Status:
Mostly recovering and pottering today but did need to do some prep for the heatwave. I’d planned out how to hang the big silver shade over the front window with the minimum of effort (because effort is in scarce supply these days) and with Fiona’s help I got both screws into the brickwork with ease. Then we hung the sheet and I pulled it tight, only for it to tear where I’d put the eyelet in. Unfortunately, as it’s the skin of an indoor hydroponics tent, it’s not particularly tough material, so I’m going to have to try something else. I reckon I know what to do though. Will see if it works tomorrow.
Big Read:
If you know Evan Dorkin this is a lot of fun, tracing his career from the very early days (there’s the first Milk and Cheese sketch on a napkin!) to the imminent publication of Nerd Inferno, the 650 page doorstop collection of his life’s work.
Should you bother clicking if you don’t know Evan Dorkin? Um, I dunno! If you think this is a work of genius then dive in.
There’s a bunch of things about the origin of the Eltingville strips that I didn’t know, leading to some cutting stuff about a comics industry made up of fans.
Terrible fans move into the industry. We get these people as professionals. […] The people that you’re not safe around in this industry, they came from fandom. From just being people who scream at interns at DC Comics, to acting like some of the ways Jim Shooter acted with older professionals and whatnot. To the way that people act on panels or in the offices. We are they and they are us. We all come from fandom. Almost nobody comes to this industry accidentally.
Dorkin is one of the more insightful of cartoonists with a strong moral compass about the culture and industry he’s found himself in, for better or worse.
Reading:
- Heatwaves: expert tips on redesigning UK homes to cope with hotter temperatures — A rather aesthetically bold experiment from Loughborough University putting massive shades on a semi-detached house, and some interesting facts about how insulation can help or hinder cooling.
- The Art of Air and Space: Interpretations of Flight — Great review of this show at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC. Was delighted to see a decent chunk on Robert Rauschenberg. Would love to be able to visit this - hopefully it’ll tour?
- Balls (practically) to the wall — Fascinating insight into how the 1961 IBM Selectric typewriter prevented you from pressing two keys at the same time (something that was still a problem on my Smith Corona in the late-80s.)
- sighs, updates Number Of Days Since Judge Dredd Was Right About Something board
- Referee Philosophy
Watching:
- The Onion’s America: Birth Of A Nation (26:01) — Starts reliably funny then goes proper weird in a very good way.
Listening:
- Origin Story: Paranormal Investigations — Didn’t fancy anything too heavy and this was just right.