FIRE SALE!

Okay, for this weekend only, Team Fortress 2 is for sale for $10 on Steam, Valve's digital download service (it's like Xbox Live, only better).  If you don't purchase this, then I don't want to know you.

Here's the link to Steam... use it (just click on the little box in the left column, about halfway down that says "Get Steam Now")...

Heya all!!!

Let me introduce myself to all who dont know me. My name is Xzebo, I am the brother of the Juanito, the nephew of the Bot, the cousin of the Omally and the Punk-Rock Princess (for the sake of protecting their "real" identities I have used their profile names) lol jk anywho, I'm relatively new to the MOAG universe having played but twice..... and once with a human so that didn't count. So any questions about me go ahead and ask. L8RS!

Snarf Chicken

This is my Snarf Chicken that I made during my CIS 1020 class today.. It's a sculpt with some compositing, and it looks freaking awesome..

Shilling my new blog...

Okay, I've started another blog, basically it's a place for me to put up my artwork.  I'll still post my MOAG art here as well as there, but I'll use that as a basic place for putting up any kind of artwork.  Also, you might want to check it out, I'll be posting links to tutorials for various apps (Photoshop, Illsutrator, After Effects, possibly some 3d Apps)  Anyway, check it out and have fun.

Oh, here's the link.  Enjoy.

It Came From the Ashes! In TECHNO-COLOR!!

(Yes, that's a Tank from Left 4 Dead...)

The fog rolled back from the dying corpse, chilled from the long exposure to the night wind coming off the barren mesa of life.  The vultures circled quietly, hoping the thing would just die already.  But alas, just as it looked like it was going to bite the big one, kick the bucket, cash the check, go the way of all the earth, extinguish the eternal flame, (I'm running out of euphemisms here...) it raised it's hand 0n the 3rd count like a professional wrestler resisting the warm embrace of the sleeper hold.  Slowly it climbed to it's knees, shook off the rust and cobwebs from being under used and under appreciated.  It gathered the strength to stand, and there, for the first time in what seemed like years, it stood tall, with the wind blowing through it's smooth, milky soft mane.  MOAG was alive, and it was feeling good.

Okay, there you go Shadowwire, MOAG is NOT dead, and it's doing fine living in Costa Rica with JFK, Bigfoot, and Elvis.  While we want MOAG to enjoy it's vacation, let's not leave it there too long okay?  Infact, I'm going to insist on a MOAG day when I come down over the holidays, so you all can just suck it up and get ready to rock a Klisk's skull through it's face.  

PS - We still love you Rock Band.  Really we do. 

So apparently no one survived the Zombies...

Geeze, it's like the world has died, and all that's left are zombies.  Luckily for you all, I have unlimited ammo, so it's all good.  Anyway, I hope everybody had a wonderful turkey day, I had a great weekend, and am finally now recovering from the meat sweats and the triptofan coma.  

I've been thinking about MOAG a bit lately, and I think that we need to get back on the MOAG bandwagon.  We've been using the blog for things only slightly MOAG related (if we're lucky) and I'm not complaining.  This is basically an easy means for us to comunicate with each other in a group forum.  But we seem to have dropped the ball when it comes to posting actual MOAG content.  And I will be the first to admit blame.  And that blame falls squarely on Shadowwire's shoulders.  Just kidding.  Not really.  Maybe.  

Okay fine, it's not just his fault, so let's get this baby rolling again.

On another note, I'll be down in the southern regions around the 20th for a day or two, and then back in Cedar from the 27th to possibly the 3rd, so I'm hereby declaring my intentions to play Rock Band and MOAG with all the gang at some point during that time.  Please, for the love of all that is holy, be there so we can get together and rock some Klisk's face through his skull.

Out.

Left 4 Dead: You had me at "SHOOT THE @!@!! ZOMBIES ALREADY!"

Well, I downloaded the Left 4 Dead demo off of Steam today, and I have to say, It's my new favorite game.  Imagine the awesomeness of Half-Life 2, but instead of shooting the combine, you're shooting zombies.  Also, this is a 4 player co-op game, and it's awesome.   You have to rely on your teammates more than most games I've played.  You heal each other, you rescue or revive your teammates.  Anyway, if you have Steam, download the demo now.  Right now I tell you, and kill yourself some zombies.

May I recommend the blog alfredo?

Okay, I've taken Squirrel's hidden challenge to my blog-hood, and I'll post a post. So there. Anyway, I've been thinking lately as to what I can post here. I've been pretty busy at work and most of my free time has been spent doing concept for the current project I'm on, so I can't post anything art wise. But I happen to follow a lot of blogs out there that I think you guys (and gals) would find interesting, so I'll recommend a few for you all. And if you have some that you like, please feel free to list them in the comments.

1. Google Reader. This is my go-to site for anything blog related. It keeps track of all your blogs you want to follow, and you can read all the posts from one page instead of having to go to all the different sites. Really simple, and if you already have a google account for g-mail, you're all set up and ready to go!

2. Concept Ships. An excellent site dedicated to exactly what the title says, concept art about ships. Space ships, sailing ships, cars, anything that you can call a ship really. It's awesome and the work is amazing. Check it out. Especially if you want any inspiration for your latest MOAG character's new pimped out ride.

3. Springfield Punx. This one's just funny. The dude's a Simpsons maniac, and does illustrations of various famous people in the simpsons style. Last month he did a Marvel character every day, it was awesome. You really need to check this out.

4. Gorilla Artfare. This is one of my favorites. It's a concept art blog, similar to Concept Ships, but it's open to any topic. It's really cool, and the artists are awesome. I highly recommend it. In fact, if you only look at one of these selections, this should be the one. You need to go check it out, if only to see the wonderful steam-punk Star Wars illustrations (scroll down to the Star Wars posts...) by Björn Hurri. He's awesome.

