NaNoWriMo Begins Tomorrow

...and I'm SO excited.

So, here's the plan:

1 - The goal is to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days, which comes to 1,666.66 words (or so) per day. MY goal will be to write 2,000 words per day, to make up for days when writing will be difficult.

2 - I won't be writing straight through from beginning to end. The novel I've got planned is pretty fragmented, so I'll be writing different sections each day - depending on my mood.

3 - I will post occasional updates on my progress here on the blog - to maintain a semblance of accountability to people other than myself. I also have a buddy who's agreed to give this a shot with me, so I'll be checking in with him every now and again as well.

4 - A lot of the different segments I have planned will be able to, more or less, stand on their own - a bit like short stories or flash fiction. I'll share a couple of these pieces on my other blog - which is a private blog, but I'm more than willing to add pretty much anyone who's interested.

5 - I'll be welcoming all sorts of feedback, but I will be doing ZERO editing during the month of November. The goal is just to get stuff WRITTEN. I'll save all revisions for December.

I've got a lot of work to do tonight - I have to finish an outline before I can start writing in earnest.

Power Panels 2

I've mentioned the book Asterios Polyp here before. Despite the fact that the book contains graphic depictions of sex and nudity (graphic enough, at least, to offend my delicate Mormon sensibilities), I can't seem to stop thinking about it. Asterios Polyp is definitely one of the more fascinating graphic novels I've ever read.

A lot of my fascination has to do with this page:


I checked Asterios Polyp out from the library. On my way back to the car, I opened up randomly to a page in the middle, read the above section, and immediately fell in love with it.

Really, the page is self-explanatory. Every time a person replays a memory, they recreate and subtly redefine the experience - a fact demonstrated by the picture at the bottom of the page.

The reason I LOVE this page so much is that it's a perfect example of something a comic can do that other forms of storytelling can't. The juxtaposition of words and static images in such close proximity allows readers to appreciate the subtle differences enough to really get the full impact of the idea being presented, and they can do so at their own pace. Absolutely brilliant.

November Super-Amazing Project

Last night I got offered a role in an upcoming production of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever at the Empress Theatre - which is funny, because I don't think they've even auditioned for that show yet.

Edit: I guess they did the auditions already, but I still didn't go.

This is the second time in the past month that I've been offered a role without auditioning for a show - that's the perk of being a man in community musical theater. However, I think I'm going to have to turn this down just like the last one, cuz I've got another special project lined up for the month of November.

Are you ready?

It's NANOWRIMO!!!

Now, I don't think I'm going to do the OFFICIAL official NaNoWriMo competition, but I'm sticking with the intended goal: write a 50,000 word novel (about 175 pages) in a month. It's gonna be a crazy amount of work, but I'm super-uber excited for it.

Why I'm Still Single 19

Horrorshow: Silence of the Lambs

Gotta admit, I think all these scary movies are getting to me. I haven't been having nightmares, per se, but there's been a definite sense of unease gradually building around me.

Man, I LOVE Halloween!

Silence of the Lambs has been on my list of movies to watch ever since I caught a couple of scenes on television a few years back. They were dark, intense, and utterly terrifying.

As it turns out, I caught the most intense parts of the movie, and didn't really need to see the rest.

I'm sorry to report that Silence of the Lambs is kind of overrated. The plot's pretty thin, and the main character, Clarice, doesn't really have enough depth to make her an interesting protagonist to watch for two hours.

The serial killers were by FAR more fascinating to watch. Buffalo Bill's the second character I've seen in horror to use transvestism as a means of frightening the bejeezus out of the audience, and it's pretty darn effective in both instances. Hannibal Lecter's such a prominent figure in pop culture anymore that anything I'd have to say about him would be redundant.

So, yeah. Silence of the Lambs. Kind of dull, but worth it for the psychos.

Follicle Fallacies

I think I've decided to grow a beard. I usually do something unusual after a show ends, and, now that Damn Yankees has ended, I guess it's beard time.

This is a stupid decision, and history proves it.

See, I had to grow a beard once before - back in 2009, when I was in a western-themed production of Taming of the Shrew. I kept a photo log of how well the beard grew in, and I was... well, less than pleased with the results.

