night time in Mark's world

Wednesday night
Across the road from my front door is the train line that freight trains use to get from Adelaide to Melbourne. Luckily we have a dense front garden and small hill to dampen some of the noise but it does get a bit loud from the 15 or so trains that pass every day. Thankfully I've only been woken up by them once.
We knew the trains passed through before we bought the house, we stood outside the house as a particularly loud one passed which rattled doors and windows. But after looking for about 2 years and watching house prices rise out of our reach we threw dice and made an offer. 18 months here we are.
On wednesday night was a town hall meeting concerning the effect the trains are having on the environment. Now I'm not one of those people who moves next to the airport and then complains about the noise; my plan is double glaze the windows and improve the roof insulation and it shouldn't be an issue. But we went anyway.
A number of speakers spoke about the different options (rerouting the train north - through the poor part of town which is a bit unfair - and other technological solutions). It seems like they can't really do anything - and the only thing that will stop the trains is legislation or if they become more expensive to run.
What was fun though was watching 60 year old grey haired activists grill the various politicans and businesspeople on what they are doing about the issue. Starting long-winded stories that never went anywhere, stammering through previously asked questions and generally blathering on. I made Em burst out laughing with the comment "You are the hottest chick here baby" and then a guy sitting/sleeping on a table fell off and tried to make it like he meant to do that.
Though the comment of the night goes to the guy who runs the company that owns the track
"Thanks for the question Frank, before i answer I'd like to congratulate you on the sale of your house. I remember 5 years ago you stood there and exclaimed your property value and plummeted but it seems you made a tidy profit last year".
Even though everyone was essentially against the track owner, this got a good laugh.
Anyway we left early, when Neil from Belair related catching steam engines in his youth.

Thursday night
The new Ikea store opens in Adelaide next thursday, but we got preview tickets for last night (em knows someone in the publicity department), well so did 4,500 other people and the place was packed. As a casual observer, it seems that anything from Ikea with moving parts or multiple 'bits' is essentially shoddily put together cheap looking stuff (couches especially). But then again its cheap so i can see the attraction. The smaller, simpler bits and pieces like bowls, frames, chairs look pretty good. We bought some storage boxes and a new 1.9x1.9 bookshelf for the lounge since the comic, book, dvd, cd collecting thing means i'm running out of room for stuff. We waited about an hour in the line to check out but they were handing out bottles of water and really nice butterscotch chocolates, so we had fun by seeing how many bottles of water and chocolates we could forage for - as you can tell we are easily amused.
Of course i thought it would all easily fit in the excel. And of course I was wrong. I had to pull off the head rest for the passenger seat and Em had to keep her head between her knees because the boxes spanned from the rear to front window.
It'll be interesting what happens with the other furniture places; because its hard to say. Le Cornus, as the cheap furniture store in town will have the competition on a price level but the styles of furniture couldn't be more different, people who like the classic/fuddyduddy style of lecornu will probably stick to them for bigger purchases. Freedom/Casual Living and Ikea share styles but the quality and price point differ significantly so they'll probably take some of the hit but not much. It'll probably the homewares plaes that will suffer the most.
So it'll be interesting, if furniture retail competition can be deemed interesting.

Ozcomic 24hr Challenge Poster Winner

by Caanan Grall

Ozcomic 24hr Challenge Poster Winner

by Caanan Grall

Brisbane artist does Lady Supreme

Thanks to Andy F. for the tip; Brisbane based artist, Wayne Nichols, is working with Rob Liefeld on Lady Supreme.

gara gara gara garçon

Children are of course welcome, ninjas not.

2 deaths, 2 births and 3 other things - 28th August

Births
1917 - Jack Kirby
1969 - Jack Black

Deaths
1987 - John Huston
1990 - Willy Vandersteen (belgian cartoonist and my new alias)

Events
1994 - First Japanese gay pride march.
1963 - During a 200,000-person civil rights rally in at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., Martin Luther King, Jr. gives his famous 'I have a dream' speech.
1898 - Caleb Bradham renames his carbonated soft drink "Pepsi-Cola".

grates - gravity won't get you high

track 1 - annoying, luckily short
track 2 - my favourite song, nice and early makes me forget track 1
track 3 - bouncy bouncy happy happy
track 4 - slow and sweet
track 5 - rock out with your cock
track 6 - the song from the jeans west ad, a year after their touch/pain ep, i'd hope there would be more original tunes. However, the old songs (feels like half of them) have been rerecorded. Still very cool song.
track 7 - probably will be their next single
track 8 - grrrr patience grrr
track 9 - makes me wanna waltz, i don't know how that makes me feel
track 10 - its about muthafuckers dancing, i was born to dance
track 11 - another rehash from the EP but with added banjos
track 12 - i dunno, really, i dunno
track 13 - a really nicely produced track
track 14 - a dreamy rock song farewells the album, a nice contrast to the otherwise boppy rock.

unsure shot

lessons learned, when doing out the layout make sure half your page count is an even number otherwise when you print it out you have a nice double page spread of emptiness

shy deaf dies

right by the door of pulp fiction comics is the australian comics stand and last week i was intrigued by a polybagged mini comic. I asked to have a look fearing it was a texty ziney thingy. It wasn't, there was some mild female nudity of the full frontal kind, so i duly bought it.

the art is angular and harsh. on the flick thru it seemed to be a typical mini, a couple of stories with some rough sketches in the middle to fill it out. but for $4 it was worth a go.

and i'm glad i did; its about a deaf girl taken to a nightclub on a date and dumped. She passes out and has a sort of re-awakening. fuck, i can't do it justice but lets say i was impressed how it all tied together.

shy deaf dies - lindsey coleman
(the comic is better than the website)

Monsters and pirates and book deals

Slowly, slowly
-another report of an australian comic creator/illustrator signing deals to do graphic novels.

Even though he's Adelaide based i don't think i've come across him, but his portfolio is very good.
And its extraordinary that he's been working on it for 13 years; he started when Batman was having his back broken and Image was being formed. Think about that.

Basic Wage Kids

The giggliest drunk ever, Owen Heitmann starts his new webcomic, Basic Wage Kids, today!

OzComic 24 hour Challenge 2006 - Poster competition

Because I haven't been spruiking the poster competition like i should, i'm extending the deadline until Monday 10th of April.

So get drawing if you want prizes and fame and prizes.

Vibewire eFestival

Anthony W has posted on ComicsLifestyle about an eFestival looking for smart people to talk about comics and stuff.

It looks interesting

Movie imaginings

A comment brought up at work about the perfect casting of jaws, made me think of other great 70s movies with different casts.

Jaws
Starring Al Pacino, James Caan and Marlon Brando
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola

Midnight Cowboy
Starring Burt Reynolds and Gene Wilder
Directed by Steven Spielberg

Taxi Driver
Starring Gene Hackman and Meg Ryan
Directed by Stanley Kubrick

Dog Day Afternoon
Starring Christopher Walken and Harrison Ford
Directed by Roman Polanski

(for no reason, but i could do it all day)

the Triangle

Nine is pumping a new mini-series for next week, The Triangle, starring everyone's famous red meat dancer Sam Neil.
Based on part one; its weird, the acting is awful, direction is nauseating, special effects are crap but if you make it through part one, there's enough of a hook to interest you in part 2. I'm guessing it'll be equally as rubbish.
So watch something else instead unless you are a glutton

I had toast on sunday

Friday - Went with Brett to see Darren Hanlon at the Jade Monkey. It was a nice humid night so we drank in the beer garden while the support act played. Usually candle record support bands are good but not this time. Adelaide had a good buzz, with the the clipsal race in town, though there were too many bogans with no shoes for my normal tolerance, but its nice when the streets are packed and people are having fun.
Darren did a good show, although it was a bit toned down. Highlight was some 15 year old kid proposing to his girlfriend during the show; what was funny about it was that proposing after a song that has the lyrics "they say we are off to broken hearts" maybe not a good start but once the lass said yes and kissed the fellow a couple of times she just sat straight down and watched the rest of the show like nothing happened. Anyway, good concert and Hanlon's new stuff sounds ok.

