by Makoto Kobayashi
Tag: comics
Three things arrived in the post today
First, a rather super-awesome Superdry hoodie from those kind folk at Cult Clothing. Not only does it fit, but it’s also perfectly timed as I AM ILL RIGHT NOW and being cosy and warm helps me feel better.
Look – ILL
Second, an actual Amazon Kindle Fire HD gifted to me from Dolby, via Kred Rewards. I am both amazed and massively thankful. Plus (and I really hope my Mum isn’t reading this) that’s Christmas all wrapped up for a certain relative of mine, definitely.
Stunned.
In-kred-ible even (sorry, couldn’t help it).
Third and finally, a selection of digital goodies from Neil Gibson Comics / T-Publications. I love a good comic book (you’re in shock, I know) and well, I rarely venture into new territories without muchos research beforehand. This, amongst others, has come my way so I’m going to read it. Easy.
What did you get in the post today?
Five things on Friday #47
Things of note for the week ending November 23rd, 2012
1. Hawkeye
I’ve been on a bit of a digital-comics-sabbatical of late (it’s far too easy to spend a lot of money, on a lot of comics, in a very short space of time), but what with it being my birthday this past Wednesday (more on that later) and a couple of iTunes vouchers coming my way (thanks Dad), it was high time I dived back in again.
My first stop? Hawkeye.
A new series launched to tie-in with the character’s new found fame thanks to a certain super-massive superhero movie, this standalone book is not only incredibly well drawn but also brilliantly written. The image above, taken from issue three ‘Cherry‘, gives you a bit of an insight on what I’m talking about but basically, what I’m saying is, if you’re looking for a new comic to get into, go and get Hawkeye. I genuinely lol’d about four or five times reading this month’s issue.
2. Corporate secrets (you can now disclose)
This Reddit thread is awesome –
American Apparel –
I worked at American Apparel for two years. During the time that I worked there, the company implemented a company-wide recruitment policy where any person applying for a position must be photographed (1 headshot, 1 body shot) The actual resumes were thrown in the garbage. These photos were then sent to a company email address where someone would either give a thumbs up or down to the photographs. Staff were encouraged to recruit instore and on the street and were given a $100 bonus for every person they got approved.
Walmart –
As a former cart pusher at walmart, one thing i always noticed was how they pushed all of their employees, i mean “associates” , to 39.5 hours a week so that they wouldn’t get full benefits. That and the 10% discount card only worked on taxed items.
Eye opening, and ace.
3. Russell ‘Fag Pimp’ Brand
4. Random Robot Shopper
Darius Kazemi has a bot that buys him random stuff from the internet. His first shipment arrived this week and it’s kinda cool to read about. I don’t have much else to add except that this is a delightful read and it’s probably something I need to add to my Trello (as it resonates with an ongoing conversation I’m having with Kai about sparking innovation with serendipity).
5. Birthday awesomes!
It was my birthday on Wednesday – WOOOOO – and an awesome day/week was had. At the time this post is scheduled to publish, I’ll be boarding the Eurostar en route to Paris for a long weekend of relaxing with my lovely lady.
Other birthday awesomes
- A coffee table book of my Empty Underground photos
- A bottle of Oban
- Marvel Monopoly (amazing)
- Assassin’s Creed III (at last)
- A mini-bat-signalÂ
- Many, many chocolate things
- Messages from overseas
- And an awesome night out with a few friends at Trader Vics
Friends and loved ones are brilliant – thanks for an awesome birthday, you know who you are.
—
Bonuses this week are three articles that I enjoyed – a crackin’ interview with Robert De Niro; this dissection of the sorry state of pop marketing (via Rhianna); and this piece from the Atlantic – about Obama’s reelection – is immense – ‘The Hippies are punching back…’
The Tailor of Gotham City
Ever wondered where Batman’s villains get their outfits?
Spotted this yesterday and it’s just awesome. A chap over on deviantart *drew this on his holiday* after asking himself that very same question.
It’s a fantastic premise and a brilliant execution.
I’ve snapped a few of the images, but you must must must read the whole thing.
Amazing work.
Liam Brazier
Awesome comic book art is awesome.
I first came across the work of Liam Brazier on one of my favourite art blogs, My Modern Metropolis. Probably after I tweeted about JUST HOW AWESOME his work was, I got into a rather geeky exchange with my friend Elise Pearce – which ended up with both of us committing to buying some of his work.
Elise bought Batman ‘Cave Man‘, I went for Superman ‘Man Up‘.
However, the way that I wanted Supes wasn’t really advertised on Liam’s online shop, so I reached out to him (fortunately he’s fairly active on Twitter) and explained what I was looking for… he said it might be extra, I said I didn’t care… so we came to an agreement, and I got what I wanted.
— ‘Man Up’, on my wall at home —
It is, clearly, awesome. And I believe it is also the only one, of its size, in existence.
Epic. Win.
Brazier’s work covers off the standard comic book heroes, obviously, but there’s also Star Wars, Rocky, Withnail, Teen Wolf and a whole bunch of other great stuff that I don’t know the name of.
I guess my point is, if you’re a geek with a penchant for the artistic, take a look at Liam’s work. I really can’t recommend it, or him, enough.
Update: turns out he does animation too. Wicked.
