devil times five

Notes From the Shire

2012-02-07T11:54:00.002+13:00

Hi, everybody! I think, given the number of posts I've made to this blog in the last five weeks, and the obviously large gaps between the timestamps on said posts, that a greater effort must be made at this endeavor. That's alright. I could say I've been too busy, but honestly I've just been having too much fun. Also, I've drifted into a period of (perhaps deserved) laziness.
Summer is in full effect here. The weekend was a bit overcast, but nothing to hamper most outdoor activities. Other than those couple days, though, I'm finding that Nelson lives up to its reputation as the city with New Zealand's most sunshine hours.
It was great to spend the weekend with Corina's friends and family. Yesterday was the Waitangi Day holiday, and we went for a trip to the beach with Damien, Celia, and Ozzy, followed by a picnic. Then Corina and I deep-cleaned some of the house and had fish tacos for dinner. All told, it was a wonderful end to the weekend.
It's basically always beautiful here, and although the sun is dangerously bright - sunscreen is obligatory for white white men like me - it's cool in the shade at most times. I've spent lots of time outside, jogging in the mornings, and venturing around in the afternoon.
Last week, Corina and I walked down to the ports, and I was excited to see all of the boats moored there. There were some larger fishing boats, some sizable catamarans and trimarans, but also some sailboats not much larger than Dad's Cape Dory back home. I think it'd be a blast to go out for a ride on one of those, and I think he'd feel the same. Corina also took me on a walk along the river away from the ocean, up into the Maitai Valley. It was beautiful! There are so many wonderful things to see in Nelson, and as it turns out, a change of scenery is usually within walking distance.
I've still got some time to putter around and look at stuff. In just under two weeks, though, I start my job at the Morrison St. Cafe in town. I'm very excited about this; after having applied to a few jobs in which I had little real interest, and failing to attain them, it feels great to have been hired at a place I enjoy. I'm not sold on the idea of full-time service work, but that's alright. It's a great spot, and everyone there seems very welcoming.
I also recently completed a bit of light design work for a cafe here, and I've got some small stuff brewing back home. Overall, things are on the up-and-up.
I began to feel well settled for the first time last week, and the feeling is growing. I think establishing the basics of life in a new place - job, bank account, new acquaintances - fill in the gaps and lead on this change in mood. And, as the constant, I am extremely happy to be with Corina.
I had a dream last night that we packed up and left in the morning. It made me feel very unhappy, which is a good sign. There's still a lot left for me to experience, and I continue to feel grateful for the opportunity to be here.
I'm learning, with Corina's help, to take it easy and just try to live well in a new place. She's done a very good job so far of pushing me along.
Hope you're all well. I understand that most of you are experiencing winter right now, and I apologize for gloating, but I would recommend being here, rather than there. Miss yas.

