The OFFICIAL Unofficial Achewood Message Board
Achewood => Achewood => Topic started by: Llewelyn Ash on June 22, 2012, 01:55:10 pm
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Hello, I am newly registered and have been trying to find a topic relevant to this and I apologise if it is something that has been tread over and over, though I would appreciate being pointed in that direction.
I only discovered Achewood the day before 'Our Predictions for 2011' was posted and I spent weeks solidly reading through every strip; it became possibly my favourite thing in any medium though I was upset how late I was to the party and I checked every day for a new strip. I was overjoyed when 'Ray in Rehab' came up and I wept with laughter at the Roast Beef-isms. But I have finally found myself questioning whether he has, well, 'lost it' so to speak.
I have no enmity towards Onstad, as people often seemed to display in assetbar, and am under no illusions that he owes me anything or should exist to please me. He created a wonderful thing that still exists and few enough people even know about it. I wouldn't be angry if Altimiter Tim became a new main character in a daily strip (just deeply disappointed), but reading back over old strips as I do most days I can't see a damn reason why he should have lost it. I think it was great because although obviously it was hilarious, it was a sparse and effective thing that sometimes became totally transcendent and magical. It strikes me that it could do that because it never forgot it was a comic strip. I know Onstad worried about repeating himself but I'd pay money to read 'The Philippe Times' every week or Vlad's talk show and it might not break new ground but it would add to a body of work that is valuable and doesn't need to prove itself. Now it seems that he just wants to try and make the transcendent, esoteric part and forgot about the comic strip and the only possible result is that both will fail. I can't second guess him, I don't know what he's planning but in the last couple of days when I load the page and see Altimiter Tim's face it makes me think a thing I've been trying to ignore since the hiatus started; that it's over.
I thought the Nate Small novella was really fantastic and I dearly wish I could buy proper books of it and I'd never question Onstad's great talent, but I don't know why he doesn't seem to use it. I would be grateful to know what other's opinion is.
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Yeah, it would be hard to pinpoint a single thread about this because this discussion has probably been at least a small part of every on-topic thread about the comic for the last how many years? It would be entertaining to know the first instance on this board of someone opining that Onstad had lost it. But I am willing to bet you will get some takers for a central place to discuss this issue.
What's interesting about this to me is that I now feel differently about artists who decisively called it quits on a comic, like The Far Side or Calvin and Hobbes.
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Watterson and Larson both made a clean break. Said "I've taken this as far as it will go" and walked away. Onstad has been kind of wishy-washy about it. Made production unpredictable, kind of half-assed it at times. Easier to understand and respect the former approach than the latter. Of course, commercial success no doubt factors into it--the first two guys had sold enough books and page-a-day calendars that they could walk away and be fine. Onstad still has to figure out how to eat, so he's no doubt been reluctant to give up on Achewood as a potential source of income. (My opinion, I could be completely wrong.)
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I saw a post about the Philippe graphic adventure strip in 2008 and it seemed that even then people thought it was going off the boil but I think it was a great addition to the sort of strips that got made, maybe someone reading the current strips in the future will be able to see it all as worthwhile but just now I feel like it's being squandered. Maybe I've just developed a sense of entitlement. I can't believe that Mr Bear hasn't been in a strip for four years as I think someone said as I got to see it all laid out at once, maybe I expect something that never existed anyway.
I'm glad for Onstad if he doesn't need it as a source of income anymore though I suppose I wish he did and paid it the attention he obviously used to. I started to feel though that if he doesn't ever really want to 'bring it back' properly then it should have a line drawn under it. I know I don't need to read it if I don't want but I really really want to read it. The street sheet strip was, in my opinion, as good and funny a strip as ever appeared but i remember Onstad sort of apologised for moving away from the hospital storyline and I wonder if he thought that's what people would be tuning in for, maybe everyone else was I don't know.
