Elm St.

Images Property of New Line Cinema
Copyright 1984 & 2009

I just saw the trailer for the remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street and I have to admit I'm a little disappointed. It doesn't look very scary at all. Which is strange because a lot of what is in the trailer are iconic scenes from the original, like the bathtub scene (I hated bathing after that) and the bedroom scene (not the one with Johnny Depp).

Being a remake, of course there is a new Krueger, Robert Englund is out and Jackie Earle Haley is in. You might know him as Rorschach from Watchmen and as Kelly from all the Bad News Bears movies, funny I always thought he was a girl, but as Krueger he kind of looks alien.

In any event, I'm not that enthused over seeing this one. I think I'll rent it.

This is Halloween

Micron Drawing & Collage
8.5" x 11"

For my countdown to Halloween I thought I'd visit one of my all time favorite movies Halloween. Not just favorite scary movie, this movie is in my top ten.

I just drew multiple Michael's and digitally collaged the pieces I thought looked and worked best together. Then I digitally illustrated and badly Photoshop filtered an image of young Michael with his adult portrait superimposed. A pretty literal interpretation of Michael really just being a broken boy.

To me this is Halloween.

Batmanny

Image Property of Warner Bros. Entertainment
Copyright 1989

October is three days away, but that hasn't stopped talk between Michelle and I over what to be this coming Halloween. With that in mind I thought I'd post a nostalgic image of me in my Batman costume from 2nd grade.

I still remember being in love with Tim Burton's Batman and strongly deciding that I wanted to be Batman for Halloween. With a VHS tape in hand and my mother on board to be my workhorse, I set out to have her create the best homemade Batcostume ever. This might have been my very first design job, I still have the memory of art directing my mother. Making sure that I got exactly what I wanted. I would sit in front of the tv and pause the tape and say, "Look mom like that." I have to say that at that time you couldn't just go to Target and get a $20 costume and call it a day. Mom had to make it.

Thank you mom. It's okay I didn't win that year's costume contest.

Geotrooper

Paper, Tape & Cardboard
6" x 6"

I was inspired recently and finally decided to take that inspiration and channel it into something of my own.

I made an abstract model of a Stormtrooper helmet using some Scotch tape and three sheets of white 8.5"x11" paper. I basically just wanted to see if I could make a three dimensional object. It's based on very simple geometry and symmetry, but I think the result seems surprisingly more complex.

The fun thing about this piece was that I sat and worked on the model while watching Return of the Jedi, and it's been a while since I've watched any of the three films.

Lady Gaga at the VMAS

Image Property of Getty Images
Copyright 2009

I've been away for a very long time now, but I wanted to make my first post back on Lady Gaga's VMA Performance last night in New York.

This performance to me was just that, a performance. A very memorable and shocking performance. The act and her wardrobe for the night were described by Michelle as, very Party Monster. I agree. It was also described as, so Rocky Horror. Again, I agree. Of course the first thing that came to mind was Phantom of the Opera, but also strangely enough Madonna's Vogue performance. It channeled all these references into something very spectacular and thought provoking.

It was really a great expression of what happens to stars in the spotlight. It symbolized the sort of chew you up and spit you out attitude that comes with being a celebrity. Case in point, Michael Jackson. He was extravagant and decadent, and that made for something very special for the rest of us, but in turn it left him debilitated. In the end his life and his end were really quite the spectacle.