Nobius Black's
White Rabbit-*BLACK HOLE*

Killing the bunny everyday.
Live. In Stereo.


White Rabbit - *BLACK HOLE* --FALL IN!

Thoughts fall out before the head explodes!

Thursday, April 28, 2005


Creating Comics Step By Step 5

Creating Comics Step By Step Part 5: characterization.

Broadly, characterization breaks down into four forms:

- big action (macrocharacterization)
- mannerism and body language (microcharacterization)
- background
- dialogue.

Steve Grant rules.

-posted by Nobius 9:23 AM # Comments (2)


Cartoon Waster

"I'm so blind. Blind." --Korn

"When a man lies, he murders his part of the world. All this I can not bear to witness any longer. Can not the kingdom of salvation take me home?" --Cliff Burton/Metallica


Just recently caught on to Cartoonmayhem's Live Journal. She's very cool. And she's involved with Landwaster which publishes my friend Don-O's book which I'll be buying soon.

Landwaster is looking for "untapped talent, an eccentric mindset, a person who reads a lot, but not just Classics 101. And of course bizarre, true life stories. Not the Dave Byrne weird for the sake of being weird, but by people who don't realize how weird they are, like Wesley Willis or Ed Wood."

-posted by Nobius 9:11 AM # Comments (0)

Wednesday, April 27, 2005


Podcasting Killed the Radio Star

Podcasting killed the radio star. Good article about Infinity Broadcasting's great radio experiment.

-posted by Nobius 10:01 PM # Comments (0)


Another Downed Angel

"Love you so much. It makes me sick...Beat me out of me." --Nirvana

"I'll creep in your head, I'll creep in your bed...I'm mainlining murder." --Lars Fredericksen and the Bastards


this is an audio post - click to play


Another Downed Angel

Ohhh...
The engine is gone.
The plane ain't landing.
Not my Mr. Jesus...
Not my Daddy Michael...
Real life crashes.
I got no wings.

He was a mosquito attracted to Light.
The bite I still scratch.
Another downed Angel,
Going down in tears.
Walk on water.
Sink or swim.

Houston, we have a problem.
How do I get my wings back?
(I'm not the *one* here.)

Abandonment issues -- spinning wheel.
Don't be scared.
(I'm not scared.)
What did they do to you...
And what did you remember?
Repressed = reliving = noose.
(Happy Eighteenth birthday son!)

Things didn't work out like we planned.
(Like you promised it would.)
You said you'd never leave.
And I don't understand.
(I don't understand.)
Why Dad left.
I just turned eighteen.
Now a little boy holding on.

Fade to sleep,
With secrets I keep.
What is karma...and effect?
We live.
We die...
All this isolation.
Love is only good at arm's length.

I must assure you,
I hate it when I point my anger.
It's a trigger too easy to pull,
You my dear are in the cross hairs.
(Click. Click. Look out!)

Everything's gonna be all right.
(Like he promised it would.)
He said he'd never leave.
I don't understand.
(I don't understand.)
Why Dad left.
I just turned eighteen
Now a little boy holding on.

Pipes are leaking.
It's my fears.
They see it on my face.
Every night I bury my father.
Going down in tears.
Sink or swim.
Another downed Angel.
I'm not gonna fly.
I got no wings.
Houston, we have a problem.

-posted by Nobius 12:07 AM # Comments (5)

Tuesday, April 26, 2005


Link Kick

While I'm on a link kick (damn, I read a lot online)...here's part five of Steven Grant's Creating Comics Step By Step. This week he discusses setting.

-posted by Nobius 10:54 PM # Comments (0)


Which Friggin' Muppet Are You?

Evidently I'm the buger colored one. Damn it, I wanted to be Animal! ANIMAL! ANIMAL! :) Stolen from Don.

kermit.jpeg
You are Kermit the Frog.
You are reliable, responsible and caring. And you
have a habit of waving your arms about
maniacally.