The Amazing Lew Zealand

2012-01-20T14:13:00.004+13:00

Hey, all. Wow! Three weeks and I'm already bad about keeping this up. Sorry if you're checking on it frequently. I'm not, evidently.
I'm still trying to get my footing here in Nelson. It's interesting how, when I had planned this all out, I sort of expected to get off the plane, land a good job, and resume life as normal - normal in this case being an approximation of life in Minneapolis. It's taking a bit longer than that.
First off, as a disclaimer, I'd like to say that I'm unaccustomed to writing about myself. Or, more specifically, writing about myself in a way that details the day-to-day stuff. In a way, when one writes, one is always writing about oneself. Anyway, I find it hard to establish tone sometimes, as my thoughts on the events of my life tend to vary; I'm a waffler when it comes to describing the merits of any given day of my life, and I can sound quite unimpressed at times when I'm hitting the roof with joy. I think I've been hesitating to write out of apprehension that what I say - or the way in which I put it down - will cause worry. Uh, basically, I'm having a blast, so don't worry when I tell you that:
I haven't found a job, which is the main stressor in my life. I've had one interview for the several jobs to which I've applied, and had a trial run for same this afternoon. It's a barista position at Zumo, my favorite Nelson coffee shop. I went in about an hour ago and made some coffees for the manager. She seemed very nice, but was cryptic about her thoughts on my efforts. I'm aware that I made what looked like some rookie mistakes when I was messing around behind the bar pulling shots, but the drink that I presented at the end was a good one. I think. She said they'll be calling back some of the more promising candidates for some actual trial time, making coffee for customers and working the register and things. I left unsure of whether to expect a call. As Corina's pointed out, if they're interested, great; if they're not, well, there are plenty of other jobs.
I'm glad that I've moved to a new place well prepared. It's occurred to me that I've never moved anywhere outside of the Twin Cities until this point, so it stands to reason that there's unexpected nervousness to be felt. I've enjoyed the time that I've been here, but I don't know whether I expected it to feel so different from the last time I was here. Then, I was on vacation, and on a generous budget, but I had my entire life in Minneapolis to return to. There are many things to do to keep oneself entertained in Nelson, but this doesn't feel like vacation, because it isn't. I'm not sure precisely when that hit me, but now that is has, the shift of mindset has really helped me. This is no dire situation, I just have to keep trying and keep applying.
And, of course, although I miss you all - and I really do, doubly so since I got to see so many of you over the holidays - I am with Corina, and that fills my heart. I'm not kidding, my lady is fantastic.
There's a whole bunch of everyday stuff that continues to blow me away, too. Did you know that there are places in the world where you can get up in the morning, have a cup of coffee, run a couple kilometers to the beach, on THE PACIFIC OCEAN, swim in it, run back home, shower, and have another cup of coffee? If you're unemployed, anyway, or a very early riser, and you have an hour and a half every morning to monkey around like that. (Did you also know that the ocean can be very cold in the morning?) I've been trying to do this about three times a week, and it makes my entire day better. I'm out and about exploring a little, and that feels good. I'm feeling a small but growing sense of propriety in this place, and that's vital for adaptation.
You might also be interested to know that the sun here is very bright, and very hot, and in the summertime it sticks around for a long time. The sun is A Thing, and demands consideration: despite all the sunblock with which I coat myself daily, my freckles are starting to connect. I wake up around eight, when the sun hits the bedroom window, and owing also to Corina's schedule, usually go to bed shortly after the sun sets. Getting exercise and closing the day well-sunned leaves me nicely tired.
In short, I've been leading a very charmed life these past three weeks. I'd like some work, please, to shake that up a bit, but I can't really complain about much of anything. I've started a personal project, which has kept my mind occupied, and I've already read several books, but there's something about working for others - and not just the pay, although that grants a sense of accomplishment - that revitalizes me more than most things.
I hope all of you are well. I understand that the weather in Minneapolis has finally become January-standard horrendous, so my sympathy lies with all of ya. Feel free to write me if you like! I've heard from lots of you, and I appreciate it. Stay warm, Northern Hemispherers.

Out there and havin' fun, in the warm California New Zealand sun.

2012-01-11T11:37:00.004+13:00

Hello! How are you!
I've been in Nelson now for almost two weeks. I've had a very easygoing life so far. Most days, I get up whenever the sun hits our bedroom windows (usually 830 or 900), head downstairs, start up my laptop, and put the coffee pot on the stove. After a cup of coffee and some time to check my email, I drink a glass of water, stretch, and put on my running shoes. Then I head around the corner from our little house on Washington Rd. and jog up the hill on Arrow St. to Quebec Rd.
Today, I took the camera with me to document my regular walk/run up to the cliffs and back. It's incredibly convenient, as my path makes a loop that spits me out, via a walkway parallel to the street, back onto Washington Rd. about four blocks from our house. That said, the origin of these photos isn't that interesting - I'm running up a big hill and back down the other side - but the scenery is great. On the way up, there's a great view of Nelson. As Quebec Rd. curves toward the top of the hill and I'm heading roughly west (I think), the trees open up to a slice of the ocean. And finally, after I hit the top, the water is in full view as I make my way back down the hill.
Presented below is a mini photo documentary of my path.

The view up Arrow St.

Curving onto Quebec Rd.

A view of the group of apartments where we live.

Some views of Nelson from about halfway up the hill.

Some views from Quebec Rd., facing away from the water.

At the end of Quebec Rd., some shots from the crest of Princes Dr.
Looking down the hill on Princes Dr. This is where I'm going next. It's steep enough that I kinda roll my ankles if I try to run straight down it. Being from Minneapolis, I am not used to hills like these.

More shots of progress down the hill.

The turn down to

here, the walkway that leads back to Washington Rd., where we live.

Washington Rd.

A picture of our, uh, apartment complex. We live in a unit that comprises maaaaybe a quarter of this.

