I know nobody was losing sleep over this last night. In fact, I know I didn't. But I've got a little bit of PTSD so I'm going to vent.

So you may have noticed the last two pics I uploaded here:

Alistair 2025 https://www.furaffinity.net/view/61153826/
Nigel 2025 https://www.furaffinity.net/view/61154841/

These model sheets mention that the newly revamped characters have "god-like powers." This is basically a concept I've had going back for DECADES. At various points it's been called "Silver Rainbow" or "The Battle or the War?" but it's never cohered into anything. I've commissioned stories and art based on the concept but as I've found it a bit dramatically lacking, I've never built on it. I tested the waters with "The Battle or the War?" but it got such a negative reaction from fans that I hid the whole thing away again.

But based on conversations I've had with an online friend, I've decided to give it one more go. The title, "Yours Truly, 2095," is borrowed from an ELO song and implies that this is in the future. In "Loonatics Unleashed" fashion, the Newshounds characters have manifested in the late 21st century with unbridled powers that they use for their own amusement -- kind of like Greek gods, really. There's a lot of toying with mortal lives and such, but in the end they can hit the reset button as they please.

The story ideas are basically inconsequential;  graveyardgreg did an excellent example for me that I hope he'll share, or let me share. There's no continuing arc or character development, it's just magical beings doing magical things episodically.

Thus, the point of this journal: this is NOT supplanting "Projection Edge." In fact, it's not even a minor focus, it's just "out there" in case I decide to do something trippy, causing a newbie to read it and go "Huh???!" "Projection Edge" does have all the character arcs, themes, plot ideas and epic storytelling I've always wanted to do. "Yours Truly, 2095" is just meant to be fun and playful and weird. And when I'm inspired to do something in this vein, I can share it, and the world can enjoy it within the context I've laid out here.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk. Please check out "Projection Edge" if you haven't already: http://projectionedge.thecomicseries.com is a good place to start for archive binging. "Projection Edge" is still going to be my masterpiece, if I have anything to say about it. This, on the other hand, will just be me letting off some fun steam.

So just popping in to upload "Intangible" I find out two of my dearest friends and fans may be moving to Canada or Ireland. I had no idea this was even happening.

I guess a lot of people are staying on FA because of the political whatchamahoosis going on (which I don't want to make light of but I'm coming at this from an "I've seen this before and it's happening again, light before dark, then back to light" point of view). Social media is full of angst and what-have-you and while I get it, it's also the only place I have any reach. I left Twitter. You gotta leave me something.

I don't really have anything against FA, besides there being a lot of old art I don't really like to look at anymore. Still, I could just clean that out if I wanted to, except I've tried that and the work never completely gets deleted.

I'm also so very caught up in my own comic that I'm not sure I consider myself a "furry artist" anymore. It really takes a lot out of me to draw anything non-comic-related, and while I do like making people happy drawing their OCs, I've also been burned a bit by people who just take advantage of me and then leave. It's not so common that it affects me that much, but it's still a factor in curating the extracurricular art I produce.

I should still post more here. I feel a little left out by people who are leaving BlueSky and I want to continue keeping in touch. I don't like the fact that I missed a major life change my friends made three whole months ago. I'm already sad from losing the friends who have died, drifted away, or just... don't want to speak to me anymore. I'm gonna be 56 in a little while and I already feel like I've crossed the line into "old one who's seen it all," and it already feels lonely. Or it would feel lonely if  timtylor weren't here.

I don't know if I belong here, but I want to know that the people I care about are all right. For that, it's worth staying. And someday, maybe I'll post here again with some regularity.

I totally forgot to ask any FA folk who watch me to nominate "Projection Edge" for the Ursa Major Awards. And now it's too late. If I don't get nominated as a result, I'll understand why and beg your forgiveness,

So I found out today that when Ken Penders was given the responsibility of writing the "Sonic the Hedgehog" comics in the nineties, he was also given the following guidelines... paraphrased:

"So, uh, yeah. This guy's a hedgehog. And he runs fast and stuff. And he's so cool. And there's, um, maybe a couple of other characters. That's it. You figure out the rest. Can you do the first issue by tomorrow?"

Oh my God.

