Life In Austin Life In Austin The life and times of a family in Austin, Texas. We post about comic book art, photography, politics, family, humor, news and media. Articles
What Next?
2006-12-25 02:41:02 Small Broken Finger Originally uploaded by xadrian. After a tense and uncomfortable ride in the car, the family heads to the mall for the express purpose of getting a picture with Santa. We’ve made it a yearly tradition to take pictures with Santa. Not just the kids; the whole family. Anyway, Mrs. A and I were on just this side of speaking to each other when we noticed Yogi became fascinated with the velvet ropes denoting the line for pictures. He eventually swung the rope just enough to knock the heavy pylons down and one crashed down on his little finger. We’re pretty sure it’s broken. The pictures I took don’t show it, but the whole fingertip is purple, almost black. The nail will probably come off as it’s severed pretty cleanly at the cuticle. Poor kid. So I felt doubly bad. I was in a funk most of the day. I was tired from being up most of the night trying to keep Yogi in his room. Mrs. A was up most of the night with a cough so I think Li... More About: What , Hat , Next
I?m in your car, jacking your ride.
2006-12-21 14:40:01 A bit of a scare last night. Mrs. A was out doing some shopping and meeting with a client. On her way home she was apparently almost carjacked. From what I can gather from the story, she was approaching an intersection about five minutes from our house. Not in a bad neighborhood, but it’s an industrial/tech area of town. As she approached the traffic light, she signaled, changed lanes and got in front of this car and stopped at the red light. A white pickup pulled up on her passenger side. The guy motioned for her to roll down the window. She did and he blurted something out in Spanish. She shrugged and said she doesn’t understand. The guys said, “Do you know how to get to California?” Mrs. A said, “Um, go west.” The exchange went on for a couple seconds during which, Mrs. A reached over with her left hand and locked her doors. Just then she checked her rear view mirror on the driver’s side and saw the the guy behind her, who’... More About: Ride , Your , Jack , King , Jacking
Broken Arm, Brooklyn Bridge and Broke As Folk
2006-12-16 14:36:01 Times Square Shuffle Originally uploaded by Cheryl Rollman. This may be the year end wrap for Life In Austin. Now that Mrs. A is back in town, the family is going to hunker down for the remaining weeks of the year and duke it out with what the universe is throwing at us. I’m going to be blunt, we’re going to lose our house. We just can’t fight it any more. It’s just too expensive for us to live here. We bit off more than we could chew sixteen months ago and we’ve just run out of luck and time. I’m sad about it because it’s a nice house, but it’s not a perfect place to live. One, it costs us 2k a month on just the house note, let alone the 600 for utilities and the 3-5k we’ll eventually have to sink into it to get the foundation replaced. Between Mrs. A and I, we make enough each month to cover that with 2-300 left over for the rest of the bills and groceries. It’s not a way to live. So we’re calling it a g... More About: Folk , Ridge , Brooklyn , Bridge , Broken
8 Bit Shiny
2006-12-15 14:35:02 You don’t know how torn up I am about this. On the one hand, it’s Firefly; arguably one of the best sci-fi shows in recent memory. I’m a fan of both the show and the movie, Serenity. On the other hand, it’s a MMPORPG (did I get that right?) It’ll undoubtedly have a subscription commitment and could end up sucking away more of my life. I’m already stuck playing Albatross 18 so I don’t know when I’d find time to play this. And honestly, this comes at a time I was considering writing and open letter to all game designers to bring back the Stand-alone Space Combat Sim genre of games. I don’t know what it is about these big online games that I can’t seem to play, but then I realize the golf game IS online, multiplayer and I’ve spent money on it even though it’s technically free. So what’s my hold up? Well, frankly, this. It’s the stigma of being and the time one has to spend to be a decent gamer. I... More About: Shin , Shiny
Time of Giving
2006-12-15 14:35:02 Greetings fine readers. Just a reminder that the Rollman Photography 2007 Wedding calender is for sale through Lulu. (see link to the right.) As well, I’m still accepting requests for commissioned artwork. Every little bit helps. More About: Time , Giving , Ving
Tough Kid
2006-12-15 14:35:02 Tough Kid Originally uploaded by xadrian. *ring ring* *ring ring* “This is Ben.” “Mr. Rollman?” “Yes?” “Hi this is Ms. C at LMA’s school.” “Oh hi! What’s up?” “Well, I’m calling to let you know LMA fell today on the playground and hurt her arm.” “Oh no.” “Yeah. It’s a bit swollen and we’ve got some ice on it so she’ll probably need to see a doctor right away.” That’s how it started. I’ll get right to it, she broke it. It’s a buckle fracture and is quite common among kids. There’s not that much swelling and she admitted it only hurt when she tries to rotate her wrist. (FYI, that pic isn’t of her.) So I quickly shoved Yogi into some clothes, made a quick call to her pediatrician to get some input on whether I should go to the emergency room or the doctors office first. They said go to the children’s hospital ...
