Author: Rudy Panucci (Page 116 of 581)

Our next suggestion for The 2019 PopCult Gift Guide is the perfect gift for any die-hard fan of Paul McCartney and Wings, or just mid-1970s rock in general. McGear is basically a lost album by Wings. “McGear” is also known as Michael McCartney, younger brother of Sir Paul, and his elder sibling either wrote or co-wrote all but one of the songs on the original album, including the song in the video above, “Leave It.”

The McGear album is a real gem of British pop/rock, and this new boxed set brings the original album back into print for the first time in years, and also includes a bonus audio disc, as well as a region-free DVD with new interviews with Mike McGear plus the above promotional video for the album from 1974. Let’s let the label explain:

Esoteric Recordings is pleased to announce the release of a newly remastered and expanded edition of the album, McGear by Mike McGear. This edition features 21 bonus tracks, including 13 previously unreleased outtakes and tracks alongside singles appearing on CD for the first time.

The set also includes a DVD featuring Mike (McGear) McCartney reminiscing at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts, an interview with Mike at the Everyman Theatre in Liverpool and the 1974 promotional film for the single ‘Leave It’. Originally released in 1974, McGear was the second solo album by Mike McGear (McCartney) and was a more “serious” record than his work with the Liverpool satirical trio Scaffold, or his work with Roger McGough on the McGough & McGear album.

Recorded at Strawberry studios in Stockport, (the musical home of the band 10cc), the album was produced by Paul McCartney (who also played on the album and co-wrote most of the material with Mike) and featured Linda McCartney and members of Wings, Jimmy McCulloch and Denny Laine, along with guests such as Paddy (“Pipes”) Moloney of The Chieftains. The album featured a selection of tremendous songs such as ‘Rainbow Lady’, ‘Simply Love You’, ‘Givin’ Grease a Ride’ and ‘The Man Who Found God on the Moon’. McGear also featured an inspired cover of the Roxy Music song ‘Sea Breezes’, the evocative ‘The Casket’ and the hit single ‘Leave It’. The sessions also spawned a non-album single; ‘Dance the Do’ (which featured Vivian Stanshall).

You get all that in this nicely-packaged box set, which also marks the debut of the full album artwork in the US, and even cleverly morphs the Esoteric Records label design into the mid-70s Warner Brothers Records label from the original release.

You might be able to order this missing link of the Paul McCartney canon from hipper record stores, or you can seek it out at Amazon. It’s a real gem of a record, and will be a great, obscure treat for any fan of Sir Paul. If you’re wondering where this would fall in the Wings timeline, it was recorded between Band On The Run and Venus And Mars, two of Wings highpoints.

It’s time for an epic graphic novel recommendation, especailly good as a gift for fans of well-crafted storytelling.

Reincarnation Stories
by Kim Deitch
Fantagraphics
ISBN-13: 978-1683962618

Next up In The 2019 PopCult Gift Guide is the new Graphic Novel by legendary underground comix maestro. Kim Deitch. I haven’t had a chance to crack open my copy yet (look for a PopCult Comicx Bookshelf review in January), but as a fan of Deitch’s for 45 years now, I will recommend this to any fan of challenging graphic novels, underground comix, or any non-superhero comic books.

This seems almost like a career-capper, a summation of every theme that Dietch has addressed over his seven decades as a cartoonist. I’ll turn it over to the publisher’s blurb:

The award-winning cartoonist returns with a graphic novel that spans the past, present, and future of human history, in which Deitch himself, in a parallel reality, meets his spiritual nemesis, Waldo the Cat.

Kim Deitch is an underground cartoonist―i.e., a contemporary of Spiegelman, et al.―whose craft just keeps getting better and better. Aesthetically inspired by silent film and 1930s animation, Deitch’s comics are infused with 1960s psychedelia and spiritualism. Reincarnation Stories is a collection of comics narratives that combine into a graphic novel. It spans the past, present, and future of human history, with appearances by Frank Sinatra, monkey gods, a forgotten cowboy star of the silver screen, and a tribe of Native Americans that successfully resettled on the moon. In a parallel reality, Deitch himself is the mega-successful creator of a series of kids books about a superhero called Young Avatar, who helps marginalized souls lead better lives and whose alter ego is a carpenter. Deitch’s spiritual nemesis (an incarnation of Judas Iscariot), Waldo the Cat, makes an appearance. Black & white illustrations.