I could not imagine being thrown into that situation without thinking, "You guys are going to see the most amazing Mobius epic ever. You've never seen exocosmic interconnectedness until you've seen hedgehogs and multi-tailed foxes discover it on the edge of time and space."

... for 12 and under, of course.

Okay, just letting you know where I am and how I am as of 5/15/22.

Tim and I have now been married over 6 1/2 years. Still happy with the luvverly mouse.

My Dad died nearly two years ago. So between my sister, Mom and Dad passing away, I've lost 75% of my immediate family and only have my brother left. That's... sobering.

I've been working at a construction company for five years now. It's not great, but they like me and they cut me a lot of slack, and many of the people are nice, so I manage. I still would prefer do my comic full-time, but hey, dreams don't always come in pipes.

And speaking of, "Projection Edge" is still at the Patreon at http://www.patreon.com/newshounds and at Keenspot at www.projectionedge.com. I've drawn 318 pages of it to date, although a lot of them haven't shown up yet on either site. I'm very much enjoying the comic, though I need a little bit of a break to get my head together to do some writing.

I still have diabetes but my A1c has been 6.6 for two years, so that's good. That said, however, I've had some fluctuating neuropathy issues that have made me somewhat nervous.

Still have two cats, Groucho (8 1/2) and Keaton (6 1/2). We also feed a couple of strays, a Siamese mix we named Harold and a fluffy black and white cat we call Tufty. Tufty's a bit of a headcase, but he can be well-behaved when he wants to be.

Double vaxxed, double boosted.

Believe it or not, still hopeful about the world's future. I know. I just don't do despair well.

It's been really difficult to draw anything recently that isn't the comic (http://www.newshounds.com for those not on Patreon.) I've had a lot of stress and scary stuff these past few weeks, and I've mostly been trying to cope with real life. I've got a tablet now for easing myself into working digitally, but I'm nervous about it all the same.

I will try to draw more stuff outside the comic at some point, but right now it just isn't happening.

Today marks 20 years since Newshounds officially began on the internet.

I had some wild and high dreams on November 1, 1997. Albert Temple was there then, and is unfortunately not with us now. The strip changed, morphed, and now I'll be doing two comics, "Infinity Refugees" and "Projection Edge" (the latter for Patreon subscribers).

It's been a crazy 20 years. I don't know if I'd recognize the Thomas of 11/1/97, or even if I could stand talking to him at a party. But I'm still here. The viewers have dropped off, but the train still keeps chugging away with cool stuff. Thanks for sticking around! :)

So about four years ago, Dave and Joel introduced me to "Avatar: The Last Airbender." Every time I visited them we would watch about two episodes, which made the story go rather slowly. Then, one Christmas, Joel got me my own copy (go Joel!). By this time I hadn't seen it for a while, so my enthusiasm for it had died down. I told Tim we could watch it together but he'd have to see the first season by himself, and I'd join him at the second season, where I'd left off. Slowly my enthusiasm for the show grew again, until midway through the third season I discovered I was rapt. Right now I've just finished with "The Boiling Rock," and I realized what a good thing this recent viewing of the series has done for me.

It has been very hard to say goodbye to Newshounds once and for all. The three-volume set is my "bow" on the story (I didn't call it "complete" for nothing) and a self-inducement to move on. Maybe "Newshounds" wasn't a person, but I was still in mourning over it. Sure, I've got some other projects on the horizon, but I'd put my heart and soul into this for so long, and I loved the characters and stories so much. I still do. And I still don't want it to go, even though there's nowhere else to take this story. (It doesn't help that it didn't become the massive success I still believe it should have been.) Somehow, I had to work on disengaging from it; I had to FIND a way to let it go.

Avatar has been helping. I'm amazed at how well-done some of the turns in the third season have been. Admittedly, it's a flawed show. Characters are inconsistently portrayed (lookin' at you, Sokka kid; also, I don't believe Zuko and Mai as a couple) and some of the goofy faces get on my nerves (especially in the first season). I do have to remind myself that the clunky expository dialogue is there because it's targeted to be a kid's show.

But it's got so much going for it. The painstaking martial arts awareness and mythology-building are just a bonus buttressing the interconnected stories and the sense of wonder with every new episode. There was so much thought put into the series that I wouldn't be surprised if it spent more than five years in development. It's magical, it's amazing, and it's thoroughly engrossing.

