I still find myself thinking about Louie a lot. I’m trying to stay productive through the feels. This has resulted in an increased artwork output of Louie themed designs. Art can be so therapeutic. I’ve been posting a lot of it on FB and Insta lately because it’s nice to share and I don’t think I’ll be using it for any other purpose. I just like it existing.

I think with time my heart is healing but the main thing that gets me now is when I bump into Louie’s old friends around town. Or sometimes my old friends. The lady at my sandwich shop I go most mornings asked where my little friend had been. I had to explain an abbreviated version and even with our slight language barrier, her mood just dropped completely and she quietly said “sorry” before I headed off.

The very worst one of those sitches happened to me this week. I was on my way for a meeting, and realised I forgot my laptop. So went back home and as I opened the door my two new pups Flash and Felix bolted out. Turns out I forgot to properly close the makeshift barrier in the living room. So I ran out after them (we live near a main road) and got lil’ felix first because he’s like 1.5kg and then using some Snake stealth slowly got to flash who’s much more of a wildcard. We locked eyes, and for the first time in my whole life I showed a reaction time faster than 3 minutes and caught him on the ground. It reminded me a lot of that mario 64 sequence where you have to catch that rabbit who stole your hat or whatever.

As I stood up with them both in hand, in front of me was no other than Notty, Louie’s best friend who is a pug Louie was deeply in love with (Not even joking). Whenever they met up it was this whole scene of them rolling around and zooming and licking and Louie squeaking. Louie never did it with any other dog. I legit think they were gay lovers. Which was dope.

Anyway, I hadn’t seen him or his parents in months and was now carrying two new papillon puppies so had to introduce them, and at the same time explain what happened to Louie and his passing. Their parents then looked down, and slowly told Notty “you won’t be able to see your friend Louie anymore” and Notty kept shuffling about. I couldn’t help but feel grateful about how dogs absorb that sort of information. I wish I could do that sometimes.

Anyway I rushed back inside, secured the dogs again, and cancelled my meeting. Self care.

– Warwick

Hello Games has graced us with the greatest game of the year (read: life), with
their immaculate genre bending game “Big Chungus”. What is there to say about
this gaming experience that hasn’t already been said by other publications?
What really drives “Big Chungus” in a different direction to other games is the way
the devs have managed to blend the RPG elements, fighting mechanics and the
intuitive yet difficult to master racing scenarios. So you can imagine Cecil’s
excitement when he got the opportunity to test out the updated Humongous
Chungus deluxe edition.  Which is currently available here.

This updated version includes not only the two bonus characters (watch out for
Stretched Out Garfield’s finisher) but also boasts an expanded cut of the raunchy
story plus side quests that give the player a chance to try out the new characters.
The soundtrack has also been subject to a few change ups, with several new tracks
breaking into the scene.

Obviously we can’t get too far into the review without revealing one of the many
jaw dropping, belly sloshing laugh moments or the tear stealing emotional scenes
so we will just skip straight to the review.

Pros:
– Balanced combat system with enemies that become increasingly difficult as
Chungus levels up.
– Players feel genuinely rewarded as they unlock bonus characters, content and
easter eggs.
– That Dio cameo.
– Soundtrack is well orchestrated to reflect the mood of the levels and CGs.
– Special moves have doubled in number.
– The Lonely Kids Club shirt that arrived with our copy fit perfectly.

Cons:
– Minor bugs, nothing game breaking at least.
– Tutorial went on for too long, though this is to expected to learn the diverse and
expansive mechanics.
– The underwater levels dragged on too long.
– Not enough hat options.

All in all, a very fun gaming experience that will keep you entertained for a long
time with how replayable it is.

9.6/10.

– Dylan Lewellin

This is a design I made with a dude in the UK over email about 8 years ago when I still had a hotmail address:

At the time I was copping with so much heat because I was in the process of dropping out of uni to launch this clothing brand. I was getting told by many people what a mistake it was and how I’d end up on the street so I decided to channel those feels into a design.

