http://search.deviantart.com/?q=by:draco490&section=today deviantART RSS for by:draco490 en-us Copyright 2009, deviantART.com Fri, 11 Dec 2009 13:51:22 PST deviantART.com http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://s.deviantart.com/minish/widgets/apple-touch-icon-precomposed.png http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/8603124/ http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/8603124/ Thu, 27 Apr 2006 15:06:30 PDT
My friends and I have been working on setting up a webcomic for a little over half a year now and we've finally launched and gotten rolling with it. So far, the comic has been up three weeks. The comic is updated each week on Monday. The website ItsGonnaBeGreat.com has been in our minds for a while and until recently, we haven't had the right group of people or the right final idea to run with it. What we're trying to do with our webcomic is make it so that it isn't just a single artist and a single writer doing the whole show. So far, we have five people that are working on creating comics (myself included, so it's unfair to title the group as artists) and a separate group of people writing them. Most of the comics that in line to go up are written by me and two of the three comics online were also written by me.

My hope is that IGBG will be able to gather a following of people that want to contribute. The idea behind it is that people that want to submit writing or drawing can, through the website, get in contact with us and work with us to create new comics. When I try to explain it, it sounds like laziness driving the comic, but the truth of the matter is that my vision for it is very much like what we have here at deviantART. A place where artists can come together and work together to create a form of art that people will be able to look to for entertainment. My hope is that eventually, when people become interested, we can match writers and artists up and have teams working together, bringing together groups of talented artists that would not have otherwise met each other.

Of course, I'm not relying on this. I've been continually writing strips to keep the website going and several other people in the group have been doing the same. The artists in the group have been feverishly trying to keep up with the pace that the writing is coming out, but I'm sure that will balance out soon.

So that's my excuse. I have been rather busy with writing, but posting the scripts for these comics would not have been nearly as interesting as providing them to you guys online on the website. Without the group of people I'm working with, the website could not have come together. It's something that I've been wanting to do for a long time and now that the website is actually a reality, I've found myself fairly absorbed in its upkeep. Clicking the link will take you to the front page and to the most recent comic. Clicking the musings button within that window will take you to what we have to say about that weeks comic or just about what we have to say in general. I'd love it if you guys went and took a look, especially since I've provided so little here otherwise. We also have a forum attached to the site, so feel free to register an account and chat with us there as well. On that site, I go by Denty (character, musings, forum, etc.). Here's to hopin' I see you over there.

ItsGonnaBeGreat.com ]]> ~draco490 http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/8078176/ http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/8078176/ Sun, 05 Mar 2006 20:01:56 PST
If I don't reply to your work, please don't think I hate you. I just really, really don't like you. Or I don't have something meaningful to say. That's most likely the case. I AM looking at every single thing that's on the watch, but I may not be able to say something meaningful about them. And if I can't say something meaningful, I will NOT resort to a stock "lol... i rly lik this 1"

I just won't do it. But I miss you guys... I hope I can catch up.

Also, one final note. It looks like I don't have my footer anymore, without my subscription. So no deviantwatch mentions for me. I should probably start over anyway. The only fair way to do it. Alright, back to research. You guys take care. ]]> ~draco490 http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/5674198/ http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/5674198/ Fri, 17 Jun 2005 10:15:43 PDT
On another note, I wanted to thank HexGeek for renewing my subscription, despite how inactive I've been. I'm hoping that this will be my first attempt at making that month actually worth it. ::grins::

This summer has been a little hectic for me. The first week after I'm out of school, I'm preparing for my mom's marriage. The next week is a bunch of back and forth from my house and Crystal's house, Crystal's birthday that took place at Hershey Park, and working. There was working during the marriage week, too. I think that should put us in this week. Working, and spending time with Crystal have been the primary activities. But it isn't all work and no play... just mostly all work and no play. This week has been easier than the last few, so I've had a chance to get back into some of the games that I've been playing. I'm just going to list them off, for those of you that are interested.

Guild Wars
Star Wars Galaxies
Scrapland
Halo
Kirby: Canvas Curse
Baten Kaitos

Now that I've gotten the marriage and the birthday out of the way, the next trip is in early July. I'll try to get back to some of you guys on your art before that. I have looked at some of them, they really do look quite superb. I'm looking forward to getting indepth with them. Take care guys.

Devwatch - apheliotrope
Devwatch - astarinel
Devwatch - barnabus
Devwatch - caio
Devwatch - cansama
Devwatch - distractoboy
Devwatch - faeryincognito
Devwatch - tangledweb ]]> ~draco490 http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/5294949/ http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/5294949/ Sat, 07 May 2005 16:10:43 PDT
I'm sure it will be back, I just thought it was corny enough to write, and not long enough to turn into a real piece.

Edit: 7:09 PM EST - Google is back. But there was a period in my life where I felt very alone. Very isolated. Very... betrayed that I might have to use metacrawler.

Devwatch - apheliotrope
Devwatch - astarinel
Devwatch - barnabus
Devwatch - caio
Devwatch - cansama
Devwatch - distractoboy
Devwatch - faeryincognito
Devwatch - tangledweb ]]> ~draco490 http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/4197077/ http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/4197077/ Thu, 30 Dec 2004 21:18:08 PST Mood: Home home home
Listening to: Nothing, Sadly

In the spirit of starting things back up (and going alphabetically) I thought we'd start with someone that I know personally. Jillian was actually my girlfriend's roommate last year, so I got to know her quite a bit throughout that year. Previously it was not at all uncommon for us to have lunch together and what have you. Jillian's works have always been a little tough for me to critique and they have a sort of interesting quality to their simplicity. Not knowing much about photography, I was just planning on making a list of the things that I thought were the most interesting from her gallery and you guys can make the rest of the decisions for yourself. I just wanted to mention, however, that Jillian is actually a big movie star now. Her movie, Ghostwatcher, just recently had copies released to Blockbusters nationwide. The movie is a rather low budget movie in which she plays the lead, a woman who is afraid to go outside her house after being attacked by a stalker who killed her parents. Plagued by the stalker you're taken through a series of plot twists in a rather straightforward, but tasteful horror movie. Anyway, I really thought I ought to plug that. I'm not going to talk about it too long for fear of ruining the plot, but it's an enjoyable movie and you guys have to have an empty Friday night somewhere down the road. Anyway, no more talking from me. Here's the list of what I think is best in her gallery with no more of my gibbering.

Offering-bbg3
y cant i save u - 2
when nothing but love - 3
RevolutionBackPocket

That's faeryincognito. Make sure you guys go pay her a visit and check out her movie.

