The Daily Crumb

Completed? You must be joking.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 07:22:00 -0700

My last blog post on here was in December 2023. I claimed I'd just finished the year with the completion of a play I'd written titled, Duncan's Art Room. Fast forward to today, July 2025, and the play has once again been completed.

Yes, it was not the end. Far from it. I have lost count of how many times I believed I'd completed it and laid it to rest. In the past, I've always had quite a natural sense of when a project has come to an end. That is with my comics, animations and short films. But writing a play was another monster altogether (or should I say IS another monster altogether.) Now I know what rewrites means.

I think it's unlikely that I'll be returning a few years from now saying the play still needs work, I may have finally reached that conclusion here in July, 2025.

To help push that feeling, a few theatre folk in Perth (Western Australia) have shown interest in bringing the story to life.

In total, Duncan's Art Room is 120 pages including title page and cast list. As I have little experience with theatre, that many pages of dialogue, stage direction and set design seems incredibly overwhelming. I know nothing about construction and in no universe would I be able to remember all of those lines, let alone perform them in front of an audience. So anyone ambitious and invested enough to give it a try has my greatest respect! It will be exciting to see if anything comes of these early discussions.

I wanted to put together a short collection of videos that have helped my on my journey. Aside from a few helpful words from friends and experts, I read play books and watched theatre and film to inspire my writing. Including them here is really just a part of re-stepping my journey. So here goes:

1. Page to Stage: Writing/ Formatting a Play (Chipmunk of Power)

While this video may seem basic, it delivers all of the key steps required to write (or begin) writing a play. As the parts continue, the creator also talks about communication with local theatres.

2. Lauren Gunderson: On Structure.

There's a lot here. It was one I had on in the background and would keep checking back in on as I heard important moments. It talks about story structure in WAY more detail and how it moves through a play. Her enthusiasm is infectious.

3. Before Sunrise and Before Sunset

Not plays, but the detail and pacing in the script was something I really wanted to capture. I could also imagine actors being as incredible as these two performers.

4. The Aliens - Annie Baker

This one is a gold mine really. A full play performed by aspiring actors during the pandemic. As I live remote, have kids and hardly any money, seeing a real play performed is close to impossible. For a time I was mainly reading play books to help me get a feel for it, until I found this great interpretation of an awesome script. I loved how the characters could keep their lines short, while still SAYING something. I must admit, I wasn't able to cut my dialogue quite as much, but it certainly helped the writing process.

5. National Theatre videos

This is one of many videos created to help out playwrights, offering perspectives from a variety of writers. They are excellent.

6. The Characters Start Talking (Working in the Theatre)

I love this one. It's so chill and at the same time so informative.

7. David Williamson

I began my journey by picking up some old David Williamson playbooks from a second-hand bookshop. I really enjoyed this interview and reading the plays.

8. Blur-The Heights

First of two videos that are not theatre related, they are songs! The existential dread of this track spoke to me and to the story I was writing.

9. Rabbit Island-Space Man

While the original lyrical intent is unclear, to me, the lyrics fit the world of the play very well. Plus the experimental sounds in the mix are perfect.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Having two kids now has made it very difficult to get creative and produce content. Which has been difficult at times. But with a few late-nighters and a whole heap of enthusiasm I did manage to complete an music album titled, Slow Stories.

Check it out here! https://narrowboatdreams.bandcamp.com/album/slow-stories

How did it happen?

Well, I began creating a bunch of demos for a unfinished album with my other band Duo, Artificial Colours. This album was going to have a bit of a carnival type sound. With a bit of Brian Wilson as inspiration, I wanted to experiment with instrumentation and sounds. Unfortunately, the Artificial Colours album fell apart and I was left with a collection of demos. Still inspired, I chose very carefully which songs most resonated with me as this time, and went to work on producing them. Once that sound came alive with melodica and strings, I created a few more songs to round off the album.

Personal favourites:

1. School Bell

2. Middlelife

3. Dollhouse

4. The Curtain Call

I'm very happy with how it came out!

See you next time.

~Nathan

Completed my first full length Stage-play to end 2023

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 18 Dec 2023 23:34:00 -0800

Hello readers.

I just wanted to throw together a quick update about my 2023. While things have been quite busy with family and jobs, I did manage to write a play. I did this by working one day a week (when it was possible) and on occasion, during early mornings (that was difficult).

I've never written a full length play before. In 2019 I adapted a short film I made for YouTube into a 15 minute stage-play. Though, a lot of my dialogue during the film making process was improvised, so a stage-play based on it was kind of dishonest (in a playwright kind of way).

That story was not ideal for the stage, it only required 2 actors and was very short. It was considered at one point by a student theatre, but ultimately they changed their minds. Then, the pandemic hit and I think everyone got a bit distracted.

Just before the pandemic hit though, in December of 2019, I submitted an idea to the same theatre that I'd really just come up with on the spot. It was called 'My Art Room'. The theatre then asked for the script, which I didn't have. After a short struggle to write something and a pandemic, the idea fell to the curb.

In 2021 I began to have these story points and character moments popping up in my head. I was busy working on a children's comic strip at the time, but at the back of my head, something more grown up was brewing. It started as a desire to tell the story of a young man who had just moved into his own place, what sort of characters would he meet? Would he find love?

A newspaper even asked if I'd like to make a separate comic for them to print, and my go straight into this new project rose to the surface. In coming up with a main character's name, I thought about the whole essence of existing and being born into chaos (life!). A man dunked into the world came to mind. I came up with the name Duncan, a person trying to figure out life, just like all of us. That name stuck.

That comic idea was way too ambitious for a non paid newspaper strip, so it was also thrown to the curb.

The pandemic left me a different person. During the lock-downs, I experience creative highs that I'd not felt since university. This was all because I was given the time, with no work stresses. Later in 2021, Neighbourhood Press and the Perth Comic Arts Festival were putting together a West Coast Comics Anthology. WA Artists were asked to produce 2 pages for a cool Risograph print book.

While dealing with an arm injury, I produced a comic about a man and his partner during a lock-down scenario. In that time, the man paints, makes music and gets his hair cut. His mental health improves dramatically. Like all lockdowns (hopefully), they end, and the man has to return to work, miserable and away from his creative endeavours. This comic was controversial for some people I knew. How on earth could a lockdown and a pandemic be seen as good in ANY WAY? No one said a pandemic was good, and a lockdown get's old pretty fast. The point I was trying to make, was more about how society is treating artists, holding them back from their happiness. While this seems like a very privileged way of thinking (and it certainly is), it comes back to mental health. And in a world that is waking up to mental health, maybe this is an important subject to look into?

In 2023, I began writing a full length play based on the original idea I submitted in 2019 and the artistic struggle presented in the Neighbourhood Press Comic.

The play is called 'Duncan's Art Room', it includes two songs produced with my friend Daniel Symons. It's not a musical, it's a drama romance. I came across this other possible genre name, an urban fantasy!? Sounds cool.

Anyway, I have submitted it to one Theatre. Who knows what the future holds. Perhaps nothing will come off it and I'll move on. Or maybe it will be performed.

In other news. I'm excited to do some more drawing and comic writing soon!

- Nathan

Nostalgia hits home

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 25 Mar 2023 19:45:00 -0700

Here are some videos I watched recently.

They both talk of similar cases. For me anyway.

I was a huge fan of the original Sims game, and the first Gorillaz album. As the momentum rolled on for both franchises, the effort and quality of parts 2 (Sims 2, Demon Days) and 3 (Sims 3 and Plastic Beach) changed my world. I have followed both since I was young, and both franchises still churn on today. I quit The Sims 4 pretty much as soon as I played it. I even made 2 animations making fun of how dodgy it all was. Anyway. It is bittersweet really, because not long ago these things felt so fresh. I played almost every expansion of Sims 1 and 2, and I spent many years playing 3 (I even dabble nowadays. I am intrigued by this new bit of EA competition recently announced: Life by You.)

Gorillaz work is hit and miss, hard to rate, but most can agree the artwork and music matched nicely during their first 3 albums.

Such is life.

~ The Daily Crumb

Quick Update 12/11/22

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 11 Nov 2022 18:23:00 -0800

To the reader,

How are you? Oh, you can't respond.

What's been happening with me? Well, I have to be quick as I have a sleeping baby that will very soon awaken from his slumber. Then the dishes need washing, I must also make sure the boy does not eat any small dangerous items left lying about the place. Then it will probably be stinky poo cleaning time and lunch (Not to be done at the same time.)

It's a new career. But very rewarding. Not in a monetary sense, no, it's the opposite of that really. But fulfilling none the less. My partner is very good, we work as a team and while there may be struggles, we are a loving household. This here is a very important point.

That aside, I noticed I have never mentioned probably the biggest project I have ever embarked on in this blog. That may be because I just don't use the blog much, I just get on with it.

But if you do keep up with me, you'll know I ran a comic strip called 'Walpole Kids' for local Australian newspapers, 'Walpole Weekly', 'Great Southern Weekender' and 'The Extra.' This began in 2020 and ended (somewhat) during 2022 due to baby stuff. While the comic was voluntary, it gave me some chances to produce some paid work featuring the characters. The pay was never anything additional to my regular pay so no amazing outcome there, but it was and has been creatively fulfilling. That and my comic addition to 2021's 'Neighbourhood Press' book really gave me that sense that what I do is not all for waste.

The Walpole Community Resource Centre hired to me to help with grant writing, article writing (newspaper) customer support and a variety of other tasks.

Through them I have run two kids comic making workshops, made a Art Documentary with Regional Arts WA and most recently, a 4 page comic guidebook for Keep Australia Beautiful. The kid characters have certainly been around.

I also presented a talk at 2021's Perth Comic Arts Festival and have appeared in multiple newspapers in relation to my comic books and documentary. Incredible! Walpole Kids Comics is officially my most successful project, though the monetary outcome will continue to lack. You don't get anything from nothing. The truth is, volunteering helps a lot in my experience. In the arts, you have to work hard for free and in your own time. Because your passion is your passion. No ones going to appreciate it until you've worked your unpaid butt off. This is the truth.

I still hope one day to have an animated series of Walpole Kids, or even (more likely maybe) a live action adaptation. Perhaps that will come. I'd like to produce a Walpole Kids graphic novel, without money or time? Hmm.

I want to write more, write films, plays, comic stories, no time. One day there may be time, I'm not dead yet. At the moment I am trying to cherish the beautiful little boy that is my son who changes and grows every day. Once day he'll be big, and off on his own journeys. He's only a baby once after all.

But time management and keeping dreams from rocking the system can be difficult. My whole life and the kitchen sink revolved around projects in the past. Whether it be a short animated film (parody or original) or amateur live action film, or a simple drawing or lonely old script or awkward song. Now things are a bit different.

I am mostly going to work to pay for family stuff, but I don't earn enough to even do that. Constantly in a struggle I will never have the time to pursue a project 100%. The most I give a project these days is 2% if it's in my own time.

Luckily, with the documentary and the Keep Australia Beautiful project, I was able to get paid for my time, but even then I worked over hours for my own creative fulfillment. Art can't be held back for a budget, well it can, but it shouldn't.

Even saying that, much of my work for the last few years has been cut to budget and time, even the voluntary stuff.

The biggest project and one I am most proud of what the Doctor Who Goes Gangsta short parody film I made in 2015. I had no work at the time and no family. But I would not want to relive that, as I was not in the best of places. I am much happier now. But creatively it can be difficult.

