DANK ART
I was hoping to get lots of Dank Art done over the weekend though I think the sudden change in good weather got some people outdoors instead. Saturday morning I tuned into Macaw45 playing a bunch of arcade randoms where he was making 1CC attempts. I was rooting for him to get a 1CC in Cross Blades! as I knew he was practicing on getting an easy boss strategy for the last boss in that game, but the 1CC quickly turned into 2CC’s for Macaw that day. He did get 1CC’s on Punisher 2, but still Cross Blades! was just being a pain. I often think what people did back in the day when arcades were a quarter or even fifty cents and you had to keep feeding money into these games just to figure things out. Most people were not using the internet until 1994 (if my memory is correct, the first time I got onto the internet was 1992 and I was quickly banned from the library’s computers for being a troublemaker) so it’s not like anyone could open a FAQ or guide that would explain this. Arcades wanted your money thats what arcade games do- offer people a challenge. I think thats why I have this respect for people who are into playing arcade games as back when I was a kid there was no manipulations or save-states, you just had to build your own strategy and hope you skills and luck were all in the right place at the right time.
I also fell asleep at like 7 pm on Saturday and woke up again at 2am & caught Macaw playing thru all 3 endings for the best one in Trina for the SNES. I basically woke up, drew Dank Art & went back to sleep. I ate & drank far too much on Saturday, but I’ll get into that later on…
Aquas was streaming Sonic & Knuckles on Saturday which was a huge treat for me for as many of you know I am a huge Sega fan and when I was 10 I was a cute Sonic fangirl. I wanted Sonic everything from birthday cakes, T-shirts and toys. The holly grail for me was to get a Sonic plushie which led me down this crazy path of imports and collecting which is how I got into collecting video games to begin with. When I was in school I would make all these lame Sonic game poster mock-ups in art class and in wood shop I made a sonic pencil holder. I was reading Archie Sonic comics and woke up every day at 5 am to just watch that terrible Sonic cartoon show that was just screaming and mentions of chilly dogs. I even got plans to turn my whole bedroom into the ending scene from Sonic 2 because I loved it so much, but my mom would never let me. Sonic & Knuckles was kind of the last hurrah I had with Sonic games. The whole concept of having to collect ALL the Chaos Emeralds in all 3 games to see a real ending was really daunting for me & I still haven’t done it. But Sonic 3 is where the franchise ended for me in my childhood as soon after I turned 13 a lot of my tastes changed and I didn’t want to play “crazy platforming” games any more and instead wanted to play RPG’s and strange strategy games where the main focus was all on micromanaging everything. I used to have an astounding focus for strategy games when I was 13 and I did more things like joining the chess & GO team at school as well as getting super dirty & nerdy playing Magic The Gathering.
I haven’t played a Sonic game I like after Sonic & Knuckles. But really, for me there doesn’t need to be a part 4 or a part 10 for a franchise thats all about a hedgehog with attitude. Some stories can only be told so many times before they start becoming contrived and predictable. There really wasn’t much of a story line to Sonic games other than Eggman bad, Tails is cute, save the animals, collect the emeralds and save the world! That’s why I think so many strange and out-there things happened with Sonic after his Genesis days because there wasn’t anything to really go to with his story. Video games when I was a kid didn’t require full lore or explaining why, you played the game and were dazzled if it offered you something outside of being entertained. That’s why I started to get more into hardcore nerd strategy junk when I was 13 because those games offered a world outside of the game that was entertaining to me because there was lore and characters who were motivated by emotions and plot devices.
I simply grew up and out of Sonic stuff. I will admit that it wasn’t until 2013 that I actually got a Sonic plushie and I won him at The Ex in Toronto in one of those “Guess your age” booths. The guy who guessed my age was way off so I got to choose any toy I wanted so I went for the modest Sonic toy and laughed because I basically had to grow up to get the one thing I wanted my entire childhood but I got it because I still look like that stupid cheeky kid who would scribble bad Sonic doodles in her math book.
OH WHAT A WEEKEND
Spring is FINALLY here though it’s still rather chilly out first thing in the mornings. I love getting out in these early sprinkles of good weather to be dazzled by everything around me. I love watching the leaves on trees come out, bugs buzzing around, and of course the return of birds to my neighbourhood. My favourite bird is the Red Wing Blackbird and my indicator that spring has arrived. When the weather warms up I go for walks looking for them and so far this year I have only been able to hear them. For a while it was really hard finding a lot of the birds on my list that I always go out to find as the area where I live has been under a lot of growth and construction so many of the birds have flown away for safer areas. Some are returning and every year it’s encouraging to see more natural wildlife return to my area as when I was a kid it used to be teaming with life everywhere.
Besides enjoying the better weather I had plans to go out for dinner with my friend Liz and her two daughters at this crazy new Italian place that opened up in my neighbourhood. I like Liz a lot and I really like hanging out with her and her kids as they have this really adorable relationship and constantly make jokes that are really amusing to me. No matter what I’ve been thru, Liz is that friend around town I need to just forget about it and go out and have fun with. Many of my local friends are too tied up with raising their new families or are just terrible at managing their time but Liz has it together and we somehow make our little outings work despite being two incredibly different and busy career women.
Liz doesn’t get things like comic books, video games and that “itch” thing I do “AnnK Art” to, but we find common grounds on our desire and need to write and blog. I first met Liz working freelance at one of the magazines I work for and I was impressed at how motivated she was to make blogging and writing her main thing for many years. She writes every day and that a huge deal to me as it sounds like such a small thing when really it’s possibly the hardest thing to do. I try to blog as much as I can and keep myself writing because I see women like Liz rocking it and having fun every step of the way. You need to surround yourself with motivated people who think differently from you if you want to experience things to the fullest around you and I am grateful for a friend like her because it’s hard to get that connection with others who are doing things rather then people who wait until they are told.
DANK ZINE
The last weekend of the month now means DEADLINE DAYS again and I spent a lot of time working on laying out the second issue to my Dank Zine. I had so many great interviews and Dank Art that I had to up the pages to 34 and still I can’t get everything in it! I should be done soon and sending the issue to the printers, so if you want to get an issue make sure you back my Patreon before April 30th to ensure you get issue number 2. This issue I sit down with Arcade master LordBBH and we get to hear a bit from him about streaming, arcades and growing up as a kid in arcades as well as illustrator Anthony Brennan who is well known in the Toronto scene with his Qooplo paper crafts as well as crashing every con and event dressed up as some crazy WWF wrestler from the early 80’s and 90’s. Also, everyone who backs my Patreon this month will get a FREE SURPRISE in each issue which you can “build” yourself.
Issue number 1 was SUCH A HUGE HIT I’ve had to go in and order more copies because some people missed out on the first wave and I forgot to get my parents a copy. If you still need issue number one, email me (agento@hotmail.com) and I’ll work out something to get you an issue! In the meantime, you should back my Patreon so you don’t miss an issue and also get access to my discord chat where you can download all my Dank Art at high rez as well as vote on articles and art for inclusion in the Zine.
I’m also going to try out a new idea that I had with commissions as I am getting A LOT of them lately and to help me stay focused I would want to try that all my commissions will be purchased thru my Patreon and be featured in the Zine itself. You don’t need to back every month which I think is the thing that scares off people from things like Patreon. If you just want the commission you can still get that, only I’d rather have everything to go towards printing my Dank Zine as thats what I want. This is a very fun project for me and it’s great to be doing it again and I am happy that I have something productive to do with my Dank Art.