Steve to Have His Second Live Stream Aug 9

In spite of the minor technical difficult that was experienced the last time we attempted a live stream with Steve (the matter of Facebook chat comments not working in real time), we're attempt a second live stream with Steve again this August, since it will be his fifteenth anniversary live stream!

Here's Steve's big announcement:

Birthday Tribute to Jordan Sibayan

Jordan and I with our creations

Today is a rather special day: September 24 happens to be the birthday of Muppet creator Jim Henson, and it also happens to be the birthday of now-former Muppet Performer Steve Whitmire . . . but today also happens to be the birthday of one of the most important people in my life.

Jordan Sibayan is a rarity in that he's been one of my closest and dearest friends for many, many years - he's the kind of friend that you see people in works of fiction have and you wish you had a friend like that. This is why I'm lucky, because Jordan actually is that kind of friend: loyal and true blue. We've gotten to know each other through our shared interests in puppetry, cartooning, writing, general goofing off, and the passion we both have in our own creative pursuits; the two of us are often one of the first ones we'll go to whenever we've finished a new project for input from the other. We often collaborate with each other, and his contributions to my work have ranged from knocking around various different story ideas (my personal favorite is one we scripted involving Steve D'Monster, Bethany Crystal, The Squirrely Squirrels, and an army of spiders), to even providing me a little funding for a more involved and elaborate project (and I probably should get around to repaying him somehow).

Suffice to say, he's one of my most loyal supporters, but not just where our creativity is concerned. I think I can safely say that Jordan is also, perhaps, one of the very few people in the world who may actually know me even better than I know myself: he always has a keen sense in knowing when I might like to look into something new - a YouTube video, some kind of artwork, an amusing article about something random - and will probably like it . . . and more often than not, he's absolutely right. It's as if he's always tuned into my frequency. You know how some people out there say that nobody "gets" them? Jordan definitely "gets" me. And even more than that, I may not say this enough, but he really has saved my life. More than once. In times of the past, where I have found myself at rock bottom, feeling that life is too much handle, running against the wind, he's always been one person I knew I could confide in, and that he could help me get through difficult times, because he's always had my back. That has meant more to me than any of the sillier things we get ourselves into (such as spider armies). And even now, just as he's always been there to support me, I also try my best to support him as well, whether it's living with muscular dystrophy, or having to fight to protect the rights of himself and others like him that the Drumpf Dictatorship has been trying to take away from them. That's something else I can say about Jordan as well: he's a fighter who never gives up, no matter what the obstacles are, and as such, I'm always in his corner - even as of this post, as he travels to D.C. to, once again, fight to protect the very rights that the big bag gov'ment is continually trying to take away from disabled people across America.

It's easy to take things for granted, which is why I wanted to pay a special tribute to my longtime, loyal, true blue friend who has made a bigger difference in my life than he may even know and I probably haven't even taken the time to acknowledge.

Happy birthday, Jordan! Thank you for being here!

Postscript

Birthday Tribute to Marie Kerns

Happy Birthday, Marie Kerns!

Today is my good friend Marie Kerns's birthday, and in honor of the occasion, I really wanted to take a moment and act like I'm pretending to be her publicist or something, because I really think she deserves to have a little extra spotlight shed on her and her continued efforts to bring her art and creativity to the world.

 

There's a number of words that could be used to describe who Marie is, but I believe the best word that could be used is "dedicated," because dedication is perhaps the most prominent quality about her - so much so that I really admire her for it.

 

Upon graduating her digital animation course

I've known Marie for a number of years, and in all the years I've known her, she has consistently remained hard at work in her artistic endeavors; as multi-talented as she is, digital animation is certainly her calling card. I can still remember way back when, when she had graduated from a digital animation course in her native Vancouver (so being Canadian makes her even more awesome). In the years that followed, and up until today, she has been working almost non-stop on creating an animated fantasy series entitled TALES OF MYTHERWREL, and sharing that series with the rest of the world . . . and when I say non-stop, I mean that: I've seen the evolution of the production of this series, from the initial character designs and conceptual artwork, to pieces of test animation in various stages of rendering, to even seeing other talented people who are involved in the project as well. Marie has also certainly been putting herself out there too, attending conventions and other gatherings, to spread her work to the public, and stir up interest and support in further making MYTHERWREL a reality. And did I mention she's been working on this labo(u)r of love for years? That is dedication. And as I said, I really admire her dedication.

 

Marie collaborated with me on VAMPIRE GIRL

As I also mentioned, Marie is an incredibly multi-talented artist; in addition to being an animator and character designer, she's also experienced in both traditional and digital art, 3D modeling, writing/storytelling, and she can even make crafts, such as dreamcatchers and smudging feathers. She's also a nice collaborator as well - she helped with the creation of VAMPIRE GIRL in terms of character (she essentially developed Laura, Levana's nursing assistant friend) and story input.

 

But you know, I could go on and on babbling about Marie's creativity, but you really have to see it for yourself to get an idea of just what an amazing artist she really is, so here's some links you can follow to take a look at what she has accomplished over the years, including:

 

 Her demo reel:

 

TALES OF MYTHERWREL pitch video:

 

 

And, of course, these other links you should check out:

Official TALES OF MYTHERWREL Site

Marie's Official Site and Portfolio

Marie's deviantART Page

Marie's YouTube Channel

 

Once again, happy birthday, Marie! Thank you for your creativity, friendship, and of course, dedication!

Steve's Birthday

Since August is the only month in the year that doesn't have a holiday in it, Steve's birthday on August 9 is just about the only thing one can look forward to... or maybe, perhaps, there COULD be a holiday in August...