BookLust

Arizona Bound!

This will probably be the last post I do for a few days. The hubby and I are headin' out to Scottsdale, Arizona tomorrow, and won't be back 'til late Monday. Why am I going there, you may ask? Well, in early January, I was accepted into the National Cartoonists Society. And what is the NCS you may ask? I'll just quote straight from the web site: The National Cartoonists Society is the world's largest and most prestigious organization of professional cartoonists.

Every year the NCS holds its Reuben Awards to honour the cartoonists who have displayed outstanding excellence in their field of cartooning. It's sort of like the Oscars for cartoonists. So for the awards night the hubby has to wear a tux (ha!) and I'll be decked out in hopefully something somewhat glamorous, which is quite a feat for me, since I resent having to ever pay more than $30.00 for a pair of jeans. There will also be workshops and special talks and meet and greet cocktail parties and lots of other good stuff.

I am nervous and excited. There will be cartoonists there whom I have hero-worshipped since I was a kid. To even be in the same room with these amazing artists is enough to make me need a defibrillator. I hope I don't make too much of an ass of myself. I will post a report when I get back, of course.

But now I must pack, and calm my nerves and pinch myself to make sure I'm not dreaming.

BiblioQueria 5

Don't ask me why I draw these kind of pictures. I just do.

There are so many words and phrases in the English language that I love. Book Slut is way up there. Just something about how it rolls off the tongue. Wonder how Nabokov would describe the word.

My question this time is a two-parter. First, am I missing any vital characteristics of a Book Slut? What would you add?

And more importantly, are you a Book Slut?
(Sorry fellas, you are included in this; I'm just too damn lazy to draw up a male Book Slut).

TGIF Illustration 4!

It's been donkey's years since I last contributed something for Illustration Friday, so here it is. Sorry, I just don't have time to do a detailed illo (I got deadlines up the wazoo), so a pencil sketch will have to do.

This week's subject was Nourishment. I don't think I need to tell you what nourishment means to me.

Go Fish

Part of an illustration I'm working on.

That's sort of the mood I'm in right now. Jus' hangin' an' thinkin' 'bout stuff.

I'm Drawn To Noam

I need to keep my quick sketch skills limber, so with this in mind, I've created a new category, I'm Drawn To You. Every now and then I'll do quick caricatures of personalities in the media who fascinate, intrigue, inspire and even disgust me.

I've always been drawn to faces. As a kid I would stare at people's faces for long periods of time, trying to memorize every line and curve, as well as the spirit in their eyes and their smile (that is, if they were the smiling type). When I was first in college studying Library Techniques, I used to stare at all the faces of the women in the class (it was 95% women who took the course), and would often secretly draw them because their faces were fascinating, but also because I was usually bored out of my fucking mind. It eventually got back to me that some people in the class thought that I might be a lesbian since I stared at the women so much. Seems like a strange connection to make to me, but whatever.

So if you recognize the face, you will see that my first choice is none other than Noam Chomsky. I hope I have done him justice. I think he is one of the most important voices of reason in the world right now, even though I find his droning voice so damned annoying. His written work is, for me, a tough slog, but I'll keep trying. If you've never encountered him before, I highly recommend the videos Manufacturing Consent, The Corporation, and the newest one, Noam Chomsky: Rebel Without a Pause.

Mr. Noam Chomsky, I'm Drawn To You. But tell your wife not to worry.

BiblioQueria 4

Now that the weather is finally improving (although it was a tad chilly this morning), I am making an effort to take daily morning walks in the park close to where I live. It helps me to clear my mind yet at the same time jumble it with creative thoughts, if that makes any sense.

On my travels this morning I walked by a woman who was wearing a sweatshirt that had the phrase on it: So Many Books, So Little Time. I laughed out loud and told her that I loved her sweatshirt. I just don't see that very often out in public; people proudly advertising that they are bona fide book-lusters.

So Little Time. It's so true, isn't it? We're on this earth for such a short period of time, and yet, there are hundreds of thousands of books out there to be read: books from the past, books in the present, and books yet to come. It's not fair, really. There's just no way to read everything, even if one is lucky enough to live to, say, 80 years of age. That is the only reason why I would want to be immortal, or at least live hundreds of years. Give me more time, dammit, so I can read everything!! The best I can hope for, is to be that little old lady with the cats and the cup of tea. Another reason to keep walking every day, right? Gotta stay healthy to read all those books!

So this passion for reading got me thinking. Why do I read? Why is it so important for me? There are those who read only for practical purposes; to acquire information and news. Yes, I do that, but I read for so much more than that. But it's hard to put into words why. So I'm curious. Can anyone else provide an answer?

Why do you read?

A Talent To Amuse

This wonderful cartoon is from my most treasured book, A Century of Punch. At least a few times a year I will re-read this collection to remind myself of what really funny cartoons look like.

