Note: The following posts were imported from my previous blogs.

Jhonen Vasquez - Bad Art Collection  #
Monday, 25 Aug 2003 11:59PM
The Bad Art Collection is an interesting read. The idea is Dogma for comics. You have X number of panels, start drawing. The stories are stupid, violent, insane. The art is shit. Childish stuff... stuff drawn in the back of lecture theatres. Crazy little blobs talk to each other, kill each other, suck eat other's dookie. It's madness.

Yet... you can see so much of Jhonen's future work in it. Many of the little jokes ended up in modified form in Invader Zim. I'd like to think this is raw Jhonen, a giant joke he's having at his fan's expense... but looking at the timing of the release (Jhonen had only just brought out the first three Johnny The Homicidal Maniac comics when B.A.C. was released) and given a similarly themed and silly (but much better produced) story recently released (Everything Can Be Beaten) I'm not so sure it is a joke. Maybe this is core Jhonen. Even trying his best, this is what he comes up with... the same idea (that is... cute violence) rehashed over and over.

Technically JTHM is just a consistantly themed version of this crazy violence. Same with Filler Bunny. Squee's just a spinoff of JTHM, as is I Feel Sick.

If it weren't for Invader Zim, it would seem Jhonen was a one idea guy... I think if Zim wasn't made for kids it's violence and crazyness would match that of JTHM and thus fall into the same niche.

Don't stop producing media Jhonen because I want to see more... but not more of the same.


Confide in me  #
Monday, 25 Aug 2003 06:41PM
Damn... they're covering old Kylie now (see "Naked Heart" and Confide In Me on your favourite piracy device). I prefer Kylie's version to this new nu-metal poo. Oh god it's even got the try-hard Korn bit in the middle "boom-rackashucka" indeed. I'm sure the kid'll funking luv it.

Couple of new photoblog entries. My first visual joke and three photos of buildings growing in Melbourne's Southbank. Hopefully first in a series of before and after images of Melbourne's growing skyline.

An article at cdfreaks about the lifetime of CDrs that seems to indicate that a lot of CDrs don't last more than 2 years. In the comments of the article someone posts that the CDrs used in the test had a bad batch (for which the company provided refunds) in 2001, the start of the test. I personally have CDrs from 1999 that are still fine but also have CDrs from only last year that have lost a file or two to corruption.

The entire BBC collection of media online (via Slashdot). Surely not the ENTIRE collection of everything? So Hitchhikers Guide and Dr. Who? All the "Live at the BBC" sessions? What are the artists who played on these live shows going to say? I'm guessing, given the free-to-air-public-service nature of the BBC that the artists probably signed something that said the BBC can do what they like with their show.

I find it very difficult to believe this is going to be as far reaching as people say. It can't be EVERYTHING?! What would this do to the BBC DVD sales? I can only assume it'll be streaming only and even at broadband quality, DVD is still much better and more conveniant.

Imagine if the ABC (and Triple J) did something similar? Every Live At The Wireless online for all to have from the 80s onwards?!

Of course we all hope it is as it seems. It would be a giant kick in the teeth to anyone struggling for the commercialisation of everything and a huge injection of goodwill for the public domain. Fingers crossed.

The real Harold Holt. Google bait.

Damn it was windy yesterday. I slept until 4pm (I went to two parties on Saturday night after jamming with the band during the day) but heard bits and pieces of wooooosh all day. Pretty sure I heard a tree come down. Hope it fell on a Merc.

Walken gig on Friday at the Dan O'Connell on Canning street Carlton, with Shoot The Genie who I quite enjoy watching (and Qwasi and Indicator, neither of whom I've seen). Should be a good night. We were tight during the recordings a couple of Saturday's ago but a giant mess last Saturday's jam so who knows! Hopefully we'll have one or two new songs for ya. I also seem to have damaged my back again... I fear I'm going to be a wheelchair bound old man by the time I'm forty... which doesn't feel that far away.

Re-reading: Dark Half by Stephen King but have decided it's crap (compared to 'Salem's Lot anyway) so am probably going to stop (although I find it hard, harder than walking out of a movie I hate). Just started on Jeff Noon's Pollen, having read everything else of his minus Cobralingus and the new one. Starting OK but I'm getting bad vibes.

More options at work... I'm thinking I will be doing part time for a while but it'll be on different terms to before. Guess what I'm doing in my spare time?