Extravenomza
How do you like my Venom Bear? It's a far cry from the usual quality of my poo bears, but that's because I drew this one myself. I'm pretty exited about Spider-Man 3, I hope Venom is suitably venomous. He's one of the most visually arresting characters in comics. So here's a Virtual Venom Gallery for you to stick your tongue out and slobber over (please take a moment to click on the links to visit the artists' gallery and see the images in their full-sized glory):
We'll start with a pic of Venom triumphing over Spidey, just so he don't get mad at me:

Enrico Galli

Next we'll show you some more stylized versions, which I always like:

Lineart by Todd Demong colors by Jeremy Treece


BlueBerserker


Mihajlo Dimitrovski

And finally, take a look at these two images- one is a tribute to the other.

Driving out to Hinton for another round of nightshifts this afternoon, I heard Yann Martel on the CBC talking about how he is sending Stephen Harper a book every two weeks, and I thought that was a great idea. There's a website the Life of Pi author set up to show the books he's sent (just one so far) and the PM's response, if any, and so far there's been none. Makes me want t read along.
What would you send the PM to read? I'll need to think on that one before I answer.
Right now I'm reading David Brin's Heaven's Reach, with the new "JRR Tolkien" on deck. I put that in quotes since really it is Christopher messing around with his dad's notes again but I've heard good stuff about it. Oh yeah and after that I have Friedman's The World is Flat. Only cost me five bucks at Greenwoods' with the little stamp card deal they have.

So Michelle has introduced me to Killer Bunnies. We've been amusing ourselves this week killing each others' bunnies, as well as the bunnies belonging to Tom and Mindy and Mr and Mrs. blu, too. It's a great combination of skill and luck. Unlike the Nightmare Before Christmas game the blu's have which is just a combination of luck and suck. Did I ever mention that when we build a garage (hopefully this summer but maybe next summer) we'd like to build a second floor on it to have a dedicated games room? Mostly for poker but also for big Killer Bunnies and Munchkin tourneys too.
Anyways tonight Michelle and I are watching AVP to complete the Predator/Alien binge we've been on this week. It would be cool to have a Killer Bunnies/Munchkin-type AVP game- something with the same silliness and fun-factor but also those actual mythologies.
Failing that, though, just drool over this CG speed-painting of a predator by Swedish artist Peterffy Levente:



Finally, in a seamless meld between killing bunnies and CG art, go check out this painting by Bobby Chiu.

We were giving some of the guys a hard time about the way they use their mics at work- some yell into it, some hold it down by their bellies so you can't hear them, and a couple of guys, for some reason, squeeze the hell out of their mics so they make these godawful sounds. Leon is the worst offender by far- he has these huge bulldog hands which are not made for delicacy. So it was ironic that he was the one razzing John about his mic etiquette.
"You sound like that space alien in that movie, what's it called there, you know . . . " and he put his fingers up to his mouth and wiggled them in the universal sign language for Predator.
"Yeah, Predator." Then he clucks his tongue in a fair approximation of the predator's vocalizations. We all laugh.
"I love that movie," I say.
"Yeah it's wild. He could imitate whoever he heard. Perfectly! And he could make himself invisible!"
"No shit!" said John, clearly impressed.
"But he was a trophy hunter that sunuvabitch. Took their heads. The first time I seen him there he was hunting Arnold Schwarzenegger."
"If it bleeds, we can kill it," I say in my best Arnie voice.
"Yeah! And then the next time I seen him there, he was hunting drug dealers. But the last time I seen him, he was hunting that alien from that other movie, what the hell was it called there . . . "
"Alien!" I say.
"Yeah, Alien!"