5. It's Just Me. This one will probably only interest Mrs. Shadowwire and Mrs. Bot, but it's my wife's blog, and I think they'd really enjoy it. So Bot and Shadowwire, pass it on.

Anyway, there it is. I have plenty more that I follow regularly, and I'll be happy to share more with you. I have some graphic design blogs if you're interested (Juanito) as well as some that give Photoshop Brushes and tutorials, so if you want, I can pass them along. As well as some sports blogs that I read.

Anyway, post your favorites in the comments. I'm interested to see what you guys like to read as well...

It's a post!

..Well, this might not have much/anything to do with the vast majority of you (as in west is probably the only one who will care), but I decided to ask what the amazing plan is for thanksgiving at the cabin. So, I have a pentuim 3 that I MIGHT be able to smuggle there. It needs more ram (as in it only has 128mb), but it runs starcraft, and unreal tournament fine (fits minimum req. -with a faster processor
{|[1 whole Ghz!]|}- for halo), so there might be some good use for it. Seeing as we'll be in a powered building, it'll be a plan of sorts...Anyways, I'm pretty exited to get down there, and I know you (west) have an awesome lappy to bring, so hows about some awesome plans, or at least a response of sorts..

It's a post!

..Well, this might not have much/anything to do with the vast majority of you (as in west is probably the only one who will care), but I decided to ask what the amazing plan is for thanksgiving at the cabin. So, I have a pentuim 3 that I MIGHT be able to smuggle there. It needs more ram (as in it only has 128mb), but it runs starcraft, and unreal tournament fine (fits minimum req. -with a faster processor
{|[1 whole Ghz!]|}- for halo), so there might be some good use for it. Seeing as we'll be in a powered building, it'll be a plan of sorts...Anyways, I'm pretty exited to get down there, and I know you (west) have an awesome lappy to bring, so hows about some awesome plans, or at least a response of sorts..

It's a post!

..Well, this might not have much/anything to do with the vast majority of you (as in west is probably the only one who will care), but I decided to ask what the amazing plan is for thanksgiving at the cabin. So, I have a pentuim 3 that I MIGHT be able to smuggle there. It needs more ram (as in it only has 128mb), but it runs starcraft, and unreal tournament fine (fits minimum req. -with a faster processor
{|[1 whole Ghz!]|}- for halo), so there might be some good use for it. Seeing as we'll be in a powered building, it'll be a plan of sorts...Anyways, I'm pretty exited to get down there, and I know you (west) have an awesome lappy to bring, so hows about some awesome plans, or at least a response of sorts..

Blarg.

Well, not much has been posted lately.. I've decided to use my mound of time to learn C++, and I'm happy with where it's been going for he first 10min. or so, other than my trouble concentrating at the moment.. Don't ask why I'm telling you this; but would anyone care to join me on this journey of awesomeness? ...Anyways, I can understand your exuse of not having enough time, but I think it shall be useful to know some programming, if not downright awesome. ...Anyways, time to play some OpenLieroX!

It's Halloween! What are you gonna be?

There you are, standing at the mirror in the D.I., looking for anything that will go with the lemon-yellow hounds-tooth jacket you're holding in your hands. It's a beaut, and it's only 3 bucks. You'll also need to have your significant other sew in an "extension" in the back, seeing as it's a small and you've been visiting the big boys table for way to long to think you can shimmy into this with out you-tube being involved. So you wander around the store for 30 more minutes, trying to convince yourself that a) you can loose the weight by tomorrow night's party, or b) the fabric's pretty durable, you're sure it'll stretch.

We all know how this ends. It doesn't ever fit. If I've learned anything about Halloween shopping at the D.I., it's this cold, hard fact: Do your Halloween shopping in July!

Needless to say, I'm not going to be wearing a costume this year. Perhaps I will sport the faux-hawk again, but who knows... Anyway, due to some other events that we have planned for Halloween day, I can't get into any costume until that night, so I'll probably go as an overweight father of 4. I already have all the costumes for that. So while I'm not going to be anything this year, I was thinking that if I COULD be something, what would it be?

So here it is, a list of costume Ideas that I'd like to try or see somebody pull off. I doubt these are ground breaking ideas, it's a big world out there, so I'm not guaranteeing that you won't see these around. But if you do, snap a pic, I'd like to see them...

So on to the list!

#1 - Brock Sampson



I've seen this one attempted, but honestly, nobody has pulled it off yet. The notorious Swedish Body guard is apparently quite a tall task for those eager, yet ultimately unimpressive attempts that I have seen thus far.

#2 - The main dude from Dead Space



I know I should know his name, our company DID make the game, but you'll have to forgive me, I was blinded by the awesomeness of his suit...

#3 - The Heavy



I've seen this one a lot as well, but again, like Mr. Sampson, it hasn't been pulled off to the level of awesomeness that it requires. Perhaps, if you happen to have a large comrade from Eastern Europe, you are required to have him dress up as the heavy this Halloween. It's the law.

Well, there are more out there, I know you all want to see anyone in the Princess Lea slave bikini/outfit, but you'll have to dig that one up for your own self.

If you have a good costume idea or see one, let's post it up here so we can all get a good look.

Happy Halloween!

Chip Dip of DOOM!!!!!

Shadowwire has requested the recipe for the Sausage chip dip my wife made for us at the Rockband-a-looza we had at his house on my last visit down, so here it is.

For those of us who tasted the goodness, enjoy again, and for everyone else, you need to try it. Seriously. It's good.

The Ingredients.

--8 oz block of cream cheese
--1 can tomatoes and green chiles (aka Rotel), drained
--1 lb breakfast sausage, browned and drained

The Directions.

Brown the sausage on the stove, and drain on paper towels.

Unwrap the cream cheese, and put it into your crockpot. Chop up the sausage and add on top. Drain the Rotel, and add it.

Cover and cook on low for about 90 minutes, or on high for 45. Stir well and eat with tortilla chips.

