#before he was funny lizard man he was tragic pretty boy

[the-dragon-girl-27]

Matthew doodle

[monster-noises]

hi may I ask you use this ask as a reason to share your old art?

Ndjdjsjfjs

Absolutely You May!

There were a lot more pieces i wanted to save n share, but i stuck to just like.. ones that tend to "come back" to me every now and again, so i can go back and refrence them whenever they pop up!

First up is some Real old stuff, like 2005/6 i think..

Yes i was a Wolf Kid.

No I did not know how to draw wolves.

And Yes i had approximately 50 other sparkle-wolf ass characters that i Will eventually force everyone to look at. (A more accurate number is probably like.. 12. But that's just trying to remember off the top of my head)

Alas i do Not remember these characters names. But the black/white/red wolf i think is the daughter of the blue/green one? (i also believe the red and black one in the right image is the same character as the one on the left pre-a redesign?) She had a sister who was desert themed and they were super powerful and magical and also tragic because i was about 11 in 2005 so that tracks.

It's a shame i remember so little about them because i Do remember having the most Vivid ideas about scenes and sequences with them.. 😔

Okay so if we are going by approximate age this one would be next circa 2007?

I have mentioned before i used to draw a LOT of dragons, so i have Many more sketches than this big gentleman; But he's the one that always pops into mind first when i recall them.. i believe his name was vargo? Or something like that...

Most of my dragons were from a story about 12 dragons coming together to unite the dragon kingdoms and return to the magical world of the dragons. There were some Choice characters in that cast...

These two are from around 2009? The right one miiight be 2008..

The picture on the left is one of those ones that comes to mind first whenever i think about "my old art" (which is funny because these are two side characters from one of my Very First gay romance story ideas in highschool who were 1) the background straight couple and 2) never drawn again after this) and even now it makes me like !!!! Cause for where i was at with art at the time the shape movement and composition i was able to achieve still impresses me! This was 13 year old bartholomew firing on all cylinders! Just look at the shape of that cape!! The flair of the skirt! It ain't perfect but you go kid!!!!! Fuck it up!!! If a 13 year old handed this to me today i'd be like Hell Yeah!! Look at you go!! The inking is a Choice! But like! Y'know!!!

The little fella on the left is Lotus, one of my Classic Small Rodent Sidekicks, who will definitely be getting the Philip treatment sometime soon. He is my sweet little boy and one of the characters i reminisce about frequently.

These were Solidly 2009, though the story they're from first popped up in 2007 (or maybe even earlier???) And only got More and More just buck f u c k i n g wild until i moved on to the webcomic me and my friend were writing in 2010 and never went back)

The boy in the front middle on right image is the same character as the left one, his name is Jdoshi, he's a (gay) vampire prince, the big shadowy man behind him is his father Oracle, an ancient Vampire Demon Lord King. He rebelled against his fathers evil in the story and joined the heroes team as the resident brooding pretty boy. (He ended up together with the Cursed Angel character Birnam)

The two girls i have a harder time recalling the names of... But they were Oracles henchmen sent to retreive Jdoshi and destroy the heroes. The one on the left had a scythe and was, for some reason, red riding hood inspired?? (I was listening to a lot of the 'darker' vocaloid music at the time) and the one on the right wad like a cool punk wolf girl who rarely spoke but was actually very soft and had a little lizard dragon friend.

(btw this is all the same story This old art redraw is from)

I have not Changed, I've merely been Distilled and Refined with age.

And last but not least I got these fantastic five!

ALSO from the same Universe as the story above but from a Seperate Story I Had Going At The Same Time.

They were a rag-tag group of like.. impish little semi-undead creatures? They just kinda ran amok and caused trouble, sorta morality-neutral (though usually they ended up doing good) they had the power to invade peoples dreams, and of Course all had some kinda secret sad backstory..

I think the funniest thing about them is i remember being really Really into them for a time,. I have more half finished sketches of them and i remember Thinking of story ideas..

But for the life of me i cannot recall a single goddamn fact about Thadieus(red), Neptune(yellow), or Luca(dark green).

Yudekai (purple) was the main character , and Ziggy(light green) was like.. the Grifter of the group, but for the life of me i cannot remember Anything about the other three...

They are almost for sure also getting the Philip treatment at some point though, I'm still a sucker for a motley crew of petty criminals.

And that's what i have for now!!!

I got a whole fucking.. accordion folder full of this stuff still, and all the sketchbooks.. these 8 images Barely scratch the surface..

I'm genuinely always so happy to look back at the art of my younger self, cause i just had so much in my head i wanted to get down and i could never quiet Get There but by god!!! I tried!!! I had a million ideas, and i wanted to bring them a l l to life. And i feel like you can see that in the art, but maybe that's just cause it's My Art? But god there's.. so much behind every image, every character i put down on paper had Some kind of story to them, and god i just wanted to tell every single one so bad.

Not all the ideas were you know, ultimately anything workable for what i wanted them to be, but they were all Fun. In their own way.. and I hope i can give them all a lil light now and again, make the Child Bartholomew in my heart finally feel like.. at least a lil satisfied y'know? He always worked so hard, and wanted so much, but so much more was in his way of getting there.. he at least deserves to be a little bit Seen sometimes.. kinda like a form of closure? I guess?

Regardless!! Thank you stranger, and whoever else takes the time to read this, for caring to walk down memory lane with me! I'm sure there will be more in the future, i got Lots of old stuff i'd love to share!

[awed-frog]

This is going to be a mess - I had to erase the original post because the bots just wouldn’t stop coming, so here is how it all started -

And here are your kind requests -

So - thank you for your lovely asks and PMs - here we go. 

(Keep in mind that those moments were hugely embarrassing to me, so you shouldn’t find them funny or anything. They’re tragic stories I’m relating for your moral betterment - that is all.)

