I try to make it down to the Lyndale Open Streets every year. There is something about walking down the center of a usually busy street that tells me it's summertime. Winter hasn't really ended until you've spent an afternoon among a throng of people.
The Americans
Was that Russian reporter who revealed that he had FAKED HIS OWN DEATH, in reality, an elaborate promotion for the final episode of The Americans? Seemed like it to me, at the time. What is it they say about reality being stranger than something?
Emily Nussbaum has been writing about this show from the start.
It's Summertime
Holy Hannah: Chapter 9
Read the 9th Chapter of Holy Hannah! Hannah and Noah are in the jungle now, and people are starting to get weird.
Sketch Party
Every month a group of cartoonists gets together at a brewery to draw and talk shop. Tap Rooms with long tables suited for sprawling sketchbooks and drawing materials are preferred such as Able Seedhouse or Lake and Legends Brewing Company. This June 7th, we meet at Insight Brewing.
Process
I love the process. Here's an example of how I made the most recent illustration for Dirt Rag Magazine.
AD, Stephen Haynes, is the best. He also draws some pretty cool ships.
Portrait
Thanks to Carla at blkkhand for the striking tintype portrait. This is my face.
Double Star
I've always joked that Robert Heinlein was better at writing the first half of a science fiction novel than just about anyone. Usually the second half is where he would abondon the high adventure space thriller in favor of his peculiar grand narrative.
Double Star, is just that first half. This breezy 250 page narrative about an out-of-work actor who plays a double for a kidnapped intergalactic politician won Heinlein his first Hugo award.
Concept Art
If you see a bus covered with a plaid design at the State Fair this year—it started out looking like this.
Isle of Dogs
Wes Anderson's 9th film. His 8th collaboration with Bill Murray. The second stop-motion animation film he's directed. The first time I've seen a dog cry tears like a person.
Autoptic Spring Showcase
The Office
Finally, I got around to seeing The (US) Office. The trick, I guess, was finding the time for all 9 seasons. Like a great sitcom, it applies the comic-strip "variations on a theme" to perfection. Doesn't hurt that Steve Carrell is reliably goofy.
A Pattern Language
Ever wonder how to build a city? Or a town? A Pattern Language written by Christopher Alexander and Murray Silverstein shows a way. Apparently this tome also influenced early computer programing. I found the book a useful guide to arranging an efficient office space.
Autoptic April Showcase
Comics reading! Comics reading!
Madeline McGrane | Brando Hughes | Cole HW
April 13th • Doors @ 7:00 PM
It's going to be at the new Beyond Repair + Uncivilized Book space: Assembly
Techovation Award
The above, from the 2017 archives, is a fun example of how illustration and comics can be utilized in a promotional campaign. Abe Studios needed a single graphic to explain the complex process of applying for the Techovation Awards. The awards were so successful, they continued to use the art again this year.
Autoptic Applications Are Open!
Minneapolis’s Premier Comic and Independent Print Festival
Sunday, August 19th, 2018
11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
The Shape Of Water
The big winner at the academy awards this year was Guillermo del Toro's The Shape Of Water. While I'm not normally a big fan of storybook horror, it's easy to enjoy this film. The best description I've heard of the of the plot describes it as an "R rated Splash, with a woman in the Tom Hanks roll."
It's also one of the few movies I can think of with an illustrator as the main character. I'm a sucker for a B-plot about 1960's practical illustration techniques.
The Job of The Wasp
The Job of The Wasp is the third novel I'd read by Colin Winnette. This most recent book, published by Soft Skull Press, is from the perspective of a boy who finds himself in an orphanage and then a swarm of murderous insanity. The boy is not exactly innocent, but parsing out his(?) culpability is half the fun.
The obvious comparison would be to Lord of The Flies. But with lots of dead bodies.
I, Tonya
I was 13 years old when Tonya Harding made figure skating dangerous.
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