Doctor Who,.... Hey!,.... The Tardis

The only show I ever write about with any regularity is the incredibly funny 30 Rock, and that's less a review than it is a recitation of all the lines I thought were funny. Not to mention there's always the off chance that Tina Fey will read it and reach an epiphany that I am truly the man for her. We will all convert to Mormanism (?) and live out the rest of our lives in polygamous geeky goofiness.

That doesn't mean there aren't other shows I follow. Quite honestly, if it wasn't for tv I'd have no social life, since I am firmly convinced that is where all my friends live.
Timelord, (I know who you are Dr.F) want's to see some Doctor Who love, and rightly so. Since it's revamping by Russell T Davies this amaranthine series has gotten better with each season surviving numerous cast changes, and spawning two spin-offs. Hard to believe we're only in the fifth season.

The end of this season sees the departure of Mr. Davies as creative head. Steven Moffat the man responsible for the creepiest and possibly most creative episodes since the relaunch, ("Blink" may be one of the scariest things I've seen on tv, on par if not exceeding Buffys "Hush") will be taking over which can only mean good things for the show. Sadly, after this current season we will not see the Doctor till 2010. There has been some promise of specials over the next year, one which may feature Jennifer Saunders (Absolutely Fabulous) as the first female Doctor, but I've learned not to hold my breath.

Bottom line, if you're not watching Doctor Who, what the heck is wrong with you. The show's been on 45 years! That should tell you something. I have heard the episodes currently running on the Sci-Fi channel are edited down from their BBC original length, but the edited episodes can be seen in their entirety on the DVD boxed sets which are worth renting. The BBC sets are still way overpriced unfortunately.

Past seasons are currently re-running on BBC America. I don't know if they are unedited.
Currently the Doctor, brilliantly portrayed by David Tennant is accompanied by the headstrong Donna Noble played by comedian Catherine Tate. Past companions since the relaunch have been the Doctors lost love and fan favorite Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) and Martha Jones. (Freema Agyeman - possibly the most beautiful woman in Sci-Fi today) A recent episode also introduced the Doctors cloned daughter Jenny played by the 5th Doctor, Peter Davisons daughter Georgia Moffett. She took off to save the universe, so I'm hoping we'll see more of her.
So to summerize:
Time travel, dashing heroes, beautiful companions, humor, tragedy, fear, lots of running, the longest sci-fi pedigree ever! They finally showed us how the Daleks climb stairs. What more can you want?



Before you go, check out this clip from Comic Relief where Catherine Tates character Lauren meets her new english teacher.

What Do You Do With A Drunken Hero?

Before I start my review I’d like to make a statement. While I am truly sorry you could not find a babysitter for the evening, there is no, I repeat NO! excuse for bringing a newborn to a movie. If your kid is small enough to fit in a large handbag or backpack they probably should not be in a disease infested dark room with flashing lights and 110 decibels of sound. Stay at home! That’s what a good conscientious neighbor would do. I have no children. What makes you think I want to hear your colicy spawn wail for 45 minutes? If I wanted that, I have Yoko Ono CDs to listen to. Don’t you think it’s about time the megaplexes realize that babies shouldn’t be allowed into the theaters? To my knowledge, I have never been to a film where there is a baby present that has not started crying 30 – 40 minutes in. Maybe these mothers like the attention they get when they finally leave their seat and the applause starts. All I have to say to the inconsiderate sow that thought bringing a newborn into the screening of Hancock at the Regal 20 in Virginia Center Commons on 6/25 and forcing us to listen to it cry for a good 45 minutes is this.

Just because your parenting skills no longer allow you to hear the cries of your infant, doesn’t mean the rest of us can’t. You are a narcissistic, inconsiderate sorry excuse of a person. I hope you enjoyed your 15 minutes of negative fame, and while I wish no ill on your child, after all the lights and the sound probably had the kid feeling like a detainee in Abu Gharib, I hope your child gives you no end of trouble, particularly in its teen years.

Now on to the review.

As always I will avoid spoilers.

