Do you like comic books? Are you a fan of campy sci-fi stories? Comedies? Romances? Enjoy live performances of any kind? In need of a chuckle or outright guffaw? An escape from reality? Then you need to see The Intergalactic Nemesis. I could probably sit here and think of a few hundred other reasons to go see the show, but we’d be here all night. Let’s just say I think everyone –of all ages and persuasions– should see it. It’s a delightfully fun example of an old-style radio play, only better, because the audience gets to enjoy the frantic excitement of the “behind the scenes” action and get incredible comic book graphics as well. There’s really something for everyone!^†

I first heard about The Intergalactic Nemesis a week ago, and I knew immediately I wanted to go see it. Alas, Labor Day weekend is a busy weekend, and there was no way, with shows only on Friday and Saturday, my seeing it was in the cards. I was, in fact, quite heartbroken about missing it. As fate would have it, on the day I was busily insane pulling together all the bits and pieces of my artwork and trying to write an artist’s statement, as well as a million other things, the opportunity arose to watch the dress rehearsal. It was like the universe was giving me a present. I jumped at the chance.^††

1250 excellent panes of comic book art projected on a big screen, three actors playing dozens of characters (occasionally all at the same time), one foley artist creating the environmental sounds with a table full of mad devices and objects, and one pianist (the score composer himself) playing the mood-setting tunes … all rolled together into one incredible, action-packed, fun-filled performance at one of the best venues in town.

The premise for The Intergalactic Nemesis is a period-action-scifi-horror-space-opera-adventure. The year is 1933. The Pulitzer-winning reporter Molly Sloan and her intrepid assistant Timmy Mendez have stumbled across a series of murders foiled by a mysterious librarian from Flagstaff named Ben Wilcott. Together, the three heroes trek across Europe, North Africa, and beyond to thwart world-famous mesmerist Mysterion the Magnificent and what turns out to be an invasion of sludge-monsters from the planet Zygon.

How can you not be intrigued? Watch the 30-second trailer to get a taste of the art, music, sound effects, and character voices … keeping in mind, it’s all created by five people on a stage.

Don’t believe me about only five people? Still not intrigued? Then watch this somewhat longer clip from a live performance of Episode One.

If that doesn’t stimulate your curiosity and interest, I suspect it’s possible you are a sludge-loving Zygonian or an evil mesmerist!

But seriously … the artwork by Tim Doyle is dashingly energetic, the character-acting of Shana Merlin, Mical Trejo, and Chris Gibson is emotively captivating, the foley effects of Buzz Moran are frantically (and realistically) fascinating, and the music of Graham Reynolds is the eerily enticing icing on the whole tasty cake. I promise, you will eat it up one comic book pane, character change, musical bullet point and “Zing! Ping! Pow! Snap!” at a time and love every minute of it!^†††

Also, major kudos to Jason Neulander, the producer, director, and author of the original script (i.e. the comic books, which you may have noticed I now own … autographed and everything –a fact that makes my geeky, nerdy heart fill with joy) for pulling it all together into one absolutely fabulous show. Well done! Bravo!

Here’s the information you need so you too can be amazed, thrilled, and amused by The Intergalactic Nemesis:

WHO: The Intergalactic Nemesis Presents
WHAT: Feature-Length Live-Action Graphic Novel Spectacular
WHEN: September 3 and 4 at 8 p.m.
WHERE: the Long Center for the Performing Arts (701 W. Riverside Drive, Austin, TX)
TICKETS: $14.00 to $49.00

I can’t imagine anyone regretting seeing it, and I’d even go so far as to suggest splurging on some good seats. Not too close, because the images are quite large, and you do want to see them, but not too far away that you can’t relish the performance happening on the stage. Though I don’t really think there will be a bad seat in the house for this sort of show, but you know I do like to watch performers perform up close and personal, so I’m biased toward being nearer the stage rather than farther away. Your preferences may vary!

And … support the arts … buy something. There are a number of interesting and fun Intergalactic Nemesis related things to be bought, and I’m certain you can find something you’ll want, even if it’s just a bottle of slime. Like a wicked cool electronic sound effects gadget I would have loved to have, had my inner child not been demanding the comic book set with every cell of her being. LOL!

Now I really, really have to go to bed. OMG, I am going to pay for this tomorrow while trying to get ten million things done in the shortest amount of time possible. Ugh.

