review: in bruges

this holiday season...

...my mother was bit in the face by a dog
...my friend's son broke his arm in two
...my friend's brother attempted suicide
...my relative lost a baby



C'mon 2009, let's fix things.

puttputt

Mom2 is in charge of a women's golfing group, and often enlists me to draw enrollment posters. While discussing this year's theme I was presented with 2 options:

1. Bird of a Feather Golf Together (hers)
2. Better Holes & Gardens (not hers)

I told her I could not, in good conscience, draw anything for public display entitled "Better Holes & Gardens."

memory lane

First, Merry After Christmas.

I was just on itunes and saw that The Simpsons is celebrating its 20th Anniversary. I'm 27, so math states my Simpsons memory goes pretty far back.

One Day, while at a mini-golf/arcade hyribd I used my tickets to buy myself a bracelet/band thingy. It was Bart Simpson yellow and said "Underachiever" on it. My father made me take it back to the counter, and said, "You can have anything you want, but not something that says 'underachiever.'"

I'm really glad that happened.

I think I was 8.

the magic kingdom

Oh, Blog. I am so tired and sore from two days (and two 9 year-olds) in Disneyland.

We stayed at Disneyland Hotel on the property which was nice, as was the perk of getting up at 6am and going into the part at 7 before the riffraff got in with general admission. With that free hour of essentially walking onto any ride you want, a man with the a plan can do everything he wants to do ASAP.

The neatest thing, of course, was seeing Disneyland through the eyes of the kids, who still believe in Santa (as they should) and still get a thrill out of seeing costume characters and Sleeping Beauty's castle (let's face it, as an adult that Castle has more in common with a minigolf course than it does with rabid fantasy).

A good time was had by all, and now I'm at home in the drizzly rain with Mom2 and four (!) dogs. We're dogsitting two boston terriers until saturday.

I regret to inform everyone that due to work (lack of updates should prove this fact) I haven't really had time to do my annual christmas gift this year. Not even christmas cards for myself. Hopefully I'll have a belated version done soon.

holiday break

Work. Work. Work. Work. Taking the neice and nephew down to Disneyland for a much needed break.

Personally, since they had snow the past 2 days, I don't think they really need a trip to the Magic Kingdom. But, y'know, it's been planned.

Of course, I jest.

Still, I'm wiped out.

This has been a really good season of Top Chef so far.
I'm glad a decent person won The Biggest Loser: Villains Families.
CSI is dangerously close to losing me, and not because of Fishburne moving in.

day & night

It took 4 days to put up. I'm sure it will take even longer to come down...

movie balloon backlog

I still need to see Milk and Frost/Nixon. Maybe next week?

slowly

Like everything else, even the Christmas tree is taking forever to get up to speed...

checking in

Dear Blog,

Not dead. Really. Overworked.

I have about 6 movie balloons to post, thanksgiving stories, a quick a La Jolla day trip to see Xanadu: The Musical, jury duty, and other such things to share, but they'll have to wait another day or two.

Right now I'm sort of obsessed with the strange Imogen Heap-ish serenity of Britney Spears' new song "Unusual You."

let's see how much trouble i can get in...

Boy and Lucia don't know that I'm blogging their "Caraoke" from the LA Auto Show.

happy thanksgiving

death becomes them

After a surreal jounrey to Costco with Mom2 last night (bulk thanksgiving supplies were needed), I was surprised to notice that Costco sells ... coffins.

I txted four people said observation, and the winning two repsonses were from Jason and Lucia.

ME: OMFG Costco sells COFFINS!
JASON: For all the people who get lost in there!
LUCIA: Do they sell them in packs of 24?

review: twilight

global warmed

In between three concurrent jobs, I gave in and took the dogs on a hike. During said hike I removed my shirt, sweated, and later put my shirt back on because my shoulders were turning a bit pink.

It is November. Thanksgiving is NEXT WEEK.

WTF nature?

If you happen to care at all about my holiday plans, we'll be staying in LA for both Christmas and Thanksgiving. I'm exhausted from travelling and saw my entire family, extended and otherwise at my sister's wedding. Ergo, first Christmas in LA (which I'm told is a delightful ghost town).

!!!

holiday cards are here!

Well, I finally got everything encoded, so you can now purchase holiday cards here.

