Jawbone #275: A Brick Of Gross

Man loses arm. Nora and I are different. Melt Grilled Cheeses. Man Vs. Food. Extremely Large Beagle. Enjoy the show!

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Jawbone #274: All w00ted Out

On this show, it's all about the w00tstock wrap-up. I chat about the aftermath of my experience in Chicago and Minneapolis and what it was like drawing in front of 600 and 700 person crowds. Also, Nora chats about a mimicking neighbor.

Photo of me by rianpie

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W00tstock Wrap-Up

I'll have a proper wrap-up via podcast later today, but I wanted to share a taste of the awesome experience I had at w00tstock Chicago and Minneapolis. Cue awesome video below.

Jawbone #273: Antici-PATION

Solocast with W00tStock anticipation chat.

MUSIC:
Mike Phirman | The Very Last Songs I Will Ever Record (Volume 1)

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Jawbone #272: Happy Birthday Pancake!

Tonight, we welcome our son Patrick as he celebrates his 15th birthday. He regales us with tales of what makes him embarrassed and also plays some Coulton and "Bleatles" on his guitar for us.


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Jawbone #271: The Windows To The Soul

Tonight's show, we discuss my upcoming appearance at W00tstock Chicago and Minneapolis, my experience with drawing people, and the next fashion trend.

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So, There's This Thing Called W00tStock...

At the risk of sounding like that British guy from those infomercials, I am bursting with excitement to share this big news with you. I will a special guest at W00tstock Chicago and Minneapolis on June 6 and 7th.

What will I be doing there? Good question. I will be drawing, live in front of the audience, the official poster for W00tStock Chicago and W00tstock Minneapolis. Then after the show, you'll be able to order the poster that you watched me draw live. Not only that, but for a few extra bucks, you'll be able to have yourself drawn into the poster. And I'm not saying this will be a big group shot. I mean, you will be drawn into the poster, essentially personalizing the poster for yourself. Imagine, your own personlized W00tstock poster. These will be only available for order ON THE NIGHT OF THE SHOW. These will not be available to buy after the show is done. So save your pennies for the event because I don't think anyone else has done anything like this before. It will be a lot of fun and certainly a challenge. But I think I'm up for it. I've been doing drawing calisthenics for the past six months and I think I'm going to be ready to go by June.

I am totally jazzed to be sharing the stage with the likes of Adam Savage, Wil Wheaton, Trace Beaulieu, Kevin Murphy, Bill Corbett, John Scalzi, Peter Sagal and of course, my good friends, Paul and Storm, without whom this would not even be happening.

Wish me luck! And I hope to see you in Chicago and Minneapolis!

Jawbone #270:Nein Nunb Is My Co-Pilot

On tonight's show, we talk about ugly folk, freaks, Tod Browning and my night at Dr. Sketchy drawing hot models. Thanks for listening and if you like the show, please subscribe!

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"Come Together" By My Kids - The House Band

My Kids Playing "Come Together" from Len Peralta on Vimeo.

Jawbone #269: You Say Penalta. I Say Pedolta.

On this episode of Jawbone (first new one in two weeks!) we chat about a weird story from my travels, a beard of ants, Crystal Bowersox and more. Thanks for listening!

Music: MC Frontalot | Zero Day
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OUR NEW PODCAST: Geek A Week!

So sickness has overtaken the household, so unfortunately, we don't have a new show for you this week. (Plus, we're off next week for the holiday.) Luckily for you though, you still have something to listen to! For the first time in five years, I have started a new podcast. The show is called Geek A Week and it's the podcast component of my new art project of the same name, I'm making public my phone interviews with the different influential geeks I'm talking with. I thought it would appropriate to give you a chance to listen to it, and if you dig it, go ahead and subscribe!

The first episode of Geek A Week features the geeky lady we all know and love, Veronica Belmont.

Enjoy! And we'll see you with a new Jawbone in a few weeks.

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Jawbone #268: Welcome Back, 70's! (REPOST)

On this episode, Nora and I talk about such diverse topics as powdered milk, problems with cable TV and our quest to interview Ke$ha. Thanks for listening!

Music: MC Frontalot | Charity Case
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Paul's 40th Birthday Video

A little late to the party here, (literally). Fans of Paul and Storm have probably seen this already, but I was fortunate to be asked to be in Paul's 40th birthday greeting video. You'll see me, along with some much more notable geeks in the video. And don't forget to stick around for the Kevin Murphy portion at the very end. (NSFW because of language, just letting you know). Enjoy!

Paul's 40th Birthday Video from Paul and Storm on Vimeo.

Jawbone #267: I Am Len Pain

On tonight's show, we record the show twice, something we haven't done in quite a while. But I think the show came out better the second time anyway. Thanks to all those in the chatroom who actually got two shows for the price of one. Tonight we talk about auto-tuning, geeks, and much, much more. If you like the show, subscribe!

Music:
Auto Tune The News | Turtles

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New Art Project: Geek A Week

For those of you who aren't following me on Twitter or Facebook, I have started a new art project called Geek A Week. Not only that, I started a brand new blog to document it! You can check it out here. Enjoy!

Jawbone #266: Parsing Pouches of Meat

On tonight's show, we chat about the lunch I had today, Inflatable beavers and much more. Plus, great music from MC Frontalot. Enjoy the show!

Music:
MC Frontalot | Goth Girls

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Jawbone #265: RIP ELR

A short show paying tribute to one of my favorite podcasts, gone forever, ExtraLife Radio.

