X-Posted
All they hype and buzz about this movie is great, and I have to state that it lives up to much of it, as I can easily see the marketability of this as a franchise with sequels and the lot.
However there was the a little nagging at the back of my mind...



Artist,  Roger Dean did numerous covers of albums back in the 70's. This one is one that we had growing up and I loved the art on it.
Avatar seems to do a little bit more than Pandora being a twin of Dean's design concepts. I fully expected to see his name in the credits for artistic design, consultant or something.
When nothing did, I was more than a little upset. I really like the movie and for the most part, but some pieces such as "Arches Mist" and works "Floating Islands", a movie Dean has been working on, is a ringer for the Avatar movie. The fact that at night, the forest turns into a a glowing blacklight poster makes it even more 70's-ish. It just seems there were 2 ways people saw this movie visually. Those that embraced it it as something totally new, and those that saw it as something old, wrapped in something else old. (I disagree with the notes on furries as Vanity Fair's opinion on the matter is retarded).

I did love the story and characters of Avatar. It was a very treehuggie movie that will make the anti-enviromentalist rage.
There were those moments where the foreshadowing lumbered hugely into view and sat until said plot device is needed. The design and execution of the Na'vi characters is phenomenal and will be the new standard in photo realistic character rendering. But what I loved the most is the visuals of Pandora's flora and fauna. And to appreciate that, I would very much want to see that Roger Dean be acknowledged as an influence in Pandora's evolution and design. This walks a fine line between just innocent influence and art theft.

I know at least someone on the crew was old enough to remember that old "Yes" album they had and see there is more than just a mild resemblance. It's like they are genetic twins.

Current Mood: Sleeping
Currently Listening To: Zzzzzzzzzz...

Announcement from Keef.

"December 11, 2009

On December 15th starting at around noon EST, we will begin clearing pet names and account names that have been inactive. Frozen accounts inactive for 10 months will be cleared, and non-frozen accounts inactive for a year, will be cleared.

Good luck on getting the pet/account name that you're after!

Posted by Keith at 05:43 pm"

I know a few players about. Never known any site to purge users and items like that, but apparently it's an issue that requires harsh measures.

Well of course this is a piratey entry!

Well first, I have to recommend Jevil's : for a once over.
Second is a note of thanks.

Dartwith has been one of my YPP buds for a while. I credit a lot to my current piratey shenanigans to him and adopted him as my little brother a year or so back along with "He Who Shall Not Be Named" from Cybertron way back a Messatsu Gou Hado ago.

A pic of him was my very first commission on YPP and it effectively gave me a love for not just the game, bet everything pirate as well. While I started to stir the soup that eventually became a comic, he was always restless and struck off to start his own crew cause he hadn't done that in game yet. I had crew settled and while he is a very persuasive fellow, I refused to leave my flag and crew.

When War and island ownership first became available, my flag, The Jolly Company, became the first to capture and island. I was giddy at the time and finally gave Dart the services of my first alt, if I ever made one. A short time later, I had reached episode 3 of the comic and in a fit of laughter, Toji slummed onto the shores of Winter Solstice (how appropriate). This being my first alt, I realized this was the pirate I promised to Dart's crew.
More irony as the first pirate I contact was Yakuza, who was the original Kai on Midnight and the only pirate to see Toji without a hat. XD.
Once settled I had a lot of fun with Le Freccette. The crew were fun, active and always up for silliness. Dartwith always felt a need to try new things, so he has left the crew many times, leaving the crew in the hands of Xanth once and Toji thereafter.

And so the actual tale of Capn' Toji was rather bland compared to what goes on in my head.

Recently a random login turned up something unexpected. Dartwith asked me what I wanted for Christmas....


What does every digital artist want for Christmas?!



After I sent the link, "What address do I send it too?"

So today I got that bit of awesome and after I crashed my computer, it handles like a dream. My ONLY issue with it compared to my massive Wacom digitizer is that it has not erase feature which was easily remedied by programing an erase button.
Thanks to Dartwith, once again, Obaba's day went to 11. Thanks Little Bro!

At 10:00 PM PST (1:00 AM for me), GoPets servers were shut down.
While I have complained about the economy system for the game, this was what eventually led to it's demise.
The economy was not sustainable by the few dedicated players and the changes that were brought in seemed to only exasperate the problem.

I'll need to make a proper dedication sometime, but I made a few friends and came to love my bubble-headed pets:



Mochi the Pixie Pet (pictured on far right in top picture): My first pet on far right. I wanted to make a lilac kitty and she was the one I used to make specific customs for. She had little wings I got early on and I made her a sparkly dress and a ponytail that she would model. When jobs were introduced, she became a tailor, but not a very good one. Her transportation of choice was the Otter Hot Air Balloon and lived in a magic tree stump on my Private Land. She had a dragon pet that another player gifted me.

B.K.(pictured on right center in top picture): This was my first dedication pet. Before losing my home, we had 2 cats, one being a slight little girl named, B.K. She disappeared after the hard transition into new homes my siblings and I faced. The dedication to her was a GoPet of the same name that I think I'll miss the most. She had the same tabby and peach colored markings on her body and wore a customized pink throwback shirt and a sky blue uniform skirt. Her job among my pets was a Farmer. She had a greenhouse in a barn that she would harvest as well as from the Giant White Mushrooms I had on my land. Her transportation of choice was a Black and Orange Chinese dragon and she lived in the GoPets treehouse hideout that was an arcade inside.




Chuck(pictured on far left center in top picture): Chuck was my second dedication pet of a beagle-terrier mix I once had. He was my only fellow among the girls and my first GoDog. He ended up as my Cook pet and made meals for my GoPets all the time. His place was a out door diner I customized for him:

His transportation of choice was a black race car and he wore a regular chef outfit. He was shadowed by a sad blue penguin pet.

Sera(pictured on far left in top picture): My last GoDog pet was a joke I went with based on the comic but had appearance origins in a gift I received when I was 1 year old. Sera got the full custom Greenie outfit and became my fishing pet. She or Mochi would usually be the one to accompany me to other players lands. When fishing, she would have a fishing robot in tow to assist her. The one time she fished up an old eyepatch, it permanently became part of her outfit.
She made her home on one side of my main land with a obviously pirate feel to it.




A lot of work (and money) went into my lands (I had 2 and a private land). I made a few customs to pay for some of it, but even with all the trouble, it was enjoyable and I will miss it.
For my dedication pets, it was like losing them all over again. A lot of players had dedication pets as I did. With Sera and Mochi, a little whimsy was fun.
The community was great and the chat blew up with international goodbyes as the IKU system allowed us to chat without words getting in the way all the time.

When the sun set on the Jungle Retreat, my pets were playing and doing all the normal things they would be at any other session. They were full and PKE was up. Maybe the game will be revived sometime, but even if it isn't, it was a good way to go.

~Obaba

So hanging out on Midnight and who should I see playing poker?





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Seriously, he talked some smack and got pwned before banking and heading off for a drink. Gotta love when trouble comes to town.

~Obaba