WELCOME to the personal home page/blog of Matthew La France. Please enjoy your stay.

4/29/2005

I had a day off yesterday. I goofed off quite a bit. I played some of Welcome to Pia Carrot which I have not played in a number of years. I picked it up again after updating my translation projects page with screenshots of games I'd like to translate, including Welcome to Pia Carrot of course. Come to find out, the individual who owned my PC-FX before me had a save for Welcome to Pia Carrot, as well as Can Can Bunny Extra DX, Doukyusei 2, Der Langrisser FX, and Power Dolls FX.

I did some other updating to my translation projects page, including adding a random screenshot at the top of the page. I found a random image script that I also got to work on my PSX Anime List page which I think is quite cool.
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4/25/2005

Well, that wasn't really so hard after all. Comments are back and hopefully functioning well. I feel a bit more confident relying on blogger for my comments. They did not offer them when I first began using them. CommentThis served me well during that time.

I'm sure that most anyone reading this blog cannot really understand exactly what I was talking about when I was talking about quitting art, or not putting pressure on myself to "be an artist" or whatnot. It's hard for me to really convey because I love art and being creative, and I don't really intend never to put pen to paper. I guess it has more to do with how I define myself, and the things that make me happy. We all have to do what makes us happy, and find ways of changing things that make us unhappy. Anyone reading this blog probably can easily tell that I am unhappy a lot, or at least some of the time. But I don't think I am an "unhappy person", I am just trying to change things that make me unhappy, and my attitude about certain things certainly seems to do that. I'm trying to change my attitude a little, and change how I define myself, my creativity, and my happiness.

You may or may not have noticed, I've been working a bit on my PSX Anime List. I discovered that yahoo.co.jp auctions can be a good place to find some interesting images like the extras that go with limited edition games, or for filling in some missing box art. The only down side it that 99% of the auctions use digital photos rather than nice scans, so the image quality is not very good, and I have to stretch the images to match my format. I was able to find a additional Simple Character 2000 series game which was kind of cool.
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4/23/2005

I have disabled comments on my blog for the time being. I have a feeling that the Comment This! dude didn't get his $2000 and decided to kill it. Whatever. I'll try to get them back up just as soon as I can figure out how to get my custom template to work with blogger's new comment system. All the wonderful previous comments will likely be lost. :( Sorry.
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4/21/2005

I just posted a little blurb on my gallery. Basically I had decided to "rededicate" myself to drawing sometime before Christmas, and I am officially changing my mind. I remember when I used to enjoy drawing, it was a natural extension of my own enjoyment of other things. I'm not sure when or if it stopped being that and started being something else, but it did and I no longer enjoy it.

I think the conflict was really when I started to "study" art and it started to become a thing unto itself. I don't really know what that was, or where I feel things went so wrong, but I definetly no longer enjoy something that I used to enjoy a lot. I make the mistake of comparing myself to others, and of being hard on myself and expecting a lot of me and my artwork. More than anything I think I lost an idea of what I was trying to express and to whom.

Anyway, to make a long story short, I quit. Or more precisely, I will no longer place any sort of pressure on myself to make art, for myself or anyone else, for any other reason than simply enjoying it. I remember some things I used to like doing like sketching faces or copying pictures from magazines and movies and stuff I liked. Just imagining people and coming up with characters, faces and clothing and stuff. If I can still do those things and enjoy it then I will continue to do it and try to remember what was fun about that. If I can't then it's simply something I've outgrown and I don't intend to waste any more of my time worrying about it.

I refuse to feel any more guilt or failed competency about something that may have no relevance for me any more. If it's purpose has been served and it's usefulness is spent then there is nothing more it can do for me. If I can still enjoy it in some way, and it has any place in my adult life then I'm sure I will find it.
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4/19/2005

Ok, from hanging around MO's board I knew that Shih Tsu was a pretty cool dude (rad even), but I just spend the last 20 minutes or so LAUGHING MY ASS OFF, at his Rad Project. It's a comparison of the NES game Totally Rad, and the famicom game upon which it was based Magic John. I highly recommend you check it out. And make sure to hover your cursor on the images for the sarcastic "alt" text. ;)
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4/16/2005

I've been out of touch for a few days. I'm starting to get a little insomnia and having dreams again, so I'm feeling a little out of it as well. Some good news, KingMike finished the Sword of Kalin translation patch just the other day. I'm hoping that Slayers is only a matter of weeks now, but time will tell. I played some of Phantasy Star Online (offline) the past couple of days. It's sort of a fun nostalgia-trip/escape. I'd still like to get a character up to a high level. I'm feeling the desire for some more direction in my life. I guess I need to set some goals again. I don't want to dream.
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4/11/2005

I'm starting to imagine myself as the bad guy in a story. The bad guy never really thinks of themselves as evil, they are just doing what they think is right, adhearing to their own values, and fighting for their cause. It just happens to be the in opposition to the goals, values, and morals of the "good guys".

One of the things that is cool about Japanese animation/comics is that the enemies are usually humanized. The stories are not so black and white. Conflicts are not so clear cut that there is one side that is completely justified, and the other is totally unjustified.

I guess anyone who fights for themselves in their own story is the villan in someone elses. I guess just trying to be the hero in your own is the best you can do. I still wonder, in what kind of story am I the hero or the villan?

On a lighter note...the PSP release schedual from HELL!

05-03-05 Rengoku
05-10-05 Ghost in the Shell
06-01-05 Ys: The Ark of Napishtim
06-21-05 Armored Core: Formula Front
06-28-05 Coded Arms
07-12-05 Advent Shadow
09-01-05 Gran Turismo
10-12-05 Infected

Even if the games were $40 each, that's $64/month of interesting looking PSP games. :P (Hmm, that's about what my internet costs...Maybe I won't be updating my blog for a few months. ^_^)
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4/05/2005

Sin City is the best movie I have ever seen. I am dead serious, it was utterly amazing. I was expecting it to be good and it was so friggin much better than that, I was blown away. I urge anyone who likes movies to see this film, because it is so unique and not-unique at the same time. It was like seeing a movie for the first time. I felt like a little kid, I was completely enthralled. I didn't think that it was possible to make a movie so completely satisfying. I had the time of my life. I can't say enough about this film, just go and watch it. It's outstanding.
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4/01/2005

I had a day off today, I did a little bit of everything. Probably the most fun thing was playing a game of Mage Knight with I haven't played in ages. We played a 4 player game with a new player. It was pretty cool. I did the minimal sufficient amount (according to my personal standards) of writing and translating. Also a big announcement. I have a PSP! I got it as a gift from a friend. What a nice gift! I am playing Dynasty Warriors right now. I'm very much looking forward to Rengoku: Tower of Purgatory, and Coded Arms. I'd also like to play the Armored Core game.
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