Good to see that I'm not the only one scared shitless by the prospect of President Palin. Watch McCain shudder at the notion.
10-31-2008
Bob Clampett Essay
Posted by Matt
Today, I came across this interesting essay about one of my heroes Bob Clampett. I don't agree with everything that the author Michael Barrier writes, but I think that his points have a lot of merit. And he argues something different than what people typically say about Clampett, which is nice to see. But mostly, this just gives me a really good excuse to post some random Clampett stills.
10-30-2008
Not To Ruin The Surprise But...
Posted by Matt
I'll probably dress up as one of these three things for Halloween:
Kate Bush
Mike Love
A Tooth
Nothing definitive, just what I'm thinking tonight. I'm probably leaning towards Kate Bush.
10-30-2008
"Sounds like a lady tryin' ta seduce me."
Posted by Zach
The sexy robocall I've been waiting for my entire life. The last line gets me the most excited.
10-28-2008
Thrash and Baseball? I bet this dog could win the world series and play a sell-out stadium all before lunch!
Posted by Zach
Watch as this BEAGLE proves that at least man's best friend is still keeping it real as the rest of the country goes to shit. Maybe he just wants out. Maybe he just wants treats. Oh, and how cute is that beagle at the end? The one who waves goodbye?
10-23-2008
Eye Rocket Interview On Smile Politely
Posted by Matt
Besides Venom, my roommate was also into Anal Cunt and we ended up listening to them a lot. They were sort of the consensus choice. A definite crowd pleaser. This is a video for their smash hit I Snuck A Retard Into A Sperm Bank. It's fun to go down memory lane...
10-22-2008
Venom!
Posted by Matt
My freshman year of high school, I had a roommate who listened to Venom non-stop. It was awesome. I loved that living situation so much.
Today my friend Dan sent me this link. It's a youtube version of a hard-to-find Venom 7". The story goes like this...Way back in 1983 Black Flag played a show with Venom in New Jersey. One of the Black Flag roadies taped Venom's act and then cut out all of the music. It was passed around a lot because everyone thought it was so hysterical and then it was released as a 7" on Thurston Moore's label Ecstatic Peace.
If you'd like to download the mp3, you can do that here.
10-21-2008
Will The Real Fans Please Stand Up?
Posted by Matt
OK, Beach Boys fans. Admit it-- this solo song from Public Enemy No. 1 Mike Love really kills it. Not to mention that it's got the best title of all time! With no further ado...Looking Back With Love by Mike Love.
10-17-2008
Pink Elephants
Posted by Matt
The Pink Elephants on Parade sequence from Dumbo scared me when I was a child. I really didn't understand what it had to do with the movie. Looking at it now, as an isolated clip, it's hard to believe that the animators managed to integrate this adventurous segment into the storyboard. It's an incredible example of color and form experimentation.
Having said all that, however, I was surprised this morning to find out what an artistic steal it was from Paul Terry's Terrytoons cartoon from 1937 called, ahem, Pink Elephants. The Hollywood Animation Archive, a non-profit, has remastered this cartoon and you can watch it here.
I'm certainly not knocking the Disney version, which is better. It's just, wow, what a steal.
10-16-2008
Is She Hip Or Is She Ethnic?
Posted by Matt
Since I've moved to Chicago, I've started a new game that I play as I'm walking around my neighborhood. It's called Is She Hip Or Is She Ethnic? Sometimes it's really hard to tell if I'm looking at a hipster or a Polish immigrant. Let's play....
Captain Picard jokes are like fine wine. They just keep getting funnier with age. My little cousin Stephen was back from college last week and he showed me these Picard jokes/webpages. I can't embed them, so I'll list the links.
I found this on another blog, but I think it's ok to repost it. As a matter of fact, try to stop me. This is an incredible speech given to the United Steelworkers. I wish Obama could take out 8 minute ads and play this in between segments of Grey's Anatomy. Great stuff.
10-08-2008
SPX 2008
Posted by Matt
Eye Rocket made its first trip to SPX this year. It was a really fun opportunity to meet other small publishers and comic book artists from around the country. We'll definitely be back again next year. But why spend time talking about the positive?
FIVE DISAPPOINTING TRENDS FROM SPX 2008
THE PAPER RAD GOOMBAS - Wow, your collective makes gaudy-colored comic books with nonsensical plots and interlocking pyramids? How exciting! And, oh my god, no way! You guys make shitty music too! And you're going to let me listen to it on a red-and-yellow painted Walkman?! That's so awesome! We should splinter off and start a Small Press and Terrible Multimedia Expo! That way we can take time to watch your awesome digital stills of cats walking like Egyptians on your orange TV! Thank god for this amazing influx of daring and original ideas! Because that's why these crazy, nonsensical diarrhea-line comic books are so appealing, right? Cause it's so crazy and original! Let's go snort coke at McDonald's and make a documentary about it.
NICE SILKSCREEN COVER, SO WHERE'S THE STORY? - Did you know that the silkscreen was invented in China during the Song dynasty in 970 CE to trick patrons into thinking that comic book artists had put more than five minutes of thought into their comics? No, really, a silkscreen cover is a very exciting way to let shoppers know that there are 14 badly xeroxed and improperly trimmed pages inside. At least it's an art-object...
COOL BOOKS FANTAGRAPHICS, WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR COMICS? Ummm, didn't Fantagraphics used to sell comic books? Even their "comic book selection" barely contained any publications that would have been identified as comics five years ago. Wouldn't Dash Shaw's The Bottomless Belly Button have been more exciting if it had been published as a serial in comic book format? Sadly, my all-time favorite Love And Rockets has switched to a Baker & Taylor-friendly "graphic novel" binding too. Let me say Fantagraphics remains one of my favorite publishers. The trend toward "graphic novels" is making me nervous, though.
WHAT AN AWESOME OPPORTUNITY TO BUY COMICS FROM SPX GUEST OF HONOR JOOST SWORTE - Except, he wasn't at his table, he didn't show up to sign books when he was supposed to, and, oh yeah, none of his comics or books were on sale.
WHAT, NO SOCIALLY AWKWARD CONVERSATIONS? j/k. I know bookish people are socially awkward, but realllllyyyyy.... C'mon guys. It's time to bring out the led.
9-21-2008
Polar Bears v Sarah Palin
Posted by Matt
I'm happy to see the polar bears out in full force. Sarah Palin sux.
9-13-2008
Caglar
Posted by Matt
My good friend Tristan called me a couple months ago to tell me about the movie Off The Charts. I'd told him a couple weeks prior that I'd been listening to a really great collection of song-poems and so he told me about this documentary. It's all about the song-poem industry. Well, I didn't like the movie very much and I immediately called him and told him that, which he thought was a very charming gesture. We haven't spoken since, but I watch this clip from the movie almost every week. It's one of the song-poem writers Caglar Juan Singletary. Great stuff.
And Tristan, my bad. I'll call you soon.
8-24-2008
Runnin' One More Time
Posted by Matt
I went to lunch with my friend Peter today and he gave me a cd with this track on it. This is the David Lee Roth vocal only track to Van Halen's Runnin' With The Devil. An engineer leaked it from the original tapes. Enjoy. This really made my day.
