Operation: Shout Out

Let's get some grassroots goin', shall we?
I call upon the Brinkerhoff faithful. If you enjoy reading this comic and want to see it grow in popularity, there are some little things you can do right now to do to help out.

[ The Setup: ]
I read a lot of fine comics and comic blogs on the web. It doesn't take a rocket surgeon to know that a mere mention (or, better yet, link) to another comic can do wonders for said comic. Success on the web is all about word-of-mouth. Most of you probably got here through a link or a tiny little ad somewhere on another site you frequent, right? Also, the community of webcomics has been turning into a "who you know" situation. Brinkerhoff just needs to "get known".

I've sent communications and guest strips. I've sent greetings and compliments. I've bought books. I've advertised. All of these efforts have been for the genuine love of those works and my desire to help support their efforts. The problem is, I'm just one guy. One voice. One e-mail address. They know who I am. They've heard from me before.

[ Your Mission: ]
Click on the links below and just tell 'em that Brinkerhoff says "hi". Get clever. Have fun. Be nice. Spell check. You can put in whatever else you want, just keep it above the belt. We're looking for fame, not infamy. Brinkerhoff is just needs a shout out here and there. There are still so many readers that could be loving Brink as much as you do, they just gotta' hear about it.

Some of the suggestions you might encourage for this shout-out campaign include:
• a front page/blog link
• a newspost mention
• an addition to a link list
• a passing glance on a busy street
• the finger (of their choosing)

[ Important: ]
DO NOT SPAM THEM.
You hate it and so will they. We're looking for many voices from multiple addresses, not thousands from one. These are all great guys and I don't want this to turn into a dick move. We're just extending some greetings.

[ The List: ]
Please copy and paste the addresses, replacing the [at] with @. I didn't want to give links to the spam robots. Feel free to go off of this list, too. There's a bunch more out there that even I don't know about. (Kinda' gets back to my point, eh?)

• Scott Kurtz - PvP - kurtz[at]pvponline.com

• Jerry Holkins - Penny Arcade - tycho[at]penny-arcade.com

• Kris Straub - Starslip Crisis - kris[at]starslip.com

• Zach Miller - Joe and Monkey - squid[at]joeandmonkey.com

• Howard Taylor - Schlock Mercenary - howard.taylor[at]gmail.com

• Dave Kellet - Sheldon - dave[at]davekellet.com

• David Malki! - Wondermark - dave[at]wondermark.com

• Paul Southworth - Ugly Hill - pskl13[at]yahoo.com

• R. Stevens - Diesel Sweeties - clango[at]dieselsweeties.com

• Ryan North - Dinosaur Comics - ryan[at]qwantz.com

• James Turner - Beaver and Steve - james[at]eruditebaboon.uk

• Chris Onstad - Achewood - chris[at]achewood.com

• D.J. Coffman - Yirmumah! - yirmail[at]yirmumah.net

Good luck, and thanks.

Of Kitchens and Comics

Another productive weekend on the kitchen is behind us. Our deadline is next weekend and we're just about there. We were helped out by Kelly's mom who came over to visit from Seattle and got grout-tastic. Her dad came by to help get the crown moulding up and install the dishwasher. My mom and my brother, Connor, also came by to check-in and see how we were doing. On Sunday, we were revisited by Kelly's dad and step-mom for a follow-up pop-in, too. All of their help and well-wishes were extremely appreciated.
So now all we've got left is a bit more window moulding work, with accompanying touch-up, the repair and wall patching for the oven hood venting, floor moulding, cabinet moulding and finishing, and a bunch of other little things.

And oh, yeah, we're also hosting our wedding reception parties this weekend. Talk about cutting it close.

When we get done with this whole thing and get our house back together I think the last thing we'll want to do is be in that house for a while. The last 2 months have just been a tornado of activity. Exhaustion is a quaint roadside retreat in the rearview mirror. We both look forward to relaxing after this is all over.

I've been happy to be able to produce Brinkerhoff on a consistent basis through all of this, too. Maybe I'm more surprised than just happy. The process has been as scattered as the rooms in our house have been. Even worse was the month-long up-then-down-then-up again headaches of the server switch.
The best I've felt was when I was working 3 days ahead. I'm looking forward to getting back to my more comfortable 1-2 weeks ahead. I don't know why, but I feel more creative and connected to the comic with that kind of buffer. Additionally, I've got some extra Brinkerhoff projects that I'd like to finally get started on. Trust me - you'll like 'em.

Now I've got to back to work.

Looking Back and Stuff...

The 2007 Exhaustion Tour is finally nearing the end of it's run.
Kitchen 3.0 is now 92% complete.

As we're finally winding down the big kitchen remodel, my wife and I find ourselves slowly forgiving the little things that could've gone better. We don't really acknowledge them as mistakes, per se, since the whole things been one big arduous and exhausting learning experience. I was worried we'd be obsessive over that stuff, but the good has by far outweighed the bad. We're exhausted, but taken as a whole we're proud of what we've accomplished.

It got me to thinking about my life as an artist, and how hard it's always been to look back on my past work without wanting to burn down any building in which it was housed. All of my college work is in boxes and portfolios, to be seen and scrutinized either posthumously or by nosy future children looking for a little patriarchal ribbing.

All of the work since college has been for corporate or freelance reasons, so I'm pretty disconnected from it. None of it has really carried any meaning for me. It was a means to a meal. It's not been very "artistic", but it's kept me from starving.

