Comics Grinder could not resist this one. Psy’s “Gangnam Style” gets the Steampunk treatment in this stylish parody. It’s sexy, funny, and joyful. What more could you want?
Category Archives: pop culture
TRENDS: WIBBLY-WOBBLY SEXY-WEXY
“Wibbly-Wobbly Sexy-Wexy.” Don’t you just feel more sexy saying that? This is a new term coming out from the new comics anthology, ANYTHING THAT LOVES, published by Northwest Press. What does it mean? Where did it come from? It is a way to express yourself about your sexuality. It is a liberating way to say that you are more than just a category like “gay” or “straight.” The germ for the idea goes back to a “Doctor Who” episode where the good doctor summarizes time travel as something beyond a simple explanation, all “wibbly-wobbly.”
Northwest Press will be exhibiting at the Los Angeles Time Festival of Books this weekend, and will be in Portland for the Stumptown Comics Fest the weekend after that! Come by and visit and get a cool, new “wibbly-wobbly” button!
And check out the ANYTHING THAT LOVES campaign still going strong at Kickstarter here.
Also, help support a collection of unabashedly offbeat stories, A NIGHT AT THE SORRENTO AND OTHER STORIES at Kickstarter thru May 6. Check it out HERE!
Filed under Comics, Doctor Who, Gay, LGBT, Northwest Press, politics, pop culture, Relationships, Sex, Sexual Politics, Sexual Studies, Wibbly-Wobbly Sexy-Wexy
Interview: PHIL YEH and the Joy of Reading
Phil Yeh and Friends
Based on various studies, it is estimated that over a third of Americans cannot read this sentence. Yes, at least 60 million Americans are illiterate. Consider these reports here and here. Not being able to read and comprehend the written word robs people of the ability to control their lives in very significant ways. This burden is preventable. Ask Phil Yeh. He knows. As a cartoonist and an activist, he has worked hard throughout his life to inspire and help others to learn the joy of reading. Phil Yeh has painted more than 1800 murals in 49 states and 15 countries promoting literacy and the arts with his Cartoonists Across America & the World Tours.
Phil Yeh. You know the name. He’s the guy in the comics history books as a pioneer in the creation of the graphic novel. He’s the guy who promotes literacy with all those murals around the world. Yeah, that Phil Yeh. Are there others? Well, we sure could use more Phil Yehs in the world.
Phil Yeh is always busy. He can be working on his latest book. He can be working on his most recent mural for Cartoonists Across America and the World. At this particular time, for this interview, we find Phil continuing to work on a very special mural that highlights the achievements, the personalities, and the great history of the City of San Bernardino, California.
Sandy Fischer Cvar created the portraits on the San Bernardino mural
About a year and a half ago, Phil suffered a stroke. It slowed him down but, as Phil observes, it has led to the best work of his life. In April of 2012, after having started to pick up a paint brush again, he embarked upon one of his greatest murals. It is on the historic site of the world’s first McDonald’s restaurant in San Bernardino, California, on Route 66. This mural is just the sort of spark that sure helps in the process of San Bernardino’s revival.
Ribbon Cutting Ceremony with Mayor Pat Morris, May 1, 2012
The main topic of discussion for this interview is the City of San Bernardino. It has fallen on hard times and every effort to set things back on track is essential. The Great Recession has taken its toll but hope prevails. Phil’s mural is a bright light on the way to recovery. In this interview, he goes into detail about the inspiring people from San Bernardino who have made history and major contributions to the betterment of everyone. And, if there was only one person to focus on, it would be Chester Carlson. He came from poverty, even having lived in an abandoned chicken coop as a teen, and rose to create Xerox.
A book on Chester Carlson that Phil highly recommends is “Copies in Seconds,” published in 2004, by David Owens. You can find it here. He would like to see it in every library and school. But there is always another inspiring story. Phil speaks with great feeling and ready with another story such as that of San Bernardino favorite son, Garner Holt. Starting at age 16, Holt began his work on animatronics. He’d been inspired by the animatronics he’d seen on a trip to Disneyland. He went on to create a major animatronics firm that developed, among other projects, the animatronics for the Chuck E.Cheese restaurant chain. And, like Carlson, Holt never forgot San Bernardino and gave back significantly.
Phil’s enthusiasm is truly boundless. Get him to talk about today’s youth and he’s adamant about valuing one’s time. “If you spend four hours a day on social media, hey, that’s four hours wasted. That’s four hours you could have been doing something creative.”
