Although a win in regulation would have been ideal, there is still a bit of "joy in Joyland" here in Winnipeg tonight, after Jets forward Tim Stapleton scored in overtime to win a critical game against the Washington Capitals.
I noticed Tim Stapleton's speed and skill early on in the season, and I liked that he seemed to be a very down to earth, likeable human being. But it wasn't until I attended the Jets game verses the St. Louis Blues on February 25th that he became one of my favourites.
It was Madelyn's first Winnipeg Jets game. A moment of pride for any father. We got there as early as we could, and went down to ice level to get as close to the players as we could during their pre-game skate. She was a little bit awestruck as she caught a glimpse of her favourite player, Dustin Byfuglien.
While she stood at the edge of the glass watching the players go round and round (including Pavelec, or to her, "That Guy With Pillows On His Feet"), a blue shadow zipped up to her on the other side of the glass. It didn't even phase her, as she was focused on the players at centre ice.
Her concentration was interrupted by the 'tap-tap-tap' of a stick on the glass. Slightly startled, she looked up to see #14 Tim Stapleton standing right in front of her. He put is hand up and waved at her.
She was stunned! She quickly composed herself, and waved back. A big smile played across his face, and she responded with a nervous, but excited giggle, and a huge smile herself!
And like that, he was gone, leaving Madelyn still waving at him.
She had found a new favourite player for the game.
Tim Stapleton.
Or as she referred to him, "The One That Waved To Me".
The entire interaction took all of 10 seconds, far too quick to get a photo, but I did get this shot of her about 5 seconds after Stapleton skated away. She was glowing.
I'm sure Tim Stapleton will never read this. In the unlikely event he does, thank you. You made my daughter's first Jets game memorable.
Currently playing: Run DMC - Rock Box
Currently colouring: An as yet unsolicited Marvel Masterwork!
I just passed by the incredible Cre8ery Gallery today, and saw one of the most beautiful art exhibit posters I've ever come across.
This photo doesn't do the artwork justice. I found myself in the middle of a busy sidewalk, captivated in front of a sandwich board advertisement, absolutely focused on the powerful white mountain peaks running through the center of the image. It's hard to not feel like your balancing atop that white precipice while looking at this piece, unsure of whether I want to fall into the cool blackness of shadows to the left, or into the warmer valley of reflected light to the right.
I can't afford to buy any real paintings right now, but if there's a print of this for sale, I want it.
Anja Studer's exhibit runs through April 3, 2012 at the Cre8ery Gallery. It looks like I missed the opening night, but I'll have to make it down at some point in the next week and a half.
Currently playing: The Poppy Family - Which Way You Goin' Billy?
Currently colouring: An as yet unsolicited Marvel Masterwork!
Proudly in my sixth Cola free year!
Even though I haven't spent more than a long weekend in Dauphin, Manitoba in over a decade, I still identify very much with my old hometown. I recently got a subscription to the town paper, The Dauphin Herald, which I used to deliver when I was a young boy in elementary school (along with the now defunct Daily Bulletin!).
It's been almost half my life since I've called Dauphin home, so I don't recognize as many names and faces making the news there as I once would have. But recently, I was treated to two articles by former teachers of mine.
My high school career lasted from 1990-91 to 1992-93, and during that time I had Mr. Bill Walley for Science, and Mr. Ed Stozek for Language Arts. Both were fantastic teachers. In a recent edition of the Dauphin Herald, Mr. Walley wrote about bird counts in Riding Mountain National Park. Meanwhile, Mr. Stozek has a fascinating weekly article that looks back into the history of Dauphin and the Parkland.
Nearly 20 years after I graduate, and these guys are still teaching me things...
Well, judging from the 5-day forecast, I think winter is over.
I actually find myself missing the snow. We didn't really get all that much of it this year. That didn't stop this guy on Hartford Avenue from building the most awesome snowman I'd ever seen!
Currently playing: Stan Meissner - It's No Secret
Currently colouring: An as yet unsolicited Marvel Masterwork!
Proudly in my sixth Cola free year!
Last week, Jimmy Fallon posted a poster of a non-existent movie starring
himself and Paul Rudd titled "Aww Hail No!". He then asked for people
to tweet or Facebook a tagline for the film.
Today they released their favourite submissions. I found this one particularly funny. "They put the 'Ow' in 'Snowstorm'".
Granted, I'm a bit biased, because THAT WAS MY SUBMISSION!
Pretty excited to have made the cut, even if they misspelled the word "the". Guess it's time to quit my day job and write taglines for a living!
I loved Star Wars as a kid. I was absolutely obsessed.
Then, like a cola drinker who suddenly discovered coffee, I discovered the work of Ralph McQuarrie, and my brain hasn't been the same since.
