2012-06-27 Digital Breadcrumbs

Passive-aggression is one of those counter-productive & unpleasant behaviours that SOME of us on Twitter might wanna take a little look at. #
@davidwynne #
@davidwynne It's a beautiful tool. I mean passive aggression, not my penis. #
@MhairiMcF Can't men have cat fights? Seen plenty who are bitchy, competitive and petty. #
@MhairiMcF Oh, sorry! Heh. Think I meant, I've HEARD it referred to as a cat fight when it's a wimpy, silly & childish argument between men. #
@MhairiMcF Oh, wait, so when men are behaving like women. I see what you mean. #
@MhairiMcF WINK! #
@sarahditum In that case, I have every right to hang up on my parents several times in every phone call. Hm. Thanks, Sarah! @MhairiMcF #
@sarahditum @MhairiMcF BTW your comments about women in Sorkin have haunted me. HAUNTED me, I say. Was drafting response in shower. #
@sarahditum @MhairiMcF …If I had some means of writing in the shower, I would be the most prolific blogger EVER. #
@steve_lieber That is both torturous and delightfully adorable. However, I have NO idea how the crab got out of it alive. #
@davidwynne Amazing Spider-Man is INCREDIBLE fun. Also one of few properly dramatic mainstream superhero comics around. CONTAINS MILD PERIL. #
@davidwynne The space between that first full stop and the word No was still plenty of time for me to rack my brains wondering if it was us. #
@davidwynne It could be that something we said triggered a broader complaint – we are the zeitgeist of irritating uninformed comic bollocks. #
@davidwynne Oh, shit, that's brilliant. Shame we just re-recorded the slogan at the beginning. #
#MOMBcomics (incorporating #MOMBcast : The zeitgeist of irritating uninformed comic bollocks. #
Video: Puppy meets crab. This video is JUST TOO MUCH. For added impact and drama, you should own a… http://t.co/myoCGdiu #
@sispurrier Oh, man, goddamnit… How the hell did you get enough basil to grow in this shitty growing season? #
@sispurrier OH SHIT MAN YOU GOT SKILLZ. (Why didn't that even occur to me? I'm an idiot.) #
@sarcastathon You're quixotic and mysteeerious. They'll come to appreciate your ways in time. #
Just favourited a video of a baby & a puppy & their first encounter with each other. Now I'm going to watch Where The Hell Is Matt 2012… #
…it is SO unlikely that I'm going to get out of this lunch break with dry eyes. Tired AND emotion FOR THE LOSE. #
Today was wrong day to read hype I just read of a work by an artist I like and a writer I really don't. Too tired to swallow that much shit. #
Either hubris of this use of word "subvert" made it meaningless, or it now means "make shallow, trite, mundane & easy" & I missed the memo. #
@Sillymattface When suddenly tons of people run into frame? FEELINGS. Where suddenly he matches up with all of the indian dancers? GENIUS. #
I kind of love that Matt hasn't actually got any better at dancing since the last big one. Keeps it REAL, yo. #
@sarcastathon You MONSTER! #
Video: Where the Hell is Matt? 2012 Love this guy, love this video. I kind of love that Matt hasn’t actually… http://t.co/8DrfCqVQ #
.@davidwynne So many tasty, swollen & bitter fruit on the rest of this tree, it sucks when they only go for the low hanging, unripe ones. #
.@davidwynne It bothers me when I don't agree, but it bothers me more when they're on the same side of the line as I am. #
@davidwynne Agree with pretty much all of this. The DC vs Marvel thing is a tiny bit of a hangover from a culture the publishers created… #
@davidwynne …& now Image editorial/creators are responsible for a lot of nonsense cultural bollocks, too. #
Smart to remember that if Image hadn't been all about style/IP over content for 1st 10 years… #
…most of worst shit relating to quality/representation of gender/exploitation of readers we're dealing with in comics may not've happened. #
Not "the new boss, just like the old boss" but "the new boss, just like a co-operative, twitching & ego-fuelled version of the old boss". #
