Bitcoin is past $10, art, and other things...

First, I'd like to open my post mentioning the fact that, at the time of writing this, Bitcoin, the P2P Crypto-currency is now worth an order of magnitude more than the USD. Something that, on my eyes, is a major milestone for the project. What is Bitcoin, you may ask? Well, you can click this link for an introduction on the Bitcoin project. I shall make a more detailed post sometime in the future, explaining how it works, and what to do to get started. Also, I decided to place a widget at one side of this blog if, after reading what is this whole business about, you want to thank me by generating some Bitcoin for me while you read my posts.

Now, moving on. As you may (Or may not) know, I'm an artist. In fact, I have quite a few galleries, which have been more or less neglected for the time being, as I'm greatly favoring college over art for now. I keep doodling, that's true, but I haven't drawn anything too serious in a long while. Hope to change that soon, as I owe some art to friends.



In the little free time I've had, I've been playing Dofus a lot. It's one cute little MMORPG with tactics-based battles. Here are a few screenshots if you want a better idea about how it looks. Yes, I'm a bit ashamed to admit my initial interest came from the fact there are a race of panda-people and cat-people on the game, the Pandawa and Ecaflip, respectively.

ChaosFox over and out.

Rubicon

Time to revive this old blog once again. This time, I will cross the divide, and I won't be looking back.

So many things have happened in my life since my last post. My past still pains be, but I've learned to be mostly in peace with myself, and learn that some thing just can't be changed. For you, the reader, it'll seem as a new beginning, as I've archived most of the older entries. For me, it'll be a reminder about how not to keep a blog.


Also, I'll be probably repurposing this blog for all the projects and art I start working with, though it'll still have personal entries like these. I am working on a few interesting things, but sadly college has taken away a lot of my creative energy and time, so they're just slowly coming along. Stay tuned for all future developments.

Over and out,

- ChaosFox.

Help for Drawing and Useful IE Addons

Woah, looks like my hands have been really anxious to write lately. Anyway, I've been looking for ways to improve my drawing skills lately. I've practicing, yes, but that alone isn't enough. Specially if I don't have good enough bases. So I've been looking for tutorials, examples, all of that stuff. And paying attention for those specially tailored to my interests. So far, my research has shown some success. Oh, I almost forgot to mention it, said resources have to be free of charge. Lawl. Now I'll proceed to share my findings with you, the reader:

• Among the sites I've found to be useful, there is DrawFurry.com, with a highly descriptive name, as it has a collection of tutorials and guides regarding drawing, well, furry creatures.

• Delusion Studio has also quite a bunch of nice tutorials regarding anatomy and proportions that might help out.

• The OzFoxes FoxWeb has some drawing tips that are useful when drawing and designing new characters, or for updating your existing ones.

• Also, I've found a quite nice listing of tutorial sites in Site 7, I should check them out sometime as well.

• There are quite a bunch of tutorials around deviantART, and there's just a community devoted to anthro tutorials, appropriately named Anthro-Tuts.

But this list might (And really should) be continually growing, so feel free to suggest me any other tutorial sites that could be of interest. Also, later on, I might dedicate a post to improving writing as well, for the literature inclined among us.

Now, as a personal commitment, I must do my best, practice and improve my creative skills, so someday I'll see my dreams and illusions come to a reality!

...daaamn, that was cheesy.

As a little comment, I'd like to recommend a small listing of IE add-ons, gracefully provided by MakeUseOf.com: Top 11 must-have Internet Explorer Addons. Yup, you've read it right. Internet Explorer add-ons. Crap, I know I'm a self-proclaimed Firefox user, but I'm very aware the fox isn't for everyone. And for those who still prefer using that little Internet browser that comes included with almost every Windows install, well, these addons will surely enhance your browsing experience. Among them, IE7Pro is a little gem you shouldn't miss. Hell, if you don't even check out any of the other addons, please, get this one.

Also, I'd like to ask you, the reader, a potential friend, are you interested in link swapping? It's simple, I link your blog/site/webcomic, you link to mine. I'm not specially picky about the sites I link to, other that if it has mature content has to be correctly labeled as that, and of course, I won't link to anything that trespasses the laws and guidelines of common sense and morality (No hateful or harmful things, child pornography, IE-only sites (Lawl), extreme stuff like that). Also, if said blog/site/webcomic has some relation to, contains, or is about furry/anthropomorphic art, it is very, very, very likely I'll link to it. It's not like my blog has an awful lot of exposure but hey, I'm quite sure just another link won't do any harm. I don't have any good images or banners prepared for this purpose, so for now you'll have to link me with only text. This will most likely change in a near future anyway.

Videogames and Emotions

Hello to all. I hope you had a Merry Christmas. I'm sure I did, even though it was somewhat problematic towards the end.

Today I'm going to discuss a topic most of you might have guessed from the title of this entry. Anyway. I'm quite sure for a lot of people, videogames are nothing but means to get entertained; some charming characters, some pretty graphics, an argument and story (Or lack thereof), a style and genre, etc. But I'm also quite sure there are a lot of people who thinks videogames can be a lot more.

It's fascinating how some games can evoke emotions (I mean real, deep ones. Not just feeling a bit happier because your character just leveled up, or getting somewhat scared because a zombie just jumped out of nowhere, those are natural reactions. Now, if a game can make you genuinely happy (Or sad) for one of its characters, or manage to maintain an atmosphere of suspense and horror, make you feel you're in the place of your in-game alter-ego and genuinely scare the crap out of you, that's what I'm talking about.) and make feel the player part of the story too, like a good movie or book would do, be it due to how well-written is their story and how well-defined are the personalities of each character, how well-put together are each element of the whole gameplay and ambient, or simply just because they cause a great appeal. These games can really transcend the core gaming experience and become a lot more for those who play them. Some games take this a bit further, and effectively communicate a message as well, suggesting to think a while about a certain subject and in some cases, even changing the points of view and opinions of those who play them. Of course, this is highly subjective, and varies greatly from person to person.

