Men's Room Self-Portraits
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March 27, 2008
March 07, 2008
Mister Boffo is boffo!
I love comics, lots of comics, but right now my favorite strip is Mister Boffo by Joe Martin.
It's funny, but when I first saw it, I hated it. Martin's drawing style is intensely sloppy, loose, and almost unaesthetical. It really put me off back when I first encountered it in the early 1990's in the San Francisco Chronicle. "Mister Boffo and his amazing dog, Weederman" (known by some of my friends at the time as "the penis dog". I didn't get it.
But somewhere along the way, I figured out that he's funny as hell. Maybe it's just that my mentality finally merged with the humor of the strip. I now think it's the best out there.
I actually like several other strips in the Chronicle, including Baby Blues, The Fusco Brothers, Dilbert, Bizarro, Get Fuzzy, Pearls Before Swine, and even Sherman's Lagoon. There are others that I like quite well, or well enough. The only ones that I don't read are The Elderberries in the dailies, and a couple others that only show up on Sundays.
But I am a pretty religious comic strip reader. But I am writing this to site Mr. Boffo.
Here are some strips I like plus a link to Joe Martin's Mr. Boffo site where I've linked them from:
Enjoy! http://www.mrboffo.com/
Also someone sent me Garfield Minus Garfield, which is uber genius.
Definitely visit it!
March 04, 2008
scattershot thoughts
When I started this damn thing, probably like a lot of other very, very part-time bloggers, I thought I would have enough to say to keep this fresh. I think, perhaps, a few months ago, I ran into some trouble writing a blog to promote my friends who have published books in 2007, and then I got frustrated with the interface and said fuck it.
Also, I just don't know if I always feel like I have enough to say topically.
Even now, though I feel like writing, I don't have any particular topic in mind. We'll call this scattershot.
I've saved this image of the snow monkeys of Japan, bathing Zen-fully in the hot springs in the mountaious snowy peaks. Apparantly it is now a tourist attraction. Well, as long as people leave the monkeys alone. They exude peace, or at least the surface appearance is that of some deep, meditative tranquility. Who knows? They probably beat the shit out of each other when they're not in the hot tub.
I am reading The Brothers Karamazov by Fyordor Dostoevsky which is totally brilliant. I am thoroughly enjoying it. I wish I was reading it right this very moment.
My other latest discovery is the work of Tove Jansson, creator of the many things Moomin. A friend had mentioned the novel-style books as a favorite, but I recently discovered the newly bound editions of the comic strip that she wrote and drew.
Go here: http://www.drawnandquarterly.com/shopCatalogLong.php?st=art&art=a43cd43019761a
The children's books are lovely as well. We are currently reading Comet in Moominland, which I am maybe enjoying more than the kids. Oh well.
Lastly, I watched Buster Keaton's The General (1927) with four kids between the ages of 4-7. Reading the intertitles and explaining the anachronisms of an older age, and watching the brilliant Buster Keaton in one of the greatest films ever made. Brilliant.
So much on my mind, but it is so nice to find new and wonderful things, especially if I can share them with my kids.
There, I've almost cheered myself up.
