kate

Most Lego cities are well-planned models of urban order. But at Brickworld this year, a team of six builders led by Carter Baldwin created this intricate model of urban disorder. Their unique version of Neotokyo borrows from a handful of great cyberpunk novels and movies, from Akira to Neuromancer.

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Why being gay in Rogue Legacy means nothing

sailorhoneymoon:

artsybird:

So this post came up on my dash and I had to do it. It was just too obvious not to. (Originally from an Archie comic.)

I drew a thing!

The number of Latinos will match the number of white non-Hispanic population for the first time in California this month, according to the California Department of Finance. The same study also found that Latinos will become a plurality in 2014, overtaking the white non-Hispanic population. The demographic milestone, marked by a press conference at the state Capitol at noon PDT on Monday, will likely be a driving force for the state’s economic and political future.

The demographic landscape was not always a game of catch up. Fifteen year ago, the white non-Hispanic population outnumbered Latinos by about five million. Over the years, the Latino population increased through birth and immigration while the white population decreased through lower birth rates and people moving out of the state. Now, Latinos will reach a population of 15 million individuals, equivalent to the existing 15 million white non-Hispanics.

Although the Latino population has reached parity with the white non-Hispanic population, Latinos lag on income compared to their white cohorts. The median household income for Latinos was $44,300 in 2011 while the same measure for white non-Hispanics was $67,000. Latinos make up about 60 percent of low-wage laborers in California. Still, the community is changing rapidly. Second-generation Latinos tend to experience greater upward mobility and to earn higher incomes. Meanwhile, immigrant youths are steadily closing the educational achievement gap.

California’s fast-growing Latino population will have a lasting impact on the labor force, since there will be 7.2 million Latinos under the age of 25 compared to 3.8 million whites by 2030. Latinos are currently the fastest growing segment of business owners in California. The changing labor landscape underscores the importance of educating Latino youths who constitute more than half of the state’s secondary schools, and will be needed to supplant the aging white non-Hispanic population.

The growing Latino population will also shape future voter turnout. The growing electoral power of Latinos already flexed its political muscle in the 2012 presidential election, when former presidential candidate Mitt Romney (R) only received 27 percent of the Latino vote.

One only needs to look at Texas to see how the Latino plurality in California could affect a large segment of future minority voters. In response to new Hispanic pluralities in the state’s urban counties, the Legislature limited Latino voting strength by redistricting maps that discriminate against Latino and minority voters.

California’s sizable immigrant population has endured exploitation and threats of deportation. But legislators have introduced bills that help the immigrant population improve their circumstances. For example, the state has already taken steps to mitigate exploitations of immigrant agricultural workers and to bring them into the healthcare system. Several other bills advanced this session to protect immigrants from extortion and help them obtain drivers licenses.

AUSTIN, Texas — More than 5,000 Texans gathered on the lawn of the State Capitol Monday to voice their outrage about stringent new abortion restrictions that, if passed, would make it virtually impossible for women in large swaths of the state to access reproductive care.

Large turnout for the rally came after Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) called a second special session in order to try to pass legislation that had been defeated by State Sen. Wendy Davis (D) in a remarkable 13-hour filibuster last week. If it succeeds, the legislation would, among other changes, criminalize abortion after 20 weeks and create onerous new regulations that would force virtually all of the state’s abortion clinics to shut down.

One hallmark of Monday’s massive protest was the number of men who joined the rally for women’s rights, some even driving from as far as Houston and Dallas to attend. Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, remarked to ThinkProgress that their presence showed “these are not just women’s issues, they’re family issues.”

ThinkProgress spoke with over a half-dozen men at the rally about what it meant for them to be there and the importance of women’s rights being a universal issue. Here’s what they told us:

PHIL PERKINS: “They may pass it, but I’ll still protest it. And when they pass it, I’ll keep protesting it. Inside that building there are a lot of men working against women. I’m just representing all the men that are outside this building that support women.”

MICKEY SHANAHAN: “Just like every civil rights fight, if someone is not free, none of us are free. All of our rights are at stake. This is not the first issue where our rights have been eroded, but this is one that happens to affect 52 percent of the population. We all need to fight for this.”

BILL LAMBERT: “I drove all the way from Houston. I want society to be better than it is today and I wouldn’t have the right to hope for such a thing if women were still not fully emancipated and equal partners in that process. They hold up half the sky.”

MICHAEL COOK: “I’m the coordinator for the clinic defense team out of Houston. We have about 50 people in our clinic defense team, and about 35 of them are men. So in Houston there’s a lot of men standing up for this issue. There’s a lot of men who feel very strongly about it. We’re going to stand side-by-side, shoulder-to-shoulder with the women of Texas and show them that we support them.”

