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Who wants free music? (Traegorn)

Traegorn — Wed, 16 May 2012 11:41:13 -0500

May 16, 2012 - 11:41:13 CST
So, earlier this week I released the second Lt. Snorkel EP (and overall fifth project I've done under that name). It's a simple little four track production of covers, and it's called Repeated Minds.

I know that I just put out a full length album a few months ago (Mistakes I Made On Purpose - which you can also download), but these are ideas that have been kicking around and I didn't want to put more than one cover on that particular release.

One of the tracks on Repeated Minds should be familar and, frankly, old hat for fans of my now defunct band Happy Wednesday. That is, of course, the industrial version of "The Hokey Pokey." This is actually the recording that was always intended for the never-materialized album "Beacon of Awesome," and features Matt Biedermann on Guitar prominently. The rest of the track though was actually performed by myself the way any other Lt. Snorkel song would - and while I've leaked it here and there, I've never formally put it out.

So I figured I should do something about that.

A version of Regdar and the Fighters's "Cloud Burst" appears as well on this, which features Vomit Hat Steve himself on vocals. Cloud Burst comes originally, of course, from the "Harry Potter and I Must Scream" that was put out earlier this year. I collaborated on the album, significantly contributing to two tracks - one of which was the reprise of Cloud Burst at the end of the album. But besides what showed up in the final release, I put together some stuff that Steve chose not to use, and this is one of them.

The rest of the tracks include, oddly enough, a Backstreet Boys cover, and a mashup of The Offspring's Gone Away with the Tears for Fears classic Mad World. Like I said, four simple tracks, all available for download for free.

Download them now and enjoy.
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Why Haven't You Watched Battleground? (Traegorn)

Traegorn — Fri, 11 May 2012 10:51:17 -0500

May 11, 2012 - 10:51:17 CST
One of the interesting things Hulu has done in the last year is produce its first scripted original series - Battleground. Hulu was releasing one new episode a week as the season progressed, and the finale (episode thirteen) recently went up. If they never make another season, the show has more than enough closure - but I know I want more.

The series, presented in Mockumentary format, tells the story of a Democratic Senate Campaign in Wisconsin. It was shot entirely in Madison, and frankly makes me miss Wisconsin every time I watch it.

The cast is rock solid. I can't say that enough. The best part of the characters is that they're flawed and complex - the campaign manager "Tak" for instance will make you love him one minute, and then make you want to throttle him the next. They feel like real people.

Amusingly, there's an actress in this series who I've seen do other things, and I absolutely hated her in them... but lo and behold, she plays one of my favorite characters on Battleground.

Battleground gets both the feel of a campaign right along with the atmosphere of Wisconsin itself (which makes sense, as the creator of the series has both worked on campaigns and is from Wisconsin originally). I think of it as what Wisconsin politics felt like prior to Scott Walker's tenure as Governor. It's a story about the place I miss, not the place that's there right now.

The whole season is up on regular Hulu (no Plus required) to view for free, right now - so if you have the time, you should totally sit down and take a look. Each episode is 22 minutes long, and it's definitely worth your time.

You know, if you like good things.
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Back To Reality (Traegorn)

Traegorn — Wed, 09 May 2012 13:03:42 -0500

May 09, 2012 - 13:03:42 CST
Post con depression is a terrible, terrible thing... but it's only because conventions themselves tend to be so much fun. I've been back from No Brand Con since Monday, but I couldn't quite get myself to write this until today for some reason or another.

There's no real profundity to my delay, just laziness mostly. I've had the motivation to keep my two comics on track, and that's about it.

In any case, today is my first day back at work since before the con, and I figured since reality was snapping itself back into focus, I should reflect on my annual, temporary exit from it.

Last year, it felt strange to be back - as it was my first year where I was not heavily involved in the production of the convention (beyond some public facing duties... which are all that's really left for me to do). This year I was even LESS involved in running the thing, but I found myself not feeling strange about it at all.

