I’ve been on a drawing kick lately, working with photos of people. I’ve really trying to learn proper proportions as well as hone my style and pick up new techniques. I’ve bought two books by Matt Busch, You Can Draw Star Wars, and Pucker: Art of Matt Busch - both display his techniques from working from photos. I really admire his pencil work though, and I’ll need to get to that point before I feel comfortable inking/painting.

On Monday I went to see my favorite band, The Black Keys, perform at the 9:30 Club in DC. We journeyed in by Metro, stopping first at Chinatown and had dinner at California Tortilla - which has an excellent southwestern salad.

The opening act was Buffalo Killers, which, while I dug the music, the singer was a tad bit shrill. Think Robert Plant, but without the stage presence. I’m going to have to look up one of their albums and give them a second chance.

The show was sold-out and packed to the rafters. We were in the center of the floor, and even I had a hard time seeing the stage with a bunch of tall bastards in front of us.

After a half hour of the opening act, and a half hour setup (which included inflating a giant tire) - The Black Keys finally took the stage.

They opened strong with a bunch of songs from different albums - All of them were great songs. They sound great live, and both guys play hard and with energy. It’s amazing what just a drum and guitar can accomplish.

Due to bastard spammers, I’ve managed to upgrade my wordpress blog to it’s current build. You’ll notice that you’ll now have to enter a code when you try to post a comment. If you have any questions or it doesn’t seem to be working for you - let me know by IM or email. Along with this upgrade, I’ll now be able to add a few more features and finish my in-site gallery (coppermine sucks the big one). Enjoy!

Using post-it notes to quickly sketch stuff out.

The Man Who Fell to Earth
While I enjoyed David Bowie’s performance in “Labyrinth” this one is a little hard to swallow. Most of the film feels like a film student’s midterm project/wet dream. While I did enjoy the excessive female nudity, I didn’t want to see either Rip Torn or David Bowie. Either way, at least I can say I saw the film - I wonder how the book is?

Jack Frost
Not the Michael Keaton family movie. This movie is not even worthy of being a bad horror movie. The most disappointing is Shannon Elizabeth’s vanilla role. No nudity here fellas - even though there is a bath scene followed by snowman rape - but it isn’t horrifying or funny, just kinda sad. Imagine if I took a video camera and made a horror movie about lawn gnomes. Aren’t there any good horror movies being made anymore?

Zach Galifianakis: Live
He has a zany deadpan delivery that I like, but his comedy is very spacious and laid-back. Also, his twin-brother schtick gets old after ten minutes. I would see him live though - and he should play more piano.

Next up: Kinsey, Castle in the Sky, and Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind.

PS - Don’t see Prom Night - it’s the worst horror movie out there right now, even for pre-teens, which it seems to be made for.

I don’t know what to think of last week’s Lost. Jack collapses. The flash forward has him shagging Kate and reading to Aaron. But his refusal to let things go has him accusing Kate of cheating on him (or something). What an ass. I maintain my position that he’s not very smart for a doctor. Christian Shepard makes several appearances. Claire disappears. And Sawyer is left holding the baby. I guess the only shocking revealation in this episode is that the bodies of Danielle and Karl are discovered, putting to rest any rumors that Danielle survived. This closes her story arc and I guess if there is a flashback for her, it will be told in somebody else’s - most likely Ben’s.
This week’s episode is about Locke, Hurley, and Ben’s trip to the cabin where we might get an early island flashback and maybe a clue about the smoke monster and Jacob. Sound good?

Here is a piece I’m working on right now. It’s being worked in Alias Sketchbook right now. I’m trying to get the costume really detailed. The bow and arrow will be composited in photoshop using some vector masks. Once the black and white is done, I’ll try my hand at coloring again…