CyberPunk entertainment for the free spirit. Cast daily over the Internet, at a time not too long before the dawn of a brand new world: Nourishing for the Mind, Soothing for the Soul.
This is another one of those self-explanatory cartoons, so i won't even waste words commenting on it. All i can say is that many more will follow..... eventually: just about when i feel up to the task! I know it may sound lame, but it's just the way it goes. At least i'm sort of being honest, for once.
Yes, indeed it is. And also yes, there will be a plot.... eventualy. And it will be a plot to end all plotting, all around, once and for all. It will the the anti-fucking-plot. What we're doing here is nothing short of bridging the gap between reality and fiction. Presumptuous? Insane? Utterly Idiotic? Well, hello then! Wellcome to cheap ZEN soup!
Well, it has been a while, here. I spent a great summer travelling all around, and enjoying life, which is what we're all puny humans supposed to do, thankyou very much. If i haven't been able to concile such affairs w/ this cheap soup here, for that i apolozige. For all it's worth, i take the ocasion to announce that i won't be giving up on the absurd idea of catching up on late strips, as you can notice by paying attention to the posting date (on real earth time, we're hastily approaching Fall, right now -- i was just sitting in a bench in a park a while ago looking at the first falling leaves and thinking that thought, actually). I'm also working on a decent website, and i'm very boldly hoping that before the year's end, all will be running up and mighty fine, so i can then take my attention to other projects.
Cheers to that!
Up and down and all around... here and there and everywhere. That's where i've been, and that's how i justify my delay to whom it may ever concern. Sometimes it feels like a seven nation army couldn't hold me back, other times, it feels like everything is pointless, and nothing is worthwhile. Maybe i'm crazy, maybe i'm deluded, maybe i'm human. To the freaking hell with all that.
I still plan on catching up on late strips, and when i get around to making the official website to cheap ZEN soup, i'll make sure things run a lot more smoothly. Either way, it's not like none of that really matters. It's not like i feel that i have to justify myself, it's only that i want to, out of respect to the people out there who care. What you've seen thus far, is barely the beggining. The beggining to something...... larger than life.
Could it be that i'm merely stalling, and this will all turn out to be a dumb, silly, unsatisfactory joke? Or is this just a sort of lame attempt of delivering a cliffhanger, and it will actually connect to something more substancial, something w/ texture, reasoning, something akin to a ... plot, of the thickening kind? I'll be damned if i know the answer. I'm just a poor drunkard cartoonist trying to cope w/ deadlines and kind of failing miserably at it, for the time being.
What kind of a warning could this be? What could be wrong? Is it just me, or does Yoda look really concerned? Could someone be in danger? Maybe there's some sort of a worldwide menace thing going on? Could this be the beggining of the first actual *ahem* plot?
Whatever could one of the most popular characters from the Star Wars franchise be doing in this little cheap soup of a webstrip? Could this be more than a creative rip-off devised to bring attention to my show, using someone else's characters? Is there a purpose to all of this? I already told there IS, but was that even for real? Hell, let's just wait and see.
Since this daily webstrip of mine is also supposed to serve as a playground to my own illustrative abilities, you should expect to see cartoons delivered in a wide array of different styles. I also plan on bringing along cool characters from pop culture, and having them guest star, every once in a while. Nothing too original, some might argue, but i'll be doing my best to allways brand such occasions w/ my own personal distinctiveness, which goes to say.... y'all just wait and see!
I was unsure where i was going w/ the previous strips, so i got kind of scared and decided to make an intermission. Lighten up the mood a bit, and take it easier. Take a deep breath and think things trough, before i get back at them.
What the hell is this all about? Well, this flame that we mention here goes by many many names... chi, pranayama, kundalimi, the Force. The flame is a feeling, is that vibe you get at times, which makes you feel alive, which makes you want to pour yourself into whatsoever ignited it, be it a hobby or a passtime, a work or a game, a piece of good art or a great sunset or, most especially, a person.
The flame is what makes it all worthwhile, and the flame is all there is.
Resuming from where we left off, we introduce the concept of Consciousness as a mirror. This is a concept that i borrowed from a great sage to whom i owe my uttermost respect, a great man who was known as Osho. I have great admiration for what he was, and what he did, and since i saw his truth reflected in my own self, this is my way of carrying on.
In case you have any doubts in grasping the previous statement, you should refer to #022. Also, in case you're still unsure, yeah, you might as well make up your mind, already, because... this IS real. Stay tuned and i'll do my best to keep a grin in your face, even when i don't make funnies.
Today i decided to go for something entirely different. Almost nihilist, some might say, but quite not so, on the other hand. This will be the first of a sequence of strips where i'll try to convey my personal and private understanding of reality.
Altough many people will still not grasp the concept, I believe firmly that many others will see their own truths reflected in these wacky cartoons. This, my virtual friends, my brothers, my fellow dots in this beautifull sweet&sour Matrix we call Life, this is Cheap ZEN Soup.
Enjoy, and make yourselves at home. Don't be strangers, now.
