Epic Awesome Album Cover

I'm working on an album cover for a Kiwi that I think rocks. I hope I can get it done by the deadline of April 17th. It's going to look epic. Magical. Fantastical.

A Little Robot I'm Working On.

Sketched with a blue papermate pen, scanned & using GIMP to color it in.

The Sami Sisters

I love good, fun, pop music. The world has gotten way to serious for my tastes. I blame the 90's. And Hipsters. And the religious reicht.

So, when I find something that seems to capture the essence of just good music & fun rhythms, I like to share. Seems like I really like what is coming out of New Zealand. You've heard me mention Ladyhawke before, and these gals, of Irish & Indian descent, were born & raised as kiwis as well.

They write songs & play their own instruments. That's enough to blow a religious reicht republicans head right off! Women who can play instruments & write songs!? Luckily they are in New Zealand where women are still free to do that sort of thing.

Here they are live:



and in a Red Bull thing here:

They have a webpage here: Sami Sisters Home

They have a Facebook here: Sami Sisters

Youtube here: Sami Sisters Youtube

No Twitter yet though.

Go check them out. Some fun cool tunes to relax & enjoy!

If you haven't, you should...

Twenty Years ago, which was eight years after I walked out of the theater after having watched Return of the Jedi on the big screen, a series of books started hitting book shelves all over the country. The first book was called "Heir to the Empire" by Timothy Zahn.

There had been other Star Wars books. I had read them. They were...meh. I was hesitant to pick this new one up. I flipped through it & was hooked.

There was never a Star Wars book like this. Quite honestly, there hasn't been one to match it since. Other than the other two books in the trilogy.

If you love Star Wars, like Star Wars or are even slightly curious about what happened after Return of the Jedi, to Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie, R2, C-3PO & the gang, you should read this. It is so good.

I think part of my disappointment with the prequels is directly related to how absolutely fantastic the storytelling was in this trilogy. Timothy Zahn captures the essence & feel of the characters & the galaxy perfectly.

So, if you haven't ever delved into this one, you should. Here's a link to the 20th Anniversary Edition on Amazon.

Notice, it's also on Kindle.

Go See John Carter of Mars

Above is a ten minute clip of the film. According to ticket sales this weekend, the industry is looking at this film as a flop. It cost $250 million to make this film & opening weekend only saw a return of $30.6 million. If you include overseas ticket sales it broke $100 million.

Here's a short clip with the adorable martian dog:



This film shouldn't be a flop. There hasn't been a movie like this in a long time. With all the bitching & whining & moaning I hear about Hollywood remakes, why the hell has everyone skipped this film? It's an original. Sure, it's based on Edgar Rice Burroughs stories, but no one has ever made John Carter come alive on the big screen before.

The film is beautiful & fun & exciting & full of adventure with some laughs & some tears. It is a wonderful adaptation of the original source material.

Do you like Firefly & Serenity? Do you like Star Wars? How about Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers? Then go see John Carter.

Many people have complained that they have no idea what it is about from the trailers. Is THIS the reason YOU haven't gone to see it? Okay then, here's a plot synopsis. John Carter is from Virginia, USA in the late 1800's. He stumbles across something that inadvertently transports him (well, a copy of him) to Mars. On Mars he stumbles into a war between Helium (a city on Mars) and it's rival city. He has to make choices & fun things happen & adventure & wow! & go see the movie! I don't want to spoil it for you!



I can't believe you haven't gone to see this film! If you don't, I really feel like you are missing out. I, also, will be missing out. Missing out on studios taking more chances like this. More studios making bold, beautiful, epic films! Why should they? Despite all the whining, remakes pull in far more money than original films.

Don't make the studios right. Go see John Carter.

Green Lantern Fleece Bath Robe

Hey there Lantern fans! Look at this! A sweet bath robe to show off your love for all things green & lanterny! It's 44-inch long & will fit most adults, except for the Hutt Family. They have to special order from the slug & tall stores.

Now, as cool as it looks, do be aware that it's not really going to be so awesome if you really intend to use it as a bath robe. It's 100% polyester & polyester does NOT soak up wet like terry cloth does. In fact, polyester on a wet body feels pretty icky. How do I know this? I lived in the 70's. 5 years of it. I know polyester.

So, keep that in mind before you shell out the $39.99 they want to have one of your very own.

Entertainment Earth has them available for pre-order with the delivery to be sometime this month.

New Doctor Who For You

Doctor Who TARDIS Playset from BifBangPow!