Five things on Friday #22
Things of note for the week ending June 1st, 2012
1. Good times
Writing this blog throughout the week as I do (picking up links throughout the week and saving them to WordPress on the fly), means there is often a close kind of overlap with some of the awesomeness out there. As I type this particular segment, it’s 9:30 on Sunday May 27th and the sunshine is GLORIOUS.
Yesterday was the first picnic of the year and, as well as hanging out with friends and generally having a laugh, there was Frisbee (see above), Lasagne and then later, EUROVISION. Which, thanks to Twitter, was actually quite bearable.
Note to self: add this to your ongoing 2screen case study collection
As the girl quite perfectly put it: super fun time
2. Love this from Steven Sanders
First, I found this from one of my new favourite tumblrs, and second, I have a soft spot for awesome-pencils-on-white-backgrounds because they totally work with my blog theme (thanks again Vero).
Oh, and I just really love the picture too.
3. Awesome Brothers
I have an awesome brother. Fact. Having this guy as a brother would be awesome too. For his sibling’s birthday not only did he go out and find a pair of Iron Man bracelets (if you haven’t seen Avengers Assemble yet, you won’t know how awesome these are) but he also drew this pic of him using them. AMAZING.
I guess that’s what happens when your brother works at Pixar.
4. Empty Underground
I like to take photos of the London Underground when there’s noone else around. I’ve blogged about it before, others have too. There’s a hashtag and a Flickr group but it’s just a hobby more than anything else, and it’s fun. Anyway, this one is from last week. It’s one of mine and it’s probably top five favourite all time Empty Underground shots.
You get a coffee on me if you can guess where and how I took it.
5. Amazing comic book people are amazing
I admit it. I cried.
If you can’t bear to sit through the 30second ad at the start (sorry – can’t do anything about that),why not go read the story instead. Either way, it’s a lovely piece of good news to sign off with.
Bonuses are all long-form pieces again this week; How to Spot the Future, via Scroggles, is very similar to Where Good Ideas Come From in its nature, but still worth a read all the same; Beating the anxiety of online reading; and A Guide to Influence(rs) Chapter One has made me want to write my own guide on how to engage with communities.
Fastball Special
Hulk. Smash.
Eric Bana
Edward Norton
Mark Ruffalo
Image via Screenrant
I love the look of the new Hulk in the upcoming Avengers film. The third* modern take on the character and I think we’re finally getting him to a decent place…
Good work.
*the two previous films were good, but Hulk was too green and Incredible was too veiny.
Five things on Friday #14
Five things of note for the week ending Friday, April 6th 2012
1. Paper by Fifty Three
I’ve already blogged about discovering this app, but if you haven’t taken a look yet (it’s for the iPad) then I recommend you do. I love it and have been sketching away like there’s no tomorrow since installing… Unsurprisingly, there’s a theme.
2. Awesome New Music
New Childish Gambino
New Nicki Minaj
New Kanye West
And this full album stream from Alabama Shakes is worth a lisen too.
EnjoyÂ
3. Comic book stuff
I’ve been reading Project Rooftop for some time now, and it is an ace source of fantastic artwork on some my favourite characters. Their remit is to highlight and drive the craft of redesigning comic book characters that you know and love and generally showcase some gorgeous work.
This past week has been no different, but these two redesigns, Ninja Turtles and X-Men respectively, stood out particularly.
Donatello, Michelangelo, Raphael and Leonardo all getting the redesign treatment. Given the myriad of interpretations the Turtles have been through over the years, giving them a fresh take is no easy task. But this effort is actually brilliant. I want to see more… And guess what, you can! Full set available here
This one stands out for two reasons. First, it’s the original X-Men (who are still one of the best teams to date) and two, the version of Ice-Man is sweet. I’ve not seen an ice-as-armour version before and well, no pun intended, it’s just too damn cool for words. You can check out the full set over on P:R. It’s worth a look, definitely.
What do you think?
4. The Lumia 900
The Nokia Lumia 900 launches this week and, while it is only really a bigger version of the Lumia 800 (which I’ve been rocking and enjoying since late last year), it’s intriguing to me as it’s the big N’s first serious play in the USA since, well – since forever really. To say it’s make or break time might be an understatement, but I think they might actually have winner on their hands. Only time will time.
This Read Write Web piece made me grin mind –
“There have been rumors that Nokia is paying AT&T to make sure that every rep uses the Lumia 900 as a personal device. The idea is that consumers trust sales reps to steer them in the right direction. Even as an advanced early adopter and mobile technology reporter, I often trust sales reps to tell me what the best device is and what is coming out (sometimes I quiz them to see how much they actually know about the ecosystem because I am that type of jerk).”
Heh, you’re not on your own there chap…Â
I’d like to have a play with the Lumia 900 at some point (honestly, I haven’t played with one yet!) and I’m sure it’d be great, but what interests me more is what’s coming next. We all know the Lumia range is merely a proof-of-concept device (and a very nice range it is too) but I want to see what the tech-heads in Finland are going to do next. Now they’ve proven they can design gorgeous Windows phones, let’s see some of that innovation that they’re also famous for. Exciting times ahead, both for Nokia itself as well as the industry as a whole.
5. I made the Slovenian FT
Bonuses: Dan Goodall got his blog back online, go read it; Fish: a tap essay is one of the best things I’ve come across for a long time and finally, I’ve been looking at the image below nearly every day – it’s just beautiful.Â
Until next time –
whatleydude.com 
