Not Dead Yet. Not Dead EVER.

Thanks to the anonymous (although I have a good idea who it was!) who sent me this story in the NY Post:

Zine Scenes: Diehards Refuse to Blog

Sure, I have a few factual problems with it, but it's cool that people are still interested in zines. There's even a photo of the real "Inky" (all grown up, with kitty) of Ayun Halliday's East Village Inky!

When "duuchebaggs" write a dress code

Spotted at one of the total d-bag "ultra lounges" that now populate S. 2nd Street in Philadelphia. Seriously, you can't walk around there after 8PM at night without being assaulted by bronzer and implants.

I want to go in and ask them what exactly a "due rag" is. Is it a strip of cloth you still owe money on?

Of Interest: 11.28.2009

+ I suppose this is the true sign that I was a teen of the 80s, saw Back to the Future twice in the theater (and once at the drive-in), watched it countless times on cable, and still stop to watch it when I stumble upon it. I still think it would be cool to have a DeLorean. Now, the "Delorean Motor Company" - no relation to the original DMC - offers custom built cars starting around $57,000, or pre-owned models for (somewhat) lower prices, in various conditions. No word if they are powered by flux capacitor or Mr. Fission.

+ Interested in computer gaming history? Check out this article that appeared in Rolling Stone, December 1972, about the creation of SPACEWAR! and use of computers for gaming. It was written by Stewart Brand, who went on to co-found WELL (Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link). Check out those amazingly long-haired computer hippies.

+ Eco-friendly lawnmowing and brush clearing: Rent-a-ruminant! (Goats to you non-farm types.) A John Deere probably never elicites "awwww" of cuteness!

+ If you like film noir, check out the Film Noir Archive at archive.org. It currently has about 40 full length films available for streaming or download, some that aren't even available on DVD. While you're there, poke around the rest of archive.org, including their very impressive Live Music Archive (which has a large Warren Zevon collection).

Television: WHITE COLLAR

Fridays 10PM, USA Network. (Watch the five most recent episodes via Hulu.)

Although a somewhat unrealistic premise - a confidence man is released from prison to assist the FBI on forgery cases - WHITE COLLAR proves extremely watchable because of its combination of smart writing, glorious shots of NYC (no gritty "Law & Order" alleyways here, but Columbus Circle, Central Park, and chic bars instead), and so-pretty-it-hurts lead, Matthew Bomer as the utterly charming con Neal Caffrey. (Fellow TV geeks may recognize Bomer as Bryce Larkin, Chuck Bartowski's nemesis, from Chuck.)

Sure, cases are solved way too easily by the random piece of information that Caffrey is able to charm out of the nearest dame, and I'm pretty sure that it's more difficult to stash secret notes and packages in crevices around NYC. However, the characters are so appealing it doesn't matter, and together they comprise a engaging ensemble cast.

"Hey it's that guy" character actor Tim Dekay is Peter Burke, FBI agent in charge of keeping Caffrey on a short (electronic) leash. His wife Elizabeth is played surprisingly well by Tiffani Thiessen, late of Fastlane, Beverly Hills 90210, and (very late of) Saved by the Bell. Full disclosure: I was fully expecting to dislike Thiessen, but she charmed me because she's letting herself actually age, something usually considered a faux pas in Hollywood. She's not rail thin, has visible lines around her eyes, and hasn't had everything lifted skyward. Plus, she's not playing a raging, psychopathic bitch as I remember her from BH90210. Completing the cast are Willie Garson (most famously known as gay best friend Stanford in Sex and the City) as Neal's able, sleazy 'n' smart sidekick Mozzie, and, triumphantly returning to television, Natalie Morales (aka Middleman-in-training Wendy Watson) as FBI Agent Lauren Cruz. This cast is able to take even the most far-fetched story and mold it into a crisp, entertaining hour, which sometimes is all you are really wanting.

Once again, USA Network has landed an interesting, well-written, quirky program to fit in with their other originals like BURN NOTICE. Sometimes it's difficult to believe that USA is owned by NBC/Universal, who have basically killed NBC as a broadcast network this season. However, it's likely that White Collar is just too cerebral for NBC, and would have been canceled after a few episodes. At least on USA Network it can build a loyal following and survive a bit longer.

(Now, how long until someone writes Neal Caffrey/Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan of BURN NOTCE) slash?)

Let the tramplings begin!

Once again, it's the time of year to link to my only Black Friday Shopping Story. Enjoy.

After all, being from Philadelphia, I much prefer Black Taco to Black Friday.

Reasons to be Cheerful

Appropriate for today.

NBPM SeqArt: MAP OF MY HEART

If there exists an "old guard" of minicomics, one of the members would certainly be John Porcellino, creator of King-Cat Comics and Stories. He's been publishing these minicomics since 1989 and has a developed a devoted following. Drawn and Quarterly has published two King-Cat collections, 2007's King-Cat Classix with material from the first fifty individual issues, and the newest compendium, Map of My Heart.

Map of My Heart collects selections from King-Cat #51 to #61, spanning from December 1996 to September 2002. During this time period, John got married and divorced; moved from Colorado to Illinois (eventually returning to CO a few years ago); suffered through illness, injuries, and depression; and began seriously studying Zen Buddhism with groups, solo, and one-on-one teaching. That's a lot to happen to a person of the course of only a few years. While King-Cat is not strictly a "journal comic", John does include significant pieces from his life in his comics.

King-Cat Comics and Stories is a heady amalgam of journal comics, remembered dreams (some from many years previous), illustrations of Zen teachings and stories, original stories, nature lessons (groundhogs! ticks! pill bugs!), hand-drawn maps of his environs, nature lessons, essays, letters, musings, and journal entries. Most issues also include the "King-Cat Top 40": a list of books, movies, music, people, places, food, experiences, whatever has made John happy lately. (Note that sometimes there's less than 40 items on the list.)

John's gentle, seemingly-simple-but-not-really drawing style often disguises the depth of these stories. I imagine that many people unfamiliar with minicomics (or even indie comics) wouldn't appreciate his clean, no shading, no crosshatching, almost empty-looking panels. Although they may seem to be simple line drawings, the stories they illustrate create more impact than the flashiest, glossiest superhero page. King-Cat is a comic that requires multiple reads to appreciate its depth.

