Well, it's been a while since I've last wrote a few lines in this here semi-diary of uncanny writings...
On the 13th I went home and added a acouple more scenes to THE SHIFT. That thing is really going to get to 100 pages, I tell ya...
The following day (a sunday spent mostly outdoors...) I started revising the whole thing and wrote a bit more on THE IMMORTALISTS (I keep getting weird scenes and characters...) and a bit more on THE REMNANTS OF LOST DAYS (a long short-story...)
On the Monday I quickly revised the theatre play DOUBLE SIDED and sent it out to that competition. There was also a lovely event at streatham library that I helped host and organise (as part of the Graphic Novels Reading Group) with Helen McCarthy, Alex Fitch and Paul Gravett. It was a delicious talk on Osamu Tezuka and the wonders of Manga.
I also wrote a synopsis and bits of a short script called MOTHER'S MILK.
Because tuesday is just that kind of day, here came another short script (synopsis and a few scenes) called THE DEEPEST WHISPER. Together with MOTHER'S MILK these two are now part of a kind of sub-series within MONO. The main theme of these stories is love and just how deep it can go.
Also did some more reviewing on THE SHIFT.
Wednesday was "classics" day because not only did I do some more reviewing on THE SHIFT but I also wrote a synopsis and a few scenes for a BATMAN story. I won't tell you the title but I can tell you that it's more about Bruce Wayne and a weird psychologist than throwing punches into criminals faces...
On the thursday I went to Portugal for a short holiday. I actually managed to finish reviewing the whole of THE SHIFT and I realised that I need to review the whole structure of the thing. At least I have a plan for it. I'm gonna separate the whole structure into the various acts. Then organise them chronologically. Then redo the changes that didn't really work for me. Hopefully it will be closer to a final structure after all this is done!
On Monday the 22nd, on my way to Sao Martinho do Porto, to my parents house, I had an idea for a short story called LAND OF FOG. This came to mind simply because, as I arrived inside the coach, I observed that a thick whitish fog covered the whole bay area and the town around, even though everywhere else in the region it was sunny and bright. Talk about micro-climate, huh? So that's the story. A guy arriving to a sunny town only to find that the fog therein has some very interesting properties...
On tuesday I finished revising THE SHIFT and had a meeting with my good friend at TEATRO DO FRIO (Theatre Of The Cold), a theatre company based in Porto.
We had some dinner at Agito in Bairro Alto and talked about our lives, meditation, theatre, the play I had sent him - DOUBLE SIDED (which everybody in the company read! wow! that was REALLY unexpected!!) - and the project I've been invited to participate - RETALHOS (Patchwork).
Basically they've been performing for people throughout the country, presenting some short performances around the object SUITCASE. Then, after the show, they sit down with the audience and gather some of their stories of living abroad and so forth. The whole thing is taped so that a documentary is created. Then 10 of these stories, all with the object SUITCASE, will be selected and sent to 10 writers in order for them to write creatively on them. These will then be illustrated and published later on in the year. TEATRO DO FRIO itself will work on these 10 stories and create a performative piece with them that will then be presented to the public.
The thing that I really like about this project is the very simple and yet quite profound idea of turning popular culture into high art - and then returning this high art back into the people. Not only popular culture is being acknowledged by its worth, as a foundation for a sort of cultural sublimation but, in fact, a powerful bridge is being established between two usually opposing ends in culture. TEATRO DO FRIO is demonstrating that everybody can share human experiences and that boundaries can be actuvely used to break cultural and social gaps. It is as important for the intellectual to realise the depth and meaning of a "simpler life" as it is for those with "less education" to become acquainted with contemporary performative pieces. A contemporary working of a real cultural experience might just do the tricks and open up new, unexpected and highly important avenues. After all, as people use to say, we're all on the same boat. It's about time we got to know each other.
So, I'm really happy that I'm one of the lucky participants! October will be dedicated to produce a comics script/short story based on one of the gathered tales. November will be the month for the artist to draw it and december its publication alongside all the others.
I'll try and keep you updated on my progress...
