Jade Arcade™ News

Ever wish you could have THE cool profile pic on the social networking block?

2010-06-09T22:36:00.004-05:00

Ever wish you could have the cool profile pic on the social networking block? Well wish no longer as your problems are now solved with the arrival of the new service provided by toonsmith and future comic strip legend, Mike Spicer.

Mike is someone you should know...someone your Grandma should know. He has been rockin' the cartoon thing for years. My favorite creation from Mike is the well-known "Celebrity Clerks". Taking well know or contemporary public figures and placing them in the job of waiting on the same overall wearing fellow, left with the fate of forever buying from these wildly perverse versions of cartoon reality. I've always wondered if this guy ever goes home....

This however is not the only thing Mike has done in the world of cartoon art. Even though you may not know him like you know Gary Trudeau, Scott Adams or Jim Davis...you soon will.

And now for a modest fee this son of Canada will take a photo and do a magnificent cartoon style portrait to be placed by you on the networking site of your choice...or just print the thing out and carry it in your wallet or purse...well what your do with it is actually your business. Now go out into the virtual world, hit Mike's email or catch him on FaceBook to "Spicer-up" that pic! :D

Review of “The Resurgence: Chronicles of the Shadow Chaser” by Randal J. Belaire

2010-04-16T00:11:00.005-05:00

“ “Never adapt to the ways of evil, or you will become no better than the evil you sought to destroy.” The words of his teacher, Makoto Tanaka, kept on repeating in the
cycle of his thought. He took the life of a human being so another one may
live. However, the haunting memory will blacken his soul for a time to come. “
A passage from Randal J. Belaire’s new novel “The Resurgence: Chronicles of the Shadow Chaser”.

The story follows the rather tragic tale of Kevin Wolf at the beginning of his career and the seeming declining professional life of Arthur Brown. Arthur, being my personal favourite character of the story, is your first guide on your virgin experience into the Shadow Chaser world. The first thing you experience when starting the book is a drop right in the middle of a kidnapping with a hero swinging in to hopefully save the day….now, I am not about to ruin the experience and give away the facts on the kidnapping, or the rest of the happening short of basic description….wanna know detailed facts and cannot wait? Buy the book.
Arthur, if you must know more, is the first Shadow Chaser. The circumstances of the aforementioned kidnapping caper leave him unemployed in the ways of super heroes. Nothing shows the proper impact of this like Chapter Five;
“Arthur Brown sat like a hermit on a barstool in a local pub, alone
with his thoughts, and ignored by the patrons surrounding him. Clouded by
the aroma of whisky, and reeking with the stench of regret, Brown held the
glass in his right hand and gripped his cane with his left. On the tenth
anniversary of his final battle as the Shadow Chaser, Brown cradled his glass,
nursing the relationship with his best friend of the last five years. The battle
that ended his career also ended his capacity to walk with a normal gait. A man
who at one time required a mask to facilitate his need for vengeance and
justice; now found himself needing to consume a bottle of hard liquor to help
him forget about the unfulfilled promise he once made to his wife Claire.
Arthur Brown had aged ten years, but the alcohol abuse made him look twenty
years older. The punishment he received from the bottle was far worse than
any physical impairment he received as the Shadow Chaser. Brown no longer
cared about anybody or himself.”
The chapter goes on to show Arthur struggling with personal combat in the worlds inside and outside his head.
Enter Kevin Wolf, each great hero be it Batman or Huck Finn has a personal tragedy that drives them. Kevin is no different. His loss is one that really cannot be given away in review description so much as read.
But he has guides to lift him in his assent; Master Tanaka, martial arts mentor, Arthur Brown and….well more would yet again be telling. And his world has villans to slam him down. The quite evil Antonio Stavros and the equally dark Group of 13.
This novel begs to be a comic book.
Final verdict, Check out the sample chapters provided by Randy here to get an idea if you dig his own pulp/noir alley.
You can find Randy and the Shadow Chaser at The Shadow Chaser site

Pedal Cars....

