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..:: Previous News Updates ::..
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Click Cyberpumpkin to return to the main page!
June 19, 2003
 --Wow, June already! It seems like time goes by in a flash!
In the last few months, I have spent a good deal of time at the Gaia online community. It already has several thousand members, and it's growing all the time. Many of the members are fairly young, but there are still some very interesting conversations to be found there. While writing something in a conversation on the subject of anarchy, it occurred that I might share these thoughts here on this web site as well as there.
At first, I chided this user, Rilke, who professed to be an anarchist, remarking (and not wholly incorrectly, I'm convinced), that most people who go online pretending to be all for anarchy are people who are mad because they have a cerfew, not enough spending money and can never manage to find a way to get the girlfriend into the house and the parents out.
Contrary to what I expected (a blustery and defensive "how dare you" tirade), Rilke responded calmly and said that he's sorry that I've met such posers, and directed me to a website called www.raisethefist.com
After spending a little time at RTF, I had the following to say:
While I have to applaud RTF's willingness to follow cases of government/organizational brutality worldwide, I do not agree with their view that an un-stratified society is possible (i.e. no govt, no classes, etc).
I am convinced that there will always be leaders and followers. There will always be those willing to engage in wheeling and dealing, and those willing to benefit from the same. There will always be parents and children, heads of households and families. There will always be bullies, victims of bullies, and groups of former victims who band together for protection against bullies. And there will be those in the bands of former victims who have the best ideas or leadership skills, and who will tell the others what to do.
There will always be groups of people who find it in their best interest to get organized in order to make the lives of their members easier. There will be those who teach and those who oversee the taught to make sure they learn correctly, for the benefit of the taught and of the group at large.
These are the fundamental reasons why I think there will always be governments of one kind or another (even if it is only government by market leaders or those with the most money), and I honestly do not think that abolition of governments is the key to ending human rights abuses.
Having said this, I will say that I agree with the part of mission of www.raisethefist.com where they report on the misuse of power by governments or organizations against citizens or groups. However, do believe that there are many governments who meddle far too much in their citizens' lives, from censorship of popular music up to and including the detainment and murder of political protestors.
In summary: I do believe that it is a worthwhile and necessary persuit to publicise and protest the abuse of peoples by governments, with the eradication of this abuse as the ultiimate goal. But I do not believe that it is possible to do away with governmental organizations of all kinds, nor that this would end human rights abuses even if it were possible.
 --Um. . . I know it's unusual for me to wax philosophical/political on this web site. But I figured that it was about time for an update, and why not share a little about something like this?
Anyway, thanks for reading, and thank you for visiting Cyberpumpkin's Farm!
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Webmaster and managing editor, Cyberpumpkin
March 16, 2003
--Wweeepah! Hey, everybody! Just wanted to mention to anyone who might be reading this page that Cyberpumpkin has found a happenin' new online community to hang out in!
The place is simply called "Gaia Online".
One of the wonderful features of this new online community is that you actually get to create your own little avatar character, complete with different skin/hair/eye colors, facial features and hair style. Plus, every time you do something in the community, you earn gold pieces, which you can spend in the community store to buy new clothes and accessories to change the look of your avatar!
Cyberpumpkin, as seen at Gaia, looks a little more human, but still has reddish-orange hair and a very round head!
That's all for now!
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Webmaster and managing editor, Cyberpumpkin
March 11, 2003
--What's this new box to the right? "Scribbles"? That's right: I've been doing a bunch of semi-sequential sticky drawings of Zydeco and Gig, which has been basically self-titled Pig Abuse
From now on (or until I have a better idea), I'm going to be putting links to these scribbles in the "Scribbles" box. The rest of the art will still gon in its regular place in the Gallery sections, though.
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Webmaster and managing editor, Cyberpumpkin
March 11, 2003
 --All new art stuff! Toooooot!
Yep, there's an entirely new page of art, featuring my latest characters, Zydeco and Gig! Stickies, full-color pictures, and even a series of scribbles titled "Pig Abuse".
Click right here to check out all the new stuff!
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Webmaster and managing editor, Cyberpumpkin
January 23, 2003
 --Man, what a big couple of weeks it's been. A big flurry of drawing, resulting in a bunch of new stuff appearing on the new stuff page. Heck, the new-stuff page got so big, some of the older works actually dropped off!