…History tells us that when readers, creators, publishers & anyone in distribution chain exert ego, the loser is ALMOST ALWAYS comics. #
@hermanos That's a challenge, but you operate in a different strata from me so I'm a bit intimidated. Do you like emails full've small talk? #
@hermanos "Hi David! I like your stuff. I am a bit tired today so I drank a Red Bull, even though it makes things worse. Hope you are well!" #
@hermanos (Hm. Now I want a Red Bull.) #
@Godzillastwin Heh… I've missed you, lady. #
@Godzillastwin I've been worse! Yourself? #
Sad to say, regardless of worth some personas can come to represent so much confirmation bias that they can act as a black hole for others. #
In space of 10 tweets 2 artists whose work & insight I've always valued as beautiful, smart & textured, completely absorbed by one of these. #
@sarcastathon To be fair, you did kind of force them int… this is one of those times when the friend thing to do is to commiserate, right? #
@sarcastathon NO REASON. This is why I try not to engage with my family if I can avoid it. They STILL love you anyway. They have no choice. #
@sarcastathon …actually, them never having to deal with me may have something to do with them still loving me. #
@lucypepper No… afraid not. Next tweet will explain why. #
Those oblique tweets about black-hole personalities were me dealing with not wanting to argue with/be dismissed by one of my music heroes. #
@sarcastathon "If it feels like an obligation, fuck it in the eye." – A wise man, once. #
@groonk That is fucking ace. #
@catherinebray I don't like it. If I wanted people to see the nine sites I visited most recently, 5 of those sites wouldn't be porn. #
@Sulman Alright, Ted Danson! #
@Sulman (That top tip really made me chuckle.) #
@Sulman (It IS Danson who is super exuberant in that first season of Curb Your Enthusiasm, isn't it? I'm worried about that reference now.) #
What's slightly worse about those 9 Firefox browser history thumbnails is that the image resolution by default is AWFUL. Ugly function. #
@rachael_burns Really love how swing dancing looks. There was element of it in the linking bits at a burlesque night we went to recently… #
@rachael_burns …& the principles of it – a catalogue of small stock moves, tropes & blip-routines, triggered by tiny contextual cues is… #
@rachael_burns …RIGHT in my wheelhouse. However, I JUST CAN'T DO IT. So I admire the hell out of it. #
@rachael_burns Nuh-uh. I dance like Michael J Fox – circa 80s, not now – lots of enthusiasm, like nobody is watching. Falls apart when… #
@rachael_burns …someone else is involved. At same event, a girl friend had limited success leading me, but I can't contribute as partner. #
@rachael_burns (Sad, really – when I DO dance on my own, I already do all the wonky flappy leg & arm stuff. To whatever is playing.) #
@rachael_burns (I learned term "wonky flappy arm stuff" off no less an expert than Alesha Dixon off the telly.) #
@rachael_burns I think I could definitely do that. But only ever for fun. Performance anxiety is anxious making. #
@rachael_burns Oh, god. Both @georgelondon & @mrjameshancox can tell you how badly I handle idea of being focal on the dance floor… #
@rachael_burns …At Greek weddings, some of the men have to do a kind of duet thing with the groom. There are dance moves. I tend to hide. #
@rachael_burns (Have hidden in the toilet before now. I am not proud.) #
@mrjameshancox If your next tweet is about how Teddy isn't alive any more, I don't think I can handle it. Lookit his little cocked head! #
@mrjameshancox It's a form of panic that requires real commitment, which I call Totafear. Or at least will now. @rachael_burns @georgelondon #
@mrjameshancox …Is there an emoticon for "quivering bottom lip"? (Please at least tell me there was no element of abandonment there?) #
@jamiesmart Oh, god, now we need a new abbreviation for when you laugh so suddenly and so hard you just shake painfully and silently. #