Ok this is totally late for my weekend art but I haven't participated in any MOAG blogging whatsoever for a long time so I just decided to throw out this totally awesome piece I did. . .

. . . OK ok, its not so awesome but it is pretty funny. I've been working on a funny little comic and this guy was just a practice that I did for it but you know he definately fits the MOAG-addict profile.. . . Well I hope you like him, And may all you Moagers rock on!!!!

The Long and Winding Road...

Sooo... I'll be in the sleepy little burg of Cedar City Saturday. And to make things even better, I've been given the green light from the Mrs. to hang out and what not Saturday evening. So I implore all of you MOAGers out there to get something together and lets... well... DO something. Rockband to the wee hours of the morning? I'm in. MOAG? I'm in as well, altough probably in a more sarcastic, snarky manner.

Anyway, let's get this going. Shadowwire, you have my personal communication device frequency, use it.

THIS JUST IN: It's still not finished yet...

Okay, here's the updated version. Almost done. Really having a lot of fun with this one. Anyway, we'll be down next weekend, but not for very long. Maybe we'll have to get together saturday night for some shenanigans or something. Anyway, gotta go.

Bot's Early Morning Video Game Pick's of the Moment (Classic Version)

Okay, so neither is this in the early morning or a game I am playing at the moment. But since I am still occupied with Rock Band 2 and Spore and I have the time, I thought that I would reminisce rather than go on and on about Rock Band 2 and Spore......... which are awesome........... still....

Anyway!!! Here we go. Imagine, if you will, a beautiful summer in Northern California. Hot weather outside, but the cooler keeps the house nice and cool. The Sevy house has just bought an Atari 2600 and one of the first games we got was Yars Revenge.



For the time, this game was amazing and it probably still is! I just haven't played it forever. For those of you who don't know (and most of you probably don't) the object of this game was to take your flying mechanical insect (a Yar) and destroy the enemy base that was protected by a thick layer of shield that the Yar could eat away.


The static in the middle of the screen is not a glitch, it is the safe zone where the enemies missile could not kill you. Aww the memories..... For more information on this and other wonderful games go to wikipedia and look them up.

MONDAY MOAG ART: The Early edition (WIP)

Obviously, this is a work in progress (hence the WIP in the title). I'm going for a nomad-like dude, with native american influence. It's a little dark, and I plan on lightening it up a little over the weekend (hope to finish it too...) but overall I really like where this is heading. Anyway, not much else to say. The in-laws are coming to visit this weekend, and to be honest, not much excitement to be found.

Oh well... at least I'll have Spore and my Photoshops...

Bot's Early Morning Video Game Pick's of the Moment

Well, I thought since Salvaggio had his movie picks of the week that I would start to post my games of the moment... and I say "of the moment" because I suffer (or enjoy every moment of it) from ADD and have the ability to change video games at the blink of an eye. So without further ado.... LOOK!!! SOMETHING SHINY!!!....... on with the show.




Not just the Creator Creature that we talked about a while ago, but the whole darn thing. It may be short, but it leaves you saying "oh man Spore 2 is going to be freakin' awesome." (Kind of the same thing I did with Fable.) The premise is simple. Take your creature from a single cell organism to a space faring being. That is also where the fun lies. It's an amazingly addictive game that can be played quickly (it took me two night to get to the Space Stage) but you can enjoy every moment of it. The down side is it does cost $50! Which for some people (namely college students, the generally poor and family people whose names are not Salvaggio) can be a little steep. I give this game a score of "try it, you'll like it!" And that's with none of the fizzy alka seltzer after taste.

Now on to number 2!!! Which is my number 1!!!





OMG!!! (G = Gosh) I never really got into the whole rhythm game thing until Guitar Hero 3 for the Wii which was fun but didn't keep my interest, and then I played the first Rock Band with some friends (Omally, Kadaj and PRP to be exact) needless to say, that was the game that finally made me get the XBox 360. Not Halo, not.... umm.... is there anything else out there for the 360???...... Oh well! Anyway, I heart this game! I played it every day for the the almost 6 months I owned it and when I had the chance to pre order Rock Band 2 I had it paid off lickity split. I got Rock Band 2 over the weekend (I won't say on Friday) on Sunday and it is better then the first. All the songs that I had downloaded for the first one work perfectly on the second. 55 out of the 58 songs on the first disc transferred nicely to the 360 HDD and now work great on 2. PLUS Rock Band 2 has 84 songs on disc! I have over 200 songs now and it's just going to get worse!!! Harmonix puts out 3 - 5 new downloadable songs every week and you know I am going to be getting more. (I got Duran Duran's Rio for Heavens sake!) This game gets an "ACTIVATE OVERDRIVE!!!"

Anyway, try these two games whenever you can. They are fun and well worth it.

Hmm... New ideas maybe?

Okay, I bought this book recently (I know you have it already, Shadowwire, but I paid $1 for it at a used book sale at the library, so there). It's got some very weird ideas, basically the stuff that made us want to change and make MOAG in the first place. But there also are a lot of ideas that I think MOAG could use, with a little help.

Now this post is not here to list those ideas, Shadowwire has the book, and I'm sure he's well aware of what's in it. What I want to know, is what you think we need to change. Also let's keep it to the comments, that way we can read all the relevant ideas in the same forum. I know previously we've wanted to post a new post for every idea, but I think we all know the blog is here, so there's no need to keep putting up a new post for everything. And please, don't take that as a reason to not post anymore.

So... comment away. I promise that Shadowwire won't hold any of you responsible for ideas that you say you don't like. Okay, so I can't make that promise, but I'd like to think that he wouldn't do that.

But then again...

New Ideas...

Sam thought up the Idea to video-confrence a game of MOAG. this way, we'll be able to play with you guys. It's a great idea, seeing as we have 2 PC's with webcams here. (if I can find the other one.) I think we shall all answer to Sam's inventatous idea making. (OK I had to fit a big word in there somewhere) also, I'll bug him about joining the blog.