If strips continue and for years we never see Philippe again, or if Ray is actually Theo Freedom now or if Roast Beef's role is subsumed by characters like the ones who've been appearing in the last seven months or if indeed seven months of strips will see the same value of content as used to be fitted into a week, then maybe it is really over already and has been so for a while.
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I just came here to say two things:
1) Welcome to the board, Llewelyn!
2) Is there something wrong with me if my first thought on seeing this thread title was, "What is this birthday thread for Jough doing up in the Achewood section?"
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Is there something wrong with me if my first thought on seeing this thread title was, "What is this birthday thread for Jough doing up in the Achewood section?"
If there is, let me know because I've got the same condition. Bastard doesn't even like me.
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The last great arc imo was "Philippe, Entrepeneur"
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I tend to think the whole thing is less about the guy being creatively tapped on the characters and more some combination of... the guy having enough of a body of work with the characters that he's become perfectionist about what he thinks he can do with them to an intensely neurotic degree, the changing business model of the strip shifting from mainly merchandise driven to mainly subscription driven completely fuck*ng up the guy's creative process, the guy in some great internal struggle with the idea of the kind of cult fame the strip got him making him uneasy with the whole project to varying degrees and/or personal-family issues to which we cannot be privy fuck*ng the whole deal.
Probably some combination of alla those, though I'd probably lean toward the "business model changing fuck*ng up his process" and "personal life" as being the main drivers.
I am, of course, an opinionated asshole who sometimes projects too much of my own issues onto the motivations of others so who the hell knows.
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For some reason this arc made me want to look for Achewood tshirts. Apparently there are a couple of places out there selling bootleg shirts. My Google search also led me to this article (http://foxhillreview.com/2011/03/20/wheres-chris-onstad/) which I don't think we've seen before. It also led to this thread (http://touamb.com/index.php?topic=5919.0) where we (Ash and sMets specifically) were fairly prophetic.
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Plus you know, the Portland Mercury thing. You have to be on your fuck*ng GAME if you are writing anything professionally. Writing is arguably an even more obsessive art and more intense in its demands than comics/telling good jokes.
Not to mention his audience for that apparently are even bigger assholes than most of the Achewood fanbase.
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The way I see it, we're lucky to have had a decade's worth of genuinely brilliant comics. We're even luckier that he's still capable of making them on occasion, especially given that a certain amount of Circumstances seems to have happened in the last few years. Maybe he should have quit while he was ahead, but then when exactly would that have been? Because the Philippe-Entrepeneur storyarc had some of the best work he ever did - cf Philippe's Dad - and was immediately followed by what increasingly felt like Achewood itself having a breakdown.
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Thank you for the welcome jay-ell. I have never used a forum before so please forgive me if I'm a boor.
As littlefallsmets says the business model must have thrown things into disarray, I wish I'd been able to buy a t-shirt though. I donate (pay for a service) when I like a new strip and I pay for the things in the honour store but surely there are people who appreciate him enough that regular strips would pay off? He built up such a vocabulary of different ways to write that it makes me think he must be really incredibly sick of the whole thing not to make use of them. I subscribed when the option came up again and my account wasn't activated so I emailed and asked about it and said exactly how much I appreciated Achewood's existence but I had to send, I think, four more emails before it actually got activated. The last one I sent just said that I just wanted to pay him for a product but I couldn't do it if I didn't get the product and made me sad that that was the email that seemed to fix the problem. Maybe he's trapped in a negative loop of perfectionism/lack of self worth.
I was reading about how Yeats always knew he was going to lose it as he got older and he would have the whole of Wordsworth read to him so he could meditate on that poet's long decline, perhaps the fear of losing it is as fatal as being blind to ones' flaws. A main reason I want him to make new strips is because otherwise I'm just going to be reading these ones every day for the next fifty years and I fear I won't stop checking as long as either Onstad or I have life.
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I was asking myself this very question reading the latest strip. I compare it to the Simpsons, which I love still. I don't want it to go away, but I know in my heart that it used to be better and that the best days are behind me.
