Is it Luck?

That I had such a lovely birthday weekend, is it luck? IS IT LUCK WELL IS IIIIT?
Yeah, bought Primus with the wonderfully and unexpectedly large amount of money I got for the ol' 17th, and I'd have been a thoroughly uncreative individual to not quote or be inspired by it. So hang around for works.
I must admit I cant help feel guilty wanting to talk about what a nice time I had knowing what a bad time people had on their respective birthdays, or what nasty weekends friends are having. Wonder if that's luck too. Maybe it's just a hat trick.
Anyway, on Friday we got pizza and rented "Lars and The Real Girl", a really amazing movie. Sure, my parents only got it because it had "Lars" in the title...but it was really spectacular. I'd recommend it to any woman without a doubt. Then I dunno whether men would like it, but irregardless, it's awesome.
Then on Saturday, we went shopping, bought lovely things, got sushi, went to see "Igor". It was no where near as shit as people were saying. I liked the animation (mostly), the designs and some of the dialogue. The plot was bland and predictable, but everything else made it easy to overlook.
My friends also got Amy to draw a picture and got it printed on a t-shirt, it was so thoughtful. I'll get a photo soon. Or something.
Um, boastful...feeling. Yeah, I'll keep drawing over the mid term.

A Big Club Sandwich of Negative Emotion.

So the cycle goes like this: jealousy, which turns to anger, which turns to guilt, which becomes sadness which transforms into lonliness which turns back to jealousy.
*facepalms* I'm such a thoughtless bitch, stewing like a big shitfaced strudel. I could make myself puke were it not for the ersatz justification I seem to believe in.

Example Dialogue: World Without End.

I find one of the best ways to get a great idea of a character's personality is to write dialogue, even if you don't use it. Going through it your head as if you are the character is very effective. I'm not sure how it works outside of my imagination though, so plox to be critiqueing. This scene includes Ramone, his ex-step sister, Nancy, and his mother, Bella. (whos name may yet be revised.) Nancy has just told Bella about Ramone's suspension from school.

Bella: (disbelief) Suspended? Ramone, what on Earth were you--
Ramone: (interrupting) You have no idea how much of a tool that principal is, mom. He cowtows to the will of the affluent and the powerful.
Bella: (attempting to interrupt) Ramone.
Ramone: (gesturing) HOW can a man be a respected leader when he so blatantly refuses to listen to his people? He's a joke!
Bella: Ramone?
Ramone: He SAID I had TEMPER ISSUES.
Bella: For Christ's sake.
Nancy: (aside, intending not to be heard) You do.
Ramone: (very suddenly, angrily) NO I DON'T.
Bella: RAMONE, this is serious, a suspension? What were you thinking, this is going to go on your permanant record.
Ramone: (frustrated) Who cares?
Bella: No, no, no, don't even THINK that, mister. Don't you DARE pretend this will just wash with me. (sighs) We'll deal with this somehow. (returns to reading suspension note in dismay)
Ramone: (to Nancy, with malice) YOU did this to me, I could've had a nice relaxing week off from school, you tart.
Nancy: Well someone has to look after your mother, Lord knows you won't do it. I happen to have a fondness for her.
Ramone: Yeah, REAL fondness you have, packing up and leaving with that SHITFACED BASTARD, taking EVERYTHING WE GOT.
Nancy: (turning red) I don't agree with any decision my dad made.
Ramone: (to Bella) This is your golden girl, huh mom? There's been MUTINY aboard this ship, (with extreme dramatic sarcasm) you must have MISSED it, Cap'n! A foul rattin' bitch like her.
Bella: Watch that damn mouth, Ramone Antonio.

Ow.

My joints, I've discovered, have begun to swell with the cold. Those in my fingers seem the most effected. Yuuuupp.
I have the worst curculation, always had. I used to go fully blue as a kid. It's pretty annoying and painful, but it's not affecting my ability to hold a pencil, so I'm not really complaining. But I've taken to wearing fingerless gloves everywhere I can.
Also, I've heard this piece by Vivaldi I simply NEED to learn to play. Winter(Largo) , from The Four Seasons concerto, eet's beeyootifuuull. Hope my playing won't be affected by the cold though, damn.
Kay peace.