BEYRL ARMSTRONG: “I have a mother, I have a wife, I have nieces. It’s real important they be treated as competent human beings who can take care of themselves. These women are pissed off. Don’t kick sand in a Texas woman’s face, it’s not going to work.”

TED KRAUSE: “Women’s healthcare does not belong in politics. I’m a father of two girls and I have to protect their healthcare rights and their ability to control decisions about their body. I don’t think politics should be determining how a woman has access to her healthcare.”

ZACK MUNSTERMANN: “We really need to stand up and support women. I think it’s more of a civil rights issue as opposed to a gender-specific issue. I think women need to see that men understand this.”

“Is Bing a supported browser for the new site?”

I've seen a lot of articles by people about the Lamp changing its strategy... But I don't think they're looking close enough at the very evidence that they're quoting. Some sites are reporting that Pixar is going to curb the output of sequels over the next few years. I can tell you that this is absolutely not so. But on the same note, they aren't increasing them either. How can this be? Simple. It's business as normal and for some reason a few reporters/writers/bloggers had misinferred a statement by Ed Catmull as a change in direction. It isn't. This is simply a statement of a business strategy that's been in place for some while now. Here's the statement from an interview at Buzzfeed:

For artistic reasons … it’s really important that we do an original film a year. Every once in a while, we get a film where we want or people want to see something continuing in that world — which is the rationale behind the sequel. They want those characters, which means we were successful with them. But if you keep doing that, then you aren’t doing original films.

We’re going to have an original film every year, then every other year have a sequel to something. That’s the rough idea.

   
Have you looked at the fourteen films that the Emeryville branch of Disney North has made?  How many original films?  How many sequels/prequels were there?  A lot of people want to think of John Lasseter's fertile garden as pure and pristine, without any hint of corporatism or desire for profits.  Wrong.  Only four years after their first film, "Toy Story" did a sequel come out.  "Toy Story 2" was the first sequel, but it was only their third film.  In other words, they had already planned a sequel by the beginning of production of their second film.  The difference between Pixar and other film studios is that they actually wanted to do films that had a story to them.  Lasseter and Catmull didn't want to churn out films for the sake of dollars, but wanted to have films worthy of those dollars the public spent.

Now, everyone is saying that they're going to slow down with the production of sequels.  There have been 14 Pixar films and four of them are sequels.  Now if you do the math it turns out that the number you come up with roughly is a little less than a third of films are sequels.  Now, look at where Catmull is talking about a new film once a year and a sequel every other year.  That would add up to ten new films in a decade, and five sequels in the same decade.  Out of fifteen films, that would mean a third would be sequels.  Does that seem like they're going to pull back on making sequels?  No, it looks like almost the same amount of new versus sequel films as what has been made over the past two decades.  It's simply a continuation of what has gone on for a while explained by one of the men responsible for it.  The only difference is that the production has ramped up to a film a year.

Now, I don't think this means we'll get an announcement of "The Incredibles 2" anytime in the near future.  When Brad Bird comes up with a story that he feels is worthy of making, he'll call up John and say let's make it.  And there is no way that Pixar wouldn't make the film if he had a story he wanted to film.  But we can look forward to seeing more adventures in the worlds Pixar created in the future.  See how simple that was?  A lot of smoke, no fire.  Pay no attention to these droids.  Nothing new to report here.

Move along, move along...

Hat Tip to /Film.

Several months ago, we shared a first look at a model of Shanghai Disneyland Park that included Enchanted Storybook Castle, the iconic central attraction of the entire theme park. Today, we’re thrilled to announce that construction work on the castle is now underway.

In the photo, you’ll notice the first concrete piles that will support Enchanted Storybook Castle being installed at the site. When work is completed, it’ll be the world’s tallest and most interactive Disney castle.

The Castle will include entertainment, dining and performance spaces as well as a magnificent winding staircase in the heart of the castle that’ll lead guests on a “Once Upon a Time Adventure,” featuring Disney Princesses. It’ll also feature a boat ride attraction with a secret underground chamber, in which fountains of light will leap and dance in shimmering pools.

As work continues on Shanghai Disneyland Park, be sure to check the Disney Parks Blog for the latest updates.

Construction Begins on Shanghai Disneyland Castle by Thomas Smith: Originally posted on the Disney Parks Blog

In "Phineas and Ferb: Mission Marvel" the duo of Phineas and Ferb meet up with Marvel's Super Heroes for to take down a group of evil Marvel Super Villains and the sinister Dr. Doofenshmirtz and we've got the release date!

