Random Thoughts: December 31st, 2007...The All-Encompassing Year-End Holiday Extravaganza!

Top: Grant Park, December 22nd, Middle: Polo Park, December 23rd, Bottom: Me in Memorial Park, November 25th.

Let's get the important stuff out of the way...

What I Got For Christmas 2007:

• Mark's Work Warehouse gift card
• Sam Flores Queen of Spades shirt
• Tire gauge
• Fleece neck pillow
• Wind River fleece pullover
• Grip Twist industrial strength twist tie
• In The Studio by Todd Hignite
• Starbucks gift card
• Tim Hortons hot chocolate
• A candy cane
• A Lion's Tale: Around the World in Spandex by Chris Jericho
• A Coghlan's LED Headlight (a headlamp. Now I can draw and read in the dark!)
• Scott Pilgrim Vol. 3
• Nexxtech Cube Speaker
• Banana Creme Hot Chocolate
• An orange peeler(!)
• Betty Crocker Peanut Butter Lip Balm (!!)
• A Canadian Museum for Human Rights pin
• chocolate coins and other misc. Christmas chocolate
• C.O. Bigelow Peppermint Body Lotion (shut up...it's nice)
• Four pairs of socks
• Rocky Mountain Soap Co. Hand Butter (shut up!)
• An issue of Giant Robot
• iTunes Gift Card
• Money from Mom!

What I Bought on Boxing Day:

• A Galaxy Hurricane hard drive (a 5 AM adventure at Best Buy!)
  
• Little Brother's Get Back
• Scott Pilgrim Vol. 2 and 4
• Gunsmith Cats Vol. 4
• My Inner Bimbo #2
• The Spirit #11
• Schulz and Peanuts by David Michaelis
• The Acme Novelty Date Book Vol. 2 by Chris Ware
• Illustration #20
• The Vadeboncoeur Colletion of Images #3

And now, the self-improvement part of our program...

Al'z List of Resolutions:

1. General improvement of health/loss of weight.
   A long sought-after goal. One I know I can achieve with an ounce of discipline. I wanna look better and feel better. Part of me also wants to shove my success down the throat of a certain gigposters.com member, but that isn't my impetus.
   
2. Draw more. Like, every day.
   I'll never be satisfied with what I do creatively unless I work out all of my bad habits. That what drawing every day is: working out. An addendum to this...I will use my collection porn images as reference, just like I planned to ages ago. Seriously. Don't look at me like that! Glass houses!
   
3. Refine outlook. Things ain't that bad.
   My wife-to-be is the ultimate optimist. I'm trying to let some of her attitude brush off on me. This, however, goes against my very nature. I gotta be pissy before I can be cheery.
   
4. Go to more shows.
   I think I can do this. Work extra hours to get the time off. Yes. Steve Earle is coming.
   
5. Start illustration portfolio site/get promo hustle on.
   Self-explanatory. Time to take advantage of the little creative inroads I've been making over the past couple of years. I wanna be able to eat/travel off of this someday.
   
6. Comics.
   Gonna buy more and read more. Minis, pamphlets, graphic novels...whatever. It's all comics. Hell, I might even make one. Scott Pilgrim has been an inspiration, and I got a huge fucking stapler at the company Christmas party. Look out, world!
   
7. Improvement of personal appearance/apartment upkeep.
   It really got out of fucking control this year. Steam coming out of the crawlspace didn't help things. At least I didn't leave food lying around. That's my limit.
   
8. Curb use of internet/consumption of pornography/foul language.
   I really don't know how long this one'll hold up. I'm a creature of habit. I had nice chat with Michael Michael Motorcycle via Facebook about the internet thing, and I know he's doing really good because of it. You don't do awesome shit like he does by hanging out on gigposters.com all day. It only comes from DOING STUFF.
   
9. Try not to get worked up over someone's opinions...as much as usual.
   'Cuz like, in the grand scheme of things, it really doesn't matter. You do you, homie, and I'll do me.
   
10. Procrastination. Stop it.
    Right now, I should be getting dressed, in addition to working on something that I've been picking at sporadically. Old habits die hard.

