WELCOME to the personal home page/blog of Matthew La France. Please enjoy your stay.
7/30/2003
I have been reading about dinosaurs and evolution a bit today and came across some neat things.
-Initially the atmosphere had very little oxygen, which actually made it possible for organic molecules to form. Oxygen only built up when single celled organisims developed photo synthesis.
-The earlies cells had no nucleus, and reproduced by division. Nucleic cells and sexual reproduction later evolved.
-The first multi-celled sea life was simple invertebrates. Invertebrates are things like jellyfish, mollusks, and worms.
-The first skeletons were exo-skeletons, and the first creatures to flourish with them were trillobites. Other adaptions included the chambered shell.
-A "notochord" and spinal stem led to vertebra. Creatures like this were the first fish. The first had no biting jaw, but the evolution of a jaw was a very sucessful adaption.
-The first creatures on land were amphibians that had a lung that chould breath air and water. When they could lay an egg with protective shell, they were no longer restricted to the water.
-Life has taken many forms and tried many different things. Even Hominids evolved diversly, "Homo Sapien" happening to flouish more than several other hominids.
-There have been mass extinctions several times througout the history of life, and earth has undergone cycles of massive climate changes.
I have been thinking a lot about people and I think that irrespective of governments, people just aren't very good at governing themselves. I think if people were better at governing themselves, regardless of the governmental system, peoples, their country, and the world would be more successful. 0 comments
7/29/2003
I think that the most important thing for an artist is vision. Too much art is created by very skilled people (for perspective I am thinking of movies here), who simply don't/aren't allowed to have any vision. Vision should be the thing driving the artist to create, like the warrior's fighting spirit. I don't do very much art because I am struggling with my vision. I found a quote by Gandhi that I like a lot; "You cannot do right in one department of life while occupied doing wrong in any other department. Life is one indivisible whole.". I don't know how to develop my vision, but I think that when I develop the rest of my life, the vision will follow, or vice-versa. ^_^ BTW: This doesn't mean I don't still hate the world and blame it for my problems. "Dammmn yoooouuu to helllll!" ;) 0 comments
7/27/2003
K. I found the damn coolest thing today! I was trying to get my old P100 running to DOS game on, but I am giving it up as a lost cause. :P Consequently I started looking around at funky small factor, and portable PCs. In the process ran into possibly the coolest thing ever! It's called the Game Park. It is made in Korea, it looks like a GBA, it uses smart media to store info, is USB compatable, and is open source so there are a bunch of emulators for it! Call it the portable game PC to end all others. I could not be more psyched. I'll have to see if I can find one in Akihabara. ^_^ If not, there are several places that are importing it. You can find out more info at GP32emu!
The new Tomb Raider was somewhere between par and sub-par. The sub mostly being the lack of another shower scene ;). 0 comments
7/24/2003
It turns out that the torrent was still up for JWIHNG (Jungle wa Itsumo Hale Nochi Guu) episode 26 so I grabbed it the other day. I am up to episode 24 and it is funny as hell. I've been laughing my ass off. ^_^ I hope the ending is cool.
