Tuesday, 23 September 2008
Ever have a conversation with someone that just stuck in your mind for a really long time? I don’t get that much, but it happened to me after talking to Sarah. I think it was mostly that we’d been almost entirely incommunicado for 3 years, and in that time we’ve gone in pretty different directions. I tend to shy away from people I’m not already intimately familiar with, but I think I’ve (finally!) started to recognize the value of talking to people I don’t think like.
Talking exclusively to people you agree with and shunning the rest means your views are never challenged, and you never have to think critically about them. Inevitably you build and build on these faulty, unanalyzed ideas, becoming more and more insular and hostile to those with differing opinions, until suddenly you’re a radical feminist.1
Also I like the idea of seeing the body as a means of doing things and not as a thing in itself. Another simple concept which somehow evaded me until just recently. Okay!
Also, if you weren’t scandalized enough by my butt, check out Mickey Zacchilli’s comics! (Warning: NSFW. May contain ghost rape and penises and stuff.) I have her book This Pussy Is Mine, and uh it’s great!
- Maybe I am making a dig at Wesleyan? I’m sure many reasonable people consider themselves both “radical” and “feminists” and loathe the term “radical feminist” because it besmirches their reputation, but what can I say? I think we all know what sort of thinking I’m talking about, and yeah, it’s a shame that self-declared radical feminists have to give feminism a bad name, but I think we all know what its like to have our words co-opted by assholes. And by “we all” I mean “We the People of the United States”. [↩]
September 23rd, 2008 at 01:40
Just keep at it.
That’s something my drawing teacher would say to me. (There’s actually a page about that idea in a Kabuki comic… I should go find it so I can quote it to you because it’s quite good.)
Actually, looking it up right now. Oh, and I was just thinking about another thing my drawing teacher has said/talked about. When she talks about the creative process, there’s different stages, and one of the stages is the “Oh Shit” stage which you just have to work through.
Ok, found it. It’s in Kabuki:The Alchemy (part 7/The war of art).
“Pressfield explains that the only way to combat the resistance of something you must do is to put in the time & due diligence daily. Consider yourself a pro beforehand.
“The pro knows that if you do the work, the muse will show up. You know wait for the muse to show up first.
“Someone asked Somerset Maugham if he wrote on a schedule or only when struck by inspiration. “I write only when inspiration strikes,” he replied. “fortunately it strikes every morning at 9:00 sharp.”
“That’s a pro.
“There is a secret that real writers know that wannabe writers don’t, and the secret is this: It’s not the writing that is hard. What’s hard is sitting down to write”.
Granted I have massive difficulty following that advice and you seem to be doing it much better at it than I am. But keep at it. If all else fails, the discipline you will learn from it will be worth the effort.
(That and I’m kind of selfish and want to continue to read your comics.)
(I am also resisting a joke about your cartoon butt which isn’t scandalous one bit, but it seems I resisted poorly.)
September 23rd, 2008 at 02:07
Twenty-eight comics: it’s about time we got some pure, uncut Ian penis. “But there isn’t any actual penis shown!” you may say. Bollocks! You’re just not using your imagination hard enough.
Also, what’s the name for the red splotches you get on your legs from reading on the toilet for too long? I believe you wrote a haiku about it.
September 24th, 2008 at 12:22
Renee: Thanks, great quotes! I especially like the Maugham one. I am trying to become more regular and scheduled and therefore productive. I used to think that all habits were restrictive and an impediment to creativity or freedom or something like that, but I’m finding that habits are truly inescapable. The freedom I was looking for is increasingly revealing itself to be just the freedom to make habits that help me do what I want instead of getting in the way of doing what I want.
N8: yes, except it’s not a proper haiku.
BARRFFF
September 24th, 2008 at 02:48
Yeah, David Mack is really amazing. (And Kabuki is so dense! I can only read a couple issues at a time because otherwise I’m too mentally exhausted. But it’s sooo good.)
(Ok, Nerd moment over.)
September 24th, 2008 at 08:34
Talking exclusively to people you agree with and shunning the rest means your views are never challenged, and you never have to think critically about them. Inevitably you build and build on these faulty, unanalyzed ideas, becoming more and more insular and hostile to those with differing opinions, until suddenly you’re……..george w. bush and your one sided view of the world has produced multiple disasters and the only viable law is that of unintended consequences. I am not really a political person but this thought just jumped at me and demanded to be written.
September 25th, 2008 at 12:39
Renee: I really want to read Kabuki. I’ve been digging through a lot of comics lately (just found my local library’s comics section, aaaaaaaa), and I’m adding it to my already crazy imposing “to read” list.
Hi Lance! Excellent point, and way more appropriate than my throwaway dig! How about this latest attempt to further castrate the non-executive branches of gov’t, eh?
September 25th, 2008 at 02:28
Kabuki is soo good so yay! I really want to get the older trades - I’ve only read Alchemy so far (well, I imagine it’s in trade form by now). I’ve read some of the first stuff online and the style and storytelling is completely different (but still good).
I’ve paused my raiding the comics section of the library as I’m really too busy and have like 4 or something books I should read before I bring more stuff home.