FAVORITE EXPRESSIONS:
"Hi ho!" "Yaaay!" and
"Sheesh!"
FAVORITE MOVIE:
"How Green Was My Mother"

LAST BOOK READ:
"Surfin' the Webfoot: A Frog's Guide to the
Internet"

HOBBIES:
Sitting in the swamp playing banjo.

QUOTE:
"Hmm, my banjo is wet."


What Muppet are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

-posted by Nobius 10:48 PM # Comments (0)


Because I Have Nothing Better

Becuase I have nothing better to do, I'm ripping off this highly obvious MEME from Grant. Thanks Grant. :)





Your Taste in Music:


Heavy Metal: Highest Influence
90's Alternative: Low Influence
Alternative Rock: Low Influence
Hair Bands: Low Influence
Progressive Rock: Low Influence


-posted by Nobius 10:38 PM # Comments (0)


Hot to Critique Comics

How to Critque Comics. Great article. Something I'll be doing more of I hope.

-posted by Nobius 9:22 AM # Comments (0)


Downloadable Manga

Downloadable Manga. But what I really want is downloadable Vertigo.

-posted by Nobius 9:21 AM # Comments (0)


President Quixote

Venezuela just might be the next Iraq. Or at least their leadership thinks so. Very interesting in light of that fact the search for WMDs in Iraq has not officially ended, our own people have come to the conclusion that there probably were no WMDs. As much as I hate to say this, score another one for the U.N.

-posted by Nobius 9:17 AM # Comments (0)


Language of the Fan

While I'm here in Idea Catcher faze, here's another cool one: Language of the Fan. Seems like the creator's of Jade Empire actually created a virtual spoken language for the game. No more of that Klingon bullshit! LOL. I've played the demo, this game is sweet, it's what X-Box was meant for.

-posted by Nobius 9:14 AM # Comments (0)


American Hands

Warren posts another over the top one. American Hands is a real book published during World War II.

-posted by Nobius 9:12 AM # Comments (0)


Good Blog Ideas

Preshrunk is a great BLOG idea. It's a BLOG to buy innovative T-shirts via the Internet. Check out 8 Bit Jason.

-posted by Nobius 9:09 AM # Comments (0)


What's You're Signature Weapon

Cut from Grant. Pardon the bad pun. But his HTML always looks better than mine!! Wahh!!








Bastard Sword
You preferred a weapon with 54% power over speed and 21% range over melee.
You use a Bastard Sword.

Also known as a "hand and a half" blade, the bastard sword is potent and adaptable. It can be used with one or both hands, and its heft and power are fearsome in a skilled opponent. You are a fearsome sight when you draw your great blade, and your opponents run in terror.






My test tracked 2 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:













free online datingfree online dating
You scored higher than 72% on power





free online datingfree online dating
You scored higher than 9% on range
Link: The What's Your Signature Weapon Test written by inurashii on Ok Cupid

-posted by Nobius 8:32 AM # Comments (0)

Sunday, April 24, 2005


Listen: Reroute to Remain



"Infiltrate my Neverland like the flood tide drowning." --In Flames

Finally, got a copy of In Flames's Reroute to Remain: Fourteen Songs of Conscious Insanity. It's more than death metal. This is a top notch musical masterpiece. Screaming rifts, insightful lyrics, surrounded in mysteriously beautiful packaging provided by Cabin Fever Media. Few bands can match In Flames near poetic ability to write music that grinds yet gives feeling and meaning to our every day futility. The song System inspired my own piece of poetry by the same name, and Cloud Connected is a song that will haunt you the rest of your days. This one gets a ten on the Nobius Cool Factor.

Check it out. You'll never be the same. You won't want to.

-posted by Nobius 12:40 PM # Comments (0)

Saturday, April 23, 2005


FELL preview panel

It's a quick preview of one of Warren Ellis's new projects.

Blink and you'll miss it.

Beautiful and tragic.

I'm looking forward to FELL very much.

-posted by Nobius 7:18 PM # Comments (0)


Back?

I'm back.

