Comic for Tuesday, June 27th, 2006

Posted: 6:50 am, Tuesday, June 27th

Hola, Buckateers. We're going to try to make it through today's post without insulting anyone's hard labours. Funny that the boys are talking about a day off during the summer - I'm taking such a day today! In my birthday gift to myself, I'm staying home all day with a pot of coffee and my laptop and writin' writin' writin'. I've been having a hard time getting down to bidness (as the kids call it) in that regards lately, so I thought maybe a day with the house to myself might help. We'll see. If I come up with anything good, I'll share.

Tremendously long article, which I haven't even read all of yet, from the Webcomics Examiner in which Scott McCloud is interviewed. McCloud, some years back, wrote Understanding Comics, which I view as nothing less than genius. Some fewer years back, he wrote Reinventing Comics and came up with this idea of micropayments as a viable way for artists to make money off of their comics, and evidently ever since then, he's been considered a bit of a nutso. I don't know - I've never read Reinventing Comics. But he's coming out with Making Comics this September, and I think this interview is born of the tour he's doing in support of that book. This is a really long interview and I've only read the first third to this point, but check out the little table about midway down the first page. He kind of breaks cartoonists into quadrants of classicist, animist, iconoclast and formalist. Going by the definitions he gives, I kind of think I'm an animist - McCloud says "The animist wakes up every morning and asks his characters what they want to do," and that's more or less what I do.

Anyone with three Nickelback songs queued up is a nightmare. Speaking of queues, we've got Syriana and Bob Roberts in the mail for today. Excitement abounds!

And, since I'm tired and was busy yesterday, I'll leave you with this bizarre Eco piece from a dozen years ago about how Macintosh is Catholic and MS-DOS is Protestant and Windows is schismatic. It actually reads even stranger than that.

OK, with that, I am off. Sorry for the two brief posts so far this week. I'll see what I can do for more entertaining fare for tomorrow.

bullfrog

What?? She's gonna kill off harry potter?? http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/books/06/26/po tter.deaths.ap/index.html

Eh, why not? What else is there to do once you've destroyed all evil at 18 years old?

That's been the guess of one of my friends for a while. I don't know that she will, but it wouldn't surprise me in the least. Honestly, it would probably be less sad for Harry to die than Ron or Hermione, no? Two characters - Harry and Voldemort? Seems likely.

Ugh, more blog spam. I'm going to be off the 'net most of the day, crowd, so forgive me if it piles up. I'll delete it eventually.

Just what life needs...some new Axl sightings/crimes... http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/Music/06/27/sw eden.axl.ap/index.html G' n' f'n R' forever!

I don't think she'd kill off Harry. That would be just too mean (of course, I said that about Sirius before Book Five came out, too).

I had a friend that guessed Harry would die as she was reading the second book. Wouldn't surprise me either. Also, in good myth, the hero dies or must pass through death: think of LotR (Frodo and Bilbo both go to the East), Hercules passing through Hades, Jesus harrowing hell, Beowulf passing things off to Wiglaf after slaying the dragon. And kids know that it happens, but to have death happen in the service of killing off all that is evil--not a bad sacrifice to make.

i never get tired of david "again" ortiz's heroics. AL MVP since 2004, i think.

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/a rticles/2006/06/26/red_sox_8_phillies_7_12_innings?mode=PF

looking forward to potentially another NL sweep. man, the BoSox are the hottest team in the MLB, 9-game winning streak.

And Petey v. Beckett tomorrow. Goddamn, that oughtta be a good one.

I think I remember an interview from when Order of the Phoenix came out that she'd have to watch herself with the seventh book or it could go on forever, saying goodbye to the characters. That's why I won't be shocked if Harry dies - I think his funeral would be a good farewell chapter to the series, with Ron and Hermione and all the Weasleys and everyone gathered together, saying their peace.

Of course, CK is laughing at all of us right now, I'm sure.

Seriously, I think the Potomac River now comes up to my front door! I'm about to start building an ark.

hee hee

Though really, I don't know a thing.