Day 17 (Aug 23)

• naphtali took us out to Healesville to visit the animal sanctuary. it was much better than a zoo, much more natural-looking, and all the animals were natively Australian. there were really impressive parrot and bird of prey shows.
• AUSTRALIAN PELICANS ARE THE FUNNIEST BIRDS EVER

Day 18 (Aug 24)

• we went out to lunch and i had delicious pancakes with maple syrup… in Australia.
• in the afternoon we flew to Sydney, which was nice and short after flying across the Pacific!
• Cove’s brother and sister-in-law picked us up at the airport and then took us down for a night view of Circular Quay, the Sydney Opera House, and the Harbour Bridge. it was stunningly beautiful at night, especially these birds* circling around in a sphere of light above one of the bridge pillars. (*i realize now they were probably bats.)

Day 19 (Aug 25)

• more zooing! Cove and i went to Taronga Zoo, which was pretty cool, although more crowded than Melbourne Zoo. it was a weekday so there were kids everywhere on school field trips. @_@
• we did, however, see a pretty cool seal show, and more red pandas and pelicans!

Day 20 (Aug 26)

•  Circular Quay again! after walking around the Opera House i was surprised to realize that it is three separate buildings.
• breakfast at this great Belgian chocolate place right on the water. yes you can have chocolate for breakfast! :D Cove and i both had pancakes with fruit and melted chocolate, and i had the best iced mocha ever (i didn’t even know they existed.)
• we walked through the Royal Botanic Gardens (next to the Quay), which were wonderfully beautiful, especially being situated right on the ocean. there were enormous trees, a stand of bamboo that was very creaky when you stood inside, and a lovely pond.
• SO MANY BATS in the gardens. at one point someone must have disturbed a tree because there were just waves and waves of bats flying overhead.
• there were some Aboriginal street performers by the ferry terminal and one of them was playing a didgeridoo XD
• we took the ferry over to Darling Harbour, which wasn’t all that special, but mostly i just wanted to go on a boat. i like boats.

Day 21 (Aug 27)

• drove back to Bendigo with Cove’s brother and sister-in-law. it’s true that leaving ridiculously early makes the trip go faster, because i was half-asleep for most of it - we left Sydney at something like 4:30 AM and got there by early afternoon.

Day 22-28 (Aug 28 - Sep 3)

• here my notes end so i’m not entirely sure what day things happened on. we spent most of this week with Cove’s family and friends anyway since it was our last week there, though we did do a few things of note.
• for instance, I MET A SHEEP! Cove took me to see some family friends who own a sheep farm, and although the sheepies were too skittish for me to hug, i did get to pet a Merino. their wool feels like styrofoam on the outside, but it’s so soft on the inside.
• we visited the Bendigo RSPCA because i missed the animals i volunteered with at home. the facility was brand new and really nice, and the staff were very welcoming and more than happy to let us play with the cats, which were adorable. we also got to look at the dogs, which was nice since i’ve never seen Australian breeds before.

Day 29 (Sep 4 Australia time; Sep 3 Canada time)

• sadly our time in Aussieland was over, and here began the longest continuous stretch of travelling on our entire trip. we drove to the Melbourne airport with naphtali (who had been visiting) and Cove’s parents, complete with ridiculous fog and Cove exhibiting signs of swine flu. (don’t worry, he’s fine.)
• Melbourne-Auckland flight was largely uneventful. i got nummy iced coffee from the same place in the Auckland airport though \o/
• THIRD AND FINAL EXPLOSION OF THE TRIP. as our plane was about to take off in Auckland, we were informed by the pilot that a water tank on the plane had exploded above the electronics panels. O.o i was worried they’d make us change planes, but they taxied us back in and got an engineer to fix it, and then we were off!
• …more long boring flight.

Day 30 (Sep 4, Canada time)

• arrived in Vancouver safely, and amazingly on time. we were both pretty much dead on our feet from lack of sleep, and i got randomly selected to be frisked when boarding our plane home (in my own country, after travelling halfway around the world and back *facepalm*), but mostly i was just glad to have made it there alive.
• HOME! :D

Day 9/10 (Aug 15/16)

• days of rest! we didn’t do much of note on the weekend.

