I’d like to say that I was extremely productive and that I accomplished a lot today.
However, clearly I wouldn’t like it enough to have actually been extremely productive and accomplished enough so that I could legitimately say that I had.
Instead I got up a bit before 10, sat around for a while, showered, dressed, headed over to the comic shop – new comics came out on Thursday this week because of the holiday, but I was too lazy to stop by there before today – had lunch, went to Target and bought a few things, then came home and took a nap.
Among the things I bought at Target was the latest Futurama DVD, The Beast With a Billion Backs, which I watched after I got up from my nap.
It was better than Bender’s Big Score, but it still seemed a bit off, and didn’t have as many laughs as a standard episode of the series would have had.
Still, there was one particular scene that was completely awesome and which made up for all of the other areas in which it was lacking.
Speaking of awesomeness, I went to see Hellboy II last night with Scott and Stacy and a bunch of other people I’m too lazy to list and I enjoyed the…err…hell out of it.
Not really going to post a review of it, other than, as already mentioned, to note that it was awesome, and also to say that I never thought I would have enjoyed something that included a Barry Manilow song as a rather central element, and yet I did.
I will say, though, that while the movie was near-perfection, I do have three complaints. It included one of my favorite supporting characters, Johann Krauss, a German scientist accidentally converted into a swirling mist of ectoplasmic vapor – voiced, oddly enough, by Family Guy creator Seth McFarlane, who did a decent job, particularly for Johann as presented in the movie – but it did not include my absolute favorite supporting character, Roger, the pantsless homunculus.
Also not featured: pulp hero Lobster Johnson. This is a shame, as there was a perfect opportunity in the movie to give audience at least a fleeting glimpse of the character.
My final complaint? No cybernetic Nazi gorillas.
These are, of course, mere quibbles, and I have absolutely nothing in the way of real complaints about the movie (other than that it annoyed me to have to wait four damn years for it to come out).
So yeah; I liked it. It had the requisite amounts of humor, action, and creepiness that should accompany any Hellboy story.
I should mention that a year or two before Hellboy hit the comics scene, I’d come up with an idea that was quite similar to the high concept behind Hellboy.
For the uninitiated, Hellboy is a demon who was brought to Earth through the machinations of a group of Nazi occultists during World War II. However, the ritual that summoned him was disrupted by Allied soldiers led by a paranormal researcher, and the demon, who was just a child, was adopted by the US military and raised by the paranormal researcher, eventually growing to become the world’s foremost paranormal investigator, who rejected his original destiny, which was to destroy the world.
My idea didn’t involve Nazis, but had a similar notion in that it involved the redemption of a demon. Basically, a demon takes possession of a child, and a priest is called in to exorcise it. In hearing the message of the Gospels, the demon, against all conventional wisdom and theology, becomes converted, and vows to join with the priest in the fight against the forces of darkness of which it was once part.
Of course, it was never much more than the germ of an idea, and likely wouldn’t have turned out to be anywhere near as entertaining as Hellboy even if I hadn’t been too lazy to actually do anything with the idea.
Up next as far as movie-going is The Dark Knight, on Friday, which we’ll be seeing in IMAX. After that, I can’t think of anything else that’s coming out that I’m interested in seeing.
When I got home from work yesterday, I watched the season finale of Reno 911! on my DVR, and then got to work on a picture for the upcoming remodel of the Heroic Portraits site. I went into obsessive mode, and got so caught up in it that I neglected to eat – as often happens – or to leave myself enough time to do so before leaving for the movie, so the hot dog and two boxes of candy I had at the theater had to fulfill that function.
When I got home, I pretty much immediately went back to working on the picture until the wee hours of the morning.
Of course – as also often happens – when I looked at the picture in the light of day I decided that it sucked and that I hated everything about it and that the whole thing had been a colossal waste of time.
Oh well.
In any case, if I should happen to stumble upon some motivation this weekend I’ll probably get to work on putting together a site that is at least a marginal improvement over the current version.
Maybe.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Thursday, July 10, 2008
What's Not To Like?
