It has been quite a while since I posted or added anything here on DA- Like so many other people these days, I am bummed to announce that my so called "dream job" has crashed and burned, so I am in the unfamiliar position of being unemployed at the moment. It has only been a week and it is driving me up the wall not getting up to go to work every day. I thought I would at least take advantage of the time and do some more painting, but I think the stress of losing my job has put a damper on my creativity. I am trying to stay positive and upbeat and I do have a couple good leads on some new jobs, so with any luck I won't be unemployed for long.

I have been doing some graphic design work for the Haunted Forest, the haunt that I do makeup work for- you can see their web page at [link]. I am glad that I will be starting the Halloween season for them at the end of September, that always fires up my creativity!

I have also been commissioned to airbrush a denim jacket, doing a Tattoo style dragon- something new for me, and I do love a good challenge, so it should be fun to do.

Outside of the art realm, I have found a few good bits of music- the new Cheap Trick CD called "The Latest" is awesome, I have been playing that one a lot. I was also excited to hear the new KISS tune "Modern Day Delilah" on their webpage- the new CD "Sonic Boom" comes out early October as a Walmart exclusive- which is nice because it will include their re-recording of their greatest hits and a live DVD, all for only $12, but it pisses me off when bands do deals with corporate monsters like Walmart because it really hurts the indie record stores, which are almost extinct anyway. There is nothing as cool as going to a great indie music store- going to Walmart to buy music is lame at best.

Movie wise, I have been disappointed. Halloween 2 was utter and total crap. Dull, unoriginal and a really really stupid story line. Kind of a "Brady Bunch from Hell" concept with a lot of stupid dream sequences involving a white horse and Sheri Moon Zombie. Hearing that Rob is now working on a re-make of "The Blob" didn't excite me at all- since he managed to kill rather than re-invent the Halloween franchise, I really hate seeing him do the same thing to a classic like The Blob. C'mon Rob, you used to be so inovative and creative- why not come up with something new and fresh rather than killing off the classics with your lousy remakes??

I also watched the abysmal "2001 Maniacs" with Robert Englund. It had been many years since I watched "2000 Maniacs" so I had totally forgotten the story line, but wow- 2001 maniacs was SO stupid! I enjoy a little campiness in a horror movie, ala "Drag Me To Hell", but this movie was a mismash of really bad cliches and really lame excuses for killing off a bunch of horny college kids. I should have turned that movie off after the first 10 minutes, but for some reason I forced myself to watch the entire thing. Uggh.

I am not sure what to think about the trailer for "The Wolfman" movie from Benicio Del Toro... Once again, treading on the sacred ground of the Universal classics always makes me worry. Who knows, maybe it will be good??

Alright, enough ranting. Hopefully I will be back on track soon and can start posting more artwork here soon...

Stay Scary!

-Patrick