Unfortunately, I'm Not Immortal Yet.

That's pretty, isn't it?

At least two parrots live there.  I'm sure of it.



Hi there.

Fair warning: It's been about a year since my last post, so this is going to be a really long one.

I told myself I'd post again when I got 800 views.  Yes, I know that's hardly any.  I also know 800 seems like a pretty arbitrary number, but I like the number 8 and I needed something to shoot for.

Guess what?  800 views!  That took a REALLY long time!

Probably because I wasn't posting...

This likely amuses very few people apart from myself.

2012 has been an entire year for me.  A whole year.  Here's what happened.

Early on in 2012 (late in 2011?), I began work on a comic book collaboration with a wonderful artist and friend of mine, Kat Hawkins (previously Kat Ruhl), who ended up having quite a very busy year of her own, getting lots of work and getting married, and sadly withdrawing from the project.  This will surely not, however be the last you hear of Todd the Slug and his comrades in space adventure.  In fact, since you've probably never seen them before, here they are.

Left to right, Lieutenant Teddy Justice "TJ" Scuttles,
Todd the Slug, and Mr. Crab

I know -- you know next to nothing, if anything, about Todd the Slug, much less his friends and his great red rocket-ship, the Volar Daucus.
Why?
Probably because I wasn't posting...

The most interesting stuff to come out of my work on Todd (apart from the fantastic desigs that Kat produced and some wonderful conversations about alien ergonomics and rest-stops in space) has surely been my work on languages for my various fictional alien races.  I broke down the English language (because I'm writing in English for English speakers) and researched lots of other fun sounds that humans make with their faces.  There are lots of those, by the way.  I reorganized the sounds that humans make and independently discovered what I later found to be many of the foundational elements of linguistics.  Apparently, this kind of stuff interests me greatly and I find it fascinatingly fun!  Thinking about what different kinds of sounds can be made by different kinds of alien faces really is a hoot.  I listened to and dissected a bunch of recordings of primate and other animal sounds as well.

Do you know why Humans, as a general rule, don't use all the wonderful variations of the letter "H?"
Did you know there were lots of wonderful variations of the letter "H?"

Here's a thing!

Say this sequence out loud:  Tuh - Duh - Nuh - Luh - Ruh - Yuh
How about this one:  Puh - Buh - Muh - Wuh   (Repeat this one lots.  It's super fun.)

Did I blow your mind yet?
Probably not, but now you have some insight into what sorts of things I enjoy thinking about.

Rroto, the language of commerce of the Calmarrin people, from Calma. 

An example of the sorts of things I think are spectacularly fun.

So anyway, I began work on about a dozen languages, though at this point they're mostly just well-developed symbol-sets with pronunciations and usage guides and lack any serious semblance of vocabulary.  Can anyone help me with that?

I would love some help with that, you know, because I'm not actually a linguist.

I also went to New Jersey for a while to attend my family reunion and my cousin Steve's wedding and also to go to the beach for a few days in Ocean City.  Amanda had never been to Atlantic City, so we drove through on our outing to see Lucy in Margate and Amanda was equally thrilled and appalled.  We did not gamble in Atlantic City.  In fact, I don't think we even got out of the car.  We spent several fantastic days enjoying Ocean City, the beach, the boardwalk, and the illustrious sights of southern New Jersey, but I'm not going to show you any of that, because this other thing is way more important.  If you are able, EVER, please be sure to make your way to Captain Bob's in Ocean City.  Also, you should like seafood, because the sell primarily seafood.  I visit every time I'm back in Ocean City.  They are the best.  I can't even really explain it.  It's a happy place.

Best.  Scallops.  Ever.

On an entirely separate note, I started modding action figures and that's been fun.  The four humans here each used DC Direct figures with some switched parts as a base.  I've been using apoxie-sculpt for additions.  I also made my own from-scratch figures (though my own aren't articulated) of two of Magnet Man's three AI robot buddies  String is mostly wire and Putty is mostly Sculpey.  These were all fun little projects and I've bought up the cheapest and most versatile action figures that I could find in the right scale, so I'm sure I'll be making more.

Left to right, Ka-Pow!, Lady Saint, Rubberiffic,
String man, Magnet Man, and Putty man 

The next bit was sort of a big deal to me, because I'm me.

I went to Walt Disney World!  That was in October.  It was super fun.  I went with my parents and Amanda and we were there for a week, staying in Port Orleans.  It went by pretty fast, but I got to do everything I wanted to do.  I bought barely any souvenirs though, because Disney has severely downgraded the quality and numerousness of its fun souvenirs since I was a kid - including having excedingly few action figures and even fewer figures of foundational Disney characters, not to mention any basic versions of foundational Disney characters.
Fortunately, I did get to design my own pair of droids.  Here they are.

