AniMerrill

Merry Christmas

2011-12-24T22:45:00.000-05:00

Wonder if anyone actually considered the reason Christmas is scheduled away from Jesus's real birthday is so the early Christians (and modern ones too) had something to look forward to during the mother fucking winter while their buddies were celebrating Saturnalia and other fun paegan holidays.

Just saying xD

Merry Christmas whoever reads this blog, and a Happy New Year~

~AniMerrill

SOPA "Conspiracy"

2011-12-23T16:59:00.001-05:00

If even half of this is true, its disgusting. Spread the word, guys.

~AniMerrill

Excitement

2011-12-22T17:20:00.001-05:00

So not only is Christmas going pretty well (because Christmas is a holiday that pretty much just consumes the month of December) but also pretty jazzed because I've gotten pretty far in developing the early stages with my business with my game dev buddy Nick Roger.

Already have a domain and host for our website, gonna start prototyping our: launch title this weekend, and will be filing all the legal and tax papers in the coming year.

So again, very excited. :3

Later
~AniMerrill

PETITION TO VETO SOPA BILL

2011-12-20T15:33:00.001-05:00

Yeah, I'm going to use a blog post to kind of rant about SOPA and why you shouldnt' support it.

I'm gonna give you the short version of why its bad, then show you some posts and videos from people who explain it better. If you've already decided you don't like it here's the petition to sign: http://wh.gov/DfY

Basically, SOPA (or the Stop Online Piracy Act) is a bill proposed by Hollywood and industry fat cats to cease online piracy. While I do not in any way condone theft, piracy, or argue that IP is not a helpful legal tool for content creators, its obvious that this bill was written up as a last attempt from a crippled and dying industry who cannot accept change.

Because, yes, online piracy is a big issue. And yes, it would be nice if we could stop it. But this bill goes about it the wrong way.

Basically, rather than enforcing heavier restrictions on real offenders, the SOPA bill aims to basically censor the entire internet and all communication in the favor that we can limit pirated viewings of copyrighted material in the states. The main method it plans to do this is to blacklist certain sites (e.g. the same methods China uses to restrict free speech) so that they cannot be accessed any longer within the states by using that site's URL. The criteria for black listing is to have one, single, solitary link to or piece of copyrighted material on the site for which the original owner did not give permission for it to be there.

From a big picture standpoint, this seems like an okay idea until you dig into the technical aspects of it. Frankly, the language of the bill is far to blunt and could not only target those who are committing legitimate piracy but also those who are posting videos of a kid singing a pop song, those who post something with a song or movie playing in the background, sites with user posted content where a user happens to slip on a piece of material without the web host knowing, memes, and things originally considered fair use and PART OF BASIC RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH.

Not to mention that the system of censorship would not be 100% effective (you could still access sites via IP addresses instead of using a URL) and it would open huge security hazards for people still using the internet legally as it tampers with the basic structure of the internet.

There have been (I believe) two hearings on the subject in Congress and the basic consensus seems to be "We are people who are not experts (and may even have very little to no actual, real experience using the internet) but we expect to dictate how experts and people who do use it are allowed to use it" as they ignore the advice of experts from Google and several other internet companies, even some of the original creators of the internet, in lieu of passing it nonetheless on the advice of their Hollywood lobbyists.

Which is basically where it comes around to us. Call your congress representatives. Complain. Sign petitions. Pressure whatever person in office you can to not let this bill pass. Even if it goes through Congress, the presidential administration could still veto it if enough pressure was put on him that this was an incorrect course of action to take (which is why you should sign this petition http://wh.gov/DfY !!!)

Here are some videos and links for more information:

PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

SOPA Infographic

Forbes.com - How SOPA Could Ruin My Life

Why These Bills Are So Hard To Kill

White House-backed antipiracy video is Reefer Madness for the digital age

Wall Street Crisis of '08 less important than IP violations to Attourney General

Piracy Obviously Hurts Entertainment Industry because its Doing So Well

Again, this isn't me supporting piracy or saying I don't think people deserve to rightfully own their Intellectual Property. THEY DO. However, this mass censorship of the internet just isn't the way it should be done, its like using a hack saw for a small, surgical incision.

