my dream wedding ring...

I lost my wedding ring at my work party and haven't been able to find it. I'm pretty bummed, but there is nothing else I can do. I've had to come to realize that it is gone for good and that I will probably never get it back. So, after I mourned for a little while, I realized that I can look for another one to replace my ring and have really enjoyed doing so.  (Maybe a little too much.) :0) I have been looking around at different jewelery places to see if I can find that perfect ring that as soon as I see it will shimmer up at me and say, "I am the one. Take me home with you!" Because it has to say that.

Well, I am excited to announce that I have found that ring and have fallen in love with it!  I shouldn't have gone looking, because I want it on my finger right now, but don't have the money for it.  So for now, I am only able to pull up the image and look at it and imagine what it would look like on my finger. 

 I have decided to save up all of my extra change and dollars in my "Robyn's new ring" jar and when I get enough saved up, I will go into that store and buy that ring!  It may take me a couple of years, but I am going to do it!!!

first image of Henry Cavill in "Man of Steel"

The first image of Henry Cavill as Superman in Man of Steel (2013) was released today. First, the image, then my thoughts on it.

Let's start with Henry Cavill himself.

His hair distresses me a bit, as there is no trademark spit-curl. I realize, however, that not all incarnations of Superman have had the famous 1950's holdover (Dean Cain's Superman from TV's Lois and Clark, for example), but I prefer my Superman with the curl.

Physically, he looks big enough for the part, with muscles that seem to be the right size for the character. He fills out the costume impressively. I've always been of the mind that Superman should be very large compared to other superheroes (Sorry Dean Cain, you just weren't big enough), and at least in this photo, Henry Cavill looks like he's done the work.

They've obviously decided to go with a "fresh face" this time, picking an actor that doesn't remind us at all of Christopher Reeve's face, which some will say is a good and bad thing. (On a side note, to those that say there is no other Superman besides Christopher Reeve, I say, yes, he was the greatest incarnation of the character that we have ever seen and probably will ever see on the big or small screen. But if we ever want to see another Superman movie made, we're gonna have to accept someone else in the role of the Man of Tomorrow. That said, now we can move on.)

Let's talk about the costume now.

Very muted colors, even more so than in Bryan Singer's Superman Returns (2006). I'm not the biggest fan of that, honestly. I know that the public currently prefers their superheroes to be brooding and dark and edgy, but that isn't Superman. I don't mind the bright red, yellow, and blue outfit seen in the comic books. It represents his optimism for humanity. But that doesn't mean that the Superman movies have to be all saving kittens from trees; they can deal with tough and serious subject matter and feature a lot of action while still maintaining a more-than-average dose of hope. So I say, bring on the bright colors!

The S-shield has been changed more dramatically than any other incarnation in the past, with a much more pointed tip of the "S" at the top. It's alright, though. If you look at some of the early S-shields on Superman throughout the 1930's, there was a lot of variation. And it still looks very much like Superman's symbol, so I'll take it.

From what I can see, the red underwear-on-the-outside is gone, matching the recent change in Superman's look in the comic books. I never had a problem with the red underwear, perhaps because I grew up with it and it just seemed like part of the character.

His costume has a textured look to it, much like Brandon Routh's in Superman Returns, which was to be expected. The public doesn't look too fondly on straight Spandex costumes currently. I'm just glad they didn't put him in armor, which had been a concern of mine.

Stylistically, his boots look very much like they do in the comics and his cape is quite long compared to Christopher Reeve's and Brandon Routh's, which typically went down only to their mid-calf.

His pose is suggestive of more intense action than we saw in Superman Returns, which is probably what they're going for. The image seems very posed, yet Henry Cavill's face is slightly blurred, suggesting that it is either an actually screenshot from the film, or a very poorly shot promo photo.

The overall look is dark and intense, but that could just be this one image and may not be indicative of the entire film's tone. We'll see.

To sum it all up, I'm relieved that they didn't try to dramatically revamp the character's look. And as always, I'm gonna wait until I see the actor (and his costume) in action in the actual film before I make a final decision on the movie.

What are your thoughts?

superman

Ever wonder what process a comic book artist goes through when creating the images in a comic book? Well, it's nothing like what I'm going to show here. Cause I'm not a comic book artist. I'm a very big fan of superheroes (mostly DC characters, though I enjoy Marvel, too), but I've actually read very few comic books in my life (which is still more than most people could say). But the artwork intrigues me.

Very few comic book artists see the image all the way through to the end. Usually, one or several artists pencil the images, and then they turn their work over to the inker(s), who then in turn hand off the images to the colorists. That's an extreme oversimplification of the process, but you get the idea.

I, however, do not have the luxury nor the trust necessary to have three separate artists work on my whim-inspired drawings, so I'm going to cover each of the bases myself.

I've penciled this image of Superman yelling menacingly at Lex Luthor for something that he's done (plotting to sink California into the ocean, becoming president of the United States, creating a giant genetically-enhanced apricot that's threatening to squash all of Metropolis, take your pick). As you may or may not be able to tell, due to the size of the original image (8.5" x 14"), I had to scan the image as two parts and then put them together in Photoshop (you can see the line where the two images were joined running through Superman's left arm).