@faitherinhicks Well, we're all getting on a lot better, now. Everyone is calmly & reasonably respecting dissenting opinions… #
@faitherinhicks HAH, NO, THAT NEVER HAPPENED! Such a stupid idea I couldn't even keep the gag up. #
I started reading that resignation post by the Conservative chap, & was really, really impressed. Then I realised how young he is… #
…I hate and distrust young people, so now I hate him. HATE. #
Oh, also he's a Tory, so there's no way he could say anything that I'd ever want to hear. Young + Tory = Subhuman So Fuck You. #
Wait, I'm riffing on passive aggression today, not irony. ALTHOUGH, there was an element of passive aggression in that irony, so prob ok. #
I think I may have choked @bevismusson into unconsciousness with my angry private outpourings. I'm so sorry, Bevis! I love you! #
@sarcastathon I think you should apply to one set as you, & another set as a man – Manessa? – & do both. #
@sarcastathon …Best part is that your hilarious exploits as you try to juggle both personas – & romance? – is also your first hit script! #
@davidwynne A situation where I should have given myself a trigger warning on what I thought was an innocuous 1st DM to @bevismusson! #
@sarcastathon Oh, well, your problem there is that you don't live in a US college movie. You probably need to live in a US college movie. #
@sarcastathon (I think @Sulman is right – & your response is right. The craft you learn in writing for stage will help in screenwriting… #
@sarcastathon …but I'm not sure it works as well the other way.) @Sulman #
@JamesMOMB The blue baby mountain they sang about would now be a blue person mountain. #
@daveexmachina Oh, hell, I need to snag that post for later – Netrunner is one of those few CCG games that really played with the form. #
@sarahditum Feel like I want to ask a couple of arch questions about that painting, but am too uncertain of the artist's stance to risk it. #
@sarahditum …It's beautiful, though. If it's satirical, it's wonderful. #
@McKelvie You kind of can. Figuratively AND literally. #
@McKelvie Hah, well, at least I know I didn't ACTUALLY SUGGEST murder. Think you're right about deleting account. #
@mrjameshancox Phew. Thank goodness. I have a graphic novel about Laika on the shelf at home. I can't even bring myself to open it. #
Satire! http://t.co/iY9fvl3R #
@mrjameshancox It's about the Russian space programme, through the "eyes" of one of the dogs that they trained and sent up. #
@mrjameshancox …It's beautifully conceived, written & drawn, but it depends on your capacity for sadness. #
@mrjameshancox By Nick Abadzis! #
@mrjameshancox Usually that's true for me but I have a blindspot for animals. #
Sigh. @sarahditum just reminded me how sexy machines can be fanks SarahDitum! #
@bevismusson That kind of confused adoration of Tatum is almost a theme in my timeline. #
@sarcastathon No I refuse to believe this, you are a woman, AND SO PRONE TO DRAMA AND EMOTION. #
@sarcastathon Smirk. You TOTALLY landed that one. Who says women aren't funny? (Me, circa a few years ago.) #
@sarcastathon (Only partially true.) #
What I ACTUALLY used to say was that, due to the nonsense performance hoops female stand-ups used to have to jump through to compete in… #
…that very male world, for me there just didn't seem to be much room for funny in the checklist. Performers who went a different way… #
@sarcastathon …were ABSOLUTELY as funny as any other performer. #
@sarcastathon Shit, what just happened? I think I started thinking about something I'd just said to you, & then forgot it was all out loud. #
…were ABSOLUTELY as funny as any other performer. #
@sarcastathon Hah. Sorry. #
Main eg: for me what makes Jo Brand funny & engaging is her dry intelligence. Which was largely absent from her previous stand-up persona. #
I'm bound to be wrong about this. I start out wanting to love enjoy any stand-up, but haven't ever been hugely regular live show goer. #
Love enjoy! #