Yesterday was a crazy day. I spent most of the morning with RICARDO CABRAL talking about this project and A VIEW OF THE MOUNTAIN, his amazing artwork, his upcoming book (you can see some of the stuff in THE ISRAEL SKETCHBOOK) and other things. Here are his two blogs.
http://theisraelsketchbook.blogspot.com/
http://ricardopereiracabral.blogspot.com/
He also wants to do something for a competition that brings THE OBSERVER, RANDOM HOUSE PUBLISHING and COMICA FESTIVAL together.
http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/graphicnovels/competition.htm
He's gonna draw something for me.
And then I'll write something for it.
And I won't know anything until the artwork's done...
I've already had a few ideas for this of course.
(what makes a theme so important after all??)
Maybe create a story perpendicular to the artwork. That is, only a panel or two actually touch upon the theme of the story.
Create a story that dips in and out of the artwork but, for the most part, doesn't have much to do with the visual tale.
Create a story which is conflicts with what's being shown. Like two dissimilar versions of the same thing.
Create a story that actually relates to what is being shown...
And do this in a kind of poetic form.
Don't think about it until you see the artwork, so stop worrying about it and finish all the other stuff instead. Better yet, start reading those stories and select the one you'll be working on...
(I have to keep telling myself these things or else I don't know what my head will start to think and do next...)
Today my plan is simply to type the alterations I've done to THE SHIFT. If I can finish them (which I doubt... it's already 1pm and I've been trying to finish this post since early morning...) I'll print out the whole thing, go home, add the new scenes and redo the structure.
If I can do it, then tomorrow THE SHIFT should be ready to surface in these here bloglands...
Peace
Thursday, 25 September 2008
Saturday, 13 September 2008
Comics Script
This has been a busy week. A VIEW OF THE MOUNTAIN keeps growing. All the scenes I had handwritten are now on my big file of notes and ideas for the comic. Next phase is to try and get some order out of them, eventually add some to the first chapter, some to the second and see if it makes some sense to actually write a third one. If it does, I'm thinking it will be more of an illustrated story than anything else. Or a weird kind of comic. The third volume would be more like an essay on the downfall of empires than anything else. A lesson on politics and sociology so to speak.
We'll see...
Wrote a short comic called IN THE WILD and it's about a Native American Indian returning to his tribe after a very long hunt. I have it on paper but still need to put it on electronic format and organise/review the whole thing.
Also wrote a bit more on THE IMMORTALISTS. This time another series of ideas for a greek character and some weird Greek mythology. The thing with this series is that it seems to be more about a thousand different characters than plot... But there's a story there. I guess I just have a whole heap of threads to weave...
Also reviewed the whole of my short theatre play called DOUBLE SIDED (in portuguese, A DUAS VOZES). I'm still not entirely happy with the structure of the text and pacing of the story but (if it does get selected) because it will be just the platform for a whole heap of experimentation, I'm not really worried. Just hope they like it and find it intense enough to work on it.
Also wrote the intro and beginning of the first chapter for a crime book called IN FORESTS DEEP. It's about a very peculiar detective trying to capture a serial killer no one believes exists. But he knows his stuff. In actual fact, thsi detective knows more than he realises...
(I was thinking about what to write for the upcoming NaNoWriMo and some scenes started to surface for this book. But, as soon as I started to write them I began feeling really heavy and low on energy. Crime really isn't one of my favourite themes and writing about it, just drags me down a bit. Still, I think the idea for the book is quite good and the writing is quite easy. Crime tends to be very stereotypical and you don't need to worry about have people with a really bad temper in there... but I like the detective. He's laid back and is as much on the job as considering his next holiday. He's a bit stuck between two worlds. What he really would like to do - anything but being a detective - and what he's good at. You see, his problema is that he doesn't like being a detective but he knows he's a good one. And that he can save lives that no one else can. And that's what counts for him.)
Also wrote something to post here but it not only got very big but also too personal. I don't mind sharing my inner ramblings but, when they're about people I love (even if it's to say nice things) I become much more conscientious and self aware. So, for the time being, it's in limbo. I'm reviewing it and, hopefully in a couple of days, I'll send it out to some of whom it talks about and see what's the reply.
