I’ve picked up a second job recently that is taking a lot more of my time than I had expected. Urban renewal didn’t seem like something I’d be interested in but once I got in there I had trouble leaving. I actually had to cut back on my hours to make sure it didn’t cut into my first job. Cleaning up the streets is just so satisfying and the commute to Gotham City is so short.
Play Arkham City, it’s awesome.
I’ve long claimed a love of Halloween. I also, not so secretly, have hated answering the door to trick-or-treat’ers. This year I decided I had to do it or quit claiming Halloween as my favorite holiday. I will acknowledge that it was a bad idea to wait until Halloween to buy candy, especially in Beebe. At the third store I stopped at I saw Christmas decorations for a third time. I don’t like the idea but I had started accept it. That was until I was leaving the Dollar Store. Over the store speaker I heard Christmas carols playing. That is where I draw the line. I
I’m joining the war on Christmas…at least as long as it keeps reaching beyond it’s borders.
Nothing like some anger to get the blog going again.
Today was the first day of school again. It went pretty easily once we got started. I can’t help but think of this scene from Billy Madison every year. In the past I’ve joked that Billy Madison was the reason I became a teacher. While that isn’t really true I can’t imagine watching it as many times as I did it probably had some effect.
The days of meetings prior to school starting are terribly difficult for me. As a teacher I have become a terrible student. I get bored sitting in one place and listening for hours and hours. I’m easily distracted and probably more sarcastic about things than as a teenager. I can’t feel that bad about the situation though since somehow this sitting and listening saps energy from me more so than about anything. These are a few of the sketches from these past few days.
Another year of teacher day. I’m torn on my feelings about it though. On one hand the man didn’t try to motivate me with clever motions or phrases and on the other you have a man that is saying things that I regularly practice and learned already. He played two videos today. I had both of them on my iPod. I did do a lot of drawings. Here they go.
Here are a few ideas I had for a while and just never put them on paper. You have “Peeing Calvin’s Jellyfish Sting Relief Spray” which is pretty self explanatory. Old school Panthro is up there from Thundercats. You may also notice Steven Seagull, the over the hill bird action star.
Again, I have to say I agreed and liked a lot of what this guy had to say, but he seemed to come from the Martin Lawrence/Chris Tucker school of comedy where yelling is supposed to equal funny.
OK, I just got bored here. After lunch my mind wandered. Random lines took these shapes in the end.
I’m struggling to stay awake here. Shipping Mom & Dad off around 6:30am made for a long day today with no nap. I managed to catch some of the new Thundercats today. I loved the old series. While I didn’t have the toys for it like He-Man and GI Joe I think the cats made a stronger lasting impression on me. Unlike Transformer, GI JOE, Smurf, etc. I think I kind of like this new take on things. Here is the new Lion-O, voiced my Eric from Boy Meets World.
Due to excessive heat we’ve been having tennis practice in the mornings. It’ll be a good thing when school starts up next week but right now it makes me fight to stay awake at 11:30.
I got tired of coloring in the costumes
I have a personal connection to Black Spider-Man. I have for a few years now, ever since we notice the black actor playing Spider-Man at the Halloween dance in the Karate Kid and I shared exactly the same name. Now you’re probably wondering what brings this up. I found out today that after killing off the Ulimate version of Spider-Man the hero is being brought back as a new multi-ethnic character.
I learned a couple of things from browsing the comment section of the websites covering this story.
1) If you like this idea you think anyone that disagrees with you is a racist.
2) If you don’t like this it doesn’t have anything to do with race but instead is because Peter Parker is more important than Spider-Man.
I tend to fall more with the second idea. Spider-Man’s powers aren’t the most amazing in the world of comics. The important thing is the connection readers have to the nerdy, awkward Peter Parker. The original character is known for doing the right thing but having the worst luck in his personal life.
The new costume in another issue. It being mostly black is fine but the red webbing is odd and particularly hard to draw in black & white.
It looks like a mix between the original Spidey suit and the black Spidey suit except that first black Spidey suit is perfectly sleek.
I started playing tennis as a child. I started playing regularly as a teenager. The whole time I watched my friend destroy racquet after racquet in fits of rage and frustration but I never did. To this day I’ve only broken 2 racquets, all in the exact same way. It’s an excessively humid Arkansas day, my hands are sweaty to the point of pruning, and my racquet flies from my hand during a serve. Today was number 3.
So it seems there is a Smurfs movie opening this weekend. Despite having the always entertaining Neil Patrick Harris in it I still have no urge to see it. I remember watching plenty of Smurfs as a child. It ran from 81-89 so I feel like it was unavoidable. I did learn it was based on a comic strip by a Belgian cartoonist going by the name of Peyo.
I always felt a special bond with Brainy Smurf (see picture). He often tried to keep his fellow Smurfs from dangerous situations but they didn’t heed his warnings. If I remember right, every time Brainy tried to explain something he was literally tossed out of town. It seems that even in a magical kingdom the voice of reason isn’t always appreciated.
Brian's Sketch Blog 