Poke'Madness 2013

It's everyone's favorite time of year again!  That time of course being when I create a Pokemon mascot for every team in the NCAA Basketball Tournament so that Johnny Pham can feign interest in athletic competition...AKA Poke'Madness!!!  Now, before I reveal the teams, I'd like to make a few points.

Fortunately for me and my busy schedule, the majority of teams competing in this year's tourney had already played in the previous two year's tournaments, which meant that I already had their team's mascot drawn.  Hurray for time savers!   

Also, I will say that I'm getting pretty sick and tired of all the Bulldog mascots!  There's only so many Pokemon that even come close to resembling a Bulldog and quite frankly I'm running out of options!  Come up with an original team mascot, universities of America!

That's really all I got.  So without further ado, Round One of Poke'Madness 2013!!!

Midwest:

West:

South:

East:

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

"In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit."

The above words begin the first Lord of the Rings movie in nearly a decade.  I had the privilege of seeing the film early thanks to my friend Stephen Davis' website, www.CollegeMovieReview.com, and I absolutely loved it!  I already can't wait to see it for a second and third time in theaters and it's not even out yet!

The original Lord of the Rings trilogy came out back when I was in high school.  They always premiered in December, and for three years I celebrated a new Christmas tradition: Listening to the LOTR soundtrack and then seeing the movie multiple times in theaters with family and friends.  The songs are written by Howard Shore, whose epic musical scores define the LOTR movie and place him second on my list of favorite movie composers, next to John Williams.  There's just no beating the Imperial March.

This time around, things were a little different as I first saw the movie with my friends (Johnny, Mel, Hannah, Kristi, and Stephen) and then bought the soundtrack, which, after all, only came out today.  I haven't listened to the whole thing yet but I currently have two favorite tracks:

The Misty Mountains: 

Song of the Lonely Mountain:

I must subconsciously like mountains or something...

Anyway, Bilbo Baggins has inspired me to go on my own unexpected journey...well I guess it wouldn't technically be unexpected if I were to plan it but whatever.  I'm not sure what all exactly this will entail but it's time for this hobbit to leave the comfort of his hobbit hole and go on an adventure!

The Big 12 Gang


After a disappointing end to the NBA season and not much better luck with all of the free agent stuff happening over the past few weeks (see previous article) I have already begun looking ahead to football season.  Oh, and the Olympics!  I'm pumped about the opening ceremonies on Friday!  But that's just a temporary high.  For now let's stick with football.  


I became a fan of NCAA football my freshman year at UT and was spoiled enough to have my first season with the Longhorns be the one that resulted in a Vince Young National Championship.  Ever since then, anything LESS than a trip to the National Championship I've considered a losing season in my book; stupid, I know but as I said I've been spoiled.


Fans of UT football know that the past two seasons haven't been pleasant ones for Texas.  They would also know that the Big 12 Conference has gone through some changes with a couple of teams leaving for "greener pastures" and a few new ones being added.  For awhile now, I've been meaning to write a short story about the Longhorns and their rivals in the Big 12.  I envisioned a spaghetti western theme since the Longhorns = Texas and serendipitously most of the Big 12 teams' mascots actually work quite nicely as characters in a wild west themed story.  I've scribbled down some plot lines about how in recent years, the city of Austin has been overrun by The Big 12 Gang and the city is in dire need of a new sheriff, the likes of Vince Young, Major Applewhite, etc..., to clean up the town!  Anyway, I never really got much beyond that but I thought that the next best thing would be to draw a picture capturing the climax of the story: Bevo cooly staring down The Big 12 Gang on the dirt paved streets of Austin; the current members of the gang glaring back at him, weapons drawn, and the former Big 12 posse members sitting, permanently benched, along the sides of the street.

(Click on image to enlarge)

My sister, Dana, is a phenomenal artist and I have actually been collaborating with her on this project.  She has purchased a nice canvas and is planning on painting her own version of the above picture, which should end up being a cross between the above and a Frederic Remington painting.  In other words, it's going to blow my picture away!  Until then, I hope the above picture will suffice, at least until football season begins.    

Someone Play With Dirk, Dammit!!!

It's an exciting time in the NBA right now!  There's a plethora (Shout out Three Amigos) of free agents, real talented guys who are available to the highest bidder.  Over the past few weeks, the Mavs have reportedly been very close to securing a number of these players, which would help ensure that next year's team have a real shot at the Finals.  Unfortunately, it would appear that all those rumors were false and NOBODY wants to play with the Mavs, including some of the organization's own!

