There is a website based in the United Kingdom called Little White Lies. They are running a contest in conjunction with the release of a movie called “Kick-Ass” that is being released later this year. The contest is very simple. They’re asking to take any film and re-imagine it in the form of a comic, within a designated six-frame panel.
Here’s my version of “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” —
The weekly challenge on the Illustration Friday website is “focused”.
Andy Warhol fooled everyone. The iconic pioneer in pop art and experimental film was fully focused on one thing, and one thing only — making money. He took everyday objects — Campbell’s soup, flowers, knives, Coca-Cola, Brillo scouring pads — and forced the public to view them as art. He painted them as any artist would paint a portrait or a still life. He put them on display and said it was “art”, so it was. And he did it because he knew the public would buy what they were familiar with. Andy said this about his fascination with Coca-Cola:
“What’s great about this country is that America started the tradition where the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest. You can be watching TV and see Coca Cola, and you know that the President drinks Coca Cola, Liz Taylor drinks Coca Cola, and just think, you can drink Coca Cola, too. A coke is a coke and no amount of money can get you a better coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking. All the cokes are the same and all the cokes are good. Liz Taylor knows it, the President knows it, the bum knows it, and you know it.”
In the 1970s, he painted commissioned portraits of rich celebrities, including Liza Minelli, Elizabeth Taylor, Michael Jackson and The Shah of Iran. Andy said of these portraits, “Making money is art, and working is art and good business is the best art.”
His controversial films — “Sleep” showing poet John Giorno sleeping for six hours and “Eat” consisting of a man eating a mushroom for 45 minutes — were early examples of “art films” and forerunners to performance artists. But, Andy’s goal was to stir up enough interest to entice people to view his films, and in turn, make more money.
Sure, Andy Warhol was a great innovator and forever changed the art world. But he also said, “An artist is somebody who produces things that people don’t need to have.”
Andy Warhol died in New York City on February 22, 1987. He had been making a good recovery from a routine gallbladder surgery when he died in his sleep from a sudden post-operative cardiac arrhythmia.
This week’s challenge word on the Illustration Friday website is “clumsy”.
This is the second illustration I’ve done for this topic. HERE is the first.
There is an unwritten rule among laboratory workers and those who carry out experiments. NO EATING IN THE LAB! Alexander Graham Bell’s famous words weren’t “Watson, come here! I need you! And bring me a sandwich!” Thomas Edison didn’t invent the incandescent light bulb so he could better see his barbecued brisket. If only Vladimir Likhonos, a young chemistry student from the Ukraine, had followed that simple rule.
25 year-old Vladimir was fond of chewing gum and had gotten into the habit of dipping his gum into citric acid to prolong the flavor. Vladimir was working with some volitile chemicals in a lab. He had two similar looking plates before him. One contained powdered citric acid and one contained a powdered form of an extremely powerful explosive. Vladimir dipped his gum into one of the plates and popped it into his mouth. The combination of his chewing and his saliva caused a reaction and — BOOM! — Vladimir had dipped his gum into the wrong plate.
Emergency workers found Vladimir dead, with his bottom jaw blown off and most of the lower part of his face gone.
This week’s challenge word on the Illustration Friday website is “clumsy”.
Tennessee Williams was one of the greatest American playwrights. He wrote The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Rose Tattoo and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, to name just a few.
Williams used eyedrops on a daily basis and had a ritual in which he applied them. He would sit down, unscrew the cap and place it in his mouth. He’d draw the precise amount of liquid into the eyedropper, lean his head back and, with a gentle squeeze of the rubber bulb, let the drops fall into his eye. On February 24, 1983, in his room at the Hotel Elysee in New York, Williams choked to death on an eyedropper bottle cap.
This week’s challenge on the Monday Artday illustration website is “insanity”.
A group of tigers danced with me
A poem of insanity
One time I ate the letter “G”
A poem of insanity
I fought alone in World War III
A poem of insanity
My arms are where my knees should be
A poem of insanity
I live next door to Brenda Lee
A poem of insanity
They’re watching me with ears that see
A poem of insanity
I built the Bridge at Tappan Zee
A poem of insanity
Above the purple manatee
A poem of insanity
I think about a killing spree
A poem of insanity
And eating crackers with baked brie
A poem of insanity
Once I wrestled big John Wayne
And then I flushed him down the drain
A school of fish I’d entertain
While serving them hot beef chow mein
I thought about a town in Spain
Until I was declared insane
The floor is covered with debris
I see my name on the marquee
I’m introduced by the emcee
But no one hears my constant plea
No one’s here, no one but me
And my poem of insanity
Judith Barsi began her career when she was discovered at a Los Angeles skating rink. She was cast in her first of over seventy commercials. Soon, she was doing guest spots on television series, appearing in over a dozen. Television lead to films, including providing the voice for little Anne-Marie in the animated All Dogs Go To Heaven and Ducky in The Land Before Time. All by the time she was ten.
