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November 20th, 2009
11:55 am - Double Update Friday!
Click here for Bonnie ...
And here for Gods & Undergrads!
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November 11th, 2009
November 7th, 2009
11:55 am - Bonnie update!
Stuart's back!
Click here to read ....
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November 2nd, 2009
11:25 pm - Sans color
Okay guys ... you be the judge. Here's a page of Gods & Undergrads in black and white. I know it's a bit weird and different. But hey - quicker to churn out!
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November 1st, 2009
11:45 am - Where's Gods & Undergrads?
So I wanted to give you all a head's up on some things. Lately my free time has gotten jampacked with other activities (work, roller derby, freelance artwork, etc.) so I'm finding it harder and harder to devote time to updating Gods & Undergrads. Mainly because it's in full color, which takes hours for me to do. Now, I've always loved having it in color. But I'm afraid that the amount of time it takes to do color reduces how frequently the comic gets updated. And I feel like it's more important that it gets updated frequently. Color can be put on hold until there's time or desire to do so.
So I wanted to ask you guys for your opinion ... would you be alright with G&U switching to black and white for now, until I find the time to color it? It will get updated a lot more often than it has been so far.
So I created a nifty little poll to see what everyone's thoughts are. Please let me know -- the poll will run for 2 weeks.
Thanks for your patience!! :)
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October 30th, 2009
02:30 pm - Bonnie Bonnie Everywhere!
Happy Office Halloween! Here's a Bonnie N. Collide update for ya ... featuring a bonus rollergirl in a Bonnie costume!
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October 29th, 2009
07:10 am - icons
Some little derby icons I made to reflect fresh meat, AWOL fresh meat, injured, retired, leave of absence, and a player without and with all their gear ...
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October 27th, 2009
10:42 pm - derby diary
Well, we just had our first assessment since I made the league. Once you pass tryouts, you have two levels to get through before you're draftable for a team. After finally getting through the torture of the initial tryouts (two hours of being stared at and scrutinized by vets as you struggled to perform all the drills under their watchful eyes), I wasn't really worried about the assessments I'd have to go through once on the league. I get to go to practices, skate alongside vets, and take my time with all the strength and endurance training. I don't care how long it takes me to progress, really, as long as I progress. This skating thing is clearly not something I'm naturally inclined to do (being 5'10" and built like a giraffe), so I don't expect to sail through the levels yet.
Luckily, this first assessment was much shorter and less stressful than tryouts, but of course I still got nervous and my throat dried up. We had a couple of pretty simple drills to get through -- skate in a pack and mimic the leader of the pack, booty block with a partner, and rotate blocking in a square pattern with three other people. I had no idea how I did, but I was pretty sure I performed the best on the last drill. So it ended up that I didn't pass. Which was fine. The only thing that worried me was that I scored well on the things I thought I sucked at and vice versa -- I got my worst score on the last drill. So clearly I have no idea what I'm really doing, or if I'm doing it well -- ha!
I wasn't terribly disappointed about failing the first assessment. I was mainly worried that I'd be left behind, and the other freshies would sail ahead and leave me all alone. I haven't totally bonded with anyone yet, but I still don't want to be singled out. Turns out about half of us passed and half of us failed, so no worries. And my assigned derby big sis, who just so happens to be one of the best and bounciest skaters in the league, took my failure as a sign that she needs to help coach me and encourage me, which already makes me feel better. Derby love!
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October 23rd, 2009
02:51 pm
Herb's back! Click here to read!
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October 18th, 2009
04:46 pm
As promised, a Bonnie N. Collide update! Click here to read!
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October 16th, 2009
10:49 am
A little proof that I am, in fact, working on Bonnie, though the strip won't be up until Sunday. When I get back from my Weekend Fall Foliage Extravaganza! Yes, now that I'm 30, white, and apparently, a yuppie, I take pleasure from things like weekend trips to look at the colors of leaves. I might also be wearing a Banana Republic sweater and sipping Starbucks coffee while doing so.
Please don't judge me.
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October 9th, 2009
05:40 pm - Gods!
Finally, a Gods & Undergrads update!
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October 6th, 2009
11:02 pm - Derby Diary
Well it's officially Open Season on the Fresh Meat. We are now, apparently, hittable! A thought which is chilling and exciting at the same time. On Sunday I tried to jam (briefly) and got sandwiched between two blockers, and on Monday I got obliterated during a version of Blood & Thunder. I know I have a big fat target on my back because I'm new and awkward, and some girls just live for the easy targets. But luckily, since I haven't fallen on my butt in a while the hits have been pretty harmless. I just need to get a hang of hitting back. When we're practicing static hits against one another (i.e. not while also rolling around the track and keeping your eye on a dozen other people), I'm all over it, I've got the motion down-pat. But it's not stuck in my muscle memory enough to the point where I can do it in motion. My brain is still calculating "okay, at this angle I need to be here and swoop in over here to hit her in this area ... holy CRAP I'm on skates!!" and then I miss my target or someone nails me before any other thoughts cross my mind. Eventually, I'm assuming, it'll become automatic.
