Free is Good.

I’ve got a bad problem with staying up way, way too late on the weekends. Why am I such a glutton for punishment? I feel like there’s not enough time in the day, so I burn the candle at both ends for days and days, then crash and feel terrible.

We acquired a MacBook a few months ago and it’s pretty sweet. I also loaded up on some excellent freeware programs. Free is good. Free is gooooood. I’ve listed some of the freeware programs I have found to be noteworthy below.

I have been using Gimpshop for Mac and really like it. If you’re used to Photoshop controls, you’ll find that Gimpshop is much easier to use than the original GIMP program. Now, I have Photoshop CS2 for Windows at work and like it better, but considering PS CS3 will run you almost $1000, I’m totally cool with using a program thats not as tricked out but totally free. To download the latest version of Gimpshop, go to www.plasticbugs.com.

Another really great freeware app that I have is called “Inkscape”. Inkscape is basically Adobe Illustrator. Inkscape is to Illustrator as Gimpshop is to Photoshop. Go to www.inkscape.org for the free download. It's good for comic page lettering.

You will need a utility program called “X11” in order to run Gimpshop and Inkscape. You can download this program for free online. However, if you have the Mac OS X installation disks, you can find X11 on one of the disks, saving you the trouble of searching for it online.

Also, if you are in need of a really great Bible program for your Mac, check out MacSword.com. MacSword is a freeware program that lets you download additional freeware bible translations to use. It’s very easy to use and you can also commentaries, bible dictionaries, devotionals and even bible atlases in a multitude of languages. I use it daily, more than any other program I have.

“Artrage” is a freeware program that lets you create virtual paintings using tools such as a paintbrush, crayon, colored pencils, markers and a palette knife. The free version limits you somewhat, but I gotta say that Artrage sure is cool. It really looks like paint being smeared on a canvas. I highly encourage you to try it out, just for funsies.

If you are in the market for a free word processor for Mac, try out “OpenOffice”. It’s an opensource version of Word, but it works pretty good. There is a bundle of freeware apps in OpenOffice that is designed to work and look very similar to Microsoft Office. With OpenOffice, you get several programs designed to work like Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Access...pretty much all the programs that come with MS Office. Recommended.

www.opensourcemac.com is a great site where you can find some of the better freeware for Macs. That’s where you’ll find links to ArtRage, Handbrake, Macsword, AbiWord and many more. Hope all this helps.

Long time, No Talkie To

Wow, haven't posted jack squat in a long time. So, I should post jack squat now. Anyway, if you have not yet visited the new and improved Megazeenonline.com site, you should. It has been relaunched with a facelift and really looks great. Be sure to visit the artists page and look at mine.

Anyway, I took a little trip up to Ethridge, TN this weekend. That's right. Amish country, baby. It was pretty cool, I picked up a rockin' Amish straw hat. Now, my halloween costume should be complete. I will again reprise my role as an Amish zombie-killing machine this year. I will post pictures later. I've got a few yard zombies I made in my front yard set up, in the true spirit of Halloween.

I've done a few new pieces and posted them on my comicspace page, which is www.comicspace.com/twistedcomix. Check them out.

I've taken on a new job position at work, which means more responsibilities. Which also means, I've got more stress and consequently, when I come home I am wayyy tired and less likely to feel like drawing or anything. But, promotion comes from the Lord, so I won't complain about nothin'.

Megazeen

If you're into christian comics or underground comics or specifically underground christian comics..check out Megazeen at www.megazeenonline.com. The ' Megazeen of Horror' (issue #12) will be out this month sometime and it features a story by yours truly, titled " I was a teenage street preacher". it is my first published work. i am currently busting my hump trying to do two more stories for them. my progress is slow, however, but morale is high. you can purchase Megazeen at www.christiancomics.net/cart and they're dirt cheap, too. well worth the money.
check out the forums at www.christiancomics.net , as well. there's some really talented artists and writers who put out some darn good work over there, and its cheese -free. Meaning, the stories aren't cheesy and crappy. well, mine might be...

Books

I’m currently reading “ Epicenter “ by Joel Rosenburg and it’s incredible. I’ve been really reading up on end times prophecy this year and this book is by far the best book on the subject I have ever read. Rosenburg examines the current middle east crisis and how it pertains to bible prophecy, specifically the War of Gog and Magog , as spoken of in Ezekiel chapter 38, 39. Rosenbergs first novel ‘ the last jihad ‘ was based on these two prophetic old testament chapters. In it, Islamic extremists hijack planes and crash them into US cities. Afterwards, the US president is handed intelligence reports that indicate Iraq had WMDs and was supporting terror groups. So, the US invades Iraq to knock Saddam out of power. Sound familiar? Well, it was written months before September 11, 2001. In fact, all of his novels have an eerie way of coming true. Pick up Epicenter and give it a read.

Politics

Well, the election is over and the Democrats won control of both the House and the Senate. I’m really not surprised the Republicans lost, they really didn’t give me much reason to vote FOR them as much as they gave me a bunch of reasons why I should vote AGAINST the Dems. They’ve been in power for the last six years but have done absolutely nothing. Sure, they passed a nice little tax cut but for some strange reason, they saw fit not to make it permanent. Why? My guess is so that they could come back later and campaign on that issue. They have don’t nothing for the last six years but try to be nice to the Dems and bow to PC pressure. They could have passed tough immigration laws, permanent tax cuts, cut big government, banned same sx marriage and so on…but Noooooo, they fiddled around and didn’t do jack squat. That’s why I promised myself to never ever ever vote straight ticket republican ever again. I am a hardcore conservative, but I have to admit that there is a certain amount of pleasure in seeing politicians who don’t listen to their constituents being thrown out of office, regardless of their party. My guess is that one of the first things they are gonna do is launch a barrage of ‘investigations’ on Republican members of congress, as well as on some of the false intel that ‘justified’ the invasion of Iraq. Haliburton will likely get hammered as well. Expect top democrats to chair various committees and drum up a plethora of new government regulations for the utility industries as well as new environmental protection laws. I’m just speculating.

Halloween

Well, Halloween was last week. It's always a let down when Halloween is over, its my favorite holiday...second only to those holidays which honor the birth and resurrection of Christ, i should add. it's always so much fun to dress up like something weird and scare trick or treaters. ah, life's little joys. this year, my wife dressed up like a cop and i dressed up like an angry amish guy with a rake. i made a zombie as a yard decoration , which looked pretty good. maybe i can post a pic of it.

First entry

Well, this is my first entry. I intend to keep it updated but we'll see how that works out. I created this blog so I can rant about stuff that I think is important. Such as art, comics, politics, religion, hockey, food...blah blah blah. I hav a few links at the bottom right you should check out. GLO is the my church's youth group blog page, which is still under construction.