"Malfunctioning anachronistic automatons praying for divine dissolution as they relentlessly traverse an arid, scorch-marked blotted-out landscape ~ mechanically festering underneath the battering blaze of an unforgiving sun, set within a sky eternally bleached an unearthly crimson red."
More here: www.moonwiringclub.com
___________________
Labels: music
¶ November 16, 2022 0 Comments
As I write this, Twitter is in the beginning of gravitational collapse. And, given its size, that will cause some serious ripples. This is because Elon Musk has bought it; despite lies to advertisers to the contrary, he already has let it become a bit of a hellscape, because he already got rid of much of the content moderation staff. (much of the staff, period; but especially those who can make it run) You have your tweets from people who could not wait to use the n-word dozens of times. You also have your antisemitic tweets.
And you have lots of tweets from Elon Musk's incel fanboys, who suck up to him like they imagine the richest man in the world is just a little smirking troll like themselves. They speak to him like henchmen waiting to carry out his plans, but as though they were somehow his bros, his equals--or even his equivalents. Just look at this:
This is only a week after this man, the supposed richest man in the world, acted as the willing accelerator of an invented right-wing fringe rumor concerning an attempted assassination of the husband of the Speaker of the House, and the intention to assault and possibly kill the Speaker herself. I won't say what the rumor was nor post a link to it, because it's already been thoroughly debunked, and it's counterproductive to give such bullshit oxygen. You can easily look it up, if you don't know about it already. But you probably already do, because Musk made sure this would get as much publicity as possible, as virtually his first act as Twitter's dictator. He made sure to reinforce an idea the Republicans put out there, that this was no big deal, that this is just random crime by an isolated individual that has nothing to do with their own escalating violent rhetoric. That it's not something to worry about and even comical. Because cruelty is all Republicans seem to be able to do anymore.
And Musk openly helps this trivialization, and worse.
Some people want to think this shows him to be stupid, or insane. As I've said many, many times, the belief a seemingly counterproductive action by someone you disagree with is "stupid" or "insane" should always be tested against the possibility that you're assuming someone who you disagree with nevertheless shares the same goals as yourself. Like calling Republicans stupid for believing or spreading election lies. This is a stupid activity if you want elections to be respected, or taken seriously, or conducted in a peaceful and honest way. But it's not stupid if fucking up elections was your goal.
Similarly, nothing Musk is doing is stupid if he wants Twitter to be so filled with shit it sheds all its advertisers, and crashes and burns. He can even claim it was the fault of liberals being against free speech. That's not the case, but he is already saying this and his lickspittles are spreading it.
An election that, if Republicans prevail, could be the last free election the US ever has, will be taking place this Tuesday. A lot of the money for Elon's purchase of this toy he's breaking was put up by Saudi and Russian investors(and in the latter case, you can assume that means Putin's catspaws)--so if he's ruining the platform, don't you think they'd stop him if they wanted to?
If Republicans win, this means at the least we stop helping Ukraine, something Musk has said he'd like us to do.
Why do you think such an important platform would be sabotaged just in time for such an election? Surely you're not that dense as to think it's accidental that Musk delayed the purchase till JUST two weeks before said election, at which point he began making the site as horrid as he could, as fast as he could. No way the chaos could possibly cool down by this Tuesday, even if he wanted it to, and you would not lose money on a bet he does not.
I keep wanting to return to this blog from Twitter and other social media sites that have sucked away a lot of what I used to write here. I don't know why that should be a problem; writing is writing, and here I have almost none of the strictures of length, content, or style that Twitter demands. But I have let Twitter suck away much of my online time in the past decade.
Why? Why do most of us find it hard to get
away from? And why should one stupid website have the power to warp our
culture and politics?
Anyway, I want to remind myself what it was like without it, so please keep checking here. (or at my very afffordable Patreon) Because I'm going to try to stop tweeting.
___________________
Labels: bastards, election 2022, politics, right wing
¶ November 05, 2022 0 Comments
As you may know, Winsor McCay did a massive number of editorial cartoons for Hearst papers. As you may also know, Hearst was so fond of Mussolini that he proposed(via his funding of Gabriel Over the White House[1932], which I intend to do a longer piece on in the near future) having a Mussolini figure as the dictator president of the US.
