Lisa, the Simpson!

Some of you already know about the site, but other don't, so I decided to open this topic.

realities.simpworks.com (http://realities.simpworks.com)

IMHO this is one of the best websites dedicated to the Simpsons fan-art and fanfiction. There are not too much stories yet (only four, in fact :p), but fan-art collection is simply amazing. Go and check it out yourselves. Marco (SimpReal) maintains the site, and I help him sometimes. But SR was my favorite Simpsons website even before I knew about his founder, it's really an interesting place.

The site has three main categories (the links are on the top of the site):

The Main Gallery (http://realities.simpworks.com/category/art) - Marco's own pictures.
The Contributors Gallery (http://realities.simpworks.com/category/cnt) - Galleries by different artists, don't miss them!
The Fanfiction Corner (http://realities.simpworks.com/category/fic) - Several very good Simpsonic stories are published and reviewed here.

Opinions and suggestions are very very welcome! Marco needs your feedback, guys, and I do, too. :)

P.S. I hope this is a proper section for this topic... but we need at least one Simpsons-related thread in "Lisa's Family", do we?

The pictures are so beautiful! :lisa:

Yeah, SR is truly great. It also has one of the best looking lay-outs I've ever seen ;)

When will there be another update?

That's because such high standards must be met. ;) IMO, it's best left that way so as to only place the very best stories on the site. And yes, SR is definitely my favorite fanart and fanfiction site. :lisa:

*sighs* One day, I will be there as a contributor.  :D

Yey SR praise!!! :D
I too also came across the site years ago and just loved Marco's work and other fanart by the other artists,... now as a contributor, I'm very honoured! :) ( thanks x a million Marco :D) still deffintly one of the best simpsons fan sites around in my opinion ;)

Haha, you're so lucky. :p

I could sit here for hours typing up about Simpson: Realities. But, I only have 14 mins before my next class... lucky dudes...

I wrote up about it on my old site about 1.5 years ago. My opinion hasnt changed.
It is THE mecca for Simpsons fan-stuff.

When I first browsed SR, it almost made me depressed. And to this day I still get that sence that, the level of art is simply untouchable. But since, I've found an understanding in that. Marco still has truely a magnificent gift which he has rigtly earned through practice, risk, reward, and error. The site does justice even without a contributors section. Its the ultimate comemoration of this gift.

My favurate pictures from SR are probably 'Windy Night', 'Sancuary' and the 'Full Life Wo Sagashite' picture. But that is cutting the list extremely short.


Well... there goes 25 past. Must go.

ALL HAIL SR!

By the way, SimpReal, on the main page for the fanfic Lisa Fitzgerald, there's a picture of little Lisa holding someone's hand. Where can I find the full picture? ;)

http://realities.simpworks.com/image/231 ;)

Thanks! :)

We share the same dream. :) But, first, I think you'll have to draw some fanart.

Yes, it's without doubt the best OFF fanart site on the net.   SR was the first dedicated fanart site I came across and I couldn't believe the quality of artwork on there.  It certainly inspired me to get involved in the scene and remains a beacon of creativity and quality to me.   In it's current incarnation, it's also got one of the nicest designs I've seen on the web.
All hail Marco!    :lisa: 

 :o
Well... what can i say. 

I've been late from answering to this thread and for that i'm sorry. i don't want you to think i'm ignoring this, or giving your praise little credit. I've been thinking each day to find the words to express how i feel about this, but as of now, i can't really put it down clearly :)
It's a mixture of complete and utter gratitude, of satisfaction, of joy, and of achievement. I can't express into words how i feel... SOMEONE, by reading these words from you and whenever i hear them outside of this forum. I want to thank you all from the deepest of my heart.

