How Do You Solve a Problem Like Sophia?

She is gentle! She is wild! She's a riddle! She's a child!

That's my cousin Sophia, just thinking in the woods, that's all.
Maybe some of you remember the portrait my little cousin drew of me for my brainstorming class last year. If you don't, have a look: Megan and Figaro
That was my first exposure to her artistic genius but thankfully not my last. Her pop, my cousin Peter, emailed some new drawings she did! My cousin Peter Adamson is a philosophy professor in England and editor of The Cambridge Companion to Arabic Philosophy (available on Amazon RIGHT NOW!! Jeez, it's expensive! Maybe they price philosophy books by density.). I know, I've written about him on here before but I just wanted to make it clear: HE'S A BIG NERD. Granted, a big nerd who loves Sly and the Family Stone maybe even more than I do, but a nerd all the same. And while Sophia is a super pretty, ballet-loving little girl, this is what you get when you're dad is a brainiac: Detailed line drawings of philosophers. And not even the cool philosophers. YET, they just happen to be the best things I've seen all year. Enjoy:

Attached are scanned versions of two drawings Sophia did: one is of Barack Obama as a young lad playing baseball, copied from a book about him my parents sent her for her birthday ("A Skinny Kid With a Funny Name" was the chapter title). The other is of course Plato and Aristotle copied from the "School of Athens" by Raphael. Thought you might enjoy them.
Cheerio,
Peter

Let's Get Ready to Rumble and/or Do Nerdy Graphic Design!

Good news people, GOOD NEWS.
But just hold on, there's a few things I'd like to go over before we get on into it.

I've finally had to admit the truth to myself: Figaro is racist against drunk men! I'm so embarrassed. I'm like, Figaro! Some of my closest friends are drunk men!
But I've decided to be pro-active about it and I think Exposure Therapy is the way to go.

In other animal news: As a society, I think we need to make more moves towards cat-proof computers! Because I think my cat Mitsy ordered season 8 of According to Jim... three times! I have over $100 worth of According to Jim episodes: the entirety of season 8, IN THREES. I did not order that isht AND Mitsy is always walking all over my computer, re-naming MP3s and crap (I kept being like, why does Roberta Flack have a song called, "..........................."?).

In world news, we have a sadder story to report: ACCORDING TO JIM HAS BEEN ON TELEVISION FOR AT LEAST EIGHT SEASONS.

Now back to our regularly scheduled program!
Do you remember that time I was taking vector imaging at Miami Ad School and they had a big poster competition? Well... I WON!!!
Your pal Megan Rascal won 1st place! Actually, the judges couldn't decide so I TIED for 1st place. So I guess I won half place? Yay! Half place! I already posted my poster but I thought it would be nice to post the other winner's posters too! Because the assignment kind of turned into fun poster USA! Postpittypostpostposter.

1st, here are the handsome young wrestling-geek judges I mentioned:

Yes, two wonderful specimens of handsome young geekness. And they liked Figgy. But it's strictly ladies for Fig! (Square)

Now for the talent!:

For the honor of Honorable Mention we have...
Our own Scottish siren, Pauline with The Ultimate Warrior!

Congratulations Pauline! I think I have a new insight into your brain, looks like it's standing room only.

Holding it down at 3rd place, we have one of Figaro's best friends and New Jersey native, Tif Slama with Junk Yard Dog!

Way to go, Tif! Biblical. It turns out Junkyard Dog is my brother's favorite wrestler. It also turns out that my brother has a favorite wrestler.

Weighing in at 2nd place, all the way from China, we have Mesu with Yokozuna!

Yay Mesu! I'm buying what you're selling, lady.

Last but not least, I'm happy to present our Half Place Winner...
Daryl with Terry Funk!!!!!!

Hurray for Daryl!

Daryl is a girl, not a boy, and she has her own blogspot blog: http://daryl-and-the-city.blogspot.com which is very nice but more importantly, she has a nice little adopted dog too! Dallas. She's also a girl. Fig likes her. But he's keeping his options open.

Yay for the poster contest! I will be receiving my prize this Thursday at the Miami Ad School end of quarter party, which also happens to be the west coast debut of DJ My Lil' Pony! That's right kiddies, I will be spinning at the party with a few dudes. HOLLER!

Now just for fun, here are two other posters that did not place but I think both the chicks that made them are super hot and posting their wrestler posters was another reason to talk to them:
Here is my dear friend, San Francisco's Swedish sensation, Johanna with Andre the Giant!:


And finally, here is Turkish tornado Asli's poster for The Million Dollar Man!:


Yay for hot chicks who make posters! For real though because some of my best friends are hot chicks who make posters.

Getting Deader All the Time... Hey-oh!

Ladies and gentlemen!¹ I invite you to come closer and view... THE DEADMAN!:


Step right up folks! He won't bite! Though I know the amazing illustrative detail makes him look eerily real. Mwah hahahaaa! Don't worry, guys! It's just a picture!

That poster is the culmination of my vector imaging class. Yes all us students were assigned an iconic wrestling character to make a superfantastic poster for. This is mine! My dude was The Undertaker and I think... mine was the best guy. He even has a sidekick who has film noir written all over him in white face paint and black mustache wax:

That's Paul Bearer. I think he looks like Poirot² crossed with Mr. Bean, no?:

Him and The Undertaker may be on the outs nowadays, I'm not sure. It goes back and forth (you know how men are). But! Anyway! It's a CONTEST! Somebody in class is going to be...the winner! Some of the other kids' posters were pretty ok I guess. I put a lot of time into trying to intimidate the other kids all week--get their spirits down, trip them up--so I can win! But as of tonight, my friends, dishes are done. Both classes presented their posters to a panel of handsome young wrestling-geek judges and now all we can do is wait. And wait we will!