Here's the link for that petition: http://wh.gov/DfY Please sign if you support. Thank you for reading.

~AniMerrill

Put on a happy face

2011-12-18T13:25:00.001-05:00

Found these on the tables at work.

Recently got a Samsung Galaxy Nexus, so I'm likely to become a blogging fiend pretty soon. XD Hope nobody minds.

Her Name

2011-11-08T23:53:00.001-05:00

It's on foggy nights like this that I remember...

Her nagging presence. Her clinging personality.

Suffocating me.

She always wants me closer... deeper...

Wanting me to come inside her.

S̛͓̺͚̠̭̻͈̫̯̠̟̹̘̱͇̦ͨ̾̄̇̎̀͂ͨ͆ͯ͋̽̋̑ͣͬ͋̚̚̕͘h̶̡̩͚̦̘͎ͩ̑ͤ̆̄̄̍͛ͪͦ͗̈ͩͦ́̃͆́͢e͑ͥͭ̋̒̾͂ͣͧ̎ͣ̊ͯ̐ͩ͘҉̡̧͕̹̜͟ ̢̩̩͈̳͓̖̹̄̉͆̆͂̎k̷̨̤̣̞̥̖̱̦͖ͬ̌ͫ̓͒͒̿͌͛͡n̷̜̩̦̮͚͙̣͔͖̄́̌͐̽̏̓ͬ̉̂̑͌ͩ̓ͫͣ̾̊́̚ͅõ̧̭̭̦̠͖̩̫̩̮̆ͮ̓̃͌̌́w̽͐̃̌͏̨̡̡̟̘͇̬̲͖̬͢s̷͙̠̖̣̦̻͇̖͔̘̙͈̠̯̞̹̥̘̊͛̂ͦͧ̂̅̐͟͠ ̨̥̭̼̖͙̩͑̑̃̈͝͞w̛̫̱̘̯̲̟̩̗͚̰͍̟̘̅ͭ̾̽͆̾̂̊͊̑͐̀͟h͑ͤ͐͛͋̐ͥ̚͏̶̶̹͈͈͓̻̫̠̼͔͜ą͖̤̰͓̖̞͎͓̌ͨ̒̊͌̋͊̋͌̒̓͛̂̓ͫ̀ͅt̴̡͔̩͖̙̤̫̭̗̯͖͍̳̺̽ͯͣͯͅ ̵̡̛͚̩̖̳͖̤̣͈̳̥͎͙̻̻͌̓ͥ̓̒ͯ͒̐͆́̏̏̒̄ͤ̚͘Ȋ̢̅͌ͯ̇͂̽̐̇̍̃͂́̔͛̃̈́́̄̀͏͇̜̙̠̰͚ ̬̤̹̗̙̣̼̣̪͙͓͔̲̤̊ͤ̋̅ͦ̔̓̂̂͛ͨ́̎̒̍ͨ̀͞ͅd̸̷̹̙̱͈̳̫̓̄̃ͩ̽ͩ̇̀ͦͣͦ̑̀͛̽ͭ̋͗͢i̴͍̘͍̗̪̜̥͓̻͇͈͓̺̬̠͍̱̓͒̅͆̃̒̑͂̔ͭͤ̓ͯ̎̆̄̓̾d̸̷͚͇̱̩͐ͬ̿̓̓̍̈̾̊̽̽̌ͦ̉̚̕͝.̷̢̞̣̤̞͍̩̺͉̞͚̭̰̟ͦ̍̄ͯ̑ͥ̇ͭ͂ͯ̓̌̂̌̋ͯ͘

[the page is too damaged to read]

