I just happened to notice that the 76th Annual Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee is on ESPN 2 right at the moment. yeah — they are even doing rolling color commentary — and it’s LIVE. for every Mike Tyson in the world, I’m glad to see there are people spelling archaic words on a major cable sports channel.

update: i just saw the opening of this program on a replay — and the US Secretary of Education just asked for “God to Bless each and every one of you…” or some such. The funny ha-ha? The kid who won was of Indian decent — and his parents were too. They might worship God, but I wouldn’t bet on it.

i’ve always been a fan of comics and more specifically, graphic novels. i owe this to Hunter, no doubt. i regularly check things out from the main branch of the Dixon Free Semi-Public Library. well, back in 2002, when Top Shelf Comics had there main distributor go kaput, leaving them in the lurch for fifty-large, i thought i’d get off my freeloading arse and buy a copy of Alan Moore’s spectacular From Hell (yes, the basis for the movie of the same title). Turns out Top Shelf was flooded with orders and I now have a copy of a great book of my own that I will no doubt read over and over.

Fast-forward to today (or last week, really), and I get an email from Warren Ellis (via his Bad Signal mailing list) that Fantagraphics, a publisher of many, many comics and graphic novels (read more here) was having problems — due in good part to yet another distributor fall-through among other problems — I, the foul-weather purchaser, sprang into action.

‘What did I buy?’ you ask. Well, let me say that I found quite a few things that I wanted when I was at Chicago Comics with Nick and Hunter. One of the most striking things was this book entitled Ssssh!. I won’t attempt to explain it any better than my link does — but I loved it. For whatever reason, I didn’t buy it. Well, I get home, do a little searching on google for “Sssh” (how many S’s should I use? I dunno!) and “Jason”, and as you might expect, I came up with diddly-squat. Well, I fumbled over to ArtBomb (a graphic-novel intensive review/exposure site pointed out to me by h\m/d a while back. I can’t remember exactly why I went there – it may have been on suggestion of Warren Ellis as there was a free, online comic he raved up. Well, anyway, what should be #2 on their “BOOK FEED” list? That’s right, Ssssh!. Hey, cool, I’d love to own that. Hey, I wonder if Fantagraphics carries that…. Hah! They do (good luck browsing their inventory for it, though. Just put in “Jason” in their search engine). Oh, wow — you can get the original Norwegian version in hardcover for $5 more! Awesome. So yeah, I bought that and his first book, Hey Wait! which garnered great reviews. Yeah, I’ve never read anything other than the wordless “Ssssh!”, but I thought I’d take a shot in the dark to help out a community that I’ve profited (non-monetarily, mind you) from for quite some time. My note in the “comments” field when ordering the books from Fantagraphics: “here’s to saving your ass! good luck!”

Now, I could have ordered Ssssh! from Amazon, if I wanted to. But that’s not what Fantagraphics needs — they are trying to get rid of overstocks that they’ve printed directly. Also, *technically*, Amazon doesn’t have the Norwegian hardcover, but whatever — I figure my support is more direct that way.

You want to know who is published by Fantagraphics? Well, here are some of the most recognizable:

Chris Ware
Dan Clowes – of Ghost World fame.
Peter Bagge

and last, but certainly not least:

Robert Crumb – you know, Fritz the Cat and all that stuff, but quite possibly the reason that alternative comics even have a place in this world.

Well, that’s all I’ve got. Go and check out Fantagraphics and see if there is anything you want, and further, check out ArtBomb for reviews/inspiration/etc.

update: Warren Ellis has summed up the whole Fantagraphics issue quite well in his column Brainpowered over at Artbomb. Check it out, it’s an interesting read.

First off — new galleries!

Chicago: Day Five

My Sister Kristin’s Graduation from High School

Various and sundry links of note have passed through my inbox in the last couple of days:

Kill Bill release dates

Listing of Executed Texans with Last Statements

Eddie Izzard in Chicago September 30th
Cincinatti Red’s “Kiss Cam” Nabs Parole Violator

Girls Are Pretty – a blog unlike any other

and last — certainly the jewel in this linksplosion:

Spider-Man’s Greatest Bible Stories

update: Chicago: Day Five Gallery

First off, i can’t thank joey and nick enough for allowing us to stay at their home. after having Project Improv roll through there (I think there were 5 of them) the week before, and then having us in there for five days, and joey leaving today…. it’s been fairly hectic in the Casa Belmaggio e Smith. So, to Joey and Nick – THANKS. Joey is leaving (today, I think) for Colorado for an extended two and a half month engagement, so break a leg, Joey. Nick, hang in there, buddy. I tell you — that boy is a smart and funny guy. Funny, because he doesn’t know how funny and gifted he is, I think. Hah. Ah well — watch out for pirates.

