McSweeny's is publishing a collection of comic artist Art Spiegelman's sketches. The book itself is titled: "Be A Nose". It looks amazing! If you are not familiar with Mr. Spiegelman, then I would get well acquainted with his work that awarded him a Pulitzer Prize called, "Maus". Which is based off of his Father's experience as a Holocaust survivor. However the twist with the characters, is that Jews are depicted as mice, Germans as cats, and The Polish as pigs, so it makes for a very interesting perspective that way. But it is an important piece of work. Here is a preview of what is to be expected from "Be A Nose".



The awesome music in the background was provided by the drummer of the band, Black Keys, Patrick Carney. Since I'm on a tangent about graphic novels, I want to also recommend: "Persepolis" I and II by Marjane Satrapi . It is an amazing piece of work. Also: "Palestine" by Joe Sacco Please read these, they are outstanding!

Stop Motion!

One of my projects for this year is to teach myself the art of animation. I've already put together this ugly goose/ostrich thing I made in ms paint. I used the video effect to make it look like a black and white cartoon from the '30s, and gave it only three frames of animation. So I just put in a continuous loop on windows media player and watch it move like one of those LCD character sprites you would control in an old Tiger Electronics games. It cracks me up every time I look at it. I'm not going to post it on here though. It's just too embarrassing to put up. After that I experimented with stop-motion animation with just using my little digital camera. I would take pictures of each motion and put the picture as a frame in the storyboard of Windows Movie maker. I did a test first with my hand (which at some point I need to expand on.).





Then the next idea was to do it with Lego men. And since they are from the medieval Lego set, I have a huge battle scene planned for the future.

Art vs. Sleep II

Here's the rest of the pics.

Art vs. Sleep

I say that I hate snow... but I'm a huge liar. Truth be told, I just hate all the adult things that are associated with snow. Snow represents things like purity, and wonder. Yet all those good feelings dissipate when one is encountered with their responsibilities. Every job that I have had, there was no excuse not to have us work. It didn't matter how bad it was outside, we had to make money. Eventually they would let us leave early after management spoke with their higher ups. I understand you need to have people there for the sake of business, but was it really worth my time being there for a few hours of pay? And then there's car trouble, such as my car tires being stuck in the snow. And no matter how fast I rev up my engine, the only progress made is the burning of rubber from my tires. The fumes created from them enter my nostrils and fill my mind with a mixture of fear, amxiety, and frustration.

Sunday night was the first time in a long time that I had seen any real snow in Richmond. Most people I know enjoy the snow during the day time, but I'm not like that. I love the snow during the night. There is just some sort of solemn beauty in watching the snow flakes descend from the dark sky, as they bathe in the street lamps light. I was inspired by the sight of this to make a video out of it. So I went out that night on a little adventure to record some footage on my crappy little digital camera(Which is why it looks kind of pixelated). This is actually my first amateur short film. I don't have any formal training in film, so please give any feedback on how what to do make it better. It's called: "Solitude In Snow".





The song, Gymnopédies 1, is what was playing through my head while I was watching the snow. It just seemed like the right song to put in the film.

These are also some photos that took along my journey that night.

My mind kept in step.

Last night I went to the Westhampton theater to see Waltz With Bashir. It was an animated documentary written, and directed by Ari Folman. The documentary focuses on Folman's experience in the Sabra and Shatila massacres of Palestinians, which occurred in the 1982 invasion of Lebanon.

Folman served in the Israeli military in his late teens, however he cannot remember his anything about his tour of duty during that time. So he goes around asking friends who served with him, a psychologist who helped soldiers with PTSD after the war, and journalist Ron Ben-Yishai (who covered the war), to help him piece together his memories.

Folman says he wasn't trying to make it a political film, but he wanted people to understand the horrors of the Lebanon war from his own personal account. I have been interested on the subject of Israelis and Palestinians for a long time now, and was very excited when I first heard about the film. I think that it is an important piece of work, and more people should watch it.

I also want to note that it was cool to see that brothers and comic artists Tomer and Asaf Tanuka worked on the film's design team.



Here is the interview Ari Folman had with France 24's news casting in english. He has some very interesting things to say about the film, but I'm also distracted by his eyes moving to the side in the interview.

No matter how hard I try, sleep will always be the victor....

This is my first blog entry ever. I decided that it is was the only one I created for just thoughts that go through my mind, and also things in arts and entertainment. So I hope you enjoy. Feedback is something is greatly appreciated.