A dream of extraordinary magnitude

Here’s another revitalized character design in the form of Mindsight. Mindsight here goes back to the early 90’s and is a member of my big ol’ group of superheroes that you’ll see soon. She has strong telekinesis powers, limited telepathy and other mental powers that she’s still in the process of developing. I started drawing this while mostly forgetting what her old outfit looked like. I figured I’d capture my favorite parts of the old outfit by habit while still feeling free to experiment a tiny bit. Then I dug out a pic of her and made a few more adjustments. Sure, it’s a mild outfit by most standards, but it fits her attitude. I’m hoping to have this one cleaned up and in flat color in time for a weekend Illmosis update.

Back when I finally revealed the ScrollBoss 30K hits pic, I told people in a few places that I used to draw one character hitting lots of other people at once a lot. Hard to believe since I’ve mostly drawn solo pics since I had the artist’s block in 2002. But there’s your proof in the form of Longfellow (now known as Longway for now) punching six people at once. I finally found this and some other art from this period that I’m going to scan for various reasons.

I also found the hand drawn video game logos from both that time and when I first started ScrollBoss. Many people borrow (as the kids put it) logos from there thinking that they’re all ripped from the games. I’ve even seen the custom Final Fight one show up in a fan game. It’s funny to have stuff that I did kinda float it’s way into other projects when I almost constantly bash everything that I make.

Categories: Art, My characters, Video Games by PrimeOp

Whatever’s been screwing with my system lately must be on the ropes. Today, I was able to wake up at a decent time instead of waking up at a decent time then collapsing back to the bed to pass out for a few more hours. Unlike the past few weeks, I feel mostly awake. I’ll find out when I try to draw something after posting this.

For some odd reason, I’ve been thinking a lot about the coolness of Bomberman lately. I was thinking that it’d be cool if there were a Bomberman where you could make your own characters, enemies, stages, etc. Then I remembered that much of that was in Interplay’s Atomic Bomberman. I had removed it from my PC when I needed more space to save stuff from the dying D-Drive long ago, so I’d have to reinstall it. Problem is: the install program won’t work. Tried all the fixes on the Interplay site and they don’t work. Now that I have the know-how to properly make custom stuff for it, I can’t install it. Insert long string of curse words here.

I am ONE, SINGLE achievement away from unlocking the ECW One Night Stand ’05 arena in Raw vs. Smackdown 2006. I still have to do that “reverse the casket door” thing during the “Buried Alive” match. Crap. I’ll probably get that out of the way this week. Once I do, I’ll have the perfect background for some of my video game-related custom characters and may finally get around to doing some YouTube CAW (Create-A-Wrestler) videos. Meanwhile, I’ve noticed that the current ECW show is starting to improve. Last week was a pretty good show and I hope they keep it rollin’ with more matches like that C.M. Punk vs. Johnny Nitro. Nitro is turning into one of those “bet you didn’t think I could do THIS” guys by pulling out surprisingly sick moves out of nowhere. I still won’t forgive them for denying us one last Danny Doring/Roadkill team-up. Well, I may reconsider if the ECW Zombie appears more, though.

Categories: Uncategorized by PrimeOp

I finally got this in the mail from Amazon.com today. For those who don’t know who the J.B.’s are, they’re James Brown’s band, which makes them much more than just a mere band. The J.B.’s are a funk force in their own right even when Mr. Please Please’s voice isn’t on the track. If you don’t believe me, check out the Amazon.com listing and listen to the previews. HOT DAMN! Now that’s funky. What I’ve always loved about James Brown’s music is that it feels like there’s a hundred things going on at once but it all manages to fit together. You could isolate one instrument by itself and even that alone would be twenty times funkier than anything on the pop charts. That’s what happens when you have people like Bobby Byrd, Fred Wesly, Maceo Parker, Bootsy Collins, Catfish Collins and tons of other talented people. I’m not any sort of true music critic, so I’m just going to ramble about how some of these songs make me feel.

Blow Your Head – the ill synth in the beginning pops up in A LOT of Hip-Hop and brings a smile to my face every time I hear it. The rest of the song rolls in and grooves along with the synth playing around in the background.

