Kate Beaton

Kate Beaton is an illustrator / comics artist whose blog I've been following for close to a year now. She's got a real clean, whimsical style and a work ethic that I'm damn envious of. Like most comics artists, she writes autobiographical strips from time to time with anecdotes from her life, like owning a finicky cat, working an office job, and dealing with a family who doesn't always understand her. The real unique thing is that she's got a degree in history, and writes mostly about historical figures and the real stories behind the misconceptions, but with contemporary slang and good comedic timing. She posts pretty frequently, so bookmark her livejournal and check back every few days; you can find it here: Hark, A Vagrant!. She's also just published a book of her favorite historical cartoons that you can buy here: Never Learn Anything From History.

Free Software Surfin'

So, with my laptop back from the guys at Securas, LLC with a new harddrive and nothing salvaged from the old one, I've been going download crazy with the insane amount of available space. Recently, I downloaded MailPlane. It's a desktop gmail client, it's like having your gmail inbox on your desktop all the time. I like it, but between the six e-mail addresses I check daily, only half of them are gmail accounts. I probably won't keep it, but it is much more attractive than Apple Mail or Outlook.

Second, my roommate gave me the hint on DeskShade, and I'm definitely keeping this one. It's an program that more or less pulls a shade on your desktop that looks exactly the same as your wallpaper, which effectively only hides your icons, making it nice and tidy instantly. It's like when mom told you to clean your room but you shoved everything under the bed instead. There's also a feature to lock your screen with a password, and should any nosey roommates or siblings attempt to guess your password, it will log all of their attempts.

Lastly, is Adium. I've had Adium for a quite a while, but after redownloading, I went ahead and spent the extra twenty minutes fully customizing the preferences. This is definitely one my favorite free programs that I've ever downloaded. It's a chat program that merges your AIM, Facebook, Myspace, Bonjour, Mac, Jabber, MSN, or ICQ accounts into one buddy list. And like AIM 6.0, you can merge all of your chat windows into one window with tabs. I'm a big fan of it; very convenient when you need to contact someone quickly and only have their FB or Myspace account.

GM Volt

You may have seen these ads on tv recently, which have been frustratingly vague. Well, today's the 11th, so it's out. GM has just introduced it's Volt, a rechargeable electric car that gets 230 mpg in the city. It runs off of a battery for the first forty miles, then a small combustible engine kicks in for the next 300. The Volt gets more than four times it's biggest competition, the Toyota Prius. Check out the MSNBC article covering the press conference: msnbc.com/gmvolt.

TRON Legacy

The trailer for TRON: Legacy is out & I am stoked. It's going to be a sequel that picks up right where the original left off twenty-six years ago, and yes, The Dude himself will be returning. Other than that, the graphics look amazing. The film is scheduled for 2010 release. Watch the trailer here: youtube.com/tronlegacy.

Also, in my interwebbings, I stumbled upon a website called Flynn Lives, in reference to Kevin Flynn's (Jeff Bridge's character in the original TRON) sudden disappearance. You can check out that insanity here: flynnlives.com.

Project Sketchbook

Project Sketchbook is a mail-art project created by the Rozelle Artists Guild and sponsored by Memphis College of Art. Over this past summer, they have distributed over 100 4x5inch, 12 page, handmade sketchbooks to artists & writers in Memphis and abroad. The finished sketchbooks will be on display at an exhibition on Friday, August 28th, 2009 at 511 S. Main from 6-9PM. The best pages will be compiled into a book. If you're interested in having a sketchbook mailed to you, contact RAG at rozellehouse@gmail.com. The deadline for finished sketchbooks is August 14th, 2009. You can check out more info. about Rozelle Artists Guild & Project Sketchbook at rozelleartistsguild.org.

Memphis Flyer's Best Of Reader's Poll 2009

Yep, it's already that time again! Seems like just yesterday I was sitting at the Kwik Check counter with a half-eaten Turk seeping through its butcher paper, laboring over my choices for the Best Of in a brand new issue of the Memphis Flyer... the smell of freshly inked newsprint and lamb meat floating in the air...

