Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Cul de Sac in Hogan's Alley


Tom Heintjes reported in a recent Hogan's Alley newletter:

COMING SOON: One strip we're excited about is Richard Thompson's "Cul de Sac," which debuts from Universal Press Syndicate on September 10. The strip is a daily version of the comics work he's done at the Washington Post for the past few years. We asked Thompson to share some behind-the-scenes goodies from the strip, and you can see them at http://www.cagle.com/hogan/newsletter_extras/culdesac_extras/culdesac_extras.asp
We'll also have an interview with Thompson in Hogan's Alley #16.

This isn't an obligatory mention, btw. I like Cul de Sac a lot - there's a lot of museum jokes in there.

Thursday - Tom Peyer interview on Steve Colbert comic

Scott Rosenberg will have an interview in Thursday's Express with Tom Peyer on Stephen Colbert comic book, "Tek Jansen."

Big Planet expands in College Park

Big Planet Comics has bought the former Liberty Books and Comics at 7315 Baltimore Ave, College Park, MD, 20740. 301-699-0498. There's a blurb in their August newsletter which is available in their stores now, along with a plethora of Stardust giveaways. If you haven't gotten it yet, the Gaiman / Vess story is well worth reading, but definitely get the edition with the Vess illustrations.

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Ullman's triumphant return


Rob Ullman's bounced back from fatherhood to do the cover and illustrations for this passing week's City Paper. You've got another 2 days to get your copy.

Friday, August 03, 2007

Library of Congress to digitally preserve Trudeau's Doonesbury and Oliphant

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
101 Independence Avenue SE
Washington DC 20540
Phone: (202) 707-2905
Fax: (202) 707-9199


Date: August 3, 2007


Contact: Guy Lamolinara (202) 707-9217, glam@loc.gov

DIGITAL PRESERVATION PROGRAM MAKES AWARDS
TO PRESERVE AMERICAN CREATIVE WORKS

Preserving Creative America Initiative to Engage Private Sector Creators of
Films, Sound Recordings, Photographs, Cartoons and Video Games in Digital Formats

The Library of Congress, through its National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (NDIIPP), today announced eight partnerships as part of its new Preserving Creative America initiative to address the long-term preservation of creative content in digital form. These partners will target preservation issues across a broad range of creative works, including digital photographs, cartoons, motion pictures, sound recordings and even video games. The work will be conducted by a combination of industry trade associations, private sector companies and nonprofits, as well as cultural heritage institutions.

Several of the projects will involve developing standardized approaches to content formats and metadata (the information that makes electronic content discoverable by search engines), which are expected to increase greatly the chances that the digital content of today will survive to become America’s cultural patrimony tomorrow. Although many of the creative content industries have begun to look seriously at what will be needed to sustain digital content over time, the $2.15 million being awarded to the Preserving Creative America projects will provide added impetus for collaborations within and across industries, as well as with libraries and archives.

“America’s creativity is unrivaled in the world, and it is among our most important exports,” said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. “The Library is pleased to be able to bring together creators of such diverse content for the sake of saving our nation’s heritage, which is increasingly being created only in digital formats.”

Preserving Creative America is the most recent initiative of the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (www.digitalpreservation.gov), authorized by Congress in December 2000. The authorizing legislation specifies that the Library should enlist the private sector to help address the long-term preservation of digital content. A cornerstone of NDIIPP has been the establishment of a broad network of partners committed to the continuing stewardship of digital content of value to Congress and the nation. With the new awards, the NDIIPP network grows to more than 90 partners, including other government agencies, educational institutions, research laboratories and organizations, both in the United States and abroad. Previous NDIIPP projects have involved primarily educational and cultural heritage institutions.

“The Library of Congress is delighted to welcome private sector participants to our growing network of NDIIPP partners,” said Associate Librarian for Strategic Initiatives Laura E. Campbell, who is leading NDIIPP for the Library of Congress. “We were very encouraged by the willingness of the content industries to work with us. Collaborations such as these are essential if we are collectively going to be able to ensure that valuable cultural content survives for the benefit of future generations.”

