No, not me...and not really castles. But, yesterday at the Ex (Canadian National Exhibition, for you out-of-country sorts who happen upon this post through a series of errant clicking), Myles and I caught a glimpse of the International Sand Sculpting competition. Regrettably, I did not take pictures of all of the sculptures (there were 6 in total), created by representatives from Canada, USA, Italy, Australia, Japan and...uh...Germany? I can't remember where the last one was from and I don't have a picture of his sculpture, but rest assured that it was as equally magnificent as those by his fellow competitors. [Edit: I just checked the site and the final competitor was from Ireland.]
This is by the entrant from Australia. It has a fantasy feel (the artist was working on a large dragon head while we were watching).
Without much to say about each sculpture, I think I'll just let you see what I saw - and perhaps you, too, will be as much in awe of the sheer talent and creativity of these artists as was I.
I HAD to take a closer shot of the cat. The detail is pretty impressive. The grain on the wood and the texture of the stone border look very realistic!
This one from Italy was my favourite. The detail is so fine, it looks like it could have been sculpted in stone!
Myles liked this one from the US the best. He was most impressed by the cloth connecting the people. This was the only piece with a title: The Blind Leading the Blind.
This sculpture has home field (beach??) advantage. The Canadian artist has a unique science fiction style - look at all the eyes!!
I'll have to keep an eye on the CNE web site to see who wins the competition, which I think ends today. My vote is still for Italy, but Myles argues that it's pretty 'traditional'. He likes "The Blind Leading the Blind" but, while the patience and skill required to create the thin cloth is undeniable, I did not really like the people themselves. Maybe he spent more time refining the details on the people after we left...I hope they post pictures on the web site so I can see the finished sculptures. [Edit: Myles is now singing a new song about how he actually prefers the Canadian one, then the Italian and THEN the US...that is a far cry from what he ORIGINALLY expressed, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt...THIS TIME. ~ks] We had a hard time figuring out what the Japanese sculptor was making. One side looked a bit like Alice in Wonderland, and the other seemed to have a scuba diver??? Very strange, indeed.
If you get a chance to see them in person, I would recommend you do so, because these pics really do not do them justice!!
I recently uploaded a bunch of photos from my phone to my picasa web albums and found a few that I felt like sharing - all from stuff that went down this past month:
During TCAF, Myles and I met up with Niall and his friend (whose names escapes me...Rupert, maybe?) at TCAFête, which was held at Pauper's Pub on Bloor Street, and after grabbing a booth we decided to start up some comic jams! Well, I steer clear of paper and pens, since I don't have any artistic abilities, but Niall and Rupert (??) started up these pieces. I'm not sure how they ended up, or if they even caught on, but it was fun to start them off, anyway.
A pretty funky dragon-monster by "Rupert".
A menagerie of aliens from the creative mind of Niall Eccles!!
Myles LOVES comic jams, even though he is slightly less skilled at drawing than others...I like this piece of a balloon flying a kite, but I forgot to take a picture of his other piece that I liked even better - it was a slice of pizza and an eggplant on a disco dance floor. Heehee...very cute, indeed.
My eldest sister bought a book called 365 Things to Do with Paper and Cardboard, which has turned out to be a great babysitting tool. A few weeks ago, Zoë and I created these cute little cardboard mice. Zoë was in charge of all executive decisions regarding colour and style, and she decorated the dresses and the bows with polka dots. I took care of the cutting and taping - grown up stuff!! I love that they can't stand up on their own until you add the tail. We've made a few other paper projects since...only 362 more to go!
Most of you will have seen these guys pop up in my Facebook photo albums. They are the best ever gumball machine toys! The Spider-man, Iron Man, Wolverine (at the front), Thor, Hulk and Captain America came from machines Myles and I found in Vancouver/Whistler when we were there last year. A few weeks ago, after seeing Thor, we discovered that there is a new set! Dr. Doom, Venom, Cyclops, The Thing, and Wolverine (brown suit, in the back) are the newest additions to our collection. We still need Daredevil...I have a feeling we will try tonight when we go to see X-Men: First Class. *fingers crossed*
And finally, I need to share these pictures of the weirdest carrot I've ever seen. I don't even know how this happens - the two pieces were actually fused at one end, but I broke them apart out of sheer curiosity. *shudder*
Eesh...almost 9 months since I posted here. Meh. No excuses and no apologies! Just going to forge ahead with a post about a recurring event documented on this here blog - the Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF), which took place May 8th and 9th at the Metro Toronto Reference Library (ugh - I'm such a procrastinator). Anyway, this year was extra cool because my super-talented, artist friend Niall, who is currently creating a "Character of the Day" for each day of the year (!!!) set up a table and pimped his wares Check out his project here: www.nialleccles.com
Niall Eccles and his Character of the Day project at TCAF
As per usual, I spent my time at TCAF hunting down my favourites, discovering new talent, and buying a buttload of books!