That even Death may Die.

Woooo, dramatic title. A useless title now, really, seeing as my new thing is hardly referencing Lovecraft anymore. BUT THATS NO REASON NOT TO ILLUMINATE YOU ON IT'S PREMISE, EH?

So my first idea was about Cthulhu, and a kid interested in the occult who thinks he's summoned him, and thus he has to do whatever he wishes. That is, of course, bullshit to Cthulhu, he rose of his own volition because the stars were right.
The problem with that, thoguh, was the immense amount of comics already based on Cthulhu. I kid you not, there are....loads. It wasn't even encouraging how many Lovecraft comics exist. It's just plain depressing, especially seeing as none of them capture anything I imagine from Lovecraft stories.
Drawing on that, I disregarded any previous work, and started by scratch.
Our main character is Ramone (to the right), a 19 year old slacker living in the town of Ambrose South, a secular community, a town as coldly logical as the Alaskan penninsula on which it's located. Ramone doesn't have a lot. He's not too good in school, he has no really discernable talents, and he's pretty far removed from the regular lives of most teenagers. And he hates the cold.
He does have one thing though, one thing that makes up for the entire bland gloop his life seems to be turning into. He has an unfathomably deep belief in the occult. Not just a belief; a conviciton. I've once again made sure the character is a logical product of his past. His interest would have stemmed form the fatc, despite Ambrose South being a very secular town, his mother is a pretty religious person. His ex step-father and her would argue over this fact. This would have made religion not only a tense, but a prevailent subject in his growing up. He also works in the town ancient library he used to love visiting as a child, and no doubt the books and stories he found there had a hand in the turning of his mind. I was orignally making him to be likened to Charles Dexter Ward, but I've still not finished that story, and Ward has developed into a characert I couldn't make Ramone resemble anyway.
I have more sketches, but I'll talk about them later. Use your imaginations for the moment.

Themes to come.

So here's one for all them artists out there. Your projects, your stories, your comics, ask yourself this about them.

Do they have a theme?
Because I've found out, all of mine most certainly do.
Great thing is, I can liken them all to something relevant or of importance to me, and that would be appreciated by other people. They're pretty universal themes, so they're bound to appeal to anyone, you know?
Here's the run-down.

Hooky: There's two possibly to be included here, first of which being ostracism. Basic fact is, almost of of the characters in the story (and definitely all the main ones) have been ostracized throughout their lives. Hooky will be in school, Laurie has been, Cathy, to a lesser extent, has been too, and, most obviously all the freaks have. This is really the baseline for everything that happens in the story. Why the freaks are so colletcively violent, why Hooky meetes Laurie, why Laurie is so intent to form a bond with Hooky, why Catherine hates Hooky so very much, it all comes down with the simple human refusal to fully accept what goes beyond the normality we'd all like in our lives. And who can't identify with this? Chances are, if you're even reading a comic, or animaiton (the latter being more likely for Hooky) you're more then likely ostracized by someone. I mean, realistically, someone thinks you're a loser. It even works for me on a personal level as well, so I think this angle would really give Hooky a lot more direction and meaning than just LOL SHE'S AN OKAY GUY WITH HOOKS AND DOESN'T AFRAID OF ANYTHING.
The second theme is to be a point on the futility of violence. Look t it in this light. The freaks, feeling rejected, betrayed and ostracized (gratuitous word use is fun), they go and commit acts of violence. And they go home, and they still rejected, betrayed and ostracized. They haven't gotten revenge, they haven't justififed anyway they feel or relieved themselves. Much like real life, really. Is violence an answer to anything? Do the ends ever really justfy the means? This is what the undercurrent of this theme is there for, to present questions for the audience, and maybe for them to even examine their own views of global violence. In the story, most people react to unprovoked violence with nothing more then vague interest and even apathy. This mirrors the real world, unfortunately. I've seen this apathy. This apathy is in me too, and I recognise that, but I want to make the audience recognise it in themselves too.

Phew. I'm all tired now. I'll discuss the others tomorrow.