@Timmy - @Aalasteir (Q) - Index
Q: How do you feel around NG celebrating its 30th anniversary? Where did your journey with the community begin? What did you do before, and how would you describe how the community’s role has changed over the years in your life?
It definitely makes me feel old lol. I've been visiting Newgrounds since high school - which was 20-25 years ago - so it's been very enjoyable watching the website grow and evolve over the decades. I feel like 95% of the websites I visited in my teenage years have disappeared due to the everchanging demands of social media, youtube and advertising. All of the credit goes to Tom and his team for weathering each storm.
My journey with the Newgrounds community started like many others - I stumbled upon the website because of a funny cartoon or interesting flash game. I visited for years before making an account, and probably spent a few more years enjoying the portals before I started posting on the BBS with any regularity. However, once I started interacting with other users on the forums, I quickly realized that Newgrounds had attracted a large and diverse collection of people. The current Newgrounds is great, and we're certainly seeing higher quality animation/game submissions than ever before, but I do lament the decreased activity in the BBS. We used to have a lot more interesting characters.
Q: What was ClownDeath?
I vaguely recall someone on Newgrounds hosting a Clown-themed flash competition. It may have just been between some friends, or it may have been more formal - I don't recall. But I took a few hours one day and threw that animation together just for fun. I am not a strong artist or animator, but you don't have to be either to participate on NG.
Q: How would you describe using Flash, and what do you think the atmosphere was like at the time?
Flash was a great tool for learning the basics. You could download Flash 8 for free (if you knew where to look), and so everyone had access to the same blank canvas with simple-to-use tools. And for someone like me, who was just interested in making a shitty, 10-second animation, the software was perfect. However, in speaking with friends who were serious animators or game developers, I understood that Flash had significant drawbacks and limitations as you reached its upper boundaries. So, in that regard, I am glad that artists have more refined options now. But I am also concerned that we are missing out on a lot of potentially great animators and developers, since your average kid no longer has the same access to easy-to-use, free software that we did.
Q: What's the story of you making a lot of flashes with @tehslaphappy?
Chris (TehSlapHappy) was one of a few close friends I encountered on Newgrounds over the years. He was amongst a group of people that would chat together on Stickam on a semi-daily basis back around 2008-2010. Any credit he gave me in his flash animations were all in good fun - I didn't actually contribute anything. I think Chris is a stand-up comedian these days and doing well for himself.
Q: What was it like using Stickam? And your advice on making friends online? What makes a good friendship, and what makes a bad friendship?
Making online friends just has to happen organically, much like real life - you just keep encountering the same people over and over until you figure out who you have shared interests with. If you want to make friends, you have to put yourself out there. Be the first to message someone. Sometimes you'll get ignored, but other times you'll strike up a worthwhile connection.
And 'good friendships' and 'bad friendships' are completely subjective, depending upon your personality type. My longest friendships are with people I can go weeks without talking to, and then we pick up our conversations right where we left off. But other people would hate that type of friendship. So it all depends on the person.
Q: What's the story of this photo with Luis?
Hah! That brings me back. This is from a Halloween party in Philadelphia in which myself, Luis, TheSwain (from Madness: Project Nexus) and (I think) Afro-Ninja (from the "Escape" flash game series) all dressed up as the Ninja Turtles. I lived with Swain, Krinkles, Jonas and a few other Newgrounds people for a few years. I recollect that time of my life fondly.
Q: What was it like living with other Newgrounds people? How did that come about? What did your schedule look like, and what were some things that happened? Why do you look back on it fondly?
We were all roughly the same age (mid-to-late 20s), so it was much like living with any dudes in that age range. We rented a 4-bedroom rowhome in Philadelphia, which was generally filthy and seemingly always filled with random guests. I had a normal 9-to-6 work schedule, but that was definitely not the norm - we often had roommates go completely nocturnal as they pushed to finish a game or animation. It was not uncommon to arrive home from work and find someone waking up to start their day. It was fantastic meeting some super-talented Newgrounds animators from around the world, and some even chose to move here - Oney, psychicpebbles, Spazkid and a few others moved into a second house with Luis and Stamper. Philadelphia really became a "hub" for Newgrounds artists for a period of time.
Q: The story of Newgrounds Last Supper
There were periodic Photoshop competitions on the BBS and the Last Supper was created as an entry for one of them. I don't remember the theme or prompt for that particular competition. A user who was a frequent contributor and winner of these competitions - TheJamoke - really liked the Last Supper, so he helped me refine it a bit and submit it to the Art Portal.
