My pal Hakon just showed me this clip and i thought id share it. I feel like fightin somethin right now!

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Ok I didnt vote yet. I'm gonna probably just wait until the last day and go with my gut. The problem I'm having is that i know which ones i like i just cant decide the order.. and this type of voting system puts heavy burden on what order things are ... and its not like voting on the portal where my vote means shit... for once in my life my voting power might actually make a difference.

Anywho, in other news... I'm setting up the return of the Artist of the Month interview. I took a break from it last month cause i was so busy with Pico shit.

I really enjoy interviewing people and I do have some people lined up who were interested in that shit so thats coming back on June 1st.

Speaking of June, on June 7-8 me and some NG peeps will be in the NY area with a Newgrounds booth at BigAppleCon. If you recall not long ago, Mindchamber blogged about how we were considering it and well we decided we're going to take that leap. Considering this is a very rare thing for an NG booth to have an actual east coast appearance it would be great for people to swing by say hello, buy some shit to support the mothership. It's all great to be part of newgrounds and for Tom and his goons to introduce new features and shit but sometimes its cool to show some support for the site and keep it thriving.

Last bit of news, since BoMToons is out in Italy and I have nothing to make sprites for :(
I've decided to do a short for the RWD. I'm going to work on it hardcore this week.. maybe i can have it out before the month is out.

I think I'm going to take a break from my regular projects and work on somethin for the RWD....
As for what my regular projects actually are, well i am workin on more games mostly.

I have this one game I'm going to be workin on that i want to synch with the anniversary of Tom's Luis Day Song... I'm still unsure what angle i'll take with it but i was talkin to Kenney earlier today and he suggested i call it Luis CastaNUN. and you play as me dressed like a nun... i was intruiged by it and i couldnt resist testing it out.

What do yall think?

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Ok so i dont mind so much people that steal on YouTube ... cause its free publicity sort of... what I DO mind is people totally changing it. check this out!

This the actual description:
'i didnt make the vid but i added better music'

FOR THE LOVE OF ALLAH THIS IS REDICULOUS LMAO.

BY THE WAY THIS VIDEO HAS 4 OUT OF 5 STARS AND 1377 VIEWS

That means 1000 people were totally fine watching something with a watermark and with a song that didnt belong to the movie and not only were they fine but they liked it. silly intrawebs.

Well I'm just now really getting around to looking through all the pico day stuff.
This is probably the most productive pico day I've ever been part of and i had a blast. For the sake of capturing this moment i'll link out to any and everything that somehow had something to do with me cause my pico ego is so large right now. Unlike my penis size.

Pico's School: Detention
I threw this together today based on some stuff i had gathering dust. I felt that Pico Day was missing just oddball low brow movies.

Pico Blast
The flagship of my submissions. Me and BoMToons fantasized about a game where you just fight big ass bosses all day. I also wanted to bring back the black police chief from Pico vs. Bear

Press & Punch Collab
This was a piece put together by Almighty Hans, I made a short animated part for it, I had no clue where he was going with it but it turned out damn well...

House of 1000 Cats
An animation by Zombie-Pimp, I donated a short voice part near the end and i was lucky enough to be cameod. Really refreshing movie.

Pico Takes a Shit
This was an animation by my pal ConAir, the hairdryer.
I donated a little graffiti that you can sort of see on the bathroom wall. lol. I liked this movie, its like one of those stupid shorts that made ng famous back in the day.

Pico: The Shitty Power
I didnt do shit in this movie but my cartoon version of me makes a brief cameo so I had to plug it. That and Nogfish is part of the RWD clique

Pico Hand Springs
My cartoon version of me is featured in this short, I'm wearing some sort of mumu and sombrero so I enjoyed it.

Pico's Taste in Men
My cartoon version of me again in a cameo at a bar. He was a homoooo

History of Pico
This movie catalogues most of the pico based pieces I've done in the past both for Pico day and just for the hell of it. I hadnt realized I'd done so many.

oh and the pico day 2008 preloader logo is minez. So in a way ive managed to be part of everyones pico day thingggg

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I'll update this list if i find more references linking back to me in any way. Heres a picture of my next tattooooo once i have money. Thanks VonDark!

Well I just spent the better part of my morning taking care of some shit that I've been putting off as well as working on some pico day shit. I thought it would be helpful for people if I went through some of the newgrounds related events coming up, as well as links to where you get additional info and shit.

Whatever event(s) you notice are convenient to you I'd say go for it, your perspective on the site kind of changes when you are able to put real faces to the screenames or what not. If you have some sort of event that I didnt mention but you think deserves mention just drop me a PM.

Oh one last note, the Pico Day Art Contest wraps up on Pico Day (April 30th aka on Wed). If you've been debating doing something for that or you find yourself too lazy to make a whole animation in the 3 days you have for the pico day animation then hurry up with dat!

