Kirri-rama:

Some of Kirrily Schell’s explorations at RMIT art school.

http://aim.adc.rmit.edu.au/web_interface_03/kirrilyinterface/

Portrait Kirrily Schell by Christopher Ong (Hint: click on the coin handle)

Portrait of Belinda Hadiwidjaja by Kiz

Also: Free comics day in Australia

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/05/04/1051987605756.html

Tove Jansson Comic strip!!

http://www.moominshop.com/cartoonstrip.htm

NZ comics articles and profiles.

http://nzda.ac.nz/graphic/comics/index.php

New from Q-Ray: a 10 page comic, ‘Escape from Planet Woomera’

$1 postpaid. Contact Q-ray at PO Box 792, Cockatoo, Victoria 3781 Australia

qray@ozemail.com.au

Baby Pix from Amber Carvan.

Also weirdly fascinated by the ‘Left Behind’ series. Wacko!

Weekly Comic

Trying out something new: a weekly comic strip, translated into as many languages as I can muster. (Especially including Khmer, since I live in Cambodia after all.) Thanks especially to web comics pioneer Jesse Reklaw for technical tips.

The spark for this one came from ‘the voice’ (no, not John Farnham) – Ken Nordine, ‘friend to doormen’. Radio, while not a visual medium, encourages (even forces) you to develop your visual imagination. Props to Ken Nordine and Joe Frank .

Also new this week: blog from Plastic Planet’s Che Gilson,



interview with Amber Carvan.

Odds and Ends

Back in Siem Reap, catching up on things.

http://www.tcj.com/2_archives/reviews.html lists reviews of comics we like – Ben Ridder, Pox, Stefan Neville, Kirrily Schell, Q-Ray, Athonk, and more. (Scroll to bottom). Why is this relevant? Click around on the site and you’ll see…

Wouldn’t normally link to Slate, but this article goes a long way in explaining the appeal of The Matrix.

http://slate.msn.com/id/2082400/

Get out of the mass media matrix and publish your own books. Continue to be intrigued by ‘No Media Kings’, evangelizing self pubbing. Note they’re supported by a Canadian arts grant though.

Dillon Naylor is plugging away, with strips in K-Zone and ‘Total Girl’ and a weekly color strip in a Sydney newspaper. He’s also just finished two color storybooks in comic format that will be published at the end of this year. Pop Culture and Two Minute Noodles is being collected. And he’s still designing figures and packaging for toy company MOOSE.

Neale Blanden is doing work for an unnamed American company and feels filthy dirty.

Bangkok, dogsbollox

In Bangkok, first time I’ve been outside Cambodia in nearly a year. Good fun buying clothes and consumer comestibles. Managed to get some comics from ‘Focus on the Global South’, as well as set up an interview with a Thai artist for my next visit.

What’s the latest on Tim Danko and Michael Fikaris in New Zealand?

From Stefan Neville:

hi.just wanted to mention some gigs you might be interested in.

#1. chris knox and pumice. at dogsbollox bar, wed. 23rd april. and we are playing some stuff together too…

#2. birchville cat motel, pumice, richard francis, rosy parlane,kin rahmane, at galatos basement, thurs. 24th.

#3. wings of vengence (campbell kneales one man black metal exorcissm from lower hutt), cobra,(ex ho-dogs), dantes disco inferno (starring james james and celia mancini and me) and flick. at the paradise bar,st kevs arcade. k rd. fri. 25th april. flyers around town made by the silentarmy/pure evil team who will be there and probably still trying to sell their comics so they can afford to go home. sweet.-s