So I have a magazine subscription to various magazines that I signed up for when I was drunk/crazy/who-the-fuck-knows, mostly photo-related ones because there's some great portrait and colour reference in them, and the LouLou magazine comes as part of the bundle.
It's super girly, in a sweetly Canadian Valley Girl sort of way, with whole articles on shoes and spas and shit. I still enjoy reading it because, hey, I do like clothes and retail therapy. Plus, pretty girls. And today the newest issue came in the mail and I glance at the cover in the elevator.
"Huh," I think, "that looks creepily like a friend I went to high school with."
It's unsettling, but doesn't surprise me too much, since I know this friend's now a model. She's been to Paris even, and doing quite well for herself. I haven't spoken to her in years, though she is on my Facebook, but she's in Ottawa now and frequently hangs out with our friend Tori, who I do talk to sporadically enough. And reads this blog. Hi Tori!
Anyway, curious I check the cover info. Sure enough, the model's name is Sarra (though back at high school it wasn't spelled that way) and she's from Ottawa. If it's not her, I'm a donkey's uncle. While my sister may be an ass sometimes, she hasn't given birth to any yet, that I'm aware. She does still have many years of university left. And the girl thing.
It's one of those surreal moments. I mean, it's not like she's on Time or anything, but still, seeing someone you know from the old days on a magazine cover is neat and a little unexpected.
Unless, of course, that's not Sarah and just someone with the same name, hometown and look. Then it's just weird. And I'm a donkey's uncle.

Batnews∫
Well, well, well, lookie here. I wait all day on the viral, get little as a result and go to bed a bit sad. Then everything blows up.
First, Gordon calls. At 10pm. Thanks for scaring the pants off me, 42. He gives me the same message/warning that's on Operation Slipknot and signs off. So I go back to check what's up and am greeted with an email from Dent.
IBIHD.com's update is the same. But The Maiden Avenue Report's been updated as well, and that's when I find out that there's a PILE of stuff I don't know about. A PILE. Most of it is fluff information involving the corruption of the police and the smear campaign against Dent, as well as just character tidbits - one website  has an entire forum with a large number of posts and posters. There's an incredible depth to this viral that I didn't even realize. And since it shows no signs of slowing down, I should use this time to really dive and keep occupied.
So more websites update, but it's all fluff tidbits like before, such as webmail for a cop, voice message in Candoloro's phone, ect. The only info worthy of note is still the Dent page update.
Then Joker calls.
Or texts, really. The Joker phones from the previous games like up like pretty little fireworks with a message: "Don't worry about Gordon: It's all part of the plan."
Of course, we're used to this game by now. No more than 3 seconds after the first person notifies the board of Joker's message does someone plug the words in whysoserious.com
It said four days yesterday, but I took the screengrab just now. But after a little detour, looks like we're back with Joker's clutches. And with a giant countdown like this, and the trailer just a rumoured week away from debuting with Iron Man, it's no rocket science to figure out the payoff for this one. As of now we're bouncing ideas on and off on what the portraits and cities have to do with each other, but most of us are patiently waiting for Monday to see what's really up.
Did I say patient?

Oh, and for an added little bit, just to save us from feeling gypped, Joker stabbed a little present for us up there.

Phew! Spent most of today doing two things: drawing and breaking from drawing to check on the latest rush of TDK virals. They're back and in full swing!
First up, a call from Harvey Dent. I got mine a little late, but it was still all awesome. Someone's been slandering poor ol' Harv, saying he paid cops to falsely testify to get others off the force. Who? Why the Concerned Citizens for a Better Gotham, lousy scamps clearly in league with this douche, Dent's opponent for DA. But Dent's not gonna stand for it! And besides, he's just nice folk like the Citizens for Batman!