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June 7th, 8th New York City, Big Apple Con
About: This is a smaller comic convention, Mindchamber, Eric Black and myself are managing this. We're arranging to have a Newgrounds booth up. This is going to be the first time NG has catered to you east coast folks so dont pass it up. If getting to San Diego is out of your budget and you want to buy newgrounds shit, meet your favorite animators (lmao) and just have a greater bond with the site, this is for you. We'll probably also hang out after the convention if anyone is wonderin... NYC is fairly fun when its warm out and Mindchamber isnt getting us lost.

Cost: $15 / daily pass

I havent gotten a confirmed list of guests but popular personalities such as:
afro-ninja, The-Swain, Krinkels, Leigh, Stamper, DarkShadow8181, nogfish, EyeLovePoozy, Senti, FBIpoluxetc etc

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July 23rd - July 27th , San Diego California, San Diego Comic Con 08

About: This is the mother of comic conventions, if you like large crowds, scores of costumed people, and all the glitz and glamor of hollywood studios this is for you. This actually isnt a Newgrounds event anymore but since the Behemoth has an ambilical cord attached to Tom Fulp its worth a mention. Also this convention attracts the west coast ng crowd as well some international folks.
It is important to note that this convention sold out completely last year, which is insane considering the size of it. Do yourself a favor and order your tickets online well in advance. I think they are cutting out at the door registration altogether actually.

Price: 4-day $75, thurs $25, fri $30, sat $35, sun $20

Unconfirmed guests at this event (some are confirmed but whatever):
Mike, Dan Paladin, Bob, Luis, RubberNinja, Danomano65, AlmightyHans, FrostedMuffins, NathanielMilburn, im too lazy to list more peopleee. I think its important to note that newgrounds isnt going to have its own booth this year. Its all Behemothz.

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August 29th - 31st Seattle, Washington Penny Arcade Expo 08

About: This convention is a bit smaller than Comic Con, and more concerned with video games as opposed to comics which is favored by some. Again, the booth is actually run by the Behemoth but NG folks show up. I've never been to this convention before so i dont have much info on it. I've heard its a refreshing change from the craziness that is San Diego Comic Con.

Price: 3-day pass $40, Fri $25, Sat $30, Sun $30

Unconfirmed guests at this event:
Dan Paladin, Afro-Ninja, BoMToons, Sekkhem, GlaielGamer... theres a few other people going ask around!

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August 28th-August 31 London, England London Meetup 3

About: This isnt a convention at all, I host this thing personally, its an opportunity to get together with peeps in europe and bring the NG vibe over to that part of the world. This is like the third time I've done this (duh) and each year the turnout has been better. It's probably my favorite event of the year. You'll have to check the link above for a better breakdown of the where and whats of the event. Generally, the main event is on saturday (August 30th). We usually hang out on a bunch of other days prior if youre kewl..

Cost: Freeeee

Unconfirmed guests at this event:
Luis, Kirk-Cocaine, Mogly, AlmightyHans, The-Super-Flash-Bros, Krinn, the-exp, britishmoose, kaynslamdyke, Bezman, Xenon, the-swain, TimFrommeyer FBIpolux and morrre..

THE END. now you can hang out with newgrounders if you are on the west coast, east coast and europe coast.

SORRY AUSTRALIA MAYBE NEXT YEAR (for real)

heres a screenshot of my pico day entry!

Well I'm back in my humble abode, I hung out at the office for the weekend. It's always refreshing and envigorating(?) to crawl into the mothership (aka NG office). Everyone was hard at work on Castle Crashers, which looked pretty dope.

On Saturday I went with Mindchamber to the NY Comic Con. We met up with a few newgrounders there, one of which was Eric Black, he was one of the old heads in the early roots of the NG portal, yall were mere sperm back then so you probably never heard of him! And if you have then kudos to you. Anyway, he was a great personality and all around fun to be around. The main purpose of our trip to the comic con was to scope out the scene and get a feel for the environment. Evaluate how it differed or compared to the San Diego Comic Con, the overall goal was to see if we could set up a NG booth in the east coast. Our findings were promising and in fact we are entertaining the possibility of debuting a booth at the June Apple Con (also in NYC).

More info on that later, but if we do get a booth it would mark a great step in the effort to expose NG to everyone out there. San Diego was a bit too big of a venue for a 'small' site like NG... its hard to compete when you have Paramount and Kevin Bacon in the booth next door....

We as Newgrounders love to think that we are a major player on the internet (and we are) but we still have a ways to go, and we really need to do a better job of pushing the site and its wares and talent out in the real world. Networking opportunities such as conventions are a perfect fit.

