Two more days till 10,000 Days! Also till my sister turns 30, which is 10,950 days, give or take a leap year or 8.

I like it when the Oilers win. Don't you? I know I will be liking it a lot on Monday night. Today at work I was thinking how cool it is that I am an oiler, and my team is the Oilers. Then I realized that I am also a Canuck, a Canadien and even a Bruin, and also I have a Maple Leaf tattoo. But it's still cool! I bet you're not an oiler!

An Interview With Travis Hanson On the wall above my desk is a print called The Storyteller, by Travis Hanson. I love looking at it because there is so much detail- I always notice new things. And I love the spirit of it- the joy of a good story. Some day my little bear cubs will look up at it from their crib, and be inspired to dream in Techniwonder. Travis is the artist behind The Bean's Song- Tales of the Broken Moon. He has also just started a weekly webcomic called Stardusters, so I thought I would ask him a few questions so you could get to know him better. 

 So, tell us a bit about yourself: 

  Well I am a 35 year old illustrator and father of 4. I've been married 12 years and life seems to get better each year i get older:) 

 And tell us a bit about your projects- Stardusters and Broken Moon. Star Dusters is a little pet project of mind that has been sitting in the back of my head for the last 8 years. Like the Bean it has changed form and developed into something completely different. I find it a welcome release from fantasy and it helps keep my cartooning skills in check. I am looking forward to seeing where this goes. the Broken Moon series is a much larger project. It started as a webcomic than morphed into a comic book and finally found a home in written print. Aimee Duncan and myself have really put in a lot to give the bean life. Right now we are in the midst of finishing the 1st draft to book 2. It is looking outstanding and it will really go more indepth on Bean's relationship with the sword.

How did you get started in art?

 I have been drawing since i was about 6 yet i did not become serious about my art until i was about 23. It took a swift kick in the butt from a close friend to help me really see my potential. I then spent several years looking for work and busting my hump to find jobs. I landed my first job as a cartoonist for a print shop and than spent the next several years learning my trade. 

 What tools do you use? 

  I use a wide variety - i hand draw and ink everything first than i scan the work in and do layout with photoshop, illustrator and indesign. 

 What inspires you? 

  Life and my kids 

 Do you have any tricks you do to kickstart creativity if you aren't feeling it? 

  I sketch a lot- all the time- and it's usually some minute sketch on a piece of scratch paper that kicks it all off 

 Your work has a definite vibe, or even a message- can you expand on that?

  I want people to realize that they can accomplish anything they set out to do and that imagination is only dead if they make it so. Too many people live in the world of "what if i had done this" i try to encourage people that no matter what station of life you are in that there is hope, imagination is real and everyone needs to belong.  

 What are some goals or dreams you have? 

  To finish the broken moon series:) and start another. 

 And do you have any advice for other artists? well for one keep at it, grow a thick skin and draw all the time. Stop watching tv and playing video games - they aren't bad they just take away from an artist time that can be used to create. 

 Other artists you admire?

  jeff smith author of bone, and many others that you find at deviantart. I also admire the work of my uncle, mother and grandmother 

 Your uncle, mother and grandmother are artists too? What do they do? 

  my mother is a painter(china painter) and doll maker- my uncle is a classic car and abstract painter and my great grandmother was an oil painter- though her work is hard to find in the family:) 

 Finally, what is your favorite kind of bear? 

  grizzly 

 Thanks Travis! Support the Bean! Copies of his prints and the Broken Moon book can be purchased at Bean Leaf Press.

An unknown type of bear was killed by a rich American in the NWT. "Look! Something unique! Shoot it!" Thanks to Phil for the link. If anyone finds a photo please let me know.

