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Comics!
Apr. 27th, 2009 | 08:45 pm
So I bought a couple of compilations from the comics students in which are completely unrelated to the comics students in Hofors, since I ran into an old classmate who was featured in one of them. Some of this really sucks terribly. I mean, I'm not an artist and would probably do worse than most (but not all, surprisingly) of what was featured in these, but then again I'm not studying how to make comics worth 120 points (that's "högskolepoäng" in Swedish. Full time studies are 20 points minimum a term, so 120 points is three years of studying at most. As was pointed out to me, though, this course is only two years long, which I suppose means they read 30 points a term. More than I read as a student, but then again, I was a pretty bad student).
Anyway, I figured I'd go through the first volume and tell you a bit about it. Here's comic royale, Volume 2.
Jimmy i Parken by Johan Jergner-Ekervik
Translated title: Jimmy in the Park
A boy (Jimmy) walks to the park with a loaf of bread and feeds the ducks. Afterwards he returns to his apartment, and while sitting at the table with a cup of coffee, the doorbell rings. Jimmy opens the door, and encounters a girl with a duck's face. He lets her in and feeds her a loaf of bread, like the other ducks. The girl leaves and the comic ends.
The comic has no words, save for the quacking of the ducks and the duck girl. The art is simple and functional, bearing witness of little artistic talent but serving its purpose.
Blodhunden Sören by Elin Hjulström
Translated title: Sören the Bloodhound
Sören is a bloodhound detective in a world inhabited by anthropomorphic dogs. He believes himself to be intelligent and a master detective, but is proven to be more of a klutz in a series of short episodes. There is also a chief of police eating donuts, and Sören has a sidekick who seems interested in learning from his superior, not realizing that he's assisting a dunce.
Recognize the character descriptions? Of course you do, they're the same clichés you've seen a million times already. The art is on the same level as what you'd expect to see on the children's menu of a sub-par roadside hamburger restaurant; bland, and increasingly grating the more you look at it.
Gamla Människor Rostar Inte by Fyffe Lignell
Translated title: Old People Don't Rust
This is an illustrated monologue about the author's thoughts on old people. Apparently they're all encased in their own little bubbles, holding all the typical attributes of grandmothers and grandfathers (a constant smell of coffee, loudly ticking clocks, all that jazz).
The art is simple and gives off typical Swedish indie comic vibes; the perspective's generally pretty off, everyone is ugly (of course, they're old, so that's a valid explanation of that), and absolutely nothing of any interest is going on visually. As a whole, it's "okay". That is to say, it doesn't exactly hurt to read, but it's also completely devoid of any worth whatsoever.
Persephone by David Lundmark
A girl is holding a pill, remarking that it's "45 milligrams of happiness". There is an introspective monologue as a rain of shrapnel begins to fall, cutting the girl all over, and the pressure of the air is too high for her to breathe. The girl swallows the pill and finds herself in a hospidal bed, the wounds on her face no longer present.
Not bad, overall. It seems to be an excerpt of something a lot longer, and what little is seen here isn't terribly interesting in its text, but the art is fairly good. I could see this being published properly.
Ghost by Maria Fröhlich
A girl is walking through a forest, carrying an enormous sword. A masked individual jumps from a tree and attacks her with a knife, fighting in the style of typical comics ninjas. During the fight, the mask is broken, revealing the face of an old lady, who then flees. The girl finds herself lying on the ground, thinking "this won't be a good day". Her sword is broken.
This comic is obviously very influenced b y manga, but it works out pretty well. The art is appealing rather than appalling, and doesn't look like stereotypical manga at all; no huge eyes, spiky hair or anything - the manga-like elements are in what happens instead, which I'm strangely okay with. I wouldn't read this as an ongoing comic, but I certainly didn't mind this oneshot.
Zonfararen del 2: Vinsents Vrede by Anders Thelin
Translated title: The Zone Traveller, part 2: Vinsent's Wrath
Now, I realize that this probably doesn't seem like an important question, but who the fuck spells it "Vinsent"? I mean, "Vincent" is generally a pretty cool name, and "Vinzent" is somewhat acceptable, but "Vinsent"? That's just the name of a dyslexic goth couple's son.
