talking...
on her mobile phone.
This is perhaps the only BoingBoing-worthy picture I have ever taken!
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
October 26, 2011 Call Me...
I was eating lunch in the ground-floor Cafe of the building where my apartment is, in Beijing, with one of my colleagues from Peking University. I think she must of thought that I had flipped my lid when I jumped up to go outside into the courtyard in order to take a picture of a woman who was...
talking...
on her mobile phone.
This is perhaps the only BoingBoing-worthy picture I have ever taken!
talking...
on her mobile phone.
This is perhaps the only BoingBoing-worthy picture I have ever taken!
Monday, October 24, 2011
October 24, 2011 Revolution
October 24, 1929: "The optimism and financial gains of the great bull market were shaken on "Black Thursday", October 24, 1929, when share prices on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) abruptly fell."
October 24, 2008: "On October 24, 2008, many of the world's stock exchanges experienced the worst declines in their history, with drops of around 10% in most indices."
A tip of the feathered fedora to the clever mutants at www.libertyfox.com:
"In Case of Revolution - Break Glass"
October 24, 2008: "On October 24, 2008, many of the world's stock exchanges experienced the worst declines in their history, with drops of around 10% in most indices."
A tip of the feathered fedora to the clever mutants at www.libertyfox.com:
"In Case of Revolution - Break Glass"
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
October 19, 2011 WWC: Page 185
This is, by far, the most complicated idea for a "World Without Cerebus" piece, yet.
Let's start with Kickstarter. Kickstarter.com is a quite cool idea in public philanthropy for supporting artists. Check it out. It's likely you will find something there that turns your crank, and you will always get a little return on your generosity.
I was intrigued by a young artist/designer who was offering to do modern versions of illuminated manuscripts (those highly ornate 4th-15th C hand-written and drawn pages - think of monks as photocopy machines). Anyhow, this designer is mostly into calligraphy, so you can give her a poem and she'll do a big-ass illuminated letter, or 6, with gold or silver foil embossment, using alphabets from the ancient times. I was not so interested in this. It's kind of high-school art class: put your favorite Lady Gaga song lyrics into graphic font.
Hmmm... I never mind.
What I was interested in (and you would not necessarily know this) was using my favorite 14th C saying as the basis for an actual illuminated page, including picture, allegory, and leafy detailed borders. About 20 years ago, I went to an exhibition of Medieval tapestries at the Detroit Institute of Arts, and one of the 14th C tapestries had a saying on it that has been put on the note card on the wall, and was translated from its Old French.
Vaille Que Vaille Lors se Verras
"One goes as one goes, then one shall see"
As some know, this encapsulates a strong philosophical orientation for me, and I immediately adopted it as my slogan. It has been in the sig file of my email, basically forever.
So here was my idea:
I want to represent SCIENCE (as a woman) under constant attack by the enemies of science
Castaneda said there were four enemies: fear, clarity, power, and old age
Shaw said it was ignorance
Humanists, of course, see religious fundamentalism as all of these wrapped in one package
The idea would be to integrate the female figure into the trunk of the tree of knowledge
the sword or dagger of wisdom in the sky, perhaps sporting the third, all-seeing eye in its hilt
I would have the woman/tree/knowledge/science (scientia) speaking two things, in Latin
"Nam et ipsa scientia potestas est"
And thus knowledge itself is power (Sir Francis Bacon).
"Entia non sunt multiplicanda sine necessitate"
one should not multiply entities beyond necessity
(William of Occam)
Or maybe the first one is the saying of the dagger in the sky, and the second one is hers - a human precept
And under attack by the symbols of antiscience
She should be anchored to the earth, looking to the starry sky, and I like the 4 winds in the corners
In the border, there ought to be beasts that are various symbols of wisdom, searching, investigation... owls and ravens come to mind
Here are some designs I like, and which also inspired the thinking:
OK. Seat belts in place? Tray tables in their upright and locked position? Here is the leap to WWC.