I was reviewing what I have been watching recently and thought it might be interesteing to post on my blog. ^_^
Things I am watching now:
Things I have watched recently(ish):
Movies:
I watch a lot of stuff. :P 0 comments
7/21/2003
I played some Mage Knight this weekend. I got my ass handed to me as usual. ^_^; I came in 3rd out of 5 people, but that is only because 2 people withdrew and then my friend helped me out. It was a great chance to try out all of my Draconum however, and gave me some ideas on how they could be used VERY effectively. I liked the Whelp Alchemists pretty well for thier toughness and 5 inch shockwave. They keep thier shockwave for 2-3 clicks and hang in there through at least one attack. I also plan to use the Draconum Guardian with some Whelp Monks for a formation of invincible (19 defence) characters with weapon master. I expect this to be extremely effective, but I haven't tried it yet. ^_^ In higher point games I am also going to crack out my orcs and try to really let them shine. I am excited about some of the hero/orc raider uniques from Pyramids, and Shaman (I think that's the name. It's kind of a better chaos mage). I may try to get a chunk of the new boosters out in about a week (Dragon's Gate), but I am not sure. I should be saving all the money I can for my trip. :P
Other than that, the weekend was way too damn short! I worked on my translation a bit, but the comic fell by the wayside. >_< I need to reverse this trend quickly! Still, I don't suppose it matters that much. ^_^; As long as I have a few good consecutive pages, I can always finnish it up at a later time. The important thing is that I have somethign to show around. 0 comments
7/17/2003
Ok, my page was down because I timed out FTPing to the site and then my connection went down. I'm still trying to figure out exactly what it was but it had something to do with malicious software (adware/malware). I did a system restore and it is working again now. I need to track down the software and find a safe way of eliminating it. :P
In the mean time, I added a lot more quotes to my randomizer and I made my page banner refresh the page when clicked on. I can't wait to be done with the Slayers translation. ^_^ I am putting finishing touches on it and expect it to be done in a matter of weeks! Other than that I am horribly depressed as usual, but it's just me. Hopefully I can learn to overcome my handicaps and stop hating myself but I don't know if that will happen any time soon. 0 comments
7/16/2003
Sorry for the down time. Looks like my computer got some nasty shit on it and that is messing with my network connectivity. I was able to do a system restore and it came back but things are still flaky. Other than that I am just too tired and apathetic to post anything else. :P 0 comments
7/14/2003
I had a busy weekend. ^_^; I am completely finished with the first page of the comic which is looking pretty good. I'll try to post it to my gallery tonight. I am also finished with the first round of the Slayers translation. From here it is a matter of cleaing up the dialog and researching the parts that I didn't understand. I'll be consulting with outside sources on much of it. It should be pretty fun from here on in and hopefully it will be all done by August.
I saw the Legue of Extrodanary Gentlemen on Saturday. It was ok. The movie was great to look at and the special effects were good. The characters all had thier moments and there was a lot of second guessing and reversals, but for all of that it was a little dry. For all of it's one-dimentionality I think that T3 was a more satisfying experience. ^_^ 0 comments
7/09/2003
I've been working on my comic for the past couple of days. It is coming along well. I am still on the first page but I am just about done with it. I am just doing the final inking and toning on the pages so it should go fairly quickly. I am looking to have it all done before August 13th. I am kind of pissed because Jungle wa Itsumo Hale Nochi Guu was licenced by someone so they are no longer sharing it on bit tourrent, and I am only missing the LAST episode! I haven't seen that far yet but I am on 18 or so and I don't know if I want to keep watching if I can't get the last one. :P I should be watching Marmalade Boy anyway...
I should probably start writing some more stuff. I keep wanting to use characters from other things. I should ask Rob Zombie if I can use him in my comics. I think that would be cool. I still want to do some stuff with Resident Evil and maybe Soul Calibur. I was actually thiking about trying to get the rights to a Soul Calibur comic awhile ago. I was working on the plot and reading up on all the characters from the game, but I think that the window of opportunity already passed. It would need to coinside closely enough with the release of a game to be very sucessful. I should consentrate on short stuff anyway. I still want to get something in Heavy Metal and it seems they only take short thing from American artists usually anyway. There is nothing wrong with playing around with ideas in short format anyway since they can always be expanded upon later. Then it doesn't matter if you do somthing stupid since it is essentially throw away. Anyway, one thing at a time. 0 comments
7/06/2003