But still ... fun!
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October 3rd, 2009
03:04 pm - CP Book Club - Scavenger Hunt
Scavenger Hunt, written in 1989, is the 5th installment in Christopher Pike's teen horror oeuvre. Despite having gone through four of his spooky suspense stories already, this is the first one that truly feels like horror. It's dark and sinister and slimy, and as you read it, you're not sure if you even trust the main characters as having very good intentions.
As per usual, the story focuses on the lives of a small set of high schoolers. With graduation right around the corner, they're all feeling the pressure of what to make of the rest of their lives. Carl, the main character, is too preoccupied with his guilt over his past to expect much of a future. Almost a year ago, he lost his best friend Joe in a freak flood while they were out hiking in the desert. He knows Joe's death wasn't his fault (he narrowly escaped death himself) but is haunted by the thought that he saved himself before watching his friend drown. So for now, his main motivation in life is to have sex with the class hottie, Cessy.
Cessy and her brother Davey are rich twins who blew into town for senior year and instantly became THE people to be. They befriend Carl and his friend Tom (who hasn't been altogether present since suffering a football injury to the head) and convince them to be on their team for the senior year scavenger hunt. Carl, half-dead inside and only motivated by lust at this point, agrees to go along with it. He only feels a tiny twinge of guilt when he's asked to join another scavenger hunt team -- this one made up of people he was actually friends with at school. Tracie is Carl's former friend/love interest from sophomore year. Rick is the wheelchair-bound genius of the senior class, who has a crush on Tracie. Paula is Rick's sister, Tracie's BF, and ex-girlfriend of Joe, the boy who drowned in the desert. Needless to say, this scavenger hunt group has a bit of a past to them.
The hunt kicks off, led by Mr. Partridge, the weird English Lit teacher who resembles Sheriff Cooley from O Brother Where Art Thou. The teams rush off to find box after box of senior year memorabilia that, when put together, will assemble into something meaningful. Considering the prize for winning the scavenger hunt is a week's vacay in Hawaii, all the teams are going for it. Right from the start, Carl's team and Tracie's team are neck-and-neck, which leads to some seriously awkward conversations. Paula realizes she's kind of attracted to the stony Tom, Davey chatters incessantly to Rick about stories of buried treasure, and Tracie and Cessy size each other up. The teams eventually decide to go their separate ways, disagreeing on the location of the next clue. We get an eerie sense of foreboding (and incest!) when Tracie is the only one to notice siblings Davey and Cessy making out in the car. I mean really, why would Cessy be after Carl if she already had ... her brother? Ewwwww.
The story quickly dissolves into horror and madness from this point on. Carl follows his rag-tag team into the desert, where a shack in the middle of nowhere is full of clippings of high school kids getting murdered. It's also home to a giant lizard, which Cessy easily kills in front of him. He's shocked by her strength, brutality, and the amount of oily blood that flows out of the creature over the porch. Foreshadowing! His spidey sense finally tells him something is wrong, but it's way too late. The other three basically kidnap Carl, and drive him further and further into the bleak desert night. And although he resigns himself to whatever fate the twin lovers and the braindead brute have in store for him, he cowardly leaves his watch behind, hoping Tracie's team will somehow find them and realize what's happened. Nice, right? The guy can't give Tracie the time of day but is happy to have her risk her life to save him. Her, the kid in the wheelchair, and the ex of the friend he killed. That'll work.
Scavenger Hunt gets bloody and creepy. Caves and cesspools and ancient sacrifices are involved. And, oddly enough, it starts to resemble Super Mario Brothers at some point.
Up next ... Gimme A Kiss!
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October 2nd, 2009
02:16 pm - Derby Friday!
Bonnie N. Collide update! Click here to read!
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September 30th, 2009
11:17 pm - Wh-whip it real good!
The rollergirls descended on the theater in full glory tonight to celebrate the advanced screening of Drew Barrymore's Whip It! Here we are, all rollergirls and rollerdudes and rollerfans and refs, decked out in our fishnets and hot pants and jerseys, so excited to celebrate derby with the general public and ... what happens? A jackass in a security uniform tells certain members of our group that they need to "cover up". Um ... what? ... The hell?
Oh right. We're in mainstream America. In a mall. Where if you express yourself, apparently, the terrorists have won. What made it even more upsetting was that he only told women of the luscious booty variety that they needed to "cover it up or leave". He left the skinny tween mall jail-bait alone. How's that for a feeling of empowerment when you get to the theater?