___________________
Labels: comics, fascists, history
¶ July 06, 2022 0 Comments
Judge Luttig: "I believe that had the VP obeyed his orders from the president...and declared Donald Trump the next President...that...would have plunged America into what...would have been tantamount to a revolution within a Constitutional crisis." pic.twitter.com/883oBdVV0b
— Amee Vanderpool (@girlsreallyrule) June 16, 2022
Really think, after Thursday's rather terrifying Jan. 6 testimonies, about the horror of what Trump wanted to happen on January 6, 2021. Including the fact that, had Pence been hanged, Trump would have taken that as LOVE FOR HIM.
 |
| Rudy Giuliani (apologies to Stuart Immonen, art from NEXTWAVE) |
"I implore you to consider one more relatively minor violation" - Eastman was still begging Pence's staff (in writing!) to try to reject the election results *even after* the Capitol had been ransacked on J6.
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 16, 2022
Pence eventually replied by saying, "that's rubber room stuff" pic.twitter.com/nbcRFs8VnR
"I've decided that I should be on the pardon list, if that is still in the works." John Eastman to Rudy Giuliani pic.twitter.com/XCHivRUteo
— Outspoken™️ (@Out5p0ken) June 17, 2022
And Bannon, and Navarro, and Giuliani and so many more.
___________________
Labels: bastards, jan6, right wing, trump
¶ June 17, 2022 0 Comments
Kurtz in APOCALYPSE NOW speaks in favor of being, in his view, "honest" in how you wage war, and he associates massive brutality with said honesty. There are people who think he's better than the hypocrites running the war for this.
No, Kurtz is the spirit of My Lai. Remember he is the villain. Not some fount of wisdom.
Read more » ¶ May 25, 2022 0 Comments
Most music biopics are dispensable garbage. Ken Russell was one of the few directors(Tony Palmer would be another) who really understands music and creativity, who did films that try to think about music and the way it feeds our imaginations for good and for ill. And that is why MAHLER is one of the greatest films about music ever made. 
Labels: 1970s, film, ken russell, music
¶ May 21, 2022 0 Comments
A little-known series that was meant as a follow-up to the much more famous Elizabeth R, about her grandad.
Labels: 1970s, history, TV, UK
¶ May 08, 2022 0 Comments
The next big thing in VLADRUSHKA 3 will be my long-simmering big Vladrushka parody THE KULAK'S DAUGHTER, and while I won't be able to resume work on it till June when I'm done moving (and if you're in the East Bay and know of a decent cat-friendly studio or one-bedroom please feel free to tell me in the comments) here's a playlist of the films used as parody and reference material.
Labels: film, my comics, Russia, soviet union, vladrushka
¶ May 05, 2022 0 Comments
Video after the jump...
Labels: 1980s, music, post-punk, watch it quick
¶ April 29, 2022 0 Comments
Both films after the jump.
Read more »
Labels: 1970s, cronenberg, film, horror, science fiction
¶ April 29, 2022 0 Comments
___________________
Labels: music
¶ April 28, 2022 0 Comments
A long playlist of music I've been listening to kind of obsessively for the past couple of years. You can find it all at Bandcamp. And here is the freakish website.
___________________
Labels: hauntology, music
¶ April 28, 2022 0 Comments
___________________
Labels: 1960s, film, lindsay anderson, UK
¶ April 28, 2022 0 Comments
For those of you who are not yet patrons at Patreon: why not? It's very inexpensive and currently, you get exclusive looks at the next issue of Vladrushka and each page's progress. And the final pages long before I publish them wider. Like this bit for instance with Octobriana & Projunior. Support my work and join today!
___________________
Labels: my comics, octobriana, smut, vladrushka
¶ April 27, 2022 0 Comments
SO...Elon Musk has paid $43 billion to buy Twitter outright, with the intent of making it his own private company. Or rather, plaything. He says he plans to bring back free speech there.
Labels: bastards, my writings, social media
¶ April 26, 2022 0 Comments
Did you know this year is twenty years since this blog began?
Anyway, in the time since I last posted here, I've been doing a lot of comics and single pieces too. A few with Suzy. A lot starring your favorite Siberian smut princess. (Incidentally, it was Putin who'd thrown her out of Russia, and she hates him, but I haven't gotten to that in the story yet; it's only recently I got past the censorship!) Here are some of them, which you can get at Society6, Artpal or Saatchi. (a complete selection of images and links here and also here)
Labels: art, my art, posters, prints, smut, suzy spreadwell, vladrushka
¶ April 26, 2022 0 Comments
...so I've fixed the blog at long last and I really am going to be here more soon...