A view of the main floor before it filled up with the masses...it was shoulder to shoulder by the afternoon on Saturday.
More awesomeness from the bizarre mind of Scott Campbell.Check out Great Showdowns where he posts his drawings of classic movie showdowns. I am partial to The Princess Bride showdown between Inigo Montoya and the Six-Fingered Man.
Ken Turner has an amazing style, strongly influenced by Tim Burton. I think he only heard me say "kay" when he asked how I spelled my name. :(
I will never NOT get a sketch from Graham Annable. He's just too awesome to miss. I think this is another Spock/Mysterio piece, carrying on from last year's theme. That's MY interpretation, anyway. I could be way off, though...
I was worried for a moment that Dustin Harbin cancelled because he was not in his usual spot by the water, but was relieved when I found him with Koyama Press. I like to stock up on any new comics he has for sale and was pleasantly surprised that his Diary Comics #2 came with a free original art page. It took me forever to choose just one, but I finally decided on a page with puppies and Hurley from Lost!
Poor Myles missed out on Sunday, so he wasn't able to get in line for Pendleton Ward of Adventure Time with Finn and Jake fame. He was a last minute addition to TCAF, and he was selling a CD at his signing table with a bunch of random recordings and a choose-your-own-AUDIO-adventure! My favourite track was him playing and singing Sea of Love (Cat Power version) on a piano he found in his hotel while drunk at 4am. He's apparently a man of many talents.
If you've read my previous convention reports, you will already be well-aware of my adoration for all things Nate Powell. I misunderstood and thought that his new graphic novel, Any Empire, would be available for purchase, but when I spoke to him he said that it's actually going to launch at San Diego next month. BOOOO!!! Oh well, I got my sneak peek of the pages when I was at the SDCC a few years ago (he even remembered me!!! I think that means we are BFFs...heh). I will just have to wait to buy it like a regular chump...unless I can find someone to pick it up for me in SD!!
Did I ever tell you how amazing Top Shelf Productions is? Besides publishing works by a bunch of my favourite artists (Jeffrey Brown, Jeff Lemire, Nate Powell, and Andy Runton, to name a few), they are also smart enough to employ the incomparable Leigh Walton who has a sneaky way of getting me to try out all kinds of new books. This time, he convinced me to buy Lucille because the French author Luduvic Debeurme, was in North America for the first time and I shouldn't let the opportunity to have my book signed pass me by. Lucille is a beautifully told story of two teenagers fighting their personal demons and finding each other. And now my copy has this beautiful sketch on the front page. Thanks so much, Leigh, for being so good at what you do!
My "fun find" this year was a children's book series called Guinea Pig: Pet Shop Private Eye, by Colleen AF Venable. I picked up the first two books of the series for Myles, who was particularly drawn to the titles: "Hamster and Cheese" and "And Then There Were Gnomes". The stories are really cute, but the art by Stephanie Yue is even more adorable! Now I can't wait for the third book, "The Ferret's A Foot".
Okay. That's enough of that. TCAF is probably the convention that I look forward to the most. I'm glad that it now occurs annually instead of biennially. I'll have to come up with a new theme for my sketchbook before the next one, though. It's probably about time to retire Mysterio...maybe.
[EDIT: Something strange happened and my original post disappeared...I found this version but it wasn't the *final* one...it was missing stuff about my "fun find" which I've rewritten. ~ks]
I'm about to make a prediction for the sleeper hit of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) 2010!! Not the sleeper hit that will win over audiences worldwide, and gain critical acclaim as it sweeps up awards left, right and centre (I'm thinking Juno, here). No, I'm talking about a personal "hidden gem" sleeper hit...one that I pick based on the TIFF programmer's description alone, which can sometimes be very misleading. Most of my film choices are based on some sort of known variable: director, writer, actor, country. I'm extremely loyal to my favourites, which doesn't leave much room for gambling.
But, last year, gamble I did, on a Spanish film called Cell 211. Kudos to Latin American cinema programmer, Diana Sanchez, for writing such a compelling film description that I just HAD to check it out. My boyfriend, his friend, and I all came out of that movie completely blown away. Such an original and interesting story, backed by amazing, believable acting (the lead actor is also pretty easy on the eyes...*wink wink*). Check out the trailer and see for yourself!!
This year, it was toss-up between another Sanchez pick from Spain called Julia's Eyes, and Blame, an Australian film that is part of the Discovery program, which is always a bit of a risk since it's usually full of first time directors. Both films sound exciting, suspenseful, and very original. I want to see Julia's Eyes because I think it will be interesting to see how the director manipulates the audience's vision as the lead character slowly goes blind. Blame sounds compelling because I am a big fan of the slow reveal, and it sounds like there might be some unexpected twists and turns along the way.
