We're All Freaks and We All Suck (at something)

Read this:
"The Freak Factor: Discovering Uniqueness by Flaunting Weakness" by David Rendall (will open PDF)

            In David Rendall’s “Freak Factor: Discovering Uniqueness by Flaunting Weakness,” he examines how instead of working to fix the weaknesses of individuals, it is more beneficial to embrace them, focus on building up existing strengths, and finding ways to embrace your individual differences.  He explains how it is simply not worth the effort to focus on improving on weaknesses.  When you do this, it takes away from the time that could be used to develop and build strengths, which will be more beneficial in the long run.  If you try to do both, it will result in mediocrity on both ends, something that will not make you stand out over others.  I feel that this is a very valid statement.  Historically, people that are considered to be great in their field, whatever it may be, have dedicated a great number of hours throughout their lifetime developing their skills; often more hours than those around them that they end up surpassing.  It makes sense that in general, improving strengths is a better use of time than trying to improve weaknesses.  Even so, wouldn’t any individual rather spend time on doing what they do best as opposed something they are not so fond of?  However, I disagree with Rendall’s idea that that being well rounded is not necessarily a good thing.  I understand that it makes sense to be really good at one thing as opposed to sort of good at many things, but being a well rounded individual will come in handy very often in life.  The whole strength and weakness concept, however, reinforces my ideas about myself as a creative person.  It reiterates the time that I must put in harnessing my strengths and developing my craft working with music.

            Being really good at something is great.  However, unless the skill or talent is being used in the right way in the right time and place, it could be considered essentially useless.  For example, the best closet musician is not going to make it very far; the same goes for the closet graphic designer or idealistic thinker.  This is the constant pain of the talented creative person whose talent is their hobby as they work an unrelated day-to-day job to make ends meet.  Until they find the right spot, their hopes and dreams will remain dreams.  Once they find their niche, they will unlock the key to success.  This will likely involve finding the right team of people to compliment each other’s strengths and weaknesses.  While one person may be very good at one thing, they are not good at everything.  They must find the proper environment and circumstances to allow themselves to succeed.  Rendell uses the example of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.  At first, Rudolph is made fun of and ostracized from all the other young reindeer because of his abnormally glowing nose.  When he found the right situation where he could use his abnormality to benefit the greater good, he received a great deal of praise.  Personally, I’m not exactly sure what kind of work I want to be doing after my schooling is complete; I just know that I want it to involve music in some way.  As a guitar player and a future recording engineer, I’ll have to find my fit and see where I work the best and spawn the most benefit.  Got to find the right fit.

            It is good to be a freak.  To be different is to stand out, which if used the right way will get you very far in life.  Historically, some of our world’s great thinkers and inventors are the ones who dared to do something different.  These are the people who in their lifetime suffered great scrutiny from those around them that conformed to their time’s society.  Often after the fact, their ideas and inventions caught on and changed the world.  Even in a more modern context, if someone is making music or art that looks or sounds like already existing material; the artist is not going to make it very far.  It can be very good art, but if it does not fill a niche, it won’t catch on; if it is similar to art of the past, their potential audience will just flock to the already established greats.  I really liked Rendell’s example of this concept involving the Tower of Pisa.  He discussed how throughout history, there have been a few occasions when diplomatic leaders tried to see for the straightening of the leaning tower.  If the tower were straight, what appeal would it have?  Sure it’s a nice tower, but if it were not for its faults it would certainly not be a widely recognized icon around the world.  This concept is something I have thought about with my music.  If I make music that sounds like somebody else’s, any potential audience is going to listen to the artists that I’m mimicking.  However, if I gather influence across the board and create a new sound that people haven’t heard before, it will bring more of an appeal to my music. 

            I like the creative process.  From a young age, I feel that I have been practicing creative thinking in drawing, creating characters, stories, music, and more.  I suppose now that I think about it, I am able to see some of my strengths and weaknesses in the creative process.  When it comes to songwriting, I feel that a strength is coming up with a good foundation for a song, a good base chord progression and melody.  However, sometimes I get caught up in the tune and am not able come up with a contrasting B-section for relief.  Often I can and it works out great, but sometimes I have trouble completing the overall product beginning to end.  With that, however, I feel that I have a good sense of imagining the overall picture or sound and understanding what small details must be added to complete the picture and make the finished product that much better.  As far as the creative process, I feel like one of my strengths is having an idea and building upon it with details to bring it to life.  Also I feel that I am very good with logistics in planning, coordinating, and executing events.  This is one of the things I’ve considered as a career path, but only time will tell.  This question is difficult to expand upon, because the “creative process” is a very broad term.  I have various strengths and weaknesses in different sects of the creative world, whether its creating characters, stories, shooting films, making music, or whatever the nature may be. Hmm.

