updata e picolo

i am 30 and engaged, living it up on the amalfi coast

so life is pretty good

Day two

The second day was much better. The weather was nicer for a start.
the only dramq through the night was at about 1am when the airconditioner started leaking on to our bed. This necessitated a call to the concerige and zombie walking to another room. And crashing again.

I went to Victoria station to organise a day trip for Sunday and a coach to get my mum to Slovenia, by way of Stansted Airport. With that out of the way it was of to Tate Modern. Emma and my mum were off to Buckingham Palace and Harrods for the day; including a fish and chip lunch and high tea.

Anyway, Tate Modern was very cool. There was an exhibition of Frida Kahlo's work, who's work i like but monobrows freak me out and she does a lot of self portraits.

After about 2 hours of wandering with the audio tour stuck to me ear it was off to meet up with Scott Fraser. He brought Ansley, who i called Rita and Annalise, because i'm tired and stupid. Lunch was good, much better than the crappy food of the previous day; pasta sauce with no flavour but with a skin and margarita pizza without basil. Then we went for a pint.

that turned to three

we spoke about humans needing to regain monkey tails to exist in the modern age, the connection between redheads and the diggsville mafia and other stuff which i don't remember

no clowns

We've all just survived our first day in london. None of us slept well in the past 40 hours but we made the most of it.

We are zombie tourists. Emma is barely human and my mum is soldiering own with her bad feet, luckily for her she leaves for slovenia and rest in a day.

Its raining and cold so most of ou plans went out the window. We saw buckingham palace (but didn't stay for the changing of the guard) and then after some grumpiness and sleepy headed arguing walked around the Tower of London, literally and then went to the British muesuem which was good.
Problem is that we are all too polite but with short tempers

"I'll do what you want to do"
"I'll see whatever!"
"Me too, i'll just follow, so you chose"
"no, i don't care you chose!"
"somebody chose!"
"no you chose!"
"Why should i choose! You do something for once!"
"Me, what about you!"

Our feet hurt, the street planning is a shambles, so we get lost often and have to walk extra. And I can't understand why the tube system has more stairs than actual track.

Emma hasn't finished a meal yet because the food is not the greatest. She did though ask about what kind of animals did picadilly circus have - honest so not all is lost.

I've noticed that british girls; kinda hot, which surprised me. London guys, i kind of have beat - ah to be single.

Tommorrow, plans to go see the Tate Modern, walk around oxford/bond street and look up scott and lisa.

oh as if anything else was possible - the flight sucked, even if the food was ok and the inflight movie choice all right, me+plane(turblence)=hell

Travel Itineary

Aug 19-22
London
Doing very touristy things (if anyones in london email we can catch up on saturday).

Aug 22-26
Paris
4 days of just walking around misprouncing french words

Aug 26-30
Amalfi Coast
Doing a couple hour cooking school but mainly going town to town and wandering.

It gets hazy after the Amalfi Coast but

Aug 30-Sep 5
Cinque Terre, Florence, Venice
i want to go fishing at cinque terre, make jokes about David's genitals and ride a gondala

Sep 5-12
Slovenia
Try and not embarrass my mother drinking homemade wine. Also show off Emma to the family.

Sep 13
London

Then home September 15

I've noticed some comixers are celebrating my birthday appropriately

Otherwise i'm going to try and blog various going ons and checking email

boner

First off, i have to apolgise to Andy Finlayson. We were meant to do something for FunnyBone. I didn't want him to waste his time if the script was too risque. Well i never heard anything back, so i assumed they were so ce la vie

I did two scripts, forgive the formatting.

