Friday, April 30, 2004
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Posted by
bigbaldkid
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4/30/2004 01:08:00 PM
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hey,i'm here at cosi today. then we're gonna run around the capitol city for a while . maybe ill find a good comic shop up here. the family understands a man quest for comics,not really.
--bigbaldkid (permalink)
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Thursday, April 29, 2004
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Posted by
Dara
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4/29/2004 12:18:00 PM
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How to get a job if you're a freelancer
From Buddy Scalera's column:
"Years ago, Jimmy Palmiotti told me that there is an imaginary triangle that determines if a freelancer will get work. On the three points of this triangle there is: �Good,� �Fast,� and �Likeable.�
He explained that if you have any two of those, you�ll probably get work. If you have all three, you�ll always be employed. "
--Dara (permalink)
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Posted by
Dara
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4/29/2004 12:07:00 PM
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Graphic teen angst
San Fransisco Bay Guardian senior editor Lynn Rapoport looks at looks at teen angst in comic books, reviewing such books as Black Hole, DEMO, Potential, Blankets, and Zero Girl.
"I DON'T THINK I understood the emotional kick in the teeth a good comic could provide until I started looking at the bedroom walls of a Berkeley High School student named Ariel Schrag. It was 2000, and Slave Labor Graphics had just published her comic book Potential, a 224-page, painfully detailed account � graphic in multiple senses � of her junior year at school."
--Dara (permalink)
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Posted by
Dara
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4/29/2004 09:28:00 AM
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Wednesday, April 28, 2004
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Posted by
Dara
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4/28/2004 05:10:00 PM
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Posted by
Andy Bennett
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4/28/2004 03:19:00 PM
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Posted by
Dara
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4/28/2004 03:02:00 PM
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Puny Humans
From today's syndicated In the Bleachers comic strip by Steve Moore:
--Dara (permalink)
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Posted by
Dara
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4/28/2004 02:52:00 PM
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RFID in guns
Another futuristic-sounding use for those tiny little RFID chips, besides tracking groceries and products in stores:
"Verichip announced the development of a gun safety system based on radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology. A new computer chip promises to keep police guns from firing if they fall into the wrong hands. The tiny chip would be implanted in a police officer's hand and would match up with a scanning device inside a handgun. If the officer and gun match, a digital signal unlocks the trigger so it can be fired. But if a child or criminal would get hold of the gun, it would be useless."
Read the full story at Wired.com.
--Dara (permalink)
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Tuesday, April 27, 2004
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Posted by
Dara
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4/27/2004 04:18:00 PM
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Andy's Bunny
So our own Andy Bennet did a kick-ass Frank the Bunny (from the movie DONNIE DARKO) sketch at SPACE. Check it:
--Dara (permalink)
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Posted by
Tony
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4/27/2004 03:07:00 PM
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Posted by
Sean McGurr
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4/27/2004 07:57:00 AM
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Monday, April 26, 2004
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Posted by
Dara
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4/26/2004 10:53:00 AM
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An Open Letter to a Crackhead
(Another link courtesy of Boing Boing) Read this hilarious open letter to a crackhead who broke off the tops of the author's motorcycle spark plugs in order to use the porcelain tubes to smoke crack! A snippet:
"But the point is, Crackhead, that you have done me wrong. Now, I get that you love crack. That is totally understandable. I've heard it is really fun, at first, and quite addictive. What I don't understand is,
YOU ARE A CRACKHEAD. WHY DON'T YOU OWN A CRACKPIPE?
I am an engineer. Do you ever see me shaking down bums in the Loin for a calculator and sliderule? No, you don't. Because engineering is the main thing I do, I went and bought myself a calculator. The main thing you do is crack. How do you get by without a crackpipe? The other crackheads must clown on you non-stop."
--Dara (permalink)
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Posted by
Dara
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4/26/2004 10:38:00 AM
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Posted by
Tony
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4/26/2004 09:28:00 AM
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Geek Hierarchy
From the weblog of Neil Gaiman, here's the geek hierarchy. As members of a reviled subculture, geeks have a very complex caste system to determine who gets to look down on whom.
http://www.brunching.com/images/geekchartbig.gif
I'd change some of the categories. I don't know that I'd put sci-fi fans so high up, and I'd probably include indie comix creators on there, probably near the top. Furries are definitely in the right place, though.
