Ask Me Nothing
This one's got a great new podcast with Dan Goldman, and a mini-update with some nice photos, plus a haiku
The Virtual Memories Show News
A 2x/week email about a podcast about books & life
Podcastery
This week, I posted Episode 650 of my Virtual Memories Show. feat. writer/cartoonist Dan Goldman and his wildly entertaining graphic novel of midlife, the afterlife, and the south Florida real estate market, RED LIGHT PROPERTIES: Unfinished Business (Kinjin Storylab). We talk about how the concept for RLP grabbed hold of him 20+ years back & never let go, why the story had to take place in/around Miami, how his work in video games and TV/movies affected his world-building in comics. We get into the peak life experiences of making this book, the transition from digital to print, why he set the book in landscape, the role of the “invisible” elements of comics design, the impact Scott McCloud’s Reinventing Comics had on him, why the next season of Red Light Properties — Gut Renovations — will be “singles, not albums,” how it felt to work with Kickstarter and control every aspect of Unfinished Business‘ design & production, all while reveling in our shared comic loves. We also discuss turning 50, whether cocaine is ever a good story device, his sensitivity to hauntings, why he needs to quit comics every so often, the effect The Invisibles had on him (esp. Grant Morrison’s letter columns), the paradox of choice and the joy of the analog-hunt, his prose writing and why he tells stories that are 83% true, and plenty more. Give it a listen! And read RED LIGHT PROPERTIES: Unfinished Business!
Last week I posted Episode 649 of my Virtual Memories Show. feat. writer David Levithan and singer-songwriter Jens Lekman and the collaborative alchemy that led to their novel SONGS FOR OTHER PEOPLE’S WEDDINGS (Abrams Press), about a Swedish singer-songwriter who builds a side-career playing original songs at people’s weddings. We talk about the nature of collaboration, and how David & Jens traded writing prompts with each other — a wedding song leading to a chapter, a chapter leading to a wedding song —, discovered how differently they each look at love, and managed to fuse that tension into a story of how love changes over time. We get into the differences between writing stories and songs, how Jens had fallen out of love with music (blame Spotify) and how this book helped him fall back in love with it, and how Jens’ song, “If you ever need a stranger (to sing at your wedding),” led to his side-career as a wedding singer. We also discuss Jens’ new album inspired by the book, David’s upcoming history of the AIDS era, the ways collaboration helps create new structures, their book/music tour and the importance of face-to-face interaction, the value of emotionally honest fiction, and more, including numerous Nick Cave references. Give it a listen! And go read SONGS FOR OTHER PEOPLE’S WEDDINGS!
Recent episodes: Sacha Mardou • Oliver Radclyffe • Eulogy • Rachel Cockerell • Paul Karasik • Kate Maruyama • David Denby
Ask Me Anything Nothing
There probably won’t be a new episode next week. I don’t have a guest lined up, and I’m recording with someone this weekend for an October episode.
Only 3 questions came in from last week’s call for an Ask Me Anything episode, so I suspect no one’s interested in that. (If you flood my inbox with questions in the next few days and prove me wrong, then I’ll AMA it next Tuesday.)
I’m under so much strain and don’t have much I want to share, but here’s a little.
I went to Washington yesterday for some meetings.
They went well, but my day started at 3:15am, and I was pretty burned out on the train home, though I can still pass as human.
Here’s a picture of my Dad I came across.
And here’s a haiku I’m tinkering with:
Black wings block the sun
Turkey vulture circles high
Like an Aztec myth
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Instaxery
No new Instax, sorry.
Artistry
I didn’t draw anything either. But I’ve got 10 days to draw a 2-page comic I wrote this spring for an anthology, and I’m way too fried to devote the time I need to put into it. You should go to the Flickr album of most of the art I’ve made & find something you like.
Postcardery
Let me know if you want to be on my postcard-a-day list. (Financial supporters of the podcast get a hand-drawn or painted postcard as a thank-you.)
Until Next Time
Thanks for reading this far. I’ll be back on Sunday with links, books, & workout-/meditation-craziness, and on Wednesday with MAYBE a new episode, and but probably not some art nor a new Instax.
Wherever, you look happy / I feel dazed, I feel disoriented / With a pineapple head / Walks in the sun / With a friend the mouse, with a friend the shadow,