Hi all–In my ongoing efforts to cobble together a living telling stories through various means, I’ve finally started up a Patreon!
As many of you know, in addition to wandering around telling tales of history, and illustrating commissions for others, I also pluck away at two labors of love: Going To Weather, a historical webcomic, and Lacrimore, a someday gothic illustrated novella. With your support, you could help me devote more time and energy to these projects, as well as to the other work I do in the realm of art, writing, and music-making.
What is Patreon? Patreon is a creator support platform, where for a monthly subscription starting at $1 and upwards, patrons can get exclusive access to goodies, unpublished material, perks, and the warm fuzzy knowledge that they are helping me to produce the work they already enjoy!
What are the rewards? My rewards include early access and a behind the scenes look at my projects, patreon exclusive sketches and readings of unpublished writing excerpts, downloadable shanty mp3s, commission priority and discounts, and even the opportunity to have a cameo drawn of you or a character of your choice into the background of my comic.
There is also the possibility of a new comic created exclusively for patrons if certain monetary goals are met. Please see my page for more details!
If you want to offer your support, but can’t afford a monthly subscription… Any and all displays of support warm the cockles of my heart! Signal boosting this post and my work, considering a commission, or leaving a one-time donation on my ko-fi are all ways you can help.
Even simply having another pair of eyes on the things I do encourages me to keep going with it all. Thanks so much everyone!
I’m not sure if there’s a linguistic term for this, but I find it fascinating when the connotation of a word changes over time, without the meaning changing at all.
I’m currently (re)reading Pride and Prejudice and was struck by how “condescension” is used positively*, while still referring to the same behavior and attitude it does now. At some point between 1812 and 2018 ‘person of high status deigning to speak with those of lesser rank’ ceased to become a good thing; the word stood still while society changed around it.
*Admittedly, the person in question in this case is still being a dick about it, but the worditself clearly doesn’t carry a negative connotation.
I was trying to remember what 18th century literature I’ve read and could only come up with Goethe’s Faust, assorted Blake poems, and….. Fanny Hill
The Bishop and His Household The Year 1817. Which Happens in The Year 1817, When it Is The Year 1817 Waterloo The Convent Of Petit Picpus Gamins Of Paris And Also Birds Paris, Just Everything About Paris Generally Slang, Its Theory and Use A General Theory of Revolutions and Progress The Intestine of the Leviathan
WHEN will ANY director truly UNDERSTAND these characters and give them the time they DESERVE
What about an adaption that regularly cuts to Victor Hugo lying in a bathtub going “stop stop stop STOP! you can’t just show them that! how are they going to understand that without the necessary context?” (looking directly into the camera) “so what you need to know is…” (taking a sip of wine while the camera fades to a historical scene)
Bonus points if the digressions are filmed in the style of drunk history, i.e. hugo narrating and the characters ad-libbing, except that he’s not drunk, just obnoxious.
Extra bonus points if the scenes with him are also mockumentary style and he’s actually being interviewed about the book and the interviewer will argue with him about his portrayal of Cosette or his hot take on Louis-Philippe and look into the camera like they’re on the office when he deflects.
Mark your calendars for 8/10, because Bybloemen is going live on Hiveworks!
What is Bybloemen exactly??
Bybloemen is a black comedy that takes place in the Dutch town of Stenen
Brug at the height of tulip mania, an utterly ridiculous chapter in European
history when houses were mortgaged for flowers, a virus almost capsized
an entire economy, and at least one visiting Englishman was jailed for
roasting and eating a tulip bulb he mistook for an onion. Although
professional historians might chalk this historical incident up to
wildly irresponsible financial speculation, or even a fun side-effect of
the bubonic plague, these interpretations fail to give credit where
credit is due. And so this comic follows the adventures of tulip mania’s
three largely unknown (and unwitting) architects: a young merchant
named Gertrude, a lesser devil named Basil, and his gifted apprentice,
Ludwig. Together, they engaged in misdeeds so rapacious, so foul and so stunningly incompetent
that the best bits were left out of history books, since no one of sound mind and decent character would believe a word of it anyway.
If you like black comedies, black and white comics, and think that chickens have been woefully underrepresented as demonic familiars, this story is right up your alley! If you also enjoy improbable friendships, witchcraft and economic malfeasance, allow me to cater to your very specific (and impeccable) tastes!
I’ve been working on this story for a few years now and it’s finally (finally!) ready to see the light of day. So if you’re interested, or think you might know somebody who would be, it would be awesome if you could get the word out!
And for those of you who’ve been asking about where this comic went, now you know! Thank you all for being so patient!
due to one person leaving the firm in june and his replacement not starting until september, we have only one (1) part-time architectural drafter this summer, and she’s totally swamped by projects, so I volunteered to make some edits to a sketchup model….. which lead to me spending 3 hours this morning trying to move a window down six feet without breaking everything
no one is allowed to use humorous hyperbole on tumblr dot com without someone else assuming they need to be Educated
@vimyvickers linked me to The Worst Object in the British National Maritime Museum’s collection, so I have to now share the pain.
friendly reminder that this exists and is in a museum
It’s relevant, though – lead poisoning from the tinned meat is supposed to have contributed to the disastrously failed expedition:
“The chemical evidence of lead poisoning is almost certainly due to the soldering of the cans that contained the preserved meats. The technology for preparing canned meat was new, having been patented in 1811, and the cans were sealed with a solder of tin and a high lead content. Contaminating the meat immediately adjacent, this solder was the probable cause of the high lead levels found in the bones and hair of the crew. This would have led to anorexia, fatigue and weakness from peripheral neuritis, intestinal colic and psychological manifestations such as anxiety and paranoia. Another suggestion (Martin S, personal communication) is that the poor quality of the canning could have led to botulism.“
I am aware of the context of this object! But it remains a 173 year old chunk of meat, that the museum charmingly describes as “flesh,” proudly mounted to a mahogany plaque. Part of the strange humor of it is due to the historical relevance- the only reason the museum has kept and glorified this particular very very old pork (or possibly beef- the National Maritime Museum does not specify the exact origin of the meat) is its connection to an expedition whose enduring fame comes largely from its tragedy. The world is so enduringly fascinated by this spectacularly unsuccessful expedition that we are willing to extend that fascination to a nearly two century old chunk of meat, and there is something inescapably funny about that.
A Pretty Taste for Paradox 