Our "Aliases"

Well I was just doing a cool picture of a astronaut guy for my weekend art. During the summer my uncle got into a bunch of his "pioneer astronaut movies" one of them I happened to see with him was "The Right Stuff" which is now a top 10 movie for me but that's why I started to do this picture.. . . Well as soon as I started the pic with "The Right Stuff" in mind, I started to think about the funny aliases or gamer identities we have (well actually most are pretty cool, unlike mine. . . hahaha) Um anyway the guy in the drawing started to look hispanic so I decided to make this a drawing of my alter ego "Juanito."

. . . Then, well just now, I decided to make a story for him. This is all the at the spur of the moment so go ahead and laugh through out it, you have my permission (as if you needed it).

Juan Casador aka Juanito was a pilot that entered a secret privately funded astronaut program which sent "specimans" to Mars much before the USA space program even began. This program was initiated by. . . Um. . . Mexico! . . . Yeah Mexico (yes, chuckle at the obvious impossibility) thats where Juanito comes in. He was the first man to go to Mars but got all radioactified on the trip and this made him able to have a very unnaturally long life, living up into the era of the current MOAG universe. . . oh yeah he is totally awesome because he is the leading human expert in space flight and navigation, because he has lived so long. . .

. . . Yep that my alter ego, hahaha! So anyways let me know what you think everyone.

Back in the Art

Hello everyone. . .

. . . Well I know that it is not the weekend, which is when I usually post some art but I was bored and wanted to do something so I just colored a funny picture I drew a while ago that some of you probably may have seen. . .

Please hold the applause for the Mr. Macaneon Gangsta. . .

. . . I think if Weird Al did a remix of gangsters paradise again it would be of this guy hahaha. Like I said, I was just bored and did this in just a few minutes, but let me know what you all think.

Deep thoughts....

Okay, so...

The answer is ...

The "M" in "M" Class Planet is from the Vulcan word "Minshara".
(thanks for the applause! Delighted to clear that up for ya'll!)

Now, to address the other part of Bot's topic of discussion... may I propose a different train of thought and refer you to Moses 2:5, where it says that God created all things spiritually, before he created them naturally. At first glance, we think, "Oh, He made the spirits of things first." And we tend to leave it at that. But let me coax you to delve a little deeper, dear readers!

Ponder on this...

When an artist, designer, architect, landscaper, writer, even the rocket scientist or other creative individual decides to 'create' something new, the first step is usually.... to think about it. To use the imagination. To ponder on it. Then, when said individual feels good about the initial design concept, they engage the next step, sometimes seemingly in conjunction with the imagining... they begin to sketch or write it out. Rough sketches evolve into more defined sketches, adding this, erasing that, til they feel it's just right. Then it begins to leave the "spiritual" creation stage, and it eventally becomes their current masterpiece, the "natural" or physical creation.

Since we are created in His image, and He gave us our imaginations and creative abilities, where we use similar steps that He uses every time we "create" something, I find it hard to believe that we could come up with things He never thought of. Do Klisks currently exist in the physical stage? The only definitive answer I can give is, I plan to ask Him. Will they ever exist past the spiritual stage? I would have to say yes, even if we have to wait til one of us can do the job.

So....dream a little dream, sketch a little sketch or two, write a sonnet or a story, all in all, we bring Him glory.

No art, but plenty of Movies...

Okay, I apologize, didn't get much art done over the weekend, so there isn't any Monday MOAG art today, but I did get a lot of HTML/CSS work done on some websites, so that counts for something. Maybe.

I did have a good long weekend of Movie watching (along with the BYU-Washington game, horrible call, good result). Turns out the wife was gone for the weekend, so I had the kids and borrowed some animated movies from a co-worker, and that was that. Here's the list of movies, and what I thought about them.



As you can plainly see from the image, the first is another epic from Miyazaki, Nausicaa: Of the Valley of the Wind. I hadn't seen this one, but had heard it was really good. I'd have to agree. While it's not my favorite Miyazaki film, it was, as expected, very good. The kids really liked it, which surprised me, seeing as it's a little more complex and/or darker than My neighbor Totoro. But all in all, it's worth it to see it, if not just it being one of the all time epics in animated movies.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.1 Don't ask what the .1 is for, I don't know and frankly, it's none of your business.



The second is Triplets of Bellville. Bot and I watched this when it first came out a few years ago, and I have to say it's one of my favorites. This one I will recommend, but I honestly think you need to be an art snob to get it. There is hardly any dialogue in the movie (my kids kept asking why they don't talk), so it's just watching for art's sake.

Rating: 3 Bags of chips and an extra cheese dip. Again, no meaning whatsoever.



The last movie of the weekend was Brad Bird's "Iron Giant". If you're not familiar with this one, you should be shot. It was a spectacular piece done by the director of The Incredibles, and I think it's just as good. I believe Shadowwire and I saw this one, but I wanted my kids to see it. Just a sweet movie.

Rating: Ah, geeze, just go rent it okay? It's good, I promise.

So, there you have it. Anyway, let's keep the posting up. We're on track to have a record month, so bring all the finest meats and cheeses and let's do this...

Okay, it's late. That last line made no sense, and I'm starting to type double...

M class revealed!

In reality, M class refers not to a planet, but the planets star. M class, as you can see on the Hertzsprung - Russell Diagram, typicly (but not always) refers to a Main sequence star with fairly low luminosity. About 78.6% of all stars fit this catagory.

However I think Mr Bot was refering to the Fictional Classification created by "Star trek" wich refers to a planet able to support life. Seems kind of vague to me.

Sorry to waste your time with such a trivial post.

What are some ways you think planets should be classified? Commical or not.

Brought to you by Monday...