Happy 4th. ^_^ I set off some fireworks last night which was fun. I posted my webcasts, anime and asian pop. I tried listening to them over a 56K connection (connected at about 30K) but it had to stop and buffer frequently. :P Sorry. Any smaller and they sound too crappy. I guess it will have to be broadband only. ^_^; I finally got my gallery site switched to blogger so there may be more updates there now. I'll post my new comic there when I get done with it so keep an eye out. I can't find the power adapter for my graphics tablet so I am going to borrow one from a friend. I really need a new one. :P
I watched Terminator 3 the other night. It was ok. The fight and chase scenes were quite enjoyable and there was a lot of "terminator humor". The biggest thing working against it was that the plot was pretty one dimentional. It wasn't bad in itself but it's not something you are going to stay up late talking about. I recommend seeing it if you like Terminator and/or apocalypse movies. 0 comments
7/03/2003
Hello. I did a lot of work on my page recently. In addition to what I posted yesterday, I added a small photo gallery with some pictures from Japan. ^_^ I also dropped some tasteful (hopefully) Javascript on the page including some of my favorite eastern quotes on page load, and a population counter. 8 billion is not far away. :P Once I get the links updated more and some more photos up, that will probably be it for any major updates until the mood strikes me again. ^_^
I saw a video of a demonstration of Half-Life 2's physics engine and game play yesterday. Hot damn! I was totally floored, it is very exciting! :D I am glad it is coming out for the Xbox, though I don't know if it will be a good port or not, I can't wait to play it! 0 comments
7/02/2003
The colors suck less now, but they are still blue. ;) Oh well, it's ok for now. I added some links, though I need to go through and do a more complete update. Tossed up some screen-shots for the Slayers patch. This is the one that I continued from Robert Boyd's hack. The "official" one can be found at RPGone.net! 0 comments
7/01/2003
The colors still suck. :P I was burning CDs and making labels all night last night. :P It's painful being this close to the end of the (really rough draft of the) Slayers translation. I keep expecting to just finish with it, but it still requires a considerable, consistent effort. That and I am really depressed recently. I am getting help with it, but it just seems like everything causes me pain right now. I was looking into astrology again yesterday, and found out that I am astrologically very similar to Shaquille O'Neal. :P Can things get any worse? Seriously! ^_^ 0 comments
I have been reading about dinosaurs and evolution a bit today and came across some neat things.
-Initially the atmosphere had very little oxygen, which actually made it possible for organic molecules to form. Oxygen only built up when single celled organisims developed photo synthesis.
-The earlies cells had no nucleus, and reproduced by division. Nucleic cells and sexual reproduction later evolved.
-The first multi-celled sea life was simple invertebrates. Invertebrates are things like jellyfish, mollusks, and worms.
-The first skeletons were exo-skeletons, and the first creatures to flourish with them were trillobites. Other adaptions included the chambered shell.
-A "notochord" and spinal stem led to vertebra. Creatures like this were the first fish. The first had no biting jaw, but the evolution of a jaw was a very sucessful adaption.
-The first creatures on land were amphibians that had a lung that chould breath air and water. When they could lay an egg with protective shell, they were no longer restricted to the water.
-Life has taken many forms and tried many different things. Even Hominids evolved diversly, "Homo Sapien" happening to flouish more than several other hominids.
-There have been mass extinctions several times througout the history of life, and earth has undergone cycles of massive climate changes.
I have been thinking a lot about people and I think that irrespective of governments, people just aren't very good at governing themselves. I think if people were better at governing themselves, regardless of the governmental system, peoples, their country, and the world would be more successful. 0 comments
7/29/2003
I think that the most important thing for an artist is vision. Too much art is created by very skilled people (for perspective I am thinking of movies here), who simply don't/aren't allowed to have any vision. Vision should be the thing driving the artist to create, like the warrior's fighting spirit. I don't do very much art because I am struggling with my vision. I found a quote by Gandhi that I like a lot; "You cannot do right in one department of life while occupied doing wrong in any other department. Life is one indivisible whole.". I don't know how to develop my vision, but I think that when I develop the rest of my life, the vision will follow, or vice-versa. ^_^ BTW: This doesn't mean I don't still hate the world and blame it for my problems. "Dammmn yoooouuu to helllll!" ;) 0 comments
7/27/2003
K. I found the damn coolest thing today! I was trying to get my old P100 running to DOS game on, but I am giving it up as a lost cause. :P Consequently I started looking around at funky small factor, and portable PCs. In the process ran into possibly the coolest thing ever! It's called the Game Park. It is made in Korea, it looks like a GBA, it uses smart media to store info, is USB compatable, and is open source so there are a bunch of emulators for it! Call it the portable game PC to end all others. I could not be more psyched. I'll have to see if I can find one in Akihabara. ^_^ If not, there are several places that are importing it. You can find out more info at GP32emu!