I think this is one of those strips that speaks for itselft, there really isn't any sort of subliminary meaning to it, that's just the way things are. It's sort of a cheap ZEN soup manifesto. Let's not take it wrong, tough. It's not as if i didn't appreciate the fact that people out there may be enjoying what i'm doing, it's just... i believe that focusing in that is nothing short of mental masturbation. I'm just doing my thing, having some fun in the process, and that's about it.
Of course, there are times when i get more enthusiastic, others less, and an ego massage once in a while feels rather nice, so keep'em coming, if you will. (; The real value of everything you see here lies in the middle spot between you and me, nowhere else.
I am very happy w/ this strip here. I don't think many people will actually get it, but i think that the few people who do will feel a genuine smile dawning upon their faces. Just hoping this gives people something to relate to... However nasty the world seems today, it too will pass, and brighter days will dawn.
Another strip on duality, or so it seems. I've been catching up on late strips, and i'm worrying less and doing more, which is great. Life is actually pretty simple; it's people who tend to be complicated. We live in the shadow of the past or in the anxiety of the future, but only so very seldomly in the present, which is like a gift, the gift of the eternal Now.
For a long time i dreamt. I dreamt dreams of life and death, and destruction. And i wondered, if i would ever wake up. And altough i didn't, i did become lucid in my dream, and it was like i was born again to a new reality, or rather like i was dead before death. All that was left ever since was the eternal Now, and its everlasting Joy. The Joy of Being. That's what this mask represents, that's the Ideal sought. I bet you didn't see this one comin', eh?
But keep in mind, at all times: key concepts, more than the rest, always allow for a multitude of different readings, on different levels. Yours is just as good as mine.
All things will pass. I, for one, in the quality of a buddhist in disguise, feel that we must not cling to situations in life. Good things will pass, and so will bad ones. All is transitory, under the sun, and true happiness arises from letting things just be, by dropping all judgement, and joining the flux of life, in a pure state of effortless effort. The solution to the greatest riddle of all is that there is no riddle, plain and simple.
I was watching the movie "24 hour party people", and decided to make a strip about a scene that i found particularly striking, which is the one where Tony Wilson is walking down the street and there's a bumb sitting there and he declares out loud to be Boetius, and goes on rambling about "the wheel", and it was a totally surreal reasoning because it actually made sense.
This wheel here will definately be a main concept troughout, after all the wheel is all there really is, and the greatest lesson one can learn is that all things are transitory, and that we should enjoy them, but not cling to them, and that life is made of circles, there's ups and downs, but once we realize that we can step out of the cicle, and just BE. That's the essence of Ultimate Illumination Extreme(tm) and that's the very core of my message, here. Well, anyway, more on that later on.
Maybe I've just read one too many self-help/new age/mumbo jumbo kind of books, but i've really come to believe that the Mind is a very nasty thing which can wreack havoc within, unless one is able to keep it under reign. And i especially believe that most of us are compulsive thinkers, and i keep realizing the extent to which such a statement applies, even as i type these lines.
This is just something that i thought of, while i was trying to think of something new for a strip. A great deal of times, it's worst to think about something than actually doing it, and that's more or less the philosophy that i'm trying to put into practice, in the readjusting of my attitude towards this situation. I'm just doing it, and that oughta be enough.
And thus, we enter the realm of redundancy. I'm very curious to find out how people will react to this sort of cartoon, here. Also, i plan on doing a couple of cartoons about that. Redundancy is a powerfull weapon to aid the anihilation of the Self, wich in turn is the pathway to Being. More on that, later on. It's getting kind of late now, and i'm beggining to talk funny.
I've been thinking... I've kind of been slacking off, lately, and as a result i've been faced w/ an increasing lag of delayed strips. And, well. What I think is that the cause of such a lag, is nothing short of thinking too much.
I have this tendency to get tangled up in technicalities, especially where it comes to illustration, which is my craft of choice, and I always end up being the greatest obstacle to my own evolution. Because i always want to be great, i tend to keep delaying things, because i never feel that i'm prepared.
And the reason i never feel that i'm prepared, is that i'm allways busy, thinking too much. Hm... Maybe i need to find some sort of balance, here. Maybe that's what this is all about, this.... daily webstrip experiment.
Hey, that's it! Thanks a bunch, dearest readers; this little time that i spend w/ you'se in the chatterbox here always seems to settle my mind, heh. ;)
Since hipposwan quit and i needed a new assistent (dunno why, but now it's too late to think about that), i decided it was just about time i introduced a little T&A, anyway. So there it is. Also, I introduced along w/ it a concept that will be heavily devoloped in future strips, and which has a lot to do w/ the inextricable duality of human condition, or something like that.
It's when i make webstrips like this one, that i wish i had some sort of device that would allow me to monitor the viewer's reaction. Heh, go figure. Maybe someday, all cartoons will be like this..... or not.
My pet mystical creature of imaginary quality has flewn south, much to my apall. What next? Will it ever come back? Will there be any further light shed on the matter? One can only hope, and wonder.
Maybe it was the hipposwan who slipped something into my drink, or i'm still hungover from the last couple of nights (it was like a tradicional all-week academic party/festival), or maybe... that's just the way i am.