Phil loves to share his first experience at San Diego Comic-Con in 1970. He talks about how he went there as a timid teenager and was set on his life’s path with two conversations. He talked to Ray Bradbury about his passion for writing but his fear that he couldn’t pursue it because he couldn’t type. Ray Bradbury reassured him and revealed to him that he didn’t know how to type. He told him to just write. Phil then sought advice from Jack Kirby. He talked to Jack Kirby about his passion for drawing but his concern that he should go to art school. Kirby had the best advice: Just draw! Phil took both men’s advice to heart, started his own publishing company and never looked back.
Phil looks forward to a number of book projects including one with a steampunk theme. And he’s looking forward to press coverage on the San Bernardino mural that will reach full completion this by this summer. “We’re getting China’s CCTV to cover us. That’s the biggest televison network in the world with a 1 billion 400 million viewership. We’re thinking that with German TV, French TV, and Brazilian TV coverage on board, that this will ultimately lead to local Los Angeles TV coverage. They’re tough to reach!”
Sometimes good news is a hard sell. But Phil Yeh knows how to reach people. He’s been doing that all his life.
Right below is the full podcast interview with Phil Yeh:
And one more a bit of news on the San Bernardino mural: Here is an update as of today from Phil Yeh:
Phil Yeh and the San Bernardino mural
We are painting the entire Route 66 in California ending up in Santa Monica! Brendan Moore is capturing some of Hollywood’s landmarks & the Queen Mary in Long Beach while Beth Winokur brings her own creativity to the boxcars. Every one of these boxcars will feature a town in San Bernardino County as a fruit label! I am working on my favorite manmade landmark in the world, Simon Rodia’s Watts Towers in Los Angeles not far from my boyhood home where I grew up in the 1960s. We should be finished in the summer of 2013.
Visit Phil Yeh here.
KICKSTARTER: A NIGHT AT THE SORRENTO AND OTHER STORIES is LAUNCHED!
The Kickstarter campaign has begun!
A NIGHT AT THE SORRENTO AND OTHER STORIES is a 200-page graphic novel that seeks funds for a print run. It brings together a variety of offbeat and urbane stories for the sophisticated reader. You’ve got everything from a man running for his life from a bear spirit to a quarrelsome couple with supernatural powers to a dog with an acerbic wit who has been launched into outer space. Plus so much more. View the campaign here. Thank you.
And for a more in depth look at the whole process of putting this book together, you can take a look here.
INTERVIEW: Ray Sumser and his CARTOON UNIVERSE
Independent artist Ray Sumser wears many hats as an artist making it in New York City. Check out his website here and you’ll see that the man is busy. One priority is his Cartoon Universe. This is an ongoing project where he creates works that bring in various characters from comics and pop culture.
His most recent one was, “Just The Women,” which celebrated women characters. That was a successful Kickstarter campaign and will lead to more.
Ray’s new Kickstarter campaign is an all-ages comic book that builds on his own original cartooning. This is the story of a little yellow kitten, aka LYK, and a Teddy Bear in search of their lost Leopard Gecko friend.
“LYK and Bear,” Issue One, is a hilarious 22-page comic book. This is a hip, funny comic appropriate for any age. It has a gentle quality with a broad humor that just sweeps you away. LYK and Bear are on a quest that is dreamy, colorful, and very animated. The Kickstarter project is to fund a print run. Check out that campaign which runs from April 2 thru May 4. You can view it here.
This Comics Grinder interview with Ray Sumser covers a little of everything: art school, New York City, and the love of comics.
You can listen to the podcast interview here:
Vist Ray at raysumser.com.
Filed under animation, Art, Entertainment, Humor, Kickstarter, New York City, pop culture
KICKSTARTER: JANE JENSEN’S MOEBIUS SPY GAME
Thanks to the power of Kickstarter, we have MOEBIUS, an awesome new spy game by veteran game designer Jane Jensen. MOEBIUS is currently in development. It is right in step with the trend in recent years to give a more cinematic experience to a game by having it fully integrate with the narrative so you really feel like you’re in an exciting movie. Who wouldn’t want to enter the MOEBIUS world of espionage?
Along with the spies, the story involves “a theory of time and space that has the world’s governments scrambing.” Currently on Comics Grinder’s mind is BROKEN REALITY by Jane McGonigal, a world-renowned game designer. She argues that we need games for a myriad of reasons including entertainment, stimulation, and for a good ole challenge. Well, MOEBIUS has got you covered.
You can view a new MOEBIUS trailer here. You can view the MOEBIUS website here.
More details follow:
Filed under Games, Kickstarter, pop culture
VIZ MEDIA: NEW AND RECENT RELEASES, APRIL 2013
Here is a quick look at some assorted new an recent VIZ Media releases: Naoki Urasawa’s 21ST CENTURY BOYS; Mizuki Sakakibara’s TIGER & BUNNY; Toh Enjoe’s SELF-REFERENCE ENGINE; Sakyo Komatsu’s VIRUS; Takehiko Inoue’s INOUE MEETS GAUDI.