It still resonates with me a lot, and part of me feels like whenever anyone takes a chance or risk on something that strays from the usual path, sometimes the response is of negativity rather than support. And I think that comes from a place of fear. But never let anyone else’s thoughts on what you’re doing hinder you pursing your dreams. Trust yourself. You’ll probs end up regretting not trying a lot more than if you do try and it doesn’t work out, which you learn and grow from.

As I wrote back to the first piece of hate mail I received when I tried contacting boutiques to stock my clothing:  “haters gonna hate.” 

–  Warwick

I used to go to these internet cafes every weekend with a friend and play games instead of studying or having real social interactions with other people. I was hella into Counter Strike and Warcraft / DOTA. I sucked tho. Anyway while I was in that hood I saw a printing place that let you make your own tees. So first thing I did was get a green tee from Target and print “ZOMG WTF?!?!1” and it became a whole conversation point for me. For anyone under 25 I swear it used to be a whole thing. I’m fkn old.

So I kept printing more weird things on target tees but didn’t think they were very good so started buying tees from weird obscure websites to sort of make it my vibe. It made me feel more comfortable around other people I think. It also got me really into the idea of making my own clothes and after a bit of research I found those print-your-own-tee sites and started making strange band t-shirts for my music project that no one knew existed to give out / sell to people.

PS I found a photo of me wearing the tee on Myspace lmao:

(We were called Huge Spider Pirates)

– Warwick

I was with my friend Hugh last night and we were walking past an outdoor training area, so I told him I could do a chin up. In hindsight I have no idea why, I had nothing to prove at the time, but hey I got cocky. Anyway that all turned to shit when I got to the bars and tried pulling. I realised that contrary to my earlier belief, I can not do a chin-up. At all. I think i’ve been doing chin-ups on a half-height this whole time. Who knew (not me, evidently).

I tried rocking back and fourth to gain momentum like I had seen playing Donkey Kong Country as a child, but this did not work well. To make it worse, I also interrupted some dude’s work-out routine to do this failed chin-up, and swing around for a bit. As I got down said it was because the bar was too high, and everyone laughed, so you know, that part of it was a win.

– Warwick

My original idea with creating my own fabric textiles was to craft them all into one continuous story, which played out range by range. The first of these fabrics being Sloths In Space, where the sloths were lost in space looking for Cecil.

I couldn’t come up with a follow up design I was happy with, so I shelved the idea. Years later, I’ve been working with Oleg a lot on stuff like the Varsity Jackets, so I threw the concept his way, and we finally came up with the next part of the sloth story: Floating back down to earth from space via parachutes & balloons.

I’m really into ASMR which is this thing where sounds or people talking quietly makes you feel all tingly and nice. I never watched Youtube videos of it or anything, I just did this naturally for years before I realised what it was. I had an epiphany about it the other day. Sometimes, when people are talking quietly, I’ll slowly lift up an object like a ruler or pen and start rubbing it up and down my back or arm. Even worse, I won’t even mention it to whoever I’m talking to, I’ll just start rubbing weird objects against myself throughout the conversation in the most nonchalant way possible. No one has ever noticed or said anything but I’ll just call a space of spaces that I’m a weirdo. It started at a young age. I think I was one of those kids in preschool who would rub themselves against random objects like corners of tables until uncomfortable teachers yelled “oi!” at us. so like, this is who I am. I’m okay with it.

– Warwick

I just had the most passive aggressive fight with my neighbours. They kept drilling really loudly into a common wall. It was so loud Louie had his feathers in a huff. I mean fur. Whatever. So I got Louie’s tennis ball and starting bouncing it as loudly as I could on our tiled floor. This caused the drilling to stop. We had three or four rounds of them trying again and then me bouncing the ball again but finally it now seems to have come to an end. I know Tools Down on The Block isn’t until 6PM, but sometimes you gotta break the rules. Louie was completely losing his shit the whole time jumping around everywhere in a frenzy with the ball. He’s sleeping now. I think he was the real winner here.

– Warwick