This week marks the 2nd Anniversary of the LostCarcosa.net (formerly PodMonkeys.com) WebComic! 
I hope you all have been enjoying the comics! You can leave me feedback for me either on the comics posts themselves, or from the handy-dandy about pages.
Enjoy the Special 2nd Anniversary Comic!
Well… I’m doing yet another domain name change and site move!
PodMonkeys just doesn’t quite fit the site anymore. I don’t have any paintball related info anymore. Its all mostly gone to comics and Lovecraft, with a bit of gaming and film here and there. Then theres the fact that I have yet to draw more than one monkey in my comics in the almost two years I’ve done it!
“Lost Carcosa” will be the new name! Yeay! So please pardon the mess, as lots of stuff will still say PodMonkeys, and several things will be broken for a bit.
I’m trying something new with my comic this and the next several weeks. Actually, I’m trying out 2 new things. New for me at least. Not only am I trying a different style, sort of like Melancholix but not, but I’m also trying my hand and running a short story through the my drawification process to create a comic version.
I hope you all enjoy my rendition of H.P Lovecraft’s “The Transition of Juan Romero”. I really hope you do, because there are seven more pages to come!
Mary of Shimmer has finished proof-reading the Autumn issue of Shimmer! Yeay! Guess who’s got a piece in that one? 
I’m still amazed I’ve got a piece of artwork published in an actual publication, let alone having a second on its way! 
I used to have aspirations of becomming a “good” artist, but really never thought I was good enough to publish in anything. Then I sort of fell out of it, when I got a “real job” and ended up working 60 hour weeks, not including the 4-5 hours a day on the road commuting.
In late 2004, with my move to Massachusetts, I decided to start posting a weekly webcomic, as a way to rekindle some of the creative juices that lay almost forgetten within me. Melancholix eventually came out as a way to put down some more serious art. One of them, Unemployment, got published in the Sprint 2006 issue of Shimmer! And now another is going to be in the Autumn 2006 issue!
I still don’t consider myself an “awesome” artist, but having a magazine like Shimmer helping out the “little guys (and girls)” is such a great boost to keep me doing what I’m doing. I hope to keep improving and expanding my art, and maybe we’ll see some more of my stuff out there.
If you get a chance, go pick up a copy of Shimmer. They’re not all that expensive, at $5 for printed, or $3.50 for electronic format. Most of us probably waste that much in change a week on things we really don’t need like candy bars, soda, cookies, etc. Theres even a special Pirate Issue coming out! I’d better get working on a pirate comic!
Sigh… I turned on my PC today, and what greets me? The Windows XP file check screen. Is it checking the system drive? Nope. It says the 400GB RAID setup I have was shutdown uncleanly… Was it? I really don’t think so. Theres not much cleaner of a shutdown than the standard menu, shutdown option. I don’t pull the power, hit the reset, or press and hold the power button for 4 seconds. I shut it down cleanly. Its got all my important comics on there.
So its doing its thing, and suddenly I spot “Deleting file 10June2006-Happy Trees-Inked.psd from blah blah blah”….
In the words of Luke Skywalker…
NYAOOOOOOooooooooo!
Quick! Look for the backup DVD I had burned! I can’t find it! I’ve checked just about everywhere. I’m starting to second’guess myself. Did I make a backup DVD? I’m pretty sure I did… or was that a website backup? Crap! I don’t think I is because all my comics make up more than 1 DVD. Besides… its on a RAID setup! Blargh. RAID is only good if one drive fails… not if the file system goes corrupt. I should know better. I’ve dealt with this multiple times this year already at work as a Systems Administrator.
Fortunately, the “inked” file is the file made up of the original scan. Its the scan of the inked paper version, that I use to clean, fill, and shade. The important file is the “final” file that has the layout, text, and borders. Of course this means if I had resized anything down in the final version, I no longer have the original sized version in the inked. I also no longer have a black and white, lines only layer that I could use for other comics.
Oh well. Time to go burn DVD #5
We’ve got pictures! Yeay!
I’ve added a photo album section! Feel free to take a look. Please excuse the slight disorder on the main photo page. I havn’t yet tweaked out all the code to make it look all dress-right-dress.
So far, we’ve got a church with massive barbed wire topped fences, Pickman’s house, the Witch House, the Orne head stones, and much more! Theres even some shots of the elusive Ghoul feeding at one of the many graveyards in Salem… Crikey! Have a go at that!
It looks like Apple is cracking down on those who use the term “pod” in their products and names.
Apple Computer has slapped Podcast Ready with a “cease and desist” letter, claiming that the terms “Podcast Ready” and “myPodder” infringe on Apple’s trademarks, and that they cause confusion among consumers. The company has been cracking down on use of the word “pod” by all sorts of parties, even though its trademark is for the word “iPod.”
Podcast Ready CEO Russel Holliman said he’d consider dropping the name myPodder if he had to, but “Podcast Ready”? If that’s infringement, then Apple is claiming that it owns the word “podcast.” Sure, the word originated with the word iPod, but most people now see it as a general term for downloadable audio shows that isn’t affiliated with one brand more than another.
Its a good thing PodMonkeys is based on two things simultaneously that have nothing to do with the iPod! Just in case you havn’t heard, and listen up Apple!, PodMonkeys is based on the following 2 things:
- PodMonkeys as in Pod People. I was intending on drawing little alien monkeys in little pods.
- PodMonkey as in Paintball Pod B*tch. PodMonkeys is a term used in paintball to describe the monkey you’ve assigned with refilling the other player’s paintball pods.
So THERE! ermm… I mean, now you know the origin of the PodMonkeys name!
