And the file is done. Word of warning, I did my designs and tests on thinner paper, so of you print on thicker paper (like photo paper) stuff won’t line up perfectly. Not shabby for my first stab at it though. There are probably free templates I could have use to get started, but that wouldn’t have been as fun.

Estragon Papercraft

Do you often find that you wish our fictional characters could be your bestest buds? Or maybe you just wanna sit down to a beer every once in awhile with a misanthropic panda or neurotic mummy? Well, good news! Though you might be slightly insane, you’ll soon have your chance!

I am working on some prototypes right now (read crappy), but I soon hope to have some PDF files that you can download, print, cutout and construct. It could be rad. It could be lame. I guess we shall soon see.

More information regarding this activity may be found here.

I will update in groups of four, so here we go:

I am an off and on participant of a weekly sketch group over at PencilJack, and this weeks topics included the worst Sith Lord ever…Darth Maul. Here is my iPhone doodle. Done in Autodesk’s Sketchbook app, in about 15 minutes.

It took me almost 30 years to get around to it, but I finally read Dune. Trying to decide now if I will continue on with the sequels (and even that has an internal decision - read just the Frank Herbert sequels, or go and read all the stuff his son did as well) or just get on with my reading list of other authors (some Charles Stross, Neil Gaiman, and the ever present Terry Pratchett).

I have seen a lot of press vaunting Dune as the greatest science fiction novel of all time, and I guess sales wise it probably is, but I can’t say that I quite see it. I enjoyed the book and thought that the Fremen portions made a great ethnography that was really entertaining, but I have some issues with the book as a whole. The main character never really has any challenges laid before him and nothing is ever hard for him. He is the best at literally everything apparently. Not only is he the ultimate genetic human, but he has training that his gender should not allow, he has the brains of a super computer, and can defeat anyone in armed combat…despite never having been in a real battle before being thrust into a situation of having to fight one of the best fighters in the galaxy. Even taking over the Universe is a seemingly simple matter for him.

In fact, the whole book is set in the superlative, everyone is the best at what they do. Thufir is apparently the best Mentat, but can’t see through some simple trickery. Duncan is the greatest swordsman, but then again so is Gurney - who is also the most rad Baliset player. The Fremen are the bestest revolutionaries…etc. Everyone is superhuman and after a while I got tired of hearing about how bad ass and clever they were.

Despite all this bitching, it was a good book and I definitely enjoyed it…Book 2 was particularly entertaining. And, I have now finished 2 books this year…which puts me behind schedule for Xeno’s challenge to read 52 books this year, but not too shabby considering I probably usually only read 4-5 non technical books a year.

In a send off to all that is awful, I have chosen to do so with my most hated of internet communication methods: The Top 10 List

10. Comment Sections - Being a person that creates things, I have to say that one of the worst things about the internet is the comment sections on websites. Every troll, snark, and l33t thinks that they are God’s gift to critical thought and must share how truly awful anything creative is. It is truly amazing how many things are the ‘worst thing ever’.

9. Teabaggers - Really they should rank higher in the scale of bad, but their lack of understanding about their own naming convention has given me endless snickering. Sufficed to say, as an educated godless liberal I find little common ground with these folk. If they all faded away, or better yet - just STFU, I could be so happy.

8. Genocide, Rape, and Murder - I think we can agree these are all bad things. AMIRIGHT? I’m only counting the ones that happened in the last decade. None of the rest really matter.

7. Flash based websites with music that blares at you as soon as you load them - Totally worse than murder. I mean, if I murdered the dude that made these things, I’d be doing every one a favor…right?

6. Glen Beck - If Glen Beck was my Dad, I wouldn’t know it until I was much older. In fact, he would cut off my hand and then tell me. Then I’d scream no and drop into a tunnel network under Cloud City. He’s like that, just minus the cool black outfit and James Earl Jones voice over. Only if he throws that fat fucker Limbaugh over the railing will he earn his redemption.

5. Puppies - I realize puppies aren’t something we discovered or that rose to prominence in the last decade, nor are they even that bad. The thing is, Top 10 lists always have something amazingly retarded in the middle that doesn’t follow the rules of the list or even make a single bit of god damned sense. My pick is Puppies.

4. Star Wars Prequels - Xeno says there were only three Star Wars films. I wish he was right, but the scars that Phantom Menace left on my heart are too deep to ignore. If you need it explained to you, go here.

3. The Bush Years - Maybe revisionist history can paint these in a better light. Meanwhile, I’m gonna have a beer and try to forget.

2. Global Recession - I guess that sucks pretty hard too.

1. The number one most awful thing about the past decade has to be Top 10 lists. They are stupid. They are merely attention grabs and a means to drive comments, snarky or otherwise. I have never read one and thought “Self, that was a well thought out piece of writing, I am so glad the writer had the forethought to put it into numerical order! Otherwise I may have lost interest or been unable to grasp a sense of priority.”

I’ve designed a couple of products and opened a CafePress store to help with the costs associated with maintaining this site. The products will be rotating semi-regularly, so if you see something you like buy it up before it’s gone. I’m pretty fond of this mug design I did, and might have to buy it for myself come Christmas.

Gorgon Brew - Death only drinks the finest brew. Fair Trade!

Much to my chagrin, my wife is a huge Twilight fan. Before that though, I could be proud of my Whedon loving bride that thought Buffy was the coolest. I was going to make her a t-shirt, but from my reading of the terms and conditions I couldn’t use this design over at CafePress. Oh well, here it is for your amusement.

If you're gonna back a soulful vampire, at least back the one with some balls.

Printed out my manuscript from NaNoWriMo so that my family could read/edit for me. That’s a lot of paper.