Michelle decided that she would like to see Predator. Even though it's one of my favorite movies ever, I told her I didn't think she would like it very much- it's just a bunch of guys running through a jungle shooting at an ugly alien. And getting shot by it. But it also had two guys who would go on to become governors of American states, so I guess there is some historical value. Anyways, we watched it last night and I loved it as much as ever, and Michelle, well, she had some good laughs at some of the cheesy lines and was also heard to remark, "Men are strange."
Well. The image you see above is an early concept for the predator, and here he is again sans helmet:

This was a design by Alan Munro, who said, "The original maquette for the creature was extraordinary. It was a frog-like body with intertwined sinews everywhere. There were large air-cavities up the arms and in the chest. Aesthetically, it was gorgeous." Well, having seen the suit in the Special Features of the DVD, I'm not sure I agree. Nor did anyone else, luckily. Director John McTiernan decided on a different direction. Something more like "a Masai warrior. Rather than squat, bulky and tough, he wanted it tall, with very upright posture . . . statuesque. Conceptually he turned it into a mystic warrior going through a rite of passage." So Stan Winston was brought in and he came up with the classic design we know and love.
(Images and quotes above are taken from Paul Chadwick's article Alan Munro: Midwifing a Predator which appeared in Dark Horse Comics' Predator #1, June 1989)
And just because it's so beautiful, here is the back cover from the very first Alien Versus Predator story ever printed, from Dark Horse Presents #36, February, 1990. Painting by Dave Dorman. All images copryright of Dark Horse or Fox or someone other than me.)

The Royal Winnipeg Ballet is in town to perform Dracula. I bought tickets for Michelle for Christmas. Yup, me good husband.
MIchelle fell prey to the Tire Vampire this morning whilst on the Whitemud. In rush hour traffic. So I came to the rescue with my trusty stake. I mean, lug wrench. It would've been cool if I had a Helsing Van. Get it? Me funny bear.
Anyways, if the ballet isn't your thing, you might still be able to get in to see Dog the Bounty Hunter at NAIT. I kinda wish I could go see him, too, but I don't think Michelle would be so into that. I could've joined forces with him to become Bear the Tire Vampire/Bounty Hunter.

Since YouTube is owned by Google, I'm not really sure why Google has their own video service. But anyways, in honor of tomorrow's start to the playoffs (yeah I know, Oiler-less) here is a hilarious clip of a fight- more like a scuffle- at a Mighty Mite or Midget or whatever level hockey game.
And continuing in the series of videos I took at work, here is a nightshift shot.

Have you ever seen Avatar: The Last Airbender? It's an American-made anime that airbends on Nickelodeon (and is out on DVD which is how I watch it). So yeah, it's for kids but I've been really getting into it. It's about this little kid, Aang, who is the Avatar. Sort of like a Dalai Lama in a world where martial artists can control the elements. Plus it's got flying bison and shape-changing panda bears. The episode I watched tonight had pirates. "I used to kind of look up to pirates but those guys were terrible," Aang says after they beat them down.
Mako, the great voice actor who sadly passed away recently, who also voiced Aku from Samurai Jack* plays the Fire Lord's brother.
Anyways, I couldn't help but notice certain amount of resemblance to another great American cartoon, so I drew a fanart:
(if you can't see it you're probably using Internet Explorer for some reason)


Avatarlie Brown by ~HomieBear on deviantART

*Speaking of Samurai Jack, I'd just like to point out that the Scotsman had a prosthetic machine gun leg first! Though that in no way is meant to detract from the oure kickassness that is sure to be Grindhouse.

More Digging



I took some more grainy video at work yesterday- I need to point out that there's no zooming whatsoever- Michelle thought I was zooming in on the bucket when it comes so close but that is just how it works- it has to come in real close to the house so it can dig from the bottom. The other one shows what it's like from inside the cab.
Some other stuff I'm digging today: this cool Flash animation of the Hogwarts campus. No one is playing frisbee but it knows what time of day it is and changes accordingly!
And some emoticon movie trailers:
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Fifth Element
Alien VS Predator
And I'll tell you what I'm not digging: winter. Enough already! There's been snow on the ground since September and it's still snowing! Argghhhh!
I just had to get that out of my system.