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Tuesday, March 31st, 2009
 Excellent news today -- R. Crumb has announced the completion of his new book, which is a retelling of Genesis. I can't imagine anything better than R. Crumb's take on Genesis, unless maybe it were R. Crumb's take on Samuel -- since he has not done that yet this will surely suffice.
Speaking of the Old Testament, this Passover Haggadah is just hilarious.
  Crumb has been working on this for a long time: he talks about it in this four-year-old Time interview, which has a sample page:
A couple of other sketches from the book are available at on-panel.com and at Yale University Press.Crumb tells the NY Times, "It's lurid. Full of all kinds of crazy, weird things that will really surprise people."
posted evening of March 31st, 2009: 2 responses
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Saturday, February 14th, 2009
Seated at one of the pavement tables she briskly composes what is to be her statement. I am a writer, a trader in fictions, it says. I maintain beliefs only provisionally: fixed beliefs would stand in my way. I change beliefs as I change my habitation or my clothes, according to my needs. On these grounds -- professional, vocational -- I reqest exemption from a rule of which I now hear for the first time, namely that every petitioner at the gate should hold one or more beliefs. She takes her statement back to the guardhouse. As she half expected, it is rejected.  And we are getting down, here, to the heart of the matter -- this is what I think. As Chapter 8 opens, Coetzee manages to startle me once again, changing his narrative style completely (while continuing to narrate in the same voice), veering into Kafkaesque allegory -- he acknowledges as much a few pages later but calls it "Kafka reduced and flattened to a parody."Costello is speaking to my concerns earlier about how nobody in this novel seems to be attached to the arguments they are making; she is a writer, a vessel for words and beliefs (like Mary or Leda is a vessel for God's seed -- I'm not sure yet what to make of this parallel but it is definitely front and center). I have got the feeling that Coetzee is writing in his own voice here -- should be wary of this given the repeated cautioning against it earlier in the book -- I was wondering, when Elizabeth defends herself against the charge that she has ignored the genocide of the Tasmanians (and implicitly, that she as a white Australian is not sensitive to issues of imperialism and oppression), whether Coetzee faces similar charges as a white South African. Perhaps the student in Chapter 1 was meaning to launch an attack on these grounds?
posted morning of February 14th, 2009: Respond
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Sunday, June 22nd, 2008
 Allow me to recommend: Dorothy Gambrell's new collection, Cat and Girl volume II. The only cartoon collection I have seen with an index. If you order quick, you can get your copy inscribed. (Note: I think to do this, you have to order direct from catandgirl.com, not from Topatoco.)
But how is this different from
reading Dorothy's archives, which I can do for free? you might ask. And you would have a point; reading the collection is a similar experience to reading the archives. (Like specifically, episodes 315 through 545.) There seem to be a couple of extra drawings that are not in the archives; turning the pages with your hands is a pleasant experience, for you paper fetishists; as is having Dorothy adorn the book with your own picture and witticism (if you hurry!). And generally it's a nice feeling to think you are supporting a young genius in her "lucky jerk" lifestyle. (Also recommended: contribute to Ms. Gambrell's Donation Derby, and she will draw a cartoon of how she spends the money.) Funniest thing I've read this morning: Sandwiches Cheap! and its sequel. The villanelle is the most restrictive of all sandwich forms.
 Also: here is a new interview with Dorothy, with links to some older ones, in COMIXtalk. I did not know about her extra-Cat and Girl cartooning efforts; she also does Very Small Array and for a while drew The New Adventures of Death. (Looks from the interview, like she considers Donation Derby and Cat and Girl to be two separate things -- I have always somehow considered the former to be a subset of the latter, I guess because they are on the same site and the styles are so closely similar.)
posted morning of June 22nd, 2008: 1 response
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Monday, April 21st, 2008
Woo-wee! Dorothy used my contribution to support her workaholic lifestyle. Can't wait for the book to be finished and available.
posted evening of April 21st, 2008: Respond
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Friday, December 21st, 2007
Ooh, I never got to do this before! -- being catless and all. My dad sends along this picture of a stray the animal control people brought into his office. (He is a consultant for the city government.)  And speaking of cats...
posted morning of December 21st, 2007: Respond
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Thursday, August 17th, 2006
Ok, 2 answers for my shared experience question: - I would like everyone to know the music of Mississippi John Hurt. It's a little silly but I get hassled by the fact that whenever the Blues comes up in conversation, people think about electric music recorded in the 70s and later, or possibly about electric music recorded in the 50s. Plus I want everyone to know this music because it's so good.
- I would like everyone to know American Splendor by Harvey Pekar, and the graphic art of R. Crumb. I think productive conversations would be possible if I could just refer to Crumb's vision of sexual inadequacy and everybody knew what I was talking about without any explication. This also goes for Pekar's work ethic.
I want to tag Roy Edroso and Dave Feldman.
posted evening of August 17th, 2006: Respond
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Saturday, August 5th, 2006
At last year's Unfogged meetup, I arrived carrying a copy of Flannery O'Connor's collected short novels -- I had been reading The Violent Bear It Away that morning, and I gave the book to John Emerson, since I had a couple of other copies of the same material. By a weird coincidence, yesterday morning I started reading Carson McCullers' Collected Stories, so I had it in hand when I arrived at the Unfogged meetup. I came away with the book still in hand though -- fortunate since it is looking like a great read. I'm a bit pissed at The Gingerman (bar where the meetup was held), or at myself (for not divining that Gingerman would not allow children in) or something. My meetup experience only lasted until 6:00, when Ellen and Sylvia showed, at which point the weirdly hovering waitress informed us they had a over-21-only policy. So I only got to chat with Jackmormon and with Teofilo, too bad. We went over to the Pierrepont-Morgan library, where there is currently an excellent show of Rembrandt's drawings. I was very taken with his "Monk in the Cornfield", which could almost have been drawn by R. Crumb. Dropped by The Gingerman briefly on the way home, where I had a nice chat with LB and Becks, and got to meet Adam Ash.
posted afternoon of August 5th, 2006: Respond
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Thursday, March 30th, 2006
Yesterday I read The Quitter, Harvey Pekar's new book about his childhood. I've always loved American Splendor and this book is a fine addition. (It actually reminded me quite a bit of the AS movie -- Pekar as a kid in the main story, and Pekar as an old man stepping in occationally to comment.) Lovely art, moving story. Definitely recommended to the Mineshaft crowd, who I think will identify.
posted morning of March 30th, 2006: Respond
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Thursday, October 16th, 2003
Patrick Farley's Electric Sheep, home of the IMO best comics on the web, celebrated its 5th birthday yesterday. Patrick marked the occasion by unveiling a new front page, the first step in his planned redesign of the site. Go check it out -- there is a poll where you can ask for the new comic you would most like to see. (Hint: vote for Apocamon 4!)
posted afternoon of October 16th, 2003: Respond
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Monday, October 6th, 2003
Big news -- Patrick Farley has put Chapter III up on E-sheep. It costs a quarter to view (via BitPass) -- its value is many times as much. Take a look!
posted morning of October 6th, 2003: Respond
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