Talk about weird

Ted: Oh, no. No, we’re, we’re not together. I mean we, we, dated for like a year but now we're just friends. It’s not weird.

Victoria: No. No, why would that be weird? I mean if you hung out every day that would be…

Ted: We… do.

Victoria: Still… not be weird. You know I don’t know anybody that hangs out with their ex every day.

Ted: Well, Barney does.

Victoria: Really?! Whose Barney’s ex-girlfriend?

Ted: Robin.

Victoria: Your Robin?

Ted: Mine and Barney’s. Yeah.

Victoria: You don’t… all-three-hang-out-together?

Ted: All the time!

Victoria: Andd we have weird.

The thing that's so charming about himym is that it's so carefully crafted to take us along on the story but brings us back around to the core meaning at the end, which was so casually disguised at the beginning of the episode combined with motifs scattered along the story path like bread crumbs. I've missed this show.  

Freefall ~ Part One

Unlike for Angel and Faith this is the review you are looking for. Enjoy! 

You know how sometimes when you first see, taste or experience something and your initial reaction is... not much of a reaction at all? You're speechless, not because you are in awe, but that you literally have no opinion. To you the question was a curve ball and came shooting at you out of nowhere. You'd never thought of it like that before. You are simply border lining between "I like-y" and "I no like-y" Yet you can't get your footing right, there is just that weird feeling 'cause you're out of place and caught off guard by the issue at hand.

Then, after some time, further encounter, it... grows on you. The clouds part and it all makes sense, and you wonder: How did I not see it before? You smile at the thought.

I assume the above situation can apply to many things in life, judging by how vague of a concept I seem to have described it all. Heh.

Cover art by Steve Morris

I'm staring at the cover of Buffy Season 9 issue one ~ Freefall ~ Part One illustrated by Steve Morris and, though I never disliked the cover it never really sat right with me the first time I saw it. It may have been the light turquoise wash of it all and the seagulls giving me a feeling of sea sickness. But after further viewing I took in more of the details. Our heroine is falling at rapid pace, hair and gown fluttering. Her world, the streets of San Fransisco seem to have been sitting far above in the heavens until now, as it crumbles away falling with her. Given the situation she seems calm with only a slight sign of concern of what is to come in her eyes. Splatter I suggest. The slight streaky vertical smudges and in-out focus of clarity plays with our eyes in an artistic way. Drinking it all in, I can sense the roller coaster that is to come shaking up the life of our beloved heroine and her friends. The jostled vertical display of the title Freefall is also a very nice touch.

Judging by the style of the alternative cover it could be by none other than Jo Chen. The energy, action and extreme vantage point was striking at first sight. Buffy crouched on top of the Golden Gate Bridge, right hand firmly grasping her stake, ready to strike. It's night with the city lights glowing below, illuminating her and half her face from the jaw up. The swirly texture of the brush marks add to the gust of winds blowing the locks of her hair. She stares out, her sights clearly locked on a target we are yet to know. She looks poised, ready to leap forth.

Cover art by Jo Chen

Our bonus cover is in celebration of Dark Horse's 25th Anniversary. Buffy sitting sweet and innocent in a red cardigan with pouting red lips and eyes wide staring straight up at us. Autumn leaves fall diagonally over the stone formation she sits on, among possibly tombs and gravestones in a graveyard on this windy day. It's Buffy in Georges Jeanty's pen work cute-looking and all.          

The intro page with all the formalities and blurb to the issue also has a nice bluey-green water colour of San Fransisco with a lonesome sketch of Buffy amidst it all.

We open with four rectangular panels all slightly bigger than the one above it as we see Buffy open her tired, red eyes waking from a night of party hard drinking. Hangover indeed and jeez is the room messy!

Cover art by Georges Jeanty

The issue reads much like watching a television show with flash backs here and there as we try to fill in the blanks from her party hard night. The plans for season nine was to get back to the domestic life of Buffy as she balances it with life as a slayer so I believe the writers have achieved this goal well. However, the flash backs here and there made it a tad annoying. I found it disrupting to the flow of the story which makes me think back to how smooth the story plots were told in season eight. As far fetched and remote the grandeur of the stories in season eight were, the stories were presented and laid out well to the reader. Here I found myself not liking what I was reading. An information overload. The issue did best when it honed in on specific moments with full shot, then face, then eyes. The emotions of our heroine were felt exactly, so we could dig deep and understand. The intricacies in each panel were brilliant but sometimes there was just too many panels on the one page. Qualities in Jeanty's drawing also came through more in the few pages where they weren't over run with action and speech bubbles. 

It took me time flicking through the pages again a second go to start appreciating the issue for what it is. But I must say season nine did not open as splendidly as season eight.

P.s The issue solves the mystery of where Magical Mystical Tour featuring the Beetles fits in the timeline which I was puzzling about earlier.

Angel and Faith #1

I have no intention to give you a review, recap or blah of Angel and Faith #1. If you want one it's not here. Okay, maybe that's not entirely true if you include review to mean discussion of stuff other than the plot. 

The first issue of Angel and Faith ~ Live Through This ~ Part One came out recently and it's made me start to think about the potential futures of these beloved characters, yes, go all critical on the issue's plot, yes, identify the marketing ploys, yes... but most importantly started my train of thought on the art of which comic illustrators that have moved me the most.

Of course, I have already praised the truly miracle artistic works of Jo Chen. But I have not yet really thought about the art of each issue, the many varying styles showing the strengths and weaknesses across the many series, miniseries from IDW to Dark Horse publications.

Like many followers, I have come to recognise Buffy in the pen work of Georges Jeanty from the very first image of our heroine in action launching out of an airborne helicopter with her fellow slayer crew. Our first sight of Buffy since the ending of 'Chosen', in paper and ink we get the "money shot" in full double page. A sight like none other. Willow and Faith by Jeanty's hand notably carry the true essence of the characters well too, particularly captured in each ones opening appearances.

