New Year and Next Steps

As the Steve Miller Band was kind enough to teach us, time keeps on slipping into the future. In the past, I have meditated on the concept of time, its existence as a unit of measure, and how it has become an omnipresent entity while doing my best to stretch and compress this dimension to fit my personal needs. From where I currently sit, I can count eight different clocks within my line of sight, each set at a different time due to careful ignorance or the toil beset upon them by their immortal ward.

Recently, there has been a cartoon circulating that displays a Mayan showing off his calendar wheel, expressing concern to his fellow Mayan that it ends in 2012, to which the craftsman replies "that's really going to freak somebody out some day." Though I understand the humor in the second Mayan's statement, I am more intrigued by the calendar craftsman himself, and the calendar he displays. Yes, it expires in 2012, but it is still useful for thousands of years. Though our tools and measures and calendars may expire, time always marches on. So why measure at all? Why not just live in an endless cycle of sleeping when tired and waking when not, regardless of the sun's position in the sky? It's not a new notion that setting our schedule by the setting of the sun is rather antiquated, especially with the growth of 24 hour conveniences. Da Vinci is said to have slept in 20 minutes spurts every four hours, a technique that added hours to his work day, yet would be heavily frowned upon in the modern workplace. Or maybe this isn't a matter of keeping to cycle, but rather keeping sane?

Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. By keeping a cycle, and noting specific beginnings and ends, one has set aside points at which to assess their actions and determine whether changes need be made, even if the changes only fortify the plans one had previously been pursuing. Hence, resolutions.

Woody Guthrie wrote a list of resolutions that are familiar without being common or restrictive. For me, I like to keep my list short and sweet, as it is easier to remember and accomplish:

slow down, plan ahead, proceed with confidence.

Though it may seem small, it actually cuts a wide swath in the actions of my life. If you want something more detail oriented, I present you with the following list: 

1) Read/Write/Draw more -

Over the past couple years, I have grown complacent when reading, and have developed a form of speed-reading that encourages quick sprints across the body of a text in favor of the deep diving necessary to keep information. It is not a bad thing, as it has developed a sense of thin-slicing, but it has limited the amount of information I gather from any source and has made it more difficult to make it through long pieces of narrative. This growing tendency toward thin-slicing has also had similar effects on my writing and art. Slowing down will grant me the time necessary to re-engage literature, art and life, and hopefully reduce the number of unread books on my bookshelf drastically while simultaneously increasing productivity and communicativeness.

2) Reduce overhead -


Like many, I have fallen into routines that waste time, money, and resources in general. By planning ahead, it is my hope to cut out many of these habits so as to live a simpler, more care-free life over the course of the next year.

3) Eliminate "I am horrible/fantastic" - 

Recently, I came across a piece of advice that boils down to "I am horrible/fantastic: Don't think either." I have a habit of leaning towards the horrible spectrum in most of what I do, despite occasional evidence to the contrary. Whether it is in art, writing, or life in general, the idea of proceeding with confidence falls within the golden mean, or walking a path between vice and virtue, to allow for maximum happiness.

So there it is. My resolutions for 2012. What are yours?

However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.
- Winston Churchill

In other news, the start of 2012 also heralds a transition into the second five year period of my 15 year plan. Of course, this brings with it good news and bad news.


The good news: I met all the goals I made for myself in the first five years.

The bad news: I just barely made my mark.*

Considering the bad news isn't so bad, I see no necessarily reason to redress the first five years any further aside from using the lessons learned to head into the next five years with even greater confidence and courage.

With that, I wish you all a fantastic new year, and the best of all that can come from it!

---

*As I wrote this, I realized though the pun was not intended, it was still quite apt.

3 More Lessons - The Wonders of Penny Arcade

NOTE - Over a year ago, I wrote a number of posts regarding my Top 10 Influences. Consider this to be the unofficial #11.

Penny Arcade, by Mike Krahulik
October 23, 2008

In 1998, Messrs. Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik debuted what has become the most successful webcomic to date. This is not hyperbole or opinion. This is fact. They have taken what had started as secondary content for an already established site and have turned into a cultural zeitgeist amongst a land of memes. One could say Penny Arcade did for the internet what The Simpsons did for television, but they would be wrong, if only for their lack of scope.