Meanwhile the GCPD updates with a little news tidbit about Frank, and another site (I don't know how this one was found) pops up for a lawyer and friend of the mob Joe Candoloro. After ringing in his number and typing in a code (which turns out to be the price of his favourite dish at Rossi's Deli) he gives you two numbers: a phone and a document. The phone we haven't solved yet, but the document is back at the good ol' GCPD, where after logging in with the old password, which was luckily saved in my Firefox kechain, you entre the doc id and BAM! Info that wonderful and celebrated Frank ain't such a good dude after all. But the case has been terminated. Why?

Hasn't been solved yet, because everyone's too pumped about the other news: Joker text! All owners of the Joker phones recieved a text at around the same time we get the Dent call. The messages were all around the same, given the cell clowns a different letter. As the letters trickled in we all worked out brains trying to figure it out. It was crazy and maddening and without all the letters together, almost a little pointless. By 7pm we were down to two letters left, by 8 we were down to 1. And after trying to add it to the various other sites like whysoserious.com, as it was in the old viral, we got a new message, saying it was a new site, not an addition to any of the old ones. So anagraming we went, trying various internet pluggins, adding it in our heads, chewing the ends off of pencils and various other tasks to not figure it out. Then, one poster comes up with an I GOT IT!

And where does it all lead?
http://clowntravelagency.com/
BOOYA. Two sleeps and BAM the Joker virals begin anew. We're already wondering if it's a another scavenger hunt on a more global scale. Wouldn't it just be the bees knees if there was something in Halifax? That's about as possible as a three dollar bill, as anything Canukistan will show in up TO, but still awesome. This will undoubtedly lead into May, Speed Racer and the new trailer. Oh joyous day!

And so, on this end of March coming into April, I realize I've been wasting a stupid amount of time when I could be doing much better things. The last three months have been mostly video games, random doodles and wasting my time online. But no more, I say. With warm spring weather I decide it's time I do a spring cleaning on my life.
So why the decision? Well, you could say it started with the tablet. Once that poor puppy died on me I realized just how much I needed it, and at the same time how much I barely used it. I was just getting into learning the actual methods of painting in photoshop and better line control and yadda yadda yadda, and once it broke on me I felt like I couldn't draw anymore. Then I thought how silly I was being, picked up a pencil and started drawing on paper. But it still felt wrong because I wanted to do colour. You know, that old saying of 'won't miss it till it's gone.'
So I needed a new tablet. I looked at my money, looked at my options, and put a bunch of my stuff up for sale. Also need to look into eBay. But I managed to pull money together and get myself a new tablet, though through ordering it online I'm not getting it for another week. So it's still paper time for me.
Then my keyboard broke, and magically fixed itself, but for a time I was really panicking about money. Looking into other jobs, considering motherfucking tech support of all things, and wondering when the hell animation was going to pick up again.
Then last night I went out with a bunch of the gang and learned the answer to that last question: not for a long fucking while. Right now there's a skeleton crew working the studio, apparently on Speed Racer, and no big projects are going to come our way until July. After hearing this, when I got home I emailed the bossman to find out if this was yey or nay. And got a response, basically saying 'No work for a long ass while, go get yourself a new job.'

And that's when you can say it hit me. I'd been doing fine and cushy in the industry so far because I'm right out of school and got the jobs thanks to Algonquin. But now, in this business of who you know, everyone I know is either Collidieascope or Mercury, and there's no work at either. I did a quick browse and found one job that would've been cool, but one of the requirements is that I had to be a resident of Ontario this past December, I guess for tax reasons. Another I found in Montreal, which is salary and would be fairly kick-ass, but then I get the cold feet. (Actually, I just checked their website and all they do is webcomic cartoons lol) I have no website, no real portfolio and no matter how much I love this field, I'm damn weak in it. If I want to get another job I have to up my game.