I don't remember where I was, or how I came to see my first Ralph McQuarrie painting. Maybe it was in a bookstore, in the basement of a friends house, or at school. I was so hypnotized by and absorbed in what I saw, I tuned out everything else around me. Those details are lost forever.
My mind was completely blown, as I studied the art. Some, done before a single frame of the film had been shot, featured different designs and concepts for otherwise familiar characters and vehicles. Other paintings ended up being reproduced verbatim on the big screen, like a McQuarrie painting come to life.
One of the hooks that sucked me in immediately was some concept art that depicted a Stormtrooper holding a lightsaber, which wasn't seen in the movies. What other secrets to my obsession could I find hidden in these paintings, some created before the movie was even filmed? Perhaps if I pored over the images enough, I'd catch a clue about the (then mysterious) Clone Wars, or the Journal of the Whills, or other bits of Star Wars material that didn't make it into the film, but were spoken about in hushed whispers by kids in dark corners of the school playground who knew more about the movies than I did.
Like I said, I was obsessed. And these beautiful paintings added fuel to the fire.
Even seeing the images today makes me feel like a kid again.
Sad to hear of the passing of this legend.
An Entertainment Weekly article on his passing summed up his artwork the best. "A McQuarrie Star Wars design looks like what would have resulted if Salvador Dali had sketched concepts for Universals 1936 Flash Gordon serial by way of Sergio Leones Old West".
Here are a few of my favourite paintings. The first one below, of Luke Skywalker stepping out of his snowspeeder in front of an AT-AT is probably my favourite.
Currently playing: David Bowie - Life on Mars
Proudly in my sixth Cola free year!
I jumped a little bit while watching the Winnipeg Jets leave the ice after a thrilling 2-1 OT win over the Philadelphia Flyers.
Does the man standing in the hallway leading to the Jets dressing room not bear an uncanny resemblance to the late Barry Morse, who played the tenaciously dogged Lieutenant Philip Gerard on the original 1960's TV show The Fugitive?
The guy in the image above isn't a dead ringer, but is so similar in nearly every feature you could think to compare that I recoiled in surprise from force of habit, having done the same every time Lt. Gerard popped up unexpectedly during The Fugitive.
Did the Philadelphia Flyers have a one-armed man on the ice last night? And did Richard Kimble suit up for the Winnipeg Jets to bring him to justice and clear his name? And was Lt. Gerard waiting in the wings to apprehend both men?
It would have made a fun episode!
Currently playing: Strangeways - Living in the Danger Zone
Proudly in my sixth Cola free year!
The Loxleys and the War of 1812 (preview)
Story - Alan Grant
Art - Cladue St. Aubin
Color - Lovern Kindzerski
Letters - Todd Klein
This year marks the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812. I'm no historian, but I do love to read about this great country of ours. It's been a good 10 years since I've done any reading on Canada's war with the United States, so I was pretty excited to dive into a preview of the upcoming Renegade Press book, The Loxleys and the War of 1812.
Historical fiction always walks a tight rope between fact recitation and storytelling, and writer Alan Grant has done an amazing job setting up the story. This preview does an admirable job of setting up the reasons why the War of 1812 started in the first place (the British hindering the American efforts to expand west by supporting the Tecumseh's Indian tribes, impressment of U.S. naval vessels, and an appearance of British weakness due to a war against France). Somehow, Grant manages to get these points across, and still leave room to give the characters some personality and room to develop.
Claude St. Aubin does a spectacular job on the artwork. It's lighter tone will make this book accessible to a wide audience, yet it never sacrifices it's ability to communicate pain and anxiety during moments of tension. In particular, Eliza Loxley reading her husbands first letter home is well done. The art isn't melodromatic or over the top, it serves the story perfectly.
Nearly every panel has a well drawn and thought out background, helping to set the scene. The Loxley cabin is spacious and real, and the Siege of Detroit is rendered with such detail that you can imagine the weight of library books piled on St. Aubin's art table. He's convinced me as a reader that he has done his homework, yet no panel looks like it's a verbatim drawing from a photograph in a textbook. A sign of a true artist.
Lovern Kindzierski has applied his colouring genius to this story. I cut my teeth colouring at Lovern's Digital Chameleon studio over a decade ago, and every time I see his work, it is a reminder of how far I am from being a real colourist. His colour pallete separates planes nicely, and his modelling follows what St. Aubin has set up with the lineart. Most importantly, the pages are actually COLOURFUL! So many books published these days seem either be coloured in greyed out colours, or have hues so dark that some of the lineart is actually obscured. Lovern is a master, and proves it every time his name is attached to a book.
Here's a great panel example of how well Kindzierski separates fore,
middle and background with his colour choices. This photo, taken with
an iPhone, doesn't do it justice.
My only criticism is a single bit of dialogue uttered at the beginning of the preview - a gentleman walks into a community dance...
Laura:...my good man here spends his time worrying about war with America! James: Well, they have so many reasons, you see. For example, the way the British stop and search American vessels--
Wow, this guy must be the life of the party!