R2-88 and R5-X4

I also bought a very nice matted print of Walt Disney from a shop in Downstown Disney.

As an early birthday present, Amanda gave me a Jim Henson to go with him.

They're both framed now, but I have yet to find a place to hang them.

A few good sources of inspiration.

I found I loved Tomorrowland in a way that I never had when I'd been to Disney before.  All of that retro sci-fi architecture is really swell.  In Adventureland, I watched the Country Bear Jamboree for the first time ever and found it amazingly weird and fun.  I was once again disappointed by the Carousel of Progress, but was absolutely delighted by a gallery of the history of Walt Disney, the Walt Disney company, and Walt Disney World.  It was super interesting.  I also enjoyed a gallery of concept and background art that was up in Disney Hollywood Studios.  Also, I particularly enjoyed snorkeling through the "reef" at Typhoon lagoon.  I have a special place in my heart for rays.  They're the playful puppies of the sea.  Also, I nearly threw up after experiencing Mission Space (and so nearly did my dad), while Amanda and my mom were perfectly fine.

Fantastical Retro Sci-Fi Architecture from Tomorrowland 

Perhaps my favorite part of the trip was our time in Animal Kingdom, which exhibited arguably the most in-depth imagineering and park-design of all the Disney parks, and actually had a pretty astonishing array of animals with positively vast habitats.  We watched a tiger stalk and pounce another tiger just for fun!  There was a habitat for naked mole-rats designed like a giant ant-farm so you got to see the naked mole-rats at home!  There was a lion on a rock who yawned real big as we passed in our safari truck!  Also, Dinosaurs.

Some majestic lions nobly ignore us as we pass.

A gorgeous hand-written board explaining 
the finer points of giraffes and okapi.

A random planter, one of many subtle touches 
in the Animal Kingdom

Most of the trip was made amazingly efficient by Amanda's expert planning that somehow seemed to get us onto virtually every ride with hardly a wait.  We also got into a bunch of really excellent restaurants that made great use of our dining plan, including memorably delicious dinners at the Tokyo restaurant in Japan in Epcot, the cafe in the Polynesian resort, and a crazy buffet in the Animal Kingdom.  We were also there for the food and wine weekend, so we got to use snack credits on lots of small tasty specialties.

The Ewok Village.  
I want to live here.

This is a Dole-Whip.  
It's one of the best things ever.

Also, I got to meet my good friend Pooh and also Mickey.  These were wonderful moments.

When I met Mickey, it was late at night when the park was almost closed and there was this thing that looked like a magic show right inside the gates at Magic Kingdom.  Amanda and I were on our way out, but I said we should go in and see this backstage magic show thing with Mickey because it might be cute and I love stage magic, even when it's very silly.  She apparently knew what this thing actually was, but I didn't.  We went inside this building with no one to be seen and navigated extensive ropes and empty hallways to eventually come to this little secluded backstage area where there was not a magic show, but a meet and greet with Mickey - and it was just the three of us (and a photographer or two).  I instantly became a little kid again.  Actually, I did that with Pooh later on as well, but there were a bunch of people around Pooh and this thing with Mickey was just such a special way to end a day in the Magic Kingdom.

I was delighted.

Me & Mickey
(Sorry about the blurriness)

Me & Pooh.
So very happy.

What else happened this year?
Not much...

Most of my year was spent working on Todd.

I'm always trying to draw more...
I got several books by Andrew Loomis from the '30s that are just wonderful.  He is amazing.
Here's a very recent drawing I made of the Captain!  He's the best.

Captain Cosmo P. Quivers, space explorer  

I also discovered Portal II...  That took up a bit of time.
A bit of happy, frustrated, mesmerized, testful time.
I beat the game without looking up a single solution!

I'm pretty sure it's my new all-time favorite video game (not that I've played very many), but out of about a dozen, it's the best, and that puts it above Skyrim and New Vegas, which is really saying something, because Skyrim is an astonishing feat of digital design and Fallout is a just universe I'd love to live in (barring, you know, the constant threats to my life, like radiation poisoning, starvation, and tweaked-out cannibalistic raiders).

What else...

I discovered and fell in love with Adventure Time, thanks to my friend Joe.

I also greatly enjoyed seeing Wreck it Ralph, Frankenweenie, and the Avengers.
Skyfall was great too.  I love how they're finally making Bond an actual human.

I bought the yellowest pair of shoes you've ever seen...

Oh!

Here's a thing.

I'm working on something kind of big and important.
I've been researching and developing my ideas and strategies almost every day for several months.
I've been developing it for longer than that, really, but not so seriously before.