Operation Tug#2 Page 1 Panel one Standing Outside a hospital room a doctor and parents (mum and dad) are talking. The doctor is facing the father more so than the mother. There's a windown in the door, looking into the patient's room. Mother and father look a tad stressed. Doctor - Since Nathan starts Chemo tomorrow, we need to talk about- Father - Yes Panel 2 The doctor stares at the father, a bit put off that he's been interrupted Panel 3 The doctor now faces the mother Doctor - hmm, this is a difficult topic to broach Mum - what is it? Panel 4 The doctor stares at the mother, a bit more put off that he's been interrupted Panel 5 Doctor - The radiation is going to affect his sperm count and in circumsatnces such as these it's felt advisiable that a sample be taken so if nathan wants children in the future he and his partner will be able to concieve. Mum - Does this mean another operation to take a sample? Panel 6 Doctor - Well there is an operation, but it's highly evasive and expensive. Doctor - There is nature's way. Or Ways, we can have a nurse insert a PAGE 2 Panel 1 This is seen through the window of Nathan's door, from Nathan's POV. He can see his father and the doctor. The doctor is sticking the finger of his right hand into a circle made of his forefinger and thumb of his left hand. Panel 2 The mother is aghast, hand to her mouth. The father is in the panel as well. Doctor - the stimulation produces a sample Mother - Oh dear! Father - No, no, no Panel 3 Doctor - then there is the old fashioned way Doctor - if you like, i can discuss the matter with him Panel 4 Father - no, no Father - should we call Father O'Legan? Panel 5 Mother - I'd like to think that priests know very little about teens and Mother - you know Panel 6 The mother puts her hand to her mouth like she's whispering Mother - mas Mother - tur Mother - bation Page 3 Panel 1 A panel where the doctor and father just stare at the mother, in a bit of disbelief. Panel 2 The doctor and father start laughing and the stupidity of the mother's comment Mother - well Mother - in a perfect world Panel 3 The father takes the specimen jar from the doctor Doctor - well i suggest you don't ask the nurses to help Father - No, this is something I should do Father - Take this in my own hands Father - You know what i mean Panel 4 The father marches into the son's room, very determined. Nathan is about 12 years old, he looks sickish but happy to see his dad. Son - Nathan, son Panel 5 The two shake hands Father - mmm Father - good grip, you'll need that Panel 6 The father passes the specimen jar to his son Father - Do your mother a favour and fill this up. Father - Just don't think about your mother otherwise cancer will be the least of your problems when you grow up.

Forgive the formatting and shit final punchline. i didn't bother with camera shots or angles or any of that shit. Artists are visual people and Andy is smart, capable artist.

I prefer the second version, to a degree

Operation Tug#1 Panel 1 Dad, doctor and mother outside patients room. The dad is entering the room, quite determined. Mother is looking concerned. Dad - No, no, no, this is something a father should speak to his son about. Panel 2 Dad is walking into room, his son is in bed. He's about 12. Dad - Chemo starts tomorrow, how you feeling? Son - i dunno, alright Panel 3 The two handshake Dad - Good firm grip you got there son Dad - You'll need that. Panel 4 The dad is sitting on the bed, the son is sitting up. Dad - Son, tommorow the radiation is going to do something to your body, its going to affect you, well um Dad - Hmm Panel 5 Another view of Panel 4 Dad - Ok, Son, you know how i told you about the birds and the bees, well sometimes you don't need a bee Dad - Bees can do it by themselves. Without a bird. Birds can do it by themself but its a bit more complicated. i think, or is that for bees, i'm never sure which is which, but, hmmmm Panel 6 Another view of panel 4 Dad - Brass tacks son. Your mother wants grandchildren one day and we need a, well a sample. Son - Blood sample? Dad - No, son PAGE 2 Panel 1 Dad - I went to on the internet to look up some info on teens and mastu... Dad - Well let's just say that I had alot of explaining to do to the IT Manager Panel 2 Dad - Have you ever Dad - oh god Dad - pleasured yourself? Son - Like eating biscuits without mum knowing? Panel 3 Dad - Is that what they call it these days? Dad - So you've Dad - you know Panel 4 The dad makes a wanking gesture Panel 5 The son looks confused. Son - Play monopoly? Dad - Yes! Wait, no i'm not shaking dice Panel 6 Dad - Son, we need you to flog the old fellow Son - But i like ganddad Dad - No, you have to spill your seed PAGE 3 Panel 1 The son looks shocked Son - But we're catholic! Dad - Your mother wants grandchildren in the future, so don't worry about God Panel 2 Dad - Do you want me to get Father Michael? Son - I'm not going to do THAT! in front of Father Michael! Panel 3 Dad - No, no, no Dad - Look, here's a little bottle. Son - But, um , but errr Panel 4 Mum is listening through the door, she wants to go inside the room Dad (of panel) - It's ok son, I'll leave the room Panel 4 Back in the room, the father is up Son - But dad, I can't Dad - Its alright, its natural, I'll be back in a minute Panel 5 The mum storms into the room, freaking out the son Mum - For the sake of my happiness, fill this up so i can have grandkids Panel 6 Son - But I just had a wank 20 minutes ago

