I'm Telling You!

This is the man I love...

2009-08-11T18:40:00.005-04:00

Nick and I were talking last night like ah-halways and he said something funny. Because I always say it, I went, "Nick, you're so funny.. SMELLING! HAW!" And then and then he went all sad-face and said that he didn't want to be Dirt Patch (and meant Pig Pen, from Peanuts). I LOST IT cause it's Nick and he's a funny guy. Well, many other jokes later, involving stink lines, and I drew this for him.

It's his profile picture on Facebook. Mwahah his family can see it. :)

Wedding Portrait of Nick and Kate: Cavepeople

2009-08-19T00:46:00.004-04:00

First in a series that I *WILL* complete. Even if it kills me. >:C I need some encouragement!

Wedding Portrait of Nick and Kate: Hippies

2009-08-26T02:37:00.002-04:00

Lost & Found

2008-02-06T17:02:00.001-05:00

I went out of the country for the first time this past fall. Well, it was just to Canada; that's not technically out of the country to me. I only met one person with an accent! What a wasted trip. :T Anyhoo, while there, I went into this shop run by an incredibly nice, old Indian woman and bought myself some authentic Indian hoop earrings with a scrillion beads each! I love me some funky earrings and these are some of the funkiest. One of the reasons they are so funkay is how many beads there are, and how much noise they make. Save the little ninja earrings I have with little bells, they make the most sounds and I just love it.

Going to class, I sing to myself (sometimes) and skip along merrily. When I move my head it makes a neat tska tska sound. I am easily amused. "La La La," is what I sing, the universal lyrics for when one doesn't know the right words to a song. I'd sing it for you here but, well, my picture does it justice. Haha!

Anyhoo, as I was bobbing my head merrily to the song in my head, enjoying the tska tska sound to the beat, I suddenly realized that I was not hearing the sound in stereo. "Vhat is zees? Ah due naht knoe vhat kuld be zee problehm!" As exhibited before, when I become angry or confused, I become French. Don't ask; doctors are still looking for a cure for this condition.

I looked to the right, because I can take my eyes out and look at my own ears sans mirror, I noticed! :O! NO EARRING!!!

NO!!! NOT MY JINGLE JANGLY EARRING! The ones I paid $2.00/pair, CANADIAN DOLLARS! Never again will I hear the comforting tska tska! No longer will I get compliments on my lovely, exotic fashion! Never more will my ear lobes be kind of hurting from the weight of all the beads!

I trudged back to my car, the soundtrack of my walk squelched without the beat my earrings supplied. My book bag suddenly felt heavier, my shoes like lead. The span of the parking lot was suddenly extended ten-fold.

Since my day was completely ruined, I decided not to look at anything else around me, focusing instead on the ground beneath. Who cares about that bird over there? My earring was gone. There's a clown making balloon animals? My interest is nil. Free snow cones with my choice of flavor? NO! Unless it's earring-flavored I want no part in it!

But hark! What is that on the ground, not one foot from my car door? Something silvery... glistening amongst the pebbles. Could it be.. maybe a dime? NO! HEY COOL BEANS! IT'S MY EARRING!!!
Apparently it had fallen off of its post when I got out of the car and was waiting for me to return all day. Aw man. What a fantastic day.

Oh, if only I could lose thins like this all the time, just so I'll feel super great when I find them again.

My relationship with Blogger

2008-06-22T21:47:00.010-04:00

I have not been kind to Blogger.

As you see here, in the beginning, Blogger and I had a wonderful relationship. I updated it, gave it a new reason to live, making it beautiful and adding unbelievable content to its life. It, in turn, gave me a reason to live (online), a reason to devote hours to figuring out just how to add my own icon to the link bar and how to hide that God-awful navigation bar without breaking Blogger's rules. Oh, our love was unmatched.. something to be envied. Frolicking! IN THE FLOWERS! That's true love if'n I ever saw it.