I think. Damn computers.

More later, off to Aikido.

-posted by Nobius 9:38 AM # Comments (4)

Friday, April 22, 2005


AFK

You'll notice I've been conspicuously absent of late.  My system has caught another nasty virus (2nd one in six weeks) and my hard drive has crashed again.  I'm so glad the folks at Norton and Microsoft make such fine products to stop these types to attacks since neither my antivirus software nor my firewall did a thing to stop it.  Through the miracle of modern BLOGolgy, I can use my email at work to post this.  But I can't look at my BLOG that is a terminatable offense.

 

Some people just don't know good art when they see it.

 

I'll be back soon with more fun and mayhem.  (Or at least I hope.) 

 

Good thing I do back up, looks like I only lost my current issue of the Blue Rabbit Chronicles. 

 

Late.

 

-N

 

 


-posted by Nobius 5:47 PM # Comments (2)

Monday, April 18, 2005


Sun Offering

this is an audio post - click to play


Sun Offering

If I offered you my sun,
Would you stay with me?
(Lift me up.)
Would you play with me?
(Lift me up.)
Would you love me?
Lift me up so I don't fall.
My beautiful alone.

So much of *this* will just vanish.
Time is the little I have left.
What's the point of all this livin'
When life only leads to death?

Even as my words come back to me,
Paper confessions are realized.
I want to die.
(Lift me up.)
Scatter the ash,
Or wear a new skin.

The meaning of the moment--
New blood,
Ancient wounds.
Until the next moment starts.
New problems arise,
New glories are found.
I put the pen to paper.
Pick the exisential scabs.
(Lift me up.)

I stay awake all night
Writing poetry--
It's the secret of the world.
The happiness of my life.
It lifts me up
So I don't fall.

-posted by Nobius 11:30 PM # Comments (0)


Disappoint

Disappoint

Today I saw the loneliest heart
In the world.
Tears fell to the wind.
From my looking glass,
She looked back.
Reflections never lie,
Love is a great disappointment.

But how do you tell yourself,
"I'm sorry."

-posted by Nobius 10:40 PM # Comments (0)

Sunday, April 17, 2005


Buzzscope

Check out Zantanna on Buzzscope. Who doesn't like a super heroine in black stalkings?

Then check out the rest of the site. Great preview pages.

-posted by Nobius 10:36 PM # Comments (2)


Paper Movies

Steven Grant's site looks like it's still under construction however this is a great idea. He's collecting online columns into a PDF which you can either download or order on CD. Link here.

Like the site name.

-posted by Nobius 10:13 PM # Comments (0)


Creating Comics Part Four

Creating Comics Step by Step Part Four. Steven Grant's at it again. Good stuff.

-posted by Nobius 10:09 PM # Comments (0)


Grant Morrison Interview

Catching up on my links. Here's another good Grant Morrison interview. Grant is the creator of both Arkham Asylum and the run on Animal Man in which our hero meets his writer.

-posted by Nobius 10:02 PM # Comments (0)


Master of the Obvious: With Democrats Like These

Check out Steve Grant's take on certain political scenarios in our nation right now. With Democrats like these...who needs Republicans? Article is toward the end of the column. Highlights include:

Supported a bill written by the credit card industry to strip ordinary Americans of the right to file bankruptcy while leaving wealthy Americans loopholes and shelters to avoid debts, opening the possibility of many Americans currently able to manage their debt becoming the equivalent of indentured servants to the credit card companies should the dollar continue to bottom out overseas and interest rates rise rapidly, as has been predicted by many economists, to "offset and slow inflation".

Pledged support for any efforts to "stop Iran's nuclear weapons program," despite continued and growing evidence that no such program exists and administration claims of such are a repeat of the lies that took us into Iraq.
Supported, after decades of thwarting, the opening of the Alaskan National Wildlife reserve to oil drilling.

Supported a bill to shift class action lawsuits, currently tried in state courts, to federal jurisdiction where prosecutions are much tougher and awards generally much smaller - a present for American corporations and the crippling of a key protection for consumers.

