Guten Tag.21

Hello hello. I've got two new strips this time, since I was lazy and didn't get the last one up in an appropriate amount of time. 

Lately I've been coming up on a day or two before my strip is due, not having a clue what I'm going to draw, and I'll sit there for hours hoping some sweet idea pops in my head. It's not particularly a good way to do things, but I think the nature of my strip allows it to work, since these strips really don't follow a strict chronological order. Anyway...

For all of you who are interested in comics, but shy away from them due to the overabundance of nerd that's inextricably associated with them, let me suggest a book that will restore your faith in this medium:

It's called Flight, an anthology of various stories from several very talented independent comics creators who are still up and coming. The stories range from personal recollections to inventive fiction, and each author has their own unique style of writing and art. This is the fifth volume in the series, and like the ones before, it's a 

great value for the amount of story presented (around 380 pages!).  My favorite stories were "Igloo Head and Tree Head in Disguise" by Scott Cambell, "The Dragon" by Reagan Lodge, and "Seasons: Frank and Frank" by Chris Appelhans. I'd suggest checking it out at Barnes and Noble or Borders first, if you're not familiar with the series, but it's definitely worth it. You can also get it on Amazon.com. These guys are doing a great job in comics.  

Alright, until next week or the week after that, have a great week.

-ryan

Guten Tag.20

Holy delayed update, Batman!

 

So like a select few hundred thousand nerdly Americans young and old across the country, I attended a midnight screening of The Dark Knight last night. By the time I got to the theater from work, it was already packed and people were throwing beach balls around in restless anticipation for the movie to start. Yes, there were a lot of Batmen in the crowd, but I saw more Jokers, and from my seat all the way at the top I could even spot a 60s era Robin down on the floor...who turned out to be my friend. But it was all good, since this movie was and is worth it. Go see it. 

It is the best Batman movie in existence. It has the best plot, the best characters, the best action, everything works. Heath Ledger owned Joker, and I would say almost stole the movie from Christian Bale. I used to love the animated 90s Batman tv series, and this movie evokes the grittiness and dark chemistry between Batman and Joker better than any other Batman movie. I knew I was going to love their characters, but Harvey Dent was the icing on the cake for me. Finally a realistic, fully realized Two Fa..I mean, Harvey Dent. He belongs in this movie, and it only works because of him. 

The only sad thing about this movie, is that I don't know what to be excited for in the next one. With the last movie, we were waiting on Joker, but now it could be anyone, and that's a little scary. I don't want to see the third movie suffer to a lame, minor villain that, sadly, the Batman universe is full of. Who would they reinvent? Riddler? Mr. Freeze? Poison Ivy? Penguin? I don't see how they'll fit into this franchise. I just think that they've already picked the best villains (Ra'as al Ghul, Joker), and they're going to have to write one heck of a story for the third movie. 

Alright. Nerd ramble completed. Go back to your lives.

p.s. I still need to see Hellboy 2. argh.

Guten Tag.19

Peep the strategy. Of my new strip:

This comes in relation to a recent purchase I made. I finally broke down and bought my first Apple computer. Yeah I know, I might as well be attempting to make fire with a bunch of sticks and rocks, since I'm living so far in the past, but I decided it was a good time to get a decent computer if I'm going to go ahead and do graphic design for the next couple of years.  I went with the Macbook Pro for a couple of reasons. One of which being the wider display that's better suited for design programs such as Photoshop and Ilustrator. One of the things that gets a little on my nerves when using Photoshop is having to move the toolbars around so they're not constantly in the way of my 'canvas', and hopefully this will free up that kind of space. The other reason was the faster processing speed and higher memory that will be needed to run those programs simultaneously without lagging like heck. Finally, the Pro has these cool stereo speakers on the sides of the keyboard that are louder and, I think, fuller than the ones on the Macbooks. Anyway, I'm liking it so far. Plus, I got the free iPod deal for being a student. I was going to go with the nano, but I got the 8 gig Touch cause it's like having an iPhone without the phone, and having to pay for it every month. 

Alright, enough jibber jabber about Apple. Hellboy 2 comes out tomorrow, and I want to see it so bad. I will burn in nerdly passion until I see it. Here's a movie poster I want, because the creator of Hellboy drew it, except it's going for upwards of hundreds of dollars on ebay.

Alright, I'm out. Gotta earn them dollars at Wally World.

Have a good rest of the week, sorry for the belated update.

-rh

 

Guten Tag.18

Hey everyone. Not much to say this week. Summer's going by fast. 

Well, have a good one.

-ryan

Guten Tag.17

Sorry for the delay. Good news is I have two strips this time.

Man, I've been pretty busy lately. As some of you may know, I work at Wal-Mart and they recently decided to give me around 36-37 hours every week. Now this would be alright at any other Wal-Mart or any other retail store, but I work at a Wal-Mart in Taylor, Michigan. I imagine it would be hard for anyone unfamiliar with the area to understand what that means, but it's usually a sea of people every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings. 

