I'm downloading audiobooks of books I've already read for the flight (Sarah Vowell and David Sedaris).

Here's the full NightHawks poster:


I've also got a doodle up on David Malki!'s "Scraps of Crap."

Labels: comical

"I've never bought condoms before." Does that line sound odd to anyone else?

I've been learning about HDRs and tone mapping and I think I'm going to try a bunch while I'm on vacation.

Here's my first experiment from last week's Felt Club:

Labels: comical, snappy

My new friend Erica pointed me in the direction of Buster Stuff where they sell replicas of Buster Keaton's trademark porkpie hat. For years I've been looking for a Buster hat! Thanks Erica & Buster Stuff!

Labels: snappy

Ranking the Harry Potter films from best to worst:

3
4
5
2
1

The Felt Club photo I posted Sunday night as a diversion. I think I went a little overboard on the effects.

Labels: comical

I decided it was time to bake something in my new apartment. My kitchen is smaller, but my oven is new, and since the apartment is so much smaller the smell of freshly baked cookies travels much faster.

P:

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (16oz)

Directions
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 375°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment or wax paper.
Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl.

Beat together butter and sugars in a large bowl with an electric mixer at high speed until pale and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Lightly beat 1 egg with a fork in a small bowl and add 1 3/4 tablespoons of it plus 2 remaining whole eggs to butter mixture, beating with mixer until creamy, about 1 minute. Beat in vanilla. Reduce speed to low and mix in flour mixture until just blended, then stir in chips.

Scoop 1/4 cup batter for each cookie, arranging mounds 3 inches apart, on 2 baking sheets. Flatten mounds into 3-inch rounds using moistened palm of your hand. Form remaining cookies on additional sheets of parchment.

Bake, 1 sheet at a time, until golden, 13 to 15 minutes. Transfer cookies to a rack to cool and continue making cookies in same manner using cooled baking sheets.

Labels: icecream, snappy

NSFW?

Went to the flea market Sunday and found a new record player stand and record rack and a missing piece to one of my bookshelves.

I'll post the craigslist for the old record player stand here if anyone wants it.

Labels: comical

I made these for the Rebel Without A Cause cemetery screening a few weeks ago but realized I never posted them:

They're the same recipe as these brownies, only this time I added a bunch of Trader Joe's Chocolate Covered Espresso Beans.

The crunchy espresso beans were a bit odd at first, but they grew on me. Very strong though, vanilla ice cream helps.

Labels: icecream, snappy

I was the only one at work who disliked Transformers.

I'm not a Michael Bay fan. With every film of his the pill gets harder to swallow. But I like robots and I like Transformers. So I thought if I kept my expectations low I could maybe enjoy a shot of a Transformer transforming and maybe two robots fighting for a bit.

Technically, both wishes were met...but with a catch. The rapid cuts, swooping cameras, spastic animation and busy character designs made it near impossible to make out how the characters were transforming and who was fighting who where. There's one shot of Optimus and a red shirt Decepticon (Devastator?) falling off an overpass in the trailer. That's the most coherent action shot in the entire film.

The rest was just a big ole mess.

For the last week or so I've been watching the first season of Transformers on YouTube along with some clips from the animated movie. I didn't remember much of anything, other than the iconic designs of some characters (which I already knew had been thrown out for the movie). I was surprised how simple yet effective it all was. Sure there was cheese and camp and all that, but it was earnest, it had defined characters, it had drama and it had robots fighting.

It reminds me of a common conversation I have with a friend of mine about comic book adaptations and remakes/sequels. "It's not that hard" is our mantra. It's amazing the complicated depths some filmmakers go to screw up simplest stories. Maybe they mistake simplicity for stupidity and childishness so they feel the need to complicate things so that they appear more "adult."

I guess what bugs me the most is the lack of vision and imagination. My most common complaint with adaptations or movies in general I guess. Why not aim higher? Why not shoot for a Transformers film on the same level as Star Wars or Raiders Of The Lost Ark? They were oscar nominated. As it stands it's just another narrow minded franchise, where they're so happy to have a big opening weekend they can't wait to start the sequel, never realizing that if they'd put a little thought and effort into it, they could have had the next Bond or Star Trek series instead of the next failed Matrix or Pirates trilogy.

Looking back that last critique is sort of out of place. Transformers doesn't have 60+ years of source material like other comic book characters going through failed franchises right now, so the Bond/Star Trek analogy doesn't really fit cause they probably only have a trilogy's worth of stories. Still, unless someone else takes over the franchise, there's not much reason to come back.

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On the plus side:

Labels: critiqua, snappy

Sicko is probably Michael Moore's simplest film. It's streamlined, it stays on message, there's fewer gags, and despite being two hours long it feels short.

As a result of all that, I left Sicko less worked up than I left Bowling or Fahrenheit. Maybe it's apathy and the sense of defeat I felt after the 2004 election. Maybe it's my Buddhist practice and the lessons in not putting my faith in politics or the romantic idea that social change can end suffering. Either way, I left the movie a little down, with only a dim glimmer of hope that free national heath care was possible in this country in my lifetime.

The movie does a great job of hitting all the main arguing points, "national health care = communism," "the government decides your fate," "doctors won't make as much," "taxes!!!" etc, etc. Everything you've heard when the topic comes up is touched on by Moore. Nothing shocking or really new to me, but it's all very articulate and succinct and easy to pass on to people who might not know the ins and outs of the argument.

A lot of reviews seem happy to report that Michael Moore doesn't even show up in the movie until half way through. And then they refer to his inevitable appearance as the point where the movie goes downhill. I'm not sure what movie they expect to see when they go to a Michael Moore film, but I go to see Michael Moore. I like his persona, I enjoy his sense of humor, I even click with his brand of melodrama and manipulation. I think it's a shame that his critics (and even himself?) seem to believe that the topics he brings up can only be taken seriously when he's off camera. Or maybe they'd rather believe that even though they feel the same about American medicine, they don't want to face the thought of agreeing with Moore, and his presence ruins the illusion.

I know a lot of people can't stand Moore, and maybe this was his attempt to reach out to them by staying off camera and toning down his usual schtick. Which I guess worked in creating a very focused Sicko, but as a Michael Moore fan I couldn't help but feel like it was all a little gentle and watered down.

Perhaps after the Fahrenheit backlash (and overall conservative pendulum that swung back to win Bush a second term) Moore realized that his power was better used to simply bring the topic up for discussion rather than attack it with a megaphone.

I hope, similarly to Fahrenheit, Sicko gives a lot of small health care and pharmaceutical documentaries the chance for distribution in the coming year.

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It's funny that an online character generator creates a more accurate caricature of myself than I do.

Labels: critiqua

You'd think having no hot water in the shower would be fine in this cursed heat wave...but that is not the case.

The line art I posted Sunday night:


The flat color I posted Monday night:

Labels: comical