Ken Cow's Scrapbook

Brandon Bird

The art of Brandon Bird has captured the imaginations of a generation. He masterfully utilizes a variety of traditional art styles with injections of pop culture in an almost Warhol-like way. Some of his favorite subjects include Mr. T, Law and Order, Edward Norton, Chuck Norris, and Christopher Walken, pictured here building a robot in his den on a lazy sunday afternoon.

Bioshock

Bioshock is one of the most critically acclaimed video games of the next generation. Far from the first-person shooter paradigm of its forefathers, Bioshock is a much more visceral, much more sophisticated, much more aesthetically valuable experience. Instead of shooting alien invaders, the player is immersed into a deep (pardon the pun) narrative taking place in a failed undersea Objectivist utopia. If the artistic merit of video games were ever in question, Bioshock easily puts those doubts to rest.

Human Marvels

The Enigma and (former) wife Katzen have taken both performance and body art to the next level. As human canvases, they have seemingly singled themselves out from the nine-to-five world. The Enigma has covered himself from head to toe with blue jigsaw pieces and inserted subdermal horns in his forehead, among other modifications. Katzen has resigned herself to becoming some sort of feline humanoid, covered in tiger stripes complete with permanent whisker-like piercings. Their performances routinely involve guitars, smoke, pyrotechnics, sledge hammers, nails, and buzz saws.

Homestar Runner

What began as a storybook written by a couple of bored Atlanta brothers has sprung into an Internet phenomenon. Homestar Runner is unique in many ways. First, it is an entertianing flash cartoon that can actually be enjoyed by all. There is no profanity or objectionable content whatsoever. Second, there is not a single advertisement or banner begging for donations. The cost for the insane amount of bandwidth required by the website is actually covered by merchandise sales. Third, the flash animation is top-notch.

Metal Gear

The Metal Gear series of video games has blurred the lines between cinema and video gaming. Visionary director Hideo Kojima of Konami began the series on the MSX home computer in the early 90's. Hardware limitations gave birth to a new style of gameplay. Instead of shooting every enemy soldier that comes around, series protagonist Snake spends most of his time hiding from and deceiving enemy soldiers. To achieve this, Snake uses a variety of tools, from guns to cardboard boxes to Playboy magazines. The setting consists of a beautiful mesh of realism and outlandish sci-fi fantasy. For example, Metal Gear Solid 3 takes place in 1964 and showcases meticulous attention to detail and historical accuracy depicting the Cold War, yet some of the adversaries Snake will come in contact with include a ghost, a bisexual sadistic boxer with electricity flowing through his body, and a man who is covered in bees. The series carries a heavy handed message about nuclear weapons and takes inspiration from films such as The Great Escape, The Terminator, Escape from New York, even The Naked Gun and Austin Powers.

Updated September 29, 2008