Posts Tagged ‘cat-god’
11 items.
Weird new art! Cool? Cool.
At some point, I’m sure, many people face questions about their existence and the existence of the universe. What are we here for? What is our purpose? Are jelly donuts really jelly donuts? I’m here to answer your questions:
Maybe.
I hope that helped.
Ah, science, bane of my youth. It’s no wonder some people are terrified of it when you really think about it. While it is true that I am a big fan of science (I wanted to get involved in every scientific field when I was a kid, still kind of do) it is also true that science nearly destroyed me as a person. Listening to ideas about the Big Bang in seventh grade was a huge mind fuck in a serious way and gave rise to a lot of weird thinking.
You see, people that have to be funny are generally very negative people. Comedy is how some people interface and cope with a world that doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense. If you’re into comedy and also into writing (as I am) then odds are good that you’re pretty messed up. When I learned about the Big Bang, I started to have existential crises. I hadn’t believed in God for a while at that point but this one theory lead to a whole slew of thoughts that I couldn’t really cope with. I began to think about how a universe (clearly a something) could come from nothing. That made me reconsider a deity of some variety but that just gave me the same problem. Where would that deity come from? Then I began to question reality itself, question my existence, and question my questioning.
Eventually I decided to say screw it and start drawing comics. Life is pretty sweet, whatever the purpose of it may be and there’s not enough time in the day to wonder, without real purpose, what it’s all about. Examining our relationships, interactions, and ourselves is complicated enough without the metaphysical implications of existential crises added to the mix. It’s awfully difficult to enjoy what we have when we try to wrap our heads around what amounts to unsolvable problems.
That’s not to say we should never consider them, but being consumed by them makes you a pretty miserable person.
I say this because I know first hand.
Fortunately, it seems a bit more difficult to think yourself out of existence than I’ve made it out to be in this comic.
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Another God strip! Hooray!
An all powerful deity with human emotions was always something I found particularly funny in the Bible. There are many times where God is described as being angry or jealous or (as in the case of the New Testament) loving. I’ve talked about this before, but I find it hard to believe that a being with the power to create, animate, and infuse spirit into his creation would ever feel as we do. It just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. In the Old Testament, you get this sense that God is essentially a kid with an ant hill and a magnifying glass, just tormenting people for the fun of it. I mean, the Book of Job? What’s that all about?
I don’t think it’s wrong to believe in a God or anything like that, but ascribing such incredible flaws to a being we probably wouldn’t be able to comprehend is a bit myopic. Sure, it’s nice to think that he’s just like us, but that’s also really silly.
That said, that sort of God does make for an excellent comic character. Especially when he’s sulky and draping himself over things.
This is a weird strip, I’m not sure what to say about it specifically, really.
God makes a triumphant return, and, true to form he is totally gross and a little surprising.
There are times when I write the strip and I desperately want to come up with something for a particular character, god, or mythology, but it just doesn’t work. Lately, I’ve craved writing more Cat-God strips. The sheer ridiculousness of his replies to K’s philosophical questions are fun and they were the basis for this strip ever starting in the first place. It’s good to have written something new with him in it.
The fun thing about God (both in the strip and in life) is that his (or her or its) very nature stresses the concepts our brains hold dear. Finite reality is not something that can contain him (or her or it) and rules of social niceties do not phase him (or her or it). I think we (as a species) have sort of moved away from the idea of God as the man in the sky with the big white beard and have started to believe in his (or hers or its) existence as more of an abstract. Plenty of people don’t subscribe to that set of beliefs but even they are aware of the concept and I think this applies to them as well.
Personally, I always thought it’d be great if God weren’t subject to our rules but still acted and thought like us but was just a bit more rude and ridiculous. Hence his behavior in every strip he has been in thus far.
It’s like, yeah he could just tell Lil K the answers but that wouldn’t be fun. He’d rather give us some bullshit reply, gross us out, and watch us writhe, laughing the whole time.
You’ve got to be able to laugh at yourself, y’know? If God does exist, that might be his greatest gift to us. Humor in the face of adversity (or just life in general).