Day 11 (Aug 17)

• travelled to Lorne on the Great Ocean Road, which was a beautiful drive. we also stayed somewhere with a great view of the ocean, although the hills around there are super steep.
• i tried a dim sim for the first time! it was a little scary, although i am definitely sold on Aussie spring rolls.

Day 12 (Aug 18)

• explored Lorne and went for a walk down on the beach. there are cockatoos EVERYWHERE there. we also saw a kookaburra sitting on a fence up close :D
• this morning was the last time we had heat in the house, because the natural gas tanks were almost empty when we got there. it was bloody cold from then on. (for northern hemisphere residents, remember it is winter there!)

Day 13 (Aug 19)

• i found wonderful iced coffee at this little coffee & gelato place by the beach ^_^
• we drove further along the Great Ocean Road to the Twelve Apostles, or however many are left, which were pretty spectacular.
• we found this beautiful place called Johanna Beach by accident, trying to find somewhere to stop for lunch. ironically we couldn’t eat on the beach because it was so windy and sand was blowing everywhere.

Day 14 (Aug 20)

• we didn’t do very much this day because it was so cold, so we mostly stayed in the house bundled up in blankets.

Day 15 (Aug 21)

• left Lorne, met up with naphtali again, and went to the Melbourne Zoo! i haven’t been to a full-sized zoo before so it was quite something. protip: red pandas are the cutest thing in the world.
• Turkish restaurant for dinner. it was quite good.

Day 16 (Aug 22)

• spent basically the entire day travelling. we had to return the car to Cove’s parents, so we drove from Melbourne to Bendigo, and then took the train back to Melbs. i hadn’t been on a train before so it was pretty awesome!

okay, so for those of you who are curious about what i’ve been up to and/or why the comic schedule is so wonky, here are your answers (with photos to come later.)

Day 1 (Aug 6, Canada time)

• lots and lots of travelling. my family, Cove and i drove from our hometown partway to Vancouver, through sun, cloud and smoke. forest fires nearby had filled the river canyon with smoke, so the sun was reddish-orange and everything was hazy. even the river was orange and it looked rather eerie.
• Cove also got photos of me inadvertently doing the YMCA, when i was really just flailing my arms around at random.

Day 2 (Aug 7, Canada time)

• we drove the rest of the way to Vancouver. my cousin’s wedding was in the evening, with a lovely Celtic handfasting ceremony along with the more traditional rites and exchange of rings.

Day 3 (Aug 8, Canada time)

• we wandered around Stanley Park, and Cove saw raccoons for the first time! (plus we saw ducks, Canada geese, swans, herons, etc…)

Day 4 (Aug 9, Canada time)

• Cove and i were going to visit one of my universities (Emily Carr, on Granville Island) since all my courses there have been online so far, and i haven’t actually seen the campus, but it was raining. :(
• in the afternoon when the weather cleared up we went with my family to a botanical garden, which was a pretty bizarre place. it was huge and looked impressive at first, but we realized some of the flowers weren’t even real… and i got yelled at by an employee for sitting on a giant fibreglass rock (they can’t afford real rocks?!)… and the hedge maze that was meant to take half an hour took us about seven minutes.
• then we headed out to the Vancouver airport! my family dropped Cove and i off, since they were flying out to Las Vegas the next morning. we had a lovely start to the trip when a large light fell from the ceiling and shattered in the corridor to international departures (…yes, lovely :| ). Cove and i were in shops across the corridor from each other and it fell a few metres away from us, and fire crews, security, etc. all showed up and booted us out. i was disappointed, i had just chosen a book to read on the plane and didn’t get to buy it! but fortunately no one was hit, because it was a pretty busy area. we detoured through domestic departures, boarded our plane and were off!

