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Today in Twitter
- @brianreed: I expect travelling sandwich reviews for thesandwichkings.com #
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Today in Twitter
- From the Opthamologist to the Optometrist to be fitted for some sort of possible eyeball cure. #
- So, while unable to diagnose my blindness, the doctor figured out a stop gap solution that at least will make it a little less awful. #
- Eyes bleary to the point I can't read my screen magnified to 10x. Time to call it a day. #
- Port of New York, while giving the world Yul Brynner, is one of the worst movies I've seen in a LONG time. #
- Hmm. There's something wrong with my leg. I'm falling to pieces. #
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Today in Twitter
- Heading into a really cool lunch meeting before going to get my eyes looked at for my blindness. #
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Today in Twitter
- Watching some Memorial Day Marx Brothers Movies. Hooray. #
- @BrianReed Three Days of the Condor may explain our bond. It's my favorite action movie of all time. #
- Today was apparently movie day with the Fialkovs. Thus far: House (the 1986 one), A Night at the Opera, Fury, and The Great Escape. #
- @davidhopkins Death Note's awesome innit? #
- The allergy migraines are in full bloom. I haven't been able to get a full day of work done in like four or five days. #
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Library Event is One Week (and a half) Away
Today in Twitter
- Man of the West is pretty badass. #
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Today in Twitter
- I always forget how good the original Singing Detective is. #
- @kmellon Yep. It was a BBC mini-series in the mid 80's starring Michael Gambon. It's amazing. #
- @BrianReed Nope. Eurovision Song Contest is on instead. #
- The most upsetting Jack Chick Tract ever... http://tinyurl.com/6ckl7m #
- Hidden in http://dialbforblog.com/ "complete Blazing Combat collection will be coming out from Fantagraphics later this year!" Hooray! #
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Today in Twitter
- Thinking of reorganizing my DVD's by genre. Discuss. #
- @jasonahurley I'd estimate somewhere in the 1200+ range. I have three giant bookcases full. #
- I currently have two main sections, Movies and TV. Then, I have a couple shelves of over-sized box sets, and assorted genre and star sets. #
- DVD's split into: Horror, Crime/Noir, Westerns, TV, and 'general' which includes drama, comedy, action, and etc. #
- @neverwanderer Horror is actually Horror/Sci-Fi. #
- @kmellon In my house, specifically, the section is both. And I dare you to prove me wrong. Brouhahahahahahahaha. #
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The Randy Prisoner
There's something wrong with my brain. Made this while watching The Asphalt Jungle last night. It's built using the cheesiest 70's ballad loop, a rockin' Motown drum loop, and audio from the Prisoner. Mumbly vocals included to evoke the spirit of shitty 70's Randy Newman songs. The Randy Prisoner
Loops and Samples from Apple Garage Band '08
Sarcastic Lead Vox - Joshua Hale Fialkov
Sarcastic Background Voc - Joshua Hale Fialkov and Christina Rice
The Kids Are Alright
First song I've recorded in a few years. I bought a banjo a few weeks back, and I've been more or less reteaching myself to play via the Kinks and the Who. And, y'know... Rainbow Connection. Anyways. I decided to lay it all down and here it is. The Kids Are Alright - Joshua Hale Fialkov
Joshua Hale Fialkov - Banjo, Guitar, Bass, Trap Kit, Vox
Today in Twitter
- Recovering from my first allergy shot in two weeks, since getting sick. #
- Saw pea-sized hail that was localized entirely to the neighborhood we were in. #
- Also saw Indiana Jones. I'm not really sure what everyone's complaint is. It's quite literally the best movie it could possibly be. #
- @ramtower I love that game so much it hurts. #
- http://tinyurl.com/585s46 #
- Lou Reed - Live in England 1973 - Streaming for Free? The future is awesome. #
- Warren published War comics... with Frazetta covers? Yowzers. http://dialbforblog.com/ #
- @kmellon Everyone looks at me funny when I tell them how psyched I am to write Vampirella... you're looking at the reason why. #
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On Death Note and the State of American Comics
Just a little bit of time before running out for a day of meetings (and driving from one to the other.) Last night, Tony and I headed out to the Burbank AMC for the "Fathom Events" two nights only screening of the live action Death Note movie. I don't want to give too much of a review, but, essentially, it leads me to the topic I've been itching to discuss.
Death Note, as a manga, is probably one of the best works of modern fiction we've seen thus far this century. It's certainly the best piece of graphic fiction. For thirteen 200+ page volumes, the story of two guys trying to out think each other is one of the most riveting, emotional, and action packed books on the shelf. That being said... it really only works in two formats. Manga and Anime. This story works because of it's sprawl. By taking the time to show every move and counter move, every nuanced thought and line of inquiry, we get to know these characters better than you ever could hope to. Plus, in this world of heightened realism, mixed with ten foot tall demons walking amongst them just doesn't play on the screen with live action.
The live action movie is part 1 of what is essentially a trilogy, and despite being two and a half hours long, still fails to capture 1/10th of the power and drama of the manga. The fact that Viz decided to do these screenings with a dubbed version, that managed to also leave off subs for the copious amount of text throughout the movie certainly didn't help. But, technical complaints aside, the fact is that the movie fails where the books succeed. Again, despite all of the hooplah involving copycat murders and teenagers in trouble, this is a book about two extremely smart men playing a game of morality tinged Chess.
