Today in Twitter
- I managed to watch like three movies yesterday, and cranked out around 25 pages of the manga I'm working on.... weird. #
- @jerhaun they'll be announced next week at the WWDC... so sometime after that. #
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Today in Twitter
- Watching the 70's British Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan and Dudley Moore... Fondly remember my youth. #
- Day of the Dead remake has the jumpingest zombies of all time. #
- The new Weezer is... strange. #
- It usually takes a few listens for a new Weezer to grow on me, but... jesus, I don't think I'll even make it through the new one ONCE. #
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Today in Twitter
- Heh. http://tinyurl.com/5ennq9 #
- I thought I conquered you, indian food I had for lunch... But, you were far craftier than I gave you credit for. #
- My Roku Netflix Player arrived today. It's pretty rad. Easy to set up, easy to use. Already watching Ripping Yarns. Nice work Netflix. #
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Today in Twitter
- Roller Coaster... of work, work, work. #
- @kellysue I have a soft serve machine right next to my theater style popcorn maker. My house rules. #
- I voted. I can't believe the state spent the money to have TWO minor elections this year. Buget crisis be damned. #
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Today in Twitter
- Considering a move to downtown Los Angeles. Something I never thought I'd say or do. #
- @templesmith Last night's Who was probably one of the highlights of the whole series since the 60's, yet alone this series... #
- @templesmith Don't get me wrong, I love 4th Doctor v. Davros. I just think Moffat consistently delivers everything right about the show. #
- @bclaymoore The Earth says hello. #
- Bo Diddley is no more. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24933262/ #
- Workaworkaworkaworkaworka #
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THE LIST: LOS ANGELES PUBLIC LIBRARY EVENT THIS WEEKEND!
Hey gang, A quick reminder this week about the "Making Comics" event at the Will and Ariel Durant Branch of the Los Angeles Public Library this Saturday.
The Durant Branch is located a mere hop skip and a jump from Meltdown Comics and Golden Apple Comics in Hollywood, at 7140 W. Sunset Blvd.
The program is geared for 'teens on up' and will be a light and fun 'How to' for making comics, breaking into the industry, and things of that nature. It's going to be a Q & A, so having someone there to Q for my A would be greatly appreciated.
And, best of all, from 2 to 4 at Meltdown Comics, there's an event featuring Mark Evanier and his Kirby King of Comics book. So, go there, see him speak, sign, and entertain, and then you can literally walk to the Library for the panel.
The flyer with all the information is both attached, and available for viewing here: http://www.thefialkov.com/?p=1101
See you this weekend!
j.
--
Joshua Hale Fialkov www.thefialkov.com
Today in Twitter
- Just as everyone else seems to be leaving BEA, the wife and I are finally able to head down for the day. Sorry I missed seeing everyone. #
- @tonymoore That might be the best news story of all time. Very close, anyways. #
- @tonymoore That might be the best new story of all time. Very close, anyways. #
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God, I Love Japan
Today in Twitter
- @brianreed: I expect travelling sandwich reviews for thesandwichkings.com #
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Today in Twitter
- From the Opthamologist to the Optometrist to be fitted for some sort of possible eyeball cure. #
- So, while unable to diagnose my blindness, the doctor figured out a stop gap solution that at least will make it a little less awful. #
- Eyes bleary to the point I can't read my screen magnified to 10x. Time to call it a day. #
- Port of New York, while giving the world Yul Brynner, is one of the worst movies I've seen in a LONG time. #
- Hmm. There's something wrong with my leg. I'm falling to pieces. #
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Today in Twitter
- Heading into a really cool lunch meeting before going to get my eyes looked at for my blindness. #
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Today in Twitter
- Watching some Memorial Day Marx Brothers Movies. Hooray. #
- @BrianReed Three Days of the Condor may explain our bond. It's my favorite action movie of all time. #
- Today was apparently movie day with the Fialkovs. Thus far: House (the 1986 one), A Night at the Opera, Fury, and The Great Escape. #
- @davidhopkins Death Note's awesome innit? #
- The allergy migraines are in full bloom. I haven't been able to get a full day of work done in like four or five days. #
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Library Event is One Week (and a half) Away
Today in Twitter
- Man of the West is pretty badass. #
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Today in Twitter
- I always forget how good the original Singing Detective is. #
- @kmellon Yep. It was a BBC mini-series in the mid 80's starring Michael Gambon. It's amazing. #
- @BrianReed Nope. Eurovision Song Contest is on instead. #
- The most upsetting Jack Chick Tract ever... http://tinyurl.com/6ckl7m #
- Hidden in http://dialbforblog.com/ "complete Blazing Combat collection will be coming out from Fantagraphics later this year!" Hooray! #
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Today in Twitter
- Thinking of reorganizing my DVD's by genre. Discuss. #
- @jasonahurley I'd estimate somewhere in the 1200+ range. I have three giant bookcases full. #
- I currently have two main sections, Movies and TV. Then, I have a couple shelves of over-sized box sets, and assorted genre and star sets. #
- DVD's split into: Horror, Crime/Noir, Westerns, TV, and 'general' which includes drama, comedy, action, and etc. #