Day 5 (Aug 10, Canada time; Aug 11, Australia time)

• LONG BORING FLIGHT. we spent something like 13 hours on the plane and we both barely slept. got off in Auckland where i had the most delicious iced coffee ever, which partly made up for my disappointment that i didn’t hear many kiwi accents (it was like 5 AM there and pretty empty.) boarded another plane to Melbourne and spent 4 more boring hours in the air!
• spent ages trying to get our luggage, which contained several bottles of Canadian ice wine which were to be gifts for people. apparently fragile does not mean fragile, nor does it mean fragile luggage actually turns up where they say it will. (luckily our wine survived.) Customs sent us through suspiciously easily…
• Cove’s friend naphtali picked us up at the airport, and we wandered around Melbourne for a little while. Cove’s parents then picked us up and we drove back to his hometown of Bendigo (more travelling, oh joy.)

Day 6 (Aug 12, Australia time)

• MORE EXPLODING GLASS! the first morning here, a coffeepot exploded in our faces. i am amazed we are still uninjured.
• Cove showed me around Bendigo and i photographed all the pretty brick buildings.
• i also saw wallabies in his yard and heard a kookaburra :D

Day 7 (Aug 13, Australia time)

• wandered around Bendigo some more. Cove is taking me on a cafe tour, but i am so far unimpressed with iced coffee in Australia; it’s all too bitter. Auckland is still winning. however we did have lunch at this place called Nando’s that had delicious chicken (any Aussies familiar with it?)
• I SAW KANGAROOS!

Day 8 (Aug 14, Australia time)

• quiet day. tried to meet up with a friend of Cove’s, but she was MIA. tried to go to the RSPCA but it was closed. i’m curious to compare it to the Canadian SPCA where i volunteer. met up with Cove’s old boss + wife and others, who were highly amused at our description of a snowblower.

and that’s everything so far, more to come as it happens!

i give full permission for anyone to use this image wherever a condom hat is deemed necessary.*

*as long as you’re not making money off it. preferable use of image is for berating irresponsible sexually active persons… but with a smile.

oh man this is so overdue, i started writing it in 2008 with plans of publishing it by the new year, and then school took over my life and i didn’t get around to finishing it until now. :V regardless, i didn’t want all that time spent working on it gone to waste, so i’m publishing it anyway, five months late! similar to the 2007 retrospective, i’ll do a brief summary of news from the hardcore/emo/metal world and my top ten albums of the year, but with a special bonus: the shittiest bands i found in 2008!

now, this summary will be really brief, because the Wikipedia article for ‘2008 in music’ mysteriously terminates after April, so it’s only info that i managed to collect throughout the year - and i’m notable for not paying attention.

• the Get Up Kids reunited; emo kids everywhere cried with joy.
• From Autumn to Ashes, Modern Life is War, Means, Hopesfall, and Johnny Truant broke up.
• Brian Deneeve (ex-FATA) and Matt Breen (Emanuel) have formed side project Summer Law.
• Francis Mark and Rob Lauritsen (ex-FATA) formed Warship and put out an album - i’ve yet to hear it, but it sounds like my kind of band.
• United Nations, consisting of Geoff Rickly (Thursday) and other unknown members, reportedly including Daryl Palumbo (Glassjaw) and Ben Koller (Converge), began recording material. they also raised considerable controversy over copyright issues with album art parodying other bands, and with their band name, prompting the deletion of their Facebook and Myspace pages after the real UN complained. it’s hard to find much info on the band, but it’s definitely a group worth keeping tabs on.

and i now present to you the height of musical fail in 2008, from both the boys’ and girls’ camps. this is seriously the worst music i heard all year.

Brokencyde (see video)

while i love screeching guys and bleach streaks as much as the next person, Brokencyde is all kinds of awful. note to these guys: combining screamo, electronica, and hip-hop does not make you original, it makes you three times as unoriginal. in a video worthy of a thousand facepalms, they exhibit guys screaming in the ears of girls that can’t dance, a Range Rover, unhealthy levels of neon, a pig costume, pseudo-alcoholism, and a guy that looks too much like my ex for my own comfort (see guy in blue shirt.) it’s even worse if you actually listen to the lyrics: ‘I got these bitches all tipsy trying to sex me. I know they want it, alcoholics are some sex freaks.’ another note: male chauvinism does not make you seem witty nor attractive, it makes you look like a tool.