Now I'm working on inking it in Photoshop using the pen tool, which I've only recently learned how to use well enough to make this possible. I know that I'm still not using it as effectively as I could be, but, hey, I'm an amateur, alright?

After I'm done with the inking, then I will attempt to color the image in Photoshop. This is the step about which I worry most, since I've colored things in Photoshop before, but never at this level of difficulty.

Stay tuned for more as the image progresses, and let's see how this goes....

thriller

I had my work party last night and we were assigned to do  a musical presentation from the 80's, and my boss had us dance to Michael Jackson's Thriller.  It was so much fun!  Be aware that we are no Michael Jackson, so the choreography was adapted to our time limit and skill level. Here are some pictures and I will try and post the video so you can see us dancing.

thirty things about me

1. When I was little, I wanted to be a movie star. When I was even littler, I wanted to be a clown. Now that I'm older, I still want to be a movie star. Turns out it's not so easy to become a clown. Gotta keep my expectations realistic.

2. I am not doing anything to get myself closer to being a movie star. Just waitin' to be discovered....

3. I've had a Harry Potter-themed dream exactly once. That I can remember.

4. Sometimes I watch my daughter sleep and imagine that with each passing moment of sleep, she is gaining health points.

5. I often find myself wishing that it were the 80's again. In my mind, the 80's were mostly commercials for sugary cereals and playing in the backyard.

6. I met my wife at a grocery store (Macey's), where we both worked.

7. I'm majoring in History Teaching, though I don't expect to ever end up teaching history. We'll see.

8. Someday, I hope to get a big-boy job. You know, one that works regular-people hours and has grown-up pay.

9. I think that black-and-white photographs make pretty much anyone look better.

10. When I was younger, I thought I'd like to have five kids. When my wife was pregnant with our daughter, I thought four kids would be ideal. Now that we have our daughter, I think three kids would be just fine.

11. I have tried to use the Force to turn off light switches on multiple occasions. Sometimes even in adulthood.

12. If I could be any superhero, it would be Superman.

13. I prefer DC Comics characters to Marvel Comics characters. I really like superheroes, although I don't ever really read comic books.

14. My favorite season is fall. And winter. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas. It doesn't get better than that time of year.

15. Summer is my least favorite season. Too hot. I despise being hot.

16. I really like watching "The Office." And "Frasier," even though it's off the air.

17. Pixar movies make me happy. Extremely happy.

18. I love Tom Hanks. Perhaps more than I should.

19. If I could spend a week in any decade of the 20th century, it would be the 50's. I like the way they dressed. It'd be fun!

20. People falling asleep in movies or talking through them offends me. Movies are important, people!

21. I'd love to be able to dance like Fred Astaire or Gene Kelly. Takes a lot more strength and control than you'd think!

22. If I had to pick one movie to send out into space for aliens to find that would give them as much information about us as possible, I might pick "It's a Wonderful Life." Think about it - it demonstrates our belief in religion (angels), holiday traditions (Christmas), family units, good and bad people (George Bailey and Mr. Potter), male-pattern baldness (Mr. Potter, again), human generosity (the town coming together to bail-out George), variety of seasons (summer and winter), and the fact that we had Jimmy Stewart! How could the aliens NOT be impressed?!

23. I'd really like to be one of those people that has a perpetually clean house. You know, the kind of house that is totally clean, even when you drop by unexpectedly. I really would love that.

24. I'd like to HAVE a house.

25. I love smell-good candles. Especially cinnamon-, pumpkin-, or pine-scented ones, cause they remind me of fall and winter (see number 14 above).

26. I don't do as much photography as I used to. My work schedule kinda makes it hard. I miss it.

27. On several occasions, I've had pumpkin pie instead of cake on my birthday. Cause I love pumpkin pie!

28. Stuff about Bigfoot and chupacabras and haunted houses and stuff like that fascinates me and creeps me out. I don't really believe it. But what if...?

29. The last book I read was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I'm super stoked for the last movie to come out.

30. Correct grammar and spelling are SUPER important to me, but I have a hard time remembering how to spell "grammar." Thanks a lot, Kelsey Grammer!

quote of the day

"The hard thing about quotes on the Internet
is figuring out if they're real or not."

-Abraham Lincoln

my hair!

So I wanted swoopy/sexy bangs and I was brave and asked my sister, Bailee (who has amazing bangs!), to cut my hair.  So she was brave and did it for me, even though she doesn't have any cosmotology experience, and I like them.  When Travis came home he trimmed them up a little bit more to make them swoopier (thank you!) and now I have my swoopy/sexy bangs!! Now I can actually have bangs and wear them down, and when I do the dishes at work they won't tickle my nose all the time. Thank you!!

I've been trying to grow my hair out for four years now,

but I am weak and just haven't been able to do it.  Until now.

This is how long my hair is now...

And this is how long I would like it to be. (And no I'm not telling you I'm pregnant, even though the picture looks that way at first glance.) The arrow is pointing to my goal-length, just above my ombligo.

P.S.  10 points to whomever can tell me what an ombligo is.