No one is going to give me a pot of gold and tell me to make an animated film or comic book. Grants have come to mind. But even the time to compile a project properly and write a grant takes time I don't really have.

Anyway.

I miss the George project, but I am proud of what I achieved.

Please find some of my projects you may have missed below.

Inspiration wise, I have been flicking through the works of local Perth/Australia cartoonists, Jamie Hewlett's Gorillaz and Art Book, Peanuts, Miyazaki and The Beano.

I also made an album you can check out as well. It's called Narrowboat Dreams and it is on Spotify, Youtube etc.

Keep UP TO DATE on my Instagram and website

~ The Daily Crumb

Damon Albarn, A Legacy. Top 10 Songs

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 17 Jul 2022 02:31:00 -0700

I'm a Damon Albarn nerd, always have been.

On many occasions I have listed my favourite songs in my head but never written them down. His work spreads across a multitude of genres and band names. From Seymour to Blur to Mali Music to Gorillaz...

Today, I'll be choosing my top top favourite songs and TRYING to be a harsh critic. He has made many many songs across his career, so can I choose THE BEST ones? My favourites anyway.

Now for the record, my favourite of his projects is Blur but I'm trying to even out the playing ground a bit with this list.

What will Damon mostly be remembered for by an emotionally attached fan?

Here we go (In no particular order):

1. Blur - Beetlebum

Emotional, epic and blur at their best.

2. Gorillaz - To Binge

The most beachy song on the Plastic Beach album, and a duet? Brilliant. Intriguing lyrics from both artists as well. It's a great sister track to 'Empire Ants' which almost made the list!

3. Blur - Young and Lovely (Live at Hyde Park 2012)

Great B-Side performed once again to better effect with some awesome guitar from Graham Coxon. Bit of an ear-worm.

4. Gorillaz - Dare

As much as 'Demon Days' is an epic album of choir and hip hop, I do admire a great dance song. This is the best dance song Damon has written. I may also be a little bias because this is my favourite of the Gorillaz animated videos.

5. Dr Dee - Apple Carts

This whole album/ musical is beautiful but Apple Carts really starts it off well. Unlike much of Damon's music, the lyrics really bring to life a sense of place and time... with matching instrumentals.

6. Gorillaz - Stylo

Like Apple Carts, it sets a tone for the Plastic Beach album. Electronic, maybe simplistic? Melodic with big surprises. With two big name guest vocals, Stylo says a lot and just sounds great.

7. Blur - Out of Time

This is my favourite song of all time, so of course it would be on my list. Lyrically beautiful, instrumentally beautiful, vocally beautiful... it even has an apparent Doctor Who sound bite shoved in at the beginning (Info via Wikipedia.) The title speaks to me a lot as well. Here is where the bias comes in, this was the first new blur song to release after I had initially discovered the band. So of course I was excited. You can't deny it though, it's a gorgeous song.

8. Blur - Country Sad Ballad Man

Might as well get all of the Blur songs out of the way... This song is experimental with guitar, gritty, angry, sad, confused and distant. I love all that about it. It's a popular one with Blur fans and so it should be.

9. Good the Bad and the Queen - Nineteen Seventeen

This one might be a bit of a wild card. I go back and fourth on it, it must be a slow burner. Out of all of the tracks on this very well produced storytelling album, 'Merrie Land,' this song has always stood out the most. Great storytelling lyrically and Tony Allen's drums are brilliant as usual.

10. Mali Music - Sunset Coming On

10 on the list is always tricky. But I chose a song that most would agree is a quiet gem. Everyone wants a piece of this track.

Honourable Mentions:

1. Gorillaz - Clint Eastwood

2. Blur - There are too many of us

3. Gorillaz - Desole

4. Damon Albarn - Lonely Press Play

5. Damon Albarn - Particles

Let me know your top 10 fave Damon songs!

- The Daily Crumb

George Bothers Finale

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 10 Mar 2020 08:34:00 -0700

Hi everyone,

Welcome to this humble blog. Today I am going to be writing about the YouTube series, George Bothers, and how it ended.

(Above: George in Cartoon Form)

Playing GTA5 Roleplay was an incredible discovery for me. For a long time I had been on the search for a game that suited the play I liked to play. Creating characters and telling stories. I've played various versions of The Sims games since it's original release in 2000 but, at the end of the day there were plenty of limitations. It never felt as alive, and of course you could never run over anyone with a car! GTA5 Roleplay gave me the opportunity to create new characters (Using GTA skins and my own voice) and improvise my way through roleplay and genuinely funny situations.
For me, it was a GOLDMINE for straight man, funny man. Working with some of the players that dedicate themselves to authority roles turned out hilarious. Watching them either break character or try and work out how to deal with a silly old man in the most realistic way possible.

The first half of the video series was recorded on various servers on FIVEM (The modded GTA). Each server has it's own community of people, and players really just need to find the one that suits them.
I created George on a server I was continuously kicked out of, named COPS RP. I'm not sure if they are still running today. I was kicked out for silly reasons, once for trying to react a scene from Back to the Future 3 where a car is on a train track. Surely a guy can play out his Back to the Future III fantasy!
Soon enough, I created George. I was the only one around, as far as I could tell that used this Civilian Skin. George was an old chap with a pink jumper and everyone loved him!
Suddenly, all the same things I was doing before, were no longer getting me kicked out! Because a funny old man was doing it all!

A community began to build up and George became everyone's friend. But these servers all have leaders, some more mature than others. In their defense, they pay to keep these things running, and that must be a challenge in itself.
There were conflicts and the server fell apart. COPS RP closed down and George was left as a floater in the great FiveM toilet.

I believe I made 11 episodes in a variety of different servers, never knowing where George's next meal was coming from. It was so difficult to find good players or interesting servers day by day. Every video you watch in that middle section of the George Bothers history is pretty inconsistent when it comes to story and funnies.
Saying that, this was a time of reflection.
I really enjoyed producing this sketch comedy video style and a George Trailer produced for my by Lesmovids inspired me to edit HARDER. I was keen to edit in the way, that the young whipper snappers of Youtube would understand.

Hanging onto the strands of COPS RP, some online friends gave me the opportunity to produce two roleplay/ machinima mixes. In these, I tried to build short films of George backstory and music. In short, his back story involved his involvement in a plane crash and his father.

Eventually I decided, I want to give George one more shot. I was eagerly hoping for his popularity to catch on at any point but it was not to be. After a friend of mine '''Sweet Anita', on twitch hit massive fame I was still hopeful for the old chap.

I created an animated version of George to enhance the branding, and hunted for a new server.
First off, I tried to get into one of the biggest FiveM servers known, 'DOJ'. Or at least, it was once one of the biggest. I think their military and cult-like nature may have scared a few people away.
I was accepted, but immediately walked away. After being asked to memorize various amounts of paperwork and do certain things certain people told me too, I told myself it WAS NOT worth it.

Soon enough, I came across a server that was a little bit more friendly to get into. While it did have the strong structure of a well-functioning server (Similar to DOJ), it seemed more friendly and welcoming to new players. They were more interested in seeing what fun stories and characters I was going to bring to them. The server was called Áspirant Gaming' and ended up being George's core home for some of the best George Bothers episodes I produced (In my opinion). 12 episodes were filmed using the Aspirant Gaming server and I hope one day there will be more.

Aspirant Gaming was not ALL bunnies and bowties though. After a successful first video, 'Celebrity Shop Manager', I was excited to continue my George's father story-line, set up in my previous episode. But doing so, It was required to bring my friend James (Who played George's father) back into FIVEM. As he was not a part of Aspirant Gaming I thought the best option was to find a nice quiet server (Preferably empty) and record some machinima based media.
Suddenly a red flag as a bot (or a person, or both), notified me on the Aspirant Discord, that I had been seen in another server. A few frantic personal messages I'd missed and suddenly I was banned from the server.

I was passionate about continuing my George back-story with James, but had to make a decision.

Aspirant Gaming had reliable players that offered me an opportunity to record some consistent video content and they were giving me a chance to return.
At this point I was enjoying the comedy editing and found myself watching a bunch of other GTA video content online. I hoped I had a chance of getting an income from my quest. I was really upset with my real life job taking up so much of my creative time and needed some hope. That sounds silly now, but tell that to those video makers online who have made it.

I decided to scrap the story video and create more consistently comedy based George videos (The ones people actually enjoyed watching).
I am proud of the episodes I created, though at some points it did feel like a job. Each video needs people interaction, and on this server, I'd usually have to wake up and play between 3AM to 9AM in the morning for that interaction. It was worth it, but difficult. Time-zones are a killer!

I met some wonderful people on there, and always loved adding characters into George's friendship family.
Unfortunately, due to the way I recorded videos, George's friendships never lasted. Whether it be players leaving servers or just plain old timezone issues. I suppose we can put it down to his memory.

I'm going to treat George Bothers like it is a legitimate program now, mainly because I enjoy writing lists.
The list below only includes GTA5 episodes, with no other George related videos included.

George Bothers
Season 1

Episode 1:
George is in a Bank Robbery

Episode 2:
George writes to the Council
Description:
This episode cemented what I wanted to do with George Bothers and ended up being one of the most popular episodes. This episode also reveals the possibility that someone in George's family was named Jennifer.

Episode 3:
Georges sees a Sand Wagon
Description:
This episode reveals George's love for animals when he meets a little birdy!

Episode 4:
George moves house and is on TV!
Description:
George gets some help moving from his old house to his new house! His old house was rarely seen in any episodes but was used in RP for a long time previous. The old house appears briefly in 'George gets his house back'. The new house is revealed to have Flamingos outside.

Episode 5:
George shoots an old friend!
Description:
I will always remember this episode as the one I rush recorded after I did a way better version of it and it crashed!

Episode 6:
George becomes a Security Guard
Description:
Love this concept and some of the video I still find quite funny. Though I wished I could have done some more of George as a guard.
As a side note, this was the first episode where another character in the George universe was revealed (But never mentioned again). George's security guard friend.

George Stories: PROLOGUE
Description:
A non George Bothers episode. It is revealed George taking his first flight as a young pilot. He had been drinking and going a bit heavy on the biscuits before the crash. The plane was flying from London and crashed in Sandy Shores, USA.

Episode 7:
George makes dreams come true!
Description:
This was the last episode recorded on the COPS RP server before it closed.

Episode 8:
George goes Christmas Shopping
Description:
Jumping from server to server, the episode is a bit of a mess but still fun. He meets a little catholic Irish lad.

George Stories: PART 1 (George meets Cliff)
Description:
I was lucky enough to work with a friend from the last remaining shatters of COPS RP, who was running his own server. With a few pals we shot the whole story in one evening. John, whose server it was, also played George's OLDEST friend, John, in game.
The story reveals the co-pilot from the doomed plane was out for revenge on George. At the last minute, George's good friend John comes to save him.

Episode 9:
George's Delivery Donuts
Description:
This is still one of my favorite episodes with one of my favorite titles. This episode, no matter how silly it is, introduces us to one of George's main recurring friends, The Texan Man (Dick Donnelly?) played by my friend James who came into FiveM to encourage me to make more videos.

Episode 10:
OLD MAN BURNS DOWN FIRE STATION??
Description:
First attempt at a click-bait title. That title honestly does happen though so it's pretty funny. The Texan Man returns in this episode.

Episode 11:
OLD MAN BUYS $500 JAFFA CAKES
Description:
The first half of this video is very funny and ended up as a large portion in the best of collection.

