My presence on the internet has been pretty minimal lately. There are a few reasons why, the main one being school. I took a mini semester (essentially a semester’s worth of work crammed into a five week class) of history that took up a lot of time. My days consisted of waking up early for class and having just having enough time before work to eat something. After eight hours at the book store and getting home at about 11 pm I would try and will myself into reading a massive chunk of my history textbook for the quiz the next morning before I eventually just fall asleep. On my days off I’d feel guilty if I wasn’t working on something for school. Even with this schedule my summer has been one of the more active summers I’ve lived through, maybe sometime I’ll talk more about that, although I doubt that would be terribly interesting for most.

Which brings up what I’m about to be doing in a few days, which is flying out to San Diego for Comic-Con. It looks like I’m going to have a pretty full four days while I’m up there, and you’ll be hearing about them for sure, most likely straight from the convention. There are a ridiculous number of special guests this year, hopefully I’ll see a few good ones.

Here’s a cool Kid Koala video to hold you over!

I watched this documentary the other day called King Corn. I went into it, honestly, thinking that (for some reason) it was about ethanol. I must have read the description for the wrong movie or something, because this was most definitely not about ethanol.

The whole Idea of King Corn is these two guys decide to raise an acre of corn and try to follow it through the system to see where it all ends up. The first part of the movie is basically them raising the corn, and interesting information is kind of sparse during this part. There is some to be found though, namely when the movie discusses how the corn is genetically modified to be immune to certain types of pesticides so the whole field can be sprayed with poison and the corn still live, and how those modifications make the corn inedible without first processing the hell out if it.

The movie really takes off when they start exploring where the corn goes after it’s raised - much of it going towards making high fructose corn syrup, a processed, cheap sweetner that is both disgustingly unhealthy and also in almost everything we eat. The movie finishes up by sticking its finger into politics and talking about why corn is produced like this in America. The stance of the film in this respect stays pretty neutral, and is even borderline apologetic. I guess they figured trying to talk you into thinking that the role the government has been playing in corn production for the last thirty years is a bad one would be a waste of time, since the whole movie does a pretty good job of showing you it’s a bad idea.

All in all it was a pretty interesting movie. It started a bit slow, and at points seemed like it beat around the bush a little too much, but I’d still definitely recommend it, at least until I find a better book or movie on the subject that delves a bit deeper into the issues. If anyone has any suggestions, let me know.

Big Ideas (don’t get any) from James Houston on Vimeo.

A video remix of the Radiohead song played by old electronic equipment. Xiu Xiu on the n-philes forums brought it to my attention.

Up until this point I’ve done pretty well in avoiding giving breakdowns of "What I did on this day," because, well, they’re usually pretty silly and annoying. Or at least I think mine would be. But Friday was pretty cool. I went and saw The Happening with Allie and her family, which was… well, let’s just say the company I was with was better than the movie we were watching. Later that day me and a bunch of friends went up to Domy Houston (comic book/art/book/hipster toy store) for the Gary Panter book signing.

Gary Panter, for those unknowing (probably everyone reading this save for the people that went with me), is an underground "punk" comics guy who also paints, is a musician, an animator, an interior designer, and about a million other things. He’s done Frank Zappa album covers and had his stuff in about a million big-name magazines like Time. He also designed the set for Pee Wee’s Playhouse (won a few Emmys for that), which is why I got him to sign my copy of volume one of said show. He even drew some sweet pictures all over it. He was really nice and talked to me for a while (he didn’t seem to concerned with the line) about Paul Reubens, politics, and friends of his who also helped design stuff for the show.

A little later on he narrated an art slide show and told wacky stories about Matt Groening, psychedelic light shows, and who knows what else. All in all it was a pretty awesome day and you should all be jealous for not being there. Unless you were there. In which case, I’m glad you came.

Except for you, Steve. I hate you. Tonight I kill you in your sleep.

Okay, sorry about that guys. Back to not doing "what I did on _____day" posts.

