Well, Merry Boxing Day, at least. ^^ Let's all eat, drink and be merry!

News
I'm still thinking about my annual Christmas pic, but I think I have an idea of what it may be about.

I'm also working on a Lilo & Stitch comic, set before the events of Alpha and Omega, and a bunch of other stuff (some of it for my website.)

---

Thanks to everyone I know, for a great year, whether in terms of art or otherwise. Lets hope 2010 will be even better!

Friends and Other People I Watch: Text & Avatars | Text Only
Requests: Not open. | Kiriban: 5876 pageviews | Art Trades: Open.
Website | Blog

News
Well, I've graduated from high school. (Yays!) Nothing left but NCEA exams, university, and then into the workforce.

An Update
Gah, I hate it when I forget to post anything here.

Well, I've been busy with a myriad of things. I've been working on Project Nelson, my fanfics, my website (and related to that, putting my fanfics on my website), a few games I develop in my spare time, and my comic, <Ctrl><Alt><Bkspc>. And school. And reading tech websites.

Although, technically I probably should be studying for exams.

There's a lot of art in my backlog, and I'd like to get them done. I'll try to squeeze it in here and there.

Ciao!
~MarkKB

What was I doing on the day the Twin Towers fell?

Honestly, I can't remember. Is that a bad thing? Keep in mind that I was only ten years old.

I'll dedicate this space, instead, on what I remember afterwards.

I remember echoes of rumours that an aeroplane had crashed into a building, maybe at lunchtime. I remember a small television on a dolly; whether or not we watched the news reports or not I don't remember.

I remember seeing the news early the next day on CNN.

I remember clearly the photograph of the South Tower, engulfed in smoke, that was displayed predominately on the front page of the Western Leader (our local newspaper), captured by a photographer from Laingholm.

Photographs of young, sad children waving the American flag. Photographs of the rescuers, with the haunting imagery of the smouldering ruins as their backdrop.

Photographs of the hole in the Pentagon, and of the remains of United Airlines Flight 93 in a field in Pennsylvania.

I have all these in a scrapbook. I tried to collect newspapers, as many as I could find, and paste anything about the disaster I could find into it. Even though the pages are yellowing, I still have that scrapbook on my bookshelf, tucked away with a few issues of TIME. Perhaps I did it for a school project? ... I don't know.

At the time, I don't think I realised what had really happened. How do you explain death to a ten year old? It was an abstract concept, far removed from the minds of the young. I just knew something bad had happened, and people were hurt. People were no longer alive.

On that terrible day, eight years and two days ago, we lost many people. Many lives were changed. And so, come September 11th, we morn the lost. Not only that, we celebrate their lives. We wish them and their families peace. We lower our flags to half-mast to honour their memory.

A hundred years from now, when few are still alive who remember the disaster, would we still morn? Maybe. I certainly hope that we remember what happened, at least.

That day was a day of sorrow, a shadow that hovers over us, even though the shadows of the Towers hovers no longer. A blight, a smudge in the manuscript of human history.

But we can't let that stop us.

So, rest in peace, those soaring souls that were joined with the ground and sky. Wherever they may be, we have to hope they are finally at rest.

And as we stand, sit, walk and run, drive or fly or swim or boat, we remember them on that day.

We need to remember.

News

Not much - I'm finally working on CAB#8. Yay.

Lilo & Stitch's Star Trek - an update

As you may know, I've been silent on FanFiction.net for the last year or so. The main reason for this is I've been working on other things that have taken over my life - such as Project Nelson. But, I'm now finding time to work in writing sessions for my fanfics.

Let me be the first to say this - Lilo & Stitch's Star Trek is a mess.

The main reason it's a mess is that, while I've had a short set of milestones and plot overviews, I've been mainly making it up as I go, following my ideas towards these milestones. I found that as I went beyond the area covered by the first version, the story began to get windier and windier.

It's also taken waaay too long to get to the climax, and people aren't willing to browse through 45+ chapters - even if they aren't that long - to get the point. Part of the reason is that I only set myself an internal limit of at least two pages in Microsoft Word, and that was done. I didn't push myself hard enough. I ended up splitting the action where it would be tedious to do so, constantly switching between points of view (blame television for that) and places of action.

I have also improved my writing since 2006 when I first started, creating an odd rift of style between the beginnings of the fic and the latter chapters. While it's interesting to see the progression of my style, ultimately it serves only to annoy the reader.

So, recently, I've decided to rewrite the fic. Yes, this is the third time, but since I won't be changing the plot in a significant way, it should be easier. I've already rewritten the first two chapters. I'll be making cuts where I feel it's necessary, and rewriting parts I feel could be stronger or more descriptive.

I've also decided to continue the current version so I have a solid baseline from which to write - which, I feel, was one of the major failings of the current version.

Both versions, as well as the first version, I plan to put on my website at some stage, with notes and stuff.

So, the only thing I'm puzzled over is this: should I continue posting the current version on FanFiction.Net? Or should I start posting the new version in its' stead? (I wish I could do both, but alas, FF.Net has no way of posting drafts, and their policy forbids two different versions of the same thing.) Update: I've since decided to continue updating the current version until it's finished.

Any ideas or input would also be appreciated, if you want.

^{_{If you want, you can read my fanfics, or Lilo & Stitch's Star Trek, the subject of this article.}}

News

July 28th was my birthday! I'm now eighteen, which probably means I can (legally) drink. I guess I'd care if I consumed that much alcahol anyway. (It also means I can shop online! Yays.)

From my parents I recieved Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit, SimCity 2000 (both of which I've been looking for) and a DVD, A Boy Named Charlie Brown, among others.

I also got a one-month subscription from $Heidi, although I'm not sure whether that was because of the date or because of my humerous remarks on a recent poll. Anyway, much thanks, Heidi! ^^

Friends and Other People I Watch: Text & Avatars | Text Only
Requests: Not open. | Kiriban: 5876 pageviews | Art Trades: Open.
Website | Blog