Apples and oranges, a variation...

So, I was talking to a close female friend of mine recently...
I'll call her "Maruschka." She's not interested in any publicity, even peripherally, hence the pseudonym.
I will confess that I chose the alias from an actress I like, Dutch actress Maruschka Detmers, who I primarily know from Italian director Marco Bellochio's DEVIL IN THE FLESH (1986). She also played Antonio Banderas' wife or girlfriend in THE MAMBO KINGS.
But seriously, I don't know Ms. Detmers personally, so don't misinterpret and think this account is of me talking with the lovely screen thespian.

Anyway, bla bla bla...

So, I happened to tell Maruschka this story about something I recently wrote in a blog comment.
I thought it was amusing, but Maruschka took some issue with it. She took it more, personally, let's say, as a woman, than I intended my comment to mean.
I won't elaborate on the actual thing I wrote (man! what kind of story IS this? Aliases! Censored context! This has "lame" written all over it!), but after she responded unfavorably, my mood noticeably changed.

So, she apologized. "I'm sorry," she said, "you were all happy about sharing your comment, and then I went and peed in your soup."
I thought that was kind of a strong analogy, but I know she was being funny.
Then I said, "Or you sneezed in my milk."
To which she immediately reacted: "Eewww!!"
"What? Sneezing in someone's milk is grosser than peeing in someone's soup?"
"Well, soup already is a broth and salty, so you wouldn't notice the difference... But the other thing, you're talking about snot in milk..! Blecch!"
"No, I'm talking about SNEEZING in someone's milk, not BLOWING THEIR NOSE in someone's milk! But you're talking about actually urinating in someone's soup!"
Maruschka laughed. "Well, it's different!"
"You act like you could actually get away with peeing in one's soup!"
She laughed.
I continued: "Jeez, you and this guy I used to work with should get together. When he was younger, he worked in this restaurant and he pissed in the soup once."
"Eewww! Let's stop talking about this now!"
I always thought that was a horrible personal anecdote to know about someone, and compounded by the fact that to this day he still finds that "defiant act" (my description) of his amusing, perhaps a highlight, of his younger, wilder days. But, he tends to be bitter and cynical about people in general, so that makes sense.
Anyway, we quickly dropped the subject of which was more disgusting, but I thought that what Maruschka felt was the grosser example still mind-boggling.

NOTE: My analogy of "sneezing in someone's milk" is actually taken from something written in a foreword to a collection of comic strips that Berke Breathed did at the University of Texas at Austin before he became famous doing Bloom County. The collection was called The Academia Waltz. My friend Pete attended the university, and he loved the strip which was printed in the school newspaper, and he bought me a copy.
In the foreward, the writer (whose name I've long forgotten, unfortunately) tells (and I'm paraphrasing, as usual) about Breathed working on his strip in his dorm room. He describes Breathed sitting at his desk, head bent over the paper, and the steady "skritch, skritch, skritch" sound of the metal nib of his ink pen drawing on the paper. So, as the writer says, if you were to suddenly stick your head into Breathed's light and suddenly ask, "Whatcha doin', Berky?", Breathed would simply turn to look at you, saying nothing, but have an expression on his face like you just sneezed into his milk.

That's basically it.

Great... I have a cold.

Uh, I guess that's all I wanted to say.
I'm playing hooky and I guess I'm gonna go watch a movie and fall asleep in the chair while it's on. Yes!

Cripes! Autumn is officially here NEXT WEEK???

Yo!
A very quick howdy, mostly.
Well, I should be glad I scribbled something down in June, but still, how annoying.

Mostly, the one significant thing that's happened lately is that I finally got my big procrastinating, disorganized butt over to visit a couple friends that live in the area, Sue and Paul.

I know Sue since, uh, 1984? Is that right? We happened to be doing a musical together (IT'S A DOGS LIFE) and we both played both dogs in a gang of dogs.
Yes.
(To clarify, the whole cast was pretty much dogs).

Anyway, besides being quite an interesting indiviual, she's also done cool things, like, live in Turkey, which I always thought was cool.
She and Paul also have a great couple of boys, who I finally met in person, and they're quite wonderful and precocious. Like, they draw their own comics and make movies precocious.

So, basically, that's why I'm writing this today, to say how humbling it was to meet these two kids (ages 10 and 8, I think?), and to see that they are arguably more productive than me with regards to my pet enthusiasms, comics and film!

I SUCK!

Sue also hapens to be a fan, incredibly, of my little bit of prose writing (the "Femme Ferines," natch!) and she asked about how my re-writing plans and finishing that story were going and I informed her that that little bit of creative work has yet to take place, dammit. But she very kindly seemed genuinely interested in reading my progress on this story idea, so, I really should get back to it.

While it's been a awhile since I've made contact with Sue, in person, I seem to keep running into Paul every now and then. The last time we happened to meet while attending a Q & A visit by comics writer Harvey Pekar, courtesy of the local library's program to interets kids in reading comics and graphic novels. So, it was a very nice get-together with both of them at their home and I hope to stay better in touch with them, at least through the internet (Facebook).

