Mandolins and Banjos

by on October 7, 2010
Posted In: politics

This pic taken at the Guitar Blog illustrates a recent phenomenon that I have been trying to understand — namely, the sudden hipness of the mandolin, ukelele and the banjo.

Not objecting by any means to the new fad, I have always loved those instruments and have thought they deserve wider appreciation. I just wonder what spurred it. I have theories (surprise): A rejection of the super-saturated tones of electric guitars; a down economy making the gear requirements attending electric guitars unaffordable; a growing sense that there are a lot of douchebags playing electric guitar. But those may be my own experiences, none of which have prevented me from investing scarce moolah into a decent amp and a few guitars for my own jollies.

What’s funny — and the pic demonstrates this — is that instrument companies are designing ukes, banjos and mandolins with guitar stylings. I like it, but I want to explain it!!!

Spread the joy:
Share
└ Tags: , , ,
Comments Off on Mandolins and Banjos

Back to Normal, Coming Soon

by on September 6, 2010
Posted In: about me, cartooning

This summer has marked the longest period of  zero cartooning I have had since college almost 20 years ago. Seriously, I have not drawn ONE SINGLE CARTOON since June. Doodles on napkins don’t count. In fact, I don’t count the flip-book animation example I created for a class I taught on the subject at a local library. If it’s not on the Internet, it’s not REAL!!!

Tomorrow the kids go back their state-sponsored babysitting holding pen that has some educational merit with a vague purpose of making them globally competitive, whatever that means. Meanwhile, I’ll get to finish a page of Wanderlost I started last May that I’ll post it on Wednesday.

The next question is: what else? I mean, aside from digging the house out from the summer wreckage (so much useless crap to get rid of, so many books to give away or sell, so much yardwork left undone) and picking up more shifts at the library. I’m talking post-Wanderlost cartooning. And I’m not inviting ideas from the Mind Hive, just keyboarding aloud that there are projects on a back-burner that require attention.

Graphic novel(s), possible collaboration with a good friend, some rudimentary animation…. These are things I want to get started on. Oh, and I want to play guitar like Richard Thompson.

Spread the joy:
Share
2 Comments

Third Rail, Sacred Cow, etc, etc….

by on September 5, 2010
Posted In: politics

Glenn Greenwald defends Alan Simpson — not for what he said about cow teats, but for being the only one on President Obama’s Deficit Reduction Commission to speak to the public. It’s a good, enraging read, but let me skip to the end (not counting Greenwald’s inevitable updates):

Leaving aside the fact that Social Security is not really a deficit issue, the true causes of America’s debt and deficits are absolutely sacrosanct and will never be attacked by this Commission. Does anyone believe it’s even remotely possible that meaningful cuts in America’s war and military spending, surveillance and intelligence networks, or even corporate-plundering of America’s health care system will be enacted as a result of this Commission process? Of course not. Those genuine debt-causing policies are “sacrosanct” because the people who profit from them own and control Washington (and share common socio-economic interests with the millionaire Commission members targeting social programs and the billionaires who are behind this). It’s the people who don’t control Washington — ordinary Americans who need Social Security — who are being targeted in order to feed even further the fattest, most piggish factions actually in control. That’s what makes this process so ugly and odious.

A-yup.

So if Obama succeeds where Bush failed in turning Social Security into a joke — whether through privatization (Bush’s preference, but not to be ruled out when “bipartisanship” seizes Obama’s brain) or gutting it to paltry levels — who but the most starry-eyed or self-interested will defend him?

Honestly, I can’t see Democrats allowing this to happen. Oh, wait — hahahahaha — whom am I kidding? Just because it’s suicidal doesn’t mean they won’t do it.

Spread the joy:
Share
└ Tags: , , ,
Comments Off on Third Rail, Sacred Cow, etc, etc….