This TARDIS Playset has interior features from the Tom Baker Era. Comes with one of my favorite Doctor companions of all time! K-9! Constructed of thick cardboard like old dollhouses of the 1970s.

It is 11-inches tall x 5 1/2-inches wide x 5 1/2-inches long when closed. The door opens & the transparent time rotor moves up & down. The detailed Master Control Console features authentic controls shown in the series and readout displays that any true Whovian will recognize.

Right now, you can Pre-order from Entertainment Earth for an October release & a price of $49.99.

SHINTARO OHATA

Beautiful. Shintaro Ohata. Google the name & be amazed & inspired.

Magic, Novelty & Jesus Bandages

When I was a kid, my Dad decided he wanted to be a Magician. He studied Blackstone & eventually the rise of David Copperfield. Magic specials were on television it seemed every weekend. Dad was very passionate in his pursuit of the great illusion.

Because of this quest to become a Magician, my Brother & I got to travel all over the place & go to some of the coolest places you never knew existed. I don't know how Dad managed to find out about these places. There was no Google search back then. There was no internet, period.

The places we ended up were amazing places to be as a kid. If you have ever watched the movie "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure" & remember the novelty shop he walked into, you'll get an idea of what I'm talking about. The places we found were so much bigger or smaller, darker, and in weird parts of wherever we went. From warehouses to small little holes in the wall in the back of an alley. Most of them were typical Novelty shops. They had trick gum, fake poo, fake puke, exploding cigars, hand buzzers, Groucho glasses, rubber chickens & all sorts of bizarre items. They generally also had magic kits. I freaking loved these places.



Some of the places though, were weirder & a little spooky. They were magic shops. Some of them were run by, what I deemed to be, REAL wizards or oracles or something. These places...I can't even begin to describe them. They smelled of incense, and were decorated in old tapestries, were often dark, & had new age type music playing before anyone even knew what the hell new age was. There were trinkets everywhere. Skulls, pentacles, pentagrams, horns, taxidermy animals, shrunken heads (which back then might have been real), pickled animals. Almost anything you can imagine. Some of them even offered fortune telling. They housed the secret magic tricks. The illusions only shared from Magician to Magician. You had to know someone that was a REAL Magician to get your hands on these. Sometimes there were even contracts to sign, swearing that you would not share the secrets given to you.

I often wonder if places like this still exist. I hope so because they really were magic & lit my young imagination. However, the art of illusion seems to have faded into simpler times. People have outgrown illusions. You can Google anything & learn how it's done, thus destroying the "magic" of it all.

Accoutrements is a company that has held on to the long standing tradition of being a Novelty Shop. All the things I marveled at as a kid, still in place, right down to the rubber chicken. they produce new Novelties every year, & have quite a line of Bacon related items.

Here is one I stumbled across that make me LOL:



Classic.

Babydoll Premium Format Figure

Suckerpunch might be a failure as far as Hollywood executives are concerned, but to those of us who know better, it will be a long lasting cult favorite that people will still be talking about 50 years from now.

Zack Snyder gave this fangirl everything she'd ever wanted in one film & made it incredibly beautiful as well. I can't wait to see what he does with Superman. If they let him. I hope the producers don't force changes that make it NOT feel like a Zack Snyder film because they get too scared, have no spine & tiny little...balls. Let the guy do what he does. He's a genius.

Now Sideshow Collectibles is offering another Suckerpunch item that is really exceptional. It's Babydoll from their Premium Format Figure line. The Figure stands 19" high, weighs in at around 7 Lbs. and has a real fabric costume. The sculpt on this figure is dead on. Perfect.

The price to own this fabulous piece of cult classic idolatry? $349.99. Ouch. Wait though! Don't give up just yet. Sideshow recently took the economy into consideration & has created new payment plans that are even more affordable than before. You can pay $35 up front & then $43.75 a month until she is paid off. She doesn't actually get released until November, so that gives you plenty of time!

If you love Suckerpunch, this Babydoll is a must have!

Firefly Malcolm's Gun

Malcolm Reynold's Pistol Replica available at QMx

This company produces some top of the line seriously limited stuff, so if you want in on this you better get it now. It's a 1:1 scale replica. $79.95.

Lucy Lawless Arrested, Bailed Out, Has Hearing

Lucy Lawless, who scaled an oil tanker bound for the Arctic with Greenpeace New Zealand activists, was arrested Sunday after spending 77 hours on board. She & the team are being charged with burglary rather than unlawful trespass. How they think she committed burglary is yet to be determined since no one took anything & nothing was damaged. The team & Lawless have a hearing on Thursday in front of a judge.