Sitting on a bench one day, four-year-old Kim Deitch is accosted by an elderly man. Flask in hand, the man exclaims, “Is it possible? Sid! SID PINCUS! Good God, man! You’ve changed!” A lightbulb goes off in the man’s head. “You died, Sidney! And now you live again!” Whisked away by his mother, young Deitch is left to wonder: Was it all just the mad ravings of a drunk or a tantalizing glimpse into reincarnation?

Thus begins Deitch’s quest to piece together the cosmic jigsaw puzzle of creation and reveal his past lives. This sprawling odyssey weaves through time and space, encompassing a dizzying array of oddball characters, including aspiring screenwriter Sidney Pincus, a tribe of moon-dwelling Native Americans, a feline YouTube star, a has-been silver screen cowboy, Frank Sinatra, and the awesome Monkey God! Featuring Deitch’s surreal scenarios and eye-popping psychedelia, Reincarnation Stories is a gripping yarn and a cartooning tour de force.

You ought to be able to order this book from any bookseller, using the ISBN number, and it’s in stock from Amazon and Fantagraphics.

All Elite Wrestling is the hot new wrestling company that just started running on national TV a couple of months ago. They nearly sold out the Charleston Colisseum a few weeks ago, and I know that they have loads of fans around Charleston, and across the country. The perfect gift for the young-at-heart fan of AEW would be an action figure or two of their favorite AEW personalities.

Unfortunately, there aren’t any official AEW action figures…yet.  I have a feeling we’ll find out about an extensive line of them at Toy Fair next February, but for now there aren’t any with the official AEW brand.

However, in a cool twist on old-school LJN wrestling figures, The Young Bucks, who are a tag team in AEW and also executive vice presidents of the company, have a limited-edition two-figure set of themselves, done up in the old, non-articulated LJN Toys action figure style made famous by the WWF back in the 1980s.

LJN, which as a corporate entity ceased to exist a couple of decades ago, has seemingly been revived, and with this set, they’ve captured the look, feel and packaging of their iconic 1980s wrestling figures. They have no articulation, but they bring back loads of memories for long-time fans. Let’s check the PR:

Nick Jackson and Matt Jackson surprise the world once again as The Legendary LJN figure line from the 1980’s has been brought back to life in this incredible Young Bucks LJN 2-pack! The Bucks feature their iconic pose, flexing and confident while they both wear black vests with a red design. They are also sporting matching red and black polka dot ring pants and tasseled boots! The packaging is an exact replica of the original LJN 2-Pack packaging even featuring the same exact artwork!

These sturdy 8″ figures are solid rubber, and can stand up to any hard wrestling action that a wrestling fan can throw at ’em.

The LJN Young Bucks (Nick Jackson & Matt Jackson) is sold exclusively by Ringside Collectibles and will set you back $34.95, plus shipping, which isn’t bad for a cool collectible like this. Add fifteen bucks worth of accessories, and you can get free shipping.

If you want your figures to be more compatible with modern wrestling figures, check out Ring of Honor and Rising Stars figures, where you will find many names from the AEW roster, including the Young Bucks. These lines from Figures Toy Company also include a lot of wrestlers who have since gone onto fame in WWE, NXT, Impact and NWA.

This is where you’ll find figures compatible with current Mattel WWE figures, and among these wrestlers you will find folks who are currently in WWE with new names (both of The Viking Raiders are here, as are Kevin Owens, AJ Styles and Luke Gallows), as well as AEW stars The Young Bucks, Kenny Omega; Impact Wrestling stars Joey Ryan, Moose, Brian Cage and Taya Valkerie, and from NXT you’ll find the entire Undisputed Era, plus their announcer, Nigel McGuiness and Chris Hero (Kassius Ohno).

