Author Archives: The Art Of Vikki

Fear The Walking Dead Season 2 Mid-Season Finale

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So the mid-season finale of Fear The Walking Dead Season Two was last night.

And I don’t care.

I mean, I watched it. There wasn’t much anticipation on my part, I totally admit. I completely forgot that it was mid-season finale night until about 7:45 so I missed any FTWD  marathon fun that AMC may have run yesterday. Again, I didn’t much care.

But why not? Well, maybe it’s because the Spanish language dialog has continued to increase over the episodes, resulting in more caption text on the television screen for the English speaking crowd. Now, on Sunday nights I get all comfy on the couch, cuddled up with blankies and the cat sometimes, and see, the TV is way over there against the far wall. Normaly I can see everything just fine, but those itsy bitsy teeny weeny captions on the screen are beyond the power of my glasses. If I sit up and shift over to the right side of the couch, I can read them. Laying down in my happy zombie night position, I cannot. And honestly, I have not cared enough to shift my viewing position in order to read the Spanish dialog translated to English in minuscule lettering on my television screen.

I get it. Daniel is from South America, they are now in Mexico, there is a major Latin influence going on in the story arch. But there is atmosphere to flavor a story and then there is overkill. Fear The Walking Dead isn’t a telenovela so in my opinion all this Spanish/English subtitles stuff is overkill. Yes, I knew what a telenovela was ages ago thanks to Jeff Lewis’s housekeeper aka second mom Zoila on Bravo’s Flipping Out. Even Zoila spoke mostly English so I never had to shift my position on the couch to understand the gist of the story. With Fear The Walking Dead, lately I have taken to just laying there, not understanding what the characters are saying for huge chunks of an episode, not really giving a damn.

But I think the real reason why I didn’t care that much about FTWD’s mid-season finale last night is why I haven’t had much enthusiasm for season two as a whole – and I shared this with a friend the other day – I am still just plum pissed off about the Season Six Finale of The Walking Dead. Still haven’t got over the “who did Negan kill” pushing me off the cliff and having to hang there suspended for six months thing. Every Sunday night since then I have cuddled up with the cat to watch Fear The Walking Dead but I have felt cold and dead inside, seething a little in a it’s just a tv show but I’m still angry sort of way.

So between subtitles and lingering TWD fan anger, FTWD has not been enjoyable this time around. And that sucks. Cause normally I love, I treasure, my Sunday night zombies.

 

Who Did Negan Kill? TWD Season 6 Finale

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I had a strong reaction to the season six finale of The Walking Dead. I felt the terror, the uncertainty of what was going to happen, then the absolute certainty that someone was going to die. I felt it all day, watching the Walking Dead marathon. Someone was going to die and for the first time since AMC originally aired this zombie apocalypse series in 2010, I felt dread instead of excitement as the hours counted down to the final episode of season 6. Of course people die but this time, I knew it was coming and it was going to be really, really bad. I kinda didn’t want to see it happen. But of course I watched. Duh.

And as I watched Negan smash someone’s brains out, fading into black with only faint, gruesome sounds in the background and then the credits rolled, I shook a little then both middle fingers flew up at the tv screen and I yelled “F you F you F you F you! EFFF YOU. F you F you… oh F you!” until The Talking Dead come on.

There was no one watching with me except the cat so it wasn’t for any audience of my own. It was a gut reaction, raw emotion bubbling up from my core. F YOU. F you for leaving me like that, still not knowing. F you.

I get that the writers and producers of the show wanted to leave us not knowing who Negan beat to a bloody pulp so we would have the same horror in our heads as the characters who had to shut up and watch it. The audience is supposed to be feeling the same terrible emotion knowing that everything we knew just changed. I get it. But I don’t like it one bit. Not one tiny bit.

I woke up Monday morning, kissed the cat and then said out loud “F you” a couple of times then made coffee. I thought back to the previous five seasons and the final scene. Sometimes we’ve had cliff hangers, pretty big ones, but nothing so awful as knowing someone just died a horrific death but nobody knows who it was.

