The Scam page 8
Busy, busy, busy, these days with secrets and lies and obfuscation, and hiding in the dark.
A secret snippet of a sketch:
I dare not post more....
Thursday, January 29, 2009
The Last Thursday of the First January
And here's your Thursday Scam serving:
The Scam page 8
Busy, busy, busy, these days with secrets and lies and obfuscation, and hiding in the dark.
A secret snippet of a sketch:
I dare not post more....
The Scam page 8
Busy, busy, busy, these days with secrets and lies and obfuscation, and hiding in the dark.
A secret snippet of a sketch:
I dare not post more....
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Books and Movies
So I just finished Neil Gaiman's Fragile Things.
Another great collection of short stories. The standouts in this one are an exquisitely concise and chilling sketch of Hell called Other People, a story from The Matrix called Goliath that is better than both sequels combined, and The Problem with Susan - a very dark and satisfying epilogue to the Narnia chronicles, especially for those readers who were surprised and perhaps a little put off to discover their beloved childhood fantasy was a big fat religious allegory upon closer inspection. There's also an American Gods novella with a little spin on Beowulf for fans of Gaiman's earlier novel. Not to be missed for Gaiman fans.
Seen a bunch of movies lately too. Quite a few good ones.
My personal favorite of the bunch is The Wrestler. I love all of Aronofsky's films and Mickey Rourke was my high school hero. He's fantastic here, continuing the comeback that started with his pure badass-concentrate portrayal of Marv in Sin City. Rourke, the guy, is kinda crazy and he's really fucked up his face with plastic surgery, but somehow this just makes him even more compelling to watch. He's a walking tragedy and you can't take your eyes off him. I really hope we get to see him face off against Robert Downey Jr. in the Iron Man sequel. The Wrestler is a great new spin on the Rocky story and one of the best movies of the year says me.
Gran Torino was a disappointment. Clint does another tweak on his tough guy image as a cranky old bastard, annoyed and eventually charmed by all the Hmong Vietnamese immigrants taking over the neighborhood. The major problem with this movie is that Eastwood has cast a bunch of non-actors as the Hmong kids. I understand he's gotten a lot of praise for casting actual Hmongs and all, but the problem is, they can't act. At all. They seem like they're in a high school play and Eastwood blows them all off the screen. It's very distracting. Eastwood runs around calling them all dinks and zipperheads and it's oh so funny 'cause, y'see, he's old (ha ha). The girl who plays his main foil has a lot of raw charisma, but still ...she can't act. Kind of a stumbling block when your performance is supposed to be the lynchpin of a major motion picture. I've heard a lot of people love this movie, but it left me cold. And I'm a big Eastwood fan. Oh well.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is great. I wept like a little girl. Pitt is solid. Cate Blanchett is the best actress working today. Tilda Swinton is teriffic in a smallish part. The actress who plays his adoptive mom does great work too. I should look her up on IMDB. The visual effects of Pitt aging backwards are fantastic. And bonus awesome points 'cause Dr. Jekyll plays Pitt's pop. (Yeah, that's right, I liked The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Sue me.) There's some logic problems that bugged me a little, but mostly I swallowed this one whole 'cause I'm a big sentimental sucker. I think it should get Best Picture.
MILK was also great. A very interesting story. That Anita Bryant sure was a coo coo nut. Josh Brolin is fast becoming one of the most interesting actors in the movies. And Sean Penn is freaking brilliant in this. He plays a guy that is so not like Sean Penn, so not like Sean Penn's image, and just disappears into the guy. No histrionics, no niggling acting tics. He just becomes Harvey Milk. He should win Best Actor. I kinda wanted Mickey Rourke to get it just 'cause Mickey Rourke is the coolest bag of nutballs on the planet, but Mickey's really just doing a spin on himself. Penn is Acting! As the Master Thespian would say. God, I'm old.
Slumdog Millionaire is another good one. Maybe not as great as everyone says it is, but a good time at the movies. Kind of a feel-good music video about life in the slums of Bombay. It looks great, it whizzes by, it's light as a feather.
