ring it in

According to my facebook, almost everyone I know is either sick, getting sick, or getting over being sick. I just got sinus-y sick last night.

Happy new year!

domestic blitz

My 6am time travel flight from Texas to LA made yesterday entirely a blur since I can't really sleep on planes.

While I spent my vacation (happily) swarmed by family, Boy spent his at the house playing with the dogs and watching hours upon hours of Hot Pursuit and Most Shocking. This doesn't mean he only watched TV, but it also doesn't mean he completed any of his home improvement tasks (which, by the way, is totally fine).

We spent most of the day shopping for furniture (you'll find it a cruel irony that Target furniture is really what we want, even thought it isn't built to last more than 48 hours, while everything else near what we want has a comma in the price tag), and after a bout of cleaning and some grocery shopping we cooked our first solo meal in the kitchen.

Counter space. Oh, counter space, you are amazing.

not a creature is stirring

I've been very mixed up about the holiday season this year.

I do quite a bit of work in the world of commercials, so I started listening to Christmas carols while working on TV spots in august, and starting in october retail stores started to catch up with me. By the time christmas day rolled around, I was on my fourth christmas: One with friends, one with Boy's family, one with my father's side and one with my mother's.

Aside from holiday meals and family gatherings, I've spent the past few days doing nothing, which has been fantastic. After a month of moving, sick dogs, and work, a few days of napping and TV watching has really helped me recharge my batteries to tackle 2008, with a nice little cushion thanks to Santa.

I've been called out by my friend Jack for not blogging enough recently, which is fair, but I didn't really think you'd be enthralled to hear my account of unpacking boxes. Never fear, we're unpacked now, and a semi-normal (is it ever REALLY normal?) life can resume again.



Sadly, it was the only movie playing tonight during our availability window. I need to see Sweeney Todd and Juno, stat.

review: I Am Legend

playlist

Kelsey Metro Station
Is There a Ghost Band of Horses
Do It Well Jennifer Lopez
Music Is My Hot, Hot Sex CSS
Dancing With Myself Nouvelle Vague
2 Hearts Kylie Minogue
Money Honey State of Shock
Sweetest Girl (Dollar Bill) Wyclef Jean
Turn On Me (Clint Mansell Remix) The Shins
Taking Chances Céline Dion
Bleeding Love Leona Lewis

Yes, I realize that's a really gay little playlist.

obsessed

Two Hearts. Kylie Minogue. X.

This album is what I wanted Confessions on a Dancefloor to be.

what kind of day has it been

Not only did we have sewer and electric out yesterday, but the Murphy was sick, too.

After a day of shaking, dehydration, a fever of 105 and a trip to the ER, murphy is home with meds, his favorite blanket, and the fireplace.

(gastrointestinal bacterial infection)

Wanna help pay for an ER vet bill? Buy some holiday cards, because you only have a few days for them to be out in a timely manner!

Go to my store!

news of the move

We're on day 7 of the move. Days 1 through 4 were pretty solid, aside from heavy rain on day 3. We basically had to stop moving the past 2 days because of work, and now things are swinging back up, just in time for more rain. About 65% of our stuff is at the new house now.

Highlights of the move include Greg and Rob (Grob) moving a washer and dryer that will never move again, Daniel pulling his back out lifting a pillow, and a bunch of shelves falling on me and possibly cracking a rib. C'est la move.

The dogs have been completely freaking out, so much so that I think poor Murphy has suffered a psychological break and has been on couch for 6 hours now under a blanket. If he could talk, I'm sure he'd say, "Make it stop. Please. Make it stop."

It turns out that my external office (listed as a "writer's cottage" in printed matter) was powered off of the master bedroom ceiling fan, which is like quietly and constantly begging for a fire. It is being rewired with a new circuit.



On the other side of the house, heavy plumbing is going on as the 1924 drainage system is finally being exorcised. It is a demon that has doubled in cost, but one that needs to be taken care of.

Oh, and the garage door motor has also been replaced.

If we've learned one thing from the past few days, its that the previous owners liked doing things the cheapest and least rational way possible. "The garage door just needs a little nudge." Well, no. It needs a new motor capable of hauling an antique wooden door. "After a vacation you can call in a hydrojet company to clear the pipes." Well, no. the pipes have caved in, so basically you're paying money to repeatedly have your shit pushed into the ground.