2010-01-26T17:35:00.001-06:00

1960's Murray Tee Bird Pedal Car. Completely redone...no decals. Tried to redo the pinstriping of the 60's pedal cars with a pearl blue instead of the original flat powder blue. :) Pedal Cars seem to be yet another artistic outlet that sorta sneaked up on me. I now have so many ideas on things to do with these things...soon these personal "art expressions" will be for sale...right after I crank em' out...the next one will be possibly a UT themed car...not that I'm a fan really, I don't think I actually have a favorite current sports team...anyway it will be immediately for sale...so if you dig UT put in a request to buy now as this will be one of a kind. :)

Bad cell

2009-12-29T04:08:00.002-06:00

If anyone is wondering why I've had your number but haven't contacted you lately...aside from being unbelievably busy I've just replaced my old cell and the company sent a new SIM card to replace the old one...new cell, bad card...however, all my contact info is gone. If I knew your info but haven't called but should have...please email it to me. Hopefully I'll get back to ya...fingers crossed.

MERRY CHRISTMAS to all!!!!

2009-12-24T00:19:00.000-06:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS to all!!!! May the best of your dreams be the worst of your troubles. Much love to my friends. Joyeux Noël, Feliz Navidad, メリークリスマス, 圣诞快乐, vrolijke Kerstmis, frohe Weihnachten, Χαρούμενα Χριστούγεννα, Buon Natale, 즐거운 성탄, Feliz Natal and с Рождеством Христовым. And just in case I forget, Happy Boxing Day!

Do yourself a favor...

2009-12-10T13:42:00.002-06:00

I would like everyone out there to do themselves the favor of snagging a commission from the soon to be legendary artist, Marietta Delene Williams. It's the perfect Christmas present! Or family heirloom...either way you should act now while you can. Ever wish you could get artwork from a famous artist before big fame? Here's your chance. Just head over to her site at meiken.deviantart.com

The Meatless Road

2009-12-02T03:57:00.003-06:00

For the longest time I have been thinking of going meatless...did it once before... but how far does one go? Well while still mulling over this the other day a friend on facebook told me he was going meatless for a year. Perhaps I may myself. What do you think? :) The link to his journey on the meatless road is http://ameatlessyear.blogspot.com/ Please pay him a visit.

A large league back….

2009-09-02T15:42:00.002-05:00

Earlier in the week in the midst of the whole Disney/Marvel buyout thing I had seen a post on FaceBook about the idea that it might be a good thing for Disney to buy Marvel because it might mean there would be more all-ages comics. This is most assuredly true, however is this a completely good thing? I think this is more of a “yes and no” thing myself.

Why? Well you have two sides on this. On one side you have the truth that there defiantly are not enough all-ages comics. Now I do a ton of all-ages things. My concept of all-ages is not necessarily just for children so much as safe for children to read yet not make an adult feel embarrassed or bored to take on, hence all-ages…from five to fifty.

Children’s books are something, in my mind and I think in proper definition, are something that just speaks to children where the age of readership cuts off at the tweens or maybe teens and have nothing to do with adults whatsoever. No challenging concepts that only an adult would know of. Nothing heavy in the realm of gore, horror or sex.

Now that being said I think that we could use a batch of comics that speak to all. However when most corporate folk seem to think that all-ages means material for four year olds. Think of the now cancelled “Spidey Super Stories” from Marvel… well from Marvel and The Electric Company. No challenging plot, concept or action. And this is perfectly fine for the kindergarten set, but is sheer death for comics in general.

In America comics has a horrible image problem. We have the dreaded “funny pages syndrome”…. Basically most people think that comics are for kids and not for adults. They think they are not proper literature and if you’re an adult reading them you are a submoron or a socially deficient person. That you’re a comic “geek”…and please don’t get me started on the geek label…another day for that one.

Comics in this country have a terrible time being taken seriously. Now I know there are a few out there that think that comics are just fine on reputation. That all of the people they meet know of and respect comics. “Hey Watchmen was a major motion picture that was taken seriously…and it, thee graphic novel, won praise and awards…. and what about Maus or Persepolis?”

