Inbetween drawing comedians and doing some new paintings (really, that's my freelance work at the moment), I managed to find time to watch and (by popular demand) review a shark movie.
Raging sharks.
Another amazing Danny Lerner Bulgarian shark movie (the man who also brought us the classics, Shark attack3, Sharkzone and Shark in Venice.
Let me share it with you.
I only just found out about this. Look how amazing it is! It's on at the science museum in London, just like everything else. (I mean everything's in London, not specifically in the science museum.)
Link
I'm between computers at the moment, so I can't put up any new art right now. But, I know you visit here to waste some time and I don't want to disappoint you, so today I shall share some favourite links with you. I'm also returning the favour for all the wonderful links that you have left for me (and I don't mean the cheap meds ones.)
First of all some animation:
Graham Annable is one of my favourite comic book writers/artists. He has awesome comic timing. So imagine how happy I was when Andy showed me that he now animates stuff too!:
http://uk.youtube.com/user/grickle
I'm totally going to start animating stuff once I get this computer situation fixed. Oh yeah. Then I'm gonna bag me an oscar. You'll see. You'll all see.
Okay, now some photos:
I came across the Smithsonian Institution on Flickr, there are some great photos, and the comments are interesting. People are kicking off about some of the images being racist. I guess some people don't get how Museums or photos or history work.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/smithsonian/
I also found the National Martime museum on there, which is more my sort of thing. http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationalmaritimemuseum/
The National Galleries of Scotland have some beautiful old pictures of Edinburgh: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationalgalleries/
I'm currently trawling through the links for the other museums and galleries. It will take a while.
Kids show:
Another link from Andy because his job seems to consist of using the internet. Concept indeed. This is one of the best kids shows ever! I think it was on boingboing or some such site, so you may have already seen it:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=qSozwHahauc
That's all your links for today.
I'm working on some more comic stuff, obviously by now you'll have bought the new issue of Monstrum and although it won't have been delivered yet you will be eager for the next issue. So I'm working on that. I'm also doing a one-pager for an anthology that won't be out until 2010. They like to be organised.
Here's the shark cake that some kind people surprised me with for my birthday (it's part eaten in this picture, I didn't get to photograph it in time, it was super yummy):
Awesome mints. Great bite tins come with a bite out of them and pre-bitten mints, because sharks get hungry. I first came across them when Erin gave me a tin during the week, which was a wonderful surprise, then today I found a small tic-tac style version in the newsagents.
Tomorrow I shall be carving our annual pumpkin, and I got a tiny squash that looks like a mini pumpkin to go with it. Also, I shall be carving with Cold Steel knives, so it should be the best one yet.
Shark in Venice.
Danny Lerner is living the dream. My dream. He churns out bargain basement shark movies, which all seem to do well enough in DVD sales that he can continue to churn them out. Shark in Venice, much like Danny and Avi Lerners other Bulgarian shark classics (Sharkzone, the Shark Attack2, 3 and Raging sharks) has ropey effects, terrible dialogue and a nonsense script. This DVD also comes with a making of, which is in many ways more entertaining than the movie.
Set in Venice, we are treated to a Dolmio puppet villain, some mafia nonsense, and some plot about the Medici treasure (throwing around such precise dates as the ’ Medieval period’, although we are assured in the making of that the history has been well researched.) A Baldwin is called in to find his missing Dad, which starts out a bit like Last Crusade, but not good, and then it all goes downhill from there. The sharks keep growling, which seems to be a Lerner trademark, and they are accompanied by a choral score along the lines of the Omen. Due to some vague directing it’s hard to tell where abouts the sharks are in relation to anyone or which direction they are travelling in. I’m also pretty sure that footage from Shark Attack 3: Megalodon, was reused in a dream sequence. On the plus side, the colour of the water is quite well matched, which is usually the worst tell tale sign of file footage.
SPOILER ALERT!!!
The main story is that Mr.Dolmio wants a Baldwin to go and get this treasure, but Baldwin won’t because he has something against the mafia or Italians or hates pasta or something. He is, however, quite happy to steal bits of the treasure for his girlfriend who is an expert in the ‘Medieval’. The treasure is hard to get at because the canals are full of sharks! Why are the canals full of sharks? Because Mr. Dolmio lured them in there when they were Bambinos and has been feeding them up ever since to be killer sharks (a frequently used term in these movies, used as though it is a species of shark). Wait! Doesn’t he want the treasure from the canal that he has filled with killer sharks (Carcharodon Killerodon)? D’oh!