Saturday - the mundacity of cleaning gutters and other peices of housework. The gutters were chockers with leaves and crap, and with winter coming it had to be cleaned (otherwise the gutters rust and leak and become even more of hassle, plus there's the whole fire thing) . Though in 33 degree heat and a wobbly ladder, i did about 3/4s and moved onto my other project. Our house is on a slope and under the house there's cavities; my plan is to dig out two of these cavities, knock out the wall in between, resupport the floor and have a cellar. I started it in November but got distracted by shiny objects for about 3 months but its time to get back to it. I've dug out about a trailer load so far and have got about another 2 to go. I'll then be able to move my wine collection from my mum's place before she drinks it all.

Sunday - finished the gutters, did a house clean and watched dvds.

Monday - I was supposed to go see a preview of V for Vendatta but lost the fucking ticket. Dammit.

Art comp deadline closes soon

With 3 days to go

The Conflux Art Show deadline is March 27th

There's a prize pool of $6000; including $1000 for best Australian art and $500 for best comic art

Wisdom of the Big D

Having lunch with my dad today he offered this pearl of wisdom;

"Your last suit doesn't need pockets"

(and yet i had to pay for his food)

My House

I've been meaning to do this for ages and SPreston has spurred me.

so case' di mark

35º 01'13.90"S
138º 35'36.43"E

You can't actually see the house because of the surrounding trees and though it looks like its in the middle of nowhere; its only 20 minutes out of the city center and beach. Due the hilly terrain and adjoining national park its just sparsly developed.

Movies – the listing part 2

Walk the line (drive in) – though I like Cash’s music this movie was dull and predictable. Finely acted but still boring as batshit. It was like a tv movie of the week with better acting and great production design.

Land of the Dead – I’m not usually keen on horror, I don’t like the tense atmosphere and looking like a dick when I get startled. But there’s no tenseness in this flick – so it fails there but as an adventure film its fine, almost smart.

Suddenly 30 – I would have preferred if it had an unhappy ending because it ends way too sugary sweet. Otherwise the Thriller dance scene is comedy gold.

Wedding Crashers – Incredibly funny, the only thing that kind of ruined it was Ferrel’s over-hammed cameo, plus it sagged towards the end. I find it interesting that this film and Old School have similar themes about growing up and made by the same group of guys.

House of Flying Daggers – I don’t mind saying Zhang Ziyi is hot, but I’m disturbed that I think the same about Andy Lau.

Footloose – Awesome! Except for the construction building dance scene (it reminded me of the flute playing scene in Ron Burgundy) and the white jeans.

Ghost World – Whilst I liked it the first time, it really grew on me on the second viewing. Enid character arc makes more sense and is better to watch once you know the end. It’s not quiet a tale of redemption and its not quiet a coming of age; it straddles the two as a story about self-realization. Its in my top 50, maybe.

Bruce Almighty (TV) – at times good but mostly too hammy.

Bottle Rocket – So well constructed and horribly romantic - almost perfect.

Aeon Flux – Free tickets, thank god. This movie left so little impression I don’t think I can recall a single scene. The last ¼ once a plot develops is bearable but weirdness for the sake of it for 90 minutes can be a bit off-putting.

Shiralee (DVD) – one of Emma’s favourites, Bryan Brown and an 8 year walk around for 190 minutes. Its not so much a movie as a mood or an art piece, its engrossing and easy to watch (even enjoyable) but hardly challenging.

Resident Evil: Apocalypse – Milla and Siena. Guns and explosions. I am easily pleased.

Brother: Takeshi Kitano is a yakuza mobster in LA. A lot of people die, violence is inflicted imaginatively, Takeshi twitches and there are obscure but beautiful long-shots. I wish the DVD transfer wasn’t shit (fullscreen – what a waste).

Manga Sales in Australia

According to the Age, manga sales in australia is about $750,000 a year.

Now I'm assuming that would be sales through bookstores that use local distributors; Dymocks, Angus and Roberts, probably Borders and possibly Kinokuniya.

Now North America did $164 million, in relative terms if Australia had the same percentage of manga buyers, the market would be about $10 million. There is room for our market (with all things being equal) to increase 1300% (i think - i suck at maths).

But all things aren't really equal.
One - i think the local sales of manga in Australia is higher than $750,000 stated because i doubt it takes notice of the 30+ comic shops around the country. Some are probably run by grizzled old fanboys that only sell Marvel/DC and sneer at that "big eyed queer stuff", but some are probably doing quiet well selling manga. If only half the local shops (15) are selling 20 books a week at $20 each, that's another $312000 a year.*

*that also raises the point $750,000 means that only 721 books are being sold a week around the country. A top ten book sells about 2-3000 copies a week. So if the upper limits of manga buying occurs it might be possible for a manga book to hit the top ten (with yearly sales of $10 mill, that would be roughly 9000 books sold a week - which is ALL manga books not individual titles)

So manga is probably selling closer to a million a year.

Also, Viz, Dark Horse and, I think, TokyoPop has restricted a number of high selling franchise books from being sold at local comic shops, so Diamond can not distribute books to Australia - which goes against free trade, but anyway. I'm not sure about regular bookstores, I guessing you can but Dragonballz and other titles through them. In any case, these restrictions make it harder to get books into the hands of punters and probably puts a dampener on sales.

strangely it is exciting that we might be 3 years behind because it provides the opportunity to learn from the mistakes of what happened in North America and Europe with Manga and take advantage of it.
-some how-

However the other problem is that - the western companies that reprint manga are running out of 'good' manga to release. Now i dunno if that's the case - but if it is then in 3 years time at the 'peak' of manga interest locally - will people just be served up rubbish which will turn people off? Like when interest peaked for American comics in the early 90s due to Batman movies, death of superman, the speculative market connected with valiant comics and birth of Image - people got pretty rubbish comics. As a result, thousands of comic shops shutdown and publishers went out of business.

oh and Oztaku got a mention

I'm hoping the Astroboy exhibition is in july, because i might goto that.

me on a boat

I went with Emma to a media function, where free booze, finger food, name tags and chitchat collide. I found the representative from channel 10 and quite respectfully, while still sober, i could finally tell him to stop fucking with The Shield.
"stop fucking with the what? The shell?"
"The shield. TV show - you kept moving it around"
"oh, the shield, yeah, i never watched it"
"its good, and bring back Veronica Mars"
"oh god, that won't be back until december"
"damn, well thanks for letting me get that off my chest"
"not a problem, so what do you do?"

and the chitchat continued

The other highlight was being mistaken for the son of a high profile advertising dude, even though i was wearing a nametag and the people i was with saying "he's pulling your leg". So i just had to tell of dad's escapade at the Crazy Horse after the last executive meeting.

and i saw a dolphin

24 Challenge Poster Competition

Regardless of the format of the challenge, it still needs a poster.

So let the Poster competition begin!

What you have to do-
Create an A3 poster

• which includes the date; Queens' Birthday Weekend June 13th
• the logo (http://www.pulpfaction.net/24hr_2005/i/clock.gif)
• A space for the sponsors (roughly a 300 x 150mm area)
• the year- 2006
• It will be colour but it has to print well in Black and White
  
• And the title which at this stage is the OzComic 24 hour Challenge but the OzComic part may be replaced by another name

The winner, as chosen by the 24hour challenge organisers, will win $100 worth of comics and graphic novels from Pulp Fiction Comics.

Deadline is 27th March 2006

SureShot Presents

What is it?
The idea of Sureshot Presents is to produce consistently high quality self contained sequential art by Australian Comic Creators for current and emerging markets, driven by creators but backed by a publisher.

Why?
There are very few outlets for creators to publish their work, especially in a format that allows their ideas to grow.
Equally, there are very few outlets for readers to purchase complete and narratively satisfying stories that use an Australian Voice. Sureshot Presents is a means to provide an outlet for readers and creators.

What is the format?
The format to begin with is A5 between 36 and 48 pages. Interior pages will be 90gsm black and white. The cover will 200gsm colour optix stock with single colour printing.

How much?
It will retail for $4. Wholesale for $2.

What will be in it?
Sureshot Presents will contain a self contained story, that will not require any auxiliary purchases to enjoy. The genre and style is completely open. Where stories do not fill the whole 36 or 48 pages, a self contained back up story will be included plus text pieces.

What do creators get?
The creators of a particular issue will get 150 copies of the book. Where there are multiple creators they are able to split the 150 copies as they see fit. Creators are expected to sell and distribute their copies to preordained and negotiated markets. This will net creators $600 at retail prices and $300 at wholesale.

