Friday, August 25, 2006

A Bawdy Joke!


Four Catholic ladies are having coffee together. The first one tells her friends, "My son is a Priest. When he walks into a room, everyone says, 'father'."

The second one chirps up, "My son is a Bishop. Whenever he walks into a room, everyone says 'Your Grace'."

The third Catholic lady says smugly, "My son is a Cardinal. When he walks into a room, everyone says 'Your Eminence'."

The fourth Catholic lady sips her coffee in silence. The first three ladies all ask, “Well...?"

She replies, "My son is a 6' 2", hard-bodied stripper. When he walks into a room, everyone says, "Oh, my God…”

Ba-doom badda badda, Ba!

Faith


I always liked George Michael, from the boytoy days of Wham! all the way through his self-reflective, mature solo career, so it's sort of disappointing to hear that he got caught having sex in a public toilet again...and apparently, he was also caught with drugs recently as well. It's so disturbing to see someone with talent start to spiral out of control. Hopefully, he'll catch himself before falling too far.

Loneliness


Here's an illustration I did for an article about lonely gay men. In our youth-obsessed culture, sometimes older gay gentlemen feel ostracized, and even some younger people feel alienated from time to time if they're having difficulty socially, or with dating. I hope this silly little illustration captures the sadness of the situation, despite all its cartooniness.

Thursday, August 17, 2006

Andrea and her Memes

Lately, all this blog's focused on is "illustration, illustration, illustration", so I thought I'd throw a few words out there unrelated to my art-making. I stumbled across another one of hula seventy's great meme challenges, loved her responses, and just couldn't resist. It seemed a lot easier than just randomly pontificating about my life right now...

1. Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 18, find line 4. Write down what it says:

"Freedom from ressentiment, enlightenment over ressentiment – who knows the extent to which I ultimately owe thanks to my protracted sickness for this too!". – from "Why I am so Wise" by Friedrich Nietzsche (why not?)


2. Stretch your left arm out as far as you can...what do you touch first?

I can't totally stretch out my left arm without it hitting the cd shelves that live RIGHT NEXT to my computer in my small, cramped bedroom.


3. What is the last thing you watched on TV?

I stayed up until 4am this morning watching Project Runway (season 2, disc 3). Since I don't have cable, I'm behind on my Project Runway viewing, but once a new disc arrives, I immediately tie off my arm, search for a vein, and inject – then it's hours of PURE Project Runway bliss. It's one of the most creatively challenging shows I've seen in long time. I CAN"T wait until season 3 comes out.


4. WITHOUT LOOKING, what time is it?

12:30 p.m.


5. Now look at the clock, what is the actual time?

12:59 pm


6. With the exception of the computer, what can you hear?

Peaches' new album (I guess I really like it) blarring over the sound of my LOUD, temperamental, grumpy, window unit air-conditioner


7. When did you last step outside?

yesterday. I reclined on a rock in Central Park for what seemed like a heavenly eternity with a handsome Brazilian man. I can't wait to see him again!

8. What are you wearing?

a old Stereolab t-shirt, comfy khaki pants, and flip flops


9. When did you last laugh?

a year ago, when...(just kidding). Actually, I laughed really hard last night when Michael Corrs (Project Runway) described a contestant's menswear jacket as looking like a Golden Girls frock tied with a sash around the middle. The contestant was mortified.


10. Seen anything weird lately?

I saw two birds yesterday in Central Park flirt and land strangely close to where I was sitting. It was like Snow White...I swear if I had held out my arm, they would have perched themselves on my finger and sang me a song. Later, I saw an elderly chinese woman with ONE, single, three-inch, white hair growing from her chin. Also, the Brazilian told me about an instance where he saw a drunk man fall on the subway rails. The drunk man touched the third rail and was immediately electrocuted. I couldn't help but wonder what that was like to witness.


11. What did you dream last night?

sadly, I don't remember.


12. What's on the walls of the room you're in?

various art and illustrations I've done. There's a painting I did from high school, and stuff I did less than a year ago. There's also several art-toys perched on cubes mounted on the wall.


