josh pincus is crying

The new challenge word on the Monday Artday illustration blog is “rain”.

Let the stormy clouds chase
Ev’ryone from the place
Come on with the rain
I’ve a smile on my face

After a long, long hiatus, the illustration showcase website Monday Artday is back with a vengeance! The first challenge, in nearly seven months, is “daily chores”.

He didn’t mind the “Fee-ing” and the “Fi-ing” and the “Foe-ing” and the “Fum-ing”, but the Beanstalk Giant couldn’t stand grinding the bones to make his bread.

The Monday Artday challenge word this week is “monarch”.

On June 1, 2001, King Birendra and Queen Aishwarya of Nepal were hosting a formal dinner party for Nepal’s royal family. 29 year-old Prince Dipendra arrived drunk at the party and his father, the King, ordered him to be removed from the festivities. He was taken to his room in the Narayanhity Royal Palace by his brother Prince Nirajan and cousin Prince Paras.

An hour later, Prince Dipendra returned to the party with a 9mm sub-machine gun and an M16 assault rifle. He shot his father first, then began to systematically pick off his relatives — aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters — darting in and out of the room as he fired round after round. His mother, Queen Aishwarya, ran from the room to get help.

When the Queen returned, she and his brother, Prince Nirajan, confronted Prince Dipendra in the palace garden. Dipendra shot and killed them both. He strolled across a small bridge over a stream in the garden and shot himself.

According to the rules of succession, Dipendra was declared King of Nepal. He spent his entire reign — three days — in a coma. Gyanendra Shah, Dipendra’s uncle, was named King on June 4, when Dipendra died.

Incidentally, Gyanendra’s reign ended in 2008, when the monarchy was abolished and the interim Federal Republic of Nepal formed in its place. Gyanendra became a private citizen and was stripped of his royal status.

The Monday Artday illustration website’s challenge this week is “Pixar”… as in the Disney subsidiary.
This is illustration number two for this challenge.

It’s Sheriff Woody and his new best friend, Space Ranger Buzz Lightyear of Star Command.

The Monday Artday illustration website’s challenge this week is “Pixar”… as in the Disney subsidiary.

James P. Sullivan and his best pal, Mike Wazowski.

The current challenge on the Monday Artday illustration website is “Peter Pan”.

Now you understand why Peter Pan bitched so much about not wanting to grow up.

This week’s Monday Artday challenge word is “villain”.  Here is the second of two illustrations for this suggestion. (Here is the first.)

One of the slimiest, shiftiest villains to ever grace the silver screen was the despicable Hans Guber, as portrayed by Alan Rickman, in the original “Die Hard”.

Under the guise of a group of international terrorists, the cold and ruthless Hans and his cohorts merely wish to steal 640 million dollars in bearer bonds from the vault of the Nakatomi Building in Los Angeles. Their plans are eventually thwarted by visiting New York City cop, resourceful John McClane, the self-proclaimed “fly in the ointment; monkey in the wrench”.

“Die Hard” is actually based on the 1979 novel “Nothing Lasts Forever” by Roderick Thorp. The book, itself a sequel to Thorp’s novel “The Detective” (filmed in 1968 with star Frank Sinatra), was adapted for the action film with several alterations, most notably the inclusion of the Hans Gruber character, who did not originally appear.

This week’s Monday Artday challenge word is “villain”.  Here is the first of two illustrations for this suggestion. (Here is the second.)

She spent her entire screen time in “The Wizard of Oz” tormenting Dorothy Gale. Whether it was in her role as Miss Almira Gulch, the wealthy but crotchety landowner who takes Dorothy’s beloved Toto away under court order or as the main roadblock in Oz keeping Dorothy from returning to Kansas, The Wicked Witch of the West was as evil as they come. (Okay, so Dorothy killed her sister with a house, but she was a witch, after all.) The Wicked Witch was eventually served her just desserts when a slow reaction to a hurled bucket of water brought her to a bubbling and steamy demise. (Of course, Dorothy met her own fate forty years later.)

Margaret Hamilton, who portrayed the Witch, was in reality a former kindergarten teacher who loved children. (Two of her students during her teaching days were future actors Jim Backus and William Windom.) After her iconic, career-defining role in “The Wizard of Oz”, Margaret often visited schools as part of her advocacy for public education. She loved the childrens’ reaction when she told them that she played the witch and was often coaxed into performing the famous cackle to squeals of delight.

A veteran of over 100 movies, television productions and a turn as “Cora” in a popular series of Maxwell House coffee commercials, Margaret passed away at age 82 in 1985.

The current Monday Artday website challenge is “spy”.

Super spy Phil Moskowitz, with the help of the beautiful Suki Yaki, recovers the secret recipe for the world’s greatest egg salad, stolen by the evil Shepherd Wong. The tale of double-crossing and international intrigue unfolds in Woody Allen’s 1966 directorial debut, What’s Up, Tiger Lily?

The challenge word on the Monday Artday illustration blog is “dance”.

Phyllis Newcombe, a 22 year-old British girl, spontaneously combusted before a roomful of people while waltzing in a dance hall on August 7, 1938.

Another story about dance can be found HERE.
Another story about spontaneous combustion can be found HERE.