I could go on and on, about how they branched out into books, games (both digital and analog), conventions, a television network (does it still qualify as television if it is exclusive to the web?) and a full-blown charity that is so incredibly noble that it can actually rekindle a person's hope in humanity. Did you know they actually have their own line of clothing as well? I don't mean t-shirts here either. I mean an actual clothing line that is aimed at a specific market demographic.


Like I said, I could speak at length about the incredible kingdom they have created. However, that has already been touched upon in so many other forms, that it is pointless for me to retread on that ground. Furthermore, if you are reading this, then there is a good chance that you have taken more than one road-trip down the information superhighway, and have inevitably heard some mention of Penny Arcade. Instead, I want to talk about what Penny Arcade has done for the comics medium and what it has taught me.



ANOTHER NOTE - Before I continue, I want to establish some shorthand. From hence forth, Tycho shall refer to Mr. Holkins, Gabe shall refer to Mr. Krahulik, VG will be shorthand for video games, and PA will refer to the overall entity of Penny Arcade.

 

1 - Patience and persistence pays off, but don't be afraid to experiment

Lookouts, by Mike Krahulik - January 15th, 2010

Art does not sprout fully formed from the artist's head like a Grecian goddess, nor are artists born with an inherent talent or style. Everything that an artist produces that is aesthetically beautiful takes time and effort. Gabe is no exception.

If you take just a quick glance at the PA daily strip, and you may take for granted the time and effort that goes into it. It's not the hours of time Gabe spends drawing each strip, but rather the years of dedication that show up in every panel. The current look of the average PA strip took years to chisel out of nothing.

The original Lookouts strip
from June 10th, 2009

Even more impressive than Gabe's daily work are the occasional strolls down long-form narrative and solo pieces. In these, Gabe displays a keen eye that knows when to add and when to subtract detail. One of the most striking of these instances comes from the original Lookouts story from June 10th of 2009. In it, Gabe escapes the trappings of conventional, animated realism to exhibit a more etherial, impressionistic take on the background. With the loss of any solid backgrounds, swirling colors and strategically placed lines take the place of a definite setting, allowing for a world of simultaneous whimsy and worry.

The Girl and the Ghost, by Mike Krahulik
November 19th, 2009

These same traits can be found in an earlier piece called The Girl and the Ghost, from November 19th, 2008. In it, the same impression of a world found in The Lookouts is displayed in a more haunting fashion.

About a six months after the debut of the Lookouts, Gabe returns to the fertile forest playground with a solo piece that could easily be a fusion of the original strip and The Girl and the Ghost.


To often, artists can drown in the boredom of their style. Though some critics may balk  at an artist's shift, it is necessary for any creative person to breath and experiment, if for no other reason than to improve upon what they already produce. In the case of PA, I am thankful that Gabe takes the time to produce solo work, because without it, the adventurous, long-form jaunts, such as Lookouts and Automata, may not exist; and though I may wish to see more long-form narrative from Tycho and Gabe, I am more than happy to take what they provide over having nothing at all.

Automata, from
June 12, 2009

2 - Creating comics can be applied to the greater good

Growing up, I loved comics. The art, the action, the writing - I loved every aspect of the medium. What I loved most were the morality lessons that were found within the pages of X-Men and Avengers. X-Men taught me that people are people, and you shouldn't discriminate based on their differences. Avengers taught me that you must stand up for what you  believe is right, even if the opposition is bigger or more powerful. In essence, comics made me want to make a better world so much that I took the following, self-written oath, and still stand by it to this day: I SWEAR BY MY LIFE to change this world for the better!

In 2003, PA created Child's Play as a response to the fallacy of VG's influencing youth towards violent behavior, and I had just started college. Through intense study of writing and art, I had decided that comics were the alpha and omega of broadcasting ideas from one human to another. I was so convinced by this fact that it became the central thesis of my entire college education. By my senior year, with months left before graduation, I was infected by the same idealism that hits most college students earlier in their student career. I remembered my oath, and realized that I had been training myself all wrong. Imagine if Batman vowed to avenge the death of his parents by waging war on crime, and then four years later winds up with an art degree and no idea how to fulfill his goals because he was distracted by the shimmering allure of comics. To exacerbate an already embarrassing situation, I had just received a rejection letter from the internship I had foolishly banked the entirety of my future plans on. With graduation fast approaching, I had no idea what I was going to do after school. Instead of devising any concrete plans, I sat in my Computer Science class and gorged on PA.

