The Flying Cat Blog

Critique Competition for Article Writers in the SquidU Forum

2013-05-22T03:28:00.000-07:00

I am running a contest over in http://squidu.yuku.com/ for the most best and awesome critique-giving person. I am bribing people with prizes. Basically, I want you to go critique three or more articles/pages/lenses/leafs/hubs and/or post your own stuff up for other people to critique and/or nominate (via a private message on the forum to me) your top picks. You can get an overview of the forum

Dodger by Terry Pratchett

2013-05-19T09:15:00.000-07:00

A dark and historical dash through Victorian London Dodger is an alternate historical story set in Victorian London. Written by the ever amazing Terry Pratchett, it features international plots, a dashing working class hero, strong minded women and many of the amazing people that inspired some of his most memorable Discworld characters.You can buy Dodger here or read my full synopsis and

Munchkin: The parody card game: Guides to the amazing silliness that is Munchkin

2013-05-19T09:12:00.000-07:00

Munchkin is one of my favourite games - it's silly, full of backstabbing and co-operation and comes in a dozen different flavours! You can pick any of the variants to start playing and buy expansions for each - or mix them up! (If you've played Fluxx, it's like that... only more complicated and D'n'D flavoured). Check out my shopping and playing guides to get started with an awesome game (

Gerald Durrell, Writer and Animal Collector

2013-05-19T09:08:00.001-07:00

The witty and wonderful Gerald Durrell dedicated his life to animal conservation Gerald Durrell was an amazing conservationist who collected and studied animals from childhood, went on collecting expeditions for zoos all over the world and finally established his own zoo dedicated to conservation on Jersey.He was a bestselling author, writing wry, enchanting tales of his animal

Not So Stupid Squidoo Answers: How Does the Pending Money on Your Dashboard Work?

2013-05-08T21:34:00.001-07:00

I'm running an informal Stupid Questions thread over in the forum, for all those questions that start off "this is probably a stupid question, but...". The following answer is really long and something that confuses a lot of people, so I figured it was worth its own blog post. GreekGeek (of this far more useful Squidoo SEO and Analytics blog) asked: Explain how the $$ column works. When does

Birdwatchers are out to get us, and Bird Drawings from Melanesia and Norfolk Island

2013-05-08T21:20:00.000-07:00

While travelling I realised that birdwatchers are actually deadly assassins and I drew a lot of birds from my photos. Both of these are now up as lenses, so if you like sketches of albatross and robins, or want to know why you should be wary of birders, check them out. Bird Sketches From Melanesia and Norfolk Island The Terrifying Truth About Birdwatchers

Beware of Coconuts

2013-04-14T23:49:00.001-07:00

The most important thing I have learnt while travelling is just how dangerous the coconut actually is. Please. It's incredibly important that you read this article about how coconuts are trying to kill us all.

Day 1: A Mob of Mollymawks

2013-04-14T20:07:00.000-07:00

P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm; } Following my adventures across the pirate infested high seas of New Zealand, the terrifying unknown of Norfolk Island and the mysterious, sea serpent haunted waters of the Solomons. Day 1 At Sea: Tuesday 26th March The ship left Port Lyttleton at 6.05 am, behind schedule. It was meant to leave at midnight, or preferably 6pm the day before, but had

The New Greek-Zealand Riot Police and the Student Education Protest

2012-06-02T20:40:00.009-07:00

There was a student protest at Auckland University on Friday the 1st of June, about the recent educational cuts, leading on from a protest the week before. However, unlike the first protest, this one attracted an incredible overreaction from the police, who turned up in overwhelming numbers, and violently arrested 43 people. This led to more students joining into an impromptu protest march

Affiliate Sales Are Awesome: On Amazon, Squidoo and SquidUtils

2012-04-12T07:03:00.002-07:00

Just an update on Amazon affiliate sales and Squidoo. And the awesomeness that is SquidUtils. What is SquidUtils? It's a site run by TheFluffanutta (freelancing lensmaster, now a volunteer on the Squidoo team due to his years of entirely independent bug squashing and tool developing) that provides several additional functions, and a range of fantastic Amazon link tools. The Hidden Catch (That is

SOPA & PIPA Blackout

2012-01-17T21:26:00.000-08:00

As an internet addict, person with more than forty two brain cells and a librarian, I find the proposed PIPA and SOPA bills abhorrent. I'm not even in the US and they've managed to scare me from clear across the world. There are at least a hundred good, lengthy, expert explanations of why all the various bits of it don't work, so for now I'm just going to link to a few of the major sites that

Greenpeace: Toilet paper, fish and oil. And money, please?