14. What do you think of this survey?

fun! I just wish I had remembered my dreams from last night.


15. What's the last film you saw?

Little Miss Sunshine, which I only saw because my Brazilian's Brazilian Film Festival film was sold-out. I thought it would be another cloying, Hollywood feel-good product, but I actually really enjoyed it. It was really funny, and the beauty pageant at the end was a real eye-opener. I also saw The Descent recently, which I also really enjoyed. A movie hasn't made me whimper/yelp/jump/squirm in my seat in a long time.

16. If you became a multi-millionaire overnight, what would you buy first?

A large penthouse-style loft apartment in a grand old building by Central Park, or possibly an entire brownstone house in soho or the west village. I'd also be tempted to buy/create my own production company. All this would be followed by me parceling out gifts and checks to my Mom, Dad, brothers (and possibly close friends).


17. Tell me something about you that I don't know.

I have a slightly larger than pea-sized bump on my head beneath my hair. I worried about it years ago, but several doctors convinced me it is nothing but a harmless calcium deposit. They say these things can run in families.


18. If you could change one thing about the world, what would you change?

I immediatley thought: I'd make sure the Bush administration hadn't entered office, but, after more thought, I'd also take a go at eliminating that damn war that keeps eating up people in the middle east. I also played with the idea of turning Bush, Mel Gibson, and other public haters into African American, Jewish, gay women, just to see how their views would change.


19. Do you like to dance?

Yeah. There's something so primitive and satisfying about it.


20. Imagine your first child is a girl, what do you call her?

Holly maybe? Portia? Cloe? Zoey?


21. Boy?

I think Jared sounds cool. Joey sounds fun, and Troy sounds regal.


22. Would you ever consider living abroad?

certainly!

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

The Latest Craze


AHHHHHHHHHH!!! EEEEEE!!! OOOOMMMMIGODDDDDD!!! (read like a crazed, screaming, teenage Beatles fan)

I found a new group I totally dig. The Pipettes! I'd just about turn straight for them, they're that dreamy.

After listening to the new Peaches album all month (and loving it), I needed a break from the tough, bad-ass act. (don't we all sometimes?) It was then that I chanced upon the Pipettes. They're a girl group from the UK, who sound like they've been brought to the future from the sunny, wholesome, 60's girl-group era.

Don't let their retro stylings fool you though – I think they should be considered post-retro. They're more spunky and individually unique than those smiling "fem-bot-esque" do-wop singers from the past.

Fun with Clips


I've been spending the last few months learning how to use Dreamweaver, and I think I finally got the "attach movie" coding figured out. It was actually a lot easier than I thought. No big deal really, I was just too lazy to look it up! In any case, check out the movie here of my broadcast/animation reel. It's a mix of different tv spots and show intros I've art directed/worked on/slaved over during the last six years working at Primal Screen. (Hopefully, it will work!)

Click here to see my broadcast design reel!

Just go to the section titled "motion".

Friday, August 04, 2006

Happy Pills


It's been a week since I last posted. But I have lots of excuses:

a. I wrapped up the LAST backgrounds for the LAST episode of the kid's show I've been freelancing for...

b. ...therefore, I'm back on the street, busy looking for work.

c. However, that didn't seem to last too long, because I got thrown onto a stressful job designing and creating an animated promo for MTV earlier this week...and it's DUE on Monday!!! (There's goes my weekend!) I'm both excited and stressed working for MTV. It's so cool to do work for that network, but at the same time, their deadlines are RIDICULOUS!

d. I also did this little illo, above, for an article on antidepressants and their side-effects (specifically in the bedroom).

e. So see? I've been busy, and besides, it's TOO DAMN HOT to sit at my computer for any length of time, expending energy to lift my fingers and type. That burns calories, thus heating up my body a few extra degrees, thus making me sweaty and crazy.

As soon as I stop sweating from just sitting stationary in one place, I'll resume my normal cheeriness.

Oh by the way, thanks to all you guys that came out to the "Shady Characters" show! It was a great turn-out! It made my Summer!