In the end, I went with Blame as my pick for sleeper hit...mostly because I am too scared to see Julia's Eyes by myself and Myles can't make it to the screening. Maybe I will be able to muster up enough courage before then to wait in the rush line. Hopefully I can find someone to join me. Any takers?
I'll be sure to let you know if my predictions were right. Who knows? Maybe TIFF will have TWO sleeper hits for me this year!! *fingers crossed*
Let me begin by saying I have pretty much zero interest in guns and firearms, and weapons in general. Although, there was that one Christmas when I asked Santa for a cap gun, which he kindly delivered, and which I'm sure I promptly broke or lost . But, in my more mature and responsible adult years, I've become a bit hippy-dippy and now loathe guns. Although, I don't really have a problem with video game shooters - better on screen than in real life, I say!!
Anyway, I've discovered another medium where I am able to tolerate guns and weapons: reality competition television!!! While randomly trolling the interweb, I came across a History Channel show called Top Shot that seemed like it had everything I look for in a reality show: team competition, elimination challenges, voting, a little bit of the social game, and mad shooting skillz.
Okay, I don't really look for shooting skills when I watch reality television (The Ultimate Fighter would be a VERY different show....), but I can certainly appreciate when a 22-year old kid corrects for over-compensating for wind and hits a target 600 yards (that's 4 CFL fields including endzones!!!) away with a scoped Remington 700 sniper rifle. I THINK that's impressive...only because the other dude couldn't do it, not because I'm pretending to know stuff about guns.
The show is hosted by reality competition television's favourite under-achiever, Colby Donaldson, who has picked up a few hosting tips from über-host, Jeff Probst. But, by far, the best part of the show is the elimination nomination, which is a bit like voting people off the island in Survivor, but on Top Shot, the two people people with the most votes compete head-to-head to see who gets kicked off. What's so great about the nomination process, you ask? Why, it's an open vote where you have to shoot the person's target RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIS FACE!!!! It's deliciously evil and sometimes awkward, especially when people vote for personal or selfish reasons.
The first season just finished and they have already put out a casting call for season 2, which excites me to no end!! In the mean time, I will try to find some way to kill time...perhaps with WCG Ultimate Gamer Season 2? More acceptable shooting!!!!
Psssssssst....I've also started a more topical blog that's loosely about games and gaming....key word: LOOSELY. If you are so inclined, you can check it out here: blinkinghazards.blogspot.com/
Heh...I was pretty naive to think that, just because I committed to a weekly blog last post, I would be motivated enough to update more regularly. Apparently, turning over that leaf KILLS it. So, instead of saying something ridiculous like, "I will blog every week", I will revert to the more realistic, "I'll blog whenever the hell I want." Right now is a 'hell I want" moment because of TCAF! That's the Toronto Comic Arts Festival, for you n00bs....or as I like to call you, "non-nerds".
My TCAF experience this year had a mini-prelude and a pseudo(but-not-really)-related interlude leading up to the main event. First off, TCAF hosted an event on April 26th as part of Keep Toronto Reading called, Graphically Speaking 2010: Jeffrey Brown's Undeleted Scenes, where Brown presented a short lecture on his "process" and then fielded some questions. Myles had to work late that night and was going to miss most of the lecture, so I took some video so he could see what he missed. Here is a short sample: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6z7SzO3Yco4
I have the rest of the lecture, but it's very long...maybe some day I will chop it up and post it...MAYBE. I've learned my lesson and will never commit to anything ever again, EVER. :P
Of course, no comic artist signing is complete without the obligatory sketch request. Lately, I've been giving artists a choice between Mysterio and Spock. Jeffrey went with Spock:
He's pretty much teh awesome.