The Grunt, Pt. 1 – This song is like a runaway freight train that’s hauling TNT and funk. It starts with the horn that I used to call “the teapot noise” that we know and love from Public Enemy’s Rebel without a Pause and Night of the Living Baseheads. And the funk doesn’t let up until the song ends. If you like horn sections, this’ll be like honey for you. One of the main reasons that I bought this.

Givin’ Up Food For Funk, Pt. 1 – And this song is one of the other main reasons that I bought this one. It’s almost the exact opposite of the Grunt because it’s more of a good, rolling groove solidly powered by guitars and keyboards with the horns being there for good flavor. If you’ve heard the Geto Boys’ Mind of a Lunatic, this is the beat.

Same Beat, Pt. 1 – Okay, this is my new, official theme song for chillin’ out. This one is just completely laid back. Out of all the songs that I hadn’t heard yet, this is my favorite. It also ties the Gap Band’s Early in the Mornin’ for “Greatest Song with a Rooster in it”.

Whether you’re a fan of soul music, James Brown or like to track down where a lot of Hip-Hop samples come from, I highly recommend this one. If you’re even just kinda-sorta-maybe thinking about getting it, just hurry up and get it now while it’s still $8. It usually hovers in the $12 to $14 range, although it’d still be worth it at that price. In other words, don’t let these peas pass you by. No, I couldn’t think of anything more clever than that.

Categories: Hip-Hop, Music by PrimeOp

It wasn’t until last year that I noticed just how perfect pizza and root beer go together. Well, I think I knew somewhere deep within my soul, but I wasn’t conscious of it. It’s just perfect. Yeah, I know, many people claim that beer and pizza are the perfect mix but that’s probably they’re sad, sad alky cases who say beer goes good with anything. Unlike those boozehounds that tell you that lie so that you’ll buy beer along with the pizza so they can get free beer from you, I care and want you to have the best things in life. I really do. Root Beer goes good with pizza because it’s just sweet and flavorful (?) enough to be tasted without overpowering the taste of the pizza. Fruit-based flavors? They’ll try to bogart your senses out of sheer insecurity. Pepsi? Close, but a bit too sweet. Coca-Cola ? Close, but a bit too obnoxious to peacefully co-exist with most foods. Cherry Coke? Definitely in the top 5. But for sheer tastebud pleasurificationizing, root beer is the Papa Large of pizza drinks. Try it out the next time you have the chance.

Categories: Uncategorized by PrimeOp
Tags: pizza and rootbeer

As much as I’ve tried to avoid talking about it, I haven’t been feeling well for a bit. Seems mostly sinus-related among other things. Even after deciding to stay home this weekend to get some rest, I still feel kinda off. The lack of energy is what’s been killing my artwork, so I decided to ease back into my happy place of childhood memories. It is there that I discovered the perfect subject: Mr. Do.

Mr. Do! is a 1982 arcade game by a now defunct (I guess) company named Universal (no connection to Universal Pictures). Since it’s from the early 80’s and doesn’t involve outer space, it sounds insane if you ever try to explain it to someone. Think I’m jokin’? Fine. Here’s the short version of it: Mr. Do! is about a clown who picks cherries while using apples and his magic ball to battle dinosaurs, ghosts and the alphabet. There. Happy now? You’ve gone and made me explain a crazy 1980’s video game. Then again, that’s why old video games were so much fun. Keep your bald, faux-tribal inked steroid anti-heroes and government special-ops face-stabbers who like to run around jagged rubble and rusty, metal factories. Me, I miss the crazy. Chances are, I’ll be drawing a few more video game characters that are from the real old-school. I already have a few in mind.

Categories: Art, Video Games by PrimeOp

I could keep bashing my brains against the inside of my skull trying to come up with a replacement name for “Funky Friday” or I could just play around with names until I run into something that I like. For this week, it’s “Make the Music with your Mouth” day. Of course, it’s named after the classic joint by the Diabolical One, Biz Markie. While I’ve never seen a video for it, the closest I’ve found on YouTube features the musical stylings of ‘Tommy D’ What makes it pure genius is that he does the throat noise that Biz is infamous for. I’ve annoyed people with that for years and it’s just nice to see it done somewhere else. Anyway, everything today will feature making the music. With your mouth. Remember, party people: support true Hip-Hop and buy a CD or MP3 download of any artist you like here.

