Rockin Weekend, Sick People, Blasts From A Sci-Fi Past

The first one turned out okay, a little high-key. It's based on a statue bust. The second one I fucked up. It turned into a lost cause early on, but oh well. Sometimes, I gotta post the bad with the good.

Last weekend was a fun one. We went to see the Big John Bates concert at the Aquarium. On friday, I finally got the guys to watch Six String Samurai! They didn't seem to care for it much, though. Oh well, I get to watch it myself more then! Karissa came down with the flu after dropping Isabella off with her mom that night. She tried getting ready Saturday morning before we left for Fargo, but finally gave up and just told me to go. I felt bad that she had to stay home, but at least she spent that time resting up. I got to Fargo pretty early, so I hit the antique stores. I found some good military hats, but didn't get any. I don't have to go for every old hat I come across, you know. I also came across an old semi-hollowbody bass guitar, which I promptly told Derek about. At another store, I found an old homemade instrument that looks like a little ukulele with a woodcut goat's face (see post just below this one). Later on I showed Derek the bass, and while haggling to lower the price a bit, the store owner offered to arm wrestle derek left-handed, double or nothing. It would have been cool, because Derek could have got the bass free, but then again, he could have paid over $300 for it if he lost. In the end, he decided not to and just bought the bass. But it's cool, because he's wanted a semi-hollow for a long time now. Now, if we could just find an old upright bass...

Anyway, the concert was fuckin awesome! Pat Lipsea opened the show with his one-man acoustic set. Karissa had a boyfriend in a band before she met me, and Pat was their guitarist, so she knew him pretty well, which is another reason her not being able to make it sucked. I finally got to meet the guy and see him play live, and I gotta say he did a helluva job. He got so into his songs and you could tell this is what he wanted to do.

Next up were the Cass County Uglies, formerly the Throbbing Hotrods. I didn't really like them. When the singer screamed, he sounded a little like Grover. But other people seemed to dig it. The whole time, Big John himself was sitting at a table about 6 feet away from where we were standing. Derek wanted to get a picture of the guy, but didn't want to bug him or piss him off. I have this same fear, especially of just getting the brush off and being left looking stupid (which has actually happened to me before with coffee house performers). But I thought, ahh, fuck it. At least I don't look like the gay dude with the fancy mullet a few feet away. So I tapped Big John on the shoulder, and told him the the guy next to me (Derek) was a HUGE fan. Next thing I knew, they were talking cars and bikes and shit. Yeah, I felt pretty good about myself, did Derek a solid there.

Anyway, there was kickass music, dancers with little other than pasties, and drunk chicks that tried to get on stage but fell off because they could barely even stand. Plus, Tab and I each got a pick from Big John. My came off the floor, but still from him, so there. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera again, so you'll have to refer to Tab's site for pics.

Karissa is feeling better now, but I hear that Kevin and Aiden are sick. Next time Pat plays, I'll make sure she makes it.

What Am I Watching?

This Is Not A Test- A group of motorists are stopped by a roadblock and informed by a cop that they are under nuclear attack. They are to remain where they are and seek some sort of shelter, but are NOT to go to any cities, and order placed for their own safety. Fear builds from suspicion, which eventually leads to hysteria before an incredibly tense ending. As the motorists get to know eachother and subsequently realize they will more than likely die, their true personalities start to come out, good and bad. As they are sitting in the back of a truck and realizing their air is running out, even the cool-headed but authoritative police officer begins to crack. This movie was cheap, but extremely well-put-together and well-managed. The ending? Well, I'll give you a hint: What is my absolute favorite type of ending?

Killers From Space- After a nuclear test, an atomic scientist crashes his plane. He is presumed dead but somehow manages to wander back to base without having any recollection of what had happened to him. Tests are run, he is given truth serum, and we find that he has been kidnapped by aliens with big Cookie Monster eyes--that's right male actors with tight hoods and COOKIE MONSTER eyes!! The only real impressive part of this movie is how much fairly modern technology they are thinking to use in the movie to establish this guy's identity and make sure he really is who he says he is. Otherwise, the movie is dull.

Wasp Woman- Concerned by a drop in her sales, the head of a cosmetics company enlists the help of a down-and-out scientists and his revolutionary wasp/youth serum. The tests on animals are successful, so the woman tries it on herself and finds she looks like she did when she originally modeled her cosmetics. She takes too much and turns into a wasp woman. Gee, there's a stretch. Ironically, the cover shows a wasp with a woman's face, and inthe movie, it's a woman's body with a wasp face. I'll say this about the ending: Too bad the serum didn't give her wasp wings to fly with.

