20three

Neil Young’s Greendale: Joshua Dysart & Cliff Chiang

Owen — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 09:00:24 +0000

Greendale hardback cover

I have to start this review by admitting that I am not a massive Neil Young fan. I quite like his soundtrack for Dead Man which I occasionally stick on the stereo, but that is were my relationship with Neil Young starts and ends. I was vaguely aware of his 2003 eco-political concept album, Greendale, which he released in 2003. What I didn’t know is that the album also spawned a film, a book and the obligatory ‘interactive tour’… and now there is the Greendale graphic novel (Amazon UK), written by Joshua Dysart with art by Cliff Chiang.

It did occur to me that to properly review Greendale I should track down the album, listen to it on headphones while completing the interactive tour on my laptop with the live action film on mute on the telly in the background. All that seemed quite a task simply for preparation for reading a comic book so I decided not to give the album even a cursory listen. Instead I dived right into the comic book without any in-depth knowledge of Young’s project apart from an inkling that it would contain tree hugging and maybe a mild rant against George Bush. I expect the creators of this graphic novel wanted it to be consumed without the need for backstory and that it should work as a stand alone piece. So that is how I approached it.

The story concerns a teenage girl called Sun who lives in the small southern US town of Greendale. Sun is part of a linage of women who all have special powers over nature – the narrative tracks the awakening of these powers in Sun and also how her political beliefs mature over time – she defeats a kind of demon with her newly realized powers and ends up hitching to Alaska to protest about oil drilling and the war in Iraq. Along the way she finds out about her magical heritage and her ancestry. The demon Sun defeats bears a strong resemblance to Neil Young and after noticing this I ended up thinking that most of the male characters looked a bit like Neil Young, but that could be my mind playing tricks. The demon also reminded me a little of the preacher in Poltergeist 2, in the way he is initially seen by Sun from a distance walking through walls, and how the demon is only visible to certain people. In Suns dreams the demon becomes a giant goat-like creature and these dream passages are the most enjoyable as it seems like Chiang lets his imagination loose and the panels seem more free and full of energy.

The overall book design is well executed, my copy is a hardback with a rough matt finish without a dust jacket, which makes a nice change. The family tree pages have a retro ‘vintage’ feel to the layout and typography. I presume that these design decisions were to give the book an ageless quality and this concept seems to extend to the art – the colour is quite desaturated in that 1050’s style but Chiang’s art is very fresh and clean and for me didn’t quite carry over the vintage concept.

I always like to see the artists ‘hand’ in comic books, which might seem paradoxical, but there is a current style for comic art to look quite perfect – lines are beautifully rendered, colours have smooth gradients and there is the feel and influence of the computer to the work. I have always preferred to see the sketches behind the drawing, or a much more loose style of drawing in the style of Eddie Campbell, Ted McKeever or Vincent Paronnaud for example – but this is only my personal preference and there are some lovingly rendered panels in Greendale, particularly the dream sequences – you can see the artists hand at work in these panels which for me are the most successful.

Greendale

While I was looking at the various incarnations of the Greendale project I was particularly taken with the album cover art for Greendale, a beautiful illustration in a very ‘folk’ style by American artist James Mazzeo. I have not gone completely off topic, the illustration appears in the inside cover of the comic book. Anyone interested in contemporary American folk art should check him out.

Greendale album artwork by James Mazzeo

Greendale the graphic novel seems to be intended for a teenage audience, and the ‘coming of age’ sub plot combined with the ecological pro-active message fits that audience perfectly. Buy this comic book if you are young enough to have never heard of Neil Young.

Thanks to http://titanbooks.com for supplying a copy for review.

This review first appeared on bookgeeks.co.uk

The Monarch’s Way: Sussex

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 08:11:17 +0000

The Monarch’s Way is a route that Charles II took when escaping from Oliver Cromwell after the Battle of Worcester in 1651. Part of this route is along the South Downs. For more information visit – http://www.monarchsway.50megs.com/

A group of us decided to spend one night camping and two days walking part of the Monarch’s Way, starting from Amberley and ending in Shoreham-by-Sea. We lo-impact camped on the South Downs using Hammocks, Tarps and Bivvi Bags.

Photographs taken with a Holga, shot on out of date Velvia film, X processed.

The Monarch's Way

gh & op

20three pin badges

Owen — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 19:40:14 +0000

One thing we are planning for the 20three site is to eventually set up a shop. We plan to sell screenprints, letterpress prints, one off pieces of art etc. I have always been a fan of the button badge and plan to sell some badge sets designed by your truly as well as inviting designers and artists to supply artwork for limited edition badge sets. I see the badge as a lo-fi way producing design that can be acquired on the cheap, accessible to all.

Below are sample 20three pin badges, produced by those very nice people at www.weebadges.com.

Winshluss: Pinocchio

Owen — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 16:12:19 +0000

Winshluss (Vincent Paronnaud) has taken the Pinocchio stories of Carlo Collodi and dragged it through the hundred or so years of popular culture that has passed since it was first written and given it a surreal dark twist. The results are quite an amazing comic book: Pinocchio by Winshluss (Amazon UK), an award winner, picking up book of the year at the French Angouleme festival.

