Encroachers, Encroachment...

I've never felt so lost. All of my power and influence comes from computers and the internet. It's misplaced and misdirected power, because it's not actually being harnessed properly or put towards a profit-based goal. So it's useless in a business sense, even IF everyone wants to take it by force, or hijack / steal it, and believe me, they do. They all want my power the internet and computers have given me. It's just an army of people trying to strip me of my coolness and power rank, pulling rank on me, trying to shove me off of my throne and cloud, trying to seize power from me, by "violent siege if necessary". Apparently they think violence and hostility are important parts of seizing power from their newfound enemy. It's been one person after another trying to "seize my assets" time and time again.

Anime as an Industry is DONE. It's ancient history....

The only shows kids and adults are watching are the old shows, over and over again.

The current state of TV isn't a healthy one....for anime.

Anime's not ENTIRELY dead, but it might as well be.

Am I outgrowing anime, or just bored with it. Tough to tell really.

Networks? What Networks?

I don't really watch much TV lately. The only networks I really do watch lately are The Hub, [adult swim], & Toonami.

Adult Swim and Toonami in particular, I'm interested in watching expand as brands and network franchise builders. And hopefully they WILL become the next Boomerang and finally sever the umbilical chord connecting them to the big CN someday.

CN can be the most horrible of them all, what with horrible THINGS like Level Up and Annoying Orange.

I LOVE violence on TV. And I HATE TALK. Blah blah blah, whine, bitch moan.

Wake me up from my cough syrup induced dream when there's some one on the show punching and kicking and roundhousing his fellow show characters. And shooting them and blowing them up. Pretty much the only thing I want to watch nowadays. Violence. No sex, thanks.

The Best Way to Improve at Drawing is Repetition and the 10,000 Hour Rule

The Best Way To Become a Prolific Artist.....

Is to draw one or more pages of art a day, Every Day, for The Rest of Your Life.

Seriously, think about it.

There are 365 days in a year. That's plenty of free time to draw and do 1 or more pages of art sketching a day. That would be 365 pages of artwork a year, even and that's merely from doing one page a day. I'm going with the lowest figure or page count to demonstrate a point.

What happens if you apply the 10,000 Hour Rule, and practice every day for 10 YEARS?

If you draw every day or almost every day for 10 years, at the most "unproductive rate" that would be........

3,650 pages of art or more. No small amount of artwork.

Seriously, no one's going to care if you do some crappy art here and there. Chances are you'll do your share of art that sucks, but chances are your work will be more good than bad. 

Let's face it....

Unless we're talking about YouTube, the only "person" who is going to pay you for you're creative work is going to be a mainstream publishing company if you get published, or an animation studio and network, if you work on a show. Self-publishing and self-marketing doesn't pay jack Sh**.

The World Conspires to Stop Work From Getting Done

The Procrastination Conspiracy

The World is a Procrastination Conspirator.

The less actual work I get done, the more smug, arrogant, and self-absorbed the world becomes.

The more important the work being attempted is, the more vicious and reprehensible the behavior of this world and civilization in America gets.

At some point, you've just got to teach yourself to put in some earplugs and tune it out. Silence it. Kill it. Murder it in its sleep. Break its legs. Do whatever you gotta do to FINISH YOU WORK.

FINISH YOUR PROJECTS. THE WORLD IS A FUCKER. CIVILIZATION IS A FUCKER. YOUR WORK IS THE ONE THING WITH THE POWER TO OVERTHROW THIS EVIL, CORRUPT WORLD OF MOTHERFUCKERS. IT IS YOUR BEST WEAPON IN THE WAR ON LAZINESS.

Most Well Known American Manga-Ka?

In terms of manga-ka that emerged from America, there's Me, Piro of Megatokyo, and Nyanko-Chan. Maybe Felipe Smith, Svetlana, Adam Warren, Bryan Lee O'Malley, and Jared Hodges. I'd say readers know who we are. Everyone else is a virtual unknown. Publishing in print and webcomics is sort of a rite-of-passage for American manga-ka. 
Much as I LOVE character design and costume design. Story and Action/Adventure as well as the intensity of a comic's artwork can define a creator's work's success as well. Action scenes that look cool and fast motion that doesn't look cliche is one of the hardest things to draw in manga. Master those things and you'll be well on your way. Just don't expect to master them on the first attempt. Or overnight. Developing your sequential art skills takes time. At least 2 to 3 years of 100s of BAD comic book pages no one in the public domain sees. That's what I did that I never bring up. Sure, online it LOOKS LIKE I only drew five pages. In reality I drew 150 SEQUENTIAL ART pages by hand! For mosts artists that are really good, your Dave Sim's and Todd McFarlane's, your bad art is going to outnumber your good drawings 10 to 1. 
I think the 10,000 Hours rule ESPECIALLY applies to manga. Not just some of the time. The vast majority of it. I still haven't put in my 10,000 hours or 10 YEARS of drawing manga. I'm a lot closer than I was though. I've been drawing manga since 2004.