We've also learned the original house is pretty amazing, if not very chilly in the mornings, and that if you're going to do something, do it RIGHT the first time.

how i became a stereotype

Hopped up in the Hollywood Hills on painkillers. Yay for Moving.

make it work!

Taking a page from Tim Gunn, we're trying to make our packing process quick and efficient. True we have a few days to evac the apartment, but packing and working at the same time pretty much blows.

Did I mention our closing was pushed a day because the loan company forgot something? Gotta love it.

So we've been going through our crap, and believe me it is plentiful, and touching every single piece of everything we own. That's the tricky part, you can't just point and Mary Poppins things into a keep/donate/trash pile. You have to touch it, move it, and even for a millisecond consider it.

I'm pretty sure we're taking the bed over tomorrow night to spend out first night in the house. A shame the furniture won't move until next week.

forever

Do you know why I'm not afraid of signing a 30 year mortgage? Because I never want to pack boxes to move ever again. Ever.

gobble gobble

Did you have a nice thanksgiving? We spent ours in East Cali for a low-key dinner with family.

I've been boxing off and on all day, and I have to say, I have a lot of crap. It was easy to go through the clothes and put a lot in a donation box, but other stuff is proving more trying.

If you ordered cards or noggins from my store recently, rest assured that they're in the mail, and the 5 orders that aren't, will be tomorrow morning!

I'd really rather not move these 4 paintings, so here they are at a reduced price. Look! I participated in Black Friday after all!


"Dead Leaves" 30x40 on canvas. $500
(includes crazy shipping charge)


"Proper Seasonal Attire" 18x24 on canvas. $300


"Indie" 12x12 mixed on canvas. SOLD


"Space Case" 16x20 mixed on canvas. SOLD

email kyle.cummings@gmail.com if ya wanna!

sooner

Mom2 and the dogs saw the house in person for the first time today. Mom2 predictably loved it, and the kids went ape-shit running around the yard in 5 million directions.

I was under the assumption that ESCROW was over on the 30th, but in truth it turns out to be over on the 28th, and might in fact close even sooner than that.

And I have only packed 6 boxes.

mislabel

Don't you hate it when a movie is announced and it's amazing title is later rendered moot by the movie that accompanies it?

See: The Ghost and the Darkness, Monster's Ball.

the state of the pop culture union

Personal Update: House stuff. Boy coming back into town. Packing.

Geek Update: TV
- Pushing Daisies: I've seen the first 3, loved it, and the rest are saved to the DVR for Strike Viewing.
- 30 Rock: The most consistently wonderful show on television, they can even pull off forced stunt casting (I'm looking at you Jerry Seinfeld and David Schwimmer).
- The Office: Thank God those hour-long monstrosities are over. I'll take my tight 22 minutes over a freakishly painful 44 any day of the week (which in this case, is a thursday).
- Heroes: This is just getting SAD when even the always-wonderful flashback episode has me skipping through entire scenes. My indifference to some characters has now been replaced with loathing. The one show on television that hopefully will be saved by the Strike.
- Ugly Betty: The sophomore mini-slump is over, and things are looking up since Betty always does great holiday hours (3 of the first season's best episodes related to Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas).
- Law & Order CI & SVU: What the hell? Criminal Intent (which has the horrible miscasting of Alicia Witt) is becoming consistently enjoyable on USA while Special Victims (which has the horrible miscasting of Adam Beach) has turned into a soap? If I wanted forced catfights between female collegues, wouldn't I watch Women's Murder Club?
- Reaper: Suffering severely from Smallville Monster-of-the-Week syndrome and illogical character development. Should be a half hour.
- CSI: Steady as she goes.
- Brothers & Sisters: Always has that one storyline that bugs you (almost always involving Balthazar Getty), but remains a nice, mellow, primetime soap.
- Samantha Who: DVR'd for Strike viewing.
- Dirty Sexy Money: DVR'd for Strike viewing.
- Battlestar Galactica: Sure its still off the air, and sure I haven't watched my Razor screener yet, but I still want to bitch about how awful the last half of season three was.

Geek Update: Comics
- World War Hulk: What? A poor shipping schedule, a lackluster final 2 issues and an ending that is so ambiguous it shouldn't even count as an ending.
- X-Men, Messiah Complex: I have to say I'm actually enjoying this. A lot. Which is unexpected since X-Men (save for Astonishing) has sucked for a few years now.
- Batman, The Resurrection of Ra's al Guhl: or as John said today, the Resurrection of Blah al Guhl. Grant Morrison is turning into the Bjork of comic books, and Batman's "kid" is lame, while Superman's is awesome even if...
- Superman, the Third Kryptonian: was a mess. Was this stuck in a drawer labelled 1994, pulled out and colored digitally?
- Spider-Man, One More Day: I can't even calculate how much I've stopped caring.
-Secret Invasion: I'm so ready for this, I just wish the Avengers books would catch up with each other.