I feel so sorry for Dirk and as an expression of the pain I'm currently feeling for him I drew up this little representation of the NBA schoolyard:

(Click on image to enlarge)

I'll give you a quick rundown of the playground.  There's Dirk on the right and behind him teammate, Jason Kidd, is tiptoeing away to go play with someone else.  Moving left, Jeremy Lin, briefly rumored to be interested in the Mavs, opted instead to play with the Rockets.  Beside him, Lamar Odom is playing house with Khloe Kardashian back in LA, this time for the Clippers instead of Lakers.  The Heat's Big 3 can be seen jump roping with their recently won NBA Finals trophy to the left.  Heading up, Nash, also briefly rumored to be heading back to the Mavs, has signed on with Kobe and the Lakers.  On the swing set, former Maverick, Jason Terry, AKA The Jet, will now be soaring beside Rondo and the Boston Celtics.  Below them, Deron Williams, who had been see-sawing between the Mavs and few other teams, has finally decided to stay in NJ with the Nets.  And finally, Dwight Howard, who the Mavs have talked about acquiring for a long time, is caught in the middle, currently desired by seemingly EVERY team in the NBA, which probably means he's not coming to Dallas.  

Poor, lonely Dirk...

It's Ah-me, Mario!!!

One Christmas morning, many years ago, I received one of the greatest surprises of my life: A Super Nintendo game system!  We've all seen youtube videos of kids going berserk while opening presents on Christmas morning; well, imagine that times 1,000.  While I will admit that I have experienced equivalent levels of elation since then (on a number of occasions, thankfully) the memory of that morning is one that I will never forget.  I'll also never forget how later on that week, when my family finally returned home to El Paso after spending Christmas in Dallas with the grandparents, I discovered that Santa had taken my allowance (over $100) and left me a note explaining how the money had helped to pay for my Super Nintendo.  I was fuming!  Do you know how long it takes a kid to save over $100 dollars with a $2 weekly allowance?!?!  Not to mention the amount of discipline and self-control required not to blow it all on the latest Ninja Turtle or Bucky O'hare toy set first chance you get?!?

I eventually got over it (although you can probably tell I still bear a bit of a grudge towards the "fat man" from the North Pole) and played the one game I had for Super Nintendo all day, every day!  Or for at least 15 minutes a day.  Back then, my parents were weirdly strict and so 15 minutes was the best I could get most days.  Although, I found that if I'd wake up at 4:30AM on weekends and mute the television that I could occasionally get a whole hour or two of gameplay in sometimes.  Anyway, that one game was Super Mario World and I thought it was the greatest thing ever!  My brothers and I still enjoy playing it to this day!  And that's where I got the inspiration for my latest project!

For any n00bs out there, Mario is an Italian plumber who is constantly trying to rescue the Princess from the evil clutches of the koopa king, Bowser.  Bowser has a wide assortment of minions at his command but his most trusted lieutenants are his own children, the Koopalings.  In Super Mario World, there are 7 koopa kids, each one serving as the "boss" at the end of the game's 7 worlds.  Later on Nintendo added an 8th kid, Bowser's favorite child, Bowser Jr.  I decided, that it would be fun to create a project revolving around these video game villains and so I came up with the following:

Bowser and Family!!!

(Click on image to enlarge)

The wide shot makes it kinda difficult to view details so I'll take you through the bunch one by one.

Mario

Iggy Koopa

Morton Koopa Jr.

Lemmy Koopa

Ludwig Von Koopa

Roy Koopa

Wendy O. Koopa

Larry Koopa

Bowser Jr.

Bowser

I placed Bowser in his "Clown Car", which is what he rides around in when you fight him at the end of Super Mario World.  It looks like this in the game:

And one more shot, from the back!

So this is my tribute to the favorite game from my childhood (and, let's be honest, adulthood).  If I had to categorize the project I'd describe it as Post-WWII Expressionistic art since the increasing size of each koopa represents the growing challenge Mario faces as he progresses through the game.  It's definitely Avant-garde and some would say that there is even a bit of Dada-esque influence mixed in there.  You know, real deep stuff.

2012 NBA Finals: Street Fighter II Turbo


The quote and picture below pretty much sum up how I feel about the Heat making The Finals:

"I want the Heat out of commission.  I don't want them beat...OUT OF COMMISSION."

-Cobra Kai Master, The Karate Kid

Sweep Lebron's leg, Durant!  Sweep it!!!

NBA Finals

Heat vs. Thunder

My Prediction: Thunder in 6

(Click on image to enlarge)