I'm going to try to get them out next day, but my best laid plans more often than not get shuffled a day or two depending on the workload. After Dec. 15th I'll most likely stop taking orders, so the sooner you get them in the sooner they get to you!

playlist

I can't believe someone actually noticed and requested my current playlist! I hope to never disappoint again!

What a Catch, Donnie Fall Out Boy
Don't Give Up On Us Sarah McLachlan
Sex On Fire Kings Of Leon
Lies McFly
5 Years Time Noah And The Whale
Don't Believe In Love Dido
U Want Me 2 Sarah McLachlan
The City Is At War Cobra Starship
Womanizer Britney Spears
Changes Will Young
Winter Song Sara Bareilles
I Thought I Lost You Miley Cyrus & John Travolta
(the closing credits song from Bolt, don't judge me. It's catchy.)

one more

the whirlwind

No fewer than two people gave me blog grief yesterday.

The big(ish) news to report is that on monday I did a last minute pitch at Disney Channel. Unlike my previous pitches, this one was on the Disney lot in Burbank (home to Eli Stone and Samantha Who), which is a strange blend of whimsy and corporate officepark. Nothing is really neat until you go inside a building.

The Frank G. Wells animation building, for whatever reason, has an entire display case of famous Disney hats. Mary Poppins. Tron. The Rocketeer. Everything. It was strangely enchanting.


The meeting went well. Revisions were asked for. We'll see.

My mom's been in town all week, doing Extreme Home Makeover: Mom Edition. She's kept on Texas time, which means she gets up at 6am and goes out front and does gardening. Last night she single-handedly finished painting the dining room while Boy and I worked.

I wish I had her efficient cleaning gene.

sneak preview: bolt

music-heads take note: the middle-of-the-film montage is sung by Jenny Lewis, and the closing credits song is a duet between travolta and cyrus. I can't believe I want to own a miley cyrus song...

page 09

holiday cards

Materials are on order, a final card is being finished and my store needs to be reworked. Holiday cards are almost here!

highs and lows

A strange crushing euphoria has washed over me. We get Obama, we lose Prop 8. I've been a jetlagged underslept nervous mess all day. At least our internet was down for a while so I couldn't be an obsessive refresher all day.

I keep trying to just ink comic pages and think of other things.

O-day

I voted. What did you do this morning?

happy halloween!

thumbnails

review: changeling

ADDENDUM: the movie steals some of its goodwill by ending with a terribly cliche line that probably looked good on paper, but should've been on the cutting room floor.

AT-ATreehouse 2.0

how to build a snowman

AT-ATreehouse

negatory

Thought No. 1 - Why are the bleak Bournes/Batmans/Bonds raking it in?
Normally, when the world is in the tank SciFi rules - escapist fare brings in the big bucks. But, I think the world is so upset and screwed right now, that people want to see someone addressing semi-real problems with semi-real action. That Star Trek reboot may be a big hit, but its Batman taking on The Joker, or Jason Bourne and James Bond taking on shadow governments and terrorists that is putting people in their seats.

Thought No. 2 - Horrible people don't make for good reality television
After a while it was painfully hard to root for anyone on the latest season of Project Runway and now a Trifecta of Villains has emerged on The Biggest Loser. Fashion can get away with bitches, but one of TV's biggest feel good shows? I literally walked away on tuesday night, preferring to read the end results on Television Without Pity instead of sitting through the rest of the show with those people.

I want my entertainment to be happy, and if its not happy, then I want it to be kicking the crap out of bad guys.

in like a lion, out like a lamb

My goodness. Been a while with some actual "writing," huh? I knew we'd been busy, but a quick skim of our accounting software proves how busy we've been -- a whirlwind. So busy, that I have movie reviews I haven't been able to word balloon yet.

Each night for the past few nights I've been cracking the new Sarah Vowell book, The Wordy Shipmates, which has proven to be...very wordy. Its not lacking in her trademark charm, but it is lacking in chapters, proving to be a hardbound essay rather than a book to easily digest in installments.

I own all her other books, and much like David Sedaris, I'm finding something lacking in her new work. The same could be said for Kurt Vonnegut, but he just passed away and his latest collection wasn't necessarily concocted with his involvement. I'll even throw Chuck Palahniuk in the "Disappointed by Recent Efforts" category (I can't rave about Rant, and am slow to pick up Snuff). I keep wondering why this is happening, and I keep thinking that "talent is front loaded."

