Todd Klein's Blog, page 344

Steve Rude and Todd Klein offer "Hope"

Image © Steve Rude and Todd Klein, all rights reserved.

I'm pleased to announce that my next signed print is a collaboration with famed artist Steve Rude, and the title is "Hope." The art, beautifully painted by Steve in gray tones, depicts Pandora, the character from Greek myth.

Pandora has just opened a box she was not supposed to open, releasing a swarm of Troubles into the world. Last to emerge is the spirit of Hope. In text from the retelling of the myth by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hope says, "I was packed into the box to make amends to the human race for that swarm of ugly Troubles, which was destined to be let loose among them. Never fear! We shall do pretty well in spite of them all."

The passage from Hawthorne, and part of a famous poem about Hope by Emily Dickinson, are lettered in graceful calligraphy by me at the top and bottom. I've printed 500 copies on 11 by 17-inch cream-colored card stock and hand-painted a pale yellow in the words "Hope" at the top and bottom of each print. Each is individually signed by Steve Rude and myself.

The prints will go on sale Wednesday, June 1st, on the BUY STUFF page of my website, at a price of $20 plus shipping. Note that the print won't appear there until June 1st, so bookmark the page and return then! For this print I'll be donating $2 for each print sold to the American Red Cross in an effort to offer a small amount of real hope to a few folks in need of it.

Previous prints in this alphabetical series in collaboration with Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Alex Ross, J.H. Williams III, Mark Buckingham and Bill Willingham are still available, along with other items you'll find on the link above. Oh, and if you're wondering what happened to the print for the letter "G," that one is still in the works, and will likely come out next.

I'll be posting a detailed account of the creation of the print here on my blog over the next two days. "Hope" you like this one, and I look forward to hearing from you!

James Taylor, Atlantic City

Last night Ellen and I saw James in concert at the Borgata Hotel and Casino Event Center. It was a great show. I think this is the third time I've seen James live, and he's as sharp and energetic as ever, very funny and entertaining when speaking as well. He did two sets, each about an hour, and there wasn't a dull moment. His band is terrific, and it's a good-sized one with four singers, keyboardist, sax and trumpet, base and electric guitar, drummer and percussionist. At times, as above, James sits in the spotlight and plays favorites from early in his career like "Carolina In My Mind" and "Sweet Baby James" with quiet accompaniment. Other songs like "Steamroller" and "Your Smiling Face" let the band rock out. James told some stories I hadn't heard from him before, as when introducing "Something In The Way She Moves," which was his audition song before McCartney and Harrison for their new Apple label. It got him the job, and he mentioned what a wonderful experience it was recording his first album for them between Beatles sessions that became their White Album. Other great stories ensued, and James was funny with audience comments, too. When people called out song requests, he held up the big playlist board lying flat on the stage next to him, pointing out the ones they'd asked for, or later just pointing at the board and either making an "OK" sign or a sad shrug. There were several encores to a standing ovation crowd. The event sold out almost immediately when tickets went on sale. I missed that, and had to pay outrageous scalper prices online, but it was well worth it, and I'd do it again in a minute. Long may he sing!

Belleplain Walks

I've been too busy to blog much this week. In addition to my regular work, I've helped lead three morning walks in Belleplain State Forest for the Cape May Bird Observatory. They're part of the ongoing "Cape MAYgration" festival running through next Tuesday, but Ellen and I are finished with our part of it now. All three walks were wonderful. Despite bad weather throughout the area, we lucked out all three days, avoiding any rain. Here some of the Friday group are looking at a Scarlet Tanager, a spectacular bird that looks something like this through binoculars:

This photo is © David Speiser, found online. My own bird photos generally look more like this one of a Cedar Waxwing from Friday:

You can tell what it is, but that's about all. Here's a real professional photo of the same bird:

Photo © Lloyd Spitalnik, also found online. Someday maybe I'll get a better camera and one of those giant lenses you need for photos like this, but my point-and-shoot Olympus is so small and convenient, maybe not.

Hey, at least the flowers are close and don't move much, like this Mountain Laurel shrub beginning to blossom. They're all over Belleplain, and will soon make the woods look like someone has been dropping mounds of pale pink ice cream everywhere.

And Then I Read: IRREDEEMABLE Volume 5

Images © Boom Entertainment, Inc.

