The universe (which others call the Library) is composed of an indefinite, perhaps infinite number of hexagonal galleries. In the center of each gallery is a ventilation shaft, bounded by a low railing. From one hexagon one can see the floors above and below—one after another, endlessly.
Excerpt from The Library of Babel from Jorge Luis Borges' FICTIONS, which I can absolutely see being adapted into a graphic novella by the likes of François Schuiten (as an aside, check out this great scene from the film LE DERNIER PLAN directed by Schuiten's regular collaborator Benoit Peeters).
Like all the men of the Library, in my younger days I traveled; I have journeyed in quest of a book, perhaps the catalog of catalogs. Now that my eyes can hardly make out what I myself have written, I am preparing to die, a few leagues from the hexagon where I was born. When I am dead, compassionate hands will throw me over the railing; my tomb will be the unfathomable air, my body will sink for ages, and will decay and dissolve in the wind engendered by my fall, which shall be infinite. I declare that the library is endless.
Beautiful visuals, until Borges starts to break your brain with things like:
(Mystics claim that their ecstasies reveal to them a circular chamber containing an enormous circular book with a continuous spine that goes completely around the walls. But their testimony is suspect, their words obscure. That cyclical book is God.) Let it suffice for the moment that I repeat the classic dictum: The Library is a sphere whose exact center is any hexagon and whose circumference is unattainable.
Or maybe it's just too early in the morning for me to be reading this sort of thing.
#reads
It's been gray and rainy all day. Less than ideal day to venture out for a haircut and groceries, but I'd already planned it that way and stuck to the plan.
Work: Only had enough time to rough out one TSG page, and did some sketching/thinking on PROJECT BLOSSOM.
Reads: Past the 50-page mark on Borges' FICTIONS which I have heard much lore about and have been dying to read for a while now. It's true what they say: slim volume containing universes within. Starts off with what read like reviews of non-existent books, completely fictionized but written about completely straight-faced as if they genuinely existed, despite the absurdity of such a notion, given the nature of said books. The first one is fantastic, and the second one is very good, but by the third I had gotten a little tired of the formula. Fourth and fifth stories take on a more traditional approach to what one might expect of a short story, though the fourth one was quite meta and may require a second read for me to wrap my head around. I can certainly see how he must've influenced an author like Italo Calvino, who does in fact have a blurb printed in the front: “I love his work because every one of his pieces contains a model of the universe.”
Screens: Finished watching KAOS on Netflix, and Warren did not lie, it is very good. Judge it not by the first episode, it gets so much better real fast. Like Warren, I also did not like that they did not adequately tie it all up in the last episode. Doing so wouldn't have denied them the opportunity to create a second season—which is clearly what they're aiming for—the world they created is certainly fertile enough ground for more stories even with a firmly closed first story arc.
Status:

#journal

It is hard to believe that this chapter may very well be the last time I draw her for a very long time if not forever.
My plan for the day turned out to be a little too ambitious after all, but TSG pages are coming along smoothly.
Today's background listening included:
Bret Easton Ellis interviews Paul Schrader — Really great. I particularly love the few Pauline Kael anecdotes Schrader shares. Kael is grossly overrated in my opinion, and I say this having enjoyed a number of her books. She did good to bring actual critical criticism to the field, but neither her taste nor how she expressed it really jive with me.
TRACKMARKS by Hamed Sinno — Sinno, who is one of the most talented and creative people I know, was on a train in London when it got held up because a man on the tracks in what was apparently a suicide attempt. Folks on the train started to get irritated, and that irritation soon ballooned into rage, directed squarely at the distressed man who messed up their schedules. Hamed was wise enough to record this vocalized rage and weave it into a powerful song together with lyrics drawn entirely from advertising slogans seen on the London Underground. 👌
#journal #work #comix #tsg #resistdystopia #radar
The good air blowing through Houston is apparently the result of a tropical storm brewing right off the coast, for which we are being informed to brace ourselves. Third one this year. The city of Houston really ought to consider replacing all its roads and freeways with canals and moats, Netherlands style. The soil doesn't take too well to asphalt anyway, every new paving cracking and morphing within a couple years' time. Americans will criticize communism for its top-down authoritarian inflexibility, but then will insist on constructing all their cities with motorway-first logic irrespective of geography or topography. One-size-fits-all logic but through “free enterprise”. 🎉
Finished Calvino's WINTER'S NIGHT last night and moving onto Jorge Luis Borges' FICTIONS this morning before charging into the jampacked workday ahead.