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The X-Files 2016 Episode 1 Review

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Thank you on demand cable – today I caught up on the two part premiere of the brand new X-Files Season 10. And may I say I was pleasantly surprised that The X-Files reboot delivered everything I wanted.

Let me backtrack a bit. Back when the X-Files premiered in 1993, it quickly became my favorite TV show ever. I have always been a sci-fi paranormal weird stuff geek. My mom took me to see Chariots Of The Gods when it was first released in theaters, although I was so very young at the time that I do not recall if I asked to see it or if she just took me cause SHE wanted to watch it. I know I had a copy of the book purchased at a rummage sale at school that I treasured. Later, In Search Of with Leonard Nimoy was my favorite thing on television. Yep, I was I was a nerd.

Thanks to a million channels on cable these days, I have my fill of geektacular shows like Ancient Aliens, Hanger One brought to you by MUFON, Finding Bigfoot, Monster Quest, UFO Files and various other programs featuring cryptic creatures, little green men and enough paranormal fodder to please and delight my inner child several times a week. But I digress.

Back to the original X-Files. Every episode was an event, every new season a celebration. When it aired on Friday nights, my geek friends and I planned our nights around Mulder and Scully; watch the new episode then out to the club to drink, dance and discuss in great detail just how awesome tonight’s episode was. The monsters and freaks are as fresh in my mind as if it was yesterday… Fluke Boy, Dark Matter, Eve 6, that old man with the dog, the circus episode… and The Lone Gunmen! Gawd, they were the best geek trio in all history of history. We had no on demand or dvr back then. We taped the shows on VCRs so we could watch the latest ep again and hit the rewind button. And we liked it.

But then, in the last couple of seasons, the shippers won. Fox and Dana, kissing and being all romantic; the mythology part of the series weaved it’s way into romance and for me, the X-Files lost it’s luster. It was quite distressing, feeling that distance growing between my favorite show and me. I felt an actual loss when I decided to stop watching. No more VCR, no more discussions with my friends. I was genuinely sad.

But wait. Fast forward that old VCR to today. As Season Ten Episode One began, Chris Carter made a brilliant decision… the music was the same, and the opening credits were identical, right down to the fonts on the screen. A part of me was transported back to the 1990’s and I smiled. It’s true, Fox Mulder and Dana Scully have aged a bit – haven’t we all – but they looked good. As the episode progressed, I felt like I was catching up with old friends, the kind of friends that you drifted apart from not because of anything bad but just because your interests changed. But it didn’t matter anymore, you were hanging out again and it was just fun.

The references to Mulder and Scully’s romantic past and child together were a bit of a broken eye roll for me, being that the Shipper stuff is why I drifted away back then. Oh well, whatever. It was fun seeing Walter Skinner (who hasn’t aged a bit) and The Smoking Man, and I enjoyed the up to the minute social references like Mulder showing up in an Uber car and that You-tube guy and his conspiracy theories about the government. When they touched on how different today’s world was now because of 9/11 I got a bit of a lump in my throat. That day affected me deeply. I threw away all of my VCR tapes, including the X-File copies, long ago, but somewhere upstairs I still have a tape of the short lived spin off Lone Gunmen show episode in March 2001 where they thwart a plot to fly a plane into the World Trade Center. Six months later 9/11 happened and I used that Lone Gunmen tape to record some of that day. I don’t even have a VCR anymore but still I keep that tape, with that episode and what happened after.

