Resonant Blue

fellow YODCer, and my main rival in fighting for Reina's affection, CJ Marsicano has written a book and is trying to get the sumbitch published. So click the link and help this brother out!

ABOUT THIS PROJECT



For the past few years, I have been working on a few different book projects. One of those projects was one I undertook last November as a break from a larger project I was in the middle of completing. That project resulted one month later in a short novel called Resonant Blue. After finishing the first draft, I put the manuscript aside and returned to work on my main project, Here is the Wonderland, which I intend to shop amongst agents upon completion of its current draft late this year or early next year.

Resonant Blue takes place in Tokyo, Japan in the early to mid-80's. It's about a young Japanese teenager who, inspired by her older guitarist brother and by the California punk scene she witnessed when her family lived in the Bay Area for a few years prior, starts her own punk-influenced band with three of her friends. The book chronicles , through her point of view, the changes she goes through as both a musician and as a person in that short time period.

This past summer, I pulled out the Resonant Blue manuscript, reread it, realized how much I liked it, and started to tinker with it, bringing it into second draft status. That's when I got the idea, however vague at the time, to put out Resonant Blue independently as a book.


Then not long ago, the idea hit me - I'd already participated in a couple of crowdfunding campaigns on Kickstarter... why not do one of my own? I knew that at least one other author had used the site to raise money to help him complete a book of his own, why not try something with a book that's pretty much ready to go to press (or at least will be by the time this campaign reaches its deadline – I'm giving the newest draft another once-over twice as I write this)? It would definitely be an original way to get my name out there as a writer.


So, I settled on a minimum target of fifty books, which I figured I could meet with help from both the hundreds of followers I have on Twitter, Facebook, and my music blog (plus those Kickstarter regulars that like to browse around looking for interesting projects - hey, that's how I found a couple of the projects I'd joined in on as a contributor here), got a fine cover artist named Chris Mendoza in an open call through The Groove Music Life and my social networks, and started planning. I also opened a Facebook page for the project at http://www.facebook.com/resonantblue and an official website of sorts for the project at www.resonantblue.com.

Anyone that joins in will get a copy of the first chapter in PDF format as a teaser.

What do you, dear Kickstarter participant get out of this? Well, no matter what pledge level you choose, you get a signed/numbered hardcover plus an eBook in the format of your choice, plus a thank you in the book's thank-you list. Anything beyond that is up to you and the pledge levels are right there on the right hand sidebar for your perusal. I thank you for your interest. Now let's have some fun.

If there's any questions, you can e-mail me at info@resonantblue.com

Design Corner: Pick a card, any card

(a little something to listen to while you read this post)

As I mentioned in a previous post, famed photographer/director Estevan Oriol released a 2009 calendar showcasing his photography skills with L.A. Women. This time around, He released a deck of playing cards. Each card depicts a unique photograph of L.A. life and beyond.

The Card Cover:

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Spades:

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Diamonds:

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Clovers:


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Hearts:


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Jokers:

Design Corner: The Art of Obama

There's an interesting article in the latest issue of Giant Robot about the artistic contributions to the Barrack Obama campaign. Some of the artists mentioned are Shepard Fairey, David Choe, Morning Breath, Date Farmers, Ron English, Sam Flores and more. You may have seem their work on t-shirts at Urban Outfitter, wheat pasted across your city, or on stickers around the office (there were a bunch in the hallway where myself and Langdon work). Here are a few samples:




This is the 2nd famous design for the Obama campaign done by Shepard Fairey (the first being the official 'O' logo by VSA Partners). What's interesting about this particular photo is that the Obama poster is right over a poster by Mear one. Shepard and Mear had beef a while ago (check the Supply and Demand book for details).

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I forgot where I read it, but someone mentioned originality not as being the first to do something, but as doing something that no one else can duplicate. No one is even coming close to David Choe's style.

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I believe I saw the original painting at 111 Minna last month. It was huge (that's what she said). I remember seeing Ron English liberating billboards and then noticed his artwork featured in the film Super Size Me.

