MicMit

I’m gonna jump on this “freshman year/senior...

Sun, 12 May 2013 17:33:48 -0400

I’m gonna jump on this “freshman year/senior year” bandwagon. 4 years later I’ve still got it.

Video

Mon, 06 May 2013 23:27:57 -0400

newyorker: In the spirit of openheartedness and...

Mon, 06 May 2013 14:36:08 -0400

In the spirit of openheartedness and what life is really all about, I’ll go so far as to say that the fear of others may mask some deep-seated desire to understand, and maybe even to love. Because really, what is there to be afraid of? Few people today don’t know—or have in their families—at least one loving couple who are raising children, same-sex or not. And it’s really just the loving part that matters. That same-sex marriage could go from its preliminary draft of “diagnosable” to the final edit of “so what?” must indicate some positive evolution on the part of the larger human consciousness. My wife, being a biology teacher, puts it even more succinctly: “Why are all these people so worried about who everybody else is sleeping with, anyway?” (Score two for Moms.)

—Chris Ware on his cover of the May 13, 2013 issue, “Mother’s Day.” Get the story behind the cover: http://nyr.kr/10d7TyC

upnorthtrips: Keith Haring would’ve turned 55 today. Happy...

Sat, 04 May 2013 21:45:38 -0400

upnorthtrips:

Keith Haring would’ve turned 55 today. Happy Birthday

It is more about don't liking a female character because of her flaws while at the same time they like a male character and they justify the same flaws.

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 21:09:27 -0400

yeah I realize that, I just felt her response made it sound like there was a RIGHT way to create “good” female characters. I don’t think she believes that, I just felt how the discussion was being framed left it a bit confusing.

gingerhaze: From a message: I don’t think you can really say that there’s no such thing as a bad...

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 20:17:29 -0400

gingerhaze:

From a message:

I don’t think you can really say that there’s no such thing as a bad female character. And the way you’re approaching this is (possibly unintentionally) indicating that you believe that. We very much do have a problem in fiction works where some writers over-sexualize female characters instead of developing their personalities -This is a problem because in same works, the men are often far more dynamic. To me, this means we still need more females in stories and more females creating stories

Right. I’m sorry if it looked like I was saying that there’s no such thing as a bad female character - there obviously is. In debates like this it tends to polarize the two sides of the argument, pushing each party to extremes, so let me clarify my stance. I’m not saying that we should blindly love ANY character simply for being female while heaping praise upon the creators for creating a female character. I absolutely think that we should be pushing for better, more well-rounded, more diverse female characters, and that we should hold the writers accountable for their shortcomings. However, my problem with the initial post that started all this is that it displays an attitude I see all too often: “because sexism exists, it would be better if there were no female characters rather than ‘bad’ female characters.”

(Watch out, it’s a long one under the cut!)

Read More

I think part of the issue here stems from how the conversation is being framed. When you ask for examples of “bad” female characters, it suggests there are “good” female characters, and when you start looking at things in these black and white terms ideals and stereotypes are bound to show up. The fact is there is no right way to create “good” female characters. For that matter, there is not right way to create “good” characters of any sort. More than anything, its formula and standards that are the problem.
I’m thinking about the whole Starfire dabacle from way back. When you think about it, there’s nothing inherently “bad” about her being openly sexual and flirtatious. The problem was not so much her character as it was the persistence of the formula used on her. The superhero genre is rife with pointlessly sexualized women. Heck, our entire culture is filled with it! Starfire only got so much attention because it was such an exaggerated and overt display of this formula. The only reason it’s bad is that it’s so god-damn persistent. Anyone would be well within reason to be annoyed with it, especially women, because you’d simply like to see something else!
A “bad” character isn’t necessarily flat, uncomplex, stupid, sexualized, prudish, or whatever. A bad character is a boring one, and in terms of female characters there are many that are so boring its offensive.

sinfest

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 17:27:49 -0400

sinfest

If you don’t have a massive alternative universe in your head with developed people and stories...

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 22:46:19 -0400

If you don’t have a massive alternative universe in your head with developed people and stories you’re lying

ajohnny: tomewing: minimoonstar: hungryforstrays: HE CALLED...

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 11:55:28 -0400

ajohnny:

tomewing:

minimoonstar:

hungryforstrays:

HE CALLED TONY OVER TO UNTANGLE SOME WIRES

HE CALLED TONY STARK OVER TO UNTANGLE WIRES

oh my god clint you BABY :’)

To be fair Clint’s AV setup must be from the 90s or early 00s (he still owns movies on actual laserdiscs), if these boxes had wi-fi their wires would, like, detangle out of fear as Tony walks in the room.