People who are more than less unaware of the fact that we employees essentially clean up after them all day. People who don't understand that this is a company that can afford to roll back prices on almost everything, because the majority of its merchandise is made in China. 

Having worked at Wal-Mart for more than a year, I'd like to share some advice that I think might help potential or current customers: 

1. Don't expect the employee in a certain department to be an expert in all things covered in that department. He/she doesn't have time to sit around and compare specs between toasters or air conditioners or pools. More times than not, she's just going to default to reading the product label back to you.
2. Don't expect that since Wal-Mart sells and assembles bikes, it also has the expertise of a local bike shop. The assemblers at my store have about a 15 minute time limit per bike, and don't really have time to make sure the brakes are adjusted just to your liking. And please don't bring a bike back multiple times to get it fine-tuned. If you want professional service like that, go to a bike shop and pay for it. Wal-Mart can't provide it for free.
3. If you're going to buy anything that you plan to stick in your vehicle, make sure it fits in your vehicle. Honestly. I think one week I helped at least 3 people carry out a pool/tv/furniture to their vehicle only to find they planned on driving it away in a compact. Like it would just magically fold down into the trunk. 
4. Don't leave your trash on shelves. Although this really goes without saying, but there are more than enough people who need this advice. I'll admit, cups and water bottles are one thing, but come on, used kleenex? band-aids? And honest to God, there have been two separate occasions where I've had the distinct privilege of finding a used diaper. Oh yeah, you're right, that is a good spot for it, right by the books. 

Well I hope that helps. You guys have any more questions, feel free to ask me. But right now I have to get ready for work. And it's my birthday, no less. 

Alright, have a good week.

-ryan

Guten Tag.16

"I wanna play the guitar...and I wanna get paid.."

Wow. Quick week:
Watching the red wings almost win the cup, work, watching the red wings finally win the cup, saw the Indiana Jones movie (more on it later), more work, graduation open house for my cousin, church, etc.
Dang, summer is going by too quick, and I have too many projects on my mind and not enough time to complete them. Music and art are competing interests right now for me. I feel like I have a lot I want to do with music, and a lot I want to do with art, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to pursue both equally or have to choose between them. I guess it'll come down to whatever pays better..haha. Sadly.

Oh yeah, Indiana Jones. I don't know, I hear a lot of negativity hurled towards this movie, but I'm going to stick to my guns and say I liked it. I thought it kept the tone of the other movies, even with the use of today's special effects and cgi. The action scenes were pretty exciting, except I don't know about the Shia LeBeouf tarzan scene, that was a little stretch. There's a lot of negativity aimed at the end of the movie, but without giving it away, I thought it wasn't too far fetched from what some people believed actually happened in that culture. (with giving a little bit away, at least it didn't talk or make contact with the characters). Anyway, if you're an Indiana Jones fan, you have to see it. If not, I'd wait till dvd. It was pretty good.

Alright, I obviously don't have a career ahead of me in movie reviews, so I'm going to leave that to the professional cynics who have lost imagination and know that movie sequels are fundamentally doomed to suck in comparison to the original.

Have a nice week.

-ryan

ps. (lyrics from The Snake the Cross the Crown, which is an awesome band making honest music. find out for yourself: http://www.myspace.com/snakecrosscrown )

Guten Tag.15

Alright alright alright alright alright.

Twice the wait means twice the Guten Tag. Hope you can handle that.

Go see the Indiana Jones movie, like I...will soon be doing...

Can you find the hidden message in this one?

One day I'd like to collect these in a book. But I think I'm going to wait until when I graduate from Wayne State and don't have a reason to do these every week. Hopefully by then more people will be reading these. That should bring the total readership up to one.

Have a nice week.

-ryan

Guten Tag.14

Hello. Guten Tag time.



Oh man, I'm watching The Empire Strikes back, and I've come to the decision that the original Star Wars trilogy is one of the few movies worth passing down to my kids. That is, if I have kids. That is, if I get married. If I get a girlfriend. Anyways. I remember first seeing the movies as a kid and thinking how big the story was, and how believable the characters were. Now, after watching the documentary that's on the dvd box set, it's crazy to see how they made so much work on such a small budget, at least by the standards of today's movies. It's weird that with all the advanced technology and ability to depict space battles in cgi in the newer Star Wars movies, the models used in the original trilogy look and feel more believable to me. Well enough nerd musing. Have a great day.

-ryan

Guten Tag.13

video games have almost eaten my brain. but I'm doing better, and getting back into the habit of sketching and drawing a lot. here's the new guten tag.

-ryan

Guten Tag.12

Alright, Guten Tag is back. I didn't have to turn it in for a couple of weeks due to finals, and I was a little swamped with final projects myself, so I took a little break. But it is indeed back. Now with 50% more good.