Sketch Dump: The PO Notebook 2: Cyarin, Dizzy, Boo, Shu

This first one is Shu Lien from the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon comic book.  I reviewed that recently.  This is probably my best pencil sketch.  Thank God, I didn't destroy this with my lousy inking and coloring.

    

These next three are sketches that I did of Cyarin's artwork.     

She does a lot of self-portraits, kind of like a female Boris Vallejo.  Very cute art though.  

  

I despise Minsc and Boo from the D&D Baldur's Gate comics.  I know I'm in the minority in that opinion.  They're too silly for my tastes.  Anyway, here's some sketches of Delina from the comic.  

This is the first of many to come sketches of Twitch streamer, Dizzykitten.  There'll be better ones to follow.  

This is a villain from a Dr. Strange comic.  I forgot to write her name down.

Sketch Dump: The PO Notebook 1: Mostly comic characters

I'm calling this notebook, the PO Notebook, because I did a bunch of sketches out of Pernille Orum's artbook.  This was recommended to me by an associate at Barnes & Noble while I was looking for something else.  There's art and tutorials in the book.  I wasn't sure about the purchase at first, but I found a lot inside that I liked drawing.    

For this post, there's just one little PO pencil sketch, but there'll be more.  (It's tyranny of alphabetical order in the folder where these sketches are.)  Starting with this new sketchbook, I inked and colored most of the drawings.  Sometimes, it worked.  Sometimes, I just ruined a nice pencil sketch.  These are also not scans.  I took pictures of the sketchbook, which was a lot quicker process.  I admit the quality isn't quite as good, but this isn't exactly fine art that must be preserved for the ages.

  

Princess Aura from the 80's Flash Gordon cartoon.  The second attempt on the right turned out better.

That's Black Canary from a Birds of Prey comic.  On the left is a villain from a Legion of Superheroes comic.  

That's another Black Canary at the top.  The other two are from a Sabrina trade that I reviewed.

That's a terrible Black Widow on the left.  Roxy from Gen 13 at the top and a PO sketch on the bottom.

There's Ms. Marvel.  It's from an Avengers comic drawn by Frank Cho.  Gee, Captain Marvel used to be hot.  

Photo Bomb: Hanging with Wally Part 4

Part 3

We crossed the street from the mall to hang out at the Hilton Hotel there.  Sure, why not?  We just went up the elevator and wandered around.  We were never questioned.  Again, Wally's altered reality bubble was strong.  

I don't think I had the flash on the camera at the time, so we had to position the camera on another chair and set it for a long exposure.  The lens cap was sitting on my groin there.  

I took a couple of shots of Wally and Brian from the upstairs window.  

I had better hair back then.  I still have hair, but it's not glamorously 80's style.

We returned to the mall parking lot.

That's from a Levi's commercial from the time, even though his jeans weren't blue.

Yeah, Wally hopped on somebody's bike.

No chance.  I'm not that brave.

And after this, I unloaded the camera and took it to the one-hour developing shop in the mall.  Do I need to explain film developing to younger readers?  Doing that probably wiped out all the money I had.  Being at the mall sucks when you've got no money.  

I admit that this series wasn't much of an adventure, but it's a nice little fun memory.  Yeah, all the picture captions and stories are real.  Whatever story Wally would tell, would inevitably get independently verified.  Yes, he was character. 

Photo Bomb: Hanging with Wally Part 3

Part 2

 

We had been driving around in Wally's mom's car all this time.  He told me to take a picture to prove that he did actually put gas in it before he returned it.

We returned in his car and went to the mall.  We ran into his neighbor, whose house he egged in the morning.  I forgot the name of this place.  They served lemonade and hot dogs.  The place is long gone, of course.

His little brother, Brian, was with us for the trip.  

Here we walked up the steep embankment next to the mall to cross the street.

Judging by the shirt change, maybe this trip to the mall was the next day.  I miss those red Converse shoes for their looks, but they were uncomfortable as hell.  By the way, those pants were as tight they look.  I'm forced to suck in gut just looking at the picture.  I had a limited wardrobe.  

Part 4

Photo Bomb: Hanging with Wally Part 2

Part 1

Next, Wally wanted to show me Mayfield, his high school.  (Yes, that is an amazingly 80's wardrobe look.)  We were confronted by a security guard as we wandered around the campus.  Without skipping a beat, Wally told him we were there to see the janitor about something he left in his locker.  No problem.  Wally mostly lived in a bubble where reality conformed to his will.

He ended the trip with a crank call from a pay phone.  I feel like I probably need to explain the concept of a pay phone to younger readers, but I won't.

Wally then took me by to visit his friend, Irene.  He really just wanted to show me this hot chick.  The bear she's holding was a gift from her boyfriend in Special Forces.  Needless to say hands-off.  

I didn't get the memo, obviously.  Actually, Wally told us to get into that pose.  By the way, the sunglasses and shirt were Wally's.  The shirt was from a nightclub in town called Popcorns.  I forgot how he got it.  He was too young to have worked there.