Devwatch - apheliotrope
Devwatch - astarinel
Devwatch - barnabus
Devwatch - caio
Devwatch - cansama
Devwatch - distractoboy
Devwatch - faeryincognito
Devwatch - tangledweb ]]> ~draco490 http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/4131063/ http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/4131063/ Wed, 22 Dec 2004 22:31:14 PST Mood: School school school
Listening to: Nothing, Sadly

So it's about that time again. Yeah... Christmas. Can you believe it? The time really flew for me. I seem to have done rather well in my classes though, at least those I know about. So really, I can't complain. I'm looking forward to having some family togetherness over the next few days. I'm not going to lie, I'm looking forward to having a few new toys to play with as well, but the family togetherness is a pretty good deal. I haven't written much over the past few months, but I didn't want to miss the Christmas uh... sleigh, this year. I have a piece in the works and nearing completion as I run out of ideas for it. The piece will probably either be up tonight or tomorrow, but be sure to check back before Christmas because I wholly expect it to be up by then. In the meantime, I'm not the only one that's gearing up for the festivities. You guys will probably see this journal updated a few times because I'm going to be linking Christmas related things in my journal. So if you do see this get updated, why don't you pop in and see what's new. And on to the linking:

Christmas List 2004 - Draco490
A Guide to Dangerous Toys... and their Packaging - TriptychR
Happy Holidays - Rogueport - Lokno
The Holiday Bonethief - Mirkah

Devwatch - apheliotrope
Devwatch - astarinel
Devwatch - barnabus
Devwatch - caio
Devwatch - cansama
Devwatch - distractoboy
Devwatch - tangledweb ]]> ~draco490 http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/3820905/ http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/3820905/ Fri, 12 Nov 2004 20:23:20 PST Mood: School school school
Listening to: Nothing, Sadly

That I could find the inspiration to write. I see all these great deviations going up from all of you... Really... I see them and I want to respond. And when I start to type it's much like when you open your wallet and a moth flies out (which also happens to me, but that's unrelated). Except I don't even get a moth. I have tried to comment as much as I could. If I don't comment, I'm sorry. I think I've gone the elite bastard route. I comment where I can and admire the rest. I view every single deviation that goes up. Every single one. If it's text I read it from start to finish. But if I get to the bottom and I can't think of something to say know that while I viewed and enjoyed it, I've more or less written myself out.

If I can't even manage good comments, I'm sure you can see why I haven't written anything else, lately. I'm working on my individual research project. I'm research the effects of various instructions on the recall of concrete words over over tests, immediate and one-week later. I have to get 20 people to take this test, at least. I have to research the paper and find me some sources. Of course this is due at the end of the semester. I have to make a visual presentation and a speech about 10 minutes in length to present to the rest of the people in the class. I'm going to do well. I already know that. But it's going to take a lot of work. It's interesting, though, just knowing that I'm doing my own research. I'm still waiting for my project to be approved by the review board for ethical practices, so keep your fingers crossed.

I'm going to keep working on school work and pretending that I'll finish my many pieces. I'll consider scrapping them if I really don't think I can finish it. I started three or four things, some serious, some experimental, some attempts at being funny... I don't really like any of them... or didn't like them enough to finish it, but I have been trying... Poking at my brain in my free time, seeing if I can get anything to come out.

On the bright side, any of you that play video games know that this is a good time. Just in the next few weeks I'm looking at getting Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, Baten Kaitos, World of Warcraft, Kingdom Hearts: The uh... next one, and all the games I've been missing for X-Box. I wish they could spread these games out. I don't have enough disposable income to buy half the things that are coming out that I"m interested in.

Ah well. So that's my gripe. I'm going to go sleep soon... you know... before work early in the morning tomorrow.

Devwatch - apheliotrope
Devwatch - astarinel
Devwatch - barnabus
Devwatch - caio
Devwatch - cansama
Devwatch - distractoboy
Devwatch - tangledweb ]]> ~draco490 http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/3311372/ http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/3311372/ Tue, 07 Sep 2004 19:15:20 PDT Mood: School school school
Listening to: Nothing, Sadly

So I'd really like to write the devwatch but I just don't have enough time, guys. I've spent from 9 - 8 doing virtually nothing but schoolwork, excepting time for meals. As much as I hate to say it, I'd rather write articles, or at least think that I'd like to write articles, than keep thinking that I have to write the devwatch. I intend to finish it, perhaps if I get a break in school work or perhaps over winter break when I don't have school to contend with. Sorry to those of you that came after the point at which I stopped but I really can't possibly get to it if I can't get to the article in progress.

There is one, by the by. I hope I can get it finished this year.

Devwatch - apheliotrope
Devwatch - astarinel
Devwatch - barnabus
Devwatch - caio
Devwatch - cansama
Devwatch - distractoboy
Devwatch - tangledweb ]]> ~draco490 http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/3213888/ http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/3213888/ Wed, 25 Aug 2004 22:14:33 PDT Mood: Off Schedule
Listening to: Nothing, Sadly

So... I'm a little behind. Well... a lotta behind. I need to write for the devwatch, it's been over a month. I still have deviations to comment on. And I'm not really that busy. It seems like whenever I finally decide "I'm going to get to work on this stuff today" dA is in read-only mode or something else comes up. Maybe a little busy, but not enough to justify this.

So the main part of my announcement? I've cleared my watch up through August. I may not have commented on everything that went through it, and if I didn't I apologize. When I finally buckled down and started working, I was up to 109 messages. After a while, I stopped commenting on everything because what I was going to say really had no meaning. I refuse to just write things that are "omg nice pix!!11." So if I didn't comment, it's because my incoherent babbling would not have impressed you much at all. So to those of you that I may have neglected, I'm sorry. When I can finally work my way through August (assuming that it's not October by then) I will be attempting to comment on everything and get the devwatch rolling again.

So what have I actually been doing instead? Well, gaming. Animal Crossing, as some of you may have guessed, is a daily game for me. I just finished Prince of Persia, which I was actually less impressed with than I expected to be. I really liked the concept, and the story was fun, but I think I found every bug in the game. There was one swinging part where the rope is supposed to swing you directly at the button, and you jump off the rope, hit the button, and jump back on. My rope was off it's alignment for some reason (which, near as I can figure, is never supposed to happen) so I was stuck in an impossible situation where I almost never managed to hit the button. If I hit the first, the second was an even rarer occurance, but then I couldn't get to the other side because it would toss me into a corner and I would fall to my death in the pit of spikes. And let me tell you, there's nothing like spending 20 minutes on a part, dying and dying again, only to have the game freeze (as in, not moving, playing the same note it ended on, reset button on the gamecube doesn't work, have to turn the system off and back on again to play) as soon as I successfully got to the next room. I had him jump off ledges while I wasn't touching the controller, along with a plethora of other things. Apparently I'm the only one in my circle of friends that has had these problems, but my girlfriend witnessed some of this, so I'm not completely crazy (or at least, not for this reason). Other than that, I've been puttering around City of Heroes occasionally and spending a bunch of time with the girlfriend. I visited Richmond for three days to spend some time with my aunt and then almost immediately went to Ocean City with my mom, brother, his girlfriend, and my girlfriend. Ultimately it was a fun time, and I won't bore you with the details. Or, not right now, at least. For now, I'm going to find my bed, and see what it can do for me and this thing they call "being tired."

