2016 Music Exploration

This year saw me bring in a pair of my headphones to work which I could plug into the computer. The music helps keep me focused and makes the day go by a little faster. It's wonderful! Now, I don't really subscribe to any particular music service like google play, spotify, etc. so the I've been getting tunes in my head is by listening to music on YouTube.

I have the autoplay feature turned on for YouTube so I can just start playing a song and when it's done it'll go to the next music video and I can listen to it in the background. This has taken me on some random music adventures. Some are hits and some are misses, but I'm sure glad I've had a chance to learn about some new music this way!

Here's some of my favourite songs and music videos!

First off, my sister sent me this cool music video that also has some sweet beats. It put a big smile on my face! This song, "SOURCE," by Fever The Ghost also led me to some other great music.

One song and music video I was led to is "Let's Go" by Stuck in the Sound. The art style is clean and the story is kind of tragic, but in a way that should make you think a little bit.

Another great song and awesomely animated music video is "Delta" by C2C. I had to watch it a couple of times before I noticed and realized that the triangle symbol on the neglected religious man's clothing also happens to be the thing people are all fussing over in the video.

Yet another band found via autoplay is Concorde. They're a french indie band, but they do sing in English. It's hard to find much of anything about them, but they have a bunch of songs on YouTube you can listen to. Honestly, they're all worth listening to. All gold.

I can't say enough about Lorn. The beats are always spot on and completely pull me in. Makes me feel like it's the future - the feeling of some mysterious, unseen, ambiguous force of the future. The music video for "Anvil" basically visualizes one possible future - one in which over population has probably occurred.

Another Lorn music video, for "Ghosst(s)" is just a total creep you out sort of video, but oh so cool.

One more from Lorn, but there are so many more to explore, is "Acid Rain." It's a solid tune that I just have to share.

I could listen to this song over and over again. "Bye Bye Macadam" by Rone sounds great on it's own with a nice buildup, but I could also watch the music video over and over again. There's something hypnotizing about it. I like to think the dancing figures are beings exerting their influence over the universe and it's creation and flow of energy.

One heck of a catchy tune - Mr Oizo's "Hand in the Fire" has me bouncing my head up and down and singing along to the, uh, racy, euphemistic lyrics.

A racy music video this time around as we've got Tame Impala's "The Less I Know The Better." The innuendo is pretty blatant, but the transitions and cinematography is top-notch. Plus the song is great!

Another song found by jumping around via autoplay is "You Don't Know Me" by Son Lux. I'm hooked.

"Change is Everything," also by Son Lux, is another great song. The Music Video blows my mind every time I watch.

"The Cigarette Duet" by Princess Chelsea is totally hipster, but oh so fun and cute.

I stumbled onto Mac Demarco and his album Salad Days. It's joy to just chill, work on something, and just listen to. Here's "Treat Her Better."

"Dazzle" by Oh Wonder is a song that gets me moving. I just want to groove to it.

Vitalic, an eletronic band I love to listen to, had a couple more new albums I didn't even know about! The autoplay stumbled me towards them one day and I was overjoyed to hear more. "Lucky Star" was a Vitalic reawakening for me.

"Stamina," also by Vitalic, gets me pumped up. Ladies and gentleman, CRANK IT UP!

It has a bit of a mind-bending music video to go along with it's catchy track. Uffie's "Difficult" is fun.

Gesaffalstein's "Pursuit" music video seems to tell the story of the upbringing of some militaristic dictator and mad leader told via snapshots of his life. It's a great tune. (WARNING NSFW)

Metronomy has a new album this year. Summer '08 is an incredible album and every song is dripping with their distinct style. Here's one of my favourites - "Night Owl."

Sylvan Esso has many songs that are a joy to listen to. Here's just one of their excellent songs, "Hey Miami."

Neon Indian was a favourite from years ago. They've got new music! YEAH! Here's one of their awesome tunes, "Slumlord Rising."

There's more, oh there is so much more! Let's just end on a couple of Kavinsky Tracks. "Pacific Coast Highway" first and lastly "Odd Look." Very 80's. Very cool.

Well, this has been one of my largest music posts that's for sure. I've enjoyed hearing so much new music this year - the above examples are only scratching the surface. If you're looking for new music give YouTube's autoplay a try and just see where it takes you. Start with a song you like, and just let it ride. Hopefully you've enjoyed what I've shared with you, and I can't wait to hear more new stuff in 2017!

Merry Triangle Dude Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope everyone had a great day and a very merry Christmas. I know I'll be eating some delicious home cooked food later and spending time with family and friends. Two things I thoroughly enjoy (oh man that food is going to be yummy in my tummy). Also, we actually got some snow this year which is very exciting! There hasn't been snow in December in years, so many frozen-falling-iceless years... So it's nice to have some snow for a change! Anyhow, here's a special Triangle Dude Christmas card. Merry Christmas!

Triangle Dude Comics Has Landed!

The time has come. The heavens have parted and an unimaginable glory has beamed its light upon us. From the aether beyond the realms of mortal beings a gift has hence been delivered unto all of thee. Hail the gift. Give it your praise. Rejoice!

I'll rejoice because, whew, that was a lot of work!

This is it. The Triangle Dude Comics Volumes 2, 3, and 4 are finally complete. It's a weird feeling to have Triangle Dude Comics come to a bit of a close. Years and years it's been going and while I haven't always consistently uploaded comics I always had the intent of reaching the point I've finally reached today. Is this the end for Triangle Dude? For now, perhaps yes, but I completely reserve the right to jump back to it one day. There are other stories to tell and other projects to work on.