In Map of My Heart, one of the comics that affected me most was Issue #58's "Forgiveness". It's a story of learning how every action has a consequence, and how those consequences leave lasting impressions on you. It's a great piece of sequential storytelling, where (as Scott McCloud would say), what happens in between the panels is as important as the action in the panels. Writing and inking "Forgiveness" also took a lot out of John. In an appendix, he notes the difficulties in creating this story:

"By this time, my OCD symptoms had begun creeping back into my head now and then, and this comic caused me a lot of anxiety. For instance - I remember inking this while comic in one all-night session, because I was afraid that if I fell asleep, I might die during the night and the work would go unfinished."

Of course, not every piece in the collection is as introspectively harsh as "Forgiveness". There's many shorter stories, many happier stories, and just everyday stories about working at the organic grocery, spending time with (the now dearly departed) cat Maisie Kukoc , nature, the changing seasons, and connecting with the environs. In the except below, John carefully checks Maisie for ticks after finding one on himself after a hike.


Besides selections from Issues #51 to #61, in the endmatter John also includes annotations on the selections, a few comics he did for other anthologies, a portfolio of Maisie drawings, and selections from his personal journals. Including all this extra material really helps to shape the Map of My Heart into a very personal collection.

I find myself oddly comforted reading King-Cat Comics and Stories, similar to how I feel when reading vintage Schulz. As with Schulz, the clean, uncluttered drawing style of King-Cat helps to center and focus its contents, contents that often have deep meanings that hold you on a page for an extended, awe-filled time.

NBPM SeqArt (sorta): THE VARIANTS

"Do you hear that?"

"Yeah, it sounds like all those fanboys when Disney bought Marvel!"

The Variants is a web series set in a comic book store. Follow the exploits of Barry, Joe, Kelli, Richard, and mysterious stockroom guy Vlad through the daily trails of running Zeus Comics - people trying to sell smelly old comics, free movie pass giveaways (which attract "Passholes"), and drumming up business by dressing up in costumes. It's extremely high quality and well produced. Watch the current four episodes, and then subscribe to their Twitter feed to find out when the next one is up. In the meantime, meet Barry:

NBPM SeqArt: WIZZYWIG Vol. 1 (Phreak) & Vol. 2 (Hacker)

The days of the pre-graphic Internet - with a still useful Usenet, BBS culture, and Gopher-space (which is back from the dead!) - were a fascinating time in computer culture. They were also a time of unnecessary paranoia over perceived hackers who were going to break in and steal personal data, rape your dog, start WWIII by whistling into the phone, and destroy your credit rating.

This was when I procured my first e-mail address (@delphi.com, remember them?) and started exploring the command line driven Internet. I was interested in reading about hacker (and cracker) culture, devouring what books and articles were available at the time (e.g. The Cuckoo's Egg, Masters of Deception, and Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution). Truthfully, I'm not sure anyone who wasn't on the Internet starting in the mid- to late 80s would even find this topic of interest anymore, unless they have a inquisitive hacker streak in them, or are interested in older technology. However, if someone handed a fifteen-year-old geek Ed Piskor's WIZZYWIG, it would probably pique their interest.

WIZZYWIG is a multi-volume comic loosely based on the real-life exploits of famous hackers like Kevin Poulsen and Kevin Mitnick, in the form of composite character "Kevin J. Phenicle Jr." aka "Boingthump". Piskor begins the story in Boingthump's pre-computer owning days, when he phreaked with friend "Winston Smith", jacking free long-distance calls, pranking those who deserved it, and engaging in "social engineering" for his benefit (e.g., free pizza and transport). He then moved on to computer hacking, BBSes, and trying to find all the weaknesses in corporations' systems, computer and otherwise. It's impressive how he manages to just breeze into the offices of the telephone company (back when there was but one "telephone company"). By the end of Volume 2, Kevin is a fugitive on the run from the FBI.

Piskor is informed and passionate about this subject, writing a script that includes factual elements within a semi-fictionalized story. Both Kevin Phenicle and Winston Smith are multi-dimensional characters, especially Winston who slowly drifts away from active phreaking/hacking to develop his radio show "Off The Rocker", which is loosely based on the long-running radio show "Off The Hook".

Piskor's artwork is razor sharp, employing the thinnest pen lines possible to fill the panels. Building exteriors are detailed, as are office interiors like the one in the panel below. Sure, the story would have been just as effective without drawing each individual book on the bookshelf, or scraggly hairs on Winston's head and face, or the cross-hatching near the ceiling, but adding all of this detail makes it much more exciting and complete. There are no simple panels inWIZZYWIG, but yet none of them feel claustrophobically crowded, either.


Both the writing and artwork in WIZZYWIG are extraordinary, which combine for a compelling read. While I know how the stories of Kevins Mitnick and Poulsen ended, I'm curious to find out what fate Piskor has in mind for Kevin J. Phenicle.

While a bulk of WIZZYWIG is available for free on Piskor's site, if you really like the story, please consider buying the hard copy editions. They are well worth it.

Movie: ZOMBIELAND

2009, Directed by Ruben Fleischer

"I HATE coconut. Not the flavor, but the consistency."

New Rule: Jesse Eisenberg can only make movies with titles that end in "-land". He's been in two of my favorite movies of 2009, Adventureland and now Zombieland. He's has a certain dry, nebbish-y, beleaguered nice kid persona that isn't forced or affected. (See Michael Cera for an example of "forced and affected"). He was perfect as "Columbus", the sensible sidekick to Woody Harrelson's slightly insane "Tallahassee", as they drive around the remains of the United States after the zombie plague has taken hold, teaming up with "Wichita" (Emma Stone) and "Little Rock" (Abigail Breslin) to smear the undead. As with DISTRICT 9 earlier this year, ZOMBIELAND jumps right into the story, with only the briefest of expository backstory - Patient Zero was infected after eating a hamburger laced with the zombie virus. From there, it's straight to the action, which is cartoonish and rollicking as opposed to gory and shocking. The gore is Evil Dead-style, gross but not terrifying. It probably earned it's "R" from the sheer amount of spent ammunition and Harrelson's unending stream of vulgarity, which at times reaches Natural Born Killers level. Overall, an immensely fun B-movie that moves along incredibly well, never gets maudlin, and also serves as a surprisingly instructive guide to surviving the zombie plague.