Home! A view of our little courtyard. It looks a lot nicer when we've extended that flash new umbrella we bought over the weekend.

And that's about that. I'm getting back into running, and it's gotten a lot easier since I started over a week ago. Getting to the top of the hill and seeing the ocean is a huge motivator; I'm not much of a photographer, but the view is majestic.

Other than that, there's not a whole lot to report. I've started applying to jobs, and I've got one small freelance project going back in Minnesota. I've been spending the rest of my time getting some exercise, reading, drawing, and enjoying Corina's company. I'm happy! Now I just need to start making some money.
Hope you're all well. Feel free to comment on this if you're reading it, or write me an email or a note on the Facebook. Miss you guys.

Sunshine

2012-01-04T12:01:00.003+13:00

It's a beautiful day in Nelson. The first one we've had since I arrived, actually. It's nothing but clear blue skies as far as I can see. I can't find cause to complain either way, really; I've loved the overcast, spottily rainy weather we've had the last four days, but it's great to see old Nelson as bright and cheerful as it was the last time I visited.
I went for a run this morning, and it was more arduous than I'd expected. I guess I should clarify: as Corina and I are living in an area called Washington Valley, the only non-hilly direction I can take when leaving the house leads me straight into town. As such, I headed up into the hills around the house, and as a result, my "run" was pretty intermittent. Turns out cycling uses muscles far different from hill climbing, and I wore myself out very quickly trying to travel at any speed faster than a walk. Certainly got my heart rate up for a good thirty minutes, though.
I'm easing into life here. I feel as though I'm continually experiencing deja vu, I guess mostly as a result of having dreamed of being here for so long. That said, I do have many awakening moments throughout each day, when I think to look around and then realize that this place really is different from Minneapolis.
For one, I'll have to wake up pretty soon and find myself employment. One thing I'd conveniently forgotten is that everything here is bought at a premium. I'm not worried about it, but the rate at which one must spend money here is a good motivator to continue the search for work.
For two, more interestingly, we just don't have this kind of landscape back home. There are familiar trees for certain, but they mingle with huge ferns and palms and tall grasses all the way up the hill. I'll take photos of all of this, I promise; right now, you'll have to settle for a shot of the view from our couch.
For three, the insects are strange. Our courtyard is covered (without hyperbole, yes, covered) at certain times of the day with these tiny bugs whose backs are covered in a tuft of fur that looks like dandelion seeds. Their backs are arched like those plastic carnival toy frogs with the tab on their backs, the ones you can make hop across the room; and if you put your finger at their backs, they hop in the same way. They also have a habit of hopping from the trees and the roof, and plummet straight down at the ground. At first I confused them for raindrops. They're completely harmless, and I get a big kick out of them. Also, less impressively, there are flies. Lots and lots and lots of flies. The windows here don't have screens, so if we want a breeze to pass through the house, we have to accept the presence of a few extra tenants. (It's alright, though - Corina keeps a big can of Raid at hand.)
Not much else to report yet, really. Everyone here has been warm and welcoming, and I'm grateful for that. I'm happy here, and excited to see what happens in the next week. Hope you're all well.

Arrival!

