<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><rss xmlns:atom='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/' xmlns:georss='http://www.georss.org/georss' version='2.0'><channel><atom:id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8450366775723112275</atom:id><lastBuildDate>Wed, 25 Nov 2009 06:03:32 +0000</lastBuildDate><title>Blue Funnies</title><description>Features the work of Blue Delliquanti, including any drawings, paintings, photographs, dreams, ideas, or old candy wrappers that came into her posession.  All of these things © Blue Delliquanti, 2009.</description><link>http://bluedelliquanti.blogspot.com/</link><managingEditor>noreply@blogger.com (Blue)</managingEditor><generator>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>112</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>25</openSearch:itemsPerPage><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8450366775723112275.post-7337151194444586047</guid><pubDate>Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:46:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-11-23T19:19:30.537+01:00</atom:updated><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>video</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>comics</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>music</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>meccanica</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>newspaper</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>series</category><title>Double Digits Time! Meccanica Number 10!</title><description>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SwrKnkLWjYI/AAAAAAAABCA/RVrQPNJwbD4/s1600/M10+Final+(smaller).jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SwrKnkLWjYI/AAAAAAAABCA/RVrQPNJwbD4/s400/M10+Final+(smaller).jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407357083686702466" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;My little comic's all grown up - it's in the double digits now.  And this is also probably the second-to-last one of the year... though I'll try to keep uploading a bunch of Meccanica-related goodies over the winter.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In other news, I have a favorite new music video, and OH MY GOD.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="480" height="295"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/aiJ2E0xGOv8&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/aiJ2E0xGOv8&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="295"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Tom Waits and Kool Keith, brought to you by &lt;a href="http://www.myspace.com/nasa"&gt;the N.A.S.A. music project&lt;/a&gt;, and animated by Montreal studio &lt;a href="http://www.fluorescenthill.com/"&gt;Fluorescent Hill&lt;/a&gt;. Hot &lt;em&gt;damn.&lt;/em&gt;  I don't listen to Tom Waits much, but now I know &lt;em&gt;exactly&lt;/em&gt; what they mean when they say he sounds like his voice was soaked in bourbon.  I'm'na have to see what &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spirit_of_Apollo"&gt;this new CD of theirs&lt;/a&gt; is all about - I've heard one other song off it, a crazy earworm featuring M.I.A found &lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_MhebfzmR0"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.  Looks promising.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a title="Spacious Thoughts - N.A.S.A. feat. Kool Keith and Tom Waits"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I'll meet you down at the well.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8450366775723112275-7337151194444586047?l=bluedelliquanti.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://bluedelliquanti.blogspot.com/2009/11/double-digits-time-meccanica-number-10.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Blue)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SwrKnkLWjYI/AAAAAAAABCA/RVrQPNJwbD4/s72-c/M10+Final+(smaller).jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8450366775723112275.post-5992379262736648299</guid><pubDate>Mon, 16 Nov 2009 08:49:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-11-16T10:22:20.616+01:00</atom:updated><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>comics</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>process</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>meccanica</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>newspaper</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>series</category><title>Meccanica, Numbah Nine!</title><description>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SwESiupoyfI/AAAAAAAABBY/cV9QeJKVQFY/s1600/M09+Final+(smaller).jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SwESiupoyfI/AAAAAAAABBY/cV9QeJKVQFY/s400/M09+Final+(smaller).jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5404621415668828658" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And, &lt;em&gt;voilà&lt;/em&gt;, page nine!  Buckle yourselves, people, because next week it'll start getting a little weird.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I thought this week it might be a good idea to talk about how I put a page together.  I start drawing the page on 11 by 14 inch Bristol board - the final page gets shrunken down pretty significantly to fit in the newspaper.  I plot out the panels and gutters, and then get to work on the initial pencil with my trusty blue art pencil!  I have no idea where I heard about this first, but drawing in blue is awesome if you scan your work and modify it digitally, because it's easier to blast out a crazy color like blue.  &lt;br /&gt;So when I apply the inks, the raw page looks like this:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SwEUXqm5rKI/AAAAAAAABBo/cOeeqpSYiSA/s1600/Meccanica+Panel+1.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 234px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SwEUXqm5rKI/AAAAAAAABBo/cOeeqpSYiSA/s400/Meccanica+Panel+1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5404623424628305058" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If you look carefully in the bottom left corner of the panel, you can see some black "X"es showing through the ink wash.  That's a note for me to completely fill that area in black.  As a raw scan, though, it looks a little washed out.  Let's fix that!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SwEU9DoMxBI/AAAAAAAABBw/RGXS2xIzWUo/s1600/Meccanica+Panel+2.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 237px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SwEU9DoMxBI/AAAAAAAABBw/RGXS2xIzWUo/s400/Meccanica+Panel+2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5404624066999796754" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Every change in this panel was made in Photoshop.  By adjusting the color levels and blasting out the blue (as well as any yellow from the paper), it's easier to select areas in the image as a pure black and white picture.  That font is based on my handwriting, and I made it a year or so ago using an online service that is sadly no longer free.  This is the first time I've used it on such a big project.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SwEVra2K7WI/AAAAAAAABB4/yjK88TjvYsc/s1600/Meccanica+Panel+3.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 342px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SwEVra2K7WI/AAAAAAAABB4/yjK88TjvYsc/s400/Meccanica+Panel+3.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5404624863506394466" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;That's it!  The final page ranks up at about 600 dpi. After the page is done, I create two different sizes and resolutions - a small one for the newspaper editor to use, and an even smaller, web-friendly size for the blog!  And then the page is good to go!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a title="I Got A Woman - Ray Charles"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;She's a kind of friend indeed&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8450366775723112275-5992379262736648299?l=bluedelliquanti.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://bluedelliquanti.blogspot.com/2009/11/meccanica-numbah-nine.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Blue)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SwESiupoyfI/AAAAAAAABBY/cV9QeJKVQFY/s72-c/M09+Final+(smaller).jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8450366775723112275.post-2309812517957657280</guid><pubDate>Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:17:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-11-12T14:06:00.669+01:00</atom:updated><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>italian</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>comics</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>art</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>scrooge mcduck</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>donald duck</category><title>Italian Scrooge McDuck comics! Yes, really!</title><description>Today I want to share something very special with you.  Very special indeed.  While traversing a downtown market last weekend, I came across a table of pop culture ephemera - movie posters, German VHS tapes, and best of all, Italian Scrooge McDuck comics.&lt;br /&gt;Let me repeat that for you. &lt;em&gt;Italian Scrooge McDuck comics&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;If you've never set foot in a European grocery store, allow me to elaborate.  Disney comics arrived in the 1950s and they never left.  You can still buy little comic digests of Mickey Mouse (Topolino) and Donald Duck (Paperlino) in the supermarket.  When &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Barks"&gt;Carl Barks&lt;/a&gt;, the father of all things Donald, passed away nine years ago, all of Europe &lt;em&gt;mourned&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;Anyway, some Swiss kid (man?) in the seventies diligently clipped out these comics and bound them into shiny seventies-style book covers.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Svv-cD6_WWI/AAAAAAAABBI/-CoPfX9QTnE/s1600-h/Paperone+1.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 332px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Svv-cD6_WWI/AAAAAAAABBI/-CoPfX9QTnE/s400/Paperone+1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5403191936003561826" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It looks like a Christmas present, and it &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt;. A present from &lt;em&gt;God&lt;/em&gt;.  Check this out awesomesauce after the jump.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="fullpost"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Okay, first of all, you may have noticed that this &lt;em&gt;volume&lt;/em&gt; specializes on &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrooge_mcduck"&gt;Scrooge McDuck&lt;/a&gt;, aka Zio Paperone, and his rival, the almost as filthy rich Rockerduck! This is not a weird Italian name, as I initially suspected.  There is actually a character named &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_D._Rockerduck"&gt;&lt;em&gt;John D. Rockerduck&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.  Hell yes.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Svv-ZC8LY7I/AAAAAAAABBA/GuE-iH6N-e8/s1600-h/Paperone+2.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 282px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Svv-ZC8LY7I/AAAAAAAABBA/GuE-iH6N-e8/s400/Paperone+2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5403191884200502194" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In terms of art quality, the contents of this &lt;em&gt;tome&lt;/em&gt; can be hit or miss.  