- @neverwanderer Horror is actually Horror/Sci-Fi. #
- @kmellon In my house, specifically, the section is both. And I dare you to prove me wrong. Brouhahahahahahahaha. #
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The Randy Prisoner
There's something wrong with my brain. Made this while watching The Asphalt Jungle last night. It's built using the cheesiest 70's ballad loop, a rockin' Motown drum loop, and audio from the Prisoner. Mumbly vocals included to evoke the spirit of shitty 70's Randy Newman songs. The Randy Prisoner
Loops and Samples from Apple Garage Band '08
Sarcastic Lead Vox - Joshua Hale Fialkov
Sarcastic Background Voc - Joshua Hale Fialkov and Christina Rice
The Kids Are Alright
First song I've recorded in a few years. I bought a banjo a few weeks back, and I've been more or less reteaching myself to play via the Kinks and the Who. And, y'know... Rainbow Connection. Anyways. I decided to lay it all down and here it is. The Kids Are Alright - Joshua Hale Fialkov
Joshua Hale Fialkov - Banjo, Guitar, Bass, Trap Kit, Vox
Today in Twitter
- Recovering from my first allergy shot in two weeks, since getting sick. #
- Saw pea-sized hail that was localized entirely to the neighborhood we were in. #
- Also saw Indiana Jones. I'm not really sure what everyone's complaint is. It's quite literally the best movie it could possibly be. #
- @ramtower I love that game so much it hurts. #
- http://tinyurl.com/585s46 #
- Lou Reed - Live in England 1973 - Streaming for Free? The future is awesome. #
- Warren published War comics... with Frazetta covers? Yowzers. http://dialbforblog.com/ #
- @kmellon Everyone looks at me funny when I tell them how psyched I am to write Vampirella... you're looking at the reason why. #
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On Death Note and the State of American Comics
Just a little bit of time before running out for a day of meetings (and driving from one to the other.) Last night, Tony and I headed out to the Burbank AMC for the "Fathom Events" two nights only screening of the live action Death Note movie. I don't want to give too much of a review, but, essentially, it leads me to the topic I've been itching to discuss.
Death Note, as a manga, is probably one of the best works of modern fiction we've seen thus far this century. It's certainly the best piece of graphic fiction. For thirteen 200+ page volumes, the story of two guys trying to out think each other is one of the most riveting, emotional, and action packed books on the shelf. That being said... it really only works in two formats. Manga and Anime. This story works because of it's sprawl. By taking the time to show every move and counter move, every nuanced thought and line of inquiry, we get to know these characters better than you ever could hope to. Plus, in this world of heightened realism, mixed with ten foot tall demons walking amongst them just doesn't play on the screen with live action.
The live action movie is part 1 of what is essentially a trilogy, and despite being two and a half hours long, still fails to capture 1/10th of the power and drama of the manga. The fact that Viz decided to do these screenings with a dubbed version, that managed to also leave off subs for the copious amount of text throughout the movie certainly didn't help. But, technical complaints aside, the fact is that the movie fails where the books succeed. Again, despite all of the hooplah involving copycat murders and teenagers in trouble, this is a book about two extremely smart men playing a game of morality tinged Chess.
It's very much a product of it's medium. This style of long form story telling doesn't exist in many other mediums. While certainly the television serial gives you the length to tell the story, it doesn't allow for the pacing nor the subtlety of the graphic form. While American comics, especially, say, a Vertigo series allows for this sort of high end detailed story-telling, I think that the general idea of the book is so far outside of the world experience of most American comics industry 'execs' that it wouldn't get made. Death Note is a creation wholly unto itself. Without the 'farm system' of the weekly anthologies of Japan, daring and different work would not exist. I think you see that in our own comics. Of course there's always the independent publishers, but, face the facts, the idea of cranking out a 2600 page story from an Independent publisher in this day and age is a rarity at best. Plus, as mentioned, this isn't a movie. Certainly, there IS a movie, but, the movie exists because of the vast popularity of the comic and anime, which is counter to how American independent comics function. Indies need to have that movie hook in order to make the whole thing financially viable. Japan, on the other hand, has the distribution and audience that the comic itself is it's own commodity.
I say all of this, and, for sake of time, want to keep away from the sheer number of teenagers who were there, in costume, talking about the differences between the books, the anime, and the movie (while it was playing, which is a whole other story about me hating to go out in public.)
So, look, all this really just comes down to me being both inspired and somewhat disappointed by our medium. While it's obvious that we truly can accomplish amazing things with just some pictures on a page, it seems like us Westerners may have finally been left completely and utterly behind. There needs to be radical change in our industry in order to save us from obscurity. Until we embrace not just the style (I'm looking at you, Marvel Mangaverse), but the ethos of these far more successful (and in many ways far superior) comics, I fear that there might not be much of an American comics industry left in a few years.
Here's to trying to change that.
Death Note will be playing again across the country tonight. More info here.