May 16

May 15

May 14

May 13

This day in sketchtory, Stephen Colbert was born.

May 12

This day in sketchtory, George Carlin was born.

May 11

This day in sketchtory, Deep Blue, a chess-playing supercomputer, defeats Garry Kasparov in the last game of the rematch, becoming the first computer to beat a world-champion chess player in a classic match format.

May 10

This day in sketchtory, the US Supreme Court ruled that a tomato is a vegetable, and not a fruit. The Tariff Act of 1883 required a tax to be paid on imported vegetables, but not fruit. The case was filed as an action by John Nix, John W. Nix, George W. Nix, and Frank W. Nix against Edward L. Hedden, Collector of the Port of New York, to recover back duties paid under protest. Botanically, a tomato is a fruit because it is a seed-bearing structure growing from the flowering part of a plant.

At the trial the plaintiffs' counsel, after reading in evidence definitions of the words 'fruit' and 'vegetables' from Webster's Dictionary, Worcester's Dictionary, and the Imperial Dictionary, called two witnesses, who had been for 30 years in the business of selling fruit and vegetables, and asked them, after hearing these definitions, to say whether these words had "any special meaning in trade or commerce, different from those read."

During testimony, one witness testified that in regard to the dictionary definition:

"[the dictionary] does not classify all things there, but they are correct as far as they go. It does not take all kinds of fruit or vegetables; it takes a portion of them. I think the words 'fruit' and 'vegetable' have the same meaning in trade today that they had on March 1, 1883. I understand that the term 'fruit' is applied in trade only to such plants or parts of plants as contain the seeds. There are more vegetables than those in the enumeration given in Webster's Dictionary under the term 'vegetable,' as 'cabbage, cauliflower, turnips, potatoes, peas, beans, and the like,' probably covered by the words 'and the like.'"

May 9

This day in sketchtory, L. Ron Hubbard's published Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health. With this book, Hubbard introduced a branch of self-help psychology called Dianetics, which quickly caught fire and, over time, morphed into a belief system boasting millions of subscribers: Scientology.

Hubbard was already a prolific and frequently published writer by the time he penned the book that would change his life. Under several pseudonyms in the 1930s, he published a great amount of pulp fiction, particularly in the science fiction and fantasy genres. In late 1949, having returned from serving in the Navy in World War II, Hubbard began publishing articles in the pages of Astounding Science Fiction, a magazine that published works by the likes of Isaac Asimov and Jack Williamson. Out of these grew the elephantine text known as Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health.

In Dianetics, Hubbard explained that phenomena known as "engrams" (i.e. memories) were the cause of all psychological pain, which in turn harmed mental and physical health. He went on to claim that people could become "clear," achieving an exquisite state of clarity and mental liberation, by exorcising their engrams to an "auditor," or a listener acting as therapist.

May 8

May 7

This day in sketchtory, Norway's most famous painting, "The Scream" by Edvard Munch, was recovered almost three months after it was stolen from a museum in Oslo. The fragile painting was recovered undamaged at a hotel in Asgardstrand, about 40 miles south of Oslo, police said.

The iconic 1893 painting of a waiflike figure on a bridge was stolen in only 50 seconds during a break-in on February 12, the opening day of the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer. Two thieves broke through a window of the National Gallery, cut a wire holding the painting to the wall and left a note reading "Thousand thanks for the bad security!"

A few days after the theft, a Norwegian anti-abortion group said it could have the painting returned if Norwegian television showed an anti-abortion film. The claim turned out to be false. The government also received a $1 million ransom demand on March 3, but refused to pay it due to a lack of proof that the demand was genuine.

May 6

This day in sketchtory, the Hindenburg blew up.

May 5

This day in sketchtory, a suitcase in Virginia was found holding human remains. The deceased was 39 year old William McGuire, killed by his wife Melanie, who was having an affair with her boss and wanted to be rid of her marriage, but without a costly divorce or risk losing custody of their kids. So she killed and dismembered her husband and stuff his remains in a suitcase which she then tossed into the Chesapeake Bay. Luckily she was convicted and faced 30 years to life in prison.

May 4

This day in sketchtory, may the fourth be with you.

May 3

This day in sketchtory, actress Christina Hendricks was born. It always astounds me that she is held up as a "plus size" beauty, when in reality she is a little taller than most women but is still remarkably thin, much thinner than the average woman.