I like the idea of the jokes in this one; surfing the web for teen masturbation at work, the handshake joke, the final punchline but everything around it is too clumsy. A couple of jokes a duplicated in both but that's because I'm not that clever to think of new jokes.

I should have just stuck with Edward Fingerhands

Catch up with local comics

Apparently James Kemsley, as president of the Australian Cartoonist Association has been invited to the Bucheon Comics fair I spoke about a couple of months ago. I wasn't aware that country's industry presidents get a free ride and i'm sorry if i wasted anyone's time applying to get a sponsored trip to Korea.

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Edward Grugg's 24 Hour Comics is All Time Top 10 at Webcomics nation. Congraulations Edward!
Other Australias represented are

• Little Timmy The One Legged Peasent Boy And Friends By Edward J Grug III and Lee Hislop
• Morton Stone, UNDERTAKER by Gary Chaloner
• Naomi and Poggie By Alex Major (Where has Alex Major gone to?)
• The Journal Comics of Edward J Grug III By Edward J Grug III
• JACK COLE, A Life in Comics
• Osborn and Reynard By Edward J Grug III
• Reuben And Delilah by guess who
• Snuggles By Edward J Grug III, Colours by Matthew William Boyd Langfield esq
• Those Scurvy Dogs By (-sigh-)Edward J Grug III
• My Nose Smells Like Bleeding By Guy Howlett and Edward J Grug III
• Red KELSO by Gary Chaloner
• The BRONZE Man by Gary Chaloner
  
• Dean Rankine provides a whole bunch
• Theodore Possum In The Year Three Million And Six by Edward J Grug III
• The Jackeroo by Gary Chaloner

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Otherwise Nate Soehardi is no longer drawing Suburban Knights, which is good as long as he's drawing something

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Cover of the Funnybone book looks good

Is there a full list of everyone involved?

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Colin Wells and my entry to Liz's Dreams of Tomorrow held up production because I'm forgetful.

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I'm sending in samples of Crab Allan, Brick Dog and other Stories and Batrisha to the organisers of South Australian Premier's Reading Challenge

burger and me; phase 2

Crown and Sceptre
Burger and beer
9/10
A seasoned burger, which still had a nice meaty taste, and served on a foccacia style bun which was unusual but good since it wasn't as brittle as normal toasted buns. It was a really nice burger, though I drank it with a stella (part of the deal). The bacon was crispy and the cheese nice and bitey. A decent sized burger, it was not too dry, but not juicy either and it was light on for lettuce and tomato which i prefer. The chips were soggy.

The historian
Burger and beer
9/10
Wasn't part of a deal so i got a schooner of pale. The historian burger was good, 2 winner burgers in three days. This was served on a more traditional bun and about the same size as the crown and Sceptre burger, maybe a bit smaller. This was heavier in salad but the green and red didn't overshadow the cheese. It was a swiss cheese and it was awesome. The meat was pretty plain but nice and moist and it tasted like beef, something a lot of burgers don't do.

