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Tokyopop's Changes: Life After Tokyopop
Disclaimer time. For those of you who've been following us from the Newsarama Version 1.0 days, I was one of the main reporters that covered TokyoPop's global/Original English Language (OEL) manga movement, having interviewed almost all of the Rising Stars of Manga winners, including Rosearik Rikki Simons and Tavisha Wolfgarth-Simons, the pioneers in creating global/OEL manga for TokyoPop in North America. When TokyoPop expanded their global/OEL to professionals in the comic book industry and other non-RSoM competition winners as well as webcomic creators, I had the privilege of chatting with the likes of Chuck Austen, Keith Giffen, David Hine, Stuart Moore, Paul Benjamin, Becky Cloonan, Eric Wight, Pop Mhan, Queenie Chan, T Campbell and others.
Hine called me a "glowing example of Broad Minded Cultural Ambassador for manga" and here's what Chan had to say, "Thanks for keeping track of the OEL creators. You have been one of the first advocates of the OEL movement, so thank you for the all the press you've given us."
That said, this article is not about me. It's about the fate of these creators following the recently announced "progressive reorganization" exercise that saw the company split into two different entities, 39 positions were cut from across the company, and many creators were left wondering about what the future holds for their global/OEL manga titles.
The Current State of Global/OEL Manga Projects
Let's start with the good news. Even though three volumes of Van Von Hunter have been published, Ron Kaulfersch of Pseudomé Studio revealed that "TokyoPop has an option to commission another three volumes of VVH."
For M. Alice LeGrow, volume 5 of her Bizenghast is scheduled to hit stores on July 1 and she is "just getting into the sixth one now" and added that her three-volume series has "somehow telescoped into a seven-volume series."
Christy Lijewski also checked in to report that Volume 3 of RE:Play is going to print "so it'll be out in book form. It's set to be out sometime next year, after April. I'm not sure of the exact release date because it's not like TokyoPop ever tells us anything. If it's like last volume, who knows they might postpone it for months for no reason again. Oh smart marketing. Anyway I guess I should just be glad it's getting published at all.
On the fate of Rikki and Tavisha Wolfgarth-Simons' ShutterBox series, Rikki posted on her blog on June 4 that "we signed our schedule for ShutterBox (Book Six) last month, which requires that we turn in the first 25 pages by July 5th of this year. This was only surprising to Tavisha and I because we usually aren't given a schedule for a new book until a few months after we finish the previous book. This is the first time TokyoPop has rushed a schedule to us a full month before we turned in our current project. I suppose this means that this restructuring has been in the works for some time, and that if they were planning to cut our book, they wouldn't have sent a schedule at all. So we'll just do as the new schedule says, unless we're told to stop."
Two days later, Tavisha Wolfgarth-Simons posted the following message on her LiveJournal[/url]: "I just want to tell all the fans and friends out there that this doesn't effect ShutterBox other than us getting a new editor - Lillian Diaz-Przybyl. Thankfully, our series wasn't cut and we're continuing as planned finishing up [ShutterBox (Volume 5)] and starting [Volume 6] in July this summer. So-close-to-be-done!"
Irene Flores posted on 15 June that Volume 3 of her and Ashly Raiti's Mark of the Succubus "will be out on July 7." Following that, Flores confirmed for Newsarama that "Mark of the Succubus (Volume 3), the final book of the series, will be out July 7 this year. I gave the whole thing over to TokyoPop around March, and it got sent to the printers before the whole book cancellation/layoff craziness. I'm one of the lucky ones."
Another book that's made the cut is Meg Cabot's Avalon High, which is under the TokyoPop/HarperColins co-publishing agreement that was first announced in March of 2006 and is illustrated by Jinky Coronado. "They contacted me [last week], confirming we're moving ahead on Avalon High [this] week," Coronado confirmed. "I [made] a correction to the cover this [past] weekend, and should be starting Book 3 [soon]."
The second volume of Ellen Schreiber's Vampire Kisses: Blood Relatives, with art by Priscilla Hamby, who uses the pen name Rem, is scheduled for release in September. Rem reported on 13 June that she completed Volume 2 around the end of May. Schreiber had previously posted that the Vampire Kisses global/OEL manga will be translated and published in countries like Greece, Spain, Italy, Germany, Czech, Russia, Denmark, and Brazil.
Also on the safe list are the TokyoPop/Blizzard Entertainment projects. New York Times bestselling author Richard A. Knaak, writer of Warcraft: The Sunwell Trilogy and the upcoming Warcraft: Legends, Warcraft Legends and Starcraft: Frontline said, "Thus far, other than some slight rearranging of schedules, nothing has changed on my end. I have finished the third of my four Trag stories for the anthologies and will be working on the fourth while dealing with other projects. After the fourth, I will return to the first volume of Outland, for which I have already done some prep writing. The date listed for that volume on Amazon and others was wrong from the start and, as far as I can see, we are on schedule there, too. I've seen some preliminary pages for the first anthologies and I think that they'll knock the socks off people in the finished form.
"I have been and still am treated well by those I deal with at TokyoPop," he continued. "I enjoyed working with Rob Tokar and Tim Beedle, among others, but am also impressed with my current editor and the staff in general. I will miss those who are gone and wish that things had happened otherwise, but that is out of my hands."
Accomplished tie-in fiction writer Keith R.A. DeCandido, confirmed that he is still doing a manga series called Starcraft: Ghost Academy. He described the relationship as "so far, so good, though the editor I was working with was one of the 39 laid off in the recent downsizing, and we're still at the plotting stage for Ghost Academy. Having said that, the experience so far has been excellent."
And as an added bonus, DeCandido provided some juicy information on Ghost Academy, just for Newsarama readers. "It's conceived as an ongoing manga series, with three under contract with the option for more," he explained. "The story will focus on several cadets preparing to become Terran Dominion operatives known as Ghosts: they're telepathic special ops agents who do the Dominion's dirty work. Ghost Academy will focus on their training, their relationships with each other, and more -- a little bit of Buffy, a little bit of the early days of the New Mutants.
"One of the main characters will be Nova, who was to be the centerpiece of the game Starcraft: Ghost, which was put on indefinite hold, and who is also the main character of my Starcraft novel Nova and its forthcoming sequel Spectres. Another of the main characters will be an important part of the upcoming Starcraft II game."
Also, according to Jim Pascoe, "Undertown remains a priority for the TokyoPop. The script for Book 2 is done and delivered, and I am working on finishing the script for Book 3, which concludes the main "search for the Sugar Stone" storyline. Jake [Myler] is continuing with the art for Book 2. TokyoPop and I are currently working on the details of a special release that is aimed at satisfying our numerous existing fans, retailers, and strategic business partners. We've been working on this for several months, and over the course of the last couple weeks I've had numerous conversations with the top executives over their about how best to proceed.
"What is certain, is that the syndication of Undertown to Universal Press Syndicate will continue on unchanged," he added. "I've spoken with my contacts at the Syndicate, and they are extremely happy with how Undertown is performing in the Sunday funny pages."
As for the Hellgate: London manga project that TokyoPop partnered with Flagship Studios, writer Arvid Nelson said, "I actually don't know how the whole TokyoPop thing is affecting future volumes of Hellgate: London... but I'd be more than happy to keep doing it, assuming all the ducks line up just right."
And it looks like Volume 3 of Star Trek: The Manga is also safe.
For Svetlana Chmakova and her Eisner- and Harvey-nominated Dramacon and Felipe Smith and his MBQ series, all three volumes have been published so they're probably not affected by the whole restructuring exercise unless if they're negotiating with TokyoPop to get back the rights.
Benjamin Roman also dropped by to confirm that there would not be any more volumes of I Luv Halloween after finishing the third volume and seeing it published in 2007. "[Co-creator] Keith [Giffen] and I are on the same page about the series. I think we explored the characters as much as we could. With the way that Keith ended the last book, I couldn't see how we could do a fourth," he said.
However, he did confirm that the Ultimate Twisted Edition which collects all three volumes of I Luv Halloween is scheduled for September. "The book was set-up prior to TP's restructuring. It went out to the printers a week before everything happened, I believe," he added.
All three volumes of Lindsay Cibos and Jared Hodges' Peach Fuzz are now out so there shouldn't be any problems as well for them, right? Is there going to be a Volume 4? "Regretfully, TokyoPop has decided to pass on my proposal for a Peach Fuzz (Volume 4)," Cibos posted on her deviantART forum on June 18. "This is heartbreaking, because even though Jared and I set up Volume 3 to have a solid ending, we still have so much more we wanted to do with the series, and the characters all have very rich back stories that we want to share." In replying to Newsarama's queries, she said, "Jared and I completed the third volume of Peach Fuzz midway through last year, finishing off the series for now. We set up Volume 3 to have a solid ending, but we still have more we want to do with the series (each of the characters all have rich back stories that we've yet to fully share). We pitched a fourth volume to TokyoPop, but they declined our proposal, which is unfortunate as it's gained a nice fan following. Still, we're thankful to have had the opportunity to produce a three-volume series."
And on that note, let's move on to the not so good news, depending on how you'd interpret the situation. King City's Brandon Graham is considering taking his creation to another publisher. "I'm waiting to hear how much flexibility TokyoPop is going to give on letting me take my book to another publisher. I should know by the end of the week.
"The good news is before this all went down the French translation rights got sold to Bragelonne. So until the dust settles I'm still working, finishing up Book 2 for the French. Paris, je t'aime. [which translates to "Paris, I love you."]
"I'm 30 pages away from being done now and it's by far the best work I've managed to do. I really hope that it sees print over here."
For Queenie Chan, although three volumes of The Dreaming had been published, she said she'll have to "talk to my agent and see whether I can negotiate the rights back for The Dreaming if TokyoPop isn't going to be printing any more of the books. Right now, I don't know the situation, so I'm not sure what to do next (oddly enough, no one spoke much about the artists/writers who finished their three-book contracts). I may let The Dreaming go online - I don't know."
Putting the books online may be just the option for some of these creators. David Hine said that Volume 2 of Poison Candy will "not be published in the foreseeable future except in an online version. A print version and concluding volume will only appear if there is sufficient demand, which currently looks unlikely.
"My personal relations with my editors at TokyoPop have always been excellent, especially with Luis Reyes, who was my editor for most of the period when I was working on Poison Candy. However, all those editors have now left the company.
