Tyler's Own Little World

ComicPress 2.5 should be released some time this week. If you would like to preview the release the beta is available for download here. Testing it out will help make sure its a solid release so your participation is appreciated.

The major goal of this release is to make customizing it a lot easier and more solid as well as updating to the latest features of WordPress 2.5. The final release will come with multiple layouts as well as the release of a new plugin for mass-posting comics (past or future) based on a folder of image files and their dated filenames. This will make switching over large archives a lot more painless.

Been really busy this year. Worked on several projects. Some include the Webcomic related sites Comixtalk, PVP, Looking For Group, Least I Could Do and CAD the Series. Still working on a few more as well as the new version of ComicPress... 2.5, due out within the next week or so and it is going to rock for those trying to customize the layout.

My own comic, Wally & Osborne, has taken a back seat unfortunately. But I'm working to start it back up again soon with a new look and a new site. Even so the comic has been renewed to run another year at Funbrain, alongside Silent Kimbly and NY Times Bestseller Diary of A Wimpy Kid. The new comics will be appearing there soon as well.

A few months ago I made the switch, not to Apple, but to the free and open source Ubuntu. Been using it exclusively for my projects, other than launching a virtual machine with Windows XP to test sites in IE7. The new version of Ubuntu, 8.04, was released today, I'm as excited as a little girl and my machine is upgrading to it as I type this. I've fallen in love with Inkscape and even the Gimp. Gimp takes a little time after years of Photoshop, but it has a lot of features that work so much better and are a lot more intuitive once you spend some time working in it. Together with Bluefish for my code they have made a great Web design and development package. The Looking For Group site was almost all vector done in Inkscape.

Also I've done my first comic using Inkscape and the Gimp, it's actually the guest comic over at Sheldon today. Dave just had a baby and is getting a little break. Speaking of which, my little one is 8 months now and doing well, growing up too fast even, he's a little character.

And finally, "Lost" returns tonight. Awesome.

"I'm doing the work. I'm baby-steppin!"

I realized I haven't posted here for quite some time. Since my last post a lot has happened.

1. Had a brand new baby boy.


2. Moved to the mountains.


3. Helped Scott Kurtz develop his new PVP site.


4. Did an interview for Scott's new podcast, Webcomics Confidential.


5. Released a new version of ComicPress, the comic publishing theme for WordPress.


6. Started updating my comic, Wally & Osborne, again after a long hiatus.


7. Was awesome.

Next on my list is to jump back on Lunchbox Funnies' future plans and the Wally & Osborne book collection along with a few other projects I've been signed on to do in the world of Webcomics.

I along with several of the other Lunchbox Funnies guys handled PVP guest week while Scott Kurtz was at the San Diego Comic-Con. I went with this take on the characters (I'd love for Scott to let me do a regular series like this)...

[ LINK ]

I monitor several e-mail addresses from multiple sites. I get a lot of junk mail, some of it slips through the filters, like this one... but at least this one was entertaining...

Hello my friend!

I am ready to kill myself and eat my dog, if medicine prices here (http://someHKsite) are bad.

Look, the site and call me 1-800 if its wrong..

My dog and I are still alive :)

I finally got Yahoo Music Unlimited and I loves it! I realized that with all the Netflix movies and shows, and Watch Now and Joomla and such, I was being entertained while working but my productivity was really suffering. I wanted to get back to listening to more music while working as opposed to watching stuff. And what better way than to instantly add over 2 million songs to your collection.

I just finished listening to Pink Floyd's The Final Cut, the last album with Roger Waters and if you are a fan of The Wall, it is basically the melancholy sequel to it. I hadn't listened to it since I had it on tape years ago... "The Fletcher Memorial Home for incurable tyrants... and kings!"

I've got access to 31 Electric Light Orchestra albums! I created a playlist the other day of all the Weird Al parody songs with the original songs playing before them (what a geek eh?). I can listen to catchy songs by All American Rejects and Hot Hot Heat without being caught with them in my home CD collection. I sampled the latest albums by Chris Cornell, Dolores O'Riordan & Fergie only to confirm that singers need to stick with their bands and not make crappy solo albums. I listened to the newly regrouped Smashing Pumpkins' single only to be reminded that the Smashing Pumpkins will never be back... although they do have this Rarities & B-Sides collection that I don't have which has their Thin Lizzy cover of Dancing In the Moonlight, one of my favorite songs they do. For max productivity I listen to techno (happy hardcore stuff usually) so I need to get exploring their Electronic/Dance section a bit more and see what I can discover.

Anyway, lots of music to listen to while I hopefully get more drawings and comics done. Although I just got Battlestar Galactica Season 2.5 Disc 3 in the mail today from Netflix, and they just added The Office seasons 1 and 2 to Watch Now.... curse them!

Star Wars nerd alert! I'm sold. The new Clone Wars 3D animated series looks like it's going to be pretty cool. I'm really digging the style and the character designs. Sneak Peak Trailer.

I just finished season one and got the first disc to season 2 today from Netflix. I had tried watching the old series (I watched it as a kid) but I just couldn't make it through them, that bad.

The new series didn't interest me at first with the newly redesigned Cylons (I love the old ones) and the human cloned ones (boring). But with all the nerd hype of the series I had to give it a try an now I'm hooked. It's nice to have something to entertain me while I'm buried in website and illustration work and frustrated that I don't have much time to work on Wally & Osborne lately.

I work on the computer and my drawing table a lot so it's nice to have music or shows going. If I'm doing something boring or tedious I prefer shows. I have a second monitor set up so I can play DVD's on it.

Been finding some treasures on Netflix's Watch Now lately. Watched The Fisher King the other day, a great film by Terry Gilliam, kind of mixed a modern tale with a bit of his more fantasy stuff, Robin Williams is great in it. It's not quite so family friendly as Baron Munchausen (on of my all-time favorite films) or Time Bandits though. Was cool because I hadn't seen it in quite a few years.

They have some good documentaries on there as well. Saw one called Dark Days, about this community of "homeless" people that had built dwellings in an abandoned NY railroad tunnel. Was a pretty wild peak into their lives by Marc Singer who filmed down there for a couple years. Aside from living in darkness they have pretty advanced setups for being homeless, even electricity as they have apparently tapped into Amtrak's power.

Another movie I caught on there for the first time was The Fastest Indian with Anthony Hopkins. It was a good film, he could be one of my relatives from Vermont in that movie.

I just got a Joost invite too, Joost is TV on the internet, there are channels but you can just pick what show you want to watch, when you want to watch it. It's distribution is peer-to-peer to help handle the volume. Some major networks are offering shows on the free service. Right now I'm watching Stella (with Michael Ian Black)on Comedy Central, oh man I forgot how funny it was, totally wacky, I only ever saw the pilot and always wanted to see more. Joost is in beta and invitation only, if you want an invitation let me know your e-mail address, I'm not sure how many it lets me give out.

"They're not doctors, they're retards."

This kind of stuff confuses me as much as it angers me. I know it's been going around for awhile but it shouldn't be old news until it stops.

meme