BREAKING NEWS!
India won the World cup Semi-finals against Pakistan. Sachin couldn’t make his 100th 100s but he helped the team win 🙂 by contributing 85 runs of 115 balls.
Presenting…
Sachin Tendulkar – The Man of the Match
Turned Lucky 4 times!
Waiting for Sachin’s 100th 100, which may yet happen…in the finals…in Mumbai! Good Night:)
Update: Oh…and if India wins the World Cup…You might want to buy anti-glare glasses. You know why? Find the answer here.
The Doctor says that I should be fine after the World Cup Semi-final between India and Pakistan at Mohali, ends.
I disagree.
I’ll be fine if India wins the Semi-final!
See you after the match. Hope that Sachin makes his 100th 100 and India wins the match!
On September 03 1965, Charlie Sheen was born in New York. He is a well-known TV Actor, who has also acted in many Hollywood Movies including the two “Hot Shots” flicks. I make a specific mention of the Hot Shots Movies because recently he’s been acting quite like Topper, the character he played in these movies – and this is how I chose to draw him in this caricature. As the Rambo-lookalike who could empty ten rounds into his own chest, and still walk away!
I am Biwinning. I win here. I win there. … Oops!
If you don’t know what I am talking about, you haven’t been following his rise and fall (and impending rise) in Two and a Half Men, America’s most popular Television serial.
Let me begin by telling you what happened.
Simply speaking, success went to Charlie’s head and filled his head up with gallons of hot air. Charlie began to feel the pressure and the heat and the computer of his mind began to throw error-messages (yep! Just the way it happens in Microsoft’s Windows.) All was well, and the people who he insulted didn’t actually mind a lot because Charlie was hot property. Everyone attributed his behavior to his many addictions and their after-effects. Then they could take it no more. Charlie’s rants about Chuck Lorre on a radio program hosted by Alex Jones, led Warner Bros. (the producers of the show) to fire him. Obviously, the “Winner” in Charlie was not going to take it lying down and so he turned around and slapped a USD 100 Million lawsuit on the producers. Now? Well. Wait and Watch! Remember Charlie Sheen wins here and he wins there!
Some of you must be wondering who this guy is, and why should he be found on my blog. (Check out my bloated head too.)
Here’s some information that’ll help you mingle with the elite.
Charlie Sheen is known for his exceptional acting talent. He is a man who’s got everything and who doesn’t know what he’s supposed to do with it.
He is an addict! Addicted to what, you may ask.
Charlie’s first three addictions are well-known – the last addiction isn’t generally talked about. Charlie is addicted to youth. When he was a child, he was blessed with eternal youth, or so he was told. When he grew up, he thought that he was going to be forever young, and so he wasted his youth chasing women of loose morals in his inebriated, drugged state. When he realized the truth, it was too late…and this made him really-charlie angry.
So now you know Charlie…right?
Let’s now talk about his personal and professional lives, which are intricately inter-woven.
It’s currently in ruins. As recently as in the beginning of March he was living with a porn-movie actress and a graphic designer…at the same time (Reminds you of those Roman Orgies, doesn’t it?) – after his third wife Denise Richards divorced him. He also has five children. Sheen is known for abusing women including his wives. He once shot his girlfriend in her arm, after which she dumped him. It goes to prove that Sheen prefers to date women who are smarter than him. He’s been an esteemed client of Madame Heidi Feiss‘s fine establishment, which is considered to be America’s best Escort Agency.
Other than his near-obsession with women and sex, he is also known for drug and alcohol abuse. Not that the man didn’t try to give it up – he did. For one whole year, he stayed clean, and then he threw a party! Well…you can guess what happened next.
He began his career as a movie actor in 1984. His career didn’t take off as well as he’d have expected but he kept on getting good roles especially in comedy movies. In 2000, Charlie rebooted his career with Television. He appeared in a sitcom called “Spin City” and he even won awards for his performance. In 2003, his career swung upwards as he appeared in the character of Charlie Harper (who’s quite like Charlie Sheen himself), in Two and a Half Men. Once again Charlie won many awards for his performance. Before he was given the boot, Charlie was earning $1.25 million per episode, which made him the highest paid TV actor ever. Believe it or not, before everything fell apart for him, Charlie asked for USD 3 Million per episode for Two and a Half Men, but his demand was refused.
It doesn’t surprise me in the least that Charlie also became the fastest tweeter to reach 1 Million followers. Follow him on Twitter here.
Hi bio on Twitter reads, “Born Small… Now Huge… Winning… Bring it..! (unemployed winner…)”
(the first one says it all.)
(Now here’s what the last quote sounds like when kids act out Charlie Sheen.)
Sherlock Holmes, the character was born in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle‘s imagination. ACD was a Scottish author and doctor. The world first made acquaintance with Mr. Sherlock Holmes in Doyle’s first story, “A Study in Scarlet.” Sherlock Holmes was actively solving crimes in London, from 1880 to 1914.
