True to personal form, I took an academically ill-advised trip on the eve of finals this past weekend. In undergrad I saw the Smashing Pumpkins at the end of two semesters, studying in the car. This time I visited my brother at Kenyon College to go to the senior send-off weekend celebration. The headline act was Talib Kweli (in a rare flyover state performance), and a slew of Kenyon bands. I was fortunate to see Potato Famine in their last performance together. It was a great set- Fields of Athenry, one by Flogging Molly, and a great Irish style version of Freebird as a finale; all complete with two violins and a flute player. Talib Kweli was great too- The songs I really wanted to hear, Old School, Roll Off Me, and Get By were great. It was funny, though, because the jubilant crowd was nearly all academic geeks and trust fund hippies, and nearly all white.

I also got to meet Michael's friends, eat at the deli, and get schooled at Super Smash Brothers- karmic retribution for the DS Halo parties, I guess. I also lost a milk drinking race to Michael's roommate that had warranted a detour to a second dining hall after brunch. It wasn't even close. I had a little more than half done when I heard his cup hit the table- "like pouring it down the sink."

All in all, a fun weekend. I have finals to finish this week and end of year parties to attend. Charlie Don't Surf is playing at the Heorot with some band from Italy tonight, and tomorrow Tool has a new CD out. All this and Free Comic Day next Saturday? I'll be busier than a labradoodle watching tennis.

This is a post about comic books, so if you skip it, I won't blame you.

This was originally an e-mail rant about big events in comic books I sent Gerry. It's long enough that I decided to put it here too.

I’ve seen Marvel fall into this pattern before, where they keep trying to one-up themselves by building event on top of event. I think the staff gets locked into that because they feel like they’re pushing themselves creatively when they upset the status quo. Also, crossovers inflate sales, which keeps the executives happy. This is unfortunate because (we keep saying this!) the major strength at Marvel is the individual books. Some of their best stuff is coming from minds like Whedon, Way, and Brubaker- all more or less standalone storylines. Also, the reason people like Bendis is because of his work on Ultimate Spider-Man and Alias- two staunchly continuity-independent books. I think they got lucky in the past with the first Secret War, the Dark Phoenix saga, and a few other big events, and they’re still trying to create their “Crisis”- the big continuity shattering event to define everything for years to come.

The problem is, they either don’t do enough to resonate throughout the universe (any X-book crossover circa 95), or they go nuts and have to backpedal just to get all their writers and fans on the same page (Onslaught, Heroes Reborn, House of M). Either way, nothing as of yet has really stuck. I think this may be because the Marvel Universe is organized well enough that they don’t need to reboot the universe like DC. The only real chaos for Marvel comes from their big events, whereas DC uses events to simplify things. And the universe chugs along.

To what end, though? A big event will generate sales among the fanboys who know enough to keep it all straight, but the highly coveted new reader will skip it entirely, and the casual reader in Borders may only flip through it if the cover looks good. If I was to act as Virgil to a new reader, I would dissuade them from reading Crisis or Civil War until the trades come out, and start them on Captain America and Astonishing X-men. Or Alias, or Ultimate Spider-Man, or a slew of other self-contained comics with easily accessible characters.

Speaking of comics, Infinite Crisis wraps up this week with #7 and the largest hero-villain battle ever, no hyperbole. The Villains United special this week set it all up, with nearly every hero and villain ending up in Metropolis after a worldwide prison break. Considering how free Geoff Johns has been with killing off characters in this series, and considering that Doomsday, Bane, Solomon Grundy, and a noticably more psychotic than usual Bizarro are all there, the issue is going to be incredible.


Go watch C for Cookie. You'll be glad you did.

I am basically familiar with the Protestant work ethic, but where in this philosophy does it say that labor must be performed at 9:45 in the morning? This morning I had just rolled out of bed and commenced to relieving myself when I heard a knock at the door, followed by the door opening and the heralding of a maintenance man come to paint my water heater closet. I had worked out with the landlady that the guy could come today. I should note that we spoke on the phone at 2:00 in the afternoon on Monday, when this sounded sensible. I ended up getting dressed in the kitchen and scurrying out the door. Presently, the fellow is whitewashing my WC where the leaking water left spots on the wall. His hat did not suggest fealty to Jefferson Davis like the last guy, which I appreciate. He had better not touch my comics.

In other news, the Google Blog just announced the release of a free 3-D app, Google Sketch-Up. It doesn't appear to do much, so I'm excited to see what I can do with it. Simple open-ended apps are great for creativity sometimes. Also, there's a pretty strong rumor that Google will be making a free word processor online soon- basically MS Word in a web browser for free.

The Smashing Pumpkins website is back up after being down for a few years. There's also a new SP guitar book on Amazon, so I hope my neighbors don't mind hearing the opening riff from the song Siva for days on end this summer.

Legal Animatics
One possible place for my skills to pay the bills. Cracker got to get paid, son.

I found this article on Slashdot, about how computer design software has weakened drawing skills in the current crop of art students. It's kind of reassuring to know that I'm not alone in thinking that, and also that there are others with my same problem. When I started pursuing art in a serious manner my approach was from a musical and theatrical/technical background. These parlayed well into computer animation, given my inclination toward using a computer for creative pursuits. Traditional drawing has been frustrating to me for years. In undergrad it was a hurdle; an obstacle between me and what I saw as the land of pixels and honey. I wouldn't say that my work is "uninspired," but I do wonder how much better I could be if I would develop my fundamentals more. I've kept a couple of sketchbooks going for the past couple of years to keep my design skills up, and also because drawing frustrates me, hence I must be doing something right.

Since I arrived at Ball State, I've noticed a glaring lack of realism and figural work from the art department here. Many of the senior exhibitions feature work with human figures, but often the rendering and proportions are sophomoric at best. Not that I can do better, or even as well, but I know what craftsmanship looks like. I've seen great work from my friends in years past, and I am often disappointed with what I see here. Are computer programs to blame, then? Many traditional artists I've known have written digital media off as "cheating," as a quick and dirty way to achieve eye-candy. As ready as I am to argue for the virtue of digital art, I also recognize that most of it is cheap and forgettable. I cringe every time I see a lens flare effect in a professionally produced comic book, but I am enamored with Ben Templesmith's purely digital art in Fell.

So in defense of digital art, here are the artists that I think give legitimacy to the medium as an art form:

Alessandro Bavari: A fantastic Italian artist, and the nicest guy ever I met in Italy.

Dave Devries: He came to Ball State last year and gave a demo on digital painting. I'm still finding new uses for the techniques he imparted to us.

Ben Templesmith: The digital artist of the comic Fell. His drawings are surreal, but each panel pops in a way that few digital artists are capable of.

Tim Bradstreet: He mixes photography, digital, and traditional skill to create some of my favorite contemporary illustration work.

Conspicuously absent (to me at least) is the webcomic Penny Arcade. They're at the top of my list of great web cartoonists, but their art is more "form follows function," rather than producing individual independent works.

Quick link: The Simpsons Movie trailer

Just links and no actual content pertaining to me? This is called the Gerry method. :)