Also did some more research and added some bits that were missing to THE SHIFT. Characters list and description, a map of Iraq, some info on the bombings of Fallujah (2004) and Baghad (1991). Little things but that suddenly made the story feel even more believable. I had certain scenes in my head but did not know if they could match the occurrences in the Gulf War and the 2003 invasion of Iraq (and subsequent skirmishes). But it turns out that they do! Quite well in fact!
Today and tomorrow I'm hoping on do some more finishing touches on THE SHIFT, send out DOUBLE SIDED and... whatever I feel like it!
Peace.
We'll see...
Wrote a short comic called IN THE WILD and it's about a Native American Indian returning to his tribe after a very long hunt. I have it on paper but still need to put it on electronic format and organise/review the whole thing.
Also wrote a bit more on THE IMMORTALISTS. This time another series of ideas for a greek character and some weird Greek mythology. The thing with this series is that it seems to be more about a thousand different characters than plot... But there's a story there. I guess I just have a whole heap of threads to weave...
Also reviewed the whole of my short theatre play called DOUBLE SIDED (in portuguese, A DUAS VOZES). I'm still not entirely happy with the structure of the text and pacing of the story but (if it does get selected) because it will be just the platform for a whole heap of experimentation, I'm not really worried. Just hope they like it and find it intense enough to work on it.
Also wrote the intro and beginning of the first chapter for a crime book called IN FORESTS DEEP. It's about a very peculiar detective trying to capture a serial killer no one believes exists. But he knows his stuff. In actual fact, thsi detective knows more than he realises...
(I was thinking about what to write for the upcoming NaNoWriMo and some scenes started to surface for this book. But, as soon as I started to write them I began feeling really heavy and low on energy. Crime really isn't one of my favourite themes and writing about it, just drags me down a bit. Still, I think the idea for the book is quite good and the writing is quite easy. Crime tends to be very stereotypical and you don't need to worry about have people with a really bad temper in there... but I like the detective. He's laid back and is as much on the job as considering his next holiday. He's a bit stuck between two worlds. What he really would like to do - anything but being a detective - and what he's good at. You see, his problema is that he doesn't like being a detective but he knows he's a good one. And that he can save lives that no one else can. And that's what counts for him.)
Also wrote something to post here but it not only got very big but also too personal. I don't mind sharing my inner ramblings but, when they're about people I love (even if it's to say nice things) I become much more conscientious and self aware. So, for the time being, it's in limbo. I'm reviewing it and, hopefully in a couple of days, I'll send it out to some of whom it talks about and see what's the reply.
Also did some more research and added some bits that were missing to THE SHIFT. Characters list and description, a map of Iraq, some info on the bombings of Fallujah (2004) and Baghad (1991). Little things but that suddenly made the story feel even more believable. I had certain scenes in my head but did not know if they could match the occurrences in the Gulf War and the 2003 invasion of Iraq (and subsequent skirmishes). But it turns out that they do! Quite well in fact!
Today and tomorrow I'm hoping on do some more finishing touches on THE SHIFT, send out DOUBLE SIDED and... whatever I feel like it!
Peace.
Tuesday, 9 September 2008
Sequential Scripts, Weekend Writs
Spent the weekend writing some more stuff for A VIEW OF THE MOUNTAIN. Quite a lot of stuff actually. I've been reading through a paper on de-development (the collapse of empires on the western world) and including some of the ideas into the script. The idea is to create not only a solida basis for the story's society but also a platform for potential solutions that will come forth as part of the Monk's teachings to the King.
I'm still not finished with it but I know that probably most of what I've written will never end up in a script. But just creating a more recognisable society, a more defined framework within which to move the characters is already important enough. At least for this story. And, in any case, I can always use up some of the key ideas in other stories. There are a few that touch on those points anyway.
I also wrote captions and dialogue for a full (?) issue of The WEIRD MACHINE. And some odd bits. Mainly ideas, directions. Stuff that I could only write synopsis but not really come alive just there and then. I've learned that some stuff needs to be in the back burner for a while. And when it's ready, you'll hear it ring...
