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Just because I posted this picture before I began an offical log, doesn't mean it shouldn't be archived here. No, I wasn't drunk or on any substance. Not that i don't occasionally dabble in such and such, but this is just me. Not exactly the glam celebrity you expect a jet-setting cartoonist to be. :)
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12/31/2001 - What a weird weird mood I'm in. Cutting and pasting little pictures tonight for a strange side project. Haven't had a conversation with someone face-to-face since Friday. I finally managed to finish all the chocolate in the house, aside from the back-stock of nutella. I ate white-bread pizzas with spaghetti sauce which is value-sized bottled only slightly different than ketchup, salt, garlic powder, and for cheese: brie.
Brie?
I swear I had a soul lying around her somewhere... the last time I looked.
I am excited the Bruno is back in Portland, and I had a great time last night (well, as I write this, it's still tonight) sipping ginger-ale (oh, I mean "straight whiskey") in the shadows of the driftwood room, trying to see the page I was drawing on, until they closed at 9:00.
I guess it is Sunday.
Ummm... New tuesday might be "new wednesday' this week since I have Tuesday off to work on something (I know I have more things tucked away).
Kisses, -Christopher
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1/4/02 - (from the Madge pages) Another week made through. I'm almost giddy. Boy am I cracking up. Today it seems like an amusing thing. Well, right now it does.
The forum on how to create a strip for syndication with author notes, featuring the strip entitled "madge's diary". Nobody bothered to tell the author his role and so he seems a bit tangental, using this as a forum to blab about his days. Bumped into Eric today on the streetcar home from work, and he told me of drunken dancing until he knocked things over. Earlier, Jim, mail courier guy at work, told me incoherently stringed together stories and jokes, half of which I seemed to catch. Earlier I transcribed some poems, and now I am scanning and uploading my strips, afterwards i will try to squeeze in watching a film called "wit" with Emma Thompson, which i rented yesterday out of curiosity and inspiration to maybe this weekend putting together a new idea i have for a comic book which I will likely never do.
But it's a good idea.
P.S.- Finished watching it, and it was amazing. An hour and a half monologue (practically) of Emma Thomson playing a scholar which a sharp and philosophical wit. "what do you do for exercise?" a doctor asks her. "Pace." The plot is a direct line, she is dying of ovarian cancer. This is NOT an easy movie to watch, especially if you have ever been through surgery and know the pain, or have been there for someone who is going through it. But it was so beautiful.
It did deal with the issue of scholarly seclusion or isiolation. What it means to be human or detatched. I'm not sure where I lay. I have compassion, but allow myself to be touched by few. I'm a hard man, hard on myself and life. The more exposed, the less vulnerable, the less in touch. Perhaps this is part of what makes a syndicated cartoon.
And I'm tired, enough rambling.
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1/7/02 - Regarding today's strip and its history and the many other strips and appearing and non-appearing of characters (Amy, Stanley, etc) , I apologize for being such a tease. I get it from my dad (love you dad!). Makes me laugh, but not in a mean way. Just makes me giggle.
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1/8/02 - So yeah, the "New Tuesday" this week is that I'm working on the web page. I didn't manage to get it all done, so today it's just the main bruno page, and hopefully during the week I will be updating the links and possibly another page or two. The main differences, aside from some re-arranging, is that there is now a "permanent" "New Tuesday" graphic link at the top, and as you can see, the "Baldwin journal notes".
And so, the contest. Considering I thought that I would only get three submissions for the "Way-Past-Your-Bedtime" rewrite contest, because originally, only three seemed interested, I am overwhelmed. Happily overwhelmed. But it may take a week or even two to properly read and think about all of them. Below is the list of who i have recieved from so far. I am posting this to make sure i recieved them all. I do get a lot of spam and so one never knows what has accidentally been thrown away. Hopefully none. So yeah, if you sent me something, and your name isn't here, please, do so again.