Yes wonderful examples, lovely work…but guess what…not everyone knows them. And those that do who aren’t fans don’t really care. Mainstream America, Joe Blow Everyman has yet to put any comic next to Huckleberry Finn as far as importance or literary level. And a major, "put it on every supermarket shelf", company like Disney making comics that will serve just very young children under the guise of normal comic books will be a large nail in the coffin of comic book's literary reputation. A large league back…. not a step back…a league…

The mouse that caught the spider...

2009-08-31T15:20:00.000-05:00

Ok this is fairly fresh news for me and my overall attitude about may change as time goes by... but I just had to get this out…so here goes.
This morning I awoke to the startling news that Disney has acquired Marvel Comics. To say this shot me out of bed with a troubled brow is an understatement. My first knee-jerk reaction was utter horror. I literally saw the heroes of my childhood…well some of them, let’s not leave out DC and God knows how many others…but I digress…where was I…oh yeah…I literally saw, eh…most, heh, of the heroes of my childhood being destroyed in my minds eye and remade in the Disney image.
It put me off my coffee and made me think of canceling breakfast. Then I regained my composure and dwelled upon things after posting my remnant of a brood on FaceBook. After doing so I was slightly surprised at some folk’s complete lack of reaction, some spoke of the better line of toys Marvel would have and others spoke of more all-ages comics. The first of those are easy to answer… toys come and go, hire a sculptor that has some talent…done. But the second gave me another slice of pause in this whole matter to go with the entire full plate of things I had to digest and think about. And one I will touch on another day…in another post.
Ok…first things first… Disney owning Marvel; Let’s start with the cons shall we?
Cons; Marvel may loose it’s edge... now this point could be argued by some as a thing that has already happened. In fact the whole idea of that is an article in itself, so I won’t really touch on that here. But Disney may water down what Marvel is already putting out.
Now in Disney’s defense they have said that they are not going to change Marvel one bit to fit the Disney brand. But come on… would you buy a company and never do anything in the way it’s run to fit your way of doing things? Over time businesses have to update their plan of attack on the market and Marvel is no different. In updating their plan Disney has no choice but to mold Marvel to fit their overall scope of future goals… to do otherwise is not good business. Disney has said they will honor Marvel’s agreements with the movie companies they have made but after that is done they will bring all future films “in house” and make and distribute it themselves… but then again I would if I were them… once more it’s just smart business.
The same was said of Disney acquiring ABC. Unless your completely clueless it’s obvious that they have certainly changed…don’t get me started on those tween “comedies” they churn out…but hey, someone must dig em… so yet again…digressing…
And oh my the crossovers….sigh… or better yet… animated Marvel movies with songs just thrown in there because, “Kids just love music in their movies!” ugh…
Ok, too many things to list at the moment without sounding bitter when I’m really not. I don’t want you to get the idea that my disagreeing with a few Disney methods means I hate the company…I don’t. I actually dig the whole Disney thing in certain respects.
So that brings us to…the Pros: Ok Marvel on TV for one thing. Disney is a freaking giant in multimedia and exposure is the word here. With Disney’s reach they could be in places they never could before. Word has it that upon hearing the news of the deal that everyone from Pixar to Disney proper was excited at the idea of doing things with Marvel properties. To quote them, “Sparks will fly.”
So one must ask themselves, “If all see something will it have the same soul when they see it?”
If Marvel is changed too much from it’s core then the whole world will see nothing but a name and a pair of long johns…my fingers are crossed but with age I tend to flavor my hope with a pinch of cynicism.

One of those writing sheds like Mark Twain had...

2009-08-27T17:18:00.002-05:00

Not a lot to say...not much to say...The only thing I will say is that on one hand I have a dictation program that needs LOTS of training...and on the other hand I never get any quiet or proper space sans interruptions to actually dictate without background noise.
God I wish I had one of those writing sheds like Mark Twain had... I think it was on his Sister-in-Law's property. A lovely little gazebo with a typewriter and writing paper. Far away from folk...when he was done he would come home...period.
Not that I'm not thankful for what I have and all...but JESUS man! Come on.... Everytime I get CLOSE to the "zone" someone come trouncing through. Or my Son pops in saying someone wants to see me...and it amounts to "Look at that..." ...which amounts to NOTHING!!! ARRRGGHHHH!!
At this rate I'l never get done with any freaking thing! .......merde.....

