Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Notorious BIG: Party and Bullshit (Ratatat Remix)

One of the best remixes that I have forgot about this summer for some reason.  Had it on repeat all day again.  Ratatat come up with some crazy remixes every now and then.

Michald Ziekan

He doesn't update his blog very often but the bit of work he has on there is impressive.  Reminds me of my style.   His colouring is a lot better though.










Wacom Inkling

The newest in digital art technology.  If it was created by any other company then Wacom I wouldn't really care but their products are so well made and designed that this will surely be way ahead of its time.  Can wait to try one.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Alice and the Caterpillar

I can't wait to colour this one.  It will be so psychedelic.  I have had this picture in my head for over 10 years but never wanted to tackle it because I wanted it to be perfect.  After a few sketches and the right opportunity and inspiration it happened.


Octopus Tentacles

I will finish this up in the near future and i'm trying to organize some prints once its all finished up.


Mr. Fingers

Animal Collective: Mr. Fingers

Mister Heavenly and Nick Diamond

A few weeks ago Mister Heavenly released their first album, Out of Love, and although I am a fan of all the different bands that the members are from I didn't pick it up and listen until a couple days ago.  It is very good.  Dark, slow, menacing, and poppy; it has a little bit of all the members other bands sounds.  Ryan Kattner (Honus Honus the frontman for Man Man) and Nick Thorburn (Nick Diamond the frontman for the Unicorns, Islands, th Corn Gangg, Reefer...) share writting and vocal duties and Joe Plummer (from Modest Mouse, Helio Sequence) plays drums.  Click on the album cover below to stream the album.


Last week Nick Thorburn released a solo album under his Nick Diamond alias to download for a price you choose on his Bandcamp site.  Click on the album cover below to download the album.


Thursday, August 25, 2011

Dave Rapoza: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Series

For the last few months I came across Dave Rapoza's work after seeing one of his Ninja Turtle Portraits.  After 6 months he has completed the 16 piece series of the major characters. 


 





On his website you can see step by step images showing just how he goes about creating these protraits and there are even some videos.  There are also prints of some of the portraits for sale but they are selling out.

Dave Rapoza Website

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Octopus Attack

An ink drawing i did for a tattoo design.  Will colour it eventually (like everything else).


Tom Waits: Bad as Me Album Info



On October 25th Tom Waits will release Bad as Me.  It will be an amazing day.

Here is a performance and interview from Letterman nearly 10 years ago.

Monday, August 22, 2011

Vancouver: Over 100 years of Photographs

Vancouver was founded in 1886 and the first few pictures below, account for the first years in the area of what is now South Granville.  The construction of the first Granville Bridge linked the inlet and allowed industry to prosper around False Creek.
North Arm Road or "A Slit in the Forest", 1888
 North Arm Road later became Granville Street when the first Granville Bridge was built in 1889
Granville Street looking North from 24th Ave, 1911
The second Granville Bridge built in 1911. 
On February 4, 1954, the current Granville Street Bridge, costing $16.5 million, opened. A million cars would cross over the bridge in its first month. The city of Vancouver funded the bridge itself as Mayor Frederick Hume said "no formal assistance given by any other government body."
Once construction on the 3rd Bridge was complete the 2nd bridge was taken apart and the Steel was used to build the footings of the Oak Street Bridge.

 I was searching around and came across someone with a flickr account with nearly 200 old photgraphs of Vancouver and the outlying regions throughout the decades.
 
Hastings & Carrall, 1910
Postcard: Old Georgia Viaduct, c.1915
Hastings & Carrall, 1931
Postcard: Vancouver Skyline, c.1956
Downtown, False Creek and Granville Island, c.1964
Chinatown at Night, 1964
Granville Street, 1965

Here are some panoramas of the city and its development.
Vancouver from Fairview, c.1890
 View looking north from Granville Street and 14th, c.1911
 Looking east, south and west from the Post Office tower, c.1909
Looking north from Nelson Street, 1936
The eastern business section of Vancouver, 191-
360 degree view of Vancouver from the roof of the second Hotel Vancouver, Aug. 1914
Peace Ceremonies in Stanley Park on July 19, 1919
 
Burrard Dry Dock, North Vancouver, 1944
 View of Granville Island (reclamation partially complete) from the top of the Granville Bridge, June 1916
 Southward view of west False Creek showing dredging and Granville Island under construction from the roof of Begg Motors, Aug. 1919
View of east False Creek showing the C.P.R. Drake Street Roundhouse and coal trestle, and the Cambie Street Bridge, Aug. 1916
Vancouver 2005

Lastly, A Year in Five Minutes is a series of short summary article describing everything news worthy event in the cities development, from the 1886 up until 1985.  I have only read a few years but they are interesting articles of the city that I have grown up in and yet know or seen very little  of its history.  
My favorite: The Main Events 1886 : The city is incorporated; the city burns down

What Ended WWII?

An article in the Boston Globe tells how, possibly, it was not the Atomic Bombs that dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki 64 years ago, that causes the defiant Japanese to surrender but, actually, the threat of a Russian invasion that forced their surrender to the Americans.  It questions the popular thought that having nuclear weapons is a deterant for war or at least a nuclear attack.  Mass civilian casualities haven't and will not force any army to surrender.

Boston Globe: Why did Japan Surrender? Article.





Saturday, August 20, 2011

1 Pixel = 1 Million Dollars


Hank Williams III releasing 4 albums on September 9th

...and one of those albums features Tom Waits.  Click on the picture to read about the albums.


This is the coolest portraits of Tom Waits I've seen.  It was done by Cosmin Podar.  He has a lot of really great portraits on his site.


Holy Shit. They released the West Memphis Three today.

After 18 years of being wrongly imprisoned, the courts finally released the West Memphis Three.  The three teens where found guilty of murdering 3 younger children in a satanic ritual.  There was no evidence except a confession to police during interogation from Jessie Misskelley, who was 17 years old at the time and considered mentally retarded.  Police integogated him for twelve hours with out his parents or lawyers and only recorded 46 minutes of the 12 hours.  After 18 years of public outcry and five years of sitting on negative DNA test they were release this afteroon.  The whole time the courts have ignored people's demands for a new hearing of the Three, while ignoring evidence that John Mark Byers, the adoptive father of victim Christopher Byers murdered the three boys.

Before releasing them the courts made them plead guilty to the crimes, once again, to show that the courts and the police investigation was never wrong and the West Memphis Three will always be known as murderers. 

The police will not investigate any other suspects.


Read more here....