On the same side though, i can't help but feel a stinging sensation of wonder.. unbelievability, because i can't believe i'm this "important person" you all seem to be speaking of.
But more, this gives me a feeling of nostalgia, of... having lost something that was very dear to me.
You surely noticed that since a couple of years i'm not drawing almost anymore, except a couple of exceptions. I want you to be sure that i did not lose my feelings towards Simpsons fanart, nor i lost my will to do, and more of all, i still have special feelings for the little spiky haired girl... But there's a side of my personality in these years that has risen at a certain point, where i feel just unable to create freely, like i did in the good times, when SR was in his previous incarnation that maybe some of you remember.

So, basically, the constant will to "reach higher, do better, be better than *insert artist here*" has killed my "draw for fun" side. It's sad, but it's how it is... i'm trying to fight it each day, but it's always been a losing battle until now.

I say this to you not because i want pity, but to implore you to never do my own mistake. Practicing and getting better is just and fine, but NEVER let the will to improve and competition spirit lead your hand and thoughts. A bit is good, too much kills you. It killed me... Metaphorically speaking of course.

So, i said a lot of stuff, probably it's even hard to understand, but i kind of had to let it out... bear with me. Again, i would like to be able to fly come to each one of you, for shaking your hand and giving you a hug of gratitude. You guys and girls are so knd to me :) Thank you.
For you, i'll never stop fighting, and losing as long as i need to pay for my mistake.

Inspiration is not limited, only temprorarily incoveinienced. I can't believe you've stopped, Marco... But I still have a lot of respect for you. It's just sadthat you aren't going to draw anymore. :( I still like SR a lot, too.

EDIT: One question, when's the next update going to be? I'm just curious.

You're probably just keeping it warm before your big burst of creativity. Besides, I wholly admire your fanart, and though I have about a million drawings of Lisa stuffed into my drawer, I'm waiting for just the right moment.

In the mean time, I'll be waiting eagerly for your next piece of art, and missing it all the same. :love:

Despite of my gallery, It's one of my favorite sites about my favorite cartoon =) it's still 2nd in my 'favorites menu' after ISFF. I never missed any update sinse i've visited it 1st time. Unfortunately, it's not frequent...

HyperStrudel
Is there any way to make that "right moment" come sooner? ;)
If you have Simpsons pictures drawn by you, if you feel you can share them - do that! This forum was created for sharing fanart and fanfiction. I'm not pushing you of course - decide by yourself - but I believe somebody here will be glad to see more Lisa art. ^^

Diamond
I feel the same about my gallery sometimes... well, there is the only one solution - to draw better pics. ;)

I have a suggestion to Marco... what about putting a link to this forum on SR?
This could be either a "SR boards" link on the bottom right corner, or button in the Webtips block.

Done and done. Check it out :)

SimpReal
Yay, thanks! You even added a new webtips section - nice job :)

/me reads about SimpReal's world domination plans there, scratches head

SR was updated today!

I hope you all like the new content, and sorry if few pics are commented by now... i'm a lazy guy, but i will get on them as soon as possible :)

Yay!!!
Very long-awaited and nice update, Marco. Congratulations to everyone, to Suus and Yggdrasill especially. :lisa:
The new pictures are simply sweet. I'm going to comment some of them... :)

Congrats, Suusje and Yggdrasill. You're wonderful artists. I'm glad you made it in. :)

Yay! Nice update! :lisa:

/me downloads all the new pics ;)

Thanks a lot for the gallery to Dagdamor and SimpReal! It's honour for me to see my pics in one row with the really great works. I shall necessarily draw still (as far as possible). :) And to begin make the commentaries.
Thanks, guys.

I have some more Art for Simpson Realities it's a beautiful website!

Welcome, Kat!  :maggie: And thanks! :)

Woo-hoo for SR!
I've stumbled upon SR when it first opened, but I was only there looking at the galleries and being jealous of the artists on there.
I said, " One day, I'll be in that contributors section... "
Low and behold, here I am. ;)

Thanks Alot!

You'll have to excuse this late reply but I just wanted to say that it's always nice to see a SR update...and what an update!   It's great to see Suusje's and Yggdrasill's art on there.

