Asher’s Art Gallery (Every Other Monday)

Hello fellow art lovers! It’s Monday, and my Gallery is open once again! I hope you guys are ready for some awesome paintings. Now, have fun exploring my Gallery!

• Eco Atlas by Alex Grey (2017) Mediums: Spiritual and Psychedelic art

This impressive work was created by “Psychedelic Artist”, Alex Grey. Grey is incredibly popular in the music industry for providing art work for many album covers, including Lateralus (Tool), Untying the Not (The String Cheese Incident), and III Communication (The Beastie Boys). His work reminds me a bit of Larry Carlson’s but with its own unique twist. This specific painting absolutely blew me away when I first locked eyes upon in. It depicts a transparent humanoid with its rib cage, nerves, and brain visible. Grey adds heavy detail to each of these areas, which really makes it stand out. The humanoid is holding up what appears to be the Earth, and has a determined expression on its face. The Earth is anything but normal, as it’s covered with eyes that follow your every move. The work is covered in a very misty blue that gives it a mysterious vibe. I also adore the blend of realism with the Earth, and surrealism with the trippy designs. Tell me what you think of this piece in the comments’ section below.

 

 

• La lumiere, la solitude by Yves Tanguy (1940) oil on canvas

This is a beautiful work by “French Surrealist”, Tanguy. It depicts a gorgeous, rainbow sky with a multicolored ground. Placed on said ground are a variety of different sculptures. The sculptures all appear to be connected by a razor-thin wire, and some are shaped like pieces of candy. Tell me what you think of this piece in the comments’ section below.

Advertisements

Asher’s Food Adventures In Thailand Part 1 (Nakhon Pathon Market)

Hello everyone, and welcome to my 200 follower special! I promised you something amazing, and boy am I excited! Four weeks ago, I traveled to Thailand to visit my Stepmom’s family. I also went to China for about five days. I had the most amazing time in Asia, and will be discussing my experiences in both places in this multi-part series. I hope you guys will enjoy this as much as I enjoy writing it. Now, let’s go on an amazing adventure together. It’s time for part one, Nakhon Pathon Market.

The Nakhon Pathon Market is a floating marketplace that’s located in the Sam Phran Province of Thailand. I found things that I’ve never seen before, and it was incredible. I will be showing the pictures I took there, as well as a brief description of each one. It was truly an unforgettable experience, and I’m so glad that I’m able to share it with you guys, Now, without any further ado, let’s get started!

(This is what I believe to be a custard apple. The Thai custard apple is known as Noi na, which means hand grenade. It supposedly tastes extremely sweet, and is filled with many seeds.)

 

( This is a beautiful Thai dessert that’s known as Khanom Chan. Khanom Chan is a special 9-layer cake that’s made with coconut milk, pandan juice, Mung bean flour, sugar, tapioca flour, rice flour, and talcum flour.)

 

(This was a very neat dried fruit counter. It had dried mangosteen, muscat, jackfruit, durian, and bananas.)

 

(Fish were a big part of the marketplace, and you could smell them from miles away. They sold everything, from fish heads, to tiny fish eggs.)

(This lovely counter had some strange looking fried food, as well as one of my favorite Thai desserts, Pang Chi. Pang Chi is a sweet Thai pancake that’s made with taro, coconut milk, corn, palm sugar, and rice flour.)

 

(These are delicious peanut cookies. It’s like a peanut brittle on steroids.)

(This is a rather unsettling picture of some headless fowl. I find the bright red bird extremely fascinating. The unique aroma of spices and onions filled the air when I passed this counter.)

 

(Over in this corner, we have some candied rambutan, as well as some adorable sweets in the shape of rubber ducks.)

(This final picture is of another seafood counter with delicious looking crab. Since the market is on the water, the crustaceans are extremely fresh.)

I hope you guys enjoyed the first part of my Thailand adventure. I would love to hear your opinions in the comments’ section below.