Two pages worth of TSG pencils on the docket, along with some sketches for PROJECT BLOSSOM, and some thinking about PROJECT TWENTY-FIVE. I'll have to remember to break for exercise at some point, and perhaps take my bike out for a grocery run. A little too ambitious maybe, but things are oddly less daunting when you get that good pre-storm breeze.
#journal

You are about to read Ganzeer's review of Italo Calvino's IF ON A WINTER'S NIGHT A TRAVELER, a book which Ganzeer devoured in a week and immediately upon completion couldn't wait to write his impressions of, the task he is embarking on at this very moment. In doing so, however, he must be careful not to spoil too much of the plot or even concept for you, because he's very aware of the added enjoyment he derived from not knowing anything about the book other than it having been authored by Italo Calvino, and he didn't have the slightest idea of the compounded surprises that awaited him within its pages. How sad it would be if he were to deny you the opportunity to experience the same thrill he got from the unexpected events that unfold in the novel. Is it even possible to write a proper review without giving anything away though?
Full review at Ganzeer.Reviews.
#reads
A cool sea-like breeze blew through the city all day today, finally [hopefully] announcing a genuine end to that Texan summer. Day started on a good enough note, was finally able to take my bike out after many months of its sitting idly in my living room. Kiddo started soccer practice again, which is always fun to watch. Spent the remainder of the day tidying up and reading. Then I started meal prepping for the week, and things took a bad turn.
Decided to try my hand at a creamy eggplant curry, with ground beef and potatoes. Things were going well until I realized the coconut cream I added was REALLY EXTRA SWEET! Like CONDENSED MILK SWEET!
I should've just tossed the thing out then and there, but I was foolish enough to carry on anyway, thinking I could fix it. Couple hours of simmering later, the dish was just completely inedible. Put in through a strainer, one scoop at a time, till all the sauce was separated, and still no use.
Now I have a big terrible mess in the kitchen to contend with after four hours of cooking and no food whatsoever to show for it. Fml, I'll deal with it tomorrow.
#journal

“How many years has it been since I could abandon myself to a book written by another, with no relation to what I must write myself?”
From IF ON A WINTER'S NIGHT A TRAVELLER by Italo Calvino.
Image above is a screen grab showing one of Calvino's mad manuscripts, from a great 1985 interview conducted with him on the BBC's Bookmark show.
#reads #radar #quote

Artwork to go with my review of Bob Dylan's CHRONICLES, VOL. 1. A poster edition of the artwork is available from Garage.Ganzeer. I'm afraid I'll be keeping the original.
Issue #212 of my newsletter, RESTRICTED FREQUENCY, went out last night. The Art of Subversion is the title. Here's the web version.
#journal #work
Finished drafting and scheduling newsletter just in time for my hot date (it's nice to attempt to go about Friday nights like other humans every once in a while). This is edition 212 and it is about the art of subversion.
Sign up for free here to receive it.
#journal

I'm doing something a little different with the final chapter of THE SOLAR GRID in that I'm adopting something of an assembly line approach to working it, despite my being the only person actually working on it (This is potentially somewhat ironic given the Luddite segments featured in the previous two).
I've basically divided the chapter into three chunks of 12 pages, tackling one chunk at a time. I've done all the panel layouts for the first chunk, now onto filling them with actual characters and scenes, first in pencils, then in inks.

What this means is that each chunk, or pile rather, gets three passes before moving on to the next: first pass for laying out panels (based entirely on the thumbnails), second pass for doing the actual drawings in pencil, third pass for inking everything up. Dividing the work up this way makes it seem more manageable somehow, less daunting.

I quite like looking at the pages at this stage, with just the empty panels laid out. Pages stripped to the musicality of their compositions.
#work #comix #tsg #ResistDystopia