Unknown World- Fearing global nuclear really bad war, Dr. Morley organizes a group of scientists to search for inhabitable subterranean environments. Think Jules Vern with an atomic twist. Personalities clash, tempers flare, and ideologies are exchanged as the group finds itself in various perils. The rich guy who funded the expidition provided a little humor by posting a sign at one point that said 'New York, 1640 mi. up'. Most of the people die, and the movie would have seemed better to end on a grim note.

Comics? Yes! I just posted a new page of Golden Brown, J.S.P.S. for 2/29! Go read it and happy Leap Year!

Goat-lele!

Not sure specifically what instrument this is, but the scale is close to a ukulele. I'm still fixing it up. I used a paint stir-stick to help fix the neck, and have a couple other things to replace. It was in a pretty sorry state. It looks like a goat.

My Weekend Sendoff

This is a study we had to do for Head & Hands. I like how her hair & jaw turned out.

Last weekend, Karissa's mom called to tell her that her great-grandma Marquis had slipped into a coma and probably wouldn't have very long to live. About 20-30 minutes later, she sent a message saying she'd died. She'd lived a pretty long life and didn't even go into a nursing home until she was about 97, and even that was because of physical issues, not mental. She just turned 100 last January. At least she got to see her great-great-granddaughter in her first 3 years of life, a privelidge not many seem to get (my own great-great-granddad died in the 1920's, my great-great-grandma not long after).

Karissa tried one of the recipes from her Deceptively Delicious book, and w found out that no, chicken salad in fact should not be made with cauliflower puree. She couldn't even eat a second bite. I liked it at first, but towards the end of my pita, I finally had to put it down because the cauliflower taste (which was only an aftertaste at first) began to overpower. Oh well. It wasn't Karissa's fault (her chicken salad is fucking awesome), it was the cookbook. I'll give it one more chance.

I experienced a whole new level of Hell a couple nights ago. The Devil him/herself couldn't dream this punishment up. Last week, Isabella's teacher from Head Start came over to do the parent-teacher conference thing, and while she was here offered us free tickets to an ice show at the Ralph Englstad Arena. Isabella had loved her experience at a circus, so we thought she might enjoy an ice show. It was High School Musical on Ice. Going in, I knew I would just have to tough it out, but oh Doug how much torture this show put me through is unbelievable. They should show this to al Qaeda prisoners, they'd tell us right then and there where bin Laden is hiding. Even chili cheese fries couldn't save me. But Isabella loved the flashing lights and ice skaters and booming music. She clapped after every number, and she had a good time. Would I do it again? Hhhhhhhuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhyes, fine, I'd go again if she wanted me to. Stupid good dad thing.
Oh yeah, there's a new page of Golden Brown up now at BoneDaddy Comics. Draaaaamaaaa!

What am I watching this week?
Rasputin and the Empress- Made in 1933, it was the only film to star the three Barrymores together-John as Prince Paul Chegodieff (actually Felix Yusupov but changed for legal reasons), Ethel as Czarina Alexandra, and Lionel as noneother than Rasputin. In case you're wondering, John isin real life the grandfather of Drew Barrymore. Anyway this is one of the earliest accounts of the life of the Romanovs and Rasputin's involvement in the political affairs of Russia during the early 20th century. Some names were changed of those involved, but a suit was brought against MGM by Felix and Irina Yusupov for invasion of privacy and libel. Despite some inaccuracies, the film is well-acted--Lionel made a creepy Rasputin that even today is hard to match from what I've seen. Much of this story has come from the accounts of Yusupov and Purishkvich, who were present at and very involved in Rasputin's death, which have since been discredited. Even though you know what's coming to the Romanov family, the final scene of the movie grabs you and manages to convey the full tragedy of their fate.
Creature of the Haunted Sea- I found bins at Walmart and Hugos that sell shitty movies for $1, so I went a little crazy. I got this in a DVD double feature by Roger Corman, king of 'B' movies. This movie is part screwball comedy, part horror. A government agent tracks a mobster who is helping loyalists during a Carribean revolution. He pretends to be a thug himself and gets on with the mobster's crew. They escape on a ship with the Cuban National Treasury, and in an effort to get th Cubans running the ship to change course, they rely on an old sea monster legend kill off the crew. Somehow there really is a sea monster, and it goes on its own rampage. This is a classic 'B' movie with stiff acting and a little 70's animation thrown into the opening credits along with political humor. In the end, the government agent gets himself a girl, and the monster (who looks like a giant turd with spike fingers and eyes like hard-boiled eggs) gets the Cuban National Treasury.
She Gods of Shark Reef- #2 of the double feature. Two brothers on the watery lamb become shipwrecked. They're saved and taken in by a group of women who inhabit an "uncharted" island which holds dark secrets. The dark secrets are mainly that a corporation called "The Corporation" sends supplies to this "uncharted" island, and there is a nasty shark infestation around the island. The movie is mostly bland, but is remarkably reminist, and not in an obvious way. The woman who initially saved the brothers, Mahia, shows little to no fear in dealing with the sharks, and ends up saving one of the brothers a second time without hesitation.
One the Waterfront-Brando! An ex-boxer turned longshoreman becomes tired of being pushed around by mob bosses who control the waterfront, and stands up for himself at the expense of his own reputation. His brother is part of this organization, and tries to reason with him as a last resort. During a car ride, Brando utters his famous 'I coulda been a contender' line everybody imitates, though everybody puts th emphasis on the wrong syllables. It always strikes me that as manly an actor as he was, and as much of a gentle manchild his Terry Maloy was, he ran like a girl. My favorite character in the movie is actually Karl Malden's Father Berry, a hard-ass priest who didn't take shit from the mob bosses, spoke up about thir corruption of the waterfront, and never compromised his principles, even when he was in danger.