Ta.

Devwatch - apheliotrope
Devwatch - astarinel
Devwatch - barnabus
Devwatch - caio
Devwatch - cansama
Devwatch - distractoboy
Devwatch - tangledweb ]]> ~draco490 http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/2936631/ http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/2936631/ Wed, 21 Jul 2004 19:51:50 PDT Mood: Off Schedule
Listening to: Nothing, Sadly
Watching: Anchorman = Good

Over the next few days I'm going to be bugging Crystal to do a bunch of graphics for my articles. I may also go ahead and clean up some of the older ones while I do that. I apologize that the majority of my 53 deviations will be going back through the Devwatch and I hope that you all will bear with me as I fix up my gallery.

Devwatch - apheliotrope
Devwatch - astarinel
Devwatch - barnabus
Devwatch - caio
Devwatch - cansama
Devwatch - distractoboy
Devwatch - tangledweb ]]> ~draco490 http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/2907255/ http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/2907255/ Sat, 17 Jul 2004 21:43:41 PDT Mood: Off Schedule
Listening to: Beastie Boys - Ch-Check It Out
Watching: Anchorman = Good

The next person on my watch has a pretty small gallery and a fairly small following. I'd like to see both increase, if at all possible. Matt is someone that I know from another place, in another time. On top of being a great guy just to chat with, he's also a pretty good artist. Matt typically draws things in sketches when he gets an itch or an urge, but they always seem to turn out good. Selecting samples is easy when you're dealing with a smaller gallery because you don't have to go digging for the one thing that personifies that artist. In this case, I'm going to go in order of my favorite and my reasons and leave the rest up to you guys.

Unfortunately, my favorite of his work isn't actually his best. It's mostly (read: completely) due to my bias towards my own character. This is his rendition of my character from Dragonrealms: Menosen. I'll spare you the details. He's an Elf, he's my character on a MUD. There is a colored version of this but I didn't spot it in Matt's gallery. I'll have to nag him to finish it someday.

I'm sure he'd appreciate it if I picked one that better reflected his artistic talent, which is what I intend to do with this one. The thing I like in particular is how smooth the whole thing is. I probably have a better appreciation for this, knowing where the picture comes from, but the detail in this picture stands out in particular. It's interesting to look at, even in it's lack of color and that's to be admired in any artistic venture.

So I bet you're wondering if he actually colors the pictures he does. Well look no further. One should recognize this character if they clicked on the last link (which you should have) as the same character, his Bard from Dragonrealms. He actually complains of sketchiness and not feeling like removing it, but I like the way it looks, left behind. Almost reminds me of a picture out of a comic book. Regardless, the colors used were sharp and pleasant on the eyes, enhancing the quality of an already good sketch.

Mat hasn't been very active on deviantART which makes it rather hard for me to give him a fair review. Nevertheless, working down the list in an alphabetacal fashion leaves me only with the option of encouraging the rest of you to pay him a visit and give him a reason to come back and post more, that way when I go back through my devwatch again, I have something more to work with. His art has a style that actually feels unique from the rabble of deviantART which, if nothing else counts, is definetely something anyone could appreciate.

Devwatch - apheliotrope
Devwatch - astarinel
Devwatch - barnabus
Devwatch - caio
Devwatch - cansama
Devwatch - tangledweb ]]> ~draco490 http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/2786197/ http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/2786197/ Fri, 02 Jul 2004 08:07:49 PDT Mood: So Close To Updated
Listening to: Beastie Boys - An Open Letter to NYC
Watching: Spiderman 2!

Let it be known that I support budding artists when I can with as much advice and support as I can muster. Beyond that, enjoying their art is something that I take a great deal of pleasure in. That's the case with Joe Tibbits, a friend from a MUD that I've talked to for what seems like years. Most of Joe's art comes from the MUDs he plays, whether its his own characters, someone else's, or just something that someone wanted him to draw. Having been looking at Joe's art for all this time, I can say that he has definetely come a long way. Developing an artistic talent is tough, and he's well on his way.

As I said, most of his art comes from MUDding, whether it be traditional art or writing. His main character right now, Daklore Telactis frequents his art quite often and as many actionful poses as Joe has been able to dredge up. Here you can see Daklore with his new polearm/sword weapon.

While I'm on the topic, I should mention the prose on Daklore aptly titled "The History of Daklore". Joe is one of the few people that I know that has enough conviction (and time) to sit down and write a story from start to finish. This actually isn't the first prose of this sort I've read from him with his first book spanning close to 100 pages. None of it is published, and if he'd get off his lazy Canadian ass and do something about editing and refining it, maybe he could make a little money off it. This one in particular outlines the backstory behind his character through narrative. Although it jumps around a little, and dA ate the formatting, it's not a bad read and has a second part, also in his gallery.

As I mentioned, he often does artwork on request from other players, making his own interpretation of the character in the game based on what little knowledge he has. This is one such example. The thing I truly appreciated about this, and the reason I included it, in particular, in the devwatch is his dedication to the scales covering nearly the entire body of the character. Although a little drab without color or a distinct background, the effort that he's already put into this would make for a good base for a finished picture later.

In order to further an artistic style, sometimes it's not a bad idea to take a crack at adapt someone elses art to your style. This quick doodle is a good example of that. The character actually belongs to Crystal whom all of you what watch me should be familiar with. She will be showing up on the watch later. To see her character look there. I think this helps to show where Joe has developed his own sort of style that he can import other characters into, a skill that is never a bad one to have. It's too bad it was just a quick sketch.

You would think rural Canada would provide for some interesting photography at the very least, since it doesn't provide much else. Instead, however, Joe gives us his cat, in all her wonderous glory? I should really be encouraging photography like this so that I can get him to snap some shots of something else other than the ground with a cat on it. It is a pretty cool cat, though.

We were all relatively new to art at one point or another in our lives, and we all have someone that supported us and helped us get to where we are now. I find Joe's art a refreshing breath from some of the things that I'm subjected to every day here at deviantART and am proud to support him in his artistic endevours.

Devwatch - apheliotrope
Devwatch - astarinel
Devwatch - barnabus
Devwatch - caio
Devwatch - tangledweb ]]> ~draco490 http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/2729808/ http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/2729808/ Thu, 24 Jun 2004 19:26:56 PDT Mood: Mrr..

Ever have that feeling like you're so tired out that by the time you're done doing what you have to do, you don't even feel like doing what you like to do? I'll be back with the Devwatch and the deviations and the commenting in a little bit, when I can I get myself, and everything else straightened away. Sorry to those people that I've kept waiting.