Supported the tort "reform" bill designed to effectively eliminate legal remedies to slipshod corporate behavior.


Bottom line is America will never create vialbe third party political alternatives.

-posted by Nobius 9:44 PM # Comments (0)


Frank O'Hara

Couple of related good links for Frank O'Hara, one of the greatest poets writing has ever seen.

Link One and Link Two.

Love the picture on link one from Jacket magazine. The light bulb conglomeration is incredible.

...and suddendly I see a headline.
LANA TURNER HAS COLLAPSED!
there is no snow in Hollywood
there is no rain in California
I have been to lots of parties
and acted perfectly disgraceful
but I never actually collapsed
oh Lana Turner we love you get up

--Frank O'Hara

-posted by Nobius 9:31 PM # Comments (0)


Microstar

I've surpassed ten thousand hits on this site!

Look out world, now I'm a Microstar.

:)

-posted by Nobius 1:08 PM # Comments (3)

Friday, April 15, 2005


Poetry Metal Head

"Come on. Come on. Let's get it on. Live through my music....we're in this together." --Velvet Underground

Just watched the new video for Seether's Remedy. Another phenomenal video from this music generation's Nirvana. Makes me realize, I want to get on stage. I want to scream and shout. Let it all fucking out. I want to be more than a poetry rock star. I want to be a Poetry Metal Head, a two fisted writer screaming out my life's work in words!

It's all about the feeling. It's all about the power and the release.

Because I have to. I need to.

The words won't leave me alone man.

-posted by Nobius 9:41 AM # Comments (0)


A Return To Dark

"What you think of yourself is much more important than what others think of you." --Lucius Annaes Seneca

"I lost my pill. What will I do? What will I do?"-- Nobius Black


I love that last piece I posted Cerrado. The words are slowly returning to my head, churning when I breath in, coming out when I exhale. It's amazing that when I feel good, I write pieces like it, I return to dark. Poetry is therapy. Weight drops off my shoulders.

Yet, when I'm depressed I can't scrape together the mental energy to write a sentence much less a piece. Never think I am a person on the brink of suicide. One primary reason that I create is so that I don't become that person two seconds away from taking a gun to my head. If my Dad had done the same perhaps he'd still be with us today.

-posted by Nobius 8:41 AM # Comments (1)


Happening

"Bunny is a terrible thing to taste." -- Nobius Black

Molly was so mad. She means it this time, I think she's going to really leave. She wants to know where I slept last night and why my boots are always covered in mud when I stay out all night.

But I don't know how to tell her--I was in that damn graveyard again, in a freshly dug grave, screwing the hell out of another dead woman. Molly just wouldn't understand.

-posted by Nobius 8:21 AM # Comments (2)

Wednesday, April 13, 2005


Cerrado

"We changing animals never really change." --Nobius Black

"Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing." -Albert Schweitzer

"I am chased by morning. I am slippery." --Stan Rice


this is an audio post - click to play


Cerrado

The Sun is lonely over Barbertown.
Empty husks abound.
Hope hangs low.
Not much sound except the quiet dying
Of our life together.

You can not change who you are.
No matter how many times you are reborn.
Though I try to hold on....
I try to pray....
These are the reasons that now: I pay.
You're as close as far away
Ever was.

There's bad mojo in fallen angels.
Books are open to interpretation.
Man is looking for answers
When none are to be found.
(It's the way He wants it.)

You can kill yourself now,
I breathe in chant--
The long held secret
I entrusted the dead with my heart.
It's the cult of my own soul.
Reckless reckless me.

Cerrado.
Cerrado.
All is closed.
I'm ready to go home now.

End Note: Cerrado is Spanish for closed.

-posted by Nobius 11:17 PM # Comments (0)


Data Companion

Today information is no longer a destination, it's a companion.

-posted by Nobius 10:30 PM # Comments (0)

Monday, April 11, 2005


Slap Your Irritating Co-Workers Day!

