One Sunday night in the summer of 2006, my friend Joe Pepe calls me and tells me he is coming by in five minutes and we're going to the bar (Trinity's). Right away he gets on about his faith, his deep belief in the Catholic Church. Normally I would be the one debating this with him, throwing in some counter points, but on this night I really didn't feel like arguing with him, as it's taxing on my mental state and undoubtedly takes a few days off my life every time i do it. So as soon as he stops by and we're walking up to Jericho Turnpike, he tries to prove to me that evolution did not really happen. Pepe was a biology major. Again, I put up no resistance and am intent on simply listening. We get to the bar, where we start playing darts and having a few beers. There weren't many people there, so Pepe continues to talk loudly about his religious beliefs to Johnny and I. Johnny's a patient guy, he's another good friend, and also the bartender. I think I was about to close 16s when Joe, to illustrate his point and provide me with proof of the divine, tells the story of the Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima. This is a story that takes place in Portugal in 1917, where three shepherd children claim to have seen the Virgin Mary on the thirteenth day of six consecutive months. They say that Mary told them three secrets and provided a date on which She would show Herself so that all could witness the miracle and believe. People at this point were flocking to Fatima, as word had spread quickly of the upcoming miracle. It became disruptive, so the three shepherd children were jailed by the politicians in power then. The politicians did everything they could to get the secrets from the children, but it was in vain. They were released, and on the day of the last reported apparition (the one that would prove to everyone that this was, in fact, a miracle), a crowd sometimes estimated at 70,000 gathered in the spot where the vision was to occur. Reporters, newspaper men, people from all over were there to witness this next vision. From all accounts it was raining very heavily that day, and everyone's clothes were soaked. But then, in an instant, the skies parted, the rain stopped, and the Sun began to move closer to the Earth, whirling, zig zagging, moving with incredible speed and grace. The light turned blue and it started to radiate extraordinary amounts of heat. Everyone of the 70,000 people's clothes were dry in a flash, and visions of Jesus, Joseph and the Virgin Mary were all reported as well. I listened intently as Joe was telling the story, impressed by his conviction and faith. We finished our game, and paid Johnny for the pints. Johnny was with us the entire time, and keep in mind he wasn't behind the bar once during this whole conversation. So he takes the twenty that Joe gave him, and generously as always, gives us five dollars back (when we probably owed him twenty more). On top of the five dollar bill, in worn, big, bold, and black writing, is the name FATIMA. Pepe turns to me and says: "You gotta go to church."
heres two danny devito drawings ive done in the past couple weeks. hes got a toupee on. as you can see ive placed them beautifully. jeeeez. anyway, theyre from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia-which is REALLY funny. Gooooo, Go For It......Go For It!! Im gonna draw him 10,000 more times to get him down right. still working on it. i think ive also got to draw 100 hands by friday. that'll probably take some time. i should start that. anything else?....Lilac Wine by Jeff Buckley is an awesome song.
"I was working on the proof of one of my poems all the morning, and took out a comma. In the afternoon I put it back again." oscar wilde
almost done with schoooool, and i am excited for a little break. cinnabon is conquering the toronto subway system with its ridiculous smell being pumped not only through the vents, but through our VEINS....fight it, FIGHT IT.
sad news yesterday--one of the greatest american authors of all time passed away. kurt vonnegut was writing up until the end and i thank him for all the incredible books, essays, and art he has created for us. if you have never read any of his work, please do. cat's cradle is a personal favorite, but all his work is inspiring, insightful, and really makes you think. on top of that its often laugh out loud funny. i hope he took a trip to trafalmadore before he went wherever hes going.
"Any reviewer who expresses rage and loathing for a novel is preposterous. He or she is like a person who has put on full armor and attacked a hot fudge sundae. "
"To whom it may concern: It is springtime. It is late afternoon. "
"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be. " "What should young people do with their lives today? Many things, obviously. But the most daring thing is to create stable communities in which the terrible disease of loneliness can be cured. "
"The year was 2081, and everyone was finally equal. "
"The universe is a big place, perhaps the biggest."
so this is a recent playblast of an assignment im hoping to put on my demo reel. its harry and dick from 3rd rock from the sun. dick is still in the blocking phase, as is pretty apparent, but harrys coming along. i havent done any facial animation yet and im going to rig the trout so i get a little overlap. theres a lot more work to be done, but i figured ide post what i have. im hoping that one day ill actually know what im doing when it comes to animation. back to work for more practice.
this is a quick sketch of the marchesa casati by Augustus Edwin John. i did it a couple of months AGO at the AGO. it doesnt do the original justice, but i like that seductive look she has on her face. these muse-types of women-the ones who drive all the artists of their era crazy--theres just something so fascinating about them. she was probably a really interesting and intense person to know. she walked around Venice with cheetahs on leashes! who wouldnt want a woman like that?! femme fatale
heres an image i rendered out of maya tonight. i tweaked the model, which i got from turbo squid, textured and lit it, and placed it in the scene. i used mental ray then touched the shadows up in photoshop. its still a bit cg looking, but im gettin better. my dad had a bug like this when he was my age, which he loved, so i figured he would get a kick out of it. i chose to put it in taos, new mexico b/c i visited there with my friend jerry when he was going to school out in sante fe. it was such a mysterious little place.
i went to see the decemberists this weekend at the university of buffalo with my brother and kev. they played with so much energy and really looked like they were having such an awesome time--so the audience did too. they were so good and they only charged 20 bucks for the tickets--go see em if you can. http://members.aol.com/ThememanXX/dec/330.html
three of my really talented best friends all recently got awesome news--
sue just accepted an offer from an amazing school where she'll go for five years to get her masters and doctorate. i couldnt even begin to understand or explain exactly what she will be doing, but i know that its important research of life at a fundamental level in areas where biology and geoscience are overlapping. shes unbelievable.Coccoliths
my friend andy drove up to troy today and got the results back for his pilot test. i wish i could remember the exact title of the test, but either way its to see if he can fly jets in the air force. he can. he scored a perfect 99 on the coordination end of it and a 96 on pilot aptitude. yikes. hes wanted to fly jets his whole life and hes amazing at everything he tries, so it doesnt surprise me. once he gets in he'll have to see what hes going to fly. knowing him it will probably be the best plane they have.
dan also recently passed a huge test--a series 63 or 65 or some other number that makes him some sort of important, financial something or other! hes pretty damn good at everything he tries too. the test was eight hours or something crazy like that.
two details of a larger work done after reading some kurt vonnegut. watercolor on board.
i dont do that much digital painting in photoshop, so i cheated the water and just used an actual image and turned down the opacity on it a bit, then put it over a base color i liked.
two twenty minute oils on masonite--thames bridge and a public park, both in london, ontario
design for a now defunct restaurant/bar--i hope it wasnt b/c of the shoddy design work..hhmmm..i dont even know if they used this thing. its a lino-print i put through a filter in photoshop.
thumbing though my sketch book today and scanned in a few drawings ive done recently--i'm gonna try to draw happier people from now on. i gotta bring these into photoshop and add some color, make em more interesting...
she was so bundled up!! it reminded of ralphie's little brother in A Christmas Story...what was his name??? Or WAS ralphie the little brother...i dont feel like googling it right now....it can wait.