Anyway, so far I find The X-Files 2016 to be a refreshing and successful reunion with a television show that brought me such pleasure back in the day. I’m hoping the numbers are good enough that we might get more than just the initial six episodes. While clicking around to get to it today, the on demand channel was broadcasting sneak peeks of the upcoming season and for people like me, apparently there will be stand alone episodes with “monsters” and a funny episode, sprinkled in with the mythology. I’m good with that. No, The X-Files Season 10 is not a shiny new toy like Season 1 was. This is a comfortable old sweater, a favorite book you’ve read a million times, that familiar meal you order in the restaurant. Not everything needs to be shiny and new all the time, and if handled well, that old sweater can be just as nice as a new version. This new X-Files feels like coming home.

Colorful typography lettering and fonts

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I’ve been on an artistic adventure the last few months, creating personalized art in the form of colorful letters. What started as a brief blip of an idea late one afternoon in early fall turned into quite the little project! I still have two more patterns ready to be transformed and another two or seven in my head, but here is what I have completed so far and made available for purchase in my shop on Redbubble

blue and white stripes letters monograms initials

Framed blue watercolor stripes typography art

These are my blue and white stripes watercolor initials and were the first ones I made. I started with a piece of paper, my paintbox and a medium brush. Simple slightly wavy lines painted in soothing strokes filled the paper in varying tones of navy, sky blue and white until I was pleased with the result. I then scanned the painting into my computer.

red and white watercolor stripes letters monograms initials

Framed red watercolor stripes typography art

Above are my red and white stripes watercolor letters. I used the same technique and painted the watercolor crimson, cherry and pink in various tones, leaving small areas of paper showing through as the white.

After scanning the base art into the computer, I created letter template “cutouts” that could be applied over the base layer design, leaving the shapes of the letters to stand on their own. And I liked it!

metallic look stripes letters monograms initials

Framed metallic marker stripes typography art

The faux animal print letters above are from my metallic look series. I was wandering the aisles at the local drug store when my eyes landed on a pack of metallic Sharpie markers in silver, gold AND copper. They were pricey at $6.00+ for the set but I had to have them for my colorful alphabet project. The base design for these were much more time consuming, creating the wavy lines on paper bit by bit and then coloring it all in. I went through several movies and some bad reality television while finishing the background art for the final monograms. I don’t know if anyone else will see the metallic finish the way I do, but I like the feel of shimmery zebra stripes or tiger stripes in the finished letters.

So those are my first three sets of colorful letters finished to date, and each one is available in all letters of the alphabet. My next sets will be a design in red, orange and yellow and the other is a delightfully psychedelic mix of purple, blue and green. The second one is either 1960’s mod or 1970’s groovy, I’m not sure yet. But that is for another day…

Happy Shark Week

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I can’t believe Shark Week is almost over! It all started on Sunday, July 5th and Discovery Chanel’s 2015 Findependence has been a wild ride. My favorite new offerings so far have been Super Predator (poor little Alpha One getting chased and eaten like that), Bride Of Jaws – Joan Of Shark is the best shark name EVER – and Alien Sharks: Close Encounters. Paul Clerkin loves his spooky fish!

Still to come is Sharksantity 2 tonite at 9 pm, the continued marathon all day tomorrow, and the last new shark adventure Shark Island premiering at 8pm Sunday night, July 12th.

I still remember watching the very first Shark Week back in 1988. My boyfriend at the time called and said “I’m coming over, Shark Week starts tonight”. I sounded just like that dude in Jaws when Richard Dreyfuss says “it’s a tiger shark” and the guy says “It’s a what???” And I’ve been watching it every year ever since.

#sharkweek truly is The Most Wonderful Week Of The Year!

Twitter Art Exhibit 2015 – Moss, Norway

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The 2015 Twitter Art Exhibit, held this year in Moss, Norway and curated by founder and fellow artist David Sandum, opened on March 12th and closes March 26th. This year’s international exhibition of original postcard art is benefiting Home-Start Moss, a nonprofit organization helping families in need.

My contribution to the 2015 postcard gallery is this colorful red, purple, orange and yellow polka dot zebra titled “One Of A Kind”. This piece is a 4 3/4″ x 6 1/4″ original acrylic painting on heavy card stock.

