RKNet Blog... Thing

Three things to love about this JLA Classified cover: Bondage, superheroes, and Joshua Middleton.

The original is currently for auction. Anyone who is a fan of Middleton’s art, enjoys rare comic art or likes seeing Wonder Woman tied up should probably jump on this ASAP.

Joshua Middleton is best known - in my book - for this started-and-stopped comic Sky Between Branches. The publisher, ComX Comics is either defunct or totally forgot to update their domain registration. Oops. It’s a gorgeous one shot which delicately skims the surface of what promised to be a really wonderful story. Unfortunately due to budget constraints, Middleton was not able to continue with Sky Between Branches.

Yet his career hasn’t suffered for this. He has now done serious work for big names in comics like X-Men and now JLA. His fluid style and lush, often muted palette invite closer inspection than some of the hard, fast art seen in traditional and even modern comics. I really can’t find enough good things to say about Middleton’s work. Check it out for yourself, he’s got lots of really good pieces up for Sky Between Branches, as well as lots of finished and sketch work for some of his recent comic work.

Gentle Readers,
I am torn. Every year I say I am going to do something so unbelievably wicked awesome for halloween. Every year I flake out.

This year should be different. I have 2 ideas in mind. One involves a lot of money and would need to be done soon, one involves a lot of time and maybe a little less money and skills I don’t necessarily have.
Read the rest of this entry »

This Words To Know is being brought to you today by “why the hell not?” and also by “not formatted anything like the other ones”. Now with 99% less Wikipedia and 100% more link mouseover info. This makes it sort of revolutionary among its brethren, and also somewhat of a jerk.

First thing's first. With the recent pet food scare, and me owning a kitty of which I have yet to take pictures, I decided it was time to find out what kitty ought to be eating. There were a lot of resources out there, but the best has to be this recipe for a “raw food” catfood. More on how that works out later.

One of the suggested ingredients in there is a whole rabbit (minus skin and fur of course). That's not a euphamism for kibble, either. That's the real deal, 1 whole Peter Cottontail, 1 whole Benjamin Bunny, 1 whole hexen hase[2]. I myself am going to settle for the chicken option, it's a lot more accessible and ultimately much more afforadable.

That's just one of several things I've managed to suss up lately. I've gotten into a lot of bizzare philosophical debates on IRC lately, and one of the most recent involved average IQ. (Intelligence has been on my mind a lot lately, particularly the calling into question of my own. Which is a patently ridiculous scenario, I realize.) Of course, show me a person with a truly average IQ and I'll probably be so stricken by the unlikelihood of it all that I'll spontaneously develop bizzare psychic powers to not be outdone in the oddity department.

Speaking of the oddity department, and discoveries, I've decided that I'm intensely enamored of the whole “Gothic Lolita” fashion style. The lovely Annalee over at ToM pointed out the store site for Baby, The Stars Shine Bright. I spent a while browsing there and then struck out on my own, looking for more super-fun visual styles in that vein. It is of course by no means practical, but it's so enjoyably artful that I can't help but be fascinated by it.

This leads to my last little bit, which like most of the rest of this post will be less of an proper WTK and more of a personal aside. At some point while gushing over how adorable a bunch of cosplayers were I quipped something to the effect of “quick, everybody gimme me money so I can buy a Suiseiseki costume!” However, my attempt to be funny went slightly off-center with someone and I wound up being donated $15 through PayPal. …so now I intend to hold that money aside and put it towards buying real hosting for my site as I mentioned wanting to months ago. I guess I am willing to take other donations but I'm not really all that keen on the idea since it feels sort of absurd to take handouts for something as simple as hosting. What I will accept with open arms are suggestions on a low-cost, stable hosting solution that will support wordpress.

Holy smokes!
Penny Arcade’s Gabe announced earlier that although the Child’s Play drive is over, they still have some items that did not get auctioned off. So they’re cleaning house and getting the organization a little extra somethin-somethin.

One of those items is a Nintendo Wii signed by the president of NoA, Reggie Fils-Aime.

At this moment, it’s up to $455 with 11 bids. Those of you privledged few who AREN’T broke may want to consider throwing your dollar-stuffed hat into the ring.

Incidentally, while looking for a picture of a hat full of dollars, I found this article about a car pwning the second story of a house. That’s right. The second story.

Hey guys.
Sick of your country? Ever want to own a piece of a micronation?

Look no further. http://www.buysealand.com

The Pirate Bay has decided it’s high time to get their own country, and has invited the internets to join them.

Apparently anyone who donates will be an official citizen of the as-yet-to-be-purchased nation, and will have any and all perks that come with citizenship of Pirate Bay’s Micronation of Sealand which have yet to be determined.

There is a discussion forum set up, and right now it seems tremendously ridiculous. People pushing for “no economy” or “stem-cell research” etc., etc.

This is largely ridiculous because Sealand is approximately 550 square miles, and claims about 3 nautical miles around it. That’s it. It’s also a man-made structure, not a real island. In order to make this into something worth while for actual citizens, you’d have to do something similar to the island building going on in Dubai right now. (Note, slow large pictures at the Dubai source: faster source here and here regarding the island building projects.) Truthfully you’d have to make a real island out of it in order to make it worthwhile for much of anything. Although I imagine it might make a good evil villain lair or a business stronghold.

I think this thread over at the forums raises a very good point.

The whole Sealand thing reeks of pipe dream, but their stated “plan b” is to buy some other place that can be run as an independant nation.

Do those still exist? Is this a good idea? I think this probably is not a good idea in terms of trying to meet the actual goal of buying and founding a small nation based on the input of this forum alone. However, it does serve to open up dialogue and that is very important. What would you do if you had it all to run for yourself? Would you be smart about it, or “free ice cream and jet packs for everybody!” about it?

So, what would you do?