Tom Pappalardo

Best Movies of the Decade

2010-01-02T17:55:00.003-05:00

The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford
The Departed - Lots of fackin swearin'.
No Country For Old Men - hardcore
Anchorman - Comedies don't get a lot of respect on "best of" lists because they're considered less-than-important filmmaking. But damn, that movie made me cry with laughter in the theater which I had never done before or since.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - Epic visuals.
The Royal Tenenbaums - Epic storytelling.
Ghost World - Jeez that feels like a lifetime ago.
Amelie - Gorgeous.
Kill Bill 1&2 & Inglorious Basterds - Considering I despise Tarentino as a personality/celebrity, not a bad decade, sir.Kudos. You read my blog, right, QT?
Zodiac - Gorgeous.
High Fidelity: I don't think you could work at a used music store and not appreciate this movie on some level.

Proof Family Entertainment Can Rock: The Incredibles & WALL-E - Really well-done & solid. The design of the Incredibles, the film titles, and a lot of the merch was just excellent. WALL-E: the robot itself was just great. A fucking CUBE with a hollow MIDDLE. And he folded up SO NEAT.

My Post-Apocalyptic Winners: Children of Men and The Road

My Mid-Apocalypse Winners: 28 Days Later and Shawn of the Dead

Best geek movie franchise: Lord of the Rings

Worst: Star Wars prequels

I think Fight Club should get an honorable mention, as it was released in Oct. of '99 & it's still fucking rad.

I think The Matrix should get an honorable mention (another '99er) because, despite whether you liked it or hated it, and despite the rest of the trilogy which totally gayed up a good thing, I think this movie held a lot of impact on the last decade. It took the wire-fu from Hong Kong and transformed it into a hyper-real high-tech computery visual language for fight scenes. 10 years later and you watch a trailer for a movie like "Kick Ass", and the Matrix is all over it. As a direct result of it, kung fu has become a standard fight scene element in most American action films (heck, it actually turned around and affected a lot of the subsequent Hong Kong output). Unlike hype surrounding movies like The Phantom Menace & Avatar, The Matrix really DID affect how (certain types of) films are made.

Semi-Honorable Mentions go to Death to Smoochy, Idiocracy, Team America: World Police, and Pootie Tang, which I enjoyed certain moments of immensely, even if the movies themselves were sort of mediocre. Generally eh movies with a few really really incredibly good scenes. Derka derka.

AFTERTHOUGHTS:

Moon - Jeez, that was pretty fuckin' good.

Triplets of Belleville - Jeez, that was pretty fuckin' good.

THE OPTIMIST Radio

2009-12-29T18:06:00.000-05:00

Starting in 2010, I am merging my occasional radio broadcasts/podcasts with my new weekly comic strip, The Optimist. You can read and listen to all of 'em over at the-opt.com. And I hope you do. These lil' audio stories are supposed to be funny. Or at least mildly entertaining. Or at least not so bad that you'd bother to change the station. I mean, you're probably not going to want to cut yourself when you hear them. They are sorta interesting, especially if you are one of those rare listeners who likes to listen to me talk. Lord knows that I am one of those rare listeners, so surely there must be others. A new piece airs about once a month. The 2009 ones are below, and also archived on the-opt.com. Enjoy?

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THE OPTIMIST, a comic strip (2010-present)

2009-12-29T18:03:00.000-05:00

THE OPTIMIST is an open-format black and white weekly comic strip. It's about whatever I feel like it being about. The Optimist is also a series of occasional podcasts - same type of humor, just ideas that I couldn't easily condense down into a comic. Plus, I love the sound of my own voice. If you are familiar with Whiskey! Tango! Foxtrot! (below) or Pinhole (also below), you will pretty much know what you're getting here. - Visit THE OPTIMIST site

New Computer, New OS.

2009-12-24T19:50:00.000-05:00

NOTE: I like to make blog posts about this sort of shit, both for my ownfuture reference, and in case anybody's Googling for answers to similarquestion I may have run into myself.

I recently purchased an HP Pavilion Elite e9280t PC (64-bit Windows 7, i7-920 quadcore processor, 8GB of RAM) after a sudden failure of my old Alienware machine (32-bit XP, Pentium 4 3.2ghz processor, 4GB of RAM, though XP only recognized 3.25GB of it). The old girl was circa 2005, and I'd maxed it out long ago (trying such unadvisable things like RAIDing SSDs, tweaking the heck out of XP, etc), so a replacement was needed. Here are some positives and negatives regarding HP, upgrading to Win7 64-bit, Adobe, and other junk:

POSITIVES, SO FAR:
* This machine is indeed fast. After Effects render comparison of an 3:38 8GB uncompressed AVI: My old Alienware machine rendered it in 33:38. This new machine just rendered the same project in 3:32. Yes, that's right. Slightly faster than real time. I'm sure this is laughably slow to super-pro video dudes with super-pro workstation gear, but I am completely and totally psyched about this right now.

* Windows 7 is not too shabby, generally speaking. I am not fond of the new start menu, and I am coping with this 'pin to taskbar' business. But this is coming from a dude that used the Win98-like "Windows Classic" layout the whole time he used XP. So basically, I'll admit that interface changes rattle me easily.

* Upgrading to iTunes 9 did not cause me to lose my Quicktime 7 Pro license. Yay.

* Adobe Creative Suite CS2 & Production Studio Premium installed and activated AOK. CS3 did not activate for me because I was unable to uninstall/deactivate it on the old machine. But one fairly painless phone call got me an authorization code. (Note: I read complaints on forums about huge wait times, and this phone number was recommended, and now I recommend it too: 1-800-642-3623. I called at 7am west coast time and only waited on hold for like, five minutes or so.)

