Kramers Ergot 7! Look at this ridiculous book!
Best Christmas present ever. Thank you Laurie!
28 December 2008
27 December 2008
KILBY COURT - JANUARY
click for larger version
Calendar designed by Sarah Martin and myself. Look for it in Slug Magazine in January. P.S. I hope working on Kilby Court's Obama calendar this month did not tarnish my long-standing allegiance to Ron Paul.
26 December 2008
JANUARY (COMIC) BOOK CLUB
Next month's pick for the book club is Bottomless Belly Button by Dash Shaw (published by Fantagraphics/June 2008). This 720 page tome is the thickest book we've read as a club, and yet, I read it in three sittings. The story begins with an older couple who bring their three adult children together for a sort of strange family reunion in their childhood home, all to announce that after forty years of marriage they are getting a divorce. For one week after the announcement we follow their three kids. The eldest, Dennis, who is desperate to find the reasons for the divorce. Claire, who is divorced herself and raising a teenage daughter. The youngest, Peter, a filmmaker who feels like an outsider. This graphic novel has been on many "Best of 2008" lists, including Amazon and Publishers Weekly.
21 December 2008
TOP 5 ALBUMS FROM 2008
1. BON IVER - FOR EMMA, FOREVER AGO
2. WHY? - ALOPECIA
3. THE NOTWIST - THE DEVIL, YOU + ME
4. THE MOUNTAIN GOATS - HERETIC PRIDE
5. PETER BRODERICK - FLOAT
My passion for listening to and finding new music has died in the past few years. This is most likely due to what I do for my day job. I sit at a computer and listen to my iPod the entire time. It is the kind of job where I can get away with not talking to a single person for eight hours. Thus, good entertainment provided by my iPod is very important. I realized quickly after starting my job that listening to music only made my job go by slower - which is when I discovered podcasts and audiobooks, which helps the day go by so much faster. Somehow along the way, I stopped seeking music in the obsessive way I did in high school. A quick look through my iPod and one could tell that my music taste is seemingly frozen in 2005. I don't mean that I haven't heard anything new from the past three years, typically if a favorite band of mine releases something new I will look into it, everything else either falls into my lap or is so popular it's hard NOT to hear it.
Even with my musical retardation, I still can't stop composing year end lists of music I enjoyed. In the past, it would be hard to narrow down my list to twenty of my favorite albums of the year, now, I can hardly name twenty albums I actually like.
So, here's five. Enjoy.
2. WHY? - ALOPECIA
3. THE NOTWIST - THE DEVIL, YOU + ME
4. THE MOUNTAIN GOATS - HERETIC PRIDE
5. PETER BRODERICK - FLOAT
My passion for listening to and finding new music has died in the past few years. This is most likely due to what I do for my day job. I sit at a computer and listen to my iPod the entire time. It is the kind of job where I can get away with not talking to a single person for eight hours. Thus, good entertainment provided by my iPod is very important. I realized quickly after starting my job that listening to music only made my job go by slower - which is when I discovered podcasts and audiobooks, which helps the day go by so much faster. Somehow along the way, I stopped seeking music in the obsessive way I did in high school. A quick look through my iPod and one could tell that my music taste is seemingly frozen in 2005. I don't mean that I haven't heard anything new from the past three years, typically if a favorite band of mine releases something new I will look into it, everything else either falls into my lap or is so popular it's hard NOT to hear it.
Even with my musical retardation, I still can't stop composing year end lists of music I enjoyed. In the past, it would be hard to narrow down my list to twenty of my favorite albums of the year, now, I can hardly name twenty albums I actually like.
So, here's five. Enjoy.
18 December 2008
BENEFIT CONCERT
designed by Scott Stanley
My two favorite local bands are playing at Kilby Court
tomorrow night! Birthquake and Nolens Volens!
I hope you will be there.
10 December 2008
PODCASTS
This is my third Christmas working for the USPS. I always forget how hard it is on my emotional state to work such long days, to never see the sun, to only eat microwaved foods! A few good things come out of listening to my iPod for ten hours a day though, and I'd like to mention three of them.
1. THE COMIX CLAPTRAP is a new show hosted by cartoonists Thien Pham and Rina Ayuyang in Oakland, CA.
I met Rina up at Stumptown this year and she was so nice and I loved her comics - so of course, I was very excited to see that she had a podcast. They've been doing the show since September of this year, interviewing cartoonists such as Vanessa Davis, Renee French, Trevor Alixopulos, Gene Luen Yang, Jim Rugg, and Jeffrey Brown. Their newest episode came out this week featuring an interview with John Porcellino and it is awesome! In the episode, Thien and Rina share their own personal influences, talk about football, and also talk to Josh Frankel who gives a rundown of what he bought from the comic shop this week. There is also much less munching on chips into the mic and much more positive vibes (no rants) in this episode. It is indeed a great listen and I definitely recommend it to anyone who is a fan of Mr. Porcellino (ALSO if you haven't heard, issue #69 of King-Cat is out!).