Winshluss: Pinocchio

The book is published in French but mostly without text, the story told in descriptive panels in that classic Bandes Dessinées style intermixed with with full page and half page panels that also form part of the narrative. The only parts of the book with words are a few sections in black and white drawn in a loose sketchy style that nicely juxtaposes with the colour artwork that makes up the main body of the book. These black and white passages involve Jimmy the Cricket who has taken up home in Pinocchio’s head, and with my bad french I managed to just about understand what was going on, although you could easily understand the story with little or no french (like me).

The majority of the book is colour and wordless. Winshluss draws and paints in several mediums and there are several full page panels that I was amazed by. The coloring has that desaturated nostalgic feel that perfectly matches his drawing style.

Winshluss: Pinocchio

The lame fox and blind cat from the original Carlo Collodi Pinocchio adventures become a smack-head and blind beggar, Monstro the great whale becomes a polluted toxic mutant fish destroying a Titanic style liner complete with white bearded captain and string ensemble who not only carry on playing when the ship goes down, but as they are being dissolved by the acidic bile in the stomach of the toxic fish.

Winshluss also makes several nods to Disney; Snow White and the seven dwarfs make an appearance, the dwarfs are a gruesome set of perverts and their involvement in Geppetto’s comeuppance is particularly twisted. There is even a film noir element, a hard boiled cop with a head like an Easter island statue who tracks down Geppetto and the seven perverted dwarfs. The book is certainly dark, but full of humor.

Pinocchio himself is a mute robot-boy, created by Geppetto to be a war machine who he initially tries to sell to the military. Pinocchio goes wandering after short circuiting while Jimmy the Cricket enters his robot brain. Pinocchio tumbles through this story, staying resolutely mute while the tale unfolds around him.

Winshluss: Pinocchio

Vincent Paronnaud is also credited as co-writer and co-director with Marjane Satrapi on the film adaptation of her comic series Persépolis. What a talented chap.

You can see more artwork at a larger size here at http://www.bdgest.com.

Music for Real Airports :: The Black Dog

Fri, 21 May 2010 09:53:43 +0000

Here we have the new album from electronic musicians The Black Dog. I managed to download the release (bought digital version from their digital store — click ) and I am not disappointed.

In the past I was a huge fan of all things ambient. Spending many an hour listening to albums by such artists as Pete Namlook, the Irresistible Force, The Orb and the likes. It’s been a long time since I delved back into the world of ambient music and I have to say that Music For Real Airports is a perfect place to revisit the genre. The album itself takes you on a journey, compelling you to listen from start to finish (something that seems to have been lost in this digital world of mp3’s and play-lists, something I really miss), it does credit to The Black Dog that they have managed to create such a voyage within this album.

The album was created from some 200 hours of field recordings captured during touring. And you can hear the ambient textures as a back drop to subtle electronic melodies and beats. This album really does capture the experience of modern day air travel, with moments of anxiety and elements of the mundane (not that the music is mundane, but it invokes the feeling of waiting and the drudgery with in a terminal).

Because the album is mixed continuously, there are no breaks between the tracks – to some extent it doesn’t really matter about the track titles themselves (but if you check them you’ll see they outline a journey in itself from start to finish, with titles such as – M1, Passport Control, Strip Light Hate and finishing back at the Business Car Park), one track that really captured my attention, even sending tingles down my spine, was Delay 9. This track stands out with it’s melodies and it’s melancholy it ticked all the right boxes for me when it comes to emotional content within music.

I’ll leave the commentary with regards to the comparison with Eno’s 70’s album, Music for Airports, as plenty of other blogs and reviews have done this. For those who love electronic music go buy this album. I look forward to trying to catch one of the live shows.

No related posts.

Sci-Fi :: How I can’t get enough of this genre.

Thu, 20 May 2010 15:55:56 +0000

I’ve enjoyed Science Fiction for more years than I can remember. When I was a teenager my teachers would mock science fiction as a genre; in fact is is the genre that seems to be mocked the most.

What many people don’t seem to realise with regards to science fiction is that it encompasses a whole host of literary genres. It’s not all Space ships and battles, in fact the majority of science fiction I read and enjoy isn’t the classic “Space Opera”.

I generally stick to science fiction from 1950’s to 1980’s and especially what appears to be the golden years from the late 50’s to the middle 70’s. This includes works from authors such as Alfred Bester, Arthur C Clarke, Brian W Aldiss, Ray Bradbury, Philip K Dick (to name a few).

There have been so many science fiction books written, that I am sure I won’t need to look at another genre for the rest of my life, and I still won’t get through half of the “good” books out there. Authors such as Philip K Dick had written over 50 novels in his short life, not to mention his numerous short stories and novellas. It’s quite amazing how influential this one Author is when it comes to science fiction being translated into film. Bladerunner, Total recall, Minority Report, Paycheck, A Scanner Darkely are just a few examples of films directly based on his works. I’d have to say that Philip K Dick is quite possibly one of my all time favourite authors.

