Vuelta al cole

Bueno, parece que como mínimo tengo las ganas y el ímpetu de retomar el blog, que tenía descuidado desde hace eones. Hay un montón de proyectos que trabajar y algunos creo que pueden ser muy chulos, y también novedades que me apetece contar según vayan viniendo. Pero de momento, lo mejor que puedo hacer es compartir el último dibujín que he hecho...

En fins, gracias a La Pendeja, por pasarme una fotico de su Nono como modelo :)

Nos leemos, espero que pronto!

Seattle (SanFran)

Tentaciones del Primavera

Lovett

"And I like cream in my coffee
And I like to sleep late on Sunday
And nobody knows me like my baby
And I like eggs over easy
With flour tortillas
And nobody knows me like my baby

And nobody holds me
And nobody knows me
Nobody knows me like my baby

But it was a dream made to order
South of the border
And nobody knows me like my baby
And she cried man how could you do it
And I swore that there weren't nothing to it
But nobody knows me like my baby

And nobody holds me
And nobody knows me
Nobody knows me like my baby

And I like cream in my coffee
And I hate to be alone on Sunday
And nobody knows me like my baby"

A Job that Slowly Kills You

Dragonadas en Pixels

Hace ya algunos años, cuando trabajaba como animador en Portalmix, hice una serie de proyectos para juegos de móviles, pixelizando un poco de todo para crear la parte gráfica del tema. Entre pixel y pixel (acabé hasta el gorro) y para desintoxicarme, hice una versión de los protagonistas de Dragonadas en pixels. En fins, una curiosidad que quería compartir...

Leyendo: "El Viaje a la Felicidad", Eduardo Punset.

¡¡¡¡¡¡¡La Crisis Carnívora: 16 DE MAYO!!!!!!!

Notición!!!!!

Cálicoworld 2

Otro pin-up para el tomo 6 de Cálico Electrónico...

La Tira de Dragonadas #23

Leaving FNAC

El sábado pasado tuve por casa a un buen amigo, Jordi, que ha cambiado de trabajo recientemente. Hasta hace poco estaba en la recepción de uno de los FNACs de Barcelona, con todo lo que ésto conlleva. Jordi me pidió si podía hacer una viñetita con un chiste que se le había ocurrido y que viene a resumir lo que ha sido su curro en los últimos años. He aquí el resultado:

Rowling, Lexicon, and Oz (por Orson Scott Card)

"Can you believe that J.K. Rowling is suing a small publisher because she claims their 10,000-copy edition of Harry Potter Lexicon, a book about Rowling's hugely successful novel series, is just a "rearrangement" of her own material.

Rowling "feels like her words were stolen," said lawyer Dan Shallman.

Well, heck, I feel like the plot of my novel Ender's Game was stolen by J.K. Rowling.

A young kid growing up in an oppressive family situation suddenly learns that he is one of a special class of children with special abilities, who are to be educated in a remote training facility where student life is dominated by an intense game played by teams flying in midair, at which this kid turns out to be exceptionally talented and a natural leader. He trains other kids in unauthorized extra sessions, which enrages his enemies, who attack him with the intention of killing him; but he is protected by his loyal, brilliant friends and gains strength from the love of some of his family members. He is given special guidance by an older man of legendary accomplishments who previously kept the enemy at bay. He goes on to become the crucial figure in a struggle against an unseen enemy who threatens the whole world.

This paragraph lists only most prominent similarities between Ender's Game and the Harry Potter series. My book was published in England years before Rowling began writing about Harry Potter. Rowling was known to be reading widely in speculative fiction during the era after the publication of my book.

I can get on the stand and cry, too, Ms. Rowling, and talk about feeling "personally violated."

The difference between us is that I actually make enough money from Ender's Game to be content, without having to try to punish other people whose creativity might have been inspired by something I wrote.

Mine is not the only work that one can charge Rowling "borrowed" from. Check out this piece from a fan site, pointing out links between Harry Potter and other previous works: http://www.geocities.com/versetrue/rowling.htm. And don't forget the lawsuit by Nancy K. Stouffer, the author of a book entitled The Legend of Rah and the Muggles, whose hero was named "Larry Potter."

