I'm done. D-O-N-E.

This is my current soundtrack:

Tree + A.M. 4eva

Dear Andrew Marvell,

In addition to having weird, floofy, center-parted hair, you want to get with trees--in the Biblical sense. This is weird. No really, listen to yourself:

Fond lovers, cruel as their flame, 

Cut in these trees their mistress' name. 

Little, alas, they know or heed, 

How far these beauties hers exceed! 

Fair trees! wheresoe'er your barks I wound 

No name shall but your own be found. 

Andrew Marvell, you are such a freak.

I do NOT want to go to there.

"There dwell no pies nor parrots there"

--Thomas Randolph, from his poem "A Pastoral Courtship"

Just because.

SNOW?!

In lieu of making this my facebook status like every other Tom, Dick and Stanley, I proclaim my incredulity to you: SNOW?! 

Really, Montréal?

*     *     *     *

An alternate view, this one from our kitchen balcony door, with a sneak peek at Katie's Cristiano Ronaldo shrine.

Is it Thursday yet?

Exams make me break out in multi-coloured hives.

One more

I did this watercolor based on a photo (see below) I took while research assistant-ing in Cusuco National Park in Honduras two summers ago. I thought it was lovely, these two biologists' hands touching so intimately over this little nectivorous bat. This is maybe an image I'd like to work with again, perhaps in a different medium?

Loxodonta africana

Falcon

So a couple years ago I tried my hand at watercolors. I definitely didn't inherit my dad's ability, but I liked this one. I guess I wasn't feeling up to painting the feet. Lazy, lazy.

S'more Doodles

Food Chain

Jake Sully, you blowhard!

So this just came to me as I was youtubing an "Arrested Development" quote and an ad for "Avatar" popped up on the side. Maybe it's been done before but I just had to make it.

This is the scene I'm referencing, in case you don't know what I'm talking about:

Note: I never actually saw "Avatar" but I don't believe this should exclude me from making jokes at its expense.

Passover Comics

I realize these are a little late but I've been busy.

This still makes me giggle. Weirder still was that after, Alex leans over, starts messing with the stack of broken matzo pieces, breaking them into smaller ones. He then looks up, and yells "NIgel!" Needless to say, we were confused. 

*

We were reading by flashlight. It was hard to see.

*

So, there's this game called "What?" where everyone writes their answer to a question and then the group tries to guess who wrote each answer. One of the questions was "If you were a Red Sox fan working at a restaurant and a bunch of Yankees fans walked in, what would you do?" Some of the answers ranged from "spit in their food" to "roofie-laxative combo." Mine? Um....I had trouble thinking of an answer. "Mix up their orders on purpose" I put. And I got laughed at. Laura is referencing that here.

Also, at the risk of offending someone, please note that I played a little fast and loose with the requirements of the Seder plate since: a) I'm a vegetarian (therefore, no lamb shank), b) I didn't feel like hard-boiling an egg (and chocolate > eggs any day), and c) no way am I wasting money on horseradish--yuck.

*

*

*

That's Haley in the background, furiously ransacking the house for the missing matzo. Mary Claire and Laura declined to join in. Laura ended up eating her words when I revealed that the prize was not, in fact, a Cadbury Creme Egg. She did not, however, end up eating the prize. Nige had hidden the matzo in an empty DVD case. Good hiding spot, Nige.

*

I rented "Prince of Egypt" but the DVD was totally ruined. We ended up watching BBC's "Life" instead.

Otter characteristics

So this one time, Alex was talking (probably telling a story we had heard at least four times already) and he finished by saying, "Well, it certainly explains some of my odder characteristics." I must have given him the strangest look, because in the (much longer than I care to admit) pause that followed, I was racking my brain trying to fill in a mental venn diagram between Alex and an otter (which kind? I don't know, he didn't specify). And then it hit me.

It's ok, though because once, Katie's boyfriend was explaining how he was a calf man (you know, like some guys are ass men), and like, a full minute later, Laura was like, "I thought he was talking about baby cows!" High five, Laura. High five.

On another, mostly unrelated note, have you ever seen the Flight of the Conchords "Hilarious Misunderstanding" video?

Well, HELLO.

I don't know why this is. Also, please note that the feet on this owl are incorrect. 3 toes front, 1 toe back. Silly Manta.

Margin Doodles: The Owl and the Pussycat

Aww...interspecies romance.

The owl and the pussycat pick out their boat:

Words of Wisdom

“Only bad things can happen if you give into gramophones.”

--Professor Hepburn

Bright Young Doodles

Just finished exam numéro un this afternoon, so now: new subject, new doodles. These are from the margins of my British Fiction of the 20th Century notes, of fashionably bored 1930s ladies. We were reading Vile Bodies, by Evelyn Waugh, at the time.

They say things like this ALL THE TIME in Vile Bodies.

WORST. PROCLAMATION. EVER.

"Nothing but beaver stuff or beaver wool shall be used in the making of hats"

--King Charles I of England, 1638

Holy nose job, Batman!

Considering his source material, I think Batman could have gone for something a *little* more ornate when designing his crime-fighting getup. But that's just me.

AW.com

Oh man, you guys, I have made a gross oversight. I was supposed to post this after CHRISTMAS, seeing as it was my card from Haley and it is AMAZING. No really. There's just so much to unpack here. Not only is the format of my fictional website a tribute to my pop culture news source EW.com but like...so many other things. This video. My herpetology term paper. Shark Week. "Kittens Inspired by Kittens." So many good things.

Good morning!

Guess where I am!