Happy Holidays
2006-12-12 02:33:01 Happy Holiday s Originally uploaded by xadrian. 2006 Card. Some of you will probably get these in the mail. I’m going to print them tomorrow and rifle through my address list and probably make a few calls to verify that in the last year I haven’t lost any info. Peace on Earth, good will toward Men. More About: Happy Holidays , Days
Themes
2006-12-11 02:32:01 It’s my quarterly itch to change the way the site looks, so if you see a bunch of weirdness, give it a day or two and come back. I’ve added a few plug-ins and I want to do a tabbed layout that allows people to easily see more artwork, photography, writing and anything else we want to show case. Rather than having a cumbersome 3 column layout I’ve found a nice tabbed jobbie that should allow more navigation without much clutter. See you on the other side. More About: Themes , Theme , Them
What the hell?
2006-12-07 08:28:01 So I’m a big fan of mashups. But they have to be really well done. If you don’t know what they are, well, I’m sad for you. Here are some to start you off. However, I had never seen something so unnerving, so unsettling, so completely overrun with superbly executed bad taste as what I saw today. Prepare yourself (and set aside a few mintues) for… …Starlords! As I started watching it, I thought it was an interesting way to juggle between the two giants in the film world. Both have very classic story lines and very archetypal characters. Both have very moving and rich musical scores. Both are examples of what can be done with animation. Both have a huge following. But I don’t think I was prepared for what happened about half way through. You’ll just have to watch it. Carry on. More About: What , Hat , Hell , What The
Ho Ho HEEAARRGGGHHH!!!
2006-12-06 20:27:01 Yeah, it’s that time of year again, when the funny pictures of kids screaming at Santa Claus resurface. It’s the same pictures every year, and I look at ‘em all every year and I have no idea why. I was pointed to this little nugget about a week ago by Mrs. A and she thought it was jolly hilarious. Normally I would be inclined to guffaw proudly at such displays, but my first thought goes to the kids and how horrible they must be feeling. They’re just kids, not dolls. There’s a line that’s usually crossed that goes from a startled or spooked child to a child so frightened or miserable they end up crying. Don’t get me wrong, I love scaring kids, especially my kids. But I know when to stop. What gets me are the people who think the crying part is either hysterical or annoying, like the kids are being miserable on purpose. I don’t know, I guess my heart bleedeth over on this one, but I can’t handle it when little kids are miserab...
The IT Crowd
2006-12-05 08:26:01 Found this recently, and I also found that NBC picked it up. Hey, look! A US broadcasting company picking up a slightly innovative British show. Anyway, you can catch a few episodes online, here’s the main site. Good for a laugh, if you’re in IT. Carry on. More About: Crow , Crowd
Link to Ma Lou Part Duh
2006-12-03 20:24:02 More on this wonderful story. I had a feeling this would be perceived as such. Unauthorized linking could technically destroy the intarweb. The whole reason the web works as a web is because of the linking. You hit my site, see a link to an imdb entry for Nightmare Before Christmas which has links to Disney which has a link to an ABC show that’s offered for free on their site. You’ve hit 4-6 different links, the end result is content offered freely to the internet. All that is in the early stages of being threatened. However, before anyone gets too bent out of shape about it, check out the site that started this controversy. I spent a lot of time there yesterday and honestly, I didn’t notice that any of the videos actually went to the sites of the respected studios. Link s for 24 didn’t go to Fox, links for Battlestar: Galactica didn’t go to NBC or Universal or even Sci-fi. So as much as I want to side with folks thinking they are somehow being ha... More About: Part
Commission Questionnaire