So today I cleaned the apartment. I went for a walk with Duncan, who's decided to go back to Ottawa, and I weighed my options. Financially, it would be best to stay here because otherwise I'd have to get a new lease and move everything and all in all, it would be way more money than I actually have right now. I'm far too settled in, it's not like I can just up and move. And emotionally I'd rather stay here too. I love this city and the people in it and I want to stay with my friends here. And hell, I'm expecting other friends to move into my building - I'm in the process of convincing one and the other may be coming in for school and that would be so killer. So, weighing my options, I think I'm going to spend the next few weeks beefing my portfolio and really getting on top of things. I'll try the other studio in the city, though I hear they're on downtime as well, and maybe spring some luck and get a freelance storyboarding job or something like that. By the end of April if there's still no luck to get work here, then it'll be re-evaluating time where I'll see where to go from there. I'd rather not move out of this awesome place, but if I must then I must.

TL;DR, shitsux, may have to relocate and this makes me sad.

TDK Viral news:
Harvey Dent announces he's running for District Attorney! I've sent in my little photo and should hopefully be getting a Voter registration card soon. Also, other people have been getting newspapers and other packs! Since my submission was a little half-heatedly last minute I doubt I'll get that sort of thing, but still! Exciting!
The Gotham Times updates! Look for bonus treats, like DJ Tux at the Iceberg Lounge. And the letters to the editor are a fun read.
Joker text!. Everyone with the cake phones from back in November got texted yesterday to see if they were still there. After responding, they got a second text saying Joker's gonna call 'em up before April 1st. The game's afoot!
Other new sites have cropped up the past two days. With all that's happened the last few days I'm a little behind, but all the info's up here at the ARG wiki. The girl running it is right on top of things, so it's well updated.

Linkspam:
5 most ridiculously over hyped health scares of all time
Planet formation?
Fighting with spouse can be good for your health.
A bigger belly could mean a bigger risk for dementia
Trunk cam on elephants reveals gorgeous photos
Trippiest Twighlight Zone episodes to be a movie
Swan to reunite with her plastic boat love
New Iron Man images
Computer games to get health warnings

WHY ARE CAR ALARMS ALLOWED DAMMIT.
Went to bed fairly late at 12:30 last night/this morning and just managed to slip into sleep when suddenly my ears are assaulted by this screeching car alarm. And not the usual 'booooOOO booooOOO' car alarm, this was a high-pitched 'eeeeeeEEEEEEEeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeEEEEEEE'. It repeated three times and then shut off, with my ears actually ringing from the noise. I mutter, but am not totally bothered by it - I live near the fire station, next to a car dealership and a few streets down from the bad side of town, so I'm generally used to car alarms even though this one was more offensive than most.
Then it starts again. Does three strains of the noise and shuts off. 30 seconds later, it's back.
This goes on for half an hour. I don't know where the car was, but I'm pretty sure it was in the visitor parking lot. No idea what the fuck could be setting it off, because there's no way someone would be trying that hard to break into that one car. And the worst part was right before the alarm went off, it made that car 'boopboop' noise. So ear-splitting siren, silence for a moment and just when you think it's over: 'boopboop'
So by 1:30 I'm seriously considering going outside to find this car and smashing it with a hammer when I finally hear a series of beeps and boops which indicate that the fucking douchecunt who owns this car has realized what's going on and gone to turn off the alarm.
I hope whoever he/she is, he/she dies a painful death and goes to hell to be raped by weasels. I had a fucking headache when I woke up this morning and I'm blaming the car alarm.

Oh, and VIRAL IS BACK OMGYAY
http://www.ibelieveinharveydent.com

Linkspam:
Greatest police escape done by gay porn star
New Line now a part of WB
New Iron Man Trailer
A 'reset' button for the brain could cure Alzheimers
Online video conversion services
New Get Smart trailer
Blind man sees with aid of son's tooth
Man swims 10 hours in shark infested water
Scientology's plagiarized?
5 books that can make you stupider
Sea reptile biggest on record
Bird boy found in Russia
Digging for Hitler's treasure
Man stabs two others in theater during horror movieEarth's 6 mass extinction: right now
People like to die in video games

IT'S HERE AND IT'S AWESOME AND LEDGER OMG

Y'know, I was talking with a friend today about how much of an ubernerd I am, and I realized that 90% of my posts this month have been very Bat-centric.
...
Well, at least it's not Neopets or something, right?

