Archive for September, 2007

We Love It When Our Friends Become Successful

Thursday, September 20th, 2007

Exciting news from two hard-pressed friends of HardPressed Ink

The Callipygian’s short piece of hilarious creative non-fiction, “Welcome To My Eleventh Birthday Party!” will be printed in an upcoming but currently unnamed anthology from Peg-Leg Publishing. I assume you’ll have to pay for this anthology to read it, or you could read The Callipygian’s piece for free on his blog before some running dog of Capitalism notices and takes it down.

Aaron Winters of the Abide Visuals Juggernaut is one of eight finalists competing in Adobe’s 2007 Cut & Paste Digital Design Tournament. Although designers are given information of possible themes, on the night of the competition “[…] they’ll have to spin an idea with their own style in three, 15-minute rounds as projectors stream their living designs across the venue.” Sounds just like the Thunderdome. Buy your tickets in advance here.

Congratulations guys!

Posted in Friends | No Comments »

“Another human dream crushed by the uncompromising forces of reality”

Thursday, September 20th, 2007

Why didn’t I read this when it came out in 2004? I could have saved myself three years of struggle. In an article entitled, “Day Job Officially Becomes Job,” The Onion describes Mark Seversen’s transformation “‘[…] from an aspiring underground cartoonist into a non-aspiring restaurant worker.’” “‘While I was at work, I’d think about what I wanted to draw, but once I got home, I just wanted to watch television,’” says Seversen. Self-help expert Gregory Gund recalls the death of the dream that inspired his book Learning To Let Go Of The Things That Sustain You:

I’ll never forget the day I traded in my bass amp for a dot-matrix printer. I sat in the bathtub for about two hours that day, staring at the reflection of my receding hairline in the cold water. Sometimes, I wish I’d plugged that amp in and hauled it into the tub with me. But, hey, we can’t all be the next Geddy Lee, right?

If you enjoy “Day Job Officially Becomes Job,” you’ll also enjoy “Search For Self Called Off After 38 Years,” another hard-hitting article from the only media outlet brave enough to tell you the truth, The Onion.

Posted in Personal | 1 Comment »

Perfect Bound: Reliving Recent Memories

Tuesday, September 11th, 2007

Aaron Winters put together a beautiful slide show of photos from the Perfect Bound show at Sol Collective, which can be viewed here.  Check it out: you may just see yourself!

If you didn’t make it opening night the slide show is no substitute for the majesty and grandeur of the live experience, which will only be available until the end of September.  Remember:  Sol Collective will have free copies of my comics until the show ends or supplies run out; if you get them anywhere else you’ll have to pay for them!

Posted in Events & Happenings, HardPressed News | No Comments »

HardPressed at SPX … in ‘08

Tuesday, September 11th, 2007

Due to circumstances beyond my control I won’t be attending SPX this year after all.  I’m pretty bummed (if you read my previous SPX post you’ll understand why).

It’s been a tough year for me in a lot of ways but things are beginning to look up, with circumstances improving to the point where I should be able to attend not only SPX in 2008 but perhaps a full convention circuit as well, including APE, Comic-Con and Stumptown.

As always, watch this space for news as they develop!

Posted in Events & Happenings, HardPressed News | No Comments »

Wrap it up tight, Sacramento!

Tuesday, September 11th, 2007

From yesterday’s Sacramento Bee:

A rapidly increasing number of young Sacramento County residents are unknowingly spreading sexually transmitted diseases, often oblivious to their potentially devastating consequences.

The trend lines alone are startling: Sacramento County posts higher infection rates for gonorrhea and chlamydia than almost every other county in California, new state figures show.

Last year, the county reported 7,678 new chlamydia infections, almost twice as many as the entire state of Utah. Sacramento boasts the second highest rate in California, after Fresno County.

The county’s syphilis infection rate more than doubled from 2002 to 2006, and its gonorrhea rate increased 35 percent.

It’s a scary time to be single.

Posted in Trivia | 1 Comment »

Name Dropping Erik C.

Tuesday, September 11th, 2007

Muen Magazine’s myspace page has an interview with Zena Mckelvy, lead singer of the “progressive, melodic metal” band Estrum, which features my long time best friend Erik Christianson on keyboards.  The whole interview is pretty interesting, but here’s the best part for Squibbanacci fans:

MUEN: It seems more and more, keys are being used in the bands we come across[.]  Today, you’d think a keyboardist would be hard to come by.  How did [keyboardist] Erik [Christianson] come into the band, and what is his musical history?

Zena: Erik would have been hard to come by had we not already been good friends with him. Jason and Erik have been in bands for years. He’s a real pianist, which in my opinion is even more rare these days amongst rock bands.

Even if you’re not a metal fan, Estrum is worth checking out.  Think less Iron Maiden and more a slinky, glamorous and more talented Evanescence  There are three songs available for download on the Estrum myspace page; Abiosis is my favorite.  Check it out!

Posted in Music, Trivia | No Comments »

Perfect Bound: Over Too Soon

Monday, September 10th, 2007

The Perfect Bound show on Saturday was a great success. There was a huge turnout, so much so that the heat inside the gallery was on display as much as any of the art. Thanks again to Adam Saake and Sol Collective for putting on such a great show, to my fellow zinesters and artists for displaying such amazing (and inspiring) work, to The New Humans, The Touchy Feelies and Planets for the rawk and to everyone who came out to show their support and enjoy zines, comics, original art and live music!

If you weren’t able to make opening night the show will be up until around October 6th or so (I don’t have an exact date), and there are still free copies of my mini-comics available exclusively at Sol Collective, so hurry while supplies last!

Update: It was pointed out to me that the wording of the last paragraph was a little ambiguous. To clarify, Sol Collective is the only place you can get free copies of my mini-comics; they’re still for sale in various other locations, including the HardPressed Store (once it reopens for business).

Posted in Events & Happenings, HardPressed News | 1 Comment »