Off to see the Wizard, and then some....

Okay, so today I scanned in some drawings and uploaded them to my photobucket account. Which means I can share them here.

Consider yourselves lucky I feel like sharing.

By the way, you can click the pictures for a larger view, in case you wish to enjoy them at a larger size.

Let's start off with Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz series of books. Well, Dorothy as I imagine her at 18-ish, as I haven't figured out how to draw children yet.



Then we'll move on to my version of the Scarecrow. I just love the idea of his mouth being a tear in the bag that makes up his head. I know the book says his mouth is painted on, but consider it artistic license.



Moving on to the Tin Woodman. When I colored him, I decided that his hat didn't necessarily have to be made of tin. I think I may like it more if it were the same color as the rest of his body, but I still like it.



Now let's look at the Cowardly Lion. This drawing draws(heh) more from the movie version than the book, but that's because I didn't have any photo reference of lions when I drew this. Oh well. Maybe next time.



Mostly unrelated, here is my drawing of the Frog Prince. Of course, later on in the Oz books, he introduces a character that is a human-sized frog. But I didn't remember that until tonight, so there's really no relation here. I just made up the relation. I can do that. I'm the artist.



I hope you enjoyed the art(?) viewing.

New Poem

So, apparently, the idea that grabbed my attention before absolutely refuses to be fleshed out. Maybe it'll come later, but for now, here is the complete poem. And I may never flesh it out.


Today,
today my eyes
are blue.


So, what do you think? I hope it doesn't come across as a cop-out.

Disjointed...

Lots of different ideas running through my head right now. So, lucky you! You get to read all of them, in a slightly shorter form than you might have, had I decided to flesh these out to make full posts.

Labios Compartidos (Shared Lips)

A song by Mana, a Mexican rock group whose music I really enjoy. The basic idea of the song is a love triangle, from the point of view of one of the two guys in love with the girl. One line says "I can no longer share your lips." What I love about this line, is that it is so ambiguous that it could mean he can't share her lips any longer because she's already left him, and won't be his to kiss any more. Or, it could mean that he's found out about the other guy, and is no longer willing to share her lips with that guy, so he's ending the relationship. Every time I hear this song, if I think about the words, it makes my heart ache.

Britain's Got Talent

If you can, go to www.youtube.com and look up some clips from this competition. Especially with the names Paul Potts or Connie Talbot. Paul is a cell phone salesman who entered the contest and sings opera. His voice is absolutely incredible, but what gets me is his countenance while singing. It's so obvious while he sings that singing and music are the of absolute importance to him. In an interview he says that he has always suffered with a bad self-esteem and that singing is the only thing he's ever felt he was good at, and that even when he was being bullied, his voice was his friend. He could go home and sing and everything would be okay. Both songs that he sang on this program have absolutely moved me to tears. With the first time he sings on the show, you can tell the judges are ready for a horrible performance when he tells them he sings opera. Then he starts, and their jaws just hit the floor; they are flabbergasted.

Connie Talbot is a cute as a button six year old with an amazing gift for singing. Her audition piece was "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" which is a song I love anyway, but she puts so much feeling into it (even at six) that after three notes, I was in tears.

Yes, I cried quite a bit this evening.

My Muse

I had a visit from my itinerant muse this week. I actually completed several drawings while at work over two or three shifts. And I wrote the poem I posted in the previous post. And I've managed to get the majority of the lyrics for a song I've had in my head for a while. And, apparently I need to learn guitar, because this song is a guitar song. I feel really creative, and that's very nice after such a long drought.

New Poem

I was looking in the mirror today as I was washing my hands, and I noticed my eyes, and I said to myself, "Today my eyes are blue." That struck me as poetically significant, and I'm digesting that line to create a poem around it. I know the basic form, but not the content. Does that make sense?

Mom's favorite topic

I had an interesting "revelation" today. I figured out that I'm a pretty decent fellow and that I'm worth waiting to find the female that will accept me and love for who I am. So there!

Of course, who knows how long that idea will last?

Anyway, those are the things running through my head at the moment. I thought there was another, but I can't remember it, so you don't get to read it. Sorry!

Threads of Fate

The threads of Fate tie me
to the decisions I've made
in the past,
their accumulated strength exceeding
iron shackles and chains.

The weight of responsibility
for those decisions

pulling me backwards, away
from the light of decisions
I wish to make, the way
I wish to go.

Tiring of the constant struggle,
I wish to rest,
sliding back one step,
two,
giving up ground won in
hard-fought, tear-drenched battles,
hoping the brief rest will grant me
the renewed strength to

slowly

win back that precious ground, and
then some, knowing that this
war
won't end until

I give up

or

I am free.

Here I go again....

I really need to snap this vicious cycle I seem to perpetuate. I start feeling a little depressed, so I do something stupid. Maybe I spend too much, maybe something else. Then I feel guilty for the stupid thing I did, and I feel even more depressed. I usually won't go much farther, because that's usually when I recognize the cycle and try to stop it, but sometimes I can really beat myself up about it.

I'm getting down again right now. To the point where it's almost affecting my work. Inbetween calls today I almost got myself to the point of tears, but I caught myself in time, as I still had a job to do.

Now that throws up a red flag, saying, "Hey, you need help, and soon." Unfortunately the therapy I would like to try is a fairly new thing, and I don't know if it's spread out farther than the Provo, UT, area.

I want to try that particular therapy because my little sister just went through it and feels really good about it. And she's had a lot more therapy than I have. And we're fairly similar, so I think it would work for me.

Unfortunately, my job kind of gets in the way of me going up there for sessions, even if I could afford to make the trip that many times.