Whether I had forgotten, never known, or just hadn't put the pieces together, PA had already created the solution to my problem. They had leveraged their success into actual charity. They weren't just giving money for others find solutions. They were giving money, raising money, and making the solutions themselves. In the case of Child's Play, they were raising money to purchase VG's and toys for the children's wards at hospitals to make what is a genuinely frightening play a little less scary for kids who had to be there.

By themselves, comics may not be able to cure diseases or stop wars. They can make the world a little less frightening through their own accord, but if used wisely, they can assist in collecting the resources necessary in stopping social ills and direct them towards the organizations that can.

3 - The future is nothing if not an echo of the past

One of the oft-overlooked cornerstones of PA is the commentary by PA co-creator Tycho. A person who has only read the comics themselves can be forgiven if they view PA as nothing but a series of dick-and-fart-and-VG jokes that can appeal to the masses. Inexcusable are critics who judge PA based on the jokes alone. To do so would be akin to calling Shakespeare or Mozart hacks because you believe the entirety of their work revolves around basal humor.



Tycho is a writer of immeasurable talent who is able to connect with the audience. Like Shakespeare or Dickens, he weaves the narrative of everyday life together with what the audience wants, with what the audience relates to. In fact, much like Dickens, Tycho is able to produce profusely on the perfunctory and still make you care. His interests aren't solely based in and around VG culture, but transcends the black hole of mass media and steeps itself in everything from Milton to Dungeons and Dragons.


What is a writer if his work doesn't resonate with the audience? The short answer is obsolete, but in reality, would they be a writer at all? Like all the writers of the past, Tycho could write to satisfy critics, but doesn't, because the critics aren't the target. He just writes like others breath. He, like Dickens, is the voice of the public; his words are a tapestry of the era.

Paracosm, Brikabrak, Cerebus and Mini-Comics

I just woke up from a nap. It was one of those naps where there was no actual sleep, and my eyes only stayed close if I concentrated on them doing so. Really, it was just a brief period of complete and total inaction. No thought, no movement. Much like watching TV, but without the painful numbness that accompanies prolonged exposure.

When I returned to general consciousness, I was filled with an overwhelming sense of dread. A harbinger of doom was sitting in the corner, making snide commentary. After checking all the usual sources, it was finally concluded that the harbinger was just having fun at my expense.

***

I'm closing in on finishing the first chapter of my new project, Paracosm. If there was anything for me to be excited/anxious/ecstatic/concerned about, it would be this. However, instead of taking any real pause to consider what its completion might create, I am more interested in writing the next few chapters. Especially since the conceptual format of the project is so fluid. Paracosm - Chapter 1 is a pale shade of what it was upon conception. Overall, Paracosm has a loose sense of where it should go, akin to the directions of Horace Greeley: "Go west, young man."

Move forward. The only direction I have for this project. Years of planning and practicing and preparing have ultimately left me with nothing but drive. Cast aside are any concerns regarding quality. Instead, I'm doing a project that is solely for my own interests. Most of the work that has gone into this project is just a method of chaining down a fleeing sanity disgusted with the environment it has been left to deal with.

***

The picture above reminds me of an extremely short story I wrote possibly a year ago. If you will permit, I would like to share it with you:

Where the Ideas Come From

Underneath my bed, there is a small troll named Brikabrak. He is not a troll like the ones of legend, known for eating children and other horrible things. Nor is he one of whimsical fancy, associated with granting wishes and being generally delightful. Brikabrak is, for the most part, just an ordinary troll. However, at night, when I lay my head to sleep, Brikabrak climbs out from under my bed, and whispers stories in my ear as I dream. Sometimes they are old stories, like how the tortoise got his shell. Some stories have yet to occur, such as the story of Zeta, the first child born of the singularity. But he tells stories. New stories, every night, only ever repeating himself to suit my own preferences. And as such, I have yet to banish him from under my bed. For as long as he keeps telling stories, he shall always have a place in my room.