At that time, Rowling's lawyers called Stouffer's claim "frivolous."

It's true that we writers borrow words from each other -- but we're supposed to admit it and not pretend we're original when we're not. I took the word ansible from Ursula K. LeGuin, and have always said so. Rowling, however, denies everything.

If Steven Vander Ark, the author of Lexicon, had written fiction that he claimed was original, when it was actually a rearrangement of ideas taken from the Harry Potter books, then she'd have a case.

But Lexicon is intended only as a reference book for people who have already paid for their copies of Rowling's books. Even though the book is not scholarly, it certainly falls within the realm of scholarly comment.

Rowling's hypocrisy is so thick I can hardly breathe: Prior to the publication of each novel, there were books about them that were no more intrusive than Lexicon. I contributed to one of them, and there was no complaint about it from Rowling or her publishers because they knew perfectly well that these fan/scholar ancillary publication were great publicity and actually boosted sales.

But now the Harry Potter series is over, and Rowling claims that her "creative work" is being "decimated."

Of course, she doesn't claim that it's the Lexicon that is harming her "creative work" (who's she borrowing from this time?); it's the lawsuit itself! And since she chose to bring the suit, whose fault is it? If she had left Vander Ark alone to publish his little book and make his little bit of money, she wouldn't be distracted from her next novel.

But no, Rowling claims Vander Ark's book "constitutes wholesale theft of 17 years of my hard work."

Seventeen years? What a crock. Apparently she includes in that total the timeframe in which she was reading -- and borrowing from -- the work of other writers.

On the stand, though, Rowling's chief complaint seems to be that she would do a better job of annotating and encyclopedizing her own series.

So what?

Nothing prevents her from doing exactly that -- annotating and explaining her own novels. Do you think that if there were a Harry Potter Annotated by the Author, Vander Ark's book would interfere with her sales in any way?

This frivolous lawsuit puts at serious risk the entire tradition of commentary on fiction. Any student writing a paper about the Harry Potter books, any scholarly treatise about it, will certainly do everything she's complaining about.

Once you publish fiction, Ms. Rowling, anybody is free to write about it, to comment on it, and to quote liberally from it, as long as the source is cited.

Here's the irony: Vander Ark had the material for this book on his website for years, and Rowling is quoted as saying that when she needed to look up some 'fact" from her earlier books, she would sometimes "sneak into an Internet café while out writing and check a fact rather than go into a bookshop and buy a copy of Harry Potter."

In other words, she already had made personal use of Vander Ark's work and found it valuable. Even if it has shortcomings, she found it useful.

That means that Vander Ark created something original and useful -- he added value to the product. If Rowling wants to claim that it interferes with her creativity now, she should have made that complaint back when she was using it -- and giving Vander Ark an award for his website back in 2004.

Now, of course, she regrets "bitterly" having given the award.

You know what I think is going on?

Rowling has nowhere to go and nothing to do now that the Harry Potter series is over. After all her literary borrowing, she shot her wad and she's flailing about trying to come up with something to do that means anything.

Moreover, she is desperate for literary respectability. Even though she made more money than the Queen or Oprah Winfrey in some years, she had to see her books pushed off the bestseller lists and consigned to a special "children's book" list. Litterateurs sneer at her work as a kind of subliterature, not really worth discussing.

It makes her insane. The money wasn't enough. She wants to be treated with respect.

At the same time, she's also surrounded by people whose primary function is to suck up to her. No doubt some of them were saying to her, "It's wrong for these other people to be exploiting what you created to make money for themselves."

She let herself be talked into being outraged over a perfectly normal publishing activity, one that she had actually made use of herself during its web incarnation.

Now she is suing somebody who has devoted years to promoting her work and making no money from his efforts -- which actually helped her make some of her bazillions of dollars.

Talent does not excuse Rowling's ingratitude, her vanity, her greed, her bullying of the little guy, and her pathetic claims of emotional distress.

