These are some THINGS I have been working on for the Gargoyle, which should be done by the end of this weekend. Right now they are, as Kris calls them, "LOLHUUUUUUGE." So, just wait a while and I will have much smaller, better looking ones.
The idea for these lil' guys is to be imp creatures that are tearing around our fair magazine, making a mess of it. Pulling up letters, laying over articles and the like.
Im not really sure where the idea came from, possibly from my memories of old Mad Magazines. But the idea was put into reality when I was poking around the Gargoyle office. Usually, this is a dangerous thing to do. You are equally as likely to find some amazing artifact as you are to contract typhus. However, this search did not end up with me bleeding. In the ancient and long disused art desk I discovered several pens and bottles of India ink. Further digging yielded an ink well, and I was off and running.
Here they are!
Saturday, January 28, 2006
Thursday, January 19, 2006
Bad Pig!
Once again, I walked out of The Blind Pig (local club and concert venue) with my ears ringing and vowing never to return.
The only reason I was there in the first place was to support long-time Gargoyle writer Matt Thompson who plays all sorts of wonderful devices in local band Mason Proper. They're pretty good, and worth looking at for sure.
Now, their set was pretty awesome. Since the last time I saw them, late last year, they have really filled out their sound and are a much tighter group than before. Compared to most local bands, these guys have a wide repertoire, and have fuller more professional sounding songs. Unfortunately, to get to these budding rock stars, I (we) had to sit through three of the worst bands that I have ever seen.
First up was some crappy, weaky-achey sounding semi-emo crapfest. They were immediately followed by a marginally more entertaining group. I say marginally, which might make you think I enjoyed them. This would be untrue. The second band played way too loud for so small a club, and also sounded confused. The vocals were never together and the performers seemed more focused on nifty stage-shinanigans than actually PLAYING music. They reminded me a lot of the bands I saw in high school, at the Troy High "Battle of the Bands." This is not a compliment, its a hint. And the hint is that I thought they were childish.
The last, and the worst, of the non-Mason Proper bands was supposed to have been the best. Matt Thompson said, "they're bigger than we are, I don't know why they're playing before us..." Matt Thompson, they're playing before you because they are the worst band in the history of music. Whoever survives/sticks around is worthy of hearing your oh-so-indie pop-rock. They took the stage with the largest set up, and looked quite promising! One performer even had a trumpet! Cake has trumpets! This will be good! No.
They were so loud, you could hear the Pig's oversized sound system buckling under the pressure. They were so loud that my good friend Kris had to cover her ears, and that's saying something considering that she's into metal. They were so loud, that the trumpet player was blowing at full force into a microphone and still could not be heard. This is probably my biggest complaint about these guys; had they perhaps turned down the volume to something a little less mind-shattering, I would have been okay with them.
Nay.
Three of the six band members would not stop with their stupid Jagger impressions. The lead singer was terrible, constantly gyrating about the stage like some kind of MTV rooster. The most laughable of this foolish cadre was the trumpeter/tambourine player. His soul function was to blast the trumpet on occasion and then to feebly smash a tambourine amidst the raucous noise they created. Think of an even more useless and ridiculous Stevie Nix, and then change the gender. You'd have it.
This band, like the previous, also carried out a series of disgustingly rehearsed stage antics which I found to be completely obnoxious considering that they sounded so bad. Please, I beg of you young aspiring rockers, fix your dang music before you practice your amp-jumping.
So the morale of the story is to buy Mason Proper's new album. Its cheap and sounds really great.
The implied morale is that the Blind Pig sucks, and that every time you think of going there you should go to the Fleetwood and get an omelet instead.
The only reason I was there in the first place was to support long-time Gargoyle writer Matt Thompson who plays all sorts of wonderful devices in local band Mason Proper. They're pretty good, and worth looking at for sure.
Now, their set was pretty awesome. Since the last time I saw them, late last year, they have really filled out their sound and are a much tighter group than before. Compared to most local bands, these guys have a wide repertoire, and have fuller more professional sounding songs. Unfortunately, to get to these budding rock stars, I (we) had to sit through three of the worst bands that I have ever seen.
