I used to make comics. I know that because strangers would look at my work and immediately share their most excruciatingly banal experiences with me:

— that time a motorised wheelchair cut in front of them in the line at the supermarket;
— when the dentist pulled the wrong tooth and they tried to get a discount;
— eating off an apple and finding half a worm in it;

every anecdote rounded of with a triumphant “You should make a comic about that!”

Then I would take my 300 pages graphic novel out of their hands, both of us knowing full well they weren’t going to buy it, and I’d smile politely, “Yeah, sure. Someday.”

“Don’t try to cheat me out of my royalties when you publish it,” they would guffaw and walk away to grant comics creator status onto their next victim.

Nowadays I make work that feels even more truly like comics to me than that almost twenty years old graphic novel. Collage-y, abstract stuff that breaks all the rules just begging to be broken. Linear narrative is ashes settling in my trails, montage stretched thin and warping in new, interesting directions.

I teach comics techniques at a university level based in my current work. I even make an infrequent podcast talking to other avantgarde artists about their work in the same field.

Still, sometimes at night my subconscious whispers the truth in my ear: Nobody ever insists I turn their inane bullshit nonevents into comics these days, and while I am a happier, more balanced person as a result of that, I guess that means I don’t make comics any longer after all.

  • 0 Posts
  • 12 Comments
Joined 4 months ago
Cake day: November 23rd, 2024
  • haverholm@kbin.earthtoFediverse@lemmy.world•Demo of European Mastodon hosting
    7·
    4 days ago

    Cool project! I hope it takes off.

    One question, I know Mastodon has become a sort of market standard for the microblogging fediverse — but for people who just want a single-user/“vanity” instance, wouldn’t it make sense to offer something leaner like GoToSocial?

    Because GTS is less resource intensive than Mastodon, that could then also be an environmental argument?

  • haverholm@kbin.earthtoSelfhosted@lemmy.world•Decentralized Search Engine
    1·
    10 days ago

    Advertisers can stake their PRE [crypto tokens] to a keyword, and whichever advertiser stakes the most tokens will have its ads displayed when a user searches on the term selected. Advertisers confer the most external value on PRE, so their success is very important to the ecosystem.

    So crypto currency and advertising? Hard pass.

  • haverholm@kbin.earthtoFediverse@lemmy.world•Funkwhale Wants to Filter Out Far-Right Music
    1·
    12 days ago

    The intent sounds fine, but as @deadsuperhero@lemmy.world points out, it offloads the actual responsibility of filtering on MusicBrainz and WikiData.

    It’s not hard to imagine MusicBrainz being flooded by users trying to circumvent bans by editing tags. Or incorrectly tagging bands they don’t like or agree with to get them banned.

    Funkwhale probably isn’t big enough in itself to make a huge splash, but this proposed ban does add another target to the extreme right’s hit list. It seems a little iffy to me to make an open project like MusicBrainz that target?

  • haverholm@kbin.earthtoFediverse@lemmy.world•Sounds crazy but... maybe you shouldn't delete Facebook just yet
    1·
    21 days ago

    Is there any real benefit to deleting the account?

    I will no longer be using Instagram or regularly checking it.

    I think you answered part of the question there: An inactive account is just bait for you to return and be sucked back in by the network effect. That’s basically what “not regular checking” implies — that you may check less often but still log in occasionally.

    On the other hand, deleting the account sends a message to Meta (who don’t care about you individually, but mass exodus will be noticeable on their bottom line) and more importantly spur your contacts to move as well. Also, you make up your mind instead of keeping the abusive relationship with Meta an option.

    Edited to add: Orphaned, unmonitored accounts are often the source of pwned passwords, which makes them an attack vector especially if you’re not using strong, individual passwords for different sites. /end edit.

    Impersonation is a tiny but possible risk, I guess — depending on how valuable you would be as a mark for scammers. Most people probably wouldn’t even be on their radar. It’s not something I would take into account, especially as Facebook and Instagram become less trustworthy or secure platforms in and of themselves.

    So yes, there are benefits, per OP’s point about first movers motivating others — and showing decisive action rather than leaving a door ajar (i.e. a dormant account) in case Zuckerberg shows slightly less oligarchic tendencies next week.

  • haverholm@kbin.earthtoFediverse@lemmy.world•Sounds crazy but... maybe you shouldn't delete Facebook just yet
    0·
    21 days ago

    My first thought was, how the hell are people still on Facebook?! 🤣

    I see your point, but the most repeated reason/excuse for not leaving Meta (or other big tech platforms) is “I can’t, all my contacts are on there”. So the longer anybody stays on that dumpster fire, the more they add to the network effect.

    My suggestion would be, announce that you’re leaving, posting links to where people can find you going forward, and log off for a couple of weeks’ grace period. Then login only to download your data and delete the account.

    That way, you’ve given your contacts time to find your new profiles (and maybe their first glimpse of the fediverse), and you’re off the treadmill — the contacts who will miss you enough to follow you off FB are probably the ones worth keeping 😉

    Edit: added a comma and closed a quotation for clarity.