The amount of years talent lingers may be in question, but I think we can all agree that even Spielberg and Lucas have tapered. In fact, I think if Stephen King hadn't been hit by a van, he may not have bounced back in every way (of course, not every King book has been a winner -- even the early years have losers). Does a personal tragedy equal a creative reboot?

I think the same can be true for comics as well -- Frank Miller's early work is rightly revered, and his personal re-invention with Sin City has been hailed by others, but his singular directoral debut with Will Eisner's The Spirit looks like absolute trash. It resembles a poorly-made Sin City imitator and not a tribute Eisner's creation.

Maybe J.D. Salinger was onto something.

tucker monster says

my son the star

tucker monster says...

California's registration deadline is October 20th!

the taunting tree

A few weeks ago...

Today:

ho, ho, ho

Well, its getting to be that time again. I'm about to start designing holiday cards. Let this be a warning to start making your lists and getting your orders ready -- last minute giant card orders should be a thing of the past!

I think this will be the only card to be reprinted from last year, because I still love it so. Expect 2 or 3 more designs in the coming weeks!

ginger & foxxy

political

I'm not sure when American became the country of taking away rights instead of granting them, but its getting scary. Between the debate last night, watching Taxi to the Dark Side, and the new horrific pro-prop 8 commercials I'm in an election funk that not even West Wing can save.

You're voting for President. That's great. You should. But if you love your friends and want them to be happy while not infringing on your rights at all, please donate to No on Prop 8.

Prop 8 is the California Gay Marriage Proposition, and it doesn't take anything away from straight people. It doesn't take anything away from churches. It doesn't have anything to do with religion, it has to do with RIGHTS. Namely the 1,001 rights marriage grants loving monogymous partners.

If you can't vote for it, at least donate to it.

what DO I do?

The other night we had a dinner. At this dinner the, "what do you do?" topic inevitably came up, and since it's hollywood, is almost always followed with, "what do you want to do?"

What do I do? I work for commerical production companies. Doing what? Graphic design. What do I want to do? Children's books and comics. Maybe a TV show or feature here and there (hey, it's Hollywood).

What struck me just now is that I'm not sure when the "do's" got reversed. I used to be an illustrator, now I'm a graphic designer.

I know it pays the bills and all (and there are plenty), but its odd when you realize, without knowing it, things have changed.

I wish I had the ability to creatively multit-task. I can multi-task, but switching gears from work-designer mode to write/illustrate mode on most days is just too much to ask for. After hours of sitting at the computer you just want to get up and leave.

in brightest day

October 1st and its 98 degrees outside. Nice. Not only is it 98 degrees outside, but in an odd reversal of the norm, its actually HOTTER in the hills instead of cooler. We're expected to hit 105 at the house, which is just not right.

On the road trip I picked up Green Lantern: The Sinestro Corps War and enjoyed it greatly, now I'm on a GL kick. After buying No Fear, and the just released paperback Revenge of the Lanterns, I can rewatch the Lantern-centric Justice Leagues and New Frontier with a different mindset. It's like getting new hours of television for free!

review: charlie wilson's war

me alert

"......Maine hasn't had anything like a hurricane since Bob was downgraded as it moved into the state in 1991 after causing problems in southern New England.

While residents took precautions, many weren't impressed by Kyle."

We'll see who's laughing after I cripple the syrup industry.

recovery days

Dear Blog, did you know that I am now a tropical storm? It's true.

After over 2 weeks of non-stop work (not even free weekends!) I got so stressed I formed a weather system.

After turning down 4 more (!) jobs this week, Boy and I are regrouping. Me, working on personal projects, and he doing yardwork, which strangely is his relaxation method. Bless.

After date night last night, we returned some dvd's we'd rented for work, and picked up Kill Bill V1 on blu-ray, which was such a gorgeous transfer that when it was over and we switched to the season premiere of Ugly Betty in HD, it looked soft and unfocused.

Poor Ugly Betty, after a sophomore slump I gave you chance, and now you've lost me for good. Hope you enjoy NYC.

I knew Heroes wasn't going to be very good, thanks to a friend on staff there, but I wasn't prepared for how off course the show has become. It pains me to think of the talent on that staff and how the ship is going the wrong way.

Next week sees the premiere of CSI, which I'm excited for, even though I'm not thrilled about Laurence Fishburne replacing William Peterson.