You know how I've been saying for many years that I wanted to someday move to the middle of nowhere and found a massive subterranean squid ranch?  Well, don't worry.  I'm not doing that.  You probably didn't know about that anyway.  As it happens, I've also wanted to make my own comic books since I was maybe 7 or 8 years old.  It's taken me a long time to realize what I want to do.  Something that can incorporate comics, books, and music - It's a pretty grand scheme.
Let me know if you're interested in learning more about it.

I'll likely be documenting my process a bit as things come together (or don't come together, but I'm being optimistic), so hopefully I'll have exciting things to report in the year ahead.

The name only seemed fitting:

Squid Ranch Media.
Inspiring progress through artful storytelling.

I like the logo, but I think it still needs a little work...
Maybe knock a few of those bars out of there...
Utilize the negative space a bit better...

Anyway, that's about all for now.

Oh, additionally, I had always thought that my 28th year would be the year I stopped aging.  No good reason for that.  None at all.  I didn't know if I'd become immortal or just die, and I found it fun that the ancient Mayans picked this year for their crazy-business, until I learned that they had actually picked a day about 30 years ago for their crazy-business, at which point I found it far less fun.  Important side-note; I believe (as a rule) in neither ancient prophecy nor physiologically impossible expectations of immortality.  Just putting that out there to diffuse the tone of this paragraph.  Anyway, it would appear that I am neither dead nor immortal.  No big surprise.  I always held on to the immortality bit, but I don't think it's going to happen with only a few days to go, even in an esoteric or symbolic kind of way.

Anyway, I'm nearly 29.  I've got a long way to go yet.  Perhaps immortality will come later.

With nanobots?
Maybe not with nanobots...
I wouldn't mind being uploaded into a synthetic body, I don't think...

That's probably not something I need to worry about right now.

Me: Presumably not immortal.

Anyway, that's all I've got.

I think this year I'm going to figure out how Twitter works.
I have lots of funny things I want to say about cavemen.

Okay.

Thanks for reading!  : )

I'll talk to you soon.

- Andrew

Post-Vacation Roundup

Hello There!

I've been away for a while.
I took a two-week vacation to good ol' relatively-tropical Lancaster, Pa.

That's where I grew up and is also where I keep most of my stuffed animals, sculptures, and old magazines.  I always love staying in my old bedroom.  There's the tiny twin bed that I haven't fit  since I was ten, the old coconut-monkey bank, the lone unopened bottle of Surge, the old Dick Tracy patrol car, the endless tiny drawers full of disorganized do-dads, the lovingly crafted robot-battling mushroom-folk...

That's about as nostalgic I get.

[ PA Roadside ]

The day after Valentine's Day, Amanda and I went to the Hershey Zoo (Zooamerica) and had a wonderful time.  As we entered the zoo, through what was essentially a ridiculous construction zone, I paid our way and had approximately the following exchange with the girl behind the counter.

Girl: ...and here's your map of the zoo, do you have any questions?
Me:  Just, um... did we park in the right place?  There was a guy out there who told us where to park, but no one else is parked there...
Girl:  No, you parked in the right place.
Me:  So...  is there... anyone else... here?
Girl:  What do you mean?
Me:  Like, anyone else visiting the zoo?
Girl:  Well...  there were three people who came in earlier this morning...
Me:  Awesome.

So, we had the Hershey Zoo completely, literally, to ourselves.  We walked around the entire place and didn't see a single other person until we were heading back out to the car.

There were many wonderful owls, lots of sleepy napping cats, a super-fun desert environment with road-runners and tortoises and quails.  At least, I think they were quails.  They appeared to be an appropriate visual inspiration for Quail-Man from "Doug."  That's pretty much all the determination I required.

Also, we went through Hershey Chocolate world and found they've added animatronic singing cows throughout.  That was pretty good.  We bought chocolate.  Double-thick Reeses cups...

[ Roadrunner Mischief ]

I also took a vacational opportunity to purchase a bunch of super-awesome sweet pickles with cauliflower and a container of red-beet eggs.  These things make me happy.

You know what else makes me happy?

Swords.

I came back with a bunch of those too.

Hey!  It got up to 70°F in Lancaster last Thursday!

It was amazing!

You know what else is amazing?

Driving for many hours through highly-hazardous mind-bending snowstorms with about 5% visibility.

That's pretty amazing.  

White-knucklingly, heart-poundingly, fate-contemplatingly amazing.

There were cars off the side of the road about every mile or so.  For hours...

By "amazing," of course I mean traumatic.

Anyway...

I had a great two weeks.  : )

Maybe more vacation stuff later...

Welcome to the Manniverse.

"filter" sketch - from The Story of Celia

Hello there.

