Remi's Bloglet - Wednesday 1 October 2003

BLTadv is now on m14m! _
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07:27:40 PM, Wednesday 1 October 2003

I have returned from Pittsburgh with a sore throat and a couple bags full of stuff that my parents were getting rid of. As a result I can now count myself as part of the Palm Pilot generation, yee! To celebrate, I point you all to the wonderfully vile little piece of Warren Ellis humorous fiction, Red Eyes.

In other news, Herbie Hancock's 'Rockit' must have sounded like the future in 1983. Thank God we don't live in that future now. Thanks to Fred for organizing the mix exchange that resulted in this little revelation and whose box of mixey goodness was waiting for me upon my return. _
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06:04:38 PM, Wednesday 1 October 2003

People don't believe me when I say that I have an uncle who is building a castle in Arkansas. _
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11:10:12 PM, Monday 29 September 2003

Someone was asking about when the LOTR trailer was coming out. Well, I found a mirror. In other news, my feet hurt. _
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05:43:30 PM, Monday 29 September 2003

I'm in Pittsburgh helping the parental units move house. Bloggin' and AIMin' will be light for the next week or so. _
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12:54:59 AM, Friday 26 September 2003

George Starostin's rock n' pop reviews are uncompromising and informative. He doesn't like Talking Heads all that much (at least, that's what he claims), but his reviews, even when somewhat negative, are still great. His comments give me so much more to listen for in the Heads music that his few quibbles seem almost lost in the masses of useful information. Really enjoyable, and increases my enjoyment of the music, a perfect review/critique.

[via PF's sidebar] _
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06:06:53 PM, Wednesday 24 September 2003

Greg Costikyan reviews and marvels over My Life With Master, a closed-narrative game that sounds similar to Baron Munchausen, but with a far darker bent and a few more rules governing play. Some interesting thoughts on how this sort of game seems to be the only way to get away from the classic 'There's a wizard in that hole, KILL HIM' style that tabletop RPG's (however complex the backstory) cater towards. Costikyan seems completely unaware of the demise of Hogshead, who produced games with exactly that move in mind, in the face of rabid DnDers. _
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04:25:34 PM, Tuesday 23 September 2003

I've linked to SPARKS font miniatures before, but they recently released a fun set called Yellow Jack & Rum, full of, you guessed it, pirates! So if you're playing a pirate game, or just want a bunch of little pirate miniatures to keep you company, this is the set for you. _
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03:37:27 PM, Monday 22 September 2003

A Softer World is a comic made up of a single picture, cropped differently in three frames. It is funny, dark, and strange. A great idea, beautifully executed. (The Overqualified section should bring a tear of joy to anyone who has applied for a job recently)
[via Die Puny Humans] _
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01:07:40 PM, Monday 22 September 2003

Moira, you should try to see Pumpkin. It's a movie with a soul and humor black as tar. There is a happy ending, but it comes in a strange way, and there's a scene with a school psychologist that I think you'll appreciate a lot. The movie has some great soundtrack trappings from Bjork and Belle & Sebastian, plus a score that, while overdone, is very effective. Especially a riff on 'West Side Story' that had both Liz and I laughing quite a bit. The rest of you folks might enjoy the movie, too, but I seem to recall Moira mentioning it. _
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08:00:37 PM, Sunday 21 September 2003

Went to Galactic ConQuest yesterday. Played a few boardgames, ran a quickie DnD campaign for some younger folks (went alright, although I had to rush the ending), and played a long demo of Deliria. The idea of a game where the Big Magic Beings are unavailable for play, but that they are central to the game's action is intriguing. How inhuman can you make forces of nature, how do you play nice with these forces? This was the DM's second game ever, and although it had pacing problems, the overall mission of having to stop a Rave where the human participants were forced to dance to death was brilliant. The DM and his wife were nice folks, and I talked with them for a while afterwards. Hope they keep in touch.