I'll let you all know how the Big John Bates concert goes!

Valentine's Dinner, and Movie's Loser & Winner

I thought up this Valentine at around 7AM yesterday morning. Karissa thought it was pretty funny, too.



I'm having some issues prioritizing schoolwork over the comic, so I don't really have any homework to show you guys. That being said, a new page of the comic is currently up at BoneDaddy Comics.
We got a new van! Well, it's 2002, new to us, at least. It's a Ford Windstar, and we love it. It's the first vehicle Karissa and I actually bought ourselves. I'll post a picture later.
We went to Whitey's last night to do the Valentine's thing with Isabella. Despite there being other families there, they didn't have any kind of kid's menu, so that was interesting. The food could have been a little better, too.


What am I watching?

Well, I only have 2 movies this time. Why? Pick an excuse: My Netflix has been slow lately (presumably due to everyone ordering movies so they could stay in from the cold weather), TCM has suspended Underground to do its "31 Days of Oscar" crap (there's still good movies, but they're salted in with the crappy ones), and HBO has had nothing but movies I've already seen and talked about. It's this goddamned leap year, I think. Anyway, here goes:

Werewolf: The Devil's Hound-You can tell from the first few minutes of annoying shaky-camera that this movie sucks. After the camera evens out, the acting goes to hell. One thing that really annoys me is the old introduce characters line. For example, in this movie, a guy who is obviously an owner of a business says over the phone to an employee, "Look [girl's name], I know you're my daughter in law, but if that crate doesn't show up by..." That is fucking annoying. Karissa doesn't go around saying, "Look Doug, I know you're my boyfriend, but if you don't pick up those crumbs you dribbled out..." If she did, I think I would honestly hit her. I would. I'd commit spousal abuse all over her face. Anyway, this guy owns a pyrotechnics business, a crate of werewolf gets devlivered by mistake (wtf??). The werewolf is female, somehow 'nips' the son of the owner (whose wife is the aforementioned daughter in law). The son becomes wolfish, and is caught dancing with the she-wolf (in human form) at a club by (aforementioned wife). That's where I shut it off. Not because it was horribly bad. That I could handle. It was BORING and I just couldn't get into it. With all the bad acting and the switching to scenes that go off on tangents not conducive to plot, I just got bored. Sorry.

Freaked-I had heard of this movie, but how I've gone 15 years without seeing it is crazy. This movie is fucking funny. It was made by guys who were behind The Idiot Box, Saul of the Mole Men, The Andy Milankis Show, and Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, just to name a few. Ricky Koogan (Alex Winter who play Bill in the aforementioned movie) is a move star asshole who sells his name to EES (Everything Except Shoes) Corporation to go to South Africa and defend its experimentation with Zygrot 24, a highly toxic chemical. Ricky and a friend find only protesters at an airport and end up with one of them, roadtripping. They take a detour to see a freakshow only to end up as headlining attractions. The tagline is "A thinking man's stupid comedy", so you'd swear this is a movie I made. Keanu Reeves makes an appearance as Ortiz the Dog Boy, Bobcat Goldthwait is Sockhead, Mr. T is the Bearded Lady, and Randy Quaid is the Ringmaster Elijah Scuggs who made the freaks what they are and keeps them locked up in a surprisingly roomy outhouse. Randy Quaid is a skilled actor, and even though somewhat typecast as a drunken redneck, he manages to put his own style into it every time to make a different but extremely memorable drunken redneck. Watch it. If you don't laugh, you're a TERRORIST.