I think it's because I had gotten myself an artist alley table (which was all done above board), and because I always had something to "work," I wasn't as restless to start "helping out" (which would likely have resulted in my actually getting in the way).

Did the current staff do everything perfectly? No - but let's be honest, neither did I when I was actually in charge. They did a good job though, and if you know me (and how I critique things), that's actually exceptionally high praise. The con has stabilized in size, which is good because if it got any bigger, none of the hotels in the city of Eau Claire could physically hold the con still...

...but man, would we run a killer ad campaign if there were a bigger hotel in that town.

In any case, I'm sort of meandering here -- the con was a hell of a lot of fun, I sold some books, and I got to see a lot of old friends. In truth, I don't think I could ask for much more.
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Convention Prep (Traegorn)

Traegorn — Tue, 01 May 2012 11:48:14 -0500

May 01, 2012 - 11:48:14 CST
On Thursday night I'm hitting the road for Wisconsin, as No Brand Con is this weekend. I've been looking forward to it all year, and I anticipating an awesome time this weekend. Some bad stuff has gone down recently in my extended family which has made me wonder whether or not my trip will be cut short, but I'm going to stay positive.

I've got my books loaded already for my artist alley table, my panels and events are scripted, and while I still have a few more things to do (like memorize opening ceremonies), I'm happy to say things are moving forward in a generally decent direction.

I'm existing in this odd hybrid role of attendee/artist and staff. I'm "working" some high profile events (and my own panels), and it's all rather inside. On the other hand, I'm a paid attendee, and I registered for my artist table with the general public... waiting for the forms to be on the website for over a day before sending them in.

So am I staff or an attendee? Sort of both.

And it's weird.

I'm still excited though - I've already got that pre-con lump in my stomach. I've been hastily prepping comics so I have a buffer to make up for the normal time I'd be working on them. I'm staring at the calendar, wishing it were later in the week than it is.

I want to do more cons this year, but likely won't be able to add more to my schedule until the fall. I'm waiting to hear back from several about getting tables, but we'll see. I'm optimistic, but I try not to count on anything until I get something in writing.

But no matter what, I'm on for this weekend, I'm friggin' excited... and it can't come fast enough.
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A Knock-off iPad Smart Cover... (Traegorn)

Traegorn — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 09:28:49 -0500

Apr 25, 2012 - 09:28:49 CST
I pretty much live on my iPad 2, and have since I got my original one (which I managed to break a month ago). When I got my replacement (as I thankfully had three days left on my warranty), I decided to get a back case for the unit to protect it. Of course, I got a black back cover, and it no longer looked as awesome to have a gray smart cover... so I started to look at my options.

Sadly, the only black Smart Cover Apple makes is leather... and I didn't feel like spending $70 to replace my gray smart cover (which wasn't exactly broken). I went to look on Amazon to see if I could find a used one for sale, when I ran across this.

It was a knock-off Smart Cover. Sort of. It wasn't pretending to be made by Apple or anything, but still. At the time it was $10 (it's not in stock as I write this), and I thought "what the hell" and ordered it. A few weeks later (as I went for the free shipping option) it was in my mailbox.

And right now it's on my iPad.

And it's not bad, actually. It works fine with the iPad 2 (although Third Generation iPad owners may have problems with the on/off issue), and looks pretty good. Comparing it to the real smart covers (which start at $40), it shows it's cheapness. The cover is a much cheaper plastic than the nice polyurethane of the official ones. The underside isn't exactly a "microfiber" like the real one, but instead some sort of felt. While the spine magnets seem pretty solid, the activating ones are significantly weaker than the official one (which means it comes open more easily). But hey, it was only ten bucks.

The hinge is a little tight, so I hope that loosens up over time, but overall it's not terrible. Would I recommend it over the real one? Well... probably not. But it will do in a pinch.