It's been with my cartooning that I've found some comfort in returning. Whenever I pull my printed copy of The Zoo treasury off the shelf, I'm both reminiscing and rediscovering. I really enjoyed those characters back then, and I still do. A lot of it still makes me laugh. I'm glad for the work I put into it. There's a few things I still nitpick artistically, but it still holds a lot of value to me.

Bodinski's Blog is a wild, untamed beast wrapped up in a cute little round caricature. I had so many strong emotions when making it, I barely remember being a part of most of the process. Each time I pick it up, I'm not struck by the fact that I find something new. Some of the references are starting to be lost on me. I don't mourn what I've forgotten, though. I think it's my brain's way of telling me leaving the past in the past.

Overall, Brinkerhoff has been my favorite thing to revisit. I often go through the archives in the process of making the comic, and I re-laugh at some of the things that have happened in that rabbit's past. Sometimes I feel, dare I say, proud of what I find. I have to admit that I like the writing. I set up some ground rules for the way that the comic would be paced and put together and I like the way things have turned out to this point. It's different. It has a voice. For me, Brinkerhoff is fun. It's been rewarding for the 1 1/2 years and 402 strips it's produced. I'm excited to see where it goes. I'm excited to look back on it tomorrow.

Up, Down, All Around

No, your eyes aren't deceiving you. Brinkerhoff is still undergoing some server difficulties. ComicGenesis (where Brinkerhoff is hosted) is still migrating to their new server, so this is just the latest hiccup.

I'll try to sum up what's going on without confusing you or myself:
Apparently, the powers that be said that once the domains and content are sent over to the new hardware there was the possibility that some comics and content need to be reposted. I quickly composed myself with the addition of alcohol to innards when noticing the last week's worth of strips disappeared, so I sent those back into the cue. Unfortunately, that cue is now WAAAAY backed-up.
The good news is, at least you're able to see the page you're reading now, so that's better than it's been, right?

If you'd like to check out last week's strips (and today's, for that matter) click on the mirror site at Drunk Duck. As a matter of fact, you might want to bookmark it once you get there since even I don't know when this long national nightmare will be over. It's had to plan on anything cool with the site when you don't know if it'll be up.

Thanks again for your patience. Continue enjoying the funny.

Of Mice and Machines...

Caution: Structureless meandering ahead...

I saw the first showing of the Transformers movie last night and got exactly what I expected. I wanted big robots fighting.

I saw Ratatouille last Friday and also got what I wanted: a great fucking movie.

It's easy to discredit Michael Bay whenever he tries to do something beside an action sequence. He's just not that good working out of his comfort zone. He doesn't show any patience. He's most comfortable in a set piece, blowing stuff up. He's awkward like an adolescent when it comes to human interaction. Luckily he's usually saved from his most glaring faults by the casts he's been able to work with. Put simply, the Transformers movie would've had some real problems if not for Shia Labeouf. He saves some corny stuff when he has to. All that said, Bay was still one of the best men for a movie like this.

What I realized most with Bay's directing style is that his framing is very much like a comic book. He thinks very much like a designer. Each shot is mapped out with dominant, subdominant, and subordinate elements. He also thinks on that third level, too, though. He can see what's going to be edited in next and tries to balance that out. Close-ups sit next to longer shots, while middle range shots tend to get slightly more screen time for panning and zooming.

What I think I liked most about the movie is that I wasn't disappointed. Not exactly high praise, I know, but I'm still one of the many suffering from the "Jar Jar Effect." Disappointments have been the norm for me as I see movie after movie kick me in the solarplexes when I just wanted to like it. Pirates 2 was a clunker, so I didn't even other with 3. I loved Sin City, but then had to see Jessica Alba turn around and do Fantastic 4? That's kinda' like being in a really good, waking up accidentally, and trying to return to the dream only to find everything's gone to shit. I could look past Halle Berry as Storm ( I still say it should have been Angela Bassett), but not 3 times. I didn't mind the first 2 Spiderman movies, but the third one left such a rotten taste in my mouth I actually don't like Spiderman, the character, anymore. Seriously. I can't even buy a Spidey comic anymore, for fear he'll rip off his mask in front of half of New York, again.

Hollywood's beyond bloated. They have been for a long time. It's a machine that churns out a LOT of garbage. Every once in a while we'll get a morsel of delectable residue, but our lowered expectations can only help us stomach so much.

Ratatouille reminded me what it was like to fall in love with a movie again. It was good enough to inspire me on artistic levels left dormant by past mediocrity. The difference with that movie and so many others is the teamwork and solid vision of the filmmakers. When you get done watching it, you feel like every "t" is crossed and every "i" dotted. They cared enough to make a great movie. Any disagreements, behind-the-scenes arguments, or conflicts (if there were any) never made their way on screen. There was no "hip" dance number at the end, dated attempts at humor, or fart jokes.) Imagine that-a whole movie about food and no jokes about things coming out the wrong way. It was just a solid story told in a solid way, top-to-bottom.

The thing that both the Transformers and Ratatouille have in common is the appeal to the kid inside of me. I wanted to be a 12-year-old wanting to be Sam Witwicky. I wanted to live in that world and experience that adventure. I wanted to be a chef in the kitchen with all of the cool rats, cooking and entertaining an appreciative crowd. In both movies I got to escape. I got to laugh. I got to cheer. What I didn't do was groan, or fidget, or look at my watch.

I still hate paying $9.50 for an admission, though.