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.