In an effort to further gross out Amy, I give you Patricia Piccinini. Her work can best be described as a very, very, very demented version of Ron Mueck’s work. Which is saying something.

This is a character sketch I did a couple of weeks ago when I was working on the Thomas of Cecil story (which concludes next week).  I hope you all are enjoying it.

For those of you that are keeping up with my personal life, I am happy to say that my back is much improved, and my mental state is also improving daily.

New to the Reader:

Misunderstanding Between Friends - an art comic about various subjects.

The Park - a very well drawn story about super heroes living in a trailer park.

Letters to a Wild Boar - an art comic that seems to be updating again (to my delight).

I found this on Typography Served yesterday; it’s part of an identity package for a Paris based designer/artist 5ive (who’s site is currently under construction).

I like!

Sorry for the lack of blog updates last week, I was super busy, and didn’t get around to it.  More this week (fingers crossed).

Let me know how you are enjoying this series so far, and whether you not you like seeing these longer story arcs, or if you just like the stand alone comics.

Have a good week, everyone.

A quick note, because I have mostly been ignoring you.

My computer is finally back from the shop, and all appears to be well (apart from the mysterious switching on of system noises). Actually, potentially better than well; only a few days of hard use will tell for sure, but the new logic board may be actually making the system run, you know, better than before. Which is to say, my computer may now work as it’s supposed to, as opposed to the two-legged cheetah it was impersonating before. We shall see.

In any case, I owe you some videos. Rest assured, I haven’t been completely slacking off in the interim. The next three episodes are plotted out, and there will likely be a quick address from Kranium tomorrow or Sunday on matters philosophical.

Also, I now have a part-time job working for the Vinegar Hill Theatre, meaning I come home smelling of popcorn. This is neither here nor there.

In the meantime, here is a photograph of my pal Mike Keenan playing guitar for John Brown’s Body in Richmond a few days ago. Taken with the Goophone.

A quick note, because I have mostly been ignoring you.

My computer is finally back from the shop, and all appears to be well (apart from the mysterious switching on of system noises). Actually, potentially better than well; only a few days of hard use will tell for sure, but the new logic board may be actually making the system run, you know, better than before. Which is to say, my computer may now work as it’s supposed to, as opposed to the two-legged cheetah it was impersonating before. We shall see.

In any case, I owe you some videos. Rest assured, I haven’t been completely slacking off in the interim. The next three episodes are plotted out, and there will likely be a quick address from Kranium tomorrow or Sunday on matters philosophical.

Also, I now have a part-time job working for the Vinegar Hill Theatre, meaning I come home smelling of popcorn. This is neither here nor there.

In the meantime, here is a photograph of my pal Mike Keenan playing guitar for John Brown’s Body in Richmond a few days ago. Taken with the Goophone.

Inspired by the a recently-acquired issue of the indefatigable Roctober and by the latest-arriving order from Hells Headbangers, I commit myself to providing capsule descriptions of every LP presently leaning either against the LP rack doubles as a stand for the stereo and/or leaning against the wall to the right of said stereo/rack combo. Why? Well, why not?

Blasphemophager, Nuclear Empire of Apocalypse (Nuclear War Now! Productions, 2008): Doesn’t really hit a stride until the last song on side one, “Devastating Radioactive Torments” - prior to that it sounds like South American war/beer metal. Which is fine, don’t get me wrong. But these guys are from Italy, and Italian metal, like Italian horror cinema, works best when it just puts all the emphasis on atmosphere and lets the plot take care of itself. If you want to talk about the half-full glass, though: when they do hit that sepulchral atmosphere, you can smell fumes coming out of the speakers, and all wine-tasting nonsense questions like “but what of the character of this band?” can be comfortably tabled when the shredding gets as intense as it occasionally does here. I’m not in love with the whole album, but when I say “it’s got its moments,” I’m not kidding. Comes in a gorgeous gatefold sleeve that recalls Into the Pandemonium except it’s matte, not glossy, and I don’t remember Tom G. Warrior wearing a gas mask in his inner-sleeve portraits, which he should have, because, you know, gas mask.