Now I must return to work (my personal work), because its incompletion has been eating away at my very soul.

review: 9 to 5, the musical

iked, part 2

As I continue to be slammed with more work than one can fathom, I'll take a minute chill out thanks to these photos my Dad sent. No damage to them or their house, but people around them weren't so lucky.





Some truly amazing photos are also at Boston.com

iked

Heard from most of my family by this morning. Everyone is okay (and without power), and my parents have running water again. My cousin has been working in Virginia for the past few months, but its assumed his Uptown Houston apartment is probably in shambles.
found on flickr

is it wrong of me...

...to be secretly happy that Sarah McLachlan is divorcing her husband of 11 years? I mean, its horrible, but think of all the great music that's about to get made...

autumn

Out of nowhere, leaves began falling off our plum tree today, and its so "chilly" that I had to go put on jeans.

Someone has a fire going, and the smell is intoxicating. I love the cooler months.

dolly would

Because Cully's comment below prompted it, an Instant Message Excerpt:

"So Boy is on the phone with our friend A, who unbeknownst to me has been working on 9 to 5.  Today was the first run through, and dolly has been there for the past few days helping. So they start the show, with the iconic piano bit and the stage manager yells, "HOLD! WE GOTTA HOLD!" So they hold for a bit with the piano still playing, and dolly yells, "NO!!" and runs on stage, and tells the orchestra to "hit it." She belts out all of "9 to 5" to an almost empty theatre and the whole cast comes out to watch. She finishes, and then they ask her to sing something else, and she says "No, this isn't my time to be on stage,"  and the orchestra just starts playing an impromptu version of "I Will Always Love You" and she sings that, too. And everyone cries. The end."

purgatory, or a fall preview

Ah, August/September at the movie theatres. Purgatory. The time when nothing good comes out, and some so-so films shine like gold. Due to our travels we haven't seen Hamlet 2, House Bunny, or Death Race yet, which is probably good since for the next few weeks there's not much to see.

When I went to see Hellboy 2 weeks after the premiere, the trailer roster before it was painful. It looked like direct to video fare and fake trailers that you see in Hollywood-based movies...but they were real. And they have real people in them. All around town there are billboards trying in vain to sell me Bangkok Dangerous, Traitor, and Lakeview Terrace.

I think Nicholas Cage, Don Cheadle and Samuel L. Jackson all lost a bet.

There is hope on the horizon tho (even if Harry Potter has apperated to summer). Surprisingly, the film I'm most looking forward to is Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. I'm not a Michael Cera groupy, but I could really use a Can't Hardly Wait-ish comedy that's actually funny (two of my friends have already seen and enjoyed it greatly).

Other Movies of Interest:

Bolt - Even tho Lilo & Stitch creator/director Chris Sanders was ousted from Disney's new CGI  venture, I still want to see it. The trailer is funny, and compared to Chicken Little, this looks like The Incredibles.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - More than Brad Pitt or David Fincher, I'm excited to see an F. Scott Fitzgerald movie. I haven't read the story in so long, I'm hopeful for a somewhat original movie experience.

Burn After Reading - The only bright spot in September, I want to see this for Frances McDormand's reaction shots alone.

Zack and Miri Make a Porno - Hopefully the right mix of dirty/feel good.

Milk - I really had little interest until I saw the trailer. Still, I'm leary of obvious downer's right now. I keep having to dodge United 93 on TNT.

kitchen confidential

I'm working from the kitchen table today. Why? Because my kitchen annoys me, and I figure if I have to sit in it I'll be more inspired to get work done so I can pay for a remodel.

The kitchen really isn't all that awful, especially for a house built in the 1920's, but as a whole its a mixed bag. It was fully rennovated at least 10 years ago, back when our wood floors were a more golden oak or pine, and not the dark wood they are now. The cabinetry and tile work just don't fit with the rest of the house, and after cleaning up from last night's pasta dinner the tile countertops tested my very last nerve. Some are dinged, some are chipped, and the grout will never ever be clean again.

There's also the organizational problem. While we love our stove, its placement isn't ideal for more than one person to be standing infront of it. For all intents and purposes, the oven and stove may as well be in an apartment.

Also, what I wouldn't give for a pantry.

So yeah, I know I'm whining about my kitchen in my house and there are other things to complain about, that's my vent for the day.

pilot season: fringe/90210