Scott Pilgrim

I left work early yesterday because I was feeling down and restless and went to go see the Scott Pilgrim movie. I wasn't really expecting a whole lot, just a lot of geeky in-jokes. I was actually really surprised! The move-making techniques that were used were extremely effective, and despite all the weirdness everything flowed very smoothly! The script is one of the best I've seen in awhile. In a lot of ways it reminds me of "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" or "Weird Science" or "Ferris Bueller's Day Off". It was really good! Watch the trailer, it's just incredibly fun! The movie was directed by Edgar Wright, who is the same guy who made "Hot Fuzz" and "Shaun of the Dead", both movies that I enjoyed very much. I really hope to see a lot more great stuff from Wright in the future. The only thing that bothered me about the movie is that Michael Cera plays such an insecure weiner, it's kind of hard seeing him as the lead in a romance story (no, I've never seen Juno, I was unprepared for this). When Cera (as Scott) says "I'm in lesbians with you", I found it very easy to take him literally! I've been told that this makes him cute, and I can see that, I just think that if I were a girl I would not find Michael Cera romantically interesting at all. Chalk it up to taste. Anyway, check out the trailer, it's great!

Calgary Drink and Draw

I attended the Calgary Drink and Draw tonight. It was pretty good. Here is what I drew:





Once again, 100% cartoons because I forgot to bring reference material. Unfortunately, I can't draw anything aside from cartoons well without reference material.

Big News!

I've updated all my previous music posts with embedded videos instead of those direct links I was using before. It's much nicer!

Go check it out!

Oh, all of them except for Fear of Tigers (because you should just download the whole album; remember, he's giving it away free on his own site!) and my tirade about video game music (because there are just too many links).

This is a good point to remind my loyal reader(s), click the links in my posts! They often lead to hilarious videos that make my posts more interesting.

Well, sometimes.

Ridiculous things that make me happy

I think everyone knows I enjoy playing video games, but I also hate this new crap where everything has to be complicated and involved. Fortunately, ArenaNet has heard my complaints and is building a game that is both epic and still can be picked up and played as if it were Tetris (Maybe I'm exagerrating a little. Okay, say "as if it were Zelda"). At least, that's what they're promising. I REALLY hope it lives up to what they say it will be. I miss games that were just about the fun. It seems like the only people who do that anymore are Nintendo. I really hope this game isn't too complicated or demanding, because it looks really fun. Still, this new video looks great.



I know that when it comes to video games, promises are a dime a dozen (just listen to any word that comes out of Peter Molyneux's mouth), but having played the first Guild Wars, I think these guys are passionate enough about what they do to pull it off. Their entire focus with the first game was to keep it simple and accessible; and I think it worked pretty well, and now they're improving on it. Anyways, I know it's ridiculous to get excited about something like this, but it makes me happy.

Mr. Bear is alright

More cartoons of dubious quality. (KWALITEE!)

You can see one page behind the other, but I guess that's the true cost of cheap paper.

Cartooooooons!!

I draw more cartoons for your amusement.

Dave McCann and the Firehearts: Dixiebluebird

Dave McCann and the Firehearts (formerly Dave McCann and the Ten-Toed Frogs) are a treasure of the Alberta music scene. I've seen them live twice and they've put on a great show both times. They're an alt-country band with that Alberta flavour that I MUCH prefer over the American country bands. How can I describe it? It feels a bit dirtier and a little bit more homey. Sorry, I'm not a professional so that's the best I can do. Just listen to this, Corb Lund and Ian Tyson and maybe you'll see what I mean.

k.d. lang: Recollection

I saw this album in the record store earlier this year and there were two versions: the normal one (pictured above) which I purchased, and a deluxe edition with a DVD of bonus features and videos. At the time I was like "Oh cool, 2-disc k.d. lang collection.", and what I realized about an hour later was "Holy crap!! k.d. lang collection!!". I had honestly forgotten what a master vocalist she is. For all those people who complain that true talent is absent from modern music, I point you to k.d. lang. I should have picked up the deluxe set.

Roy Ayers: Virgin Ubiquity II

This one isn't really new either, but I play it a lot. This album is the second in a set of compilations of unreleased recordings from 1976 - 1981. There is some very funky stuff in here, including a demo version of "Sunshine" with Roy doing the vocals without the female back-up singers.

Some tough faces

Here are the sketches for today. Still haven't quite got the female face yet, but I'm getting closer. Also have a half-ways decent sketch of a male face in there too. I did that mostly to prove to myself I don't totally suck ass at drawing faces.

I have a really hard time drawing female faces. It's really hard! If you put in too much detail they look really masculine, but if you don't put in enough they look cartoony. Not that I have anything against cartoons, most of what I draw are cartoons.

This is the result of me buying some fashion magazines and drawing the freakish celebrities contained within. When the result wasn't quite what I wanted I would morph them into some kind of dumb looking cartoon. That happened in every instance. Oh well, practice makes perfect.

Oh yeah, and there's some guy at the bottom. I just wanted to draw weird wavy hair that looked like that, so I stuck it on a really blocky head.

I'm still figuring this whole thing out, so yeah, check back in a few months and maybe I can draw a convincing female face.