1) The ‘The Greeks Made Me Do It’ story

As a bit of background, I was eighteen and had just moved to another city to start my studies. I’d been there for a month, knew literally no one, had no idea where half my classes were and my ideals of switching to a Sophisticated Look and becoming A Lady had miserably failed, which means I was walking around wearing this insanely expensive, Managing Director of the IMF coat plus combat boots and frayed jeans plus a lopsided handmade scarf and 'Marilyn going on Morticia’ lipstick (I worried - a lot - about being the only weirdo and the only unfinished person in the entire town, because that was before I met Hamster Girl and Colour Matching Girl and I spend as much on weed as you do for rent but everything I own is see-through, threadbare or ripped Guy). Plus, I couldn’t speak or understand the local language all that well, and I’d taken to nodding and smiling whatever people said, which generally made me look like an idiot and meant I never knew what was going on. 

(And, yes, it’s tempting and it seems like the easier option, but seriously - don’t do that.) 

All of that means I was more or less living in the university library so I could pretend I had a purpose in life and, well, going from a high school library to a real academic library was like stepping into the Restricted Section - I mean, of course, I read what I was supposed to read, and I lost myself in serious books that had little to do with my actual subjects (that was my Minoan period - I’m sure every Classics student had one), but there were also the - uhm - other books, you know? All those studies about homosexuality in the Greek world, and how Mapplethorpe’s pictures were connected with frescoes of Saint Sebastian, and people having sex with statues and kings trying to trick their young wives into anal and truly lurid collections of Greek art which my high school teacher had once described as ‘Something you should probably have a look at, but if I let you borrow my copy your parents would not be happy with me’. And on that particular day, I had actually devoted my afternoon to a no-nonsense book about Eastern influences in Greek art, and well, the study of lovers and concubines on Greek amphorae was a sort of a plan B to relax a bit between chapters, because I was reading in a foreign language and it was hard work and when you don’t know anyone, it’s like you’re the only one working, right, and everyone else is off to wild parties and poetry lectures and screenings of a Guatemalan movie you never knew existed and that’s depressing af, so yay for weird art - but at around five I realized the day was done and I didn’t want to give the dirty book back because, come on, it wasn’t that dirty and I had a right to read it and it was complemented with passages by Theophrastus and Plato, plus it had come to me via the now defunct goblin-based system of tunnels underground the reading room -

~note - for younger readers, these things~

- so I didn’t want to give it back and go through the hassle of requesting it again, and I remember the fuck it moment that came over me - I was eighteen, I was studying the damn stuff, so I’d borrow the damn book and if the librarians disapproved, well, they could bite me.

(Obviously, they didn’t disapprove. The bored guy at the service desk didn’t even look at me, because nobody looks at you, ever, and your life is your own, so go live it.)

And next, I had to go shopping because there’s only so much time you can survive on cold cereal - and suddenly there I was, in a big and foreign supermarket, a dirty book burning a hole through my old Invicta, my Queen of England coat clashing with everything else I was wearing, and I was moving from aisle to aisle without making eye contact and trying to remember what spices were called in French, and I’d almost made it - I was collecting my mismatched groceries on the other side of the till when the bloody alarm started blaring, and two uniformed guards appeared out of thin air and it was like one of those slow-motion scenes in movies, right, when the dust in the air glimmers like gold and sound is no longer a thing and someone’s talking and everybody is staring and when God pushed the ‘resume normal speed’ button the two men were gesturing and smiling smugly and there was this old lady next to me and she was taking in my luxurious coat and my frayed jeans and putting two and two together - I physically felt her horrified, gleeful gaze on me like scalding water - and Jesus, I could see the headlines in my local paper already ‘Young Promise of Sci-Fi Literature Arrested’ (I was writing fantasy back then, but most normal people don’t seem to know the difference) and there were my parents, okay, my poor parents walking with their heads down as formerly friendly neighbours threw garbage at them and someone would interview my history teacher and he was bound to say, ‘She was something of a strange girl, but I never thought she’d end up in prison’ and next, of course, came the walk of shame in front of all twelve tills, with dozens of proper adults (people with families and eggs in their baskets, women with tasteful lipstick and women with kids and doggies instead of books about dead prostitutes) staring at me in disapproval, and What has the world come to and I heard that today, young women are as likely to commit crimes as young men and Do you think she’s on drugs? and then I was forced into the Small Room of Humiliation and asked to please empty my bag, so out came the frosting I was planning to eat raw and the crown of garlic I’d bought because it looked pretty and had no intention of ever using and a giant-ass bag of rice and as I looked on, horrified, I realized nothing made sense with anything and even those burly, middle-aged men could see that just fine - but, well, every single horrifying, meaningless item was on the receipt, so they had me empty my pockets (one condom, safety pins, a Swiss knife, an IKEA pencil and a very smooth and round rock, God have mercy on me) and next we all looked at one another like, What now? and that’s when I truly gave up on rational thinking, okay, because my first instinct is always to be of service, and so I said, in my heavily accented French, ‘The library book has a barcode, maybe that’s the problem?’ and of course, they hadn’t really looked at the book yet - it was face down on the formica table, looking all prim and innocent in its unassuming dark blue cover, but when the older man picked it up with his bear paw, I suddenly realized the front of it was quite different - I sat there and saw his eyebrows disappear into his hairline as he took in the big-ass picture (a painting of a woman fellating a much younger man) and the title (something along the lines of, THE JOYLESS SEX - TALES OF THE PLEASURE WOMEN, in all capitals, because books about Greek art don’t sell all that well, so anything to do with sex is pimped up to trick the unsuspecting general audience into giving it a shot) and of course he had to open it, because that’s how humans are wired, okay, and the thing right in the middle was a goat-like creature doing unspeakable things with two women and every single cell in my body wanted to explode and disappear and shout ‘IT’S MANDATORY READING FOR THIS CLASS I’M TAKING’, which was a lie, anyway, and I couldn’t get the words out and I couldn’t look up and I couldn’t look away - after a few excruciating minutes (seconds? hours?), the guy scanned the book on his barcode machine and yep, that’s when we all learned that library books respond to the same anti-theft thingies that pick up on stolen wine and cookies and fine cheeses, and Sorry, miss, and You have a good evening, now, and he was extremely uncreepy about it, but it was still hard to find my way out because of the WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOUNG PEOPLE UP THESE DAYS bewilderment that was shining like a beacon around his entire body, so, yeah - that was pretty embarrassing.