Episode 12:
OLD MAN ROLEPLAY AS TOUR BUS DRIVER??
Description:
First episode that subtly reveals issues with George's father. Also PLENTY of Flamingo love.

George Stories: PART 2 (Daddy Issues)
Description:
A controversial second part! For my friends anyway. But at the end of the day, this is the story I wanted to tell. I suppose my only regret, now that I know how difficult it is to actually make these, is that I didn't push the grumpy Neighbour Lady to the side for the Dad story (Which needed a bit of work). Still, I had fun and some of the drama is great in my opinion. This episode reveals that the Flamingos were George's mothers. John, Dave and Barry. Barry was destroyed by his father.

It also reveals that no one was responsible for the plane crash, and that George's father had influenced the US police and pushed the co-pilot, Watson to imprisonment. (This is a plot point I very much hoped to open up in a future episode, but not sure I will now)

I still enjoy the neighbor and her son story-line. There was an unanswered question though. The Texan Man says the Neighbours son is dead so no need to worry, but his death was never seen on screen....

Episode 13:
OLD MAN TAXI DRIVER BREAKS THE LAW!
Description:
Some okay moments but overall, shows my struggle to record good content when jumping from server to server. Does show off George's love for drawing birds, both real and metal.

Episode 14:
OLD MAN SELLS ICE-CREAM HOTDOGS??

Episode 15:
Celebrity shop Manager!
Description:
First episode recorded on new Aspirant Gaming server! It was very well received. Subtly revealed George's memory loss in one scene. Also played out George's love of Hip Hip and performance.
This was also the first episode to be based in the city (Outside of Sandy Shores)

Episode 16:
SPEED DATING CHAOS!
Description:
While in the city George meets a new recurring friend, Bea Landers! It was certainly nice for George to meet some people closer to his age group in this episode. This episode also reveals George's love for his magical pink bicycle, Sally. Sally returns in a few other episodes but not with quite as much passion shown here.

Episode 17:
OLD MAN ANIMAL ESCAPE!
Description:
Regarded as the best episode to some who like animals escaping! George makes friends with a boar he names Barry (named after his mothers Flamingo? WHO KNOWS). He also meets a cat.

George Stories: PART 3 (George get's his house back)
Description:
While I was not able to bring James into Aspirant Gaming to continue the story with me, I asked him to record a goodbye letter I could play over the video.
This episode shows George driving past his old house and reflecting on the lives loss from the plane crash, as well as Watson's wrongful imprisonment.
It is revealed subtly in this episode, that the Texan Man is having to leave as he had killed the Neighbours son from PART 2.

Episode 18:
OLD MAN VS SNAKE! (AND FLAMINGOS)
Description:
George meets up with Bea Landers again (For the last time)

Episode 19:
George's Funny Hostage Adventure
Description:

Episode 20:
Grandpa's Last Crimewave
Description:
Some of my favorite funny moments are in this episode.

Episode 21:
Old Man Starts Gang War
Description:
At this point most 'George Canon' is not really important. These episodes are all just fun, jokey trolling.

Episode 22:
Hairless in GTA! Secrets Revealed!
Description:
George visits the medical centre after a tragic accident at the hairdressers! (It's a bad hair cut) This episode reveals George used to be a popular pink jumper wearing model for the Fireman's Calenders.

Episode 23:
Grandpa Snow Dog Rescue!
Description:
Honestly one of my favorite episodes. Very sweet, quite funny. George befriending fluffy mutt in the snow.

Episode 24:
Grandpa's Big Butt Adventures
(Also known as, George Stories PART 4)
Description:
The final episode begins as a typical comedy sketch episode, trolling people in the usual George fashion. But soon turns into a more serious story. George has some issues with his placement and his memory, and is soon revealed to have Dementia.
While trying to deal with this, George returns to the Lighthouse clifftop seen in George Stories PART 1. Here he attempts to call his oldest friend John, who had once stood on that clifftop with him. Unfortunately John had passed away. George deals with this, and when trying to move on feels a sense of optimism, only John could have given him.
Then George accidentally drives off of the cliff and has been missing ever since.

If anyone is curious as to what my favorite episode is. It would be the BEST OF collection I made of all my favorite bits. (Not including final episode)

The End

George Shambles' Day at the Library

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 15 Jan 2020 06:40:00 -0800

George Shambles' Day at the Library

Written by Michael Shambles & George Shambles

Before I begin, I'd like to thank a few people. I'd like to thank Bobby Hunt from the local library for not getting too upset when I returned the book, 'Top 10 Teas that start with T' three days too late.
I know we didn't talk much, but your understanding lead me to oggle your name tag and mention you in this story.
Usually that lady with the dark hair is quite rude to me when I return books late, “She says, HOW DARE YOU GEORGE!” She likes to exaggerate. So do I. She's never really said that, I'm so sorry Imogen Perkins, I meant no harm and I'll be sure to keep your identity secretive.

If I'm completely honest, Imogen gave me a bit of a grumpy glare and then moved on. But for the rest of that day I was sat slurping my tea noisily in upset.

This week, while I was in the garden watering the pumpkins and feeding the Flamingos, it suddenly dawned on me. 'Top 10 Teas that start with T' was still on my bedside table, chaps. Not only that, I'd left my little light on. So I ran upstairs (I walked), crashed through my bedroom door! (I opened it gently, didn't even creak.) And I went for a nap on my bed. It was very comfortable you see. The duvet was so cosy and warm.

It was raining outside and I was just ready to slip into dream land. There was absolutely no other option.

Three days later I picked up the book and caught the bus to the library, dreading I'd see that nasty nameless woman again! Luckily for me, the sun was shining that day and Bobby Hunt was stood at the desk waiting for an old man to stumble through those electronic doors.

Can we just talk about those electronic doors for one second please? So on most occasions, they know when I have arrived. It's very good of them, I always tip my hat to the robots if I'm wearing a hat that day.

But sometimes, perhaps I step too far or too soon... sometimes the doors do not open. First I wonder, “Gosh, is the Library closed? That's very inconsistent with their window sign." I even check my personal folded up calendar I keep in my trousers. It's quite a big calendar, folded seven times down to a pocket fitting size. But once it's unravelled, blimey, it'll cover a whole Town Hall pinup board. The calendar answered none of my queries.

My next thought, after continued ignorance from the door ghosts, was “Am I banned?”

The problem is chaps, after one or six late book returns, who knows what these Libraries are capable of? I thought, 'Right! That Imogen has locked the doors for good. No more books for George.'

Just a little bit of information about myself before we move on. Sometimes, I like to not take the books out, but instead stick a little bookmark in it and put it back on the shelf. Problem is, I then forget which books I've read. Who knows how many books are ravaged by my bookmarks by now? Scattered across the bookshelves like a load of old books in a library full off bookmarks.

I thought this could well be the reason for this despicable shut down of my rights.

It turns out, the doors just do that sometimes. I was let in and took my book to the front desk.

Bobby was there, hardly even out of school he was. His face looked like a handful of freshly cut grass blades had been distributed delicately over a slice of pizza. He said he liked my pink jumper, I told him he should get one. Highly fashionable In 2020. He said he would think about it and took the library book from my giving hands.

“Ah George Shambles. Great name. You know this book is three days late?”

I pondered for a moment, could I perhaps use the dementia card? Yes quite an idea, George!

I replied, “Sorry sir, I seem to have left my dementia card AT HOME.” I winked at Bobby for a minute or two and waited for a response.

He stood in front of me, confusion creasing up his face like a wet sponge. “Oh...”

“That's okay George, it will just be a very small fee and you'll be on your way to borrowing more books.”

Bobby was a wonderful chap. IS a wonderful chap, and I'll never forget that delightful gesture he gave to me.

'Top 10 Ts that start with a T' was successfully returned and I was ready to stick my bookmark in the next unsuspecting gardening publication.

By the way, the question on everyone's lips is ,"George, what did you think of the book?" I thought it was very interesting. I'm not sure I would have gone for Tiramisu Tea as number one myself, but at least Turkey Tea came above Tissue Tea in the final countdown. If I were to write the book, I'd have shot Torchlight Tea RIGHT to the top, due to it's glow in the dark characteristics.

Thank you for reading my short story, “George Shambles' Day at the Library”. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed living it and then telling my grandson to write it all down.

George Shambles

27/02/2019

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 27 Feb 2019 03:58:00 -0800

Dear Readers,

I've not updated this blog since 2017 when myself and a good friend released an Album on Spotify. I am still very proud of this album so please go and check it out!

But 2019 has come along and I'm hoping great things are on the horizon. I already feel like things and started well.
In my personal life, I'm living with my partner and 2 cats in one of my favourite places in the world, Fremantle, Western Australia. (Also with my family close by)

I can't really describe my love for Fremantle. It just has so much to offer. From beaches to old markets, from ferris wheels to festivals to art galleries in haunted buildings. Everywhere you go you feel like you're being hugged. This may just be me, I know there are a few negatives here and there but overall I'm pretty settled. It's not just Fremantle though. Due to work I'm rarely leaving my little part of the world these days but when I venture out to Perth (City) the hug is still around. Hiding in small art galleries and theatres.

So that's that!
But what else is going on?
After my Tomothy Comic Zine/Book was printed last year I was excited to do a proper release. Firstly, I did something pretty incredible. I was convinced to be a part of a 'Comic Arts Festival' in Perth. I had to be really convinced and I could not have done it without a bunch of friends and family.
During the day I slowly crept up from underneath the table and successfully sold my art. I was also placed at the very front of the building! I was one of the first stores in sight!
I had a wonderful experience and was so happy to share my comics with the community (And get an idea of what other local artists feel when selling their work)

Back to 2019!
This year has started with a little leap into the confidence chair. Firstly, as the new year came in I submitted a Stageplay I wrote to 'Murdoch Theatre Company'. A very impressive, student run theatre local to me. I've seen two shows from them previously and both of them blew my socks off.

My Stageplay was based on my short film/series, "Coby Charles Goes Home". It's an extended version of the script that was used in the video. It dives a little deeper into Coby and Coby2s relationship and what exactly Coby yearns for outside.

Anyway, short story short they really liked it! They were keen to perform it for their 2019 shows. Unfortunately, the whole thing has hit a bit of a speed bump but I am still hopeful. Whether this performance happens or not, I'm extremely proud that something I've written has to been enjoyed by these aspiring creators.
As a side note though, I do really hope it does come through. I've never really considered myself a writer, or a musician, or a live action film maker, or even sometimes an animator. The reasons for this is because no ones ever really appreciated what I've done (Apart from cartoons). So it would be lovely for something like this to happen and teach me that people appreciate my work outside of Doctor Who Cartoons.

Saying that though, something else has already happened this year. Every since the Comic Arts Festival, I've wanted to properly release my comic.
Every day the comic gets older and older. The strips in there are pretty old right now. (Due to various reasons explained elsewhere). But you know what, I'm still super proud of it. If I was not, it would not have been printed.

So I planned out an animated advert to finally release the book to the world. I called on my friend, James Berridge (Who I've worked with on various short projects now) and we got to work.
Very much inspired by some of the Gorillaz videos, Little Howard and that Simpsons Halloween episode where Homer goes into the real world... I wanted Tomothy to come alive.

After some nudging I convinced a local Bookshop to let me film the outside and window for my advert. (As long as I made it clear this book was NOT available in their store haha)

Then it was just me trying to squeeze production around my life, relationship, family and most importantly, my job. It was very upsetting, how slow my production would be working on my animation.

