GO READ THIS: Directors On Comedy

Sean Witzke linked to this fantastic roundtable with Judd Apatow, John Landis, Edgar Wright, Todd Phillips and Adam McKay talking about comedy in film:

Landis: I do think the biggest things about Animal House were the score and the photography. I wanted it gritty and dark. You asked about danger. I’ll tell you one more true story: When I showed the movie to Ned Tanen, the president of Universal, for the first time, he stopped the movie after the black bar scene, actually stopped the projector, and stormed out. A little bit later we get a memo that we have to cut the whole road trip to the bar. ‘There’ll be riots! There’ll be riots!’ So we showed the movie to Richard Pryor. And Richard sent a hand-written note, on blue stationery: ‘Ned, Animal House is fucking funny and white people are crazy.—Richard.’ And that’s the only reason we were able to finish the film.”

Support Keith Pille’s new venture, if you like.

Keith’s Nowhere Band is a funny look at four dudes from Minneapolis who play rock music. His other strip, Gentleman’s Gentleman, teaches you etiquette and fashion in a witty style. I like Keith and would like to get a print copy of this book for myself, so please throw a few bucks his way so he can print it.

GO, READ: Entertainment Weekly profile of Bill Murray

Things like this are why I like the man:

Tall and imposing, Murray could intimidate less-confident, less-talented performers. ”I remember sitting down with Bill and saying, ‘You know, a lot of people in the cast are pissed off at you,”’ says Ramis, who was a head writer for Second City TV. ”And he said, ‘Yeeee-eah.’ I said, ‘Do you care?’ He said, ‘Nnn-o.’ So I said, ‘Okay, good talk.’ And that was it. That kind of defined him.’”

WHAT I’VE BEEN READING: Wizzywig

Pittsburgh-based creator Ed Piskor has recently moved his ongoing Wizzywig series of graphic novels online, remastering the art and reworking the format pretty radically with additional panels and a new layout that recalls oversized Sunday strips. Wizzywig tells the story of hacker Kevin Phenicle and unlike most fiction built around the idea of someone dicking around with technology, it doesn’t take a side. Piskor instead explores the moral gray area of this particular hobby: occasionally, Phenicle does something very stupid and deserves what he gets and other times, the response is wildly out of proportion to his actions. Piskor’s cartooning and deliberate approach have made this one of my favorite indie comics of the last few years and I recommend you start at the beginning and add it to your RSS reader.

Note: There is the occasional bit of sweary language your mom wouldn’t like.

Related:
I wrote about the first and second print volumes a while back.

“Princess Pye and Sammitch” by Zack Soto

Princess Pye and Sammitch, originally uploaded by zacksoto.

From his upcoming relaunch of Secret Voice.

Do it or I’ll cut your face off while you sleep. (Joking. Maybe.)

GO READ THIS: Darryl Cunningham’s comic about Dr. Andrew Wakefield

GO VISIT: Angie Wang’s New Website

PROMOTING SOMEONE ELSE’S WORK: JustJenn’s New Comic

My family, being a bunch of drama-free bores who are scattered across a nation, rarely give me that dose of insanity that I think everyone needs in their day-to-day life. Thankfully, JustJenn is one of my best friends and the true stories she tells me about her family are better than any I could concoct. She’s done two comics previously OG: The Book and The Adventures of Kid Emo And Grr Baby but her newest one (which also features the titular grandmother from OG: The Book) is my favorite so far. Jenn takes the conversations she’s had while driving her grandmother around and turns them into funny, sweet three-panel comics that I just plain love.

Here’s one of the first installments from OG: Road Trippin’:

There’s quite a few like this; little bursts of naturally comedic dialogue. What’s pleasantly surprising is seeing how evocative minimalist style is when it comes to the topic of her grandfather’s death, forgoing mawkishness and rending of cloth and instead focusing on little moments that are pretty universal. You can pre-order the book now or wait to see her at San Diego, where she’s forced to sit next to those schmucks from Agreeable Comics for four days.

Make Friends With Marvel!

Through Google Books, the entirety of Popular Mechanics is now online.

I made a guest appearance on Chris Sims’s blog

Go read about what happens when we stop being polite, and start getting real about that show with Clark Kent.

Katie Cook said I had to link to her site today.

Ethan Persoff’s posted a George Wallace pro-segregation comic from the 1960′s.

No new THE RACK today, but…

…you can soothe your fevered brow by downloading free PDFs of the first two volumes of Ed Piskor’s excellent ode to the early days of computer hackery, Wizzywig. Here’s what I wrote about the first volume and here’s a brief mention of the second.

Box Brown’s comics make me laugh. Help him make more of them.

GO READ THIS: Chris Ware’s Halloween Story

The New Yorker has a cover and four-page comic by Chris Ware, featuring the protagonist of one of the best pieces from Acme Novelty Library #18.

The massive New Yorker profile on James Cameron is must reading.

The New Yorker profiles Avatar director James Cameron and the quotes from it are amazing. The Vulture breaks down the most fantastic bits into bite-sized brainbombs.

GO LOOK: Cels from Kyle Baker’s DEXTER Animation for Showtime.

This makes me want to see a show I’ve not had any interest in.

I normally put links on Twitter, but I needed a post today, so…

• Michael Kupperman has some magazines for you to look at.
• Everything Is Terrible ruins art and sex simultaneously.
• Are you reading Rob and Elliot? You should be.
• The Retroist has a nice, “I Love The 70s” redesign going on, but without people who weren’t around in the 70s telling you how wacky they were!
• Design Observer has a really interesting post about a diplomatic MMORPG.
• One of my favorite DJs, Jaguar Skills has a blog where he posts his mixes. They’re all on MediaFire and ZShare and those other horrible file-storage sites, but his cut-ups are worth it.
• Finally, Michael And Michael have an interview. I’ve not kept up with this show like I should, but Showalter and Black never not make me laugh.

I don’t like podcasts, but…

…I got a sneak listen of the first installment of Chris Sims’s and Eugene Ahn’s War Rocket Ajax and think it’s pretty terrific. It moves quickly, it’s funny, and the interview with Matt Fraction is informed and informative.

Go download it and discover that you agree!