Acknowledge Your Lizard: Reinvent Yourself in Today's Society

Read this:
Seth Godin's "Brainwashed: Seven Ways to Reinvent Yourself" (will open PDF)

To acknowledge the lizard is to acknowledge the little piece of our mind that has the second thoughts about doing something different.  Often the people that are successful are the ones that are doing something different and doing it well.  To get there, we must know that the lizard is always present, but by understanding it, we can learn to avoid it and get to where we want to get, breaking through a textbook society and avoiding living cookie cutter lives.  Connecting to people around you (physical or virtual) is one of the most important things an individual can do.  Not only will each individual benefit by way of the whole community’s collective intelligence, but also having the support of a community in whatever endeavors each individual may take can make or break and idea.  Being generous is another huge important concept.  Within a community and in life, often what goes around comes around.  With this, if one is generous with their ideas, creativity, and care, their generosity will spread like wildfire, making the community as a whole better off.

Throughout this here blog that every student in the Scripps College of Media Arts and Studies must build during their time in Mdia203, we are challenged with fairly open-ended assignments that exercise our mind in processes of creativity and analysis.  In many cases, we must find and select a bit of media, whether it’s a video, a song, a classic that we love, or something that we just stumbled upon in the efforts of completing the assignment.  Whatever it may be we must be confident and selective in our decisions; we must take our lizard within and shove it to the side.  In acknowledging our lizards, we must overcome the fear of scrutiny and follow through in our drive to do something different.  Personally, I feel that I have overcome my lizard in the selection in some of the material I have examined.  When we get to choose any scene from basically anything that we are able to work from and complete the assignment, naturally I (hopefully most others, too) tried to think out of the box to present something that I truly love that others may not have seen or heard.  I landed on the “Dental Hygiene Dilemma,” an excerpt from Frank Zappa’s 200 Motels, a very avant-garde work.  I know that the whole thing is pretty out there by just about every standard, but I enjoy it and had a good time dissecting it.  In lieu of the lizard concept, Frank Zappa is a prime example.  He made highly academically technical but socially unacceptable music and art throughout his lifetime.  Many considered him a genius and many a nut, but regardless he was confident with his creations (just watch some of the work he did with claymation artist Bruce Bickford).

Being primarily for class assignments, this blog is not really intended to connect with more than the ones grading these posts.  However, it is on the Internet.  This means that really anybody can access it as long as they are able to find it, so there is potential for this blog to spread across a mass audience, connecting people, and in turn somehow benefitting social welfare.  However, due to the nature of this blog and the lack of personal effort to springboard promotion and the spread of this information, I don’t really see it happening.  Regardless, because it’s on the Internet, it has the potential for mass connection.

            This blog is pretty generous, I’d say.  It presents the reader with thought-provoking ideas along with some useful information in the ways of dissecting certain elements of creative media.  Being in today’s technological age of information, this blog adds to the unbelievable amount of information available at our fingertips.  Perhaps, when people see this and learn how color, light, and shape creates mood for a character or how to storyboard a scene, they will be better off.  Also, perhaps it will inspire them to make information available to others just as was available to themselves, adding to the greater good and our people’s collective abilities and intelligence.

            These assignments and this blog help to make us media students more well rounded in our fields with just that much more experience under our belts; just as this class, as well as the 203-204-205 cluster aims to do.  While some of these assignments are very time consuming and monotonous, many were fairly enjoyable and did help me to gain practice in various aspects of the field and in different ways of creatively thinking.  In retrospect, good job.

More than just Squares and Cubes

BEAT from or bar-el on Vimeo.

I feel that the theme of this animation is about not letting a creative mind go to waste.  It reminds us that within us we all have the potential to do something different, think creatively, and come up with something new even in today's highly structured society.  Sometimes the drive to do something different may sit a little uneasy, not only for the owner of the creative mind, but especially for an outsider looking in.  However, when the creative mind is allowed to roam and wander as it pleases, it often results in satisfaction and a feeling of freedom.  This is an active theme, as we know just as much as the main character and the information we receive is released slowly through his actions, as opposed to blatant reoccurring broad thematic ideas, actions, or statements.