* Windows 7 totally recognized this oddball old Sony Media Converter box I have, which XP did not.

* Oh my goodness. Windows shows font previews as icons now? WHAT A NOTION.

* This machine is SO WONDERFULLY QUIET. I can't tell you how important that is to me. Humming fans in a home office drive me hella bonkers. Yeah, that's right. I said 'hella bonkers'.

* I am trying out one of the SSDs I yanked from the Alien in anexternal enclosure as a scratch/render disk, via the eSATA connectionsI did not realize were on the back of the HP. Don't know how much it's helping,but as far as the above render test goes, it ain't hurtin.

* I chucked in a Western Digital Caviar Black internal drive as my new project drive. Installed easily. Newegg rules. I believe it was 23 hours from order placement to it arriving on my doorstep.

* Even though it is maybe not necessary/useful for a machine with so much RAM, I set up a 4GB Sandisk UltraII flash card with Readyboost, because I had it kicking around for my camera.

NEGATIVES SO FAR (I am a negative person, so of course this list is longer):
* Ordering from HP.com sort of blows. They (admirably) built the custom order and had it ready seven days before their estimated ship date. But then, after sending me a "Your Order Has Shipped" email with FedEx tracking numbers, in an amazing feat of corporate disorganization, they LET MY ORDER SIT ON A SHELF FOR SEVEN DAYS, angered a new customer in new and unimaginable ways, and basically made me hate them.

* One speaker had a defective wire; replacement already en route. HP Customer Service lady was wicked nice. But I still generally hate them. (On the plus side, the one speaker & subwoofer that did work sounded waaaaay better than my old setup, so I can't wait to get the replacement). UPDATE 12/24: New speakers came. Sound great. Wired remote is retarded. My dad had a wired remote on his top-loading VCR in 1985. The fuck.

* This video card (NVIDEA GeForce GTX 260) for some reason won't allow my Samsung 940BX monitors to go higher than 1280x1040, though my old video card/XP did. Oddly, I looked up the monitors on Samsung's site and it says "max resolution 1280x1040". So... was my old setup doing something wrong/special? I have no idea. Need to investigate more.

* I am a stupid person sometimes, and in the whirlwind consumer frenzy of suddenly needing to replace a very important work computer that had crashed, I misread some specs, not noting the difference between PCI and PCIe connectors. So neither my ancient SCSI card (for my ancient awesome 11x17 scanner) nor my fairly-old Wavecenter digital ADAT audio card fit in this machine. I need a solution for this soon, I reckon. UPDATE: 12/23: I bought a new Tascam US-122 MKII to replace my whole damned setup, and after fiddling with it for 24 hrs, I think I just might like it. A lot. Will comment more soon.

* CS2 programs (InDesign, GoLive, Audition) make Windows 7 revert to a simplified mode which is slightly annoying, but I might eventually choose that as my default theme anyway. GoLive layout view/code view got a little wonky until I re-picked "web view" from the bottom pane pulldown. UPDATE 12/24: I had trouble with my plugins at first but now they're rockin', mostly. Some of my Cakewalk and Waves stuff didn't show up in Audition.

* HP sacrificed valuable chassis space to an "HP Personal Media Drive" and an "HP Pocket Media Drive". Some proprietary bullshit. And of course, a lot of HP dumb-ass software came preloaded. They are both essentially internal USB ports, so if I really wanted to, I could probably buy an extension wire and make use of the ports if I really wanted to.

* When I loaded my Wacom Intuos 2, it activated some weird-ass Microsoft Tablet PC shit in Windows 7, causing every pen click to have irritating-as-hell animated cursor shit accompany it. After a bit of Googling, here are a few options on how to disable that wack shizz: Try this one first and see if it fixes it: OPTION ONE: Control Panel>AdministrativeTools>Services>Tablet PC Input Service>Stop Service. Thenright click on the Tablet PC Input Service>Propertie>ChangeStartup Type from "Automatic" to "Disabled". (If that doesn't do it for you, here are two other things to try: OPTION TWO: Control Panel>Pen and Touch>Press and Hold>Settings: Uncheck "Enable Press and Hold...". OPTION THREE: Run gpedit.msc Navigate to User Configuration>Administrative Templates>Windows Components>Tablet PC>Cursors>Right click to edit>Enable "Turn off pen feedback".) UPDATE 12/24: Dumb cursors have thankfully not returned, but I have had to re-set my preferences twice now upon reboot (I change both buttons to right click and adjust for dual monitor setup). Annoying. I am setting the TabletServiceWacom service to "Automatic (Delayed Start)" to see if maybe it's getting messed with at startup or what.

December 19, 2009

poop room aught nine

2009-11-24T09:12:00.000-05:00

Massachusetts Poetry Festival poster (2009)

2009-10-27T12:13:00.000-04:00

Offset poster design for Mass Poetry (2009)

The Starline Rhythm Boys - Masquerade For Heartache (2009)

2009-10-20T13:50:00.000-04:00

See more: full CD sleeve

Arty Hill and the Long Gone Daddys - Montgomery On My Mind (2009)

2009-10-20T13:48:00.000-04:00

See more: inner booklet | tray card

Shelter (2009)

2009-10-16T17:00:00.000-04:00

I had a two-page comic appear in the latest Trees and Hills anthology, Shelter. The comic, "Houses & Stuff", can be seen here, and can also be heard on the radio segment of the same name.