Music:
Greg Benson | Welcome To The Jungle 2005

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Jawbone #264: KoppelDoo

Tonight, as we start our SIXTH YEAR OF PODCASTING, our son Patrick joins us for a show where we chat about guitars, bad haristyles and texting to automatons. Thanks for listening and if you dig the show, please subscribe!

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Jawbone #263: The Pigskin Frolic

On tonight's show, we welcome our old friend Neil back to the new Nobby annex. We discuss Avatar, the Oscars, The Big Game on Sunday and so texting while driving. Thanks for listening and if you like the show, please subscribe.

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James Cameron Hates Me

Enough has been written about Avatar in the past two months that I don't need to go and give my review for it. One, I'm too late to the game for anyone to give a crap. And two, regardless of what I think of it, it's already the highest grossing movie of all time making a cah-chillion dollars at the box office. So it would seem that people have made up their mind about it already. But I can't help but throw my voice into the discussion, if for no other reason than to get under James Cameron's thick and weird blue alien skin.

At one point in Avatar, the main character Jake Sully goes to a Navi prayer tree to ask for some sort of divine intervention from their goddess Eywa with the crazy CGI battle they are about to fight. During his prayer, he says something to the effect of "Where I come from, they have destroyed all green. Please help us battle the people who hate green."

For me, that's when the mask slipped off. When Avatar went from just a story with some eco-friendly message to an agendized piece of garbage that I feel is truly anti-human.

Let me back up here. I went to see Avatar with an open mind. I had read enough about it online to now what the basic story was about and I knew there were some political overtones to the story that were causing a stir. I can usually look past that stuff and what I told myself was that perhaps some conservative critics were just overreacting. That they were making connections with the story that really didn't need to be made. That if they really took the story at face value, it was just a simple story of good vs. evil and underneath, the movie and its story could stand on it own. Before we went into the theatre, I told my eldest son that we needed to watch for a few things. One, to view the story as just a movie on its own. Was the story good? Or were the visual effects the only thing that kept the movie afloat. Also, could the movie be a good movie if it weren't in 3D or did it rely on it as a crutch to bad storytelling.

I'm here to tell you that the story of Avatar is so thin, my two year old daughter could have punched holes through it. While wearing her mittens. While taking her night night nap. The characters were simply drawn and incredibly one-dimensional. Ironic for a movie that visually has such depth. (The humans are mining for "unobtanium". Did you catch that? UNOBTAINIUM. UNOBTAINABLE. Pretty heavy stuff, I know.) And the takeaway, for me at least, is that I'm a terrible person. I live on earth, and all I want to do is find beautiful things and then stomp on them. I felt like Frankenstein leaving the theatre waving my oversized arms at the townspeople's pitchforks and torches. Don't you get it? I am bad for being human. The more I thought about it. The angrier I got. I was just forced to watch nearly three hours of a movie that essentially was anti-humanity.

At another point of the film the main bad guy, Col. Quaritch makes an impassioned speech to his crew about the Navi who have drummed up their forces to combat the humans and their dull, brutish ways. Quaritch sneers and tells his crew that the Navi believe that their hometree is protected by some "deity". Everyone, and i mean EVERYONE in the briefing room laughs in disgust. As if everyone in the world thinks that because the Navi's have some sort of religion they are goofy and stupid. You mean to tell me that there is no one on that task force that believes in a higher power? That may even have some sort of inkling or this thing called religion and spirituality? Maybe one of them accidentally walked into a church? Maybe walked by one? Ugh. It's a total straw man scenario. It's that kind of vapid insight that Cameron forces upon us for the whole movie. Human = stupid and clumsy. Human see pretty thing. Human must kill pretty thing. Blah blah blah.

What kills me is that that scene was Cameron's way of showing cultural ignorance. Yet the most ironic thing is that Cameron is probably closer to his evil character than he thinks. Cameron thumbs his nose at traditional ideals and he uses his straw man characters to make his points about blind idiocy when he himself is guilty of that same viewpoint. Plug Christians in for the Navi and then play that scene again. It's okay to laugh then, but not when their blue-skinned? If Cameron is going to make such overt political statements with his movies then I think it's only fair to invite overt comparisons. Goes with the territory.

On a positive note, the 3D was pretty damn amazing. It is hands down the best 3D I've ever seen. If you can stomach three hours of someone basically calling you a jackass, then it might be worth the 12 dollars you'll plunk down to see glowing objects hover before your face. A few times I took the glasses off to view the film as just a film. And while I was only doing that less than a minute at a time, I'm pretty confident that without the 3D, Avatar wouldn't have kept my attention. The technology is what drives the film in a big way.

The visual motion capture, while impressive, is probably one click above what Lucas accomplished with Jar-Jar Binks. The mocap acting was just as good as Andy Serkis as Gollum in Lord of the Rings. At some points, I felt like I was watching an extended version of the Naboo fight from Phantom Menace, and not in a good way, either.

In the end, what does it matter? Cameron got my money. Shame on me for buying into the hype.

At the very least, I got a cool pair of glasses out of the deal.

Jawbone #262:Wink!

On this episode of Jawbone Radio, Nora and I chat about Valentine's Day, naked pictures, The Kindle Vs. The iPad and more social media talk. Enjoy! And if you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes!

Music:
"Hey Molly" By Mike Lombardo


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Jawbone #261: Crack Your Kindle

Tonight, Nora and I chat about ghosts in the house, sleeping with the Kindle, checking in, showing up to your own funeral and more. We also have a special guest who I have to put to bed mid-show. Thanks for listening and if you like it, please subscribe!

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