May 2

This day in sketchtory, the Loch Ness Monster was "sighted." In 1933, a new road was completed along Loch Ness' shore, affording drivers a clear view of the loch. After an April 1933 sighting was reported in the local paper on May 2, interest steadily grew, especially after another couple claimed to have seen the beast on land, crossing the shore road. Several British newspapers sent reporters to Scotland, including London's Daily Mail, which hired big-game hunter Marmaduke Wetherell to capture the beast. After a few days searching the loch, Wetherell reported finding footprints of a large four-legged animal. In response, the Daily Mail carried the dramatic headline: "MONSTER OF LOCH NESS IS NOT LEGEND BUT A FACT." Scores of tourists descended on Loch Ness and sat in boats or decks chairs waiting for an appearance by the beast. Plaster casts of the footprints were sent to the British Natural History Museum, which reported that the tracks were that of a hippopotamus, specifically one hippopotamus foot, probably stuffed. The hoax temporarily deflated Loch Ness Monster mania, but stories of sightings continued.

A famous 1934 photograph seemed to show a dinosaur-like creature with a long neck emerging out of the murky waters, leading some to speculate that "Nessie" was a solitary survivor of the long-extinct plesiosaurs. The aquatic plesiosaurs were thought to have died off with the rest of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. Loch Ness was frozen solid during the recent ice ages, however, so this creature would have had to have made its way up the River Ness from the sea in the past 10,000 years. And the plesiosaurs, believed to be cold-blooded, would not long survive in the frigid waters of Loch Ness. More likely, others suggested, it was an archeocyte, a primitive whale with a serpentine neck that is thought to have been extinct for 18 million years. Skeptics argued that what people were seeing in Loch Ness were "seiches"--oscillations in the water surface caused by the inflow of cold river water into the slightly warmer loch.

May 1

This day in sketchtory, Mr. Potato Head was introduced

April 30

This day in sketchtory, the ice cream cone is first introduced, at the St. Louis World's Fair.

April 29

This day in sketchtory, Uma Thurman was born.

April 28

This day in sketchtory, a vaccine for yellow fever was introduced

April 27

This day in sketchtory, Xerox PARC introduced the computer mouse.

April 26

This day in sketchtory, NASA's Ranger 4 spacecraft crashed into the moon.

April 25

This day in sketchtory, DC Comics introduced Batman.

April 24

This day in sketchtory, a team of South Korean scientists created the world's first cloned dog, named "Snuppy."

April 23

This day in sketchtory, Coca Cola released "New Coke."

April 22

This day in sketchtory, Earth Day is celebrated. This immediately made me think of a friend of mine, Dei Gaztelumendi's 4th year film "Earlth and Moonch." I also think of him as Spanish Buzz.

April 21

This day in sketchtory, Mark Twain died.

April 20

This day in sketchtory, Fenway Park in Boston opened.

April 19

This day in sketchtory, Skynet was to become sentient.

April 18

This day in sketchtory, Conan O'Brien was born.

April 17

This day in sketchtory, in 1945, U.S. Lieutenant Colonel Boris T. Pash commandeers over half a ton of uranium at Strassfut, Germany, in an effort to prevent the Russians from developing an A-bomb. Pash was head of the Alsos Group, organized to search for German scientists in the postwar environment in order to prevent the Russians, previously Allies but now a potential threat, from capturing any scientists and putting them to work at their own atomic research plants. Uranium piles were also rich "catches," as they were necessary to the development of atomic weapons.

April 16

This day in sketchtory, Dr. Albert Hoffman discovered the hallucinogenic abilities of the drug LSD.

April 15

This day in sketchtory, the Titanic sunk.

April 14

This day in sketchtory, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.

April 13

This day in sketchtory, the arrival of the first elephant in North America.

April 12

This day in sketchtory, Galileo was convicted of heresy by the Catholic Church, for spreading the truth that the Earth revolved around the Sun.

April 11

This day in sketchtory, US President Harry Truman fired General Douglas MacArthur in the midst of the Korean War. MacArthur had almost 50 years of military service and was the main figure in the US involvement with Japan in WWII. During the Korean War he made public statements questioning various actions of Truman.

With no other skills beyond figuring out how to kill people, MacArthur turned to creating his own small business.

April 10

This day in sketchtory, the safety pin was patented by Walter Hunt, who also invented the sewing machine, the Winchester repeating rifle, the knife sharpener and a bunch of other obsolete things. Its my opinion that the injury rate among safety pin use should really exclude it from using the term "safety" in its name.

April 9

This day in sketchtory, Iraq and the Soviets signed a friendship treaty.