If you’ve got a wrestling fan on your shopping list, chances are they’ll love some of these lesser-known figures.

The PopCulteer
November 22, 2019

We’ve got a shorter than usual PopCulteer again this week, partly due to The 2019 PopCult Gift Guide, and partly due to outside work.

Because The Gift Guide is a bit behind schedule, I have decided to extend it from the intended cutoff date of next Wednesday until December 13. I may not have as many posts as I had planned each day, but stretching it out will mean that I can still bring you all the cool gift ideas on my rather extensive list. Look for more today, and all weekend long, as I try to work my way through it.

One of those outside jobs that’s slowed down the Gift Guide involved consutling on a television advertisting campaign, and that made me start to consider something that will likely turn into a much longer and more involved essay in this space after the first of next year, but I’ll give you the gist of it now.

For decades the “money demograpic” for television advertisers has been adults aged 18-49, with an added emphasis on those aged 18-34. Just as societal attitudes have changed and evolved over the decades, I think maybe it’s time that this “money demographic” be reassessed.

Since I started writing PopCult over fourteen years ago I’ve been more active in the local arts scene and I’ve developed a wide range of friendships with people ten, twenty and thirty years younger than I am.  I also have friends ten and twenty years older than me. I know a pretty diverse group of people across many age and class distinctions.

It seems to me that, as a rough generalization, people over fifty have much, much more disposable income people under fifty. It makes me wonder why advertisers don’t try harder to reach that older generation. The average age of a new car buyer is 53 now. Yet, if you watch television aimed at older viewers, you’ll see ads for catheters and prescription drugs more than you see ads for new cars.

Increasingly, even products aimed at kids are being purchased by grandparents, yet the advertising doesn’t seem to acknowledge that anyone over fifty exists. The advertising industry needs to change to address the shift in how long people are working, and how long it’s taking them to reach a point of financial security.

Sometime in January look for a longer essay that will suggest a new “money demographic” that extends the age to 60 or 65 years old, at least for traditional television. Online advertising and cord-cutting has also shifted the money demographic paradigm as more affluent younger viewers are becoming increasingly less likely to watch traditional broadcast or cable television.

In the meantime, check PopCult regularly for more entries in The 2019 PopCult Gift Guide, and look below for some ideas of cool things you can get into in Charleston and Huntington and between this weekend. Keep in mind that there’s all kinds of other things you can do, but these folks were kind enough to post graphics with the necessary info where I could find them.

FRIDAY

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2019 marks 20 years since SpongeBob Squarepants debuted on Nickelodeon, and today in The 2019 PopCult Gift Guide we’re going to look at some of the great consumer products and toys that are out to mark this momentous milestone.

Back in 1989 nobody suspected that Steve Hillenberg’s quirky undersea creation would become a cartoon superstar on par with Bugs Bunny or Mickey Mouse, but twenty years later, following decades of top-rated TV shows, tons of toys, a Broadway musical and warm spots in the hearts of millions of fans, we all know that SpongeBob Squarepants is a true animation icon. The Broadway musical has been filmed, with most of the original cast, and will be broadcast on Nickelodeon December 7.

To mark this anniversary, Nickelodeon has authorized several cool commemorative items, and they will all make wonderful gifts for the SpongeBob fan on your holiday shopping list. All together, your giftee can combine all of these things into a perfect SpongeBob Squarepants evening!

SpongeBob Slow Cooker

SpongeBob becomes a convenient kitchen companion to all your culinary adventures with the SpongeBob Slow Cooker. Dinner is served after a full day of simmering in this 7-quart capacity family -size slow cooker.

SpongeBob’s most die-hard fans will love any meal prepared in a small appliance with their hero’s face emblazoned on it, and you have to admit that having this on your kitchen counter will add just the right amount of Krusy Krab ambience to your dining experience.

Recommended for Ages 16 and up, since this is a real slow-cooker and not a toy. The suggested retail price is $39.99, Available at Walmart and other select retailers.