In this animated video, Or Bar-El sets the scene by portraying the high level of affinity between all of the cube beings working in this giant yuppie cube enterprise.  To establish the level of conformity in this place, all of the angles are squared up with the many establishing lines in the picture, such as the parallel lines running down the walls, along the desk, around the pen, and even throughout the character.  All of the shots toward the beginning are very standard shots and are easy on the eyes.  As the main character has his revelation and begins to alter the routine and add in different musical rhythms, the angles of the shot are more cockeyed, portraying feelings of insanity and opposition to everything that makes up reality in the world.  This makes the plot interesting by adding contrast between this one character and the other seemingly infinite number of block people.  The rhythm of the editing adds to the establishment of the theme as well.  After the block dude starts his revelation, the shots and the editing become more sporadic to mimic what is happening in the story and to release the tension that has been built up by the simple, standard, on-beat shots complimenting the audio and the character’s actions.  When block dude starts to freak himself out a bit and draw all over the walls, the shots change much quicker than they have been up until this point.  By the end, the shots are mostly at bizarre, cockeyed angles and jump from establishing shots to close-ups and many are shaking erratically.  The decisions that are made in building the shots really do a lot in subconsciously portraying the plot and theme to the viewer in a highly stylistic, artistic way.

Cruisin' Down The Street in my 6-4

Ker-Splat

The Many Hues of Popeye the Sailor Man

In the still of Bluto (what a punk) from the Popeye cartoon, he is standing at the corner of the boxing ring, trying to look tough before his face-off with Popeye.  The hue of his skin tone is a fairly average tan for portraying a Caucasian in a cartoon.  His skin tone however is a bit more saturated and bronze than Popeye’s.  Aside from that, black seems to be his overall color scheme.  His black boxing shorts in conjunction with his thick black beard and black hat send the message that this guy is a crook.  The background is fairly bright and very plain, with the floor of the boxing ring and the background sporting the same tan-ish green-ish color.  The dark area obstructing view on the left side adds contrast to the overall picture.  The image contains no shadows.  The mood of the photo is fairly positive as it contains many bright neutral colors, but Bluto’s dark colors portray some darker feelings.  This relates to his deceptive character and how the boxing match to come is highly unfair because Bluto has sabotaging any of Popeye’s chances of winning on the way to the fight.

In the image of Olive Oyl feeding a disheveled Popeye some trusty spinach, the overall image has a much darker hue.  This is probably due to them being underneath the boxing ring that Popeye just fell through.  In the background, contrast is made between the brightness and saturation of the floor and the dark underside of the ring.  As the outside walls of the ring are totally black, to allow for a sense of space and shape, their “ceiling” is a dark gray.  As far as the characters, Popeye and Olive Oyl both sport a red hue of different saturations.  This continuity links the two characters as a team or partnership.  Olive Oyl’s dark skirt and heels allow for a very conservative look.  Popeye’s bright white hat lets the audience know that he is the loveable protagonist.  This image contains some shadows as it takes place in a dark crevasse with little light.  The green spinach represents hope and a release from the tension in the episode because it gives Popeye the power he needs to defeat Bluto.  The mood is one of hope.  It is somewhat dark and scary where they are, but brightly colored Olive Oyl has a big smile on her face as she assists Popeye to his victory.

Dental Hygiene Dilemma Dissected

In the “Dental Hygiene Dilemma,” the art director certainly followed all of the basic rules for setting up shots and scenery.  At no point in the entire scene does the audience’s view cross over the 180 degree line.  For the most part, the angles are fairly squared off and keep a consistent perspective of the room.

The artist did, however, make good use of the rule of thirds throughout the scene.  In the intro sequence with the scholarly duck, the dental equipment is placed in the left third of the shot.  With the bouncing duck small and centered in the shot, the focus is on the right third of the shot where his screen is flashing sporadic dental-related images.  After entering Jeff’s room through the mouth on the duck’s screen and zooming out from the close-up of the television, the view of the entire bedroom is set up using the rule of thirds.  The main focuses in this shot are on the television and on Jeff lying anxious on his bed.  Dividing the shot into thirds, the brightly colored television is in the upper right third and Jeff is lying down on his bed, centered in the lower horizontal third of the shot.  When Jeff stands up, he ends up vertically in the left third of the shot.

All the cuts, pans, or zooms obey the 30-rule as they change at least by 30% or 30 degrees.  Most of the changes are from a wide shot of the room to a close-up of an object in the room.  For example, in the intro the shot zooms in at least 30% to get from the view of the duck in the dentist’s office to the screen on the wall, as well as zooming from a wide view of Jeff’s room to the close up of the television.