I fully expect that the outcome of this lawsuit will be:

1. Publication of Lexicon will go on without any problem or prejudice, because it clearly falls within the copyright law's provision for scholarly work, commentary, and review.

2. Rowling will be forced to pay Steven Vander Ark's legal fees, since her suit was utterly without merit from the start.

3. People who hear about this suit will have a sour taste in their mouth about Rowling from now on. Her Cinderella story once charmed us. Her greedy evil-witch behavior now disgusts us. And her next book will be perceived as the work of that evil witch.

It's like her stupid, self-serving claim that Dumbledore was gay. She wants credit for being very up-to-date and politically correct -- but she didn't have the guts to put that supposed "fact" into the actual novels, knowing that it might hurt sales.

What a pretentious, puffed-up coward. When I have a gay character in my fiction, I say so right in the book. I don't wait until after it has had all its initial sales to mention it.

Rowling has now shown herself to lack a brain, a heart and courage. Clearly, she needs to visit Oz."

Sister, I'm a Poet

Cálicoworld 1

El próximo tomito de Cálico Electrónico, el sexto, será una especie de pupurrí de diversos autores y estilos. Una buena manera de cerrar este experimento (aunque Cálico es popularísimo en la web no se sabía como funcionaría en un medio "mudo" como es el del cómic). Niko me preguntó si me molaría trabajar una página completa (al final han sido dos), con guión, lápiz, tinta y lo que venía haciendo hasta ahora para la serie, el color. La respuesta, claro está, fue un sí rotundo.

Pese a tener más o menos una historia, me apetecía un montón versionar los personajes más conocidos de la serie de animación, de manera que me di el gustazo de añadirlos al margen de las páginas. Como previa, iré colgando estos pequeños "bustos" de los personajes, a ver qué os parecen. Empezamos por los Niños Mutantes de San Ildefonso...

Leyendo: Clásicos MAD, vol. 1

Sant Jordi

"Johnny's always running around
Trying to find certainty
He needs all the world to confirm
That he ain't lonely
Mary counts the walls
Knows he tires easily

Johnny thinks the world would be right
If it could buy truth from him
Mary says he changes his mind more than a woman
But she made her bed
Even when the chance was slim

Johnny says he's willing to learn
When he decides he's a fool
Johnny says he'll live anywhere
When he earns to time
Mary combs her hair
Says she should be used to it

Mary always hedges her bets
She never knows what to think
She says that he still acts
Like he is being discovered
Scared that he'll be caught
Without a second thought
Running around

Johnny feels he's wasting his breath
Trying to talk sense to her
Mary says he's lacking a real
Sense of proportion
So she combs her hair
Knows he tires easily

Johnny's always running around
Trying to find certainty
He needs all the world to confirm
That he ain't lonely
Mary counts the walls
Says she should be used to it

Johnny's always running around
Running around"

Vera Brosgol

A través de la web de Karl Kerschl descubro a Vera Brosgol, en el site que lleva por nombre Verabee!. Se trata de una ilustradora/animadora que tiene verdaderas maravillas en su portafolio, con una exquisita mezcla de naiveté y estilo de la que hay mucho que aprender. Aunque el rastro de Bruce Timm es patente en el global, Brosgol tiene un enfoque propio muy pero que muy recomendable. Sólo visitando su blog y viendo las piezas que está haciendo actualmente ya da razones para la envidia y la admiración. ¡Visitadla!

Leyendo: Craig Thompson, "Adiós, Chunky Rice."

La Tira de Dragonadas #22

Futbolines

¡Cremalleras gratis!

Hace unos días, Tom Waltz, guionista y editor de IDW, acordó con Newsarama colgar de manera gratuita todo el primer comic de Zipper. Teniendo en cuenta que he tomado los colores de esta serie a partir del número 4 (el sexto lo estoy acabando hoy mismo), creo que os podéis hacer una idea de lo que espera a aquellos que tengan curiosidad por él. Los colores de este número son del excelente Dusty Yee.