Then I went and got my socks rocked off by The Hill Valley Preservation Society, an '80's kitsch culture cover band specializing in TV, movie, and videogame music. They achieve what all cover bands covet, a unique sound that doesn't mask the fidelity of the song being covered. Check out their site and download a couple of the songs (The Fraggle Rock, 321 Contact song, and The Muppet Show Theme are especially good). _
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06:38:37 PM, Sunday 21 September 2003

Arrrr, I have run me name through ye Pirate Name Generator, and for the day ye may call me Mad Ned the Executioner, or ye'll walk the plank like the scurvy dog ye are! Who be up for some high seas plunder and high adventure?!?! _
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06:38:05 AM, Friday 19 September 2003

Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day! _
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06:07:58 AM, Friday 19 September 2003

Uh, Never Mind. _
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06:44:53 AM, Thursday 18 September 2003

The Day of Terror continues! Part 3: McDonald's is going to be releasing an 'Adult Happy Meal' because arrested development is the new black. (okay, yes, it's a 'healthy happy meal', but it comes with a fucking prize/booklet, it's a reward for eating healthy! Eat the chicken sandwich and then wolf down a McGriddle! YEAH!) _
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03:13:18 PM, Wednesday 17 September 2003

It's the day for utterly terrifying things. Exhibit 2: The Torah Tots. There's a Yom Kippur page, and, for those out there who have never done the Jewish holiday thing, Yom Kippur is really not a holiday you're all, "YAY! Anthropomorphic scrolls!" about. It's more like, "I'm hungry, and it's the day of atonement." Good for the soul, but not conducive to funny cartoons.
[via The Illuminating Realm of Suz] _
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02:23:17 PM, Wednesday 17 September 2003

AAAAAAAAAGH! The TARDIS at Pooh Corner.

[This is occasional fish's fault] _
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12:13:55 PM, Wednesday 17 September 2003

Somewhat stupid, but still funny, Supply Side Jesus. (from Al Franken's book) _
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11:55:57 AM, Wednesday 17 September 2003

If I were a petty man, I would say, "How Appropriate." But I'm not, so I won't. _
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02:11:54 PM, Tuesday 16 September 2003

Hey pedants! The end of written English is nigh! Here's the beginning:
Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, olny taht the frist and lsat ltteres are at the rghit pcleas.
[via boingboing] _
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01:29:07 PM, Monday 15 September 2003

You must see Dirty Pretty Things immediately. It has Audrey Tautou in it, but she is just the tip of the iceberg of greatness this movie is. Every performer in this movie (Especially Chiwetel Ejiofor as the doctor/driver/doorman Okwe, Benedict Wong as the dry and funny Guo Yi, and, of course, the luminous Ms Tautou). This is a movie of the invisible underclass of the modern world. It takes place in London, but it could be any large city in the industrialized world. Running from Immigration, under the thumb of twisted and manipulative managers and bosses, our characters are simply looking for a way out.
However this movie is not just a boring bit of social commentary, it's a heist movie! An adventure! And it is summed up beautifully at the end by a David Byrne song recorded especially for the movie, "Glass, Concrete & Stone," which caps the film perfectly. Go. See. Now. _
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04:53:40 PM, Sunday 14 September 2003

An article on a fellow who has translated The Cat in the Hat into Yiddish.

Azoy zalbe tsveyt
Gezesn mit Soren.
Gezogt: "Halevay
Volt uncz epes geshen!"

Also, Winnie the Pooh in Yiddish is apparently Vidi-der-pu. _
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04:39:31 PM, Saturday 13 September 2003

I first saw this interview format on Fred's blog, occasional fish. I liked it, but wasn't brave enough to ask for an interview by someone who barely knew me. However, I like this format a lot, and the blogmass seems reluctant to take it on, so I'll forge ahead. The rules are:
1. If you want to participate, leave a comment saying "interview me".
2. I will respond by asking you five questions - each person's will be different.
3. You will update your journal with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview others in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

Anyway, thanks Fred for the questions, and on with Der Interview!

1. In your interview request, you suggested I should take you to task for your taste in movies and music, but, of the songs included on your "Lazy Ass" mix, which are your favorites, and why?

(Note: The Lazy Ass Mix was put together for a mix exchange through occasional fish.)
The reason it's called 'Lazy Ass Mix' was because it's a collection of tried-and-true tunes that I've put on at least one, and probably more, mixes through the years. Caribou, Hockey Monkey, Within One Universe There are Millions, Starbright Boy, and Natural Disasters have appeared on at least three previous mixes. It felt a little cheap, but sometimes, when sending stuff out to new people, a person sticks with the 'safe' choices. Only Frontier Psychologist, Sky is Falling, Orthodox, and American Car haven't appeared on a past mix, and that's because the albums are recent enough acquisitions that I haven't had a chance to plunder them.

I suppose, though, that this doesn't prevent me from actually answering the questions. Here are my favorites, in no particular order, keeping in mind that I really, really like all of these songs. You should buy the full Dismemberment Plan album (Emergency & I) to fully appreciate one of the greatest bands of the last five years.

