Rambles of a librarian turned cartoonist

(cross-posted from the comic site...)

Matt and I received news that a fundraiser/auction will be held this weekend benefiting Rusty Haller, the creator of 'Ace and Queenie'. You remember, we sent out a call for aid for Rusty back in June. Rusty still needs our help! Please read and, if possibly, pass on the press release below. The fundraiser event is this Sunday, July 19th. Let's get the word out as far as we can! Thanks, guys!

PRESS RELEASE:
Pop culture pros rally to help a colleague in need!

Granby CT, July 10, 2009: Free Lunch Studios announced today that they will serve as host for the Rusty Haller Benefit Auction and Gallery event. On Sunday, July 19, 2009, the CT-based creative studio will open its doors to the public for the purposes of celebrating the life and career of cartoonist, Rusty Haller, and raising funds to help their fellow artist through a challenging time in his life.

In January of this year, Rusty lost his mother. She was his number one fan and support. They helped each other in many different ways. Since her passing, Rusty has fallen on tough times. Rusty Haller has been a professional Cartoonist and Illustrator since 1987. During his career, he has worked for major comics publishers Marvel, DC, Disney and Archie comics illustrating comic book series such as THE FLINTSTONES, LOONEY TUNES, ALF, TINY TOON ADVENTURES, COUNT DUCKULA and many others. He has also worked for numerous independent and small press publishers.

Mr. Haller is a member of the Comicbook Artists Guild, an organization of independent comic creators with chapters nationwide. He is also a regular guest at the annual multi-genre convention Connecticon. In 2009, Mr. Haller became an Associate Artist with the new independent comics publishing venture Atlas Unleashed!

Owners of Free Lunch Studios, Matt C. Ryan, Steve Kanaras and Steve Kuster are proud to have the support of local and nationwide members of the comic book industry, as well as various vendors of pop culture collectibles. The fundraising event will feature a silent auction and various raffles, while displaying a collection of Haller’s artwork. The studio will be open from 2pm to 6pm.

Sponsors of the event who have also donated items for the auction include:

• Buried Under Comics
  
• Frank Policastro
  
• Mike Rinaldi
  
• Jim Parente
  
• Tom Fiore
  
• Cybertronian Artifacts/Mike Hodgkins
  
• Flying Monkeys/Ed Bradley
  
• Atlas Unleashed
  
• SJS Promotions
  
• Freelance Ink/Robert J. Sodaro
  
• Jolly Rogue Studios
  
• MediaConnectionOnline/Modern Observer Group/Eric Lopkin
  
• Immortal Gothic Angel/Shawnti Therrien
  
• Novastar Studios/James Rodriguez
  
• Guild Works Publications/Keith Murphey
  
• Comicbook Artists Guild
  
• Brianna Benn
  
• POW Entertainment
  
• Connecticon
  
• Hector Rodriguez
  
• Free Lunch Comics
  

Free Lunch Studios is located at 518 Salmon Brook Street (rear entrance) in Granby CT. For more information on the Rusty Haller Benefit Auction and Gallery, please contact Steve Kanaras at skanaras@freelunchcomics.com.

(cross-posted from the 'Hunter' site)

Yes, they got back in yesterday at the same time as Sunday. Yes, they will most likely do it again today. They actually damaged the server, badly. We've plans in place to restore most of the services as soon as possible after each hit. Also, we've made plans to end him doing this. Unfortunately, those plans can not be implemented until Monday. If you're hosted on the server, Matt should have or will be contacting you about what we're looking at. For everyone reading 'Hunter', I really don't want to go into what the plan is at the moment. It was a bit of a painful decision, especially for Matt. But, in the end, it's the best one.

Unfortunately, it's going to be a frustrating week.

'Hunter'-wise, the store will remain down until this business is completely take care of. Also, when this switch happens in a week, there may be some changes to the 'Hunter' site. We're pulling down a lot of bandwidth everyday. While this is a good thing - it means we're popular - we may have to go through the site and pull some "dead weight". In other words, the galleries may have to go. I'm looking into outside gallery places now (no, I do not want to use DeviantArt of FurAffinity again) and I may be moving most of the art off-site. The guest gallery will remain on-site, but will be done with just CSS / HTML. If we go this route it means two things...

1) I will not be reloading everything. I will be selective about what older art goes up.

And 2) Supporters, you will lose your Supporters only gallery. We'll figure something out for the works in progress (most likely just a folder in the site's directory - I want to drop the 'Galley' program we're currently using completely). The rest will either be consolidated into the new, off-site gallery or removed from the net altogether.

So, if there's anything in the gallery that you want, grab a copy by the end of this week. There are a few smaller things as well, but those galleries are our biggest extra glut.

And, to stop some worry I've seen popping up, like on the Belfry list, no, this was not a comic specific hack. It was a full server hack. It wasn't targeted. The didn't go after us because we do a webcomic, or because our comic has furries/talking animals, or because we're Americans. What happened is that one of our hosted sites had a vulnerability that this script kiddies code is designed to look for. That's all.

One more thing... if you see this yobbo's email address pop up, do not email him. Seriously. People like this won't listen to you. All they'll do is laugh and then sell your email to as many spammers as they can. So please, ignore him.