As a writer who works in a different medium, I count myself lucky that I don't work in a format where I'm expected to keep with the same characters. At this point I pretty much hate writing the main character in my most recognized work and I'm so glad I'm done with her. At the same time it's so hard to let it go. I just proposed a new project, my first in three years, after saying I wasn't going to write any more and that I didn't want to go back to it. Once you start being a storyteller, there's really no letting go of that. Maybe Onstad will find a way to make it new.
I honestly wish he'd go back to some of the other characters too. I miss the automatons and Phillipe especially.
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I wish he'd put a Nate Small book on Kickstarter or something.
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Both Ash and LFM were on fire in that thread.
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and I fear I won't stop checking as long as either Onstad or I have life.
You and me both, brother.
I also wish I could buy stuff. I have a particular problem that there is a "What we need more of is Science" sticker on the dashboard of my car, and my car is ten years old. I might need a new one someday, and how will I replace the sticker? I think I'm going to have to be one of those crazy people who keeps their VW Beetle running for decades, but I don't know if the New Beetle will stand up to that.
What I'm saying is this thing is woven into the fabric of my life, dammit.
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Just because the 'classic' period of Achewood is over doesn't mean that there won't be worthwhile things to see. In fact, some of the stuff that has been dismissed as being after the decline has been very good. I'll always support Onstad. The funny thing about brain problems is that sometimes they kind of go away overnight. So who knows what the future holds? It might not even be Achewood, but it could still be good. I think people are sometimes too critical and personal when it comes to these things (and yes, I am aware of the irony of sounding critical and personal in order to decry it, so don't bother pointing that out).
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I think what frustrates me about it, not having seen a period of 'decline' due to starting late, is how he just doesn't make use of what you know he can make use of and what you dearly wish he would. I think that naming a homeless man Night-Shed is just a totally subtle demonstration of genius and I assume most fans get annoyed because of how much they just want to read anything he writes. The current strips account for such a relatively long stretch of time that you can't help but worry about his voice atrophying and getting lost, it happened to plenty of other people.
I have no idea what his Circumstances or brain problems were/are but if I was a psychiatrist I might suggest he try and relax by drawing some pictures of an otter in amusing situations; I'd pay up to $75 just for a picture of an unworried Philippe sitting under a tree these days.
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Sadly, I think that drawing an otter in amusing situations ceases to be relaxing when your living depends on it. And even if it doesn't anymore, it's spoiled for him.
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Just because the 'classic' period of Achewood is over doesn't mean that there won't be worthwhile things to see. In fact, some of the stuff that has been dismissed as being after the decline has been very good. I'll always support Onstad.
I was going to express just this idea. Now that the five or six strips a year since 2008 have begun to pile up, I find that I get a lot more out of them, having the ability to read through them at a reasonable pace.
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His pace gives us the opportunity to Fletcherize his work. Here we have something of a joke culture about harsh treatment of the author and his work - in truth we all lovep what he does, when he chooses to share, even when occasionally he's clearly mailing it in or flailing around trying to find a new angle. The harsh treatment angle is more or less a counterbalance to all the blind knobslobbery that is the default posture of a fanbase.
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Slobknobbery is my new favorite word.
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So really, when it comes right down to it, the main thing is just the pace of output. If Achewood publishes six strips that aren't right up your personal alley exactly, but that happens within the space of 12 days, there wouldn't be wailing and gnashing of teeth. But if those six strips are over 9 months, it's going to take the shine off for some people, and they won't feel like slobbering his knob anymore.
I'm not ashamed to say I'll drool on his tool.
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I went and read some of the threads here from 2003 and people would get annoyed at him for posting a bit late one day and accusing him of being unappreciative of his readers. Imagine what the situation would be like ten years from now, Onstad all coming round and emptying rubbish in your garden, making you smell his armpits. Just cold shooting your dog.