I've scanned pages from the two stories I thought looked the best, and are probably by the same guy.  This artist's name is probably lost to the ages, seeing as it's Disney's name that appears at the beginning of every story.  I'll do some research, though - see who was drawing Paperone comics in Italy in 1975.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Svv-WF8c8GI/AAAAAAAABA4/FdtT2lIdR_M/s1600-h/Paperone+3.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 304px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Svv-WF8c8GI/AAAAAAAABA4/FdtT2lIdR_M/s400/Paperone+3.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5403191833467351138" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;My Italian's still subpar, but I gather that Scrooge invites his nephews for a ride on his new ship, which is taking a voyage dragging some floating bag (of what? I haven't gathered) behind it.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Svv-S7udVnI/AAAAAAAABAw/usDzepnw-mk/s1600-h/Paperone+4.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 302px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Svv-S7udVnI/AAAAAAAABAw/usDzepnw-mk/s400/Paperone+4.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5403191779184694898" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Rockerduck wants to sabotage the voyage, so he sends the vaguely humanoid Beagle Boys (aka Banda Bassotti) in a tiny sub to follow them.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Svv-PIyaviI/AAAAAAAABAo/0p1gO8LeyBE/s1600-h/Paperone+5.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 305px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Svv-PIyaviI/AAAAAAAABAo/0p1gO8LeyBE/s400/Paperone+5.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5403191713971486242" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The Beagle Boys' expressions are pretty hysterical.  And the lines are so sharp and well defined!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Svv-LgpZkmI/AAAAAAAABAg/4oRW4qbpLZQ/s1600-h/Paperone+6.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 295px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Svv-LgpZkmI/AAAAAAAABAg/4oRW4qbpLZQ/s400/Paperone+6.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5403191651656634978" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And look at the way Scrooge's boat is given some definition from a distance.  I totally want to steal this guy's inking techniques!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Svv-IF7JnTI/AAAAAAAABAY/ndrQWRI0_wA/s1600-h/Paperone+7.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 295px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Svv-IF7JnTI/AAAAAAAABAY/ndrQWRI0_wA/s400/Paperone+7.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5403191592943721778" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Look how &lt;em&gt;epic&lt;/em&gt; Huey/Dewey/Louie looks in panel four on the right page!  "There's a red thingie heading towards the green thingie.  I think &lt;em&gt;we're&lt;/em&gt; the green thingie!" &lt; / Galaxy Quest&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Svv9iHpoudI/AAAAAAAABAQ/_FjPMjdOZoM/s1600-h/Paperone+8.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 292px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Svv9iHpoudI/AAAAAAAABAQ/_FjPMjdOZoM/s400/Paperone+8.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5403190940572105170" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The guy's expression in the top right corner just makes my life.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Svv9dEmJ5fI/AAAAAAAABAI/0kkmkbneU2w/s1600-h/Paperone+9.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 295px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Svv9dEmJ5fI/AAAAAAAABAI/0kkmkbneU2w/s400/Paperone+9.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5403190853852849650" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;Again&lt;/em&gt; with the epic backgrounds! Don't you realize you're drawing a &lt;em&gt;children's comic&lt;/em&gt;, good sir?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Svv9ZzpjEjI/AAAAAAAABAA/2IVLQ7J6ytM/s1600-h/Paperone+10.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 294px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Svv9ZzpjEjI/AAAAAAAABAA/2IVLQ7J6ytM/s400/Paperone+10.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5403190797764071986" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Okay, ignore the somewhat questionable Eskimo stereotype for a second.  It's 1970s Italy after all.  The story actually get interesting here.  After the Beagle Boys accidentally sink Scrooge's ship and they're left floating on that bag thing in the middle of the Artic Ocean, they wake up as they're saved by an Eskimo who warms his igloo with blocks of ice that can mysteriously catch fire.  Turns out there's a nearby glacier made entirely of frozen petroleum!  So &lt;em&gt;that's&lt;/em&gt; what caused peak oil!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Svv9WFgXipI/AAAAAAAAA_4/MAjmoiSDp9U/s1600-h/Paperone+11.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 292px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Svv9WFgXipI/AAAAAAAAA_4/MAjmoiSDp9U/s400/Paperone+11.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5403190733837929106" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We now move onto the next story, with some pretty amazing "Did I tell you I love money?" faces on Scrooge there.  The story's about, like, a water shortage? And another competition between Scrooge and Rockerduck to race to the Arctic, for real ice this time.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Svv9S4dD0-I/AAAAAAAAA_w/XRYZ52wcd4M/s1600-h/Paperone+12.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 285px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Svv9S4dD0-I/AAAAAAAAA_w/XRYZ52wcd4M/s400/Paperone+12.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5403190678794785762" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;An&lt;em&gt;other&lt;/em&gt; epic shot of one of the nephews at the montors - judging by the red parka, this must be Huey.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Svv9OURLY0I/AAAAAAAAA_o/hMu-uwwhvrk/s1600-h/Paperone+13.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 286px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Svv9OURLY0I/AAAAAAAAA_o/hMu-uwwhvrk/s400/Paperone+13.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5403190600361796418" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The solution to transporting all that ice back to Duckopolis (or wherever the hell they live?) Balloons.  Of course!  I love how they slurged on some paint-like shading on those icebergs in an otherwise standard four-color comic.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Svv9K02YGGI/AAAAAAAAA_g/iTM8N9gsIgw/s1600-h/Paperone+14.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 284px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Svv9K02YGGI/AAAAAAAAA_g/iTM8N9gsIgw/s400/Paperone+14.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5403190540388276322" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;When they hit a rainstorm, the ducks camp under the icebergs - but discover the "rainstorm" is just the ice melting in the desert sun.  Okay, here's why I love cartoon logic.  Not only can a huge freaking glacier be buoyed by a hot air ballon, not &lt;em&gt; only &lt;/em&gt; can it release enough water to be mistaken for a Class 5 tropical storm, &lt;em&gt;BUT!&lt;/em&gt; The trail of water they leave behind makes a little path of verdant greenery in the desert.  If only, comics.  If only.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Svv9HTiz3hI/AAAAAAAAA_Y/I5dxMxFVXow/s1600-h/Paperone+15.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 292px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Svv9HTiz3hI/AAAAAAAAA_Y/I5dxMxFVXow/s400/Paperone+15.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5403190479908232722" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And finally, explosions!  Who doesn't love explosions?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Svv9DdzvF-I/AAAAAAAAA_Q/a6zy33ctQxY/s1600-h/Paperone+16.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 285px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Svv9DdzvF-I/AAAAAAAAA_Q/a6zy33ctQxY/s400/Paperone+16.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5403190413944100834" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Face it, people, these comics are rad.  I love them so much.  Can't these be translated to English?  America friggin' &lt;em&gt;invented&lt;/em&gt; the magic kingdom, and as far as comics go these are pretty magical.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a title="Duck Tales Theme Song - Mark Mueller"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tales of derring-do, bad and good luck tales (ooh-ooh!)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8450366775723112275-2309812517957657280?l=bluedelliquanti.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://bluedelliquanti.blogspot.com/2009/11/today-i-want-to-share-something-very.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Blue)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Svv-cD6_WWI/AAAAAAAABBI/-CoPfX9QTnE/s72-c/Paperone+1.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>1</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8450366775723112275.post-7402533560481117014</guid><pubDate>Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:44:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-11-09T11:55:10.048+01:00</atom:updated><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>comics</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>music</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>meccanica</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>newspaper</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>series</category><title>Behold... Meccanica Page Eight!</title><description>&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SvFdUV4UtdI/AAAAAAAAA_I/ErtkbE7J4Bw/s1600-h/M08+Final+(smaller).jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SvFdUV4UtdI/AAAAAAAAA_I/ErtkbE7J4Bw/s400/M08+Final+(smaller).jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5400200032246085074" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And with that, we're up to page eight.  How time flies.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://coverlaydown.com/2009/11/all-folked-up-punk-rock-vol-1/"&gt;Here's&lt;/a&gt; a fun thing Boingboing graciously directed me towards.  Someone compiled a bunch of folksy covers of classic punk songs.  If a Clash song covered by the Indigo Girls doesn't sound like something you'd be interested in, think again.  There's some really original takes on songs you thought had been sung to death - I didn't even recognize &lt;a href="http://coverlaydown.com/tunes/sedated.mp3"&gt;"I Wanna Be Sedated."&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a title="I Wanna Be Sedated - Allo, Darlin'"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Can't control my fingers, can't control my toes&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8450366775723112275-7402533560481117014?l=bluedelliquanti.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://bluedelliquanti.blogspot.com/2009/11/behold-meccanica-page-eight.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Blue)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SvFdUV4UtdI/AAAAAAAAA_I/ErtkbE7J4Bw/s72-c/M08+Final+(smaller).jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8450366775723112275.post-9144260411462913888</guid><pubDate>Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:20:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-11-02T12:39:35.979+01:00</atom:updated><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>comics</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>meccanica</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>newspaper</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>series</category><title>Meccanica, PAGE SEBBEN, y'all!