What do you mean preordained?
During the submission process creators and the publishers of Sureshot Presents will negotiate which retail outlets will be available to the publisher and creators to pursue. The Publisher has sole access to Kings Comics (Sydney), Phase Two Comics (Aust) and Pulp Fiction (Adelaide), however all other markets are negotiable. This includes non-comic retailers, conventions and zine-fairs.

What will be the total print run?
300, equally split between the creator and publisher.

Who is eligible?
All Australia residing creators.

What happens when an issue sells out?
That is open to negotiate between the creator and publisher. There are a number of options

• Nothing
• Reprinted by the Publisher with profits shared between the publisher and creator (75/25)
• Reprinted by the Creator with profits shared between creator and publisher (90/10)
• Creator reprints the story in a different format but credits SureShot and the publisher.

In the event where one party sells their allocation of copies, they may purchase copies from the other party for $1 a copy.

Who owns the material?
The creator owns the material 100% and can do with the material as they see fit after the initial print run. However, if the material is reprinted at A5 size, the original printing specifications must be met. If the material is reprinted or presented in any other format, Sureshot and the Publisher must be credited in an obvious manner.

How do I submit?
The format of submission will depend on the history and skill of creator and is decided by the publisher. The first step is to email the publisher (mailto:mark_selan@hotmail.com) with a request to submit a story. The publisher will reply with the format of the submission.
For new creators, they will need to send the Publisher the first 3 pages and the last 3 pages of the comic. A synopsis of the story must be included plus answers to these 3 questions

• What is the story about (not the plot but what are the themes)?
• Who is the audience?
• What markets/retail outlets will the creator be approaching and why?

More established creators can supply a synopsis and some art. They'll need to make reference to the market/retail outlets question.

How are submissions going to be judged?
They will be judged by the Publisher and by two comic creators. They will be assessed on their marketability and the skill level of the creators. The better the planning by the creators and the greater market potential the more likely a submission will be approved.

How often will Sureshot Present be solicited?
The plan is quarterly but will depend on submissions.

Is there anything you are looking for?
Fresh original stories by enthusiastic creators who are not afraid to approach new markets.

Is there anything you are not looking for?
Superheroes and parody comics – they have a chance but they’ll have to be bloody good. In terms of censorship, the inclusion of sex and violence will depend on how it is done within the story.

What happens if my proposal gets accepted?
The creator and publisher will then set up a schedule to determine the delivery date and publication of the book. The publisher will act as an editor on the project, critiquing the creative aspects of the project as they are being worked on. Retail markets and marketing strategies will also be discussed and negotiated.

How will the books be marketed?
Each book will be treated differently, depending on its audience. The format of the marketing and advertising will be the same; appropriate retailers will be approached and online commuities will be targetted. Creators are quite welcome to create posters, flyers and other merchandising material at their own expense. The publisher will most likely have poster printed if the publisher attends a convention or zine fair.

What happens if my proposal gets rejected?
The publisher will provide a full critique of your work, establishing areas of improvement while noting strengths of the provided work. Some creators will be invited to resubmit proposals in the future once they have been reworked.

Can I pull out?
Creators are able to pull out at anytime before the comic goes to print. The publisher intends to have a stockpile of stories before printing the story so this should not affect solicitation schedules. It is asked that the comic not be published for a year after the creator pulls out of the agreement. If the reason for the discontinuation is laziness then the creator must be prepared to be mocked.

How long will I have to wait for my comic to be released?
It will depend, but if a comic is not released after 18 months of completion and delivery then it can be immediately reprinted anywhere at the creator's discretion.

What are the creator’s responsibilities?

• To create a self contained comic no longer than 44 pages.
• To complete and deliver the pages by a date negotiated by the creator and publisher.
• To design the cover and that will include the Sureshot logo.
• To approach markets and deal with them in a professional manner
• The creator will have to provide sales data to the publisher.
• In the case of reprints, send and receive money to and from the publisher depending on which reprint option is undertaken.
  

What’s a professional manner?
Professional manner includes turning up to scheduled meetings on time and delivering goods and invoices within two weeks of receiving orders. It also entails interacting with retailers and consumers in a polite and respectful manner, specifically when representing and publicizing Sureshot Presents work in a public arena. The reason for this is because the idea is to build the market and readership, acting like an ass will only harm other Sureshot Present creators either now or in the future.

What happens if a creator doesn’t act in a professional manner?
If a retailer or member of the community complains about a creator’s behaviour while the creator represents Sureshot Presents, then a period of negotiation will be entered in an attempt to fix and placate the situation to the satisfaction of all parties. If a major complaint is upheld then the creator must forfeit their remaining copies of Sureshot Presents. (A major complaint may include participating in an illegal activity while publicly representing Sureshot Presents).

What are the publisher’s responsibilities?

• To act as an editor on a project.
• To pay for the printing.
• To check that the printing is correct.
• To aid in the formulation of the marketing plan.
• To have the creator’s share of the printed comics shipped to the creator at the publisher’s expense.
• To distribute the comic to the negotiated markets.
• To negotiate with and between parties, if a problem arises.
• To negotiate the issue of reprints, if the need arises.

What about other responsibilities?
All other responsibilities are up for negotiation.

Who is involved so far?
Sureshot Presents will be reprinting the previous web comic Crab Allan: Gothic Boogaloo by L.Frank Weber. Chelsea Fritzlaff is also supposed to be involved as part of her prize for the 2004 OzComic Challenge but she’s lost in the wind – but I’m hoping she’s found because she’s the inspiration for the whole thing. Other creators have been approached and are interested.

OzComic 24 hour Challenge 2006

For those interested; my proposal for this year's challenge.

Panels and Gutters

Yesterday we had the monthly Panels and Gutters Adelaide comic drinks at the Grace Emily sponsored by Pulp Fiction Comics. It was a good turn out, a solid 15 - we've had more but it was quite hot and the fringe is on but it was a good average. We had a bbq in the beer garden but sadly there was no grease fire this time. EVERYONE was asking about 24 hour challenge which is good but jeez put the pressure on - i was hoping to go camping that weekend or go to the McClaren Food and Wine weekend. I think i'm out but they just pull me back in.

I spoke to Peter about the challenge and he's keen so that's good. Otherwise it was a good meet, i'm tempted to contribute to the associated zine after being inspired by the work in Fist full of comics #2 and looking at people's work (Clare and lucas's stuff was really good).
I'm hoping Datsun T. will be doing one of my scripts but he may be just polite. After 3 months i finally sent it to him this morning. He did say he can do 120 panels in a day - which is just ludicrious - unless he means a day on Mars or something.

As always looking forward to the next one.

i just a thought from an old and grumpy man - there is nothing that turns me off on someone who exclaims "I'm so drunk" repeatedly and loudly. Especially at 4 in the afternoon. Its a sure way of being put in my wanker file. i'm just saying is all, I'm not talking about you. Honest.

things not to say

When the average age of your work team is 45 don't describe baby boomers as "has-been hacks", especially when one of them is considering sending you to sydney for a workshop.
When you find that the newest team member is taking a ride on a submarine on the weekend "so...you'll be going down on a submarine"

OzComic 24 hour Challenge 2006

I had always thought I’d only organize 3 challenges and then hope someone else would have a go. After the really good showing in 2005, I considered doing a fourth, especially with the great exposure in the media drummed up by Graeme McDonald (Anomic) but when I sit down and consider what I need to do in 006 – I realize I’ve already got too much on my plate.
Last year’s challenge brought up the issues of censorship, media scrutiny and keeping sponsors happy – all issues I don’t think I can resolve in a manner that’ll keep everyone happy and still move the whole thing forward. Actually, I could probably think of something but honestly I can’t be arsed; organizing the challenge takes a lot of time and some money and both resources are limited this year with a wedding to organize, a cellar to build and publishing plans of my own. I’ve run out of professionals I can bother for stuff and I’m probably not the best person to front up for media gigs because I’m not that smart or interesting a subject to talk about. I’m a planning kind of guy not a coordinator or a communicator.
So, having spoken to Graeme earlier this year and Maggie recently – the options are few.

This coming saturday I'm chatting with Peter, the owner of Pulp Fiction Comics, because he's inetrested in taking over. I've drafted out a plan and made some notes on what he needs to do and what he needs to consider. I'm hoping he'll be able to use some of his connections to get prizes and he's willing to put money and effort into the whole thing so i'm hoping it'll have a good outcome. I'll keep you all informed.

