He's just a Bill

This Christmas, probably my best surprise (besides Wall-E from you, Eve. :) was this 23-lb bulk of beauty.

Oh, sorry. Can you see that one?

How 'bout this:

or this

or THIS!

Not only does it feature full, gorgeous, colored illustrations, it also has an introduction from Bill Watterson and little dates at the bottom of each comic to show when each one was published! The introduction is probably my favorite part so far. I've already read every strip but I don't think I've ever read anything Bill Watterson has written about himself so getting his history was fascinating.

He had a really difficult period in the few years between school and writing C&H. He was designing gorcery store advertisements for a while and trying to develop something on the side that could break him in to the industry. A lot of rejections. Finally, he was offered a job (on a fancy shmancy all-expenses-paid trip to New York) to write a comic about a character that the company wanted to sell as a toy. To his credit, he rejected the job - insulted that they he would write around someone else's character as form of merchandising.

Later, he rejected all merchandising offers for Calvin and Hobbes too. He didn't think it supported the spirit of the strip and didn't want to hand over control of Calvin's and Hobbes' characters to someone who wasn't as personally invested in them as himself. It would have been unimaginably lucrative - even without giving away any rights, people still rip him off by making their own bumper stickers, shirts and what-not. But none of it is legal!!

After ten years of writing the strip, he decided that he'd done everything he wanted to do. He ended it then before its ratings could down and it pittered into rehashed jokes and half-baked strips. He could have milked it for many more years. People would have kept reading. But he didn't.

That's integrity.

Because of that, Calvin and Hobbes are still had strong and poignant characters today. And they're still saying exactly what Watterson wanted them to say.

So, as cool as it would be to have a C&H animated series, I'm glad Watterson protected Calvin and Hobbes like he did. The appeal of money has eroded a lot of great things. But this isn't one of them.

Yip yip!

I have a confession.

The last three/four-ish days of break have been almost entirely devoted to watching all three seasons of Avatar: the Last Airbender.

I could have been productive: read a book, studied some animation, sketched or...I don't know, cleaned my room maybe?

But no, I devoured three years of Nickelodeon instead.

Turns out, once you start it's a bit difficult to stop.

And now, can I gush? THAT SHOW IS FREAKING AMAZING! As much as I distrust hyperboles - it is THE best, most gripping, most intense, completely fantastic show I have ever ever seen.

The corny sarcasm/American humor is sometimes out of place but I don't care.

The theme of the whole show is respect: Respect for self, respect for heritage, respect for friends, respect for the environment, and respect for life. It explores other areas too though: the duality of human nature, the importance of trust, the power of love, finding your destiny, the meaning of freedom - just to name a few.

The creators (Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino) obviously love their story. Character arcs are woven skillfully throughout the series. Each character has a different role to play and a different way of finding that role. Villains and heroes alike are rounded out beautifully and given real challenges and motivations that bring them to life.

They also did a ton of research! Each style of element bending is designed to corresponds with a different Martial Art that supports the element they're controlling. Hung Gar style Kung Fu for Earth, Tai Chi for Water, Northern Shaolin Kung Fu for Fire, and Ba Gua for Air. Each group of people is distinuished by different clothing and customs. Each culture has a unique set of teachings and characteristics that are apparent through their actions and speech. Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Hayao Miyazaki and others influenced it a lot too. They did an excellent job of blending the legendary epic with magic and spirituality.

Bonus - it's so clean you could eat off it. This was especially apparent to me after watching several crime shows between my Avatar-sessions. Those were gross and seemed closer to horror than prime-time. Avatar went deeper into the human psyche, was funnier, taught me more memorable, valuable lessons AND looked better in only a third of the time. So eat it TNT. For all your shock-values passing as "drama", you still lose.

Anyway - this is grade A tv. I love love loved it and if you want, I'd be happy to nerd with you.

Funnily enough, I did a report/presentation on Avatar (and anime) all the way back in Fall '07. But mostly I just described parts of the characters and style and talked about the cross-pollination between the American and Japanese animation.

I never watched an episode though. Thought I didn't have time...

How absurd.

Thank you, Morgan Gibbons for showing me the light. Or...at least sending me the link.

Six Things

My Frogger Kristin tagged me a while ago to reveal "six things most people don't know". Typically I don't do tag-items, but decided to make an exception for this one because I wanted to be vain and creative and play in the snow.
Unfortunately, I couldn't find a cool, free, online gadget that would help me in my presentation so flickr will have to do.
Instructions! Click on the picture and then click on the slideshow icon just to the right of the picture (it looks like a little mini projector screen). You can speed through or just let it play, but you have to go in order or it won't make sense!

Also...this took a ridiculously long time (you can tell by the changing light) and I practically froze my hands off. I do NOT recommend this method to any logical, self-preserving person. Especially if they have bad circulation.
However, all irrational, destructive persons who love the snow and have some extra yarn and time - I challenge you to a snow-yarn-writing duel!