I've got more shit to say, but that'll have to wait for later. All the best in 2008 to everyone I love, admire, secretly lust after, am "chummy" with, sorta like, and all points in between. Peace.

R.I.P Oscar Peterson

Photo courtesy of the Monterey Jazz Festival.

I'm truly saddened by the passing of the great Oscar Peterson.
At some point in the late 80's, I somehow got my hands on a free government magazine-sized booklet of great Canadians. The bio blurb and illustration of Oscar was my intro to him. At that time, I wasn't aware of any great Canadians, let alone any great black Canadians, so I was transfixed. I signed out the Verve Walkman® Jazz (known as Compact Jazz on CD) comp from Cornish Library, and from there, my love for Oscar's flying fingers and jazz in general started.
I know it's Christmas time, but if you've got it, put Canadiana Suite on. That album is so sublime, especially "Wheatland".

Dream Recollection 1: December 23rd, 2007

I'm gonna see if I can make this a habit. Truly, this one was too real for me to not right about.

So, I'm at a party...so far, so good. Against my nature, I'm chilling in this side bedroom at the party, being all anti-social. I'm on the bed in this room, reading a magazine (I do believe it was Wax Poetics) and listening to the muffled music. On this bed, is someone else's laundry. Whether it's clean or dirty, I'm not sure. I know this part is rooted in reality, because I'm currently sleeping with my laundry. Yes, it has been established that I'm a slob, so shutthefuckup.
Two sistas suddenly appear at the head of the bed (where I'm trying to read), just chillin', discussing whom they've been fucking. I'm doing my best to avoid them...and the laundry.
Then comes one of those grand leaps of time that only makes sense in dream. I'm still in the room, but there are more people in there with me. The room has become the party's hangout spot. I'm still dedicated to my magazine. Wow, I'm such a fucking nerd.
Anyway, the sistas were replaced by two ladies I've known for a while (but don't know of each other), and they're both fine. They're talking, I'm reading.
Suddenly, one of them starts coming on to me, trying to remove my pants. It seems they're both bored, so logically, I can help them out (hey, my eyes are rolling at that...). As much as I'm digging this (big time), I start to protest, saying that "I'm practically married", and I go back to reading my magazine, even though I'm aroused and flustered. In my discombobulated state, I'm back at the head of the bed, no longer avoiding the laundry strewn about...reading. In my peripheral vision, the instigator of the aborted ménage à trois is getting dressed (she disrobed?!? ), telling the other participant that they should break out from this boring scene. I figure she should be cursing me out, but she's not. I'm probably taking control of the dream at this point. This is followed by a montage of voices and faces telling me that I should've "gone for it". I leave the party, which seems to be in some set of cookie cutter townhouses, and my dream suddenly switches to watching Howard Stern perform a set of reckless stunts on playground equipment. Yeah, I don't get that either.

I guess I'm finding the fact that I said "no" to the fucking interesting. It's somewhat out of character, I guess. Otherwise, y'all would've never heard this...I don't dream kiss and tell.

Random Thoughts: November 12th, 2007 – Fifth Anniversary Edition

Top: R.I.P. Galaxy Skateland
Bottom: TV movie magic on Higgins Ave.

• So yeah, five years for The Place Where Al Dwells...! Crazy. I'm not even sure if a five year anniversary in the "blogosphere" (ugh) is much of a milestone, but it is what it is. I started this quite clearly on a whim, which you can tell by my first month of posts. God, those are ghastly. Now, this is here blog is less of a bitchfest and more of a portfolio site/bitchfest.
  What's changed about me since the start of this motherfucker? Not a whole lot: I'm still black (whew...thank God!), fat, and a lover of fat chicks everywhere. I'm planning on working on the fat thing. I will attempt to walk to work 3 times a week. Yeah, I'm saying that NOW, of course. I guess it's in "writing" now. Fuck.
  
  Another change: I'm far more cynical about the state of the world and life in general. I really don't know what the hell happened this year, but some sort of switch turned on, and now I'm not sure if I'll ever look at things the same way again. Ignorance is bliss. Mortality, life after death, overpopulation, pollution and conservation = my constant thoughts. 32 is way too late in life to start taking drugs, but I can't say it hasn't crossed my mind to start. But then, I wouldn't be able to support my non-illicit/somewhat acceptable habits.
  
