My GF told me to post this...

It's a funny pug video...

ReadThis! logo

Here is a logo I drew for my mom's podcast. She and a couple other junior high school librarians just started doing it. They recorded their second episode this week and it includes an interview with Stephenie Meyer, author of the insanely popular Twilight series. It was just accepted by Itunes, so it should be searchable in the Itunes podcast list soon. Otherwise you can download it here.



Also, this is pretty much the first thing I've ever done in Photoshop (I'm used to a lesser program), so it's kind of historical for me.

I'll post some more in the next few days. Remember, I'm leaving for New Jersey on August 31st, so... yeah.

Summer Movie opinions (UPDATED!)...

EDIT: I have updated this as of 8/21/07, in order to reflect the movies I have seen since this post. So, tonight we're going to see Transformers, and I was thinking about all the summer movies I'd seen so far this year... and how my opinions have ranged from being blown out of my chair to being downright pissed off. Please... indulge me.

BEST MOVIES OF THE SUMMER:
The Simpsons Movie
Superbad
Die Hard 4: Live Free or Die Hard

AWESOME:
Ratatoiulle

PRETTY SWEET:
Spider-man 3
28 Weeks Later
Ocean's 13
Sicko

NOT BAD:
1408
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

ALMOST COMPLETELY UNWATCHABLE:
Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End

I FORGOT THAT I SAW THESE UNTIL I MADE THIS LIST:
Shrek the Third
Hostel Part Two

I think I enjoyed Die Hard 4 so much because I had absolutely no expectations. It seemed like an unnecessary sequel and all I'd heard about was the PG-13 rating. I love the Die Hard movies, and Die Hard With a Vengeance was the first R-rated movie I saw in the theater. To my surprise, Justin Long was good, the story (though silly) worked well for a Die Hard movie, and I was still excited by scenes I'd seen 100 times in the previews. Good work, Die Hard Team!

Also, The Simpsons was much better than I anticipated, and I laughed much more than I could have predicted during Superbad (even after seeing it twice!

That's all I've got on this subject. Next time I'll post something I've drawn.

Book Review: Death Note, Vol. 12

From the very first Death Note book, I've been hooked. I read the first 8 books in 7 days and waited anxiously for the next ones. The plot of the series is not jaw-droppingly intriguing (a bored teenager finds a death god's notebook and learns that if he writes a person's name in the book, they will drop dead of a heart attack), but the interplay between the characters and the barrage of twists and turns are what make these books so damn fun. The detective L, a super intelligent teenager, was a blast to read, and I would definitely buy another series about him alone.

Anyway, this is the final book in the Death Note series, and, unlike a lot of finite series I can think to mention, it goes out on a big high note. This is truly one of my favorite comic book series of all time, and I never thought I would say that about a manga series. Without spoiling anything, I wasn't entirely thrilled at the insane development in Volume 7, and I debated whether or not I wanted to continue. I did keep buying the books, but I found that Volumes 9 and 10 were fairly light on thrills. However, 11 grabbed me and 12 is another worthy addition to the series.

This book is so heavy on twists, I wouldn't know where to start with a plot summary. Basically, Light Yagami (the kid with the killer notebook) sets up one final meeting with his antagonist, and both of them have complicated plans to finally defeat the other one. Without spoiling anything, I was surprised at how neatly the series wraps up, with very few loose ends. I was also pleased to see some minor characters get the spotlight with moments that truly paid off for careful readers. I read the whole book with a smile on my face. This is how series finales should be done.

That's all I've got on this subject. As you can probably guess, I heavily recommend Death Note to anyone who doesn't mind trying out manga (it was the first manga series I ever read, and it definitely won't be the last).

Mural

So, I had the opportunity to paint a superhero-themed mural in the Stapley Junior High library, and luckily the administrators were willing to take a chance on a fairly inexperienced painter.

Thanks to my unemployment, I was able to spend about 8 hours each day this week at the school, painting up a storm. I enjoyed myself immensely, and there should be more murals in my future as a result.

If you would like something like this for your bedroom, give me a shout.

A new blog...

Well, this is the first post on my first blog ever.