Main Page Revamp

For those of you who stop by to James-Gannon.com regularly... oh wait, my psychiatrist warned me about talking to imaginary people. Let me start again... for those of you who accidentally stumble upon my my art gallery's tribute exhibit during your Google image searches for Shadow the Hedgehog pictures, I have made a few changes to my site, each with varying degrees of importance.

The first and most major change is obvious as soon as you click that link I created in the first paragraph. The buttons I created to lead you to each page are gone, instead replaced with a table that shows a text link with the last two updates (three at first) to that particular page directly to its right. Before, I had a bunch of graphics huddled together, with a long list of updates piling up beneath them. I wasn't too sure if everyone would have noticed or paid any attention to them upon visiting my site for the first time, this time you have no excuse. Keeps the front page clean too, instead of having a large listing of updates dating all the way back to early 2007. This sort of reminds me of my days using AOL Press in the mid-90's when I had a similar setup for my role-play wrestling game. I wasn't just a wrestler, I was also a promoter. BACK TO THE PRESENT. For cosmetic purposes, I added yet another Lady Demon original graphic for the background. The cold, icy strip beside a stone gray layout fits the atmosphere of my site perfectly. I remember before I even created this site two years ago, the first thing I envisioned for main page navigation were hand drawn buttons. Yep, it was good for a while, but then I mulled it over recently and decided that the way it is now would be much more convenient.

As for those drawings I "scrapped", they will now be resized and utilized as decorations elsewhere in the site. I've already placed the tombstone used as the button for The Epitaph on the blog itself. As a matter of fact, most of the graphics will be placed on the pages they were originally created to lead you to. But first I will rescan them so I can have them appear bigger. But I'm not going to waste my time clearing out the dead space around them this time, I only have MS Paint to edit pictures with.

Second update: new site-wide navigational system. I figured if all page links were accessible from whatever part of the side you were on (except when viewing the web comic or blog) it would encourage visitors who enter from one page to give others a look as well. I've noticed that very few outsiders discover my site from the main page, and their stays are not long ones. I guess that single home link I would place on the bottom of every page wasn't up to task. Sorry little mausoleum graphic, you're getting a job transfer.

Minor third update. I put in dividers on my art gallery and cast pages. The images there started to collapse on each other and get mixed up with different texts. The dividers help separate and keep them in line.

Fourth and most insignificant update. I didn't like the idea of having the word "gallery" used twice in the art section of my site. The whole thing is called the "Art Gallery", then there was a subsection called "Tributes Gallery". So I subbed the second word for a new one. I already used Wing and Collection, and what other word could be used to describe a part of an art museum? Exhibit, you fools! That's why I'm a writer and you're not! What works have I had published, you ask? Okay, I'll shut up.

And that's just the way it is.

The Brotherhood

Let's spend a little time talking about a man of greatness. A man of humor. A man of art. A man noble enough to know winning isn't everything and when to call a truce for the betterment of all. His name? James Gannon. This is his story.

The first submission to my web site's Official Listing of James Gannons was e-mailed to me on behalf of his friend Daniel Ryan. He describes James as "idiosyncratic, funny, and can be and a prince of a guy." He's an artist from New York. Dan tells me James is a renaissance man. An artist, thank God. Clearly a credit to J.G.s everywhere. On behalf of James Gannons worldwide, whether they be in America or Ireland... welcome.

This blog entry is pretty much over. Don't bother reading the rest. Trust me, I know what's coming. (The author of this blog would like to warn you that he is about to ramble about a topic of interest to nobody.)



A little known fact (because I haven't told anyone) is that I only started the listing because an unknown entity owned the web domain jamesgannon.com. From 1996 all the way to 2006 when I finally registered my own site at james-gannon.com, it was owned by a mysterious someone who did absolutely nothing with his domain during that time. Today, it's owned by a real estate agent. Maybe some day, Mr. Jim Gannon of Schiller Real Estate may join my prestigious list. Or I may exclude him out of spite. No... I don't want to seem racist against my own people. The James Gannon race. But wait, he clearly identifies himself as "Jim" Gannon, so I can leave him out. But "Jim" is a variation of "James", isn't it?

The original directory of people whom I shared my name with was tucked away on the bottom of my bio page. I also decided to just call it the "Listing" instead of "Rankings", because I don't want a war to erupt amongst us. So I'll just list them as I find them. But I'm also putting myself on the top of the list. Why?

Scroll down lower and I'll tell you.
















Because it's my site, damn it. What started merely as a gag could have some good potential. James Gannons are not just members of society. We ARE society.

And that's just the way it is.

Welcome To BlogSpot

I’ve decided to move my web blog to this more well-known service called Blogspot. You know, where you’re viewing this now.

The second and third snows of the season have fallen this morning and this evening respectively. The early flakes dissipated pretty quick, but looks like I’ll be scraping off the late-comers tomorrow morning.

I got rid of my Tag-Board only page and stuck it onto a brand new page with my brand new Frappr map. For those not in the know, a Frappr map is a satellite generated view of the world, and people can pinpoint their location on it. Sort of like saying “Jed was here”, but on a much grander scale. I’ve had it for about a week, and already got visitors from South Dakota, Kansas, Philadelphia (thank you spell check), and even as far away as Israel. And three people as close as Providence. I don’t even know anyone in Providence anymore. But for the love of Bob Ross, could people start leaving more info about themselves besides the general area where they reside?

