+Another Conversation+

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Twister? Aliens? What more do you need?

Pic-sures

So this weekend was so much of hanging out and relaxing that I'm just going to give you some pictures that I worked on over the weekend. These will be used in the aforementioned Lit mag that will be dropping soon.

Mellowdrone

As many others probably already have, I'd rag on Transformers: Rise of the Fallen, but I figure there are enough people out there to do such things. Though I will give two thoughts: Michael Bay really needs to quit making films, and the editors needed to cut about an hour from that thing (it actually might have been quite an improvement on the first if it had done so).

Anyway, the REAL reason for this post is to plug a favorite band of mine: Mellowdrone. This is, by and large, the best "undiscovered" band I listen to. Their down-tempo, yet often playful, sound is amazing, and the vocalist, Jonathan Bates, is one of the best male singers in the rock world today.

Their new album, Angry Bear, can be ordered through their website and will be available for download from Amazon and the like, soon. Of course, their earlier album, Box, is available everywhere, and I highly suggest you pick it up--especially for fans of bands like Tool, anything with Ken Andrews, and any other sort of space rock. Really, though, you just need to listen to them for yourself, which you can sample a few songs on their site, as they have a sound all of their own.

This is good music people, I swear. Listen and be joyful this weekend.

+Fishy Comfort+

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Science can cure anything... even loneliness.

Two Mini-Reviews

In the last few days, I've actually had time to watch a couple of films and decided to share my two cents.

s. Darko: Seriously, this was one of the dumbest movies I've ever seen. With the exception of a few rather fine shots, the film has nothing going for it. For the most part, the acting is bad. The script makes no sense. And unlike Richard Kelly (who wasn't associated at all with this film) when these people fail, the film simply rots. (In case you're wondering what I mean... Basically, I've decided/found out that everything I tend to like about Richard Kelly films is not what he intended. Thus, when he fails is when he suceeds.)

More often than not, I like bad horror movies. They're good for a laugh--and laughing is always good. However, this one was just a mess, one cryptic remark after another followed by some wannabe-experimental shot that's then combined with a few cliches along the way. I'd read some bad reviews for this one, but I decided to see for myself. Please, people, learn from my mistake, kill your curiosity now, and save yourself those two hours.

Land of the Lost: While this was almost as much gibberish as the above film, it was much more entertaining. The story was nothing more than one bit of nonsense followed by an action sequence, and often, the two overlap.

Really, as with most of his films, it boils down to whether or not you like Will Ferrell. If you do, this one is a good time. If you don't, then, well, you're better off staying away.

For me, I enjoyed the addition of Danny McBride to the mix. He's quite a funny guy, and if you haven't seen The Foot Fist Way or Tropic Thunder, do yourself a favor and check 'em out.

Gibberish tomorrow.

+Robocalypse+

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Use some common sense, people.

Open for Submissions: Bring the Ink

Hey, everyone:

As I mentioned last Friday, some buddies of mine and myself are putting together an online lit mag, Bring the Ink, for the world to devour. Of course, the only way to truly have a good lit mag is to have truly good submissions. While we toil away on all the nitty-gritty details and site building, we want to be reading the best you have to offer. Here are our tentative guidelines (any and all of this info is subject to change.)

Thanks for reading, and I hope to see something from you soon.

What We're About:

Sardonakiss Rexakon is a mutant man-beast with a brain and a good eye for good writing/art. He is the four great travelers of the mind, Wayward Son, Comfortably Numb, Silent Lucidity, and Dr. Rover. Plucked from the corners of the great American continent and slammed together in the Middle of Nowhere, their powers combined to create the very emblem of the word awesome--Sardonakiss Rexakon. If you don't get that, then perhaps you don't belong here. If you don't get that and you want to, then do the following:

Listen to Anthrax: Sound of White Noise.

Read a book, read a book, read a mutha fuckin' book.

Don't forget not to take yourself too seriously.

Submit something.

Guidelines:

We like good writing; we like good genre fiction; we like good literary insights; we like comics; we like animated films; we like stupid films; we like many things. We just don’t like to be bored. Every story has been told before; we know this, but we want to forget that fact in your submission.

