September 21, 2008
Comic #1
I'm not liking the title on it. Silence, the Wasted Virtue speaks too much into it. Tells too much about it. I want the reader to have to think when addressing my combination of both word and image. Hmmm maybe just silence. Building on that these things are not acting as just words but as images and physical structures ... hmmm.
Oh HI! Didn't see you there. Rambling about the comic. Alright so I'm doing a comic that signifies words as not only boundaries literally and figuratively (you'll see what I mean). The character starts in his neat little panel made up of solid line and explores his surrounding, interacting with the box itself. Kinda like breaking the forth wall but he's trapped. Then he speaks. The words are not going into a word bubble of any kind but with become the new path to which he will travel and interact with. I'm going to break it up into several word panels/paths for the comic and see where it goes from there, exploring the new world this character has created with his own words.
Character itself is simple. I call him Ono, based off onomatopoeia, a word that represents and is pronounced like a certain sound. Bang, Boom, crash, KRAKOW, bamf, snikt, and zot. Those are some of my favorites. Now I'm not actually calling him onomatopoeia because that's actually a comic book character already. A super villain in the DC universe that can mimic sounds. He'll mimic the sound of a gun three times and the last one will actually be a bullet, stuff like that. Having the more simple character interact with the complex and unique setting will be better for the story.
Some problems have arisen from using the normal right to left reading style, may go right left left right, up down down up, just use different ways of reading as in Western and Eastern type. The end I won't give away but let's just say that words have a unique ability in them, mostly with performative statements. See these are statements that also have action to them, they cause something to happen when said. So words can make things happen and words can also unmake things that happen. Words hold immense power. Saying too much could be dangerous. Just a little joke there.
In class I'm going to be working on character design and sketching the layout. I'll do it in landscape, which is just a big piece of paper on its side and such. Already come up with the idea for the next comic. Kinda like presenting the written and spoken word in pure image form. This one I will take a bit of time though, will be fun however.
Next time: Comic #2, One Week
"No, I'm not complaining, but sometimes it might be nice to just stop a robbery or foil a criminal mastermind. You know, like the regular super-guys."
- Cliff Steele: Robotman, Doom Patrol issue 37
Posted by fiorec at 05:26 PM | Comments (0)
September 13, 2008
Here We Go!
Questions to answerWhat are the boundaries of words?
How well do boundaries of one word system transfer to other word systems?
What are the limits of what a word system can include and still be a word system?
What are the limits of what a word system can exclude and still be a word system?
What is a word (word system)?
Does translation result in a form/version of the source word/word system or a new word/word system?
What are the forms/architectures of word systems?
Must word systems be made of alphabets?
Above is a list that is comprised of a series of questions I have been given to answer within my work. I plan on doing so with a series of work, most of which will be comics of my own creation and story. I also am thinking currently on certain ways to do some other things that have come to mind that have interested me when just going through ideas in my head. But first thing is always first, the questions at hand.
What are the boundaries of words? Hm, a question that is intriguing, thought provoking, and also not easily answered (or possibly VERY easily answered depending on one's point of view). My own point of view gives me a simple answer to this question and the questions to follow about boundaries in word systems, not just words, can also fall under this answer: ignorance. Ignorance is the boundary that a word can be given. When one does not know what the word (or image attached to the word) means then the word (and image) become mute and void. Without knowledge of what is presented to us, we simply just won't get it.
Now this is a boundary that is easily overcome in most situations. I mean if there's a word you don't know the meaning to, grab a dictionary. And with images that are attached to words we can just use such conveniences as the internet to discover the meaning. But what if the meaning is lost? What if there is no longer a known definition of the word? Well then the human race will simply adapt to this situation and find a new meaning, use, and/or definition for the word. A plethora of words have more than a single definition, which can get confusing but understandable provided the context and all.
This can also bring us into the next question really, the boundaries between different word systems. This boundary is also ignorance. Different word systems could be languages, and the lack of knowledge in translation between two or many other languages becomes the boundary presented with them. However most languages are quite similar, such as the romantic languages. Because of my ability to read Spanish (not that well but I understand it) I'm able to recognize French and Italian as well. Can I fully comprehend with a limited knowledge of only one of the three? No, but with classes, with becoming knowledgeable in the language the boundary is now overcome.