Anyway, this comic seems to be about a couple of thieves trying to escape from a guy called Vinsent, who's kind of a dick and also has googly eyes. I won't do a complete plot summary because it's pretty long and also utterly confusing. I just don't know what's going on most of the time. At some point I think they're being chased by Hellboy. One of the thieves is human and the other is an anthopomorphic rat. Generally the inhabitants of this world seem to be a mixed bag.
The art is horrid. Not the kind of horrid where you immediately just skip it even if you're devoted to writing about it like me, but the kind of horrid where it could have sort of turned out decent with a bit more practice and also if the artist was 13 years old. Imagine the cartoon "Superjail", but as a comic in black and white and pretending to not just be shabbily thrown together. In addition to all of that, the author obviously has a huge hard-on for typical manga bullshit. Fuck this comic.
Metrologican by Gustaf Lord
The Gods of weather are having their annual meeting, discussing the results of their labours during the previous year and planning a business trip.
Interesting idea to begin with, sure. Too bad the author just doesn't do anything interesting with it at all. This is just incredibly dull. It doesn't help that the art is the ugliest in the compilation so far. Now, don't confuse "ugliest" with "worst" - that award goes to Vinsent and friends. No, the art of this comic just looks like shit in a completely unremarkable way.
My Cup of Tea by Lisa Hollsten
A girl sits at a table, dipping a teabag into a cup of tea. A fish grabs at the teabag and pulls it into the sea. The girl opens her eyes in the sea, then finds herself back at the table with her cup of tea.
There are no words in this comic. No sound effects either, just a series of images. The images convey what happens fairly well, and it all looks mostly like a colouring book. Very light shadows, clearly defined areas, all that. Very clear, very efficient in conveying the "story", and vey boring.
En Liter Mjölk by Tom Waldton
Translated title: A Liter of Milk
A guy goes to the store to buy some groceries, and sees a girl there who he recognizes from a party. He thinks she's cute, but does not dare to greet her. The carton of milk in his shopping basket comes to life in his mind, trying to convince him that he really should talk to her, and she'll be happy to see him. He argues with the milk (representing a different part of his personality, duh) for a while, then submits to its reasoning and decides that he really should talk to her. So he snaps out of it, and finds himself face to face with the cashier, demanding that he pays for his things and moves on as a queue is forming. The guy's in shock for a while, and then pays. He sees the girl talking to someone else, sighs, and leaves.
The art in this comic is really light, like the author just didn't press the pen to the paper hard enough. As a result, it's hard to make out at times. All the facial expressions are also really off somehow. It's not necessarily bad, per se, but I personally really hate the art in this.
There! That was a little less than half of the stuff in comic royale 2. I enjoyed writing this even if nobody reads it, so I'll probably do the rest at another time.
Anyway, I figured I'd go through the first volume and tell you a bit about it. Here's comic royale, Volume 2.
Jimmy i Parken by Johan Jergner-Ekervik
Translated title: Jimmy in the Park
A boy (Jimmy) walks to the park with a loaf of bread and feeds the ducks. Afterwards he returns to his apartment, and while sitting at the table with a cup of coffee, the doorbell rings. Jimmy opens the door, and encounters a girl with a duck's face. He lets her in and feeds her a loaf of bread, like the other ducks. The girl leaves and the comic ends.
The comic has no words, save for the quacking of the ducks and the duck girl. The art is simple and functional, bearing witness of little artistic talent but serving its purpose.
Blodhunden Sören by Elin Hjulström
Translated title: Sören the Bloodhound
Sören is a bloodhound detective in a world inhabited by anthropomorphic dogs. He believes himself to be intelligent and a master detective, but is proven to be more of a klutz in a series of short episodes. There is also a chief of police eating donuts, and Sören has a sidekick who seems interested in learning from his superior, not realizing that he's assisting a dunce.
