the future of comics is only 4 years old

I went to a talk by Scott McCloud today. He is the man who revolutionized the way artists think about comics. He pointed out that sequential art has been with humanity for thousands of years, and that the idea of comics shouldn't be as limiting as society tends to think. Many people, when they think of comics think of superheros, or fat orange cats. But comics can be about any subject and just about any style. Scott McCloud was one of the first people to make such a statement, in his book Understanding Comics. Plus, he had a really great concept of what art, itself, is. I learned more about the idea of art from his comic book, than I did in four years at art school.

Anyway, this comics' god starts his lecture, and he's going on about what makes a comic a comic, using a Powerbook (the same one I'm typing on right now, the guy's obviously got taste!) to illustrate his points. So he's talking, and drawing little eye pattern shapes along the comics on the Mac's screen, and then this adorable little girl in the front row slowly raises her hand. The girl can't be much older than 5, probably just 4. She props her hand up there for several minutes until "Daddy", at the podium, finally sees her. He lets her ask a question, which is about some computer game that she thinks he has on his computer. He tells her that he doesn't have it. He goes on with his lecture. A few minutes pass, and the little girl raises her hand agian. She askes about another computer game. No dice. When she raises her hand a third time, her mom comes over and quietly tells her to let Daddy do his lecture, and then Mom takes the kid off to the back of the room. Dad gets to go on, and he talks about alll the kinds of shapes and dimensions that comics can take (check out his website for more on that). After about a half an hour the little girl rematerializes with a handwritten list of questions, which she presents to her dad. (Might I remind you that the kid is no more than 5 years old. Most kids can't even scribble their names at that point, let alone write entire sentences!) Eventually, dad reads off her questions, mostly about comic stips that he's done. He dillegently shows the audience his daughters requests, which are, indeed, very funny. At this point the kid is basically running the show, and she's won over all of the audience. Dad finally comes to the last request on her list. He has a hard time reading her 4-year-old's handwriting, so asks her to read it to him. She says she wants him to show the audience the one about the girl and all of the things breaking. Dad pauses, realizes what images she's talking about, laughs to himself, and then says, "No honey, that's not one of mine, that's Run Lola Run."

Damn. That kid is gonna be amazing when she grows up.

Tonight: more parties. An earthy crunchy one at my friends' Joel and Lynn, and then, if I have the energy, it's off to the Masquerade at the sci-fi convention. I'm in full pagan/gypsy mode with my purple velvet dress and lots of jingly things (to ward the bad spirits off, I suppose) so I should fit in extremely well at both.

it's official now

Last night, for the first time in 20 years, I played a role playing game. A whole game, too. And I didn't die. Actually, I didn't really get to do anything dangerous at all, so dying really wasn't all that likely. Ironically, my character had the fast car and submachine gun. So I was elected to be the getaway driver. By the time our mission got to setting off the tear gas (creating a diversional panic in the mall), killing off the security guards, and kidnapping the nuclear (notice there is no U anywhere in that word?) scientist, all I had to do was drive away in my superfast eurocar. The only time I even got to roll any dice was to try and get a fake ID (I didn't get it). But it's all good, I had no idea how the point system worked, and we spent most of the time doing strategizing anyway. It was my brilliant idea to use something other than an explosion for the diversion, and the gas worked out quite well, if I say so myself.

So it was a lot of fun. Now, all I need to do is find a game where I can have a bike, and the goal ISN'T to blow things up and kill people...

winter doldrums

You know I'm bored when I both cut my hair and color it at the same time. My big excitement for the week was that I finally went down to city hall to get sworn in onto the bicycle committee. As expected, I had to pretend that I was some sort of christian, and swear to god. I almost said something, but decided that it would be better not to start off my political careed being argumentative. So I figure I'll send off a quick note to the mayor and alderpeople to let them know that making people declare their devotion to some random mythical character is not particularly appropriate in a country which was supposedly founded on religious freedom. (No, I won't word it quite that obnoxiously.)

