Cyphan this past weekend was a blast, and it was also a fun time to premiere the new camera (the pictures from this and the previous page were taken with it). It got to play and experiment and try new things with it – and figure out how the thing works.
You’d think, “Come on, dude. It’s a camera. Point and shoot.” But that’s not right at all.
I was trying to do a lot of manual focusing with the camera, but the problem with that it two fold:
1) I wear glasses
2) I think the image is in focus, but when you look at the 15megapixel glory on the computer screen, you find that it’s not
Auto-focus for me for a while, I think. Until I get the hang of it.
But I digress. Have a great 4th of July, everyone, and I’ll catch you next week for more Temple and @$$hole!
I’m attending Cyphan this weekend out in Wheeling, Il. The show’s at the Westin, and I’ll be speaking on Friday and Sunday. It’s going to be a fun time, so show up and say hello!
So I wanted to somehow make a comic about the new camera that I got. But I didn’t have a working camera to take pictures of myself…holding my new camera. Possibly making love to it. Possibly the TV gets jealous and ticked off. See, there’s like a story arc here I could make.
Just need another camera, and a person to take the pictures.
I tried to get some pictures taken this weekend, and play with the camera a bit. But Waffles makes for poor subject matter, since she moves all the time. However, I’ll be at Cyphan this weekend out in Wheeling, and the new camera will be with me. If you stop by the show, you may get the chance to appear in the comic, if you’d like.
Temple: Assassin 1
December 14th, 2009 | by TrevorNominate TrevorAMueller.com in the 2009 Web Comic List Reader’s Choice Awards (no need to sign up, but it helps if you put in some info so they know you’re not a spambot). I’d take any nominations, but I’m specifically looking for:
- Best Writing
- The Innovation Award
- Best Supporting Character – Susie (or the crazy cat lady…or the waiter)
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Tried a new coloring technique for the cover of Assassin. It still needs some work (and Seymour is WAY too dark), but it was fun to experiment and play a little again. Time was my major constraining factor on this one. There are not enough hours in a day. Especially outside of work.
Next week the comic starts proper, and it’ll be a 32 page romp of awesome!
Nominate TrevorAMueller.com in the 2009 Web Comic List Reader’s Choice Awards (no need to sign up, but it helps if you put in some info so they know you’re not a spambot). I’d take any nominations, but I’m specifically looking for:
- Best Writing
- The Innovation Award
- Best Supporting Character – Susie (or the crazy cat lady…or the waiter)
###
Here’s a single page summing up the two previous prequels in this series, to help catch new readers up to speed – and also so everyone else doesn’t have to re-read everything that came before to know what’s going on. Assassin starts next week with a cover by myself, and then we’ll get right into the thick of it. Tell your friends.
Assassin takes place before, during, and after the events of Hikari, by the by, so some of the details may be nice to know from that story – but shouldn’t be necessary. Some half conversations will be completed, and the locations of some characters (like where was Malukai during Sophia’s attack) should be answered.
Still deciding if I want to put the extended Bushido story in before the finale in Holy War, but I have some time to figure that one out.
In the meantime, I’m going back to writing scripts. I’m so behind….
Later!
Xen is an arms dealer after all, so it makes sense that he would look forward to a war. A war that we will see happen in Holy War, but that’s a little ways down the road yet. Still need to tell the next prequel, “Assassin,” and then possibly the last of Sophia’s stories (which includes the previously announced Bushido story), and then we’ll be there at the last chapter.
I hope you enjoyed the ride, and I’ll see you all next week for the next prequel chapter.
Also, in case you didn’t know, last Thursday was my birthday.

Movie Review: District 9 (2009)
Director: Neill Blomkamp
Cast: Sharlto Copley
Plot: Chances are you’ve heard of this movie, or even more than likely seen it, so I apologize in advance for the lateness of this review. I had been eagerly awaiting this flick ever since I first saw a trailer for it. I went and found the short film that it was based on. I even re-watched all of the Halo movie footage that the director did as a test to showcase how he would shoot the movie (which has yet to be green-lit). I was so thirsty for this flick that, for some strange reason, I decided to hold off on quenching my need to see it.
What a mistake.
I should’ve been in a chair for a midnight showing with anyone and everyone who was willing to come with, and we could’ve basked in it’s glory together…and then talked at length about the incredible subtext and messaging that litter this movie. But perhaps I’m getting ahead of myself here….
District 9 is a movie shot somewhat documentary style (for about the first third of the flick) about an alien space craft that arrived on earth 28 years ago over Johannesburg in South Africa. The reason for their arrival is never really explained, but we humans come in and take them off their ship and force them to live in slum-like conditions on the ground. An organization called Multi-National United (MNU) is formed to police the aliens (the slur that they use for them in the movie is “prawns”), and the flick takes place during a relocation / eviction effort to get the aliens further away from people in the city.
Unfortunately you kind of have to have seen the trailer to understand why this is going on (although they very briefly touch on it in the flick), but ultimately the humans want to use the alien technology (specifically, their weapons), but the technology only works with the alien biology.
Enter Wikus Van De Merwe (Copley), the agent put in charge of the eviction. While searching a slum house “owned” by a prawn named Christopher Johnson, he discovers a cylinder that sprays him with a strange liquid, and he starts to get really sick. And it turns out that the liquid in the canister is starting to change his DNA. He’s becoming an alien! Of course, this means that the humans want to slice and dice him up and figure out how to replicate it, so they can use the technology. Of course, he escapes and goes to live in District 9 where he runs into Christopher again, and the purpose behind the liquid is revealed. What follows is one of the most intense and awesome third acts that I have seen in ages, chop-full of all the kind of sci-fi action that you would expect from an R-rated foray into the depths of the human condition.
And as a good sci-fi should, the movie is littered with moral subtext commenting on the world we live in today, and the situations going on over in Africa especially. But even if you don’t dive that deeply into it, you can still enjoy the awesome that is this movie.
When my brother and I went to go see this movie at the local theater, we accidentally walked into the wrong theater. As the opening credits for “Inglorious Basterds” started, a look of horror and disgust flashed across my face. In case you didn’t know, I’m not a fan of Tarentino movies. My brother’s face said something more like, “I could watch this,” but I was not going to have it. I had been waiting too long to see this movie – telling myself that I was waiting because I feared a negative theatrical experience like I had with Watchmen.
[Remember everyone, the movie theater is not your damn living room]
Thankfully, the crowd was light and we were able to separate ourselves from the bulk of the people. The flick was everything that I thought it would be and more – and it’s certainly something that I’m going to buy on DVD, if for no other reason than to check out the special features and commentaries.
If you enjoy good sci-fi, action movies, flicks with people and stuff blowing up all around, or just want to see something done in a very unique way, be sure to watch this movie!