Week 2 of beard growth started off promisingly enough, except for one major deficiency:


There's a little patch on the left side of my face where hair just doesn't grow. It winds up looking kinda silly.

See?

I guess, when it grew in thick enough, it looked all right. I got kinda lazy and just didn't trim it up like I should.

And then... THIS happened:

Absolutely HATED the moustache/coffee saver combo. I looked like a total hick.

Okay, so total hick kinda WAS what we were going for. And even I must admit that the costume for the show was pretty killer. Still, the moustache just straight up looked TERRIBLE on me outside of my cowboy hat and boots.

So, yeah, the show ended, and I decided it was time to do something dramatic with my hair. The decision was a pretty easy one to make: lose the 'stache.

Even so, I managed to make one pretty stupid decision:

DOUCHE!!!

So, yeah, I'll try the beard thing again, if y'all promise to let me know if I start to looke like a spouse-abuser.

Things I'll Love Forever: 500 Days of Summer

I've got very specific criteria when it comes to selecting movies that I like. My favorite movies are usually non-linear stories with complex morals, ambiguous endings, and at least a pinch of artsy-pretentiousness. Okay, not ALL of my movies fit this description, but most do.

Like, for example, 500 Days of Summer.

1 - The *ahem* "love" story of 500 Days of Summer hits REALLY close to home. I've often been in the situation where I've been more committed to a relationship than the other party. I've often pined after the person I just broke up with for MONTHS after the breakup (and, in one particular instance, a couple of years). And I've often let those emotions compel me to do silly, silly things.

2 - Despite the emotional tailspin Tom goes into after Summer breaks up with him, he comes out the other side better. He lets Summer's influence prompt him to change his life and start focusing on what he REALLY wants to be doing. This is an aspect of relationships (and, specifically, break-ups) that almost NEVER gets touched on in media, and I really appreciated seeing it.

3 - Speaking of non-linear artsy pretension... 500 Days of Summer is chock-full of weird little transitions that give a bit more information on the plot, including a happy dance break reminiscent of Enchanted and a series of interviews with Tom's friends about what "love" is. Now, these little breaks from reality are fun, but, to me, they serve the higher purpose of making clear that the plot is told from Tom's EXTREMELY biased point-of-view - which serves as a nice way for the creator to cover his own @%%. Plus, it's another example of the "unreliable narrator" tool that I love so much.

4 - Chloe Moretz plays Tom's little sister Rachel, and she just might be my new favorite character in all of movie-dom.

5 - Despite a rather inflammatory opening line, the movie actually REFUSES to villainize the titular heartbreaker. Summer is straightforward from the beginning about her intentions, and remains sympathetic and human right up to the end. There's no simplification, no "she is a WHORE and therefore we HATES her." She's definitely flawed - definitely human - but she's by no means evil, which makes her the perfect foil for Tom and his clinginess.

And, really, that's all I can say about it.

500 Days of Summer, I haven't know you very long, but I can already tell that I'll love you forever.

Power Panels 1

Power Panels are, in my opinion, the most creative, best-looking, and overall most effective uses of panels and page layouts in comics. The great panels in comics are part of the reason I love to read 'em so much.

Probably my favorite artist of the current generation is JH Williams III, who just made a huge splash with Batwoman: Elegy.

The panel that first caught my attention showed up on several comic reviews pages:

That's actually a two-page splash of Batwoman taking out a group of armed thugs. It's pretty typical of Williams's work with fight choreograph - instead of showing a blow-by-blow breakdown in a series of panels, he breaks the fight down into its major components and frames the action around a larger picture of the main character - almost like a stained glass window. It's a pretty effective way to show the violence of the scene while still creating the type of gorgeous artwork most comic fans look for.

For my money, though, the best example of J.H. Williams's brilliance comes from this sequence here:

I frequently hear critics state that music is impossible to portray in silent media for the obvious reason that the reader can't hear it. As true as that criticism is, I think Williams captures some of the more important aspects of music and dance in the above sequence. There's a great rhythm to the panels, especially those smaller panels framed in music notes that capture the small details of the situation. The larger action is not broken up by panels, which helps convey that sense of timelessness that comes from getting lost in a dance. Finally, even though we can't hear the music, we can still "feel" it, as lines of music literally surround the characters and pervade every aspect of the scene.

