Finger Puppet Pornography Show

Posted on November 12, 2014 by Adam Randall
Four weeks ago I started as an unpaid ‘General Administrator’ at The Job Centre Plus in Chippenham. This is only a temporary work experience thing and I’ll be leaving in three weeks, but I enjoy doing it quite a lot. One thing I don’t enjoy about it, however, is that their computers have a very silly filtering system which blocks access to certain websites. On my first day, during a break, I tried to get on to SmartDating UK in order to write a new article, but it was blocked. Today I tried to see if the latest Finger Puppet Show comic strip had posted without any problems and that was blocked too. Why? Well, because it thought it was ‘pornography’ and, to use the filter’s own words it “contains materials intended to be sexually arousing or erotic.” Let me assure you, I never intended anything like that in anything I’ve ever made, let alone my child-friendly webcomic.
    Not only does this show how rubbish those kind of filtering systems are (best to never use them), but it’s also quite funny. For those who don’t know, I was once very lucky in that I got to see Jake and Amir live and afterwards I had a brief chat with them where I got them to pose for a Finger Puppet Show strip. The conversation went like this:
    “Hello,” I said, “this may soundly like a slightly strange request, but would you mind posing with this cow puppet?”
    “Er, yeah, I’m okay with that,” said Jake, who then looked towards Amir.
    “Yeah, that’s fine,” said Amir.
    So I handed over Colin and they held him for the picture and I took it.
    “Oh!” said Streeter Siedell (who had also been part of the live show) as he saw them posing with the puppet, “I know that porn site!”
    And I laughed, enjoying the joke. But perhaps Streeter was right; perhaps, my beloved Finger Puppet Show is actually popular amongst those who have a finger puppet sexual fetish. That’s what I’ve actually been making all along! If only I had listened to Streeter.

(Don’t miss my latest article for SmartDating UK!)

(Don’t miss today’s Finger Puppet Show!)

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail
Posted in All, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Peter Capaldi’s Incredible Twelfth Doctor

Posted on November 10, 2014 by Adam Randall

PictureThis isn’t the kind of blog entry that I usually write but with the latest series of Doctor Who just having finished on Saturday, I thought this might be the perfect time to talk about how much I like Peter Capaldi’s Doctor. And I mean I really like him. This last series, in my opinion, has been one of the best in all of the show’s history.

I’ve spoken about my five favourite Doctors in the past, and if I were to do that again, the Twelfth Doctor would certainly be one of them (though I’m not sure who he’d replace). In fact, I’d go as far as to say, that if his Doctor stays this good (or even, my goodness, gets even better) throughout the rest of his era, he might even take Patrick Troughton off of the throne he’s enjoyed in my heart for some time.

What’s interesting is that the Twelfth Doctor is nothing like the Second Doctor. The Second Doctor is always very friendly with everyone and just a generally lovely person with lots of charming child-like attributes. The Twelfth Doctor, meanwhile, is outwardly not very friendly at all. He doesn’t bother to try to be ‘nice’ and often seems very detatched, maybe even uncaring. But I think the truth is, that despite his rather aloof demeanour, he cares very much for his friends and is a very forgiving, very moral character. Yet he doubts himself a lot, he needs reassurance that he is indeed a good person, as if he believes he is the person he pretends to be. This is a Doctor who always wears a mask, the mask of an unlikeable person. Why does he wear it? Well, perhaps he really doesn’t believe that it is good for people to become attached to him. But every now and then we get a glimpse of what lies beneath the mask and it is absolutely beautiful.

(Don’t miss my latest article for SmartDating UK!)

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail
Posted in Doctor Who | Leave a comment

Pokémon LeafGreen Version and Pokémon FireRed Version

Posted on November 7, 2014 by Adam Randall

PictureBy 2004 the Pokémon series was still going strong. However, when compared to the most recent instalments, the originals were starting to look a little outdated; the graphics were greatly inferior and a lot of features present in later games had not yet been introduced. So we got LeafGreen and FireRed, which brought the first games up to the standard of the Pokémon games on the Game Boy Advance.

The whole world of Kanto is recreated rather beautifully in an art style which I personally feel works fine even by today’s standard and I really enjoyed getting the chance to rediscover everything. The world isn’t a carbon copy either. Some things have been moved around and I don’t want to spoil anything but this game adds a new area outside of Kanto (called the Sevii Islands) which extends the storyline and is a very welcome addition.