Suggestion:
1)You can unite SR and LTS more deeply - like comments for the pictures could be on LTS in appropriate topics.
Because now it's a double-posting.
Or you can make automatic post transfer betwen sites.

2) MAke it as a rule:
"All art posted on LTS would automatically appear on SR"

mmaavv
My personal opinion about these suggestions:

1) I wouldn't like if my comments made on SR will appear here without my will. When I comment pics on Realities, I do that for the Realities. (and for the authors, of course!) When I post here, I do that for the forum and its members. When the picture is especially beautiful, I post both here and there, but I do different posts, because these are different places. It'd hard to explain, but this time I wouldn't like some kind of automatic script to affect my feelings towards art.

2) Not every picture posted here should automatically appear on SR. Realities is the place for the best kinds of art, not for everything. That's what makes SR so special imho. Besides, don't forget about Marco's descriptions he writes for each picture - they are always particular and special, and I doubt this would be possible if everything and all will be just copied to Realities.

Dagdamor
2)My bad...  :red: (or my English)
I wanted to say "All Some art posted on LTS would could automatically appear on SR without additionl request"
Or artist should add a comment like "do not post this art on SR"

All welcome MaggieCute's gallery in today's SR update! :) It's not a big update, but it's better than nothing ... and i'm sure there'll be another pretty soon  :)

At last it's done. Sorry for making you wait, Kath  :o

Thats ok! And thanks so much!

Congratulations with nice update, Marco :)
Also congratulations to Kath, I hope there will be more comments in your gallery in time. :)
I will also try my best to contribute something, even if that would be a couple of crappy sketches, for the next update!

Thanks Dagdamor I will go and see if I can find any more art as well!

Very nice update! I'm loving some of those pictures, very nice indeed! :)

First gallery addition since I became a member :D

Grats Kat.

These Pics are awesome!!! *thumbs up* :D

I've lately received a lot of 'bad-blood' over a certain picture I've posted on Simpson:Realities, not that it particularly matters.

"360 Flip" (http://realities.simpworks.com/image/441) has aquired the most comments out of all the pictures I've posted, and its pretty clear the reason is somebody really really doesnt like it, or me. I checked against the email address, [*Deleted, See EDIT*], and was the same person who posted under the name 'cheese poo' and '-.-'.

Anyways, to the point. If anyone recognises this address, could you please let me know via PM?
(Dont start pointing fingers though, nobody from this forum.)

I wouldnt really care if this individual actualy said what was wrong with the picture, or myself. Just another to bask in the anonymous nature of the internet.

EDIT: I had to double check, but wasnt the same guy. Actualy talked to the dude on MSN and he only commented once. Ah well... I'll catch the next one.

(* Deleted Email because I've already delt with him. No point in anything more.)

Casper
I'm sorry about that... well, if there will be another shitposter, just post the link here. To delete nasty comments from the site and to ban poster's IP is the easiest thing. :)

As for me, I have received several really nice comments to my crappy pics these days... and some of the posters are from this forum. :p Thank you people, I really appreciate that, and will try to reply them all as soon as possible. :)

It is possible to mix the two, but not make it feel like the same thing. SSI.php thats packaged with SMF can do it easily with a modification or two to grab a specific topic. But I suppose thats a valid point. It was something I was sort of concerned about when I started updating TCB with MT2 instead of cutenews, but it seems to have paid off pretty well. Maybe give it a trial run?