Hockey Hockey Hockey Starts With E*
My chiropractor, who also happens to be my friend Travis's fiance, casually mentioned that she and Trav are going to the game tonight. Lucky! Playoff tickets are worth more than gold, or even oil around here. I considered making a call to Travis in a fake chiropractic falsetto- "Hello, Travis? This is your fiance, you know, the chiropractor? Anyways, I can't go to the game tonight because I have to chiropractice, so I think you should take Homie Bear. Okay, gotta go- enjoy the game and remember to maintain proper posture."
The only playoff game I've ever been to was Game 4 of the Oilers/Avalanche series in 1998 when they beat Colorado in 7- but lost Game 4. I went with my good buddy Rob who I haven't seen for five or six years since this afternoon! I was at the university today and I ran into him! Hey buddy!
Rob and I were in geology together back in the day. Glorious Slacker Days! Remember when we were in Field School and started the daily tradition of jumping in the Athabasca after supper? Everyone thought we were nuts, yet we baptized new converts every day. Or how about that camping trip we went on because we didn't have any finals and everyone else did? Did that ever suck! Hiking through all that snow, trying to warm up with Sterno cans, putting on frozen hiking boots in the morning. Well, it had its moments though- the cigar at Whitehorse after we limped back to the car. And going back to Hinton to watch hockey. After that trip we went and bought those playoff tickets and vowed never to go winter camping again (not really).
Well, time to go- Hockey Night in Canada is starting.

* sing with a Cookie Monster voice, to the tune of C is for Cookie

Some day I'll design a Homie Bear board game- it'll have Zombears, Robot bears, telepathic Yeti Crabs, Bullerinas, Apocalyptic Cult Leaders That Promote Violence, Plasma Dragons and all sorts of great characters that have popped in and out of the Woods over the years. It will be set here in the Woods, of course, and you'll have to collect more poo-points than anyone else to win! Yeah! Until that great day, I'll have to settle for Hold 'em, Carcassone and Star Munchkin (or Spacey Munchy as we call it).
But when I'm ready, I'll be sure to look up The Journal of Board Game Design. Interesting blog- but it would be way cooler if he did his template up like a board game.

A new dinosaur has been identified in Argentina- a huge T-Rex-like carnosaur that hunted in packs and probably liked to munch on Argentinosaurus. Actually it's an old dinosaur- Mapusaurus roseae was found in a 90 million-year-old stratum, making it older than T-Rex by about 30 million years. My alma mater's own Dr. Philip Currie helped excavate and name it.
Here's a picture of its skull. Thanks to Papa Bear for the heads-up.

Check out the blog redesign I did for gabrielle. I commissioned deviantArt's Nashya to do a bust of the vampirenomad, and she did a stunning job. The rest was just a matter of matching up the colors, and finding a way to keep the links without cluttering everything up (I won't tell you how I did that!). Nice, eh? It's my late late birthday/Christmas gift to her. Actually, by now it's more like an early early b-day/xmas gift!

In honor of Rob Zombie's new CD and zombies in general, Homie Bear proudly presents :

Lair of the ZomBear

Deep in the Woods, where it's all overgrown
There lurks a menace, unseen and unknown
Rotting flesh comes together in hideous dread
An army arises of animal undead!
Poor Homie Bear is fishing, quite unaware
That he's stumbled on the lair of the Fell Zombie Bear
"Grurp" Homie belched, as he spit out the bones
of the trout he had caught, into the pine cones
So he turned around and went back to fishing
Not hearing the bones make sounds of gut-squishing
The zombie fish pounced and Homie Bear yelped
As zombie fish scales smeared all over his pelt
Gross! Homie yelled as his paws made a splat
Crushing the zombie's putrid corpse flat
But Homie's ordeal wasn't over, as from the forest lurched
Zombie bees, zombie beavers, zombie birds, zombie birch
"Eeewww!" Homie said, "It's a whole zombie zoo
"Zombie elk, zombie rabbits, even zombie poo!"
"Brains!" the zombies groaned, "We eat you brains!
"We suck you guts and you blood from you veins!"
"No!" Homie said, "Anyone else you might scare
"But I am a big, bad, burly old bear!"
So Homie attacked, and zombie flesh flew
He killed 'em all (except for the poo)
But the King of the Zombies, the dread Zombie Bear
Emerged, dripping flesh, from his cavernous lair
"Rarrgh," roared the Zombear, and Homie's heart sank
Not only was it scary but the ugly thing stank!
But it was skeletally slow and not very smart
(It had eaten its own brain as well as its heart!)
So, bolder than a boulder and twice as brave
Homie lured the Zombear back into his cave
Simple and easy, like the best kind of traps
Homie kicked in a pillar and caused a collapse
The Zombear was buried in a pile of debris
And Homie went home, for another day free
But the Zombear was an undead corpse re-animation
And under them rocks he was just in snug hibernation!