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Imagine what the situation would be like ten years from now, Onstad all coming round and emptying rubbish in your garden, making you smell his armpits. Just cold shooting your dog.
"Really, it's the culture of entitlement that got to me. After twenty years of shooting the same dog, I wanted to explore other creative outlets - trashing peoples' gardens, making people smell my armpits. The fans don't realize how much work it is to wake up every morning, and instantly have to deal with the pressure of thousands of anonymous jerks, all clamoring for me to shoot their dogs the way THEY want, at THEIR pace."
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It would certainly give us something to discuss at least.
As a side note Llewelyn Ash, I'm not sure if you're aware, but Onstad long ago condemned this message board and claims not to read our posts. Onstad previously ran a message board that died back in 2003 where he opened himself up to reader criticism, and that didn't work for him so he shut it down. TOUAMB is and has always been a place were fans can discuss their honest frustrations and praises with the understanding that none of the content here is directed at Onstad himself.
Has anyone here ever directly contact Onstad with criticism or hate mail since the inception of TOUAMB in 2003?
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I read, or maybe heard, a recent interview with him after the 'end' of the hiatus where he said he had received his first piece of hate mail in regards to the new strips and that had been a significant milestone for him. I can't believe there was a time when he used to speak to readers. I also can't imagine a time when there were at least three strips in a week.
Not to lower this to the level of 'HEAT' magazine, or whatever its American equivalent, I didn't realise he had broken up with his wife; that would certainly put a dint in a fellow's work flow and general demeanour.
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Has anyone here ever directly contact Onstad with criticism or hate mail since the inception of TOUAMB in 2003?
I don't know about criticism or hate mail but some of us have definitely been in touch with since then. Surely, speaking of slobbering, you recall my story that I went to see him on his book tour and he knew who I was before I really introduced myself. Squee, and I had him sign my arm, and all that. So yes, Llew, he definitely used to speak to readers.
So, I was thinking of the whole "how could he abandon this" question, and I can't believe I haven't made these points before, but, a soliloquy:
One the one hand, to someone like me who is trying to have some success at creative work, it's mindboggling that he would not keep the strip up. He was successful enough to support his family. He had lines out the door at book signings. As someone who published two books and have had both publishers decline to publish followups because the first ones didn't sell enough, I can't imagine why he'd throw it all away.
On the other hand, as some of you may recall, I personally threw away a previous career that to all outside appearances was successful. People don't just quit tenured university jobs. But that is what I did. And there's more similarity than you might think, in this way: Nowadays, getting a faculty job where you can do research is a lot like trying to become a successful artist in that there are way, way more people who want to do it than will ever actually get to do it. I basically felt in my career like I was standing at the top of a heap of broken bodies, metaphorically. I guarantee there were people who were as envious of me as I am of Onstad.
But there came a point where I couldn't do it anymore. Part of it was feeling that I was out of creative ideas, although there was more to it than that, but that was a critical part of it. Anyway, basically I did exactly what he has done except for that I made a clean break since there was no other way to do it.
And yet still I feel.... good God, man, I would kill for lines out the door at book signings, how hard is it to make more stories about cartoon cats? I can throughly empathize with both sides of this question to an extent that practically makes my brain want to explode.
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Can there be an agreement then on whether he should just go through the motions? Should anyone? What if he put out five lacklustre strips a week with one gem every three months and reliable (any) access to merchandise, would that be preferable to the last couple of years and would you respect him more or less for it?
When he drew parallels to Garfield and not wanting to just churn it out I know what he means, but Garfield does have something about it that I think makes it worthwhile though its author seems to hate it. What's good in Achewood arises from it being just a little strip that's ostensibly the same as Andy Capp or whatever and if it doesn't have that core to its being then I don't think it really exists anymore. Looking at the long decline in output one can foresee a time of one or two strips a year while he insists it's still alive but it's just your hope that'll start up again.
My vote would be for him to fake it, sometimes make it, and be a hack like Chekhov and Faulkner; there's a lot of art to being a really good hack and you never know what could grow out of it.