___________________
Labels: bad ideas, it's all about ME
¶ April 26, 2022 0 Comments
Labels: lulu, my comics, new release
¶ November 10, 2020 0 Comments
Bob marched in Charlottesville and came home and burned crosses on his neighbors' lawns.Sally didn't mind because her lawn was fine, and they had tea! "They didn't come for me!" said Sally happily while having tea with a strangely smirking Bob.When the men came for her, Sally asked Bob why he was leading them."At last," Bob laughed, and slapped her as they loaded her into Bob's trunkDon't be like Bob and Sally
___________________
Labels: election 2020, fascists, right wing
¶ November 02, 2020 0 Comments
___________________
And this one, following from the excellent introduction I'm grateful the late Martin Pasko wrote for Book 1 (may he rest in peace; he was a fine man and one of the best writers comics ever had, on a level with Steve Gerber) has an introduction from the equally legendary DONNA BARR! And I'm incredibly grateful for this as well. Buy the digital version now!
And please let me know what you think of LULU Book 2 in the comments. Thanks!
___________________
Labels: comics, frank wedekind, lulu, my comics, new release, publishing, theatre
¶ October 09, 2020 0 Comments
___________________
I'm just working on finishing LULU Book 2 (which you can see in progress at Patreon, and please subscribe today) and also have to fix some formatting issues here before I start posting regularly.
But it will return.
___________________
¶ April 18, 2020 0 Comments
Wherever you are, today's still your birthday and you're still one of the fondest friends in my memory. Have a happy one.
March 1989, and the only Catholic Church near Pisgah National Forest, where we were camping. She needed the palms for some kind of Brazilian spiritual ceremony that I still don't understand.
Our idea of Spring Break from Chicago was the wet Smoky Mountains in the deepest part of the forest. But right next to a roaring waterfall. And a lot of Neil Young and Sandy Denny on the box. And Siouxsie & the Banshees, which she liked and at the time I did not.
___________________
Labels: birthday, friend, personal
¶ March 22, 2020 0 Comments
And now the yearly repost of a treat for Halloween.
My favorite version of Dracula, by Philip Saville and Gerald Savory, which I first saw when I was 8 (as mentioned here), starring Louis Jourdan.
This one manages to be closer to Stoker than any other version. And is quite scary. Also kind of hot. This film has been somewhat of an obsession for me since I was a kid. You may disagree, but for me, this is the best non-Nosferatu version of Dracula.
It's BBC 1970s, which means it's film outside, video inside. But like many, I think horror works better when it looks cheaper, and in any event they do a fantastic job with the means they have. I certainly prefer it to the American-clean way a lot of BBC looks now. And I actually like the cheesy video effects too. Also excellent are Frank Finlay as Van Helsing, Judi Bowker as Mina, Jack Shepherd as the best Renfield since Dwight Frye--and maybe better--and my first movie crush, the incredibly sexy Susan Penhaligon as Lucy Westenra. To this day I have a thing for chokers or ribbons about the neck thanks to her in this, which is why I draw them so often on women. Quincy is played with the worst American accent you've ever heard, but try to look past that. (as well as the Portuguese subtitles, unless you speak it, in which case, bonus!)Here's the score, which makes heavy use of not a theremin, but a different early electronic instrument called the Ondes Martenot, which Radiohead fans might recall as an instrument Jonny Greenwood is very fond of. You start hearing it about 0:45 in--it's a bit like a theremin in that it sounds like it's singing, but in a much warmer way. After is the full film.
Happy Halloween!
Bonus: Sue Penhaligon, early 70s.
___________________
Labels: film, halloween, horror, my influences, TV, UK
¶ October 31, 2019 0 Comments
Labels: bad ideas, bastards, history, Russia, trump
¶ October 24, 2019 0 Comments
All of you jumping down Scorsese's throat for speaking the truth: where are you when actual innovative films that need your support go under? Why do films that gross billions need you to defend them?
People who want Marvel movies to be called real movies:
1. Don't ever tell me to "turn off my mind, it's just fun" when I point out their flaws. If it's a real film it can handle criticism like any real film.
2. Does it occur to you that largely they do no more than IMITATE real movies? WINTER SOLDIER knocks off from THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR and was praised for that. The Ant-Man films cribbed from Ocean's 11 and again, praised. They're fun but they are faux and would have not have much most would go see without their grafting from other non-superhero films. That's how they get the masses to accept it.