We got our Moo cards in the mail yesterday and they are so damn cute. We ordered 200 and we’re thinking it’s just not enough.

vex til you bust
I really couldn’t care
vex til you bust
I really couldn’t care
if you tell them your mind
they don’t like it
and you tell them the truth
they want to take your life
vex til you bust
I really couldn’t care
vex til you bust
I really couldn’t care
words from your mouth
can’t pull me down
[one line missing]
can’t take my life
vex til you bust
I really couldn’t care
the truth is the truth
and you don’t like it

vex til you bust
I really couldn’t care
vex til you bust
I really couldn’t care
I have a one-track mind
and a one track heart
the truth don’t hurt me
for I am the truth
vex til you bust
I really couldn’t care
vex til you bust
I really couldn’t care
the truth is the truth
and you don’t like it
vex til you bust
I really couldn’t care

note: due to the election last week, this week has a bit of catch-up involved, and twice as much spam to sort through. For, you know, anyone who actually gives a fig.

• Number of messages sorted through: 465
• Number of spam messages missed by filters: 39
• Number of real messages marked as spam: 4

OH MY GORT.

The news that comes through the electronic circuits at my spam box is TERRIBLE this week. I mean, I thought we were in a land of beauty and light since last week proved that dreams could come true. But apparently, according to this email, the sitting President just killed the First Lady-Elect. Really! Says so right in the subject line: “Bush Killed Michelle Obama”. And the email says I got it because I’m subscribed to some MSN email list. MSN — that’s MicroSoft Network. That’s the first three letters of MSNBC, and Keith Olberman wouldn’t lie to me about something this grave! Sure, I haven’t heard any other mention of it, but that’s the beauty of email! You get news as it happens! Sometimes before! Hm, “If you do not wish to receive this MSN Featured Offers e-mail, please click the “Unsubscribe” link below.” Why on earth would I want to do that? How else am I going to find out who President Bush kills next?

“BAD economy? Low salary? Buy an University Dip1oma/Bacheelor from us, No Study/Exam needed peurpi 5o”
They’re RIGHT. It IS a bad economy. My salary IS low. But look at this — these poor Bacheelors must be selling off their Dip1omas to buy food! The world is an absolute mess! I’m not currently seeking a Bacheelor, but there’s a phone number I can call. Bless their poor hearts, I bet it’s their mom’s house. Or moms’. I hope it’s the latter; what a terrible time to be an American if a huge Catholic family of Bacheelors all had to sell their degrees and themselves just to keep their one mother happy.^*

Granted, I’m pretty low on work myself. I can’t even finish any of my freelance illustration work because my computer is still in the shop, and Apple can’t find the right part anywhere, and I almost started crying on the phone with AppleCare things are looking so bleak. I’m typing this on an ancient machine that can’t even run Firefox, and I’m wearing fingerless gloves because the heat is off, and I just don’t know how much longer — Wait, hang on, what’s this? “The Art Of Craft Ltd®”? Subject: “Part Time Job Offer”?! It’s got one of those circle-R things after the name, this must be BIG. Lessee, Henry Wilson blah blah blah growing art company in Spain — well, I mean obviously you’re from Spain, with a name like Henry Wilson — Ah, I see! They want to hire me to be their representative in the States, because they can’t be bothered to travel all the way here to pick up payments for their art products. All I’d have to do is accept the hundreds of thousands of dollars in cheques, money orders, &c and wire it to them in Madrid. And I get to keep ten percent off the top! Oh, so tempting, but unfortunately, as I mentioned before, my computer’s in the shop, so I’m afraid I’m not reliable enough to be able to wire all that money in a timely fashion. Poor Señor Wilson, you’ll have to find another representative.

Oh NOES! Now I’m getting an email from Citibank telling me they’re going to suspend my account! Oh, no, it’s okay, if I click the link going to tv5korat’com/web’da-us’citibank/longurl-I-wont-bother-typing, they’ll keep my account open. Hooray! But… but wait, no, I’m using an ancient machine with Internet Explorer, how am I supposed to read that file? And look! American Express is shutting me down, too! And Chase Bank! And Wells Fargo! And ANZ Internet Bank! I didn’t even have accounts with most of those people, and they’re preemptively shutting down my accounts! I’M DOOMED.

At least there are a lot of people offering me naked photos of Cindy McCain. Maybe I’ll get to see them before the President makes her his next victim.

Doom & gloom? Share your troubles in the comments.

^*Fun with apostrophe jokes! Grammar is your friend!