It's an effective demonstration that wouldn't work quite the same in any other medium.

Starting Musicophilia

I like to think I'm smart. The trouble, though, is that I occasionally have to do something that I would consider smart in order to maintain the illusion. Since making intelligent decisions aren't really my thing (as evidenced by my choice in scholarly pursuits and the results of most haircuts), I usually just opt to read a book that makes me look smart.

So yesterday I started reading Oliver Sacks's Musicophilia, a book that analyzes the interaction between music and neuropsychology. So far the focus has been on abnormal reactions to music, but there was one peculiar story right at the beginning that caught my attention.

The very first story in the book involves a man who survived getting struck by lightning. He experienced marginal memory loss for a few weeks, but nothing major, and eventually fully recovered. However, after the lightning strike, this man noted an increased interest in music - to the point where he started teaching himself to play the piano and composing. Eventually, he performed his music in concert, where many in the audience expressed the wish that they could get struck by lightning, too.

Hmm, I wonder...

Confessions: Wedding Fantasy

I tried to find a good wedding picture, but everything I saw on Google Image search was so cliche and run-of-the-mill that I couldn't really pick it.

Hmm... maybe THAT'S why I'm still single.

1 - At one wedding I attended with some friends, we saw a bride and groom getting their pictures taken.

"Check it out," I said, "that bride totally has her hand in her husband's back pocket."

"Oh, man," my friend said. "I can't WAIT until you get married and that happens to you."

"That'll never happen to me."

"Why? You're bride won't want to touch you?"

"No, man, she won't have any arms. I'm gonna marry a torso."

2 - I HATE wedding receptions. I planned for the longest time never to have one, so I wouldn't have to put up with all the hassle of planning it - not to mention the feuding in-laws.

(Yes, I KNOW that, traditionally, the groom's family doesn't plan the reception, but I've seen so much drama even from the GROOM'S side of things that I'd still rather abstain from the whole thing).

Well, I've recently changed my tune. When* I get married, I plan on having a reception - mainly just so I can get swag from my parents' friends.

3 - The one reception that I had genuine FUN at had a big dance. I plan on having a dance when* I get married.

And my bride WILL let me play Robert Palmer at my wedding or she's gonna have to find another sugar daddy!

*"if"

Horrorshow: The Grudge

I'd been looking forward to watching The Grudge for a long time. I'd seen pictures of the ghosts from the movie, and they absolutely terrified me. So, yeah, I figured this would be a good movie for a good scare.

Turns out I was only half right.

The Grudge is actually one of the scariest movies I've seen. There's a tense atmosphere built up around each of the set pieces that haunts you even after the movie's over. The ghosts themselves are memorable and incredibly terrifying, from their jet black hair and pale skin to the pained, unnatural noises they make.

Thing is, though, that The Grudge is not really a good movie. Most of the acting is wooden and unconvincing - especially from Sarah Michelle Gellar, the lead. The plot itself is just a shallow excuse to introduce the scarier moments, which - effective as they are - aren't enough to carry a narrative on their own.

Still, this movie scared the CRAP out of me.

Music and the Devil - A Damn Yankees Opinion

I've been involved in a production of Damn Yankees out at the Empress Theatre. I had a fantastic time of it - met a lot of great people, learned some fantastic songs and dances, and ate a LOT of good, home-made food. It was a tough show plagued with setbacks (and, on occasion, actual plagues). Overall, it was a great experience.

Too bad Damn Yankees is one of the worst plays I've ever seen.

First, let me make clear that I don't hate all musicals. Back in college, I took a course on the history of musical theater and Broadway. As a part of the course, I watched dozens of musicals, and many of them I loved. Damn Yankees was NOT one of them.

I auditioned for Damn Yankees because I'd worked with this particular director before and had a pretty good time with it. I'd also been hankering to perform in a musical again (the last time I'd done a musical was Seven Brides for Seven Brothers about two years earlier). I loved the cast, we all had a great time, and (if I may say so - which I may, because I will) we put on a good production.

