July 9, 2002

anyway, i'm not actually putting a rant for today, though i think i can think of a few
things to talk about. instead, here's an update on my status for the summer.
i'm going to be gone from July 28 until August 17 (my birthday).
from the 28 to Aug. 10, I'm off at a journalism workshop
and from the 11 to the 17, I'm at boy scout summer camp.

since it's still fairly early in the life of my little comic strip here,
i don't feel right leaving for a good three weeks with no updates.
so one of my goals before I go, among many others, is to make as many strips as possible.
if not everyday, i'll try to make enough strips ahead of time so the site will update
every other day or something. cross your fingers and hope i'll have a lot of
five-minute intervals to make lots of strips. unless you don't care.

inconsiderate assholes.

June 16, 2002

i had planned on continuing my little spiel on webcomics
but never got around to it, with finals and all.
my life has been kinda hectic lately. but today i drew like three comics.
i havent done that since i first started "drawing"
so this entire week is already set. thats great.
i dont think i'll touch the site again until thursday or so, which is my first
real day of vacation.

man, i gotta find a job... fast.

anyway, school has sucked. life has been ok, but school has sucked.

and my site is looking all cluttered and crap.
that webring thing is really ugly... considering taking it off completely.
and vote for me on the Funny Pages link!
through my own efforts and a couple friends', i am now in the top 20.
fluctuating between 15 and 16. not bad, though i dont know how many more hits i get.

this comic won't get me anywhere. i'm no artist, i'm no cartoonist.
so basically, i make this comic and this site solely for my own enjoyment.
it wont help me get into college. it wont help me get a job.
it wont even get me new friends (not that im looking).
so i ask myself, why do i even make this comic to begin with?

and i dont know the answer. now that i've started, why stop?
i just hope theres some people out there who would actually care if i did stop.
you can always send your support, preferrably in the form of fanart (MS Paint art is fine)
to my email. maybe someday i'll make money off of this comic (hahahaha)
but right now i'd be content knowing that some people might care if this strip ended.

and ending on that note, if you do care, go tell some people to visit. get new blood.

June 11, 2002

but as i said to my friend, i dont want this comic to be good, i want it to be popular.
ok, so thats a joke. i do want it to be good, or as least as good as five minutes will get me
i really would like to draw a comic over the summer, despite the fact that i cant draw
but im not sure if im willing to go through all the effort.
and i'd have to dig around to find my scanner. either way, maybe i'll get around to it.

i hadn't started a new webcomic in a while, only reading the updates of
megatokyo, rpgworld, crfh, and waiting for avalon to come back to life.
oh, and when i remember, iancomix. but i hadnt started a new one.
there are a few that i've begun over these past few months, but never finished
what makes someone come back to a webcomic? because some of the very popular ones
simply didnt have what it took to get me to come back. maybe other people, but not me.

a thread on the keenspace forums discussed this topic, and most people seemed to say
that humor was most important, maybe art second. for this comic, i made humor the primary
goal and art very far in the back. but really, what i look for in a comic is story.
now, granted, if its some gag comic, then story obviously isnt a goal to begin with,
but most comics seem to make attempts at story lines. and plenty are pretty bad at it.
now they may be funny/popular/pretty good comics, but its hard to get a good story going,
so im not saying the cartoonists arent making the effort. but as long as the art isnt
distracting, then a good story, good characters, and some character development will keep
me coming back guaranteed, especially if there's a good dose of humor added in
yea i know thats a lot to ask of a webcartoonist, and wanting him or her to update as often
as possible is asking even more, but its not impossible, which is why i cant recommend enough
College Roomies From Hell, which seems inane at first, but you get really into the characters'
lives, which is even more impressive since theyre so absurd to begin with.

but whats disappointing is when you get through an entire year's worth of a comic, and everything
that's happened is not believable, nothing flows, and you can't relate with the characters.
not to criticize other people's comics, because i know they put a lot of work into them,
but some comics could improve on the writing side. Stubble moved too quickly,
and honestly, the characters were obviously cliches.

after reading a year's worth, i figured out that nothing flowed. character development was nonexistent.
instead, the audience is walked through, mainly through cartoonist's comments, the main character's life.
and quite frankly, the things that happen are not believable at all. the main character begins as one person
at the beginning of the year, and a year later is someone completely different without enough motivation for change.

ok, i'll finish the review of stubble later.

