vastad

Here I faithfully reproduce what I wrote in Pyewacket's journal because I think some of you might be interested:

You quote Oscar Wilde in nearly every journal you post, so I felt that I really must bring your attention to an independent comic writer by the name of Dave Sim. Along with his illustrator companion Gerhard, he has put out a series of large format trade paperbacks.
They appear in this order:
Cerebus
High Society
Church & State I
Church & State II
Jaka's Story
Melmoth
Flight
Women
Reads
Minds

Each tpb is about 240 pages long. I recommend this series because not only is it underrepresented as very good reading, but because Dave Sim is fairly the Wilde obsessive himself. He is also a great fan of particular and peculiar humans of the 20th century. Besides Wilde, Groucho Marx, Margaret Thatcher and even Oprah make an appearance in barely concealed form. Right in the beginning is Prime Minister Weishaupt. Weishaupt was, if you know your classic conspiracy history, the founder of the Bavarian Illuminati.

Mixed into this whole story arc is Dave himself - through his characters - arguing the age-old argument of the The Individual vs. The Collective: Kevillism whose ideological war cry 'Choice above All' vs Cirinism misandrist 'Motherhood above All'.

However in this incarnation he explores this conflict through his best grasp of Woman. He does this through a nation that has been conquered by a Matriarchal Dictatorship whose nearest and most powerful neighbour is a corrupt beourgeois centralised beauracracy representing the much deflated Male power block.

Joining all these threads is Cerebus the Aardvark, mostly, but not always, the central figure of the series plus an interesting twist of the more common theme of Father vs Son into Mother vs Daughter whose respective figures are Cirin, the founder of Cirinism, and Astoria her 'spiritual Daughter' who champions Kevillism.

SO pervasive is Oscar Wilde's influence on Dave Sim that in the fifth tpb, Jaka's Story, Oscar himself shows up and lays it on thick with his incredible intellectual wit and piercing insight as a larger-than-life character. The 6th book, Melmoth, doesn't even pretend to stick to the story and is, instead a touching re-interpretation and retelling of the last days of Wilde up to his death, taken faithfully from one of his biographies complete with the letters allegedly exchanged by those closest to him. Dave even reprints the original letters and points out where he modified to text to reflect the alternate reality of the world of Cerebus and the Matriarchy.

It is really such a good series, that perhaps if you just wanted to see some Oscar Wilde, then just look for Jaka's Story and Melmoth....otherwise, it really is worth reading through the whole series. I am fortunate that a branch of the national library system here in Sweden caters to comis and graphic novels and thus I have read all but the last two free of charge.

Hmmm...I think I will reproduce this whole post in my journal...surely someone will enjoy it.

*******

Son of SG CD Swap IV

CD Swap Deadline: July 14th

*******

University Scoreboard:
1st Choice: Edinburgh --> No
2nd Choice: Reading --> Unconditional YES!
3rd Choice: Huddersfield --> Unconditional YES!
4th Choice: Birmingham --> no answer yet
5th Choice: Bristol --> Unconditional YES!
6th Choice: Sussex --> Unconditional YES!

I know my choice. I will be going to Reading.

This major will be Artificial Intelligence and Cybernetics.

I thank you all for giving your 2 cents. Many of you have suggested Multimedia sensing a creative spirit in me and from my profile. This is true, I am creative, but I have done my test and failed. I have a degree in Industrial Design actually. And honestly....though my mind is rife with ideas, I am poor at execution. My best 'brush' so to speak, remains the spoken and printed word. I believe it was necessary for me to have gone to a creative school and come face to face with my...well...I don't know how to put it...failure at being any other kind of artist.

And so, I now swing the other way. I have gone very technical and specialised. In today's world that is a good thing. And perhaps creatively it will be good too. Many have been the artistic that I have personally known whose pursuit of learning WITHIN their passion has sometimes killed the very thing they love. This is roughly a 50-50 split. For example, some writers thrive on getting an English or a Journalism degree. For others, attaining a livelyhood through a completely unrelated field is sustenance for their Muse. I am one of the latter I believe. I'm not sure, but I get to find out and that is the wonder of Life is it not?

However worry not for just like any other University course, there exist optional modules. In the American system, these would be called 'electives'. And sure enough, upon research on my part, they do indeed have a Digital Multimedia elective available in the 3rd year.

The University of Reading also has it's own large and respected Department of Sociology so I will not be far from another subject that fascinates me. So I will specialise in my study time, and explore my passions in my free time....and perhaps that's the best way for me to live.

On top of which, I am reentering one of the best social arenas in the world: a learning institution and it's student body. I am not ashamed to say that by next year, I'd like to have been intimate with more than one of those very bodies by way of my penetrating wit

LOL!

I am quite the happy person.