Miniature People and Miniature Cars

The first picture is a rendering I did for one of our frequent guests at the motel of his grandson. I'm always nervous about drawing little kids because their facial features are hard for me to get down. He was very appreciative, though, and thought it was awesome.
The car is a '63 Cadillac Hearse from Matchbox. I've always wanted one, but they're a bitch to find in stores. We were wandering around Target on Friday, and poof! There it was. If you look closely, you'll see a coffin in the back with a hand moving the lid. How cool is that?

Apeshit Over Movie Endings

These two heads are from the first two modules in my Head & Hands class. The older one shows some lines alittle too prominently on the nose and chin/neck. I like how the younger one turned out. Yeah, his beard is really that long.

Classes aren't going too terribly badly right now, although it is the beginning, so we'll see how well I keep up.

For those of you not checking BoneDaddy Comics until after this one, I just posted a new page of Golden Brown. We are finally getting back to the main story!

What am I Watching?

Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things- A group of theatre actors travel to a 'burial island' and attempt to exercise a little witchcraft--mainly a ruse perpetrated by their director as an excuse to scare everyone and have a party. The director, we find out, is actually an asshole who likes to bully his actors and lord his power over them. The actors are ironically portrayed by people who can't act. Anyway, the witchcraft somehow works, the dead come to life, and we find our actors trapped in the former caretaker's house in a Night of the Living Dead situation. Let me stop and tell you at this point that these actors are the reason I HATED drama kids in high school. They dramatize simple sentences with bad inflection and overactive hand gestures, and they are prone to singing random verses from whatever musicals they've acted in. I wanted them dead from the beginning, and was happy when the ghouls finally came to claim their gamey meat. The best character was Orville, a corpse who once was a caretaker and was dug up by the director for his rituals. He was kept by the director (who with his forced actor's laugh and speech reminded me of Brueckner) at the house and subjected to all the bad acting. Little wonder, then, that after the director ran up the stairs (after throwing a crazy chick to the horde) and locked himself in the bedroom, Orville was there, slowly rising up to claim his giant hotdog (the director was all lips & assholes). The ending was great. Everybody died and the zombies start piling onto the boat to sail away.

Planet of the Apes- Yeah I know, how did I go so long without this classic? I recall having seen it once a while back, but after watching it again, I'm baffled at how relevant this movie must have been back in the '60's. A group of astronauts crash land on a planet and after some exploring are captured by a civilization of apes. They find that the ape civilization is much like their own, even with a set of laws based on religious beliefs. One astronaut is shot and killed, the other undergoes some funky brain surgery, and the third, Taylor, is caged and tortured. He finds a captive human girl and falls for her, befriends some apes from the younger, more open-minded generation, but he poses a problem for Dr. Zaius, who thinks he came from beyond the forbidden zone, where Zaius believes more of his kind reside. He escapes, helped by the younger apes who become guilty for 'scientific heresy'. They are found by Dr. Zaius and prove to him that there were, in fact, humans who had the capacity for speech and possibly were not used as pets or slaves for the apes, thus setting up concepts of evolution. All throughout the movie, Dr. Zaius comes off as a religious fundametalist, but towards the end we start seeing that he seems unsurprised by much of this information, and makes further attempts to suppress this information from the rest of ape civilization. He lets Taylor go, but warns that he won't like what he finds. And, of course, we know what Taylor finds. It was a very cool movie that cleverly (for its time) played on racial issues, as well as religious and scientific debate.

Beneath the Planet of the Apes- This movie takes off right where the first one ended. Taylor throws a world class hissy fit because he's been on earth all along (oops did I spill the beans?), then he and Nova (the hot quiet chick from the first one) ride around on a horse. Some stuff happens, and they get seperated. In the meantime Brent crashlands his ship. Nova happens upon him and they try to search for Taylor in the Forbidden zone. They discover a cult of humans advanced beyond speech that worship an atomic bomb. They have a long-standing feud with the apes which mounts to a pretty good battle. Brent, Nova and Taylor are reunited, some more stuff happens, and Taylor gets shot. He is refused help by a pissed off Dr. Zaius, and as he falls dead, he hits a button detonating the atomic bomb. Once again, everybody dies.

For some weird reason, the movies this week have all been well-focused on pay-off endings. And those pay-off endings have made the movies worth watching, even that first one.

Balalaika!

Here are pics of my homemade balalaika, start to finish. It was something of a weekend project, just the upright bass was. And yes, it actually plays. The tuning is pretty low, but it works much like an actual 3-string version.
Congratulations Giants on winning the Superbowl!