Here’s the caricature of Sidney Paget‘s rendition of Arthur Conan Doyle’s hero, Sherlock Holmes.
You, Sir, have been scampering through the drains of London. You have arrived at 221B Baker Street by climbing through the window of Watson’s bathroom. You are here to consult me on a matter that concerns you deeply.
He was born on January 06, 1854 (the date and the year of his birth have been distilled from different stories.) This makes Holmes a Capricorn, and from whatever I’ve gathered of sun-signs, his personality seems to match the stereotypical Capricorn. Thus, it’s rather obvious that Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock’s literal father, was deeply influenced by Linda Goodman who was born in 1925. It’s once again obvious from this, that Doyle knew how to travel through time and this is how he could meet Ms. Goodman…(or is my reasoning fallacious, Mr. ‘Olmes?)
Did Sherlock Holmes have a family?
Well. Mr. Doyle refrained from staining the personality of his objective, no-nonsense hero by talking about his family. Whether or not he had parents can’t be deduced from the stories (so we’ve got to go by our good old common-sense) but that he had a brother is evident. His brother Mycroft Holmes, according to Sherlock, was equally gifted but he didn’t bother honing his skills up. If he had bothered, we would’ve read Mycroft Holmes mysteries instead.
Did Sherlock Holmes ever fall in love?
He probably did, with Irene Adler, “the woman” who managed to outsmart our detective genius. Otherwise, Sherlock Holmes was interested in women only when they brought him his cases. 100 years on…does it tell us that Holmes was gay?
Quoting myself…
I’ve begun to believe that if a perfectly normal person visited a psychologist, he’d come off that couch believing he had at least three major and one minor psychological ailment. Look around. Everyone gets depressed once in a while and the durations vary.
One of my aunts would get very-very angry, throw things around, and then shut herself up in her room shunning food for the entire day, until everyone grew concerned and until she had everybody’s attention. Then she would be the happiest person in the whole house. In those days, you’d call such people temperamental and let them be themselves. The lady spent a perfectly normal life, reared a son, became a grand-mother, and she now continues to harass her grand-daughter-in-laws(?) She’s 82 now, quite healthy, and would live for another 10 years! Her cool-headed practical husband, on the other hand, left for his other-worldly abode twenty years ago! Had she been taken to a psychologist, she’d be diagnosed with some or the other disorder, and she’d possibly have preceded her husband to that other world, worrying why the heck wasn’t she born normal!
But I stray from the point.
The psychologists weren’t happy analyzing and branding real people, and so they decided to determine what was wrong with Sherlock Holmes. Something has to be wrong with everyone whose a celebrity…right? I mean what could be a better way to belittle their achievements? Check out the list of celebs with syndromes here. It makes me wonder whether to become a celebrity you need to buy yourself a syndrome.
So here’s what Holmes was diagnosed with:
Quoting from Wikipedia:
Holmes may have Asperger’s syndrome based on his intense attention to details, lack of interest in friends or a social life and tendency to speak in long monologues.
(I think that I have Asperger’s too… and all this while I thought it was so because I was an introvert! Poor me…never knowing…struggling through my miserable life without knowing what actually is wrong with me!) Also note that “a severe family trauma” could be the reason why he never trusted women. If only Holmes were real…and could defend himself.
If I asked you to tell me whether Sherlock Holmes had a nose that was a) spherical b)Hawk-like c)Bulbous d)Snub, then chances are good that you’ll select (b) as the correct option. We have Sidney Paget to thank for visualizing and drawing Sherlock Holmes with such consistency that even photography may fail to achieve. The image that I always carry in my head is not the one that is seen in the Sherlock Holmes movies or TV Shows, but those that are there on the pages of that hefty volume, which despite many readings, remains one of my favorite books!
My caricature of Mr. Holmes takes after Sidney Paget’s visualization.
View the Original Holmes Drawings here.
Dr. Watson was Holmes’ flat-mate and friend, and he was the one who compiled and narrated his adventures. However, Holmes believed that Watson were a romantic and so he embellished the truth thus reducing its objectivity. In the stories that involve young and pretty women, Watson could be seen commiserating with them and speaking to them tenderly, much to the chagrin of Mr. Ever-grumpy Holmes.
Arthur Conan Doyle wrote 4 novels and 56 stories around Sherlock Holmes.
