http://www.communitymx.com/blog/?blogger=18 Community MX Member Blog: Chris Flick's blog admin@communitymx.com en-us Last year, I made a blog post here describing a certain holiday song/story that my brother and I used to listen to on a holiday album my mother used to have. The story was by Red Skelton and it was called "The Littlest Christmas Tree". Since that post last year, I have received so many personal e-mails and responses to my blog from people telling me how they too had listened to that story on that same album and how they thought they'd never be able to find it ever again. Needless to say, when I did my very thorough internet search last year for this Red Skelton story, I never thought I'd get the response that I have. Last year, I was just trying to find out if I could still purchase the story some where or if that old holiday album even existed any more. Apparently, the album has been re-recorded but the story has been left off. I found a lot of Red Skelton stuff - CDs and DVds but nothing that gave definitive proof whether this story was included on any of his collections. But I did find a web site that had a WAV file of the story. It was here: www.albertarose.org. If you go to my original blog, you can get the direct link from there. But what I thought I'd do this year... http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=811 http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=811 Sun, 24 Dec 2006 17:02:53 GMT Well, what can you say? Another heartbreaking loss for the senior league in last night's All-star game. Brought back memories of two years or so ago when the National League had their best closer on the mound at the time - Eric Gagne - and he ended up blowing a save opportunity. I know a lot of people probably enjoy a higher scoring all-star game but last night was an enjoyable game to watch. At the same time though, it also proved to be exactly why I tend to dislike the American League so much. Last night proved exactly how meaningless the DH is - or, at least, how meaningless it SHOULD be. Big Pappi DH's because, apparently, he can't play defense yet he made a couple of outstanding fielding plays last night and, obviously, he played first base when the Red Sox beat the Cardinals in the World Series two years ago so why does he HAVE to be a DH? That's the thing I hate about the American League - and, with the American league winning the All-star game last night, the DH is going to again play a major advantage in the World Series this year since the American League will have, potentially, more games at home then the visiting National League team. The nice thing is that the Nati... http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=720 http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=720 Wed, 12 Jul 2006 14:55:23 GMT You would have thought no one ever saw someone eat 3 lbs. of crabs before... Hey folks... I've been back from TODCON almost a full day now (got back into Washington DC at 7:00pm last night). So I thought I'd give you a brief synopsis of my trip and what I did, what I thought and what I experienced the last couple of days at TODCON. Thursday (leaving for Orlando): My one big purchase for this trip was a Washington Nationals baseball jersey. I promised myself I wouldn't purchase any Nationals merchandise until Major League Baseball got their proverbial act together and named an owner and, since they did that two days before I had to leave, I was good to go with my capitalistic morals still intact. Got to the hotel a few hours earlier then everyone else, so I got my room and walked around the lobby where I ran into Ray and Danielle Mickey. So, we helped Ray set up the registration table with all the books, t-shirts and name tags for all the TODCON attendees. For the t-shirts, I PROMISE I'll put the t-shirt design up on my web site today or tomorrow (I swear!). While Danielle and I were organizing the name tags, I grabbed Tom Green's name tag and re-inserted the generi... http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=705 http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=705 Mon, 22 May 2006 16:03:36 GMT My sudden obsession with Callie (Sara Ramirez) First off, let me explain that one of the things my wife and I enjoy doing is talking about our "secret" celebrity crushes. She's never made it a secret how much she has the hubba-hubbas for a certain bald Starship Enterprise Captain (Patrick Stewart). And likewise, she's always known about my own hubba-hubbas for Stevie Nicks. But lately, a new celebrity crush has slowed entered my realm. A celebrity crush that appears (mostly) in the background of a certain Seattle Hospital ever Sunday night. I am, of course, talking about Sara Ramirez' character, Callie, from Gray's Anatomy. I have to admit though that I'm not a long time fan of the show. I only recently started watching it right after the Superbowl (The Bomb episode) but even then, I almost took an immediate fascination with the Callie character - the dark haired, big bodied beauty played by Sara Ramirez (Spamalot). And my fascination has only increased since then. I'm not sure exactly why I'm suddenly fascinated with Callie