I produced 'Doctor Who Goes Gangsta' when I was JOBLESS. Going into libraries early morning and working all day and then spending other days searching for work. It was difficult for money and stuff but animation wise, it was amazing. It's still my proudest work animation wise I think.

Anyway, I was getting upset, knowing how short this advert was meant to be. How could it be taking me so long when it was so short???? Well, I suppose the truth is, even though I had less time I still wanted to challenge myself. And I think James wanted to challenge himself as well.
So while it did take a lot of time, it was all for good reason in the end. I'm pretty happy with the final product. Especially the excellent job James did on the compositing.

What happened next???
Well on advert release I created an event page on Facebook, made a new 'TomothyBooks' Instagram page and James organised a Kindle option for purchase.
Everything came together and in total 15 people from all sides of the globe ended up purchasing my Tomothy Comic. They are all sent out now.
While I would still love many more purchases I'm so happy to know that Tomothy will be travelling the world. Hopefully he takes some pics.

My book is still on sale, if you are interested. Just go to Tomothybooks.com/shop for more info.

So right now, what I'm excited about is growing in my loving relationship at home, getting a play performed!!>!?!?!?!! and working on my future creative projects.

I also forgot to mention my other album release last year! Microworld was also put on Spotify and has more of an operatic concept theme to it than the first. My partner and I produced a music video for it involving some old telephones. I'm also really proud of that! You can watch that here

Also! GEORGE. Everyone loves George. George is my Grand Theft Auto Roleplay character that bothers people while they try and Roleplay as police officers and garbage men. Something else, I was oddly very proud of producing last year was his episode, 'George writes to the Council' and 'George meets Cliff (George Stories)'.
The second one being a full Machinima made story using Improvised Roleplay. It even includes a chase seen! This is the sort of video you'll very rarely see and I'll probably never get to make again. So I'm glad I took that moment and produced something so silly and wonderful.
I've even made a dedicated page for George on TomothyBooks.com so it MUST be important.

Anyway! Go and watch the final Tomothy advert!
I should start working on the next book! (Or animation. I have no idea...... Animation is just too ambitious when you're on you're own. sigh. But maybe comics are as well these worky days...... )

- The Daily Crumb
- TomothyBooks
- Munch
- Nathan Viney
- Mr. Nathan

Music on Spotify: Artificial Colours

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 15 Oct 2017 05:13:00 -0700

Hi everyone,
A few months ago I was lucky enough to discover that an old friend of mine was keen to record some cool tunes just for fun. I'd been playing around with music making and writing lyrics for a long time so it was interesting to get a real musician on board.
All together we made 10 tracks (3 being interludes). While we may enjoy some more than others, it was really a wonderful experience and sparked some real creativity for us both.

The thing I love most about music is the diary of time it can keep in the lyrics. I'll never feel exactly the same as when I wrote the lyrics for each one of these songs. So that makes each one a personal experience locked in music forever. With that, it's so fun to make tunes and really build the sound with my friend, Daniel Symons. who brought ideas, vocals, mixing and some showstopping Trombone.

It also gave us the opportunity to find collaborators to make the tracks feel more vibrant. Overall it was an exciting and somewhat emotional experience. And there was a lot of pizza.

One of those collaborators then went on to design our cover, which you can see below.

(Art by Jens Adria)

You can now listen to the tracks on SPOTIFY and ITUNES

(ITunes)

And here is a promo video I did!

Night night

The Daily Crumb in 2017

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 17 Jun 2017 19:56:00 -0700

Hi The Daily Crumb readers!!

Oh okay, everyone has gone home I guess.
Well this is a quick 2017 update just giving the no-one-verse an idea of where I am as a person creatively.
I'm currently finding the world very interesting. Happy faces and interesting locations continue to catch my attention. Because of this I post a lot of random pictures on my Instagram account. There is no consistency there. There are photographs, drawings, animation previews, videos of atmospheric settings, short 'comedy' videos and more whatevers I experience. My Instagram seems to be kind of my visual diary, like this blog may have been once upon a time. Anyway, in short, I bit my tongue yesterday ouch.

Here are some of the sketches that have appeared.

You can check out everything at https://www.instagram.com/thedailycrumb/

A lot of the the little video sketches I've made for Instagram I have also put on my second YouTube channel, TheDailyCrumb2. There is certainly some very weird stuff on this channel so watch your step if you do venture there.

Like this

and this

and this (Scene from Toy Story 2)

and of course, this.

.

So I've been keeping busy. I've also ventured into some very new and very old areas.

I've recently just completed a super dumb animation about Donald Trump. And I love it because it reminds me of how stupid things can be in cartoons. It also reminds me of those good times in my teen days where I'd create many silly short comedy sketches just for the fun of it.

I have a full time job in the real life, so doing full animations is so difficult and I am certainly restricted from working at a good pace.

I would like animation to be my main thing going into the future. I have fun doing it and I have a lot I want to say, even if it is stuff people have heard already before from other massive properties...? what? My cartoons need to move I think, I' m not sure. I've done loads of comics in my life but after the 'no book' situation I feel like animation is a better place for my art. It takes so long but it's very fulfilling.

Going next I'm not sure what animation it will be, but you'll see. (Eventually) (In like 3 years) (Nah, hopefully not..)(I am so slow)

Next up is new thing! Well not entirely new....
The full story is I've made a lot of music in my life, but all on this non-professional software called 'Mixcraft'. I don't know how to play ANY instruments, apart from a tiny bit of drums. But I do play the laptop keyboard a bunch and find sounds that feel good in my ears. From there I make songs and write lyrics and do whatever. The ending of the Trump animation had a little music I did... though it is short.
Anyway. I joined up with my friend in Australia who I have known for many years who is an expert Trombone dude. He didn't care that I didn't know how to play actual instruments and decided he wanted to get involved in some of my music!

So we made 2 songs! They are scary and tromboney. So please enjoy.

Listen to that Trombone!

To end off, I've also watched all of Steven Universe and am playing some FreeSo (The Sims Online fan reboot) (I don't play official Sims anymore. SHOCK HORROR!)

https://www.instagram.com/p/BQo6NOWhXoG/?taken-by=thedailycrumb

- Thedailycrumb

.

.

.. Oh you are still here? I knew you were curious! Of COURSE you were. Well, since you are so desperate I'll show you pictures of my Sim house.

- Thedailycrumb

Go to Inspiration

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 7 Feb 2017 05:37:00 -0800

Hi.

I thogught I'd post sum vidoes of what inspries me sumtimes OR right now anwywyas. It's very difficult to find inspiraiton, extremely, youwouldnt believ it. It's incredible.
Butanywya
Some bad ppl are coming to get us, they called the ProcrastiNations and they hate everythin we trying to accomplish.
MAKE CREATIVE ENDEAVOURS GREAT AGAIN!
But anywya.

This talk is themost brilliant talk ever for an artist feeling like their work is nuthink

This is an old music video but I am excited for new Gorillaz stuff so it def gunnna be in this blog post. The Demon Days eera of music videos blewminds. All 4 of them were fantastic (amazing!) just gRREAT. But Dare I like because it remains fun and simplistic. The art style of Noodle in Phase 2 was great. Her clothing and hair inspired my character designs when I was younger and the brilliant animation continues to amaze.
Plus i luv dancing

Not this song in particular, but this song does show off exactly what inspires me about this show, Steven Universe.

What a show! It's fabulous, i have a fabulous amount of respect for Steven Universe, it's great. Believe me, all my friends think so. Well, one of them.

The show inspires me because of it's amazing human writing and representation of love in all of it's forms. Plus it's fun and the musics cool.

Thanks

Nathan of Crayblock (A Short Story)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 3 Dec 2016 03:12:00 -0800

Someone turned the music off... while I was still listening to it. It was a really good song, one of those ones that prepares your ears for a smooth transition into something quite delightful. But anyway, that's all gone. I hope I don't get a headache from that abrupt ending. All I could hear now was an icecream van play tunes in the distance.

Usually, I'd get pretty excited about that. ICECREAM! But you know, I can tell by the drifting melody that I'd never reach it in time. I'd run and run and I'd just see it soar off around some side street. Just like every single day when I miss the bus.
Anyway, someone turned the music off. Actually, I was alone. So no one there actually could have done it. My wifi was still connected so that was not at fault. I put total blame on Spotify! Of course I do. They probably wanted to throw an advert in there, begging me to give them some real moneys. The advert most likely glitched out and boom! music stopped.
But no, I was wrong.

Actually, I was right. The internet just cut a bit and then the music started again. Ha, I made that all sound way dramatic. It really was not that dramatic. But it did make me realise one, very important thing. I really wanted icecream.
So I went outside my house, locked the door behind me, realised I'd forgotten my money, went back in.... out again. Blah Blah Blah. The sun was going down now so it was like, URH Soon I won't be able to see. I was wearing my glasses you see, (Get it, SEE). Anyway, they are really old, I'd had them since I was like 12. Because of this, the lenses were incorrect for my deteriorating eyeballs. I usually wore updated contact lenses. But that day, I was slack.

And I heard this manic laughing come from behind me. It was from the house behind me (Which was mine because I was out the front of my house). But then I realised it was actually coming from the house BEHIND MY house. I made that uneventful event sound way too eventful.

I thought, that's odd. Who on earth would laugh so loudly and so embaressingly?
Then a man ran out from behind, laughing. I could tell from his laugh that he was from New Zealand. Though, that may have been the background sound of the icecream van's song mixing with the sound waves of his roaring screams (of fun). I'm getting off topic... AND FAST.

He stopped when he saw me, stopped laughing.. and stopped running. Stopped dead in his tracks and pebbles went in his sandles. He was going to regret not slowing down at a nice calm pace once that pebble started irrtating his foot. I did not say anything about the pebble, it was not my place to start stressing people out with nonsense ramblings.
"DIDN'T YOU HEAR? GOD'S JUST APPEARED! IT'S ALL OVER THE NEWS!" Whoa! He screamed in my ear. He seemed delighted actually.
"Hi, I'm Nathan." I said cautiously.
"HI NATHAN! YOU SHOULD GET INSIDE."
"Hi.. Um yeah, no I'm going to get icecream."
"Well, I've got icecream. Why don't you come in my house?" He asked.
"No. I... No, I don't go in strangers houses. What do you mean, God has appeared?"
"It's all over the news! It's on the BBC News! It's on the CNN and the SKY Sports News! It's on ITV and ABC and The Daily Mail! and all the important ones and NONE of the fake news sites."
"Now listen here, strange man that lives in the house behind my house... You standing here telling me that God has appeared and that it's not on any fake news sites is the equivalent of me actually reading a FAKE news site."
"Hey mate, I'm just trying to help. No need to get all up in my face about it. I was an Atheist yesterday and now I definitely believe in the letter A. AND GOD."

He was breathing heavily, his eyes were getting larger and larger, but not in any inhuman way. Don't get me wrong, you've most likely seen someone act like this before. He wasn't alien or anything. He was just your regular run of the mill crazy person. Uh.. from New Zealand. I'm not going to make any jokes about New Zealand people, they made that wonderful King Kong movie so no faults I say!

