While you’re waiting for new comics, here’s a little video that touches on an issue close to my heart. By Weird Al Yankovic.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCSA7kKNu2Y

This fanimation is so spot-on. I found it within 24 hours of it going up, just by looking to see if a new episode was up yet. I thought it was from an actual episode until I heard vulgarity. And no, it’s not gross or violent(stop associating cupcakes with murder, bronies!). It’s completely true to the spirit of the show, just amped up a bit.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJLL-DNu3P4

I normally post these on Fridays, but this was just uploaded yesterday and I want to be as timely as possible.

Okay, so last night I wanted to post a joke link to www.ICWutUDidThar.com, but you know what I found? IT WASN’T TAKEN! There was no www.ICWutUDidThar.com! After a little deliberation, I GRABBED IT. The meme seems to have been around since at least 2008, according to the Urban Dictionary, and I’m sure it’s still popular.

The purpose will basically be for people to have a link for the catch phrase, possibly as a joke link like how I used it. I already have Google ads, a Twitter search widget(displaying recent tweets containing “icwutudidthar”), and a Zazzle store. The store is a little sparse right now, but I hope to get it filled a little more.

Future Plans: I hope to use it as a url shortener so people can link to other ICWut pictures under this domain, and I might install WordPress so people can post pictures directly as well. Not sure how interactive I want it to be(likely a lot of moderating), but the Twitter widget is plenty for now.

Extreme Makeover Home Edition is building 7 homes in Joplin right now in the area worst-hit by the May 22nd tornado(technically, “worst-hit” refers to the entire width of the town in a mile-wide thickness, so that’s rather vague, but oh well). I’ll try to get some photos, but I really don’t know if I’ll be able to get there. I figured I’d share a map showing the area they’re building in. First, here’s a marked-up map(using an old photo, obviously) of the actual project area:

Seven houses in a row. This area is just 6-7 blocks from St. John’s Hospital, which seems to be the face of Joplin since the tornado. Yes, it can be seen from anywhere in the tornado path, for the most part. This map is specifically to show where media parking is, but it’s the only one that shows where the actual houses are. Volunteer parking is at St. John’s. I won’t try to convince them that I’m media(I have a reach of maybe 300 people), so I’ll just park roughly 24 blocks away & take the shuttle bus for spectators, unless I actually have business in that area and a clear shot. It actually is possible I’d have business in that area.

Below is a map from a couple months after the tornado, to give a better idea of the area currently. As of this posting, it looks like July, judging from the amount of debris still in streets & amount of traffic on 20th Street. I was still dodging debris in the street when I finally started driving in that area again in July. Main Street didn’t even get new street lights until a few weeks ago. Scary at night with no lights around.

View Larger Map

So, that’s what’s going on around me. I’m happy that various businesses are back up and running and plenty of houses are going up around here. I’m still missing Backyard Burgers, but I know they’ll start rebuilding soon enough. Plenty of businesses have yet to start construction and there is still a lot of rubble yet to be removed, but we’re getting pretty close to normal again. I was fortunate to have not lost anything from the storm. In fact, power returned to my workplace right before I was scheduled to work the next evening.

Good Morning America gave a more in-depth look at the first Extreme Makeover Home Edition house in Joplin, MO than I expected. Really nice inside. Cut off by commercial at end, but they still spent more time on it than I expected. The first house revealed was for a firefighter who lost his house and was working during the tornado. He couldn’t contact his family for a while to be sure they were okay(they were). Excellent choice, Extreme Makeover. 6 more houses to be revealed this afternoon, not live on TV, although our local news will surely show some footage. Episode tentatively scheduled for January 20th.

By they way, I’m from Joplin(Kenny Headquarters undamaged), which is why I’m reporting on this. I hope traffic will die down in that area before I stop by Radio Shack across from the spectator parking area.

Here’s the Move That Bus! moment from a builder’s perspective:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2ae2iddmQI

Photo from this Springfield News-Leader article:

Also, Good Morning America’s website has a nice widget showing before-after photos of their previous house here.

First up, Cowboy Bebop is my favorite anime of all time. It starred Spike Spiegel and his crew of bounty hunters, and it had awesome animation. Mash that up with My Little Pony, which stars Twilight Sparkle and her baby dragon named Spike…..
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vj-48Gtc5D0

But wait, there’s MORE! What if My Little Pony was your typical anime? In this video, I especially like the translation given at the top. I’ve seen my share of translated animes, and this looks like at least 10 of them.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bv-RszSOlTY

I just now verified it; I simply can’t finish this storyline this year if I stay at a twice-a-week schedule, so I’m biting the bullet and going three-a-week. I’m tempted to make it more, but this will be stressful enough.