Phineas and Ferb form their own makeshit Avengers superteam with Spider-Man, Iron Man, Thor, and Hulk. While Dr. Doofenshmirtz plots much evilness with Marvel's Red Skull, Whiplash, Venom, and M.O.D.O.K.

Here's the official plot of "Phineas and Ferb: Mission Marvel":

In "Phineas and Ferb: Mission Marvel," Spider-Man, Iron Man, Thor and Hulk stand powerless after being struck by Dr. Doofenshmirtz's power-draining "inator." Once the Marvel Super Villains – Red Skull, Whiplash, Venom and M.O.D.O.K. – find out that Dr. Doofenshmirtz is responsible for robbing the Super Heroes of their powers, they seek him out and together create mayhem in Danville. Meanwhile, Phineas and Ferb do everything they can to restore the Super Heroes' powers before the evil villains take over the world.

Disney is rolling out a series of special events so the kids can get properly pumped for the special before it premieres Friday August 16 at 8:00 p.m., ET/PT) on Disney Channel. Check out the full rundown below.

FRIDAY, JULY 26

Beginning Friday, July 26, fans can visit DisneyChannel.com/MissionMarvel to play an all new game featuring characters from "Phineas and Ferb" and Marvel. The site will also feature videos and a chance to create your own "Phineas and Ferb: Mission Marvel" Photo Mash Up.

MONDAY, AUGUST 12

Beginning Monday, August 12, Disney Channel will feature a weeklong strip of "Phineas and Ferb" episodes as a countdown to the special event of the summer. Additionally, Disney Channel SVOD and verified WATCH Disney Channel users will be treated to a first look at "Phineas and Ferb: Mission Marvel."

FRIDAY, AUGUST 16

Premiere of "Phineas and Ferb: Mission Marvel" (8:00 p.m., ET/PT) on Disney Channel with simulcasts on WATCH Disney Channel and Disney Channel Mobile VOD.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 17

"Phineas and Ferb: Mission Marvel" will be available for purchase on iTunes, Amazon Instant Video Store and Microsoft Xbox.

SUNDAY, AUGUST 25

"Phineas and Ferb: Mission Marvel" premieres SUNDAY, AUGUST 25 (10:00 a.m., ET/PT) on Disney XD and will be hosted by Dr. Doofenshmirtz via "Doof's Daily Dirt." The premiere event will feature six spots, including Dr. Doof dishing on his exploits with the Marvel Super Villains and encouraging viewers to visit DisneyXD.com to play an
all-new game inspired by "Phineas and Ferb: Mission Marvel." Episodes of "Doof's Daily Dirt" can be seen on Disney.com and YouTube.com/DoofDaily.

You can check out the trailer for "Phineas and Ferb: Mission Marvel" below.:

Watch: Phineas and Ferb: Mission Marvel Trailer

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The Sandman: Overture by Neil Gaiman and JH Williams III, will begin on Oct. 30, and be published bi-monthly, so says DC Comics to the New York Times.

Other new projects include Hinterkind by Ian Edginton,

which focuses on a post-apocalyptic world in which the creatures of myth and legend have returned

The Discipline by Peter Milligan,

an erotic thriller about a woman at the center of an shadow war that spans eons.

The Dead Boy Detectives, in November.

The characters, Edwin and Charles, are boarding school students who died tragically and returned as ghost detectives. (In the new series, a girl, whose mortality status is unknown, will join them.)

Could this be by Toby Litt?

Sandman: Overture – The New Name For Sandman Zero, Plus New Vertigo Comics, Hinterkind By Edginton, The Discipline By Peter Milligan And The Dead Boy Detectives

Scholastic is doing a slow rollout of Kazu Kibuishi’s new covers for the Harry Potter novels, and today at LeakyCon, a fan convention in Portland, Oregon, Arthur A. Levine Books unveiled the third one, The Prisoner of Azkaban. Scholastic will release a boxed set of all seven Harry Potter books on Aug. 27, just shy [...]

It was easier to think of the science fiction list, because science fiction gets me more excited than fantasy does. I’m not sure why this is. It may be because I write fantasy, so there’s a certain element of “If I can do that, anyone can do it.” Nevertheless, once I started thinking about it, it was quite easy to think of things. Oddly though, much more than with the SF list, these are series. Fantasy lends itself to series, I suppose?

Again, these are not intended as a “best” or a “favourite” list, they’re simply books that got me excited about the possibilities of the genre.

