I don't have cable right now so I'm rewatching old shows and movies. A lot of them are animated. Such is my way. I'd like to have a nobler reason for rewatching them--something like when James 
Let's say you're the newly-sentient internet. How would you decipher
the meaning of all the bits and bytes whizzing past you? And what about
the real world outside your electronic realm?
Former Comics Editor, Guy Leshinski
has very kindly given us permission to reprint a prophetic interview
with Bryan Lee O'Malley in 2005. Will Bryan Lee O'Malley attain the
Holy Grail of cartoonists? As Bryan says, "We'll see..."
Results tagged “biography” from The Cultural Gutter
Afghan Notebook
Ted Rall documents his travels through Afghanistan in Afghan Notebook. (He also gets himself added to the list of artists like Joe Sacco, Guy Delisle and Emmanuel Guibert).
RIP, Harvey Pekar
Famous curmudgeon and writer of the comic, American Splendor, Harvey Pekar has died. The Cleveland Plain Dealer blog has more information.
Summer Fun Time Reading!
It's summertime and all the happenin'
sites have advice about bikinis, manscaping, quick cool meals and
reading lists. I have no idea what to tell you about beachwear, other
than you do look cute in that, but I do have some reading
suggestions.
Continue reading...
Happy Birthday, Pam Grier!
It's Pam Grier's birthday. Celebrate with this interview by NPR.
VARIETY PAK
It’s been just over a year since I became a partner in the Mayfair Theatre, Ottawa’s oldest operating cinema. We’ve shown a lot of films in that time (we average about 40 a month), and I’ve written the synopsis for almost every one.
Continue reading...
Confucius
Chow Yun-Fat displays filial piety in nearly every role, now he plays Confucius in the eponymous movie directed by Hu Mei. Twitch has behind the scenes footage (in Chinese) and a trailer.
"Good Dog"
Is there anything sadder than Laika? (Art by Nick Abadzis, music by Luca Tozzi).
Jenkins' List
Henry Jenkins writes up a handy list of some comics he's enjoyed recently, divvied into stories of everyday life, superheroes, science fiction/fantasy/horror, and some unclassifiable items.
Portrait of the Artist (with the Sound of Cicadas)
Tatsumi Yoshihiro's A Drifting Life is all the proof anyone would ever need that comics can be serious art. It will show up at the top of year end lists and on syllabi. The fanciest of blurbs will be written about it. Comic fans will hound the unsuspecting at parties and in their homes to read it. Don't let that stop you.
Continue reading...
RIP, JG Ballard
Two Ballard obituaries. One and an excerpt from two: "If there is a Ballardian presence in the cinema, it is Lee Harvey Oswald, sitting in a darkened Dallas movie theatre in 1963, watching the Audie Murphy picture War Is Hell, waiting for the cops to pick him up."
Bringing Chris Ware Into It
"Chris Ware Can Show Video Games the Path to Manhood." There's extensive quotation but there's also thoughts, and a link to more thoughts, about games pubescing. Maybe when they're all grown up, they'll realize some of them aren't men. (via Fantagraphics)
By hook or by crook
We want information! Further to the remembrance of Patrick McGoohan, here's a 12-minute and 19-second analysis of The Prisoner's one-minute, 47-second opening credits sequence. Be seeing you.
Patrick McGoohan is a Free Man
Patrick McGoohan has died. He's been in movies from Ice Station Zebra to Scanners to Braveheart. He turned down a crazy number of roles: The Saint, James Bond, Gandalf and Dumbledore. He directed and starred in some smart tv including Columbo. Most people will remember his dreamy auteur tv show, The Prisoner, a show Glenn Kenny calls in his obituary, "one of the most reliably mind-bending television series ever created." Obituaries here and here.
American Elf Stuck in Vermont
American Elf James Kochalka is stuck in Vermont. Watch it.
10 Comics I Liked in 2008
Here they are, ten comics I liked in 2008 that I haven't written about yet.
All ready?
Alright.
Continue reading...
ONE TRILLION AND ONE LEANING TOWERS
1. Overture Island
On December 4, 2008, the future ended. The event that marked its end was the death of a 92-year old man from the not uncommon cause of heart failure. It would not have been an epoch-ending event save for one detail: the man’s name was Forest J Ackerman.
Continue reading...
South Korean Action
Just some quick trailers: capoeira, stuntmen and actors gone bad in South Korea.
2008 Madness Begins
The 2008 Midnight Madness films have been announced. If you're in Toronto then, you'll have a chance to see movies like Chocolate, Detroit Metal City, JCVD and The Burrowers (no trailer) on the big screen. I'ma be there.
Space To Move
The same week that I walked over to the rep theater to see Persepolis. I watched the straight-to-DVD Justice League: The New Frontier. And, yes, it's probably wrong to write about The New Frontier within pixels of Persepolis, even if they're both comics that became animated movies with very different results.