Okay guys, it's going to be a rough week. But, if you can all hang in there with us things will get better. Okay, I need to get going on some projects. Thanks guys and take care.

Matt finally passed out at about 7:30 this morning after being up for around 36 hours straight. At this moment, most of the sites on the server should be up and running again. The more complex and interactive sections (mainly the forums and shopping carts) are, for the most part, still down. These bits are a little too detailed to work with when sleep deprived.

If you're hosted on the server and see something off, missing, or you're still seeing that image our little "visitors" left behind, please email Matt and let him know. He can be reached at support@capnbells.com. I don't expect him to be up and about until later this afternoon, the poor guy. And unfortunately, I'm not versed enough in the programing department to offer any help on my own. All I do is make things look pretty. This stuff went over my head five years ago or so.

Okay, guys, I've got commission sketches to get out and even more sketching to do so I should get to it. Sorry about all of this happening. We'll get it all sorted out.

Thanks.

Hey all. Long time, no speak. Unfortunately, I'm back with some rough news. The server that Matt runs has been hacked by some douches out in Turkey. We noticed it about 30 minutes after they got in, after-which Matt locked the server down, then had to drive out to Boston to reset the machine. He's now starting the long, painful process of restoring everyone's sites as well as the email services.

In other words... no sleep tonight.

If you're on the server and reading this, we're sorry for the trouble. We'll have things up and running for you again as soon as possible. Please bear with us.

'Hunter' readers, please bear with us as well. We need to get our clients up and running again before we worry about our own sites. We'll have Monday's update for you as soon as everything else is squared away.

So... that's what's going on. Again, sorry for this and thanks for your understanding.

Later all and take care.

I've a sharp pain in my lower right side again. Seem the cysts are acting up again. Dang!

*looks down* Why are you doing this to me? I don't even want children. I know I'd be a lousy mom.

*ovary looks back up* Plurrrrt!

The con and vacation reports for Midwest Furfest and the Iowa trip are now available. You can read the con report here. And, the vacation report is here. Enjoy!

Because if I don't try to get some work done, I'm going to go nuts. I can only rest for so long. It gets boring in this house alone all day. Tiny (the cat) goes into the closet to sleep all day. I'm still amazed at how much cats sleep.

Matt changed the RCSI Publishing site to a WordPress layout. It looks really nice. Also, all the news and posts will be archived where they're publicly available. I liked having the blog on the Supporters side, but I don't think it was read often. So, the Supporters blog will be for previews, sketches and notes. I need to get back into the habit of sketching on paper. This whole writing on the screen thing is spoiling me.

Another nice thing is the new WordPress site has an RSS feed, either here or through LJ. Cool.

I should probably run out to Target for a bit. We need a new shower curtain and a few things for the trip. Then more Tylenol goo and back to work.

Unfortunately, I don't know it that's a possibility when you're self employed. It shouldn't be a problem since normal jobs tend to offer that. But still...

I haven't been feeling all that great for a bit now and things seem to be getting worse, which is making getting any work done a tad difficult. I haven't been able to get a buffer built up for the two plus weeks we'll be out at MFF and Iowa. Even getting Friday's Supporters page done is proving to be a challenge, which is upsetting.

Thing is, the last thing I want to do is keep getting worse. Somehow, going to MFF and introducing nearly 2,000 people to the creeping crud is probably not the best way to make friends and influence people.

But, I'm worried that if I take time to get better people will be mad at me for not having their comics done on time. I guess this falls under one of those 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' scenarios.

Either way, I'm going to go down and make some soup then try to ink some more of Issue 6, page 8. I need to get that done if I can.

(cross-posted from the comic site...)

I can't believe it's only two weeks or so before we leave for Chicago. Yes ladies and gents, it's almost time for Midwest Furfest! The con's programing schedule is now available here. Looks like there's a lot planned. I'm starting to get excited! And we get to ride out there on a train! Cool!

Matt and I will be at the events below. So much to do...

    Opening Ceremonies
        Friday @ 12:00pm - 1:00pm
    Meet the GOH
        Friday @ 1:00pm - 2:00 pm
    Storytelling Through Characters Part 1 - Heroes
        Friday @ 4:00pm - 5:00 pm
    Storytelling Through Characters Part 2 - Villains
        Saturday @ 10:00am - 11:00 am
    Sponsors' Lunch
        Saturday @ 11:00am - 1:00 pm
    Storytelling Through Characters Part 3 - Extras
        Sunday @ 12:00pm - 1:00 pm
    Code Name: Hunter
        Sunday @ 3:00pm - 4:00pm
    Closing Ceremonies
        Sunday @ 5:00pm - 6:00pm

Unfortunately, some of the panels I'd like to see overlap with our own. Also, the webcomics panel we were hoping to do fell through. Oh well, maybe next time. So, if you're in the Chicago area this November, stop by Midwest Furfest.

Hmm... the time change kicking in has my body a wee bit confused. It's trying to tell me that it's lunch time when it's only 10:30. :D

When you see this, post in your own journal with your favorite quote from The Princess Bride. Preferably not "As you wish" or the Inigo Montoya speech.

"Bye-bye boys! Have fun storming the castle!"