My 10 page research paper is done, but now I better start working on Monday comic. My work is never done.

No, it’s not the sequel!

I’m talking about thisarticle, which I’ll quote now:

“When coloring in 800,000 pixels on a map ofIndia, Microsoft colored eight of them a differentshade of green to represent the disputed Kashmiriterritory. The difference in greens meant Kashmirwas shown as non-Indian, and the product waspromptly banned in India. Microsoft was left torecall all 200,000 copies of the offending Windows95 operating system software to try and heal thediplomatic wounds. “It cost millions,” Edwardssaid.”

To clarify: Kashmir is a disputed territorybetween India and Pakistan. There’s essentiallythree factions - those that want it to be part ofIndia, those who want it to be part of Pakistan,and those who want it to be it’s own independentcountry.

“Another social blunder from Microsoft sawchanting of the Koran used as a soundtrack for acomputer game and led to great offence to theSaudi Arabia government. The company later issueda new version of the game without the chanting,while keeping the previous editions in circulationbecause U.S. staff thought the slip wouldn’t bespotted, but the Saudi government banned the gameand demanded an apology. Microsoft then withdrewthe game.
The software giant managed to further offend theSaudis by creating another game in which Muslimwarriors turned churches into mosques. That gamewas also withdrawn.”

Oops. This one could be chalked up to ignorance ofanother culture and misunderstanding, but maybethey could have consulted with someone from SaudiArabia? Not too hard … but then, there’s themuslim warriors turning churches into mosques.That seems a little stupid to put in, ignorant orno.

Well, cultural ignorance isn’t really going to cutit for this next one:

“Microsoft has also managed to upset women andentire countries. A Spanish-language version ofWindows XP, destined for Latin American markets,asked users to select their gender between “notspecified,” “male” or “bitch,” because of anunfortunate error in translation.”

Hard to think how something like that slips by,but hey.

On a very late sidenote, we apparently stirred upsomething of a “controversy”, which is basicallythe age-old “Mac vs. PC” debate. Applegeeks andCtrl Alt Del are just messing with each other.It’s like you and your friends who are constantlyplaying tricks on each other. You can have yourdiscussions (arguments), but don’t get us wrong -we’re just engaging in some friendly prankstering.

I got some good news and some bad news….

Good News: This is my last week for Art Theory class.

Bad News: I need to put the next issue of AG on hold. I have a 10 page final research paper, which is due by the end of the week.

Sorry.

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I have been taking breaks while I write up my research paper and during those breaks I would fire up Painter. Here is another update on the Mary Jane painting.

Update: 11:22 am

I got some good news and some bad news….

Good News: This is my last week for Art Theory class.

Bad News: I need to put the next issue of AG on hold. I have a 10 page final research paper, which is due by the end of the week.

Sorry.

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Here is an update on the Mary Jane piece I’m working on…

Painter does give coloring a nice effect, but I’m pretty sure you can get the same effect in Photoshop. What I really hate is how Painter handle layers. Just plain confusing, or I’m just slow.

I tried coloring Hawk’s MJ picture … I grabbedthe 72 dpi version he had up … wishing I had hadthe 300 at this point.

To explain: Hawk and I are trying to learnPainter. This is a first attempt … link bringsup the full-size, which is sadly very small:

Hawk: Nami wont be back online until she issettled in colorado
Ananth: Colo
Ananth: Colora
Ananth: … WTF?!
Ananth: Wow, I didn’t know she was goingout thatfar …
Hawk: actually where is colorado?
Ananth: … in the US
Hawk: *slaps you*
Hawk: i’m not that stupid
Hawk: hehe
Hawk: whoa
Hawk: mid USA???
Ananth:

Ananth: That should help
Ananth: …
Hawk: i fuckin hate you

Something I’m working on during my spare time. I’m planning to color this in Painter instead of Photoshop.

I better get some sleep. Night.

… Hawk and I didn’t think Timwould leave this one alone, and hedidn’t. Hahaha, good job Tim.

We got this e-mail from a reader named Genghis…I’ll grab a few quotes fromit:

“I’d just like to send you guys a bit of athanks for making webcomics FUN again. Therelationship between your two comics is one of themost remarkable I’ve seen– it makes me feel likeI’m watching two of my buddies duke it out andmess with each other instead”

“Applegeeks and Ctrl-Alt-Del areconsistently funny in a “hanging out at the diner”sort of way– there’s no gaming politics, oragendas to be wary of. Honestly, I feel like youguys are the Webcomic versions of FanPro games. AtGencon (big gaming convention, i’m sure you guysknow of it at least) all the (roleplaying)gamedevelopers are really really nice, but FanPro guysare the ones who will claim to be another authorto see if they can get a reaction out of you. Youguys have the same feel– I wouldn’t be suprisedto see Tim make a post under Hawk’s name onApplegeeks just because Hawk left his computerconnected when Tim was over. You guys make thefans feel like they’re in on your jokes, insteadof just audience to them. So thanks, I finallyfeel like a geek cheering on other geeks again. Itfeels good.”

So that was cool. ^_^ I dunno about him sneakingover to Hawk’s house though … Hawk has landmineskeyed to Tim’s DNA all over the lawn. Let’s justcall it … preemptive.