Darcy Generic: The Usual Suspect

[Ataraxia]

Moving On Up

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Eunsuk and I will be heading off to Seoul for the weekend. I decided to search the interwebs for things to do there. I didn't find out much of anything, except that I really don't like reading expat blogs about Korea. Allow me to explain.

Roughly 90% of the blogs written by foreigners in Korea are really just variants on a single ur-Blog. The title of this ur-Blog is "<Something>, the adventures of a <nationality> living in <euphemism for Korea>". Roughly 40% of the blog will be about how strange and incomprehensible Korea is. Another 30% will be about how misguided, dysfunctional, and xenophobic Korea is. A full 10% will be dedicated to the subject of fan death. The final 20% will talk about things the author actually likes in Korea- mostly women and alcohol, but occasionally also something cultural like festivals or historical sites where women and alcohol can be found.

There are some variations on this theme. You may also find the persecuted Christian living in Korea blog, who had to leave America because of all the persecution of Christians that happens there. You can find the bitter divorcee looking for a Korean bride, since we all know that Caucasian women are greedy and manipulative while Asian women are innocent and erotically sheeplike. Take one part "White Man's Burden", throw in some "Orientalism", a smattering of "Mondo Bizarro" and a hint of "Fetishization", and you too can have your very own expat in Korea blog.

I'm sure there are some perfectly good blogs written by foreigners living in Korea. It's just that I rarely find them, and when I do they hardly ever use "living in Korea" as their main topic. I've been here for ten years. There are some things about this country I don't like, there are some things I still think are weird, but I have to tell you- South Korea is not an alien planet. It's a country where normal people live, work, fall in love, use the bathroom, watch TV, complain about politics, and do just about everything that people from your country do.

I'm glad I got all that out of my system. I'd hate to have written a blog about it, you know. Anyhow, have a good weekend. I'll see you all later.

[Ataraxia]

Feckless

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The trip to Seoul was indeed good. At the CD store in the CoEx center I found an old CD by Velocity Girl that I didn't yet have. Eunsuk bought some clothes from what is possibly the coolest maternity shop on the planet. We saw a fight nearly break out on the subway. I drank a smoothie. It was great.

Today, I am at school, but nobody else is. I vaguely recall hearing that there would be no classes today but forgot about it this morning. Surprise holidays are always my favorite.

[MtMoriah]

I love Bishop Pain.

A fight and a smoothie... sounds like you had a good trip.

[Ataraxia]

Into The Abyss

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Today for Teacher's Day all the staff at my school were treated to a special lunch. It was a cafeteria lunch, but the luxury version thereof. There was bo ssam (steamed pork), salad, odeng (no idea what this is in English), noodles, and all kinds of fruit.

The Voles of the Dusk print collection is coming along nicely. On Tuesday I printed out a hard copy so I could locate any problems with the art. It looks really good on paper- much better than on a computer screen. I'm also happy with the pagination- the big cliffhangers all happen on right hand pages, and though I didn't plan the art as a series of two page spreads there are a couple of places where both pages come together beautifully. The first story has been completed, along with its title page.

After this story concludes in three weeks, I'll be moving AT from ComicGenesis to the site I've set up at Transplant. Now I have to think about what the first story at the new site is going to be- I could go with the new Guelph Erronious story; it's strange, funny, and features lots of Greek philosophers. Guelph was the main character in my first ever minicomic way back around 1992, so it has historical precedent. On the minus side it's really really long and I'd prefer to do something short. I could split it into chapters, but this Darcy story is broken into chapters and I'd prefer to not have two continuing series going on at the same time.

The other projects I have almost ready to go are "Sonja Turbot: Existential Investigator", an absurdist dystopian story called "Election Day", and a comic adaptation of "The Gentle Art of Homeopathic Killing". I'd like to move away from long stories and recurring characters in favor of shorter, more experimental comics.

[Ataraxia]

Perfectly Normal

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Yesterday I went downtown and picked up my copy of Making Comics by Scott McCloud. It's a very good book. It's much more practically-oriented than his previous two. The only down side is that now I want to go back and redo some of the pages from this story. I'll almost definitely do Appalachia's speech in the bar as a separate page, expanded out into multiple panels. I can use it in an upcoming run of short subjects.

Now I'm itching to discuss the book with someone. Unfortunately, the only person in my office who also used to make comics doesn't read a word of English. I should probably start a thread in General Chat.

[Ataraxia]

The Preacher

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The first panel is modeled after The Preacher's intro screen from the classic Amiga game "The Chaos Engine".

[Ataraxia]

Bigger Than Dawkins

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