Alex Claw

Oh, gods, I’m depressed and fueled by the magic of whiskey.

Apple is shutting down the music cloud website, Lala.com.

Lala is going away and the skies have darkened, the earth trembles, and I’m now stuck with finding somewhere else I can listen to complete albums before I purchase them. True enough, Lala was owned by Apple and I tend to buy my music from Amazon, but… Lala was still a damned good place to listen to an album prior to purchase.

The whole thirty seconds of listening time you get when previewing a song isn’t long enough. They just clip in the highlights that make a song or album sound awesome, but then when purchase comes… it ain’t all that much. With Lala, you got a chance to listen to it, the whole kit and kaboodle.

Okay, I suppose that’s not what it was originally meant to be used for. It also had a great ability to allow you to embed a song or an album in a blog, similar to the whole YouTube embed thing. That provided a way to show people the songs, if you blogged about it or mentioned it.  Very handy when you’re mentioning an artist, but you don’t know their YouTube Channel or website. Heck, most of the time Lala’s player popped up when you did a Google search, which made listening to music from various artists evern better than heading to YouTube and finding the vid.

Smooth and easy to use, with a database that was vast and up to date, what more could a little cash to burn kind of guy want? (the ability to listen to songs more than once without buying the ‘web song’) It was a great service that was also being pushed to being a place where people could share information, recommend songs, rate them, and share the music they’re listening to. A cross between a semi social networking site with a cloud where one could keep all their music online, instead of on your hard drive.

That aspect of Lala I never really gave a chance to. I mean I suppose I could easily toss down the dime it would cost to buy a web song and then build a library online, versus buying a normal song for a buck and keeping it on my hard drive. I tend to stay at my computer or have access to computers that would still let me get to my library of songs kept on Lala.

Creating an online library of music, one you can access anywhere is a very good idea. Similar ot Pandora, but this is where you get to choose what’s playing, build your own playlist, and not have to be stuck with storing songs on mp3 players or your computers.  It would have gone great with devices that have small storage space, like the iPads and iPhones, where one could just stream the music instead of downloading.

But it’s all gone now.

Like all things in life, I came to it too late and finally realized its potential just as it lay there, gasping its last breath, eyes glassy with sights from the other realm…

Maybe it’s time to use my Blimp.fm account.

This drink’s for you, Lala. Your time on this earth was way too short.

There’s still a month left, I guess I’ll spend that time wisely and get as much use out of it as I can.

-A

If god damn Stephen Hawkings says we should be afraid, very afraid, of the life that’s out there, lurking in the depths of space, plotting their plots and making their plans, then god damn it, I’m going to be afraid. (that was a super run on sentence)

The world spins along and the world is freaking out about it again. The homestate is cracking down on illegals again, Goldman Sachs are being investigated, Apple is directing police raids to get back it’s lost technology, and robots are being sent into space to work along side astronauts.

I’ve just been introduced to Emilie Autumn’s music and it’s got that ‘dark cabaret’ feel to it that I’ve been enjoying recently. I suppose it’s not all that surprising that it gets lumped into the Dresden Dolls/Amanda Palmer music.

It seems redundant and tiresome, but I’m still in planning mode and preparation mode. There’s a lot to prepare for, but I’ve begun cranking those gears into getting ready for Work Mode and the whole 100DOP.

All Manner of Bad will resume in the morning and hopefully I’ll not miss an update for the entire 100DOP, that’s the first goal. I’ve been designing some new characters and trying to hammer down the characteristics that make them shine and stand apart. I’ve sort of decided to go semi long form with the next couple of months, broken up with hopefully a few one shots, mini stories, and humorous events. Most of what will be happening will be the expansion outside of Hell and Tempe, the conflicts with other groups, the alliances, the exploration and seeing what’s happened around the city in the last six months, along with finally finding out how the zombies came to be. It’s going to be an interesting time ahead.

I’ve got some Flash Friday to work on…

Politics is based on fear (although I feel I must state that I dislike the use of ‘police state’ and ‘fascist state’, since those are words that have a strong meaning to them and when something like a law is passed that some people don’t like, it doesn’t necessarily mean democracy has gone down the crapper), greed and self interest are key to capitalism, Apple (although they technically didn’t order the police raid) are becoming some kind of strange mockery of the cyberpunk corporation that kicks in doors, declares certain programs useless, and forces their view of the world on everyone, which I suppose is what mega big corporations do (in movies), and the robot thing? About fucking time.