Cars I've Owned

2009-10-02T16:47:00.000-04:00

1981 CHEVY MALIBU(two-tone blue "Landau Edition"- whatever that meant)First car. Rocked. Fun. Bought it off my grandmother. Had a factory-installed CB. Once caught air driving it dangerously fast through a self-serve car wash bay. Not recommended behavior. Dislodged the oil pan on an icy off ramp one winter and couldn't afford repairs. PICTURED: A local Haverhill, MA prostitute, circa 1994?

1991 OLDSMOBILE CUTLASS CIERA(silver) My dad's old car. The boringest car I've ever inherited. So boring I sat here for like, ten minutes while typing this trying to remember what the name of the model was. Transmission dropped the week after I sold it. This car was so boring I never even bothered taking a picture of it. Or maybe I did and it just blended into the background or something.

1969 FORD MUSTANG(primer gray w/ blacked-out chrome)V8. Bought it before I ever knew anything about cars. I did not learn anything about cars while I owned it. I did not own like, ANY tools. Never heard it turn over. Got the electrical system going, though. I used to sit in my mom's garage and turn the headlights on. Large gaping holes in the floor, hood filled with sand. When I finally moved out of my mom's, it ended up getting it flatbedded away - presumed crushed. PICTURED: This is exactly how it looked the entire time I owned it.

1989 CHEVY CELEBRITY(silver and rust) "Eurosport"WHOOOOOO!!!! Big rust hole on the trunk, rusted undercarriage. Power steering didn't work. Power locks didn't work. Pretty much power everything didn't work. Drove it to the junkyard when I finally got the '66 on the road. Well, specifically, I had to get the '66 on the road because I had to drive the Celebrity to the junkyard. I always sort of liked how this car looked, though. Interesting stage in car design between "boxy" and "bubble-shaped". PICTURED: Weird. This is the only picture I have of that car, and I owned it for forever. Who's that chick?

1966 FORD MUSTANG (mostly red. spraypaint.)

Pride of the fleet. Burned oil like a fleeing Iraqi. Was well on its way to rotting away completely. Frightening Mass Pike experiences. Pitched and yawed like a ship at sea. I am fairly certain that "yawed" is a word. More photos, and some old writing I, uh, wrote about it can be found here.

1984 FORD F-250(beige and rust) Had the most incredibly terrible radiator I have ever seen on a functioning vehicle. You could see through it--big, gaping holes, but it never leaked or overheated. It was a strange Canadian rear wheel drive model with a huge engine. Big and reliable. Couldn't parallel park it worth a god-damn. Sold it to a kid for farm work.

1993 FORD FESTIVA(blue) Bought it off a half insane, slightly drunk CT man. He had a gun. I cleaned this lil' car up and pulled the backseat out of 'er and can really haul a lot of stuff. I love small wheel-base cars. It leaks oil. It smells a bit. It has those annoying auto-seatbelt things.

2005 Toyota Matrix(red) The newest, nicest vehicle I have ever owned. It goes fast when you want it to, and it also stops just as obediently. We looked at a cheaper Pontiac Vibe with more features and fewer miles, and still picked this.

Naïve: Modernism and Folklore in Contemporary Graphic Design (2009)

2009-09-30T17:26:00.003-04:00

Here's a nice-looking German design collection, Gestalten's Naïve: Modernism and Folklore in Contemporary Graphic Design.I just got my contributor copy, and it is a pretty, pretty book chockfull of talented folks. I've got one piece included, the cover of The No-Shadow Kick's 2005 EP Spatializing Sound in the Time Domain. The book's not available for sale in the U.S. yet, but you can get a look at it at the Gestalten site.

The Cat

2009-09-30T17:05:00.003-04:00

MUSIC: Random Solo Recordings (2009)

2009-09-30T16:59:00.006-04:00

I occasionally get the itch to put stuff on tape. (Well, it's 2009 now, so I'll be damned if I'm going to use actual tape. It's just an expression. What am I, a goddamned caveman?)Anyway, I record stuff once in awhile - it's sloppy & veryunprofessional. I post songs here in a relatively raw form, with thehope that by making my work semi-public, it will somehow spur me tokeep at it more consistently, or at the very least convince me that Ineed to learn how to use all this stupid equipment. Who knows. I don'tknow. This page has encouraged me to record six (6)mediocre songs so far this year, which sextuples my output from 2007& 2008 (err, combined). So I guess that's...good? If you'd like tohear my full-band stuff, don't forget to check out good ol' No-Shadow Kick.

BUT IT GETS GREAT MILEAGE - Here'sa song about my Ford Festiva, god damn it. I wrote it on Monday, demoedit on Friday, and recorded it on Sunday. It features a long, uselessmulti-tracked guitar wanking outro, which is quickly becoming mytrademark. This song was featured on episode 200937 of NPR's Car Talk, Sept.12, 2009. Here's the excerpt from the show, which is sort of silly since you can hear the whole song. Did I cheat 'em? And how! (2:38 - August, 2009)

I WANT YOU TO MISS ME WHEN I'M DEAD - Thisis the first new song I've written in about two years. 'New' as innot-rehashing-old-material. Rather meager output, I'd say. Anyway, Ihave no idea what this song is about. Consumerism or doing chores ordying or something. This song is a three chord progression played overand over and over again. Strum along at home! (4:18 - May, 2009)

DON'T LOSE THAT FEELING- Here's another old-song-I've-decided-to-re-record. Harkening back toprobably 1993-1994, Haverhill, Massachusetts. Back when I used to writefairly straightforward lyrics, sort of. Apparently. With theperspective of a decade-plus, I can say without embarrassment thatI find this song to be somewhat charming - nothing like whatI'd write now, so it sort of felt like I was covering someone else'ssong. Which is kinda funny. Sort of. (2:46 - Feb, 2009)