Recognize the character descriptions? Of course you do, they're the same clichés you've seen a million times already. The art is on the same level as what you'd expect to see on the children's menu of a sub-par roadside hamburger restaurant; bland, and increasingly grating the more you look at it.
Gamla Människor Rostar Inte by Fyffe Lignell
Translated title: Old People Don't Rust
This is an illustrated monologue about the author's thoughts on old people. Apparently they're all encased in their own little bubbles, holding all the typical attributes of grandmothers and grandfathers (a constant smell of coffee, loudly ticking clocks, all that jazz).
The art is simple and gives off typical Swedish indie comic vibes; the perspective's generally pretty off, everyone is ugly (of course, they're old, so that's a valid explanation of that), and absolutely nothing of any interest is going on visually. As a whole, it's "okay". That is to say, it doesn't exactly hurt to read, but it's also completely devoid of any worth whatsoever.
Persephone by David Lundmark
A girl is holding a pill, remarking that it's "45 milligrams of happiness". There is an introspective monologue as a rain of shrapnel begins to fall, cutting the girl all over, and the pressure of the air is too high for her to breathe. The girl swallows the pill and finds herself in a hospidal bed, the wounds on her face no longer present.
Not bad, overall. It seems to be an excerpt of something a lot longer, and what little is seen here isn't terribly interesting in its text, but the art is fairly good. I could see this being published properly.
Ghost by Maria Fröhlich
A girl is walking through a forest, carrying an enormous sword. A masked individual jumps from a tree and attacks her with a knife, fighting in the style of typical comics ninjas. During the fight, the mask is broken, revealing the face of an old lady, who then flees. The girl finds herself lying on the ground, thinking "this won't be a good day". Her sword is broken.
This comic is obviously very influenced b y manga, but it works out pretty well. The art is appealing rather than appalling, and doesn't look like stereotypical manga at all; no huge eyes, spiky hair or anything - the manga-like elements are in what happens instead, which I'm strangely okay with. I wouldn't read this as an ongoing comic, but I certainly didn't mind this oneshot.
Zonfararen del 2: Vinsents Vrede by Anders Thelin
Translated title: The Zone Traveller, part 2: Vinsent's Wrath
Now, I realize that this probably doesn't seem like an important question, but who the fuck spells it "Vinsent"? I mean, "Vincent" is generally a pretty cool name, and "Vinzent" is somewhat acceptable, but "Vinsent"? That's just the name of a dyslexic goth couple's son.
Anyway, this comic seems to be about a couple of thieves trying to escape from a guy called Vinsent, who's kind of a dick and also has googly eyes. I won't do a complete plot summary because it's pretty long and also utterly confusing. I just don't know what's going on most of the time. At some point I think they're being chased by Hellboy. One of the thieves is human and the other is an anthopomorphic rat. Generally the inhabitants of this world seem to be a mixed bag.
The art is horrid. Not the kind of horrid where you immediately just skip it even if you're devoted to writing about it like me, but the kind of horrid where it could have sort of turned out decent with a bit more practice and also if the artist was 13 years old. Imagine the cartoon "Superjail", but as a comic in black and white and pretending to not just be shabbily thrown together. In addition to all of that, the author obviously has a huge hard-on for typical manga bullshit. Fuck this comic.
Metrologican by Gustaf Lord
The Gods of weather are having their annual meeting, discussing the results of their labours during the previous year and planning a business trip.
Interesting idea to begin with, sure. Too bad the author just doesn't do anything interesting with it at all. This is just incredibly dull. It doesn't help that the art is the ugliest in the compilation so far. Now, don't confuse "ugliest" with "worst" - that award goes to Vinsent and friends. No, the art of this comic just looks like shit in a completely unremarkable way.
My Cup of Tea by Lisa Hollsten
A girl sits at a table, dipping a teabag into a cup of tea. A fish grabs at the teabag and pulls it into the sea. The girl opens her eyes in the sea, then finds herself back at the table with her cup of tea.
