Just wanted to say that you are a SICK PERSON. The self portrait you made in flash indicates that you are on a one-way suicide and you gave many people an idea that to leave an "impression" for other people to remember them was the portrait and that the gun is the quick and easy way out. We hope you get the help you need and please reconsider a new flash to introduce your site better. If you don't, better accept all the "portraits" that they make from your "idea". Many thanks.

That was truly unique. How did you get the insperation? To the person who said you were a "SICK PERSON", guess you missed the message. Good work. I can't wait to see the next flash.

Your self portrait is truly a masterpiece. It is the type of short film that makes me want to sit down and coment on for hours on end, but then I'd be rambling.

I've dealt with my fair share of suicide in my lifetime, (both for myself and for others around me) and this hit close to home. If you are dealing with suicidal issues, then all the power to you. The fact that you were able to make this with all that's going through your head is astonishing. If you aren't dealing with suicidal issues, then I'd be curious as to know what your inspiration for this short film was.

You have my thanks. Take care.

-Josh

dude that is crazy.i was gonna do that.great minds think alike

Im also curious as to what inspired you to make this flash. Was it solely to gouge peoples opinions?

Hi, do u think suicide is cool (I wont do it even if u say yes)

hey that short film was briliant! thats crazy i stumbled upon this because i was planning on going to my girlfriends to kill myself infront of her. but hey hopefully you make more that ill see in my next life.

just kidding im not suicidal. i dont even have a girlfriend. and i dont believe in reincarnation.but that was a bad ass flash. make more. and if you dont have any fans congrats cuz im your first.

-Steve

Very good flash and ignore the immatures that either cant spell or comprehend the flash keep up the good work.

Joshua,

You know what, I've seen this film way more than a dozen times by now, but not once did the whole issue that this guy is commiting suicide enter my mind. I'm not sure if that's because I knew you (allthough not that well when you made it), but I always thought of the film as the artist's means to an end for creating his art. Now as I am reading through these comments, I had to stop for a second and rethink the film from the perspective that the guy is commiting suicide.

Hmmm... although the idea that this film could be a cry for help made me worried and sad, I don't think that's so. It's just an awesome idea for how far an artist is willing to go to create his art. It's great that it's getting the attention it deserves.

I did comment on "Self Portrait" on Newgrounds. Since my initial comment I have viewed it at least 20 more times, I still say that it is twisted. I still say I LOVE it!!!!

Your motives for making this were pretty clear: You wanted to make something very cool, you succeeded. Hell, if you'd been suicidally prone you wouldn't have made a flash about it, you'd have just shot yourself and be done with it.

Nice site! Keep up the good work!

Uh..Yeah. I think I got it. I liked the interactive "Click Josh's Face" ...only thing is nothing happened when I touched your third eye. You just kept rubbing your right eye. Animation is a land of single frame dreams streamed in a string. A painting in crimson blood could be any number of things. What is it to you? Are you creating your dreams or are your dreams creating you?

Dear Joshua,

I happen to find your Screen Short, "SELF PORTRAIT" and I must say -- I enjoyed it!

Thank you for telling the "KIDS" Not to try this at Home! :-)

Keep on Being Creative &
Keep on "WRITING THE VISION"

Lenora Love Whiteside,
Poet & Spoken Word Artist

I thought it looked cool, I most likely will not try that at home.....or at all. What I thought was really cool and what I thought was somewhat ironic was the music.... It was "Bob" from primus played backwards and the pitch being shifted a whole step. A song about a suicide of a friend (by hanging, for those who don't know), in which I think there was little to few people who noticed, I checked through over 33 pages of reviews through newgrounds with people just saying that it was creepy. And even though your self portrait might not have been about suicide the music lead me to believe that at first. I don't know why people tend to think of it being sick (the suicide part might have been it though) The way I see it as a way of getting rid of those pesky mental art blocks.

I was talking about "self portrait" I didn't mention it though.

Hi Josh D.,

Thanks so much for your comment.

I am extremely impressed that you figured out that the music was "Bob."

You are indeed one of the few people to not only recognize the song, but to also recognize the relationship to suicide.

I don't really like talking about my artistic intentions (man that sounds pretentious) but I have to admit that I very consciously and very intentionally packed as many potential meanings into this short little animation as possible, because I'm very curious about how different people can experience at the exact same thing and yet interpret it in so many vastly different ways.

It pleases me greatly that you dug deeper into my animation by not only pondering it beyond your initial reactions, but by reversing the music to decode yet another level.

Obviously I chose the song Bob for its description of a suicide, but the lyric that ultimately compelled me to realize that it would be an appropriate song for my animation was:

I had a friend who shaved his head
Put his Doctor Martins on
And drew such wondrous pictures in the apartment where he lived

I knew that if I played the sample of Bob unaltered, more people would recognize it and dwell upon the suicide aspect, so I decided to reverse it and speed it up.

Despite the risk of sounding obnoxiously pretentious, I must admit that I was very aware of the other potential meanings that could be derived from reversing the sample.

I definitely wanted a "creepy" sound. I'll freely confess that I was going for shock value.

I also wanted to avoid potential copyright infringement, though I know that reversing a sample does NOT protect artists from lawsuits (the Verve learned that the hard way)

I was also aware of the "backmasking" phenomena, which is often associated with Satanism, death and suicide, which further adds to the creepiness.

I knew that people would be able to notice that the music was backwards, and so I figured a very small percentage of people would be curious enough to reverse it to see if there was a hidden message, or at least to figure out what the song was.

I'm so glad you were curious enough to figure out it was "Bob"

Thanks again for checking out my film, both forwards and backwards.

Josh M.

Nice style. really like it. ended up here through myspace.

! good work !

hi

your such a bitch