I Didn't See This Coming

UPDATE: Brickshelf is staying.

Update: Brickshelf is going to be temporarily up until July 31st. Go get your stuff now!

So... Brickshelf is down. Or, to be precise, has "discontinued operation." No reason has been given.

To be honest, I haven't used Brickshelf in a while. After one whole folder randomly got deleted, and after experiencing one site problem too many, I turned to its sister site, Maj, and have used it ever since. Maj generally runs smoother, and is also not restricted to Bionicle content, which probably explains its popularity.

But even for those who switched to Maj, many still kept galleries of art, MOC photographs and other graphical content on their Brickshelf accounts, as leftovers from the days when Brickshelf was the site for Bionicle-related image hosting. Not all of these were backed up on hard drives. Some of them were irreplaceable digital images which could never be re-scanned or re-photographed.

So... now Brickshelf has discontinued operations, whatever that means for its account-holders. If it means that all that was in there is now permanently gone, this is going to be a terrible day for many.

We'll have to wait and see how this plays out over the next few days.

Concerning Genius

"Sometimes men come by the name of genius in the same way that certain insects come by the name of centipede — not because they have a hundred feet, but because most people can't count above fourteen. " - Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

There are many words to describe people like Lichtenberg. None of them are polite.

But they are always spoken in a tone of admiration.

Update IX: Crunch Time

A lot of things are suddenly coming together for these few weeks - well, pretty much until August, so I probably won't be around for a while. For now, some quick updates:

- Yesterday Star Movies was showing Jurassic Park, so I watched the first part just for the heck of it.
The verdict? Even after fourteen years, the movie still is great. In an age where Bill Nighy looks like he was born with tentacles on his face, the dinosaurs remain as visually convincing as ever

- The Transformers movie was well-received by my classmates, even those who didn't originally know that Transformers can morph into vehicles. Or anything else about them, for that matter.
One friend has a crush on Optimus Prime. Or maybe just his eyes. It's a little difficult to tell.

- I think I broke my PowerPoint. It's running slower than before.

- History is important and should not be erased. That includes the awful art which was all you were capable of three years ago.
... I'll never get why so many webcomic artists feel the need to reboot their work. Wait a couple of years and they'll be even better - and then what? Another reboot?

- As usual, xkcd totally gets it.

- I wish people would stop IM-ing me nonsense in the middle of class.

- Even though I have an entire category dedicated to Bionicle, there are only three entries in it. This must change.

- I need sleep.

Man Bites Dog

No, not really, but I was reminded of that old adage about news when I came across this article.

Dog Performs Heimlich Maneuver on Owner

Neat, eh?

Picture-Perfect

If Adobe Photoshop is the most popular digital art program for artists, MSPaint is the choice of rebel artists.

Check out this PSP, and then this rendition of the Mona Lisa.

There is a lesson here. It is that the expensive tool isn't what counts. What does count is the ability to use it, and the will to try.

All hail the lousy tools, which force us to gain true skill.

Update VIII: Randomness

As if all the updates weren't random. Anyway, I've taken a short break off my PowerPoint monster to live a little and do some blog updating.

There are currently only two words in the English Language which end in "gry" (unless you count some pretty archaic words which hardly anyone has heard of). It's pretty typical that some have made a joke out of it.

Sandwich-makers are probably one of the greatest inventions ever (next to the microwave oven). If I can, I bring one along with me when/if I go overseas next year.

On Friday, Sluggy Freelance had the most awesome plot twist since the Blacksoul = Obsidian Teknokon = Bun Bun revelation. The speccers are already buzzing, and I can't wait to see how this plays out.
Also, Torg does something smart. It's always great when he does that.

And... I'm off to slay some more of the monster.

Update VII: A Question of Weight

While looking for something entirely unrelated, I came across this.

Okay, this is ridiculous. I've never got why so many women feel compelled to lie about their weight, or age, or "vital statistics", or whatever. But when it gets to the point where such lying interferes with medical research...

To be fair, when conducting a telephone survey on something which people typically lie about, you would have to expect some nasty inaccuracies.

But it's still ridiculous. What is so important about maintaining an illusion to others that you are lighter than you seem? Your weight isn't going to magically change just because you say it is something else. And when that weight is a possible indication of serious health problems, lying about it moves from silliness to suicide.

Let's change this, one woman at a time. I weigh 64 kilograms (that's 141 pounds for you imperialists). I'm the heaviest person in my family. Thanks to the "spare tyres" around my waist, I have a fairly unattractive figure. I could improve it but I'm too lazy to exercise. So there.

Since this is an update, I'm supposed to talk about other random things. Let's see... I finally rounded up my Final Year Project report and logbook; I'm happy with them and I'm going to submit them tomorrow. (Incidentally, since it's the holidays now, and since I have no other business in school, I have to travel all the way up North to Woodlands just to hand in my stuff. Sometimes teachers can be really... insensitive.)

And since I'm temporarily free from actual work, I've gone on to comic-drawing. The current project is a PowerPoint monster and it is going to kill me.

Of course, half the fun is defeating the monster.


I'm not sure if anyone's noticed, but I tweaked a few things here and there around the blog. There are also some exciting new links up:

Pirate and Alien: One of those "innocent comics" which I'm apparently fond of. I adore the quirky art style, and it's so, so funny.

USS Constitution Virtual Tour: I actually wanted to put this up long ago, but the link wasn't working then. The site has detailed diagrams and photographs of the famed Old Ironsides, the oldest frigate still in service. I use this every time I need to design or draw a ship.

Quick After-Battle Triple Chocolate Cake: If there's a method to kill people with excessive chocolate, this has to be it.
I am so making this someday.

Chalk: An artistic take on the traditional shoot-em-up. Highly addictive.
(I might review this later. I find reviews are the best way to corrupt my friends.)


In completely unrelated news... there is no completely unrelated news.