Hi. My name's Rob Schamberger. I'm that guy who paints rasslers. And other stuff. I don't have any reasons, I've left them all behind.

The New York Life Building, Kansas City, MO

Watercolor on 12” x 16” watercolor paper

I painted this up to support my wife Katy’s book Oldest Kansas City. She’ll have mini-prints of them at some of her appearances promoting it, if you happen to be in and around the Kansas City area.

At the time it was built, it was the tallest building in Kansas City and the first to have an elevator. It’s a gorgeous structure and Katy’s favorite in the downtown area. I was very interested to apply a lot of the tools and techniques I’ve been using with my portrait art on something geometric like this. I’m very happy with the results! It’s fun to go outside of a comfortable subject matter but use relatively the same approach.

I did another painting of this focused on the eagle sculpture that I feel like is one of the best things I’ve ever painted and I’ll share that with you next week.

Here’s a preview of Thursday’s new Eddie Kingston painting. I had a genuine journey working on this one and I’ll tell you all about it when the prints come out.

Card subject to change.

Rob’s Art on ShopAEW
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Rob and Jason Arnett's novella Rudow Can't Fail!
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Rob’s prints and shirts at Pro Wrestling Tees
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Bluesky
Cara
YouTube
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Katy’s book Oldest Kansas City

This was honestly one of my favorite years ever for movies. I’m sure a big part of that was my intentionality to go see them in the theaters more often, but it was also an embarrassment of riches with what I saw. Here’s some brief thoughts, in order of when I saw them.

I missed seeing Anora in the theater but it played great at home. One of those wonderful Wild Night stories that keeps unfolding and unfolding with new layers of wonder, danger and beauty.

I wish I’d gone into Companion totally unaware of what it was about, but there was still a lot of wonderful twists and turns. I watched it again when it hit streaming and got another level of appreciation, spotting when various elements were being set up.

On social media I saw people asking, “Other than Sinners, what was your favorite movie of the year?” I love that for this movie, that so many people just sort of understand that this was the best of the year. I could spend hours just talking about the actual movie magic that was the dance scene. My hairs literally stood up on end, I was so in awe of what I was experiencing.

The Phoenician Scheme is, I believe, the first Wes Anderson movie I saw in the theater and I loved every minute of it. Full of ludicrous moments but not losing sight of its heart. It’s like a prestige version of Top Secret, if that makes sense.

Honey Don’t! is a Coen movie that feels like a Coen movie, like when Rick Rubin produced Johnny Cash. It’s a classic gritty detective story but queer as hell and not afraid to speak directly to the culture of today. This flew under the cultural radar and that’s a damn shame because it’s rad.

My inner child and I both loved watching Superman. I loved everything about it, every age of me, it all worked.

She Rides Shotgun was a mostly-good movie until the final scene when it elevated into a level of emotional authenticity that I didn’t know was possible. Easily the most haunting image of anything I saw this year.

What an experience Weapons was! We went opening weekend and saw it with a full theater and we were all INTO IT. Hootin’ and hollerin’ and screamin’ and it was so cool. Yesterday morning I was at a stoplight and there was a woman in her car across the intersection and I could only see a shock of red hair, pale skin and bright red lipstick and I said to myself, “Weapons, 2025.”

Caught Stealing is easily the most fun Aronofsky movie to date, which isn’t that big of a thing since he works in a deep trauma area for the most part with his films but it still felt notable. It’s like a 70’s exploitation take on Scorcese’s After Hours, set in a pre-9/11 pre-cellphone 90’s New York where doing a simple favor for someone can set you on a life-changing track. Austin Butler was simply fantastic in it, too. Maybe the greatest Save the Cat story I’ve seen.

One Battle After Another, like Honey, Don’t! is Paul Thomas Anderson back to form. It’s sobering how present and in the moment this story feels. DiCaprio’s best performance in a while, Sean Penn is a stand-in for the evils of ICE in a way that no one knew would be as accurate as it is, and wow Benicio del Toro up and did two classic movies in one year. And yeah, Teyana Taylor is going to be a massive star.

I was lucky to see Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein in the theater. It’s easily the best adaptation of the Mary Shelley story to date and is a gorgeous achievement unto itself.

Blue Moon has stuck with me, in the back of my head nonstop since seeing it. I’m a fan of Richard Linklater and Ethan Hawke, but this depiction of a huge creator not knowing that he’s about to become a footnote in someone else’s story and that he’s the cause of his own downfall is a level of mature storytelling is masterful.

Predator: Badlands was simply badass, especially in 3D. It pushes the concept in new and unexpected directions, tying it to the Alien universe but not in cute or limiting ways, just ways that make sense for the story being told. And I could watch that little bastard fight carnivorous trees all day, knowumsayin? Fun, cool stuff.

A lot of this week’s warmups, the second through the fifth ones, were me experimenting with granulating watercolors. It’s a very unpredictable medium so that makes it perfect for these little warmups.

Here’s a cool curiosity from exactly sixty years ago: A TV special of a bunch of other musical acts performing Beatles songs, hosted by Lennon and McCartney themselves who also perform with the rest of the Fab Four. It ranges from contemporary performers to full orchestras to an organist and there’s of course lots of go-go dancers.

On Monday we got our first snow of the season here in Kansas City. My upstairs studio looks down the hill on the rest of our block and it creates a gorgeous visual when a big snow like this falls. Nice composition there, Mother Nature!

We got about four inches and driving on Monday and Tuesday was pretty dicey but overall not too bad. It was a powdery snow so it was easy to shovel. Since our block is on a pretty steep hill I went ahead and shoveled all the way down. Hey, why not.

Love you more,
Rob