Highlights from the Big Book o' Pretentiousness

Some silly art from my 2005 Big Book o' Pretentiousness (click images to enlarge).

This one's "Epoxy Lateralus".


And this little fellow's "Hemogoblin Mounts the Borealis".


I was going to do more, but the Big Book o' Pretentiousness didn't write itself, unfortunately.

The "Zongrila Swirl" - Amazing Recursive Animation

Years ago I found the "Zongrila Swirl" - an amazing recursive animation of the image you see above - and it's made an imprint on me ever since. Long before I read about the ramifications of loops in Douglas Hofstadter's stuff I began to appreciate the concept of representing an infinite process via a finite model (in this case, a simple animation).

Anyway, enough jibber jibber - I've been looking for this animation for ages and I've finally found it again. That link goes directly to the animation, and here's the parent post.

And here's some music to put on in the background. Trust me here. Don't do drugs, kids!

Webcomic Goodness

Wow, talk about a standard to shoot for. It's nerd humor to be sure, but the intricacy and creativity involved intimidates and awes me. Good job, Creebobby.

In related news, I've posted my new comic. It's. . . thrilling.

Hellboy and Pancakes

I've had this awesome story kicking around in my head for some time after reading it a few weeks ago. I came across it during my usual Google frenzy for a movie that I had been looking forward to (in this case, Hellboy II: The Golden Army). It's a couple pages of the comic, the infamous "Pancakes" story, and it's indicative of the wonderful element of humor found throughout Mignola's work. Enjoy!

The Pancakes Story (Hellboy)

Mr. Bungle's "California" in MS Paint

Well, I haven't posted for awhile (I've had some medical nastiness to work throw - hopefully I'm on the home stretch), but as a quick pre-bedtime morsel I present, in response to an online challenge, my favorite album rendered in MS Paint:


Looks pretty good considering that I only spent about ten minutes on it. (The original album art for comparison.)

Muto - A Trip Worth Taking

The following is recommended by Penny Arcade's Tycho, who sez: "Don't ask what: just click, and be enriched." I'll say a little more: this moving mural is a marvel. Blurby alliterations aside, it never loses your attention for a second and sustains itself for far longer than you'd expect. The fantastic sound effects and neat tricks employed throughout the project hold your attention. This is a fantastic, surreal work - the sort of thing that Gahan Wilson might do, and everybody should see it. So - watch Muto, and be enlightened.

Bonus points if you can figure out the location from the video (it's not too difficult).

Adie Russell's Uncanny Lip-Synchs

Adie Russell is an interesting artist with a unique and pleasant body of work. However, she will most likely receive her share of internet fame for her wonderful lip-synchs of famous interviews and political figures. Suffice it to say that you all have to watch this clip of a Merv Griffin interview with Richard Nixon. Adie does both sides of the interview, putting enough subtlety, character and conviction into the lines to make it stick. She's absolutely spot-on and I know art when I see it.

The singularity of what I was viewing took a moment to sink in, but once it did I was hooked. I think I like the Ginsberg clip even more.

via Boingboing

Private Underground Temples

Pursuing, as always, my interests in ancient religion (and, perhaps, attempting to assuage the torrent of G*ne S*mmons ads Google's put into my blog since the post awhile back pertaining to Mr. Gargoyle Codpiece himself), Clumpy's Believe it Or Not is delighted to introduce you to the story of the man who independently nine complex, five-level temples in a hillside in Italy.

Nothing short of a complete iteration of the article can do the story justice, so I won't attempt:

Eighth Wonder of the World?

Spider Scissors

Christopher Locke of blog The Heartless Machine has an awesome gallery online of metal spider made from confiscated scissors. I always knew those TSA actions had a point. . .

Spider Scissors

Thanks again to BoingBoing

Chris Gilmour's Amazing Cardboard Sculptures

Well, another person in the news with a talent that I will never, ever be able to develop.

This guy makes cardboard into stunning sculptures: garden watering pots, a typewriter, even a Fiat automobile. The thing goes 75 imaginary miles per hour.

He's based in Italy so most of you won't be able to check out the displays in person. Check out the site for a complete gallery:

Chris Gilmour Cardboard Sculpture Gallery

Random Merch Extravaganza

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, everybody. School took me a little off-guard but I have a treasure trove of links and such for us today. I'll be posting the rest later so be sure to check back.

(I found most of these on BoingBoing. Seriously, if you haven't visited that site. Do it now. You might find it uninteresting upon first visit but after some time you'll find out how truly wonderful it is.

First some bizarre items for sale on teh Internets:


The "scariest mask of 2007": the Michael Jackson Fright Mask. Actually, I believe this is the face he makes every morning as he stands in front of the medicine cabinet. "Nope - still me."

A bacon candy bar, from a self-proclaimed bacon and chocolate enthusiast. (I'm a bacon and chocolate enthusiast, but not really a bacon and chocolate enthusiast - kudos for the man with the gravitas to combine the two.)


The Hello Kitty Assault Rifle needs no explanation.