Devwatch - apheliotrope
Devwatch - astarinel
Devwatch - barnabus
Devwatch - caio
Devwatch - tangledweb ]]> ~draco490 http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/2631983/ http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/2631983/ Thu, 10 Jun 2004 20:58:48 PDT Mood: And on with the show

Naturally with real life getting in the way, some people are going to be up in the devwatch for longer than others. So from now until some undetermined end point, let's take a look at the artist caio. He's almost strictly a photographer, but seems to enjoy getting a little bit of everything out of deviantART. The thing that I found interesting about his art is that while he does take pictures of sunsets and landscapes, he also gets pictures of things that you wouldn't think would normally be that intriguing or interesting, and makes them so.

A good example of this would be his newspaper series. In particular, News Paper 04 is a photo with a very rustic paper press that one wouldn't expect to find interesting on a daily basis. However, the way he captured the papers being run, and created something interesting to look at, instead of an old paper press was one of the things that kept me watching his work.

I've always been a sucker for time lapse photos, and this is one of the coolest ones I've seen in a while. The photo titled The Power-driven Aircraft is a great example of finding the right subject for a long exposure photo. This picture looks like a plane coming in, and you can see the flight path going down in towards the city. I found it particularly interesting to see so little movement from anything else except the plane in that photo.

When I said that landscapes and what have you wasn't all he took, that doesn't mean that he doesn't take any. Being a well-rounded photographer, he delves into those realms as well. The photograph titled night lights 11 shows a city as seen from an apartment window at sunset. The colors in this one are particularly vivid, and the whole thing looks like it would make a brilliant postcard for that city. I like how it shows the town lighting up and the light of day slowly fades.

Have you guys ever heard of a color changing building? Neither had I until I went through Caio's gallery. And when you take a color-changing building and put it through long exposure? Well let's just say that the results are great. Technicolor has such a building, see if you can't pick it out. Even excluding that building, though, this is still a great photograph of the city itself.

And finally, an official landscape. Wondering how an unremarkable road leading off into the distance can be made into a really neat picture? Here it is, Smell the country side. The first thing you'll notice is how vivid the color is in this picture, but the second is how pristine the landscape looks. Aside from a few overcast clouds, this picture really couldn't be any more perfect. And the seemingly endless nature of the picture, which could have been monotonous, had it been any less breathtaking, adds to the intrigue of the picture itself.

Thus concludes another Devwatch. My question is, why did you make it to the bottom of the Devwatch? You should be browsing Caio's gallery by this point. He's been very interesting to watch up until this point, and I don't think he intends to let his watchers down in the near future.

Devwatch - apheliotrope
Devwatch - astarinel
Devwatch - barnabus
Devwatch - tangledweb ]]> ~draco490 http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/2559627/ http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/2559627/ Tue, 01 Jun 2004 16:16:36 PDT Mood: And on with the show

I'll tell you what, guys, I can't say enough about this man to do his writing justice. He's definetely VERY high on my list of favorite writers on dA. His dry humor and witty prods are absolutely fantastic, and it's complemented greatly by his extraordinary way with words. I haven't been watching Barnabus for very long, but I can tell you that I've liked what I've seen so far. He's the kind of person that takes something that you wouldn't expect to be funny and twist it in such a way that leaves you with aching sides for hours after. I've seen very few people use humor in the way he has, and I'd like to share some of that with you.

I actually started looking through my favorites and got really confused. I know I've faved more of his stuff than this. Only two things were in there. In light of that, I went back and started faving the things that I knew I really liked. I don't know where I was on this, but I really dropped the ball. Fortunately, this situation has been rectified. One of those two is a nicely stolen title called The Night Before Christmas. Having passed through this world for nineteen years, I can safely say that I've had more than my fair share of spoofs on The Night Before Christmas, but this one still manages to keep it fresh. Taking on the true meaning of Christmas via a showdown of Jesus and Santa to the style of The Night Before Christmas was a huge leap all on it's own. The absolutely absurd nature of this makes it fun to read and his skill with rhyme and rhythm ensures that the poetry enthusiast in you won't be dissapointed by breaks in flow or misuse of words for the sake of rhyming. This is a polished work that can be read over and over before you begin to tire of it. And don't you worry, it'll still be fresh for next Christmas.

Another one of his poems, and the other that was actually in my favorites was The Roads, Just Take One. For those of you that are familiar with Robert Frost, this poem takes on a special meaning just from the start. The thing that I liked about it personally was that it was short and clever. Half the fun for me was overthinking the poem and trying to work out all the details that he left unsaid. This catchy little poem was a fun read, and it didn't drag on unnecessarily. This piece is well worth the small amount of time it takes to read it. You will not be dissapointed by this one.

One interesting thing he did was to take on a style called "micro-fiction" in a piece that he called 22-word Fiction Extravaganza. Just to give you an idea of how clever this man is, have you ever tried to sum up a whole short story in 22 words? Let me tell you, that's a very small amount of time to get your point across. At this point, I've already failed 24 times over with over 525 words simply about Barnabus. And for him to be so amusing in only 22 words? Needless to say, I envy his talent.

Want some of that dry humor I was talking about? Go read A Horror of Manners. The whole time I read it I kept trying to come up with good adjectives to describe it when I got to the comment section. My list consisted of dry, arid, desert-like, anhydrous, droughty, parched and torrid. Unfortunately, I forgot to include them all in my comment. I hope he'll forgive me for that. So yes. Dry humor. Very funny. Go.

Ever wonder what would happen if God were to quit his job? Well now the mystery is solved in his piece called Fate. Truly, what catches you first is the unusual nature of the piece. God quit? How does that work out. It starts out odd, continues to be odd, and then ends odd. It plays on a lot of stereotypes and really flips the world around. Nevertheless, I would kill to see this actually performed well. It's a shame that I think I'll be waiting a while.

So there you have it, one of the best writers on dA. Of course, if you've made it this far, it means that you're not clicking on the links, which means I'm highly dissapointed in you. Work your way on back up the article and start clicking on links and seeing what this man has to say. You're depriving yourself of some good literature if you don't.

Devwatch - apheliotrope
Devwatch - astarinel
http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/2516231/ Wed, 26 May 2004 19:11:39 PDT Mood: And on with the show

This next devwatch entry I have for Astarinel took some time because although I watch her with avid interest, hoping that she will post some nugget of her wisdom, she hasn't yet. I've known Jenn for quite sometime after meeting her through a common game. She's a graduate student that's going to school in Chicago, coming out of a four year degree at Yale. Even after just talking to her for a while you get the notion that she's a lot smarter than she's readily willing to admit, and that shows later in her writings. Unfortunately, none of them are here yet... perhaps you should bug her?

Jenn has proofread several of my articles including the most recent one, citing mistakes that were missed by the majority of readers thus far, allowing me to make corrections that make me sound smarter than I actually am. She's been a big help and very large support with my writings, and for that I'd like to thank her.

I can't really sit here and talk about her without referring to her writings of which I have none. Maybe if you guys go and pester her on her page, she might post something. Then I'll have to let her writing speak for itself. I know I'll be pestering her in other ways to get some of her writings up. Maybe it'll pay off.

