Saturday 13 September 2008

These Aren't the Droids You're Looking for...(A Review of this weeks Films and DVD's)

 So the week is drawing to a close again and I'm thoroughly exhausted after an exceedingly crazy day in work today. In advance, I'm sorry for posting so many youtube videos on this particular blog post but as the title states I've just been watching films and stuff when not in work and this is what I think of them all...take some time out to watch them if you will, you may find something that you like. This is how I've been entertaining myself this week.

Running my mum's shop hasn't been quite the walk in the park that I had imagined it may be...typical really. At the beginning of the week I mentioned that a bunch of Illustration folk did the Art Bar pub quiz, anyway I was kicking myself on not being able to get the Star Wars question, so when I was reminded of the scene referring to the question by a friend, I remembered the answer...too little too late. My embarrassment at my absolute lack of knowledge about Han Solo using Luke Skywalker's Lightsaber in Episode V has pushed me back into Star Wars mode as it must be oh, I don't know, three months since I last watched them all?...I was intending to do some work this evening but after such a mad day I'm going to sit with some beer and a pizza and watch Episode 1 (Not my favourite of the Star Wars saga...but where else is there to start?). The following scene isn't the scene that was mentioned in the question but simply a classic original school Star Wars scene.


Classic Alec Guinness. 
'These aren't the droids you're looking for'

Generally when I have a busy day I can't be bothered doing too much drawing or illustrating, and this week was no real exception - I finished up my answer to the Illustration Friday brief to illustrate the word 'Clutter' here, which was my main illustration goal for the week. The first film I watched this week was one that I discovered through my good friend Redd, now I'd never heard of it before and I'm not a huge Sci-Fi fan (apart from Star Wars of course...) but I remember he had mentioned a film called 'Man from Earth'.

Man From Earth

Now I'll admit it's an odd film but it's one that get's the mind racing. I'd say that it's the most intriguing film I've seen this year without a doubt, due mainly to the style of the film. When I first began watching I must admit i was thinking 'Well...this looks fairly low budget...' and as a result I had fairly low expectations, usually something like this may make me want to switch a film off or not give it any real attention but I must admit I was glued to this one after a short while. I couldn't have switched it off if I was forced to. I'd say to give it a watch if you want something thought-provoking to view. I liked it anyway. I'll not give anything of the story away incase anybody does decide to watch.

On thursday I took charge of mum's coffee shop, it's been okay in general I'm just pretty tired. Oh well I have two days off now anyway. 


A pink Danny Wallace style car that I saw 
on the way home from work on Thrusday.

I've also been getting back into Black Books again. On Thursday evening, lets just say I wasn't much in the mood for a film so I watched this.

Bill Bailey - Pure genius.

Last night's film was 'Waiting', a rather comical take on life working as a waiter. I'm not really a huge Ryan Reynolds fan, and I don't act like this as a waiter but this film does make me laugh.


Waiting.

...and then tonight I watched Star Wars Episode 1, but I already told you that though right?


Weird Al Yankovic sums up Star Wars:Episode 1  perfectly.

I also forgot to mention that due to this week being the 7th anniversary of the World Trade Centre attacks we watched a programme about the hotel next to the world trade centres, anyway, that started me off thinking about the whole 9/11 conspiracy thing. I'm not saying that I believe it as both sides have such a great supporting argument, but I know that I'd like to believe that the American government couldn't possibly do such a thing to their public. But no one seems to have a definitive answer. Anyway, I don't know, i'm the king of sitting on the fence I guess. What are your thoughts? I haven't posted any videos here simply out of respect.

Ciao

JAB

Thursday 4 September 2008

September's Sea Legs

I haven't posted anything in the last few days as all I've really been doing is drawing, working and playing on my DS, and instead of posting work on here (except maybe the odd sketchbook page) most of my work will be going towards Sea Legs, which I recommend you keep an eye on at the end of every week for a good ol' bit of Illustration Friday, go have a look, it'll all make some sense then.
 
Stuff that made me smile this week - The first was a comic posted by the genius Jeffrey Brown over at The Holy Consumption Blog. I dunno, I found it hilarious - maybe it's just my humour - let me know what you think... Is it just simply typical John Alan Birch humour?

