Mucho Mucha

The holidays have been great this year. Both sets of parents decided for one reason or another that shopping is overrated, so they didn't get anyone anything and didn't really expect much from us, either. It turned out to be a fantastic way of doing things, and made everything much more enjoyable and fun.

My one drawback from this fabulous plan came when I didn't get a calendar like I usually do from my sister. So yesterday I ventured forth into the shopping-crazy world to see what I could get.

I ended up with a calendar of one of my favorite artists, Alfons Mucha. You've seen his work. You can't miss it. It defined Art Nouveau. Check it out:






























































I wish I could draw like that! Absolutely gorgeous! As an added bonus, the calendar was 50% off. Yay, me!

Other holiday presents that I bought myself:

• new knee and elbow pads for the roller derby

• sportsbras. Lots of them

• a PRISTINE vanity case from the 1960's

• pants from the Gap. On sale for cheep

Hooray for commercialism!

I've also been eating like crazy. Four pounds have been gained just this week. Hooray for gluttony!


TCM has been showing a lot of cool movies the past week or so. My favorite so far is The Man Who Came to Dinner. GENIUS! Hooray for Monty Woolley! Not the funniest clip, but a fun clip nontheless:

Hay! Look!

The UPS man brought me a special treat yesterday.

If you order from a catalog here:




















You can buy some "personal cases" that look like this:


















I'm pleased overall with the way they turned out. They look fantastic in real life...the catalog doesn't do them justice! Do you like my criminalesque scrawl for my "signature" in the catalog? It's shexshay!

My favorite case is the matador. She looks BADASS.

Finessing away...

Here's a WIP shot of Puss N' Boots. The shading and color obviously needs serious work, and I'm busy playing with her shadows today. ugh, I suck at this stuff!





















After I block out all of the pertinent stuff I'll take the file into Photoshop and finesse it more so that it'll end up looking somewhat decent. I'm running behind on this project so I'm feeling flustered and rushed. I still don't know what to do officially for the background.

For a combination birthday/Hanukkah present the husband got me a flat-screen monitor. HOLY CRAP what a difference it makes when it comes to doing the art crap on the computer! I can actually see what I'm doing for once! I can turn it 90 degrees, too! It's nifty!

This week I hope to check out the Murakami exhibit. I'm feeling pent-up and out of ideas art-wise.

Moar Bout Pix

Here's a link to awesome bout photos.

Since this is MY blog, here's some photos of ME:


Leader of the Pack:














Cannondoll X gets smacked I:















Cannondoll X gets smacked II:














Cannondoll X gets smacked III:














Losanjealous writes the best bout reviews ever. Alright, maybe it's because they specifically mention me at the 9.29pm mark. Wow, getting compared to a Bond villain is damn cool!!

Pix

Here's a few pix from Saturday night.

A Wall of Red:











Me doing my Superman impression on Kung Pow Tina:















My father-in-law, Papa Armov in the stands:















Gosh, it's been almost four years doing this roller derby thang. Just amazing. I'm still as dorky as I was when I started, as this photo from Texas attests:















Here's my buddy Kenny's assessment of the game. It was really really REALLY cool that he and the Redhead made it to the game!

LA Cityzine did a review, too.


I finally finished my freelance! Now I gotta get crackin' on Puss n' Boots. She's in color right now. I have to figure out a background for the piece. My big weak spot is not being able to do backgrounds worth a crap! I'll post a WIP on it soon.

AUGHAUGHAUGHAUGHA*GH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's over.

Finally.

In the Fight Crew vs. Sirens Championship game, FC lost by TWO POINTS in the LAST JAM.

Faaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwkkkkkkkkkkkk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


It was a ca-RAZY game. The crowd was going bonkers. So was I.

Highlights from the game that I can kinda-sorta remember:

• I finally had a significant number of friends and family at this game. I can't adequately describe how warm and fuzzy this made me feel.

• My parents FINALLY saw me skate. Apparently my mom got to boast to another audience member that she is the mom of Tara Armov.

• There were a sh!t-ton of other Fight Crew fans, too. They were louder than the Sirens fans. Ha!

• I got through the first half with almost no penalties. That was good.

• The audience is amused when skaters sitting in the penalty box pretend that they're having a tea party while serving their penalty time. Don't ask me how I know this.

• I got KICKED OUT OF THE GAME in the second half because I quickly racked up penalties. That was bad. The penalty that got me kicked out was when I allegedly elbowed Sirens jammer Mila Minute and sent her FLYING into the rail. She deserved it.
  

• My team rallied like nobody's business after I got kicked out.

• My team's jammers were AMAZING. They were fast, they had quick feet, and they got through some tight spots in the Sirens' defense.

• Tawdry Tempest added to the Fight Crew count of members who have flown off the damn track. She was uninjured from the experience!

• Fight Crew was ahead by two points by the last jam of the game. Unfortunately they, uh...didn't do so well during the last jam and the Sirens scored four points to win the game. I WAS PISSED.

• After the game I got plenty of positive comments from friends and fans alike. I was really really really really really REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY happy to get to talk to most of my friends!

• I couldn't go to the afterparty because I couldn't find parking downtown. All the usual parking lots were closed. Harumph! It was just as well, really. I went home and drank a couple of glasses of wine and slept semi-well for the first time in weeks.

I'm now a zombie.


On a somewhat art-related note, here's a stoopid doodle I did over the summer:





















There's a story behind this, which I'll tell sometime in the next week. In the meantime, enjoy the corpse!

ONE LAST THING: The Entropy Project Update. Hahahahahahahahaaha!!!!!!!!!!!!

Repost

Yes, a repost. Derby Dolls greatest hits. It's what my friends will see tonight in person:

Ha!

Happy Birthday to me, indeed!

I go to practice and I get: sung at, some red and black socks, a kick in the rear, cuppycakes, and this rad card:
















I'm afraid Vulvarine produced a ridiculously accurate portrayal of me, except the exposed midriff and maybe the dismembered arm in my mouth(well, OK, maybe the arm does belong in my mouf)!

39

*sigh*

The last year of my thirties has now been reached today.

I suppose a lot of people get depressed when they get my age, as time marches on...right across our faces!

By LA standards, I should've been shipped off to the glue factory ten years ago. Funny, but I think I look and feel better now than I did a decade ago.

Jeezus, a decade?! I AM old!

Anyway, due to the Championship game on Saturday, it's gonna be a low-key birthday this year. Today I skated at the beach. Tonight I'll skate some more at the track. Sometime this afternoon I'm going jogging. I've been eating a lot of trail mix, so my energy level is fantastic.

My presents so far have been a cool DVD set of Hollywood's Leading Men from the husband, and my parents are ACTUALLY FLYING IN TO SEE ME SKATE ON SATURDAY. I'm all a-tingle! Thank gawd no one has sent the guy in the photo to me in person. I couldn't take that.

Since my friend Kenny took the cool Bob McKimson birthday clip for his birthday, I'll grab the late Ms. Monroe. I may not be a president, but I'm feelin' pretty awesome just the same.