The novels are as follows:
* A Study in Scarlet – the first work in which Holmes appeared – it was published in 1887
* The Sign of the Four – 1890
* The Hound of the Baskervilles – published as a serial in 1901-02
* The Valley of Fear – published as a serial in 1914-15
(Source: Wikipedia)
It’s said that Doyle created Professor Moriarty so that he could “kill” Holmes (possibly because he wanted to write something different.) He is considered (by Holmes himself) a man his equal in mind, yet someone who had turned his phenomenal powers towards evil. In the Final Solution, Holmes and Moriarty both die, yet the public forced Doyle to bring him back, which he did through the Hounds of Baskervilles set in an earlier time. The public still wasn’t happy – they wanted Holmes to be alive and well. Finally Doyle gave in and Holmes was resurrected. Moriarity had exceptional mathematical abilities…imagine that!
Other Characters in the Sherlock Holmes Mysteries:
The Books by Arthur Conan Doyle are now in the Public Domain. You can download them from the Project Gutenberg site here.
And…if you are wondering who are the actors who’ve played the part of Sherlock Holmes in TV serials and movies…find your list here.
If you like dogs…
Ah well! That’s not the right way to begin. Let me try again.
If you like truthful dogs who don’t like to mince words…you’ll like Karma. I do:)
Here’s his pet peeve # 36!
Damn! I've got to undo what they've done!
Find Karma at the WiseK9’s blog here.
On the caricatures front, Mr. Holmes will find his way to this blog soon. I’ve also invited Charlie Sheen over and I can hear the sound of “winning” in the distance…he too should be here shortly.
This is a question that will result in a different answer each time someone tried to answer it – and this itself is one the core characteristics of art.
My Definition of Art would be:
Art is an expression of the creator’s imagination, presented through a form that generates an emotional or cognitive value for people by opening itself to multiple interpretations.
Let me explain this definition.
Art is an expression: Art has to be expressed in some form. An idea in the head of the artist isn’t art – to be considered as art it needs to be expressed in a form that allows it to reach people. The form could be visual, written, or even performed.
…of the creator’s imagination: The expression should involve imagination. (View Salvador Dali’s Gallery here.) The imagination component would manifest itself in the selection of colors, the composition of an artwork, the sequencing and presentation of content, or even the moves of a dancer.
…presented through a form that generates an emotional or cognitive value for people: Art has to be presented through a form that generates value for people, or it isn’t art. An expression of imagination that revolts people can’t be called art – unless the revulsion is interpreted as value by someone…then for that person, it could be art. (Read about “Artist’s Shit” by Piero Manzoni here.) Something that generates absolutely no emotional or cognitive response too can’t be called art.
…by opening itself to multiple interpretations: Art leads to multiple interpretations. Something that is interpreted in exactly the same way by everyone isn’t art. It may have a lot of functional utility though, for instance, the letters of the alphabet or the numbers 0 to 9 have their unique interpretations, and they don’t qualify as art.
However, if someone takes one of these numbers (or all these numbers) and expresses it in a manner that the expression generates an emotive or cognitive response from people and results in a personal interpretation for everyone…then the expression would qualify as art. (Refer to Robert Indiana’s Works.)
Note that I don’t speak of good art, bad art, or even popular art here. I am merely trying to define art by stringing all its components logically.
Let me now review Mona Lisa, the most famous “artwork” in history, against this definition.
Mona Lisa is an expression of Leonardo da Vinci’s imagination (note that though it’s a portrait – yet it goes beyond just a photographic depiction), presented through a form that generates an emotional or cognitive value for people (through the form and content of the painting,) for people by opening itself to multiple interpretations. (The curiosity that Monalisa arouses through her mysterious expression, her almost androgynous face, her clothes, her lack of jewelery, and even her background – leads a viewer to his/her own interpretation of the painting, which in fact is the emotional/cognitive value.)
Find more definitions of art at the following links:
Well…
that was an academic-looking post, wasn’t it?
Await the next installment, “Definition of Art…The Practical Standpoint!” for a more humorous take 🙂 – Published:) Read “Definition of Art…The Practical Standpoint” here.
Neo has finally hacked into the Caricature Matrix!
In this Caricature Matrix, everyone sees everyone else as a caricature of his real-self…and this is also true for Neo a.k.a Keanu Reeves, who appears here in his caricature avatar!
I’ll be truthful. I didn’t know anything about this gentleman until I watched The Matrix, then The Matrix Reloaded, and then The Matrix Revolutions! Even then, I knew him only as Neo the hacker, who asked the multi-million Dollar question – What is the Matrix? He was this tall, slim, rubberband of a man who wore dark glasses and was never sure of his own potential, which everyone else happened to know about! I found Morpheous (played by Lawrence Fishburne) a far more interesting character…all Neo made me wonder through out the trilogy was why the heck was he interested in that emaciated, vertically stretched, Na’vi-like woman called Trinity, who wore shiny black body paint?
I must’ve seen him in a couple of other movies…but I didn’t give him more than a passing thought…and even that passing thought was – why does he have those oriental eyes on an extra long non-oriental face?
But I gradually began to realize that Keanu Reeves is a popular star…and he rules many hearts, including the one that belongs to our dear Barb.