I've been thinking a lot about humour lately. Particularly my humour, and the sense of it, if you will. You see, I can't help myself, really; they way I see things. I've always been this way. Some might think me flippant and childish, but I'm really quite the opposite. It's just how everything gets filtered through me. In fact, I think I'm lucky. I really can't imagine going through this life without a sense of humour. I equate it to going through life without a limb.

I was inspired tonight to think about humour after reading the blog Literaisons. Debbie of Literaisons brought to my attention an amazing quote by of all people Dave Barry about humour:

A sense of humor is a measurement of the extent to which we realize that we are trapped in a world almost totally devoid of reason. Laughter is how we express the anxiety we feel at this knowledge.

That is me in a nutshell. I feel most like myself when I am making myself, or most especially someone else laugh. And I have always been drawn to artists who have a wonderful sense of humour. Ronald Searle, Woody Allen, Mordecai Richler, Charles Schulz. Very often these artists mix sadness with the humour, wich makes me love them all the more. To be human is to truly understand the expression 'bittersweet'.

When I was seventeen, for some completely unfathonable reason I became obsessed with the music and writing of Noel Coward. I memorized many of his songs, and used to sing them around the house at the top of my lungs. To this day 'London Pride' can still bring tears to my eyes, and I've never even been to England.

My mother could not understand why a teenager in the early 1980's would be listening to a gay show-tune writer of the early 20th century, instead of say, Madonna. Personally, I think she should have counted her blessings. One Noel Coward song in particular really spoke to my heart – 'If Love Were All'. There is one line that when I heard it for the first time, I said to myself, "That is me!" It goes like this: "I believe that since my life began, the most I've had is just a talent to amuse." In fact, there is even a memorial stone in Westminster Abbey which bears these words, paying homage to the talented Mr. Coward himself.

A talent to amuse. I too would love to be remembered for that.

Cover Me With Love 6

Breathtaking.

Massive Joke

A few words about Bruce Mau and his Massive Change exhibit at the AGO. I'll try not to ramble on too much, because the last thing I want is for BookLust to become, God forbid, an issue blog.

First off, Bruce Mau bugs my ass. Now that does not mean that I don't think he is talented and intelligent. He is certainly both those things. He's even cute in a chubby-bubby kinda way. But I think that he has become the Oprah of designers, meaning that he has become larger than any of the messages that he tries to communicate (and for anyone who knows what Mau looks like, please pardon the 'larger' pun). He has morphed into this cultish design guru who says supposedly deep things, which as far as I can figure out, mean very little, but they are always packaged as a very attractive, cool product (like his big fat books that he likes to create, or his oh-so-profound 'Incomplete Manifesto for Growth'. Personally, I prefer Textism's 'Annotated Manifesto for Growth'. Hilarious).

I guess I also have a problem with artists who are navel-gazers. The ones who are continually asking the questions: "Who are we?" "What is our role in society?" "Why do we do what we do?" and "What is our creative process?" Yes, these questions are important, but I draw the line at making a career out of asking these friggin' questions all the live-long-goddam-day. Just get on with it.

Regarding the actual show, I'll try to keep my comments brief. The show is very generally, about Global Design and how it is entering a "new period of human possibility, where all economies and ecologies are becoming global, relational, and interconnected." It's a very positive approach to how with design we are making the world a better place. Nothing wrong with that, except that I think Mau had a very narrow, Pollyanna-ish approach to the betterment of the world. Phrases like "We Will End Poverty" mounted on walls in big fat san-serif type mean jack shit to me. So does showing me wonderful alternatives to the gas-guzzling cars we use today. That stuff that he had on display was old news, baby. We've been able to produce electric cars for quite a while. I would have been more impressed with Mau if he had started a conversation about why has it been so difficult to try and bring these more environment-friendly cars into the economy. Why weren't GM and Ford discussing this years ago, when they first had the available technology? And why the fuck are we still creating SUVs and Hummers? Do we need them?

There was another display showing alternative methods for packaging; cups and plates made out of vegetable matter. Once again, that's great. People walk by and say "Ooooohhh...... ahhhhh..... so clever! We're making the world a better place! I can go home with a clear conscience!" And then they stop off at McDonald's and order a burger and fries. They don't consider the question, Why didn't Mau talk about how corporations like McDonalds are continuing to pollute the world with all their packaged shit? I would have been more impressed if Mau had said somewhere in this display that we should be up in arms about the excessive useless packaging that is destroying our planet.

Yes, Mau did point out little pockets of the world where we are trying to make a difference, and yes that is a good thing, but for someone as 'big' as Mau is, I expected more than this pretty panacea. There are much more serious conversations that we should be having, and I saw none of that at this empty art show. Once again, it was simply an opportunity to sell Mau the great design guru god, instead of looking at the serious challenges we face right now on our planet, and what we should be thinking about and doing to address those challenges.

Massive Change was just a Massive Joke.

Pop Goes The Book Review 3!

My third review for Popmatters is up! The book is Home Land by Sam Lipsyte, and if you haven't read it yet – well, honey, get thee to a bookstore toot sweet.