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Interview: Ask Nitrozac 122

Posted by Roblimo from the love-those-techno-talking-babes dept.
So there is this fine, 100% geeky online comic called After Y2K! that features such characters as the Techno-Talking Babes(tm), Lord Martha Stewart, "Jeff and Rob, those Slashdot Guys," Mel Gibson, Linus Torvalds, Bill Gates, and the ghost of Ada Byron. But creator/cartoonist Nitrozac remains a shrouded mystery. This is your chance to find out more about this mysterious woman and get a quick peek into the workings of her (obviously) deranged mind. Please post your questions below. The 10 - 15 questions deemed most interesting by Slashdot moderators, editors, and hangers-on will be forwarded to Nitrozac Tuesday. Her answers will appear Friday.
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Interview: Ask Nitrozac More

Interview: Ask Nitrozac

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  • Re:Just ONE Question: (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Trust me, the parts you've seen are just a stand in ;-)

  • Will you... (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Will you marry me?

  • evolution... (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    the artistic style of After Y2K has greatly since you started it, is this due to more time, art classes, more skills with the graphics program you are using, or what?

  • Tim Berners-Lee (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Why did you mangle poor Tim's name? Is it just because you're ignorant?
  • A question for Nitrozac...

    Since starting AY2K, how many marriage proposals, or proposals of a...ahem...not quite so formal nature, have you recieved from geeks out there?

    (No, I'm not about to send you one! My fiancee would skin me alive and rub salt into my flayed flesh... :-) )

    I'm guessing that, like Douglas Adams, you aren't married, have no children, and don't want to hear from any more Beverly Hills real estate agents.

    Anyway, love your comic...keep 'em coming!

    Eric
    --
    "Free your code...and the rest will follow."

  • Wait a minute, Relic is obviously stolen directly from that guy on that show I hate that used to come directly after the Simpsons. Shit, I forget the name, but the main character sold propane. And his next door neighbour looked exactly like this "Relic" character, and he was a gun-fanatic survivalist conspiracy kook.
  • Perhaps not to a cynical person, it isn't funny; I personally find it in the same vein as "Calvin and Hobbes", it can be cute, innocent, and full of insight as well as offer some devastatingly on-target political commentary/satire, should the occassion arise. I urge anyone who has passed it over to least give it a second look.
  • Windows is pretty darn ugly and clunky, SGI has overpriced software, Unix still has The Fonts from the Bottom of the Wastebasket

    Yes, the X11 standard fonts look like the bottom of a baboon. I know there are true type servers available, but honestly, as long as these and some decent fonts are not part of a standard setup - what is it good?

  • I must admit to being profoundly puzzled by your name. It sounds like it should mean something really odd ... am I right?

    If I go by the name, then she has something to do with advanced cooking (i.e. chemistry)

    Nitrozac = Nitrous acid?

    What does not fit is the Macintosh. Those who are strong in the FORTRAN don't tend to use quiche boxes.

  • Can you recommend any good books on creating comics? I found one book titled Understanding Comics [amazon.com] over at Amazon that gets a lot of praise.

    I'm also curious about the art side of comics. I used to work for a Marvel-like comic artist doing lettering (what talent!), and he said that anyone could learn to draw like he could (which was pretty impressive). So should you take the time to learn to draw life-like figures, and then find your own comic-drawing style, or is that a wasting your time learning stuff you won't need?

  • Nitrozac, I love AY2K.. I think it's probably the funniest web-comic I've seen to date (up there w/ Pokey the Penguin). Clearly you have quite a sense of humor. You also appear to be quite a geek (in the most positive sense of the word of course). And you have really bitchin' boots. My question is this: Where are all the other women out there like you? I have yet to meet a woman who could write "hello world", let alone a web-comic of such quality. If this were a hypothetical friday-night, and I wanted to meet someone w/ your qualities, where would I go, what would I do, and what in god's name would I say when I met you?
  • After a brief perusal of Ozy and Millie I didn't find it amusing. After Y2K, on the other hand, is consistently very funny; a testimony to Nitrozac's wicked sense of humor. Undoubtedly a lot of personal preference is involved. I'm not sure there has to be a geek theme, but to be a successful comic strip you have to be funny.

