August 2005

Leah and I awoke at 5am or so this morning to a big shake. Was it an earthquake here in California/Ventura County/Simi Valley?

Update It was the STS-114 sonic boom as it went over the southland on its way to landing in Mojave.

...at Art Center the other day.

So I’ve posted The Flash, and also Batman & Robin.

So here’s Superman now. You know, there’s a new Superman movie that’ll be out next year. Check Blue Tights dot net for more info. It may even be good. And I’m sure you know about Smallville, a show that were I younger I think I would be watching very closely. The kids really seem to like this show. It’s got action and romance and teens. What more could you want?

Oh, and I’m sure you also know that people conflate Superman with Ubermensch, right? I love that Wikipedia:

Last year I picked up the book Superman on the Couch, a pretty good exploration of the psychology of superheroes from a cultural and social perspective. Very thoughtful reading of superheroes comics and why they are such potent metaphors.

It occurs to me that I have not drawn much in the way of Marvel characters at all. These are all DC comics so far. Interesting. I have about an even number of Marvel and DC comics in my collection (still for sale!), but I have many more drawings of DC characters. Maybe I’ll see if I have any Marvel characters at all. I can’t think of any at the moment.

Very sad to hear of Peter Jennings’ passing today at 67, of cancer.

Did you know that there’s a Negro Problem song called “Peter Jennings,” from Joys & Concerns. It’s pretty good. The lyrics are nonsensical, but they don’t appear to besmirch the memory of Mr. Jennings, so we’ll go with it:

Peter Jennings

Ba ba ba
Ba ba ba
Ba ba ba ba
Ba ba ba

Ba ba ba
Ba ba ba
Ba ba ba ba
Ba ba ba

La la la la la la la la la la la
La la la la la la la la la la la

Na na na na
Na na

Oh Peter Jennings
Oh won’t you help me?
I’m chasing you through the foggy bog
You turned around say I lost ‘em all

Oh

Oh Peter Jennings
Won’t you help me?
I’m chasing you through the foggy bog
You turned around say I lost ‘em all
Say bye ABC
Lord, just for me
So I can sleep with my TV on
You turn around, say que lastima
Like this
Na na na na na na na na na na na
Like this
Na na na na na na na na na na na

So Monsieur Glenny
Oh won’t you sell me
A leather mag and a molotov
A German car with the top blown off
See it’s higher than me
Here in Newton’s tree
So full of monkeys and sacred songs
You turn around, say que lastima
Like this
Na na na na na na na na na na na na na
Like this
Na na na na na na na na na na na na na
Like this
Na na na na na na na na na na na na na
Like this
Na na na na na na na na na na na na na
Like this

So LAPD
Why you chase me?
Didn’t I have my blinker on?
Didn’t I say I love the law?
See it’s higher than me
Here in Newton’s tree
Full of monkeys and sacred songs
You turn around, say que lastima

Na na na na na na na na na na na na na
Na na na na na na na na na na na na na
Na na na na na na na na na na na na na
Na na na na na na na na na na na na na

This, one of my first ever studies in perspective, was for the same high school drawing class as this. It shows my room, or at least a simplified version of my room.

At the time my parents, sister and I were living with my grandparents and I lived out on the patio. This included my kickass TI-99/4a computer, which I so dearly loved. You can see the tetherball in the back yard, the puppy Kristi aka Crystal, who chewed on some photos taken with a 110 camera. I still have the chewed photos.

The thing about the drawing is the loving detail on the computer (which had 48k of memory). The TI-99/4a has PRIMARY importance in the composition. Computers came FIRST, I can only presume, based on this.

From the same era, this image likewise includes the computer, but in context.

In this pencil drawing, a bit too large for the scanner so I had to composite it, I’m learning about perspective and not doing too bad a job. I like the inclusion of the tape/radio cassette I used to store my programs.

I have a notebook I started in March, 1988. I think it was a birthday gift. Maybe not. I was 18. It’s full of cryptic lists and notes and scribbles. I’m going to transcribe some of it, then I’m going to throw it out. It may not make any sense.

More after the cut.

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Last night at a rare restaurant date for Leah and I a song was playing. Leah said it was a cover. I knew it was not. The lyrics included these lines:

Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone?
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.

They also played the Vanessa Carlton cover of the song. I could NOT for the life of me, think of the original artist.

I was stuck on the fact that Q-Tip says her name in a Janet Jackson song. Of course it’s a cover of the same song.

All it took to find the answer with a computer was a bit of google this morning, and boom.

“Joni Mitchell never lies” is the thing Q-Tip says, and it’s the answer to the question of who wrote and sang that song.

The song was “Big Yellow Taxi.”

Leah was actually a little freaked out as I was trying to think of the artist. I was going into a 100 yard stare, defocusing my eyes.

I kept coming back to it. I know so many songs, and when I can’t think of something I think it must be there somewhere. The problem is that there’s no obvious timeout feature for my brain when I’m doing a search like this. It’s like, no it’s exactly like, a tune stuck in my head. And no metadata to go with it.

Very frustrating.

But dinner was lovely. Leah and I were going to go see a midnight showing of Donnie Darko at Insomniac Cinema, but we flaked out. In the end, we were too tired. Midnight movies may not be in the cards without a nap beforehand.

Leahpeah: Who’s that?
Me: John Crivello.
LP: Who’s John Crivello?
Me: A guy I sat next to in a drawing class.
LP: He’s got crazy hair.
Me: Yeah.
LP: Was this the exercise where you don’t take your pencil off the paper?
Me: And not look at the paper.
LP: How old were you?
Me: Thirteen.
LP: Pretty good.
Me: Thanks.

This was my freshman year in high school. The instructor told me I was holding my pencil wrong. How dare this woman tell me how to hold my pencil when I’ve been drawing my WHOLE DAMN LIFE? I never listened to her again in that class.

As a result, I didn’t get as much out of that drawing class as I could have.

So much hubris and ego. It took me years to work more of that ego out of my system. It’s still there, but I understand it much better. It drives me to excel, but it also can get in the way.

Know thyself.

Onward.

Ending the week on a sweet note. I have one sister, Kelly. I was 7 when she was born. She rocks. And my Mom rocks too. This drawing just plain made me smile for various reasons, not the least of which I’m gonna get to see my parents and sister this month, and I’m looking forward to it.

At some point I want to let the story be told about how I, Mr. Mild Mannered, apparently started acting out when I had a baby sister. I was no longer the center of attention, and everything changed.

I added some tinting to alter the colors a bit. The original is very faint and I think the paper was not acid-free and has darkened a bit. Plus it’s in pencil. For all I talk about not doing much pencil, I sure seem to be posting a lot of pencil stuff. Once again the physiology is all wrong, but it’s interesting nonetheless. I like it.