June 6, 2002

May 31, 2002

but then maybe i've only IMed it to people who i assumed wouldnt insult me outright
and, as any "artiste" knows, constructive criticism is just as necessary as compliments.

with the fairly positive response ive gotten, ive also found it a little more necessary to start
really updating more regularly, because as more people read, theyll be expecting more comics.
and speaking of which, one of my favorite comics, Avalon, hasnt updated in a week, or longer.
now i know cartoonist get into real life problems and all, but after the long hiatus the
Avalon cartoonist just had, you'd think he could get it going at least a little better.

but one must always wait for good things. I just wish he'd post a reason and give the readers
a clue to when he can update again, because i just dont like having to reload the same site
over and over on my 56k or the school's slow computers to see that he still hasnt updated.

on a different note, my SAT IIs are tomorrow. i guess i've done alright for myself so far with the
whole SAT business, but i suppose i should also be feeling some anxiety or something anyway.
dont get me wrong, im not being cocky or anything, its just that im not worrying.
i dont want to be the type of person who worries without need. when something needs worrying,
i'll do my best to worry, but the night before the SATs, theres only so much more preparation
will do for you, and it might not even be helping you anyway, but hurting you.
in other words, boys and girls, the lesson is: dont worry so much and know when to quit...
quit worrying, that is. just kick back and relax, and if your parents are on your back about it,
pretend to be as anal as them, but that doesnt mean you need to start freaking out too.

ive read some of the rants of other people, and i must say, they have a lot to say, and sometimes
they write a lot without saying a single thing. methinks i'm the latter. i do like me putting my
rants on a seperate page because i dont like to clutter the main page with my own teenage anguishes.
theres enough other cartoonists whose complaints cover their pages, and you dont need another.
and if you really want teenage angst, read stubble.

not to say that people with long rants on their home pages are bad, because some of those people
also happen to be very interesting, but since i dont know much about site design anyway,
i wont risk making my pages ugly with huge amounts of bitching and moaning.

so i guess the purpose of this post was to tell you to expect more frequent updates, if i can manage them.
but with summer vacation coming up, i think its very possible for me to make regular updates,
especially due to the nature of this comic (i.e. FIVE-minute comic). but before the school year
actually ends, i might be pressed for time once in a while.

and tomorrow also happens to be my school newspaper's banquet. i've already gone through the application
process and the interviews, so in case you read this sometime before June 1st, 6:30 Pacific Time,
do wish me luck. im trying out for Editor-in-Chief, the Big Kahuna. here's hoping for the best...

May 28, 2002

well, anyways. this is my comic for now. and i'll rant when i can for now.
i do realize that my site isn't looking all that great right now. ive read a bunch of tutorials on html
and css and javascript, but honestly, im not very good at using any of it. and whatsmore, i didnt use
any of it for this site. this is a barebones site, but hey, its a barebones comic.

anyway, youll notice the abundance of things saying crap like VOTE FOR ME! and the number of
dropdowns (dropdown menus that serve as link exchanges with other webcomics, for those who arent
in the "business". hardly a business if you ask me, with all those crappy second-rate webcomics out
there like mine. but hey, its all about freedom of expression. not all comics may become popular, and
not all may be "good", but at least people have a chance at making one the way they want to see
a comic made, and furthermore, the good ones out there are usually picked up on at become popular anyway.

so anyway, all those dropdowns and vote links are temporary, hopefully, until i can pick up a meager
following. im not asking for many people, just enough to make me feel like i'm not completely wasting
my time here. so go and tell a couple friends, but warn them first about the quality. hehe.
i know i've had to.