Christmas Train

Here is something I drew with some from Cooper.

Reason

No Two Self

Oodles of Doodles

OK, so it's just a page of doodles from my sketchbook. WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO ABOUT IT???

Santa Claus

Kids see right through it...They know it's a stranger in a costume...They know the fraud that's being perpetrated on them...but MomDad says it's real, so...Better play along...Cognitive dissonance...And, sooner or later they start to believe it, too...They make the emotional investment...They buy in to the game and then forget they're playing...

Babes

I saw an ad for baby photography and it inspired this.

Mentor

I think it's obvious.

Premonition?

I was doodling last night, and drew this (unfinished, though). Then, this morning, on the way to work, I got in a minor (though pretty damned scary and high-speed) accident.

Some old guy's old truck had broken down on the transition ramp from one freeway to another, and he was stalled in the little triangle area formed by the coming-together of the two roadways. I was looking over my shoulder preparing for the merge, and when I looked back I was careening right towards the old fart's pickup. I managed to avoid a full-on collision (it was so f-ing close, though) and ended up only clipping his right side mirror with my left side mirror.

Once a tow truck had shown up and pushed the disabled truck over to the shoulder where I was waiting (I wasn't about to try to cross those lanes on foot to get to him--people [like me] drive like maniacs there!) we were able to survey the damage. His mirror was ruined, but mine was actually OK. I thought I had totally sideswiped him, too! I offered to pay for a replacement mirror for him, but I guess he felt like it was the least of his problems at that moment, so we parted ways.

Anyway, I'm just glad no one was hurt. Here are a couple pics of where it all went down (with the location of the guy's pickup crudely drawn on the image):


Thank you, Google Maps.

Grilling

Is there something about the big Bank Bailout that bothers you, but you can't quite put a finger on it? This is pretty interesting...it heats up at around the 4 minute mark if you want to skip ahead, but the whole thing is worth watching.

I'm Taking a Survey:

Cutting off a piece of a donut and leaving the rest in the box*:

Acceptable or Unacceptable?




*The box is in the kitchen at work for everyone, not at home.

I've Been Busy

But, that's not a good excuse for not posting for an entire week. Does it help to know that it's been even LONGER since I've been on Facebook?
I got to storyboard direct a couple 30 second SpongeBob shorts this past week. I guess they'll be used as promos or something. I think they are the best ones I've done so far (I've only done 2 others) but at least I'm improving. They haven't been signed off on yet, so I may have to alter some things.
Anyway, it's good to be back. And, as for this drawing...well, that's just what happens when I have a pen and the back of a Christmas card envelope.

She Who Measures

Gettin' ready for some Xmas shopping, are you? Maybe this will inspire you. To do what, though?

Current

I was thinking about how we all move through our lives. Sometimes the smallest thing-- an offhand comment; a glance of disapproval; a pat on the back; whatever-- will become a catalyst for big, life-altering changes.

I remember when I was in the first grade I had drawn a skeleton on my folder, and some older kid absolutely refused to believe that I was the artist. I also remember one time in the 4th grade when I was sitting at my desk drawing a spaceman who was holding a ray-gun and kids started gathering around to watch me draw. If those two things hadn't happened, I might have gone down a completely different path in life. I think I would have been a veterinarian.

Anyway, that's what I was thinking about.

Glad-Hander

Here comes another one.

Horrid Little Man

This morning, before I went to work, I was filling out some paperwork at the dining room table. Cooper came in, and he really wanted the pen I was using, and I told him he could use it when I was finished with what I was doing. He didn't find that answer acceptable and he proceeded to get upset and belligerent. I held my ground explaining that I was nearly finished, and that I was using if first, etc. etc.. He told me I was a "horrid little man."

So far, that's the funniest thing I've heard all day. But, it's also sad, because my son is an impudent little worm.

Cooper Drew This One

If I could have drawn this, then I would have. Cooper has just entered my favorite phase of childhood drawing development. YES!!!