Alas, do not despair, this is a joyous day. Each and every comic may now find a home in a physical form. I'm also excited to finally put the book exclusives out into the world. Here's a peak at what each book contains in addition to extra exclusive comics and character write ups for the variety of wacky Triangle Dudes.

Volume 1 contains a delightful search and find picture - this is just a small portion!

Volume 2 contains a sweet 2 page isometric maze quest with chests and items - this is just a taste!

Volume 3 contains 2 moving optical illusions - this is a portion of one of them.

Volume 4 contains a 2 page maze which is not for the weak of heart. It's quite difficult - this is just a peak!

Thank you everyone! I could not have gotten here without the support from my close friends and family and, of course, the fans of the comic itself whom I've never met across the interwebs. Thank you all!

Mmmmm om nom....  mmmm... zzzzz... mmm.. zzz...

Triangle Dude Comic Volume 2, 3, and 4 - Coming Soon!

Well it's been months since my last post so I suppose you can see just how focused on these books I was. I pushed all other projects and ideas and even regular drawing practice off the table and said, "David, this is your one goal, your one goal is to complete Volume 2, 3, and 4 for Triangle Dude and NOTHING ELSE!"

Proof of the proofs

Well all that focus has paid off because I literally now hold the proof copies of these books. The physical manifestation of hours of hard work has arrived before me and I'm elated! I'm proud of these books and I hope whoever else one day buys them can be happy to own a copy and not be totally embarrassed that it's a piece of junk. To ensure nobody puts junk on their bookshelf I must now proof read these proof copies and correct any mistakes I can find.

I'm hoping to finish these beasts before the end of September and have them available on my website and Amazon.

Triangle Dude and The Chalice of the Fuzzy Pickle

Dun da-da dun! We've reached that elusive 400 comic mark over at Triangle Dude Comics! It's been years in the making and dang does it feel good to finally reach the big four zero zero. Thanks to the latest 12 page storyline called "The Chalice of the Fuzzy Pickle!"

The Chalice of the fuzzy pickle was first mentioned ages ago as Adventure Dude and Dr. Wurm rode off into the sunset. It seems they may stumble upon the real live chalice in this latest epic adventure! Start from the beginning with Part 1.

Well, where do we go from here? I believe there will be a slow down in comics for the time being. The books are where the focus of my energies will be going in the near future. Look forward to hearing about their release... sometime! In the mean time here is a link to the Triangle Dude Comics Volume 1 book!

Triangle Dude Returns! For now...

Huzzah! I finally started to put some more Triangle Dude Comics online!

Check out the first new comic here!

The goal is to reach the fabled 400th comic. It's all part of getting the comics into print form. Volume 1 contains the first 100 comics and is already out. Volume 2, and Volume 3 are well into the works and for that matter so is Volume 4. However, with each volume having 100 comics each (plus cool exclusives) it means I have some more comics to make! Good news for everyone!

After comic 400 I have some idea of what I want to do, but we'll see. As it stands I'd like to start a large story arc tentatively titled "To Christmas." It's a story I wrote years ago and have a minuscule amount of sketches for, but it's something I really want to do. Hopefully it will be the high stakes, wacky, thrilling, triangle dudiest adventure yet! It will be a full length story arc too, none of these 3, 4, 5, or even 6 comic story arcs. Nope. Not that.

It will probably be a whole 100 comics all on its own!

... I can't get ahead of myself now though. I'm focusing on some new comics for the website right now and to finish Triangle Dude Volume 2, 3, and 4. :)

Wonderful 101 is Mostly Wonderful

I recently finished wonderful 101 for the Nintendo Wii U - another in a long line of games I've owned for what seems like forever but am only just getting around to playing/beating. The ending is still pretty fresh in my mind, not only for how over the top it was, but also for getting out of my seat and laughing out loud for reals. For reals peoples.

This game involves defending the earth with a group of 100 super heroes that, together, can morph into a variety of shapes. Each level plays in stages or missions and involve a number of fights against enemies. Most of the time when it's time to fight an enemy the game cordons off the immediate area and you must defeat them to continue. The levels each feature a variety of fights and the very end of each level is a boss fight. The boss fights are all very different and often quite different from the normal gameplay. It's a lot of fun!

A small but deadly group - it can grow to 100 strong!

Wonderful 101 knows how to fun with itself and definitely got more than few chuckles out of me. The characters are all unique and the dialogue is often sprinkled with little jokes. Because of this the story comes off a little light-hearted and casual, but it does have its serious moments.

Wonder White, Black, Green, Red, Blue, Pink, and Yellow.

The game itself is challenging... I played it on normal mode and even an experienced gamer like myself had difficulty with some of the levels and fights. I used 4 continues on a single level once! It was incredible! Though the game has some stiff opponents it's still a lot of fun to kick butt with your ever expanding array of unite morph attacks. Fists, whips, claws, swords, guns, hammers and more.

Whip it, whip it good!

The game has a couple of downfalls. One of the most annoying is sometimes just trying to figure out where to go or what to do. The camera is sometimes so focused on your group of heroes that it's hard to know what your surroundings are... For instance, I've run right into a fire or off a ledge a number of times for simply not being able to see where I was going. I think a lot of the frustrations I had with this game stem from this issue, but I wouldn't let it hold me back from recommending the game to others.

Giant alien robots are a plenty.

The whole experience was a lot of fun and it makes me wish there were more games willing to take some risks and do something completely different. I've enjoyed my time playing wonderful 101, and I've had one of the best laugh out loud moments from a game ever thanks to it. I just wish more people knew about the game and had seen the ending so I could have someone to share it with! Awww well. As wonder green would say, c'est la vie!

Maman!