| I survived swine flu and all I got were these lousy antibodies |
[13 Nov 2009|09:15pm] |
I had swine flu! For real! It was really awful, but not at all interesting enough to write about. (I didn't even tell my family; they're going to be furious. Hi Amanda!) I've actually been better for a few days, but after being cooped up and stuck in bed for a while, I had nothing interesting going on and nothing to write about here on LJ. I've finally been tentatively going out, wandering around Paris, taking pictures, etc, and life is pretty much back to normal. This morning I walked to the Arènes de Lutèce to take a few pictures for Cool Stuff in Paris. I'll put 'em here for now, but the article will come a little later, as I've got a million other articles half-written right now that I need to finish.
The Arènes de Lutèce is, in my opinion, one of the most fascinating things in Paris, and most Parisians have never even heard of it. It's a real-ass Roman arena dating from the first century, built during the Gallo-Roman period. The place got destroyed during a barbarian invasion in the third century, eventually people mostly forgot about it, and modern French scholars knew that it had existed but didn't know exactly where until 1858 when it was accidentally discovered during some construction project. It was eventually restored in 1917. It's now a sort of park, hidden behind big apartment buildings on all sides, and you could walk by any of its three entrances without even noticing it's there. It's absolutely amazing for me to stand in this place and know that ancient Parisians hung out here for sports, shows, etc, almost two millenia ago.
( A few more pictures... )
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| You're a king, and I'm big! |
[10 Nov 2009|08:08am] |
I took a week off from my artwork leading up to Halloween, so I'd have time to work on my costume, and I'm just now cleaning up and scanning some of the pieces I've drawn since then. What's up above is a Where the Wild Things Are illo for ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) katie_can_draw, one of the commissions from the Multiple Sclerosis benefit a month back and of which I'm now halfway through. Hope to have everyone's in the mail by the end of November.
So, speaking of Where the Wild Things are, Kate and I finally got around to seeing it last week. That it's a weird film pretty much goes without saying, and that it's arguably not a film for kids almost goes equally as much without saying - mind you, it's not a movie I'd avoid taking a kid to see (although the children in the audience when we saw it were thoroughly bored about halfway through), it's just very much a recreation of a child's perspective and logic clearly written by and for adults.
The most insightful review I've seen of the film so far comes from the infamously eponymous Vern, who notes rather adroitly that it's a miracle that this film could be made the way it was made, rather than some 3-D musical abortion where Max brings the Wild Things back to the real world, and they have wacky misadventures at the mall to the tune of a Smashmouth song and there's a looney-tunes chase scene and a stirring farewell at the end, with some tacked-on teaser about Where the Wild Things Are 2: Wild Things In Space. I mean, honestly, that is legitimately amazing, and you do have to admire it in that respect, if nothing else.
I will say this: I went into the movie hoping to love it, and I definitely did love it, but it was certainly nothing I expected. I'm disinclined to extrapolate at all on the film, because I think that going in with any preconception as to the qualities of the thing will diminish what it a truly immersive film.
However, I also say with certainty that the last ninety seconds comprise possibly the single most touching moment I've ever seen committed to film...
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| Cartoonists Assemble! |
[09 Nov 2009|01:13pm] |
Hey, cartoonists! Holmes, of the truly excellent vintage comic strip site Barnacle Press, needs your help! I know that all of us who are familiar with BP love the site (and are all big fans of Everett True!) and I have a feeling that those of you seeing it for the first time are going to fall in love. BP does a great service for fans of classic cartooning, and now they could use some help with a very fun project (which is both on a very tight deadline and nonexistent budget).
Here's the deal: Barnacle Press has a really neat project coming out, for which they need 45 spot illustrations. And they can't pay. And they need it by this upcoming Monday. But trust me when I say that it is a very awesome project - I had to turn it down just because of the amount of work currently on my plate, although I may try to find the time to do one or two myself, depending on the response.
The drawings do not need to be complex, just small spots based on information which Holmes will provide you. If you're interested, drop him a line at holmes -at- barnaclepress.com, and spread the word!
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| Great Star Wars Costumes! |
[09 Nov 2009|02:17pm] |
I don't know these people:
But what I do know is that they really went all out to make a truly memorable Star Wars Halloween. I also don't know what the green trash bag kid is supposed to be. Another Yoda, who's blind? Anyway I got it from breadcamesliced's picture journal, where you can find many odd pictures that are posted there in order to freak you out.