New Rob Zombie! Yay! That's always good news. Especially when the guitarist is John 5. I love it, especially the atmospheric intro song, Sawdust in the Blood. Remember my ultimate Zombie fambly playlist? There are many worthy songs from Educated Horses to add to the list. And this is a great song that should be on there too.
Zombie!
Oops- the disc keeps switching over to Beethoven. Nothing like the soothing melody of the Pastorale to jolt you out of Zombieland!

The ABCs of Abominations (updated)

Apparently the apparition was an aberration from the abyss.
Bands of banished banshees bellow blasphemies at banquets.
Carnal cardinals cauterize and carmelize their corpuscles with cthonian conflagarations.
Deadly dervishes and draconic devils drag dirigibles into the dark dastardly depths.
The Ermine and elephant earnestly engaged in elopement and were ecstatic! (by my wife Michelle, who recognizes how abominable indeed an elephant and an ermine coupling would be)
Frighteningly faceless ferrets facetiously falsified factoids flawlessly.
Gargantuan gargoyles gargle at girls, growling and grinning at their grimaces.
Heaving his heavy head heavenward, the hapless hippo hoped help was on the horizon. (by Garet Jon, who underestimated my alliterative abilities when he suggested that "I" would be hard:
Iridescent insectoid incubi invoked by the illusionist to invade Italy instead insulted the inauspicious illuminata, and injuriously ingested him.

Your turn!

Keep alliterating those abominations at me! But a quick interruption to mention that Ursula Vernon has been nominated for an Eisner Award, for "Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition". You might recall I more widely recognized her talent a few months ago in this interview.
She was nominated for Digger, which is currently available in its entire run for free.

The ABCs of Abominations

Apparently the apparition was an aberration from the abyss.
Bands of banished banshees bellow blasphemies at banquets.

Now you write one about Cthulhu. Or Cookie Monster. Or any "C" creature. Not a c serpent though. That's in S. Then someone else can write one about demons. And evil elephants. Etc.

I thought it might've been an April Fool's joke, but it's from March 31st, so it's real: National Geographic has a video of a lifelike android. Lifelike in the sense that Commodore 128 graphics were way better than those of a Vic 20. In fact, haven't they been doing this for years with animatronics? Must be more sophisticated.
And since you're there, you might as well watch this video of a bear wandering around. You can hear her burp! If you ever want to hear a bear burp, I will be happy to belch for you. Only one dollar! Three for two!
And here's a somewhat grainy look at the Simpson's Movie trailer. Also from March 31st, but I suspect this one may actually be an April Fool's joke perpetrated by the tricksters at Fox.

One of the unexpected highlights of my trip to New Zealand was a museum devoted to the odd combination of classic cars and something called "wearable art". The place was like a wonderland. Seriously. So it's not really surprising that the Alice in Wonderland ballet was wearable art come to life. Or even, animation come to life. You really believed Alice was changing size, or that there was a ring of flying butterflies circling the caterpillar, or a lobster and a dodo and a fish et al were dancing with Alice. Everything was perfect, even the music which was culled from a variety of sources and not actually written for Alice. Plus it was hilarious.
A great side effect of these kinds of events is they inspire and jumpstart my own creative process, making me want to give the world something even a millionth as delightful, in my own way. The ideas start flowing and the only real work is culling the dumber ones and choosing the goods. The rest is just letting it happen, more or less. Though there is a bit of self-discipline involved as well- maybe making it happen would be more accurate.
The Edmonton Journal's review of the ballet.