Personally, it is quite obvious that Lucy is being charged with burglary as a warning to others. The ramifications of a burglary charge could be fairly devastating to her acting career. It is possible that she would not be able to travel to certain countries with burglary on her record. This could limit any roles she might have otherwise been able to accept. It could also limit her appearances at fan conventions.

It's clear to me that she is very passionate about this cause. Lucy is not some unaware airhead. She's a smart woman who isn't afraid to take risks. I, for one, am very proud of her actions & her commitment. She not only talks the talk, but has shown that she ain't afraid to walk the walk. Good on ya, Lucy.

Her actions generated over 500 articles on Greenpeace New Zealand & what Shell has planned for the arctic as well as over 133,000 signatures asking Shell not to drill in the Arctic. Good was done. Awareness was raised. Mission accomplished. #savethearctic

Blu-Ray Deleted Scenes Star Wars Figures

I haven't gotten there yet, but there are deleted scenes added back into Star Wars Return of the Jedi on Blu-Ray. The figures above are from those deleted scenes. Cool.

You can get them here: Brian's Toys

or here: Entertainment Earth

Lucy Lawless is a Bad Ass

Lucy Lawless has scaled a Shell Oil Tanker with other members of GreenPeace New Zealand in an attempt to stop a Shell Oil Drilling ship from heading out to the Artic to drill. She & the other members have brought food & supplies for several days & appear to be starting a sit-in atop the derrick.

Articles here, here, here, here, and here. With Pictures here.

Video Here.

Follow her on Twitter under @RealLucyLawless

Write your Representatives & Senators & let them know that you also think drilling in the arctic is unnecessary & bad for our planet.

#savetheartic

Art Post: Chris Harding

I "Stumbled Upon" a great art page today. The artist's name is Chris Harding. He does comic strips. He also plays in the world of animation. His Robot comic strip series is by far my favorite! Smart, funny & true.

Go check him out. Chris Harding Website

He also has a FaceBook page here: Chris Harding

Hot Topic & Sailor Moon

I love me some Sailor Moon! When Xena went off the air, I quickly searched around for something, anything to take my mind off the painful ending of my hero. I had already become a huge Anime fan through shows like Gatchaman, Robotech, Starblazers, Project A-Ko and more. I can't remember what channel it was that started showing Sailor Moon, maybe Cartoon Network, but I was hooked.

Of course I'm a big original language subtitle kinda girl. No dubs for me. So once I decided I loved it, I was off in search of uncut, undubbed versions. I learned early on what America does to Anime & I knew Sailor Moon was better than what I was getting to see on American TV. I wasn't wrong. Especially when it came to Haruka & Michiru. T & I were on the edge of our seats & soaked in tears at one point. I'm not even kidding. Sailor Moon Super had us. 100%.



It's been a while since Sailor Moon has come & gone. I miss it. T & I started watching the series again a couple weeks ago. I realized I was missing the movies that come between each series. BAH! How did I do that?!? Then I remembered...I had them once. On VHS. Crap in a hat.



So I started looking around. That's when I discovered an exciting line of Sailor Moon apparel at Hot Topic. Yep, clothes, bags & belts all with the Pretty Sailor Soldier herself! Awesome sauce!



So, I am passing on the info to you. Sailor Moon at the Hot Topic. Get it quick because Hot Topic merch changes fast.

Vintage Carded Wave from Phantom Menace

Available at: Entertainment Earth

Brian's Toys

If you missed Qui-gon in other waves or little Anakin, here's your chance! I love the retro looking cards.

Riusuke Fukahori, Technique, & Supplies

Holy wow! I love finding painters or crafts people that you can watch & be amazed by. Amazed at their patience. Amazed at their practice & dedication. Amazed at their technique. This fellow in the video below is amazing. He paints goldfish. Nothing really amazing about that, right. Wrong. He paints them in layers between resin. This makes them look real & 3D. The amount of time & practice it took him to be able to perfect this is impressive.

"Goldfish Salvation" Riusuke Fukahori from ICN gallery on Vimeo.