Any parent would have been proud of such accomplishments. Any parent but Judith’s father József. As Judith became more successful, József became more jealous. József, an alcoholic and unemployed plumber, was abusive, resentful, and paranoid. Before Judith went to the Bahamas to film Jaws: The Revenge, József held a knife up to his daughter’s throat and told her, “If you decide not to come back, I will cut your throat.” He was convinced that his wife, Maria, would take Judith to a photo shoot or movie shoot and never come back. Judith was taken to a child psychologist after breaking down in front of her agent. The psychologist identified severe physical and emotional abuse, and reported her findings to the authorities.
By the time Judith entered 4th grade, she was earning an estimated $100,000 a year which helped her buy the family a 3-bedroom house in the West Hills section of Los Angeles. József’s paranoia increased so much that he built a high-fence around the house, which could only be opened from inside. The constantly drunk József remained a recluse and threatened to kill his wife and daughter many times.
On July 25, 1988, József shot Judith in the head while she was asleep. Maria, hearing the gunshot, rushed down the hall to check on Judith. József met her in the hall and shot her as well. He left the bodies for three days, drenched them both in gasoline and set the house on fire. Then, he went into the garage and shot himself in the head.
This week’s challenge on Illustration Friday is “wilderness”.
After several days, Boffo decided that the wilderness was no place for a clown.
This week’s challenge on the Monday Artday illustration website is “invisible”.
Marjorie’s date with Dr. Griffin was going very well.
Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Dock Ellis had, if anything, a colorful career with a lifetime win-loss record of 138-119 and a career earned-run average at a respectable 3.46.
His career was highlighted by events including famously beaning Reggie Jackson in retaliation for a home run in the 1971 All Star Game. In 1972, Dock was sprayed with mace by a security guard at Cinncinati’s Riverfront Stadium. The guard claimed that Dock had not properly identified himself and made threatening gestures with his fist. Dock said he was merely displaying his World Series ring to the guard. In May 1974, Dock decided to hit every player in the Cincinnati Reds’ lineup. Dock hit Pete Rose, Joe Morgan, and Dan Driessen in order in the top of the first inning. The fourth batter, Tony Perez, avoided Dock’s close pitches and drew a walk. The next batter was Reds’ catcher Johnny Bench. After two pitches aimed at Bench’s head, Dock was removed from the game by Pirates’ manager Danny Murtaugh.
But it was on June 12, 1970 that Dock achieved a record that still stands today. He became the only pitcher in professional baseball history to pitch a no-hitter while under the influence of LSD. Dock and the Pirates flew in to his hometown of Los Angeles for a road trip. He asked his manager if he could go home since he was not scheduled to pitch for two days. Granted permission for a day off, Dock took some LSD at the airport and went to visit some friends. Upon his arrival at his friend’s home, Dock began to experience a full-force acid trip and passed out. He woke up just long enough to take some more acid before he was awakened an hour later by his friend’s girlfriend, when she asked “Don’t you have to pitch today in San Diego?” Dock answered “No, I’m pitching tomorrow.” She informed him that he had been “out of it” for an entire day and it was tomorrow. She showed Dock that day’s newspaper as proof and Dock panicked. He rushed to the airport and arrived in San Diego two hours before game time. As Dock later related, he was as “high as a Georgia pine.”
Dock took the mound and in the course of nine innings — where he claimed the ball was huge and then small; where he sometimes saw the catcher’s glove and sometimes not; where he dodged balls he perceived as line drives, but actually came nowhere near him — he struck out six and walked eight. Aided by excellent fielding from second baseman Bill Mazeroski and center fielder Matty Alou, Dock pitched a no-hitter nonetheless. The Pirates beat San Diego 2-0.
Dock bounced around on four more teams in his later years, finally calling it a career back in Pittsburgh in 1979. After retirement, Dock, a long-time alcoholic, was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver. He passed away in 2008, while on the list for a transplant.
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