The End of Gmane?

(July 28, 2016)

In 2002, I grew annoyed with not finding the obscure technical information I was looking for, so I started Gmane, the mailing list archive. All technical discussion took place on mailing lists those days, and archiving those were, at best, spotty and with horrible web interfaces. The past few weeks, the Gmane machines (and more … Continue reading The End of Gmane?

FF1991: Big Thing

(July 26, 2016)

Big Thing #1-4 by Colin Upton. This series is probably called Colin Upton’s Other Big Thing (Upton had self-published more that 60 mini-comics by this time, and one larger one, which was called Big Thing, so this name makes sense), and then Colin Upton’s Other Slightly Smaller Big Thing (when it went to a smaller … Continue reading FF1991: Big Thing

FF1994: Bad Comics

(July 25, 2016)

Bad Comics #1 by JR Williams. A previous #1 had been published a few years earlier by Cat-Head Comics, and if I remember correctly, it was much like this one: A random collection of funny comics by JR Williams. Like Sam Henderson, he’s someone who seems to know the mechanics of telling a joke well, … Continue reading FF1994: Bad Comics

FF1990: Graphic Story Monthly

(July 24, 2016)

Graphic Story Monthly #1-7 edited by Gary Groth. Graphic Story Monthly was Fantagraphics’ second attempt at a “general” comics anthology, following hot on the heels of Prime Cuts. In some ways, it’s just a continuation of that series under a new name. Many of the same contributors and features continue on from the first series, … Continue reading FF1990: Graphic Story Monthly

WFC Chile: La Nana

(July 23, 2016)

This wasn’t what I expected at all. Judging by the the DVD cover it looks like some sort of screwball comedy. And it is funny, but it’s really a complex, intense drama. Nerve-wracking. I love the actors, but I’m not sure the really grainy natural-light (I’m guessing here) film (I mean digital) is a net … Continue reading WFC Chile: La Nana

FF1979: The Flames of Gyro

(July 23, 2016)

The Flames of Gyro by Jay Disbrow. I don’t have a complete set of all floppies Fantagraphics have ever published, so while writing this series I’ve started to buy the stuff I’m missing. This is one of them. The Flames of Gyro (featuring Valgar Gunnar) is the first comic book that Fantagraphics published, and it’s… … Continue reading FF1979: The Flames of Gyro

FF1995: Girltalk

(July 22, 2016)

Girltalk #1-4 The cover of the first issue says “1st full issue”, but that’s because a sort of “preview” issue was included with issue seven of Real Girl. No editor is listed, but Isabella Bannerman and Sabrina Jones seem to be the central people here, perhaps. This anthology sprang out of the venerable World War … Continue reading FF1995: Girltalk

WFC Venezuela: Pelo malo

(July 21, 2016)

This is really good! I love all the actors, especially the mother. And the cinematography is both fantastic and real at the same time. Everything’s so tense. Bad Hair. Mariana Rondón. 2013. Venezuela. Playero 2 parts coconot flavoured rum 1 part lemon juice 1 part gin 1 part lemon soda 1 part coconut water Mix … Continue reading WFC Venezuela: Pelo malo

WFC United Arab Emirates: ذيب‎‎

(July 20, 2016)

There are good scenes in here, but mostly the actors are pretty hopeless, even for non-professional actors. And it fails the Bechdel test. Theeb. Naji Abu Nowar. 2014. United Arab Emirates. Detox Mule 3 parts ginger beer 3 parts vodka 1 part peppermint syrup (1:1 sugar and peppermint tea) 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar … Continue reading WFC United Arab Emirates: ذيب‎‎

2d cloud

(July 19, 2016)

2d cloud is a publisher from Minneapolis who’s been publishing a lot of interesting comics and comics-adjacent stuff the past few years. Their financing strategy seems to be to do pre-sales via Kickstarter for each “collection”. Nothing much is being… kickstartered… but you send them some money and they send you all these neat comics … Continue reading 2d cloud

FF1991: Tales from the Outer Boroughs

(July 18, 2016)

