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Diesel sweeties would do fine. It's been going strong for a few years now, daily comic on your email every morning. Good stuff too.

The original Linux-based robot.

at dieselsweeties.com...

Watch out for Red Robot!

Gabe has stated his appreciation of Diesel Sweeties. And it updates every weekday!!

As usual:

http://www.dieselsweeties.com/archive.php?s=1082

I think Red Robot might have beaten him out. (As opposed to merely beating him...)

A very surprising choice in artists for these ads though.

Evan Dorkin, Jay Stephens, and the inimitable R Stevens are hardly easy sells to represent a marketing campaign for such a cornerstone franchise as the sims (whatever version it be), for such a large company as EA. I'm most familiar with Mahfood and Dorkin, but I would have loved to see the following scene play out.

Executive #1:So we're cool on this slate of artists right? Johnson, didn't you object to Franks suggestion to include Dorkin?

Johnson tosses a copy of Milk and Cheese on the boardroom table. Executive #2 looks at an open page and drops her jaw.

Frank: No really, this will come of family friendly with an edge the younger generation can...uh...identify with.

However he sold it, I know Frank's sweating this. That said, EA has possibly the most ruthlessly efficient marketing machine mankind has ever seen, so they probably already focus grouped me as a positive, without my even knowing it.

Dieselsweetie guestcomic by Steven Cloud just yesterdays' comic too.

What would evil robot Jesus do?

Weird, huh.

Weird, huh.

#!/usr/bin/ruby

class Fixnum
def +(o) 666 end
end

# MWAH HA HA HAAA!!!!!!!!
puts "2 + 2 = #{2 + 2}"

Even if this virtual nonsense was free, I couldn't imagine wasting my time on one of these things.

If you want a good imaginary date, I say go read Diesel Sweeties instead. Maura and her Lil Sis have more depth and personality to them than girls I've dated.

I must admit, first of all, that I am a Buccaneer-Canadian, and that I am of Chinese (Hong Kong) descent.

Let me say, though, on the MPAA and RIAA's behalf, that piracy is honestly and truly wrong, and is going to cause the destruction of the music and movie industries (and whatever else can be downloaded, like personal and SOHO targetting apps such as games).

The only reason why the MPAA and RIAA's earnings are going up rather than down is because, in North America (where these outfits are based), piracy is still in its infancy. There are two main barriers preventing the music and movie industries from crumbling right now: the last mile distribution problem and piracy source organization.

In North America, our main method of piracy right now is downloading via broadband internet. The effort required to overcome the technological barriers that are required when downloading pretty much anything (starting to get changed by bit-torrent and Suprnova, though not nearly enough), as well as the long wait times, deters a large chunk of our populace from pirating. At the moment, if I wanted to look for an album or first-run movie that's new, the absolute easiest way is to go to Suprnova.org and see if it is out, then click, save, wait, etc. However, imagine how much one would be able to pirate if you were in a place like Hong Kong, China, and could just walk down the street and buy (for $2) a first-run film or brand-new album from a vendor?

The other thing is that the big pirates (release groups, etc) in North America are just not organized enough. If they were so organized as to have ALL first-run films catalogued the day they're out, without fail, and delivered to a central source?

One day, in a few years, transfer speeds of broadband connections to the home will be able to send a DVD-Quality video to your home in mere minutes. Imagine a Grandmother coming home and having ALL of the recent movies released on Suprnova already on her harddrive? Imagine the interface for playing these movies being as easy to operate as a regular digital cable box? Wow... the RIAA and MPAA and the entire industry will surely die then...

"...MythTV will be indistinguishable from "Movie Pirates" in the MPAA's eyes..."

Ahem. They prefer to be called buccaneer americans.

I mean honestly, the insensitivity of some people.

"...MythTV will be indistinguishable from "Movie Pirates" in the MPAA's eyes..."

Ahem. They prefer to be called buccaneer americans.

I mean honestly, the insensitivity of some people.

nothing is ever good...

We prefer to be called "Buccaneer-Americans", thanks.