This is my third Twitter Art Exhibit and it’s wonderful knowing my art can travel the world and help others!

Orion Test Flight Successful – We Are Going To Mars!

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If you are a space geek like me, you were glued to the NASA channel this morning and witnessed the successful maiden test flight of Orion after yesterday’s scrub. She splashed down in the Pacific Ocean at 11:29 am Eastern Time today, December 5, 2014 and as I watched the live video feed showing the capsule bobbing passively atop the waves, it hit me – we really are going to send people to Mars!

Orion Lift Off December 5, 2014

Photograph of Orion Lift Off Courtesy Of NASA

As an avid reader of sci-fi since I was knee high to the proverbial grasshopper, I have never had a doubt that one day mankind would really venture into space, past the Moon, one day to Mars, then perhaps to Jupiter’s moon Europa and eventually beyond, traveling to new solar systems and galaxies. I feel blessed this morning that this space adventure is happening during my lifetime. Have you ever had shivers of joy at the mere thought of something so grand and promising? I have, and today I am smiling because I am in the front row to watch something I always knew would happen someday. This test flight of Orion, America’s new spacecraft, has opened the door to wondrous things.

Vikki

Mars The Red Planet Space Geek Solar System Fun Mug Mars The Red Planet Space Geek Solar System Fun T Shirts Mars The Red Planet Space Geek Solar System Fun Wristwatch Mars The Red Planet Space Geek Solar System Fun Mars The Red Planet Space Geek Solar System Fun Cinch Bag Mars The Red Planet Space Geek Solar System Fun Pencil/Pen Holder

More Mars Manned Mission Astronaut Training Program Gift Ideas Here

Do Indian Cave Paintings Show Ancient Aliens?

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Do Indian Cave Paintings Show Prehistoric Alien Abductions?
July 18, 2014 mysteriousuniverse.org

It’s a story made for a Bollywood sci-fi musical starring Will Smith as an dancing alien fighter. An archeologist in India claims that 10,000-year-old cave paintings are depictions of UFO landings, alien visits and possible prehistoric alien abductions and has asked NASA and ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) for research assistance.

The paintings are in caves near the town of Charama in Chhattisgarh, a state in central India known for its cave artworks. Most of them are the usual drawings of humans, animals and everyday life in 8,000 BCE. Some of the animals are odd – kangaroos and giraffes not native to India and fish that are part human, or vice versa.

According to the Times of India, archaeologist JR Bhagat recently found new paintings of even stranger creatures. Here’s his description:

The paintings are done in natural colors that have hardly faded despite the years. The strangely carved figures are seen holding weapon-like objects and do not have clear features. Specially, the nose and mouth are missing. In few pictures, they are even shown wearing space suits.

Read the full story at http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2014/07/do-indian-cave-paintings-show-prehistoric-alien-abductions/
Courtesy Mysterious Universe

Bigfoot Parade August 30, 2014

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Bigfoot Days
August 30, 2014
Humboldt County, California

Humboldt’s hairy hominid returns for a festive homecoming to the town where his legend began in the town where the famous Bigfoot footage was filmed in 1967

Parade on Saturday – Main Street – begins 10am

This event includes food & craft booths, oyster feed, deep pit BBQ, logging contests, a petting zoo, kids bike race, lawn mower race, disc golf tourney and big ice cream social with homemade pies, cakes and cobblers at the town museum, which houses the world’s largest collection of Bigfoot curios.

The hominid happening will offer plenty of live music

Bigfoot often escapes to the nearby mountains, especially around Willow Creek, which is where the first so-called Bigfoot was encountered in 1958, and where the famous Patterson-Gimlin footage of a walking Bigfoot was filmed in 1967. Today Willow Creek is home to the largest Bigfoot museum and the largest annual celebration honoring the big fellow, Bigoot Days over Labor Day weekend.

© 2014 Official website of the Humboldt County Convention & Visitors Bureau