• Pip Skid's EP. My man dropped a recording – The Pip Donahue EP – last week, and it fucking rules hard. While not an official Peanuts & Corn release, diehard fans have been aching for something since Smitty's Growing Pains was put out, so this EP was more than welcome. I was honored to be asked to handle the design for this thing, while Eddie Ayoub provided the badass illustration. Grab the EP from peanutsandcorn.com and check the liner notes here. Me, Pip, Eddie, and Mark Saunders all did hand-drawn covers for the release show (photos of the show...eventually), too. Mine can be found here.
• Other stuff.
  
  • The place is a mess again. I'm workin' on that. In fact, I'm washing clothes.
  • I've bought many albums this year, but not many of them have really kicked me in the ass, I must admit.
  • Let's just add Travis Millard to my "illustrators I envy" list right now, dammit.
  • Here's a cool-ass tour of Jeremy Fish's studio.
  • I'm anxious to see this. It's causing a tiny bit of debate. What else is new?
  • I'm a little disappointed in Katja Kassin, Katsuni, Isabel Ice and Savannah Stern for getting breast augmentation surgery. Hey, what can I do? That's totally up to them. I just really thought they were dope the way they were. I'm sure if I knew any of them personally, I'd voice my concerns, but begrudgingly support their decisions in the end...because that's what friends do. To a degree. As long as ladies like Dana De Armond, Rebeca Linares, Lexi Bardot and Sunny Lane stay natural, I'll be a happy man. All those names I mentioned? Search Google. I don't feel like linking images for all of them. Just don't do it at work. Heh.
• Time to check on the clothes. Peace.
  
  

Two Sinfest strips that are very Al.

October 16th: Ass
and...
October 20th: Meditation
If you're unaware of this web comic, I suggest you start at the top and get familiar. Or you could take the short route and check Wikipedia.

An educational post from John K.'s blog...

...on the importance of a good line:
http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2007/10/is-good-line-important.html
I totally agree with him on this, and for the most part, I begrudgingly agree with him on a lot of things. I do have a hard time getting past his curmudgeonly attitude towards many aspects of modern culture and what I like to call his "cultural insensitivity", but you gotta admit that he's passionate. There are many great nuggets of inspiration and knowledge to be found at All Kinds of Stuff, just look past the crankiness.

Unconditional Corgi Love!

This is my piece for the newly launched Winnipeg 'zine, A Paw In My Face, founded by my man Chris Pointon and Meagan Radford.
Those of you in Peg City can get yerself a copy from these spots:

Osborne Village
Starbucks, Kustom Kulture, Urban Waves, Second Cup, Music Trader

The Exchange District
The Fyxx, Mondragon, Connect Four, Art Space building, Into The Music, Mulberry Art, Underground Café

also...
The Fyxx on Broadway
Cousins Deli (Wolsely)
The Park Theatre (Osborne)
McNally Robinson Books (Grant Park) West End Cultural Centre

This issue's topic? LOVE.

Why a corgi? Because they're so cute!
If I could find the cutie I used for reference, I'd link it up, 'cuz I found it on Flickr.

Now, if you ain't from here, you can read the whole thing here.

Graphic Favours For Friends

In retrospect, that title sounds weird. Anyway...

...a for sale poster for my man Steve St. Louis:

Large!

...and a hastily put together Stylus ad for Pip Skid:

Large!

Some wrestling vids. For the hell of it.

The late Bruiser Brody talks about the evolution of a wrestler.


Abdullah the Butcher (Canada's own!) displays the famous scars.


Owen Hart vs. Jushin "Thunder" Liger


Muta vs. Hase (the infamous "Muta Scale" match. Much blood.)


New Japan wrestlers tear down a house.

Empowered Vol. 2

I've never been so amped for a comic book in my life. For real. Ever.
As you know, I'm a fan of the work of Adam Warren, and I've gushed until I've nauseated myself about how good Empowered is. Well, the second volume of tales about the body issue-obsessed heroine and her quirky superhero compadres is coming our way shortly. It was supposed to drop on the 19th, but it's been pushed to the October 3rd, regrettably. Thing is, it'll be more than worth the wait. Check this 10 page preview at Publishers Weekly for an appetizer. I mean, c'mon...an anthropomorphic lizard with a speech impediment? I totally wish I had fuckin' thought of that!

