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Battle Los AngelesI just saw Battle Los Angeles last night. This was truly the greatest, most saintly perfect alien invasion movie I have ever seen. It sanctified my television through the mere act of transmitting its impeccable majesty.
The armed forces are competent.
They face the aliens with courage and grace.
The aliens use MACHINE GUNES :iconfinallyplz:
There is a scene in which two US Marines bayonette an alien soldier with loaded assault rifles, and then proceed to fire their weapons into its abdomen!. And when it falls, they kick it in the HEAD!!!

It was like War of the Worlds meets Black Hawk Down meets Saving Private Ryan.
It was like Independence Day--if it didn't suck!
WHY HASN'T THIS MOVIE WON AN OSCAR?????!!!!!
More importantly, why haven't all of you bums out there who know me and have seen this cinematic masterwork, not grabbed me by the shoulders and shouted at the top of your lungs, "JOHN!!!! YOU

I'm changing my name.That's right. I'm changing my DA name.
I've thought long and hard and have decided to change it toooooo.......
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.................."jollyjack".
That's right; i'm one of the few artists here on DA that seems content with my name. That; and I think changing a "brand" simply because you can, after you've spent time and energy building up an audience is f**king stupid.
I've been here for years. I've operated on the internet under "jollyjack" for longer. If I changed that now it would be monumentally confusing to people that follow my work, which, in turn, would have an effect on revenue.
There are a ton of artists here whose work I keenly follow, and I think they're kinda shooting themselves in the foot by doing this.
Kinda reminds be of those little label-making things everyone's been given on at least one Christmas as a kid: you unwrap it, you find out what it does and you spend the rest of the day punching out new tags for everything. Even if they'

Deeply saddened.It is with sadness that I report the loss of Neil Armstrong today.
I admit I am still somewhat at a loss for words.
I thought many times during the Olympics that I was watching real heroes, not like those professional athletes crying for more money back home.
I am reminded this afternoon that there is a level of hero above that, who sets aside his instinctive fear and sense of self-preservation to ride the most powerful controlled (barely) explosion ever made by humans. And to journey to lands so far beyond the reach of help.
Articulate even at the end, Neil will be missed by his family and friends, and we will feel ourselves somewhat desolate for the absence of this extraordinary pilot and explorer.
God Speed, Neil, you go ahead of us. We will meet again someday.

Here comes the Olympiad!Just a week to go until we embarrass ourselves in front of the world.
Millions (Billions?) of Pounds and what do we get? A stadium with (inexplicably) a strange vision of the English countryside in it (http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/jun/12/london-2012-olympic-opening-ceremony), and a mutant pylon (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/8855623/London-2012-Olympics-UKs-tallest-sculpture-completed-on-Olympic-Park.html) which is not and never will be a monument "as iconic as the Eiffel Tower".
Commedian Marcus Brigstocke described the British attitude toward the Olympics quite well a few years ago: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v

JEH9P0hgCw&feature

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Truth be told: I've never been that fussed when it comes to the Olympics, regardless of where in the world it's held. It's just this time I'll be thinking "NO! Who greenlit that? They did WHAT during the opening ceremony? Where's that Boyle bastard? I'm gonna kill him".
...........AND WHAT'S ALL THIS ABOUT THE

Iran has pressure cookers!I'm all for justice and people getting what they deserve and I believe, wholeheartedly, that the (surviving) little toe-rag responsible for the deaths and maiming of innocents should spend the rest of his natural life in some deep, dark Federal sh*thole, surrounded by people that like him as much as those outside….only they have records.
However, I'm also in favour of accuracy. At least as far as claims made by the authorities are concerned, because if they're permitted to mislabel things during a period when emotions are, with good reason, high; they'll use that inaccuracy for their own ends at a later date.
A nuke is a weapon of mass destruction.
A warhead filled with chemical agents that cause people's faces to fall off in their hands is a weapon of mass destruction.
A can filled with explosives and shrapnel is a horrible device, but it is not a "weapon of mass destruction", nor should it have been suggested it was. It implies that most people have the materials required to build a

Kim Jong-il is Kim Jong-deadHere are some of the things that The Supreme Leader, the Dear Leader, the General, Lodestar of the 21st Century and Eternal President, Kim Jong-il has been (no joke) credited with:
* Even before his birth, the future leader of North Korea was triggering miracles. Official biographers say his birth in a cabin on the slopes of Baekdu Mountain in February 1942 was foretold by a swallow and heralded by a double rainbow. When he was born, a new star appeared in the night sky.
* The first time he picked up a golf club, in 1994, Kim reportedly shot a 38-under par round on North Korea's only golf course, including 11 holes-in-one. He then decided to retire from the sport for ever.
* Kim has the ability to alter the weather simply through the power of thought.
* The fledgling leader was a genius as an infant, with official North Korean biographies stating that he had learned to walk at just 3 weeks and was talking at 8 weeks.
* As a junior high school pupil in Pyongyang, he corrected and chasti