Ridiculously-Cute Kids' Costumes. Well, babies' costumes really. Whether you've got a kid or not you'll want to check these heart-meltingly cute costumes out. (Particularly the "Peas in a Pod" costume.) Not surprisingly, the fuzzy bunny costume has sold out. I'm glad I'm not a baby anymore, when people would take advantage of me by making me wear humiliating outfits.



Google Hit Count Jewelry. An "update of the ring as a status symbol", these rings display constantly the number of hits received by a Google-ing of your name. I'd set it to my pseudonym "Bruce Springsteen" by which I'm more well-known.

"Artist" Implants Third Ear on His Own Arm. . .

In our continuing quest not to shy away from the shocking and disturbing - perhaps even to focus on such things - we present the story of an Australian artist whose grand statement to the world has been made by implanting a third ear onto his forearm. (When added to the two already on his head, we mean.)

What a statement! What art nouveau!

Others have been less charitable (Drudge's headline: "FREAK: Artist implants 'third ear' on his own arm. . .") or even taken the opportunity to crack childish jokes: (The Mirror: "He's a kind of Vincent Van Gogh in reverse."). I, for one, welcome this freak into the United Consortium of Artists and Artisans.

Let us loose the shackles of myopic ignorance and see this masterpiece for what it is. Listen to this man's ideas:

"I hope to have a tiny microphone implanted to it that will connect with a bluetooth transmitter; that way you can listen to what my ear is hearing."

Stunning.

Artist Gets Probation For Building Secret Mall Apartment

This is truly grand. Michael Townsend, Rhode Island artist, recently. . . well, read the post title. It's all over now, but what a grand time it must have been. Remember, these people occupied this apartment in the Providence Place Mall for weeks at a time for four years. This is something of a dream for anyone who's ever built a living room fort. I suppose I'll have to settle for fitting my future home with a panic room.



The impetus for the secret apartment:

"During the Christmas season of 2003 and 2004, radio ads for the Providence Place Mall featured an enthusiastic female voice talking about how great it would be if you (we) could live at the mall. . . This, along with a wide variety of theoretical musings about my relationship to the mall - as a citizen and public artists - provided the final catalyst for making the apartment. From those Christmas seasons to the present, I have spent the time to quietly create this space and occupy it from time to time.

Plans to finish the kitchen, install the wood flooring, add a second bedroom and replace the outdated cutlery were put on permanent hold recently as I was apprehended leaving the apartment."

Visit the man's website for the complete rundown or the Boston.com article for the typical joyless news rundown.


One final note:

"Providence Police Major Stephen Campbell said he and other detectives were so intrigued they visited the apartment to see for themselves.

'I was surprised at what he was able to accomplish," Campbell said. [Childlike look of wonder leaves his eyes as he remembers his duty.] "But what he did was clearly criminal. The mall is private property.' "

Note: boingboing again.

OSC Book Covers

As long as I'm on the subject of Orson Scott Card, I'm going to point out how terrible the covers of some of the foreign editions of his books are. Check out the pudgy German kid on the German edition of "Ender's Shadow":

Save some room for later, Augustus liebchen.

What about the puzzling Narnia-style cover for the Spanish Portuguese edition of "Speaker For the Dead". Simplifies things a bit?




The Japanese cover for "Lost Boys" is just. . . puzzling. It's kind of endearing, though - is this sort of thing commonplace? It's definitely uniquely Japanese.

One of the most wrenching, personal novels

of all time has become a Doraemon episode.

This isn't a foreign edition, but I'd like to point out the horror of the Young Adult printing of Ender's Game.

For Mega Man, it's not a game anymore.

In other news, they've given the audiobook edition the Star Wars treatment:

This should be the poster for the Ender films in 2017 when they finally get around to releasing them. And I would make my casting choices according to the poster: Ender played by Christopher Lee, Han Qin-Jao played by a very sleepy Bjork, and the Hive Queen motion-captured by Andy Serkis, as always.


Note: I apologize for the inconsistent formatting on this post. I'm still getting a hang of this whole "HTML" thing.

Signs, Banners and Cookies

Redkid.net has put up a nice little selection of modifiable signs and banners, based on the code from that Church Sign Generator we all remember from a few years back. Only a few of the selections have merit, but the good ones are quite well-done. Choose a caption from whimsical to horrible and begin:

Comedic timing and realism is crucial on these things.


Somehow "iWish iWas Happy" just didn't read right on the sign. Opaque Americans don't yet have the rights that they are owed.


I find this little creation of mine oddly hilarious.

One more time: Smorgasbord of Generators

Edit: Thanks to comedy king for link to similar site Custom Sign Generator with a collection of many more sites such as this. The site isn't quite as pretty but it's a real treasure trove. (Be sure to follow the first link to SignGenerator.org.

Ceramic Smash

This amazing image has been my desktop wallpaper for the better part of two months. Now that boingboing has linked to it twice I figure I'd better share the amazing work of Martin Klimas with you. He takes amazing still shots of ceramic figures right as they shatter into a thousand pieces. See the amazing gallery at The Morning News.