Last night I went to see Hancock with Scott and – eventually; he showed up after the movie had started – Casey.
Despite how well it’s done at the box office, most of the reviews I’ve seen of the movie have been negative.
I don’t get it; the movie was extremely entertaining, and Will Smith was his usual likeable self (as was Jason Bateman), and, also as usual, Charlize Theron was hot. So what is there to bitch about?
I mean, yeah, it wasn’t some dense existential exploration of the nature of heroism and the human condition, but it had a solid plot, a lot of humor, and some great effects.
(And some amount of existential exploration of the nature of heroism and human nature thrown in for good measure.)
The high concept aspect of the movie was, I think, brilliant, and was executed much more effectively than the equally brilliant high concept behind My Super Ex-Girlfriend (which I also liked).
As a comic book geek, I’m probably biased, as I’m frankly thrilled to see Hollywood coming out with original material that puts a new twist on elements that, while not directly adapted from the comics, are at least drawn from them, without resorting to the tired old clichés that have been the hallmark of Hollywood’s treatment of comics for decades.
So, yeah, I liked it, and I don’t know what’s up with the people who panned it.
Other than seeing the movie last night, things have been pretty uneventful since my last entry.
I’ve been doing some thinking about designs for a new version of the Heroic Portraits site that can serve as an improvement in quality over what’s in place now, and as something of a placeholder until I either miraculously become skilled in Flash, or hire somehow who has the skills that I’m unlikely to miraculously develop to build a new site.
Tonight looks to involve more of the same.
Tomorrow evening I’ll be seeing Hellboy II with Scott and several other people. All I can say is “It’s about damn time!” We’ve only been waiting four damn years for a sequel.
(I will say that the direct to DVD movies that have come out in the interim have been excellent. But then I’ll add, “More of those, too, please!”)
I neglected to mention that on Saturday, after watching the awfulness that was Tribulation Force, Scott and I watched a few episodes of The Venture Bros. as sort of a tonic, or as a kind of palliative.
It did the trick.
I watched a couple more episodes after Scott left, and found my mood much improved and found myself feeling much better about the collective worth of humanity after watching Tribulation Force – which is supposed to be hopeful and inspiring – had left me with a feeling of soul-crushing hopelessness and despair for the state of the world.
My point? Despite the extreme, over-the-top, casual violence, and the deplorable, but intensely human, behavior that can be found in every episode, The Venture Bros. is better for your soul than anything related to Left Behind and the nihilistic, death-obsessed, utterly inhuman, culture that produces and consumes it.
Or, to put it another way, Go Team Venture!
Of course, now that I think about The Venture Bros. and Left Behind, I can’t help but think about how awesome it would be to see Brock Sampson beating the crap out of Buck Williams and Rayford Steele (most likely beating one with the other).
(Note to Christopher McCulloch and Doc Hammer: make it happen! Also, seriously, you need to get Bruce Campbell to guest star as Ash on an episode.)
Still, here’s the next best thing: a collection of the 10 Best Brock Beatdowns.
Despite how well it’s done at the box office, most of the reviews I’ve seen of the movie have been negative.
I don’t get it; the movie was extremely entertaining, and Will Smith was his usual likeable self (as was Jason Bateman), and, also as usual, Charlize Theron was hot. So what is there to bitch about?
I mean, yeah, it wasn’t some dense existential exploration of the nature of heroism and the human condition, but it had a solid plot, a lot of humor, and some great effects.
(And some amount of existential exploration of the nature of heroism and human nature thrown in for good measure.)
The high concept aspect of the movie was, I think, brilliant, and was executed much more effectively than the equally brilliant high concept behind My Super Ex-Girlfriend (which I also liked).
As a comic book geek, I’m probably biased, as I’m frankly thrilled to see Hollywood coming out with original material that puts a new twist on elements that, while not directly adapted from the comics, are at least drawn from them, without resorting to the tired old clichés that have been the hallmark of Hollywood’s treatment of comics for decades.
So, yeah, I liked it, and I don’t know what’s up with the people who panned it.