    I would like to hear an answer to what Nitrozac is going to do after 12/31/99? Maybe Bill G. will wake from the nightmare he had while sitting on the can. Maybe the aliens' plan will come to light. Maybe someone will offer me a red pill ;-)

    >K
  • while bruno and userfriendly are my regular staples, now that /. has introduced me to your strip i think i've got a new stop to make each morning.

    my question(s):

    both programming and cartooning seem to be very heavily male dominated fields in both creation and consumption. being male myself it's often hard to see, but a vast majority of people in the field seem to be male, and the content seems directed at my age/gender more so then women and/or older/younger folks. that's my perception so...

    do you disagree? and if you don't what from your perspective would *you* like to see more of in open source development and/or online comics?

    ok, another query. i keep encouraging christopher baldwin (author of bruno) from time to time because i think he's pushing publishing in new directions in his attempts to fund his work. i see it as very empowering (to use a buzzword) and makes me eager to see new artists and new ideas at play. current publishing (due to people and tech constraints) presents a limited number of perspectives (i'm a big fan of perspectives if you can't tell) (and parenthetical comments), where online publishing seems to lower the barrier to accessing an audience.

    do you feel the net is enabling people to more easily express themselves creatively? do you worry about current or impending obstacles to that access?

  • Nitrozac, I feel as if you know me almost as well as I know myself. While exciting, this is also threatening. Seeing the comments of others in this forum tends to validate this delicate mix of feelings.

    How did you get such a lock on the geekish nature? Are you a programmer? Could you possibly share in my enthusiasm for things like database drivers?

    Best regards
    -Beethoven

  • When can we expect an After-y2k book?
  • Hi there!
    You have an awful lot of gif files on your web-page. Do you have a licence for them?
    B.
  • I wonder how you define "on the Internet"? I would certainly count email time as "Internet time", and in that case he probably spends the majority of his day writing emails to his underlings. If you read any of 'Business @ the speed of thought", that seems pretty central to his style.

    Disclaimer: I couldn't get through it, but I didn't buy it either - I checked it out in the bookstore. Oh those ugly chapter titles ... corporatese at its worst :-(.

    D

    ----
  • Graphics, my friend, graphics.

    People who create nice art tend to like machines whose user interfaces look good. I use a Mac in a lot of my computing for exactly this reason - It looks slick.

    Windows is pretty darn ugly and clunky, SGI has overpriced software, Unix still has The Fonts from the Bottom of the Wastebasket, so where can she go?

    (I'd suggest she look into BeOS, but I'd bet she uses commercial illustration software that's not available there).

    D

    ----
  • >>I wonder how many women this question might alienate. Can we keep discussion a little more civil?

    This is not a concern to me. After becoming familiar with Nitrozak's work I believe that she has a very "guy-like" sense of humor and I think that this question will be taken in the appropriate context.

    BTW, have you forgotten where we are? On /. most of us are pretty thick skinned.

    LK
  • is another fine example of a comic strip no one loves. COME ON YOU JERKS PLEASE READ POKEY!!! So what do you think of POKEY THE PENGUIN? Isn't it great? Hoo-yah! Zoom! Yoinks! These action-words inspire you to visit this nice url and send money and love to the man!

  • Why don't you do something like "After Year 2010" or "After Year 2020", Or even "after WW3" ?

    Surely "After 2038" should be the next big one for all of us Linux people....

    The only problem is we need a catchy name for the problem so that people who don't know Unix can understand the importance of this. "The 32-bit time_t problem" is accurate but just doesn't have that certain something....

  • Um, at least Bambi and Dawn are both of African descent (see today's strip).

    The ancestry of the TTB's isn't mentioned in any of the strips. However, Nitrozac did mention a couple of them on the message board [geekculture.com].

    It's certainly not mentioned in today's strip, which involves Dawn and the geek looking at a fly.

