ozoneocean
My accents sound a bit like… someone with a brain injury.

oo very self-critical. Maybe you just need to sing your cast.

I never realised iTunes was evil.
I guess I should've seen the signs, safari is awful and my G4 ipod nano broke before my G2 nano.

ayesinback
vid

You're right! It could be worse :)

DarkGesen
I never realised iTunes was evil.
I guess I should've seen the signs, safari is awful and my G4 ipod nano broke before my G2 nano.

ALL computer programs are evil! :(

Quit talkin' about me like I'm not here, guys! :O

About the feminism thing, I generally just approach it from “I'm a woman who reads comics and likes to see women represented in a way she can relate to” and not any kind of sociological or psychological standpoint or whatever. I'm really not qualified to talk about women's issues from a broader perspective because there is a lot of stuff around that I don't really know.


Anyway the current one is up now on the site, Genejoke. :] I don't think my accent sounded like you at all though! Well, maybe a little. I think I said in one of them but you sound like a Milton Keynesian I know. I like Oz's accents though! They're fun and over the top kinds, “good” rather than “correct” if you know what I mean. (not that they aren't correct, but… okay I'll just stop now)


iTunes is evil, I hate it, it's terribly designed and does all kinds of things I don't want it to. But I'm stuck with it because I use ipods, which ARE nice little devices.

I just use a basic mp3 player, it's small, cheap and plays music, job done.

I have no idea about the milton keynes type thing but I recorded that full of cold and could hardly breath. Listening back some of it sounded really weird.

We've got two new Quackcasts posted today!

Quackcast Episode 21: Interview with Lawrence Leach, CTO of WOWIO!
This is a special edition QuackCast recorded specifically to address the site issues which came up on DrunkDuck in the past week. Lawrence discusses the problems from a technical perspective and answers a lot of questions!

and our usual,

Episode 21 - I Say Old Chum, Jolly Good Advice About Speeding Up
skool and oz summarize the site problem from March 30th, and then go on to discuss various ways in which you might speed up the process of making your comics. Also we go kind of overboard on accents.

Its occurred to me that listening to QuackCast's during lessons is probably a very silly thing to do, beacuse I will burst out into hysterical fits of laughter when OzoneOcean puts on his little Dastardly Villain accent.

*gapped toothed smile*

Aaaaabsolutely loved it however, more crazy accents HO!

Hahha, I love your userpic!

We were a little worried about the accents in this one, really! That doing them takes away from the message, like the advice would be poorly delivered or taken less seriously. (Either that or they would just be annoying or at least distracting to people who didn't like them.)

Ah, I was wondering when this interview was going to be uploaded. I'll listen to it on my way to college. Somehow I doubt this one will have many (if any) crazy accents.

iPods are great when they are working properly.

Ozoneocean
ALL computer programs are evil!

And DD doesn't count because it's a site, and not a program!! B)
–

#21.5 is very informative. I'm not as enraged as I've seen some other users about this whole server crash because stuff like this happens. And it's not like it was deliberate. I'm glad they had up to January backed up. I didn't have any doubts, but it's nice to hear some reassurance from the guys behind the scenes. Admittedly I only really lost about 20 pages, but that's nothing.
Keep up the good work everyone!

Just finished listening to 21.5, and it was great to hear directly from Lawrence about how he sees the current situation, some of the challenges involved, and what the strategy is.

I was already convinced of his dedication to fix what can be fixed of last week's catastrophe, but frankly, I'm now reassured that Lawrence is someone with some serious smarts. Wanting to do something and having the ability to do it are not always synonymous. So good: He's not looking to merely apply band-aids, but is anticipating the soon-to-be beta situation and the overall future.

The DD situation reminds me of so many residential communities, certainly here in NJ, whose population exploded far more quickly than ever anticipated, and whose structural support lags way behind. Transit, education, municipal services - everything - is in a scramble to meet the needs of a huge population. It's not an overnight fix.

So, again, thanks Lawrence! I trust you're putting your best brains on it. And good luck :)

— (wildebeests looking forward to funny accents)

and now on to 21.

I say Ozone' - played a blinder on the accent front old chap - country club application in the post ‘n’all that - jolly spiffing enunciation! Right - 21.5: I'm orf to run Lawrence up the flagpole and see if he blows eh wot!

Skoolmunkee
We were a little worried about the accents in this one, really! That doing them takes away from the message, like the advice would be poorly delivered or taken less seriously.