Carlson Mondays (Every Last Monday Of The Month)

Hello fellow art lovers! It’s Monday, and you know what that means! Yes, it’s time for us take a look at some more trippy artwork. Now, let’s dive into the amazing world of Larry Carlson!

• THE WEREWOLF by Larry Carlson 2007 digital chromogenic print 

This is my first time seeing this awesome piece, and my god, it’s glorious! Your eyes are immediately bombarded with an overwhelming display of vibrant colors and shapes. Starting from the painting’s top, we see brilliants wisps of blue and green that stick out like eldritch fire. The titular Werewolf is also quite a fantastic site. His ears appear to have two extremely grotesque demons that give off a very ominous vibe. They’re a brilliant blend of reds, pinks, greens, and yellows. A demon actually makes up the canine’s nose, and its eyes seem to follow your every move. The beast’s eyes are giant teardrops that gaze into the viewer’s soul. Then, we get to his mouth, and what awaits us is true fear! His giant maw is filled with ultra-sharp teeth, and an expression that emanates chaotic malice. He actually has a secondary mouth, that’s located just below his first. The bottom of the piece finishes the job with an awesome explosion of rainbow energy. Tell me what you think of this piece in the comments’ section below. 

 

• Phantom Vortex by Larry Carlson 2014

This hypnotic work is definitely one for the record books. At first, all you see is a multicolored spiral of awesome patterns and shapes. However, if you look even closer, you can make out faces and other creatures within the vortex. The faces are extremely similar, if not taken directly from a Junji Ito manga. Ito is known by many as the “King of Horror Manga”, and his stories even give me the shivers. He has the uncanny ability to make everyday objects look downright horrific. They all portray looks of pure horror that make the viewer’s hair stand on end. This is especially seen with the skeletal men with Glasgow smiles.  It almost seems as if Carlson has portrayed what LSD Hell would look like. We also see some agonizing maws hidden within the chaos. I’ve never seen Carlson create something so dark before, but I completely love how he’s able to adapt to new styles on the fly. Tell me what you think of this piece in the comments’ section below.

 

http://larrycarlson.tumblr.com/image/89106879153

More Delicious Foods From Around The World (Every Other Friday)

Hello fellow food lovers! It’s Friday, and you know what that means! Yes, it’s time for us to take a look at some more delicious foods. Now, let’s dig in!

• Nikujaga is a special stew that comes from Japan. It’s made with potatoes, meat, sweetened soy sauce, and onions. It’s served on cold, winter days usually as a home-cooked meal.

 

• Li hing mui is a salty, dried plum that can be found all over China. It has a bright red color, and is usually covered in a powder made from licorice, salt, and sugar. It has an acquired taste, and can also be used in various alcoholic beverages.

Asher’s Jukebox Part 177

Epic by Faith No More from the album The Real Thing (January 29, 1990) Genres: Rap metal, alternative metal, and funk metal. Song length: 4:54 

This incredible song first came to my attention when I heard it at the One Up bar. I tried to Shazam the song, but I never could get the timing correct. A few months later, I hear the song again in James Franco’s film, The Disaster Artist. I finally find out the title of the song, and now listen to it on a daily basis. It is a very unique Metal song that has multiple genres built into it. Mike Patton’s impressive vocals reach six octaves, which is the highest range of any popular singer. Throughout the song, he impresses us with his amazing vocal styles, like crooning, rapping, falsetto, wailing, and growling. It resembles a lot of popular bands vocals like, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage Against The Machine, and The Beastie Boys. The song appears to be discussing an unknown entity that is only known as “it”. The lyrics “What is it?” continuously repeat through the song, and it almost seems like the band is going crazy trying to figure it out. The chorus is my favorite part of the song, and once it hooks you, you will not be able to get it out of your head. I believe that the song’s meaning can be interpreted in various ways, but I will discuss my thoughts on it. The title, “Epic”, may have to do with the huge variety of different styles in the piece, and how well they go together. I highly recommend this piece to absolutely everyone, and would love to hear what you think in the comments’ section below.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiP87KP5L3cAhWJHHwKHUWSBewQyCkwAHoECAkQBQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DZG_k5CSYKhg&usg=AOvVaw2n-DW6beRXZH6vmxiFbWvk

More Bizarre Comic Book Characters (Every Other Tuesday)

Hello fellow comic book fans! It’s Tuesday, and you know what that means! Yes, it’s time for us to take a look at some more strange characters. Now, let’s begin!