You can totally tell that comics have switched over fully to graphic novels as the end game. So many books and arcs read wonderfully once collected, but get to be confusing and painful in monthly incriments.

no country for old men

a long belated post

Hello blog, how have you been? Myself, I’ve been pretty busy. So busy in fact everything is pretty much a blur and I don’t know where to begin.

Did I tell you we’re in ESCROW again on a new house? We are, and the house is amazing. It is slightly terrifying and very exciting. ESCROW is a literal countdown until you move into a new place, and thus I have no desire to clean, only to pack. This is a conundrum since I have to clean before I can pack, but why should I pick things up if I’m going to throw things away? Luckily, Mom2 is flying into town on Wednesday (with Boy who is visiting her in Kansas City and taking her to see Avenue Q), so I have to clean some, and then I will pack on top of that.

My parents were actually in town-ish a week ago. Palm Springs is about a 2 hour drive from LA, and to visiting tourists looking on a map, they may as well be the same place thanks to urban sprawl. We spent a few days with them, and I told them about the house in person (perhaps the longest I’ve ever kept such a big secret successfully). Predictably, Mom was very happy and we hit up all the usual suspects shopping for house supplies. The guest bathroom and bedroom are done, minus an actual bed.

I’ve been hard at work on both work-work and my children’s book, which is going slower than expected thanks to a laptop snafu. I’ve been without a powerful computer for about 2 weeks now, and it’s a bit maddening. I’m coloring 600dpi images on an old desktop PC, and doing word processing on an old borrowed G4.

The Creature Features gallery show has closed and I’ve picked up my pieces. I need to code a new gallery page so original paintings can be purchased at a reduced price. I need to sell these bastards because they’ll be one less thing to move come December. The coffee table book of the show should be ready in time for Comicon next year, and I’ll be signing my two-page spread at a time to be determined. The next show in my immediate future in March, themed around flying monkeys, with an accompanying book set for next Christmas.

I’m typing this infront of the Arclight waiting for a screening of No Country for Old Men. There is a shocking number of people coming out of the Hollywood Tans salon, which is sad since it’s a beautiful day outside and sunshine is free.

I’m seeing the movie to kill time so my car can finish being detailed, since the dogs re-enacted choice scenes from The Exorcist all over my seats and floor.

Tucker had surgery earlier in the week to fix an inverted tear duct, as well as a dental cleaning that involved the unexpected removal of two dead teeth. After the first day you wouldn’t even notice he’d been in the hospital, so I thought I’d reward the boys with a trip to the dog park to play. I was rewarded with copious amounts of vomit.

I have to say, I’m pretty surprised the Holiday Cards have been moving so slowly. I put them up early this year to avoid the time crunch of previous years, but it appears the time crunch is more about everything buying late.

The Writer’s Strike is getting pretty ugly. We’ve been stockpiling shows on the DVR, and a lot of my friends are on picket lines. It’s obvious that the issues won’t be resolved until after the new year, and if it goes on until February, Boy and I will start to feel the burn as advertisers start pulling out of Rerunland.

The sinking suite to Titanic is playing on the loud-speaker, adding an odd sense of urgency to…sitting here.

Also, I love seeing how many people are leaving 24 Hour Fitness and lighting up cigarettes. I’m sure they’re going to smoke in their hybrids, too.

Well blog, I feel like I’ve told you a lot, and nothing at all at the same time. Longstory short, I’ve been busy, homebuying is all-consuming, and Christmas plans are now in a constant state of flux. I’ll let you know how the movie is.

sneak preview: enchanted

Happy Halloween

Hooray! The Creature Features Online Gallery is now up! Go. Look. Buy.

name drop

Of all the names I could drop about the insane halloween parties last night, I will only drop 2: Victor Garber and Christopher Gorham both pulling off perfect Andy Warhols.