  • Having read all of the After Y2K strips, I feel it couldn't possibly be the work of a woman. I have known many women geeks, but none of them could write stories with that kind of depth and tech humor. I don't want to sound sexist or stereotypical, however, it's just a feeling

    Let's see: You're making a generalization of the incapacity of women to be depthfully creative or have technical knowledge from only the 'women geeks' you know. It is (lamentably) a fact that there are typically fewer women than men in a technical/'geek' cultures, so I can reasonably guess that all the 'women geeks' you know isn't necessarily a terribly large group -- at least not large enough to make even a worthwhile statistical claim about the ability of women in general, and certainly not enough to back up the assertion that AY2K 'couldn't possibly be the work of a woman'.

    Your expressed view is not 'just a feeling', and does not merely sound 'sexist or stereotypical', it is a stereotype, it is unfair, and it is based on wholly incorrect reasoning.

    That being said, AY2K rocks, and continues to get better the more I read it. Keep up the good work, Nitrozac.

    ---Jason

  • Some people think they can identify gender by personality and start applying it to everyone on the Internet who clames to be female.
    This should end up with a lot of "false positives" and if you reverse it and apply it to guys you'll find all kinds of hidden ladys.
    "On the Internet no one knows your a Dog"
    This is very true... your on-line persona is a little diffrent from your RL personality and the on-line persona dose not reflect your gender, race, hight, apperence, or any of the other environmental trappings that usually effect your personality.
    Sadly economic status is amplifyed with expensive technology and tech egos.

    I rember meeting people I've meet on BBSes in RL at BBS partys and you'd be supprised how "male" some females on-line presona can be.
    Similerly you'd be supprised how "female" some guys on-line presona can be. In some cases so female they take to pretending to be female on occasion.

    As for Nitrozac hidding her face to keep from being identifyed as male... Illiad dosn't like HIS picture taken ether.
    It's a commen thing. People like to walk into a shopping mall and not have some random geek scream out "It's [insert name here]".
    It's also a tad ammount of being camra shy.
    If you move very fast you can screw up the shot.. advice for the camra shy when dealing with shutter bugs.
  • I find the amount of Linux loathing amoung Mac users to be about equal to the amount of Mac loathing amoung Linux users.

    Heres a question born out of this:
    Nitrozac.. Has anyone doupted your geekness becouse you use Mac?
  • It might be just me but it seems quite odd that the place where your comic is hosted is made with an Adobe product. This is mainly because it claims to be a geeky site. One would think that a geek site would at least write their own code, not to mention the choice of OS. Do you touch the design of the page where your strip is located or do you just upload the comic strip to someone who uses the WSIWYG type of editor?

  • bootz (Score:1)

    by nion ( 19898 )
    So, what's your favorite make of boot?
  • How does it feel to be slashdotted?

    Is there magic smoke coming out of the server yet?

    :)
  • Is that a dildo in the screenshot in the bottom located at:

    http://geekculture.com/geekycomics/Aftery2k/y2Ka rchives/042.html
  • Well, I can sympathize with the "stigma" and the feeling of having to prove oneself female. On the other hand, you have to admit that when you feature faceless photos of yourself wearing mid-calf black leather boots with stiletto heels (and blond hair that looks suspiciously wig-like) there are bound to be some questions raised. Hell, I am a female geek, and I simply can't imagine myself doing such a thing. For some reason, a person whose garments are furnished by Frederick's of Hollywood just doesn't seem genuinely geek-like to me. (On the other hand, I have been known to don black negligee`s and six-inch heels on occasion ;) But when I'm hacking, I dress for comfort.)

    The other factor that makes me suspicious is the drastic change in the artistic quality of the strip since its beginning. Granted that some of the characters are obviously rotoscoped (or something similar) from photographs. Compare first strip [after-y2k.com] to last Thursday [after-y2k.com]. Even the lettering has changed.

    I think it's certainly possible that Nitrozac is misleading readers WRT gender. OTOH, who really cares what sex she is? (Besides all those geeks with crushes on her. Sad. Deeply deeply sad.)

    I'd like to go out with you, but I need to defragment my hard drive.

  • If I recall, Nitrozac refers to the combination of Nitro Glycerin and Prozac. Something explosive combined with something soothing.

    Oxymoron? Yes. Intriguing? Yes, again.

    Where can I get a prescription filled?