Imagine a fuck*ng phone shaped like Ray. Imagine!
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how hard is it to make more stories about cartoon cats? I can throughly empathize with both sides of this question to an extent that practically makes my brain want to explode.
http://iwanttodrawacatforyou.com/
Meanwhile I have the most boring ambition imaginable to be the best financial engineer of my generation, so this arts and crafts stuff is out of my sphere.
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Can there be an agreement then on whether he should just go through the motions?
Well, as should be clear from my last post, I can't even agree with myself on the answer to this, so I doubt it.
Looking at it from the outside instead, though, I am pretty sure that if he decided to just churn it out, we would complain bitterly about what hack work he was producing.
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On the other side of things, as a professional playwright who has come close to reaching the highest success possible for my country of origin and genre, I don't feel at all what you feel about it Wombat. My measure of success never had anything to do with audience numbers, but to do with and internal measure of whether I felt I was successfully expressing something in the manner that felt true to me. People are shocked when they realize I didn't run home after my last production and instantly start churning out the next script, because for certain, the measure of success where I live, to most people, is if they fly you to the theatre capitol of the country and put your show on with a big budget. I am as successful as it gets for a female, aboriginal playwright from Winnipeg. And I came home and walked away and took on a totally different career path unrelated to the arts. Why? The easy answer is that I like sleeping in my own bed and being in the city where all the people I love are. The deeper truth is that I was emptied out by that production. My bough was most certainly dry. And it stayed that way for three years.
Now, about three weeks after I sent that same damn script off to the publisher finally, really letting it go, what did I do? On Friday, I proposed a massive, brand new writing project that I came up with (super inspired, super excited) out of thin air based on a call for proposals. Where the fuck did that come from? I have no idea.
But here's the thing: I don't have to write the same characters again. I would rather gouge my eyes out than write the same characters, the same story again. I spent seven years writing and re-writing that play, workshopping it, re-writing it, hearing different actors play the characters. I don't mind hearing it be re-performed because the actors and directors and composers and choreographers make it new. But my own words? Me sitting at my desk tinkering with that creation? Barf. No thank you.
What I wish for Onstad is that he finds something new, if it's with these characters or with another creation entirely. Something that breathes life and passion into his work. I'm sorry, but there is no passion in tinkering. The little dribbles we're getting? As a reader, I'm glad to have them, but as an artist, I know what real creative drive looks like, and this ain't it.
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My measure of success never had anything to do with audience numbers, but to do with and internal measure of whether I felt I was successfully expressing something in the manner that felt true to me.
Really? Would it really be enough to successfully express it but never have anyone else hear it?
As for him finding something else, apparently he's already found it in his food writing. And, speaking again as someone who threw away a career that other people would have killed for, who am I to throw stones if I never get my comics again?
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I encourage as many bright young people to focus on 'internal satisfaction' as much as possible. Leaves more 'external satisfaction' for me. As for Onstad, he left the store, literally. I look forward to his next creative endeavor even if it doesn't involve Ray and the otter, but don't pretend Achewood is still a thing and run away with our book money.
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Really? Would it really be enough to successfully express it but never have anyone else hear it?
That's a tough question. You're likely thinking about a novel writer's process, which is quite different. The entire theatrical process is about creating a little community and interacting with other people. I do intense interviewing as part of my initial research, then the development with a dramaturge, re-writes, then table readings with actors, a director, etc. Rewrites. Next comes staged readings, usually with post-reading interactions with the audience which is usually a mix of theatre professionals and the general public. More re-writes. The last stage is a full production (rehearsal, more re-writes, staging). After that comes more re-writes for future productions or if you're super lucky, publication. When it comes to my earlier scripts, I've self produced a lot and I'm fine with that being all that comes of it. Just enough to break even and nothing more. I've also written first drafts of things that haven't gone beyond the work with a dramaturge phase because I didn't like how the scripts turned out or otherwise lost interest. I'm fine with either result, but if I want something to have an audience I can guarantee to make that happen. I guess the question would be, what if no one came? Well, that never happens - all the people involved bring along people who they want to share their performance/choreography/design work with, some of the people I interview in the initial stage typically come because they want to see how what they shared with me gets turned into a performance, other people come because they've like what myself, the actors or the director, choreographer, etc. have done in the past.