"It's unfortunate that it took so long for Poison Candy to get published. I think it was 2004 when it was first accepted but I made the decision to wait for [artist] Hanzo [Steinbach] to complete three volumes of A Midnight Opera. I wanted him as artist and I don't regret that decision because he did such a great job. I can't imagine the book drawn by anyone else.
"If we had managed to get the three volumes out there I would be feeling a whole lot better about the situation."
According to Stuart Moore, the third volume of Earthlight is finished. "Both Chris Schons (the artist) and I have been fully paid. I've just been informed that it will not be published in book form, but will be presented for free online. It's a tradeoff: On the one hand, it's nice to have a bound book on the shelf. On the other hand, more people will probably read it this way. This was the final projected volume (for now, anyway), so there's no issue with new work being produced.
"I'm very, very proud of Volume 3, by the way.
"I'm informed that TokyoPop is still actively pursuing media and foreign rights on the property. They've already sold rights to Hungary, which is nice."
Tony Salvaggio also informed Newsarama that while he's sad that the third volume of his and Jason Henderson's Psy-Comm will start out on the web, they're still holding out that they can put it out in print at some point. "Maybe even a collected graphic novel, which would rock," he said.
According to Morgan Luthi, creator of Snow, he's almost done with Volume 2. "And like a lot of other OEL books, [it] is going web only. There are no further volumes of Snow planned."
At press time, Pop Mhan is still in talks with TokyoPop about Blank. "Although, I don't know anything that's solid yet, I know for sure it won't be in print anymore but probably in a format for web," he said.
"I am developing something of a demo for TP to check out though. I'll update you as soon as I am done with the demo and in further talk/negotiations with TP, cool?"
And Dan Hipp had this to say about Gyakushu! on his blog: "So, TokyoPop (the publisher of a little book called Gyakushu!) has been in the nerd news lately in a less than flattering light. You can go read about that elsewhere, but what it means for me is that Volume 3 of Gyakushu!, which I'm half done with now...
...will initially be released online."
According to Chuck Austen, Boys of Summer is canceled. "One volume sort of went on sale, but only online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble - never in bookstores - so few people have even seen it in the States. All three volumes were written and drawn, Hiroki and I were both paid, and the work may be available online, at some point. Though it's been licensed to Europe and is selling well there, went to number one in a couple places, so the three volumes will likely still see print in Hungarian and Russian and other languages, if not in English."
Paul Benjamin is also unsure where he stands right now. "It's clear that TokyoPop is still trying to figure out their plans as well," he said. "Pantheon High (Volume 3) is just a few pages away from being complete. My co-creator and artists Steven and Megumi Cummings are on page 154 out of 160. The book is currently slated for online publication (not print) as far as TokyoPop is concerned. We haven't talked yet about taking the rights elsewhere. Right now we just want to do the best job we can and get the book done.
"Also, I see no reason to abandon OEL/global manga projects. The Japanese style of storytelling is a wonderful medium and I hope to find more opportunities to tell stories in that fashion, even if it is with other publishers or on my own. By the way, something I haven't heard a lot of talk about are the licensed properties from TokyoPop. I co-wrote a short story in the upcoming Starcraft manga with video game designer Dave Shramek and I'm looking forward to seeing that book. I imagine TokyoPop will continue to publish licensed manga and some great talent has come out of those titles.
"While TokyoPop has clearly made its share of mistakes and missteps, the real losers here are the employees who lost their jobs, the creators whose books are left unfinished, and the fans whose favorite series (or potential favorites) have now hit a stumbling block. For better or worse, TokyoPop did a lot to expand the market for OEL manga in the United States and I just hope that progress continues. I don't care if it's TokyoPop or other manga publishers who achieve that success, so long as there are cool new books on the shelves for me to read."
Eric Wight has this to say about My Dead Girlfriend: "My Dead Girlfriend was a top seller last year for TokyoPop (ICv2 listed it as TokyoPop's second highest selling OEL manga of 2007, behind only World of Warcraft). Television luminary Jordan Levin (former CEO of the WB) brought MDG to ABC/Touchstone and sold it as a television pilot with myself attached to write and co-executive produce. Sadly, the deal hit just before the Writer's Strike, and I only got as far as the treatment before I had to stop work on it. Two weeks before the strike concluded, our pilot was canceled.
"The future of the My Dead Girlfriend manga is a little more abstract," he continued. "TokyoPop and I are both very proud of the success of My Dead Girlfriend, but we have different visions for its future. Because we could not reach an agreement over my contract, TokyoPop's vision does not include me. Whether or not they will continue the series without me remains to be seen, but I have been informed that is their intention. Despite everything, I remain optimistic that we will be able to come to a resolution that will make all of us happy and allow me to return to my creation. I have too many stories to tell for Finney and Jenny and the rest of Purgatory Falls to give up hope."
Rivkah, creator of Steady Beat and who happens to be one of the more vocal global/OEL manga creators out there, said, "Steady Beat (Volume 3) has been [on hiatus] for the past six months because I was waiting for word back on whether or not they'd be paying me for the two extra chapters I needed to end the storyline (it's a 250 page book!), and I didn't hear back from them until all this started up and they decided to cancel our print runs.
"I'm just happy I haven't put all my eggs in one basket! While I'm in the process of trying to acquire at least the print rights back to Steady Beat in the hopes of reprinting them myself (a move which can only benefit both TokyoPop and myself), I've several other projects I've been working on (and one complete) that are being tossed around publishers at the moment. Unfortunately, none of them are things I can actually talk about right now."
Bettina Kurkoski's My Cat Loki is also among the unfortunate OEL manga series to be cut. "So as of now, there will be no MCL (Volume 3)," she said. "I am hoping to, if at all possible, eventually create a condensed mini self printed manga that will tie up what few loose ends MCL has and give some sort of ending to the series. If and when all rights revert back to me, I will definitely see about doing MCL (Volume 3) in its entirety as it is meant to be."
Also, Sea Princess Azuri's Erica Reyes posted the following message on her devianttART page on June 15: "Since I haven't heard anything directly that probably means Azuri has no chance of resurrection in any form. Ahh well."
In a follow-up post, she reported that she's spoken with her editor but "he said they're definitely not giving rights back despite what's on the internet. BLARG." This was obviously in response to the Lying In The Gutters rumor that the company was "going through the process of giving full copyright back to creators wishing to pull their projects, with hardly any fuss."
Amy Hadley also informed that there will not be a Fool's Gold (Volume 3). "TokyoPop made the call, but to be honest, I wasn't sure I'd get a chance to get back to the series anyway. So I've been largely unaffected, and remain very happy that I made the original choice to do a series for them. I am very sorry for those who have suffered from the cuts and online publishing move. I believe, though, that although this is unfortunate, most of us still do not regret having taken this chance. It's been very good for many of us in the long run. What concerns me is the future of manga-styled creators. There are so many kids who are growing up on this stuff, and many will have the ability to create amazing comics, so I just hope the opportunity is there by the time they're ready.
"I had always imagined the possibility of working on Book 3, only to find out it would never see print, and it's a terrifying thought. To me, this seems like the hardest blow, and I do hope that somehow it can be turned around for those creators who are mid-book. Having a presence in bookstores was the undeniable strength in working for TokyoPop."
Che Gilson posted on May 2 that Dark Moon Diary is cancelled.
Steve Buccellato on Battle of the Bands: "I'm sorry to say that the book is cancelled, but it's unrelated to the TokyoPop restructuring. I had the option of doing a second volume, but I decided not to pursue it last autumn. There just did not seem to be a demand for a second book. Therefore, it became a purely economic decision--considering the amount of work involved in a creating new manga, and what TokyoPop was willing to pay up front, it simply didn't make sense to continue."
Amy Kim Kibuishi is not affected by the whole restructuring exercise as her Sorcerers & Secretaries was only supposed to be two volumes from the beginning. "I was signed for three books because that's their standard," she admitted. "So, after I finished the first book, I told my editor that I always intended it to only be two, and asked if it was all right for me to do two instead of three. She said it was okay, so it's two volumes. There is no third, and there's no plan on there being a third. The decision to have it two volumes was my own, and to TokyoPop's credit, they've been flexible about that."
Things are also not so bad for Joanna Estep. "Thanks for your concern," she said. "Good to hear that people are still sticking up for the TP creators. I finished my manga series Roadsong (Volume 3 is out and about as of this month) before all this hit the fan, so I'm not mired in worries over where to take my manga properties, or whether or not I still have printing rights outside TokyoPop."
East Coast Rising's Becky Cloonan said the second volume has been on hold since earlier this year when she decided to rework and redraw the ending after deciding to make Volume 2 "the final one. I've also taken a few months off for personal reasons and travel, and I put all of my work to the side. Currently there are only 40 pages left to draw in Book 2. I'd like to finish it right after Comic-Con. I can't say I will make a departure from OEL since I never felt like I was making OEL to begin with, and if TokyoPop pulls its OEL line, there it goes since it's basically a term that was made up to categorize TokyoPop's non-Japanese creators. Other publishers print books in that cute 5x7 size, but nobody else calls it OEL, so I guess we'll just see what happens.
"I've been published before TokyoPop, and I was working on other books while I was working on my TP book," she continued. "And I'll still have work after I'm finished with my 2nd (and last) book with Tokyopop so I can't say that Tokyopop made or broke my carreer. I also never personally felt like I was part of an OEL/OGM movement, it just never seemed to apply to me. TokyoPop was my publisher and I don't feel any more connection with other TP creators than I do with other Vertigo creators. It's just me, trying to make good comics."
Oh, and one global/OEL project that did not make it to print at all was Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray's Zeroes. "TokyoPop killed the project last year as part of the many changes they seem to have gone through," Gray said.
Fate unknown: Jen Quick's Off*Beat. Quick, in an outdated post from early this year on her deviantART page, stated that the third volume was scheduled for August although former Junior Editor Peter Ahlstrom posted on the now inaccessible TokyoPop forum in March that the book was scheduled for December instead. The post is still available for a limited time in Google's cache. When contacted by Newsarama, Quick only had this to say: "I'm afraid I can't answer anything about Off*Beat. I have no idea myself, other than my editor says it's on hiatus [at the moment]."
