4 December 2003
THE FRIGHTENING YEAR AHEAD...

There are a lot of changes in store for the New Year here at fourchinnigan.com. I have started making plans for a major site redesign. It will institute a lot more Flash interfaces. The difference is, unlike the current Media section, these interfaces will be more efficient instead of visual masturbation. Some of you may not notice the interface is Flash-based until you right-click. With that said, I need to learn a lot about loading variables and such to do it properly. Every section is seeing a new design and all sections will be a modification of the same base template. Thus, the site will have a more unified look and it will be easier to navigate. The Forest of Friends and other lackluster components of the site will be falling into a small subsection I will call the Mineshaft. This will hopefully mean less crap competing with the site's best features. I'm hoping to have the new site online within the first few months of 2004. It may take awhile.

New features I am hoping to add:
Monthly Chinny Pic (a photo depicting the life of the live-action Fourchinnigan)
More Interactive Elements (e-cards, games eventually, etc.)
Partners In Crime (An area where associate sites can post news and links)
The Mineshaft (Where old Chinny crap goes to die)
Sleeker Design and Faster Load Times, etc.

2004 will also see the debut of my second website. I am hoping to embark on the journey of self-publishing this coming year. I have a children's book and some comics in the works. I will be purchasing a second domain name for the publishing branch of Fourchinnigan Productions. Here you will find information on any print media I will be releasing upon the world for purchase. More on that later.

In the meantime, I have been updating the Chinny comic-strip every Monday and the new story-arc is almost at the halfway point. I released a new Crow Clock Short a week ago and another is on the way. Send me your thoughts about the new site ideas or tell me what you want to see in the new site by emailing chinny@fourchinnigan.com or post in the thread.

19 October 2003
IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD

Well, I did not win any of the 10 spots in the Rising Stars of Manga contest from Tokyopop. All of you can now see my 15 page submission here. It is a short Miracle Explosion story taking place one year after episode #06. You folks that read my journal have probably already seen it.

The New Mr. Fourchinnigan strips start later this week and new episodes of Crow Clock Shorts are on the way. I am also laying down ideas for the site overhaul. If you have any advice for the redesign, let me know.

29 September 2003
IT LIVES!

Dead. Dead. Dead. The site has been very dead. I moved and getting situated and back into the proverbial groove has taken much longer than anticipated. There were a few weeks when I didn't have Internet access. Once I got the new DSL installed, I noticed the site wasn't working properly. All seems to be in order now or as near order as such disorder can be. The Mr. Chinny strips will start up within the next couple of weeks. I'll start drawing the new ones this week. The next arc is entitled "Excursions" and is a road-trip story. I am also hoping to make 2 new Crow Clock Shorts during October. Beware, DDRMAX2 was recently released. Once I acquire it, all plans may be shattered.

Looking over the site, I am seeing it really needs a redesign. I'm hoping to have a new version up by the new year. This means a new design, layout, and probably the loss of the Forest of Friends. It will still be available through an archived area of old defunct material previously featured on the site. I'm hoping to make the whole site more user-friendly, prettier, and faster. The way I like my women.

Later folks.

24 June 2003
LAUNCH INTO SUMMER! HYPER SPEED GO!!!

I know the website hasn't been seeing much activity lately other than the weekly update of the Mr. Fourchinnigan comic-strips. People have been asking me when the next Crow Clock Short will be out. Well, I'm not sure. I know the plot for it, but I haven't started yet. Much of my time for the last month or so has been searching for work, taking on whatever odd jobs I can score, and working with Mike Dowell on his Moodoo Puppetshow.

Well, the good news is I will be employed full-time starting this week. Unfortunately, I will probably still need to try to take on side graphics projects when possible to make ends meet. But, no one cares about that, right? You want to know what to expect from the site, right? The Neighbaz story-arc is still going strong and will end at strip #60. After that, I will probably take a break from the comic-strip for a month. I'm hoping to start working on a short Flash movie featuring the Ninja Turtles some time soon. I intend for nearly full animation so the project will be in the works for a good while. I also want to spit out Crow Clock Shorts #4 soon, as well as get started on the Crow Clock and the Apocalypse movie. I want to throw together a short comic to enter in the Tokyopop Manga competition and work on a few other projects (including work that isn't mine, but pays me). Thus, this site may not see a lot of completed works over the summer. I will probably post samples and works in progress from time-to-time.