I particularly enjoyed this strip, out of the trilogy, and i really feel like i've developed the blue-feathered bulky creature's character, here. Oh, i'm very sure i won't resist the urge to draw that enigmatic front, soon enough.
But, for now, it's enough hipposwan. I'll be introducing a new comedic assitent, tomorrow. See you all there!
Something that i use to say is that barkin' dogs don't scare me, only silent ones. Also, i have this idea that, as people grow wiser, they tend to measure their words( because they realized their tremendous power? one might wonder), and speak only when they feel like speaking.
And i certainly don't mean to brag, but if you pay attention to the creature's expression, i think that you'll agree that even such a remarkably expressive face as Mona Lisa's, has got nothing on it.
I spent the last couple of days partying around, so when i managed to sober up just about enough to think about making strips (instead of just thinking about them), i created this little subterfuge of a strip triology.
Also, I think that with the tribute rethorycal i used on yesterday's chatbox i managed to calm my friend, who owns the rights to this hipposwan character, which is an hyibrid character that exists in the universe she created in her novel Vispamint, which by the way i'll be illustrating, thankyou very much.
So, anyway, since the creator who owns the character agreed to it, i kept on borrowing the character some more, since it's indeed a nice fella to have around (despite not liking me that much, or so it seems), so the point here is that i may step on the line~sometimes, but i always try not to cross it, and you people should always remember that, before having your lawyers call my lawyers, and this is just a statement, not a taunt, or anything like that, nosiree.
Ah.... nothing like a little drama, to make you feel like you're living the heights of post-modernism. I really hate drama, tough, and i think it shows, at least it tries to, and w/out intending to dwell on subjectivities, my very own opinion is that the whole essence of ultra-modernism, or cyberpunk, will be laughing on the face of tragedy, until tradedy feels ashamed and leaves.
Oh, to be young and wish for a brighter future, for a golden future for humanity. I think that the spring airs are totally getting to my head. Heh.
Some people out there are complaning about the redundancy of this whole thing, so i decided to make a strip that would enable them to just barely begin to fathom the deep symbolic richness which is conveyed trough it all, along w/ the multitude of possible readings available to the free spirit, and the clever mind.
...............Whatever the bloody fuck that means, hell yeah. :)
Daily webstripping is not that an easy task as it may seem, even for a creative juggernaut like yours truly, and i must confess that i had a bit of trouble from the last strip to this one.
I'm still not sure what the hell i'm trying to pull out here, and i'm just human, so i did what humans do: I borrowed someone else's character in the sake of shameless nonsensical comedy. Boy, did she get mad. But i think in time she'll actually apreciate the ideia, since i plan on shamelessy using other people's brands, on a consistent basis, and it's supposed to be taken as a tritube os sorts, to their creators.
So you people should get your pop culture reference guides at hand, 'cos you'll most likely going to need'em!
I was going to name this one "beyond moronic", but i think that you get the picture. Once again it was a busy day, and i didn't have time to create something brand new. I guess illustrative recicling is also a way to show off creative ability, eh?
The whole sunrise thing didn't turn out as convincing as i would like to, but i better focus on tomorrow's strip rather than worrying w/ technicalities. Maybe someday i'll consider the idea of rehashing old strips, or something like that. It's not like time exists, either way! And tomorrow.... is a brand new day! Ah...... I'm lovin' it!
I didn't get enought sleep and had a lot of things going so it was an exhausting day. So i kind of decided to elaborate on yesterday's strip a little further. Does anybody know if two no-strips make a strip? Being true as it may, i very well might humbly say i'm on a roll, here!
Today was a great sunny day, and i spend it hanging around w/ my hippie friends, strolling along whatever few green fields there are still left in the town we live in, playing drums and nurturing a state of no-mind. So eventually when i thought of making a strip, i decided on making a no-strip, and here it is.
The best things in life are always the simpler. I think that most of us live in a constant rush towards nothing at all. We should all learn to take it easier, every once in a while. Balance thought w/ feeling, and not let the turmoil in our minds lead our spirits astray.
I spent the whole afternoon doing a cartoon that, besides not turning out that great, is basically about the frustration that naturally comes along w/ this sort of thing. Tomorrow will be a better day. I've been having a lot a great ideas for upcoming strips and a clearer image of the whole thing seems to be forming in my mind, so i suppose that despite the hardships, everything seems to be coming along rather nicely.
I've also found out that i'm a buddist in disguise, and that will probably be a topic later on in the strip. Stay tuned, true believers!
Tonight i was browsing trough some webstrips and i decided i might as well get one for myself. It oughta be the sort of consistent and focused daily practice that i need to acquire the necessary discipline to become a great illustrator.
So what i settled to myself (and to however many people i was able to, in the meanwhile, whether in the on-line or off), was that i'd create a website with a daily strip that would run w/out interruptions for at least a whole year.
And this basically takes us to where we're at, right now. Just as a kind-of-funny sidenote, let's mention that today, back where i come from, it's labor day. Hooray for that!