MODEL HOME - A weird instrumental track I recorded this past weekend, to be used as background music (hopefully way in the background) in a documentary about Arrested Development.It is appropriately repetitive and not too interesting and oddlyupbeat. Ha. I did not 'write' it really, I just kept layering crapuntil it seemed suitably layered. Ho-ho. If you would like to hear thissong and see some animation/title work I did for the documentary,please take a look at my portfolio. (2:16 - Feb, 2009)

INTRODUCTION- This is a song I wrote back in the mid-nineties. I unearthed a crappydemo of it on a cassette and decided it was sort of retarded but funny,so I decided to re-recorded it. It is a goofy song very much aboutsitting around at the Haymarket back-in-the-day (I'm talkin' old-schoolHaymarket, with the side room of books), nursing a long cup of coffeeand drawing terrible comics. Oh, Smith girls. (2:48 - Jan, 2009)

CAN'T HARDLY WAIT - Here's a strange sort of hybrid version of one of my favorite Replacements songs. It is a combination of the Pleased To Meet Me album version, the Tim demo version, the Boink! acoustic version, plus a smidge of me fucking around with stuff. I recorded it because I felt like it. (3:54 - Jan, 2009)

Now You Know (Your Fucking Menu)

2009-09-30T13:00:00.004-04:00

A song I wrote and recorded for Blommit.com, a site where contributors respond to a new topic each week, voted on by readers. This week's topic: Menus. Lots of graphic designer snob jokes. So sad. I wasted a whole day doing this. Jeez. Four standard-def clips equals HD! Whooo! Shot with a Flip Video camera, edited in After Effects, mixed in Audition. The green line down the right side is courtesy of lazy compression-setting. The bad singing is courtesy of lack of talent.

Broken Lines Book Trailer

2009-09-29T17:07:00.000-04:00

Here's a promo video I whipped up for my graphic novel Broken Lines. Since you probably haven't heard of Broken Lines, clearly this must be a terrible promotional idea.

THE OPTIMIST: 2009 Radio Segments

2009-09-18T10:44:00.023-04:00

Here are a bunch of radio segments I recorded for Bill Scher's Liberal Oasison WHMP (Northampton, Mass) in 2009. Some of these pieces are also available for distribution, review, and licensing at PRX.org.

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FORGETTING

In which the author Googles “Dysnomia,” and then, later, Googles “Dysnomia.” - Note to self: Write a witty description for this. The music for this piece is a de-mix of David Bowie's Space Oddity, available as separate tracks on Amazon, which I think is pretty rad. (4:45)

ART TALK: TYPOGRAPHY
In which your host takes you on a magical journey of lame graphic designer jokes.
Have you ever wondered why people like me cringe when you show off your lousy inkjet-printed party invitation? The answer is TYPOGRAPHY! Learn to Kern! Become the Sheriff of Serifs! Behold the... uh, phallics of Italics. Maybe? Errr... ANYWAY, give it a listen. This segment aired on WHMP (original radio show podcast available here.)
Keywords: Typography, Kerning, Stupid, Comic Sans.
(3:55, posted Sept 27th, 09)

MY SIDE OF THE STORY
In which the author smells an opportunity.
This is a parody of a local story, which means that no one outside ofwestern Massachusetts will understand it, and probably only 20% ofpeople inwestern Massachusetts will understand it, and probably only 3% of themwill hear this segment, and only 1% of them will think it's funny. Oh,well. Trust me, it's SCATHING. This piece was also made into a comic. This segment aired on WHMP (western Mass.); original radio show podcast available here. Closing music by Terry Bell with Friends.
Keywords: Houses, You smell, Northampton, Exercise, Ripeness.
(3:00, posted Aug 18, 09)

HOUSES & STUFF
In which the author peers suspiciously through the curtains and auto-dials the police.
This is little thing I wrote to be used as a radio piece, and also as a 2-page comic. This segment aired on WHMP (western Mass.); original radio show podcast available here.
Keywords: Houses, Insecurity, Materialism, I'm a big fat jerk.
(2:30, posted Aug 3, 09)

NOT LOOKING DOWN THE BARREL OF A GUN
In which the author almost loses his jelly.
This is a major rewrite of a short thing I wrote years and years ago.The background music is “The Setup", by the fiercely talented No-Shadow Kick. This segment aired on WHMP (western Mass.); original radio show podcast available here.
Keywords: Dunkin Donuts, Armed robbery, Haverhill, Bad New England accents, Boring lives.
(4:11, posted July 13th, 2009)

I THINK YOU SHOULD SHUT UP
In which the author accidentally leaves the microphone on while watching YouTube clips of Glenn Beck.
Thebackground music is “Easy Feeling Good Time", which I recorded on a4-track a long long time ago. This segment aired on WHMP (western Mass.); original radio show podcast available here.
Keywords: I think, You should, Shut up.
(1:49, posted June 15, 2009)

THE FIGHTIN' SEEBEES!
In which the author stacks boxes, doesn't go anywhere near a submarine, and mispronounces "nuclear" in an unrepentant manner.
Thebackground music is “Oh, What a Lovely War” by The Jolly Old Fellows(1930) and “Down in the U-17” by Billy Murray (1916), twovaguely-relevant songs I found on a very interesting website, FirstWorldWar.com. This segment aired on WHMP (western Mass.) - original podcast available here.
Keywords: Submarines, Seabees, Box-stacking, Toxic poisoning, Government dummies.
(5:02, posted May 18, 2009)

TI-99/4A
In which the author discusses his old computer and general dorkitude.
Let's talk about BASIC programming and text adventures. The background music is from the TI game Alpiner and a program calledVideo Graph, which I captured off of the nostalgia-inducing Win994a emulator. And just to give you an idea of how shameless I am about recycling my own old bits, here is TI-themed comic I drew in the early 2000s (and I have yet another comic of the same idea, from 1997). This segment aired on WHMP (western Mass.) on May 9th.
Keywords: TI-99/4A, Home computers, 1982, programming, video games, I am sort of a loser.
(4:06, recorded April, 2009)

Wicked Awesome Stuff

2009-09-15T18:23:00.005-04:00

This is a sort of random cross-section of stuff that I've done that I am sort of proud of, and think came out pretty good.

