“My working method has more often than not involved the subtraction of weight.”
—Italo Calvino, Six Memos For The New Millenium
Drew these two pages while listening to a solo KCRW gig by My Morning Jacket’s Jim James. Jim James’ voice + silo reverb = heaven. A beautiful equation.
The work continues. I’m sitting here listening to my 30+ episodes of Bob Dylan’s Theme Time Radio. Life is good. Last night I dreamt about a Civil War veteran with a pet tiger. Meg dreamt we had hinges behind our ears, and after we got married, we went back to the hotel, pulled off our faces, and there were two little aliens sitting behind controls in our heads. I said, “That’s a terrible dream.” Meg said, “No, because we were both relieved that we could tell each other the truth!” An anxiety dream, sure, but a sweet one, I thought.
While working on an online portfolio, I decided to put a flash edition of “Birdseed” online.
So what else? I’m reading Eddie Campbell’s Alec: How To Be An Artist (good review here), after reading his Fate Of The Artist. Both of them are really good. The man behind the From Hell visuals, Campbell’s one of the greats. Here’s a good short interview with him.
Ok, boy. Quit stalling. Get drawing.
Just me riffing on John Porcellino:
Special treat: an updated page of every Bob Dylan’s Theme Time Radio Hour show.
Forbes had a “Special Report” on Books over the weekend, with some really great articles, especially one on the success of McSweeneys, and Cory Doctorow’s “give freely and they will buy” business strategy.
Doctorow really has his head straight. It seems ludicrous, but showing generosity towards your readers, giving them clips and “free stuff,” really does, in the long run, get you further than staying secretive about your work. That’s why, today, I’m posting not one, but TWO pages of work.
Comments, as always, are appreciated.
Two bits for today. First is an excerpt from the highly-recommended ESQUIRE’S THINGS A MAN SHOULD KNOW ABOUT MARRIAGE (which actually manages to be witty and informative at the same time):
East Indian Hindu couples are married before a small fire, into which they toss flowers, water, seeds, and fruit, which are considered the four symbols of life.
Here in the West, we have replaced this poetic custom with a larger, metaphorical fire, into which we ritually hurl great piles of currency.
Amen to that! Goodbye savings account!
Second is a fun spin on meat-eating as a reward for creativity by Dan:
For the last few years I’ve tried to force myself to write at least one page every day, which doesn’t sound like much but it’s actually pretty hard to manage. Because I’m not allowed to do a make-up day. I can’t do two pages the next day. The punishment for not completing my page is that I have to eat a vegetarian meal the next day.
A vegetarian meal as punishment! That’s true dedication to craft, friends…
Probably won’t get much posted this week, as we’re working diligently on grad school applications, trying to get them all finished before Jesus’s birthday. We also tacked up our big Wedding To-Do list on the front door (like some desperate manifesto).
Wish us luck!
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