This is my live-blogging post for my attempt to produce a comic in 24 hours or less. Mainly, I’ll share tweets and images here.

05:45am: I had planned to start at least two hours earlier. I’m getting coffee, and then clock starts at 6am.

Good morning.

24-Hour Comic Day: join in via Google+ hangout here: http://is.gd/rCObok or follow via blog: http://is.gd/IkBREw or here on twitter.

07:00am progress update: Basic layout and script essentials sketched out:

10am: Disappointed that I’m photoshopping images again, but I have a story to tell & don’t have the chops to tell this any other way. #24HCD:

02pm: Eight hours in and this is what I’ve got:

05pm: Jesus Christ vs. The World. Where is this going?

06am: And here is the “final” version. My story is less than half-way done, but gonna post what I’ve got. It’s in Prezi/Flash, which gave me the flexibility to structure layout in unique ways.

In less than 36 hours, I plan to participate in 24-Hour Comics Day. In a nutshell, this Saturday is set aside for masochists to create a 24-page or 100-panel comic within 24 hours. I plan to start as early as I can–3 or 4am if I can, and to live-tweet-blog-video it throughout the day and back into the dark night of the creating soul.

Here is the dare, and its guidelines:

To create a complete 24 page comic book in 24 continuous hours.

That means everything: Story, finished art, lettering, color (if applicable), paste-up, everything…

No sketches, designs, plot summaries or any other kind of direct preparation can precede the 24 hour period. Indirect preparation such as assembling tools, reference materials, food, music etc. is fine.

Your pages can be any size, any material. Carve them in stone, print them with rubber stamps, draw them on your kitchen walls with a magic marker. Whatever you makes you happy.

…

THE ONLINE VARIATION: The above applies to printed comics or online comics with “pages” but if you’d like to try a 24-hour Online Comic that doesn’t break down into pages…then try this: At least 100 panels AND it has to be done, formatted and ONLINE within the 24-hour period!

Two years ago, I realized I just missed this event, so I organized an “18-Hour Comic Day” with Galen, CatGirl and a few friends. Here are our final results: mine: You Are Here – A Photographic Journey Thru Heaven & Hell. and Galen’s silent, haunting: Lest They Should See. (samples below:)

This year, I’m back, and ready to take on all 24 for those hours (cue Training Montage), in spite of the fact that I draw as well as I fly the Space Shuttle. What’s more, it isn’t enough for me to fail at producing the 100 panels for “THE ONLINE VARIATION” within the guidelines they have listed above. Not only am I not scripting or sketching anything beforehand, I have added the following restrictions personal challenges:

• I will create new content (last time, I used Creative Commons-licensed images as backdrops)
• I will incorporate the comic panels and their layout as part of the overall art.
• I will tell a non-linear story.
• I will utilize the ability to navigate through digital space in multiple directions, including zooming in and out.
• I will upload everything and broadcast it throughout the day.
• I will host a Google hangout
• I will incorporate a Bible and other material elements (i.e., it won’t be all digital). I would like a physical version of the comic when I’m done.

I will also only operate the mouse and exacto blade with my left armpit.

On a serious note, I have reasons for imposing these restrictions on myself–I believe that they will free me to create more than I can without them. And so far, I’ve held to my commitment to not script anything before I start working on the comic. I have thought a lot about tools, techniques, and materials. Because I can’t draw, I’m going to try to cut silhouettes. You can see some of my material preparation in the photo above.

Galen and CatGirl are doing it again this year, as well as friends Andrew Penn Romine and Tracie Welser (who are collaborating) and Jacob Ruby. you’re welcome to join the insanity as well! What rewards await those who accomplish this nigh-on impossible task? I’ll tell you: overnight celebrity, vast riches, and an iPhone 5 with a detachable hookah and preloaded with Alan Moore’s home phone number. Or, perhaps even more incredibly:

If you complete a 24-page comic in the 24 consecutive hours during the 24HCD event, you can send your comic in to be collected with the national 24-Hour Comic Book Day archive hosted by The Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum.

Galen’s written up a great post as the Art Nerd at Functional Nerds that describes the event in more detail. We both plan to live blog our progress via twitter (@johnremy and @galendara , hashtag: #24HCD), here at Mind on Fire and at Galen’s Mining the Nooks, and on Google+: John and Galen. I’m going to try to run a Google+ hangout so that we can either work alongside each other or that curious onlookers can curiously look on. (Only 10 people can be on at once, so I’m not sure how that will play out.) Let me know if you’re doing one–I’d be happy to post links to any completed works in the follow up post.