--Tony (permalink)
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Saturday, April 24, 2004
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Posted by
Dara
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4/24/2004 09:59:00 AM
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24-Hour Comics Day
 Shout out to all the Panel members participating in 24-hour Comics Day today! I was on the fence about joining the festivitites, but in the end I decided to opt out for three reasons: 1) I'm not an artist and couldn't quite come up with a good alternative way to "draw" a comic (thought about photo collages, etc.), 2) after a week of rain the weather is gorgeous today and it would be hard to spend it cooped up inside, and 3) haven't had a chance to spend much time with my girlfriend recently so the thought of a whole weekend shot was hard to swallow.
Best of luck to all you guys, though! I'll drop by during the day to see how things are going.
All hail Panel.
--Dara (permalink)
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Posted by
Sean McGurr
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4/24/2004 08:03:00 AM
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Bookslut
Not sure of how many of you are familiar with Bookslut, but it is a site worth checking out on a regular basis. In additional to quality reviews of books, the site also offers interviews, opinion columns, and a range of other features. Plus, they have always been good to comics and graphic literature. The Comic Book Slut provides great reviews of alternative and independent comics. Currently, the site features three comics-related articles on the front page: an interview with Dame Darcy; a review of Louis Riel by Chester Brown; and a look at Comix Revolution in their spotlight on independent bookstores.
--Sean McGurr (permalink)
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Friday, April 23, 2004
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Posted by
Tony
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4/23/2004 01:15:00 PM
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You can�t spell Punisher without P-U
Hey, kids. I saw �Punisher� on Tuesday, but I haven�t worked up the energy to write about it until just now. �Craptastic� isn�t a strong enough word, nor is �failure� or �train wreck.� Neither is �disappointment,� but it�s as good a place as any to start.
I saw disappointment because I�m honestly a fan of the current Garth Ennis-written incarnation of the Punisher, and I understood it was going to lean more toward that version than the old Dolph Lundgren version. It kept some of the surface details of the Garth Ennis version, such as the Punisher�s quirky neighbors, but it missed the point completely. Ennis didn�t give the Punisher neighbors to add comic relief or to humanize him; they�re there to illustrate just how screwed up Big Frank really is.
That�s the difference between the Lundgren version and the Ennis version -- the Lundgren version is a straight-up vigilante masturbation fantasy, whereas the Ennis version adds the knowledge that what the Punisher does is probably not healthy, either for him or for society. In (poorly) mixing the two approaches, the movie loses the unified punch of the Lundgren version and the perverse joys of the Ennis version.
And then there�s the execution. Superhero stories operate on their own worldview: ie., the idea that someone might put on a mask and fight crime. It�s important to put the viewer into this world as soon as possible, otherwise the whole thing falls flat. The movie never does this, and the movie�s entire internal logic falls apart with the appearance of a pair of quirky assassins.
It fails on a number of other levels, too. The Punisher�s origin is overly long, without shedding any new light on the character or achieving much dramatic heft. Thomas Jane does a decent job with what he�s got, but John Travolta is a dead weight on the screen -- the best performance is probably Rebecca Romijn�s. And memo to screenwriters, who apparently just read about �foreshadowing:� 1910 called, and it wants its telegraph machine back.
--Tony (permalink)
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Posted by
Dara
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4/23/2004 10:29:00 AM
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More Cool "Behind-the-Scenes" Stuff
Artist Salgood Sam (aka Max Douglas) has a nice little site with plenty of artwork, and cool commentary on the why's and how's of many of his projects. The most fascinating is the explanation of how Marvel editorial completely and totally fucked up the Saint Sinner series he worked on, to the point where he quit after 4 issues. I love reading these types of "exposes", if you will, not so much from a prurient angle but just from a purely inquisitive fascination on how the business side of the comics business runs. His commentary includes plenty of cover and interior art that was rejected or changed at the last minute by his editor, as well as other anecdotes. Here are a few snippets:
"Oh, and that embossed foil cover? It got us huge orders on book one, which resulted in big bonus checks. 6 grand for me!...But as it turned out, it was a fiction...you see someone at Marvel botched up in sending out the checks when they did, before the News Stand Returns came in... So 6 months after, when I inquired as to why I had not received a check for some time for work I had recently completed, I was told that I actually owed them another $600!! to balance my 'account' with them before I'd see anymore money, effectively I had worked for two months for free..."
