Whine and Cheese

Asked by the loveable and witty mikiedoggie,

If you had to move to another area of the United States, where would you like to move to, and why?

Well, there is nothing like my old Kentucky home, but I have given it some thought as I'm fairly certain future promotions at work will likely result in my moving.

I wouldn't mind moving to the Washington DC area. I visit there often for work and I love the surrounding areas. I love the Metro system (I wish Cincinnati had one) and there always seems to be something to do. The cost of living would be something to contend with, but so many other friends and coworkers have managed to make it work, so I'm sure I could too.

The other area I've thought about is out West, like Phoenix or Tucson, Arizona. My best friend Brian (aceofspace) lives out there and loves it. I've visited before and it does have a lot of charm and is definitely different from the woods and forests I'm used to being surrounded by. The milder temperatures of their winters would be nice too. Due to work, this one would be less likely.

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March is Question Month. If anyone else would like to ask a question, you can post it here. You can ask anonymously if you'd like, IP addresses are not recorded for the month. Comments to this entry are screened and if you would rather I not identify you, please make a note of it in your post there. I'll be answering more questions this week :)

From the always adorable jccub1:

Who's your favourite artist?
More broadly, who (or what) has influenced you in your drawing/art?

Most of my artistic influences have been comic book artists, who I think are not given the right amount of respect as true artists. George Perez has long been a perennial favorite of mine. The way he draws the body, facial expressions, and details has always fascinated me. His was the first art in comics that seemed to add body hair to the male form and his women are usually curvy (yet realistic). Whenever I drew as a kid, I often tried to mimic his work and style. There are other comic book artists that have influenced me: Mike Grell, Keith Giffen in the 1980's (before his work when to that slophouse horror style he draws now), John Byrne, Jim Lee, and Jim Starlin.

As I grew up and started looking at works by non-comic book artists, I found favorites in Normal Rockwell, N.C. Wyeth, and Alphonse Mucha, all of whom found their big successes as commercial artists for the most part. I guess the overall connection between these artists was a sense of realism. Some artists draw people in cartoonish ways, some completely out of proportion to reality (I've seen some big, gravity-defying breasts on some comic book ladies and a muscle-bound body created by fantasy steriods on some guys). For cartoons, I think this works well, but I don't tend to like my comic books drawn that way (with some exceptions). In my opinion, my favorite artists tend to capture characters as though they were alive, not just figments of the imagination.

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March is Question Month. If anyone else would like to ask a question, you can post it here. You can ask anonymously if you'd like, IP addresses are not recorded for the month. I'll be answering more questions this week :)

Okay, I'm getting a relatively late start on this, but I'll give it a go.

It's March Question month, so you can ask anything. I'll try to be as honest as possible and to the best of my knowledge.

If you ask what Marie Antoinette's favorite dairy food was, I'll likely say "head cheese, but I'm not sure."

If you ask what Lorena Bobbitt's favorite picnic food was, I'll guess that it was "not hot dogs as she has been known to throw weiners away."

Questions about me are much easier to answer, but I'm open to anything.

If you want to ask anonymously, go ahead. I've turned the IP thing off for the rest of March.

Update: I've turned on the comment screening. If you would like to ask the question, but remain anonymous when I answer just let me know.

I'm one of those rare individuals who get stuck with the "use or lose" vacation time at the end of the year. I need to enjoy it more, but this year in particular has gotten away from me. I have nearly two weeks of vacation to burn by December 31.

I've scheduled some time off for Thanksgiving and Christmas and still have four days left. Due to my work load right now, I'm not sure I can take them all off as a group.

What would be better? To take off all Fridays in a month? All Mondays? Leave two hours early every day for 16 days?

Decisions, decisions....

The handsome mississippicub asked:

"OK... boom... you just win 1 million dollars... what is the first thing you do?"

I'd probably do a dance and/or faint. After fainting and then making sure it was in the bank, the first thing I'd do is pay off my house. Boring, I know.

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A handsome bear who wishes to remain anonymous asked:

"OK, so by now you've figured out I have a major crush on you. You know, like the song says,

When I sleep, I dream about you
When I wake, I hear your voice.

Except I've never heard your voice, so I don't know what you actually sound like, and honestly, I don't really dream about you or hear your disembodied voice. But that's beside the point, you know what I mean.

So, what do you think, to paraphrase Star Wars, a prince like you and a guy like me...?"

You should check my past entries, I think there is a couple of videos posted with my voice on them *wink*.

I'm going to ramble here, I think. The fact you have a crush on me makes me giddy. You are a handsome guy, intelligent with interesting hobbies and a great disposition. So would I have a relationship with you? Having never met you and gotten to know you in person, it would be hard to say for an absolute certain, but I definitely can see the potential. If it were easy to date you, I'd be a fool to turn down such a quality man. Big furry hugs!