2) The ‘A Four-Part Seduction’ story

This actually happened almost one year before my adventure with the scanning machine - I was in my last year of high school, had kissed exactly 1 (one) boy, failed to seduce 3 (three) other boys despite my fox-like cunning and my sunny disposition, and I was now ready to sacrifice everything (well: my sanity and my dignity) for The Boy - a basketball player with a long, horse-like face and zero talent in anything whom for some reason I fancied the pants off.

(Looking back, I think I liked he was quiet and kind, and the age-old problem when you’re attracted to mysteriously self-effacing people is that you’re never quite sure - is there a colourful and occasionally wild ocean behind their silent lips and far-off gaze, or are they not saying anything because an evolutionary mishap converted half their brain into a second spleen, and therefore they were left with the mental capacity of a vivacious Mexican mole lizard? The joy is in finding out.)

Anyway, I have a feeling things haven’t changed all that much, but back then when you were intent on romantic hunting, you usually enlisted the help of your closest friends - people who inevitably were: 

your age 

unexperienced

not very familiar with The Boy and

generally speaking, completely unsuited to hatching a failproof seduction plan of any kind.

On this particular occasion, my advisors were: 

a girl who’d been the better half of a couple for time untold (three months, two weeks and five days) and was thus The Expert

another girl who’d done ‘not it, but almost’ with an unnamed boy she’d met over the summer

a third girl who still didn’t quite understand what ‘it’ meant and 

my only guy friend who was actually in love with me and I only found out about that twenty years later and that was one true what the fuck moment, because then I wondered what else I hadn’t seen when I was a teenager even if it was there in plain sight (like the fact my German teacher preyed on young boys, for instance,but that’s another story).

So, well - part A of The Plan - getting to know him better - had failed miserably, because what can you discuss with someone you only see once a week in French class and you have a monster crush on? I mostly pestered him about homework dates and then stared mutely at his hands as he turned the pages of his school diary and my God, he must have thought I was an anxious, forgetful idiot with absolutely zero life, ‘which means he already knows you better than most people,’ my best friend said consolingly, before trying out her married name signature (Alice DiCaprio) one more time. And as for part B - that had succeeded, but at what cost? Because through a string of sleights of hand and corruption, we’d managed to shift half our classmates around on the seating chart, so I was now sharing a desk with The Boy himself, but so far that had resulted in some awkward staring (mine), a couple of embarrassed smiles (his) and about 50 000 volt of electricity going through my entire body every time his elbow bumped into my arm by mistake (which happened a lot, because he was left-handed and I’m not and we were sitting the wrong way around). 

Now, this had been going on for weeks when the skies suddenly opened above me and the teacher, an I’m frankly disappointed in how everything turned out ‘68 hippy, assigned us a written essay on Victor Hugo and socialism, something that, as an anxious, forgetful idiot with absolutely zero life, I knew quite a lot about. Plus, I was good at French, and that’s how The Boy turned towards me and asked if I’d be willing to help him, his hazel eyes all clear and earnest, shining like stolen jewels on his horse-like face, and being a Cosmo reader, I heard myself laugh throatily and ask, ‘Sure - what will you give me in return?’ and fuck, how do these things happen and why are we not in control of our own bodies and also thank God, because he blinked at me and then said, in a slow voice I read as flirtatious, ‘I’ll buy you a drink’. And that’s how we all entered part C - there were weekly meetings with him in the library to write the essay together, and daily meetings with my girlfriends to analyse everything we’d ever said to each other and I think he was looking at you during break and I saw him blush twice now, he must be sensitive and My sister knows his cousin, I can tell her to ask him if he’s seeing anyone and also long walks by the river with my long-suffering guy friend during which I rambled on and on about how shiny The Boy’s hair was and he contributed to this mind-blowingly fascinating conversation mostly in uhms and grunts.

(Again, how could I have been so stupid? I mean, it was for the best in the end, but - ouch.)

And one windy evening of March, lo and behold, it was finally time for part D (no pun intended) - a bona fide D-A-T-E with The Boy, and possibly there’d be fireworks and he’d say, I’ve been wanting to kiss you for weeks and some tourist would snap a candid photo of us and then marvel at it, years and years later, because Do you ever wonder what happened to this couple, Mabel? Look at how happy and in love and beautiful they are and I’m not saying cover of the National Geographic, but cover of the National Geographic. Also, movies had taught me what was supposed to happen, you know?, 

which is why I borrowed make up and rollers from one of my friends and did a clothes pre-selection with her and then a second selection with my guy friend -

(I remember him sitting cross-legged on my bed and strumming my mom’s guitar as I hid behind the closet door to try on The Makeover Outfit and how his expression barely changed when he saw me in a skirt for the first time - how he said, ‘You look - good. He’s an idiot if he doesn’t go for it,’ and how the music turned into something slow and mournful as I disappeared again to put my jeans back on, and what the hell?)