2006-12-03 20:24:02 Robin Originally uploaded by xadrian. So, how much would you pay for a drawing like this? Please comment. This (and the other two newly posted drawings) were for a holiday art swap at a couple different comic sites. I was actually very happy with all three. I could push the backgrounds a little more but these were gifts and not commissions and I was running out of time. But it begs the question, are these worth money? Would you pay for a drawing like this? If so, how much? I have a friend who can ask for $100 which I think is on the low end. I know another guy that can ask for a lot more, and rightly so, he’s very talented. In fact, most of the people I know who work commissions for a good chunk of their income are very skilled artists as well as being very professional. I never thought I was in their league until I finished these. They’re not bad, right? But are they commission worthy? Would you pay for something like this? Would you ask me to draw somet... More About: Question , Miss , Nair , Commission , Quest
Link to Ma Lou
2006-12-02 08:23:04 First off, damn my CTRL+C inadequacies. If I add $100 for every time I wrote five paragraphs and copied it but then copied something else, we’ll, I wouldn’t be trying to get you mooks to commission me for a drawing. (HINT) Anycrap, this was an interesting read. I won’t sum up, you chuckleheads can read, can’t ya? On one side I can see where Fox is coming from. Their shows are copyrighted. You can hear at the end of football games that the coverage includes rebroadcasting or retransmitting. That sounds like what we’re talking about, but it’s not exactly it. I can understand them wanting to limit viewership of even free media to their site alone because they can still make money off people from advertising or offering subscription level content. It’s still ok in this country to have a desire and a structure in place to make money, is it not? And to be fair, this guy’s site isn’t linking directly back to Fox’s site wher... More About: Link
MySpace
2006-11-30 11:30:01 I have a MySpace page. Don’t get your hopes up, I’m not that deranged. I created a page so I could get a newsletter for the golf game I play and so I could have a “presence” in the studio a few guys created. I’ve ignored everyone who’s sent me any requests. I’m friends with virtually no one. I only accept anything from people I already know. I don’t keep anything up to date. I don’t blog it, upload to it, use to store music or share neat YouTube videos. I don’t know why I feel the need to say anything other than if you stumble onto it, don’t judge me. Now that that’s out of the way, let me just say that MySpace is the junkiest page I’ve had the displeasure of working with since user created pages on Geocities back in 1997. When I get notifications about “friend requests” and I go to summarily decline them, I have to sign in every time (Firefox AND IE, don’t get in a tizzy.) Every 2... More About: Myspace , Pace
The True Meaning
2006-11-29 23:27:02 Mrs. Austin just came back from running a couple errands and she did something not everyone does. She helped some homeless people. Now, I don’t mean helped as in reached out her hand with a couple dollars to some dude with a “will work for food God Bless” sign. I mean, she stopped by a group of them, asked what they needed, went to the store and got it for them. There will be two different reactions to this. The first being that she shouldn’t have done that because homeless people are crazed psychopaths who can’t work because they’re mentally unstable and just plain refuse to live in the society we’ve created. That’s completely understandable for you to feel that way. I did at first. My thinking was for her safety. She had Yogi with her at the time and the thought of her hanging out near a bridge was at first unsettling. But that’s her way. Each year around this time she either buys a couple extra turkeys and takes them t... More About: Meaning , True
Let the War begin.
2006-11-28 23:27:01 Making me proud, Colorado. Keep it up. There are two issues at work here. The first being the idea that a Home Owners Association has any kind of real power and does anything meaningful other than tell people to trim their trees and not put a car on their lawn. The idea is to keep the neighborhood nice looking and safe, but in all practicality the HOAs are generally catty little groups who don’t do anything of importance. For the money I pay, I’d love to see more things like an assistance program for home owners whose foundations are in need of repair. The HOA could form a partnership with an independent contractor and offer discounts on repairs for being the sole contractor for the neighborhood. They should use the funds to build a neighborhood recreation center that has more than just a pool. How about a basketball court or tennis court or an athletic center that isn’t a World’s Gym? There are a lot of things an HOA could be, but isn’t. At le... More About: The War , War
Slave to our passions.