The sharks kill a few people, in broad daylight with a lot of witnesses even though the authorities keep denying the existence of these so called ‘sharks’. One shark even has the audacity to violently attack a Baldwin, but he somehow survives with only a slight cut to the shoulder, which makes me think that these sharks aren’t so tough after all. The whole thing ends with a big gun fight (because killer sharks just aren’t enough these days) and Venice is still full of sharks, so maybe there’ll be a sequel.
Well, I made it down to BICS but only had a quick look about. Said hello to some old friends ('old' as in I've known them quite a while, not a comment on their age), picked up some....um...interesting comics and that's about it. There was an excellent programme of events on, but I didn't get to any of them.
I did however, get to have an exquisite ice cream at Selfridges. The most expensive ice cream I have had to date, but worth every penny. Sorry, every pound.
This is the impressive sundae I had from Morellos Gellato at Selfridges in Birmingham. Cream, vanilla, chocolate and hazlenut ice-cream, whole hazlenuts, chocolate sauce, chocolate flakes, hot chocolate and nut fudge sauce in a chocolate cup. And a wafer.
Andy had a smaller wuss version:
Another highlight of my week was attending the Dragonforce gig at the Carling Academy in Newcastle.
Well, I haven't got any good photos from the dive, it wasn't really the best conditions for photography. There's some up at Flickr if you're interested.
The dive itself was excellent, I saw some big sandtigers, tope and rays!
As I was waiting to descend (you have to climb down a rope to the main part of the tank) a sandtiger swam past. As her dorsal fin cut through the water, what with the unnatural lighting and bits of metal grating jutting out of the water and the over head walk way, it reminded me of Deep Blue Sea. Awesome! We had to cut the dive a little short as the sharks had started circling and getting a bit too familiar. I also got in trouble for standing up (you're meant to stay close to the floor so as not to disturb the mid-level shark traffic). But it's hard to remember all that stuff when there's supercool massive fish whizzing about. It feels like it happened ages ago, it was a really unique experience for me, it all seems so surreal. Now it's like a memory of a dream that happened to someone else on telly.
Thanks to Malcy for letting us stay over at such short notice. It turns out there are no trains out of Edinburgh after 7.00. I think it's some ploy to make you stay there at expensive festival season prices. Malcy has some excellent new comics out, I read them a few days ago and they're great. I've reviewed them for Comics International, so I won't say much more about them now.
I'm just getting Monstrum ready to send off to publishers for consideration. I'm still planning on self-publishing so if they all turn it down it doesn't matter. I'm teaching in Sunderland tomorrow and generally keeping very busy at the moment (so, of course I've had a ton of neat ideas for new projects.) I seem to mainly be creative underpressure.
Hey, anyone going to the Birmingham comic convention (October) or Angouleme (January)? I'll make it to some comic event in the near future, hopefully both of those.
Shark dive was super awesome.
Full details with photos coming soon.
See a Zombie fight a Tiger shark:
There's a new shark movie being made about sharks in Venice. I was going to do a comic like that years ago, as part of a story arc based around an old comic I did called Evolvomatic. I wish I'd done it, because now I could try and sue Hollywood. I hear they're rich.
Then I'd take my 80 million dollar settlement and make my own movie, which would be along the lines of this masterpiece:
I wouldn't bother with file footage though.
I had the pleasure of reading a 30 page preview of the new MEG novel (you know, the books about a giant prehistoric shark that causes all kinds of mayhem). I have to admit, I was a bit disappointed. Obviously, I will still buy the book when it comes out because it's about a giant shark and that's good enough for me. For people who've read the other books, it starts off a bit dull. Infact, the start of it seems to be straight out of a text book and other bits are from a Discovery channel documentary (I know because I saw the same one). All the same discriptions are used, like 'nostrils the size of basketballs or grapefruit or whatever ' etc. (BTW, that's not a direct quote) and personally, I don't like the addition of other ancient sea creatures, but they've popped up again and may well play another prominent role. I still recommend reading these books though, they are very entertaining and I hope they make the MEG movie soon because the books read like a summer blockbuster.(although New Line cinema has dropped its contract, but I'm sure someone else will pick it up).
If you're looking for a more factual shark book I can't recommend Devil's Teeth enough. It's really well written and tells you tons of fascinating things. It's from the point of view of a journalist who goes to live with biologists on the Farallon islands, and if you've seen the BBC documentary that inspired the book then you'll know that the sharks there are huge and the place is pretty much uninhabitable. The author has uncovered some really interesting facts about the place too, like there's loads of nuclear waste and a decomposing oil tanker on the sea floor even though its a nature reserve.
