I'm having some creativity issues lately. I can't find my footing. Things all feel really forced and effortful. Art used to flow from me like blood from a neck wound. I just opened it up and it poured out. Since I moved, it's more like the anemic trickle you sometimes get from a shallow papercut. (Sorry for the emo-goth imagery.) The whole thing seems to be mirroring my attitudes toward the furry and art communities and this site in particular. I used to be really enthusiastic about all of it. I couldn't wait to stop by here and talk with my friends, look at some art and maybe chill for a while. Most of the people I used to converse with have left FA or are only idling. There a re few still around who I enjoy a brief conversation with from time to time, but this place used to be about artistic freedom and friendship. I could draw porn, if I chose, or not.

I have made friends with a few people through FA who, for me, at least, were not healthy people for me to associate with. Their attitudes were destructive or self-fixated. Either way, if you're holding onto a burning person, you will burn, too. The difference is that one type wants to burn you along with them and the other type is offended that you don't want to burn like them or worries that you are burning more brightly than them. Being that I tend to overinvest in my friendships, I have been seriously considering leaving FA. The furry community attracts drama whores, attention freaks and people who want to legitimize their abnormalities. Not saying that this is the state of all furries, but those types of people can thrive in the seething drama cauldron that is the furry community. Those furries who aren't mental are so friendly and accepting that they allow, support and encourage those who are of the more unpleasant stripes. I have seen great kindness and great inhumanity in the furry community, but being that I'm not a furry, I am not certain that this is the place for me anymore. I'm not sure if I'm leaving FA or not, and this certainly isn't a ragequit, but if I do, I will make a point to try to stay in contact with those of you who have shown me to be friends and not just another on the list of people who only look at me to see their expectations.

I grew up with a crazy mother who did her damndest to make me crazy too, just so she didn't have to be alone. I've been mindfucked by the best, and, frankly, I'm tired of the amateur mindfuckers trying to get me here, because they can't stand to scream in an empty room.

For those of you who like me and are capable of not blaming me for being inadequate to your needs, I miss you and hope to talk to you soon. For everyone else, go fuck yourself, slowly and with something sharp.

"I'm not all men,
I'm not all men.
I'm just one man.
I'm not that man." - Rollins Band

"Wake up and face me.
Don't play dead, 'cuz maybe,
Some day I'll walk away and say
'You fuckin' disappoint me.'
Maybe you're better off this way." - A Perfect Circle

I am working on a furry piece which may or may not ever see the light of day. An anthro world where multiple species live together in a society made up of life forms ranging from anthro reptiles and birds up through mammals. There may be others, but there are still animals. In a world like this, where humans are either a myth or an extinct legendary species (people who believe in humans are often thought of as religious nuts), how do you refer to humankind, as in the people of the world? I can't use "anthro" or "human," obviously, because they presuppose the existence of humans. I can't call it peoplekind. I'm trying to tiptoe around the concept, but eventually a character will have to blatantly refer to bipedal anthro animals as a group and I am stumped what I will use. I've kicked around "sentient" and "sapient" or shortened forms like "senkind" or "sapes." I'm really stuck on this one.

Edit: I guess I was a little rambly and unclear on this. I didn't mean, "How' should these guys refer to humans?" but more, "How do anthro animals as a society refer to themselves as one people?" I dunno how a society made up of turtles and dogs and rabbits and frogs and such could refer to their own group, and I don't want to incorporate the idea that they're all "human" or "mankind." Sorry for the confusion.

So, I'm sitting in Denmark, waiting to go to the U.S. for the foreseeable future. I realize, that Denmark, despite the fact that I didn't enjoy living here, has left a mark on me. I wanted a physical mark to commemorate my time in Denmark. I designed the tat you see here for myself (mine's the one on the left, 'cuz Shelby is totally me.) and my wife saw it and said she'd like one too, so I designed the one on the right as a companion piece. She's still not entirely certain she wants one.