though. Maybe it's because I see so much of me and my wife in the George and Callie thing. My wife was Callie when I first met her in... http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=704 http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=704 Tue, 16 May 2006 21:59:02 GMT As you can see from today's strip, I am indeed 39 today (March 21st). Thanks so much for all the kind birthday wishes and e-mails I've received so far. My mom and dad reminded me today that 39 years ago, it snowed in Virginia. That's funny because today - in Virginia - they are calling for snow. Maybe not much but it's still kind of a weird sign, huh? Especially given the fact that my birthday also fell on a Tuesday this year. :-) But anyway... just the other day, I bought Journey's live version of "Don't stop believing" from iTunes. And maybe the combination of my birthday and listening to that tune have put me in a bit of a reflective mood as I can't stop thinking about the fact that I never got the chance to see Journey live. I've seen a lot of great concerts live but every time I hear a Journey or The Cars on the radio or CD, I can't help but think "man, that would have been so cool to see them live just once"... you know, the big arena rock concerts... hearing the thunderous high pitched sounds of Steve Perry's voice mixed in with the great guitar and pounding piano and synthesizer sounds that were the signature of their Escape album... But ... http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=677 http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=677 Tue, 21 Mar 2006 18:17:37 GMT Yes, it's finally happened. Someone thought I was worthy enough to be interviewed. That person is Dan Smith. Dan and I got to know each other from being members in Webweavers - a Google Group e-mail list for everything related to web designing (and ruled with an iron maiden thumb by our very own Stef! LOL!). Anyway, Dan hosts and creates audio interviews on his blog. He thought it would be interesting to let people know what I sound like and had the crazy notion others might be interested in hearing what my thoughts were on the wide variety of topics we discussed. It took a while to get all the logistics worked out, but you can finally hear our interview today. The interview consists of a wide range of topics such as how I got into web design, information about the two books I helped write with Tom Green, the 'Bots autistic benefit book I participated in (and wrote a blog about not too long ago) as well as some of my thoughts about web comic strips - including CMX Suite! - and a whole bunch of other stuff! So if you're interested in hearing what I sound like, now your curiosity can be appeased. :-) - Chris ... http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=669 http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=669 Fri, 24 Feb 2006 15:51:18 GMT I just thought I'd mention that the stylized self-portrait of myself in the second panel of today's CMX Suite strip ("The CMX Zone") was done entirely on a Wacom tablet. I've been reluctant to use a Wacom tablet because, in the past, the Wacom tablet and I have pretty much had a hate-hate relationship. But I was pretty pleased with the outcome of this particular illustration. It is, by far, the best Wacom tablet illustration I've ever done thus far. I think the biggest reason that might be is because, in the past, I had always used Photoshop when practicing and doodling with the Wacom. But this time, I decided to see what would happen if I used Freehand. For me, personally, I had found using Photoshop and the Wacom together was very frustrating. I found I had trouble controlling the line width of whatever I was trying to draw. Lines didn't stop or end where I thought they would. I'd end up getting big "paint blobs" when I pressed too hard on the pen. For the most part though, I still couldn't grasp what made the Wacom so "special"... I was finding that it would usually take me two or three times longer to draw something using the Wacom... http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=657 http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=657 Tue, 31 Jan 2006 12:45:11 GMT So this Christmas, I seem to find myself in a very nostalgic mood. Last night, while getting some last minute gifts - okay... after desperatly searching for that ONE %$#&^% gift I still haven't been able to find - I came across a Christmas CD called "Oldies but goodies". One of the songs happened to be an old childhood favorite of mine that I very rarely ever hear on the radio any more. It was "Snoopy's Christmas" by The Royal Guardsmen. My brother and I used to listen to that song on the radio all the time on Christmas Eve as we were trying to keep ourselves desperately awake in order to see Santa. And even though I didn't care for the rest of the songs on the album, this one was worth getting so I plunked down my $5.00 and happily strolled out the store. Along the way home though, listening to Snoopy fight the Red Baron during Christmas time got me to recall another long time tradition my family used to do on Christmas eve. There was an old Christmas album my mother loved. There were