The following Saturday was Free Comic Book day. HOORAY! More nerdful glee! Although, seeing as I've yet to read about 80% of the free comics I've collected over the years, I made a conscious decision to limit the number of comics I picked up this year. It helped that I was 'delayed' leaving the apartment in the morning (it may or may not have had something to do with WoW, but I'll admit to nothing!) so the only store I hit up was Paradise Comics. They had a three book limit, so I just grabbed some kid-friendly comics to read and then pass on to my niece. Gotta get her started early! The plus side of Paradise Comics was most certainly the guest artists from whom I received these sketches of Spock (Leonard Kirk and Richard Isanove, respectively):
I'm glad I got that Isanove, since I'm going to miss his next appearance at the Hobbystar Fan Appreciation event in June, and then he's moving back to France. He says it will only be for a year or two, but I think it will more likely be for EVER. *tear*
And now, on to TCAF! Hmm...I don't have a lot to add to Myles' report except to say that I *heart* Kagan McLeod. Last year at TCAF was the first time I got a sketch from him (of Spock) so this year I was going to ask him for a Mysterio. But, TCAF eve, Myles saw that Kagan posted some original art on Facebook that he did in advance to sell at TCAF, which included...A MYSTERIO!!! *jaw drop* When we got to TCAF, I lost Myles for a split second, and when I caught up with him, he was already dishing out the dough for the Mysterio original art! YIPPEE!!! Here he is in all his glory:
I love to just wander aimlessly around the floor at TCAF. But, this year I had a hidden agenda that involved some of my favourite returning independent and/or web comic creators: Matt Wiegle, Scott Campbell, Dustin Harbin, and Graham Annable. Wiegle (who is the featured artist review on the latest episode of Digital Kontent) seemed okay with drawing me a Mysterio and went with the test tubey-shaped head (as opposed to the more common fishbowl shape):
I asked Scott Campbell to choose between Spock and Mysterio but, being the super awesome dude that he is, he drew me BOTH! He drew Spock first and was embarrassed by the impossible angles of his fingers...hence, Mysterio's reaction:
Here's a fun little trick: after an artist spoils you with an awesome sketch, just show it to his friends and say, "Well, this is what HE did...but you can just do whatever." Friendly rivalry can go a long way, so Dustin and Graham both kicked it up a notch:
Spock as Mysterio!!! WHO KNEW???
Umm...yeah. So, this is pretty much my favourite. *heart*
I ran into Jason Truong who suggested that I get a sketch from Roger Langridge (in the interest of full disclosure, I will admit that I had to google his name because I forgot it...in fact, I may have never really known it...). Anyway, his work on The Muppet Show comic is so awesome! ANY fans of The Muppet Show should check out the comic, too. He drew up this Spock that actually looks a lot like my dad:
And FINALLY! We get to Ryan Kelly. If you read Myles' TCAF report, you'll already know that he almost started a public domestic by requesting a Mysterio from Ryan, which turned out to be AMAZING. Sorry, Myles, but "at least ONE of us got a Mysterio sketch" is neither comforting nor validating. :P Well, at least I always have Spock to fall back on. This one has a fancy laser gun! PEW PEW!!!
Here you see that Ryan Kelly is a BAD listener because that is NOT how I spelled out my name to him. I forgive him, though...he meant well. *pew pew pew*
I just did the one day at TCAF. I think I fared pretty well, and my wallet couldn't have handled another day (or even an hour!!) there. I picked up lots of books that I am looking forward to reading, and may some day even review them. MAYBE.
*NOTE: I am not now, nor have I ever been, a Trekkie. I just like the way Spock looks. Bowl cut, FTW!!
In a feeble attempt to revive this sorry excuse for a blog, I'm going to take my sister's advice and try to write a 'lil something about the random nerdy shit I get up to every week. Well, not ALL of it is nerdy, but they are most certainly random. This week: random British drama.
Married Single Other
I had no idea what this show was, so I looked it up: Dawn from the Office (UK), Tully from Being Human, and Jo from Spooks??!?! Those are three of my favourite British shows!!! Done and done. Married Single Other is about three couples who are, well, married, single or 'other'. Lillie and Eddie are high school sweethearts who have been together for a bazillion years, have two sons, but are not married (not from Eddie's lack of trying, though). Dickie and Babs are married, but not happily. They're plagued with money problems, and Dickie is a bit of - actually, a lot of - a loser. Clint, an unlikely playboy (well, would YOU think this guy gets all the ladies??) has a one night stand with Abbey, falls in love, but can't win her over...something about him being a bit of a sleazeball.
It's not the most amazing show ever made, but it's very well written, very well acted, and there is something very beautiful about the way it's filmed (I'm thinking of Joe, Lillie and Eddie's youngest son, writing out pi to a whole whack-load of decimal places to keep his mind off of other, more serious and dire things happening around him). I actually think that this is where the show really succeeds - its drama is dramatic, its comedy is comedic, and the reality that it's trying to create actually feels pretty real. I one hundred percent believe that Lillie and Eddie are as much in love now, as they were when they first started dating sixteen (or however many) years ago, and that Clint really does want to change his slimy ways because he's actually in love for the first time. And I believe that Babs wants to find a reason to stay with Dickie, and Dickie can't help but be a pathetic failure.
I dunno...maybe I'm just a closet hopeless romantic. I have no idea if I should be recommending it to people. All I know is that I enjoy it quite a bit, and it's probably only going to be 6 episodes, which I both love and hate about British television.
Oh, there's one other cool thing I like about this show: the theme song. It's called Find My Way Back Home, by Priscilla Ahn (she's a fiddy Korean!!), and it's almost too pretty. Her sugary sweet voice, the uber-folky ukulele, and the eerie singing saw somehow work. I'm inclined to check out more of her stuff (so far, I've listened to her cover of The Beatles' Julia and it's pretty awesome, too).