Still, Damn Yankees is a sloppy, sloppy show. The musical numbers are almost universally pointless, the characters insubstantial, and the plot so full of holes you could sift flour with it. Even that's not enough to really make me hate the show - as long as it's sufficiently fun, I'm willing to overlook a lot of shortcomings.

I can't get over the devil, though.

I HATE the way the devil is portrayed in Damn Yankees. I can go with the smooth-talking sociopath approach. It allows for too many used car salesman jokes, but it works just fine. No, the REAL problem is that he appears to be completely impotent.

Joe Boyd, our protagonist, agrees to work for the devil in exchange for youth and incredible prowess at baseball. Joe manages to work an escape clause into the contract, which stipulates that he can get out of the deal at midnight on a certain date. Joe misses the deadline, so his soul should be forfeit, right?

Too bad Applegate forgot about the POWER of LOVE TM.

Applegate: Time's up, Joe. You're mine now. FOREVER.

Joe: But I'm in love with my wife.

Applegate: CURSES!!!

I think this is what cheeses me off the most. Joe Boyd makes some incredibly STUPID mistakes, and he suffers zero consequences for them. Normally, when the antagonist of a story is THE DEVIL, I want the good guy to win. In this case, Joe brings these problems on himself. He makes it clear that he knows EXACTLY what he's getting into, but he just dives right into it. And what happens to him?

Not a blasted thing.

Apparently, love is strong enough to completely erase ALL of the bad decisions you make, even a casual love of convenience that you value less than the win record of your favorite sports team.

Somebody really should have told Spider-Man about that loophole.

Slack-Jawed Fantasy

A while back I confessed my love for sketching the models in the Nordstrom's catalog that somehow continue to make their way into the office where I work. At the same time, I made a comment that most of the models kinda look ridiculous because they stand around with their jaws sorta just hanging open, like they went looking for their sequined stilletto heels, walked into a room, and forgot why they were there.

A friend pointed out to me that the partially-open mouth is considered attractive, even sensual. Which... well, I had to concede the point at the time. Now, I'm not so sure.

See, we got another catalog in the mail yesterday, and looky what I found inside:


Now, Nordstroms seems to only use five different models in their catalogs, so I've seen other pictures of this woman and know she's more attractive than this. But, tell me: is there ANY way to look at this picture and not think, "This bag is heavy. Dur."?

This is just an ugly shot. From the unintelligent grin to the slack body language, this model looks like she just ran a 5k in those shoes and is just DYING for a sit-down, but her bosses won't let her until they get their pic for the catalog. And that's just inhumane.

Seriously, this makes me want to pick up a bag like that and show them how a modelling shoot is REALLY done!

...

Oh, wait. I see what they did there.

Braddy Reads The Amazing Screw-On Head

You know, I've often admired comics for their potential to tell serious stories in a way that's both easy to follow and easy to analyze. It's a potential that has been tapped for the purpose of telling many serious, powerful stories.

But, then again, sometimes you just want to read a story about Abraham Lincoln's secret robotic monster hunter.

For those times, I'd recommend The Amazing Screw-On Head.

Now, I'm a long-time fan of Mike Mignola. Hellboy is second only to Batman in my list of favorite comic-book characters, so I've come to appreciate the mild humor that permeates most of what Mr. Mignola produces. I mean, Hellboy's not laugh-out-loud hilarious, but his tough-guy attitude is usually enough to bring a grin to your face. You know, the kind of grin that causes you to purse your lips and stick out your lower jaw in a macho way.

What I didn't realize, though, is that Mike Mignola is capable of being completely HILARIOUS. Between the awkwardly narcissistic Emperor Zombie and the clairvoyant dog (named Mr. Dog), there's a lot of bizarre comedy to be found here. I actually laughed out loud, then glanced around nervously to see if anyone caught me nerding out over a comic book.

Whatever, man. I don't care what you saw. It was WORTH it.

On the other end of the spectrum, Mike Mignola is capable of tapping into real, almost tangible emotions, as he demonstrates in another story later in the same volume called "The Magician and the Snake."

