I’m a cartoonist who lives in Lansing, Michigan. Visit my shop to buy original art and more. Follow me on Instagram, @danieljhoganart.
[dc]I[/dc] enjoy hand lettering my comics, here’s a teaser of next week’s comic strip. It features the return of a fun character, Guilt Trip Ghost.
“Gho? Who is this Gho?” Photo by me.
Yes, behold the many lines drawn with my trusty AMES Lettering Guide
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[dc]T[/dc]oday on the Friday Six: Clattertron Amazon aStore, a portable NES/SNES system, How to Draw Stupid, The Devil’s Backbone Criterion, video games, and more.
Quick Note: If you are having issues with the site, such as getting a ‘Database Error’ page, I’m aware of it, trust me. The site was migrated to a new server this week, and it is causing the error. According to my host, it should stop soon. Migrating can cause DNS issues.
And seven is RIGHT OUT
[ ] Clattertron now has an Amazon aStore (also accessible on its own). It is attached to my Amazon Associates account, so if you buy anything through my ‘store,’ I get a percentage. The perk of the aStore is I can handpick items to include, such as board games, geek stuff, and comic making supplies. I also created an Amazon Enigmas section to collect all the weird stuff I find.
[ ] ThinkGeek Geek Thing of the Week: This Retro Duo Portable NES/SNES Game System.
Want. Want. Want. Image via ThinkGeek.
Yes, you can play classic Nintendo Entertainment System and Super Nintendo Entertainment System cartridges in this thing. How cool is that? It gets better.
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[dc]L[/dc]ast week, Guillermo del Toro
Just like this, but moving. And smashing buildings. Image via ThinkGeek.
Pacific Rim is a fine example of a summer blockbuster: full of spectacle, action, and fun. Yes, fun. Pacific Rim successfully straddled the line between taking itself too seriously and being too campy. One more step in either direction, and the film would be a mess.
In addition to the fun, Pacific Rim brings The Crazy. Just when you think the film can’t get any crazier, it does. Over and over again. It makes Pacific Rim well worth seeing in the theater—in fact, I’m considering seeing it a second time, and in 3D (and I hate 3D).
The art direction is top-notch (as it is for every del Toro film, especially Pan’s Labyrinth). I love the beat up, run down, dented look of all the technology and sets. It feels more ‘real’ to see the rust and grime on something so advanced as a Jaeger (the giant robot piloted by a pair of humans).
On the other side of things, folks will either love or hate, Pacific Rim. I don’t see there being much middle ground.
It isn’t the most smartly written, but it also isn’t trying for such a feat either. Sure, there are plot points you see coming a mile away, but Pacific Rim really isn’t about the plot. It’s about a pilot screaming “Elbow rocket!” or a Jaeger smacking a Kaiju (the giant monsters) across the face with an ocean liner.
The soundtrack is well done too. The title track by Ramin Djawadi
Bonus Fries: The film inspired a new single by MC Chris called Pacific Rim
Pacific Rim is an homage to the Japanese kaiju films of the past, like Godzilla vs. [Fill in the Blank]
And say it with me now: “ELBOW ROCKET!”
[dc]W[/dc]hile looking over my Google Analytics page the other day, I noticed an interesting stat on my ‘visitor map.’ The darker the blue, the more readers.
(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
That’s right. Zero readers in South Dakota. I wonder why? Did I make a bad joke about Mount Rushmore? Or maybe I said something mean about pronghorns?
WAIT.
Maybe it was the time I called Rose quartz, South Dakota’s State mineral, the “Devil’s jawbreaker” in a keynote address on abacus collecting.¹
I take abacus collecting SERIOUSLY. Maybe. Image via ThinkGeek.
You would think the organizers of AbaxCon ’10 would know better than to provide an open bar for keynote speakers. I don’t remember much else of the keynote address, other than a lengthy dissertation on my reoccurring nightmare of being stepped on by a giant scarab beetle² (see also: my fear of fast-moving turtles).
It seems the Mount Rushmore state can hold a grudge.
I’m sorry, South Dakota. It was just the sweet vermouth talking.
about 57 times.