Devwatch - apheliotrope
Devwatch - tangledweb ]]> ~draco490 http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/2501658/ http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/2501658/ Mon, 24 May 2004 21:10:04 PDT Mood: WHEEEE!

Whoo hoo! New icon courtesy of my girlfriend. Just wanted to point that out. The Devwatch will continue tomorrow.

Devwatch - apheliotrope
Devwatch - tangledweb ]]> ~draco490 http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/2479721/ http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/2479721/ Fri, 21 May 2004 20:28:39 PDT Mood: And On We Go

For the rest of this little event, and for the sake of me not forgetting what I've already done, I'm going to do the rest of this in alphabetical order. This means that the next person up is Apheliotrope. I haven't been watching her as long as I have been watching some people on deviantART, but already she's shown me a new side of art that I find interesting. Most of her art, with a few rare exceptions are photography, and some of it is truly either breathtaking or intriguing. She's a joy to watch because she's always trying to stay fresh, continually posting things, new things. So greatly have I enjoyed watching Mary that a few of her things have even managed to find their way into my favorites. I'd like to start with those.

The first of her pictures that I put into my favorites was a picture called coup d'etat. The title is quite fitting for the cleverness of the piece. This is one of those pictures where you look at it and can tell that every piece is exactly where it should have been. I think the first time I commented on this piece, I said that I felt it was too dark and it hid the pawns. After hearing back from her, I was able to see how that really enhanced the meaning behind the photo. While the title aptly describes the situation, it does not do the picture justice. Take a look.

The second one that I faved was called Electric Sky. Ever watch a lightning storm and wish that you could catch that moment when the bolt of Zeus strikes? I don't know if she could have hoped to capture that moment better. Again, words do not do this justice. Catching a jagged bolt of lightning just as it cuts the sky has to be more difficult that most people can handle. Heck, I have trouble getting the camera in focus. This picture is brilliant in it's execution.

I don't put things in my favorites very often, and this next picture was pretty damn close to going in there. the glow on avondale is another example of what you can get by being in the right place at the right time and having a keen eye for the perfect situation. This picture has so many different layers to it that make it intriguing on several levels. The way you go from the shadow, to the beam of light, to light clouds to dark clouds makes the whole setting very interesting. It's like you have a little bit of good weather, bad weather, day and night all in the same picture.

reversing practicality will play tricks on your eyes at first. The first time you look at it, it looks like something abstract that someone did in a 3D rendering program. When you realize that she actually made plasticware do that? That's when it really hits you just how interesting this sculpture is. Anyone that can take broken plastics and make them into something that really looks cool deserves a look, in my opinion.

Just so that you all realize that she is in fact versatile, the last piece I want to highlight is i is for inertia. For those of you poetry lovers out in the crowd, this is certainly a poem worth reading. Poetry is not one of my strong points (as you all know), so it was hard for me to really grasp the meaning of the piece, but it seemed to me that she really used a lot of good words to drive the feeling out onto the page. If photography isn't your deal, check this out and I'm sure you'll be checking out the rest of her stuff in no time.

Mary has been a great person to watch over this time, and a great person to be watched by. She always tries to offer a helpful comment and is always happy to receive comments from other people, even if they can be critical. As I said, I haven't been watching her for very long, but what I've already seen is enough to make me interested. I know that I will be waiting to see what the future holds for her, and I hope that some of you will be doing the same.

Devwatch - tangledweb ]]> ~draco490 http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/2456059/ http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/2456059/ Fri, 21 May 2004 20:30:05 PDT Mood: Still Alive

I figured it was fitting that I start off my devwatch with the person from whom I stole the idea. This man is the ideal person to watch on deviantART. Not only does he actively participate with the people on his watch, despite his busy schedule, but he also manages to post excellent deviations regularly. His art is always fresh, due to the fact that he is so incredibly versatile, ranging from writing to photography to photo manipulation and back again. As I said before, he's incredibly active with the people on his watch, making meaningful comments and constructive criticisms that really show he took the time to look at what you did. In addition, somehow he finds the time to go through his entire watch and say something nice about each person on his watch, as well as why he's watching them. It is going to be a bit ironic that a chunk of people watching me probably came from his journal, but those of you that haven't visited him yet should definetely take the time. A few of his deviations are definetely my favorite above the rest (although they are all really quite spectacular), so I'd like to share those few with you here.

To start with is a piece called Of Sunsets and Comets. Ever wish you could capture the sun at just the perfect moment? Well here it is. The colors in this piece are absolutely amazing and the timing had to have been so perfect that moments sooner or later could not have yielded equal results.

Everyone that has been through his gallery has more than likely seen the series that included the picture Clones . Frankly, it's just cool. Taking many many pictures of himself and then wrapping them all together so neatly that it almost makes you wonder if he weren't octuplets. Personally, I think we could use this many of him anyway, he's a pretty cool guy.

Moving onto his prose, you would come across The State of Patriotism in America. This well thought-out piece not only serves to show you how well Sterling writes, but also how intelligent he is in regards to the things he writes about. When he writes something, he doesn't do it half-heartedly. This piece shows how he takes a subject and goes from start to finished, pleading all sides of the case in an educated manner and then stating what he believes the solution to be. It is my opinion that this is one of the most intelligent pieces I've read in my time here on deviantART. And for something so political to hold me right until the very end? It was impressive.

I only consider it proper to include the piece that I first encountered of Sterling's. This was a daily top favorite, ironically and daily deviation which was ironically titled DTF. This is another piece that's absolutely brilliant. It is, in fact, the reason that I started watching Sterling. This piece talks about the difficulties with deviantART and the community and how he proposes things should be handled. His piece outlines very closely the same ideas that I hold about deviantART, and that common ground is probably the reason I started watching him. He later wrote a sequel to this called CRITIQUE.

Sterling does funny, too though. All of his articles tend to be witty but intelligent. Some of them, however, focus more heavily on the humor portion of that. If you're looking for something from him that is more on the lighter side of the DTF/dA arguments, check out The Unofficial Guide to deviantART Popularity. Being a humor writer myself, I always look forward to seeing other humor articles go up, so that I might learn from them. This one was no exception, and on top of that, I found it hilariously funny. The intelligent and bitingly sarcastic nature of this article really exemplifies humor writing at it's finest. Even the description drips with creativity. This is a spectacular read for anyone, really.

Sterling has been a great friend ever since I've met him and he's been a great help in pushing me to further my own work by providing constructive criticism to a developing style of writing. Everytime I post something I look forward to what he is going to say, knowing that he's going to have some interesting comment to make that, while I may not change it in the actual post, will account for in later pieces. Sterling is what I believe the... ]]> ~draco490 http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/2447354/ http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/2447354/ Mon, 17 May 2004 10:50:39 PDT Mood: Wow...

According to the counter on my page, I now have fifty deviations in my gallery. How did that happen? If I had known I was going to hit a nice milestone like that, I would have written something better for the fiftieth.

