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Post by Pacmanite on Dec 1, 2012 20:25:04 GMT -5
Yes! Do it! I love classical humor! Whee, that's awesome! Sure, go for it! I'm always supportive of people doing comic strips, and this seems like a super awesome theme.  Plus, public domain source ftw! That book sounds like it's full of the kind of jokes that seem dated if you told them at an open-mic but since they're ancient and authentic, that sort of gives them their own charm. I'd love to read a series that features humor from another culture and era. Yay, thanks for your support! Haha, yes, this is where the public domain comes into its own I don't know if anyone remembers the jokes from 1600+ years ago. That sounds like an awesome idea! I'd definitely read them if you decide to do it. Yay thanks! Glad to know I have a reader  That sounds fantastic! It's a great historical idea, and I honestly laughed aloud at the first one. I did a quick look, and it looks like Tomgeeks is still up and running, if slower than it was when I remember it. It's a collective for female webcomic artists, so you could probably find some motivation, support, publicity there. Nice to hear you laughed at one of these jokes Ooh, and thanks for that link! It seems like sadly some of the links to the comics on it are broken now, though... but thank you all the same |
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Post by Pacmanite on Dec 1, 2012 9:22:30 GMT -5
It's been a long time since I've last made comics, and blah blah, life has been busy and interesting in the meantime. I've had an amazing time at uni studying the ancient world, translating Latin and Ancient Greek. But I realise that this summer I will probably have quite a large chunk of spare time, and well, maybe this is a good opportunity to relight that old passion I had for making comics? Just maybe? For a long time already, I've been itching to make a whole bunch of comics themed around the Ancient Romans and Greeks. In fact a couple years ago, I had about 20 scripts ready to start an Ancient Roman humor-based comic series. But only three were actually drawn. And, in retrospect, most of the remaining scripts were duds. I think the main reason it failed was because I had a lack of inspiration. Trying to find ideas for comics is my greatest bane, and not having enough ideas makes me not want to work on a series. But in the last few months, I think I stumbled on a solution. I can steal joke ideas from the ancients themselves!No, really. There's an ancient jokebook titled the Philogelos, literally "the Lover of Laughs". It was written in the fourth century AD, and contains 250+ jokes, most of which are basically little potted scenarios of idiots doing idiotic things. In other words, nearly perfect for re-translating into a humourous comic strip format. Take a look at a couple of them: ---
A man goes up to a student dunce and says, ‘The slave you sold me died.’ ‘By the gods,’ counters the dunce, ‘when he was with me, he never did any such thing!’
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His friend back home writes to a student dunce in Greece to buy some books for him. The dunce neglects the request, and when after some time he again runs into his friend, he says, ‘You know that letter you sent me about the books? I never got it.’
--- It's true, some of them do seem a little laboured in the delivery. But I don't think it'll be too hard to rework them, especially since putting it in comic form cuts out a lot of dreary narrative text. There are quite a lot of good little funny ideas in there. And that's what matters to me. Plus, the fact that I'm stealing jokes off the ancients makes it feel more authentic, in a way. Inspiration problem, solved. I only have two more major problems to sort out: Community, and commitment. So, community. I have always found that I am way more motivated to get work done when I see people comment on and like what I do. When I feel like people are watching me do this, waiting for me to upload more content, I really tend to push myself harder and get more done, and better quality work too. So this is where I need some help and advice. I won't just be posting the comics here and on DeviantArt. I would like to ask if there are any good forums for web comic creators, especially for short humour strip-format type comics. And I should also do a search and see if there are good active forums for lovers of Classical literature. I could probably also email some of my work to my uni lecturers and friends who did ancient subjects with me. It feels a bit vain, I guess, but I know having my stuff seen is a big factor in getting this thing done. And lastly, I've got to work out how much I'm willing to commit. I don't think this will be a forever-ongoing kind of thing, like every week for the rest of my life. I can't do that when uni starts up again. To me, this really does feel like a summer project. I think what might be best is to set a goal, like 30 strips completed before such-and-such a date, and then try and get that done by the deadline. And if I do, I'll have something nice to show for it. So what do you guys think of that? Think it sounds like a worthwhile undertaking? Think it can work? |
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Post by Pacmanite on Nov 19, 2012 21:42:18 GMT -5
ABDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ Apparently I'm only missing C. It is a pretty new keyboard, a wireless one. Imma try it with my laptop's built-in keyboard: ABDEFGHIJKLNOPQRSUW Haha this one's missing a lot more  C, M, T, V, X, Y and Z. Maybe the keys on the bottom line of the qwerty keyboard are more dodgy? |
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Post by Pacmanite on Nov 19, 2012 8:57:40 GMT -5
Guys, come on. DAT GOOFY. THIS! Hahaha I cracked up at that part. What's weird for me is that the skinny bodies have otherwise normal Disney Character heads stuck on top of them, which are much rounder than human-supermodel faces... it just looks... disproportionate... in a strange way... |
