Embarassing moments
- Discovering after going to a panel and asking a question, walking up and down Artist Alley and buying stuff, that Dan had put a "Cocksmoker" label on my back.
- Being discovered on the floor of an elevator giggling hysterically by Clare (Dan farted and i found it hilarious - that's the embarrassing part)
- Walking up to who i thought was Chewie's girlfriend and Liz A., who were standing at the bar putting my arms around them and saying "Sprechen ze deustch baby?" only to discover it was Avi and Liz.
Best dressed
The old guy at the Spanish club with canary yellow pants and shirt with matching pocket square. Platform shoes, shaved head, clear glasses and a beautiful blazer.
People who had a congoer who kind of looked like them
Eddie Campbell
Ian Gould
Komala
Doug Holgate
Liz A.
Matt Hyunh
David Tang
Christian Read (There were like 4 guys that looked like Christian)
Number of people who had seizures in our vicinity
2
Reasons for seizures
- The radness of Team Adelaide was too much for them
- They had their kidneys replaced with Tickle-Me-Elmo dolls
- Some sort of medical condition
Number of Team Adelaide members who had kidney issues
2
Number of Gary Lau's milk lollies eaten by Mark
5
Number of Gary Lau's milk lollies eaten by Doug
24
Conversation with Tad P and Jason Paulos at their panel
"You talk that POD and webcomics makes it easier for you to publish your work, but isn't it making it harder for people to actually buy your stuff?"
"Yes that might be the case, i don't think i have all the answers" Jase then tried to get me to talk about Sureshot which i didn't think was appropriate in that forum and i was sick of myself by then.
Tad came in with "If you build it they will come"
My response was "Sorry, that's crap, build and they will come hasn't worked since WW2, you say newstand distribution didn't work for you but do you think it was a matter of format?"
"Probably"
It all ended with some sort of homosexual banter.
I have a big rant about POD in me.
Number of times we had chinese
3
Number of times I've had chinese in the last 6 months
3
4 comments:
Sure, POD has made it harder for the Australian buyer to get Jase's books. But it's made it immensely easier... for me.
The key differences being 1) my geographical relation to the POD in question - Fix? simple "if they build it they 'can' come." (I'll get to "will come" in a second)
- and the kicker -
2) the open embracing of the visa/mastercard debit card system in the US. Fix? Stop this cash-in-hand / pocket-or-bank shopping culture and join the 21st century. Aussies. don't. shop. online.
(why? I have no fucking idea! It's backwards! "oi reckon it's not safe, mate. Heard it on today tonight or maybe down the garage."
EFTPOS? EFTPOS is complete and utter rubbish since a)most banks and/or merchants charge you, at some point, for the 'privilege' of not having to handle your cash (and the pain of removing capital from their interest accruing loan business). This causes the average Aussie shopper to say 'screw that' and b) this assumes they're even given the option to use EFTPOS online. POD must be online. Otherwise, the shopper has to talk their bank into giving them a 'credit' card (which is really a fucking debit card, but the banks are like "nooooooo, that means you might be able to pull more [of your] capital out on a given day! If we don't make it harder for you to get your money or scare you with fees, we won't make all this profit in loan interest!" So they give you a 'credit' card and then add charges to that, even when you are basically using your own funds. It's a fucking scam. I can go out tomorrow and buy 37 books from 37 shops and I will pay nothing extra to do it.
So... an Aussie POD would, we can extrapolate, make it easier for Aussie's to buy Jase's, or whomever's, books if these two things were addressed. (geographical proximity needed for agreeable shipping time and cost). The first is simple, build a POD, but the second is harder and can kill the former (seriously. go look around - how many Aussie businesses which make less than $1mil a year can you find that offer casual online sales using direct electronic funds? [paymate not being direct - a bank still gets in the middle] Oops! Gotta have a credit card! or use one of the few Aussie banks which truly offer debit).
Anywho, I know I've bought more of Jase's stuff off Lulu now that I'm back in the USSA than I ever did when I had to hunt it down at a shop in Australia. And today I bought some leather gloves, yesterday I bought a video card and some RAM, etc. All online with a few clicks. And I didn't have to get my bank's permission or beg for a credit card. I just used my Visa debit card.
POD works. Just not in Oz. Not until electronic instant payment (and, again, not EFTPOS - EFTPOS is a money-making system for your bank) becomes everyday. Or at least that's my story and I'm sticking to it. ;)
Maggie
What I want to see is a POD that does Australian formats, rather than only US comic formats. Was OzTAKU 1.2 only available as POD at Supernova? There was apparently a local print, but I've only seen the Lulu version so far...
What made the 'cocksmoker' peice of masking tape on your back all the more funnier was the fact that it was written in crayon.
Like it was a disgruntled child.
Maggie - I have no problem with the concept of POD as part of a mechanism of getting work out there, but in most cases people whack it up at Lulu and that's it. The whole postage and online payment is a bit of a hamper but i don't see it as a simple solution to Australia's distribution problems let alone the 'future' of australian comics as professed at the particular talk i went to
Ian T - surely POD does A4 and A5? because if they don't, thats weird. No idea on the oztaku stuff, for some reason that book makes me feel tired (though i love wen huangs and david li's work and even your own stuff and david kerr's is nice)
cactus - dan IS a disgruntled child
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