Anyway, you can cast your votes for the best restaurants, bars, stores, galleries, bands, venues, and even the best success & failure of 2009 online. It'll only take you a few minutes and it's a nice way of showing your appreciation for the well-run small businesses in town. If I'm any influence on your vote, I'd go for Kwik Chek on Best Deli, Otherlands for Best Coffee Shop, Studio on the Square for Best Theatre, P&H for Best Hole In the Wall, Bosco's for Best Brunch, Camy's for Best Pizza, and of course, Black Lodge Video for Best Local Video Rental.

Follow the link! Best Of Memphis Reader's Poll 2009

Seth Rogen: Adam Sandler v2.0

As not only a self-respecting female but also a person who tends to value her intellect, I'm usually not a fan of slapstick stoner humor. While I will reluctantly admit that I did own a VHS copy of Dude, Where's My Car? back in the day, I've usually prided myself on my sophisticated, intelligent, and diverse collection of favorite films. So, when the trailers for Knocked Up starting playing between every other Subway commercial, I was sure that I was not going to spend the then ticket price of $8.50 to see it, and should I happen to be duped into watching it, I would not enjoy it. But I was proved wrong. That was 2007 when Seth Rogen scored his first starring role, and in two short years, his name is a household word. How on earth did this pudgy, goofy kid from Canada almost immediately skyrocket to the forefront of American cinema, literally redefining comedy as we know it? Seth has dominated the box office, with a starring role in six movies in eighteen months, and not a flop yet! When does this guy sleep? I honestly think a big portion of his success is a similar formula to that of his mentor, Adam Sandler, which can really be broken down into three basic principals. 1) Like Sandler, Rogen plays basically the same character in every movie: working class, goofy-looking, out of shape, averagely intelligent, and oddly enough, Jewish. Their characters are probably pretty close to their actual personas, assuming that both actors are actually likeable people in reality, which is probably true based on the interviews I've watched. This creates a reliable character structure that fans can depend on and relate to. 2. Also like Sandler, Rogen has a consistent group of actors he works with in every movie. I think this is a really important aspect of the formula because Rogen has already found co-stars he's comfortable working with and has a good rapport with, and who are comedically on a slightly lower scale of success than him, so they complement his style while also making him look better in comparison. 3. While Rogen's movies often include characters that embody the more fucked up people we encounter, his character is never one them. Therefore, Rogen's humor is in large part his responses to these characters, or just brings out the humor in talking about weird situations in the way we imagine we would. Only way more entertaining.

In any case, all of this comes to mind with the recent release of Funny People, which looks to be the long-awaited pairing of two comedic geniuses in one film. From what I've heard about the film's plot (and believe me, I've tried to avoid as much information as possible), it looks as though Funny People will be the metaphoric handing down of the torch. Sandler broke formula rule #2 with Don't Mess With the Zohan, a total flop at the box office. I'm seeing Funny People tomorrow with my dad. Expect a review!

Shake Weight? WTF.

Today's Big Thing is the Shake Weight, a weight specifically designed for women who want to tone their upper arms for tank top season. I don't think I even need to comment on this product's similarity to a sex toy. Watch the video here: shakeweight.org.

Blue Dye Found in M&Ms Heals Spine

Here's an interesting CNN article I stumbled upon today. Researchers have found that the same blue dye used in M&Ms and Gatorade can heal and even protect spinal cord injuries. When tested on mice, the only side effect was the subject temporarily turning blue. Now, considering I'm scheduled for an MRI on Monday morning for what I believe is a herniated disc, I'm thinking I might need to make a stop at Walgreens on the way home. You can read the article here: Same blue dye in M&Ms linked to reducing spine injury

My First VLOG

This is my first attempt at editing. It's really not very entertaining, but I feel pretty comfortable with iMovie now. Unfortunately, it's low quality. I'll have to figure out what to do about that.