- and at nine pm, I was ready - I had leveled up and transformed, or so it seemed - gone was the windbreaker, and the crappy Converse, and the overlarge plaid shirt - instead, my hair was curled in the right way and my skirt was short but not too short and I’d even bought a push-up bra which was uncomfortable as hell but Who cares, uh?, who cares? And let’s pretend my make-up was still perfect after biking twenty minutes in the half rain, because when I walked into the bar, some catchy song was on and my brand-new hoop earrings were catching the light just so and I was the Goddess of French and Sex and WITNESS ME and we saw each other at once - he was sitting with his friends, the Popular Good-at-Hockey Guys, and he turned as he heard the door open, as if he’d been expecting me, and he immediately smiled and came towards me and ‘So, what can I get you?’ and of course I ordered wine, because I was Sophisticated and also A Lady and as he pushed his way towards the counter I sat down at the only table for two and subtly (I hope) adjusted my cleavage and crossed my legs and wondered whether I should whip my copy of Rimbaud’s Les Illuminations out of my (well: my mom’s) purse just to make it extra clear I meant business, or if that would be considered impolite - a kind of, ‘You took forever to get me that drink’ reproach - and as I was still trying to decide, he came right back, all perfect and tall and horsey-looking in a grey shirt, and he was carrying my wine and a pint of dark beer and some idiotic voice in my head said, ‘Yes, we’d known each other for months, but I remember the night we truly fell in love - your father used to drink these strong beers, you know, and that evening-’ and before that thought could go anywhere, The Boy was there, at my table - he handed me the wine (our fingers touched) and he said ‘Thanks again, really - I would have been dead without you’ and then - and then he walked away and fucking sat down with his friends again because apparently he was a damn sophist underneath that equine disguise and he’d promised me a drink and now I had a drink and what the fuck? and for the second time that night I considered turning to Rimbaud, but you should never turn to Rimbaud because he was an addict and a killer, so I drained my wine in one gulp, looked around desperately, my vision already fogging over, for someone I could bother - there was no one I really knew, only older people and party people and cool people who were already looking at me weirdly - I shrugged my coat on and waved joyfully at The Boy on my way out and man, it’s been twenty years but sometimes I still wonder at it - I don’t think he wanted to be rude, I’m sure he was like me, awkward and empty-headed and inexperienced, and he now works with snakes in Canada so maybe there was something interesting about him, but after I never go to the movies guy and Do you go to this school? guy and Sorry, I’m looking for someone who’ll choke me during sex guy and - mostly - the ghost music / still not sure he existed for real guy, well - that was a crushing moment and the end of my grand plans and when I started to simply tell guys ‘I like you’ and also follow them home before they could realize what was going on and, whatever, if you’re looking for dating advice, that works much, much better. 

[Thanks again for your messages - if you like my writing, please visit my AO3 page!] 

[johngerberarticle]

The crazy, wonderfully amazing shit my dad did and a bunch of other things you didn’t know about him.

This article originally appeared in the October 2011 issue of Uno Magazine.

Written by Ryan Gerber

When I was 5 years old I met my father for the first time.

I was terrified and confused and I just wanted to go back to where I had come from. I didn’t know this family. I didn’t know this island and I didn’t know this giant with a mustache who was calling me son. I was just a scared kid, unaware of my surroundings or the complicated relationship of my two parents. And yet, there I was, fresh off of a flight from Honolulu and unable to make eye contact with this family of noses, called the Gerber’s. This was my family and this was my induction.

The year was 1982 and the mustache belonged to a young John Gerber. Now, unlike most of the people on the island at that time, I knew very little about this man. I knew nothing of his time in Vietnam, or that he had a first wife that went by the name Nola and I definitely didn’t know him as Johnny G, the polyester clad DJ of the Wireless Rock show on KUAM. To me, he was just a man who went by the name Dad. 27 Years later I buried my father. With me, was a slightly bigger family of Gerber’s and an entire island of friends and family who all lost something on the morning of May 4th, 2010.

Over that stretch of time I got to know a lot about this man. A man who by every definition of the word, would qualify as legend. In fact, I’ve since heard many stories about my Dad and his long and varied legacy. Some tales were tall and others were quite touching. Some were ridiculous and untrue and some just needed to be told again and again. Which is my intention now, to shed light on a man, that so many knew in so many different ways. This is neither a reckless expose nor a blind tribute to an infallible myth. It’s an honest account of a real man from a perspective that you might not have. After all, he played a big part in shaping who I am today … for better or worse. And this is my tribute. I should warn you. This probably won’t be very objective. He was my Dad. So where shall I begin? Perhaps at the beginning.

The Early Years John Vincent Pangelinan Gerber was born on May 31st, 1951. He was the second child of six, that belonged to Martin and Delores Gerber. Many of you will know his siblings as Joyce, Wanda, Debra, Janet and Martin Jr. I know them as my aunts and uncle. I never met my Grandfather as he also died young at the age of 49. Though from what I can gather, he was a strict and particular man, who worked hard and had very high standards for all of his children. Judging by how they all turned out, i’d say this was a good thing. My grandma Lole, on the other hand, I knew very well. She was one of the first Gerber’s to take me in and in a lot of ways, she was the glue that held our clan together. One of my fondest memories as a kid, was our Thursday night dinners. This was the one day of the week, that my grandmother didn’t attend church, so it was the one night of the week that the entire family got together. We barbequed and we made fun of each other and we acted the way most families do, only with a touch more sarcasm. And no matter what was going on in our lives at the time, this was a tradition we held sacred. When she passed away in 1990 none of us were the same and though he tried not to show it, neither was my Dad.

He developed his super powers of persuasion and cunning, early on. Honing them on my grandparents and my aunts first, before practicing them on the general population. As far back as I can remember, I’ve heard tales of my Dad getting people to do extraordinary things on his behalf. Mind you, part of his charm was his own work ethic, while the other part, was actual charm. He was no angel, but he was clever, so it was also better to have him working with you than against.

He had a way with words and a way with people, particularly women. This was reinforced by the name of his high school band, “Every Girls Friend” (Circa 1967). He played guitar and sang. You could probably argue that this was the non-official beginning of his “Wireless Rock” career, but we’ll discuss that in a bit. Later, he would go on to teach me how to play the guitar, specifically with the song Rocky Racoon off the white album. And it’s safe to say, that evidence of his personality is visible in all of his children.

Yes. It was quite clear that my Dad possessed that extra something. That extra something that made him special.

Vietnam In 1965 the US began deploying troops into Vietnam and in 1969 my Dad graduated from George Washington High School. He wasn’t yet 18 when he walked into the recruitment offices of the United States Marine Corps, so he had to get permission from my Grandparents to enlist. They agreed and he joined. Not much longer after, he was fighting a war in a foreign land, not too far from our own little island.

The next few years between 1969 and 1971 probably did more to shape who my father was than any other period of time. It was also the longest amount of time that he spent off island.