Secondly, was some dutch comedy in work on Saturday - four men from the netherlands came into out shop and had a stack of beers and food, anyway, when they had finished their food they decided that they fancied some coffee - one of the men ordered four black coffees when one of the men (who had retired to the couches at the front of the shop in order to read the days newspaper) said quite loudly "NO! I will have some milk with mine..." to which the remaining three men burst out in laughter saying "He is an Englishman!....Always with the Milk and Sugar, Milk and Sugar! HAHAHAHA!" I suppose I would maybe have found this a little offensive if I were a true patriotic Englishman, instead I found it quite comical, apart from the man sitting alone on the couches reading the paper feeling a little dejected simply for asking for a drop of milk...C'est la vie.


Step Brothers: Unrated Trailer... (Watch your language...)

Had a nice two days off from work in Dundee again. Saturday night Jen and I went to see Step Brothers at Cineworld which I thoroughly enjoyed - however it wasn't a scratch on the genius of Anchorman, but then again I'm not sure if any Will Ferrell film will ever be that good again!

On Sunday Jen's mum and Dad came up and took us out for some lunch, we went to a Bar called 'The Town' that I don't think I've ever even seen before in my 3 years in Dundee! The food was pretty enjoyable and I can never complain about a pint of ale with lunch on a Sunday.

Yesterday me and Jen headed into town so I could pick up some new shoes - something I've been in desperate need of since before my trip to Morocco but have been too lazy to do anything about. After that we went for a leisurely stroll in Balgay Park as the weather was the warmest it's been in a while. We also spent ast night with uni chums at the art bar doing the pub quiz which we, 'the team formerly known as team wolf' or 'symbol of a wolf' won, take that arty-social-scene like people! KAPOW!

As for work today, we were fairly busy despite it being a pretty darned gloomy day, after work I popped by Dunns Art Stores and picked up a new A3 portfolio (another thing to do on the ever-growing list of things to do) and this week promises not to be a boring one as Mum is off to Croatia and I am left in charge of the shop for a few days - when she's back we're going to be visiting Wallasey for a day or two though which I am looking forward to quite a bit!

Tonight I'm going to get started on Tracey's 'clutter' challenge...

Hope you are all well...

JAB.

Monday 1 September 2008

Take me back to Constantinople...

This week I've felt fairly creative, after having my two days off, buying art equipment and sorting everything out, including backing up all of the work on my computer. Mostly I've been coming up with idea after idea and not actually finishing the work but it's a starting point. After coming up with a bunch of ideas I decided that I should go back and get stuff that's been on my mind for quite a while out of the way first.

Firstly, this Batman idea had been bouncing around inside my head since before I finished Uni, I've just always thought it was quite odd the way that the old Batman song used to go 'dinner, dinner Batman' or at least that's how we sang it as kids playing Batman in the school playground.  Anyways, a Lightyear song made me thing about it again and then this image of a slightly podgy Batman was born. The reason for the two different versions is simply because of the fact that i couldn't decide whether to use the actual Batman style fonts or whether the handwritten text gave it more comic value. I think that the second version is better in both typography and compsition.

Attempt number one.

Attempt number two.

Another idea that had popped into my head a good while ago was to produce a comic-zine for Mr.Eraser that I created in 2006, well I hadn't given any thought to the idea of making him into a comic since probably well over a year ago but recently my Mum kept saying 'I think you should do something with Mr.Eraser' and I thought that I really should. Also I don't think that many people's Mum's would encourage them to spend their time making comics...Awesome.

Cover page for 'The Escapades of Mr.Eraser'. 
Watch this space for  updates...

Besides these two ideas I finally finished a drawing of a tree that I'd been planning and attempting since I was in Morocco in July. An idea that came after listening to 'Time is All Around' by Regina Spektor. Listen, I do get my inspirations from places other than songs, ok? This is simply a coincidence. Anyway, I can't put the image of the tree up until my next blog as I am Dundee for a few days and the image is in Perth...

I also started an painting of a bin. Just wait, I'll show you when it's finished and you'll probably understand.

Apart from drawing it's been a relatively relaxing week, I had a few quiet days in work and then I spent Sunday sorting out an online portfolio and CV for a job in Liverpool. I have also been listening to much music, I discovered another two Mountain Goats albums that I didn't have and also got hold of some things I had been meaning to for a while such as They Might Be Giants and the Mighty Mighty Bosstones. Rock on...

Goodbye