2. INKSTUDS is a weekly radio show hosted by Robin McConnell in Vancouver, BC.
I've been listening to the show for two years now and have enjoyed some really great interviews with cartoonists such as Adrian Tomine, Gary Panter, Seth, Ron Rege Jr., James Kochalka, Jonathan Bennett, and the list goes on and on. Well, back in November Robin began a series of radio and web interviews with many of the artists that contributed to the new Kramers Ergot 7 - including, Anders Nilsen, Josh Simmons, Matthew Thurber, John Pham, and Frank Santoro. My favorite of all the Kramers interviews was with the man behind the whole book, Sammy Harkham. It was really cool to hear him talk about his intentions with the anthology, I must say, all of my preconceived notions of how ridiculous the $125 book was were put aside and I realized that this collection is really quite amazing. Harkham himself is a really inspiring person and probably gets me more pumped about drawing than any other cartoonist.
3. DINNER PARTY DOWNLOAD is a really short little show that comes out a few times a month. The podcast describes itself as a fast and funny "booster shot" of news and culture designed to help you dazzle friends and family at this weekend's dinner party. In every 10-minute episode you'll learn a joke, get the week's major headlines, bone up on some history, drink in a cocktail recipe, meet an artist of note, savor an emerging food trend, and hear your new favorite song. Alright, so yeah, it's a little gimmicky but I really like how much information they try to pack into such a tiny amount of time. To be honest, my original thought was that I was going to add this non-comic book related podcast to the list to prove that I don't have such a one-track mind. I failed. The latest episode (number 11) features cartoonist David Heatley plugging his new book My Brain is Hanging Upside Down. Sorry.
1. THE COMIX CLAPTRAP is a new show hosted by cartoonists Thien Pham and Rina Ayuyang in Oakland, CA.
I met Rina up at Stumptown this year and she was so nice and I loved her comics - so of course, I was very excited to see that she had a podcast. They've been doing the show since September of this year, interviewing cartoonists such as Vanessa Davis, Renee French, Trevor Alixopulos, Gene Luen Yang, Jim Rugg, and Jeffrey Brown. Their newest episode came out this week featuring an interview with John Porcellino and it is awesome! In the episode, Thien and Rina share their own personal influences, talk about football, and also talk to Josh Frankel who gives a rundown of what he bought from the comic shop this week. There is also much less munching on chips into the mic and much more positive vibes (no rants) in this episode. It is indeed a great listen and I definitely recommend it to anyone who is a fan of Mr. Porcellino (ALSO if you haven't heard, issue #69 of King-Cat is out!).2. INKSTUDS is a weekly radio show hosted by Robin McConnell in Vancouver, BC.
I've been listening to the show for two years now and have enjoyed some really great interviews with cartoonists such as Adrian Tomine, Gary Panter, Seth, Ron Rege Jr., James Kochalka, Jonathan Bennett, and the list goes on and on. Well, back in November Robin began a series of radio and web interviews with many of the artists that contributed to the new Kramers Ergot 7 - including, Anders Nilsen, Josh Simmons, Matthew Thurber, John Pham, and Frank Santoro. My favorite of all the Kramers interviews was with the man behind the whole book, Sammy Harkham. It was really cool to hear him talk about his intentions with the anthology, I must say, all of my preconceived notions of how ridiculous the $125 book was were put aside and I realized that this collection is really quite amazing. Harkham himself is a really inspiring person and probably gets me more pumped about drawing than any other cartoonist.3. DINNER PARTY DOWNLOAD is a really short little show that comes out a few times a month. The podcast describes itself as a fast and funny "booster shot" of news and culture designed to help you dazzle friends and family at this weekend's dinner party. In every 10-minute episode you'll learn a joke, get the week's major headlines, bone up on some history, drink in a cocktail recipe, meet an artist of note, savor an emerging food trend, and hear your new favorite song. Alright, so yeah, it's a little gimmicky but I really like how much information they try to pack into such a tiny amount of time. To be honest, my original thought was that I was going to add this non-comic book related podcast to the list to prove that I don't have such a one-track mind. I failed. The latest episode (number 11) features cartoonist David Heatley plugging his new book My Brain is Hanging Upside Down. Sorry.
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