10-08-2009
Two New Articles On Vice
Posted by Matt
This article is about my favorite 90210 book ever Beverly Hills 90210: Which Way To The Beach.
This article is about wonderful British fashion designer Louise Gray.
08-18-2009
New Article On Vice
Posted by Matt
Check out my new article on Vice online. It's pictures of tweens acting nar-nar at six flags.
08-04-2009
Money, Money, Money///
Posted by Matt
Lately I've been thinking a lot about how independent publishing is just as tied up in the market as anything else. You'd like to think that isn't the case because this is our passion and we love it and all that jazz, but the reality is that when Countrywide and Lehman Brothers failed, the independent publishing community probably lost at least 35% of its titles. At least.
Consumers don't have as much money, nor do shops, artists, publishing houses, etc etc. It's gonna be really interesting to see how this plays out at SPX and APE this year.
Anyway, I just wanted to link to a couple articles monitoring the business end of publishing. This one's about advertising revenue in popular media. Here's the fun fact: "By 2013, the video game market will be almost the size of the shrinking newspaper industry."
Here's another one: "An interesting shift occurred in 2008... For the first time, consumers spent more time with media they paid for, like books or cable television, than with primarily ad-supported media, like newspapers and magazines."
Wow. I think that's crazy.
This article's about how the Japanese are buying manga on their cell phones and how that's having a positive effect on their publishing industry. It's interesting, but I doubt this carries over to independent publishing. Although you never know, certain Fantagraphics titles might be well-suited to this, such as Dennis the Menace & Peanuts.
07-18-2009
New Article On Vice Online
Posted by Matt
Check out my new article on vice online. It's about that gay porno, T4.
06-01-2009
Say What?
Posted by Matt
In case you happen to be looking to purchase a Sterling Silver Stud Earring Set, may I also suggest The National Science Fair Of Amazing New Discoveries? I think you might find it be a related product.... No, really...
05-31-2009
CBS News breaks it open!
Posted by Zach
Check out these great baseball illustrations from the first issue of Nintendo Power.
05-14-2009
The Whistler
Posted by Matt
Hey!
If you're in Chicago next week, come check out Matt & Zach at the Show 'N' Tell Show at The Whistler on May 20th at 7 pm. Hosted by Zach Dodson and Mike Renaud of Featherproof Books, this show will be a Book Design Special. The Show 'N' Tell Show is always free and always fun. In addition to Matt & Zach, this month's show will feature presentations by Jay Ryan, Paul Hornshemeier, David Barringer, and Doug Fogelson. It promises to be a great time! But come early as shows usually reach max cap!
AND you might just get to hear Todd read one of his very own stories....in his very own voice!
ABOUT THE ARTISTS:
Jay Ryan runs the bird machine, a screen print poster workshop. He has designed the posters and cover art for a kazillion bands, including Shellac, Fugazi & Dianogah.
Paul Hornshemeier is an award-winning comic book artist. His last two books Let Us Be Perfectly Clear and The Three Paradoxes were published by Fantagraphics.
David Barringer is the designer of Opium Magazine. Four of his short stories have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and his essays have appeared in Best American Essays 2007 and Best American Non-Required Reading 2005.
Doug Fogelson runs Front Forty Press. He has published such books as Inner City Light and Graffitecture: Chicago Graffiti Artists Attack Photographic Spaces.
Zach Huelsing & Matt Kessler are excellent guys who always say nice things about people who are in the other room.
The Whistler
2421 N Milwaukee
Chicago, IL
May 20th
7 pm
$0.00
05-13-2009
Nice Review of Todd's
Posted by Matt
This is my new favorite thing. [It's] called Todd's Favorite Adult Actors And Their Favorite Flowers. It's maybe the best thing in the nation right now.
So, anyway, from Kindergarten through 5th grade or so, I pretty consistently considered this one guy, Chris Murray, to be my best friend. Chris and I were interested in games and art, and we spent a lot of time playing Nintendo. But when we drew, we were total opposites. My line was always very tight, and Chris expressed a certain freedom to his movements that I've never fully come to terms with. It was the same freedom that art teachers have always told me to find in my drawings. I've even been instructed to try downing a few beers before drawing, in the hope that I won't care as much about my lines. While I understand what could be gained by this, I've pretty much decided that this is all a bunch of bunk. You know, to each his own. With that, I give you Chris Murray's art.
You can check out more of Chris Murray's artwork at his site.
04-25-2009
Labs with Abs/Blingee
Posted by Zach
Matt and I must have been channeling the same energies, cuz I was just about to get onto the blog to talk up my copy of Labs with Abs, when I noticed that it was by the very same guy who was partly responsible for the last video that Matt posted by the Manipulators. So I guess you could say that we're fans of Andrew Jeffrey Wright.
Go ahead and order Labs with Abs for a quick laugh. Just a funny idea carried out really well. There are enough reviews of this on the net, if you want further convincing.
But then sort of on another note, sort of related, a co-worker of mine showed me the website, Blingee.com. You can use the site to deface photos, which is obviously a long-standing favorite activity around here. So this is kind of related to the Manipulators thing, but maybe more related to the fact that I have to get Matt back for posting that photo of me looking at the gross "Meg White" porn. Although I'm not totally sure this is adequate payback. This may be a gift.
04-15-2009
This Is Really Fun
Posted by Matt
The Manipulators...
04-06-2009
Opening Day!
Posted by Matt
Baseball starts today! Yay! This is a picture from an Opening Day Parade the Baltimore Orioles had in 1954. I looooooooooooooove those O's!
04-03-2009
God I Hate This Asshole...
Posted by Matt
I love this asshole, though...
04-03-2009
Speedy
Posted by Zach
This cartoon is the first appearance of Speedy Gonzalez. It's cool how Speedy embodies a totally different sort of racist caricature in his first design. Cool.
And here we have R. Crumb's drawing of Serena from Art and Beauty Magazine issue number 2. Not only do I think that this is a spectacular drawing, it is also in one of my favorite comics of all time. The comic is published by Fantagraphics Books.
04-01-2009
Serena PART 1
Posted by Zach
We all remember this, right? In the Summer of 2002, Serena Williams was the number one ranked female tennis player in the world (as she is now), and she showed up to the US Open wearing this:
Serena went on to win the tournament. She also clearly inspired a comic "great" while she was at it. I'll touch on that later, but I want to focus right now on... more Serena.