The Marakesh
Burger and beer
3/5
A small, tiny pub off rundle mall that i walk past everyday but forget that its there. The staff were really chatty and gave a lot of choices, egg/beetroot/sauce/onion, which is nice but it would have been better if i didn't have to drink tooheys dry to get the burger and beer deal. I went to the Marakesh after a workmate said it was great for burgers. After a short wait, i discovered she was wrong. very wrong. it was masses of shredded lettuce mixed in with litres of bbq sauce, way too much sauce. Enough sauce for 3 burgers. It was messy and very very saucey.
After two weeks and about 9 burgers, burgerfest would have to come to an end.

Movie Movie

This makes me happy


Otherwise what i've watched in the last month or so

Alexander
Hi my name is Anthony Hopkins I'm here to hammer in the subtext, welcome to the bronze age.
It felt like it was 4 hours long and not 2.5. Awful.

Alfie
The most depressing film i have ever seen. I haven't seen the originally but i'm assuming that it had a structure. Awful - however Jude wears nice clothes and Marissa T. is hot. Again Awful.

Assualt on precinct 13
This is apparently a sequel to Training Day, where Ethan Hawke gets to shoot people and cause explosions. Good.

Avengers
I bought the box set and i love Diana Rigg. I wish i looked good in pin stripes. Good to Great. (depending on the episode)

Blade: Trinity
It seems Goyer saw Daredevil and Van Hesling and thought 'yeah, that's a good idea'. Wise cracks are not always wise. Dumb.

Constantine
Never read the comic. The holy shotgun is probably the dumbest thing i've seen but otherwise its enjoyable. Kind of good.

Deadwood
Why didn't anyone tell me how great this is? Its great. However Calamity Jane had a moustache and I'm not sure if the word fuck was around in continental US. (I heard it was used by australian soldiers in WW1 and spread from there).

Heist
An actual thriller with proper twists. Good.

Infernal Affairs
Bit late on the bandwagon but Andy Lau makes good films (whose names i can never rememeber). This is probably one of the best films i've seen this year. Great.

Jaws
Emma, as she does, was desperate to see Jaws and after reserving a copy, she walked around the house going DA ...NA.....Da..Na..Danadanadana DAnanaaa. Then after we watched it she was disappointed "I thought there was more danana!".
Otherwise, probably Spielbergs best. Great.

Jaws 2
The video store said they lost their copy of Jaws 2 but i found it two weeks later in the Bond section. There was enough danana to satisfy Emma. Dumbly OK.

Princess Blade
The fight scenes were pretty decent. It was shot nicely. Otherwise Meh.

Sky Captain and the World of tommorrow
It was alright, it wasn't as fun as i thought it would be. i think it will grow on me with extra viewings. . Entertaining.

Terminal
A film about the belittling effect of Bureaucracy? No. A film about nationality and individuality? No. A film about stationary in a world of movement? No.
Spielberg makes a film where Tom Hanks plays a magic negro character and helps out the people around him. Snore. I got slightly intrigued when the "Greatest day" was brought up when all the jazz greats gathered in Harlem. Jazz, especially bebop, sounds disorganised at times but is highly structured. Getting all those jazz greats in the one spot was a monemental chance (considering how often they toured at the time -WW2 had spread jazz all over the joint and these guys would have been in demand). So you have this contrast of organised and disorganised plus chance. Airports seem disorganised but are in fact highly organised and hanks character is screwed over by chance. So it would have been great for some sort of connection. But no spielberg doesn't do subtext.
Lame.

War of the Worlds
I had no problem with this what so ever. Especially for $5. Good.

Thanks

Every now and again i'll check the mail and there will be a little a5 yellow envelope and it'll bring a smile to my face because i've been visited by the comic fairy.
It'll be a copy of the latest issue of Seven Swords by Scobie, a good little mini that comes out regularly and though the art isn't spectacular it carries the story along nicely.

