Strained Geometries
Jan. 2nd, 2008 10:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
guppiecatAs many of you know, I have been working on a secret project for a while now. This is *not* the unveiling. However, in working on in, it has become clear that I need more skill with some of the technologies being used. As there is no better way to learn a technology than by using it, I have started another (smaller) project. Yeah, I know I'm probably nuts.
Before we get to exactly what this is, I need to elaborate a few things that were running through my mind as I was working on it.
For many years now, I have been contemplating the nature of humor. It's difficult, because my sense of humor is somewhat drier than most. I do not tend to enjoy the "violation of social taboo" humor, instead leaning towards the esoteric and unexpected. I also like word play (especially alliteration. . . just quirky, I guess). To my mind, a "perfect" joke is one that you can tell to a room, have less than 10% of the people laugh and the other 90% go "huh?". It seems to me, that by focusing the humor so narrowly, the "funniness" gets concentrated. A perfect example of this is the short Frantics skit: "red red red yellow", which I find to be one of the funniest radio bits ever . . . and no one else seems to appreciate.
At the same time I was listening to "red red red yellow", I was in college conducting an experiment in mental patterns. I had noticed that most people thought either in terms of "black and white" or "shades of grey". In other words, they were either thinking dichotomously, or they weren't (which is a dichotomy in of itself). I started trying to consider the world in terms of trichotomies. I found that as I thought of things this way, the world magically fell into patterns of three in the same way that it had previously fallen into binary patterns.
Both of these must have been on my mind when "the idea" struck.
I have been to numerous conventions and readings, and I have often heard the question "where do you get your ideas?" Well, I can answer that (sorta). It's all about history and prehistory. I have a theory that, when a prehistoric critter died, their thoughts fossilized when their brains did. Then, over the millennia, these thoughts are slowly leeched out of the rock and enter the water supply. Thus, the areas with considerable history tend to have more ideas floating about in the water: dried dinosaur dreams and the faintly formulated fancies of fossilized ferns. The ideas are released when the water is heated. This is why you tend to get brilliant ideas when drinking a nice hot cup of tea. (I don't think that it works for coffee, they must get caught in the filter.) Since the water if often heated when making alcoholic drinks, you can ideas from them too, but the fermentation process may alter the brilliance of the ideas (or maybe it just alters their lifetime, which explains why they're not quite so brilliant come the morning).
As many of you know, Minneapolis has a plethora of ideas floating about in the water, this is likely the cause of the excellent books and music that originate there. On my last visit, I stayed with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
laffingbuddha. In the morning, before I headed to the zoo, I took a nice hot shower in Minneapolis water, and the idea was released. So, in reality, this is his idea that I was fortunate enough to intercept. Sorry laffingbuddha.
So, what is this idea? (I hear you say.) While at the dinner thatminnehaha hosted, I got into a discussion about political parties and why I don't think that they are a good idea. (In a nutshell, I think that as society becomes increasingly complex, the idea of being able to get a large group of people whose believes match yours becomes decreasingly valid.) I think that we are at a point where different people feel strongly about certain key issues, and these issues drive their behavior.
In contemplating whether this was universal across all of humanity or if I was just playing mental games with myself, I realized that I could run an experiment. If I could portray individual issues and concepts without using any words, and other people's interpretations matched my intentions, then might be right about the universality of political issues.
Thus, I have started an experimental web comic focusing on different political-issues. I'm enjoying the process of simplifying issues and telling stories. I hope that you enjoy them too. It would be nice if people could discuss the issues in the comics' comments, and it would be even nicer if flamewars did not emerge. I am, however, insufficiently naive to expect either.
The web comic is over here. (If you clicked on the link without reading the cut text, you may not get it. That's OK, I still like you.) I did backdate a couple entries, so there is more than one comic to view.
More info about the comic is on the about page
I hope you like it..
Before we get to exactly what this is, I need to elaborate a few things that were running through my mind as I was working on it.
For many years now, I have been contemplating the nature of humor. It's difficult, because my sense of humor is somewhat drier than most. I do not tend to enjoy the "violation of social taboo" humor, instead leaning towards the esoteric and unexpected. I also like word play (especially alliteration. . . just quirky, I guess). To my mind, a "perfect" joke is one that you can tell to a room, have less than 10% of the people laugh and the other 90% go "huh?". It seems to me, that by focusing the humor so narrowly, the "funniness" gets concentrated. A perfect example of this is the short Frantics skit: "red red red yellow", which I find to be one of the funniest radio bits ever . . . and no one else seems to appreciate.
