TFC.net

They new layout is up! Crikey, messing with all the php and css code for the blog gets annoying when you don't know what you're doing. I've tried to check everything, but if you do stumble across a link that doesn't work, or anything else that looks buggy, please let me know.

So. The story of this layout is this. When I mentioned that I was thinking about a new layout, and did anyone have any pictures I could use, Mariya kindly said that I could use any of her batiks (check them out here). I played around with a few of them, but this one of Venice seemed to work the best (I really like the sky in it; it has a lot of character), the colours work well too. And I've noticed that I seem to like red in my graphics at the moment; I can't help it. So, thanks to Mariya for letting me use your art!

In other news, I've been having vivid dreams recently. The night before last I dreamt that I was in Edinburgh. There was a very pleasant, intelligent, well-mannered Scottish gentleman there, who was saying that he enjoyed returning to Edinburgh, but he never had the time to see it, because he spent all his time there searching for papers and warrants. Throughout the dream, and once I woke up, I thought that this gentleman must have been Jonathan Strange (he was a scholar of sorts, and I think he grew up in Scotland), but some things, like being Scottish, just didn't fit. It was only once I'd been awake for a while that I hit upon the truth. The gentleman in my dream was none other than James Boswell! I'm reading The Life of Samuel Johnson by Boswell at the moment, and you really get the feeling that he did a lot of painstaking research for it; also, and importantly, Boswell was Scottish! So, being offered this insight into my subconscious, what I've realised is that I think I've got a bit of a crush on Boswell. It's a shame, that when I finally sought out a picture of him he doesn't quite live up to my expectations. Oh well, I think I'll stick with my imagination on this one. It would never have worked out between us anyway, what with him being deceased for the past 200 years and all.

Other dead people that are hot: Harley Granville Barker (there's a decent sized photo on this page)
I had to try to locate his will at one point for work, and I just thought of him as some old guy. Then I came across some photos of him at work, and I was all HOMG, is this the same person? Man oh man.

May I have your attention please.

tinnedfruitconundrum.net is currently under-going engineering works and will be running a reduced service for the next few hours.

Read: I'm updating the site layout A'IGHT? So things might look a little funky until it's done.

Have a new page of Clematis. I drew it so quickly. I'm very pleased with myself.

The problem is that I'm poor. Very poor. But let's not go into that here. Because I am poor I couldn't afford to go to the O2 Wireless concert in Hyde Park today ;_;
In honour of my raging jealousy of anyone that gets to go see Daft Punk today here's one of my favourite Daft Punk songs.

Also, this is why the 1920s were awesome.

I would list more videos, but this post would get well long. Hell, just go and type Daft Punk into YouTube; it's all good.

And one more. It's not one of the best MADs out there, but this MAD is like my entire week in a nutshell! I've been listening to this song non-stop all week, and I've found it's great to draw Code Geass fanart to. Did somebody say coincidence?

Happy Japanese dance music on repeat is currently making me very excited and I don't quite know what to do with myself.

I am also excited about the prospect of a TRC OOOOOOOOOOOVA. I am very excited about the prospect. I almost lost control of my bladder. And it's going to be the Tokyo arc to boot! The Tokyo arc would look brilliant animated; Kamui would be all pretty, and Syaoran would be all badass, and there would be blood everywhere. Super. Because, really, all I want to see in an anime is blood everywhere (and Kamui looking pretty).

Mostly though I'm excited because it's Friday! I've got the whole weekend ahead of me! I am going to draw so much I can't wait.
p.s. Still not drawing that doujinshi. Of course not.

Edit: Orange Juice. This still makes me laugh to this day.

Woo! The new page is finally up!

Also,
Re: Not drawing a Zero/Lulu doujin

Hahahaha oh god. It will be the first and only page I swear. I won't waste my time drawing this!

Note to self: Go to bed! For the love of all that is holy, go to bed!

Whew! It feels very close today. And by close I mean muggy. And by muggy I mean humid. And by humid I mean that I kept waking up last night because I was too hot.
I love my duvet. It has a high tog, so it's really nice to snuggle into on a cold winter's evening. But in the summer it's kind of oppressive.