If he backs out, scared by the size of itall, the other option is a cut down version is run; no prizes, no promotion, no polls – just 24 hours of comic creation. Of course people would be free to promote the event on other websites (madman message board, indesign message board, etc), but it wouldn’t be official because there is nothing really that official other than a date, a name and a place.

I’m really disappointed that I’ve had to come to this decision, but it’s a decision I’ve HAD to make. Whilst I’d like to be able to live and breathe Australian comics, I can’t at the moment.

I do hope that there is a 24 hour challenge in Australia this year, in whatever form it takes.

Adelaide Zine Fair

...was saturday. And being my first zine fair, i'm calling it a success.
It was myself, Jing and Owen plus a couple hanger ons.

A couple of things worked against us, I was 20 minutes late but Jing turned up on time but still all the good spots near the front and in the shade were gone. So next time- get there early.

We had a dozen titles to sell from various people.
Jing had - Angry Comic Shop Guy (which she sold using the sales pitch 'i die in that one!', The Bear (her 24hr comic which is quiet cute), Pretty Zombies, Fist full of comics (the results of the monthly panels and gutters comic drinks) and Kipper Comics (another 24 hr comic).
Owen "sold" 5031 #1 and #2 and How to save the World: A beginner's Guide. I say "sold" because he would get flustered at the idea of selling it to anyone and would hide under the table sketching.
Me - I presented and sold

Ozcomics #4 x 2
Ozcomics #5 x 0
Ozcomics #6 x 1
Pop Culture and 2 minute noodles #0 x 1
Pop Culture and 2 minute noodles #1 x 1
Pop Culture and 2 minute noodles #3 x 0
Pop Culture and 2 minute noodles #6 x 0
First time I fetched water x 5 (sold out)
Meus Officium est Abyssus x 1
9v x 5 (sold out)
Pirates x 6
Martin/Molloy x 2
Martin/Molloy x 1
Martin/Molloy x 2
Once upon a time x 1
Eat Comics x 1
Batrisha x 0
History of Oztaku x 0

A couple of things, the cheaper low-fi comics sold better; Michael Li's flew out early (i think i could have sold double the 5 copies i had, maybe even triple with beautiful art like that)and stuff like Fist full, Pretty Zombies did ok. Where stuff like Dillon's stuff (martin/molloy, early pop cultures) which have colour covers and 'look' like comics didn't get many flick thrus. Though Batrisha and Pop Culture #6 which are not standard formats did get a lot of pick ups but i think the price kept people away. Pirates, being the most expensive book at $6 did well, its got a great hook "its pirat-licious!".
Otherwise, a lot of people asked for 'experimental' stuff, which i didn't really have, all i could do was point out the 24 hour stuff, the fistfull of comics zine and "once upon a time" anthology. It also solidified my theory that anthologies are a hard sell unless there is a cool, easily pitched idea behind it (though i still think anthologies are an integral part of building a market/scene). Finally the solid red cover of Angry Comic shop guy did have a lot of interest and it sold well.

all good info when i start publishing my own stuff.

hamfisted political mutterings

"But the cartoons aren't the problem. They're a symptom of the problem." -douglas holgate

So what is the problem - why can't we get along?

It really rankles, no fuckit, it really insults me when bush, blair, howard - every blue suited red tied politician says its because 'they hate freedom' - they being 'terrorists'. That sounds like so much bullshit. Why would the average joe in the Middle East give a flying fuck about the political process of another country? It may because i'm pretty much apolitical - but i don't really - except in one case, when they are making decisions that impact on my way of life.
That's pretty much the same for everyone - people generally fight back when they or their loved ones get put into a situation where their lives are harmed.
So why are the people of the middle east pissed at us (us being western society)?

Well to me, - there was the crusades, then the monguls had a go, the british thought carving the place up into countries may be a bit of alright and now the americans aggresive expansionist foriegn policy are sticking their fat fingers into the oil rich pie. For a really long time Arabs haven't had a chance to dictate their own terms or lives without interference from outside forces. When they did, they were a really progressive advanced culture. Even with the recent sunni vs shiite conflict, it doesn't seem like its a reflection of Islam because many African countries have the same amount of turmoil and strife. Of course in both cases, it doesn't help that both cultures (yeah its abit simplistic to say african or arab culture but - me making point, you give me slack) are tribalised and can be manipulated to start shit.
So I'm not surprised that the US' support of Israel leads so much trouble. You have a large Superpower supporting a brutal country on land that was essentially stolen from others.
Not only politically but since WW2 the West has been culturally dominant around the world - which like in the case of the Danish cartoons can cause some hostility. I'm not a religious scholar but it seems the the religion of Islam boils down to 2 aspects; modesty and duty. Modesty can be seen in the way Muslim's look after invited guests, the hajib essentially stops vanity and women being viewed as sexual objects and men trimming their beards kind of distracts guys caring about their appearance and allows people to get on with important things. Duty is stuff like praying 5 times and day, fasting during ramadan and travelling to Mecca. Muslims are compelled to do these things and its a Hardcore undertaking.
Western culture is anything but modest nor does it really adhere to much duty. Especially with baby boomers its all about 'me' and leisure and sex and money. I don't have anything against that, but i'm not muslim. Beyonce selling pepsi doesn't offend me, listening to 50 cent asking for a blow job makes me wanna dance, i accept advertsing and i wanna make money. But that's not the aim of everyone and forcing it on other people by playing on people's greed (in the case of middle eastern businesses and media) is going to piss people off. When you offend people you make them angry.

it would be simpler if US business and government stopped trying to expand markets into places who aren't willing or ready to accept the products and inherent values they are trying to sell. And fuck don't get me started about the whole yahoo/google pandering to chinese business/government because that's grossly immoral.

The idea that democracy can be forced on a people is just dumb.

cartoon carnage

I'm a torn little fella; it takes me ages to make decisions and to decide on how i stand on, you know, stuff.

The whole Danish Muhammad cartoon is terribly upsetting. Firstly, I'm rally not one who believes antagonizing people or causing people pain is every really necessary - i don't see the point of upsetting people just for the sake of it. For the most part, anyway, i think people who make decisions on behalf of others should be held up for scrutiny, satire and abuse.
However, politeness and respect for others, in no way can ever take precedence over freedom of speech. That's a given. People should have the right to say whatever they want, as long as they accept the consequences.
I'm not really sure what the point of the original cartoons were and it would probably allow for a better understanding of the rationale if some reasoning was given. But in the end the reaction was a bit disproportionate - but kind of understandable. Fuck with a group long enough and they will fight back.

I hope i win

Discovered in yesterady's Sunday Mail comic pullout, a colouring in picture for horror High drawn by Doug Holgate.

The trouble with Harry

Cheney says that shooting his friend was the worst day of his life, well i wish he considered the feelings of those 19 year old kids having to shoot at people and get shot at half way around the world. I'd bet watching their friends and comrades die around them isn't that great either.

room for rant?

i used to be so rantful but now i've got nothing - sometimes i feel incensed about people with their feet on train seats but i just sit somewhere else.

sigh

Wonder Women of comics

Canberra Comic store of awesomeness, Impact Comics, is hosting "Aussie Comic Creators - Wonder Women” on Saturday March 11th. Featuring Queenie Chan (The Dreaming), Trudy Cooper (Platinum Grit), Nicola Scott (Star Wars and The Watch) and Liz Argall (Dreams of Tomorrow), this signing celebrates International Women’s day but more importantly hot aussie talent.

More details

On a self serving related note; OzComics Magazine #4 dealt with female creators in Australia, so check it out.

On a related note Queenie Chan JJJ radio interview.

but to one in particular

Yea...
To all the Brooklyn girls
To all the French girls
To all the Oriental girls
Chinese...
Japanese...
To all the Swiss girls
To the Italian women
To the upper east side Mombiles
To all the Jamaican girls
And to the top-less dancers
Australian...
And Brazilian
To the southern belles
To the Porte Rican girls
To the stewaresses flying around the world.

To all the girls - Beastie Boys

besides shake your rump though, the most romantic beastie boy song

Ride On The Bus Into The City Everyday
I Sit On My Seat And I Dream Myself Away
I Dream I'm On An Island With That Foxy Lady Too
But When I Awaken I Must Be Mistaken I'm On Third Avenue
Won't You Take Me Away And Take Away Me

Mark on the Bus - Beastie Boys

The Eddie Campbell interview from the Comics Journal.

