Welcome to the Distortion

White Rainbows

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 22:56:17 GMT

Looking for something to do in Chicago on a Saturday Night, why not go see a show.

White Rainbows
A Vibrantly Monochromatic Gay Sketch Comedy Revue

Written by:
Matt Utter

Directed by:
Kelly Beeman

Starring:
Stanley Chong
Armand Fields
Becca Levine
Kevin Reader
Matt Utter
Arianna Wheat

Playing at the Gorilla Tango Theater,
1919 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago, IL 60647

For only 2 more nights!!

Its Funny! Go see it!

For more info, go to
http://whiterainbowschicago.wordpress.com

Relaunch...

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 23:49:24 GMT

I think I'm going to make this journal a little less self indulgent. Initially I was thinking about starting a new blog and stick to a more professional, journalistic even, approach of posting. Instead I'm opting, to just keep this account alive and update it with more outward reaching content than the usual inward silliness. Stay tuned for updates. Or better yet, not, as my update history would suggest you'd be waiting a long time.

~David

Walking in LA

Tue, 13 Feb 2007 20:22:33 GMT

Do you ever walk a long way to get some where and when you get there you realize that nobody there realizes or cares you walked, they all just assume or expect you drove there? Sometimes life is that way.

~D

Suicide Attempt

Sat, 06 Aug 2005 18:40:46 GMT

The best part of waking up…
Is a handgun in your mouth…

No… that didn’t rhyme at all…
I figured if I was going to go out, my final words should be a little more thought out…
I racked my brain to find something to incorporate the gun at my head and the classic Foldiers slogan…
Nothing…
I looked to other forms of destruction…
“Toaster in your Tub” was the closest thing I could find…
But that sounded like way to much effort…

I finally got tired and put the gun away…
Decided to get on with my day…

Yeah…
Why did that have to rhyme.

For my fellow Bill Hicks fans...

Sat, 30 Jul 2005 21:16:30 GMT

Nice obscure reference someone made that only a handful of people will appreciate...

Something...

Thu, 28 Apr 2005 04:40:49 GMT

Recent strips of Mallard Fillmore have got my attention... they've been about something some frineds and I have talked about somewhat recently about Men earning more than Women in the workplace. The overall question was whether it was really a discrimination issue or just a bent statistic. Tinsley's working the latter and citing this article as his source. Now, I'm not saying these are set-in-stone facts... but at the very least its worth a look at.

The Extended Universe

Wed, 06 Apr 2005 05:13:38 GMT

I keep thinking about Sin City and how in love I am with the idea of the extended universe... or concurrent story telling... or whatever you call that type of writing. Its idea that a bunch of characters basically all play in the same sandbox, but freely travel between (semi)unrelated stories. The type of thing can be seen in Pulp Fiction, Kevin Smith's films, Captain Harlock and the rest of Matsumoto's tales (despite continuity differences), most mainstream comics, and in a more closely connected fashion in books like Catch-22.

Whats funny is I don't understand what makes the idea so appealing. I think it has something to do with established familiarity. Its the same thing that draws us to sequels, prequels, and alternate universe tales. Its like seeing an old friend. That sort of "Hey!!! I was wondering what ever happened to you". Its a good feeling.

I think more importanly though, from a writing standpoint, it prevents redundancy. Especially in action/adventure stories where there really only seem to be a few character archtypes you can have before you start repeating yourself. Whats the point of coming up with a new character that serves the exact same purpose as another if you've got a perfectly good one already created? Using the old one not only prevents that repetition but gives the observer something they're already familiar with, which can help avoid alot of filler needed to explain the character. Not only that, but it unifies the other works, creating relevance where there may have not been any before. It turns what would have been an anthology at best in to a complete and possibly complex work. And I like that idea.

So somewhere here i wanted to actually build my own extended universe. Although as of now, I haven't really decided from what. Oddly enough, I planned to condense my super hero comic series to a single piece, and not following suit with Marvel/DC comics and boiling it over into a million different series. Hasen and I have talked about connecting all our wild anthology ideas together... and we may still. When i had planned to make a fighting game, it was my plan to build the story line like that... each character having their own story that still fit in with everyone elses storyline. Theres also the horror movie script/story/(comic?) I have in the works that may work with that, but may not... its not solidified enough to tell. Plus theres a few other ideas i had when i was a youngster that I may try to conform to the idea, like the superhero thing, just to do.

