l'm not bad..

I'm just badly drawn.

I was thinking the other day, about how much appearance can affect one's likeability,

especially if you're a cartoon character.

I mean, certain styles of art I just can't get by. I'm sure Flapjack, Chowder, and the X-men are all fine cartoons, but I just don't like the way they look, you know? They don't appeal to me.

Even Spider-Man, until the recent "Spectacular" version, was drawn far too realisticly and with far too muted a color pallette for my tastes. Spectacular, while still a little stiff, and with some unnatural movements to the characters, is by far my favorite version of Spidey yet.

I guess I am drawn to "Classic" interpretations of the characters. Batman TAS, Superman's most recent foray, Ben 10. Not that I actually watch Ben 10, mind you, but I do like the style in which the characters are drawn.

There are some series out there that just jump out at me, I love the character designs so much. Note I haven't actually seen more than one or two of the shows in question (excepting TDI) but I do love their character design and would gladly watch them sitting around playing pinochle.

First up is: Bionic Six.

Look at those guys! So clean, so boldly designed!

Believe it or don't, they're supposed to be a family (guess adoption's taken place) who've been given bionic superpowers! Woo - the eighties were just bursting with good ideas, weren't they?

That's Rock-One, Bionic-One, IQ the smart one, Karate-One, Mother-One, and Sport-One.

Okay, so the names are pretty lame. And as for powers... umm, I guess they're all bionic, strong and fast. Mother-One is sort-of telepathic and Bionic One has super-senses... Sport-One carries a baseball bat...

Okay, so they're not exactly well-designed as heroes, but man, they are good looking!

Next up we have one of my favorite cartoons, Total Drama Island (think Survivor).

TDI is so crazy, mixed-up and occasionally rude-but-funny that they're coming out with a sequel next week, Total Drama Action.

I just like the way the characters look. Simply designed, you get an idea of what each is like just by looking at them, and the show is consistently funny besides.

Last in my list of cartoons I just like to look at if not neccesarily to watch, is 6teen.

Just a fun bunch to look at. You can tell what the characters are like (sort of) by glancing at the picture, the lines are clean, bright colors - just overall a nice drawing. I actually look forward to watching an episode all the way through one of these days.

Heck, I keep trying to come up with a reason I'm so drawn to these cartoons, why they strike me so right - but I really can't. They're just the sort of cartoons I'd be watching, along with Batman, Superman, Spider-Man and Ben-10. Just really well designed cartoons.

May's over.

Wow. Here we are in June, already. It's raining and 48 out (yeah, I know, all you in California).

and the Cubs are in fourth place after a disastrous May.

What's wrong? How about no one could hit the furshlugginer ball?! I mean, three hits a game?! What the heck's up with that? It's darn hard to win a game on three hits, come on!

The Cubbies are massively underperforming right now (well, for the past 101 years they've been underperforming).

Good joke the priest at Mary Seat of Wisdom said Sunday. What did Jesus tell the Cubs right before the Ascention into heaven? "Don't do anything until I get back."

Well, he had a better delivery.

The priest, not the Lord. Though I'm sure Jesus could be funny, too.

You don't think God has a sense of humor? Why start all the major religions of the world within a hundred miles of each other? Couldn't Jesus have appeared in, say, Philadelphia?

Okay, I'm really losing it. Bye.