But then.. the late nights began to happen. While I had this established relationship with blogger, I was still... longing for something more. Something better to spend time with on those late nights. Something that didn't freeze up on me or misplace my embedded images when I would make a post. What did I run into? What is it that kept me company all-hours, making me laugh and exposing me to new and exciting stuff I had never seen before? Why, Stumble Upon! I'll admit, I was spending more time with SU than Blogger but darn it all, it was exciting! Besides, SU valued my opinions, whether or not I liked something it gives me. Blogger never did that! I was longing for adventure, excitement. Fun.

Finally, the dam broke. In a flurry of emotions, Blogger packed up and walked out on me. I strained to keep it, to stay with it and prove how I didn't want it to go, but Blogger was dead-set on teaching me a lesson. After that fateful day, I just lounged around. Not even Stumble Upon could save me from the awful, awful internet un-vacation I was on. Deviantart? Nah. Livejournal? No dice. Not even checking my email o.c. could fill the void that was updating my poor Blogger.

However, we have since reconciled and our relationship has been mended. I apologized to Blogger for being neglectful, it apologized for being laggy.. although I have yet to see any changes in that department. But that's ok, because I am a changed woman. Things'll be different now... yep...

...except the autosave has failed. Heh.. heh.. awesome. :[

The Sisters 3

2008-08-09T03:56:00.006-04:00

In between projects, I sketched these three lovely Baroque ladies. I know that the last time I showed you any kind of fashion-y pictures, they were from a different era, Regency. Pretty much this is right before that one, when ladies' dresses were still ultra-tight and every single thing was so fussy it's beyond comprehension. I love it, though. My mom and I were watching Valmont the other day, and then the shittier, why-did-this-win-so-many-awards other version, Dangerous Liaisons. Come on... John Malkovich over Colin Firth? P'shaw!

At any rate, I intend on finishing this and inking it, as I haven't gotten out my inking paraphernalia in a looong time. I think with the combination here of flowing fabric and intricate lace, it would be a wonderful challenge to complete in ink. "Break a leg, Katelyn!" "Oh gee willikers, thanks! I'll try my best!" :D

A Painted Portrait

2008-08-14T03:43:00.008-04:00

Hoo man. I'm done. This took about, oh.. two days of dedicated work, dedicated inking and washing, to finish. That's not counting the sketching process and all of the revisions this came under. Thankfully, Nicholas was great enough to help me through that. His patented brand of tough love made this process all the easier. I was thinking of you, and wanted to illustrate just how the whole process went, with his advice and things I should change and what looked funny but.. no matter what I tried, it just came out inappropriate. :[

Maybe next time. I need a few to recover from this. All I have to say is white ink < white gel pen.

A Thousand Miles Away.

2008-08-20T18:40:00.010-04:00

I haven't been on a vacation in years. The last one I was on, my family and I stayed a few days in Cleveland... three hours away. Woo.. Cleveland? It was alright, but I live here! It's like the dad who tells his kids they can go to the beach and all there is is a kiddie pool and sandbox in the back yard. Nah, I'm an a-dult now. I wants me a REAL VACAYSHUN, for real men! So, I was invited to stay in Florida (:O Oh boy oh boy oh boy!) with my boyfriend and his family. The time: .... early July.
The length: 12 days!
The agenda: Whatever the heck we want! :D

I was super hella-excited, since the last and only other time I have ever been there was in 6th grade, for three days. Pssh, that's lame, you must be thinking. I know I would. Florida is hot! Florida is tropical! FLORIDA HAS ALLIGATORS. So I jumped on the chance to ride an aeroplane for the ~~second~~ first time! Only...

That's what it felt like, anyway, all day spent in the airport. I was supposed to leave my airport around 11, get to Atlanta, Georgia (layover) and leave at 4, then get into Florida at 6. SIX O'CLOCK PM. Guess when I actually got INTO Florida. If you guessed 2 am then you're so correct! :D We made an unexpected stop due to weather in Choo-choo-Chattanooga, Tennessee. I even took a picture of the clouds, oh cool beans! I have these super swell orange-lensed sunglasses and they made a cool filter.