Also, let's bring up question 6 about translation and my own thoughts on it. See, translation is basically changing one word system that is completely out of one's ability to understand into something one can understand. With languages we go from one language to the next, one word system to the other. A book to a movie is a translation but again a word system to a word system.
Oh sorry just to interrupt but this also answers question 5 in my eyes seeing as how I see anything that contains words as a primary form somewhere within the creation of the system (movies have scripts, dialogue, directions all which would be incredibly hard done in mime) as a word system. Now that makes it so a word system can be ... well a whole lot of things. But in that there is the beauty in that something that you love to do is more than likely a word system, and doing something you love to do is ALWAYS easier then grinding through something that bore you.
So back to the thing with translation. If you don't have a readily available means to understand what you want to translate for yourself, then the opportunity comes about where you can create a word system or your own! This is an exciting, and in these days rare (BECAUSE EVERYTHING HAS BEEN DONE) occurrence. ... Am I finished here? Hmmm ... yeah for now. Alright on to the next paragraph. Sorry if this is a little here and there for you but my thought process is basically this so ... yeah...
OH! And along with the above allow me to give you this nice little link.
http://www.uvm.edu/~tstreete/semiotics_and_ads/index.html
This is a site about Semiotics, the study of sign processes and the significations and communication within said sign processes. Now to my limited understanding of Semiotics (haven't really gone into the deeper aspects of it) it can add a depth that can be further utilized by word systems to add even more layers of complexity. I will further address this in either my second or third comic (or graphic novel ... not sure which to call it. Maybe Graphic Short Story, makes it sound pretty sweet...). Just thought it would be nice to show you.
Now I really haven't touched much into other word systems that aren't language and such but I plan on doing so soon, hopefully through my comics and other things to come but for now I believe I've done my best in my answering of some of the above questions through my own perspective (twisted or not depending).
Next post: Ideas and explanation and hopefully some design scans for Comic #1: Silence, the Wasted Virtue
Now which quote should I do, gimme a minute... OH! GOT IT! A long one but a great one.
"I'm the only one left who remembers the infinite Earths. You see, I know the truth. I remember all that happened and I'm not going to forget. Worlds lived, worlds died. Nothing will ever be the same. But those were great days for me... I had a good friend in the good days. Really. He was the Anti-Monitor. He was going to give me a world to rule. Now he's gone, too. But that's okay with me. You see, I like to remember the past because those were better times than now. I mean, I'd rather live in the past than today, wouldn't you? I mean, nothing's certain anymore. Nothing's ever predictable like it used to be. These days... y-you just never know who's going to die... And who's going to live."
- Psycho Pirate, Crisis on Infinite Earths Prologue
Posted by fiorec at 03:50 PM | Comments (0)
Just Passing Time
Been thinking about the questions posted to us and was just wanting to write a little something. I'll have a much larger entry tomorrow with some of the inner machinations of my mind regarding the first project I'll be working on. I'm gonna do a comic, it'll be fun.
Oh and if you haven't noticed yet, the quotes I place at the end of the posts are from comics. Just some stuff I thought was pretty good. Find the issue and see the context of the quote to get the full awesome of them. Such as the one to come next! Seriously, out of context it's pretty dumb sounding but in context it shatters the resolve of a god.
"Why don't you just put the whole WORLD in a BOTTLE, Superman?"
-Written by Lex Luthor, Superman: Red Son issue 3 of 3
Posted by fiorec at 01:27 AM | Comments (0)
September 08, 2008
This Is Just a Test
A test of the Emergency Blogcast System. Remember, this is just a test. If it wasn't a test we'd all totally be forked. Like ... yeah really really forked, and badly too.
Note to myself:
Code= < img src= " site of image " >
Just minus the spaces and stuff
Also YT has the embedded and such so yeah...
"Because I love you. Because I want to set you free"
-V, V for Vendetta Book II Chapter 13
Posted by fiorec at 07:08 PM | Comments (0)
September 07, 2008
And So It Begins...
This shall be the first post made in my journey into understanding and utilizing the theory of Limited Fork. Just testing to see if this all still works like I thought it did and so far it does.
More posts with interesting things to come people.
"It's never as bad as it seems."
-Superman, All-Star Superman #10
Posted by fiorec at 03:55 PM | Comments (0)