The Mantled Howler sounds like a good character for WWFJ. And there are indeed howler monkeys. But the crazy thing is I didn’t even put any thought into that. There really is such a thing as a mantled howler.
Meanwhile, I’ve put a couple new guys up on the WWFJ gallery post (I should put them on a photobucket page…maybe later) including Starbuck.
I bought a 4-pack of Colgate (my favourite white man’s brand) “LUMINOUS Enamel Strengthening” toothpaste and the packaging and gimmickry has just gotten out of control. Apart from the regular flashy graphics on the box, it also has a kind of reflective sheen which flashes as you move the box (or yourself) around. Secondly, there is a “Scratch n’ Sniff” (“Grattez et Humez” en Francais) on each box so you can get a little preview of the taste. Open up the box and the tube also has that whacky sheen effect and a special flat top cap. I flipped it up and the hole is…I don’t know how to describe this…it’s got something like an extruder pattern for the Play Doh barber shop so that your toothpaste comes out in the shape of a cross. BUT in order to get any toothpaste I had to twist the cap off and peel the foil off the top of the mouth and then twist the cap back on! Come on guys, is all that really necessary? Couldn’t you have taken the money you spent on all the frills and given us another 50 mL of the tooth detergent?
http://slackademics.blogspot.com/
For Vancouverites only, please.
As promised, here are some samples of Sam Dulmage’s fine photography of me. These are for my headshots. I will be using more than one (one tough guy me, one businessy me, and one regular me). If you want to do me a favour you could have a look at them and tell me if any stick out in either a good or a bad way.
http://s110.photobucket.com/albums/n81/thickets/?start=all
Okay, who thinks that “Superchthonic” should be the name of the next Thickets album? Because I do. It works on so many levels. Supersonic. Sonic=sound. Chthonic = the underworld.
ps it’s pronounced ‘SOO pur THAW nik’
The 1967 Spider-Man cartoon, despite it’s flaws in writing and animation, had fantastic music. Much (if not all) of this, I’ve come to learn, was composed by a jazz musician by the name of Ray Ellis. While trying to track down actual mp3s of the original tunes, I discovered a band called Volume which has released a CD called The Amazing Spider-Band. There are 9 tracks on the album and the song tidbits that I’ve heard seem reasonably faithful to the originals, so I thought I’d support them and buy a CD. However, the album was out of stock on cdbaby.com and so I emailed the band through their website. Here’s the email I got back:
As you know we are unfortunately out of stock at the moment. We are actually in the process of producing a full length album with Ray Ellis producing. We plan on recording in Capitol studios in LA and using the best Jazz session guys in LA. The album probably will not be out until Oct….hopefully you can wait that long…..please spread the word and thank you for your interest!
Chris
So for heaven’s sake, here I am spreading the word and by gawd I am looking forward to the result of this collaboration! I only hope it contains dozens of the songs, and every single tune from the series is a real gem. Years ago, my pal Stephane made a CD for me out of the songs he recorded from video and they get constant rotation in my iTunes. And confidentially, there’s more than one of those tracks that “inspired” Thickets tunes (i.e. blatant ripoffs. See “Yog-Sothoth“).
Yoda: Yes, a Jedi’s strength flows from the Force. But beware of the dark side. Anger, fear, aggression; the dark side of the Force are they. Easily they flow, quick to join you in a fight. If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will, as it did Obi-Wan’s apprentice.
Luke: Vader… Is the dark side stronger?
Yoda: No, no, no. Quicker, easier, more seductive.
Luke: But how am I to know the good side from the bad?
Yoda: You will know… when you are calm, at peace, passive. A Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defense, never for attack.
I thought about that today after I had pizza for the first time in three months. The dark side is junk food, and the light side is healthy food. Truly, the dark side is more seductive. Always tempting. Being a good food jedi is a difficult but worthy struggle.
In a world of unbearable tripe comes a shining ray of hope – watch the full trailer for Mike Mignola’s animated The Amazing Screw-On Head starring Paul Giamatti, David Hyde-Pierce and Patton Oswalt. You will not be disappointed, and that’s a Toren promise.
(Click on the full pilot, at the right of the screen. Don’t be confused by the short gaps of blackness where commercials could be put)
For those not yet in the know, my friend Mike Jackson, gamer, artist, director, and all around swell fella, has one of his films “Hooped” up on youtube. It’s got very offensive language in it so it’s sure to please. Run time 9:35 and very funny. Starring Sam Dulmage and Peter New. Incidentally, Sam is a photographer and I’ll have some samples of his stuff up here shortly.
Well I’m pleased as punch that the owner of the Rio, my new fave theater, would post a comment on my blog. I went to see Superman again last Wednesday with Stewie and I realized I forgot to mention one other advantage of the Rio – it’s got a balcony! As Mukesh points out, Lady in the Water starts on the 21st. I’m game.
In other news, The Thickets had a great writing session tonight and we’ve nigh locked down two previous roughs* and we’ve got a couple new concepts on the table**. So we’ve basically got (in no particular order):
Warren’s Song (Eaten Alive)
The Makening
Sleestak and Yeti (Arise)
Operation: Get the Hell Outta Here
Shhhh…
*Downtown (now with chorus)
Kill the Chupacabra Tonight
They Come in Threes
*The Shadow Out of Tim
You Know You’re A Monster When (Automatic)
Bed of Flame (Son of Kablam)
**Merrick’s Song
**Our Part of the Bargain
That’s totally an album’s worth of songs! But I want a get a couple more in there yet, like Hall of Doors and Made In Leng.
