I am so in awe of this. I just stare at it and marvel at it’s brilliance. The card I got with this classic promo on it is for Strike… down the road from me about 2 miles in Cupertino, but apparently it is part of the same bowling megacorp — Bowlmor — that now controls that classic Manhattan bowling alley that is somewhere between 12th and 13th Street as well. A fondly remembered destination from my days at SVA. I once saw Andrew McCarthy there, trying to bowl all incognito. I guess it could be claimed that he needn’t have bothered.

Documentation of the latest performance from my old band without me… fognozzle. 15 blissful minutes of noisy goodness. I slept in that day.

Squarepusher knows more than you do.

OK? Once we are all caught up, then we can move on.

I went away for a week.

When I got back I remembered it as being Bad Boys II, so it was doubly urgent that I watch it. Now, having seen Bad Boys II, I return to Be Kind Rewind… and find out… yeah… wow… oops.

UPDATE: You do not need to see Rush Hour II to appreciate Be Kind Rewind. You should have seen Ghostbusters. If you had my siblings, this will not be an issue of great concern.

Saturday, November 8, 2008. Noon - 2pm sharp. fognozzle will be appearing at Godwaffle Noise Pancakes @ Artsf. 110 Capp Street, San Franciscso, California. w/ Duo Pisano (Moe! Staiano & Alan Anzalone), Al Qaeda, DADDY, and Alienslang.

Back in May I got to visit the famous Monroeville Mall, just outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the shooting site for George A. Romero’s film Dawn of the Dead. I have finally taken the time to sort through the video (above) and stills I took. Aspiring filmmaker tip: Baby strollers make really bad steadycams. The place does not look all that different. It’s a shame the carousel wasn’t there back in ‘78. The Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood playground is also a new addition. I actually bought a Dawn of the Dead DVD at the Borders bookstore nearby. Find out more about the mall and the shooting of Romero’s zombie classic at MalloftheDead.net.

Check out the shots on flickr.

Tiger Claw Elite Grand Champion Becca Ross

It’s done! I’ve posted about 200 photos up to flickr of my absolute best shots from last weekend’s 2008 Tiger Claw Elite Championship. Go check out those, and past years shots now! I’m gonna go sleep.

More info on the Tiger Claw Elite Championship.

I wish I’d taken the time to find out who this is, but I was on the way out the door when I took the shot.

Unfortunately my visit to APE this year will be forever colored by the dreary drive to it–which included some most certainly dead people in a very grisly road accident that was followed by further delays due to a submerged section of the I-280. By the time I got to the show–nearly an hour later than expected–I just felt sick. The venue–the Concourse, where My Bloody Valentine (and old BCN pal Suzanne Thorpe!) had played a couple months before–also suffered from a leaky roof, which I personally witnessed and more than one exhibitor commented on (not ideal circumstances for a printed matter-type show). Despite all this I had a grand time and was excited to see many old friends and colleagues. I was also sad I did not get to see a few people who I somehow missed or would be there on Sunday. Picked up some great books. There is just so much great art coming out now. It’s crazy! Got some cool books by Jim Mahfood and Brandon Graham (ok, new to me). Tons others. Good feeling all around.

Very brief flickr set.

Amazingly dense stuff. Thanks to old pal Scott Beibin at Lost Film Fest for leading me to this. I miss this kind of political video chop suey.

The first batch of my many, many shots from last weekend’s Disney’s Martial Arts Festival are up on flickr. These are all of Tiger Claw Elite Champion performers. Shot at the nighttime show on the main stage of the Milk House at Disney’s Wide World of Sports in Walt Disney World, Lake Buena Vista, Florida. Saturday, October 25, 2008. See the set!

More info on the Tiger Claw Elite Championship.

Some John Peel Day Events:

October 9 - The Prince of Wales, 101 Dunlop Street, Little India, Singapore
October 11 - Plug ‘n’ Play, Milford Road, Reading
October 16 - Vivaz Venue, Scarborough UK

Dandelion Radio’s Festive Fifty
BBC Radio 1 Keeping it Peel page

Romanesco… I’m far from the first to come across this crazy broccoli meets Benoit Mandelbrot thing, but I could not resist its charms–especially for 90 cents at the local farmers’ market. I’ll try not to let it sit for too long before I steam it up with some garlic. But… Wow. Just wow.

Sticker pack for the Stick Me Hard Show at Musma Gallery in Brussels. Hopefully it will make it there in time and not get stuck in customs forever for smelling like paint…

I’ve been drawing this bunny character for like 20 years and he rarely looks the same way twice…

Simon Gane has contributed a large drawing of the Amazon Princess to the Wonder Woman Day III benefit auction. There’s a lot of great art from different comic artists with their own visions of what fighting for your rights in satin tights is all about. I thought Wendy Pini’s was particularly striking. The event is Sunday, October 26 in Portland OR, Fleminton NJ and online. The auction is to raise money and awareness for Domestic Violence shelters and a Women’s Crisis Line. There are over 150 pieces of original art for auction.