If you’ve been searching around for reviews of Hancock, the new superhero flick from director Peter Berg which stars Will Smith, Jason Bateman and Charlize Theron. Chances are you came upon the blasting the film took in the Latino Review a month ago. I’m not sure what movie they were watching, but the studio has definitely made some cuts since then. The R rating has been dropped to a PG13, which in this case probably helped the film.

If you’re looking for a superhero film, let me warn you, Hancock may not be what you’re looking for. I suggest catching Iron Man or the Hulk again, or if you can wait, Batman and Hellboy will be here soon enough. There are superheroics in Hancock, often with hilarious results, but it’s not the meat of the movie, or even what drives the film forward.

Hancock is a movie about people first and foremost. The best way I can describe it in comic terms is where all the other hero flicks (excluding Hellboy) are primarily Marvel and DC associated. Hancock comes off like something from a good indie publisher or DCs Vertigo line. It doesn’t need to follow the superhero script but dabbles in it just enough where I could understand the movie confusing some people.

Hancock does make quite a turn in the 3^rd act, and I applaud their decision. This film could have easily become an afterschool special treading down a safe and easy road of personal redemption or failure. It could have heavy handedly beat us down with yet another message of responsibilities and heroics. Instead we got a superhero movie with no super villain, no end of the world scenario and no real gimmicks.

The basic story is this. Will Smith is John Hancock, a being of extraordinary powers who drinks too much, feels compelled to do good, but is too angry and lonely to care how.

As an aside, I’m not sure if Smith or director Peter Berg had planned on evoking an image of our own returning vets, but I kinda got that vibe. Regardless of your feelings on the War, and I think most of us are in the same frame of mind. Men and women are sacrificing everything. Many who do return home find they have no home to come back to, losing their jobs and their families, they are greeted with scorn and contempt for taking part in an action too few support. If nothing else they deserve our compassion. I’ll get off the soapbox now.

Hancock meets Ray Embrey a Public Relations man who wants to save the world, but can’t get any backers for his pet project since it requires corporate sacrifice. Ray devises a way to clean up Hancocks image, which of course requires personal sacrifice on Hancocks part. Hancock reluctantly agrees, and that’s about all I can tell you without giving anything away.

I will tell you this though. The trailers downplay Charlize Therons role in the film, but the story of Hancock is definitely about 3 people. Most hero films spend as much time if not more introducing villains and telling their origins than they do with the actual hero. (did we really need Green Goblin in 3 Spiderman films?) Problem is most of the villains origins just aren’t that interesting. Since Hancock has no villain they spare us the exposition and give us more of what we want. Screen time with what may be 3 of the most charismatic screen presences today.

Will Smith has proven he could carry a film on his own and his turn as the besotted Hancock allows him to be as funny as he is tragic. What do you expect from the only guy on a tv sitcom you ever wanted to hang out with.

Jason Bateman always delivers and he has great chemistry with Smith. The scenes where he is training Hancock to be gracious are hilarious. You really believe this regular Joe has the force of conviction to stand up to an omnipotent being and tell him like it is.

I could write chapters on Charlize Theron. She always surprises me, and I almost never recognize her from one role to the next. Her turn here as Rays wife Mary is as heartbreaking as it is surprising.

Hancock has its share of action sequences, some of which are too hastily edited, but that seems to be the trend these days. The effects are great and have an as rooted in reality feel to them as they can. (Why didn’t the Hulk leave potholes whenever he jumped?) The script is tight, and while the story does take a sharp turn if you just ride it out you’ll find it’s a novel approach to an old concept. Just don’t expect to come away with more answers than questions. There are some very funny moments and if I had to categorize, I would consider Hancock a superhero dramedy. Just don’t expect a laugh riot from beginning to end.

Overall I recommend Hancock to anyone looking to go beyond the summers popcorn fare to a more adult thinking mans superhero flick.

Just do us a favor? Leave the baby with a sitter.

Baby photos by Jill Greenberg

Seven Words You Never Wanted To Say

George Carlin, May he Rest In Peace.