</title><description>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Su7A1mDe9dI/AAAAAAAAA_A/gFfvLqq6Dx4/s1600-h/M07+Final+(smaller).jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Su7A1mDe9dI/AAAAAAAAA_A/gFfvLqq6Dx4/s400/M07+Final+(smaller).jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399465030244562386" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;God, drawing Maimuna and Floor together is so much fun!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Spent the weekend working on various commissions and rewatching &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_note"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Death Note&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, which you may recall me &lt;a href="http://bluedelliquanti.blogspot.com/2007/10/japan-just-gives-me-more-reasons-to.html"&gt;gushing over more than two years ago&lt;/a&gt;.  Good stuff.  &lt;em&gt;Goooooood stuff&lt;/em&gt;.  If you have the time, go to Youtube and find the episodes - they're all there.  &lt;br /&gt;Speaking of which, I've also really gotten into a new series by the &lt;em&gt;Death Note&lt;/em&gt; guys, called &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakuman"&gt;Bakuman&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;, a manga about two kids who want to... create a manga.  It's totally different, but still really entertaining.  It's got a lot of inside knowledge about the brutal world of "getting big" with manga, but also pokes fun at the clash between following your dreams and "being realistic." &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9f/Bakuman_Vol_1_Cover.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 326px; height: 500px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9f/Bakuman_Vol_1_Cover.jpg" border="0" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Good stuff all around.  See you next week!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a title="Young at Heart - Frank Sinatra"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;And if you should survive to a hundred and five&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8450366775723112275-9144260411462913888?l=bluedelliquanti.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://bluedelliquanti.blogspot.com/2009/11/meccanica-page-sebben-yall.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Blue)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Su7A1mDe9dI/AAAAAAAAA_A/gFfvLqq6Dx4/s72-c/M07+Final+(smaller).jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8450366775723112275.post-6275125993600584007</guid><pubDate>Sat, 31 Oct 2009 16:38:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-10-31T17:54:54.958+01:00</atom:updated><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>halloween</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>art</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>girls</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>movie</category><title>Halloween Girls!</title><description>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SuxoDpwFJbI/AAAAAAAAA-w/OY6oldofPNU/s1600-h/Girls+Halloween.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 244px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SuxoDpwFJbI/AAAAAAAAA-w/OY6oldofPNU/s400/Girls+Halloween.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398804465266795954" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Happy Halloween, everybody!  As promised, a couple of the horror genre's leading ladies in chronological order!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bride_Of_Frankenstein"&gt;The Bride&lt;/a&gt; (1935).  A classic.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eyes_without_a_face"&gt;Christiane&lt;/a&gt; (1960).  Sure, she's not so much of a monster as her dad was, I guess, but being ugly in 1960s France was probably enough to fit the bill.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrie_(1976_film)"&gt;Carrie&lt;/a&gt; (1976). She was originally going to be red, but it clashed too much with the soft bluish color I picked for the black-and-white girls.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blair_Witch_Project"&gt;The Witch&lt;/a&gt; (1999).  Spoooooooky.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ring_(2002_film)"&gt;Samara&lt;/a&gt; (2002). Yes, it's not as scary as the original Japanese version blah blah blah shutup.  I don't know why I made her come out of such a tiny TV - I think I was thinking of the itty bitty TV from the &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treehouse_of_Horror_5"&gt;Simpsons' &lt;em&gt;Shining&lt;/em&gt; spoof&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://pauked.com/blog/files/urgetokillfading.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 700px; height: 560px;" src="http://pauked.com/blog/files/urgetokillfading.jpg" border="0" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Oh well.  Time to get ready for the obligatory Halloween party!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a title="Remains of the Day - Danny Elfman"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Her jewels were missin' and her heart was bust&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8450366775723112275-6275125993600584007?l=bluedelliquanti.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://bluedelliquanti.blogspot.com/2009/10/halloween-girls.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Blue)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SuxoDpwFJbI/AAAAAAAAA-w/OY6oldofPNU/s72-c/Girls+Halloween.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>1</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8450366775723112275.post-6964627749859033163</guid><pubDate>Mon, 26 Oct 2009 09:48:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-10-27T09:43:35.999+01:00</atom:updated><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>comics</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>art</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>girls</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>meccanica</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>newspaper</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>series</category><title>New Meccanica Page! Number 6!</title><description>Okay, I lied.  The internet's been fritzy in my room, so Page Six is going live Tuesday morning.  Oh well.&lt;br /&gt;Anyway, with page six comes the introduction of Pilot Number Five, someone I've been dying to introduce to the comic since I outlined the entire semester's run.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SuX_ys7q_DI/AAAAAAAAA-o/U9r_bVp98sg/s1600-h/M06+Final+(smaller).jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SuX_ys7q_DI/AAAAAAAAA-o/U9r_bVp98sg/s400/M06+Final+(smaller).jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5397000974993390642" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Yup, meet Floor van Heerden!  I realized that Maimuna needed an opposite to thrash against every once in a while, and Floor's about as opposite as you can get!  Not to mention I've always thought my Giant Robot Story needed an &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asuka_Langley_Soryu"&gt;Asuka equivalent&lt;/a&gt; to make things just right.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Also! I'm starting a new feature - something I've wanted to do for a while but decided to finally DO this week.  One of my favorite weeklies is &lt;a href="http://atomictoy.org/365dudes/"&gt;Dude-a-Day&lt;/a&gt;, which is exactly what it sounds like - drawing fictional dudes for 365 days.  It's a great project, but got me to thinking... is there no love for great fictional females out there?&lt;br /&gt;So I decided I'll draw some girls once a week, at least three, if not four or five.  Seeing as we've been talking about &lt;a href="http://www.serenityrose.com"&gt;Serenity Rose&lt;/a&gt;, that'll be the subject of Batch Number One:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SuVwfJBw_DI/AAAAAAAAA-g/kawC726U_K8/s1600-h/Girls+SR.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 244px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SuVwfJBw_DI/AAAAAAAAA-g/kawC726U_K8/s400/Girls+SR.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396843408774986802" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Stiletta, Vicious, and Serenity, respectively.  Witches are appropriate for Halloween, right?  I've got plenty more spooktacular drawings for this upcoming week, too.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Oh, fine.  One more thing.  Don't have a song stuck in your head? &lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViEH57xQu1c"&gt;You do now.&lt;/a&gt; You're welcome.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a title="Motteke! Sailor Fuku - Lucky Star"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Darlin' darlin' FREEZE!&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8450366775723112275-6964627749859033163?l=bluedelliquanti.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://bluedelliquanti.blogspot.com/2009/10/new-meccanica-page-number-6.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Blue)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SuX_ys7q_DI/AAAAAAAAA-o/U9r_bVp98sg/s72-c/M06+Final+(smaller).jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8450366775723112275.post-7122803768574448597</guid><pubDate>Sat, 24 Oct 2009 21:08:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-10-26T21:37:02.144+01:00</atom:updated><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>comics</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>review</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>serenity rose</category><title>Book Report: Serenity Rose Volume 2</title><description>The next Meccanica's going up tonight, I promise, but before I did, I wanted to talk about an awesome webcomic that finally getting the print treatment.  &lt;a href="http://bluedelliquanti.blogspot.com/2008/04/spring-ling-things.html"&gt;More than a year ago&lt;/a&gt; I mentioned Aaron Alexovich's then-newly kick-started comic &lt;a href="http://www.heartshapedskull.com/"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Serenity Rose&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, back online after almost four years.  At the time, it was updating at only a page a week, but after nearly a year and a half, the 122 page comic is complete and hitting the presses.&lt;br /&gt;So what's it about?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SuVsiTtVHXI/AAAAAAAAA-Y/cqxn-vIHTI0/s1600-h/sr+page+4.gif"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 331px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SuVsiTtVHXI/AAAAAAAAA-Y/cqxn-vIHTI0/s400/sr+page+4.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396839065135160690" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In Alexovich's comic, being a witch isn't a lifestyle choice.  It's something you're born as, and being such a rare genetic anomaly gets you attention whether you like it or not.  Serenity Rose, America's youngest witch, has a special level of infamy after hijacking a schoolbus as a teenager.  After the ensuing televised scandal, she's become a recluse in her little Salem-esque town of Crestfallen.  The second volume picks up when Serenity, about to begin an apprenticeship with witch/rockstar Vicious Whisper, realizes that her dreams are manifesting themselves in the woods, attacking hikers, and attracting the bad kind of attention.