Serenading the Audience

An audience member in the front row subtly suggested I stop singing, so I improvised a little ditty for him.

Essential reading for all crackers, via Julia Segal.

Good interview with Brian Regan on WTF.

“Every man has inside himself a parasitic being who is acting not at all to his advantage.”
William S. Burroughs

William S. Burroughs, drawn by Charles Burns.
“Nobody owns life, but anyone who can pick up a frying pan owns death.”

Just another Murray Monday.

Your E-Book is Reading You

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Drawing my favorite authors, #3: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
"Is there any point to which you would wish to draw my attention?"

"To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time."

"The dog did nothing in the night-time."

"That was the curious incident," remarked Sherlock Holmes.

Mickey Spillane

"Those big-shot writers could never dig the fact that there are more salted peanuts consumed than caviar."

My favorite authors, #2 Mickey Spillane.
drawn by Doogie Horner

Kurt Vonnegut

I'm drawing my favorite authors. First up, Kurt.
“To be is to do - Socrates
To do is to be - Sartre
Do Be Do Be Do - Sinatra”

Conflict as the Fulcrum of Western Fiction

The necessity of conflict is preached as a kind of dogma by contemporary writers’ workshops and Internet “guides” to writing. A plot without conflict is considered dull; some even go so far as to call it impossible. This has influenced not only fiction, but writing in general—arguably even philosophy. Yet, is there any truth to this belief? […]
For countless centuries, Chinese and Japanese writers have used a plot structure that does not have conflict “built in,” so to speak. Rather, it relies on exposition and contrast to generate interest. This structure is known as kishōtenketsu.
Kishōtenketsu contains four acts: introduction, development, twist and reconciliation.

Here's a short comic showing the four acts of Kishōtenketsu:

And here's a similar story told with a Western, conflict-centered plot and resolution:

In the Kishōtenketsu comic, that third panel replaces the conflict in panel two of the Western comic. The third panel seems random, but we know it must have something to do with the story. We keep reading to discover how panel three is related to panel one. There's no conflict, but there's still interest, mystery, and resolution.

Excerpt from Still Eating Oranges via the New Shelton Wet/Dry

I'm sorry, I don't know who drew this. But I wanted to post it because it's awesome. If anybody knows who the artist is, please let me know so I can credit them!