  • her hair was in one strip.

    now the question...

    How long does it take you tp draw and animate a typical strip?
  • Well you should count email as internet. The WWW is only one part of the internet, email and other protocols are also part of the internet.
  • Where can we get T-shirt's like Fawn's "/. me" ??
  • don't you get sick of guys proposing to you, asking to see your pic, acting totally surprised that you are female, or even *refusing* to believe that?

    don't you get fed up with the stigma? when have you gotten the most frustrated with having to prove yourself?

    i, for one, get really tired of it.
  • As far as the proposals, etc., let me offer my views (being of the male persuasion, I guess I'm probably qualified).

    There are a couple factors coming into play, the first being a lack of social graces [slashdot.org].

    The second, at least in my experience, is the desire to meet someone who shares interests with one's self. "Geeks" tend to put a very high value on not only intellegence, but technical aptitude(sp?). Women in technology fields are rare. That, combined with problem one, makes for a pretty lame time for any women brave enough to venture into what is, sadly, a male dominated arena.

    In the past I tried very, very hard to meet someone who would know what the hell I was talking about when I told them what I was working on. I, for one, gave up and met a classics major. That way we can speak foreign languages at each other and it pretty much evens out. :)

  • Um, at least Bambi and Dawn are both of African descent (see today's strip). Or perhaps you've never mingled with people descended from different lineage than yourself? *smirk*

    And, of course, I get a great tan just driving to and from work. I'll bet those of us techno babes living in the Silicon Valley could get a great tan in the 1+ hours traffic each way on 101...

  • I happened to watch one of her programs on building a wooden desk/closet thingie for your PC.

    I hereby present various pieces of evidence that prove she is not a geek:

    Ladies and Gentlemen, please focus your attention on Exhibit A


    Exhibit A)
    ----------
    She had a total moron to talk about the technical stuff. Here's how the discussion went, after he placed the monitor on the desk:

    [ note - the "MS" that follows is not *that* MS]

    Act I, Scene I.
    ---------
    MS : So where do we place this? (pointing to the PC).

    Techno dude: This is the hard disk. We connect it to the monitor and place it under the desk here. (points to support board).

    Act I, Scene II
    -------------
    [...now they are discussing placing the PC in a closet, to hide the wires and stuff ]

    MS : So this is where we place the hard disk (pointing to the PC).

    Techno dude: That's right.
    ----------
    -- End of Martha Steward dialogue --

    She kept referring to the PC as "hard disk" so many times I quickly went through the stages of surprise, amusement, irritation, and activism (the last one being displayed here). And no geek would put a PC in a closed closet space, with such poor ventilation.

    Moving on.....

    Exhibit B)
    ----------

    Once again, I was flipping channels, and who should appear on the Martha Stewart show but a smiling Bill Gates.

    MS: So how many hours a day do you spend using the internet?

    Bill: (suddenly realising he'd look like a total nerd if he said "ten" or something like that) Oh, maybe around 3...
    ---
    And no reaction from MS. Anybody who follows news stories knows better. If she were a REAL geek, she'd nudge and wink, or maybe glare at him in disbelief, but no. It passed right by without she noticing.

    I rest my case (which is that while I'm not saying MS is evil, she is definitely not a geek).

    L.
  • The guys have something to drool over (the techno talking babes and Nitrozac herself!) Nitrozac has to give her female viewers something to enjoy occasionally.
  • So you're saying that females can't be geeks, and can't have any intelligence when it comes to technology? Pathetic.

    I don't know where you're looking in the radical hair style changes department, but IMHO it looks pretty consistent to me.

    I'm female. I can tell you that I wouldn't want my face showing up on the comic, and also showing bits of knees and bits of boots really pushes up the resident obsessive component of the geek male personality, which she seems to enjoy.
  • I wonder how many women this question might alienate. Can we keep discussion a little more civil?

    Hey Rob: Could you put a spel-cheker on this form???
    ____________________________
    Eric Walker
    Fort Collins, Colorado, U.S.
  • Why would you bother to post this, and under anonoymous coward too? Why not post your real email so you can get the attention you're looking for?