Thats something I prefer to be honest, I'd rather the art I posted here not to appear on SR unless I authorised it to, so a manual method is pretty much the only way to accomplish that. I prefer my art on TCB, (and why wouldnt I :P)

As for the update itself, its a nice collection of art by Kat there. There's even a couple of pics I dont recall seeing before... Maybe its the old age kicking in... :P

[/rambling]

http://realities.simpworks.com (http://realities.simpworks.com)

Wee, a new update for this slow, lazy but solid site (like me, minus the solid!): This time we welcome back an old contributor, Steven Scott, who came back with a vengeance and with a plethora of new examples of his anime style. Cute girls, interesting situations, you know: anime stuff. I hope you enjoy!
Then, I shall put some ashes on my head to ask forgiveness for the lateness of my updating of Beb's gallery. I had her pictures laying around for months, and they were exceptionally good too, so I feel bad for not having uploaded them earlier. Still, there they are for you all to see!
Last but not least, there are two novelties over at LTS: A Gallery (it's pretty much linked with the content of SR with a different layout) and a Library! The latter is not linked with SR's fic section yet, but it will be in a future, so that section can begin expanding, too. I neglected it for too much time..
But let's cut the talk, you have piccies to look at :) Bye Bye!

SimpReal
Sweet update! :) my congratulations to Steve and Beb, your recent art is marvellous!
I can't believe I haven't seen most of it before... thanks to Marco for keeping me up to date ;)
Also thanks for mentioning the new LTS pages - if only I knew how to make the Library the SR origin. But it's indeed a good idea to do.

I'm willing to help any way I can :)

SimpReal
That won't be an easy thing to do. With Galleries, I just replicated the SR galleries structure on LTS; it was already well-thought and implemented, I only used the remote data and made a page design. With the Library, I can't use the existing data (aside from taking pics and copying descriptions from there :p), since the Fanfic section is too simple on SR. We'll have either to redo the Fic page there first, dividing stories into categories, adding new things like links to the discussion pages etc, and then repeat the same trick I did with Galleries, or to leave SR "as is" and only continue working on the LTS Library page.

*breathes*

Anyway, back to the SR update news :)

That is fine with me! Feel free to explain me in private how that could be done. It's been a while since i had some fun with coding :D

Heck!   Steve's been busy!
It's nice to see Beb's balloon Homer in there too, I always liked that one.

Steve's been busy, and i've been Lazy so things added up :p Sorry for that :)

I'm personally happy to finally see Beb's Maggiecake (http://realities.simpworks.com/image/641) photo up.
This one is several year old iirc, but it's still pure gold for any kind of fan :p
Congratulations Beb! :)

A while ago I've drawn something almost the same as on Beb's Maggiecake pic without even knowing that pic existed. That was kind of a weird moment for me. :D
http://realities.simpworks.com/image/559

All the new pics look great. Even though I'm not really a fan of the manga/anime stuff.

almost a whole day SR is being "Sorry, we're closed :-) Check back later!".
What is so long?

mmaavv
Same thing here. :( Waiting for my favorite site to come back...

Er. Sorry, i'm just updating it :) Don't worry, it will be back soon!

I still want to apologize because the updateing is taking so much time. The fact is, i had NO IDEA on how many pics i still had to comment (all of Suusje and Yggdrasil's gallery, a good lot of Gustavo's pics, all the new pics that are being added.... and i'm surel forgettign a lot), and that's sadl is taking it's sweet tool on my imagination. I just ask you another bit of patience...

Burns: Quit your pish posh jabber junkie! Post the posts post-haste!


Hehe, no hard feelings. ;) Take your time man, I think everyone appreciates the effort you put into this. No pressure. :)

(if your running short on time, dont worry about commenting on mine. I could sum things up in a quick quote if you like?)

Hehe. Don't worry Casper, i'm almost done. :)

In the meantme, i just found my very first rendition of SR through Web Archives... Sadly most of it has been eaten by Internet :(
http://web.archive.org/web/20011205223625/digilander.iol.it/ilbracio/

Hehe, interesting!
Aww @ the "1000 hits" picture, very cute. :)
LOL @ the Frontpage description.
All that happened far before I joined the Internet craziness goodies, it's so interesting to read all that now...
Thanks for posting that link, Marco. :) But I will be waiting for SR update!

