"Because you're the only one who could change my mind!"

I tried to document my trip with sketches (as well as photos -- see previous post) but it kinda fell through...



^ And we're back to talking about TV!!! Loooove TV love it! So yeah, "White Collar" is one of my new favourite shows. (Yeah I only caught on to it over the holidays.)

Now this may seem farfetched, but I feel like I am watching a crime-tastic reincarnation of "Two Guys and a Girl", only without the girl (unfortunately Elizabeth is too nice to be The Girl).
Very similar personalities, and, Peter's name, anyone? Peter Burke, PETE N' BERG, huh? HUH? Caffrey (or Berg) the flake takes the crazy risks and yet it's always the straight guy Pete who gets the shit.

Both shows -- very funny, both sets of costars -- considerable chemistry, and both shows are insanely fun to watch with these certain kind of goggles on if you know what I mean. In case you don't, I mean CAFFREY, HOW GAY EXACTLY ARE YOU FOR THAT FED?! Never mind, you poor lump, you don't have to answer, I'll just go watch the first season finale again. I loved Pete and his Berg and I love Neal and his Pete. This is an awesome show with a lot of very tight pants *| and hilarious dialogue!

[*| Tight pants being actually the one thing sorely lacking from 2GAAG.]

A case of the movies

I can't whine unless I post drawings -- hence, three pre-whine comic strips that I haven't posted before.




(^ Is Stephen peeing or is he not? You decide)

Sooo, I almost want to take back my recommendation of Nowhere Boy. It is a marvellous movie, but it directly started this weeks-long chain of thoughts that left me uncharacteristically depressed. I know, I'm lightyears away from actual clinical depression (I have to make that distinction since I have friends and loved ones who have suffered from it, and, these guys -- talk about not being able to take a joke *|), but the fact remains that for a week now I have not left home for anything other than my part-time job, and to me that's a first. I couldn't even get myself up for life drawing.
In other words, do go see Nowhere Boy, just maybe not if you're at a stage in your life where you have way too much time to think about s**t. I hope it's over now, though. I hope my brain flushes again.

*| :P ♥

Real Unreal

"Right -- everyone stop f**king crying, this is supposed to be a rock'n'roll band for chrissakes."

The short post:

I saw Nowhere Boy and then absolutely had to try to draw some early Lennon-McCartney. The suits are not stage garb but funeral garb. Enough spoilers (LOL SPOILERS FOR LENNON'S LIFE), The End.

THE LONG POST (skippable:)

Yay, I finally got to see Nowhere Boy *yeee!* I was eager for this movie because a] like approximately 3/4 of Earthlings I am a Beatles fan, and b] I especially love early Beatles history. Somehow it just can't seem to get old no matter how many times I read about it :) (...Which is a good thing for this movie considering that nothing about it can really surprise the viewer.) They are a unique ...um, myth. A world unto themselves.

Nowhere Boy is more about Lennon's relationship with his mother Julia and his aunt Mimi than forming the band, but that stuff is equally fascinating, and a perfect vehicle for the type of life-affirming drama that the Brits whip up in their sleep. Nowhere Boy didn't disappoint.

Very few movies other than the "actual Beatles-movies" have been made about the band, but the one Nowhere Boy can be compared to -- favourably, I'm glad to say! -- is Backbeat.
What Backbeat has going for it, is that it focuses on Stuart Sutcliffe, whose mannerisms and appearance have not become part of the public consciousness like The Beatles themselves have, so the viewer can enjoy Stephen Dorff's very capable performance without being distracted by an inner voice nagging "this is so far from the real thing."
Since the same is true of Mimi and Julia, who are the two most important characters of Nowhere Boy next to Lennon, and since the script's dramatizations of oft-documented events from Lennon's boyhood are very confident and unflourished, there's hardly anything to make you doubt it could all have happened exactly in the manner that the film portrays.