As for Miracle Explosion, I have no idea when I'll get back to it. Honestly, I want to start over completely and redesign the characters and story. I probably won't, although. If you really want to see it continue, email me and say so, because I don't have much drive for it anymore. Unless my interest in it is renewed, it is possible it won't continue.

I've added a few things to the site. Taking a note from Save Karyn, I added a page asking for donations to help me escape my unacceptable debt. See it here. After 3 years of inactivity, I have started updating my Live Journal again. That is a good place to check if you are interested to know anything about what may be happening in my life that isn't necessarily site related. I also have added more samples to my portfolio/hire me section.

Oh well, that is enough for now.

19 June 2003
PUBLICITY-YEEHAW!

The Pasadena Weekly is a weekly news magazine here in Pasadena (that's part of Los Angeles for those who don't know). In today's issue, you can see a short spotlight about me. I scanned it and posted it here. Thanks, Pasadena Weekly. :).

23 May 2003
CHINNY FOR HIRE

For those unaware, my income has been very limited for the last couple of months. I am seeking work be it permanent, temporary, or project-based. I added a page to flaunt my goods a month or so back which I have yet to mention. It can be seen here. If you are in need of my services, you may contact me at chinny@fourchinnigan.com. If you know someone who may be interested, feel free to forward this url to them. Also, anyone interested in commissioning original sketches, illustrations, and so on should contact me via the email address above as well.

Thanks, guys.

17 May 2003
CHINNY & E3

Well, I spent Thursday and Friday at the world-famous E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo). For those not in the know, it is a huge annual event where everyone slightly involved with the video game industry get together and reveal their products for the coming year. I enjoyed it. There are lots of games and peripherals coming out this year, but it's primarily more of the same. Lots of sequels and reinventions of what you have already seen. I was excited to see the new multi-platform Ninja Turtles game that comes out in October. It is an action adventure fighting game like the older turtle games, but now in 3D with very nice cel-shaded graphics. It isn't anything especially original, but as a turtles fan, it is nice to see a new good game on the horizon. If the turtles aren't your thing, you can buy the almost identical Batman/Sin Tzu game instead. Metal Gear Solid 3 is also on the way. From what I gathered, it takes place in the jungle in the 60s. Apparently Snake is a pretty old guy. I also saw a vampire game for the GBA which comes with a sensor that interacts with the Sun. You take it outside, let it soak up sunrays and it powers up some of your weaponry. Whether the game is any good remains to be seen, but I have to give them some props for their originality (although it is a bit gimmicky). Another interesting gimmick is the Eye Toy. It keys the player into the game so you actually appear on screen and interact with the environment. While neat, it needs lots of refinement before it becomes anything truly interesting. Now that I live in L.A., I hope to return to E3 each year. This was my first attendance and from what I've heard it was smaller than usual. New consoles should be hitting the market in a few years, I figure those will garner the most impressive E3 exhibits in the coming years. There were lots of other things to see like the numerous models dressed as fetishy characters, the huge exhibits, etc. This isn't really a video game website, so I'll leave the rest of the reporting up to the pros. I'll post a few pics eventually if I have any that are interesting.

Oh, as an interesting side note:
Thanks to Shok (FDA, Sillygoth), I met Tom Fulp (Newgrounds) and Synj(synj.net).

10 April 2003
VEGAS, BABY, VEGAS!

The new Chinny strip is up today. I've been in Las Vegas for the last few days living the life of sin. The next strip will still go up Monday and things will be back on track. Las Vegas is a big, flashy, fun place. I saw Cirque du Soleil's Mystere. It is amazing. I highly recommend it or any of their work. I've begun studying up on the process of making games in Flash so that is my next step. I also helped reorganize the Moodoo Puppets website so go check it out. I added a Mr. Fourchinnigan quiz, so go take it.