April 8

This day in sketchtory, Clint Eastwood was elected mayor in April 1986 of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California (population 4,000), a wealthy small town and artist community on the Monterey Peninsula. He served one term. A focal point of Eastwood's campaign was to overturn a law that banned eating ice cream in public.

In general, Eastwood has favoured less governmental interference in both the private economy and the private lives of individuals. He has disapproved of a reliance on welfare, feeling that the government should help citizens make something of themselves via education and incentives. He has, however, approved of unemployment insurance, bail-outs for homeowners saddled with unaffordable mortgages, a continued American automobile industry, electric and hybrid cars, environmental conservation, land preservation, alternative energy, and gun control measures such as California's Brady Bill. A longtime liberal on civil rights, Eastwood has stated that he has always been pro-choice on abortion. He has endorsed the notion of allowing gays to marry, and he contributed to groups supporting the Equal Rights Amendment for women.

To me it just furthers the proof that moderate, sane republicans can only be elected if they are also movie stars.

April 7

This day in sketchtory, the Toronto Blue Jays played their first ever game, in 1977 at Exhibition Stadium. They beat the visiting Chicago White Sox, in a game that featured a hell of a lot of snow, which helped further the canadian stereotype of a frozen wasteland, by having a blizzard at a baseball game in April.

April 6

This day in sketchtory, the post it note first went on sale.

April 5

This day in sketchtory, Kurt Cobain killed himself. This was, in my opinion, a poor decision.

A fairly interesting conspiracy theory proposed by a private investigator Tom Grant exists, and suggests that Cobain did not in fact kill himself, but instead way murdered. Some aspects of it do actually raise an eyebrow, including the shotgun having no fingerprints on it, a level of heroin in Cobain's bloodstream that would make a person unable to pull a trigger on themselves, and the suicide note showing changing writing patterns and and style. Cobain's lawyer even claimed he was not suicidal and had begun the process to change his will so Courtney Love would be left out, as he was preparing to divorce her. All this leads to a fascinating story, but more than likely, it was as simple as it could be, the dude just killed himself. Which sucks, because he was really good.

April 4

This day in sketchtory, the man who would have been the greatest actor ever, Heath Ledger, was born. I've never seen another actor who gave amazing and completely unique performances every single time out, even if the rest of the movie completely wallowed beneath him.

April 3

This day in sketchtory, the greatest actor of all time, Marlon Brando, was born. No actor has done the quality of work Brando was capable of, especially given such a wide range of characters, and over such a long period. The thing I did not know about him was his tremendous attitude towards helping others, best characterized by his rejecting his Best Actor oscar award for the Godfather, in protest of the injustices towards Native Americans, and even had a real Native give a speech sharing his feelings towards the injustices, as well as the portrayal of Natives in film and television.

April 2

This day in sketchtory, the CN Tower was completed. Construction on the CN Tower began on February 6, 1973 with massive excavations at the tower base for the foundation. By the time the foundation was complete, 56,000 t of dirt and shale were removed to a depth of 15 metres in the centre, and a base incorporating 7,000 cubic metres of concrete with 450 tonnes of rebar and 36 tonnes of steel cable had been built to a thickness of 6.7 metres. This portion of the construction was fairly rapid, with only four months needed between the start and the foundation being ready for construction on top.

To build the main support pillar, a hydraulically-raised slipform was built at the base. This was a fairly impressive engineering feat on its own, consisting of a large metal platform that raised itself on jacks at about 6 metres per day as the concrete below set. Concrete was poured continuously by a team of 1,532 people, during which it had already become the tallest structure in Canada, surpassing the recently built Inco Superstack, which was built using similar methods. In total, the tower contains 40,500 cubic metres of concrete, all of which was mixed on-site in order to ensure batch consistency. Through the pour, the vertical accuracy of the tower was maintained by comparing the slip form's location to massive plumb-bobs hanging from it, observed by small telescopes from the ground.

At the time it was built, it was the tallest freestanding structure in the world. These days, theres a new tallest structure almost every year.

April 1

This day in sketchtory, Apple was founded by the Steves, Jobs and Wozniak.