I'm A Highly Evolved Being, And All I Got Was This Stupid T-Shirt

I know, I know. I made a vow to keep to this about 3 times a week and I've already reneged. Let's be honest here though, I said this month would be a bear at work, and so far I've at least been honest about that. Besides you wouldn't want to argue with a highly evolved individual such as myself would you?
What makes me think I'm highly evolved.......?

SCIENCE! (stab your finger in the air if you're reading this aloud)

According to Meridith Small an author and anthropologist at Cornell University as well as a frequent contributor to Live Science and Katherine Rankin a Neurophysiologist at the University of California, sarcasm, yes sarcasm is an evolutionary survival skill and plays an important part in human social interaction.

If this is true, Groucho Marx and Bob Hope may have been the most highly evolved beings in our lifetime. Take that Dalai Lama!
All those years being told sarcasm was the lowest form of humor, or that my sarcasm was gonna get me popped in the mouth one day, (it hasn't) or even worse, sarcasm is a character flaw have all been lies. Lies perpetuated by those lower on the evolutionary scale than I. Let me tell you, this takes a load off my mind. No really, you don't know how....free I feel. How, what's the word? Unfettered.

Not only am I evolved, but the article goes on further to state that people who don't get sarcasm are damaged! Something wrong with that guy. Don't leave him alone with the kids, if you know what I mean. That guys got something wrong...bam! Right in the ol' parahippocampal gyrus. He's got a screw loose in the right side of his brain, man.

I feel sorry for the guy who doesn't get sarcasm, but there must be a lot of them cause Brad Garret keeps getting sitcoms while Arrested Development gets cancelled. Yes I'm still crying about that, deal with it!

So, new vow. I promise to be as positively funny and simultaneously as negatively nasty as possible, whenever possible. The kid gloves are off my friends. Witness my meteoric rise up the evolutionary ladder and quake, yes quake at the majesticness of a highly evolved bittingly witty being such as myself.

Or it could just be more of the same old, same old. Many of you won't know, cause you just....won't....get...it.

If you want to read the article you can find it here at Live Science.

Machine Girl Is Awesome!

Every now and then something comes along that is so perfect, so right that for a brief moment everything in the universe seems to make sense. In the world of genre films it's hitting on all the best points of what makes those films fun while eliminating all the filler that bogs down a good 90% of them.
Shaun of the Dead was one such film. Kill Bill was another mixing together genres with such precision that the only thing missing was a MechaBride fighting a giant rubber suited mutant Bill while Shaw Brothers vampire/zombies with 3 inch fangs hopped through Tokyo decimating the populace, but that would just be silly. Robert Rodriguez' Planet Terror taught me the only thing better than Rose McGowan with a machine gun leg , would be Rose McGowan with two machine gun legs, plus they killed Fergie.

This kind of cinematic synchronicity does not occur often. The fact that the past few years has seen some exceptions to the drought of good exploitation, I believe is wholly attributed to the fact that there are more people who grew up with similar interests now in the drivers seat.

This brings me to Machine Girl otherwise known as Kataude Mashin Garu written and Directed by 39 year old Noboru Iguchi.

My short review would be Machine Girl is awesome! Unfortunately short reviews are for punks so I gotta keep going.

Machine Girl stars Minase Yashiro as Ami, a pretty high schooler who's a bit of a tomboy. Ami cares for her younger brother Yu since their parents committed suicide after a supposed murder frame up leaving the kids to fend for themselves.
Amis brother and his best friend Takashi are killed by an extorting bully who is also the son of a Yakuza Ninja couple who are a few rice balls short of a bento box.

Of course the only way for a young girl to get justice is to seek revenge on the boys who killed her brother. Maybe that murder frame up in her families past wasn't such a frame up since Ami seems really quick to turn to homicidal tendencies. Even her brother had a list in his diary of people he wanted to kill, which leads Ami in her schoolgirl uniform to her first violent confrontation with a family of one of her brothers killers.