I like the idea that Graphic Novels should be novel, as in innovative, and not just any comic with a spine. The notion that even though the format and majority of the creative techniques are shared between graphic novels and comics – they are separate ‘beings’ or ‘entities’ doesn’t really translate when you try and compare it with other mediums.
The idea of high art/low art only exists in a few mediums and its really hard for a dunce like myself to tell the difference between them. There are movies and cinema but besides the opinion “Cinema is everything I think is good, movies are for the rest of you” is there anything that really separates them? Is it a matter of quality, structure, themes?
In TV it seems even more complicated, the basic format and structure stays the same; the only difference between good tv and bad tv is superficially a matter of opinion and advertising, and analytically a matter of budget and production. In books there’s fiction and there’s Literature or books you can buy at the airport and books you can’t.
I’m not that smart when it comes to art, how to define it, compare and value it – I have no appreciation of its history because I’ve been too busy watching Jackie Chan films and reading comics. Because of my lack of smarts I need guidelines to define what’s high art, what’s low art and what differentiates Graphic Novels from Comics, and if it’s a matter of other people telling me “this is a graphic novel because we say so, pip pip” then I don’t find that very satisfying at all.

Though, even though I agree that Graphic Novels should be celebrated for their originality what happens when the innovative becomes the norm? Pekar, Spiegleman and Campbell can be celebrated for their introducing their autobiographical works in a spandex world but with Blankets, Perpolis, Epileptic and Pyongyang on the market does American Splendor lose its graphic noveliness? Dark Knight Returns introduced the world to Grim and Gritty but since Hal Jordan went nuts is Miller’s book just a comic with a spine?

Another point raised in the interview, has made me rethink my position regards the position of graphic novels/comics in bookstores. I always thought that Chris Ware’s Jimmy Corrigan should be shelved in between Warden and Warland, not in the comic ghetto found between Science Fiction and Calendars. But then I wouldn’t expect Hansen’s version of LA Confidential on DVD next to Ellroy’s book, or ‘Pieces of You’ next to “A Night without Armor”, The Proposition with the Nick Cave cds. Two different mediums. Sure graphic novels and books share a distribution model, size, materials, etc, but they are two different vehicles of telling stories as different as radio play and theatre. Makes obvious sense. As an attempt to be taken seriously as a medium there’s a sense that comics are waving their arms in the crowd shouting “we’re just like you!! Please love us!!” instead of extolling what comics can do that’s different from anything else.

Lastly its nice to read a comic related interview that has a nice flow of conversation and covers a number of points – I may make more of an effort to pick up TCJ in the future.

my shitty comics (part iii)

2005
Brown and Sticky

Last year's effort only had a few stories, 4 to be exact, probably the most memorable feedback was from a mate who rang me up
"I read your comic"
"Yeah?"
"That was all one big injoke wasn't it?"
"Yeah"
"...."
"...."
"um, it was still good"

Doug Holgate Super Assman features comic creator Doug Holgate's rise to fame and subsequent fall. Also features people who are like Christian Read, Tim McEwen, Jen and myself. It all centres around the movie Ghost Rider being filmed outside Doug's Apartment and Doug's bum, which is a welcome relief from always being about Doug's beard.

As always, the musical interlude, this time another Lucksmith's song, Baker's Wife. Each panel represents one line of lyric.

Kipper Comics is me essentially parodying Asutralian Comics, it was late at night and i got a bit harsh. Kipper was last year's special word that had to be inserted into each 24 hour comic. Thanks to Emma for taking the photos. And i may do some more Kipper Comics later this year because it was kind of fun. (Parodied comics include Knee Pockets, Tales from under the bed, The Watch Cassis Belli, Knight-edge, the work of Matt Huynh, Batrisha and a whole bunch of others).

It all ends with my favourite strip, which i call 'please love me colin wilson', Colin being a Melbourne based comic creator who worked on Judge Dredd, replaced Moebius on the Young Blueberry graphic novels in Europe and has done some work for Wildstorm in the US. He's also noted for breaking his back motorbiking and creating Captain Sunshine.

ranking the dreaming

Queenie Chan's The Dreaming gets listed as the 25th most popular OEL for 2005, which is noteworthy since it was released in December but without numbers I've got no way of knowing what it all relatively means.

Shipping thursday

Legends of the Dark Knight #200
Written by Eddie Campbell and Daren White
Art by Bart Sears

I thought Order of the Beasts was quite good but overlooked in general so it should be written ok, though i'm not so sure about Sear's art these days.



so look it up

Supanova Comic Guests

Discovered at the supanova forums

Geoff Johns
Phil Jimenez
Gary Chaloner
Stewart McKenny

I don't think I've ever read anything by Johns, but i don't mind Jimenez's work. Meeting Gary will be nice and catching up with Stewart is alwys fun.

Fringe Zine Fair

On the 25th of February, as part of the world renowned Fringe Festival, there will be a Zine Fair held just off the busy Rundle Street. Jing and myself will be running a table for the day and I’m offering to sell people’s stuff. So if you are not an Adelaidian and want me to sell your zine/work please contact me (mark_selan@hotmail.com) and we’ll sort something out. Since the table is free I’m not looking in making a commission and I can direct deposoit anything I make in to your account. I’m not looking for many copies, 5-10 should be plenty. What I don’t sell I’ll be happy to take with me to Melbourne’s Dodgy-con and Brisbane’s Supanova.

time's short so act fast

yesterday and today

My yesterday
and today is Panels and Gutters, the Adelaide comic drinks at the Grace Emily sponsored by Pulp Fiction Comics

all kinds of funny

An OzGN?

The Mostly True Story of Matthew and Trim
Could this be a first; an OGN created in Australia by local talent for a local mainstream publisher? or would that be Brickdog?

This is classed as a graphic novel but not sure since I can't find any previews of pages;

shipping this week

Tomorrow sees Detective Comics 816 released, its part two of a story written by Australian Shane McCarthy; it also features art Cliff Chiang.
Otherwise, Witch King; An autobiography of a Darklord released by Phosphorescent Comics. Featuring Christian Read!! Paul Abstruse!! PJ Magahlaes!! Darren Close!! Annette Kwok!!
Considering that children conceived when this book was, um, conceived started school this week, I suspect that the inking of the sequel (Witch King: How to hypnotise chooks) will be done by Cyrus Naylor.
Also Eddie Campbell released a hardcover, A Disease of Language, compiling Snakes and ladders, Birth Caul and the Alan Moore interview last week.

Movies: The listing - part i

A guy I work with keeps a database of every movie he’s seen for the last 20 years, with reviews, scores and whatnot. He can then say at the end of the year – “I watched 226 films this year”.
For some reason I think that’s kind of cool so I’m going to try that here, not on a database

Old School - DVD - Whilst i try so hard not to yell out "you're my boi blu" in croweded areas, its a hard thing to do. Some awesome bits in this film that are spoiled for some really cheap gags. Thematically its a natural progression from my favourite film of all time, The Graduate.
Out of Sight – TV - I love this movie, especially the use of freeze frames. Soderbergh loves his 60’s new wave films – he uses their techniques so well while still being fresh. This movie also features the next suit i'm going to get made up (the light coloured checked 3 button with the red lining, also worn by Cary Grant and the Rock – tho I want a 2 button version).
Chocolat – DVD – Enjoyably quaint, though I was surprised that this got nominated for best picture since it is so subtle and evenly paced without dealing with a grand conflict or social issue, which is the norm for Oscar nominees. But when it comes to exotic women solving people’s problems with food I’ll take Peneolope Cruz in ‘Woman on Top”
King Kong – Cinema – We went Gold class and had to wait an hour for our food which sort of spoiled the experience. But whilst I think I could watch Naomi Watt’s face forever, the whole movie seems so shallow. It just feels like all the situations and scenes are just put in so they’ve got something to build a videogame around and to sell action figures. It was a bit meh, well made meh but still meh.
Everafter – DVD – Emma watches this frequently, in this viewing I just tagged along. I like it for a bit of fluff, beautifully shot fluff. Drew Barrymore is quite charismatic, but not that pretty. And as always, more gypsies.
The Island – DVD - This movie requires Ewan McGregor and Scarlet Johanson to run around screaming “Go” or “stop” for 2 hours. Not as bad as they say it was though I like explosions and car chases. still its pretty vacant. And Scarlett does nothing for me.
Dirty Dancing 2: Havana Nights – DVD - Emma will quite happily watch the original Dirty Dancing everyday (she watched it 3 times in 2 days once) and I have to admit I don’t mind watching it either, every now and again, I can see why it was so successful and there’s something about Jennifer Grey - sigh. Anyway DD2HN is 80 minutes long and has dancing it.
Police Story 2 – DVD - I’m a big Jackie Chan fan and thought I had seen most of his post Young Master films but while I watched this film it barely registered, I couldn’t remember anything from it. Its not particular a great Jackie film, its almost boring and besides the exploding factory I still can’t remember much from it (oh – except for the slow mo bouncing red ball)
Project A; Part 2 – DVD – One of my favourite Jackie films; the handcuffed and being chased scene is very cool. It also makes me think that in a lot of Chan films there’s always a ‘hiding’ scene.
Say Anything – DVD – I’m a Cameron Crowe fan but I hadn’t even heard of this film until recently. John Cusack is good as always, though in a lot of his movies he always stands broken hearted in the rain. A good romantic film with kickboxing.

