Zombiehamster.com

because the hamster knows.

Archive for December, 2009

Have Yourself A Crispin Glover Christmas.

Posted by zombiehamster On December - 22 - 2009

I’m away to brave the roads and embark on the long journey home to my parent’s house in Wicklow for the holidays. It will be a brief visit as I will have to get back to work immediately after Christmas. My College portfolio and Mugwump won’t put themselves together (obviously enough). Still, I look forward to a few days of games, crap telly and food.

Have a great Christmas all of you, the very best wishes for a stress free and enjoyable holiday.

Hugs, love and extended backrubs all round.

Your pal,

Zombiehamster.x

Sketchbook Time!

Posted by zombiehamster On December - 17 - 2009

I really enjoy looking at other people’s sketchbooks, it can often allow for a really honest insight into someone’s work. I think I just like looking at unfinished pictures sometimes too. I’m working on Mugwump at the moment and am flying through sketchbooks like there’s no tomorrow, so I thought I would post a few drawings from them now and then, finished or not.

None of this is directly related to the upcoming Mugwump comic. These are just doodles. ^_^

Crowd

Snork

Teach

Ham

New

Where The Wild Beasts Are

Posted by zombiehamster On December - 12 - 2009

Wild Beasts‘ new album ‘Two Dancers‘ is getting a great deal of airtime around these parts, and deservedly so. It is one of the most exciting albums to be released this year. Hallucinatory and somewhat ethereal, howls and shrieks permeate intriguing lyrics. Their approach and execution is something brave and successful, removed briskly from the ‘quirky to be cool’ brigade for maintaining substance over style.
With the new album, developments have occurred since ‘Limbo, Panto’ (another personal favourite) allowing the band to experiment with a more completed sound, whilst maintaining all of the eccentricities that brought them to the initial attention of the astute listener.
Here is ‘All The Kings Men’ taken from the new album, the pagan imagery and occult references still running strong in their videos.

And for good measure, here is earlier track, ‘The Devil’s Crayon’ taken from the aforementioned first album.

Wild Beasts are touring in early 2010 and I strongly recommend that you take the opportunity to go and see them before they transform into an entity of Killers sized proportions.

When Irish Politicians Lose Composure

Posted by zombiehamster On December - 11 - 2009

This week in Irish politics has been turbulent to say the least. On Wednesday, Finance Minister Brian Lenihan delivered the most severe Budget in living memory, in a bid to slash €4 Billion from public spending. Specifically targeting low income public sector workers (including nurses and care workers, such as my wife) and people on unemployment benefit. You know, exactly the kind of people who should be targeted to repay massive debts built up by the government and banks. Public sector workers were issued with their third deduction this year, following an earlier pay cut and an increased pension levy. Public sector workers earning under €30,000 per annum have to take a cut of 5%, this can total up to a €1,500 loss. Taking into account that Ireland is still in the top 3 most expensive countries in Europe, this is no small sum.
High earners were spared any further taxation due to the fact that, and I paraphrase the esteemed Finance Minister here: ‘They’re already paying loads of tax, so shut your mouth and get back to your lowly paid job, serf.’ Elsewhere in his frighteningly Victorian speech, he basically stated that it was the duty of the common man to pay for the mistakes of those who they elected to lead them. Wow.

With mounting tension growing over the retraction of almost any opposition to the Budget by previously vocal Independent TD’s (The equivalent of MP’s in the UK), it was the turn of Green Party TD Paul Gogarty to face the backbenchers over his ethical u turn. This was his response.
Why isn’t Question Time always like this?

N.A.S.A. Featuring Tom Waits & Kool Keith ‘Spacious Thoughts’

Posted by zombiehamster On December - 4 - 2009

Wow. That’s kind of something isn’t it? Tom Waits suits being an angry cloud. I wish that the angry cloud that follows me sounded like Tom Waits.

This is taken from the collaborative NASA (North America South America) album ‘Spirit of Apollo‘. What with the recent release of The Black Keys blues / garage rock / hip hop album ‘Blakrok‘, could this be a turning point in hip hop? Does this mean that there might actually be something worth shaking out of the old dying mare?

Who knows?

Who cares?

This is great though, let’s hope that the album holds up as well.

Welcome Back Bear!

Posted by zombiehamster On December - 1 - 2009

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Zombiehamster favourite and SLG Pin Up of the year Jamie Smart announced the arrival of Bearfoo.com today, a website that will showcase ALL of the Bear comics to date and will feature exclusive new Bear strips. It’s been a long time coming,and I am certain that I am not alone in my excitement at this news.

I got so excited in fact, I spent the afternoon drawing this, instead of doing college work like I was supposed to. This is the magical power of Bear.

