It’s Friday everyone and you know what that means: another Friday Mix! So let’s get started. First, as some of you may know, I have been a digital colorist for about two years now, but have not cracked the market yet. That may change this year as I am a participant in this year’s Small Press Idol, a contest set up to discover fresh new talent. I’m part of a great group: George Amaru, our writer and artist and Daniel Chan, our logo designer and letterer. Of course, I’m on color duties. Our project is Legacy of the Falcon, a story about a young man chosen to save the world from a centuries-old evil who must make a choice: save humanity and become something other than human himself or stand with his friends and family as the world burns. Our hero will learn that there’s really no choice at all.
We got through Round 1 and are up against the final deadline for Round 2 (midnight tonight; yikes!). We will make it through to Round 3 on the strength of the number of votes we accumulate, so I urge everyone to click over to our Legacy of the Falcon page at the Small Press Idol forums where you can see how we fared in the first round. Due to Small Press Idol rules, contestants are not allowed to post images in other forums/blogs/Facebook statuses/etc., until the images have been posted in the official SPI forums, so I can’t show you our current work, but I can assure you, it rocks! Not sure if you have to set up a profile to place a vote, but I urge you to check it out. Click on the Forum link to see the entries and read the judges comments.
To say that Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano has upset the travel plans of Europeans would be a bit of an understatement. As of today, air travel has just begun to get back on track; cold comfort, indeed for the millions of people stranded across the globe who are just trying to get home. The governments of Europe are already coming under fire for the blanket shut down of air travel as news reports emerge that perhaps the situation wasn’t as bad as officials made it seem. I can understand people’s frustration — hell, I get frustrated if I get stuck in NY traffic for more than fifteen minutes. But imagine if air travel had been allowed and a plane crashed due to volcanic ash. According to experts, the ash can get into engines and shut them down; the ash can sandblast the aircraft damaging the hull and, more importantly, the windows by which the pilots see where they’re going. Imagine if the ash ground down the windows so much that their integrity collapsed and shattered. The cabin would experience decompression, resulting in everyone getting sucked out the window. Watch the video:
Not pretty!
Last night’s The Office was the first episode I think since the wedding episode that I laughed out loud. The Kevin as Cookie Monster viral video was genius as was everyone’s impersonations. Erin’s reaction upon learning of Andy’s and Angela’s past was priceless, really cranking up her crazy factor. One thing I was confused about though: didn’t Michael and Erin hit it off as the end of “Scott’s Tots”? I was surprised that Michael still holds Erin in disdain, at one point calling her a “rube”. They are both children in adult bodies. Surely they would sense that vibe in each other.
Earlier this week, I posted a story about Katy Manning appearing in an upcoming episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures starring Elizabeth Sladen and written by Russell T Davies. Katy played the third Doctor’s assistant Jo Grant, a sweet and innocent — and prone to get into trouble — nymph. She doesn’t appear very sweet and innocent in this photo taken years after her departure from Doctor Who:
