Yep, it's Barron's first public Flash movie! Now if any of you have read my general ideas on web design you'll know that I shun fancy stuff like Flash like an amish shuns Puff Daddy music. I have yet to see Flash add anything to a web page besides needless flourishes and browser crashes. So why am I learning this technologia del diablo? Simple... For the money. Sadly Flash is the technology of the moment for web designers, so if I want to work in that field I had better learn it. Sure, it doesn't add any real content, but it impresses the suits who don't know any better.

1. Thanks to two rockin' NC gals (Babs and Master Yoda) for the book gifties - I be lyterit now: )

2. Shocker: Men Want Sex, Women Want Romance
Now that I have been temporarily freed from the weekly grind of writing DF, I have been going through all of my feedback (from my other writings mainly) over the last year and it seems that a trend has emerged - my male readers want more sex, a lot more sex, graphic sex with just about anyone and anything - OK, are you ready? TYPICAL. Now, the girls, excuse me, WOMEN, just love the romance factor in my works and want to see that continued. So, what shall I do for Season 3... any suggestions?

3. Gonads & Strife
While Barron spends his time learning the complications of FLASH and thinking about the mystery of trees and the universe, Lizzy spends her time going WEEEEEEEEEEE (high speed connection helps). I have seen this over a dozen times and it makes me laugh every... single... time!

4. Finally, after attending a storybook 35K wedding recently, I was asked several times when I was getting married. I pondered this query and came up with the absolute perfect mate for me... I want to be Mrs. Evil Head - for those of you living under a rock or out of the country, check out the Mike's Hard Lemonade site, click on Mike's Propaganda, select "TV" on the remote, pick "Second Evil Head" and play it.

Lizzy: Hey Barron - are we wasting our time again?

Barron: No, people are actually visting the "Ripples" - I swear it!

Lizzy: Really?

Barron: (Trying his best to sound sincere) Of course

Lizzy: Hmm

Barron: Remember, it's mainly for our amusement

Lizzy: I'm tired of amusing myself, it's not healthy

Barron: Did you not just get a Wish List gift from one of your readers the other day?

Lizzy: (Sheepish) Yeah

Barron: THEN SHUT UP

Lizzy: I WANT MORE... it's in my nature to want more

Barron: (Sighing) I know - say something amusing

Lizzy: I always say something amusing

Barron: Why don't you try being informative?

Lizzy: OK... FREE KFC POPCORN CHICKEN TOMORROW (at least in the LA area) from 11am - 2pm!

Before I forget... I finally remembered my tape of The Shield that Lizzy hounded me into recording. But now that I have I'm hooked. This is great TV! Reminds me a lot of OZ in that the story telling is very honest and doesn't recognize the traditional constraints of network TV. Try to catch the show tonight and you'll be hooked too (of course I should give the polite warning that this is R rated stuff, so those of gentle dispositions may wish to skip it).

Less Flash heavy site for people to look at...

Well, if you are not an ardent follower of my cool personal website you probably haven't heard that I was laid off on Friday last week. It was an amicable split (as they say) with the company softening the blow by laying off 30% of my whole department just to make me feel better. Actually this was the first time I've been "laid off" from a company. It's a weird experience. I know it was totally based on the company's current financial problems, so I couldn't take it personally. And, when I thought about it, I figured I was getting a little too comfortable for my own good. You know what I mean? The work wasn't challenging me and hadn't for a long while. Now I can find something a little more interesting to keep me busy during the week. And in case you are worrying about me, don't (well, not too much). I've got plenty in the bank and a decent severance package (mostly due to the fact that I almost never take vacations).

This is sort of an homage to the classic Spiderman comics. See, when Stan Lee (or John Romita) wanted to show Peter Parker suffering some difficulty because of his dual identity, of when he was using his Spider Sense they would show his face in close up half as himself and half as Spiderman. So that's what I'm playing with here. Take a look at the full sized version by clicking the thumpnail!

Now that the season is over I have some time to play with some of my Poser models for the characters. This one was me wondering how to get a couple of "looks" for the Morrigan. The sticking out the tongue face was by far the hardest since I had to position her tongue and lips altogether.

Hey all you PDA users out there, Darkfin will soon be available in this format!

Thanks to the overwhelming generosity of a super smart Taurus girl named Stef of North Carolina (home to two of my all-time favorites in this world -- Tori Amos and Krispy Kreme doughnuts), this will be yet another way to take 'Fin along for the ride.

Anyway, she needs to know what format y'all would prefer -- simple text/small file size OR full graphics/large file size?

Here's the catch, all of you fingerless deaf mutes NEED TO RESPOND so we can figure out the best solution FOR YOU.