Also wrote the opening sequence and a few other bits for an idea that I had a little while ago. A comic about music and what it brings up inside. But I don't really want to talk about this because it's not only quite a personal thing but also something that I will only share when it's completed or secured in some way. All I can say is that I think this could be an amazing project and I'm quite sure it would be successful. Really enjoyed the writing as it was coming out, flowing so easily through the character and into the screen (this one I was typing it directly - which is something I don't do that often - I prefer to write on paper (comics wise) and then already do a semblance of a revision as I write it down on my pc at home), I felt the momentum going, which, to me, is one of the most important things tp be felt whilst writing. It's the momentum that keeps the writing going even when there's no "inspiration" or will power. The momentum sustains the story.
Read a bit of Joana Bertholo's new book: DIALOGOS PARA O FIM DO MUNDO which I'm (slowly...) helping her revise. It's a powerful book and filled with lots of brain candy and provocative ideas. To my mind it's as demanding as it is rewarding. Her writing has a beautiful way of capturing the subtleties of the portuguese language and of revealing our inner connundrums and intricacies. It tells the tale of an Ukranian family, the Kozak, on their quest for that mysterious country, Brazil, to where Father Kozak disappeared once upon a time, leaving behind a promise of a better life, an escape from poverty. In a way it's a book about the many things riddling our existence. A book about existence itself. A book about many books...
Yesterday, while cycling home, had an idea for a short comic and proceeded to actually write the whole thing as soon as I got home. It took me about 2 and a half hours to write 12 pages of comic! I was really surprised! Obviously the ideas changed a bit since their inception but I never assumed it was going to take that long! It's called PARALLEL LIVES.
In any case it's more of an exercise than anything else. It's the story of two guys, one with a mobile phone and another with a flashlight whose worlds end up clashing. It's a short thriller. In any case the idea was to have the points of view alternating between one and the other through the comic. I think I managed to pull it off. The ending was the most difficult, after the characters separate once again. It has no captions or dialogue and there's only a couple of panels where some text shows up. Hopefully the story still comes across crystal clear and creates a reaction.
Today I'm reviewing a theatre play (DOUBLE SIDED) I wrote in Portuguese for a competition (I have to send it by the 15th this month). Just rephrasing a few things. Realised that I'm still not that happy about the whole thing. It has some really good moments (it's good to find out that some of the stuff you had in mind actually did the trick for you at some point down the line...) but I still don't see it as being cohesive. Then again, if I get selected I'll have plenty of oportunities to work on the structure and I'm sure the actors will have more suggestions than I'll possibly be able to handle...
Also finished reading KING by Ho Che Anderson, an amazing comics biography of the life and times of Martin Luther King. Visually it's quite daring and the script really is intense. Ho Che Anderson manages to shift gracefully from in depth political debate to human drama. And, more often than not, seamlessly entwines both. Like my good friend's book, it may not be an easy read, but the plentiful rewards are there for the taking...
I'm still not finished with it but I know that probably most of what I've written will never end up in a script. But just creating a more recognisable society, a more defined framework within which to move the characters is already important enough. At least for this story. And, in any case, I can always use up some of the key ideas in other stories. There are a few that touch on those points anyway.
I also wrote captions and dialogue for a full (?) issue of The WEIRD MACHINE. And some odd bits. Mainly ideas, directions. Stuff that I could only write synopsis but not really come alive just there and then. I've learned that some stuff needs to be in the back burner for a while. And when it's ready, you'll hear it ring...
Also wrote the opening sequence and a few other bits for an idea that I had a little while ago. A comic about music and what it brings up inside. But I don't really want to talk about this because it's not only quite a personal thing but also something that I will only share when it's completed or secured in some way. All I can say is that I think this could be an amazing project and I'm quite sure it would be successful. Really enjoyed the writing as it was coming out, flowing so easily through the character and into the screen (this one I was typing it directly - which is something I don't do that often - I prefer to write on paper (comics wise) and then already do a semblance of a revision as I write it down on my pc at home), I felt the momentum going, which, to me, is one of the most important things tp be felt whilst writing. It's the momentum that keeps the writing going even when there's no "inspiration" or will power. The momentum sustains the story.