I don't think I'm giving anything away by revealing Ami eventually loses an arm in her quest for bloody vengeance. This leads to an alliance with Takashis mechanic parents. Miki, excellently played by Japanese AV star Asami, takes her under her wing and trains Ami to fight while Sugeru, the father, constructs a machine gun arm to replace Ami's missing limb.


There is one other star of this film. Arterial spray. This flick shoots as much of the red stuff as any Lone Wolf and Cub film. Doesn't matter if you lose a finger or get stabbed in the head. Blood will spurt in unbelievable amounts. Half the film seems to be filmed in a pink mist, and that's fine by me. I haven't seen exaggerated maiming like this since the classic Story Of Ricky-O. As outrageous as Ricky-O was, the violence seems even stronger when it centers around a beautiful girl with an amazing smile.


I gotta tell you. Guy or gal, if you don't fall in love with the screen combo of Ami and Miki then your tastes probably run to the ultra fetishist or non human since both women are gorgeous, tough and sexy.

There are so many high points to this film. The Red Junior High School Ninjas, the Super Mourners Gang comprised of parents of boys Ami has taken revenge on. A chainsaw leg and a drill bra, I'll wait for that one to sink in, A Drill BRA rounding out the mechanics of destruction. Finger sushi, face nailing, the list goes on and on!

Machine Girl is a near perfect modern revenge flick. It is thoroughly entertaining and never takes itself too seriously. Of course if you don't like gore for gores sake, you may want to skip this one. I recommend putting the kids to sleep, getting some friends over and creating a drinking game based on this film and the copious amount of bloodletting. You'll be drunk before the credits roll.

Machine Girl moves into my top list of films to join such classics as Shaun and Dawn of the Dead, Battle Royale and Kill Bill to name a few. It is available from Amazon for a measly 13 bucks or through Netflix.

Still not sure? Check out the trailer:

Retraction Of The Lost Ark

I mistakenly assumed that Lego Indiana Jones was a $60 game on Next-Gen systems. Price ranges from $30 - $50 depending on the system. Sorry for the confusion.