My art for purchase online....

2009-04-28T21:42:00.001-05:00

I am proud to announce that high quality prints of my artwork are available for purchase for the first time ever online. To see and own a wall ready print of my art please visit jadearcade.imagekind.com

God bless Stan and John...

2009-04-01T12:07:00.003-05:00

It's funny sometimes how someone else can remind or push you into something you've been meaning to do for ages. Recently I was invited to join a group that has, out of the bloated list of groups on FaceBook about....anything you could fathom, comes one that has long been due existence. A group on the old standby of comic book artist, the ever necessary "How to draw comics the Marvel way".
This book was a wonder to me as a child. It was a bible of art. The second I got the tome in my hot little hands, I poured over the contents until the pages broke from the spine from use. It was the first time I remember being spoken to by an adult in terms that I no only understood, but was not spoken down to. I, being a hyper had to know everything type of child...and now adult, was quite fulfilled with the step by step process I only could guess about beforehand.
Sure I, like many had learned from the world around me as far as drawing goes. But this was far more than looking at trees, the sky or the new issue of Micronauts. No this was the first that truely taught me form and structure. Dynamics of movement previously given out in mental viewings by Ditko and others were fleshed out, the body given bones, the house a foundation.
I had always wanted to meet John and Stan...although the great Mr. Buscema is gone, and I still miss his presance in the world, I still hope to meet Stan "The Man".
I could drone on forever on this book, but I'll spare you that. But I must in the highest fashion imaginable recommend that you get this book in some form if you haven't already. Myself being the eternal studant, still picks it up from time to time...to learn or wax nostalgic. It's more than worth your time....and is a large chunk of childhood for me.
It inspired me...it inspired my son. It's required reading for anyone doing comics. It's a thing I'll always treasure and go back to to this day. The only thing I miss is the hardcover....seems more official.... For any who have a problem with Marvel now...this is Marvel then.....and will always be a thing of learning and childhood wonderment. God bless Stan and John..I owe ya guys..

Note: The intelligent and talented individual who made the FaceBook group for this great book is artist Atula Siriwardane. The links to him and his world of wonder are:
http://www.atulasiriwardane.com
http://atulasiriwardane.blogspot.com/
http://tinyurl.com/MyProfile-Facebook
And of course if your interested in joining the group, and you should be, is:
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=540243850#/group.php?gid=62830038643&ref=nf
Big thanks to Atula....now...Go join that group!...LOL!

A little light....

2009-03-26T14:19:00.002-05:00

This doesn't really have anything to do with news about me but just me soapboxing a little.
Every now and then, if your lucky, you get a little light in your life. A gift.
Sometimes this come in the form of a child or that special someone. A dog, a day, something that would otherwise make what is a dull existence into a bright one.
If it ever happens to you...recognize it and never take it for granted. Treat every day as the first and last in your life. If your religious, thank the maker for what you have. But most of all be thankful for the light in your life. Life is too short and in a blink....it's gone.
Be grateful, cherish, pay attention...we only have so may lights in our life. Hold on to yours and never let it go out.

QDos

2009-02-18T16:08:00.000-06:00

There is an online rating system for famous folk...no I did NOT say celebrities..that rates how known they are and their internet footprint. Being that I've been doing this art and writing thing for over twenty years now I happen to be one of these "famous folk", oh if only it were "rich and famous", and since that is the case I am on Qdos. Folks add web links with the sites mentioning the person and that combined with current fame is how they rate the person...I think, but I don't run the place so don't quote me on that one. I didn't put myself on it, you just show up after having a little "being known" going on. So here is the rating graphic, I think it self-updates. If it doesn't just go to this place.
Or go to qdos.com to check on yourself or your favorite "famous folk"

FaceBook...

