From NY Times:
"

Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, a group that seeks to limit immigration, said he was concerned that Hispanics could create a parallel mainstream in the United States.

“It’s a trivial example, but Hispanics now have their own pizza chain,” Mr. Krikorian said. “It’s a consequence of having too many people arrive from a single foreign culture, and may well reflect a kind of cultural secession.”


"

The first article I read today was on the Oreck corporation having to pull out of New Orleans to move to Tennessee. They reopened right after the hurricane, and were hailed by locals for helping put people right back to work making vacuums. Now, they have to move states, because they can't maintain the business there since insurance rates are too high. Obviously the main guy, Tom Oreck, was looking to do the best for the community, but its a business. They can't stay open there. It sucks. And they're getting flack now from Mississippi, essentially saying its an unpatriotic move. They are cutting and running from New Orleans. If we can't make vacuums domestically the terrorists win...errr nature. Trent Lott issued a statement chastising them for the move.

Trent Lott. Giving a corporation shit. Because they can't afford the immense post-Katrina insurance costs. Maybe the insurance wouldn't be so enormously high if FEMA had done one ounce of competent work to stabilize the area instead of leaving it a festering poverty stricken shithole, you dickhead. Oh, but no Lott isn't talking about that.

A while ago associated press put up two photos of a New Orleans store front that had been barricaded in, steel shudders slammed shut, sandbags laid out. Red graphiti reads "The wife is gone and I have a dog and a shotgun do not enter." Or something along those lines, most likely much more bad ass. Two weeks later, AP runs a follow up photo. The first message is crossed out, now it reads "Ate the dog, will shoot on sight."

This is not an normally fucked up situation.

From Josh Ellis's blog (unrelated to Warren):
"At the New Orleans’ Superdome stadium, refugees describe piles of faeces, knee-high, after the toilets overflowed and people were forced to relieve themselves on staircases.
At least seven bodies are scattered outside the city’s convention centre.
“I don’t treat my dog like that,” 47-year-old Daniel Edwards said as he pointed at a woman who lay dead"

So fuck you Trent Lott. And every other government official who can't tell me the difference between Sunni and Shiite or thinks AIDS is transmitted by tears or that the "internet is not something you just dump something on. It's not a big truck. It's a series of tubes."

Its the misinformation that really gets me pissed off. When politicians just flaunt their blatant disconnection from the truth. Like Stimson, the Leutenant Secretary of Defense stating on national television that he accepts that the government has taken a certain amount of criticism for treating the Guantanamo Bay detainees too well. I would love, love, LOVE find out what planet those critics might be from. This is not a right or left, us and them, Democrat or Republican conflict. Everyone in the country would be better off without these douchebags.

The second article I read was on Pizza Patron (accent over the 'o') now accepting pesos as payment. They have a large latin american contingency and are in 5 states (or more?) and so they decided they would accept pesos. Cue freak out from Gringo Nation. OH FUCK! Soon we won't even be able to BUY a pizza because the wetbacks are taking over! OH FUCK! One tiny pizza chain that I've never even heard of is doing exactly what EVERY BUSINESS EVERYWHERE does with american money! OH FUCK! We export our obviousy hybridized culture every day with movies and international policies and music and money and business but as soon as we see a tiny, palpable infux of that into our most important corner of American life -- The Pizza Industry -- we can collapse into a masturbatory frenzy and jerk off all over the concept of civil rights and morality while screaming "UNPATRIOTIC! THEY'RE ALL FUCKING UNPATRIOTS YESS!" in between grunts and groping our national testicles.

So FUCK YOU TOO, Bigots. You should have more important things to worry about.

I've just returned from a vaguely disappointing evening, and there's no better time to bear the good news: from here, the year can only get better.