I'd like to introduce two examples of my last statement: The first of them is a game called Passage (Click here to go to the game's homepage). It is available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux, so unless you're on a portable device or using an esoteric OS, you don't have an excuse to try it out. It is quite short, you won't take more than 5-10 minutes to finish it, but in that short time, it delivers a very powerful message. I'd suggest you to download and play it, make your own impressions of it, and then read the Creator's statement available from the home page of the game, and most likely you'll fully understand.

The second is a small comic I found looking around in Kotaku, under an entry titled Life, Death And Animal Crossing. This isn't just about the game per se, it is about a small comic strip regarding a specific aspect of the game and most likely originally drawn as a sick joke, turned out to cause a quite different effect on a lot of people, including me. I suggest its YTMND version, the music used on it adds up a little more effect.

Really made me think about things. Seriously, after I read it, I went to call my mother and told her how much I loved and appreciated her.

These are my examples. The answers and conclusions are up to you. I made my own already.

Speaking of drama...

Hello. Well, I woke up today, and it was quite a cold morning indeed for the Caracas standards. At least where I live on. 19ºC when I checked the thermometer. But, in this entry, I'm not going to talk about weather or temperature.

I think I'll talk about the sometimes laughable amounts of drama some members of the Furry Fandom do about the most random topics, be it a bit of malicious criticism, a joke, a conflict of interest, or pretty much anything else. Heh, I'm still to find a scientifical relation between being a furry and such emotional susceptibility.

One of the commonest sources of said dramatic reactions is the Encyclopedia Dramatica, an obviously mock-up Wiki-like online encyclopedia, and although I find most of its articles of a terrible taste and sometimes a bit extreme, they're still jokes. I think the smartest thing to do if you see yourself, or your character there, is to show up some maturity and just ignore them, instead of bitching the hell up of it (Or even worse, bitching THEM on THEIR own wiki. Trust me, I've seen it before. It just makes it worse.)

Another common source of drama are those who call themselves "anti-furs". Hm, albeit I find logical to be afraid of the unknown, this doesn't make their hate more justified. Yes, I know that, among the furdom, there are quite a lot of perverted individuals (Furverts to be more specific. Furry + Pervert) with really freaky obsessions or sexual fetishes, but I'm certainly sure the vast majority of the fandom isn't simply up to that kind of kinks. So here's my kind word of advice to all those the "anti-furs" out there: Why don't you stop wasting your (and our) time pursuiting a relatively harmless group of freaks, and use it instead to bring to the justice real criminals like pedophiles, those truly sick individuals that harm both physically and mentally hundreds of innocent children every year?

Back to Square One

So, today, I decided to let rest in peace both of my abandoned blogs I used to have here. Now, I'll try to start over again, and this time, to keep a decent blog of my life, my random daily ramblings, technology, and the Furry Fandom. Let's see how long it lasts, before I lose interest in this new mindspawn of mine. Heh. Now, for those that don't know me, I shall introduce myself.

My name is Simon, but I am known under several aliases and nicknames online; mentioning a few: NeutrinoX, ChaosFox, Vulpine Entropy, and Neutrino Reinard (In Second Life).

I consider myself to be of a straight sexual orientation, yet on a supporting stance to LBGT rights. I follow the Catholic religion, I live in Caracas, Venezuela, a very beautiful yet troublesome latin-american country, and I have interests that could probably match with other boys of my age: many forms of art, computers, videogames, history, several branches of science (Including Computer Science, Physics, Anthropology, Biology, Genetics and many others) sex (Now seriously, if you're not thinking about it at my age, or even before, then something is really wrong with your brain and/or hormones) chatting with friends online... and some others that could be found eccentric. One of them is my interest on the Furry Fandom (Yeah, I mentioned it on my first paragraph).

If you know me enough, you know what I'm talking about. But, let's pretend you, the reader, are completely clue-less about it... well, there are plenty of definitions of what a "Furry" is, and that whole sub-culture around the concept. Let's quote Wikipedia about the subject:

Furry fandom is a fandom distinguished by its enjoyment of anthropomorphic, often humanoid, animal characters. Examples of anthropomorphism in the furry fandom include the attribution of human intelligence, facial expressions, and often anatomy, speech, bipedalism, and the wearing of clothes. Members of this subculture are sometimes known as furry fans, furries, or simply furs.

Art and entertainment celebrated by furry fandom includes fictional work that employs the concept of animal characters with human characteristics, rather than any particular type of fiction. For this reason, any work, in any medium, may be considered part of the furry genre simply by inclusion of a fantastic animal character, although such characters are most often seen in comics, cartoons, animated films, allegorical novels, and video games. The science fiction and fantasy genres make frequent use of anthropomorphism, and as a result, are especially popular in furry fandom.

Since the 1980s, the term furries has come to refer to anthropomorphic animal characters. Although mammals are the most common, anthropomorphized reptiles, birds or aquatic animals may also be known as furries.

This concept is quite basic, but works for our purpose. To wrap it all up, members of the furry fandom have some sort of strong interest on animals, specially those with human features, and anything related to them. I don't know if I consider myself a "furry", most probably I am. That depends on the point of view, and which concept you are following. Granted, I like animals, I like anthro animals, but I don't quite think I'm an animal inside a human body, and I'm pretty sure I don't want to screw the first dog I cross with. My fursona (furry persona, or the alter ego of my real self I use online) is an anthropomorphic fox, as you may have guessed. Don't worry, you'll have the chance to know him (me) better later. This is all for now, and let's see if I can keep up the flow later, and write up another entry for this blog.