2009-01-16T14:11:00.003-06:00

I now have a profile on FaceBook as well as Myspace. For MySpace CLICK HERE and as far as FaceBook CLICK HERE or the fan page CLICK HERE. Come on by and be a friend...I'll be yours... we'll make a day of it...LOL!

2009-01-15T23:07:00.000-06:00

Just for a laugh I thought I would show you the slide show you would see if you looked on my MySpace or facebook profile.

To cover one's arse...

2008-10-23T13:54:00.000-05:00

Okay, let me set the scene up for you. It's a 9:00 in the morning, and I wake up to my wife saying there is an insulation truck next door. Next door to us is a rental property that my grandfather has and is in desperate need of fixing up in order to be rented out to someone. So the last thing he needs is an insulation truck with Windows and insulation when the entire inside of the house needs fixing first.

The backdoor to this house has a latched screen door and a door behind screens. They are checked every night to make sure no one has gotten inside the house or has done anything to it. The door can be opened in the back of the house if you push really hard. So these guys show up at nine in the morning. I see them knock on the door they go underneath the house, the whole time I'm thinking perhaps one of my Aunts called these people to look at house in the see how much insulation or new windows they need in the house.

After no response from knocking on the door these men basically break into the house by shoving the door open and walking inside the house, which they did before I got to them, so they were basically breaking in and entering the house. When they leave, the door is wide-open and all the openings to the bottom of the house, where the underpinning is…wide-open as well. Now I can understand the mistakes in addresses, the house didn't have a house number on it that makes sense. But what I don't understand is somebody going to house knocking on the door finding out to that nobody’s there and breaking into the house and when they leave… the doors are wide-open.

So I call up this insulation company and the manager calls me back. Bear in mind that my wife and I myself had seen these people go inside the house after knocking on the door. I very nicely say I understand someone going to the wrong house, but I’d thought of let you know ahead of time just in case this happens to somebody else's house that was not as nice as I am about it. Somebody else would have thrown these guys in jail for breaking into their house. This guy proceeds to cover his own arse by saying the guy never went inside the house and a guy that was with them, the man in the lead truck, which is little pickup truck and behind the big truck, that he can attest to the fact that they never went inside the house. After going around in circles with this guy for about five or ten I say ‘look, I just thought you might want to know, in the future people might not be so nice. You might have a lawsuit or somebody in jail.’ Well this guy has the attitude that is the equivalent to somebody spitting in your face. A ‘your word against theirs’ thing. A basically ‘screw you’ type of thing.

Now I'm wondering what happened to service? What happened to common decency? What happened to the customer is a human being instead of a “your word against theirs, you big freaking liar”?

I already tell this guy he’s not in trouble. That no one cares about pressing any charges or anything like that. So for this man to do things in such a way was, I guess you could say unethical? Or you could just say “wrong”.

Life is sometimes longer or shorter than we would want to be depending on what our situation is and it doesn't hurt to treat somebody like a human being. And will not kill anyone to be an honest human being.

Before anybody gets into any sort of business they need to get some books on ethics. Perhaps some books on manners. Find out not only the proper economical way of doing business, but also the proper social way of doing business. Start off by treating the customer like a person who is not out to lie, cheat and steal.

I myself am taking the high road. I'm not going to give a hint of the where this insulation company is located. I'm not going to give the slightest hint of the name, phone number or anything like that. The last thing I wish when fighting the monster is to become a monster myself.

Website Redux finished!

2008-10-03T14:33:00.000-05:00

Just revamped the website. Some things are still going to be put in later as far as slide shows, etc. Please drop by http://www.jadearcade.com and take a look.

Cheers!

Did you ever try to save time?

2008-09-15T21:52:00.000-05:00

Did you ever try to save time? I'm always trying to save time in whatever I do whether it is art or writing or whatever. I'm always been impressed with the idea of writing with a tape recorder, dictating ideas while a machine slaves away taking down every little thought. Rod Serling was a good example of this, he was a heavily prolific writer and his main tool, from what I understand was a tape recorder. Of course ride was able to hire a type is to take the dictation and turn it into the wonderful words on the page. These words would eventually become twilight zone episodes, short stories and later on the night gallery TV show.