2006-11-28 23:27:01 Please check out our side bar. Mrs. A has put together some of her best freelance work in a calender you can buy for any occasion. However, seeing as how it’s that time of year, what a better way to let that Austinite know you care then by giving them 12 months of spectacular images of the town they call home. As well I’m still available for commissions for comic style artwork, but I’m also going to take a cue from this guy and offer to draw any photo you send as a zombie, hobo, robot, pirate, shogun warrior, Tolkien character, superhero, Smurf or Bollywood star of your choice. So, with all these creative offerings to choose from, you can start your holiday shopping today. Don’t wait. Operators are standing by. More About: Passion , Pass , Sion , Slave , Passi
Happy Thanksgiving
2006-11-25 23:24:01 Maybe we’re a bit odd. Maybe because Mrs. A and I have both removed ourselves from the warm embraces of our parents - “parents” being as plural as you can make it - that we don’t have a strong notion of tradition. Maybe it’s the idea of spending the first of four days off making a big mess of the newly cleaned kitchen that causes us to go insane. Whatever the reason, the four of us drove around Austin looking for a place to eat tonight. We knew it’d be tough, but we were positive we could find a Chinese restaurant open, somewhere. I kept having flashbacks to “A Christmas Story” when the family ended up at the Chinese restaurant on Christmas day eating duck listening to “jinger bers, jinger bers…” Surely something like that could happen again, tonight. And before you arm your musket and take aim at our savage, war painted faces, we ARE going to be having a big familial feast…on Saturday. Time constraints ju... More About: Thanksgiving , Happy , Giving , Thanks , Ving
Go See ?Happy Feet.?
2006-11-20 23:18:03 I don’t care how old you are, you have to see this movie. The CG was really well done. It wasn’t cartoony. I was impressed beyond words. If I have a hard time guessing if it’s real or CG, it’s good. I think we’re officially passed the days where you are left wondering if that ice flow was captured on film or run through Photoshop After Effects (with the exceptions of such tragically bad CG cartoons as Doogal and Hoodwinked.) While I’m not one for casting screen stars over voice actors just so your marquee can have some $20 million power, I really thought this cast did very well. For this kind of movie you have to find some people with pipes and I thought Kidman and Murphy did fantastic jobs. Elijah Wood was almost painfully Elijah Wood, there’s really no mistaking him anymore. Hugo Weaving puts on a nice brogue which disguised his identity well and Hugh Jackman played a passable Elvis type character named “Memphis,” again... More About: Happy , Feet , Happy Feet
?I find your lack of faith?disturbing.?
2006-11-17 23:12:01 Man, I love me some nerd activism. Now, I’m all for tolerance and kindness but I think even I would have to cross back over the dork line drawn by these chuckleheads. At what point do you say to yourself, “Self? I think I’m going to adopt a religion based on a movie.” Now here comes the REAL dork part. (Honey, browse to another page.) This religion, this Jedi Order, is a freakin’ joke. Robes? You want to wear robes and be tolerant of people? I’m sure the Buddhists would love to have you. If you play your cards right, you get to learn kung-fu on top of it. What do I get when joining your religion, a battery powered light saber? Don’t get me wrong, I’m a geek. I’m a big geek and a big fan of Star Wars. In fact, jokingly, I have actually said in the past that I worship either George Lucas or Star Wars in general because of its basic ideals, multicultural society and the fact that most people were polyglots of some order. ... More About: Faith , Your , Find , Lack , Bing
Marine Ball 2006
2006-11-14 23:06:03 I’m happy to report the Mari ne Birthday Ball 2006 was a much improved success. Last year we ran with six people, three different computers, two cameras and we put all photos online for later purchasing. We had a handful of credit card purchase, a couple cash purchases for mailing later, but for the most part they were from Print Room. For what we were expecting, it was an unmitigated failure. We didn’t even make enough to cover our expenses. This year we had one laptop, a printer, two cameras and three people and we made the same amount in cash as we had total the year before. That’s not to mention the people who said they’d order online and for those who paid up from to have them mailed out later. We ran small and lean and it was a complete success. My only complaint is we weren’t able to print everyone’s pictures. Next time, if we get a 2nd printer, we could conceivably have everyone’s pictures done. Even with only me doing all the ...