Book Covers That I Think Are Really Nice

2009-09-13T11:03:00.002-04:00

MIDDLESEX - Cover design by Henry Sene Yee, Cover illustration by Olga Grlic, published by PicadorI haven't read this book yet, but I look at it everytime I end upperusing Barnes and Noble. The black and white/matte finish is classy.Hell, even the gold-embossed Pulitzer badge - something usually slappedon long after the cover has been completed - looks great. The mix ofphotographic smoke-as-water combined with flat silhouette figures isawesome. The implication of cool naked chicks hanging around beingnaked while smoking cigarettes doesn't hurt anything, either. And nowthat I've read the credits and know the illustrator is named "OlgaGrlic", well, I'm in love. This is a really nice looking book cover. C'mon!		RICHARD III - Pelican Shakespeare edition, illustration by Riccardo Vecchio- Not a great cover generally speaking, but the illustrations on thiswhole series are pretty fucking outstanding. Check the rad lion.
CONSPICUOUS CONSUMPTION - Penguin Great Ideas edition, 2006 - Designer: David Pearson, Art Director: Jim Stoddart- This whole series is really sweet, nicely printed. I like this 'unbest. In fact I lifted the text box design for the cover of Broken Lines. I'm an unimaginative prick sometimes.		THE AREAS OF MY EXPERTISE (2005) - by good ol' John Hodgman, published by Dutton, cover layout by Sam Potts- Great mix of flat blue and gloss orange. I really like covers thatare filled with text and info... if you care, you take the time to readit (like a good Chris Ware cover). It helps that it's all extremelyfunny and sharply written, 'course.
THE COMPLETE PEANUTS SERIES - designed by Seth, published by Fantagraphics- I'm psyched for this whole collection for the Charles Schultzgoodness, of course. But I gotta say these books look pretty great. Thecolor variations are dang pleasant, Seth's lettering (and occasionalaping of Schultz's style for endpapers, etc) are top notch and reallyfit the project well. My only complaint was the decision to feature adifferent character on the cover/spine, which has already led to reallylame useless characters being featured. Seems like an idea that sortof paints the publishers into a corner, but I suppose they have amaster plan. Err, right?		GOOD FAITH - by Jane Smiley, cover layout by Gabriele Wilson- A fine example of using clip art in a non-stupid way. Simple,straightforward, great color choices. Jumps off the ol' storebookshelf, ya know?
THE VARIETIES OF SCIENTIFIC EXPERIENCE - by Carl Sagan, cover layout by Amanda Dewey- I can't tell if I like this cover, or if I just like the typeface. Imean, I appreciate the stark simplicity of it all. I like the twocolors. I look at it everytime I walk by it in Barnes'n'Noble. So Iguess that means.... I like it? Semi-interesting sidenote: GoogleImage Search "sagan varieties" and you get photos of Kirsten Dunst in abikini. Okay... that's not even semi-interesting. Sorry. But it's weird, am I right?

REVIEWS: Misc. Angry People

2009-09-12T19:48:00.000-04:00

In regards to Standard Design in general

Standard Design offers really stunning design work. One thing's for sure - their work really stands out. Hand someone a "Standard Design" flyer and you can bet they'll read it. Whether you need flyers, postcards, posters, business cards, web design or CD artwork, SD's portfolio looks outstanding. We're not sure why they call their company "standard design," though, as there's nothing "standard" about them. "Stellar Design" is more like it. Highly recommended. - Music Biz Academy

In regards to animated ICNE TV ads

How obnoxious can a commercial possibly be? Have any of your young children asked what it means when one of the character asks, “How’s it hangin’?” Considering the naked cartoon character in the scene, I’m wondering. Hmmmm. Could the neighbor possibly be referring to the naked guy’s genitals! Pretty gross, wouldn’t you agree?

I hope you folks are insured against tasteless marketing! I can’t possibly be the only person who objects to soft porn being foisted on the public as legitimate advertising. Can a viewer sue an advertiser for sexual harassment?

Dave R. - May 14, 2008

In regards to www.standard-design.com -

Tom Pappalardo
Target Market: graphic design

Purpose of portfolio: to find clients

Comments: This website is very stark, it has a newspaper feel to it. From what I can tell it looks like a website offering freelance work.

Process: 3 sections are listed, intro and a news update is provided upfront. Unfortunatly there is not any design put into the website. The sections only provided a moving slide show of work, which I think isn’t a very good idea, there is not enough to really look at the work. There a lot of body copy that just looks uninteresting to me.

Portfolio Type: spec sheet/brochure

- Allora Montoya, pixelpixies forum

Industrial Design That I Think Is Really Nice

2009-09-12T18:50:00.000-04:00

THE TOYOTA YARIS LIFTBACK (2007-2008)- Of all the great car designs in the world I could talk about, Ichoose this little fella. Because every time I see one on the street,I am struck by just how dang NICE they are. The proportions, thestyling, the hefty stance. They are like fat little shiny burritos. Iwant a black one, no rear spoiler thing, no plastic wheel covers-justblack steel rims.
As a side note, let me say that thiscar was introduced with one of the worst ad campaigns I'd ever seen.The computer-generated bullshit that filled my TV screen the firstcouple years these were out made me so angry I literally was unable tosee the car.