Until I can gather up the energy to stop watching episodes of Bones on Netflix…

-A

Still in the Terra Naomi listenage, but mixing in a bit more Bitter Ruin, I’m teetering on the verge of purchasing some Laura Marling, the song “Devil’s Spoke” is still snaking it’s way through my soft innards and I’m grinning with mad delight over it. There’s some sort of awesomeness that comes from listening to gals and acoustic guitars. I blame the Mother and the country music she raised us on, that kind of emotional memory cuts deep.

There’s still a lot of planning that’s being currently done. I mean, this is the beginning of my 100DOP and I sure as hell ain’t going to have much time to do all the planning I need to do prior.

I’ve come to the realization that for some reason I’m unable to write out a fully finished script of All Manner of Bad, I know what’s going to happen and generally I can tailor the writing that’s done to that outline in my head, but the words, the actions, and edits, those are all done on the fly and with mere seconds before it needs to be done. It’s a form of procrastination that’s leaving me a bit miffed. Mffff.

I’ve read what some other webcomickers have to say about thier own scripts, how they’re usually done without prior planning and are meant to be current and appealing to what’s going on in the world. But the way I’m seeing AMOB is that everything’s gone, so there’s little connection to the current politics and world problems (truthfully, all those can be inserted into the strips) and with that same definition, a full script should be written out. Yet none has ever been produced.

I think it was about a year ago I tried to do the same thing. When I launched the whole Zombie King storyline, which was supposed to be a fully written script involving three plotlines and ending with the Zombie King being destroyed and Hell pushing out into wider Phoenix metro area.

Most of that happened, but there were also the detours, the changes, and many on the fly moments that weren’t planned for. I suppose it worked out all in the end, but I look at those days as clunky story writing and bad characterization, but then again I consider myself my harshest critic. A constant state of editing, that’s how I tend to look at what I write.

Anyways, my current problem with AMOB is that I’ve decided on who the ‘main characters’ are to be, but those characters do such different things that I could probably devote whole scripts to them. Heck, from what I’m seeing, I could probably build a whole new webcomic about their own adventures and happenings, things that aren’t seen in the weekday updates.

Later on, I actually hope to write some short stories about them, but right now… right now, planning and honing.

Make everything flow and make everything smooth.

That’s the current goal of AMOB.

So with that, I’m back to ploting out AMOB and preparing for 100DOP.

I’ve also got this weird thing about numbers and I’ll update AMOB on Friday, which will make that the 365th strip for the series. A good little number and one that I need to fall on a Friday, so that… y’know on a Monday it’ll start on a 366 or something. Like I said, weird thing about numbers.

With that I’ll take my weirdness and shove it back into the physical realm.

-A

Terra Naomi’s song “Say it’s Possible” is ringing in my ears as I write this blog. I’ve been a long time fan of her work yet it’s been only recently that I’ve purchased her albums.

The days, as they usually do, have been flashing by, sunrise, sunset, the moon crossing the sky in that time lapsed fashion, those have been my days. The weather’s gone from chilly to that promise of hotter weather to come, spring is in full force and I’ve been trying to drag my heavy corpse into motion.

I seem to do a lot of planning, I like planning and list making, but it doesn’t mean I’m good at following them. Perhaps there’s some comfort in knowing where you want to go, but at the same time deciding to say ‘screw it’ and head off into another direction, a direction of procrastination and laziness, lately.

All Manner of Bad has been pretty much planned for the next 100 strips, there’ll be the usual mid story changes, but for now, I at least know where this meandering path of cause and effect will take me. The current guiding light has been, I’m not a big fan of cozy catastrophes and the damn title is ALL MANNER OF BAD, therefore more manners of bad need to be introduced. It’s going to be an interesting ride for the next six months.

I went to Las Vegas over the weekend, a fun little trip with the sibling and the sibling’s betrothed. Two nights, two Irish pubs, three cigars, and many miles later, I’ve decided that I really do like Las Vegas. Fun was had, sights were seen, and dogs were made to bark. Will plan a revisit one of these days.

As the end of April approaches my third attempt at 100 Days of Pain will commence, the previous two attempts failed and as they say, third time’s the charm.

Writing is the main endeavor for the 100DOP, so for the last two days I’ve been digging up all the notes and information for the novel I had been writing since last October. The hope is the have the first draft by the end of the 100DOP.  A big hope, seeing as there are several other time consumers on my hands, BWT, AMOB, AH.com the Series, etc.