VBS.TV

If you don't know, you'd better act like you do and watch this shit.
While I'm stoked to find out I can finally get this site to operate properly via Safari, I kinda knew in the back of mind that some of its content could already be found on YouTube. Regardless, here are my two favorite shows:

Thumbs Up!
Painter/illustrator/bad-ass David Choe and Harry Kim make a cross-country trek via train-hopping, hitchhiking, etc.

Shot By Kern
Fine ladies of all stripes, photographed by porn/art vet Richard Kern. Definitely NSFW.

Random Thoughts: September 6th, 2007

The charm of Albert Street.


Controlled chaos. Go here to check the notes.

• What up, y'all? I was planning on ranting, but that may fall to the wayside. Maybe.
• So yeah...that apartment picture: Yes, I live like that. I'm usually able to keep that area tidy, but since my iPod flatlined, I tend to dig through my CD collection just before leaving for work. So when I get back at 12, I'm too tired to give a fuck about the mess that's around (yet I'll still stay up until 7 doing nothing major. Shit.). It's a good thing Mom knows nothing about the internet. She'd fuckin' flip.
• My mental state/fighting off the curmudgeon: Lately, for some reason I can't fathom, I've been super-aware of my mortality and feeling rather inadequate/insignificant. It's almost as if I've been living in a blissful state of ignorance for an indefinite amount of time, and that's even after cleaning up after incontinent and Alzheimer's-afflicted individuals for 2.5 years. The veneer has been removed somehow, so I've been looking at life like some jaded anthropologist, watching fellow humans march to their doom. Maybe it's due to the environmental issues that have been front and centre throughout this year that have got me all fucked up. I dunno.
  What I need is a change of pace. What I need to do is clean up this fucking apartment and take more time to draw, other than the meager 20 minutes I spend during my first break at work. What I need to do is fucking exercise. I've got a bike, and a number of weeks before the snow comes, plus a jump rope for when it does. I'm all about being fit AND fat, (it's possible) but I'm not doing anything about that first "f".
  
  At 32 (and my fiancée will disagree with this), I'd like to think that I've gained a certain amount of experience that causes the phrase "kids these days" to exit my mouth. Or at least, want to escape my mouth. I can't say I've actually let myself utter that, because I'm not elderly. God willing, I will be 85 and able to void my bowels and bladder in a socially acceptable fashion.
  
  I can tell you right now "what's causing all this", as Ric Flair would've said back in the day. The "debate" with John K. left an indelible impression on me. Ever since then, I've been telling myself that I'll never, ever fucking think like that. I fully realize that times change, and if you don't roll with the punches, you'll get rolled by 'em, Chauncey. On two occasions, I've been around a grouping of folks that are between 60-75 years of age. Every time I hear one of them pipe up about the quality of music today, I bite my tongue, as they're often people I respect and I don't want to scream on 'em.
  
  Recently, I had a heated exchange with some cocksucker at gigposters.com about dwelling in the past, as far as rap music goes. He talked about a Public Enemy set he caught at a Rock The Bells stop, which he felt was bad enough to negate anything they've done in the past. A number of us told him he was full of shit, then proceeded to wax nostalgic about rap heroes like Rakim and N.W.A. Admittedly, while I'm aware of what's hot, and make it my business to know, there's a lot of rap releases that I haven't felt in a major way, and you could say I started feeling that way around '98. The thing is, I've been around long enough to be picky about what I listen to. I refuse to accept sub-standard material.
  
  SO! Long-ass story short: I've got a dour state of mind, but I'm able to put on a happy face AND I'm keeping the "you kids get off my lawn" demon away from my soul.
  
• The word "cocksucker": Y'know, I've been re-thinking my use of that word. TJ Dawe's latest Fringe show got me thinking about that, too. I mean, why attach that to a volatile person? Isn't the cocksucker performing a valuable service?
  