After the friends I made on the plane and I griped about the current state of things, we were off to Atlanta... way after I was supposed to LEAVE the city for Florida. SWEET. More of the same, more more more, and I finally make it to Atlanta. "SCORE. I LOVE GEORGIA! Sweet, wonderful, glorious peaches!" After finding out that my flight was RIDICULO-delayed, of course keeping Nick up-to-date, I make it in Florida. :D Then my chant changed to, "SCORE. I LOVE FLORIDA! Sweet, wonderful, glorious... Oranges? I guess. I mean, it could be lemons, too, or maybe fish. They have lots of that."

After being there for a couple of days, we finally get something done. Why a couple of days, you ask? "Why not right now? I WANT FUN NOW! D: D:" No.. it couldn't be done. You see, Mr. Nicholas managed to catch himself Strep Throat RIGHT before I was to come down there! How on Earth?! NOES. But it's ok. I played Nurse for him (oh ho ho wiggly eyebrows) and he was perfectly fine, if not a little funny-sounding, within a day or so. Plus I got to tease him! Win-win! :D

One of the first things we did was go to the beach, since PSSH IT'S FLORI-DUH and you gots ta go to the beach. It was a glorious day, we caught a brittle star, a sand dollar, and some other kinds of fish. Shells a-hoy, lots of sand, and there was EVEN A DOLPHIN LIKE A FOOT AWAY FROM US... IN THE WATER!!!! Ok, so it was like, 5 or 10 feet, but still! :o

However, after dark... They just came out of the sand. COVERED, I tells ya. However, as you see below the big panel, I grow more and more used to the.. err, giant swarmy smarm-fest that is the entire state of Florida. It wasn't all that bad, not after I got me some industrial-strength, manly-man bug spray. You know how they have sunblock for people who are practically albinos? Spf.. 900? Well, think of that.. only bug repellent. :D At any rate, I was just fine towards the END of it, fitting right in like there was no issue at all. But that first day at the beach, man...

Nicholas and I went to parties, I met tons of people, and drove all over the place to see places and things. Saw Nicholas's old house, his schools, and a lot of the history of his small town. However, one of the more thrilling experiences would have to be picking a FREAKING pineapple.. right off the plant! How fun is that?! It's Florida, baby! Fruit just... grows on trees here! It's amazing! Lemons, oranges, avocado?! It's like nothing I've ever seen before! While what reeeally happened isn't exactly like this, the idea of me just gnaw gnaw gnaw on a pineapple freshly plucked just made me laugh. Trust me, though, I loved the flavor. After chasing off all the tiniest ants I've EVER seen, I peeled it and damned near ate it all. Omfg. So tasty I probably would have exploded if I had eaten it all. But a few days after, it was time for me to go home. The evening came for me to board the plane, and I have to say... I cried. Pss, I wasn't going to miss Nicholas, I was just so damned happy to be getting away from the freaking humidity! D: However, I snapped my fingers violently and screamed, "SHUUCKS!" at the heavens, since.. my bad airplane-luck had followed me. The flight was canceled because of a possibly faulty o-ring. What the hell. Delayed, delayed, delayed.. and then finally canceled?! The good thing about it, though, was that I was finally able to run back into Nickeruss's arms, since I wasn't able to do that the first time. No, having strep throat and being as sick as he was, I was just lucky he even showed up and didn't just send a taxi. I have to say, in all seriousness, that it was one of the best nights, though. There's nothing like waking up to a wonderful, sweet note written by someone you love. If any of you have a chance to have that happen, I highly suggest you make it happen.

I'm telling you, I couldn't have asked for a better tour guide being so far away. You haven't read the last of our adventures together.

Fresh Start

2009-07-12T21:00:00.005-04:00

Maine-ly Frustrating

2009-07-27T01:25:00.007-04:00

Yep. In Maine... Til Thursday. Been here since a week and a half ago. In... Northern Maine. Yep. >___> Can I go home now?