If you’re interested in participating or in following along, please leave a comment or tweet me!

The subject of Perfection In Heaven has been crossing my path recently, most likely via a podcast (Atheists Talk (iTunes link) by Minnesota Atheists, Ask an Atheist, the Atheist Community of Austin‘s Atheist Experience or Non-Prophets (iTunes link), or FFRF‘s Freethought Radio).
This is the proposition that

(a) we are fallen, imperfect beings unworthy of God’s love,
(b) if we accept [insert appropriate deity of choice], we will be given God’s grace despite our unworthiness, and
(c) get into heaven, where
(d) we will become perfect beings.

Of course, proposition (d) is in direct contradiction with proposition (a). That is, if we are fundamentally flawed, then when we become perfected, we will not be ourselves. So the “person” who gets to heaven is not the person we were—it is not us.

I had a dream last night that involved my father, mother, and I. We were going on vacation. And when I woke up, I realized that neither of them acted nor looked like my parents…but in the dream (as it is with dreams), they were my parents. With all that that entailed—except for the few things that were left out to comport with the dream-parents.

So I got to thinking: maybe that’s what it’s like in heaven. We’re just duped into thinking that the people around us are the people we think they are and, similarly, that we are the person we think we were. Memories get conveniently changed.

In any case, it’s a strange proposition that reminded me both how strange dreams are and how strange religion is. And how closely they resemble each other.

Okay, I bought this album solely because I heart Hugh Laurie. I was first introduced to his awesomeness (or, rather, His Awesomeness) when he was Prince George in my favorite British comedy of all time, The Blackadder (I still find that Mr. Bean is an absolute waste of Rowan Atkinson’s talents). But as great of an actor/comedian Laurie is, it never occurred to me that he’d be a good musician (although he does tickle the ivories on occasion in House, MD). I was in for an astonishing surprise.

I love this album (and am annoyed that there’s a “bonus track” on iTunes that I didn’t get because I bought the physical album) and this song absolutely cracks me up.

John Henry is, of course, the hero of the tall tale of the man who laid track just as well as any steam engine and is a symbol of the ever-encroaching technology that replaces honest workers. And here is Hugh Laurie’s version of his story:

Lyrics

The parts that crack me up are the descriptions of the two women in John Henry’s life—his “little woman” who has a dress and cooks and his “[]other woman” who has a name and shares his industry:

John Henry had a little woman
And the dress she wore was red
She walked down the track,
She never looked back,
“I’m going where John Henry fell dead”

This nameless woman is true to her beloved and honoring his memory by visiting either his body or the site of his death.

John Henry had another woman
And her name was Polly Anne
John Henry was taken sick
And he had to go to bed
Polly Anne drove steel like a man

This woman has a name and replaces John Henry when he can work no more—we hear no more about Polly Anne in the song, but still she warrants naming (and praising) above the “little woman”, who next gets told to make dinner:

John Henry told his little woman
Honey fix my supper soon

I’m not really trying to analyze this song too much, but it still cracks me up that John Henry had two women: one was clearly his “public” woman and the other a mistress—and it is the mistress who gets a name.

Yeah, I know this is a commercial…but it’s also an amazing poem and a beautiful illustration to go along with the poem.

Laughing Heart, Charles Bukowski

there is a light somewhere.
it may not be much light but
it beats the darkness

I love that sentiment.

This may not be music per se, but I think it is still worth it. The vid goes on for longer than the actual piece, and you’re welcome to stick around after or not, as you are so moved.

This is Sarah Kay‘s TED talk. I don’t know who she is, but if this is at all representative of her work, I love her.

Lyrics/Text

What don’t I love about this?

You will put the “win” in “winsome…lose some,” the “star” in “starting over”

Throughout the piece, Kay acknowledges the ups and downs of life and how their intertwining creates the magic and beauty that is life. It’s the confession of the last unicorn that the immortal cannot truly live.

And, of course, the haiku-esque blurred homophones that exist in spoken word poetry but get lost when the poems are committed to text (was it really “win some/lose some” or was it “winsome. Lose some”?).

This world is made out of sugar: it can crumble so easily, but don’t be afraid to stick your tongue out and taste it

I love the transience of this, the acknowledgement that life is short, but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy it.

Life isn’t awesome despite its sorrows but because of them.

Your voice is small but don’t ever stop singing

rAmen, sister, rAmen.

I was linked to this vid by this amazing post: Is It Cold in Here? about sexism within the skeptical/atheist community. Sexism I have not, myself, encountered, but which sounds just like what I experienced while working in tech and now, as I try to work in law (not to mention when I try to not work in comics or games).