[Read more: eight books, no spoilers]

First is Daniel Abraham’s Long Price Quartet. These books are amazing and doing something really different. There are four of them (A Shadow in Summer, A Betrayal in Winter, The Autumn War, and The Price of Spring), and they get better as they go along. They are a complete series that you can confidently start reading knowing you’ll be able to finish it in your lifetime. Each volume has good completion, meaning that although they make one complete whole they also make four satisfying individual books. They’re set in an unusual world with a fascinating magic system that affects everything about the culture and history and economics of the world. They’re the story of unique people shaped by those things. And they’re set fifteen years apart, so that the main character begins at fifteen, and is then thirty, forty-five and sixty in the other three volumes. I can’t think of anything else that does this. The other thing that really excited me about them is the way the fascinating integrated magic is changed and changes and how brilliant this is. These are a feigned history, but the metaphysics is integral. I love them.

Sarah Monette’s Doctrine of Labyrinths series isn’t quite as successful, but it’s also excellent and complete in four volumes. What got me especially excited by these books is the combination of the power of the voice with the complexity of the world. This is a world at a very interesting tech level and with very interesting integrated magic. It’s a gritty world in which awful things happen and don’t get put right, and the first book, Melusine, begins with the very brave decision to show one of the first person narrators, Felix, going insane. The other narrator, Mildmay, is very foul-mouthed and intensely readable. It’s also a fractally fascinating world.

Sofia Samatar’s A Stranger in Olondria only came out last year and I’ve only read it once and not written about it yet. But there was a brilliant review of it on this site by Amal el-Mohtar, which is what I’ve linked to. I know Samatar primarily as a poet, and it is the poetic nature of this book that makes it outstanding. It’s another fantasy world that feels completely real and which integrates its magic into its history—and in this case also its literature. This is the story of a young man who falls in love with a country through its literature and then travels there and finds—well, what he finds is what the book is about. It seems to me comparable to Black Wine and Kalpa Imperial—it’s this perfect poetic gem that only fantasy could give us. Do yourself a favour and read it.

Patrick Rothfuss’s Kingkiller Chronicles is a quest fantasy and a coming of age fantasy and all those good but standard things. There’s nothing external to distinguish this from a zillion other fantasy novels, but it knocked me over because of what Rothfuss is doing with it. There’s a frame story that strongly implies that the whole thing is a tragedy. With two volumes (of a planned three) out, it’s apparent that Rothfuss knows precisely what he’s doing and is setting everything up on purpose. We have enough of the frame and enough of the picture in the frame that we can see the shape of the rest of it in shadow, but we can’t be sure about anything except that Rothfuss is in control of his material. There’s an engaging first person unreliable narrator, there’s an interesting Renaissance-ish world with complex history, there are several systems of magic, some more “magical” than others, and there’s a sense of tragical inevitability hanging over everything that allows the protagonist to be more awesome than he might get away with in other circumstances. It’s fun and there’s a lot in it for those paying attention.

Daniel Abraham again—the Dagger and the Coin books. These are much more conventional fantasy, but they still got me excited because they have banking. How many fantasy novels can you think of with banking? None, because you think banking isn’t exciting... except that it is! My only complaint about these books is that there is proportionately too much ultimate evil and not enough banking in the later ones. But even so, they’re terrific and I’m reading them the second they come out.

Steven Brust’s Dzur is part of his Vlad Taltos series which he has been writing since the eighties. I’m only talking about new things that made me excited, and that shouldn’t be book ten or eleven of a series—but it wouldn’t be fair not to talk about Brust. This is a series that keeps on doing new and innovative things. Dzur probably does need the earlier books to make sense. But it isn’t like them. None of these books is really like the others. Dzur is a fantasy novel about having a really good meal in a wonderful restaurant. It brings back old characters and introduces new characters and advances the plot, and it will make you hungry. Brust just keeps on being amazing—Tiassa is also incredible and innovative. This isn’t a series where you can say “Here’s some more, I know what I’m getting.” This is a series that keeps doing new exciting things.

Roz Kaveney’s Rituals takes the idea of gods and monsters in the modern world and runs with it. It’s witty and sharp and well-observed and feminist and it pushes the “adorable blasphemy” genre in good directions. I am ridiculously fond of it. There’s a sequel coming soon and I am excited to read it. I love things that do intelligent things with history.