There are a few novels that really stands out for me, the ones that seem to impact directly on my life. These would have to be:

Tiger Tiger by Alfred Bester
None Stop by Brian W Aldiss
Flow my tears the Policeman said by Philip K Dick
Shockwave rider by John Brunner
Neuromancer by William Gibson

There are a whole host of other books that I could have listed, but for some reason the ones above really did something for me.

For those who have a natural aversion to science fiction I’d suggest taking the plunge and giving it a go. It’s not all about deep space and robots, a lot of it is about the human condition and are classic stories set in a future or other world place. Science Fiction as a genre give the author a freedom to do as they please, to be as creative and imaginative as they like and to explore stories, themes and ideas in a way that is limited with “straight” fiction.

Sometimes I wish the genre science fiction hadn’t been created, and that these great authors were respected for writing alone with out the bias of the preconception that some have of the genre label.

So, I urge one and all to go out and buy a science fiction book – go to a second hand book shop, or a car boot, and get a book! Even if you hate it the cover art is worth it!

No related posts.

Swine Flu :: Revisited

Wed, 28 Apr 2010 13:53:08 +0000

From the Independent, published 28th April 2010

Pharmaceuticals giant GlaxoSmithKline revealed a further boost from last year’s swine flu crisis today as it said H1N1 treatments helped first quarter sales surge 13 per cent.

here is the link – article

The article goes on to say that GSK made “£698 million” from the Swine Flue” vaccine. So it seems what Gordon Brown and Mandelson promised has come to fruition, the big Pharmaceuticals are reaping the profits from a manufactured situation.

The Pharmaceutical industry has only one interest at it’s heart, and that is profiteering. The only people the Pharmaceuticals need to appease are the share holders, if the corporation is not functioning to make maximum profits then the corporation is not functioning correctly.

I find it ironic that the media only have minor reports on such news events. The whole hysteria over Swine Flu dominated the press for months, and then it just disappeared after the frenzy had occurred and enough of the product was sold to make the profits desired by the Pharmaceutical industry.

I wonder what the next “out break” will be?

Under a Clear Blue Sky

Thu, 22 Apr 2010 07:33:27 +0000

The two images are taken from http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov – they show satellite images of Great Britain, the one on the left is dates 17/04/2010 the one on the right is dates 22/04/2010. The difference being, the one on the left was during the Flight Ban of UK (and Northern Europe) Airspace due to the Ash cloud generated by volcano Eyjafjallajokull, the one on the right being the day the flight ban was lifted and flights started.

We had a wonderful opportunity for people to look into the skies and witness first hand what it is like when no commercial air flights occur. When I mentioned it to people they were quite shocked at how they had not realised the level of air traffic that occurs over Great Britain. They looked up in wonder at the clear blue sky with NO clouds what so ever. Generally when it is a lovely clear day you will still see trails (and persistent cirrus cloud formation) from the planes. The satellite image on the right clearly shows the contrails and cirrus cloud formation due to these trails.

I can’t help to believe that the level of air traffic and the cirrus clouds that are created by commercial planes must cause an affect on weather systems and on the planet as a whole.

Will we ever see such clear skies over Great Britain again?

Contrails (Chemtrails).

Photos of Saltdean coast

Owen — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 07:58:09 +0000

I finally got myself out of Brighton for a while at the Easter weekend. Being a confirmed pedestrian I don’t often get the chance to visit the Sussex countryside, and Brighton can seem a very small place sometimes – gives me cabin fever.

So, the wife and I took the number 12a bus to Rottingdean, just out of (but officially part of) Brighton. After a disappointing pub lunch at the Badgers Watch we walked along the cliff tops to Saltdean, were we did a U turn and walked back along the seafront back to Rottingdean and the bus stop.

I took my Holga and a couple of rolls of film, here are the best shots:

Saltdean cliff tops

Saltdean sea walk

Rottingdean bus stop

Saltdean cliffs (film slipped with this one)

Saltdean cliffs

20three prototype t-shirts

Owen — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 08:17:11 +0000

When 20three had it’s first incarnation around 2000 we produced a short run of t-shirts that we mainly gave away to friends and clients. Now that this site lives on in blog format I thought it would be a good idea to resurrect some of our old design work and produce a couple of prototype t-shirts. I didn’t want to create ‘new’ designs – rather I wanted to give some of our old design & illustration work another lease of life. A bit like this website. Rinse the past.

These shirts were printed at a Brighton copy shop using heat transfers – not the greatest quality but good enough to get an idea of how the shirts could look.

This design I originally produced for the cover of a 12″ record sleeve for Hermetech Records around 2002. As the 12″ cover was intended to be screen printed by hand the design was a simple two colour job – perfect for a t-shirt. The two images I ripped off appropriated for the design came from this book: Animals 1,419 Copyright Free Illustrations of Mammals, Birds, Fish, Insects, etc (Great title).

T shirt design based on Hermetech 12" sleeves.

The Original design:

Hermetech 12" covers, 2002

This second design was created from collages made from the ‘positives’ we used for our first hand-screenprinted t-shirt run – so I am effectively mashing up the original t shirt designs to produce this one.

T shirt design based on collages

Original design/collage:

Sketchbook collage, 2002

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screen-printing