The subject of this series, The Plutonian, once a mighty superhero, now a hated and deadly villain, is largely off-camera or in flashbacks in this volume, as writer Mark Waid continues to fill in the details of the supporting cast and how they relate to Plutonian and each other. New details about what might have caused the hero to snap are also here. As the picture gains detail and depth, the consequences of earlier events continue to resonate and build. It's a great direction for this saga, and Mark handles it all deftly, keeping the characters and their motivations realistic, revealing the pain beneath the masks; a good contrast to the more fantastic elements of the tale.

Artist Peter Krause does an equally good job with that balance of super-heroics and realism in the art. In fact, I think he's improving with time. Everything about this series is working for me, though I'm not a big fan of villain stories usually. This isn't exactly a villain story, but it's certainly full of dark elements.

Recommended.

And Then I Read: THE DARK CANOE

© Scott O'Dell, illustrations © Milton Johnson.

I came to Scott O'Dell, as did many, as a reader of his Newbery Award winning historical novel, "The Island of the Blue Dolphins" in 1960, when I was 9 years old. I enjoyed that book, a sort of real-life Robinson Crusoe tale of a native American girl who was stranded on an island off the coast of California for 18 years, and how she managed to survive. I tried a few other books by O'Dell in my teen years, and didn't like them as well, but I've come to appreciate him much more as a writer in my later years. O'Dell's books all take a grimly realistic look at people, their motivations and hardships, in various historical settings, often in the California area. His characters come to life wonderfully well, and if his stories can be hard to read at times, it's more because we like his characters and hate to see them suffer, which they often seem to do.

For instance, in this book, a crew of whalers from New England are in Magdalena Bay, Baja California, searching for the Amy Foster, a whaling ship that went down there with a full load of valuable whale oil and ambergris. The wrecked ship had been captained by Caleb Clegg, one of those on board this ship, The Alert, and in charge of the search. The narrator is Nathan, Caleb's 16-year-old brother, serving as cabin boy. Their other brother, Jeremy, was with them, but has vanished mysteriously in the night, and is thought likely to be dead, though no one knows how. Caleb is a troubled man, almost mad at times, but intent on finding the Amy Foster, not because of the treasure it might hold, but because the ship's log book, if found, might vindicate his own actions and show he was not heedless of the coming storm that sank the ship.

So, it's a treasure-hunt, of a sort, but one in which no one is having a good time. The crew have been at it for long weeks, getting nowhere. Jeremy, their captain when they embarked, is missing. Caleb is disliked by them, acting captain Troll not liked much better. There are natives around who might pose a threat or be a help, it could go either way. Mutinous talk is muttered in the corners. Young Nathan is full of worries, but his focus is finding out what happened to his missing brother. Then an odd coffin-shaped box appears, floating next to the ship, and Nathan manages to hide it on the shore. One of the crew who Nathan considers a friend helps him open the box, and they expect to find treasure inside, but only uncover a few worthless articles. When Caleb is told, Caleb's fixation on the book "Moby Dick" gives the box another, stranger explanation, one that the facts seem to vindicate. Could it be the box from that story, or one like it, that allowed the book's narrator, Ishmael, to escape with his life in that story?

Later, when the wreck is finally found, the plot thickens, and the natives Nathan visits hold answers to at least some of his questions. Others may never be answered. Caleb's quest is the most interesting, but when he finds the log book, will the answers it provides ease his troubled mind?

I enjoyed reading this book a great deal, with one exception. I thought the line illustrations by Milton Johnson were just about the worst I've ever seen, example above. They do nothing for the story except bring it to a grinding halt while one tries to figure out what these scribbly messes are supposed to be. I don't like his cover painting much better, but at least it's clearly a ship on the water!

Recommended.

And Then I Read: GREEN LANTERN 63

Images © DC Comics, Inc.

Another "War" event is about to begin in the Green Lantern books, and this issue is listed as a Prologue. It's actually quite interesting to me, a long-time GL reader, as it delves into what I think of as "the Matter of DC," (as the King Arthur story is considered "the Matter of England"), the origin of the universe story first told in an early silver age GREEN LANTERN. In a nutshell, a billion years ago, Krona, of the species that became the Guardians of the Universe, used science to look back to the very beginning of all things, hoping to see that moment of creation. This caused a violent reaction on the part of a mysterious "creator" that resulted in the infinite worlds and alternate universes of DC, as greatly expanded upon in the series CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS, with many later ramifications, including some in more recent "event" series. This time, writer Geoff Johns lets us see Krona as a person, arguing with his friend Ganthet, rather than a cardboard villain (at least in the beginning of the issue). Then we come back to the present, in a world where Krona has gained possession of a group of very powerful entities that represent the different color lantern powers at their worst (Parallax is one of them, for instance).  It's a good build-up. Perhaps I won't like the actual war as much, but this I like.