Other Costumes of Note:
- The green-vested Doublemint Gum Twins
- The Orange County and San Diego wildfire
- A platoon of Butt Pirates
- 300 spartans who were destined to be shirtless
- Rainbow Brite's gay brother, RainBro Brite
- Dog the Bounty Hunter and Beth
- A lost member of the Blue Man Group

Also, its not fair for you to wear props and costumes if you work on a TV show or hit movie. It's just unfair to the rest of us.

review: 30 days of night

bulletin

So busy, so busy! In leiu of typing up a large paragraphical entry, here's a list of to-do's and been-done's:

- Halloween is tonight for us. Two parties (maybe three).
- I am going as Linus. Boy is going as an auto mechanic.
- When Boy put on auto mechanic outfit Murphy started growling at him.
- The gallery opening was a big success. I've sold 3 pieces that I know of, and have been told the online gallery is finally being uploaded in the next few days.
- It is lightly snowing ash outside, with a few drops of rain.
- Muenster cheese is my new favorite
- My friend Mike left town, my friend Rob arrived in town, and next weekend my parents will be in-town adjacent
- We put in an offer on another house, but have yet to hear back
- Only 2 pages left to draw in my kid's book
- Ugly Betty is finally getting back on track while Heroes continues to derail.
- My old laptop sold on ebay, but new one isn't here yet, leaving us with one computer for the house
- Read the Magneto screenplay, surprisingly very cool

script review: hellboy 2

Spoiler free!

What: Hellboy 2: The Golden Army
By: Guillermo del Toro (story by del Toro and Mike Mignola)

Pan's Labyrinth + Hellboy ÷ X2: X-men United = Hellboy 2: The Golden Army.

It's pretty frickin' spectacular. 114 pages of goodness.

Characters: Hellboy, Liz, Abe, Tom Manning, Johann Kraus (!), Elf Prince, Elf Princess, evil mace-wielding troll henchman, Angel of Death, plus two characters from H1 who appear in a flashback and a flashforward

Locations: BPRD, Blackwood's Auction House, Manhattan, a troll market under the Brooklyn Bridge (think Diagon Alley on crack), Ireland, Bethmoora, a garbage truck, the Hudson River, Los Angeles

Official Logline: "The mythical world starts a rebellion against humanity in order to rule the Earth, so Hellboy and his team must save the world from the rebellious creatures."

Really: An evil Elf Prince is tired of having to live in the shadows and wants to conquer the world of men, he seeks to end the centuries old truce by resurrecting the long lost Golden Army. Hilarity ensues.

As much as we want Hellboy movies, I don't think anything on film is going to compare to Mignola's artwork and pacing, but it does seem like both del Toro and Mignola have learned from the lacking issues of the first film and really wanted to rock it out from the first page.

As a script in general, it was a nice, tight, enjoyable read. Far more enjoyable than Ed Norton's Incredible Hulk, which so far looks to be a fun flick, but is written like poorly formatted novel.

playlist

D.A.N.C.E. (Alan Braxxe Remix) Justice
Cry Dan Wilson
Shake It Metro Station
Shadowplay The Killers
Bleeding Love Leona Lewis
Teenagers My Chemical Romance
Dark Road Annie Lennox
Los Angeles Sugarcult
Tell It to My Heart The Hot Stewards
I Was Made for Loving You Queen of Japan
Pictures of You The Last Goodnight
Can't Believe a Single Word VHS Or BETA

a very busy weekend

Creature Features - TONIGHT!

Featuring the artwork of: Rick Baker, William Stout, Bernie Wrightson, William Basso, Cam De Leon, Adam Rex, Ruben Martinez, Eric Pigors, Gahan Wilson, Ken Brilliant, Breehn Burns, Ragnar, some dorks named Mike Dougherty and Mike DiMotta, Simeon Wilkins, Miran Kim, Tony Lombardo...and more. WWW.CREATUREFEATURES.COM

My dear friend Mike DiMotta is in town from NYC for this very show, and we're having a great time nerding out talking about Jean Grey. This is his awesome piece for the show which sold before the opening:

the new kid

Like Murphy before him, we got Tucker about two days earlier than expected. In fact, we got him a few hours after getting his balls chopped off (You're welcome, Bob Barker!). He's obviously a little confused, but his tail wags almost constantly and he and Murphy are getting along great (there's some sort of weird dominance/protection vibe going on, which makes me think in a past life Murph may have been in the klink).