Other than seeing the movie last night, things have been pretty uneventful since my last entry.
I’ve been doing some thinking about designs for a new version of the Heroic Portraits site that can serve as an improvement in quality over what’s in place now, and as something of a placeholder until I either miraculously become skilled in Flash, or hire somehow who has the skills that I’m unlikely to miraculously develop to build a new site.
Tonight looks to involve more of the same.
Tomorrow evening I’ll be seeing Hellboy II with Scott and several other people. All I can say is “It’s about damn time!” We’ve only been waiting four damn years for a sequel.
(I will say that the direct to DVD movies that have come out in the interim have been excellent. But then I’ll add, “More of those, too, please!”)
I neglected to mention that on Saturday, after watching the awfulness that was Tribulation Force, Scott and I watched a few episodes of The Venture Bros. as sort of a tonic, or as a kind of palliative.
It did the trick.
I watched a couple more episodes after Scott left, and found my mood much improved and found myself feeling much better about the collective worth of humanity after watching Tribulation Force – which is supposed to be hopeful and inspiring – had left me with a feeling of soul-crushing hopelessness and despair for the state of the world.
My point? Despite the extreme, over-the-top, casual violence, and the deplorable, but intensely human, behavior that can be found in every episode, The Venture Bros. is better for your soul than anything related to Left Behind and the nihilistic, death-obsessed, utterly inhuman, culture that produces and consumes it.
Or, to put it another way, Go Team Venture!
Of course, now that I think about The Venture Bros. and Left Behind, I can’t help but think about how awesome it would be to see Brock Sampson beating the crap out of Buck Williams and Rayford Steele (most likely beating one with the other).
(Note to Christopher McCulloch and Doc Hammer: make it happen! Also, seriously, you need to get Bruce Campbell to guest star as Ash on an episode.)
Still, here’s the next best thing: a collection of the 10 Best Brock Beatdowns.
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
For You Cavegirl Fans
For those of you who come here seeking all things related to the appallingly bad "erotic" comedy/soft-core porn movie known alternatively as Bikini Cavegirl or Teenage Cavegirl, go here. This NSFW site should meet all of your cavegirl needs in ways that this blog can't, and, more importantly, won't.
The Mysterious "Something"
So last week I made some vague references to a mysterious “something” that I was thinking about doing, but that I ended up not doing.
Last night I did it.
What was “it,” you ask?
In looking at a list of upcoming events in Loudoun County on the Web, I noticed that there’s a local art gallery and studio that has an “open studio” on Monday evenings, in which the public can go in and, for a $12 fee, sketch a live model.
I’ve been interested in sort of refreshing myself on the fundamentals of drawing, particularly “analog” drawing (as in non-digital; on paper instead of on the computer), so I thought this might be a good opportunity.
As noted, I didn’t go last week, for a variety of reasons.
One of those reasons was that I felt rather self-conscious. Walking into a studio and doing life drawing seemed kind of like walking into a gym when you’re ridiculously out of shape.
It’s been at least a dozen years since I’ve worked in any media other than the computer. I can’t even remember the last time I actually drew something of note on paper with a pencil.
Beyond that…well, while I’ve been drawing for pretty much as long as I can remember, I’ve never had any sort of professional instruction. I’ve skimmed through some books here and there, but basically anything I know about art I just picked up on my own.
My high school didn’t have an art program, and, lacking anything that even remotely resembled a portfolio, there was no way I was going to get into an art program in college. And simply meeting the various requirements for my degree didn’t allow for me to even try taking an art course as an elective.
The closest I got to an art class in college was cleaning the classrooms used by the art department in my student job as a janitor.
Seeing the work done by some of the students also added to the self-consciousness factor and pretty much made sure that I’d never even try getting into an art class.
I’ve never done any sort of “life drawing,” either. Not in any sort of formal setting, at least. I once asked Lorie to pose for me back when we were in college, but she was so disagreeable the whole time that I decided “Never again.”
