A new link has been added to the Best Of The Blogosphere in the left column. European Adventure is a blog we started to follow us through our trip through Europe. It's a great way to keep in touch with us and saves us spending our evenings writing emails to everyone. Now our evenings are spent wrestling with the task of blogging from an iPad.
Last week my girlfriend began receiving voicemail messages from a disgruntled drunk. After the first tirade was left, I decided to answer the phone the next time the dude called.
I said, "Dude, you got the wrong number." To which he explained, as eloquently as the message he left, "Yeah, my stupid girlfriends stupid number is like 2 digits reversed from yours."
Yeah, it's your girlfriend's phone numbers fault that you can't dial a phone number. So I asked him to be more careful the next time he dialled. Yesterday we received a barrage of three new voicemails directed at his stupid girlfriend.
Damn, I hope this is a wrong number.
All four voicemails can be heard in the following video. Be forewarned that there is quite a bit of strong language and should be considered NSFW.
There has been another Bomberman siting at this last home game at Canad Inns Stadium. This year, the Mad Bomber, was sporting the retro helmet as he cheered on the blue and gold to a 28 - 16 victory over the previously undefeated Edmonton Eskimos. With both clubs at 5-1 on the year, I guess that makes us no.1 in the league having toppled the formerly perfect team.
Here's pics.
Nick and Bomberman sporting retro jerseys at the game. Why do serious Hank? This must have been taken after one of Palardy's early kicks.
Hanks looking happier in this one, after Buck Pierce made a game changing, 48 yard rush into the endzone.
After witnessing one of the most exciting games I've attended, we went for a quick night cap. Nick and Hank ended up closing the Fox and Hound after pouring me into a cab. I did still manage to wake up in time for our hungover trip to Adrenaline Adventures the next day. No better cure for a hangover than dragging yourself around a man-made pond. I was so beat by the end of wake boarding that there was no way I was able to drag myself to the top of the zipline stand.
This Marks the fourth consecutive year that My buddy Dean has come into town for a CFL game and the second year that we started taking his paint job seriously. I'm always proud of the comments, photo requests and surprised looks people give him these last couple of years. How do we top it next year?
Of all the webcomics I've read, I've been reading Cyanide and Happiness the longest. It totally gets my sense of humor and isn't afraid to push the envelope of what is appropriate.
I was very pleased to learn that they have been making short cartoons. So without further ado… I give you, Cyanide and happiness.
Last night my brother and I went to see the, A Perfect Circle show at the Centennial Concert Hall and were treated to a one of the best performance that venue has ever seen. Their sound in that hall is a match made in some kind of sonic utopia. They played a little bit of everything, concentrating most on their latest release. I'm not as familiar with their catalogue as my bro is but to my surprise, I recognized almost every song.
A unexpected treat was the opening band. Red Bacteria Vacuum is a punk/speed metal, all girl trio from Tokyo. These girls really blew my mind even though they seemed bummed that they couldn't get the audience to sing along with the song Enso Wa Tanoshii, which no one could understand never mind pronounce.
Update - Using the powers of the internet, I have deduced that Enso Wa Tanoshii means… A perfect circle. Enso means circle, wa from what I could find would work as the article a and Tanoshii is beautiful which I guess could be interpreted as perfect. I would like to stress that this is my findings from cyber sleuthing and is in no way accurate unless I totally lucked out. Seemed like it would fit. If I remember, I will see if my Japanese speaking German friend can confirm it.
About 15 years I did a season of tree planting in Northern Ontario. That is where I discovered my all-time favorite summer album, Music for Our Mother Ocean. It was a compilation disc released in 1997 by Surfdog Records that raised money for the Surfrider Foundation, an organization whose mission is to protect the worlds beaches. At the time, I was collecting pretty much any CD with a Pearl Jam track on it and M.O.M is by far the bestl. The song that stuck with me the most, however, was a Beastie Boys track called Netty's Girl. I found the following Mike D quote on the website beastiemania.com where he describes the inspiration for the song.
"This song was another moment of inspiration from the tiny "studio G" at G-Son. It was recorded completely on a four-track cassette recorder and then mixed in our main control room. Mark Nishita had played this cheesy keyboard line, then we turned on the drum machine, and recorded that. Adam H. overdubbed some bass, and then I came with the pathetic falsetto vocals" - Michael Diamond, 1999
After returning from a semi-successful attempt at tree planting, I started putting this song on almost every mixed CD I made. It always brought some sideways looks when it interrupted the otherwise mainstream songs on the mix.
I've recently rediscovered this gem through the youtube in the form of this video.
There is also this great half hour film/music video on the home page of their official website. It stars a crapload of famous people. I love it when talented people do shit like this.
Haven't posted in a long while. I hope to have some things to post soon. In the mean time I thought I'd share this video that I found funny, hoping that you'll still be my friend.
These past few days it feels as though we've been living at the Park Theater.
Tonight we attended our weekly improve fix of Soap Scum Presents where talented local actors Improvise a comedy soap opera. This year is "The Western". I you haven't been to it yet, I highly recommend you do. It has cowboys, cowgirls, fancy gunplay and pooh whiskey… everything you'd want in a western.