Life After TokyoPop?
"I'm currently working on a few projects, another self published book with Fabio Moon, Vasilis Lolos and Gabriel Ba called Pixu, and I'm working with Vertigo on an all-new Demo series with Brian Wood. I have a few other projects I can't really talk about yet, but trust me, I've got a lot on my plate," enthused Becky Cloonan.
What about the rest of the gang? Is life any better after the whole TokyoPop experience?
One thing's for sure, The Dreaming's Queenie Chan is not about to abandon global/OEL manga. "Not when I have a book with Dean Koontz coming out at the end of this month that is also global manga (In Odd We Trust, for those who don't know). I've got a new pitch for a book series coming up, called Soul Shaper, so that's why I'm working on right now."
Bettina Kurkoski revealed that she has completed Warriors: Rise of Scourge, a single-volume story under the TokyoPop/HarperColins co-publishing agreement. The June/July-shipping book is set in the super-popular Warriors novel world created by Erin Hunter, the pen name used by writers Kate Cary, Cherith Baldry and Tui Sutherland, with Victoria Holmes acting as story editor and plot writer. "I also did a My Cat Loki/Princess Ai crossover story for the Princess Ai: Encounters anthology due out in September 2008 and again, I'm currently working on a story for the Star Trek: The Manga anthology. I've another licensed series that I unfortunately can't talk about at the moment.
"As for any future projects, I'll most definitely be fishing the field of companies to pitch to and see who bites!"
"I'm working on some short stories for some anthologies coming up but I can't really get too specific about them as most aren't anywhere near press release time," Christy Lijewski said. "Aside from that, I've been doing a lot of self-published shorts and doujin-style anthologies with friends. After I finished putting together Le Grande Grimoire last fall, I found I really enjoyed the control self-publishing gave me and have been looking to do some more projects in the same vein only in sequential form instead of illustration. Not the most thrilling news, but it's keeping me busy.
"Hopefully I'll be able to add a few more specifics to the list after SDCC this year."
For Amy Kim Kibuishi, her time is most spent on finishing up the first book in a planned trilogy based on her Reman Mythology webcomic. "It will be entirely in prose, and right now I don't plan on there being any illustrations," she stated. "I'd like to focus on starting a career in novel writing, as I've been enjoying the process of working in that medium much more than working in the comics medium. It's really freed my imagination in unexpected ways!
"I'd like to mention also," she continued, "because several people have asked me this, that I'm not switching to novel writing because of any bad experiences with the comics industry. I'm doing it because I firmly believe it's "my medium", after all these years I'm finally mature enough to realize this. I don't expect anyone to agree with me until they can read my new book and see for themselves!"
"Right now, Jason [Henderson] and I are still working on getting our first book that we collaborated on, Clockwerx out the door," Tony Salvaggio said. "It should be out in France first (September, last time I heard), and hopefully it will be out in the US in short order after that (I keep art for it on my LiveJournal, and some older animations on my site at www.tonysalvaggio.com). We should be writing Book 3 for that soon. We've been working on it in some form or another since 2000, so it's cool that it is probably going to see print.
"I'm pitching to whoever will listen with an array of comics in different genres. I'd still like to do a Heavy Metal Revenge comic with Hanzo [Steinbach] of A Midnight Opera, and I have some game design and multimedia stuff I am working on too," he added. "Also, I've been spending a lot of time gigging with my band Deserts of Mars. Music and comics have always gone hand in hand for me.
"Jason is working on the sequel to Sword of Dracula, entitled The Dracula War, along with screenplay pitches and some multimedia stuff. Plus, I get to razz him because he was on the front cover of Wall Street Journal, but it wasn't for comics. Some people, right? If I have my way, I'd like to get the team back together and do more books here and there, but we will see if we can pull that off."
Rivkah: "Also, because of overwhelming support for the tutorials I've published online, classes I've given, and advice from my online blog where I keep a running commentary on my experiences in the business, I've started a workshop designed to put together a short story comic. It's a weekly 3-hour class where we discuss things like putting together a story, layout structure, pacing, dialog, inking, toning, printing, publishing options, and the business side of things (how to speak to your editor and publisher, what's deductible in your taxes and what isn't, negotiating contracts, etc). I ran a publishing company for two years and worked in print and design years before that, and feel that I have invaluable information to impart to others in the pursuit of creating their comics. It's a true blessing to have been there and knowing that while one of my projects may be on hold, I can still encourage others to keep moving forward and finding the niche that's right for them.
"In the meantime, I continue to write my novels and write and draw my graphic novels. Just because TP isn't doing well, that doesn't mean there aren't still plenty of other options out there. And there's always self publishing as well, something I'm not afraid of. It takes a little extra elbow grease, but the returns can be so much higher, not just financially, but emotionally as well.
"But no matter what course I take, I'll still keep making comics. I'm not about to tuck tail and run just because one project grinds to a halt. The professional route to take is to realize that sometimes you win and sometimes you lose, but that in the long run, if you just keep chugging along and are willing to keep learning as you go, you'll win out in the end.
"I have faith that comics [are] what I am meant to do and that [the] comics [industry] is where I'll be. I have faith not just in myself but in the entire industry as well."
Joanna Estep: "Currently, I've got my fingers in other pies. I just illustrated a short story by writer Martha Thomases for ComicMix called Munden's Bar: The Crimson Tide, and I'll be returning to ComicMix later this summer to start serializing my own series The Misters on the web.
"I'm also illustrating a short story entitled Reflection with writer Eric Adams, that will hopefully be available later this year."
ME2's Sho Murase: "My print work is currently focusing on 3 titles: Nancy Drew for Papercutz/Simon Schuster, überbabe for a company in Canada called SugarLab (out in 2009), and Duran Duran's four-issue mini-series (no set title yet, probably out in 2009 or sooner) for Virgin Comics."
Looks like Eric Wight is also keeping himself busy. "My Dead Girlfriend definitely created a lot of opportunities for me, especially in helping to establish myself not solely as an artist, but also a writer," he admitted. "In fact, I'm writing more than drawing these days, currently hard at work on two new series for Simon & Schuster. Neither of the projects are pure graphic novels, but they do contain a strong comic component. The first series is called Frankie Pickle and will be chapter books targeted at grades 2-5. The second series is a medieval fantasy/graphic novel hybrid, the first volume of which is called Kookleberry and the Sword of Fools. We are still in the fairly early stages of things, but as soon as I have some stuff to show you, release dates, etc. I will definitely send it your way."
Stuart Moore: "I've got various Marvel projects in the works, including a current run on Iron Man; I write The 99, a multicultural superhero team, monthly for Teshkeel; and I have various writing and freelance editorial gigs at Virgin Comics. Plus a few original projects I'm developing on the side. So I'm keeping very busy. I finished the last Earthlight script more than a year ago, so while I love the book, I'm happily on to other things right now."
Lindsay Cibos: "In the meantime, Jared and I have a couple of new stories that we're currently shopping around to publishers including Otaku Contemporary, a satirical strip about manga, anime, video games, and of course, otaku; Cloverleaf Café, a drama/romance with yuri overtones; and Shadow Walk, a dark gothic fantasy.
"In addition, our short story, "Last Dance", recently placed as a finalist in Kodansha's 2nd Morning Magazine International Manga Contest (M.I.M.C.).
"Currently, I'm working as a penciler on the monthly comic series, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, published by Archie Comics. I started with issue #92, which came out in February. And there's more on the way, so please keep an eye out for those. I'm having a great time working on them. It's been an interesting new challenge for me to work as part of a larger team. Tania Del Rio's scripts are a blast to illustrate, and the whole Archie gang treats me great.
"You can check out sample pages from all of the above on our website here: http://www.jaredandlindsay.com/gallery/index.php?cat=2 "
June Kim, who did the 12 Days global/OEL manga said, "I'm working on a graphic novel version of GirlTrash! written by Angela Robinson. It's scheduled next summer. The publisher is Crown Publishing Group, [a subsidiary of] Random House. It's very different from 12 days, so I'm nervous about he challenging scenes, but very excited."
"After King City 2, I'm going back to Oni Press to work full time on Multiple Warheads, my Russian organ smuggler, werewolf epic," Brandon Graham revealed.
Felipe Smith informed on his MySpace page on June 21 that he has moved to Japan and is currently working on his next graphic novel, Peepo Choo. "It's being published through Kodansha and released monthly through Morning 2 magazine. The first issue dropped in stores in Japan today!… The full chapter is 44 pages; after that I'll be releasing between 40-60 pages every month."
Ross Campbell also has a projects with Oni as he's "still working with the fine folks at Oni Press when I can, doing my Wet Moon series, and I had a Minx book, Water Baby, come out this year, and I'm also doing some other stuff for DC, and hoping to get something going at Dark Horse. I'd love to work on that Marvel anthology, too."
Jim Pascoe revealed that he has a new series that he has been working on that he's really excited about. "It's pretty much wall-to-wall big action fighting," he said. "I'm writing a comic book for a major Hollywood Studio. And I have a whole ton of other stuff in development, so it's a race to see which project hits the public first."
Steve Buccellato: "I did write and draw a story for the Princess Ai:Rumors from the Other Side anthology, and I'm currently finishing up a short story for Princess Ai: Encounters. The Encounters story teams up characters from Princess Ai with the cast of Battle of the Bands. It's basically a big, silly fight scene that will hopefully get some Princess Ai readers to give Bands a chance. It's pretty fun!
"Otherwise, I have a story in an upcoming issue of Image Comics' Elephantmen, and I've been doing a bunch of illustration & storyboard work lately. I'm looking forward to the San Diego Comic-Con next month because this year I have a spot in Artist's Alley. I'll be looking to network and line up some new projects when I'm not doing sketches at the con or drinking at the Hyatt bar!"
Van Von Hunter began as a webcomic in 2002. Therefore, it'll always have a powerful allure for Pseudomé Studio to publish in that space, said Ron Kaulfersch. "The VVH webcomic has a definitive end planned," he added. "But we've been too side-tracked by developmental work to get back to it.
"We had one title pretty far along in development and pitched it to TokyoPop under the pre-Manga Pilot program. It kinda got lost in the transition and we lost a lot of interest in it. Currently we're developing a new title, either for release via a publisher or online. We're also dabbling in some casual gaming content, and finishing up backgrounds for the Van Von Hunter film."
Wait a minute. What Manga Pilot, you ask? Come back tomorrow for a Newsarama exclusive.