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Post by Pacmanite on Nov 1, 2012 22:22:37 GMT -5
That's all okay, I know you weren't really speaking for churches that were that excessively dogmatic. Heh, I guess I saw that part where you said that there are worse things than being in a community which has very black-and-white views, and saw it as an opportunity to say well... bad things do sometimes happen out of that. But we all live and learn, and I don't think I'd be the same if I'd never have had that kind of an experience. |
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Post by Pacmanite on Nov 1, 2012 10:01:51 GMT -5
What you described as making more sense is a fairly common stance among fundamentalist Christian denominations - Baptist, Southern Baptist, Catholics, wherein the Bible is considered the highest authority. And honestly, it's a good place to be. There are many worse things in life than the all-consuming faith that characterizes those churches. I have rarely felt more at peace with myself than when my faith was that black-and-white, and maybe that's the reason why most converts I know convert into denominations like that, and not to being Lutheran or Methodist or any of the more liberal sects. It's interesting that you mention fundamentalist churches which proscribe doctrines in absolute, black-and-white terms. Because my experience has been a little bit different from yours. I grew up in a church that laid down hard-and-fast rules about doctrines. It was a rather obscure church, hardly anyone I know now has heard of them, but as a kid, to me, they were my whole "world" in the sense that they were the only church I was hearing doctrines from. And I suppose at first it was rather easy to simply nod my head and repeat back what they said.
But even as a child, I sometimes felt a bit uneasy. Because my mother, who was going to the same church and has always been something of a spiritual guide for me, did not always agree to the church's prescriptive doctrines to the letter.
For example, the church strongly advised its members not to read any Christian books, that is, books published by Christians of other denominations (i.e. the entirety of Christian literature, other than pamphlets published by this small church). The church believed that the only source of instruction should come purely from the bible, preferably, the King James Version. My mother felt like she had so much more to understand and explore about Christianity, and the KJV bible is actually rather hard to read as a new convert. So she went off and bought loads of Christian books and read them, and loved it, and grew in her walk.
But that meant also that she had some opinions which were not the same as the doctrines spelled out for us in this particular church.
The church ruled for complete and utter abstinence from alcohol. My mother sometimes sipped a glass of wine after dinner. The church believed that the British royal family was descended from the house of David. My mother was a bit skeptical of that. And the church believed that all other Christian denominations were doomed to perish in hell, because they did not have exactly the same doctrines as we did, and therefore "were not believing the same Jesus".
Ultimately my mother decided to leave this church and find another, because she felt dry, like she had stopped growing in her spiritual walk. I was still quite young, only about 14? And when she told me that we were leaving this church, I broke down and cried. Hard. Because, though I had my reservations and was troubled, I had believed what they told me, that to abandon this church was tantamount to abandoning the Christian faith altogether. Even though their doctrines bothered me I didn't want to leave because I was scared of leaving God.
But I am so very glad that we got out of it, and found a (relatively) more liberal church. I know this is rather an extreme case, and it was a rather extreme church. There were many things that were not quite right with it, especially their propensity to stick to their guns whenever someone brought up a doctrinal issue and their eagerness to expel dissenters from the church. But they didn't do everything wrong, they held scripture in very high regard (though many of their official interpretations were, in my mind, off) and I believe my mother and I were saved in that church. Even so, I don't feel at ease with churches that take a very strictly black-and-white approach to doctrines, insisting that their way is the only way to interpret scripture. Particularly churches that are so bold as to claim that other denominations are not saved, or that Christians with different opinions are not of the same body of Christ. Because the church of one's local neighbourhood in the 21st century is but a tiny sample of the glory of the church on earth. When I study history I like to think that I have something in common with the Christians of the past and present, in far-flung places and closer to home. I like to think that even if we may not agree to the letter about every issue, we share the same love of Christ, the same redemption and the same salvation. I do not feel that it is necessary to have every question of faith answered in absolutely certain terms. I believe that salvation comes through God's grace and mercy, not through one's adherence to a particular set of viewpoints from a particular sect (with the exception of accepting the doctrine of salvation through Christ's sacrifice, because Christ is central). And while maintaining good doctrines is important, openness to considering other interpretations is beneficial to the church. So what about those Christians who are pro-abortion? Will God not let you into heaven, because you held a political view that the majority of Christians in your period of time didn't hold? A cursory glance of history will show that there were Christians on both sides of the Slavery debate. So were only the "winners" of the debate following