   
"Another gripe I had with this issue of the book was that when it was printed the two page spread introducing the new world that Kanto, Bull Baby and Mish Mash have created for Saint Sinner was split up to make room for a 2-page X-man ad....arrrgggggg! It would have only taken moving the ad one set of pages in either direction to avoid this. PLUS, I had cleared the spread with Marc as well�.yet another reason not to trust him in the end."
--Dara (permalink)
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Posted by
Dara
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4/23/2004 10:12:00 AM
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Watchmen movie news
From ComicBookResources: "According to Ain't It Cool News, "Pi" veteran Darren Aronofosky is going to direct the Alan Moore adaptation. This was revealed when screenwriter David Hayter talked to the rumor site, and Hayter said, 'I have spoken with the Producers about a couple of different things I can do to both retain my involvement in the film, and to help ensure that the film retains its integrity. They have been very supportive of myself and this project for the past two years and continue to desire my creative support in terms of the script, the characters and the world. Please assure the fans that I will NEVER give up on creating a truly great Watchmen film that both honors and celebrates the Graphic Novel, and illustrates to the movie-going Audiences what a genuinely great comic-book story can do. And on a personal note; If, God forbid, anything goes off-kilter with the currently proposed set-up and the Director's chair opens up again in say, a year, I will be first in line to try to regain my seat. Either way, I just hope the film is great.'"
--Dara (permalink)
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Thursday, April 22, 2004
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Posted by
Tony
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4/22/2004 01:37:00 PM
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Here�s why superheroes wear underwear outside of their tights:
http://www.ibiblio.org/jmaynard/TRONcostume/
Even if I could post a photo, I'm not sure I would.
Friend-of-Panel Gus Dahlberg posted this on McKeever�s site, along with the comment: �myeyestheyburnmakethehurtingstop.�
--Tony (permalink)
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Wednesday, April 21, 2004
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Posted by
Tony
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4/21/2004 09:31:00 AM
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More love for Panel:
"Incidentally, I love your comics also. As I mentioned, I'm no critic, but I thoroughly enjoyed the Sophomores one in the anthology; the whole Panel is so well designed! Good lord there is talent all over that thing. What I'm starting to like about comix is that it leaves a lot to readers' interpretation and begs more questions than it answers. Good literature does that."
And this one from a real, live girl!
--Tony (permalink)
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Tuesday, April 20, 2004
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Posted by
Dara
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4/20/2004 04:41:00 PM
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James Jean newspaper profile
Read it in the Daily Record. A few items of interest:
"Although trained in fine arts, the James Jean says he is living his boyhood dream to draw superhero illustrations. Jean says he's currently working on sketches for the new 'Batman' movie."
"Ben Jean said he expected his son, who received an almost perfect score on his SAT's to go to an Ivy League school, possibly into a business or medicine, but supported his son's decision to become an artist."
Of the comic book industry, he has this to say: "It's a really good industry to work in. There is a lot of money in it that a lot of people don't realize."
Um, yeah. Not so sure about that last one. Then again, "a lot of money" is a subjective concept...
--Dara (permalink)
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Posted by
Tony
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4/20/2004 04:10:00 PM
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I can top that!
Just last night I was at KMart and I came across Mighty Beanz. I can't figure out how to post a picture (I posted for you -dara), but here's a link:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000C2TSO/103-2389156-8278208
Let me see if I can describe them in words ... they're like little capsules, each one painted up like a different character. When I say capsule I mean that's all it is -- no points of articulation, no kung fu grip, no appendages of any kind. The selling point seems to be that they have some kind of weight inside them so they, um, roll funny?
Apparently there are non-Marvel Mighty Beanz, but a good percentage of them seem to be Marvel characters. Is it lame? Yes. Fun to play with? I can't imagine they are. But if they help keep our friend Sean McKeever in Killian's Irish Red, I say "excelsior!" to the Marvel Licensing Department.
--Tony (permalink)
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Posted by
Dara
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4/20/2004 10:41:00 AM
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Good Ol' Marvel Licensing Department
It's good to have low standards, that way you don't have to turn away any licensing fee just because you think the product...um, sucks. Check out these ridiculous Marvel "superheroes" motivational posters! (link courtesy of our bud Gus Dahlberg)
Cause, you know, excellence is very important in any profession...even an assassin...
Yo, next time one of those puny humans from finance gives you lip about your project, bash 'im in the head...