Anyway! I got hold of issues 3-6 of this! On a Saturday afternoon! I have literally never seen any part of this comic actually in the comic book store. I think dude put in a massive order for the third printing (nb I have no idea what a massive order actually consists of. 50 copies per store? 500 copies per store?).

I want to make a special mention of Hawkeye Purple (the floorboards, in the scan above), which is subtly not the same purple you see in the “classic Hawkeye outfit.” It’s been updated! To a deep lilac! This struck me as so on-trend that when I got home I hit up the Pantone Colour Report web site, and sure enough. It’s a bluer take on their “African Violet,” but no one really uses the Pantone trend palette as-is (while greens and blues and corals are massively dominant in the shops this year, it seems to me they’re generally paler, though not less intense. Ice cream shades: pistachio and mint and orange creamsicle, all on a sea-background of International Klein Blue). Let’s say Marvel is hewing as close as your typical fashion designer, whether because it’s the business of the colourist to know these things or it all happened subconsciously.

This is not trivial. XD I don’t work as a designer/decorator and don’t go out of my way to learn about Pantone trends; I barely read fashion blogs — but I will almost always develop an attraction toward one of the season’s dominant colours a few months in advance (around when the report comes out; also, if we’re talking the Spring 2013 colours, around when this particular comic started publishing). I’ve been carrying a pistachio mint-coloured purse since last fall. It was on sale, it was the only item of that colour in the store, there was no particular indication that it would become trendy, and for some reason I had to have it. I honestly can’t explain how this works, but it happens far too consistently for it to be a coincidence. There’s a very strong subliminal message in that Hawkeye Deep Lilac cover for some (I assume not all) viewers: this is the book you want to be reading exactly right now.

Excellent fashion / colour / comics crit.

I don’t read comic books, but for just a little while this got me excited about them — partially because of this everything’s-an-art-form realization that’s starting to give me a greater respect for cultural products I’ve tended to overlook (I guess that’s not news to comic book fans but like I said, that’s never been my purview). But it’s also exciting because even the most seemingly-trivial things (color palettes in a comic book!) can be massaged into exciting commentary. Aughh, I want to be this thoughtful.

neil-gaiman: wwnorton: Happy birthday to Will Eisner, who was...

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 07:37:47 -0500

neil-gaiman:

wwnorton:

Happy birthday to Will Eisner, who was born in 1917 and died in 2005; he would have been 96 today. Neil Gaiman called him “an American storyteller, like Ray Bradbury, like O. Henry,” and Wizard magazine named Eisner “the most influential comic artist of all time.”

Visit the Will Eisner Week website for listings of celebrations across the country.

Happy Birthday, Will. I miss you.

vectorbelly: Twitter: The Comic is a collection of comics based...

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 21:28:16 -0500

i… found your tumblr, son. welcome to the force here's your gun/badge your first case is "who's grounded" it's you turn in your bagde & gun

is there anybody out there [static] i repeat [static] can eat too much pizza [screaming and crying] we were wrong [static] pizza [static]

oh, great, i fell into a sarchasm. noo, i’m just FINE, and my bones aren’t broken at ALL, having SUCH a good time down here

No! I just got bit by a Dad. I feel the transformation starting *goes to Home Depot & buys materials to build a deck* I'M GONNA BUILD A DECK

if your literally asking me to choose between our relationship and my obsession with pointing out doors to people, well, there's the door

"carlos did u put youre shoes on the right feets today" YES DAD LEFT AND RIGHT "on YOUr feet son?" ..DAD THIS IS THE WRONGEST I EVER GOT IT

HELLO FELLOW HUMAN TEENS I HEARD THE COOLEST PLACE FOR US TEENS TO HANG OUT IS ＴｈｅＣｏｌｏｓｓａｌＰｉｌｌａｒｏｆＷａｓｐＥｇｇｓ LETS GO DO NOT BRING WEAPONS

"I'm the only cop on the force who can play the bassoon dammit" "Not anymore" New cop in sunglasses walks in, just killing it on the bassoon

1)sit in toddler seat of a shopping cart. 2)tip over til feet touch the ground. 3)stand up. you're now a grocery turtle. no one can stop you

"Someone's been sleeping in my bed!" said mommy bear. "Who hasn't" muttered daddy bear. "What?! You wanna do this now, in front of the kid!"