You’ll notice I’ve put up some space for Project Wonderful ads. I don’t really like advertising, especially since I feel like it ruins the continuity of my design, but I need some money to start paying for merchandise and PW is a great service. I also put the donation button back in. Hopefully these aren’t too intrusive…
Oh and here is yet another Thursday sketchblog update for your perusal.
The problem with Modern Art is that most people don’t understand what the fuck is going on half the time. The idea here is that you make something so inexplicable that people are forced out of their daily routine and given something to think about. Unfortunately, this practice turns most people off to the idea of art as these sorts of things tend to be really weird. We, as a culture and seemingly as a species, no longer prize execution. We have narrowed the beam of our artistic focus and that beam shines almost exclusively these days on such idiotic ventures as Damien Hirst’s Shark in a Box; AKA The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living.
This sort of art isn’t for me, I am a storyteller and a comedian at heart and my art is, more or less, the art of words and human experience. I am able to step back from my personal opinions and look at this objectively, even though it seems completely ridiculous. People are and should be allowed to pursue various artistic mediums. My problem is that this is what’s big right now and that we are not celebrating things that deserve to be celebrated in the way we should be. So-called “low art” (that is, comics, cartoons, animation in general, any art that relies on story rather than pure visuals) is spoken of pejoratively and with a sneer of disgust in art communities and schools. Meanwhile, people are paying millions for a preserved shark in a box. Seems a bit…strange doesn’t it?
The best part about this comic is that it is mostly true, minus the Sasquatch and deity disguised as a common household feline. My brother saw this very installation at the Philly Museum of Art and was appalled. When he told me about his experience in this white room filled with white panels hung from the walls and ceiling I was taken aback. He went on to explain that a strange hippie was sitting on one of the stools and listening to various voices robotically naming the days of the week in no particular order. It got me thinking…maybe that guy was the art!
Apparently he had come to the same conclusion independently. What can I say? We are brothers.
This points me to my main problem with Modern Art: people are no longer sure what art is and are, essentially, having to be told by gallery coordinators and school professors what does and doesn’t qualify. It’s a hilarious system but a shitty one at the same time.
Personally, all I want to see is some more diversity.
Yes, you can buy ghosts in China Town. You can get anything in that place, you just have to look.
The strip is slightly late again, please accept my apologies. I had crafted a strange experiment wherein the strip was presented in four, wide, vertically stacked panels. When I came home to finish working on it at 10pm, the file completely failed to open so I had to start from scratch. I figured the comic gods had deemed it an extravagance and done away with it. First time that’s ever happened.
I guess there’s nothing like a little consistency, eh?
It’s crunch time at school for the next week or so and things are spinning out of control pretty quickly. I ended up animating 25 seconds of work in 2 days just to get it over with and I feel like my brain is melting out of my skull. Couple that with sleeping only 3-4 hours a night and you have a dangerous cocktail.
That’s right, Sweet William’s love of stupid puns is rubbing off on me. I must fight against it!
I also must figure out how to start generating some revenue with the website. Would you guys be interested in buying prints if our store were set up nicely and I had more ridiculous things on offer? The reason I say this is that I’ve had a lot of people interested in buying happle tea books next spring, but to do that, I need money. Unfortunately, living in Boston, not having a job, and doing 70+ hours of work every week between school and this comic doesn’t leave much for my printing fund.
Let me know, I’m interested to hear what you might want, dear readers <3
I’d rather not shift over to advertising…I hate those ugly boxes mucking up beautifully designed websites…
There is a lot of speculation in the historical and religious community about just how and why Halloween came about and what its symbolism means. I am here to tell you that they are all terribly mistaken. Lil K has, in his childish wisdom, solved that problem.
Albeit, with some unfortunate casualties.
I’ve always felt a bit bad for severe diabetics at Halloween, I imagine it must be like being Jewish around Christmas here in the States. Assaulted by imagery and foods that could very well destroy you for at least a day every year can’t possibly be fun. And yet, they persevere, a clear indication of tremendous constitution: both physical and spiritual. I salute them.
To everyone, I hope you have a very enjoyable Halloween, La Dia De Los Muertos, or whatever Pagan Rituals you may subscribe to. If you happen to see any cryptozoological creatures (perhaps a Sasquatch?), do forward your photographs to me: k@10km.org.
