I'm not a huge fan of the Halo games, but I kind of dig the lore. The last one I played was 3, but I saw a gameplay trailer of 4 and I was wondering is someone cold fill me in on a couple points? How did MC get off that half-a-spaceship? Why is he still fighting Elites? Didn't they switch sides?

What an idiot!

Some of you may remember that a couple years ago there was a fanart contest held by Naomi Novik, author of the Temeraire books. At about the same time I released a bit of Rule 34 called Glad for the Company, and even though some people liked it enough to show Mrs. Novik, I made sure everyone knew I wasn't planning on submitting it, lest I accidentally offend one of my favourite authors.

Now as it happens. there were so many submissions to this contest that in addition to the three winners there were a buttload of runners-up. So many, in fact, that they decided to release their work in a coffee-table book. As promotion for this book, the Temeraire website has been releasing the images one-by-one, and lo and behold today this happened. Evidently when I said I wouldn't be posting it, someone felt I was leaving it up for grabs.

I've already made an effort to get in touch with Mrs. Novik. Hopefully this will be sorted out soon.

EDIT: Near as I can tell, the person who's name is listed on the image commented on the pic originally, suggesting that I submit it. I'm choosing to interpret this as him posting in my name without my permission, rather than an attempt to steal credit, and that he was unaware there would be cake and prizes involved at the time.

Contrary to appearances, I have not abandoned the fandom! I've been working on a comic that will be appearing in Dragon's Hoard, and it's been a teensy bit more complex than I originally thought.

Fear not! Porn is still forthcoming!

For example, I have a new pic up right now! Go check it out over here!

So I bought a new computer. The old one was on its last legs and I wanted to do some gaming and bust out Photoshop's cooler features. It works great, with the itsy little bitty problem that it's making my Wacom drivers selfdestruct. I'm lucky to get twenty minutes of drawing in before it goes dead and I have to reinstall/reboot.

Anyone else getting this problem? I'm using a cintiq 21ux with Windows 7.

Is my mage's half-assed little mining animation.

"Hnnng, this is haaaard"

I always thought pre-orders were a scam. I've never actually seen them run out of a game before tonight.

So Homestuck just did something totally amazing, and I can't talk to anyone about it because I'm the only person I know who reads the stupid thing! This is very frustrating.

Between Team Fortress and Deus Ex I've been spending way too much time invisible lately. I was merging into traffic on my may home today and for a split second I thought "oh no! That pickup can't see me! We're gonna crash!"

Maybe I should go back to Medilc for a while...

An English cat and a French cat are having a race to swim across the English Channel. The English cat is called the One Two Three cat, and the French cat is called the Un Deux Trois cat. Who won?

...


The English cat. The Un Deux Trois cat sank.

Productivity's way down. Doctor Who is way up. That is all.

What the hell kind of smelting plant is open in the middle of the night like that? And who needs an entire transport truck full of liquid nitrogen? And why would the highway lead directly into a dimly lit, densely populated workplace full of molten steel?

Apologies for my minimal presence in the past few months. Truth be told I'm having trouble working. I use a Cintiq in my day job, and coming home to work on a tablet feels really weird by comparison. I've even got a new animation that's half-done because I can;t seem to make any progress on it. I've recently ordered a Cintiq of my own, though, so hopefully things will get back on track soon.

Okay, so...I'm confused. Why were the dragons fighting if that's such a bad thing? Why did Arren kill his father? What was this "One Thing" that could disrupt the balance, and why is it never mentioned again? Why is the disappearance of magic a big deal for thirty minutes and then never mentioned again? How does magic function normally, and how can ordinary people identify witches and wizards on sight? If Arren's split personality is the result of his fear of death, why does it make him go apeshit on people and start talking about not caring about life? Why did Sparrowhawk's powers fade inside the scary guy's castle? What are the implications of the girl being a dragon, and why does no one make a big deal about it? Is this kind of thing normal? Did we ever figure out what happened to the Balance? What was the significance of the sword, and why did crazy-Arren steal it?

