(Gamescom Keulen 2009, in de Electronic Arts pers/business stand)

Hi there, kids!

Right now I'm kneedeep in production of my graphic novel Quelle Horreur; with the terrible and awesome deadline of End Of August to produce a book of almost 100 pages. Killing? Yes. But it's also showing a new side of me that I had almost forgotten about. The side that, when the going gets tough, pulls out all the stops to get things done. I'm talking about major dedication and motivation. I didn't think I had it in me. So, there's a surprise. I guess when I'm really passionate about something, I am 100% there and going for it. I can be pretty goddamn lazy about most things, but it's nice to know there are a few things that I can sink in like an autist.

That said, there are a couple of elements that help me though this month of development hell. After the cut, a wall of visuals!

It's official: I am the only person in the whole damn country that dresses up during big movie premieres. Even with The Dark Knight, people just go as their own usual, boring selves. The upside is that when an employee of the radio station that organized the special prepremiere event takes your picture, you make the front page as a crazy fan. Hooray for cosplaying in the outside world! Break the boundaries! Welcome to a world without rules.

http://www.3fm.nl/page/3fm_actueel/269130/

(A note: there will be a bigger evaluation of the movie later, when I've seen it a second time, on Captain August.)

So, you think you know English, do you? We've all done the facile tests on the internet and patted ourselves on the back. Now it's time for the real work:

http://freerice.com/

Sure, you're working for a good cause, achieving points to get rice into the homes of starving folk, or in the immortal words of George W. Bush ~putting food on our families~. But that's not the point. This is a killer English test. The beginning is doable enough, but as soon as you get words like Diurnal, Manducation and Azygous, you'll besweat the nothingness between your buttcheeks. I managed to get to level 40 before retiring for the day. Let's hear where you end up.

(Stolen from jdeguzman)
You are in a mall when the zombies attack. You have:
1. one weapon.
2. one song blasting on the speakers.
3. one famous person to fight alongside you.

---

1. Double-barrelled, pump-action shotgun. Don't leave home without it. Seriously, I love shotguns best in any game featuring guns. And against zombies, they pack quite a wallop. Consider this: if you have the unending hordes of the skulking undead in front of you, wouldn't you want a weapon capable of blasting whole packs at once? I thought as much.

2. Dance Commander by Electric Six. For ironic purposes, of course. You want to get a groove on when you're fighting a hopeless struggle. Either that or Wagner's Flight of the Valkyries. This, also, would be a good choice.

3. Barack Obama, who'd proceed to give such inspirational speeches the zombies would cower and convert to life again. Yes, we can! Second choice: the Weighted Companion Cube. Of infinite use in any situation, especially on unstationary scaffoldings.

Ik heb vandaag de meest geniale sokken gekocht online. Ik zag ze en was op slag verliefd. I had to have them! Welke sokken dan, Roderick?~

Good evening, everyone. This post is meant to tell you who the devil that handsome, eloquent figure was that just commented on your journal or who you heard about when your friend (or your friend Google) directed you to this page.

The name is Roderick Leermakers. I'm a sort of jack-of-all-trades artist from the Netherlands, specializing in animation, comics and writing. I have a Master degree in animation and am currently a freelancer enjoying short mornings and late nights. For the past years I've drawn a webcomic called Captain August (www.captainaugust.com), which one should unquestioningly check out.

This Livejournal is mainly meant to give me the opportunity to comment on other people's posts removed from the haze of anonymity. If you'd like to read what goes on in my life, by all means, visit Captain August. Every update features a rant about everything that interests me; from books to politics to philosophy to science. And games. A lot of games. It's huge.

Much obliged, and I'll see you soon.