Raider Of The Lost Block

Whenever I buy a gift for one of my many nieces or nephews, one toy jumps first to my mind. Lego, the colorful, interlocking, imagination encouraging, building block of any childs world. As a kid I built everything from spaceships to high rises, and as an adult I still feel the call from the Lego aisle every time I go to Target.
I would never imagine a videogame based on Lego building blocks to be enjoyable to anyone past the age of 9. Imagine my surprise when I found myself obsessively collecting studs and kit parts in both Lego Star Wars games. Striving for that 100 percent completion. Lego Star Wars played like reading a Harry Potter novel. You could always go that extra page, find that extra item. In fact, if there was one franchise, besides the upcoming Batman, that I would like to see get the Lego game treatment, It would be Harry Potter. I'll get to why in a bit. For now I want to talk about Lego Indiana Jones.
The fun factor of the Star Wars games put Lego Indiana Jones high on my radar. I knew it would be more of the same, but stud collecting has such a satisfying sound, that I was really looking forward to it. Plus, what guy doesn't want to be Indy? Cracking the whip, fighting nazis, solving puzzles. I only wonder why they really didn't do all that effectively in this game. Sure the elements are there, but the game is plagued by cheap hits, repetitive characters and bland unforgiving level design.
Lego Indiana Jones is not a bad game. As a matter of fact, it makes a great weekend rental as I played through the game in about 6 hours with about 60% collected and I enjoyed it. If 10 bucks an hour is your idea of the price of entertainment, then this game may even be a buy for you, but I couldn't imagine 100% collection in this game taking more than 12 hours, but there's really not 12 hours of enjoyment packed in the game.
I have no choice but to compare Lego Star Wars with Lego Indiana Jones as the game mechanics are so similar, but it's the differences in the two that really make the difference between a good game and a great game.
Let's start with characters first. Lego Star Wars had you collecting characters from the different movies, but all the characters had unique looks and personalities and sounds. From Ewoks to Jar Jar Binks, they were fun to collect.
Lego Indy has you collecting Thugee Cultists and Nazis and scholars and that's about it. Almost every character in the game plays identically and each type has a generic look.
Indy has a whip which he can use to swing, but instead of giving us a cool swinging like Spiderman level, the whip is used for little more than single swings.
Where films Indiana Jones uses his whip with deadly accuracy, the whip in the game is virtually useless against enemies, especially since most of them are shooting at you. The whip also shares a button with your building action and often gets you into more trouble than not.
The best character in the game is probably Willie from the second film. Not only do women jump higher, but Willie can also shatter glass obstacles with her voice as well as pick up dropped weapons like any other character.
Other character mechanics are, short characters can crawl through hatches, scholars can solve simple four tile memory puzzles and thugees can pray to statues to open hidden areas.
All combat is through fist, firearm or blade. This is where the game falls flattest. Most enemies carry firearms and fire at you from off screen leading to lots of cheap kills. It's true you can't truly die in the game, but that doesn't mean I want to be blown up by a bazooka from off camera each time I respawn. Arrow indicators pointing to off screen enemies, as many games do, would be a great addition.
One of the enjoyments in Lego Star Wars was using dark or light force powers in combat. It gave the game variety. Indy doesn't have that. This is also one of the reasons I think a Harry Potter Lego game would work (thought I forgot, huh) Interesting characters and creatures with unique abilities and magic. Huge bosses like the ogre, or a dragon and animal familiars. It would be a classic. Now back to Indy.
Cheap hits aren't the only killer in the game. Many of the jumping mechanics take such precision that it borders on frustrating. If a 40 something hardcore gamer is having trouble jumping to a platform because of a lousy camera angle, is a kid going to fare any better? (probably) Sometimes the difference between a successful jump was a fraction of a 16th of an inch one side or the other at an angle that made no sense for the jump to work. A miss may mean your character respawning and falling off the edge over and over till you happen to press the change character button just at the right time to stay alive.
Lego Star wars has you collecting ship parts or kits from each level to build the many iconic vehicle found in the movies. This ties back with building spaceships as a child. It's fun, and since we know what they look like we want to complete them. In Indy we collect artifact pieces. I don't care what they look like and I'm not truly motivated to find out.
There are also no exotic locations. You have a jungle, or a cave, or a desert camp and different varieties of the same. Many of the indoor locations don't have the same huge feel as the Star Wars games.
There were some interesting additions that were also underused such as the phobias. Indy is afraid of snakes and is ineffective when they are around, other characters fear spiders or rats. This could have been a great mechanic, but it was sorely underused and did not truly impact game play.
In one jungle location the game makes a point of telling you an elephant can grab items. Just out of reach bananas which can be used to trade for a crucial item, such as a key, with a monkey seems like an obvious item for an elephant to grab. After 10 minutes I discover I need to use my whip to grab the banana right from the edge of a one hit kill muddy swamp. Using the whip pushes you a bit forward so this lead to more frustrating deaths.
Don't get me started on vehicle control, no seriously don't. You're better off walking. Trust me. it's a shame they force you to drive. Nuff said.
So what was fun, you ask. Well, it's still a Lego game and has great humor and for the most part addictive gameplay, just not on the level with Star Wars. It's still fun to play through the movies, and when the game shows personality it rises above most. Like I said a great solid rental.
There are 5 Star Wars characters to find. I found R2, Threepio, Chewie and Luke. Finding all characters gives you the ability to play the game as Han Solo. Basically another guy with a gun, I'd prefer to play as Luke with his force powers, or how about a character from another Spielberg film? You're fighting nazis so how about Schindler or Private Ryan or Wild Bill Kelso from 1941? (that would be awesome) Even a young JG Ballard from Empire of the Sun. I'd also accept the Goonies or Freakazoid, but Han Solo? Ok, I get it. Harrison Ford, I'd prefer the Harrison from American Graffiti in his tricked out muscle car, but that's just me.
There is an additional level you can unlock to play as young Indiana, but I was not compelled enough to get the completion level necessary to unlock it.
If you're looking for a quick fun game, then put Lego Indiana Jones on your rental list. I'd even go so far to say if the game came down in price, it would be worth a buy. Just don't expect a lot out of it.
I'm holding out for Lego Batman as there are probably enough vehicles, gadgets and variety of villains to give Lego Star Wars a challenge.