I got mine today, in a place called The Old Barber Shop in Copenhagen, right off the Stroget. They were all really friendly and the place had a good vibe. This was my first tat and the lady I spoke to on the way in gave me a price quote and called a guy over who was not workin' on anything at the moment. His name was Knibbe and he was from Sweden. He was quick and really chill about the whole thing. I sorta almost talked myself into passing out, because I have a mild needle phobia and I was thinking a bit too much about what the needle felt like. Anyway, I got a bit shaky and he gave me a break, I know I'm a wuss. I felt cool after a bit and the whole thing took me about 40 minutes, maybe a little more. I recommend the place and the artist, highly. He really dug my idea and thought that shading in grey, instead of black was a cool way of handling it.

The funny thing is this: I was in five minutes or less and one of the tattoo artists, a woman, squealed when she saw my pic. She copied the stencil Knibbe made for me and stuck it on someone else before I got to my chair. As I sat down, the girl who was gonna get the tattoo of my art, ran out of the place with my tattoo idea stenciled on her shoulder. Seriously. The art had been in the studio for all of about five minutes and another artist was stealing my pic. I don't really mind it, art theft is the sincerest form of flattery, right after imitation, but, goddamn, people! Steal my shit after I leave or something.

It was a good experience and the wife and I are probably going back on Monday to get hers done. I'll post a pic once it looks less bleedy and angry.

Also, I bled so much after it was wrapped that I bled through my shirt. It was cool to have a car almost to myself on the train home.

Finally the last one in the set is up. See it HERE!

Also, AUTUMN, WINTERand SPRING.



Here's how you get 40% off on posters!

Third poster is up and can be found HERE!

Also, you can still find Autumn and Winter in my shop, too.

My latest poster is now up. I did AUTUMN before, here's WINTER.

hope you dig.

I'm not posting it here because it's not venue appropriate, but I thought some of you guys might like the piece.

You can find it HERE.

I broke apart my insides.
Help me.
I've got no soul to sell.
Help me.
The only thing that works for me.
Help me get away from myself.

I have been to the theater more this week than in the previous four months.

First up, I saw The Sorcerer's Apprentice with my daughter. Lemme preface this review by pointing out that Nick Cage is like, how do I put this delicately? The worst actor to ever work in more than one movie. He doesn't emote believably at all. He never plays a character, he plays "Nick Cage as" that character. Every movie he's ever been in could have been improved if they had employed an actor instead of Nicolas Cage. That said, I liked this movie. Despite the Nick Cage-ness of Nick Cage in the movie, it wasn't horrible. Jay Baruchel, who got his start playing opposite Elisha Cuthbert (hot!) on Popular Mechanics for Kids some years ago, is absolutely believable as a guy who is caught in a bad situation. He'd be equally believable in a movie with no real magic or effects as long as his character was supposed to be an underdog loser with some knowledge only tangentially related to the subject at hand. The story was not great, but it moved quickly and didn't feel like it was talking down to the audience, even though it was primarily targeted at kids. I won't go into the plot, here, but it's got a sort of American version of Harry Potter feel to it. There was a solid nod to the original Sorcerer's Apprentice (Starring Mickey Mouse) and it was a decent amount of fun. Monica Belucci is in it as a love interest but is seen for a total of about seven minutes through the entire movie. She is still beautiful but her glow is rapidly fading. Now, if there are any sequels, here are my suggestions to improve them: Nicolas Cage should not be in them. That is all.

Next movie I saw, with the wife this time, was Inception. I've read a lot of stuff about this film from a lot of different people. The overall take on it seems to be how amazing it is and how great the acting is and all the twists and turns it takes are mind-bending. I saw it and, maybe I'm jaded from a lifetime of Science Fiction, but it's not surprising, there are no real twists, the acting is pretty unimpressive. Nobody was a stand out in it. The effects were pretty, but they were barely in it. There was only one scene where I thought, "This is well done," and it was in a scene where they were doing weightless looking stuff. It's by no means a bad movie, but when compared to Christopher Nolan's first real outing, Memento, it doesn't stand up. I got out of the theater and my wife said, "So what'd you think?" My only response was, "I have been mindfucked by the best of them and that was no mindfuck." I have personally come up with two endings that were better than the one the audiences were given.

I am having an art crisis, at the moment, to the point where I have considered more than once, giving up on art altogether. The well is dry and every time I try to squeeze a few more drops from it, I get blood and dust. I hope I can bring it back; I love making art. If not, I may not be doing much around these parts, anymore, at least for a while.