2006 wavered there at the end. That collective shudder did a bit to humanize all the events prior. With that inertia collecting quicker and quicker over the last four or so months, to see the machinery get moving so fast that it jumped the track was a good thing. So tonight, standing around watching that wreckage, realizing that, okay, 2007 might be a new machine completely, really put the year in a nice context. 06 was bookended with dead end parties, beginning with me puking my guts out for no good reason at all, and ended with me in a room full of people I barely know, red lights all around, and they didn't even get the time right. My clock hits twelve and no one really moves, then someone starts a countdown around 1202. Mild fanfare, then back to the mingling.

Not that it was a bad party.

Both of them, totally fulfilling. Really, its a reset button. You do these things over the course of the year, then time collapses a little bit and one night you realize it can be better.

Thoughts on ye olde electionne:

Dems take the house, Senate's still up in the air. I maintain that the legislative branch mainly consists of crazy jackasses, and I have little to no faith in the democrats to do anything, BUT, despite the fact that this congress has served fewer days than Truman's Do Nothing Congress, I still had a couple of moments yesterday where I went "Oh, thank God things might be changing."

I was intially excited about the Senate picking up another independent, but that hope was crushed when I found out it was just Lieberman weaseling his greasy way into winning the election despite having lost the primary. Voters piss me off. Lieberman's the only politician I've ever actually written an angry letter to, and it bothers me that he got in on the independent ticket.

There is a mildly irrelevant trade off here, though, with Vermont getting picked up by a self-proclaimed Socialist. I think I may actually accept this trade. It'll be interesting to see if this Sanders guy shakes things up at all.

Wexler won his unchallenged Florida seat, which is entertaining. He's the cocaine guy from Colbert, so at least we know there is one person in Washington DC with a sense of humor, as retarded and potentially self-damaging as he may be.

Gingrey also kept his encumbent seat. He supports the 10 commandments in the courthouse but can only name 3 of them. Awesome. And, George "Makaka" Allen got his seat as well. Again, this pisses me off. Do people just not pay attention? Hopefully the Makaka thing will keep Allen from running for anything bigger than the House, though.


I am pleased:
" South Dakota rejected a law that would have banned virtually all abortions, Arizona became the first state to defeat an amendment to ban gay marriage and Missouri approved a measure backing stem cell research."

But, this is kind of snuffed out by the gay marriage ban...

Colorado. Approved

Idaho. Approved

South Carolina. Approved

South Dakota. Approved

Tennessee. Approved

Virginia. Approved

Wisconsin. Approved


I'm convinced people are idiots. Lots of states raised minimum wage, though. Yet none of the states voted to cap state spending. Not exactly unexpected, but a little naive I feel (Eddy Izzard Voice). Arizona had some bizarre things on the ballot, including making English the "official state language" and a rejected measure to give a random voter a million dollars. They can't institute a Voting Week or Voting Holiday to facilitate democracy, but they'll try to make it into the lottery. Sigh. Feels slightly like the Catholic Church rearranging the afterlife to accomodate infant mortality.

Alaska:

Tax North Slope oil companies US$1 billion a year until a natural gas pipeline is built. Rejected.
For being such a beautiful state, Alaskans are backwards, methinks. And they are run by a guy who thinks the internet "isn't a dumptruck. It's a series of tubes." He's like, 150 years old.

California: Tax oil producers to fund alternative energy programs. Rejected. Damn it. Though I am pleased that the required parental notification before a minor can have an abortion was razed. It's also a tough subject, lots of grey area, but I agree.

Prickly subject, interested to see how it plays out:
"In Michigan, voters took a swipe at affirmative action, deciding that race and gender should not be factors in deciding who gets into public universities or who gets hired for government work."

Ohio and Arizona hit up some smoking bans, and Colorado and Nevada keep marijuana possession illegal. California raise smoking taxes. Nothing too exciting there.


Also, I was kind of slapped in the face this morning with how all of this relates to art and writing and film and all the things I like. Ellis, my favorite writer, sent out an email today. He's based in England and functions mainly in the American marketplace. His comment makes a good amount of sense to me:

"As I think I said, I pay attention to
all this because I get paid in dollars,
and the worse the American
government is, the weaker the
dollar gets. The Bush administration
has been economically disastrous
for me. I don't know that two years
of legislative gridlock will be any
better. But it won't be any worse."