Yves Meynard’s Chrysanthe is in the tradition of Gene Wolfe and Roger Zelazny, and beyond that of Dunsany and Mirrlees. It also has modern sensibilities, and because Meynard is from a different culture—he’s an award-winning novelist in French—it’s distinctly different from most of what we see on the shelves labelled as fantasy. This is a quest through shadows that leads to unexpected places. So much fantasy uses magic in a logical way—I’ve called it “realist magicism.” Of everything I’ve mentioned here, only this and A Stranger in Olondria are doing anything that isn’t that. I like it to make sense, but I also like the incredible flowering of the imagination you get in things like Chrysanthe.

There are a whole lot more things I could mention, but I’ll keep it to eight and again ask you to add your own suggestions for fantasy novels that have excited you about the possibilities of the genre. The comments on the SF post were great—I love it when people are recommending things to each other that way. Let’s try that again!

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Jo Walton is a science fiction and fantasy writer. She’s published two poetry collections and nine novels, most recently the Hugo and Nebula winning Among Others. She reads a lot, and blogs about it here regularly. She comes from Wales but lives in Montreal where the food and books are more varied.

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) announced this morning that it has acquired six more video games and one gaming console for the Architecture and Design collection. These include works from the early industry pioneers Atari, Taito, and Ralph Baer, and from the comparatively young Mojang. The new additions are: Magnavox Odyssey (1972), Pong (1972), Space Invaders (1978), Asteroids (1979), Tempest (1981), Yar’s Revenge (1982), and Minecraft (2011).

read more

Pixar vizdev artist Chris Sasaki posted a generous heap of his Monsters University development art on his blog. One can’t help but think that the clarity of his design approach, with the simple funny shapes and candy colors, might also lend itself well to a hand-drawn animated version of Pixar’s Monsters universe. Of course, there’s plenty more of this type of work in the film’s ‘art of’ book.

Cast for film based on Shungiku Nakamura's manga to be announced on August 1

When I was little and my mother would take me to K-Mart, the first thing I wanted to do was run to the snack bar and get a Coke-flavored ICEE and a hot pretzel. I love a good frozen Coke. Now, thanks to this fancy trick, I no longer have to hang out at the K-Mart snack bar like a sad-sack creeper, I can make them myself.

As you'll see in the video below, it's surprisingly easy to make your own frozen Coke (or frozen any soft drink for that matter). All you need a bottle of soda, a freezer, and 3 hours.

The video comes from "The King of Random" Grant Thompson, who also has lots of other fancy science stuff on his YouTube channel. Check them out here.

Related Video:

Watch: Frostbite 3 Demo: Battlefield 4

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The makers of Attack on Titan and Nippon Broadcasting System have launched a series of 193t collaboration t-shirts, with preorders being taken starting today ahead of a July release.  If the apparent crushing server load is any indication, these are in very high demand.

 

 

 

In other Titan goodie news, Slaps has scheduled Wooden strap charms for August release

 

 

Fragment will be releasing microfiber cloths and acrylic carabiners in August

 

A tapestry of the famous Mikasa/Christa poster is also in the works

 

Speaking of Titan, the latest official 4panel manga

 

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Scott Green is editor and reporter for anime and manga at geek entertainment site Ain't It Cool News. Follow him on Twitter at @aicnanime.

With a book like this, it’s tempting to conjure up a conversation.

“Howard, what do you want to draw?”

“Sharp suits from the nineteen fifties! Science-fiction! People smoking! Men with jaws! Babes posing in lingerie! Crowd scenes! Metal staircases!”

And then Matt Fraction went away and wrote Satellite Sam. It seems to perfectly play on Howard’s own interests and tastes. A procedural drama on the set of a popular science fiction TV show in the fifties, filmed and transmitted live across the USA, with all of the problems such a scenario presents itself with, the solutions engineered with only a few seconds notice, and behind the scenes, plenty of dark derring do.

Mad Men meets Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip would be the easy hook, but thankfully this is much better than that. It uses the Watchmen trick of hanging all the genre details around a serious crime, and then seeing how they all play off the new situation. How people who are concerned with one aspect of the world, getting one thing done to the degree that it takes up all of their time and effort, are suddenly derailed by their best laid plans ganning a glae.

There are political manoeuvrings that seem separate to the main thrust of the show, though no doubt will be revealed as part and parcel of the mystery. But it all adds to the comprehensive detail at all levels of the show, from writing, to acting, to paying for it all. The comic creates its own internal bubble of a world, as if is a satellite itself, orbiting the world that it broadcasts to. And bubbles are meant to be popped.