"...And lo, the Gods of Art did once again smile upon him. And unto him they sent ideas and technology that he may scribble crazy doodly shit hither and yon and clutter up the place with his artings. The Gods of Art are sort of assholes."

at anthrocon, I was that one guy with the pants. I was wearing a shirt with a picture on it and that clever saying. I also picked up many commissions there, but none of you paid me for them or gave me any of the details. I was in that one place. You remember.

Anyway, yeah.

As a follow up to yesterday's journal, today my wife took off from work and we took my father-in-law and daughter out for some sandwiches and we went back down to the same beach. This was more of a lunchtime crowd.

A dad brought his son and daughter, six and three or so, respectively, down and they were eating some snacks and chillin'. The little girl asked her dad if she could go in the water, and he said, basically, "I don't want you to get your clothes all dirty. She got undressed and ran, bare-assed-naked down to the water to harass some ducks and fall, repeatedly, into mucky seaweed. It was funny as hell.

Further up the beach I saw a girl of approximately eighteen or ninety slowly wading out into the sea with her hands covering her chest. I didn't realize until later that she, too, had doffed the garments for her aqueous activities. It was a beautiful thing to watch. She was timid and sort of shy, but not embarrassed. I don't know if she was Danish or not but it seemed she'd never gone nude in public before and seeing her do it was thrilling in a warm hearted sort of way. Again, I'm no troglodyte, so I didn't stare, but she was breathtaking in her new experience.

All three of these experiences (again, read yesterday's journal.) seem to add up to the idea that Danes are a lot more well adjusted than most North Americans I've met, and that beauty is to be found wherever you look if you look with the right eyes.

Farvel from Denmark.

My father-in-law is visiting and this morning, he and I walked down to a beach and sat and ate some breakfast while looking across the sound at Sweden. There's this small pier people use to bypass an occasional massive wall of seaweed and get straight to the water. While we're there eating, we notice a woman getting down into the water. Side note: the water is not warm and we were both wearing light jackets. From the distance we are away from her and due to the fact that we were not really watching her, we didn't notice any details. She's wearing a one piece bathing suit and she just sorta steps down into the water and begins to splash around.

This is where, dear readers, my tale gets a little... odd. The woman after splashing about for a few minutes, climbs back up on the end of the pier and towels off a little. Instead of wrapping or draping the towel and walking back to where she came from, car, house, what-have-you, she towels off and strips off the bathing suit. Standing on the end of the pier, well above the beach, in full sight of everyone near the beach. Seeing this out of the corner of my eye I turn and look, not really thinking about it. I see naked skin in my peripheral vision and my head turns to see it. Then, become aware of what I am looking at. The woman is buck naked and not too harsh on the eye. I turn away, trying not to be rude and continue talking to my father-in-law and notice, again in my peripheral vision, some fabric that must be a robe going on her.

As our conversation continues, the woman makes her way up the pier back past where we are and I see her face. This woman has to be sixty-three or so. My brain melted into convulsions. "EW! I SAW NANA TITTY!"

Anyway, gentle reader, I have come to the conclusion that either, (A) My standards have lowered considerably, (B) My brain saw what it wanted to rather than what was there, or (C ) Danish women continue to look good well into their golden years. It might be some sort of combination of two or more of the three. Who can say?

There's my perspective on Denmark. My brain hurts.

There's no such thing as Gargamel/Mumm-Ra slash.

Make of it what you will.

Oh, yeah! This is another rant about INKBUNNY! I'm so... apathetic.

Another furry art site opens and, imagine that, IT'S FULL OF DRAMA! Why do non-furries have so many problems with furries? Because even furries can't stand furries, it seems.

Oh well. Haters gonna hate.

As a guy who lives in Denmark, where the whole world found out that Muslims take their holy scriptures seriously on the drawing of their holy prophet (Imagine that, people taking insults to their religion seriously.), I think I have to say something about this.

Drawing Muhammad isn't just immature, it's disrespectful. Imagine for a moment, Christians, that it was annual Draw Jesus Having Buttsex day. Would it be funny then? Would it be funny to Buddhists if it was annual Draw Buddha Killing a Kitten day? Would it be funny to all the Jews if it was Draw Moses Eating Bacon and Desecrating a Temple day? For all you atheists out there, how about Richard Dawkins Kneeling in Prayer day?