S̛͓̺͚̠̭̻͈̫̯̠̟̹̘̱͇̦ͨ̾̄̇̎̀͂ͨ͆ͯ͋̽̋̑ͣͬ͋̚̚̕͘h̶̡̩͚̦̘͎ͩ̑ͤ̆̄̄̍͛ͪͦ͗̈ͩͦ́̃͆́͢e͑ͥͭ̋̒̾͂ͣͧ̎ͣ̊ͯ̐ͩ͘҉̡̧͕̹̜͟ ̢̩̩͈̳͓̖̹̄̉͆̆͂̎k̷̨̤̣̞̥̖̱̦͖ͬ̌ͫ̓͒͒̿͌͛͡n̷̜̩̦̮͚͙̣͔͖̄́̌͐̽̏̓ͬ̉̂̑͌ͩ̓ͫͣ̾̊́̚ͅõ̧̭̭̦̠͖̩̫̩̮̆ͮ̓̃͌̌́w̽͐̃̌͏̨̡̡̟̘͇̬̲͖̬͢s̷͙̠̖̣̦̻͇̖͔̘̙͈̠̯̞̹̥̘̊͛̂ͦͧ̂̅̐͟͠ ̨̥̭̼̖͙̩͑̑̃̈͝͞w̛̫̱̘̯̲̟̩̗͚̰͍̟̘̅ͭ̾̽͆̾̂̊͊̑͐̀͟h͑ͤ͐͛͋̐ͥ̚͏̶̶̹͈͈͓̻̫̠̼͔͜ą͖̤̰͓̖̞͎͓̌ͨ̒̊͌̋͊̋͌̒̓͛̂̓ͫ̀ͅt̴̡͔̩͖̙̤̫̭̗̯͖͍̳̺̽ͯͣͯͅ ̵̡̛͚̩̖̳͖̤̣͈̳̥͎͙̻̻͌̓ͥ̓̒ͯ͒̐͆́̏̏̒̄ͤ̚͘Ȋ̢̅͌ͯ̇͂̽̐̇̍̃͂́̔͛̃̈́́̄̀͏͇̜̙̠̰͚ ̬̤̹̗̙̣̼̣̪͙͓͔̲̤̊ͤ̋̅ͦ̔̓̂̂͛ͨ́̎̒̍ͨ̀͞ͅd̸̷̹̙̱͈̳̫̓̄̃ͩ̽ͩ̇̀ͦͣͦ̑̀͛̽ͭ̋͗͢i̴͍̘͍̗̪̜̥͓̻͇͈͓̺̬̠͍̱̓͒̅͆̃̒̑͂̔ͭͤ̓ͯ̎̆̄̓̾d̸̷͚͇̱̩͐ͬ̿̓̓̍̈̾̊̽̽̌ͦ̉̚̕͝.̷̢̞̣̤̞͍̩̺͉̞͚̭̰̟ͦ̍̄ͯ̑ͥ̇ͭ͂ͯ̓̌̂̌̋ͯ͘

Her name is Silent Hill.

~AniMerrill

New Facebook?

2011-11-08T16:34:00.000-05:00

I guess this is kind of old news, but I saw it in an intermingled report about Google+'s new pages vs. Facebook's pages. It involves the new "look" for Facebook's interface.

So, let's get this straight. Facebook's response to Google's "simple but clean" approach to networking is to make the already cluttered interface and make it MORE cluttered and MORE unseemly to use, adding a zillion new features that serve small arbitrary purposes in the overall scheme of things that will more than likely crash even more frequently than Facebook already does.

About the only thing I can say is that this design at least looks pretty? It reminds me a bit of my blog here, if you use one of the other of Blogger's new layout designs.

G+ is a bit boring and sorely underpopulated (at least with people who I can converse with), but its also brand new. At least Google understands the idea behind a clean layout. All the new Google products look streamlined and colorful and are easy to use, on a variety of devices even.

Idk I may have to see this change to believe it. Facebook hasn't exactly hit 100 lately.

~AniMerrill

Benevolent Sexism?

2011-11-08T15:18:00.000-05:00

A topic brought up by one of my Blogger and deviantART friends named Blamethe1st when he posted a couple videos. Just thought I'd share because, frankly, the implications are hilarious.

I can see the point she's trying to make... but I think the second video makes a very good point. 99% of the time, I'd say I help women and offer to be helpful and chivalrous not out of patronizing purpose or for nefarious purposes, its just because I'm a selfless person and polite.