a ton of songs on it but there was one selection that always seemed to hold a special place in my heart. It was a touching... http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=639 http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=639 Fri, 23 Dec 2005 14:45:36 GMT Hello everybody. Today, I thought I'd write another movie-related blog since I've seen so many over the years. But I thought I'd do something a little bit different. I thought I would list all of the wonderful knowledge I have accumulated over the years thanks to Hollywood. Consider this a "Guideline to life according to Hollywood (and Chris Flick)". THINGS ACTION ADVENTURE MOVIES HAVE TAUGHT ME: 1) If you're going to be a bad guy, you must have a British accent. Preferably, to be REALLY bad, you should also be German but have a British accent. 2) When approaching your car, you should always drop your keys to the ground. I mean, seriously, how else are you going to notice the blinking red light of the bomb that's been planted underneath your car? 3) Bad guy uniforms always come in a "one-size-fits-all"... After all, that's why it's so easy to penetrate the evil bad guy's lair. 4) Pistols or hand guns are better weapons then automatic rifles. Everyone knows when bad guys shoot automatic weapons, they don't hit diddly-doo-doo, but our hero always hits his target with his trusty hand gun. 5) Always make sur... http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=631 http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=631 Thu, 01 Dec 2005 04:23:42 GMT He and I have at least two things in common: 1) We both are artists and 2) We both have a young son who has been diagnosed with autism. Those two things, in and of themselves, probably doesn't seem all that remarkable. Given the statistics I now know about autism, there are probably far too many artists in the world today who have sons or daughters that have been diagnosed with autism. So you may be sitting at your computer right now asking yourself this question: If that's the case, what makes Nic Carcieri so unique that Chris would feel the need to write a blog about him? Obviously, the fact that we both have very young sons who have austism connects us in a very unique way but that's not why I'm writing about Nic. As my title of this blog says, I've never met Nic before. I've never talked to him before. In fact, just a few short weeks ago, I didn't even know who Nic was - just as I'm sure he didn't know who I was either. But, being the artist that I am, I happened to be crushing through one of my favorite comic book-related web sites, Digital Webbing when I came across a pencil sketch of this piece of artwork: Nic posted an open call f... http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=611 http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=611 Mon, 10 Oct 2005 20:14:53 GMT Since "Batman Begins" has been doing so well at the box office of late, it seems sad to mention the recent passing of one of Batman's more popular artist as Jim Aparo - a popular artist during the comic book highs of the 1980's - has recently put down his pencil for the final time. Although Jim continued to work in comics all the way up until a few short years ago, he probably became best known for his work on "Batman and the Outsiders" - a book which teamed Batman up with five little used DC comic heroes at the time. Although the book never reached the popularity scales as John Byrne and Chris Claremont's X-men or George Perez and Marv Wolfman's Teen Titans did during that same period, it did reach a high point where Batman and the Outsiders took on the Teen Titans in a two issue series. It was during that two issue story that Robin (Dick Grayson) began to break away from the identity of being Batman's kid sidekick and helped propel Robin into more of an individual character like the one created on film by Chris O'Donnell. Here is a duplication of the promotional piece for the Batman and the Outsider's comic... http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=555 http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=555 Wed, 20 Jul 2005 21:29:40 GMT Well, Forbes put a little slide show together to show if you got the cash, baby, ANYBODY can be a self-made super-hero. Of course, many of us aren't born into a life of luxury like Bruce Wayne was, so those of us who are missing a few screws loose upstairs but still want to fight SUPER VILLAINS... well, they are just going to have to do it on the cheap. Forbes not only tells you HOW it can be done, they also tell you HOW MUCH it's gonna cost you. So folks, it's time to pull out your handy-dandy check book and write out that $3,365,449 check to the super-hero's union guild. What? You say you don't have $3,365,449 laying around? That's okay. I hear that Tom Green fellow has a few bucks to spare. I'm sure he wouldn't mind giving you a loan. Of course, he might make you paint a symbol of a bag of milk on your chest but those are the consequences you have to live with when you borrow so much money from a Canadian. ;-) But speaking of rich, fictional characters... Forbes also made an interesting list of the top 15 richest fictional