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Forum Post: Obama spying on all Americans?
Posted 6 years ago on June 10, 2013, 11:07 p.m. EST by arturo
from Shanghai, Shanghai
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
On Wednesday evening, the London Guardian's Glenn Greenwald published a top-secret order of the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) secret eavesdropping court, which ordered Verizon Business Communications to hand over daily to the National Security Agency (NSA) the telephone numbers, times, and caller locations of every U.S. telephone call, including local calls, for a period of 90 days from April into July. What developed rapidly was the obvious: that this was a mere 90-day rollover of spying that had been going on continuously for seven years (throughout the entirety of the Obama Administration), as Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) admitted in trying to defend the program Thursday,— and that every U.S. telephone carrier had received the same order, while forbidden even to mention it, and was doing exactly the same thing, as the Wall Street Journal reported the same day.
'Few Americans believe that they live in a police state...'
There was instant pandemonium in a Senate hearing Thursday morning, when Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) asked Attorney General Holder whether the Administration was spying on members of Congress and the Supreme Court. When Holder tried to maintain that Congressmen had been "fully briefed," Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) interrupted, saying "We're going to stop right here, because this 'fully briefed' is something that drives us up the wall," and insisted that neither she nor any of the other Senators sitting with her knew what was going on.
Separately, Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Mark Udall (D-Colo.) told press that this was exactly what they had been publicly warning of for years: that the Obama Administration had a secret, radically overblown legal interpretation of its rights to spy on ordinary Americans under the Patriot Act, one which would shock most Americans were they to learn it. And indeed it has. And it's only beginning.
Veteran Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), the author of the Patriot Act, demonstrated in a letter to Holder that the leaked order specifically contravened the Act. He demanded that Holder answer four questions by Wednesday, June 12, of which the fourth was, "Does the FBI believe that there are limits on what information it can obtain under [Patriot Act] section 215? If so, what are those limits?"
Then, Thursday afternoon, only about 24 hours after the first leak, the Guardian and Greenwald obtained and selectively published another file held at the highest level of U.S. security clearance: an internal NSA slide-show instructing employees on how to use a data-mining apparatus called "Prism." The slide-show was dated April 2013—right now. The Washington Post obtained the same leak and published another story at the same time.
The slide-show said that the NSA had obtained direct access to the main servers of nine leading Internet service providers, including Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, YouTube, Skype, AOL, and Apple. NSA analysts were told that they could obtain any data, whether current or historical, including e-mail, video and voice chats, photos, voice-over-internet protocol, file transfers, videoconferencing, notifications of target activity ("logins, etc."), online social networking details, or "special requests."
Because of the word "foreign" in "Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act," the slide-show presentation instructed NSA staff, as a fig-leaf of compliance with the law, that they could only target such data if they believed there was a 51% chance that the target might be outside the United States, or in communication with someone outside the United States.
The Guardian accompanied its second leaked revelation with an unsigned June 6 editorial which might have been entitled "An Existential Challenge to American Freedom." After summarizing what the paper had reported over the two days, the editors wrote:
"Few Americans believe that they live in a police state; indeed many would be outraged at the suggestion. Yet the everyday fact that the police have the right to monitor the communications of all its citizens—in secret—is a classic hallmark of a state that fears freedom as well as championing it. Ironically, the Guardian's revelations were published 69 years to the day since U.S. and British soldiers launched the D-Day invasion of Europe. The young Americans who fought their way up the Normandy beaches rightly believed they were helping free the world from a tyranny. They did not think that they were making it safe for their own rulers to take such sweeping powers as these over their descendants."
After qualifying that Britishers should not minimize the dangers of terrorism, or the very real possibility that their own government might be spying on them in just the same way, they conclude:
"But it is American civil liberties that are primarily in the spotlight now. Ever since 9/11, the U.S. has allowed the war on terror to frame a new domestic authoritarianism that is strikingly at odds with America's passionate sense of its own freedom. This week's revelations have stunned millions of Americans whose justified outrage against 9/11 surely never led them to expect such routine and unrestrained surveillance on such a massive scale. U.S. politicians have a poor post-9/11 record of confronting such powers. Even now, it is possible that many will look the other way. But this is an existential challenge to American freedom. That it has been so relentlessly prosecuted by a leader who once promised to stand up against such authority, makes the challenge more pressing, not less."
Which is to say, accurately, that it is Obama who is the one responsible for these crimes. He cannot blame the Congress, as he attempted to do in a press appearance Thursday morning.
The New York Times appeared Friday morning with a very lengthy, bitter 1,100-word editorial entitled "President Obama's Dragnet," which formalized that newspaper's divorce from the U.S. President, and appropriately ridiculed his apologists. Contorted and emotional, the editorial mirrored fights at high levels in the United States. Bloggers noted that one sentence was altered just two hours after the editorial was first posted on Thursday. In the original version, the lead sentence of the third paragraph read, "The administration has now lost all credibility." Two hour later, someone had added the words, "on this issue."
Further Documentation: Police State U.S.A.: A Timeline of Obama's Expansion of Bush-Cheney Domestic Spy Programs
Despite his campaign promises to the contrary, once Barack Obama became President in 2009, he wholeheartedly adopted and expanded the National Security Agency's dragnet surveillance and data-mining program which had been created during the Bush Administration, under the direct control of Vice President Dick Cheney.
Obama's about-face should not have surprised anybody; it was signaled already in July 2008, when then-Senator Obama reversed course and voted to give the telecommunications companies immunity from civil suits for their cooperation with the NSA. A few months earlier, Obama had voted against immunity. It has been reliably reported, and not disputed, that what changed Obama's vote was the advice of this campaign counter-terrorism advisor, John Brennan, who was speaking out publicly in favor of immunizing the telecoms who had been giving the NSA full access to their electronic traffic.
Upon assuming office, although Obama tried to distance himself from Bush on the issues of torture and Guantanamo, he was silent on the NSA surveillance program. No speeches, no executive orders. And in fact, as we have now learned, the Bush-Cheney program has now extended beyond the major telecommunications companies, to include access to the major Internet companies.
Under the latter program, launched in late 2007 and 2008 after Congress provided new legal authorities (including the immunity law supported by Obama), the NSA obtained the cooperation of Microsoft and Yahoo in providing access to their servers, according to the Washington Post. Since the beginning of 2009, the so-called PRISM program expanded to include Google, Facebook, YouTube, Skype, and others—so that Obama is now presiding over a data-collection and data-mining project which is truly the fulfillment of John Poindexter's Total Information Awareness program.

