Saturday, December 26, 2009

Here's To You, You Articulate, Dead Fisherman





It looks like Vic Chesnutt died yesterday after being in a coma for a few days, likely brought on by a suicide attempt. Here's NPR's take. Poor guy.

Friday, December 25, 2009

Must Be Santa



Merry Christmas, fellow 89ers! We listened to Dylan's Christmas album last night - it got mixed reviews. My brother and sister-in-law are not fans, but my folks and I are.

Did you guys get any good presents? The highlight of mine were some Haflinger clogs and the first two seasons of The Cosby Show on dvd (ftw).

red and white and black all over

Monday, November 16, 2009

400



In honor of this being Post #400, I give you "Kernkraft 400" by Zombie Nation. I guess this is also in honor of Left 4 Dead 2 (Electric Boogaloo) coming out this week. Will anyone here be camping out in front of Best Buy tonight?

I was thinking this morning about Elvis

Bully Smart!

Thursday, September 17, 2009

a halter top's tits mashed against his back


"Bob Death smiles coolly (South Shore bikers are required to be extremely cool in everything they do) and manipulates a wooden match with his lip and says No, not that fish-one. He has to assume a kind of bar-shout to clear the noise of his idling hawg. He leans in more toward Gately and shouts that the one he was talking about was: This wise old whiskery fish swims up to three young fish and goes, 'Morning, boys, how's the water?' and swims away; and the three young fish watch him swim away and look at each other and go, 'What the fuck is water?' and swim away. The young biker leans back and smiles at Gately and gives an affable shrug and blatts away, a halter top's tits mashed against his back."
--DFW

YACHT - Psychic City (mp3)

Monday, August 31, 2009

TENORI-ON FTW


pls buy this for me pls pls pls

The Wonderful World of Marvel



I know you guys have already heard about this, but I liked this picture. Also, the Woot Blog has some ideas for Marvel/Disney mashups. Most are kind of lame, but I liked the idea of a Black Panther/Lion King combo.

Any thoughts on this new development?

The Abominable Charles Christopher

Check out Karl Kerschl's webcomic, The Abominable Charles Christopher. It's the self-described comic which, "follows the adventures of a dim-witted yeti through a forest full of colourful animal characters."

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Earth to Doris/Robot Girl



We were listening to some Was (not Was) on the drive back from the cabin, and I really wanted to hear this song ("Earth to Doris", not "Robot Girl"), but unfortunately it wasn't on my uncle's ipod.

kids

Monday, July 20, 2009

Nabokov on "Lolita"

I saw this on boingboing - Nabokov on tv from the 50's discussing "Lolita" with some chums.

Part 1:



Part 2:

Friday, July 17, 2009

Bob Hope and the Hopeless Five

I'll trade anyone a couple bags of Twizzlers and some Taco Bell gift cards if they'll send me this comic.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Helllloooo Nurse!



Looks like Natalie Portman has been case as Nurse Jane Foster for the Thor movie. Lots of blogs talking about it, but here is Marvel's release. I'm pretty happy about that, since it'll add extra insurance that the movie will have a big budget, plus I think Natalie Portman is pretty great. It sounds like the movie's going to be an origin story (in the sense of the origin of his link to Earth, getting stuck inside Don Blake for being impetuous, etc.). I can't wait until May 2011!

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Strange Tales To The Max!



This looks pretty cool - Marvel characters drawn by indie artists. Got this image here. This one is Spidey done by Jason (never heard of him, but he's referred to just by one name?). One blog pointed out this looks like a response to Wednesday Comics (which I thought was awesome!). Maybe - it looks pretty cool, regardless if it's a ripoff.

Friday, July 10, 2009

Sin Titulo; Web Comics; etc


I'm not a big web-comics reader, but I really like Cameron Stewart's (Seaguy artist) "Sin Titulo"

http://www.sintitulocomic.com/

I also read Warren Ellis' FreakAngels for awhile and liked it, but stopped reading at some point (I should really go back to it.)

http://www.freakangels.com/?p=23

What web-comics do you guys read? (if any) I'd like to find some more good ones.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Why I Make Films


"Right at the center of a seemingly incomprehensible world , at the age of 32, the question 'why do I make films' seems unanswerable. I don't know.

