Super City Hikoi

Something has been bugging me lately in the news. The Hikoi (or Protest for those who don't know) by Maori to have special seats assigned to them in the new Super City Council. While I'm opposed to the Super City all together because it directly affects where I live I am also opposed to racial preference. That is what the Maori are asking for. They want to have special seats allocated to them so they have a guarantee to be in the council. For a country that fought so long for equality around the world, having seats set apart for Maori in the super city council is a step backward. How is it equal to give one race guarenteed seats in the council while every other race, majority or minority, have to earn their seats? The protesters don't even know what they are really protesting about. I can't believe Maori think that because they don't have any specifically allocated seats in the council they have no chance of getting a seat in the same way as everyone else. Their leaders claim they want equallity, and to have a voice but all I'm seeing is a desire to be treated differently from everyone else. A picture on the NZ Herald site of the protest shows a protester holding a sign that says, its about rights not race. If it's not about race, why are you protesting for seats for one race. It's EVERYONES right to be represented on the council I know that, but Maori seem to have no faith that they can get on the council the same way as everyone else. It's down right pathetic and racial preference of ANY race should never bee tolerated in this modern day. Just because you are a minority doesn't entitle you to special treatment. How about applying for the council seats instead of wasting your time trying to get seats allocated to you?

Angels and Demons Review

On Saturday I went to the movies for a mates birthday to see Angels and Demons. This may contain some spoilers for those who haven't read the book or seen the movie. What happened to the Diamond? (See Picture)

Did they just decide it was too confusing to be put into the movie? So they replaced it with the two keys? The diamond is meant to be the fifth brand and it's a big part of the story. Obviously the film makers didn't think so.

Not to mention they changed so much from the book. They had barely any character development like in the book. So much was changed from the book which is kind of disappointing for me. I held the book much higher than Da Vinci Codes book but in the case of movies, the Da Vinci Code is better.

But I still just cannot get my head around the diamond. What was the point of taking it out? It played a major role in the book only to be replaced by two crossing keys that have nothing to do with the Illuminati portrayed in the book. As a stand alone movie without reading the book or watching Da Vinci Code its a good movie. However to people who loved the book and the Da Vinci Code movie, don't get your hopes up. I really thought this one would be better than The Da Vinci Code purely because the book was better. I guess I was wrong.

However I still recomend this movie to anyone. It certainly isn't a bomb out. Just a disappointment.

Flame War At FSTDT

I'm a regular over at FSTDT for those who don't know it that stands for Fundie Say The Darndest Things. A site where quotes from fundies are posted for everybody to see. The other day a quote was posted and approved as fundie. It made it to the main page and has since caused a flame war over whether it is fundie at all. It was a reply to another fundie comment on the main page but went a little too far. I for one think it is very fundie. Just because the poster is an Atheist doesn't mean he is exempt from being called a fundie. He calls for the ban of religion which screams fundie. FSTDT doesn't hold any double standards and that makes it a good site. The ultimate reason for the site is to oppose Fundies, not Theists. It is not a site where Atheists can condemn Fundie quotes and then use the same arguments against them. I know the poster is a regular and usually isn't so bad but this time he went a bit too far. What he said was no better than what the original quote said. The people defending him should realise this. The poster should also realise this and admit he's wrong by saying religion should be banned by law. Which at the time of publishing this he has made no attempt. In fact he only defended himself. Moral of the story, the mods of FSTDT take no shit when it comes to fundies from any walk of life. Good on you.

Burning Rose

It's not my best work but it's just practice right now. I'm not particularly happy with the flame. I may redo it another time with much better, more random looking flames.

New Picture

I've almost got to the point where I'm creating an image from scratch. Most of this one is just my work only the body is a mannequin (The same one in the last post). In my opinion this is my best work yet. It took me about 7 hours to do it. I think it did at least. Maybe more because my computer is really slow and hates Photoshop.

I didn't plan any of it it just came together as I went. Originally it was just going to be a normal demon with two wings just standing there. But it changed to just one wing with a tattoo sprouting from it. I made the frame then decided the tattoo was going to be flames of some sort. Then I had the idea of it actually turning into flames. Pretty cool if I do say so myself. It took me forever to do his skin colour because I couldn't decide on what colour a demons skin should be. So I went for red. So there it is.

I like to think I'm getting better at this. It was originally a mannequin. I changed the way I do my line art. The lines no longer stop short of where they're meant to. I'm getting better at the shading aspect. At least I would like to think so.

Anyway, I'm going to keep practising and hopefully I'll get to the point where I won't need to copy anything to make a picture.

Update for the sake of updating.

Well nothing much happening right now. Currently I am writing something called Out of the Darkness for a graphic novel a friends making for school. (design class). That's about it.