Close, But No Cigar

Today I was driving to Taco Hell for lunch (they're cheap, and the Fresca option's pretty good) and I noticed that the hardware store behind the Bell was closing.
It's been there for many a year, certainly longer than I've been in Chicago and possibly longer than I've been alive - a True Value hardware store. You know (or maybe you don't) - the kind of store about three times as big as a 7-11 and packed to the gills with everything from key-cut machines to flowerbed materials, fishing lures and lines to barbecue grills and light fixtures, all arranged heaven-knows-how so you have to ask someone (invariably an older gentleman named Earl) who will instantly know what you're talking about, no matter how obscure.
That kind of store.
And it's closing.
The store that lasted through wars and recessions couldn't handle this one.
I liked that hardware store - was the only place that made keys that worked the first time (ever send your parents keys to your place, so they could use it when you're gone, and NOT have the keys work? I have - thanks a lot, Home frickin' Depot!).
When I needed some little plugs to hold up my stereo table... they had 'em. Monofilament fishing line? Had that, too.
Sadly, I guess I only went in when I needed something pretty obscure or pretty cheap or both. Kind of hard to make a living off of people like me, I suppose.
I noticed, yesterday, that the Cardsmart store in downtown Des Plaines closed. Something like overnight - I stopped in just a little while ago (when you have 14 nieces and nephews and four brothers and sisters you're constantly buying cards for birthdays, anniversaries, first communions, etc) and it's right across the street from where I occasionally go to lunch, so I was a bit surprised.
And today, I noticed that Kaffecino, a coffeeshop downtown across from the train station, was gone, too. As in, vanished, cleaned out, gone kaput... and I had just stopped off there in February and March! It had always been there, ever since I moved here... had great sandwiches, good coffee...
Gone.
Add in the local Boston Market store, the steakhouse I never went to, the Max and Erma's restaurant that I did and always, always regretted visiting, the furniture store and the Circuit City store just down the street...
That's quite a few places, all standing empty. And the only things that have opened in the past few years are a Goodwill Store and the Salvation Army store.
Not the best of times, I know.
It surprises me, I guess, how many places were living hand to mouth, month by month. If things are moving along, hey, fine, but the minute things go south... wham!
Some, like that Max and Erma's, should have closed long ago. But others, like Kaffecino, the furniture store where I got my kitchen table and chairs, and even the Cardsmart... what the heck? Are things that bad that they couldn't hang on a few more months?
Evidently, yes.
Yes they are.
I'm going to miss that old hardware store. I'm going to miss it whenever I have to go into the Home Depot or Menard's and find some piddly-ass little thing in those monster stores (well, Menard's just closed their store too, and built a new one several miles out. Thanks a lot, Menard's!), or try to. You know, where you have to go over 14 aisles for a door latch or something.
I know, I know... it's progress. The way of the world.
But I don't have to like it.

State of Play

Maggie and I went to see State of Play las tnight - and it turned ot to be a very good movie, with plenty of twists and turns.
Russell Crowe plays a reporter who's out to help a friend of his, a Congressman who ju-u-u-ust made a little mistake (affair) and now the affair-gal's dead and his wife won't talk to him - oh, and the wife is kind of engaged in some hanky panky with the reporter...
There's a lot more to it than that, but it's too good to ruin with giveaways. See this movie - it's a good antedote for the summer-blockbuster-kaBOOM! movies out there, and there's plenty of suspense and even a little action and gunplay, just to make it interesting. Good film!

Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day, everyone!

Be sure and get out Monday and shop -

NO! Get out Monday and go to a cemetary or parade or some kind of service. Just remember who the day is truly for - those brave men and women who gave their lives so we and others could live in peace.

I'm marching in the Arlington Heights parade as a graduate of Arlington Heights Police Academy training program. And I'm going to see my nephew and niece play trumpet in their school bands!

Happy Memorial Day!

Ghosts of Girlfriends....

Hey,I went and saw "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past", the movie that just sounds like a chick flick but is actually very funny.

The lead is playing a guy who's kind of tearing up the female population by having sex with them then treating them like dirt. Turns out he's an orphan,emulating his (now dead) uncle.

He goes to his brother's house for a wedding and surprise! His uncle confronts him in the bathroom, where he's gone to sober up a bit. Read Jacob Marley - he's going to be visited by three ghosts!

Don't particularly think I'm spoiling anything by stating that it's his girlfriends Past, Present and Future! His Past girlfriend was the first girl he had sex with, the present is AT the same wedding he is, and the future doesn't talk much.

Anyway, you can see where this is all going. You could see it by the sive minute mark, actually. But you know, the guy does actually have some good points - they're just really buried. And it tales his love for his brother to bring him back to reality.

I laughed all through this movie. It's genuinely funny and well worth the ten bucks.