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mr-johnson22
Newgrounds rox.

Age 31, Male

Software Engineer

Canada

Joined on 7/16/05

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mr-johnson22's News

Posted by mr-johnson22 - August 6th, 2023


...was really something, wasn't it? :D


It was also a week ago, so it's about time I wrote something before the moment passes!


Well, where to start...I guess the best preface to this is to say that I've been on Newgrounds for a long time, but mainly from the outside looking in. The creativity and talent that people have showcased here has always inspired me, and has been something I've wanted to take part in as well -- but it turns out that making good stuff is pretty hard! Since I had initially envisioned myself as engaging with NG primarily by submitting (pardon the term) "content" and being one of the cool kids, but haven't been able to live up to that self-imposed expectation, I've reserved myself to mostly lurking (with a few exceptions that I'm immensely grateful for) and have quietly carried that out in a fairly self-defeating way. This hasn't detracted from my desire to take part in the community somehow, but left me feeling unsure of how to make that happen.


So imagine my delight when the Toronto meetup was announced last summer. As I live in the GTA (i.e. the Greater Toronto Area, which is another way of saying that I live in Toronto without actually living in Toronto), this was right up my alley (almost literally so) & felt like the perfect opportunity to turn my wistful yearning over getting involved with NG into something a tad more concrete. Alas, I didn't end up going due to a few personal reasons, but the fact that it happened at all was good enough for me. Besides, the positive turnout it had had gave me confidence that it would happen again...which it did! And this time there were no excuses, so I indeed attended, and what an experience it was.


With all that out of the way, I'll finally talk about that darned meetup!!




The day started off strong: at the very beginning of the subway trip down to the park, I just so happened to bump into some fellow meetup attendees: @vhsdreamland, and a friend of hers who doesn't have a NG account (boo!!!) and whose name escapes me (sorry!!)! We spent the ride down talking about our varied interactions with Newgrounds, reminiscing over the stuff we saw on there as kids that we probably shouldn't have (despite being from different generations -- some experiences truly are universal), and chatting about life in general. And V (hope it's fine if I call her that) was kind enough to share some comic prints of hers, and one of @Pahgawk's stickers that she had printed!


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Some silly Madness comics by @vhsdreamland. Left is an instance of this Powerpuff Girls comic meme that she introduced me to.


Upon arriving at Christie Station, I felt a warm fuzzy feeling as we approached the meetup crowd -- this was real! We parted ways to go mingle, but not before being greeted by @Snackers who handed us name tags for us to fill. Maybe this is a bit silly, but as nice as it was to put a face to the name of someone whose work I was familiar with, it was made even better by getting a name tag from him! That name tags were being handed out at all felt incredibly cozy, as it cemented this as an event where people who had never met each other wanted to get to know each other (not to mention it being a large enough event for name tags to be warranted at all), and made it feel like everyone was on the same wavelength (more on that later).


Shortly afterwards, I saw some sketchbook swaps happening, and eagerly joined in. I'm regrettably not much of an artist, so I just stamped my self-indulgent signature in a few victims' books, but that didn't deter them from sharing their art in mine, which was heartwarming to say the least :) Perhaps the best way to thank everyone who graced my sketchbook with their talents throughout the day is to share their work here, so behold:


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Sketches by @Gatchakoi and @Snackers, featuring their hit characters Some Guy and (presumably) Some Other Guy. I have just enough of an ego to think that SOG looks like me.


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Sketches by @vhsdreamland and @POSTBOY, the latter of whom I bonded with over our common mourning of cel animation.


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Sketches by @Maskscot, who made the most of my Sharpie to render Shin-chan's rugged brows.


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A STICKMEN 2020-esque alien hominid by @TomFulp, and a rude Sonic by someone with an appealing yet illegible signature. Former drawn at the park; latter at the theatre in the seat in front of me.


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Above: @ninjamuffin99 & his GF teamed up for the mesmerizing work of art that appears before you. Below: a feral Brian Griffin by an anonymous contributor (claimants welcome). Both drawn outside the bar next to the theatre after nightfall.


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@kmishama's profile pic OC, who appears to be mad that she's flying. Drawn outside the bar before I headed back home.


Not only were there sketches and name tags, but people were also sharing custom swag they made for the event! It was really such a beautiful sight to see that so many people were eager to make & share stuff with everyone...in a sense, it was the spirit of Newgrounds made corporeal.