So, yeah, until I get an answer back from the therapist I wrote to, who knows when I'll be able to find the solution here in Mesa.

Grrr. I hate when I can see a possibly great solution but it won't work.

Movies A to Z...

On my last blog, I had so much fun listing my favorite music groups A to Z, that I thought I'd give it a try with movies. I guess we'll see how it goes.

A is for A Series of Unfortunate Events. A rare case of enjoying the movie more than the books. But then, I could never get into the books, though I truly tried.

B is for Back to the Future. I love this trilogy, especially the first and third movies. So much fun, and every time travel question was answered.

C is for Clue. Who knew a board game would make such a great movie? The cast is great; Tim Curry is always fun to watch, Christopher Lloyd is hilarious, and don't you dare take your eyes off of Madeline Kahn. The french maid is great eye candy, too.

D is for Dogma. I think the tagline for the movie says it all: "Religion is a funny thing."

E is for Equilibrium. Think "Farenheit 451," but where all emotions and anything that would cause emotional responses are outlawed. Christian Bale's face as he starts to feel emotion for the first time is an amazing thing to watch.

F is for Final Fantasy: Advent Children. Granted, it's a movie sequel to a video game, but the computer-generated graphics are amazing, and the story's pretty good as well.

G is for Grosse Point Blank. Hooray for John Cusack. I love this idea. A professional assassin goes to his 10-year high school reunion. I might have gone to mine, if I were an assassin...

H is for Hercules. Okay, so it's not entirely faithful to the Greek myths, but it has a great vocal cast and is hilarious. James Woods as Hades steals the scene, even when he's not in the scene.

I is for The Incredibles. Wonderful superhero movie. Great story, truly emotional, and action-packed and exciting. I saw it many times in the theater.

J is for James Bond: Casino Royale. I'm not a huge Bond fan, but I LOVED this movie. I still need to buy it. The opening chase sequence was incredible, and Daniel Craig makes a great James Bond.

K is for Kill Bill. Yeah, it gets a little bloody, but there's something about the character of the Bride that is so compelling. And the other actors in the two movies are all amazing. I really do enjoy watching both halves.

L is for Lost in Translation. A movie that is the perfect love letter to those who love foreign culture, whether it be Japan or somewhere else. Yeah, it moves a touch slow, but that's part of its charm for me.

M is for Mirrormask. This movie combines the creativity of Neil Gaiman, the artistry of Dave McKean, and the imagination of the Jim Henson company to make a wonderful movie. At once dreamy, hopeful, and emotional, this movie is a moving experience.

N is for Night Watch. A Russian fantasy with elements of Horror, this is the first of a planned trilogy of movie. Yes, there were some holes in the plot, and some things left unexplained, but the visuals are incredible, and they found a way to make the subtitles actually part of the movie. Creepy without scaring the crap out of me.

O is for Over the Hedge. I didn't expect to love this movie. But I do. It's a great criticism of human nature. Plus: funny as all get-out. If you don't love Hammy the squirrel after seeing this movie, you're emotionally dead inside.

P is for Phantom of the Opera. I loved this movie. It surprised me how much I enjoyed it. I love the music of the original broadway production so much that I was worried that it would be ruined in movie form, but it wasn't. Great voices, for the most part, and a great cast.

Q is for Quest for Camelot. My main problem with this movie is that it feels rushed. It's fairly short, and if they had been able to stretch it just a little more, it would have been more enjoyable. However, the soundtrack is absolutely infectious.

R is for Robin Hood: Men in Tights. Oh, how I love this movie. I don't think I could put why I love this movie into words.

S is for Singin' in the Rain. One of my favorite movies of all time. 'Nuff said.

T is for Toy Story 1 and 2. Everybody who had toys growing up wondered what it would be like if their toys came to life. Now we know. It's a conspiracy to keep humans from finding out about it.

U is for Underworld. While I didn't like the look of the werewolves in this movie, the story and plot sparked my imagination, and that alone makes a movie worth watching more than once.

V is for Van Helsing. For pretty much the same reasons as Underworld, except I liked how the werewolf looked in this movie. Although I did find it hard to accept the duke from Moulin Rouge as Dracula. That just seemed to really be a stretch. But the friar was hilarious.

W is for While you Were Sleeping. Another one of my favorite movies of all time. The whole movie is pretty much my favorite movie moment.

X is for X2: X-men United. Pretty much the perfect superhero movie. From the opening scene in the White House to the emotional ending, this movie gets my attention and keeps it the entire time.

Y is for You've Got Mail. Yes, it's sappy. Yes, it makes me cry. But, before you get all judgemental, you have to realize that my parents courted by way of letters, so this movie kind of relates to my life, a little.

Z is for Zorro, as in the Mask of Zorro. Anthony Hopkins, Antonio Banderas, and Catherine Zeta Jones. There really isn't all that much to dislike about this movie.

So, what do you think?

A New First...

So I had a new experience at work the other day.

I was speaking with a Ms. S., and what she had called for did not take very long, and when we had finished she started chatting with me for a second. She asked if I was studying in school, so I told her I was in-between degrees, and that I wanted to go to grad school. I told her my major was in Spanish.

She evidently thought that was pretty impressive. She told me that the mind is unhinged and could accomplish anything. The she asked, "Well, why aren't you working for a bank in Spain, my Nigger (pronounce niggah)?" I told her that I just wasn't prepared to work in another country yet.

We ended the call, and anytime I felt a little irritated after any call after that, I just had to remember Ms. S. and I would start giggling uncontrollably. I felt very flattered and took that phrase as a complement, as I think it was meant.

It still makes me smile to think of it.