It's ok. I mean, it hasn't been hot at ALL, which is nice since I was just in Florida for the first part of my summer with Nickeruss. That was hot. ((How hot was it??)) It was so hot my dang pants fizzled right off of me! Eh? EH? :D?

Anyhoo, I won't post anymore comics like this. I'm sorry! I'm always apologizing.. AGH I did it again! D: I won't do it again... I promise? Heh heh...

***

I found this person I don't know asking for entries into this logo contest for her roller derby team. You can read about it here on deviantart. I've already sketched up a design. What do you guys think?
I'm going an extra year at OSU to get a graphic design minor so I figured I'd better start somewhere and see where I can go in this contest. Nickeruss says the scratch lines that make the A on Alley needs to be darker and I agree. What do you think?

We have such a loving relationship

2009-08-02T21:42:00.002-04:00

The woes of being a girl...

2009-08-14T00:15:00.004-04:00

Also! FANS AND PEOPLE READING THIS, I am so disappointed in you! YES, YOU! I had to go in myself and see how annoying it was to not be able to read my comics just straight up, having to click on them. And then when i clicked, they were huge and ULTRA annoying to read! Whhyyyyy did no one point this out to me?! UGH MAN you guys are awful!

No. Seriously, you're awesome. I am so happy to have anyone reading this. Plus, how can I stay mad at a face like that?? :3 I'm just glad I noticed and didn't keep up the trend. Hopefully you can read them now and don't have to click and scroll awkwardly and it be all weird. Do you like it this way? Talk to meeee.

Edits Box

2008-01-18T17:15:00.000-05:00

This blog will occasionally have illustrations drawn by myself. Since I am half-snail, it takes me quite a while to do them, scan them in, edit them to be readable, and blah blah blah to go with it.
This doesn't adhere to a specific schedule. I love doing it but my previously-mentioned affliction keeps me from posting more than about twice a month. Boo. You can RSS feed right over there; it's the snake. :D

9.6 - Woah, school's about to start! I'm glad I brought back my journal from the dead! My life'd been incomplete without it. Baaaww!

2.15- Ok, now I have two background images. T__T That was challenging.

2.14- Working on my background issues. Right now it's set to look best at 1280x800 resolution, since that is my own, but woah was I wrong to think it would look even half-way decent on other people's computers! D:

1.30- Added links bar to the top. The email spot will email you directly to me, or it should, and if it doesn't it's over in my profile.

Popstar - James Lee

2008-03-03T16:18:00.006-05:00

This is an animated video a friend of mine, James and his girlfriend, Hania made together. He was the hands of the piece, she was the voice. It's a wonderful animation and really showcases their talent together. I have known him from when he was just beginning to animate and I feel like this is something any aspiring animator, including myself (!), can acomplish. He won the competition and is in LA right now!

Silent Attraction

2008-03-01T15:59:00.003-05:00

I missed the theme of the week this time even though I was the one who suggested the theme, augh, but I made this instead! I was playing with line weights, seeing how I can mimic shadows and form with just lines. There's no shadows, really, since I only meant for this to be linearts. I have the original lines if anyone's interested in coloring it.

These two were naked when I started the picture. I had intended to make a layer flip-book... thing, that showed the multiple layers these outfits had, starting with underwear, corsets, shirts, etc. However, their closeness and "interaction" made it difficult and, well, I just didn't feel like messing with it. D: Plus to do what I really wanted, which would have been an interactive click-for-next-layer game, I would have had to use Flash and I know Flash NOT so I'll have to wait til Multimedia Authoring next quarter for that project. I think it would be lots of fun, though, and I think it'll be something I do with all of the characters in the comic I'm doing with a friend. What do you think? I've never seen a character page that showed what they looked like under their clothes and I think that would be a really neat way to get to know the characters on a deeper level.