my boys are back

On Sunday I went to a bridal expo where the estrogen count was so high my testicles retracted. I spent 2 hours glassy eyed trying to figure out why do you need chair covers and how they can cost $5.50 each to hire, as well as who the fuck would ever watch a wedding video. I also considered if Kayne West’s Gold Digga would be appropriate at our wedding, but shudder at the thought of my dad yelling ‘we whan prenup, we whan prenup’ in the background.

more shitty comics (part ii)

2004
Totally POV comics

Thinking that having done 24 pages of comics i was somewhat of an accomplished artist, i tried to be smart and do a point-of-view comic, because i realise a suck at drawing people but stuff i'm relatively better at (relatively; like how my dentistry skills are better than my brain surgery skills) so as long as i did stories where no one else existed i was fine.

Bye Bye Bali goes for 4 pages and its pretty autobiographical since only 2 weeks before i had been in Bali. Check out the 'how to be an artist' captions, i should have done the whole future past tense thing - "you will sit in a seat too small for you and have the metal buckle dig into your bloated belly" - but it was still early and i wanted to get ahead of schedule (plus i'm not that clever).

The biggest buzz i got was when i went to pick up Emma from her work and saw she had printed the first page to Company Time on her pin up board. My ode to shitting on comany time and getting paid for it. I think i had about another 2-3 pages of material but thought it may be making me look like a neurotic loser. The story is ruined by the font (and yes the drawing)(and yes the jokes).

Happy Ending -getting a massage (that first panel has the caption "you tell me if to strong fo you ok - garble"). Neither me or rob liefeld can draw feet - take that to the bank.

The musical interlude for this year sucked, i was trying to think of a nice short song to 'comicise' and thought Tom Wait's "The Ocean doesn't want me today". For some reason i though that was the only line in the song, so i started to draw, towards the end i played the song for inspiration and discovered that its a lot longer than i thought. Its supposed to be a scuba diver being expelled by the ocean crash landing on the beach - it doesn't work at all.

Master and Mastered was a bit of a depature - it wasn't meant to be funny. It was also the first time i used photoshop filters to suppliment and camoflauge my shitty drawing. I think the best thing about this was i got asked if the story about the balaklava and old lady was true, which is quite the compliment since i've never sky jumped in my lfe.

Cast asunder is sort of the sequel to Callous, which was drawn by Tonia Walden and appeared in Pirates. Cast Asunder is shitty drawing and all wordy wordy. Callous, is beautifully drawn with no words.

Do your duty, my little imagining of the conversation between David Hicks and the supposed Australian agents who he spoke with on the battleship as it chugged its way to Camp Xray. Plus its the inclusion of the 'paddy wagon' special word. It almost works - its ends a bit abruptly.

And it all ends with me 'cheating' with the camera. Since then me and Emma moved to our new house which is a fair depature from the unit (which i'm renting out to some doctors from overseas).

Judge Dredd wants you

The Editor, of Judge Dredd Megazine is seeking contributors to submit stories. Its unpaid but if you are cool with that, then email submissions to Matt.Smith [at] rebellion.co.uk.

(this may only be a UK thing, i dunno)

Chaloner at Newsarama

Gary Chaloner talks about his new John Law series at Newsarama, which is a step up from talking about Planet of the Apes at Bananarama.

(this is what happens when i post twice in one day)

Ledgers; Recognising Excellence in Australian Comics

Congratulations to all the winners for the peoples' choice award winners.

And special congrats to Glenn for FunnyBone, putting together such a big book for charity is quite the achievement and deserves the recognition.

(but Garfield???)

my shit drawing

Now with the 24hour comic website up - lets take a walk down memory lane regarding ME. and my comics.

2003
Sketchy comics

(excuse the crappy interface)
Starts off with "Darkness of the Sole" a 9 page story about two mates whose fridge connects to the phone line.

Then i had a whole series (well about 7) of "when stick figures don't work properly". There's Stick figure porn on page 10 and Stickfigure gangsta rap video on page 17.

Page 12 has a musical interlude where i rip off a short lucksmith tune (i asked permission before hand). I've done musical interlude's 3 times running - this was the only time it worked. (also the caption is my feeble attempt to hide behind the fair use/review copyright law).

Roboto is a 4 page take off of Memento, it runs backwards and covers a favourite theme of mine 'satisfaction in mediocrity'. One day i may do this strip right (though my shit drawing has its charms)

The next four pages is me trying to not have to draw at all. There's

• nude cross global running for albinoes
• a hungry gen-y american brown bear
• an impatient beaver
• gossipy horny polar bears

Finally I have no idea, it makes me laugh, but i'm simple that way (and i haven't had the fin for about 2 years now).

Tomorrow lets party like its 2004, because i don't have anything else going on.

Ozcomic 24 hour website is back

After the sudden demise of aussiecomics.com, the Ozcomics 24 hour challenge website was lost. I didn't even have a proper backup - but with the gracious help of Maggie McFee, and some fiddling with files

http://www.pulpfaction.net/24hr_2005/

I've included a media page, where there's

• Loren and myself on JJJ
• Darren Schroder on a massive 20 minute interview on Radio New Zealand
• Douglas Holgate and me on radio abc melbourne (you can hear what i sound like after 30 hours no sleep)
• plus some scans of newspaper articles

There was a really good interview with Ben Hutchings on National ABC but that was lost

On the entries page, i've got it linking directly to the forum pages, i did have a lot of them in the template but didn't have a backup of that file. Some of the image links may be broken.

if you spot any errors let me know.

(big thanks to anomic for setting all that up)
(and thanks to matty b and monkey for their work on the site.)

Sydney Exhibition

More gallery showinngness in Sydney.

Running for two months
January 18 - 18 March 2006

Featuring
Patrick Alexander
Queenie Chan
Matt Huynh
Libbie
Komala Singh
Nathan Soehardi
Sofia
David Tang
Yasinta Widjojo
Sally Woellner

Mars Hill Cafe
331 Church Street,
Parramatta

god.king.slave.

i picked up Larry Young's True Fact for $3 from one of the Adelaide Comic Shops and became somewhat inspired to do something in comics.
Larry Young runs AIT/Planet Lar Comics, probably most notably known for publishing Brian Woods work and his own Astronauts in Trouble. I was never a fan of any of their output but once you get past Larry's self aggrandising and 'gee whiz i'm just a cat that loves comics' he does say some good stuff (there is nothing more tiring than people using the word 'cat', it ALWAYS sounds like my dad trying to be hip and its always embarrassing).
Like Steven Grant, who is probably one of the smartest commentators on comics (especially mainstream stuff), Larry's product always is lacking something.
But he did produce True Facts, his guide to publishing comics, a reprinting of some columns he did at the old Savant website.
Anyway, he quotes Guy Kawasaki (who may be quoting someone else)
Create like a god, command like a king, work like a slave.
I tend not to make new years resolutions until the end of january, i mlike to see how the year is blowing, where i wanna go and what not. This year will probably be a busy year for me, workwise there are some big projects i'm going to manage; around the house theres a cellar and deck i want to build, plus painting the exterior and there's the whole getting married thing.
But i wanna do something with comics; i have a couple of ideas - some which will have to wait till next year some which i can do myself, some i'll need help.
so ive done the god bit, i've got the idea - the king bit involves some planning which takes me awhile because i'm a ponderer - and the slave bit is actually the easy bit for me.
so stay tuned.

tall stories and short people

For those in Melbourne go see Tall Stories

Features Doug Holgate, Simon Sherry, Joe Whyte and some other guy (will ainger).

there will be seaman on the walls

Nicola Scott Interview

Not sure if this got linked to from anywhere http://www.dc-kingdom.com/interview.php?id=5

(on a side note one of the consistent searches that finds this very blog is "birdie birdie num num jelly wrestling nicola" - someone out there has to move on - just saying is all)

Nicola also was the cover artist of december's issue of Millarworld Magazine


(also in that issue Christian Read reviews the Aeon Flux license)

Beau Smith gives Ms Scott a shout out at Silver Bullet Comics

Finally Nicola is doing the art for Season of the Witch #3 and #4 (Image) which should be now or soon.
(plus she may be doing something high profile at Oni)

Voting for 2006 Ledgers has began

For all those interested in Australian Comics, you can vote in the 2006 Ledgers. So Go.