Just remember, always double tap. (And watch out for those bathrooms.)

Food you "thought was vegetarian"

Of Interest: 11.21.2009

+ Keep Calm and Carry On was a slogan used on propaganda posters in the UK during WWII. The design produced from the Ministry of Information was very stark and simple: a graphic of the crown of King George VI with the words on a red background. It's been recently re-discovered by graphic design fans, and the graphic is now available on all sorts of products in the Keep Calm and Carry On Store, from the standard poster to notecards, shirts, cufflinks, and chocolate bars(!). I actually saw a cute guy with this tattooed on his inner forearm a few days ago!

+ Advice on How To Write Badly Well. Personally, I think Stephanie Meyer took the advice to Describe every character in minute detail, taking no account of narrative pacing a little too closely.

+ Famous Authors Narrate the Funny Pages: "Miss Lucy van Pelt, young, witty, and handsome, found it unavoidable that she play a game of foot-ball with Mr. Charles Brown, the dreadfully wishy-washy companion of her otherwise commendable brother Mr. Linus van Pelt."

+ Check out some of the vintage Civil Defense documents the Mayor of Mt. Holly, Minnesota found at a garage sale, including a whole book of Family Shelter Designs. (And if you're interested in more Cold War paranoia, check out my own Duck and Cover set.)

+ Dealbreakers! (Although not featuring Liz Lemon, or as she is known in China "Lesbian Yellow Sour-Fruit".) And check out the locally-produced (Philly, that is) version, Bonerkillers on the Shmitten Kitten blog.

"Can anybody tell me what Christmas is all about?"

Spotted this atrocity exhibition in the SkyMall catalog last week.

Now, as an apathetic agnostic anti-theist, I'm not offended at all in a "religious" sense, since I have no "religious" sense to speak of. However, I can understand how the pious would be offended by this interpretation of the Birth of Christ, just as they are probably upset by other bastardizations of the traditional "nativity set": the Dogtivity, the Moosetivity, the Peeptivity, and the thousands of other "traditional" but still made-in-China representations of the virgin birth. I'm pretty sure that Charles M. Schulz wouldn't have approved this set if he was still living.

This Peanuts Nativity Set is not only offensive on a taste level (it's too tasteless to even be considered "camp"), but historically inaccurate as well. The description says the set "recreates the classic Christmas pageant scene from A Charlie Brown Christmas". As someone who has watched the broadcast every single year since age five (and can recite almost every line of dialogue), I can assure you, this scene is not in the program. Not even close. If they wanted accuracy, they should have just made a bunch of the Peanuts gang dancing, or just Charlie Brown, Linus, and the little stick tree. And for the record, while there were "generic" yellow birds appearing in Peanuts beginning in the early 1960s, Woodstock (the little yellow bird playing Jesus), wasn't introduced into Peanuts until June 1970. This was well after the first broadcast of A Charlie Brown Christmas in 1965.

Plus, I just don't understand the roles in this lawn nativity set. Woodstock is Jesus, Sally is an angel. Linus and Charlie Brown are both holding staffs, so does that make them shepherds? Or is Charlie Brown supposed to be Joseph? Lucy is probably Mary, but what is Snoopy? The innkeeper? A wise man, er, dog? It's just way too confusing. Never mind the weird inter-species implications.

But fear not! There's an even more elaborate actual Peanuts nativity set for tabletop use, which makes a bit more sense. Here, Charlie Brown and Lucy are Joseph and Mary. Pig Pen, Franklin, and Schroeder are the Wise Men. Linus is a shepherd (or is he the Innkeeper, per the original special?). Sally and Snoopy are angels, and Woodstock is still Jesus. It just makes my head hurt.

I guess what Lucy said about the holiday in A Charlie Brown Christmas was right: "It's all run by a big eastern syndicate, you know." (Or, in this case United Feature Syndicate, Inc.)

Good grief.

NBPM SeqArt: Not My Small Diary #15

Just about this time during last year's NaBloPoMo, I wrote an enthusiastic post about NOT MY SMALL DIARY (NMSD), a comics compilation curated by the lovely Delaine Derry-Green, encouraging readers to snap up copies of her hand-bound creations.

It's excellent timing that the newest NMSD project has arrived, this time with the theme "Brushes With Celebrity [15 Minutes of Fame]". Again it's a luscious two volume set featuring 54 comic artists (with a few writers mixed in) and their celebrity (and semi-celebrity) encounters, near-misses, and random embarrassments.


It's interesting to read what some contributors call celebrity encounters, people who are unfamiliar to those outside of comics. Most people probably wouldn't recognize Kevin Eastman, co-creator of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but Brad Foster drew a great comic about meeting him at a comic convention in the late-80s. Richard Krauss won a dinner with Nick Fury artist Jim Steranko. Geoff Vasile almost gets lucky thanks to Adrian Tomine. And indie artist Noah Van Sciver adds a comic about his brother Ethan Sciver, and how it was to table with him at a convention.

As usual, NMSD 15 includes contributions from many well-known indie artists. Lucy Knisley (French Milk) meets pornstar Ron Jeremy in a Krispy Kreme. (Boy, that just sounds dirty.) John Porcellino (King-Cat Comics) muses about meeting Robyn Hitchcock. Roberta Gregory (Bitchy Bitch) has a very brief encounter with the Dalai Lama. Carrie McNinch (You Don't Get There From Here) is charmed by Tammy Faye Messner (nee Bakker, pictured). Frederick Noland (also the cover artist) washed cars with Zachary Levi. Peter Conrad chauffeurs James Earl Jones (pictured). And you'll never believe who Ayun Halliday (East Village Inky) used to date in college!

---

Are "unknowing encounters" like Kelly Froh unknowingly working beside an up-and-coming indie rock superstar, and Patty Leidy getting happy with "... such nice Boys! If not a bit Beastie!". Then there are those brushes with fame that fall into the category of Just Plain Weird, like Max Sparper playing a video game with Bo Diddley before a show (as drawn by Joel Orff), or Max Clotfelter realizing after many years that he really didn't meet Mr. T when he was a kid.

