Old Harry's Game

One of my favourite shows on Radio 4 is a sitcom set in Hell, starring Satan.

You just don't get entertainment like that on this side of the pond . . .


. . . of course, it has a standard of writing which lives up to the promise of the premise, and surprising moments of pathos and insight. It's a bit like The Screwtape Letters, only less preachy and actually entertaining. Sorry, C.S. Lewis, Andy Hamilton beats you on this round.

Alberta

In trying to alternate Polar Explorer posts with ... well, anything else, I find myself making recourse to yet more observational sketches. These were done on a recent trip to Alberta, which was lovelier than I had remembered.





Perspective

I've been doing a day-by-day recounting of notable events of the Scott Expedition over on my LiveJournal (much to the consternation of its readers I'm sure), and have been pretty faithful about it, despite life's occasional difficulties.

Even though the travails of the Expedition are ever present in my mind, it's useful to get a reminder every so often.

Sucker for Ships

I did these sketches about a year ago, a long way from home...

There was a ship, and I like ships, so I drew a few drawings. One of the days I was there they had tours of the ship, and the captain was interested enough in my sketchbook that he let me stay aboard after my tour group left, and go sketch in some of the areas behind the yellow rope. This was my first experience of the Power of the Sketchbook, and while I haven't been able to exercise it since ... who knows where it'll take me next?

                

Hollywood, Then and Now

Every so often I get bit by Sunset Boulevard and have to listen to the musical soundtrack on repeat for a few days. I'm not sure what prompted it this time, but it was vindicating to find I liked it just as much now as I did ten(!) years ago – it also takes on a whole new dimension when you've worked in the L.A. entertainment industry for a while.


With the rise of YouTube I've actually gotten to see some clips of the show I know so well only through audio. Unfortunately it seems most theatrical productions don't play Joe the way I believe he should be played, as a bitter burnt-out creative professional. Not angry, not really a jerk, not loud or abrasive or a New York shyster (it clearly states he's from Ohio), but rather devoid of any sort of passion; a sardonic, defeated fatalist who's just in it for the money. Entertainment is full of these people!

Our Cheerful Pessimist

Titus Oates was rather the Eeyore of the Scott Expedition. During the first winter, the officers and scientists gave a series of lectures, and one of Titus' was on the management of the ponies which they would use the following summer in their attempt on the Pole. According to Frank Debenham, "He gave us all a surprise as his slow way of talking hardly lends itself to the lecturing, but he lectured really well and his dry smileless humour was splendid."

The King's Caricatures

Well, hello there bloggy, long time no updatey! Have some caricatures from The King's Speech.


The movie was great and all, but when it comes to caricatures, the director beats all the actors hands-down. Thanks for having such a great face, Mr Hooper!

William de Worde

I've been trying to re-read The Truth, but the holidays and some other obligations have gotten in the way. Those are mostly over with now, so I'm back to it, and am constantly impressed being reminded what a good movie it would make.

Can you hear that?


It's the sound of a great story rumbling towards you, in the guise of a runaway cart carrying a printing press.

Smile, Darn Ya, Smile

Birdie Bowers always had the sunniest outlook, even when it was decidedly not sunny.

Okay, to be fair, the letter he wrote home about the storm that nearly sank the Terra Nova was more frank in its appraisal of their circumstances (proving how dire they really were) but he still ended it with "Under its worst conditions this earth is a good place to live in."

Gorgeous Lautrecian Creatures

In my continuing mission to consume all possible information on the Scott expedition, I have recently read Sara Wheeler's biography of Cherry. It was sad in unexpected ways, but interesting ... One point of interest was that during the second winter, when it was 'morally certain' that the polar party was not going to return, Cherry's sketchbook hosted some special guests.

If I had approached this correctly and referred to my research before I started drawing, the bunks would be the right distance apart ... ah well. That's not really the point.

Toronto, Part 1

After New York, I took the train to Toronto. Hooray Toronto! I had a wonderful (if short) time there, and the first place I got to sit and sketch for an extended period was Casa Loma. It's like, this totally awesome castle?

   


Later research identified the woodpecker as a female Hairy, in case you were in suspense.

Race to the End of the Earth

The American Museum of Natural History has an exhibition on, relating to Scott and Amundsen's race* to the South Pole in 1911. As you may have noticed in previous entries, the Scott expedition is an ... interest ... of mine, and Disney insists on letting me walk away with a comfortable disposable income, so I went.

They didn't allow cameras, but they didn't take my sketchbook away. Who wants a load of sketches? You want a load of sketches? You got it!

  
  
  
  
  


*Captain Scott says: 'It's not a race! Stop calling it a race! Geez!'

Messin' wit the Shadow Man

I did all sorts of odd jobs animating on Frog, from slight expression changes on a mask to the Disneyest cheering bayou animals. But if I was working on a character, there was one character it was likely to be, and I came to a very important conclusion about the nature of existence about a year ago, which is illustrated here.

I only did eleven scenes of him (and two of those were hand scenes) but I was so enormously, tremendously, gigantically lucky to be a part of that crew, I can hardly express the depths of my gratitude to the powers that be. Most animators never get to work on a character that awesome in their whole careers, never mind on their first feature. Bruce Smith, of course, as supervising animator, is responsible for a huge amount of that awesomeness, because Bruce Smith IS AWESOME. That's all there is to it.

The Men Who Weren't Thursday

BBC7 recently had a reading of G.K. Chesterton's The Man Who Was Thursday, which I surprised myself by enjoying quite a lot (though on reflection, 'eccentric Edwardian intellectuals go on a wacky romp/mystery' is hard not to love). Unfortunately, getting half an hour of audiobook a day makes it hard to hang onto physical descriptions, but that didn't stop me – here's a collection of doodles of the Central Anarchist Council, more or less independent of accuracy. The Secretary (top left), for example, ought to have dark hair and a beard. Pah! I like mine better.