Chicago was a great town. I think it gets a bit of a bad rap as always being cold and windy, and from meteorological data, that would seem to be true — however, empirically speaking, Hunter and I enjoyed near-perfect weather. Rain only upon leaving.

Big cities have such a different character and dynamic that small cities. You put people together in close proximity, and they seem to get together. Nick’s area of town is very “integrated”, and to quote him “I’ve never felt threatened”. Not that Nick is or was fearful of other cultures, but I think when you put folks together they realize that other cultures aren’t that bad after all. I’ve never had so many people greet me on the street than in Chicago (including Ted Nugent).

I’ve come to the conclusion that I love trains. I’ve always got some sort of sociological experiment or observation in the back of my mind, and the train is like a little petri dish. Hunter’s own observation noted that “white folks are the most selective about their seats”. Meaning that they won’t sit by a non-white by choice. This is by no means a generalization, but white folks seem to do it more than other races. Maybe it’s just a cultural thing, I dunno. The train by itself is a hurdle by itself. In Louisville, “personal space” is quite abundant. In Chicago, not so much. Even the personal space of your car is in high demand. Chicago is the reason I think all cars should still have steel bumpers. Parallel parking isn’t just a hobby — it’s a necessity. All this composite-foam 5 mile an hour stuff is bunk. Ahh well. On the converse, Mini‘s are needed.

Larger cities spawn interesting sub-cultures that small cities will never see. Communities of similar-minded people have the manpower to exist and thrive (i.e. the comic scene, the ‘zine scene, the band scene, the gay community, etc). And the great thing about large cities — no one cares a lick about what you do, as long as it doesn’t adversely affect the public as a whole. You wanna be gay? Sure. You wanna dress up like Sailor Moon? Whatever. You want to wear an eyepatch? Bring it. All in all, a large city can be a very inspirational place. Now, I’m sure there are plenty of problems in the big city, but I was on vacation — no time for crime. Heh.

This trip was also a great time to hang out with Hunter, Nick and Joey. It had been a long time since I’d just hung out (extendly) with any of my old friends. Hanging out reading graphic novels was great. Very relaxing. It had been a long time since we just talked — or had a drink or two and talked even louder. Good times all around.

I had a great time in Chicago.

tuesday hunter and I were left to our own devices as nick was working and joey was doing errands of some sort. so, off to the Art Institute of Chicago (you know, the one from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off). again, we managed to utlize public transportation in a fashion becoming a pair of adults, and the “L” dropped us off a block from the art museum. now, despite the fact that I studied (and lived for a short time) near the J. B. Speed Art Museum, I never actually went it. Oh, and my mother was an art teacher for a while, but that didn’t get me in to an art museum either. so yeah, it was fairly overwhelming. you can look at photographic reproductions of art in books all you want, but that just does not do these paintings justice in the least. Degas mastery of light and shadow are breathtaking to see. Picasso’s “The Old Guitarist” when reproduced on the page is a bland shadow of the true color of the work. I am a big fan of Magritte’s work and they had plenty of his works there, as a number of other surrealists and modern artists. I could go on for days, but I think I’ll keep this short: you need to go. On Tuesdays, ’cause then it’s free. But even on normal days, it’s only $10 and that is a suggested donation. I should point out that non-flash photography is allowed in the Institute, but my forgetful self forget to bring the memory card for my camera.

After 3 hours in the Art Institute, we decided to nab a bite to eat at Potbelly Sandwich Works, so we hopped the train back a couple of stops. Potbelly’s is like a Quizno but with the old-timey flair of Another Place Sandwich Shop in Louisville. The sandwiches were tasty. The root beer cold. Yum.