SpongeBob Popcorn Maker

Enjoy your favorite movies in style with popcorn worthy of any SpongeBob fan. The all-new SpongeBob Popcorn Maker can make delicious and fresh popcorn in under five minute. Just add oil and kernels and let the popper do the rest! It’s a great after-dinner snack following a slow-cooked dinner of Krabby Patty Stew. You can see this sleekly-designed Bikini Bottom beacon of popcorn at the head of this post.

What better way to enjoy a SpongeBob marathon than with a huge bowl of freshly-popped popcorn that pops right into SpongeBob’s head? Note that this popcorn popper uses oil, which means it’s going to taste fantastic, and give you more flavoring options.

This is also a real appliance and not a toy, so it’s for ages sixteen and up. The suggested retail price is $35.99 and you can find this gem at Walmart.

SpongeBob’s Best 200 Episodes Ever

You’ve got all that SpongeBobery popcorn and now you want a marathon to watch, so how about adding this boxed set of the first nine seasons of the show?

Bikini Bottom is bursting at the seams with the first 200 (and 4) episodes of SpongeBob SquarePants! Soak in every moment of nautical nonsense from the past two glorious decades, including fan-favorite episodes “Pickles,” “Rock Bottom,” “Chocolate with Nuts,” and “Ripped Pants.” Come along for a Krusty Krab pizza delivery, be ugly and proud, prove you’re tough enough for the Salty Spitoon, and ride the Fiery Fist O’ Pain at Glove World. Plus, rock the Bubble Bowl, show Plankton that things are just more F.U.N. with friends, fight EVIIIL with Mermaidman and Barnacleboy, stop on your right foot (DON’T FORGET IT), and more! This nine-season collection of SpongeBob SquarePants will make every day the best day ever!

If you already have the boxed set of the first 100 episodes, you can also find the Next 100 episodes as a DVD box set, to bring you up to par with the 200 episode collection.

Both DVD box sets are available where ever DVDs are sold.

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Noted local attorney and state legislator in West Virginia, Larry L. Rowe, has written a fascinating and deeply-researched book (actually the first of two, with part two coming next year) that will make the perfect gift for anybody interested in West Virginia or American history, with a particular focus on the events surrounding the life of Booker T. Washington.

Virginia Slavery and King Salt in Booker T. Washington’s Boyhood Home
by Larry Linville Rowe
Old Malden Press
ISBN-13: 978-1-7339297-1-4
$24.95

I haven’t yet read this book, but I plan to. This will fill in some major gaps in my knowledge of the history of the area, and I imagine it will be revalatory for many West Virginians.

For more info, we go to the publisher’s description:

This work is in two books divided by the Civil War. Book One is now available, Virginia Slavery and King Salt in Booker T. Washington’s Boyhood Home. That book tells the story of the Ruffner family, the booming salt industry they created as “Salt Kings,” and the Virginia slavery they adapted for forced labor on the frontier.

Booker’s formative years were in Old Malden, from 1865 at age 9 through 1881 when he was 25 and moved to South Alabama to start Tuskegee Institute. From his boyhood heroes he developed values, vision, and a plan to build a black middle class in the South by expanding the American Dream to all people without exceptions for any group. His freed boyhood heroes established their own church secretly in slavery in 1852, nine years before the Civil War. During the war, they proudly formed the African Zion Baptist Church, as the new state’s first black Baptist church, while still in slavery. They had the small church establish the new state’s second school for blacks. From his boyhood heroes, he developed a gospel for the “American Dream” that he demanded be shared by all people, before that term was used to identify unique opportunities for many people for success in America–but which was denied to African Americans for another century.
Booker’s parents were leaders in their community. They courageously integrated Malden by buying a home in town four years after they were slaves, challenging a KKK order to keep blacks out of the town. A race riot broke out six weeks after their purchase, over the right of freed people to seek protections in the court system. At age 13, he saw the riot and his family–like Rosa Parks many years later on a Montgomery bus–just “stay put,” ever ready to prove they would be good neighbors to all people. A casualty of the riot was Lewis Ruffner who, while standing with his former slaves with a revolver in his hand, was hit in the head with a brick. He never walked again without two canes.
Book One sets the scene for Booker’s heroes, working in slavery in a pioneer industrial town in the wilderness of western Virginia, where the well-to-do pioneer Ruffner family made the first successful settlement, serving as government officials, town planners, patrons of the first school academy and first Presbyterian churches, all after they had created a new major salt industry on the western frontier by inventing percussion drilling to pierce over 50 feet of bedrock for the first deep well in the western world.