One nifty thing that's happened: I borrowed a book containing the first three of Anne McCaffrey's Pern books. Having finished the first, Dragonflight, today, I gotta say I'm impressed. I honestly wasn't expecting to like it much despite its popularity, and I only picked it up because I needed a break from the series I'd been reading for the last few months. It turned out to be very entertaining and, a very fast book to read!
Another very cool thing that happened recently was that I was able to pick up a used copy of The Misadventures of Tron Bonne, a quirky game released years ago for the first-generation Sony Playstation, in which the player takes control of Tron Bonne (a villainess from the Mega Man Legends games) for some adventuresome fun of her own. Being a fan of the Legends games, but never quite willing to shell out the bucks to buy it at full price, finally finding a copy for eight bucks was a grand surprise!
Since Tron Bonne and Dragonflight both got thrown into the creative stew at the same time, it wasn't long before something resembling a fusion of the two turned up in the ladle: A rider and his dragon mount, named Zydeco and Gig, respectively.
In between playing the new game, reading these books and scribbling down the images in my head that they inspired, I've also been fiddling with a new Transformer toy. Named "Blurr" and recently released with Hasbro's Transformers: Armada toy line, this thing makes quite the cool-looking desktop ornament. But one of the things that has always made transforming toys really stand out in my mind was how much fun it was to fiddle with, turning the parts this way and that, looking at it from different angles, holding it between my fingers and imagining it doing amazing things. This toy provides that special kind of entertainment for me.
Strangely enough, the design of the car (which you can see here) put me in mind of a futuristic car in the early-80's cartoon called Pole Position. No, I'm not kidding. This show appeared alongside cartoon versions of Pac Man and other early arcade games that one would think provided dubious bases for any story at all, let alone 30 minutes every Saturday morning.
It just so happens that I am one of a dozen people in the world who didn't forget about this show many, many years ago.
Interesting things have been happening worldwide, as well. As a matter of fact, news broke just this week that Kim Jong Il has unfolded into a giant robot for a display of power. Don't believe me? Read the article by clicking here.
For my part, I have to say (smugly) that I knew it all along. In fact, I'll be collecting on some bets with some colleagues of mine. They were all convinced that the high-profile Korean leader was actually an alien being who would need the energy from nuclear reactors to return to his old, gigantic form. To me, this just sounded way too out-there to be plausible.
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Webmaster and managing editor, Cyberpumpkin
January 12, 2003
--Hey, everyone! Check out this new satire-humor site I've been introduced to! BBSpot.com! If you like The Onion, you'll also like BBSpot!
To give you a little idea of what you can expect: Tolkien Fans Outraged over Addition of Jar-Jaromir in The Return of the King
--Special thanks to Christina Klinger for the heads-up on this great article!
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Webmaster and managing editor, Cyberpumpkin
January 7, 2003
--HAP...PY NOOOYEEEER! Tooooooot!
Man, what a month it's been! As well as doing all my Christmas shopping and a flurry of real-world job hunting, the whole crew has been steeped in all kinds of happy fun media goodness! Here are the highlights:
· We saw Lord of The Rings: The Two Towers for the first time. I say "first time" because there's a good chance we'll see it a good number more. If you're reading this, there's a good chance that you've either seen the movie, or have seen a number of reviews, or both, so I'll not bore you with any details. I'll simply say that I really liked it, and can't wait to be able to watch all three extended editions back-to-back-to-back in one huge Mountain Dew-soaked Rings-fest!
Guh...That'll be fun but exhausting.
· Okay, next on the list, we had a Sony Playstation 2 take up residence here, thanks to the generosity of friends and family! Now, we won't have to go off-site to play great games like Grandia II, Final Fantasy X, or Myst III: Exile.
· Appropriately enough, we picked up copies of Grandia II, Final Fantasy X, or Myst III: Exile, also thanks to the generosity of family. Gushing and musings about all three games will be forthcoming!
· I've finally obtained copies of a number of episodes of [i]Invader Zim[/i]. Although it feels rather shady to download entire episodes of a show for my personal use, I'm entirely convinced that it is both legal and necessary since Nickelodeon evidently has no plans to release Invader Zim on DVD and, with infuriating capriciousness, frequently moves the Zim time slot without notice and will preempt showing it for any reason, so instead of Invader Zim, fans can often expect, say, The Munsters: Today or a Facts of Life marathon.
More about Invader Zim to come, promise!