And to make that mean a little more, be aware I don't actually LIKE a lot of things, apart from music. This is an admission I make freely. I'm somewhat engaged with Star Trek TOS/TNG; I like my friends' webcomics; and I enjoy some of the classic, zanier Britcoms. It really takes a lot to get me into something, because most of the time I'll just get impatient and want to get back to making my own stuff. Passive entertainment does nothing for me. I want to create, create, create... and the only reason I don't do it more is because DAY JOB BARELY MAKES RENT.

Avatar has broken that barrier. Once I finish the series I may move heaven and earth to get the sequel series, "The Legend of Korra." I'm not going to be super-fanboyish about it (I do not want a bunch of Aang maquettes for my cats to knock over) but I do think it's an excellent - maybe even transcendent - series worth watching once, even twice. And for once, I've thought to myself, "Well, if I didn't make it, that show DID, and that proves to me there is good in the world somewhere." That attitude is helping me to move on.

In the future, I may make more detailed posts about plot points and characters I liked and disliked. We shall see.

(Crossposted from Dreamwidth.)

So I know a couple of people have wondered about why I chose a certain character arc for Renata-- namely, her "connection with the Om." "That doesn't really seem like you," said one friend. "Usually your comic is a bit more 'real' than that," said another. They're basically right. I thought I'd go ahead and offer my initial rationale for the plotline.

All the time I was growing up, I'd heard (and occasionally seen examples) of dogs and cats being unusually prescient of natural disasters. I grew up in an era when such modern folklore prevailed in an "In Search Of" sort of way. It didn't hurt that my mother was constantly repeating "Cats can sense when an earthquake is coming!" As a result, this concept was ingrained in me as a "fact." For some reason, dogs and cats were psychic when it came to earthquakes and tornadoes. They somehow felt the vibrations of the earth and that's how they knew. Come on, we can't ASK them, after all. And the evidence is before our eyes!

So when I was beginning Newshounds II, I thought, "Hey, what would happen if Renata tapped into that skill (that all dogs in real life naturally have, of course they do)?" It became a fascinating idea to explore. I figured it would be somewhat confusing, unruly and unmanageable. I figured it might cause more distress than euphoria. Supposedly, when a dog senses an earthquake, a dog whines, puts his tail between his legs, and hides under the bed. Renata would basically do an "anthro dog" equivalent of that.

It was only when I was about a quarter of the way through the story -- only THEN -- that I decided to do online research about the phenomenon. And almost immediately the internet was telling me, "Yeah, whatever, it's an insane idea based on superstition and hippies and non-science, what were you thinking?!" I was crushed for two reasons. One, that a deeply held belief I'd had all my life was crap. Two, that even at this late age, I kept taking it as a given when I should have known better.

By now, it was too late to change anything: Renata was being Ms. Psychic all over the place and I'd already decided on where it was going. What was I going to do now, deconstruct the plotline and back out? It would have been mortifying. No, I'd made my bed and I needed to make the whole thing work.

So I decided, what the hell, I'll own it.

Renata's journey was turned into a metaphor for how we should face daunting challenges, and make them work for the greater good. Her "connection with the Om" was more about her being strong in the face of confusion, and molding her limited understanding to help others. To me, it became a powerful arc. It became so strong that I forgot about its pseudoscientific origins. The religious and spiritual iconography wasn't important--it's cod Hinduism-Buddhism. Her story was about making something potentially terrible into something wonderful. To me, it became the most important story in the book. As I've joked with others, Renata's talk with Lorna before the Big Meeting at the end amounted to, "Well, that's the end of the comic, now here's the Meaning of Life." And I did labor over that section. I allowed the art to just "sit there" in order to allow sufficient providence to say what I wanted to say (in Renata's voice and character, of course) so I'd get it right the best way I knew how.

I'm just going to say it: I did great. People can disagree, but I did just fine.

If it hadn't been for Renata's "spiritual" personal growth, I don't think the story would have meant so much to me. It would have been fun, sure, but the oceanic climax is what sells the purpose of my art. And sure, I don't think I want to get much more pretentious. I'll just say that maybe I could have gone about the story differently; I think I overdid the "random psychicness" bit, for instance. But it ended up in a place that I loved. And for someone who appreciates the destination more the journey, I'm very, very, very, very, very (okay, one more very) VERY satisfied.

