Pear Jam on "The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien"

I stayed up last night to watch Pearl Jam’s performance on the very first “The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien”. There were a couple of great surprises. First of all, it was confirmed that the new album is going to be called ‘Backspacer.’ I guess it’s related to Backspacer, the leatherback turtle that Pear Jam sponsored and that won the Great Turtle Race. Second, Conan showed some album artwork by cartoonist Tom Tomorrow and looks like it’s going to be great. And lastly, Pearl Jam played “Got Some,” a brand new song, and the guys rocked! Now, this is my favorite band of all time, so the only bad thing I can say is that the song still needs some polishing and the sound mix from the TV show was not very good, you could barely hear Ed’s vocals, and I am sure he could barely hear himself. But I am sure the recorded album version will sound great. I read that the new album will be released some time this fall, and that instead of a record company they are going to use several partners and outlets, including Target stores, independent record stores, and their fan club, the Ten Club. A new album release also means, a TOUR!!! Last time I saw them live was on summer 2006, so it’s been a while. Can’t wait to see them live again and listen to new PJ songs.

Me quedé despierto anoche para ver a Pearl Jam en el primer “The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien”. Hubo unas buenas sorpresas. En primer lugar, se confirmó que el nuevo álbum se va a llamar ‘Backspacer’. Supongo que tiene algo que ver con Backspacer, la tortuga laúd que Pearl Jam patrocinó y ganó la Gran Carrera de la Tortuga. En segundo lugar, Conan mostró parte de las ilustraciones del álbum del dibujante Tom Tomorrow y se ve que va a estar muy bien. Y por último, Pearl Jam interpretó “Got Some,” una canción nueva, ¡y los vatos rockearon! Ahora, ésta es mi banda favorita de todos los tiempos, así que lo único malo que puedo decir es que la canción todavía necesita una pulida y la mezcla de sonido del programa de TV no fue muy buena, apenas se podía oír la voz de Ed, y estoy seguro que él apenas podía oírse a sí mismo. Pero estoy seguro que la versión grabada del álbum sonará excelente. Leí que el nuevo álbum será lanzado por ahí en el otoño, y que en vez de una compañía discográfica van a utilizar a varios socios y puntos de venta, incluyendo tiendas Target, tiendas de discos independientes, y su club de fans, el Ten Club. Un lanzamiento de álbum nuevo también significa, una GIRA!!! La última vez que los vi en vivo fue en el verano de 2006, así que ha sido un rato. No puedo esperar para verlos tocar en vivo otra vez y escuchar nuevas canciones de PJ.

Jar Jar Binks vs. Darth Maul. Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace 10th Anniversary.

I love this movie, for better or for worse, and that is exactly what I wanted to represent with this drawing: the best and the worst of 'Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace' I thought it would be ironic to show Darth Maul loose his cool and get so annoyed with Jar Jar that he doesn’t even bother to Force-choke him or ignite his lightsaber. Also, I never liked the logo they used for all of the prequels with the word "Episode" on it, since all the previous movies had their own individually styled logo. So, I made my own. This one is based on the 'A New Hope' logo from the 1977 movie posters.

Get a free download at deviantART!

UPDATE: I got a couple of nice comments in the TheForce.net Fan Art Forum here.

Amo esta película, en las buenas y en las malas, y eso es exactamente lo que quise representar con este dibujo: lo mejor y lo peor de 'Star Wars: Episodio I -La amenaza fantasma'. Pensé que sería irónico mostrar a Darth Maul perder la calma y molestarse tanto con Jar Jar que ni siquiera pensaría en ahorcarlo con la Fuerza o encender su sable de luz. También, nunca me gustó el logo que utilizaron para todas las precuelas con la palabra "Episodio" en él, puesto que todas las películas anteriores tenían sus propios logos con estilos diferentes. Entonces, hice uno. Éste está basado en el logo de 'Una nueva esperanza', de los carteles de película de 1977.

¡Descarga gratis en deviantART!

ACTUALIZACIÓN: Tuve un par de comentarios agradables en el Foro de Arte de Fans de TheForce.net aquí.

Contact Me!

Hello! I'm IAMO (Ismael Alejandro Moreno Ozuna), Cartoonist and Character Designer.

Contact me if you have any questions or to request a signed print:

iamo@live.com

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For me creativity is all about communication and connecting with people.  That's why draw, that's why I write, that's why I'm driven to create.  This blog is about sharing what I have learned about Cartooning & Character Design with you, and I always appreciate your feedback.

Keep on doodling!