There’s one scene in particular in which a character leaves the studio on a mission, and the closed cramped quarters of the studio, cut by harsh verticals break out into the outer space of the city outside. That, and the return to the studio directly mirrors the plot line in the TV show, which it then directly affects and intermingles with. It’s a really impressive effect, emphasises the theme of how workplaces always create their own satellites, divorced from realities until it’s too late and the air locks blow open. There’s an early incursion from the money men who are ejected, but there’s only so long they can be allowed to be a satellite, Sam.

For both Fraction and Chaykin, this is their most impressive work for some time and I will be itching for the next issue.

Oh, and talking of scratching that itch, here’s the Midtown variant cover.

Satellite Sam #1 will be published from Image Comics next Wednesday.

First Review: Satellite Sam #1 by Matt Fraction and Howard Chaykin

By Serhend Sirkecioglu

For the past seven years, The Intellectual Property Creators Challenge has been held to bolster Malaysian creators of Interactive Comics, Games, and Animation through this annual competition with numerous cash prizes ranging from RM15,000-RM25,000 ($4000-$8000). Going through the past winners, I see predominantly manga-esque work. Nothing jaw dropping, but a decent crop of work overall. Alongside this initiative is The Creative Industry Lifelong Learning Programme, several grants and internships for Malaysian students launch their careers and professionals to impart their skills through teaching workshops. Stepping back, this is part of an effort of the Malaysian government to attract foreign tech companies to its country by building up a creative and tech savvy workforce through these annual competitions, workshops, and grants.

This is a really interesting initiative and I wish them the best of luck and hope to see a strong interactive comics tradition emerge from it. In Japan, comics competitions are one of the staples of the manga industry. Young artists and college students submitting work to anthologies for whatever cash prizes and prestige they can get. Many well known mangaka like Yoshihiro Tatsumi and Tite Kubo honed their cartooning chops in these competitions as kids/teens and went on to be assistants and/or break into manga soon after. In China and Korea you also see this “measuring up” of artistic ability through competitions and rankings, which begs the obvious question: Why has this not had a strong foothold in North America and Europe?

I personally think the 90’s DIY/Indie generation of cartoonists took us in a different direction in the west, where if you wanted to be known, you had to not only had to have the cartooning chops but also print and promote your own work through hustling the conventions floors and later having a web presence. Waiting for someone to find your work and submissions were and are still a dead end without an online audience (unless you’re aiming to be the next Darger or Bill Traylor). In the us one competition, Tokyopop’s Rising Stars of Manga, successfully energized the ameri-manga fandom and was something to aspire to, but not for long. Deviantart rose to even greater prominence and then Tumblr and other media facilitation sites distracted people from the idea of competition and encouraged just appealing to those who will like your work. Why go through the trouble of submitting if rejection is a possibility and when you have can have a circle of online friends/fans to encourage you?

The good that came with it was the decentralization of criticism, where not one group of people have a say in who gets published or not. The readers were able to make their own choices about what they liked and a more democratic assessment of comics came about. With this decentralization though, came broader a lack of discernment and consequently the best of the bunch sometimes did not get their due spotlight; i.e. memetic comics and fan art garnering many more views over a much more accomplished and original cartoonist who struggle to develop a fan base (art school owl covered this too lol) for which all can be said is c’est la vie.

I think something was lost in the process from the lack of competition in comics today, that being creativity. Have good comics come out? Yes, of course but in familiar places and in established and semi-established voices, unlike the early 2000’s where the manga boom brought us a new generation of artists via Tokyopop OELs, Flight, Meathaus, Oni Press, and the Xeric Grant; this new generation of cartoonists are not bursting onto the scene, it’s more of a trickle.

I think this “peace-time” in comics has made the 2010 generation more complacent and not in a rush or need to make great strides. Coupled with the lack of venues to compete in, fewer and smaller grants to vie for, a more cynical crowdfunding community, and the demands of having a pre-established fan base to be even be considered by risk averse publishers. This next generation of cartooning might be a slowburn and won’t pick up until much later.

Now to clarify, my definition of making great strides is  brand new artists (25 and younger) being published, garnering critical reception, and word of mouth. I personally think that the opportunities granted to the Flight generation in North America and the emerging voices of indie comics in the UK and Scandinavia in part had to do with (aside from better economic times) the the expansionist attitude of the industry at time, where Fantagraphics and Pantheon quickly published a young talent like Dash Shaw, or Stu Levy’s push for “OEL Manga” which launched the careers of Felipe Smith, M. Alice Legrow, Amy Kim Ganter, Brandon Graham, and many others. An over-reliance on the internet can lead to creative stagnation, alienation (already felt by some web-cartoonists) from the publishing world, resulting in more trite and lesser quality work drowning out the outliers. The internet is not the magic bullet we want it to be, but a very useful stepping stone. Still a reliable second step is needed between the first and third.