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prisoncitybear asked:

"Who is your biggest artistic influence and why? Who is your favorite visual artist? Why?"

My biggest artistic influences have been mainly comic book related. I have been a fan of George Perez since I was a kid in the single digit ages. He's always put such an incredible amount of detail in his work, the musculature of the men, the voluptuousness of the women. He also does dramatic drawing angles and action sequences. To me they always looked so realistic in comparison to so many other artists, almost like something out of a television show.

In terms of visual artists, I've always enjoyed the works of N.C. Wyeth. His illustrations were in so many childrens books and the images always invoked certain emotions. It made reading exciting to see a still painting have a strong air of action, the play of shadows and light he used made it look so real.

I came to love Alphonse Mucha later in life. While most of his work was commercial, it really personified such grace and intricate styles. His work in many ways looks so effortless, yet complicated. I admire that kind of skill and I can stare at his works all day.

Lastly, and this one will likely draw groans, is Normal Rockwell. His work seemed to capture more innocent times and when things get rocky, they make me think of other places, other moods, etc. I love the humor in his work, the positions that he could put folks into that look comical, yet natural. And his Santa Claus makes me feel like a kid again.

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If you'd like to ask me a question, just post it to this entry.

I have never been a phone chatter. Ever.

When I was a kid, when my sister and brother basically kept our house phone tied up for hours a day, I used marvel at why anyone would enjoy it. And this was back when you were basically tethered to the wall with the cord.

After I got out of the house, it never improved and still holds little fascination for me. I have over 4,000 rollover minutes on my cell phone. The longest I spend on the phone is between a half-hour and an hour, usually talking to my mom or to aceofspace. There have been exceptions when I chatted on the phone with some LJ'ers, but they are few and far between. Even when I'm dating someone, which is a rare thing, I'd rather be with him in person than on the phone with him.

I was chatting online with a guy this weekend and I think I irritated him when I begged off talking with him on the phone. It's not that he's not a great guy and I wouldn't mind hearing his voice, but talking on the phone is just unappealing to me. This is a difficult thing to explain to someone when he doesn't know me personally.

Am I alone in this? Just curious.

The funk is lingering, but much better I think. It's amazing how a drastic change in the weather can drastically change a mood. So here's some questions to pass the day away:

1. What is your favorite reality show and why do you like it?
   
2. Which American TV family would you visit: the Patridge Family, the Brady Bunch, or the Addams Family?
   
3. What famous star deserves a hit televisions series, assuming he or she hasn't had one (maybe they've had a show, but it didn't last)?
   
4. You win one night with a famous celebrity, one who will do anything (and I mean ANYTHING) you ask. Who is it?
   
5. What three dead celebrities would you magically bring back (in a non-zombie way)?
   
6. What movie have you seen recently (at home or in the theaters) would you love to see become a TV series?
   
7. What reality show has overstayed its welcome?
   
8. What television series has overstayed its welcome?
   
9. Who would you say was the best "magical" lead, Jeanie (I Dream of Jeanie), Samantha (Bewitched), Nanny (Nanny and the Professor), Sabrina (Sabrina the Teenage Witch), or any other?
   
10. Who is the best TV animal, Salem Saberhagen (Sabrina the Teenage Witch), Mr. Ed, Buck (Married with Children), Duke (The Beverly Hillbillies), or other?

Asked of me at the cookout on Saturday:

"Hey Mark, are your nipples pierced?"

... as posted by the ever handsome mississippicub...


1. Have you made any Halloween plans?

Not really, I'll be handing out candy at the house and maybe watching an independent horror flick festival in Cincinnati. One of my co-workers has a son that is the star of one of them.

2. At what age should you stop trick-or-treating?

I'd say 12, unless you're taking kids around with you, then the sky is the limit, baby :)

3. What's your favorite kind of Halloween candy?

Yum... candy corn...

4. Are you more likely to trick someone else or be tricked yourself?

Probably tricked myself, but pulling toilet paper out of my trees will likely make me go postal. Just a fair warning....

5. Do you believe in ghosts?

The logical side of me says no, but there is that small feeling in the back of my mind that they do. I can't prove they don't exist... My family has had some encounters. The last of note was my then four-year-old nephew who was watching TV in my late grandmother's house. She had passed away some months earlier. He asked my mom where granny went. My mom responded that she was in Heaven now. My nephew responded with "No she isn't, she was just in the hallway a second ago."

It didn't scare Mom, but gave her a warm, fuzzy feeling that Granny was still about :)