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Yeah, when I write a... silly parody song or a funny/angry poem, something short form, my expectation load is totally different than with a long form work.
You know. All the long form work I haven't been able to finish or accomplish much on for years. haha.
A comedy piece or a poem, I just have something to get out of me, write it in a day and... if I get to scream it at thirty people and get even polite applause, I'm okay. It is good.
I did my work and it did its work and it is good.
Long form... it's so different. All that time invested, you get to grow EXPECTATIONS, maybe the worst thing of all.
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I wish he would have just ended for good after the great outdoor fight. I am a burn out over rust guy though, basically all of the time. He is the reason why I am like I am, but I kinda wish Dylan would have died in his motorcycle crash. I would not feel this way if he just completely went away, but, yeah, instead he spent 50 years trying to ruin his first 6 (he didn't succeed). It never affects my enjoyment of their good work, but god I wish people would just go away. Modest c*ck after The Moon and Antarctica. Flaming Lips after Soft Bulletin. Radiohead after Hail to the Thief. Etc., etc.
I was driving in my car with a girl 5 years younger than me (and thus, when she was 16 they were releasing, IDK, that record with Ship in the title. When I was 14-17 they released the moon and antarctica.) who was all, this is Modest c*ck? This is actually good, that's weird. I had to explain how they actually used to be good and that she should listen to their first three records. I guess that is the danger in doing stuff like this. So yeah, there is no way I would recommend Achewood to people now, though I once did like mad. If it was someone who I believe would actually start at the beginning is the only way I would, I guess.
Only exception to it not affecting my enjoyment of their actual good output? The Flaming Lips. I just hate Wayne Coyne so fuck*ng much at this point that I don't know that I can ever listen to his shit again. I consider everything they released from their beginning to The Soft Bulletin to be classics, yet it has been a while and there will be a little something there that makes me not quite like it as much probably. Shame, cause they were probably my favorite band for like the last 7 years. That guy is just such a douche. Ronald is still cool though.
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I listened to an interview with Penn Jilette recently where he put forward the idea that I've heard previously, that the best performers are sociopaths, inasmuch they genuinely don't care whether you like them or not and that is what enables them to be successful. That would kind of explain how someone could walk away so easily.
But now that I've written it down I guess he's actually not walked away an also he gets way worked up over what people think of him. So maybe this is a terrible comparison.
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I... think that later Modest penis is still quite listenable.
Not as good as their early stuff but fun.
I dunno. I got odd tastes.
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So yeah, there is no way I would recommend Achewood to people now, though I once did like mad. If it was someone who I believe would actually start at the beginning is the only way I would, I guess.
This. I think the "would I recommend this to someone" point crystallizes whether you think an artist is doing good work. Or a company for that matter. I think I remember hearing one of our business development wonks going on about a Net Promoter Score which is based on the same idea. If a person is willing to associate their reputation by associating themselves in this way with your work, then you're on the right track.
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My like of things starts where Keith's leaves off, apparently.
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But we can agree on Wayne Coyne being a douche right?
Here are my arguments:
1- That thing with Erika Badu, plus, mainly, how her open letter to him totally summed up my opinions in a first hand way (he doesn't care about actually doing anything or saying anything in a provocative way to make a point, he kinda just wants people to look at him. This is my main beef.)
2- When I saw them in like 2006-7 it was the worst show of my life and the only bad experience I have had on ecstacy. He wouldn't play the fuck*ng songs, instead he just kept telling us how great we were and how he loved us. That is all well and good, but I paid him money and took drugs under the impression I was going to a concert. It was also at the OKC Zoo and they didn't fuck*ng play Christmas at the Zoo or This Here Giraffe.
