Comic Master

Be a master of your own domain, get Comic Master (bater)!

OK, so I’m going to bite the bullet (and maybe lose my teeth in the process) and learn RubyOnRails. But instead of building another ToDolistapp or another one of countless blogs, I thought I’d do something different. Something that I actually could use. A comic website management application. Thusly, Comic Master was conceived.

Planned features for version 1:

• Comic strip management (duh)
• File uploading (for strips and other things… wallpaper, avatar, etc)
• Setting future dates for strips to be published
• Allow for grouping individual episodes into issues (Lil Monstas will use this format)
• Simple content management
• Simple forums
• News posting
• Blog
• Commenting on all of the above

I’m going to use MySQL as the database. All the content is going to support RedCloth. Plus, I’d like to make it support themes.

I don’t like the name Comic Master, though. Sounds a little like “Be a master of your own domain, get Comic Master (bater)!” Which is just plain wrong. But I can change that when — or if — I think of a better name. Feel free to post any suggestions…

Terminal Woes

I couldn’t stand it any more. My terminal prompt looking like:

Matthew-McCrays-Computer:darthapo ~/Desktop $ |

It was driving me crazy! I wasn’t sure how to change it on my Mac though. Our friend Google showed me that I can change it the same way I would on my linux box—since they both use bash as the shell.

So, I’m much happier now that I’ve updated my ~/.profile with this entry:

export PS1=" \w > "

Now my prompt looks like

 ~/Desktop > |

Ahhhh, much better.

The Venture Brothers

The Venture Brothers is the best cartoon on Cartoon Network (Adult Swim). It’s got action, humor, and some of the best villains I’ve seen in a long time. I nearly fell off of my couch when I saw Magic 8 Ball man! He, of course, doesn’t speak. He shakes himself and you read his answer on his chest-plate.

Dean: Dad is super serious all of a sudden. Do you really think he’s in as much danger as he says he is? Brock: Oh yeah, he’s screwed. I give him about an hour before he panics and begs for us to haul him up. Dr. Venture: Okay guys, I can hear all this

It’s definitely quirky—when one of the main characters is voiced by Patrick Warburton (The Tick, Puddy, et al) you know it’s gonna be a little off. It pokes fun at lot of cartoons from yesteryear. You’ll notice the nod to Johnny Quest right off. A tad of Hardy Boys, a dose of Austin Powers, with the camp of Brisco County, Jr. (how’s that for an eclectic reference) what’s not to like?

Brock is chained up, talking to Hank through his communicator watch
Brock: After the twist, you’ll hear a snap. Then the body goes ragdoll on ya.
Hank: And that will knock him out…even more?
Brock: That’ll kill him
Hank: Do I have to?
Brock: Alright fine, crybaby. Just tie him up and, maybe I guess gag him. But at the first sign of trouble I want you to at least break both his knees.

Check it out on Cartoon Network -- it’s usually on Sunday nights -- I think you’ll be glad you did.

FYI: I feel compelled to mention that this show is on Adult Swim, so it’s not really for little kids. I think it’s rated TV-PG, but still some of them can get a little raunchy.

Mass. Pirate: We need that key to stash your boat, Mr. Big Stuff, let’s have it.
Brock: ... it’s up my ass.
Pirate #1: Are you serious?
Brock: Why don’t you check?
Pirate #1: (to other pirate) Well? Check!
Mass. Pirate: But what if he’s lying?
Pirate #1: If he were telling the truth, that would be better?

Time to Find a New Job

OMG -- I almost feel sorry for this guy. Almost.

Never Say Never

Well, all things being cyclic, it eventually had to come to this; Internet Explorer is not the top dog anymore. When I say this, I don’t mean market-share. They still have a good slice of that (see chart below). However, IE is so far behind it’s competition that you can’t - in good conscience - call it a “modern browser”. It’s slow, buggy, non-compliant… Oh, yeah, and full of security holes. In fact, it’s really just an online virus magnet that allows you to see some web-pages too.

I’ve been playing with Safari, of late—I really enjoy it. I’ll probably wind up going back to FireFox, though. It’s just so darn nice.

Here’s the market-share chart from ZooDotCom: