Becca and the Box crafts yet another strong zine.
For the month of October, 23-year-old illustrator Deltizzle crafted one piece every day. Many visual artists grabbed my attention through their Inktober series, but Illinois resident Deltizzle truly impressed.
It's no easy task
to craft
a new piece of art
every single day
that you're okay
with sharing with the public.
Deltizzle started
with a bang,
crafting characters from
an unknown world,
straight from his head
onto the notepad.
Wizards, snakes, archers,
alien slime balls, overlords,
hearts, and everything
in between.
Now that the
Inktober series
is finished,
Deltizzle decided to offer
prints of twelve
of the 30 pieces.
Get 'em while you still can.
is my personal favorite.
The Milwaukee wordsmith is back.
My first attempt at click bait.
It's a solstice celebration
brought to you by
Medicine Woman.
Along with performances
from Via Rosa, Jean Deaux,
Drea Smith, and Kaina
& Burn Twins,
you will get to hear
DJ sets from
nosidam. and Jaro.
Via will also be
selling mini apple pie
cheesecakes.
Bring your favorite holiday
movie and we will have
a raffle to play the selected
film on the big screen
during the show.
Arrive early,
stay late.
Did I mention it's free?
Two books from an artistic power couple.
An interview with Darius Airo.
Atmospheric instrumental, coming right up.
It's hard to say whether or not I'm knowledgeable about cartoons. I've been watching them my entire life, but their appearances in my life always arrive in sporadic increments. I might not be the voice of reason for a cartoon show, especially since I haven't seen some might claim to be “essentials” like The Fairly Odd Parents, Invader Zim, Ed, Edd, and Eddy. The list goes on.
That being said, I recently saw vocalist/producer theMIND tweet about the cartoon show Gravity Falls. I read the Wikipedia page, downloaded the first season, digested the first season, downloaded the second season, digested the second season, and here we are. Unfortunately only two seasons exist of this show. I usually lose interest in television shows, but I want nothing more than more episodes of Gravity Falls. Or maybe I don't. It ends as a series should end; with epic, climactic closure. Not only is the show a breath of fresh air for the Disney Channel, but this is a delightful and sharp show. I have no idea what the age group is here, as there are plenty of jokes on impending mortality, existentialism, depression, and more, all the while covering situations like first kiss, puberty, and pet pigs.
To keep it brief: twin siblings (one boy, one girl) stay with their great uncle Stan over the summer. Strange situations begin to unfold. At first, the show hosted standalone episodes, allowing the audience to understand their heroes. Then, the stories begin to connect, mysteries and questions form, and you fall deeper and deeper into a hilarious and witty mystery cartoon. There's also quite a bit of voice actor overlap with Rick and Morty. Some even argue that the two dimensions are connected (WARNING: may contain spoilers). Fascinating, really.
“A 68-hour marathon aired on Disney XD from February 12, 2016, up until the finale on February 15, 2016, with the entire series airing in order. Due to only having 39 episodes before its airing, the show was looped four times to fill the 68-hour slot.”
I wouldn't be able to compare Gravity Falls directly to any particular television show (which is a good thing), but plenty of elements of other shows come to mind: Hey Arnold!, Rocko's Modern Life, The Angry Beavers. The humor actually reminds me quite a bit of the humor found inside A Goofy Movie. More than just a tale for kids. But also, a tale for kids.
So if you're trying to be youthful again and laugh at childish things like bottomless pit story time, video game sidekicks, bathing garden gnomes, a person-swapping electric rug, and handfuls of glitter, then dive right in. 40 episodes over two seasons. Find me 40 more enjoyable and cohesive cartoon episodes.
Grab the episodes on Hulu here.
Trapo's full length is not to be missed.
Two songs that should be in car commercials.
Two tunes from the Moon boys.
"El El Cool Che"
gets some crisp visuals
to accompany an already
hot #spacewave track. Shouts to
SXMPLELIFE, Durkin,
and Victor Radz.
The whole video
was shot with a GoPro
and features elegance
in slow motion.
Black EL dropped this song
a couple of months back
and now we get the video
in black and white,
showing off fancy cars
and helicopters that take
to the sky.
Be on the look out
for more from Black EL.
If you need a refresher
course, check out the
essential playlist below.
Nature poems and humanity poems.
I've watched
The Nice Guys
(2016)
two times
in the last week.
Written and directed
by Shane Black
(Last Action Hero,
Lethal Weapon, Iron Man 3)
and starring
Ryan Gosling
and Russell Crowe,
the film draws
a great deal of comparisons
(in a good way)
to Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
(2005), which I often
said was Shane Black's opus.
Now, with The Nice Guys,
that opinion might change.
Similar in tone
i.e. murder, mystery,
sharp-witted comedy,
the two complement each other
very nicely. I couldn't
tell you which of the two
I prefer, but both
are damn fine films.
I think the cinematography
and color palette is stronger
with The Nice Guys,
but both have near perfect
stories to tell.
Without giving anything
away, the film takes
place in the 1970s
in California, and it revolves
around two private eyes,
one who is drunk
the entire film (Gosling)
and one who is stone
cold sober the whole time
(Crowe). They try
to track down a woman
and rest is left for you
to discover on your own.
Visually stunning,
hilarious, and an entertaining
action packed thrill ride.
If I had three thumbs,
I'd give it three thumbs up.
Shout-out again
to Shane Black
for also writing the screenplay
for The Long Kiss Goodnight
and The Last Boy Scout.
He might be the king
of the action screenplay.
Over at the Chicago-based music (and news) site TheseDays, I developed a radio segment known as Neon Nightlights. Over the course of twenty two broadcasts, I became better at crafting succinct episodes, improving not only on my GarageBand editing skills but also on my own voice. While this newest development (known simply now as Neon Broadcast) is very similar to my previous efforts (which you can find here), this marks new territory for my broadcast efforts. For now, Neon Broadcast will be a monthly segment, but I might pick it up (or slow it down) depending on where this new website takes me. I'm really pleased with the eclectic yet relaxed tracklisting for this debut segment. As you will come to learn, I always feature artist Alicks (or a l e x) as my background music while I talk. Enjoy the first edition down below.
01. Nellie McKay - "Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying"
[TALK]
02. CocoRosie - "Sunshine"
03. Mulherin - "Leagues"
04. Electric Wire Hustle - "The Border"
[TALK]
05. Moon Man & Benjamin - "Grace"
06. bleeklino w/ Pryka - "Empty" [Prod. Joey Pecoraro]
07. Tobias w/ bleeklino - "S. Paulina St."
[TALK]
08. Damon Albarn - "On Melancholy Hill" (Gorillaz Acoustic)
09. Labi Siffre - "Bless the Telephone" [Hot Sugar Edit]
10. david & alex - "Pluviophile" [Instrumental]
11. Greaf - "The Silence That Lives in Houses" [Instrumental]
[TALK]
12. Qari - "Pants From Japan" [Snippet] [Prod. Mulatto]
13. Jasper MacRae w/ elton aura - "Currently Speaking"
14. Leaf Set w/ Catherine Poulos, MDMC, Blake Davis - "Go to the Sea"
New single from Jean Deaux.
These are the things
I discover
at 2:24 in the morning
when my eyes are low,
begging for slumber,
yet just won't close.
aka Punksgitcut
is an illustrator who
works on Bob's Burgers
and Sanjay and Craig
(both weirdly
awesome shows).
In the between
time, he draws his own
world, full of chinless
dudes and blood
and boobs.
You can grab
or browse his
journal entries
Good night.
Plenty of artistry from Zach G.
Watch them Atlanta boys chop it up for Mass Appeal.