Update #14 - June 2020

Hello, Patrons! 

Before I start, thank you to everyone who has continued to support my art; it really means a lot to me!

WHAT HAVE I BEEN UP TO?

I’ve continued on at my two day jobs (custodian and personal care assistant) as usual. 

I've been planting a garden in containers on my deck; I have cucumbers, tomatoes, parsley, rosemary, and mint, all of which have been flourishing in the alternate heavy rain and bright sun that Massachusetts has been getting this past month.

I’ve also been continuing to rollerskate; I can now go backwards, spin, and navigate the skate park.

WHAT HAVE I BEEN WORKING ON?

I’ve put my daily comics on hold for the month to work on donation commissions in support of organizations working in the Black Lives Matter movement. As of writing, I’ve completed 59 drawings in exchange for just over $1,250 in donations. 35 of these donations went to Reclaim the Block, and the rest to various organizations endorsed by them.

On the writing front, I’ve completed the first draft of a script for a short comic based on the folktale The Lindworm, and I’m currently working on the second draft, where I’m going over the script to break it up into what will be turned into the thumbnails. I want to put out a short comic in 2020, just as I did in 2019 with The Punk and The Pigeon. I had originally been working on a story about a radio DJ alone in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, but as the events of 2020 started to unfold, the premise seemed less and less like it was in good taste until I ultimately decided to scrap it. 

I’ve also been continuing to draft the second act of Gay Vampire Beach Romance, which I’ve discussed previously.

WHAT HAVE I BEEN CONSUMING?

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke 

It’s interesting that the story takes a form reminiscent of a history book, given how much of the plot concerns itself with books, and the accessibility and usefulness thereof.

The plot really gives a sense of high stakes and all of the many characters have very distinct personalities, values, and voices, which makes me very eager to see who will profit and who won’t from any given development. The world-building is incredibly intriguing, though I’m not sure if it will answer all the questions it brings up; a big one being, what is the state of magic outside of England?

I mentioned last month that there were passing instances of racism and antisemetism, and having gotten farther in the book, the narrative does seem to intend to make a point about different forms of bigotry and how they are bad, but I am not yet sure if that point will be made effectively.

I didn’t get to finish it, as a 14 day libby loan is apparently not long enough to listen to a 30+ hour audiobook. I’ve placed another hold on it and am eager for it to come back in.

The Terror (Season One)

This is a stunning, atmospheric show on every level. All the shots are gorgeous and you can tell every aspect of them were really thought through for maximum effect. The story is gripping and tightly woven. The characters feel very human. I have a very hard time concentrating on anything visual for over an hour at the time, but it never, ever lost my attention.

My only quibble is: I did not love that the one explicitly and unapologetically gay character was also a cannibalistic murderer. He was a fascinating character, don’t get me wrong. But does this mean I wasn’t supposed to be sympathizing with him in the beginning, when he was walked in on and almost outed? I don’t know. He was a fantastic villain, but I felt like the show tiptoed very close to implying that his gayness was part of his villainy.

I feel like this is the kind of show that really benefits from a rewatch, as there are a lot of mini arcs going on in the background and I had a hard time telling most of the secondary characters apart until near the end, but at the same time, I think it’ll be awhile before I have the emotional fortitude to do so because this show is. pretty brutal.

Red, White, and Royal Blue: A Novel by Casey McQuiston

I really badly wanted to like this book, but I think it missed the mark for me. There’s just too much to unpack when it comes to modern politicians. I had to shut off the part of my brain that connects what I’m reading to the facts of the current sociopolitical climate and all the terrible things that contribute to it, and frankly, I’m not sure I even want to be able to do that. I really had to struggle to suspend my disbelief about this fantasy world where the Democrats are the Good Guys, secret service agents are trans lesbians, and three out of five members of the royal family are totally in favor of giving back all the stuff they got through colonization if it weren’t for the one mean old lady stopping them. 