As a kid, he was reluctant to share stories about his time in the marines with me. He’d occasionally tell stories of some crazy drill sergeant or vaguely describe combat, but I was young and though you couldn’t really tell, his time at war had changed him, even more than he knew at the time. Much later, as an adult, I would come to learn more about his experiences and how they motivated him to create the Pacific War Museum and to become an activist for the young men and women who had died for this country and the countless numbers of young soldiers who were on their way to war, currently. His cause was clear and his purpose was just. On June 3rd, 1975, my Dad left the marines as a corporal and by the time he died in 2010, they had made him a Sergeant.

Wireless Rock Now of course, directly after the war, my Dad was in his early twenties and still quite popular. So, he dusted off the polyester and went back to work at KUAM, which was across the street from our house in Ordot at the time. He had worked there as a kid, sweeping up around the studio and playing the occasional camera boy. So when the need for a new late night voice on the KUAM airwaves arose, it was a natural fit.

Even after I left the island in 95, I would occasionally run into stateside fans of JG and the Wireless Rock show. It was a funny thing to witness, but now I take a certain pride in it. I even remember one of my first nights on island, back in 82, sitting with my Grandma Lole and my Uncle Jr listening to the show in the old Gerber living room and getting my first shout out. It was cool then and it’s pretty cool now.

Those that were close to my Dad during this timeframe remember scores of young women hanging out by the station, loads of fan mail, polyester suits and lots of hair. It was also during this time that my Dad launched the Wireless Rock Music Box, his record shop which later became the source of my Uncle Jr.’s enormous album collection.

His show lasted eleven years, from 1972-1983. And by the time he wrapped things up, he had so many other things going on that it was a natural progression, though he still rocked a white vest every now and again.

The Kadena Years During the Wireless Rock era, my Dad also began building boats … And how many of us have the privilege of saying that? Of all of his phases, this was probably my favorite. So much of it was spent on the water enjoying the island from a simpler perspective. Fishing, skiing and playing practical jokes on the tourists he would charter. To me, this was a golden era.

His first boat, was of course, The Wireless Rock, which from a marketing standpoint, you’ve gotta appreciate. This was followed by The Spam, which was followed by a cease and desist order from Hormel, which resulted in a name change to The Chamorrita in 85. He also owned several smaller boats, such as The Wild Cherry andThe Fotgun (which means wet, for all of you haole’s reading this). His crowned jewel however was The Kadena De Amore, which he began building in 1983. It was quite an undertaking, and I am not lying when I say that it had a full disco built right into it. Sadly, a tragic fire in 1986 resulted in the demise of the Kadena and the subsequent transfer of ownership of then, Cabras marina to what is now known as Aqua world Marina in Piti. Though I still hear people call it Gerberville from time to time.

On one charter, we had just docked and my Dad’s good friend, who went by George Palau, caught an Iguana. It was big, maybe 6 feet. Though we warned him, he began antagonizing the reptile by mimicking his lizard tongue. The Japanese tourists were enthralled, but my Dad knew better, warning George “Buddy. You’re gonna lose your tongue…”. He barely finished saying that before the iguana lunged forward biting the tip of Georges tongue with such angry precision that we were all stunned. Tourists were freaking out. We were on the ground laughing (I know it’s mean, but it was funny) and George was running around trying to pull this lizard from out of his mouth. Eventually he did and from that day forward, he had a more distant relationship with reptiles.

These were the types of stories I remember from this time and a lot of those people, I still see out on the water, whenever I come back home for a visit.

Senator Gerber? The 80’s were a time of experimentation for my Dad and while it is not a secret that my father was once the son-in-law of Ricky and Madeleine Bordallo, it is a lesser known fact that he also ran for office in 1986. You read that right. Always up for new challenges, my father ran, but ultimately failed to take a seat in the senate. There were lot’s of reasons for this, and we can post-rationalize, but at the end of the day, I think we can all agree that it worked out for the best.

18 years later, my father pulled a giant billboard dedicated to the 1548 Marines that had died during the liberation of our island. He pulled it from Anderson Airforce base in Yigo to the Naval base in Apra, using a contraption he fashioned out of an old wheelchair and a carabao pull. He did this with the intention of changing the name of Marine drive to Marine Corps Drive as to never let us forget. Governor Felix Camacho officially changed the name on April 13, 2004. The next day. This was how he evolved his political prowess and this was probably the purest representation of how he did things. With passion and with a whole lot of sweat.

Gerber and Sons (+ Daughter) By the 90’s, my Dad had once again, shifted focus. First, at the tender age of 40, he decided to go to college and get his bachelors degree. His professors loved him and his young classmates thought he was the coolest freshman they’d ever met.

Second, he got heavy into what I like to call his Sanford and son years. Salvaging vehicles and doing some construction … basically, a whole lot of physical labor. By this point I had also grown my own (embarrassingly thin) mustache and was working for my Dad part time. He had named his company Gerber and Sons (a name my sister wasn’t very keen on) and all I can remember is sweat. I’m not gonna lie. This was my least favorite time. I went from fishing and diving to sanding and welding. Not that we weren’t doing any of that on the boats, it just had a less magical appeal and well, I was a teenager, so I had my own issues to deal with.

That being said. There were a few pivotal moments that came from this. On Memorial day in 1992, my Dad visited the grave of an old friend and fellow soldier Lance Corporal Rufo San Nicholas. He had died in Vietnam and on his tombstone he was still 19 years old. I remember my Dad saying “I was lucky. Guys came back and had no home, some were disabled or suffering some sort of injury and I barely had a scratch. I had a home. I had work and family. and Rufo  …was still 19.” This was the defining moment that changed everything for my Dad.

In 1994, My dad acquired his first APC. Now, for those of you unfamiliar with that term. He bought a tank. Also known as an Armored Personnel Carrier. He called it the Eve of Destruction and drove it all over Ordot. It’s still on display at the museum as I write this. That year he also took part in the Liberation Day parade using the Eve of Destruction to haul a pre-war Chamorro house down Marine Corp Drive. From this day forward, things just kept moving in that direction.