Now, our next stop requires a little explaining. Hunter had bought issue #2 of Found Magazine (a magazine filled with “found” notes , pictures, letters, etc) along with a couple other ‘zines (hipper, cooler magazines than your mama’s) while at Chicago Comics, and was interested in finding more. Knowing this, I happened to see an ad for a ‘zine distro down on Augusta Boulevard near downtown. Thinking “hey, this would be a cool little side trip”, we decided that would be our next stop. Having had procured directions from the venerable and always trustworthy MapQuest and peeping a CTA map we felt confident. Well, I figured that the CTA’s Green Line trains were the closest alternative, so we got off at the Ashland stop. Well, some many many blocks later we arrive at Loop Distro at 1357 W. Augusta #1. It is apparent that this is, in fact, someones apartment. Thinking that “this is the ‘zine way of life man!”, we checked around. No other doors say #1, and the one that is #1 has photos inexplicably taped all over it. Check the knob — locked. Hmm. Well. Checking the website, it would seem that this joint is really just a distribution point. The ad wasn’t so clear. Ah well. We had an exciting time rolling through “Little Mexico City” anyway.

Turns out the Division Street stop on the Blue Line was far, far, closer to Loop Distro, so we ended up taking that home. I took a nap, because I’m old and walking is tiring.

Hunter contacted his friend Patience and his cousin Jeremy and Nick checked out the deal on the Second City show (Second City Unhinged) we were planning on seeing that night. Plans were set. Off to the Second City Etc. theatre. Jeremy was leaning against the building, as is his want, and we headed upstairs to find Patience, uh, patiently waiting. Patience is very charming, and appears younger than her age (which I won’t mention, well, yeah, i mean, it’s not everyday you meet a 600 year old woman that looks 29). Also, Patience complimented this very site, so she’s A Number-1 Top Dollar in my book. She is also a fan of Magritte, so yeah, Patience, you mah dogg. (BTW, Patience works for the Cape Cod Community College bookstore, owned by Follett, and is in town for a conference of some sort. Limos were provided.) Anyway. As mentioned, Jeremy was there and Hunter and I related that I had called him a “political mercenary” in a previous post. He said that consultancy is really more like whoring, and I rebutted that whores are just “sexual mercenaries”. Jeremy is cool, but he needs to accept his role in life as a kick-ass take-no-prisoners political mercenary. Soldier of Fortune sorta stuff. Yeah. Heh. Seriously folks, Jeremy is way cool. WAAAY COOL. Rad, even. Okay, now that I’ve finished lathering platitudes on these folks I just met, I’ll get on with the travelogue.

This Second City show involved 3 different improv groups all doing fairly different shows and mixing up styles and whatnots. Adding to the spectacular comedy was incidental piano music on the side of the stage, and coordinated lighting, which made things all the more fluid and interesting. The improv was great and very fluid. I think that the true key of improv is knowing what your fellow actors are going to do without having to say a word. When that happens, it really clicks. The first group, “Tuesday Night Special” did a rambling long-form (a la Project Improv), the second group “The Dirty Half Dozen” did about a half-dozen sketches each based on a single suggestion. My suggestion for “something you find in the kitchen” was “my wife”, which I think stunned the performer who was asking for the suggestion, but the sketch turned out funny as hell. The real ha-ha is that neither Kelly or I spend a lot of time in the kitchen. So, the groups interpretation of this animal-like “wife” character that has to be flushed out of the kitchen by fire was all the more funny to me. And the girl playing “the wife” was hot and funny and had glasses. Real tall, though. The last group “Train Wreck” was just two guys, one playing the part of a lifeguard, the other as a towel rental clerk. Metaphysical pondering about alter-egos across the sea have never been funnier. Also, killing dead air with the line “So… You remember when you killed that guy?” always has a good outcome.

We hit an Irish pub sorta thing after the show, but they weren’t serving food, so we downed a round and found a Subway. Jeremy split, as a good mercenary needs his beauty sleep, and we ate our sandwiches while listening to overnight AM sports shows. We had passed a cool little dive called the Old Town Ale House. A jazz-laden jukebox kept time while we sat in the front window conversing over pints. A good time was had by all. We decided to split up, and Patience took a cab back to her hotel, which was probably going to be expensive, so Nick and Hunter chipped in (hey, I bought the drinks).