See Also: Some Video of the Knock off Smart Cover
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Random Art - The General vs. The Professor (Traegorn)

Traegorn — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 10:43:04 -0500

Apr 23, 2012 - 10:43:04 CST

Today's Random Art comes from The Chronicles of Crosarth of course, as Professor Dauntless confronts General Baker. It's a battle of old dudes with awesome mustaches! Seriously, I don't have a lot to add to this one, other than to mention that sadly this scene will end neither in a fist fight nor the two of them making out.

May the creepy slashfics begin though...
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Random Art - General Baker (Traegorn)

Traegorn — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 09:06:15 -0500

Apr 18, 2012 - 09:06:15 CST

Today's random art is, of course, General Baker from The Chronicles of Crosarth. There isn't a whole lot to say about him as a character that hasn't been apparent in the comic already, so I don't have a ton of commentary on this image - but hey, it's there and stuff.

Wow, I'm super articulate this morning.
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Human Perception and Objectivity (Traegorn)

Traegorn — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 13:51:20 -0500

Apr 16, 2012 - 13:51:20 CST
Most of us like to think we're objective, and that we can see things clearly. We like to think we don't see the world through filters, and that our interpretations of events, people and conditions are the "truth" in any scenario.

But that's not how we work.

Entering any situation, we pile on our biases like Dagwood Bumstead building a sandwich. The mountain of predispositions we bring to the table slants how we view the world - and guarantees that two different points of view will likely not interpret the same behaviors the same way. One person's cold is another person's warm. One person may think an acquaintance is arrogant, while that same subject may just be viewed as merely confident by another.

But as I said, it's not just how we judge people, but reality itself.

It was over a decade ago that I drove along a country highway outside of Eau Claire, WI. It was a dark, foggy summer night - the kind of fog that seems to cling to you, making even an open field feel claustrophobic. The hairs were already standing up on the back of my neck when I turned the corner on the darkened road. The tension was already palpable as I slowly drove forward...

...and saw it.

It appeared in an instant, glowing in the sky. A white orb, shining with an almost gentle light. My heart jumped, and panic gripped me. I shot home as fast as possible. It wasn't the moon - as I would verify that the moon was new upon reaching my apartment - it was something else. I didn't know what it was, and it was terrifying.

As I often tell people, "I believe in lots of crazy stuff, but I acknowledge that it sounds crazy." My rational brain is fully functional, so my instinct was to find any rational way to explain what I had seen that night before making the emotional conclusion my brain already wanted to jump to. So, the next day, with the sun high in the sky, I went back out to that country road.

The first thing I noticed turning the bend by daylight was the large tree that covered the sky. And just past the tree was something that I'd never expected to see on that country road - a very highly mounted, spherical streetlight.

It "appeared" suddenly because it was behind fog obscured branches. There was nothing amazing really going on here at all. But because my own biases towards strange phenomena and the otherworldly took over that night, I hadn't considered this exceptionally mundane explanation.

We have to trust our judgements, it's true. They're all we have. But the one thing we must never forget is that it's entirely possible that we are wrong, and that our own biases have colored how we view things. The important thing though is that we are willing to re-evaluate that which our emotional centers leap to see as true.

In other words, that we'll be willing to go look for that street lamp.
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Your Fandom Is Not The Only Fandom (Traegorn)

Traegorn — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 15:09:15 -0500

Apr 12, 2012 - 15:09:15 CST
For those unaware, the Hulu Best In Show poll was a neck and neck race between Community and The Walking Dead. Community won (yay!), and for some reason a small percentage of The Walking Dead fandom has been declaring the voting "rigged." Seriously, search Tumblr for The Walking Dead and I'm sure you'll find some examples -- here's one I found in two seconds.

This amazes me.

Community these days is most famous for it's frighteningly rabid fanbase (which I am a member of). It's the kind of internet savvy, obsessive fanbase usually unseen in a sitcom audience. And the reason is simple - it's an exceptionally geeky show (as it should be, as it was created by Dead Ale Wives alum Dan "Attacking the Darkness" Harmon).