The John Templeton Foundation published a great little pamphlet posing this question with essays from a handful of scientists, a mathematician,  a philosopher and an archbishop. There are arguments going both ways, and it all makes for some pretty good reading. You can either request a physical copy of the pamphlet or you can not be a baby and just read them online. My personal favorites are probably Steven Pinker’s, Michael Shermer’s and Victor Stenger’s, but it’s all worth looking over.

You can read the essays here if you’d like.

As most of you probably already know, I work at a book store. An unfortunate side effect of this is that sometimes I end up flipping through books that I would be better off not ever seeing the contents of. I don’t mean things that offend me morally, usually they’re just complete wastes of time that I feel dumber for laying my eyes on. Take for example the semi popular Bad Girls Guide to (whatever) series. My first encounter with these books was some time ago in the travel section with The Bad Girls Guide to the Open Road. I was looking through it to figure out if there was a way for me to not have to shelve it in my travel section (luckily I was able to expedite it to the “humor” section due to the terrible attempt by the book to be funny), and even the few pages I read were enough to make me want to carve off my kneecaps with a hacksaw. I’ve since flipped through a few more of the books in the series, including The Bad Girls Guide to Getting What You Want and The Bad Girls Guide to the Party Life. After the knowledge I’ve gained from these books, I’ve discovered the single most important thing you absolutely must do if you want to be a “bad girl.”

What is this thing, you might ask. What is it that you have to do to go from a kindly, reasonable human being to a sassy, bitchy, sexually independent bad girl? Well, the one thing that each and every one of these books that I’ve looked through had in common is that they all, at least once, recommend that while stopped at a stop light in your car, a cute guy in the car next to you with his window down is an open invitation to throw your panties out of your car window and into his lap. I guess this is supposed to be some kind of sexy tease that makes guys turn to putty in your hands or something. All it means is to me is that from now on at stop lights I will make sure to keep my window up, just in case someone actually bought one of those stupid ass books.

You may have never heard the name Scott Campbell. But if you’ve played Double Fine’s Psychonauts or been paying any attention to the still-in-development Brutal Legend, you know what he’s done. Scott Campbell is the art director over there at Double Fine, in addition to being a graphic artist and comic book writer/artist. His work has been published in Hickee and Flight. In addition, Mr. C. is the man behind the alternate DVD cover for the Documentary King of Kong. Scott was nice enough to answer some questions for me about… things.

MG: Thanks for doing the interview! I hope the questions don’t put you to sleep. And if they do you can always just punch them instead of answering them. Always a good alternative.

SC: Man, that’s an awesome reaction. Punching them. I’ll probably just hug them though.

MG: What got you into doing what you do now? Or have you always wanted to be an art director for a video game studio/comic book writer/artist?

SC: Well, I went to art school to study children’s book and comic illustration. I never planned on getting into games, but after school you sometimes end up where you end up.. and I ended up at Lucas painting backgrounds for Star Wars kids games at a company called Lucas Learning. Because that was such a small company, I was able to do a lot of stuff, like concept, paint and everything across the board. So I started Art Leading projects there and met Tim Schafer at that time. When he left Lucas to start Double Fine, I came on to help as Art Director. And that is that awesome story. Alongside all of this I like to keep busy with extra curricular things.. to keep well rounded and exposed to all types of mediums. Hickee Comics is something we started back at Lucas and that has held us together and involved with the comics scene ever since. I used to be part of an art collective that threw shows in San Francisco, but painting for galleries only started full force a few years ago. But I enjoy it very much. So yeah, I didn’t totally expect this path, but I have super enjoyed this awesome path.

MG: What comic book writers and books do you enjoy reading, indie or otherwise?

SC: I used to collect comics as a kid so I have grown up with John Byrne, Mark Silvestri, Jim Lee, and Neal Adams and those guys that did X-men. But now I’ve gotten more of the indie sorts of books by Grahm Annable, Souther Salazar, Chris Ware, James Kochalka, Sam Henderson, Jeffery Brown, Jaime Hernandez, and all those dudes. And I do very much love Mike Mignola. Oh, and I love French artists like Lewis Trondhiem. And just recently, I’ve gotten super excited about Geegar.