That article is a great one and worth your time to read and you can watch the vid there.

I found this hilarious because I’ve been that girl. Post ComiCon, I feel like this is probably something that it would be good to propagate.

I was sent a link to a tequila ad by Lessie Brown who asked my opinion on it. She sent it in the context of a page I’ll link to below, because I think it deserves to be watched on its own merit first:

For Harriet has the following to say about it:

The scenario presented here is absolutely rape. No, it’s not forcible rape by a big (black or brown) man in an alley, but most rape isn’t.

Lessie said this:

I feel like we’ve on the one hand reached a place we need to be: A place where we can acknowledge that a woman can be raped even if she isn’t beaten or forced. A woman shouldn’t have to risk her life first to prevent a rape. It’s completely horrible for society to expect that. On the other hand, I worry that we’ve reached a point where we’re infantilizing women by telling them that they don’t have to take responsibility for who they have sex with and how.

(She added, and I feel bad that she felt she had to, but I would like to also say, “I hope it’s clear that I’m not trying to be a rape apologist.”)

My response? It’s funny. I chuckled. It’s indicative of a sexist culture, yes, but I also think—knowing a few pairs of twins personally—that she bears some responsibility for being able to tell the difference between her significant other and his twin.

A similar question came up during the time that allegations of Assange raping a woman in Sweden were big news (what ever happened to that?). My understanding of the situation was this: there was consensual sex between Assange and a woman; she asked him to wear a condom but he did not. In various American media outlets, this was called “rape”—which may be the closest translation of the Swedish crime he was accused of, but it is not rape in the sense we think of it in the United States. I can well imagine a spectrum of sex crimes in an enlightened country such as Sweden that includes forcible rape on one end and other sex-that-is-not-desired on the other end.

In English, we call all of this “rape”. But I think that it is a disservice to those who experience forcible rape to put them in the same camp with those who were drunk or who were never explicitly asked if they wanted to have sex. I think it is appropriate to call them all crimes but I do not think it is appropriate for the punishment to be the same.

When it comes to killing, we have many shades: first degree murder, second degree murder, voluntary manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter, and justifiable homicide. Each crime has a different degree of culpability, violence, and punishment associated with it. I think it should be the same for rape. Or at the very least, suggesting this should not result in me needing to turn in my Feminist Card.

I think this ad is indicative of a culture that does not value women. I do not think it is indicative of a culture that values rape. I think it is additionally a valuable moment to have this discussion. The ad depicts coerced-sex-that-is-not-desired which—let me be clear here—is wrong. But it is a disservice to both men and women to lump it in with the kind of rape that happens as a war crime, the kind of rape that happens at gun/knife point, the kind of rape that happens at parties, or the kind of rape that happens within marriages.

We need a better vocabulary. [Read more →]

I literally just discovered Ms. Maura (but was too tired to write this last night). I love her jazzy sound—it’s almost steampunky to me.

I like this as a ballad between a time traveler and someone encountered during those travels. It’s likely a much more traditional relationship, but “Peace for a Place” feels like a cabaret piece that’s both modern and vintage; perhaps a better description of steampunk than I’ve ever come across. The background instrumentals also put me in mind of Abney Park.

Finally, “You Never Know Where You’re Going” might be a secondary definition of steampunk. It’s a bit more Dr. Whoish (which time travel I’m beginning to have difficulty distinguishing from steampunk…), although the repeated “you dance & scream” coupled with the background music reminds me of clockwork. In any case, she’s worth a looksee.

My sister used to live in New York and my mother had decided that we would visit her to see Broadway shows. She would be there for longer than I, and I longer than dad, so she’d see a total of 3—we each got to choose one. Dad chose Les Misérables. In preparation and, I suspect, yet another attempt to Build Character, I had to read the [abridged] novel in advance.

I remember nothing of that tome. But I remember well the musical opera. I even bought one of the soundtracks. I have many favorite pieces from it, but one of them is “the Bishop”: the moment when Jean Valjean experiences redemption. It brings tears to my eyes whenever I hear it—this, I think to myself each time, this is the whole of religion, morality, lovingkindness, whathaveyou: this is true love of fellow man.

I just finished reading How the Goddess Came to Spring Flowering Alley, by Andrew Penn Romine, who I know through John. Peng is the Bishop.

Enjoy:

Come in sir for you are weary
And the night is cold out there
Though our lives are very humble
What we have we have to share

There is wine here to revive you
There is bread to make you strong
There’s a bed to rest till morning
Rest from pain and rest from wrong