SHURON RONSIR ZYL EYEGLASS FRAMES -These classic-ass frames have been around for a long long time(according to the manufacturer's site, they sold their 16 millionthpair in 1971). They are apparently pronounced "zill". Isearched for quite awhile before finally finding these babies, and nowthey are mine. Buy some; Look like me,

Music Videos I Think Are Really Nice

2009-09-12T14:10:00.008-04:00

MUSE - KNIGHTS OF CYDONIA (2006) - Directed by Joseph Kahn - Cowboys, kung-fu, sci-fi, 60s/70s execution. Superimposed hawks. A chrome-bikini-clad woman on a unicorn with a magical CD. Dirtbikes. Droids. Band-as-hologram. This thing is amazing. It's not too often I see a music video and actually get jealous that I didn't make it. There is an uncensored version on the director's website, but honestly his site has to much Flash-wankery for me to bother with.

PETER, BJORN & JOHN - YOUNG FOLKS (2006) - Directed by Ted Malmros - This video successfully compliments the song. Which, you know, should be the goal of all video makers, but most sorta miss the mark. But this works. It's cute and eye-catching and plain ol' apt. It fits, damn it. I think the limited animation approach mostly succeeds, though there a few times I feel like they're rehashing the same clips a few too many times. The art style itself is great. Simple, clean, good color palette.

GORILLAZ - CLINT EASTWOOD (2001) - Art by JC Hewlett - Christ, I think I could put the Gorillaz in like, every category I've made here. They're just awesome. Most everything they release is just so goddamned quality. But it all started with this video (maybe. I think. Right? I'm no goddamned Gorillaz historian.) and I think it still stands as one of the best animated videos I've ever seen. I mean, I'm still in love with the song, too. So that sure don't hurt.

BROKEN LINES, a graphic novel in progress (2007-present)

2009-09-12T13:38:00.008-04:00

BROKEN LINES is a graphic novel (in progress) about a cowboy, a spaceman, and a waitress on a cross-country adventure. They fight evil. It's supposed to be funny. I'm about halfway through the story, independently publishing issues with little to no distribution at all. When the story is done, I will be shopping it around to publishers. In the meantime, "get in on the ground floor of this amazing opportunity." I encourage you to visit the official site for plot stuff, sample pages, multimedia crap, and the chance to purchase. Issues of Broken Lines are also for sale on this site, the BUY COMICS page. - Visit the BROKEN LINES site

Film & TV Titles That I Think Are Really Nice

2009-09-11T18:53:00.001-04:00

SIX FEET UNDER (2001-2005) - Digital Kitchen, music by Whatsisname Newman - I love this sequence. I think it should so obviously be on this list of Really Nice Things, it almost seems like I should exclude itdue to its obviousity, know what I mean? Great music, great editingcuts to the music, great imagery, great execution. Some of it could have come out corny (time lapse of flowers dying? Come ON!) but they pulled it off. It's pretty great. Watch the sequence & stuff from the DVD.

THANK YOU FOR SMOKING (2006) - Shadowplay Studios- Awesome. I assume it was done in After Effects, and it's top-notch.No bullshit preset animation crap, no dumb effects, just good graphicdesign and typography, sliced up and animated in a classy way. Therecreation of some of the packaging must have been a ball-buster, andit completely paid off. It rocks. Watch the sequence.

CATCH ME IF YOU CAN (2002) - Nexus Productions, I think. - I liked this but didn't love it.The animation technique was nice, the colors were nice, the overallgraphic treatment was nice. The extended lines off of the type(Helvetica or Coolvetica or whatever the hell it is) really didn't doit for me at all, which is tough nuts for me because the whole sequenceis built around the gimmick. It all plays very well with the JohnWilliams score. It's totally like, tons better than most crap movietitles, don't get me wrong. I mean, it's on this extremely importantwebpage, right? I mean, I made the effort. Watch it on the YouTube.

DVD Menus That I Think Are Really Nice

2009-09-10T19:11:00.000-04:00

BEASTIE BOYS VIDEO ANTHOLOGY (2000) - Menu and package design: Bill McMullen/The Orange Network, DVD production: Sean Wright-Anderson - The packaging has some above average illustration work on it and anice lil' booklet, but my main target of praise are the DVD menus.They're all just really slick and spot-on. The Beastie Boys have a longhistory of having a really strong graphic presence. Sometimes thepackaging outclasses the product itself (Intergalactic!). Anyhoo, this DVD collection is the shit and the menus are solid.

REVIEWS: Broken Lines

2009-09-10T19:05:00.000-04:00

...This Tom Pappalardo fellow? Either a genius, or a candidate to wind up on some sort of neighborhood “registry.”

The whole book is one cheerily absurd moment after another, and BROKEN LINES remains one of those little treasures that not enough people know about, but I suspect someday will. Find out for yourself why.

- Marc Mason (full review at Comics Waiting Room)

Pappalardo's illustrated prose novel returns with a new chapter, and fortunately it was worth the wait. BROKEN LINES is shaping up to be a classic oddity, full of strangeness and lunacy; hopefully he'll be able to get it in front of enough eyes so that it gets the recognition I've begun to believe it deserves.

The basic plot sounds a bit like the setup for a classic joke: a cowboy, a spaceman, and a vampire go on a road trip... picking up a waitress along the way. But there's a bit more to it than that. The group is pursued by a nasty group of demons called "firemen" (because they chop up people with axes and set things on fire), a trio of British vampire hunters, and now a third group of players with a mad-on for one of the group. But perhaps the most dangerous thing of all? American consumerism, as the waitress must navigate a shopping mall, her strange attraction to a retail salesman, and the d-bag trying to sell mobile phones from one of those kiosks we all hate so much.