(Beyond that, I once did a sketch of her while she was sleeping. Her angry “I don’t look like that!” reaction killed any ideas I had about trying that ever again.)
So, yeah. I felt more than a little trepidation about going to the open studio with my sketch pad and Mickey Mouse pencil set – not literally Mickey Mouse, but just some cheap little set I randomly bought one day a while back – tucked under my arm.
But I did it.
As an aside, even though I was more committed to going this time around, I almost didn’t go, as, for whatever reason, my contacts decided to irritate my eyes again when I wore them Sunday night.
I spent all of Monday with swollen, bloodshot, bleary eyes.
So the circumstances weren’t really conducive to my going, as I looked terrible and couldn’t really see.
When I got home from work I was going to use the prescription eye drops I have left over from when my eyes were really irritated, as they’re the only thing I’ve found that actually works to relieve the problem. However, I don’t like using them because they dilate my pupils, so, for the sheer hell of it, I decided to try some regular over the counter eye drops that I had.
They worked like a charm.
While I was glad to have the problem cleared up, this annoyed me to no end, because if I’d known that something other than the prescription drops would work, I could have gone to the store at lunch time or something and bought some, sparing myself a truly miserable day.
In any case, I did go, and I suppose I should talk about the experience.
It was odd.
Like most everything in my life, drawing has generally been a solitary pursuit, so it seemed strange to be surrounded by other people, but I got over that fairly quickly.
The model – who was clothed the whole time – had a tendency to move a little too often, and the “monitor” facilitating the whole thing had her change poses a little too frequently, so there were many poses that she didn’t hold long enough for me to get a chance to do a decent sketch.
Or, I suppose I could take the blame and say that I couldn’t sketch fast enough to keep up.
Other than that, the lighting was poor. By that I mean that there wasn’t much light to work by; the lighting on the model was excellent.
Overall it was an experience, and I may try it again. Somewhere along the line I think I’d like to take an actual class, but that’s still firmly in the “maybe” category.
It took me a little while to get into the swing of things, so my first couple of sketches totally blew, but I’ve scanned in the ones that were, as I told Scott, at least within spitting distance of being halfway decent.
Here they are:
Smudging has always been an issue for me.
So, yeah. Now you know what all the vague, mysterious somethings are. I believe I warned you that they would be boring, so I don’t want to hear any complaints out of any of you. I mean, honestly, you didn’t think I was doing anything interesting, did you?
Last night I did it.
What was “it,” you ask?
In looking at a list of upcoming events in Loudoun County on the Web, I noticed that there’s a local art gallery and studio that has an “open studio” on Monday evenings, in which the public can go in and, for a $12 fee, sketch a live model.
I’ve been interested in sort of refreshing myself on the fundamentals of drawing, particularly “analog” drawing (as in non-digital; on paper instead of on the computer), so I thought this might be a good opportunity.
As noted, I didn’t go last week, for a variety of reasons.
One of those reasons was that I felt rather self-conscious. Walking into a studio and doing life drawing seemed kind of like walking into a gym when you’re ridiculously out of shape.
It’s been at least a dozen years since I’ve worked in any media other than the computer. I can’t even remember the last time I actually drew something of note on paper with a pencil.
Beyond that…well, while I’ve been drawing for pretty much as long as I can remember, I’ve never had any sort of professional instruction. I’ve skimmed through some books here and there, but basically anything I know about art I just picked up on my own.
My high school didn’t have an art program, and, lacking anything that even remotely resembled a portfolio, there was no way I was going to get into an art program in college. And simply meeting the various requirements for my degree didn’t allow for me to even try taking an art course as an elective.
The closest I got to an art class in college was cleaning the classrooms used by the art department in my student job as a janitor.
Seeing the work done by some of the students also added to the self-consciousness factor and pretty much made sure that I’d never even try getting into an art class.
I’ve never done any sort of “life drawing,” either. Not in any sort of formal setting, at least. I once asked Lorie to pose for me back when we were in college, but she was so disagreeable the whole time that I decided “Never again.”