Happy Birthday, Dad: )

Since Barron has been tossing out some TV show opinions, I figured it was time for me to get into the act... do yourselves a huge favor and tune into FX's "The Shield" tonight at 10:00 pm.

It's almost as entertaining as listening to Bush try to pronounce the word "intelligent."

The complete first season, starting with the premiere episode, will now be shown here every Monday night to get newcomers caught up in what is, by far, the best cop drama I have seen in years. The characters are deep, dark, dynamic, flawed, fascinating, I could go on and on. Make no mistake, this is NOT a Disney show, it's gritty, raw, and too damn good for TV. Also, for those of us who live and love in the LA area, it hits home way too much.

I would give my right leg to work for this show (I'd need my right arm to write).

Now, if I could only transfer two of my fave female cop characters from their awful series over to this one, I'd be a very happy girl.

Chick Cop #1: "Jinny Exstead" from Lifetime's increasingly boring, soap-tastic show The Division. Played with aplomb by "Facts of Life" hero, Nancy McKeon, this character started out totally edgy and complex - a drunken slut who antagonized everyone around her. This year, she's sober, she's celibate, she's squeaky clean, thanks to the fuzzy "Carebear" crowd who couldn't deal with a character that challenging to their mainstream bliss and complained to the network. Such a waste.

Chick Cop #2: "Connie McDowell" from ABC's once groundbreaking now ghost of its former self, NYPD Blue. When I found out that the amazing Charlotte Ross was joining the cast, I immediately tuned in again. Back in high school, the main reason why I got a "D" in trig was because of Ross. My girlfriends and I would cut class just to watch the wicked adventures of Eve Donovan on "Days of Our Lives." She brought that same charisma to Connie, a tough, no-nonsense, non-airhead blonde who went about her detective duties and formed a fantastic friendship with her male partner. Suddenly, all of that has been tossed out the window as she has become an irrational mommie-wannabe and is now jumping down the pants of a man old enough to be her grandfather. Typical.

Yes, SMG does yoeman's (yoewoman's?) work on Buffy, but what the frell is she thinking when it comes to movies? It's like she has "smart as a bag of hammers" beau Freddie Prinze Jr. pick all her rolls. Lets look at the evidence:

Simply Irresistable: Sarah plays a giggly chef who gets help from a talking crab to magically solve her romantic problems.
Cruel Intentions: Teen pop remake of the excellent Dangerous Liaisons. Sarah offers Ryan Phillipe (ew!) a chance to ... well, I can't think of an amusing euphemism for anal sex... On the plus side, in the only scene the film will be remembered for, Sarah does get to smootch Selma Blair.
Harvard Man: To quote from Filmthreat.com: "It is currently receiving a limited theatrical release before its eventual burial on home video and late night cable television."
Scooby Doo: Doesn't it make you worry when a movie's only bankable star (SMG) is barely featured in the ads? Ads that feature a tag line, "Scooby Doo! Your name means Scooby Poop!"?
Plus she's also worn tight sweaters and been killed in both Scream 2 and the abysmal I Know What You Did Last Summer. And yet she is still considered a "hot, young star"... Oh course she does have the talent, it's the judgement that I can't fathom...

Well, at least for a few months.

Following my webmaster's lead, I shall give you a tiny glimpse into the DF writing process:

Sunday = day of rest, ideas begin to formulate over chocolate and vodka
Mon/Tues = compose outline and select various conversational tidbits from weird friends and family to pepper story with
Wed/Thurs = do several drafts and inform Barron which scenes/characters are needed for graphics
Fri/Sat = chat with Barron on the phone, final version and submission

And there you have it. If you add up the total hours I spend writing each week, it averages out to a solid day. So, yeah, we really do bust our butts for this project!

Now, a few people have asked about summer plans. For Darkfin, just the usual maintenance, along with thinking about ideas for the Fall. We will also try to figure out new ways to generate publicity for our site. THIS IS WHERE Y'ALL COULD PITCH IN. Suggestions??? Comments??? Shameless promoters willing to volunteer their time??? A spare million lying around??? An uncle in the biz??? Sex for cantaloupes??? Be sure to let us know!

What did we learn today about Barron? That he can't add for squat after working on the webiste all day! You'll notice that earlier today I added 2.5 + 2.5 + 4.5 and got 12! Yeash! They should take away my physicist card for that one. In fact the chapter only took 9 1/2 hours (less the read thus and chat with Lizzy about planning it).