All I know is that I can't make films if people don't let me. If I don't receive trust and funding I feel like I don't exist. The last one-and-a-half to two years of my life went by in just such a state of apparent futility-I was given no opportunities to realize my plans through the official channels. Two courses of action were left open to me: to gradually suffocate or search for some alternative. Then followed a terrible year of begging for money and trying to discover whether it's even possible to make a different type of film in Hungary, one that doesn't depend on the official and traditional sources of funding. And once the money's finally all there and I've managed to create some small opportunity, kidding myself that I'm 'independent,' that's when it hits me that there's no such thing as independence or freedom, only money and politics. You can never escape anything. Those who give you money also threaten you. All that remains is obligation. The film has to be made. Then you desperately clutch onto the camera, as if it were the last custodian of the truth that you had supposed existed. But what to film if everything is a lie? All I can be is an apologist for lies, treachery and dishonorableness.

But in that case, why make films?

This also leads to internal conflicts, as my self-confidence wanes, the crew start to leave because the venture appears uncertain and I can't pay them enough. And I am left with a general feeling of anxiety. So I flee from this form of desperation into another-the film.

Probably, I make films in order to tempt fate, to simultaneously be the most humiliated and, if only for a few moments, the freest person in the world. Because I despise stories, as they mislead people into believing that something has happened. In fact, nothing really happens as we flee from one condition to another. Because today there are only states of being-all stories have become obsolete and cliched, and have resolved themselves. All that remains is time. This is probably the only thing that's still genuine-time itself: the years, days, hours, minutes and seconds. And film time has also ceased to exist, since the film itself has ceased to exist. Luckily, there is no authentic form or current fashion. Some kind of massive introversion, a searching of our own souls can help ease the situation.

Or kill us.

We could die of not being able to make films, or we could die from making films.

But there's no escape.

Because films are our only means of authenticating our lives. Eventually nothing remains of us except our films-strips of celluloid on which our shadows wander in search of truth and humanity until the end of time.
I really don't know why I make films.

Perhaps to survive, because I'd still like to live, at least just a little longer...."

-Bela Tarr 1987

(anywho, i just got my copy of werckmeister harmonies in the mail and can't wait to watch it again. this quote is from the director and was in a booklet that came with the dvd.)

Know Your Meme



This edition of Know Your Meme is about Keyboard Cat. Check out http://www.rocketboom.com/ for more 'Know Your Meme' videos, plus other fun science and tech news. It's fun, and you learn something!

Friday, July 3, 2009

Feynman on the World



Nice interview with Richard Feynman about how a reasonable person views the world.

Sunday, June 28, 2009

The Top 10 Comic Book Artists Working Today Countdown List Extravaganza (According to Me, with All Due Respect to You.) #1

Oooh... What a disappointing match. The US was dominant in the first half and was legitimately the best team for the first 45 minutes. The second half was a disaster. The 2-0 US lead was cut to 2-1 almost immediately after the second half kickoff, and Brazil dominated going forward to win 3-2. Oh well. We still have comics to pick up our spirits. With that I present...

#1. Mike Mignola


If I had to pick only one family of books to read and give up all others, I doubt I'd even have to give it any thought. The Hellboy Universe or "Mignolaverse" (Hellboy, B.P.R.D, Various other one-shots and miniseries) is just that perfect storm of great art, story, and sensibility. Despite Mignola still writing most of the stories in his universe, it's a rare treat to see him pencil a complete book these days (he still draws most covers though). Last year's Hellboy one-shot "In the Chapel of Moloch" was a terse masterpiece prompting me to dig out all my old Mignola-drawn issues to re-marvel at their quality. The moody Medieval landscapes, the Gothic and Romanesque architecture and sculpture, the World's legends and myths intertwining with Hellboy's own growing mythology, the Lovecraftian monsters and occult weirdness intertwine between the frames of the books while Hellboy himself always fires back with a sense of humor and a desperate wisecrack. Mike Mignola; Number One with a bullet on my list. Thanks for reading, Pardners.