This was a very big update, and I have little strength left in me to talk much about it in this space, but I shall try my best!
First of all, as the title reads, I'm back to square zero. My long period of inactivity rusted me up so I'm trying to get back sketching as you saw in the first days of SR, I need to get my hand back and see if I still have what it takes. For now, you can see some new sketches in the WiP gallery! As for contributors goes, there are just too many to list here... a lot of people had their gallery updated, with added pictures or added comments: yes, I have finally managed to comment ALL the pictures that are up on SR.  So I suggest you all to go take a look and see the new stuff that's been added.
Last but not least, we have another artist in our ranks, so all welcome Fulbert!

:lisa: http://realities.simpworks.com (http://realities.simpworks.com) :lisa:

YAY!!!
My patience didn't go into nowhere :D
Great update Marco, and nice to see Fulbert's pictures there.
Also thanks to Raven, Casper, Capadde and Kath for their contributions.
I didn't check all the mentioned comments yet, but I will ;) and the description for Fulbert's gallery is cool.

SimpReal
At last, one of our favourite sites has rejoined the land of the living :) Congratulations to Fulbert for his new art gallery, a man with that much artistic talent definitely deserves one :) Great job, Marco.

Well it was definitely worth the wait...you must be exhausted, Marco!   It's great to see Fulbert on SR and there's lots of great new pics from the others.   And it's nice to see your own new sketches on there too Marco.

Woohoo! :D
Well done and congratulations to Fulbert on his new gallery
and many thanks to Marco for all his effort on updating SR ^_^

Thanks a great lot for my new gallery, Marco! And all those comments you wrote really touched me. Thanks again:-) I'll try and do some more pictures to upload there whan I'm through with my studies, so that gallery of mine doesn't look so empty:-)

All of your contributions are of course greatly appreciated, and thanks for your feedback. :)

Look forward to the next update!

D'oh, i knew i was forgetting something...


....


er...

my bad. Sorry guys, sorry Maggiecute. You all deserve a better webmaster than me for your galleries on SR ;_; I'll still try to give it my best this weekend, though... thanks for reminding me!

Bloody 'ell! No wonder my monthly inspiration juice was running dry  :gigi:

Anyway, dont stress yourself over it Marco. I'm sure we'll forgive you. :)

SimpReal
Muahahaha (pitiful laugh), this time don't count on me because I will be busy upgrading LTS.
...it will be tough weekend as it seems... but I look forward to see more content on SR, too. :)
Good luck!

Thanks Marco! Looking forward to the Update!

Just finished counting the pictures that'll be in this update: counting only the ones that were submitted to me or via threads, they are 54! :D

Just to say, i cant make it today, i'm still thumbnailing them and fixing sizes/formats where needed. Sorry all. :(

You dont have to add any of mine since, I kinda forgot to email them to you specificaly for the update.  :red:

But, you know already I'm trying to work on something new, hopefully that will be sufficient when its finished. :)

Last update October 21, 2007
Last news update June 16, 2007

The time has come for a new update.

Mmaavv is the brevity itself, as always ;)
Well, I also hope SR gets updated soon. There are so many new pictures... but I also know Marco still has much RL stuff to deal with, so I wouldn't push him.

no, i don't have RL stuff to take care of....

it's just my fault. Sorry all.

Laziness is what it am.

Eh Marco. ;)

/me is too lazy to reply.

Marco, what may be useful is if you post details of thumbnail sizes, picture sizes ect and people can submit a properly sized picture and thumbnail to you ready, along with what you want in desciptions ect, so this may take some workload off you :)

Just a suggestion :)

I myself know the demon of RL and laziness rofl :P

Speaking of which, Marco, if you want, I can whip up a few thumbs and descriptions for any of my pics you wanna include in the gallery.

That should reduce your load down, however little.

SimpReal
And I can help with collecting the new pictures and beating out getting their authors' permissions to publish them on SR.