@MhairiMcF If I wanked out 50 Shades/Grey in a single malformed draft over one seedy weekend, & someone offered me money to print, HELL YES. #
@MhairiMcF Because I am optimistic about the world, & would NEVER EXPECT MORE THAN TWO PEOPLE TO READ IT. #
@MhairiMcF Much as I love you all, I would sell every one of you for the chance to have Gilbert Gottfried read my shit: http://t.co/C4lN7N1a #
@MhairiMcF If that sounds bad, bear in mind I'd sell every person I have ever loved if it meant my audiobooks voiced by Hervé Villechaize. #
@MhairiMcF But he's dead. #
@MhairiMcF Secretly fantasise only my work could've raised Villechaize up out of the professional & emotional tailspin he found himself in. #
@MhairiMcF I would've liked to have known him but I was just a kid. #
@heideland Definitely a recurring phenomena, innit? #
@eugewarrock Do they think you're Wicket the ewok? #
@neilhimself What is that I don't even. #
@emslj Do you have alcohol at work? #
@ben_towle I don't think it's even fair to say – although I haven't read article you ref – that JTHM is a Sandman offshoot… #
@ben_towle …owes a LOT more to Tim Burton aesthetically, & Vasquez voice really is unique, even in post-Sandman context. #
@ben_towle I worked in a comic store back then, & JTHM grew a fanbase completely independently of anything else going on in comics at time. #
@ben_towle Do I need to read @hoodedu's article to really not sound like a jerky in this conversation? #
@emslj "an emergency"? #
@hoodedu Think that undersells JTHM. Hugely satirical, & anti-goth culture in way that transcends it. His next work was Squee… @ben_towle #
@hoodedu …which continued from JTHM, & isn't goth at all. Feels like Vasquez saw Goth as establishment back then, rejected it. @ben_towle #
@ben_towle JTHM predates Gloom Cookie by so long that I may be pig-headedly failing to see chain-of-inspiration there, mind! @hoodedu #
@StacebobT as dissapointing or MORE dissappointing than the previous volume? (I can't spell disappointing.) #
@ben_towle I see that as as much a corporate process as a cultural one: JTHM was the point at which SLG found that market. @hoodedu #
@ben_towle …not to disparage any that followed, but Vasquez made it commercially viable. Started springing up all over. @hoodedu #
@hoodedu At the time I really disliked Lenore, actually. Felt like it was piggybacking Squee's success, but rendering it "safe". @ben_towle #
@ben_towle Course. Cause & effect in that industry stuff is always tied up. #
@ben_towle Not for nowt, but as retailer, we stocked & sold JTHM because it was good comix, & rest cos JV's audience wanted more… @hoodedu #
@ben_towle …I don't think we'd have necessarily picked up other books, pitched so shamelessly at goth subculture, first. @hoodedu #
@ben_towle You could sell Squee to anybody who liked manga, US or UK comix with an open mind. Not true of many that followed. @hoodedu #
@ben_towle YOU KNOW WHAT? I'd be SO surprised if Vasquez comic influences back then – if he had um – weren't Hewlett et al. @hoodedu #
@ben_towle JTHM has WAY more technique in common with Deadline magazine than anything I know of goth culture. @hoodedu #
@ben_towle @hoodedu OR Sandman, come to that. #
I honestly never know which tweets I send to people are going to land, & which are going to sink without trace. It's EXCITING. #
@ben_towle @hoodedu Reading now. Like the critique but not cultural stuff. More I read about Gaiman's influence on audience more I disagree. #
@ben_towle @hoodedu Missing a lot of key cultural events, & placing lot of focus on American mainstream. #
@ben_towle @hoodedu FOR EG: It has NEVER been true that girls don't read comics. In 70s UK, girl comics were almost as common in newsagents. #
@ben_towle @hoodedu MAINSTREAM superhero comics not so much. But wasn't til 80s that industry basically turned it's back on anything but. #
@ben_towle @hoodedu I don't know how stats add up, but consider: 1) Comic specialty shops were male-dominated environments. #