God, I just _love_ the use of "geek out" as a verb. Hadn't come across it yet.

Someone should make a "geek out" version of this t-shirt.

Please.... we prefer to be called Buccaneer-Americans.

His point about music transcending technical limits is spot on. Whether you hear it out of a mono speaker on a 13" TV, or performed by an orchestra, the Mario Main Theme is awesome.

But why hate on pixelart? It certainly gave characters, well, more character. I used to make Marios on graph paper because I knew how many squares to use. Check out Diesel Sweeties for an awesome pixelart webcomic.

Richard Stevens has garnered a lot of my respect, and besides -- Clango rules!

Damn, lady! Are you german?

• BBC News is usually first on my list. I hit the (non-UK) front page, use Ctrl-Alt-click in Opera to kick open all the interesting links, then go to Americas (because that's where I am) and do the same. Sometimes I go for Europe or Entertainment.
• Slashdot - unlike all those other silly people who are replying!
• If I actually feel like thinking, I look at Kuro5hin, which takes a different approach to same idea as Slashdot. Most everyone can post a new article. Many articles tend to go into depth, rather than just presenting a summary. You can vote the articles up or down; you can choose to view even low-rated articles in certain subjects, etc. Self-service text ads let you support the site - and you can let people comment on the ads.
• Sometimes I look at top stories on Yahoo, or go for most popular stories and images.

After that it's usually off to non-news stuff like Diesel Sweeies or whatever.

I look at the local newspaper occasionally, even though their editing is awful and they get facts wrong in the subject areas I know about, which makes me wonder if they ever get it right the rest of the time. I only watch TV news if something important is happening. (Celebrities getting arrested isn't important, so I rarely watch TV news.) If something interesting is happening and I don't think the TV news is worth turning on, I hit the Google News beta site and type keywords.

..of another peephole display.

I'm surprised he didn't say more about how godawful the quality of syndicated comics is these days. They're so bland and unentertaining that it hurts to even look at them. I think the best thing the internet has done for comics is to allow some really great offbeat stuff (like Diesel Sweeties) to exist and get some recognition. In a print-only world some really good, funny comics would never be seen by most people.

In fact, I think the great thing about the internet in general, and something that still hasn't been fully embraced, is the ability to self-publish. In days gone by it was only possible to self publish in a small geographic region without spending a lot of money. These days I can self publish media of many forms online with no muss or fuss, and people from all over the world can look at my writing, listen to my music, or watch my home videos(heh, right..).

I guess at the end of the day it's about empowerment. The internet empowers me by allowing me to find what I want, to separate the wheat from the chaff. I'm certainly better equipped to do it than the suits who only look for the lowest common denominator and play to that. Also, of course, it empowers the artist to not only be able to create and publish, but to reach a large global audience without the aid of a middle-man. Overall, it's the removal of a rather shoddy bidirectional filter.

On the flip side, of course, the internet has caused the downfall of the community artist, and it's only going to get worse. Around here, local alternative press is all but dead. I mean, who wants to read poorly printed dead tree stuff when you can go to poorly designed websites instead, and for no money? And since that's the mentality, why pay to print it at all? The sad thing is, of course, that local "scenes" will continue to fade away like this, especially as music and movies become more easy to retrieve online, and to publish. I guess it's the death of the local community in order to give birth to the global.

Not only do they win this award, they also win the:

ANONYMOUS COWARD RETARDED SACK OF SHIT AWARD

that's right hillary & friends, I've got your award right here (well, as soon as my pals beans & rice work their magic, your award will be ready).

so do you want to pick up the award or should I just fling it at you?

Thanks RIAA, for keepin' it real all these years. Hope you go out of business. Word is bond.

Secondly, I thought I could add to the list of worthwhile webcomics to read:
Penny Arcade (above)
Res Life
Mac Hall
Angst Technology
Zeek V2.0
I'll avoid the urge to shamelessly promote my own new comic :)

Ok, does Megatokyo have that large of a following here @ /. ??