Well, who knows... the point is... I love the idea. And at somepoint I will write something like it. Unfortunatly, my writing is more talk than actual work but that will change at some point.

Next time, I'll talk about trilogies. Actually not, but I have a similar love for those... so its bound to become a pointless ramble like this one eventually.

Valentine's Day

Mon, 14 Feb 2005 18:25:42 GMT

Sometimes I feel like biting down on Cupid's revolver and splattering the back of my head all over the bedroom wall in the shape of a heart... then making you scrape it off with a Shoebox Greeting.

Whatever happened to saving the world?

Fri, 19 Nov 2004 09:42:47 GMT

This is what i hear whenever Bono's ugly mug clouds up my tv screen hawking iPods.

"Heres the deal folks, you do a commercial, you're off the artistic roll call... forever. End of story. You're another corporate fuckin shill, you're another whore at the capitalist gangbang, and if you do a commercial, theres a price on your head, everything you say is suspect, and every word that comes out of your mouth is now like a turd falling into my drink."

-Bill Hicks.

The System has Failed

Thu, 02 Sep 2004 19:19:54 GMT

I am under the impression that our presidential candidates, and perhaps most if not all candidates for any elected office, no longer believe in democracy. With all this talk about swing voters or swing states and such it would appear that campaining has become nothing but an attempt to secure votes. Of course the electoral process may be to blame for a lot of this, since the results are the same if a candidate gets 51% or 100% of the votes in a given state. But i'm getting off my point.

The idea behind democracy is to allow the people to choose their political leaders, and therefore choosing the candidate best suited for the job by majority vote. Candidates today i beleive have lost sight of this and are too concerned with winning the election themselves. The point of campaining should not be to "win votes" but should be to educate the public about their platform and let the people make an informed decision.

Granted I realize that each candidate believes that they are the best for the job, but when they go so far to simply "beat the other guy", i begin to think something is amiss. Theres too much public manipulation and misinformation being thrown into the process. Democracy is suppose to be about letting the people decide what they want, not who they want. It shouldn't be a competition.

Quit Steelin' My Votes

Tue, 10 Aug 2004 20:00:14 GMT

So, this has probably been explained before somewhere else, so i'm not going to pretend i'm bringing any new insight onto the subject, but I was talking about this the other day, and couldn't really get my thoughts together... but now i've got a better handle on them and am going to explain the deal with having a 3+ party election.

First off, since the electoral college just complicates things, lets just pretend its nonexistant for now.

Right, so the prob with this upcoming election, at least coming from the people i talk to, is it seems we've got 2 people running, Bush and Not-Bush. The problem many of the Not-Bush poeple are having is that they believe that Not-Bush is getting spread too thin and will allow Bush to win. Heres the argument (a hypothetical)

Lets say the voting goes like this
Bush - 40%
Kerry - 30%
Nader - 30%

The complaint is this Nader guy is taking votes AWAY from Kerry, allowing Bush to get the "majority". But its not the majority, it only 40%. That means 60% of the people DO NOT WANT Bush, and the assumption is that if All the Nader people voted for Kerry, Bush would lose the election. Unfortunately, what people fail to realize in these results is that they don't just show that 60% don't want Bush, but that 70% DON'T WANT Kerry. This means if we just went on who is disliked least, Bush wins, causing less voters to be unhappy than if either of the other two men were elected.

The main problem really, is that we NEED that majority vote. The best way to do that is to have a two-stage process where we take the top two candidates from a fist round of voting and then have a second round of voting for just those two. That way, if your candidate lost the first time around, you can recast your vote for the "lesser of two evils". That way, you wouldn't be "throwing your vote away" by voting for your first choice, and you'd still have power over the overall outcome if your guy (or gal) lost.

But the likeliness of this ever happening is probably nil... so whats the point of even bringing it up.

New Motto

Thu, 22 Jul 2004 04:42:33 GMT

My mom likes to feed me bits of advice... stuff i've heard a thousand times before, get more calcium, put on sunblock, yada yada yada... now i'm not saying this isn't good advice, it is... in fact theres a lot of stuff i should do and have fully justified reasons to do so, but i have to say this...

I refuse live in fear of my own existence.

