All caught up, cleaned up, and have regained control of my out-of-control account at last! Throw in a vacation and all of a sudden I'm a productive little rabbit. Now just need to make sure I keep things current. :)

Gonna take a rare chance and opine on politics, as these are extraordinary times we're living in right now (and I've already seen people starting to talk about it, like you,  Lei-Lani who've I just read).

The more I read about this Brexit vote, the more of a foreboding I feel. The truly terrifying part is that the same fear, ignorance and hate that drove Leave voters are also driving Trump voters here. I guess if there's a positive to come out of this from our standpoint, we (as well as the rest of the world) will get to see this ideology at work, and with any hope, some lessons can be learned ahead of our own elections in November. Unfortunately, however, Americans are not known for their intelligence, nor their ability to learn from history. :/

This article paints the clearest picture I've yet seen:

https://www.theguardian.com/comment.....ntry?CMP=fb_gu

Lei, this is why I don't share your enthusiasm.

Heard about this bloke on WNKU, a local public radio station. Not a furry artist, but I like the style, and def like the subject matter! If I had the money, I could see having one of these for our wall. At any rate, I give him my bunneh seal of approval. :)

http://millergallery.masterpiecesol.....g/hunt-slonem/

After almost a month of trying to get back into my account, I was FINALLY able to get access today! (cue 1930s "Happy Days Are Here Again")

Actually, having grown so frustrated with the admins and the wait to get my account back I was already in the process of creating a new account when I got the confirmation code today. I hated the thought of losing all my watchers and artwork and such, but I was getting restless. And, FWIW, starting all over again fresh had a certain appeal as well.

But now I'm back, and what a mess I have on my hands!! So, I might start over again fresh from the standpoint of system restore. I'll never be able to comment on all the people's journals I need to comment on, so please forgive me as I delete them whole. I'll never be able to comment on those wonderful pics I'll be putting a fave on, so please forgive me as I keep fave it sans comment.  dsand101 and  PhloppyBunny, haven't talked to you guys in a long time; hope things are well for you.  charrio, nice to see you at your artwork again.  melwhite and  Ellen-Natalie, always nice to see new stuff from you guys as well! Been missing a whole lotta people!

Well, let's see... I think that's about it. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a crap-load of cleaning to do. *grabs mop and bucket*

Cheers!

Had some vacation time coming to me late last week and early this week, and I was able to carve one of those days out for a marathon drawing session. The result - you guessed it - NEW CRITTERS DROPS TOMORROW!

For those on my Facebook Fan Page, the cartoon drops today. One of the little privileges of membership, you know...along with factoids, news, sketches, and other such things, like:

"True or False - I was intending to welcome my first LGTBQ character to the cast of Critters.

The answer is..."

Stay toned!

:)

Love to stay and chat but I've eggs to hide for all the spoiled little bast- er, I mean good little children... ^.^

Being married to a canuck as I am, you eventually start picking up some of their preferences. In this case, HOCKEY!!

I've always kinda liked the sport, but it really took off with me after Michi and Toronto set my feet on the path of hockey righteousness. Unfortunately, this Cinci town is such a big bad baseball and even worse football town that NHL hockey just isn't supported. The closest we get is the lower ECHL, the Cincinnati Cyclones. And while the home team is a very fine one and I'll always root for them, things could get a little more complicated if this team came to town:

The GREENVILLE SWAMP RABBITS

You just gotta love a gift shop named the Hop Shop...

http://www.swamprabbits.com/


Rabbits REPRESENT! :)

I finally see the actual implications to FA's new way to posting artwork. I personally prefer the old way better, but that's the way of it; guess I'll just have to evolve and adapt to this new way of doing things. Next up: reworking my gallery.

Been rather remiss in my FA postings, but for those following along at home, Don Cheedle's movie, Miles Ahead, that Betty ad I are in was slated for a Fall 2015 release following it being picked up by Sony Pictures Classic. Now it's being pushed back to Spring 2016. Here's the story - plus a clip! (NSFW) :)

http://www.eurweb.com/2015/10/don-c.....o-spring-2016/

You see the upper part of Betty slide by in the background at :10, and a full-view shot of us leading Cheedle's car down the street comes in at :58.