2012-01-02T09:02:00.003+13:00

Happy New Year to all. I've arrived in New Zealand safely and soundly. The brief rundown, for those of you to whom I've not yet written, is that everything's gone very well at this point! I'm here, and I appear to be in good condition.
For the first, all of the timing on my flights was spot-on. I had plenty of time in San Francisco to leave security and retrieve my international boarding passes - a task at which I was initially annoyed, as the United agent in Minneapolis confusingly refused to issue boarding passes for flights outside the U.S. due to her aroused suspicion at the inspection of my work visa - and, upon reentering security, again found time to eat some airport sushi and have a short rest at the gate before boarding the long flight. The twelve and a half hour flight from San Fran to Auckland passed quickly (and groggily) thanks to the Advil PM I received in a Christmas care package from the lovely Laura Fulk, and before I knew it I was zombie-ing from the international terminal to the domestic through heavy rainfall. It was a short island hop to Nelson on a Bombardier Q300 through more rain, and I was excited out of my mind to land and meet my lovely ladyfriend once again.
Corina and I spent a couple hours at her brother and sister-in-law's house in Stoke, just outside of Nelson proper, watching Corina's nephew, Ozzy. Despite being a little coldish, he was in high spirits; and whether or not he remembered me from my last visit, we took to each other quickly. He's a hilarious little one-year-old, and a real high-energy little brute. I like him.
The rain cleared mid-day on New Year's Eve, and after Corina and I ventured into town for the Saturday market, we wandered a few blocks with her father, got some coffee, and returned home to prep for the night.
Corina's dad (Dennis), her grandfather (Ed) and his girlfriend (Dot) came around to pick us up, and Corina and I spent New Year's Eve back out in Stoke at Damien and Celia's. Several of their friends came over with their kids, and we had a very low-key night complete with a beautiful sunset (photo above).
Yesterday, as is typical of a New Year's Day, Corina and I did practically nothing. We made it into town for lunch with her friends Ren and Jo; it was lovely to meet them, and as a bonus I got my first taste of fish in the orange roughy with cajun potatoes and green beans I ordered at the restaurant. After lunch, we swung by the supermarket, then spent the afternoon lying around reading.
It's been a very relaxed time thus far. I'm getting a nagging itch at the back of my mind, meant to remind me that very soon it's time for a job search, but right now I feel very much like I've returned to the most wonderful vacation I could ask for.
I hope you're all finding 2012 to be wonderful, or at least agreeable. My hopes are running high right now. All seems to be wonderful.

new painting

2010-09-05T13:21:00.003+12:00

here is a new painting.

some details:

work in progress part 2

2010-07-23T12:21:00.001+12:00

here's the next entry in this series... again, probably. gotta look at it for about a week.

some details:

work in progress

2010-03-24T15:03:00.003+13:00

here's some work. messing around with live trace, as well as some other stuff, in illustrator cs3. the colored version may be (about) finished.

image dump!

2010-02-03T17:02:00.002+13:00

here's a bunch of stuff from the last while. some drawings from the children's book, and a couple newer paintings. all can be seen at my website, noelyoungstudio dot com, which has been updated!

press

2009-12-05T06:16:00.001+13:00

hey! i'm featured on the website stomp that box.com for pedal work. excellent. (the website's name is questionable.)

and now for my moment of zen...

2009-07-22T04:08:00.004+12:00

picnics under the moon

2009-04-10T17:18:00.002+12:00

hygge and west has elected to make me a guest contributor [to its] blog over at picnics under the moon. i should have an article up as of sometime today (friday). check it out!

noelyoungstudio.com updated

2009-03-10T16:39:00.000+13:00

http://noelyoungstudio.com updated. takealookatit.

never. always.

2009-02-05T19:14:00.000+13:00

metabuzz

2009-02-04T10:19:00.002+13:00

in these dark times it is important - vital, even - to heartily award oneself for the glimpse of even the most minor success.

that said, my work for the boutique hygge and west has been published in this blog. that's cool!

further, my custom pedal work, some of which is viewable at my website, can be seen in its rough entirety at the new custom pedal page at z vex's website.

spread the hype. we need work.

bitrated

2008-12-08T16:36:00.003+13:00

check out 8bitpeoples. it's a record label that promotes musicians that either program or emulate 8-bit chiptunes. (plus they have free downloads.) i don't know if any of you are at all interested in the 8-bit music style, but if not, now's the time to start. i've already mentioned the high voltage sid collection; that's a collection of emulated c64 music - some of it from c64 games, some of it original work by the composers for those games. regardless of the application, most of it's great. the composers (at least the bigger names) were/are a group of very talented guys. same is true of the artists on 8bitpeoples, although they draw additional inspiration from, and directly utilize, the sound chips of the nes, atari 2600, and game boy.

oh, and in other news: i'm in a show next weekend at the cpop gallery in detroit. road trip!

noelyoungstudio.com updated

2008-12-02T06:28:00.002+13:00

check it out! there's a fair amount of new stuff on display.

http://noelyoungstudio.com

guns for eyes

2008-10-16T06:57:00.002+13:00

i've been a devoted fan of the webcomic achewood since sometime in 2004, and i'd always felt satisfied by the daily portion of online cartooning it offered up. however, recently, achewood author chris onstad has become increasingly sporadic in his publishing between increasing familial demands and touring the nation to tout his new book. good for him; he absolutely deserves all the laudations and doting a cartoonist could hope for. as i've said at nearly any opportune moment or lull in conversation, achewood is basically one of my favorite things, period. still, this is all apropos of describing that, with less daily achewood to read, i've begun to divert my attentions elsewhere in order to plug the gap between the second cup of coffee and actually beginning the workday. for while achewood used to be my one and only, i try to be a realist in our dismissive and fleeting generation, and "out of sight, out of mind" is our neglectful and shoe-gazing motto. (what the fuck?)