-IAMO

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Christmas Eve Of The Dead

I made this doodle for Christmas. F. Torres, did the colors and I did the pencils. The idea came from shooting the shit with my friend, Adrian “The Insane One” Zambrano. We talked about what if the zombie apocalypse had reached the North Pole, and how Elves could not be turned into undead, since they are magical, but Santa Claus could be turned into a zombie, since he is human. The Elves would then make it their mission to keep Santa Claus alive, although he could pretty well kick ass all by himself. I had a lot of fun with this project.

An in a related note: Check out the book 'It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Zombies: A Book of Zombie Christmas Carols' by Michael P. Spradlin.

Also, this looks familiar: 'The Last Christmas' by co-writers Gerry Duggan and Brian Posehn and artists Rick Remender, Hilary Barta, and Michele Madsen.

Hice este garabato para Navidad. F. Torres, hizo los colores y yo hice el dibujo a lápiz. La idea vino después de una plática con mi amigo, Adrian “El Insaneo” Zambrano. Hablamos de qué pasaría si el Apocalipsis de los zombis alcanzara a llegar al Polo Norte, y de cómo los duendes no se podrían convertir en muertos vivientes, ya que ellos son mágicos, pero Santa Claus (o Papá Noel, como le llamen) sí podría ser convertido en un zombi, puesto que él es humano. La misión de los duendes, entonces, sería mantener vivo a Santa Claus, aunque él podría chingarse a los zombies bastante bien él solo. Me divertí mucho con este proyecto.

Adquiera una impresión de esta ilustración.

Como una nota relacionada: Busquen el libro 'It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Zombies: A Book of Zombie Christmas Carols' por Michael P. Spradlin.

También, esto me parece conocido: 'The Last Christmas' por los co-escritores Gerry Duggan y Brian Posehn y los artistas Rick Remender, Hilary Barta, y Michele Madsen.

Share if you like it!

Rumsfeld's Dark Side Powers

I just saw this picture in The Onion of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld about to shoot Force lightning to members of the press when he was lauding Iraqis' progress in making war.

Geez, do all politicians think they are Sith Lords now?

-Isma.

Critics Shmitics: Bitching About 'The Empire Strikes Back'... Really?

It seems that not even the best episode in the Star Wars Saga was safe from critics' negativity.

New movie audiences and people with fuzzy memories tend to think that everybody (or in this case, movie critics) loved the "Original Trilogy" and that everybody (or all critics) hated the "Prequel Trilogy" at the time each of the movies came out. Well, that's simply not true. All of the movies were torn apart by those pesky know-it-alls called "film critics." All of the movies, except Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back, since critics hold it in such high regard. Or so I thought.

I was surprised to find a negative review for The Empire Strikes Back written by Vincent Canby for The New York Times, published on June 15, 1980. Not only did this guy not get the movie, he was bored by it:

"When I went to see The Empire Strikes Back I found myself glancing at my watch almost as often as I did when I was sitting through a truly terrible movie called The Island... It's a big, expensive, time-consuming, essentially mechanical operation."

He constantly complains that watching the movie is a waste of time. When a critic feels this way about such an amazing picture as The Empire Strikes Back, I truly believe that that writer is just bored with movies in general and should start looking for other stuff to write about.

Canby seems baffled by all of those things that I (and a lot of people I know) love about The Empire Strikes Back:

Its mind-blowing start and cliffhanger ending ("It has no beginning or end").

The AT-AT Walkers ("some awfully inefficient tanks that have the shape of armor-plated camels.")

The cool dialogue ("After one has one's fill of the special effects and after one identifies the source of the facetious banter that passes for wit between Han Solo and Leia (it's straight out of B-picture comedies of the 30's), there isn't a great deal for the eye or the mind to focus on.")

The acting ("The other performers are no better or worse, being similarly limited by the not-super material.")

Oh, his review also included a cheap shot towards the droids. Canby wrote, "Even the appeal of those immensely popular robots, C-3PO and R2-D2, starts to run out." Yeah, I guess that's why the last time we saw the droids in a movie was, uh, last year.

Did this guy even try to enjoy the film? Or at least pay attention to it?

He wrote, "It's a measure of my mixed feelings about "The Empire Strikes Back" that I'm not at all sure that I understand the plot... I'm not as bothered by the film's lack of resolution as I am about my suspicion that I really don't care."

Well, I think that the term for that is "short attention span."

He also did not understand why everybody loved the film except him:

"I'm also puzzled by the praise that some of my colleagues have heaped... Perhaps my colleagues have information denied to those of us who have to judge the movie by what is on the screen."

As I have mentioned before, I do not think that film criticism is restricted to mere opinion, a movie can very well be analyzed for "what is on the screen." But Canby did not do that, as he claims. Didn't he say that his "mixed feelings" were involved in his review? In this case, his feelings were boredom and apathy, and he let them get in the way of his review.

I guess George Lucas was right. Critics have not liked any of the Star Wars movies.

-Isma.