Two more exams and then I'm out of here.... Thank... God.....

]]> ~draco490 http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/2405352/ http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/2405352/ Tue, 11 May 2004 09:13:15 PDT Mood: Whoa....

So I reformatted my computer last week, which went pretty well, but neglected to put dA up as my main page. Seems that when I do that I forget all about it in the wild rush of finals. I'll throw myself back in later today and see if I can't catch up before anyone notices. Sorry about that, guys.

]]> ~draco490 http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/2317275/ http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/2317275/ Wed, 28 Apr 2004 13:56:04 PDT Mood: Annoyed
Listening to: Godsmack - Faceless

Got a new article going up today. Less funny, just more how I feel about an issue. Anyway, the answer to the poems of "A Statement to my Readers."

Poem 1: Ewe (Sheep was close, but it doesn't carry the right message.)

Poem 2: Guys (Men, again close, but won't make the phrase work.)

Poem 3: Rock (Same deal with stone.)

Ewe Guys Rock. ::grins:: Hope you all enjoyed.

]]> ~draco490 http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/2311867/ http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/2311867/ Tue, 27 Apr 2004 18:07:28 PDT Mood: Amused
Listening to: Godsmack - Faceless

So we had our first blue sheet teacher evaluations today, and it was for Professor Mason, the English Roots in Latin and Greek teacher. To bring you all up to speed, and to make a long story short, we've concluded he's a super villian. When you get an e-mail reply from him, you expect the text on your screen to be little cutout magazine letters. Anyway, the blue sheet evaluations are the evals that they get to read later. You just write a brief synopsis of their class for them based on four questions and an other comments section. For the interest of speeding things up, my friend and I broke it up so that he did two questions and I did two questions. I didn't have a camera to capture the moment, so I'll have to do my best to paraphrase what we wrote on the paper.

1) What did you like about this class? (TeenMagician)

The class was interesting and it gave me a chance to really expand my vocabulary. Also, it was an honor to study under one of the greater supervillians of our time. *wink wink*

2) What do you think should be changed about the class? (Draco490)

Perhaps give us an actual grade for the homework assignments so that we have a little padding for the quizzes and exams, for those people that don't test very well. Also, introducing more of your evil schemes into the course, so we can better figure out how to utilize words like diabolical (derived from Greek) would probably help.

3) What qualities do you think the teacher had that assisted him in teaching this course? (TeenMagician)

He was very interested in the course material and very engaged in what he was doing. Also, the rocket car that comes out of the physics building's telescope helped greatly as well.

4) What qualities do you think hindered this teacher's performance? (Draco490)

All in all, he was a very good teacher. Although, his constant plots for world domination often hindered the classes pantisocracy with his ideal monarchy.

5) Other comments (TeenMagician)

This was a very good class. I hope I get to take this again with you next time, Mason... next time.

I hope Mason get's a kick out of it. Look here for the answer to "A Statement to my Readers" tomorrow.

]]> ~draco490 http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/2237832/ http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/2237832/ Fri, 16 Apr 2004 18:59:01 PDT Listening to: Godsmack - Faceless

In case you all don't want the answers yet, don't continue to read. Many people have been requesting the correct answers to the riddles, and I'm not one to hold back for long (especially not when I have nothing else to do.) So, without further ado.

A Call for Help - Pencil. Few people missed this one.

The Phoenix of the Tundra - Icecubes. This one appeared to be harder for some and easier for others. The giveaway for this one was that they crack in water. I, not caring to have ice in my drinks, thought that this would be the selling point for many people. Apparently I should use my frozen friends a bit more often.

The Incorporeal Dam - Writer's Block. This one was apparently quite tough... which is good... since that's what I was going for. The problem is that with this article, it could have been a whole lot of different things. I don't think I narrowed it down enough to make it fair. But without referring to writing I'm not sure how I could have made that anymore focused for you guys. That's not to say that people didn't get it, but the majority seemed not to. So, Writer's Block it was. The other guess that I got that was the closest was a firewall.

Thanks to all of you that humored me and guessed at what the heck I was talking about. That was a lot of fun for me, and I hope that sometime in the future I'll be able to write something similar to those again. For now, I'm going to try to dig deep and get back to the humor articles. You all have a good weekend, if I don't get back here by then.

]]> ~draco490 http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/2228240/ http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/2228240/ Thu, 15 Apr 2004 10:16:11 PDT Mood: Tired

Ahhhh, it feels good to be eight dollars poorer and an asterisk richer. I can't tell you guys how much I like being able to view comments without going to each of them individually. Good times, good times. That's all I had to report, actually. Look here tomorrow for the answers to all three articles.

]]> ~draco490 http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/2210288/ http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/2210288/ Mon, 12 Apr 2004 19:48:14 PDT This is awesome. That's all there is to it. Go there and enjoy it. ]]> ~draco490 http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/2181887/ http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/2181887/ Thu, 08 Apr 2004 20:18:52 PDT Crystal for giving me such a wonderful image to work with. I hope you all like it. ]]> ~draco490 http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/2169883/ http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/2169883/ Wed, 07 Apr 2004 06:51:39 PDT Crystal has expressed an interest in doing. That works fine for me, since it means I'm not searching half-heartedly through Google's images, trying to find something fitting. I'm looking forward to seeing what she comes up with. In the mean time, you'll have to wait until she gets the picture done to see the article.

Have I ever mentioned how school sucks sometimes. I was just sitting here, minding my own business when *WHAM* three exams on Thursday. I thought this must be wrong, but when I double checked, I learned that God just likes cruel jokes. Other than my personal life being forcibly removed, everything's going pretty well. I wish they could space things out better (although granted that two of the exams are the same teacher for different classes, one right after the other).

I have psych of aging soon. I still need to shave. Oddly enough, however, I can't see to remove my ass from my chair. Quite a predicament we have. ]]> ~draco490 http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/2120765/ http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/2120765/ Wed, 31 Mar 2004 06:36:04 PST ~draco490 http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/2102894/ http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/2102894/ Sun, 28 Mar 2004 15:25:53 PST ~draco490 http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/2015523/ http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/2015523/ Tue, 16 Mar 2004 18:58:29 PST
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Added one more artist to the list. On another note, 250 questions, all matching, one hour. I can't feel... anything.

---------------------------------------- -------------------------

I'm not going to talk about anything that I'm doing right now, I'm just putting some stuff up here so that you all can be directed to what is good and wholesome in this world.

*mirkah

Raving Trio - If you can't handle glowstick trails, you may not want to go here. Otherwise, it's a feast for the eyes.
Eternal Darkness Humor - A very interesting take on how the darkness will finally arrive.

*tangledweb

Guide to DeviantArt Popularity - This essay is so sarcastic you can taste it. It is apparentely a big hit, and I enjoyed it a lot, so if you haven't read it yet, get on over there.
Missing the Sun Rise - This is another great installment in an already great series of pictures. Check this out and then check out the ones he's done previously. You won't be dissapointed.