• Ivan Brunetti: I picked up Misery Loves Comedy from the library recently. It's good to know that there's someone out there that has a far more miserable outlook on life than I do. I knew he was a downer (albeit a funny one), but I had no idea just how wretched he felt about humankind. For a short moment, I felt better about myself because of this book. Did I mention that he can draw his ass off?
• A year without TV: This month marks the year I left TV behind for mainly financial reasons. Do I miss it? Yeah. But not as much as you think. Back in the day, I was the dude that watched the NBC prime-time specials that launched the new Saturday morning programs. I made schedules. I regularly copped issues of TV Guide.
  Today, I no longer watch sitcoms, and I'm pretty much bored by episodic TV. I've probably watched a total of 12 hours this year, and that's been at Sarah's place. That's where I caught JB's "The Fire In Ya Eyes" feat. The Game. I used to hear this joint on @Large's Dope Spot and thought it was tight. I still do. What gets me about this video, is the ending. Homie, you and your crew are flashing crazy cash...couldn't you pay for your video without a Videofact grant? Fuck. C'mon, dude! I've got no problem with someone getting one, but if your vid depicts you as supposedly paid, the Videofact tag makes you look like a poser.
• I hate Nickelback: That's no fucking secret. "Modern rock" is accessible n' whatnot, and that's fine. It doesn't affect me in the slightest, because I'm not the audience. But for some reason, these guys, the leaders and torchbearers of this genre, raise my ire like an interview with a Klansman. Just...I dunno...every fucking thing about these bitches is lame, especially Chad. Footage of this cock puppet getting belted with a bottle in Portugal makes me giggle.
  My hatred doesn't extend to their fans (hey, different strokes...), but the adoration can be a turn-off. I wanted to add this dude as a contact on flickr, because he takes awesome pictures of his gorgeous wife. I did, until I noticed a photo that had a Nickelback lyric quote underneath it. That was like, salt peter in the form of text. Bleh.
  
• And here I said I wasn't gonna rant. Whatever. Bedtime. Peace.
  

Rock The Bells in MPLS.

Last weekend, my man Mark and I went to Minneapolis to partake in the Rock The Bells show.
Crappy analog photos will be posted at Flickr at some point before God decides to smite us all.

Highlights:

• Sets by Wu-Tang, Talib Kweli, Pharaohe Monch, and Immortal Technique. A healthy amount of ass was kicked right there.
• Supernatural's Hosting Abilities. Some might find his schtick corny, but I felt the dude was crazy fun. He really had the crowd with his "3 emcees" routine.
• Running Into Peg City Residents. Nothing feels better than that.
• Myth, The Club. Spacious, nice decor, business-like (but not asshole-like) security staff. Thumbs up.
• Cute Midwestern Girls. Plenty of them. And on the thick side. Made me feel right at home.
• A Generally Positive Vibe. No real knuckleheads. Mostly polite folks.
• Nas' Diamond Crucifix. With matching bracelet and ring! Blinding!

Lowlights:

• Some Jackass In The Floor Level V.I.P. Lame-ass Wu-Tang chants galore. Fucker.
• Hour-long Delay Between Nas and Wu-Tang. Made all the more excruciating by the previously-mentioned cock puppet. Grrrr.
• Smoking, Trough-style Urinals, And A Ban On Digital Cameras. All can be found at Myth. Luckily, I forgot my camera at home! I'm such a fuckin' bonehead.
• Jedi Mind Tricks' Set. Vinny Paz = minute stage presence for such a huge dude.
• No MF Doom. Disappointing, but Kweli's set made up for it. No Slum Village, either.

Outside of the show: Highlights: Shopping at the Walker Art Center, Electric Fetus, and Robot Love, plus eating at Grumpy's and Culver's. Lowlights: Getting lost on the way to Grumpy's AND on the way home (don't miss Exit 380, kids! I'm a shitty navigator.).

Jay Smooth's "Hip-Hop Is Dead (For You)"

Props to J. Lapeyre for e-mailing this to me.

Pip Skid "Tire Fire" T-Shirt

Yo, this was fun to do. Homie should have a bunch with him for his Halifax show in a little bit. Yup.

Illustration Friday: Missing

It's been too got-damn long. F'real.