Heart on His Sleeve

2008-02-13T23:32:00.004-05:00

I recently teamed up with a small band of artists over to deviantArt.com where we all draw a picture pertaining to a certain theme each week. This week was "music" and what else could be fitting but an emotional portrait based on my band du jour, Hot Hot Heat? If you get a chance to listen to their stuff, really listen to it, you'll (hopefully) feel the way I do about it. A lot of times in bands, the guys playing the instruments are plunking out this tune that is in the background of the lead singer's voice. It's obvious that the lead singer is such and his voice is what you need to be listening to. Or even vice versa, I suppose, like in rock songs of the 80s when the lead guitarist has freaking guitar diarrhea and goes on 10-minute solos.

But I digress. The point I am trying to make here is that Steve's voice works together with the instrumental parts, like his voice is not that of a human and the sounds of the guitar and drums are not those of guitars and drums. They all work harmoniously and equally, his voice just unique enough to not get lost in the guitars. Does this make sense to you? I suppose, bottom line: he has a kick-ass voice and along with the keyboard, percussion, and guitars, their songs stand out to me as not your run-of-the-mill indie band.

Super Saiyan Kate

2008-02-10T02:08:00.001-05:00

After a bazillion hours using PhotoShop, clicking the brush, undoing things, opening and closing documents, it decides to freeze up on me right when I'm nearly done with an illustration. Me, being the smart lady I am, hadn't saved it in a while and all of the progress I made was lost. Hah! I was so angry I could've had kittens! We could all take a lesson from DragonBall Z in expressing our rage.

The Worst Gas Station Bathroom

2008-01-18T15:57:00.001-05:00

Ever.

Since I am a commuter student, I spend a lot of time in my car. On one such night, I got a familiar call on my acorn-phone I have in my car.

Nature was calling and I really had no choice. I pulled over to the nearest place with a bathroom I could get to and parked in a mostly-lit, secure spot. I should have known better because the sign was missing a few letters and their gas prices were $3._4 for regular and diesel was $_.45. OH jeeze the people working there see the dang sign every day. Surely they could fix the sign but hey! This was it's a surprise when you get the receipt! People love surprises!

Anyhoo, I go into the convenience store and the smell of day-old pizza bombarded me as soon as I set foot down on the sticky linoleum. A woman in there before me had herself a plate of it and the crust looked so dried-out that it was nigh comparable to a French baguette that is way past its prime. Oh yes. If you know your breads you know that baguettes are like bricks pretty much 15 minutes after purchase. At any rate, I side-step away from the plastic-cheese, cement-crust pizza she was carrying and locate the bathroom. Looking from the other aspects of this store, not including the over-all stank of the air, I decide against touching the handle. My shirt makes a fairly good barrier and as long as I don't actually eat off of the sleeve I'm sure I'll be ok.

As soon as I step inside the room, though, I was greeted with this sight:

"Wha.. this is a BATHROOM?! What is that in the corners?! ARE THOSE ANTS?!"
Yes.. there were ants in the bathroom. Now, I'm not sure when you will read this but in case it's not apparent, it's January here. In Normal Land, pretty much all ants are.. I don't know, hibernating or dead or something but for some reason, they are alive and scurrying around here. The thought of what they could possibly be eating crosses my mind but honestly, I didn't want to get my face close enough to that toilet to vomit in it so I quickly pushed the thought away. I just couldn't run the risk of using that... "toilet", if you could call it that, so I scrambled for the handle again and firmly gave Mother Nature the finger, intent on holding it til I got home.

Determined not to make this a wasted trip, I ambled over to the foods they had there. I was really looking for Sun Chips because they are hella tasty and I could have really done for some. Of course they didn't have any. This place was just falling farther and farther down on the Suck List. "Maybe they have some cool candies!" No. I saw this one I had never heard of, though, called Tofficons*, though. In the description they mentioned the main ingredient, toffee, about 7 times. " This rich, toffee-flavored toffee candy is loaded with toffee bits and a toffee-chocolate crunchy goo! All covered in toffee-chocolate drizzle, this toffee explosion is amazing!" As I was reaching for the Milky Way Midnight, which was safe, you know, since none of the workers had to make the candy and I wasn't planning on eating the wrapper, that they touched, I figured I was safe hygiene-wise.