Today’s Survival Tip: Don’t drink egg nog 13 days past its expiration date. Trust me on this one. Those little chunks? Not ice.

One final note, congratulations to my best friend Jarrod Cappelli, who found out he and his sweetie Tarah are going to be parents. I tried to get him to hold back his sexual urges until after marriage, I swear.

And that’s just the way it is.

MySpace Celebs

Originally posted May 13, 2006

I added a few legit celebrity profiles to my Friends Space on Myspace during the past week, and today I decided to deliver comments to all of them. When I did so on Eminem's, I started getting friend requests from unknown rappers. One of their profile pictures had the guy flipping its viewer off. Why the hell would I want to be your friend if you're telling me to go fuck myself? Why would I want to be your friend anyway? Are you saying "If you like Eminem, you'll love Jay-Vee?" No. You're not Eminem. You're not even Dr. Seuss. A third friend request was from a girl named Natalie who made a profile TODAY. And it was filled with about 70 Eminem fans. She requested that you AIM her at a certain name, and I checked the profile of said name and it said "oscSock version 1.2 beta". I did some research and determined that it's a code that can really screw up your messenger service. As a matter of fact, I believe I got similair looking friend requests from profiles resembling hers. You mean all those pretty blond girls DON'T want to be my friend? I prefer brunettes a tiny degree more anyway. Nothing against blondes and redheads, I'm not shallow enough to judge based on hair color.

James Gannon Trivia: The last three women I had a strong interest in were blondes who dyed their hair black.

An excerpt from Elvira's Myspace bulletin, in regards to her attending Gay Pride Events to raise awareness: "With those boys, I can't seem to raise anything else!" That's fucking GOLD. But why does there have to be gay awareness events? I'm well aware of gay people.

Today at work (the place where I'm not writing or drawing) I bumped into someone from high school (I graduated in '99). He's married now and has a government job driving a truck in the construction field. His face hasn't changed a bit, and I immediately recognized him. But he was the one who noticed me first, and I'm surprised that he could tell who I was considering I dropped about twenty-one pounds since we last saw each other. He's married, and I can tell he matured. Why do I say that? Because he treated me like ABSOLUTE SHIT in school and he was very polite this time around. If everyone else I knew from school changed like him, I may go to the High School Reunion after all.

I added a new button and page to James-Gannon.com. I originally had an About page when I first started, but pulled it because I didn't think it was needed. But then I decided that, instead of having newcomers dip into every page to find out what everything is about, I'd give them a place to start which explains everything regarding my career, my work, and the site itself. Then there's the News page, because I thought taking the news off the main page would make it look better. When devising a button for it, I wanted it to feature another one of my characters. So I chose one of the major villains from my series, Judas Champion. Judas is Callous' arch-nemesis and is going to be featured prominately in my current project, The Devil's Hand. The button depicts Judas on the front page of Idle's newspaper's Sports section. The photo's caption reads "Idle's Judas Champion Wins Karate Tourney".

Last night's Brain Age: 31
Current Brain Age: 27

And that's just the way it is...

Why Keep A Blog?

Originally posted May 8, 2006

Welcome to the beginning of the personal blog of James Gannon, a little something I like to call "The Epitaph". The content of this blog isn't political commentary or general world news. Rather, it will contain thoughts I have and various going-ons in my life. I will also elaborate more on news bits I post.

I used to keep blogs off and on long before I established an official domain name, but they were usually short lived. Not knowing exactly what to talk about, it came to me that most people won't want to know what I had for lunch. Because of this, don't expect a new blog entry every day. I'll try at least a couple times a week if I'm not ready to drop from fatigue by the time it comes to write them. I will also throw in a bunch of short, random comments that I hope might make you chuckle a bit, or at least not make you roll your eyes back in your head too far. Whether I'm forming a novel or typing a blog entry, my main goal is to entertain you.

I guess a major reason that I decided to commit to this... commitment... is from what I read in a book about writing. Even though my stories are going to be the bread and butter of my career (I just made myself hungry) it appears that the writer himself is important in selling the book. By that, I don't mean I'll throw a bunch of copies of my literature into the trunk of my car and try to sell them to every person on the sidewalk. I mean that I will have to use my charisma to catch the attention of an audience so I can promote my book to them. And if anyone knows me, they know I have virtually no charisma. But that should work in my favor, as this writer's attitude matches his writings. Serious, but with hints of humor thrown in. This blog will be an online extension of my character.

I also have to restrain myself a bit on various topics, because there are certain subjects that people just can't stand hearing a different viewpoint on. This goes especially true for topics such as politics, religion, and oddly enough, sports. But if there is something I feel strongly about, I will comment on it. Hopefully my regular readers will agree with me and not go insane with the hate mail trying to sway my opinion to their side by questioning my sexuality and making inaccurate accusations about my mother with inaccurate accusations. Don't worry, I know who I am. I am a writer, on my writing web site, writing on my writing blog. I will keep things mostly in tune to my career and try not to stray too far off the beaten path.

Finally, I read a very short, useful, and to-the-point piece of advice in the same writing book I mentioned before: "Writers write". Blogging every once in a while will hopefully improve my skills in the long run.

And that is my explanation for keeping a blog. Just remember that no one is forcing you to read it, and if you choose to, I hope you enjoy it.

And that's just the way it is.