So — what’s ahead for today? Well, Hunter and I will be driving back to Louisville leaving here sometime mid-afternoonish (to beat the Chicago rush hour, and hopefully the Indianapolis rush hour as well).

sunday! sunday! sunday!

So yeah, went to see The Matrix: Reloaded at a theatre up in Evanston. ‘Twas huge, it was! They do their concessions great up there, too — cafeteria style. The second time around, I tried harded to listen to a lot of the dialogue that flew past me during my first screening (i.e. the Merovingian’s speech and the Architect’s speech). Well, I still love it — not necessarily as a film standing on it’s own, because it does have it’s flaws, but as a very interesting continuation and expansion of the world of the Matrix. I won’t go into gory detail here in case you, gentle reader, have not seen this, but Nick, Hunter and Joey had some very interesting conversations about it. While there isn’t a clear “a-ha!” moment in this film like the first Matrix, the events and revelations in this film open up a LOT of new questions.

Anyway, The Matrix: Reloaded aside, after the movie we headed up to Wild Oats to get provisions. Hunter and I were going to cook Nick and Joey dinner as a bit of repayment for their hospitality. In your face, Project Improv! (they stayed with Joey and Nick a couple of weeks ago). Anyway, Hunter and I fashioned a tasty dinner of spaghetti and salad and tasty bread. Would you like to see it? Sure you would. Check the Chicago: Day Two Gallery (note well Joey’s perfect pancake). That Hunter sets a fine table. Wine was had. Corks were broken. Broken corks summarily extracted. Fine china was used. Hunter is “now a believer” of the tastiness of balsamic vinagrette. I consider it a culinary victory. In true man-fanshion, Hunter and I both fell asleep after dinner while Joey and Nick washed the dishes. I felt like my grandfather.

So today, Memorial Day, we headed out to the Friendly Confines of Wrigley Field to see the Chicago Cubs take on the Pittsburgh Pirates. It was a drubbing unlike any other I have ever seen. The Cubs were whipped 10-0 with a Pittsburgh 9-run eigth inning. We did, however, see Kerry Wood pitch effectively, but with the couple of walks and wild pitches (one of which allowed them to score a run) he certainly could have had a better outing. The eigth inning was atrocious. Cubs fans are known as a fickle bunch, but I could have sworn they were about to riot as the 7th run passed the plate. Many of those runs scored on walks, so that always riles the fans. Ahh well. Alfonseca had a 3-0 count on some guy, and he finally pitched a strike — and the fans went wild! Hah. Oh well.

The whole Wrigleyville area is pretty cool. Drummers and odd street performers abound. However, as evidenced by this picture, not all of the Wrigleyville regulars are appreciative. Check out the rest of the Chicago: Day Three Gallery if’n you wanna.

There are some loose plans to go and see Lake Michigan which is only 2 blocks away (you can see it from the street). Oddly enough, Joey and Nick have not gone down to see it. Well, we can’t have that, now can we? Probably going to meet up with a friend of Hunter’s named “Patience”, and perchance to see a Second City show. Oh, and Hunter and I are on our own tomorrow, so we’ll probably be heading out to the Chicago Art Museum, which is free and great. And while free things are always great, free art is even greater. Yeah. More later!

update: added more photos of us down by Lake Michigan to the Day 3 Gallery. (a good pan of Hunter on the beach awaits you!)

the ride up to chicago (on friday) was fairly uneventful, with the exception of this sign: “Time Flies When You’re Having PORK”. Yeah. Well, that and MapQuest told us to go south on LakeShore Drive to get to Nick’s house. Yeah, that’s patently false. So, about an hour and fifteen minutes later, thanks in large part to a nice lady at the service station we stopped at, we arrived at Nick’s. We attempted to buy a map at that store, but since they only had one, the dude wouldn’t sell it to me! Uh, okay.

As if finding our way to Nick’s wasn’t hard enough — parking in Chicago (we are North of Chicago, between Loyola and Northwestern Universities) is incredibly insane. At 2 AM, there are NO spots. Hunter and I circled in a four-block pattern for 45 minutes until happening upon a couple of kid’s leaving. And that was 3 blocks away from Nick’s. Whew. All tired, we went to sleep.