anyway, so i stumbled upon scary go round recently (which, by the way, is now linked in that sidebar to the right, along with achewood), and it is awesome. while much more innocent than achewood - or maybe just more british, substituting achewood's depressive and vulgar characters for a set of depressive but whimsical ones, and hip hop slang for a cockney slur - scary go round author john allison is equally engaging as onstad if not as consistently hilarious.

thematically, the two are similar as well. each features a diverse and idiosyncratic cast of characters, and story arcs in both strips seem to teeter innocuously on the borderline of the surreal before dropping off the face of reality entirely, and then resolving as if nothing ever happened. in short, they both work wonderfully in the format of a daily serial strip. what's so excellent about scary go round, though, is the way it further resembles a favorite television sitcom. it's tamer than achewood, but without losing any of its bizarre appeal; and while achewood has some characters to whom we can relate on an emotional level (specifically, the near-suicidal cat roast beef), john alison writes an entire cast for a generation of twenty-somethings who spend too much time at a computer. there's everything from high school playground angst (the young couple of dark esther and football hooligan eustace is especially nice) to nearing-thirty unemployment (and nearing-thirty unemployment as a merman).

it's touches like that - like adding a merman to the primary household in the comic's world - that make scary go round so great. i've gone through and read most of the archived strips, and my favorite plotline follows eustace and some classmates on an exchange in france as they try to thwart the new easter bunny that french president sarkozy has brought to france from canada - it's established early on that it is actually a ferocious wendigo, and it is devouring the countryside while speaking in verse. (as an aside, part of the strip's appeal for me might come from a shared interest with john allison in cryptozoology - another plotline has the characters searching for a series of old-world gods in order to save the planet.) this mix of the unbelievable with the everyday provides the perfect backdrop for good writing. look at, like, anything joss whedon has ever done, and you can see why this formula, when mixed with a bunch of snappy banter, works so successfully.

finally, the art is really good. look back to the first scary go round strip in the archives and you'll realize this hasn't always been the case, but it looks like john allison has come into his own. basically, go read it. it's great.

hey kid, you wanna make ten bucks?

2008-08-05T03:45:00.002+12:00

something to meditate on:

somefield

2008-07-07T15:27:00.001+12:00

i stumbled upon barnaby ward's website earlier today. take a look; his work is incredible.

the beast

2008-07-05T06:58:00.004+12:00

i found this on a blog concerning the "great apostasy" of the american people, as foretold in the scriptures of blah blah blah. basically it's a rad collage of the beast (who appears to be dressed as an 18th century american statesman with some kind of zohar-illuminatis pyramid attached to his forehead) holding uncle sam, douglas macarthur, and a naval officer on strings and leading them after a dinosaur-headed chimera around which is orbiting a fiery psychedelic planet earth.

if this is what happens when we americans have strayed from the flock en masse, i'm all in.

noelyoungstudio.com update ::: 06.20.08

2008-06-21T07:53:00.001+12:00

noelyoungstudio.com has been heavily updated. check it out!

one night in andar

2008-06-19T16:52:00.003+12:00

last weekend, i participated in the 48 hour film project with a bunch of friends (as credited in video, whom most of you know, whatever, shut up, someone else might read this blog, it's a possibility). heeeeere it is. i mainly did the animation with zach pearl. it was a tiiiiime.

giant sloth

2008-06-10T18:05:00.001+12:00

uh huh.

thursday

2008-05-30T04:47:00.002+12:00

WHEN IS THIS GONNA STOP?!

thursday

2008-05-23T04:39:00.002+12:00

meh. i guess you sort of have to see it. problem is, it's not that good. it's also not that bad, though.