Following are the lead entities, their project partners and the focus areas of the projects:

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS): Today’s digitally created motion pictures are at risk unless suitable technologies, practices and standards are developed and adopted. AMPAS, best known for its annual Academy Awards, devotes considerable resources to a host of motion picture-related educational, scientific and cultural endeavors, including the technical aspects of filmmaking and the preservation of motion pictures. The Digital Motion Picture Archive Framework Project will build upon AMPAS’ current research on digital preservation issues from the perspective of the major motion picture studios, extending the effort to include independent filmmakers and smaller film archives. Additional key components of the project will involve developing a case study system for investigating archival strategies for digital motion pictures and recommending specifications for image data formats across the production chain.

American Society of Media Photographers: Digital photography has no accepted standard set of rules for handling digital image files and maintaining information about them. This project has two major objectives: (1) to expand an existing set of guidelines, the Universal Photographic Digital Imaging Guidelines, with recommendations for refined production workflows, archiving methods and best practices based on image use and capture methods and (2) to promote the use of the guidelines through a Web site and awareness campaigns within the professional photographer community. Partners: PhotoDistrict News, ASMP Foundation.

ARTstor: Small organizations and individuals in particular are often not equipped to create “archive-ready” images. This project aims, through training and tools, to enable photographers to submit archive-ready images to repositories such as ARTstor. Development of a tool will allow photographers to capture technical and preservation metadata early in the creation workflow and embed the metadata in their digital images, while outreach efforts at art schools and professional conferences will both generate requirements and raise awareness of the importance of metadata to the long-term usability and preservation of digital photographs. Partners: Art on File, Artesia, Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, Northwestern University.

BMS/Chace: The adoption of digital recording has virtually eliminated the vital documentation once created on paper during the recording process. At the same time it has created tremendous unrealized potential to create and maintain all key information about a recording throughout its life cycle. The project focuses on creating a standardized approach for gathering and managing metadata for recorded music and developing software models to assist creators and owners in collecting the data. A standardized metadata environment will allow content creators, record labels, individuals and cultural heritage institutions to document, archive and manage “born digital” recordings effectively. Partners: Sony BMG Music, Universal Music Group, EMI Group, Buena Vista Music Group and the Producers and Engineers Wing of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

Stock Artists Alliance (SAA): Essential information about stock images is frequently lost as images are disseminated across multiple distributors, licensees and end users, making the archiving and repurposing of these images difficult. SAA, through online resources and educational seminars at professional trade shows and in key cities, will promote the importance of metadata for long-term usability of digital photographs.

Universal Press Syndicate: Universal Press Syndicate, a newspaper syndication company, will use a collection of Garry Trudeau’s “Doonesbury” comic strips and Pat Oliphant’s editorial cartoons to model and test the transfer of digital content to the Library of Congress. The project will constitute a case study for public-private partnerships for archiving digital content and will focus on aligning metadata practices, transfer procedures and continuing collection management in a manner consistent with the goals of digital preservation.

UCLA Film & Television Archive: The long-term sustainability of digital works has received little attention within the independent film community. This project award supports awareness and education within the independent film community through symposia and workshops at major film conferences. Partner: Sundance Institute.

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: Interactive media are highly complex and at high risk for loss as technologies rapidly become obsolete. The Preserving Virtual Worlds project will explore methods for preserving digital games and interactive fiction. Major activities will include developing basic standards for metadata and content representation and conducting a series of archiving case studies for early video games, electronic literature and Second Life, an interactive multiplayer game. Second Life content participants include Life to the Second Power, Democracy Island and the International Spaceflight Museum. Partners: University of Maryland, Stanford University, Rochester Institute of Technology and Linden Lab.

# # #

PR 07-156
8-3-07
ISSN 0731-3527

Thursday, August 02, 2007

KAL's new animation

Ace political cartoonist Kevin 'KAL' Kallaugher wants us to know, "I wanted to share with you my recent venture into 3D political animation. You can find a link here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=XbcNKvlDVjY

KAL showed this at the AAEC con and it's quite funny.