Lesson: Don't do strange yoga if you're a dog or a cat in the Newshounds world unless you're ready for a mental struggle. It's HARD SCIENCE!

EDIT: Some people have told me that, yes, animals' susceptibility to warning signs of disasters could well be real. So maybe I wasn't so "off the reality bus" as I thought I was. Thanks, folks!

(Crossposted from Dreamwidth.)

So here's one of, I hope, at least a few "behind the scenes" posts about Newshounds that I want to make over the coming year.

Thanks to all the folks who bought "Newshounds: The Complete Story" at Anthrocon this year. I really wanted to go out with a "bang" with this, so I did as much promotion as I could. I don't thing I did a bang-up job of it, but I don't have a public relations consultant. Therefore, I went with "Oh, that might be fun to draw." In any case, it was very important to make some kind of impression at AC, because...

Newshounds is over. Over, over, over. It actually WAS over when Newshounds II ended in 2014, but my desire to flesh out the "Newshounds I" story in graphic novel form took over my brain. Once that happened, I felt I needed to run it on the site to keep Newshounds relevant until the project was done. And now the project is done, in time for Newshounds' 20th Anniversary!

There's just nowhere to go with the core story anymore. Even though I'm doing comics as a labor of love as opposed to Maybe This Will Be My Big Break, with one or two exceptions, I don't think there's any more work to be done with the main characters. Believe me, I already miss them, and sometimes I wake up and think, "Hey, maybe I'll put on 'Zombie Nightmare' and draw another page... oh." But that's the thing... "Newshounds: The Complete Story" is just that... complete. It may not be perfect, but it is what I consider the ultimate presentation package of a thing that still means a lot to me.

"Yeah, you don't have to convince us, Thomas..." Okay, moving on then...

So what's after this? Right now, a drawing break. Gonna do a couple of commissions, then visit friends for two consecutive weekends. Gotta do some special comics for the Patreon subscribers (July might be a little late, stay with me!) Those comics will be little interludes involving the characters after the epilogue. Just fun little doodles.

Then, it's time for "Infinity Refugees." I'm still pretty motivated by it. The beginning might stay as it is, because it's generally fine, but I'm going to reexamine it somewhat over the summer.

I also have another idea for a side comic about the coyotes. It's actually quite a good idea and very relevant in a metaphorical way. We'll see if that gains any traction within my skull.

Thanks! Next post: Renata, what's the deal with her? (Spoiler warning!)

Get it in a half hour. alistairkatt@hotmail.com.

Update: CLAIMED.

Come in and see what all the fun's about!

Pencils, $5, two characters, $10
Inks, $10, two characters, $20
(Elaborate backgrounds or props $15 extra)
Color, $25, two characters, $40
Full comic page, $90, Color $110

Thank you, folks!

Paypal at alistairkatt AT hotmail DOT com.

Ryan wishes to gauge potential attendance, so if you are interested, please read: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/8151592/. It will be held in the East Bay Area.

 genecatlow, artist, writer, raconteur and beautiful soul, has passed away. I am currently at a loss for words. He was a gentle, kind person, who inspired me more than anyone else. He was the first person I met in the furry fandom. I am still reeling at the loss.

More information can be found here: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/8120166/

If I can gather my thoughts together on this, I will write more. Right now, there's too much to process.

UPDATE: Thanks to everyone for their kind words.

Actually, VERY open for commissions.

VERY VERY open for commissions.

I'll beg if I have to.

Pencils, $5, two characters, $10
Inks, $10, two characters, $20
(Elaborate backgrounds or props $15 extra)
Color, $25, two characters, $40
Full comic page, $90, Color $110

If you can help, bless you, bless you, bless you.

Paypal: alistairkatt[at]hotmail.com

Emergency has struck. Tim and I need a quick $15, so we're offering one color commission for only $15. Two characters, $20!

I'll be at work this morning so I won't be able to monitor this, so if there are two requests before 12 noon, we'll do it! Delivery date, no later than SUNDAY NIGHT.

Because this is mostly for Tim, the paypal address is different: timtylor@gmail.com.

Thank you folks!