Last but not least, I got a chance to get my hands on those elusive tankmen figurines. They look great and the packaging is so well done for it that i almost dont even want to open it. Specially humorous is the illustration on the side, such as the 'enemy detecting hyper hard-on'

Hopefully JohnnyUtah doesnt kill me for sharing this pic.

**PS check out Kano's artwork, I had the pleasure of running into his work at the comic con, he has a really sweet vector meets street art style. He recently released a book called citizen kano. Its great. I'll probably base my next ng profile skin on him.

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This little animation got me pumped for the craziness that is Pico Day...

I love rediculous fightinggg.

For anyone who hasnt caught on yet, once a month I interview fellow Flash artists/programmers in the scene. It's a fairly informal little Q&A session. I've been doing it for like a year now. I have just recently started posting 'em here as well. Enjoi!

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Greetings, its the start of the month and that can only mean the launch of a fresh new interview. This month we feature Sean Montela, he goes by the alias AloneInTheDark on Newgrounds. As to not steal too much of his thunder, let me get the interview underway and let him fill you in on his details.

Luis: Hi Sean, how about you tell us who you are, how long have you been in the scene and how did you stumble upon Flash?

AloneInTheDark: I'm a 23 year old architecture student from Amsterdam. I've been working with flash since i was 17. Back in those days i used it to make simple websites. But after i discovered Newgrounds in 2003 I got inspired by the stuff i saw here and started using the program to create animations.

Luis: Do you have any siblings and are they into arty things at all? Do you have any family members in the creative industry? I always find it intruiging to find how peoples upbringings and environment may have played an influence on their creative tendencies... I mean to ask this in every interview but i forget to :P

AloneInTheDark:
My family is actually the most uncreative bunch of people imaginable. Nobody here really draws/paints or pees on canvases, but one of my best friends who i've been hanging with since i was 7 is a very talented artist. Back in the days he drew extremely realistic drawings with spot on shading for a kid. I learned a lot from him and we motivated each other to draw. I still have a Wolverine comic that we made together back then.

Luis: Aaactually speaking of environments, I was in Toronto a few months ago and I found it kind of refreshing how Flash had much more of a prescence and demand than it does where I live, like there was all these posted handbills of companies seeking flash creative work. Being that you live in Amsterdam (and the fact that I've never been there) what is the scene like over there?

AloneInTheDark: Well there is a good demand for people who are able with the program. There are a lot of web/graphic design companies that you can work for. The other day i had a job interview at an architecture agency and they even had a seperate team of photoshop/flash experts who made presentations and such for the firm. Also, there is this dutch guy who uses flash and is very respected in the avant garde art scene. His name is Hoogerbrugge, probably best known for his 'Hotel' series. On Submarine there is a nice overview of other notable dutch flash talent.

Luis: Ahh actually I've run into Hoogerbrugge's work by StumblingUpon it. I had no idea he was dutch. Anywho, I know you're not as active Flash wise as some of my past guests, however one of the things that I find intruiging about your work is that your work tends to explore subject matter that is unusual in the scene. Things like 'Autumn Tree' and even 'Alive' come to mind, where Flash becomes your personal soapbox to stand on and you are less concerned about appealing to a particular niche. What inspires you to tackle projects like those? I think alot of the reasons why artists dont stray to the unusual is because they fear that all their work will be in vain because people wont 'get it'... does that ever cross your mind?

AloneInTheDark: It's all a matter of where your priorities are. There are lot of animators who get their satisfaction out of the animating itself. For them, the idea and personal vision in making their shorts is less important, so they make things that are fun to animate and that are appreciated by a large crowd. There is nothing wrong with having this type of view on animation, as long as it is what you believe in. However, an artist should never let the public decide what stuff he is going to make. If for example an animator only makes animations based on video games, because that is what people want, then i think that's a pretty lame thing to do.

Luis: While I'm on the subject of 'Autumn Tree', what attracted you to work on such a contraversial subject matter? What sort of response did your audience have when you finally finished it? Was it a response that you anticipated or were you suprised/disappointed by what people thought about it?

AloneInTheDark: What interested me about the Columbine tragedy was the human aspect of the entire happening. So much has been said about it and what happened was terrible, but in the end it remains a story of 2 teenagers slipping away. Eric and Dylan weren't monsters or born evil. They were average kids living average lives in a boring town. I wanted to put emphasis on this aspect in the animation. I think these type of stories need to be told to let people form an opinion themselves about what happened. That is why i was very careful not to turn it into a melodrama and let the viewer sympathise with the killers or victims. It turned out rather bland and almost documentary like. I like that.
The response was actually more positive than i thought it would have been. I thought that a lot of people wouldn't get it and would think i was paying a tribute to Eric and Dylan but fortunately that wasn't the case. Many reviews were written and people all have their own views on the situation. That's all i could ask for really.