I’ve been drifting off as I ink today’s comic, but I wanted to get it finished, so I pushed myself. Then I noticed that Death’s arms looked like they were drawn by a 3rd grader. Okay, okay, I’m going to sleep. I’ve been up for 24 hours for various things, and I really can’t (forgets what he was typing, just leaves it here, see ya in the evening.)

I just found out that Bil Keane, the creator of Family Circus, died yesterday of congestive heart failure at the age of 89. I met his son, Jeff Keane, at Toonfest in September of this year. He was on stage, talking about the comic and his dad. With the number of comics in the newspaper that were created by people who have since passed(Hagar the Horrible is now drawn by the creator’s son, whom I’ve met also), I was surprised that Bil was still alive as Jeff talked about him, so that was nice to hear.

While there, I made sure to get a sketch of little Jeffy from Jeff Keane, who as you might have guessed is the inspiration for that kid:

I had told him that I was going to jokingly ask for a sketch of Not Me, and he said there wasn’t much to that character. To my surprise, he added Not Me as well, LOL!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkCsp5WggSY

Hello, Rarity. Look at your gems. Now back to me. Now back at your gems NOW BACK TO ME! Sadly, your gems aren’t in my belly, but if they were, I’d be a very happy dragon.
Look down. Back up. Where are you? You’re on a boat, with the dragon you could be feeding. What’s in your hooves? Back at me. I have it! It’s two topaz crystals about to make a little dragon happy. Look again- THOSE TOPAZES ARE NOW DIGESTING! Anything is possible when your dragon is me.
I’m on a pony.
“GET OFF ME, SPIKE!”

Kenny was planned to die.

I figured if Kenny Chronicles is going to end, it makes sense for Kenny to end as well. I had been slightly concerned about that for a long time, though, because killing the main character isn’t always a good idea. However, it was at the end of the series, and his death would cement Death’s and Guy’s alliance in a way that couldn’t change because death is final. If one had an argument, the other could say, “Kenny would want it this way”, whether he would have or not. Also, both Kenny and Death grew up without ever knowing their fathers, and the child would have the same type of childhood.

However, in February of this year, my mom asked me why I was planning on killing Kenny at the end of the series(yeah, she’s known for a while), and I realized that my reasons were now obsolete. The main reason was that I wasn’t happy with his design, so Death and Guy were to replace him. He looked too much like Tails from Sonic The Hedgehog and people mistook him for a cat. However, Kenny’s design had improved considerably over time and continues to improve. I believe Kenny’s design is still more iconic than Death’s and Guy’s design. In fact, Guy keeps changing. Sometimes his stripe disappears between his eyes and he occasionally has cheek tufts. I need more practice drawing realistic ferret heads, and I’m certainly going to be drawing a variety of them over the next few years.

Kenny’s effect on peace between the two governments can still exist if he lives. In fact, their peace might hinge on his existence as a mutual friend and being a duke of both governments at the same time.

After I realized that Kenny had less reason to die, I decided to make up a list of benefits to both ideas(like the list I made when deciding if Funky Skunk should die), starting with benefits why he should live. I only got as far as “Fans won’t be mad”. I saw no reason to go any further.

Being February, I had plenty of time to modify the plot and any foreshadowing. I only had one tiny piece of foreshadowing of his death posted in the comic, and it was inconsequential. You see, his cause of death wasn’t going to be the dodgeballs. Sure, he was going to still get dodgeballs dropped on him, but the twist was going to be that his actual cause of death was going to be a heart attack. The falling balls were going to startle him to death. To facilitate this, Kenny was to have a heart condition which he kept secret. Basically, his heart was to be beating at the speed of a fennec fox’s heart(118 bpm resting, as if fennec foxes ever rest) because he’s part fennec. A human’s heart rests at 60bpm, not to exceed 100. Tarnekis basically have the body of a human, so this would be dangerous. One of the symptoms of a fast heart rate is shortness of breath after running. Of course, this is a common symptom of RUNNING, so when I had him be way too tired in this strip from April of last year, it could also just be regular fatigue. Yep, that was the foreshadowing to Kenny dying of a heart attack. Fatigue. So I felt I could dismiss that and go ahead without his heart condition. The other foreshadowing I had planned would have been Kenny taking a pill at lunch and making several funny faces from the taste, but that’s a throw-away gag. I think I did have Kenny tell somebody that his doctor told him to eat less raw meat, but I can’t find that at the moment(it may have just been in a first draft). That’s something else that didn’t require me to stick to the heart attack plan, since his doctor would tell him that anyway. (update: HERE’s the comic!)

And that’s the bonus feature for this week. Most likely the next bonus feature will be next Monday, but if I create enough, I might post something before then.