Auditory Expirences of Note

Hoping to better convey moods and feelings with music instead of words, here are two expirences and pictures off my phone and the music playing on my iPod at the time.

The other night, I was driving to my place after a super busy day at work, long but fine run in the gym, and a very late excursion to a 24 hour Wal-Mart (bless those 24 hour places, they are on my schedule) to allocate some much needed supplies, I was exceptionally tired.

It was pushing close to that delirious time around 2 AM when no one needs to be out. I was rounding the bend when this song, incredible title and all, by the indominable Sufjan Stevens came on.

"They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back From The Dead!! Ahhhh!"

* * *

From tonight, a moment from the gym. I've taken to running on the treadmills which isn't super easy because I've been stuck with asthma for years, but with a little persistance, I'm managing to work through it. I'd always heard it was possible, and, well, it is.

Tonight was walking in through the hallway and seeing the sights (fill in your own details here) while music by John Swihart [Napoleon Dynamite] dribbled in the best way possible into my ears via small black headphones.

Napoleon Video Store

There you have it.

The Adventures of Brain

Episode: I

Quick Hide Here!!

Announcing the blog of my very good friend, Justin Gerard.
Justin is a commendable artist and pirate.

^ by Justin

For infomation on art, killer techniques, pomeranian puppies, the practial advantages and disadvantages of atomic hand-grenades, and more, visit him at http://www.quickhidehere.blogspot.com/.

Illustration Friday: "Tea" [music edit]

The Bird Watcher

That's probably tea, right?

Now with some appropriate music...
Which piece fits best? I couldn't decide. It's all in how you look at things.

Comptine D'un Autre Été: L'après Midi

La Valse d'Amélie (Version Orchestre)
Les Jours Tristes (Instrumental)

all selections from Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain
by Yann Tiersen

To see the work in progress click here.

and more famous dreams...

I have famous dreams. And it was two for the price of one last night. This is turning into one big famous trend. For when I met Stephen King and Johnny Cash, all in one night, click here.

Last night was Ben Folds and Robin Williams.

The Ben Folds one was more fun than the Robin Williams one, but the latter is way funnier in retrospect.

* * *

Ben Folds

So it all starts out much like my Peter Jackson dream; me, Ben Folds, and my good buddies Justin and Ben Kammer are driving around with Ben Folds in a giant white van and we're all pals. Turns out the three of us are driving him to the next show. I think I was driving, but with dreams you never know.

Well, we all unloaded the equipment and stuff and set up chairs. After hanging out and talking about who knows what, dream stuff, about 20 people filed into this big gymnasium. The three of us all sat in the back. Folds was about to start playing on a big black Yamaha, when he was like, "No way! Come up here!" So we moved up to the front and it was great.

I chalk this one up to the fact that the three of us really did go to a Ben Folds concert back in the fall. While Folds never called us up to stage or anything, there was some guy on another guys shoulders and the one guy threw like, a Calculus book at the stage and it sailed clean over Folds head. I don't think he noticed. And we were pretty close.

*************************************
Robin Williams

His face there is pretty much what he looked like at the end of the dream except not so happy.

Alright, well, somewhere along the way, an old friend of mine that I've known for years and years found Robin Williams office.

We go in and it's really long, and full of stuff, lots of knick-nacks. Everything is big, old, and heavy. There was alot of shelves and we're just walking around. Somewhere Emily pulls out this box of like, nuclear Crayolas and was like, "Hey, let's draw on his desk! Haw haw!"

So we excitedly shoved all the papers and books aside and started drawing huge child-like scrawlings in bright kind of chalky atomic colors. This is the funniest thing either of us had ever done and we're cracking up like idiots when BLAM! Robin Williams comes bursting through the door scattering papers all up into the air and he was like, "HEY! WHAT'RE YOU DOING?!"

And then I woke up at 4:30 A.M. to see Kitty, sitting there next to my head.

* * *And for because. A little dragon I did this afternoon.

Interlude

A portion of the "musical interlude" in The Blue Goblet.

After the young queen crash landed her plane, she passed through a certain field with pecuilar qualities.

After which the story in words drops out and the story in picutres takes over only for a brief musical interlude until...

...the Final Confrontation.

Olaf fische mit der Post [edit]

or whatever.
And for anyone wondering about Olaf:

*************************************

Unbeknownst to most of us, 33% of our mail is delivered via Trollpost.

Trolls, large man-shaped figures with pointed ears and long tails, hail from the Black Forest (or Schwarzwald) in Germany. They are typically shy creatures, large and cumbersome but not unintelligent.

Trolls lack chiefly in interpersonal skills, they are not necessarily disaffectionate towards others, it is more of a deficiency in their neurological capacity to engage in small talk outside the weather.

While inapt with their communication skills, trolls are superbly gifted craftsmen (or craftstrolls I suppose you might say) manufacturing toys, cuckoo clocks, radios, and musical instruments.

Thriving mainly off orange juice and chocolate (and the occasional polish sausage) the troll population of Germany has historically been overlooked due to their indifference toward politics and motor sports outside their own kind. That is not to say trolls have some sort of advanced political structure or a superior soapbox derby (by any means) but in all actuality they are rather poor sports at both, and are generally contented with soaking in mineral springs and eating chocolate.