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SuVsewSOgFI/AAAAAAAAA-Q/JHcR4fJps_U/s1600-h/sr+page+3.gif"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 395px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SuVsewSOgFI/AAAAAAAAA-Q/JHcR4fJps_U/s400/sr+page+3.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396839004086632530" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I love a good worldbuilding exercise, and my god, does Alexovich do that well. The world in &lt;em&gt;Serenity Rose&lt;/em&gt; is almost - but not quite - like our own, tweaked by the subtle presence of the supernatural.  And the town in which our protagonist lives, as well as its sordid history, is laid out in just enough detail to want us to learn more about it.  The story's told really well, too - though one thing new readers should keep in mind is that the volume does not stand entirely on its own, referring to enough characters and events in the first volume to leave a few mystified.  Don't let that discourage you, though, most of the blanks are easy enough to fill in by yourself.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SuVsb0IBB_I/AAAAAAAAA-I/r3sX-bQ1k5s/s1600-h/sr+page+2.gif"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 325px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SuVsb0IBB_I/AAAAAAAAA-I/r3sX-bQ1k5s/s400/sr+page+2.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396838953577940978" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Another thing that should be pointed out is the amazing strides Alexovich has taken in art over the last few years.  I've been alive long enough to see my favorite webcomic artists make astonishing leaps in terms of the quality of their artwork, and it's so rewarding to see the results.  Mike Krahulik of &lt;a href="http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Penny Arcade&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; is a great example of this; &lt;a href="http://drmcninja.com/"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Dr. McNinja's&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; Chris Hastings is another.  Alexovich definitely belongs in this category.  If you find his pages from the very first volume of &lt;em&gt;SR&lt;/em&gt; and compare them to his newest stuff, it's flabbergasting. His rich atmospheric charcoal drawings (peppered with flecks of vibrant color) have aquired a level of sophistication that comes with experience, but even his storytelling has a more mature aspect to it.  The fact that Alexovich can also tell a compelling, unique story with nearly-all-female leads is also heartening in a medium that still has so few interesting heroines.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SuVq9UrU7xI/AAAAAAAAA-A/sq77Wz53ZTc/s1600-h/sr+page+1.gif"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 349px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SuVq9UrU7xI/AAAAAAAAA-A/sq77Wz53ZTc/s400/sr+page+1.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396837330228408082" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As I rule, I tend not to purchase books of content freely available online (I make an exception for &lt;a href="http://www.achewood.com/"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Achewood&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;), but I might reconsider this Christmas if the print version of &lt;em&gt;Goodbye Crestfallen&lt;/em&gt; looks as gorgeous as the jpegs have for the last year and a half.  In the meantime, do yourself a favor and read the volume &lt;a href="http://www.heartshapedskull.com/comic-archive/"&gt;from the beginning&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a title="Fourside (Earthbound) - Keiichi Suzuki"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Instrumental&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8450366775723112275-7122803768574448597?l=bluedelliquanti.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://bluedelliquanti.blogspot.com/2009/10/book-report-serenity-rose-volume-2.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Blue)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SuVsiTtVHXI/AAAAAAAAA-Y/cqxn-vIHTI0/s72-c/sr+page+4.gif' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8450366775723112275.post-4952714415294197501</guid><pubDate>Fri, 23 Oct 2009 09:14:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-10-23T11:39:46.663+02:00</atom:updated><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>photo</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>scotland</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>travel</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>announcement</category><title>BACK!</title><description>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SuF4WfjXzMI/AAAAAAAAA94/M5mjlebijAc/s1600-h/Killin+Watercolor+2.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SuF4WfjXzMI/AAAAAAAAA94/M5mjlebijAc/s400/Killin+Watercolor+2.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5395726156388879554" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SuF4RqWlkVI/AAAAAAAAA9w/5EX0XeVwGxg/s1600-h/Sterling+Horizon+10.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SuF4RqWlkVI/AAAAAAAAA9w/5EX0XeVwGxg/s400/Sterling+Horizon+10.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5395726073388699986" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SuF34Y7g-nI/AAAAAAAAA9o/3efnalNg5so/s1600-h/Skye+12.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SuF34Y7g-nI/AAAAAAAAA9o/3efnalNg5so/s400/Skye+12.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5395725639215020658" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SuF3zpNy7iI/AAAAAAAAA9g/awlMXOYfZis/s1600-h/Quiraing+6.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SuF3zpNy7iI/AAAAAAAAA9g/awlMXOYfZis/s400/Quiraing+6.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5395725557687316002" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SuF3iypCYYI/AAAAAAAAA9Y/Y41iv5HPePs/s1600-h/Fairie+Glen+12.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SuF3iypCYYI/AAAAAAAAA9Y/Y41iv5HPePs/s400/Fairie+Glen+12.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5395725268159717762" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SuF3VZsUijI/AAAAAAAAA9Q/eebJodydEaw/s1600-h/Seaside+8.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SuF3VZsUijI/AAAAAAAAA9Q/eebJodydEaw/s400/Seaside+8.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5395725038124304946" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SuF3LbwzlcI/AAAAAAAAA9I/mzmrFAKsnoE/s1600-h/Glenfinnan+11.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SuF3LbwzlcI/AAAAAAAAA9I/mzmrFAKsnoE/s400/Glenfinnan+11.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5395724866881295810" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SuF2_yQExOI/AAAAAAAAA9A/XKvWks3T2D8/s1600-h/People%27s+Palace+1.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SuF2_yQExOI/AAAAAAAAA9A/XKvWks3T2D8/s400/People%27s+Palace+1.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5395724666759595234" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SuF2xKyYXmI/AAAAAAAAA84/9CP2mUOIkRQ/s1600-h/Scott+Monument+2.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SuF2xKyYXmI/AAAAAAAAA84/9CP2mUOIkRQ/s400/Scott+Monument+2.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5395724415647899234" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SuF2ltEFnrI/AAAAAAAAA8w/Bvd70bjo3Pk/s1600-h/Princes+Street+Gardens+1.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SuF2ltEFnrI/AAAAAAAAA8w/Bvd70bjo3Pk/s400/Princes+Street+Gardens+1.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5395724218690543282" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SuF2gTSIWOI/AAAAAAAAA8o/Gw2pIpqZQj8/s1600-h/Arthur%27s+Seat+8.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SuF2gTSIWOI/AAAAAAAAA8o/Gw2pIpqZQj8/s400/Arthur%27s+Seat+8.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5395724125870774498" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SuF2Fr6h8oI/AAAAAAAAA8g/duO9vo_GkKE/s1600-h/Birks+13.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SuF2Fr6h8oI/AAAAAAAAA8g/duO9vo_GkKE/s400/Birks+13.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5395723668626207362" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a title="Into The West - Annie Lennox"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What can you see on the horizon?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8450366775723112275-4952714415294197501?l=bluedelliquanti.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://bluedelliquanti.blogspot.com/2009/10/back.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Blue)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SuF4WfjXzMI/AAAAAAAAA94/M5mjlebijAc/s72-c/Killin+Watercolor+2.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8450366775723112275.post-1941855451144894223</guid><pubDate>Mon, 05 Oct 2009 19:15:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-10-05T21:21:47.072+02:00</atom:updated><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>video</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>comics</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>meccanica</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>newspaper</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>series</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>the books</category><title>Meccanica, Page FIVE!</title><description>Oh snap!  I almost forgot to put up the comic today!  Well, here it is, and I hope you've enjoyed the first little &lt;em&gt;Meccanica&lt;/em&gt; story.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SspGAlKoZZI/AAAAAAAAA8Y/sgr8yROb_K0/s1600-h/M05+Final+(smaller).jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SspGAlKoZZI/AAAAAAAAA8Y/sgr8yROb_K0/s400/M05+Final+(smaller).jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5389196879892866450" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Less than a week 'til Scotalnd, and life is good.  Enjoy.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/b1irbhY_dgY&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/b1irbhY_dgY&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a title="Take Time - The Books"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tutto è santo, tutto è santo, tutto è santo.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8450366775723112275-1941855451144894223?l=bluedelliquanti.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://bluedelliquanti.blogspot.com/2009/10/meccanica-page-five.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Blue)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SspGAlKoZZI/AAAAAAAAA8Y/sgr8yROb_K0/s72-c/M05+Final+(smaller).jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8450366775723112275.post-5944295232548378073</guid><pubDate>Fri, 02 Oct 2009 07:33:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-10-02T13:58:53.166+02:00</atom:updated><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>video</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>mameshiba</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>cute</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>japan</category><title>Mameshiba: Japan's harbinger of trivia and cuteness</title><description>So last week I was looking at some internet list, and I found these.  Behold the Japanese "Mameshiba" commercials, in which hapless people are subject to the unadulterated cuteness and pointless trivia of a dog-faced bean.&lt;br /&gt;Why? Well, as far as I can gather, the Japanese word for "trivia" is literally "bean knowledge."  So that makes sense, I guess.  But it's the only thing in any of these commercials that does.