The other vaguely interesting thing that happened to me recently was that my buddy over at Mass Bike is working on getting me a part time job there. I'd still have to work at my corporate job too, at least for now, but I'd be spending a day or two a week in a job that I really care about. I'm psyched.

This weekend, my roommates and I are going to some sci-fi convention, hopefully I won't be bored to death. I used to really love those things, but the last few I've been to were kinda disappointing. We'll see.

So, yeah, it's pretty dullsville in Random Turtle central these days. But February and March pomise to be much more interesting. I'm thinking about going to NYC, officially for a publishers' convention, but unofficially, just to hang out. I found a cool hostel/hotel thing that has theme rooms. And when I get back from NY, Jeneanne Garafalo is doing her rescheduled show from last October. And then in March, the zine fair will get me all geared up and doing creative stuff (I've already planted some basil seeds for my free seedling project). And somewhere in the middle of all this, I really need to get cracking on my kids bike art contest for the bike committee. So, I guess it's good that I'm taking some time to realax now that I can...

bored of the rings

So I finally went to see the Fellowship of the Ring, and I was not terribly suprised that I found it very, very boring. I'd read the book as a kid and didn't like it, so I wasn't expecting much. I loved the Hobbit, but for some reason this one just didn't hold my attention. I don't know why everyone thinks that this movie was so great. If it wasn't for the Tolkein name, I'd bet it would have gotten much more middling reviews. Sure, the visuals were great, but the plot was simpler than your typical Saturday morning cartoon, and the character development was nearly nonexistant. Maybe this is one of those trippy movies that you should be stoned to be able to really appreciate it. I must admit that I was fascinated by the set design, particularly in Bilbo's house and garden. I also spent much of the movie analysing the various camera tricks that they used to make the Hobbits look smaller then the actors actually were. It worked pretty well, except when they were using kids as doubles for the long shots.

6 philosophers walk into a bar...

Actually, on the way to the bar, the philosophers are riding their bikes and come up to an intersection where there is a red light. What do they do? Well, after reading a post by one of the cool people from the Mass Bike listserve, I came up with the following:

Plato would stop and wait for the green light. He believes that people should be respectful. He's like me, a believer that you should be good because it is the right thing to do.

Machiavelli would scream though the light, swerving only if traffic endangered his life. He basically takes the view of a pissed off anarchist--Do whatever you want because people suck, and don't deserve respect.

Kant would probably stop at the light. He seems to be a solopsistic anarchist--Act the way you want everyone else to act, and hope that they follow you. Actually, it's not clear what he would do at a red light. If he thought that everyone should run red lights, then he would run the red light to set an example. If he thought that people should respect traffic laws, then he would wait for the green.

Lock and Hobbes would, themselves, wait for the green, but they wouldn't expect anyone else to do so. They are the pragmatists--People aren't likely to respect the red light unless they fear punishment.

Furthermore, Buddha would treat the red light as a gift, allowing him to take time to be at peace with his thoughts, and to contemplate the universe.

Heh.

er...

There, apparenently, was once a car titled the Mormon Meteor. I just can't fathom what the manufacturer was thinking...

barbie nightmares

I had a funny dream this morning. Batman and Robin were my roommates. (Yes, I have pretty cool dreams.) There was some sort of crime occurring, so the crimefighters were getting ready to do their thing. I was supposed to go with them, but I couldn't find anything practical to wear! I kept looking though my closet and coming up with all sorts of girly things like lacy bustiers and delicate little shoes. I eventually gave up and put on some sort of completely sexy see-through number. Then my (long lost) best friend from San Francisco showed up and we fooled around. Finally, Batman came home and was annoyed with me for blowing him off. I tried to explain my clothing dilemma, but it wasn't a very convincing excuse, and I felt pretty guilty.