What’s more is that this remake has a much greater level of connectivity than the first two games did; not only can you trade your Pokémon with any of the other Game Boy Advance titles, but also with both Diamond and Pearl and the second Gamecube title. For me this is an enormous plus.

Other than that, all the improvements are small things; but small things that culminate in an overall improved experience. For example: your player character can now be male or female, you have the ability to run, the stats of the Pokémon use the updated modern system, the PC system has also been updated and is now hugely more convenient.

There are only two minor downsides to this remake: the first, very personally and subjectively, is that I have quite a nostalgic attachment to the original soundtrack (and certain other elements of the old version) and I don’t quite get the same special feeling when playing this. My second problem with it is the fact that they removed the infamous glitch Pokémon Missingno; I understand that, while cool, Missingno often had very damaging effects on a game, but as this is a remake it’d be nice if they ‘remade’ Missingno in a way so that there’d be no negative effects caused by obtaining it.

I’m sorry I haven’t gone too much into the actual details of the game, but as this is a remake I wanted to focus on what makes it different from the original, to get a full idea of this game you should read my review of the first two, too. But, to conclude, I shall just say that this is a very good game indeed and, if you’ve never played a Pokémon game before, this could be a good starting point.

Rating: 9.6/10

Buy LeafGreen Version here.

Buy FireRed Version here.

(Don’t miss today’s Finger Puppet Show!)

(Don’t miss my latest article for Rice Digital!)

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail
Posted in Video Games | Leave a comment

Connecting Work

Posted on November 5, 2014 by Adam Randall

I’ve spoken before about how I got a lot of enjoyment out of connecting all of my work together, but another thing I like to do is connect my work with my friends and their work. Today I will talk about all the pieces that are directly linked to people I know:

  • Elliott Egan: He scripted one of my Finger Puppet Show strips and he gave feedback on so much of my early work that his influence can still be felt now.

  • Mairi Mac Arthur: Only a small link, but one Finger Puppet Show strip was made for her as a birthday present and Colin the Cow certainly seems to be familiar with her! Much like Egan, as she workshopped so much of my earlier writing, I have doubtlessly been greatly influenced by her in my later writing too.

  • Rory MacLellan: In 2010, while doing NaNoWriMo, I couldn’t help but have my character Bernard mention that he had visited Rory’s fictional world of Tyrencia. Then in 2011 we wrote a fairly long horror story together. Currently, I also have plans to write a Tyrencia story for him (which I really must get around to doing.)

  • Sophie Marie Mills: We both had a story featured in an issue of Perspectives and I later made a link to that in a Finger Puppet Show strip.

  • George Moore: He’s a very talented artist and since his paintings are so beautiful, I couldn’t help but ask if I could use them for a Finger Puppet Show storyline and he gladly gave his permission.

  • Rhino Water: A regular contributor to this blog who I enjoying working on countdowns with. He also has some lovely fictional stories (“Monster War” and “Treasure Boy” to name two) and we did a little crossover featuring characters from his stories and a character from my stories called “Monster Village” which was a lot of fun.

  • Oscar TK: I featured Frederica Williams, the star of Oscar’s hilarious novella A Dark Hand, in a Finger Puppet Show strip. He also writes a webcomic called Crazyx Comix and we each did a crossover strip when we swapped webcomics for the day on April 1st 2014. He’s one of many people who wrote me an entry for this blog too. Finally, we were also both had a story featured in an issue of Perspectives and I referenced both of those stories in a comic strip as well.

  • David Tubb: David himself is actually a recurring character in the Finger Puppet Show webcomic. His popular Toast Faces have also made an appearance in my webcomic. He wrote a good science-y post for this blog. And, of course, we have worked together on several videos. We’re always thinking of new things to do together too.

  • Tülin: We used to play a lot of writing games together, and the small pieces produced through that inspired some of my later, bigger ideas. I also wrote a story where my character Gordon is personally familiar with both her and her fictional characters. Together we created the character Jeb and, indeed, the very first Finger Puppet Show strip was made as a small gift for her.

