Zombie Slumber Party!

I just posted the Zombie Slumber Party boardgame to www.littleenandbigen.com. It can be downloaded as a pdf file from the ZSP page.
ZSP is a game that answers the question of what would happen when a teen sex comedy crashes headfirst into a zombie horror movie. Be warned is does come with an R rating for sexuality, violence, and language.
-Jason
www.littleenandbigen.com

Jason's Studio Space

Calamity John's Art Supplies meme has inspired me to post pictures of my section of the Little'en and Big'en studios.

Picture 1: Jason's Drawing table. It is a solid wood table given to Suzanne and I by my friends when we got married. I love how solid and heavy it is. On the drawing table, left to right, are: 30" T-square, 2 cork-24" SAE/metric metal rulers, pencil sharpener, 6 Micron pens ranging from 8 to 005, 6H pencil, 2H pencil, gum eraser, a 12" cork-backed SAE/metric metal ruler, a bottle of black ink, glass full of Sharpie markers and pencils, an antique quilpen holder now holding an exacto-knife, painter's masking tape, a 22" x 26" artist's board, sheets of 8.5" x 11" copy paper to scribble on and use as smudge preventers, a 15" x 20" 24-ply hotpress illustration board which will become page 5 of the 1st chapter of the Rabbit, wax paper, a cook's timer, a brush holder and brushes, a water jar for when I watercolor, the towel used when I watercolor, my watercolor pallette, and a pencil holder bag.
Picture 2: Jason's computer desk. The desk I purchased from an office supply store. It is on wheels, which allows me to roll it out of the way to get at the piles of books that could not fit onto our bookshelves. The desk contains on the top shelf, from left to right: A Serta Sheep stuffed animal my Grandmother gave me, a skull of a Nobody I made out of pipe-cleaners, a Cannon CanoScan Lide 70 scanner. On the main shelf, from left to right: A jar of pens and pencils, the glass pitcher I drink water from, my headphones, a 19" CRT monitor, my mouse, paperwork with dimensions and x,y coordinates for Mandala-pattern 14, loose change, my fitness profile from the JJC college, my journal/sketchpad, a HP Color Laserjet 2600n with teddy bear and notes, the Color Index by Jim Krause. My computer is a MAC G4 running OS X.
Picture 3: What my work area looks like. You can see The Rabbit Mask hanging over my drawing desk. There are additional paintings allong the walls. Also a model I made of the Flying Broom hangs on the wall.
Picture 4: A green steamer trunk I use to hold my artwork. At least the artwork that will fit in it. On top are inked pages from the Rabbit and pages yet to be inked.
Picture 5: A full view of the steamer trunk and the wall it rests against. It is placed under our bookshelves. Next to the steamer trunk is my altar. Under the plant is my Peanut's metal lunchbox I found when my parent's moved. In the left corner you can see an easel containing the last of Suzanne's Seasons series. It is turning out beautiful.
Picture 6: Lastly, here is a close-up of the model's I built for Biff and Rockey. There is also a T-rex I made from Legos.
-Jason
www.littleenandbigen.com

The Last Mimzy (version B)

The Last Mimzy. Viewed on 3-26-09 at Karesotes Showplace 14 in New Lenox, IL
I have been lost within myself as of late. I disliked the superhero stories I encountered yet was still drawn to the genre. Heroes, Ben 10, and Invincible I love. The output of Marvel comics and DC comics leaves me sick. I look at the stories and feel nothing. That magical spark is missing. So why do I continue to look. Am I secretly hoping I will find a superhero story that entertains. Maybe I desire to find my childhood innocence again.
The problem with that idea I realized is that I did not read superhero comics as a child. In fact I did not read any comics until I was thirteen. I read books. Myth and children's literature. Just So Stories. Captain Courageous, Bloodclot Boy, Coyote, King Arthur, Narnia, the Phantom Tollbooth, and the Dark is Rising series. Those last two are the only books I have read more than once in my life. The Dark is Rising is one of my all time favorite series. Every book in the series I devoured. I could see every detail with clarity. For me, in sixth grade, those stories were real. Or so I wished they were. I wished some one would come along and tell me I am special, just like Will. To go from a plain ten year old to having special magical powers was very seductive to me. Why? The idea appealed to me because of my own feelings of powerless at that time. I did not get along with my peers. I was arguing with my parents. I was depressed and did not know how to get out. Yet if I was Will, I could use my magical powers to change things. Or maybe my junior high troubles would not seem so bad in comparison to facing down agents of evil and chaos. I must admit, not only to you but myself, that the idea of being the hero appealed to me. As one aspect of my depression I viewed myself as an evil person. My father telling me how selfish I was for getting christmas presents when there were starving children in the world contributed to this delusion I am sure. If I was Will, then I wouldn't be evil because I would be the hero. The hero only does good.
I've come to realize, after watching the Last Mimzy, is I never really loved superhero comics. I only liked them because they shared similar themes as the books I loved as a child. A person is able to take on another identity. A person learns special abilities or discovers special devices allowing them to do what they could not do before. A person discovers a secret world he or she did not know existed. Lastly, and most importantly, a person discovers peace of mind by book's end.
-Jason
www.littleenandbigen.com

The Last Mimzy (version A)

The Last Mimzy. Viewed on 3-26-09 at Karesotes Showplace 14 in New Lenox, IL

There is something about a movie that taps into the rich mythological heritage of humanity that I really respond to. The movie need not be about actual myths, like Clash of the Titans, but needs to use the symbolism in it's own fashion.

"There's a fundamental image in the old babylonian mythology of the god Marduk, the great sun god, the shaper and creator of the world. What does he create the world out of? His grandmother, Tiamat, who comes as a monster and he carves her up." Quoted from A Joseph Campbell Companion, page 34.

The future is saved from the tears of a little girl. A little girl feeling all cut up and torn by grief because her friend Mimzy is dying.

"That's the way the animus is: It is a projection of something the female could do but allows the male to do for her. Though not half so vital a presence, he is a machine with a body that's specialized, so he can do these things..." Quoted from A Joseph Campbell Companion, page 35.

The little girl needs her brother to help send Mimzy home and save the future. He is "the Engineer", creator of the generator for the time machine. He is able to see the lines of force moving through out the world. He, at her request, speaks to the insects to have them help hide their escape from the research lab.

Oh and how it continues. Oh and how I loved it.
-Jason
www.littleenandbigen.com

Superman: Infinite City by Mike Kennedy, Carlos Meglia, and Rob Leigh

Superman: Infinite City by Mike Kennedy, Carlos Meglia, and Rob Leigh. Published by DC Comics
Is not every story a story of an alternate reality. Each person imagines a story differently than someone else reading it. The Harry Potter I image when I read any of his books is different than the Harry Potter you imagine. Are not each of us creating alternate realities when we read stories.
Imagine for a minute the beauty of this. Every person has an entire universe of realities, created from the stories they have read and seen, flowing out of them. Would I not bear witness to a river of stars pouring out of everyone could only I see.
-Jason
www.littleenandbigen.com

Three signs of a bad movie

Signs a movie will be bad.
1. It is released in January.
2. The trailer is always the same.
3. It is a special effects movie not released in the summer.
-Jason
www.littleenandbigen.com

Spider-man 3 trailer

Spider-man 3 trailer, viewed before 300 at the Kerasoted Showplace 14, in New Lenox, IL.

I was really looking forward to the new Spider-man movie. Then I saw this trailer. Damn. In the trailer we see Spider-man fight Sandman, the Green Goblin's son, and Venom. How long is this movie!
-Jason
www.littleenandbigen.com