Stop the perfectionismOn my Tumblr site someone asked me for some general advice for an aspiring comic creator. This is what was on my mind. Thought I'd share it here on Deviantart as well.
Right now all I can think of is something I've been thinking about lately. And that is the depression some of us artists get about our art. Like our expectations aren't just "My drawings need to be good!", they are "My art needs to be PERFECT."
So I would suggest always try to improve, gain confidence, but expect good/average output. Don't expect perfect art, ever. By doing this only causes you to be frustrated, which in turn causes mistakes, which pisses you off more, then you're stuck in a lame spiraling circle downward to the pathetic whiny artist. Which in turn kills your deadline. Giving yourself freedom from perfection makes drawing much easier and better art is produced and on time.
I'm currently working on this piece where it started out difficult, I had high expectations for it, I was in a bad mood, nothing was

Grow some balls.I don't mind people voicing that they don't like my work or the content of my silly little cartoons. Most of the time I find it funny! But what really grates is when the individual doesn't have the spine to do so via their day-to-day DA profile.
They set up a new one. One which they use to rattle off whatever flatulance they believe passes as worthwhile commentary in the real world, most likely in the wake of mummy and daddy slapping them on the wrist over something - angsty, juvenile pricks that they are.
And juvenile they must be, as anyone with a mite more experience would realise that any weight you hope your words might have is completely lost when someone visits your "slander" profile and reads the numbers "0 Deviations", "0 Favourites", "0 Watchers", "No Journal entries", etc.
It renders your words as vacuous as your gallery.
So if you're going to type stuff like "I feel like some of the smut you draw takes away from the credibility of your art as a whole." or

Sherlock vs ElementaryThe concept of taking the world's greatest detective out of his Victorian era setting and dropping him into 21st Century London shouldn't have worked. It should have failed as miserably as I thought it would.
Hooooo. Was I proven wrong on that one.
The scant six episodes of Sherlock contain some of the best material the BBC has ever produced and proved that the detective can work his deductive wizardry in any time period.
Which is probably why CBS have gone all Chinese and are ripping it off.
When I heard that there was going to be an "American version" of the show; the eye twitched but didn't bat. This happens, and often HAS to happen. A show must fit with the scheduling, and US series are a lot longer than those on British TV, so things have to be stretched.
THEN I learned that it's NOT a remake of BBC's Sherlock, but a brand new series called "Elementary", which is "radically" different because it's set in New York.
Unsurprisingly, the Beeb are a bit miffed by this.
In this, wholly

Elect the Delusional?The good Mr Romney has been saying that "The world wants to see new American leadership".
Well....if by "world" he means "Pakistan".....
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-20008687
....and I think that's probably down to Obama giving the greenlight to the operation that saw US Special Forces conduct a cross-border raid into Pakistan which resulted in a very dead Bin Laden. They're still kinda cranky about that.
Posted for no reason other than that it's really, really funny.

The man of small steps.Some people you just think of as being immortal.
RIP - Neil Armstrong
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-19381098

The AvengersYou know that giddy, gleeful feeling that renders you incapable of doing little more than giggle like a lunatic?
I pretty much had that from start to finish during the Avengers film (Which was released on Fair Blighty's shores as "Avengers Assemble" thanks to the past efforts of Steed and Peel).
There have only been a handful of movies that invoked that kind of response in me: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Abram's Star Trek, Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes and the first Iron Man film are those which immediately spring to mind.
Indeed; Avengers is THE best Marvel movie since Iron Man. Ace cast, brilliant story, hysterical script, a scene that will stab anyone that's followed the films leading up to this point right through the heart and a fair few more surprises.
Chief among them being; how the hell did the Hulk become such a f**king awesome character after so many naff films?
I'm gonna go see this one again!

Disney closes LucasArtsF**k you, Disney. F**k you.
http://www.joystiq.com/2013/04/03/disney-closes-lucasarts/
If you are not angered by this news, you're obviously a very young gamer and probably (rightly) see LucasArts as nothing more than a mediocre-Star-Wars-title-discharging-sewer-pipe.
Disney bought LucasFilm because of the Star Wars cash-cow, but the number of classic IPs produced by LucasArts throughout the 90s makes the descision to close it rather than attempt to return to the studio to its glory days pretty staggering.
I actually see way more potential in LucasArts IPs than Star Wars.....but then, so would anyone with even the most stunted of creative minds.
Disney obviously still own all the properties, but the LucasArts brand is gone, and it's the end of an era, even if they start picking at the corpse for ideas to ruin.
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Secret of Monkey Island, anyone?

