Just one more thing....

I'm sad now, I loved watching this guy. Peter Falk, the man who was famous for his portrayal of the scruffy looking Lt. Columbo. He lived a long life and was an active actor until 2009. He was such fun to watch, awesome actor. His deliveries were full of life, his gestures, his facial expressions, all the talent needed to build up a believable character.

He looked clever, even when acting dumb, something Columbo often did to trick the villains.

I need to plan a Peter Falk marathon now (weep).

Brilliant U2 music videos (Because there are not many of them)

I love their music but their videos have often only concert or just standing singing type of clips. Not too interesting in other words.
U2 isn't completely without some good visual stuff though. For those remembering Achtung Baby the visuals were great intertwining own satellite tv station (Zoo Tv) and Bono's different stage personas The Fly, Mr. MacPhisto, Mirror Ball Man and someone who looked like a Zoo Tv crew member singing Bullet the Blue Sky, Running to Stand Still etc. Mmmm those were the days.
But they haven't been lazy after that, although it feels long between the music video gems there have been some brilliant videos from these guys.



Windows in the sky (alternate version)


There are other great music videos for this song but this video really took me by surprise. The flow of images is soothing to watch and the images themselves are what every U2 fan will feel happy to see.


Elevation


This video is just great fun and what I find rare from U2. A mishmash of strangeness complimented with hilarious and convincing clips of The Edge in Tomb Raider. Him of all people, that's adorable. Watch out for that air-floating elephant.  


Stay (Faraway so Close)


Mmmm, the angels of Wim Wenders. U2 acts as helping and comforting angels while the viewers are escorted safely around in Berlin. Otto Sander and the beautiful Nastassja Kinski are in this little masterpiece too as well as in the film U2 did this song to (Far Away, So Close) 


Lemon


An idea based on Victorian Eadweard J Muybridge's photographic studies of people in motion. The fabulous Mr. MacPhisto is in it doing all his grand moves.



All I Want is You


Anyone remember the film Freaks? Remember and remember, it was made in 1932. U2 seem to have a liking for it as this video shows. The story differs in that the lady in this video comes off as sweet, which makes this story sadder than the creepy Freaks.


Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me.


MacPhiiiiiisssssto!
Before Nolan fans told me that Batman Forever was shite (and basically all other no-Nolan Batman films for that matter) it was fun to watch. Frankly I still find it fun to watch.
Mr. MacPhisto discussed with Schumacher the possibility of a part in the movie as a villain. He was told he would have been perfect but Tommy Lee Jones and Jim Carrey were already hired in for the crazy parts. Instead U2 made a song for the soundtrack and let MacPhisto star in it against The Fly. 


I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight.



U2 apparently didn't have time to pose or act in a video which after watching this I think isn't a bad thing at all. I found this song to be one of their anonymous songs but this music video works in harmony with the music and made me interested in this tune. It's sweet in story and style.



The Unforgettable Fire


I think this must be my favourite. I love the glittering cityscapes, the lights and the seamless transitions from city scenes to the completely different winter sceneries. I love that slick looking tv with The Edge and Larry playing, I love the effect of the carousel drastically increasing the spin. The visuals are dramatic and the lighting makes my eyes yell "THANK YOU!" There's an dark atmosphere that lays thick in this video, the lyric and the music which is so gratifying. Indeed unforgettable.


One (Anton Corbijn version)



The band has of course scenes where they are standing playing but this video's slow moving pan and still like images makes it a pleasant watch. Corbijn filmed the band in drag and make-up and made them emotional touching and dignified. A classic, both video and music.



The Original of the Species


This is another video that made me like the song. Sometimes it seems that if the brain links good visuals to a tune that said tune increases it's attractive quality. Bono actually looks charming in this video. I feel inspired to make U2 fan art.

What on earth have I been doing lately?!

I have been working on my DeviantArt gallery and used hours upon hours commenting on others artwork. I am trying my best to give good comments that not only says "Thumbs up", "Cool image" and similar.
This takes time but I of course hope for some comments back. I am taking this seriously because I upload print images that I intend to sell, I need money and hope my creative work is good enough.

This is one of my images for sale. (This image is a compressed jpg file)

I also post images that is not for sale but many of them can be downloaded and some of them goes under Creative Common, which means others can use the art work for non-commercial purposes.

 I do also post fan art from time to time. Making fan art is a fun way to exercise your skills. I made this after a fellow deviant wrote she wished for a vampire drawing of Leonard Nimoy.  


http://majkinja.deviantart.com/

My own merit.