On Saturday morning we were treated to 3 hours of Saturday morning cartoon that included "The Mighty Hercules", "Spider Man and His Amazing Friends" and the Bakshi produced "Mighty Mouse" episodes that were directed by the great John Kricfalusi, Oh and all the cereal you could eat. An added bonus was a bunch of the old commercials that I watched on those Saturdays were interspersed between the episodes like Gobots and My Buddy/Kid Sister.
Also on Saturday were some interesting independent films such as "The Beast Pageant" a surreal black and white mindfuck and "The Trashmaster", a film entirely made from Grand Theft Auto 4 screen captures. They capped off the festival with the documentary "American: The Bill Hicks Story" on the late great comedian Bill Hicks. What is a documentary about a comedian doing in an animation festival? I thought that this film was the best use of after effects type cutout animation combined with subtle 3D animation and live footage I have seen in a long time.
The sad thing is that this is the first time I've ever heard of festival and I found out about it 3 days late. I will definitely be keeping my eye out for it next year.
oh yeah, you might have noticed the new banner. I am giving up the darts again, this time with the help of Champix the pharmaceutical smoking cessation aide. So far, no thoughts of suicide, only intense dreams that last the entire night. In honour of this undertaking inspired by a manitobaquits.ca cash contest, I leave you with the comedy of Mr. Bill hicks. Sorry Bill, looks like I might turn into one of THEM.
Back in college I was introduced to a podcast called "The Onion Radio News" featuring the dead pan Doyle Redlin, reading humorous spins on the spun out news found on stations such as FOX and CNN. I recently discovered a video that epitomizes the onion on Funny or Die.
Here is a painting that I started back in February. The process photos started a couple of weeks into it because I made major changes.
It is was inspired by a scene in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest starring, one of my favorite actors of all time, Jack Nicholson. I think it turned out alright but my apartment is a little dark for it.
Between socials, Moose games and concerts, I am in for a busy couple of months.
Last Saturday my younger bro had his wedding social and as far as I remember, I had a great time. One thing he wanted for his social was a 10' high x 20' wide guitar on one of the hall walls. It seemed like a pretty tall order considering neither of us knew where to get a sheet of paper or fabric that size let alone how to get the image on to it while keeping it at a reasonable cost (the latter being most important). Between the two of us we came up with a sketch and, IMO, a pretty good solution.
We didn't get the chance to measure the walls prior to designing it, hence the encroaching basketball net, and were a little concerned while drawing it out but half way through the second sharpie magnum, I don't think we were too concerned about anything.
Last night I was the Electric Six show at the Pyramid Caberet. This was their second time in Winnipeg, their first being a year ago today. I posted about it here. One thing I love about E6 is their style of merch. At the show last year I picked up this sweet shirt.
And last night I grabbed this one.
Events coming up are a Manitoba Moose game, great local bands at the Albert on April 21st (featuring Antikathera, Of Human Bondage, Wolbachia, Putrescence and Big Trouble in Little China) and The Pixies at the Centennial Concert Hall.
Now I leave you with (as Dick Valentine said last night) Electric Six's "political" song.
Stumbled upon this neat sketching site called Sketch Swap. The basic premise is I draw one, I get one. It is a very basic sketch tool that is much easier using a stylus. Worth checking out to exercise your sketching muscle of which mine is very out of shape.
First post of the year and I resolve not to make any ridiculous resolutions like promising to post more. I know I'm a blog slacker and might even take a little pride in that.
Last year I got into a show on Bravo called "Star Portraits". For those unfamiliar with the show, it is a Canadian show where three portrait artists are asked to paint a Canadian celebrity. They have no prior knowledge as to whom they are going to paint, are given a two hour sitting with the subject and then 15 minutes at the end for photographs. The artists then have two weeks to return to their studios and paint the portrait. At the end of two weeks the subject gets to pick a portrait to keep and the other two are auctioned off for a charity of the celebrities choice.
It is always surprising to see the different interpretations of the sitters, who range from athletes like Theoren Fleury, entertainers such as Mary Walsh and environmentalists like Dr. David Suzuki. I am sometimes surprised to see which portrait they choose but sometimes I think the choice would be really difficult.
This show inspired me to undertake portraiture like the Blue Dean and more recently, my girlfriends brother in law, the notorious N8 DOGG.
What follows are photos of my progress.
This is one of the early studies I did from photographs.
Here is the transfer of the final lined drawing on the canvas with an indication of the highlights. Not sure what I was doing with the highlights really.
At this stage I was just building up the values of the shadows before working up the colours.
I didn't like the way the nose was going and gave him a bit of a haircut. In retrospect, I kinda wish I'd left the hair a little longer.
Voila, the final. I was pretty happy with the outcome of this portrait. I feel it captures the cocksure attitude of the subject in a humorous manner. It was a total surprise to N8 and most importantly he liked it. Although he said it kind of looked like Yogurt from Spaceballs.