In Angel and Faith, I find Rebekah Isaacs' depiction of Faith true to the likeness of Faith. However, I don't see it in Angel. Having read all the the IDW publications of Angel and of Spike I have not come across any artist that has been successful in depicting either characters. I do, however, prefer Isaacs' stylist interpretation of Giles over Jeanty's.

Another of my liked characters is Illyria; and I do particularly agree to a comment I once read that she was the only character the comic medium switch over was made for. Although, I have found that of all the depictions the most convincing have been by Elena Casagrande in Illyria: Haunted and Brian Denham for one of the arcs in season six of Angel.

Lastly, is the demons! The only absolutely remarkable illustrations is David Messina's drawings of the Old Ones and Illyria's former pet in Angel: Only Human. Although, there was a pretty good illustration of Illyria in her true form in Illyria: Haunted. Messina's depictions of lessor demons and human forms are unfortunately weaker.
 
There are so many more comic art that I could discuss about under the big umbrella of Btvs comics but it'd probably go on forever.

I shall round up on the last note of demons and say Pearl and Nash look creepy! in a good way.

Magical Mystical Tour

Here's to geek-ing out! Nothing like listening to OneRepublic, reminiscing about Dollhouse episodes and getting hold of Btvs Season 9: Magical Mystical Tour featuring the Beetles while procrastinating from econ readings. That's a nice hour.

After watching a youtube clip, every time I listen to Prodigal by OneRepublic I'm gonna be reminded of Topher Brink now. The character was sheer joy to watch on Dollhouse along with every scene that he's along side Adelle Dewitt. Esp. 'Echoes' where they're high together in the lab. Heh. And of course another gem was Victor as Topher. Lmao! Gjokaj's imitation was uncanny.

The series ended way to quickly, not to mention the utter betrayal that I did feel when the master villain was unveiled. Humph. I wonder if it wasn't cancelled would they have opted for a different turnout? As with the Epitaphs, the not-so-far-future had the "terminator" apocalyptic tech destruction feel to it which is the bad after taste in my mouth when it comes to sci-fi and me, though, it's not intolerable, unlike "some" alien sci-fi.
   
I've continued into the Dollhouse comics which was unexpected of me. I guess I have more tolerance than I believed ...partly it was procrastination. Talking about comics, the stars alined today and I got hold of the mini comic featuring Spike. Yay! I didn't read into the motifs as deeply as some reviewer have (like seriously) but I am a little confused by the timeline (is it right after issue#39 when he pursued after the big Blob or after issue#40 when he finished comforting Buffy in season 8?) Told you I'd be geek-ing out. Lol. But it's sheer fun: exploding a giant alien Blob with a space-whale-impregnating blaster, cooing huge bug larvae, interior decorating with giant bug legs, chaperoning a bug-beetle dance and marrying three bugs. Hah. All in "one and a half thousand hours".  

Well I look forward to geek-out again next month. =)

Connect the dots

You know that Debit Mastercard ad that makes the connections from the association of different things to map out a neat train of thought? Well I think that pattern can be applied to the way I watch television series now.

Caught the first episode of Dollhouse... I liked it. Sci-fi has never been my thing with a few notable exceptions but in general there's other things I prefer to watch. But the concept and execution was neat. Probability of my  follow through quite high. Haven't found out why the series was short lived though.

What's happening with my drawing? Nothing. Back at uni. Decided to drop Honours. And just trying to pick up the textbooks again. By the way, the weather's been absolutely beautiful the last few days. Blue skies, warm, glowing sun and cool temps -Haaaa!

I'm really just a little bored. Sitting here basking in the sun light gleaming through the vertical blinds casting sun strips and shadows.

S. M. Gellar ~ retouched

Sorry I just had to retouch up the last version of S. M. Gellar drawing because it was really bugging me every time I looked at it how rough the shading was left. I don't like the texture blunt pencils leave. So I smoothed out the toning, touched up the eyes and lighted up her left cheek even though that's not what the reference photo had it. I also chose not to adjust the colour and contrast after scanning. I have a terrible scanner that washes out the image/documents I scan. I tried alternative settings and manipulating the levels but you know what... I think I prefer it like this.

S. M. Gellar (as Buffy) retouched, 2011.

Buff Buff - S. M. Gellar

To sum up a good six months (give take some days) of great entertainment I thought I would dedicate my next drawing to BTVS. Jeez I wish I had watched it years before!

S. M. Gellar (as Buffy), 2011.

Giles: For as long as there have been vampires, there has been the Slayer. One girl in all the world, a Chosen One... 

Buffy: He loves doing this part. 

Giles: Alright. The Slayer hunts vampires, Buffy is a Slayer, don't tell anyone. Well, I think that's all the vampire information you need.

I can proudly say I finished this drawing in three days which unfortunately can't be said for my previous drawing wip-nh. It's still incomplete I just got put off by the hair rendering so it'll just have to wait. A new start this was and it was good to get something different going. I had intended to do a Spike drawing instead but I realised I prefer drawing the "fairer sex". If I'm gonna spend hours staring at something then it may as well be something pretty, like a rose. Not that guys can't be "pretty" (lol) but for females you can add eyeliner, blush, lip stick/gloss, earrings and a diversity of hair styles. For guys, unless there is a themed costume, the most that could be added is facial hair and ahemm, HAIR! No thanks. Too much work.

My argument isn't very thorough which means I will attempt to drawing male portraits again in the future and definitely finish my last wip but I stand clear with my preferred subject matter.

Next up... I'll have to think about it.

Update:
>>See retouched S. M. Gellar drawing