The only question I don't have is why this movie didn't see a more elaborate release. I haven't read the books, and I shouldn't have had to. It was kind of a bummer to see the usual Ghibli-quality animation in the service of a story that makes so little effort to make itself understood.

Has anyone done Hard Luck Blues? I've gotten all the way into overseer's office and found the terminal with the glowing red keypad. It gives the option to shut the vents, but then it says that for security reasons that can only be done from the console inside the reactor room. I can't find any other rooms anywhere and I'm getting really frustrated!

When you are confronted by a man wearing the head of a mutated wolf as a helmet, surrounded by enormous dogs and faceless soldiers, and learn that he has recently done horrible things to a town of innocent people, he may be amused by your indignation. He may casually state that if you feel so strongly about it you're free to try to punish him. This is not the game telling you that it's time for a boss fight! This is the man with a wolf head for a helmet inviting you to do something suicidal.

I mean seriously. You just ran like a little girl from a single super mutant. What the hell made you think you could take this lunatic on?

So apparently fruit flies can live off beer. I'm never going to get rid of these stupid things.

Wow, the hurricane hasn't even hit yet and already the lights are flickering. This could get nasty.

Oh my god, I just bought a new Xbox. What the hell is wrong with me??!?!

My xbox got the RROD in July, just a few days after they announced the new models (hmmmm...) I borrowed the one from work while I tried to figure out how to send it off for repairs (which is so complicated, and the site so buggy, that I only recently managed to get an order form), but then that died too! So I was in the store today, and the thought of going another month or more without watching any of my movies made something small and sane snap in my head. I blacked out, and when I came to I'd spent three hundred less-than-necessary dollars. I look forward to this one dying under suspicious circumstances too.

On another note, I got my legitimate entry to the Temeraire fanart contest sent off (No, I didn't submit the porny one). Anyone whose commission I agreed to do only to drop off the planet can expect to hear from me shortly :D

Somewhere outside my apartment, someone has annoyed a skunk.

I am displeased.

Okay, so basically I was wondering this: I have a policy of not taking commissions of copyrighted characters. This is an extension of some very broad advice I was given in college: You're not allowed to make money off someone else's work without their permission.

My question grew out of seeing a bunch of furs selling prints of Pokemon and such at AC. I was wondering if maybe copyright laws were somehow more lenient on fictional species than they were on specific characters.

Turns out they're not, if you were curious. Just because he's your Charizard and he has an epic backstory doesn't mean Nintendo can't take all your money and kick in your teeth for selling prints of him. The other side of this, however, is whether or not they care. Suing most of us for our profits would probably cost more than it would earn. Still, I'll continue to avoid it altogether. My policy is unchanged.

So yeah, there you are, for all of you who were wondering what I was talking about :P

This is gonna sound a bit odd, but I don't suppose any of my watchers are well-versed in international copyright law? AC brought up a couple topics I'm curious about.

Come in and sit down, Philly. Don't worry about these people, they're just here because they're worried. We need to talk. I was flying over some of your suburbs the other day and I knew I had to step in.

I think you have a baseball addiction.

We've all noticed the way you've been hoarding baseball fields. There are eight of them on one lot over there, and six on that one, within walking distance! You've even got a few solo fields between them for good measure! I know it's important to have a hobby, but when you put this much effort onto something and the best team you get out of it is the Phillies, I think you need to start asking yourself if it's worth it. Maybe you should take up stamp collecting or something.

Oh, and New Jersey, while I've got you here: You know first impressions are important, right? Maybe people would have a better opinion of you if your airport didn't suck so bad.

I'd like to thank all of you for the sympathy you've shown  Dreamous, even if I kinda sorta may have made the whole thing up. The look on his face when I saw him today was absolutely priceless. In the future, I promise to only abuse your kindness if it's going to be really really funny.

Thanks again!

Hi Everyone!

I'm here at AC and just wanted to check in, and to give a quick shout out to  Dreamous. Doing the con thing takes its toll on the best of us, but it takes a real trooper to go the whole crazy weekend in a neck brace. Head on over to his page and give him your best!

Kudos to you, man! Get Well soon!

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