A fishy good time

Yesterday I got a job to illustrate cartoon animal life for a seafood restaurant website. I'm caught up at the office and this job is through my work, so I can do the illustrating while on the clock, which is fantastic for me. Once I get home I find myself with so much real life crud to do I never get around to doing any artwork at all. It's been the best day of work that I've ever had.

So the cartoon sea critters are going well and the client asked for a sponge diver to be added as well. No problem I say and begin to search the world wide web for reference art. It's at this time I stumble upon this picture:

It is my opinion that this guy is more than 100% awesome. I've almost decided to start wearing a mustache like that. To top it all off, further research reveals this gentleman's name is
John M. Gonatos. Which leads me to believe Gonatos means BALLS in some language I do not know.

Celebrity Status for Critical Creig

My good friend and semi-inspiration for this digital diary has had his recent encounters at Yosemite's Half-dome mentioned and reviewed with warm gusto by Larry Miller on the most recent episode of This Week with Larry Miller.

Check it out HERE

Where no man has gone before

I wonder if he knows its a TV show

If you vote republican, you are a crazy wizard

I can pick apart each of the legs the grand ole party stands on. I think anyone who stops to think about what Fox news tells us can do likewise, but they have to honestly think; use their little squishy silly-putty within their skulls for what its for as opposed to just remembering the records and stats of professional sports athletes.

That being said, I'd like to introduce Rick Perry as a Republican contender for the White House. Just listen to this Small Clip and tell me sincerely you'd vote for this man.

I was going to leave it at that but would you support a political party that believed that Harry Potter was indeed the chosen one? I'm not saying anything is wrong with Harry Potter, but wizards and dragons and house elves? Really? You think they exist?

Ok, I know the republicans don't (largely) believe in this particular fantasy, but they do get all their morals from another book that's got some pretty cool magic in it too. Take a look....its just a book! These people make their decisions and support their arguments with a piece of fiction. If you cast your vote in their direction I hope Snape does something horrible to your mother.

Rockstar meets sobriety

I've been sober for about 8 years now. They say in "the program" its one day at a time. The problem with that is counting one day at a time gets to be a very large number and I can't keep track anymore. Sure I could divide 365 into the number of days sober and I'd get a nice clean number, but that still doesn't help me when I can't remember how many days its been in the first place.

Besides, I hate math.

None of that really matters though. What this is all about is my on again, off again love affair with Rockstar energy drinks. I've tried the other varieties out there but there is just something completely repulsive that makes me chose the most ridiculous of the bunch: Rockstar. It tastes like Sweet Tarts and cough syrup and that combination is just delicious to me. The flavor was also akin to that "learn-to-love-it" flavor of beer. Not the same taste mind you, but certainly in the acquired taste category. So the Rockstars were kind of an alcohol substitute.

I went for a long span where I was downing these things like water. It got to the point that I wasn't even getting any energy from them at all. In fact, there were a great many times that I received the adverse effect from these little cans of consumable combustion. So last night when I returned home after a rather trying day I thought I'd pick myself up a little can of liquid fun. It had been a long while since I've imbibed and thought "hell, my kidney has probably recovered from the last can."

So I drank said can around 7pm last night. Ate dinner and chased it all down with a Dr. Pepper. When beddy-bye time came rolling around I thought I'd be out like a light despite the elephant-piss sized load of caffeine and vitamin B I'd ingested.

Smash-cut to me laying in bed, staring at the ceiling all flippin' night long. All night. No sleep.

The morale of the story is I think I learned my lesson. The comedy of the story is now Im still awake and technically must be until 5 o'clock, so the only thing I can think of to keep me that way is....
you guessed it...another cursed rockstar.

It's all about Data

The family and I have recently been watching Star Trek the Next Generation. Since Netflix has put the entire 7 year run of the show on streaming its a great opportunity to watch some campy sci-fi fun...all without commercials!

Now I've never really been a fan of Star Trek in general. There's something about the Colgate clean future Roddenberry has created that just strikes me as too optimistically utopian for any realism. And I know, its science FICTION. That doesn't change the fact that I find it unsettling at times. I didn't really make a habit of watching the show when it first aired either. However, I did watch the pilot way back in the day. In fact I remember being a Freshman in high school and getting a call from my then girlfriend whilst in the middle of the first episode. I blew her off so I could continue to watch the show uninterrupted. Needless to say, that relationship didn't last. All told, that pretty much sums up my experience and memory of Star Trek TNG. I mean I knew who the characters were. I remember Lt. Tasha Yar being eaten by a tar monster, I remember LeVar Burton as Lt. Geordie La Forge whom my mom recognized from Roots and of course I remembered Wil Wheaton as the adorable Wesley Crusher (whom I remembered as the kid from Stand By Me). But overall, I had few memories of the show itself.

So in diving back into this cherished program I've been entertained and surprised by the myriad of events and the trials and tribulations of the intrepid Enterprise crew. But what has hit me most about this show is it is all about Data. Fans and those familiar will know Data as the android Lt. Commander of the Enterprise, third in command and he of the yellowish skin. That's pretty much what I remembered about him. That and I figured he was there for the fish-out-of-water comic relief portion of the show. But in watching the series now I realize Data is the heart of the entire TV program. We see through his eyes like a child experiencing the world. We see what a strange specimen the human condition is and we, through him, see how utterly baffling some of our traits can really be. We are beside this Positronic Pinocchio as he quests to become human. And we can see what he can't see; he's already more human than any other character on the entire vessel. At least he's an example of human we should all aspire to be. All of this I believe is portrayed beautifully by Brent Spiner.

I'll admit I'm not the best critic of acting. I don't know what the vox populi considers brilliant acting (I can't stand Meryl Streep for example but apparently she's where its at) but I would submit that Brent Spiner is an unsung hero of the acting community. Now I've seen him in other things since Star Trek TNG, and haven't been impressed. But then, I haven't been impressed with the entirety of those films I've seen him in. I'm not sure he's been given the proper chance. That being said, I'm not sure there is another role equal to that of Data out there.

In summary I encourage any of you with a Netflix account to jump back in to Star Trek The Next Generation (not the movies though, they are all horrible). Check out Lt. Commander Data and I dare you not to fall in love with the guy.

Also, I submit that Jonathan Frakes as Commander William T. Riker is more of a man-whore than Captain James T. Kirk ever was.

So I've joined the ranks

I suppose it's human nature to want to be heard. Perhaps it goes beyond human nature to think what one has to say is important and should be heard. That being said, this will be the place I am heard. Whether I should be or shouldn't be is up to you, the reader.
That being said, I've heard that a plan is just a list of things that don't get done. So keeping that in mind I will propose here my plan:

• Here on my sounding board I plan to post media reviews. Music, movies, games, books and more.
• I suppose I will also try and chronicle my struggles in the art kingdom. Struggle #1 a book cover I should be working on now instead of doing this.
• Finally I imagine my political views will make themselves known here. You have been warned.

If any of that sounds vaguely of interest to you stick around. Every fool loves an audience.

Thanks to Creig for turning me on to this bloggity blog blog