It's very much a product of it's medium. This style of long form story telling doesn't exist in many other mediums. While certainly the television serial gives you the length to tell the story, it doesn't allow for the pacing nor the subtlety of the graphic form. While American comics, especially, say, a Vertigo series allows for this sort of high end detailed story-telling, I think that the general idea of the book is so far outside of the world experience of most American comics industry 'execs' that it wouldn't get made. Death Note is a creation wholly unto itself. Without the 'farm system' of the weekly anthologies of Japan, daring and different work would not exist. I think you see that in our own comics. Of course there's always the independent publishers, but, face the facts, the idea of cranking out a 2600 page story from an Independent publisher in this day and age is a rarity at best. Plus, as mentioned, this isn't a movie. Certainly, there IS a movie, but, the movie exists because of the vast popularity of the comic and anime, which is counter to how American independent comics function. Indies need to have that movie hook in order to make the whole thing financially viable. Japan, on the other hand, has the distribution and audience that the comic itself is it's own commodity.
I say all of this, and, for sake of time, want to keep away from the sheer number of teenagers who were there, in costume, talking about the differences between the books, the anime, and the movie (while it was playing, which is a whole other story about me hating to go out in public.)
So, look, all this really just comes down to me being both inspired and somewhat disappointed by our medium. While it's obvious that we truly can accomplish amazing things with just some pictures on a page, it seems like us Westerners may have finally been left completely and utterly behind. There needs to be radical change in our industry in order to save us from obscurity. Until we embrace not just the style (I'm looking at you, Marvel Mangaverse), but the ethos of these far more successful (and in many ways far superior) comics, I fear that there might not be much of an American comics industry left in a few years.
Here's to trying to change that.
Death Note will be playing again across the country tonight. More info here.
Today in Twitter
- @LordShaper They did make one. I have it hanging on my wall. #
- @LordShaper - i'm pretty sure there's only the one. It's just a generic DC Direct actiong figure with a little mask, hat, and gas gun. #
- @lordshaper - That's what mine is. #
- http://tinyurl.com/6bfpt2 #
- Stephen Moffat takes over Doctor Who! Hooray! http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/may/20/bbc.television2 #
- This new Green Day album thing sounds like Green Day covering a Kinks record. #
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Today in Twitter
- And... we're back. Still a little bit sick, but, time (and paychecks) wait for no man. #
- Discovery of the day: http://www.myspace.com/bryanscary #
- French Magazine for Private Eyes... http://tinyurl.com/5tnhxu #
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Rory Root
Everybody, everywhere are posting their Rory Root stories for all to see. For those who don't know, Rory was one of the real landmark retailers in the country. He managed to run a huge shop in a competitive market, cater to everyone, and, do it with a kind heart and a smile. In this business, that's a rarity. He was a man who geniuinely loved what he did, and wanted everybody to love it as much as he did. Earlier this evening, he passed away. At Comic-Con last year, I was signing at his booth and he didn't have any copies of Elk's Run on hand. He'd ordered the books, and Random House for whatever reason, failed to deliver. He was furious. Not at me, but, at my publisher, and at himself. And not one of those huffy "You're losing money, asshole!" ways. He said that he was upset that a creator who's work he loved was at his booth and that he was being embarrassed by not having his favorite work by that author at his booth.
It might've just been Rory feeding me a line, but, I know that I walked a little bit prouder knowing that Rory at the very least knew who I was, and cared enough to put on a good show. The guy was a class act, with an even bigger heart. His kind words of encouragement always brightened me up during a grueling con, and frankly, the thought of San Diego without Rory perched on his stool... it's hard to imagine.
So, here's to Rory wherever he is, I'm sure it's well-organized and stocked to the gills with all of his favorite books.
The Fialkov at the LAPL Hollywood Branch
Hey gang,Coming up in just a few weeks on June 7th, I'll be presenting a program at the Will and Ariel Durant Branch of the Los Angeles Public Library. That's the one that's only a few blocks away from beloved Hollywood Comic Store Meltdown Comics (http://www.meltcomics.com). The topic will be writing comics, but, will probably cover everything from making mini-comics to breaking in to the big companies. I'm hopefully going to have a few guests there, and have some cool stuff planned out, so, I hope some of you can attend.
And please, as always, feel free to repost this and let your friends know. Here's the full info:
http://events.lapl.org/viewEvent.cfm?eventID=19516
Event Name: Comic Book Writing Category: Just for Teens Type: Author Program Date: 06/07/08 Time: 04:30 PM - 05:30 PM Day: Saturday Branch: Will & Ariel Durant 7140 W Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90046 (323) 876-2741 Description: Joshua Hale Fialkov, award winning author of "Elk's Run" and "Princess Resurrection" shows how comic books are written and produced.
See you there!
j. -- www.thefialkov.com
Bryan Scary and the Shredding Tears
www.bryanscary.com http://www.myspace.com/bryanscary
Holy. Shit. It's like Elvis Costello fucked Freddie Mercury, and let their progeny hang out with Ben Folds. Really drawing heavily on the first five or so Queen albums, but with a sense of pop hooks that Elvis Costello showcased throuhgout most of the 70's and early 80's, with the sort of post-modern tweeking the Flaming Lips are best known for, Flight of the Knife isn't just the best album I've heard this year, it may be the best album of the decade thus far.
A true masterwork from a band who are only two albums old. And, it's dirt ass cheap on iTunes right now. Go. Get it. Love it.
Today in Twitter
- Time to reup the hallucinogenic cough syrup. Hooray! #
- The drug makes me want Mrs. Voorhee's head to wake up at the end of Ft13th Part 2. #
- I want to be like @Remender and pretend to be fictional characters all day. Lookit me! I'm the Artful Dodger! #
- Still sick. Hooray. #
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Today in Twitter
- Oooh... must find a copy of Inferno (1953) in 3-D! Color, 3-D, Film Noir. #
- This week's release of so called Western Noirs is giving me much entertainment while hacking up a lung. #
- Adding insult to injury, my card was over charged a couple hundred bucks by a restaurant. #
- After spending twenty minutes reading a pointless thread on a message board, I remembered why I stopped going to them. #
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