Because amongst other webcomics:
Goats Is currently at Comicon putting out a second book.
Achewood is finishing up the polishing touches on a book.
Cat and Girl has a book going out.
As do a whole slew of others. Why don't they get mentioned??

you should have seen this one coming a mile away

I wonder if the Beatles new track Revolution X (released by Apple Records) can be simultaneously played with their classic song Revolution 9 in some sort of 'classic' mode?

Hot Dog! Bad Puns!

The idea that robots will kill off human civilization is not a new idea. Anyone who has seen the Matrix, Terminator, or Red Robot #C-63 knows that! Personally, I'm not worried about robots going crazy and killing people. Unless their software is designed by Microsoft...

Granted, the movie was about twice as long as it should have been, and simply ran out of things to make fun of. And, yes, they beat the dead horse that became Cruel Intentions into anthrax-worthy particles of meatjuice.

That being said, I have to respect movies that have some decently obscure and enjoyable subtexts. For example:

1) The Title. Not Another Teen Movie. The joke is, it *is* another teen movie...so, "Not ANOTHER Teen Movie!?!", instead of "NOT Another Teen Movie." Possibly unintentional, but given the ending(worth gritting through, just to hear the last words from the last speaker) I doubt it.

*SPOILER ALERT*

2) Amanda. So they mocked the bejesus out of Jennifer Love Hewitt's role in Can't Hardly Wait. Sure, fish in a barrel. But giving Lacey Chabert, who costarred with her on Party of Five and probably had to choke on Hewitt's silicone-enhanced shadow for years on end, the opportunity to lay waste to her former colleague...heh. Impressive.

Incidentally, am I the only one who is tired of "I used to like Katz, but now, with this horrific review of such-and-such, I have to change my mind"? STFU. Quit cloning Indy Rock Pete; Katz at least can choose to like or dislike whatever the hell he feels without consulting IMDB to make sure that he's rating Remember the Goddamn Titans higher than a silly hyperreferential uber-spoof of a flick.

And that's more than I can say about at least one of you. :-)

--Dan

This is also, come to think of it, very obvious, but a comic strip doe not rely on the quality of the drawing (I like the simplistic style anyway), but the jokes. If you don't like the jokes, you have a valid complaint, go someplace else.. but don't flame about Illiad's drawing.

When the jokes are stale, lame, or just plain awful (as UF has been for the past 3+ years), there's little left to keep a person interested but the art. And UF never had that, either. However, you're right. I don't like UF, and I don't read it. I prefer to waste my online time reading better strips, like Penny Arcade, Goats, Diesel Sweeties, 8-bit Theater, Sinfest, and way too many more to list here, all of which have (IMNSHO) better jokes, better storylines, better art, better attitudes, and better execution than UF. Sure, not all of those are daily strips, but some are. Sinfest is. Tatsuya Ishida is able to pump out teh funney (no, that's not misspelled) every day, with amazing art to go along with it. I would call T's art "simplistic", in that it's generally all various lines, with just enough shading to suggest backgrounds and such. Illiad's art, on the other hand, is what i would call sloppy.

I expect that people in the not too distant future will say the same thing about various digital artifacts. They'll figure out all sorts of uses for pixelation and compression artifacts and even deliberately introduce them into works that didn't have them in the first place just for their artistic effect.

That future is already here today. The popular web comic Diesel Sweeties uses an intentionally-pixelized style. And there was that guy that rendered historical scenes in a Sims-like format.

"target=new"??
Look, jerk, if I wanted a new browser window, I'd make one myself.
Stop trying to be clever and just post the link normally, like so.

Well, I just made myself a Game boy advanced "visor" using duct tape and cardboard. It matches the color (kind of) of the game boy and it blocks any external light, so I get a better visual. Sure, it's ghetto, but it's free!

Also, Speaking about Penny-Arcade, which got me thinking about web comics, which reminded me of Diesel Sweeties, which provoked me visiting it, which caused me to discover this. It's Cowboy Neal if he were a pixely cartoon.