By now I don't (or, can't, for that matter) really appreciate just how big my car looks to people, until I get to see her relative to other cars around her as in that second view. Betty is one big girl!

"There was peace, and the world had an even tenor to it's way. Nothing was revealed in the morning the trend of which was not known the night before. It seems to me that the disaster about to occur was the event that not only made the world rub it's eyes and awake, but woke it with a start, keeping it moving at a rapidly accelerating pace ever since with less and less peace, satisfaction and happiness. To my mind, the world of today awoke April 15th, 1912."

-Jack B. Thayer

Sound familiar? Thayer was a Titanic survivor, but the date he noted could easily be changed to this date and the whole entire quote would still be just as true. To my mind, the world of today awoke September 11th, 2001.

I know a lot of people were too young to remember 9-11 or weren't even born altogether. But for those of us old enough to remember, it was something we could never forget. So, this is my little tribute...my remembrance, if you will - simple, plain, quiet, and hopefully stripped of all the jingoism and obnoxious nationalism that always seem to be gushed forth by those American Exceptionalists this time of the year.

Trying to put a pulse back into my artings again. Over the weekend, I finally did a little sketch doodling to see if I still remembered how to draw. Felt fun! Figure I'll make me a new avatar and update my Critters comic page cover pic on Facebook.

Oh, and looks like Sony Pictures Classic picked up Miles Ahead, thus ensuring the movie WILL have a theatrical release. No word on when, tho one source I found said it was going to come out in the fall. No previews yet.

Well, prolly my girl more than me... You may recall one year ago this month Betty and I were involved in a movie shoot here in town, Miles Ahead. Here's a link to a USA Today write-up about it; Picture No. 6 in the photo gallery caught a good shot of me and Betty in action (others are in my Scraps folder): http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/.....nati/12382329/

At the time, word from the movie people was that as a way of saying thanks for supporting his project, Don Cheadle was going to make Cinci one of the cities that premiered MA when it came out. Well, as time passed and as the June-July premiere date approached, I could find no new information on when Cheadle's movie was coming out. Eventually, Michi found some news on some movie website that Cheadle was trying to find a distributor for the movie. I figured it was dead project.

But then, this broke late last week: http://www.okayplayer.com/news/don-.....-festival.html

Looks like Miles Ahead - and all its background cars, including Betty - is still alive after all! Kind of a disappointment that there was still no mention of a regular theatrical release, in Cinci or anywhere else. Maybe Cheadle's looking to this film festival as a way to get his movie in front of potential distributors or other such industry types for later release to the general public, I dunno. But either way, I may see my girl on the big screen yet. :)

Man, I'd forgotten what a kick-ass show it was until I saw some of these clips!

Enjoy. :)

http://mentalfloss.com/article/3062.....out-animaniacs

Beverage bunnehs FTW!

http://laughingsquid.com/accommodat.....-upon-request/

Still popping in to FA now and again. Still keeping busy with other stuffs keeping me away from my drawing table, but the house is coming along. We might be able to sell it and move in the spring yet.

Merry Christmas and Hoppy Holidays, everyone! Whether you're by yourself, your biological family, or the one you created for yourself, whatever you celebrate and however you celebrate it, I hope you're able to enjoy the time just the way you want. Special shout out to those for whom 2014 has been unduly bad. I feel for ya; Michi and I had the same terrible, EPIC FAIL-filled year in 2011, where we had nothing but one bad thing happen to us after another, all year long. Fortunately, 2014 was a rather breakout year for us, and with 2015 looming large we're looking forward to even bigger and better things ahead. May all your troubles soon be gone, and those Christmas lights keep shining on. :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1rYmzQ8C9Q

Apparently, there was a furry con in town last weekend:

http://www.furreality.org/

I had no idea; didn't make any of the media that I could see. Even funnier, the hotel where the con was is less than 20 minutes north of where we live. In fact, it's at the same hotel my company uses to hold its company-wide quarterly meetings!

