Manfanilow

My name is Michael and I am a Fanilow. What is a "Fanilow"? Well, according to the Urban Dictionary…

"A woman, usually 40+ years of age, who is completely and unexplainably obsessed with Barry Manilow".

Well, that definition worries me…

However, being a man who is completely secure in his manhood and given the fact that I love the music of Barry Manilow, maybe I’m a Manfanilow? I first heard Barry's music in the 1970's, while I was in high school. It was never "cool" in high school to like Barry Manilow's music, it was akin to liking ABBA (and by the way, I freaking love ABBA as well). It was cool to like KISS, Boston, AC/DC and others of that ilk, however, back then as I am today, I didn't care what others thought of me or my tastes and musically that includes Barry Manilow.

So here my ode to Barry Manilow ..

 

Cautious Optimism

As the snow flies, I'm contemplating the odds of this relic of aviation fueling engineering that I'm driving,  to continue to fulfill its purpose in life by continuing to fuel aircraft (such as the 757 below, that currently has my attention). 

This relic is the last of the remaining dinosaurs that have roamed the Daily Planet since fate brought me here (almost 4 years ago). How ironic would it be that this dinosaur's death would occur on the same day as my rebirth? I'm contemplating the odds…Of course my rebirth hasn't occurred yet (but trust me, it's close). However, this last remaining descendent (at least temporarily) of 1904 American aviation jet fuel transporting ingenuity (filled with not quite 10,000 gallons of extremely combustible Jet fuel and held together with a minimum of 750,000 rolls of duct tape) has seen better days (at least it has heat). 

As you can tell, I'm feeling cautiously optimistic. I'm also feeling a bit guilty, as I really have no basis for, cautious optimism. 

Once again, the ole cerebral matter is piling up drawings that I have created mentally and not yet physically. As such I need to put pen to paper this weekend because my brain is giving me notices that it's storage is nearly full. Although I could tell you what I'm going to be creating,  I technically can't. because that would break the rules and ruin the surprise…gotta follow the rules, gotta draw...

P.S. Always check out my links on the right side of my blog for awesomely cool stuff!

Talk to you soon!

 

Is Blogging Dead?

Is blogging dead?

That's the consensus among those I've discussed this question with recently. From those discussions, I've surmised that the main reason for the declining health of blogging, is because of YouTube (video killed the blog-eio star) and the fact that people would prefer to watch videos as opposed to getting the same information via reading a blog. Is this because people are becoming lazy or are videos more entertaining? I would hope for our societies sake, that it's the latter. However, from my casual observations of the ever increasing plethora of idiots around me, laziness is on the rise.

While pondering the death of blogs, I've considered doing away with my blog and replacing it with a video blog. However, being the introvert that I am, I have been unable to pull the trigger on that decision (and contribute to the demise of the frontal lobe in our society). Not saying I won't make that decision, however for now, I'm in a holding pattern.

At the same time, another decision I'm contemplating (in an effort to increase sales) is offering free shipping at my online store, The Michael Hopkins Caricatures Online Store. What’s holding up that decision is whether or not it would actually increase sales or just increase my costs? Decisions…decisions. Which brings up the question, is it better to make an incorrect decision than to make no decision at all, over the fear of making an incorrect decision??

While going through some old storage boxes recently, I came across some old caricatures I created back in the 1990's. So, I submit your viewing pleasure, a few...

Michael Hopkins Caricatures Classics!

(my apologies to those who don't know who the following people are...ask Google)

                        

                         Larry Bird

George Burns 

Jerry $einfeld

Jack Kemp and Bob Dole

Talk to you soon....

Michael