Kobi LaCroix's Journal

Alright folks, got a request for everyone out there in LJ land.
The next wave of Power Rangers Super Legends figures are making their way to shelves.
This time around, it's the White Ranger and Gold Ranger.
Since I bypassed the Green Ranger so most of my friends could get him instead (I think I wound up buying 2-3 of them for other people, all things considered), I WANT the White Ranger figure.
That's this fella right here.

So if you see him, I'll reimburse you for the cost of purchase and shipping.

(...Also if you come across any Green Rangers, I've still got an interest in getting one for myself...)

I am currently backstage at Wolf Trap waiting for our 'Not the Messiah' dress rehearsal to begin. If all goes well, we'll be able to meet Eric Idle afterwards (and during to some extent since he's in the show, too). I'm excited--this is certainly the closest to 'star struck' I've ever been!

I meant to make a reminder post about the One-Off Button Sale yesterday. But I'm making it today.

Several of the buttons have bids, I'll leave them all open until 8pm (EST) tonight, then I'll close the ones that haven't received bids since the other day. Any that receive additional bids today will stay open until at least tomorrow.

So far I'd count the bidding method very successful, I don't think I've had any problems or anything with it, which is awesome! I'll probably be using a similar method for sales of stuff in the future!

Thanks, everyone who has bid or commented!

One-Off Button Sale!

Y ya que hablamos de gráficos de baja resolución... ¿cuál de las dos series de imágenes tiene mejor colorido? Una es la original y la otra ha sido editada según los consejos de Sylvestre, grafista de "Sucres en Morceaux".

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And now that we talk about low resolution graphics... which series of images shows the best colours? One is the original palette and the other one was edited following the advice of Sylvestre, graphician of "Sucres en Morceaux".

Para cambiar de tema y hablar de algo más ligero, aquí tenéis un sencillo trabajo de diseño de fuentes de ordenador: es posible que los usuarios de C64 recordéis este tipo de letras. Todos los caracteres han sido hechos con combinaciones de 16 tipos de bloques de 16x8 píxeles, lo que ha obligado a ciertos compromisos entre legibilidad y estética.

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Moving on to a lighter topic, here you have a simple work of computer font design: perhaps the users of C64 will remember this type of lettering. All the characters were made with combinations of 16 types of blocks of 16x8 pixels each, that required several compromises between readability and aesthetics.

También tengo unas palabras para anaisdjuna, aunque desgraciadamente no son noticias felices: el gorrioncillo que recogí hace casi un mes murió de repente este lunes a mediodía. Al principio temí que lo hubiesen matado otros pájaros (el gorrión macho y el palomo blanco le querían poco), pero pronto vi que era la anemia lo que le había matado. Ya habíamos observado en los días pasados que el animalito comía muy poco, pero no nos imaginábamos que la cosa era tan grave, pues continuaba aparentando buena salud y vitalidad: incluso había aprendido a recorrer la casa entera andando por el pasillo. Pobre criatura, deberíamos haber seguido dándole papilla en vez de intentar enseñarle prematuramente a comer trigo, arroz y otras clases de grano.

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I also have several words for anaisdjuna, but unfortunately they aren't happy news: the little sparrow I found nearly one month ago suddenly died on Monday noon. I feared at the beginning that other birds had killed it (the male sparrow and the white male dove didn't love it), but I quickly saw that it had been the anemia that had killed it. We had already seen in the past days that the animal ate very little, but we couldn't presume that the thing was so serious, because it still feigned good health and vitality: it had even learned to walk the whole house through the corridor. Poor creature, we should have continued feeding it baby food instead of trying to teach it prematurely to eat wheat, rice and other kinds of grain.

También a raíz de un comentario de bonbonbabs, me he dado cuenta de que sería profundamente injusto que hablase de "Face like a Frog" sin mencionar una obra anterior de la misma autora, la obra que precisamente le valió premios y reconocimiento internacional, hasta el punto de que hoy día este corto es considerado uno de los cincuenta mejores de la historia del cine animado:

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Also thanks to a comment from bonbonbabs, I realized that it would be deeply unfair if I talked about "Face like a Frog" without a mention of an older work by the same author, the work that did give her awards and international recognition, up to the degree of this short being nowadays considered one of the fifty better ever made in the history of animated cinema:

"Quasi at the Quackadero"

Sally Cruikshank, 1975

He estado debiendo una explicación a bonbonbabs (y posiblemente a más lectores) desde que di la noticia del fallecimiento de Ollie Johnston e intenté hacer una frase mínimamente poética al respecto: "todos somos polvo, aunque algunos consiguen serlo de estrellas". Estaba haciendo un juego de palabras muy simplón a costa del "polvo eres y en polvo te convertirás", el polvo estelar que los astrónomos cosechan cada vez que cae un meteorito, y las estrellas de Hollywood; pero el caso es que la frase completa es mucho más antigua: aparentemente fue Jenófanes de Colofón (siglo VI a.C.) el primero en escribir la comparación de los grandes hombres de la historia con las estrellas. Evidentemente he llegado más de dos mil quinientos años tarde para acuñar la frase.