    Oh, I believe they have a place for creeps like you... it's called Segfault.org.

    Is there anyway a moderator can send this straight to Hell so Nitrozac never has to read this kind of garbage?

  • Perhaps those would be more to your liking... MR. BILL GATES!!! It's obviously you isn't it? Only Bill Gates, who is sooo bitter about being locked in the bathroom, would post such a comment.

    He made fun of anonymous coward... ha ha!
  • Ah, Ozzie and Millie...yet another three panel black and white strip... and you wonder why it's perhaps not "making" it on the Web?
    Nitrozac's work exploits the medium of the web to it's full potiential ... full color, animation,sound, non-standard layouts, polls with additonal comics, midi music, and she even used a form submit right in her comic one time!
    That and every day of the week.
    We love you Nitro!

  • I'm just *waiting* for the day when somebody dares to finish that line :->

    -- MarkWCats
  • Here's a mirror site after-y2k.com [after-y2k.com], if you're having trouble with the main site.
  • If you're having trouble getting to my main site today, I've posted up a mirror here [after-y2k.com]. Thanks!
  • Sorry, but...
    THE YEAR 2000 DO NOT EXIST!
    Yes, I'm sorry, but there is no life after December 31st, 1999...
    ...unless some specific human being meet another specific human being before the announced deadline, and together, they avoid it... but if they DON'T DO...
    .
    .
    .
    .
    .
    .
    .
    .
    Just kidding... :-)
  • And, of course, I get a great tan just driving to and from work. I'll bet those of us techno babes living in the Silicon Valley could get a great tan in the 1+ hours traffic each way on 101...


    Unfortunately, you tend to get the ever-popular one-sided tan unless you commute both ways at the same time of day... ;-)

    [TMB]
  • Knowing that the TTB all have multiple degrees in physics, mathematics, etc. Is this a point of self-reflection in these characters? Many inquirers seem to be preoccupied with whether or not the tight fitting T-shirts are self-reflective images (ok, I am a little too but I refuse to ask ;) but I am curious to the extents to which you've taken higher education in these areas?
    I suppose you could drop the name of the institution but I tend to be pretty quiet about name dropping myself...

    Oh yeah, there seem to be a lot of references to the aliens on your site so this fits: Do you do Seti@Home? Or do you think Terra is the only planet in the universe with sentient life?

    -Vel
  • Nitrozac-

    Will you confirm rumors that the Government is suppressing top secret genetic analysis showing the Y chromosome is the exclusive site of double standard DNA?
  • I applaud the attempts to further geek culture and humor, but I just didn't find "After Y2K" all that funny. I read the first 10 or so, plus the current comic, and I found it rather ill-conceived. Characters show up for no reason, and with no explanation. I bet it's quite funny to the author, but the rest of us have to guess just where everyone is coming from.

    I'll stick with User Friendly, thanks.
  • You are absolutely right; I used the words "couln't possibly" but that was too strong. English is not my first language, that's my only excuse (any other french canadians on /.?) It is also true that since there are few women geeks around, my 'feeling' was biased. However, I would NEVER say that women are less creative or have lesser technical abilities than men (at the risk of sounding inconsistent, I often believe it's the other way around, in fact, but don't get on my case for saying that too!).

    AY2K is excellent. Hope Nitrozac can keep us entertained forever (what a contract!), or at least until december 31st.
  • Having read all of the After Y2K strips, I feel it couldn't possibly be the work of a woman. I have known many women geeks, but none of them could write stories with that kind of depth and tech humor. I don't want to sound sexist or stereotypical, however, it's just a feeling. Of course I might be completely wrong, and if Nitrozac is really a woman, she would surely be a great person to meet! Geekdom definately needs more women like that.
  • What's in a name? Nitroglycerine and prozac. Nice combination of words. Poetic too. I'm sure Humpty Dumpty would come up with one interesting explanation for this "portmanteau" (sic) word (see chapter VI of Through the Looking Glass)...
  • So how did you get the idea (and motivation) to do this sort of thing? Now that it is getting more successful, I'd love to hear your thoughts on that success and where it is going to take you.