Girlicious (see video)

as if the Pussycat Dolls weren’t bad enough, they spawned another band that is exactly like them but worse. Girlicious is made up of four generic, sluttily-dressed, vapid-looking girls with their names stitched on their clothes (i can’t figure out why, though Elle suggested it’s in case they forget which one they are.) so what makes them worse than PCD? their video ‘Like Me,’ which seems to have the sole aim of destroying the entire feminist movement in one fell swoop. it features them dancing in a boxing ring as confetti falls on their heads, alongside such intellectual, inspiring lyrics as ‘Look at me, you know I’m hot’ and ‘She wish she was a dime like me ’cause I’m a hottie and this a party. She wish she was me and that’s too bad.’ the only good thing that can possibly arise from this is teenage girls finally realize how vain and arrogant their role models are, and that scarily, Pink’s not really exaggerating when she parodies them.

and finally, to cure your minds of those horrors, here’s my top 10 albums of 2008 in no particular order.

Meshuggah - obZen

i don’t listen to as much metal as i used to, but Meshuggah is still way, way up there on my playlist - and the fact that they’re Swedish helps. i read a complaint that obZen doesn’t ‘give up on the ferocious attack throughout the whole album,’ which is exactly what i love about it (an improvement on Catch-33 and Nothing, in my opinion.) it’s a constant shockwave of power, passion, and grinding guitar that still manages to sound fucking beautiful (especially the middle of ‘Bleed.’) seriously, if you’re into metal at all, listen to obZen.

Means - To Keep Me From Sinking

 you need to look up this band if only because their albums have some of the most beautiful artwork i’ve ever seen. if that’s not enough to sell you, they’ve been one of the most influential bands in the Canadian hardcore scene, their lyrics are solid, and their brand of melodic hardcore is passionate, forceful, and entrancing. (more impressive, they’re one of the -only- successful hardcore bands to come out of Manitoba.) sadly Means broke up recently, but their latest release, To Keep Me From Sinking, is definitely an album worth picking up - and damn, that album art. so pretty.

Thursday/Envy - Self-titled Split

 although this is actually an EP, not a full-length, i’m making an exception because Thursday is one of my favourite bands ever. only available as a limited-edition vinyl & CD combination, it’s also one of those keepsakes people will pull out to show their kids 20 years from now. the album artwork is uniquely beautiful, made of a metallic screenprint, and the song titles form two short poems. Tokyo-based band Envy starts off the album with three tracks that build from slow crescendos into powerful, chaotic screamo, and Thursday concludes with four tracks that range from their standard post-hardcore (as passionate as ever) to melancholic instrumental. the overall effect of the album is a stunning, experimental blend that’s definitely worth a listen… if you can get your hands on a copy.

Secret and Whisper - Great White Whale

another Canadian band, formed by ex-members of Stutterfly and The Bleeding Alarm, released their debut album in 2008 and it’s just as good as the guys’ previous bands were. Charles Furney (whose high notes are on par with Anthony Green’s) has one of the most beautiful voices in post-hardcore today, and the music complements him perfectly, creating a soul-wrenching hybrid that balances being pretty and heavy. although ‘The Actress’ and ‘Werewolves’ seem a bit slow and out of place, the second half of the title track - one of my favourite songs from all year - absolutely makes up for that.

Underoath - Lost In The Sound Of Separation

although Underoath’s 2006 album Define the Great Line felt too soft for me, i knew within the first thirty seconds of Lost in the Sound of Separation that i was going to love it. these tracks are a grinding, grating, fucking hammer to the head, but it changes just often enough to make the chaotic bursts unpredictable. Spencer Chamberlain and Aaron Gillespie’s dual vocals are just as powerful a combination as ever. but then, shockingly, in the last two tracks the pace slows - and while i’m usually not so fond of slow tracks, these are so bloody beautiful you can’t not love it. i can’t explain them; you have to hear it yourself. the critics back me up here, giving it 95% on AbsolutePunk and 5/5 stars on Alternative Press, astounding numbers for a Christian metalcore band.