This issue of NMSD is another amazing collection from Delaine, and I'm hoping that her curating and editorial skills get her noticed by a publisher soon. You want this collection. Get it for $7 postpaid via PayPal using the e-mail delangel3@hotmail.com. It's also available through Atomic Books and Poopsheet.

(Full disclosure: I also contributed to NMSD 15, more of an illustrated essay than a true comic. However, trust me, there are 53 better reasons to pick up this collection than my contribution!)

Enough with the bacon already.

Homer: I’ll have the smiley face breakfast special. Uhh, but could you add a bacon nose? Plus bacon hair, bacon mustache, five o’clock shadow made of bacon bits and a bacon body.

Waitress: How about I just shove a pig down your throat?

- We're on the road to D'ohwhere (Season 17, Episode 11)

---

Once again, I'm pondering taking on a semi-vegetarian diet. "Semi" in that I'd most likely still consume fish, select aged cheeses (i.e., good stinky stuff), cream cheese, yogurt (sorry, soy yogurt just looks like a cup full of yeast infection), butter, and goat milk ice cream. Yes, it will take a lot of effort (and horrors, I'll have to actually COOK), but I think my body and animal-loving ethics will be happier for it. I'm not going to get sanctimonious about it, and the few times I visit the west coast, I will be eating both an In-N-Out burger and JITB fried tacos.

It won't be too difficult to forgo beef or poultry, and I've never eaten much mutton or other non-mainstream meats. Unfortunately, if there is one animal that is keeping me back from a vegetarian diet, it's the humble pig, especially ribs, ham when it's prepared well, and bacon. I've never really liked pork chops or pork loin, but the tougher, cheaper parts instead. I can't really articulate why, but it's probably combination of fat, texture, and preparation. Shamefully, I especially adore scrapple (or as a co-worked called it, "an Orthodox Kosher nightmare"), which is all of the leftover pig parts all combined with cornmeal into one lovely block.

However, if the current trend of "bacon mania" continues, I can give up on the pig as well, because bacon hipsters are out-of-control and annoying. It was amusing at first, but now it's just officially Tired, and somewhat stupid, especially some of the non-food bacon items, and forced bacon-related food creations.

Bac-O's? Fine. Bacon salt? Also fine. Baconnaise? Sure, bring it on. After all, these three products contain no actual pork, and all of them have been certified Kosher to varying degrees. The Hickory Smoke Bacon Salt is even vegan!

Somewhat less acceptable bacon-related food products: Bacon Vodka. The Bacon Explosion (which apparently has a tendency to catch on fire while cooking). Any sort of bacon-based baked good, like these Maple Bacon Cupcakes (double whammy of annoying there, with the cupcake).

Really unacceptable bacon-related food products: Bacon jellybeans, bacon chocolate, and bacon mints. No really, candy does NOT need to be bacon-flavored.

Then there is the category of useless bacon-related non-foodstuffs. Just search a site like Archie McPhee, Fred Flare, or Thinkgeek and you'll get a range of useless items. Bacon lip balm (ewww). Bacon dental floss. Bacon air fresheners. Bacon soap. And I think society could live without bacon flavored envelopes, don't you?

Finally, don't forget the bacon-related clothing: Bacon-lover undies. Bacon ties. Multiple iterations of bacon tee shirts.

And does bacon really warrant three active bacon blogs: Bacon Unwrapped and Bacon Today and Royal Bacon Society?

Enough already.

This "love of bacon" stopped being funny eons ago. It's not even an inherently amusing food item to begin with. (Now, scrapple, there's an amusing food item.) This bacon fetish is turning me off on the product. I'm even wary of ordering it in diners anymore less I look like a faddish hipster.

Bacon. Yes, it's a lovely foodstuff, and I should admire people's zeal for it. But I just can't anymore.

Shut up, bacon.

NBPM SeqArt: WELCOME TO THE DAHL HOUSE

Every year when I return from SPX, I read other people's show reports and purchase lists and wonder if we went to the same event. There's so much to see that it's impossible to browse every single comic. Inevitably, there's books I regret not picking up.

This year, the book I missed was MONSTERS by Ken Dahl (aka Gabby Schulz), a graphic novel about herpes. (Just ordered up a copy from Secret Acres.) However, I did pick up WELCOME TO THE DAHL HOUSE: Alienation, incarceration and inebriation in the new American Rome, a collection of his previous work. It's a mix of quasi-personal and political comics, commenting on military enrollment, peeing in the shower, the commodification of zine culture, a night in jail, jingoism, and getting fucking old. Not surprisingly, I kind of related to the comics about getting fucking old. I'm still trying to decide what my equivalent for this sad fact is:


WELCOME TO THE DAHL HOUSE is available through Microcosm Publishing and well worth the measly six bucks. You can also see some of Ken's work on his Flickr stream.

One huge meatball.

The round NASA logo is casually known as "the meatball".

Some facts about the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center.

The history of the NASA meatball, and a design critique.

Laundromat Blues

The latest businesses hit by the recession are Laundromats.

Not only are people wearing items of clothing more times before tossing them into the laundry pile, people who have lost their jobs no longer need clean "work clothes" every day, either uniforms or the standard cubicle worker chino and sweater combination. As someone who has gone through years of having to haul laundry to a Laundromat, and also gone through bouts of unemployment, I understand both re-wearing clothes until the Febreze doesn't work anymore, and also wearing the same clothes repeatedly during unemployment.

Although I'm lucky enough to have a (no quarters required) washer and dryer mere floors beneath me, I still have a soft spot for the Laundromat. Between PA, OH, and IL, I spent so many hours in them. I think my favorite is still Suds in Champaign IL, a combination bar/Laundromat, where I'd go early, early Saturday mornings for the empty machines and quiet.

I've written previously about my Laundromat fascination. A Reason to "Cheer" was about the joy of finding my old Philly laundromat still open (although it's closed since the original post), and The Tides of Change was visiting a technologically advanced washeteria (good things end in "teria"). However, I was obsessed with laundry way before that.