Okay, here's a quick image I did this afternoon while at work (we have some down time at the moment, so needless to say my time is spent between rousing Wii Tennis matches on the plasma in our lobby, and concept art). It started out as a lizard, possibly a macaneon, but as I sketched away "Harvey" here came out. I really like it so far, I'm going to add some darks and whatnot, but there it is. All done in Photoshop in roughly 2-3 hours.

Also, please don't stop responding to Bot's philosophical quandaries. I would take the time to post my thoughts, but I'm quite busy at home with some freelance stuff.

But since you asked, if Isaiah saw Seraphim with six wings, and many prophets have seen animals and whatnot around the throne, perhaps a Klisk can exist, as a sentient animal, or something like that (the reason I bring up Seraphim, is that they appear different from a person, and while this is mostly representational, it is possible that other beings are out there). It is a very interesting question. I know that God has made all His children in His image, so the only way a "Klisk" would exist is if it was not a Child of God. Now don't get me wrong, if it is a sentient animal, then it's still a creation of The Almighty, and would still be loved and redeemed through the atonement of Christ, and would have it's place in the eternities. Anyway, I'm probably going off the deepend here, but it seems like a reasonable explanation to me. I'm pretty sure there are some life forms out there that we have never seen, but that the Lord is all-knowingly aware of.

Anyway, enjoy the art.

The Truth About Klisks!?

Ok normally I would go along with squirrel-the-tire on the "Extraterrestrial Topic"...

...but as soon as I thought that, "I had an apostrophe, um don't you mean an epiphany"... (a reference from the movie, "Hook")

... anyway I was thinking why couldn't there be guys like Klisks on other planets, um maybe not in the sense of being covered in rock hard plated skin, and being basically impervious to any type of physical attacks... I was thinking in the general size sense... I can't really explain my "apostrophes" so i'll just give you some examples.

... Look at these http://scriptures.lds.org/en/num/13/33a ...

















... SO what do you think?! Abraham saw everyone so i'm pretty sure he saw these guys too... looking all normal... ... an um... ... Huge.

OK bot, time for the seminary kid.

Alright! as for most of us being mormon, that does include me, so Abraham is involved in my answer. Well, he did see EVERYONE, in other worlds, and man was made in god's image, so seeing as god is perfect in every way, we only have flaws that help us learn from mortal life, so since extraterrestrials (I'm not as worried about misspelling, as you are.) do indeed exist, and are as close to god as we are, I think Klisks, and so on can exist to an extent, but will be extremely similar to us. We to have birth defects, and so on, that could end up in a one-eyed man or two, but it is probably uncommon.

ToD: Is there anybody listening!

I thought we would get a little philosophical on this one... maybe even religious. Anyway, what are your thoughts and view on the possibility of extraterrestrial (holy cow, I didn't need spell check on that one! Exhibit A for the Nerd File) life? Lets remember that most of us here are Mormon and I don't want the generic "worlds without number" answer. Give me YOUR insight. What do you think the life would be like? Do you think that Klisks exist? What is the true meaning of M Class planets on Star Trek? And other such fine Nerdosophical questions.

Remember, do not answer the ToD in the comment area. Please post a new... post? (Too many posts!) That way we don't have to keep fumbling through the comment area to see if something is new.

Bonus points for the first person that can name the song and group that the title to this post came from and more points to anyone that can give me a Star Trekish definition of a M Class planet along with what the M stands for...... these can be left in the comment area.

Welcome Back Mr. Cotter... Er...

I'd just like to say welcome back to Juanito and Savara. Juanito, I'm assuming, was off in some place not named Cedar City during the summer months, and has now returned to the blessed realm for another year of scholarly study at the prestigious University/College/Technical Institute of Southern Utah/Northern Arizona, Eastern Nevada. Ah, many a good time was spent at UCTISUNAEN. Although we used to call it Garfield County Tech, due to the high number of students who attended from said county.

Savara as we all know has been... well... okay so maybe we don't know. But that's okay. I mean, who are we to judge? And if she decides not to enlighten us, even more the better. Pernicious internet rumors anyone? Because we all know, if you hear/read/see it on the internet, it must be true.

Aaaaaaaaaanyway, welcome back. It's always nice to get more people on the blog. Speaking of people, anybody (bot) heard from Punk-rokk Princess or Omally? How about Kang? Do we need to send out a search party?

Pirates! And Castles! In the SKY!!!

Well, this week's movie pick of the week is Studio Ghibli's classic, Castle in the Sky (also known as Laputa:Castle in the sky). How did I come up with this particular movie as opposed to all the other masterful pieces by Miyazaki? Well, I couldn't make up my mind, so i went with the first Miyazaki film I had the pleasure to watch. And I must say, it was sweet. The animation is a little more cartoon-ish than what I really like, but as with all Miyazaki films, the story was exceptional. Plus, the kids really liked this one as well (it comes in a close second behind "My Neighbor Totoro" which I also recommend to anyone who has kids). Anyway, the Sky Pirates are my favorite part of the movie, but it was all good.

So I give Castle in the Sky a healthy 5 out of 6. I don't really know why I rate these, I'm not a critic, and I'm not going to recommend something I didn't like. So take that for what it's worth.

Since we're talking about movies, I feel I need to add a small plug about a movie that I saw in the theaters last week. If you have the opportunity to see "The Rocker", please take it. Yes Bot, I'm talking to you.

And the winner is...

Okay, so I'm going with the total bias here, but I think the winner will be...

Painfully obvious...

To everyone involved.

Okay, it's Pablo. I figured he could get some playing in before he left for Deutschland. If that works for you Mr. Diablo, well then get me your steam ID and I'll transfer the free 3 day pass over to you.

Anyway, just got a new laptop today, it's a beaut... but it's not a Mac. And it's running Vista, so there's that. I've determined that Vista is like getting a new car with all the bells and whistles, only to find out that the engine isn't a v6, but a Briggs and Straton lawnmower engine, with an oil leak. Okay, okay, it's not that bad. But realy, it's not much better.