Revolutionary Road was interesting. Pitch black drama about entropy in the suburbs. Kate Winslet is fabulous as per usual. Leonardo DiCaprio is a fine actor, but although he's 37 he still looks like he's about 14. I can't get past it. I didn't buy him as a tough guy in Gangs of New York or The Departed and I don't buy him as a family man in this. Otherwise, the movie is good, but blackly depressing.
Pride and Glory was OK. Funny that I don't remember ever reading or hearing anything about this movie even though it stars Ed Norton, one of my favorites. Colin Farrell is good in it too. This is a pretty cool corrupt cop movie until the end when it gets dumb. Coulda been a classic if it had a better ending.
Another great collection of short stories. The standouts in this one are an exquisitely concise and chilling sketch of Hell called Other People, a story from The Matrix called Goliath that is better than both sequels combined, and The Problem with Susan - a very dark and satisfying epilogue to the Narnia chronicles, especially for those readers who were surprised and perhaps a little put off to discover their beloved childhood fantasy was a big fat religious allegory upon closer inspection. There's also an American Gods novella with a little spin on Beowulf for fans of Gaiman's earlier novel. Not to be missed for Gaiman fans.
Seen a bunch of movies lately too. Quite a few good ones.
My personal favorite of the bunch is The Wrestler. I love all of Aronofsky's films and Mickey Rourke was my high school hero. He's fantastic here, continuing the comeback that started with his pure badass-concentrate portrayal of Marv in Sin City. Rourke, the guy, is kinda crazy and he's really fucked up his face with plastic surgery, but somehow this just makes him even more compelling to watch. He's a walking tragedy and you can't take your eyes off him. I really hope we get to see him face off against Robert Downey Jr. in the Iron Man sequel. The Wrestler is a great new spin on the Rocky story and one of the best movies of the year says me.
Gran Torino was a disappointment. Clint does another tweak on his tough guy image as a cranky old bastard, annoyed and eventually charmed by all the Hmong Vietnamese immigrants taking over the neighborhood. The major problem with this movie is that Eastwood has cast a bunch of non-actors as the Hmong kids. I understand he's gotten a lot of praise for casting actual Hmongs and all, but the problem is, they can't act. At all. They seem like they're in a high school play and Eastwood blows them all off the screen. It's very distracting. Eastwood runs around calling them all dinks and zipperheads and it's oh so funny 'cause, y'see, he's old (ha ha). The girl who plays his main foil has a lot of raw charisma, but still ...she can't act. Kind of a stumbling block when your performance is supposed to be the lynchpin of a major motion picture. I've heard a lot of people love this movie, but it left me cold. And I'm a big Eastwood fan. Oh well.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is great. I wept like a little girl. Pitt is solid. Cate Blanchett is the best actress working today. Tilda Swinton is teriffic in a smallish part. The actress who plays his adoptive mom does great work too. I should look her up on IMDB. The visual effects of Pitt aging backwards are fantastic. And bonus awesome points 'cause Dr. Jekyll plays Pitt's pop. (Yeah, that's right, I liked The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Sue me.) There's some logic problems that bugged me a little, but mostly I swallowed this one whole 'cause I'm a big sentimental sucker. I think it should get Best Picture.
MILK was also great. A very interesting story. That Anita Bryant sure was a coo coo nut. Josh Brolin is fast becoming one of the most interesting actors in the movies. And Sean Penn is freaking brilliant in this. He plays a guy that is so not like Sean Penn, so not like Sean Penn's image, and just disappears into the guy. No histrionics, no niggling acting tics. He just becomes Harvey Milk. He should win Best Actor. I kinda wanted Mickey Rourke to get it just 'cause Mickey Rourke is the coolest bag of nutballs on the planet, but Mickey's really just doing a spin on himself. Penn is Acting! As the Master Thespian would say. God, I'm old.
Slumdog Millionaire is another good one. Maybe not as great as everyone says it is, but a good time at the movies. Kind of a feel-good music video about life in the slums of Bombay. It looks great, it whizzes by, it's light as a feather.
