Remote Collaboration With Jeff

So last time I was down in New York City, making a film run for Picture Park, I stayed with my good friends Jeff and JP. You'll remember an earlier post of drawing I did with JP while down on another trip. Jeff was another fellow-student at Mass Art and makes some damn fine drawings and paintings, which you can check out by clicking these magic words!
So anyway, Jeff proposed a project to me, to which I agreed. That being: half finished drawings sent though the mail for the other to finish. So I present to you the first batch of drawings by myself and Jeff.

Party in my Tummy

This video was shown to me the other day by co-workers and has completely destroyed my brain. The name of the show its from is "Yo! Gabba Gabba" and it is for kids. I believe showing this program to children will do nothing but encourage them to do lots of drugs later in life.

Red Sox Opener

Here's an AP article from opening day baseball 2008. I was interviewed at a bar early in the morning in Boston and made it. My quote is at the end of the article.
I'm not supposed to reproduce it, but what the hell, I'm in it and I sure as hell aint cutting into their profit!


Baseball Opener Comes Before Dawn in US
March 25, 2008 - 5:51pm
By JAY LINDSAY
Associated Press Writer

BOSTON (AP) - Red Sox fans ate their sausages with eggs and hash browns instead of peppers and onions, and bars were opened so early they couldn't legally serve beer.

And that was just the start of a unique opening day for Boston, where fans rose before the sun to watch the Red Sox defeat the Oakland Athletics in the land of the rising sun.

Bars around Fenway Park and elsewhere catered to big breakfast crowds as the season officially started in Japan at about 6:05 a.m. Eastern time on Tuesday.

Terry Boccelli of Stoneham said she would have made the trip to Boston to watch the defending World Series champions, no matter what time of day or night.

"I could not wait for the Red Sox," said Boccelli, who was at the Cask'n Flagon. "I have withdrawal all winter long."

The area around the park was packed early Tuesday with cars and fans in Red Sox caps and jerseys. Just like a normal game day, the cheers began with the opening pitch, and the "Let's Go Red Sox!" chants followed a few innings after.

But while bars opened earlier than usual, state law bans alcohol sales before 8 a.m.

"Coffee and breakfast instead of beer, kind of unusual," observed Tony Massarotti of Watertown, who joined a large crowd who watched the game on the 90 HDTV screens at Game On, a sports bar attached to Fenway Park.

Mark Gillis, an attorney from Reading, said he thought he was going to be in court first thing in the morning, but the judge moved the case.

"I was like, 'yes!' " said Gillis, who packed his two sons and daughter into the car and headed for Game On. "I figured, what the heck, the opportunity to watch the Red Sox on opening day and still make it to school on time doesn't come around very much."

Oakland fans had it a bit tougher, as the game started at 3 a.m. there.

And some who did wake up couldn't even see the game.

DirectTV said a technical problem blanked out NESN, the Red Sox's local station, and ESPN2, which carried the game around the country, including Oakland. The problem did not affect subscribers with high definition TV, said company spokesman Darris Gringeri.

NESN was back on in the seventh inning, but ESPN2 wasn't fixed until after the game. The company did not specify the cause of the problem or how many people were affected. "We deeply apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused our customers," Gringeri said.

Comcast cable company also had a problem in its Rehoboth facility in southeastern Massachusetts that affected "a small percentage" of customers in that area, said spokeswoman Shawn Feddeman. The problem was fixed about halfway through the game, she said.

Matt Mozzone of Taunton, who had no trouble watching the game at a Boston bar, said he enjoyed knowing he was watching baseball with people around the globe.

"We're sharing something of ours and the Red Sox get to appreciate something of theirs," he said.

(Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Freddie and the Dreamers

I wish bands still had the balls to be this awesome.


Here's a video from their last TV appearance in Britain in 1999

Popeye

When I was a kid my dad sat me down to watch the Popeye movie. I remember it being oddly fascinating, but boring. The style and design of the movie stayed in my brain and I wondered if I saw it again when I was older if I might enjoy it.

Well I saw it again. I did not enjoy it. It was amusingly bad, but too boring to sit through. Everything in the film seemed like an afterthought, like they showed up to start shooting and forgot that no one had written a script yet or something. All the song seem out of place and pointless and bad.

