Archive for the 'News' Category

Yes?

Written on August 15, 2010. 3 Comments

I’m still here. Working very hard on creative things and being entirely too obsessive. Will be able to reveal more soon, I hope. Financially everything is still shit, so any donations (even if only of a few dollars) are greatly appreciated. But creatively things are mostly good. Rejections for short stories suck and no book news yet, but the other projects might make up for that, at least psychologically.

Damn. Being too vague. More soon. I hope. Very much.

Please keep supporting Echoes and Awakening. Awakening in particular seems to have struck a chord with a lot of people, but it could really use more visibility. A “making of” will hopefully follow in the near future. And it should be about time for the Phenomenon 32 bloopers.

The Dentist of Doom

Written on August 10, 2010. 1 Comment

If you follow me on Twitter, you may have noticed a post about my tooth breaking in two. That happened on Friday night, when I was supposed to be editing the two short films we made for the Philips Cinema Parallel Lines competition. Instead, eating a Snickers ice cream caused one of my teeth to split in two, and we had to get to a dentist. The only open dentist at that time of night was at the other end of Frankfurt, but it was an emergency, so we had to take a taxi, which cost us more than we would normally spend on food in several days. Still, we’re lucky; we got away with paying something like 60€ for taxis and dentist; if we lived in the United States, things might have been quite different.

The Dentist of Doom, as Verena called him, turned out to be a lunatic. What is it with strange racist dentists? This is my second one now. (My normal dentist is very nice, and not racist at all.) This one honed in on my last name and couldn’t shut up about Greece. But everything he said was bizarre, and conversations went exactly like this (with my mouth wide open and him poking at my gums):

Jonas: Is there no way of repairing the tooth?

Dentist: Alexander the Great destroyed Persepolis, did you know that?

Jonas: Well, he conquered it, and…

Dentist: He killed everyone there. Not even the dogs were allowed to live. A Greek person told me that.

Jonas: Uh, yes, well…

Dentist: But he wasn’t Greek, right? Alexander the Great. He was Persian.

Jonas: Actually he was Greek. Northern Greek. Macedonian.

Dentist: Is that so? Well, I don’t speak any Greek. Sorry. Maybe I’ll learn some today. Hah hah. I had a Greek assistant once. She was very nice.

Jonas: Aha.

And it kept getting weirder and more non sequitur. He was not happy when I pointed out that German is actually also a native language of mine, and I’m only part Greek. He also went on about the fact that he likes to pull out teeth. Which is what he did with mine. Whether or not it was really necessary, I will probably never know. He sure had fun.

It could all have been much more painful. I suppose you could say I was lucky that the tooth was almost dead anyway – if its deadness had not involved an eight-month root canal (or endodontic therapy, as the Wikipedia calls it) that on occasion caused me pains that words have yet to be invented for. Now I have a missing tooth at the back of my mouth and a strange glob of congealed blood, and I kind of wish they’d pulled the tooth out back when it first started hurting like a motherfucker.

Oh well. At least the impolite elitists have struck again in Harold Bloom and the Death of Art, aka The Comments Thread That Will Not Die. Someday I’ll have to write a real follow-up to that one.

exhaustion

Written on August 2, 2010. 1 Comment

Finished filming another short; also edited the previous one. Results are looking good. More editing tomorrow. Lack of sleep is evident in short sentences. Cat is making typing difficult by headbutting me.

In or to or toward a former location

Written on July 30, 2010. 2 Comments

We’re back. Exhausted. Have ordered pizza.

I didn’t entirely finish my novel in Greece, but I did some very important work that pleased me a great deal (Verena: “You should make some kind of deal with Kleenex, so that the book comes with tissues.”). Also shot a short film, and will shoot another one on Sunday, for the Parallel Lines short film competition. Yeah.

Much to talk about creatively (including games!), and some very amusing stories to tell – who is ready for the Dread History of the Tangaman and His Organ of Destruction? Yes, indeed. And there was a turtle called Böb. Very interesting.