This one gave me a much needed belly laugh today at work:

Monday 11 April is the official Slap Your Irritating Co-workers Day:

Do you have a co-worker who talks nonstop about nothing, working your last nerve with tedious and boring details that you don't give a damn about?

Do you have a co-worker who ALWAYS screws up stuff creating MORE work for you?

Do you have a co-worker who kisses so much booty, you can look in their mouth and see what your boss had for lunch?

Do you have a co-worker who is SOOO obnoxious, when he/she enters a room, everyone else clears it?

Well, on behalf of Ike Turner, I am so very very glad to officially announce tomorrow as SLAP YOUR IRRITATING CO-WORKER DAY!

There are the rules you must follow:

You can only slap one person per hour - no more.

You can slap the same person again if they irritate you again in the same day.

You are allowed to hold someone down as other co-workers take their turns slapping the irritant.

No weapons are allowed...other than going upside somebody's head with a stapler or a hole-puncher.

CURSING IS MANDATORY! After you have slapped the recipient, your "assault" must be followed with something like "cause I'm sick of your stupid-a$$ always messing up stuff!"

If questioned by a supervisor [or police, if the supervisor is the irritant], you are allowed to LIE, LIE, LIE!

Now, study the rules, break out your list of folks that you want to slap the living day lights out of and get to slapping.....and have a great day!!!!

PS If you cannot think of anyone to slap then that means that YOU are the irritating person in the office so be prepared to recieve the SMACKDOWN of your life!!

-posted by Nobius 10:48 PM # Comments (0)

Sunday, April 10, 2005


Life Is Not Good Without Books

"Does it make you want to pray? No you can't deny." --Nobius Black

"Don't you want to find your way home again?" -- Twelve Stones

"Some how you're contagious. You don't even know what's good for you." --Orgy


Not sure if that last piece The Collector worked or not...but I do love lines form it. It reminds me of something from the Some Kind of Monster Metallica documentary that I watched this weekend. (Solid movie BTW.) Lars Ulrich (the drummer) asked, when is a piece done? When is a song finished? An album complete? Maybe never. Which is the way I am about nearly everything I write and rewrite. My writing never feels finished to me.

I began working on Issue #8 of my Blue Rabbit Chronicles zine and one of the poems I'm reprinting in it is amazing to me. It's called Forgotten. I hated it when I first wrote it, but now more than six months later it really works. So, maybe the same will be said about this current piece. I'm just glad to have gotten some creative writing done over the weekend. Also had a great Aikido class yesterday. So, my anxiety has eased up some, which is good. As much as I hate to do it, think I may see a councilor again for a while and get a little more help. I can't keep living with this feeling that the world is going to end.

Getting back to work tomorrow should be fun since I took a long weekend. I'm betting I'll have at least three hundred emails, plus I believe we are moving desks again...AHHH...I hate working. Winning the lottery would do me fine.

Michael loaned me his copies of Samurai Executioner. I'm in love with reading.

Time to close this post with a quote from my fellow APA member Samantha's online journal: "...And now I'm going to get a little reading in before sleep because life is not good without books."

And it isn't.

-posted by Nobius 11:07 PM # Comments (2)


The Collector

"Don't fall in love again. That's a line they will feed you." -- Buckcherry

The Collector

Every man has the same size soul.
Every word here -- a piece of mine.
Something to keep.
Something to inspire.
Something to reassemble into the greater.

Oh Holy Journal--
(You hear my prayers)--
I am *Word*.
Keep it close to the heart.

In Heaven, we will read every book ever written.
With God, our potentials will be realized.
The great writer inside will have all he needs,
An author on the otherside.
That is what I believe.

I live by the pen.
Ink vein paper trails.
I collect it all--
To be it all--
Never die (not really)--
I am *Word*.
Collector.

Remember me.