• Gator Grant Real Name: Galvin Grant Status: Wrestler Ht: 6’0” Wt: 200 lbs Creator: Marvel First Appeared: Thing I #29 (1985) Powers/ Abilities: Scaly, damage-resistant skin, superhuman strength. 

Grant was an angry wrestler that wanted to become part of the UCWF. (Unlimited Class Wrestling Federation) He used gypsy magic to build up his strength requirement, but this also changed his skin bright green, and gave him scales. The Thing managed to subdue him, before he transformed into an Alligator. He finally reverted back to human form, but his scales are permanent.

  

 

• Fever Pitch Real Name: Unrevealed Status: Hero/Villain (Deceased)  Ht: 5’9” Wt: Unrevealed  Creator: Marvel First Appeared: Generation X #50 (1999) Powers/Abilities: Heat and flame projection from his hands, flight.

The man only known as Fever Pitch got his powers at an unknown time. When they manifested, they blew his face off. After a while, all that remained of him was a flaming skeleton. He tried to fight agains the X-Men, but was quickly defeated and seemingly killed by the mutants. 

TV Tropes Randomness (Every Other Saturday)

Hello everyone, and welcome to a brand new topic! Every Other Saturday, I will be searching for some random tropes, and describing them in a spoiler-free way. In case you didn’t know, a trope can be defined as an expression or overused cliche found in movies and other media. TV Tropes.org categorizes thousands of these expressions and cliches throughout the world of media. This ranges from certain character quirks, to the series as a whole. I find it to be quite enjoyable, and I hope you guys will too. Now, let’s begin!

• Depraved Kids’ Show Host: This trope deals with the stereotypical “Kiddie Show” host. They always appear to be happy, and love making little kids smile. Unfortunately, this is all a disguise, and backstage is where they let their true colors shine. They can be addicted to drugs, have lecherous behavior, be sex offenders, swear enough to make sailors transform into prudes, and makes everybody’s life around him a “living hell”. This trope is frequently found in The Simpsons with Krusty the Clown. Krusty can be found backstage yelling at everyone, and seems to be addicted to everything. It can also be found with Pierre from Tim And Eric Awesome Show Great Job. Pierre loves to dance with kids, and seems to be fascinated with the audience’s dads.

 

 

• Technology Porn: This trope is used in almost every Science Fiction film ever created. The trope occurs whenever a sequence in media goes into great depth showing the inner workings of gadgets and other mechanical tools. This trope always appears in the Iron Man films when Tony Stark “suits up”. It also can be found in numerous parts of 2001: A Space Odyssey. One of my favorite examples of this trope is the use of it in Blade Runner.     

 

• Warning! This Will Make You Hungry!! Food Porn: This trope is pretty self-explanitory, but can be divided into two definitions. The first is food that’s usually used to symbolize something suggestive. The second is food that’s portrayed in such a manner that the audience salivates and experiences lust as if they were watching porn. I adore this trope, and I always am eager to see what people think of next. One of my favorite examples of this trope is in the film, Chef. Chef’s use of food is so important in the movie, that it actually becomes a main plot point. Then, we get to its use in Anime, and I can’t think of a better example than Shokugeki No Soma (Food Wars). This Anime was created by a Hentai artist, and the use of food in the series applies to both definitions. People literally have “Foodgasms” so intense that their clothes will occasionally rip off! The food in this show is so jaw-dropping, that even the most simple dishes, like scrambled eggs look like it should be framed in the Louvre! As an added bonus, Japanese chef Yuki Morisaki, adds real recipes from the series that you can replicate in each Manga volume!