A Fascinating Fact About The Latest Doctor Who Trailer.

The great Harold Ramis passed away today.  His work meant a great deal to me; not only Ghostbusters (which I love) but his many other contributions to the world of comedy and the art of filmmaking.

As the news circulated, a small shrine to Ramis popped up on the sidewalk in front of Ghostbusters HQ (or, as it’s known in real life, Hook and Ladder 8.)  I sketched a portrait of Ramis on a small art card, and went downtown to add it to the memorial.  I then got to hang out for a bit with the others who had gathered there in the cold - including a Ghostbuster in full homemade uniform and proton pack - and we all chatted about what the man and his work meant to us.

He’ll be missed.

This plant did not come out looking like the photo on the seed packet.

aikainkauna:

WASSSSSSSSSSUUUUUUUUUUUPPP.

(Dying of laughter.)

(by robtfirefly)

It amazes and delights me that people are still digging this ridiculous thing I made 11 years ago.  That's something like three centuries in Internet Time.

If you desire context and production details, click through to the YouTube description.

My Mystery Science Theater 3000 computer monitor, circa 2003.

Materials:

Clunky old-school beige CRT monitor

Sharpie marker (black)

Desire to have all one's computer activity heckled

Last Tuesday I worked as an election inspector, which meant a long shift sitting in the gymnasium of the grade school I attended in the early 1980s.  It was a slow election, so I had ample time to look around the place and trip out on nostalgia.  I sketched this on my lap in short bursts over the course of the day.

I remember being fascinated as a kid with those basketball nets, specifically the collapsible framework of pipes and cables which held them to the ceiling.  At the start of first grade gym class we were usually directed to sit in a group on the floor under one or another of the nets, and they always seemed impossibly huge and heavy hanging above me.  I imagined they could fall down and squash me at any moment.

The basketball nets were noticeably less forboding this time around, but still interesting.

Pencil on paper, 8x10".

There are only so many combinations available.

A Joseph Ducreux-inspired painting I did because Christian Slater is awesome in Mr. Robot.

EDIT: Added an alternate caption suggested by spectralconfetti on reddit.

Painted with a Wacom Bamboo tablet in MyPaint, lettered in GIMP.

Bell “Gallows-Frame” telephone 1875

Alexander Graham Bell's original telephone prototype used a single magneto-based device as both transmitter and receiver.  The user spoke into the single orifice, and put the device to their ear to hear the response.

The device, which gets its nickname from its elegant mahogany frame, was the first with which Bell demonstrated transmission of voice-like sounds.  Intelligible speech would be transmitted by Bell with a redesigned unit the following year.

Acrylic on canvas, 7x5″.  From my series of paintings of historical telephones.

Missed doing yesterday’s daily doodle post because the migraine I’ve spent today with was coming on.  So, today’s daily post is inspired by the migraine which is still, as of this writing, in progress.

I look forward to seeing what it looks like once I can turn my monitor brightness back up to full again.

My performance at "Say Everything" yesterday, August 13, 2015, chatting with intrepid interim hosts Davey Stevey Dave and Babe Parker.

"Say Everything," the unique interactive standup showcase where comics eschew prepared material and just have a freeform chat with the hosts and the crowd, happens every Thursday evening at Paddy Reilly's Music Bar in Manhattan. More info at www.facebook.com/sayeverythingcomedy !