Okay, okay, enough shark talk. Here's some comics stuff.
Malcy has rereleased the Banana / skin joke, it's available (with a new cover) from http://www.missingtwin.net, along with his other books: A 52 SECOND SILENCE FOR TOPSY and THE BLACKEST GNOME
Some idiot in Comics International keeps giving him good reviews, so you might want to check them out. They're
odd.
People often ask me what it is I actually do. It's something I've had to think a lot about while writing my business plan. It occured to me that I don't post much of my work up here. The main reason for that is because it is top secret and....actually, that's not true...it's more to do with copyright. I don't own most of the illustrations I do, and although I ask permission to use them in my portfolio, I don't think that will stretch to using them on my blog. So to make up for that and explain partly what I do all day (apart from watching cartoons and eating cereal, which is all part of the creative process) here's some of the stuff I've been working on recently:
I had to do some paintings of sick people throughout history with props as well for an interactive dispaly. Here's a sweaty Georgian lady:
Here are some of the props, a bed and a photo of grumpy school kids.
I've been drawing a variety of people for another museum display, here is a chubby baby:
Here is the new logo I've designed for Phoenix Martial Arts Academy:
Okay, so that's the type of stuff I do. Now, on to more important things.
Have you seen Spiderman 3? I'm a bit disappointed in Mr.Raimi, but it could've been worse. I think they could've made it in to two movies, because there was just too much going on and the black suit/venom story is one of my all time ever favourite comic storylines so I think that should have been handled better. At least Bruce Campbell was still in it.
Oh, and an update on the MEG books that I keep going on about (you know the ones about the prehistoric giant shark that swims about eating everything) and you know how much I love sharks......I've entered a competition to be a character in the new MEG book. How cool would that be? My character would probably get eaten by a megalodon, which would be weird to read but still very cool. Fingers crossed I that I make it in to the book!
It's been a while since I rambled on about sharky stuff.
As you may know I am a huge fan of the Steve Alten 'Meg' books (which I think I described as the best yet worst books I've ever read). According to his site, the movie is in production with New Line cinema and should be out in 2009. It's been in production FOREVER! Also, he's releasing a new Meg book next year.
Another big shark movie in production is JAWS 5. Apparently due out 2008, but I don't know how true that is. There's also another Deep blue sea due out, straight to DVD I think. I wish I was making shark movies! I might go to the beach tomorrow and film some dogfish. I'm sure with some clever editing it'll be even better than anything Hollywood comes up with. Well, better than 'Shark attack 3' anyway.
There's also a new Jaws documentary which looks amazing. The website is here.
I've been busy working (yeah, I do that sometimes) so I haven't had much time for blogging. I've made a new finger puppet, an attempt at the Jaws movie poster shark, but the colours are off and the nose isn't pointy enough. At least he looks like a shark though, which is the main thing!
SFP (my graphic novel) still isn't on Lulu yet. This is because my internet connection is too slow and also my friends computer couldn't get the files off my MP3 player. So now I've managed to get the files on to a laptop, but I've had problems downloading an FTP programme on to it, so I'll have to go around someones house with it ( a person with proper internet access ).
Anyway, I'm moving house soon and hopefully I'll be able to get broadband. I must be the only person who still has dial up. Stupid technology.
I've just finished and sent off a web comic. I'm not sure if or when it will appear on the internet, above is a little sample section.
I'm leaving in my dissertation to be bound tomorrow, it's called :
'Making comics: What issues are affecting creators in the comic industry today?'
It's a snappy title. It's quite a few hundred words over the suggested word count, but most of that is Eddie Campbells Manifesto which I've used as an appendix. Plus I had a pretty good sized bibliography.
Got some freelance stuff on, so no cake, cider or shark shortages in Leonieland just yet. After reporting on the abysmal Megalodon movie, I am happy to say I watched a crap but not as crap shark movie the other night which restored my faith in the genre. Sharkzone uses some actual great white footage (repeatedly) and a dodgey model which seems to have a hole in the roof of its mouth. The plot is ripped off from from Jaws and a scene from shark attack 2 (which was ripped off from Jaws anyway), also some of the shark footage looked similar to the stuff used in bits of shark attack 3. There is also a pointless subplot about diamonds. Why do these people think they need anything other than the shark as the plot? I don't remember Jaws needing russian businessmen, diamonds, oil drilling, nuclear waste dumping etc. to add tension. As usual there is a terrible script and horrendous acting. What makes this movie stand out is the fact that the sharks growl and roar like big cats while attacking. Also, whenever anyone is surprised by the appearance of a shark (how do they sneak up while growling?) they exclaim: 'Jesus, sharks!' which I thought was genius.
