From BRAINFAG to SNOTRAG?
posted in Home Jabber on April 26, 2005
It looks like that just *might* be the final illustration for The Motel Life. I still want to non-walnut those weird cockroaches, if you know what I mean. And there's still the spine and back cover. I'll keep you posted, insatiable brainfagettes. Oh yes.
My friends Scott and Alex at Fitzcarraldo studios up the street are putting on a full-on PROM in their studio space in a few weeks. They're going so far as to rent a LIMO, paint their entire studio PINK, and build a BAR. Now it's up to rest of us to dress up like goons and try to ignore the traumatizing memories (if any) of highschool prom.
My mom just visited for the weekend. Made some homemade falafel & tzatziki & hummus, watched American Splendor, lounged around and read. A fitting productivity crash after the last week.
Talking with Soon Bok about what I'm thinking for my big book made me realize I'm not really elucidating my ideas, and that's why people are not really responding. I mention writing about being 17-19.. she originally thought I was just dwelling on the past, but when I explained that it's more about really dissecting what that time period MEANT, the changes I went through to transmogrify from the uncomfortably geeky & socially paranoid 13-yr-old, to the asshole streetdancing 16-yr-old, to the cheesy & art-inept & spirituality-obsessed (no, really) 19-yr-old.. and eventually into the witty, charming, talented, dapper 29-yr-old (haha!). Jesus it still sounds awful. But, no, there are some funny ass stories from my childhood.. and expanding on my traumatizing relationships around the end of highschool would definitely be entertaining.
I told Aaron I thought it was time I did my coming-of-age book, the Brainfag Blankets, if you will. We got a laugh out of that. Then started thinking of other words for blankets until we came up with Snot Rag (a stretch, yes) -- and I loved it until I later realized I'd be going from BRAINFAG to SNOTRAG. Is that an improvement?
12 comments on this entry
a graphic bildungsroman would be neato. but i thought everyone talked you out of autobiography.....
john steinbeck said everyone's first major work should be autobiography in order to "get all that bullshit out of the way so you can concentrate on doing something really good." but he was sort of a grumpy bastard.....
well, it was mostly ME talking myself out of autobio. but that's just because it's what i've done most and it feels easier to me than a straight-up fiction story. but i think i would fictionalize this story.. which would be good exercise also.
on my bike ride home i was thinking of maybe working on two stories simultaneously -- one sci-fi horror sorta thing that i've been wanting to do, and this autobio/fiction bit.
bildungsroman: great fucking word. and that's a hilarious quote from steinbeck .. so true. this WOULD be my first major work, so it could fit into that grumpy bastard's suggestion.
Nate, I think autobio would be good, as you ARE quite adept at it and I'm SURE you've got a WHOLE BUNCH of amazing stories to share from those periods in your life. I feel like you do need SOMETHING to run through it all though, to tie the stories together. (uh... LIKE Blankets, I guess) so that it's not just a long series of "and then THIS happened!"s.
I also like the idea of working on TWO projects at once. After I'm done with Basewood (if I ever FINISH Basewood) I'm planning on doing "Hawaii" which is another adventure story, written by my dad and also "One Jedi's Journey" which will basically be MY WHOLE LIFE STORY from ages 0-25 revolving around the theme of "Star Wars." OJJ will be released serially in PHASE 7 while I'll keep Hawaii to my damn self until the whole thing is done.
It seems like a similar plan might work really well for you. Focus in on the autobio story and really figure out your "angle" on that but then also work on a sci-fi horror thing at the same time so you can get a BREAK from all that self-analyzing.
Ack! Long post... sorry!
i love how the germans freighttrain their words together. it's the only language where you'll find something like computertablewor..., or something similarly ridiculous.
when i lived in eastern europe and was friends with a bunch of germans, i pointed out how silly it looks on the printed page. "aber das makes sense," they'd say. i'm surprised more religions haven't been founded in germany given that many of them totally lack a sense of humor.
wow, Nate, really interesting colors on that drawing from Powell's. I like it much, and it's special to me because I saw those people and watched you draw it (and you thought I was reading my book). What a fun weekend it was! If I find a date and a dress, can I come to the prom?
mom at the prom? can you do that? i'll have to run it by the committee.. haha!
alec: definitely a lot of stories from that time period, i'd just have to scrape em off the ol' brain. which is difficult for me. i should invest in a crate of ginkgo, damnit. but yes, the stories would definitely be connected.. i'd just pick a few to piece together a cohesive whole, definitely.
i'm as interested in seeing this star wars story as i was the glasses story.. another alec mystery unraveled..
Me too Nate! But the story is still unfolding... 21 days until Episode III!
Unfortunately though, I think I'll be lucky to finish Basewood by 2008 and the Star Wars story will probably be something like 200 or 300 pages, I think? (GULP) so WHO KNOWS how long that's gonna take me! I mean, I'll keep the style a hell of a lot more simple, so it'll be quicker, but STILL!
I gotta learn to draw FASTER!
i need another word for trendy! besides hipster or scenester...
Well, there's:
shirt-battler
prepy
modish
tony
voguish
with-it
chic
ooh, shirt-battler, that's a dandy. you make that shit up?
Unfortunatly, no. It is a funny though, isn't it?
Thanks! how do you like "trend-monger"?
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