Now this is what the internet is for

Those of you who read this (there has to be one of you, somewhere... you at the back, no the toilets are to the left) and know me know that I'm a big fan of Transformers. I've written enough fanfiction about them at least.

Anyway a few years ago they announced a then new show. Transformers Animated. I saw the designs and along with a lot of people wondered what the hell had happened? These cubist nightmares were a hop skip and a jump from being the sort of thing you found scrawled on the back of a beer mat by an art student as a joke. Then I saw the toys (I would call them collectables, but they just weren't). While show accurate they were blocky, silly and so crammed with gimmicks it wasn't true.

Now in an earlier post I've praised the Animated legends figure of Bumblebee. He's fantastic and sits next to his G-1 counterpart blu-tacked to the top of my computer (the guitar I made it out of toothpicks is a bit bent but never mind). I love the little guy, I hope it shows. You see I looked deeper, beneath the gimmicks.

That is why I think Transformers Animated, as a show, is perhaps the best Transformers since Beast Wars. It knows exactly what it's doing and what other shows did wrong. First of all it has a set cast, the small team each have a chance to develop and a rich back story. It has far reaching implications, the actions of these few are pivotal  and seem to have effects all over the galaxy. There's humour, drama and real empathy with the characters, even the Decepticons and other bad guys out there.

This not only trumps the rampantly disappointing "Unicron Trilogy" but the breed of serious dramas like; The Wire, Heroes, the RDM Battlestar Galactica and Lost whose convoluted plots have gotten lost in a sea of undeveloped cameo roles and indecipherable arc plots.

This revelation forced me to look again at the animation. Now I've done my own bit of animation, not very good and I'll be posting some here as soon as I can. I know first hand the hardest thing is not what you would first think. The real difficulty is consistency. The animation has to be constant, in such you develop a style. A way of doing it that works for you. That style that becomes recognisable. While I don't think I'll ever be sold on the animated toys (outside of the legends line) I now think the unique design of Animated is one of it's best selling points. 

It's true beauty comes form the fact I can use like phrases like Cubist and Impressionist. I can analyse it as an art and design student and find something in it a lot deeper than the attempted realism of the 1980's cartoons like GI-Joe and it's stable mates. 

If you haven't seen any of Animated get out there and see it however you can. It is frankly stunning.

Work Work Work.

In this age of depression, economic upheaval and two skips from barbarism I am still looking for a job that pays. This is both fun and frustrating, although mostly the latter. The fun is, after searching high and low I can kick back and enjoy the fact I have nothing to do for a few hours.

The frustrating thing is everything costs money and that is something I'm missing. Ahh well back to the grind stone as it were

The cold and empty night.

There is a lyric in one of my favourite songs. "It's a hard load to love you, It takes all my time." The song is Shooting Shark by the Blue Oyster Cult. Well my good news of the week is my hard load is lifted. A hopeless, head over heels kind of love that has burnt my heart hollow for the better part of five years is gone. There's nothing left.

You see I can count on one hand the number of  girls I've been really interested in. Alright, more accurately if you want it; three. I'm not counting fantasy women here, ones you see on TV and think are stunning those are women you paint as perfect because you  don't know them. I'm talking people I've known and have known me. At least I hope they have

None have them have gotten past "Hi I like you". The closest I've got is a peck on the cheek one day after school and a couple of hugs. That's it, in my life. I'll give you a moment to digest that, and yes I am looking for pity. I seldom seem to get even that. 

This is the sort of thing that leads to mass murdering psychopathic tendencies and I need to vent. As no one reads this waste of time I can vent to my hearts content. 

Good moment's over. Now I was under no illusions that the girl I loved gave me a second thought. If she gave me a first one I would be over the moon. While I have spent many sleepless nights composing letters I never sent them. First of all she would think I was stalking her and second I didn't want to spook her.

She knew of course. It's hard not to, I can't hide my feelings. That and I told her. Five years ago she said no and only now can I look back and say to a door, half rusted shut and with the paint flaking off...

Well I don't know what to say. For all these years I've defined myself as the man she turned down. Sometimes trying to improve myself. Other times just trying to find out who I am.

Well this is who I am right now. A lonely, shirtless, young man trying to find his future when the best he has to look forward to is a couple of movies he'd like to see that are out this year. Spouting his thoughts on a blog no one reads.

Somewhere in there is a metaphor for life. I'm sure you can find it if you look hard enough...