3- This year I made my yearly trip back to Oklahoma a little after New Years. Apparently, he had just caused stirs in the hipster community there by taking lsd with yoko ono at midnight on new years and then telling people about it and inviting people there?? I don't know, that just seems really off putting to me. I love drugs, particularly that one, and I love bands that use that drug in a non-blatant way, particularly his in the 90s. However, I like it when you use those drugs to make trippier, wider ranging music. Not when you use those drugs to somehow make people think you are cool or something? I don't know, being too open in a kinda commercial/slimy attention-y way with drugs is shitty to me, cause I care about drugs, especially that one and reefer. They can make the world a better place, so best not to use that for attention. Hopefully he had a mildly bad trip because of that.
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Yeah, I kind of get the sense that Wayne Coyne, at some point, decided that he is a big deal, and their music has suffered ever since. I like Yoshimi. But that movie they made? Yikes.
That movie felt like when the weird guy corners you at a party to tell you about his weird conspiracy/philosophy theories, and gets all in your face about how just because he didn't go to college doesn't mean he isn't smart.
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I listened to an interview with Penn Jilette recently where he put forward the idea that I've heard previously, that the best performers are sociopaths, inasmuch they genuinely don't care whether you like them or not and that is what enables them to be successful. That would kind of explain how someone could walk away so easily.
But now that I've written it down I guess he's actually not walked away an also he gets way worked up over what people think of him. So maybe this is a terrible comparison.
Penn has an interesting comment on audience numbers in one of his books. He talks about seeing an act in Atlantic City or somewhere, watching some old guys in some crappy venue who've obviously come way down in the world, and he looks at Teller and says "Someday that will be us" and they grin at each other and are totally thrilled.
PS. I would look this up and quote it exactly but the Kindle's battery is dead. But before someone goes off on some Luddite rant about this, on the other hand if it were a physical book I'd probably have no idea where to find it in all the disorganized bookshelves in the house.
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I think the guy at a party analogy is the best way to make sense of things; Onstad was the guy who was maybe a bit uncomfortable being there but when you engaged with him he was really interesting and funny, but for a while he's just been nodding, sending texts and pretending he's still in the conversation but should have just excused himself properly and now you'll always think he's an ass.
I saw the olympic torch a couple of weeks ago, but it wasn't carried by Philippe.
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Hello, I am newly registered and have been trying to find a topic relevant to this and I apologise if it is something that has been tread over and over, though I would appreciate being pointed in that direction.
I only discovered Achewood the day before 'Our Predictions for 2011' was posted and I spent weeks solidly reading through every strip; it became possibly my favourite thing in any medium though I was upset how late I was to the party and I checked every day for a new strip. I was overjoyed when 'Ray in Rehab' came up and I wept with laughter at the Roast Beef-isms. But I have finally found myself questioning whether he has, well, 'lost it' so to speak.
I have no enmity towards Onstad, as people often seemed to display in assetbar, and am under no illusions that he owes me anything or should exist to please me. He created a wonderful thing that still exists and few enough people even know about it. I wouldn't be angry if Altimiter Tim became a new main character in a daily strip (just deeply disappointed), but reading back over old strips as I do most days I can't see a damn reason why he should have lost it. I think it was great because although obviously it was hilarious, it was a sparse and effective thing that sometimes became totally transcendent and magical. It strikes me that it could do that because it never forgot it was a comic strip. I know Onstad worried about repeating himself but I'd pay money to read 'The Philippe Times' every week or Vlad's talk show and it might not break new ground but it would add to a body of work that is valuable and doesn't need to prove itself. Now it seems that he just wants to try and make the transcendent, esoteric part and forgot about the comic strip and the only possible result is that both will fail. I can't second guess him, I don't know what he's planning but in the last couple of days when I load the page and see Altimiter Tim's face it makes me think a thing I've been trying to ignore since the hiatus started; that it's over.