Read a bit of Joana Bertholo's new book: DIALOGOS PARA O FIM DO MUNDO which I'm (slowly...) helping her revise. It's a powerful book and filled with lots of brain candy and provocative ideas. To my mind it's as demanding as it is rewarding. Her writing has a beautiful way of capturing the subtleties of the portuguese language and of revealing our inner connundrums and intricacies. It tells the tale of an Ukranian family, the Kozak, on their quest for that mysterious country, Brazil, to where Father Kozak disappeared once upon a time, leaving behind a promise of a better life, an escape from poverty. In a way it's a book about the many things riddling our existence. A book about existence itself. A book about many books...
Yesterday, while cycling home, had an idea for a short comic and proceeded to actually write the whole thing as soon as I got home. It took me about 2 and a half hours to write 12 pages of comic! I was really surprised! Obviously the ideas changed a bit since their inception but I never assumed it was going to take that long! It's called PARALLEL LIVES.
In any case it's more of an exercise than anything else. It's the story of two guys, one with a mobile phone and another with a flashlight whose worlds end up clashing. It's a short thriller. In any case the idea was to have the points of view alternating between one and the other through the comic. I think I managed to pull it off. The ending was the most difficult, after the characters separate once again. It has no captions or dialogue and there's only a couple of panels where some text shows up. Hopefully the story still comes across crystal clear and creates a reaction.
Today I'm reviewing a theatre play (DOUBLE SIDED) I wrote in Portuguese for a competition (I have to send it by the 15th this month). Just rephrasing a few things. Realised that I'm still not that happy about the whole thing. It has some really good moments (it's good to find out that some of the stuff you had in mind actually did the trick for you at some point down the line...) but I still don't see it as being cohesive. Then again, if I get selected I'll have plenty of oportunities to work on the structure and I'm sure the actors will have more suggestions than I'll possibly be able to handle...
Also finished reading KING by Ho Che Anderson, an amazing comics biography of the life and times of Martin Luther King. Visually it's quite daring and the script really is intense. Ho Che Anderson manages to shift gracefully from in depth political debate to human drama. And, more often than not, seamlessly entwines both. Like my good friend's book, it may not be an easy read, but the plentiful rewards are there for the taking...
Friday, 5 September 2008
The Shift, close to completion
First draft that is.
It's 94 pages long and that added scene kind of felt like the icing on top of the cake. I've added a few bits of writing that I didn't know before where to place and I'm going to print the whole thing in a bit.
I wanted to give it some time to breath but I think I won't resist playing about with the structure and fine tune the continuity a bit more.
Maybe on monday I'll have the first few pages of that script posted in here.
There's still stuff to do with this script but the hard stuff has been taken care off. For now at least.
Feeling quite good about this script actually. I mean, I've always been excited and challenged by it, but a few days ago I was having the feeling that this wasn't going to be such an intense script as I'd thought. Such as Lost Lines is.
But maybe I'm wrong...
It's 94 pages long and that added scene kind of felt like the icing on top of the cake. I've added a few bits of writing that I didn't know before where to place and I'm going to print the whole thing in a bit.
I wanted to give it some time to breath but I think I won't resist playing about with the structure and fine tune the continuity a bit more.
Maybe on monday I'll have the first few pages of that script posted in here.
There's still stuff to do with this script but the hard stuff has been taken care off. For now at least.
Feeling quite good about this script actually. I mean, I've always been excited and challenged by it, but a few days ago I was having the feeling that this wasn't going to be such an intense script as I'd thought. Such as Lost Lines is.
But maybe I'm wrong...
WeirD Machine
Just had an idea for a comic.
(that's what happens when you skip breakfast, have breakfast after lunch and find yourself making cheese sandwiches in the middle of the afternoon with no one to blame)
(they've all gone home by now. It's friday, remember?!)
It's called the WEIRD MACHINE. And it starts with the line:
"The guy who invented the WeirD Machine got invited to a lot of strange parties."
And it's about a guy who invents a very peculiar machine. But perhaps more about the eerie people he gets to meet...
(strange times, weird worlds, eerie explorations...)
(that's what happens when you skip breakfast, have breakfast after lunch and find yourself making cheese sandwiches in the middle of the afternoon with no one to blame)
(they've all gone home by now. It's friday, remember?!)