My poster was super hard and took super forever but I am awesome and that's the kind of stuff I do on the regular. I did find out though from one of my vector imaging teachers (Cerra, with a C. Not the one with the Decent t-shirt. I think she may have traded hers in for patience (she's superhumanly nice)) that they read my old post where I call vector imaging a filler class (just for copywriters mind you!) and it hurt their feelings! So I just want to go on record as saying it's definitely totally most certainly probably not a filler class. Actually, my vector imaging assignments were my favorite and the only ones I could focus on without my ADD medication.³ Oh! And my class was mostly all copywriters, right? Because all the art directors took it last quarter, right? Well guess what! I don't know who taught the art directors vector imaging but they don't know jack! They keep being all impressed by us copywriters' illustrator skills. I'm telling you!! They can't even make a straight line!! I am not joking with you!! I saw someone show them how to make a straight line by holding shift down and they were like, "ooooooo! ahhhhh!" like you just broke them off with some Aramaic. We learned that isht like day one. Those wacky art directors! (Speaking of which, I think I've fallen in art director/copywriter love! Her name is Brittany and she's from Kentucky... just like baseball bats and my favorite belt! Coincidence?)

Sigh. If only I could find a career where I draw dinosaurs and burly men for a living! I mean, I bet I could make some money having sex with dinosaurs and burly men but that's more of a rainy-day career idea. Oh! Another thing I learned this quarter, I love being in art classes with all copywriters because I DOMINATE. BOOYAH.

¹I'm all about footnotes nowadays.
²Check it out! They found some unpublished Poirot stories in Agatha Christie's old stuff! NYT: Poirot is Back I tell ya--dead people! What a wacky bowl of surprises they always are.
³Just to clarify, I ran out of my adderall a few months ago but I've been experimenting and I've come up with a pretty successful little cocktail I like to call, "Diet coke and Nerds." That's what I mean when I say ADD meds.

Dolphin Tavern Book Projizzle

This is way late on my part, but my pal Allison Harris was featured on Philly radio station WXPN back in February! (Look, I'm sorry. February is a very busy month for me! I mean it's my birthday month! I mean like the whole world is all, "Happy birthday, Megan" and "We love you so much" and "you're so amazingly awesome!" and "how can I be like you because you're the coolest person in the world?" and crap, there's LOTS I have to do. Exhausting.)

Allison, along with Amy Hirsch and Julia Gaylord (I know! Talk about a winning trifecta!), have been working on this precious book for a while now... and boy are my arms tired! Sike, I didn't do anything but really, I'm excited! I CAN'T wait! And then Allison was actually awarded a grant last year from Leeway Foundation because of how awesome she is. Here's their blurb about the book:

Allison will spearhead The Dolphin Tavern Book Project, a multi-media collaborative work of fiction, illustration, photography, and painting, compiled into a new style of literature. The project's narrative follows the life of three young women in Philadelphia as they confront issues of sexuality, race, violence, mental health, identity, and friendship before the backdrop of a city in the midst of gentrification. The narrative style of the project will be emotional and non-linear, supported by visual art meant to evoke the essence of the city.

And then on Feb. 16th they featured all the Leeway Foundation award winners on Live at the Writers House on WXPN!:

Feb. 16th program

And then here's the sound clips:
Allison's Intro
Allison's Reading

Ohhh that's nice. Listen to the reading, Allison is QUITE the reader! And I've seen[heard] reading, let me tell you. Oy! Once I saw Harold Bloom read at the library of congress... BORING! Except he called all young men, "Dear" which I loved; "Can I have a glass of water, dear? Oh thank you, dear." Young men who bring Harold Bloom water are dear.

First Things First

First order of business: I love snails!

There's all these cute snails in the backyard of my building and I love them so much! Why are they so much cuter than slugs? It's because they carry their house on their back? I do not know why exactly but they are so cute. I thought these kinds of snails only existed in storybooks!

For your viewing pleasure I present, Snails: an iphone Montage










YAY SNAILS!

Second order of business, Lizzy Berryman is a famous photographer!

Yes Philadelphia's own Lizzy Berryman racked up many a photo credit on NewsHour's website coverage of D.C.'s participation in Bike to Work Day. Check it out:
Bike to Work 2009
(non-flash version)(<--for old people)

At my school there were posters for Bike to School day but I myself didn't participate... because I WALK to school! So I felt like I didn't have to go buy a bike just so I could be a part of the In crowd. I don't need them! I have my snails and my television stories.

*Update!*
While the coverage of Bike to Work Day in DC was great, Lizzy totally missed Bike to Work Day in Atlanta! Luckily, T.I. was there to rally the troops:

T-Shirts here, get yer T-shirts!

Here are the t-shirts I made for vector imaging class! Hot off the presses (virtually)! Yes, ladies and gentleman, you can wear a Megan Rascal original! I'll even sign it if we run into each other and either of us has a marker.

And now available in kids' sizes!!!

*Update!*

Now you can get your owl on canvas or as a poster! You're welcome.

It's Like I Always Say: Life's a Hassle, etc.

Mama's day got me thinking of lil' Megan Rascal. What a handful! Except I could feed myself and entertain myself and... jeez, what were they complaining about? I was a breeze! Oh, I believe I remember being called "sharp-tongued." Big deal. Anyway, this is me as a little kid! [except for the ending, that part never happened, the caring part]: