CONTORTED PASTA

For the first time in a very long time we have the joy of a new Decemberists album. My own joy is a little tempered with alarm, though, as one of the songs strongly suggests Colin Meloy was spying on me for the better part of 2013. Uncanny doesn't begin to describe it.

It does explain the moustache, though ... I am a fool for moustaches like the residents of Metropolis are for glasses.





It's a good album, though, and fortuitously comes along when I'm kind of desperate for new music. This'll do me for about a week, but I'll need more. Anyone have any suggestions?

If I had just gone ahead and done this when I first had the idea it would have been vastly less elabourate. But because I have been busy, and inbetweening one's animation gives one plenty of time to concoct ridiculous appendages for something that really wasn't that brilliant to begin with, I have since spent undue time rendering and getting involved in recreational forgery. I suppose it could be argued that it's a valuable distraction from the stresses of work but ... really?

To the tune of The Legionnaire's Lament by The Decemberists*

( The 6th Inniskilling Dragoon's Lament )

*I hope they will forgive me ... at least they are still alive to do so.

Hey, remember how I said if you ever have the chance to see a Decemberists concert you should because they are anywhere from twice to ten times as good live? You've got another chance!

New Tour! New Dates! New Locales!

Now, before you get your boyfriend's borrowed boxer-briefs in a clove hitch because your particular city of residence is not on that list, remember ... this is merely Phase One.

... Because there is nothing more fitting for Valentine's Day than songs about murder, despair, and the dark (albeit entertaining) side of the human condition. And also bicycles and San Francisco.

I shall see you there, dancing in the aisles!

I went to my second Decemberists concert a week ago. I found out about it too late to get the sort of tickets I got last time and ended up on the balcony. It was a bit of a distant experience, but I don't regret it because experience has taught me that any opportunity to see the Decemberists live must be taken. You should too. If you like them at all, they are ten times better live. No joke. Don't ask YouTube, YouTube will lie. The thrill and energy of a live performance cannot be captured on a camcorder, any more than it can be replicated on a CD. I don't like loud music and I don't usually feel like singing along or even tapping my foot, but a Decemberists concert (and only a Decemberists concert, so far) strips these proclivities away. Luckily they have a new CD coming out in March (?!) so they might be going on tour again! And you can see them! Because – remember – any chance to see the Decemberists live must be taken.

A bit of follow-up: the song mentioned in my previous post was 'The Culling of the Fold' which, I was immensely pleased to learn, is available on iTunes. It's been so long since I've had a song to put on repeat! But I am not allowed to buy the new singles until the Christmas holiday because I can't listen to them while animating.

And Colin Meloy still looks like a young Garrison Keillor.

... Did that really happen?



( Random Recollections )

It's been a long time since I've done a quiz ... or watched Buffy, for that matter.
( Which Buffy Season am I? )

Oh, and in case anyone was wondering, after my first impression of it last week, how much I like The Crane Wife: All of Monday and most of Tuesday and Wednesday was spent listening to it. So there. Hopeless addict.

Hello there, Internet!

GENERAL MAINTENANCE
Saturday's Sketchbook - CENTREFOLD! I had all day to draw ... and got two pages done. And only one of them really worth anything. Two sketches from Monstrous Regiment - one of Maladict demonstrating high morale among the troops, and one of Blouse's arrival. The preceeding page has thumbnails for Maladict and a sketch from a photo of a horse and rider. I filled in the front legs of the horse, because they weren't visible in the photo, but that was a bad idea.
Yesterday's Sketchbook - Sundays don't officially count but I included it for consistency, and also because the hand at the top was from Saturday. The rest are people and hands from the choir rehearsing for Easter.
Ooh, Scubbo! - Finally got ahold of my life drawing pad AND remembered to scan it at work, so here's that Blouse thumbnail I'd been trying to recreate.
Life Drawing Madness - Sitting next to my sister at life drawing can sometimes be ... distracting. This was drawn the day after finding out Michael Surrey was possibly back at Disney, and also features Hellboy as Robin Hood, triggered by the disproportionately large right arm I'd drawn.
( Warley, Hollom, and the Mariner's Revenge Song )
Interestingly enough, the Decemberists have Patrick O'Brian on their links to varous interests. Is it all connected? And perhaps more frightening ... have they seen 'Round the Bend?

BONUS FEATURE
Aggrevated by the incessant post-Katrina coverage on Morning Edition* I decided to look up something more entertaining and found a nice long interview with The Decemberists, including several songs. It's a good introduction to the band, even though the drums are left out and the drummer is 'playing his lap,' and of course since it's live it's not as polished and perfectly mixed as the CD. But very good, and very entertaining, and they sang 'Eli,' which wins a million points for the host of the show, who requested it.** Click on the red 'Listen' button above the photo if you've got RealPlayer.

*Which I listen to occasionally, now, as the CBC's morning show is very nearly useless when it comes to news ... I used to listen to Morning Edition every day but now that I don't live in the States I don't really feel connected to most of it and, as I said, the neverending Katrina coverage gets old fast.
**Or the band, if they fed the suggestion to him. But they get a million points anyway.