March 31

This day in sketchtory, in a mashup of two events, both the Eiffel Tower was opened and the Matrix was released in theatres. The structure was built between 1887 and 1889 as the entrance arch for the Exposition Universelle, a World's Fair marking the centennial celebration of the French Revolution. Three hundred workers joined together 18,038 pieces of puddled iron (a very pure form of structural iron), using two and a half million rivets, in a structural design by Maurice Koechlin. The tower was much criticised by the public when it was built, with many calling it an eyesore. Newspapers of the day were filled with angry letters from the arts community of Paris. One is quoted extensively in William Watson's US Government Printing Office publication of 1892 Paris Universal Exposition: Civil Engineering, Public Works, and Architecture: "And during twenty years we shall see, stretching over the entire city, still thrilling with the genius of so many centuries, we shall see stretching out like a black blot the odious shadow of the odious column built up of riveted iron plates."

And on this day in 1997, what I still hold to be the best science fiction movie ever made, The Matrix was released. Often in sci-fi, the technology tends to overshadow the story, or worse, be used in place of a story. It rarely happens, and even less often recently, that a strong story is supported and enhanced by the sci-fi aspect of the film. In other words, the basic concept could exist in real life, but is strengthened and is more interesting with the unique with the futuristic ingredients. What I love about the Matrix is that as shocking as the concept is, as what if out world only exists in our minds, everything that follows it conceptually is completely believable. It combines the elements of human responsibility and respecting our limits of Jurassic Park, with the human resistance of Terminator, with the philosophy of exploitive overseers of Dark City.

March 30

This day in sketchtory, anesthesia was used for the first time, in an operation to remove a tumour. The doctor was Crawford Williamson Long, who After observing the same physiological effects with diethyl ether that Humphry Davy had described for nitrous oxide in 1800, Long used ether for the first time on March 30, 1842 to remove a tumor from the neck of a patient, James M. Venable, in Jefferson, Georgia. Long subsequently removed a second tumor from Venable and used ether as an anesthetic in amputations and childbirth.

The odd thing is that he held on to the knowledge for 7 years before releasing it publicly and obtaining a patent. Its interesting to me that even back in 1842 the medical community was just as selfish and financially driven as it is today. Just recently, a company called KV Pharmaceutical which created a drug called Makena (with public funding), a drug that prevents prenatal births, hiked the price from $5-$15 per injection, to $1500 per injection. They claim that they are simply trying to recoup researching costs, but as its been pointed out, if the currnt rate of use of the drug continued, they would gross over $30 million, more then ten times what the original funding totalled.

Als I'm trying to speed up these sketches, trying to get them out in about 5-10 minutes now unless I have an idea that really strikes me.

March 29

This day in sketchtory, the US withdrew its remaining troops from Vietnam, officially ending the Vietnam war. It was a horrible, deadly, waste of human life, and theres nothing really interesting that would be fun to draw about it, so I went to the world of the Watchmen and pumped this one out in about 5 minutes.

March 28

This day in sketchtory, Lagy Gaga, or Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, turns 25 years old. I don't follow popular music, but it would appear that she has been labelled as this generations Madonna or Michael Jackson, and her image, to me, is one of the complete anti-pop star. She's advertised as a much more artistic, creative, and much more positive as a role model than the average pop star, like Britney Spears or any of the American Idol winners, or any generic boy band. To me, that they have perfectly manufactured and sold that image is the most interesting thing about her. While her songs are indeed catchier than most pop songs, the content and 95% of the performance are identical to every generic artist she is apparently the antithesis of.

The fact that people believe that a tall, impossibly skinny blonde dancing in her underwear and singing songs she didn't write about her relationships is somehow breaking new ground in music amazes me. The theatricality of wearing a meat dress, bubbles or giant spikes on your head strikes me as that kind of art for arts sake kind of thing, with no deeper meaning or purpose beyond making people believe you're weird and creative.

Either that, or they're just trying to distract people from noticing that she looks like Marilyn Manson in a blonde wig.

March 27

This day in sketchtory, Andrew Rankin patented the urinal. "He was not however the actual inventor of the device. No one seems to know its actual origin, but the stories go back all the way to the Roman Empire. There is a story of an unfortunate Roman soldier on his way home after a campaign abroad who stumbled upon a newly built aquifer. This device that brings water from the hills down into Rome was not there when he left for war many many months ago. Upon finding this trough filled with running water he was amazed and delighted, but as anyone knows, the sound of cool running water causes the urge to urinate to increase dramatically. Not knowing that the water was being sent to the cities baths and even to the palace, he though this would be a fine place to relieve this urge. Unfortunately for him, he was spotted by an extremely offended city engineer who had him hauled before the council. This poor Roman soldier was found guilty, castrated, and used as a eunuch slave for the rest of his days. So begins the story of mans desire to pee standing up into a trough of running water, so begins the sordid tale of the urinal." - Normal Chaos Blog

March 26

This day in sketchtory, the UK introduced driving tests for the first time. Previously, all you had to do to be allowed to drive was to purchase a license, and thus, road fatalities were very high (almost 6,000 in 1934). The minister of transportation at the time, who introduced an actual set of driving rules a year earlier, instituted both driving tests and a national speed limit. There was an immediate impact and within a few years the number of deadly accidents was cut almost in half. This would have been cut even further if the test mandate had not been grandfathered in and those who had already purchased licenses were exempt from the test.