(Beyond that, I once did a sketch of her while she was sleeping. Her angry “I don’t look like that!” reaction killed any ideas I had about trying that ever again.)
So, yeah. I felt more than a little trepidation about going to the open studio with my sketch pad and Mickey Mouse pencil set – not literally Mickey Mouse, but just some cheap little set I randomly bought one day a while back – tucked under my arm.
But I did it.
As an aside, even though I was more committed to going this time around, I almost didn’t go, as, for whatever reason, my contacts decided to irritate my eyes again when I wore them Sunday night.
I spent all of Monday with swollen, bloodshot, bleary eyes.
So the circumstances weren’t really conducive to my going, as I looked terrible and couldn’t really see.
When I got home from work I was going to use the prescription eye drops I have left over from when my eyes were really irritated, as they’re the only thing I’ve found that actually works to relieve the problem. However, I don’t like using them because they dilate my pupils, so, for the sheer hell of it, I decided to try some regular over the counter eye drops that I had.
They worked like a charm.
While I was glad to have the problem cleared up, this annoyed me to no end, because if I’d known that something other than the prescription drops would work, I could have gone to the store at lunch time or something and bought some, sparing myself a truly miserable day.
In any case, I did go, and I suppose I should talk about the experience.
It was odd.
Like most everything in my life, drawing has generally been a solitary pursuit, so it seemed strange to be surrounded by other people, but I got over that fairly quickly.
The model – who was clothed the whole time – had a tendency to move a little too often, and the “monitor” facilitating the whole thing had her change poses a little too frequently, so there were many poses that she didn’t hold long enough for me to get a chance to do a decent sketch.
Or, I suppose I could take the blame and say that I couldn’t sketch fast enough to keep up.
Other than that, the lighting was poor. By that I mean that there wasn’t much light to work by; the lighting on the model was excellent.
Overall it was an experience, and I may try it again. Somewhere along the line I think I’d like to take an actual class, but that’s still firmly in the “maybe” category.
It took me a little while to get into the swing of things, so my first couple of sketches totally blew, but I’ve scanned in the ones that were, as I told Scott, at least within spitting distance of being halfway decent.
Here they are:
Smudging has always been an issue for me.
So, yeah. Now you know what all the vague, mysterious somethings are. I believe I warned you that they would be boring, so I don’t want to hear any complaints out of any of you. I mean, honestly, you didn’t think I was doing anything interesting, did you?
In Case You Were Wondering...
For anyone who's been wondering what Jon has been doing with his time lately, here's your answer:
Yes, that's right; I've been designing a new logo for Heroic Portraits.
Whaddaya think?
Of course, that's only part of what I've been doing, as I've also been creating some new content for the site (which accounts for my "mystery drawing") and thinking about what I want to do in terms of redesigning and actually marketing it.
I'm considering actually paying someone to put together a nice Flash-based version of the site, but before I really even think about that, I'm in serious need of content, so that's really been my focus.
I'll post again in a bit with the answer to yet another mystery.
Yes, that's right; I've been designing a new logo for Heroic Portraits.
Whaddaya think?
Of course, that's only part of what I've been doing, as I've also been creating some new content for the site (which accounts for my "mystery drawing") and thinking about what I want to do in terms of redesigning and actually marketing it.
I'm considering actually paying someone to put together a nice Flash-based version of the site, but before I really even think about that, I'm in serious need of content, so that's really been my focus.
I'll post again in a bit with the answer to yet another mystery.
Sunday, July 06, 2008
Not The Kind Of Change I'm Interested In
My car is desperately overdue for an oil change.
Not having weekdays off has seriously cut into my ability to get things done at a time when no one else is out getting those same things done.
I had to go to Wal-Mart today to pick up some stuff, and remembered that they do oil changes, so I decided to try there.
It would have been a two hour wait.
Every other place I went by had huge lines, so I decided that if it’s waited this long, my car can wait a little longer.
Honestly, at this point I’d really prefer to just forego changing the oil and actually change the car, but I really don’t feel like taking on a car payment again right now, so I guess I’ll just have to put my teeth in and then grit them and put up with it.