vectorbelly:

Twitter: The Comic is a collection of comics based on the greatest tweets of our generation. The source material is used verbatim, typos and all. Despite the seemingly random nature of the tweets, the comic has reoccurring characters and story arcs that aren’t fully understood unless experienced through a single reading. With explicit permission from the writers of each comic, Twitter: The Comic could be a pretty rad book.

keithharing: NB-11b July 7, 1986 (age 28)

Mon, 18 Feb 2013 17:44:40 -0500

keithharing:

NB-11b
July 7, 1986 (age 28)

atomicbooks: A nice elderly woman decided now was the time to...

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 17:11:01 -0500

atomicbooks:

A nice elderly woman decided now was the time to trade in her Tijuana Bibles collection. (at Atomic Books)

Argh, I want these so badly!

spx: batwithbutterflywings: wut If I had a nickel for every...

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 21:19:52 -0500

spx:

batwithbutterflywings:

wut

If I had a nickel for every time…

I’m directing my thesis this semester in a direction inspired by Keith Haring. My plan is to...

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 21:30:00 -0500

I’m directing my thesis this semester in a direction inspired by Keith Haring. My plan is to come up with a bunch of designs and ultimately print those on to products I’d eventually sell. The only problem I’m having is coming up with a theme or focus for the designs. I’m finding it difficult to not just be a knock off of Keith Haring, but the simplicity and almost universal accessibility of his designs is extremely tempting. His work was heavily influenced by studying semiotics and art of early peoples. I should have this figured out by now but I’m still searching out ideas for an idea to inspire my work, the things I create, so that I can take influence from Keith Haring rather than just trying to copy him. The whole mess has gotten me back into actually reading about Art.

Just a few years ago, I was pretty serious about digging into the philosophy and practice of Art. I was reading books and articles which were really over my head in retrospect. I remember being extremely focused on concepts built on the formal qualities of a piece, the reason why I’m such a fan of Don Judd. After a spell of depression, I stopped reading so much about Art, I really removed myself from several intellectual pursuits at the time. As I started to work my way out of that hole I started reading Nietzsche. After that my concerns were about trying to simply understand life and what it meant to live a Good one. I couldn’t stand reading about Art because I was far more concerned with knowing who I was than for what I was doing. In fact I spent a good chunk of this time beating my self back into depression because I couldn’t reconcile my thoughts about living a Good life with my Art.

While I was in my hometown, I went to go see one of my old teachers, Joe Thompson, give a talk at the Greenville art museum. Listening to him speak, as he does with absolute humility, and then wandering around the museum, it hit me for the first time in a while that I truly loved art, that my understanding of almost nothing but art was okay because there was truly some great value in this. It reignited something in me that’d I’d lost and forgotten about and I felt a real spiritual drive again.

Now I’m reading two books, hoping they’ll spark some ideas about wear to take my new drive. The first is Arthur Danto’s “After the End of Art,” a book that argues that the 18th century concept of Art finished in the 60’s when Art reached a point at which it was so self aware it could be anything. Art has reached its event horizon, and it has no new place to go. The concept of “What is Art” has been so thoroughly explored the very concept of Art unraveled. This is not to say there is no more art, but that Art today exists in a wholly different concept of understanding than it has for the past 200 years.

He at one point says that the artists that most embody the time of his writing are artists “who have rejected a certain ideal of purity.” I enjoy this idea, its occurred to me while making my collages. The idea of combining these two unrelated things and forcing them together in a way that’d be a stretch to call them cohesive, yet there they are. It’s not a juxtaposition, I’m not pointing out how they are different or the same, I have made them, forced them together.

Copying this now from my journal I realize that’s really at all what Danto is talking about, but it’s still what came to mind. I’ve always had a hard time isolating ideas and focusing on one thing. My aesthetic enjoys both the violent chaotic creations of the expressionists and the careful precision of the constructivists, and I draw in dozens of styles because I’m never satisfied with one. Matching things together has always been a struggle for me. It’s partially a pragmatic apathy for how things look but I’d be lying if I said mismatched pieces didn’t appeal to me. Even now I’m reading three different books (the third being Alison Bechdel’s “Are you my Mother?”). Things do not have to make sense in order to be together, once they are together you can’t argue with it and there is a beauty in that.