Winter Wonderlands

Spring and Fall will always be my true favorites, but I really love having equal portions of all four seasons. Winter is very magical in its own muffled, chilly, haunting way.

The Advent Conspiracy

I just found this on Kelli's blog.

It's the most inspiring commercial I've seen in years. Possibly ever.

The Advent Conspiracy Promo Video from theadvance on Vimeo.

Merry Christmas!

Short, Fat and Proud of That

In honor of today being our last day of Artistic Anatomy, I have some very special things to record here in my blogger.

1) Appreciate the masters of Anatomy. The REAL masters: Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Leon Joseph Florentin Bonnat, John Singer Sargent, Pierre Auguste-Cot, James Tissot to name a very very few. But seriously - anyone who understands anatomy had to work freaking hard to get there. I spent a countless hours trying to copy this from books and a skeleton model. They can just pull it out of their heads! No shortcuts, but it's worth it.

(^I wish I could do that. This is John Singer Sargent's)

2) We're China-doll fragile. Anything can kill us. Changes in our environment, position in the solar system, atmosphere etc = death and destruction. How on Earth are we still alive? And how did we get to be the top of the food chain?? (Aethieism makes me laugh.)

3) Females are much more...cushioned males. That's not new, but I never realized how drastic the difference was. The comparative picture in my anatomy bookis almost comical. Males have a total of seven fat pads (not counting feet, hands or cheeks). Seven TINY ones - a couple around the knee, under the gluteus maximus, one over the pubis, and two on the trunk. Females have thirteen HUGE ones. Since they're colored in pink they look kind of like globual aliens trying to take over the body. Ergo - why the female form has gentler curves and more dynamic proportions.

And why it is phenomenally more impressive when a girl gets a six pack. They have to work through a whole extra layer of fat before they make it visible!
(^also ergo - why James Tissot painted only women. Although the fun dresses may have had something to do with it too...)

4) The ingenious mechanics of the shoulder girdle (i.e. clavicle, scapula, and maubrium) are what allow such great arm flexibility. Fun experiment: raise your arm until its straight out and your scapula won't move. Beyond those 90 degrees, though, your scapula takes over control of the movement.

5) The knee is pretty complex. The patella on top is encased in tendons and makes sure we don't pinch all the leg muscles that converge there when we bend/straighten our leg. There are a couple fat pads in that area to allow smoother functioning too. The combination - all the muscles, fat pads and bone is what makes the complex form of folds and furrows. All of it is necessary, though. It's a very important joint.

6) The last two ribs are just floating...apparently without purpose. heh.

7) The last bones of our cocyx are also completely useless. (Tail remnants maybe?)

8) The Pelvis is really just a basket of organs with the rectus abdominas holding them all in.

9) The swim suits models wear at BYU have become ten times more annoying. I never recognized how intrusive they were. An aside: The swimsuits is not a church thing. First Presidency is okay with it. It's a rule instituted because someone a while back thought that nude models were pornographic. Stupid person.

10) Overall - the Human Figure is just amazing. And the more I study it, the more amazing it gets. They really are divine designs.

If you like Pina Coladas and getting caught in the ribcage

A t-shirt design for my Artistic Anatomy class.

If classes were fruits this one would be a pineapple. Thick, tough, prickly outside; meat overflowing with juice and sweetness on the inside.
And enough acid to burn your fingerprints and tastebuds off if you eat too much of it at once.

Thanks, Niki. It's been exotic and delicious.


There are a lot of tag lines for Anatomy t-shirts. I think that was the funnest part of this project:
--Artistic Anatomy: It's what's shows on the outside that counts.
--It's an inside joke.
--I bet I can find your Anterior Superior Iliac Spine before you can.
--Tibia or not to Tibia? That is the question.
--My Trochanter's Greater!
--It's better underneath.
--I'll Tensor YOUR Fascia Lata!
--I've been through Artistic Anatomy and back. And all I got was this lousy t-shirt.
etc.

Those are all rip-offs from other quotes, though. Think you can do better?
10 points if you make up another one and leave it in my comments.
50 points if its awkward.
100 points + a soda if I literally lol.

R is for Ridiculous

This week I saw Motorcycle Diaries. It's a film based on Che Guevara's partial autobiography of the same name. Shown at International Cinema here at BYU.

Despite the historical inaccuracies, I thought it was a fantastic film. I actually walked out feeling I'd learned a lesson about missionary work.
Online later I found out it was rated R.
I double-checked my screen a full seven times before I believed it.
Really? R? It was less graphic than most PG-13s I see. Probably less than some PGs too.
Suddenly I felt sacrilegious. I learned about missionary work! Oh no! That's not allowed. Rs are evil...right?

Then tonight, in beginning The Fall with Scarlet, I realized that film was rated R too. It DID contain more blood than I expected. But it all had the super-saturated quality of Monty-Python blood and it was too unnatural in color and behavior to be disturbing. It was used for style more than anything.