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Ss6d3ogxfXc&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Ss6d3ogxfXc&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A note to my less Japanophile readers - that word the boy says before eating, "Itadakimasu," basically means, "Time to eat," but it's more elaborate than that.  It's a Buddhist custom, apparently, and means "I will receive [the food I am about to eat, which shouldn't talk, let alone tell me some dandelion trivia]."  People say it before every meal.  Get ready to hear it a lot.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/E6m44rPoXng&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/E6m44rPoXng&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/m510QbB4Tn8&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/m510QbB4Tn8&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/0UPoQGG5L2I&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/0UPoQGG5L2I&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Natto is basically fermented soybeans, a traditional breakfast meal.  It's an acquired taste, one that some, like &lt;a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Bourdain&gt;Anthony Bourdain&lt;/a&gt;, would recommend for non-beginners.  Others would just call it gross.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/mjmQw3JaTsE&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/mjmQw3JaTsE&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I just love the sound that little dogbean makes. &lt;em&gt;Oon-gyooooooooooo.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/UkI35qh9s8w&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/UkI35qh9s8w&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Red beans are another traditional thing.  It's a common filling in sweets, as well as an ice cream flavor.  It's a much more accessible taste, though, and delicious to boot.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/p-E-8RXRG1M&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/p-E-8RXRG1M&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/VyJzQIwX8AQ&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/VyJzQIwX8AQ&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Oh my god that dogbean has a little mustache oh my &lt;em&gt;god&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/bFxGBI8H-5M&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/bFxGBI8H-5M&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Did any of you see the lecherous way that dude stared at the flight attendant's ass?  Luckily, Dogbean is there to bring him down a peg.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/fUycneBNAyM&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/fUycneBNAyM&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Oh my &lt;em&gt;god&lt;/em&gt; that dogbean is trying so hard to speak English!  So hard!  I love how they set this short in America, too.  But apparently, English dialogue wasn't enough to make the point, so they had to have a black kid in there, too, just to be clear.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ckXkq99AZsc&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ckXkq99AZsc&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/5hTp10yVZ8M&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/5hTp10yVZ8M&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And thus the Dogbean cycle is complete, as its stomach-turning trivia is not enough to terrify its unwitting victim.  That boy looked pretty chunktastic, though (at least by Japanese standards), so maybe Dogbean is lucky that it could distract him from eating it with the tantalizing thought of women's undergarments.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;What were these commercials adverising? &lt;em&gt;I still don't know!&lt;/em&gt;  It's just a weird way to spend five minutes, I guess, but what five minutes they were.  God bless Japan.  I miss it so.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a title="Mameshiba Jingle - Mameshiba"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mame-chishiki, la la la&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8450366775723112275-5944295232548378073?l=bluedelliquanti.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://bluedelliquanti.blogspot.com/2009/10/mameshiba-japans-harbinger-of-trivia.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Blue)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8450366775723112275.post-6258308037647989402</guid><pubDate>Mon, 28 Sep 2009 08:13:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-09-28T10:22:59.344+02:00</atom:updated><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>comics</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>meccanica</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>newspaper</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>series</category><title>Meccanica, Page Four!</title><description>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Sr42APxJ0KI/AAAAAAAAA8Q/XXAOMB9X0LE/s1600-h/M04+Final+(smaller).jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Sr42APxJ0KI/AAAAAAAAA8Q/XXAOMB9X0LE/s400/M04+Final+(smaller).jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5385801582242287778" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Here's part four.  If you're wondering why it's a week early, I've now stepped up production to weekly, instead of bi-weekly.  So more Meccanica a month!  At least, until Academic Travel, I mean.  And then you're on your own.  But don't worry, I've got plenty of stuff lined up for after the two-week dry spell.  In the meantime, though, you've got one more week to find out if Maimuna wins the race.  Will she? (I think odds are good).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a title="Birthday Cake - Cibo Matto"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Extra sugar, extra salt, extra oil and MSG&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8450366775723112275-6258308037647989402?l=bluedelliquanti.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://bluedelliquanti.blogspot.com/2009/09/meccanica-page-four.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Blue)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Sr42APxJ0KI/AAAAAAAAA8Q/XXAOMB9X0LE/s72-c/M04+Final+(smaller).jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8450366775723112275.post-5842841064214336916</guid><pubDate>Mon, 21 Sep 2009 13:27:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-09-21T15:48:10.501+02:00</atom:updated><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>comics</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>meccanica</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>newspaper</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>series</category><title>Meccanica, Page Three</title><description>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Srd_bB6B1ZI/AAAAAAAAA8I/ulEzqaLgEws/s1600-h/M03+Final+(smaller).jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Srd_bB6B1ZI/AAAAAAAAA8I/ulEzqaLgEws/s400/M03+Final+(smaller).jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383911981889738130" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;That's right, it's time for Meccanica, part &lt;em&gt;trois!&lt;/em&gt; And so Maimuna's first race begins.  If you're left on tenterhooks, don't worry, I'll start updating more frequently in a few weeks.  &lt;br /&gt;What else is going on?  Well, a &lt;a href=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76p9x0-2rJY&gt;certain incident&lt;/a&gt; left me offering a nod of approval towards the Big O (as if he hasn't earned at least one already).  And, on a not entirely unrelated topic, I like &lt;a href=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgZ7e-FDeac&gt;Glee&lt;/a&gt;.  Track down an episode of that, if you haven't already.&lt;br /&gt;Til next week!  Off to class!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a title="Gold Digger - Kanye West"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I can tell by your charm&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8450366775723112275-5842841064214336916?l=bluedelliquanti.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://bluedelliquanti.blogspot.com/2009/09/meccanica-page-three.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Blue)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Srd_bB6B1ZI/AAAAAAAAA8I/ulEzqaLgEws/s72-c/M03+Final+(smaller).jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8450366775723112275.post-6997951926366005740</guid><pubDate>Sun, 13 Sep 2009 07:57:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-09-13T10:10:58.552+02:00</atom:updated><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>video</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>music</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>shel silverstein</category><title>In Memory of Shel Silverstein</title><description>It's ten years ago this year that &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shel_Silverstein"&gt;Shel Silverstein&lt;/a&gt; died.  I remember how crestfallen I was when I first heard the news, but I honestly didn't remember it until a friend of mine read a poem by old Uncle Shelby last week in a poetry class.  And then I remembered everything, and learned some new stuff, too.&lt;br /&gt;Lots of people forget what an accomplished singer and songwriter he was, along with being a poet, an author of children's books, and a Playboy columnist (Stephen King's in good company in that respect).  &lt;br /&gt;There's videos out there with Shel rockin' out on the Johnny Cash show with Cash himself.  I forgot how scratchy and odd-sounding his voice was.  But Shel and Cash were buddies, and out of their partnership was born possibly the best country song of all time.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="480" height="385"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/M89c3hWx3RQ&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/M89c3hWx3RQ&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Here's Loretta Lynn singing "One's On The Way," also by Shel.  And on the Muppet Show, no less!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="480" height="385"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/4c18Cjt_DxQ&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/4c18Cjt_DxQ&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Great Big Sea, doing a cover of "The Mermaid," which first appeared as a poem when Silverstein worked for Playboy.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="480" height="385"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/jXPzMXN3hAg&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/jXPzMXN3hAg&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And finally, an animated version of &lt;em&gt;The Giving Tree&lt;/em&gt;.  I forget how beautiful this story is.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="480" height="385"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/1TZCP6OqRlE&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/1TZCP6OqRlE&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;RIP, Uncle Shelby.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a title="A Boy Named Sue - Johnny Cash"&gt;But I made a vow to the moon and stars&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8450366775723112275-6997951926366005740?l=bluedelliquanti.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://bluedelliquanti.blogspot.com/2009/09/in-memory-of-shel-silverstein.