I can't recomment rescuing a dog enough. To think that this little guy is 4 years old and just happened to vanish from his home for who knows how long ... breaks my heart. From his malnutrition to his behavior (he was totally mystified by the bed and kept taking his treats and eating them in the dirt), you know wherever he was there wasn't enough love. But he has a new home, two new dads, and a new brother now, so I think he'll do just fine.

a family of four

Boy does lots of things he shouldn't do. Like he visits airdisasters.com even though he's already afraid of flying, and he checks the animal shelter database for new arrivals. So now I, the dog person, and Boy, the "I'm-not-a-dog-person-but-totally-really-is-a-dog-person" are adding to the family:
We took Murphy to the shelter yesterday to meet him, and they got along like gangbusters. (A little too well some might say, but like father(s), like son(s)...) He's being snipped and chipped now, and we should get him in a few days. We've named him Tucker.

Murphy & Tucker has a good ring to it, eh?

persepolis

greeting cards

I'm exhausted, folding 4 loads of laundry, and approaching broke...

Hey look! I finally added greeting cards to my store!

'tis the season

the scarecrow & mrs. king

lassie must be tired

CARLETONVILLE, South Africa — Singing and dancing despite exhaustion, the last of 3,200 miners trapped deep underground for more than a day emerged safely Thursday night, delivering a happy ending but raising questions about the safety of South Africa's important gold mines.

So...South Africa can get 3,200 people out from under the earth, but the United States can't get fresh water and food to a sports arena in New Orleans?

excited

In a heavy-handed, drama-filled, oscar-bait autumn, there are two movies I'm looking forward to the most:

ding dong

The phone just rang, the house deal is dead. We're walking, and I'm totally fine with that. Now its over and we can keep looking.

Yesterday was the Abbott Kinney Festival, which was grueling, but fun. I was there from 8am til almost 8pm, and my back is reeling from standing most of the day. Still, I sold about 70-ish% of my stock, met some good people, and had a very interesting time people watching. I don't think I've even seen so much man-botox in one place.

Now I only have 5 days to finish 3 paintings for the October Shadows show, as well as try to get this latest book under control.

The book is driving me a bit batty. It's written, It's thumbnailed, it's just taking a awhile to get the actual pages done, something I'm not sure they'll reflect upon completion.

dead leaves

Ironically, I probably killed a tree creating this ... dead tree.

new vintage

I just heard the new Annie Lennox single for Dark Road. After a lackluster reception of her last album, I'm full on excited for Songs of Mass Destruction. The woman is a powerhouse of chills.

Bonus points for a video featuring a Wonder Woman riff.

house of cards

A condensed version of the week:

- After a third round of negotiating, the bank accepted our offer for the house
- Monday inspections began
- There weren't many surprises
- The printed report comes in, seeing everything on paper was a bit eye opening
- Didn't realize the garage was a total wash. Must be torn down and rebuilt
- Renovations minus garage hit around $60k
- We decide to walk. $60k can be better spent on a more structurally sound property (meaning a floor not in need of foundation work . . . and reflooring)
- Listing agent asks, "What number would we be comfortable with?"
- Hand over all inspection papers to the Bank, which they have to disclose and factor into bidding
- Subtract $100k from our initial offer, ask for 3% credit upon closing
- Wait and see.

The Bank either says, "yes," which means we have a smaller mortgage while still paying our previous price (with the renovations factored into the discount), or the bank says, "no," and we walk as we had intended to do previously.

Sort of win-win. Also sort of, "hurry up and decide already!!"

It's not our dream house (that ship sailed, we missed ESCROW by four days), but it is a house with so much potential and a disgustingly big yard for Los Angeles. It can assuredly be turned into something very special given TLC (or HGTV). I'm fine either way the pendulum swings, honestly.

Google, MD

Thanks to the internet, I can now self-diagnose that I have a tear duct infection, which explains my eye being jacked up. Not sure how it happened, so my default blame goes to aliens.

beach blanket bingo

UPDATE: The Art Walk/Festival is this sunday from 10-6 on Abbott Kinney between Venice Blvd. and Main St. I am told my table is towards the Main St. end of things. Also, since it's on Sunday I'll be ready to have greeting cards available as well!

This weekend I'll have a table at the Venice Art Walk/Abbott Kinney Street Festival. They haven't told me where I'm going to be, but I'll be there with my pal Cassie. I'll have pretty much everything in my store in person, so swing by and save me from potential boredom!