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I've been owing an explanation to bonbonbabs (and probably to more readers) since I posted the news of Ollie Johnston's passing away and I tried to write a minimally poetic line about it: "we're all dust, although some manage to become stardust". I was doing a very simple word play about "dust you are and to dust you will return", the cosmic dust that astronomers collect every time a meteor falls, and the Hollywood stars; but the thing is that the whole line is way older: it seems that Xenophanes of Colophon (6th century BC) was the first to write the comparison between the history's great men and the stars. Evidently I've arrived more than two thousand five hundred years too late to coin the line.

Por cierto que ya llevo muchos días acumulando cumpleaños pendientes: mis felicitaciones a auroraaliuna, bonbonbabs, bradhicks, calamityjon, gr8kat, kiarrh, notveryathletic, sirkain, synnabar, tugrik, vandringar, verona7881, verypinkygirl, wlfdog y yomlogs.

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By the way, I've been accumulating pending birthdays for many days: my congratulations go to auroraaliuna, bonbonbabs, bradhicks, calamityjon, gr8kat, kiarrh, notveryathletic, sirkain, synnabar, tugrik, vandringar, verona7881, verypinkygirl, wlfdog and yomlogs.

De hecho, últimamente me ha dado por los dibujos rápidos, que son bocetos entintados pero no coloreados, hechos en cinco o diez minutos. La mayoría son terriblemente aleatorias, pero supongo que una de ellas bien podría ir en este diario.

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In fact, I've recently started drawing quick pictures, sketches that I ink but I don't colour, made in five or ten minutes. Most of them are terribly random, but I presume that one of them might go well in this journal.

Asquerosos gamberros aparte, aún sigo dibujando. Me cuesta creer que pudiese hacer los lápices de este garabato en menos de dos minutos, y que entintarlo y colorearlo me llevase menos de una hora de trabajo.

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Filthy pranksters aside, I still draw things. I can barely believe that I could do the pencils of this doodle in fewer than two minutes, and that inking and colouring it required less than a hour of work.

Debido a actos de vandalismo procedentes del lado erróneo del Atlántico me veo en la obligación de ocultar varias entradas del diario. Quienes deseéis leerlas podéis solicitármelas por correo electrónico. Lo siento mucho, pero es lo que tienen los "trolls" y el "spam".

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Because of acts of vandalism coming from the wrong side of the Atlantic, I'm in the duty of hiding several entries of the journal. Whoever wishes to read them can ask me for them through e-mail. I'm very sorry, but that's what happens when "trolls" and "spam" attack.

Last chance for an original marker piece by SAPPHIRE

Hot vixen lady NSFW!
http://www.furbuy.com/auctions/1005610.html

Also, I am open for commissions! More info here:
http://www.furryartpile.com/view/50550/

thanks C:

Town Cats, the nonprofit feline rescue we volunteer with, is in the process of raiding a horder home in the area, 100 cats confined to one household. All we know so far is that the cats are friendly. We'll know more in a few days.

Town Cats itself can hold about 20 of these guys, and they've sent out an urgent plea for foster homes for the other 80. These cats will be destroyed at local shelters if we don't take them. Arty and I will be fostering what we can. I am hoping that none of them end up going to shelters, which is why I'm putting a call out here.

If you are in the bay area, CA, and are willing to foster or adopt, or know someone who is here and may be willing, please let me know. And please feel free to spread the word.

(My own siamese cat, Red Dog, was rescued from a hording situation--he's probably the best cat I've ever had. That's a big reason as to why I feel so strongly about helping out with this.)


- Vinci

crossposting to cakepieces and my journal

This is the Very Important Post, and I'm not cutting it. Everyone must read this post. Got it? Got it! Good.

Look at my icon. There. Isn't the baseball-nomming tiger so kyooooot? Yush it is. Awwww... I bet you all know who drew it. You don't? Well, keep reading, because you're about to find out...

When I went to my first furry convention (as documented in "Start" from my furst album), I knew no one there. No one. I thought after the convention's goodness was over, I was going back to Little Rock to be alone, with no other furs anywhere around me. But thankfully I didn't leave the convention Saturday night; I came back on Sunday and met alexanderkatz in the Internet Room. I told The Alex how I was from Little Rock and how I was the only fur in that area, and he assured me that, no I'm not. He told me about a fur named animecat who lived in Little Rock, and I was like "O RLY?" Alex was like "ya rly," and I went home that evening with a bright ray of hope about my future as a furry... A few days later, I got over my shyness and made this comment to her MFM con report post... the rest, as many of you have witnessed, is History in the Making.

It is really amazing and humbling to think back and realize how so many wonderful enrichments to my life--so many friends, places, events--all started with one little LJ comment. And not just that. AnimeCat along with all of cenarkfurs first showed me that we are not friends because we're all furs; we're friends because we're friends. Period. AnimeCat introduced me to craz_e_coyote and ladydeyote, to danaki and amypeterson, to colley, to greyfox312 and kobi_lacroix, to quasiskunk, to gilmorelion, to crssafox and silverdark, to the_m0g... *sheds a tear* ...and the list goes on and on.

