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damages update!

September 20, 2007 in damages, television reviews | Permalink

this show just keeps getting better and better. the last two episodes have been spot on and i can feel it just arcing it’s way into an intense closure. i can’t wait to see how the writers are going to wrap all this up, it’s all coming together beautifully…

if you haven’t been watching this show, it may be too late to join now (unless they do another marathon) you should definitely try to catch it on the flipside though (netflix, repeats, whatever)…it is wholly worth the tv time, well at least it is right now with Katie blissfully absent…

#1 – comic of the week – the premiere strip!

September 19, 2007 in comic of the week, comics, craptastic, writing | 11 comments

so i thought about spending all this time prefacing the strip, saying how this is not the style i hope this strip will turn into, that i am still experimenting with brush pens since my inking is so shitty in this one, that i would prefer to use a standard three panel strip but that more often than not my “gags” need more flexibility than that, that i have been sketching a lot to try to bring my drawing level back to what it was three years ago (which was still not great), that the only thing i draw worse than drawing myself is a big perspective shot, that i’ve always been and always will be a better writer than an artist – so hopefully the writing gags will rescue the pitiful art…whatever…it’s all just bs. here’s the strip and we’ll see what comes of it. enjoy – and thanks for reading. as always, your feedback is welcome…unless it’s about the shape of Adam’s head (Josh that means you!)

ps – i was trying to think of a good name for this strip, but everything i came up with was incredibly cheesy…so suggestions are welcome. if someone actually comes up with a great title that i can use maybe they could win a crappy original sketch…signed by yours truly…

the formatting of this blog is not great for comics as the column is too thin. i’m going to have to consider changing my format if comics are going to continue to be at the forefront on this blog. in the meantime, you need to click the thumbnail below to get a readable version.

sean young…blech.

September 18, 2007 in hollywood, rants, writing | 9 comments

you know who i really dislike, despite the fact that i have never met her and cannot give you one good reason for disliking her, except for the fact that i think she’s a shitty actress? that’s right, Sean Young.

i can’t put my finger on it, but she annoys the hell out of me, to a really insane degree. anyway, for some reason, despite the fact that she’s sort of a has been/never was, Entertainment Weekly is doing a cover story on her (why? i don’t know…i don’t ask these questions anymore…mostly because nobody answers me). so i am kind of loathe to give her the free press of my dozens and dozens of readers (that’s you!) but i posted the link to the full story below.

she’s so pathetic in the interview that i actual started to feel a little sorry for her, but then she just continued being whiny and annoying and fake and psycho and comparing herself to Julia Roberts (are you kidding?) and saying she has at least as much charisma as George Clooney (are you KIDDING?!) and so my ‘sorry feelings’ evaporated like fine mist and i just went back to hating her again. this is one of those few times that Hollywood seems to agree with me and has forcibly kept her on the sidelines…it feels good when a powerhouse like Hollywood finally agrees with you. it feels like delicious satisfaction and let me tell you, i could get used to it.

as a sidenote, i’ve been compiling a list…you know how i love lists dear reader…of the “10 Most Overrated Actresses”…Sean Young would be #1 on it, but since she isn’t really “highly rated” i guess she’ll just have to get an honorable mention, as only women who are actually getting good roles in Hollywood (for no reasons understood by mankind…or, well, me.) should be on the list. anyway, here’s a link to the full story, in which you can feel writer Karen Valby’s palpable disdain for her, you can feel Valby trying to like her and Young just cutting her off at every pass:

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20056516,00.html

ps – no picture of Sean Young because i hate looking at her (even though she says “humor and beauty are two things that come naturally to her” yuck – i just threw up a little bit) and i don’t want her image posted on my blog…ever. it was painful enough to write her name and link to a story…

UPDATE: this is not a “cover story” in Entertainment Weekly, it is just “a regular story”…the cover i saw in the current article (but didn’t bother to read the caption on) was a cover story they did on her back in 1992…she didn’t warrant a cover story back then to my mind either, but at least she could have been considered “entertainment news” back then. sorry for the error!

comic of the week – daniel clowes

September 17, 2007 in comic of the week, comics | 4 comments

Adam and i were very excited to learn that The New York Times would be running a weekly strip from Dan Clowes (awesome!). it was almost enough to get us to subscribe to the Times. unfortunately we are not only on a tight budget these days, but with a fourth floor walk up, the odds of the Times actually sitting there waiting for us when we woke up in the morning are like 10 to 1, so we’re going to hold off until we’re in a more Times delivery friendly building. Adam’s wonderful co-worker Reina however pulled the strip for Adam and he scanned it for me, and now i bring it to you as the comic of the week…!

of course my weekly strip (i’m not even going to address the fact that i haven’t posted my premiere stip yet) will NEVER be this good, let alone in color, but everyone should get to see Clowes beautiful work, so here it is (click the image to see it larger – and more “readable”).

thank you Reina!

right on sister!