The very first one-shot zine I did back in 2002 was a little mini called LAUNDRY BASKET: TALES OF WASHDAY WOE, full of contributions from many people about doing the laundry. A second edition is still available for sale in the SPCHQ Etsy Zine Shop. Here's the piece I wrote for LAUNDRY BASKET, about dealing with cranky Laundromat attendants.

Stupid bitch, indeed

Thanks to all the training from mom, I never had one of those “turn everything pink” disasters when I lived in a residence hall. After losing in the housing lottery after my first year, I spent the rest of my time in Philadelphia living downtown in a great, cheap little place. One of the reasons it was cheap was because it lacked laundry equipment, but there was a place just up the street that opened early and closed late called the Washbasket.

The first year or so that I used this Laundromat, it was fine. The owners lived upstairs and were around all the time. There was an old black and white TV that sort of worked, loads of old magazines, and a radio tuned to a Top 40 station. People were cordial enough, actually asking around before unceremoniously dumping wet clothes from an unattended washer that had finished spinning. The place was small, all single loader washer and dryers, except for two triple loaders in the very back.

However, the pleasantness was not to last. After a year or so, the owners moved to the suburbs, and left the Laundromat in charge of a rather cantankerous middle aged man. I could sense the change immediately. Signs appeared all over the walls:

DO NOT SLAM THE WASHER LIDS.
DO NOT SLAM THE DRYER DOORS.
DO NOT PLACE LAUNDRY BASKETS ON THE FOLDING TABLES.
DO NOT LEAVE LAUNDROMAT WHILE CLOTHES ARE WASHING.
CHANGE MACHINES ARE FOR CUSTOMERS ONLY!

The piles of magazines disappeared, and the TV was turned to face only him.

It was becoming a laundry police state and the new manager yelled and complained a lot, but I kept going here because it was convenient. However, my last load there was on a cold January day, when I accidentally oversudded a triple loader while washing my quilt, and the manager screamed, “Why did you put so much detergent in there, you stupid bitch!” when I asked for help. I let the washer finish, pulled out the soaking wet quilt, shoved it in a garbage bag, and walked out.

After the “stupid bitch” incident, I had to find a new place to do laundry. This turned out to be the blandly named “Fabric Care Center,” a TV-less, radio-less, attendant-less Laundromat with only an emergency number posted. It managed to stay pretty clean and serviceable most of the time, and most of the patrons picked up after themselves. I actually saw a few refugees from the Washbasket straggle into the Fabric Care Center.

(Photo from the Flickr set PoMo Laundro.)

NBPM SeqArt: SIMON'S CAT

There have been many websites and blogs that have become books (e.g., Stuff White People Like, LOLcats, Television Without Pity, and everything on this list), but Simon's Cat may be the first instance of YouTube clips spawning a book.

A few years ago, UK animator Simon Tofield started making little animated clips inspired by his multiple cats. He hand-draws all of the animation, so there's only been five short films to date. However, they were so insanely popular on YouTube, a book was the logical next step.

As a cat servant guardian, I agree that Tofield gets cat behavior correct, from the morning wakeup calls found in "Cat Man Do" to the the frustration of trying to get anything done in the presence of a cat who wants your attention NOW (only to ignore you seconds later).

The Simon's Cat book is really a thick sketchbook of, um, Simon's Cat (he remains unnamed) getting in trouble, harassing birds, making friends with a lawn gnome, and basically being a pain to Simon. Really not much hard "content" here, but a fun little book that's much smarter than Garfield or LOLcats for cat people.

A few samples from the collection, with my commentary.

The best way to get a cat to stop rolling around on you when you don't want it is to be incredibly affectionate toward it. Hug, kiss, squeeze. (Apparently this is also the essence of Cat Yodeling.)

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Yes, the answer is the same: Because they can. Why they have to do it inches away from your face, or while sitting on your lap, there is no answer.

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This one is included because during my recent cat urinary tract drama, I learned a few things about litter boxes from the vets: (1) While they may be less aesthetically pleasing, uncovered, unlidded litter boxes are best. (2) Plastic litter box liners may be helpful for humans to empty the entire box, but cats really don't like them. (3) Less litter is better, somewhere between one and a scant two inches. Note here that Simon's cat is in a shallow, uncovered litter box without a liner. (The vet didn't give me any advice on reading materials, though.)

NBPM SeqArt: SEEDS / SHELTER by Trees and Hills

Trees & Hills is a comics cooperative of artists from Western Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. Their recent anthologies, last year's SEEDS and this year's SHELTER, are two of the most thoughtful comics collections I've ever read. The chosen comics really do make you take pause and think about both the food supply and the question of housing. Both of these anthologies are feature a wide range of comic styles, from rough to polished, silent to verbose. They remind me of good compilation zines.


The comics in SEEDS are mostly about organic food, vegetarianism, and the distance food travels to get to the market and table. For example, Colin Tedford ponders why local mega-groceries sell bags of apples from Washington State in the middle of New England's apple season in "Apple Rant" (pictured). A friendly monkey and cat educate a frog about the benefits of raw milk and the dangers ofHFCS drinks in Sam Leveillee's "Kirby's Treehouse". "The Sugar Tree" is a silent almost-horror comic about the dangers of collecting maple sap. The comic that affected me most deeply was "Food Chain" written by Daniel Barlow and Keith Moriarty, and drawn by Matthew Reidsma. Their entire strip can be found here. After you read it, you tell me if you aren't looking at that dry-aged gourmet steak any differently. SEEDS also includes a mini-recipe booklet and a packet of organic seeds for further exploration.


SHELTER is another thoughtful collection from Trees & Hills, exploring many aspects of the concept. Mark Bennett's "I Set You Free" is a great example of wordless comic storytelling (pictured). Tom Pappalardo admits that he likes his stuff in "Houses & Stuff". I learned about the concept of "Resident Owned Community" trailer parks - where residents own both their prefab house AND the land it sits on in "ROC the House" by Colin Tedford. There are a few comics about the challenges of squatting or living in alternative shelters, like a converted school bus(!).

My question is: will the next Trees & Hills anthology be about clothing, to complete the "food, shelter, clothing" triad?