"So what did the newspapers say about God then?" I asked.
"Not the newspapers. This is very recent. The newspapers won't get the news until tomorrow." he replied.
"Oh yeah. Ok, So what did the online news say?" But before he could acknowledge what I'd said, he was off on another one...
"Oh no.. there it is again...." He started getted sidetracked. His pupils were dancing up and down... and his ears were twitching!" (Not streaming)
"What?" I asked.
"The icecream van music. God said, If we hear it for too long, we'll turn into dead people!"
"ZOMBIES?"
"No.. just dead people. We'll die. The icecream van music will kill us."

Ok, I'd had enough at this point, and the more this nut-case said the word 'icecream', the more I yearned for some.
"Ok, thank you. I have to go now."
I waved a goodbye and headed off down the street.
But I was not alone for long. The guy from next door was following me, doing this creepy walk. 'Patter' 'patter', light footed, like a cartoon burglar. Plus, more people starting drifting out of their homes and walking beside me.
I stopped and turned around. I was feeling rather scared really, what if they were part of some kids knife gang? Did they exist? Probably. My mind flashed back to when the Seventh Doctor got shot by some adults in the Doctor Who Movie. Then it occured to me how irrelevent that was ... not knives... guns.. not kids.. adults...
"Excuse me, you guys ok?" I asked them. There was about 10 I could count. Including one small child with her mother.
They all glared at me with worried faces. Maybe they were worried that they were all going to stab me?
"YOU HAVE TO GO IN YOUR HOUSE NATHAN!" It was the mother that shouted at me.
"YES! RETURN HOME CHAP!" This was a wonderfully posh man with a top hat and a cane. But not in any weird way. He was just trying to be real cool. But I'd seen him out and about at gigs and art gallerys, he just could never find a place to settle. So OF COURSE he'd join the mum and new zealand guy in this ubsurd little street group they'd set up. Groupaholic!
"Ok, I don't know what you guys all want. But all I WANT... IS ICECREAM!"
The kid giggled and asked, "What flavour, mister?"
"Not sure yet, cookies and cream? Mint choc chip? Plain ol chocolate? Maybe even toffee!"
The mother tripped up the child so it landed flat on it's face. "DON'T YOU TALK TO THE NICE MAN!" The mother shouted at the girl, spit spiraling out of her mouth. "I LOVE YOU CHILD, BUT YOU ARE NOT WORTHY."

This struck a nerve for me, for one, what she said made no sense and for two, you should not trip over your own child in most circumstances. "Hey! Don't do that!" was the only thing that came out of my mouth.
"I'm sorry 'Nathan, of CrayBlock'. I will never trip over my daughter again. For you." The woman pleaded on her knees.
"For HER you mean! And don't do that, you'll hurt your knees. The road is real bumpy and hard. Anyway. I appreciate all of this weird, I mean.. nice supportive stuff you keep saying to me but I really must be off."
I waved at the woman, the posh chap and smiled awkwardly at the New Zealand man. His nod was mechanical.

Of course the moment I turned around, a new face was in my face. A wrinkly old face, a wise woman's face. Or at least she sounded wise by the way she spoke. But I'm pretty sure dumb people
can have wise voices as well.
"Nathan of Crayblock, you must stay in your house. Away from the sound. God said you are the only one that can save us from this musical virus."
I sighed.. in my mind.
"Ok, Woman of ... the dustbin. What on earth is CRAYBLOCK? And if this icecream van music is SO BAD then why are none of YOU in your houses keeping safe?"

The wise woman nodded and with a calming notion, waved her hand toward the other folk. "Lord Nathan of Crayblock is correct. It is foolish of us to all risk our lives trying to save his. Especially with the child."
The mother just laughed.
The wise woman continued, "I want everyone to return to their homes while I remain."
And with that, 9 out of 10 neighbourhood nobodies left me and went back to their stupid homes and left me a blummin lone! Just that wise woman left then.

"Hey, thanks for that. I owe you one, how did you get all of them to leave anyway?".
"I am the owner at the community hall. I suppose they are just used to me talking for them at the podium. Haha, I moan a lot you know. About pot holes and people wearing offensive clothing in the town. It's all very offensive to me."
"Oh ok. Well thanks again, I'll be on my way now to the shop."
"I'm sorry Nathan of Crayblock, but that is impossible. You MUST return home. You've most likely already heard the icecream van music too much. If you do not return NOW, YOU WILL DIE."

And then I noticed the most horrible, annoying thing I could ever have noticed.... the sun had gone down. And you remember that thing I said about my eyesight? Yeah. I was stuck with a weird old woman with no real idea of how to get to the shop. My surroundings had become a blurred palette of colour. I was blind... mostly. Something about the night time just doesn't agree with my eyes.

"Ok... well, I've missed my chance to get to the shop now. So.. Great. Thanks. I Guess.. Damn it, I guess I'll just have to go home. I'll have nightmares and.. and I'll hate you and I'll hate myself and all I wanted was icecream and you took it away from me. I hope you feel happy old woman. I hope you, and your little neighbourhood pals all feel real proud of themselves. GOOD BYE!"

So I turned away in a huff, went home and slammed the blummin door behind me. WHAT A NIGHT.

So anyway, when I woke up in the morning God was on my sofa.
"Oh.. hey God."
"Hey."
"So you really appeared?"
"Yeah."
"Why are you on my sofa, God?"
"You don't know? Do you not even read the news?"
"Not really. Sometimes I'll read headlines. But the news is way depressing."
"That's true. Not my fault though." God shifted in the chair.
"I'm glad you cleared that up."

By the way, don't leave a comment on this post asking if God was a man or a woman ok? I have no idea what God was. What I saw on the sofa was a glowing feeling of power and the voice seemed to be my own minds voice with an echo effect added in audacity.
God smiled at me and then frowned, and then smiled. It was all very confusing. "So you left an old woman to die last night, Nathan."
"WHAT?"
"That old woman, you kept her outside so long the icecream van's music ripped her ears out, She's outside, no one has cleaned it up yet."
"That's horrible.....I.. feel so responsible."
"All because you don't read the news, Nathan." And that was the moment I got told by God.

"Ok, so what was all this about you on the news then? Why are you back? What's this stupid icecream van nonsense??"

God asked me to sit down so I could settle in for a rollercoaster of a story. But it ended up being pretty short actually.
God spoke, "Satan now owns all of the icecream vans in the world. His icecream van music will kill anyone that hears it for too long. You almost died last night. Which would have been a great tragedy because Nathan, you are The One."
"Like Keanu Reeves?"
"No, Nathan of Crayblock. You are Nathan of Crayblock."
"What does that even mean?"

God was really grumpy that I never read the news. Apparently he had explained everything in a dramatic speech on top of a mountain, everyone was there. He'd contacted all of the worlds media himself!

"Do you even know how many babies Princess Kate has had so far?" God asked me.
"No."
"FOR GODS SAKE NATHAN!"
"Jesus..."
"This story is all kinds of sacrilege." (I have no idea which one of us said that line.. possibly because of the mind voice confusion thing.)
"Basically, Nathan. For years now you have been stuck in a whirlwind of Creative Block. Am I right?"
"God yes. I have had so much trouble creating things, animations and such for so long. My drive for it has hit such a dead end. It's been depressing, it's been tough."
"Yeah, wah wah wah. That is because, all of this time. Your creative energy has been building to create one massive explosion that will wipe out all of the icecream vans in the world!"
"That sounds horrible, why would I want to destroy icecream vans?"
"Because Satan is in all of them."
"Oh man...But I love icecream. And although the icecream in icecream vans is always a bit disappointing, I would never want to destory them all."

I had a dilemma on my hands. Losing icecream vans, or everyone dies forever and Hell rises to Earth.. Hmm

"So, if I do this... If I use this Creative Block power, will I finally get my creative surge back? Will I be able to jump right back into doing what I always loved for so so long?"
God said "NO."

And I decided to save the world anyway, because that's the kind of guy I am. I mean, no more icecream vans and still no creativity but hey. people are alive. Annoying people like that guy in the house behind me with that weird laugh. And that wannabe posh guy and that mum that trips over her kid. Yeah, lots of annoying and horrible people are still alive because of me. And Donald Trump is gonna be president.

Maybe I should have just let the world die with Satan.. uh..

Oh and if you were wondering. The Creative Block mind explosion felt exactly like a brain freeze.

- Nathan

What year is this?? Who am I?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 24 Nov 2016 06:26:00 -0800

Why do i's always have to have capital letters?

So I'm here again and it feels odd returning to a blog I created in 2006. A blog I created to write completely fictional news (Which is very big now on the internet by the way) and update nobody about my animation, art and videos.

Well, 2016 has been the year of stepping back from most of my regular creative business. I have been doodling sure, but for the most part it's been 'earning money' and 'experiencing the outside world.' By outside world, I mean this place I am currently living, Western Australia. It is weird to say it.
But I've been here almost 2 years now. Today I was on the bus and some young men behind me started playing some loud Australian Rap Music on their phones or whatever (Not a boom box). So, I've heard Australian Rap Music before and I really enjoy it! But it made me realise, that I'm still not fully comfortable with where I am. I can't switch the TV on without feeling a little like, 'where am I?'. There's nothing wrong with that, but I feel like I am on a very long holiday.

I grew up here in Australia, so you'd think I'd be used to it. But I guess I was never listening to anyone back then... only Del Boy and Damon Albarn. In real life conversation I don't notice it that much. As I say, there is nothing offensive about it to me, it just makes me feel like my feet have never quite touched the ground.
In the UK, while I may have felt more at home with the accents I didn't feel quite at home with the flooded shoes.

I have been posting a lot on instagram since the end of last year when I went to Sydney to watch The Peanuts Movie. A lot of what I post is random pictures or videos of places I've been. One of my favourite places in the world is called Fremantle. I don't care too much about the rest of Perth, Australia but Fremantle feels like it's own place in it's own time. I have a job right in the centre of it. Also it's good to have my family around as well.

No matter whether I have a bad day or a good day I can walk outside and feel this natural relaxed vibe that flows through the town.
In Fremantle they have old style architecture, lots of coffee shops, charity shops, people riding on bikes everywhere, an old prison, a cool market, hippies and an art scene. Plus, almost every week some other crazy event is happening. I've seen random wooden castles appear for a week and then disapear, busker festivals, arts festivals, days where people just draw on the roads with chalk.... Even today I saw a whole road closed off for a charity christmas dinner event. There were dining tables all the way down the street.
Not quite in Fremantle, but I saw that in Perth City they were having a cow month.... ... not sure what that's about. There were Cow banners everywhere. And painted cow sculptures scattered around the city. (A bit like they did with Shaun the Sheep and Paddington in the UK).

Coincidentally a cow jumped off of a boat in Freo, swam to the shore, walked along the railway and eventually was caught (and killed). So much for Cow month! And on Facebook there seems to be two groups I've noticed. One is a group that just lets locals gossip about Fremantle, and the other is a bartering group. It's pretty cool, I personally have nothing to offer, but I've seen fruit exchanged for haircuts and bikes for wine bottles. Pretty cool!
Kind of makes me think of that 'Are you local?' thing from The League of Gentlemen though.

So let's get back to the core point of my writingz. What year is this?? Who am I? Well, it's 2016 and I'm older than i was in 2006. Which is a very important point. I yearn for that year and a few after that. But lives change and we must pitter patter on until death surrounds us and then takes us. Grim I know, but without bringing it up, how can we find happiness? If we don't think about death (In a non depressed way) then how can we appreciate life? So that's what I do. I look at the sun (Because we got that down here in Oz) and I look at the flowers and the smiles and I eat the food.