Rhonda Forever

http://rhondaforever.com
This is a pretty cool video demonstration Rhonda Forever, a 3D Drawing software developed by Amir Pitaru in 2003.

Pitaru is a classically trained musician but makes really badass digital art with his own custom programs. The coolest part is, he has no formal computer programming training; he's completely self-taught. The Design Museum website says he strives to create interactive animations with the same fluency as music, which is pretty obvious once you take a look at his stuff. This one is call "Geisha", also made with another custom software. You can check out more of his work at pitaru.com.






The hands & drawings in the video belong to James Paterson (no, not the guy that writes those paperback novels my mom reads), another self-taught software geek. So the interwebz say, the two of them met at a conference in London, then realizing they lived on the same street in Brooklyn, and started collaborating. His stuff is a little more my taste than Pitaru's; kindof purposely rough figural line drawings. He likes to use the computer "like a sketchbook". He's has a few creative outlets on the web but I like halfempty.com/james most.

BONUS: If you visit the site, there is a field at the bottom of the page to sign up to be a tester. They'll e-mail you a password to download the prototype to play around with. I already got mine!

Britain's Last WWII Soldier Passes

MSNBC.com: Harry Patch, Britain’s last WWI soldier, dies

This article brings something up that I've been thinking about a lot recently: the differences between our generation and the ones before us. Maybe it was the ironically intelligent observation I read on that awful textsfromlastnight.com site that said "Our generation is good at dating, we're good at hooking up" or the fact that I left Fight Club playing in my bedroom on repeat for a few hours too long, but it's been on my mind. The generations before us, that of our parents, grandparents, and great grandparents, harvested a crop of people that were all individually shaped by some huge tragedy or hardship. It seems they are all much tougher, have much stronger convictions, and were much more aware of themselves at a much younger age. It may be cheesy, but a line from the aforementioned Fight Club marathon always sticks out to me when I hear it, no matter how distracted I am with laundry folding: "We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives." Great tragedy toughens your skin, it prioritizes your life, and reaffirms the things you take for granted. There are thousands of U.S. soldiers, some even younger than me, overseas right now who have all realized what all of their granddads that fought in Vietnam and WWII were talking about. So what about the rest of us? Will the 9-11/bin Laden/Iraqi conflict shape us? Will we be able to relate to our grandfathers? Or are we, as a society, now too displaced from it or anything like it for it to affect us personally? No one alive today saw the Civil War or the Revolutionary War. None of us saw it, or had family members die in it, or lost a limb or a home or a brother to it. We all know the textbook facts, but unless you were able to speak to someone who was there, and see its effects in their face, it's nearly impossible to grasp how important it was. I'd like to think that this is an observation on the way humans translate hardship, rather than a reflection of my own methods: that the human aspect is what drives a point home. The survivors of World War II are nearly all dead now. Imagine, the babies being born right now will think of these milestones in our grandparents lives the way we, today, think of the Civil War; something distant and displaced into text books.

I have a feeling I'll be writing more about this general topic in the near future.

Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland trailer

Even with all of the damage Hot Topic and mallrats did to the icons of his movies, I still cannot help but love Tim Burton's stuff. It's predictable at times, but I think he's got the right duo in Johhny Depp & Helena Bonham Carter, who, by the way, is going to be the perfect Queen of Hearts. >>

This movie is going to be worth the horrifically inflated ticket price of $9.50. Unfortunately, it doesn't come out until March 2010.