    -- Moondog
  • You gave a rundown on your hardware / software on the message board, but didn't answer the central question... You advocate for OSS / Linux, yet don't seem to use either. If you received a pre-configured donated box w/ Linux installed, would you give GIMP a try? If you liked it, I see here that linuxPPC has a new release =) (Not to mention, where's Wilbur?!?)
  • Who would win in a fight, you or Illiad? (and you have to do it in this universe, no fair using one of your own universes as a battle ground!)
  • Have you considered re-drawing some of the earlier characters, e.g. Geek, Dude, and Relic, to make them more consistant in style with the ones you are creating now? (I recall you updating Mel Gibson. If he deserves it, certainly the mains do too.)
  • Are you Canadian? (I became suspicious when Knowlton Nash appeared in the Sept.14 strip.)
  • First off I just have to say I love your toon. But then everyone with any sense of humour must right? Anyway here goes.... 1)As I am just now starting my first year of school(taking engineering)I am interested in what kind of formal education(if any) that one would need to have to do an online comic such as yours. 2)Do you have a full time job outside AY2K? And does it ever get in the way of creating the comic? (or vice versa) 3)Another posting asked about the possibility of you being a Canadian, and since I was going to ask about it anyway..... are you? 4)Last one. Your comic's time to start in the real world is just about here what are you gonna do when(if) nothing happens? Just contiue on or push into a new and twisted storyline? (Hey I know do a dallas take... have the geek wake up and find bill gates in HIS bathroon taking a shower.) Well i've taken up enough space here, gotta go. "The difference between genius and stupidity, is that genius has it's limits" Albert Einstein
  • Here's an example of a high-quality strip that's having trouble making it on the Web: http://www.ozyandmillie.com

    Why? Because it's absolutely not geeky (unless you count the character Stephan.

    So how about this question: "Should cartoonists not bother using the Web to promote their work unless they're willing to pander to geeks or have a geek-oriented strip? Sluggy Freelance, User Friendly, Kevin and Kell -- all have computing or high-tech integrated at some fundamental level."

    Oh yeah, and the Liberty Bell 7's on display. http://www.cosmo.org

    J.
    Damn a href tags STILL WON'T WORK

  • The techno talking babes appear to be very tan. How do they get the time to spend time inside with geeky things, like the endless hours at a computer keyboard?
  • Newsflash: Web cartoonist and artist known by the mysterious name of Nitrozac marries an entity known even more mysteriously as Anonymous Coward. The ceremony was conducted in utter secrecy, and the only picture that leaked out is one of a boot, allegedly Nitrozac's. Little is known about Anonymous Coward; some sources say that it could be a collective, or virtual entity. The Vatican was not available for comment on this strange wedding.
  • I must admit to being profoundly puzzled by your name. It sounds like it should mean something really odd ... am I right?

    D

    ----
  • What do you think of the Nitrozac Boot Squad [wgz.org]? Does it sometimes worry you having all these pale and pasty geeks with flabby bottoms with fetishes for your feet? (And knees, and hands, and hair)

    Do you get a lot of slack for running a Mac? Have you any plans to switch to Linux soon?

    Do you consider yourself a techno-talking babe? Where did you get the idea for the techno-talking babes, are they based on anyone you know, or did you just make them up?

    When are you going to have more comics of Linus Torvalds [geekculture.com] back on there? Mm..
  • As a female in a technical field, I'm curious how you handle being in a male-dominated field. I've dealt with many setbacks and much harassment, myself. (One job interview I actually got asked, "So, can you handle being in a group of guys?")
    What kind of obstacles have you encountered? Has it been easier or more difficult than you expected? How have you dealt with men who refuse to believe that a female could be such a cool geek?


    "During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I was riding the pogostick."

  • Love those boots (Score:3)

    by ptomblin ( 1378 ) <ptomblin@xcski.com> on Monday September 13, 1999 @02:32AM (#1686084) Homepage Journal
    Do we ever get to see more of you than just the boots? Not that I'm complaining about seeing the boots, mind.

  • ... (Score:3)

    by Signal 11 ( 7608 ) on Monday September 13, 1999 @02:03AM (#1686085)
    So which color pill did you take?