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Lovingly-crafted stickers by the NG community, and just-as-lovingly-crafted FNF merch designed by @mogy64 & produced by @Coby.


Between the sketches & swag, the shock of meeting so many people with whom I've had light parasocial relationships with, and the general awkwardness of not really knowing anybody who was there, I'll admit that I didn't know what to do with myself for a bit...! Part of what made that time in the park feel strange & almost like an out-of-body experience was that the common binding interest behind everyone being there -- our appreciation of art, media, entertainment, and some weird website in particular -- is something that I've always engaged with as an "online" activity, compartmentalized from other aspects of myself (I use an alias on here after all, and I'm sure plenty others do too). I've been to other "geeky" events before, like anime conventions, gaming tournaments, and comic expos, but this meetup hit totally different given how personal NG has been to me, and how strong of a community the NG crowd was proving itself to be before my very eyes. I guess the shock came from seeing that what I've always treated as a cerebral & introverted hobby has a much more "real" side to it, and that I've perhaps gone about wanting to be part of the NG community all wrong: it's not about any individual, but about everyone lifting each other up & celebrating each other.


...but enough introspection; here are some amusing highlights from the park!


  • @Droid gave me possibly the hardiest handshake I've ever received while I slowly worked out that he was not, in fact, @ninjamuffin99.
  • I got to meet @TomFulp, who prior to this meetup was someone I had never thought I'd cross paths with. He's as much of a chill & genuine guy as he's cracked up to be. We and others nearby chatted about NG history (go figure), web technology, game development, 9/11, you name it.
  • On the way to the theatre, I had a nice chat with @Luis about NG history (go figure x2 combo), the indie animation & game scene, life experiences, and all that jazz. Also as chill and genuine of a person as I'd been led to believe. I couldn't have asked for a better walk to the theatre.
  • Plus, I got to show off my STICKMEN 2020 shirt, which I won't stop feeling good about having won in the 2020 Block Party raffle (and which I'll never stop telling people about either). @Wandaboy got so much of a kick out of it that he sent a photo of it to @wavetro himself!


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The line to the theatre beginning to form. Was hard to imagine that not even a half hour earlier it was drizzling!


Of course, the theatre experience was absolutely amazing. Just watch the playlist and imagine it on the big screen, with an audience that really digs it. Cam (I hope he doesn't mind me calling him that; it's much easier to type than his handle) picked a stellar bunch of toons to showcase the immense talent, personality, variety, and (range of) quality one can expect to find on Newgrounds.


And if that's not enough, the post-theatre bar experience also happened, despite the logistical nightmare of hosting several dozen people under one roof! Here is where I finally got to say hi to Cam in person, whom (contrary to my musings about parasocial relationships earlier) I had in fact interacted with before the event, way back in 2019 when pestering him to merge my Github PRs for his stinky Discord bot FulpTron. I also met @Pahgawk whose NATA toons I had seen years ago, along with another NG user (whose handle I regrettably did not obtain) who was accompanied by family that was curious to learn about Newgrounds history & was blown away by the quality showcased at the screening.


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The evening crowd at the bar, Hapa Izakaya, shortly before I head back home. It was popping all throughout the night, and the venue itself was great -- check it out next time you're on College & Clinton!


Finally, near the end of the night, I met @kmishama and, among some other topics, chatted about what we thought of the day. As I was still very much overstimulated, I told her that I felt that just one day wasn't enough to contain all the excitement to be had, and that maybe someday there'd be room for a whole Newgrounds convention, to give big players time to tell their stories, what they've been up to, and such. But then she said something that really made not only the meetup click for me, but all of what Newgrounds stands for: the magic of the meetup was how it was very much an egalitarian experience, with no chosen ones up on a podium delivering panels, but instead a group of like-minded individuals enjoying each other's company. And that is quite possibly the best way to sum up the event. Just consider the fact that an onlooker would be hard-pressed to tell apart the very founder of the site that started all this from the rest of the crowd...! All this made me realize the true spirit of Newgrounds is: not a race to the top; not a platform for winner-take-all competition; not a division between stars and admirers; but an honest-to-goodness community of flesh-and-blood people who just like good shit, want to see more of it, may want to make some of it, and celebrate those who do. This is a lesson I intend to take to heart, somehow.