I posted earlier about some of my works in progress. One of them has come a long way since then.

First my running lady looks like this.

I often end up with something different than I had thought of first because I see other possibilities while working. I know is against the unwritten rules of Photoshop but I started to think that two of the filters would look good in combination with painting. I also added some style-buttons.

Now she looks like this.

My plan was really to let the image be a black lined drawing but one colour led to another and before I knew it I was working it as a painting instead. I like the dynamic of the image.
I'll add more to this but need to let it rest for a while and come back to it later. It's easier to spot errors or see new possibilities when a project is left out of sight in a period.

Happy Birthday Leonard Nimoy

I absolutely adore this guy. If memory serves me right I believe I first saw him in Columbo and then later in Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
It's his 80s birthday today, congratulation Leonard.

Lived long: Check
Prospered: Check

I will hereby celebrate by listing my favourite Leonard Nimoy characters.

Kovack from Baffeled

A cheesy lovable guy in a cheesy lovable film with a storyline of supernatural quality which makes no sense.
Actually the film Baffled was a pilot for a series that was never made. It was like the X-files of the seventies, just with the main characters being sweet instead of distant (sorry Mulder and Scully but, well).

As mentioned the story of Baffled was hard to follow but it had other qualities like pretty locations, some simple but clever editing, a creative "psychic vision" scene and the main couples (Nimoy & Susan Hampshire) joyful behaviour. They like addressing each other by saying their full names, which sounds a bit poetic at times.

Oh yes and I like this poster.

Dr. Barry Mayfield from Columbo

One cold opportunist that schemes a murder so clever that I wish he would have gotten away with it. Ooops, no this wasn't a spoiler, Columbo is a detective show where you learn who the murderer is before the investigation. I'm glad Nimoy got a murderer part in it, maybe it's not flattering but he was perfect. Mayfield also belongs to the exclusive club of villains that made the always so kind Lt. Columbo loose his temper.
I also like the name Mayfield, it's the first and only time I've heard that name.

Miller from Catlow

Talking about cold, this guy, Miller, takes the prize. A bounty hunter who seems to solely exist for the cause of making the life of our hero and anti-hero more difficult. Miller's goal is to hunt down Catlow (Yul Brynner), a funny wisecracking cattle thief.

Miller comes off as somebody who doesn't give a shit of whoever might be around him, he only sees his target. He doesn't give a shit about the beautiful woman who tries to seduce him, he doesn't give shit about the sheriff who needs his help (Miller just makes matters worse), he doesn't even give a shit that he has to battle Catlow naked, he's like a Western version of T-1000 (Wait an minute, Yul Brynner anyone?).
So to all of you who expect Nimoy to only do emotionless cold characters Miller is the ultimate.

Dr. David Kibner from Invasion of the Bodysnatchers

 Aliens are taking over people's life while the original person withers to dust. They are hard to detect, so who to trust?

I dare say this is a great character because he has made fans of the film scratch their heads for decades now. Did we ever see the human being David Kibner or was he something else from the very beginning? 
His behaviour and uttering confuse throughout the film. He's a good trusted friend of the main protagonist Matthew Bennell (Donald Sutherland). He is introduced before he enters the screen by Matthew talking about how Kibner is a understanding and brilliant psychologist. Through Matthew the viewer get the idea of Kibner as a patient listener, so when he finally shows up something seems chillingly wrong.

I have to hand it both to the actors and the writers, they convey paranoia perfectly. The lines that the characters are saying combined with their behavior keeps the viewers on edge, never sure who to trust. This is especially empathized through Nimoy's David Kibner. 

William Bell from Fringe

We follow the Fringe team lead by FBI's Olivia Dunam, a troubled character with a strange past. She teams up with Peter Bishop, a guy with an even stranger past, Peter's father the brilliant but mentally compromised scientist Walter Bishop and his assistant.
It's John Noble as Walter Bishop that made this show worth watching for me. Crazy scientists are nothing new but John Nobel's performance is funny and sensitive. Walter is easy to care about.
With Walter the story of William Bell (Leonard Nimoy) surface, a story of a long and complicated friendship.