@ben_towle @hoodedu 2) In 80s, comic specialty shops became the only place you could get comics. #
@ben_towle @hoodedu Is this spamming or obnoxious? I should probably stop. If you guys hate this, I can stop. #
@ben_towle Hah, dude, you totally KNOW that's exceptional. You could get comics in sex shops here, too. @hoodedu #
@hoodedu Fair. Worth bearing in mind that if you're talking about culture, specifically ref Sandman, those borders not respected. @ben_towle #
@hoodedu This MAY be bullshit, but seem to remember that for several years, majority of Vertigo sales were made in UK. @ben_towle #
@hoodedu ppl who KNEW about comics would've mail ordered, & it's def worth bearing in mind, but is that where a movement happened? #
@hoodedu Ah, that was an over-reach. Only something I remember vaguely from backwhen. Old comic stats are fucking impossible. @ben_towle #
@ben_towle @hoodedu About to burn out my experience on this myself, actually! Just want to reiterate a point: #
@ben_towle @hoodedu Deadline/Tank Girl was 3 ish in when Sandman launched. If it's fair to say that Sandman started gaining traction with… #
@ben_towle @hoodedu …divergent audience AFTER that 1st arc (think it might be) feels right that Tank Girl was already getting established. #
@ben_towle @hoodedu Deadline was available in newsagents, & overall prob never SOLD as many comics as Sandman, but culturally at the time… #
@ben_towle @hoodedu …Tank Girl at least had HUGE crossover impact. If talking growth in female audience, we have to look at that too. #
@ben_towle @hoodedu NOW I'm burned out. I honestly can't provide data for any of this, just suggest it's all worth considering. #
@sarcastathon (What does that even MEAN?) #
Shit, meant to say: The list email I got from @louisck made me feel so much love. Comics could do with a bit more of what that comic does. #
…is what Louis does self-serving & financially motivated? Don't be an idiot. Of course it is… #
…But he DOES it. & he provides value. & he doesn't shit on people or spew shit out into the world while he does, which is IMPORTANT. #
Comics have a lot of people like that, but it needs a lot more. #
@StacebobT @bevismusson Oh, ouch, after what I just tweeted I feel like I have to riposte, even though I feel your pain… #
@StacebobT @bevismusson …as much as I know I'm going to buy LOEG, & prob not feel it was worth the money, decision's on us, really, innit? #
@StacebobT @bevismusson I mean I can't blame Moore if he IS mocking me in this latest one. I'm fully aware of ridiculousness of buying it… #
@StacebobT @bevismusson …I've been pretty certain since Black Dossier that I wasn't going to feel good things about subsequent purchases. #
@StacebobT @bevismusson I'd fucking mock myself, if it wasn't for all the crying I'm already doing. #
@MhairiMcF You've been working? TIl now? #
@MhairiMcF That makes PERFECT sense. Phew. Glad I'M not a freelance WRITER. (I'M LYING PLEASE I'LL DO ANYTHING TAKE ME WITH YOU.) #
@MhairiMcF WOW. Caps lock still on by mistake when I went back and put in "writer". Most passive aggressive typo in the world. #
@MhairiMcF (It kind of was a two part question, but only for shits and/or giggles. I know you must work VERY hard.) #
@StacebobT @bevismusson That was quite a dickish response, actually, sorry. Just v preoccupied with subject of entitlement in fandom at mo. #
@StacebobT @bevismusson Like where does it start? Creators complain bitterly about fan entitlement, then behave in entitled way, vice versa. #
@MhairiMcF As freelance, LITERALLY ONLY LETTING YOURSELF DOWN. Never understood hilarious attempts to shame others for twiddled thumbs… #
@MhairiMcF …when so much of what people end up doing is busy-work that could be avoided, where's the nobility in it? Where's the shame? #
@MhairiMcF (Weird conversation today. Used to be a manager's success measured by how clean desk was/how much time they had to wank at desk. #
