What's Up with the Double Slash?

   In Other//half. What IS up with that? Also, how do you pronounce that? "Other half" is fine. Except pronounced the way it kind of forces you to, with a slight pause there between the two words and the slight emphasis on the word "half." Alternatively, pronounce it as one word: "otherhalf." Or "other over over half." "Other double-slash half" sounds pretty cool, too.

   But what's up with it? Why is there a double slash? Where is the influence coming from? What could have been the inspiration behind that? By any means far from a complete list, but:

1. The (apparently unnecessary!) slashes used to separate the parts of a hierarchical system in URLs
2. Dot hack
3. Dodge
4. Encoding into italics in the text formatting system Wikispaces uses (don't worry, you can escape the wikitext formatting by putting double backtick characters on either side of your text: Other``//``half to read Other//half instead of Otherhalf. Useful to know, right?)
5. How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, and the Vertigo tour



u2.com

6. It looks cool.

   I don't really know, in short. It's just nonsensical punctuation that appears far often than you'd expect. In Other//half, though, I don't know, it conveys a feeling of being "over over," Other over over half. Instead of separating them, it combines them, puts them into a group and makes them the same thing. Just like how other//halves work in this universe. They are combined, but separated by the exact same thing that combines them.

Correspondence 3/25/11 18:18 - 18:45

   Comrade Helicopter stuff. We discuss why Cailin is "the bass guy."

Re: 72 hour comic
From POMegranate to Persomem   Mar 25, 2011 6:18 pm
And as for CH-related stuff: you don't have bassist hands, so I think you should use one of those funny glass things that form chords or whatever for you.

Re: 72 hour comic
From Persomem to POMegranate   Mar 25, 2011 6:20 pm
How about a... Theremin?

Re: 72 hour comic
From POMegranate to Persomem   Mar 25, 2011 6:21 pm
A bass theremin?

Re: 72 hour comic
From to POMegranate   Mar 25, 2011 6:22 pm
If such a thing exists. Why am I the Bass guy?

Re: 72 hour comic
From POMegranate to Persomem   Mar 25, 2011 6:23 pm
'cos you're the one who doesn't know regular guitar.

Re: 72 hour comic
From Persomem to POMegranate   Mar 25, 2011 6:25 pm
This is true.

Re: 72 hour comic
From  POMegranate to Persomem   Mar 25, 2011 6:26 pm
And you've got this crazy technique with the drumming, which fits better with the bass line, I suppose?
I don't even know what that sounds like, but yeah probably.

Re: 72 hour comic
From Persomem Persomem to POMegranate POMegranate   Mar 25, 2011 6:27 pm
I don't think I've ever even touched a bass guitar though.

Re: 72 hour comic
From POMegranate POMegranate to Persomem Persomem   Mar 25, 2011 6:30 pm
Which is why you have that glass thing to form the chords for you.

Re: 72 hour comic
From Persomem to POMegranate   Mar 25, 2011 6:32 pm
Hmm.

Re: 72 hour comic
From POMegranate to Persomem   Mar 25, 2011 6:33 pm
Do you have any songs or anything you could point meet to in which they use that drummy technique?

Re: 72 hour comic
From Persomem to POMegranate   Mar 25, 2011 6:34 pm
I don't think so.

Re: 72 hour comic
From POMegranate to Persomem   Mar 25, 2011 6:35 pm
Then where'd you even get the idea?

Re: 72 hour comic
From Persomem to POMegranate   Mar 25, 2011 6:40 pm
I think a band I like did it once?

Re: 72 hour comic
From POMegranate to Persomem   Mar 25, 2011 6:44 pm
But you don't remember anything else. Alright. Well, if you could, right now, work on some interpretations on the CH wiki? Just if you want to right now, because I'm still on the Comrade Helicopter groove but don't know anything else to say.
(Except for man, I just listened to some Nick Cage and the Bad Seeds, and now I'm all depressed because I don't think we'll ever be nearly as good. But, you know, U2 started out not knowing any instruments, we won't be doing it professionally, and sometimes your soul just needs to scream.)

Re: 72 hour comic
From POMegranate to Persomem   Mar 25, 2011 6:46 pm
And by Nick Cage I mean of course Nick Cave.