San Andreas - Man Or Monster

i’m pretty sure i’ve never heard Dutch music before, but San Andreas was a good place to start. it’s screamo, but like anything from Europe, you can’t just stick a label on it like that. there seems to be some Swedish influence -  ‘Run and Hide’ is full of Blindside-esque rock, while ‘Taking Care of Number One’ has ambience and vocals reminiscent of Refused’s definitive hardcore album The Shape of Punk to Come. (now anyone who knows how much of a Swedeophile i am will understand why i love this album.)

Protest the Hero - Fortress

i don’t know how to describe this band other than ‘awesome.’ Fortress is probably one of the most impressive sophomore albums out there, and the fact that it has absolutely -gorgeous- art doesn’t hurt. imagine mathcore, metal, and something that sounds suspiciously like video game music all rolled into one, then coated with themes of goddess worship from an all-male band, and sprinkled in philosophy - and you might start to approach an idea of Fortress. if you’re Canadian, you should know this band, and if you’re not Canadian, do yourself a favour and introduce yourself to some of the best non-Scandinavian metal around.

Innocent Cabbage - What Are You Doing?!

speaking of non-Scandinavian metal… i was introduced to this band by my friend Oscar over in Melbourne, who produced their first album. i thought they were crazy then and i think they’re crazy now, but that’s by no means a bad thing. imagine grindcore overtones, metal grooves, intellectual post-hardcore lyrics, geek humour, Australian susbstance abuse (I can’t figure out what they’re abusing, but there must be something), and the punk mentality of just not giving a fuck. warning: not suitable for children, epileptics, the easily offended, or people who don’t think the word ‘pants’ is funny. (but if you fall under those categories, why are you on my website to begin with?)

Rise Against - Appeal To Reason

while this album isn’t a significant departure from Rise Against’s previous work, there’s no way i could leave it off this list. they’ve found a sound that works and provides a venue for their politics and their message - an element which seems all too lacking in contemporary popular music. delightfully, Tim McIlrath’s vocals are as beautiful as ever. not much else to say about this album, but it’s interesting, it’s intellectual, it’s fun and invigorating to listen to and it’s solid, passionate Rise Against.

Cult of Luna - Eternal Kingdom

the only two words needed to sell this band are ‘Swedish metal’, but it’s a lot more than that. Cult of Luna is both deliciously heavy and intricately beautiful, my two main requirements for metal. this album has a bizarre story behind it though: according to the Wikipedia page, the band members found the diary of Holger Nilsson, a mental institution inmate convicted of murdering his wife. the diary described a made-up world containing owl men and tree men which Nilsson used to explain why he was innocent of the murder. Cult of Luna, like any sludge metal band would do, wrote an album based on it, and result is something that kind of makes you feel like you’re standing in a Scandinavian bog while chanting Edgar Allan Poe verses to an orchestra made up of ghosts.

and that’s it! next year i’ll try to be more punctual, i promise. :p

for those people who have actually looked at this blog in the past month or so, the ‘pre-emptive action’ post was to keep my EntreCard account from being deleted. i kept getting eMails claiming i wasn’t updating my site often enough, and i thought maybe they were looking at the blog instead of the actual comic. anyway… that’s a whole story on its own, which i may go into at some point, but not now…

instead, some humour! i stumbled across this list of questions that job applicants have actually asked during interviews (taken from here.)

1. Is it possible for me to get a small loan?

2. What is it that your company does?

3. Can I see the break room?

4. What are your psychiatric benefits?

5. How many warnings do you get before you are fired?

6. Can you guarantee me that I will still have a job here a year from now?

7. Would anyone notice if I came in late and left early?

8. What does this company consider a good absenteeism record?

9. The job description mentions weekend work. Are you serious?

10. What is the zodiac sign of the company president?

11.How do you define sexual harassment?

