Another reason for change...

Read this and feel concerned, please.

Serious Strips

Graphic Novels are often remarkable for the frankness in which they deal with issues that, until recently, were not the common fare in comic form. In fact the strength of the graphic novel, as opposed to the traditional comic serial, is a concentrated storytelling that allows for in-depth exploration of ideas, relationships, and more implicit internal states. The complexity of stories then is allowed to occur in ways often developed through a series of parallel sub-stories or shifts in time that rival anything found in, say, HBO dramas or the well-crafted film.

If graphic novels are a sort of visually-rich literary meat (Chris Ware's Jimmy Corrigan being a very juicy prime cut), then comic strips are the equivalent of those little baco-bits that your grandma used to sprinkle on your salad to hide the fact that lettuce had gone a little limp.

Recently, two baco-bit comic strips from my youth have become, I dunno, hormone injected (my metaphor is falling apart) and thus more meaty. For Better or For Worse, while at times super-saccharin, has also had moments of emotional intensity and social consciousness. I remember several years ago a storyline that followed a gay character. I found the telling the of his story remarkable in its unremarkableness (if you'll allow me this term). The character appears infrequently but when he does there is little to bring us back to the story the centers on his gayness (unless you are like me and have followed the story for some time). He is, for all intents and purposes, any other character woven into the meandering story of the protagonist family's lives (he is a friend of the son, I believe). If we are to criticize then we should comment that he is perhaps too bland and, worse, a token personage.

More recently I think that mundaneness has worked to great effect however. The grandfather has suffered from a stroke and the stories surrounding him and his companion have given us insight into her and the grandfather's internal struggles. The story has unfolded in an excruciating slow pace to the effect that we, like the caregiver, desire some progress and we share in the grandfather's frustration. It is an interesting device in this series that the characters often are saying something but never connecting. This point made more explicit by the fact that they are framed by the same box thus share that space with dialog balloons that never really interconnect.

The story is ongoing and unfold in way that begins (if only slightly) to mirror the sort of storytelling happening primarily in graphic novels.

Funky Winkerbean is another strip that has been a bit more daring. Recently, the strip has followed the story of a character who is dying from cancer. The story falls back on some very common devices (autumn=death, rain=sadness) but the harshness of the end of this woman's life this week - her physical pain, her husband's unending selflessness hiding his fatigue, and both characters coming to grips with her impending death - all somehow make the story real and, ultimately, life-affirming. It is this type of storytelling which reveals that, far from being irrelevant, comic strips can and should probe more than the silly little things children do. And make a nice meaty read.

The Dublin Spire

Slate magazine has a very good essay by Witold Rybczynski about a monument in Dublin. The article describes the qualities of the Spire and why something that is primarily an exercise in engineering has more impact that those monuments (read: world trade center memorial) that deal only obvious, staid symbolism. Rybczynski writes:

"What does the Dublin Spire mean? Whatever you want. There is no writing, no iconography, no overt symbolism. This spire is not a sign. St. Augustine said of signs that if you didn't know what an object was a sign of, it could teach you nothing, but if you did know, what more could you learn from it? That's why the most potent monuments—the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, the Kaaba at Mecca, the Washington Monument—lend themselves to many interpretations."

The essay is accompanied with photos of the project: LINK

photo by bruno brunecky (sxc.hu)

I don't know what to say exactly...

(from Cartoon Brew)

Ron Mueck

Ron Mueck Installation - "Untitled (Big Man)"
Originally uploaded by The Modern.

If you aren't familiar with Ron Mueck's work you should Google his name or click on the image to see the installation of some of his better known, more recent pieces. Mueck, an Australian artist who worked as an effects artists for tv and film, has created very hyperreal human forms that are out of scale (either very large or very small). The are amazingly well-crafted, so much so, that when assembled they give you pause.

Great Picture

I think this is a strangely captivating photo simply due to composition and cropping (as the photoblog's name implies).

Under Tokyo

There is something in underground Toyko. Could it be a secret city or just giant storm drains?

The Divide

This video is essentially raw footage that betrays its quiet presentation. There is nothing graphic about this video but it is subtly disturbing nonetheless. The story unfolds quickly and while most of the video is a police spokesperson explaining the situation, she does little to bring closure or even fully explicate why the police did what they did.

A/Effective Display

Ran across this recently and thought it to be an effective visual display of presidential doublespeak. With all the useless dribble cut away we see the real meat of the speech. The simple revision makes apparent a certain desperation that I find pitiful. I guess the speech was meant to stir us up and scare us even, perhaps. It utterly fails to elicit those feelings. I think what I feel is tantamount to frustration even a little pity.

Summer 2007

This is a crap picture of the Bodleian library at Oxford University in England. It is one of the oldest in Europe (the library not my picture - hah!) and is the main research library at the university. The architecture has made it a favorite of the film industry (parts of the first two Harry Potter movies were shot inside). It would've been fun to visit the library but my visit to Oxford was filled with other academicky (<-- my new word) things to do.

Jayme and I presented a paper at a visual literacy conference at Mansfield College early in July. I think we both enjoyed ourselves although Jayme was probably just being very polite as she usually is. We met lots of interesting, talented, and gentle people and gorged ourselves on pub food (not in front of them thankfully). I stayed on in England for the past month to visit family and experience British-style rain .

It rained - I am not joking - almost every single day! Needless to say, I am thrilled to be back stateside in our near 100 degree temperatures. I had plenty of time to read and think. Stay tuned.

My Bad, Part Deux

Maybe I was right?!

For honest eco-building check this out.

It's called empathy. You might try a little...

Is it the healthcare system or have we just stopped being human?