Haha, I don't know why you should be worried, if anything it gets people more interseted and involved in the casts because they're fun as well as informative. I mean heaps of people are now sending scripts for you guys to read in awesome accents. HELL I'm considering doing it now, I'm thinking a Crocodile Dundee accent…

Ironscarf
I say Ozone' - played a blinder on the accent front old chap - country club application in the post ‘n’all that - jolly spiffing enunciation! Right - 21.5: I'm orf to run Lawrence up the flagpole and see if he blows eh wot!

It's like the love-child of Berty Wooster and Terry Thomas!
And what a handsome chap he is.

OnlyFoolsAndVikings
Haha, I don't know why you should be worried, if anything it gets people more interseted and involved in the casts because they're fun as well as informative. I mean heaps of people are now sending scripts for you guys to read in awesome accents. HELL I'm considering doing it now, I'm thinking a Crocodile Dundee accent…

Do it! ^_^

Omg Oz… you just made my day. lol!

Have you tried doing standup comedy or being a professional clown? Probably would make you more cash than being a graphic designer.

Next time, I wanna see you imitate Alex Jones.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7hOSVWJV9U

I'd be so totally impressed.

kyupol
Omg Oz… you just made my day. lol!

Have you tried doing standup comedy or being a professional clown? Probably would make you more cash than being a graphic designer.

Next time, I wanna see you imitate Alex Jones.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7hOSVWJV9U

I'd be so totally impressed.

LOL! Thanks! I'm only as funny as the scripts :)

If you want to write a script on a Quackcast topic using an Alex Jones theme, then I'll read it in an imitation of him. That'd probably work best ^_^

LOL! Thanks! I'm only as funny as the scripts :)

Oh poppy-cock, even when not reading scripts you're bloody hilarious! :D

Why thank you! The encouragement is welcome :)
Wait a minute… that could be a bad thing too ^_^

Our latest Quackcast should be up sooooooon… It's a great big interview with Shadowsmyst about Marketing. And man was she knowledgeable! O_o

So this one was more informative than fun. We should've saved all our banter about he being Canadian for the Quackcast though… She has a great and real Canadian accent. I thought she sounded pretty similar to Skoolmunkee in a lot of ways though ^^

It's already on iTunes!
–
Veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery interesting.

Especially when Skool had to face an enraged fan. ^^

I think while skool and oz are experienced veterans in the game, it's good when you bring in the specialists. All the guests so far have been excellent choices.
So uh… when does the featuring return?

I vote that shadowsmyst appear in more quackcasts. Vocal, sharp, and super interesting. That's a podcaster if I ever heard one. Wish it had gone on for longer, especially after she dangled talk of metrics at the end.

Also skoolmunkee I hope you keep those strong female viewpoints coming. Those observations are not so obvious to male comics readers, since we generally enjoy looking at that stuff or have become blind to it from over exposure. I think that's one reason why many female readers prefer manga to western comics. That's a HUGE and VORACIOUS female audience that western style comics creators(predominately male) are failing to capture. We need a clue, preferably spelled out so that a five year old can understand it.

It won't stop me from looking at the sexy ozoneocean type comic, because hey, I'm a GUY, but perhaps those observations will help me consider a broader readership with my own work. Ideally I'd like to design a female character that appeals visually to both men and women. I know how to get the guys, that's easy. How to KEEP the guys, while also getting the girls, that's TOUGH.

@darthfurby - just follow your heart, dude. Stop worrying too much about political correctness.

I dont sit there and tally how many male and female characters I got and how I attract readers etc. I dont worry about that. And before I know, comic is in the top 50. Became number 1 at one point. lol

Cheers.

Well Deathporn is the height or political correctness and that is number one so I think it could be an important factor :)

Joking aside, sex sells but it doesn't have to be a one way street.

A very interesting podcast though.

DarkGesen
So uh… when does the featuring return?

On Thursday! :)

darthfurby
I vote that shadowsmyst appear in more quackcasts. Vocal, sharp, and super interesting. That's a podcaster if I ever heard one. Wish it had gone on for longer, especially after she dangled talk of metrics at the end.

she wanted to get into that badly, but we just didn't have time… That length is about the limit of a one parter.

But I reckon we should have her on again really soon and she can get more into that I'll talk to Skool about it. Perhaps we can change the main topic slightly though to give the listeners some more variation…? I worry it might get too dry for people not into he technical aspects of that sort of thing.

Any suggestions?

Yeah, ShadowsMyst was great. :] I'd love to have her back to talk about things like metrics or other areas of her expertise. As oz said, we'll have to think of a good topic which will let her talk about those but not have too much crossover with what we've already done. I'm not sure that metrics by itself would fill up a whole show, would it? Then again…

Different metrics, what they mean, why they're important
How to take advantage of/capitalize on those
How to get better metrics for yourself
Growth milestones (like, at what numbers is it good to X or Y)

Maybe ShadowsMyst has some ideas. :]

kyupol
@darthfurby - just follow your heart, dude. Stop worrying too much about political correctness.

