2009-2010 BOP Awards

The Board of Publications for the University of Hawaii at Manoa presented their awards for Excellence in Journalism tonight for the past academic year.
There are number of different categories ranging from news briefs, to photo portraits to comics.  The entries are judged by various distinguished members of the Honolulu Advertiser and the Honolulu Star Bulletin.
This year I was fortunate enough to win first place in the Editorial Cartoons category for my cartoon entitled
"Zippity-Doo-Dah".
In the Comics category I managed to walk away with second place for my comic entitled "The Really Important Stuff".
And lastly, in the Graphic Illustration, which is an illustration whose purpose is to accompany and enhance an article in the paper, I won first place for "Bowser V. Midbus".

125. You Gotta Love Manoa in the Spring

It's true. I'm a fucking prophet.
All weekend and yesterday, I was afraid that my comic would be entirely laughable (which isn't the same thing as funny, damn it!) as we in Manoa enjoyed three straight days of hot, sweaty, sunny weather.
I was saved, though, as today this exact comic happened exactly like this to literally billions of students at around 8:30 AM.  And then again at around 12:15 PM, and also at 3:30 PM and again just now. Seriously. I think I might be God... or at least Jesus? Moses? I'll take what I can get.

4. The Trials of Modern Espionage

Based off of Tom Clancy's "Splinter Cell: Conviction" which chronicles the attempts by Sam Fisher to discover the identity of his daughter's murderer while unraveling why so many different important factions are so interested in the situation.
Because Sam is no longer part of "the system" in this game, the in-game instructions can't be given via headset or walkie-talkie (who would be giving Sam instructions if he's acting on his own with no government authority?).  The developers came up with an interesting way around this however. In-game instructions such as "infiltrate the mansion," for example, are now shown on walls, doorways, bar-counters etc.

124. It's A Fair Cop

Well, it's true. Stoners have no negative impact on my life (except Rush Limbaugh). Politicians, on the other hand, do.

123. Gnomefinger

I love to imagine the theme song for this movie. Can we get Shirley Bassey in to record the Gnomefinger theme?
Seriously, if you ever watch a clip from any sort of political debate or hearing or speech, the comments should activate your gag reflex.
I say should because otherwise you're probably one of the people who posted said comments - that or you're a vegetable, or possibly a mineral.
I'd like to believe that people aren't really that ignorant, biased and naive, and that it really is a secret conspiracy of gnomes who force people like Glenn Beck to spew the verbal vomit that is most of what you see on T.V. or hear on the radio - but it isn't.
Sad day, kids.  What the rest of the world must think of us.  It's enough to make someone actually want to down a whole bottle of soil-flavored,  juniper berry goodness - yum.

122. Ladies and Gentlemen, Representative Hank Johnson (D)

Yeah, he really said this.  Watch the clip, it's pretty ridiculous - that kind of ridiculous that comes from something being terrifying and hilarious at the same time.
There are those who say he was using an elaborate metaphor, that he meant that the marines would tip the "balance" of Guam.  This is not what came out of his mouth however.  What came out of his mouth was pure, literal idiocy - or the result of a lot of marijuana - as the comic implies.  Enjoy.

3. The Li'lest Spartan

It's a real thing. Really.

121: The Apple Is Watching

120. The iPad Strikes Back

I still think it's dumb.

And that whole bit about the "social experience" was actually said by an actual dude standing in line for an actual iPad when he didn't actually need to.

119. A Special Effects Easter

Happy Easter!

2. Razed by Wolves

The following can also be found on QuarterDown.com along with other nifty stuff.

I'm sure this has happened to many of you: you're playing your game, leveling up your character, completing quests and you're really getting into the story. You've immersed yourself in the world of the game, assumed the persona of your character, busted out your wizard robe and hat - you have entered the true domain of role playing at its finest. You have tasted the fruits of that revelry and found them to be sweet. And then it happens...

One of the NPC buffoons wandering around the outskirts of town offers you a quest, a really awesome sounding quest involving a rescue, a warlock and loads of loot and experience. It sounds great, but there's a catch. In order to play this quest, you have to pay a little extra real-world cash to unlock it. That's right, you've already bought your game, but did you think you'd get to play through all of it with that meager yield of dough? Well you thought wrong, sucker.

This isn't to say that we don't necessarily like DLC. I don't mind buying expansions to games that I know and love in order to get a little more enjoyment out of it. What we don't like is when the NPC breaks character to try and make a bit more money for the company.

There's a time and a place for everything.

How To Draw Your Mario Comixed

So the way the QuarterDown comic works, is that Josh, the founder of QuarterDown.com, and I brainstorm ideas for the upcoming week.  Sometimes we'll post ideas in the author forum and have the writers on the site improve on the ideas, or come up with their own better ones.  Then I go and draw the comic based on Josh's (or one of the other writer's) script.
After I made the first one, I sent it to Josh and he, being funny and clever, edited my text and background layers and changed it into this abomination.  This comic actually isn't on QuarterDown.com, so it's sort of like a directors cut or a special miss-printed dollar bill, or a rare book with a duplicated paragraph or something ... maybe.

1. How To Draw Your Mario

Introducing the official web comic for QuarterDown.com (a new kind of gaming web site).
QuarterDown.com has reviews, features and editorials about video games, gaming culture, game development, and a whole bunch of other awesome stuff like podcasts.  The writers are all bright and wonderfully knowledgeable and bring many different perspectives to the site.  Go check it out. It's pretty cool and you'll probably learn a lot, maybe.