Seperated at Birth
2006-11-14 23:06:03 This has probably been done. It’s bad enough they have both Bradley Whitford and Timothy Busfield, but after a few episodes of Studio 60 they bring in Christine Lahti, or the poor Sorkin’s Allison Janney. I don’t know, you make the call. I don’t know, I guess I have too much time on my hands. Carry on. More About: Birth , Seperate , Rate
Silver Surfer SOLD
2006-11-11 11:00:02 Silver Surf er Originally uploaded by xadrian. A fine gentleman in France has purchased a piece of my art. I can’t tell you how happy I am about this. This picture is a few years old and I had it posted on the nearly forgotten Comic Art Fans site. It’s one of those sites where you sign up early, when the place still has that new site smell about it. I uploaded a handful of pieces that were strictly analog. I figure, if anyone sees them and wants to buy them, they’d have to be mailable. So, this will of course spark me to find all the pieces I have and put them on there as well as probably some prints that can be sold on Lulu or Zazzle or something. I’m sure this’ll be the last odd and unprompted purchase for a long while, but it really gives me hope that I can pay for small odds and ends by doing what I like. Carry on. More About: Silver Surfer , Surfer , Sold
Lost Haters
2006-11-09 22:54:05 Look, people. Lost IS answering your questions. It really is. You just don’t notice it and I think therein lays the genius. Take a long hard look back to the first few episodes. In fact, I’d find a website that has an episode break down. See if it gives you any ideas of what kind of questions have come up and then think to yourself how many of those have been answered. Remember, answering a question and then posing a new question is still an answer. For example. What killed the pilot? The smoke monster. Good, question answered, the new question is, What is the smoke monster? See? Still got your original question answered. If it was a bear that killed him, you’d ask “A bear on a tropical island, how’d that get there?” Never happy, are ya? There aren’t many questions left, if you ask me. They’re more of the overriding nature now. We want to know who orchestrated the entire thing. We want the big picture answers. But keep ... More About: Hate , Hat , Haters , Hater
Go Vote, Monkeys!
2006-11-08 22:51:03 I wish my wordpress and youtube got along better. Go vote. If you run into problems with voting, make sure to contact the National Campaign for Fair Elections or call them at 1-800-OUR-VOTE (867-8683) Either way you vote, just vote. Let’s be an actual beacon for democracy by what WE do, not by what our elected officials do. More About: Monk , Monkey , Vote , Keys , Monkeys
Webisode 15 ?Beergoggles?
2006-11-03 04:42:02 Webisode 15 "Beer goggles" Originally uploaded by xadrian. This is the latest installment of Awesome Storm Justice 41 penciled and inked by yours truly. Credits: Writing: AthenaRose Pencils and inks: Ben Rollman (Xadrian) Colors: Jorge Rodrigo (KaRzA) Letters: Amadarwin Cover pencils and inks: Franklin Dawson Jr. (Rocket37) Cover colors: Angelia Ong (Banshee) Editor: Richard A. Nelson (r_nelson), Brian Robinson (Vegeta) More About: Goggle , Goggles
Reynard City Promo
2006-11-02 16:39:02 Reynard City Prom o Originally uploaded by xadrian. I did the lettering for the first issue of a web comic called Reynard City. #2 is now for sale, as well you get a yearly subscriptions for £16 ($30) which gives you access to all the online issues as well as some other tidbits. I’ll very likely be doing issue 3 letters as well. So here’s the thing, I’m getting paid on profits, so support the online web community and the creators who help create them and go check out the site and maybe buy a book. Thanks and Cheers. More About: Promo , Romo
Trick or Treat!
2006-11-01 16:36:02 Trick or Treat ! Originally uploaded by Cheryl Rollman. Happy Halloween everyone. More About: Rick
Hodgman Coulton Experience
More articles from this author:2006-11-01 16:36:02 Well Met Originally uploaded by xadrian. Last night was the last stop on the “Areas of My Expertise” paperback signing/reading tour featuring the author, John Hodgman, and his troubadour/mountain man/friend/musician Jonathan Coulton. (I like slashes.) I’d originally proposed taking both out and treating them to a few drinks at a local pub (I was thinking either Ginger Man or the B-Side) but alas, they had plans with friends. So I at least had to shake his hand and get a photo and a signed book. The evening was pleasant. The duo arrived to oddly very little fanfare, carrying bags and looking like they were just dropped off by a cab from the airport. I can only assume with the tight schedule they had that all the flying must be torturous. After getting set up, they began in earnest, reading from the book and playing some songs. I won’t say the rooster bit was a high point, more a running gag. At one point, a basket of rooster puppet toys was heard on the... More About: Experience , Gman , Peri , Erie 1, 2, 3, 4 |
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