Naked Lunch (1959)

I'm trying to get through reading Naked Lunch. I really am you know.

I had made a previous attempt to read the book fifteen or sixteen years ago. Having enjoyed On the Road by Jack Kerouac, I thought I'd give his contemporary William S. Burrough's a try. What you need to understand about young men between the ages of 19 to 23 is they go through a really pretentious phase. We want people to think we're intellectuals in our shaggy hair, scraggily beards, military jackets we bought at a thrift shop and being seen in public reading the works of Kerouac and Burrough.

Whether we are really reading it is beside the point. We want to give the impression that we're really, really deep. But in fact we're just really pretentious. I have pictures of me during that time period to prove my point.

Back to the story, I'm finding I'm having the same problem I had with Naked Lunch that I had fifteen or so years ago. I'm just finding it hard to follow and really dull.

My last attempt I merely got three or four pages into it with every intention of picking it up again. Fifteen or so years later, I'm about 70 pages further into the book and it's doing very little to keep my interest.

I just find the book to be an incoherent mess. Some of that is probably due to the fact Burroughs was most likely on many of the drugs such as heroin and morphine while writing the book. Or so he mentioned in the beginning.

I think I've always been more fascinated by Burrough's writing technique than the suject matter of his writing. What he would do is write an entire manuscript. Cut it up. And then take sentences and piece them back together to make an entirely new story. David Bowie adopted that method with his songwriting. I believe he started to employ the "Burrough's technique" with his album Diamond Dogs. Which is probably his most interesting album since it was initially intended to be a rock opera based on George Orwell's 1984.

I know some of you are probably saying "Who do you think you are?" and "How dare you say that?" and "Burrough's is a genius! Who the (insert expletive) are you to criticize him?" and "Who cares about your opinion anyways?"

Good point. And if you don't care about my opinion then why are you bothering reading this?

I'm not saying you should hate Naked Lunch. If you think it's brilliant, go on thinking it's brilliant. I think Burrough's writing techniques are brilliant. But I don't think the book is.

I just find it a big disjointed mess.

Dark Shadows Proposal for Dynamite

I just completed a few Dark Shadows sample pages for a submissions I'm preparing to send out to Dynamite Entertaiment.

Dynamite has a really great roster of titles and the cult classic gothic soap Dark Shadows is one of them. Although I am aware Dynamite's portrayal of Barnabas Collins is his much later incarnation which he is cured of his vampirism I'm just more fascinated by the dynamics of his earlier Dracula/Renfield redux relationship between himself and Willie Loomis.

And being a fan of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, I decided to render the pages in sepia tones.

PAGE ONE

Page Three

Police Squad! (1982)

I think nowadays if I were to mention the show Police Squad! most people wouldn't know what I was talking about. However, if I were to mention the Naked Gun movies, I'd probably get an "Oh! I've seen those!" from a few people.

Much like Mel Brook's television series When Things Were Rotten (you might not remember that) would find a second life as Robin Hood: Men in Tights (but that you might remember), the series Police Squad! would ultimately find new life and success as the Naked Gun movies.

Police Squad! was just one of those shows that just wasn't appreciated in it's time. Produced by the Zucker Brothers and Jim Abraham who had success with movies like Kentucky Fried Movie and Airplane somehow just could not manage that same success on television with that same formula. Cancelled after six episodes due to either an unreceptive audience that just didn't take to their style of satire or television exec's that were just plain stupid.

I'm going with the second one.

The show was the first time we would see Leslie Nielsen in the role of Lt. Frank Drebin. A role he would reprise in the three movies. The series parodied the entire genre of police shows as well as the whole television format in general even announcing that the series was "In Color" during the opening credits. This was a spoof of something television shows used to do in the 1960's when shows were predominantly in black and white and color was still new. So needless to say this was used ironically.

Another particularly funny running gag at the end of every show they would have a freeze frame of the characters in the style of TJ Hooker about to laugh and doing something like pouring coffee.

Of course it wouldn't actually be a freeze frame so the coffee would start spilling out of the cup.

Some of  the gags and supporting characters from the series would also find new life in the movies. And since movies have a bit more freedom from censorship than television did back in the day, they could get away with a bit more "racy" humor than the series did.