~hibbary

scribbley dragon - All I can say about this is that sometimes the things that are done in the hastiest fashion can turn out the best.

~lokno

Now this is the Final Fantasy - This portrays Pikachu in a role that he was never meant to play. Jon is all over taking Pikachu and applying him to strange universes. Go ahead and check it out. You won't be dissapointed.

Pikachu Roivas - I can't complain. A melding of Eternal Darkness with anything else is bound to be interesting. Ever since Mirkah's goofy little sketch, the dorm has been on an overload of Eternal Darkness ideas.

~zenphoenixa

Black Hole Sun - Zen's art is always amazing, if not a bit bright for my tastes, but this one is by far the easiest on the eyes. I'm glad that I've had her on my watch for as long as I have to see art like this.

~barnabus

The Roads, Just Take One - I honestly can't say what I enjoyed about this poem that made me like it so much. It has such a good flow and rhythm, combined with one of the most interesting starts I've seen in a while. Just go read it and see if you agree.

So there you have it. Now I have to go make sure all the links worked.

]]> ~draco490 http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/1971261/ http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/1971261/ Wed, 10 Mar 2004 19:29:46 PST Mood: Now Way Underpaid

This piece definetely doesn't need anymore attention than it's already gotten but it's just so good. For the sanity of the artist, if you're commenting, make it a good worthwhile comment, as he already has 888 comments to wade through, and probably more before I even finish this post. I realize that this whole thing is a link. I'm hoping that you'll click on it even if you didn't mean to. The piece is just that good. It's titled "Guide to DeviantArt Popularity." So go bug the man, and only post intelligent comments so that he can manage to hold onto the last bit of sanity that he has so that he can bring us more articles like this. Sterling, great work, man.


---------------------------------------- ------------------------

And half an hour later, I find myself at the end of a long period of typing. I've made all the comments I can bring myself to make. Heck, in the last one, I just talked about climbing trees. Yeesh, I'm losing my touch. I should be able to check back more often now, but I can't promise any good comments, as I said before. You all take care.

---------------------------------------- -----------------------

... does not help me get good grades.

I'm pretty sure the video card is gone. When you start the computer, and you get all the specs in black and white? Yeah... I got colors. And it flashes.... What can I say? I'm talented. I'm not sure when I'll be able to be commenting or when I'll be able to post anything up again since such is the way with us poor college students. I'm hoping to have a new video card (for better or for worse) in there within the next two weeks, provided that it indeed what is wrong with it anyway. If I get a free moment on my girlfriend's computer (she's greedy and hogs all the time on her computer all for herself... the nerve I tell ya) I'll try to do a little bit of catch up work. I saw a few things on there in particular that were really interesting, and if I had anymore time I'd already be writing individual comments. Alas, it will have to wait. I hope you all are doing well, and I'll check back in as soon as I can.

]]> ~draco490 http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/1908685/ http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/1908685/ Thu, 26 Feb 2004 08:07:17 PST Mood: Underpaid

I don't get enough money to do this crap. They should pay me to go to school... I'm doing most of the work here after all. The teachers just have to recite the same thing they've recited for years.

Okay, that's rather unsympathetic, and a lie. The teachers do a fine job. I finally caught up on DA and I forced myself to write something new. Good times, I hope. Anyway, just a brief update to let everyone know that I'm not dead, and that I hadn't forgotten about the hundreds of posts that you all seem to make while I'm not paying attention. ::shakes an unruly fist::

Just for the record, it's going to be a catastrophe next semester when I have all these great big words to use, and I can't remember how to use them...

"Oh yeah, I just confabulated all over the place."

"What? No, I wasn't the one that perpetrated the dog."

]]> ~draco490 http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/1794947/ http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/1794947/ Wed, 04 Feb 2004 18:32:08 PST Mood: Not So Bad?

So after the first week of college, I don't have much to report. My classes are making me feel intelligent, which means I either have no concept of what they are talking about, or they're trying too hard to teach something that isn't. I hope you all enjoyed those writings that I had posted in the earlier entry, they were all muchly worth reading. For those of you that didn't read them, shame on you. You should learn to recognize talent when I shove it down your throats. Those three'll be so dissapointed to learn that there are some people that have refused to recognize their genius... Or they might not care, my brain has fizzled at this point.

It's not from being taxed in a manner that has me extending my knowledge, but from the sheer amount of work that I'm doing... most of which is mind numbing. Two exercise sets due on Tuesday and Thursday for English Roots in Latin and Greek (which is probably the least annoying thing I do). Problem sets in Economy every Monday and Wednesday. Half a chapter of Psychology of Aging every Monday, Wednesday and Friday (About 25 pages of microscopic text that talks in circles). A chapter of ancient greece culture and a chapter from Greek literature (read: excerpts from Hesiod's Theogony or Homer's Iliad.) There's also reading for Econ and English Roots, but I can't see the point. I'm going to take the practical knowledge, and leave the book knowledge behind, unless I need it. And of course, reading for Experimental Psychology.

What really gets me about Experimental Psychology is the sheer lack of experiments. None in fact. What was labeled as the "lab section" has come to be known as the discussion section. The mind-boggling way in which they have arranged this is to have the class's lecture start at 8:30 and run until 9:45, and I'm okay with that. Then we have "lab" at 10.... How does that make sense? Shouldn't we have some time to actually develop some confusion about it? Some time to actually let the lecture sink in? The first time I get the material is from the book, for the readings for that day. Then I get it again in class. Then again in discussion. By the time I'm hearing it in discussion, let me tell you, I've stopped caring about whatever it was they were talking about. The "I'm going to beat you to death with this knowledge" method was one that never really worked for me. I prefer the "make better use of my time and actually learn something" method. Of course, there is the pop-quiz curve ball, which it does seem they intend to use, so I better stay in line.

If you've made it this far, you must be pretty bored. Perhaps as bored as I am now? As a result, I'm going to leave you at this point to do something else.

]]> ~draco490 http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/1708661/ http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/1708661/ Wed, 21 Jan 2004 22:17:07 PST Mood: Really Rather Cruddy
Listening to: The Silence of Insanity?
Reading: Crossroads of Twilight

Wow. Okay, I'm making a new post of it. People are turning out things left and right that should be recognized, so I'm redoing this.

Edit: I know! Let's add more!!

~myrth

artificial

~triptychr

The Man in Manicure

*tangledweb

Missing
The State of Patriotism in America

If you haven't perused these three deviations yet, do yourselves a favor, eh?