Saturday (officially day one), we headed up to Michigan Avenue on the “L” (elevated train). I’d just like to point out that I love public transportation. It’s great. Completely unfeasible in Louisville, but I can dream. Michigan Avenue is huge and grandiose, and it essentially has all the shops we have in Louisville. Well, most of them, I guess. But it’s a lot of expensive shops and large buildings. We ducked into the courtyard of this old church, right across from the Sears Tower. It was cool to have this ivy-covered courtyard in the middle of this bustling downtown. Pictures were taken.

Shortly afterwards, we crossed the street and headed up the other way. We were soon following behind a tall man with a long pony tail, goatee, and camoflague shoes and hat. I sort of felt this… this “power” emanating from this man. I couldn’t really explain it at first. And then — then I realized we were in the presence of a great man. “Who?” you ask.

TED NUGENT.

Ted Frickin’ Nugent. The Nuge. The Great White Hunter. Everyone on that side of the sidewalk was, for whatever reason, keeping the same beat, so it turned out that we were following His Nugeness for a couple of blocks. The Nuge, always vigilent, noted this by turning around and asking “You guys got my back, dontcha?” To which we replied with “…” (Having known that Herr Nuge had just spoken to us smaller, lesser men). Well, The Nuge eventually split away from us, and we headed to the Virgin Megastore, which was also huge and great.

I would like to point out that at this point, neither Hunter nor Nick were as convinced as I was that that was The Nuge. It was fairly safe to say that they were “doubters”. Even having had to shelve “Kill It and Grill It: Ted and Shemane Nugent’s Cookbook” nearly ever day at Barnes & Noble, they doubted this was The Nuge. Well, much debating later, this was all settled, as according to TedNugent.com, The Nuge was performing that night at Tweeter Center. Ah, sweet retribution.

Anywho, The Virgin Megastore is huge and great, and surprisingly cheap. Nick had a gift certificate from the Virgin Megastore, so browse browse, buy leave. Afterwards, we decided to head uptown to the “Boystown” area. I don’t remember the real name of that area, so “Boystown” will suffice. A pretty cool Highlands-like area with cool little shops and diners and such. We ate at Nookies Tree (the third iteration of the original Nookies), and it was a cool little diner-y joint. We checked out a couple of used record and thrift stores, and headed back home (passing Wrigley Field on the L was neat. Can’t wait until Monday!)

Later that night we headed down to the DePaul University area to catch up with Hunter’s cousin Jeremy, a political mercenary. Well, not really, but that is certainly better than “political consultant”. Anyway, he was cool. We started off at an Italian-style wine bar where none of us drank wine! So, then we headed across the street to “Kelly’s”, an Irish bar. Oh yeah. 4 pints of Guinness later and well, I don’t remember so well. Suffice it to say, I love public transportation. Ahh.

Right now, I’m eating pancakes and listening to Joey rehearsing (he’s a vocalist). It’s nice here. I think I’ll stay.

tha’ h-dog and the b-child are heading up to Chicago to visit nick for 5 days (friday may 23 – wednesday may 28). photos shall be captured and placed in the chicago gallery. more later.

usually, i get all of my scientific news from NPR, and yesterday was no different. they ran a story about “the arkive“, a huge archive of images, videos, and sounds of endangered plant and animal life (though probably not a lot of plant sounds). at the moment the whole archive is not online, but according to the NPR report they have something on the order of 74 TERABYTES of data. That’s 50 million floppy disks, folks. Check it out.

i think, sometimes, that kelly has a strange fetish with subjecting cats to what can only be called “feline bondage”. she seems preoccupied with getting the cats to use a harness. now, most cats don’t even like it when you put a piece of string on their backs, much less a harness. kelly borrowed a Size-Right Cat Harness from a friend at work, and subjected poor karen to this thing. after realizing that we had it on sideways, karen actually seemed to be okay with it. that is, until i brandished a rake at her whilst working in the garden for a moment. she flipped out and broke free from her surly bondage. kelly managed to get her back into the thing — well, almost. karen bolted into the garden, and was summarily cornered and apprehended. deciding that i didn’t want kelly to lose one of our cats, the whole fiasco ended soon afterwards. we do have photographic evidence of the whole fandango.