This is also around the time that he developed his signature work look. Aviators, Boots and T-shirt, tucked squarely into a pair of jean-shorts. Anyone who has ever seen my Father toiling, out in the hot Guam sun will recognize this look.

In 1995, I left the island in pursuit of my own stories and adventures, but before I left, I went on one last adventure with my Dad. There were a bunch of us on this particular mission. My uncle Jr. was there as were my Dad’s good friends John Camacho, Pete Siguenza and Mike Guzman. A bunch of us. It was a hike deep down into the jungle to recover a Japanese Zero that had been shot down during the war. A fighter plane. We found it, but it was gonna be a challenge to excavate, so we left it with the intention of coming back for it later. And they did. 15 years later, my Dad went and recovered that plane. And this was the last thing my Father pulled out of the jungle before he passed away.

Semper Fi In 2007 I came back to the island for the first time in 11 years. I didn’t tell anyone I was coming, so I decided to play a prank on my old Dad. There had been a rash of break-ins in the village, so I asked my aunt to call him up and tell him someone was breaking into the house and that they had trapped him inside. He showed up with a bat and barely stopped the truck before leaping out of it. I of course waved the white flag and he laughed. “Son!” he said. “I almost killed you”. He then gave me a big hug and told me to get in the truck.

You see, I hadn’t planned on it, but it just so happened to be the 62nd anniversary of the battle of Iwo Jima. Turns out, a lot of the guys that had fought in that battle had also fought on Guam during our own liberation. My Dad was hosting a barbecue for the tour that was coming through, about 200 people, which consisted of actual vets, young soldiers and their families. This was at the first Pacific War Museum my Dad had built in Ordot and it was the first time I was seeing it.

I was proud of my Dad. He had accomplished so much with so little and here were all these people pulling together to honor these vets and to entertain these young soldiers who were about to be deployed for their first, their second and their third times. He was giving them advice and telling stories. It was inspiring. and it was a family affair. My Auntie Janet was pulling up with the red rice, my brothers were manning the traffic, my uncles and cousins and aunts were setting up tables and bringing in supplies. It had that same vibe I remember from those Thursday night dinners we’d had, so long ago at my Grandma Lole’s house, just on a much grander scale. And now it was my Dad that was the glue. And his reach had gone far beyond our family. I later learned that he and his wife Mela, along with the rest of my family had fed and entertained thousands of troops over the years and my Dad’s name had become synonymous with the Marine Corp on Guam.

Never before had I seen my Dad imbued with so much passion. And if you recall, that was never something he was short on. He had found his purpose and he was hell bent on making shit happen. We learned a lot about each other on that trip and in a lot of ways we were so much a like, just in different ways. It was a really good trip.

The words Semper Fidelis will forever be attached to the name John Gerber, it’s meaning, Always Faithful is tantamount to his dedication to his family, to this island and to his beloved Marine Corps. In 2007, on a surprise trip home I finally got it. That was also the last time I saw my Father in person.

This past April, the family came together once again, to honor my Father and to help raise money for his Pacific War Museum, now situated in Maina. They held a memorial 5K run/walk (Click here to see the film). It was an amazing tribute to what my father had worked so hard to build and what my family was now working so hard to keep going.

Family Man In the end, his most important role, was his role in the family. As a Dad, just like with everything else, he had his phases. For me, being the eldest. He was tough. My grandfather was tough on him and so he was tough on me. I mean, I don’t know many other kids whose list of chores included changing the tires on an industrial forklift. He worked me hard and at the time I wasn’t so happy about it. Of course, I never made things easier on myself, as I had yet to learn how and when to pick my battles. So, we butt heads. Over the years I’ve come to appreciate the work ethic he instilled in me. And those that were close to my father know that he worked himself harder than anybody else. More importantly, when it counted, my father always came through, especially for his family.

When I came back in 2007, he had clearly changed. I even joked about how I didn’t recognize him. He was a mellow Dad, more patient with my brothers and definitely less strict. He was actually a blast to be around. Not that he didn’t, still put them too work, on occasion. Just less so. My sister Christiana, had also known the tougher side of our father, but had witnessed the shift on a more gradual scale, as she came back home more often than I did. Liberation day also became a special time that her and my brothers Storm and Rio got to share with my Dad and partake in his work.

For his wife Mela and all of my Uncles and Aunts, my Dad’s attitude and passion was infectious. This is evident in everything they’ve done since my father’s passing. It’s actually quite astonishing to step back and see not just what he’s created, but what he’s inspired in the people who loved him.

Goodbye It was around 6pm, when I got word that I should call home. I was watching TV and waiting for my dinner to be delivered. It was meant to be a quiet night and in a strange sort of way, that’s exactly what it became. You see I was living in New York at the time, so that meant it was around 6am on Guam. I had finally gotten a hold of my Auntie Janet. She was at the naval hospital and in the next room, they were trying to revive my father.

She was inconsolable and passed the phone to my cousin EJ, who took on the unenviable task of relaying what was happening as it happened. All I could do was pace. Alone in my apartment, on the other side of the globe, I paced and I paced and I listened and I asked questions. And I tried to remember the last conversation I had with my Dad who was now unconscious in a hospital room 7,958 miles away from the room that I was in. and I could do nothing.

I heard the cries and I didn’t even have to ask … but I did anyway. And just like that, my Dad was gone. It had been about 6 months since the last time I had called home and 3 years since the last time I was on island. And that was the only thing I could think about for the rest of that night. I called my sister who hadn’t yet heard the news and then I called my brothers. I sat there and I watched the sun disappear and then I booked a ticket home.

There is a lot that can and has been said about my Father. But that’s true of most great men who are worth talking about. And in the end it’s these stories that keep him alive.

The last words that my father said to me, on the last phone call I had with him were simple. “I love you son” and my reply is how I will end this article. “I love you too dad. I’ll see you soon.”

[jolteonjordansh]

Thoughts on DATS Arc

Oh my God Digimon Savers is so addicting.

No BSing, no fancy and elaborative descriptions, thoughts are right under the break.

