Re: sites for sore eyes

OK, kids. You'll note the new link to John Kricfalusi's web site. This is the man responsible for Ren & Stimpy and The Goddamn George Liquor Show, not to mention the incredibly sexy cartoon video he did for Bjork. John K is, simply put, a cartooning God. To say I agree with his cartooning philosophy is not to say enough. But let's have it out anyway.

A cartoon is a cartoon. Cartoons ain't life. Disney's so-called "imitation of life" is more accurately an imitation of death. I.e., it's an unholy recipe for creating animated zombies: stinking corpses that shuffled around and refuse to die.

John K's website is pretty much a graduate level college course in the history of 20th and 21st century cartooning -- with a special nod to the Pre-Cambrian explosion of creativity that took place in the 1930s and 1940s. His cartoongods are Bob Clampett and Tex Avery. They stand on the mountaintop as a result of their ceaseless experimentation.

What's happened since (largely inspired by Disney, but giving credit to cheapness and gutlessness as well) has been a devolution. A slavish devotion to model sheets. A fear of going "off-model" akin to pissing on the Holy Grail.

I like to call myself a cartoonist. John K's site makes me want to earn the title. He inspires me to work harder at it. He bitchslaps me to realize the level of mediocrity I've accepted in my own work. He reminds me what it was like when I was 14 years old and I'd stay awake all night -- drawing and redrawing -- just to get the damn thing right.

Writers bitch and bitch about how hard it is. You should try cartooning sometime.

Writing is just something I fell into because it's easier.

And -- you wanna hear something really funny?

It pays more.