Unfortunatly the road trip got cancelled due to complications. I'm not without entertainment though! The newest Joker Viral has been released with a buttload of different sites.
It starts where TheGothamTimes.com is released, following the packages sent to those who participated in RorysDeathKiss.com which were Gotham Times newspapers. The website is the only version of those papers, with some links and mentions to other sites, which have been found by others by digging. The other sites are:
TheHaHaHaTimes.com, the Joker-defaced version of the Gotham times.
RememberingGina.org, a memorial site for a girl who died in gang activity, mention in the paper.
GothamNationalBank.com, website for the Gotham bank
GothamPolice.com, website for the Gotham Police
and WeAreTheAnswer.org a Harvey Dent site for reporting police corruption.
As for important information, besides the links/references to the other sites in the Gotham Times, there's also an ad for 'clowns with a background in crime' asking to email humanresources@whysoserious.com. If you reply to it, you get this message: "See you found my little message. So, do you think you have what it takes to be a part of my circle of friends? Are you a backstabbing, self-promoting, ambitious clown who will do anything to prove yourself to me? If so, the first step of your application process awaits...if you know where to look."
HaHaHaTimes.com has many circled words, besides hilarous 'headlines' like 'Mobsters fight for their right to party', and there's obviously some sort of meaning behind it. I'm sure the various forums and the like are trying to figure it out, but since I'm not sitting at work this time I'm going to go ahead and try it for myself. It's not a hidden sentence, since putting the words together just makes no jumbled sense.
Remembering Gina has nothing of interest except for the names of the two cops the GT article says 'disappeared'. At the We Are the Answer site, you can enter their names, along with the other information given to you from the paper. I've so far recieved nothing in reply, even though the whysoserious email replied almost instantly. I suspect this is a bit more controlled to make sure that only people with the correct answers get replies.
Gotham Bank has nothing except a map, which is interesting if you want to check out the layout of Gotham city.
Gotham Police also has little, except information on a curfew and such replies from the Fear Toxin incident. (ie, the first movie)
So, onto the solving! I'll report back if I get anything.

ETA: Whooooo, got distracted. I'm still having a touch of trouble with the words from HaHaHa, but I'll keep trying for another half-hour or so. It's not an anagram of anything made up from the first letter of each batch, so far.

ETA2. I think i got it... I think it's a numbers to letters problem.

ETAOMFG: http://www.whysoserious.com/personalityprofile/

Og Oh flibbertygibbit.
I was planning on staying up late to see what went down, but ended up getting all sleepy after a big meal and kitchen clean, and since nothing would happen until 1am, I just went to bed anyway. Wake up and here's the new deal, with clues being collected here.
Of course, since it's American only there's nothing I can do but watch and wait. Doesn't mean I'm not goddamn excited. Yay Halloween! YAY BATMAN.

I'm telling ya, this marketing behind The Dark Knight is genius. The pumpkin up at WhySoSerious.com is rotting away, but only on one half of the face, in clear subtlty towards Two-Face. From the looks of the candle, this weekend is the big new reveal. What could it be? A new trailer? Now that we know there's a five minute TDK special in Dec (news keeps varying between 'prologue' and 'first five minutes of the movie' for what's actually showing.)
I'm hoping it's a trailer and that it doesn't go down tomorrow night, since I'll be busy at the studio party.
Oooooh, this is killing me! And yet I'm so excited!

In other tales, it's been a VERY busy week. I'm currently writing down all the happenings that happened and miffed at myself for forgetting to take pictures. Dunce! But with guests and deadlines and news of gay wizards, I'll be happy for a day of peace.
Which I won't get this weekend, since there's a Halloween party and the release of Guitar Hero 3.