So…ladies, gentlemen, and everyone else,
Please welcome the Caricature of Keanu Reeves to this blog!
Mysterious Keanu Reeves
Keanu was born in Beirut, Lebanon, on September 02, 1964. His passion for stage an acting came from his mother and his oriental eyes from his father who had among his ancestors, a Chinese. His father abandoned his mother when Keanu was 3, and so he never had anything to do with his father. His mother moved from husband to husband, until she married the fourth time, broke up and decided to call it quits. Since Keanu’s mom moved to Canada after her second marriage, he spent most of his childhood there.
Keanu wasn’t great at studies. His lack of interest in studies is said to be because of dyslexia. (According to this page here many famous people suffer from dyslexia, and the list includes “Whoopi Goldberg, Keira Knightley, Susan Hampshire, Orlando Bloom, Keanu Reeves, Richard Branson, Henry Winkler, Patrick Dempsey and Tom Cruise“!)
A comment made to this post made me research some more. Some experts believe that Keanu might have the Asperger Syndrome, which is characterized (among other things) by difficulty in maintaining meaningful social relationships and a quirky behavior. I guess Asperger’s might be a lot more common than what the experts believe!
Keanu Reeves journey to stardom began with a movie about hockey (Keanu used to love playing hocky,) which was shot in Canada. Next he was seen in the movie, River’s Edge. His performance in this movie received critical acclaim but what truly established him in Hollywood was his role of Ted in the movie, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, a movie based on Time Travel.The next four years were a quiet time in which Reeves took more sophisticated roles. In 1994, he made an impact with Speed. The next few years were a low time for him, until the release of Matrix in 1999.
Reeves’ Charisma is often attributed to the air of mystery that surrounds him.
In his own words, “I’m Mickey Mouse. They don’t know who’s inside the suit.”
I think that this sums up his journey rather well…For his first movie “Young Blood” he was paid USD 3000. For Matrix Revolutions he was paid USD 15 Million and 15% of the Gross!
Read about the Photoshop Meme (and watch its video too), which shows a sad looking Keanu sitting on a bench, here.
Could it be that he is immortal? Here’s why some people think that Keanu Reeves is immortal!
They say he never married – they say he got married. Only Barb can tell.
He neither accepts nor denies it, so…is Keanu Reeves gay?
Well…Keanu’s sort of left-handed, but he plays bass (for a band called Dogstar) with his right hand. Guess that makes him an ambidextrous or…a freak?
Are you Keanu-krazy? If you are, and if you liked Keanu’s caricature on this page, you should visit Barbara G. Tarn’s Website at: CreativeBarbwire.wordpress.com. Check out her Portraits of Keanu Reeves in her book, “Keanu Portraits 2001-2009” 🙂
As always…thanks to Wikipedia and IMDb for being such fantastic resources of information.
Blogging has been an interesting learning experience for me. Among other things, it has made me reflect upon Art. Recently, I found myself following a discussion on creativity and art, and it made me question whether creativity equaled art, and if it didn’t then what was that “extra” that transformed creativity into art. Being a net-convert, I went browsing for a satisfactory definition of art…and found nothing. I am sure that in one of those hardcover-bound formidable looking books, there would be a brutally frank definition, yet it hasn’t made its way to the web yet…or…it hasn’t caught Google’s attention.
So I sat down to write a definition of my own, which I shall shortly present to you in another post. It might appeal to some of you, but if you are someone who prefers to ignore the influence of masses on your life, it may not.
Now, let’s turn our attention to the more mundane and down-to-earth matters.
(I’ll be updating this post as and when the caricatures make it here.)
Here’s a list of caricatures that will appear on this blog, this month 🙂
Who are they?
and
Who would you like to see first?
Let me assure you that I am alive and well, yet on earth, and still drawing without rhyme or reason (whatever the heck that means.)
Coming up shortly is the caricature of someone for dear Barb…an artist, a writer, and yet someone who lives life on her own terms – A beautiful study of tightly packed contradictions:)
If you know Barb, you know who’s going to grace my blog next:)
See you soon, then:)
I see that the blog has been as active as ever and that the caricatures have been doing their bit to keep this place busy. Thank you my Dear Caricatures. My special thanks to:
This morning, I found myself bobbing up and down in the swimming pool of Hyatt Regency. I was semi-conscious and dressed in what can best be described an aquatic gear. But what the staff at the hotel truly found surprising was that I had sprouted fins and gills. I guess it comes from spending the last two weeks in the City of Atlantis. The fins and the gills are gradually reducing in size…even the webs that had grown between my fingers are shrinking! This means that I should be able to draw more caricatures soon!
More later…I am still not able to breathe properly in dry air, I need to dunk my head in a water jar to get my oxygen…
See you soon:)
Writer ~ Artist ~ Storyteller
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