The shots in this scene are very simple and straightforward, as they obey all the basic rules without cutting any corners.  The directing of the scene is well done but it certainly does not jump out at me as being especially artful and creative in setting up the shots.  However, I feel that more artful and creative focus was put into the content of the scene and the avant-garde morphing of the objects within, such as everything going on in the television.

Eleanor... Eleanor Rigby

Eleanor Rigby by The Beatles

Rhythm
Source - Orchestra
Time/Tempo - Moderately uptempo ~135 bpm
Groove - Somewhat sinister, heartfelt empathy
Arrangement
Instrumentation - Orchestra, vocals
Structure/Organization - Intro/verse/chorus/verse/chorus/etc
Emotional Architecture - Simple stoccato driving force during verse, slight build-up for reoccurring hook
Sound Quality
Height - Artfully uses simplicity and silence - has a relatively small frequency range yet maintains a full sound with deep strings, tenor vocals, as well as higher stringed instruments
Width - Good broad width... has harmonies dedicated to either side, as well as melody + background on either side during hook
Depth - Not much depth, very simple... vocals + strings

Eleanor Rigby as performed by Aretha Franklin 

Rhythm
Source - The rhythm section... drums/percussion, bass + keys
Time/Tempo - Largely uptempo feel ~ 140 bpm (somewhat surprisingly close to The Beatles)
Groove - yes.   Very upbeat, incredibly soulful
Arrangement
Instrumentation - Vocal melody + rhythm section
Structure/Organization - Intro/verse/chorus/verse/chorus/etc, bridge/build-up section
Emotional Architecture - Starts soulful and upbeat, ends even more soulful and upbeat
Sound Quality
Height - Good range, bass/rhythm section + higher background vocals and horns (tambourine, too)
Width - Good division of various layered rhythms on either side, i.e. organ and guitar
Depth - Many layers of rhythms working together to make you move

            As far as The Beatles’ version of their tune, “Eleanor Rigby,” the overall sound is quite radically different from much of their other material.  The composition itself sounds fairly in-tune with the rest of their work being done at the time, but the instrumentation is drastically different.  The layers of sound as a whole are very simple, as the overall instrumentation consists of only the vocal melody and the string octet.  While this composition is free of any typical Beatles’ pop instrument backing, the strings have the duty of driving the rhythm and providing any and all support to the melody.  That being said, this turns out as a very simple and artful piece, highly recognizable in pop culture, even today.

While in England, The Beatles were certainly paying close attention to some of the early popular black music being made at the time in the United States.  This was the period when pop music was coming into being and much of the soul found in church music was making its way into the recording studio.  This becomes fairly obvious when listening to some of the vocal styling’s of The Beatles compared to black soul artists of the time.  As it happens to be, the favor was returned several years down the road when renditions of Beatles’ songs were being recorded by artists such as Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Wes Montgomery, The Jackson 5, Richie Havens, and many more.
Aretha’s version takes the same lyrics and structural framework of the Beatles’ version but totally builds it from the ground up.  In the arrangement from Live at Fillmore West, she has an incredibly stacked line-up of backing musicians (Cornell Dupree, Jerry Jemmott, Bernard Purdie, Billy Preston, King Curtis & The Kingpins, and more) playing a fairly standard instrumentation for the time.  Instead of artful simplicity with a string section, Aretha takes the path of electric guitar, bass, organ, drum kit, percussion, a horn section, and backing vocals.  Her studio version is rather enjoyable, but if you’re going to listen you might as well go for the version from 1971’s “Live at Fillmore West”.  This beefed-up, soulful version of The Beatles’ classic tune is more upbeat and really captures that hard-to-explain magical energy that is often found in live soul and R&B recordings.  Aretha’s version includes many rhythms working independently that when layered makes for a very full sound that tends to result in foot tapping, head nodding, or even dancing.  While I regard the original version by The Beatles as a great classic tune, the Aretha Franklin version just seems to rub me in more so the right way.