]]> ~draco490 http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/1681948/ http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/1681948/ Sun, 18 Jan 2004 21:48:12 PST
Mood: Really Rather Cruddy
Listening to: Digimatic's Simon's Town from Castlevania

Just for the record, TangledWeb is really turning out some real gems lately. This one, in prose, called State of Patriotism in America. Once my brain unwinds from reading it, I plan on leaving one heckuva comment to let him know how much he should really write more prose hint hint this sentence didn't run on at all shut up. If you all know what is good for you, you'll be heading over to TangledWeb's gallery to read up on some very good stuff now, and taking a trip to see some nice photography as well. Well? Why are you still reading this? Get moving!

--------------------

Well... apparently I was just kidding. I can't take a break even when I want to. Since I can't, I decided to be productive and go through the deviations I've let pile up. In particular, I had to mention Missing by TangledWeb. If you all aren't watching that man by now, then you need to go check that out here: [link]

It's a piece that really makes you think, something that all of us could use a little more of sometimes. Go there and enjoy that piece as much as I enjoyed it and maybe take a little bit of it's message to heart, eh?

]]> ~draco490 http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/1654355/ http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/1654355/ Fri, 09 Jan 2004 17:31:59 PST
All right, so here's the scoop. I'm closing a rather important chapter of my life, and it's comin' down kinda hard. I have had a lot on my mind the last few days, and I'm going to have more in the days to come. In light of that, I'm not planning on participating in the deviantART community in a big way. For those of you that post comments to me, or have posted deviations during this time, I will be saving all those messages and making an honest to make some meaningful comments in the future. For those of you that I've neglected recently, I apologize whole-heartedly, and hope to see you all still active and moving when I get back. I'd like to say a special thank you to TriptychR and TangledWeb for being so supportive and interested in my work. I look forward to seeing more things from you in the future. I'd also like to add a small bit for myrth, who, while much newer to me than Tim and Sterling has given me a lot of useful advice on my poetry, for which I'm very thankful. I'd like to thank Mirkah for revising all my works up until this point and making sure that people were picking on more important things than comma placement and spelling errors. I'd like to thank everyone that I've spoken with at any time on this forum in any meaningful way for helping to inspire me in my writing, even when I was running low. I sincerely hope that each and everyone of you is still around when I get back. Thank you all.

]]> ~draco490 http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/1561162/ http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/1561162/ Sat, 20 Dec 2003 17:34:57 PST ~draco490 http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/1454434/ http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/1454434/ Wed, 26 Nov 2003 13:33:22 PST
Enough of that. You all have a good Thanksgiving. I'll still be popping in here as per usual to attend to comments and deviations. Enjoy the food and festivities. ]]> ~draco490 http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/1413071/ http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/1413071/ Wed, 19 Nov 2003 20:37:43 PST
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You all are hereby formally commanded to go read TangledWeb's CRITIQUE ([link] ). No matter how good you all think you are at commenting, this piece is a lesson in exactly what it means to be appropriate on this forum. This well-written essay can help anyone to fully appreciate the nature of criticism, and the fine line being constructive criticism and destructive insults. If you decide not to read it, you're doing yourself a disservice. ]]> ~draco490 http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/1349537/ http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/1349537/ Sun, 02 Nov 2003 10:37:09 PST ~draco490 http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/1322032/ http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/1322032/ Sat, 25 Oct 2003 17:11:54 PDT
[link]

We had artichokes for dinner, the rest of inconsequential. If I could make a dinner just on artichokes, rest assured, I would. For those of you that haven't yet had artichokes... they're not in season right now, but when they are, stop depriving yourself. I've lost my focus. No more to report for now. ]]> ~draco490 http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/1254139/ http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/1254139/ Thu, 09 Oct 2003 06:42:28 PDT [link]

If you guys don't take the time to read through it, I would say that you're depriving yourself. ]]> ~draco490 http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/1199653/ http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/1199653/ Wed, 24 Sep 2003 15:06:29 PDT ~draco490 http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/1195627/ http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/1195627/ Tue, 23 Sep 2003 14:28:35 PDT ~draco490 http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/1104149/ http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/1104149/ Wed, 27 Aug 2003 14:54:25 PDT , , and for being so late on my responses to their art. I put it off so long that they kept piling up, and eventually I didn't feel like I could get it all done. The more there was, the less inclined I was to do it, so I'm sorry for that. Everyone reading this should go ogle over their stuff for a while to prove that I'm sorry. Yes... you prove I'm sorry for me. Do my bidding. Do it now. ]]> ~draco490 http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/1028813/ http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/1028813/ Sun, 03 Aug 2003 19:25:07 PDT . That one will always find a way to make you laugh. If you want to see some beautiful photos then the place you would want to head over to is . Enough said on that. I have nothing else on here. ]]> ~draco490 http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/1006427/ http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/1006427/ Tue, 29 Jul 2003 19:03:20 PDT for some really great art. And contact if you want to see the pictures from the Clothing series in a more expedient manner. ]]> ~draco490 http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/995290/ http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/995290/ Sun, 27 Jul 2003 10:19:16 PDT or I shall smote thee. I wish I had spent more time on that crater-faced smilie, because they I would feel it justified being almost as popular as any writing I've done so far. That said, I'm glad that the people that were supposed to enjoy it did in fact enjoy it, as well as some other people. My last writing was a little weak, at least in terms of humor, so I'll try to go for a double dose of it. Also, I have working on illustrations for the Clothing series. That should be more than interesting when she's done, and I'm looking forward to seeing it. Its been a rather dull few days as I'm just getting back into the swing of going to work on a daily basis, and they changed so much around in the two weeks I was gone that it almost irks me just to be there. In terms of games I must say that I am enjoy Planetside. Its not that the game is special, or the mechanics are incredible, but there's something about a 50 vs 50 vs 50 battle that gets the adrenaline pumping. Also, I've been making my usual Warcraft III round, but I just wish the expansion had made it a faster game. I still find that there is really only one big battle, and if you lose then you're not likely to rebuild before they get to your base. Perhaps I was spoiled by Starcraft, but I liked the aspect that you could say "I'm going to do something kinda stupid and crazy" and it would work out. Starcraft was an immense game in terms of strategy. There was no strategy that would just blow someone away everytime, because there was a counter-unit for each unit. Warcraft just doesn't seem to hold the same theory. I admit that there is now more strategy involved, but truthfully, I just think that Warcraft is now my game to play player-made maps. Anyway, enough of that, no one really cares that much about what games I'm playing anyway. Hopefully I'll have a good topic to work with soon and I'll punch out a good piece of writing. I wouldn't hold your breath though. ]]> ~draco490 http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/826993/ http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/826993/ Thu, 12 Jun 2003 18:27:29 PDT ~draco490 http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/655950/ http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/655950/ Thu, 24 Apr 2003 17:55:34 PDT ~draco490 http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/651715/ http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/651715/ Wed, 23 Apr 2003 12:14:29 PDT ~draco490 http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/624365/ http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/624365/ Tue, 15 Apr 2003 08:43:22 PDT ~draco490 http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/621704/ http://draco490.deviantart.com/journal/621704/ Mon, 14 Apr 2003 13:11:17 PDT ~draco490