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London Bloggers [Comic Blogs][Other Blogs] | 1 August 2004
[blogs] The Daily Mail Watch — they read the Daily Mail so we don’t have to … ‘Jon & I have realised that we might have to actually shell out some more dosh to the Filthy Rag as some of their webcontent is subscription only.’
2 August 2004
[london] Odderection Man — mental health problems or performance art? You decide…
 Odd Erection Man, Oxford Street, London 4 August 2004
[lists] List of the Top 10 Fictional Detectives — from Mark Billingham … ‘I first encountered [Sherlock Holmes] through an eccentric maths teacher who would read The Speckled Band and other Conan Doyle adventures to us instead of teaching fractions. He also used to balance chairs on his chin, but that’s another story. I’m still fond of Holmes to this day, especially now that I can see him as the crazed, controlling junkie that he clearly was.’
5 August 2004
[blogs] Spyware Warrior — useful blog ‘Waging the war against spyware’.
[comics] V for Vendetta Annotations — includes an interesting list of pop culture influences which Alan Moore and David Lloyd drew on whilst creating V for Vendetta [Related: More Moore Annotations]…
‘Orwell. Huxley. Thomas Disch. Judge Dredd. Harlan Ellison’s “Repent Harlequin! Said the Ticktockman.”, “Catman” and “Prowler in the City at the Edge of the World” by the same author. Vincent Price’s Dr. Phibes and Theatre of Blood. David Bowie. The Shadow. Nightraven. Batman. Farenheit 451. The writings of the New Worlds school of science fiction. Max Ernst’s painting “Europe After the Rains.” Thomas Pynchon. The atmosphere of British Second World War films. The Prisoner. Robin Hood. Dick Turpin…’ 6 August 2004
[comics] Doonesbury Goes to War — interview with Garry Trudeau from Rolling Stone Magazine. ‘…I was overwhelmed by some of the letters that came in about B.D. It was so emotional. People wrote that it made them feel they had a personal stake in the war — like someone they knew had been harmed. People were even more astonished when B.D.’s helmet came off. It signified his vulnerability and made it all the more difficult for them to accept. I was talking to a soldier in the hospital, and I said, “I draw this comic strip, and I have this character named B.D. who lost his leg.” The soldier’s eyes widened: “B.D. lost his leg?!” Here’s this mangled, broken hero lying in his bed, and he’s concerned that this character he knows had such a terrible thing happen to him. It was very moving.’
9 August 2004
[comics] Michael Chabon’s Keynote Speech at the 2004 Eisner Awards … ‘Children did not abandon comics; comics, in their drive to attain respect and artistic accomplishment, abandoned children. And for a long time we as lovers and partisans of comics were afraid, after so many long years of struggle and hard work and incremental gains, to pick up that old jar of greasy kid stuff again, and risk undoing it all. Comics have always been an arriviste art form, and all upstarts are to some degree ashamed of their beginnings. But frankly, I don’t think that’s what’s going on in comics anymore. Now, I think, we have simply lost the habit of telling stories to children. And how sad is that?’
[urban.myth] Son of a Gun — another urban myth examined by Snopes … ‘It seems that during the Civil War (May 12, 1863, to be exact), a young Virginia farm girl was standing on her front porch while a battle was raging nearby. A stray bullet first passed through the scrotum of a young Union cavalryman, then lodged in the reproductive tract of the young woman, who thus became pregnant by a man she had not been within 100 feet of! And nine months later she gave birth to a healthy baby!’
10 August 2004
[web] Do You IMDB? — profile of the Internet Movie Database. ‘…how does IMDB work? It’s easy to imagine some airplane hangar in a dusty, out-of-the-way desert location, and inside is a sea of desktop computers manned by 20-something Oompa Loompas in T-shirts, jeans and Converse. You’d think that, but you’d be wrong.’ [via Sashinka]
11 August 2004
[movies] Five Things You Probably Didn’t Notice in The Shining — interesting commentary on Kubrick’s Horror Film … ‘Kubrick deliberately undermines all the most frightening moments in the book. He’s still trying to scare you, but not the way it’s usually done. Jack Torrence is trying to kill his wife with an ax. Isn’t that frightening enough? Isn’t violence terrifying all by itself? Kubrick feels no need to cheat you by not showing what’s on the other side of the door. To Kubrick, Ozzie and Harriet is the ultimate snow job, and a man, woman and child trapped alone together is the most horrifying prospect imaginable.’
12 August 2004
[comics] The Grant Morrison Experience — nice PR site from Vertigo – includes a video interview and a sneak peak of Morrison’s latest comic We3 … [via Barbelith]
13 August 2004
[paper] Why I love… Shredding … ‘I refer here not to the squalling style of guitar playing typified by Eddie Van Halen but instead to the unbridled visceral pleasure of slicing unwanted scraps of paper into small mountains of confetti. Elton John has the right idea: one of his homes has a room just for shredding. He knows how satisfying it is seeing an old gas bill grated into a thousand tiny pieces.’
14 August 2004
[al.qaeda] Inside Al-Qaeda’s Hard Drive — a look at the files from a computer looted from Al Qaeda after the fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan … ‘Renovating our computer doesn’t mean buying a new one but making sure that adjustments are made to suit Abdullah’s [bin Laden’s] work. There were many technical problems with the computer.’
15 August 2004
[books] A Code for Dark Times — Jonathan Freedland on the Da Vinci Code. ‘…perhaps there is a simpler yearning this book meets; the same desire nurtured by Pullman and the Harry Potter series, both of which found large adult audiences, and the forthcoming sorcerers’ tale, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke, which hopes to do the same. It is that even grown-ups want to believe in magic. The 21st century may be replete with technology that can do everything and science that can explain everything, but human beings seem to crave the mysterious and miraculous, the forever out-of-reach.’