Winners will be announced on Australia day.

(and thanks to all those who nominated me for the 24 hour challenge, who's website should be resestablished soon)

Australian comics round up

I haven't done this for awhile but what's going on in Australian Comics-
deevee 1-5 reviewed at Comics Reporter
Micheal Luenig on cartoons and Israel
Ledgers Awards Nominations closed
Shane McCarthy's first issue of Victims is out and can be found in issue 815 of Detective Comics. (The art is awesomely gorgeous and by one of my favourites Cliff Chiang.)
David Yardin does weddings, parties, anything
If you want to pay less money for a table or booth at Brisbane Supanova then contact the organisers now.
And speaking of Supanova it looks like Gary Chaloner will be a guest.

new soveriegn of assholia

Till now i thought they king of the club assholes was the guys that piss at the bar but last night a new king reigns, the guy that spews in the urinal so the drain clogs up and the level of piss raises until it breaks the banks of, what I call, the urinephrates.

huzzah

Olijo - Enjoy

I've provided a 4 course meal and its saturday night.

Appetiser - dukkah and bread
Entrée – balsamic marinated mushroom bruschetta
Main Course - spaghetti vongole
Dessert – Fried Eggplant and Chocolate.

invite some people around and enjoy

Olijo – Dessert – Fried Eggplant and Chocolate.

For xmas instead of cards I bottled and labelled little containers of olive oil to give to friends and family. Some people have said “oh wow, thanks – what do I do now?” – well before you rub it all over your body and slide down the banister, I’ll be posting up some olive oil related recipes.
It’ll be a 4 course meal – but you can of course do what you like.

Appetiser - dukkah and bread
Entrée – balsamic marinated mushroom bruschetta
Main Course - spaghetti vongole

This was probably the trickest course to come up with, a dessert made with olive oil. I’m sure there is an olive oil cake out there – but I don’t do cake. Whilst cake isn't one of the foods that freak me out - i'm still not that keen on it. Then I remembered something we made in Italy during the cooking class Emma got me for my birthday. We sort of were a bit advanced than their normal clientele; they had planned to teach us how to make gnocchi and tira misu – stuff we both know how to do. Since we were the only people there AND it was my birthday AND it was the day after i proposed the instructing chef showed us something her mum used to make for her. One of those underhanded and visiously cruel ways of making kids eat their vegetables. By mixing them with chocolate.
We’ve made it a couple of times for friends and have spun them out each time.

• Eggplant
  
• Olive oil
• Dark cooking chocolate, grated
• Flour
• salt
  

Try and use lebanese eggplants, they are more cucumber/zucchini shaped an easier to work with.
Cut the eggplant up - long ways into finger width slices and sprinkle a good coating of flour and a bit of salt (pinches of table salt) on both sides. In a pan pour a layer of olive oil and put it on a highish heat. Shake off the excess flour and Pan fry the eggplant on both sides. Don’t burn it, actually don't overdo it.

Place the eggplant on paper towels to drain the excess oil.

Each person's serves needs two slices. Sprinkle the grated chocolate over the top of one slice and using another eggplant slice - make a sandwich (with the chocolate in between). The heat from the eggplant should melt the chocolate – sprinkle a touch more chocolate on top and serve. Don’t tell your fellow diners what they are eating and watch as they try and figure it out.

Olijo – Main – Spaghetti Vongole

For xmas instead of cards I bottled and labelled little containers of olive oil to give to friends and family. Some people have said “oh wow, thanks – what do I do now?” – well before you rub it all over your body and slide down the banister, I’ll be posting up some olive oil related recipes.

It’ll be a 4 course meal – but you can of course do what you like.

Appetiser - dukkah and bread
Entrée – balsamic marinated mushroom bruschetta

Serves 6

• Half a cup of olive oil
• Half a cup of white wine (Riesling)
• 500 grams of clams
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 bunch of parsley
• Pack of Spaghetti

Chop the garlic nice and fine
Chop the parsely up too.

This is one of Emma's recipes so i don't get to cook it but its rather simple. In a pot add the olive oil and garlic and on a low/medium heat cook it until the garlic has changed colour (about 2 minutes). Add the wine and clams. Put the lid on and turn the heat up a touch. Wait about 3-4 minutes until the clams have opened up. It shouldn't boil. Stir it around a bit.

Meanwhile cook the spaghetti (boil water then add salt and pasta and cook). A packet of spaghetti usually serves six so use a whole packet.

Once that’s done, drain the pasta and throw it in the pot with the sauce mix. Drizzle some extra olive oil on top, couple of pinches of pepper and serve into bowls. Then finally throw on some parsely.
Make sure you tell people not to eat the shells or unopened clams. Its a bit of a chore to eat this dish, unlike other pasta which i can shovel down, but having to fish out the shells and twirl spaghetti increases the chances of enjoying the meal. its a good meal to eat with friends because you don't have food in your mouth most of the time.

Drink with a fruity cabernet or Primo Estates’ Il Bondino (i think that's what its called - its the only white i like). Have some bread rolls as well because sopping up left over sauce is a must.

Tommorrow- dessert

Olijo – Entrée – balsamic marinated mushroom bruschetta

For xmas instead of cards I bottled and labelled little containers of olive oil to give to friends and family. Some people have said “oh wow, thanks – what do I do now?” – well before you rub it all over your body and slide down the banister, I’ll be posting up some olive oil related recipes.

It’ll be a 4 course meal – but you can of course do what you like.

Appetiser - dukkah and bread

• Large flat mushrooms
• 4 tbs of balsamic vinegar
• 6 tbs olive oil
• ¼ tomato, chopped
• ½ clove of garlic
• basil leaf
• ½ teaspoon of basil powder
• ball of boccocini cheese
• Sea Salt

This list of ingredients is per large mushroom so multiply for bigger groups. Also the quantities are really rough; i haven't perfected this recipe so tread carefully.

Get a mortar and pestle, add the olive oil, vinegar, basil powder, garlic and a couple pinches of salt and start grinding till you get a nice liquid.

Peel the top skin of the mushroom and carefully break off the stalk. Pour the liquid over the mushroom, mushrooms are sponges so it should soak it right up. Sit the marinated mushroom in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to let the flavours really absorb.

Heat up a pan on the stove or the hotplate on the bbq. I recommend not using a grill because the oil will leak from the mushroom and you’ll get a massive flame and scare yourself shitless. Just cook the top of the mushroom (not the ‘gill’ side) for a good couple of minutes. If they marinade starts leeching out, that’s about enough.

Treat the mushroom like a little bit of a bowl, so on the gilled side (where the stalk was) add the chopped tomato and ball of boccocini and but it under the griller until the cheese melt. Tear the cheese up a bit so it melts faster. Add the basil leaf and serve.

I have no idea what to drink with this – I’m liking rose at the moment for some reason, so I’ll say Rose or maybe a sweet Grenache.

Tommorrow the main meal.

Olijo – appetiser – dukkah and bread

For xmas instead of cards I bottled and labelled little containers of olive oil to give to friends and family. Some people have said “oh wow, thanks – what do I do now?” – well before you rub it all over your body and slide down the banister, I’ll be posting up some olive oil related recipes.

It’ll be a 4 course meal – but you can of course do what you like.

• White bread
• Dukkah
• Olive Oil

Starting easy - as an appetiser, its really easy to use olive oil. Go to a bakery and buy some bread, try and find somewhere that don’t just describe the bread as ‘white’, ‘wholegrain’ or ‘multigrain’. Find something a bit interesting – but in this instance keep it white and without anything backed into it (fruit, nuts, human fingers).
Just something dense and fresh, but not to crusty. (Lepinja is good)
Supermarket bread is ok, but only really works when its warm. Warm bread works when its eaten with meals not before – especially as an appetiser because when people are chatting the bread cools down becomes dry.

