No Will Hunting Sh*t!

On a recent podcast (Randomadness, refer to the link to the right) Tim and I were talking about how difficult it is to teach yourself how to draw at our age. We soon went from talking about that to ragging on our mutual friend who draws for fun. He is GOOD. Hell, he's excellent at drawing. That night was the first time I'd ever seen any of his work and I've known him for over a year. I knew that he sketched sometimes but I had no idea how talented he was. I was wowed.

The thing is, he doesn't draw much anymore. Last year I was looking for someone to draw a logo for my nerd group and I was kind of hoping he would offer but he said he wasn't feeling it much lately. That was last year. He still isn't feeling it. Others have also approached him about drawing a few things for websites and whatnot. He's hesitant.

I hope it isn't modesty that's keeping him away from the pad and pencil. The guy has mad skills. I kind of railed on him about it on that podcast too. Granted, I had a couple of mixed drinks in me but I think I yelled something along the lines of "TAKE THAT GOOD WILL HUNTING SH*T AND SHOVE IT UP YOUR A@$!"
Obviously, I meant that if you can draw well, you should. And often.

Now of all people I understand what it's like to be in a creative slump. I often bitch and moan about my writing and what a sadistic brat my muse is. I know how it feels to be busy and then when you finally have a minute, you sit down and... nothing. Not one good idea.
Another friend of mine complained to me about not getting a chance to write anymore because work keeps him busy. True, but he does have days off. See, you have to make time for your creative outlets. And when you do get a great idea for a sketch or a story, jot it down, wherever you are, in detail. The more detail the better you'll be able to recall that great idea later.

Having trouble coming up with ideas? Look to someone else's work. Now obviously I don't mean go copy someone else's idea. But I know that when I'm having a dry spell, sometimes reading a book from the same genre helps me get ideas. "Wow, that guy has serious OCD. Wait, what if I made that one character have an eating disorder? That would make it more interesting!" Maybe watching a movie or jogging or something helps you get those ideas flowing. Whatever it is that works for you, find it and latch on to it.

But like I said, art is one of those things that you just have to do. If you are talented in that area, go for it. Don't dawdle. Don't let modesty, apprehension or just plain fear keep you from putting your own original idea on paper. Creating commendable artwork is something that not anyone can do. And for those that have seen my deviantART account, that is quite apparent. We can't all be Picassos and Rembrandts.
So those of us that are, don't put it aside for other, more practical things. Will Hunting could have solved the national debt problem in two minutes but that bum ran off after a girl! 
Draw as much as you can while you can because you never know, one day a simple doodle could change the way someone sees the world. You could influence a president's way of thinking. You could bring about world peace!
Maybe not but hey, don't give up.

So, to my friend who I was kind of a jerk to: sorry but I just want to see you live the dream. You are talented enough to really do something with your art. I would be thrilled to see something of yours in a magazine or on a billboard. Hell, even a calendar would be pretty cool. So whatever you have to do to get those creative juices flowing again, do it and do it now!
Forget Will Hunting. He was an idiot. But if you take time from your busy schedule to do what you love, you can have your cake and eat it to. How do you like them apples?

Preacher

I finally finished reading the PREACHER graphic novels. Oh, man!
It was a wild and crazy ride. Don't let the title fool you, this is not something the good Christians of any land would praise. It takes pretty much every kind of sick, twisted person that there is in this world and throws them all together in one long tale of heroism and revenge. 

But not every character has mental issues or physical deformities. Our hero, Jesse Custer, has turned out pretty well considering his violent past. Until a being from Heaven merges with his soul and blesses him with a God-like power. Afterwards, when he uses "The Word" on people, they are compelled to do whatever he says. But unlike your everyday Joe who would shout "Cool!" and go wreak havoc on the world, Jesse, ever philosophical, wants answers.
What exactly is this being? Where did it come from? Why did it choose him? Where the heck is God?


The drinking, smoking preacher soon becomes a modern day gunslinger in his quest for the answers. And the drinking and smoking do continue so there are a lot of fun bar scenes. Along the way he meets up with an old flame, Tulip, who isn't so bad with a gun herself. They rekindle their sparks into a bonfire of passion once more. And they make friends with an Irish guy named Cassidy. Who also happens to be a vampire.
Sounds pretty interesting huh? Oh, it only gets better.