The (subconscious) result was that I got up this morning and decided to forgo the dressy stuff usually wear, and put on some very practical jeans and a black top. I am now well prepared to fight crime!

A postcsript to this whole thing is that, on my way to work, I was involved in a traffic accident. Some woman, also on a bike, apparently had an utter lack of any sort of common sense (or knowledge of traffic laws) and decided that it would be ok for her to keep going through a red light with a whole stream of traffic already coming through the intersection on a green light. She rode right in front of me and we collided when I slammed on my brakes. She then had the audacity to say "I thought you saw me"! Um, yeah, lady, I saw you. I just couldn't imagine that you were boneheaded enough to ride right into me! I told her that running red lights was stupid and that this was one of the reasons that people despise bicyclists so much. She did apologise profusely, and I think she learned her lesson. So, hopefully, my crimefighting is done for the day, but now I have a sore wrist and a big ole bruise on my butt. No wonder Batman wears all that padding...

real men knit

I'm sitting here listening to weird independent music on local college radio and reading punk craft websites and I came upon this great photograph of Russel Crowe knitting that I just had to share.

2002: the war year

George Dubya has big plans for the world this year. Not only is he going to continue to declare war on random third world countries, but he's also going to be working hard to eliminate corporate taxes, pillage any area of untouched wilderness he can locate, and, of course, suckering America's children into sending him their allowances. All in your name. The man is an island!

Well, that's the way I wanted to start the new year. Fully prepared to give up. Someone recently reminded me of that eternal classic bumpersticker "Where are we? And why are we in this handbasket?" What's even more ironic is that it was one of the aforementioned people who hang out with the hippy christian gang.

But, in true Random Turtle spirit, I refuse to get out the white flag. I may not be able to stop America's favorite pet dictator from bombing the crap out of anyone, but I'm not going to let that get in the way of my own personal war on greed. And I'm planning on doing another zine with the working title of "Random Turtle's Guide to Not Giving Up". Along with my ususal free herb seedlings, I'll be bringing the zine to Rich Mackin's annual Beantown Zinetown zinefest. If you are in the Boston area, you should clear your calendar's for the last weekend of March.

As for the personal stuff, I've been busy in a very quiet kind of way these past couple of weeks. The holidays were spent with my families, and my dad and stepmother ended up cancelling their plans to be in Texas for Christmas. The reason for the cancellation was bad: Their cat for 19 years died. (2001 was just a horrible year for the kitties, as my own best friend Pooh died :( last spring, as well.) But, at least, I was not deprived of parents on the holiday. I gave everyone gift donations to environmental and social organizations, and I think that most of the recipients were quite happy with what I chose to give them. I, myself, got mostly utterly useless stuff, though I did get a lot of tea, which I can always use. And, in a grand gesture of really bad timing, I managed to use a gift certificate that my dad and stepmother had given me for my birthday (last May) to buy the exact same dynamo-powered radio that they had already planned to give me for Solstice. Funny thing was that my dad still wrapped it up and gave it to me, even knowing that I had just gotten one. I think that he was just so proud of himself for finding something that I really wanted. (And it was a really great gift idea.) I ended up giving the radio to my mom and stepfather. Even if they don't enjoy it as much as I do, it will come in handy, since their power goes out on a fairly regular basis out there in rural Maine.

Speaking of Maine, after getting back from my visit with my dad, I ventured up to my mom's, and had a nice long visit with her. The New Year's party was disappointing. Most of the same people who were there last year were there, but it was hoseted by someone else, and just didn't have the same quality. For one thing, there was no live music! And, for another, someone decided that it would be great fun to take the Xmas tree outside and set it on fire! But I did get to hang out with some of my mom's cool friends, and that was nice.

Now I'm back to the regular day-to-day life, where the biggest plans I have are to try and get to see "Lord of the Rings" before it's out of the theaters, to remember to water the plants, and to rummage through people's trash in search of treasures.