Revolutionary Road was interesting. Pitch black drama about entropy in the suburbs. Kate Winslet is fabulous as per usual. Leonardo DiCaprio is a fine actor, but although he's 37 he still looks like he's about 14. I can't get past it. I didn't buy him as a tough guy in Gangs of New York or The Departed and I don't buy him as a family man in this. Otherwise, the movie is good, but blackly depressing.
Pride and Glory was OK. Funny that I don't remember ever reading or hearing anything about this movie even though it stars Ed Norton, one of my favorites. Colin Farrell is good in it too. This is a pretty cool corrupt cop movie until the end when it gets dumb. Coulda been a classic if it had a better ending.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Scam, Scam, Scam and Eggs
Monday is Scamday!
The Scam page 7
And a mystery sketch to get your headscratchin' started!
Have a dandy week!
The Scam page 7
And a mystery sketch to get your headscratchin' started!
Have a dandy week!
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Scam Scam Bo Bam
Hey ho.
More Scam for week's end:
The Scam page 6
And here's a little sketch of a happy fellow:
Good days to all!
More Scam for week's end:
The Scam page 6
And here's a little sketch of a happy fellow:
Good days to all!
Monday, January 19, 2009
Scam o' the day
Ah, Monday morning. Time for a bit o' the scam:
The Scam page 5
And a wee sketch to help the medicine go down:
Wishing you a wonderful wintery week...
The Scam page 5
And a wee sketch to help the medicine go down:
Wishing you a wonderful wintery week...
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Scam-a-lam-a-ding-dong
New Thursday! New Scam!
The Scam page 4
And here's some sketches for a little idea I've been fiddling around with:
Have a good ol' weekend, now!
The Scam page 4
And here's some sketches for a little idea I've been fiddling around with:
Have a good ol' weekend, now!
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Lost again
It's almost time for the new season of Lost and I'm just all aflutter. I can't really remember much of what happened last season because I have no short term memory, but I kind of vaguely recall a boat blowing up. Can't wait for the recap show!
Anyways, here's a quick sketch of everyone's favorite creepy bald guy - Locke. Obviously some mysterious facet of the island has caused him to have a huge space between his nose and upper lip. Mysterious!
Anyways, here's a quick sketch of everyone's favorite creepy bald guy - Locke. Obviously some mysterious facet of the island has caused him to have a huge space between his nose and upper lip. Mysterious!
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Scam Three
Yo ho!
It's time for that faithful Monday update:
The Scam page 3
And a sketch from the future:
Finished Clockers by Richard Price this weekend.
What a fantastic book. The characters of Rocco the middle-aged Homicide cop and Strike the twenty-something drug dealer live and breathe and Price takes you right into their heads and makes you sympathize with them despite their flaws. Clockers is great literature in the guise of a crime novel. As a fan of The Wire it's also interesting to read Price and George Pelecanos' novels written before they became writers on the tv show. A lot of the themes and situations from these early books were recycled on the series. Highly recommended reading. And The Wire is highly recommended watching. Probably the best cop show ever. It takes a handful of episodes to get going, but once it gets into gear - Yow. Each season expands on the last and the incredible cast of characters keeps growing and intertwining until it all comes full circle in the last season.
Next on the reading list: Fragile Things by Neal Gaiman
Next on the watching list: The Tick live action series
It's time for that faithful Monday update:
The Scam page 3
And a sketch from the future:
Finished Clockers by Richard Price this weekend.
What a fantastic book. The characters of Rocco the middle-aged Homicide cop and Strike the twenty-something drug dealer live and breathe and Price takes you right into their heads and makes you sympathize with them despite their flaws. Clockers is great literature in the guise of a crime novel. As a fan of The Wire it's also interesting to read Price and George Pelecanos' novels written before they became writers on the tv show. A lot of the themes and situations from these early books were recycled on the series. Highly recommended reading. And The Wire is highly recommended watching. Probably the best cop show ever. It takes a handful of episodes to get going, but once it gets into gear - Yow. Each season expands on the last and the incredible cast of characters keeps growing and intertwining until it all comes full circle in the last season.