Also, musically, I don't know where I'd be without AnimeCat. It was her and her wolf akelavincent who were the first furs to purchase and listen to Orange and Black: The Furst Album (jm_horse bought the first copy but I had to mail it to Australia so it took a while to get there hehe) Also, any of you who met me at Megaplex have her to thank directly, for AnimeCat was ever so instrumental in getting me down to Megaplex to open for Matthew Ebel (a.k.a. <3 on a piano.) Were it not for AnimeCat, I never would have e-mailed kuddlepup--heck, I never may have made any YouTube videos or even tried playing in suit...

So, that's an all-too-brief summary of how I have come to know animecat and how she has become one of my closest friends.

And I would posit that it is well documented all of the contributions AnimeCat has made to the furry fandom we have come to cherish. In addition to her tremendous artwork (she has a studio page and she's on FurAffinity as well as VCL), she has created multiple fursuits and costumed characters, winning numerous performance awards at conventions furry and otherwise--including awards for five consecutive years at MidSouthCon. She has served on staff as graphic designer for RCFM, as well as director of the Megaplex art track. And, of course, she is a founder of cenarkfurs, as well as the founder of the Candy Skunk Corps. And I'm sure I'm forgetting a bunch of stuff, but I think I've demonstrated well enough AnimeCat's contributions to our fandom.

Now, the reason I'm writing all of this is because I need to ask you all to help Nicole "AnimeCat" Spradling and her family in their time of need, just as she has given so much to all of us. I know I've put a lot of links in this post to back up my heartfelt words, but if you don't click any other links, click this big bold link; it will take you to a post on her journal where you can learn what happened to her dear brother Collin last week, and why she and her family need your help. There is a PayPal link there as well, at the bottom of that post; I implore you to donate whatever you can to help defray the astronomical costs of memorial services as well as other costs related to her brother's tragic death. If you have a PayPal account or just a credit card, and some money, you can help Nicole and her family, and your help will be appreciated not only by her family, but by her friends and by all those that care. Even if you are not able to help financially, just your thoughts and your prayers will do more than a world of good.

Thank you all in advance for showing that math is not always absolute, for in the furry fandom, <3 approaches infinity.

--Josh, P. t. altaica

I went up to Boulder today, to put in some time on my other job. The sky was threatening, but it never amounted to much in the way of precipitation. Later I went over to my friend Vandy's place, and we went out to a place called "Islands", where I had an amazingly good hamburger. It had finally begun to rain with feeling outside, and on our way home we were greeted with the most incredible DOUBLE rainbow I've ever seen! you could see BOTH complete arcs, all the way to the horizon! And you could even make out all the colors! While all this was happening, the sun decided to peek out and both rainbows intensified, making the effect that much more dramatic.

Good omen??? I'm not sure, but I made a wish, just in case. ;)

Having just gotten back from a trip through a few of those big blocky Western states I'd hardly if at all ever been to, and seeing people doing that "what states have I been to" meme again, I decided it's time to pull out the maps I made myself for the purpose, tweak a few details, update them and put them up, so here they are.






If you'd like me to make a map like one of these for you, I can! Just comment with a list of U.S. states (and Canadian provinces & territories and Mexican states if you'd like the North America map) with each one assigned a number according to the following list of "visitedness":

11 - Live/have lived in
10 - Lived on college campus in
9 - Spent at least one night in
8 - Visited an attraction or person in
7 - Traveled through on land with at least one stop
6 - Traveled through on land with no stops
5 - Changed planes in
4 - Landed in but stayed on plane
3 - Flown over (and can verify it)
2 - Seen from across the border
1 - Visited but don't remember

This list is a hierarchy. For each state, use the highest number that applies.


( Handy list of states, provinces & territories  )

Seriously! New muppet content, exclusive to the Interweb! AND ON YOUTUBE NO LESS.

Sam the Eagle
Gonzo
Beeker
Swedish Chef
Statler and Waldorf

They setup accounts specific to each character (Though Beeker and Chef seem to be showing up in other videos, and Statler/Waldorf are ALWAYS there.)
Holy crap, this is an awesome idea for them to be doing :D
Short, sweet, and AWESOME.

...are hereby awarded to shadowtxhorse for finding an online website that allows one to make a map of all the counties one has visited--and lived in, as well! I have been keeping an updated map in MapInfo on my work computer, wishing that I had a tool or a way to set up a meme, or to point to a meme, where everyone could fill it out. Well, shadowtxhorse found it!

And so did fyremane and akita_inus and I'm sure many others by now. :) But shadowtxhorse's is whose I saw first, so he gets the Keys. :) I should have done this right when I saw him post...

chazz93, thank you for watching the Keys with diligence. shadowtxhorse, guard the Keys carefully while they are in your possession.

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This is Not the Very Important Post I referenced earlier today, by the way. The Keys to LiveJournal are Important, but not Very Important like my upcoming post. You'll know it when you see it.