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2010-04-27

Fly Away

Let me borrow this song title from THYME in order for me to warn you that I'll be in Japan for almost a month starting tomorrow.

I should have access to the Internet fairly often, so I'll try to report back here from time to time, but don't hold your breath... Me and regular posting, you know...

Anyway, see you as soon as possible !

2010-04-16

Exploring the love-hate of new webcomics

Webcomics are good stuff. I don't mean that every webcomic is good, but rather that the general concept is pretty cool. Much like their printed counterparts, these weekly/daily/whateverly short strips are a nice way to start the day with a good laugh or a clever observation.

But, as we all know, the power of the Internet makes everything more awesome, so of course this holds for comics. The trick here is that whatever your center of interest, there's a comic that will appeal to you. There, let me show you...

You like geeky humour, mathematical/scientific references ? Try XKCD, Abstruse Goose or The Doghouse Diaries;

Or would you rather read stuff about video games ? There's VGCats or Penny Arcade for you;

And there's always bizarre stuff like Garfield strips without Garfield.

So that's good, right ? Well, yes, except no. Most popular or semi-popular have been running since quite a long time. So when someone tells you "Dude, you should totally check xyzwebcomic out, it's awesome!", chances are that you'll have to read several hundreds installements before catching up. And that eats at your free time...

So much, in fact, that sometimes it almost feels like a chore. Because on one end you cannot and don't want to stop reading, but on the other side you started 5 hours ago, and it's getting late. But one more strip, right ?

All in all, I now dread it when someones tells me to go read a webcomic. Unfortunately for me though, I'm curious, so I always end up reading anyway. That being said, I'm fortunate enough to have friends with quite good tastes, which leads up to discoveries like the one that happened this year.

And that is A softer world.


My friend Joan mentioned it in an email without further elaborating, but when I checked it out I was immediatly drawn to it. The idea of using photographs is great, and the whole "mood" of the comic is excellent. There's some dark humour, some sweet stuff, a handful of zombies. And Baby Doom.

I don't think throwing around words will do the comic any justice, so here are a few of them I especially like, hoping they'll get you to check out the rest !






Stepping unto the stage.

Next week, on the 24th and 25th of april, I'm going to do something I've been wanting to do for a long time : play on stage in a band.

Now, don't get me wrong, I already had plenty of occasions to play live with other musicians, but for the most part it was simply getting a few friends together, rehearse a couple times for a particular occasion, and do a quick set. Those weren't real bands. I must, of course, set what I did on countless occasions with that singing sister of mine. But then again when we're playing together, we're a duo, not a fullblown band.

So, I'm really excited ! The band I'm playing in, "Riding on a band with no name", is a celtic folk band. For now, we're doing covers of traditional and not-so-traditional material, but we hope to move on to compositions soon(ish). What's best is that we'll probably be playing outside, which is perfectly fitting for our type of music. Also, you do not want to have a bagpipe playing in a small room next to you. :)

Another thing that makes me love this quartet (for now, we're planning on adding at least one more member, but she's in Japan, if you see what I mean...) is that we switch instuments. I play the guitar and on some occasions percussions, we've got a harp player that also sometimes helps with percussions, a flutist/bagpipist(?)/guitarist, and a singer. In the future, I may start playing bass or something, and well, not being stuck with only one thing to do feels really refreshing.

If you happen to be in Belgium, not too far from Limal/Profondsart (near Wavre, Walloon Brabant), then come see us ! We play six times over the course of the two days, and you'll find all the relevant info on this website. Bring your friends, and be ready to clap your hands and sing with us !

Now, all I need to do is convince the members of the post-rock band I'm in to set a date for our first gig...