Another Icon of My Misspent Youth Has Passed Away

Frank Frazetta, a guy who needs no introduction to his fans and those familiar with his work and somebody who if you didn't know about his artwork is your loss. He was most famous for his work doing illustrations for the Conan comics, but his talents spread far beyond that. He inspired and indeed did a lot of cover art for some of the most iconic rock albums of the 70's and 80's.

He joins another one of my favorite artists Dave Mann, who did artwork for the biker world and various biker magazines like Heavy Metal, where they are no doubt comparing notes.

They were both representative of the free lifestyle we all imagined living at the time.

Rest in peace.

Another Marine Violating Regulations

You have to use titles like that to get picked up by any of web aggregators. They love headlines which bash America and it's institutions, so who am I to continue fighting it. As they say in Iraq "embrace the suck".
Here is the real story. One of those uneducated, uncouth, down on his luck citizens who had no other choice in life but to join the military is now responsible for getting a display of Iraqi art by real Iraqi artists on display in New York.

In a side street of Soho, at a gallery aptly named Pomegranate, an interesting coincidence of circumstances has led a US Marine to bring Iraqi art to Manhattan.

It began when Christopher Brownfield, then a US Marine, was stationed as a military liaison officer in Baghdad's Green Zone.

The story is a compelling one of how this Marine built a relationship with artists in the Iraqi community and got them to believe and trust in him. Being a Marine he kept his word to the Iraqi's who befriended him. It is stories like this and hundreds of others which have enabled us to win in Iraq. it is not our chest thumping, hot air spewing politicians on capitol hill. This is why we will have a strong friend in the Middle East for years to come, just like the countries of the New Europe, who now free of the yoke of the Soviet Union are becoming our steadfast friends, while the Old European countries continue to decline and become irrelevant.
The display is one of modern art, and I have to admit I don't quite get it and the few pictures with the article really don't give you the whole picture, but it is just another symbol of how those men and women on the ground are doing more then just killing the bad guys and committing atrocities like the folks at McClatchy and their ilk would have you believe.
This is the new Greatest Generation and fully deserving of every bit of respect and admiration as the previous Greatest Generation.