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Blue)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8450366775723112275.post-636572227672206807</guid><pubDate>Sun, 06 Sep 2009 09:01:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-09-07T09:12:13.428+02:00</atom:updated><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>comics</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>meccanica</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>newspaper</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>series</category><title>Meccanica Page 2</title><description>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SqN6nwNiMbI/AAAAAAAAA8A/co_XvNIPETI/s1600-h/M02+Final+(smaller).jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SqN6nwNiMbI/AAAAAAAAA8A/co_XvNIPETI/s400/M02+Final+(smaller).jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5378277203385659826" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Page Two!  Enjoy.&lt;br /&gt;I also mangaged to dig up this poster I did back in May for a school paintball game.  For whatever reason it never got a post of its own, so I'm giving it this one.  I think the first panel is still my favorite.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SgR0B422CSI/AAAAAAAAA5o/wi3vl41pAAY/s1600-h/paintball+poster+(edited).jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 322px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SgR0B422CSI/AAAAAAAAA5o/wi3vl41pAAY/s400/paintball+poster+(edited).jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333515434504620322" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;See you in two weeks.  Same time, same place.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a title="Wanderlust - Björk"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Aboard my floating house&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8450366775723112275-636572227672206807?l=bluedelliquanti.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://bluedelliquanti.blogspot.com/2009/09/meccanica-page-2.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Blue)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SqN6nwNiMbI/AAAAAAAAA8A/co_XvNIPETI/s72-c/M02+Final+(smaller).jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8450366775723112275.post-6278015800917559957</guid><pubDate>Tue, 25 Aug 2009 09:47:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-08-25T12:22:15.287+02:00</atom:updated><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>comics</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>meccanica</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>newspaper</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>series</category><title>Meccanica Page 1</title><description>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SpO6X2_cj_I/AAAAAAAAA74/kzh31KfX0kc/s1600-h/M01+Final+(smaller).jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SpO6X2_cj_I/AAAAAAAAA74/kzh31KfX0kc/s400/M01+Final+(smaller).jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373843699444518898" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Well, here it is.  Page one of my new serialized comic &lt;em&gt;Meccanica&lt;/em&gt;.  I should be putting up one of these pages about once every two weeks, probably no more frequently than that.  I've got work to do, after all.  I'm back at school now!  But these were fun to do.  Definitely expect more soon.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a title="Santana DVX - The Lonely Island"&gt;A lion drank a bottle and forgot how to growl&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8450366775723112275-6278015800917559957?l=bluedelliquanti.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://bluedelliquanti.blogspot.com/2009/08/meccanica-page-1.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Blue)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SpO6X2_cj_I/AAAAAAAAA74/kzh31KfX0kc/s72-c/M01+Final+(smaller).jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>1</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8450366775723112275.post-6573329471552565340</guid><pubDate>Sun, 09 Aug 2009 17:01:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-08-09T19:09:44.661+02:00</atom:updated><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>video</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>art</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>dan meth</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>animation</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>movie</category><title>The last 19 years of my life in a two minute video.</title><description>&lt;object width="400" height="300"&gt;&lt;param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=6019939&amp;amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;amp;show_title=1&amp;amp;show_byline=1&amp;amp;show_portrait=0&amp;amp;color=&amp;amp;fullscreen=1" /&gt;&lt;embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=6019939&amp;amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;amp;show_title=1&amp;amp;show_byline=1&amp;amp;show_portrait=0&amp;amp;color=&amp;amp;fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="300"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://vimeo.com/6019939"&gt;My Influences (A Response to Dan Meth)&lt;/a&gt; from &lt;a href="http://vimeo.com/user2146013"&gt;Blue Delliquanti&lt;/a&gt; on &lt;a href="http://vimeo.com"&gt;Vimeo&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It's a collage of all (or nearly all of) my artistic influences from the last 19 years of my life. I made this video yesterday as a response to a video made by animator &lt;a href="http://danmeth.com/"&gt;Dan Meth&lt;/a&gt;, who made the first "Influence" video last month:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="400" height="300"&gt;&lt;param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=5616917&amp;amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;amp;show_title=1&amp;amp;show_byline=1&amp;amp;show_portrait=0&amp;amp;color=&amp;amp;fullscreen=1" /&gt;&lt;embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=5616917&amp;amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;amp;show_title=1&amp;amp;show_byline=1&amp;amp;show_portrait=0&amp;amp;color=&amp;amp;fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="300"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://vimeo.com/5616917"&gt;My Influences&lt;/a&gt; from &lt;a href="http://vimeo.com/danmeth"&gt;Dan Meth&lt;/a&gt; on &lt;a href="http://vimeo.com"&gt;Vimeo&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Good stuff, huh? Comics soon, I promise.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a title="Experimental Film - They Might Be Giants"&gt;It's the part that makes your face implode.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8450366775723112275-6573329471552565340?l=bluedelliquanti.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://bluedelliquanti.blogspot.com/2009/08/last-19-years-of-my-life-in-two-minute.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Blue)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8450366775723112275.post-2770484538881106628</guid><pubDate>Mon, 22 Jun 2009 01:23:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-06-22T03:59:06.748+02:00</atom:updated><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>comics</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>fanart</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>video games</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>mirror's edge</category><title>Stupid little Mirror's Edge comic</title><description>Just another lazy comic I made while the majority of my creative energies are directed elsewhere.  When I haven't been working, I've been astonishingly lazy, and two rainy days were spent starting (and, eventually, completing) the 2008 game &lt;em&gt;Mirror's Edge&lt;/em&gt;.  The painful protest from my left hand has made me vow I will never do such a long marathon ever again.  But it was an interesting experience.&lt;br /&gt;Those of my three readers not familiar with ME's unique game mechanics can get a taste thusly:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="480" height="385"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/2N1TJP1cxmo&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/2N1TJP1cxmo&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Like a shooter, it's experienced from a first-person perspective, but all you do is jump rooftops, do crazy &lt;em&gt;Crouching Tiger&lt;/em&gt; gymnastics, and run from the cops.  If you &lt;em&gt;really&lt;/em&gt; want to shoot guns, you can shoot guns, but &lt;em&gt;Mirror's Edge&lt;/em&gt; is uniquely non-aggressive in that respect - the 360 even gives you brownie points if you complete the game without firing a single shot.  I chose the mad pursuit of unlocking the "Pacifist" achievement, but in doing so, an already tricky game became a never-ending punishment.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Sj7dLmPEKuI/AAAAAAAAA54/MQAOKL34bDk/s1600-h/Mirror%27s+Edge+(small).jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Sj7dLmPEKuI/AAAAAAAAA54/MQAOKL34bDk/s400/Mirror%27s+Edge+(small).jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349956598674762466" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;When you play ME, be ready to fail.  A lot.  And because failure often involves a too-short leap to another skyscraper, be ready to see your hideous death replayed before you eyes over and over again.  &lt;br /&gt;The first time this happened, I thought of &lt;em&gt;Groundhog Day&lt;/em&gt;, where Bill Murray, having resigned himself to reliving the same day over and over again, begins to kill himself in a variety of exciting ways, including plunging off a skyscraper, just to see what it's like.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;Mirror's Edge&lt;/em&gt; has ensured that I will never have that fantasy again.&lt;br /&gt;You will be forced to repeat a run over and over again, until you know that you have to do a wall-run &lt;em&gt;there&lt;/em&gt;, and have enough momentum for an extra jump &lt;em&gt;there&lt;/em&gt;.  Doing a successful run resembles an Olympic gymnastics routine, except when you slip up, you get shot, tasered, or fall to an untimely death.&lt;br /&gt;Also, you'd hope that even in a totalitarian city-state that crunches down on free speech, they would still have modest comforts.  You know.  Like &lt;em&gt;save points&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;All grumbling aside, I had a lot of fun.  The color scheme is gorgeous, and the &lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1gOBgLVgZo"&gt;Scandinavian-style ambient music&lt;/a&gt; is chill-tastic.  Faith is a cool heroine.  And even thought you die hundreds of times before you get past a gauntlet of snipers and cops, finally reaching that red door gives you a huge feeling of accomplishment.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a title="Pentagram - Cake"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I have passed the test, just like all the rest&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8450366775723112275-2770484538881106628?l=bluedelliquanti.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://bluedelliquanti.blogspot.com/2009/06/stupid-little-mirrors-edge-comic.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Blue)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Sj7dLmPEKuI/AAAAAAAAA54/MQAOKL34bDk/s72-c/Mirror%27s+Edge+(small).jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8450366775723112275.post-3621918856368285772</guid><pubDate>Sun, 07 Jun 2009 01:38:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-06-07T03:44:03.345+02:00</atom:updated><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>art</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>stupid</category><title>Not dead!  Just working.</title><description>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SisaPSd2GhI/AAAAAAAAA5w/z9MDs5Cem5Y/s1600-h/Blog+Doodle.