They're here.

After starting these guys a couple of weeks ago I finally got around to finishing them. At first they all came out as dark as the short one on the left. I thought it suited him (he looks like he grew out of the ground in this picture) so I left him the way he was, but repainted the other two. They're sitting beneath a pumpkin vine that sprouted this spring after I threw last Halloween's pumpkins in the garden to rot.

These were inspired by the incredibly talented Bean over at http://thepumpkinhollow.blogspot.com.

Adams Who?

Once again, pure genius. I love the "Adams and Franklin" header, as if it's a TV show or something. The colonial version of The Odd Couple. More of this brillance can be found here.

Fire!

Last night was filled plenty of flashes and sparks and pops and screams and the bitter smell of sulfur.

Here comes the sun.

This trailer for Rockband: The Beatles is genius. My favorite part is the elevator ride with the costume change to the Sergeant Pepper's uniforms. The only drawback is the actual game has full 3D animation instead of what they show in the trailer. On the other hand, new controllers are being released based on the band's classic instruments.

I should have gone to school for animation.

More The Beatles: Rock Band Info

Favorite Things for the Week of March 15, 2009

1. Kate Beaton

There is no doubt in my mind that this girl is a genius. Her clever wit takes often bland historical figures and transforms them into some of the best comics around. Not knowing some of the obscure historical references, a lot of the time I feel that the jokes go over my head. But there are also aspects to them that make them universally funny. Being a Canadian, the artist often pokes fun at the American Revolution and makes references to Canadian historical figures that I have never heard of. She has a brand new site here. Below is my favorite and maybe her most well known comic, Tesla the Celibate Scientist.

2. Watchmen

First off, trying to make a movie from the graphic novel, Watchmen, is nearly impossible. The novel is several books seamlessly intertwined into one, which is one of the many reasons that Watchmen is incredibly dense. That being said, a 3 hour movie cannot come close to telling every back story and every detail of this alternate 1985 universe. But the movie does have an incredible attention to detail and tries to live up to the book. The casting is perfect. The fact that there are no major stars helps to focus on the characters who deserve your attention. The music is amazing. At some points the songs fit the scene perfectly. In other scenes, the songs seem strangely out of place which makes them even better. The idea of fitting the movie into 1985 was also very well done. Scenes often felt like they were borrowed from a movie made twenty years ago. Although at times the historical aspect of the novel seemed overdone, i.e. Nixon’s nose and the ridiculous amount of celebrity look a likes. One of the things I was looking forward to the most was the ending, but it was altered. But I was strangely surprised as the new ending was just as good, becoming a commentary on the dangers of science. One thing that bothered me is that Alan Moore’s writing isn’t done justice. Some key lines from the book make it to the movie and the scenes often keep the same spirit as the novel. But a lot of the lines that I was looking forward to are missing. It might be not be the greatest movie ever made but I definitely enjoyed it.

3. I’M BRIAN FELLOW!

Tracy Morgan may be crazy, but these SNL skits prove how well he can act too. Brian Fellow is the host of the effeminate host of a talk show about animals. He often hallucinates that the animals on the show are schemeing against him. And his answer to most anything that confuses him is I’m Brian Fellow! Tracy reprised this role this past Saturday when he hosted SNL. His performance was missing something but was still worth seeing. Below is what may be the best Brian Fellow segment. The ‘fix this in editing’ part is priceless.



March 14:

5 Favorite Things of the Week of February 22nd

1. George Steinbrenner on Seinfeld

Larry David’s depiction of George Steinbrenner never fails to be hilarious. He’s a side character that sits behind a desk with his back to the camera 95% of the time, but ever line he has is “Gold, Jerry, Gold”. The ultimate Steinbrenner episode involves George sleeping under his desk at work and Jerry calling in bomb threats to the Yankees. But what might be even better are these deleted scenes where the real George Steinbrenner appears. Why this was cut I have no idea, the Elaine rant is perfect.

2. Wendy and Lucy

The first I heard of this movie was when I stumbled across this trailer. The film is about a girl traveling to Alaska to take a well paying job. Along the way she runs into obstacles that threaten her journey. The trailer is stark and at times almost scary.

3. The Great Gatsby

High society social groups aren’t something that I’m normally interested in but this book is the exception. Fitzgerald’s command of the English language is unbelievable. Every word is perfectly chosen to create phrases and sentences that are nearly impossible to duplicate.

“Through all he said, even through his appalling sentimentality, I was reminded of something-an elusive rhythm, a fragment of lost words, that I had heard somewhere a long time ago. For a moment a phrase tried to take shape in my mouth and my lips parted like a dumb man’s, as though there was more struggling upon them than a wisp of startled air. But they made no sound, and what I had almost remembered was incommunicable forever.”

4. Childe Hassam

Hassam was an American impressionist painter who worked in the late 19th. Early 20th century. His work speaks for itself. One of my favorite paintings, Avenue in the Rain, recently showed up in the oval office.

5. PumpkinRot









Pumpkinrot.blogspot.com is a blog by someone that loves Halloween and understands it perfectly. It’s updated all year with pictures of the author’s awesome creations and other finds. He does an awesome yard haunt every year in addition to scarecrows like Johnny Appleseed up above.

The Passing of Two Greats...

Within the past two weeks artist, Andrew Wyeth, and writer, John Updike, both died. Wyeth on January the 16th and Updike on January the 27th. Both were accomplished and brought a unique characteristic to each of their respective fields.

Wyeth was born in 1917, right in the midst of Picasso, Matisse, Duchamp, and the adolescence of modern art. But Wyeth looked to the past, using tempera as his medium (which dates back to before the Renaissance). His paintings are rendered in incredible detail. Each blade of grass is painted individually, lace curtains blowing in the breeze look perfectly light and airy. Most of his paintings have the somber, contemplative feel of fall and winter. His work, Christina's World, usually hangs in a claustophobic room next to the Surrealism section in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Hopefully he will get the recognition he truly deserves.

Updike was probably America's greatest living writer. He had a special gift for writing where every single work seems carefully chosen to create the perfect phrase. He was also very academic. He was incredibly knowledgable about the arts, writing several books worth of commentaries on American art. His novel, The Centaur, is somewhat autobiographical telling the story of a boy and his father living near Reading, Pennsylvania. He ingeniously intertwines this story with stories from Greek mythology, creating an amazing book. But that's just one of his many works.

With Wyeth hailing from the Philadelphia area and Updike growing up near Reading; Pennsylvania, let alone America and the world, has lost two its greatest figures in the arts.