Hello everybody, I'm finally back. I've finished all my assignments, I'm on Winter Break, and now I'm getting back on track with all the projects and research I've wanted to work on for ages now, including Spark Comics! I'm very happy to finally be done this semester, it was insane and I had A LOT of work on my hands, but like always I found some way to finish it all in the end. My marks have been trickling in and so far I'm doing very well (LEVEL UP!). This has been my first full week post-finals and I'm so grateful I can now relax. So, what's new with me? Let's see...

Back in October, I made my first interactive drawing machine controller that both plays and draws the classic video game of Pong! Despite it looking flimsy, broken, and, quite honestly, extremely ghetto, it was very stable, successful, and it actually worked! I unfortunately don't have any video footage of it right now, but you can check out pictures and a description of it here: Pong Drawing Machine V1

I was working with a specialized haptic video game controller called the Novint Falcon for a few months. I borrowed it from the laboratory I work it since I've seen that thing in the corner for years and nobody ever seemed to use it, so I took up the challenge. It was HARD to work with, but I managed to use it for 2 of my final projects. I made some video documentation for both projects that you can view at the following links to see exactly what I was working on.

Falcon Draw Documentation
Falcon 3D Drawing Documentation

With the world prophescized to end yesterday, I spent most of my first week of freedom making fun of it by finally making a brand new Spark Comic! That's right, Spark Comics are back and while I may only make a small bonus comic for Christmas due to being busy pre-holiday, there should hopefully be a more consistent schedule with Spark Comics after next week, with Tuesday being the usual comic day again! I've got a bunch of ideas and am glad I finally have some time to make comics again! This week's comic is a commentary on the so-called Mayan Apocalypse on December 21st, 2012. I released the comic the day before, on December 20th, to both get the jump on the date and to show how BS it was by laughing at it in the face of our "impending doom". Most of the time for this comic was spent with the 3D render on the last panel. Not going to spoil it, but it was much more effort than I bargained for due to things constantly going wrong and my computer acting up when rendering certain things, but I got it done! Anyway, check it out and see all the fucks I don't give when it comes to the end of the Mayan Calendar. Tell me what you think about it!

Spark Comic #53 - December 21st, 2012
SparkComic.com Link
DeviantArt Link

Yesterday, with the end of the Mayan Calendar and my comic laughing it in its face, I did what any sensible person did: Went about my day as usual. Nothing happened! SURPRISING ISN'T IT!? What did I do on December 21st, 2012? I finished my Christmas Shopping, did all my gift-wrapping, went out of town for the weekend, and, most importantly, DEFENDED THE EARTH... From Galactus... In Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3. I had to do that, just to feel SOME sort of sense that the world was ending. Afterwards, I went around to my friends and asked them "So, how was your end of the world", with many funny replies. Tell me, readers, how was your end of the world? Mine was great! Man, I'm really tearing apart this Mayan myth to shreds aren't I? I had a pretty good and productive day and NOTHING BAD HAPPENED. YOUR MOVE MAYAN CONSPIRACY THEORISTS!

And finally, I just found out, much to my surprise, that Halolz posted my Halo REACH picture and that it got popular off of Reddit. I'm not angry. Anything but, I'm glad my Halo REACH picture is getting so much exposure (Heck, I've always been surprised by its view count on DeviantArt), and I'm happy that people are enjoying it. The only thing I'd like though is to get some credit for it. I know it's merely a joke picture I made for fun without much thought or care for quality, but I'd like to have people see where it originally came from. I tried messaging Halolz a few ways (Their e-mail is broken) tonight to try and add my link to that picture out of courtesy. Not sure if they're going to actually listen, but I tried. I know they post random stuff from all over the internet and I have no problem with that, but hopefully they're respectful enough to credit the original creator (Update: They did, thanks Halolz!). You can view my picture from its original source in my Gallary here: Halo REACH

Well, that's all for me right now. Enjoy your Christmas/Hannukah/Kwanza/Winter Break. I hope its filled with joy and cheer! Happy Holidays to you all!

P.S. Gangnam Style reached 1 BILLION Youtube views on December 21st, 2012... WOW! If you want to give the Mayans credit for something, maybe you can give them credit for predicting THAT. :S