So there you have it. We shall see how it goes.

Exciting news for anyone still reading this.

My patron Nick at karate gvae me

for absolutely free

a 500 GB external harddrive with 300GB of music.

lots of junk on there but some jems

Entire discography of Fela Kuti, Van Morrisson. All the St Germain I don't have. Lots, and lots, and lots of music. It's overwhelming

new york
SETLIST
01. "Black Tambourine"
02. "Scarecrow"
03. "No Complaints"
04. "Lost Cause"
05. "End Of The Day"
06. "Movie Theme"
07. "We Dance Alone"
08. "Think I'm In Love"
09. "Winter's Blue"
10. "Rowboat"
11. "Guess I'm Doing Fine"
12. "No Expectations"
13. "Cellphone's Dead"
14. "Strange Apparition"
15. "Cold Brains"
16. "Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime"
17. "Sissyneck"
18. "Where It's At"
19. "Shadows On The Wall"
20. "Golden Age"
21. "Clap Hands"
-----------------------
22. "You're Running Wild"
23. "Girl"
24. "Nausea"

I need to gain back all the weight I lost.

So, update to the thing below, it seems that Faust is based on Doctor Faustus, a middle english play about generally the same things. We are reading it in my awesome lit class right now. Nice coincidence, as usual the universe does its best to just plop things in my lap as occasionally as possible.

I'm currently rotisserie-ing up some chicken, but I'm pretty sure I'm fucking it up. I hope it doesn't taste like plastic, or mercury.

First mid term is this week. Tomorrow I'm going into the Film Archive at UCLA and begging for a job.

Today's the first day of new-beard that I actually FEEL trashy. Pretty cool. It's funny, doing everything I normally do, then managing to look like a hobo. I feel like I should wear dress attire all the time to offset it.

Last time I went to the comic shop was when the latest FELL came out. Last week, DESOLATION JONES, this week, the last PLANETARY. A sad day indeed. I'm debating whether or not to wait for the first paycheck and purchase these along with CARTOON DESIGN OF THE 50'S, or just rush in this week and get the single books.

I'll be re-reading Planetary this week all the way through to gear me up for the final issue. Grant, I'm looking at you. I need a nerd-shoulder to cry on.

Ah, but, as far as writing goes...
I know the concept of the comic I'm going to write for Stacy to draw (finally). It'll be a full graphic novel, and totally fun to write and draw, and maybe we could even do some crazy travelling together to research it.

The russian book's been floating around more and more lately, seeing how I'm going to present it to Grant.

and the script is more alive than ever, and coming slowly since the stupid busy-ness of these past few weeks leaves little time.

I'll probably begin reading Eisenstein's book on Film Form tomorrow.

Been busy and tired. Today was good, though. I saw World of Abu, Jesus Camp, Faust, and three silent shorts. Jesus Camp scares me, Faust elated me, and World of Abu really brought out what I like in people. The silent shorts included Felix the Cat from way back when.

Um, so things are generally great. My job sucks, but that will hopefully change soon when I ... get a new job. "Walking Narc" is really draining.

I'm trying to kind of be a new person. I'm not exactly succeeding, in fact I'm the least satisfied with myself that I've been in a long time, but it is a process I suppose. It helps being surrounded by fantastic people, and a city to explore. It's a good feeling.

The new Beck is stunningly good. I don't know what all the bitching is about. I've heard the most complaints about the second song, but I dig it, and Cellphone's Dead makes me endlessly happy. It is far and away my favorite Beck song ever, and I knew that right when I saw it combined with We Dance Alone, back when it was called Knock You Out.