Of course, Buffalo's Theater Season officially started last week so there's a billion things I want to see and have to figure out schedules and finances to do such things, by God!

Meanwhile, my idea for a blogger journal on comics. etc. that I talked about in June is still an idea I may get around to.
But, now I got to get my ass out the door and pick up our repaired Jeep.

Later.

Well... howdy!

Man... it's been awhile, hasn't it?
Sorry.

Well, trying my best to re-group here.
I seem to have a lot of ideas about various projects and how to follow through on them, but the jump from idea to action seems to be the problem! Heh heh! (he heh-ed nervously).

Right now, I'm just posting something to show I'm still alive and interested in maintaining this blog.
I haven't posted anything new on my various blogs and journals in at least sveeral months.
I also haven't done anything new creatively.
There's a single drawing I started some months ago that I've been working on fitfully, a "practice" portrait of Jheena the Jungle Fury, a masked wrestler comic book character I've been trying to develop. Part of these attempts at development is trying to standardize my ways of drawing her.
But, I can't seem to draw her definitively, yet.
Beyond the very first drawing I did of her that I simply whipped out at a work years ago (maybe seven years ago? Jeez...), since then, I've tried re-drawing her in various states of action or just a staid pose for reference purposes and I never seem pleased with my results 100%.
Grrrr.

But in the last year, I've come to know some local dudes, a writer (Tom Waters) and a cartoonist/aspiring comics mogul (Kyle Kaczmarczyk of Zombie Ink Comics). Both are fairly prolific and that's been kind of prodding me to get off the pot or shit, so to speak, drawing/writing-wise.
And MOST recently, like, this month, I 've discovered the newly self-published (mini)comics of Josh Tonn, another local cartoonist (who I haven't actually met) but he has a couple issues of his self-produced comics, Costumed Crimefighter Comics, available at Don's Atomic Comics which is where I picked them up... and which I found myself enjoying thoroughly!
It's a superhero parody and it's pretty freaking funny!

So, really, I have to get off my fat, whiney ass, if I want to make the transition from whiney-assed wannabe and mere patron of the local arts to actual comic book producing peer/colleague, etc.

I think I'm also going to start ANOTHER blog!
Actually, what I want to do is this: I seem to have a blog for various particular interests of mine: movies/movie-making, comics/art/comic book making, writing, etc.
But the journals/blogs that I have devoted to comics, etc., seem to be really accessible only to members of those same sites, namely Myspace or Deviant Art. But I'd like my posts to be more accessible, like if you google them, for instance, so I'm going to branch out to Blogger for my comics posts. I'm not going to delete or stop the other blogs I have going at the previous sites, I'll be just expanding the places where I do post my comic book musings-- which is something I sort of did already.
I started first with Myspace, then, when I joined DA, it seemed I was more comfortable blogging there because the whole site is more arts focused, but my plan was to still post at Myspace as well, because it existed... so, I thought I'd be just reaching other possible readers who weren't on DA as well. So, I just more or less duplicated the posts, you know?
But, I think going to Blogger will make it more search engine friendly, so to speak.
And, if I ever follow through on maintaining my own website and trying to develop a following of sorts for my own comics, etc., I think that's a necessary move.
Hence...

Alright.
I should go.
I have to continue cleaning my room so I can actually have a place TO draw.
Hey, maybe I should have a poll!

Who thinks I will ever actually produce my own comic book?
I have no idea how to do one of those damn poll things-- maybe if I figure it out, I'll amend this post later.
But for now, here's your choice of answers:

1. "Never-- you're all talk but nothing more than that. But, that's okay. You mean well, and you DO support other people who actually DO produce."

2. "Yes! I think you'll do it! And before the end of 2009!"

3. "I'll believe it when I see it, bub! But DEFINITELY not BEFORE 2010!"

4. "Not only do I think you'll produce a comic book, I think it will be by __________." (For those those psychics and, perhaps, bettors, out there)

So there.
Instant lamest poll ever!

Anyone who responds to this poll will receive a free copy of this comic book-to-be! If you said never and are right... uh... well, thanks for particpating!
If my first comic book does NOT have a Jheena the Jungle Fury story in it, then you will also receive the first comic book that does include her.
I mention that because Jheena seems like the most mainstream character I've come up with so far, so it seems cool to give out Jheena comics. But, it's quite possible that the first comic I "crank out" will be a weird one-shot story thing, either in the horror genre or the, uh, weirdness genre.
But if I DO finally publish something, then, crap! Chances are very good I'll actually make a Jungle Fury book!
So... there!

ANYONE who participates in the poll gets a free comic book (or two, as I said, depending on what I publish first) and this offer ends as soon as I publish this book. In other words, when I actually make this comic book, this offer ends.

Uh... so I'll get on that right now!