However, as I was perusing the different confectionery selections, I overheard this conversation between the attendant and.. his friend who came in, I guess. Totally word-for-word:

Obviously it was more important to be sharing videos in the interweb (which he was doing with a computer he had behind the counter, wtf) than cleaning the damned bathrooms. I seriously thought about just plundering a whole box of them thar Milky Ways so they could learn their lesson. "That'll show you for having dirty bathrooms! Ahahaha! BWAHAHA!" as I run off into the dark night, trying not to lose as many Milky Ways as possible. The guy would be standing there in the doorway, since he couldn't see me in the dark, dark night. "Man! That girl sure did learn me a lesson! The bathrooms, the girls' especially, will be clean enough to actually use from NOW ON!"

Of course, it's win for both of us. I get free Milky Ways to potentially sell and they get more customers who are disease-free after using the bathrooms! Plundering fixes everything! :D

Is this art?

2008-01-25T00:04:00.000-05:00

Spending so much time online, I have been exposed to many, many websites. Click the link to read the rest of the post. As a Time Warner commercial boldly proclaims that the internet makes the world smaller, I find myself agreeing. On the one hand, it is extraordinary to find out about artists, musicians, movies, and employers you would never have known before. On the opposite hand, there is the idea that this exposure makes the unknown known, makes the mysterious common knowledge, and leaves nothing to the imagination. How do you feel about that? Is it beneficial to us as a human race to have up-to-date information on what every celebrity is doing, to know which movies are coming out of Kazakhstan in the next month, or to know the latest single from Hot Hot Heat before anyone else? Let me know. I'd like to know how the internet makes you feel.

Now to the inspiration for this post: I Can Haz Cheezberger? Surely most of you know what these are. If not, a quick run-down will inform you that they are, essentially, pictures of cats... ehh.. or other cute animals, I guess, with captions reflecting the cat's action in horrible grammar. See how many comments each entry gets? On average, over 100. Why? Why are these things so dang popular? I will tell you why, dear inquisitor, thanks for asking!

It all started on this infamous website called 4chan. I won't link you because it's a site horribly, horribly not safe for anywhere ever and is a poorly-veiled excuse for people to be racist and sexist under the guise of anonymity. Ahem. Rant aside, they started there because of this weekly group participation activity "Caturday" on what other day of the week but Saturday. Haha so clever. Hilarious! Anyway, that was late 2005 and because approximately 2.3 scrillion people visit that site, it quickly spread. People would link each other to the images, sometimes to the site itself but mostly to the image, and they have been forwarded in emails and used in forums when a user feels the need to use a smart-ass response to a post.

Now, since it has been covered by Time magazine, everyone and their brother knows what these are... and try to make them themselves. Seems to me that once something is popularized that much... it stops being clever and starts being washed-out. Think back in the 90s, when the Friends theme song was all over the radio. You couldn't get into your car without hearing, "I'll be there fooor yoooou! You'll be there for me too-oooooo." Same principle. The internet is the medium here, with the people being the ones to shove the lolcats down your ocular throats instead of the radio executives playing the songs they think you want to hear. What does that say about us? I have a few ideas, but I'd really like to know what you think.

At any rate, it's worth thinking about. The internet as a whole, what its purpose is and what it is accomplishing in our lives is a very different concept than anything before. What is popular on the internet is completely by word of mouth. Has this ever happened before? No! In times previous, what has been popular has been who can spend the most money exposing you to their product. Think advertising for movies, television, etc. Star Wars wasn't especially popular when it first came out but nearly EVERYONE now knows what it is, thanks to the money put into the advertising for the previous movies, sure, but also the Chewbacca lunch boxes, the Hans Solo action figures, and the ever-loved Star Wars Holiday Special. The point is, in times past what is popular is what other people tell you to listen to, to watch.