Dental Hygiene Dilemma

Frank Zappa - Dental Hygiene Dilemma (Excerpt from 200 Motels)

As one might expect from a cartoon put out by Frank Zappa, the music and sound design has a great deal of thought put into it.  As is on par with much of Zappa's work, some of the motifs tend to be very scatterbrained and hectic.  However, I feel that the tension is used quite stylishly and appropriately as the main character, Jeff, is having a mental episode as he battles with his inner-self.  There are a variety of listening modes included, as causal sound effects are put into play with the cartoon, such as when the television spits or simply when Jeff is fidgeting on his bed.  There are also some more "cartoony" semantic sounds, such as when the bad conscious shakes his head, followed by Jeff nodding his head, both sounding like mallets hitting coconuts.  In addition, there is a great deal of ambience used.  Whether it be through composed music or more subtle nonsensical sounds, it really has a powerful effect on the scene.  The Gestalt Principal is used fairly heavily in the cartoon via the principals of illusion and figure and ground.  Throughout the scene, illusion is used quite frequently.  This is when a few ambient sounds are layered over each other, sometimes in conjunction with sporadic music, to create a largely hectic feeling.  Often it sounds like there is more going on than there actually is.  Also, figure and ground is portrayed as Jeff may be speaking in the front of the shot while his surroundings may be making background noise, whether it be his good conscious on the television screen or other ambience from various sources.

Finding My Howl

In "Finding Your Howl", a story by Jonathon Flaum, the remaining population of a species of wolves are raised in captivity in an effort to be protected, then their offspring are released into the wild to live.  The story focuses on one wolf named Mumon, who instinctually hunts for his food, but is overall unsatisfied and cannot seem to find his place in the world.  He is looking for his howl.  For some reason, he feels remorse for the deer he hunted for himself to eat and survive, despite the presence of a raven who also thrives off the kill.  When on the brink of death, staring into the barrel of a shotgun held by a farmer, Mumon had a spiritual experience involving tribal chants and dances.  He then came to, found that he was surrounded by his pack, howling at the moon.  He had then found his howl.


"Sojourn of Arjuna" by Béla Fleck & The Flecktones
So Arjuna and Krishna you know they're hanging out on the battlefield
Arjuna is like tired of war, he's trying to get out of this battle
so Krishna drops a little science on him, he says you know it's the way of
spiritual growth
a man must go forth from where he stands
he cannot jump to the absolute, he must evolve toward it (can you hear that)
Krishna says at any given moment in time we are what we are
Arjuna we have to accept the consequences of being ourselves
and only through this acceptance can we begin to evolve further
we may select the battleground but we cannot avoid the battle

so Krishna tells Arjuna it follows therefore that every action under certain
circumstances and for certain people may actually be a stepping stone to
spiritual growth

Arjuna is to do the best he knows
in order to pass beyond that best to better
how can we prescribe our neighbors to be perfect
when it is so hard to know our own heart
the pacifist must respect Arjuna
Arjuna must respect the pacifist.
both are going toward the same goal
if they are really sincere
there's an underlying solidarity between them
which can be expressed
each one follows without compromise the path upon which he finds himself
for we can only help others to do their duty
by doing what we ourselves believe to be right
it is the one supremely social act.

so Kirshna's reply to Arjuna occupies the rest of the story
it deals not only with Arjuna's immediate personal problem
but the whole nature of action
the meaning of life
and the aims for which man must struggle here on earth
at the end of the conversation Arjuna has changed his mind
he's ready to fight, he's ready to go ahead on
it is the way of spiritual growth
a man must go forward from where he stands
he cannot jump to the absolute
and the battle begins...




I have always felt that the lyrics to this song are very deep and loaded with thought provoking ideas.  In the first line, it is established that the two characters are "hanging out on the battlefield."  Based on the content of the rest of the song, I feel that the term "battlefield" might allude to the battlefield that we call life.  Nothing involving war or any literal battle is brought up for the rest of the story.  However, the lyrics deal with life and personal growth in a broad sense.  It suggests that throughout our lifetime we are always seeking emotional and spiritual growth and must harness our opportunities for such.  The lyrics state that "every action under certain circumstances and for certain people may actually be a stepping stone to spiritual growth."  This line speaks very strongly to me, as I have found truth in this before.  It implies that any kind of action or experience may make a person stronger, but it is up to the person to allow themselves to grow.
This reminds me of a time several years ago when I felt that I hit a peak in finding myself and establishing personal philosophies.  At summer camp, I had passed the age of being a camper and was ready to start transitioning into being a staff member.  During that transition year, we serve as staff in training.  This is a time when we are starting to see the innards of camp and how it functions as well as beginning to learn about how to lead a group of campers to having the best summers of their lives.  However, some responsibilities fall on us aside from shadowing and helping out staff with leading kids and running activities.  It is also our responsibility to set up and clean the dining hall as well as serve food to each table.  This is a huge part of the staff in training summer that I have found can really make or break one's experience.  Being thrown into these responsibilities with some of your closest friends from over the years really brings out everybody's true colors as everybody's relationships shift slightly from being purely social to now having to work together as a team.  Being in this situation of having to do some labor as far as distributing piles of plates, silverware, and food to dozens of tables serving hundreds of people, as well as cleaning up and taking out the trash after each meal really changed my perception on life a bit.  This is related to where the real shift took place, which was on a backpacking trip deep in the Allegheny woods of Pennsylvania.  Amidst a long hike through the woods, it occurred to me that if we feel things are getting tough, we must be emotionally strong and make the best of it, regardless of our situation or setting (such as being deep in the the forest).  I found that it is really not worth the trouble to get hung up about something and let it affect your emotions and especially those of the people around you.  Life tends to be much better when we are in a more positive mood from day to day, regardless of the things we have going on in our lives.  Everybody has their own set of issues and problems, but when life can be lived with pride and have everything taken in stride, the individuals quality of life will surely improve.
From that summer, I have been able to take away an outlook on life that still holds true from day to day.  It's not worth it to be upset over things.  Being happy is far more fun, exciting, and entertaining.  With that, as far as personal growth is concerned we may select the battleground but we cannot avoid the battle.

