A Comic, Thoughts on the Year 1996, and BONUS

I dunno if anyone ever clicks the link off to the right labelled "A Small Kobold" Web Comic - I know I wouldn't, given that it has not been updated in months... but anyway that is a comic that I work on sometimes. A man ought to have a hobby you know.

Well, I finally did another comic... only to discover that something has gone awry and I can't get the update script to display the sorry thing. If you visit the site now, you can read me complaining about this.

I will probably fix my site once Jeremy tells me what to do. Shitty thing needs an overhaul anyway (any volunteers, by the way? I don't know about inter net stuff and don't have a lot of time to learn...)

So anyway, for the time being you can see the comic right here - if you click on it, it should spring up into a legible size... be aware that it contains adult (adolescent?) references to DRUG USAGE... only stuff I learned from reading educational materials though of course.



I set this comic in 1996 because I needed to distance it from the continuity of everything else I've been doing, and also because 1996 is when Civilization 2 came out. But I had a hard time trying to give it a 1996 feel... in fact, I can remember very little about what 1996 was like. This got me to thinking - I figure that 1996 retro must be about due - and for some reason, this filled me with loathing and dread. But why? I wasn't sure.

So I took a look at the top 10 songs of 1996:

1. Macarena (Bayside Boys Mix), Los Del Rio
2. One Sweet Day, Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men
3. Because You Loved Me, Celine Dion
4. Nobody Knows, Tony Rich Project
5. Always Be My Baby, Mariah Carey
6. Give Me One Reason, Tracy Chapman
7. Tha Crossroads, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony
8. I Love You Always Forever, Donna Lewis
9. You're Makin' Me High / Let It Flow, Toni Braxton
10. Twisted, Keith Sweat

That's why. 1996 Presents: "Music to Cut Your Own Genitals By..."

Actually I'm pretty worried about mid-to-late 90s retro altogether. Things got worse as the decade went on - I'm talking about shit like Aqua, the boyband revival, "Candle in the Wind 1997" (which was STILL in the top 10 in 1998!), all that terrible vocoder crap that Cher kicked off in 1999...

As for the fashion - who else remembers the remorseless ubiquity of lime green and orange? Skeletal models, heroin chic anyone? (Anyone???)

If it hits us consecutively, we're due for about 6 straight years of nostalgia for one of the most apalling slump periods that global culture has ever known. In all honesty I would be happier doing "Aztec retro" and have my still-beating heart cut out with a stone knife and brandished before my agonized, disbelieving eyes... there would probably be some half-decent drumming happening nearby.

Okay!

Paranthetically, 1996 also brought us the phrase "no diggity", which I still don't know how to use.

Is it like:

Q: "Would you care for a cigarette?"
A: "No diggity!"

I dunno, is that plausible? Is it? Friends... I really don't know. (I have "no diggity"? Maybe?)

Advice is being accepted on that one.

-------------------------------------------

BLOGG UPDATE BONUS:

Would you drink out a glass designed by this man?



Currently, there is a 7-11 promotion here in Japan where if you buy a bunch of beer you can take home a glass that he designed. My flatmate bought a bunch of beer and that is exactly what happened. The glass itself is kind of a wonky shape and has angel wings on the side. You couldn't fit much beer in it... actually it sucks pretty bad.

The picture above is on the side of the box - don't it just make you want to... drink a laughably small serving of beer? Or go fox hunting?