Bah :) Come on! What would Lisa say if she saw this? ;)

Today we have to celebrate a grim date in our history.
It's been a year since last update at Simpsons:Realities.
June 16, 2007 -> June 16, 2008

PS. And think about design. 800x600 - it's too old.

Aye indeed...

Still, I'm not disapointed. For the happyness its given already, I'd say its lived a million times any other websites worth.

Having said that, I dont believe it will never be updated again. The Simpsons art community used to be much larger, more dynamic and faster than it is at the moment, but thats not saying it will never be like that again. I think Simpson:Realities will awaken when the spark has reappeared in Simpsons art. :)

mmavv, i'm sorry, but i don't have time for SR anymore... :(
about the remark about the design... Should i change a site's design because it's "old"? not because it's bad? I hate sites that force you to watch them full screen because they're just cramping stuff in every place... imho SR has still a decent and modern design, and the resolution makes it so one can browse without giving it its full attention.

Hmm....I agree it's a shame,
SR is...well, one of the most influential legendary sites I ever came across! Just like many other Simpson fans here :)

However I also feel Marco should feel free to update it when he wishes or when it's possible...I'm not gonna pressurise him or other artists to get a move on or such :P
Also, Whether old or not I wouldn't like to see the design changed at all, but that's just my opinion....it's easy on the eyes, eat, tidy, and reflects the site creatively! :)

SR have a design is pleasing to a certain extent. if indeed that its resolution is not entirely correct ....(to this generation) :gigi:
But not is this topic ... SR has no updates from a year, however remains a benchmark for many people and "new artists" ...In my side of the world there are still people who visit this site .... :)

we can't stop the time

Well, my Lisa site isn't exactly up to date as well - and the design is the same since about seven years (!). I still like it, though, so why should I change it? :)

SimpReal
It's sad to hear this, although I understand you...
Hopefully you'll have more time in the future, during vacation time maybe :) forgetting about SR is not good.
I'd offer my help again, but lately, I'm not doing anything, only promising...

Bad news - the site seems to be broken somehow...
The main page works alright, but when you try to open any of the sections (for example, Art (http://realities.simpworks.com/category/art) one), you get a fatal error from the PHPC engine. :(
I don't have FTP access to the site so I can't fix it.
The problem, as I can see it, is that write permissions for the "cache" folder are lost.
Marco or Graham, can you fix it?

Yes, i've checked this with Graham, there have been a couple mishaps with moving on another server. And yeah, it has to do with folder permissions: Graham is workign on it, i cannot do much sadly as i forgot how this stuff worked and don't want to cause more troubles. :p

Okay, sections/galleries work again, thanks for fixing that, Graham.
But there is another problem, and I can't even figure out what causes it...

Look:
http://realities.simpworks.com/ - works just fine;
http://realities.simpworks.com/webtips - shows an empty page and returns "500 Internal Server Error" code.
http://realities.simpworks.com/category/art - works just fine;
http://realities.simpworks.com/gallery/img - shows an empty page + 500 error code.

Some pages work, some don't... the weird thing is that if you add any random parameter to the address, even a single question mark:
http://realities.simpworks.com/webtips? - works fine now :confused:

I never met such symptoms before, all pages should work. My only suspicion is a badly configured internal proxy on the server; looks like it has cached those "bad" requests and now returns "500 Internal Server Error" for all of them, without launching Apache and PHPC, ignoring even incoming "no-cache" headers.

Any help?

Neither me or Graham have any slight idea on what's happening :(

since the FTP details have changed, i'll set up a new account and then share it with you so we can look after it together. I cant stay on LTS much but Gimme until this evening, i'll try to get back soon.

Okay... I'm still not sure why it just throws an error. But if you send an FTP access to me, I will do one thing - upgrade PHPC from version 2.4.4 to the latest one, 2.4.5. It has better compatibility with PHP5, maybe it will help.
If it won't, I'm out of ideas. *spent quite some time without a result, frustrated*

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