This isn't about showing how brave you are. It isn't about standing up to an oppressive religion. It's about respect. Let's bring this a little more home. Imagine somebody got a younger sibling of yours (or cousin or really close friend, someone you care about) drunk and stripped them naked and raped them, took photos of it and posted them on the internet. That's desecrating something you care deeply about. It's not even a sacred thing to you. It's just personal. You'd want to kill that fuck. I'm not saying you would actually act on those feelings, but you'd feel them. That's what it's like when you piss on someone else's beliefs for a laugh, only moreso because at least the rapist would understand, on some level, that what they were doing was wrong.

Show some respect. Instead of having a Draw Muhammad Day, have a Respect People Despite Their Differences day.

Dear Denmark,

Hey, buddy. How ya doin'? That's great. Me? Not so good. See, there's this thing, Denmark, that I don't know if you are aware of. It's called more than three hours of darkness a day. See, call me crazy, but when the sun comes up, my brain tells me it's morning and that means it's time to be awake. So, when the sun comes up at, like, 4:00 in the morning, after setting at 9:30 PM, and staying all twilighty until 11 PM, I find it hard to get a full night's sleep. So, please, with sugar on top, have a longer fuckin' night.

Thank you.

Iron Man, the first one starring Rober Downey Jr., is my favourite, to date, superhero movie. It had this overwhelming feel that the writers and director understood the spirit of the source material and a commitment to make a movie that had both mass appeal, and, more importantly, existing fan appeal. They succeeded.

Having said that, which I don't even consider a bold statement, Iron Man 2 lives up to the legacy. The major downfall of the first movie was the elimination of Obidiah Stane (is it a spoiler if the movie is already on DVD?), who was a major overshadowing figure of imposing evil in the comics for a long run. Iron Man 2 shows us that with Stane gone, peace and prosperity for Stark Industries is hardly assured.

Tony Stark has problems that far exceed the average man's purvey simply because he is not capable of being anything less than excessive. We see a resurgence of Stark's long lived comic achilles heel, well interpreted by Downey, who has some experience in these matters to draw from, and the introduction, a foot in the door, if you will, of a wider angle on the Marvel Universe.

I was reticent to see Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow (again, not giving it away to anyone who has seen the trailers and not put two and two together) because, frankly, I've never seen the appeal of her. I saw it quite readily in this movie. She is literally built like a comic book heroine. She looked the part even in normal civilian clothes. She made me believe she could kick the crap out of me and I respect that in a woman.

I really liked Don Cheadle's performance in this. The guy who played Rhoadie in the first movie just didn't have enough game face to believe as the man who would become War Machine. Don Cheadle emotes like a mofo and when he's angry, it shows, easily. The man's face and body language are subtly perfect and believable.

I think that once I'd like to see Mickey Rourke play a role. Really, he always plays the same character, with some kind of affectation. Sin City: angry bad-ass with twisted monster face. Domino: angry bad-ass with a weird fixation on his younger partner. The Wrestler: angry bad-ass who is also a wrestler. Iron Man 2: angry badass who is Russian. I always thought that Whiplash was a weak opponent in the comics. Lashing, energy charged whips are not a super power. In the movie, there was quite a bit more depth to the character than I had seen before and I liked him but he was more Whiplash the same way Jack Nicholson was the Joker. It wasn't, "Whiplash," it was, "Mickey Rourke as Whiplash."

The effects were as good as could be expected. There was only one scene where they weren't completely believable and it was a couple of beats and not enough to pull you out of the action of the moment.

The story was better than most crap coming out of Hollywood nowadays (not saying much) and was a balm to my inner comic nerd. John Favreau deserves a medal for all he has done for the love in my heart for Iron Man.

I can't review my theater experience, I saw it in a theater with six other people in it and two were my wife and kid. Not much to complain about.



See Iron Man 2. If you didn't hate Iron Man, there's a lot to enjoy. And...




















...Don't leave the theater until the credits are done.

Both  purpledragon and  leasara both get a sketch commish.

Let me know what you guys want, usual rules apply. No hardcore, I don't dig on drawing wang and no more than two characters.