Lego Indiana Jones was developed by Lucasarts and is available for the Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360 as well as Nintendo DS, PSP, PS2 and PC.

I Want A New Toy

This guy showed up a while back, but I lazed out on writing about him. I mentioned back in February that I was going to pre-order which I hate to do. When it comes to ordering things I revert back into a five year old and check the ship date with such regularity you would swear I had OCD.


His official title is Subject 805: Tactical Containment Unit Operator. I don't know what that is, but it looks cool on paper. He's from Sideshow Collectibles, and part of their original The Dead line.
If you're not familiar with Sideshow you should check them out. They make figures for a lot of licensed products and you'll probably see something you like.


Now, I have a lot of toys, but the pride of my collection are my 1/6th scale (12") military figures. I don't think I ever grew out of my original GI Joe phase as they were my faves as a child. There are several companies producing these such as Dragon and Blue Box. They are made to be as historically accurate as possible down to the slightest detail. Weapons may be metal with moving parts and removable clips. Buckles snaps and belts all work. Even the zippers are scaled down in size to make sense with the uniforms. All in all, they are true collectors pieces.

It looks like Sideshow Toys is giving this fanboy what he wants by creating an army of undead to battle the army I've been amassing over the years.



First thing you'll notice on 805 is the face sculpt. Sideshow did an amazing job. It is obvious that 805 is loosely based on Dr. Tongue, one of the first zombies seen in George Romeros Day of the Dead. The skin color is perfect, and the face wound is particularly gruesome. The darker red on the inside of the tongue suggests bruising from biting down on it too much.





805 is missing his left hand, and if there is anyplace I could pick nits, this is it. The arm is locked at an angle, I would have preferred it pose able. At least ship the figure with an optional arm.






The uniform is basic blood spattered BDUs and a tactical vest. 805 ships with a radio headset, machine gun and a stand with The Dead logo printed on it. Other items in the box are paper documents which are impractical and shouldn't be unpacked.

The figure is solid though as are all Sideshow figures and short of the left arm, can hold a variety of realistic poses.
I'm pretty pleased with 805 since it combines my favorite toy type with my favorite subject, zombies.


I have a pre-order in for Subject 1025: The Babysitter as well. I'm also going to try for a Comic Con Babysitter exclusive, but I'm not to hopeful as those sell out fast.

Of course while it's great to have a zombie figure, this could lead to complications.

No sooner do I get him on my shelf........

Get it off! Get it off!!

Ahhh!

Take it down!

Fire at will!

Kapow

Don't you die on me!

You did all you could.

Holy crap he's alive!

Grrrr, Arrggh!

Something tells me I'm going to have a lot more zombies before too long.


If anyone knows photoshop and would like to gore these up, feel free.
Let me know if you do

All photos in this post are Creative Commons,
Attribution, Non-Commercial, Share Alike


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

Something Is Still Wrong With My World View

What is my obsession with accidental porn or smut or whatever? It just gives me a special little tingly feeling like I'm in on some dirty joke that needs to be made obvious. I found this a long time ago and probably laughed in the "Ethnic Foods" section of the Key Food for about 10 minutes.

It's Spicy

Kurt Shaped Box

I had something planned for today, but I feel a need to put it off.
Begin rant in 5...4....3....2...1

Sometimes you read something that just gets your blood pumping. It fills you with such shock and awe that you stare incredulously into space simply trying to process it. Such was the case this morning when I read in the news that someone had broken into Courtney Loves home and stolen the remaining ashes and lock of hair of Kurt Cobain.

Think about that for a second....think about how it makes you feel.

Now before you start wondering if I'm a Hole or Nirvana fan, let me assure you that is not the issue here. Sure I loved Nevermind, but coming from an early punk background there was never anything truly new that Nirvana did that I hadn't heard 10 years before. I also enjoy Hole, but never listened to a full album till my wife moved in, and probably haven't since.