  

Later, Wally told me some stories about going to Mazatecan for his senior trip.  He had this picture of Irene from the trip that I traded him for.  (I don't remember what I traded.)  

I have a cassette tape of the stories Wally told.  He told me he didn't drink on the vacation, but "took care of" his friends who did plenty of extra drinking to make up for him.  Wally would talk to the cabbies in Spanish, overcharge his friends for the fare, tip the cabbie, and then treat everybody to breakfast the next day.  After a couple of days of this, he was lending his friends back their own money.

One of the guys on the trip got an economy-sized box full of condoms.  He wasn't sure if it was from his mother, as the note inside said, or from his girlfriend, who apparently doesn't have trust issues.  The guy handed out a share to all of his friends.  Later in the week, Wally had a girl in his room and was getting serious.  Suddenly, there's banging on the door.  It was one the guys.  He'd used up all of his condoms and wanted one.  "Sure.  $3."  "What?  I'm not paying $3 for a rubber!"  "Be that way.  $5."  "Okay, okay.  I'll pay."  Wally then used the money to buy Irene something in the giftshop the next day.  He didn't use any of his money for the trip.     

We were driving through a neighborhood.  Wally saw a cute girl and stopped the car to talk to her.  I think she turned out to be a bit young for him.

We went to see another girl that was friends with him.  

She's not that bad, in spite of the overly 80's look, but after Irene, I wasn't impressed.

Part 3

MLB Trade Deadline Report 2021

(We interrupt yesterday's nostalgia series for this nearly timely baseball report.)

7-30-21

What a trade deadline!  Twitter was probably the best way to keep up with all the developments, thus proving that it has some value.  Of course, we’ll never know how much breaking and relevant news they suppressed.  The MLB post-deadline report ran a mile-long.  I’ll try to make some sense of it and reevaluate the upcoming soon-to-be canceled postseason.  (With each passing day, it’s becoming less likely there’s any future.)

 

Dear Cubs and Nationals fans,

I hope you enjoyed your respective championships.  You will now suck for the foreseeable future. 

Sincerely,

Your GM’s. 

 

Yeah, the Cubs traded off their youthful core that was going to deliver the city of Chicago multiple championships.  Even with the pain relieved of their century plus World Series drought, this had to hurt their fans.  Meanwhile, there’s an old axiom that when a team is playing badly it’s easier to fire the manager than the players.  The Nationals have declined that advice and gone the other way with it.  Their deadline activities were more like a D-Day casualty list.  I was shocked by how much they traded away.    

 

The Rockies turned out to be the most enigmatic team at the deadline.  They didn’t trade any of their sellable players.  They said nobody gave them a worthwhile offer for Trevor Story, which is a laugh, given what they gave Nolan Arenado away for.  I really find it hard to believe that they didn’t get any good offers for pitchers German Marquez or Jon Gray.  Oh boy, will that be an unhappy clubhouse for the rest of the season.  On that note, given how well the Mariners are doing, that move of their ace closer to their division rival, the Astros, had to be crushing, especially the day after beating them and coming from seven runs down to do it. 

 

While the Padres got an all-star infielder in Adam Frazier, what they really needed was pitching help, as their staff is starting to break down.  At the last moment, they lost out on getting Max Scherzer to the Dodgers.  Not to mention, they were also trying to dump Eric Hosmer in the deal.  Hosmer doesn’t just have World Series experience, he was a hero in the Royals’ win in 2015.  I’d like to keep someone like that in the clubhouse in any capacity.  He can’t be entirely happy given how hard the team tried to trade him.     

 

Yes, the Dodgers basically won the trade deadline by getting an ace pitcher and Trea Turner.  They’ve actually had enough injuries (and losing Trevor Bauer to litigation) to somewhat justify the move.  The Dodgers did have to move their #1 and #2 prospects to make that deal.

 

The Padres’ farm system is basically exhausted from trades.  (Trust me, I’ve been listening to the Chihuahuas this season.)  They couldn’t compete on that front.  Mackenzie Gore is their only desirable prospect and he’s in witness protection or something.  He disappeared off the face of the earth after an injury.  I have no idea what happened to him.  Now Fernando Tatis Jr. is injured again, along with Chris Paddock.  When it rains it pours.  After getting stiffed, the Padres did get Jake Marisnick from Cubs and Daniel Hudson from Nationals.

 

The Yankees may have come in second in deadline deals by getting Anthony Rizzo and Joey Gallo.  Yep, all they needed were a couple of big left-handed bats for the Little League dimensions of the right field at Yankee Stadium to be winners.  This time for sure.  (I can’t wait to hear their next excuse for not winning.)  They also got Andrew Heaney from Angels, who may be throwing in the towel on this season with Mike Trout still out.  