So that's where joy has been coming from. But if you know me, you'll know that all of my life I have created cartoons and stories. I started drawing comics when I was 10, moved on to animation when I got to highschool... made brilliant videos where I was a fictional detective and animated on a BBC kids show. So at the back of my head is the constant drumming (dr who reference deliberate) to CREATE. I used to animate a lot of cartoons. I'd also take breaks in-between to do fun, lazy live action videos with my friend/s. Well, things have changed a bit now. I'm not sure I have the same energy I had for making improvised live action videos. (I'd love to try again) but I think for now, those times are gone.
The reasons for my decline in doing animations (That i want to make) .. are..

The Internet
Since facebook turned up it really has become a massive part of everyones lives. For goodness sake, it was a huge influence on getting a cartoon character elected president in the US. That is HUGE. It stays avaliable to anyone at any time. It has replaced phones, it has replaced PEOPLE.
Up until now I have decided to avoid getting a smartphone. For a few reasons, but a main one being the fact that I'd be constantly destracted from life. I'd also be more stressed out by my social interactions (or lack of) and the current thundering news.
I've seen posts from friends who live on the other side of the planet reporting something massive just happened next door to them hours before it even hits the news. WHAT IS THIS? It's distracting is what it is. But even without a smartphone I still have my laptop and wifi connected Ipod. Ideally I would not have it.
But we're in an age where it is necassary.......
Look at youtube! They now have videos hours and hours long! When a video ends it fires up the next one in the *list* before you can even breath. These are massive distracting changes.
I know what you're thinking, if it's your passion then these things should not matter right?

Well I love animation, I love drawing my characters and making them do wacky things and say funny things. But getting over the first step of pen to tablet, and setting aside a few hours freaks me out. Also over the years I have become a lot more picky about what I release.

I've entered this horrible place where art wise I either have to be really happy with it or it has to be completely lazy (but still personal).
Because I expect so much quality and detail of my full length animations (On my youtube channel) I get totally freaked out by this massive mountain in front of me.

This is why most recently (If you follow my instagram/facebook) you'll see I mostly only upload doodles and sketches. The expectations don't exist there. I know no one actually has expectations but my mind tells me I do. Plus, the project I most want to produce next is one that weighs so heavily on my shoulders. I want to do a short film based around characters I've had since I was 10. Some of them feel like real people to me.
It's not just all that, I'm also just not happy with my art.... well I kind of am. I like my own art but I don't trust my characters in MY hands, standing in front of MY backgrounds.

This is why Adam & Kat exists as both the animation and comic. As well as those Nathan Ruins (Video Games) videos. I love them for their comedyness but I also love them for being pretty easy for ME to work on. Hardly much expectation. Lesmovids puts all the effort in and I just turn up. But creatively, I still feel like I've added something to my creative mind gallery that needs stocking every once in a while.

On a side note, I don't have too much time anymore. Like with any full time job, I feel exhausted by the end of the day.
But I am volunteering in a Perth Art Gallery called Paper Mountain on Sundays. It's relaxing, encouraging creatively and sometimes I'll meet some very kind people. The art scene is great in Perth, I'd go as far as to say there is too much of it. (What?? How can there be too much of ART?)

Well, in the UK, no matter what village you drive to there will always be an old church on a hill. Well in Perth and Fremantle, it's just gallerys. Gallerys everywhere.

So, to conclude, while I am enjoying life as much as I can (and feeling both settled, and hovering above the earth at the same time) all I want to do is bring Tomothy to life. (Tomothy is my character from childhood)

I have plans, i have animatics... i have a bunch of stuff. Tomothy is ready to erupt but life is busy. If i died before Tomothy did get his little animation I would not mind so much. It's still nice to be around. Hey James Berridge!

While writing this blog post, Youtube (Without choice) played a David Bowie Playlist. I suppose the internet is not SO bad... back to Blur now though guys.

(Above picture taken by James Berridge)

- Mr Nathan

On btw my instagram is https://www.instagram.com/thedailycrumb/

What is a Tomothy?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 8 Jun 2016 09:03:00 -0700

Hello reader.

You may have come across this little post because you were browsing the 'Tomothy Books Website'. Or maybe I sent it to you as SPAM. Or maybe you clicked the link Katy Perry posted on her Twitter page after I hacked it.

Oh, whoops, I forgot to link it... oh blimey.

Anyway... why am I here? Basically just to give you a little bit of information about how long Tomothy has been around.

I created Tomothy and many of his family/friends when I was about 9 years old. Every day at school, during every break, I'd draw comics in my sketch book. Over the years the characters aged and developed more interesting personalities. Though my jokes were always terrible.

Below are some examples of Tomothy comics from back in the day. I think all of these are actually set before Tom grew up a bit. I'll get some of the early 2000s drawings uploaded soon.

But two things that you can clearly see from these early strips are the appearance of Tomothy's little sister, Ellie and the excited personality of Yo breaking out.

Then, around 2002 I discovered Macromedia Flash, which allowed me to make cartoons MOVE! (Not before I made some stick people bleed.)

I was really excited to bring some of my Tomothy comics and characters to moving pictures. The comics began becoming adapted in Tomothy Live Episode 3.

You can watch all 3 episodes below.

I think I got a bit distracted after that, but soon enough I was back on track.
Next up I made Tomothy and Pals Episode 1. This is the only animation I have ever made fully with the LINE tool. This is why it looks the way it does. I have never used it since because it looks ugly to me.

You can watch Tomothy and Pals Episode 1 here (But not on your tablets I'm afraid because it is playable only in Flash Player).

What happened next you ask? why Tomothy and Pals Episode 2 of course! It looks and sounds completely different to the previous episode but why not?
Tomothy and his dad look for jobs? Finding a job has always been an interesting concept for me with the Tomothy comics (and life) and that's why I dedicated a bunch of time to it during the 'Summer' theme strips. Again, sorry but it is on Flash Player. A lot of these are....

Then AT SOME POINT along the line I found someone crazy enough to help me make a Tomothy game called FIGHT TO THE SAUSAGE. True story.
Check it out.

Then I got very desperate to win a Christmas Animation Contest on the 'Bitey.com' Brackenwood Forums. The prize was some Bitey artwork by Adam Phillips! It's a bad animation with even worse sound (Believe me, this has the worst sound EVER). But it won the contest and I got the drawings! They are now my precious.

This was my entry, and also my first inclusion of Tom's brother, 'Tadhg'. Though, his design has yet to take shape.

What happened next for Tomothy after his big win? Well I made another christmas short (That's right, Tomothy had 4 Christmas related animations plus Christmas comics). Tomothy really likes Christmas.
In this one I wanted to experiment with simple animated acting and awkward 'Ricky Gervais Style' acting. Watch HERE

I'm not sure when it was, but around this time I guess, I wanted to make comics again! I got that rush to stick Tomothy in some tiny boxes. It was around the time I was constantly working on my webcomic, STARGAZED.
Anyway, 23 Tomothy comics were made but nothing much came of it.

Tomothy, Ellie and Jerome made a short 'sketch like' cameo appearance in a cartoon I made called 'Munch's War'. They are at 2:05.

Then, for some reason Tomothy's dog sent a message to the British Prime Minister of the time, Gordon Brownies.

Next, it was time to get ambitious!!!!! But instead, I made a 7 minute Tomothy and Pals animation all about Jerome. It was titled, 'You can't handle the knowledge' and as weak as it is story-wise, and visually, I do like it. It has one or two moments I am proud of and I still sing that song today.

Then everything took a DARK TURN

I was in college and felt Tomothy was holding me back. I just wanted to make another stories and characters (That went really badly by the way) and Tomothy had to be gone! I'd keep wanting to do more Tomothy, I felt like I'd never achieved what I wanted to achieve with him. I still have this feeling today.

Anyway, I shot him dead. Well, I got a cuddly bear to do it.

There are actually jokes I really like in this cartoon but overall it was a pretty grim thing to do. Especially to my fictional son. Though one thing I will say for it, it does actually feel like a sequel to 'Knowledge' so at least that is something!.

Tomothy died in 2008. In 2012 he was REBORN. I started up the comics again with some new characters (and old), hoping to have them printed in a newspaper or book. The concept behind the comics felt a lot stronger now. I was to create comics that kids would hopefully enjoy reading, inspired by my school days, I wanted to make the stories and jokes based on relatable childhood moments.
Unfortunately my comics were not good enough for newspapers but interest did spark with a local publisher/magician. After agreeing that he'd publish my book he remembered he was actually a magician and disappeared his own company!

By then, I had done a lot of comics and it had really helped me become comfortable at drawing again. The last strips in the book (The Time Travel and Love Story) feel quite developed. BUT I am developing even further.

So the book went no where and I had loads of comics that had never been read. What happened? Well, they stayed hidden. Most stayed hidden until today actually. 08/06/2016.

But let's backtrack a little. Previous to this website update I did also pitch Tomothy and Pals as a BBC Television Show. It actually had a really positive response! The reply compared the idea to Arthur and they really enjoyed the characters of Yo and Vinnie. Unfortunately, they found Tomothy himself to be a bit of a bore, saying he worked well in comics but not in script. There was still a lot to be desired from our idea. I walked away feeling pretty happy with this result.

Yo and Vinnie had been developed quite a lot for this pitch, Yo, actually turned into a GIRL. Yes, you heard, YO is now a girl. One day I will hopefully explain this in some comics, it will be very jokey, But even if I don't, Tomothy died and was reborn so.... There really is no canon here dudes... (I'm sure there can be if I think too hard about it)

I made this animation test I am quite proud of for the pitch. (Though since then I have developed the designs even further). But this WAS the first time the characters had necks.... shh. You were not meant to notice that before.

So I guess that brings us to where we are now. Many of the comics are available to read online. I hope chuckles will be had and tears will be..... slurped back up into your eyes. (Since writing this, not all comics are available on the website due to clutter police. Please contact me for a link)

A few days ago I put Tomothy in a new jumper. This is a massive change, he's worn the same jumper
since about 2000-2001. So I guess it was getting pretty stinky. His new one looks warmer anyway. Hopefully we'll see some new stories with the new designs and characters soon.

26/06/2018 Update.

A book/zine is being released titled 'Tomothy and the Time Travel Shoes'. The book compiles the final story from the originally unfinished book. (Plus some new art)

I will be selling it at a local market event and then setting up the online store for all to buy!

16/09/2019 Update.

Hi everyone. The book release was successful. I had a wonderful time at the comics market (Find photos on NathanScribbles) and soon after produced an animated/live action advert for the online store versions.
You can watch it below!

If anyone is still interested in purchasing the comic, head back to the site and click on 'Bookstore'.

Since then though, the world of Tomothy has been quiet.
But behind the scenes my co-ideas man and I have been working on building up the world around Tom.
We've been developing characters, stories and designs all with a massive goal/ dream. There is nothing much to say at the moment, but I am certainly excited about what the future might hold for my creative endeavors.

Also, for my birthday this year, my partners mum made this for me! A felted Tomothy. It is so cute and incredible and traveled across the UK with us.

Thank you so much to her!

See you guys for the next Tomothy update!

Byeee!

- The Daily Crumb

TOP 10 REASONS BUZZFEED EXISTS

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 24 Nov 2015 06:00:00 -0800

TOP 10 REASONS BUZZFEED EXISTS

1. The creator of the website fed a Buzzard too much Buzzard food.
(Buzzard is a type of bird)

2. Cracked.com was just too intelligent for us.
(Because that website has very long paragraphs)

3. Everyone wants to be a Disney Princess.
(Even the manliest of men that kill animals and build walls and eat Nutri Grain want to be a Disney Princess. Question is, which one?)