It's extraordinary how this thing called the internet opens so many doors for discovery and free-will but people as a whole react the same. Old habits die hard.

Concerts in the City

2008-02-01T22:57:00.000-05:00

I recently attended my third ever concert at where else but Newport Music Hall. Click the CLICK TO SEE MORE to.. well, read more about it!It was a lovely choice, Hot Hot Heat, Louis XIV, and The Editors. I didn't attend so much for The Editors but I was ultra giddy for Hot Hot Heat, man. I have loved that band for a very long time, way back when I first saw the video for Middle of Nowhere, which can be seen here.

The singer, Steve Bay's, hair makes me so happy you don't even realize. (He's number 1 in the picture I posted up there above.) It is extremely curly and WAY out there just.. extraordinary. My hair is so straight I couldn't curl it if my life depended on it so seeing a good, full head of curly hair, especially on the opposite gender, is enough to brighten my day. He definitely fits the bill of day-making, as can be seen in the video.

The rhythm guitar player was on the right-hand part of the stage, number two in the above picture, and during the show he came clear up to the edge of the stage. I was curious as to what he was doing because damn, there are a lot of wires and whatnot for him to trip over and electrocute himself/die. No, he was focused on one girl, right beneath me (I was on the upper ramp area, higher than the floor). She was just leaning on the railing of the pit with her coat all zipped up, hood over her face and looking thoroughly bored. He took the time WHILE PLAYING to traipse over there, lean down, and play right to her as if to say, "wake the hell up! What's the matter with you, woman??" Haha, no he was very kind about it, but he did it more than once, pointing at her and obviously noticing her lack of enjoyment over HHH.

It's funny, someone took the time to reach over to Steve (the singer) and hand him a mostly-drank cup of beer. For whatever reason, probably because the person handing it had had enough themself, they thought Steve would be better off with their left-over beer. He was a nice sport about it, reaching out to get it and then proceeding to inquire, "What, do you want me to drink this or fill it up?" since the contents of the cup could honestly go both ways.

It's not unlike the previous act, when these girls felt the need to share these.. badges or stickers of some sort with the singer of Louis XIV. "Hay! Hay we has these stickers! Let me THROW them to you omg omg!" The singer accepted it, of course, because he's not a complete jerk, but loudly asked, "what the f*** is this?" Ah hah I'm sure I would have asked the same thing. You never know what fans will give celebrities. Oh man, I remember a couple of years ago when one of my favorite famous-y person, Jhonen Vasquez, received a bloody box in the mail. Yeah.. apparently a fan had mailed him some road kill or an animal that had some other way been recently killed. Well, what does he expect from a fanbase that idolizes the creator of Johnny the Homicidal Maniac?

Anyhoo, it was an extremely enjoyable time. I actually ran into one of the guitarists/piano players of Louis XIV during The Editors, which we left in the middle of (augh sentence ending in preposition it burns!). The band had dispersed themselves in the crowd, everyone bu the lead singer and bass player, though they could have gone on the other side of the crowd... Anyhoo, the Amish-looking dude was just standing there and I said to him, "I thought you did a really nice job tonight!" and... he didn't hear me. lol. He knew I was talking to him and saw my lips move but it took him a second to figure out what I said. He obviously guessed that I complimented him and looked down and away, thanking me for it. I dunno, maybe he's shy or in reality, maybe it wasn't him at all!

At any rate, for my third concert, first as such a small venue, it was amazing and am looking COMPLETELY forward to The Hives March 1, two days before my birthday and 1 day before S.P.A.C.E.! Anyone want to join me for either?

New Obsession

2008-02-03T03:11:00.000-05:00

Seems like my tastes, however varied, follow trends. I will discover something SUPER COOL, research it to death, obsess over it for a while, and eventually tire myself of it. Even if I do this, I'll almost always come back to it and never dispose of it completely, especially music. Hell, I popped in my Backstreet Boys - Millennium CD the other day in the car. Woo did it take me back. I can still identify each of the voices!