 

Others in the AL East did not sit idle.  The Blue Jays snagged Jose Berrios from Twins, Joakim Soria from D-backs, and Brad Hand from Nationals.  The pitching reinforcements have arrived.  They think they can make it into the postseason.  The Rays got batting help with Nelson Cruz from Twins.  Tyler Glasnow may be done for season though.  That hurts.  I’d thought the Red Sox were smugly idle, but they picked up Kyle Schwarber from Nationals’ yard sale.  However, their best move may be waiting for Chris Sale coming back in the near future. 

 

The White Sox got Eloy Jimenez back from his Spring Training injury (but quickly lost him again to a more minor injury).  Their cross-town rivals chipped in some pitching help in the form of Craig Kimbrel.  All that and they weren’t even being pressured in their division.  The Astros, in addition to the M’s Kendall Graveman, got a scalp from the Indians in the form of Phil Maton.  (I’ve got to get in all of these Indian quips in while I can.)  Have the Astros have almost locked up their division?  They’re doing well.  (I’ve been listening to Alex Bregman rehabbing in Triple-A against the Chihuahuas, so he’s close.)  The A’s may have something to say about that.  At least, they’re leading the wild card race.  They picked up Yan Gomes and Josh Harrison from Nationals and Starling Marte from the Marlins.

 

What else?  The Giants got Kris Bryant to pick up their offense.  I guess Evan Longoria is done for the season at least.  The Mets got Javier Baez, though I think Francisco Lindor is out with an injury, so that’s a bit of a wash.  The Braves picked up Joc Pederson.  That takes care of the Cubs’ contributions to other teams’ playoff efforts.  The Braves also picked up Jorge Soler from Royals.  None of this is going to help them with Ronald Acuna Jr. down.  The Brewers got Eduardo Escobar from the D-Backs, who are now officially devoid of Major League talent. 

 

The Phillies took all of the Rangers’ good pitchers.  (“Good” being a relative term.)  And the Cardinals bolstered their pitching staff with J.A. Happ from Twins and Jon Lester from the Nationals.  Holy crap!  Did the Nationals keep anyone other than Juan Soto?  Is the locker room there like him and 24 slots labeled “Player to be Named Later?”  Oh, and Orioles picked up a bunch of Nationals fans.  May as well watch a losing team in a nicer nearby stadium.

 

How does all of this affect the playoffs, which may or may not be played?  Time for some ill-considered updated picks to replace my previous ill-considered preseason picks.  Ugh, my head is swimming from all of these moves.  Worse, I don’t have the current standings in front of me as write this.  Do the Nationals have anybody left that I could trade my leftover pizza for to have them write the rest of this?

 

(It was my birthday today.  I hate birthdays.  This one involved getting sung to twice at work.  They also gave me a pizza there for dinner.  Unfortunately, this was after I’d had pizza with my dad for lunch.  I have leftovers from both.)

 

The surprising Red Sox, the White Sox, and the Astros will win their divisions in the American League.  I don’t think any of them will be seriously threatened.  The Rays, Yankees, Blue Jays, and A’s will fight over the other two spots.  (Wait, did the MLB go back to the previous playoff format?  Screw it.  I’ll going with this.)  I think the A’s have a better chance of getting a spot given that the four AL East teams will beat each other up.  The Jays fade, even with their new pitching help.  Do the Rays over-perform, or do the Yankees under-perform?  I think the Rays do it with their usual smoke and mirrors, even with Rizzo and Gallo hitting 100 home runs at Yankee Stadium in less than half a season.  

 

The even more surprising Giants will lose the NL West to the unsurprising Dodgers, but will get a wild card spot.  The Mets squeak out a win in the NL East over the mediocre Phillies and Braves.  The Brewers beat out the Reds for the Central.  (The Cardinals don’t figure into it.)  I think the Padres win the other wild card over the Reds.  (I admit that the Padres are sitting on really shaky ground right now.) 

 

How does it all end?  Probably badly for everyone this fall.  If the playoffs begin, I’ll take the White Sox over the Red Sox to win the AL, and Dodgers beating anybody in the NL.  The White Sox somehow win the World Series, because I’m not picking the Dodgers.  (Actually, the White Sox pitching is better and their offense is probably as good.)  Now you know who would win, whether or not the playoffs are played.

Photo Bomb: Hanging with Wally Part 1

Wally was my childhood friend in Las Cruces in grade school and junior high.  After our family moved to El Paso, we still kept in touch.  The summer after we'd both graduated, I came up for a trip to visit.  I had my camera with me to document at least part of the trip.  I wrote the captions soon after taking the pictures.

  

The first thing that happened in the morning, Wally grabbed an egg out of the fridge.  He walked outside humming and smiling, and then threw the egg at his neighbor's house where his friend, Durrant, lived.  I think this gives you a good up front view on Wally's personality.

Wally was into freestyle biking.

I put a filter on the camera just to see how it would work.  Obviously, not well.

Wally taught me a couple of tricks.  I kind of miss that Mickey shirt.

Part 2