I can't recall the exact amount of times I've held the door for 20+ people in public, regardless of sex.

Opinions guys?

~AniMerrill

What Dubstep Would Sound Like to Your Parents

2011-11-06T20:29:00.000-05:00

This is my whole life summed up right here. I don't even like dubstep XD -AniMerrill

Birthday

2011-11-06T19:49:00.002-05:00

My 21st birthday would be on a Sunday wouldn't it? I knew this all along but somehow I managed to forget it. @__@

Oh well, its not like I haven't had alcohol before. Probably just go to a bar later this week for a smoke and something strong with someone cool.

Have a good week readers, I'll hopefully have more later this week.

~AniMerrill

New Template

2011-11-05T13:56:00.001-04:00

Finally caved in and set up my Blogger to have the new, sterilized template Google wants me to have. To be fair, it does look pretty snappy.

I'm definitely going to have to blog more soon. I hope to get an Android, which is when I really plan to start blogging more again... mobile, when things are actually happening.

Work is coming along well on my secret game project. Can't wait to reveal more about it. :3

Google: when are you going to link Blogger and Google+? I find it a little discouraging that I picked Blogger all that time ago and have stuck with it now on the hopes you would do more with it. Seems like I could at least have an autoshare or something with my G+ account.

That's all for today, hopefully more graphics from the game soon.

~AniMerrill

In the black.

2011-10-08T18:22:00.000-04:00

Hey guys.

Yeah, this is definitely going down the dark route of personal blog again.

Well, after a whole month of working at Starbucks I actually got paid XD I opened an account at a bank so I should be moving on up now. Probably have a lot more time to work on stuff and update here as the months go on, now that the stress of being absolutely in debt to everyone I know is kinda over.

Before long, I'm actually considering transferring this blog to a personal domain I have. I'll be sure to post what it is ahead of time.

I wish I could post more info on the projects I'm working on at the moment, but both are kinda under wraps. As I slowly get more and more art done for it though, I'll be sure to fill you guys in.

I'm supposed to start a web comic soon, but that seems to have fallen through yet again XD Saaa.

Bland blog post, sorry. XD

~AniMerrill

Well, hey guys...

2011-10-03T11:45:00.001-04:00

I haven't posted here in quote a while... whoops.

Well, since the last time I posted I stopped doing (or rather stopped getting) commissions and actually managed to get a job, at Starbucks. That probably means that I'll have slightly less time to do the cool stuff I used to put on here (lengthy blog posts about... god knows what, commissions, artistic experiments). Right now I'm currently focusing my free time to constructively work towards some of my personal long term passions.

Right now I have two different game projects I'm working on... although they're sort of "spiritually" one and the same. I'm designing a very basic RPG tile based engine for a game I'm working on with my new girlfriend (of one month, love you babe <3), and then I will probably use that tile engine to build upon and refine for a game project I'm working on with Nick Roger for our in-the-works game company Rightstick Interactive. The game I'm making with my girlfriend I'll probably get a low cost website to offer it on as freeware (unless I can actually convince Steam or some seller like that to sell it on their service, but I doubt it) and the Rightstick Interactive game (which we'll have more info on in December ;D) we're definitely hoping to sell on Xbox Live Arcade or some similar service, we're really hoping to shoot for Steam as far as our PC release is concerned. We want to get it to as big of a market as possible.

Also, my recent artistic exploits:

Profile pictures based of a ~cough cough~ certain comic book artist's style. Also in career based fighting poses XD The one on the left is me, the one on the right is my girlfriend. I was thinking about offering commissions for people who wanted profile pics of themselves done in this style. If you're interested, it'd be about $5 a pop. ;D

Also, me and Nick are also going to be starting a comic soon. More on that later in the week.

I'm not sure what else there is to say. Just figured I'd update since I convinced someone recently to start reading... plus I should be a good Ethan and update more often anyway. XD

Until then,

~AniMerrill

P.S. I shall find you Mario. I shall find you.

FleetTweet logo

2011-08-07T23:09:00.000-04:00

See without watermark at FleetTweet.com.