So many people don't understand time when it comes to art. Artists use time differently than almost anyone. Processes are repeated again & again to hone & perfect technique. It takes years to be able to lay paint down in brush stroke after brush stroke properly...or improperly, whatever your going for. The planning stages, the sketches, the reworks, the priming of the surfaces. Even in Mr. Fukahori's work, the resin must be mixed properly, the wooden boxes built & sanded smooth. An artist must have a composition in his/her mind. Everyone is different. When you see a work of art & the price tag confuses you, remember this. You aren't just paying for paint on a canvas or paint between layers of resin. You are paying for the work. All of the work that the artist has gone through to finish this one piece.

That and all the materials. Paint isn't cheap. Neither are brushes. If you haven't ever bothered to look, go to your local craft store & check out tubes of oil paint & acrylic. Not the cheap-o boxed sets either, but the single tubes of color. Then look at brushes. Not cheap brushes that look like they are made of straw & will flake off in the painting, but REAL brushes. Then check out gallery quality canvas. It gets pricey.

I guess my point here is, "WOW! Look at this guy painting Goldfish!" and don't be a cheapskate when it comes to shelling out money for good art. Look at it like you would look at supporting your local farmer's market or local restaurant. You are getting something of quality & in return are helping someone create more of that & possible helping them afford new carpet in their house, not bonuses for some jack-hole that could give a crap about the struggles of middle or lower America or the world.

Deep Breaths & Baby Steps

Okay, well, this has been a bit of a surreal & insane year already. Xena Con 2012 & the moment this Xenite fangirl has waited her whole life for, followed very quickly by the untimely & rather sudden death of one of my family. Not blood related family, but family family. You know, those people that love you because they want to, not because they have to. For me, this person was one of my rocks.

T & I have learned we don't do real well with this type of thing when we are both connected to the person we've lost. It's always been one of us being strong for the other. This time...damn, I tell you what, my eyes feel bruised from all the crying, & I still don't know which way is up & I'm not sure if I have helped her at all.

So, Saturday we are going to celebrate our friend, laugh & cry some more & try to figure out how to find up.

I feel like I haven't been able to get my footing at all this year.

T has her final project to get her Master's due & is so stressed out she's started having panic attacks.

This really isn't the way I expected things to be going.

We've got quite the fight on our hands.

That's just the way it goes sometimes though, right? I remember why I tell myself never to make plans. Something always happens. I don't care though. I am already making new ones.

Looking to the future. Which right now seems rather ominous & frightening & less fun. I'm sure once we break through this dark cloud, the sunshine & rainbows will still be there.

The first plan I have made is to go to this: Spectrum Fantastic Art Live



They have a Social Media Site page as well, if you wanna click on over & check that out.

Two artists that really inspire me are going to be there. Brom & Mike Mignola.

As well as Android Jones.

There will be talks & portfolio reviews & hob-knobbing & such. I have nothing this year, but I can go this year & look, observe & understand. Research what & how & get fully prepared for next year. I can ask questions in order to help set myself up for success. For real.

I have already set myself a goal of three new works completed & posted to my website BEFORE the Convention.

THIS is the year. No matter what I get thrown at me. Things change this year. I change this year. I become who I was meant to be.

What day is it?

Hello.

Xena Con 2012 was awesome.

I wasn't able to keep up with the blog like I had hoped due to the lack of free wi-fi. I refuse to pay $14.00 a day. Especially when I'm already paying for everything else.

The final highlights of the Con were:

Lucy & Renee on stage. Lucy & Renee reading Katherine Fugate's little script she wrote that Renee & Claudia Black had read the day before.

Gabrielle asking Xena to marry her right there in front of my eyes. :o Holy Hera!



The Video above was our vantage point. In fact, if you look, & are familiar with the backs of our heads (*snicker*) then you will see they make an appearance.

For me, this was absolutely amazing. It was almost like the last two episodes were fixed immediately. It is still making me smile.

Right after that moment T & I were scrambling madly through the crowd to get to the Lucy photo op line.

That too, was awesome. She was warm & friendly & I still can't believe it all happened. Best 15th Year Anniversary present EVER!



We loved Southern California. The weather was so nice & everyone seemed very friendly & smiley. We even saw a guy see his car get bumped in the parking lot. Hey ran over to check it out & once he decided it was no big deal, he came strolling back to the Starbucks with a smile on his face.

THAT guy taught me a bunch. He witnessed, he reacted, he investigated, he let it go. I have a very hard time with the "letting it go" part. I don't want to anymore. So that is what I am practicing since I got back. Letting it go. I do not want to hang on to emotion that should have passed anymore. I want to feel in the moment & move on. So far, so good.

So, we've been back for a week now & I still have not adjusted. In fact, I'm not sure I ever will. I feel different.