Send us whatever surprised you when you wrote it. Send us fantastic nonsense. Send us whatever comes as close to perfection as you can create.

All of us have created something that we have no idea what to do with it, the things that have no home. We want to be that home.

Please note: While we might be more forgiving than some, manuscripts with one too many gross errors will be rejected. So please, run spell check, re-read it (and again), have someone else read it. Nothing throws you out of a piece like a typo.

Prose:

As this is a place that’s all about no limits, it seems lame to put a cap on word counts and limit you—especially when all creations go for as long as they need. Since this is the case, we’ll do it like so:

For all fiction and non-fiction: From one word to 5,000, paste the entire piece into the body of an email; for lengths above and beyond that, please send us a query. (We do encourage shorter pieces, from one to 3,000 words, as reading online can be a bit hard on the eyes.)

For interviews and reviews: Please query us with what you want to review, or what amazing person you want to interview (your own hook-ups here). Please note, DO NOT limit yourself to writers. Filmmakers, musicians, and artists are, well, artists, too. And hey, if you just know someone who has a good story, but you don’t know how to take their words and shape them into an amazing story, then let us know, we’ll send the final word.

Poetry:

All good writing is poetry. You want to call it poetry? Call it poetry, and we'll look at it as such. You want to go all out, write us a sestina, do it. Please, just nothing epic, unless you query first.

Comics:

Again, lengths are never fun to impose on anyone or anything, but we can only do so much and have so much space to offer. At the moment, ten pages are about the limit—unless, again, you query first. (We'd be open to ongoing series, too.) These can be anything from a one-panel gag to a full blown space opera. Whatever you send us, make sure it is complete. We cannot supply artists or writers. (There are plenty of networking resources out there that can help you find one or the other.)

Send us links to your work, and we’ll contact you for 300dpi files for print.

Cover Art:

If we have a theme, try to go with it. If you have something awesome and it doesn’t fit the theme, send us the link. Again, no attachments, just the link, we’ll contact you for a larger file. (Also, as it might be used in print, please make sure it is, at least, 4” x 6”. This can be B/W or Color. Please note, too, that your work may be cropped for spacing/design.)

Payment:

At this time, we can't offer payment. Hopefully this will change. For the moment, though, as we are doing this for free--you, sadly, have to, too.

Things to Keep in Mind:

For all submissions, please email to the following address sardonakissrexakon(at)gmail(dot)com. Also, PLEASE, in the header of your email, put the following: Submission, "Title of Your Piece," and category, e. g. "Submission, 'I Like Pie,' Poetry." Also: If you're submitting to a future issue, please add that to the header, too. "Submission ... Spring 2010."

We accept simultaneous submissions, however, please let us know if we are in competition for your piece. Also, if it is accepted elsewhere, let us know AS SOON AS YOU CAN. (It helps if you include the date, title of your submission, and--of course--your name in this informative email.)

We DO NOT accept previously published material. Don't care if it was on your blog or the zine you put together last month, we don't want it unless it is so shiny and new we can still smell the shrinkwrap.

We publish with one-time first rights, with the option to collect your story in a best of anthology. (At the moment, there is no foreseeable payment, but we'd like to at least give you a contributor copy or two.) Otherwise, once your story is published with us, you are free to do with it what you will, we only ask that if it is reprinted elsewhere that you please give us credit for the piece's original appearance.

Response Times:

As we don't know how many submissions we will be getting, it's hard to give a good guestimate. For now, please give us, at least, eight weeks before bothering us. (And like the simultaneous submissions, it helps if you include the date, title of your piece, and--of course--your name in this informative email.)

Themes:

Fall: Issue 0 “Introducing SR” – Anything you think is cool, and we want to think it’s cool too. Deadline: ASAP.

Winter: Issue 1 “Connections” – Connections can be anything, from person to person, person to animal, audio cord to audio cord, pieces of a broken vase glued together again. Connections are made and broken all the time. Show us some. Deadline: September 11.