In a southern story-telling style, Larry L. Rowe presents in detail the history of the state from its early settlers, and the booming salt industry in the Kanawha Valley through the War of 1812 and the important forty-eight antebellum years that were scarred by the forced mass migration of hundreds of thousands of enslaved Virginians sold away from their families to Deep South cotton plantations. The Cotton Boom required about one million Upper South slaves to be sent south led by eastern Virginian slavers who made young people they held in slavery commodities to be sold like livestock. To protect their booming slave markets in the Deep South states, eastern Virginians pushed the state into the Confederacy, turning a short protest of seven small agricultural states into a four-year death march killing over 600,000 American soldiers which in today’s population would be as many as seven million men. Virginia, as one of the largest, richest, most populated, and influential states in the Union led the key states of North Carolina, Arkansas and Tennessee into the Confederacy. This history is untold. It is a history of Virginia shared with West Virginia. It is a history that should be told.

You can order Virginia Slavery and King Salt in Booker T. Washington’s Boyhood Home directly from the publisher, The West Virginia Book Company or Amazon, or you might be able to track down the author himself at a local booksigning, if you’re lucky enough. Any bookseller should be able to order this book using the ISBN number, and I’m pretty sure it’s in stock at Taylor Books, on Capitol Street.

Next up in The 2019 PopCult Gift Guide is the humble rubber chicken. The perfect gift for the person who is either simply too silly, or far too serious on your holiday shopping list.

The Rubber Chicken is a comedy classic. Simultaneously silly, rude, goofy, and surprising, the rubber chicken dates back to a more innocent time when nudity and flatulence were considered too vulgar for public consumption.

The origins of the rubber chicken as a comedy prop are unclear. Some sources trace the origins back to court jesters in the middle ages. Others claim that the use of dead plucked chickens as a comic symbol dates back to the French Revolution, which seems a bit odd, since that era is not usually remembered for having a rich legacy of prop comedy. One source points to a Swedish black-face performer, which sounds sort of like the beginning of a bad joke itself.

What we do know is that rubber chickens are silly, funny, corny and that they make a pretty good gag gift.

Archie McPhee, the decades-old purveyors of silliness, have opened a Rubber Chicken Museum in Seattle, and as an online retailer, they essentially have THE Rubber Chicken clearing house, with a variety of rubber chickens ranging from teeny-tiny inch-long pushpins to gigantic behemoth rubber chickens that measure nearly two feet long.

You can also get rubber chicken Christmas ornaments, band-aids, breath mints, jewlry, apparel, automobile accessories and auditory simulations. Some of their rubber chickens make noise, others don’t. The variety of sizes and colors is vast and inspiring.

You can find them all at Archie McPhee’s Rubber Chicken emporium, at a variety of prices. When you can think of any other gift for somebody for Christmas, give them a rubber chicken…then run away, laughing maniacally.

They even have one that glows in the dark.

Next up on The 2019 PopCult Gift Guide we have the perfect gift for any fan of great action-adventure animation, and fans of Jonny Quest.

Jonny Quest: The Complete Original Series has previously been available on DVD, but it was far from complete, missing several key elements missing, and inferior transfers. Now that’s been corrected on this made-on-demand Blu Ray from Warner Archives.

TV’s first animated action-adventure series is about to take you on a breathless ride. All 26 episodes charting the fantastic exploits of brave and brainy 11-year-old Jonathan Quest are yours in a 3-disc set. Unlike the outrageous fantasy plots of cartoons that preceded it, Jonny Quest drew on science and detective-style logic to solve mysteries and apprehend sophisticated villains.