My favorite Jef was apparently interviewed in the Boston Globe last Sunday. He, for some reason didn't tell anyone about it though, and I have been unable to find a copy of the newspaper (the local City Weekly section that is only distributed right around Boston), so I have no idea what the article says, other than the fact that it's about his zine "Urban Pantheist". I guess I'll be checking in the recycling bins, too, next trash day...

So, yeah, happy new year. It certainly should be interesting, if nothing else.

better luck next time

Back from the Cape, now its off to Maine. I hope everyone is enjoying the end of the year, and lets hope that 2002 is a better year for the world. Here are some suggestions for resolutions that you could make for a more peaceful planet.

Resolve to:
1. vote in every election you can, and do the homework to find out who is a worthy candidate (if no one is, write in someone!)
2. volunteer in your community
3. use human powered transportation whenever possible (the less petroleum we use, the fewer wars we'll get into)
4. take time to stop and smell the cosmos
5. love someone
6. learn stuff (keep that old brain busy)
7. express yourself (be nice now!)
8. plant something and watch it grow
9. celebrate diversity (don't be ashamed to be different, or shame others who are different from you, unless they are greedy assholes, of course :)
10. And no matter what you resolve, make sure to spend as much time as possible enjoying life!

Now, everyone have a happy New Year! I'll be celebrating with a bunch of hippy christian musicians and my mom. Pretty funny, huh? But they are all very cool people, and I can't think of too many other people I would want to spend the holiday with. So I'll have fun. See you next year...

screech

My (errrch) roommate (screeeech) is (errrrrreee) learning (errrrch) play the (eewwweeeich) violin. (Errrreeeereuuuuchh.)

Hopefully, he won't want to bring it to the solstice party... :)

Hey, happy solstice! (I can't stress that enough.)

happy solstice!

If you listen carefully
in the stillness of the night
you can hear peace.
Remember that sound, when dawn breaks
and bring it into your day.

I should have thought of that

Another Google search that brought the masses (well one of them, anyway) here was "sticker god bless whole world". Cute. I don't have one of those, but I do have an "America bless Goddess" one. And you can always get a whole pile of stickers, with whatever saying you desire, custom-made at either Unamerican Activities or The Sticker Guy.

didn't people used to die of consumption?

I went to a forum with Juliet Schor, a Harvard/BC sociologist, and writer of the book "The Overworked American". Her latest tome (actually it's pretty darn slim, more like a big zine, really) is about America's obsession with overconsumption. The best sound bite of the evening was: "More people filed for bankruptcy this year than graduated from college". Other than that it was a fairly dull talk. But, there were a few folks in attendence who hadn't already heard the news about how badly we're screwing ourselves, our kids, and our planet. They seemed to get something out of her speech.

As for the future politicalization of yours truly, last night I attended what had to be the shortest political meeting ever. This was the Committee Committee (no shit, there is one!), and they were there to vote on the appointments for the Mayor's bike committee. The three guys (yep, all men) sat down and immediately made a motion to approve all of us. One gentleman pointed out that, at least, the appointees names needed to be read off, for the record. He did so, mangled my name profoundly, to which I responded by spelling my name for the clerk, for the record. Then someone seconded the motion, and thirded (?) it, and it was a done deal. Tomorrow, I get to be sworn in by the mayor. I'm just hoping that she doesn't make me agree to asking for some god dude's help. If anyone has any humorous, nonoffensive, but serious retort to officials asking you to swear "so help me god", let me know asap...

Last note of the evening: Out of curiosity I got a little site meter (the little rubik's cubey thing up there), and discovered my suspicions were almost entirely right, two of you (maybe three) are, occasionally, reading my journal. Hey guys! On the otherhand, I did get a couple of entirely random people from odd searches on Google. One from a search for WTO stuff (I put a link up to the virtual sit-in a few weeks ago), and the other for the McCain-Feingold Bill (which I mentioned in the Granny D. commentary). Funny. I wonder how far down those people dug to get to my site?

punk crafts: take two

So, you didn't make it to the Bizarre Bazaar? Well fear not, you can still get diy/punk crafts online! (Or just look at the stuff to get ideas, and make it yourself, like I'm doing.) My favorite is the punk sock monkey.

