Sudsy

So... I'm in the bathtub.  I'm writing this in between YouTube videos as the thoughts come to me.  Going through my YouTube subscriptions while soaking in the tub is one of my favorite personal rituals.  Odds are good that, come late Saturday morning, this is where I'll be.  Also, I'll be happy. 

Speaking of which...

Glee

I missed the series the first time around (much to the annoyance of some friends who are avid fans of the show) but now that the network has decided to start over again and show the full season over the summer I'm making sure to record it.  I've only seen the first episode so far, but there are already two characters I want to torture until they die out of desperation to escape the pain and I'm loving the way they use songs to create mood and comment on the story.



Webcomic Theory - Sex vs. Masturbation

I have this theory that comics fall into one of two categories - sex and masturbation.

Masturbation comics do well on the web.  They're quick and instantly gratifying and, for the most part, you "finish" at the end of each strip - they stand alone fairly well.  This isn't to say that they don't have heavy moments of expertly crafted plot, the story line involving Davan's mother in Something Positive, Faye's father in Questionable Content, or Harmony in Jazz and Jess come easily to mind as examples.  While you certainly could be expected to have a more intense emotional reaction to those arcs if you'd been following the comic long enough to care about the characters, each individual comic stood on it's own.  The emotional impacts were encapsulated in each individual comic, as well as spread out over the entire arc.

Sex comics do well in print.  They're often long stretches of entertaining valleys punctuated by occasional peaks.  Their impact is mostly spread over an entire arc, or even the entire comic, and newcomers are likely to lose out without backtracking and putting in the same kind of effort long time readers have.  You want to spend time with them, get to know them.  They're intimate.

Let's be clear - there's a ton of crossover.  Comics that are insanely popular on the web also tend to sell a lot of books if they're made available.  I believe their sales are tied to the fan desire to own something that their favorite comicker created.  Likewise comics that sell hundreds of books tend to have a decent following on the web as well.  Their web presence is often populated by fans "keeping in touch" until the next book is published.  By in large, however, I think web-only audiences (those who rarely or never buy print comics) are attracted to "masturbation" style comics and print-only audiences (those who rarely or never follow a comic online) are attracted to "sex" style comics.

Why bother with the differentiation?  If you're putting out a quality comic on the web and your numbers are abysmal, maybe it's because you're sex trying to market to a masturbation crowd.  Conversely, if you've got stacks and stacks of print comics lying around that have gotten great reviews and few sales, maybe it's because you're masturbation trying to market to a sex crowd.

Just a thought.


Pity I'm a Reader...

Should there actually be any Theists out there reading this, please do me a favor and spread this around.  It's for your own good, really.


While I cannot speak for all Atheists, I can say the following piece is representative both of myself and those Atheists I've encountered (even only in passing or online).  I am not an idiot.  If you quote me a passage from your holy book that I am unfamiliar with, I will not only read the passage but several passages both before and after the passage in question.  If you tell me that a particular book was written at a specific time by a specific person I will fact check that assertion.  Assuming that I will not almost assures you will come out of the debate looking like a disingenuous ass.  If you insist that evolutionary theory, geology, astronomy, the big bang theory, M theory, etc... asserts something that it does not I will find out if I don't already know and you will come out of the debate looking like either an ignorant git or a liar or both.

Don't insult my intelligence and I won't insult yours.  It's a fair trade.


Everyone Draw Muhammad Day - Disappointed Thanks

I learned a great deal from Everyone Draw Muhammad Day.  Unfortunately, one of the most poignant lessons I learned was that a few people I honestly admired and respected are apparently unashamed bigots.  I feel the day itself and many of the drawings it inspired were important.  It's important that we drive home the fact, as often as necessary, that in America no one has the right to not be offended.  It's important that we drive home the fact, as often as necessary, that in America nothing is beyond the reach of criticism - including religion.  It's important that we drive home the fact, as often as necessary, that in America your personal freedom extends only as far as it's ability to negate the freedom of another.  I believe with all I am that all our freedoms rest upon the strength of our freedom of speech.  I believe in the core of Everyone Draw Muhammad Day and I thank all those who participated.

Throughout the time period in which the day was being promoted and "celebrated", and now extending to the debate surrounding the plans to build an Islamic cultural center in the general area of "ground zero", a few individuals have risen to prominence for me.  Some have stood out by virtue of their honor, dignity, tolerance, and sincere desire to educate.  Others have stood out by virtue of their ignorance, bigotry, hatred, fear, and desire to spread propaganda and obscure information.

All-in-all, I'm disappointedly thankful.  One of the reasons I so champion freedom of speech is that it makes the vile amongst us easier to spot.  It's simply a shame that I now count a handful of previously respected individuals amongst the vile.


It's No Longer Saturday

I somehow managed to skip the "click the Publish Post" step before stepping out of the bath and continuing my day.  Bugger all. 

Shepherd's Pie

This post has nothing to do with food.

Well, not literally at least. I used to specifically plan my meals over the course of a week just so I'd have the right kind of leavings to make Shepard's Pie as a special dinner treat to cap off my weekend. I've been told one can make a Shepard's Pie using fresh ingredients rather than left-overs, but that's as near a definition of blasphemy as this Atheist is comfortable with. There's a brilliant form of magic that occurs when bits of other meals join together in a warm gravy bath beneath a nurturing blanket of flaky crust. The culinary among you might know this magic as "layering" - creating a depth of flavor by utilizing a number of techniques and ingredients to form a single delicious dish. You know how your grandmother's Menudo or Bangers and Mash was better than the versions you find at even the best restaurants? It was better because she used the decimated ruins of family meals. Layering Au Naturale.

