CONTORTED PASTA

OH NO! Have you somehow bliffsully avoided the media blitz and forgotten today was Valentine's Day?

FEAR NOT! For there are tongue-in-cheek Master and Commander Valentines for you, full of inappropriate pastels and hearts, deliverable immediately to the special person in your life who will fly into a fit of excoriating rage unless you acknowledge the holiday.

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.

I sure know how to make constructive use of my time...

( English Lieutenant Circus Party!! )

6:35 pm
( More Tablet Horror )

July 16th, Part 2

( You'll never guess where we went after ComiCon... )

9:07 pm
Okay, whose great idea was it to let me have a DVD player with screen capture?



I'm so mean. You'd hardly think I have a lot of sympathy for the poor guy.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BANANABASKET!

5:47 pm – Completely Unrelated
Madness: ( A Coloured Comic )
What's especially mad is that I've been working on this ALL DAY.

10:13 pm – Inspiration Strikes at Last
I have been searching – searching, sir – for an idea for a Lt. Pullings sketch. At last, a line in Ubiquitouspitt's most recent email made me realise that the thing preventing the inspiration could be a source for inspiration itself: The Job Hunt

[falls over]

M&C SEQUEL?!?!??!!!!????!?!?!?!?!?!!!!!!?!!?!!!!

(Beware of a spoiler involving Mr. Bonden – but really, it's war, what do you expect?)
(Yes, all that punctuation really is called for.)

7:23 pm
The resurrection of this was also called for. (teeheehee)

They'd better not start shooting before I get down to San Diego – if the Rose isn't there, I am going to be right pished.

I may be crying wolf again, but I suspect that this time I am really coming down with plague. Plague 2005, that is. The extreme head cold symptoms are not really showing yet but if the immense, overpowering lethargy and decreased brain function are any indicators (as well as the dream about an alien invasion last night) then... I am doomed.

Hmm, this might be a good time to scan my sketchbook.

Is it possible to overdose on Vitamin C? I think I've had about 3000mg today. (I guess that would be 3g ... put that way it doesn't sound like an overdose at all!) it helps that I have a bottle of very very yummy chewable tablets on my desk at work... Not only are they delicious in that they taste of various fruits, but there's the rush one gets when one's tongue recognizes the ascorbic acid and says "Why, how did you know this was exactly what I needed?"

8:33 pm
My horoscope, according to The Onion:

After mistaking you for a new model of a full-size pickup, Car And Driver will deride your lack of legroom, but praise the way you "barely sip" gasoline.

Teeheehee.

9:50 pm
( Yesterday's Sketchbook )

( Today's Sketchbook )

How do morning people do it?

( Yesterday's Sketchbook )

10:37 pm
I have only 3/4 of an episode left in Simon Schama's A History of Britain.
(And there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth.)

( Today's Sketchbook )

Oh yeah, and then there's this atrocity. Urgh, looking at my Valentines album is like walking past the Barbie aisle at Toys R Us... [shudder]

That is, if Barbie had a hot pink 28-gun frigate and a mission to hunt down French privateers.

I am liking this picture.

At least ... more than anything else remotely related to Barbie or her gang of generic, PC hangers-on.

Maybe the Master & Commander playset toys could hunt down the Barbie ship and sink, burn, or take her a prize!

Except they don't exist.

Yet.

Mwahahahahaha.

It is time for me to sleep.

10:59 pm
"Come on chums! Roll out those cannons! You can do it! I believe in you! Make sure you're wearing proper ear protection! We don't want anyone getting hurt!"

Wait a minute... is that Barbie or Barney?

This is getting better and better...

I'm not behind in drawing but I am behind in scanning... Thanks to being preoccupied with silly Valentines yesterday. So. Here are my sketchbook entries:

( Friday )

( Saturday )

3:07 pm
Attending a choir practise as an instrumentalist while the choir is rehearsing a song that has no sheet music can be hazardous to the sanity:

I love to go a-wandering
Along the mountain track
And as I go, I love to sing
My knapsack on my back –

Val-de-ri, val-de-ra,
Val-de-ri, val-de-ra-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha
Val-de-ri, val-de-ra!
My knapsack on my back!

In case you were wondering, this was done without any sort of reference at all..