cartoon briz

one of my favorite redskins websites (aside from my own redskins website, of course) is the Official Redskins Blog, run by regular-dude-turned-skins-insider matt terl, who posts funny stories and fascinating off-the-field news about the team every day.  among my favorite features on terl’s blog is a skins-based comic strip called HAIL!, which pokes fun at many of the team’s biggest stars.  the illustrator is a professional studio artist and huge skins fan named ben ceccarelli.

i have long yearned to be cartoonized by ceccarelli in a HAIL!-style comic or avatar, so yesterday i worked up the gall to proposition the artist directly, via twitter.  turns out he is a very funny and personable guy, and yes, he does portraits on commission, and he even offered me a “redskins blogger” discount.  but the price tag was still a little much for the ever-tightening carothers budget, so i countered with an offer of free “ad” space in the sidebar on my momentum-gaining blog.

he loved the idea.  and here is the result of our barter:

this thing blows me away.  it’s the perfect animated summary of who i am and what i want to be.  the guy’s never even met me before, but he transformed a blurry, candid iPhone pic of my puffy, unshaven morning-face into the Mona Lisa of caricatures.  and all i had to do was rep him on The Brood.

if i never accomplish another thing of significance in my entire life, i will die satisfied knowing that this image exists.

Bad Boys

my stepdad plays a lot of golf, so every once in a while there’s someone famous (or occasionally infamous) in his foursome.  check out his playing partners from last week… one of them is pretty Big Time.

you might remember him from such box office crack-ups as “blue streak,” “black knight,” and “national security.”  if not, you’ll surely recall his long-running self-titled sitcom… “martin!”

that’s right; the little guy next to dob rocking the dark shades, all-white sneaks, and plaid cargos is none other than martin “damn, gina!” lawrence.

click the photo for a high-res version.