I won't ruin the ending for anyone but some people get dead and some justice gets served, he he.
I thoroughly enjoyed this story from beginning to end. The love story tangled up in there is just beautiful. And Jesse is truly the ideal man. He has the moral integrity of a knight or, as he would say, a cowboy. Which would usually make for boring reading but he is only human after all and he does make some serious mistakes. Plus he has no trouble killing those that he deems evil.

If you like FABLES, THE WALKING DEAD, WATCHMEN, etc, then you should definitely read PREACHER. You'll still be thinking about it days afterward. I know I am.

LEGO Red October

So here's the deal.
A couple of friends of mine decided they were going to create a scale model of the Red October submarine using Legos. The entire thing sounds weird, mostly because I didn't think of it first! I wish I had gotten in on this, I love Legos.

Anywho, the completed model should be almost thirteen feet long and have a crew of one hundred and sixty little figures. Complete with a Sean Connery looking guy! They are going to need thousands of Legos to complete this and once it is finished, they plan on auctioning it off. All proceeds will be donated to ST. JUDE'S CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL.
That's right, Lego fun for a good cause.

If you want to help this worthy endeavor, please donate Legos. They can be new or used, it doesn't matter. So search your couch cushions people! Scan the bottom of your kids toy box! For more information please visit http://legoredoctober.blogspot.com/.
There is also a Youtube page where they will be posting updates on the project: http://www.youtube.com/user/legoredoctober.

I donated Legos, you can too! Help the children! Help the reasearchers who may one day cure cancer! Let's make a Lego submarine!

Fables

I've read a handful of graphic novels over the years but last year a friend of mine introduced me to some series that I have really come to love. Today I want to talk about the one that touches my inner child: FABLES.

This series is basically about what every day life would be like for fairy tale characters if they were forced to move to our modern world. They call themselves Fables and they live on Bullfinch Street in New York City in a section they call Fabletown. Unless they are talking animals or make-believe creatures that can't fit in with modern society. Then they are shipped off to The Farm in upstate New York.
Why are they here? Because they were forced from their worlds by The Adversary, a mysterious tyrant who's armies sweep through every fairy tale world and who's identity isn't revealed until later on.

Some of the main charcters are great. They have the Big Bad Wolf, aka Bigby who is now usually seen in human form. There's the ever serious Snow White and her mischevious sister, Rose Red. Other characters include King Cole, Jack Horner, the Three Blind Mice, the Frog Prince, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Prince Charming, Aladdin, Mowgli, Pinnochio, etc. Other main characters are obviously there for you to despise, and despise I do!
I really love how they throw in obscure fairy tale characters sometimes. King Thrushbeard appears a few times and if you have no idea who that is, it's okay, none of my friends who read the series did either. But I knew the name immediately. He has his own short story told by the Grimm Brothers after all. And I adore me some Grimm tales.
There's also the interesting idea that many of the Fables believe: that your popularity with the humans directly affects your mortality. All Fables are immortal in the sense that they don't age and die, apparently. Or is it that they do age but super, super slow? Anyway, whenever someone is fatally injured and they miraculously survive, they believe it has to do with how popular their tale is with the "mundies", as they call us.

The stories themselves are marvelous. They are much like the old fairy tales before Disney and Studio Ghibli got a hold of them and PC'd the hell out of them. There is violence, mystery, romance, backstabbing, unlikely heroes, plot twists, gruesome murders, and more often than not, justice. Everything a good story should have, in my opinion.
I don't want to give too much away but eventually we do find out just who this mysterious Adversary is and that there are plans in motion to "take out" Fabletown. And there is an unexpected romance that I kind of saw a mile away but gushed over just the same.

I've only read the first fifteen volumes but I just can't wait to get my hands on what else is out so far. Then I will be impatiently waiting for new volumes to come out, like I do with many book or manga series that I follow. This will be my first time doing it with a graphic novel series though. The suspense, the suspense!
I highly recommend FABLES to anyone who enjoyed the Inheritance series, The Hunger Games trilogy, or anyone who just loves fairy tales from all over the world. The art is amazing, the dialogue engaging and the story itself, addictive.