el orfanato

2008-05-21T15:47:00.003+12:00

i missed this time after time when it was screening in minneapolis theaters - i feel like after its limited run at the lagoon it showed up somewhere like, beats me, hopkins or whatever - so i was very excited finally to get a look at it now that it's been released on dvd.
i watched the orphanage this afternoon, when it was bright and sunny and there was a real nice breeze coming through the window, which i realize isn't exactly the witching hour, but the hype that surrounded this movie at its release is confusing in retrospect. basically, it's not much of a horror movie. first off, there's the clever and adorable little mascot on the poster, above, who is a pivotal character to be sure, but doesn't deserve to market a movie in much the same way that, like, jigsaw's stupid puppet face was used to sell those terrible saw movies. secondly, the trailer was goddamned terrifying, but as with so many horror trailers they mostly just mashed all the orchestra stabs and whiz-bang spook moments they could into 90 seconds. and third, everyone i know who did see this movie on the big screen told me that it was the most frightening thing they'd ever seen.
so, that being said, this movie completely failed to live up to the hype that had been impressed on me. however, as happens so many times when one sees a well known movie, or reads a well known book, without knowing much of anything concerning the particulars of its plot, i was totally blown away by the orphanage, just not at all in the way that i thought i'd be. i can't honestly say that i was scared by this movie at any point, although it is plenty eerie.
even though it's the (mind-bogglingly wunderkind phenomenal) directorial debut of juan antonio bayona, executive producer guillermo del toro's mark has been left all over it in the beautiful production design: lots of dark corners; vignette-framed scenes; use of hi8 and night vision cameras; and props, costumes, and makeup rather than cgi all make for a visually stunning movie. bayona's camerawork is real impressive, though, and he has a talent for holding the suspense by only showing glances of anything visually shocking.
further, bayona's knack for directing his cast is very apparent. the reason the film truly succeeds is a result of how deeply affecting it is. the female lead, laura (belen rueda), is wonderful, and had me so closely involved that basically, without giving a whole lot away, i think this might be the only horror movie that's made me tear up. and it's unabashedly sentimental, which is where i feel it sort of detaches itself from the horror genre. where a film like the ring, for instance, features an emotionally touching performance from naomi watts, and alludes to the possibility of a happy resolution, in reality it's just pulling its punches so that it can hit you for real at the end. that's manipulative, and that's fucking good psychological horror. the orphanage wants its audience to be afraid, but to realize in the end that there's happiness in tragedy.
all in all, if this is going to be classified as a horror movie, then it's the best one i've seen in a while, and a better, clearer effort on del toro's part than 2006's pan's labyrinth. it is beautiful, and a great example of a universally enjoyable scary movie.

tuesday

2008-05-14T04:21:00.003+12:00

breeders are in town may 30th. i had a dream with a kim deal cameo last night. totally bizarre.
here are some photos of female musicians i like. (how lame is this?)

sam weber

2008-05-08T05:34:00.003+12:00

i found this guy via the beasts! flickr pool for that open call i entered a couple months ago. he's an illustrator from new york, and his work is kind of gorgeous. worth taking a look at.

kings of power 4 billion %

2008-05-03T03:34:00.005+12:00

australian animator paul robertson's new film is out. this is straight up nerd shit, i guess, but he is also basically a fantastic animator.

anyway, if you played video games until around 1995, and if you have at least a passing interest in japanese cartoons (or in pointing out that japanese cartoons are pretty stupid), you might dig this. it's a little gross, and real real weird:

i just found and took another look at his last film, and while it's maybe less accomplished technically, i think it's a lot more engaging. it's mostly a parody of old two-dudes-rescuing-their-girlfriends beat-'em-up games. anyway, here's "pirate baby's cabana battle street fight 2006":

. . . aaaand that's enough of that. enjoy! it sucks outside!

procrastination

2008-04-23T03:47:00.001+12:00

monday - dammit!

2008-04-22T11:12:00.001+12:00

friday

2008-04-19T04:36:00.003+12:00

i realize that in many opinions, supporting or even enjoying this makes me a chauvinist. i don't really care about that. what i care about is that folks are still taking the time to make things that are both innocent and sexy.
this comes from pinuppost.com, and while it could easily be excused away because of totally retro-chic irony (costume vs. tattoo), a lot of the material on the website is modern while still containing no explicit nudity (no privies, and no funny stuff). (some of it's pretty tacky, like, suicide girls leather-and-lace shit, too, which is sort of a shame.)
bottom line being, in an internet where something like "lesbian ejaculate" could return in excess of 6 million google hits, it fills my heart with a little sunshine to see not only that this exists, but that it's popular.

