The Daily Rick

Don't you hate it when you think you have at least two whole days to not think about the rent and then you realize it's fuckin' February? February, with your stupid-ass changing amount of days and your extra 'r' for no reason and your Valentine's Day. Go to hell, February! Go straight to hell! Black History Month can be March. Then they can change the name of Black History Month to Million Man March. Damn. That's a good idea. I better call Al Sharpton.

Scam of the day: Valet Parking. I actually paid a guy 3 bucks to move my car 12 feet. What kinda shit is that?

Kristy got me good and stoned last night. Hurray for her.

I listened good and hard to a couple of cd's today. I haven't had time to give music my full attention but today I did.

First was the new Jimmy Eat World. Now, I guess these cats are the flavor of the month with the kids but I discovered them when they opened for Weezer last year sometime. A great pop album, stupendously catchy songs, and just overall fun. I recommend it, even though the record is probably being overplayed on mainstream radio right now.

Next, When I Was Cruel, the new joint from the legendary Elvis Costello. I wanna say it ain't business as usual, that it's not a lot like his last full studio release All This Useless Beauty, but it sorta is. The opening riff on the opening song (entitled "45") is straight from "Complicated Shadows" . From there, the songs seem familiar because they just remind so much of the last album. But this isn't a bad thing from my angle. The songs are still better written than a lot of pop songs and, really, I have a hard time not liking the man's work. I'll certainly give it more of my time and you will, therefore, hear more about this album as I wear it out.

Believe it or not, me and Dave are surfing fat people porn sites for work today. For work. Sometimes, Hollywood's fucked up.

A message for anyone out there. If you have any of the 1000 journals (if you have one, then you kno w what's up) please contact me about getting one to inject with my own filthy, filthy thoughts. :)

Thanks. rick@REMOVECAPSrickcortes.com

I know what you're thinking (yeah, you...the one person reading this). You're thinking " 'Daily', my ass!" Well, sue me. I was out of town and with my sister who's the only person left on earth without a computer. But I didn't wanna be anywhere near it anyway. Spent a nice weekend with my family. Gotta be outdoors and with actual people sometimes.

Posted a cutie colored in Photoshop on the message board here:

http://pub43.ezboard.com/frickcortesonlinemessageboardsfrm2.showMessage?topicID=3.topic

Let me know whatcha think.

This week's soundtrack:

Kasey Chambers-Barricades and Brickwalls
Scratch soundtrack
Starsailor
The Beta Band-Hot Shots II
Elvis Costello-When I Was Cruel
Jim Croce

So Michael Eisner's deal with the devil is going nice and smoothe. I just saw the preview for the direct-to-video sequel to Cinderella entitled (marketing genius, I tell you) Cinderella 2! Had I a spoon I would've gouged my eyes out, although that would take more effort than what went into making this crap. I hear it's Australian animators working on this. I can't imagine ANY animators being talked into being part of a legacy of embarassment like the sequels to Walt Disney's classics. How long can it be before Eisner renames himself Walt Disney 2?

You know when you're alone and you're watching something funny but you're not laughing, just sort of noting to yourself the funniness but not laughing? Okay, you know when you're alone and you're watching something else that's funny and you find yourself just laughing out loud hysterically? Doesn't that rule? That's why Letterman's a god.

Thanks to Kir and Michele for lettin' us hang out their place. Kir having his canvas up with paints all over the place as well as Shane's and Kristy's studio have inspired me to really give this painting shit a shot. It should be fun.

I got a sticker from Kir's apartment complex for parking in the red, the one that says "if you park here again, yer gettin' towed, fucker!" It's really cute. I bet that guy feels like he has some power when he puts that sticker on your car. He's not even a metermaid. What's below a metermaid?

Visited with Shane and Kristy tonight and ended up doing my first painting in several years. Also my first attempt at gouache. Check it out under Hellboy on my message boards (wow, what a fuckin' surprise...Mignola superfan painted Hellboy...woohoo).

Oh, I guess it's officially President's Day. It's one of the few bank holidays we have off at work. Personally, I'd rather have MLK Day off but apparently the father of the civil rights movement doesn't get props over guys who owned slaves.

You always hope that when you meet people you admire that they'll be nice to you. Once in a while you'll run into a Charles Vess or something who'd rather shit on you than talk to you (that incident was pre-family ordeal shit so no excuses there, for all the comics geeks out there) but hopefully that's not the case. Yesterday was nice. Every time I've met Michel Gagne he's been nothing but very gracious and generous. And yesterday was no exception. If you're not familiar with his work, here...school yourself. He's amazing:

http://www.gagneint.com

He's very cool, extremely talented, and he'll be famous someday so for Godsakes buy his books for you and for you kids (although The Bird, The Spider, and The Octopus might be a little scary). You won't be sorry.

I'm currently listening to the new Elvis Costello album entitled When I Was Cruel (it doesn't come out 'til late April so don't ask me how). So far so good. A complete review is forthcoming.