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 268px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SisaPSd2GhI/AAAAAAAAA5w/z9MDs5Cem5Y/s400/Blog+Doodle.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5344394232762604050" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Yep, working.  And being lazy.  And completing &lt;em&gt;Half Life 2&lt;/em&gt;.  And watching &lt;em&gt;Veronica Mars&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;You know, busy!  UP was good, I'll write more about it soon.&lt;br /&gt;More drawings, too.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a title="We Used To Be Friends - The Dandy Warhols"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Come on now, sugar! (Bring it on, bring it on, yeah!)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8450366775723112275-3621918856368285772?l=bluedelliquanti.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://bluedelliquanti.blogspot.com/2009/06/not-dead-just-working.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Blue)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SisaPSd2GhI/AAAAAAAAA5w/z9MDs5Cem5Y/s72-c/Blog+Doodle.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>1</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8450366775723112275.post-6933356193618092328</guid><pubDate>Sun, 03 May 2009 20:33:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-05-08T10:59:09.966+02:00</atom:updated><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>art</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>alphons mucha</category><title>New photoshop piece, with a bit of Mucha.</title><description>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Sf3_xRHjvCI/AAAAAAAAA5g/K4eb-XWiKz8/s1600-h/Subrosa+(Complete).jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 291px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Sf3_xRHjvCI/AAAAAAAAA5g/K4eb-XWiKz8/s400/Subrosa+(Complete).jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5331698755750312994" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I got an amazing book about Mucha when I was in Prague, so I whipped out a little something over the last week.  &lt;br /&gt;My productivity will be significantly decreased this week (finals, blergh), but hopefully I'll have more stuff ready by the time I get to the States.  In the meantime, listen to &lt;a href="http://8tracks.com/teamteamwork/the-ocarina-of-rhyme"&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;.  If you're at all a fan of hip-hop or &lt;em&gt;The Legend of Zelda&lt;/em&gt;, you'll dig it.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a title="I Used To Love H.E.R. (Hyrule Market) - Common"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In a method that was leisurely&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8450366775723112275-6933356193618092328?l=bluedelliquanti.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://bluedelliquanti.blogspot.com/2009/05/new-photoshop-piece-with-bit-of-mucha.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Blue)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Sf3_xRHjvCI/AAAAAAAAA5g/K4eb-XWiKz8/s72-c/Subrosa+(Complete).jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8450366775723112275.post-3918259251222703356</guid><pubDate>Sun, 19 Apr 2009 09:31:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-04-20T13:18:19.944+02:00</atom:updated><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>video</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>postal service</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>music</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>kanye west</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>funny</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>devendra banhart</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>bjork</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>jose gonzalez</category><title>The top 5 insanely awesome (and awesomely insane) music videos I'm watching right now</title><description>I've found myself watching a lot of music videos lately, some by bands I already liked, and some that are brand new to me. But recently I started thinking about how totally, utterly &lt;em&gt;weird&lt;/em&gt; some of them are.  But the weirdness doesn't hurt them - it makes me want to watch them over and over again.  So I thought I'd share. Here are the top 5 insanely awesome (and awesomely insane) music videos I've watched recently.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Good Morning, by Kanye West&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="480" height="385"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/G9LtywBgeMw&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/G9LtywBgeMw&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I was really tempted to put up the video for "Stronger," since it's basically one long &lt;em&gt;Akira&lt;/em&gt; reference set to hip hop, and therefore ridiculous, but seeing as I &lt;em&gt;can't find it&lt;/em&gt;, this'll do.  I love stuff by &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takashi_Murakami"&gt;Takashi Murakami&lt;/a&gt;, and this video has all of his signature flourishes - cute animals, bright colors, abstract patterns, and weird crap that's there for no reason.  It also features the one thing from anime I wish could do in real life: rip off my clothes and reveal a brand new outfit underneath.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;We Will Become Silhouettes, by the Postal Service&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="480" height="385"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/gEILFf2XSrM&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/gEILFf2XSrM&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It's the apocalypse!  Yay!  &lt;br /&gt;But seriously, the director of &lt;em&gt;Napoleon Dynamite&lt;/em&gt; did this video, and it shows.  He matched up the song's bouncy synthesizer perfectly with 70s-era, &lt;em&gt;Logan's Run&lt;/em&gt;-esque visuals, complete with orange onesies and acid-wash jeans.  It's a crazy song and I love it.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Teardrop, by José González&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="480" height="385"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/9B-h1EEsKDA&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/9B-h1EEsKDA&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A cover of the classic song by Massive Attack (aka: &lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muI4MHCitno"&gt;the &lt;em&gt;House&lt;/em&gt; theme song&lt;/a&gt;), Jose Gonzalez somehow makes the melody sound even creepier by making it acoustic.  The crazy visuals in the music video only add to the effect, and the whole thing looks like a film you have to watch when you're indoctrinated into a cult.  In fact, the first thing I thought of when I saw it was &lt;a href="http://www.cartoonbrew.com/shorts/the-origin-of-mankind.html"&gt;this creepy propaganda cartoon about Mormons&lt;/a&gt;.  See what I mean?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Wanderlust, by Björk&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="480" height="385"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/_8ZPV4RzG4M&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_8ZPV4RzG4M&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Bjork is, like, the &lt;em&gt;queen&lt;/em&gt; of weird music videos.  You may not like her voice, but you have to give her props for all of the awesomeness she packs in these three-minute videos. (Want proof?  Watch &lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgk360PZJ7w"&gt;this one&lt;/a&gt;.  Or &lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igOWR_-BXJU&amp;feature=related"&gt;this one.&lt;/a&gt;  Or &lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjAoBKagWQA&amp;feature=related"&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;!)  But the relatively new video for "Wanderlust" takes it to a totally new level.  You've got the staples of a typical Bjork video (namely, Bjork in some kind of weird outfit), but then you add stuff like a herd of Muppet yaks, a muderous backpack, and a lecherous river god, and you have... a Bjork music video.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But the winner is...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Carmensita, by Devendra Banhart&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="480" height="385"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/k_QAPjtO2cA&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/k_QAPjtO2cA&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;What is going &lt;em&gt;on&lt;/em&gt; in this video?  Why is a crappy Bollywood movie set to a samba?  Why does the good guy shoot snakes out of his forehead while the bad guy pretends to twirl a drawn-on mustache?  Why does Natalie Portman set herself on fire and turn into an octopus?  God knows, but it's awesome, all five minutes of it.  &lt;br /&gt;Also?  The guy who wrote the subtitles is a &lt;em&gt;genius&lt;/em&gt;.  Poorly-translated subtitles are always funny, but some of the lines in this video sound like &lt;em&gt;Yugi-oh&lt;/em&gt; episodes, they're that bad.  (&lt;em&gt;"Fear not my sweet flower, I have obtained the powers of the Enochian ninth circuit.""Fools! No man has reached that circuit!"&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a title="Carmensita - Devendra Banhart"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Crystal bubbles will cremate our troubles!&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8450366775723112275-3918259251222703356?l=bluedelliquanti.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://bluedelliquanti.blogspot.com/2009/04/top-5-insanely-awesome-and-awesomely.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Blue)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8450366775723112275.post-1954585543819171477</guid><pubDate>Tue, 14 Apr 2009 14:20:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-04-14T20:57:19.073+02:00</atom:updated><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>scott pilgrim</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>photo</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>fanart</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>movie</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>adventure time</category><title>Geeky news...</title><description>Do you see this?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SdXBTE6hdpI/AAAAAAAAA5M/I3RuKnAe4E8/s1600-h/3408553560_55311ed32b_b.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 225px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SdXBTE6hdpI/AAAAAAAAA5M/I3RuKnAe4E8/s400/3408553560_55311ed32b_b.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5320371068288988818" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This is a photo taken by Edgar Wright.  Yes, &lt;em&gt;Shaun of the Dead&lt;/em&gt;'s Edgar Wright.  He takes photos on the set of the film he's making.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;This is Kim Pine and she's playing the drums in the &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Pilgrim"&gt;Scott Pilgrim&lt;/a&gt; movie that is being filmed RIGHT NOW&lt;/em&gt;.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt; Hells.&lt;br /&gt;Yes. &lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In other news...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SeTah6_p0eI/AAAAAAAAA5U/odVmBjwqpr4/s1600-h/Adventure+Time.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 311px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SeTah6_p0eI/AAAAAAAAA5U/odVmBjwqpr4/s400/Adventure+Time.