Disney layoffs, 2D animation, and youA very nervous animation student (he didn't say, but I assume he is studying 2D animation) asked me about my opinions on the state of animation these days. What are the companies thinking with laying off all the employees, not doing 2D animation, canceling great TV series, etc.? Are the business people just evil? AND the even bigger question: Is John Lassiter a jerk (or worse) for letting all the 2D animators at Disney go yesterday?
MY ANSWER: I have a slightly controversial (for an artist) perspective on businesses and business people. Over all, I like them. At times, I have even been grateful for them. (Steady paychecks should never be taken for granted. Wait till you don't have one one day, then you'll know!) Remember, we live in a world where businesses are expected to make money to stay alive. It's called capitalism. Others call it "business". That means, the animation world isn't any different from any other job/company

The End of the Twinkie?http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2012/11/16/hostess-twinkies-ding-dongs-wonder-bread-going-out-of-business/1708409/
World War 3 may just be months away, with much of the middle east currently being blown apart by missiles and the locals setting their neighbours on fire, but the real news is that the Twinkie, the USA's primary contribution to world cuisine, could cease to be.
"You eat those?" I hear people ask. Hell no. Never eaten one in my life. There's something about their unnatural, chemical-yellow colour and that they have a half-life rather than a use-by date that just sets off one too many alarm-bells.
In fact, I'm pretty sure that if you read the print on the pack, you'll find asbestos to be a key ingredient.
Even John McClane can't keep one down, and he took out a building full of terrorists with nothing but his bare feet and a Santa hat.
Which leads to my point: Without the Twinkie, there are SO many lines from SO many classic movies that future generations just a

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Olympic Fire and Industry

by *jollyjack, Jul 28, 2012, 4:51:42 PM
Journals / Personal

Well; the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympics certainly was….surprising.
As I predicted; there was quite a bit of content that just had me squirming in my chair, thinking "No! NO! Why did you do that?!". The absurdity of the nod to the NHS, for example, and the sudden appearance of various storybook villains, which felt (for lack of a better word) "Disney".
However; the "historical" section of the ceremony's opening half utterly blew me away. An unexpected appearance by Kenneth Branagh, playing Isambard Kingdom Brunel (who essentially WAS the Industrial Revolution), began a spectacular sequence that pretty much summed up what Britain's past was all about; fire and industry.
It was, without a doubt, the highlight of the entire spectacle, and if you either didn't get the chance to catch it or didn't bother to watch it, I urge you to track it down online!

And then there was James Bond….charged with the most difficult seduction of his career.
Yes. That really was her. I couldn't believe it either.

After that, though, things got a little too surreal, abstract or pointless (in my opinion) until the lighting of the "cauldron" some 2 or so hours later (feel free to fast forward).

What I'm really enjoying now is reading what the rest of the world have been saying, which is essentially "We don't know what the hell we just saw, but we liked it!" followed by "Hey, look! It's Mr Bean!"

188 Comments

Listening to: Booming Orchestral Scores
Reading: Assorted comics
Watching: X Files
Playing: Nothing. Too busy.
Eating: Vice Versas (they're back!)
Drinking: Water.

Olympic Fire and Industryby *jollyjack

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~theroyalscouter Aug 9, 2012 Hobbyist General Artist

So it really was her?... I thought they wouldn't dare place such an ederly women to such a fit. My guess was, actor an she was just waiting the signal to appear as if she actually had jumped. That's insane.
Most of the show just wasn't to Olympic Games expectation, the Whole J.K. Rowling paying for part of the games is the reason that so much of it was Harry Potter related. It seems that economy is really taking a plunge.
Mr. Bean was just hillarious, best comic relief ever used on the openning ceremony of the olympic games.

~ralter Jul 31, 2012

I'm pretty sure the reaction in my house went sorta along these lines. "And here driving the boat with the Olympic torch is David..." Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh? "... Beckham" Awwwwwwww...

~ChristyKitsune Jul 31, 2012

I liked it up to the end of the NHS part. Then it just went down the toilet.
I enjoyed the indutrial Revolution the most.

~m0n0cr0me Jul 31, 2012

Looked em out of interest. Agree fisrt part was well made but the when atletes began to come into arena i got bored and went sleep.
good thing apparently because latter part seemed to be crap

*TaleSpinnerGypsy Jul 30, 2012 Professional General Artist

My sister and I were discussing what we felt were hidden nods to the LotR throughout the whole of the ceremony. The pastoral scene was clearly Hobbiton (sorry, but once that thought took hold I was hellbent on finding hairy feet on the volunteers), the forging of the ring was THE ring, and the formation of the cauldron was the Eye. I'm so sorry, but we couldn't shake this at all...

*jollyjack Jul 30, 2012

It might look LotR because Tolkien's Middle Earth was inspired by the English countryside and the industry that tore it up.

*TaleSpinnerGypsy Jul 30, 2012 Professional General Artist

Very true. Stupid Isengard...

Also, as it did not rain over the opening ceremony, I am not a few bucks richer. Boo.

~perditaxdream Jul 30, 2012

Which idiot though it was a good idea to have a massive ceremony in England with no roof? Mind you I suppose they could have just got on with it in the rain and complained a lot after as the Brits do.

*TaleSpinnerGypsy Aug 2, 2012 Professional General Artist

Well, whoever they were, they're just insanely lucky. I would hate to have been part of that planning committee only to see things go haywire.

~Kenny-Gulley Jul 29, 2012

Loved the history section, Mr. Bean, James Bond... and the torch. Thats it.

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