The show has been in, at least the eyes of the fanbase, endangered - so in these last few months we've all been super energized. And one of the ways we're hoping to help is by rewatching episodes on Hulu.

So lo and behold, when said site has a poll, the fans jump on it. Any time we fell behind in the polls, the call to arms went out across Twitter and Tumblr. We fought tooth and nail through each round - and did so harder in the finals because we knew we were going up a (rather good) genre show. Unlike the sitcoms we'd faced earlier in the competitions, this show had a fandom that would fight to try and win too. Whenever we fell behind though, we didn't think the poll was rigged - we assumed the other fandom was voting a lot.

On the other hand, apparently some Walking Dead fans can't comprehend that there might be another fandom out there that knows how to use the internet as well. Some of them don't have the capacity to understand that a group of people might like something else as much as they like their favorite show.

So this is my message to fans of The Walking Dead who say the poll was rigged: There are other Human Beings (pun only sort of intended) who like other stuff as much as you like your stuff. Other fandoms may just be as passionate as yours, and crying foul because you lost a poll based on internet popularity... it smacks of ridiculousness.
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Random Art - A New Crosarth Map (Traegorn)

Traegorn — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 11:40:01 -0500

Apr 10, 2012 - 11:40:01 CST

I've been working on a new worldmap for The Chronicles of Crosarth as the old one, frankly, leaves a little to be desired. Mostly the old map looks like it was computer generated... which it was. I use a fractal world builder for portions of my maps, and while I had intended to use the entire globe I had generated with that original image... I've decided for story I wanted some different geography.

So, since the bit we've seen on the old map is canon, it just means redesigning the parts of the world I haven't shown you yet.

Which I'm doing.

Also, for the record, naming countries is hard.
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Why Can't Geeks Handle Damage Control? (Traegorn)

Traegorn — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 09:42:28 -0500

Apr 05, 2012 - 09:42:28 CST
The basic inability of geek organizations to handle talking to the public isn't always super surprising, and it isn't new - but it kind of bothers me that it's still an issue. Now I'm no PR expert, and I don't claim to be the smoothest operator out there - but there are things that I think of as common sense that (for reasons beyond comprehension) seem to elude my brethren.

After any convention for instance, someone will be dissatisfied. Someone will have a complaint. Maybe this complaint is justified, maybe this complaint isn't -- but either way, if a con handles this wrong, it can be a disaster.

And it frustrates me when cons handle basic situations completely wrong, because I want to help them. I want to show them how to do things before they screw them up.

The key to damage control in this community is to actually listen to the complaint, no matter how trivial. It doesn't matter if the person complaining is right or wrong - you need to listen to it. Maybe the person complaining is off of their rocker, maybe they're just plain wrong -- but no matter what, you need to rationally listen to what they were saying.

It's important that you listen with emotional detachment. The biggest mistake any con staff can make is reacting emotionally. Chances are the person filing the complaint is going to be angry. If you get angry or offended too, you've failed entirely. Why? Because you're going to need to respond, and if you respond while angry you are going to make it worse.

Try to look at the complaint through the attendee's eyes. Try to see how they could have drawn their conclusions. Maybe they're right, and you've misjudged how something you thought was no big deal would appear to an outsider. Maybe the attendee has a point, but you have good reasons for not having done things the way they wanted them to be done. And... maybe the attendee is totally wrong.

If you realize their complaint is valid, do the stand up thing and apologize. Frankly, if you know you're in the wrong, doing anything else is asinine. If you think you're right, then you still need to respond -- but be respectful. The person wants to know they've been heard, and you need to let them know. Politely explain why you do things the way you do - don't condescend or act like an ass. They need to know you've taken them seriously and thought about it (because if you've followed my advice you have thought about it).

It's not hard to not act like a jackass in these situations... and I should know, as I have a hard time not acting like a jackass in a lot of other situations.