Just another example of a show ahead of its time and the powers that be just did not "get it".

The complete series is out and relatively inexpensive on DVD. So if you're curious, I'd highly recommend you check it out.

Take a Cartooning Class this Summer at Annie's Book Stop of Worcester

Annie's Book Stop of Worcester has invited me to teach cartooning classes on fridays from July 20th till August 31st at their store at 65 James Street in Worcester, MA.

You have a choice between taking either a morning or afternoon session for $87.50 each or you can take both the morning and afternoon class together for $175.00 total.

In Session One, I will be teaching Cartooning in the morning from 10 AM till 12 NOON and in the afternoon I will be teaching Comic Art.

In Session Two, I will be teaching Create Your Own Super Hero in the morning and Drawn Animation in the afternoons. These classes are scheduled for the same time periods as the first session.
If you wish to sign up for two classes, you can either sign up for consecutive classes in the same session or sign up for one class in the first session and another in the second session.

If you're interested you can either stop by Annie's Book Stop of Worcester during normal business hours to pick up a sign up sheet or e-mail me to find out more about the classes.

Deadline for sign up is Friday July 13th!! So don't miss out!! Sign up today!!

Nora Ephron: May 19, 1941 – June 26, 2012

I have to confess I've never actually seen any of her movies (I've never seen either Sleepless in Seattle or You've Got Mail) or read any of her books. However I do have a great deal of respect for Nora Ephron.

She was the key speaker at my graduation from the Savannah College of Art and Design back in 1999. I don't remember every bit of the speech (you try and remember what you were doing 13 years ago dammit) however I remember it being very uplifting and motivational.

Which at that point I needed. The cold reality had hit me the year before that I was graduating, saying goodbye to many friends, I had just lost my Aunt Joann a couple months prior and I didn't even have a career lined up. But her words, "You never have to worry about having something to fall back on" struck a chord with me. Your art is who you are. It was something I needed to hear at that point.

I don't remember much else about graduation because I had to really use the bathroom the whole time. So, that was the only thing on my mind.

With that said, I was very sorry we lost Nora Ephron this week at the age of 71. Although, I never met her in person, I do owe her a great deal for giving me hope at a time when I just felt hopeless. And the world is just a little colder without people like her.

MAYOR OF WISSAHICKON CREEK

Taken from Flying Kite Media website

My good friend, former roommate, wedding emcee and real live bona fide cartoonist A-Town Krolikowski has launched his new ongoing web comic called Mayor of Wissahickon Creek. He told me all about what he had in mind at my wedding last year and it sounds like it's going to be part Wind in the Willows and part Walt Kelly.

And knowing A-Town, it should prove to be a must read strip!!

Click on the link below to find out more about the strip and about upcoming episodes!! You won't want to miss it:

Mayor of Wissahickon Creek by A-Town Krolikowski

Smokestack Urban BBQ

Syd and I were mighty impressed with our visit to Smokestack Urban BBQ located near the Canal District in Worcester Massachusetts. We decided to give it a go coming home from work on Saturday night and we're already looking forward to our next visit.

It was first brought to our attention when we recently took part in stART on the Street's Spring Show on Green Street. A kid had been passing out menu's to everyone at the show. He had also mentioned that the vegetarian chili was even more popular than their regular chili. Since Syd's been a vegematarian for the past 20 years, it's always nice to find places that accomodates the veggie crowd.

And there are actually quite a few in the Woo that do.

The restaurant is located in what appears to be an old Mill Building. Parking could be a bit of an adventure, but we were able to find a spot. The first thing that struck me when we walked in was how spacious the place was. Even though it seemed to be hopping even around 8:30/9PM, you don't get the feeling like you're cramped in a phone booth waiting for a table the way some places can be.

And it was very clean while maintaining that funky old mill look.

And the food was great!! I had a Stacker Burger which is a burger topped with Pulled Pork. Syd had a vegetarian burger which looks like it could rival the one she had at Local Burger out in Northampton. It was equally as hearty looking.

And they had a decent beer selection. Any place that has Narragansett Lager for $2.25 is tops in my books.

I recommed checking it out. Great BBQ and great ambience.