Before the first chapter was over I was willing to bet money that the author cut their teeth in writing fanfic. A little more than halfway through, a bit before Alex started outright talking about Hamilton and Laurens’ relationship, I knew for certain that the author is really really into Hamilton: An American Musical because I recognized lyrics from the songs slipping into the dialog (ex: “how the sausage gets made,” “putting the fire out from inside the house”; nothing damning, but quite a series of coincidences to say the very least). As soon as I realized Alex was basically supposed to be modern au Hamilton, the political stance of the book became a whole lot clearer and the story became a whole lot more difficult to enjoy. 

There are definitely some nods through the fourth wall that we are playing in an alternate reality America, where we went a different way in the 2016 election and the nation as a whole is more progressive, but there are still enough ties to real life modern day America that we really can’t escape the implications and baggage that come with it. For example, Alex makes a light-hearted joke about Biden in a speech, clearly painting him as a sympathetic figure; then, in the next chapter, he has a serious heart-to-heart with the senator who took down the Republican candidate’s campaign from the inside, who tells him “I couldn’t let a fucking predator be the most powerful man in the country.” Woof.

Politics aside, I also felt like there were also pretty severe pacing issues. Any time that Alex and Henry weren’t in the same room, the narrative would yadda-yadda-yadda through events, whether the time spanned five minutes or five weeks, and as soon as they were in the same room again: hook-up scene. The effect was very ‘all payoff, no buildup’ which I found kind of unsatisfying, and I found I really didn’t get any feeling that they ever spent time apart, despite the narrative repeatedly stating that they spent most of their time apart.

Although I’d really been excited about this book, it didn’t work for me on any level, and I made it to the end largely out of spite.

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

This book has an extremely strong sense of atmosphere. The imagery used to describe the world is well-chosen and unique; for example, a moment where the narrator observes a child dislodging a baseball from a chain link fence by likening it to a pulled tooth really stood out to me. 

Visceral tension was created almost immediately and never let up. I’m a big fan of thrillers that trap the characters via social mores rather than physical impediments, and this story did a fantastic job with that.

The whole cast of characters had really distinctive character voices, especially the POV character, Camille. You really got a strong sense of the views of the town as a whole, and how each individual within the town interacted with or against (or both) the general opinion. 

The entire thing was completely enthralling; I often have to convince myself to pick up books for the first time in a day even if I’m enjoying them, like getting in a bath, but I cracked into this one every chance I got. 

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

I put a hold on the audiobook because I’d heard good things about the title, and hadn’t paid attention to who was reading it. I was astonished when I realized it was a full-cast audiobook of 150+ voices, featuring, among others, David Sedaris, Rainn Wilson, Nick Offerman, the author himself, and more. I anticipated fantastic performances, and was not disappointed. Single narrator audiobooks are all well and good, but there is something truly special about a full cast, especially one of this caliber.

The format was daunting; on my first try listening, about a half hour in, I had to start over with an eye on the cast list because I had no idea who anyone was and was feeling overwhelmed. 

As the story is told in a confusing manner (or, at least, one that takes adjusting to) the reader is required to try and figure out where the speakers are and what unusual situation they are in. I found this worked well, as the reader must come to conclude what the characters refuse to accept, or even allude to out loud (that they are dead, and are unable to move on due to whatever they feel determined to resolve or fix or return to in their life, and are in active denial about their current state and it’s irreversibility).

The way each character manifests is very interesting and there’s a bunch of unique concepts, like the three orbs. The worldbuilding around how the ghosts and the place they occupy and the forces trying to convince them to move on is all very compelling; it raises questions, then answers them while raising more. It’s masterfully handled; the concept could easily have been obtuse or corny, but it feels poignant and effortless.

Of the historical accounts, I’m curious how many are actual primary sources from history, especially given the disagreement between accounts that are highlighted, such as the state of the moon during the Lincolns’ party, in the sixth chapter. It also dovetails well with how the ghosts seem to compulsively describe what they see around them. On that note, the ghosts also seem to be compelled to repeatedly tell each other the story of their deaths, even as their deaths are what they refuse to accept. There’s probably something to be said there about the irreversible nature of life, death, and history; I look forward to seeing how these themes continue to be explored.

I haven’t finished this book as of this writing; I am only halfway through. I’m eager to hear the rest of it.

THAT'S ALL FOR NOW!

If you have any questions or stuff you've wanted to talk about to me, do leave a comment below! 

Hope you're doing well!

<3,

Dave