Until I can fill out the full Vox entries for the memories, here's the brief notes on what happened:
Ryan and his gf Carolyn came to visit from Ottawa, staying here from Friday night to Wednesday morning.
Friday was just a bit of a clean, a bit of a wait and then settling in and getting some food and relaxing.
Saturday was a tour of the downtown core, around the harbour and the market and the boardwalk, before heading out that night to one of the hotspots and enjoying some good old Maritime music with a fiddle band and good beer.
Sunday the two went out on their own and I tidied the place up, did some work at home and recieved my new rats - two little babies I named Truth and Liberty. Oh, the foreshadowing. But they instantly took to Justice. Also, watched Firefly.
Monday I went to work and they did there thing and then we all went out to lunch and I showed them my studio which I'm sure Ryan gave glowing reviews on once he returned home. Watched more Firefly
Tuesday was work as usual, and then we went out to the nicest fish restaurant in the city and had a delicious dinner. Watched Legally Blonde.
Wednesday morning the two left and I went to work. That night, one of the baby rats got loose and escaped the apartment through a small hole in the heater. Is now somewhere in the walls of the apartment, hopefully escaped the building. Ironically enough, the escapee was Liberty. Truth and Justice are still in the cage and doing fine.
Thrusday I got to try out the Guitar Hero 3 demo. It rocked my fucking socks.
Friday I woke up to find Justice in my bed, have popped the entire top off of her cage. I return her. Truth was still there, luckily. Why the hell was the rat in my bed while I slept? She doesn't even like me. Studio got all decorated to Halloweeny awesome. My office got filled with bats.

More detailed posts and awesome updates to follow. Also: Trying to be moar dilligent in actually commenting on entries in flist.

Voxdate: The gayest man in Halifax.

Also: Batnews!
Footage shown at the TDK panel at WizardCon A little spoilery for some scene descriptions. There's no actual footage for us to view, as apparently you couldn't bring in even a hearing aid, but a few different clips of scenes were shown of Bats, Joker and Harvey. Everything I hear for this movie is just making this more and more kickass.

Voxdate: Wet and Wild.

When you're not looking for it, finding yourself online is an incredibly fun surprise.
I was looking for that Uncle Sam poster from whysoserious.com to use as a desktop, and so googled 'whysoserious poster; and look what came up number two! Out of impulse I also tried googling 'batnews' and 'omgwtflost', being that those are terms I use, and lo! third and first! I'm officially the internet's number 1 user of omgwtflost. XD I'm also apparently the only user of the term 'Voxdate' hmm. Would'a thought more people used that term.
How does Google work, anyway? Number of hits, I'm guessing? Man, y'all love me! I gotta clean this place up more. Wash the floors a bit, maybe change the curtains, get a new paint job, spruce it up a little.
Alright, so obviously over the last month or so you may have noticed how I've been changing the update system over time. First I started adding one or two links, then a list of linkspam underneath the usual update. Then I changed it so I now write all of my personal day and thoughts in the Voxdate and leave this space for the linkspam, which I am now organizing into Movie/entertainment news and then the usual 'shit in the world today I found interesting.' I'm going to keep organizing it more, breaking it down and adding new things, as well as maybe get more art and stuff up here, if I can manage. Someone once told me that my blog always read like I was talking to an audience and that's what made it interesting, and so I like to keep it that way. The Voxdate is more a journal so I can remember what shit I've done and for those who are interested in learning of my shenanigans, if they're so inclined, but my life is kinda boring which is why I moved it away from the linkspam which has become a more fun part of being online. I know there's a few of you out there that read it and enjoy it and I'm just wondering if there's anything you'd like to see added, changed, whatever, let me know. I have fun doing the linkspam and am certainly not going to 'stop unless someone speaks up' sort of thing,, but if you have any suggestions or feedback over the next few weeks, I'll be happy to hear it.
Now on to the good stuff:
( Linkspam )