Logo I did for a buddy in Ireland for his website, was meant to be a Twitter based browser plug-in, but has since been put on the shelf for the moment. Still got 50 euro ($67 USD) out of the deal though.

I've since started doing logos for some other companies and projects, charging roughly $150-$200 for commercial projects (100-150 euro). This was a personal project, so I didn't charge him as much as I would a normal client.

If you want me to do a logo for you or any sort of commission, just contact me and make sure you have a PayPal account. I am open to doing cheaper, non-commercial commissions (like of a character or just something artistic you want from me), though I'm not sure what I'll be charging yet.

Also if you have a deviantART, feel free to contact me on there too.

~AniMerrill, a.k.a. Ethan Merrill

Extra Credits on Preproduction

2011-07-29T18:59:00.000-04:00

The Escapist : Extra Credits : The Pre-Production Problem

Another great episode from one of my favorite internet shows~

Extra Credits on Microtransactions

2011-07-14T16:23:00.000-04:00

Valve: HAAAAAAAAAATS! @ w @

Yeah, this is one of those things I feel like very few people do correctly. As silly as Valve's business model looks, it's working at least for the short run and if they adapt it'll probably keep being successful in the future.

Honestly, if I could find a way to make all my games in the future fundamentally free but with extra content users COULD buy, I'd do it in a heartbeat. I'd honestly rather have more people having fun playing my game than to know I'm going to make a guaranteed profit off of every user.

Idk, maybe that's just me.

~AniMerrill

Trolling Saruman XD

2011-07-13T07:34:00.000-04:00

Omg, this never gets any less funny XD

Tell Me Everything

2011-07-11T19:25:00.000-04:00

I <3 BriTANick :D

Ross, Grab My Boob!

2011-07-08T22:43:00.000-04:00

Google +1 and Google+

2011-07-06T21:36:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone, got a couple announcements!

First of all, if you look at the end of this post, you'll see I replaced the Facebook like button with the new Google +1 button. Push that thing like there's no tomorrow people, please. For those of you who are sad because you wanted to like on Facebook, I'm pretty sure my comments application on here allows you to share likes and stuff on Facebook (because you can basically log in with Facebook, or Twitter, I think). So yeah. Enjoy.

Second, I've gotten into the Google+ Closed Beta (sort of illegitimately but... ~cough~). Except for the stark lack of people actually using it (closed beta after all) it's pretty awesome. To describe it, it's sort of the unholy fusion of Facebook and Twitter.

To understand this, you sort of have to know the structural philosophy behind Facebook and Twitter. They're both social networks, their sole purpose being to get information between people. However, Twitter is structured to be a public social network because at any given time you can look up nearly any person- no matter how distantly related or degrees from Kevin Bacon you are -and follow their content, reply to their content, etc. Facebook on the other hand revels in being a private social network. The interactions between people tend to be a bit more valuable, content tends to be a bit richer, but at the end of the day you can only keep track of someone else's content if the two of you mutually agree you're friends. There are some public Fan Pages, but these are styled in the sense that their owners are companies and not really individuals in the greatest sense.

Google+ both has the openess and freedom of Twitter and the rich and full content of Facebook. Not to mention it pretty well integrates a lot of already existing Google features and products- hopefully more so in the future -so while you're using any of them you'll be in touch with your social networks.

It also has a nifty "Hangout" video chat feature that lets you video/voice chat with up to 10 people at the moment, sort of making Skype obsolete. You can all collectively watch Youtube videos too, which I think is amazing. Their chat feature is really cool and streamlined too, it can be as simple as Facebook's one-on-one chats but it can also escalate into group chats with loads of people, video chats, voice chats, etc.

Basically Google+ is taking the best things about socializing online and combining them into a singular social networking experience.

I've got some quips and things I hope they change before it goes completely live, but I'm pretty secure in saying that I'm really excited for everyone to join the party.

