Time Bandits... It's like Little People Big World, but with 67% more time travel.

Perhaps Terry Gilliam's greatest movie (second only to Brazil) Time Bandits is a much watch for anyone who loves midgets, time travel or Sean Connery fighting Minotaurs (well just one minotaur really). It's like being on acid while being accompanied by the guy who was inside R2D2. This has to be one of the greatest movies about a boy who is taken by midgets and travel through time as they steal from various historical figures. You have to wonder where Terry Gilliam would come up with the concept for time travelling midgets who get into a labour dispute with essentially God over repairs to the Space/Time continuum. Oh also great cameos by some of Gilliam's old Monty Python buddies cement this movie awesome pure awesome.
Through out you can't help feel sorry for the Kevin (the little boy protagonist) as he tries to find a father figure to latch onto. And thats the thing about Time Bandits it really is a journey about a boy trying to find a place in his family. He can't seem to connect to his parents so he goes searching for a substitute. Instead Kevin finds that his parents are really the only ones he has and he loves them, regardless of how detached they may be at times. And like any good journey it culminates with... well... I won't spoil it but damn if its not one of the saddest endings to a movie ever. Its like someone kicking you in the stomach while having a dvd of Schindlers List taped to their foot.
Definitely a buy if you can find it on DVD. It's like $30 on amazon.ca so someday I'll break down and replace my old worn VHS copy. You can also watch it on youtube. That is if you want to squint at the really small video.

I give this 5 Kenny Bakers out of 5.

Hope Sandoval Was Cute 15 Years Ago...

Now most of you out there probably don't know who Hope Sandoval is, but she was the lead singer of a band called Mazzy Star about 15 years ago. This is during the days of Pearl Jam and plaid shirts tied at the waist and Matthew Fox when he had a mullet on Party of Five. At this point I was 13 and wouldn't start appreciating good music for at least another year (despite the best efforts of my brother and sister). Now as I'm older and realized what I missed I also missed the hot days of Hope Sandoval. I have no idea what Hope looks like now. For all I know she may be just as hot, but there is something very appealing about the early 90's grunge chick. The short floral print dress, the combat boots, and the downward stare broken only by the occasional need to shake a tamborine. Ahhhh to be 13 again.

Animated gif of the day/week... whatever I feel like... 10/04/2008

I just wonder where lighting your crotch on fire was a good idea? Really?
Whats awesome about this is his buddies use this as an excuse to kick the hell out of his junk. Now thats whate friends are for.

How Do I Shot Comic? (I know its a crappy title. It's late. Sue me.)

So for a long time I've been working on a comic called Loche. It's been like 10 years since I started working on it. Over time the stories changed, evolved. Characters were added, some were written out. And the biggest change is the format of the book. Initially the book was going to be a monthly series with a 22 to 24 page format, the traditional "floppy" format that is the standard of mainstream comics. While this works for Marvel and DC being big corporate entities it doesn't necessarily work for a pov-ass independant creator like me. So now the book will be published (when its finished) in a graphic novel form, measuring in at around 150 pages. The book will be backed up with supplemental material online. Sort of like the backmatter in Watchmen or League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (not that I'm comparing myself to Alan Moore) the stuff you'll find on the site will be short 6 to 8 page comics, character bios, the back history of some of the settings and events. It seems that nowadays the resources that a creator has available is kind of underutilized. A story can be told in much larger "brushstrokes" than a 22 page serialized story. Now that being said, with the change from a floppy format to a OGN format I'm not going to being using a bunch of covers. Which kind of sucks... cause coming up with a strong cover is a hard thing to do. Some artists are fantastic cover artists: Neal Adams, Jack Kirby, Will Eisner are pretty obvious then there are some contemporary artists like Frank Cho, Alex Maleev, Marko Djurevic, all come up with fantastic and compelling covers. I would kill for the ability to create some of the iconic images some artists can come up with.
Well anyways here are some covers that aren't going to be used. They're all unfinished. Which seems to be a running theme in my work.
Anyway. Enjoy. Hope you dig 'em. And keep checking in for more stuff about Loche.

(Oh needless to say... Loche and subsequent characters and stories as well as the images posted on this blog are copyright Nick Ardill, 2008. Like anyones gonna steal it but I gotta cover my ass.)

Animated gif of the day/week... whatever I feel like... 10/01/2008

That's gotta hoit! One of the Mythbusters takes it right on the punnam. I'll give him this, he took it like a man. If I knew that a huge ass slap in the face was coming I'd probably be flinching at the slightest sound I heard. If that makes me a pussy... then I guess I'm a pussy.

A Mouse, A Vampire, And A Kid With A Board Walk Into A Bar...

Okay some random stuff. Some of its old, some new-ish.


The first is me just playing with my tablet after reading the fantastic Mouse Guard mini-series (Which I can't recommend enough). I need to get around to finishing this piece. You'll find that a lot with my work. It's bad I know. I'll start something then lose interest and start something else. I gotta learn a little more discipline.


This here is a rough cover idea for a book I was going to work on for a really nice guy named Travis Bierwagen. I couldn't continue working on the project with Travis unfortunately. But of all the stuff I did for the book I loved this one the most. I was definitely channeling Mignola at the time.

And lastly a doodle of a character from one of the greatest PS2 games: ICO.
Go find a copy if you can. The biggest mistake I ever did was not keeping mine when I sold my PS2. Of course I didn't know I was getting a PS3 6 months later.

Animated Gif of the day/week... whenever I feel like it. 09/30/2008

BEWARE THE POWER OF JOEY LAWRENCE!!!

Animated gif of the day/week... whatever I feel like... 09/29/2008

What does this tell you?

Thats right. That we should all watch The Price Is Right more often. Man she's looks happy to be up there. And you just KNOW Drew Carey is happy too.

An EXTREME Failure?

So... It's been an incredibly long time since I posted. (Does anybody actually read this?) And its pretty apparent that I didn't manage to review an issue of Ultimate Spider-Man a day. So I'm starting fresh with the blog. I'm gonna still review comics, movies, music when my life allows. (course one would wonder where I get off reviewing anything but hey... it's the Internet and everyone posts their opinion whether the world likes it or not.)


On top of reviews of various stuff that tickles my fancy I will also be posting some art of mine. I want to make this a regular thing which hopefully will kick me into gear and get me back drawing on a regular basis. Now whether this will work or not, I have no freakin' clue. (cause the second attempt at daily Ultimate Spidey reviews worked so well.)


So hopefully if anyone stumbles on this they'll enjoy. If not... well... I'm a loser.