I thought the Nate Small novella was really fantastic and I dearly wish I could buy proper books of it and I'd never question Onstad's great talent, but I don't know why he doesn't seem to use it. I would be grateful to know what other's opinion is.
> 2012
> still debating the decline and fall of chris onstad
> ISHYGDDT
(http://i0.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/005/498/1300044776986.jpg)
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I had to google what you meant but I'm not 'still' doing it, I only just started. About a dozen strips have been made in the entire time I've been aware of its existence. Thanks for adding to the conversation though bro :D :D :D :D :D
I'll also try and keep questions about Achewood and Chris Onstad to one of the more appropriate forums.
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Bobby, don't troll the noobs! We get few enough of them as it is.
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I don't know who this Robert Isosceles fellow is, but he's probably a troll who just wants to spam us with less than genuine pharmaceutical advertisements. I'm on to you.
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Like a bolt from the fuck*ng blue.
Nice to see you, O pointy one.
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> 2012
> still debating the decline and fall of chris onstad
> ISHYGDDT
We feel obligated to, on at least a perfunctory basis. It's almost like a ceremonial function we serve. In a few weeks we celebrate the annual "Prescriptive vs. Descriptive Grammar" festival.
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We'll be debating the decline and fall of Chris Onstad as long as there's an Internet. Someone's got to do it.
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But we can agree on Wayne Coyne being a douche right?
Here are my arguments:
1- That thing with Erika Badu, plus, mainly, how her open letter to him totally summed up my opinions in a first hand way (he doesn't care about actually doing anything or saying anything in a provocative way to make a point, he kinda just wants people to look at him. This is my main beef.)
2- When I saw them in like 2006-7 it was the worst show of my life and the only bad experience I have had on ecstacy. He wouldn't play the fuck*ng songs, instead he just kept telling us how great we were and how he loved us. That is all well and good, but I paid him money and took drugs under the impression I was going to a concert. It was also at the OKC Zoo and they didn't fuck*ng play Christmas at the Zoo or This Here Giraffe.
3- This year I made my yearly trip back to Oklahoma a little after New Years. Apparently, he had just caused stirs in the hipster community there by taking lsd with yoko ono at midnight on new years and then telling people about it and inviting people there?? I don't know, that just seems really off putting to me. I love drugs, particularly that one, and I love bands that use that drug in a non-blatant way, particularly his in the 90s. However, I like it when you use those drugs to make trippier, wider ranging music. Not when you use those drugs to somehow make people think you are cool or something? I don't know, being too open in a kinda commercial/slimy attention-y way with drugs is shitty to me, cause I care about drugs, especially that one and reefer. They can make the world a better place, so best not to use that for attention. Hopefully he had a mildly bad trip because of that.
I can't comment on 1 because I'm not familiar with the story and 3 because, well, because, but I saw them last year and thought it was fantastic. I've only seen them once before, 2004 at Coachella, so I probably don't have the depth of appreciation you have. I enjoyed this show so much more. I also really like Embryonic.
But, it wouldn't surprise me if he is a douche. I just don't care all that much. I still like Joe Meek and Phil Spector records a lot, so apparently I'm good at filtering the really shitty elements of an artist's life.
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Oh shit, first Rosie and now Bobby has returned too.
Hey guess what, I have a friend who named their child Bacon (http://www.flickr.com/photos/pmcd9/sets/72157630291110772/).
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Will Bozack and V-Adore be next?
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Hey guess what, I have a friend who named their child Bacon (http://www.flickr.com/photos/pmcd9/sets/72157630291110772/).
Look at Paul, all trolling the troll.
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I don't know who this Robert Isosceles fellow is
real name brian wheat
as has been proven
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I like Altimiter Tim. Great name, great attitude, slightly unnerving at that.
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real name brian wheat
as has been proven
That reminds of a story I was told long ago, by a man in a half-forgotten dream.