As a final note, the worst thing you can do is try to hide the complaint. Don't dismiss the person if they do it to your face, and if it's on your website or Facebook page do not delete it. Seriously, the best way you can add validity and weight to any complaint is to try and hide it. While you don't want to draw attention to a negative situation per se, you never want to be seen covering it up.

If you're in the right, it falsely makes your accuser look legitimate. If you're in the wrong, it makes it much harder for others to forgive you later.

Just. Don't. Do. That.
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A Doomed Character (Traegorn)

Traegorn — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 09:32:58 -0500

Apr 03, 2012 - 09:32:58 CST
The current storyline in UnCONventional involves the revelation that:

Max used to be engaged to someone named Jenna.
Jenna died almost ten years ago.

She's been introduced in that context, and it's taken over the storyline a little (though not for much longer, don't worry). Here's the thing though - neither of these things were originally intended.

Jenna is, oddly enough, a Room 825 character. She's Marcus's high school girlfriend, friends with Lynn, and many other things. Originally, I had considered having her not only alive, but married to Will in 2012. But then I got thinking. I thought, "Wouldn't it be interesting to make her Max's ex?" Tara and Max had been going a little too smoothly, so I thought this might create some needed conflict in their relationship. From there my brain went "Oooh, and maybe Max used to be engaged to her!" But then I had a problem...

...why doesn't Tara know about her?

Now, I've established in the past that Tara misses obvious things about her friends and those around her. It's a defining trait of how I write her. As much as it's tempting to write perfect people, especially in the role of love interest, Tara is still only 21. She's grown up some since the beginning of the comic, but she's still the youngest of our main four characters. I knew that I needed to create a situation where if Max thought Tara knew about Jenna, he'd never mention having been engaged.

And I could only think of one reason: Jenna had died.

It would explain so much of Max's personality, and flesh out who he was. It would let me pull some of Tara's self centered nature to the forefront that sometimes gets forgotten. It would explain a lot of Max's hesitance to talk about the "First Bork Con" (as, in truth, I had been merely trying to stop flashbacking for a few strips).

It's an odd parallel I hadn't hoped to draw in my fictional world to my own convention history. No, I was never engaged before my wife, and I've never lost a significant other - but weeks after the first No Brand Con, one of our staffers (and a really awesome guy) died suddenly. I don't want to go into it too much, but by introducing this element I hope to add a bittersweet light to some of these flashbacks... the same way I feel when I look back to those days in my own life. It's sad because while I still plan on doing a lot with Jenna in the flashbacks, it means I can't use her in the current timeframe ever.

So I guess, like in real life, mortality robs us of the possibilities we'd hoped for some people.
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Random Art - An Actual Air Pirate (Traegorn)

Traegorn — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 12:33:10 -0500

Mar 30, 2012 - 12:33:10 CST

Today's random art is a character from The Chronicles of Crosarth we won't be meeting for quite some time. I was nailing down this character's design, and liked her enough though where I thought I'd share it.

So far in the story, we've seen members of the military, random civilians, and one guy who claims he's an air pirate. I say claims, because it was quickly pointed out that he was more of a smuggler.

Well, eventually some real Air Pirates are coming into play, and this is one of them. I won't reveal any more than that, as it would include spoilers, but there you go.

Enjoy.
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Random Art - An Escape (Traegorn)

Traegorn — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 09:57:00 -0500

Mar 28, 2012 - 09:57:00 CST

Today's Random Art is, of course, the final panel from today's installment of The Chronicles of Crosarth. I think my favorite part of this thing is Waxley's expression. Seriously.

If anything captures these characters, it's this shot.

What you may have noticed on that page, is I mention an item that I've slipped up for sale and not really mentioned - and that's the first print collection of The Chronicles of Crosarth. It's just $9.99 and collects Chapters One and Two. To keep costs down, I'll be putting out a new book every two chapters, and I'll be putting these out as fast as I can after the comics go up.

It'll be fun.
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