The point here is that someone stole cremains. Now I know this may seem like a minor crime in the eyes of many, particularly with the atrocities committed in the current global climate, and the lengths man will go to destroy man, but what does it say about us that I have become so inured by the bombardment of suffering we are made to witness on a daily basis that I am appalled by this unconscionable act of emotional torture.

According to the press Courtney has said she does not know what she'll do if she doesn't get them back, "it's like losing him all over again." The cremains and hair were kept in a small plastic bag shaped like a pink teddy bear so she could take them with her when she wanted to feel close to him.

Another thing I find shocking about this incident is the callousness this crime is treated with simply because of the victim. To insinuate that she snorted the ashes, or that the remains are not all she had left considering the settlement of Kurts estate is cold and unnecessary. Forgetting the fact that she is raising Kurts child, consider how you would feel should the remains of a loved one be stolen. Would it matter how much they left you in the will? Of course not. Why can't we afford Courtney Love the same sympathy we would for anyone in her situation?

Who do we feel sympathy for? Every star in Hollywood seems to want to help Britney or Lindsey to stop the trainwrecks that are their over privileged lives. One thing Courtney has never done is lie about who she is. Is that why she deserves less? A drug addict, musician and stripper who never properly recovered from a very public shocking death and forced to become a single mother at the age of 30 is less of a person than a 20 year old princess who has been given every opportunity and still willingly and knowingly destroys herself.

In this entertainer as royalty culture we live in try to remember the last person Courtney Love has been romantically linked to. I looked, I checked it out. Sure there are rumors of everyone from Bruce Willis to Pete Doherty, but they remained rumors. Nothing confirmed. The last person I could find Courtney Love romantically linked to was Kurt Cobain. A rarity in this who's doing who game played so publicly in Hollywood.

Having a reliquary is nothing new. Whether it's a ring, a box or a pink plastic teddy bear, the need to feel close to a lost loved one is very real. My wife made reliquary pendants for all her sisters, each containing the ashes of their mother. If this was ever lost.....I can't even imagine the sadness my wife would feel. I wish I had something left of my mother, but unfortunately was not in a clear enough mind upon her death to think that far ahead.

Before I go off on a tangent, let me just say that I hope the person or persons who perpetrated this obscene crime are found and punished. While it may be impossible to place a monetary value on someones cremains, the thief/thieves also took thousands of dollars in jewelry which should insure they at least face felony charges. Should Kurts ashes show up on Ebay or Craigslist or some other internet listing, I hope there are decent enough people out there who will report it, and not exploit it.

Maybe I'm hoping for too much

Does This Skull Make My Ass Look Fat?

Vacation is over, and I may not have gone anywhere, unless Liberty City counts, I'm pretty well rested. Relatively clear of mind and ready to go. A lot of things to talk about, but who knows if I'll get to all of them. I'll try my best.

I want to send a huge birthday shout out to my good friend Noah creator and artist behind the Skull A Day project. Today also marks the last day of the project and the beginning of a much needed rest for this modern day renaissance man.

Yesterday a group of friends and fans gathered on Belle Isle to help Noah create his living Group Skull #364. Even though 9am on a Sunday felt a bit unreasonable for most to take part in an art project, everyone got into the swing of things as Noah composed the shot via walkie talkie to his two helpers on the ground. The results are, of course, amazing and I have no idea why or how Noah sees potential skulls everywhere while most people see random objects and shapes.

Is Skull A Day getting a rest? Not according to Noah who is going to launch Skull A Day 2.0, what exactly that means? Only he can say. The only thing I know is it won't be a daily project.

As I've said before. Noah's next project prominently includes yours truly, but no announcements till he feels the time is right. I'm really excited about it and I hope anyone reading this will join us for the ride.

In the meantime, enjoy these shots I took yesterday at the second to last Skull A Day creation.
The final Skull images can be seen on his site.

Milling About

The Artist On His Perch

My POV

What the Heck Will This Look Like?

And You Thought the Sun Was Hot!!!

And On The 366th Day He Rested