IT'S A CONTEST!!!

Okay, so here it is. I have a free 3 day trial of Team fortress 2. Full version, no strings or things cut out. All I need is an email address, or even better a steam ID. I will then gift it to the winner and they can play TF2 for 3 days. After that, I think the game is only like 20-25$ or so, which is worth it for the game.

So here's the rules. Comment below and tell me why you deserve the prize. I'll take the best two, and then we'll let all the MOAGers vote on which one wins. The gift expires on September 20th, so we'll give this a week, and then we'll go from there.

Let the "pathetic attempts to hog the brownie" begin!

*Bonus points for correctly identifying the brownie quote with the name of the person who said it and what movie it comes from. Not that the bonus points will go towards anything, but we'll all be impressed...

Steamboy: Bringing steam punk to the little people everywhere...

Just saw Steamboy the other day, and I have to say it was one of the best Anime movies I've ever seen. Granted, I haven't seen a lot of them, but I really liked it. If you're into Steampunk, and honestly, who isn't, I suggest picking this bad boy up whenever you can. Don't know if Hollywood or Blockbuster carries it, but man, it's awesome. The animation is excellent, the story is great, and the steampunk is... uh... steamy? Punkish? It's just really good. There. That works.

So on a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being a chick flick (pick your title...) and 7 being Slaughter in San Francisco, Steamboy ranks in at a Healthy 5 Gargonans. Because we all know 5 Gargonans are better than 3 Conars and a Macaneon. Or was it 2 Klisks and an underdeveloped Cylonquin? Who knows. Anyway, 5 stars and 500 points for those of you keeping score at home.

..been messing with an awesome rig.

Well, I've been messing with tha Mancandy rig that I downloaded, and made hime lick his foot ...sorta.... Anyway, I was having fun with it, and so on.

New Macaneon Sketch

Okay here's a new sketch I did while conversing with Shadowwire on the phone today (okay, not all of it was done while I was on the phone... but a lot of it was). I've always been a little iffy on how the Macaneon looked. It was a little too lizard like. So this time I tried to soften the face a little, give it a look that said "brains" more than "flesh eating dino-thingy". I also took some inspiration from the huge lizard Obi-wan rides in Episode III while chasing after Grievous, and added some feathers on the back of the head and the tail. I might add some small hints on the forearms, but probably not. I image the feathers act like a cat's back, spreads out to make the macaneon look bigger when confronted.

Anyway, I really like this sketch. I'm going to try to get in a full body sketch, as well as some color tests, hopefully. I have a lot that I'm "going" to do (still got to finish my website).

Well, let me know what you think. Not that it really matters. I like it, so there.

meat

Here's something my sister found, and posted on myspace...
You of all people should be able to appreaceate this, so enjoy.

by Terry Bisson

"They're made out of meat."

"Meat?"

"Meat. They're made out of meat."

"Meat?"

"There's no doubt about it. We picked several from different parts of the planet, took them aboard our recon vessels, probed them all the way through. They're completely meat."

"That's impossible. What about the radio signals? The messages to the stars."

"They use the radio waves to talk, but the signals don't come from them. The signals come from machines."

"So who made the machines? That's who we want to contact."

"They made the machines. That's what I'm trying to tell you. Meat made the machines."

"That's ridiculous. How can meat make a machine? You're asking me to believe in sentient meat."

"I'm not asking you, I'm telling you. These creatures are the only sentient race in the sector and they're made out of meat."

"Maybe they're like the Orfolei. You know, a carbon-based intelligence that goes through a meat stage."

"Nope. They're born meat and they die meat. We studied them for several of their life spans, which didn't take too long. Do you have any idea the life span of meat?"

"Spare me. Okay, maybe they're only part meat. You know, like the Weddilei. A meat head with an electron plasma brain inside."

"Nope. We thought of that, since they do have meat heads like the Weddilei. But I told you, we probed them. They're meat all the way through."

"No brain?"

"Oh, there is a brain all right. It's just that the brain is made out of meat!"

"So... what does the thinking?"

"You're not understanding, are you? The brain does the thinking. The meat."

"Thinking meat! You're asking me to believe in thinking meat!"

"Yes, thinking meat! Conscious meat! Loving meat. Dreaming meat. The meat is the whole deal! Are you getting the picture?"

"Omigod. You're serious then. They're made out of meat."

"Finally, Yes. They are indeed made out meat. And they've been trying to get in touch with us for almost a hundred of their years."

"So what does the meat have in mind?"

"First it wants to talk to us. Then I imagine it wants to explore the universe, contact other sentients, swap ideas and information. The usual."

"We're supposed to talk to meat?"

"That's the idea. That's the message they're sending out by radio. 'Hello. Anyone out there? Anyone home?' That sort of thing."

"They actually do talk, then. They use words, ideas, concepts?"

"Oh, yes. Except they do it with meat."

"I thought you just told me they used radio."

"They do, but what do you think is on the radio? Meat sounds. You know how when you slap or flap meat it makes a noise? They talk by flapping their meat at each other. They can even sing by squirting air through their meat."

"Omigod. Singing meat. This is altogether too much. So what do you advise?"

"Officially or unofficially?"

"Both."

"Officially, we are required to contact, welcome, and log in any and all sentient races or multibeings in the quadrant, without prejudice, fear, or favor. Unofficially, I advise that we erase the records and forget the whole thing."

"I was hoping you would say that."

"It seems harsh, but there is a limit. Do we really want to make contact with meat?"

"I agree one hundred percent. What's there to say?" `Hello, meat. How's it going?' But will this work? How many planets are we dealing with here?"

"Just one. They can travel to other planets in special meat containers, but they can't live on them. And being meat, they only travel through C space. Which limits them to the speed of light and makes the possibility of their ever making contact pretty slim. Infinitesimal, in fact."