And it gets better when you realize they have a "motivational" poster featuring The Punisher. Nice.
--Dara (permalink)
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Monday, April 19, 2004
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Posted by
Tony
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4/19/2004 01:18:00 PM
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The head of McDonald's Corp. died unexpectedly over the weekend due to a heart attack. Didn't a heart attack claim Dave Thomas a few years ago?
You were all thinking it. I'm just the first to say it.
--Tony (permalink)
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Posted by
Tony
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4/19/2004 10:53:00 AM
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You've come a long way, baby.
When I was a junior in high school, in 1992-1993, my school received a rumor that two girls were caught making out in the middle school bathroom. This news was greeted with fear and loathing; I have a clear recollection of one of my (female) classmates saying how she wished she could beat the crap out of those two girls.
This was 10 years ago. I didn't realize how long ago that was until I woke up Sunday to find a flier tucked under the windshield wipers on my car. It advertised a "Girls Kissing Girls" contest May 1 at Long Street. Top prize is $300.
http://www.longstreetclubs.com/main.shtml (scroll halfway down).
--Tony (permalink)
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Sunday, April 18, 2004
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Posted by
Dara
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4/18/2004 11:24:00 PM
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Modern Ferret magazine
The top of the front cover says "Ferret Stress: Tips for Healthier Ferrets"
I'm no expert, but I'm guessing holding one up next to the bossom of a Playboy Playmate ought to relieve that stress :-)
--Dara (permalink)
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Friday, April 16, 2004
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Posted by
Dara
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4/16/2004 03:20:00 PM
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Howtoons
Comics is a wonderful medium!
"Howtoons are one-page cartoons showing 5-to-15 year-old kids "How To" build things. Each illustrated episode is a stand-alone fun adventure accessible to all, including the pre-literate. Our Howtoons are designed to encourage children to be active participants in discovering the world through Play-that-Matters -- fun, creative, and inventive -- and to rely a lot less on mass-consumable entertainment. "
(link courtesy of Boing Boing)
--Dara (permalink)
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Posted by
Dara
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4/16/2004 10:34:00 AM
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And Now a Word or Two About Sound Effects...
From a question on SilverBulletComics' "The Panel" column about the who/where/why's of sound effects...
Scott Allie, Dark Horse Comics editor: "Sound effects come from the writer's own little mind, and I've seldom heard any intelligent discussion of how, why, or when to use them. My rule of thumb is to only use them if they aid storytelling. I don't need to "hear" a faucet running if I'm given a closeup of the faucet running, but it's usually helpful to hear a gun fire, since that's the most distinctive indication that the gun has actually fired. A little burst of color from the muzzle doesn't have the same impact. Sneezing's another good one. Without the sound effect, the look on the character's face might be really confusing. But I don't really need to hear a punch, unless I'm supposed to know that it's a really strong punch."
--Dara (permalink)
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Thursday, April 15, 2004
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Posted by
Dara
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4/15/2004 03:29:00 PM
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The first Punisher movie review
 So I'm listening to CD101 and Andyman and Michael Palermo are chit-chatting. Andyman mentions that he saw The Punisher movie last night at a special media screening. Snippets from the conversation, as best as I can remember...
"Yeah, so I saw it last night ant it was...crap! I mean, horrendous crap. And you gotta' understand, I'm a huge comic book fan. But it just...sucked."
"I mean, I almost think the Dolf Lundgren version was a better movie."
"God help us all if that Rebecca Romijn-Stamos ever makes a movie with...you know, what's-his-douche from the Matrix...Keanu Reeves. I think God will just wipe out all of humanity if that ever happens..."
So there you have it folks. The first Punisher movie review, courtesy of radio DJ Andyman.
--Dara (permalink)
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Posted by
Dara
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4/15/2004 01:41:00 PM
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A new Meme.
(idea originated from Cyclic Synchronicity)
1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 23.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
"When planning a structure, delegating, and distributing tasks, avoid giving the same task to more than one person or overlooking a task so that it is not done at all."
From "How to Delegate," by Robert Heller. (yeah, I'm at work. and yeah, the book was a gag gift from my girlfriend upon becoming a manager!)
--Dara (permalink)
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Posted by
Sean McGurr
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4/15/2004 08:16:00 AM
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Cryptomnesia
I had never come across the word cryptomnesia until reading this article about the possibility that Nabokov came across a short story called "Lolita" about a man | | |