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Spider-Man X Obama, 'nuff said

Wizard #2

Wizard looks for demon portals and closes them with magic paper seals.

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Bad Luck Charms


Cliff noticed he was becoming more attractive to the opposite sex and so one day he decided to invest in a pack of Condoms to protect himself. However since that day Cliff has gotten precisely nowhere with the opposite sex. It was as if they were like bad luck or something...

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Disclaimer: The characters, world and events depicted in Wizard are entirely fictional.
Any similarities to real people, places or events are purely coincidental.

Wizard #1

Wizard looks for demon portals and closes them with magic paper seals.

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Prologue

Cliff had spent a long time unemployed. 1 day an agency offered him the chance at an interview for the position of "Doorman" which he thought sounded easy enough so he took the chance.

At the interview Cliff discovered the position was actually for that of Wizard. This wasn't what Cliff expected but he had been unemployed too long to turn down the oportunity.

He got the job.

Part 1A - Training

Training was quick. The company always needed more Wizards due the number that were being lost all the time.

The students were taught the basics about demon portals and how to close them with magic paper seals.

By doing all the homework assigned to him Cliff was able to pass the Wizard test and become Wizard.

Part 1B - Field Training

Field Training was hard. The Senior Wizard assigned to show Cliff the ropes would get Cliff to try and close any and all demon portals no matter how small. It was more a case of working hard than hard work (Cliff was safe from demons with the senior Wizard by his side).

Cliff was relieved when it was decided he could finally go out into the field by himself.

Part 1C - Closing Demon Portals

Demon portals don't stay open indefinitely. Sometimes a wizard can prevent them from opening with a quick magic spell but usually they will open somewhere where the Wizard is not and it is the Wizard's job when he comes upon them to close them with his magic paper seals.

The portals are themselves dangerous and can burn or swallow a wizard forever. As soon as they open bad spirit begins to leak and negatively affect the environment.

Of course the biggest danger are the demons themselves.

Demons both come in and out of the portal and so a Wizard must always be vigilant.

Part 1D - Battle On Main Street

Cliff was becoming quite an adept Wizard. One day when scouring the land for demon portals he came across a big one on Main Street which he knew would have to be closed quickly! Straight away he began to conjure his closing spell upon his magic paper but as he did a moderate size demon began rush towards him. Cliff only having one hand free channelled energy through his arm to the palm of his free hand into the chest of the oncoming demon; the blow stopped the demon and reversed it's course but not before it could lash out and draw blood from Cliff's side with a slash of the claws.

Angry but not yet realising he was bleeding. Cliff began to shout a spell not found in any Wizard manual.

Realizing that it would not be able to defeat this Wizard the demon returned to it's hell demension just as the portal began to close itself.

Ordinary people were horrified by the sight of blood on the Wizard's side which is how he became aware that he was bleeding. Still the Wizard continued to produce a seal for the area as a precaution. It was at this time that he was spied by a Senior Wizard who commanded him to return to their castle. Cliff complied, throwing his seal onto the ashes of the portal as he left the scene.

Cliff's wound was only a surface one and he was soon fit for duty again.

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Disclaimer: The characters, world and events depicted in Wizard are entirely fictional.
Any similarities to real people, places or events are purely coincidental.

Amae / Jibun

This book I'm reading is excellent so far "The Anatomy of Dependence" by Takeo Doi.

And so: Reaction to Takeo Doi's "The Anatomy of Dependence" (Part 1)

In the forward a John Bester tells us:

The Japanese term amae refers, initially, to the feelings that all normal infants at the breast harbour toward the mother - dependence, the desire to be passively loved, the unwillingness to be seperated from the warm mother-child circle and cast into a world of objective "reality." It is Dr. Doi's basic premise that in Japanese these feelings are somehow prolonged into and diffused throughout his adult life, so that they come to shape, to a far greater extent than in adults in the West, his whole attitude to other people and to "reality."

It seems to me (Why not?) that this might be a factor in wota / idol relationships.