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Here's something I drew the other day when I was contemplating my usual, automatic reaction to something that confronts me in a negative way:



I drew it after reading a great article about Aikido by a guy named Charles Tart. It's definitely worth checking out. This drawing, however, was never meant to be looked at by anyone-- it was more a little visual note to myself. Sorry I'm making you look at it now. But, I thought that it might be kind of interesting to juxtapose it with Cooper's drawing.

I could write an essay comparing and contrasting the two drawings, but why read an essay by me when you could be reading Charles Tart's article about Aikido!

Addendum

Plod

Weight

"Gosh, your beliefs are heavy!"

Grouping

What do these guys know, and how long have they known it? Why aren't they disclosing what they know, these conspirators? It's all very suspicious, if you ask me-- and you do. You do ask me. But, I can't help you. You have to find out for yourself.

Buttface

Happy Halloween! The HORROR!!!

I Know Karate

I don't know karate.

Running on Empty?

Keeping it going...

Even Better

Here it is again, but in a different form.

In the Spirit

Just getting in to the spirit of the season a little.

The Bluff

Ambassador

I stayed up late last night working on some freelance, and then I got up early (after, of course waking up with the baby throughout the night morning). I was running late, so I didn't shave (for the second day in a row). And, to top it all off, I went to work wearing a bright red shirt that has a picture of a Humanzee holding a bowling pin on the front (not visible in the above artwork).

So, as the Fates would have it, it was at 4pm this afternoon that I discovered that I was to be interviewed at 4:30pm by, and give a little presentation of what I do at work (on camera, in my messy office... totally unrehearsed) to a nice Israeli girl who won some kind of fantastic tour/television appearance thing. I don't know when this is going to air in your country, but to any Israeli visitors to this blog who will go on to see my grotesque visage on your TV screens let me apologize in advance by saying, "Sorry about that."

None

You see? None = Nun. Ha ha ha ha! Fun with Homonyms.

Invasive

All right, I know the suspense must be killing you. Here's the story I promised on Friday:

I was up late Thursday night and I happened to look out the kitchen window at about midnight and I saw a silver SUV stopped on the street parked right next to my car. I heard a door close, and they drove away. I thought it was odd, but that perhaps they were dropping someone off. When I noticed that no one had been dropped off, I went down to the street, and sure enough, whoever it was had opened my (accidentally left unlocked--damn it!) door and went through the car and stolen a few things. Bastards! Luckily, nothing important was taken-- as far as I know, anyway.

I called the cops, and they came out and took a report, blah blah blah, etc..

It just feels like such a violation to have had these scumbags going through my glove compartment and reaching under my seats. I feel so dirty ;)

So, don't forget to lock your doors, kids! Or, you could leave them unlocked, but make sure you booby-trap your car to permanently maim any intruders...

Tailspin

I have a story to tell you about something that happened to me last night, but first, here's a quick inflammatory political post for you. Oh, and here's a link to a video for background.

Ehhhhg.

"Awoodyabubbuh."

Sometimes you can't quite make out what a person is saying to you as they walk away. You have to make your own interpretation.

Diver

Corporate Veal

I know some of you (OK, one of you...one anonymous one of you...) will accuse me of engaging in class warfare, but when I read about AIG execs taking a week-long, cushy vacation at an upscale resort one week after being bailed out, I get a little grumpy. I start thinking that, if things get REALLY desperate in this country, and people are getting kind of hungry, then why not drag a few of these fine fellows off of their massage tables, cook them up, and sate that gnawing hunger? I know, I know, maybe it's not the most appealing looking meal, but imagine how good you'll feel afterwards!

What Do You Make of This?

Have a Ball

Really Tired

This is how tired I am.

My Analysis

Last week someone gave a friend of mine this drawing. My friend passed it along to me (via email. I don't have the original. Alas!) I was compelled to analyze it:


Thank you for passing along the artwork. My first thought was that this was merely a jolly portrayal of Tony the Tiger, but then I became intrigued by the number 3 on his jersey. At first I was at a loss for what the significance might be. Yet, as I contemplated it, its symbolism began to unfold.