He's not worried about tone, and I really like that. Nausea is placed in the least conducive place possible. It's little episodes, built around bass lines or game boy noises, with really no other worry. Somehow he's managed to get me to invest more in these songs than the more overt Sea Change. It's this weird new emotional ground that's untapped. And, perhaps most impressively, everything was done in studio. There's no loops or samples outside what they played and recorded, which really brings a lot of the sounds to life, when you know they are part of this 'imaginary break beat catalogue' that they created. There's multiple times on the album where I have to remind myself, whoa, this is still a fucking Beck song, even though it sounds like ambient or autechre or air or something completely different.

I'm sure there's more to talk about, but I really couldn't tell you what.

http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/movies/20060929_JANUS_AUDIOSS/index.html?th&emc=th

Invalid video URL.




I think people are going to have a hard time with the new Beck, and I love it and I'll tell you why soon. And the new Decemberists is immediately and strikingly awesome, awesome, awesome.

Warren Ellis is going to be at 2007 San Diego Comic Con. HHehhehe.

I'm really fucking amped on cinema and life in general right now. This week has just been huge on anticipation, desire to do a hundred things, and getting back on track after a weekend in orange county.

It's funny, not having two homes. I'm in limbo until the weekend, I think, when our subletter moves out and we have more space than we know what to do with. Ryan and I have been notified that as of December we will need a new roommate as well, so...we'll see how that goes.

I'm reading Eddie Campbell's comics right now, and gazing in awe at his wonderful stories.

"The universe will beat a path to your doorstep."

"It is hardly possible to feel depressed about culture in which pictures as challenging as Wes Anderson's The Royal Tenenbaums or Alexander Payne's Election, David Lynch's Mulholland Drive or Spike Jonze's Being John Malkovich, can be greeted not only with official commendation (these features all earned Oscar nominations) but the approval of audiences unperturbed by the prospect of cinema acting as a stimulant rather than a balm."

"In a world fractured by its own wealth of available entertainments, cinema can no longer take supremacy for granted. It will always biggest medium, but whether it can remain the deepest is down to those filmmakers who have not yet bellowed their first 'Action!'"

Mike Figgis...Lynne Ramsay, Julio Medem, Edward Yang, Takeshi Kitano Miike Takashi

My sleep patterns been all fucked up lately. I go to bed a decent time, then nap through the next day, or I am up until 4am and I get up at 8. Not exactly sure what to do about this, and I think it'll get worse before it gets better.

Tonight, there was a preview of Science of Sleep held at UCLA fo' free! Despite technical difficulties, I really enjoyed the movie. Gondry let loose a bit more than on previous movies, and I think writing his own stuff augments it. At first it seems unfocused, and lacking that efficiency that Eternal Sunshine had, but the movie is about not being focused, about blurred lines and finding yourself in a part of life that maybe you wouldn't want to congeal.

And I saw it with an awesome girl, so that's fun too.

Today: somewhat bust. Slept too much.
Tomorrow: Writing, Women on the Verge.
Friday: ....? and writing.

Lots of shows coming up. Mm.

“There is no rational reason left to oppose this research,” Dr. Robert Lanza, vice president of Advanced Cell Technology and leader of the research team, said in an interview.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/24/science/24stem.html?th&emc=th

I got tingles reading this article.

Apparently scientists have found a way to establish stem cell colonies without harming the embryo, nullifying the central opposition to the research.

I think this is firstly fantastic, and secondly really, really interesting. I can't wait to see who actually changes their stance to support the new method, and who continues to (maybe blindly) oppose it. This is awesome. I really wonder if Bush will start supporting it, and which nutjob senators and congresspeople will continue adamant objection.

Saw the Mountain Goats for free yesterday. writing today.

I'm nervous. I just sent our first official draft to the guy who is in charge, for better or worse, of getting us major funding. It scares the shit out of me.

I had a nice walk today, one of many through westwood. I'm officially moved in, the dust is settling and it looks like we have something resembling an awesome fucking apartment. I'll post pictures sooner or later. We don't REALLY have the internet, I'm piggybacking off someone right now. Their signal only reaches us when we practically dangle our computers out the window. This can only last for so long.