I dont sit there and tally how many male and female characters I got and how I attract readers etc. I dont worry about that. And before I know, comic is in the top 50. Became number 1 at one point. lol

Kyupol - You raise an interesting point that touches on the polarizing Art vs Commerce/Popularity debate that has been raging forever. My approach is to balance the two. I obviously want to follow my heart, enjoy my work, but enjoying my work does not mean anyone else will enjoy it as I do. Hopefully my stuff resonates with an audience, but I've seen many creators follow their heart, blow off feedback or criticism of any kind, only to bitterly languish in obscurity.

Most of us post work online to communicate to someone other than ourselves.

Art is communication. We all learned how to talk by talking to others, and the more people we talked to, the better we got. We needed reaction, analysis and interaction to improve.

On the web, how do we get these reactions? Unfortunately we have to rely on crude means to measure our effectiveness, like text feedback/criticism, demographics, clicks, sales, metrics, etc… But we need reaction, analysis and interaction, over and over, to get BETTER.

That means how the audience reacts to our work matters because if we believe what we're saying is important, we want it to reach as wide an audience as possible, as effectively as possible.

In my case it's not really about political correctness so much as it is about becoming a better storyteller, appealing to a larger crowd, and perhaps making a career out if it. As Genejoke noted, Deathporn is the number one ranked comic at the moment. From porn to romance novels, sex sells. However, in the case of the recently featured comic Fantastic Tales, that element interfered with the characterization for Skoolmunkee. So which is more important to the audience? While I might fall in the exploitive sexy artist camp, I take special note of the reactions from women(since I'm well acquainted with the male side of it) in order to gain awareness, to increase my skills as a storyteller, as a communicator. Then, if I ever chose to create a comic like Deathporn, I could make the porn more pornographic, the drama more dramatic, the comedy more comedic, thanks to a wider perspective and understanding of what people care about.

My ambition is to get better, and I guess in that sense, I'm following my heart.



ozoneocean - if you put your mind to it, I'm sure you could make any topic interesting, even if it was about the market value of carribou droppings. I find metrics a naturally interesting enough subject on its own, but I'm one person. Skoolmunkee's list has me drooling tho, and I personally hope Shadowsmyst comes back for that should you guys make one.

Another interesting one, although some of the talk of the new site sounded a little reserved. I guess you expected some flack.

The character discussion was insightful, and ozones comment about the visual distinction and poser comics made me wonder about how well I do that with my characters. With them being all poser like and stuff.

Genejoke
Another interesting one, although some of the talk of the new site sounded a little reserved. I guess you expected some flack.

IIRC we were still kind of ‘uuuuuh’ about some of the stuff we'd only found out 2 days ago. We also didn't know how much we were allowed to say or what would be worthwhile to spend much time on.

Hopefully the next QC will be all about the preview site but we'll see how that pans out.

Genejoke
Another interesting one, although some of the talk of the new site sounded a little reserved. I guess you expected some flack.

The character discussion was insightful, and ozones comment about the visual distinction and poser comics made me wonder about how well I do that with my characters. With them being all poser like and stuff.

Damn. I'll have to newspost it.
Your figures, from what I've seen, do ok man. Don't worry. It was just a generalised comment.
About the preview- yes. It's great to have it up but as you know with the HTML and such, those things were unexpected and problematic.

It's a pretty accurate comment though, using stuff like poser it is easy to get lazy on some aspects.

What I think helped me was that for a large part I was recreating characters i had already designed. Granted some got some minor adjustments but it affected how I approached doing them. Also having a bunch of guys in near identical uniform meant I had to try harder.

For some reason, when Ozone created the Character creation thread appearances didn't even occur to me. I have to admit my characters aren't the most varied in terms of appearances, but this episode has given me a lot to consider when creating new characters. Awesome as usual guys. And thanks for the shout out XD. Also, I could tell you weren't sure about the pronunciation of my username, but you got it right! I'm impressed! Hi 5.

DarkGesen
For some reason, when Ozone created the Character creation thread appearances didn't even occur to me. I have to admit my characters aren't the most varied in terms of appearances, but this episode has given me a lot to consider when creating new characters.

I agree with this, didn't think much about that either.

Haha, the accents were so funny! I believe my favorite was the “effeminate Southern American” one :D. (I want to hear Ozone do a “generic American hood” accent xD). Lots of great advice that got me thinking about some things.