    --

  • if it's not too personal... (Score:3)

    by Beethoven ( 9076 ) on Monday September 13, 1999 @03:50AM (#1686086) Homepage
    Are you, in fact, female?

  • Who are you? (Score:3)

    by PhoboS ( 21600 ) on Monday September 13, 1999 @02:45AM (#1686087) Homepage

    Is it true that you are a 50 year old bald man who likes to wear black boots and a wig?
    Or what about the rumor that you have a relationship with Bill Gates, is that true? :=)

  • Two questions (Score:3)

    by HighwayStar ( 23834 ) on Monday September 13, 1999 @05:46AM (#1686088)
    #1) I noticed something kind of amusing...most of the geeks featured in the comic, including Linus and Malda, are featured in the comic as being - well, very buff and muscular. Now, I haven't seen any pictures of Rob, but I know Linus ain't that buff right now. Do you glamorize, even subconsciously, the physical beauty of the geeks that you seem to swoon for?

    #2) Will the comic continue after Y2K? :)

  • What with Y2K? (Score:3)

    by Enoch Root ( 57473 ) on Monday September 13, 1999 @03:07AM (#1686089)
    Hello Nitrozac. Love the comic.

    You've obviously created AY2K in reaction to the media hype surrounding the alleged "Y2K bug". Could you share your thoughts on the media phenomenon? What do you see in the Y2K stories circulating that inspires you to create this comic, and what impact do you think it has on the perception of geeks by others?

    "There is no surer way to ruin a good discussion than to contaminate it with the facts."

  • Techno-babes (Score:4)

    by Toast ( 3221 ) on Monday September 13, 1999 @03:45AM (#1686090) Homepage
    Nitrozac, I love AY2K.. I think it's probably the funniest web-comic I've seen to date (up there w/ Pokey the Penguin). Clearly you have quite a sense of humor. You also appear to be quite a geek (in the most positive sense of the word of course). And you have really bitchin' boots.

    My question is this: Where are all the other women out there like you? I have yet to meet a woman who could write "hello world", let alone a web-comic of such quality. If this were a hypothetical friday-night, and I wanted to meet someone w/ your qualities, where would I go, what would I do, and what in god's name would I say when I met you?

  • Just as the question asks ... it appears as if lots of your 'guest actors', meaning the famous people, Like Hemos and CmdrTaco, are taken directly from well known pictures of them, then drawn over to create a cartoon effect.

    Known as rotoscoping in the cartoon business, it is how the infamous Lord of the Rings movie was made.

    So I am curious if in fact this IS what you do, or if you are cleverly disguising your original drawings to LOOK like well known pictures ... (Ah hah!)

    The auxillary question if this is true, is what characters ARN'T ... there are a few obvious ones, such as Relic and the main guy ... but for example, what about the Techno-talking babes?

  • Martha Stewart - Geek! (Score:4)

    by trichard ( 28185 ) on Monday September 13, 1999 @02:35AM (#1686092)
    Nitrozac:

    First let me say that I'm a big fan of AY2K.

    I have it on good authority that while Martha Stewart may be a long way from a geek, she does own a very high-end IBM RS6000 SP cluster running IBM's AIX flavor of UNIX. I believe that it's for data warehousing/mining but it COULD be developing strategies (a la IBM's Deep Blue) for domination of the geek world.

    Of all the celebrities that you send up in AY2K, (Are Rob and Jeff celebrities yet?) have any responded in a negative way? Conversely, have any responded in a fashion more positive that what you would've expected?

    Also,like many others I'm sure, I'd love to see the face above the boots. Or will "comic strip realities collapse" if your face goes on-line? The Mac SE/Kid-Pix self portrat just didn't cut it.

    Thanks for all of the great work. Keep it up!

  • What tools do you use? (Score:4)

    by Valdrax ( 32670 ) on Monday September 13, 1999 @02:27AM (#1686093)
    I'm curious what software, hardware, drawing tools, etc. you use to make the series -- especially the episodes with animated effects.

