joe randel's art dump

My son as of late has gotten in to Pokemon.  He watched an episode last week and was totally hooked.  Even his older sister watches it with him.  I never watched the cartoon back when the original was on.  I was in college though so that might have something to do with it.  I did play the games though.  Own Pokemon Blue for GameBoy and Silver for GameBoy.  I played the crap out of Blue and even caught all the Pokemon for the thing.  I slowed down on Silver though.  I felt like I had just played this game and so the drive for catching everything was gone.  I haven’t played another one since.

Now that my kids have taken an interest in the current generation of Pokemon, I find myself looking at the show kind of sideways.  So, there’s this trainer that goes around and captures animals, trains them to fight against other animals and trainers.  Oh, and he/she keeps them them in a small animal home when they’re not fighting.  I’m pretty sure you can get arrested for that sort of thing. ^_^ I’m not about to stop them from watching the show.  Heck, I watch the show with them and I enjoy it too.  I just think it’s funny that 13 years and 2 kids later I look a Pokemon now and think… really?

Where you ever in to Pokemon back in the day?  Did you catch them all?

From time to time I make poses about pose-able statues, or 3d programs and such for artists.  Mostly because that little wooden model you can get in art stores is complete crap (seriously, they are a waste of your money).  But nothing beats a real, live model.  Nothing.  It’s the only way you’ll learn about muscle groups and proper proportions.

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Last week I wandered in to the local comic shop and I saw something.  Something wonderful.  Something I knew I just had to have.  It was a sexy pin up book of Bruce Timm’s art called Naughty and Nice.  Who’s Bruce Timm you ask?  Well, did you watch Batman the animated series in the 90’s? Yes? Then you know who Bruce Timm is.  He was actually the co-creator of the series.  He also has this amazing retro style in his art and his girly drawings are fantastic! Continue reading

So the other day I learned about a movie called Primer.  It’s an indie movie from 2004 and if you like time travel, you’ll probably like this movie.  It’s actually a different look on time travel then most movies.  It’s looked at, like most discoveries, as accidental and totally unintentional.  There’s no crazy scientists or glowing lights and crazy romp though time.  It’s handled in pretty much the way you’d expect one would handle such a discovery today.  I really liked it, but then again, I love time travel stuff.  I do look up a lot on the subject and try to analyze the science and theory behind it all.

Primer is a great down to earth look at the subject of time travel as it’s applied to the regular people who discover it, and try to understand exactly what they have and the moral implications of using it.  I recommend people hunt it down and give it a view if time traveling is their bag.

Guh… one of my kids is sick… again.  One thing you learn about kids is that they are the most unhygienic things on the planet.  It’s kinda gross.  No,check that.  It is gross.  Now that my son is sick it’s only a matter of time before everyone else gets it too.  Before I had kids, I hardly ever got sick.  Maybe once a year if I was lucky.  Now… forget it.  Guh… not looking forward to this.  Sick kids are also a jillion times more miserable and whinny when they aren’t feeling well.

How often do you get sick?

If there’s one thing I love, it’s good smutty picture.  If there’s a second thing I love, it’s games.  It’s a well know fact that I love video games (heck, I made them my career), but it’s actually far bigger then that.  I love games of all kinds, except organized sports… guh.  Ever since I was a kid I’ve had a love of card and board games.  Favorite ones from my youth are Clue, Pac-Man and Fireball Island.  Especially Fireball Island.  The one that I had as  child was ether sold or destroyed in a basement flood (so if anyone has one that they want to get rid of… *wink*).  I also remember wanting to play a game called Scotland Yard.  I only ever tried it once at a friends house.  I seem to remember liking it, but I can’t remember.  I wonder if you can buy it now a days.

As of the fast few year, the board game of choice is Scrabble.  I play with Wife, and my Bother-in-Law and his wife.  It’s tons of fun and we can get quite vulgar plying it too, which is okay because we only play after the kids go to bed.  And after a few years of playing, I think we’re all quite awesome at it too.  I’m sure I could beat all your asses.  That’s right… I said it.  Actually, the trick is to try and make your words across the double and triple letter/word squares.

I’ve even got the kids hooked on to board games too.  We play Uno Moo, Cars Monopoly, Pengoloo and the Pac-Man game I had when I was a kid.  Yup, I still have that original game.

Do you love board games?  What ones are your favorites?