CINE

Snoopy meets Watchmen

A través de La Cárcel de Papel he encontrado esta imagen, a mi juicio divertidísima, que me ha llevado al blog del estupendo dibujante, Evan Shaner. Muchas cosas para disfrutar :)

La Tira de Dragonadas #21

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Now playing: Radiohead / Jigsaw Falling Into Place
via FoxyTunes

No hay dos sin tres

Anteayer nació mi tercer sobrino, Marc Brizuela Guardiet, en la clínica Corachan, un mes y medio antes de lo que le tocaba. Estoy rebosante de alegría :)

Leyendo: Katherine Kurtz, "Deryni Checkmate".

Magia Potagia

The Abominable Charles Christopher

Ya hace algún tiempo que sigo las andanzas de Karl Kerschl, dibujante de nombre impronunciable, pero con un arte fabuloso. Últimamente se está prodigando bastante en los "mass" comics, pero sigue manteniendo lo que para mí lo hace un artista todavía más completo y espectacular: The Abominable Charles Christopher.

The Abominable Charles Christopher es una tira semanal para Internet que tiene como protagonista a un monstruo un tanto infantil, con un elenco de secundarios que viven en una especie de bosque mitológico, haciendo las delicias del lector. La calidad de la tira es asombrosa, tanto a nivel artístico como en su guión desenfadado y sobretodo sorprendente. Cada semana espero la tira con mucha ansiedad.

Si os gustan las tiras cómicas en general, o Bone, o Liberty Meadows, o simplemente queréis ver una tinta como pocas veces habréis visto, añadid a vuestros Favoritos The Abominable Charles Christopher y dejad que os sorprenda cada semana.

Os dejo con la tira inicial, para que veais un poco de que va el tema :)

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Now playing: Nelly Furtado / Say It Right
via FoxyTunes

Dragonlance Chronicles: Dragons of Spring Dawning #7

Bueno, pues por lo que voy viendo por la web y lo que me va llegando por Previews y tal, creo que el primer número que pinté para DDP de la Dragonlance, el número 7 más concretamente, ya ha salido al mercado. Aunque en la web de DDP tienen la portada en pequeñito (los créditos están erróneos; el guión es de Andrew Dabb, el dibujo de Óscar Jiménez y Pere Pérez), no he podido encontrarla a buen tamaño por Internet. La imagen de arriba creo que pertenecerá al Trade Paperback (que además incluirá el segundo número que hice, el 9).

Por ahora no he encontrado muchas críticas por Internet, sólo un breve comentario en este blog, donde me dan una de cal y una de arena (y con razón). Se agradece que haya gente que se fije en el trabajo de color, que normalmente pasa por alto.

Para que juzguéis por vosotros mismos, y dado que ya ha sido editado, os dejo con una selección de las páginas que más me gustan de todo el cómic, obviamente a nivel de color.

Leyendo: David Sedaris, Oh Blanca Navidad...

La mujer en el arte, por eggman913

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Now playing: Mercury Rev / Blue And Black
via FoxyTunes

Songerize

Recientemente he descubierto la web de Songerize (Listen Now!) y la verdad es que me encanta.

Básicamente se trata de un buscador de música que te permite escuchar los temas que tu desees al momento. Creo que aún está en alguna fase de prueba, pero lo que me gusta de ella es su sencillez y la aleatoriedad de los resultados. Probadla, a ver qué os parece.

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Now playing: Andrés Calamaro / Prefiero Dormir
via FoxyTunes

La Tira de Dragonadas #20

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Now playing: Kylie Minogue / I Believe in You
via FoxyTunes

Los Ángeles no Tienen Hélices

Ni falta que les hace. Al menos esto es lo que uno piensa al salir del teatro y gozar de los monólogos de Dani Pérez, humorista excelso, en la nueva obra que está presentando en el SAT (Sant Andreu Teatre). Si tenéis la ocasión de verlo en este trabajo (o en cualquier otro, ya es la segunda vez que lo disfruto y va a mejor), no os la perdáis. Risas garantizadas durante dos horas. Y eso, tal como esta el patio, tiene mucho mérito.

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Now playing: Soundtrack / Briony
via FoxyTunes

Nocturnidad y Alevosía