Not that it really would have mattered. I was already booked last weekend. Friday I had to get ready for a train show I had on Saturday, and I had a car show with Betty on Sunday. Haveta keep an eye out for next year...

Moar bunneh overload! I could totally rock living on a rabbit ranch like this... :)

http://msnvideo.msn.com/?channelind.....2-a07efc060b0c

Finally found a few minutes to doodle out a lil' something that came into my head: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/14477150/

Would you believe it's been so long since I drew anything that I actually had to go back to my cartoony books as a refresher? Took a while to get back into the swing of things, but it all started coming back pretty quickly. I should do more stuff like this. :)

Hi, gang!

Well, I'm afraid it's official: after nearly 25 years the CrittersOnline website is no more. After taking almost two days for Yahoo Small Business to respond to the trouble ticket I submitted to find out what happened to my website, I get an auto-generated email from them saying, basically, "Here, click on this link which will lead to a series of useless questions which will ultimately lead to you having to call our 'Hotline of Endless Doom' (AKA their customer service). Oh, and by the way, you're not a Yahoo Small Business subscriber anymore so we can't help you." At least according to my CC statement that we just received yesterday Yahoo is no longer billing me for a website that doesn't exist. So, kiddies, that's it - the end of Critters' online appearance at last.

I do, however, wish to stress the point that this IS *NOT* the end of my cartoon - just the web presence as I had before. I'll keep drawing even as I no longer have an official website with which to showcase it. On my end, I feel rather "Meh" about it. I mean, yeah, it sucks to lose what I had built up and maintained for so long. But at the same time, with as small - and quiet - an audience as I have/had I was increasingly finding it difficult to justify the expense of a website that so few people visited for a cartoon that so few people read and that I have so little time to draw in the first place.

Moving forward, I do rather fancy having a web presence for my art. And tho my audience is small, I do like catering to them (yeah, I'm one of those rare reader-friendly artists who try and get to know each and every fan and what they think). So, I'm thinking at some point when I am able to get back to my cartoon with any frequency that I'd like to take out a domain name again. Like my Garagemahal when we move, I built CrittersOnline once; I can build it again. In the meantime, I'll keep my FA account up and running as I always have and will post stuff to it (and the other place where some of my art is, my Critters Cartoon Fan Page on Facebook). But until then, farewell, CrittersOnline.org. It was a fun ride, and you disappeared looking the best you ever had.

Just to let you know - as if you haven't already figured it out - Critters remains on indefinite hiatus. Reasons are the same as they have been all year, namely, with Michi working every weekend and every holiday, all the housecleaning and home improvement ahead of a future sale all pretty much falls to me now. In other words, still no free time for drawing anymore. After we move and get settled into our new place that should change. But for the foreseeable future, I'm afraid my comic remains dormant. Dormant, not ended.

Last night I discovered that my CrittersOnline website is MIA as well, and, apparently, has been so since at least the first part of April! Gives you an idea of how little I've been there, doesn't it? Unfortunately, Yahoo's customer service is proving to be ridiculously useless as I'm currently trying to find out what's going on (yet, they've been charging my credit card for site service all along!). My fear is that it's a lost cause and that I'll never get the site back. However, in that case I'll either completely rebuild CrittersOnline somewhere else with another provider, or I'll simply start building a comic library with a free hosting site like DeviantArt. Will keep you posted.

Before you give to that charity at some con somewhere, note very well...

http://www.awesomeocean.com/2014/07.....harity-rating/

Not really surprising, IMO. The more a charity advertises or stays in front of the public's eye, the less money it needs from you. Meanwhile, in some piss-ant shelter that nobody hears about and that barely has the money to keep the lights on, animals are being euthanized because staffers can't find homes for them...

With so much ugliness and violence going on here and abroad, thought this would be a nice change in direction.

Rabbits FTW!

:)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/.....tml?1408551768

In Civil War re-enacting, we try to create an impression as a way to more fully immerse ourselves into the life and times of the 1860s and make the experience a little more real. For those furries who are of the feline persuasion, here's a little somepin' to assist you in your furry impression.

Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUANIvNmYzQ

Well, kids, Tuesday's last day of filming for 1970s cars was the proverbial ending on a high note. Whenever we go to these filming sessions, Betty and I never know what's going to happen; with movie people it seems to be a lot of "hurry up and wait," followed with "here do this" one moment and then "no, don't do that, do this" the next, with a lot of waiting to do anything at all. So, I had no reason to believe anything extraordinary when I joined several other drivers Tues. afternoon at 1, especially when I heard that the day's shoot would consist of simply letting Betty sit on the street all day and maybe having the cars moved around once or twice. I wasn't nearly prepared for what happened next...

After getting us drivers gathered up and checked in for the day, Greg, the production assistant who coordinated action with the cars, took me aside and asked, rather with some honor, "We were so impressed with the work you did the last time you were here, would you consider being a taxi driver for this scene?"

Wellsir, to quote a line from a Pulp song, I said I'd see what I could do! :) So, off to wardrobe go I to get dressed for my new occupation, tho oddly enough I wasn't issued an actual uniform that a NYC cab driver would wear. Seemed like something more a regular person would wear. And my ride, as it turned out, was the same '70 Ford Galaxy 500 they had on the first day's filming that proved so troublesome. And yes, it was just as troublesome on Tues. as it was on the 7th; the choke was a mess and the idle speed was completely fubar, meaning the bloody thing wouldn't stay running unless I kept my foot on the gas, especially when it was in gear. The guy who was in charge of the production-owned cars tried to get in some quick adjustments but there was just no time to do anything meaningful.

But, none of that really mattered to me, 'cause guess who should be parked immediately behind the stars' Jag and getting ALL kinds of lovin' and attention? BETTY!!

Here's where it pays not to spend your life being a douche or asshole to people - they will want to do stuff for you! And in this case, when it came time for Greg to position cars in for the scene, he brought Betty up and right in front of EVERYONE! Even as mechanical problems effectively killed my being able to drive the taxi through the scene, I had a ring-side seat as I watched the filming action swirling around Betty and the Jag.

Even between takes, some of the crew seemed to take a liking to my girl, especially when it came to her hood. People always seem entranced by the texture of Betty's hood, and always have this uncontrolled urge to touch it to investigate. Well, some crew members were the same way, according to Michi. You know who else was apparently checking her out being where she was? None other than Mr. Obi-wan himself, Ewan McGregor! :) :) :) Not only that, at one point in a between-takes lull McGregor actually took a break and sat on her front passenger corner! :) :) Oh, if ONLY I had a camera on me at the time!! There is probably only one other person who I'd let get that personal with Betty - namely Michi. Now, I can count two. :)

When that scene wrapped up it was time to migrate the autos from Race and 15th where we were to the next street, Republic. For those not local, I don't need to tell you guys of the reputation that Over-The-Rhine has. 20 years ago even the police didn't want to go into parts of it, and certainly the riots of 2001 cemented the notion that OTR was dangerous in the minds of many a Cincinnatian - especially the white-bread conservative ones in the 'burbs. But let me tell you, since they really started gentrifying the neighborhood in 2007 it's not nearly the gang-bangers waiting around every corner to rob/assault/rape you and break into your car like it was even ten years ago. I felt perfectly at ease the entire time, and in fact I started becoming fascinated with the buildings that still bear traces of OTR's German past, boarded-up yet prettied-up as some of those buildings were. Some of the people living around there turned up to see what was going on outside their doorsteps, and the crew seemed more than happy to let them hang out. Due to the nature of the session, Greg and some of the crew were constantly having to move them to different corners to get them out of the shot, but they didn't seem to mind. Perhaps as a way of saying thanks for their patience and understanding, during one take the camera car included them during one of their pans. I'm sure it'd be nothing for the production company to delete that take since the whole movie seems to be filmed digitally, but it'll give these OTR people the thrill of a lifetime.

When evening came, it was time to break for dinner. Greg told us drivers to lock the cars and secure them, but even as darkness was falling I really wasn't overly concerned about leaving Betty where she was on Republic (near the corner and right in the shot when the camera car goes by). When we came back, I had a rather new problem: I couldn't unlock the car. It's probably been years since I locked that car - I never have any reason to, I never take her anywhere where it would require locking - and not surprisingly they were stiff to come unlocked. The driver's side lock kinda moved when I tried the key, but the passenger side was simply having nothing to do with coming unlocked at all.