At the same time I was listening to "red red red yellow", I was in college conducting an experiment in mental patterns. I had noticed that most people thought either in terms of "black and white" or "shades of grey". In other words, they were either thinking dichotomously, or they weren't (which is a dichotomy in of itself). I started trying to consider the world in terms of trichotomies. I found that as I thought of things this way, the world magically fell into patterns of three in the same way that it had previously fallen into binary patterns.
Both of these must have been on my mind when "the idea" struck.
I have been to numerous conventions and readings, and I have often heard the question "where do you get your ideas?" Well, I can answer that (sorta). It's all about history and prehistory. I have a theory that, when a prehistoric critter died, their thoughts fossilized when their brains did. Then, over the millennia, these thoughts are slowly leeched out of the rock and enter the water supply. Thus, the areas with considerable history tend to have more ideas floating about in the water: dried dinosaur dreams and the faintly formulated fancies of fossilized ferns. The ideas are released when the water is heated. This is why you tend to get brilliant ideas when drinking a nice hot cup of tea. (I don't think that it works for coffee, they must get caught in the filter.) Since the water if often heated when making alcoholic drinks, you can ideas from them too, but the fermentation process may alter the brilliance of the ideas (or maybe it just alters their lifetime, which explains why they're not quite so brilliant come the morning).
As many of you know, Minneapolis has a plethora of ideas floating about in the water, this is likely the cause of the excellent books and music that originate there. On my last visit, I stayed with
laffingbuddha. In the morning, before I headed to the zoo, I took a nice hot shower in Minneapolis water, and the idea was released. So, in reality, this is his idea that I was fortunate enough to intercept. Sorry laffingbuddha.So, what is this idea? (I hear you say.) While at the dinner that
minnehaha hosted, I got into a discussion about political parties and why I don't think that they are a good idea. (In a nutshell, I think that as society becomes increasingly complex, the idea of being able to get a large group of people whose believes match yours becomes decreasingly valid.) I think that we are at a point where different people feel strongly about certain key issues, and these issues drive their behavior.In contemplating whether this was universal across all of humanity or if I was just playing mental games with myself, I realized that I could run an experiment. If I could portray individual issues and concepts without using any words, and other people's interpretations matched my intentions, then might be right about the universality of political issues.
Thus, I have started an experimental web comic focusing on different political-issues. I'm enjoying the process of simplifying issues and telling stories. I hope that you enjoy them too. It would be nice if people could discuss the issues in the comics' comments, and it would be even nicer if flamewars did not emerge. I am, however, insufficiently naive to expect either.
The web comic is over here. (If you clicked on the link without reading the cut text, you may not get it. That's OK, I still like you.) I did backdate a couple entries, so there is more than one comic to view.
More info about the comic is on the about page
I hope you like it..
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-01-03 02:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-03 03:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-03 05:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-03 03:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-03 03:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-03 05:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-03 05:53 pm (UTC)As you can see over here: http://www.starmind.org/reference-items/43-reference/81-feeds , I am trying to centralize my online life. However, as this is a new project, I want to make sure that the tech works right before I link it to my public site and make it more "discoverable".
no subject
Date: 2008-01-03 08:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-04 08:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-04 08:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-10 01:34 am (UTC)copy comment
Date: 2008-01-10 04:35 pm (UTC)Your thought about using silhouettes is interesting, and something that I had not considered. I am using shapes mostly because it allows me to easily show groups and different characters. I had never once considered that people wouldn’t consider them as characters. That may be a reflection as to how I think.
They are not intended to convey humor, but to explore an issue. I am being deliberately vague as to the specific issue I am exploring, as these can be highly divisive issues, and I don’t want the comments/discussion to become personal. I’m more interested in an intellectual exploration of aspects of our culture. That said, it’s been interesting how some people find them hilarious and others find them poignant.
I would be VERY interested in comments about how others interpret the comics. Once others have shared to a critical point, I would be comfortable sharing my original intent. I just don’t want my words to impact how others view the comic, so I want them to go first.
I have read Scott McCloud’s “Making Comics”, and it probably inspired some of what I am doing here. The rest was inspired by the stupidly polarized political discussions that occurred here in Iowa prior to the primaries, and my resulting anger with the candidates for refusing to directly discuss the issues.