Pants in a 100°F weather

In my younger years, I rarely wore shorts. It was pants, even if the weather reached 100°F, which was quite often in deep South Texas, aka the Rio Grande Valley.

I think it was a cultural thing for men in the Rio Grande Valley to not wear shorts. I don't recall seeing many doing so. I think it's because shorts were meant for women. Not men.

So, if you knew me back then, you'd see me wearing either dark jeans or dark slacks during the hot summer days--364 days in a valley's year.

It wasn't until I met my wife that I learned to wear shorts. Really. I think there was a day during the hot Central Texas summer where she inquired as to why I was wearing black slacks. I didn't have shorts to wear outside the apartment, and I guess we clashed--her in light color shorts, me in dark pants.

The only pair of shorts I could wear, I wouldn't dare. They were short cut off jeans that were passed on to me by a friend of mine who didn't have to worry about not looking good in them. Me wearing them, however, would definitely give people the wrong idea.

Now, it's a different story. I'm in shorts and t-shirts when I am not at work. It doesn't matter if there is a chill in the air. Shorts are my style.

Shamrock

Name: Molly Fitzgerald
A.k.a: Shamrock
 Dunshaughlin,Ireland
Power: "Luck of the Irish"

Thirty years ago, Shamrock first appeared in Marvel Super Hero Contest of Champions # 1 comic (June 1982).

Her powers were obtained from the "souls of a thousand war victims who manifest themselves as poltergiests, which affect probability within a 20-foot radius of her, altering situations so that she is given an advantage." ," which helped her get the winning advantage.

Marvel decided to create a superhero that would represent Ireland, similar to Captain America representing the United States. So, Marvel created a 5'10" red-headed beauty who obtained powers from the dead.

First of all, I have a thing for red-headed superheroines like Black Widow, Jean Grey, and Leeloo. So it shouldn't be a surprise that Shamrock caught my attention.

Now, you probably haven't heard of Shamrock. I don't blame you. The character came with a lot of controvesy. People thought the character was too stereotypical, and eventually the character was retired--she retired after breaking her foot and decided to became a hairdresser.

I decided to sketch what I would think Shamrock should look like. I dressed her in black rather than the green spandex in the earlier comics. I kept the shamrock and opted for her hair to be loose rather than restrained inside head mask. Finally, I gave her a magical shillelagh as a weapon to
use to help summon the innocent souls to help her get the advantage.


Sources: http://marvel.com/universe/Shamrock; http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix3/shamrockcoc.htm; http://www.comicvine.com/shamrock/29-13888/; http://www.cracked.com/article_18502_the-5-most-unintentionally-offensive-comic-book-characters.html; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamrock_(comics)

Alice Cooper - School's Out Summer

Music Appreciation

Today, is my son's last day of school. He starts summer vacation at exactly 12 o'clock noon. So, I thought it would be appropriate to blog about Alice Cooper's "School's Out."

The song, which was released in 1972, was named by VH1 as the 35th best hard rock song of all time.

Sources: Wikipedia; http://www.youtube.com/artist/Alice_Cooper?feature=watch_video_title

Sergey Tyukanov

Art Appreciation

Welcome to the dream world of Sergey Tyukanov. Born on May 17, 1955 in Russia's largest island, Sakhalin, Tyukanov has taken bedtime stories and myths to create worlds in etchings, drawings, paintings and book prints, also known as ex libris.

One of his famous themes is Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, where Tyukanov introduces us to his imaginative world of Wonderland.

He has some other fantatic drawings and paintings that are full of philosophical elements and thought. For example, Town of Time, where Tyukanov illustrates a puppet hanging from a bridge with sand timers as vertical towers.

Probably one of my Tyukanov favorite is the watercolor painting of The Moon -- an imaginary stone covered city in the shape of a half crescent moon floating between a canyon.

Sources: http://artodyssey1.blogspot.com/2010/05/sergey-tyukanov-here-and-here-sergey.html; http://bibliodyssey.blogspot.com/2007/04/tyukanov-revisited.html; http://www.tyukanov.com/; http://monsterbrains.blogspot.com/2012/02/sergey-tyukanov.html

Anna Karin

Art Appreciation

I came across Sweden born artist Anna Karin's work in a magazine a few weeks ago while visiting New Mexico. When I visited her website, http://annakaringallery.com, I knew why I appreciated her work.

What caught my attention was the realism in her paintings, such as the work I came across in the magazine called "Lace memory", a painting of a lace shirt on a hanger against a plastered wall.

Source: http://annakaringallery.com; the essential guide: Santa Fe & Taos, 2011 - 2012, 22 Edition.

Scott Naismith

Art Appreciation

I stumbled upon Scottish landscape painter Scott Naismith's YouTube page a few weeks ago. Since then, I've been educated by his tutorial videos on color theory and sketch and painting demos.

The demos are time lapse with music, so it makes viewing more entertaining, such as this demo:

Sources: http://www.scottnaismith.co.uk/, http://www.youtube.com/user/scottnaismith

TIME Magazine asks: "Are you mom enough?"

via Time Magazine

Yesterday morning, an Austin radio station discussed this month's Time Magazine cover of a three-year-old suckling from his mom's breast with the headline question "Are you mom enough?" 

Attachment parenting, as coined by Dr. Bill Sears, which the article is about, argues the importance of setting that emotional bond between the mother and child to help in the socio-emotional development in life.

Dr. Bill followers practice breastfeeding beyond 1 year of age. But how long is too long? And even if the mother doesn't practice extended breastfeeding, does that make her less of a mom as the Time Magazine cover suggests?

The radio station received several calls regarding this cover. A pediatrician called in and shared his concerns regarding Dr. Bill's theory, and argued that there are no nutritional benefits on extended breastfeeding for the child.

Jamie Lynn Grumet, the cover model mom appeared on ABC NEWS defending her breastfeeding cover. You can watch the interview HERE.

Source: http://lightbox.time.com/2012/05/10/parenting/#1; http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2114427,00.html?pcd=pw-lb; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attachment_parenting; http://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/jamie-lynne-grumet-defends-her-time-magazine-breastfeeding-180300346.html