  • Ben Wood: Together we created the characters Lord Adam Welmington and Lord Ben Costington who were supposed to be obnoxious billionaire versions of ourselves. To this day, I still occasionally write stories with them alongside my other characters. I even mentioned them in a Finger Puppet Show strip. He also wrote me a blog post once.

  • When in school, I’d occasionally do a ‘big’ story featuring my friends as characters in the hope’s of getting them to read it. One was called “Everything is Explained” and featured (as well as some of the people mentioned above) my friends Davey Hamlen, Sarah Kryworuczka, Hayley Wiltshire and Laura Young, and they all get killed only to be brought back in return for the sacrifice of my characters, My ‘100th Story’ features, as well as others already mentioned, my old friends Milo Goodspeed and Danielle Tyler.

  • Finally, a handful of my friends have kindly written blog posts for me: Emma Darcy, Chris Hunter, Dalfino Madrigal Keyte, Anthony Nanson and Chloe Ward,

When I look at my work, I don’t look at it as lots of different things in different areas, but as one massive whole. Everything from SmartDating articles to my Lightning Made of Owls strips, I like to look at as part of the same thing and that’s why it makes me so happy that I have been able to work with so many friends. My body of work, much like my life, has been positively influenced by all the wonderful people that I’ve met. Thinking about it just makes me feel very warm and happy; especially as it creates indirect links between people who don’t know each other!

(Don’t miss today’s Finger Puppet Show!)

(Don’t miss my latest article for SmartDating UK!)

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail
Posted in Lovely Things, Writing | Leave a comment

Market Research

Posted on November 3, 2014 by Adam Randall

A couple of weeks ago, I had an email from an employer looking for a Market Researcher. They’d seen my CV online and were offering me a position with a team of Market Researchers. The job description was vague, but it was a temporary position (only fifteen hours over one week) and as I am unemployed (other than a little bit of writing here and there) I thought it’d be a good idea to take it, even though I didn’t know all the details.

I arrived at the address I was provided, sat down with the other few new people and everything seemed fine. The boss walked in.

“As you all know, we’re all here to get the conservative candidate elected,” he said.

“Are we?” I thought, a little alarmed. There’d been no mention of any political side to this.

It seemed that they were expecting us to knock on people’s doors and have them fill out a political survey with you, this was changed (before we started) to just giving them the survey and asking them to fill it out and then changed again (near the end) to just slipping them through letter boxes. I’m not enormously fond of pushing my own beliefs onto others, so, you can understand why I wasn’t that keen to be pushing someone else’s beliefs on others.

Still, I don’t want to give a negative impression of the people: I liked all of the leaders of the groups, they were nice, and I was quite fond of the other members of the team. In fact, I find it a little sad that I won’t be seeing them again. This was just not the kind of work I’d actively choose to do.

I had one very memorable encounter while doing this job which I wanted to write down.

I knocked on the door of a house and waited.

Eventually an annoyed looking man opened the door, just an inch or two and looked out at me.

“Hello!” I said with a smile. “I am conducting a survey, would you mind filling it out?”

“Not at all,” said the man.

“Excellent! Thank you very much, here it is,” I said. As he had looked unhappy to see me, I had assumed he would be reluctant to do the survey, but since he said yes, I was very happy.

“No,” said the man. “I mean, no I won’t do it, not at all!”

“Oh I see,” I said, smiling because I found it quite funny. “To me it seemed like you were saying that you wouldn’t mind at all! You can see why I’d be mistaken there.”

For a small second the man smiled as if, he too, could see the funny side, but then it changed, like he had remembered he was supposed to be angry and he just said “Yes.”

“Well, bye bye!” I said, turning off. “Enjoy your evening.”

I heard the door slamming behind me.

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail
Posted in Anecdotes | Leave a comment

The Island of Doctor Moreau by H. G. Wells

Posted on October 31, 2014 by Adam Randall

PictureIt was his three first novels, The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds and The Island of Doctor Moreau that made H.G. Wells into the successful author he’s remembered as today. However, while those first two are always remembered as pinnacles of science-fiction and have found their way into popular culture, The Island of Doctor Moreau is a little more obscure, which is a shame as it’s equally as good.