3. You may have forgotten, because of Marvel's imitation and replacement strategy, what real movies are like.
4. They're all basically the same plot arc. RAGNAROK isn't and that's why it sticks out--it defies all that. And that's why it's to be undone.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/57488687/ThorRagnarok5994db97c9e39.0.jpg) |
| Thor and Hulk Resolving Eternal Issues of Human Relationships |
___________________
¶ October 04, 2019 0 Comments
When the criminal part is operant, you could say Trump has a kind of high cunning. Like any good mobster, he knew to get Mikey to dip his hands in the blood too.
Really clever of Trump to taint the GOP's backup Normal Republican this way. He ensured Pence was part of the same plot, so they don't dare help impeach unless they're willing to lose the whole office.
To Nancy Pelosi. Who's in the line of succession after Pence.
Seriously, if they'd had any sense they'd have at least made sure Pence was involved in no Trump decisions at all. Otherwise, what was the point of him?
I'm guessing that once they got one more Supreme Court Justice, and the country softened for the GOP by all of Trump's draconian policies, they'd have cut him loose to have Pence with a country made easy for him by the sacrificial Trump.
I think that was the hope.
And then they'd say Trump was never a real Republican at all. They managed to muddle the memory of Dubya fairly well, why not him?
But we saw them, how they are when they fear no loss of power for making America suffer; how much they enjoy the permission Trump gives them, and how little they ever meant their crowd-controlling talk of their perverse 50s view of Christian morality they themselves would never follow. And we will not forget.
Labels: disaster, election 2020, right wing, trump
¶ October 03, 2019 0 Comments
Inspired by the rather nifty new DOOM PATROL show, and especially Diane Guerrero's stellar performance, I drew this piece of one of my favorite characters ever, Grant Morrison & Richard Case's Crazy Jane. (click to enlarge)
Drawing her was both easy and difficult, because as I drew her I realized I'd been using elements of her in female characters all this time without realizing it. I didn't realize how much my style owed to Case.
Labels: comics, dc, grant morrison, my influences
¶ March 11, 2019 0 Comments
Click here to watch!
Labels: bottomless studio, comics, my art, my comics, sale
¶ February 19, 2019 0 Comments
Yes, my generous heart is allowing non-subscribers to get away with reading the new pages well ahead of the issue.
Won't you have a look at the whole page by clicking the panels below, and please support this and other works for only $1? Right now your support would mean a lot, especially if you ask friends to support Bottomless Studio as well.
Anyway, here's the new one! Happy Saturday!
___________________
Labels: my art, my comics, suzy spreadwell
¶ February 16, 2019 0 Comments
Newest page of the new chapter in progress. This page, like the last one, is free, as this scene will likely be. Bookmark here to see each as they're finished.(Click image to see whole page)
But remember, some later pages may not be, as Patreon enforces upon me now, rather than banning me outright or locking down all my posts, the iron rule that posts that are more "adult" have to be patron-only now.
So to be sure to follow the whole new issue in progress, just subscribe for $1 (or more if you like, I never mind that, I promise) to support the work and gain access to each page as it's finished, plus much more!
Making indie comics these days is a real bitch, and your help, whether at Patreon or any amount you want to throw through the donate button below, helps this cartoonist in his 22nd year of independent cartooning not worry so much about eating. It also helps me put out free pages in the first place.
___________________
Labels: christianity, my art, my comics, patreon, satire, suzy spreadwell
¶ February 02, 2019 0 Comments
I've begun drawing the new chapter of SUZY SPREADWELL, and while most of the finished pages will only be available to $1 patrons till "official" release, this brand new one's free, so click the image to see the whole page, and be sure to subscribe today to see everything afterward! (and more)
And if you missed it: chapters 4-5 of LULU (the newest stuff, not published yet, over 40 pages!) are also up there now as well!
___________________
Labels: my art, my comics, satire, suzy spreadwell
¶ January 23, 2019 0 Comments
I have resumed and (slightly) revamped my Patreon page, and now it's a very simple, streamlined pledge structure: $1 (or more, we accept more) for access to all posts except two things: ebook downloads and the really explicit stuff...
 |
Read more »
Labels: censorship, my art, my comics, smut
¶ January 23, 2019 0 Comments
As you probably know, the orange cancer beast Trump, despite having shut down the government over his wall, and so no longer issuing earned pay to federal workers all across America, expects most of them to work anyway.
Read more »
Labels: bastards, brexit, democrats, right wing, Russia, trump
¶ January 19, 2019 0 Comments
Click image. Unlocked for all patrons at $1 or more!
___________________
Labels: frank wedekind, lulu, my art, my comics, tragedy
¶ January 18, 2019 0 Comments