This could be a page from the original Book of Ricke. After all, in the early Cerebus series, science, knowledge and rationalism ruled, and ignorance and religion were the enemies. So pick "the place" where everything changed? That is hard to do, but let's agree that Dave's religious conversion took place during the research for Rick's Story, which started with Issue 220.
So it was tempting to title this Page 119, but who the hell recalls that Rick's Story started with Issue 220?
It was tempting to make a Book of Ricke reference, directly.
But I decided on Page 185. If you know the series, then you know the significance of Issue 186, and you probably already caught that allusion long ago. If not, you might want to Google it.
And so, I went ahead and sent the same exact description to the Kickstarter artist and then to Gerhard.
Guess what? Ger is a fan of illuminated manuscripts.
And guess what: his first sketch for "Page 185" knocks the idea right out of the frackkin' ballpark and into the next county.
I mean, really, look at that! And the followers of antiscience are sheep in the background. Bwah hah hah. That's just perfect.
We're guessing that we could probably not get Dave to do the lettering on this. all things considered.
Let's start with Kickstarter. Kickstarter.com is a quite cool idea in public philanthropy for supporting artists. Check it out. It's likely you will find something there that turns your crank, and you will always get a little return on your generosity.
I was intrigued by a young artist/designer who was offering to do modern versions of illuminated manuscripts (those highly ornate 4th-15th C hand-written and drawn pages - think of monks as photocopy machines). Anyhow, this designer is mostly into calligraphy, so you can give her a poem and she'll do a big-ass illuminated letter, or 6, with gold or silver foil embossment, using alphabets from the ancient times. I was not so interested in this. It's kind of high-school art class: put your favorite Lady Gaga song lyrics into graphic font.
Hmmm... I never mind.
What I was interested in (and you would not necessarily know this) was using my favorite 14th C saying as the basis for an actual illuminated page, including picture, allegory, and leafy detailed borders. About 20 years ago, I went to an exhibition of Medieval tapestries at the Detroit Institute of Arts, and one of the 14th C tapestries had a saying on it that has been put on the note card on the wall, and was translated from its Old French.
Vaille Que Vaille Lors se Verras
"One goes as one goes, then one shall see"
As some know, this encapsulates a strong philosophical orientation for me, and I immediately adopted it as my slogan. It has been in the sig file of my email, basically forever.
So here was my idea:
I want to represent SCIENCE (as a woman) under constant attack by the enemies of science
Castaneda said there were four enemies: fear, clarity, power, and old age
Shaw said it was ignorance
Humanists, of course, see religious fundamentalism as all of these wrapped in one package
The idea would be to integrate the female figure into the trunk of the tree of knowledge
the sword or dagger of wisdom in the sky, perhaps sporting the third, all-seeing eye in its hilt
I would have the woman/tree/knowledge/science (scientia) speaking two things, in Latin
"Nam et ipsa scientia potestas est"
And thus knowledge itself is power (Sir Francis Bacon).
"Entia non sunt multiplicanda sine necessitate"
one should not multiply entities beyond necessity
(William of Occam)
Or maybe the first one is the saying of the dagger in the sky, and the second one is hers - a human precept
And under attack by the symbols of antiscience
She should be anchored to the earth, looking to the starry sky, and I like the 4 winds in the corners
In the border, there ought to be beasts that are various symbols of wisdom, searching, investigation... owls and ravens come to mind
Here are some designs I like, and which also inspired the thinking:
OK. Seat belts in place? Tray tables in their upright and locked position? Here is the leap to WWC.
This could be a page from the original Book of Ricke. After all, in the early Cerebus series, science, knowledge and rationalism ruled, and ignorance and religion were the enemies. So pick "the place" where everything changed? That is hard to do, but let's agree that Dave's religious conversion took place during the research for Rick's Story, which started with Issue 220.
So it was tempting to title this Page 119, but who the hell recalls that Rick's Story started with Issue 220?
