Literally Just A Bunch Of Things

THINGS!

I am multitasking a bit right now, so this week is just a compendium of things. Hello from out here on the Thames Delta, where you will find no opinions on BARBIE or OPPENHEIMER because I haven’t seen either of them. I’ve been watching a lot of stuff on MUBI or descending into the more random and obscure corners of Amazon Prime Video, and occasionally shopping for blu-rays. Which have become so devalued by streaming that I picked up TENET for three quid. Don’t look at me like that. I haven’t been outside or seen anyone I’m not related to in over three years. This is what I have instead.

THE OFFICE FOR THE PRESERVATION OF NORMALCY

This artist has done more than a dozen posters like this, and they’re all at this link here, it seems. 

I liked this one, too:

Philip Bond, a beloved artist and terribly underrated writer, has released a 20-page PDF zine along with famed editor Shelly Bond which is free for maybe another ten days so go quick quick to this link here and grab it. It’s a fun little thing.

I feel like there’s a universe where Philip Bond and Nick Abadzis became the most famous graphic novel writers of their generation, and I kind of wish I lived in it.

So I’ve been using Beehiiv for about a year now to write and send these letters, and I’ve got to say, I would recommend it. It gives me most of the stuff Campaign Monitor did back in the day, for half the price. If you’re looking into paying for a premium newsletter hosting service, say moving from Tinyletter or Substack, then at this point I have to say Beehiiv would now be an excellent first choice. (Also, you can set up a free plan with a cap of 2500 subscribers to test drive it.) I came in just as they were really getting moving, so there were a couple of pain points — and they reply to emails, fast and fully, and get shit fixed for you, and that alone was a huge reason for me to hang around and see what happened.

If this is useful to you, click through. The Republic of Newsletters needs to be this smooth and easy. I’ve recommended other newsletter host providers to you in the past. This is the one I recommend to other people now.

I feel like the term “media diet” just reinforces the current “content consumers” label for people who like to experience arts. “Content consumers” just summons the image of a trough full of gruel. Also, calling you a “content consumer” gives you a good idea of what they really think of you.

ART LIFE THIS WEEK:

• THE STREET OF CROCODILES, Bruno Schulz, trans. Celina Wieniewska

• PAKLIS #7, Dustin Weaver’s comics masterclass.

• BURIAL (2022), dir. Emilija Škarnulytė

• CANTI DI GUERRA, DI LAVORO E D'AMORE, Silvia Tarozzi & Deborah Walker

A clever bit of comics from issue 10 of KAYA by Wes Craig and Jason Wordie from Image Comics. Go look for a copy and pay attention to the black-and-yellow sequences. Very well done.

We have now built all six episodes of DEPARTMENT OF MIDNIGHT, we have our main theme and music cues, and so the whole thing is off to post for clean up and sound design. It has all taken a lot longer than we expected, and we’ll see if we can’t speed that up for the next one. We have learned many lessons. not the least of which was that I figured I was probably writing a forty-second page and I really wasn’t.

I did a short piece for someone and they liked it so much that they asked if it could be turned into a longer piece, and I’m waiting to hear back on the rough outline I knocked together. So either that’s an 8 page piece to be published next year or a 48 page piece to be published next year.

If I’m lucky, as you read this, I’ll be into the last lap of scripting PROJECT LOST SIERRA. If I’m not, then as you read this I will be crying in the garden

GOT MORE TIME?

KEEP READING

• Secretary To Lucifer Himself - Peter Capaldi and Matt Berry

• Harry’s Wand - yes, that Harry

• Occupy St Paul’s - I saw Billy Bragg once

• Secret Machines - once or twice a week I go looking for art

• Accessions - another vain attempt to log my book buying

I’m off. Much to do. Including rehoming a cat here, apparently. This week is likely to be a nightmare. Don’t be like me! Keep life quiet and soft and be good to yourself. See you next week, probably.

W