Inevitably, the kids portraying the young Beatles don't look or sound like the originals, but they are excellent actors -- and if the movie is more about finding your mom than finding your future rock icon buddies, what matters is whether you have the emotional acting chops. In that respect the whole cast delivers. Some reviews had claimed that the other cast members can't keep up with Kristin Scott Thomas, but I thought the performances were amazing throughout. I confess that when I first heard about the film I was confused about why they had cast Aaron Johnson as Lennon, because -- shame on me! -- I mistook him for an American since he'd been chosen for Kick-Ass!
Johnson was actually the film's surprise, because even though it's a little hard to imagine him as Lennon, the compact, charming script combined with his moving performance makes you buy him as simply an (for all intents and purposes) orphaned, insecure kid.

Of course knowing about the future ahead spices up the experience considerably, but still, I'm willing to bet that even if you don't know a thing about The Beatles (in which case, Congratulations on your first day back from cryo-freeze!) or don't find the band interesting, you will still think "What a relatable and captivating story" after watching this. Made me cry a ton too. OK, so I cry at many movies, but this was the biggest cry-fest since Toy Story 3.

In fact the quote at the beginning of this post came right on the heels of a big upheaval in the movie, where a couple of the characters teared up as well (with me leaking silently in the audience). Johnson ordered everybody to "stop f**king crying", which was one of the most characteristic moments about this movie: laughter through tears (oooh dammit I'm sorry about the cliche!) and all such...

I will so see it again and am recommending it to you. :)

Recent Things

This post has many things!!


Bored to Death is back, I'm glad. I was doubled over during the pay phone sequence.

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I couldn't let the little boy on the bus go! I scribbled him an imaginary friend too.

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The ruffled-looking bird is imaginary, the ibis I drew at the Aquarium.

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If you absolutely have to make a bird movie, by all means, make it about owls and not penguins.
Yes, owls are pretty cool.
Are they cool enough to wield medieval weapons in battle? Yes.
Are they cool enough to withstand Zack Snyder's overuse of slo-mo (which is a parody of itself at this point and actually also much earlier)? Yes.
Are they cool enough to be subjected to both at the same time?
NO THEY FRIKKING ARE NOT.

Check out the owl movie if you want a hearty chuckle.

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Mostly done in comics club meet. The knight's not a character of mine, just another fandoodle (for "7 Soldiers of Victory" that I've mentioned somewhere along the way)

Spaaaaarrrrrk again & "Well-meaning maniacs"

...So, back in August I did cave in and buy an advance pass to SPARK 2010, but then they suddenly had to toss their whole schedule (no worries, they refunded me). The final schedule was confirmed barely a week ago, and this year, for once, I had the money and the time to register for every bit of it that I want! And you, hurry up and get your tickets. They have good stuff again, so SEE YOU AT SPAAAAARRKK absolutefully!!!

* * *

*sigh* What, fanart again... Whatever.


A fandoodle for Terry Moore's excellent comic Echo. These three scenes are from the most recent trade paperback, "Collider".

Echo is Moore's flirtation with the superhero genre, but in an incredibly... MOORE manner. I can't even begin to describe right now what it's all about -- or I'll run at the mouth about it until people start chucking things at me. But I would recommend it. Rest assured it has all the grounded relationships, subtle humour and inspired draftsmanship of Moore's other works, peppered with a whole bunch of gripping action scenes and even gore.
I follow the comic only in paperbacks, NOT single issues, so please please no spoilers I BEG YOU!!

For some reason I felt these scenes made an interesting trio/summary/"poster" for the latest trade. I didn't redraw panels but posed it from scratch instead, recreating the scenes from memory.
The sketchiness is pretty much intentional, however I will probably make the first two scenes larger at some point because the linework becomes so "cross-hatchy" in an interwebs-optimised image.

Feedback welcome. Colours make you sick? Needs more contrast? Hard to read? Let me know. (Except about Dillon not looking like Dillon, that's something I've tried to fix and it still eludes me. He looks like the lovechild of Johnny Bravo and Tommy Monaghan here. Sure, I call it an improvement, but it's not exactly what I set out to do!)

I dropped my crab puff in the hot tub

I did this as a pageview gift ("kiriban") for someone on deviantArt. It's Drake, Josh and Helen from Drake and Josh -- the Nickelodeon program to come out of Dan Schneider's warped and dirty mind before his iCarly. Needless to say I love the show.

