Every now and then I get a kick out of programs like “In Search of” (or even the more obscure ones like “Secrets and Mysteries“, starring Edward Mulhare!) that explore the realms of the unknown.  Anyhow, one of the topics I’ve not yet seen covered, that I think would make for interesting viewing, is the material presented at Michael Cremo’s “Forbidden Archeology” site.  I get a kick out of this, because there is some strange and controversial stuff over there.  For instance, on the page about “ancient skull and bones”, he talks about a discovery in 1913 by Professor Hans Reck of Berlin University, where a human skeleton, found in Tanzania, dates back (using modern dating methods) around the late Early Pleistocene date “of around 1.15 million years for this site.” Reck said, “The bed in which the human remains were found….showed no sign of disturbance.”

Human remains over 1 million years old?

So the question I have is, why does strange and unusual stuff like this never show up in museums?  This type of oddness is fascinating to me, yet it seems to be all but categorically dismissed by the scientific community (much as valid health and nutrition articles are left out of Readers Digest magazine, but I’m getting off subject…)  I want to know more about wacky finds like this.  The site does take an unexpected spin into the world of Krishna and Brahma, but that’s not what interests me: I’d like to see some of this really old human bone stuff show up in the Houston Museum of Science…. with video clips hosted by Leonard Nimoy with his 1970’s garb and sideburns!  Yeah!

Another noteworthy (and disturbing) work at the Houston Museum of Fine Art was a composition called “End Game” by an artist named Damien Hirst.  I don’t know much about this artist, other than the brief background I read online, but this particular work of his was just fascinating.  It’s located in the lower level of the museum, right after the overpriced cafe and the multi-colored tunnel-thing (the one that they have a security person in, to make sure that people don’t fall off the side into it, I guess.)  After you get through the silly colored tunnel, the “End Game” work is there, to the right.  While I think the title is a little bit cliche, the work itself is just creepy and troubling, the more you look at it.  It’s a glass and metal case, jam-packed with clean, silver medical tools for cutting, clamping, etc, and at the center of the case are two hanging skeletons.  What’s eerie is how this case seems so representative of western medicine: less focus on letting the body heal itself naturally, but rather, “healing” through cutting, chopping, clamping…

To me, this exhibit is inspiring in terms of developing one of the characters from December Sun, one of the “evil” organization characters named Rick, who will play a big role in future issues.  This type of demented medical display, with steel, glass, and bone is the type of sick background that I would nestle into this character as a key component of his medical background.  I’ve even been debating writing/drawing a one-shot solo title around this character, but I’m not sure I’m ready to do that yet (it’s something I’m working on now, tentatively titled “DS5.5″, since it would fall into continuity between issue #5 and #6.

BTW - if you’re in the Houston area, the HMFA is free on Thursdays.  All we had to pay was parking in the museum’s lot (which was $3).

I visited the Houston Museum of Fine Art (MFAH) yesterday, and I remain, for the most part, impressed by the collection of painting, sculptures and historic artifacts.  I’ve been before, but each time I notice something new or impressive artistically on display.  Granted, there is still plenty of wasted space (namely the Modern and Contemporary exhibits) but the classical gallery remains impressive.  I get a big kick out of seeing works by artists of whom I had only read about in art history classes (and there were a number of big names on display.)

MFAH had a number of Fredrick Remington paintings on display, and to me these were some of the highlights of the trip.  It’s just unfortunate that the museum grants SO LITTLE attention to American realists like Remington, yet blatantly WASTES such huge portions of it’s space to the post-modern abstraction nonsense.  Yes, there were some Picasso’s, and yes, I still think he’s just as talentless now as I did back in college when I studied abstraction.  I see Picassos, Pollock and Rothkos and I can help but think of how these charlatans pulled the wool over people’s eyes with this garbage.  I (unfortunately) majored in Fine Arts in college, so I experienced plenty of this type of nonsensical stuff passed off as art in my classes, and I never understood why they did it (or how they could, in good conscience, create ridicuslous, minimalistic nonsense and pass it off as art.)

Now take a work of genuine art like ’The Elder Sister’ by William Bouguereau.  This was on display in the museum too, and it’s just amazing.  The talent and the artistry put into this painting is just remarkable, and you can’t help but just stand and analyze just how good this art is (unlike things like the ridiculous “white room filled with colorful light bulbs” in the modern wing, built by someone who clearly had nowhere near the talent that Bouguereau possessed.)  You look at something like this, and you can’t help but take in the richness of the picture: the lifelike quality of the kids in the picture, the atmosphere of the cloud and sky… even the details of the small cottage in the background to the left, which is something you’d almost overlook.  This to me is art, and this is what the museum needs a LOT more of: namely, artists with talent and skill, who’s craft deserves to be put on display (and not the nonsense of a guy who flings a paint bucket around on a canvas.)