Katrina Came Calling: A Gulf Coast Deployment

In 2005 after Hurricane Katrina destroyed cities along the Gulf Coast (a fact many people seem to forget, focusing only on the destruction of New Orleans), cartoonist Josh Neufeld volunteered with the Red Cross and spent three weeks in Biloxi, Mississippi working on an Emergency Response Vehicle distributing hot meals to those in need. He kept a detailed online journal of this experience, and this thick, photo-filled, text-heavy zine is the printed compilation of the project.

KATRINA CAME CALLING is a compelling page-turner that I started and finished reading in one long afternoon. In the zine, Josh writes about deciding to volunteer with the Red Cross, training, deployment, and the day-to-day work involved with preparing and serving hot meals in a mobile kitchen. He writes honestly about some of the other volunteers he worked with, the physical destruction of the town (including how a huge casino uprooted itself from a dock and traveled a mile down the road), and the "clients" he helped (never referred to as "victims"). There's a lot of interesting details about how the Red Cross operates as well. For example:

"We learned that everybody the Red Cross serves is a "client" and not a "victim." Even the world's largest humanitarian organization is consumer-friendly. But we also learned that Red Cross shelters are specifically designed to accommodate just enough people to be humane without being comfy. For instance, the standard-issue cot is small, hard, and comes without a pillow. We want our "clients" to be just uncomfortable enough to not overstay their welcome — as long as they have somewhere else to go."

Josh also includes some of the responses he received on the online journal in this print edition, including people from the affected area, which adds some interesting additional viewpoints. Like many people who probably read the journal online, I'm now inspired to research volunteer opportunities with the Red Cross, especially right now, during a non-disaster event.

KATRINA CAME CALLING was the only project by Josh Neufeld to emerge from the 2005 disaster. His most recent work is the graphic non-fiction collection A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge, the stories of seven people affected in different ways by the Katrina. Neufeld is an incredibly accomplished cartoonists - he's done some of my favorite AMERICAN SPLENDOR stories, for example - and the art in A.D. is wonderful.

The content from both KATRINA CAME CALLING and (most of) A.D.: New Orleans after the Deluge is available for free online. However, a print copy of KATRINA CAME CALLING is a mere $5, and much more portable. The print version of A.D. (originally serialized in the awesome SMITH Magazine) contains much more than was published online. Sure, you can get 'em for free, but consider tossing a comic creator a few bucks.

NBPM SeqArt: Corinne Mucha and Jesse Reklaw (updates)

Some new books from Corinne Mucha (previously reviewed SHITHOLE and MY EVERY SINGLE THOUGHT) and Jesse Reklaw from SPX worth mentioning.

Corinne's latest is BUZZ #3: Stories of superpowers, smiling sloths, inferior aliens, and clocks that stretch time. Particularly fun is "Time and Time Again", where she destroyed all her clocks.



Jesse Reklaw's TEN THOUSAND THINGS TO DO issues #5 and #6 are now out, completing an entire year of daily diary comics. Issue #5 includes diary appearances from the cats Littles and Smokey (excerpts here). For a short while, you can still read installments of TTTTT on Flickr.

NBPM SeqArt: MY BRAIN HURTS Vol. 2

Here's one of my Tweets from SPX 2009:


I've written previously about how I misjudged Liz Baillie's MY BRAIN HURTS, and how much I enjoyed the collected Volume One that I purchased at MoCCA Fest back in June. At SPX I was able to pick up her second (and final) collection of MY BRAIN HURTS, and it was just as satisfying. While I hate to see the story end, I understand that part of good storytelling is knowing when to stop. However, after investing so time and putting so much love into her characters, Liz thoughtfully lets us know what becomes of them in a "Where are they now?" epilogue.

The MY BRAIN HURTS "omnibus" would be a great way to introduce independent comics to friends who just haven't found the right entry point.

Above, Nate and Kate reach an uneasy truce.

"I can't go on, I'll go on"*

Like many people, sometimes I look at the train wrecks that are internet dating sites. I've never used one, but know people who have done so successfully, and, well, some less successfully.**

Some of the sites ask users make to lists, detailing "5 things I don't leave the house without" or "5 books that changed my life" and so on. One site instructs users to list "5 things you can't live without". It's always amusing to see what people answer. Some men*** try to be smart and list "Oxygen. Hydrogen. Nitrogen. Iron. Calcium", which isn't nearly as clever as they think it is. Others say things like "A childlike sense of whimsy", which is an instant boner killer (or, whatever the female equivalent of a "boner killer" is). Some men list items such as "a hand-tossed clay tagine oven bought off the streets of Morocco during a lazy summer day" or "a piece of a Persian rug dating back to the 15th century that I discovered in a curiosity shoppe in a forgotten city". And then there are those who say "Xbox, car, dog, beer, Phillies" - hey, at least they're honest.

I've never filled one of those lists out on a dating site, or even as a Facebook meme, but if I had to, here are ten things that I can't live without, ten things that get me out of bed in the morning, ten things that give me a reason to go on.

In no particular order:

• Opening 29 seconds of "Shake Some Action" by the Flamin' Groovies
• Opening 8 seconds of "September Gurls" by Big Star
• The handclaps that come in at 2:18 in "No Matter What" by Badfinger
• That still much debated and seemingly unidentifiable opening chord of The Beatles "A Hard Day's Night".
• All 2:01 of The Beatles "And Your Bird Can Sing", the ur-power pop song.
• At 3:01 into "Wig in a Box" (from Hedwig and the Angry Inch), when John Cameron Mitchell declares "This is the BEST way that I've FOUND to be the BEST you've ever seen."
• This little "zzzzz" sound of Bruce Springsteen running his fingers down the neck of his guitar that comes in at 0:14 of "Badlands". (He did this when I saw him live, and I nearly passed out with happiness.)
• The false ending of the Ramones' "Rockaway Beach" at 1:42, followed by four beats on Tommy Ramones' drums, and finally the last 23 seconds
• Opening 25 seconds of "What Is Life" by George Harrison. What an awesome opening guitar riff, which repeats about halfway through.
• Opening 15 seconds of "Teenage Kicks" by the Undertones. There's a reason John Peel used this as his theme song.

*Post title with apologies to Samuel Beckett and also The Broken West.
** For an amusing view on internet dating, see "Dances with Pixels" in Low Hug #10.
*** I've actually never looked at a girl's profile. For all I know they could be equally bad/pretentious/misspelled.