This tip from Richard "Obligatory Mention" Thompson.

Trudeau, Truman and Helen Thomas

Bit of gossip in The Hill.com about a recent Doonesbury strip - "Helen Thomas: If only you got to pick the rumors about you"

Speaking of the Macaulay exhibit at the Building Museum...

...the Post reviewed it last Friday in the weekend section. As this review notes, Macaulay has a sense of humor and this is an excellent show that's well worth seeing.

Politico's Matt Wuerker video on Al-Jazeera

Mike Lynch has linked to Matt's appearance on Al-Jazeera, the Arabic tv station - the creation of which I think is a great step for the region. Hopefully this will lead to bigger and better tv appearances for Matt too. Matt appears regularly, in color, in the Politico.

Thanks to Richard (obligatory mention) Thompson for the tip.

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Karasik interview in Express, on Weds

Late notice, I'm afraid, but Scott Rosenberg had an interview with Paul Karasik on Fletcher Hanks in the 8/1/07 Express. Did anyone go to the talk? I'll probably buy the cd of the audio from Politics and Prose.

9/15/07: Late update, but the talk wasn't recorded so I couldn't buy a copy.

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Malkasian on Percy Gloom interview

Ok, the Express got it online today - see "Non-Animated 'Gloom': Cathy Malkasian" by Scott Rosenberg, July 31, 2007, for the interview about the Rugrats-director-turned-graphic-novelist.

Monday, July 30, 2007

Coming Onion issue on comics

This week's Onion, still in the free green boxes for two days, has three articles on the Simpsons. I hear that this coming week's issue is a special comics issue, and that means more than when the New Yorker does one. The issue out late on Weds (I think) should have interviews with Joss Whedon, James Kochalka, Brian Michael Bendis, and Chris Onstad, a story on memorable comic strip deaths, and a short DVD article on Frank Miller's 300 and Tex Avery's Droopy. So be sure to take a copy or five.

BTW, the Books-a-Million chain, of which there's stores in Shirlington and Dupont Circle at least, have a free newspaper, Book Pages, which has a cover story on Naruto anime.

Lunch with Tom Toles prize won for science cartoon

Dave Astor's got the story on the cartoon contest where the prize was $500, a trip to DC and lunch with Tom Toles. A longer article ran in the Eugene, OR Register-Guard. So will the meal be at the Post Pub, which does indeed have a fine burger (and fascinating waitresses*)?

Dave also tipped his hat to this site in "Editorial Cartoonist Chan Lowe Starts Doing Animations."

*I hit the Pub with some cartoonists after the AAEC Cartoonapalooza and they kept the kitchen open late for us. The waitress spoke at least 3 languages iirc.

August 1: Paul Karasik at Politics & Prose REPOST

Let's see a big turnout, folks. It's not too often a truly crazed comics artist is rediscovered and has a hardcovered book published of his work.

Wednesday, August 1, 7 p.m.
PAUL KARASIK
I SHALL DESTROY ALL THE CIVILIZED PLANETS (Fantagraphics, $19.95)
With fanatic zeal, Karasik spent years tracking down and archiving the almost-forgotten comic book tales of Fletcher Hanks. They are uncanny tales from the golden age of comics, where the heroes have a penchant for poetic justice. Then Karasik gives us his powerful personal narrative of meeting Hanks’s son and hearing about why the father disappeared from cartooning.

Politics & Prose Bookstore and Coffeehouse
5015 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20008
(202) 364-1919 or (800) 722-0790
Fax: (202) 966-7532


www.politics-prose.com
e-mail: books@politics-prose.com

Store Hours:
Monday-Thursday: 9 a.m.-10 p.m.
Friday & Saturday: 9 a.m.-11p.m.
Sunday: 10 a.m.-8 p.m.