It was one calamity after another this weekend! It all started out so perfect. We watched a whole season of Entourage, hung out with Sheriff and Emma, got to eat yummy food (Emma is a really good cook, we're thinking of moving in to their spare room and seeing how long it is until they ask us to leave), watched the Kali gradings (it's fun to watch until you realise that it won't be long until you'll be going through that hell again) and went to the cinema with Matt and Maz.
Then I got home, checked my e-mails and found, to my horror, a bunch of emails from uni people going on about how the dissertation was due in on Monday. Monday? How did that happen? I'm such a poindexter, how did I not realise? I didn't even have a title for the bloody thing!
So I spent all day Sunday trying to get it finished, which was tough enough without the added bonus of two power cuts! Plus Andy managed to spill coffee over nearly every thing I own (how can one mug hold that much coffee?).
Anyway, I got it all finished in the end and handed in. I need to wait for feedback incase there are any mistakes, and then do the final bound version.
The manga exhibition I'm helping organise is going well. I've spoken to Tokyopop and it seems they're onboard, so it's going to be huge! They're talking about competitions and all sorts of neat stuff. Plus we have access to a bar with a cinema licence so we're hoping to show anime too. It's going to rock.
I'm also working on some new strips. I just got a script from Tony Hitchman for the next Accent UK anthology, so I'll be drawing that up soon. And I'm doing a webcomic and an article for the new small press site, www.indiereview.co.uk.
I was talking to someone the other day about naming characters. Usually I don't have a problem with this, stuff like Monstrum was dead easy because all the characters were based on people or were named after adventurers. (Like Campbell got his name because the character was like someone Bruce Campbell would play, Ella Hass is named after Hans Hass the diver/adventurer/biologist etc.) If I do get stuck, I've found some really good baby naming websites. The great thing about that is that you can see where the name originates from and also what it means and how popular it is. I am considering using names from the spam I get because some of them are amazing!
I've been going megalodon crazy lately. I've been reading Steve Altens books, which are the best and worst books ever written. I want to do a photo story of the first chapter of the first book using my giant fuzzy shark (pictured below with wookie) and an inflatable dinosaur, if only I had more time for all these projects!
I also watched the worst movie ever made. Simply called Megalodon, it was worse than shark attack 3, which at least had the courtesy to use file footage. This pile of poop used computer graphics that aren't fit for a bargain basement PC game, they didn't even have any texture on them and parts of the shark were transparent. Screen grabs from the Jaws game look better.
And it made no sense. You'd think for $5.00 it would have been a bit better!
I think the presentation went very well, my work is coming on in leaps and bounds, my dissertation research is getting very interesting and my story is working out well. However, the 4,000 word essay is still looming, as is a 1,000 word write up for a presntation of work to date I knew nothing about until yesterday. Oops.
On a happier note, Finchy sent me this amazing link. It's one of the bestest shark things I've ever seen, and I've seen a LOT!
Megalodon
Did you know that there is a jaws game? You probably did, but I didn't and I usually have my finger on the pulse of the shark merchandise world. You play as the shark, how come I only found out about this now? They should make a new movie too, and by 'they' I mean Spielberg. There should be a new Shark attack movie too. If they're stuck for a script I could do one in an afternoon. But the last one had a Megalodon in it, how do you top that? Don't worry, I've got the answer. Here is the bit where our hero has an epiphany at the end of the second act: "My god, no wonder we've had problems tracking this shark. It isn't just one shark, it's a group of sharks that form together like Voltron to create a super-mega-ultra-megalodon!" Yes, only the power rangers can save the earth now. Don't steal that Spielberg, you hack!
Anyway, I found out about this while researching my next presentation. No, really. We have 20 mins to talk about ourselves. Usually this wouldn't pose any problem to me, I can talk about myself for days barely pausing for breath. The problem is that it needs to be interesting and relevant, and if you've read my blog before you will know these aren't my strong points. Damn you tutors and your small print. I've had no problems doing the parts about me and my influences, that could be a presentation in itself, but the bits about placing my work in a historical/theoretical context and talking about the future of my work (y'know, the important parts of the talk) are a bit tougher.
I'm also hoping to have something to show at the Brighton comic expo, which is tricky because my work is still evolving, but I would like to have something to show people what I'm up to and also to bother some editors with (they don't like it if you just shout at them, but if you have some pictures to show them they don't mind as much).
