Ploofle

I’m sure this idea has already been thought by someone else, as I seem to be good at coming up with ideas after people but here it is anyway…why aren’t comics digitally distributed? I’ve been told that having comics in PDF format results in much sharper images (and without the washed-out colors you would presumably get in the cheap newsprint weekly ones) and can be distributed at what I’d think would be a minimum of cost, as quite a few series now are colored or drawn on computers.

One magazine I’m subscribed to (make) has a “digital edition” which ostensibly is so I can print out articles flat for use in, well, making things. It’s the entire magazine online, plus extras that weren’t published. The more interesting feature, I think, is that I can “share” articles with friends. I can designate an article I think a friend would particularly like, and they get something like 3-day access to it, though they don’t have the print option. From what I’ve seen and heard about people getting other people into particular comics series, this would be a great option if comics were also distributed online. I could send a segment of Fable or Ex Machina or Tom Strong to a friend, who would then ideally become hooked

Continue reading “Comics and digital distribution”

Tags: DIY, words

Posts are increasingly sporadic as my project suddenly snowball and/or
pile up.  When will I ever get to the old projects? Like, guitar
or japanese? sigh…ah, well.  So projects now are: make a custom
survey for Bonnie, make a library resource tool/flowchart with reverse
lookup for Bonnie, set up a business plan with Melissa, work on the
Collab thing (still) and write down the vague small ideas I have for
utilities otherwise. 

Just came back from having lunch with Bonnie (who is off today) at
Shanghai.  They know us pretty well now and will cook us most
anything, even at lunchtime though I swear the place is populated by
very gay latino men and/or older asian ladies.  My main wonder is,
do the ladies know all the men they hire are gay? Or is it a big
secret? A conspiracy? One may never know…

In my attempts to escape from all the projects, I’m reading more Alan
Moore comics/graphic novels/etc.  Read Promethea 1-4 (5 apparently
isn’t out yet), League of Extraordinary Gentlemen 1 (heard the movie
sucked, but the comic, I recommend), and Top Gun 1 (only part of it,
but it was good enough for me to purchase it to finish reading at home).

The ants are eating my strawberries but the cilantro and dill are
looking great, and I may even actually get carrots and onions.

Continue reading “Shanghai and Gay Latino Men and comics”

Tags: DIY, words

Shamelessly stolen from Neil Gaiman’s blog, this blog entry
here discusses what reading level most popular authors write at, among
other things. Yay America…writing for a fourth grade reading level…

Continue reading “Readability of popular novels and grammar-checking”

Tags: praxis, words

I’m currently burning my way through Strangers in Paradise, Watchmen,
and Fables (the Fables link has a free pdf downloadable first issue). 

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There’s been a lot of Sandman derivative work out
there lately ("introduced by the Sandman series! Super deformed cute
Sandman!" etc etc) which I’ve been avoiding thus far.  Think I’ve
been swinging more towards English-language graphic novels due to
wanting to perhaps share similar mindset of the authors compared to
Japanese work. Or I may just be tired of manga style rendition. Hmm.

Anyway, Watchmen is really good and gives me a weird 9/11
conspiracy feel (thought it was written in 1986), Fable’s ok but
getting interesting (up to the second trade),
and Strangers in Paradise is addictive and relationship-y type
stuff (I’ve read the first 9 or so trades, but am going after the
pocket books now - they’re smaller and more manga-size, which means
prolly not as good print quality, but you get 300+ pages at a time that
way too).  I have to admit that the fact that SiP is available
via Walmart.com (implying it’s purchasable in-store) makes me feel a
bit silly/sellout-like.

Continue reading “Graphic Novels/Comics I’m reading”

Tags: words