Library of Congress exhibit American Treasures to close

For ten years, the Library of Congress has had an excellent exhibit, American Treasures, on display in the Jefferson building. Usually there's been about one case of comics-related material in it - and there is now - so go see it before the exhibit closes.

Here's the Library's press release:

“AMERICAN TREASURES OF THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS”
TO CLOSE ON AUG. 18

Special Extended Hours Offered on Aug. 7, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

After 10 years on display, “American Treasures of the Library of Congress,” an unprecedented exhibition of rare and unique items in the nation’s library, will close on Aug. 18.

On view Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Aug. 18 in the Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First Street S.E., Washington, D.C., the exhibition’s hours will be extended until 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 7 to provide the public with an extra opportunity to view this historic exhibition.
During the past decade, approximately 2.5 million visitors have viewed more than 2,700 treasured historical items from the world’s largest library, which have rotated through the exhibition. These include the original rough draft of the Declaration of Independence, the contents of Abraham Lincoln’s pockets on the night of his assassination, the first motion picture and the first baseball card.

“‘American Treasures of the Library of Congress’ opened in May 1997 to mark the official reopening of the magnificently renovated and restored Thomas Jefferson Building in its 100th anniversary year,” said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. “The exhibition will close next month to enable construction of a new interactive experience for Library visitors, which will open in 2008.”

A decade after the Jefferson Building was reopened to the public, the Library will provide visitors with a bold high-tech new way to experience the grandeur of the building and the unparalleled resources housed within. The new presentations and exhibitions will capitalize on the construction of the Capitol Visitor Center and the tunnel connecting the Capitol with the Thomas Jefferson Building. The anticipated increase in visitors—from 2 million to 3 million more annually—as a result of this passageway has prompted the Library to design what it hopes will be the top tourist attraction for those coming to the nation’s capital from around the world.

“American Treasures,” which has been made possible by generous support from the Xerox Corporation, will remain accessible on the Library’s Web site at www.loc.gov/exhibits.

Cathy Malkasian interview not on Express website, no matter what the printed paper says

Although it was blurbed in today's print Express, Scott Rosenberg's interview with Cathy Malkasian, Rugrats-director-turned-graphic-novelist, wasn't posted online. As compensation, the following image is Scott's article about the local Postcards anthology. Click the tiny image to get a readable one.

Washington Examiner drops all comics

As of today, instead of comics, they have a full page of puzzles. Over the years, they went from two full pages, to one half page and now to none. They invite comments on their website.

Sunday, July 29, 2007

Macauley exhibit in Wash Times

Washington Times Jul 28, 2007, "Architecture's dying art" by Deborah K. Dietsch.

Also, Zadzooks' weekly column is on Spawn animation - "Spawn seeks salvation in world of good and bad", Washington Times July 28, 2007, by Joseph Szadkowski. In his online article on a Space 1999 DVD, he notes the comic books have been scanned and are online.

Postcards review in Las Vegas Weekly

Did anyone make it to the signing at Olssen's last week? I need to stop up there and see if I can still pick up a signed copy...

Meanwhile, here's another review - "Marriage, madmen and monsters", Las Vegas Weekly July 26, 2007, by J. Caleb Mozzocco.

Sunday Post has comics articles

I think the Post picked a censored cartoon - Betty Boop showing her breasts as she shows Popeye how to hula - to illustrate this article - "Hey, Sailor! 'Popeye' Is Back in Port: DVD Release of Classic 1930s Cartoons Spotlights an Animation Studio That Packed a Punch", By Matt Hurwitz, Special to The Washington Post, Sunday, July 29, 2007; N02.

and there's a sidebar on the voices - "Utter Genius: Voices That Call Out Still", Washington Post, Sunday, July 29, 2007; Page N02.

and, of all things, an appreciation of Isis, the superheroine that started on TV and migrated to a DC comic book: "Fly Like an Egyptian (Goddess): Superheroine From Mid-'70s TV Gets an Afterlife on DVD," by Jonathan Padget, Washington Post Staff Writer, Sunday, July 29, 2007; N03.