I should probably post concrete information, which I will when I can muster it. Right now I'm still buzzy from house inspections and the money that I don't have that I'm apparently going to spend.

the telly

New Shows to Watch:
Pushing Daisies - The best pilot with the best cast on a network that wants it to succeed so bad they probably won't cancel it when inevitably hits a rough patch after sweeps.
Reaper - I hate when good shows are on the CW, because you never know if they're a lost cause or going to be dragged out past their prime.
Moonlight - I miss Angel. Let's see how the rip-off fares.
Chuck - Josh Shwartz's time is better spent on this NBC show than the CW letdown (see below)

Old Shows to Look Forward To:
30 Rock and the Office - the best thursday night I can imagine.
Heroes - Oddly enough, I think this sophomore season has a better chance at success than...
Ugly Betty - can we say "uphill battle" little darling?
Friday Night Lights - Fingers crossed that lightning keeps striking. This was the best show of last season.
Men in Trees - People say I'm crazy when I tell them Anne Heche is great in a Sex in the City-meets-Northern Exposure dramedy, but I promise you I'm serious.
Brothers & Sisters - Sometimes bloated, sometimes satisfying. Like a real family.
CSI - C'mon, this is procedural technicolor splendor at its best.
Law & Order SVU - is on shakey ground, but I still love it.

"Reality"
Tim Gunn's Guide to Style - is surprisingly tender and informative
America's Next Top Model - is more outrageous than ever
Beauty and the Geek - will, as always, be addictive for exactly 65% of its season

Gossip Girl was a supreme let down, based entirely on the fact that it's a high school based series starring a bunch of 20-somethings who drink and fuck more than the kids on the Real World do each season.

review: resident evil - extinction

the skinny

So we put a bid in on a house over a month ago. Like so many houses in LA it was a foreclosure, and was owned by a bank. We had two inspectors look at it before we put the offer in, then waited. The floor is seriously screwed, requiring 17k worth of foundation work as well as new flooring on top of it, and pretty much every appliance needs to be updated. Pretty standard actually for what we've been looking at in our price range, and while it needs work you can easily see it being a great home in less than a year or two. Not a house to "flip," just a house that needs some TLC (or HGTV).

The bank responded at the last possible moment with idiotic terms: a price drop less than 10k (remember that 17k worth of foundation work?) and no credits. Not even closing costs. The Bank? In Pennsylvania, and they've never even actually seen the house. We walked, and it actually felt great.

Cut to a week ago, when the house is re-listed at a thousand dollars below our original asking price. Two more rounds of negotiating, and the bank accepted our offer. There's still no credits, but we got the price down far enough where we can pretend they exist.

On Monday Escrow (ESCROW?) starts, inspections are made, and we have 17 days to say "see ya later suckers" without losing a penny. If all goes off without a hitch, and some rennovations are made, we're living in a new 3 bed/2.5 bath by Christmas.

Astonishing, really.

say wah?

A jarring way to wake up: "Get ready to move, the bank accepted the offer."

we are legion

How lame were the Emmy's? I turned them off after 20 minutes, read the winners on CNN.com and skimmed through the recording this morning.

Oh well, Halloween is coming!

working music

Its been a chore to try and get work done this week, but I've found success by chaining myself to my desk and spinning The Hot Stewards from Norway, they being a band who do freaking rad alt-punk covers.

Best Bets: The Locomotion, Tell It to My Heart, Never Gonna Give You Up, Kids In America and Ms. Abduhl's Straight Up.

tim gunn's guide to kyle

Can we be super-gay for a minute and talk about how amazing Tim Gunn's Guide to Style is? We knew he was amazing, Veronica Webb is a firecracker (the perfect sidekick), and each week so far Boy and I have gotten tears in our eyes at least once.

new christmas noggins

And you thought it was too early for Halloween stuff...

the pull list

Comics I bought this week:

B.P.R.D: Killing Ground No. 2 - Potentially my favorite series on the shelves, it's surpassed it's father title (Hellboy) in artwork, consistency and intrigue.

Ultimate Spider-man No. 113 - Flickr friend Stuart Immonen continues doing a great job taking over a book that for obvious reasons belonged to Mark Bagley. Still, I find any Goblin storyline tedious.

Wonder Girl No. 1 of 6 - After finding a copy of the current Teen Titans Vol. 1 TPB used on Amazon for a buck, I now find myself waiting for volume 6 to arrive. I'm really enjoying the series, and was curious to see what this little spin-off miniseries had to offer. So far the only thing really worthwhile is the playful art that trumps a lot of the current Johnny DC books.