Whatever. In the end, the women threw a scarf here and there until the guard found someone else to harrass and then the outfits were returned to normal. I'm just horrified that here we were, loud and proud women in funky outfits, celebrating our love for a sport that's all about independence and flaunt and fun. ... Immediately being told by an ignorant asshole to "cover up". There it is -- right there! Before we even GET to see the movie! He might as well have been blocking the door to theater, proclaiming, "I'm sorry, I can't handle seeing people having fun in an independent way. Especially not any women".
And there it is. THAT'S why we need derby. To have a place where we can be fun and free and forget that people like him are allowed to live.
It almost made up for it right after that, when a mall cop on a segueway tried to catch a rollergirl skating through the mall. Almost.
(SPOILER ALERT!)
At least the movie was good. It was exactly what I'd hoped - fun and poppy and not too cliched. I could've used more Zoe Bell, but really, couldn't we all? I think my favorite parts were when Ellen Page was whining about everything in her life being ruined and her friend clueing her in that she might just be being a bit selfish. Or the budding relationship with the cute boy that didn't really pan out -- instead it ended with him kind of sneaking around on her and her not feeling like playing the jealous girlfriend role yet. She's only 17, for crying out loud! It wasn't typical, and I appreciated it so much. Go Drew!
Most of all it reminded me how fun and happy and super derby is and is supposed to be. There's a lot of derby drama flying around at the moment, and it's good to take a step back and go, "Fuck yeah, ladies!!" (The "fuck" is for the revolutionary spirit and the "ladies" is because of all the admiration and respect we have for one another. Yeah.) After all, I first convinced myself to try out for derby because I saw the Rollergirls TV show. And although Whip It is a somewhat watered down version of that show, it still carries the excitement and the fun. Having a secret club you can go to and be crazy and skate around like rockstars and feel free to take aggression out on each other ... that's where it's at.
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September 29th, 2009
10:54 pm - Love letter to SPX
Dear SPX,
I can remember when I first attended you, back in good ol' 2001. All I did was wander around, dumbstruck at people doing what I wanted to do. I felt amazed and thrilled and stupid all at the same time. Who do I talk to? Who do I approach? What do I buy?? I dragged my friend Lauren along and made the rounds over ... and over ... and over again. One of the only people I had in my head to approach was Derek Kirk Kim, to tell him how much Same Difference brightened my day working in the college art office. Instead, I believe I gave him some crappy photocopies of my work and made him feel awkward. Luckily after that, I stumbled upon a guy who quickly became my Con BFF for years to come -- Tim Fish. Tim was there, all cute and unassuming and selling copies of Meet Me in Saint Louis -- which I snatched up and immediately loved. I was entranced by the three polite rooms where exhibitors relinquished their wares. By the mingling area, where you could catch a break and refreshment before heading into the next comic room. By the downstairs bar, where deals were MADE! And, of course, by the spinning 180 degree door, which I would bust out of with aplomb.
Of course, over the years you've changed, SPX. Venues have changed. There's no more Tasty Diner in walking distance. The carpet patterns have gotten batshit crazy. But you're still there. All of us creators can still recognize you and appreciate you and realize you'll still be there for us in the years to come. Even if new talent threatens to drive us out.
I mean, even though it was released in 2005, look at how crazy good Melody Nadia Shickley's In the Hands of Boys is! Loooooook!!
*ahem* Sincerely Yours,
Monica
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07:13 am - Go Go Meat!
All the lovely freshies together ... don't we look tough?
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September 25th, 2009
05:02 pm - Where's Bonnie?
I think it's kind of weird when people refer to their characters as being separate from them, but whatever. Bonnie will definitely kick my ass if I don't write about her soon. So within the next week, she'll be back with a vengeance!
And hey, this weekend -- check out SPX if you're in town! For the first time in 7 years I'm *sniff* not exhibiting ... wow, 7 years? Yeah, 7. Mainly because I did New York Comic Con, Staple in Austin, Stumptown in Portland, and MoCCA in New York already this year so I was a wee bit tapped out. But luckily my NY peeps are coming to stay with me, and we'll casually flit about the con all weekend. Preferably with martinis, swaggering around and talking about everyone's awesome work in stage whispers.
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September 22nd, 2009
11:18 pm - It was bound to happen
I desperately rushed to Sephora today during work. Weekday at the mall, kind of a depressing scene. But I braved it and my increasingly pinchy work shoes in order to hussle to my favorite Make-Up Mecca. But what did I find? They were all out of my fave shade of lipstick. My signature shade -- "Cruella". Not only were they out of it there, but all stores in the vicinity AND online were out too. Now, I have to admit I'm a bit touchy about stores running out of my red lipstick and discontinuing the shade not long after that (loreal's Candy Apple red, I miss you!!) So naturally I was suspicious. And even though 2 salesclerks promised me Cruella would return again some day, I still made them record my contact information to let me know first when it came in stock. I bought "Dragon Girl", the runner up to Cruella, and moped out of the store. I returned home and carefully preserved the last shred if Cruella I had left -- you know, just in case. They might need the recipe in case they forget how to make the best red lipstick ever.
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