Why
name a site DrPsychotic.com?
Unfortunately,
the name Dr Psychotic scares some people. But wasn't it
Shakespeare that said a rose by any other name still smells
pretty much the same? I mean, he could have been called Dr
Nutjob or something else. But I was going through one crazy name
after another and all of the domain names I entered were taken
except DrPsychotic.com. Why pick a name that has something to do with
insanity? Well I wanted to do a website that was
predominately humor-based. You see, quite often, humor is
associated with insanity. Words like wacky, zany, and crazy
are often used to describe something of a comedic
nature.
The
next reason would be because I wanted to create a cartoon
character who was bent on world conquest. A mad doctor of
sorts. One who was delusional, paranoid and the
works. So I created the character first, then sought out a
name. The third reason has a little more to do with my own
life. Insanity is a subject I happen to know a little
about. My father is a schizophrenic. I guess that
makes me a son of a schitz.
With mental illness,
unfortunately, there are feelings of shame sometimes. As a
kid, you sometimes feel embarrassed when you see others laughing
at your father while he is doing an Indian sun dance on the
front lawn. Or when they see him picking up cigarette
butts off of the road and lighting them up. One
can often explain to others the nature of the problem one's dad
might be the victim of. Some understand, empathize, and
comprehend, once you explain. Some still find it amusing
and some even look down on those neighbors with the "crazy"
father. Then you have to think to yourself that they
only do that out of their own ignorance. So,
on the site I have a "Psychotic
Dictionary" where people can actually acquire the
information I had to quite often explain. I mix a little humor in with the definitions.
Humor acts as a great coping
mechanism in a variety of situations. Therefore, you will find a
lot of insanity related jokes on this site. I also have an
article on schizophrenia
which provides more detailed information on the subject. The
intention, regarding this site, was never to make fun of insanity or
those suffering from it. But they say the first rule of
writing is to write about what you know. It's a humor site
and I know about insanity, so you figure out why I worked in so
many jokes about it.
Why
build a site around a cartoon character?
When I was a kid, I
wanted to be a cartoonist. I took art lessons and was
learning to paint oils and all that. Then one day I told
my art teacher that I wanted to draw cartoons. She told me
that cartoons were for babies. I no longer wanted to take
lessons anymore. As a kid, I just loved cartoons and I
thought that there would be no better job on the planet than
creating them. And here was somebody telling me that
something I loved so much was "stupid". I lost
interest in it and stopped drawing cartoons. The only
exception was when I was bored in school I would doodle cartoons. When the cartoon
thing fizzed out, I tried out the guitar. That's when I
became a musician.
Since I am also a musician, I created a section for this site
where you can learn guitar
chords and scales. However, I, as a musician, have often looked
at the websites of other musicians. Most of them are so
self promotional that they make me physically ill.
Everything is about them and nothing else. Websites that
are basically designed to do absolutely nothing but promote them
and their music. I try to offer functionality and actual
content on my site and I even have a
section where you can check out links to charity
sites.
I also Whole-heartedly encourage you to give.
There are a number of charities listed to choose from. I'd like
to help people other than myself. So even if I don't
receive a penny from this site, hopefully somebody who needs it
more will.
I
just so happened to have served in the military for three years. Therefore, I have my
patriotic side. I mix that with some of my religious
background and created the "God
and Country" section. I wanted to have a website
with the domain name of GodandCountry.com but it was already
taken. That's why I have it all on the same site as
everything else. I would
have preferred to have put it on a separate site because I was
afraid that the name DrPsychotic.com would scare some people off.
But, as the Rolling Stones would say: "You can't always get what
you want."
Back
to the drawing board.
When I got my first "real" PC, I started drawing cartoons on it.
I never really did anything with them until about 4 years later
when I started a local arts magazine called "Must Have
Magazine." It was sort of a Mad Magazine meets the arts. We
released two issues and a third was laid out but never went to
print. It was 16 hours a day for about 16 cents a day but it led to much greater things.
Many of the features you will find on this site had it's roots in the
magazine. All of the cartoons
and characters I created prior to the magazine and for the magazine are on the site. However, I found cyberspace to be much cheaper than
paper.
The magazine also accepted
written
submissions from aspiring poets and writers. When I
created Must Have Magazine, I wanted
to create a magazine that would allow people an opportunity to
have their work read, when they might not otherwise have been
given the opportunity to do so. That was one of the things
I enjoyed most about doing the magazine. It was sort of a
way of helping other people realize their dreams. Plus I thought
it would be an interesting concept for the readers to help
create the content.
Everything that was part of my life, in one way or another, has been
incorporated into
this site. And then some. It's mostly been done by
myself alone. This site is actually the product of
year's worth of work by one individual with absolutely no life
of his own. So I hope at least some of you enjoy it.
Bob
Craypoe |