MG: Three favorite books? Movies? Musicians?

SC: Oh, man. these sorts of questions are hard. I am glad you gave me three. Books: Martian Chronicles, Harry Potter, Shogun. Movies: Fistful of dollars, Planet of the Apes, Star Wars. Musicians: Daftpunk, Bjork, David Bowie.

MG: What project that you’ve been involved with have you been the most proud of?

SC: Psychonauts was the most work I’ve put into anything and the project that I have been most excited to speak of. It was the first big project that I completely cared about in it’s entirety. Tim and the whole double fine team is so talented and fun to work with. Together we have been enjoying the warm reception of that little dude. Psychonauts. Or maybe it is a female game. I don’t know. bad for me to assume.

MG: How is development of Brutal Legend coming along? Is it being you guys’ second project together making things more difficult or less so?

SC: More difficult in some ways because it is a next generation title and we have to relearn all these new techniques for making it look and work smash hittingly. But easier in other ways because our team is so solid and work together so nicely. We went through some rocky roads and intense times with Psychonauts and we have definitely learned from that. and most everyone is still together so I think that is a good testament to how things are going. P.S. the game looks beautiful. I freak out every day.

MG: Your art is often nauseatingly cute. (in a good way!) Is this a style you’ve always preferred to draw, or did you grow into it later?

SC: I actually went to school to learn how to be a solid draftsman. I wanted to draw and paint ultra realistic. But as I neared the end of my tenure at school, I realized that I enjoyed painting and drawing things that made people laugh and enjoy themselves and get happy at shows. I like to see people spend a lot of time into front of my stuff and point at it and get excited. That for me is more enjoyable to see than a finger to the chin and a furrowed yet impressed brow. But also, I will say that perhaps my art compliments what I do at work. Brütal Legend is intense! Thus my outside paintings are quite adorable. So I can hug them.

MG: If you could choose the subject of Double Fine’s next game, what would it be?

SC: Oh, that is totally top secret.

MG: Is the Nucleus Gallery ever going to do another run on those ninja shirts you designed? Those sold out ridiculously fast. I hope you’re raking in tons of cash from that one.

SC: Thanks, for noticing. They actually just put up new versions! They are red like blood. You should get one! And then I will rake whatever cash is there on the ground.

MG: This is kind of a standard interview question and for that I apologize, but what’s on the horizon for you? What new projects are you working on and what’s coming up that you’re excited about?

SC: Brütal Legend of course and future Double Fine projects. And book publishing.. graphic novels and children’s books. Some projects are on the horizon, but I can’t discuss them just yet. I love top secret things.

MG: Lastly, and obviously most importantly, what is your favorite type of sandwich? LEAST favorite type of sandwich?

SC: Best: club. Worst: dirt sandwich.

MG: Thanks for your time, Scott! Greatest of luck with your comics, art directing, and sandwiching.

SC: Ok, thanks! see you!

Check out Scott’s blog
Buy Scott C. art prints at the Nucleus Gallery
Scott’s comic at Double Fine
Scott’s Myspace

Me being very mean to Mario Kart Wii over at n-philes.

My Smash Bros. Brawl review at N-Philes got a little attention from IGN. Of course any flattery I might have felt is quickly destroyed via a few pretty mean comments, but hey I’ll take what I can get.

Here’s a little of what they said.

It might seem a little late to the game but Nintendo fan site N-Philes has posted their review of Super Smash Bros brawl. Their review stands out against other fan site reviews as it discusses very specific issues such as Clones and the changes between Brawl and Melee that have been a source of discussion for our community.

Clay Shirky (author, professor) speaking at a conference about the effects of massive collaborative projects like wikipedia. A little long, but worth your time I think. I found it, like so many things, on Warren Ellis’ blog.

(embedded video not working, you’ll have to follow a link for now if you care to see it)

RIGHT HERE