A Pleasurable Headache: Grab a little Headspace
Updates
Not a long one this week as things seem to be in that “I have projects, so many projects, but none are at the stage where I gab about them here” stage. I am up to six current projects across comics and prose that I’m editing.
So that’s cool.
Recently, friend and fellow Thought Balloon alumni Grant Mclaughlin got in touch and showed me a new comics of his that he’s recently finished. I won’t spoil details but it was a beautiful and fantastic one shot that was not just a satisfying read in its own right but really lit a fire under me in terms of my own work. Grant can be found here and here on the web. Keep your eyes peeled.
Headspace Kickstarter
The Kickstarter campaign for the digital omnibus of Headspace is currently live!
For those not familiar, Headspace was a series I edited that originally appeared via Monkeybrain and IDW. The series was written by Ryan K Lindsay, with art by Eric Zawadzki and Sebastian Piriz, and colours by Marissa Louise and Dee Cunniffe.
“HEADSPACE is about Shane Garretty, the sheriff of Carpenter Cove, who comes to realise his town is exceptionally weird, and may not exist in the reality he thought it did. SPOILERS the town is in the mind of a killer, and Shane has no idea how he got in, or how to get out.
But if he’s in the mind of a killer, then perhaps he can create some positive change for the world.
Then, actually out in the real world, the killer with the town in his mind goes on the run.
What ensues is a wild ride that’s like a Philip K Dick story if adapted by John Carpenter. The book might be about responsibility, and the choices we make, but it’s also got dog-headed bartenders, spontaneous tidal waves, and a boat made out of dead bodies.”
In addition to that wildness, the omnibus will also collect the back matter essays I did for the series (previously only available in the single issues). These pieces were a huge joy to write, covering such topics as The Prisoner, Operation Paperclip and the use of off the shelf tech for nefarious deeds.
Please click through to the Kickstarter link above and drink in those pledge rewards. The campaign is currently sitting at just over $2600 Australian. If the campaign reaches $3000 then this little beauty will ne unleashed on the world.
This is an eBook collection of the many discussion pieces Ryan and I have done over the years on the various bits of pop culture we love.
Links
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The always fantastic Geoff Manaugh writes in the NY Times about a man’s disappearance in Joshua Tree National Park.
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Another week, another amazing profile piece on a perennial personal hero, Donald Glover. This time it’s the turn of The New Yorker.
“Authenticity is the journey of figuring out who you are through what you make.”
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Jacobin on What the Saudis Have Wrought.
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Alien and the tropes of horror.
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Michael Mann in discussion about Heat.
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An absolutely fascinating article on Australian author Gerald Murnane, someone I had, admittedly, not heard of before reading this NY Times piece. There is a singularity of purpose and an earthy, analogue tone to Murnane’s outlook on writing and creativity that is really inspiring.
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The NY Times again, this time a short article on two teenagers whose obsession is editing Wikipedia articles on the NY subway system.
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Staying on teenage outlooks, here’s the thoughts of three teenagers on quitting social media.
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Matt Zoller Seitz penned an excellent review over at Vulture on Ricky Gervais’ new Netflix special, Humanity.
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Anne Theriault on the fascinating Eleanor of Aquitaine.
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What would the newsletter be without another scathing takedown of Jordan Peterson’s work?
“Peterson appears to have read widely, which is to say: not deeply. Many academic bullshit merchants have done queasy work jamming thinly understood Big Concepts into stocking-stuffer books, but never have they tried to force Charles Darwin, Carl Jung, Jesus Christ, Goethe, Dante, Erich Neumann, Yeats, and literally hundreds of others into a fucking Huffington Post listicle.”
- On a completely unrelated note this short post on Carl Sagan’s methods of critical thinking and bullshit detection is timely.
“Try not to get overly attached to a hypothesis just because it’s yours. It’s only a way station in the pursuit of knowledge. Ask yourself why you like the idea. Compare it fairly with the alternatives. See if you can find reasons for rejecting it. If you don’t, others will.”
- Evan Narcisse wrote a lot about comics during his time at io9. His piece on how writing comics taught him what he didn’t know is a good read.
“Comics are a very specific sort of collaboration and the aforementioned loneliness can make you get precious about a script. But that impulse to be precious fades away when you learn you can trust the other members of a creative team.”
And on editors:
“They make your words better, sometimes by subtraction or addition. They find artists that match the sensibilities you didn’t even realize were lurking in your story. They stand in for the reader who, remember, hasn’t been turning over each element of this story in their head for months and months. They enforce deadlines without upending the delicate alchemy you need to make the work happen.”
That’s a good a mission statement as any right there.
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The darker side of comics nowadays.
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Marvel at the absolute engineering and design feat that is the modern cruise ship. Amazing stuff.