***

I've started reading Cerebus. I'm starting with Volume 13. It is good. That is all I'll say about that.

 

***

 

April 9th is Mini-Comics Day. I may do something to celebrate. I'll let you know if anything develops. I encourage you all to try something as well. Even if it is as simple as folding a piece of paper twice and scribbling on the sub-pages, there is something uniquely fulfilling about creating something that you cannot understand until you do it yourself. The more I think about it, the more likely I am going to create some sort of 8-page monstrosity for the sake of creation. For now, I think I will end this one-sided discourse with the web in favor of meandering whatever ethereal pathways I can find between now and slumber.

Peace and Love, my very special friends!

Memetics and ME

The piece pictured above, Beneath of the Mask, is such a beautiful and succinct representation of my personal ideology, I may cry. This piece resonates to my eyes as a choir of angels would to the Pope's ears.

It should be of no surprise to anyone familiar with my work or interests that memetics and the blur that occurs between life and creation are a source of much interest to me. Grant me but a few precious minutes to expand on and unravel the cosmic complexity held within this portrait and hopefully explain why the vast, spiraling abyss of memetics is so intoxicating.

Pictured above is a representation of the character V from Alan Moore's work V for Vendetta (hereafter referred to as VfV). In the book, V acts as a match for the fire of revolution in a dystopian society analogous to Moore's view on Thatcher's UK. Moore's ideas on utopia (or, the lack thereof at the time which he wrote VfV) fueled the creation of VfV which, in turn, fueled the creation of V himself. V's appearance isn't coincidental. It is in based on the legend and iconography of Guy Fawkes, a man who's legend is central to the idea of a failed idea, the Gunpowder Plot, that was in fact inspired by his own ideology.

So we have Moore's creation V, who was inspired by Guy Fawkes, whose legend was birthed by a failed idea; kill the king. However, look at the moniker of Moore's character: V. V is the 22nd letter in the Latin alphabet, a derivation of numerous previous alphanumeric systems which originated from hieroglyphs, which derived from pictographic cave paintings, which were originally conceived to convey ideas from one person to another across the distance of time and space. The alphabet, and all other logoforms, come from the same basic concept: the transmission of ideas.

Not only is V the creation of Moore, based on the idea of Guy Fawkes, whose entire legacy revolved around ideology, but his very moniker is a symbol representative in the transmission of ideas, which is in fact a major driving force in the characters psyche throughout the pages of VfV. V's very purpose is to spread ideas, as is the purpose of Guy Fawkes with his failed plot, the essential use of logoforms such as his moniker, and the very profession of Moore, his creator.

But let us return to the work of art that crowns this lengthy monologue. The image of V is constructed of numerous letterforms, referring back to the characters moniker as well as acting as numerous, individual reminders to their very essence and use as logoforms. Furthermore, the alphabetical logoforms that construct this representation of the creation of Moore are also the main medium of Moore himself, and can hearken back to the ENTIRE HISTORY of language itself, which is yet another construct built to disperse the viral reproductive constructs that are ideas.

The entire portrait is built both literally and metaphorically on the quote taken from VfV: Ideas are Bulletproof. However, maybe the quote would be more precise and better served if a single word were replaced.

Ideas are Immortal.

An idea more precise, but not exact. For ideas are not only immortal, but also living, changing, evolving. Ideas and concepts are entities as much as ourselves, as they grow and change and mature just as we do. However, they never die. Not completely. Hence their immortality.

Sure, certain ideas may disappear for awhile, but they still exist somewhere, whether they are hiding in the minds of others, or wrapped up in other, similar ideas, they always exist, and they always will.

Or so I like to think...

Recurring Nightmares and Other Small Horrors.

Most people would attribute being chased by a murderer or some other monstrously devilish construct a nightmare. Though it can be quite frightening to some, to me it is more of a challenge. Most of my dreams or nightmares have been lucid for the past ten years or so. If you aren’t familiar with lucid dreaming, take a moment to familiarize yourself with the concept.

A typical dream for me will include self-powered flight and travel over large distances. If ever a monster does appear, it will usually be something I inevitably find a way to vanquish. On the few occasions I cannot overcome said monster, the dream itself becomes recurring.