Mignola actually takes a story written by his then seven-year-old daughter and turns it into a six page comic that... may be one of the cutest, saddest things you'll ever read. If you don't feel like dropping $25 on a hardcover comic book, I recommend at least checking out "The Magician and the Snake" on io9.

But then you won't have it on your bookshelf, and that could be tragic.

The Last of the Car Radios

Y'know, in this age, when everyone else has upgraded to satellite radio or hooked up their iPods to the car dash, I feel a bit like a rolling anachronism in my '93 Mazda Protege all pimped out with a cassette deck and 12 FM pre-sets.

This is why I'm hot

The awkward technological backwardness I feel is further compounded when, between 12 different pre-programmed radio stations I have carefully selected through literal days of driving between Salt Lake City and Magna, I can't find a single song I want to listen to.

The realization hit me the other day that, when I'm surfing the pre-sets, I'm actually looking for specific songs. Nowadays, it's one of these:

• Muse, "Resistance"
• Nine Inch Nails, "Hurt"
• Jason Derulo, "Ridin' Solo"
• Justin Timberlake, "My Love"
• Doobie Brothers, "What a Fool Believes"
• Beastie Boys, "Brass Monkey"
• Ram Jam, "Black Betty"
• Incubus, "Dig"
• Young MC, "Bust a Move"
• Avenged Sevenfold, "Bat Country"

I like a little bit of everything, I guess. Except Pitbull. Not a fan of that guy.

The nice thing about listening to the radio is that, every now and again, you get the nice surprise of hearing a song you'd forgotten about. It's almost like falling in love again - without all the requisite paperwork.

Still, it'd probably be easier to just invest in iTunes.

Braddy Reads The Screwtape Letters

C.S. Lewis's fabled Screwtape Letters have been on my list a long time, and now I get to talk about 'em.

For me, talking about The Screwtape Letters is problematic. See, I love a good story - a meaty narrative I can sink my teeth into. At the same time, I like to go through a LOT of stories in a short space of time - probably why I prefer comics and poetry to other forms of storytelling.

Of course The Screwtape Letters aren't ABOUT the story. Yes, there are a couple of different plot threads - there's Uncle Screwtape's agenda against his nephew Wormwood, Wormwood's attempted corruption of the unnamed young man, and the young man's courtship, war service, and eventual death...

...um, spoiler alert. I guess.

No, The Screwtape Letters are REALLY a sermon in disguise (we are talking about C.S. Lewis, after all). It takes a bit of decoding to get to the theological core of the message, since the letters are all written from "the wrong side" - of the Atlantic!

ZING!!!

Still, I read The Screwtape Letters and felt enlightened - and that's without taking the hours of meditation and introspection that material of this nature demands. I found myself rethinking the language I use, the company I keep, the very thoughts I occupy my idle time with.

So, yeah, reading this book caused me a lot of grief. But I suppose you can count that a success.

Horrorshow: Saw

Here's a movie that I never expected to watch...

Judging from its reputation, I expected Saw to be the most violent, goriest movie I've ever seen. That's about what I got - I don't think I've ever seen a movie that actually compelled me to close my eyes while watching it unless it was putting me to sleep.

I was surprised, though, to find a movie with an overall compelling psychological plot. The movie doesn't really focus on the blood and violence as much as it does the riddle of getting out of the deathtrap. It was the focus on the characters and their situation that really caught my attention, more than any of the implied (or explicit) violence.

By far, my favorite parts of the movie are less about death and more about terror. There's a scene focusing on a woman caught in a "reverse bear trap" attached to her head (featured in the movie poster above). Now, in the movie, this scene is related to us in flashback, so we KNOW she survives. What caught my attention here was the cinematography: the woman's efforts to break out of the trap are shown in fast-forward, adding a frantic, desperate energy to an already chilling scene.

The other scene - which may be one of my favorite horror scenes of all time - takes place almost completely in the dark. A man is being stalked by a home invader, but all the lights in his apartment have gone out. The only source of light comes from the flash on his camera. It's pretty well-executed - I jumped every time the camera went off. The scene was intense, frightening, and completely bloodless.