Stick Me Hard! is an upcoming International Exhibition of handmade stickers, posters and stencyls at Musma Gallery in Belgium. Local sticker legend Mr. The Gritboy has pulled the stencils out of storage to make a go at contributing. This is just a small gallery of artifacts from one nights work. Pretty ghastly stuff. See some examples of the vastly superior work by the other contributors on Musma’s flickr page.

Grit Boy is back (up against the wall, you know, so to speak), and he prefers Session Beer.

Awesome garage sale score. 5 Bux. Just in time for the halloween light show! Sadly, I didn’t end up with a whole planetarium like I hoped.

Just the thing to celebrate making it through cold and flu season! 3 parts lemonade (homemade or Simply Lemonade brand) 2 parts elderberry tea, 1 or 2 parts vodka, lots of ice in a big glass, stir. Looks very pretty with the lemonade and the tea separated before you mix it. Looks like a watermellony gray color once you mix it and tastes a bit like it too. Goes great with chicken soup!

Up on flickr now, 55 shots of classic pinball machines and their insane graphics. Check it out!

Click for embiggenment.

Thursday, September 25, 2008
9:00pm - 11:00pm
Cake Shop
152 Ludlow St
New York, NY

View Map

Tom Spurgeon has revealed his hidden genius. Compare to the Garden Weasel.

This last one is worth comment. I was very surprised to see the return (well… uh, now discontinued and reduced for quick sale, I guess) of the old Western Publishing model 3-pack at the toy store. This is at a Toys R Us in Knoxville, Tennessee. And yes, it is a classic Scorpio issue of the Defenders by David Anthony Craft (with help from Don McGregor) and Keith Giffen. This is the 1970s comic book equivalent of LSD, just waiting for some poor, unsuspecting soul to be warped forever. Good stuff.

Performance of solo game piece for the visual arts, utilizing dice, cue cards and a clock to create an environment of improvisation and inspiration.

More Infinity art here: http://www.infinityequations.com/

Much like the situation that exists, whereby, when you were a kid and you saw another freak in the mall and they were with their parents too, you knew you were kindred spirits, and now, no number of piercings, tattoos and dark clothing means anything; so it is sadly true that, a ratty line, anarchic spirit of intent and appropriative content mangled to suit your tastes has little to do with your own similar work, beyond appearance. Yes.. it’s confusing. In those distant times when there was a certainty that the freaks were all flying the same freak flag; made at home, with what was at hand; there were many of us, that for reasons of culture and language that, sadly, do not live on in the discourse of the freaks of today… their progeny. Whether they know it and all that.

Booga and Gabe - Funny Picture 88 From Illustration no. 55 Dec. 1988

For very many, Raw #7 or Casual Casual were the entry points to King Terry and many others. Beyond that there wasn’t very far you could go (for at least a few more years) unless you had access to the Japanese book store Kinokuniya. Some things did occasionally show up even at the local Barnes and Noble. Like the 55th issue of the Japanese Illustration magazine in 1988, which for me was even more influential that Raw 7 (which I actually got later). It was a survey of the rattier (but, I gather, fairly commercial) cartoon illustrators of that time, like King Terry and Suzy Amakane.

Znoopy by Yosuke Kawamura 1988 From Illustration no. 55 Dec. 1988

I eventually got brave enough to actually go to Kinokuniya and dig around. Something called Weekly Comication soon became a favorite. I will not even begin to describe the varied content available therein… Each one I grabbed seemed to have the opening few (mostly color) pages dominated by this same anarchic crowd now familiar from Raw and that special issue of Illustration.

Comication Title Page May 11-19, 1989 - Credited to Delta Power

NOW… Unable to really tell the freaks from the squares, I get my weird beard Japanese art kicks from Cutest Character Magazine…

From Cutest Character Magazine 79, Aug./Sep. 2008 Copyright San-X Co.

UPDATE: The saga continues on Intergalactico: Yosuke Kawamura “Exotica” book 1981

I should mention, Frank is a man with a mission. All money received goes directly to disaster relief efforts. More info on the Bountiful Garden site.

So, yeah, two days later (and still photographing things like t-shirts and swords in the garage, so, therefore still all set up with the lights) I started washing and plucking and slicing and dicing and mixing and making all kinds of a mess. Unlike the peanuts from the other day, these taste as good as they look.

The raw ingredients

plucked and washed

Pico de Gallo

Guacamole

Special Guest Stupid Page by Sam Henderson. Culled from the vast Wow Cool archives, this gag may be 20 years old or more. You should be aware that Sam has the eleventh issue of his series The Magic Whistle: Body Armor for Your Dignity from Alternative Comics available now-online or at your local comic book shop.

