Y The Last Party - Q&A with Brian K. Vaughn and Pia Guerra
MySpace is hosting a few videos from last months Y; The Last Party blowout at Meltdown in LA. This video features Joss Whedon, Mark Waid, Don Murphy, R. Eric Lieb, a monkey, and the live Q+A with co-creators Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra!
Monkey!
§ Todd Allen continues his dispassionate look at the current web comics scene, with ann examination of Marvel’s Online DCU, and just how Zuda and ComicsMix may actually make money. Always worth a read.
§ The Monkey Day site is petitioning web comics for support. What are you waiting for? How do we sign up?
A general call to arms for web comic support of Monkey Day is in progress. Any and all cartoonists are being asked to do their part in promoting monkeys in support of this upcoming Monkey Day. Not familar with Monkey Day? Go here for the Monkey Day FAQ. Read on for the comic submission details…
§ Steve Bissette dreams at Neil Gaiman’s house:
I drift and dream of this and that — at one point wandering backstreets of a large town synthesis of Wilmington, Brattleboro (VT) and Dover (NJ), my old Kubert School digs. Maia and Dan are having a BBQ with crocodiles and three people I don’t know, eating something wrapped in huge leaves; I wander down the street, and at one point cut through someone’s front room to get to the parallel street on the other side. From over a high 15-foot wooden fence, I hear a familiar voice, so I climb up and hang my arms over the top of the wall to chat. Marc Vargas, now thicker (as are we all) but dapper as ever, extols the merits of some new charcoal-based shower system; is he trying to sell me one?
Okay, that headline is a little misleading, but according to this piece a tiny part of the monkey brain is able to process sight and sound simultaneously which could shed light on both ventriloquists and synesthesia, the neurological condition in which two or more senses are intertwined. Confusing?
“Our results show that there are interactions between the sensory pathways that occur very early in the process, which implies that the integration of the different senses may be a more primitive process and one not requiring high-level brain function,” Groh said. “This means that visual and auditory information gets combined quite early, and before the ‘thinking part’ of the brain can make sense of it.”
The implications for Jerry Mahoney here are clear, since the enjoyment of puppets may not require high-level brain function.
PS:
Technorati Tags: monkey
§ Murakami Gala– now that sounds fun! And Kanye was there!
§ Halloween stirs imagination in costume-loving Japan — the mind boggles.
A Halloween street party? “Ah, no, this is cos-play,” says 20-year-old Saori, referring to costume role-play, or the Japanese past-time of dressing up as their favourite animation movie character. “Halloween is different,” Saori says, giggling as she tugs at her hooded cape with cat ears. The cult around fancy dress, and Japan’s love of quirky festivals and eccentric trends in general, may go towards explaining why Halloween has turned from an obscure foreign celebration into a popular cultural event here.
§ Live action AKIRA film now possible?
§ CNet looks at Zuda:
Letting readers vote on the next comic get a year-long publishing contract is unique in the world of webcomics. Perazza and Dave McCullough, Zuda Comics’ tech guru, said that although they’re aiming for a wide range of genres, they’re not interested in presenting mismatched competitions. ‘’We’ll have filters and registration to screen stuff for mature readers. We wouldn’t match up a Sandmanesque series with a Scooby-Dooesque series,'’ said McCullough, pointing out that the audiences for Neil Gaiman’s hit graphic novel and the mystery-solving cartoon pooch shouldn’t be mixed.
§ Nerd-themed dating Web sites, etc mean life may be less lonely.
§ The Boston Globe paints a picture of 24 Hour Comic Day:
The artists sketched in near silence. The group was a curious collection of the college-aged, the middle-aged, graduates and drop-outs, the professional and the counterculture, with one clear thing in common: They were working against the clock.
A politician in New Dehli recently fell to his death after a savage attack by a band of roaming monkeys. He must have been in such pain that plunging to his demise was the only way to end the fierce, burning agony of the monkey attack! Although this sounds like the kind of solution to the government problems that many are experiencing worldwide, innocent civilians could also be caught unawares by the marauding monkeys. Luckly, Slate is there to explain What to do if you’re attacked by monkeys. The key is to do what the monkeys want you to do.
It’s like Mom said about muggers: Just give ‘em what they want. When monkeys get aggressive, it’s usually because they think you have something to eat. According to one study, about three-quarters of all the aggressive interactions between long-tailed macaques and tourists at Bali’s Padangtegal Monkey Forest involved food. If you are holding a snack, throw it in their direction, and they’ll stop bothering you. If you don’t have any food, hold out your open palms to show you’re not carrying a tasty treat or back away from the monkeys without showing fear. To diffuse the situation, don’t make eye contact or smile with your teeth showing—in the nonhuman primate world, these are almost always signs of aggression.
The article also suggests possibly shaking a stick or making an aggressive “O” face at the monkeys, although these run the risk of further angering the monkeys and making a blazing monkey attack more likely.