Particle Man vs. Universe Man

Particle Man

Particle Man has a mainly squiggly body with a circular center.  His squiggles represent his rash and impulsive personality that makes him crazy like a wildcard.  He is also only as big as a particle so it makes it tough to keep track of where he is and what he is doing.  This makes him a threatening super villain due to his unfair advantageous abilities to camouflage and be incognito.  He has become very good at harnessing his abilities to sneak around and wreak havoc.  His small circular body implies that he does have a slight compassionate side and growing ever increasingly insane in the brain.

He always seems to be lurking in the shadows and rarely comes into the light.  Because of his small size and his quick and speedy nature it makes him difficult to follow and keep track of.  His shadowy figure also alludes to his evil ways.  Particle Man is a little tiny figure that constantly is bringing peril to the universe.  He often speeds around outer-space trying to destroy planets, mess with meteors, and basically stirring up whatever kind of chaos he can.  Few have seen him in direct light, but he has many enemies all over the universe.

Particle Man is made up of several shades of gray and black.  Again, it alludes to his dark and evil nature.  His shades of gray are centered around a charcoal color, implying that he is filthy mad and unappealing like black soot of burning charcoal.  Particle Man is very rude and is easy to get into fights with his enemies.  It is typical of him to get in the way of other people's plans and agendas just for the sake of getting in the way.  Particle Man likes a good fight.  He is very fond of taunting people by leaving notes and clues to some of his big evil plots.

Universe Man

Universe Man is a powerful super hero that watches over and protects the universe from any potential danger.  He is a chiseled masculine figure who's body resembles a rectangle and head resembles a triangle.  His rectangular body implies bravery, determination, and his quest for peace across the universe.  The triangular qualities portray his ambition, strength, and leadership.  Universe Man constantly has a watchful eye over things happening in the universe.  He pays especially close attention to the evil doings of evil particles such as Particle Man.  Should he need to, he is never afraid to give Particle Man a nice whack on the head with a frying pan.

Universe Man tends to always be well-lit where ever he goes.  He constantly emanates a glowing light due to his great heroic nature.  This could also be in part because he has an orb in his chest that has many similar characteristics to a star such as our sun.  This orb has much to do with his super strength.  When he focuses his mental power, he can shoot a blast of bright fiery energy out of his chest to thwart the plans of his enemies when they are trying to destroy planets and interrupt the peace and tranquility of the universe.

Universe Man has a dark black background on his suit because he represents the universe and much of the universe is made up of dark black space.  However, he does have bright colors on his suit, mainly blue, yellow, and orange.  His color scheme is made up of a mix of complimentary colors and analogous colors, as blue is complimentary to orange which is analogous to yellow and red.  These bright colors allude to his friendliness, compassion, and heroic nature.  Universe Man also loves creatures and beings of all colors of the rainbow, from all places across the universe.  As long as they are not pure evil such as Particle Man, Universe Man is out to protect and serve.

Rocky Saves the Day

Rocket J. Squirrel

Rocket J. Squirrel, more commonly known as Rocky, just may be the most super hero I know.  He is so friendly and lovable and never fails to stir up those emotions.  He always seems to be picking up slack from his clumsy sidekick, Bullwinkle Moose, never failing to entertain.  In addition, Rocky always seems to have some good ideas in spoiling the evil plots of their arch nemeses, Boris and Natasha.