...and it goes without saying, but thank you @ninjamuffin99 for making this a thing!!!


With all that said, now I can finally read other people's recap posts without feeling self-conscious about not having written one myself!




CHANGELOG

  • 1.0.0 - Initial version.
  • 1.0.1 - Added missing formatting to a link.
  • 1.1.0 - Corrected attribution of the FNF pin; added some more photos; improved formatting.

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Posted by mr-johnson22 - December 27th, 2022



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Posted by mr-johnson22 - December 27th, 2021


Entering the last year of my 20s...time to make it count 💪


Posted by mr-johnson22 - December 22nd, 2021


Went a bit out of my comfort zone & decided to join this year's Secret Santa art trade, especially since I finally have the time (and a much more quiet Christmas holiday than usual, unsurprisingly) & therefore no excuses not to do it!


Just finished my piece last night--it's funny how little my drawing technique has changed in the past decade, which shouldn't come as a surprise since I haven't really done much more than doodle (but I LOVE to doodle). So part of the fun was finding the best way to upgrade doodles into something more presentable. The process I settled on (don't laugh!) was to sketch with pencil & paper, take a photo of it, and trace & embellish it in Flash...but for the first time ever, I got the feeling that Flash may...not be the best tool for everything??


In the end, I feel an odd mix of pride & shamewith what I drew; I'm ultimately satisfied with it (and I certainly hope its recipient will be happy with it too ^_^), but I just know I'll look back on this and cringe. On the other hand, the good thing about being a novice is that there's nowhere to go but up :)


Hope all SS participants enjoy their upcoming gifts!! And thanks again to @Xinxinix & co for putting this together--it's certainly no small feat!


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Posted by mr-johnson22 - October 7th, 2021


(See part 1 here)


The Newgrounds Matrix adVancement Server is still up & running, now with some extra functionality!

  • Rooms are now open to users from other Matrix servers! (To be honest, it should have been that way from the start...) Simply start a DM with @w-bot:ngmvs.one, and it will let you log in to the MVS via Newgrounds Passport.
  • Chat rooms for Newgrounds submissions are now much more easily accessible, thanks to the Newgrounds MVSX browser extension (Firefox-only for now). With it installed, visiting a Newgrounds movie/game submission page will put a button in your URL bar that sends you to the Matrix room for that submission. (Left-click to view via app.ngmvs.one, or right-click to view with a Matrix client of your choice.)


Chat rooms for audio & art portal submissions are next on the list!


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Posted by mr-johnson22 - September 7th, 2021


No, not that Matrix; this one: an open, federated, cross-platform, encryptable, and self-hostable chat protocol!


TL;DR: Visit the Newgrounds Matrix adVancement Server!!


In essence, it can be thought of as an independently-run Discord server--and on an actual server, no less. It runs on the Matrix protocol, which is highly extensible and allows for a lot of fun goodies. A fuller explanation of Matrix & its benefits are explained in the user agreement / guide I wrote for my server.


Some important things to note:

  • There's no account creation necessary: simply sign in via Newgrounds Passport! But at least for the time being, membership is limited to Newgrounds Supporters only, mostly as a way to prevent spam or overloading the server.
  • It has comment pages for movie/game portal submissions! Simply visit #portal_view_<submissionID>:ngmvs.one to get a chat room for any submission. No account is needed to view these pages, but only Newgrounds Supporters can write in them. The idea is to provide a means for open discussion on submissions beyond what Newgrounds' review system provides (one message per viewer, optional reply from author(s)), but to keep it outside of Newgrounds itself, to keep the quality of review comments on Newgrounds high (i.e. well thought-out feedback addressed to authors goes in reviews on Newgrounds itself, while general discussion about a submission addressed to no one in particular goes in the Matrix chat).


So, why did I make this, especially since Newgrounds has plenty of thriving Discord servers already?

Overall, as nice as Discord is, it's a closed & centralized platform, which ultimately means that no one other than Discord itself has much of a say in how it works, who's allowed to use it, what can be hosted on it, etc. The past few years have shown that the interests of those running centralized platforms don't always align with the interests of their users, leading to these platforms changing in ways that users hate, yet have no control over. Some good examples are YouTube's increasingly aggressive ad policies; Twitter & Facebook's incessant fiddling with your timeline (to put it lightly); and, of course, the Tumblr exodus. Discord hasn't reached that level yet (at least I don't think it has?), but the possibility undeniably exists. If some disruptive change to Discord were to happen, there would most likely be nothing people could do about it.