Yo, Something's Wrong Here, 2007 • graphite, assorted markers, photocopier and Photoshop®

No high-falutin' concept behind this, really.
Original inspiration: a sketch I photocopied and taped up in my cubicle.
The title: the first line spoken in De La Soul's "Potholes In My Lawn".
Why use a photocopier?: an Illustration Friday idea I have yet to post (and complete, for that matter) was on the sketchbook page previous to the one where this resides. Didn't feel like having marker ink bleed through it. Photocopied it, finished it later. Yup.
First IF participation in a year. I'm hoping to make it a habit again.

The SFG Blank Book Project

I'm happy to be a part of this here sketchbook project:
http://sfgblankbook.blogspot.com/
Hopefully, it won't end up dead in the water like this one (no offense to the folks involved in that).

The flickr backlog is slowly dissipating.

Slowly.





Three new sets:
SXSW Send-off: March 9th, 2007
Scenes From "Go Bananas"
Sam's Hawaiian-Themed B-Day!

It's Raining!

Thank God! This hot weather sucked the biggest phallus imaginable.

It's About That Time...

That's right. FRINGE TIME. I do believe I love it more than Boxing Day, and that's saying something. There's a heady air about the Fringe that nothing in the world can match, which will keep me locked to Winnipeg no matter where life takes me.
Sarah and I will begin our marathon run of shows on Friday. We're planning on seeing 15.
At least 15.

The Albert + Collective Cabaret = SOLD

I'm trying to remain positive. Really, I am.
Emotional debate here.

April Flores: The Girl Can't Help It

Unlike most of the stuff, I link to, the following links are DEFINITELY NOT WORK SAFE, a-ight? You've been warned.

A flickr photoset by the world famous Coop:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/coop666/sets/72157600692876566/
The subject, April Flores, one of the sexiest women on the planet; star of Alter Ego, Belladonna's Evil Pink 2 and an upcoming Vivid Alt. feature with Kimberly Kane.
Breathtaking beauty, captured by a man who knows a thing or two about depictions of full-figured ladies.

Random Thoughts: July 4th, 2007

Top: Empowered #1. Adam Warren is so good, he sickens me. See for yourself.
Middle: A wet, but fun Canada Day.
Bottom: The White Stripes at MTS Centre, July 2nd.

• I shouldn't be up, but here I am.
• The Stripes show was great. My fandom is renewed. The Jason Stollsteimer incident bugged me a bit, but hey, who hasn't been in a dust-up now n' then, huh? Icky Thump is a great listen, too.
• Frank Kozik has 46 (!!!) toy designs coming out this month. Holy shit!
• My iPod is brain dead. The living room of my apartment is in shambles due to my rooting about for CDs.
• I did mention how gut-wrenchingly good Adam Warren is, right? I've been reading Empowered #1 over and over for months now, and I'm constantly blown away how great it is in both its script and artwork. Every panel appeals to me on both a technical level (the whole fucking thing is in pencil. PENCIL! Fine, don't believe me? Here's his process.), and on a very base one (Adam draws ladies quite nicely). I've been digging his work since he used to illustrate the "tech" column in Spin, and I was immediately taken by his ability to take manga traits and make them palatable for a North American audience, and this was when manga was still pretty foreign. Now that a lot of us are more attuned to Japanese comics, the signifiers he uses in his artistic blend are that much more entertaining when they're employed. On the writing end, Adam continually skewers comics and pop culture in general. In one chapter, a number of Empowered's "Superhomey" associates recount their origins...standard comic book fair. The twist is that they all got their powers via irresponsible sexual liaisons. Another chapter deals with Emp and her friend Ninjette giddily reading slash fan fiction on the internet about themselves and their cohorts. That's a fuckin' brilliant premise.
• While I'm talking about talented folks, let's shine a light on a French dude named Yves, better known as Balak. I got a deviantART membership only so I could freely comment on his work (which is lovely, and a little pervy) and Adam's. Plus, it allows me to be privy to some of their naugtier work, too. Y'all know how I roll.
• Other than that, there ain't a whole lot of reason to have a deviantART account, unless yer really into the anthropomorphic thing. I'm not.
• Fellow gigposters.com and flickr user Frank Sparrow (that's his pen name, actually) has a set of illustrations going, and I've been entertained by each one so far. Check 'em out.
• I'm going to bed.