Tales from the Outer Boroughs #1-5 by Douglas Michael. This is a pretty odd series, even as odd series go. I guess I can see the inspiration here from people like Rick Geary, Ben Katchor and Chris Reynolds, but the artwork isn’t as distinctive as any of those, really. He does have the oblique weirdness … Continue reading FF1991: Tales from the Outer Boroughs

Automatically Mount exfat File Systems in Linux

(July 16, 2016)

I do quite a bit of video on my camera, and the easiest way to transfer these rather large files to my computer is to insert the SD card into an SD card connected to my computer. I wanted this to be as painless as possible, so I want the computer to auto mount anything … Continue reading Automatically Mount exfat File Systems in Linux

FF1991: Naughty Bits

(July 14, 2016)

Naughty Bits #1-40 by Roberta Gregory. I’d been a fan of Roberta Gregory since way before Naughty Bits started in 1991. I’d gotten a hand on Dynamite Damsels when I was, like, 14, and I really loved her somewhat gentle style and pretty whimsical subject matter (like in Winging It). Unicorns and aliens and mysteries … Continue reading FF1991: Naughty Bits

My New Concert Blog; Festival Edition

(July 11, 2016)

FF1985: Neat Stuff

(July 7, 2016)

Neat Stuff #1-15 by Peter Bagge. I don’t quite recall how I felt about Peter Bagge’s comics when I was a teenager. I certainly wasn’t obsessing about it like I was with, say, Chester Brown or Moebius. That the first issue of Neat Stuff that I have is a third printing from the mid-90s is … Continue reading FF1985: Neat Stuff

My New Concert Blog

(July 7, 2016)

This time it’s the Motvind festival, day one, which is all about protesting other festivals being sponsored by big oil and weapons and stuff.

FF1990: Pedestrian Vulgarity

(July 4, 2016)

Pedestrian Vulgarity #1 by Dennis Worden. Another one of those one-off magazines that Fantagraphics published at random during the late 80s and early 90s. This time it’s a collection of mostly one-page funny strips by Dennis Worden, who is best known for doing Stickboy for quite a while. There’s only one page of stick persons … Continue reading FF1990: Pedestrian Vulgarity

FF1988: Street Music

(July 3, 2016)

Street Music #1-6 edited by Mark Burbey. Street Music is a somewhat unusual anthology. It’s mainly the vehicle for the “Street Music” serial, which takes up something between a third and a half of each issue, and which is written by the editor, Mark Burbey, and drawn by Bili Turner. Neither of them could be … Continue reading FF1988: Street Music

WFC Hong Kong: 詠春

(July 2, 2016)

This is the goofiest film I’ve seen ever. Love it! So good natured. A classic comedy of errors. But with Kung Fu. Wing Chun. Woo-Ping Yuen. 1994. Hong Kong. Chelsea Flower Show 3 parts sherry 3 parts Lillet Blanc 3 parts St Germain 1 part egg white 1 part aromatic bitters Shake with ice and … Continue reading WFC Hong Kong: 詠春

WFC Macedonia: Пред дождот

(July 2, 2016)

I didn’t quite understand this bit. It’s the same actor, but is it the same character? PLZ EXPLAIN I don’t think this film was approved by the Macedonian Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. It’s a structurally interesting film, with all that mirroring and stuff, and the spiralling timelines that don’t resolve (in … Continue reading WFC Macedonia: Пред дождот

FF1990: Kaktus Valley

(July 2, 2016)

Kaktus Valley #1 edited by John Carlin and Gary Panter. This is another one of those one-off magazines Fantagraphics used to publish that seemed to arrive without any context. Reading it, it seems like the idea is to gather a lot of people from the more punkey end of the Raw generation together and have … Continue reading FF1990: Kaktus Valley

WFC Italy: Il Vangelo secondo Matteo

(July 1, 2016)

The higher the hat, the closer to god. Hey, is that Flea? Hm… Oops! Spoilers! I may somehow accidentally never have seen any Pasolini films before, so I didn’t quite know what to expect. I’m not sure, but I think this is a savage parody of the tale of Jesus? Without changing any of the … Continue reading WFC Italy: Il Vangelo secondo Matteo