4. People like lists.
(I like lists, so this must be true)

5. Buzzfeed asks the question 'What kind of Old Person will you be?' But never asks the question, 'What kind of Young Person were you in World War 2?'
(They are actually ageist)

6. Adorable Giraffe Products.
(27 Adorable Giraffe Products You Need In Your Life can be found on Buzzfeed.com. Don't miss out on this amazing opportunity. Below shows someone wearing a Giraffe ring)

7. Stupid, terrible, physical magazines that gossip about celebrities have been replaced by Buzzfeed.
(The ghost of our dead hamster is giving my child the father-son relationship he really needs)

8. If you click things, Buzzfeed probably gets money.
(This IS the top 10 reasons Buzzfeed exists..)

9. It talks to cool children who know how to speak the lingo.
(It's main website links are titled 'LOL', 'WIN', 'OMG', 'CUTE','FAIL and 'WTF)
(What on giddy earth are they talking about? Bless their little cotton socks)

10. You have interests, you have nostalgia, we have connected culture. And they feed on that.
(It's your fault for being privileged)

Thanks for listening.

Childhood Strikes Back 2015

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 28 Oct 2015 07:18:00 -0700

2015 will certainly be the biggest year for bringing back the stuff I loved as a kid. Unlike some people, my taste in media has pretty much remained exactly the same. I don't feel too insane, I know plenty of people like me. Even grown-ups can appreciate the media they loved as a kid, even if it's not quite as obsessively as I do.

Is bringing back our childhoods a bad idea? Will regurgitating my younger days keep me forever from maturing?

Who cares! (But probably yes)

The trickiest thing to do when bringing something so loved back into the limelight, is getting it right. After all, there is a lot more chance of upset among viewers than a completely new idea with no fan base.

So, have my childhood favourite reboots succeeded in fulfilling my inner 10-year old's expectations?
Unfortunately, a few of them have not been released! But they look promising.

So let's start with the ELEPHANT in the room. It's that one that has taken the whole world by storm. STAR WARS was a huge part of so many peoples childhoods. The universal love has actually become one of those amazing discoveries only the internet can offer. It was not just you playing with your STAR WARS toys who loved the films. It was EVERYONE.
The original trilogy had very human characters, amazing ideas and lots of fun. Oh and lots of toys. My favourite bit was when I learnt Luke had built his own shiny new green lightsaber. That guy was so cool.
I quite liked The Phantom Menace as well. That's all I've got to say about the prequels.

STAR WARS:The Force Awakens is not out yet and so could still be a train wreck. But it has grabbed the exact look and atmosphere that I think every fan was hoping for. Something subtle and surreal in this world that feels so much bigger than our own.
Without the prequels, we'd probably not have something that looks so right. I'm hoping the amazing visuals compliment a good story... else we're in trouble. But looks as if we may be in good hands.

An honourable mention now. The 21st of October this year was celebrated as the day Doc and Marty arrived in Back to the Future II. It was a bit depressing that the day had finally come, but a good day to remember some excellent films. (3 is my favourite... )

While we're talking about big Hollywood films vaguely related to Steven Spielberg, 2015 also brought us Jurassic World! The fourth installment in the Jurassic Park Series and personally my least favourite.
Another one we were all so excited about. Who wasn't inspired by the original? It still stands today as one of the greatest films in history.
Unfortunately 'Safety Not Guaranteed' Director, Colin Tomorrow delivered a bit of a mess of OK and awkward. While Jurassic World has one of the most exciting ENDINGS I've seen, it has messy characters and boring, unrealistic dialogue. I still prefer Jurassic Park 3 to this. Did the film feed the Jurassic Park fan child? No, not really. Chris Pratt was great, but he was no Sam Neill.
Spoilers in this CLIP

While we're talking disappointments, can't forget the recently released PAN. Really, the only reason I say disappointment is because it has not done very well in the critic circuit. Also, my little brother didn't really enjoy it.
Thing is, I really liked it! I will probably be buying it on DVD as well. While I'd say the first half had the better scenes (The nuns and the circus act pirates) it does have some massive problems that can't be ignored. Though, as I mentioned in my full Pan Review, it's probably the best Pan Adaptation we've got since the brilliant, Hook.
As it's kind of the point of the article, did PAN feed the HOOK and Disney's Peter Pan fan child inside? A lil bit. It didn't make me upset at least.
Here is the trailer (Why was this song not in the film? *sigh*)

Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation released this year. The fifth in the series, a series that looked like it might have been dead after movie 2. It's not that special that a new Mission Impossible came out this year, they've been coming out at a good rate for the last few years. But this one felt kind of special to me. The original Mission Impossible film is another for my list of serious favourites from childhood (Obviously not THAT young). But it was certainly up there with Star Wars and Jurassic Park. Out of every Impossible installment, this one felt the MOST like the original. Gritty, dark, spyey, but a lot more funny. Loved it!
Did it win in the fight against the child fan? Yes.

Some other quick mentions before I get onto my TOP 1 and 2 childhood favourites coming back... Even though this is not a TOP 10 list, it's not a TOP anything list.

So these are some that didn't really make much of an impact on me but I do think are important to mention.
Terminator: Genisys, Goosebumps, Spongebob Squarepants (Sponge Out of Water), Batman V Superman....
Oh and can't forget Mad Max: Fury Road (That was awesome)

So really, everything has been MOVIES. Where are all of the music and television shows? Well, none of my personal favourite television shows have come back! But go and check out the new DANGER MOUSE series. It is magnificent. There is also a new Peabody and Sherman series on Netflix I have yet to see. Or you could just go and watch this hilarious parody of Peabody and Sherman instead by my friend, Rob Yulfo.

Now to music.
I'm not going to go through all of the bands that came back after a long hiatus since childhood.... why would I do that? No, I'll just do one, Blur. Undeniably my favourite band ever. I have no idea why, they've just always made music that I connect with.

I discovered Blur close to the beginning of their.. split I suppose you could call it. I discovered them in 2000 and they released their last album in 2003. While I was super excited for their 2003 Album, Think Tank (And loved it) it was saddening to know that guitarist, Graham Coxon was not involved. Then silence, as Damon Albarn's Gorillaz hit it big.

It was in 2009 that the band got back together to do a few gigs, reliving the old days. But I don't think the scars had healed. Not for a while. I was lucky enough to see them in 2009 at Hyde Park and it was amazing.

We did have a few new tracks come through. Most noticably in 2012 with two songs written for the Olympic Year. At the time we were ecstatic, but looking at what we have now... they could have been better.
Time moved along for us fans as our Blur forum was closed down. All of the band members seemed to be busy with their own things and it looked like we'd probably never have another Blur Album.

Bring on February 2015. An out of the blue press conference broadcast live announcing a new album. Blur: The Magic Whip.
It was a miracle really, for both the band and the fans. In tribute, I even made an animation for them. I'm such a nerd. Anyway, the album was marvelous. And like I hope STAR WARS and THE PEANUTS MOVIE will be, it was kind of exactly what the fans were hoping for.

It's funny with something like that because the fans have SO long to wait and churn up ideas for how it might be and so easily let down. But The Magic Whip was not a let down, it exceeded all expectations. Now let's hope it leads to more! (Not getting my hopes up)

Two things make Blur's return even more special. I always thought, if Blur were ever to come back, I'd want to be in my home town. Or at least, in the place that I first fell in love with them. Blur came to Perth Australia on July 30th 2015 and I was there. And my animation made it into their official music video for song, I Broadcast.

To top it all, they are releasing a film about the making as well!

Whats next? Only the most important film of 2015!

THE PEANUTS MOVIE (OR The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Peanuts Movie outside of the US)

I've made enough videos on Youtube for you to know that I'm a huge fan of Peanuts. I read it in the paper, I collected the books and watched The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show at 5am when it stopped being on at prime 'Home from School' time.

I've always been inspired by Charles M Schulz's art, character writing and stories. I've not watched every single special broadcast but I have a lot of them on DVD and hope to continue building my collection. I also have many toys, it's RATHER EMBARESSING. What can I do? Nothin. Peanuts has always been perfect for me. When I was a child I related most to the later Snoopy, but these days it's Charlie Brown.

As most of us know, every Peanuts film or television show up until this point has been animated in 2d. Whether that be traditionally, or digitally.

Happiness is a Warm Blanket Charlie Brown was the last special to be released (2011). It had quite a digital look that they had trouble shaking off. Plus it was mainly based around the art style and stories of the earlier years of Peanuts so didn't really appeal to the mass market.
I still really liked it though, it had that weird pace that only the classic Peanuts could pull off. It was a mix of converting comic punchline to screen and using real child voice actors.

This is something I don't think The Peanuts Movie will have much of. Judging by the trailers, it looks like they've thrown out the comic by comic way of writing screenplays. This is probably for the best, as it will make a more flowing picture with space for real human dialogue.

Stories always came across magnificently in the long running comic strips, but not quite as good in the specials. (They still have that wonderful charm about them that will make them timeless).

Just judging by the trailers, they've taken dialogue and relationships from the strips and just spread them out for the big screen.

Look wise, this film looks beautiful. I'm a bit scared that this will call the end of 2d animated Peanuts films (and so never giving me a job on a film). It's kind of generally bad for 2d all together... but at least it will bring people back to reading the comics and watching the specials.

But FAN WISE, by golly, it looks like a painting. It absolutely brings the comic strips to life in a perfect way.
I've seen a good mixture of slap stick, good dialogue and fun Snoopy scenes so as long as it's all paced out well .. I'm totally on board! (On Snoopy's Kennel).

Unfortunately, the film will be coming out quite a while after the original release here. So this means I'll be seeing Jermy Jans and Chris Stickyman posting their reviews FIRST. So I'll be avoiding them at all costs.

Everything looks right to me. It's amazing that it stills feels like the specials, the TV show and the comics though.. wow.
Also, I don't mind all of the music that has been advertised, but I am hoping for some smoooth Jazz.

Does it go down well with my inner fan child? So far, YES!!!!!!!

Thanks for reading!

Every Doctor Who related thing I've ever made. I HAVE to stop NOW!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 12 Sep 2015 07:00:00 -0700

Blummin Biscuits, Doctor Who has taken away many many hours of my creative time. From space travel to regeneration, the show is full to the brim with artistic inspiration.

It's not always a great show as well. In fact, it's gone quite downhill in recent years. But unlike other series it can never really be a case of 'It used to be better'. Because it's always had it's goods and bads. But at the core the magic still stands, for almost 52 years. The mystery man in the blue box, travelling through space and time.

It is no wonder there are so many fan made series being produced online. There are always stories to tell in a world of hardly any rules.

Since I first discovered it I've made many Doctor Who related videos. As my next one is coming out (hopefully) at the end of the week, I thought I'd list them all.

Here is the trailer for the new film!

Let us start at the very beginning.

I'm not sure what year this was made. Possible 2005 or 2006. It's titled Attack of the Quazwoks and is short, has no direction and has ear bleeding sound quality. CAUTION: Just don't watch this one

Click the image for video

I was at a point where I was trying to design my own Doctor. Not realising that my Doctor was pretty much just an alternative Tom Baker.

