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4-24-2010
I just finished reading "To Reign In Hell" by Steven Brust. I may be running out of novels by Brust to read. I'll have to find some other author's library to plow through before long.
Brust's take on the war in Heaven is pretty entertaining. It certainly contains more humor than other accounts I have read, though it may not have the same grandiose flavor Milton manages. "To Reign In Hell" has a lot of entertaining characters, an interesting plot and an excellent fantasy interpretation of the mechanics of Heaven and its creation. Brust's ability to explain just enough of a story and leave the rest for the reader to fill in is particularly well suited to a story like this where the material already has so many solidly rooted preconceptions attached to it.
If nothing else, it imparts a strong desire to research the lore of various angels and fallen angels.
Unfortunately, the art business has been somewhat challenging lately. Responsibilities to other people have encroached mightily on my art time. I have a tiny little drawing for you all this week. There a larger things in the works, but we are all going to have to wait a bit longer to see how they all turn out.
Doctor Who season 1 - the first couple of episodes: Very fun, very sharp. CG special effects are just above the cringing threshold, but the plots and characters are delightful. I have extremely vague memories of having seen what I think was some of the original Doctor Who series and liking it when I was much younger. I now have very definite memories of seeing some of the new Doctor Who series and finding it very enjoyable.
True Blood season 1 - first few episodes: This show is a long, slow train wreck. I keep hoping for something to pull the show together and make me care about what is going to happen, but all I'm getting is a long, monotonous crawl through the gutter. The best part of each episode so far has been when the credits roll and I know it is over.
Until next week.
4-17-2010
The company gave everyone in the call center t-shirts this week. I am greatly amused by these shirts because the image on the back of them is a headset with the words "DISPATCH THIS!" It occurs to me that wearing a shirt like this in public is similar to the classic "kick me" sign, only it is asking for murder instead of the swift application of a foot. Perhaps this was not the best way to raise morale.
I read Lord Dunsany's Tales of War this week. It seems this collection of stories was written as propaganda to support the British war effort in World War One. There are a couple of stories that are very heavy on demonizing the Kaiser or glorifying the common British soldier, but I found the work as a whole to be a poignant and powerful collection. Dunsany has a beautiful way with words and these stories are generally a very solemn, even horrified examinations of the war. There are some rather funny moments as well. I particularly like the story about the swede (a rutabaga) growing in No Man's Land after the war has laid waste to the area and the one about the airman coming back from his mission amidst the glorious light of sunset.
It is somewhat odd to read the words of one the best early writers of high, romantic fantasy writing stories about WWI. Dunsany writes, "For the wars we fight to-day are not like other wars, and the wonders of them are unlike other wonders. If we do not see in the the saga and the epic, how shall we tell of them?" After reading this volume, it seems the wonders WW1 are to be told in tales heavily weighted with desert wastelands and senseless, horrific loss of human life on both sides. In one story, Dunsany writes of dreaming of the figure of Peace treading a road through space on her way to the World. In his dream, Dunsany says to Peace, upon recognizing her for what she is, "You can't come here, you know."
Reading Dunsany's Tales of War makes me wish I had some desolate, sky darkening image for you this week. Instead, I've got a bird on a pole. Happy Spring to you all, a month late.
4-10-2010
Media consumption this week included How To Tame Your Dragon. This movie was a great deal of fun. The animation was well executed. The plot had a few moments where things were entirely too convenient for the heroes, but the departures from my state of suspended disbelief were brief and the plot wound up having some very nice touches I had not have expected. Also, there were a lot of dragons. Dragons are always a plus. Unless you're watching the Dragonlance Chronicles movie. Then the dragons are really very painful. If you enjoy dragons and vikings and more dragons, you will probably enjoy this movie.
Speaking of vikings, I just finished reading my way through The Children of Odin by Padraic Colum. I'm not sure why it took me so long to read the Norse mythology stories. They are pretty amazing. I think I'm going to have to pick up the Eddas at some point so I can read the stories when they haven't been streamlined and tinkered with for younger, American audiences. The Colum version of the stories is interesting and it has a wealth of ink drawings by Willy Pogany. Pogany is a sort of poor man's Arthur Rackham, but Pogany's drawings are very enjoyable. I particularly like all of the wolves, and Fafnir, of course.
It's been a week of rest (never mind the full time job) and I have been working largely in a planning mode for art. I do, of course, have a drawing for you this week. Enjoy!
4-5-2010
WonderCon was great. We met a lot of great people and saw a lot of neat stuff. High points include meeting Brent Spiner and John de Lancie, watching The Last Unicorn on the big screen and seeing Peter S. Beagle talk about it, and all the people I met. Also, I am very proud of the work our students put into WonderCon. We had three completed student comics as well as Emily Martin's first complete episode of Otherkinds and we received a lot of very positive interest in everyone's work. Congratulations, everyone!
WonderCon was also exhausting. We had a large amount of product to carry, both before and after, and the skies blessed us mightily with torrential downpours whenever we had to move large and heavy things outside. I am very glad to be home.
As you may have guessed, I did not get a great deal of drawing done this past week, what with losing sleep to processing images for printing and manning the table amidst the hordes of con-goers. I do have something for you, all the same. I hope you enjoy it.
4-1-2010
Due to WonderCon, this week's update shall take place on Monday rather than Saturday. Look for it on the 5th, and look for me at the Megamoth Studios table in the Artist Alley at WonderCon.