It's one of my main beefs about historical fiction. Characters that dispense historical facts that don't feel natural at all. It's a necessary evil in the genre, and it works to communicate the details of history, but it seems so out of place. Alan Grant only relies on this storytelling tactic once in the entire 22 page preview, so it doesn't spoil the great story. And for all I know, James' character may be a guy who is so hip to worldly affairs that he's always rambling on about them, whether his audience is looking for a lecture or a dance on a Saturday night.
I seriously doubt that anyone focused on saving the lives of innocent people is going to waste time telling the person next to him some historically accurate yet context irrelevant facts, such as "the train is coming in towards Pier 6", and that "there are 700 people aboard it!".
Anyhow, I digress. Grant, St. Aubin and Kindzierski's talents shine telling this story, and I can safely say that this preview alone has me very excited for the full release this April.
The hardcover release of The Loxleys and the War of 1812 will also feature a 30 page essay on the war by Canadian war historian Mark Zuehlke. Zuehlke's previous writings on the Canadian experiences at Juno Beach, Ortona and the liberation of the Netherlands during the Second World War are fantastic, well researched books, and having his comments in this volume will be a real bonus.
Just got back from my third Winnipeg Jets game this year, and watched my team take on the Ottawa Senators.
I was a Sens fan for the fifteen years that passed between Jets' franchises, so I guess you could say I saw my new, old favorite team take on my old favourite team.
Or is it my old favourite team take on my second favourite -- ah, I give up. You get the idea.
I sat in the stands with my Uncle Ernie. He was a Jets season ticket holder back in the WHA days, and it's his love for the team that helped make me a Jets fan as a kid.
When the Winnipeg Jets left in 1996, we thought that was it for the NHL
in Winnipeg. Who would have thought we'd be together at a game again, fifteen years later.
It was awesome to see the game with him. He's still rocking his 1990's
era Numminen Jets jersey.
I have to say that I was shocked by the number of Senators jerseys in the crowd. For a decade and a half, I felt like I was the only fan in the province. Where did all these people come from?!?
The game was a blast! The refs cost us the game with two bad calls in the second period, but the Jets had a great effort, and Evander Kane came this close to scoring the first hat trick in franchise history!
Currently playing: Ian Thomas - Painted Ladies
Proudly in my sixth Cola free year!
Two years later, and things are finally starting to move!
Tonight, I'll be sitting in the Artist's Alley at the 2011 Central Canada Comic Con to promote my self-published creation, Spacepig Hamadeus. Here's a preview of the first page!
This book, Spacepig Hamadeus and the Ambush at the Hourglass Sea serves as a prequel to next year’s full-length issue, Spacepig Hamadeus and the Captive Planet. Both of these issues are based on stories I covertly wrote in Mrs. Didyk's Grade 5 class, when I really should have been studying multiplication tables. Back then, Hammy was known simply as "George the Pig", and went on several outer space adventures before ending his 12 issue run with a (highly unauthorized) Secret Wars II crossover in 1986.
A quarter of a century later, and I’ve revived the character for publication. Hopefully the art and writing have improved over the books I made in the 80's!
If you're attending the 2011 Central Canada Comic Con, please stop by my table and get yourself a copy!
If you're not attending, I'll post info here in the coming days as to how you can buy a copy for yourself!
So it turns out all I had to do to get the most hits this blog has ever seen was post a leak of the new Winnipeg Jets logo! Even after the official brand was released, this site got tremendous amounts of traffic through the weekend.
I love the logo more with each passing minute, and now that I've actually got some Jets merchandise it really starts hitting home for me. As was to be expected, a small segment of people didn't care too much for the logo.
Winnipeg has an NHL team.
Again.
They're called the Winnipeg Jets.
The team's primary colour is blue.
Remind me again what I'm supposed to be disappointed about, exactly?
I think the following image should help put things into perspective. Even if you're just on the fence with the new logo, you've got to admit that it could have been worse...
A LOT worse! Now all we need is a Winnipeg Jets jersey leak! Rumour has it those won't be ready for sale until the beginning of October. I've waited 15 years for the NHL to return to Winnipeg.
A few months wait for a jersey is going to be a cakewalk...
Currently playing: Hall & Oates - Some Things Are Better Left Unsaid Currently colouring: Silver Bullet #8 by Lonely Robot Comics! Proudly in my sixth Cola free year!
PS - The "Complaining" image seen above was sent to me by my good friend, Big Marv. If you're not following him on Twitter, you should (http://twitter.com/#!/BigMarvShow), and if you're not listening to him on HOT 103, well, you ALSO should!
So it turns out all I had to do to get the most hits this blog has ever seen was post a leak of the new Winnipeg Jets logo! Even after the official brand was released, this site got tremendous amounts of traffic through the weekend.
