At the stroke of midnight we shall be saying goodbye to 2008. The most productive, exciting, adventurous year I've ever had. I'm so thankful for everything that happened this year, it was just surreal.

- Landed a new job teaching Flash animation at a film school.

- Had a great Australia day with my friends.

- Joe Outterside/Xenon came to Perth and lived with me for a month.

- Worked my 2nd season on Australian TV.

- Turned 21 and had a party with all my closest friends. Had a MASSIVE night out.

- Held my own booth at a convention and was approached by many people, which was just a surreal feeling.

- Was introduced to the voice of Goku at that convention by a member of staff who was a fan of my work lewl!

- Travelled my first international flight alone.

- Met some great friends that I've known online for yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaars.

- Felt out of place at Anime-Expo but had a GREAT time anyway.

- Went to Disney Land for the first time ever.

- Had Reeses pieces for the first time ever and ate the brown paper surrounding the chocolate.

- Discovered Weinersnitzel.

- Pooped lots (see above).

- Met up with Cycon and Vallos of Podunkton and DCK.

- Went drinking with Cycon. We got into a pretend fight and I punched him in the face breaking his glasses and making the top of his nose bleed. Felt really bad.

- COMIC-CON SAN DIEGO.

- Met more online chumps, including Tom Fulp and most of the NG staff.

- Met Luis (what a dream boat).

- Had a funny incident with "Doug" and "Jeremy" from Pure Pwnage on the street of San Diego. Long story, I guess.

- Met Jhonen Vasquez, creator of JTHM, Squee and Invader Zim.

- Had drinks at Danomano and Hans' hotel room, called Krinkles "Kinkles" and he punched my in the chest. He's a big guy okay.

- Met just about everyone else under the sun there.

- Attending the Castle Crashers party, got extremely drunk even though I told myself I wouldn't.

- Stayed out even longer with Egoraptor, Tom Fulp and Tom Vian (Flash Bros). Cracked onto some random girl behind the bar, told her I was famous in Australia and she asked for my autograph. So I walked behind the bar and signed a napkin. Tom Vian told her it was worth "LOADS" on the Australian Ebay.

- Woke up to a earth quake for the first time ever. Had to grab onto a TV.

- Went to Universal studios with ChannelCat and Vensy of Sheezyart.com

- Went to bubba gumps. That place rocks.

- Went back to everyday life.

- Entered a Newgrounds competition for the first time ever.

- Collaborated with RedMongoose.

- Got contacted by Playboy.

- Started working for Playboy.

I think it was obvious what the highlight of my year was.

Happy New Year!!

So I was looking back on some of my favourite cartoons from when I was a kid, and I had a blast of nostaglia. So I thought I'd share some of them.

Insepector Gadget:

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This cartoon was probably the first cartoon I truley loved. I wouldn't miss a episode and I had quite a lot of the toys. I mean, he's like a private investigator cyborg with a transforming car. What's not to like?

Samurai Pizza Cats:

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I liked this before I even knew what anime was, this show was rather awesome. A tad bit silly though.

Transformers:

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Speaking of transforming cars, this was pretty much the most awesome thing ever. I had an obsession with dinosaurs at that time, so naturally the dino-bots were my favourite characters.

Denvor The Last Dinosaur:

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The obsession with dinosaurs also lead me to watch this cartoon. Although I look at it now and I think it's awful. Pay attention to the lyrics. "He's my friend and a WHOLE LOT MORE", they're practically molesting him.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:

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I was probably one of the only people I knew who thought Donatello was the best.

The Land Before Time:

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This movie was fucking awesome, it still is in my opinion. Brilliant animation and good music.

Fern Gulley:

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This movie was just sweet. Robin Williams played my favourite character, also the animation was just stunning.

Ren & Stimpy:

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I loved this show because it was just so "naughty" for its time.

Widget The World Watcher:

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Widget... He could transform into anything. It's pretty awful looking back on it now, but I liked it for some reason. He sounds like a $2 hooker.

Street Sharks:

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Generic Ninja Turtles rip off, with terrible puns... But I liked it. I had so many of the toys.

Beast Wars Transformers:

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I would always rush home from school to catch this cartoon. Although obviously its very outdated now, it still holds a special place in my heart.

Pokemon:

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I was rather late getting into this Pokemon trend, but I ended up watching it for a little while and rather liking it. Although it was a short lived trend here, I grew a seperate obsession with the red and blue versions of the game.

Dragon Ball Z:

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A lot of people I knew hated it because they put it in the same bag as the passed trend "Pokemon". Yes, because it was Japanese animation. I know its just such a silly, over the top show.. But I was really into it and rarely missed an episode. I still consider it one of my favourite cartoons... I was also introduced to Sean Schemmel (english voice of Goku) at Supanova in Perth back in June this year, which I was rather stoked about.

Neon Genisis Evangelion:

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I had no idea what was going on, but it was awesome!

Batman of the Future:

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I never really liked Batman all that much, but I thought this cartoon had a really sharp solid style.

Digimon:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hr5hk8E oIcg (can't embed it!)