Needed in this new generation is more support through grants like the SAW micro-grant, Prism Comics Queer Press Grant, or a comparative successor to the Xeric Grant which could be the adrenaline shot for a new wave of freewheeling cartoonists to step out on their own. Cartooning competitions with obviously better contracts than Tokyopop can get the younger generation to butt heads over something and push their creative limits beyond memetic click-bait and fanart. If the pro-active cultivation of new blood that brought us here today is absent in later years, the momentum we’ve gained so far could very well slow down.

[Serhend Sirkecioglu graduated from SVA and is an art teacher by day, rookie cartoonist and wannabe publisher from dusk-till-dawn. The opinions expressed here are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of The Beat.]

 

Mark Fiore is a Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist and animator whose work has appeared in the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Examiner, and dozens of other publications. He is an active member of the American Association of Editorial Cartoonists, and has a website featuring his work.

The AbleGamers Charity and Minicore Studios have teamed up to launch a round of grants to purchase assistive gaming technology for gamers of any age with disabilities. This initiative, called the "Summer of Fun program," allows gamers of any age with a disability the ability to apply for a grant to buy assistive technology to aid gaming. The Summer of Fun grant program will be accepting requests for equipment until July 31, 2013.

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Already suffering from widespread drought and wildfires, the Western U.S. could face a record heat wave next week. [Climate Central]

A brutal and potentially historic heat wave is in store for the West as parts of Nevada, Arizona and California may get dangerously hot temperatures this weekend and into next week. In fact, by the end of the heat wave, we may see a record tied or broken for the hottest temperature ever recorded on Earth.

The furnace-like heat is coming courtesy of a “stuck” weather pattern that is setting up across the U.S. and Canada. By early next week, the jet stream — a fast-moving river of air at airliner altitudes that is responsible for steering weather systems — will form the shape of a massive, slithering snake with what meteorologists refer to as a deep “ridge” across the Western states, and an equally deep trough seting up across the Central and Eastern states.

All-time records are likely to be threatened in normally hot places — including Death Valley, Calif., which holds the record for the highest reliably recorded air temperature on earth at 134°F … set on July 10, 1913.

… Heat waves are one of the most well-understood consequences of manmade global warming, since as global average surface temperatures increase, the probability of extreme heat events increases by a greater amount.

One study, published in the Proceedings of the American Academy of Sciences in 2012, found that the odds of extremely hot summers have significantly increased in tandem with global temperatures. Those odds, the study found, were about 1-in-300 during the 1951-1980 timeframe, but that had increased to nearly 1-in-10 by 1981-2010.

An IEA report released yesterday found that renewables could supply the world with more energy than natural gas by 2016 as costs drop and demand spikes. [Businessweek]

The World Bank will be scaling back its coal financing, according to the organization’s draft energy strategy. [Bloomberg]

The coal industry is a small piece of the economy, and Coral Davenport has a long look at its future given planned carbon regulations. [National Journal]

White House climate adviser Heather Zichal rebuts three common myths about President Obama’s climate plan. [White House blog]

The day after President Obama released his plan to combat climate change, Republicans in the House plugged their own bill to expand oil and gas drilling. [National Journal]

The Sierra Club announced yesterday that National Coal will effectively stop surface mining in Appalachia following Clean Water Act violations. [Sierra Club]

Canadian oil companies are looking at ways to use waste heat to fuel algae-based biofuels and cut emissions… even as they extract a product that must be burned to be used. [New York Times]

Uganda’s Murchison Falls National Park, one of the country’s last major wilderness areas, could soon become a site for oil drilling. [Reuters]

Leasing batteries for electric vehicles, rather than buying them outright with the car, is a big success in Europe and is making in-roads in America. [Gas2]

A new study from Switzerland says that half the carbon emissions from the average town come from just 21 percent of the households. [MoJo]

Australia’s Labor Party implemented a carbon tax in 2011, but recent shakeups in the government — like Kevin Rudd’s defeat of Julia Gillard to run the Labor Party — and an impending September election could put the legislation at risk. [Washington Post]

Toyota is diving deeper into its exploration of hydrogen fuel cell technology, and by 2015 will be producing a new, hydrogen-fueled $50,000 sedan. [LA Times]

Those tiny plastic microbeads (a petroleum product) in exfoliating body washes are ending up in the Great Lakes, where they’re getting lodged in the stomachs of fish and birds. [Grist]

Documentary filmmaker Miguel Cima has a passion for comics and wonders why more people don’t. It’s a valid, perplexing question considering the variety of genres and formats they come in. Comics are much more ubiquitous in Japan and Europe, so what’s preventing them from taking hold the same way in the United States? Cima explored [...]