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Shadefell Paul Joiner CV Colin Neilson Jose Biro Bohemian Delilah Menolly David Andrew Cowan Abigail Garrett Cathy Coury Raymond M. Coulombe Toria Sweeney |
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Bevan Thomas John Blankenbaker Allan Hurst Matt Levy Carson Harding Miss Eco Chip Bell Chris Bolton Daniel Hamel Spencer Williams Ada Kerman |
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1/9/02 - EEyyarrgghhh! Stronger than ever I am!
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1/10/02 - I know, there hasn't been much this week for "New Tuesday web page update", although I am VERY pleased with the new bruno page. But just to heads you up, word, (mon dieu!) what I am working on is the comic links page, and frankly, it's taking a bit longer than hoped.
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1/11/02-I must be mad, but i kinda' enjoy it. Tonight after work (I work the evening shift, so my shift ends between 9:00 and 10:00p.m.) I left work and walked across the Morrison bridge, which includes these little weird staircase walkways so you can go under the bridge rather than sprint across the road trying not to get hit by cars. they had a similar things in Hungary, although they were tunnels rather than underbridge thingees. Either way, it was a bit scarey at night, but was fine. I also was reminded where "Montage" is, which is a great place for Mac&Cheese.
When I got the the Rimsky-Korsakoffee cafe (about a half hour total walk), I was lucky to find a seat, and just before midnight, I was the last to leave. Peppermint tea. A woman sat by the paino playing classical acoustic guitar and the couple in the next table were talking to a Japanese visitor who they appearantly knew through church christ things. Later, two women, named Victoria and Anne, who were sitting at the table where the philosophy group are sitting, approached me and asked me about Bruno and the such.
On the way home, I took the Hawthorne bridge (which actually appeared in yesterday's strip, albeit "blurry"). And you know, Portland is a really beautiful city and it was a really beautiful night. If I wasn't chilly, hungry, and having to pee, I might have just stood on that bridge a while and taken in the night.
And the whole thing was to bring you (and me, I love it as much) today's Bruno. Or... was Bruno the excuse for me to go out and have a lovely after-work evening, including, music, nice tea, and meeting interesting people? Am I mad to go that far for a pretty strip, or am I mad because I can't justify enjoying life without an "excuse" to go out and enjoy it?
Either way, it's pretty much win-win. Pretty strip and happy life. :)
-Christopher
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1/14/02 - Monday, just so all of you who entered the "way past your bedtime" contest, I am working on reviewing them. Slow, but it is in process and happening.
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1/15/02 - So this "New Tuesday" (Shep Types) is a project I did back in 2000 (link at top of page). Very timely and at the same time out of place with Madge currently going on. Hope you enjoy. :)
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1/18/02 - Sometimes I look like the moon
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1/19/02 - I always feel weird doing political strips, as "Bruno" isn't a political strip. But when it pervades my life and becomes more of a human/humanistic philosophical topic, I seem to have difficulty not responding. This one was fueled (again and again) by personal experience, and finally I had to write it. The kicker was today when I spoke with a christian coworker (I have two out of three who even wear "WWJD" keychains) about the strip I was writing. I figured she might be able to relate. I was wrong. She looked at me incredulously and said he deserved it. I asked about the commandment, yeah, that one, the fairly direct one about "thou shalt not kill" to which she said "yeah, but it's more like the one, do unto others as you would want to... oh, I don't know how it goes". I picked my jaw up off the floor and was unable to continue the conversation. Don't people actually THINK about their philosophies? Don't they raise an eyebrow when they see/feel incongruent or contradicting directions? I mean, I've often heard or read that religion is for people who don't WANT to think about their philosophies, people who simply want a guidebook. But when you come across things like this... I just don't get it. My hands are in the air. i just don't get it.
And don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that I'm right.
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1/21/02 - First, happy M.L.K. day. Pretty amazing guy, although this is unrelated to today's journal posting (not that relationships couldn't be made).
But today's journal posting is regarding the "political" bruno strips. I've been thinking a lot this weekend about my relationships to political strips. I certainly do not enjoy doing them, but why? And I think I found the answer (or most of it), and it's simple. I want to be liked. ("Rick, Rick, help me Rick!","I don't stick my neck out for nobody.") The reluctant hero. I don't want enemies, I don't like conflict. i don't want people to say 'cool strip, but he's a bit of a dogmatic asshole. And I HATE it when people wave their values in MY face. But I am doing it here. I have some core values which I find are being just trampled upon by our coountry's majority population. And I have this venue, and so there it is.
