SFG: scary

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The current challenge on sugarfrostedgoodness.com is “scary”.
People never notice anything.
Paul Goresh was a New Jersey college student and amateur photographer. He met John Lennon on two occasions by posing as a VCR repairman. He hung around outside of  The Dakota  with his camera hoping to get some pictures of Lennon. Paul was just a fan, but Lennon thought he was working for the press. Lennon didn’t want his picture taken and he felt Paul was harassing him. Paul just wanted to take candid photos of the ex-Beatle.

Paul explained to Lennon’s assistant that he didn’t work for the press and he was just a fan. Paul encountered Lennon several more times and Lennon eventually warmed up to Paul, sometimes inviting him on walks through upper Manhattan.

Around 4:15 PM on December 8, 1980, Lennon was met by Paul on the sidewalk in front of The Dakota. Paul raised his camera and began snapping pictures. He photographed Lennon signing a copy of Double Fantasy  for another fan that Paul had met earlier. In approximately seven hours, that other fan, Mark David Chapman, would fire four bullets into Lennon and kill him.

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IF: strings (part 2)

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The illustrationfriday.com challenge word this week is “strings”. This is the second of two illustrations I did for the subject. The first can be seen HERE.
I found two great (and unrelated) quotes for “strings”, so I decided to illustrate both.
You've got a filing cabinet under half of your ass.
“Most men, no matter how well or badly dressed, carry overstuffed, beat up wallets that should have been replaced years ago. Why is that every time I see a guy take out a wallet anywhere, it looks like a piece of old melted chocolate cake-with strings.”
— Jonathan Carroll, author

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DCS: nikola tesla

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good heavens Miss Sakamoto - you're beautiful!
No doubt Nikola Tesla was a brilliant man. He was one of the world’s greatest electrical engineers. Aside from his work on electromagnetism and electromechanical engineering, Tesla contributed to the establishment of robotics, remote control, radar and computer science, and to the expansion of ballistics, nuclear physics, and theoretical physics. In 1943, the Supreme Court of the United States credited him as being the inventor of the radio. (Take that, Marconi!) And he spoke eight languages. But…

Tesla suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder, and had many unusual quirks and phobias. He did things in threes. He was adamant about staying in a hotel room with a number divisible by three. Tesla was physically revolted by jewelry, notably pearl earrings. He was fastidious about cleanliness and hygiene, and was by all accounts germophobic. He greatly disliked touching human hair other than his own. He disliked touching round objects.

He was obsessed with pigeons, ordering special seeds for the pigeons he fed in Central Park and even bringing some into his hotel room with him. Tesla was an animal-lover, often reflecting contentedly about a childhood cat.

Tesla was a loner and was soft-spoken. However, he displayed the occasional cruel streak. He openly expressed his disgust for overweight people, once firing a secretary because of her weight. He was quick to criticize others’ clothing as well, demanding a subordinate to go home and change her dress on several occasions.

Tesla died of heart failure alone in room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel, some time between the evening of January 5 and the morning of January 8, 1943, at the age of 86. Despite having sold his AC electricity patents, Tesla was destitute and died with significant debts.

Mad scientist?

Oh, he was mad, alright

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IF: sugary

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The illustrationfriday.com challenge word this week is “sugary”.
This could be a companion piece to my illustration for “yummy”.
I know a guy who's tough but sweet.
Here’s my original Tale of Swirly von Swirly deCocoa McDuff
Swirly von Swirly deCocoa McDuff
Made candy and gumdrops and sugary stuff
He mixed up ten pounds of peppermint sweets
And coconut tangerine crispy rice treats
Tray after tray of peanut fudge drops,
Hazelnut toffee and red lollipops.
Swirly von Swirly, he mixed and he stirred
Batch upon batch of sweet lemony curd,
Butterscotch cherry cashew rum brittle
Caramel chewies with cream in the middle
Those copper pots glistened,
Those pots of McDuff
Overflowing with chocolate
And marshmallow fluff
That Swirly von Swirly, he stirred and he mixed
Nonpareil candies all dotted with Trix!
He tried and he tested and experimentated
Shaken-up fizzy sticks (noncarbonated)
Clusters of almonds in a big creamy puff
All made by the Master —
deCocoa McDuff.

But wait! The story continues…. here!

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Monday Artday: schoolhouse rock

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The Monday Artday challenge this week is “Schoolhouse Rock”.
From its 1973 debut, wedged between episodes of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?, Schoolhouse Rock taught grammar, math and history to youngsters nationwide. Schoolhouse Rock’s quirky animation, psychedelic images and catchy tunes made learning easy and the lesson stuck with kids. Even into high school, kids were humming the Preamble to the Constitution to themselves during history tests.
Singer/songwriters Paul and Storm obviously grew up with Schoolhouse Rock.
Feeling that the original set of Grammar Rock songs was short one important part of speech, they wrote “Epithets”.
or by a comma when the feeling's not as strong.
Algernon was hanging pictures over his bed
The hammer missed the nail, and hit his finger instead
The swelling started growin’
And the blood began a-flowin’
While Algernon let go with some
Epithets!

Bobby was the pitcher on his Little League team
His father would project on him his own broken dreams
He’d guzzle down the booze
And then when Bobby’s team was losin’
Daddy started to abuse ’em with
Epithets!

An epithet’s a word or phrase that people can use
When ordinary words and phrases simply won’t do
To express frustration, pain, impatience, anger or scorn
To the ****heads and the ***holes in your way

The Mayor loved the women and he loved cocaine
He got himself a hooker to keep him entertained
But after he discovered
She was working undercover
Then Hizzoner started utterin’
Epithets!

Epithets
Show emotion
Impatience
Frustration
Pain and anger
Amen

Click HERE to hear “Epithets”, from Paul and Storm’s album Opening Band.

HEY! LOOK! I even got a mention on Paul and Storm’s website! Thanks Paul and Storm.

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SFG: yummy

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The sugarfrostedgoodness.com current challenge is “yummy”.
For this uncharacteristically cheerful illustration, I took my inspiration from Dr. Seuss.
Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker's man
Here’s my original story of “Mister McBaker O’Frosting Moran”
Mister McBaker O’Frosting Moran
Baked one thousand cakes and used only one pan
He concocted pink cupcakes
And yellow and blue
But he used just one pan
Not seven or two
Giant red cream cakes with sprinkles on top
A big plate of chocolatey brownies and glop
Crunch cookies and fudgy yum yummies with fudge
Six batches of rum raisin spice cinnamon sludge
A great big enormous sweet stick-ity bun
And the pans that he used only numbered to one
He mixed in the eggs and the butter and flour
And the baking was done in just under an hour
Petit fours were presented by O’Frosting Moran
And ten dozen tea cakes — all using one pan
Cakes for a birthday
Cakes for a bris
Cakes for a Christening
with a cinnamon twist
How, you may ask, could he just use one pan?
’cause there’s magic in the kitchen
Of McBaker Moran

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