I’m also reading “The Poetics of Space” by Gaston Bachelard. It’s a hard contrast with Danto’s writings. It’s a bit air-headed and certainly written with a french flair. I tried reading it in my freshman year but I couldn’t put up with the language. Obviously it still annoys me but it does provide a nice into the spirituality of man and the intimate connection one can develop with the inanimate. It touches on two ideas I’ve been curious about. One being a person’s limited ability to understand one’s self on a physical and chemical level at any one time that one reverts to a much simpler and abstract process of consciousness and how that affects how we develop relationships with other people. The second being concerned with the products I’d make for my thesis, how I’d make these objects have a good and spiritual effect for those who purchase them. What can I do to encourage a relationship of my customer’s with my work and have that relationship create a positive influence. I’m hoping by reading Bachelard I’ll understand more of what creates that intimate spiritual connection and infuse that into my art.

I got some rough ideas here that I enjoy (which is why I thought I’d share) and they at least give me a direction to look rather than simply staring at a wall asking myself “What am I doing?” Really, I’m just enjoying reading and really thinking about Art again, it’s nice to feel this passion and care for something. It’s probably about time I wrote something positive on this blog anyway.

pictureboxinc: Gary man opening Friday night, NYC. aw man, I...

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 16:26:44 -0500

pictureboxinc:

Gary man opening Friday night, NYC.

aw man, I wish I had the money to go see this. On the other hand, every time I go to Manhattan I feel like somebody is trying to split my head in two. C’est la vie.

fantagraphics: Nijigahara Holograph by Inio Asano; translated...

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 16:50:27 -0500

fantagraphics:

Nijigahara Holograph

by Inio Asano; translated by Matt Thorn

February 2014

$26.99 Hardcover • 200 pages

Black-and-white • 7” x 9.25”

ISBN: 978-1-60699-583-9

Fantagraphics continues its line of acclaimed literary manga with new classic Nijigahara Holograph by Inio Asano. As society slowly spirals into darkness an unexplained explosion in the butterfly population is just the first of many curiosities in the town where rumors of a creature in a tunnel under the school spread like wildfire. A curse haunts the town as the story follows the scapegoat, Arié, who is plunged into the tunnel’s horrors and offered up to the creature. Many other characters harbor secrets, grudges, suicidal thoughts, and the physical scars of battles lost. How are they all linked and can the citizens of the town live with what they’ve done as the years creep by? Asano’s mysticism and slow terror take over the town in the span of a decade as told in two timelines.

Nijigahara Holograph is scheduled for release in February 2014 and Asano joins Shimura Takako (Wandering Son) and Moto Hagio (The Heart of Thomas, A Drunken Dream and Other Stories) in the Fantagraphics line of premium manga by the world’s greatest cartoonists. Translated by Matt Thorn, this 200 page book of beautiful black and white comics will be printed in gorgeous hardcover edition and presented in original “right to left” manga style for an authentic reading experience.Inio Asano’s previous translated works include Solanin and What a Wonderful World and he continues to create new work in Japan as one of the young voices of his generation.

Oh God yes, it’s probably been like 3 years now since I last read something by Inio Asano.

wow okay that one got morbid. The word was “enough.”...

Wed, 16 Jan 2013 22:45:06 -0500

wow okay that one got morbid. The word was “enough.” This one actually only took me about 15 minutes, so that’s good.

I think that’s all I’m gonna do for now. I’ll probably pick it up again tomorrow. I’m thinking I’ll do a bunch of these, pick my favorites, refine them, and maybe make a zine out of them.

newyorker: Maria Lokke looks into “A Secret History of Women...

Wed, 16 Jan 2013 22:30:03 -0500

Olive Oatman, 1858... After her family was killed by Yavapais Indians, she was adopted and raised by Mohave Indians, who gave her a traditional tribal tattoo.

Maud Wagner, the first known female tattooist in the U.S., 1911.

newyorker:

Maria Lokke looks into “A Secret History of Women and Tattoo”: “Though tattoos are an increasingly common, and visible, element of personal style these days, it’s some of the more hidden and historic examples—from Victorian women to circus attractions—that are the most surprising.”

Click-through for a slideshow: http://nyr.kr/Y9ZuB2

to any of my friends interested in Victorian ladies and/or tatoos

Okay just barely made the cut here, can’t say this one...

Wed, 16 Jan 2013 20:53:46 -0500

Okay just barely made the cut here, can’t say this one came out so great. The word was Perseus. I had about 10 minutes left and I still hadn’t figured out compositions much less design so, yeah on to the next one.