"So we just pretend there's no one home in the universe."

"That's it."

"Cruel. But you said it yourself, who wants to meet meat? And the ones who have been aboard our vessels, the ones you have probed? You're sure they won't remember?"

"They'll be considered crackpots if they do. We went into their heads and smoothed out their meat so that we're just a dream to them."

"A dream to meat! How strangely appropriate, that we should be meat's dream."

"And we can mark this sector unoccupied."

"Good. Agreed, officially and unofficially. Case closed. Any others? Anyone interesting on that side of the galaxy?"

"Yes, a rather shy but sweet hydrogen core cluster intelligence in a class nine star in G445 zone. Was in contact two galactic rotations ago, wants to be friendly again."

"They always come around."

"And why not? Imagine how unbearably, how unutterably cold the universe would be if one were all alone."

Redoing my new Website

Okay, so I'm redoing my website. Which doesn't exist at the moment, so I guess it would more importantly be creating a website? Anyway, the above is an image of the current implementation, I'm still populating it at the moment. so you'll have to bear with me until I'm done. Anyway, I'll let you know when I'm done, and probably put a link on the site to the MOAG blog and vice versa.

So peace out, I'm going to bed.

nodes are fun to mess with.

I made this with blender's compositing/node editor. I think it looks pretty cool, but it took FOREVER to render, and then patch into a gif. The bigger one came out to be over 11 megs, which is bigger than blender itself. well, I thought it looked cool, so I decided to show it to you, and I'll probably make something more complex now.

GRRR!!!! It won't animate gifs, so I uploaded the first frame as to avoid loss in quality. I'm also having trouble getting a link to myspace that will work when not signed in.

I'M BAAAAAACKKKKK! also.

Well, I've been at scout camp (in case you have been lacking notice in my inexistence.) and it was FREAKING AWESOME! (but I still want to see batman worse than you can imagine) What with shooting shotguns, and a destroyed few archery targets; repelling, OH, and backpacking 12 MILES (which was suprisingly fun,) and ...well... kind-of -erm- hitting-my-face-mountain-biking-which-didn't-hurt-as-much-as-you-would-think-but-still-looks-really-painful. *pant* *pant* *deep breath* - *more panting* *yawn* ...anyway, a week is enough, and I'm glad to be home. I will post with stuff when I want to, and I agree with salvaggio that you guys NEED to post, and so on. Anyway, cool pic salvaggio, and is that a screenshot in the background? well anyway, you should post some random z brush work, and so on. I'll keep wishing I had a better PC, and so on. Well, anyway... see you all later.

I'm BAAAAAACKKKKK! Sort of.

Here it is. In all the glory I could muster at such a time. But you'll be glad to know that things are starting to slow down a bit at work, so I'll have some more free time to finish this bad boy up, and then do some more. I hope to play around with Z brush at work some, I'll try to do some MOAG stuff, so our dear Squirrel won't feel so lonely.

On a more serious note, thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. I'm sorry you couldn't make it over for the viewing in the Hootch, but be comforted in knowing that Mr. Shadowwire represented you all very well. Maybe in the future I'll post a top 10 list of the best moments we had with my dad back in school, but that will have to wait. I'm tired, and honestly, I can only really think of one story, but it was a good one.

Hmm, come to think of it, why don't you guys (those who knew him whether from sleeping through his Geography class or him sleeping through the movies we watched at my house) tell the stories that you remember from him? Just throw them in the comments here, and when I feel you've earned it, I'll retell the #1 Best Moment Involving MOAGers But Not Necessarily Having To Do With MOAG And My Dad Moment. Or BDIMBNNHTDWMAMD for... uh... long.

Anyway, Wes and Carl, looks like the brunt of the work is in your hands. Unless you can get Matthews to post. Which in and of itself would be quite a feet.

By the way, let's start posting some more now. Just a thought.

The Dark Knight...

WAS FREAKING AWESOME.

That being said, I haven't posted on the blog because simply I don't have a lot of time anymore. Because I am currently...you know... the whole getting ready for the mission thing... and spending time with friends... and blowing things up with the Trogdor... and all that jazz...

Anyways... I will try to post more often.

And most importantly my condolences to Mr. Salvaggio and his family.
All I can say is he is in a better place now.
Let me know if I can do anything.

Another few sculpts from me.

Enjoy.

Time to cross your eyes everyone!

If you cross your eyes so the the two parts "line up," making your right eye look at the left, and so on, it's 3D! So, can you see the monkey?

Echo...Echo... Umm....

Where the crap are you people?!? umm... well then.... I've been having fun doing pointless things with blnder's sculpt, and multires capabilties, and mind you, it took FOREVER to write "HI" on this thing! So, well.... -erm- Enjoy it, and so on.

Looks more like it's supposed to.

His proportions are better, because I moved his eye down. If you have any cooloer Ideas for me to attempt, then tell me, as of now, I'll be working on this. Comments are good, so keep showing signs of existance.

Oh, those were supposed to be ears!

Well, I moved the ears and did a lot of tweaking, so here he is! still isn't perfect, and I need to get the mouth less flat, and this time I decided to give you a render instead of a screenshot.

Ears! ..umm.. sorta..

Well I made ears, and they need a LOT of tweaking, but hey - he's got EARS now!! w00t! Well, happy 4th everybody! and I'll be working on this some more. Well I'm glad it's technically a head now, even though it looks so crappy. And yes Salvaggio, I'm so insane that I made a connection between the Gargonan, and Easter Island! Mwahahahaha!!!