There are no words in this comic. No sound effects either, just a series of images. The images convey what happens fairly well, and it all looks mostly like a colouring book. Very light shadows, clearly defined areas, all that. Very clear, very efficient in conveying the "story", and vey boring.
En Liter Mjölk by Tom Waldton
Translated title: A Liter of Milk
A guy goes to the store to buy some groceries, and sees a girl there who he recognizes from a party. He thinks she's cute, but does not dare to greet her. The carton of milk in his shopping basket comes to life in his mind, trying to convince him that he really should talk to her, and she'll be happy to see him. He argues with the milk (representing a different part of his personality, duh) for a while, then submits to its reasoning and decides that he really should talk to her. So he snaps out of it, and finds himself face to face with the cashier, demanding that he pays for his things and moves on as a queue is forming. The guy's in shock for a while, and then pays. He sees the girl talking to someone else, sighs, and leaves.
The art in this comic is really light, like the author just didn't press the pen to the paper hard enough. As a result, it's hard to make out at times. All the facial expressions are also really off somehow. It's not necessarily bad, per se, but I personally really hate the art in this.
There! That was a little less than half of the stuff in comic royale 2. I enjoyed writing this even if nobody reads it, so I'll probably do the rest at another time.
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IPRED
Apr. 4th, 2009 | 12:51 am
IPRED, the Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive, went into effect in Sweden on April first. It allows record companies and such to request information on possible file sharers from their ISP:s, and obviously that means a lot more file sharers will be caught. Some have already received notices, which as far as I understand it offer them the choice of settling it monetarily or taking it up in court. Newspapers are reporting that internet traffic has halved since this came into effect. Halved. In three days. It's pretty crazy.
Personally I think it'll be interesting to see how this affects music sales and concert attendance. My bets are on somewhere between "not really" and "shit, this is going worse than when people pirated the stuff", particularly for concerts.
Meanwhile, there's a lot of really good free music out there.
Personally I think it'll be interesting to see how this affects music sales and concert attendance. My bets are on somewhere between "not really" and "shit, this is going worse than when people pirated the stuff", particularly for concerts.
Meanwhile, there's a lot of really good free music out there.
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Byrnen' Down The House
Mar. 18th, 2009 | 02:12 am
So I just saw David Byrne. He played some songs, sung a bit, and even danced a bit.
David Byrne is a pretty cool guy.
David Byrne is a pretty cool guy.
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(no subject)
Mar. 8th, 2009 | 10:19 pm
Hey. Don't eat Hawaiian Baby Woodrose seeds.
Really, don't.
Really, don't.
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(no subject)
Mar. 2nd, 2009 | 08:40 pm
So, my grandmother got a new computer a couple of weeks ago, and me and my brother went to set it up for her. She had her old computer, a big old desktop running Windows 98, set up on a shelf in her walk-in closet. This machine could not compete with a PSX in computing power, and I'm not even exaggerating. That computer was too weak to view pictures with. This computer had been set up by her boyfriend a year or so back, with a grey and filthy old Model M keyboard, a serial mouse(!), and a brand new, very nice LCD monitor. Odd priorities, I think, but whatever; when she was first introduced to computers they were using holecards. Can't really expect her to keep up with today's technology.
So anyhow, me and my brother were bringing with us a pretty decent laptop running Windows XP. Nothing fantastic, but since all she wanted to be able to do was to surf the internet, send emails and look at pictues it should be more than sufficient. So we started by exporting her IE favourites and Outlook Express contacts and sending them to my email (since she did not know her own address) in order to make them available on the new machine, then started disconnecting the beast. This was a bit of an adventure in its own, since the computer was sitting on this shelf which was a bit too high up to reach behind and unplug the cables easily. Anyway, it took a bit of effort, but we got it done. We couldn't remove the old computer though, since it was just too large and heavy to get down from there (neither me nor my brother is particularly strong, and it was too high up for anyone to want to risk doing that balance act). So it had to sit there, but that was fine since the laptop wouldn't have worked there anyhow; there wouldn't have been enough room to open the lid and start it. The laptop would have to be on the tiny desk, where before there was only a monitor, keyboard and mouse.