But I digress. I recently discovered my favorite time period of fashion, mens'-wise, anyway: The Regency Era. :D! Caravats, top hats, tailcoats, and BOOTS! Thousands and thousands of boot-covered feet! Oh how lovely the dandies of the day were, with their tousled hair and romantic gestures, wooing the ladies of their dreams. Still not sure what period of which I'm speaking? Think Jane Austin's Sense & Sensibility or Pride & Prejudice. You know, the version with Alan Rickman and Hugh Grant, that lovable, stammering Englishman? No? Well, fine. I drew some sketches and will share them with you, post haste!

These were both taken from reference, of course, since I wanted to get it right. I was focusing on the upper body, getting those damned layers correct. I counted.. well, there's the under shirt, the cravat, another shirt above, the the overcoat. Sometimes there was even a vest of some kind, though that was depending on whether the jacket worn was meant to be buttoned. The hair was just so fluffy! <3

This was my version of one of my new favorite paintings, a portrait of Rubens Peale, painted by his brother, Rembrandt Peale. Get a load of the other portrait of his brother there on the wikipedia page. He's posed with a Geranium and is not only wearing his tiny, tiny glasses but is holding another pair! That guy must be as blind as one of those crickets that lives in caves. That has to be the only reason. :P That's one of the things I love about that first portrait, though. The glasses are covering the eyes completely but when you look at it, you know that they are there. It's funny how the human mind works! It's a good thing we have evolved from the times of Egyptian painters, who, when representing the human or animal body, would represent the parts so that the viewer understood what was being shown. Hence why both feet would point straight forward, the torso would be front-facing, eye dead-on, face profile. I love this painting, also, for his pose. Hah! How Holier-than-Thou does HE come off?! "I am too good to be sitting here and quite frankly, could be collecting glasses with this wasted time." I love it. The subtle hint of both of his hands there tells you that his arms are folded, a pose not too often seen in paintings. The subject isn't usually so bored-looking.

Anyhoo, I really love the look of the cravats on the neck. The may be starched all to hell and make the head practically immobile but they are really neat. I even found a guide on the different types of knots! Needless to say it made me very giddy, indeed. It doesn't take too much to make me happy though my PhotoBucket *and* Pictures folders are suffering tonight due to my picture-collecting rampage! D: I'll have to designate oh, about 3 hours sometime soon to remedying this situation.

Oh American Candy Makers...

2008-01-13T15:32:00.000-05:00

I hope that you are never within arms' length of Skittles' new candy, Extreme Chocolate Fun Attack. I made the mistake of purchasing them a few days ago and never before in my long, long life have I ever eaten something so disgusting.

It wasn't like Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Jelly Beans, with such flavors as grass, ear wax, and dirt. No. These were legit, INTENDING to be delicious confectionery nuggets of amazingness. However, as soon as I ripped open the package in excitement and they touched my tongue, my day was ruined.
WHO in their right mind would MAKE a candy with the chewy, oh so chewy consistency of a Skittle and make them artificially and naturally flavored like chocolate?!
But, being the amazing consumer that I am, I tried them all. "Hey, maybe the Chocolate Pudding one was.. just a bad one. This Vanilla (which isn't even chocolate-flavored) will be better!" NO. As soon as each of them entered my tasting region, Brownie Batter, S'mores, and even my presumed favorite, Chocolate Carmel, my tongue cried. "Oh how could joo do zees to mee? Ah ahm so sayad, zees candees are laik poison to me! D:" Oh Pierre, please don't cry! Don't worry, I've learned my lesson.

The moral of the story: If you see anything other than fruity Skittles and feel tempted to buy them, DON'T. For the love of all taste buds everywhere, put them down. OH yeah, I'm looking out for you, mouths. *clicks tongue and thumbs up* ;D

True Story...

2008-01-14T00:44:00.001-05:00

I'll have you all know that I was channeling all of the cute anime girls I've ever seen PLUS Puss in Boots and still.. it fazed him not.