~AniMerrill

PS. Push this +1 button like it'll make your dreams come true :D

Yay America!... oh wait, I meant Baking

2011-07-04T13:55:00.000-04:00

This just summed up all my feelings for Independence Day. Enjoy~

~AniMerrill

Current Status of Comics

2011-07-03T22:39:00.000-04:00

(c) AniMerrill, a.k.a. Ethan Merrill

As with this, I'm going to announce the... probably painfully obvious fact that I'm postponing Spikes Zero for now. Perhaps forever. I know some people were impressed with the style and quality, but in an age where this passes as an IP worth a decent amount of money and this barely got any views I'm not feeling it for right now.

Plus, I realized I should really confine Spikes to the medium he was designed for- video games. I realize now he won't really work otherwise, except for joke comics.

That being said, I'm going to make a second- happier -announcement. I plan to eventually pick up Otherworld again soon. I'm going to revisit (and hopefully perfect) the style I had before, except I'm going to make it a bit darker and more surreal. I really want to push for a surreal style to the comic, and finally pay some (minor) tribute to one of my favorite traditional artists -- Salvador Dali.

Don't expect it like... this week or anything, but in the future, I'm going to revisit it for sure. I just need to hammer down the beginning of the story and draw a few sketches of the beginning again.

Hope that at least makes someone happy xD

~AniMerrill

TGWTG 3rd Anniversary Trailers

2011-06-22T00:05:00.000-04:00

..... omg I'm super psyched. Next week people!

And yes, you can expect to see lots of shameless plugs and fan art. I love these guys... with the glasses.

~AniMerrill

Sorry for no comic today...

2011-06-20T00:36:00.000-04:00

I've reached a bit of a creative crisis, and I'm sort of contemplating which of my projects should be more important to me. I know everyone (who has read it) really loves my comic and/or is impressed with how far I've come since my last similar project, but I need something a little more downtoned and lightweight to do for a while until I can get one of my other projects moving or done.

Until then, I'll probably just keep doing new editorial and commentary XD

~AniMerrill

PS. Your heart will now melt in 3... 2..... 1........

Soylent Brown?

2011-06-17T21:34:00.000-04:00

It was a particularly popular economic philosophy a couple hundred years ago that eventually the world would become so overpopulated that most of the population would starve, and only the rich upper class would be able to still afford enough real food to survive. This philosophy is now considered rather archaic and modern economic theory about free markets and etc. have eliminated this fear to some extent promising that markets would always provide the best way of allocating resources to people who needed them.

This hasn't stopped movies like "Soylent Green" and other sci-fi stories from entertaining the idea of a distopian future like this however, and exploring how society might handle this. However, while these movies explore a pretty dark twist on human nature, this video here depicts... something at least humane.

It makes enough sense anyway. Human excrement isn't as "dirty" as we really talk about it. In its raw forms it obviously is offensive to the senses, but urine is known to be safe to drink (I believe) up to three times as viable hydration. Its completely sterile. Fecal matter is not quite that way, depending on what condition a person is or how long it sits it can be very disease ridden, but it makes sense- to a point -how this sort of technology could be possible.

However, I'm not completely sold on how legitimate this video is. Seems like an elaborate trolling, as you can sort of tell from a couple of signals (like the label "Shitburger" on the fridge) throughout the video. I've only seen confirmations of this on blog sites, no official scientific journals as far as I can tell (they'd probably be in Japanese anyway), so I remain skeptical.

The POINT is, though, the concept behind it. Plausible means of ending the hunger crisis? Sure. Way to clear out a percentage of human waste and use it for something useful? Okay. Its not perfect, and I don't really think we're capable of cost effectively being able to process feces into a nutritionally sound, sanitary, or safe food on a mass scale... but I think the idea itself is pretty inspiring. And while spoiled Westerners might scoff at the idea, I have to imagine having charity organizations commission these guys for food could supply a lot of starving nations and people with food they need.

I think the idea that we could effectively make a "perpetual motion machine" with food is sort of ridiculous though. For instance, if I'm correct, even though you can drink urine for hydration... you can only do it about three times. Its not like you never have to find fresh water again. If we did develop feces into food, I have to imagine eventually the second or third generations of the proteins would become less nutritious. But hell, what do I know.

~shrugs~

What do you guys think?

~AniMerrill