The film was gorgeous throughout. The style followed Alexandria's imagination: intoxicating color, gorgeous scenery and fantastic costume design for each of the characters. The commentary on life, living and love was very very powerful. It really makes you think too. I loved it.

Which leads to my confusion. Why R? Because it's deep? Because of the violence?
Anything with Bruce Willis, most super-hero movies and any Bourne film is much more violent. The vast majority of romantic comedies (or action flicks - they apply too) are more sexually explicit. Will Ferrel (pick the movie) is ten times as crass and vulgar.

What then?

You're telling me it's more harmful for children to be exposed to a philosophical view of life and the reasons for living than it is to hear Ferrel spout expletives and crude sexual references for an hour and a half?

For practically my entire life I've considered Rs off-limits. Bad. Evil. Dangerous.
I remember being 14 and utterly mortified that a family I babysat for owned a couple R-films. I instantly judged them to be on the slippery slope.
But here I am facing my own movies and realizing that their ratings are completely invalid. Staying away from R-movies doesn't keep you safe. There's just as much garbage in PG-13s. R-movies aren't all safe and innocent, of course, everyone knows that's not true. But there are good, valid, wonderful things in Rs. Their rating isn't an accurate measure anymore.

Maybe I'm just spouting stuff you already know. According toJordan, this skewed rating has been going on for a while. But it was new to me. I didn't want to know, I suppose. It's harder to judge when you throw the standard ratings away - easier to take them as a given and feel safe within their diction. But to watch without thinking - trusting an ambiguous third party's recommendation- THAT may be more dangerous than any film.

So...I don't plan on renting every R at Blockbuster because of this realization. But it does give me some perspective on those who do watch R-movies consistently and it's prompted me to more critically analyze my films before I watch them. Not all that glitters is gold.


Thoughts from the Animation Program

UPDATE: It was pointed out to me that Motorcycle Diaries was rated for language not graphic-ness. I didn't really acknowledge that, but it's true. They had pretty dirty language. I censored it for myself since all of it was in Spanish (i.e. subtitles for me) anyway.

And then...I pounced her.

Can you believe only ONE person guessed us correctly? I can't. We were dead-ringers!

On Halloween Stacey and I dressed up as Calvin and Hobbes and it was fan-freaking-tastic. Calvin and Hobbes are my one true comic-loves so to impersonate Hobbes for a day was a definite wish fulfillment.

We went to Scarlet's for her Halloween party and her roommate made stinking AMAZING pumpkin pie! From REAL pumpkins! I didn't even know people knew how to do that anymore. But I'm ready to learn how because the fresh stuff is fifty times more delicious than any of that poser canned pumpkin. Scarlet also made flower-water which was a new one for me, but actually pretty good. It helped that it looked like blood. It's fun to drink bodily-fluid-looking fluids on Halloween.

Oh, and to make everything perfectly perfect. We also played Calvin Ball and jumped in piles of pretty, yellow, crunchy leaves.
It's okay to be jealous.



This is right before I pelted Stacey with leaves.


I love Halloween. And Calvin and Hobbes. And Stacey for being willing to dress up with me!

Wait Until Dark

I'm not a fan of horror films. Really really DISlike them, actually.
But in honor of Halloween and Audrey Hepburn and Stacey Bethers, I decided to make an exception for tonight night and watch one.

Note to self: late night horror movies are never a good idea especially on the creepiest night of the year.
I'm so jittery, I can't sleep. I'm checking my blinds regularly to make sure there isn't a pale blue van outside; I've compulsively locked the door at least three times; I'm blasting pop music to try and get the dissonant, violins out of my head; and I nearly jump out of my skin every time something moves or the heater goes on.

Still...
All I can see is that horrid image of the villain dragging himself with a bloody knife towards a screaming, sobbing Audrey. Ugh. I think my mind is exaggerating how terrifying he actually was, but that knowledge doesn't help much.

The film overall was quite good. Audrey did a superb job of playing a blind woman. It must have taken quite a bit of practice to get her eyes to stop focusing on her surroundings. I'm super ticked at Sam. His good-guy role forces me to think favorably of him, but what a turd! I thought he'd run up and clutch Susy with everything he had when he found out she was miraculously still alive. But no, he waits as she stumbles over furniture and uses Gloria's assistance before embracing her at all.
Jerk.
Susy's brilliant.

It's too bad "Mike" had to die. I liked him. He was the only criminal with a conscience. But that would have created complications with Sam so I suppose it made sense to kill him off. At least he ended on a high.

Gloria's character arc was fascinating: she was wretched in the beginning, but by the end I would have given her a halo and gold medal. So clever! Her character was very skillfully done.


Phew, feeling calmer now. In conclusion: I'm glad I can see and gladder that there are no dolls or music boxes or drugs in my apartment. Definite plus.

Thanks for listening!