Aims to continue operating under court supervision, find sponsors to take over

Here’s the word.

IDW Publishing is looking for a dedicated individual in the Public Relations and Marketing field. Marketing and/or PR experience required, professional comics experience a major plus. Must be willing to be located in the San Diego area. Interested parties should send their resume, and appropriate writing samples, to Dirk Wood: dirk@idwpublishing.com

Perks of the job? Well, if you get the job and move there, you’ll be local for San Diego Comic Con. Also, lots of My Little Pony and Transformers freebies I reckon.

The downside? it’ll be your job to have to deal with me…

Get A Job In Comics PR With IDW

According to a new survey, more than three-quarters of Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck in order to make ends meet.

The study, conducted by Bankrate.com, found that 76 percent of citizens had less than six months’ worth of savings to their name. Half of Americans had less than three months emergency savings and more than a quarter had no savings at all.

Were they to lose their job or face a financial emergency, these savings would not be enough to keep them afloat.

There are many reasons why so many Americans are in a precarious financial situation. The average worker currently earns 273 times less than the average CEO. Median household income actually declined over the last decade from more than $53,000 in 2000 to under $49,500 in 2010 (all in 2010 dollars). Income inequality has grown immensely, as the share of income earned by the middle class fell from 62 percent in 1970 to a record low of just 45 percent in 2010.

Meanwhile, as lower- and middle-class pay has dropped, the cost of living has grown immensely. In the past 40 years, college tuition grew between 80-113 percent, the price of a home nearly doubled, health care costs went up 50 percent, and the price of gas went up nearly 20 percent.

The combination of low wages and higher a cost of living has made it much harder for Americans to create and sustain their own rainy day funds. As a result, the vast majority of find themselves in financially precarious situations, relying on each subsequent paycheck to pay off the bills.

In an early morning session on Thursday, the New York City Council voted to override a veto from Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I) on paid sick days legislation. The bill, which now becomes law, requires any company with more than 15 employees to provide five days of paid leave a year and any company with fewer employees to offer five days of unpaid leave. This means that more than 1 million New York City workers will now have access to paid sick leave who didn’t have it before.

New York City joins four other cities — Seattle, Washington; San Francisco, California; Washington, DC; and Portland, Oregon — and the state of Connecticut in the group of places that have mandated paid sick days. However, New York’s legislation is not as strong as that in the other cities, which require companies with five or more employees to offer paid leave.

The city’s law will be implemented over a slow timeline, not taking effect until 2014 and only applying to companies with more than 20 employees for the first year and a half.

Despite initial concerns from City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and the objections raised by Mayor Bloomberg that the bill will put too large a cost burden on businesses, studies of laws in other places show either a neutral or positive effect. A recent audit of Washington, DC’s law found no negative impact on businesses, while a study of San Francisco found little negative impact and strong support among businesses and another of Connecticut found a small cost with big potential upsides. In fact, San Francisco’s law was found to have spurred job growth.

Even with these laws in place around the country, most workers don’t have access to paid leave. Forty percent of private workers and 80 percent of low-income workers can’t take a paid day off if they or their family members get sick.

Meanwhile, a rash of preemption bills, which bar cities and localities from enacting paid sick days legislation, have also been implemented across the country, the latest of which was signed into law by Florida Governor Rick Scott (R). They have also cropped up in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Mississippi. These bills have been sponsored by big businesses and local chambers of commerce and are part of a national effort backed by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a right-wing group that coordinates conservative laws across states.

A cube with rough edges: PAR reviews the OUYA console, controller, and service

James Harvey is an English artist, whose “MASTERPLASTY” is a prequel to the forthcoming ZYGOTE, which will be published next year by Blank Slate. Harvey’s done some work previously for VICE Magazine and Madefire. He’s also the guy behind Bartkira, the Simpsons/Akira mash-up—so clearly at the center of where it’s at.

MASTERPLASTY is about an operation on a piece of cartilage in the brain that changes how you look. It’s also about various levels of attractiveness and how it does—or doesn’t—change who you are.

Everyone will be talking about this tomorrow so you might as well read it today—a mash-up of old comics ads, Otomo, Jamie Hewlett and fashion illustration. Also, one of the BEST LETTERED COMICS I’ve ever read. It was originally created for the Secret Prison GARO tribute issue, but has been recolored in a new version.

Via Kate Beaton