Garfield Minus Garfield, Plus Ponies III

   Shaking things up even more. 

   Sunday format time!

   ...and I think that's enough of that.

Garfield Minus Garfield, Plus Ponies II

   Shaking things up a bit. The original:

...and now:

or:

or even:

Garfield Minus Garfield, Plus Ponies

Correspondence 11/20/10 2:30 - 11/28/10 16:25

   In this round, Cailin shares a world building idea we'll expand upon in later discussions, and we both fire off some lesser ideas that we had, including my werewolf thing I shared here. A good time is had by all.

Story Idea
From Persomem to POMegranate   Nov 20, 2010 2:30 am
How does this sound for one of those stories we'll get around to later:
In the future, cyborging and bio-augmentation are all the rage, and everyone in the world who can afford it is doing it, to the point that all of the developed world has undergone some such change. The story, however, would center on some character(s) in some third world country where humans are still as we know them, and their country is being moved in upon by everyone else.
And... that's all I got. More of a concept than a story idea.

Re: Story Idea
From POMegranate to Persomem   Nov 20, 2010 12:57 pm
Yeah, just the world and not the plot itself.

Re: Story Idea
From Persomem to POMegranate   Nov 21, 2010 1:36 am
Yeah. Could take place in the same world as parasite girl.

Re: Story Idea
From POMegranate to Persomem   Nov 21, 2010 9:53 am
Well, parasite girl is about genetic technology, and this is about cybernetic technology.

Re: Story Idea
From Persomem to POMegranate   Nov 21, 2010 3:25 pm
Well, both, actually. The latter story, I mean. In any case, it wouldn't make sense to co-exist, now that I think about it.

Re: Story Idea
From POMegranate to Persomem   Nov 21, 2010 4:31 pm
I suppose it would have both, yeah. But no, too different. How about the idea for the world where the nations go to war against each other by altering each other's timelines, would it fit into that? Probably not.

Re: Story Idea
From POMegranate to Persomem   Nov 24, 2010 3:39 pm
Also, if there were such thing as a "Bi sapien", what would it be?

Re: Story Idea
From Persomem to POMegranate   Nov 27, 2010 2:14 pm
I don't know, my first thought was like a two headed individual, but it could be a guy with a brain divided into two main sections, each being comparable to an average human's intelligence.

Re: Story Idea
From POMegranate to Persomem   Nov 27, 2010 4:01 pm
yeah, figured

Re: Story Idea
From POMegranate to Persomem   Nov 27, 2010 4:07 pm
I don't know, just a play on "Homo sapien." And I've got an idea for a guy who takes on the memories of everyone he kills, and a guy who can see someone else's vision in the future whenever he closes his eyes, with the vision of vision beginning when he opens his eyes for that time. And a guy who can see back through to you if you look at a photograph of him.
And like a trilogy or something about werewolves:
Hic Cenocephali Nascuntur (here the dog-headed beings are born)
Cave Canem (beware of dog)
Homo Homini Lupus (man is wolf to man)

Re: Story Idea
From Persomem to POMegranate   Nov 27, 2010 11:01 pm
I like all these ideas!
I came up with a comedy/magic realism bit about a law enforcement agency. It'd be kinda like Ghostbusters, I guess? They'd fight demons, and nobody would ever give a damn.

Re: Story Idea
From POMegranate to Persomem   Nov 27, 2010 11:32 pm
A good idea to be fleshed out.

Re: Story Idea
From Persomem to POMegranate   Nov 28, 2010 4:25 pm
Yeah, it certainly leaves a lot to be desired.

Pointless

   Pointless is like Family Feud, only better in every conceivable way at all ever. If there's one show that needs a stateside adaptation, this is it. To demonstrate, 'ere's a group of people utterly failing. U2 Pointless:

   I would have said, probably, Sweetest Thing, which was not pointless and so I guess I would not have received zero points for my answer. Though the way the other participants answered, I might as well have gotten negative points for that.

If all goes well, I should today be the same age Adam was when he died. It's a weird thought, outliving someone  who was always older than you. I cried a lot. I don't know... why.

Thespis Strip Dated Sunday, August 22, 2010

Click to embiggen.