Of course there wasn't enough room for that. The keyboard any mouse would have to go anyhow, since no modern computer has a COM port and much less a serial port, but it seemed like a bit of a pity to ditch that nice monitor. Our grandmother seemed willing to make that sacrifice however, so it'd have to go.
Anyway, this story is getting a bit long and isn't very interesting, so I'll stop describing the process. It took a lot longer than I expected when going there, but worked out well enough in the end. Then our grandmother decided that my brother deserved to get paid for this (she didn't offer me any money, but she didn't expect me to turn up to begin with so that's perfectly understandable to me), which I think is to be both expected and declined when doing a favour for a relative who after working for 40 years in medical care earned less than I did at my first job. My brother obviously didn't think of it that way though, and happily took the money. I'm a bit ashamed of that.
When my grandmother worked in medical care, her pay at the time of retirement (again, after 40 years at the same place of employment, although with changing responsibilities) was around 17 000:-. When I started my current job five months ago, I got 18 300:- right off the bat, which recently increased to 19 600:-. This is with no formal education in the field (PC tech support) and not a whole lot of other education besides the 12 years total of school that are pretty much mandatory, and maybe a formal total of a year of truly relevant experience (a bit more if you count working with computer rather than for computers, if you catch my meaning). My point is that this is pretty fucked up. My grandmother probably knows a lot more about medical care and equipment than I know about computers, and yet she's never earned as much money as I started off earning.
So anyhow, me and my brother were bringing with us a pretty decent laptop running Windows XP. Nothing fantastic, but since all she wanted to be able to do was to surf the internet, send emails and look at pictues it should be more than sufficient. So we started by exporting her IE favourites and Outlook Express contacts and sending them to my email (since she did not know her own address) in order to make them available on the new machine, then started disconnecting the beast. This was a bit of an adventure in its own, since the computer was sitting on this shelf which was a bit too high up to reach behind and unplug the cables easily. Anyway, it took a bit of effort, but we got it done. We couldn't remove the old computer though, since it was just too large and heavy to get down from there (neither me nor my brother is particularly strong, and it was too high up for anyone to want to risk doing that balance act). So it had to sit there, but that was fine since the laptop wouldn't have worked there anyhow; there wouldn't have been enough room to open the lid and start it. The laptop would have to be on the tiny desk, where before there was only a monitor, keyboard and mouse.
Of course there wasn't enough room for that. The keyboard any mouse would have to go anyhow, since no modern computer has a COM port and much less a serial port, but it seemed like a bit of a pity to ditch that nice monitor. Our grandmother seemed willing to make that sacrifice however, so it'd have to go.
Anyway, this story is getting a bit long and isn't very interesting, so I'll stop describing the process. It took a lot longer than I expected when going there, but worked out well enough in the end. Then our grandmother decided that my brother deserved to get paid for this (she didn't offer me any money, but she didn't expect me to turn up to begin with so that's perfectly understandable to me), which I think is to be both expected and declined when doing a favour for a relative who after working for 40 years in medical care earned less than I did at my first job. My brother obviously didn't think of it that way though, and happily took the money. I'm a bit ashamed of that.
When my grandmother worked in medical care, her pay at the time of retirement (again, after 40 years at the same place of employment, although with changing responsibilities) was around 17 000:-. When I started my current job five months ago, I got 18 300:- right off the bat, which recently increased to 19 600:-. This is with no formal education in the field (PC tech support) and not a whole lot of other education besides the 12 years total of school that are pretty much mandatory, and maybe a formal total of a year of truly relevant experience (a bit more if you count working with computer rather than for computers, if you catch my meaning). My point is that this is pretty fucked up. My grandmother probably knows a lot more about medical care and equipment than I know about computers, and yet she's never earned as much money as I started off earning.
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(no subject)
Sep. 26th, 2007 | 11:06 am
I'm really not likely to start writing here any time soon. If you really want to, you can go here instead.