It's pretty fantastic...or well, it would be if there weren't loud construction happening two buildings over. And if I didn't, you know, have 3 finals to study for simultaneously. But other than that...

Oh, and the chain smoking downstairs neighbours. How could I forget?

Bestiality jokes will not be tolerated

--The Management

Hey, everyone, it's Katie's boyfriend Chris's comic debut! And what a note to come in on, too.

"Two by two, hands of blue...."

Oh man you guys, it's a mouse lemur (family Cheirogaleidae) and a "Firefly" reference all in one! Only one thing would make this better...

Oh wait!

Perfect.

Yeah, I'm totally studying. Why do you ask?

Imma fight you!

My interpretation of the silky anteater (Cyclopes didactylus) in this picture, from our lecture notes:

Seriously, though, if you need to fill your adorable quotient for the day, just type in 'silky anteater' to google image or youtube. You won't be sorry. Unless 'silky anteater' also turns out to have an entry on urbandictionary.com. In which case, I apologize.

Doodles

Katie found these in an old notebook of hers. Not sure when I drew these, or why they were there, or really, why I drew a lamprey, but here you go.

Libel

What actually happened: I was in the living room. Katie had the tv on a hockey game. I didn't know who was playing but someone scored a goal. I say, "Goal!" to let Katie know. Katie comes in, yells, and says "it was the LA Kings you douchebag." Me: "Oh, I just inadvertently cheered for my own team....whoops."

But I suppose this version is pretty funny too.

Just now

Katie: Manta! Manta! You have to come see!
Me: What?
Katie: Ed Begley Jr. is in this episode of "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" and his butt is really big! *dissolves into giggles*
Me: Wow. You really are five years old.

Rain/Snow

To quote Arrested Development's Gob Bluth, "Oh, COME ON!"

I guess it's a good thing frolicking in the great outdoors isn't on my to-do list for tomorrow. I'm going to go listen to this song now.

Monthly Nickname: April Edition

As you may have surmised from the increased presence of fun animal facts on MTTPL, I am indeed studying for exams. "Exams? WHAT?" you may be thinking to yourself--if you don't go to McGill University that is. Well, my last day of school (EVER, unless of course I go to grad school, which, well, probably happening, but still) was Wednesday, and from now until April 29, I will be studying for my four finals, or examens en français. Which brings me to my April nickname:

EXAMANTA

And that's it, people. No more nicknames. Which means that, come May, my last month of being Montreal Manta, I will (finally) post a phylogeny of sorts of all my many many nicknames. My origin story, if you will. For those of you who have been wondering all along how I  came to be known as this gentle giant of the seas, have no fear: all will be revealed. Just like on Lost.  

Excerpt from Lecture 5

--Professor Millien, on why an insulating layer 

does not an endothermic creature make

It does, however, confer swankiness. 

This branch ain't big enough for the both of us

You probably recognize the creature on the left, but the one on the right may pose more of a challenge. It's a monito del monte (Dromiciops gliroides), which is a really big name for such a tiny thing. In addition to being really cute and smaller than snails, it is a South American marsupial that is actually closer related to the marsupials of Australia than it is to those of South America. 

Any bets on which one--snail or monito del monte--would win in a fight?

Mmmmammalia

I (obviously) didn't draw this, but I thought I'd repost it, 'cause it's funny. The dominant view of mammals is that they really only flourished after dinosaurs went extinct. While it is true that mammals remained small during the Age of the Dinosaurs, they were by no means rare or un-diversified, and some of them, like this beast, Repenomamus robustus, actually ate dinosaurs. So...take that, dinosaurs. 

Suggestion Box

So, we're heading into finals, MTTPL readers, which means that my output will significantly drop (although, I suppose, depending on how focused I am, it could potentially increase). But after that I'll have (only) one more month of being Montreal Manta, free of school or work or any other kind of nonsense obligations, in which to do all kinds of art!

At this time, I would like to open up the floor to you, faithful followers: is there anything you'd like me to illustrate? Any favourite moments from the past four years that escaped my pen and paper? Email me your suggestions at montreal.manta@gmail.com, and you may just see them pop up on this blog in the not-so-distant future.

And, as always, guest contributions are welcomed and cherished.

Zoodles

I have an essay due Tuesday, but after that I promise shiny new comics! For now, here are some more doodles from my summer job at the LA Zoo:

A List

Things to which Richard Crashaw compares tears in the poem "Saint Mary Magdalene, or The Weeper":

• blood
• thawing ice
• stars
• a gentle stream
• cream
• breakfast
• pearls
• dew
• medicine 
• gems
• a watery blossom
• wine
• a new bright guest
• rivers
• a silver stream
• rain
• baths
• milky doves
• floods
• baths
• portable & compendious oceans
• a bead
• brothers
• sons
• birds

Just in case you're stuck for a metaphor...

Nigel knows from roses

We had this bouquet of roses on our kitchen table and I can safely say I have never seen someone display so much irrational anger towards flowers before.

It kind of reminded me of that scene in "Arrested Development" where Tobias is trying to tell Michael not to bottle up his feelings because: "they will come out. Sometimes in the most unexpected--"

(Sorry about the embedded video being so big. I don't know how to fix it)

The moon, the moon

Night Owl

Get it? Get it? Because it's 1:30 in the morning, and I'm still up writing this essay.

I probably look about this happy right now too. Horned owls can't help it, though: they're just drawn that way.

"I am the alligator"

The title is a reference to one of my favourite quotes from James Joyce's Ulysses:

Who made those allegations? says Alf.

I, says Joe. I'm the alligator. 

Note: I'm on something of a teeth kick. Must be all that skull-drawin' I've been doing.