You have to give the author credit for a number of things he tries with this book and manages to get away with. He breaks the fourth wall without being too annoying about it. He writes BROKEN LINES in present tense, which is almost impossible to do well. He does a solid job of adding in the illustrations and working them into coherent, mixed pages. And after about 120 pages, you still don't really have an idea exactly what the hell is going on or what the ultimate goal for the characters truly is (beyond "take the vampire home"). But somehow, all of this (mostly) works and tickles the funny bone.

Maybe my favorite moment in this chapter comes late in the proceedings as Pappalardo takes a moment to explain the "atmosphere" to his readership, layer by layer. When he finally gets to the top, outer space, he describes it as thus: "Fuckin' wormholes and shit."

Not exactly NASA, but executed with panache. Good stuff.

- Marc Mason, Comics Waiting Room

I have nothing clever to say about this book that the book does not say for itself. Seek it out. You will not be disappointed.

Tom Pappalardo and a slew of artists working in conjunction with Standard Design have created what is quite simply a masterpiece. In the first of what is tellingly called Book One of Four, Maybe, Pappalardo introduces his readers to Cowboy, Spaceman, Vampire, Maggie, and Myron, five almost archetypal heroes whose adventure dances the edges of reality like Fred Astaire on crack. But fair warning, this is NOT a comic book. It is the first in a series of four illustrated novellas that will leave you literally salivating for more.

I first saw Pappalardo's work a few months back when I reviewed the surreal and entertaining Famous Fighters. In that comic Pappalardo, along with his intrepid collaborator, Matt Smith, introduced readers to Cowboy as well as a slew of other characters loosely connected by a twisted definition of heroism that simultaneously parodied and paid homage to some great comic book, fantasy, and sci-fi motifs. It was a funny, entertaining, and excellent little independent comic. But compared to Broken Lines it was weak.

With clever dialogue, present tense, conversational narration, and asides that will make you laugh out loud if you are, say . . . sitting in the dentist's office waiting room quietly leafing through your copy, Broken Lines offers something few novellas do these days. It is intelligent, entertaining, and in a word, freaking awesome.

The story begins when a waitress, Maggie, meets two strange customers on a cold winter's day in a Colorado diner. One is a stoic cowboy called Cowboy, the other is a childlike spaceman called Spaceman. Their personalities mix as if they are our culture's answer to Oscar and Felix—and if you don't know who they are, go to the theatre—they bounce off each other and balance each other out with a comedic flair that makes their story hard to put down. Later Firemen (not firefighters, firemen—demons whose job is to kill and destroy) burn down Maggie's trailer park and because Cowboy "had a feeling" something bad would happen, Maggie is saved and swooped away on a twisted adventure involving a rehabilitating vampire, demons who talk like stoners, vampire hunters who are far less noble than one would think their career choice indicates, and a hapless nerd and his dog working at a gas station in the middle of nowhere.

These clever words are balanced by the art. As mentioned above, this book is NOT a comic book, graphic novel, collected volume or anything like that. Rather, it is an illustrated novella. With periodic panel-to-panel art done by Pappalardo and various other independent and amazing artists, this book fires ahead where others would bog you down. There is a mixture of illustration, Photoshoppery, and collage filling the pages between the prose and continuing the story along with a finesse that belies and benefits the oddity of the actual tale being told.

And what an odd tale it is; odd, fun, well written and with likable, intriguing characters, a plot that never stops, intersections of panel-to-panel art, and a quote from William Blake for the cherry. Do yourself a favor and buy this book, seek out future issues, and become a fan. You will NOT be sorry.

- Aaron Stueve, broken frontier

I'm not sure what I expected when I began to read Broken Lines: Book One of Four, Maybe but it surpassed whatever thought I might have had. It is so unlike everything else that I have ever read that I hate to make any sort of comparisons.

Cowboy, Spaceman, Vampire, and a waitress by the name of Maggie are the good guys. You know the kind of good guys I'm talking about right? Yep, the kind that fight evil. When firemen show up at the trailer park Maggie is living in and start to set fire to things, she can't imagine why. She asks the two who show up on her doorstep and they are kind enough to fill her in:

'Oh, no, ma'am. You're confusing us with firefighters,' the second fireman explains through the door, "They put out fires and save people."
'They're America's Heroes,' the first fireman chimes in.
'Yeah. We're firemen. We're basically evil. We're here to burn and kill.

But since we know, well at least we guessed, that Maggie is one of our heroes, this can't be the end of her. That is when Cowboy and Spaceman show up. With the help of Vampire they rescue the lady in distress and hightail it out of there.

What follows is a slightly peculiar journey to... well, we aren't exactly sure. They travel around in a rental van, which, by the way, is more than it appears, with Vampire hanging out in the back. Where they are from and who they are - those are questions that are never really answered. They simply are. Believe me, it is more than enough.

Coffee imbibing and all-night stints stocking-up at a grocery store also figure in Broken Lines, adding to its unique quality. There are some illustrations, a few traditional comic book boxes, but for the most part it is comprised of words - very funny words I might add. The characters are simply brilliant and the dialog is smart and entertaining.

Broken Lines is unusual. It starts out with a character washing his hands and ends with someone asking where the microwavable chalupas are. Completely irresistible once you start reading, you will not stop until you have reached the last page. Once there you will immediately start looking for volume two.