While I'm in the mood, here's a quick diy craft gift idea for you: A vinyl LP candy dish.

You'll need an unwanted 12" record (for you youngins, that's a vinyl disc with a little hole in the center) and an empty tin can, an oven, and, preferably, a cookie sheet. Put the can on the cookie sheet, with the closed end up. Then put the record on top of the can. (It's a can sandwich!) Make sure that the can only touches the paper label on the record (so that the vinyl doesn't stick to the metal). Then bake the whole thing for about 5 minutes at a medium temperature (try 300° F). Keep an eye on the record, and watch it melt. When it's all nice and droopy, take it out. It will be a funky, wiggly shape. While the vinyl is still hot, you can carefully mold it, if the shape isn't quite even. Obviously, wear some kind of oven mit or something while handling it (you'll want to save your fingers for later activities, I'd imagine). Let the bowl cool, and voila! You've got a pretty spiffy, and very punk, candy dish for your coffeetable. You could also use it to put keys in, or jewelry, (unused) condoms, or any other random small items. Be creative!

If you want to make the bowl suitable for other, messier, items like chips or dip, you can try your hand at filling the bottom with clear acrylic stuff (make sure to temporarily seal the bottom of the hole with some masking tape, first). This stuff is available at craft stores, but I warn you, it's messy to work with.

Wheee!

This excellent web site has a similar idea, and the directions are more elaborate. Plus, there is a picture!

gender bias

It occured to me that my little mini-rant about older people dating teenagers was completely heterosexually biased. Sorry if I offended anyone. I'm ususally one of the most pro-queer straight folks out there. But when it comes to ruminations on love, I tend to forget about other people's preferences. But the advice still stands for same sex relationships. Honest, lasting love is all about equality. And there's just no way a mature adult can escape the tendency to feel superior to a teenager. And that's true no matter what gender you're doing the hanky panky with.

Speaking of kids. I just happened to catch a few minutes of the kid's show "Blues' Clues". It's pretty darn cool. Most tv shows out there are crap but, occasionally, someone does it right.

punk rock crafts

I have now seen it all. Somerville's first annual Bizarre Bazaar was held tonight. It was a holiday craft show by and for the punk/DIY set. Wallets made out of duct tape, and only duct tape. S&M whips made out of bicycle parts. (Hey, that was MY idea!) Beautiful stained glass ornaments made out of old (real) monkey brain slides, from an abandoned research facility. And plenty of zines. Fun stuff. And, for someone who is not at all a punk (though I was such a wannabe in college) I certainly knew a lot of the people there. My favorite is Jef Czekaj. He does the comic "R2D2 is an indy rocker" and plays in several bands with one of my old roommates. He's also got a strip in Nikelodeon's magazine. (How did a punk get into a mainstream kids' magazine?!) The fact that he not only remembers me from a couple of years ago, but that he also complimented me on my letter in the Phoenix, certainly makes him cool in my book. :)

Surprisingly, the other Jef (the EVEN COOLER one!) didn't know about this event, even though the store where he works, Flyrabbit, was selling stuff there. Sucks to be him.

I had about an hour to kill before the Bazaar opened, so I stopped into the Davis Square Goodwill, nearby. I came out with some of the coolest thrift scores ever. A working orange juicer from the 50's, a zen chime box that usually costs upwards of $50 in fancy schmancy museum shops but that cost me only a buck, and of course, another bike. No, I did not need another bike. But it was five bucks. And it's in nearly working order. It's got one of those super cushy, spring loaded seats and I just couldn't resist. It's an addiction, I know.