One last Benoit thing.

Yeah, I know...this is getting ridiculous.
This has been a long time coming, but I'm abandoning my Yahoo! Mail address, as I've found it, well...shitty, in comparison to Gmail.
So anyone using benoitrules@yahoo.com to contact me, stop doing so. With this, I hope the spambots will hit me with everything they've got, rendering that address useless.
Those of you who know me well are aware of where to contact me.

Y'know...

...there's absolutely no levity in the Benoit situation, but I can't help but think of this:
Benoit may have made the ultimate heel turn. (the Wikipedia link doesn't have any sources listed, but it gets the point across.)
Before you write me off as crass by looking at this horrible tragedy in wrestling terms, let me tell you that I'm coping with this as much as any other person that followed Chris' entire career. Every detail that comes out about this incident sickens me.
But back to my point – Chris, in the space of two or so days, went from one of the most universally respected pro wrestlers in history, to one of the most reviled individuals on the planet. Whatever tributes that have appeared on WWE's site have disappeared, replaced by a timeline of the events.
Everything he did in his career will be colored by what he did...it's inescapable in my mind. On Monday, I planned on watching his match with the Great Sasuke after work, until the fact it was a double murder-suicide came out. So I spent the night in front of the Mac, trying to make sense of the whole thing (impossible), in a state of numbness.
Forgive me, I'm just riffing. I was kind of inspired by a recent Scott Keith post and just had to let it all out.
I'm dying to go back to posting fun shit.

R.I.P. Chris Benoit...

...and Nancy & Daniel.



Well, if you were to ask me how I thought Chris Benoit was gonna go out, "double murder-suicide" wouldn't have been on my list, goddammit.

I've been watching Chris do his thing for over 20 years. Although it was Hogan that made me a fan, Chris and the late Owen Hart made me appreciate skill and agility.

I, like a number of you, wonder what drove Chris to do such a thing. It truly doesn't add up. Of course, there's really no logical equation, either.

This has been a dark couple of weeks, as we also lost Sherri Martel and Benoit's one-time tag partner Shane "Biff Wellington" Bower.

My heart goes out to the rest of the Benoit family during this tragic time.

Scott Keith has somewhat summed up my feelings, although they fluctuate by the minute.

Y'all take care of each other, okay?

American Flamewhip poster changes

Check it out:
http://flickr.com/photos/elnegro/555583209/
Had to do justice to J-Rod.

Party For Your Right To Strike 2!

The best rap show The Albert has ever seen. You shoulda been there.
Here's my shots.

2 more posters...

View large.


View large.

The stories behind each can be found here and here. I was gonna post a bunch of photos on Flickr, but I'm suddenly feeling quite crappy. Maybe in the morning.

The Best Rap Show The Albert Has Ever Seen...

...and I did the poster.

Photos coming eventually.
See the large version here.

Random Thoughts: May 7th, 2007

New desk, new hope.

• I've got some logo projects to take care of, and then I can use my new drawing desk with a clear conscience. Hey, maybe if I don't vegetate in front of the computer when I get home at night, I'd have that shit done already! Genius!
  
• I'm up rather early. Since I started doing the evening shift, I've been sleeping until 1, and staying up until 4:30, sometimes 6. Yes, I know that's no way to live.
• Finally saw Geoff Berner on Saturday at the West End, after having been a fan for several years (a combination of devotion to school and financial difficulty kept me from seeing this man live). It was a bummer that they didn't have his first album for sale, so I picked up Whiskey Rabbi, which is a hoot. And Kris Demeanor, who opened for him, was a pleasant surprise. What a performer! And many thanks to Jenny for hangin' out with me.
  
• Did you check out Free Comic Book Day? I did.
• Got a really good tax return. I'm savoring the good feeling.
• So yeah, Facebook has consumed me. I shoulda known. Fuck.
• Just heard that CBC is doing Wagner's Ring Cycle in one day on Victoria Day. When I voluntarily stopped watching and paying for TV last year, Toronto and the CBC was all abuzz about this, and I tuned in for a good chunk of it, including the stuff surrounding the four days it ran (especially the remix contest).
• It's time for breakfast. Peace.
  