First up was some crappy, weaky-achey sounding semi-emo crapfest. They were immediately followed by a marginally more entertaining group. I say marginally, which might make you think I enjoyed them. This would be untrue. The second band played way too loud for so small a club, and also sounded confused. The vocals were never together and the performers seemed more focused on nifty stage-shinanigans than actually PLAYING music. They reminded me a lot of the bands I saw in high school, at the Troy High "Battle of the Bands." This is not a compliment, its a hint. And the hint is that I thought they were childish.
The last, and the worst, of the non-Mason Proper bands was supposed to have been the best. Matt Thompson said, "they're bigger than we are, I don't know why they're playing before us..." Matt Thompson, they're playing before you because they are the worst band in the history of music. Whoever survives/sticks around is worthy of hearing your oh-so-indie pop-rock. They took the stage with the largest set up, and looked quite promising! One performer even had a trumpet! Cake has trumpets! This will be good! No.
They were so loud, you could hear the Pig's oversized sound system buckling under the pressure. They were so loud that my good friend Kris had to cover her ears, and that's saying something considering that she's into metal. They were so loud, that the trumpet player was blowing at full force into a microphone and still could not be heard. This is probably my biggest complaint about these guys; had they perhaps turned down the volume to something a little less mind-shattering, I would have been okay with them.
Nay.
Three of the six band members would not stop with their stupid Jagger impressions. The lead singer was terrible, constantly gyrating about the stage like some kind of MTV rooster. The most laughable of this foolish cadre was the trumpeter/tambourine player. His soul function was to blast the trumpet on occasion and then to feebly smash a tambourine amidst the raucous noise they created. Think of an even more useless and ridiculous Stevie Nix, and then change the gender. You'd have it.
This band, like the previous, also carried out a series of disgustingly rehearsed stage antics which I found to be completely obnoxious considering that they sounded so bad. Please, I beg of you young aspiring rockers, fix your dang music before you practice your amp-jumping.
So the morale of the story is to buy Mason Proper's new album. Its cheap and sounds really great.
The implied morale is that the Blind Pig sucks, and that every time you think of going there you should go to the Fleetwood and get an omelet instead.
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
The New Arrivals
I'd like you all to meet the two new members of my happy family!
These two fine specimens of the plant world are part of my Practical Botany (Bio 102) class. The tall, lanky looking one is Wandering Jew, and the one with violent red blood stains on puke-green leaves is Coleus. Their names are Heywood (after everyone's favorite Jew, Woody Allen), and Natalie (after Natalie Cole, daughter of Nat Cole).
Say 'Hi!' everyone!
The plants are actually part of an ongoing project. At a point in the future, some poor shmuch from my botany class is going to have to come down here and write a paper on how my plants are doing. Poor fella, he'll never see it coming.
Im kind of digging this idea of having plants around, it definitely makes the place look nicer.
The Dr. TV bittorrent failed today. Hopefully success in the future.
Monday, January 16, 2006
Are You Experienced?
Q: What could be better than a live techno concert in my very own apartment?
A: Watching Justin fall in love with an anthropomorphic kettle.
See the video here.
A: Watching Justin fall in love with an anthropomorphic kettle.
See the video here.
Sort Of An Explanation
I've met a lot of people.
Im not a world traveler or anything. Nor do I think that I have accomplished much of anything that is worth writing about.
Another thing is that Im bad at keeping in touch with people. I loose numbers, I forget names, and if someone gives me a tiny scrap of paper with an AIM name on it, you can bet your boots that you will never hear from me. It's not that I don't care or don't genuinely like people, its that I have a triumphantly bad memory.
So, lets bring these two ideas together. I know a lot of people, and I'm notoriously bad at keeping in touch with them.
So, the logical solution would be to make a greater effort at remembering and networking with the people I meet.
The illogical thing to do would be to write about it on the internet.
Im not a world traveler or anything. Nor do I think that I have accomplished much of anything that is worth writing about.
Another thing is that Im bad at keeping in touch with people. I loose numbers, I forget names, and if someone gives me a tiny scrap of paper with an AIM name on it, you can bet your boots that you will never hear from me. It's not that I don't care or don't genuinely like people, its that I have a triumphantly bad memory.
So, lets bring these two ideas together. I know a lot of people, and I'm notoriously bad at keeping in touch with them.
So, the logical solution would be to make a greater effort at remembering and networking with the people I meet.
The illogical thing to do would be to write about it on the internet.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