UPDATE: Got a commission and an anonymous donation. Thank you so much. You're all very kind.

 timtylor and I are definitely going, but this time it'll be only Friday and Saturday.  bearsculptor, my friend and ride, has other things he's doing on Sunday, and I'm probably going to need that day to get a comic page done.

Since I've stopped being a dealer, I find I get everything I want to do done by the second day anyway. I feel bad if I missed anybody on Sunday, so I hope I don't!

The bank withdrew some money for a credit card payment that I didn't need it to make. Therefore I am willing to do a commission tonight by midnight. If you're interested, here are my fees:

Pencils, $5, two characters, $10
Inks, $10, two characters, $20
(Elaborate backgrounds or props $15 extra)
Color, $25, two characters, $40

I could really use $25 tonight, but I will keep this open until tomorrow. Thank you.

Hey folks. If you want to help out a lovely couple who's strapped for cash because of their car disintegrating, why not try a commission from my beloved  timtylor? He does lovely work with shading, sketching, coloring... and most of all... 3D work!

Pencils: $10. Here are some samples:

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/16572075/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/20005763/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/20282093/

Colored drawings: $20. Here are some samples:

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/10179649/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/12542293/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/10029736/

3D headshot renderings (and these are quite exceptional!): $40. Here are some samples:

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/21839017/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/15555750/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/12833221/

If you're interested, drop him a line on FA...  timtylor. His paypal address is timtylor [AT] gmail.com. He really does lovely work and he can do it quickly for you! Thank you so much!

All my fans and all my Patreon patrons -- you're wonderful.

I've crunched the numbers and I think I can safely say I can finish the Newshounds Trilogy project feeling secure, if everyone keeps up their contributions through July.

It's actually made me think I could possibly up "Infinity Refugees" to TWO times a week, once it gets going again. We'll have to see, a lot can happen in eight months, but my motivation on the current project is pretty damn high right now.

It helps to have awesome fans and friends.

Click here: http://www.easypolls.net/poll.html?.....b0977968eb8936

Add some thoughts here, if you like. Not really fishing for compliments, just seeing who's made the biggest impact with all the writing.

In time for Newshounds' forthcoming 20th anniversary, I've decided to set up a Patreon so that I can make ends meet while I finish the comic book. I go from my goal being humble to my goal being unreasonable, but that's what happens when what you're doing is mostly a labor of love you hope everyone else enjoys.

If you've got a spare coin to kick in, you'd have my gratitude. Every little bit helps!

I'm going to put up a pic or two on the main page to help promote it. I also have to fix up the site to announce it.

Thanks, folks!

https://www.patreon.com/newshounds

I've gotten a few new watchers thanks to  maxgoof's recent journal entry. Thank you all for joining my humble world! :)

Okay, I'll admit it, we're panicking over money, but we'll get there.

Pencils, $5, Two characters, $10, simple prop, free, elaborate prop or background, + $10
Inks, $10, Two characters, $15, simple prop, free, elaborate prop or background, + $15
Color, $20, Two characters, $30, simple prop, free, elaborate prop or background, + $25
B&W comic, $80, Color comic, $110

Limit three! And I'll keep you posted. Thanks!

Paypal: alistairkatt[at]hotmail.com

UPDATE: Two taken. One left!

UPDATE 2: Still only two, but I'm going to close it now, as I have another thing I've got to do this weekend, so that eats up a little time. Thanks, folks!

When I was a kid, I would make up characters that lasted all of ten seconds just to give them weird names. I can't REMEMBER any of those names, but they were all just odd combinations of syllables like "Purndren" or "Azeper." I used to make up pretend cities so I could name all the streets. (When Sim City came around, the fact that you couldn't name any of the streets seemed to negate its whole worth to me.)

So it's funny that later in life, naming characters became the most difficult thing ever. And worse, I chose bad reasons to name characters a certain thing, or didn't realize how dull a character's name was. So I'm going to go through all of the characters i've had in Newshounds and Newshounds II (these are characters who appeared in the graphic novel; if they only appeared in the strip, I'm ignoring it).

Alistair was the first character I came up with in 1983. It was a name I found in one of Mom's romance novels. I just loved it on sight, and when I came up with a tuxedo cat character design, that was his name. It's not bad. it's very distinct and has a sort of "literate pretentiousness" (see Alistair Cooke) that sets him apart from the rest of the cast... besides being a cat in a sea of dogs.