The art by Ed Benes, Ardian Syaf and several inkers is quite good. It may have been here for a while, I'm not sure, but I'm just noticing the influence of the style of Jose Luis Garcia Lopez in the figures. Don't know if that's something in the style of one of these artists, or a purposeful direction for the art as requested by DC, but it looks good to me.

Recommended.

Our 2011 Century Run report

Here's our team on the beach at Higbee, not long after our 5 AM start, a smaller team this year, with leader Mike Crewe at the scope in front, his wife Megan to his left, and Ellen behind them. As always it was fun but exhausting. I'm recovering now after a good night's sleep; sore feet, but otherwise just tired.

I have good news and bad news about our team's results for this year's World Series of Birding. The bad news is, our team total of species counted is nearly the worst one of any year I've done it: 118 species. (For comparison, we had 144 last year.) The good news is, thanks to many generous pledges, garnered both from this blog and from an email sent to some of the people I work with, Ellen and I will be able to contribute a record amount to New Jersey Audubon's conservation efforts: $1,191.80! Thanks so much again to all our pledgers, you made it all worthwhile, including new pledgers

KAREN BERGER

and J.H. AND WENDY WILLIAMS

So, where did we go astray? Well, it sounds like an excuse, but I have to put a lot of blame on the weather. All last week it was calm, sunny and pleasant, with temperatures ranging from the upper 40s at night to around 70 in the afternoon. This was great for people and birds alike, but not so helpful to our World Series effort. All the migrating songbirds that usually come through our area in May and stay around for at least a few days to refuel and wait for good migrating weather arrived early in the week, and found migration conditions so favorable that they just kept on going to their nesting sites further north. By Saturday there were only a scant few to be found in Cape May County, the area we cover on our Century Run. For instance, we usually can count on seeing at least 20 species of warblers, this year we had only 7, and all local nesters, not migrants. The same thing applied to other songbirds like flycatchers, thrushes, vireos, sparrows and so forth.

The other weather problem was overcast skies all day, and cool weather with light winds from the ocean bringing in occasional light showers. Not uncomfortable, okay for birding, but in weather like this, the birds that like to hunt on the wing like raptors mostly stayed put, and the birds that like to sing in the morning sunshine were mostly quiet. We usually see about 10 raptor species, for instance, and this year had only 4. All but one were found perched, not flying.

One of the favorite sightings of the day for Ellen and I was a Bald Eagle nest with a parent sitting nearby and three almost grown young at our first stop of the day. The morning was just brightening with the first light of day, so it was too dark for a picture, but it was the best look we've ever had at an Eagle's nest. Our plan to bird that location had to be cut short, though, to avoid disturbing the family, so we moved on to Higbee Beach WMA.

We were transported on a Cape May Trolley again this year for the third time, which has its good and bad points. On the plus side, there's lots of room inside for everyone and their stuff, and you can see well through the windows. On the minus side, it's too big for some birding spots, and very noisy, so we miss the chance to hear bird calls until we're off the bus and it's quiet. But our two drivers (we go too long for just one) were helpful.

We hit all the birding spots around Cape Island, the area immediatelly around Cape May, known as one of the best birding locations in the world. Well, not so much this year! We saw lots of teams, and everyone was shaking their heads and moaning about the lack of migrants.

Late morning we headed off Cape Island to a few birding spots further up the coast, including this unlikely one, a small park in the center of downtown Wildwood, where we got passersby looking with us…

…at a colony of nesting Yellow-Crowned Night Herons. These birds are rare throughout the northeast, and are constantly moving their nesting colonies. When you find one, though, they're easy to see and fun to watch. Wish we'd had more time to do that, but we'll probably go back for more looks soon.

After a 2 PM lunch break we began visiting locations throughout the rest of Cape May County, trying to build up our list, which had reached only 102 species by lunchtime. We stopped at Kimble's Beach to see shorebirds like these, including the endangered Red Knot, a shorebird that is vanishing rapidly and might well become extinct in the next decade.

We also took time to stop and look at a few cool plants, like this Pink Lady's Slipper Orchid in the woods in Belleplain State Forest.

Here's the group in Belleplain, late afternoon, having a laugh with a pair of reporters who joined us for a while, and who had just been told they were probably covered with ticks. Freaked them right out…

Despite getting to Belleplain, one of the best places in our county for nesting songbirds, earlier than usual, we didn't add as many to our list there as we'd hoped. Again, the birds were mostly quiet and not active. We did the best we could, and got back to the finish line in Cape May around 10 PM to have some great food, chat with other teams, and go over our official list together before Mike turned it in.