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5324620935765545442" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I pounded that picture out in an hour, and I don't even care.  That's right, Adventure Time (below) is going to be a show! They even have a production blog, conveniently located &lt;a href="http://frederatorblogs.com/adventure_time/"&gt;here.&lt;/a&gt; I &lt;em&gt;cannot wait&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="480" height="385"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/LNVYWJOEy9A&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/LNVYWJOEy9A&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If you think that's awesome, here's a treat: one more short, also by &lt;a href="http://www.buenothebear.com/"&gt;Pen Ward&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="480" height="385"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Laiv0mNJ4Zk&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Laiv0mNJ4Zk&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And finally, I'm super excited for &lt;em&gt;Where The Wild Things Are&lt;/em&gt;:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="640" height="385"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/--N9klJXbjQ&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/--N9klJXbjQ&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;That's all for now.  It's a beautiful day right now - I think April is my new favorite month.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a title="The Sprout and the Bean - Joanna Newsom"&gt;Should we break some bread?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8450366775723112275-1954585543819171477?l=bluedelliquanti.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://bluedelliquanti.blogspot.com/2009/04/geeky-news.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Blue)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/SdXBTE6hdpI/AAAAAAAAA5M/I3RuKnAe4E8/s72-c/3408553560_55311ed32b_b.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8450366775723112275.post-270536035439366317</guid><pubDate>Fri, 27 Mar 2009 17:17:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-04-02T09:35:42.652+02:00</atom:updated><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>art</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>video games</category><title>Last round of Videogame Classics!</title><description>That's right - this round adds it up to an even ten.  Gosh, what a fun and creative time-waste that was.&lt;br /&gt;First up, a hallowed classic...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Sc0Kl7LxmeI/AAAAAAAAA4k/Vne__Q1YIws/s1600-h/Videogame+Classics+Earthworm+Jim+(small).jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 243px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Sc0Kl7LxmeI/AAAAAAAAA4k/Vne__Q1YIws/s400/Videogame+Classics+Earthworm+Jim+(small).jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5317918381652941282" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I remember I actually had the idea for this one while I was traveling around.  I kept thinking, "What if I could find an ancient marble statue and put a tiny worm head on it?" After all, the funniest thing about Earthworm Jim is his design.  It's awesome.  &lt;br /&gt;So I went to the archive of Life photos (which you should all check out &lt;a href="http://images.google.com/hosted/life"&gt;right now&lt;/a&gt;) and found a good photo to base the piece on.  And the rest is Photoshop.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Sc337z6YnjI/AAAAAAAAA48/gjSn_7AQB7Q/s1600-h/Videogame+Classics+Kingdom+Hearts+(small).jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 243px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Sc337z6YnjI/AAAAAAAAA48/gjSn_7AQB7Q/s400/Videogame+Classics+Kingdom+Hearts+(small).jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5318179341913857586" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Ohhh... I played so much of this on the bus...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Sc0PZ1SIvTI/AAAAAAAAA4s/Jkar8ZTNa9s/s1600-h/Videogame+Classics+Majora%27s+Mask+(small).jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 243px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Sc0PZ1SIvTI/AAAAAAAAA4s/Jkar8ZTNa9s/s400/Videogame+Classics+Majora%27s+Mask+(small).jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5317923671468719410" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I realized as I was making this that this game was the first Zelda game I ever played.  Once when I was 10, we went into a Target and they had Majora's Mask set up on a console, so I played it for five minutes while my mom shopped.  It was the very beginning of the game, where the Skull Kid had turned Link into a Deku Scrub and he couldn't leave Clock Town?  So for, like, two years, I thought Link looked was a weird little plant guy.  Fun little trip down Memory Lane.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;That's probably it on these.  I have an idea for &lt;em&gt;one more&lt;/em&gt;, but &lt;a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ollym/sets/72157612646893506/"&gt;Olly Moss&lt;/a&gt; is probably coming after me with a tire iron as it is.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a title="Digital Love - Daft Punk"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why don't you play the game?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8450366775723112275-270536035439366317?l=bluedelliquanti.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://bluedelliquanti.blogspot.com/2009/03/last-round-of-videogame-classics.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Blue)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Sc0Kl7LxmeI/AAAAAAAAA4k/Vne__Q1YIws/s72-c/Videogame+Classics+Earthworm+Jim+(small).jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8450366775723112275.post-8894819915257190115</guid><pubDate>Wed, 25 Mar 2009 11:32:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-03-25T15:26:07.974+01:00</atom:updated><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>comics</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>school</category><title>More comics, comin' atcha!</title><description>The newest comic, hot off the press.  This is about Slovakian food.  Delicious, meaty, cholestorol-filled Slovakian food.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/ScogroAUKWI/AAAAAAAAA3c/Cfp0UjVQZPY/s1600-h/Mar+2009+comic+2.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 278px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/ScogroAUKWI/AAAAAAAAA3c/Cfp0UjVQZPY/s400/Mar+2009+comic+2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5317098243909495138" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And one more that was forgotten in the archives.  This was from January, I think.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Scog6S4kyEI/AAAAAAAAA3k/22mGuVvKBlg/s1600-h/Jan+2009+comic+1.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 278px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Scog6S4kyEI/AAAAAAAAA3k/22mGuVvKBlg/s400/Jan+2009+comic+1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5317098495937923138" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;One thing I noticed in Brno were posters for Watchmen, which I didn't expect.  Of course there was no time to go see it.  And of course I would come back hometo a roommate who said she watched "Watchmen" while in the UK.  Just to spite me!&lt;br /&gt;This will have to be &lt;em&gt;corrected&lt;/em&gt;.  More drawings soon.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a title="Saturday Morning Watchmen - Harry Partridge"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;John can give you cancer and he'll turn into a car&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8450366775723112275-8894819915257190115?l=bluedelliquanti.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://bluedelliquanti.blogspot.com/2009/03/more-comics-comin-atcha.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Blue)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/ScogroAUKWI/AAAAAAAAA3c/Cfp0UjVQZPY/s72-c/Mar+2009+comic+2.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8450366775723112275.post-4317521785419282027</guid><pubDate>Sat, 21 Mar 2009 18:06:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-03-25T15:23:41.278+01:00</atom:updated><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>photo</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>travel</category><category domain='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#'>slovakia</category><title>Back from Slovakia!</title><description>&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Sco-BCYNBXI/AAAAAAAAA4U/RNJroaJ2CD4/s1600-h/3382790267_13f77620c4%5B1%5D.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Sco-BCYNBXI/AAAAAAAAA4U/RNJroaJ2CD4/s400/3382790267_13f77620c4%5B1%5D.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5317130497603470706" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Sco9s0-rLYI/AAAAAAAAA4M/5L7olM-iw1A/s1600-h/3383936745_0234e39614%5B1%5D.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Sco9s0-rLYI/AAAAAAAAA4M/5L7olM-iw1A/s400/3383936745_0234e39614%5B1%5D.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5317130150409350530" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Sco9m9Wt7pI/AAAAAAAAA4E/BXLet0pf7VI/s1600-h/3384746718_f740c165aa%5B1%5D.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Sco9m9Wt7pI/AAAAAAAAA4E/BXLet0pf7VI/s400/3384746718_f740c165aa%5B1%5D.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5317130049578462866" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Sco9bqLHfBI/AAAAAAAAA38/cHWfeulEe3Q/s1600-h/3383926451_71eafbf4fd%5B2%5D.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Sco9bqLHfBI/AAAAAAAAA38/cHWfeulEe3Q/s400/3383926451_71eafbf4fd%5B2%5D.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5317129855450971154" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Sco9LJmpPVI/AAAAAAAAA30/xMWEj6190Go/s1600-h/3384756666_8d627fc164%5B2%5D.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Sco9LJmpPVI/AAAAAAAAA30/xMWEj6190Go/s400/3384756666_8d627fc164%5B2%5D.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5317129571830152530" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Sco89n8n5fI/AAAAAAAAA3s/WPQ-Gtunba8/s1600-h/3384112591_fd30275786%5B1%5D.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Sco89n8n5fI/AAAAAAAAA3s/WPQ-Gtunba8/s400/3384112591_fd30275786%5B1%5D.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5317129339457234418" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Sco-GmCEgLI/AAAAAAAAA4c/o6OJSu52KvM/s1600-h/3382779409_9f4464950f%5B2%5D.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Sco-GmCEgLI/AAAAAAAAA4c/o6OJSu52KvM/s400/3382779409_9f4464950f%5B2%5D.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5317130593073660082" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;More on my Flickr page &lt;a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bluedelliquanti/"&gt;here.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Comics soon!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a title="Too Much - Dave Matthews Band"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Got more cars than a beach got sand&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8450366775723112275-4317521785419282027?l=bluedelliquanti.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://bluedelliquanti.blogspot.com/2009/03/back-from-slovakia.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Blue)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_U23txwbD-c8/Sco-BCYNBXI/AAAAAAAAA4U/RNJroaJ2CD4/s72-c/3382790267_13f77620c4%5B1%5D.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item></channel></rss>