It belongs to everyone, and it belongs to no one.

NBPM SeqArt: MOME Vol. 16

MOME (an archaic term for "blockhead" or "fool") is a high-end quarterly comics anthology from Fantagraphics Books. It's not the most accessible anthology for many beginning comics readers, and I have to admit that I don't always enjoy every piece. However, there's usually at least one comic per issue that completely floors me with its art and script. In MOME Vol. 16, it's Laura Park's untitled piece about the days you feel so crushed, so defeated, and so persecuted all you can do is ride out the storm. In part:


Laura Park is currently working on a graphic novel, but you can see lots of her comics, sketches, and illustration on her Flickr stream. Beautiful!

No, it's SEPTA, not ENCOM...

Currently, SEPTA (SouthEastern PA Transit Authority) is on strike. The subway, elevated train, trolleys, and city buses aren't running. However, regional rail is still operating because they have a different labor contract.

The trains have been packed beyond belief the past three days. If you want to make a 5PM train, you need to queue up by at least 4:15 to make it.

Today I tried to get some shots of the crowds waiting for the trains, but it was rather dark in the station and I was only using a little point-and-shoot camera, so I didn't get great photos. What was cool is that the flash reflected off of the transit workers vests, giving them a kind of Tron-esque look!

SICK: A compilation zine on physical illness

Although it's not a comic, I was thrilled to finally pick up this book from Microcosm Publishing at SPX 2009.

SICK is a compelling read, composed of essays by young people suffering chronic diseases. At times it's difficult to read these stories, because most of the people are very young (mostly in their 20s) and often very ill (e.g., cancer, serious heart conditions, kidney disease, Crohn's disease, and rare bone diseases like Legg-Calve-Perthes). There for the grace of yada, yada, yada and all that.

To be balls-out honest, after reading SICK, it disgusts me how activists who can be so self-righteous can also completely disregard friends and cohorts in times of need and compassion. In his essay "Illness and Support", Ben Holtzman writes:

"Throughout this time, I've been on the receiving end of a wealth of support from family and friends; this support has made it possible to live through this experience instead of being overcome by it. However, I've also experienced numerous instances in which friends - including many within punk/DIY/activist scenes - have not known how to respond and, in some cases, have not responded at all."

Other writers mention this abandonment by activist friends as well.

I am actually kind of shocked by the need for this kind of compilation, one that explains to those in "activist communities" (in this case, mostly punk, D.I.Y., vegan, trainhopping, anarchist, house-sharing, etc.) about the need to be compassionate and supportive for friends and cohorts who are seriously ill. The ugly truth is that I've met a number of these "activists" who are so quick to leap down your throat for using a splash of dairy-based half-and-half in a cup of non-fair trade coffee, or for using a word out of what they feel is an acceptable context (e.g. "lame" or "whore"), or giving in to regular bathing and hygiene, that it's upsetting that some of them seem to abandon sick friends, especially friends who can't do the same "activist" actions anymore.

In SICK, contributors write about being abandoned by longtime friends when they became ill. True, friends sometimes abandon ill friends because they don't know exactly what to say or how to help, or because they find sick people "depressing". Sick people sometimes have to make hard choices, and find themselves shunned by other activists for them. In the case of sick people in "activist communities", some of those choices may prove to be unpopular with other members, such as taking a regular office job to secure health insurance, eating a non-vegan or non-vegetarian diet to get the nutrients they need, not participating in protests or going to shows because they are simply too tired, and utilizing mainstream health resources instead of holistic or herbal methods.

SICK contains a lot of great advice on how to be a supportive friend to an ill person - listen to them, understand that they may not be able to do what they used to be able to, offer more specific help than just saying "... let me know if there is anything I can do", but also realize that the ill person may just want to be left alone at times. There are also essays about how to be a good, productive (so to speak) patient, becoming a full participant in your health decisions rather than just a passive pincushion. I learned quite a bit from reading SICK. Finally, it's admirable that at no time do the essays devolve into a morass of "poor me" - the contributors are clearly stronger than their diseases, and refuse to be defined by illness.

Related how, exactly?

From the CBS3 Philadelphia site this afternoon. How are implants related to this morning's train fire, exactly?

NBPM SeqArt: INKDICK and KEVIN DAYS A WEEK!

Is it a paradox that I generally enjoy journal comics, but dislike most journal-style blogs? Both chronicle a person's life, just one in sequential art form and other other in narrative. Is it because it seems to take more effort to do a daily journal comic that I find them more enjoyable? Or because the creator must exhibit some editing skills to fit a story into (usually) four panels?

These journal comics have been noted before on SPCHQ, but deserve mention again since I picked up their latest books at SPX.

inkdick is the journal comic of Pranas T. Naujokaitis, Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) alumnus and BF of the very talented graphic designer Amy Rumbarger. He's still turning out daily strips, chronicling life in Savannah, finishing the sequential art program, and other events. While all of his strips are available online, it's much more satisfying to hold a printed version. Here's one of my favorites, featured in inkdick #8:


Kevin Burkhalter is another SCAD alumnus recording his life in journal form. Last year I squee-ed over the fat, chunky Kevin Days a Week collection, and this year he had another installment for sale, Year Two: 2007 to 2008. In this selection, Kevin submits a biographical comic about Bob Dylan, which goes on to appear in the SCAD 2009 Anthology (review pending).


Both Pranas and Kevin are regulars on the SEQALAB podcast, a broadcast done by students, instructors, and alumni of the sequential art program at SCAD. The podcast has improved greatly over the year I've been listening to it, becoming much more focused, and worth a listen or two. The team has also written a helpful comic, SCAD's Guide to Comic Book Podcasting.

NBPM SeqArt: JOE LOVES CRAPPY MOVIES!

A few months ago, the meta-movie review site Rotten Tomatoes compiled a list of the worst movies released between 2000 and 2009. At first I was shocked that I had only seen two of the worst movies on their list (#40 - Down to You and #23 - The In Crowd, both $1 VHS rentals during a particularly depressed and fallow period in my life when I was watching anything to avoid reality).