· As well as spending many hours enjoying the gaming and DVD-play abilities of our new hardware, we also spent a good deal of time with friends and, against all odds, with family. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were spent with some good friends whom we haven't gotten to spend much time with, playing games and talking and eating some really good food and exceptional fudge.
New Year's found us in the home of the Beetleys, enjoying apple pie and an amazing sparkly peach beverage and playing Munchkin and, to a somewhat lesser extent, Dead or Alive 3 (mostly because of my general lack of experience and skill with fighting games)
The following Saturday, three relatives (two cousins and an uncle of Chocobo Princess') drove to see us in Chicago all the way from Grand Rapids, Michigan! We made the most of our time, seeing some of the sights of downtown Chicago and taking them to our favorite restaurant, Clark's, and spent most of the time talking and catching up, since only one cousin lives in Grand rapids, while the other cousin and his dad were both visiting from Oregon.
Yep, the end of '02 and the beginning of '03 were both eventful and fun. We have even more coolness in store for Cyberpumpkin's Farm, including web hosting that will finally get rid of the banners and popups, an ads-free discussion forum and, of course, more art and drawings in the Galleries section!
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Webmaster and managing editor, Cyberpumpkin
December 1, 2002
--Okay, now we've got the new format set up. For a bit there, our sponsors were getting 3 times the exposure on this page, while the actual page format was thrown completely out of whack!
Oh well, all better now!
Speaking of things being better: I recently attended screenings of the Fellowship of The Ring extended edition. It is amazing what thirty minutes' footage can add to the story.
As well as simply watching the new extended version of the film, I've have watched it with the directors' and actors' commentary tracks, and a couple of the short documentaries included on the bonus discs.
I've heard the comment that learning the secrets to how they created the world of Middle Earth, how they wrought the images shown in the film, detracts from the magic of it. For me, it only adds new layers of wonder to the experience: While I can submerge my imagination in the story and the world Peter Jackson and his crew presents, I have new appreciation for exactly what kind of time, energy, and dedication went into the presentation, by everyone involved.
On a lark, the group I was with also watched a few bits of Bakshe's animated Lord of The Rings movie. . . mostly on fast-forward. While Mr. Jackson saw fit to pay a brief homage to this movie, I must say that nearly the entire thing seemed extremely illconceived and badly executed. Certainly, Mr. Bakshe was trying some ideas that were still quite new in the realm of animation. However, it was a bit short-sighted to risk spectacular failure with a story so loved by so many people.
Even stepping lightly over the early rotoscoping (animating by drawing on top of photography of live actors), I grimaced often. The character of Gandalf seemed to have a nervous tick that caused him to wave his arms expansively, and Aragorn and Boromir both wore no pants.
I look forward to The Two Towers, coming out later this month.
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Webmaster and managing editor, Cyberpumpkin
November 25, 2002
--Man, what a time it's been the last few months! Finally got the new frontpage format worked out, new graphics made and everything! Now you can once again come here for regular fun updates! Weee!
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Webmaster and managing editor, Cyberpumpkin
Web Page Designed & Maintained by:
Cyberpumpkin
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| ..:: Link ::.. |
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Heal Your Church Website
by Dan Peters
A down-to-earth look at how to (and how not to) present your church to the world through the Internet.
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| ..:: Link ::.. |
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Essay on Matrix: Reloaded
by Bryan Takle
A lengthy and very interesting exploration of classic Biblical and mythological themes presented in the world of the Matrix movies.
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| ..:: Manga ::.. |
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Strings of Fate
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--If your computer and your 'net connection can handle it, you can play a Dance Dance Revolution game on your keyboard!
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| ..:: Strong Bad ::.. |
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--What can I say? I dig Strong Bad! He's got style.
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| ..:: Quote ::.. |
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"Aaw, my bees!"
--Gir, the robot, upon having a beehive removed from his head to make room for a new computer chip. Invader Zim
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| ..:: Quote ::.. |
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"They're made out of feathers! How can he carry a ring when he's made out of feathers?"
--Billy Boyd in the commentary track of Fellowship of The Ring
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| ..:: News ::.. |
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 Now you can get all the Transformers-related news that's fit to print at Axalon Underground! You can still watch here for extra-exciting news!
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| ..:: News ::.. |
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Cyberpumpkin is given free license to update the news on the front-page of the Axalon Underground, bringing in release-dates and product information from all corners of the datasphere to Transformers fans!
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| ..:: J-Artists ::.. |
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Respect these Japanese artists! (Listed in no particular order, yet.)
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