characters. You should check out their slide show to see where (or if) your favorite fictional character ranks ... http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=539 http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=539 Wed, 22 Jun 2005 22:11:12 GMT Sorry, but for some of us (okay, me!), TODCON '05 is still alive and well. You don't believe me? You should see my sketchbook! :-) No, really! I'm serious. Actually, all of the TODCON '05 CMX Suite strips you've seen so far were done on the plane during my flight home. I guess that's one advantage to being a "traditional" artist in the sense that as long as I have my sketchbook, pencils and eraser, I'm never at a lost as how to spend my time on long trips like Molly was recently asking advice for before she took her trip to Japan. The problem for me though isn't always how to spend my time but rather will inspiration magically flow onto the white pages starring blankly back at me? Sometimes, that's the most maddening - and intimidating - part. Just starring at a blank page - or maybe a blank Fireworks canvass - and HOPING an idea will instantly spring out of your head and explode out of our finger tips or mouse. Sometimes it comes and sometimes the blank page (or electronic canvass) just laughs at you unmercifully. Fortunately, that was NOT the case with my plane trip back home. TODCON filled me up with so much inspiration,... http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=500 http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=500 Tue, 24 May 2005 13:39:35 GMT Okay, I have a friend in my office who just turned 40 so I drew him a little B-day card with the Village People Indian (well, a slightly overweight Village People Indian - since he's of the overweight variety as well) and wrote this on the inside of the card: If you all like song parody's, you might enjoy this. By the way, I'm not so far off from "40" myself - 2 more years to go. So you could say this will soon be MY theme song as well! :-) ############################ Sung to the tune of "YMCA": Old Man, yeah you, the one laying on the ground... I said, Old Man, if you had a cane you wouldn't fall down I said Old man, that robe really looks like a tattered gown It's not wonder why at your age you're so unhappy Old man, don't you realize there's a place you can turn to Especially when you're so broke and feeling all blue Just fill out that membership card and you will find Many, many others just like your kind... They'll make you realize there's no more to enjoy As they complain about no longer being a young boy You're finally joining the A-A-R-P... You're finally joining the A-A-R-P... You've fallen and can... http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=497 http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=497 Fri, 20 May 2005 20:58:53 GMT Whoo-hoo! I've joined "the party" - I'm so excited I feel like I'm in the "in" crowd now! And you know, this is just dying to be a CMX Suite subject matter! :-) So, Ray has invited me to this little party. Like Pink says... "Let's get this party started!!!" Total Volume Funny little story about this... My wife just got me a 40GB iPod for Christmas so during the holidays, I went around my house collecting ALL of the CDs I had - no matter if I really listened to them or not. I'm talking the whole entire collection of "1970 and 1980 TV theme songs" and things like that. Thought I had a ton of music. Well, after converting them and uploading them to my iPod, I stand at a whopping 3.4 GBs! Okay, so I have some music to go purchase... Last CD Bought Actually, I just bought a couple of them - remember, I have 37 GB to do something with! The two main CDs I recently bought were "The Essential Heart" and "The Best of John Denver". I also like to buy collections of songs - like top hits of the 80's and things like that. One of the main reasons why I LOVE iTunes' music store!... http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=493 http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=493 Thu, 19 May 2005 18:12:53 GMT High school was finally nearing its long, drawn out preclusion to the summer days. All through the hallways, kids were already preparing for their beach trips or their summer vacation plans with their families as they walked the hallways decked out in their Ocean Pacific attire. Everyone could taste the sweet smell of summer - even the school administrators admitted this by relaxing the rules and letting the kids play music on their "boomboxes" around their lockers - from Journey's "Don't stop believing" to Michael Sembello's "Maniac". Oh yes. Summer was in the air. You could hear it. You could taste it. You could feel it. But before any of that happened - before summer could OFFICIALLY begin that year - some more important things had to be answered first. Answers that couldn't be found in any text book or a final exam sheet. Answers that no school administrator, teacher or counselor could help you with. Answers that plagued you for three and a half years... Made you crazy with anticipation. And so it was May 1983 and I found myself agreeing to something I never thought would be possible - I was about ... http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=481 http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=481 Tue, 17 May 2005 11:55:39 GMT Alrighty then, folks... I thought I'd jot down a few random thoughts about this week's CMX Suite strip. I don't know if this will be a "regular" habit of mine, but it is something I have been thinking about doing for a while now. Consider it a bit like "Inside the Actor's Studio" only now, you are entering "inside a cartoonist's head". If ANY of you ever remember the short lived FOX TV show called "Herman's Head", you get the idea. Anyway... as you can obviously tell, today's strip was a product of being very mesmerized by Molly Holzschlag during TODCon '05 two weeks ago. Here's a little secret I'm going to share with you all... even though I probably SHOULD have known who Molly was prior to TODCon, I didn't. Heck, I didn't even pay attention to who was presenting all the CSS stuff that was at TODCon this year - I was just determined to attend as many CSS sessions as I possibly could to see if this silly artist could FINALLY wrap his head around the bizarre universe known as "table-less designs". Well... that's not going to happen any time soon, I can tell you that! But still, I forged ahead and went to the first CSS session at TO... http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=474 http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=474 Tue, 10 May 2005 14:03:43 GMT What I learned at TODCON this year: Molly Holzschlag is extremely charismatic and, through no fault of her own, has convinced me I'll never get the hang of "non-table, 100% CSS layout". Actually, I have convinced myself I'll never be able to wrap my head around "non-table, 100% CSS layout", but I'm committed to trying nonetheless. It's really a shame I only get to see Paul Davis (www.kaoswever.com) once a year - you better be at the next TODCON, mister! :-) Although Las Vegas doesn't afford the same kind of "after-conference" intimacy that Orlando did last year, the best thing about TODCON (no matter WHERE it is) is going out to dinner with other web designers and just getting to know each and every one of them and just "talk shop" for hours and hours. Listening to other people's struggles (AND successes) can really recharge your battery and fill you up with so much inspiration and energy, it's really hard to put a price tag on that! After Zumanity, I am saddened by the fact that I miss my high school "Rocky Horror Picture Show" years. You can never go home again, after all. (Siiiiigh!) Talking with Alex (a fellow il... http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=468 http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=468 Mon, 02 May 2005 12:46:57 GMT Holy Web Horrors, Batman! Can you believe what's happening with Bill and that "special lady" friend of his? Whew boy! Well, let's see if we can make him forget about his troubles for just a bit as I finish up my long promised second part of my "Baseball Movie" blog. This time, as promised, are the baseball movies I consider to be the worst. Now remember, we're not talking about the acting or even the overall entertainment of the movies themselves. Instead, I'm judging them foremost on the baseball SKILLS depicted in these movies. Then comes the acting, the plot, the actors, etc., etc., etc. Also, they aren't listed in any particular order either. Anyway, for your enjoyment (and debate if you'd like): 1) The Slugger's Wife I managed to make it through this entire movie thanks to Rebecca DeMornay but there wasn't any "Risky Business" to be had here, that's for sure. 2) The Babe Liked the story. Liked the movie, even but John Goodman playing baseball? The best thing in this movie was that he's been the only one that seems to have been able to imitate The Babe's unique running style. 3) Bang the drum slowly (remake) As I mention... http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=441 http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=441 Tue, 05 Apr 2005 19:03:40 GMT As some of you may know, I live in the Washington DC area and this year, all of us in this area will be celebrating something we have waited 35 years for: Opening day of the Major League Baseball Season IN Washington DC. Yes, it's true folks! Washington DC finally has a baseball team. And even though the Washington Nationals already won their first Spring Training game a week or so ago and opening day is still a few weeks away - and since the Academy Awards recently ended - I thought it might be fun to make a "best of" and "worst of" baseball movie list. Before I do that though, I have to admit, even though I am a huge baseball junkie and movie fan, even I haven't seen every baseball movie ever made. Because of that, you'll notice that most of the movies listed below are fairly recent or modern and there's really a very specific reason for that. For me, a "good" baseball movie can't just make it on drama or acting alone. The baseball skills have to be at least somewhat believable. And, as any serious baseball AND movie buff will tell you... Hollywood used to have a terrible track record when it