I ran a contest on my last (non-commission) image, SEE HERE, and I have to narrow it down to the funniest comment. I am caught between two. So, you guys get to vote on which of them gets the win and a free sketch commish. the first is
 purpledragon with
Grand opening today:
-= THE ASS HOLE =-
Bar & Entertainment
Let our girls take care
of your heavy load.

The second is  Leasara with

CAUTION - MULEBERRIES
Contingent upon accidental ingestion do
not dilute with water (provided) else
unwanted effects may occur (see left)

Let's hear it, guys. Who wins?

By which I mean Denmark.

Which is the world of tomorrow if yesterday was also Denmark...

Anyway, been a while since I did it, so here's a movie review.

I saw Clash of the Titans, today. I have to say, I went into this with a bit of a bias. I have studied Greek Mythology for most of my life. I was even sort of a fan of the original movie. It came out when I was young and I need to point out, Ray Harryhausen. Nuff said. These factors firmly in place, I had some expectations for the movie. Expectations which this movie ate. Then crapped out. Then ate again. Then vomited. Then danced upon, ate and shit again.

Expectation 1: The fact that Greek Mythology is such a rich source of material in and of its own right, the remake would possibly take some minor liberties, as did the original, to jam as much cool in as possible.

I don't dig spoilers, as I have said before, so I won't be giving stuff away. Star Wars fans get angry when movies ignore canon. I'd say Greek Myth is a venerable canon far outstripping the most desperately socially malformed Star Wars fan's wet dreams. The writers of this movie gave me the impression that their extent of research involved eating a gyros plate while jotting down notes of what effects they could afford to put in the movie. Characters had their deific ties rearranged, gods did things that were not only out of character, but plainly illogical. All the greek Gods in the movie, with one exception seemed to be wearing suits of plate mail made out of polished anodized aluminum, but that's hardly the point of this.

Expectation 2: People employed as actors can act.

The level of emotion in this was... God damn. Ben Stein on thorazine would emote like a motherfucker compared to anyone in this movie. The movie had Ralph Fiennes (why can't he just say Ralph?), Liam Nieson and Pete Postlethwaite (look him up on IMDB. You've seen him in stuff.) in it. All fine actors. They all appeared to be uncomfortably warm at most points where they should have been showing emotion. It's like the director said, "Imagine you are suffering from heat exhaustion and emotional disinterest and ACTION!" Why do people who could once act well but haven't in recent memory keep getting jobs in Hollywood? Señor Schindler es bueno. Zeus is a tired, uninteresting dude.

Expectation 3: The Kraken is the selling point of the trailer. I want to see me some giant monster doin' shit!

If you've seen the commercials and the trailers for this, you've seen almost all the screen time you're going to from this titanic beast. He was impressive but I could have stayed home and watched the trailer on a loop three or four times for the same monster fix. Also, wtf? Why do all larger than human sized monsters in heavy CG movies move at approximately the speed of duh?

I can't say enough good things about this movie, largely because there aren't many good things to say about it. The CG was pretty. Woohoo! After Avatar and even after Lord of the Rings, this is nothing particularly special.

They pulled something out of Arabian myth that didn't belong. Okay, small spoiler goes here---> DJINN!? WHAT?!

There were writing inconsistencies, acting inconsistencies, some of the worst 3D stuff I've seen. Maybe that was my theater but the 3D shit didn't look like it was coming out toward me, it just looked like it was shot out of focus.

Spoiler-ish---> "I have been cursed with eternal life." "Oh! I'm wounded. Now I'm dying!" ???

If you want to see Clash of the Titans, rent the original if you can find it. If you want some cool Greek Myths, get a book about them. If you absolutely need to see a movie with a Greek Mythology theme, you'd be better off seeing Percy Jackson. At least that gives the vague impression it had been written by someone who didn't think that Greece was what you cooked french fries in.

I'd say, on a scale of one to ten, I give this move a "fuck off."

http://chainsawsuit.com/2010/01/29/.....y-psychic-p-i/

And that's all I have to say.

I'm sorry I haven't been thanking people individually. I sorta lost track of how many watchers I was getting recently. Thanks to all of my new watchers and to all of my old watchers, thanks for sticking around.

I have completed the font, so everyone who has already downloaded it can find a finished version at the same link I gave you before. This is the final beta. Use it for a bit and tell me if there are any letters, numbers or other symbols that act funny. Note me if you need that link again and thanks for the help!