It was tempting to make a Book of Ricke reference, directly.
But I decided on Page 185. If you know the series, then you know the significance of Issue 186, and you probably already caught that allusion long ago. If not, you might want to Google it.
And so, I went ahead and sent the same exact description to the Kickstarter artist and then to Gerhard.
Guess what? Ger is a fan of illuminated manuscripts.
And guess what: his first sketch for "Page 185" knocks the idea right out of the frackkin' ballpark and into the next county.
I mean, really, look at that! And the followers of antiscience are sheep in the background. Bwah hah hah. That's just perfect.
We're guessing that we could probably not get Dave to do the lettering on this. all things considered.
October 19, 2011 Cerebus 75 p 8
And what will Cerebus pages run for?
Oh, about $700.
eBay item no. 380375115568
Seller: swing_daddy
Price: $760.00
And, still available:
Cerebus 68 pp 3-4 (colorized by Ger, although he's not particular of the job he did), it's in for its 4th round, so there's no nibbles at $1250, so it's heading into the perennial category that a few pieces end up in, like that inside back cover to #6 with Elrod, and the $1500 price tag on Cerebus 67 p 5.
Oh, about $700.
eBay item no. 380375115568
Seller: swing_daddy
Price: $760.00
And, still available:
Cerebus 68 pp 3-4 (colorized by Ger, although he's not particular of the job he did), it's in for its 4th round, so there's no nibbles at $1250, so it's heading into the perennial category that a few pieces end up in, like that inside back cover to #6 with Elrod, and the $1500 price tag on Cerebus 67 p 5.
Monday, October 03, 2011
October 3, 2011 Bradbury & HItchcock
TITLE: Celcius 233
Following from the (rather spectacular) cover to Cerebus #151, I figure at some point there was a book burning (before things got grand and all the books were thrown into the furnances).
So here's a first look at the early aftermath.
My only suggestions here were: (a) perhaps a wheelbarrow on the lower level, carting books away, and (b) [so easy for me to say] I think it is an early dusk, and we get to see reflected through the windows the flames and smoke. Maybe even a door open on the lower level letting more of that light in. Ahhhh... Ger... good luck with that!
TITLE: MacGuffin
On one side of this alley, we have Jaka and Rick's place, where Cerebus, er, Fred was staying. On the other side of the alley, Pud's bar. And at the entrance, the Guffin.
Eventually, the only thing left standing is the remains of the buildings and the ruins of the offensive Guffin. I wanted a shot of the alley giving a perspective on the entire scene because we only ever really saw snippets. I've got a few ideas on how to give some subtle clues so that it gets signaled that these were, in fact, those two familiar locales. More on that as it happens. I also think an early dusk or late dawn is called for here - long but lit shadows, dark enough to catch the glow of embers and some mega-cool lighting effects on the mountain of faces.
Following from the (rather spectacular) cover to Cerebus #151, I figure at some point there was a book burning (before things got grand and all the books were thrown into the furnances).
So here's a first look at the early aftermath.
My only suggestions here were: (a) perhaps a wheelbarrow on the lower level, carting books away, and (b) [so easy for me to say] I think it is an early dusk, and we get to see reflected through the windows the flames and smoke. Maybe even a door open on the lower level letting more of that light in. Ahhhh... Ger... good luck with that!
TITLE: MacGuffin
On one side of this alley, we have Jaka and Rick's place, where Cerebus, er, Fred was staying. On the other side of the alley, Pud's bar. And at the entrance, the Guffin.
Eventually, the only thing left standing is the remains of the buildings and the ruins of the offensive Guffin. I wanted a shot of the alley giving a perspective on the entire scene because we only ever really saw snippets. I've got a few ideas on how to give some subtle clues so that it gets signaled that these were, in fact, those two familiar locales. More on that as it happens. I also think an early dusk or late dawn is called for here - long but lit shadows, dark enough to catch the glow of embers and some mega-cool lighting effects on the mountain of faces.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)