If this had been a list of worst movies released between 1990 and 1999, my list would have been longer. In my prime years of crappy movie viewing, I lived within walking distance of five Center City Philadelphia movie theaters, now all long gone. Most of them had a "twilight special" for about four bucks, and cheap matinee prices all afternoon, not just the "first show" of the day. Then, while exiled in the Midwest for nine years, I discovered the magic of the second run theater, all shows $1.75 all day. It was just fun to zone out in a movie theater, no matter what was playing. Sometimes I took in two or three movies on a Saturday.

Of course, this was also during an era when it took longer than 3 months for a movie to go from the theater to home video, often almost ten months or a year. And, frankly, I had a much higher tolerance for middle-of-the-road, B-style movies.

Many years later, this has changed. Looking through my ticket stubs, I've seen exactly nine movies in the theater this year, none of which could be deemed crappy. Sometimes it almost feels like a chore to drive to the theater, pay way too much for tickets, suffer through endless advertisements before the movie, shitty projection and sound, only to be irritated by people who provide a loud running commentary during the entire movie. Really, what's the point anymore? Movies come out on DVD no later than six months after release (and some much, much sooner). Still, I do miss that small thrill from buying a ticket and watching a movie in a big, dark room. I think it's lost forever.

Joe Dunn is still going to the movies. In fact, Joe Dunn loves crappy movies, and writes about it in his annotated comic strip, cleverly titled Joe Loves Crappy Movies. I picked up Volume One of this web comic earlier this year at Wizard World Philly. (And my sincere apologies to Joe for taking so long to write about it!) I was particularly moved by the introduction, where he wrote:

"Remember when going to the movies was an event? Remember when every movie was great just because you were at the movies? These days we decide we hate a film six months before it's even released based on who's involved, or some grainy footage from Comic Con or some other ridiculous excuse that that gives us something to complain about between filing TPS reports."

Joe structures his movie reviews as a comic followed by commentary about the film, a rating based on a 10-point scale, and if it is "DVD Worthy". He draws and writes about both good and crappy movies (obviously) with the same passion and fairness, and completely snark-free, which is a nice change. Sure, it's easy to write asnarky review of the remake largely pointless remake of The Fog, but talent to sum it up thusly:

"This is a very special movie. It represents a certain kind of movie that does well at the box office for a specific reason. It does well because it's easy. The movie is literally easy to watch. It takes no effort at all to view and process the movie, which can be both good and bad. I'll admit that part of the reason I like crappy movies is because there's absolutely nothing invested in it. I can go in, give myself to it completely, and walk out 2 hours later the exact same person.

(For the record, Joe dressed up as "The Fog" for Halloween that year.)

Although all of the content in Joe Hates Crappy Movies is available on his website, I highly recommend picking up the print version to use as a "what to watch next guide". With the huge amount of crappy movie choices available to me via Netflix (mail and streaming), Hulu, cable and On Demand, and in the $4 movie racks at Best Buy I need a consumer guide to determine which crappy movie on cable is really worth my time. Plus, someone has to watch Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen for me first.

NBPM SeqArt: HEY PAIS

While there are lots of journal comics out there, both in minicomic form and on the web, there's only one journal comic drawn by a cat (as far as I know): Hey Pais by Chicago's own Paisley T. Paiserton. At SPX this year, I met Paisley's roommates, The Girl and The Guy. (Paisley herself was napping up in the hotel room most the weekend, most likely enjoying the "36-square-feet of Awesome" bed.) I picked up a few of Paisley's newest comics and "merit badges".

Recently, our own cat of the house - Mooch - was very sick and needed an operation to remove a large clump of crystals that had formed in his bladder. He's doing much better now, but during his recovery he spent a lot of time napping on the couch, watching television, and reading comics. The two newest Hey Pais books - The Best Thing in the World and The Cat-erion Collection - really cheered him up (along with grey mouse).


Pais is also participating in National Blog Posting Month with 30 Days, 30 Pais. And you can buy Paisley's comics, merit badges, and pawmade brooches at her Etsy shop. She is the prettiest!

NBPM SeqArt: MASTERPIECE COMICS

One of the panels I attended at SPX 2009 was "Source Based Comics", where artists use existing stories as the basis of their work. This includes autobiographical comics like those done by Harvey Pekar, biographical comics like Ed Piskor's WIZZYWIG (to be reviewed later this month), and - for lack of a better term - "mash-up" comics like those done by Kate Beaton and R. Sikoryak. R. Sikoryak adapts famous literary works into well known comic styles. After mentioning his new collection MASTERPIECE COMICS featured a piece called "Good Ol' Gregor Brown" - an amalgamation of Schulz and Kafka - I was first in line at the Drawn & Quarterly table after the panel.

Physically, MASTERPIECE COMICS - a slim, oversized (12"x 10"), hardbound, full-color book - is like holding a picture book from childhood, which makes it extra enjoyable to read. The stories themselves are amazing adaptations of all of the books you were supposed to read in high school or college, transformed into familiar comics. For example, Jon Faustus is tempted by a fat, orange feline devil in "Mephistofield". The Scarlet Letter is retold from the child's P.O.V. in "Hester's Little Pearl" (Little Lulu ). There's the brilliant aforementioned "Good Ol' Gregor Brown", complete with insect Gregor wearing a zig-zag shirt, Grete playing her violin, and tossed apples. Dante's Inferno is summarized in ten "Inferno Joe" comics. "Wuthering Heights" is presented as "The Crypt of Bronte" in the style of a 1950's EC Comics horror book, the most straightforward adaptation in the collection. (Honestly, it was the only way I've enjoyed reading Bronte.) Added to the package are "advertisements" for LIT newspaper (a play on GRIT), a genuine replica of the "Pequod Whaling Ship", and letters pages.

Sikoryak's adaptations are smart without being too clever or smug, and they respect both the original text and comics from which they were adapted. Overall, this is an amazingly creative work, unlike almost anything else I've read recently.

You can see a small selection from MASTERPIECE COMICS at R. Sikoryak's web site, and of "The Crypt of Bronte" over at Drawn & Quarterly. The INKSTUDS radio show recently had a long interview with Sikoryak about his creative process, and the difficulty of adaptation.

At SPX, in addition to signing copies of his book, R. Sikoryak also included in little sketches of his characters. Really, who else do you think I was going to ask for?

Mega apostrophe FAIL.