I've always wanted the like Rod, to throw ideas down a tape recorder's gullet and have wonderful batches of text shootout its rear end.

It seems perfect the idea of dictation, I think much faster than I can type and I can type quite fast. So when products like Dragon NaturallySpeaking and IBM's Via Voice came down I was jumping for joy. Until I found out that I had to have at least a Pentium 2 computer to be able to run version seven of Dragon NaturallySpeaking, which I'm dictating this to right now. Now on I'm having a few errors, which probably has something to do with the fact that my microphone might be crap or I haven't taught it enough about my own voice in the training portion of the program. And I have to get past any type of possible accident that I might have me being a person who is from the South. I don't really have an accent that I can tell, although I am quite used to my own voice people who live here happen to think that I come from somewhere else, being that I have no discernible accent that they can tell. I happen to have version 9 of this program and I've heard that version 9 is hidden shoulders better than version seven. But my laptop and my desktop or only opinion to the computers so version 9 won't even install on either one. So until a given your computer I'm stuck with any possible flaws that are present in version seven. Things like not being able to put down any type of exclamation without having to self edit it or waiting awhile and then saying the word, or exclamation point.

Plus I have to speak like a news anchor for heavens sake. Still is much faster with all it's flaws than typing what I have to say. Right now I'm working with a studio microphone without a breath guard and this program would probably understand more of what I'm saying if I had a proper condenser microphone. However the more I use it easier it seems to get.

I just have to read some more bedtime stories to it.

So if you're writer or just someone who can't type very quickly, or has arthritis or whatever then this is the ideal thing. I can't help but recommend this in the highest possible way. So if anybody at Dragon were listening I'd love to do a commercial for you guys in get some free product.

Site redux...

2008-09-10T17:56:00.000-05:00

I'm in the middle of redoing my homepage. So please check for the changes.

Houdini

2008-03-02T00:48:00.000-06:00

I have just finished watching a documentary on Houdini called "Houdini: Unlocking the Mystery". Unfortunately I missed the first hour and thirty minutes of this broadcast, although I've seen it before I just hate missing something I start out to watch.
Houdini has always been a person of great fascination to me. He's always been a bit of a real life super hero, right up there with Evel Knievel, Chaplin and Lord knows how many comic book artist and writers, etc. etc.
Houdini was one of those people that if you had a time machine and traveled back to stop that young collage fellow from hitting Houdini in the stomach and then tried to get him to a hospital..he would refuse, the show must go on!
Hell he was on stage with a high fever, collapsed after the first act, was revived and then did a little more for the crowd! Later that night he went to the hospital, underwent surgery, then died after a painful seven days.
So you'd have to kidnap him....eh...right...kidnap and hold the greatest escape artist of his, possibly our time.
Then there is the infection thing. Hospitals, medicine... they weren't as advanced as now. They didn't even have sulfa drugs for infection, a big deal for someone with an appendix that may or has ruptured.
There is such a long laundry list of things to worry about that, yes you could save him...but it would be damn difficult and he would not go quietly.
This is one of the endless things going on in my head at any given time. Historical "What ifs" and a great deal of the time they turn into books.
Cheers!
Jade Arcade

Antivirus on Linux

2008-02-23T01:36:00.000-06:00

Although my Desktop is Windows XP, my laptop is Freespire, a Linux system. Anyone know of a really good, possibly free antivirus with a GUI?
I'm used to Panda on the Desktop but can't get it to install on the Linux, even with Crossover. Any suggestions folks?
Cheers!
Jade Arcade

WebComic and First post here!

2008-02-22T01:35:00.000-06:00

Going to be putting out a webcomic or two soon so keep a look out for it here, my main page at www.jadearcade.com or on my mySpace profile. Oh yeah, and of course this is the first blog post! Cheers!