I haven't had a drink in a few weeks and tonight I had a couple of beers and I feel like I've been drinking all night. Does that mean I'm getting old? Jesus...

An Extremely Brief History of Valentine's Day (from some website):

"Valentine's Day is named in memory of St. Valentine of Rome who died in 269 AD. Saint Valentine was arrested by Emporer Claudius II for helping Christian martyrs. After refusing to give up the Christian faith he was beaten to death with clubs and beheaded by the Prefect of Rome on February 14th."

Man, this could have easily been another Halloween. How cool would that be?

How does it happen? How is it that a perfectly normal guy or gal, who seems like they've got enough brains to know better, gets talked into wearing not only one Abercrombie and Fitch piece of clothing but 3 pieces (hat, shirt, and pants)? Now I'm not talking about your run of the mill stuff you can find there. I'm talking a hat with the words "Abercrombie and Fitch Baseball Team" or "Athletic Team" on it, with matching sweat-shirt and pants. How do people find themselves wearing this crap? Why do you have shirts that say "The Gap" as big as your head on them? Is The Gap or Abercrombie so goddamn great that you have to advertise for them? Are the letters on the shirt functional? Does Abercrombie actually have a kick-ass baseball team? Did they make the playoffs?

To clarify....I like to wear what I like to wear and sometimes there'll be a tag on it on the outside. But I'm not wearing it if the shirt IS the tag. C'mon, y'all. There are plenty of other things out there to advertise on your fuckin' clothes without resorting to advertising companies you don't give two shits about. And stop forcing them on your goddamn kids, too! Poor bastards...

Rant over. Off to work.

Hooked up tonight with Shane and Kristy and Kir and Paul. Paul's kick-ass. Check out his company and their work at http://www.savagefrog.com. And prepare the crowbar. The other cats, they have the same website: www.Idonthaveawebsitecuzimaloser.org (just kidding, guys). Get those portfolios up! Anyway...fellow artists who always motivate me. Now I'll be up all damn night drawing.

Today's soundtrack by:
Rob Swift.
Dan the Automator.
Jimmy Eats World.
Notorious B.I.G.
Sponge.

Jock 'em.

There will probably be another big update in the next week or so. I've been doing way too much drawing lately inspired by my dopey--I mean, dope artist friends so you'll be seeing new work on the site whether you like it or not.

And don't forget what tomorrow is.....Thursday!

Just settling in for the night after spending time with Rob and Sue of Sue's Rock fame (www.suesrock.net). We always have fun and they're a riot to hang with...crazy Jersey kids.

Earlier today while I was driving home there was a sort of old, white Nissan Maxima or something like that with a made up name. Anyway, on the right back panel of the trunk it said the name of the car. On the left side, it said "Jerry Lewis". Not a bumper sticker, but it was there like maybe that was the name of the dealer who sold it to him/her. A better scenario in my head was that Jerry sells cars on the side and just sticks a sort of shitty embossed name thing on the backs of the shitty used cars he sells people. I bet he's a real charmer, too...speaking in baby talk with a pen inside his upper lip.

Okay, it's not that funny but somewhere some French guy is reading this and laughing his balls off.

Go here to listen to a brand-new track by the Imposter himself, Elvis Costello. It's also the new (and sort of crappy) website for his new album, When I Was Cruel. Don't listen to EC? Shame on you..

http://www.islandrecords.com/elviscostello/

Hey, the message board has reached a staggering 10 members! Thanks to Toonimator for makin' it happen.

Just so everyone can get the jump on Valentine's Day (or as I like to call it, Thursday), here's a great website where you can pre-order that special something for your significant other:

http://senddeadfish.com/

Oh...new MIGNOLA stuff in the message board under HELLBOY. Off to work.

Yeah, yeah...I'm goin' to sleep soon. If you get a chance to peek, I posted some new stuff to the Re-Design thread on the message board. More Legion of Doom kookiness. Okay, coma time. See yous tomorrow.

Website of the day: http://www.engrish.com Thanks to my pal Max for pointing it out.

So I was at the doctor today to get something checked out. Party Of Five was on the shitty TV in the top corner of the waiting room and this little old lady who looked Greek or Italian or some other such European something was sitting under the TV coughing stuff up without covering her mouth and spitting into this garbage can. It was a little tough to keep my cool under the circumstances. If Life Goes On was on the TV, I might have taken a hostage. For the first time, however, I actually got out of there ahead of schedule. Sweet Jesus, it must be my birthday.

(note: it is not my birthday)

I think my head's gonna split in two today. Perhaps I should stop falling asleep on the couch.

Oh...and I'm gonna turn this website right around and take you kids home if you don't start using that damn message board. Well, okay...I won't do that but at the next rest stop, someone's gettin' spanked.

I've been posting copious amounts of art (for me, anyway) to Shane Glines' message boards lately as well as contributing to the amazing Sue's Rock model sheets archive. Give them some time when you're all done wasting it here.
http://www.shaneglines.com
http://www.suesrock.net

I've joined the web log masses. Because sometimes I'm a trendy fucker. Read about website UPDATES and whatnot here.