2011-11-18T18:17:00.000-08:00

I got a phonecall from Greenpeace a couple of days ago. They've been on my mind a lot recently, partly because they've been quite active, and I wanted to share. They're probably my favourite charity/activist organisation (Amnesty International is a close second). I get them ringing me once a year, because I donate to them, and they call up to remind people they exist - and to ask for a bit more

WTF John Key Quote of the Week

2011-11-10T14:14:00.000-08:00

"And Act has been very stable so Act returning to Parliament is something I would like to see as opposed to something I wouldn't like to see." From this NZHerald article: Greens vote could put Labour in Government - Key Seriously? Act? Stable? A party that imploded, suffered a hostile takeover, and now only has two real members, both of which are completely opposed to each other, and are

Sketches from Armageddon 2011

2011-11-01T08:12:00.000-07:00

I do have a lot of photos and things, but I'm still going through those. So I'm posting up some of the many sketches I did instead. Will be scanning the best ones and maybe painting them. A steampunk hot air balloon for my sister Warming up by drawing faces Marceline the vampire from Adventure Time NARWHALS Practicing cute. From life, evening between convention days, inked at

Nationoil: Painting New Zealand Black and the Rena Saga

2011-10-14T19:28:00.000-07:00

Nationoil: Painting New Zealand Black This is a collection of research, rants and facts about the response to the Rena oil spill. If you don't know what that is, or much about what happened, there's a pretty good overview here and a timeline in the Herald (which is reeling from having actual news to talk about). It is officially 'the worst maritime environmental disaster in New Zealand’s

Sketchblog: The Book of Women

2011-09-27T04:31:00.000-07:00

Finished the sketch from the last post. Finally. The Book of Women

Sketchblog: Yinyang Women & Adventure Time

2011-09-26T05:52:00.000-07:00

I bought Terry Moore's How To Draw Women, and it arrived a couple of days ago. I read it cover to cover three times. He's the creator of the amazingly good Strangers In Paradise graphic novels and one of my favourite artists. It's only part one, but it's good, and it's actually useful. And it's already affecting my drawing - this is a sketch I was doing to explore that. The face of the woman on

Pukeko Chicks

2011-09-08T23:10:00.000-07:00

There's a small pond round the corner from my house, and the first baby birds of the year can be found there. Currently there are three little pukeko (Purple Swamp Hen) chicks, being looked after by eight other adults. More Pukeko Cards Mooooooooooom! by NZPhotography Pukeko and Chick Splashing by NZPhotography View more Pukeko Mousepads

I SOLD Something on DeviantART

2011-09-07T23:21:00.000-07:00

Wow. First sale on DeviantART in two years (minus one month) It was a print of this. ...I am currently 10c from getting a payout (my first and only payout). Ten. Cents. Actually, my Zazzle and RedBubble offerings tend to be slightly more finished. The one on Zazzle has a customisable background colour, which is quite fun. Firebird (Little Phoenix) by Flynn_the_Cat

Sketchblog: Wonderwoman

2011-09-06T07:19:00.000-07:00

Random sketch of her old crown and her new costume and lots of hair. Testing stuff.

Sketchblog: Random Redhead

2011-08-30T08:36:00.000-07:00

Just playing in ArtRage - she was part of another picture, but didn't work with the composition. So I carefully edited her out from all the layers and gave her a save file of her very own.

I Love My Kindle: A Review

2011-08-29T04:27:00.000-07:00

Kindle, Wi-Fi, 6" E Ink Pearl Display This is my Kindle. Isn't she pretty? I'm reading Vorkosigan books. I've been wanting to talk about my awesome Kindle for a while, but I wanted to actually explain what it was like to use, not just regurgitate all the same old 'AMAZING TECHNOLOGY' blurbs. And come up with an angle worth reading. So, I looked at what I used it for the most. And that was

Sketchblog: The Oaks Grove Book Cover

2011-08-27T02:24:00.000-07:00

I just finished a book cover (well a podcast image - a virtual book cover!) commission for The Oaks Grove, the sequel to The Spiral Tattoo, which I also did the podcast cover for. The Elanore & Gurt novels are a fantasy murder crime series (it looks set to be a series, anyway, it'll need a name after a couple more books!), it follows two very mismatched characters - the huge, scary, and

A Devilishly Good Lensrank

2011-08-24T06:10:00.000-07:00

Was just heading to bed after a nice few hours painting in ArtRage again (after downloading all the updates - I'd been putting them off for ages, and it had jumped from 3.0.2 to 3.5!), and I cast an eye over my Squidoo lensranks (it updates in the middle of the night for me). If only I'd had four more likes on it! It would have been six sixes in a row :D

Three Amazing Portal Fanvideos

2011-08-24T02:29:00.000-07:00

Gary Hudston wanted to propose to his girlfriend in a very special way. How did he do it? He hired two Portal level designers to develop a custom level designed to propose to his special lady. He even got Ellen McLain to do GLaDOS’ voice! The sound effects near the end are from Pinball! A stop motion short film about Doug Rattman after the end of Portal as he rescues Chell. A real life