Let's SmoochOWLHOWLHOWWLHOWLOWH

Gee, you must be a real master in the bromance department.

You kiss your mother like that?

So Many Social Issues....So Little Fiction Writing Work Time....

I like Moral Orel's spin on Retro-Family-Religious Values and American Conservativism.

And because of my recent issues with my own half-healthy, half-dysfunctional family, just tonight upon watching Moral Orel....

I suddenly got the idea I'd like to write a short story of fiction...

A short story inspired by my own life that tackles tough issues I've had to deal with and addresses them in my own literary real world style, minus all the supernatural shit my other work tends to get  bogged down in.

I want to write a short story that deals with contemporary issues in a  timeless manner.

A suburban tale that deals with the issues of modern suburbia, modern family, siblings, violence and gun control.

It's gonna be GREAT when it's finished!!! Can't WAit!!!

Think Bowling for Columbine meets Disturbia. That, or David Lynch's Twin Peaks.

And YES, the story will take place in Central Florida. Dave Barry Big Trouble style.

Thoughts on the Re-Election? Yes please!

It's November 7th, the day after the Election, and Obama is now Re-elected, and I'm very happy about it. Most people are happy about Obama's 2012 victory over arch political rival Mitt Romney. Romney brought a lot of Money, Power, and Persuasion to the Table, but like most of Twitter was saying, he's still no match for Obama, ESPECIALLY in terms of popularity and voter diversity.

Florida is the Decider. Greeeat! Of all the Battle Ground States, much like in 2000, Florida is taking the longest to get its shit together due to lack of support and the 2012 Romney voting scandal in Florida.

All in all the Re-Election Campaign had it's scary moments, and its moments of triumph. And I was there to see and contribute to all of it through donating to the Obama Re-Election Campaign, subscribing to the Obama Official Website Newsletter and through Twitter. 

Looking Back At Last Night, The Re-Election of the Re-Elected Commander In Chief

I'm glad I donated. I believe it really is true what they say. Every last bit helps your  guy win.

And it DOES. It did in November of 2012.

They made history!

Woo-hoo!

Net worth increased  by $0.20 today. Normally it increases by $0.02. So it's all relative.

By MY standards that's a 10% increase. Good by my standard.

-JM

No Celebrity Really Gets Actual Fanmail Anymore

It's all digital now. All correspondence, or the vast majority is on the computer. Everything is email, online articles, PR Publicity, and video/article comments sections now.

I get a whole LOTTA emails from Michelle and Barack

Apparently they're actively campaigning toward young people like me, ever since I subscribed to the newsletter. And that's why I voted for him. He actually gives a fuck about me. Romney don't GIVE a fuck. My adoptive dad and brother both voted for Romney. As if his PERSONALITY wasn't reprehensible enough, Romney's got the rich pampered ASSHOLE vote too. FUCK Romney. He can go have gay sex with his husband. 

Good Grief, Twitter and YouTube. How in the world did I become so popular...

I'm not used to being so popular.

I have 77 followers on Twitter, 91 Subscribers on YouTube. That's quite a large group of people.

Aww. Man. I never said I was good at managing groups of people.

Bryan was the OG Original Disgruntled Columbine-Level Mastermind Media Member...

And ever since he commited murder and tried to stalk me, ever SINCE then the FBI has secretly spied on EVERY OTHER media company (besides Viacom of course) and internet cyberstalker, troll, or heckler that's targetted me. The funny thing about people with no conscience or compassion who think they can get away with targetting me repeatedly and "no one will notice" is the very funny irony that, since they've invaded MY space, they're also violating the FBI white shadow's space. You know, the guy from the Boondocks. He's real you know. They've been keeping tabs on me for a long time, not because I did anything wrong, which is what one agent told me at one point but because "You attract dangerous people and situations". I'm danger and sociopath bait. The ULTIMATE DECEPTION. Truth is, you may think you're watching me, but if you are, chances are if you ARE watching me, the Feds are watching you. Works both ways apparently. In that sense being danger-bait works to my advantage. Because the FBI always seems to apprehend the danger and sociopaths that cause it. Whether it's a morbidly obese otaku Asian Panda Guy, or some disgruntled talk show host, comedian, or journalist trying to steal my identity.

If your one of those people. I don't envy you. Matter of fact I'd go so far as to say you're days until YOUR ULTIMATE SLIP UP ARE numbered. 

I'm not worried. At all really. I'm the protected one. Not YOU...Oh well!!! "Looks like we lost another one guys!!"

29th Birthday. What I've been learning about Control Issues

When I was young I wanted a lot of approval. I've always had control issues, but it wasn't until I ended up in the epic social power struggle with forces greater than myself that I learned it's pretty pointless to continue aspiring to do anything you can't successful do yourself without outer interference.

What do I mean by that? Simple, I don't control whether or not publishing houses and the internet react to and whether or not any of them want to support me or my work. That's a non-controllable area.