Continue reading...
Harlan Ellison's a funny, weird old guy
"I look at it as a movie about this funny, weird old
guy. And I think, 'That's a funny, weird old guy. I'd love to know him.
He's really funny.'
Harlan Ellison talks about Dreams With Sharp Teeth, a new documentary about him. (Salon article, here)
Afghan Notebook
Ted Rall documents his travels through Afghanistan in Afghan Notebook. (He also gets himself added to the list of artists like Joe Sacco, Guy Delisle and Emmanuel Guibert).RIP, Harvey Pekar
Famous curmudgeon and writer of the comic, American Splendor, Harvey Pekar has died. The Cleveland Plain Dealer blog has more information.
Summer Fun Time Reading!
It's summertime and all the happenin'
sites have advice about bikinis, manscaping, quick cool meals and
reading lists. I have no idea what to tell you about beachwear, other
than you do look cute in that, but I do have some reading
suggestions.
Happy Birthday, Pam Grier!
It's Pam Grier's birthday. Celebrate with this interview by NPR.VARIETY PAK
It’s been just over a year since I became a partner in the Mayfair Theatre, Ottawa’s oldest operating cinema. We’ve shown a lot of films in that time (we average about 40 a month), and I’ve written the synopsis for almost every one.
Confucius
Chow Yun-Fat displays filial piety in nearly every role, now he plays Confucius in the eponymous movie directed by Hu Mei. Twitch has behind the scenes footage (in Chinese) and a trailer."Good Dog"
Is there anything sadder than Laika? (Art by Nick Abadzis, music by Luca Tozzi).Jenkins' List
Henry Jenkins writes up a handy list of some comics he's enjoyed recently, divvied into stories of everyday life, superheroes, science fiction/fantasy/horror, and some unclassifiable items.Portrait of the Artist (with the Sound of Cicadas)
Tatsumi Yoshihiro's A Drifting Life is all the proof anyone would ever need that comics can be serious art. It will show up at the top of year end lists and on syllabi. The fanciest of blurbs will be written about it. Comic fans will hound the unsuspecting at parties and in their homes to read it. Don't let that stop you.
RIP, JG Ballard
Two Ballard obituaries. One and an excerpt from two: "If there is a Ballardian presence in the cinema, it is Lee Harvey Oswald, sitting in a darkened Dallas movie theatre in 1963, watching the Audie Murphy picture War Is Hell, waiting for the cops to pick him up."
Bringing Chris Ware Into It
"Chris Ware Can Show Video Games the Path to Manhood." There's extensive quotation but there's also thoughts, and a link to more thoughts, about games pubescing. Maybe when they're all grown up, they'll realize some of them aren't men. (via Fantagraphics)By hook or by crook
We want information! Further to the remembrance of Patrick McGoohan, here's a 12-minute and 19-second analysis of The Prisoner's one-minute, 47-second opening credits sequence. Be seeing you.Patrick McGoohan is a Free Man
Patrick McGoohan has died. He's been in movies from Ice Station Zebra to Scanners to Braveheart. He turned down a crazy number of roles: The Saint, James Bond, Gandalf and Dumbledore. He directed and starred in some smart tv including Columbo. Most people will remember his dreamy auteur tv show, The Prisoner, a show Glenn Kenny calls in his obituary, "one of the most reliably mind-bending television series ever created." Obituaries here and here.
American Elf Stuck in Vermont
American Elf James Kochalka is stuck in Vermont. Watch it.10 Comics I Liked in 2008
Here they are, ten comics I liked in 2008 that I haven't written about yet.
All ready?
Alright.
Continue reading...ONE TRILLION AND ONE LEANING TOWERS
1. Overture IslandOn December 4, 2008, the future ended. The event that marked its end was the death of a 92-year old man from the not uncommon cause of heart failure. It would not have been an epoch-ending event save for one detail: the man’s name was Forest J Ackerman.
Continue reading...
South Korean Action
Just some quick trailers: capoeira, stuntmen and actors gone bad in South Korea.
2008 Madness Begins
The 2008 Midnight Madness films have been announced. If you're in Toronto then, you'll have a chance to see movies like Chocolate, Detroit Metal City, JCVD and The Burrowers (no trailer) on the big screen. I'ma be there.
Space To Move
The same week that I walked over to the rep theater to see Persepolis. I watched the straight-to-DVD Justice League: The New Frontier. And, yes, it's probably wrong to write about The New Frontier within pixels of Persepolis, even if they're both comics that became animated movies with very different results.
Continue reading...
Harlan Ellison's a funny, weird old guy
"I look at it as a movie about this funny, weird old guy. And I think, 'That's a funny, weird old guy. I'd love to know him. He's really funny.'Harlan Ellison talks about Dreams With Sharp Teeth, a new documentary about him. (Salon article, here)