Hence the pain part of the 100 Days. We’ll see how long it takes to break this time. I keep making these statements about changing and about doing, but there seems to be little of those accomplish every year that goes by. That sort of needs to stop and that big hill of Shit To Do needs to be made into a mole hill, one that I can kick with gleeful disregard.

So, until I next crawl out of my hole and peek bleary eyed at the world…

-A

All Manner of Bad is updated. Go, run, see!

ALL MANNER OF BAD

-A

What the World Hasn’t Taken

Written By: Me!

A post apocalyptic romp about two guys and a family, sounds sit comicy, but it’s not.

It’s like dragging your ass across a field of salty glass, while some imp sprays you with lemon juice.

That’s how it feels to start up from a complete stand still and try to regain the momentum of doing stuff. The laziness has settled into the marrow and it’s not letting go, but it’s gotta because stuff needs to be done. Otherwise, chaos, mayhem, cannibalism, and the end of the world. Really.

The last week has been a heady experience of doing absolutely nothing. Well, maybe not completely and utterly nothing, but compared to the imposing, shadow casting presence of Shit To Do, the minimal effort required to read a book, watch some movies, and sleep on a normal schedule are blissfully awesome.

There’s a complete and utter desire to maintain that lack of doing anything, the sweet siren call of just sitting around and doing nothing. Yet, such things aren’t possible, not if I want to write and draw. Those require actually doing stuff, which isn’t all that complimentary to doing nothing, which I’ve decided I like way too much.

So now we drag ourselves up from the sedentary to the mildly momentumed, lumbering along like some half drunk rhino still bleary eyed from a hard night’s boozing and with a dimly seen target up ahead. There’s a lot of mass behind it but currently there ain’t all that much speed to it.

So belts need to be tightened, nose need to be put to grindstones, and a that shimmering near mirage of the ultimate goal needs to be placed before my eyes again (like a carrot).

I’ve done a lot of planning, which was one of the main reasons I decided to take a week off of writing and drawing. Plans need to be laid, they are the foundation, they are the skeleton upon which we pack the fat and meat. Three months of AMOB have been planned out, the next four stories for Bitterwater Tales has been planned, and the new Novel (which I think will be an E-book) has been plotted out, and then there’s the other projects that are in the works.

Project Whiskey and Project Bravo. The plan is to get Project Whiskey going in the next few months and Project Bravo hopefully by the beginning of next year.

I’ve also been delving back into the whole world of self publishing and lining up the info, resources, and finding the folk that actually do it. Man, there are books, there are blogs, and there are websites out there. I need to write them all down and begin cataloging them and toss it up in a update sometime soon.

Okay, once I write it down all that I’ve done the last week, it does seem that my time wasn’t at all ill spent.

Anyways, the week is over, the new one will begin, a new story will appear for Bitterwater Tales and a new arc will begin for All Manner of Bad. We’ll see more titlecards for the AH.com series, and I’m making an attempt to update the blog more often.

Huh, superbusy much? I do believe so.

The lone mesas of my sand swept homelands are calling to my bones:”Come back, Alex, come back.” I cock my head to the north and nod.

Then I sit in front of this damn computer and clack away at keys, my sometimes friend and ornery love.

Everyone needs a mini break and this is mine.

So All Manner of Bad, Bitterwater Tales, and the AH.com series sites are all on hold until beginning next week (my week begins on a Monday). So, see y’all until then.

I keep bringing it up, but gods damn it, it’s happening for reals this time.  Freakin’ time dilation.

This ain’t not Star Treky occurrence, this is real life, dudes. Real life.

Anyways, the days, the weeks, and now the months are blazing by in a rush to meet the End of Days (Dec 22, 2012) and I’m in that mode to head it off at the bend. Not to stop it, mind you, just to y’know, produce something worthwhile before the Mayan gods kick the crap out of this ball of mud.

Currently, it’s called getting my shit together, organizing, planning, and trying to stay on the straight and narrow. You can’t believe the productivity you accomplish when you actually make time to do it, weird, that.

So, I managed to keep the ball running the last week, horray accomplishments, and now I’ve decided to take a break from AMOB as I resolve some writing issues (the issue being I haven’t written) and then come back in a week all bright eyed and cheery.  Oh, sure that’s just not the issue, but there’s also some other needs that need to be cared for, like y’know, personal well being and all that jazz.

This week, goals accomplished.

Next week, blood, violence, mayhem, and sobbing.

Looks like April’s looking good.

Until the next time I remember I have a blog…

-A

Old/New episode written by me.

TIN PLATED HEROES