“Guitar” (sheet metal sculpture) by Pablo Picasso (1912)
Friday
October 18, 2024
Since 2002
Monthly Archives: April 2014
Zippo, Bang
Check out this meaty 1989 Comics Journal interview with Bill Watterson (found over at Longform):
WEST: In looking at Krazy Kat, do you draw any strength from what Herriman did in terms of the relationships of his characters?
WATTERSON: Krazy Kat is a completely unique strip. I think it’s the best comic strip ever drawn. Ultimately, though, it’s such a peculiar and idiosyncratic vision that it has little to say to me directly. I marvel at it because it’s beyond duplication. It’s like trying to paint a sunrise — you’re better off not even trying. Peanuts and Pogo have been inspirations, too, but these strips are much more down to earth, and are much closer to my own way of thinking, and have had much more direct influence. Even so, I try to keep the instances of blatant plagiarism to a minimum. Looking back, you’ll see that some of the old strips are one-gag formulas, endlessly varied. Krazy Kat revolves around the tossing of the brick. Little Nemo was always a dream, and you know the kid is going to wake up in a heap at the bottom of his bed in every single strip. I find Herriman a lot more interesting than McCay, but both are working within a very limited construct. It’s a very different approach to cartooning that what we do now. I would go insane working with limited formulas like theirs, but on the other hand, Herriman and McCay gave us something better than gags. Back then, the fun was in the getting there. The destination of each strip was the same, but every day you went there by a different road. Today, we want the strip over as soon as possible — “Just hand me the punch line, please.” The fewer panels, words, and drawings, the better: I think Pogo was the last of the enjoy-the-ride strips. It’s a shame. We’ve really lost what comics do best.
WEST: Can’t you still do that with the Sundays?
WATTERSON: The Sundays are frustrating — you have to waste the entire top third of the strip so that the panels can be dropped or reconfigured for certain-sized newspapers. This really limits what I can do. Krazy Kat had a whole page to itself, as did Nemo. Even so, there’s more flexibility on Sundays than in the daily strips. I’ve always tried to make the strip animated, even when the characters aren’t moving, with expressions or perspectives or some sort of exaggeration. There’s great potential for that which has yet to be fully mined.
New York Minute
As Bill Murray said after his girl left him in Stripes: “And then, depression set in.”
That’s how I feel after hearing that both J&R and Pearl Paint are doomed.
[Photo Via: Stereophile]
Sunday Gravy
With two men out in the top of the 12th inning, Dean Anna checked his swing at a 3-2 breaking ball that tailed away from him and into the dirt. Checked it enough to draw a bases loaded walk, just like Wade Boggs did back in the ’96 Serious. It pushed the Yanks ahead 2-1. Carlos Beltran and Alfonso Soriano followed with base hits and the Yanks escaped Tampa happy to get a series split.
The bullpen had a good day; five relievers (Phelps, Thornton, Warren, Kelley, Claiborne) combined for seven shutout innings, complementing five solid from starting pitcher Vidal Nuno.
Final Score: Yanks 5, Rays 1.
One more thought. Jeter singled to right in the 11th inning to extending a hitting streak to ten. It’s his 15th hit of the season and the 3,33oth of his career. If he’s lucky Jeter has a little more than 100 hits left but it’s getting to the point where I’ve started to savor each one of them. Pretty soon he’s going to be down to double digits of hits left in his career.
Got to remember to appreciate and relish all of them.
[Picture by Bags]
Oh, Snap
…Crackle or pop. An MRI revealed that Ivan Nova has a partial torn UCL. Smells like Tommy John Surgery to me.
What a drag, man.
In the meantime, Mark Teixeira is back in the lineup (Scott Sizemore we hardly knew ye).
Jacoby Ellsbury CF
Derek Jeter SS
Carlos Beltran RF
Alfonso Soriano DH
Mark Teixeira 1B
Yangervis Solarte 3B
Brett Gardner LF
Brian Roberts 2B
John Ryan Murphy C
Never mind the bad news or the last two games:
Let’s Go Yank-ees!
What The Ouch
The Rays put another beatin’ on the Yanks, this one to the tune of 16-1 (they even roughed-up Dean Anna). For digestion purposes I say we’re best to just move along except there is something concerning we have to mention…
[Picture by Bags]
Ya Never Nova
The Yanks face Chris Archer tonight. The “Now You See Me, Now You Don’t” Ivan Nova goes for the Yanks.
Jacoby Ellsbury CF
Brett Gardner LF
Carlos Beltran DH
Brian McCann C
Alfonso Soriano RF
Yangervis Solarte 3B
Kelly Johnson 1B
Brian Roberts 2B
Dean Anna SS
Never mind last night’s meltdown:
Let’s Go Yank-ees!
[Picture Via: Sketchy]
Well, Sir, We Were Going to the Bingo Parlor at the YMCA…
…when all of a sudden, the bullpen fell apart. Yeah, the Yanks had a nice 4-0 lead, beating Erik Bedard around pretty good. The game, like the one the night before, moved along at a tension-free, brisk pace for the Yanks until Hiroki Kuroda began to labor. He left the game with runners on base and the Yanks ahead by a run and even though they’d add another–to make it 5-3–things fell apart after that, and the Rays, who haven’t been scoring much, broke out.
When the dust cleared it was 11-5.
The lasting memory of this game was that of Cesar Cabral in the 8th. The kid couldn’t control his pitches, almost hit a couple of guys and then hit three. Joe West tossed him, not for intent I’d like to think, but to put the kid out of his misery. The Yanks DFA’d the poor bastard after the game, and you’d like to think he won’t have a worse night in his professional career.
Friday Night Fun
Our man Hiroki’s on the hill tonight; Beltran’s got the night off.
Brett Gardner LF
Derek Jeter SS
Jacoby Ellsbury CF
Alfonso Soriano DH
Brian McCann C
Yangervis Solarte 2B
Kelly Johnson 1B
Scott Sizemore 3B
Ichiro Suzuki RF
Never mind letting up:
Let’s Go Yank-ees!
[Photo Credit: Teresa Zabala/The New York Times]
New York Minute
Nick Dilallo’s New York Numbers. Found over at Subtraction.
Morning Art
A Study of “The Room” by Hisaji Hara (via Biblioklept).
Ah, If They Could All Be Like This
Early lead, good fielding–covering up some of the cruddy fielding–more hitting, decent pitching, and some more runs. Oh yeah, and a triple play. Started by Solarte and finished by Scott Sizemore, playing first base for the first time since, well, ever. Even a scary moment, where Carlos Beltran tumbled over the fence in foul ground down the right field line, turned out to be more of a scare than anything serious.
It’s not every day you put a beatin’ on David Price. So, yeah, it was a good night.
Final Score: Yanks 10, Rays 2.
No surprise here but man has Jacoby Ellsbury ever been good so far. In the field–he seems to take much better routes in center than Brett Gardner, never mind Curtis Granderson–on the bases and at the plate, he’s been terrific so far.
Afternoon Art
Photograph by Ana Grigolia via MPD.
Goin’ South
The Yanks meet the Rays. Last year, C.C. was no bueno against Tampa. Let’s hope that changes, starting tonight.
Never mind the lousy dome:
Let’s Go Yank-ees!
[Picture by Bags]
"This ain't football. We do this every day."
--Earl Weaver
--Earl Weaver