Caribou (The Pixies)- My favorite Pixies song, and, unsurprisingly, the song that got me into the band. I love how it twists and coils and gets ugly and pretty and haunting all at the same time.
Sky is Falling (Blackalicious)- This and 'Chemical Calisthenics' are my two favorite tracks off the incredible Blazing Arrow album. I like this song because it's pretty dark and negative, but never really steps into the cartoonish land that gangsta rap occupies. Musically I like the bounce feel of the verse, and the 'rain and thunder and lightning' bit sounds like a sample, but it's not, and that's just awesome.
I Am A Scientist (Guided by Voices): This song is everything that's perfect about pop music, stripped of all that 'the lyrics have to make sense' silliness. Possibly the best song ever written by Robert Pollard.
Love is All Around (performed by REM): REM is a great band, and this is a great cover with bassist Mike Mills on lead vocals. Liz and I sing this in the car. She does the 'ba buh buh bup bah, bup bah bah' bits. It's just warm and fuzzy.
Hockey Monkey (James Kochalka)- I can't use They Might Be Giants on a mix that I'm going to send out to geeks, too many people are familiar with their best songs. So I have to find other silly things to fulfill the 'whimsy quotient' of my mixes. This song does that, with its silly subject matter, exuberant vocals, and energetic music. I have no idea why this isn't a deeply-loved geek classic.

That's 1/5 of the mix, I should probably stop . . .

2. Can you explain the continued existence of creatively bankrupt comic strips like "Cathy" and "Garfield"?

When I was eight or nine I loved Garfield, even though the strip had worn its way well down into its groove by that time. I owned like 10 of those little collections, and a couple of the big Treasuries. I read them constantly. I can't really fault Garfield for having an appeal to nine-year-olds, and mining that appeal aggressively. It's a far cry better than a lot of the weird, misinformed and often upsettiing, 'play corner' type comics out there. I don't like Garfield anymore, but at least it's a prettily-drawn strip that's never offensive.

Cathy, on the other hand, baffles me. I think it was Bill Waterson (Calvin and Hobbes) who said it was kept on the comics page by unhappy 'Living' or 'Style' editors who hate the comics section. Unlike Garfield, I do find Cathy ugly and offensive. It espouses a worldview that, almost forteen years after the eighties ended, seems out-of-step and often bizarre. Who does this strip appeal to? How much self-loathing does the comics page need? The world needs to know, and it will never find out. And Cathy lives on like a canker sore on comics everywhere.

3. What comics (either online or not) do you wish got more exposure or were more widely read?
See, I'm a bad person. I don't read many online strips. I've recently discovered Something Positive, and it seems like a pretty popular strip, but more people should read it, anyway. I love Carla 'Speed' McNeil's Finder, a deep, strange, and wonderful SF-fantasy book that defies any sort of pigeonhole. The only 'problem' with Finder is that it reads better in big story-long chunks rather than single issues. Luckily McNeil seems to be collecting them rather regularly.

I wish more people read Warren Ellis's stuff, especially Transmetropolitan, but he's pretty popular vis a vis comics. I wish Modern Tales had a better interface when I was on it, because I enjoyed a good chunk of the strips there. It suffered from a frontpage that just had too many little icons and whatnot on it. I haven't been back since I cancelled my subscription back in February. This has turned more into a wish-thing than a list of recommendations. I guess I see comics as so under-read that anything that gets more exposure (even Spiderman or Batman) is good for the rest of us cartoonists. Here's some other stuff that I've really enjoyed:
-Box Office Poison: A slice-of-life comic about 20-somethings in New York. It's like Friends, but with depth, humor, and some major people in the cast that aren't white. You can pick up the massive collected edition from Top Shelf Comics.
-Blankets: Also from Top Shelf. A lyrical story of a young man growing up ultra-religious in the snowy expanse that is rural Wisconsin. Amazing art and a subtle blend of despair and discovery make this an extremely compelling read.
-X-Force (the Peter Milligan/Mike Allred run going on right now): Bizarro ultra-violence and cultural commentary all rolled into one big ball of fun. The body count is so high that one of the characters is dead before the team is introduced, and by the end of the first issue, so are most of the rest of them. An utterly fearless look at what a superteam is capable of. The poppy art comes off as cartoony, but evokes its own detailed reality that falters when there's a guest artist.
-Powers: I love Brian Michael Bendis, who writes Powers. This was my first real exposure to him, and it's delightful. The basic premise is the adventures of a couple of detectives whose job it is to solve super-power-related crimes. The detectives aren't powered themselves. Bendis' great dialog and clear love for crime fiction collide head-on with Mike Oeming's animated-style art.
-Eagle-The Making of an Asian-American President: This is a great manga that's exactly what it says it is. Tense political thriller with an outsider's perspective. It runs 5 volumes.
-Lone Wolf & Cub: The ultimate action comic. This samurai epic runs almost 60,000 pages through 28 volumes (all in print from Dark Horse). I really can't say enough how amazing this comic is. It's truly epic, it's touching, it's philosophical, smart, and violent. A great read, and for ten bucks you get 300 pages. Plus, the art is great.
-Naruto: I just like this Ninja manga, currently running it Shonen Jump, and available in graphic novel form. I first discovered it on Toriyama's World, and its richly detailed world and flawed characters sucked me in. Plus, I'm a sucker for plucky teens with a dark destiny.
-Cartoon History of the Univers vols 1-3: Larry Gonick is a mad genius cartoonist. His Cartoon Histories are incredibly effective and entertaining overviews of large swathes of history. I must admit I'm partial to the first volume, but all of them are worth having.