Doodle dump

I have gotten into the habit of attending Cloudscape Comics' weekly meet. I find I don't have a terrib' much to say, but I listen to the others and doodle at the same time. Surprisingly, drawing in a group while following other people's conversation can be pretty inspiring. Here's a couple of my Wednesday scribbles.


^Some sort of teenage superhero type


^The amazing Brian and Steve from the obviously amazing The Sarah Silverman Program


^A Slings & Arrows doodle! Poor Geoffrey :]

...I draw quite a bit about TV.

Whoops almost forgot this preliminary marker sketch for a "7 Soldiers of Victory" fanart idea. When will I actually bring it to completion... is another matter entirely. v

AE ahoy

Let's face it, if you set out to find even one similarity between Master and Commander and iCarly, you're completely dished.

In fact the only thing they DO have in common is that neither has any business at an anime-focused convention.
But hey! Neither do I, so it's all good! Anime Evolution in Vancouver is this CONVERGENCE OF THE INEXPLICABLE. M&C and iCarly are both present in the form of my fannish BUTTONS (and some original) that you will be able to buy from the Cloudscape Comics table this weekend!

I mostly just did these because I love making buttons. I mean, I have zero audience or recognisability there but I did want to see if I could make a coupla bucks with something I enjoy. These probably won't sell hugely so even if you want to buy buttons from me after the con, you're in luck ;)

Now take a look at the little cuties, 1.25" diameter, only a dollar each and all illustrated by me.
Button bleed has been taken into consideration in the picture, so this is what's showing on the face of the buttons.

A Curious Bizzle ~ Which they say Doctor Maturin is a total beetlemaniac. Maybe if you present him with this Curious Button that you found on deck, he won't lop off your remaining arm.
iSam (turq. or pink) ~ Out of all the characters enduring the perverted, twisted, unholy and awesome adventures of a so-called kids' show, Sam seems to enjoy them the most. GO SAM.
(I've already explained my fascination with iCarly, but in case you needed another incentive -- Jane Lynch is set to appear as Sam's mom in an upcoming episode.)
Pinstripe Umbrella ~ An oldie-but-goodie original illustration.
Travel Iron ~ "I'm like a rolling stone -- that's why I have a travel iron" (An original.)
Cartoony Me ~ Well, none of my other buttons had either me or my website address on them!! Duhhh.

ONE DOLLAR. EACH.

Confession time

This post is going to be woooor-dy because I am drunk at the 24-hour Waves on Commercial (after a great double bill at the Rio theatre). I hate this Waves for reasons too numerous to list at the moment. But I'm too cheap to get a taxi home so I must wait till the so called "TRANSIT" system starts running again. And the wireless in this place is the slowest I have ever experienced.


My main confession, however, is that iLove iCarly. *g-daaaaasp!*
[^Above is a sketch of one of my favourite scenes from the first season: Spencer spitting out a live baby chick. Adorable! In the actual scene he was wearing boxers instead of jeans, but I felt like drawing jeans this time.]

Before you grab your pitchforks, though, you should know that I am a pretty inappropriate person. Watching things like grown men spanking each other with brooms while keeping their children locked in plastic tubes and making them watch the spanking (which btw - WARNING - I am definitely going to sketch at some point), and knowing that the show that delivers me these scenes is supposedly a kids' show, makes me very happy.
NO OTHER KIDS' SHOW PROVIDES THESE THINGS. No kid-oriented show in history is this twisted and squickly (not even the creator's previous offering, the wonderful Drake and Josh, also known as "the most heartwrenchingly gay TV show ever").

So all I'm asking is that you watch an episode before you judge me! With this amount of handcuffs, spanking, toe-flossing, swallowing of live pets, "two-foot meat sticks" and four-way "javacuzzi" sessions, I have a feeling a loooot of people I know (who are every bit as inappropriate as me) will not be able to resist the show, despite their best intentions.

* * *

...Plus, you know, obviously, Spencer (Jerry Trainor) is the Soul Brother I never had. (No offense to my actual brother -- you're awse and I love you so much.)

hehe, I liked Legion

Guys with giant wings will certainly get the urge to cheat at pull-ups every now and then.