@MhairiMcF …because it meant things were going smoothly enough under them they could. Now they measure themselves by opposite metric.) #
@MhairiMcF (When did having so many emails & meetings that you can joke-boast about never getting them finished become a sign of Managing?) #
@MhairiMcF (Coping, Barely, maybe. You don't have to help to work here, but it's mad.) #
@joekeatinge DOES THAT INCLUDE THE LIEFELD 20-SOMETHINGS, JOE? News desk needs confirmation! #
@joekeatinge (There is no news desk, I was just being silly.) #
@Clarkythecruel Nah, mate. Gonna sit here reading Spider-Man, thinking largely happy thoughts about Prometheus. @StacebobT @bevismusson #
@Clarkythecruel If it's time for a break from anything, it's hype & other people's commentary innit? Or entitlement? @StacebobT @bevismusson #
@Clarkythecruel Don't think ANY of us would give as much of a shit about LOEG if it wasn't for all the Before Watchmen nonsense. @StacebobT #
@Clarkythecruel Heh, a day on a busy Twitter account makes it obvious that entitlement & whining are universal. @StacebobT @bevismusson #
@hoodedu @ben_towle Prob valid. Actually haven't mentioned – on Twitter – the now mostly overlooked The Crow… #
@hoodedu @ben_towle If I disagree that Sandman is goth – & I do, more I think about it, once you get away from Endless – Crow DEFINITELY is. #
@hoodedu @ben_towle …comic was same time as Sandman & it's easy to forget how big a little cultural impact that movie had when it arrived. #
@ben_towle @hoodedu I WASN'T concerned about the semantics of "goth" until you two started throwing the word around like somethingsomething! #
@ben_towle @hoodedu (Actually don't think I'd considered the question in over a decade before today!) #
@ben_towle Part of prob with Crow is it hasn't aged well. In retrospect looks like sixth form poetry as comix, but without irony. @hoodedu #
@ben_towle But the form of it influenced so many black & white comics that followed – Mack, definitely, prob also early Bendis? @hoodedu #
@MhairiMcF (Did you see that link I threw at you earlier, re 50 Shades?) #
Had story about the teen lesbians who got shot & left for dead in a tab for a few hours. Just admitted to myself I wasn't going to read it. #
…I think in terms of what I'm going to learn from the article, the headline & broad strokes are probably plenty for right now. #
@ben_towle Hah, I think that's why I'm bristling against the term – think it actually means different things to 40ish Brit in a uni town… #
@ben_towle …when I hit Southampton/comics we're on about hit the world, Goth in this town was pretty much it's own kind of mainstream… #
@ben_towle Not mainstream, sorry, establishment. Not like that in Peterborough, where my sister grew up – in some places "goffick" is… #
@ben_towle …what (for want of a better word) mainstream kids called anyone with a coloured streak in their hair, but in counter-culture… #
@ben_towle …Goth was pretty much an established mode which might as well have been conformity. #
@ben_towle (Not deliberately being difficult. Just explaining why to me the term isn't so straightforward.) #
@MhairiMcF Hah, damn, & I was on fucking FIRE. Hang on. #
@MhairiMcF http://t.co/njxm9M62 http://t.co/TsMVws0J http://t.co/ars8f2Wp http://t.co/f2hQBgk2 http://t.co/B7Mllo9m #
@MhairiMcF …but only first tweet really matters. #
@MhairiMcF Don't tell him that like he hasn't already lived it. OR SURVIVED IT. @Sulman #
@ben_towle I don't really enjoy about 70% of J O Barr's art, so I know what you mean. #
@ben_towle (RE Goth & you can see once you know all that how my impression of all this is different. If you swap it for "counter-culture"… #
@ben_towle …which is where Sandman really hit big in the UK, I think, things like Tank Girl start to become more significant. #
@ben_towle This prob isn't really a disagreement, though – over course of it we've just started covering 2 or 3 similar/different threads. #
@ben_towle (I was VERY preoccupied with the stuff about Sandman opening up comics for girls.) #