Melted My Own Face

My friends and I are working on putting together an online lit mag that will be starting up shortly, and with all websites, we needed artwork. So I got to work on the above. I can honestly say that I've never had anything turn out so well. Usually the image in my head to what comes out on the page ends up being entirely different, but this time it all worked out.

Since our site will be on the slightly darker side of things, I wanted to keep the tone a bit darker, though with a light-hearted hint. I figured what better person to look to for inspiration than Ben Templesmith. So, Ben, this is my tribute to you.

Really, I couldn't be happier with the final product.

Also, we'll probably be taking submissions for our site VERY soon, so be thinking about that and I'll probably give out all the details on Monday.

Have a great weekend.

+What I Will Become+

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It's everyone's dream--even aliens.

Finally...

What I Couldn't Have

I realize that it has taken almost half a year to get this done, but as everything kept falling through with my web design help, I finally took it upon myself to once again try to slog through code and figure out what I could do to Gibberish's official site. And this time, success.

It is a far cry from what I originally wanted, the pic above (which I'm thinking will probably become the cover for the first Gibberish collection), but I'm still happy with the overall result. It's nice and simple, but I think this fits in with the Gibberish aesthetic.

There are still a few things that I need to add/edit and polish up. For the moment, though, this is good. Much better than it was. Also, be aware that once that site is up and running the way I'd like it to be, I will probably quit uploading the new comics to this blog and just have them posted at their "home." I'll still update this, though, probably even go back to my five-day schedule, but I'm not positive on that last bit.

Please, go check out the redesigned site, tell me what you think, and be sure to bookmark or subscribe to the feed.

Thank you to all my faithful readers, Gibberish has been going for almost a year now, and even though I don't have many readers, I appreciate those of you that keep coming back.

+Nothing But+

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Really ridiculous...

Seem To Be Drifting

Lately I seem to be drifting from my writing to my artwork--which is silly as my writing is so much better than my art. Really, though, I've been having a good time doing this stuff though.

I spent most of yesterday working on my friend's graphic novel, and I had a blast doing it. Of course, I'm not going to stop writing or anything--especially with the potentially awesome connections I've made--but the arting is a great time, and something I've been obsessed with, finding new artists (the above actually was discovered via Penny Arcade's plug), watching different demos and techniques through YouTube, trying different styles. It's all good. All good.

Hopefully, if he's cool with it, I'll try and show you a page or two of the graphic novel I'm working on. It's been a challenge trying to pull entire pages together, but seeing it all together is wonderful.

Gibberish tomorrow.

Disappoinxcitment

Like Where the Wild Things Are, I've been waiting for this film ever since I heard about it awhile ago. This is one of the best books I've probably ever read--and I've read quite a few. I'll admit that I usually have a very pessimistic view on adaptations, but I figured that a book as stark as this--plus with the amazing No Country for Old Men, I had hoped for this one.

It still looks like it will be worth a looksee, but unless the trailer is trying to simply trick the American market and make the thing appear more commercial, it looks like they've taken quite a bit of liberty with a Cormac McCarthy masterpiece.

Perhaps you should wait to read the book until AFTER you see the film, so as not to be disappointed. Whether before or after, though, I demand that you read this novel. It is amazing, and a very easy read to boot, lots of breaks and white space.

I suppose we'll see about this soon enough--not much after we find out where, in fact, the wild things are.

+Marriage Metaphor+

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Seriously though, I love my wife.

Pretty Much Nothing

Some more experimenting with drawing in the "hard-line" style. I'm not sure if this guy is supposed to be a hero or a villain. I figure that either way, he's a character that I'd like to do SOMEthing with in the future--even if he is simply a guest star of a Gibberish--or a series of Gibberishes. Whatever. He'll be back. That's all I'm sayin'.

Other than that, I really have nothing to report or plug. Haven't found anything fantastic in the last few days, or have I done anything noteworthy. So this is all you get, a sketch and a small rant.

Gibberish tomorrow.

+The Freak Inside+

Archive

It's the one thing that leaks out from all of us.

Art Can Be Pretty Cool

Maybe I'm not the best artist in the world, but you know, I--generally--have a very good time doing what I do.