Dream #48029

Last night, I had another installment in my latest series of really fucking weird conspiracy theory spy-movie dreams. Things are already getting hazy, but I know for a fact that I and Jin from LOST were partners in something. I feel like in the beginning we were employees of a catering service at a really large wedding. I'm at a party, and my snake tank is there. I notice there is a mouse in the tank, and I see Fido snap, kill, & eat it, so I get others attention to watch him eat the next one. Then I realize there are at least thirty mice in his tank, all slightly grey and small, and then I finaly see a dark grey and white mouse. However, while I'm distracted with the insanely quick reproductive rate of these mice, everyone is cheering on Snakey. He lunges at a mouse, but instead bites a huge centipede. I immediately begin to freak out, demanding that guests of the party use their phones to look up this particular type of centipede and if it's poisonous. I take Snakey with the centipeded in his mouth with Jin up to the roof. These tiny stickers like gumballs float from somewhere and land on Jin's neck, to which he yanks one off, looks at it, says "Oh, not again" and promptly passes out. I look at Snakey, and the centipede jumps from his mouth at my neck, and I pass out. I wake up and Snakey has been decapitated. The stickers drove Jin mad, and he bit his head off. His body has also been flayed. I am horrified, and the rest of the dream is spent trying to tell people what happened to my pet, but no one really cares enough to listen to the whole story.

Miles Fisher cover of This Must Be The Place by the Talking Heads as dedicated to American Psycho

HolterDent, Ink gets some press!

As you may know, I do caricatures at private parties and select events as a means of supplemental income. I've been doing them for about two years now, and in the past year, I teamed up with one of the best illustrators I know, my friend Derrick Dent, to form HolterDent, Ink. [Notice the incredibly clever play on words.] We recently did caricatures for Rock'N'Romp, an outdoor concert series for music fans that want to see the type of bands that play in smokey bars on Saturday nights in a family friendly setting. We also set up some of our signature Coloring Book Murals, miniature style, for the kids under the guise of my other pet, Rozelle Artists Guild, Inc.. Memphis Daily News wrote us up this week! Check out the article at Rock N Romp Provides Musical Outlet For Parents With Kids in Tow

The Edge Coffeehouse gets press!

The Edge Coffeehouse recently got a write up in the Commercial Appeal, and they even credited Rozelle Artists Guild, Inc. with the mural we did inside!

Read the article here: Midtown coffeehouse offers its special brew of espresso and music

Rob Blackledge

I'm doing an internship with Tom Martin [tommartindesign.com] for the summer. Recently, I've been working on the CD art for a Nashville musician, Rob Blackledge.

Expanded Portraits

This is a series of 8 portraits I did for my final in Digital Imaging I. The objective was to use whichever method we preferred from the project before [this series of self-portraits I did], either a digital to physical, or physical to digital combination. I chose digital to physical, so I took the photos first, then printed them out & drew in their hair on sheet of vellum, then scanned them in. The color in the hair and desaturation of the faces was a last minute alteration, but I really like the way they turned out.

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Feedback always appreciated.

ASMZ: Vulgar Kings on their Dirty Thrones

Lost a friend to cocaine, couple friends to smack,
Troubled hearts map deserts, and they rarely do come back.
Lost a friend to oceans, lost a friend to hills,
Lost a friend to suicide, lost a friend to pills,
Lost a friend to monsters, lost a friend to shame,
Lost a friend to marriage, lost a friend to blame,
Lost a friend to worry, and lost a friend to wealth,
Lost a friend to stubborn pride, and then I lost myself.

Haley Morris-Cafiero

I did an illustration of my Photo professor for the cover of the next Black & White, the school newsletter I run. I didn't really notice till much later that the hammer looks like it is being squeezed crooked in her hand, which I actually kind of like more..


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Mr. Keebler

I just finished a freelance job for Cecil Smith & Associates. I had to take this little clip art guy and redesign him to look more like Mr. Keebler here.

Taylor is in France

Taylor left for France on Friday morning, so we spent Thursday night sitting on the roof enjoying some wine to see him off well. Then I drew a comic about it. And then midterms ended finally!

About Me

So I bought a pack of moleskins the other day firstly because it was the first day my debit card has been reactivated with real monies on it and I was standing in Art Center giddy to spend some of it, but specifically to draw daily comics in. Here's one:



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I've done a couple others but I hate them so I'm not showing you. :P

Photography + Illustration: Self-Portraits

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