I PROMISE ... THIS IS THE LAST TROLL POST ...

This year ...

I like the 4th and the 6th but fell the last two posts 

the characters are more goblinoid than troll-like .

<sigh!>

TROLLIN' ALONG

Here we go with even more trolls ...

The chamber pot was also known as a "thunder mug" 

and was the name for one of Grandpa Cappy's giants 

from the stories he told to entertain my Mom.

This one holds a chamber pot as a coffee cup. 

Guess he's not using a Keurig!

CIRCLING ... CIRCLING ...

More trolls ... more circling ...

NOTHING BUT COAL.

Gotta love it when you wake up on Christmas and find coal im your stockings. There is a story in my family about my Great Aunt Rose whose brothers did that as a joke. She threw the lump through a window on a cold Ohio winter morn. I am sick ... thanks Santa. I think Yoko got it from him kissing under the mistletoe and she in turn gave it to me. 

On top of that my Christmas post is posting below the earlier post ... attempting to fix it only puts it lower in the list ... go figure .. so you need to scroll down to find it.

Bah Humbug :)

Merry Christmas!!!

MAYBE THEY'RE ...?

So one of the perks I get from working at the Contemporary is that there are a steady stream of college kids. Nice shiny bright faces. Sometimes they notice I keep a drawing journal and ask to take a look. The one thing I can count on is them giving a unvarnished opinion. One lovely young lady was Rachel Reed. Her comment was ... "John, you have to do something with these."

Well Rachel ... I have. 

What I have been doing is circling. 

You see I have an idea for a cartoon. It seems appropriate for the time. Something special ... in what should be a terrifying form. 

The problem is my cancerian nature of circling is going full speed ahead ... Sort of. I'm trying to come up with trolls. These are the ones that Rachel saw.

The problem is I'm not sure if they aren't more ogre or giant than troll. (Notice the pale eyes ... that started when I started having problems with mine. Yoko would say that I'm courting trouble.)

OZ NEVER HAD NOTHIN' ON THE TIN MAN

My first relocation of "The Wizard of Oz" was a scene done from a local stage production on then our local CBS channel. I'm not ... sure ... I might have been 3. Presented far past my bedtime, it was not long before it was the land of Oz but Nod that I was in. Still I spent the night dreaming of cowardly lions, scarecrows, and of course tin men.  Somewhere down the line the technicolor Oz came like clockwork, came yearly to Kansas. Then the Wizard of Turner appeared on the scene. I have to wonder if this film wasn't the reason he bought the MGM library. The VHS tape started the digital revolution with all the weapons of mass distractions, that we all ... enjoy ... now. Sad to say ... it was past 30 before I borrowed Karl Hertel's book. But hey ... it was the annotated copy. 

If I visit occasionally Oz, my friend Walt lives there. I wish he would feel compelled to go back to his works of Ozzian landscapes. When I needed an avatar for the community pages of the dulcimer site it was under the moniker, Tin Ear with a tin man with a dulcimer. 

Below is a study from my sketch book.

 

WTF

As of today ... there are two weeks until the new year. And with this post I will have 6 posts to make goal. 

OY!

Perhaps my next blog should be in time management. 

It has not been good since the end of October. No excuses ... just the facts. I was suppose to have a week off before vacation. I was well on my way to catch up with the earlier lag. I had dreams of new content ... and then life happened. I got sick in Vegas and it took me a month to recover. Now we are in the whirlwind we know as the holidays.

Now the next I don't know whether to blame western astrology or Chinese. In the common astrology I am a Cancer the Crab. I am suppose to circle around and around. And I do. The Chinese however name me Monkey ... easily distracted. I had a couple of hours to do some work. I got some inspiration on working on a costume for a puppet. I got nothing finished and have yet another iron in the fire. 

Such is my life ... deadline after deadline ...

<sigh>

I guess that is the way I'll end. 

Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

God bless us every one!

Each year I am charged with creating a limited Christmas card. And each year I pledge to get an early start to it. If fact this year I had my design and concept by January. Some how ... once again it fell victim to procrastination. Perhaps my greatest talent.

So for two years it's been a rush job. Yoko would say I am too critical. But that day I was tired and things did not flow. It's funny ... I always found it easy to draw the jolly old man. But not this year.

Funny thing is when it came time to draw on Yoko's St. Nicholas Day card. Easy peasie.

Go figure.

I think I'll start procrastinating next year's card now.

last year's card

this year's card

St. Nicholas Day card

and if this is before we open presents Yoko ... 
GO NO FURTHER!!!

Bah ... Humbug!!!

Here's wishing everyone a Merry Christmas!

Maybe I'll work this into next year's card.

SUPERMAN LIVES

This is one of those posts I do not expect most of you to read. Don't get me wrong. It is not that I do not feel it is not interesting enough, it is with both videos ...  just overly long. 

But then ... it is a long story.

I remember, hearing this at the time. It was shortly after the Burton/Keaton Batman films ... talk of a Superman film ... starring of all people ... Nicholas Cage. I really couldn't see it. And as hope for the movie failed, it faded from my memory. 

That is until Kevin Smith came along. 

I found about Mr. Smith in a round about way. I was looking for a name for my first website. I had in my mind one that came from refuting a lecturer at work. If she learned anything from me, I hope it was do not ask for questions if you are not prepared for scrutiny. In it I told her that her view was at best askew. So I came up with the name, "The View Askewed" only to find it used by one Kevin Smith. I became a fan ... more of the man than his works. Don't get me wrong. His works are a little raw. Not something I would of sat down with Mom to watch. It was while watching one of his filmed lectures, that I heard his story of the part in Superman Lives. 

I always found it interesting. And it has been a subject I brought up in conversation on more than one occasion with my friend Walt. Now as Paul Harvey's tag use to "Here is the rest of the story." 

Earlier this month on the premium channel Showtime, was run the documentary, "The Death of Superman Lives." Not only does it have Smith, but Burton, Cage and producer, Jon Peters. The tales remind of the elephant and the blind men ... each with a different perspective. 

Mine is that I think it was a good thing the plug was pulled. That Burton was all wrong as the director. Superman is a theoretical premise of environment and genetics shaping the individual. He may be Kryptonian ... but he's from Kansas for gosh sake! Big Blue is nick named by Batman "Boy Scout." This is not a dark brooding man. This is not a story about a loner ... but a joiner ... an outsider that seeks a place in the community. Kevin Smith if had been given his lead could of come up with a good script ... one that reflected the character's nature.  I think Peters is a revisionist at best, but if truth be known ... a grade A bullshitter. However I have to say that his vision did see life in the last Superman film, "The Man of Steel." There are floating robot assistants. Superman goes at least half the film without his costume and not flying. And the tera-forming machines are likened to giant spiders. Peters' film finally saw fruition.  And of the MoS it is the better part of the film.

And with the continuation of the story with "BatmanVs Superman" it looks ... if rumors are true the final piece of "Superman Lives" comes into play.

Just my opinion.