It's called the WEIRD MACHINE. And it starts with the line:
"The guy who invented the WeirD Machine got invited to a lot of strange parties."
And it's about a guy who invents a very peculiar machine. But perhaps more about the eerie people he gets to meet...
(strange times, weird worlds, eerie explorations...)
Sequential Brains, Parallel Minds
For a few days now I've been finding myself cycling about, showering, eating, even writing and talking on the phone or with other people, even talking to other people and thinking about this idea of how comics and brains (and minds) are closely related.
The basic premise (as it has been for a long while, since a good two month meditation retreat managed to surface - among many things) is that comics work as a kind of an aphorism to the way the brain and the mind operate.
Recently I saw a video clip on TedTalks that really had an impact on me. A good friend sent it to me and I'm now placing it here so that, if you want, you can check it out as well;
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/jill_bolte_taylor_s_powerful_stroke_of_insight.html
So, if we broadly say that the left hemisphere of the brain is more responsible for memory, action, decision making, prevision, the filtering of hypotheses, and that the right hemisphere is more connected to the "nowness", the being in the moment, the acute perception of what's happening, right now, the feeling, the intuition, we end up seeing the human brain as being two different processors working synergetically. On one hand we have a parallel computer. It's all about what's arriving now, what's flowing inside itself and coming in through our astouding sensory system. On the other hand we have a serial computer who, by relying on memory of past experiences is projecting consequences and possible courses of action in response to what's present.
So one half of our brain is worried about sequences. The other is just accessing what's there. So one is always looking for completion (doomed to never really reach it for change is always occurring) and the other is always complete (for all there is is simply all that's there). And if we look deep enough inside ourselves, we can see hints for this. Usual feelings of dissatisfaction easily mixing with the seemingly contradictory knowings of our shortcomings and hopes.
But what has all this to do with comics?
Well, on a first instance, comics are about words and images. Sequential art, remember? (thanks Will Eisner)
Now, with words we more or less take is a steak. Even if want to swallow it whole, we still need to chew and swallow it bit by bit. But images are somehow easier to enter. They take less time to be absorbed. In a fraction of a second we can read the image that contains the panels that will take us a few seconds to absorb.
Now this may seem a little bit strange because, in fact we intuitively know (or feel?...) that the image has more content than the words... more on this later.
So, in a way, what I'm trying to say is that images are more akin to the right brain and words to the left. It's like feelings and thoughts. You know how you feel instantly. But to say it in words might take a lifetime. Especially because the nuances of what we feel have seldom been described to us and are rarely used to getting on with life. One could almost say that the left brain is geared to get on with things and the right to appreciate whatever it is we're experiencing.
(in fact the right brain is where the experience is located - which kind of hints to me that the right brain kind of has priority over the left...)
Let's imagine that we're reading a comic.
We open the page and BOOOOM!! We have beautiful imagery flooding our right hemisphere. We still don't know what the heck is the comic about on that first page and our right brain is already immersed in the visuals of the page, the tactile sensations, the sounds around us and, of course, the left brain catching up to this fresh new torrent of information.
The left brain catches up. We move from the left upper corner of the page to the right, progressively making our way down the page, noticing captions and speech baloons, sound effects and other visuals that will help us recreate more fully the expected sensory experience for this page. The left brain is quickly catching up. It's seeing the words right now and making billiions of connections faster than we could possibly track. And yet we feel it all simply by recognising the words. At each word, at each set of words, the whole spectrum of our memory is scrutinised, trying to ascertain exactly what is the relevance of that word to ourselves and, within context. But in order to ascertain the context more precisely the left brain needs to connect with the right. It needs to return to the nowness, where all the raw information is contained and make new connections, select different aspects and filter them differently. Our eyes jump from panels to captions, speech balloons to images, we move through the gutters between panels, recreating the passing of time and a change of moment, we jump back and forth between words and images. The brain buzzes with activity. We find ourselves enjoying a good comic!
But what does this mean?
For me it means that through the process of reading comics, of going backwards and forth with words and images, naturally reinforces the communication between the two hemispheres. By placing two similar opposing experiences: one that is very much instantaneous and another which is establishing connections and filtering through a maze of probabilities.