September 14, 2007 in comics, feminism, feminist rage, superheroes, writing | Permalink

i’ve been reading girl-wonder.org off an on for the last month or so and generally enjoy what she has to say over there, but never have i agreed with her more than in her post of September 9th 2007. check it out if you find yourself interseted in comics, feminism, or better yet, both.

http://girl-wonder.org/girlsreadcomics/

#33. Famous Fathers And Other Stories

September 14, 2007 in book reviews | Permalink

#33. Famous Fathers And Other Stories. Short Fiction Collection. Pia Z. Ehrhardt. 4 stars.

this is the best short fiction collection that i have read in a long time. it almost felt like i wasn’t reading it. the stories just kind of washed over me and infected me with their bittersweet taste. all the stories were told from the perspective of interesting women, and all the stories, sans the title piece, dealt with infidelity (if you read this blog you know i’m having a lot of thoughts about that these days).

the funny thing about Ehrhardt’s take on infidelity, or at least, what i got from it after finishing, is that life just tramples through. people make these choices and do these things, and often infidelity is in the past or in the future for you and you already know it or you’re going to one day. we are all affected by it, we are influenced by it, yet it does not rule our lives. it’s just this fact in a series of facts, both good and bad in life.

i walked away from Famous Fathers feeling like life is very very big and you can have no idea what is going to happen, nor should you, because then what would be the point. having gone through infidelity in my life i have to say that i’m not a fan. i’m not in it enough or far enough away from it to be able to be like the women in Famous Fathers, the women who are either relishing it, or just over it. not to say that these women are all happy, the stories were incredibly bittersweet – and some were out and out sad – but the overall feeling was one of life washing over you as you read her strories – much like her book washed over me.

there were some beautiful passages and gorgeous language, but in general i suppose that the stories were so well crafted and edited that they just seemlessly happened and there wasn’t much time to sit back and be fascinated with this passage or that, because you were already onto the next thing. much like there wasn’t much time to be too concerned about the infidelity, because you were already onto the next thing.

i hope that Ehrhardt’s book is more non-fiction than fiction, because i know in my life i’d really like to be “onto the next thing”.

find of the day!

September 13, 2007 in jokes | Permalink

thanks to my co-worker Gordon, we at the office had a little too much fun with the orgasmic calculator this afternoon. it is truly great – our office laughed harder than we have in quite some time (for about five minutes).

please note, this is likely NOT work appropriate for wherever you may be…

webcomics…

September 13, 2007 in comic of the week, comics, lists | Permalink

i got this great link from Pop Candy for the “top 8 webcomics”…it’s a pretty good list.

http://www.cracked.com/index.php?name=News&sid=2376

guaranteed i’ll never be on this list (assuming i even ever actually post an actual webcomic. next week it’s gonna happen…i swear…does anyone believe me? no…i guess not). anyway, some of this stuff is hilarious, even when the art is terrible, which is a great reminder that the art does not have to be brilliant for the writing and art to work together to bring something brilliant to the masses.

for my money the best is Creased Comics

by the genius that brought you George Washington and Babycakes…hilarious off the wall stuff.

there’s some pretty great stuff there, but for straight humor factor Penny Arcade, Over-Compensating, and The Perry Bible Fellowship have my vote. thanks to Pop Candy for the article link.

below are a couple brilliant Creased Comics.

i’ve seen the future…i mean the past…and it is disappointing…unless it’s fake.

September 12, 2007 in jokes, misogynistic bullshit, technology | Permalink

below is a link my co-worker sent me to what i think is a “faked video”, and if it is it’s hilarious. a great bit of past/future filmmaking.

if it is not fake and is in fact a real piece of “history”, then it’s pretty fascinating to see that while in 1966 they didn’t have the hardware quite right for 1999 they had all the basic ideas going on (email, online shopping, faxing, printing, etc.). it is disappointing however to see that “scientists” could have such great insight to the future of technology, yet zero insight into the future of our society and culture.

as evidenced here, little wifey can order clothing online in 1999 – but then big husband has to be sent the bill so he can pay for it. seriously? they can imagine something like email that didn’t exist at all, but they can’t imagine a woman paying her own way? jesus.

again, let’s hope it’s fake in which case it’s funny and not horrible.

http://halaro.com/under.php?id=224

is there some way i can un-see this? please?

September 12, 2007 in rants | Permalink

so every couple months the anti-smoking lobby comes up with a couple horrible disgusting new commercials that i cannot un-see and i’m just sick of it.

is there some kind of “non-smoker block” that i can have put on my television, like a parental control so that i as a lifelong non-smoker don’t have to be subjected to these horrible visuals?

i almost threw up my corn chex the other night when i was accosted by the image of a foot being operated on because of gangrene apparently due to smoking.

i get that they are trying to educate and i guess i’m all for everyone having as much knowledge as possible, but i don’t smoke, never have, and never plan to, so do i really have to see this stuff too?

also, and i’m likely to get flak for this, but just leave people alone. i don’t understand the anti-smoking lobby…much like i don’t understand most of these things. i know smokers, i know non-smokers, and i know plenty of smokers that are always on a quest to become non-smokers and i don’t think one of these disgusting commercials has helped any of these people. i don’t think as a smoker you wake up every day and go “Yes! Today I will smoke and it will be awesome and good for me!”, no you just do your best every day like the rest of us. we all have devils i think and they just come in different shapes and sizes, for some people that devil is smoking. i’m not trying to justify it and it puts your health at risk obviously, but i think we can all look inward and find some shit about ourselves that is not healthy that we feel compelled to do. having a lobby that spends god knows how much money trying to stop you from doing something that you probably wish you weren’t doing in the first place, i don’t know, it just feels stupid. and actually kind of mean.

i can get behind the idea of putting this information out there for kids who are impressionable and might be wooed by the mystique of starting to smoke, and certainly the idea of making sure that the information is available and the facts generally known, but for people who are already immeshed smoking as a habit, i guess i feel like if they are already trying to stop, then being shown horrible images is unlikely to somehow miraculously help them stop. so why do we all have to suffer (and lose our lunch) if it’s not even helping?

i would certainly open this discussion to anyone that has any personal experience with this – especially if these horrible commercials have helped you stop smoking – because then at least i could feel okay about not being able to eat my corn chex – because someone is being helped. thoughts?

there is no image or link in this post because i don’t want that horrible nightmare inducing stuff on my blog. but if you wish to find any of this stuff just google it, or check out commercials on you tube.