As you can see, with the above, I tried working on more of a background for my pic. More often than not, my characters simply float in space or on a tiny pad of shadow to "ground" them. But as I work on my friend's graphic novel, I've become more and more aware of grounding my characters and people in an actual PLACE. So here is my attempt based on my mis-hearing another friend. (She said back-packing through the forest, and I thought she said "Cat trekking through the forest." Don't ask me how I confused the two.)

I think a bit of my Friday funk has passed--for now. Hopefully it will continue to get better as I come closer to finishing a few more of my self-inflicted projects. Then I can take on more...

Gibberish tomorrow.

I've Ruined Everything

I'm letting my nerdiness show on this one--taking the time to create an avatar for an online game that matches the art-style AND color scheme. Wow... I'm a geek. BUT, geekiness aside, I'm quite happy with the final product. Plus, this was one of the most enjoyable artwork production in awhile, and I'll tell you why.

I was talking with one of my friends last night, and I realized that what I've done with my life is basically ruin everything that is, or once was, fun. Through schooling or my taking on a ton of self-inflicted projects (really, I only have one commitment outside my dozens of projects), I've managed to turn all of my hobbies and pasttimes into work.

It sucks.

Because of film school, I dissect most movies I see with a critical eye. Because of my Master in Creative Writing, I can't read a book without noting how, or why, an author is doing what they're doing--and if they're not doing what they're supposed to, it drives me nuts. My art changed from a bizarre pasttime into working on Gibberish, painting for profit, and crafting a graphic novel. And writing, too, with all that stuff with the agent and such, I now feel like I'm doing this for money instead of just for fun.

What makes this all so frustrating though is that it's not like I'm not having fun with each of my projects--my mind just gets too wrapped up on the deadlines, the craft, the "tangible" reason for why I'm doing what I'm doing. Perhaps I just need to take some time off. Push off on some sort of bizarre pilgramige to let my mind settle back down, forget the worldly reasons for what I do, and shift back to just having fun. Because what good are hobbies if they aren't fun?

For the moment though, I've got rockin' out music and an old NES copy of Spy Hunter to keep me entertained. Yeah Spy Hunter... Do do, do do, dunn-a-la do do...

+The Best Defense+

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If only I'd known this in high school...

More Stupid Crap

Yet again, I've fallen prey to stupid time-wasting devices. This time it has taken the form of Utopia Kingdoms. Nothing particularly special about the thing, but it helps pass the day. The main thing that drew me into the game was the artwork. I'm a sucker for cartoony goodness. And as with most of these types of games, you can create/post a custom avatar. Since I chose to be a Troll, I figured I needed a troll avatar. The above is the initial sketch for my avatar. I'd hoped to have it inked and colored last night, but I got side-tracked by the ever-evil Catan. I'll be sure to post the finished shot.

This got me to thinking though, how often does someone/anyone want to have a custom avatar that not only is what they want, but it also FITS with the overall design scheme of the game? Basically, I decided that if there are any of you out there that play any of these types of things and want a custom avatar, I'd be willing to put something together for a small fee, probably in the range of 5-15 bucks, depending on the style and intricacies. Feel free to contact me with any questions or commissions, I'd be much obliged.

In the meantime, more Gibberish tomorrow.

+The Balloon of Happiness+

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Spitting is so last... whenever.

Maxx UP

More of my new art attempts. Thought I'd try out the Maxx as Sam Kieth is one of my favorite artists and writers. His comics are just... awesome.

Also, if you haven't done so, go see UP, and soon. While I might need another viewing to solidify this in my brain meats, I really think it is my favorite of the Pixar pics. It seems to have an added sensitivity and more emotional impact than the others. Plus, it's just plain amusing, from the crotchety old men to the annoying child. Pixar really should be proud of this one.

That being said, it's really not a kids movie either. Sure, it has the action sequences and jokes for children, but the overall themes and ideas behind much of the film are very adult--not anything grotesque, but they just aren't topics and issues that a child really knows about or can fully understand. Maybe I'm wrong, but I still give kudos to Pixar for making a film so sensitive and simultaneously heart-warming. And if it doesn't give you an added appreciation for your significant other, there is something wrong with your black, black heart.

Gibberish tomorrow.