Next on the reading list: Fragile Things by Neal Gaiman
Next on the watching list: The Tick live action series
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Meet Mr. Stein - Alternate Ending
It's always fun to have some kind of clever twist at the end of a story that turns everything around and makes you look at everything that came before differently. I was toying with that type of ending for Meet Mr. Stein. You might notice that there is a bit of a change in artistic style for the last two pages - those final pages are done with a lot more detail and intricate linework, mostly just 'cause I felt like it. I knew there was going to be a shot of the empty table and the rest of the cafe behind it and as I was filling in the hole where Mr. Stein used to be, I got carried away with the details and just went with it.
The disparity in the artwork styles got me to thinking about how this might work storywise and suggested an interesting twist ending that would indeed give the whole tale a slightly different spin.
In the end, I decided that this new twist didn't quite work for the purposes of this story as part of a larger whole, but here's a peek at how it originally played out:
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
More Scam
Hiya!
Page two of The Scam is up:
Plus, a drawing of Wolverine.
Just 'cause I like drawing Wolverine.
Have a happy Thursday!
I Love the Dango
The first Zuda competition of 2009 is up and running and there's a lot of good stuff this month.
But from first glance... I loved the Dango. It's weird 'cause usually this type of comic is not my thing. Nothing much happens. The art is quite simple. The comic doesn't even fill the screen for pete's sake. But it fills my heart with joy. The Dango is a floating blob that eats things. This pleases me.
The Dango wants to love you.
The Dango wants to eat you.
Love the Dango.
But from first glance... I loved the Dango. It's weird 'cause usually this type of comic is not my thing. Nothing much happens. The art is quite simple. The comic doesn't even fill the screen for pete's sake. But it fills my heart with joy. The Dango is a floating blob that eats things. This pleases me.
The Dango wants to love you.
The Dango wants to eat you.
Love the Dango.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Books I Read On Holiday
I like to read books. I like to go on vacation.
I like to read books on vacation.
Here's what I read on my most recent lovely holiday:
SMOKE AND MIRRORS by Neil Gaiman
I got the two Gaiman short story collections for Christmas. I think his short stories may be even better than his novels. This collection is worth buying if only for the super awesome story Murder Mystery. It's about angels in heaven and it's Gaiman at his finest.
Gee, how much do I suck for describing something as "super awesome"? Urk.
ABSOLUTE FRIENDS by John LeCarre
An interesting book about a pair of spies and their relationship from the cold war through to the present day. Pretty bleak and angry perspective on the Bush administration's anti-terrorism policies and the justifications for the Iraq war. I enjoyed it, but probably would've enjoyed it even more if I'd read it when t was frst published in 2004.
THE EGYPTOLOGIST by Arthur Phillips
Extremely funny/creepy epistolary novel about a delusional "archaeologist" on the hunt for the tomb of an apocryphal pharaoh and the skeevy detective on the trail of the archaeologist. Very complex and witty and even a little heartbreaking.
HELL TO PAY by George Pelecanos
Pelecanos is getting to be one of my favorite crime authors. I've read two other books of his (The Night Gardener and Hard Revolution) both of which were excellent. This one is good too, although not quite on the level as the two others. I like the continuing main character of P.I. Derek Strange, but I usually get tired of crime book series with the same protagonist after awhile. It takes away a bit of the unpredictability of a novel when you know nothing truly earth-shaking can happen to the main characters 'cause then there wouldn't be any more books(although this doesn't bug me with comics so much. I still like Batman, even though I know he ain't gonna die. Current storyline notwithstanding). But Pelecanos is so good that he and Strange have got me hooked for another book or two at least.
THE SALMON OF DOUBT by Douglas Adams
The cover of this one tries to trick you into thinking it's somehow connected to The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy which it isn't. It's mostly a collection of odd essays by Adams and one third of an unfinished Dirk Gently novel. A lot of the essays are pretty darn funny anyway, I laughed out loud quite a few times. Really only recommended for big time Adams fans. Anybody looking for Hitchhikers stuff will be sorely disappointed. The fragment of the Dirk Gently novel shows a lot of promise though. It's a damn shame he never got the chance to finish it.