- Katie, McNeill - blogcritics magazine

The world does not need more superhero comics. It also doesn't need weird little illustrated novellas halfway between The Poor Man's Almanac and an old volume of Edgar Allan Poe poems with captioned picture plates. But I'd much rather more of have the latter than the former, which is why I was so pleased to read Tom Pappalardo's Broken Lines: Book One. It's the story of a waitress who hooks up with a spaceman and a cowboy to transport a vampire across the country in a rented moving truck. If you're either confused or irritated by the concept thus far, reading the book in its entirety will alleviate neither condition.

So, it's a good thing that Pappalardo's humor strikes such a chord with me. It probably won't with some people, primarily the type that buys Friends on DVD and goes to Adam Sandler movies on opening day, but those that prefer a more literary type of humor will find something to appreciate in Broken Lines. That's not to suggest that the book relies on high-brow pretension; quite the opposite is true. While Pappalardo clearly appreciates the finer points in humor specific to the written word, and has steeped Broken Lines in various literary traditions that suggest he's at least walked by a library or two, the sense of humor is truly absurd, and references to modern culture both high and low pepper the pages. At a hefty 70-plus pages, that's a lot of pepper.

But what's most arresting about this independently published book is its design. Not only has Pappalardo apparently read a few books, he's also paid quite a bit of attention to their layout and design. From the dry edition notes on the back of the title page to the chapter breaks, every element of the book has a unified sense of style, best described as ‘olde thyme', so detailed it belies the independent nature of the book. The illustrations are varied but consistent, alternating between diagrams, comic pages that bridge gaps in the prose, and illustrations with captions so absurdly chosen ("About halfway through Yojimbo" being my personal favorite) they complement the book's sense of humor perfectly. The spaceman is cute, the cowboy, who we've met before in Pappalardo and Matt Smith's excellent Famous Fighters, is suitably gruff, and the waitress character is almost as baffled as the reader is. The only real downside to the book is its rather abrupt end, which stops short as if a filmstrip caught fire halfway through the final reel. Broken Lines is ostensibly book one of four, but the build up doesn't work, because we're not left teetering on the edge of a cliffhanger, but rather thinking a few pages got left out at the printers. But though the end is confusingly sudden, the reader is still left wanting more, so while the world may not need any more superhero comics, it may need at least one more illustrated novella. - Rating: 9 on 10

- Al Kratina, comic book bin

Well, this isn't a comic exactly, and it's not a short story exactly either. It's mostly a short story with comical interludes thrown in, but what a story it is. I can't remember the last time I was this impressed by a story where I had no real idea what's going on. It starts innocently enough in an all-night diner with a cowboy and a man in a spacesuit eating dinner. Their waitress can't work up the enthusiasm to be too curious about them, and things proceed slowly for a bit until Maggie ends up having to get a ride home from these two. After they part ways, Maggie meets a group of demons from hell dressed as firemen (firemen make fires and kill people, firefighters are the ones who put them out, you see) before eventually ending up back with Cowboy and Spaceman and their silent friend, Vampire. She joins them on their journey across the country, trying to make enough money to survive along the way, while being chased by... well, we're not sure what. Nor do we know where they're going or why they're going there. None of that matters even a little bit, as an engaging cast of characters (I haven't even mentioned Myron or the Vampire Hunters because why not leave a few surprises for you?) and a constantly funny dialogue keep things moving even when they're stuck doing inventory in a grocery store to make a few bucks. Spaceman is possibly a small retarded child judging by his actions, Cowboy is the stereotypical cowboy except with a clumsy streak, and I don't have the slightest idea what Vampire is yet, except that he seems to have given up drinking blood. What can I say, I was mesmerized and damned sad to see the last page of this book. It's projected to be the first of four issues, so at least there's plenty more to go. I can't recommend this enough for those of you who don't mind a lot of really wonderful text thrown in with the pretty pictures. Oh, and Thomas did most of the drawing himself, except for a page each by Mister Reusch, Jason Goad and Matt Smith. $9.95 - Optical Sloth, June 2007

A couple of years ago, I reviewed a self-published comic called FAILURE, INCOMPETENCE by Tom Pappalardo [link - tom], and gave it a pretty heavy panning. The biggest problem was that Pappalardo was just not a very accomplished artist as far as comics went. Now, many times when you lay out an indy creator in a review, you'll never hear from them again; I say that, because I tend to have a healthy respect for those with the stones to come back for more. So I tip my cap to Pappalardo for standing up and taking another swing.

BROKEN LINES, to his credit, is something completely different. It is actually a prose work, with some illustrations spread throughout the book. But while the illustrations come across weakly on the whole (there hasn't been a lot of artistic growth here), the prose part is absolutely terrific fun. Pappalardo's true gift kicks into gear when he puts the pencil down and starts typing.

Maggie is a waitress working at a highway diner when her life takes a bizarre turn; one of her morning tables is comprised of a cowboy in full-regalia and a man in a spacesuit. But that isn't the weirdest part of her day; when she gets home, her home is attacked by demons called "firemen" whose job is to burn property and kill the owners, sending them straight to Hell. Fortunately, Maggie has a chance to survive when the cowboy and spaceman show up to save the day and rescue her… along with the help of their other friend, a vampire.

Swerving between quirky and flat-out strange, BROKEN LINES is a very amusing little tale. It's completely unpredictable, and not once do you ever feel like you know where it's headed. That's a nice feeling to have, and even though you're only a fourth of the way into the full story, you still walk away from this first part feeling satisfied. The story is also told in the present tense, which is rare these days, making it an even more unique read. Congrats all the way around to Pappalardo on delivering a solidly creative effort.

- Mark Mason, comics waiting room