VIZ Media has got you covered in more ways than you might think: manga, anime, books, video, all faithfully translated into English. You will find something for everyone: from a study on Japan today and its future to the latest Naruto. Check it out at VIZ Media here.
Filed under animation, Anime, Art, Art books, Books, comic books, Comics, graphic novels, Japan, Manga, pop culture, Sci-Fi, science fiction, VIZ Media
INTERVIEW: ROBERT NATHAN, Director of “LUCKY BASTARD”
Catherine Annette as Casey in “Lucky Bastard”
“Lucky Bastard” is a thriller that delivers on many levels. You can read my review here. This is an intelligent satire that digs deep into the dark recesses residing within all of us. Director and co-writer Robert Nathan was kind enough to take some time and discuss his film as well as share his thoughts on some of the more disturbing aspects of the current zeitgeist.
Filed under Media, Movie Reviews, movies, pop culture, Porn, Pornography, Reality TV, Satire, Sex
GUEST COLUMN: Webs in David Lynch’s Closet? by R.W. Watkins
Here is an unusual essay that argues that the screenplay for David Lynch’s “Blue Velvet” was lifted from classic “Amazing Spider-Man” comics. Republished with permission, this essay originally appeared in The Comics Decoder by poet/cultural subversive R. W. Watkins:
Webs in Lynch’s Closet?
Similarities Between Blue Velvet and Early Spider-Man
by R.W. Watkins
Like the classic Stan Lee-era Amazing Spider-Man comics (1963-c.1972), the films and television series of David Lynch depend on a precise combination of suspense, melodrama and jet-black humour amidst a cast of extreme and offbeat characters. This is certainly more true of Lynch’s 1986 neo-noir masterpiece Blue Velvet than any of his other celluloid creations for the big and small screens. In fact, one can make a reasonably sound argument that Blue Velvet not only resembles early Amazing Spider-Man in its tone and aberrant dynamics, but indeed also owes a great deal to the actual early plots and characters of the classic comic magazine.
Filed under Comics, David Lynch, Essays, film, Guest Column, movies, pop culture, Spider-Man, Stan Lee
KICKSTARTER: A NIGHT AT THE SORRENTO at 30 Percent Support
A NIGHT AT THE SORRENTO AND OTHER STORIES is a quirky batch of comics that is steadily gaining ground as the subject of a fundraising campaign at Kickstarter. It launched on April 3 and has reached the 30 percent mark in pledges. The campaign runs through May 6. You can view it HERE.
Now, here’s the thing about this one, it has a raw honesty to it that it shares with other Generation X artists. That’s where this artist, Henry Chamberlain, dates back to. That sort of blunt honesty has been refined over the years although an outsider’s view still remains. Think of Charles Burns, for example: acerbic, alienated, yet very heartfelt and authentic. You can find that in this collection of comics. That’s important to bring out here because this book includes the graphic novel, ALICE IN NEW YORK, which is an older work and very much aligned to that spirit. The other part of the book collects recent work, done in the last three years, that originated with 24-Hour Comics challenges. Altogether, you get one artist’s vision over a span of many years.
So, let’s focus in with a few more words about the graphic novel, “Alice in New York” that is part of this collection. What makes it share a Gen X sensibility has to do with the main character’s feeling of being at a loss. For many of a creative and intellectual bent, it just felt like we were in for a long stretch of lowered expectations. Sure, that’s pretty shortsighted. But, growing up in the ’80s, with Reagan and Thatcher running the show, with the Baby Boomers having hogged the spotlight for so long, with a perpetual rehash of pop culture, it didn’t look so good. Of course, we all knew things would change one way or another but it fostered a healthy sense of cynicism and self-deprecation.
You have the main character, Henry, a young man on his first visit to New York City still holding on to dreams of previous generations, from the myth of the Great American Novel to the lure of fifteen minutes of fame. Is it any wonder the boy is a wreck? But, he stumbles upon just the right circumstances and meets the right people to help him out. Is he too lucky? Well, sometimes you make the most of what you get, create your own luck. Add to that a little magic from Alice in Wonderland, and you have a story that transcends any generation which is what you want to do in the end!
Generation X’s way of life is not for everyone. You basically had to be there. Just saying that is so Gen X. If you’re looking for something to read that is a voice of a generation, while stubbornly refusing to be labeled, and ending up being so much more, then check out this work at Kickstarter HERE.
Share this:
Like this:
Leave a comment
Filed under Art, Books, Comics, Comix, Culture, Generation X, Kickstarter, New York City, pop culture
Tagged as 24 Hour Comics Day, andy warhol, Art, Books, comics, Entertainment, Generation X, Great American Novel, Kickstarter, New York City, Pop Culture, Social Commentary