16 August 2004
[comics] We3 #1 Preview — the first four Pages from Morrison and Quitely’s new comic which is out next week … ‘They’re the ultimate cyborg assassins; armed with missiles, poison gas, state-of-the-art computer technology and unbreakable exo-skeletons. The government has spent millions to fuse the firepower of a battalion with the nervous systems of a dog named Bandit, a cat named Tinker, and a rabbit named Pirate. As part of a program to replace human soldiers with expendable animals, the U.S. government has transformed three ordinary pets into the ultimate killing machines. But now, those three animals have seized the chance to make a last, desperate run for ‘Home’. A run that will turn into a breathless hunt to the death against the might of the entire military/industrial complex.’
17 August 2004
[blog] Blog Interrupted — the Washington Post gets the inside story on Washingtonienne … ‘Jessica and her friend slid onto stools in the cool dimness of Bullfeathers, a popular Capitol Hill watering hole. Jessica ordered a Southern Comfort. It was the middle of the afternoon on May 18. “What happened to you today?” the bartender asked. “I got fired. I lost my boyfriend and my job, and it’s my birthday,” Jessica remembers telling him. “How did you get fired?” the bartender wanted to know. “I wrote an X-rated blog,” Jessica said. The bartender looked puzzled. “What’s a blog?” he asked.’
18 August 2004
[comics] Bags and Boards — Variety Magazine’s weblog about ‘…the trends, the buzz and the business of the comic book industry.’
19 August 2004
[comics] 2000AD and British Comics — nicely done website from the BBC Cult. Includes a reprint of Alan Moore’s DR & Quinch Have Fun on Earth (with art from Alan Davis) … ‘My name’s Ernie Quinch, college student. I like guns and starting fights. My psychiatrist says I’m a Pyschotic Deviant. But that doesn’t mean I’m a Bad Person, right?’
21 August 2004
[lists] Note To Self — lots of intriguing lists from celebrities. John Cleese: ‘List of newspapers that have recently interviewed me, invented a quote, used it as a headline and then failed for over a month to reply to my letter pointing this out – The Independent.’
23 August 2004
[blogs] Blog-in-a-Box — an eBay auction which looks likes a real bargain at only £7.99 … ‘ANYONE Can Create Their Own Blog Quickly AND Successfully Make A Profit, Even If They Have NO IDEA What A Blog Actually Is! It’s True!’ [via Sashinka]
24 August 2004
[comics] The Beat — another weblog about comics – this one from Heidi McDonald.
25 August 2004
[blogs] QT’s Diary — allegedly Quentin Tarantino’s Weblog … ‘QT here. I’m typing up this bastard of a diary entry myself because my typist isn’t around. Sorry if there are any typos, cause frankly I don’t give a fuck.’ [thanks Kabir]
[comics] Green Arrow’s Journal of Crime Fighting and Goatee Maintenance — allegedly Oliver Queen’s Weblog … ‘Evil Do-ers Beware: star city smells like piss in the summer. the only thing that gets me thru my daily rooftop patrols is the new wilco album on my ipod.’
26 August 2004
[africa] Mark Thatcher faces Court Showdown over Coup Plot … ‘[Thatcher’s] appearance at a nearby magistrates court was then delayed, apparently because Sir Mark was robbed in his holding cell by other prisoners who, according to a court official, stole his mobile phone, shoes and jacket. All belongings were later returned.’ [thanks Phil]
[films] Hope Springs Eternal — interesting essay about Shawshank Redemption from Mark Kermode. ‘…the symbolism is implied rather than announced, with the falsely convicted Andy resembling a latter-day Christ figure who, at one point, seems to vanish from his tomb-like cell only to be reborn in the baptismal waters of a nearby creek, causing Norton to scream: ‘Lord, it’s a miracle!’ And of course, the most famously iconic image from the film is that of a stripped Andy standing with his arms outstretched, his head turned heavenward, in a moment of agony and ecstasy clearly resembling the crucifixion. The deeper one delves into The Shawshank Redemption, however, the more the search for such religious symbols becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy…’ [via Mad Musings of Me]
28 August 2004
[comics] Let’s get Vizical — BBC News Magazine on 25 Years of Viz … ‘In the 25 years since Viz comic first appeared, Sid [the Sexist], one of its most enduring characters, has spectacularly failed in the pursuit to which he has single-mindedly committed himself: having sex. Yet it almost didn’t happen like that, says Simon Donald, who started the comic with his brother Chris. When they set out to find a serious publishing deal, Sid’s crass exploits did not raise a smile with the suits at one of Britain’s magazine publishing giants. “They wanted Sid the Sexist to be Sid the Smooth Talker. They were offended by the fact he was politically incorrect,” says Simon Donald.’
30 August 2004
[politics] W Ketchup is America’s Ketchup™ … ‘Choose Heinz and you’re supporting Teresa Heinz and her liberal causes, such as Kerry for President.’ [via Neil’s World]
31 August 2004
[comics] Drawing Pains — a Guardian profile of Art Spiegelman … ‘Next year he will publish a visual memoir of his 10 years at the New Yorker, “with all the different covers and images I did. It’s basically a history of the wrestling matches, of what it means to try to graft an underground cartoonist’s sensibility on to the DNA of the New Yorker. God bless ’em, they tried. And God bless me, I tried. I guess I got spoiled at an early age. I got used to publishing myself without editorial interference.”‘
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