THE SECRET HISTORY by Donna Tartt
The name of this book and its author sounds to me like some gooey girlie book by Judith Krantz or Jackie Collins or some shit, but it isn't that at all. I think I picked this up 'cause Stephen King put it on some top ten list somewhere. Anyway, it's a weird and compelling story about a group of egghead students of ancient Greek who decide to murder one of their classmates. A thought-provoking page-turner. Not girly at all.
So that's what I read. Right now I'm working on Clockers by Richard Price. I read about half of this when it first came out like 15 years ago and never finished it. I don't know what I was thinking. It's fricking GREAT. I really was a moron back in the day.
I like to read books on vacation.
Here's what I read on my most recent lovely holiday:
SMOKE AND MIRRORS by Neil Gaiman
I got the two Gaiman short story collections for Christmas. I think his short stories may be even better than his novels. This collection is worth buying if only for the super awesome story Murder Mystery. It's about angels in heaven and it's Gaiman at his finest.
Gee, how much do I suck for describing something as "super awesome"? Urk.
ABSOLUTE FRIENDS by John LeCarre
An interesting book about a pair of spies and their relationship from the cold war through to the present day. Pretty bleak and angry perspective on the Bush administration's anti-terrorism policies and the justifications for the Iraq war. I enjoyed it, but probably would've enjoyed it even more if I'd read it when t was frst published in 2004.
THE EGYPTOLOGIST by Arthur Phillips
Extremely funny/creepy epistolary novel about a delusional "archaeologist" on the hunt for the tomb of an apocryphal pharaoh and the skeevy detective on the trail of the archaeologist. Very complex and witty and even a little heartbreaking.
HELL TO PAY by George Pelecanos
Pelecanos is getting to be one of my favorite crime authors. I've read two other books of his (The Night Gardener and Hard Revolution) both of which were excellent. This one is good too, although not quite on the level as the two others. I like the continuing main character of P.I. Derek Strange, but I usually get tired of crime book series with the same protagonist after awhile. It takes away a bit of the unpredictability of a novel when you know nothing truly earth-shaking can happen to the main characters 'cause then there wouldn't be any more books(although this doesn't bug me with comics so much. I still like Batman, even though I know he ain't gonna die. Current storyline notwithstanding). But Pelecanos is so good that he and Strange have got me hooked for another book or two at least.
THE SALMON OF DOUBT by Douglas Adams
The cover of this one tries to trick you into thinking it's somehow connected to The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy which it isn't. It's mostly a collection of odd essays by Adams and one third of an unfinished Dirk Gently novel. A lot of the essays are pretty darn funny anyway, I laughed out loud quite a few times. Really only recommended for big time Adams fans. Anybody looking for Hitchhikers stuff will be sorely disappointed. The fragment of the Dirk Gently novel shows a lot of promise though. It's a damn shame he never got the chance to finish it.
THE SECRET HISTORY by Donna Tartt
The name of this book and its author sounds to me like some gooey girlie book by Judith Krantz or Jackie Collins or some shit, but it isn't that at all. I think I picked this up 'cause Stephen King put it on some top ten list somewhere. Anyway, it's a weird and compelling story about a group of egghead students of ancient Greek who decide to murder one of their classmates. A thought-provoking page-turner. Not girly at all.
So that's what I read. Right now I'm working on Clockers by Richard Price. I read about half of this when it first came out like 15 years ago and never finished it. I don't know what I was thinking. It's fricking GREAT. I really was a moron back in the day.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Scam On!
Happy New Year Unbelievers!
We're back for a new round of fictitious falsehoods to bemuse and befuddle your Mondays and Thursdays throughout 2009.
We'll kick things off with a tale of Thailand (completely and totally Untrue, I assure you). So keep your hands in your pockets and your eyes on the cards and get ready for...
Hope everybody had a hap hap happy holiday! Let's hope 2009 brings good times to all!
Elabgka!
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