thursday

2008-04-18T06:03:00.001+12:00

tuesday

2008-04-16T03:41:00.001+12:00

ick, dude

2008-04-12T09:17:00.006+12:00

i was having a discussion with my parents and sister last night about bugs - in specific, why arachnids are the worst things alive on the planet; and how the whipscorpion is the scariest thing that actually exists - so i did a quick google image search.

this is the giant tanzanian tailless whipscorpion which, according to the accompanying article, is "mostly harmless." that's not the frightening part, however. the article (and mind you this is the FIRST ENTRY RETURNED IN THE SEARCH) is part of an invertebrate collectors' guide based in the united states. the principles of detection lead me to believe, through a fast analysis of available facts, that there are many individuals interested in the import of giant tanzanian tailless whipscorpions to the u.s. what the hell, everybody.

at first, i just believed that this woman was deranged:

. . . what a stupid idiot!
but who knows? maybe the whipscorpion will become some kind of adorable glamour pet!

this might be one of the few reasons i enjoy living in a place where it gets cold enough every year to eradicate any possibility of indigenous giant monsters.

gasket project

2008-04-08T07:29:00.002+12:00

some bhb factory interior drawings: environment, equipment, painting templates for products.

gasket project

2008-04-01T17:35:00.004+13:00

alright so i felt bad about drawing other stuff, so i sat down again and drew this. more bhb sculpture garden concepts.

dork stuff

2008-04-01T16:02:00.003+13:00

i made some silly monster drawings tonight when i should've been drawing for gasket.

remorse

2008-03-31T11:29:00.000+13:00

gasket project

2008-03-27T11:13:00.003+13:00

alright, so perspective drawing's not my forte. nonetheless, here's the bhb factory in an isometric view.

gasket project

2008-03-21T12:54:00.002+13:00

sculpture garden, first concept sketch.

gasket project

2008-03-20T09:59:00.003+13:00

the factory, first concept sketch.

sketcheszs

2008-03-19T10:30:00.003+13:00

couple of parade updates, prior to actual website update (need more new material).

. . . and a drawing of the kitten:

ugh, stagnation. i need to paint something, soon.

jerry c ::: canon rock

2008-03-18T11:34:00.002+13:00

i know everyone's seen this, but i'm kinda sick, and it fucking snowed all day, and basically i think that watching this once a week or so is probably good for your general well-being, so indulge me.

beasts! book two

2008-03-17T10:24:00.002+13:00

the votes have been tallied, and the voices heard, and my painting was not accepted for the fantagraphics beasts! book two open call. this is okay, although kind of a bum-out. but! what's real cool is that someone set up a flickr pool for contestants to post their non-winning submissions. it is worth checking out. there is some good stuff to look at. i would recommend it.

the mynah bird

2008-03-14T16:28:00.002+13:00

r.i.p. gary bialke

2008-03-12T08:10:00.005+13:00

my cousin, painter/sculptor/character designer gary bialke, died on march 2nd, 2008. i'd never met him, but i had seen his work, and i was inspired by it. recently, my brother e-mailed me a link to sort of an in memoriam page for gary on animateclay.com. it contains links to some of his work at will vinton studios in portland, samples of which i've posted below.

gary also did a lot of work on the california raisins, and apparently did much of the design for the "speed demon" part of the michael jackson moonwalker video, in which michael jackson turns into a giant claymation rabbit to escape from the giant claymation paparazzi. the dance-off at the end is pretty awesome / adorable.

gasket project

2008-03-06T19:14:00.003+13:00

i realize i'm posting a lot. i'm new at this, so bear with me; i'm sure the novelty will wear off soon. i wanted to post one of the new concept scans for the project i'm working on at gasket.

robot treehouses. right on.

