Space Cadet Bling

So, I’m sitting in the 24 hour wifi restaurant. Procrastinating. I’ve some jobs to do, and in a way, I’m somewhat paralyzing myself with my big plan on September to leave for the world and pursue my comic travel journalism ambitions. That means, quit and sell everything I have here, and travel. And along my journey, I’ll stop, draw some comics, and post them, compiling a story. Perhaps publish a book in the end about the places I’ve visited.

Will this work? Can I sustain this pursuit monetarily? I’ve always had a thing with being in the spotlight, I don’t have that natural tendency to promote myself. Strut my stuff like a male bird of paradise, flaunting its feathers. There’s a survey where you choose your superhero powers: invisibility or flight. I chose invisibility, and in that sense it sums up myself, that I prefer to live the simple life outside of the limelight, away from eyes, because then there’s that pressure to perform.

Ah, I should stop this moment of being personal and talk about other stuff. Game of Thrones!!! Well, whaddya know? I should start thinking of GoT gags, dontcha think? I could, but then again, everyone’s doing GoT cartoons, that there’s a chance a joke I’m thinking of right now has already been done! I must surely try to be original. Okay, there’s that, and have a great midweek folks! Enjoy the cartoon!

I’ve been binge-watching a bunch of shows lately, and this week’s cartoon is somewhat related to one of them, which is Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s Cosmos Documentary. Now this is what you get when you mix great narrative storytelling with sensible hard facts of science and history, kickass special effects and the deep dulcet tones of Dr. Tyson’s voice. He’s what you get if Darth Vader had a kinder disposition. Now back to that scene in Cosmos, when you see the scene of the dead dinos with the sail things at their backs, I used to remember their names, what was it? Not Spinosaurus… but… sorry, I’m gonna go and cheat a while and Google…

*insert hold music here*

Dimetrodon! Dammit, I knew I knew it back from my old Childcraft Encyclopedia days. The dinosaur book I remembered was beige in color. I think… Man, those books were awesome, and excellent in turning me into an overeducated, over-aware but not-so-wealthy individual I am today.

*insert another hold music here*

Went and dug up for an image of those books online over here. I just realized at the awesomeness at the variety of subjects with a good blend of science, creativity, history and culture. I’d raise my own child with that kind of balance and sensibility, but unfortunately, the dang internet along with Wikipedia spoiled us all! Ahhh… the memories.

But with all the bad there’s the good… Like Cosmos! Too bad I wasn’t around to see Carl Sagan’s version of that. I might’ve end up as a biologist, astrophysicist or astronomer, but nope, instead, Malaysia’s rather shite science education spoiled that for me. I remember learning all of what I learned about the human body, animals, cells in those Childcraft books, only for me to re-learn all the terms in Malay language in school. I tried for a while, but my grades sucked, and I had to sacrifice Biology for Art if I’m able to keep up my grades at a manageable level and now that’s my career. Nothing against art, but I just had to mention that to bring up how a small fundamental shift could affect a young soul such as me.

Okay, this is a long one, enough rambling. Just also wanted to give a shoutout to Ryan who sent me a message of encouragement. Thanks! I really appreciate that, and yes, keep it up! Webmasters do read feedback sections too!

Cheers and have a good week. Monday can be awesome if you want it to be! *EDIT!, it’s not Monday anymore as I posted this. That’s what you get with limited internet!

Just yesterday, I had listened to the Nerdist Podcast with Chris Hardwick and the interview with the Ex-Governor of California, and currently version 2.0 actor, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Wow, he sure still has so much energy, especially that pumped up way he talks. No more steroids in the blood, but steroids of words. You can do it! Get your ass in the gym! When there’s a will, there’s a way! Now I feel like going in the gym more pumped up than usual. Fwwwwooooaaaah!

So, I’m digging up again this old classic, which I touched up. I know I did an older version, so nevermind that, I can still be relevant, right? So says the comic. On other news, it’s splurge time. Purchasing a new Cintiq tablet and tickets to Germany. It still hasn’t hit me yet. Sold the car, thinking of having a garage sale with my old stuff, like Samurai Spawn action figures, carpets, furnitures. What have you…? What else? I kicked ass this week in Fantasy Football. Checking out this Bitcoin thing. Gotta read up on that and see what’s that about, but the extremely long keychain address like 1675GhP93p8izzd8bJV6M8CFxKCVoPBrSx (which is mine, by the way, if you want to send me monnay) is pretty intimidating. Nothing in my wallet yet, but anything beats the really sucky Malaysian ringgit now. Looking out for other options, and notably my own ass. So there’s that. Hope all’s well out there in limbo. I don’t even know if anyone really reads this. So nevermind that. This can be my public journal. The safe one. As for the emo one, that’s locked away deep deep inside somewhere in the recesses of my mind where not even the Inception team can grab a hold of. Ben out!