Simian gangs of rowdy macaques are common in Delhi, where the creatures are believed to be sacred to the god Hanumen. Attempts to curb the violence by bringing in more langurs, a more laid back and peace-loving monkey, have had little effect.
Ray Quentin sends us a video of the now famed Nicholas Gurewitch/Great Ape skit at this year’s Ignatz Awards. Sadly, the lighting was so low in the auditorium that you can’t really see the monkey’s very funny actions, but some of the charm comes across.
We’re not as sick as Dirk, but we do have a mild case of “Wesnoth-itis.” Symptoms include the desire to sit in a darkened room and play Battle for Wesnoth all day. Hey, it happens to everyone.
BTW, we have recently discovered this interesting blog called “Monkeys in the News” — but a lot of it is stuff we’ve covered well here at the Beat: monkeys overrunning towns in India, monkeys learning to move things with their brains, endangered bonobos, etc etc etc. We are closely monitoring it to bring you the very latest developments should they become available.
Because we were feeling very guilty and wanted to do penance, we watched some of the live action shows on Adult Swim last night and decided for the 30th time that the complete raison d’etre for most of them is simply making you feel uncomfortable. Hooray. Putting hoisin sauce in your underpants will do that, too. But help is on the way! We just need to hang on until May 13th when Tony Millionaire’s Drinky Crow pilot airs. YOu can see the opening sequence here, and although in the Adult Swim tradition there is a violently explosive bodily function involved, it is a beautifully animated violently explosive bodily function.
On Sunday, May 13, The Cartoon Network’s popular Adult Swim animation showcase will premiere the long-awaited pilot of The Drinky Crow Show, based on cartoonist Tony Millionaire’s long-running Maakies comic strip. The show’s comedy is brutal, existential, and hilarious. As with animated shows like The Simpsons or Futurama, The Drinky Crow show is a fast-paced, plot-twisting laff-riot combining adventure, romance, debauchery and graphic violence — offering something for everybody!
The 11-minute pilot, titled “Mermaid,” finds Drinky Crow encountering a mermaid following a broken-hearted suicide attempt on the high seas. Drinky immediately dedicates his life to meeting her again. At the moment he gives up his quest he sees his friend Uncle Gabby in the process of being eatend by a shark and thinks Gabby is his beloved mermaid. In a whirlwind of head-chopping violence, Drinky Crow rescues his friend and the good ship MAAKIES from the clutches of ferocious Napoleonic French alligators.
At Wizard World LA, Dan Didioembraced the truth:
Asked about Detective Chimp, Didio interjected “You cannot add a chimp to anything and not make it better.”
Check out this online gallery of the work of Jesse Marsh. Marsh started out an an animator, but went over to Dell/Western and drew lots of Gene Autry, Tarzan and John Carter in a style that was clear, clean and easy to follow, and yet imaginative and just a little bit crazy, too. (Click for larger images)
The danger is still real.
Celebrate the release of AMERICAN BORN CHINESE:
China Books, First Second Books, & the Isotope
Launch What Might be the Best Book of 2006
Pardon us while we gush, but if you’ve seen the advance reviews you’ll know we’re not alone in our complete and total devotion to First Second Books’ American Born Chinese. Trust us, people, it really is that damn good!
So it is with the great honor that the Isotope proudly presents a launch event celebration with Gene Yang and Lark Pein for one of the single best books we’ve read in a long, long time…>
Speaking of AMERICAN BORN CHINESE, the ‘Tope reminds us that you can play the mega-cool Monkey King’s Duel game online at the First Second site!
I used to know the name of this song but have forgotten it. (Something like “Ya-ba-nee-jay,” I think.) Anyone? (The Nairobi Trio are from the Ernie Kovacs Show, an early pioneer of absurdist TV humor) (Link via Urbaniak)
This post yesterday got nothing but confusion. It was, perhaps, an attempt on my part to track the Venn diagram of internet memes. Lonelygirl15 is the most famous person on the internet right now, and has been written up–nay endlessless speculated about and dissected–in the New York Times, the LA Times, Newsday, Business Week, etc etc etc. The excitement comes from the idea that a lonely (!!!) sheltered, home-schooled teenaged girl is sending out these videos to the world. Of course she just happens to be incredibly cute and have no fears about having her video editing whiz friend blog her in her swimwear. Joystiq says it’s all part of some ARG (alternate reality game) and I agree. I know I am out of touch with today’s young emerging YouTube/iMovie Spielbergs, but after one minute of watching one lonelygirl15 video, I thought it was as phony as all get out.
OTOH, last night I was talking to some pals, and we compared an event from our past as “something out of a sitcom.”
“Nowadays it would be a reality show,” someone else said.
Considering the fact that “reality shows” are scripted and posed like everything else on TV, it seems that Being There and The Truman Show are now documentaries.
Real or fake, lonelygirl15 helps blur the line; but the line isn’t what’s real or fake, but rather what we WANT to be real and what we WANT to be fake.
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