Blogs I Enjoy

I don't have a huge list of favourites

but there are a few Blogs that I have remained

faithful to and I feel the need to pass them along to 

anyone who may be interested.

The Golden Age

http://thegoldenagesite.blogspot.ca

This guy has posted a wide variety of art related material over the years and I believe that it is all from his personal collection.

If he owns everything that he has put on display, then he has one the most amazing collections of Science Fiction, Fanzines and Original Art that I have ever seen.

Well worth a visit.

Cap'n's Comics

http://capnscomics.blogspot.ca

This is a far more comic book centric website with

plenty of SF and Fantasy book covers thrown in.

There is a definite bias toward the art of

Frank Frazetta

Barry Windsor Smith

Jeff Jones

Jack Kirby

Etc.

The guy who runs it does a very good job, much better than I do, of keeping up a regular flow of new or recycled material.

None of us are getting any younger and he freely admits to not caring if he is reposting things that he loves and finds beauty in.

Temple of the Seven Golden Camels

(Everything I Know about the art of Storyboarding)

http://www.sevencamels.blogspot.ca

Here we have a sort of Nuts & Bolts site.

Written by a professional, working in the industry,

that covers the techniques of making drawings that work.

Consistently interesting and informative

but due to the demands of his everyday job,

often times there are large spaces of time without

new material being added.

Voz Words

http://vozwords.blogspot.ca

The web presence of longtime comic book artist

Mike Vosburg.

Mike was one of the young men who seemed to pour into the comic book companies during the early 1970's and he contributed to a number of different titles.

Later on, he moved into the more lucrative field of movie storyboarding but he never truly forgot his roots and he has continued to put out his own comics, periodically, over the years.

Lori Lovecraft, has been the main character that he has used.
Mike was always, even in his earliest days, able to draw pretty women well and the stories that he has woven around Lori, have been a vehicle for him to explore the realms of B-Movie
settings and situations.

At the same time, he talks about his work, the things that interest him and the people he has met.

For a short while, new material was posted regularly but recently, the Blog seems to have stalled.

A real shame, because it is an interesting site.

Moving in a slightly different direction,
I recently bought a piece of Original Art from 
Mike Burkey of Romitaman
and I would like to promote his site here.

It is a great place to browse examples of Original Art from comic books, book covers and magazines, etc.

My experience in purchasing a piece from Mr. Burkey was as smooth as butter and I would not hesitate to recommend his services to anyone.  If I had more free money, he would get a lot of it!

Movies That Don't Really Work

Recently, I finally watched all of the Harry Potter movies, over the course of several days and while I found them all to be, generally entertaining, at the close of the final film... well, I felt that they held together poorly.

There were leaps of logic, which, for people who have read the books (I have not), may not be apparent but based solely on the information imparted by the story on the screen, I feel confused and incredulous at their popularity!

Harry Potter isn't the only example.

I also watched the new Mad Max movie, Fury Road

and while it is stocked with images that are like candy for the eye,

ultimately it is a very small story, poorly told.

AND YET,

people whose opinion I generally respect, had told me it was amazing, with a brilliance unmatched in film making for years!

Oh, well, one lives and learns.

Or rather, one should but I keep going back to the well for another drink, always expecting the water to taste better than it did last time.

I am starting to sound like my mother, may she rest in peace, who was appalled by the poor acting, pacing and story line of

"India Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark".

When it first came out and I was a lot younger than I am today, it seemed like the finest film making in the world but now, older and wiser, I can see her point.

I am unsure whether this disillusionment is a function of age, or not

but it seems to to be that a lot of things that we were captivated by in our younger days, lose their charm as we grow older.