1. † What? You don’t know what a radio play is? Then you definitely need to see it! [↩]
2. †† Sure, I am more tired than I have been in a long time, and I have ten million things that have to be done by Friday, but hey, some opportunities only come along once. Better grab them while I can. Life’s short, and sleep is for the weak. LOL! [↩]
3. ††† Those of you who know me KNOW I want to sit here for another hour or two and go on and on about every tiny detail, but it is after 3 am, I do have ten million things that need to be done tomorrow, and I should probably get some sleep, seeing as I am utterly fatigued. You’ll just have to go experience all the glorious details for yourself! [↩]

Never did post a photo of this work once it was declared finished, so here you go!

• Morning is here, and my vitae and statement did not magically write themselves overnight. I was so hoping for a visit from a writing elf. #
• There is nothing to put on my artist vitae. No art degrees, private instruction, exhibits, awards, collections, publications. Depressing. #
• The city brew has begun to arrive for today's work. The 'road closed' sign is in front of my house. Ought to be an interesting day. #
• Brew = crew. Wish some brew was parked in front of my house. I could do with a beer (or two). #
• Just so you know, NOTHING IS WORKING PROPERLY TODAY!!! #
• And any minute now, I will kill two cats, staple them to a canvas, and call them art. #
• Just great. Camera batteries just died, and I can't get out of the driveway to go get more. Is the universe trying to tell me something? #

Oh, so you want an update, do you? Want to know what happened with my somewhat crappy last day of getting my existence together to enter some work in a juried art show?

Well, if you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, then you likely already have a mental image quite firmly in your mind of me spending my day in a state of pure panic. That wouldn’t be too far from the truth. It was a bit of a stressful day. A stressful day with road work going on in front of my house. What joy!

But … I solved all my problems and survived a crisis or two (or three), and a while ago I hit the submit button and my application was on its way. If I weren’t a lump of utterly fatigued jelly oozing out of my chair, I’d do a happy dance.^†

My thoughts on the whole thing now?

I worked steadily for about three months toward the goal of having five works done to enter in a juried show (my first, BTW). I more than accomplished my goal, as many works were made, but three stood out from the rest, and so I entered only those three. I feel good about that decision … as good as I feel about the three pieces, which is pretty darn good. On October 15, I’ll be getting an email informing me of the official outcome of decision to embark on this mission.

Nothing to do but wait, and to be honest, both of the potential outcomes –having any/all of my works selected for the show and having all of them rejected– will undoubtedly lead to many hours of soul-searching contemplation and likely provide prime opportunities for stress of some sort. LOL!

For me personally, the outcome doesn’t matter as much as it did when I started on this mission. Not that I wouldn’t LOVE to have a piece in the show, because I would, but … I gained so much, learned so much over the course of the last few months –about myself and my art and so much more– I already won the best prize of all. I’m sure I’ll be telling you about some of it at (too much) length in the future. I know you just can’t wait!

So it’s over. Done. Finished. FINALLY.

Next up I get to enjoy the road work being directly in front of my house tomorrow, going to see the dress rehearsal for The Intergalactic Nemesis at the Long Center Thursday, and leaving for Chicago on Friday (I think) … and somewhere in there we have to pack, get the house and cats ready for us to be away, and get the truck ready for a long drive. I’m sure there are a million other things that need to be done that I am forgetting too. Oh, and then about 8 days in the Chicago area! Hopefully, we all get to sleep a little at some point. Sleep would be nice.

Can’t wait for the stupid laundry to finish so I can go be horizontal and unconscious in the dark. I am totally fatigued and completely relaxed. As soon as the jeans are in the dryer and the shirts are hung up, I am taking a break from wakefulness.

And if there are any spelling or grammatical errors, oops … sorry. What can I say? I’m brain-fried.

1. † I’m saving what strength I have to finish the laundry I haven’t done since a week ago Sunday. I meant to start it earlier, and do it while I did my arty stuff, but I am glad I didn’t. Today was hectic and crazy enough as it was without laundry being added to the mix too. Seriously, my house was a house of madness today. [↩]

My camera is freaking completely out. I’m hoping it’s because the batteries are low, but it’s never acted like this before. For example, it’s recording a sound clip every time I take a photo, is having trouble focusing even at a distance, and the colors are off. WTF?!

And on top of it all, I can’t get out of the driveway to get more batteries and likely won’t be able to until the construction crew either takes lunch (which they didn’t do yesterday) or leaves for the day (and who knows when that’ll be – could be as late as 4 pm). ARGH!

Also … the cats are being super bratty today, and I may have to kill the whole lot of them. Cat stew for dinner! LOL!

Here I thought my lack of an appropriately weighty artist vitae and not having yet written my artist statement were going to be the biggest of my worries today. Photographing my artwork was not even on my list of possible crises.

