The Things That Dreams Are Made Of

 
I heard "The Things That Dreams Are Made Of" by The Human League tonight.
Apart from finding it on the net to listen to repeatedly it made me think about what my dreams are made of. In all honesty simple things really. My pipes, decent tobacco. Good wine and a few select friends topped off with fine coffee should do it. Not necessarily in that order you understand. The one thing that I've always dreamed of is driving an articulated truck and last week I got the go ahead to sort out some training in order to achieve that.
I'm also smoking a lot less in order to get fit enough to jog around the park. My e-cigarettes are helping me with that. I haven't given up smoking but I've put it back into an enjoyment category rather than it sitting in the necessity category. What could be better than daydreaming ones way through the nature in the park whilst losing pounds I don't need to be carrying around. I'll get there. Not sure when but I'm making it a reality in small steps.
I decided about a week or so ago that I was going to start taking control of my life and once that decision is made there's no going back. With perseverance I'm making it happen, there's a little luck in there too but that needs controlling also.
Until all of my objectives are complete the above track is my theme tune.
It's all coming together nicely.
 

It's Been A Week

 
A lot of people ask me to put DJ sets online. I say no. It's simple really, if you can't be bothered to discover new music by yourself then you should be at home listening to the damn radio.
Some people would like to hear what I'm up to to because they can't travel to where I am. That would be a good excuse to have me put online my original compositions of other people's music. Tough. No train, no gain. Why am I being so arsey about this? The reason is that not enough people go out to enjoy new music. They expect it on a plate when and wherever they are. That's just not me. Get off the damn sofa.
For those that can't make it I still have the talent to create for you at any time because I'm good at what I do.
For those that can't wait or want instant gratification I suggest (expletive removed).
That's it. Turn up, turn on, tune in.
 

Toon Toolkit

 
So. You wanna make your own funnies eh?
The thing is you can't or have no time to draw. Well here's a solution.
Toon Toolkit is by far the best cartoon app for getting your jokes, ideas or puns (maybe even political comment) into a strip fast. It has everything you'll need to grab those ideas and turn them into a reality.
I'm getting paid to say this right!? No. No way. I just don't endorse stuff that I don't believe in, don't use and wouldn't recommend to friends.
Toon Toolkit is in fact...wait for it...a kit. Pretty much everything you need to get started. Admittedly I use another app for titles and balloons because I like to get stuff the way I like it but as far as graphic content goes you've got it here. Why am I shouting so loud about this app? For one reason it's fantastic as is, no doubt about that. Secondly the dev is responsive and hard working. I mailed him about the low output resolution and a few weeks on here we are, resolution output doubled. Wow!
Before you say that I should be drawing my own cartoons read the post below. This app is for those "voice now" moments when drawing time is in short supply. If you want to make cartoons now this is the app. Don't be afraid of your finished product looking like other people's. If the message/joke is good no-one will care.
10/10 from me. Now you decide.
 

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/toontoolkit/id395774300?mt=8

New Habit?

 
I bought a rechargeable e-cigarette today.
I didn't really know what I thought it'd be like considering it's different from the real thing but I'm quite surprised. For a start it works as you would expect, draw air through and smoke (water vapour) comes out. It certainly feels like your smoking something. It doesn't taste much like a cigarette but that's not a bad thing. The nicotine hit works too. All in all it's a decent gadget and I'm glad I bought it.
So am I about to give up smoking?
The simple answer is no. Not yet at least. The reason for this is that I've been smoking too long to go cold turkey, I've tried and failed at that before now. I think a reasonably slow release from nicotine is required with me. The other thing is that I love my pipes and the myriad tobaccos that I buy. I enjoy the tastes and the ritual. It may be that one day I won't inhale any pipe smoke but just enjoy the taste. That'd be a good thing.
I have another bit of smoking tech on its way too and I'll show you that when it arrives. For now I'm hoping to cut out at least half of the harmful stuff in smoke from my daily routine.
It'll be an interesting experiment.
P.S. I'm enjoying my snuff collection too. It's all good.
 

Still Life Animation

 
It's been a while since I've written anything here, sorry about that but I've been engrossed in music.
That's not a bad thing but I have to give most of my free time to tracks I'm fond of. The reason behind the next track is to prove that I can produce something as good on my iPad as I would do with FL Studio. The explanation of that process is for another post though.
This post is about my cartoons. I've been meaning to set up a process that means that I can produce a cartoon strip with minimal effort. That sounds lazy but if one can't express the joke quickly then it becomes lost in the production of the strip. I have drawing tools to produce characters but I need those characters in one place. I need a stage so that I can shout pose!
The best way to do this it seems is to use animation software and take stills from scenes. There's plenty of good animation apps on the iPad.
I've been inspired by other apps too. Their simplicity has made me think in a much simpler way. I'm getting to a point where although I haven't produced anything I have a road map in my head. As soon as my next track is finished I'm going to put some effort into creating my cast, props and stages.
One thing I haven't decided upon is will I end up making proper animated shorts? It's a long walk from posed stills but it may happen one day, I'm certainly not going to dismiss the idea.
So that's it for now. Music then cartoon strips.
That'll keep me busy for a while.