I had been undecided as to a topic for my first blog post (which is not anything important to anyone but me), but I have recently been inspired.  Inspiration hit while hearing one of my favorite artists talk about the what and why of his life's work.  Our tales are not entirely dissimilar.  

So, I will begin my blog, The Way of Mann, by simply telling you what it is that I do.  Perhaps you'll feel inspired as well.  That would be swell.

  

When I was a kid (maybe 8?  I'll guess 8... ), it occurred to me that most grown-ups had no idea how to talk to children.  I figured most people probably just forget how to think like children as they grow older and that's why most adults have no idea how to communicate with them.  I suspect the idea was somehow inspired by Peter Pan.  I believe this specific type of loss is also the primary factor that so-severely limits people's perceptions of the world.  Adults tend to place importance on much more "reasonable" values instead of focusing on gathering new experiences and making new discoveries.  They are prone to become dependent upon a single set of ideas and close off their minds.  Most tragically, they stop wanting to experience wonder and many stop using their imaginations.  With all of this in mind, I've made a conscious effort for the past two decades or so to keep myself continually in tune with those childlike aspects of myself. 

In short, I don't want to grow up.  I promised myself that I wouldn't.   Then and there, at the ripe old age of maybe-eight, I vowed to never stop thinking like a child;  to keep discovering;  to keep living through imagination.

That's important.

Moving onward, I create things.  At the most basic level, that is what I do.  I write stories and songs.  I make music.  I work leather.  I sculpt.  I draw - lots.  It's all compulsive.  However, my most important creations are my characters.  The words, pictures, and music are important, but they aren't nearly as important to me as these fictional people I've come to love and the worlds in which they exist.  You might think that's a bit silly, or a bit obsessive, but when you take into account the time I've put into them, even just in the past few years, it begins to make a lot of sense.

In late 2006 (maybe?), I began looking back over a bunch of characters and stories I'd created before I was 12.  I kept this specific material safely tucked away in a thick stack of manila folders that I probably "borrowed" from my classroom at the time.  I guess I packed away all of that stuff around 1995 or '96.  So here, ten years later, I came back to it all.  Most of it was less-than-stellar (as expected) though very cute, but there was a lot of it that shined.  It shined in a way that showed me I had not been entirely successful in keeping my promise to myself, especially through those too-many years of college.

Eight-Ball - range of motion study - from The Story of 8

Though most of my creative efforts at that time were concerted in music, college, and whatever bands I had going, I was working on some stories as well, namely a sprawling and whimsical sci-fi, The Story of 8, which was nearly destroyed when my computer and my backup drive (!) simultaneously crashed each other and I lost virtually an entire novel's worth of writing and research.  Forcing myself to start over on that project really did a number on my brain.  It took months of filling notebooks (a medium that couldn't be lost to the digital aether) with everything I could imagine about that story; its worlds and its people.  This was, at once, a depressing and inspiring experience.  It was shortly thereafter that I turned to my childhood's folders full of superheroes, spacemen, cartoons, and creatures.  I pored over years of sketchbooks and notebooks full of innumerable childhood ideas and my imagination began to spark to life like it hadn't done in years.  I then began the invigorating process of bringing all of these childhood ideas up to speed with my grown-up brain.

The result has been – in a word – awesome.

That about fills you in.  I've been working hard since then, writing and developing characters, worlds, and stories that I've been secretly living with for ten, fifteen, sometimes twenty years.  Though, of course, new ideas arrive all the time.  Here I've created a unified world, split into many realities (realities that have a tendency to overlap on occasion), densely packed with fantastic characters, amazing places, and lovable life-forms aplenty.  There are superheroes.  There are intricate alien cultures.  There are magical dream beasts, noble yachdi, and inquisitive land-squid.  There are experiences and discoveries here that are far more than I can describe in a single blog-post.  

I call it – the Seamworld.

That's important too.

I don't want you to feel like I'm trying to sell you on my ideas, even though I kind of am...  I just want you to enjoy them.  I've been sitting on all of these ideas for so long, keeping them inside, letting them grow, evolve, and stew.  Now, I want to bring my creations into the world for others to enjoy.   Stories.  Characters.  Music.  Worlds.  Ideas...  That's kind of scary.  I hope that they are loved.

Anyway, that's what I do.  I create things.  If nothing else, I feel like I'm better upholding my promise to my 8-year-old self.  I'm still refusing to grow up – and I'm using my imagination more than ever.

I'm launching this blog in conjunction with my new website.

You can learn lots about my creations there.

WWW.MANNIVERSE.COM

You should check it out if you haven't already.

Magnet Man symbol - from C.O.G.

I'm pretty new to the blog thing, by the way.

Let me know what you think.

Rest assured, subsequent posts will be shorter.