conversation transcript

2008-03-06T08:17:00.004+13:00

matt: Have you ever seen John Hodgman's book The Areas of My Expertise?
me: nope
matt: There is a chapter in that book entitled "700 Hobo Names"
me: i imagine it is hilarious?
matt: I heard an excerpt from the audio book recently which is John Hodgman reading all 700 of the hobo names, accompanied by Jonathan Coulton playing Big Rock Candy Mountain on the guitar for an hour
me: just repeatedly?
matt: Yeah
me: with lyrics?
matt: No, it's just acoustic guitar and hobo names. Actually, I think it's online
here. There is apparently also a website where different illustrators have drawn all 700 of the hobos at http://e-hobo.com
me: when was this written? when was it recorded?
matt: Recently
me: i was gonna say, it sounds like it. so whys it on archive.org?
matt: They don't necessarily just have old stuff, I think
me: just public domain stuff
matt: It's a good source of crappy royalty-free music to use in your non-union late night mattress store commercial. #52: Boxcar Benjamin Disraeli
me (aside): whoa, i do NOT want a job designing sets for a rock opera based on the revelations of st john the divine which incorporates the imagery of ezekiel and daniel!
matt: That sounds terrible
me: yeah
matt: Oh lord
me: it said, we'd prefer someone with a creative eye. uhhh....
matt: Did you ever see the video of the Ten Commandments musical starring Val Kilmer?
me: i dont want to again, please
matt: Fair enough
me: that was pretty awful
matt: It's supposed to be coming to Radio City. I'm awfully tempted
me: is val kilmer still in it?
matt: Yeah
me: can he hear the life of his career being hate-crime-dragged behind the touring bus the entire way?
matt: I can only imagine
me: #76: vice-president garrett hobarth . . . are there really 700 of these?
matt: Oh yes

/// maybe you've already heard this. i don't think you're supposed to make it the whole way through, really. it's pretty funny, although i don't recommend the illustrated part.

sign /// release

2008-03-05T13:59:00.005+13:00

i'd say it's always unnerving to randomly happen upon a strange old photo of myself featured in someone's online portfolio, but it's honestly never happened previous to this. as far as i know, maybe it's only unnerving the first time.

image dump 3!

2008-03-05T06:23:00.004+13:00

decorative trucks from japan, the us, and pakistan; scrap robots; the scrap from which they were made. this last photograph, of the broken down apartment, is completely beautiful. it's also completely just an advertisement for some garbage removal company.

hisaharu motoda's "neo-ruins" lithographs of a post-apocalyptic tokyo.

. . . and a vision of the future architecture of london.

nerdesizer

2008-03-04T13:55:00.002+13:00

remaining within the nerdlinger vein of earlier today: in my search for c64 and amiga synth covers, i found that vangelis papathanassiou has a website. i guess that's not surprising, or maybe only as surprising as the fact that "vangelis" is one dude who has a last name; still, holy crap! the website looks like it was designed in about 1995 by someone with limited access to microsoft paint, but is updated and maintained.
the internet's a strange place.
tangentially, most of the other heavy-hitter sid composers have websites, too. check out the high voltage sid collection links page for those.
and if you have no idea what i'm talking about, the sidplayer download is worthwhile (and available through the links page linked above). a lot of this music was composed for computer games, which makes it much cooler or lamer, depending on your perspective; however, most of it's legitimately good music. plus, these dudes coded it all up from scratch. take that, house djs.

stéphane halleux

2008-03-04T07:47:00.004+13:00

so, the word steampunk gets thrown around nowadays with an irritating regularity (nerd alert). regardless, i guess in this case it's appropriate. based on thirty seconds of research (google search "stephane halleux marc caro") and a little artistic intuition, it appears as though he might have had some hand in production design for city of lost children. (this assertion is in no way based on fact.) anyway, mix that aesthetic with a tim burton character design, and put it in an elaborate victorian tank or jetpack, and that's about what this is. that's not to belittle it in any way, though; these miniatures are really awesome, and despite their steampunk classification, they're not the kind you arrange on a hexagonal grid and roll dice at.

image dump 2!

2008-03-04T06:15:00.006+13:00

ascot how-to, so you know . . .

for london's lady firefighters.

old . . .

. . . and new. "hairts" - this has to be the worst product name the designer could have chosen, but the idea is pretty rad, regardless.

metadataz

2008-03-03T15:49:00.002+13:00

the blogger spellcheck fails to recognize "blogosphere." there is still love in the world, and a hundred children encircle a hilltop in switzerland, hands clasped in hopeful prayer for the internet.

p.s. i linked a bunch of people.

2008-03-01T11:17:00.001+13:00

image dump!

2008-03-01T09:40:00.004+13:00

some stuff i found while researching for my gasket job:

the boys.

stiv bators' mangina.

martha and the vandellas.

the man who fell to earth / low.

joan jett's boots.

hdm and iggy pop.

peter frampton. yacht.