Aaron and I went to high school with Kyle Kurz, who penned two new verbs today. They are awesome because they work so well. Plus, it isn’t often a verb (or two!) can be added to the English language to fill a previously unmet need. But these are situations we all know and now can…
I was enjoying a discussion with someone about hyperrealism around the time I wrote last night about my love for the works of Eric Christensen, Pedro Campos, Steve Mills, and Nathan Taylor, when they kept insisting that stil life paintings, particularly those that are close to a photograph, lack emotion. (I completely disagree – the…
Hyperrealism is my favorite style of painting. Then again, I’ve always felt like life, as it is, is beautiful. Life, in all of its messy, unpredictable madness of patterns and light, din and music. It is difficult to explain, but when I see a certain style of painting in the hyperrealism genre, I instantly get the…
I’m going to just say it, Diana Damrau, both in terms of voice and acting portrayal, is the single best Queen of the Night in history. I don’t care what anyone else says. Her “Der Hölle Rache” is flawless. I mean, absolutely, cannot-be-improved-upon-in-your-face perfect. It starts at 2:09 into the video if you want to…
Reuters just published an awesome article about songwriter Franke Previte, who lives in New Jersey, and wrote the hit songs “Time of My Life” and “Hungry Eyes” for the movie Dirty Dancing. The copyrights have turned out to be a lottery ticket for the composer, providing him with a substantial stream of profits upon which…
Years ago, the Walt Disney Company released a limited edition Scrooge McDuck Cookie Jar, restricted to 250 copies. I spotted one at a good price a few days ago and bought it for the Carl Barks collection. It arrived and is now right where it belongs.
We finally got a few of the other Carl Barks collection framed for the office walls. I’ve been meaning to get pictures up for months and finally just decided to stop and do it. I was browsing auction records tonight so it reminded me …
I finished Atlas Shrugged a few hours ago. I loved it despite my not fully buying the philosophy of objectivism Ayn Rand espoused. I’ll discuss those criticisms in a future article. In nearly 1,200 pages, the single most important line to me sums up, in ten words, why I’ve been successful when so many others…
Pardon me while I get my Japanese RPG geek on for a moment … the Square-Enix store in Japan has a showcase of their masterpiece line of rare collectibles, such as $400+ replica 1/4″ scale models of Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII and Kingdom Hearts characters. With cool stuff like this – who cares about…
The best advice I ever received came when my parents dropped me off at college. As they were getting in the car, my dad looked at me and said, “Your mom and I have done everything we could for you. We fed you, we clothed you and you have a high school education. From now on, it is your responsibility to make your dreams come true. We can’t do it for you, and no one else can either. If you want it, you have to do it on your own.”