TRANSCRIPT:
Marvin: If summer isn't the greatest adventure, I don't know what is.
Collin: Reading.
SFX: CLIK

NOTES:
   A special summer strip. The blacks here are just kind of gorgeous. Most of that is digital, but I did a lot of the inking on the page itself too.

Correspondence 11/5/10 20:08 - 11/10/10 16:18

Re: Theoretical Sequel Trilogy
From POMegranate to Persomem   Nov 5, 2010 8:08 pm
You know iTunes has this thing where you can be a content provider for them. I'm not sure if many people know about it or not, but just so you know, Comrade Helicopter have to opportunity to be, you know, legit, if you want to be at all.

Re: Theoretical Sequel Trilogy
From Persomem to POMegranate   Nov 5, 2010 11:17 pm
Well, I kind of would, but, well, the instruments thing again...

Re: Theoretical Sequel Trilogy
From POMegranate to Persomem   Nov 5, 2010 11:19 pm
Yeah, how DOES an electric bass work?

Re: Theoretical Sequel Trilogy
From Persomem to POMegranate   Nov 5, 2010 11:21 pm
I figured: Funk (x1) and Electricity (x1), and I only have one of those.

Re: Theoretical Sequel Trilogy
From POMegranate to Persomem   Nov 5, 2010 11:24 pm
Hm. How important is bassism?

Re: Theoretical Sequel Trilogy
From Persomem to POMegranate   Nov 10, 2010 3:53 pm
Pretty important, but it's easily mechanized.

Re: Theoretical Sequel Trilogy
From POMegranate to Persomem   Nov 9, 2010 6:32 pm
But really, all you'd need do is learn like three chords, or even only two. And how to drum rhythmically with one hand. (Because, you know, you drum the bass. It's your thing.)

Re: Theoretical Sequel Trilogy
From Persomem to POMegranate   Nov 10, 2010 3:55 pm
Yeah actually, that does sound pretty easy.

Re: Theoretical Sequel Trilogy
From POMegranate to Persomem   Nov 10, 2010 4:13 pm
I platonically love you sometimes, man.

Re: Theoretical Sequel Trilogy
From Persomem to POMegranate   Nov 10, 2010 4:18 pm
I platonically love you sometimes too, man, too...
Bro.

Redbox w/ Commentary, Deleted Scenes

   Not much to be commented upon that I've told you why these scenes have been deleted. But you can see me there, abandon the idea of him having the apartment to himself and introducing Okimba through his grades, right as I'm introducing Okimba through his grades instead of living in the apartment. Just leave that entire last half of that third page blank, because I knew I'd never use it. Except as these deleted scenes, which I'm doing now! there's not much else to be said.

   I guess it's a good thing, that these are deleted, because of that. These pages were just uninspired. I'm glad I realized that in time.

Redbox w/ Commentary, Page 24

   After the panel of whiteness on page 23, we have an almost entirely black panel taking up the final page. In space, somewhat reminiscent of the final page of my first 24-hour comic, Scourge, pulling back from an earth in its final throes of life. This is like the last page of Scourge in more ways than one, as well, as there's a lot of exposition here as a sort of twist ending which I had to work backward from to figure out how much to reveal elsewhere.

   The 6000-year-old Earth thing was deliberate on my part, and I believe present in the original dream as well. Sort of about faith. Once again, it's sort of a splash page, which I guess brings up the number of splash pages in this comic to four, or 24 if you count the borderless panels as meaning no panels (this of course counts the cover, as page 5 features a border between panels when we are first introduced to Africa.)

   And the eye is led from box to box through the black after the end of the world, and then: the red of the Redbox, a final repetition of the theme of life.

Redbox w/ Commentary, Page 23

   I think this counts for one final splash page. There was the one with the Redbox being introduced, the one outside the school, and this one. The rule of three in full effect here, apparently.

   In keeping with the Redbox theme of color only coming from light, this panel is in full color, with the idea of a very white, pure light. Everything is illuminated, as Jonathan Safran Foer would say (you know, Everything is Illuminated? It got turned into a movie with Elijah Wood.) Now that everything is illuminated, everything is colored. All the colors come from white, and metaphorically all the colors have been leading up to this. Being lit by the purest light of all. (I'm over-explaining it, aren't I? I'll just let it stand on its own.)

