Finally, I get to post episode #15 of SpudCast. My podcast about creativity. On this one, I talk about all the sketchbooks I have. Each one is dedicated to a certain theme which I feel helps with sparking creativity. Here is the link.
Pardon me while I multitask and clean up my room. I am such a messy person! Which is also supposed to be a common trait among artists ;)
As you can safely assume, I’m an intense fanatic of moleskine notebooks. I even bought the one with sheet music. But I don’t know how to write (or read) music. Somehow, I’ll find an artistic use for this odd choice of artistic medium.
If you are a musician who can read music, you might like this site. I draw comics and write music notes at random, post it as a pdf. You download it and record the music I wrote. Is there any melody? Upload your new composition somewhere and post the link on my site for everyone to hear :) Not this site. The Super Spud Soundtrack site at superspud.com/music.
I don’t want to get into a debate about Canada’s peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan but I think most people don’t realize what “support our troops” and “bring our troops home” really mean. This past Remembrance Day made me realize something very important that I think most of us forgot.
It’s too easy for Canadians today to simply believe war is bad therefore Canada should not be in Afghanistan and our soldiers should come back home immediately. They don’t realize the repercussions.
Although, in theory it makes sense. We don’t want anybody to die and Canada is a peaceful nation. But with the significant progress our military has made that the media barely reports, if we bring them home now, their sacrifices would have been in vain and freedom won’t come to the Afghan people.
I’ve always been opposed to war. and I’ve always been a pacifist.
This past Remembrance Day made me realize, war and peace is not black and white. The televised ceremonies kept repeating how this year it’s close to home because of the terrible casualties of our soldiers in Afghanistan.
“Do you support our troops?”
I absolutely do, 100%.
“Do you support the war?”
This is a very difficult question for me because I never joined the military. How can I say ‘yes, they should go while I stay here in Canada safely drawing Spud’.
Do I support the war? Yes, because there are children who want to go to school to become doctors to help the elders in their village. No, because I don’t want anyone to die. Does that make sense?
I don’t think so.
The harsh reality is freedom and peace always come with a terrible price because wars are caused by people who can’t handle power.
The people don’t hate each other. The Afghan people appreciate the Canadians. War and hatred is caused by the governments. It’s the warlords. It’s whoever’s got the power.
Let me explain in another way
If our soldiers hadn’t fought in World War 1 and 2, would we have peace today?
My background is Italian. Our soldiers fought fierce battles in fascist Italy so my parents could migrate here and eventually here I am writing my own thoughts on my blog.
Replace Italy, France, Holland, Poland, or Britain with Afghanistan. Replace Nazis with Taleban.
“But our soldiers are dying. The war is ‘futile’.”
Unfortunately, our media is revenue-driven. They only report bad stuff. Never the good stuff. The amazing progress our soldiers have made.
I wondered if soldiers blog. I actually did a Google search for Canadian milblogs. Would they have Internet access? Perhaps by satellite. Would they be censored?
If corporate employees could be trusted with blogging, surely soldiers wouldn’t jeopardize their own lives by posting confidential stuff. After all, the Internet was originally created for communicating during war. Ok, not all corporations trust their employees.
I’m in la-la land, I know, but the point I’m trying to make is, I’d rather hear about the war directly from our soldiers rather than a reporter. Or worse, an editor.
I have an enormous amount of respect and admiration towards our soldiers and the work they do. I would hate to see it all come to an abrupt halt due to an election campaign which promises our soldiers coming back in 2009.
Or is the mission actually planned out to be completed by then?
Despite our incompetent government, our soldiers in missions around the world have made me more proud to be Canadian.
Comet Holmes came as a complete surprise for me. I didn’t even know there was a comet in the sky.
Saturday night, I noticed something out of the ordinary in the nightsky after I walked out of my garage. There was a fuzzy ball that reminded me of the time I saw Comets Hale-Bopp and Hyakutake (I’m sure I mispelled that).
I looked some more and wondered. Could it be another naked-eye comet? I went back inside to get my binoculars (I still haven’t got around to buying a telescope like I always wanted) to take a look and yes, it was eerie. It looked like a fuzzy planet.
I figured it was a galaxy and went inside to check SkyNews.ca, a Canadian astronomy magazine that I subscribe to. The front page of their website confirmed it. It is indeed a comet!
Unfortunately, I’m surrounded by lights but fortunately, Flickr is popular so after I did some more comet-watching, I looked it up and saw everyone’s photos of Comet Holmes.
That’s the cool thing about Flickr. Chances are pretty good that someone will post photos of whatever event is happening. I discovered this with the last total solar eclipse I missed due to being in the completely wrong geographical area. I was doubtful that anyone would post photos on Flickr and to my surprise there was a truckload of photos on the morning of the eclipse (as in, within hours of it).
Anyhoo, I drew the above sketch this morning as I waited for my computer to finish backing up. It’s a little dark, yes, but that’s how the nightsky is.
Gotta run and observe the eclipse.
Looney Tunes Golden Collection volume number 5 is out and I’m already on disc 3. Mind you, I haven’t been watching all the cartoons like a rabid fan should (I was stuck trying to fix WordPress). Just the ones I haven’t seen in ages and the ones I haven’t seen at all.
Like the other 4 volumes, this one didn’t disappoint. The frame grab above is one of the funniest sight gags ever. When I saw it, I immediately wanted to blog about it! In my pre-Internet days, I’d have nobody to share this with. Thanks to technology, now I do (provided that I have an audience, of course).
It comes from Holiday for Shoestrings (on disc 2) which is a take on the shoemaker’s elves fairy tale to the tune of the Nutcracker Suite (yes, it’s a Christmas cartoon).
The sight gag above happens pretty quick. It’s in the beginning where all the elves are appearing out of their hiding places making sure the shoemaker is asleep. This elf has hidden inside a cuckoo clock and you can see in the corner that the cuckoo bird is all tied up and gagged! Elves have to work in secret didn’t he know?
The rest of the cartoon is full of gags involving movie stars of the time, timing jokes and my favourite two idiots trying to nail a shoe together. The way they keep hitting each other is priceless. I’m sure you can find this cartoon on YouTube. Or better yet, buy the disc. It’s worth it!
Of the ones I’ve never seen before, my favourites so far also include:
A Pest in the House (hilarious)
The Stupor Salesman (hilarious)
The Super Snooper
Upstanding Sitter
Hollywood Daffy
You Were Never Duckier
Little Red Rodent Hood
The Trial of Mr. Wolf
Senorella and the Glass Huarache (reminds me a lot of Fractured Fairy Tales)
My sincere apologies to Warner Brothers for the screen grab but it was done so well, how could I not share it? :)
Just a quick note to mention that I’ve created a Facebook group for character designers. I’ve been itching to draw, draw, draw and really delve into freelance illustration when I suddenly thought of creating such a group for networking and fun. I don’t know anybody else who enjoys character design professionally or not.
That’s the beauty of social media and modern technology in general. I have the potential to meet fellow designers all over the world. Depending on hwo many people find the group, sign up and participate, of course! But you get my drift.
So if you have a Facebook account, feel free to join my Character Designers group. It would be cool to meet you.
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