So thanks Tonia for the little surprises and big generousity

book book

With one week to go, I've finally found my travelling book.
The basis for one of my favourite Tv shows, Homicide: Life on the street


Homicide; A Year on the Killing Streets bu David Simon

600 pages long, 8pt font - its a meaty paperback that will last the distance between long flights and train trips.
And for $6. Bargain!

Now i can concentrate on finding accommadation and stuff

Exhibitions

Featuring David Heinrich and James Fosdike.
David I've meet fleetingly at a Gutters and Panels drinks, to the best of my knowledge he was involved in the Barossa Studios with Glen Lumsden and Dave DeVries, but i'm racking my brain if i've ever seen his work in any local books.
David's Portfolio
I haven't met James but he worked on BrotherBoy and SisterGirl, which was pretty ok for a government funded educational comic
James' portfolio

And its curated by a girl i used to know. Adelaide - small town.

Details
54 Exeter Hotel Hung, Drawn and Sorted
An exhibition of illustration by David Heinrich and James Fosdike at the Exeter Hotel. Artists David Heinrich, James Fosdike A 246 Rundle St, ADELAIDE www.visualante.com.au O Open everyday 11.00am til late

Exeter is a decent pub too.

My comic radar also spied

132 The Rhino Room Urban Love Story
The dust clears and you are surprised looking into strange eyes. Photomedia inspired by manga and graphic novels. Artists Aurelia Carbone A Upstairs, 11 Frome Street, ADELAIDE O 10.00am - 6.00pm Mon-Thurs, 10.00am - 9.00pm Fri, 10.00am - 5.00pm Sat, 12.00pm - 5.00pm Sun. EO 6.30pm Aug 4 This venue has toilets

I'm sure there are more comic related exhibitions at www.salafestival.com and if not I'll be sad.

Still tossing up if i'll organise a exhibition for Australian Comic Book Week.

Abbie Cornish vs Batman

In Australia, local film Sommersault made 2.1 million dollars. At $17 a ticket, it can be assumed about 125,000 people saw it.

In America, a top 5 selling comic sells about 130,000 copies to comic shop retailers.

It puts something into perspective, I'm not sure what, but it seems interesting.

Belated birthday

Happy Birthday D.
hope you are home soon

Bing

the best example of a "comics aren't for kids, well except for the ones the can't read" article

Article Inventory
bam, pow, biff - Check
reference to comic movies - Check
Manga - Check (extra points because of the use of quotes)

unfortunately there is no mention to Maus - Art Speigleman weeps

otherwise, its a great initiative; in South Australia there are 600 schools, each with their own library, plus another 50 council based libraries. That's a pretty good market to hit.

Funnybone site up now

http://www.funnybone.org.au/

A good looking site, a small group of contributors listed so far but a solid bunch of sponsors are involved.

I do suspect that my submission involving cancer suffers and masturbation was rejected.

It looks exciting.

New Australian Comic Publisher

Where did this come from?

http://www.gestaltcomics.com

It has government funding and some big creators involved Shane McCarthy and Ashley Wood- looks good.

Any information on who and what would be cool

Excelsior in the Upper House!

All political articles should be like this
that way I'd pay more attention to politics

Of course following this logic; John Howard, man frozen in time, would be Captain America.
Mark Latham would be Wolverine, a loner and an outcast with a temper. Peter Costello is either Doctor Doom or Nightcrawler (mainly because of the teeth and the smell he leaves behind - oh and the spawn of satan thing). Amanda Vanstone, commandering detention centres is Emma Frost; leader of the Hellfire club (thankfully without the camel toe). Ferrari driving John Hewison who lacked ticker is Iron Man. Bomber Beasely is Nick Fury. Ruddock is Spiderman, because with great power comes great resposibility (which should be spread about as thinly as possible in times of crisis). Brendan Nelson would be the Punisher and MAKE THEM PAY.

Now i have to try and figure out who Downer would be-