It seems obvious that by engaging regularly on such an exercise (an exercise that is not merely of following a general sequence - like most literature or of relaxing into a state of being, of being guided through a set of predetermined experiences - like film) the way our brain interacts with itself becomes more fluid. Not only our ability to create patterns increases (to extract meaning from a particular experience) but we also become highly involved with the experience itself. The raw power of images.
So why the title?
The title hints at this idea that our brains are increasingly used to be sequential machines. We receive a particular set, an input, and we are asked for a solution, an output. But that is not the sole nature of our minds. Our minds are also fully functioning, fully rooted experiential machines. Contemplation is one of our given rights. In fact it is crucial for a sucessful survival. With accurate input of information, we cannot hope to sustain an efficient living state.
My feel is that comics somehow provide an easy and powerful insight into the nature of our being. Both metaphorically, both in terms of ideas and concepts wanting to be shared, but also, and perhaps most importantly by their very nature. A nature born of our own nature and perhaps closest to it than we might dare imagine.
---
From here on it would be interesting to analyse the differences between North American, European and Asian comics. Also the historical evolution of comics and language. And just what the heck is the role consciousness plays amidst all of this. After all consciousness is surely more than just the brain or the mind? Right? (or Left?!...)
The basic premise (as it has been for a long while, since a good two month meditation retreat managed to surface - among many things) is that comics work as a kind of an aphorism to the way the brain and the mind operate.
Recently I saw a video clip on TedTalks that really had an impact on me. A good friend sent it to me and I'm now placing it here so that, if you want, you can check it out as well;
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/jill_bolte_taylor_s_powerful_stroke_of_insight.html
So, if we broadly say that the left hemisphere of the brain is more responsible for memory, action, decision making, prevision, the filtering of hypotheses, and that the right hemisphere is more connected to the "nowness", the being in the moment, the acute perception of what's happening, right now, the feeling, the intuition, we end up seeing the human brain as being two different processors working synergetically. On one hand we have a parallel computer. It's all about what's arriving now, what's flowing inside itself and coming in through our astouding sensory system. On the other hand we have a serial computer who, by relying on memory of past experiences is projecting consequences and possible courses of action in response to what's present.
So one half of our brain is worried about sequences. The other is just accessing what's there. So one is always looking for completion (doomed to never really reach it for change is always occurring) and the other is always complete (for all there is is simply all that's there). And if we look deep enough inside ourselves, we can see hints for this. Usual feelings of dissatisfaction easily mixing with the seemingly contradictory knowings of our shortcomings and hopes.
But what has all this to do with comics?
Well, on a first instance, comics are about words and images. Sequential art, remember? (thanks Will Eisner)
Now, with words we more or less take is a steak. Even if want to swallow it whole, we still need to chew and swallow it bit by bit. But images are somehow easier to enter. They take less time to be absorbed. In a fraction of a second we can read the image that contains the panels that will take us a few seconds to absorb.
Now this may seem a little bit strange because, in fact we intuitively know (or feel?...) that the image has more content than the words... more on this later.
So, in a way, what I'm trying to say is that images are more akin to the right brain and words to the left. It's like feelings and thoughts. You know how you feel instantly. But to say it in words might take a lifetime. Especially because the nuances of what we feel have seldom been described to us and are rarely used to getting on with life. One could almost say that the left brain is geared to get on with things and the right to appreciate whatever it is we're experiencing.
(in fact the right brain is where the experience is located - which kind of hints to me that the right brain kind of has priority over the left...)
Let's imagine that we're reading a comic.
We open the page and BOOOOM!! We have beautiful imagery flooding our right hemisphere. We still don't know what the heck is the comic about on that first page and our right brain is already immersed in the visuals of the page, the tactile sensations, the sounds around us and, of course, the left brain catching up to this fresh new torrent of information.