The plot gets worn a bit thin at points - there are certain events that simply don't hold well under close analysis. Some of the intense moments are a bit derivative (a character has to reach his hand into a filthy toilet right at the beginning in a scene almost directly pulled from Silent Hill 2). Oh, and make no mistake, this is a VIOLENT film - one I'll probably never watch again.

But I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy Saw at least this once.

Giant Sized Daily Sketches

10.4.10 - Here's the prequel to that other robot sketch I did. I'm not as proud of it, but I thought I'd share it anyway, cuz, really, it's not bad.

In my estimation, at least.


10.7.10-10.8.10 - I drew this after watching The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. If you haven't seen the movie... well, I guess this could be considered something of a spoiler.

But, yeah, the movie's about 100 years old, so that's DEFINITELY not my problem anymore.


10.11.10 - So I've been reading Little Nemo in Slumberland, an old comic from about 100 years ago. And, yeah, it's pretty crazy.

I felt inspired to draw something a bit surreal, and I came up with this. Pretty proud of it.

Why I'm Still Single 18

Check out that MS Paint sofa.

Also, the blue and yellow box there is an accurate depiction of the television in my apartment

Hell and Heartache

I've already discussed the hell. Here's the heartache:

An old girlfriend of mine came and saw the show on Friday night. Now, my history with ex-girlfriends has been... I'll just say less than dignified. I'm on good terms with my exes, for the most part, and this particular girl more than most. Even so, any encounter with an ex tends to send me into a bit of an emotional tailspin.

Anyway, I was actually pretty glad to see her there - and more than a little sad that I had to reject her congratulatory hug due to the virus currently laying siege to my immune system. Yeah, that was a bit awkward (in fact, I barely got to hug ANY cute girls this weekend - what a rip!), but, all in all, I wound up just being glad that I had a friend there to support me.

Then I got in my car to drive home. Turned on the radio, and I hear this.

Finished listening to the song (what can I say? I kinda like Nelly) and changed the station, only to hear it again.

So, yeah, it was a bittersweet weekend (which is my new pick for the best band name I've ever heard).

Indestructible

Friday night was probably the single craziest night of performing I've ever had.

Okay, so I've been sick recently - kinda the usual cold symptoms. You know, coughing, runny nose, sinus headaches, a general feeling of disgust. Yeah, it didn't get any better by Friday night, when I had to take the stage. Boy, howdy, was THAT ever fun.

So, yeah, I had to sing with a froggy throat, dance through dizzy spells, and remember lines and blocking with a head full of cotton balls. It was pretty miserable.

What was the damage?

I skipped one line.

Considering everything that COULD have gone wrong, only skipping one line (and one that nobody in the audience noticed), I feel like frickin' Superman.

Actually, I feel a bit more like Stuart Redman after a visit from Captain Trip, but you get the idea.

Why I'm Still Single 17

This is based on a true story.

Horrorshow: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

Remember breathing? I miss breathing.

Yeah, I'm still feeling sick - terrible feeling, really, especially since I'm still in this play tonight. Hopefully, my voice will be well enough to hit all the high notes.

Anyway, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.

I knew nothing about this old silent film before going in. Well, I'd heard that it was the first film in the German Expressionist movement or something like that, but that doesn't mean anything to me. All I knew was, "Scary silent film? At the Organ Loft? I'm there."

And there I was. Now, granted, this is an EXTRAORDINARILY dated movie. Silent comedies are still almost 100% gold, but anything else tends to fall a bit flat. The march of technology has really put a couple cracks in what is supposed to be one of the first great films of all time.

Now, mind, that doesn't make this a BAD film. The visuals are stunning - probably among the best I've seen in a silent film. There's a level of Tim Burton surreality to the set pieces - you just have to overlook the shaking when an actor walks on them.

There's a scene right towards the end in the insane asylum that is absolutely chilling, and a twist ending that brought a wicked little smile to my face. So, yeah, this is one entertaining piece of history.

To Prove I'm Not a COMPLETE-Love Hater...

...I'll share this.