Must be time for more coffee, and then I guess I’ll actually finish the last piece that needs finishing, write my artist statement, and then continue panicking about my camera.

Why can’t things go really well all the way through an entire project just ONCE. JUST ONCE!

I started filling out my application for the juried show last night. Well, it’s due in by tonight, you know. No sense waiting until the last minute, right? LOL!

Naturally, this has caused a measure of panic. Why? I need to put together an artist vitae (resume’ and artist statement. Oh, I can pull together an artist statement, and I have been needing to do it for a while (or rather, update the one I have), but the vitae? There’s nothing to put on it. I took a great many art classes in college, but it wasn’t the focus of my studies. I was never shooting for an art degree. Other than those classes, the only other training I have received as an artist came from my parents (from the age of birth until the age of 18) and what I have taught myself over the years. Additionally, I have no exhibitions, awards, grants, publications, or any other thing to crow about. None. Zip. Zilch. As you can imagine, this makes it a little difficult to put together anything resembling a resume’.

This is depressing me. I look like a non-artist on paper … or a naive newbie. Neither of those things is true, but just like in the corporate world, a resume’ is important, and a lot of people place a lot of importance on the words on that piece of paper to judge the worth of the artist. It’s a hard and cruel fact. My blank page makes me look (and feel) a little worthless as an artist. Like I said … depressing, isn’t it?

I suppose I will have to find some creative way to say I learned at my father’s knee until the age of 18, took an abundance of art classes in college without earning an art degree, and have spent my life making art without ever once being noticed by anyone whatsoever. I have no idea how I am going to pull that off.

Then there’s the artist statement. You’d think someone who can write thousands of words on a blog on any subject at all would be able to write a few measly paragraphs about their art and art methods without batting an eyelash. Well, not so much. Though I did read through a bunch of old blog posts in my Creativity category (as well as some private posts I made on the subject), and I’m sure I’ll come up with something brilliant at the last minute. It’ll have to be brilliant to make up for the fact I have nothing at all to put on my resume’.

Ugh.

Well, sun’s up, and I have a new staple-gun to go put to use. Have to get everything put together so it can be photographed, because today is the day it all has to come together and be amazing. Wish me luck. I’m not feeling especially amazing today.

• And… Closer! http://post.ly/ubPx #
• Zing! Pop! Pow! That's the sound of my head exploding. But in a good way, at the moment! Ask me again later. LOL! #
• I have discovered I apparently have my best ideas and do my best work when having less than 24 hours to get something finished. #
• Time for lunch, more coffee, and changing into clothes to get dirty in. #
• I love the smell of Mod Podge in the afternoon. #
• And Even Closer! http://post.ly/udEh #
• OMG. I've allowed us to run out of toilet paper. Oops. #
• Since the construction work seems to be over for today, I think I'll be going to the store for milk & toilet paper, the essentials of life. #
• At the Store http://post.ly/ueE5 #
• Have settled on three pieces. Wanted to enter the max of five, but only want to put in the stuff that's great. So three works it is. #
• Taking a break before beginning detailing on the figures. Very scary taking a Sharpie to fabric sculptures. There'll be no fixing mistakes! #
• Possible Pose #1 http://post.ly/ufXu #
• Have ultimately decided against drawing on the figures with a Sharpie. Too fraught with danger, and I rather like them as they are anyway. #
• Waiting for Lin to get home with a bright, shiny new staple gun, so I can finish up the canvas framing. Almost done! Eeeee!!! #
• My husband is becoming a Facebook addict. Seriously. #
• Lin showed me how to use my new staplegun. It feels enough like using a power tool, I expect I'll find a way to kill or maim myself with it. #
• Anyone want to write an artist's statement for me? I need it by tomorrow night. Anyone? No? Fine, guess I'll do it myself. #
• So I'm working on that application that has to be in tomorrow, and my internet connection craps out! OMG! This is not happening. #
• Rebooted the modem. I think it's going. Too many problems lately, and the thing is super hot to the touch. Grrr. #
• Going to bed to have nightmares about my lack of anything real to put on my artist vitae, as well as my unfinished artist statement. Ugh. #
• Can't sleep. Having a huge fit of self-doubt. Being almost entirely self-taught leaves me feeling more like a dumb hick than an artist. #
• The cats, sensing the weight of the universe crushing me, are piled on top of me, literally crushing me. I'm never going to fall asleep. #
• If I'm going to lay here wide awake, stressing out, & being crushed by cats, I may as well get up and have my panick attack in the den. #
• Back in bed, surrounded by cats. Going to will myself to sleep. Tomorrow, everything will be better. Right? #