The left brain catches up. We move from the left upper corner of the page to the right, progressively making our way down the page, noticing captions and speech baloons, sound effects and other visuals that will help us recreate more fully the expected sensory experience for this page. The left brain is quickly catching up. It's seeing the words right now and making billiions of connections faster than we could possibly track. And yet we feel it all simply by recognising the words. At each word, at each set of words, the whole spectrum of our memory is scrutinised, trying to ascertain exactly what is the relevance of that word to ourselves and, within context. But in order to ascertain the context more precisely the left brain needs to connect with the right. It needs to return to the nowness, where all the raw information is contained and make new connections, select different aspects and filter them differently. Our eyes jump from panels to captions, speech balloons to images, we move through the gutters between panels, recreating the passing of time and a change of moment, we jump back and forth between words and images. The brain buzzes with activity. We find ourselves enjoying a good comic!
But what does this mean?
For me it means that through the process of reading comics, of going backwards and forth with words and images, naturally reinforces the communication between the two hemispheres. By placing two similar opposing experiences: one that is very much instantaneous and another which is establishing connections and filtering through a maze of probabilities.
It seems obvious that by engaging regularly on such an exercise (an exercise that is not merely of following a general sequence - like most literature or of relaxing into a state of being, of being guided through a set of predetermined experiences - like film) the way our brain interacts with itself becomes more fluid. Not only our ability to create patterns increases (to extract meaning from a particular experience) but we also become highly involved with the experience itself. The raw power of images.
So why the title?
The title hints at this idea that our brains are increasingly used to be sequential machines. We receive a particular set, an input, and we are asked for a solution, an output. But that is not the sole nature of our minds. Our minds are also fully functioning, fully rooted experiential machines. Contemplation is one of our given rights. In fact it is crucial for a sucessful survival. With accurate input of information, we cannot hope to sustain an efficient living state.
My feel is that comics somehow provide an easy and powerful insight into the nature of our being. Both metaphorically, both in terms of ideas and concepts wanting to be shared, but also, and perhaps most importantly by their very nature. A nature born of our own nature and perhaps closest to it than we might dare imagine.
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From here on it would be interesting to analyse the differences between North American, European and Asian comics. Also the historical evolution of comics and language. And just what the heck is the role consciousness plays amidst all of this. After all consciousness is surely more than just the brain or the mind? Right? (or Left?!...)
Scriptic Mind
Well yesterday was one of those days.
(still don't know exactly what that means, but I'm sure I'll get around to it at some point)
Case in point. I did less than I was expecting but more that I felt I was going to, half way through the day.
Earlier this morning I finished all the changes on THE SHIFT and I'm now writing the last scene of the script. Something that will take last for at least 3 or 4 pages of the comic.
This is quickly becoming the longest comics script (one shot) that I've written.
The scene I'm writing now is when Shahidah (the main character, a little girl - here aged 9 - whose name means Witness) for the first time sees what happened to her family after the explosion that shook the house...
It's not a pretty scene but, in a way, i want to make the tragedy beautiful visually. The text at least is poetic enough even though necessarily dark.
I hope that, as people run through this (one of the) last scene, that they'll be able to look back at the whole story and put it into perspective, realising that so many of the other scenes were not only preparing us in a way for this one, but how this situation reveals Shahidah's destiny. A destiny that is very much clear inside herself during these moments of raw perception. This is why the last image in the book works as the closing of a circle. She is now ready to return to the place she once left. And to be whole again.
Peace.
(still don't know exactly what that means, but I'm sure I'll get around to it at some point)
Case in point. I did less than I was expecting but more that I felt I was going to, half way through the day.
Earlier this morning I finished all the changes on THE SHIFT and I'm now writing the last scene of the script. Something that will take last for at least 3 or 4 pages of the comic.
This is quickly becoming the longest comics script (one shot) that I've written.
The scene I'm writing now is when Shahidah (the main character, a little girl - here aged 9 - whose name means Witness) for the first time sees what happened to her family after the explosion that shook the house...
It's not a pretty scene but, in a way, i want to make the tragedy beautiful visually. The text at least is poetic enough even though necessarily dark.
I hope that, as people run through this (one of the) last scene, that they'll be able to look back at the whole story and put it into perspective, realising that so many of the other scenes were not only preparing us in a way for this one, but how this situation reveals Shahidah's destiny. A destiny that is very much clear inside herself during these moments of raw perception. This is why the last image in the book works as the closing of a circle. She is now ready to return to the place she once left. And to be whole again.
Peace.
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