Mr. McMittens

This 4/13 thing looks like fun

2010-04-13T18:25:00.006-04:00

Hey guys, how's it goin'? I was inspired* to update today because MS Paint Adventures is celebrating Homestuck's 1st anniversary, and it's a big day! Basically, Andrew has been updating his website with new Homestuck updates constantly for a whole year. I am celebrating a special anniversary soon too, and that is that I have not updated my website at all for almost a whole year. Unfortunately I am going to miss that anniversary by about a week by updating today, but I think actually having fresh new things exist on this site makes the sacrifice worthwhile.

In the spirit of all the MSPA hubbub, I've got two sketch fanarts of Rose and Jade. Them's my girls and I love 'em. There's also a painting of my dog and one featuring the Venture Bros. (she's my girl and I love 'er, and them's my boys and I love 'em, respectively).

More swell news from the MSPA camp: Homestuck Vol. 4 is now yours to own, if you so choose, which I hope you do because these musicians (them's my boys and gals, et cetera) do some stellar work and you would most certainly enjoy having some of it for your very own! Also they deserve to have some of your money so please just give it to them already. I'll love you forever if you do.

* embarrassed to be linked on MSPA and having my last update be almost a year ago

It is Super Mario Bros.

2009-04-21T23:43:00.002-04:00

Okay, so this is the sort of garbage I draw when I am very tired.

In some ways, I think it is better than the things I normally draw.

Science is for Winners x 4

2009-04-10T11:53:00.000-04:00

Last in the current series of Scientist Trading Cards is Edwin Hubble, who discovered that the universe includes many galaxies outside our own and came up with the most commonly used method for classifying them. He also, through application of Christian Doppler's work, provided the first observational support for the Big Bang Theory by discovering that the redshift of a galaxy increases proportionally to the distance of the galaxy from us. He's also got a really incredible telescope named after him, maybe you've heard of it. Lucky guy.

Click to see full card.

Science is for Winners x 3

2009-04-08T10:53:00.000-04:00

Albert Einstein is the guy that always comes to mind when people think "incredible science genius." Why? Because he was fucking brilliant, that's why. He completely changed the way we see the universe and how we think it works--notably through his work on the Photoelectric Effect, Brownian motion, the theory of Special Relativity, and mass-energy equivalence (the equation we all know and love, E=mc^2). And that was all in one year. His theory of General Relativity came several years later. If you don't actually know much about Einstein, you really ought to read about his life and his scientific breakthroughs, starting with this Highly Informative Scientist Trading Card.

Click to see full card.

Science is for Winners x 2

2009-04-07T11:14:00.000-04:00

Next in our lineup of Scientist Trading Cards is one Mr. Christian Doppler, who was the first to observe and explain... the Doppler effect. Yeah, this is that thing where a sound's pitch changes as it approaches and then moves away from you, like an ambulance driving by. What I find particularly interesting is when it is applied to light waves emitted by celestial objects like stars and galaxies. We can observe their light waves being shifted to either end of the electromagnetic spectrum. When it is shifted toward the red (longer wavelength) end of the ES, we have redshift, which means that the object emitting light is moving away from us, the observer. Blue shift occurs when emitted light is shifted toward the blue (shorter wavelength) side of the spectrum, and means the object is moving toward us. So basically, by analyzing the light that comes from a star or galaxy, we can tell whether it is moving toward or away from us. Thanks, Doppler!

Click for full card

Science is for Winners

2009-04-06T10:10:00.000-04:00

I have two points to address today:
1. My solution for the comment spam problem in the cutenews script was to get rid of cutenews. I am now using a blog, which can be found at http://mcmittens.blogspot.com, and cross-posting some stuff manually over here. You can post comments there as long as you are not a spambot, because spambots are not welcome.

2. Science is AWESOME. This is a very important point. I love science a whole lot, and astronomy is particularly near and dear to my heart. Perhaps my love of astronomy illuminates to you why I go by the name Betelgeuse. (Please note: I am talking about the scientific study of celestial objects, not that astrology stuff with the horoscopes. Now I don't want to offend anyone, so I will put it lightly: astrology is horseshit).

Anyhow, 2009 is the International Year of Astronomy, which is very exciting. I hope more people are learning about astronomy and why the past 400 years of its study has contributed heavily to advancements in mathematics, physics, medicine and technology, among many other things. Case in point: The fact that you are sitting at your little computer reading this post is largely thanks to astronomy. Miniaturization, baby!

So this week I'll be sharing some science nerd art. I made a small series of Scientist Trading Cards for a friend who is also a huge science geek, and that means you get to learn something about a new scientist every day (well, every day except for 1, I only made 4 of them). Or maybe you are a science buff and already know all about these guys. But check them out anyway.

Today we start with the Father of Modern Science and first person to observe the skies with a telescope, Galileo Galilei!

Click for full card, DO IT

What a Scoop! NINETEEN

2009-04-05T01:23:00.001-04:00

(Originally posted March 23, 2009)

Look at how productive I am being. Andrew was kind enough to script this for me several months ago, and I just drew it.

CLICK IT, CLICK IT

Webcomics Shenanery

2009-04-05T01:22:00.000-04:00

(Originally posted March 23, 2009)

Alright, I think everything is in working order now. I got the About page up, so now you can learn all sorts of amazing facts about all sorts of things.

This weekend I joined Andrew at the Webcomics Weekend, and it was a right jolly old time. We met a bunch of webcomicking fellers and I gotta say, they were all nicer than anyone has any right to be. It was fantastic meeting and hanging out with KC Green, who is one of my all time favorite webcomic creators and, as it turns out, a really funny and friendly guy. Buy some of his prints or minicomics or something, for reals.

Also on the "all-around excellent dudes" list are Ryan North and his ladyfriend, as well as Miss Emily Horne and Sir Joey Comeau. Also a bunch of other people. Topatoco folk are excellent.

Go read a bit more silly stuff about it at Andrew's blog.

Go webcomics! I guess!

What have we here?

2009-04-05T01:20:00.000-04:00

(Originally posted March 19, 2009)

So I have been AWOL for a little while, and this is what I have been up to. I decided, just a few months after launching the site, that I wanted to do a total overhaul. Quite frankly, while I found the other design to be nice enough, it was really not what I wanted. Oops!

This is more like it, though there is still a bit of work to be done. Mostly little cosmetic alterations, but I do still have to whip up an About page. I figured it wasn't that important and I could go ahead and put this damn thing up already without it.

Oh yes, the URL has changed too. We now reside at mcmittens.com. The old address, acharmofmagpies.com, still works, but it is totally lame so you shouldn't use it ever again if you know what's good for you.

ENJOY THE CHANGES OR ELSE