Emacs Non-Flickering Patch

Earlier today, Daniel Colascione merged his double-buffering Emacs display patch, and I was interested in seeing whether it reduced flickering when viewing animated GIFs on my problematic main machine.

And it sure does:

https://youtu.be/VMJ12r1NRBs

First you see an Emacs from five hours ago displaying a GIF, and it is flicker-o-rama.  Then I switch to a brand new Emacs with Daniel’s patch, and it is completely flicker-free.

Now, that the flicker was there in the first place is probably due to me not bothering to figure out what settings the Nvidia driver needs to … work better: On my laptop, there was no flickering even without Daniel’s fix.  So your mileage will vary, but it’s obviosly a major step forward, flicker wise, on some machines.  Thanks, Daniel.

FF1992: Sap Tunes

Sap Tunes #1-2 by Granger Davis and Steve Kongsle.

I’m finding out now that Fantagraphics sure released a lot of, er, very short series by artists I’ve never heard of.

Here’s another one.

Davis does a pair of pieces about this guy…

… who works in retail, is slightly disgruntled with stupid customers (see above), but is really a painter. (Shades of autobio?)

The artwork seems to develop quite a bit over the two issues, which makes me wonder whether it was drawn over a longer period.

Kongsle’s two pieces are more philosophical tales; the first is about insanity, while the second is about sincerity.

Neither seem to have published any comics before or after these two issues.

This post is part of the Fantagraphics Floppies series.

WFC Bulgaria: Урок

There are things about this film I like enormously. It’s a taut, tense film about nightmarish desperation.

But it seems like there are always options out of the problems that seem to be avoided just for the sake of plot. So my main feeling here is of “but why doesn’t she…?” just about all the time, which is probably not what the filmmakers were going for.

And when her car broke down on the way to pay the 1.37 lev…

Oops! Spoilers!

Love the actors.

The Lesson. Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov. 2014. Bulgaria.

Oblak

  • 1 part ouzo
  • 1 part creme de menthe
  • 1 part vanilla ice cream

Shake ouzo and creme de menthe with ice. Pour into a blender with ice cream and blend. Serve immediately.

Can also be made without ice cream.

This post is part of the World of Films and Cocktails series. Explore the map.

FF1992: WildB.R.A.T.S: Bad Redundant Art Teams

WildB.R.A.T.S: Bad Redundant Art Teams #1 by Dean Williams and Aaron McClellan.

Dean Williams… where have I seen that name before? Oh, we wrote the execrable Butt Biscuit series from Fantagraphics.

*gulp*

Well, Fantagraphics has published a few parody comics over the years, but they usually make fun of things that are considered interesting by the same people who find Fantagraphics comics interesting, like Filibusting Comics.

This, however, presents itself as a parody of Wild… er… Wild Something? See, it’s so far out of my remit that I can’t even recall what it’s called. Google will know. Yes! WildC.A.T.S! A super-hero comic published by the then nascent Image Comics through Malibu Comics (or something).

Very nice parody cover by Bill Willingham here, but the interiors are done by a different artist. Perhaps that’s meant to be part of the parody.

Yes, anybody that draws super-heroes is gay. *slow clap*

That price list looks cheap by modern standards

Anyway, the book itself isn’t a parody of Wildcats. Instead it’s a retelling of the story of Image (super star artists at Marvel figuring they could make more money by owning the properties themselves, and hiring a lot of assistants to draw those properties). That sounds like it could be really funny, but…

… it’s not. There’s barely a joke in sight. And I just don’t care enough about these characters to try to decode who they’re supposed to be. Todd MacIjustdontcareland.

Finally, at the end we have five pages of a parody Bob Liefeld book. And again, it’s just… there. (I did like that little Eightball potato head guy popping up in the background up there.)

Oh, well.

This post is part of the Fantagraphics Floppies series.

FF1992: S.O.S.

S.O.S. by Mark Kalesniko.

This is brief, mostly wordless story about surviving on your own in the big, bad world. So allegory.

But while somewhat hokey, it’s attractively drawn and somewhat touching. Here we see our hero take a bite out of the nasty shark. See? Allegory!

I think this may be the first Kalesniko book Fantagraphics published, but they’ve published quite a few since, like the Alex series I was less than enthused with.

This post is part of the Fantagraphics Floppies series.