I started watching this show quite a lot on Fox Kids back when that was around on the pay TV network "Foxtel" here in Australia. It was pretty sweet, but I never really got into any of the other seasons. Around this time I started to grow out of anime, since I saw it was becoming really overused.

Justice League Unlimited:

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Ironically, my favourite character was "The Flash". This cartoon was just great.

Invader Zim:

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I can't begin to explain how much I love this cartoon. I idolize Jhonens work. (couldn't find a full video without the spanish lmao). I shat a brick when I met Jhonen at Comic-Con.

Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends:

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... This is just a awesome cartoon.

That's about all I can think of for now. :)

Hey Newgrounds.

My new animated short "Nocturnus" is now out, so give it a look. The cartoon is based around a parasomnia disorder I frequently suffered from at the age of 12. "Pavor Nocturnus" or Night Terrors, are a unique, delusional experience where all you can feel is fear. It's somewhat like lucid dreaming crossed with, sleep walking, nightmares and sleep paralysis. From what I read you're generally not able to remember the events, but there are some rare cases where you can. I had quite a few where I could remember elements of the episodes. Some though were only recalled by my family members, as I'd be screaming or running to them for help. So basically this cartoon is a metaphorical representation of what I saw, felt and can roughly remember.

I hope you enjoy it.

Oh and HAPPY HALLOWEEN :O!

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Yes it is, yes it is.

Just on that final stretch of hard work before it's at 100%.. MONTAGE!

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Yes it is. Picture below, related.

Also, New Gamer Tonight every 2 weeks at GT.net.. The new season already started at the site if you haven't caught it yet. Next one airs on Monday at 9:00pm ABC2.. Good Game.. Will be up on my site around Saturday/Friday afternoon.

Good Game starts up its new season today at 9pm on ABC2! The all new Gamer Tonight will also be premièring on the show. Considering the time frame I had, I'm very happy with what I was able to come up with in terms of animation, compared to the previously rushed 5 episodes.

I haven't said anything to anyone (except close friends) about the stereotype being portrayed in this episode, so that still remains a surprise.

Also I'd like to thank the Newgrounds community for the monthly award. I in all honesty did not see that coming, at all. I'll probably be sending most of the money straight to a friend who needs it right now. But yeah, thanks for that guys.

So yeah, be sure to tune in and watch the show tonight.. Should be interesting! I'm currently working on the next episode while writing the following one. There's really no end to this work load :(.. (until I've done 8 of them for the contract, of course).

On a final note, I went to my local "Co$" protest to check it out. I was surprised to see about 100 or so people there. Really quite a shock to see that many people in just Perth alone. I can't even start to imagine how big it's going to be in the US.. And by what I saw in the UK it was massive.

Peace.

-Ross

EDIT:
YOU CAN NOW STREAM AND/OR DOWNLOAD THE EPISODE FROM THEIR WEBSITE. THOUGH THE QUALITY IS VERY BAD..

Hellar der Newgrounds,

Roughly a month or so ago, I was contacted by ABC's Good Game. After not having the segment back because of complications in the last season, they have decided to have it back for 8 more interview episodes. So I guess we can call this season 2.

I haven't been getting much sleep as of late, because I've completely redone the show from the ground up. What I've come up with is certainly a lot better then what the show originally was on these tight deadlines. SHAME MY QUALITY OF LIVING HAS TO SUFFER BECAUSE OF THIS.

Oh well... that's show biz, hey?

So in other words, it's all new.

So if you're in Australia, check it out when it premiers on the 11th of February! I believe the show is on at 8:30 on ABC2.. Then late Fridays after JTV on ABC's main station. But if it's not your thing, you could always watch Cowboy Bebop after the show finishes (if of course they still air it).

There's another flash animation on the show called "QTR+CIRCLE+A", keep in mind I'm not involved in this segment. I believe we're doing a bi-weekly time slot together (not 100% sure though).

The episode will be viewable at GAMERTONIGHT.NET.. Around the end of February. No word on a Newgrounds release at this point in time.

As for the genre in the first episode... It's a secret B)...

Also I'm starting my flash teaching job next week!.. Supposedly I'm going to be earning a fair amount of money to.. Which is great because I don't have much at the moment :(!!

A few of the kids I'll be teaching down there are Newground fans. So it should be a bit of a laugh. I'll wear my NG shirt on the first day :P

Peace!

-Ross

What?

Gamer Tonight is a fictional animated talk show series that I was developing for a Australian video games review show. They let me keep distributive rights for the cartoon, so I've gone and launched GAMERTONIGHT.NET

Gamer Tonight is completely voiced by Arin "Egoraptor" Hanson and animated by me. The current back log of episodes were all done in 3-4 days each, because I was working under a EXTREMELY tight schedule with the TV show.. But the newer episodes will have a lot higher animation quality, since I won't have this constraint.

So please, go check out the site.. View the episodes.. Join the forums.. This has taken months to put together and I'm happy that we've finally finished.

1 or 2 episodes might appear on Newgrounds within the next week in flash format, but on a alternate account.

Peace,

-Ross

For serious.