I’m actually kind of interested in seeing the upcoming CG version of the Dr. Seuss classic, but I’m perplexed as to why such a blockbuster film would have an Apple-only mobile version of its web site. I mean, even if Apple is giving Universal (or whoever) wads of cash for some kind of exclusive mobile deal, it still seems like a terrible idea to make your site available to only a fraction of the mobile web. Unless, of course, we’re talking really huge wads of cash, I guess. The kicker for me, though, is that the desktop version of the site is built in Flash. How weird is that?

Android: 'But I thought you liked green!'

Addendum

For those who have no idea what I’m talking about, I tried to visit the official movie site on my Android phone and was greeted with this notice:

No Lorax for you!

Upon clicking “OK” I saw a lovely white screen. That’s it. No simplified version of the site, no hold page, not even any text. Just a blank white screen. And, see, here’s the thing: they are apparently proactively deciding not to show me any kind of site at all simply because I’m not visiting with an iPhone or iPad. It’s astonishing to me.

I know this doesn’t rise to the level of importance of, say, starving children in Africa, but I’m tempted to stage a boycott of the movie simply because of this practice. Yeah, I know: good luck with that. Nonetheless, the very idea of dividing up the web based on who has what device is completely contrary to the concepts of open standards, net neutrality and the like. It’s not a behavior I want to reward with my hard-earned dollars. It is kind of par for the course for Apple, however, although it’s still unclear to me exactly what – if anything – Apple has to do with this particular instance.

Animate Pro doodles

On a separate note, I saw this in an ad for some kind of fashion school. People actually pay money to learn how to turn women into hideous scarecrow rejects? And women actually let these people do this to them? I’ll never understand fashion. At least this model was smart enough to keep her face mostly hidden. Or is that the part that’s supposed to turn me on?

This is fashion?

Taking care of bisniess

If I ever meet these marketing geniuses, I’ll be really tempted to ask, “How are
ings?”

On a more serious note, I’m trying to get used to drawing in ToonBoom’s Animate Pro. I’m not super great at it yet.

Animate Pro practice

Yeah, don't ask.

I also noticed this kind of odd heading in one of my drawing books:

Say what?

Kind of sounds like some sort of deviant biology lecture.

Brad wouldn't like this one.

But De said he wouldn’t like it – and Brad did specifically request to be drawn as a babe magnet – so I’ve decided to give Brad a sort of Justin Bieber look instead.

Brad the Heartthrob

Oremor the War Dwarf!

So I’m putting together a little mini-comic and using some of my coworkers as characters. This is one character design idea that started to look like it was in the right ball park, so I thought I’d post it as proof that I actually made headway. One of my colleagues is named Mike Romero and when I spelled his last name backwards, I thought it was a perfect name for a War Dwarf – whatever that is. Click on the image to get a bigger version. For those who keep track of such things, this was sketched in MyPaint on Linux Mint 11, so it’s full of open source goodness. More to come…