[George Carlin]
Touched By An Atheist
I guess this is a milestone of sorts for me. Carlin is the first celebrity I've cared about to die. And today I am genuinely sad that his mocking comedy will now forever be in reruns.

I saw Carlin perform in Seattle when I first moved here, with my best friends Sean and Kristen. It was a brilliant show, and will always remain in my head as the moment when I first realized that I wasn't in Salt Lake City anymore - that I had finally escaped, and Seattle was such a great place to be living instead.

And I was in the audience for MadTV when they recorded the laugh track for his Touched By An Atheist. If you hear a really loud, high-pitched squeal of delight all through the bit - yup, that's me.

There is a great tribute page for him on The Onion AV Club. Many fans have left their (appropriate) condolences and I recommend the long, but fascinating, 2005 interview.

And let me add the memoriam my wonderful (and sarcastic) Significant Other contributed this morning: "He's with the angels now." LOL.

The Locked Maze: Page 20 (mleiv.com)
Medium: Photoshop Size: 8.5X11"
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This is probably easiest to read in my deviantArt Gallery.

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Yes, this conversation is important to the plot. Yes, this is still a fantasy comic and not some introspective account of my life. You'll just have to wait until book II to see the relevance...
Men and women were never different... They loved, and wanted, and behaved blindly and for reasons they did not understand; they sometimes crippled thier children even when they were trying to love them, and sowed good fruit and evil without being able to tell which was which, and did foolish things to escape pain that in the end could not be escaped. Barbara Hambly, Bride of the Rat God
The Locked Maze: Page 19 (mleiv.com)
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This is probably easiest to read in my deviantArt Gallery.

The Locked Maze: Page 18 (mleiv.com)
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This is probably easiest to read in my deviantArt Gallery.

[Cover: The Portrait]
The Portrait by Iain Pears
I just finished reading The Portrait. It was... disturbing. It was written very like Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, a meandering journal of observations with plot thrown in on the side. And the plot was good, but I think the novel stood on its own without it - maybe even stood *better* without the finality of the story - just because the musings were so frighteningly perceptive.

Excerpt 1:
To impose yourself, to take the public by the scruff of the neck and give it a good shaking; to scream in its provincial little ear that I am a genius. And if you scream loud enough and long enough, it believes you.

Excerpt 2:
"It's like an addiction," she said. "I go mad if I can't use my hands. It's all I have, the only thing that makes it worthwhile getting out of bed in the morning."

I saw Kingdom of the Crystal Skull this weekend, and I know everyone is gonna mock me, but I really liked it. Of course, I liked Stargate and The Mummy too, and I know those are both hated by all you jaded post-modernist cynics. But I hated the Star Wars fiasco, so it's not just that I have low standards and am easily entertained (although that is probably true...).

I watch the trilogy fairly often (I saw Last Crusade a week ago), and it really felt to me that this sequel was pretty much just like the other three (well, better than Temple of Icky Things, which was kinda stupid): it was B-movie fun, fast-paced silliness, no real surprises, and a lot of over-the-top action/acting. Sure, it was missing Tom Stoppard's dialogue in #3 and the small-budget hilarity of #1, but it had its own wacky hijinks.

Personally, I only wished it could have been longer. I felt like the comedy had to take a backseat to the plot, while I would have loved some more pointless bickering and silly car chase scenes.

It does puzzle me that people are so vitriolic in their loathing of this movie. Is this a peer-driven attempt at being cool by pretending nothing is good enough for you? Are American audiences turning into hyper-critical self-important back-seat directors? Can't you just settle in and have a little fun? Or are you one of those miserable bastards that go to Disneyland and spend the whole time bitching about the omnipresent branding and overpriced kitsch?

From the Onion commenters:

God literally popped out of a box to melt nazi faces in raiders. if you can suspend your belief for that, interdimesional, poorly rendered, non-aliens shouldn't be an issue.

Motherboard (mleiv.com)
Medium: Acrylic Size: 20x30"
This board curved a bit during painting, so this is a rotten, stretched photo. *sigh* I'll get another picture sometime once it's been flattened.

This is not at all my style, nor even what I intended. But I was so tired after Rusted Harlequin that I just wanted to finish it and move on. So here it is. Bleh.
Rusted Harlequin (mleiv.com)
Medium: Acrylic Size: 20x30"
Urgh. This painting was the bane of my existence for the last three weeks. But at least it is done. There are things I really, really hate about it. But overall I guess it's okay.
People are bastard-coated bastards with bastard filling. Kelso, Scrubs

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