The dogs asleep, Linettes out with her writing friends, and Im home alone, paying bills, drinking beer and watching reality television. Right now, I should be drawing I have a new comic for the Ann Arbor Paper due and I need to get started on a cover for the upcoming Monkey Power Trio record but instead I find myself just sitting here watching the new Bush/Cheney election ads on my computer and unsuccessfully fighting the temptation to blog.
If you havent seen the Bush ads yet, I can sum them up in just a few words. Be afraid. Vote Bush. Images of flag-draped bodies amid the rubble of 9/11 play while voiceover narration talks of steady leadership and our security. There is no vision for the future, just the frantic plucking of heart strings and the repeated call to be fearful. “We might die if we don’t vote for Bush,” is clearly the thought that Karl Rove wants in the back of the viewer’s mind when he or she goes to cast their vote in November. The sad thing is that it very well might work.
While were on the subject of depressing crap, heres a link to a Christian comic book site. Its really great (and by “great” I mean “frighteningly fucked-up and shitty”). They dont have anything yet on the evils of Janet Jacksons nipple, but theyve pretty much covered all of their other lunatic bases: abortion, porn, homosexuality, evolution Ive never wanted to worship Satan so fanatically. (A caution all of my gay readers: Do not to read the issue on homosexuality unless you are prepared to IMMEDIATELY give up gay sex. The cartoon tesimony is that compelling.)
And, on a somewhat brighter, and less homophobic, note, it was just pointed out to me that I was quoted in todays edition of the Ypsilanti Courier. The reporter wrote to me a few weeks ago, saying that he was doing an article on Ypsilanti blogs, and I answered his questions, but Id kind of forgotten about it since. Anyway, heres the part in which Im mentioned:
Mark Maynard is another blogger with his heart in Ypsi (MarkMaynard.com). Maynard, publisher of the arts magazine Crimewave USA, uses his blog as a way to “capture his thoughts without them getting lost.”
He believes its a “great time to be an Ypsilantian” and describes his hometown this way: “Ypsilanti is like Twin Peaks without the beauty. At its best, it is a wonderful, magical place, full of potential and heart.”
Maynard said, “I like the spirit of Ypsi. I like the history. I like the fact that it hasnt, for whatever reason, been overtaken by the sameness that seems to run rampant elsewhere. Theres a sense of community here, and I think thats reflected in the blogs that have sprung up the last few years, like YpsiDixit and the Seat of Revolution. People care about this community, and theyre willing to put the work in to make it even better.”
Someone will probably give me some shit about the, Twin Peaks without the beauty line, but I stand by it. The people here, myself included, arent what Id consider the most attractive people in the world, at least in a superficial and external sense. (I noticed earlier that the show Extreme Makeover was featuring a woman tonight who lives just 30 miles away. She had a face like a skinned opossum. For the producers of that show, coming here must be like shooting fish in a barrel… California had its gold-rush and we have this.) That doesnt really mean shit to me though. I left LA, where there are plenty of beautiful people, to move back here. Attractive people rarely accomplish anything worthwhile, at least over the long haul. They rarely change the world, or create things more beautiful than themselves. They are good for photographing and that’s about it.
Like I said earlier, Ive been drinking.
Back to the subject of beauty Linette and I once tried to get our friend Monica to watch some TV show. I forget what it was exactly. Maybe something like Roseanne, or the Drew Carey Show. I remember very clearly what Monicas response was; I can see ugly people any time I want. Thats not why I watch TV.
So, with that, I bid you all adieu.