J.J. Fad – Supersonic – Ah, back when female emcees didn’t have to be skankified to get video airplay. Anyway, this version has Baby-D’s beatboxing intro that wasn’t always shown or was cut off by the programming editors. If you haven’t heard this song before but you’re wondering why it sounds familiar, it’s probably because you’ve heard this. Now go back to the Supersonic YouTube link and listen to it again while reading the feedback for extra comedy flavor.

Doug E Fresh and the Get Fresh Crew – The Show Now that’s a classic. To this day, I still don’t know how Doug E Fresh can beat box like that. Doug E also has a memorable cameo in Beat Street. I’ll talk more about Doug E and Slick Rick in another music post, since a short part here isn’t enough.

the Fat Boys – Stick ‘Em – While Doug E Fresh was probably the earliest amazing beat-boxer, the late Buffy (R.I.P.) from the Fat Boys is probably inspired more 80’s kids to beat-box (including me) than ANYBODY. Period. For me, this is the song that did it. I think all it took was hearing it one time on FM 108 WDMT (a long defunct Cleveland station) before I started doing that. You can catch the Fat Boys in Krush Groove and their own movie Disorderlies.

Rahzel – All I know – You know, in a perfect world, Rahzel’s version of Biz’s “Make the Music” would be on YouTube somewhere. Most Rahzel searches turn up his various live performances, this video and a bunch of beatboxers that put Rahzel tags on their vids to get hits. Still, this video fully showcases how Rahzel, the Godfather of Noise, is a one-man Hip Hop production team. That’s right: there’s no scratching in that song. He’s the one doing that. I first heard him do that on a cut from the Roots’ second album and didn’t know it was vocally done.

It’s time for me to get ready for work, so I’ve got to close things out with a gem:
Biz Markie and Doug E Fresh… LIVE.
How can I top that? I can’t. So I’m out! BTW: I may modify this one later on to post some more links and such. Either way, I hope you enjoyed yourself and maybe… just maybe… made some mouth music of your own. Go ahead and try it. I won’t tell. **does the throat-tapping noise**

Categories: Music Posts by PrimeOp

I just installed Peter’s Custom Anti-Spam Image Plugin for WordPress Share on Facebook that will ask that you type in a word to prove that you’re not a spambot trying to sell some kind of genital salve. In the words of MC Lyte, I’m not havin’ it. Anyway, this plugin doesn’t use that annoying method of warping random letters to the point where you can’t even read them. In it’s place is a system that lets you choose what random words pop up for people to type in. Yeah, you know I’m going to get goofy with it. As a bonus, I can set it so that comments aren’t automatically screened. If things get stupid, I can always reset it.

I’m still rethinking the new name for what I used to call “Funky Friday” since many won’t be fitting the “Groove” label. That just won’t fit some of the stuff I plan to post in future episodes. So now what? The Friday Funkathon? The Weekend Get-down? I dunno. I’ll figure something out. Until then, I’ll probably be putting it on hold.

Categories: Uncategorized by PrimeOp

Categories: Comics by PrimeOp

So I was checking out some pages that were linking to this blog and one of those link sites had a link to another blog that has a Funky Friday feature. A danged good one, too!

Silence is a rhythm too

See, that’s how feature would look if I were doing it right. Anyway, since the name is taken, I’m changing it to something that I was going to use in one of my books. Crazy enough, this characters’s secret identity is a DJ and the name of his show is “I’ll play the grooves for you.” So that’s what I’ll call the music posts here, too. I’m just that lazy 🙂

Categories: Uncategorized by PrimeOp

As I’ve said a few times on ths blog for the last week or so, everything I’ve tried to draw has turned out crappier than usual. What you see to the side here is the one that’s the least embarassing. It was based on a sketch from a doodle page that I dont’ think even shows up on the site yet. The problem was that I changed the pose as I was doing it to show more of the legs and the feet. Again, the “they’re all going to complain” factor crept in and I screwed things up. It’s even more stupid since the plan was to have Hal here fly towards the screen in a – – oops. I have to be cryptic again. Man, I hate having to do that. With any luck, you’ll see some unfail versions of this other thing later this year.

Categories: Art by PrimeOp