So I was just walking down the hall behind a couple that I just happen to KNOW are engaged (don't ask how - it's just me being creepy again). Anway, they were walking, and their inside hands were swinging in synchronicity.

My thought:

"Seriously, why don't you two just hold hands? Your bodies obviously want to. It'll be cute."

Of course, if they had, I'd probably be writing something right now about how much I hate lovey-couples, sooooo... Maybe I am every bit a love-hater.

Highs and Lows

Done so many "reviews" and crap recently that it's time to get personal for a bit:

Highs

1 - Damn Yankees is progressing well. Personally, I think it's one of the best acting jobs I've ever done. I'm playing a character who, though similar in temperament to me, is completely different in mannerisms. So, yeah, I'm pleased.

2 - The new poetry notebook has made me a little giddy. I've gotten a lot more writing done than I would have otherwise. Plus, I have all of my old drafts right handy this way, so it's been a good process.

3 - I'm actually getting to the point where I want to start writing a comment - probably based on these li'l guys:

I've actually done a sort of prequel sketch with a confused looking father-figure (who looks a little like me in boxers and a wife-beater) trying to assemble the robot on his own - with the lamp neatly foreshadowed in the background. I don't know how far I'll get with it, but I'd like to give it a go.

4 - Getting revved up to start writing prose again, too. I have an idea for a crazy little narrative that will allow me to indulge my ADD a little bit by including a bunch of one-page stories. It'll be a challenge, but I think I'll give it a go.

5 - Halloween's just around the corner. I'm thinking of going as a white rapper. Thoughts?

Lows

1 - The big numero uno HAS to go to this cold that's wreaking havoc on my brain. I started feeling a bit weird on Sunday night, then went out and did Damn Yankees with a sore throat - which actually went all right. Ever since, though, things have gotten weirder. My voice is simply shot - I can barely speak well. I've been feeling better every day, but sounding worse. Hopefully, I'll be back in shape by tomorrow night; otherwise, "Heart" will have to be sung in the bass register.

2 - I'm in debt - probably for the first time since college. My stupid car (bless its little stupid heart) has a perpetual, irreperable oil leak, which apparently messed up a lot of the internal systemy things. It's costing me $600 to repair - and I don't have $600. So, yeah, I'm making monthly payments on my car repairs, and it sucks.

3 - I was offered a chance to join up with the cast of Little Women out at the Empress Theatre. Now, I'm not overly familiar with the show, but the music that I've heard is... well, it's actually pretty good. Unfortunately, I had to pass. The Empress, you see, is in Magna, a good 20 minute drive from my apartment. I drive out there already for improv and family get-togethers (and, right now, Damn Yankees) about five days a week. I'm losing a lot of money to gas, so I had to pass - give me some time to recuperate just before the holiday season.

Horrorshow: The Ring

The nice thing about being laid up sick is that you don't really get hung up on the amount of time you spend watching movies. So here's another one.

The Ring has always been a movie I've been curious about. I remember when the movie first came out - I'd just started college, and I overheard the following exchange between two single returned missionaries just older than me:

Guy 1: Hey, have you seen that movie The Ring yet?

Guy 2: No way, man. I'm trying to stay as far away from rings as possible.

A sentiment I often find myself echoing.

Anyway, there's a movie here somewhere.

So I found the beginning of The Ring to be a bit... well, stupid. The two blonde sorority girls basically give away the whole plot of the movie right there ("So, like, have you heard about this movie that kills you. It, like totally kills you DEAD. Omagawsh!"), when I think I would have wanted a bit more suspense. Also, there were a couple of parts in the middle when I found myself nodding off - but a lot of that might have had to do with me being sick and all that.

Still, when the movie was over, I stared at my phone, terrified that it was actually going to ring, and I hesitated getting too close to the TV when I took the disc out.

A good movie, then, I'd say.

Why I'm Still Single #16

Why I'm Still Single #15

Horrorshow Trifecta

It's been a busy week - but, apparently, not so busy that I wasn't able to squeeze in three more scary movies. Exactly HOW scary... well, I'll tell you.