A recurring dream is a dream that is experienced over and over again until some sort of resolution is found. In the past, I have had a few recurring dreams, the most outstanding of which involved being part of a team of monster hunters sent to eliminate a vampire giant. This dream would fill my nights for three years. Of course, I had other dreams at that time, but Vampire Giant would inevitably return once or twice every other month. The dream itself was so vivid that it would be difficult to forget, unlike many other dreams that would be nice to recall from time to time.

Vampire Giant finally resolved itself before I graduated high school. Neither the original dream nor the resolution has reappeared in my night cycle, though both are often recalled for daytime viewing enjoyment.

Within the past year, a new nightmare has evolved. Though not recurring, it is serialized. It involves a war between the Land of Oz and Wonderland. The Red Queen is in a dispute with the Nome King, and the more disreputable forces on both side are in constant conflict with each other. Meanwhile, there is a third faction of peaceable peoples on both sides that unite in the middle, yet are so small they have to scatter themselves across the landscape, hidden from the aggressors. In this dream, siding yourself with either side is dangerous, as you are never sure who is with which side, while remaining neutral is an immediate death sentence from both sides.

My part in the dream involves trying to get my brother and me out of this joint, magical landscape, from here on out referred to as The Wonderland of Oz, or WoO for short, and back home in the real world. We take flying swan boats, mine carts on an underground railroad, and walk on foot through countless, bustling cities. All the while, we are trying to safely navigate the combustive political atmosphere that constantly surrounds us while looking for a doorway back home.

We had already escaped in a prior dream, but now, this past evening, I find myself face to face with the WoO again. Sides had shifted, allies had become enemies and enemies have become friends. The Red Queen and the Nome Queen finally realized how beneficial it would be for both of them to join forces. Thus, a new landscape of fascist classism had been developed, where the once peaceful masses were enslaved to fuel a terrible machine that kept the King and Queen in power. To use whatever memories I had of the previous WoO as a map for safe travel through the landscape would have been suicide, as the warring had only gotten worse. Before the WoO still held a portion of its beauty and luster, but now, due to the constant fighting, there was very little left but the hollowed out husks of an Emerald City, now surrounded by cold, merciless factories producing horrible, mindless machinations for use in this newly formed empire.

As mentioned before, I am not afraid of monsters chasing me. More frightening now, at this point in my life, is trying to stay afloat while swimming against the black tides of a tumultuous society. The WoO dream encapsulates that fear perfectly. Not for quite some time have I woke more chilled with fear than with this series of dreams set in the WoO.

With that said, I will end this with a Happy Halloween.

Impatient Patient

Okay, so the title is a little misleading.

In all honesty, I was quite patient.

I waited patiently in the exam room for 45 minutes. Had I been at the dentist or the hospital, someone would have popped their head in to explain that the doctor was running late. Ironically, everyone at the optometrist lacked the foresight to offer this courtesy. Instead, the doctor casually strolls into the exam room and makes no mention of why he was tardy, nor offers an apology for the unnecessary wait.

Instead, he smiles, and pretends that nothing wrong has happened.

In fact, no one had the decency to comment on it at all until AFTER I verify that I arrived on time for my appointment, and not 30 minutes early. Even then, the only person who apologized for the wait was someone who had, up until that point, had no direct contact with me whatsoever.

Yes, I appreciated his apology, but he had nothing to apologize for. In fact, I felt compelled to apologize to him for being put into the position where he had to apologize for actions that he had neither control or knowledge of.

For the record, if you are ever running late, regardless of who you are, and you know you are running late, and you can't contact the person waiting, at least have the courtesy to spend the extra two seconds needed to apologize and take responsibility for your delay. Do not pretend everything is running smoothly and hope they have already forgotten about the time you have wasted. Furthermore, don't have someone completely unconnected to the event apologize for you only after your lateness has been commented on. They have nothing to apologize for. Do the right thing. Be forthright and accountable.

Please...

Thank you.

Halloween Costume Puzzle

What am I going to be for Halloween?
See if you can figure it out...

CLUE 1 -
The key is to use IQ
DO KPIZIKBMZ

CLUE 2 -
Squirrel?
cook://wdo.gt/9sqkMb

If anyone can figure out clue #2 and leave a comment, I'll give a 3rd clue.
First person to figure it out gets a unique Halloween prize!