Redbox w/ Commentary, Page 22

   And we're taken back to where we started off at, a technique known in the biz as "taking them back to where they started off at." The fog on this page isn't nearly as good as some of the fog elsewhere, but I suppose fog, while normally being pretty difficult, is exceptionally difficult when the edges of the panels are bleeding off out into space anyway.

   I think this page must have been done near the end. Explains that and the sloppy chunkiness of the character model build where I'm looking at the not-quite-Golden-Arches french fry box. (Yup, I came in last place, obviously, since I stayed behind to gaze up at the moon. (Did you catch that?)) I was actively using a Sfar technique with Meghan's eyes in that last panel, how the pupils come slightly out from the eyeballs.

Redbox w/ Commentary, Page 21

   I don't think any of this part (with kicking the PIFF snow or the snowangels) was part of my dream. It's just kind of an extrapolation of what would happen- you arrive at the destination filled with all this snow, you want to go out and kick it around, have fun in it.

   This would be a good page to explain how the pages were done back to back, meaning on either side of the same sheet of paper. It doesn't really show up in real life, but it appears in the scans. I had to erase that digitally, which was tough on pages like this with lots of tiny little snowflakes. You can still see it if you look closely. I use this page to say that because this is the best erasing work I did in the entire comic, and it gets painfully obvious elsewhere. Not here, though. (Does doing that, digitally editing the picture after the 24 hours are completed, count as cheating? I just did it to get the closest experience to the physical comic as I could, so I don't think so.)

Redbox w/ Commentary, Page 20

   And there's the "...do that."

   Trying to use the watch as a source of illumination in that last panel here just falls flat. Especially considering how the watch is half-hidden, and may have just been drawn in afterwards o provide an excuse to color in the panel. Maybe a lighted dashboard? But if there's one page that illustrates how bad I am at drawing vehicles, this is it. There's no room for a dashboard in there. Her seat is suddenly claustrophobically close to the steering wheel from the last panel (and her seat belt makes the seat look like a backpack.) Or maybe she was that close to the steering wheel all along and the first panel is just in some weird fishbowl lens? That's what it looks like.

I did not say, "...one last time," after "taking her out for a joyride," because that ruins the (I think) twist that the entire thing is because the world is ending.

Redbox w/ Commentary, Page 19

   A truck just might...? The transition from page 19 to 20 really loses something when separated in two different posts. I'm sorry for that. Here, try this.

   A truck just might do that. Seeing the pages immediately juxtaposed like that really brings out a beauty lost when the ages are on their own; I really like it.

Redbox w/ Commentary, Page 18

   The best line of the entire comic. "I haven't been cold in a while." It's snowy, and chilly, and beautiful out there. I'd been in Africa the past few months, while it was transitioning from fall into winter back in the states. So they decide to head out. It's what takes us outside into the snow, just as things were in the beginning of the comic.

   Artwork-wise, the art of the first panel is I think worthy of being paired with that line. It's some of the most Sfar I've looked, and it in fact kind of makes me look a lot like Tobey Maguire. Which is always good. This page is also the only one where I could successfully draw Jackson and Edward's jackets (but not their heads in this one! No, wait- actually, never mind. Yes, one of the reasons I chose an art style like the one I did is so I could get away with drawing Edward's ridiculously cartoony Robert Pattinson hair. The anime style may not suit them, but the hair here is all right.) The reason their jackets are the way they are is because I initially couldn't get their sizing right on the first page, so I drew the old markings over with a lot of pockets. The jackets were poufy in the dream, but not so specifically the way they are in the comic.

Redbox w/ Commentary, Page 17

   It's a bit rushed here, and the first few panels are bizarrely small, with the last panels being bizarrely large, but I just suppose it's catch-up transition from Africa back to the states, and focusing more on that time back again. Looking at the watch defines it as a moment, like one page 3. It takes up more, because it doesn't rush by.

   Me just holding that cup and looking out the window provides a wealth of information as to exactly where and how we met back up, which certainly saves a lot of time. It's compressed. Minimalist, if you'll pardon me hijacking that term. So it doesn't really need to be that well explained. Meghan, Jackson, and Edward are finally named, but they were always named like that. You just didn't see it in the first few pages we got to spend with them.