Q: How did you become a BBS mod? And what do you typically do as a mod?
I paid Wade $40 to become a mod so I could feel like a big man. Truth be told, there isn't as much modding to be done these days, compared to 2005-2015 when things were much more active. Back then, you'd have people spamming porn on the forums, or derailing every thread with nonsense. The standards for posting were also higher back then - simply posting a 3-to-4 word snarky reply wouldn't work. Posting pointless shitposts would get you banned for 3 days. So there was a lot more "mod stuff" to do back then. Now things are much more laid back.
Q: What are some stories of things that happened in the BBS?
It's an internet forum, so I don't know if anything worthy of a story happened. But I can say that, for a number of years, I was part of a fantastic core group of friends on the BBS that I truly enjoyed sharing my day with. As time went on and Newgrounds became less active, we likewise drifted on to other things. But it was a great time while it lasted.
Q: What would be your advice posting on the BBS? And what is your philosophy on actually enjoying using the BBS?
In my opinion, there are two camps. You can use the BBS for its intended purpose - to collaborate with other artists and to learn new skills. Or you can use the BBS for its unintended purpose - to muck about with random people online and have fun. Both options are valid, but I'd wager the former group will reap more success than the latter group.
- NG Street Cred
As I mentioned above, I benefit from the fact that I grew up in Philadelphia, and therefore was able to attend a number of Newgrounds events over the years. When I first started dating my (now) wife, she made an offhand reference to watching old flash cartoons like Homestar Runner and Salad Fingers. When I mentioned that I had chatted with David Firth, the creator of Salad Fingers, at a "Pico Day" event hosted by Newgrounds, I think that earned me some serious street cred with her. So Newgrounds may have made me seem a tiny bit cooler to this awesome girl I was trying to date.
Q: How would you describe Pennsylvania?
You have Philadelphia on one end, and Pittsburgh on the other, with Kentucky in the middle. You can go from urban high-rises to backwater farm country in less than an hour.
Q: What is the haunt industry?
The term "haunt industry" serves as an umbrella term for activities, services and products tangentially related to scaring people. This can include haunted houses, escape rooms, midways, mask creators, prop designers, animatronic manufacturers, etc. Because it draws from so many different trades - from artists to engineers to sound designers - the haunt industry attracts a wide variety of talents to it. This makes for tradeshows that are incredible diverse and tremendously fun.
Q: You and your wife visit haunted houses at Universal's Halloween Horror Nights as often as you can, what do you enjoy about it? You also enjoy visiting local haunted attractions in your area, what are the differences between the two, at Universal and the local?
The difference between our local haunt attractions and Universal HHN is night-and-day. HHN offers a dozen-or-so new haunted houses every year, with movie-quality backgrounds and costuming. Their in-house team designs the lighting, the sets and even the smells to provide guests with complete emersion during the walkthrough. Local haunted houses have certainly come a long way since the days of plastic rats and greasepaint, but they simply can't compete with Universal. That being said, we still enjoy visiting both - each are fun in their own way.
Q: What are your favorite aspects around Halloween?
Halloween was always my favorite holiday growing up. In addition to the decorations and the free candy, the one aspect of Halloween I remember most fondly was the freedom you have as a kid during trick-or-treating. I still remember a period of time when I couldn't ride my bike past a certain street because my parents had set specific boundaries - but on Halloween night, my friends and I were ushered out the door by our parents with a costume, an empty pillowcase, and instructions to "go anywhere" and "have fun." There was no parent chaperone, and the boundary restrictions had been lifted. That newfound sense of freedom and opportunity as we ran around the neighborhood was amazing. That was probably my favorite aspect of the holiday.
Q: What are some media that you enjoy, and why?
I have a super-low threshold for enjoying movies and tv shows. If it is at all "watchable," I'll probably leave thinking that it was worthwhile. So I am definitely not the person to talk to about interesting or worthwhile media.
Q: What was it like being a talented athlete, how was it being a state champion in track and field back in high school?
I honestly don't think about it too much - it was just a "fun fact" about my life lol.
Q: Top 10 drinks!
I'll give you my top 3: (1) Ice tea Lemonade (i.e. an Arnold Palmer), (2) any Chocolate Stout, and (3) the melted ice cream at the bottom of a bowl you let sit for too long.
Q: If you could let a Newgrounds character design a car for you, who would it be?
I've always liked James Lee's aesthetic in Tarboy. I feel like Tarboy would make a pretty cool car.