G.I. Joe PSAs



Download Yerself some Camp Standing Rock mp3s

Hey Y'all - Head on over to The Groenlings site where I posted some new old CSR tunes from the 2003 tape, "A State of Virginia."

http://thegroenlings.wordpress.com/2009/06/28/new-old-camp-standing-rock-tracks-from-the-a-state-of-virginia-tape/

Saturday, June 27, 2009

The Top 10 Comic Book Artists Working Today Countdown List Extravaganza (According to Me, with All Due Respect to You.) #2


Ya ever had these Planters "Heat Peanuts"? They're real nice n' spicy. Gonnna have a glass of Boulevard with lemon here too in a minute, but first, it's...

#2. Mike Allred

Everything Allred does is just cool and interesting. His art reminds you a bit of animation cells, but with really great (and always very experimental) sequential storytelling chops. He plays with the restrictions of page and panel more than anyone else I know of - stretching the boundaries of what can be done in a standard comic book format. His creator-owned Madman comic is where his virtuosity is showcased the most, but whenever he pops up elsewhere (recent God Sized Thor one-shot, his X-Statix run) I tend to ignore the text and look at the pretty pictures. The fact that his wife Laura does all of his coloring gives all of his stuff a consistent and quickly recognizable quality. Damn! Comics are Sweet, Son!

The Crazy World of Arthur Brown



Two things -

First, I'm really loving the Top 10 comic artists. We should do more Top 10 lists (or, with my attention span, maybe Top 5 or Top 3). But I've been lazy and haven't been commenting, so I just wanted to make sure you knew I've been enjoying all of them quite a bit.

Second, I just found out I'm one of the winners of the Michael Moorcock question contest! Cory Doctorow emailed me to tell me, and he gave me the contact info of the publisher. They told me that Michael picked my question himself as one of his favorites. So I'll be getting a copy of that book someday soon! That's pretty awesome.

Friday, June 26, 2009

The Top 10 Comic Book Artists Working Today Countdown List Extravaganza (According to Me, with All Due Respect to You.) #3

Man it's hot and humid up in here. They just announced a Tornado watch for the area around Grand Forks so I guess Summer is finally here. Blah Blah, The giant clock hanging around my neck just chimed, so it must be artist time. Up next we have...

#3. Frazer Irving

Although his resume doesn't include much work in American comics yet, the work I've seen thus far has been stunning. Irving's Gothic pencils on Seven Soldiers of Victory: Klarion the Witchboy showcased his unique voice. The recent Azrael: Death's Dark Knight miniseries was a masterwork of stark frames, expressionistic visages, rad computerly painting, and an ass-kickin' anti-hero. If there is a comic with his name on it, I'll buy it. Sign me up, Buckaroos!

Thursday, June 25, 2009

The Top 10 Comic Book Artists Working Today Countdown List Extravaganza (According to Me, with All Due Respect to You.) #4


We've passed the half-way point and are gliding down the home stretch. Here come the Big Bananas... er... something.

#4. Frank Quitely.

Frank Quitely is just performing at an extremely high level lately. His All-Star Superman (w/ Grant Morrison and Jamie Grant) miniseries was almost unanimously praised by fans, critics, bulldogs, and craters. It is one of the most beautiful examples of sequential storytelling ever created and that ain't no lie. The first issue of Batman and Robin seems to be an early indication of more greatness to come. I can't get enough of his stuff. Just look at the bottom panel seen here (click on the picture, blow it up, and look closely if you haven't already) and I dare you to not get chills. Wow! Why is this modern master #4? Must be even more greatness to come, so you better stop back tomorrow, doodz.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

The Top 10 Comic Book Artists Working Today Countdown List Extravaganza (According to Me, with All Due Respect to You.) #5

I'm listening to the spare and beautiful track by Mihály Vig posted right below this entry and I'm thinking it is a very fitting track as a nice audio companion to the work of the next artist on my list. Please join me. Download the track that suits so well the work of the artist known to me and you as...

# 5. P. Craig Russell

I've always been especially drawn to Illustration. It's no surprise that many of my all-time favorite comic artists are those who are able to successfully marry the sensibilities of illustration with strong storytelling ability. For my money, the greatest comic book illustrator is P. Craig Russell. From his Elric work to the "Ramadan" issue of Sandman, I've loved his elegant, flowing line work. His recent Sandman: The Dream Hunters comic adaption of Neil Gaiman's novel of the same name reminded once again how great an illustrator and sequential storyteller this guy really is.

I occupy space and have mass. I breathe in and breathe out.


mihaly vig - valuska (mp3)