Hot out of the oven. Conveniently, I was already set up with the lights and everything to make it look so pretty.

It’s true, Nisbet Rose is in, at the height of this season’s “less is more” back to school craze among young women. Or maybe there was a sale on Halloween schoolgirl uniforms. Clearly something bubbled up out of the collective subconscious of magazine art directors desperate to hold on to their cushy jobs in the face of declining sales, decreased advertising revenue and the death of magazines by the score. But what are the odds of three kinky schoolgirl magazine covers in one month? Maybe there are more. What next?

It’s worth noting that the market is healthy enought to support at least three different fantasy football magazines (not pictured). Huh???

Apologies to anyone not from Scotia, New York for the hopelessly obscure reference in the title.

Continuing with the Pink Floyd theme, this hypnotic video is from Mark Sunshine’s Armoredbaby YouTube channel. Mark is an old friend, collaborator, creator of the classic Montezuma’s Revenge video game graphics, artist, musician, designer and contributor to the late, great Tuna Casserole books from the early Wow Cool era; and he has not gotten nearly as many shoutouts from here as he should. He’s got 60+ more videos on his channel and a stellar array of favorites. So, take a day. Sit back, relax, grab a beverage.

Armored Baby YouTube Channel
Armored Baby home page

As mentioned here recently, I have deep-sixed internal combustion and gone back to self-powered 2-wheel goodness. Here’s the hot ride in late night glory, purchased at an awesome bike swap held by the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition. Behind it is a Chariot (half-price, same swap!) to drive my littlest to and from pre-school. Been getting busy tricking it out. The rear-view mirror, bottle holder and U-Lock went on today. Still trying to find a compatible rack for the back.

It would be nice to have more things like the bike swap for independent comic artists and publishers around here… instead so much energy gets directed at things like APE…

This was a lot funnier 10 years ago when Jim’s Journal was a bit better known.

First time out with the new manual mower. Will pay for itself in about 6 weeks. We don’t really have much grass. There will be less soon. Food Not Lawns!

I figured I had to make a roast at least once. There are just certain things I’m not a fan of doing to foods. Slow Cooked Beef Brisket is probably one of those. It came out pretty good. Plenty of left overs, which was the whole goal of the project.

The kitchen compost bin, with detailed instructions. This gets transfered to a big Dalek-like thing in the back yard twice a week, with some leaves and grass clippings and such. Looking forward to having some actual compost in… uh, the Spring.

Projects waiting in the wings… sandbox, kombucha, recessed lights in the living room, accessorize mad pimp out the bicycle, um, I forgot what else…

Intergalactico is the creative/multidisciplinary studio founded by designer, artist and illustrator, Chris Capuozzo; and the website received its official launch today. You may know his stuff from his work with Funny Garbage or the last Paper Rodeo, or even some moldy old issues of Wow Cool’s Tuna Casserole anthology. Anyway. He’s a great artist and designer, and there is just tons of sweet eye candy content on his site. Dig it.

Receiver is a CD-length composition in thirteen parts that was collaboratively created in multiple phases. Musical sounds and textures intended for radio broadcast were composed over the course of an artist residency at free103point9 Wave Farm in 2007. Next, a “transmission installation” was created, with this new music broadcast simultaneously on several adjacent FM radio frequencies. Participants used hand-held radios to explore and record the interactions between these broadcasts. Finally, their recordings were used as source material for the music of Receiver.

Sound artists Stephan Moore and Scott Smallwood began performing as the duo Evidence in 2001. Focusing on the universe of real-world sound, Evidence pours field recordings like water into their compositional and improvisational process, resulting in music that balances between tight organization and unregulated flow. Using recording equipment, laptops, and other electronic devices, Evidence creates music that deals with gradual change, improvised over time, sometimes atmospheric, sometimes pulsating, always texturally striking and unique. Resisting classification into a single genre, Evidence is equally at home performing in experimental venues, clubs, galleries, planetariums, and rooftops.

Order Receiver, listen to tracks and performances from the project and more at free103point9

Purchase Evidence releases and Scott Smallwood solo joints from the Wow Cool DeptEx shop

Zoo District #7 - Adventures in Excitement is a 28 page black and white digest with color covers by Marc Arsenault (that’s me) collecting various comics and drawings spanning several years. A few strips appeared previously in Brian Ralph’s Monster, Paper Rodeo, Roarin’ Rick (Veitch)’s Rare Bit Fiends and Tuna Casserole. The rest are previously unseen. Guest art by Brigham Martin, Jason Martin and Paul Komoda. It’s available to order online now from the Poopsheet Shop. If you’re in Brooklyn you can pick it up at Rocketship in Cobble Hill. If you are in Berkeley, then you should be able to get it from Comic Relief. More stores to be added as they have them. Inside art previews are on Poopsheet.