PS. I noticed that I mispelled Windoze wrong in my earlier post. But I left it "Wondoze", since it has even more of an ironicality to it that way. It was a Freudian slip that happened again just now. Maybe my brain just can't grasp the concept that a Microsoft product has the word "win" in it. or maybe it's just because the "i" and the "o" are right next to eachother on the keyboard.

I have a deckled edge

Quiet week. Only one committee related meeting, which was attended by not one, but two 20-something jock-townie guys from the Massachusetts government. You just KNEW that they drove SUV's with little American flags attached to their antennas. They were entertaining, if nothing else.

I found out that my Dad and Stepmother are ditching the family for Christmas this year. They've been planning a vacation for months now, but had neglected to mention it to me... I've realized that I'm just not a big priority in their lives. They love me and all, but I think that they would be perfectly happy if they saw me once or twice a year. Fortunately, my mom can never get enough of me!

Found out at work that they are really, really serious about forcing us to work on Wondoze machines, against all reason and common sense. PC's are ok if you just want to type letters and numbers on a screen, but ask it to deal with postscript fonts, graphics, or open an undefined document and the things just get all panic attacky. So, I'm looking very seriously for another job. (The CPPAX thing fell through. Too many applicants, and I was overqualified.) In the meantime my coworkers and I have decided that they need to give us raises Combat pay, if you will, for having to deal with an irrational operating system.

On a final note, a roommate bumped into the Jason a few days ago and reported back to me. Apparently, the the woman who he was waxing poetic about (immediately after he dumped me and vehemently claimed that he was not at all interested in being in a relationship), dumped him. And it turns out that she was 19 years old. 19!

Here's some advice for you men out there: If you are still dating teenagers when you're 30 (or even 29, 28, 27...), you are clearly not interested in a serious relationship. You should just go out and get a prostitute, and save everyone a headache. (Just remember to wear those condoms!) The same advice goes for older women, except that chances are slim that the kid is gonna have any feelings for you, beyond those in his dick, so he's probably not going to be too bothered when you decide to ditch him.

my fifteen minutes

Boston area readers can check out yours truly in an article in the City Section of the Boston Globe. And, I was right, the reporter did make note of my keen bicycling fashion sense. Unfortunately there is no photo to go along with the article. Though, there is another article a couple of pages away that has a great picture of a local mother and ALL three of her kids on a bike, as well as a guest, too. They've rigged up a sort of scoop thing on the front of the bike which holds the smaller kids and a trail-a-bike on the back for the older one. (Sorry, no link. The Globe website doesn't seem to have this one online.) This family was on my Rolling Blackout bike ride. They are cool people.

Also, if you are in the Boston area, check out the show at the Oni Gallery in Chinatown. It's hard to find, but it's worth it. The show that is going on for the next few weeks is a collection of engineering art worthy of Rube Goldberg. The show was organized by Dana Moser, who teaches in the Studio for Interrelated Media, the coolest department at MassArt. Check out the web site for his class on Computer-Controlled Media.

couch party

While trying to follow the critical mass group to the Couch Guy's party, I managed to loose everyone. I had to go all the way home and get the address. When I looked at the map, I almost decided to forego the party, because it was located in an area of Somerville which is nearly impossible to get to. It's one of those places where, because of some really insane urban planning, you can see where you want to go but just can't get there. But, I was determined to have some fun, so I hopped back on my bike and ventured out into no-woman's land. I did eventually find the place, and even had a little fun. Immediately, upon passing the doorstep, a bowl of Borscht was thrust into my hands, and, yet another person said "so THIS is Turil!". It was also refreshing to be at a party where getting plastered was not the goal. And, I was hit on by yet another geeky older gentleman. I think I've hit a personal best this week. Sadly, none of these guys is quite the turtle-type, though they all are very nice.

After the party, I came home to find all of my roommates hanging out, eating chocolate, and singing acoustic guitar versions of Pokemon songs. I love my roommies.