One Last Hurrah...

I recently received a picture of the whole trip group I went with to Montenegro (which was with a company called Wilderness Travel; I highly recommend it!)

Without further ado:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/77435071@N00/5972874930/in/photostream

CATS!

I recognize this blog has become nothing more than a repository for vacation pictures and other doo-dads. I accept, nay, even embrace this. In that spirit...

My trip with Wilderness Travel to "Montenegro & the Adriatic Coast"!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/77435071@N00/sets/72157627190818346/

A lifetime of drawrings

I got into drawing from comic books when I was little and that aesthetic carried through pretty much intact over the years, so half of it is a lot of posing and holding of swords and guns. But there's other stuff too! I actually feel lucky I still have a lot of this stuff.

For years I've had them all in a binder filled with sketches and doodles from over the years... mostly from high school and college, since I don't really do it anymore. Not that I was ever really good at it. I was pretty impatient and I was never patient enough to sketch things out first or to learn stuff like the human figure and anatomy... plus it was almost all done on notebook paper.

Nevertheless, I've posted some of the more (hopefully) interesting ones; each one has a comment and they are in roughly reverse chronological order (from somewhat recent to middle/high school days). The easiest way to go through them is to click the first pic and use the "Next" button at the very top to navigate (don't use the "Sitback" button, it doesn't show the comments).

Without further ado:

http://swidly.deviantart.com/gallery/27525935

Blog = neglectarino

Neglected no longer! Here are some pictures from the latest Malone exploits at Guadalupe Mountains National Park in West Texas. It was our first visit; we heard a lot of good stuff and wanted to check it out (especially with the fall colors going on). It did not disappoint!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/77435071@N00/sets/72157625378733511/

Hmmm

Since when did British become the official accent of the Roman Empire?

Think about it... every movie or TV show, from Ben-Hur to Gladiator to the HBO series Rome to Spartacus - whether you prefer the Charlton Heston version or gratuitous nudity, Starz-style - it's all British accents.

And not like the 'allo guvnah! chimney-sweep British accent either; it's always the prim and proper, lords and ladies accent a la Mary Poppins.

What's up with that??!

Who blogs anymore these days???

I know no one really reads this (and I have certainly not given anyone reason to, except my lone "recent" post below), but since you're here now, may I kindly direct you to _the real deal_ - a travel blog, by me! I figure if nothing else I should write about something I know I'll always be passionate about. Here's a linko:

http://www.frommers.com/community/persona.html?UID=930280&plckPersonaPage=BlogViewPost&plckUserId=930280&plckPostId=Blog%3a930280Post%3a1683122b-d3c0-4881-9d1c-dd608f7684c9&plckController=PersonaBlog&plckScript=personaScript&plckElementId=personaDest

It's not (intentionally) funny or clever. Just... a blog!

(and to be honest, an attempt to build a c.v. for maybe a career as a travel writer someday... oh, to dream)

What... is... _the deal_??!

What's up with movies that copy each other? There's this weird pattern where studios get an original idea for a movie (which is not that often), and for seem reason they come out in twos... Released not only within a year of each other, but often just months apart.

And I'm talking big-budget Hollywood flicks, not obvious direct-to-video cash-ins like Transmorphers or movies that ride the coattails of a genuine phenomenon after the fact (like Boyz n the Hood, which begat Menace II Society, which begat the Steven Seagal / DMX classic Exit Wounds, or the Harry Potter effect, which spurred a glut of mediocre movie adaptations to some not-half-bad fantasy serieses).

Plus, it takes from months to years to make a movie... so how does it happen??? Could it just be coincidence? You be the judge...

• 1992 - Let's discover the New World 1492: Conquest of Paradise vs Christopher Columbus: The Discovery (released 2 months apart)
• 1994 - Let's stop the crazy bomb-making guy Speed vs Blown Away (1 month)
• 1995 - Let's hear it for men in kilts Braveheart vs Rob Roy (1 month)
  
• 1997 - Let's ignore the vulcanologist's stern warnings Dante's Peak vs Volcano (2 months)
• 1998 - Let's hope the giant falling space rocks are enough to crush Aerosmith Armageddon vs Deep Impact (2 months)
• 1998 - Let's make a movie about talking insects A Bug's Life vs Antz (1 month)
• 1998 - Let's make a TV show about my boring, boring life The Truman Show vs EdTV (9 months)
• 1998 - Let's wonder if disco can really ever be dead? (A: "Yes") The Last Days of Disco vs 54 (3 months)
  
• 1999 - Let's remake a movie about a haunted house (and make it horribly sucky): The Haunting vs The House on Haunted Hill (2 months)
  
• 1999 - Let me tell you something: I see dead people Stir of Echoes vs The Sixth Sense (1 month)
• 2000 - Let's get our asses to Mahs! Mission to Mars vs Red Planet (8 months)
• 2005 - Let's get lost in a cave The Cave vs The Descent (12 months)
  
• 2006 - Let's make a movie about 9/11 World Trade Center vs United 93 (4 months)
  
• 2006 - Let's celebrate magic, twist endings, and... holy shit, is that David Bowie??! The Prestige vs The Illusionist (1 month)
  
• 2007 - Let's make a movie about talking penguins Happy Feet vs Surf's Up (4 months)

... well, you get the point (and there's probably a bunch more I've forgotten). So... what's up Hollywood???!