As a side note, I was also working on my own webcomic that revolved around a time-travelling toilet. The comic was named Stargazed and the toilet was called the S.T.A.R (Space, Time And Rubbish)
You can read the strip online by clicking below.

Click the image for comic

Next up, my first proper Doctor Who animation. Doctor Who: Paranomax. It stars my Doctor, K9 and a little blue cat called Para Cat. Para Cat would then go on to cameo in Stargazed, Matt Smith 2010 and my film, Cliff and the End of the Rainbow.

I suppose that was the start of making Doctor Who comedy shorts.

Here is an art piece I uploaded at the time of my Tom Bakerish Doctor and an updated Tardis...

This Tardis design would then go on to star in 5 Doctor Who animations.

First up! Doctor Who Extremely Short Short!!

It's so short you'll blink and you'll miss it. SO DON'T BLINK.

Click image for video

My Doctor also returned for an Audio Play. It was absolutely terrible. I quite like the Tardis Interior and Cyberman I drew for the SWF though.

Click image for Audio Play

Next up, my Doctor became a bit more commercial. He then starred (Voiced again by Courtney Leacock) in an Apple Advert Parody video. Also my first attempt at an American accent I think.... ha..

It does not stop there! Then was a busy time for this Doctor Who fan. Here is a short live action video I did where David Tennant (The 10th Doctor) is a talking security camera.

and another where I made a Doctor Who episode in The Sims 2! Which became very popular at the time. I do find it quite funny that the adults are voiced by children.

2008 NOW!

Catherine Tate was announced as new companion for the Doctor. Of course I had to make a video for this. She was quite a popular comedian in the UK at that point and so seemed an odd choice. As we know though, she ended up being one of the best companions we've had.

This one always bothers me because I forgot to put the monsters voice actor in the credits. It's also, sadly the LAST appearence of MY Tom Bakerish Doctor. BUT it was the first cartoon to include Woo the wizard! Who will again appear in the new film.

I love that guy.

Next up, probably the most popular of all of the Doctor Who shorts I've produced, Matt Smith 2010.

It's weird but I feel like it has aged quite well.

I was so excited about Matt Smith as the Doctor. In preparation for animating I'd watched every performance I could find of him. He did not disappoint.

Next up a collaboration project with Lana Cohen called Dalek in Love. I really like how clear the direction is and how sad it ends. aww

Now for my least favourite animation really. There were some good ideas in there but mainly, it's ugly, lazy and unfunny. But it was great to get the cameo voice in there of Blogtor Who.

Phew... I told you the list goes on and on and on. Do you need a tea break?

I do...

hold on I'll be back in a second.

Okay, I'm back. Now for a slightly odd one. Some of the most popular videos on Youtube are game related. I've always found it quite difficult to try and be apart of that world. Mainly because I'm terrible at games and my interest in them is limited. (Until I managed to find a good enough reason to produce a Sims related animation). I do love The Sims.

Anyway, at this time I'd really been enjoying Minecraft with Lana Cohen. So, we decided to make something short and simple. Really I'd like to have had more Minecraft ... or even more Doctor Who. But it was not to be. Luckily Ireused some of the animation at the beginning in Tardis Not Included.

Next up, Tardis not Included! I remember the moment I finished this and uploaded it. Was a nice feeling, now 2 years ago! I was very lucky it did well considering it was not about any big event in Doctor Who news. It was just a general comedy short.

Still very proud of some of the jokes in that one.

Last of all so far on the list is my little effects short I did with my cousins! Regeneration is such a magical idea, so I really wanted to try it out for real.

I hope you've enjoyed the nerd overload.

Ta ra!

edit:

HERE IS THE LATEST/last ONE. The one that took the longest

- The Daily Crumb

My new showreel!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 31 May 2015 07:29:00 -0700

- The Daily Crumb

When I did voices once!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 31 May 2015 07:18:00 -0700

Hi guys!

I was standing back and looking at the world wide internet pass my eyes. So many tweets and facebook updates soaring by. But things on the internet are rarely ever gone. (This could be bad for some people).
Not for me. Recently I found my first flash animation I ever made on Photobucket. It's terrible, as you might imagine, but I was happy to see it.

It's not just my own projects that have made a home on the internet, to hide in the crevasses until discovered. I've done a bunch of voice acting for other works. These are creators that for whatever reason, thought my voice suited their films.

1. Viridarium: Mudslides
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/272982

When my voice was slightly younger, I played a fun loving character in the forest.
I love this flash short. The art, animation and music is great. Just a shame my voice recording of two lines is such bad quality.
Two recordings for this character were also used in this berry catching game.

2. Catfat: Episode 2
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/510151
So much expression in the animation! Always loved Shaun Mcginley's work. It's a pretty funny role as well.

3. The Lillium Series
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bg3BeclGDs
I worked on voices for multiple episodes of a Youtube series created by my friend Matt (@Mattandgus). Each episode was a great fantasy story with some cool characters. I was lucky enough to play two characters! Both the Monk and the High Lord (My old man voice)
The episode I linked to stars both.

4. Gabber Heartbreak
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdssN8IZBHQ
For brilliant traditional/digital animator, Sam (Hexadeci) Smith. I play a shop keeper in this short!

Thanks for stopping by!
The Daily Crumb

Blur I Broadcast. Blur as Cartoons

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 30 May 2015 09:18:00 -0700

Howdy!

The band Blur announced recently that they were going to choose some videos for their live show. Unfortunately, the cut off date for this was only a week ahead.

A lot of the time with my animation projects I am usually drawn to finishing by a force of inspiration (and a bunch of emotional support it seems these days).
In some cases, that inspiration has been there for so very long. Recently there have been two cases of this. Both with my The Sims animations and Blur. While The Sims animations did not really appear to be a tribute to the franchise (and more of an insult) they were. For I would not have finished them without a love for the series. This is the same reason I worked on those Doctor Who shorts.

(Beard provided by @JJTNG ) >>

In Blur's case, I've been listening to their music since I was... I don't know... 10 or something. Since then I've followed everything the members have worked on in and outside of the band. They have such a large collection of tracks that I'll always be able to find a different one to suit my mood.

No one really expected Blur to release a new album, well I didn't. But it is fantastic to have new music in our (Blur fans) hands and great to see the group happy together again.

So I thought, what time would be better than now to make a tribute to their music?

So here it is, take the journey with Alex James in an adventure with Cheese in Space.

I've listed some of the secrets you may find in the backgrounds.

* Under the Westway (2012 track and lyric reference in For Tomorrow)
* Milky/ Milk Carton from Blur's 'Coffee and TV' music video.
* Mr. OK. Mascot for Blur's new album, 'The Magic Whip' and star of the 'Go Out' lyric video.
* 'And the view's so nice' written on the floor. Lyric from Blur's 'For Tomorrow' and based on writing that used to be on the path at Primrose Hill in London.
* Banksy Graffiti with Think Tank (Blur Album) themed tag.
* Blurry writing in background 'Day upon Day' and 'Parklife'. Both Blur tracks.
* Blur Album '13' cover art on the wall.
* Burger artwork from 'Sunday Sunday' track on banner as Mr. OK rises.
* Alex James loves cheese
* 'No Whey' cheese joke sign in the background.
* Tent coloured in 'BLUR BEST OF' cover colours.
* Satellite called 'The FAR OUT' in reference to Alex James' track 'Far Out'.
* Elephant appears next to Damon Albarn in reference to his song, 'Mr. Tembo'. Lyrically it is about a little elephant he met that went to the toilet.

I think that is it!
I hope you enjoyed.

This is also my first proper project (As short as it may be) on the animation software, ToonBoom Animate. For the most part, I enjoyed working with the software. It makes drawing a lot more fun as well as camera work. Though I'm still getting used to colours and the amount of layers it requires. Oh and how it is not specifically designed for doing multiple scenes.

If you are interested you can also check out the animatic of the short RIGHT HERE

Don't forget to search up 'I Broadcast' and check out the other entries!

- The Daily Crumb

Hi folksies

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 12 Oct 2014 15:50:00 -0700

Good morning, afternoon, evening, readers. Three times of the day in which it is brilliant to eat ice cream.

Back on topic though, because I was drifting off then... from the important topic I originally presented to you. Which was? Oh, you don't know? You can't answer? What a failure, and also, you lose your The Daily Crumb Fanboy shirt unfortunately. You can keep the sticker though, but that is all.

I recently reviewed Postman Pat: The Movie. I'd been avoiding it for a long time because it looked sacrilegious. But there you go. http://superquickreviews.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/postman-pat-movie.html

Also I've been working on my Tomothy and Pals art recently. More to come as well.

Make sure you follow @tomothyandpals on Twitter and like our Facebook.com/TomothyandPals Page

- The Daily Crumb

Ice Bucket Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 24 Aug 2014 17:07:00 -0700

There are a lot of good causes out there. In a way it is a shame one has to go viral to get full recognition and donation. But for what it is, one comes around every now and then and it seems to be doing good.
As well as supporting charity, it is bringing friends and strangers together in a united way that only the internet can manage.

I involved myself in three of these ice cold skits and here they are.

My sister also did it after I challenged her!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGOH2tj-4t4&feature=youtu.be

The Sims 4 Exclusives

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 10 Aug 2014 07:32:00 -0700

In the light of negativity that shadows the release of The Sims 4 (PC Game), I thought I'd once again try and insult some people (Lovingly).
While The Sims 4 may be a graphical upgrade and run a lot smoother that past installations (We believe).
And with apparently all together smarter decisions behind it than any previous game... it still has it's... iffy bits.
For example no Pools and Toddlers. (As well as many more issues).
I've loved The Sims since it's original release year, 2000. Apart from some write ups, small Sims 2 machinimas and no-view Let's Play's I've never really paid it the tribute I wanted to. For the game and it's community. Sure my way of paying tribute may be a bit twisted, satirizing and making funny voices for the producers but the tribute is what drives the animation. Just like when I do Dr Who vids. My original Matt Smith cartoon was making fun of the casting choice because that was what the public were saying. I thought it was funny, but I still watched a bunch of Matt Smith performances to inspire me.

As much as the Sims vids are odd, I hope people enjoy them! (Including The Sim Gurus spoofed) and know this was my tribute to a franchise that has taken plenty of mine, my parents, and plenty of other relatively happy people's money away from them.

PS:

The Cameos in the Episode 2 background are as follows.

Beyond Sims
The Sim Supply
Shambles (From Looters Animation)
Magical Municorn (mysimsaddiction)
SimsVIP
LesmoVids
Will Wright (Creator of The Sims)
LazyGameReviews
Sims3Loser
Heisenberg (Walter White from Breaking Bad)

- The Daily Crumb

My 4 Part Coby Charles Series

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 8 Jun 2014 09:57:00 -0700

Dear Readers,

In recent months I have been creating a series about a lonely little man who lives in his.. living room (pretty much). They are just short, badly made little videos really. But hopefully there is a heart in there you will appreciate.

The final episode was released 2 days ago. I thought I'd put them all up on here.

Although I say there are 4 episodes. There is a rather dull filler VLOG I also included to help plot or something.

The Coby Charles Series

Agoraphobia with a touch of schizophrenia

Episode 1: Meets Parallel Self

Episode 2: Coby in a Cupboard

Episode 3: The Lonely Song

Episode 3.5: Vlog

Episode 4: Finds out Stuff

- The Daily Crumb

Weather originally planned for The Sims 2 Base Game

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 14 Apr 2014 14:33:00 -0700

As shown in this 2003 Demo at 6:16