Since this is the last chapter of the season I thought it might be interesting to record the process I go through to post a chapter. Maybe Lizzie can share her writing diary to go along side this one...
Friday Night
9pm-10pm: Work on "red Darkfin" texture in Photoshop. Try a simple version in Poser, decide to add yellow highlights.
10pm-11pm: Watch new Farscape (Raelee Hill is cute-tastic!) and render a few versions of Red Darkfin in Poser.
11pm-11:30pm: Realize I screwed up saving the images for the renders and reload the files and render them again.,
Saturday
9:30am-12:00pm: Render, model, render, model. Go online to look for props and extras for renders.
12:30pm: Think of writing this diary! Look for Raelee images for the link above (thanks Google!).
12:30pm-2:40pm: Model! Render! Model! Render! Rinse! Repeat!!
2:40pm-4:10pm: Photoshop clean up of rendered images.
4:10pm-4:30pm: Dreamweaver HTML and site editing to layout new chapter.
4:30pm: Upload new chapter, check link on server, go to Yahoo!Groups to send out notification.

For those interested, no breaks for lunch/snacks (yes, I'm starving!). Total for chapter: 12 hours.

...or... If Joss Whedon has a Blog they must be cool! Sure Buffy was weak in the season finale, but for true believers like me we know that Joss Whedon was just distracted working on his next masterpiece,Firefly. Should be cool, plus it stars the extra cool Gina Torres!.

Oh, I should mention another reason I like Joss... He looks like me, but I have more hair!

I tried to write in 105' temps today. I finished one sentence. It's a good sentence but not very long. There's a really really really bad brush fire about 8 miles from my house, the skies are all red... how can I use this for inspiration?

My fave entertainment rumor site,Dark Horizons, has some tidbits that may be interesting to you all:
* First off Sarah Clarke (Nina Meyers) will be back next season on 24. Although 24 sort of stumbles later in the season it was still great stuff. Having Nina as the "Big Bad" next season could be really fun (plus I've got a big crush on her).
* Next it looks like Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia Chase) is not coming back on Angel next season. Not like they were doing much with her anyway, but there were apparently "substance" issues as well.
* And speaking of rehab issues... Looks like Yancy Butler is out of alcohol rehab and doing well. Production of Witchblade, that was halted for her rehab, will be restarting soon.
* And last there's a link to a full trailer for WB's Birds of Prey series that starts this fall. For those non-comicbook geeks out there, BoP is a comic featuring the Huntress, Batgirl and Black Canary, but it will be re-imagined ala Smallville. For more on BoP check out: Gotham Clock Tower.

Yes Spam is annoying. Yes it's filled with idiotic "Get Rich Quick" schemes, pathetic porn pitches and offers of Mexican Viagra... But sometimes Spam is just plain funny. Here's the subject line of some junk mail that showed up in my inbox this morning:


WOW! How did they know I was looking into dangerous and illicit methods of breast size augmentation? Why if it weren't for these kind people I might have ended up in some seedy, back alley breast inflation clinic!

Now I understand all my sleepless nights in grad school! See it turns out that Science is Hard! Phew! I thought it was just me :-)

Hey all! OK, after a week of intensive testing Darkfin Ripples is live. The idea behind DFR (as it's fans call it) is to allow people a look into the minds of the creators of Darkfin. This way when Lizzy or I come up with a silly, profound or just plain weird thought about Darkfin, we can share it with you guys... Instead of just chatting about it over the phone like giggling teenagers.

DFR will also give you folks a chance to comment on our ideas (via the nifty comments feature (just click on the word Comments [x] at the end of each post)). And it should be good for a laugh or two. From my previous experience I tend to Blog a couple times a week. So check back often for new silliness and profundity.

Yeah, so I get this e-mail from Barron telling me that the blog is now up and waiting for me -- I wasn't sure to make a crude joke out of that or not (it will probably return in the form of dialogue for "Zach" at some point). Anyway, this is yet another attempt to communicate with y'all. We know you're out there, we see you, we know you see us, SO SAY SOMETHING! Geez, although we are doing this mainly for ourselves because we're creative, we're arrogant, and, most of all, because we can, it still would be really nice to get some more feedback.

On a personal note, I tried alligator for the first time yesterday. It was pretty good. Kind of like calamari... kind of; )

Answer: Lots of places! As you know the core prorgam I use is Poser from Curious Labs. And the great thing about Poser is that there is a very vibrant user community on the web. So there are a lot of freebies floating around. The first place I stop every day is Renderosity.com. They have a huge selection of free models, textures and utilities. Some of the more advanced models I use are from Daz3D (including all the males and almost all the females).

Also, if you are wondering, the average character model for Darkfin is 10Meg give or take a little. That's one of the reason I rarely do large crowd scenes (10M per character is a pretty hefty budget).

This will be a place for Lizzy and me to sound off on whatever we feel like. If you're on our mailing list you've already enjoyed some of our clever commentary. If you're not... why the heck aren't you? Ahem... Sorry about that. I can get a little excitable when I'm off my meds. Anyway, please enjoy the random thoughts and comments...