But first, food and relaxation. Most necessary after this incredibly long day.

oh hai. i is in ur greece, having ur vacation.

Written on July 19, 2010. 2 Comments

Yes. Well. Getting to the internet proved much harder than expected, and staying there equally challenging. Weather is nice, food is good, writing is happening. Will attempt to write again in a couple of days.

Be safe, have fun, and remember to read a good book every now and then. See you soon.

Off to Greece

Written on July 9, 2010. 2 Comments

We’re off to Greece in an hour. We’ll be there for three weeks of sun, sea and obsessive writing. When we come back, my novel will be finished.

Let’s hope we survive the flight. I’m not so good about planes. Wish us luck.

The Urthona Revolution… what’s next?

Written on July 8, 2010. 0 Comments

I’m quite happy with the first few instalments of The Urthona Revolution, but I’m definitely going to move it away from WebComicsNation – either to a different host, or to a subsection of my own site. Since we’re going to be in Greece for the next three weeks (we’re leaving tomorrow), comic updates are going to resume in August.

The blog will keep being updated, though.

Linkies!

Written on July 3, 2010. 3 Comments

Gnome’s Lair has published a really nice review of Phenomenon 32:

Phenomenon 32, being Kyratzes’ most ambitious project so far, is much more than the sum of its parts. Besides the beautiful black and white visuals, its atmospheric soundscape and a deeply depressing and simultaneously surreal game world, Phenomenon 32 is an incredibly immersive experience, designed to be savored slowly and carefully. It is after all a hard and demanding game, that simply cannot be completed in one sitting. It also is a game filled with surprises and little touches of excellence, that go far beyond what you might expect from a free game.

As for the plot, well, it’s one of the best I’ve ever encountered in a video game ever and a key part of Phenomenon 32. Set in an alternate version of the 70s the game is engrossing, deeply political, truly unique and thought-provoking, and is supported by some quality writing and impressive voice-work.

But I do have to complain about one thing in this review: it gets my first name wrong! Again! What is it with Greek people and my first name? It’s Jonas, not John, not Jannis, not Isaac, and not Abraham, either! (Yes, I’ve been called all of those. Some people don’t believe Jonas is a real name, others confuse it with every other Jewish name there is. GRARGH!) I’m smiling as I type this, of course, because after nineteen years of living in Greece, it only drives me up the wall in a humorous way.

But seriously. Grargh.

(Edit: It’s now been fixed. Thanks!)

Awesome review, though. More please. *g*

In other news, over at Commentarium Verena has written Another Look at the Predator Movies, which you should read.

Just as importantly, this photo of basement cat. And look at all its variations! Our cat makes for good lolcats.

And all of this reminds that I really ought to update my links, maybe sort them a bit, definitely add some descriptions.

Did you know there’s a cat staring at you?

Writing

Written on June 27, 2010. 5 Comments

I seem to be getting into a writing phase. I’m working on my screenplay, on several blog posts, on my novel… and making progress, too, which is excellent. Today was a bit slow, because we were tired from celebrating our friend Sebastian’s birthday on the Feldberg last night, but all in all the work is going pretty well. And people are still enjoying Phenomenon 32, which means all that work wasn’t entirely for nothing.

Oh, one other thing. I’m looking for a better webcomics host than Webcomics Nation – any ideas? Most of what I’ve seen wasn’t particularly interesting, but I’d appreciate any input.

Oops. Where did the days go?

Written on June 26, 2010. 2 Comments

The last few days kind of slipped by in a trance. There was a lot to do, and I was feeling a bit sick at one point, but I’m still here and still writing. In fact, I’ve been thinking about writing a post about my favourite RPGs. That should be fun. Oh, and there’s a bunch of other stuff, including of course the next instalment of The Urthona Revolution. Soon.

Now, breakfast.