(NOTE TO PALS: wanna work at Opus for a day? see previous post)

Doodle dump!

There's a little bit of eeeverything!
Puppies!

A frog!

A fandoodle of Young Dracula ! (I sure hope I've mentioned this show before, because iiiit roooocks)

A... thing!

And a whole bunch of quickies that I want to flesh out at some point!


Let me tell you something... DOODLES MAKE ME FEEL GOOO-OOD

Jack and Ianto, etc.

Jack and Ianto enjoy sharing a post with these nudes.

Stuff and more stuff

I believe the professional term is SKETCHDUMP.
Well, since this is a sketchblog and since I'm having such fun working on these characters, here's what's happening with Jack and Stephen YAY!
I don't know how this whole colouring business will end... It's not my forté. I like the texture though. Wonder how it would come across on my gradpage...




Some not at all bad croquis of Trev and then some female models that I didn't like very much but whateverrrrr




We keep wanting to go to the zoo but keep getting foiled by rain. Here are some marker doodles that I based on quick sketches from my last trip to the zoo, over the summer.

I love to read

Here are four illustration type of things, first of which is finished and rest I'm still working on. (Includes book-Jack and book-Stephen, holy sh*t I could go on and on about those books.)

Klaus, the first fetching goldfish

(...at least he was going to be... I won't go into the tragic details of his demise.)

Berg and Klaus in intense training mode.
This is 2GAAG fanart, and I am at this moment being physically restrained from typing - as the only measure to stop me from going on a ramble about my deep, irrational love for that old show.

(Here's the sketchbase for this.)

Pope-icide

I GOT A TICKET TO CONAN'S VANCOUVER GIG AND I DIDN'T EVEN HAVE TO ASSASSINATE THE POPE FOR IT
OMFG

That's right that's right...

I must be pretty annoying with all the fandoodles... [Edit: slapped some colour on]


A few days ago I finally managed to hunt down the movie All Over The Guy online. It's a romantic comedy about two gay men falling in love when one of them is trying his hardest not to.

AOTG is not spectacular by any means: it is a very typical romantic comedy apart from the main couple being gay. But weirdly, even most of its flaws were kind of endearing and definitely added to the amusement. (Just for one example, the other half of the couplet, Eli, is an X-Files nerd... Who can't use the internet. You really gotta see this to believe it. He's even a reporter, Chrissakes! And it's the 00's! AND ELI DOESN'T USE THE INTERNET!! When I first started peeking around the web - which I seem to remember being middle of the nineties - the first thing I ran into were X-Files nerds.)

Not to mention the nostalgia. The movie came out in 2001, when the world was suffering from a tragic Richard Ruccolo -shortage due to the fact that the once so lean, mean, and (for the nineties) surprisingly obscene "Two Guys and a Girl" had fizzled out into a misshapen "gotta-please-everybody" ending that absolutely nobody watched. Following 2GAAG the world sat up as one and took notice of Ryan Reynolds, who was every bit as funny as Ruccolo and a tad more conventionally handsome. (And good for him - everybody from that show has a special place in my heart.) Leaving Ruccolo to star in indie movies with gay themes, I guess. Anyway my point is he simply isn't in enough movies and TV, not enough at all. Which is why I was trying to find this movie for so long.

So considering the cast, I fully expected to love it and I did. It made me feel really warm and fuzzy, and no matter what any of you say, you KNOW you all like to feel warm and fuzzy. It's in that wonderful group of movies just like In The Bleak Midwinter and Mixed Nuts and stuff; can't be called must-see for everyone I know, but they're personal classics to me.

Attention pls + hasty designs

I joined deviantart. I'll be adding people I have a special interest in (either IRL or artwise) to my dA watchlist in the near future - so if I know you, at least you have that to look forward to! OR, if I don't know about your presence yet, you can look me up at kelipipo.deviantart.com !

This is supposed to be final project stuff ...ALL I CAN DO IS LAUGH :D





You got it, it's Narnia-related, woot