Viewers were transported to exotic locales as Jonny’s dad, Dr. Benton Quest, tackled each new government assignment, aided by ex-agent “Race” Bannon, Indian boy Hadji, family bulldog Bandit… and, of course, his fearless son Jonny.

Unlike the DVD release, this new edition has the commercial bumpers, plus it also has the “Jonny Quest, brought to you by:” outro before the title card. The creator of the series, Doug Wildey is listed in the credits now. These are actual, HD transfers with full progressive-frame image quality. All the audio is returned to it’s original state, including lines that had previously been excised for political incorrectness.

Jonny Quest: The Complete Original Series on Blu Ray is a real gem of classic television animation, and it’s just loads of fun. A great gift for any animation fan, and also a good gift for a child who isn’t quite old enough to watch The Venture Brothers yet, but will eventually, and needs to be equipped to understand the jokes based on this show.

You can order this directly from Warner Archives, or for a few bucks less at Amazon.

This next pick in The 2019 PopCult Gift Guide is two-thirds a flashback pick, but since Monday is art day, I wanted to plug the work of two old friends, and one new one.

Their work, available as prints, books, jewelry, original art, trading cards and more, makes a great gift for anybody who likes to support great artists but also like their art to have a genuine sense of fun.

With the Gift Guide running so early this year, you have plenty of time to place an order directly with the artist, or with the online stores selling their wares, and get it in time for holiday gift-giving. On top of getting your shopping done ahead of time, you’ll be putting a few bucks into their pockets, so that they can have it to spend on their loved ones or art supplies or favorite imbibery substances.

And please, don’t just limit yourself to the work of these artists. Art makes a wonderful gift, and you can find local artists and artisans all over your local area. Get out and support them. It’s better than giving a tie or a blender (well, unless it’s a really good blender) and you’ll be pumping money into a part of the economy that doesn’t get huge government contracts, corporate handouts or kickbacks from corrupt politicians.

Mitch O’Connell

This is Mitch’s third appearence in The PopCult Gift Guide. Last year I recommended is recreation of the Leave it to Beaver Monster Shirts, and before that I suggested you buy one of his books of tattoo designs.

It’s hard to pigeon-hole Mitch O’Connell’s work. He’s run the gamut from low-brow to high-brow, and has been right at home no matter what he does. He is a man who straddles many brows. You’ve seen his work on covers for Newsweek, and illustrations for Rolling Stone, Playboy, The Village Voice and dozens of other magazines. He’s done clip art that’s been used around the world. O’Connell has drawn CD covers for Supersuckers, Less Than Jake, the Malamondos and tons of other groups. Plus he’s done flyers for Burlesque Shows, movie festivals, bands, theatrical productions and roller derby.

Recently, Mitch’s “Trump: They Live” artwork spent a few weeks on a billboard in New York’s Times Squarem as you can see in the photo at right.. You can donate a few bucks to get it put back up there at this link. If you know a die-hard fan of the president, donate in their name, and tell them it’s to construct a huge portrait of their hero.

In case that rankles you the wong way, I’m just going to point you to his “shop” page. You’ll find links to all sorts of different places where you can buy his art on clothes, jewelry, flasks, books and all sorts of other cool art things at various prices that make perfect gifts.

Glen Brogan

This is Glen’s fourth time in The PopCult Gift Guide, but he’s still such a damn good artist that you’ll want to see what he has to share. At his page you can find links to prints and T Shirts featuring his art, and if you want to givea gift for someone that won’t be mailed out until January 11 of next year, you can pre-order his first book, signed, from HGCArt.

Just in case you want to celebrate the Lazy Man’s Greek Orthodox Christmas.

Glen Brogan is the type of artist that makes his fellow artists want to give up and pack it in. His art is so good that it’s hard to imagine anybody topping it. With a sleek style and a strong appreciation of the coolest elements of pop culture, Glen has made a name for himself with exhibits in New York and Los Angeles and work commissioned by Disney, King Features Syndicate, Marvel Comics and more. His first ook will be published in conjuction with his next exhibit at HGCArt in Los Angeles.