First up, we've got Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd. Now, this isn't exactly a horror movie per se, but I killed all the lights in my apartment and treated it like one. Actually, if you're pretty squeamish about blood (which I am), then you might find this movie pretty scary (which I did). I had been told that the blood was very cartoony, so I thought I'd be able to handle it. Well, the gore's definitely over-the-top, but it's extremely gruesome - cartoony is NOT the word I'd use.

My first encounter with Sweeney Todd was the Angela Lansbury musical, so that's more or less what I was expecting. I found that I missed a lot of the great Sondheim music that I loved from the original. The visuals (except for the blood) are great, classic Burton, so it's worth seeing for that.

Final verdict: Good movie, but not quite what I expected.

The second movie I caught is considered to be a horror classic, Rosemary's Baby. I'd been looking forward to this movie, as everything I'd heard about the story promised exactly the tense, threatening atmosphere I was so hoping to find in a horror film. Sadly, here I was a bit disappointed.

For a story about a woman pregnant with the devil's child, I expected more suspense. The ending is nice and tense, but there's not a whole lot of action to carry me through to the end. Rosemary gets a little sick-looking, sure, and there are a couple of moments when she devours raw meat that helped to create a real feeling of unease. The problem, though, is that we know from the beginning how things are going to end. It's no real surprise when we find out who the father of the baby is, because we saw the whole thing, right from the inception.

Which leads to another criticism I had with the film - it's unnecessarily graphic. The female lead gets a couple of full-frontal shots, which feel completely tacked on and irrelevant. Again, that's probably a weird complaint, especially when "devil rape" is the central action in the story. The nudity doesn't really serve to shock or make anyone feel uncomfortable - it's just sort of there.

I've been told I should be more forgiving of the film and consider the impact it must have had when it first came out - and, granted, the audience of 1968 was probably more shocked by nudity than I was. Still, I think the best movies don't need time to serve as an excuse - they're great REGARDLESS of when you watch them.

Case in point: Psycho.

There's a reason this is considered to be one of the best movies of all time. It's truly fantastic. The entire movie works to build a growing sense of unease that completely rocks the audience.

I wish I'd seen this movie before hearing the whole plot synopsis - that way, the surprise reveals would have been more effective. Alfred Hitchcock, though, is a master, and I found myself shouting in surprise (yes, shouting, alone in my apartment) at every twist. The famous shower scene is every bit as effective as you've heard without actually showing the naked woman (take note, Rosemary's Baby).

I strongly recommend Psycho for a Halloween viewing. The movie now belongs on my list of all-time favorites.

Giant Sized Daily Sketches

9.29.10-9.30.10 - Pay no attention to the woman in the background. She sucks.

I had a blast drawing the angry dude with the sponge.

I've been trying to draw more scenery pieces and things like that. I feel like I did an okay job on the sinks, even without referencing an honest-to-goodness sink while working on it.

10.1.10-10.2.10 - This... may be my new favorite sketch of all time. I just posted that other sketch so I wouldn't only be posting one.

Seriously - kids in a garage building a homemade robot out of scrap metal, chains, and a LAMP? That's just fun.

Besides, LOOK at that robot. He's ADORABLE (if I do say so myself).

So I Forgot One...

Remember yesterday's list of weird banned books stories? Well, I left one off...

2010: A California school district pulled the Merriam-Webster Dictionary because a parent complained that it contains the term "oral sex."

Really?

Of COURSE the dictionary's gonna contain the term "oral sex." The idea behind a dictionary is to provide a definition for EVERY word or phrase in the English language. Banning dictionaries because they contain an idea you find offensive or innappropriate is an Orwellian level of stupidity.

There are always going to be ideas out there that we disagree with for moral, intellectual, or political reasons. It's right and natural for us to be upset - and, sometimes, even offended - by these ideas. However, we can't PRETEND that they don't exist and hope they go away, even for the sake of our children.

Heck, I'm going to say ESPECIALLY for the sake of our children. If you want to share your values with children, it's important for you to be able to explain those things that go AGAINST those values and talk about them in a way that's meaningful, respectful of the subject matter, and accurate. And, yeah, that means that you'll probably have to use the words "oral sex," "marijuana," and, on occasion, "Ke$ha."