Because, thats really what its coming to... being afraid of things that may or may not happen just because I live. I know about harmful effects of the sun, i know i'm endanger of having brittle bones as i get old, but i say, "so fucking what!?" This is not just a "its my body and i'll do what i please" statement, its an "i refuse to be scared into living my life differently". Just becasue i'm not taking extra measures to be constructive, does not mean i'm being destructive, i'm not doing anything. What happens if i get cancer? So what, alot of people get cancer and a lot of people don't and don't do a damn thing different. Thats the point. I can take measures to reduce the risks of something all i want, and you know, it'd probably be a good idea... but give me a better reason than fear. Give me something possitive.

So i will continue to go outside... and i will continue to dislike milk... and i will conintue to exist and not be afraid of doing so.

Karmish Explained

Sun, 27 Jun 2004 23:46:52 GMT

So I posted something about this a while back... about something a bit like Karma... or Karma-ish... or Karmish. Although not really planning on naming it that when I originally wrote about it, the name has kinda stuck with me ever since I used it as the post title. So, anyway, back when I posted my idea, or take on an idea at least, I, and not surprisingly so, got a bunch of bullshit responses about possitive attitude and that shit that you usually get when you breach such a subject to certain people. And this told me at least one of two things: 1) they didn't understand what I was really talking about -and/or- 2) they underestimate my understanding of human behavior. Either way, it cramped on my personal fun level and I had no choice to take it a bit personally. So, what I want to say is this... what i'm talking about is something more than simply human perception of a situation, something more going on than what science has to offer, and if you feel you wish to deny me the pleasure of exploring such options go off and die in your godless world and I will happily feed your soulless carcass to the worms, cause thats all thats waiting for ya at the end of the road. Hahah, but seriously, its all in good fun.

So, basically i will attempt to better explain myself.

Fatish

Karmish is based around something kinda like fate... sorta. Fate basically is a line that dictates your entire life, and you cannot deviate frome that line. Essentially like a railroad track. But Karmish revolves around the idea that we don't really follow a track, more more appropriately a road. The road leads the way, but we are free to deviate from its course though not without consequence. Stick to the road, everything runs smoothly... wander off, and shit happens.

Good & Evil

One thing neccessary to understand is that there is no real division line between good and evil. Its not that good things come to good people, or bad things happen to bad people. Instead, it has to do with what you want to get out of life, or perhaps what the universe dictates your life status should be (all depending on how you want to look at the world). What it comes down to is recognising that there are both good and bad in this world, and you just have to find out which side you're suppose to be on... but also keep in mind that this can change.

Cause & Effect

So as i was saying you've got this road you're suppose to follow, and when you deviate from that road, it causes a disruption. Something that makes your situation worse than it was in the first place. If you stay the course, your life will run fault free. Its important to note that sometimes these effects come as direct cause and a effect realtionships. For instance, commiting a crime and getting arrested for it. Those cut out to be criminals don't get caught... those that aren't, do. Other times, these disturbances come with a little more subtlety, especially when the line crossed is minor. Such is the case with my life. I beleive my inactivity (when i should be doing something) leads to minor problems. As if the universe says to me, "nothing to do eh? well, here, i got something for you do to" and basically fucks my shit up.

Awareness & Perception

This is really the most important part. It works on this principle: "God exists because we believe he exists". Being aware of such a concept of Karmish allows it to play a part in your life, but it also gives you the choice to deny it. Anyone who has experienced a great tragedy will probably find fault with the idea of Karma or Karmish, just as many find fault with the existence of god, while others, have built thier lives around them. What i am saying is this: this idea, or any idea, does not apply to everyone... but it can, if you want it to.

Feeling insecure?

Thu, 24 Jun 2004 07:02:58 GMT

I love everything you do, so instead of saying so everytime, i don't say anything... except when theres something i don't like, but i want to be nice, so i don't say anything.

(why i felt the urge to post this, i don't know)

Pushing the visual medium

Thu, 16 Oct 2003 21:15:26 GMT

started writing this here a few days ago... sorry, its a long one...