  • Some questions (Score:4)

    by anticypher ( 48312 ) <<moc.liamg> <ta> <rehpycitna>> on Monday September 13, 1999 @03:15AM (#1686094) Homepage
    Hi Nitrozac,

    Which of the current geek-cult heroes that you draw into your strip have you met in person? Did they know at the time you were Nitrozac? Did you take their picture or just find the photos on the web?

    Is Relic or Dude based on anyone you know?

    Will the aliens ever reveal themselves to you, and will you press charges or just giggle?

    How long in advance do you draw your strip, and how long does it take to complete each one?

    What is your day job like?

    There, one of those should make it.
    the AC

  • Suggestions for the rest of us? (Score:4)

    by Wohali ( 57372 ) on Monday September 13, 1999 @02:55AM (#1686095) Homepage
    Hey there Nitrozac,

    After completing umpteen years of higher education and receiving a couple of degrees, I've found myself sorely wanting more out of life than spending 18 hours writing Java or C code each day. It's already been bad enough struggling to prove that a woman can code circles around her male counterparts ... and now it's just becoming tiresome. You, on the other hand, have obviously broken out of the mold and found a place for yourself with your strip.

    People always ask that stupid question, "What advice do you have for people starting in field x, y, or z?" Rather than bore you with that, I want to know: What can I do to build my self-confidence enough to try and strike out on my own? What helped you get through the nervousness that you'd be perenially broke, sitting day after day, waiting for that "big break?" I find that's the biggest block to me leaving my current job (which pays very well, thank you very much) and trying to do something that I'll truly enjoy.

    I know that, one day, I won't be coding this shit anymore, and that I'll move on to something more meaningful. Help me understand what I can do to quell my logical side for just those few nanoseconds so that I can break free of the corporate culture.

    Wohali

  • A question of preferences (Score:4)

    by Tau Zero ( 75868 ) on Monday September 13, 1999 @04:38AM (#1686096) Journal
    Which would you like to be:
    1. One of the techno-talking babes (which one?), or:
    2. Someone with her boot on the real Bill Gates?

  • Agent of Alien invasion ? (Score:4)

    by Thomas Miconi ( 85282 ) on Monday September 13, 1999 @02:35AM (#1686097)
    My question comes in three parts :

    1) Are you an Alien agent sent to earth in preparation of a global invasion of planet Earth ?


    2) In case you are, what are the steps to follow if I want to apply for special (ie favour) treatment when the invasion actually happens ?


    3) If the answer to the last question involves boots or leather shoes, are Berlutti's OK ?



    Thomas Miconi
    karma Police - enforcing peace of mind by all possible means.

  • After January 1st? (Score:5)

    by Ed Avis ( 5917 ) <ed@membled.com> on Monday September 13, 1999 @02:09AM (#1686098) Homepage
    What will you do when Y2k happens in 'real life'? Will the comic continue 'as if nothing had happened'? Or maybe After Y2K is an accurate prediction of the future 8-)

    It has always been a problem with sci-fi that the dates chosen tend to be far too close, so we 'overrun' them quickly. But less than 4 months away is ridiculous!

    BTW, today, 1999 September 13th, is the day when the Moon was knocked out of Earth's orbit in Space: 1999. There are still a few hours left for it to happen...

  • Creativity and Self-Referential Comics (Score:5)

    by chromatic ( 9471 ) on Monday September 13, 1999 @02:40AM (#1686099) Homepage

    Two questions:

    1. You're one of the few comic artists I've seen taking advantage of some of the peculiarities of the Web (animation, polls, integrating various quasi-real life happenings into your storyline on occasion -- see last week's Archives for details). Do you think others will follow suit?

    2. Along the same lines, do you think the self-referentialism in After Y2K has been a difficult line to walk, creatively? Is there a balance you've reached between telling a good and funny story and what some may consider a bit of self-indulgence?

    Thanks for the laughs!

    --
    QDMerge [rmci.net] 0.21!

  • Question (Score:5)

    by Lord Kano ( 13027 ) on Monday September 13, 1999 @02:29AM (#1686100) Homepage Journal
    Nitrozak, you being a woman and of the 90's and a geek we know that we can trust you to answer truthfully.

    So please tell us, once and for all, does size matter?

    LK

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