Thor No. 3 - Never cared about Thor. Ever. But JMS makes this book rule, Olivier Copiel is an amazing penciller tethered to a great inker and colorist, and its always fun seeing Iron Man get smacked down.

Ultimate Power No. 7 of 9 (heh) - My knee-jerk reaction is to buy this book because it's Jeph Loeb and Greg Land. I didn't really even get into reading it, I just looked at the pretty pictures.

Justice League of America Wedding Special - After a lackluster relaunch, Dwayne McDuffie is taking over from Brad Metzler. McDuffie happened to work on Cartoon Network's JLU series, and this looks like it's going to be a more adult continuation of the last season's arc. That is awesome, because JLU was awesome. Plus, things actually happen in this one-shot. Things that are important. The biggest surprise buy of the week that has me looking forward to JLA No. 13.

New Avengers No. 34 - Sure Bendis rambles, and sure Lenil Yu's pencils never cease to amaze me, but thank god some lingering questions got answered in this issue before we hopped into the New/Mighty Avengers cross-over.

The Walking Dead No. 42 - After months of delays, they're pumping this thing out almost bi-weekly now. I don't think it will last though, given the last panel of this issue that's a total game-changer.

I also snagged Legion of Superheroes Vol. 1 by Wait and Kitson. I know two people who are voices on the animated Legion series, so I figured I might want to get a feel for the universe before watching the kidified show (whose season 2 preview looks pretty nifty).

movistar

I designed these characters for the new Telefonica Movistar ad campaign. Sadly, I don't speak spanish or watch Telemundo, so I've never seen it on TV.

The campaign was run by Bromley Communications, and animated by Buzz Image in Montreal.

faster than a speeding booger

Uncanny how I wound up with an Audi 5 days before a SoCal Audi Club event in the valley, isn't it?

Every year a bunch of the Audi-geeks (Boy, obviously, being one) head up to Buttonwillow, which is a blip on the map between LA and SF. It's after Magic Mountain, before Cowschwitz, and it barely qualifies as a town. It does, sadly, qualify as the smelliest place I've ever been in my life. Kathy Griffin said Kuwait smelled like a fart, well Buttonwillow smells like a sick person's shit. I'm not sure if I fell asleep so easily because I was exhausted, or because of the fumes.

Thankfully, the track itself did not smell like fecal matter, which is good since we spent a good 12 hours there on saturday and sunday. It wasn't a racing school, but rather a course the teaches you how to drive your car to the fullest (and at times the fastest).

My. New. Car. Is. Awesome.

I have to say wearing long sleeves and jeans in 95º heat while navigating a winding road that ignores everything you were taught in driver's ed got a bit frustrating at times, but it was a worthwhile weekend, and I'm now 100% certain that I can stop on a dime and swerve to evade a dinosaur attacking a police car.

the silver booger

I've told this story so many times I have the condensed version almost down to a science:

On Sunday, during the frying of Los Angeles, Boy vanished for hours on end. He'd taken my car out for a drive, and in the early evening he made a very bizarre phone call. It was short and to the point and he asked me to scan and email my car registration (which for insurance purposes was on the kitchen table, and not in the car where it belonged). I figured he'd been pulled over for speeding (both of his feet are lead), and was in a bit of jam.

Long story short: I was lead to believe for hours on end that he was in jail, and since monday was a holiday, he might not get released until tuesday morning. The main perpetrator of this ruse? The sales rep at Thousand Oaks Audi, who was very convincing on the phone. I fell for it hook, line, and sinker, and when Boy returned home, Nemo the Volvo was gone and this was in the driveway:

A 2007 qwartz gray Audi A4 2.0. Nemo, my '04 Volvo S60R (with his poor turning radius and jarring suspension) was gone and The Silver Booger was in his place. (I call it the Silver Booger because he picked a good one, and he's a boogerhead for making me worry that he was in jail.)

FAQ: Why was it so easy for you to believe Boy was in jail?
Well, aside from his lead feet and lack of registration in the car, Boy yells at cops for not using their turn signals, so just imagine what could happen if he got pulled over.

How could he trade in your car without your signature?
The amazing loan we got for Nemo was through SAG. Boy is in the guild, I am not, thus the car was in Boy's name. Trade in one car, pay off loan, get a Silver Booger.