There’s nothing wrong with my car – strike that, I’m sure that there’s plenty that’s wrong with my car that will be revealed next month when I get the safety inspection – but…well, I hate it. I’ve always hated it.
Still, not having to make payments on the thing is nice, so I guess I’m stuck with it.
When I went to Wal-Mart I had the sense to write up a list of the things I needed, and for a change I even remembered to take said list out of my pocket and look at it.
Once.
I figured, “It’s a short list; I can remember what’s on it.”
For those of you who wonder, this is a prime example of why I lack confidence: every time I managed to muster some up, I invariably misplace it.
It was indeed a short list, but not quite as short as the list of items I actually bought.
Oh well.
Yesterday Scott came over to watch Left Behind II: Tribulation Force and to give it the MST3K treatment.
It was truly abysmal; much worse than even the first movie.
You would think that, in the context of a movie based on the Left Behind books – dubbed by Fred of Slacktivist as “The Worst Books Ever Written – the words “Bloopers and Outtakes,” appearing in the special features menu, could potentially be the greatest, most cringe-worthy phrase known to man.
Such was not the case. Even the bloopers were terrible.
I’d planned to grill up some brats for dinner, but it seems that’s what Scott had for lunch, so we opted to go to Fridays.
As a lingering after-effect of my dining experience in Kansas, I was in the mood for ribs. Of course, compared to the ribs I had in Kansas, the Friday’s ribs were sadly disappointing. They weren’t bad, they were just sorely lacking compared to what I had in Kansas.
Apart from my adventure in misplaced confidence, I didn’t do a whole lot today.
I talked to my mom, did some more mysterious drawing, and did the laundry.
I also grilled up yesterday’s brats for tonight’s dinner.
And that’s pretty much it.
Not having weekdays off has seriously cut into my ability to get things done at a time when no one else is out getting those same things done.
I had to go to Wal-Mart today to pick up some stuff, and remembered that they do oil changes, so I decided to try there.
It would have been a two hour wait.
Every other place I went by had huge lines, so I decided that if it’s waited this long, my car can wait a little longer.
Honestly, at this point I’d really prefer to just forego changing the oil and actually change the car, but I really don’t feel like taking on a car payment again right now, so I guess I’ll just have to put my teeth in and then grit them and put up with it.
There’s nothing wrong with my car – strike that, I’m sure that there’s plenty that’s wrong with my car that will be revealed next month when I get the safety inspection – but…well, I hate it. I’ve always hated it.
Still, not having to make payments on the thing is nice, so I guess I’m stuck with it.
When I went to Wal-Mart I had the sense to write up a list of the things I needed, and for a change I even remembered to take said list out of my pocket and look at it.
Once.
I figured, “It’s a short list; I can remember what’s on it.”
For those of you who wonder, this is a prime example of why I lack confidence: every time I managed to muster some up, I invariably misplace it.
It was indeed a short list, but not quite as short as the list of items I actually bought.
Oh well.
Yesterday Scott came over to watch Left Behind II: Tribulation Force and to give it the MST3K treatment.
It was truly abysmal; much worse than even the first movie.
You would think that, in the context of a movie based on the Left Behind books – dubbed by Fred of Slacktivist as “The Worst Books Ever Written – the words “Bloopers and Outtakes,” appearing in the special features menu, could potentially be the greatest, most cringe-worthy phrase known to man.
Such was not the case. Even the bloopers were terrible.
I’d planned to grill up some brats for dinner, but it seems that’s what Scott had for lunch, so we opted to go to Fridays.
As a lingering after-effect of my dining experience in Kansas, I was in the mood for ribs. Of course, compared to the ribs I had in Kansas, the Friday’s ribs were sadly disappointing. They weren’t bad, they were just sorely lacking compared to what I had in Kansas.
Apart from my adventure in misplaced confidence, I didn’t do a whole lot today.
I talked to my mom, did some more mysterious drawing, and did the laundry.
I also grilled up yesterday’s brats for tonight’s dinner.
And that’s pretty much it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
