Thanksgiving

Being from the old continent, I don't really celebrate Thanksgiving. we have other feasts here, involving more interesting things than turkeys, such as pig's intestines or goose livers. Still, today the sudden urge struck me to hop on the wagon, as it were, and put something thanksgivensh up, so here is my most favourite video celebrating Thanksgiving:

Thanks, o Addams Family!

Batpigeon

The thing is, you never think much about all the pigeons watching Batman these days. Or did you, recently? Did you ponder the psychological effects of immersing the flight-capable descendants of the dinosaurs in a fictional world where a deranged multimillionaire is imitating the flapping source of his childhood trauma in a futile quest for justice? Didn't think so.

Oh, it'll be all right, we say. Let the poor, disease-ridden blighters have their fun - what else do they have between poisoned pigeon-food and anti-pigeon spikes? What harm can it do?

What harm can it do? Well, have a gander at this:

Yes, this is a deranged pigeon, thinking it is batman. And while one, lonely schizophrenic pigeon might be pitiful, or even funny in a sad, retarded way, think about how you feel when hordes of vigilante pigeons descend on the streets in a psychotic frenzy. How many pigeons are there in your city? Have a look outside. Look into their beady little eyes, judging you. And ask yourself: How much does a pigeon know about the concept of justice? Do you want it to act as your judge, jury and executioner? Do you?

Emotions: Joy, or: Modern Faerie

In my series of emotions (previously: surprise, rage, sadness and fear), I proudly present : Modern Faerie.

Life in the city is hard for faeries, and some fail to... adapt. Seeking solace in drugs, those poor creatures normally don't make it for long, and clapping your hands won't work here.

This is a drawing I've wanted to do for ages, but never felt up to. But when joy came up as a motive in my drawing course, I knew the time had come. Inked with a Pentel pocket brush on A4 paper, I am quite happy with how it turned out. Credit for the idea with the newspaper-wings goes to my teacher Julien.

In case you are curious about the process, here is a scan of the pencil drawing  I subsequently inked. Unfortunately I don't have any of the many preliminary sketches I did before, but I think I did at least eight before settling on this perspective and composition.

I was thinking of doing the same image in charcoal and chalk, but I think I will work on something different instead.

I feel like a scientist now

Pictured: Science

My first paper has been published:

Radio frequency breakdown between structured parallel plate electrodes with a millimetric gap in low pressure gases,

in Physics of Plasmas no less! It's the culmination of most of the stuff I did in the last three years, with maybe a second, more applied paper to follow next year.

If you really want to read it (and, frankly, who wouldn't?), but can't because you don't have access to Physics of Plasmas and don't want to shell out the thirty or so dollars they demand (shame on you! shame!), email me and I'll send you a pdf. Go on, email me! How else will you know how to properly construct your dark-space shielding?