Don't get me wrong, I have recieved no "fuck you" emails (I did get one or two for my sept. 11th strips, but emotions were REALLY still raw then for everybody). So yeah, I don't think I'm creating enemies here (well, within my readership), but that's the human part of me, my fears don't NEED to make sense, they simply are.
But, the reluctant hero, well... with a grain of salt, I mean, it's not like my statements are particularly heroic. These issues just became too important, and too in-my-face every day that I needed to express them. And since my parents brought me up to be responsible for my actions, and since I recieved such good feedback, I feel responsibility to flesh out my ideas in response to the feedback. I could do it here in my diary, but bruno is a better recorder, as it will be in print, etc etc.
it's funny, actually. I feel somewhat archaic in my approach. I feel this is sort-of like a Socratic dialogue (not to compare my knowledge of philosophy to Socrates). Where instead of a text-book approach, you just have two people talking, over-explaining ideas and trying their best to use analogies to re-enforce the logic of the author. Very silly me.
That said, still, I cannot deal with ALL issues brought up in email and the bulletin board, it'd be too much. but I'm doing my best just to flesh out the idea already stated and then (hopefully) leave it at that. Which means today and tomorrow (and that's all CURRENTLY planned, although originally it was ONLY going to be saturday, and even that was a last minute decision.)
but also, there was some response in regards to my notes here about the Christian thing. And may it be clearly known, I think Christ (if he existed) said a lot of amazing things. And I know some very intelligent Christians. I'm not defending myself, just explaining. The strip was not inspired by Christians, it was just that situation which ended up being the last straw. I actually had enough faith in Christianity that i thought I might be able to actually relate to my co-worker on this point. Frankly, in defense of Christianity, I don't think she does justice to the religion. too much time thumping her bible, and not enough time reading it, thinking about it.
So anyhow, there it is. Sorry about the huge backwards-L shaped word balloon. Hard to fit all my blather in. :)
-christopher
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1/22/02 - Well, what to say that hasn't been said? Thank you for all the supportive emails reagrding the last few day's strips; but just as well, I'll be happy to get back to business as usual tomorrow.
So, "New Tuesday", I've added four new sort-of comic books. Actually, they are all just more premises for comic books. But as well, I'll be shutting down the New Tuesday, for now at least. I do have a trick or two more up my sleeve, but I've posted the bulk of work which I have with me here in Portland. So it satisfied it's purpose, of having piles of stuff and always saying "I should post this stuff one of these days". Well, now, what i have here, is mostly posted. Plus I've kinda' burnt out the last few months doing both "New Tuesdays" and "Madge's Diary".
So it's relaxie-time for Mr. Baldwin for a bit. So now it's just my job; Bruno; and a bit more free time to focus on this epic comic-book I've begun working on, plus beginning putting together book#7 and continuing with my poetry and my novel.
Never a dull moment. :)
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1/28/02 - Tomorrow I'll try to pare down the text a bit. I did manage to get my recent out-of-control-text-issues into a manageable state on Saturday, only to relapse today. Ah well.
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1/30/02 - First of all, I finally finished cleaning up the "Madge's Diary" strips. I think it looks pretty good. Mostly the same except just some light cleaning and adjusting and then updating the old Shep and Rufus.
And just in case any of you missed it, there actually has been some significant news in the last couple days. Astrid Lindgren died on monday, at age 94. She was one of the most amazing children writer's of all times, challenging expectations and accepted guidleines, and becoming a true cornerstone of that art form. She's best known for "Pippi Longstockings", but she's written so much more than that, amazing books. Books like "Ronia, the Robber's Daughter", "Children of the Noisy Village", "the Brother's Lionheart", and many many more. Anyhow, I'm not selling anything, I just thought it was important. She's definitely been a significant influence on me.
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