Let me tell you, I have been wanting to get to Digimon Savers for the longest time since I’ve gotten into the whole Digimon thing again. I honestly wanted to outright skip Digimon Frontier so I could go straight to Digimon Savers after I watched Digimon Tamers. Granted, Frontier ended up having some... good things about it in its own right, but I realized just how low I had to set my expectations just to enjoy it. After watching Frontier, Digimon Savers is practically mind-blowing and is better in pretty much every single way possible. And this is just my impressions of the first 13 episodes.

Thankfully, Digimon Savers goes back to the human and Digimon partner formula we all know and love. While I guess I can... give Frontier credit for trying something different, I don't think it did enough and it just wasn't as effective as the usual formula. For me, this is a case of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it", but I guess I can't truly get mad at Frontier for trying something new. Though personally, I think Frontier should have been more a side series, but that's just me. Enough on Frontier comparisons though.

The story starts with an Agumon escaping a facility that tries to maintain peace in the Real World and the Digital World known as DATS-the Digital Accident Tactics Squad. One of the members and one of the main cast, Yoshino, goes to investigate and finds probably one of the best introductions of a main Digimon protagonist by coming across the Agumon and main character Marcus fighting each other in hand-to-hand combat. The two fight each other to exhaustion and eventually gain respect for each other, leading to Marcus protecting Agumon and literally carrying him away on his back to protect him. Note: Rookies are strangely oversized in this series and bigger than most human children, so he's carrying an oversized lizard on his back after being beaten to the ground. If this sounds over the top, that's because it absolutely is.

As Marcus continues to try to hide away his new Agumon friend, he eventually gets caught up in taking care of him as well as involved with Digimon invading the Real World. He actually gets super excited about this and wants to keep fighting these Digimon because as an actual street fighter, he finds this really awesome. In one of his fights with a Digimon, a mysterious old man gives him a Digivice that allows him to Digivolve Agumon to GeoGreymon as well as transport Agumon around (kind of like a Poké Ball). But when he's eventually dragged to DATS to return Agumon back to the Digital World, he asks to join not only so he can keep fighting Digimon, but so that Agumon doesn't have to be sent back to the Digital World. The DATS leader, Richard Sampson, agrees to let him join. Richard is the average strict leader, but he also has a Digimon called Kudamon, who wraps around his neck to be the most adorable living scarf critter I've ever seen.

The show basically follows a "Monster of the Day" sort of formula, eventually introducing a third character known as Thomas with his partner Gaomon, a boxer dog. He and Marcus don't get along very well at the start considering they're practically polar opposites of each other--Marcus is hot-headed and thinks in the spur of the moment, while Thomas is very cool, collected and strategic. This kind of makes them the foiling duo that gets the special treatment in every Digimon series, and considering poor Yoshino doesn't get too much attention in this first arc, this does make it seem that way for now. What I do like about this "duo" is that they make it very clear from the start that they don't get along, but to such a degree that their disagreements become detrimental to their missions and it does become an actual problem. But they are able to eventually set aside their differences and become partners. So they do set aside the whole bickering duo cliché out quickly while still making both characters different enough with their own methods of taking care of situations. 

Since that's most of the plot abridged as of now, I should talk about each of the characters. Our main character Marcus is partnered with the signature Agumon, and as I mentioned before he is another hot-headed protagonist. With that, you'd might expect a Tai clone, but that's not quite the case. Marcus is the oldest of the protagonists so far (14 years old), the only protagonist not to have signature goggles, and he takes the whole hot-headed protagonist to a whole new level. He does fight Digimon on a regular basis, and it's one of the most Crazy Awesome things I've ever seen. You could throw some of the biggest and most threatening Digimon at him and, whether through his guts or his stupidity, he would not hesitate to punch them straight in the face. It makes him such an entertaining character to just watch, but at the same time he does have some depth. He does care a great deal for his mother and his sister Kristy, and the show foreshadows his family has been tied to Digimon before he ever discovered Agumon, so he isn't all too basic. And while he does have Agumon as his partner, similar to Tai, his Agumon is honestly more interesting. While they aren't completely different, down to both having the same big appetites, Marcus' Agumon really looks up to Marcus and can be very protective of his friend. They have the occasional fights over trivial subjects, having a whole episode even dedicated to that, but generally they just have greater chemistry than Tai and his Agumon. That's not to say Tai and Agumon were bad and they have had good moments, but they're definitely more on the basic side compared to Marcus and his Agumon. Marcus' Agumon also doesn't directly follow the same Digivolution line and instead Digivolves to... GeoGreymon, who really isn't that different other than a few patterns and extra spikes, until he Digivolves to RizeGreymon who has a giant revolver arm. I... definitely have to give them credit for doing something different to be sure.

Thomas--or to be more precise, Thomas H. Norstein--is a top-class member of DATS who has a great amount of talent in pretty much every area. He comes across as a bit of a Marty Stu rival at first, but after he and Marcus begin to get along, we do see more humanity in him. My particular favorite bit of development is in the 7th episode where Thomas takes Marcus' place to help celebrate Kristy's birthday. As a sort of rich boy aristocrat, he tries to make the most elaborate and perfect plans for Kristy, but he quickly learns that she has lived a simple life and enjoys it that way. His time with Marcus' family helps him understand how to just enjoy the simple things in life and it also foreshadows how his family life might have been more complicated than we know at this point. There's also an episode where he gets to meet a boxer that was his idol as a young child, and it helps really show the kind of respect he has for other people while not over-idolizing them. His partner Gaomon comes off as a bit boring at first, only quietly listening to Thomas' orders with a reply of "Yes, Master," but after Thomas warms up to Marcus, Gaomon becomes a bit more vocal and even funny since he's used to being so serious and has to loosen up, especially when Kristy calls him a cute puppy and he tries to clarify that he isn't a dog. Truth be told, I'd totally be Kristy in this situation and I kind of have a weakness for characters who have a cute appearance but try to be serious and have no idea how to handle compliments about being called adorable. He also has an awesome Champion form, Gaogamon, who's basically a big boxing Shiba Inu who still has boxing glove paws. It's strange but adorably awesome.