The new Tomb Raider was somewhere between par and sub-par. The sub mostly being the lack of another shower scene ;). 0 comments
7/24/2003
It turns out that the torrent was still up for JWIHNG (Jungle wa Itsumo Hale Nochi Guu) episode 26 so I grabbed it the other day. I am up to episode 24 and it is funny as hell. I've been laughing my ass off. ^_^ I hope the ending is cool.
I was reviewing what I have been watching recently and thought it might be interesteing to post on my blog. ^_^
Things I am watching now:
- Jungle wa Itsumo Hale Nochi Guu
- Marmalade Boy
- Naruto
- Oruchuban Ebichu
- Devil Lady
- Dragonball GT
- She the Ultimate Weapon
Things I have watched recently(ish):
- .hack/sign
- Noir
- Berserk
- Patlabor TV
- Colorful
- Strawberry Eggs
- Pita Ten
- Chobits
- Ruroni Kenshin (1st season and some of second?)
- Excel Saga
- FLCL
- Kare to Kanojo no Jijou (some)
- Mahoromatic (some)
- Niea Under 7
Movies:
- Wasabi
- American Pie
- Charlies Angels 2
- League of Extraordinary Gentelmen
- T3
- Matrix Reloaded
- Battle Royale
- Die Another Day
- The Hulk
- 28 Days Later
- X-Men 2
I watch a lot of stuff. :P 0 comments
7/21/2003
I played some Mage Knight this weekend. I got my ass handed to me as usual. ^_^; I came in 3rd out of 5 people, but that is only because 2 people withdrew and then my friend helped me out. It was a great chance to try out all of my Draconum however, and gave me some ideas on how they could be used VERY effectively. I liked the Whelp Alchemists pretty well for thier toughness and 5 inch shockwave. They keep thier shockwave for 2-3 clicks and hang in there through at least one attack. I also plan to use the Draconum Guardian with some Whelp Monks for a formation of invincible (19 defence) characters with weapon master. I expect this to be extremely effective, but I haven't tried it yet. ^_^ In higher point games I am also going to crack out my orcs and try to really let them shine. I am excited about some of the hero/orc raider uniques from Pyramids, and Shaman (I think that's the name. It's kind of a better chaos mage). I may try to get a chunk of the new boosters out in about a week (Dragon's Gate), but I am not sure. I should be saving all the money I can for my trip. :P
Other than that, the weekend was way too damn short! I worked on my translation a bit, but the comic fell by the wayside. >_< I need to reverse this trend quickly! Still, I don't suppose it matters that much. ^_^; As long as I have a few good consecutive pages, I can always finnish it up at a later time. The important thing is that I have somethign to show around. 0 comments
7/17/2003
Ok, my page was down because I timed out FTPing to the site and then my connection went down. I'm still trying to figure out exactly what it was but it had something to do with malicious software (adware/malware). I did a system restore and it is working again now. I need to track down the software and find a safe way of eliminating it. :P
In the mean time, I added a lot more quotes to my randomizer and I made my page banner refresh the page when clicked on. I can't wait to be done with the Slayers translation. ^_^ I am putting finishing touches on it and expect it to be done in a matter of weeks! Other than that I am horribly depressed as usual, but it's just me. Hopefully I can learn to overcome my handicaps and stop hating myself but I don't know if that will happen any time soon. 0 comments
7/16/2003
Sorry for the down time. Looks like my computer got some nasty shit on it and that is messing with my network connectivity. I was able to do a system restore and it came back but things are still flaky. Other than that I am just too tired and apathetic to post anything else. :P 0 comments
7/14/2003
I had a busy weekend. ^_^; I am completely finished with the first page of the comic which is looking pretty good. I'll try to post it to my gallery tonight. I am also finished with the first round of the Slayers translation. From here it is a matter of cleaing up the dialog and researching the parts that I didn't understand. I'll be consulting with outside sources on much of it. It should be pretty fun from here on in and hopefully it will be all done by August.