   You can see how big the "actual, whole Redbox" is, as that's me standing next to it with my own smaller personal Rebox unit uploading my information to it. Using a very long USB cable, apparently. You'd figure that'd be more high-tech.

Redbox w/ Commentary, Page 16

   Actually, I don't think that the 'perspective' pun here was intentional. That's just what the ceiling looks like in the loft where he's staying, because of the rafters.

   This is the first time it's mentioned, but the bell curve is being weighed on a curve, and the other students' low scores on the test drags Okimba's down (whether or not that's the way it works in real life, that's the way it worked in my dream.) Actually, the bell curve test wasn't technically in my dream in this form, but it was incorporated into it. The stuff about the injustice of the lower students dragging the higher students down was in an essay by Orson Scott Card, about the failing educational system. In my dream, I mean.

Redbox w/ Commentary, Page 15

   Originally I had no idea why Okimba's parents had abandoned him. I just knew that it was important to the story that he be an orphan. So, originally, here, I put that his folks didn't want him because he was dying of AIDS. Heavy, I know. There was going to be his death scene, some mourning, and then the return back to the states after that. Then I realized that that would make it go on way too long to fit in 24 pages, and that the end of the world is just as good a motivation for abandoning your kid. I erased the other thing and wrote over it, and you can still see where I did so if you look carefully.

Redbox w/ Commentary, Page 14

   This scene right here, in one page, took what the deleted scene version of Redbox took to accomplish in three pages: there's a bell curve of the test, and he's looking at it; he realizes Okimba is the inventor of the Redbox for himself, instead of having the Dutch guy explain it to him; he's asleep, and they're in the same room in this version, so he's able to confront Okimba just like that.

   Note the distribution of standard deviation on the bell curve. I'm not sure if that's an actual distribution or not- I don't think it can even be called a bell curve without using empirical distribution (68-95-99.7 percentage points being within each of the standard deviations in turn.) Well, I didn't say that what those there were standard deviations.

Redbox w/ Commentary, Page 13

   Oh, there's Waldo! His (my) glasses combined with the art style of that panel combined with the Redbox sending that stripe of light across his shirt. But anyway.

   "Well, you know why we have tests." Originally I was going to write out, "to see if they've learned anything," but that struck me as being trivially obvious, so I subverted it, and I hope it still makes sense. I'm not sure how well that scans. But I understand it, at least. This continues the scene that would have been superceded by the deleted scenes.

Redbox w/ Commentary, Page 12

   A big page here, again. Once again, a panel that takes up the whole page is what we in the biz (?) call a "splash panel." Remember, they're usually used for purposes of drama or rhythm, here, to set up the scene and tell us a little about my character: he works at the school, and everybody here's got cameras for some reason that will be revealed later. It lets us breathe and get prepared for what's next; here, it's used as a scene transition.

Redbox w/ Commentary, Page 11

   This is why the alternate "deleted scenes" version of Redbox diverged from the normal thing. Getting past the "pedophile" vibe of rooming with a kid, I never explicitly stated that Okimba is my roommate here, and in fact is just a kid who sometimes hangs out in this flat because he's an urchin, so what else is he expected to do? Making him an urchin opened up its own problems, especially in his role in the story, but I worked it out, as you'll see in pages following.

   Also, in the original deleted scenes version, I missed out on the whole "second thing I notice" bit, which I think is rather nice. The termites also serve to introduce us to Okimba, here, when Okimba is subtly implied to may or may not have a repertoire with the termites, being so bold as to make his presence known after a comment on them. In the "deleted scenes" version, they're just brought up, but nothing is made of them, except for the obvious foreshadowing that it wouldn't be worth it to call an exterminator for them in this day and age.

   Then again, in the deleted scenes version, you get to see more of the Dutch guy. In the final version, this is the last you see of him. It's a sort of give-and-take. He also serves to introduce Okimba, and, like the termites, is promptly forgotten.

Redbox w/ Commentary, Page 10

   The termites are somewhat significant from my dream. I think there was something to do with a spaceship, like the one from Orson Scott Card's Pathfinder, which was time traveling and jumping in time, but without splitting into alternate versions? Still had to do with the end of the world, and the reason for not doing anything to the termites was the same. But the destruction of the building by the termites was inevitable, just with the time jump (or something) it would have happened after the end of the world, so there was no need to bother. The entire house would have collapsed, though, right into the basement.

Redbox w/ Commentary, Page 9

   Along with some of page 3, I also showed you some of this page, when I was talking about Redbox the first time. Now you get to see it in its full context. As you can see, artwork-wise, I flip-flopped on exactly how to emulate Joann Sfar doing this comic. His influence is exhibited heavily on the children standing in front of me there, but I never quite settled on exactly how to draw my own nose. Pointed, like something typically Sfarian, but more Sfarian in the closeup of my face than in the second panel, where it's just a standard drawn pointed nose. That closeup panel there, though, is just awesome.

Redbox w/ Commentary, Page 8

   Here's what we in the biz (?) call a "splash panel." As you can see, this single panel takes up the whole page. With the general lack of borders in this comic book, that's not saying very much, but this does take up the page for one scene. While not a good example of the borderlessness of Redbox, it deftly illustrates the second stylistic choice I made with the book, having no coloring except that color which comes from a light source. It helps emphasize the redness of the Redbox, which is very important symbolically. What exactly the symbol is, you can decide for yourself. (Life. It symbolizes blood, which symbolizes life.)

Redbox w/ Commentary, Page 7

   You can see the half-erased markings, where I had to redraw those back tires. It took me a while to get those right. You can see that's why the treading is so emphasized here. Subtle sunlight reflecting off of the hinges. I'm not sure how well that parses. But, there in the back, there's a box. Not the Redbox itself, mind you (and certainly not the Redbox,) but the box in which is placed the Redbox. I'm not sure where the cameras are stored; you'd expect they'd be in there too. Maybe they're somehow inside Redbox? That's not really explained too well, is it. Maybe.

   So, it's basically a giant drive in which is stored the local video. I guess it stores, compiles, and edits the video into one coherent whole, using time stamps and GPS location to determine alternate angles of things being caught on more than one camera. None of this is canon, of course; this is all speculation  as I'm not allowed to add to the canon now that the 24 hours are up. No, wait, never mind, I guess I can, as a lot of people use their own 24-hour comics to springboard off new world creation and ideas. You're just not allowed to add to the comic itself, is all.

Redbox w/ Commentary, Page 6

   This is one of the few pages in Redbox that has a panel with light from more than one color and source. The sun's rays reflecting off of the roof of the building, and the red taillights of the Jeep.

   Note the other guy in the Jeep with me, the one chilling with the cool shades. Who is this mysterious dark horse, appearing here, and then to introduce me to my flat, and then promptly be forgotten? I don't know. I think he might be Dutch. Or maybe his name's Dutch, yeah, sounds familiar, that might be it. But, I don't know, I'm not sure about this guy. Was he in my dream, to justify his existence here in this comic? There was something about a big wooden sign, in Australia I think, so maybe he's from that. This was around the same place as the faux McDonald's, I remember that much. Either that, or he really is Dutch. In close-ups, he certainly looks it.

Redbox w/ Commentary, Page 5

   Aaand it's three months earlier (September, for those of you who can't be bothered to do the math or think that I can't be bothered to do it,) and we're in Africa. Possibly Nigeria, thereabouts. Exactly where is unimportant. It's about the idea of Africa. Buildings, trees, kids playing soccer. A stone well by the road. I used these African stereotypes for a reason. Ostensibly it's to establish the idea of Africa and then move on so we can get on with the story, but possibly it's because it's the way it appeared in my dream. Or because it wouldn't be worth the research just for a few panels. Hey, at least it's less stereotypical in the actual story here than the mud huts on the cover. The sun's weird here. I think it has something to do with the scan, but I'm not sure, as it could be from the adjustment of the contrast to make the pencilwork stand out.

   It's one of the few times panel breaks are actually used in Redbox here, establishing us firmly back in a real time and place rather than the ethereal nature of the last day on Earth. Okimba makes an early, I guess, cameo, before becoming part of the story proper, clutching his cross in the foreground.