Trolls, as a rule, do not travel further west than the Rhine.

One young troll, however, has ventured past the safety of the silky black forest and has sought to make his way in the world, specifically that of the postal service. Olaf is venturesome and spirited. He enjoys coffee (which is traditionally only savored by the audacious trolls) and delivering mail by any means possible, whether by motorbike, his salvaged Messerschmitt, or by boat.

Olaf enjoys Mozart, toast with cheese, and is considering taking up the violin.

by Cory Godbey

*************************************

Testing, testing... music please [edit]

Here's something new... and we're all going to see if it's going to work.
So, here goes:

Girls Just Want To Have Fun
Ben Gibbard of Death Cab For Cutie; Live, July 13, 2002

Well hey! According to my little tests things are looking good, so hey!
(click on the song title... so you know)

***

And to clarify just a little, it's not me singing, it's Ben Gibbard; above.
Just because someone asked.
:O

Wuthrich [edit]

New pieces Erin and I have acquired from our good friend and my favorite artist that I know personally, Kaite Wuthrich. These are from her senior exhibition. If you're in the Greenville area you'd be glad to go and see the show.

I figured my color photos off my phone to be bad so I only took one. Too bad it takes sort of OK color pictures. I took one to prove it to myself (that it would be bad) but as it turns out it's not so bad. So. Too bad.



and to prove the size of these things....

Erin and another friend Cassia next to one of Katie's landscapes.

If I can, sometime I'll try and get some better color pictures of these. They are amazing.

***edit***

color! not great color, but now they got color none-the-less.

still nothing compared to seeing them real and in person though.

Illustration Friday: "Song"

One of my favorites.

The Bird Watcher...

...is done.

Slight Weapons Malfunction...

Perhaps some of the most faithful readers will remember when I fried my iPod to a charcoal briquette. For those who may need to catch up, here are the two posts from this past summer:

The Cardboard Sarcophagus:
Detailing the inital problems, complete with illustration.

The 20GB Resurrection w/Click Wheel:
The return from the dead, complete with illustration.

Now, however, we have another malfuction; the ear buds. I've worn them to death.

They've been as far north as Canada, as far west the Rockies, as far south as Florida, around 25,000 feet in the air (on multiple ocassions) and underground NYC deep in the subway systems. And all in one summer too. I'm sure someone else has done far worse but that's not bad for me. Especially all in one summer.


But unfortunately for all those involved (which amounts to me and my iPod) there's no fix for this. I tried. I punched it a couple times but it didn't work. But I will make do.

Behold! My astronaut headphones. I can pick up the moon with these babies.
Thanks Gramma.

Valentine

At-least have a little better one...

Introducing More Famous Dreams!

Most of my dreams are mundane things, and not at all very exciting. I've heard of people having dreams where things morph and change shape and get huge or everything is strange colors. Not so with me. Most times it seems like its, "Oh no! My 'check engine soon light' is on!" Not very exciting.

Every once a while though, I'll have a great dream. Once when I was young I dreamed I was a dolphin in the arctic circle. I don't know if dolphins can even live there (probably not I'd wager) but even so I dreamed I was one. That still ranks as my #1 dream.

My second great dream was I found a pink and orange and white Calico cat that was the size of your finger stuck in a spider web outside the kitchen window. I got him out and kept him and I named him Robert. He grew to be about as big as the palm of your hand.

But recently I have been having famous dreams.

Take Peter Jackson for instance, just showed up in my dream.
Well, the other night, two for the price of one: Stephen King and Johnny Cash.


Stephen King: He came over and we hung out in the basement of my mom's house listening to Bob Dylan records. He was really emotional and worked up about something. He was so bothered he couldn't even get the words out right which frustrated him even more.

***

Next, we have my friend Josh Fink and I walking up the drive to a very large expensive looking house with big iron gates. There were palm fronds growing all over. It was the home of the Man in Black.
Johnny Cash: He welcomed us. He had a guitar and he was just getting into his car. Somehow I knew this was 2003 (the year he died) so he looked old but he was happy. All I really remember was telling him about Erin (we had starting dating that year.)

Dreams, dreams...

Illustration Friday: "Simple" (edit)

What could be more simple than a childhood drawing?circa 4th grade

Here some not too old "simple" drawings:

***
******Some things never change.

In Flight, er Progress (update)

update on the bird man...
basically just the birds.

Inspired by this strange early college drawing....

Top Hat & Co.

...some in progress work.

The not quite finished Bird Watcher.

"... was not so in the art of air travel..."

"Queen Julia, as adept as she was in most areas, was not so in the art of air travel and she was forced a crash landing in the woods of a small neighboring country.

This disturbed her not and she carried on."

A selection from The Blue Goblet

Illustration Friday: "Chair" (edit)

new version

Angry, angry, angry...
Fly-swatting butterflies?

The Black Goblet

The Black Goblet. The strange dark world hidden somewhere within the heart of The Blue Goblet.