This is how we roll in our house: since we're so hard to shop for, we give unintentionally crappy Christmas and Birthday presents to each other, we don't really celebrate anniversaries (we just had out 2nd, by the way) or Valentine's Day, and then at random spots in the year new cars and Playstation 3's magically appear. It works.

newsies

Hey lookit, som new pieces have popped up in my store:

four little dinosaurs

From A to Zanzabelle

In an uncharactistic move, Boy and I went for a late lunch in Los Feliz yesterday. On our travels we walked by a tiny ice cream and gift parlour called Zanzabelle. Two cups of ice cream and $100 in knicknacks later we left. It is awesome and you should check it out. I'm gonna see about getting some of my stuff in there.

Speaking of stuff, I have 2 things of note coming up: The Abbot Kinney Art walk at the end of september as well a group show called October Shadows (appropriately in October and Halloween themed). I'll give concrete dates and locations when I have them.

Los Angeles is empty since its Labor Day weekend. Being a household of freelancers, three-day weekends mean little to us, but it's nice to have no traffic. On the flipside, some of our favorite smaller eating establishments are closed. Bummer.

C'est la vie. Back to drawing!

hot hot heat

Sure it's been 110º in Phoenix for the past week, but I don't live there. I live here in LA, where its been over 100º for the past three days. I'm not sure why I chose to paint outside in the sun, but I did (I'm a messy painter). It was so hot that the dog got bored of licking ice cubes on the pavement and went back inside to the A/C.

Hey, have you been to my online store Kyle-Cummings.com? You buying things for me helps me pay for the A/C!

restless

For the past week I've been suffering a somewhat crippling case of insomnia. Come bed time, falling asleep is impossible, yet during the day it's kinda all I wanna do. This is a problem since I have other things I need to do during the day. I've been getting things done at a frightfully slow pace.

Still, last night, thanks to Netflix and our PS3, Jason and I popped in the new animated Dr. Strange movie. I really hope Marvel takes a look around at the competition (cough, DC's animated series) and sees that SIMPLE IS BETTER for animation. Their horrific blend of airbrush shading, CGI backgrounds and stilted character action makes me long for Hanna Barbera.

movie reviews: superbad and the simpsons

I saw Superbad today, and couldn't wait to come and post a review for it. I saw Simpsons about 2 weeks ago, and just now remembered it existed. Make of that what you will.

mad world

Are you obsessed with Mad Men like I am? You should be. AMC is going to run a marathon of the first 7 episodes on Labor Day Weekend Sunday (Sept. 2). You should ironically use your 2007 DVR to record a new series set in 1960. It is smart, funny, a tad soapy, and stars Elizabeth "Zoey Bartlet"Moss from The West Wing, plus many dapper gentlemen in suits (who are often very un-gentlemenly).

You can also get them on itunes, which can then go on your ipod (something that did not exist in 1960, or the year 2000 for that matter).

the ocean deep

Of all the sea creatures I've drawn in the past few days, its the Great White that's given me the most trouble.



You'd think that drawing creatures with loose/no skeletal structures would be easy. But you would be wrong.

the end of summer

Even though weather.com tells me its in the 80's outside, I find that hard to believe. I'm over you summer, and I'm super over august. How over summer am I? Well, while patrolling my art blogs this morning I came across this image from Mike Laughed that made my stomach lurch (in a good way):


Seeing the fall colors like that...the oranges, golds, and black made me yearn for October. So much so that today I bought Murphy a Halloween themed stuffed bone at Petco.


Speaking of Puppy, we had a bit of a scare the other day. I woke up and his eyes were swollen shut with puss. Near as we can tell, he got something in his eye, and in an attempt to get it out he scratched his corneas. After a trip to the vet, he was relegated to wearing a radar dish, but now I've gotten him an inflatable ring collar, which should make it easier for him to eat and move about. And float.

On the graphic novel front, I have two more pieces of art I want to complete before I send the pitch out to my agent. Fingers crossed I get them done today.

round four

This is my fourth blog. That sounds somewhat pathetic, but keep in mind that I've been doing this for over 7 years via 4 different domains. I thought it would be nice to have a personal blog somewhere that's going to be consistent, instead of shipping archives off all over the place.

seekyledraw.com still functions as a place to see new work and movie reviews, but as a blog it's fallen a bit by the wayside. As for as shopping goes, kyle-cummings.com is where its at.


If you're a new reader, here are the Basics: I'm 26 year old writer/illustrator from Texas living in Los Angeles with his boyfriend (referred to as "Boy" for no real reason) and our dog Murphy. I draw comics, paint, pitch TV shows, graphic design, opening titles, and eat Chipotle with glee.