I came up with Kevin later in 1984, as a dog character to be teamed up with Alistair. At the time I felt "Kevin and Alistair" had a ring to it. My brother later pointed out that I subconsciously ripped it off from Kevin Kubacheski and Alasdair Gillis of "You Can't Do That On Television." (To those of you too young to remember a time when Kurt Cobain was alive, it was a Canadian kid's show that appeared on Nickelodeon. Its main shtick was pouring water and green gak onto kids' heads.) Once Kevin evolved into an ordinary shmuck, his ordinary name fit him pretty well. Heck, MST has made jokes that heroes can't be named "Kevin." My poor pup will never be a hero.

Renata was the name of a classmate in college. I heard the name and fell in love with it. I think it fits her now; it's unique and stands out as much as she does.

Ferris may have come from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," but it certainly wasn't deliberate as I hated that movie. Again, a unique enough name, and if you do equate it with Matthew Broderick's breakout role, it fits him as a "lovable troublemaker." There is a touch of mischief in the name, I think.

Sam was named after a stray dog that was wandering around our apartment complex. Simple, to the point, unassuming, just a name. Sure, that fits. He could never have been an "Alistair."

Wolfram was a parody-twist of Wolf Blitzer. (I can't believe that guy's still around and relevant. Did Walter Cronkite last this long?) Here's where I think I've fallen down some. He does look like a "wolf," but he's not. His name has a sort of Teutonic quality which I don't think he shares. And the fact that it originated as a parody name stains it. You can't write a serious graphic novel about "Yogi Bear".

Lorna is interesting, actually. Up until today I couldn't tell you why I chose that name. But then I thought.. i think it was subconsciously an attempt to give her an unflattering, old-fashioned name. Sorry to any Lornas out there, but it can make you for-LOOORRRN and LORRRRRN-some to have a name like that. The idea was that she couldn't be defined by her name... she wasn't a "Cindy" or a "Missy". Her name had a "woody" gravitas, a serious undertone, that made her unlike everyone else.

Rochelle is just a lovely name, and somewhat exotic to me. I thought it fit her exotic nature (most of which turned out to be a sham). It's a quirky enough name to make her character seem enticingly unusual.

Hal O'Peridol is another parody name. All my attempts to work around that name are pretty horrible and stick in my craw. Here's what happened: I came up with the name, wrote a couple of strips, then at the LAST MINUTE decided he would be Renata's own stalker dog. And then he became an interesting character in his own right. With a goofy name. What is wrong with you, Thomas?

General Swallowemup/Byron Kerslake... This one was so bad, I retconned the original name as a joke nickname, though who in their right mind would call anyone "Swallowemup"?  egypturnash, at a comics panel, couldn't believe I came up with "Swallowemup" and went straight for the innuendo. Which never occurred to me. Which makes me hate myself more. By the way, "Byron Kerslake" is named after two members of Uriah Heep, David Byron and Lee Kerslake. "Byron" is also named after the famed poet, who Mom brought me up to consider a sinister individual.

Della's name has a weird origin. Back in the day, some kid's program displayed a drawing onscreen of a nerdy-looking girl in a sweater, with two voiceovers reciting the hoary joke, "What did Della wear? Her New Jersey!" And for some reason that stuck in my mind to the point where my nerdy girl dog got named Della. So I have to recuse myself. Della = geeky girl to me, and I have no objectivity to work out whether or not that's accurate.

Randy. Well, she is, isn't she? That's why she and Sam broke up. Maybe it's a bit too on-the-nose. She got more complex towards the end of her life, so the name just became a name to me.

Nigel... okay, this actually took some thought. Alistair was going to have a boyfriend. I wanted to think of a cool name, an atypical name, a fun name. So I came up with Nigel, a name Bill Holbrook was currently using (at least Kevin had been grandfathered). For whatever reason, my Anglophilia considered anyone named "Nigel" a more thoughtful person. I'm okay with it now...

Malcolm was named after Malcolm McDowell. Emma was named after Emma Peel (Diana Rigg's character in the original "Avengers".) I figured Rochelle would go for the exotic, dashing English types for names. Bullseye for once.

... Oh, man, I have a lot of characters. I'll have to split this into two entries. More later.