The story follows a man named Edward Prendick who, after an accident at sea, is left to stay on an island with the titular Dr. Moreau and Montgomery, his associate. Prendick finds that Moreau has been conducting some strange kind of experiments on animals there: surgically altering their appearance to make them look more human and doing things that will enable them to talk and think.

The Beast Folk (as Moreau’s creations are called) are the most interesting thing about the novel. Other than the clinical horror that surrounds the descriptions of their creation, the idea of them just seems quite disturbing. Though they are animals, they are made to stand upright and act like humans; they’ve been given a sense of human morality which contradicts their natural instincts which causes them a great deal of distress. It feels so wrong (and is also rather sad.)

The story’s rather grim and there’s rarely anything to lighten the mood, which might be off-putting for some people. The narrator’s ability to dismiss clearly sentient life as beneath him just due to certain differences feels a bit like an uncomfortable reflection of the colonial attitudes of the time. Prendick does generally feel like a character who lacks empathy. Luckily, since this novel is a fairly short read, none of these flaws ever feel especially grating and it remains a rather interesting book with a fast-paced sense of adventure.

Rating: 8.5/10

Buy it here.

(Don’t miss today’s Finger Puppet Show!)

(Don’t miss my latest article for SmartDating UK!)

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail
Posted in Book Reviews | Leave a comment

The Art of Conversation

Posted on October 29, 2014 by Adam Randall
You know, for some people, it can be quite difficult to hold a conversation with others, especially if they don’t know the other person. This can lead to feelings of awkwardness, anxiety and sadness as well as making the person not really want to engage people in conversation very often. So, for today’s blog post I wanted to write about a handy tip which will help if you have any trouble of this kind.
    The trick is just to use a lot of words. If somebody says something and ‘That’s nice,’ will be an appropriate reply, don’t say that, instead say “Oh my! That sounds lovely. What an especially pleasant surprise that must have been for you” because it actually takes a lot longer to say. It works with anything. It’s also a skill that anybody who has written an essay before will have had past experience with: I’m sure everybody’s filled a whole paragraph with information about something which only required a single sentence.
    In fact, to give you a perfect example: this entire blog post could have just said “If you find it hard to talk to people, just use more words” but I managed to pan it out to this 220 word entry because I’m just so skilled at talking at great length about nothing at all.

(Don’t miss today’s Finger Puppet Show!)

(Also don’t miss my two new articles for SmartDating UK!)

(And finally, I’ve also written a new article for Rice Digitial.)

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail
Posted in All, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Yo-yo Teacher

Posted on October 27, 2014 by Adam Randall
Back in 2012 I was just a regular person who couldn’t use a yo-yo. I had always wanted to have a yo-yo and to know how to use one, but, whenever I got my hands on one, I was terrible at it. While I never stopped wanting to have my own yo-yo and to learn how to use it, I had begun to think that, maybe, I’d never be able to.
    But this all changed in the December of that year when I had a very lovely ‘Christmas’ day (I put that in quotation marks because it was actually a week or so before Christmas) with my friend Tülin. Among very many other nice things, one thing we did was pop into a toy shop and pick out a rather attractive green yo-yo (this was a Christmas present for me) which she then taught me how to use. I was extremely surprised (and extremely happy) when I found that I was able to use the yo-yo very easily and since then I always have it with me. Not only is yo-ing an extremely therapeutic action, it is also very fun.
    The years went by and that lovely green yo-yo broke (of course I didn’t throw it out though, it remains in my ‘special items’ tin) and so Tülin replaced it was a very attractive red yo-yo (which actually seems a bit sturdier). She’s gone now (moved far away) but, of course, I still have the yo-yo.
    Just the other day, I found myself heading out to meet my good friends Oscar, Chloe and Sophie and I brought my yo-yo along as well. This was a very pleasant surprise because I don’t get to see them enormously regularly and so I was very happy about getting the chance to do so. It just so happened that on that day I decided to yo the yo-yo while I was walking along with them and when we got into a very nice jazz bar, I was spending a few minutes untangling it. As soon as I had just sorted it out, Sophie took it from me.
    “I’ve never used one of these,” she said.
    “Well, don’t worry!” I said. “They’re very easy to use.”
    Sophie let go of the yo-yo and down it went, she moved her hand upward, but the yo-yo itself did not come back. That was exactly what happened to me before I was taught! She did it again and the same thing happened.
    “It doesn’t come back up,” she said sadly.
    “Hang on, give it to me for a second,” I said as I took it back. “Do it like this.”
    I was a little foolhardy there, because there wasn’t much room to be playing with a yo-yo and when it came back up I got very worried for a second that it was going to smash some glasses.
    “Phew! I thought I was going to smash those glasses. I better not do it again, but try and move your wrist like this.”
    I gave Sophie the yo-yo again and this time she was a success! She only managed to do it once, but she was still quite pleased.
    “Very good! You can always remember that as the happiest moment of your life,” I said, and smiled.
    And I was certainly very pleased. Not only was I seeing my friends for the first time in a while, but by teaching Sophie to use the yo-yo (albeit briefly) the events of that night are now directly linked to the events of the night nearly two years before, because without being given the yo-yo and taught myself, I’d never have been able to then teach Sophie how to do it! I love things being connected like that.
Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail
Posted in All, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Wish You Were Here