Yesterday was my birthday. Er, actually, today is my birthday. I am writing this on my birthday. Essentially, I am hoping that by writing this on Thursday, my birthday powers will somehow continue into Friday in a shower of gifts and good wishes. I figure that if that happens, the weekend will just give in and continue the celebration.
And if that happens, what then? Perhaps every day will be my birthday. That would be great.
My real life birthday was quiet and pleasant in the ways that I love best. I got wonderful gifts from people I love and a fantastic cake with Sasquatch on it that read, “Have a Birthday”; a capital idea that I followed up on.
Some news to repeat in case you missed it:
There is a charity event TOMORROW, that is, SATURDAY the 17th. RPGamer.com is doing a 24 hour gaming marathon which my good friend Victor (who worked on Happle Tea with me before it was Happle Tea) is taking part in. If you can donate, they would appreciate it. All proceeds go to the Texas Children’s Hospital.
The forums are now up. They are, however, in their infancy and, like an infant, they don’t know or do very much. It is up to us to teach them and fill them with interesting things.
The store is also up but the selection is limited. Right now there is a 10kM illustration and you can acquire any HT strip in print for $5. There will be a new print up this weekend, most likely, that will have the same design as featured on the newest wallpaper I posted.
The best thing about this topic is that it is real. There are, indeed, adventure colleges in the world and they often bill themselves as liberal arts colleges with a focus on environmental sustainability. The reality is that they are training you to sleep with bears. If you can sleep with bears, why continue on in society? Why not, say, find yourself a comfortable cave, a furry new friend, and avoid all that messy loan-repayment?
An adventure program is a fairly interesting idea but one that I would not have the stamina for, personally. I love the outdoors but I am much more laid back in my appreciation for it. My idea of a good time outside generally involves draping myself over things in the sun as opposed to quietly practicing my peculiar obsession in the relative safety of my own home.
The only reason I heard about these schools was because of my brother who is my opposite number in many respects. The idea of hiking trails and leading people on adventure tours appeals to him and I have to respect that.
If I did not, he would probably beat me up.
If astrology were any cooler, it would be an ice cube. Woo!
Not a lot of news right now, I’m getting into the swing of schoolwork right now and working hard to keep up with the strip on top of all the animating and storyboarding. We’re still working on getting the print shop together, but I think William will have completed that sometime this week. The sketch blog has been updated and will be updated again with more interesting things soon. I think we will be putting up some full storyboards we put together for our junior animation projects. They are very cool looking.
Do you lack motivation? Perhaps you need to try draping yourself over things. I do it all the time and let me tell you, it works wonders for my outlook on life.
You may notice some changes to the website going on here and there. I managed to finally get a new banner done up today. I think it’s better than the crappy old one. You can also see that there’s a nice little picture over there on the right hand side for donations. Nobody is obligated to donate, and nobody will ever be required to pay for HT in its web format. Next year, before convention season, I’ll be printing up the strips into a small book to sell and THOSE will cost money. However, until then, if you’ve the means and the inclination and you really like what I do, donations would be appreciated. I’m a student, I’m moving into an apartment with 3 other people in September, and I am scrawny and need to eat. Even if everyone just donated a dollar a month, you could help keep me fed and sheltered! Wouldn’t that be nice? Donations will also keep me from having to put up advertising…blech.
I won’t carry on about donations very much. The button isn’t working just yet anyway, I’ve got to sort that out with Paypal.
I’m also starting to put up some handy links to various things, like the Ten Thousand Masks home page, William Gibbons’ comic Para-Ten, and the RSS subscription. This weekend, I’ll put up a few more things.
We’re also looking at setting up some forums for fans of Happle Tea and Para-Ten to discuss things and for non-fans to flame the shit out of us. I am also still working on figuring out how to get some merchandise going. Unfortunately, at this point, I don’t think I’d make enough from merchandise to justify the costs, but maybe in a few months if things carry on as they are, I’ll be able to go for it.
Anyway, thanks as always for commenting, telling friends, and just reading the strip. I hope it gives you some enjoyment!