Here’s some examples… listen to the wonderfully thoughtful lyrics and how they give us a subtle look into the character

A better day already

This may be completely lame, but go ahead and watch these videos for a better day.

The Little House

So I hate to just plain rip-off a friend's blog, but my friend JP over at The Velvet Fog posted a few animations and one of them I just had to re-post over here. Its the 1952 Disney animation "The Little House." I probably would never have thought to look for it on my own, but I remember it vividly from when I was a kid (not 1952 mind you). I hope you remember it too, or if viewing for the first time, enjoy the sweetly told narrative like it was a fond memory.

What in the world

There are people in this world that know what this is a picture of. Crazy, aye?

Patriots Win!!!

This photo from REUTERS shows citizens of Backwards Land celebrating the victory of the New England Patriots over the hapless New York Giants in football's championship game. The Patriots will hold a victory parade down Opposite Ave later this week.

Kyle Kendrick to Japan!

Perhaps the best prank I've seen in a long time, Phillies player Brett Myers along with club assistant GM Ruben Amaro Jr inform Kyle Kendrick he has been traded to the Yomiuri Giants in Japan. Watch his face, its great. The best is when they tell him it was a joke, it looks like its the first breath he has taken in ten minuets.

Valet Booth

In front of the hotel where I work as a valet, there's this old-time looking phone booth. We use this booth as a place where the doorman can keep his keys and what not. On slow days it comes in handy as a place where you can sit down and relax while still keeping an eye on whats going on outside.

This is a picture from inside the booth, looking through the little spy-hole in the fake frosting on the glass. You can see an example of some typical Providence, RI architecture across the highway.

Look up "Avenue of the Arts, Providence, RI" on google maps to see where it is.

Bloated al Zaqawi Face

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was the leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq until his death in 1996. He was responable for many road-side bombings, suicide bombings and captive executions. He is believed to be the man who beheads Nick Burg in the now infamous video. Many Iraqis and even Al-Qaeda members were angered my his methods, where he would kill many Muslims, and not just Americans.


After many close calls, al-Zarqawi was finally killed on June 7, 2006 when a US air strike hit the safe house where he was conducting a meeting. Six others were killed in the attack, including Zarqawi's teenage wife, their child and his spiritual advisor Sheik Abd-al-Rahman. Al-Zarqawi was not imediatly killed, but rather lived several hours, probably suffering a great deal from the massive injuries sustained in the bombing.

My friend Will and I were soon captivated with the above photo of al-Zarqawi's bloated, dead face. "Bloated al-Zarqawi Face" became the butt of many jokes and soon, the star of his on internet cartoon! Will completed episode one a while ago, and I have episode two sitting unfinished on my computer. Will's efforts, declaired to be "the worst video on the internet" by many viewers, makes a resergance here today, if I ever finish mine, I'll post it.

January Drawings

Since graduating from art school a few years back, I haven't done the best job of keeping myself active in art making. About a year and a half back I finally bought the recording software Pro-Tools and taught myself guitar. I've been making music ever since.
I've always enjoyed 2-D art as well, but I stopped doing it for a long time. I felt stuck in my painting and I didn't take drawing seriously. I really enjoy the process of painting, but am better at drawing. It took hanging out with my friend JP a few times to realize what drawing can be and how it should be done just to enjoy doing it. With that kept in mind, the results are much better. I've been attempting to paint more like I draw too, and I'll post some results of that soon too.
Click to enlarge, or click here to view the whole set of drawings from the month

Drawing with JP

JP Bouchard and I went to college together at Mass Art in Boston. Right off the bat, we were "the weird kids" at art school. After school, JP moved to New York City and we have kept in touch through the wonders of the interweb.

This past September, while in New York conducting some business, I got to spend a day with good ol' JP and we sat down for a hilarious drawing session that resulted in some grade A material.





Click Here to view the whole set of drawings.

The ActionMen

In high school, I played drums for a punk band called "The ActionMen." Conveniently enough, I also took graphic arts class, so I was able to make many fliers at no cost. I found a bunch of those fliers yesterday while going through some stuff in my basement. Here they are along with three photos of the band in action.