In my attempt to keep this DSCOMIC blog more on topic (namely, on the subject of comics and webcomics) I’m starting one more Blogger blog, this one called “Nutritional Musing”, to cover topics of nutritional science, diet, unhealthy food additives, and other things that I periodically rant about here that, again, have nothing really to do with the comic.  So the current roll-call of blogs I have running that I semi-actively maintain:

• DSCOMIC - you’re reading it now.  It’s the daily December Sun comic, with semi-related comments.  The comments will (hopefully) be more specific to the comic medium, art and art supplies, Photoshopping stuff, as well as other comic projects that I’ve done or that I’m currently involved with.  If there are extra details to include about December Sun, they will be included in the blog.
• Musings of Ludosomnus - My walk with God is the single most important thing in my life, so I have a lot to write about my own Biblical studies, and that’s what this blog is all about. Christian theological commentary, sermon reviews, reviews of theology books I’m reading, Biblical links, etc. (Ludosomnus is an imaginary protestant reformer from the December Sun saga.)
• Nutritional Musing - The newest of the bunch.  I have a fascination with health and nutrition, particularly with an alternative bent, and I read up on this subject as much as I can, so this blog is dedicated to that topic.  I’m not a fan of big pharma or a lot of the western medicine mindset that, if you have a medical problem, you take a drug to solve it.  I think that’s rarely the answer, so that’s the sort of thing I’m posting about.
• Miscellaney - artistic junk and other ramblings that don’t really fit anywhere, or are too silly/simplistic to post here (for instance, one of the posts is just an image of a dancing cake that I drew.)  If it doesn’t make a ton of sense, or doesn’t really belong anywhere, I’ll put it there.

I don’t know what the problem is with Youtube recently.  I’ll open a video, and it will load a good portion of the video (according to the red bar at the bottom of the video) but the video will only play the first 10 seconds or so and then freeze, permanently loading nothing.  I’ll see the “loading-circle” thing in the middle of the video, and it just sits there, doing nothing.  Never continuing.  It’s frustrating, and it’s had me not bothering to play youtube videos anymore.

Everything else on my PC works fine (even though it is an old Sony VAIO, from the fine folks at Sony who do NOT offer good technical support when your hard drive crashes and the system restore disks don’t work).  I’m able to hear streaming internet radio from sources like Lastfm without a problem, and sites/pages all load fine.  I’ve also recently cleaned out the cache, temp files, run an adware scan, etc, etc.  It’s just Youtube that, for some reason, freezes when loading a video.  What’s the problem here?  This has been going on for a couple weeks now, when I try to play a video.

Videos used to load fine with youtube (I should know, I watched pretty much the entirety of the first seven Doctor’s episodes of Doctor Who on youtube [that's quite a few, sadly], before they were all taken down [and I don't both with Doctor Who after the seventh Doctor... that's just not Who to me, but that's a post for another day...]).

The freezing video problem isn’t my only beef with youtube.  I’ve also got a problem with how there is NO way to filter comments connected with videos.  I like reading video comments, but if the comments are little more than a tirade of profanity or racially-offensive remarks, I don’t want to read this.  I’d want it filtered (leave it for others if they want it, fine, but I think there should be a “profanity filter” for those who don’t want to read it, and this can be set in a person’s individual account.)  Whatever.  This is just a sign to stop wasting my time with youtube, I think.

Nothing new here: in fact, these are from 2004, but I wanted to post and share these with some comments.  I attended the Wizard con in Chicago, and the entire event was a massive sensory overload experience.  I dug up some old pictures and posted them on Flickr, with some comments.

I took some pics of the show, some costumes, props, posters, etc. There’s just too much to see at these things, and the entire experience just overloads the senses.  I don’t attend conventions anymore, not least of which because I don’t really collect many titles anymore, but because the experience is just so overwhelming.  And at the last few shows I was at, many of the comic publishers weren’t even bothering to look over portfolios, such as DC and Dark Horse (and Marvels wait was hours.)  Maybe things have changed since then, but I just don’t care anymore to work with the big companies.  Well, I do, but I don’t care that much to waste a day in line to meet an editor.  My art is here if, by some miracle, a submission editor happens to find there way here… :)

I had the tremendous opportunity to work with my friend Eric Jansen recently on a comic tract titled “Vengeance is Mine”, as part of a ministry for Forsquare Missions Press.  The story was a real blessing to draw, and I found it to be a very engaging subject matter (and a nice departure from the usual “December Sun” stuff).  I love branching into new territories and subject matter, especially if the topic is ministry-related.  The book is a short story addressing gang violence, and specifically about a gang member who loses a brother, and decides to take vengeance, until Someone urges him to reconsider his actions.

The track is available at the Foursquare Missions Press site, both as a tract that can be ordered, and also as a free PDF file that can be downloaded.  I did the pencils and inks, and Jonathan Koelsch did the coloring (and the colors are just breath-taking.  I think this is the closest I’ve ever seen my artwork actually look “professional”… :)  Jonathan did a remarkable job with the colors.

There are a number of other tracts at Foursquare, all worth checking out.  Eric illustrated many of these, and his artwork is sharp (I’ve seen a number of his tracts and he adds a tremendous level of detail and realism to what he draws.  The Paraman one is outstanding.)