Tragic Draws or
This concludes our broadcast day...

This week brings a close to the Monster in the Closet story that's been updating twice a week. I'm going to push the update back to Saturday so that I can finish it all, tweak it a little to drop the file size and improve the layout. Originally, I'd thought of making the final version of Monster in the Closet paid admission only. But I've decided to leave it as a freebie. Same goes for Starscream's revenge. If you enjoyed the stories and would like to see more - please drop a coin or two into either my BitPass or Paypal tip jar. Every little bit is greatly appreciated.

After Monster in the Closet concludes, Starscream's Revenge will be left as the only regularly updating story playing in Tragic Lad Theatre. To balance things out a bit, I'm going to adjust the schedule on that story so that it's Mondays and Fridays.

Tragic Tinkers or
please adjust your sets...

I've been doing a little minor adjustments to the site here and there, but it's become apparent that a redesign is in order. Of course, I never got quite through the initial design. Still missing are my links page and my gallery. But the comics are just way too burried in the current site and updating anything takes much more time than it should.

So sooner or later the place is in for a full and complete overhaul. Clearer navigation. Smaller file sizes to save bandwidth. Better backend. I might even add a forum. But for now, tinkering.

Bunny & the Cantelope is the latest benefactor of my tinkering. I've cleaned up the trails and I'm much more satisfied with the layout now. It's minor overall tell me that that doesn't flow just a bit better. And the upshot to it all is that part two is now about 400Kb smaller.

Of course - suggestions and requests for things you'd like to see with the Elusive Fish dot com 2.0 are more than welcome and strongly encouraged.

Tragic Gripes or
I feel like a bear done ate me and shit me off a cliff...

It's been one of those days.

No one specific thing, just a long, long series of little things at the day job that have come together into a general sense of frustration that I'm having a heck of a time shaking off. I'll be glad when this week is done and over with because I'm certainly done and over with.

In the meanwhile...
Continuing my business cartoons - this particular one was inspired by the Giant Panda Attack in PvP.

Bear Market

Tragic Blogs or
Those who do not remember the past...

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place, and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Each and every young man that went to fight that war had a story of their own. Loved ones. Friends. Enemies. Hopes. Dreams. Ambitions. Dreamers. Artists. Musicians. Storytellers. Craftsmen. Farmers. Men who had not yet become what they would be. Ground under the machine of war. That they had to go and fight and die in a lonely place far from home is a shame. Were we to forget that they did so would be a crime.

Tragic Reviews Kill Bill vol. 1 or
If on your journey you encounter God, God will be cut.

This is not a film for everyone. If you didn't like the film, you probably hated it. If you liked it... oh what a rush!

This is a good ol' fashion kung-fu revenge flick like they used to never make. The tale is of 'the bride' who lost everything to her former teammates, the Deadly Viper Gang and their leader, Bill. Bill and crew gunned down her wedding party, beat her to a pulp and then shot her in the head leaving her in a coma. Now, four years later, she is awake and out for revenge.

What the film lacks in story, it more than makes up for in storytelling. The film absolutely gushes style - heck, at one point it abandons attempting to emulate anime and just jumps right in with a fully animated back-story to one of the assasins. The sets, the choreography, the cinematography -- all top notch.

And speaking of gushing - if you're averse to onscreen violence, go refund your ticket now. Kill Bill is a bloody, brutal, violent film. Not violent in a funny ha-ha slapstick sort of way. Violent in a mean and ugly way. Floors drenched in blood. Limbs severed. Moans and cries of agony. This film shows us the ugliness that all the other 'action' films shy away from.

Now, if the film seems incomplete, that's because it is. The studio execs decided to cut the 3-4 hour long film in half and release both halves within a few months of one another. As if movies aren't expensive enough, now they're going to try to charge us twice to get one film. I guess Miramax has to meet some sort of 'evil' quota and thought this would bring them up to it.

If you've ever been a fan of pulpy kung-fu hong kong action flicks... then you are in bliss with Kill Bill. If not - don't bother, this film isn't for you and you likely won't enjoy.

Tragic gives this film 7 severed feet out of 10.

 

Another business cartoon for your viewing pleasure...

I'm sure that is a very good rate, but I'm not as concerned with the return on my money as I am with the return OF my money

Tragic Draws or
Good gravey, you want something funny about what?!?...

Last year at work, I'd let slip about my artistic talents and somehow found myself doing humourous illustrations for a calendar to send to all our clients. I'd done the work pro bono but my coworkers -bless 'em- gave me the super-tiger dragon edition of Fellowship of the Ring as a thank-you. On top of it all, I got a paying gig out of it as one of our clients decided they'd like a calendar for their clients.

The subject matter's a little dry (you try coming up with a dozen gags about corporate disclosure policies and the like) but I thought I'd share a couple of them with you over the next week or so.
Enjoy.

...yes it is nice to meet your mother, but we'll need more than her assurances that you're "a very good boy" to establish credibility in the markets.

Tragic Blogs or
sugar, wheat flour, modified palm and vegetable oil, modified milk ingrediants, hydrogenated soybean oil, unsweetened chocolate, cocoa butter, soya lecithin, sodium bicarbonate, yeast, artificial flavours --- all the things a growing child needs

I had a strategy this Halloween regarding the candy for the kids.

I purchased a pile of those crummy caramel like candies and a bunch of mini-chocolate bars. But in addition I bought a couple dozen full-size chocolate bars. Aero, Coffee Crisp, Smarties... that sort of thing.

The plan was to give a full-sized chocolate bar to any child who could potentially be a future bully of our son. We placate them now - in advance. Set firmly into the impressionable little minds that this house is the cool house. Hence, when the boy reaches school-age, it will be a well known fact that you don't mess with him because that's the house with the really good candy. Good to our boy and you get a chocolate bar. Be a jerk and it's a caramel or box of rasins for you.

Not sure how well the plan will succeed, however, as we hardly saw any kids last night. Maybe a dozen at most. So here I am with a bowl full of chocolates and caramels. Gads I'm going to end up rolly polly.