subset: commoncrawl


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School board not pleased with teacher evaluation change
The New Mexico Public Education Department is planning to change the way they evaluate teachers, but Rio Rancho's School Board is speaking against the plan.
The Education Department wants to evaluate teaches based on students' success on testing and what administrators actually see in the classrooms. Members on the Rio Rancho school board aren't sure that's best idea.
"There are a number of issues with what PED is doing," Rio Rancho School Board President Carl Harper said. "It doesn't seem to integrate with state law, which requires teachers to be evaluated on competencies."
Part of the assessments will up to the specific district to decide, but that's where Rio Rancho said this plan isn't fair because they have limited time to come up with a plan.
"We have to respond to PED with a plan in April. That will take a huge amount of work and as usual, there's no funding for it," Harper said.
Rio Rancho's School Board told Action 7 News that New Mexico ranks near the bottom of the country for teacher training. That's where they feel the focus needs to be in order to help improve students' learning.
"Helping teachers improve their delivery is one of the best ways we can do to facilitate that. This PED plan is being rushed through and will not," Harper said.
The Education Department's new evaluation plan is being piloted in 68 districts, and will encompass student improvement within the last three years to be fair.


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Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, who has been listed as questionable due to a concussion, is expected to play against the Seattle Seahawks in Week 16's crucial NFC West matchup, NFL Media Insider Ian Rapoport reported Sunday per a source informed of Fitzgerald's injury.
Fitzgerald practiced Friday after being limited in Thursday's session. The receiver incurred the concussion during an attempt to recover an onside kick late in Arizona's 37-34 win over the Tennessee Titans in Week 15.
Cardinals coach Bruce Arians expressed optimism Friday that Fitzgerald would be in the lineup for Sunday's game, but he emphasized that the receiver would need to pass the concussion protocol.
Here are the other injuries we are tracking this Sunday morning:
1. Tom Brady will be without his left tackle Nate Solder, who was downgraded to out with a concussion. The New England Patriots also announced rookie wide receiver Kenbrell Thompkins will not play Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens. Fellow receiver Aaron Dobson traveled with the team and appears on track to play.
2. Maurice Jones-Drew (hamstring) is active and will play against the Tennessee Titans after missing last week.
3. Adrian Peterson said he was "ready to roll" this week. The Vikings sounded optimistic Peterson would play Sunday -- we said similarly last week, however. Rapoport reported Peterson will play against the Cincinnati Bengals. Peterson is active. Toby Gerhart is also active for the Vikings.
4. Tavon Austin missed last week and is officially inactive against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday with an ankle injury.
5. Calvin Johnson (knee) is good to go for the Detroit Lions against the New York Giants despite the receiver sitting out a couple of practices this week, according to Mr. Rapsheet.
NFL Homecoming
During Weeks 14-16, the NFL will highlight the accomplishments and contributions of the game's greats and celebrate dedicated fans around the holiday time period. More ...
6. The Kansas City Chiefs appear to be moving forward cautiously with left tackle Branden Albert (knee). Albert is inactive for the Chiefs.
7. Chiefs pass rusher Justin Houston also is inactive for Sunday's game against the Indianapolis Colts.
8. Miami Dolphins running back Daniel Thomas is active after practicing on a limited basis Friday.
9. Cleveland Browns cornerback Joe Haden is active and will start against the New York Jets.
We previewed every Week 16 game in the latest "Around The League Podcast."


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School of Science & Mathematics
Seminars, Exhibits, Clubs, and More
Follow the links to the left for the departments in the School of Science and Math. Each department has its own events. Many have clubs. Astronomy and Biology have active seminar series. For more information, visit the department websites.
Also, in the Science Hall, we have a STEM center where students can study Monday through Friday. See the door for hours. Science 138.
More activities and efforts include:
- Story of Time and Life Exhibit -- A walk through time, from the Big Bang to human evolution, Science Hall, Ocean Campus
- Support the School of Science and Mathematics -- Learn more about how to help us with classes, materials, and infrastructure.


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Folding beds with chaise headrest.
When guests come to stay over, take out the folding guest bed so they feel comfortable for the night.
This chaise lounge features a heavyweight cotton detachable mattress and sturdy metal frame. The chaise lounge frame also reclines in six positions.
The DHP Emily Chaise Lounger features a gray linen color that coordinates well with all types of decor. It makes an excellent addition to any living room, study, den or office.


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brian2day necesitaba un nuevo diseño de página web y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 75 diseños de 13 diseñadores freelance.
Greenworks Video
I am a film and video professional, writer/producer/director who has many years of experience---I was a producer of several PBS series, and was the initiator and coproducer on Instinct, starring Anthony Hopkins and Cuba Gooding Jr. Check it out You name it, I've done it. Features, Docs, Ads, corporate, training. The list is long.
I'm also an entrepreneur, and the first time I witnessed modern green screen production, a light went on and Greenworks Video is the result of that.
B to B We'll be visited mainly be businesses and corporations who are looking for web video services. The audience will consist of sales and marketing directors, corporate training types, and, interestingly, fellow web designers and developers who are looking for a professional video-for-the-web partner.
We are looking for an exciting, somewhat edgy (but not too), home page & sub page look for our innovative green screen video production service, Greenworks Video. Greenworks aims to become the Kinko's of video production, where clients (mainly corporate) can come to easily create videos for their websites. We take projects from creative through completion. We don't want just a corporate look, but we don't want a completely off the end of the spectrum artsy look either. Think cool, innovative, professional. Understand that we're trying to get companies to move from text to video on their websites, & will have a 16 X 9 video on our homepage. We call this 'clutter busting'. We want navigation to be simple, & have one element that's a little unusual that we'll need to integrate---our Producer toolbar. http://newwestmedia.tv
We're currently operating under the name New West Media, and you can see our current look (which we're not happy with) and the aforementioned producer toolbar on our site, which you'll find as an upload to this request. It's on the left on our homepage. You can learn alot there.
You'll also find our Greenworks logo, which we like, so work with that. You don't need to include the tag words, Affordable, Professional, Innovative in your design.
This is strictly a design gig-- we'll be using Wordpress theming structure..


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This is the Dual stock. A rather small blaster, but larger than the Jolt. I intend to make this a decent competitor to the Jolt when I'm fully finished with it.
For those of you not familiar with it, it is slightly smaller than a Crossfire/Strikefire. The blaster comes with I believe four darts and six disks, both of which are terrible. The darts get decent range, but are poorly made and don't fire well. Any other dart improves range when used over the included dart. The disks are just pieces of foam and suck ass. You can hold up to 2 darts at a time, and a few disks, although the disks usually fly out as mine did not include the disk lid. I find the handle very uncomfortable because it is too small for my hands, so if you have adult-size hands, it might be difficult to hold comfortably.
So anyways, open up your blaster. It has six phillips-head crews, all of which being the same size. It should be no problem opening up. Be prepared though, because the catch might pop out once you open it up like mine did.
First, we are going to remove the spring assembly. I tried to use an extra O-Ring I had on a broken Iron Strike blaster, however it did not work out too well so I removed it. I do not believe you can fit a second one on it, although it may be just the O-Ring I tried on it. I did not add grease underneath it as I did not have any, but that might improve the ranges.
This part is optional, but it does help quiet down the blaster by a little. Twist off the device that fires disks. The disks go maybe four feet, and they always curve to the right. I would rather remove this useless feature than keep it in there, somewhat like the Nite Finder EX-3's light. This is optional, but I believe it sounds a little quieter without this.
Now we are going to focus on the barrel assembly. Take this out of the blaster, and open it up.
This should appear. I have no idea what this black piece is, however I chose to leave it inside the blaster. Anyways, I found the best way of removing the air restrictor was to take a pair of plyers and twist until it popped out.
The end result should look something like this once it is removed.
Now, we are going to close the blaster up for now. Remember to put the catch back into place if yours exploded out like mine had done. Do not use this as an exact reference to how things go, as my spring and plunger tube should be pressed back. Getting the catch back in place is a bitch if you're not sure how do it correctly.
Close the blaster back up after you have finished putting everything back in place. This should be rather easy, however I had to do this step several times due to the catch not being placed in properly.
You can throw these pieces out, as they are now useless and do not server any function anymore.
So, there you have it, if you put everything back correctly it should look like this. I could have done more to this blaster (spring replacement, barrel replacement etc.) which I might do in the future. I just wanted to see if there was any way to properly modify this blaster. Now, unfortuantely I do not have ranges from before, but I was getting in the 30 foot range with the blaster stock. Now, when I shot it into my backyard, it went up to 40 feet, possibly more, with a Streamline dart. That's a definite improvement, and the blaster for sure fires better. The range also could increase if I used stefans, however as of now I do not own any. So, thanks for reading, and I'm sorry if I messed up or anything on my first post. Hope this will make it into the directory, might do future mods to this blaster soon.
I recently opened up and tweaked around with this blaster again, and figured I might as well put up the newer mods. Consider this the "part 2", with a part 3 (barrel replacement, spring addition) coming soon.
First, I made an error on the first part. ALWAYS remember to spin the position of the barrel so that the extra bar is on the horizontal line and not the vertical line. It is correct in this picture.
I discovered that you can remove the disk function completely by unscrewing this part at the bottom and removing it. It will also allow access to easier spring replacements.
Next, take a drill or, as I did, a small flat-head screwdriver and remove the grate in the post. There should be a straight shot through when finished.
Screw everything together and you'll be able to see the screw from the plunger head easily. This is what we are looking for, so if you can easily see it, then you've done it correctly. With one streamline, I was able to hit 45 feet and 35 feet with tagger darts. This little blaster packs a punch, I think it's probably better than the Eliminator or a stock SSPB, might even be as good as the Jolt.
Edited by Gage, 08 May 2012 - 05:56 PM.