Clematis news:
I was going to update Clematis on Friday. Can you believe it? But comicgenesis has been playing up again. It still hadn't updated by this morning, and now the whole site's down. So please don't lose faith in me! I actually drew quickly this week. You just can't tell out there in internets-land is all.

In other drawing news, I am not going to draw a doujinshi. It is not going to be a Zero/Lulu doujinshi. Because that makes no sense at all, and defies the laws of everything, everywhere, but mostly physics. Good job I don't have the time to draw it then!
Seriously, I don't know how I manage to even entertain the idea of drawing anything else when I'm so slow with Clematis.

Work news:
We got two new computers and three new monitors at work last week. I wasn't expecting them at all, they just sort of turned up. The delivery guy was all 'Are these yours?', and I was all like '....ok why not'. Anyway, they're both macs, and the monitors are all widescreens; they go with the mac that we already have at work, which got one of the new screens too. We set them up today; they're all sat next to each other on a big table. Now, I'm not a computer geek at all, and not really a mac geek either, but these new computers look so sexy. Seriously, it was all I could do to stop myself from jizzing all over them. Oh man oh man. We can now say that we have a mac suite. It's super.

Looooooooooook! Only CLAMP should ever be allowed to draw Lulu, ever. I concede that Lulu still fails to be as pretty as Kamui, even when drawn by CLAMP, but look at the outfits!

Q. So if Lelouch is Kamui does that make Suzaku Fuuma?
A. Not until Suzaku pins Lelouch to a wall with numerous sharp objects.

Also, gay earings are gay. Imagine them trying to walk in opposite directions! Ouch.

Spoilers spoilers spoilers

Full story »

Two movies watched in two days (I shouldn't be as proud of this fact as I am)

Movie Uno: Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo
Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful to watch. I really enjoyed this film even if, looking back at it, nothing much happened. This is one of those films that you should show to anyone that doesn't watch anime to prove to them how good it can be. Bonus points because the cool Aunty is a conservator (heritage sector REPRESENT!)

Movie Dos: Death Note II
Not as good as Movie Uno but enjoyable nontheless. The ending, rather than mediocre (as I suspected) left me feeling quite content. In fact, I think I watched the whole ending like this:
D:
And how extravagant can a death scene be? I'm quite sure a heart attack doesn't last that long (hmm, I think some actors, especially the extras, wanted to do some SERIOUS ACTING). Anyway, I once again come away utterly persuaded that L is absolutely adorable. Oh man, Live Action!L >>> Animated!L

Meanwhile, I have been:
- Drawing drawing drawing
- Dropping all my food on the floor (no, seriously)
- Dreaming about strange old spiral staircases that lead to secret old places

Here's the new page of Clematis. FINALLY.
I'm in a very Clematis mood at the moment, so there may be more within a reasonable space of time (we'll see).

So, this weekend was good. Firstly, there was sun, and lots of it. YES. Also there was ice-cream. (Note to self: Do you want a heart-attack and type II diabetes? Stop going to the Häagen-Dazs cafe!)

Also there was:

a) SPAMALOT
Very enjoyable (even if we were sitting a bit high-up). Although there's only so much humour that can be got out of going to see something where you already know all the punchlines (maybe it's because I'm so used to seeing the Monty Python folks doing it that it doesn't seem right with different actors). There were some new bits though, don't get me wrong. Things I liked:
- The excalibur song
- Lancelot being G.A.Y.M.C.A.

b) PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN III
I spent the first half of the film trying to remember what happened in the previous film (whoops). So, once again not quite as good as the first film (also much more trippy), but still plenty of swash and buckle, and that's all you really need isn't it. Important things:
- Tia Dalma isn't quite as cool as I originally thought (she's much better as a wise mysterious witch lady. Because mysterious witch lady screams Yuuko to me and Yuuko is just that cool. I think I read a fic once where Yuuko met Tia Dalma, or did I just make that up? But of course Yuuko knows Tia Dalma, of course she does).
- This film didn't have nearly enough OT3. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE OT3?
- Johnny Depp has to play the Gentleman with the thistledown hair. Please someone, MAKE HIM DO THIS.

I spend all evening slogging away to get the new Clematis page ready, and what happens? My FTP has gone down!