The Holy Trinity comes to mind, but how it relates to the rollerblading tiger is, as yet, unclear. Because the tiger is in such a dynamic pose, the number 3 on his jersey could be an echo of Jung's idea that the number 3 represents dynamic change in the psyche whereas the number 4 signifies wholeness, and therefore a somewhat static situation. The number 3 is also present in the fact that the figure of the tiger is actually breaking the Morse Code frame on three of four sides. Only the bottom section of the frame remains unbroken, and because the bottom is "the Base" and therefore the "Foundation," I believe that the idea of instability is implied because the figure is not in contact with it. Furthermore, because the figure is moving from right to left I feel that this retrograde motion represents, perhaps, a kind of regression from a former state of wholeness and stability (because, in our culture, we read from left to right).

To take it even further, we see that the paper itself, because of the creases, is broken up into three parts. Interestingly, we see that the lower crease bisects the rear skate in such a way as to elevate 3 of the 4 wheels above the crease. This again symbolizes the regression from a state of wholeness (as represented by the number 4) to a state of flux (as represented by the number 3). I also find it interesting that the only protective gear that our Tiger is wearing falls below the lower crease to what we might assume is a position of lower importance, and that what might be the tiger's most vulnerable piece of anatomy (the head, the brain, the seat of consciousness itself), though elevated above the top crease to a place of relative importance, is conspicuously without protection of any kind. To me, this introduces an element of extreme recklessness to the Tiger's seemingly innocent and lighthearted skate. And, by extension, we might assume that this recklessness is likely present in the behavior (or at very least in the mental makeup) of the artist.

Based on this cursory decoding (it is, after all, drawn in Morse Code-- in itself a cry for understanding, but also a method of maintaining the illusion of strict control and deliberation) of this drawing, we might assume that the artist, though quite animated (cartoon tiger) and playful on the exterior, is beneath it all quite unstable and deteriorating at an accelerating rate.

Crisis!

I've been trying to decide exactly how to portray the current financial crisis in one drawing, but it's a little too complex. Here is one aspect of it.
May I recommend a website that I've found to be a good resource to you? It's not totally devoted to financial goings-on-- it's got a smattering of...uh...other stuff, too. It's called cryptogon.com

CURSES!!!! On to Plan B...

I saw this in the Los Angeles Times today:

PALIN SAFEGUARDED FROM "WITCHCRAFT"

A YouTube video has surfaced showing
Sarah Palin being blessed in her ex-church
three years ago by a Kenyan pastor who
prayed for protection from "witchcraft"
as she prepared to seek higher office.

The video shows Palin standing before
Bishop Thomas Muthee at the Wasilla
Assembly of God Church, holding her hands
open as he asks Jesus Christ to keep her
safe from "every form of witchcraft."
She keeps her head bowed and does not
speak.

Palin formally announced her bid for
governor a few months later, in October 2005.

-From Times Wire Reports

You can find a link to the video over on Vincent's blog.

Not Healthy

I've had a cold for the last two days. It's getting better. Thanks for asking. And, how are you?

"It's My Way or the Highway."

"Sacrificing the Future in the Name of the Past"

I don't really like the way the color turned out on this, but here it is anyway. Actually I don't really like anything about it except for the concept.

New Jeans

I got some new jeans last week.

Thanks, Son!

Yesterday as I was leaving to run an errand I was crossing the quiet, Sunday afternoon street to my car and I heard Cooper call to me from the dining room window. I turned around, looked up to the house, and saw that he was completely naked, and he said, "Daddy, I wish I was like you--with a red face and no hair."

I love my son. That was the funniest thing I heard all weekend, and the nude delivery was the icing on the cake.

Good Ol' Dave (and Brian)

Look! David Byrne and Brian Eno have collaborated on a new album.

My Excuse

I've been busy lately with our new arrival, Dean! I'll be back to blogging WITH A VENGEANCE soon...

I got babies on the brain. And, the Irish, too.

C'mere Big Fella!

Doorway

Here are two links for you: This one is a link to a video. It's mostly just funny/weird, but there is a reference to female anatomy, so don't freak out. It's from a British show called "The Mighty Boosh."

This link is to an online book called Poker Without Cards. Sort of an interesting read. I thought so, anyway. Sure, it's reminiscent of a Socratic Dialogue with one guy playing the straight man, so to speak, but kind of fun anyway.

To Arms!!!