Luis: Fair enough. Ok, so earlier I touched on the subject of artists not wanting to stray too far from the norm. One of the hot subjects these days are artists feeling like their limelight is being eaten up by vast video game parodies and pop references. That the artistry behind animation is becoming ruined by artists who set out to spoil viewers with gimmicky forgetable flash movies. What is your take on the matter?
Do you think the outcry for change is valid? You've been around for many years now, do you see the scene changing?

AloneInTheDark: I don't think there is anything we can change. With the popularity of flash increasing, it is inevitable that the content of animation and games gets adjusted more to a mass audience. Especially since a lot of money can be made nowadays in the flash business. I do find it a pity, but that's the way it is. It's something that has happened during the development of cinema, music, gaming industry and television too.
However that doesn't mean that there is no room anymore for good original content. People will always enjoy to see an animation that's different from the norm, when it is made well. It's just harder to create such an animation when the obvious road to money and popularity is through simple parodies or used concepts.
The flash program itself is also becoming more and more professional. With the direct implementation of 3d techniques in the upcoming flash version the bar for animating and design will be raised dramatically. Online flash gaming also has a lot of potential and the business will only get bigger and bigger. I see the future very bright for the program.

Luis: I'm very wary of 3d.... but lets lighten the mood a bit... what interests do you have outside of flash?

AloneInTheDark: I love modern art and anything creative! I also like travelling and going out with friends. And like any other guy i'm also pretty interested in women and beer.

Luis: Speaking of outside interests, ok so I know your ultimate goal career-wise lies in architecture. I find that sort of unusual considering you have alot of potential in your flash work. What attracts you to the world of architecture anyway?

AloneInTheDark: What i love about architecture is the design process itself. It is actually very similar as to when i start making an animation. When I start an architectural project i analyse the context, start sketching and come up with a concept as to what the building should be. As i get further in the design process i focus from a broad perspective to the small details. I love using many different techniques, like making traditional drawings, scaled models, 3d renders and digital CAD drawings. When the building is designed and other people can see the qualities in it, that's something very satisfactioning.
The structured manner of thinking in architecture is something that i find really useful in the process of making an animation too.

Luis: To each his own brotha! So back to the Flash world. You finally wrapped up the first episode of Jinas near the end of last year, that's a rather gargantuan project you set out to create. Can you give us a brief run down of the series and where you are going with it, maybe what sort of things inspired you to persue it?

AloneInTheDark: The story itself is rather simple. It's basically a love story in many ways. Love for a special someone, love for friends and love for yourself. However cliche this may sound, I try to create characters that are very honest and real. They all have different sides to themselves and the situations they get confronted with during the series are never black or white. I want it to be humorous, but also confronting and thought provoking. A lot of my personal experiences have been a foundation for the series. Some of the personalities in the series are kind of the same as the ones of people close to me. It's a story i HAVE to tell.

Luis: Heres an easy question, we're a quarter of the way through 2008, what sort of things do you have in store for us this year?

AloneInTheDark: At the moment i'm working on a smaller side project. After each Jinas episode, i want to take the time to create some smaller stuff that has been in my head for ages. Right now it's an animation called 'Shaped Of Clay'. It's a rather dark animation about manipulation and perception. I hope to finish it this summer or something. After that, i want to make one more animation with Andres Ciambotti (co-author of Autumn Tree) before i start with episode 2 of Jinas.

Luis: Okay, last question.. if you were to disappear from the flash scene forever tommorrow what would you want your legacy to be?

AloneInTheDark: Well a fan club of blonde young women would be cool to have.

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Past Archived Interviews:

- 03/2008 | Tom Fulp
- 02/2008 | Luis
- 01/2008 | Dr NeroCF
- 12/2007 | Buzzwerd
- 11/2007 | Rtil
- 10/2007 | AlmightyHans
- 09/2007 | Marc M
- 08/2007 | The-Swain
- 07/2007 | TimFrommeyer
- 06/2007 | NegativeOne
- 05/2007 | SickDeathFiend
- 04/2007 | Psychogoldfish
- 03/2007 | Mindchamber

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If you or someone you know would be cool to be interviewed. Drop me a PM

I get restless when i dont make a new post.

In other news:

- Check out the NG Audio Podcast... it features a review of Pass my Flash 2

- Check out a plug for Castle Crashing the Beard on Fox News Podcast (skip to about halfway) Thanks Tom!

- Castle Crashing the Beard also is blogged about on Joystiq's X-Box 360 fanboy blog

- Added another prizeset to the Pico Redesign Art Contest

- Will be trolling the isles of Comic Con NYC on April 19th. This is a different Comic Con than the one in San Diego which i'll also be at in July.

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That is all......