As a result, I'm betting on decentralized, open platforms being the future of online communication. Of all the attempts at that which have come and/or gone over the years, Matrix is definitely one of the most promising ones, as it tries to strike a good balance between usability, openness, and practicality. Case in point: one of its core design tenets is for it to be able to extend, not replace existing platforms--in other words, Matrix isn't trying to "usurp" all online communication platforms (which would never work, anyways), but to live alongside them. For example, Matrix can bridge to Discord, as well as a slew of other platforms.


With all that said, my Matrix server is in NO WAY intended to detract from Newgrounds' Discord servers, but to compliment & extend them. My hope is for it to eventually bridge with the Discord servers, as long as the powers that be are okay with that :D


So, please give it a try!! Simply visit app.ngmvs.one from a web browser, or use one of the many Matrix clients with SSO support. Keep in mind that only the former is run by me; the rest are general-purpose Matrix clients made by other (very talented) people that I have no affiliation with.


~XJ


PS: Yes, the wee morning hours past Labour Day isn't exactly the best time to be making an announcement like this...but it's taken me long enough to set this up & I just want to get the word out already!! (I worked my butt off in an attempt to get this ready in time for the Block Party, but BOY did I underestimate the work involved...)


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Posted by mr-johnson22 - July 16th, 2021


Today's both the 16th of June, and the 16th year since I made this account! 🍾️


This isn't going be yet another melancholic introspective diary entry that I'm apparently quite fond of making. A lot has changed around here in the past year, and I'm sure I'm not the only one feeling optimistic these days. Now's the time to MAKE things HAPPEN.


It was also great timing that the NGP Discord server had a Community Night tonight! It was fun to pop in and hear what people have been up to.


And the time is drawing nearer for a project of mine to start taking shape, which I have big plans for...! It's not a game, or even a submission, but something I truly hope will have a positive impact for this community.


So that's all for now--I intend to have something more interesting to say next post :) Until then, take care, everyone. ✌️


Posted by mr-johnson22 - February 28th, 2021


It works, bitches.


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Special thanks to Wine of course.

(CS4 is listed with a "Garbage" rating; I guess I'll find out how true that is soon!)


Sadly, I woefully mismanaged my time and won't be making anything for the Flash Forward Jam that ends tomorrow, but it's nice knowing that the option to revisit an old friend is always available.


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Posted by mr-johnson22 - December 27th, 2020


Today I tumbled yet even further into my Late Twenties. Years ago I had always sort of assumed that my Early Twenties or Mid Twenties would be "where the action is", and I suppose they have been, but not exactly in the way I expected. Still, I feel the need to write this as an apology to no ones in paticulars (not least of all myself) for not having done much interesting over here, or on any part of the creative Web, despite having wanted to do something in that capacity for a good majority of my life.


With that said, I managed to reach a Personal Milestone that I've been working on for a while, and fully intend to use my newfound free time and renewed quarterlife-crisis-fueled enthusiasm to get back into the ol' web game dev scene. Not that I was ever much in it at all, but I've grown a lot over the years, and am eager to discover how much of that growth will help me out this time around.


Not only that, but I've been planning on contributing something to the NG community that will hopefully be fun & interesting...stay tuned ;)


Posted by mr-johnson22 - August 30th, 2020


The block party event was awesome. Huge thanks to all those involved! @Xinxinix @GoodL @WillKMR @PsychoGoldfish and any others I missed!!


It was almost overwhelming how much stuff was going on. After a while, I found a nice groove browsing the pARTy contest submissions while vibing to the live DJ sets by @littlemusicboy1628and SickNumbles--unfortunately I couldn't make it for @EchozAurora's set, but will definitely be keeping an eye on her new work as PsyberWitch!


And the viewing of The Room must be the hardest I've laughed in a long time. I'm a huge fan of it and have seen it plenty of times already, but the chat made it a fresh new experience...as did the audio lag, for some bizarre reason.


Also, big oof on my part for being afk during the raffle prize winners, especially since I was one of them...! Super stoked to be the lucky owner of some graciously-donated @wavetro merch!


Hope everyone had a great time!


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