It's been three days of non stop running around and buying things and driving and making sure we have a functional living area. Tomorrow will, with any luck, be the last major day of this then things can slow down significantly.

The script has "END." written on page 88. No thanks to me in the past few weeks, with so much going on. This month is going to be a much needed seclusion that I can use to get some writing done, make this thing feel like it's mine again. I love it. I go up and down so much, but I think I figured out tonight that this is what I'm built to do. Man, we fucking got to the end! That makes my hands shake.

I think it'd be fun to do a tandem documentary. More on that later, maybe.
The days have been flying by. I think I'm going to unwind now and watch a movie. Mmmm.

Tonight or tomorrow I'm going to start reading Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man. I need some inspiration. I tried reading it in Russia, but I don't think I was ready.

"And you better identify with every god damn page."

Writing is coming slowly, if at all, like it's the hardest thing in the world. I keep feeling like tomorrow's the day, but maybe really tomorrow's the day. The month away will be good for me. No obligations, just getting adjusted, writing, and sitting. At this point, every day is like a huge burden, 100 new things learned, with little room for levity. The pay off I think will be worth it.

Grant, you're not responding to my emails so I'm not sure if you have the internet, but if you do, call me email etc.

This Saturday I'm out of the house. With any luck, I'll never come back to live. There's a lot of places I want to be right now and Orange County's not one of em. I'm excited nervous etc the usual. International is the key word of the next few months: British Lit, Elementary Russian, and History of African Asian Latin American Film.

A high school girl asked me how the writing was going, and told me she wrote the first hundred twenty five pages to her novel before she put it on hold. We need more of this. This has really been floating through my head over the past few weeks, and I've verbalized it to a couple people hoping for some kind of congealing of a goal or solution, but the heat melts my thoughts. The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced our generation has no voice.

I can name the people I find necessary and relevant and absolutely indespensible to our generation on one hand: Stewart, Colbert, Radiohead, Rollins, and . . . who? Spurlock? The Lips? Who?

This is a blown out of proportion claim, I realize. There are numerous artists I identify with, etc etc, but so few people are GIVING US A VOICE. Why? Why is it that Neil Young, DOB 1945, has to come out with an Anti-War album with songs that can hardly be classified as anything outside of a cry for help (and can't stand within miles of any of his music, even the album prior)? We have to rely on Neil Fucking Young to do our talking? Who in the music industry has put anything out otherwise: Hail To The Theif, At War With The Mystics, Dry Drunk Emperor, Beastie Boys had an internet only track aaaand who. Unless I'm forgetting someone big, no one worth mentioning. Where the fuck are we?

Who on Television is doing anything worth while? Stewart, Colbert, and, to a lesser degree, Rollins. Spurlock, BUT REALLY JUST COLBERT AND STEWART. And thank fucking christ for them or I'd go insane. I watched the Spike Jonze Documentary on Al Gore twice in the last two days, and they talk about issues that just seem to have been dropped by our government over the past 6 years. BP's profits were 55,000$ per minute this quarter, and the war in iraq costs about 9 BILLION monthly, but seriously fuck gay marriage and stem cell research because we're all fucked anyways.

That last paragaph got a bit ranty but I swear I think I can tie it all together.

The point is: What are we going to do about it. Because right now it feels like we're not doing a goddamned thing. And it probably feels that way because it's true. I get the same feeling when I think about comics, literature, or film.