So, what could I do? I walked down to the other end of the block where a couple of cops had the street blocked off to traffic. As far away as they were, by this point they were there more to simply block traffic than provide any meaningful safety and security to us drivers, and Republic isn't all that well-lit. Would you believe that neither of these guys had anything to unlock a car with? I rather assumed every cop car came full of tools for situations like this...but apparently not!

Greg was bringing our cars one by one around back to Race St. for more filming (it was also where all their equipment and such was). When he finally came around I told him about being locked out and he put in a call for whatever studio guy is in charge of matters like this. He called the police and after a time a cop came up who had the tools to get me unlocked.

So, finally unlocked, I'm good to go again. One by one the cars were brought around until Betty and this other '76 Buick Skylark who was used in the previous sequence shooting are the only ones who remain. So, we wait...and we wait...and we wait, and it's getting later...and later...and later. The other guy starts reading in his car (how, I don't know - it was pretty dark where we were). I break out my portable DVD player and start watching The Fast & The Furious 4.

Remember my saying OTR being such a bad neighborhood is largely an outdated notion? Well, I don't know if it was because it was such a cool night, or it was a weekday night, or maybe both... But sitting there in the car in the dark on one of the most infamous streets in the city I experienced...pretty much nothing at all. There were some people sitting outside enjoying the nice evening, but to my surprise the majority of what I experienced was peace and quiet. Indeed, in the entire 11.5 hours I spent in OTR on Tuesday I heard just one police run and one ambulance run. The only thing of any note that happened while I waited on Republic was when a trio of bored teenage girls wandered around where we were and I heard a hand running across Betty's rear fender as she passed by. Given the love and appreciation passing residents gave all us classic owners earlier, I knew there wasn't anything malicious going on, like she was scraping the car. I took it to be a simple caress of affection - hell, I do the same thing!

I got about halfway through the movie before I noticed the other driver get out and see what was going on with the filming. I did the same, and after Greg gave word for the Skylark to be brought around, he finally gave me the nod to come around to where everyone else was at last. It was going to be another street scene sequence. Greg left me a spot to par- er, I mean, dock Betty, but I had to parallel park her to do it. I don't need to tell you guys how I felt all eyes on me as Betty and I came up, and felt the pressure to try and successfully do the other thing I generally avoid doing - parallel parking my big Buick. I'm not too proud to admit I nailed it on the first try... :)

This time, camera love fell to this guy and his black '73 Chev SS who drove in front of Cheadle and McGregor when they move to cross the street. Was of course rodded out for racing and had some very un-'70s racing rims, but hey - better his gas and wear and tear than mine! I think the movie people thought his car was too loud, as he was told that as soon as his car cleared the stars, cut the engine, turn off the lights, pull over and stop. I was waiting for them to give me the same chance; do all that with no power steering and no power brakes on a car that weighs over two tons? I DON'T THINK SO!!

Finally, filming for us '70s cars wrapped up about 12:30 am and we were done. Only this time, when I talked to our casting director, Betsy Hodges, we were ALL done. From here, there was going to be some flashback filming with the '40s and '50s cars, but for us '70s guys, this was it. It really did feel like the end of the last performance of a theatrical production for all us auto extras. Those of us who were done said our goodbyes and good lucks to those who still had more filming ahead of them; I said my heartfelt goodbyes, good lucks and uber thanks for the opportunity to Betsy and Greg, and then Michi and I disappeared into the dark for the last time.

Miles Ahead is slated to come out some time next year, and the word I had was that Cinci will be one of three cities in the country to premier the movie when it comes out in the US. I'm rather thinking of suggesting us movie car guys be given premo parking as way of setting the scene for the affair. ;)

Taken from  rabbitfangs Rabbitfangs' journal. You simply can't handle all the bunneh contained therein!

http://www.pinterest.com/Mallorvcollins/buns/