Another week comes and goes… more wild speculations about the MH370 flight, that I’m actually now trying to avoid news on it until something substantial comes along. In the meantime, regular service resumes with off topic cartoons with Friday’s edition.

So, some random thoughts on a slow news week dominated by the aforementioned. Nope. Nyyyyope. Nothing…. Can’t think of anything. Perhaps it’s because I’ve pulled another all nighter doing up some comic strips for an Erectile Dysfunction related company, so that means plenty of naughty jokes. Perhaps, I might post some of the rejected or racier ones up here. Dysfunction. Weird spelling come to think of it. Why not “disfunction”. Certainly looks more presentable, don’t you think?

I can’t avoid posting again on this MH 370 issue, not because of the tragedy of it all, now it’s because of seeing how bumbling and incompetent the Malaysian government is, and with a quick fix to my earlier cartoon, this is how I feel many Malaysians think of their government right now, and to some extent to MAS and the local news, RTM & Astro Awani. I also don’t know who to blame for the whole “bomoh” witch doctor debacle. This is so utterly embarrassing to have the rest of the world see us like this.

I hate speculating, especially people who post baseless accusations amidst this tragedy, but all of what I know is what I’m NOT seeing. Answers. Is it in the South China Sea or the Straits of Malacca? Does the government even know which radar to use? Why did the raft sink when MMEA boats try to recover it? Why do I keep seeing words pop up like inadequate, or confusion in news reports? It’s been a week and we’re pretty much still in DAY 1 in terms of information, and the longer we wait without hard new information and people speculating, the more difficult it’ll be to piece together the truth.

When are we going to step up as a nation? This government has a culture of laziness, taking things easy as we speak. It sucks, and now it looks like it’s for everyone else to see what Malaysian citizens have been seeing for many years now. How we deflect responsibilities, not admitting failures, answering questions with vagueness, mixed messages and not showing any form of leadership within the political ranks, especially our Prime Minister and his pathetic wife. Where is he in all this? He seems overwhelmed amidst this debacle and not using his leadership to unite the agencies around him, perhaps apparently not used to something this urgent.

Embarrassing, inefficient, inexcusable. And it’s no wonder smart people are leaving this country to our neighbor in Singapore, or far away overseas wherever, and even me. I’m planning my escape. I’m going on a world trip, hoping to start something with my cartoons and be a better ambassador to my country & its people than what the government is doing now and I’m staying out there for as long as I can as I can’t serve my country well by staying here and continue being pissed at what I’m seeing.

Okay, I’m off my soapbox now.

At first, I really didn’t want to do anything here relate to the missing MH370 flight, after all, I know this is a comic site. So many tasteless jokes have circulated around the web, many of them by Malaysians who don’t know better. In the end, I’d thought I’d do something in the spirit of what I think feels honest, above all the conspiracy theories and the unexplained mysteries surrounding the tragedy.

I don’t want to say much on this, only that my heart hopes that things turn out for the best for the people on the plane, along with my fellow countrymen. All we can do is pray, I guess…

Well, I’ve tried signing up for Google’s Adsense and they rejected me. A friend of mine, Jacques tells me that one of the criteria is content, especially text, and that sucks, since mine is mostly visual. So I’m trying this. Typing ladidadidas… accompanied with today’s cartoon. Okay, so here are some thoughts for me today. I’ve decided I’m gonna try and go ahead with my plan for World Domination, starting with Germany since tickets are the cheapest. The plan is to update my site regularly with cartoons and gags about my travels, and see my friends become envious of my exploits. But nana… not with selfie foreign-country photos boasting of ‘I’ve seen this, done that’s, (well, maybe a little if something’s really spectacular!) but more of my drawings. So what I’m going to do is to make my site more like a travel journal, along with a cartoon of the day.

Whaddya think???

I think that’s a rad idea. Another rad idea is to start up a story anthology book series of my random stories that I keep coming up in my head at random, especially when I’m a little inebriated or having a severe lack of sleep that I’m delirious. I’ve already penned in a few story ideas, about a reindeer galavanting around the world on a flying bathtub, a friendship between a pencil and a mechanical pencil, about a lonely lamppost who’s envious of other lampposts that have hooked up with each other, an anthropomorphized “market” who decides to commit suicide… among others. Possibly a kickstarter project, yes… Okay. Fun times. Sell my stuff, say my goodbyes, begin my adventures in a foreign country. Yup. It’s overdue. Malaysia’s too small a place for me to stay here for the rest of my life. I’ll miss my friends, family, sessions of Magic the Gathering and boardgames, food, and my awesome bachelor’s pad, but I need this. I’ll do this. Deadline August. Here we go!

Anyway, as promised, here’s a comic for you blokes going through tough times out there. Hang in there, and smile!