So even almost a week after watching it, I’m still thinking about just how cool Kill Bill was. Its hard for me to think a better film pushes the boundaries of the traditional medium while still maintaining an easily understandable narrative flow. It got me thinking of how we can expand the horizons of other forms of art as well. As far as visual story telling is concerned, to me the next best thing to film (and by film, I mean movies, TV, animation, etc) is comics (or graphic novel for the elitists out there... whatever)

Now keep in mind, that in my comic-reading career I’ve mainly stuck to mainstream superhero tales (I’m trying to change, I swear), but still, thus far I’ve never seen anything that I’d call truly mind blowing when it comes to technique, although some have come close. Aside from just the artist style, most books simply follow the story and offer little else in terms of style. Sure, sometimes the artwork has more to offer. The crazy paint/ink styles of artists like Ashley Wood, or Bill Sienkiewicz offer trippy visuals which are great, but often times come off as unimportant to the story and just plain weird. Plus, since there is such consistency in the art, it can be further trivialized because, well, that’s just how their art looks. I much prefer the kind of intercutting of art styles such as the way Wood's art was used for specific scenes in Uncanny X-men #400 and the pencil/painted style of Jim Lee's art in the Batman storyline, Hush for the flashback sequences. These exhibited, how do I say this, stylistic importance.

Other than what I just mentioned , there are only a few other works off the top of my head that come to mind when that I think have made headway in really playing with what you can do with technique to enhance the reading experience...

Black Panther - Enemy of the State II - Artist Sal Velluto (with inker Bob Almond) did a cool thing with Priest's storyline involving an out-of-time Black Panther. Basically, the story had two casts of characters, Priest's usual bunch of crazies, and then several of the even-craziers from the time when comic book legend Jack "The King" Kirby was writing/drawing the book. Velluto drew most of the book in his usual style, but when it came to the Kirby character, everything was done in the King's style. The combination worked brilliantly, never taking away from the story, and in my opinion, made the whole thing so much cooler than it would have been with out it.

Punisher - Roots - I don't know who deserves the credit more, writer Garth Ennis or artist Joe Quesada. This piece is one of the finest examples of how unexplored camera angles are in comics. The whole story is done from the perspective of a mob bosses mouth as the Punisher is pulling his teeth. There is a script in there somewhere, but it really plays second to the art. Had the art been done any other way, this wouldn't even be worth a look at. But instead, what we have here is one of the finer pieces of art in the comics medium.

Watchmen - Watchmen deserves mentioning for two reasons. One is that its one of the few comics I’ve read that the writer and artist seem truly in sync. Everything on the page feels like its there because Moore (the writer) wanted it there. Like the exact image in his brain was put in print. I know this can sounds obvious, but when you've read a lot of the mainstream trash that I’ve read, you'll see how this is not always the case, and you'll know how important it is for the artist and writer to see eye to eye. Anyway, the second reason for Watchmen's inclusion is because of non graphic story telling into the book to further flesh out the story. This pushes Watchmen to the realm of more than a comic book / less than a novel. This kind of blurring changes the perception from comics as "stupid kid shit" to something actually worth reading.

Anyway, all these things are certainly steps in the right direction. What I’m waiting for is a book that uses the full spectrum of color, style, and story telling possibilities. Japanese manga plays the style card a lot more than American comics do which I like. The problem is that this technique seems fairly consistent through out all manga (why do you think they call it Manga style... it aint just the big eyes that are similar). The other thing too, is that most of it is all black in white. Its not that I don't like black and white, but without the possibility of color, it cuts the potential for style differentiation. I love to see black and white used as a style decision and not a cost cutting one.

So I began to think of different ways that would push the medium, well, questions really. How far can we go with art style? In a static environment, its nigh impossible to portray camera movement, but could this be compensated by other means? What more can be done with paneling? How abstract can we make art so that it can still relate a story? How detailed can we get? Can we use photographs without making things look silly or out of place, or are we limited to just realistic painting like the works of Alex Ross or Tim Bradstreet? How can we more effectively use color? How can we change the flow or continuity of the writing to create a unique experience. Is it possible to write the narrative in a more conceptual fashion (like a novel)? Whatever. I wish I was a better writer and artist to play around with some of these ideas.

I don't know, maybe this stuff is already out there and I’m just showing my inexperience here. Maybe if I were to step outside my world of fanboys ranting about how The Dark Knight Returns is the best story ever, I’d be staring at exactly what I’m looking for. But from all indication, its just too rare, or too out of the mainstream for the majority of fandom to care about. But by all means, if there’s anything out there you found stylistically mindblowing, or even just worth mentioning... please let me know.