Turnabout Insomnia
The Mrs. and I were up long past dawn wrapping up the final case in the Phoenix Wright trilogy. I'll... probably... do a write-up on the series at some point, for somewhere, if only to justify our obsession as research. But I'm up at this hour now, unable to sleep, so I'm finally able to catch up with a few things after the long break while I was out of town. I'll have some real content to speak of later this week, hopefully--if nothing else, the next comics column goes up Tuesday morning--but let's start by cleaning out my tab list:
- Tim O'Neil did a fantastic write-up on the values and drawbacks of the Mandarin as Iron Man's arch-nemesis, which is particularly relevant with his likely appearance in Iron Man 3.
- People venting on terrible working conditions at Diamond. Grain-of-salt reading, but not exactly hard to believe, either.
- I don't know why, out of all the silly pop thought articles I read a day, I was so taken with this note about the unhealthiest chain restaurant foods, maybe because I've noticed my weight not-so-steadily ballooning over the last two years, maybe because watching the KFC Double Down become a meme became tiresome very quickly.
- Speaking of memes, and aren't we always: another day, another Garfield thing. I thought this was cool: taking the color averages of a whole year's worth of strips and analyzing the pattern. The results, of course, will not surprise you.
- Shilling for someone I don't know: I first caught wind of the awesome craft work of Eyes5 over at the forums for MSPaint Adventures (about which more in this week's comics column), but their latest creation, dolls of Nu from Chrono Trigger, was so far up my alley that I couldn't help but point folks over to the sight.
It's been a really strange couple of months, and things haven't gone according to plan at all, but I am sincerely praying that the rough patch has passed. We'll see.
I’m over at Mediaelites
Someone else was crazy enough to let me do the occasional piece for them! Over at Mediaelites, I have a quick note on the current status of the Marvel and DC legal battles. Go check it out! Thanks to all the guys over there for letting me through the doors.
While I'm here...
...I don't have anything to add, I just wanted to share that picture with you. Make your own comment. (h/t to Comicsalliance)
Go somewhere else today
I'm occupied, so why don't you visit these sites:
- Nicotine Chic - a quick look at writers and smoking, which made me chuckle when I read it on a smoke break. I prefer Camel filters and I usually ash into a Ranma 1/2 soup mug. You know, in case you were wondering. (Hat-tip to Richard)
- Ty Templeton provides a list of the comic creators most likely to kick your fuckin' ass. Larry Hama could kill you six times before you hit the ground. Check the comments, too, for more entries that didn't make the cut, more on how awesome Steranko is, and some poor people who really didn't get the concept.
Main Dudes of History: Tesla (w/ Special Guest!)
My good buddy Richard asked me to contribute to his side project chronicling The Main Dudes of History - I've weighed in on fan-fave Nikola Tesla with a guest appearance from one of the other Main Dudes for people who just can't get enough:
Nobody ever portrays both of them together as a man in total; he always serves as a better symbol as one or the other. He's the modern avatar of the Roman God Janus, the patron of doorways and new beginnings who symbolized the transition from past to future.
Also, I recently contributed a pithy political statement to The Vomitoria, told in two video clips. Not totally sure it's what they wanted.
Recontextualizing Pop: The Art of Brandon Bird
(Originally Posted in July of 2008)
Brandon Bird is easily my favorite pop artist working today. Pop art is a tricky genre to take seriously - either you find yourself talking down to both the audience and the subject (cf Lichtenstein, with whose work I have always had concerns), or you wind up referencing without purpose and adding no signal to the noise, relying upon the subject to carry the work without skill to back it up, a joke with no punchline.