RedShoulder

Whew! It's been a while since I last posted an entry here. A lot has happened to me and of course the world itself. I've gotten my vaccine and got my booster shot the day before Thanksgiving. Healthwise, nothing major (although I'm still worrying about things too damned much). I've started a part-time job that has been going well and has put some needed funds in my pocket (although don't look for me buying anything extravagant!) and that means I'm able to spend on Christmas shopping. And I've also gotten my healthcare plans for next year worked out (hopefully!). But next year, I want to make even further changes to my life. And that means I am looking to sell my artwork (or collections of my artwork) or at least look to earn something from my art. This isn't greed--far from it--but having been doing this for so many years it would seem ridiculous to not try to earn something from it. Plus having a second source of income these days is a good thing. Being that I haven't gone

Manga creator Kentaro Miura passed away on May 6, but the news was released on May 19. Finding out about this was a punch in the gut, since he was only 54 (the cause of death was an aortic dissection). Miura created several works during his life, but his best known work--which now will remain unfinished--was the fantasy manga BERSERK, which he began in 1989 and was still working on. BERSERK remains one of the best manga ever created; its dark fantasy story about Guts, a former mercenary who travels across the country during the medieval age facing off against monsters and other humans won praise for its intricate artwork as well as its story, which at times could get quite brutal. If you think GAME OF THRONES is dark, then you haven't read BERSERK. Taking influences from classic science fiction as well as Kuaru Kurimoto's GUIN SAGA as well as the classic manga FIST OF THE NORTH STAR, BERSERK's influence would be seen in manga such as DEMON SLAYER and VAGABOND and video games like

I'm not going to lie--I am ready to put 2020 behind me. This year was...well, to put it nicely, awful. A pandemic that has taken close to 350,000 lives in the US (and counting), lockdowns, having to isolate from friends and family, rampant corruption in the White House via the most corrupt President in modern history, and his political party openly calling for taking voting rights from people and overturning an election because they did not like the results, smug @$$holes on social media spreading lies and gleefully hoping for everything to fall apart.... I knew family and friends who were affected by COVID, and let's be blunt--everyone knows someone who has been affected by this pandemic. I lost a good friend this year--not to COVID, but to a tragic one-in-a-million complication from surgery. I missed seeing family and friends. I missed going to the movies and places that I used to go to. I missed seeing someone who I realized--only after things were closed--I had developed