Christ? TL;DR: Highly dogmatic sects make me feel more uneasy about their grasp of the truth, not less. I want to end with a quote from a study by bible scholar Daniel B. Wallace: "...the quest for certainty is not the same as a quest for truth. There is a subtle but important distinction between the two. Truth is objective reality; certainty is the level of subjective apprehension of something perceived to be true. But in the recognition that truth is objective reality, it is easy to confuse the fact of this reality with how one knows what it is. Frequently the most black-and-white, dogmatic method of arriving at truth is perceived to be truth itself. Indeed, people with deep religious convictions are very often quite certain about an untruth. For example, cultists often hold to their positions quite dogmatically and with a fideistic fervor that shames evangelicals; first-year Greek students want to speak of the aorist tense as meaning “once-and-for-all” action; and almost everyone wants simple answers to the complex questions of life. At bottom this quest for certainty, though often masquerading as a legitimate epistemological inquiry, is really a presuppositional stance, rooted in a psychological insecurity." |
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Post by Pacmanite on Sept 15, 2012 7:55:24 GMT -5
I know this is a bit belated, but I hope she and all her family are going all right. My prayers go out to Shelli and all who are affected by her situation. on a brighter note, perhaps... I'm learning Ancient Greek now! Actually I have been since July. It's been challenging at times and there are so many verb form to memorise, but I love it. I can access the Greek New Testament online and piece together the words. It's such a more intimate way to approach the text, in the original language it was written down. I'm so hopeful this will be a rewarding study. It reminds me of Latin sometimes but Greek's got its own little quirks. Kind of endearing, in a way. |
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Post by Pacmanite on Sept 4, 2012 23:11:40 GMT -5
The ray is fired at Deglazing...
... and he changes colour to Jelly!!
Wow! Finally I got a good colour out of this guy, and it kind of fits his food-themed name too! If anyone wants him, PM me. |
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Post by Pacmanite on Aug 16, 2012 22:46:19 GMT -5
Oops, sorry I didn't phrase myself properly there. Whereas I broke my pokemon yellow cart when I was very young, I've played pokemon red and blue cartridges many times over the years. So I'm used to everything being bluish or reddish. But when I finally got the chance to replay Yellow, I found the colours on Yellow to be especially weird because they have this habit of totally switching palette when you walk into a new town. Like, you leave Viridian forest and everything and everyone is green. Then you step over an invisible boundary line into Pewter city and hey, all the signs, all the grass, all the people are in grey, and so are you. And so many of the sprites have weird palettes - rattata is this brownish thing, haha. By the way, you can encounter Missingno in Yellow. It involves the long-range trainer glitch, the same type of glitch you would use to get a mew. Here's a video of how to do it: www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKiRIMDNj4A |
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Post by Pacmanite on Aug 15, 2012 2:41:04 GMT -5
I've played Diamond, but I never got all the way through it. XD; Don't even own any of the games past that. Speaking of old Pokémon games though, I've been playing some of the older Pokémon games lately. Been playing a lot of Puzzle League (how many people played that btw?), and just today bought a copy of Pokémon Yellow for myself. Eee :'D Whee! Pokemon Yellow! I was just playing that on my DS (on an emulator program) and I have to say it is a really fun one! The only pokemon game where you can get all three starters, you meet Jessie and James, and the overworld colours are so oddly restricted it's kinda funny xD Actually, I really like the minimalism of the game. I like the fact that I don't have to worry about trying to catch pokemon with good natures or whatever other mechanics. Even the gender is left to the imagination, so you can just name them anything you please. And all the generation I glitches are so fun to exploit. <3 |
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Post by Pacmanite on Aug 14, 2012 22:16:51 GMT -5
I laughed so hard I cried. Who would do this to their dogs...? x'D
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Post by Pacmanite on Aug 13, 2012 2:53:54 GMT -5
Ahaha being on my computer makes me not want to do work. D:
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Post by Pacmanite on Aug 10, 2012 6:07:13 GMT -5
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Post by Pacmanite on Jul 26, 2012 9:12:01 GMT -5
... I just realised that I sat down tonight and steadily wrote an argumentative piece about a topic I was interested in, just for my own pleasure. And it turned out to be a whopping 2,260 words. After just those few hours.  I never write that much in one sitting unless I'm trying to get an essay out before a deadline! But this wasn't even for uni! Writing. I think I might actually enjoy it now. |
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Post by Pacmanite on Jun 23, 2012 3:44:43 GMT -5
Thanks Droplet!
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Plus, public domain source ftw! That book sounds like it's full of the kind of jokes that seem dated if you told them at an open-mic but since they're ancient and authentic, that sort of gives them their own charm. I'd love to read a series that features humor from another culture and era. 
C, M, T, V, X, Y and Z. Maybe the keys on the bottom line of the qwerty keyboard are more dodgy?
I never write that much in one sitting unless I'm trying to get an essay out before a deadline! But this wasn't even for uni!