There's no point in making "decisions" about things you want to have power over (competition, your fame, sales, publisher acceptance), when there are things here and now that I can control (namely what I upload, scan, and draw and write down on a piece of paper or computer screen. Whatever you see me design and draw, that's one thing I have complete and utter control over: My creative vision at its most essential and basic. No one controls my artwork but me.). My originality has inspired knock offs (mostly UNINSPIRED), but at the same time, I'm not concerned about copycat artists. I don't control copycat artists. I only control my own two hands and what I put down on the page, blog, or word processor software. So from now on, I'm only focusing on what I can control, not what I can't. I'm focusing ONLY on where I HAVE POWER, not where I'm power-LESS (competing websites and shows, pretty much ANY corporation)

Coming to terms with my control issues is something I didn't learn till I was older and the internet had been around for a while. I've always had a certain amount of my own power, but it's increased recently, and there's enough of it at my disposal to make me feel secure in MY OWN Decisions nowadays.

Out of all the Power in the world and Billions of Control Points...I've seized about 40 points or so out of Raw Will Power Alone, which is actually more than most people, but a grain of sand compared to KKKorporate Amerikkka.

Still, with the internet's rise, it's hard to find someone nowadays who DOESN'T have access to Control. It's not really a matter of how much Power and Control you Have. It's really about how you USE whatever Control you DO HAVE. Unless you work in Hollywood (which I probably never will) or Silicon Valley. You're genuine level of Raw Control will be limited. And because it IS so limited (and limiting), as opposed to using raw energy and work ethic, is even WORTH keeping tabs and points on when you have such a small amount of it in reality? Probably not. 

Hello China! Hello Mongolia! Hello Hong-Kong!

So according to my stats, I have a pretty devoted and loyal blog readership base in China nowadays, which is quite cool, considering China is one of my favorite places and cultures....

Story I'm working on...

Page 1

Page 2

Mythological Consciousness: The Master Designer Storyteller

Once Upon A Times....In the Distant Future....I may or may not be a real life Shaman or Mystic. But my mind is effortlessly and genuinely attuned to being a conduit for ancient mythology. From Knights and Mountains to Surtr and Trenchcoats. My Creative Mind and Imagination Thinks in Archetypes and Mythos. It's naturally epic. Even in my Journals and Dreams, without even trying, whether it's on a page or screen, I'm naturally channeling world mythologies, both in my conscious mind and unconscious mind. I may not look it in person I'm naturally mythological. But then again, the hero never does look mythological...at the BEGINNING of the story...There are Powerful Forces At Work in my Mind. All my favorite writers, authors, artists, and filmmakers are also of a similar mindset and execution. Naturally attuned to the Archetypal and Mythological. Timeless Symbols that Transcend Human Life and Existence.

Apparently I am Wise Beyond My Years. By About A Thousand Ancient Years...

The End [for now...]

Costume Design - WHERE HE GIT HIS STYLE FRUM - HE GIT IT FROM HIS MOMMA!

Yup, my birth mom was a recreational fashion designer. She designed some of her own cloths.

That's right, my Mom Loved designing clothes and fashion on paper by hand.

As a result, so do I....

ENJOY.

The Best Thing You Can Do With Your Career is NOT Listen to Anyone But Yourself

The Public, The Fan, Journalists, Critics, Online Trolls. 

Seriously, fuck em'. Fuck every last one of them.

Do things YOU'RE way. As long as it's not secretly someone ELSE'S way, you'll probably do just fine. 

I did...And I don't listen to pretty much ANYONE but myself. 

Black and White Comics: And Other Misunderstood Modern Day Art Forms

The Black and white style of art in modern comics, whether they're Goth Expressionism or Neo-Noir, is a beautiful movement, well protected from the grubby hands of Google search  engines by a special kind of sealing and protection jutsu by Ninja Wizards and Elders somewhere far off in Edo, Japan by the Ink Spirits of Kamaragaru.

Seriously, it's no joke, the sheer amount of blind ignorance and pretension surrounding real actual good black and white artwork online could fuel a New York Power grid for a month. It's no small amount of understanding. I feel no need to explain in terms of what makes good and  bad black and white art, as most of the comics I bought in the early New Millenium and late 90s WERE black and white comics, with rare exceptions like Spawn and Marvel and Image Comics. SLG and Oni made some of the  best B&W modern classic comics I've ever seen, as did much of Dark Horse in the 80s and 90s. There's ONE place to start, with that trio of publishers. They had really good editors back in the day who happened to have superior taste in black and white comics. It was the bulk of what they produced, at least in terms of Oni and SLG...I'm talking about REAL black and white art, not this insincere high school fecal crap. pffffffffffff.

Honestly, in terms of online art, when it comes to black & white (pen and ink), and what I've never seen people So Young look So Egotistical and Pretentious and FAIL SO HARD at actually trying to be COOL in this area. Pretty much the opposite of being cool in terms of online imagery.  But that's my opinion. Love it or shove it.

First off, no one seems to want to use ink pens or sharpie markers anymore. Digital is more gray than black, unless your colorblind of course.

Jay and Silent JM's Secret Stash....bitches....