Yoshino, also simply nicknamed "Yoshi" in the dub, is the girl of the group similar to Rika in Digimon Tamers, but she is funny enough. As I mentioned before, she doesn't get to do much in this arc. She does have an ongoing catchphrase of "This is the worst," and it's definitely appropriately timed and hasn't really gotten old yet. She's sort of the do-gooder who tries to do what's right, but will get caught in the middle of Marcus or Thomas or both's shenanigans and has to go along with it. Despite her lack of development, she has some potential in her and she's nowhere near as irritating as Zoe in Digimon Frontier could be. Her partner Lalamon is pretty basic as well, not having too much of a personality but is sort of there to be cute. Again, she might also get more development with Yoshino later. She does Digivolve a handful of times to Sunflowmon, which is sort of a weird... flying sunflower thing? I guess if you looked at her in a certain way you could kind of see her as a sort of sunflower dragon.. maybe? But it's not really a bad design and is kind of fun really.

I guess that's the same word I would use for the show so far really. It's fun. It can be over the top and ridiculous at times while still taking some moments seriously. When there's humor or funny moments, it often comes naturally and doesn't feel all that forced. When some of the serious moments do pop up, they're pretty powerful. I was really torn up with how poor Kristy and Piyomon was treated in their whole situation. Between Kristy being studied by DATS scientists to see if she was meant to be Piyomon's partner, to Marcus directly fighting Piyomon because he didn't want his sister to be in danger being involved with Digimon, to Piyomon simply wanting to protect and be with Kristy. It’s made it all the more tragic when Piyomon gets taken away to the Digital World and then finds his way back to the Digital World, searching for Kristy in a blind rage only to not even properly remember her. It really hurt to see Marcus with RizeGreymon to take down Piyomon as Garudamon, especially when it's treated as a sort of bittersweet triumphant moment. It hurts and it makes for a tough end of the first arc. But even other smaller moments like Marcus and Agumon's fight, despite how trivial it is, still hurt in the end to see how attached and much of a duo they are. There's even an episode where Marcus has a Soulmon basically haunt and cause harm to him after he accidentally upsets Kristy and she wishes harm upon him without thinking. This leads to a freaking tanker targetting him and attempt to crash into and kill him, and he willingly leads it away so it hurts no one else but him. While this arc didn't have me break down the number of times the Digimon Tamers Introduction arc did, it's still quite similar and the end of it sure clutched my heart pretty tight.

There's also a bit of depth with the plot implying some use of the Seven Deadly Sins. In this show, wild Digimon are infleunced by these feelings in people and seem to be drawn in by it. But how this is happening and to what extent they're taking it to, I have no idea. But there's still enough to keep my attention. It's also interesting how the show is similar to Digimon Advenure 02 in that they can willingly travel between the Real World or Digital World through a method called the "Digital Dive", but it's considered dangerous for humans because it hasn't been studied enough to be safe. It does add a bit more complexity to travelling between the Real World and Digital World like Adventure 02 tried, and only Marcus and Thomas have traveled only once to the Digital World in this arc until leaving for it at the very end of this arc. There is one other thing confusing me about the plot of this show... AND IT'S THAT FREAKING OLD MAN. I swear, he's like that one weird NPC in a video game you have to remember for a very specific sidequest and it's just eerie that he knows so much and even gives Marcus his Digivice. He doesn't quite strike me as the "surprise antagonist" or something, but man, every time he shows up to conveniently lead to the resolution of a plot, I just find myself yelling "WHO ARE YOU OLD MAN!?". He's not really a bad part of the plot or anything, just one of those weird characters that just exists. But much like the other side characters, he's harmless and and none of them are really bad or irritating. They’re just fine.

I have to say though, after watching the sloppy animation of Digimon Frontier, the animation for Digimon Savers is just fantastic. I'd argue it's some of the best animation out of any of the Digimon anime series. While it's no question that the Adventure series had some inconsistent animation and Digimon Tamers had a bit of a rough beginning, Digimon Savers looks great from the start. It's by no means perfect animation, but considering this was the first Digimon TV series in a few years, the amount of effort and budget it has is honestly shocking. Nothing looks particularly bad even in the beginning, and the Digivolution animations are by far the best I've seen in any Digimon series. Straight from Champion level, they already utilize CG, but they use a very smooth cel-shaded CG that blends in well enough with the digital animation, often to the point that at times I can't tell whether I'm looking at CG animation or digital animation. The fluidity is great, and it shocks me that they had this kind of smooth animation in 2006 when Digimon Adventure tri. struggles to have fluid CG animation for its Champion level Digivolution animation. CG models and animation are also used for background objects too, but it actually blends in well and you have to really search to pick it out. The whole world in general is just legitimately a marvel to look at.

This great presentation is backed up really well by the music too. It doesn't follow the orchestrations of the Adventure series or Digimon Frontier, nor does it follow the jazz sounds of Digimon Tamers. Instead, Digimon Savers goes with more of a techno rock theme for its soundtrack. And you know what? It works really well, especially since the show is a little further in the future than its predecessors and it follows a tech squad trying to solve issues regarding the Digital World and Digimon. It helps give the show its own personality and emphasizes said personality. Shockingly, there's no songs from Koji Wada, not even the opening. But the opening theme and its lyrics are super catchy, and I adore Believer as a Digivolution insert song. In just a few episodes, it's definitely gone up as among one of my top favorite Digivolution themes, and I’m glad to hear that awesome guitar riff akin to the beginning of Brave Heart return. The first ending theme is also nice too, and all of the songs just have the same kind of energy the show has.

Overall, Digimon Savers has some great first impressions going for it. It definitely feels like the three-year break in anime series really did Digimon some favors. Despite how Digimon Savers follows the footsteps of its earlier predecessors, it feels fresh and there's absolutely some merit to get out of watching it, at least those are my thoughts so far. I'm really looking forward to watching it more and seeing just what new things it might do.

So yeah, it's super addicting. I'm off to watch more!