The Power Cosmic - In T-shirt Form

Last week I posted about a cool Photoshop Filter that creates Kirby Dots. After playing around with it for a while it inspired a new comic book themed T-shirt design for Otter Disaster Designs called the Power Cosmic:

You can purchase this design HERE.  I've also created another Secret Origin shirt, this one inspired by the mutant X-men. 

One last design, adapted from a sketch by my Little Disaster is this Doodle Skull and Bones:

She drew it in pen on a scrap of paper a few weeks ago and I decided it would look great on a shirt.  Basically I just scanned the drawing, added some color (her choices), dropped in the circular background, and it was done.

Classic Atari Games From the Olden Days

Atari offers several of it's classic arcade and Atari 2600 games for play in your browser. Choose from Asteroids, Crystal Castles, Battlezone, and even Yars' Revenge! There is also a new online version of one of my all time favorite games Missle Command:


Play fun multiplayer games

You can play online in a cooperative mode with others or create your own match which provides an invite link so you can play with your pals.

Awesome Photoshop Filter Creates Kirby Dots!

Game company Octopus Motor, has created a really great Photoshop filter that allows you to create Kirby Dots!  Here's a quick image I worked up using my avatar from Bitstrips:

It allows you to adjust several variables including Maximum and Minimum dot size, distribution, softness of edges, and foreground and background colors. NEAT!
Download the filter HERE!
Tutorial on installing and using the filter HERE.

Heavy Metal Heritage: Metal as Religion? Part 2

I posted last week about British Metal fans trying to get 'Heavy Metal' recognized as a religion in the 2011 UK Census.

According to this article the UK census does not 'officially' recognize any religions and does not define what is or is not a religion, it only lists the percentages of respondents to a given religion, which is how Jedi Knight ended up 'recognized' in the 2001 Census.

The notion seems to be gaining steam though. There are almost 17,500 fans on the movement's Facebook page (as of this posting).

If any band embodies the notion of Heavy Metal as religion (or at least as lifestyle) it's the incomparable Manowar.  Here's Battle Hymn, from their 1982 debut album Battle Hymns:

I'd be willing to bet no other band has done as many metal songs about 'metal' than Manowar: Metal Daze, Gloves of Metal, Kings of Metal, Brothers of Metal, The Gods Made Heavy Metal, Metal Warriors, Die for Metal, and any number of songs about swords and steel.

 This blog post at the UK Guardian suggests some other musical forms that might also qualify.

Otter Disaster #30: Fandom

Bitstrips presents a Theme of the Day.  Yesterday's theme was Fandom, here is my entry:

These kinds of arguments are of course the bread and butter of pop-culture aficionados the world over.