However what amused me and spurred me to post my first reaction was this (Now quoting Dr. Doi's work):

[...] seeking to examine all kinds of different pathologies of mind from the viewpoint of amae [...] led me in time to a realization of the close connection between amae and the awareness of the self as expressed in the Japanese word jibun. This word jibun [...] is very rich in it's implications [...*]

[...] this awareness of a jibun presumed the existence of an inner desire to amaeru, and made itself felt in opposition to that desire. To put it briefly, a man who has a jibun is capable of checking amae, while a man at the mercy of amae has no jibun.

Again this seems like it might be relevant to a wota's psychology but mostly I just get off on how it reminds me of "Buono!"

* It was quite hard to find info on this I can only help you in this way (Google Books): http://tinyurl.com/ypl3hs

The greatest Batman storyI will never read.

An upcoming issue of Batman (#655) features a prose story by Grant Morrison with illustrations by John Van Fleet. It's got CLOWNS...







(click to enlarge pages--IF YOU DARE)

The Da Vinci Code

Riding the bus to and from work means I get to do a lot of reading. Three novels in two months. The second of those books was The Da Vinci Code. I got it as a gift two Christmases ago from Poshmom (and her Posh-husband). The book is a really easy and quick read -- especially now that you can imagine Forest Gump and Amelie as the two leads.

The ending was a bit of a letdown for me - but that's because the build-up to it was so engaging I couldn't help but work the mystery out in my head before I got to the end (damn all those Encyclopedia Brown books I read in elementary school!).

And even though this is a fictional murder-mystery, Dan Brown weaves in A LOT of details -- architectural and artistic. He also mixes in controversial concepts and debates about religion and religious history.

The quick pace of the book is the reason I got sucked in so quickly. Brown keeps the language simple -- at first I thought it was too simple and was kind of boring for about the first thirty-or-so pages, but as soon as the black light hits and Sophie Neveu storms into the Louvre to give Robert Langdon her phone, the book manages to stay engrossing and suspenseful for THE NEXT FOUR HUNDRED PAGES. No joke. Give it a try --don't let my "figuring out the real killer and solving the final puzzle with about fifty pages to go" deter you from reading it.

And don't be a snob. If it's good enough for Ron Howard and mullet-ed Tom Hanks, it's good enough for you.

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Who are Freefall Jones and EGMCruz?

Infinite Crisis #5

You know you wish you were a comic book geek like me. Well, maybe not. Wednesday was new comic day so I went to pick up my stash. I've been trying out some new Vertigo books and Grant Morrison's Seven Soldiers books is pretty awesome, but DC's Infinite Crisis mini-series is pure superhero action on all levels. Here's what I said about the first issue.

Issue #5 hit stands this week, and if you think I'm going to recap, you're ass out. Get a history lesson, and THEN get yer recap. But here's what happened in #5: Old-school/1940's Superman goes apeshit when his Lois dies and he goes all Doomsday on our current Superman and Wonder Woman. Batman gathers heroes to track down a killer satellite (that he created, what a dick). Meanwhile, hundreds of Earths are popping up in the galaxy and colliding into each other all because the demented son of Earth-3's Lex Luthor wants to find the perfect Earth. And Nightwing and the current Superboy try to gather heroes for a final assault to save the planet...only nobody bothers to show up. Finally, the sacrifice of the Flashes last issue was in vain because the very insane Superboy-Prime has returned and is ready to literally rip more people's heads off (and probably finish off the rest of the Teen Titans and Outsiders he didn't kill last time).

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Who are Freefall Jones and EGMCruz?

Absolute Crisis On Infinite Earths

Worlds lived. Worlds died. And my wallet will never be the same. The Absolute Edition of Crisis On Infinite Earths is another oversized hardcover from DC, this time collecting the groundbreaking "event" mini-series that redefined the DC universe. Man, this thing is huge (it better be for $100). It's even bigger than the Absolute Batman: Hush book I picked up a couple of months back.

The slipcase features artwork repurposed from a George Perez/Alex Ross poster from a few years back, but the covers to the two volumes of Crisis feature new artwork from Perez (who drew the series--and seeing his art blown up and oversized is awesome). The first book is the collected series, and the second book acts as an appendix with notes and stuff from the creators.

