PLUGTACULAR!!!

     It’s Plug-O-Rama time, kids!  I figure we all need new stuff from time to time, and I’m here to help you out with it.  As usual, I try to focus on not-so-big-time people who are flying under the radar right now.  Or may be on the radar, but need to have a bigger damn blip. 

     I’ll do the plugging in alphabetical order, so as not to offend.

---------------------------------

MATTHEW J. ELLIOT (aka theevilbunny) makes the head think and the brain hurt.  He makes you laugh right up until you realize how depressing what you just read really was, and then you feel uncomfortable, but you still think it was funny, and then…

Look, his online “comic” (don’t think comic strip, think art with brains) is at http://www.sighwhatever.com and his LiveJournal are freaking great, full of flash-fiction stories involving him and the characters from Sigh Whatever.  He’s quite good, yes he is.  Just jump on the latest entry and work backwards, you’ll see how good it is.  If you don’t obey, I’ll know about it.

---------------------------------- 

TIM HALL (aka digitante) has written a book.  The book is HALF EMPTY, and the words “gritty” and “urban” were invented for this work.  It’s a phenomenal book – I literally didn’t put it down until I’d finished it – and it’s also got sexing in it.  Bonus.  Hard to describe the work, to be honest, without getting all critic-sounding.  So just go here -- http://undiepress.com/ -- to read an excerpt (bottom of the page) and BUY A COPY.  Ignore the line at the top of the page that says “The terrible secret that tore them apart.”  I hate plug lines like that.  Look, my point – illustrated by God Emperor of Run-Ons – is: this book is really damn good, I fear that he and I were separated at birth, and on his LiveJournal he periodically puts up little bits of other things, like “The Gayest Gym in New York,” which made me laugh out loud at work, scaring co-workers.  The illustration for that work came from the next guy…

 ----------------------------------

DEAN HASPIEL (aka man_size) could whup you in a fair fight, an unfair fight, and at draughts.  He’s a comic book writer/artist par excellence and he’s a damn fine fellow, to boot.  You can preview a lot of his stuff at http://www.deanhaspiel.com (where he describes his stuff as “Two Fisted AGGRO-MOXIE and PURPLE STACCATO for the 21st Century!”).  Things to definitely check out while you’re there:

-- Click on samples (some of the links are broken right now, but I love the frame at the bottom with Billy Dogma and nemesis The Under-Color Cop).

-- At the top of the front page, it declares “ATTENTION ART DIRECTORS!” and tells them to check out a link to see some recent stuff.  You should check it, too.

-- Scroll to the bottom of the front page and click on the A-Okay Cool image for character descriptions and a “sneak peek”

-- Click on the “Opposable Thumbs” link on the left.  Fucking bril, it is.  I got it in the mail about two weeks ago and have read it about four times so far.  I love GOOD auto-bio comix (hard to find, with all the shit ones out there) and this is at the top of the heap.

Check it all out and BUY HIS SHIT!!!

 --------------------------------

DAVID KING is a local guy who doesn’t have a computer, doesn’t own a car, uses somebody else’s phone, and is one of the most amazing artists – in a ricockulous number of formats – that I’ve ever met.  Dead fucking serious.  The coffee shops all give him free coffee, too.  Anyway, here’s some of his cartooning, behind a cut:

( Dave Illustrations )

And here are two songs from him.  The first one, “Be My Love” he sang at my wedding.  It’s on THE DUKE OF UKE, as he’s on a ukulele kick right now, and he rocks it out, my darlings.  The other, “Sourberry Pie”, is from a BEDROOM BOOTLEGS, a bunch of songs laid down on a four track in the house he lives in.  

BB is a full-length album, lots of experimental stuff going on, DoU is only about twenty-some minutes long but is so totally worth it.  Both albums can be ordered through me, ten bucks for each album with shipping included (unless you’re overseas, then I’ll have to calculate a bit.)

 

Did I not plug your shit?  Drop me a line and ask me why the hell I didn’t.  Chances are I completely forgot, on account of my being brutally retarded.  That or I hate you and want you to stop sitting on my porch, eating egg salad sandwiches and leaving empty Yoo-Hoo bottles in the hastas.

 
benjamin sTone
Current Music: “Looking for a Girl” – Patti Rothberg
Last Book I Read a Page of: THE RAILWAY GUERILLAS -- Chih Hsia, Tung Tse-wei,
                   Han Ho-Ping, and Ting Pin-Tseng
Last Movie: HOTEL RWANDA (USA, 2004, watch this movie, you bastard)
Next Movie: MEAN GUNS (stooped silly US action)