12. Will my office be near an ice machine?

i should stop saying i’ll write in here more regularly, it never happens. :d anyway, i’ve collected some, uh, ‘interesting’ ways that people have found this website, and listed them here for your perusal.

this image is quite possibly the biggest draw to the site, just due to its absurd popularity via Google. it’s the first result for “imma chargin muh lazer”, both on normal and image search, and on the sixth page of image results for ’shoop da whoop’.

someone in the Australian military also apparently reads my comic, because lately i’ve been getting hits from a training page on a government defence site :D

and now some keyword searches, categorized first by awesomeness…

• le artist
• offensive humour
• pantcakes
• generic person
• omnomnom

…and then by strangeness.

• 7jnl6 problems (huh?)
• onlinecosmic.com scam (i swear i don’t know what this is about)
• best way to suffocate yourself (@_@)
• mill feasco (…Engrish MCF?)

*num num num*

i’ve collected some interesting links over the last few days that seem worth sharing. :)

• Photoshop Disasters is a blog that is exactly what it sounds like- a collection of disastrous Photoshop work that somehow made its way into the media. sure, nobody’s perfect, but God knows what these people were smoking.
• Fail Blog is similar to the above, but with pictures of epic fail of all sorts. good for a laugh :)
• Jumping on Sleepy, the cutest emoticon ever by Shicken05. i wake Cove up now by bouncing on him and saying ‘i’m jumping on sleepy!’ ^.^
• Phone Sheep - sheep sculptures made of old telephones!
• Solar Sculpture - another sculpture, but this one is a solar-powered light display programmable by anyone.

is anyone still reading this? i know i don’t update as much as i should, but i’ll try to fix that. :)

Cove and i have been busy the last few days with a ‘cooking weekend’. i baked an apple crisp and perfected a fruit smoothie recipe (plenty of strawberry, a bit of kiwi, some mango and raspberry, with berry V8 juice and pineapple juice- delicious!) Cove decided to make ‘epic soup’, so we have a gigantic stock pot full of chicken&vegetable soup in our fridge now… but it tastes good and is ridiculously healthy. he also started making a cheesecake, but we’ll have to finish that tonight ^_^

we’re also enjoying the beautiful summer weather, which i think Cove in particular is grateful for- Canadian winters aren’t kind to Australians. it’s warm enough to have picnics and go for walks now, everything is blooming, and my parents’ pool is warming up slowly but surely.

in between all that, i’ve been doing some work on the comic site, which is of course what all of you care about. ^_~ my list of things to do is gradually shrinking, but there’s plenty left. here’s a quick summary (edited as things get finished):

• installing a shoutbox on the main page
• adding an EntreCard widget (drop your card if you’re a member!)
• new cast pictures and more character bios
• editing the FAQ (plus other tiny nitpicky things)
• reorganizing the links page and adding more links
• updating the scraps section (banners and new wallpaper)
• setting up advertising (woo, i’m on Project Wonderful! thanks Cove!)
• adding navigation buttons below the comic
• set up an RSS feed
• set up with ohnorobot.com
• standardize size of early comics
• put together a promotional pack? (banners, buttons, etc.)
• creating a page for fan art? (this might go in scraps)
• MAYBE SOMETHING IN THE STORE?!

the last two are where YOU, my loyal occasional fans readers, come in. 1) i would be absolutely delighted if you sent me fan art! i might even post it as a daily update, and if you have a comic or website of sorts, i’d be sure to link to you. ^.^

2) what are your guys’ opinions on MCF merch? would anyone buy any? i’m thinking about starting small with fridge magnets and maybe making shirts if there’s interest. i’d also like to know what people would like to see on merch- favourite characters, strips, etc. there’s a few existing shirt designs that had an extremely limited print run (ie, one each) that i could put up, and i have some other ideas, but ultimately it depends on what readers want.

so if you want to contact me about either of the above things, or just want to share your opinion on anything else about the comic, there’s plenty of ways- commenting on the blog, in the shoutbox on the main page, on deviantArt, or eMailing me at rei [at] millcityfiasco.com. srsly, i’m not scary and i’d love to hear from you. ^_^