I saw the Legue of Extrodanary Gentlemen on Saturday. It was ok. The movie was great to look at and the special effects were good. The characters all had thier moments and there was a lot of second guessing and reversals, but for all of that it was a little dry. For all of it's one-dimentionality I think that T3 was a more satisfying experience. ^_^ 0 comments
7/09/2003
I've been working on my comic for the past couple of days. It is coming along well. I am still on the first page but I am just about done with it. I am just doing the final inking and toning on the pages so it should go fairly quickly. I am looking to have it all done before August 13th. I am kind of pissed because Jungle wa Itsumo Hale Nochi Guu was licenced by someone so they are no longer sharing it on bit tourrent, and I am only missing the LAST episode! I haven't seen that far yet but I am on 18 or so and I don't know if I want to keep watching if I can't get the last one. :P I should be watching Marmalade Boy anyway...
I should probably start writing some more stuff. I keep wanting to use characters from other things. I should ask Rob Zombie if I can use him in my comics. I think that would be cool. I still want to do some stuff with Resident Evil and maybe Soul Calibur. I was actually thiking about trying to get the rights to a Soul Calibur comic awhile ago. I was working on the plot and reading up on all the characters from the game, but I think that the window of opportunity already passed. It would need to coinside closely enough with the release of a game to be very sucessful. I should consentrate on short stuff anyway. I still want to get something in Heavy Metal and it seems they only take short thing from American artists usually anyway. There is nothing wrong with playing around with ideas in short format anyway since they can always be expanded upon later. Then it doesn't matter if you do somthing stupid since it is essentially throw away. Anyway, one thing at a time. 0 comments
7/06/2003
Happy 4th. ^_^ I set off some fireworks last night which was fun. I posted my webcasts, anime and asian pop. I tried listening to them over a 56K connection (connected at about 30K) but it had to stop and buffer frequently. :P Sorry. Any smaller and they sound too crappy. I guess it will have to be broadband only. ^_^; I finally got my gallery site switched to blogger so there may be more updates there now. I'll post my new comic there when I get done with it so keep an eye out. I can't find the power adapter for my graphics tablet so I am going to borrow one from a friend. I really need a new one. :P
I watched Terminator 3 the other night. It was ok. The fight and chase scenes were quite enjoyable and there was a lot of "terminator humor". The biggest thing working against it was that the plot was pretty one dimentional. It wasn't bad in itself but it's not something you are going to stay up late talking about. I recommend seeing it if you like Terminator and/or apocalypse movies. 0 comments
7/03/2003
Hello. I did a lot of work on my page recently. In addition to what I posted yesterday, I added a small photo gallery with some pictures from Japan. ^_^ I also dropped some tasteful (hopefully) Javascript on the page including some of my favorite eastern quotes on page load, and a population counter. 8 billion is not far away. :P Once I get the links updated more and some more photos up, that will probably be it for any major updates until the mood strikes me again. ^_^
I saw a video of a demonstration of Half-Life 2's physics engine and game play yesterday. Hot damn! I was totally floored, it is very exciting! :D I am glad it is coming out for the Xbox, though I don't know if it will be a good port or not, I can't wait to play it! 0 comments
7/02/2003
The colors suck less now, but they are still blue. ;) Oh well, it's ok for now. I added some links, though I need to go through and do a more complete update. Tossed up some screen-shots for the Slayers patch. This is the one that I continued from Robert Boyd's hack. The "official" one can be found at RPGone.net! 0 comments
7/01/2003
The colors still suck. :P I was burning CDs and making labels all night last night. :P It's painful being this close to the end of the (really rough draft of the) Slayers translation. I keep expecting to just finish with it, but it still requires a considerable, consistent effort. That and I am really depressed recently. I am getting help with it, but it just seems like everything causes me pain right now. I was looking into astrology again yesterday, and found out that I am astrologically very similar to Shaquille O'Neal. :P Can things get any worse? Seriously! ^_^ 0 comments
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