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What if I gave you $10,000 to invest for 30 years, with your only aim being to make me $1 million? What would you do?
Surely you'd buy stocks. But what if I said that you could buy just one stock? What would it be?
Call it my variation on Warren Buffett's famous exercise in focus, in which he suggests that investors act as though they'll be given just 20 chances to buy during their lifetimes.
There's power in investing this way. First, it forces you to weigh risk carefully. Who wants to bet their portfolio on a fly-by-nighter like Overstock.com
Second, it forces you to think about history. What are the characteristics of the best stocks of the past 50 years? Here are a few:
HJ Heinz
Procter & Gamble
Hershey Foods
Examine these businesses and you'll find:
They dominated necessary, if boring, markets.
They produced plenty of free cash flow.
They paid consistent, and growing, dividends.
History is anything but perfect when it comes to predicting stock market returns. But it's also all we have short of tarot cards, palm reading, and astrology. Doesn't it stand to reason that, if you really had to choose just one stock, you'd want a dividend payer?
Fine, here's the math
Consider the numbers. A stock would have to return almost 17% annually in order to transform $10,000 into $1 million within three decades. Or, in simpler terms: You'd have to buy and reinvest in the next Altria -- a stock that has combined heady capital appreciation with substantial dividend growth to produce 46 years of better than 19% annual returns.
Don't underestimate dividend growth. Buffett originally spent $11 million to acquire a stake in Washington Post, which, like Altria, has a history of hiking its dividend payments. Today, Berkshire Hathaway collects roughly $14.2 million annually in dividends from the newspaper.
Then there's this guy, who enjoys a 3,017% annual return thanks to dividends. Peter Lynch would be jealous. But what, really, did he do? Buy Pfizer at a low price and hold for 47 years.
That's the millionaire-making power of dividends at work -- with just one stock.
Intrigued? You should be. My Foolish colleagues James Early and Andy Cross are beating the market with a whole portfolio of high-yielding dividend payers. Accept a 30-day free pass to their Motley Fool Income Investor service and you'll see everything they're recommending right now. There's no obligation to subscribe.
This article was originally published on Oct. 1, 2007. It has been updated.
Fool contributor Tim Beyers owned shares of Berkshire Hathaway at the time of publication, as does The Motley Fool. Berkshire is a recommendation of both the Inside Value and the Stock Advisor services. Pfizer and McGraw-Hill are also Inside Value picks. HJ Heinz is an Income Investor recommendation. The Motley Fool has a high-yield disclosure policy.


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How I Work: A Cloud Developer's Workstation
I've written here a little about how I work during the day, including things like using a stand-up desk (still doing that, by the way). Inspired by a Twitter conversation yesterday, I thought I might explain how I set up my computing environment.
First, a couple of important points. I work in Cloud Computing, specifically (but not limited to) Windows Azure. Windows Azure has features to run a Virtual Machine (IaaS), run code without having to control a Virtual Machine (PaaS) and use databases, video streaming, Hadoop and more (a kind of SaaS for tech pros). As such, my designs run the gamut of on-premises, VM's in the Cloud, and software that I write for a platform.
I focus on data primarily, meaning that I design a lot of systems that use an RDBMS (like SQL Server or Windows Azure Databases) or a NoSQL approach (MongoDB on Azure or large-scale Key-Value Pairs in Table storage) and even Hadoop and R, and also Cloud Numerics in F#.
All that being said, those things inform my choices below.
I have a Lenovo X220 tablet/laptop which I really like a great deal - it's a light, tough, extremely fast system. When I travel, that's the system I take. It has 8GB of RAM, and an SSD drive. I sometimes use that to develop or work at a client's site, on the road, or in the living room when I'm not in my home office.
My main system is a GateWay DX430017 - I've maxed it out on RAM, and I have two 1TB drives in it. It's not only my workstation for work; I leave it on all the time and it streams our videos, music and books. I have about 3400 e-books, and I've just started using Calibre to stream the library. I run Windows 8 on it so I can set up Hyper-V images, since Windows Azure allows me to move regular Hyper-V disks back and forth to the Cloud. That's where all my "servers" are, when I have to use an IaaS approach.
The reason I use a desktop-style system rather than a laptop only approach is that a good part of my job is setting up architectures to solve really big, complex problems. That means I have to simulate entire networks on-premises, along with the Hybrid Cloud approach I use a lot. I need a lot of disk space and memory for that, and I use two huge monitors on my stand-up desk. I could probably use 10 monitors if I had the room for them. Also, since it's our home system as well, I leave it on all the time and it doesn't travel.
For the software for my systems, it's important to keep in mind that I not only write code, but I design databases, teach, present, and create Linux and other environments.
Windows 8 - While the jury is out for me on the new interface, the context-sensitive search, integrated everything, and speed is just hands-down the right choice. I've evaluated a server OS, Linux, even an Apple, but I just am not as efficient on those as I am with Windows 8.
Visual Studio Ultimate - I develop primarily in .NET (C# and F# mostly) and I use the Team Foundation Server in the cloud, and I'm asked to do everything from UI to Services, so I need everything.
Windows Azure SDK, Windows Azure Training Kit - I need the first to set up my Azure PaaS coding, and the second has all the info I need for PaaS, IaaS and SaaS. This is primarily how I get paid. :)
SQL Server Developer Edition - While I might install Oracle, MySQL and Postgres on my VM's, the "outside" environment is SQL Server for an RDBMS. I install the Developer Edition because it has the same features as Enterprise Edition, and comes with all the client tools and documentation.
Microsoft Office - Even if I didn't work here, this is what I would use. I've just grown too accustomed to doing business this way to change, so my advice is always "use what works", and this does. The parts I use are:
OneNote (and a Math Add-in) - I do almost everything - and I mean everything in OneNote. I can code, do high-end math, present, design, collaborate and more. All my notebooks are on my Skydrive. I can use them from any system, anywhere. If you take the time to learn this program, you'll be hooked.
Excel with PowerPivot - Don't make that face. Excel is the world's database, and every Data Scientist I know - even the ones where I teach at the University of Washington - know it, use it, and love it.
Outlook - Primary communications, CRM and contact tool. I have all of my social media hooked up to it, so when I get an e-mail from you, I see everything, see all the history we've had on e-mail, find you on a map and more.
Lync - I was fine with LiveMeeting, although it has it's moments. For me, the Lync client is tres-awesome. I use this throughout my day, present on it, stay in contact with colleagues and the folks on the dev team (who wish I didn't have it) and more.
PowerPoint - Once again, don't make that face. Whenever I see someone complaining about PowerPoint, I have 100% of the time found they don't know how to use it. If you suck at presenting or creating content, don't blame PowerPoint. Works great on my machine. :)
Zoomit - Magnifier - On Windows 7 (and 8 as well) there's a built-in magnifier, but I install Zoomit out of habit. It enlarges the screen. If you don't use one of these tools (or their equivalent on some other OS) then you're presenting/teaching wrong, and you should stop presenting/teaching until you get them and learn how to show people what you can see on your tiny, tiny monitor. :)
Cygwin - Unix for Windows. OK, that's not true, but it's mostly that. I grew up on mainframes and Unix (IBM and HP, thank you) and I can't imagine life without sed, awk, grep, vim, and bash. I also tend to take a lot of the "Science" and "Development" and "Database" packages in it as well.
PuTTY - Speaking of Unix, when I need to connect to my Linux VM's in Windows Azure, I want to do it securely. This is the tool for that.
Notepad++ - Somewhere between torturing myself in vim and luxuriating in OneNote is Notepad++. Everyone has a favorite text editor; this one is mine. Too many features to name, and it's free.
Browsers - I install Chrome, Firefox and of course IE. I know it's in vogue to rant on IE, but I tend to think for myself a great deal, and I've had few (none) problems with it. The others I have for the haterz that make sites that won't run in IE.
Visio - I've used a lot of design packages, but none have the extreme meta-data edit capabilities of Visio. I don't use this all the time - it can be rather heavy, but what it does it does really well. I also present this way when I'm not using PowerPoint. Yup, I just bring up Visio and diagram away as I'm chatting with clients. Depending on what we're covering, this can be the right tool for that.
Tweetdeck - The AIR one, not that new disaster they came out with. I live on social media, since you, dear readers, are my cube-mates. When I get tired of you all, I close Tweetdeck. When I need help or someone needs help from me, or if I want to see a picture of a cat while I'm coding, I bring it up. It's up most all day and night.
Windows Media Player - I listen to Trance or Classical when I code, and I find music managers overbearing and extra. I just use what comes in the box, and it works great for me.
R - F# and Cloud Numerics now allows me to load in R libraries (yay!) and I use this for statistical work on big data loads.
Microsoft Math - One of the most amazing, free, rich, amazing, awesome, amazing calculators out there. I get the 64-bit version for quick math conversions, plots and formula-checks.
Python - I know, right? Who knew that the scientific community loved Python so much. But they do. I use 2.7; not as much runs with 3+. I also use IronPython in Visual Studio, or I edit in Notepad++
Camstudio recorder - Windows PSR - In much of my training, and all of my teaching at the UW, I need to show a process on a screen. Camstudio records screen and voice, and it's free. If I need to make static training, I use the Windows PSR tool that's built right in. It's ostensibly for problem duplication, but I use it to record for training.
OK - your turn. Post a link to your blog entry below, and tell me how you set your system up.