I paid ten dollars to see a movie today simply because I really wanted to see a movie. It ended up being 70 minutes long, and not really about anything. It was just people for 70 minutes, then credits, then I still had a whole night to kill. The movie industry is at an all time financial low. I am under the belief that this is because movies are not worth going to see any more. Do I want to spend ten dollars on some ubllshit like Lady In The Water or, worse, Superman. No. But it's not like independent, low budget movie are some kind of panacea. Obviously a movie like Motel, short with no story, is equally unworthy of my time, dollar, or attention. I think story is the key. We've left story behind in a lot of ways with modern features, whether they be comics or film. Visual literature (lack of better term) has become unfocused. We simply watch people walk around on screen, and assume that's enough. Superman was 3 hrs of picking stuff up, and putting it down. Crickets and Somersault are both comics with little to no story. Lost In Translation was a wonderful film, and still is, and proves that you CAN make good art by just watching people with very little cohesive story, but this can't be applied to everyone, and her next movie is Marie Antoinette, which just by title alone is exponentially more focused.

Story is the guide, when we lose sight of it we lose sight of ourselves and our direction, and with no definition of ourself we cannot have a voice.

Our generation is without a voice.

Unless, of course, our generation's story is "just watch people walk around." Which is essentially what we're doing: mutely wandering through political and literary
landscapes.

Save for Colbert and Stewart who are, in every sense of the phrase, giving voice to an entire generation.

We're in limbo right now. The real shift will come in the next five years if we're lucky, maybe 7-10. Punk died in the 90's, now Alternative's dead, and the best thing we've come up with so far is Indy (said with contemptuous drawl). The country has swung to the far right, we're morally and socially restricted, story is all but a rare occurence, news and reporting is a big fucking joke, but not as big of a joke as our nonexistent senate. It's not worth it for people to read, be healthy, vote, or go to the movies, because it is EASIER for them to be illiterate, faux moral idiots. I think it's our job to change that. Invert it. Make having a voice the EASY THING TO DO. If you want someone to go see a movie, you make them think "Of fucking course I'm going to see this movie, I will die unhappy if I do not." And you do this by actually making a movie that will make people die unlived if they do not see it. Or write a book. Or make it worth it to vote. We need all kinds of people to stand up and give a damn, now more than ever, because I am so fucking tired of this middle of the road bullshit.

I look around and see that we don't have a voice, and I can't think of any better way to fix that than to become that voice. We're the only ones who are going to make this better. No one else will. I essentially need every one of my friends to infiltrate all levels of art, government, school, economy, and gut it from the inside.

So that's the plan. Gut the fuckers and fashion their innards into some kind of wind pipe or conc shell device.

It was awesome, as usual. I spent too much money, also as usual. Talked to Sammy Harkham about getting a job (oh please oh please oh) and had nice conversations with Ben Templesmith, Eddie Campbell, and Jeff Brown. Fucked up black guy on crack dressed as superman was a nice bonus, as was Stan Lee almost eating it right in front of me, depressing fat middle aged man 'dressed' as Spock, the phrase "Hulk Smash...Your Cooter!" and purchasing a book called FILTH HOLE with jokes about a shitting penis.

Oh nerd prom.

I also formally apologize to Stacy for crapping out on the concert tonight, I suck and owe her breakfast and something awesome.

And, I highly recommend my favorite book in the whole wide world, Scott Pilgrim. I heart Scott Pilgrim.

NERD PROM NEXT WEEK! I'll be there Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday.

THURSDAY!
1:00-2:30 Comic Arts Conference Session #3: Comics...When Pictures and Words Collide!— Explore three unique and valuable perspectives on comics, from concept to creation to publication. Famed author RC Harvey (The Art of the Comic Book; The Genius of Winsor McCay) provides insights into the dynamic process of combining art and text. Legendary artist Rick Geary (Graphic Classics; Victorian Murders) describes how he transforms novels and biographies into comics literature. And renowned graphic designer Chip Kidd (Book One; Batman Collected) reveals his book selection process as editor of Pantheon’s graphic novel line. Noted writer Michael Dooley (The Education of a Comics Artist) moderates this profusely illustrated session. Room 7B