Uncut Funk!

I heard from Clay that there's only a few of these left. Trust me, you want one. Would I lie to you?











Sure I would...but you'd really love to have one of them shits framed on yer wall. Trust me. You know what to do.

I Want Your Skull 2

I'm telling you right now: YOU WANT THIS.

Seriously...you want this. Limited to 250 copies, baby. It comes with 3 glow-in-the-dark prints and two random postcard-sized prints (Including one by yours truly. Yup.)
All the details are here. A huge freakin' shout-out to Ryan August for putting this thing together.

So...go on. Buy that shit!

Al'z Favorite Restaurants

Carlos & Murphy's


Baked Expectations


Grumpy's


French Meadow


Whitey's


Culver's


Montana's

Monster Popularity

For a Manitoban article. I haven't actually read the story yet, but I was told it was about the popularity of certain monsters. The person requesting the illustration (not the author) told me that the Frankie in the story was "one part charles manson, one part
oprah, one part einstein, and one part "journey" (the band)."
I gave him a Charlie shirt. She liked it. :)
See the large version here.
The story can be found here.

For 24 hours...

...I'll have my computer off. Voluntarily.

My Gigposters.com Playing Card

I can't tell you how happy I am to be part of Gigposters.com's 3rd set of playing cards. I knew what I wanted to do once I got selected (3 of clubs was my first choice), but getting that very idea out of my head was very difficult (a surly dude holding 3 bats). Every initial sketch turned out wrong. Then I found this picture of Mickey Mantle at Corbis, and using that as reference, I was able to take off from there.

Clay (the genius behind gigposters.com) got back from SXSW a couple of days ago and now has 'em available for purchase! It's a great stocking stuffer – I can vouch for decks 1 and 2 – and all the cash goes toward the site, a place which has been a total boon to my still fledgling illustration and design career. Hey...here's the entire set. If you want, you can buy an uncut sheet, but hurry, they tend to go fast!

Athavale Poster: April 12th show

I really liked doing this. I had the work of Jen Wang on my mind while making it.

B.T.S. (Buy That Shit!!!)

Yo...the previously mentioned Double Bacon Genius Burger mixtape by John Smith is now available in the Peanuts and Corn online store. If you ain't livin' in Peg City, you no longer have an excuse to not have one. Get busy!

R.I.P. Bad News Allen

One of the toughest men to grace the squared circle.
Also, rest in peace to "Big Cat" Ernie Ladd and Richard Jeni.

I Just Joined Facebook.

Yeah, I need my head examined.

More Goodness via RetroWinnipeg

The man who brought you the RetroWinnipeg channel at YouTube has some CTV/CKY based clips at VEOH:
http://www.veoh.com/channels/retrowinnipeg
I tell ya...it's good to hear Ray Torgrud's voice again.
Hey! Here's a clip of RRC's former head of the arts department reading the Newshour Update!
Gee, he seems rather blasé about it, eh?

The dust has settled.

My gigposters.com playing card is done, and so is the months of planning behind the social. Time to get back on that creative horse. Yup. There are things to draw, photos to post, and a rope to jump.

Al and Sarah's Wedding Social!

(click poster to access a larger version)
I totally stressed for weeks about making this, and I just finally sat down and did it.
At any rate, if you've got nothing to do that night and you're lookin' to shake your ass, this is the place to do it. For info on getting tickets, reach us here or drop us a line at alandsarah [at] gmail.com. Yup.

EDIT: You can now get 'em at URBAN BAKERY (398 Portage Avenue)!

(and for the record, I'm still writing stuff. This is staying on top until the day of the social.)

The Double Bacon Genius Burger: Smithtape Vol. 2

A one night job for my man, emcee John Smith. The hand-lettered treatment is partially inspired by Haze's work on the Beasties' Check Your Head (those liner notes blew my mind back then). As I write this, Smitty is on tour with Co-op and Hunnicutt, and he should have these with him.
Photo by Kevin Trotsky, logo/mask designed by me (based on a quick sketch by Smitty himself).