Go to Bearfoo.com now and realise what you’ve been missing, or simply catch up on some old favourites.

For a zombiehamster interview with the delightful Jamie Smart, click HERE

My New Beloved Budget Studio.

Posted by zombiehamster On December - 1 - 2009

Things have been slightly quieter around these parts as of late and I feel I may owe somewhat of an explanation. It’s a simple one really, I haven’t been here. ‘Here’ being by the pc. At some point towards the end of the summer, I had become increasingly frustrated with the lack of space in my apartment. It was impractical and nigh on impossible to work in, due to size and logistical restrictions. This was happening at the same time as a mass of ideas and potential projects that I wanted to get underway and so a solution had to be found.

A brainwave came to me when visiting a nearby friend who had a rather spacious garage / annex thing, which in my eyes, suddenly transformed into a thing of great beauty and possibility. The acquisition of the space was an epic battle of wits, with two minds meeting over such weighty conversation as:

You know your garage? Mind if I clear it out and turn it into a studio?’

Nah, work away.’

SEE! See the passion, and love that went into the very foundations of this adventure?

As if by some miraculous feat of circumstance, that very day I was returning home when we saw a nice dog in a van. We went over to say hello to the dog who was excitedly hanging out a gap in the window, when a gruff voice summoned our attention from a neighbour’s doorway.

Do y’want a couch lads?’

Thinking it to be some form of dubious sales pitch, we were cautious, but inquisitive enough to show that we weren’t entirely disinterested. It developed through conversation that there were two almost perfect leather couches being given away by our wasteful, affluent neighbours. It would ease the workmen’s load if we took them and we get two salubrious leather sofas into the bargain as well. An all round win. Strange, how even one day earlier, and I would have instantly declined such an offer.

With the couches now stored (for three days in my hallway, completely blocking access to the front door and ensuring that a Krypton Factor style assault course be completed to pass through the tiny hallway) and the agreement made, the clearing began. It took almost a week to get it looking like this:

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It resembled nothing more than the bleak set of a particularly unpleasant grumble flick.

This was closer to what I needed, but still quite far removed from what I had envisioned in my head.

Weeks went by as bits and pieces emerged. Forgotten shelving units were resurrected from attics. Unused carpets donated and unwanted cabinets happily handed over.  An old TV and video were rediscovered.

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I love having movies on in the background while I work at things. Maybe I never bought into the falsity that you have to listen to music every spare minute of the day to qualify as a music ‘lover’, sometimes a series or a good movie will keep you listening just as intently. To satisfy any musical desires I may have, an old record player / cassette deck combo that I bought for a fiver years ago at a car boot sale has been coming in very useful indeed.

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Not being financially stable enough to invest much in the actual allocation of essentials for the studio, the next stage took about 6 weeks. I slowly bought materials with bits of cash I had put by and over those weeks, the work started to materialise as well.

For a very long time, I was using the massive board on my lap as a drawing table, which was leading to all sorts of new and exciting pains. Luckily, my dad had found a home made drawing table frame in an old shed and we attached it to a 20 quid B&Q table (seemingly made out of sugar paper and hope) and secured the back of it so that it would remain steady.

Now there is a professional style drawing table, something I have always wanted but never thought I’d be able to afford. Then when I was given a typewriter, I knew I was finally equipped.

This is where I’ve been. I am there most days for, well, most of the day. There are bits that you can’t see, like the expanding VHS collection (which will explode once I bring my stored boxes from home up soon) and the Street Fighter machine is out of shot because it’s being worked on at the moment and I don’t want to show her incomplete, naked as it were.

The first thing that will be completed is ‘Mugwump’ an upcoming independent comic which I am writing, drawing, lettering, shading and publishing myself. This will appear sometime in early 2010 and is something I am very proud, excited and anxious to share with you all.

I am still writing a great deal but in a very unpressured, natural kind of way (sorry if that sounds a bit pretentious), I was putting myself under too much pressure before and it didn’t result in good things. I am enjoying what I currently write and I think that when the time is appropriate, you will too.

There is half a novel that glares at me from its folder every day; I don’t think it’ll let me get away with not finishing it. The stack of short stories continually grows and soon will also be demanding I do something with them. Until then, I’m happy to work on them until they are of a standard that I would feel comfortable inflicting upon the public.

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So, welcome to my world, this is my studio. She may not be the flashiest in the world, but she was restored and put together with love, time and care. With my Super Ser gas heater and a small fort of videos for company, here I will remain for the duration for the winter.

The website will continue, obviously, and will be used to showcase goings on, rustlings and strange sightings.

Here’s to better things.

Better times.

And better work.

Let’s do this.

x ZH x