Buy some dukkah, which is a herb/ spice/ nut mix from the middle east. You may have to go to a continental or fine food shop. I like the ones with added chilli. If you can’t find one with chilli, the add some chilli powder yourself, but just a little – a half a pinch or so.

Ok, get your bread cut it up into two bite portions, make sure there is a crust. I’m a portion overlord, so I’d cut up 5 pieces of bread per person. Pour the olive oil into a couple of small dishes – saucers will work if you are desperate. Pour the dukkah onto some other plates and serve.

People dip the bread into the oil and then into the dukkah and eat.

In terms of drinks, I’m not some drink fascists that forces people to drink specific beverages with specific meals. But I would either drink a subtle beer; corana, mythos, moretti or light beer OR a really spicy shiraz to compliment the chilli. It depends, if it’s a snack then beer but if I’ve got a big meal coming then the shiraz (d’arenberg footbolt) because the chilli/shiraz will stimulate appetite (where the bread and beer combo will be quite filling).

Tommorrow - the Entrée

503me

Fellow Panels and Gutter drinker and comic creator Owwen Heitmann has just flattered my massive ego by including me in this week's 5031 strip. I have no issue with the likeness, he's captured my ruggedly handsome handsomeness - though i do take issue with the top. Yes, I wear polo tops, yes i have worn public enemy tshirts, yes, i could wear a public enemy tshirt over a polo top, but i don't think i'd wear a public enemy polo.

oh and its not true, i'm only a sick sick individual

Platinum Grit

For all those who hungrily groped my Platinum Grits at Saturdays Panels and Gutters drinks
The Lulu Shopfront
or you can buy'em of ebay

And for those who want to know more about Lulu's Print on Demand costs - which is kind of attractive.

Bovinevision of 2005

I think I should have thought through the whole cow thread for my end of year cultural round up.

For some reason TV is where its at for me, the truly inspiring stuff is happening on the little screen. Movies are just cliché ridden, special effects driven nerd romps that I can barely manage the strength to go see. But the serial nature of TV, the grittiness and innovative corner cutting employed by lower budget TV (when compared to Films) and the extremely well written scripts just get me excited.
However I didn’t bother with some new shows like, House, Grey’s Anatomy or Numbers – all of which I was told are good and they could be but what I watched and enjoyed;

The Wire
The second season started off slowly but then accelerated until the nail biting end. Awesome fully rounded characters and perfect sense of pace its so much better than Sopranos and yes even the Shield.

Deadwood
Even though I didn’t see this on TV but on DVD it still counts. Though I thought the swearing was a bit much, (and what's the deal with music days it all sounds the same, where are my slippers) watching Seth’s slow boil, Al’s scheming and the going ons of the other characters; its all postively engaging - you cunt.

24
Even with the massive plot holes and the smattering of melodrama, the 4th season was the best. Unlike the 3rd season, this didn’t chop and change storylines every 6 episodes, it built one freaking long story and hashed it out properly. I’m hoping next year its just Jack and a silencer for 20 episodes.

Arrested Development
In terms of comedy, for me it doesn’t get better than Fawlty Towers, Young Ones and A couple seasons in the middle of Seinfeld. Arrested Development is up there now. Its clever and stupid all at the same time, which is just perfect. I wish channel 7 would stop fucking around with it.

The Shield
A couple of episodes this year, shock horror, were a tad crap. Once Lem burned the money train cash, those few episodes where a new status quo was being set up just sort of lost focus but once its feet were found it turned gold again. Though i wish channel 10 would stop fucking around with it.

Same thing happened with the OC, the whole lesbian thing was very lame – but it bounced back. And I enjoyed the two episodes of Veronica Mars I’ve seen very much.

The total shit tv goes to the first episode of Headland (emma was supposed to watch it for work – well that’s what she told me) and Shopping for Love.

moosic of 2005

I did buy a bunch of cds this year, but very few were fresh in 2005. Most where filling up holes in my collection (Tom Waits, Sonic Youth) some were nostalgic (NWA, Dirty Old bastard) but of the music i did purchase that was released in 2005.

Rock out with your cock out
Franz Ferdinand - Its so addictive, the posturing and swagger.
White Stripes - I didn’t see this as a great departure from their older stuff. No tracks really stood out, but in total its a good listen.
Semichub
Bloc party - Its growing on me, but slightly over produced but original compared to other rock stuff.
Kaiser Chiefs/Kings of Leon - both take different tacks but the stripped back feel still rocks satisfactorily
Flaccid
Gorillaz - I didn’t really like the first album all that much so I shouldn’t be that surprised. 3 good tracks and the rest are meh.

Booty baking Ass shaking
Little Brother - Even though De La Soul are still around and doing really great stuff (Grind date still got spun this year) Little brother has the East Coast native tongue flavour – though the whole concept album thing is a bit cute (and overdone in hip hop) – it doesn’t hit you over the head with it.
Common – A nice adult hip hop album with good production. I don’t think it was a great year in hip hop, but it doesn’t get much airplay so I’m not really sure what I missed.
Throw your hands up in the air
Kayne West – A solid album, a bit too mainstream and its a bit hard to relate to the whole, “its hard being this wealthy" but good to get your party on.
Kicked to the curb
Public Enemy – Sniff
Handsome Boy Modelling School – The first album is so awesome, "White people" though stretches the joke too far without the music to back it up. 3 barely decent songs and the rest are crap.

Music that made my vagina cry
Lucksmiths – “Music from next door” is just a perfect song, just can’t get enough of this album.
Let's just be friends but still just cuddle
Jen Lekman - The first album is great, this album has remixes which is just weird for a folk singer.
Just Rubbish
Antony and the Johnsons - boring

Moofies in 2005

Using http://www.imdb.com/ReleasedInYear?year=2005&country=Australia

I saw

Finding Neverland – It made me sad but happy too
Alfie – Absolutely awful
Alexander – A film that was too long winded and tried too hard to make its solidary point.
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004) – I think this will be a film that I can have in the background and watch, like the more recent Bond films – some really cool bits interspersed with some meh.
Aviator, The - Was like Alexander but a bit more watchable and not as clumsy.
Constantine - Better than I expected, enjoyable in fact
Oldboy – Stylistically, probably one of the more interesting films of the year. In terms of plot it loses steam. Oh and he fucks his daughter!!!
Ong-bak – Over rated.
Ring Two, The – I liked that it was different from the first one but otherwise meh
Assault on Precinct 13 – I liked this a lot.
Interpreter, The – Kidman was pretty/ movie was average
Sahara - meh, it should have left more impression with Macy, Zahn and Cruzzzzz
Hostage – Sort of falls down at the end, I was expecting something really clever.
xXx: State of the Union – The first one sucked too so at least they are consistent.
Kingdom of Heaven – Um, no idea, it may have been good, may have been crap, it left no impression on me what so ever.
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith - shit
Longest Yard, The – better than Revenge of the Sith, still shit though
Mr. & Mrs. Smith – Did not live up to its potential at all. Needed more explosions, needed more gunplay.
Madagascar - OK
Batman Begins – pretty decent (good even) until the costume appears then it got kind of shitty. The showdowns with each of the 3 villains (roman, scarecrow, the other one) were all lame and anti-climatic.
War of the Worlds – For what it was it was OK
Fantastic Four – Batman Begins may have been, technically, a better film but I was quite surprised when i enjoyed it more.
Sin City – bit of a boy’s film, wasn’t it? I liked it but it got a bit much at the end; not helped by the repetitive narration and the violence.
Lords of Dogtown - I really liked this, I don’t know why.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – not as good as the original, I did have high expectations though which may have dampened my reaction.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – because of the paper thin plot, I probably enjoyed this more than the other Harry Potter films. It felt a bit over edited and none of the kids can act but I still had fun.
Chronicles of Narnia - Satisfying, quite satisfying indeed.
Brokeback Mountain - I only saw about 2/3 but it was incredibly engaging and almost my favourite movie of the year (almost because i didn't see the whole thing)


When my top 5 for the year possibly contains Assault on Precinct 13, i think i shouldn't bother

Ultimate Monthly Challenge Winner

http://forums.pulpfaction.net/viewtopic.php?p=13517#13517

One of the more interesting and generally better australian comic initiatives has its end of year ultimate poll. Go Vote.