I haven’t recorded an ODEO in a while. First it was due to me no longer having a mic. as I had donated mine to my sister when she moved away to Uni. but I have one now. Now my excuse is because I’ve been far too busy with things and sorting out my new apartment. I don’t like recording ODEO’s when there are people around. It feels weird. So I usually wait to get some privacy, but have not really had any lately.

Once I’ve finally settled in the new apartment though, I’ll have all the privacy I need. I’ve got a few things I wanted to talk about, so hopefully there will be a few sessions of air-time soon.

Also, I never did write my review of ‘Brick‘. Though it’ll be totally bias as I absolutely adore this movie on so many levels.

This morning on my way into work, my mind trailed off into ‘random thought’ land. Found myself realising how privileged I am. I’m not only getting published by SLG in the states, but I’m also part of an amazing UK manga revolution that is Sweatdrop Studios.

I remember how I’ve been trying hard the past few years to just get to this position. Foot in the door and all that. I recall a friend who used to keep telling me how when he makes it, he’d be in ample position to help me achieve my goals. Riding on the shoulders of giants, he’d said. Well, I made it to my first goal without said ‘giants’. It’s quite an achievement. I didn’t get here on my own and honestly, that’s perfectly fine. It’s not the kind of journey one can take by themselves I believe.

It’s long, tiring and disheartening even. You get kicked in the teeth almost every day. Many situations arise that make you just want to give up. Doubt haunts you almost constantly. It’s too much for anyone to take on alone. I couldn’t have made it this far without Shari and I’m glad I had friends like the Sweatdrop guys n’ gals by my side the whole way. It softened most of the blows, to say the least.

Here’s hoping this is only the start of what may be a fantastic journey forward.

Ah Brick Soundtrack, how I adore thee.

I went to the Best New Manga shindig yesterday and did a little talk about our comic. Lots of kids asked me to sign their books for them. It was kinda cool. After the show, we (that is to say me and a few of the Sweatdrop peeps) hit the British History Museum (where I must take Shari one day, I must!!) which was right next door to where we were anyway. I hadn’t been to that place since I was a kid. It’s changed so much and it’s all that much more mind-blowing now. I adored it. Though our time spent there was brief, but I shall return.

Starbucks beckoned and we hung out there for a while discussing random things. After that Rik, Wing & I split from the group and went to grab some Sushi and Japanese Curry in Central London. It’s like.. tradition. We always grab a bite to eat when we meet up at a Japanese restaurant. This was all a mere introduction however, to our main outing. We were heading off to watch Pan’s Labyrinth.

I have mixed feelings about this movie. The trailers, posters and general advertising built this up to be an amazing fantasy tale mixed in with the drama’s of the real world. However, as it turned out, I’d say the movie was 20% fantasy, 80% war story. Now, don’t get me wrong, it was a good movie, I did enjoy it, but that didn’t however stop me from being disappointed by it. I was in the mood for this amazing gothic fantasy tale, and that’s not what I got. Shari and I felt like they had wasted an amazing premise to what could’ve truly been the fantasy tale of the decade.

It was beautiful, it was good, but it wasn’t what they advertised it to be. I’m not quite sure how to take that. Anyway, I guess now I can get back to planning our new comic project. We’re working on a fantasy epic pitch of our own. It’s based on an idea I had 5 months ago that somehow got mixed up in a weird dream I had.

What? You thought we’d finish one book and then quit? Pffft!! Never XD

Today is a wet day. As I got on the train, I happened to sit right opposite a seat that had a leak above it. The leak would drip when the train was moving and it dripped a lot, so the seat below it was quite wet. Slowly people boarded the train and they all occupied the seats around me, but still avoiding the one directly in front of me. No one actually noticed the leak, as it’s only visible as the train moved. No one knew that seat was wet.

Finally, a gentleman decides to take that seat, but before he sat down, I decided to say something.

Fehed: Sorry, that seat’s wet.
Gentleman: ??? .. oh, thanks.
Fehed: ^_^

As the journey continued, the rest of the seats were all occupied except that seat. Suffice to say, people would attempt to sit there and I would now intervene. “Sorry, that seat’s wet.”, I kept saying and they’d thank me and move on. Eventually, growing tired of the same phrase, I started playing around with it.

• Sorry, that seat is a tad moist
• Excuse me miss, there’s a drip there
• Sir, I wouldn’t sit there, it’s damp

None of them really had any ring to them that the original phrase had though, so I moved back to just saying “the seat’s wet”. After a while, I was surprised that I’m the only one saying anything. People were perfectly happy just staying quiet and letting others attempt to take the seat. People who I had saved from getting a damp butt, just sat there minding their own business.

The woman next to me stopped reading her book for a moment, turned to me and asked “What will they do when you get off the train?”. Coincidentally, the next stop was mine. So I got off and started dissecting this experience. If I was any smarter, maybe I’d have come to some kind of a conclusion about it. Right now, all I have is “That’s just fucking weird… are people really that badly anti-social?”

I did however remember a social experiment someone attempted on a train. They had an actor stand around till the carriage got crowded and then pretend to faint. There were two instances of this experiment. The first, the actor would faint and fall to the ground, and people eventually moved towards him to offer some kind of help.

The second, the actor would faint and fall to the ground and there would be a hint of blood trickling from his mouth. During this instance, no one approached the man on the floor. Was it out of fear? Was it out of a feeling of inadequacy? Blood from the mouth would make anyone believe that it was quite serious, so maybe they thought “Well I’m not a doctor, I probably can’t do anything”.

The behaviour in that experiment is understandable to an extent. But… would it really kill people to say “sorry, that seat’s wet”?