-posted by Nobius 6:31 PM # Comments (0)

Friday, April 08, 2005


Read: Writing for Comics



Went to the comics shop yesterday and my copy of Alan Moore's Writing for Comics finally came in. I'll let you know how it was after I finish reading it. The main essay of the book was originally written in 1985 for an obscure British fanzine about the same time Moore was reshaping modern comics.

Also got Teen Titans Go #16, Countdown to Infinite Crisis, Ocean #5, Y the Last Man #32, The Losers #22, and Hypothetical Lizard #2.

Got a chance to read a few of them last night and though I'm not in the mood to do reviews tonight, if you read Ocean, Hypothetical, Losers, and Y you'll be making like a hitch hiker with the Roger Ebert patented thumbs up.

Read the Ministry of Space trade paperback last weekend. It's breath taking in it's scope and grandeur. Warren Ellis is the master and he's at his best when doing science fiction. This review sums it up.

If that weren't enough, I also got a copy of The Courtship of Princess Leia book. I'm finally over the first two God-awful prequel movies and holding out that something much better will come out of Episode III.

Tell me, what are you reading?

-posted by Nobius 8:06 PM # Comments (5)

Thursday, April 07, 2005


Right for you?

"God sells us all things at the price of labor." --Leonardo DaVinci

"Giving up a part of me. I've let myself become you." --Linkin' Park


Posted some poetry on my Live Journal that previously appeared here and/or in my zine the The Blue Rabbit Chronicles. You can read them by clicking on this little link thingy. After reading them, you may want to kiss your Mom or curl up in a fetal ball and cry. It's your choice, I don't mind either way. Ask your doctor if *POETRY* is right for you.

If you like my writing, let me know. Or drop a quarter in my hat and see my smile:






I have four scripts written for my someday webcomic now. Dealing with all this depression has left me dry when it comes to writing. It's mental energy flow. Something I've had a lack of lately.

But I'll be back again.

And more importantly so will my pen.

-posted by Nobius 12:18 PM # Comments (2)

Wednesday, April 06, 2005


Neil Gaiman on Writing

Neil Gaiman doesn't know what getting into a creative writing program has to do with being a writer.

-posted by Nobius 11:22 PM # Comments (2)


Where The Ideas Take Him

Warren goes where the ideas take him.

Little text files everywhere.

-posted by Nobius 11:19 PM # Comments (0)

Sunday, April 03, 2005


Bad Signal

"And I want to get free. Talk to me....somehow here is gone."--Goo Goo Dolls

From the Warren Ellis mailing list Bad Signal:

bad signal
WARREN ELLIS

DC appear to have turned a couple of old works
of mine into free downloads:

My first issue of STORMWATCH:

Storm Watch #1

The first issue of PLANETARY, plus THE PLANETARY
PREVIEW:

Planetary #1

...................

It amazes me after all these years how many publisher's websites don't have free books/comics or muscian's websites don't have free MP3's, etc. What better way to promote your product? Glad to see DC has a few.

-posted by Nobius 11:58 AM # Comments (2)

Friday, April 01, 2005


Read: Catwoman

"Staying alive is falling apart." -- Nobius Black

Read Catwoman #17 and #18 last night. I must say they were two of the best comics I've ever read.

Ed Brubaker's writing is top notch and the story takes us through the quickly falling apart lives of Selina, Slam Bradley, and Holly. Each has there own set of real problems and none of them are coping well especially Holly who feels immense guilt for the murder she committed in issue #16 eventhough she saved Selina's life.

Each issue is divided into "chapters" that are poetically sad with names like There Should Be A Word, Ocean in Her Mind, and Real Life Crashes.

The artwork is gorgeous, I really like Pulido's style that is evocative of comic art from the fifties.

These books have put my faith back in the superhero genre. This is true espcapism that makes you care. And the line that sums up the two issues is one Spoken by Selina, the Catwoman herself, "There should be a word for that feeling--when the dream is better than your real life. That moment of realization. They should have a word for that."

That thought is fodder for my own stuff. And for that there is word: inspiration.

-posted by Nobius 7:18 AM # Comments (3)