March 25

This day in sketchtory, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 10, or Vostok-3KA No.2 in 1961. This was the final test before they would send a man into space for the first time in history later that year in April. Again, the only life form they sent was a dog, and on this mission it was "Zvezdochka" or "Little Star."

Along with dogs they would send a wooden mannequin, always named Ivan Ivanovic, which I learned is the Russian equivalent of John Doe. Ivan was ejected from the capsule, but Little Star made a successful landing. You'd have to imagine a dog would get pretty bored on such a mission, and it must be rough when your only company is a wooden mannequin. Can't play fetch all that well.

March 24

This day in sketchtory, the Exxon Valdez oil tanker crashed in Prince William Sound, Alaska, and spilled between 260,000 and 750,000 barrels of oil into the ocean. There were several identified possible causes, the one I lean towards is "The third mate failed to properly maneuver the vessel, possibly due to fatigue or excessive workload." But I believe that unidentified third mate was actually the captain's kid, on board due to it being "bring your kid to work day."

On the heels of BP essentially getting off scot free after the largest oil spill in human history, I was curious if the treatment of Exxon was any different. The original ruling ordered Exxon to pay $5 billion in punitive damages, which they of course fought and appealed over and over and over and over and over and over until that number was reduced to just over $500 million, or the equivalent to their net profits they would make in roughly 38 days. They fought every political movement to prevent future oil spills. Today their company is worth roughly $400 billion. They pay no federal income tax. What the....

Also, this sketch sucks.

March 23

This day in sketchtory, in 1983, the 40th President of the United States, Ronald Reagan created the "Strategic Defense Initiative," better known as Reagan's "Star Wars" initiative. It's purpose was to use ground and space-based systems to protect the US from attack by strategic nuclear ballistic missiles. What this involved was a variety of methods to destroy Russian nukes on their way to blow up Ron and his buddies, including lasers and mirrors in space.

It wasn't technologically possible at the time, and still might not be, yet the cost of the now mostly defunct program was at least $100 billion. Who can think about health care and unemployment and social security when there are godless commie bastards with their fingers on big red buttons?

And because of Reagan's sons comments in his recent book citing that his father may have had early stages of alzheimer's while in office, I like to believe he was just excited about the release of Return of the Jedi, which was released in theatres just a couple months later in May of 83.

March 22

This day in sketchtory, The Beatles released their debut studio album, "Please, Please Me" in 1963. The album was on top of the UK charts for 30 weeks, only to be knocked off by their second album, "With the Beatles."

So the interesting thing to me about this event is that with their first step into mainstream music, they were an instant success, and were really destined to never turn back. So it made me wonder what they were like as kids, and if pop icons were really their childhood dreams.

Who What When Where Why

The day to day job of working in CG animation does not afford for nearly enough drawing. Planning out a scene with thumbnails here and there are not enough to keep up the talent to draw well and communicate with those drawings. Now that I've discovered this, I've come up with a plan to defeat the inevitable rustiness that was already creeping in (as you can clearly see).

I've decided to take on the task of doing a new sketch every day. I've seen this put into practice often, my favourite example being the books of Chris Ayers' "The Daily Zoo: Keeping the Doctor at Bay with a Drawing a Day." While clearly not having the same motivation as an artist who suffers from cancer, I appreciated the dedication it must have taken. Its a great plan in theory, but there have to be those days in there that you just really don't feel like it. But I don't think my hurdle is the motivation to draw, but rather what to draw. I knew I would need help finding "the thing" to draw each day. I also know I would get bored too easily if I stuck to a limited topic like animals, and I'm not creative enough to invent a new topic every day, especially after a long day of making fairies and unicorns dance around on screen.

So my idea, which has the side benefit of learning attached, is to read through lists of human history from that particular day, and create a sketch out of it. While some very interesting topics have too much detail and backstory to convey in a single quick sketch, I think instead I'll aim to just make the event/person kind of funny, or just have my own take on a particular aspect.

Lets see how long this lasts.