Robert Jiminez

New to the list this year is Robert Jiminez, who has forged a way-cool path through the world of art and niftiness.

Robert’s work has appeared on album covers, in publications such as THE THING: ARTBOOK, VISIONS FROM THE UPSIDE DOWN: STRANGER THINGS ARTBOOK, Tiki Magazine and Pinstriping & Kustom Graphics Magazine, and has shown in galleries including Disneyland’s Wonderground, Harold Golen, M Modern, Creature Features, and Bear & Bird among others.

You can also see Robert’s work in trading card sets for Topps, Cryptozoic, and Upper Deck on licenses such as Garbage Pail Kids, Wacky Packages, Mars Attacks, Star Wars, DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Rick And Morty, Ghostbusters, Adventure Time and more. Most notably, Robert worked on 8 paintings for the Upper Deck trading card set FIREFLY THE ‘VERSE and 9 paintings for WACKY PACKAGES GO TO THE MOVIES by Topps.

Robert is also the author and illustrator of the books LAST CALL AT TIKILANDIA, STRANGEWISE NO.9, CHIMPS & TIKIS AND RAVEN-HAIRED BEAUTIES: AN ADULT COLORING BOOK, NOSFERATU’S CHRISTMAS IN NEW YORK and WEIRD-ASS FACES VOL.1, SOPHISTICATES AND WEIRDOS and the trading card set FEARSOME WEIRDOS.

At Robert’s store you can find his art on prints, apparel, Tiki Mugs, metal signs, books, trading cards and more. I recently added his Fearsome Weirdos trading cards to my own collection.

Check out those links, and you can forever be known as the person who gives really cool and/or weird art items as holiday gifts.

Also, due to some technical issues on my end, this is the only Gift Guide entry for today. We’ll make up for it tomorrow.

Last July when I went to Chicago to see True West, we stayed at The Wit, a hotel right on the Northern edge of The Loop. From our hotel room, we could see this cool building with an array of satellite dishes on the roof. Turns out, it’s the home of WLS-TV, Chicago’s channel 7. More importantly for us, the ground floor of the corner of that building plays host to a Potbelly restaurant where we got lunch a time or two during our stay. I took tons of reference photos and those inspired this piece, another pencil drawing using the Blackwing Palamino pencil that has been my weapon of choice of late. You can see the most in-focus of these photos below.

This one took a lot of time, and caused a lot of hand cramps, and since I was getting lazy I just blacked out the other buildings that could be seen behind this one, but I’m hapy with the composition and with the way it came out. I have been asked if any of these recent pencil pieces are for sale, and for now the answer is “no.” After having spent such a long time not being happy with my real-world art, I consider these to still just be steps in my progress, and don’t really want to part with any of them. Maybe that’ll change a few months down the road, but for now I want these pieces on hand so I can reference what I’m doing as I move forward.

This was done on a slick paper intended for pens. I wanted to see how the pencil would behave with a nearly flat surface. There was a lot of tissue-smudging in places and some digital cropping because I got sloppy near the edges, but I’m reasonably happy with this one, although the scan leaves a bit to be desired.To answer a question before it’s asked, hell yes I used a straight-edge. I used one of those and a flexible curve last week, too.

If you wish, you can click this image to see it bigger.

Meanwhile, over in radio-land, Monday on The AIR, our Monday Marathon presents eight hours of Prognosis starting at 7 AM. Herman Linte chose these four episodes, and for unspecified reasons, he chose four of the episodes hosted by yours truly last year when Herman was dealing with nodules on his vocal cords.  At 3 PM we are expecting to bring you am encore episode of Prognosis from a couple of months ago with Herman hosting his show himself.

You can listen to The AIR at the website, or on this embedded radio player…

Also, some time after noon today you can expect the next couple of entries in The 2019 PopCult Gift Guide. Because I feel a little behind last week, I have decided to extend the Gift Guide past Black Friday, and will continue to post at least one gift recommendation each day from Black Friday until December 12. Before that, we’ll do between two and five posts per day.