So, this morning I got to wondering if 118 species was the lowest number I'd ever seen on a Century Run, and it turns out it's not — quite. My first one was in 1988, and the total that year was 112. Of course, that year the team only covered Cape Island, and didn't drive to other parts of the county. I don't have records for every year since (and we haven't done the Century Run every year), but all the other checklists I found show more than 118. In 1992 we listed 129, in 1990 we had 137, all the others I have are 140 or higher.

Meanwhile, we know we did our best this year, and to be fair, all the teams that stayed on Cape Island or in Cape May County had lower than usual results. Okay, the winner in our division (Cape May County only), the Cornell Redheads DID find 163 species (obviously super birders!), two were in the 140s, the rest were under 121. Of the top teams, who cover the entire state, the winner again this year was the Lagerhead Shrikes with an amazing 221 species. Second place went to SGG Team CMBO, which I think is Pete Dunne's team, with 202. The rest finished under 193. Clearly birders in the rest of the state had some advantages, but most the teams found less species this year. In addition to the weather factor, perhaps there are just less migrating birds now, due to shrinking habitat worldwide and even perhaps the effects of global warming, though that's just a guess.

So, we'll have think about how we can do better next year. All we can do is try for more in 2012! And we're grateful to be able to make a strong monetary contribution to conservation efforts in our area and our state. Thanks again, pledgers!

Tomorrow's the big day. We'll be up at 3 AM so we can ma...

Tomorrow's the big day. We'll be up at 3 AM so we can make the 5 AM rendezvous with our team down in Cape May. The weather this week, while delightful, has not helped bring migrating songbirds our way, and this morning they were scarce. Tomorrow the forecast is for clouds and occasional showers. Not so good for us, probably fine for the birds, though I doubt many new migrants will be flying in tonight. But you never know. Hope springs eternal! We'll be out searching, looking, listening, and counting tomorrow until about 10PM. I hope to have a report here some time Sunday.

Many thanks to new pledgers:

GAIL STERN

NEIL GAIMAN

SHELLY BOND

ALEXANDER FINBOW

Thanks so much for your support! If YOU'D like to support us, it's not too late. EMAIL me. Details are HERE.

And Then I Read: THE FLASH 9

Images © DC Comics, Inc.

Wow, it's great to see Francis Manapul back on the art for this title. I've missed him. I really love the style he's using on FLASH, it brings so much warmth and humanity to the characters. The story by Geoff Johns is also good this issue, even though it's setting up the next big event, "Flashpoint," something I'm not really looking forward to. But here, we get some quiet character development between Barry Allen and Iris, among others, some intriguing mysteries that will no doubt blossom into frantic events soon, and overall a comfortable glow indicating everyone having a pretty good time: the characters and reader alike. The final reveal is unexpected, but in a book with lots of time-travel themes, appropriate.

Here's some of that wonderful character development and great art. Ah, if it could only all be more like this…

Highly recommended!

And Then I Read: BRIGHTEST DAY 18 & 19

Images © DC Comics, Inc.

There comes a point where repeating the same plot point too many times robs it of any significance, and BRIGHTEST DAY writers Geoff Johns and Peter Tomasi have done that for me in these issues with the characters Hawkman and Hawkwoman. SPOILERS AHEAD IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THIS ISSUE YET!

Spoiler Space

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In previous issues we've seen the Hawks in many time periods, constantly being killed and reborn. So it's not a surprise when, in issue 18, they are killed once again, and brought back to life by the power of the White Lantern. And, just when their lives seem ready to get back on a more normal path, and they're celebrating, Deadman shows up, dragged to them by the White Lantern power, and he is forced to kill them one MORE time. As a reader, this is now, "Ho hum. Dead again. Be back soon, no doubt." Too many times in this and previous events have we seen major characters go through an apparent death and rebirth. How about some new plot ideas?

Issue 19 doesn't seem to have any. There, we see the start of yet another war, this time between the Atlanteans and any surface dwellers they can find, with Aquaman and the new Aqualad trying to stop them. Again, this is all very much like the last few wars we've seen, though on a smaller scale.

The art is fine on these issues, once again by a team of four or more artists who seem to all work remarkably smoothly together. One lettering note: small letters with a black outline and a red fill are quite hard to read. Word to the wise.

Can't recommend these issues.