Okay, that's not all of my recommendations by a long shot, but it's a good start. Maybe I'll make more later.

4. If you could have any one super power, what would it be, and how would you use it?
I'd have the power of unbreakable will and I'd use it to finish art and music projects, send out resumes and make follow-up calls, leave the house, and become a generally less loathsome person.

5. Read any good books lately?
It embarasses me to say this, but no, I really haven't. I've been re-reading the George RR Martin 'Song of Ice and Fire' books (And the most recent Harry Potter), but that's mostly because I'm super-lazy. I need to go to the library and get some books. Anybody got some good suggestions? _
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03:50:30 AM, Friday 12 September 2003

Happy birthday, Neil!!! _
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01:01:12 PM, Thursday 11 September 2003

JOY! JOY! JOY! THE PIXIES ARE REUNITING! _
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10:53:22 AM, Wednesday 10 September 2003

A great idea! Moira suggests a blog-gift to relieve Anne's suffering a little. I like the DVD player/Netflix combo, myself, but I'd be willing to contribute to just about anything (well, maybe not prostitutes). C'mon, who else can chip in ten bucks towards a little blogmass altruism? _
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07:33:41 AM, Wednesday 10 September 2003

Someone tests the five-second rule. _
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06:14:02 AM, Wednesday 10 September 2003

Warrent Ellis be a novelist and shit:

Senior Editor Josh Behar has just acquired rights from Lydia Wills of Writers and Artists to the first novel by best-selling comic book writer Warren Ellis, who has authored two of DC's hottest franchises; The Authority and Transmetropolitan. This comic tour of the dark underbelly of American culture features a down-and-out private detective who is hired by heroin-addled G-men to find the lost secret Constitution to the United States. Publication is slated for Winter/Spring 05.

I can't wait. _
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08:35:37 PM, Tuesday 9 September 2003

The last page you want to look at when you're sleep-depped. Lots and lots of eye-splitting optical illusions. _
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10:27:32 AM, Tuesday 9 September 2003

Why do I kid myself? _
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03:28:04 AM, Saturday 6 September 2003

Go vote for the Best of Buffy. The four top episodes will appear on a special 'Best of' DVD. A good way to get 'Hush' and 'Once More With Feeling' if you don't want to buy the season box sets. _
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01:14:53 PM, Wednesday 3 September 2003

A fun little fly-exploration game, apparently made to promote Clinic's song 'The Second Line'. _
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04:19:49 AM, Sunday 31 August 2003

DO NOT PAY ATTENTION TO THE YELLOW BACKGROUND! LISTEN TO STINGING SITARS! Surf sitars. It is badass.

[via diepunyhumans] _
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04:34:07 AM, Saturday 30 August 2003

Ladies and Gentlemen, Law & Order: Artistic Intent. A gallery show of L&O-inspired pop art. My favorites are Adventure to Color and Briscoteque. _
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02:07:48 AM, Saturday 30 August 2003

It's looking like Disney has killed off its 2-D feature animation wing. As this article points out, they learned absolutely the wrong lesson from Pixar. Story and character come first, then animation gimmickry and hoo-ha. Should make some great inroads for feature-length anime, though. _
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10:38:43 AM, Wednesday 27 August 2003

I AM AWAKE!! ::rumble:: _
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05:23:11 AM, Sunday 24 August 2003

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