3:00-4:00 Spotlight on John Wagner— One of Britain’s most popular comics writers has made a significant impact in American comics, too. John Wagner is best known for his work as co-creator of Judge Dredd, but he’s also the writer behind the original graphic novel A History of Violence, which was made into a critically acclaimed motion picture by David Cronenberg last year. Wagner presents a visual presentation at this panel, titled “A Life in Comics,” which includes a look at his career and British comics in general. Moderated by former DC/Paradox Press editor Andy Helfer. Room 9

4:30-5:30 Spotlight on Daniel Clowes— One of the most respected writer/artists in comics, Dan Clowes also has the distinction of being nominated for an Academy Award for best writing (screenplay based on material previously produced or published) for Ghost World in 2001. Art School Confidential, another film based on Clowes’s comics, hit indie theater screens earlier this year. Clowes’s evocative, character-driven work along with his distinctive drawing style has made books like Eightball, Ghost World, Ice Haven, and Caricature both fan and mainstream favorites. Fantagraphics’ Eric Reynolds interviews Dan in this rare programming appearance. Room 8

6:00-7:00 Random House Publishing Group Graphic Novels— The Random House Publishing Group are the publishers of Harvey Pekar’s American Splendor and Flight 3, edited by Kazu Kabuishi. Two of the company’s newest titles are the critically acclaimed Elk’s Run and the highly anticipated Dark Wraith of Shannara. Join Kazu Kabuishi and Joshua Hale Fialkov, as well as the RHPG editors, to hear more about these books as well as Random House’s graphic novel plans for the future. Room 7B

hey that's pretty cool, I'm a character in Elk's Run!

10:15-12:15 CCI:IFF Extra: IFC Presents This Film Is Not Yet Rated— This Film Is Not Yet Rated, an IFC Original Documentary from Oscar-nominated director Kirby Dick (Twist of Faith), is an unprecedented investigation into the MPAA film ratings system and its profound impact on American culture. See what Entertainment Weekly calls "an irresistible muckraking documentary that might just shake up the world of movies, which would be good news for movie addicts everywhere," followed by a Q&A with Kirby Dick and producer Eddie Schmidt. Room 6B

SATURDAY!

11:30-12:30 Spotlight on Kazuo Koike— Kazuo Koike, author of some of the greatest graphic fiction ever created (Lone Wolf and Cub, Crying Freeman), has attained legendary status not only in his native Japan but in all parts of the world. Within the comics industry, Mr. Koike is unusual in having achieved the pinnacle of fame and admiration as an author alone. SDCC 2006 marks the first-ever time that Mr. Koike has visited an American convention, here to help celebrate the 20th anniversary his English language publisher, Dark Horse Comics. July marks the release of Koike's Path of the Assassin, which will also see the end of the ten-part Samurai Executioner and the four-part Lady Snowblood. Room 6

12:00-1:30 Masters of Alternative Comics— The brothers who helped start the alternative comics movement with Love and Rockets, Gilbert Hernandez (Sloth) and Jaime Hernandez (Locas), are joined by other contemporary masters of the genre: Ivan Brunetti (Schizo), Mary Fleener (Life of the Party), Roger Langridge (Fred the Clown), and Souther Salazar (Kramer’s Ergot). Meet all six as they show their best work, detail their influences, and engage in lively discussion with author Michael Dooley (The Education of a Comics Artist). Room 2

12:30-2:00 Quick Draw— The awesome powers of three top cartoonists face their ultimate challenge: Can they think as fast as they can sketch? Can they sketch as fast as they can think? See whether Sergio Aragonés, Scott Shaw!, and Kyle Baker are able to break the cartooning sound barrier! Mark Evanier, as usual, puts them through their paces. Room 6CDEF

12:30-1:30 Flight: A New Kind of Comics Anthology— The critically acclaimed Flight anthology has begun paving the way for a new vision in comics. Flight artists Kazu Kibuishi (Daisy Kutter), Phil Craven, Kean Soo (Jellaby), Jeff Smith (Bone), Steve Hamaker, and special guest Scott McCloud (Understanding Comics, Making Comics) talk about creating comics for a new generation of readers and artists. Room 9