As with Kibner, William Bell is not shown when introduced to the show and, boy, this character must have one of the longest introduction since Mrs. Columbo.
It takes a season of the Fringe team talking about him before he actually shows up. After that long I felt like interviewing the character. My first question would be: Why are you blaming everything on poor lovely Walter?
A bit blunt I know but I couldn't help but feeling that Bell got away way too easily, he always came off as justified and he made wonderful Walter feel very bad. (Sigh, Walter my heart is bleeding for you.)
Having said that I have to be fair and mention that Bell did care greatly for Walter and in later episodes, well I won't spoil, so lets say he made sure Walter will get all the help he needs.

Paris from Mission:Impossible

According to the man himself he was first fascinated by the idea of playing an Impossible Force agent. With the character Paris there was the possibility to be different characters in every episode. Paris was like every Mission:Impossible agent, darn efficient and a 100% loyal to his team (except when being brainwashed). He was one of these agents that was a trouble magnet but it's not a surprise since he had to socialize a lot with bad guys. Being a magician was his everyday occupation, an expert of disguise while being in the team.
Sadly Nimoy got bored of the character realizing that Paris was more an idea than a full fleshed personality. Still Paris was an important member of the team, quick thinker, he seemed to have some humour but didn't show any joy over their foes grim demises. There were some episodes where Paris got to show some of his personality but mostly he played the part of others.
Like with most of the Impossible Force agents Paris was easy to like.     

Mr. Spock from Star Trek

In the future a Federation starship will be on a five years mission exploring new worlds and civilizations. Lead by an hot captain who looses his shirt all the time and a stern first officer who has left his home-planet Vulcan to join the Federation fleet, adventures were set every week.

Oooooohhh, this is so obvious that it's obscene. Couldn't I've come up with something more original? The answer is NO.
There's no coming past this, Mr. Spock is not a Science Fiction icon for nothing.
For one this character survived cranky Paramount executives which believed his devilish appearance would put the viewers off. Oh how wrong they were. Mr. Spock went from a supposedly minor background character to a favourite in no time. The male viewers wanted to be him and the female viewers wanted to...well...you know.

Pointy eared, freaky eyebrows and seemingly emotionless Spock gave the insight from someone who observed humans with an alien eye. Even though he was half human on his mother side, he considered himself a Vulcan but realized soon that his mixed origin was a battle of it's own.

Another reason for this character to be on top of this list is how carefully and beautiful done his development of personality went. Spock could seem cold and stubborn but he was also artistic and most important philosophical. Through the years Spock's view on life changed without loosing his values but incorporated them into new observations and learning. The change was wonderful and may I say logical.
He became well rounded and even though his appearance is a bit unusual, after all this years he is like a real person.

Happy Birthday Leonard Nimoy.

Happy Brithday William Shatner!!!!

Famous for his striking style of acting, mystical hair (Read about it here) and speaking like Every. Word. Is. Its. Own. Sentence. William Shatner is one of the most entertaining actor I've seen on screen.

Except from Star Trek I haven't watched much else of Mr. Shatner's work. Here's my favourites.

 INCUBUS.

A film that I found hard to forget is "Incubus" from 1966. What a strange film. It's shot in black and white and the language throughout the film is Esperanto which gives it a European artsy Bergman feel to it.

STAR TREK.

Colourful and one of the most long-lived and famous science fiction shows to grace television. Half of the fun watching this is because of William Shatner, he's ridiculous and hot at the same time, how is that possible?

BOSTON LEGAL.

DENNY CRANE!!! Do I need to add more? This law-show is a lot of fun but isn't afraid to raise controversial questions. It's entertaining and provocative with one of the provoking elements being William Shatner's Denny Crane.

So congratulation with your 80s birthday William Shatner.  

Work in progress.

I'm trying to find the inspiration and will to do art-work again. I used to be very eager when I was younger but struggle to keep the interest.
I have a decent start here, works as a background. I think I'm going to leave the clean lines and shading. I need to add something, so that have to be my next step, I'm not sure what yet.

I'm not a spiritual person so I'm going to avoid making this into a "walk towards the light" image.

Another image I'm working on. This is inspired by a story I'm writing. I guess it's obvious I'm into Science Fiction. Sometimes when the writing goes stale it helps to draw an image that shows the idea of the story. This doesn't make much sense to other viewers I know but it helps arranging my thoughts.

This image takes forever. It might look easy but adding all those shaded blocks is tiring work. This is also inspired from the story I'm writing.



Here is another image that I started this week. When I start drawing I mostly have no idea what the finished result will look like. I'm looking forward to see how it will end. Those two heads started out in a desert landscape. I thought that was too much of an cliché, so I changed the surroundings. It's bland right now, the room needs furniture, details and shading.