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Throughout the next several blogs, readers will be informed on several different strains of marijuana available at many medical marijuana dispensaries as well as what the different strains are used for.
Purple Kush is a Grade A Indica strain with an earthy taste and fruity smell. Some consider it to have a rather skunky smell. However, it has a smooth taste and is very potent. Purple Kush is mainly used for insomnia, pain relief, depression, anxiety and nausea. Negative effects can include making the user easily tired as well as producing a very 'stony' high.
Cinderella 99 (C99) is a Grade A Sativa strain with a rather fruity taste and smell, reminiscent of lemon haze. The flavor is very lemony and the smoke is considered clean and smooth. Cinderella 99 is extremely potent, providing an instant high. Cinderella 99 is used mainly for daytime use, stress and depression.
Bedrock is a Grade C+ Hybrid (Sativa dominant) strain with dark undertones. It has a fruity smell and taste with what seems to be almost a pinch of mocha. Bedrock is used mainly for stress, mild depression and anxiety. Negative effects are minimal, as this strain is quite mild.


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Photo Gallery
We thank all participants for making PPSN 2012 a GREAT SUCCESS!
We are pleased to inform that we received more than 230 submissions!
We thank all the authors for their interest in the PPSN Conference, and we are looking forward to see you in Taormina!
Extension of Final Paper Submission Deadline
Good news! We are able to postpone our submission of the final version of papers by a week. This way you can submit your final paper (by considering reviewers' comments) by 18 June 2012. Please note that this is a strict deadline and we need some more time to put all papers together before we send everything to Springer.
Congratulations once again for acceptance of your paper to PPSN 2012 and we are all looking forward to a quality conference in September in Taormina!
Important dates
Extended Deadline: March 30, 2012 Due to many requests, we shall keep the submission site open till 24:00 GMT on 2 April 2012. The submission site will be closed after this time and we are sorry we shall not be able to entertain any further requests, as the review process has to start soon thereafter.
Following the tradition of PPSN, the proceedings will be published in the Series Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) by Springer.


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Welcome! We're so glad you're checking out Fellowship! Below you'll find some information, as well as a few words of welcome from our Teaching Pastor, Ken Wilson, which will give you picture of who we are
The place to begin at Fellowship for most people is to visit our Sunday worship service. We meet every Sunday with two identical services to choose from: 9 AM or 10:45 AM. We begin our service by worshiping God through song. We invite each person to enjoy the freedom to worship in their own way – raising hands, moving, or simply taking in the music quietly. We hope you'll feel the stresses of your life – job, school, money, relationships – melt away as you begin to feel God's love and mercy, and as you surrender to Jesus.
Fellowship is a community of people committed to being open, friendly and real. Whether you choose to wear your "Sunday best" or jeans and a T-shirt, you'll fit in. You don't have to pretend your life is perfectly in order. No matter what your age, your dress, or what's going on in your life, you'll find a friendly, relaxed place where you can be yourself.
And, yes, there's a message, because our celebration of God's love would not be complete if we do not truly engage God's word and hear His voice. We are challenged, guided and encouraged. We learn a bit more about how to connect with God and with others, and how our lives can make a difference in the world.
After the service, join us for coffee in the Atrium, sit and chat with others on the journey, or if you like, take a minute to look around our place before you leave. See how we care about your children. Watch how we enjoy one another's company. Notice our joy in knowing God. And don't forget to feel what God is stirring within you.
We want people to see Jesus for who He really is and to begin a relationship with Him. As a church, we desire to equip believers to walk with God, to love others, and to impact the world. Whether you are questioning faith, new to your faith or one who has been in relationship with Jesus for a long time, we'd like to help you take the next step in your journey. Won't you join us?
Fellowship 101 | If you're looking to get even more in-depth in exploring Fellowship or have questions about what we value as a church, we invite you to sign up for our upcoming Fellowship 101 class. This one day class class is a great way to learn more about our ministries and get any questions you might have answered by our staff, leaders, and elders. Contact the Fellowship Office at firstname.lastname@example.com or by calling 501.327.3444 to find out when the next class is.


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JANExNICK video. More videos (3)Free chat with JANExNICK
Free chat with JANExNICK
We are lady and gentleman on the street but freak in bed! Come into our bed, we will not tell your wife or take her too! Let's have fun together. We have a great offer! We can shoot the film of your script! Let's discuss it online or by message)


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Monmouthshire Wards
With a population of around 91,000 and stretching from Caldicot to Abergavenny, Monmouthshire covers 330 square miles of farmland, forestry, mountains and rivers.
Celebrated for its ancient market towns, Monmouthshire is revered as one of the most picturesque counties in the UK, boasting rolling hills and quiet valleys, scenic footpaths, and fine views over green countryside. Monmouthshire has the most castles per square mile of any place in Britain and its towns and villages are characterful, with historic buildings and individual shops.
The economy is mainly based on the agricultural industry, however, tourism in the area now accounts for almost a quarter of employment and therefore lies at the centre of the economic development strategy.


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2017 BMW 3-Series 330i xDrive SULEV Sedan
Dealership Information
Auto Express Credit
Rodrigo Navarrete
850 North State Road 7
Plantation, FL 33317
That's Right, $850 DRIVES!
Here's how it works...
After selecting the vehicle(s) you are interested in and fill out an application, our finance team will calculate what the down payment required will be for the financing of your selection(s). This is where the $850 Drives Program kicks in... regardless of the down payment amount needed ($1,000.00, $2,000.00, etc...), you only need to have $850.00 of that amount to drive of on the spot! We will give you as long as 60 days to pay for your down payment balance before you even have to make your 1st car payment! This means that as long as you are able to commit to paying the balance in the time frame agreed, $850 Drives Today!
- Air Conditioning
- Alloy Wheels
- Cargo Area Tiedowns
- Child Safety Door Locks
- Daytime Running Lights
- Driver Airbag
- Driver Multi-Adjustable Power Seat
- Electrochromic Interior Rearview Mirror
- Fog Lights
- Front Side Airbag
- Interval Wipers
- Keyless Entry
- Leather Steering Wheel
- Passenger Airbag
- Passenger Multi-Adjustable Power Seat
- Power Windows
- Rain Sensing Wipers
- Separate Driver/Front Passenger Climate Controls
- Side Head Curtain Airbag
- Steering Wheel Mounted Controls
- Subwoofer
- Telematics System
- Telescopic Steering Column
- Tire Pressure Monitor
- Traction Control
- Trip Computer
- Vehicle Stability Control System
- AM/FM Radio
- Power Door Locks
*"Buy Now" price is the wholesale price of the vehicle and is available to licensed dealers and wholesalers ONLY. Retail customers must contact the dealership for pricing. "$850 Drives" is a financing program and does not represent price or down payment for any vehicle. All information displayed deemed reliable, but not guaranteed. Interested parties should confirm all data before relying on it to make a purchase decision.