Posted on October 24, 2014 by Adam Randall
Currently, I don’t get to see much of my friends because they’ve moved away or are busy with work and so on. It’s quite sad and I miss them a lot. Lately, I always keep thinking I see people and it’s probably because I miss them.
    The other day, I thought I spotted Tülin at a nearby Tesco’s (which is silly since she lives over six hours away and would have no reason to be there). Today I thought I saw Rory MacLellan getting off of a bus, despite the fact that he is now in Scotland, just like Mairi, who I thought I saw in Bath recently. And on the subject of buses, I thought for a moment that I saw David Tubb on a bus recently, even though he’s not at all likely to be riding on a bus. Then of course, I also thought I saw Oscar Taylor-Kent and Chloe Ward in Corsham (at different times). There are probably other examples I’m forgetting too!
    I’m sure it’s a case of me seeing what I want to see. I always only think it for a fraction of a second before realising that it is almost completely impossible. I feel a bit like a dog waiting for its owners to come back, getting extremely excited every time it hears somebody walk past because it thinks they’re finally home. It’s a bit of a silly thing, but I felt it worth writing down nonetheless!

(Don’t miss today’s Finger Puppet Show!)

(Don’t miss my latest article for Rice Digital!)

(And finally, don’t miss my latest article for SmartDating UK!)

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail
Posted in All, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Retroactive Significance

Posted on October 22, 2014 by Adam Randall
It’s interesting how events that seem to have no real significance while happening, suddenly gain a whole new layer of significance when remembered. That’s the case with today’s anecdote, which may initially seem to be nothing but a small interaction with friends.
    I had a long wait for the bus back to Corsham once after a day at Bath Spa University and so I was paying a very short visit to a couple of my friends on the way to the bus station. I was, and am, extremely fond of both of them so it was always exceedingly nice to spend time with them. I don’t actually remember the main part of my visit, but I remember what happened just before I left.
    I was in the hallway, about to leave when one of my friends stood in front of me with her arms outstretched. I didn’t understand why she was doing it and the confusion must have shown because she soon elaborated.
    “Hug,” she said.
    “Ah, I see!” I replied and then we hugged.
    “It’s so nice to hug you,” she said.
    “Well, that’s good,” I said.
    “How come you never hug me?” said the other friend.
    “Well,” I said to him, “that’s because you never ask!”
    And before he could reply, my other friend said “Oh, look out! You’re going to get hugged!”
    “No, stop, don’t touch me,” he said in mock-absolute disgust.
    So, of course, I didn’t hug him, but I didn’t think he was actually asking me to anyway.
    We all had a nice laugh about that and then it was time to go.
    “Bye bye!” I said as I went through the door. “Nice to see you both!”
    And now for the cause of the retroactive significance: that was the last time I ever spent time with them together. Don’t get me wrong, I still spend time with both of them whenever I can, but it’s the last time I saw them at the same time. You see, the ball was already rolling for the pair of them to have a rather unpleasant falling out. It’s such a terrible shame because in reflection, I do believe I could have prevented it and saved them both a great deal of upset. It is, at least, a regret that I can learn from.

(Don’t miss my latest article for SmartDating UK!)

(Don’t miss today’s Finger Puppet Show, either!)

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail
Posted in All, Uncategorized | Leave a comment