Even better

Well, I'm yet to give him ears, but it's coming great. I really like the sculpt tool, because it's made things much faster. It's probably not zbrush, or mudkit quality, but it's a nice feature. Still, I'd like to see some sings of existance. I think I have a Jeffery family reunion to go to this weekend, (I'm not 100% sure though. My mom knows this stuff better than the rest of us.) so I won't be able to do much then. If West is coming, then It would be nice of him to bring his laptop. That way I can show him more than just screenshots. I might be able to sort-of timelapse what I'm doing with this, but I'm not sure.

More improvements.

Well, I'm starting to get used to blender's sculpt tool, and am getting great results. You can see the jawbone area now, and I gave him eyelids. He still needs ears, the mouth needs more improvement, and I think I'll have him end up more like the one in the header picture. I like where it's headed, and would really enjoy feedback from you guys. As for Sam's idea, He explained the head to me, and it sounds pretty awesome, but I haven't done anything with it. I probably would if I had any drawing skills to speak of, but seeing as I don't, I'll be sticking to the Gargonan for now.

Well, It's better now.

I've improved it some, and Sam let me use his computer, which has been extremely helpful-It's not JUMPY anymore! Well, I'm really happy with the nose, and the lips are coming. I haven't done anything with the eye so far, but i'll get the lips done first, then I'll need to really shape the head, and give it ears. I'll find an upload site, and give you guys a link if you wan't me to. If you have anything to say, COMMENT! Or POST! ...Seriously, I haven't seen anysign of you guys in the past few days, so please give signs of existance! Well, anyway, I hope you guys had as good a day as I, Dugway had it's independence day celebration today, and I got to watch some cool fireworks. I didn't get any pictures, otherwise I would show you guys one of the most exiting things in Dugway - as in, some of the ONLY exiting things here. So remember. If you are reading this, REMEMBER to show signs of existance.

Well, It's coming... sorta

Well, He looks like a freaking retard, and reminds me of Beevis and Butthead; but It will eventually work out.

Hey, It's an art blog post. On Monday no less...

Well, I finally finished the TF2 Pyro, I'm quite happy with how he turned out. I'm working on a poster design with him at the moment. I'll post it when I'm done. Anyway, I'm tired and going to bed.

A new start

Well... The first one was very flat and retarded, but after sort-of following a tutorial with a more box-modeling approach, here is what I've gotten so far. I like that it has so much more depth, and I like the box-modeling approach. This is my first time trying it, and the tutorial was annoying in some ways, but it had some useful ideas in it, and is my first look at this kind of idea. I'll admit it needs a lot more tweaking, but I'm happy with where It's going now. I'll upload some files somewhere, and give you guys a link. As for now, I'll be giving it more detail. It needs ears, and an eyeball, but Ill get to that in a little bit. I might use a low-poly model I got, and tweak it into the torso and limbs, but I'll do the head before I worry about anything else. I got the model here.

What has come so far....

Well Thanks Salvaggio! Here's what has come of my project so far. This is only a few minutes of work, so it looks pretty crappy, but I'm working in it.

well, I'm sort-of wanting to try Sam's idea. Here's what he's gotten fish (my sister Trishelle) to draw:

A very wide range of topics...

Okay, Squirrel, there's a picture. It's old, and not quite in the "t" pose that most animators start with, but give it a try, it should prove a good challenge but one I'm sure you can handle. I'll try to get you something. Maybe when I finish the pyro I'll give you a t pose for him. But until then, this will have to do.

Topic #2: Everybody remember Car Wars? If you do, and Shadowwire I know you do, then you need to check this out. It looks pretty sweet and darn near awesome. Reminds me of the glory days of Battletech, and all the goodness we used to have at Joe-Bob's house. I remember fondly the 10 hours of setup time, the gallons of Root Beer consumed, Colin slapping me on the back of the head and the resulting... uh, incident that followed. Plus I'm pretty sure I gained like 20 lbs. every time we had the Battletech weekend thanks to the food and snacks that were readily available. Then there was the game itself, I'd never thought so much blood could be spilt over a pen and paper game, but there was a lot. All I need to say is "Red Dwarf" (Not the British comedy, but my spry little 35 tonner that brought Shadowwire to his knees...) I can still see his mangled little paper counter, lying there in a heap of twisted hopes and dreams. (sniff) WHY! WHY CRUEL FATE! WHY!?? I DEMAND SATISFACTION!
Well, back to Car Wars. It looks really cool, and it would be fun to play, what do you think Shadowwire?

Topic #3: Spore. Now, i'm sorry Squirrel, that your PC can't run the spore creature creator. But you have to realize, this game comes from the same company that brought you Crysis, the game where all lesser computers go to die. Literally. Let's check out the requirements for this beauty of a game:

Minimum Requirements

CPU: Intel Pentium 4 2.8 GHz (3.2 GHz for Vista), Intel Core 2.0 GHz (2.2 GHz for Vista), AMD Athlon 2800+ (3200+ for Vista) or better
RAM: 1GB (1.5GB on Windows Vista)
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, ATI Radeon 9800 Pro (Radeon X800 Pro for Vista) or better
VRAM: 256MB of Graphics Memory
Storage: 12GB
Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c Compatible
ODD: DVD-ROM
OS: Microsoft Windows XP or Vista
DirectX: DX9.0c or DX10

Recommended Requirements

CPU: Core 2 Duo/Athlon X2 or better
RAM: 1.5GB
Video Card: NVIDIA 7800 Series, ATI Radeon 1800 Series or better
VRAM: 512MB of Graphics Memory
Storage: 12GB
Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c Compatible
ODD: DVD-ROM
OS: Microsoft Windows XP or Vista
DirectX: DX9.0c or DX10

I don't know about you, but I don't have anywhere near that kind of PC here at home. At work, sure, but what's the fun of playing games at work! Wait, what am I saying? Playing games at work rocks! Especially when you can't get in trouble for it!.

Anyway, sorry to hear that it won't run on your machine Squirrel, here's hoping that sometime soon a new (or even a pre-certified Used) computer falls into your hands. Until then, keep chugging away. We're rooting for you.