Re: What I said earlier about free webhosts vs. paid webhosts

Man, comicgenesis, how many times does this happen?

Hopefully it'll be back up over the weekend. I hate leaving people hanging for too long (in this case, 1 month, I SUCK AT FAST UPDATES).

Mannnnnnnn, why do my first two days back at work have to be so stressful? I mean. The whole world and his aunt seemed to descend on the archive this afternoon! That is, if the whole world and his aunt = 12 people. But they all turned up at the same time! And we didn't have enough chairs! Lordy.

So, I was in Cornwall last week. I am missing the slow pace of it all very dearly. We went walking over the cliffs every day (and then had to go to bed early because of being absolutely cream-crackered from all the walking). Also we ate fish and chips and pasties a lot, and I read Michael Palin's Around the World in 80 Days (which could alternatively be titled Around the World in the 80s).

Places we went:
- St Ives (well, that's where we were staying)
- Lizard point (Mr. Lizard...)
- Land's End
- Cool old tin mines
- A theatre on a cliff

When I came back to London it was like being slapped awake. WHY ARE THERE SO MANY PEOPLE HERE?? I had gotten used to walking in the countryside where there are hardly any people. It was calm. Living amongst so many people gives me a bit of rage. Anyway. Cornwall was nice, and sunny, and relaxing. It looked a bit like this:

But the bonus about being home is that I received this:

Tsubasa artbook! Did someone say SSSSSEXY? Oh man, does this ever brighten my day. Dear CLAMP, please release a xxxHolic artbook too, thank you please.

Other things. I went to see Philistines by Maxim Gorky last night, which was basically about a group of Russians in 1902 being miserable, and shouting about it, FOR 3 HOURS. Ah, but I jest. It was actually quite compelling, despite all the shouting.

Annnnd, while I said that I would do lots of drawing on my holiday, I didn't figure that my whole week would be spent on cliffs. Ergo: total drawing done = zero
I'll try to get some done tonight!

Oh my God guys. Oh. My. God.

I think I just had an epiphany.

ps. Going on holiday for a week. Hope to draw and write letters while away. Laters.

So I finished watching two series recently.

A. Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto
I hardly understood any of this. My knowledge of Japanese history is low, so most of all the war stuff passed me by. The animation and character design were nice though, so it was pretty interesting to watch all the same. Kanna was my favourite, but I think that's because he looks like Fay with his lovely blonde hair and angst and guns. Funnily enough, I think the best part of the series was episode 8, where Kanna and Aikidzuki have that huge fight; it just kept going and going and being awesome.

B. Le Chevalier d'Eon
So I didn't really understand any of this one either. I was only starting to grasp what was going on in the last few episodes. Two episodes of this series were animated beautifully: the first episode and one near the end (I forget the number). Sadly, the rest of the series was quite poor in animation terms. My favourite character was Maximillien Robespierre (surprise surprise, he looks like Kanna too); Robin also grew greatly in my estimation towards the end of the series. And the award for the character who should have been awesome, but actually wasn't goes to d'Eon. I'm sorry d'Eon, but you're just really boring, and not even wearing a dress will change that.

And at the end of that round the score is:
Blonde guys with angst 1 vs Blonde guys with the spirit of their dead sister 0
Actors 1 vs Sword-fights 5
France 0 vs Japan 0 (Fance wins 1:0 on aggregate and will go through to the quarter-finals)

Somebody get me a history book!

Phew. I thought tinnedfruitconundrum.net was no more for a second there. It seems they were just updating it, no need to panic.

The thing that is so great with paid hosting compared to free webhosting, and the thing that I still can't get my head around, and should take for granted, but don't, is the level of support that you get. I have only had to use the support feature twice in two years, which is pretty good going I reckon; and each time I have used it, the response has been fast and, God golly I almost don't believe it, has solved the problem straight away. With free webhosts the response will take 2-8 weeks and by that time the problem will have fixed itself or you will have ditched the host in frustration and joined the circus (or something).
So, much love to paying for this shit. Although I'm not sure I use it to its fullest possible potential (I should start the forum again) but who cares?

Also, don't worry! My dream journal has been started in a notebook; you won't ever have to read it.