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| My religion |
[05 Nov 2009|07:36pm] |
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My religion: Every morning, think of the tie I want to wear, reach into a dark closet to the rack of fifty(-ish) ties, and pull one out. If it's the one I wanted, it is an Awesome Day and I am the Chosen One. Today is an Awesome Day. Black with gray flowers. Amen.
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| Kaboom! |
[05 Nov 2009|04:42pm] |
Those of you who checked out my photos from the D-Day beaches in Normandy the other day might recall my mentioning a place called the Pointe du Hoc, and how I didn't take any pictures there because it was pouring rain. Well, Marjorie's dad sent me his pictures from the whole weekend, including some from the Pointe du Hoc, and there's this great, ridiculous one of me, Marjorie, and Jenny in a huge hole left by an Allied bomb in 1944. We're all wearing identical windbreakers; they were promotional items from M's dad's company, which he brought to protect us all against Normandy's notoriously rainy Autumn weather.
Haha, I wish you could feel the wind and rain we were studiously ignoring in order to have fun out there. I'd brought my good umbrella but the second I opened the thing it immediately turned inside out and broke! At least in the bomb hole there was a little less wind. Immediately after this was taken, Marjorie an I climbed out of the hole as fast as we could, stranding Jenny; the sides were a lot steeper than they look here, not to mention slippery with mud. I think she's still there.
In other news, I have a bunch of fun new stuff up on Cool Stuff in Paris:
Recent articles:
Recent blog posts:
I've also created a LiveJournal syndication of the Cool Stuff in Paris blog if you'd like to add it. It's here: ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/syndicated.gif) coolstuffparis. It's not ideal in that it seems to only update every 24 hours or so, rather than in real time, but it's still a good way to keep up with my Cool Stuff blog if you don't feel like following it on Blogspot or adding it to your rss reader.
How're you?
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| Devil bunny is not allowed on the chair |
[03 Nov 2009|10:23pm] |
... and he knows it.
Kyubi is actually named after some sort of Japanese fox demon, and I think it's a pretty accurate label. This guy drives me up the wall.
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| It turns out that I like absinthe... |
[03 Nov 2009|08:16am] |
I had my first experience with absinthe a couple of weekends ago, and it turns out that I love the stuff. I've always been a closet black licorice fan - sharing a bag of Jelly Bellies has inevitably been a shaming experience, for my part - so I aboslutely love the flavor. (I've also figured out that the Black Lagoon cocktail I wrote up a few weeks back, which I also dearly loved and which I snapped up from a Martha Stewart magazine is, itself, an attempt to replicate the color and flavor of absinthe. So go figure)
Heavens forfend that I fail to do something with the requisite amount of signature class, and bereft of an absinthe glass, I made do (made due? Which is it, anyway) with this recent thrift store treasure. I find the Cooper Black typeface just screams "absinthe" to me ...
In other news, I experienced a recent cheese bounty, and I furthermore submit that no one has ever used all three of those words together at the same time ever before. "Recent cheese bounty". I dare you to find documented evidence to the contrary.
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| A boy and his (robo-)dog |
[03 Nov 2009|12:32pm] |
I have a new illustration up on the splash page of the site for FreeMarket, a new game that's in the works at Memento Mori Theatricks.
I've actually done about a half a dozen color illustrations for this project, and I'll post the rest of them here once the game is out; I'm pretty excited about a few of 'em.
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| My weekend at Omaha Beach in Normandy |
[02 Nov 2009|01:06pm] |
For Halloween weekend, Marjorie's dad happened to be visiting Paris from La Réunion, so he and Marjorie and her two sisters and I rented a car and drove up to Normandy to see a bunch of historic sites from the D-Day invasion. We saw Omaha Beach and the American Cemetery there, slept in a hotel where President Eisenhower himself stayed after WW2, played in some real Nazi bunkers, saw a couple D-Day museums, and enjoyed a tremendous amount of good Normandy food (and drink!): seafood, crepes, cheese, wine, calvados, et cetera. Here are some pictures from the weekend...
A nice Spanish fellow offered to take our picture. That's me, Pascal, Marjorie, Jenny, and Deb.
( Tons of pictures; Omaha Beach, museums, bunkers, etc... )
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