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The following is the information and events of the website of Damon Carlton and a Polar Bear. As new frames open, they will be added to the top of the page. All past events can be found below the current one.
Official Links
Ronie Midfew Arts
Discussion we've had before this thread
Poster Buddy Thread
Full Set Thread
Poster Purchase List
Frame #11 Starts
-The first picture was added to Frame #10/Hub.
-The second picture was added.
-The last picture with the next event date and time was added.
-A picture with our next website was added. The website was I took a couple of flying lessons. This is a quote from "Pilot. Part 1", S01E01 made by Jack to Kate.
Drew Millward for Walt's Kidnapping
Frame #10 Starts
-The first picture was added to Frame #10/Hub.
-The second picture was added.
-The picture was updated to include more clues.
-The last picture with the next event date and time was added.
-Bags were given out at the store that said "I'm Lost". Also on the bag was our website, Trust me just leave it be. This is a quote from "Something Nice Back Home", S4E10 made by Kate to Jack.
Rob Jones for The Swan Station
Frame #9 Starts
-The first picture is added to Frame #9/Hub.
-The next picture has been added.
-A third picture has been added.
-The last picture was added giving us the time and place of the event.
-88 Keys released a blog with a rap written about LOST called Baggage Claim. Revealed in the rap was our next website You might want to consider hiking boots. This is a quote from "316", S5E06 made by Kate to Jack .
Dan McCarty for Rousseau's Transmission
Frame #8 Starts
Kevin Tong for The Hatch
Frame #7 Starts
-The first picture was added to frame #7/hub.
-The second picture was added.
-Another pic was added.
-More pictures were added leading us to the event.
-BonnieJGreen, Lottery_Ticket, Hollywood_Bob and Desmondia gave us updates of what went on at Rusty's.
-Our next website was revealed on the inside of "I <3 my Shih-Tzu" t-sthirs that were given out. It was I am trying to buy some jerkey and a slushy.This is a quote from "Because you left", S5E1 made by Hurley to Charlie.
Ken Taylor for The Smoke Monster
Frame #6 Starts
-A new silver star was added to frame 6 and then a day later a pink "X" was added on top of that.
-A new picture was added to frame 6/hub
-Another picture was added.
-The last picture was added giving us the location and time for our next event.
-The event was covered on Paces Oil Change's twitter. The website was revealed on the band's bass along with a dharma logo on the bass and the bass drum.It was Huck Finn Was Taken. This is a quote from "The Brig" S3E19 made by Anthony Cooper to Sawyer.
-Video from the concert
Jason Munn for The 4-Toes Statue
Frame #5 Starts
-Two pictures were added in frame 5/hub.
-"Wildcat Readers, see you on - J. Perkins/R. Morrison" was added to the frame 5/hub.
-A new pic was added to frame #5 giving us the location and time of the next event
-Cerberus Venting and Virexgaze went to the event and gave us picture updates.
-Our next website was revealed on bookmarks that were at the event. It was I Think That Man Was You.This is a quote from "This Place is Death", S5E5 made by Charlotte to Faraday.
-A few other pics were added to the hub.
Leia Bell for The Love Triangle
Frame #4 Starts
-Two new pictures were added into the 4th frame/hub.
-Two more pictures were added that gave us the event place and time.
-On 9/8, a few members went to the NY and LA event. AudiblyLost tells us what happen at the NY event. Whmscl gave us these photos from the LA event.
-Our next website was revealed on the back of the Dharma jumpsuits. It was I Can Get You Peanut Butter.This is a quote from "Confidence Man", S1E08 made by Charlie to Claire.
-There were two more pictures added to the hub.
Eric Tan for The Crash
-The Crash poster sold out in just under 5 hours, which has been the fastest so far.
Frame #3 Starts
-The partnership pic has been added to frame 3. When clicked it takes you to the hub where there are two new pictures.
-During the show, the website We Were caught in a Net was flashed across the bottom of the screne.This is a quote from "Three Minutes", S2E22 made by Jack to Sawyer.
Methane Studios for The Dharma Van
Frame #2 Starts
-When Young Ben's Bardot video was uploaded to DCPB.com, there was an image at the beginning of the video.
-A new clue went up on DCPB.com. The original partnership picture was placed in frame two and when clicked you are taken to the hub with the following clue and picture.
-Later two more pictures were added telling us the event and location.
-On 8/26, Lewis_C815 went to the event. The first 8 people in line that said "Horace sent me" would receive a laser engraved skate deck with a dharma logo on it. Thanks to Lewis for these pics. They also had a shirt that said "Canton-Rainier" and a window decal the logo of "Build our World".
-"The Numbers" were engraved in the board and can be seen here on Lewis_C815's Twitter as well as the next website's address which was That and Basket Weaving which contained the 2nd poster. This is a quote from "Not in Portland", S3E7 made by Alex to Sawyer.
Olly Moss for Locke's Secret
Frame #1 Starts
-Site was been updated at midnight PST to "Ronie Midfew Arts and Damon Carlton and a Polar Bear Presents" and is a site with 16 frames. So far they are all blank with the exception of the first one.
-The first picture, when clicked, takes you to this poster. Below that are possible links related to the poster.
-On 8/16, a member, Hollywood_Bob, went to the event and gave us awesome coverage. The place had Dharma logos in lights, on shirts, a picture of a possible Black Rock and a small mock hatch.
-A new website was revealed by young Ben called Actually Its Ketchup that contains the first picture to be revealed. This is a quote from "The Lie", S5E2 made by Hurley to Ana Lucia.
Tim Doyle for The Numbers
Pre Launch Hype
-Paul Scheer (a real life comedian) appeared at the 2009 Comic Con Lost Panel and presented Damon and Carlton with a black velvet painting of them and a polar bear and advertised the Damon Carlton and a Polar Bear website.
-Media outlets received a letter from Paul a few days after Comic Con and a print of the art piece. Also letting them know that he will be selling more pieces on August 15th. Doc Arzt did a podcast with Paul himself. The World of Howie was able to sit down with Paul to do an interview.
In celebration of LOST's final season and as a project of fan appreciation, 16 top designers and artists, who are also fans of the show, were commissioned to create artwork celebrating one of the series' most memorable, and unforgettable, "water cooler" moments. This ultimate "fan art" was then turned into labor intensive, hand-pulled screen prints, limited to an edition of just 300, with less than 200 available to the public through our websites. Each beautiful poster tells its own different story, allowing the fan to relive memorable and influential moments in an artistic manner, as the show's storied run comes to a close. Once this limited edition print has sold out, they will never be printed again. Celebrate the fandom, community and family created by one of televisions' greatest shows by hanging a little part of it's history, inspiration and influence on your wall.
Official Links
Ronie Midfew Arts
Discussion we've had before this thread
Poster Buddy Thread
Full Set Thread
Poster Purchase List
Information not yet official (or proven to be tied to the ARG)
-A radio station called WAKY showed up on a piece of paper in the first episode of Mysteries of the universe. -The WAKY radio station had a DJ named Weird Beard who had a pledge card stating "he is the leader" as well as another DJ named Johnny Locke. Facebook page and mentioned DCPB.com on his Site's Blog.
Links not yet official
LOST University Mysteries of the Universe
WAKY Radio Station
Weird Beard's HS
Paul Scheer's YouTube
Paul Scheer's Twitter Paul Scheer's Blog
Paul's camerman in ABC video's site
Jenson's Facebook
Jenson's Gallery 1988's Blog


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UNIVERSITY PARK – Penn State adult undergraduate students are invited to attend the second annual Adult Student Leadership and Career Networking Event from 5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. Nov. 25, in the lobby of the Penn State Outreach Building in Innovation Park. Candice "Candy" Yekel, Penn State assistant vice president for research and director of the Office for Research Protections, will be the keynote speaker at this free event. This year's theme is "More Than I Thought I Could Be: From Finite to Infinite Possibilities."
"Continuing Education student advisory groups helped to organize this event to give adult students in central Pennsylvania an opportunity to build their leadership and goal-setting skills and network with other Penn State adult students who may someday become professional colleagues," said Betsy Esposito, academic support resource coordinator for Penn State Continuing Education at the University Park campus. "Candy Yekel's story of success as an adult student will be inspirational for these students."
Yekel began her education at Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus. She committed herself to her education goals, making the dean's list, joining the University Scholars Program at University Park and earning membership in several honor societies. She also worked with Department of Psychology faculty on projects and co-authored several research papers. Yekel completed her undergraduate degree in psychology and graduate degree in developmental psychology, and ultimately landed a job at the University in 1994.
She served as the compliance coordinator for the Office for Regulatory Compliance until 1997, when she was named director of the Office for Research Protections. In 2012, she was promoted to her current role, where her responsibilities include leadership for compliance oversight and training on the responsible conduct of research at Penn State.
The Adult Student Leadership and Career Networking Event is designed for undergraduate students who are enrolled through Continuing Education, resident instruction and locally through the World Campus. Dress is business casual. The registration deadline is Nov. 21.
To register, visit here.


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|Networking seniors learn from peers , Postbulletin.com, October 3, 2008
October 3, 2008
Read the article at the Postbulletin.com about the courses offered at the SeniorNet Learning Center in Rochester MN. Students up to age 91 are learning to send and receive email and photos. Some are learning skills to re-enter the workforce; some are pursuing genealogy research or managing their finances using their computers.


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It looks like Gawker Media will be looking for a few good commenters for a new program.
As editorial director Joel Johnson puts it:
I'm creating a new program at Gawker Media that we're calling "Recruits." Recruits will be paid, short-term contractors who receive a monthly stipend, their own Kinja subsite attached to one of our eight core brands, mentoring and direction from our site leads and their staff, as well as an aggressive bonus structure that will reward the capturing of uniques (using the same Quantcast "people" metric we use across all the sites).
Don't send in an application though.
We're not currently taking unsolicited applications, but as ever, building a strong history of intelligent discussion and contribution within Kinja is a smart way to get noticed.


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Voters will get to decide fate of Astrodome
A $217 million bond authorization that would pay to turn the iconic Astrodome into a convention and exhibit hall is officially headed to Harris County voters.
Harris County Commissioners Court on Tuesday ordered a November bond election for the renovation, and also approved $8 million for asbestos abatement, selective demolition and other work county staff says needs to be done on the vacant stadium whether it is revamped or torn down.
That includes allowing the county purchasing agent to inventory and sell Dome-related "sports memorabilia," including signs.
If the referendum passes and the county chooses to issue the entire bond amount, county budget staff have said it would increase the average property tax bill by $8 a year.
That's for a home valued at $200,000, minus a $40,000 homestead exemption.