So what was so special about this Crisis? This was the first time a comic book publisher attempted to tie together their ENTIRE character universe and change the direction of all their books. This wasn't Secret Wars where Marvel heroes disappeared for a while but came back with changes that would be reversed after a few months. The Crisis was the first and probably best epic adventure featuring tons of heroes and villians --and if the deaths of Supergirl and the Flash don't move you, you're a big fat jerk. Sadly, Batman was pretty useless here. This was a huge galactic threat, so he was pretty much relegated to crowd control. That and taunting Lex Luthor.

Who Is Freefall Jones?

Infinite Crisis #1

Holy crap.

The DC Universe is in shambles. Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are at odds. The JLA are disbanded and their watchtower on the moon has been destroyed. In outer space, a black hole has opened up and threatens to swallow not only the planets Rann and Thanagar, but also the entire Green Lantern Corps, the L.E.G.I.O.N., the Omega Men, and countless other space heroes and armies. Back on Earth, the world's villains have united to take revenge on having their minds wiped by members of the JLA. The villains show they mean business by wiping out the Freedom Fighters in a brutally violent attack that has Bizarro pounding the shit out of the Human Bomb. Oh, and for some reason there are TWO Lex Luthors.

Best line of the book: (Batman telling Superman) "...the last time you really inspired anyone--was when you were dead."

OOOOH! Snap! Clark needs to grow some balls and bitchslap Bruce back to Gotham.



FJ

Batman: Hush OVERSIZED Hardcover Edition

See that pic? Imagine it at 8-1/2" x 13". A normal comic book is about 6" x 9" and approximately 22 pages long. Now take twelve 22-page monthly stories, collect them in an oversized hardcover and you've got the heavy book I just bought. If I dropped this book on your foot, you'd need a new foot. Just kidding...not really.

So what's the story about? A new mystery villain named Hush has come to Gotham and unleashed Batman's rogues gallery on him. And superstar badass Jim Lee supplies the art. That's the reason I bought this book -- to see Jim Lee's art blown up to a larger size with crisp color on high-quality paper.

It's not cheap, though. It's $50, so it's a good thing I've got a fat bookstore discount. NO, not a five-fingered discount...how would I smuggle that monolith out? Down my pants? --"Hey, Freefall, your crotch is looking very square today."

FJ

Wanted

One of the perks at the bookstore/café I work at is that employees are allowed to check out books. Of course I headed straight for the graphic novel section.

I checked out Wanted, a story by Mark Millar with art by J.G. Jones. It's about Wesley Gibson, a total puss. He's got a crummy job, a crummy life, and his girlfriend cheats on him with his best friend (I always wonder in stories about loser guys how they got girlfriends in the first place).

One day Wesley finds out his father (who had ran out on the family when Wesley was a baby) was killed, and now Wesley stands to inherit $50 million dollars. The catch is, Wesley's dad was a supervillain, and now Wesley has to train and live as a supervillain for six months in order to cash in. He gets indroctinated into the secret underworld of supercrime and quickly takes to killing, stealing, etc.

The dialogue and visuals were pretty brutal--loaded with "fucks" and "assholes" and heads getting blown off and sex and other shock value stuff.

The problem I had with the story was with Millar getting too cutesy. In the world of this book all the superheroes have been neutralized and the villains constantly make references to "the dark-night detective" or "the most powerful hero of all." And we never see these heroes; first, because the book's publisher is not Marvel or DC; second, Millar is using our knowledge of iconic comic book heroes (so he doesn't have to create his own heroes) to move his story along. There's even one major splash page devoted to showing a tattered red cape in a trophy case.

Gee, I wonder who's cape that was supposed to be? If we're not supposed to think it's Superman's, then what's the point of showing it? There are no other mentions or appearances in the story of that red cape, but somehow it merits an entire page to be highlighted? It's annoying little things like that that kept taking me out of the story.

The villains are supposed to be the focus, but Millar could have taken the time to give us a better sense of who the heroes of this world were -- as opposed to making shits-and-giggles allusions to Superman, Batman, Captain America, etc.

FJ