Yes, yes... I know I said this post had nothing to do with food and then immediately dove into a full paragraph about nothing but. Or so it seems... oh ho ho.

When defining myself, I typically toss out the word "writer" as a front runner. It's been years since I was actually paid for anything I wrote, unless you count the advertising revenue earned from the webcomic, but I consider myself a writer the same way I consider myself a geek - it's not a profession, but an aspect of who I am as an individual. When I come across a hunk of life's flotsam that inspires me (be it to bliss or rage) my thoughts instantly churn toward what I might write about it, how I might mold it into a script or dissect it in a blog post.

Have you ever met a chef who held left-overs in disdain? Who grimaces and gags at the thought of creating a dish with the scraps of an over-abundant table?

I've spent much of my life saddled with the writer's equivalent of that ignorant attitude. Faced with mere scraps of ideas I'll invariably choose to toss them in the bin. If it's an idea I'm especially fond of I might store it for a bit first, shoving it to the back of my mind where it's ravaged by mental mold and decay. Inevitably I encounter these seeping packages of inspiration whilst laboring through an insomnia inspired bout of psychic housecleaning and wince; like a hoarder coming across the desiccated corpse of a once loved cat.

Right about now you should be wondering if there's a point to all this long-winded hyperbole. There is.

The point:

Please take notice of the new "Shepherd's Pie" tag. Posts thusly labeled are purposely comprised of disjointed commentary. They may coalesce into the literary equivalent of comfort food, or coagulate like potted meat... but at least they're not going to waste.



PS - Thanks to @munkymu of Goth Bunnies for pointing out my original misspelling of "shepard's pie".

Gods I love biology.

A Colorado infant, diagnosed with a brain tumor, underwent surgery to remove the growth a mere three days after birth. Upon opening the boys skull, however, the surgeon was caught quite off guard when a tiny foot "literally popped out of the brain". (Click here for a graphic photograph.)

Dr. Paul Grabb, the pediatric brain surgeon that performed the operation, also found parts of an intestine, and another developing foot, hand and thigh. The full story can be found here, and a million other places as the discovery quickly went global.

Short Shots

Not only does Daylight Atheist offer up a very interesting article on Soul Making Theodicy the comments are both thought inspiring and courteous. Yes, I know it sounds impossible, but apparently people CAN disagree on the internet without acting the douchebag.


The Atheist Bus Campaign has not only reached, but exceeded their goal!


These are beautiful:







Did you pick up the very excellent How To Make Webcomics book? Wish there was more? Head over to Webcomics.com for yet another, though very professionally put together, webcomic community. Presented by Halfpixel, it's clearly not an amature endeavor and I really look forward into delving into this one.


And... one more excellent video to top off today's Short Shots:

Short Shots

Richard Dawkins has generously agreed to match donations to the Atheist Bus Campaign up to £ 5,500. While the campaign has been lauded as "anti-christian" it is meant only to provoke thought and act as a counter-balance to the many religious adverts already featured on British buses. It simply reads "There probably is no god. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life."


To my list of things I very much want, but don't really need, and don't have the room to properly display I add Mad Science Alphabet Blocks.


There's an excellent article over at the Muslimah Media Watch on the topic of Shame Cartoons and the general notion that women are to blame for any harrassment they might receive. There's also a call for shame cartoons aimed at men who do not treat women with the respect. Anyone want to take a crack at it?

Short Shots

Gay and Lesbian Humanist is back. As homosexuality is so frequently discussed only through the filter of religious thought, it's nice to know there will again be some non-religious discussion of topics important to the GLBT community.



Cliff Goldstein has written a lovely little article over at Liberty Magazine (if you'd rather not give Liberty Magazine your click, the article can also be read on Professor Dawkins' site) on the horrible future that awaits should the "new atheist" adgenda be followed to it's "logical" conclusion.

I would have found the entire article intensely humorous if it weren't for the fact that I understand how deeply some segments of our society believe this drivel to be true. As an insight into such minds, the article is a brilliant work, as a factual representation of atheistic goals and ideals it's a load of rot... but worth reading either way.



The National Republican Senatorial Committee has joined in on the "Kay Hagan hates God" party with a new ad. All this because she had the gall to attened a fundraiser held by the Secular Coalition for America. Aside from the overly dramatic presentation, the ad is also patently ridiculous. Trust me, true believers, the big bad atheists are far too diverse and independant to have an "agenda". Would we like politicians who don't treat us as though we're anti-American simply because we lack faith in any personified deity? Sure. Would it be peachy with us if that whole McCarthy inspired "In God We Trust" and "One Nation Under God" stuff was removed? Sure. Are we out to take your gods away? Of course not. If this ad is any indication, we're far less worried about your faith than you are about our lack of it.

In the spirit of gentle and humorous poking I say this - Keep your gods out of our yard and we'll keep our logic out of yours. *grins*



Fossilized brain? I... I... just don't even know where to start... Seriously, young earth creationists, you're embarrassing yourselves.

Short Shots

First - a couple of little tidbits I gleaned from the web today:

Stop Jenny McCarthy
Here's a simple website that gives some of the basic reasons Jenny McCarthy's war on logic needs to be stopped. I'd like to see a section on the site devoted to letting people know exactly what they can do to see that her harmful "information" about autism gets squashed, but it's a good first step.

This gave me so many fits of giggles I nearly lost my lunch. Titled "Presenting 50 Facts About Homeopathy" I only wish the article was intended to be the brilliant work of comedy it actually is.


Secondly - It's very nearly 24 Hour Comic Challenge time! I hope that everyone who's participating this year is gearing up and getting ready. If you'd like to join with a few others in a virtual sense - hop on over to The Webcomic Beacon's official 24 Hour Comic Challenge Forum where I'll be posting a few updates as I go along.