came... http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=424 http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=424 Wed, 09 Mar 2005 13:30:19 GMT Okay... so there I am this morning opening my FREE CommunityMX newsletter as it pops up in my e-mail client of choice (Entourage) when I scroll down to the part about "Our Spidey Senses Are Tingling". Of course, being a big comic book nut since high school, this immediately catches my attention. Then, I click on the link and one thought races through my mind: "HOW THE HECK DID THIS SLIP UNDER MY COMIC BOOK RESOURCE RADAR????!!!" You see, I'm a member of various list groups or forums devoted to comic books and/or comic book art. I also have a subscription to Wizard magazine which keeps me up to date on just about anything happening in the comic book field. Yet, this one got by me completely. Now, some of you may be asking how Marvel and Corbis teaming up can help you and, honestly, I can't say. Your individual projects will determine that. And really, I'm interested in seeing how this progresses because "back in the day", any advertisements using Marvel characters usually only appeared in Marvel comics themselves. For those of you who are old enough, you might remember the old Hostess ads in... http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=392 http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=392 Thu, 03 Feb 2005 21:42:16 GMT This week, the comic book industry lost two legendary artists this week - Kelly Freas and Will Eisner. Perhaps you may not know their names but you may be familiar with their creations. Kelly Freas was the illustrator most responsible for making Alfred E. Newman famous. Yes, THE Alfred E. Newman... from Mad Magazine. Also, if you were a long time science fiction reader, you might also be familiar with some of the covers Mr. Freas painted. I have to admit, with the exception of Mad magazine, I wasn't really familiar with his work. But that isn't the case with Will Eisner. For any comic book fan, Eisner's name is synonymous with excellence. Perhaps that's why he has the honor of having the most prestigious award in graphic storytelling named after him. Every summer, at the San Diego Comic Con, the comic book industry holds its version of the Oscars, Tonys and Emmys. If you are a comic book or graphic novel illustrator, one of the biggest honors you can ever have bestowed upon you is being nominated (and winning) an Eisner award. Here is a brief biography of both gentlemen - taken from www.writersofthefuture.com: Will Eisner: Will E... http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=353 http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=353 Wed, 05 Jan 2005 22:21:45 GMT Okay... now that I have your attention, here's the deal... A couple of weeks ago, in the CommunityMX Newsletter, we featured a link to Clientcopia. If you missed it or don't subscribe to the FREE CommunityMX Newsletter, Clientcopia is a site where graphic designers, artists, web designers and just about anybody else can go and share their horror stories about past clients. Some of the stories are truly hysterical if, for no other reason, you have probably experienced something similar. Well now is your chance to share your own web designing client horror stories with the rest of your CommunityMX neighbors. You may be asking yourself exactly why should you do such a thing. Well, I will tell you why! Because if you e-mail me YOUR favorite client or web designing horror story AND if it's humorous enough, clean enough, AND able to fit into the format of a web comic, I will create a CMX Suite strip based on your story! And, should this contest exceed my expectations and I end up getting more submissions then I know what to do with, I might just make this a regular, once-a-month feature with CMX Suite. So... what do you get if I should happen to pick your story as the basis of the... http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=326 http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=326 Mon, 13 Dec 2004 23:25:49 GMT That's how fast comedy improv moves. How do I know this? Because that's how fast the speed of thought is. At least, that's the case when you're on stage and trying to come up with a creative way to depict an animal that is an expert in "Diet & Weight Loss" and still make it obvious to the audience what kind of animal you are. Yes, that's how silly improvisation comedy can be. I'm finding, however, that it's this quick pace and ultra silliness that makes it very difficult to actually write a blog about. For instance, I can tell you my character, "Dr. King" was asked and answered the following questions: Audience: What is the best way to lose excess weight?"Dr. King": I have found swatting at airplanes and helicopters to be a great source of exercise and helps shed extra weight. Audience: What's the key to healthy living and prolonging one's life?"Dr. King": Avoid the city - especially skyscrapers. Audience: What's the best and healthiest food to eat? "Dr. King": Blonde white women. What I can't tell you about is the immediate audience reaction... the laughter from the rest of the class as they immediately "got" the joke of not ... http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=303 http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=303 Mon, 22 Nov 2004 18:13:43 GMT That's what we practiced during my first of six classes on improv comedy this past Saturday. Basically, Zip! Zap! Zop! is a warm up exercise that trains you to "free your brain from anticipation and thinking" - of course, many of my friends already think I excel at this but that's beside the point, right? In the exercise known as Zip! Zap! Zop!, you stand in a circle so everyone is able to make eye contact with each other. One person starts off by saying either zip, zap or zop. If that person looks at you, you are to look at someone else in the circle and reply in kind - zip, zap or zot. The "game" continues for 5 or ten minutes until you get used to not anticipating or planning which of the three responses you are going to say when someone looks at you. Believe me, it sounds a lot easier then it really is. It took me a few tries before I was actually able to say one of those three responses without pausing, planning or deciding to whom I was going to direct my response to. But then again, that was the whole point of the exercise. As I mentioned last week, I participated in an improv comedy troupe back in hi... http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=291 http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=291 Wed, 10 Nov 2004 15:13:08 GMT How many of you enjoy the television show - the British or the American version - of "Whose line is it anyway?"? How many of you enjoy the zaniness of improvisational theatre? I'm not talking about the ultra rehearsed type stuff that's on Saturday Night Live. I'm talking about true improvisational theatre. Well, I just got my confirmation e-mail today and my first class in "Improvisational Comedy" starts tomorrow morning. I'm not nervous. In fact, I'm feeling quite the opposite right now. You see, waaaaaaay back in high school, I was honored to be a part of a fantastic "theatre sports" Thespian group. Essentially, "theatre sports" is a contest among your fellow thespians in the form of improvisation skits. Many of the same type of "contests" that are depicted on "Whose line..." are the basis of "theatre sports". For example, one of my favorite "events" was "genres". In the game, you are given a very general plot - maybe something as crazy as "Godilocks meets Star Wars". Then, based off of the suggestions in the group (the same... http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=279 http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=279 Fri, 05 Nov 2004 18:21:02 GMT So I'm reading one of these typical computer magazines you can find at any newsstand or bookstore and there's an article in it where the author is talking about how computer game emulators are suddenly becoming very, very popular - you know, classic computer games like Asteroids, Dig-dug, Centipede, Galaxia and so forth - and it got me to recall one of my favourite computer games I used to love playing whenever I could. The game wasn't all that sophisticated - heck, how many games WERE back in the early 80's? It didn't have 3D graphics, the main character wasn't a superhero, didn't have any weapons, couldn't do any complicated karate kicks or punches. But he could run very fast. He could jump incredible distances. And he was incredible (most of the time) at avoiding certain death on every level. Not bad for a stick, I'd say. Yes, for all you old-time Commodore 64 users out there, you know who I'm talking about. Don't you? Yes... yes you do! Why don't we all put our hands together and give a great big nostalgic hug to Jumpman and his brother, Jumpman II???!! I'm not sure why I grew to love that twirling, jumping, spinning, unsophist... http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=254 http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=254 Tue, 26 Oct 2004 23:32:19 GMT Do you ever get into a situation where you write an e-mail that you think is honest, to the point and basically about the facts but then someone else reads that e-mail and thinks "Oh my gosh! I can't believe you went off like that!!!" and so, for the rest of the day, you spend your time reading and re-reading the e-mail thinking "what did I say that was so harsh or so bad?". Those of us that work in the "corporate field" or are part of a committee of some sort might relate to what I am talking about. I'm in such a situation right now. You see, I work in one of those corporate environments and we tend to design web sites by committee (not the easiest thing in the world to do, let me tell you!). And part of my many responsibilities is to make sure all of our web sites follow a very specific set of guidelines. Unfortunately - and on occasion - a "rogue designer" will create something that, on the surface level, looks really nice but hasn't followed any of those very specific guidelines. Now, his immediate superiors might like what he has done as well, but in the overall scheme of things, the ... http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=217 http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=217 Mon, 27 Sep 2004 22:11:57 GMT