Finally! One of my favorite illustrators and arguably one of the biggest inspirations for doing the stuff I do, Maurice Vellekoop, has put up a website. I couldn’t be more pleased to see this. His sense of humor, quality of line, and coloring all work for me. In my late teens and still developing my style, imagine my surprise that the same artist who I’d seen in the pages of wallpaper* magazine and Rolling Stone had put out a ‘Golden Book’ primer send up of homoerotic ABC’s.

Knowing this one was rejected for the letter ‘K’ – makes me a bigger fan, if that was at all possible.

This morning I was incensed by the revelations that the rap artist, M.I.A., wasn’t exactly who she puffed herself up to be which also confirmed my sneaking suspicions that the self-proclaimed voice to the young Tamil struggle in Sri Lanka was nothing more than a face (albeit a beautiful one) to an utterly disgusting pop-Frankenstein made up of lethargic, middle-class producers and engineers performing their ill-fitting duties as the cogs in a dying machine called the music industry. Frankly, I think Lynn Hirschberg at the New York Times let Maya Arulpragasam off way too easy, damning her with 9 pages of faint praise and contradiction.

Sure, the song ‘Paper Planes’ captured imaginations rocketing her to fame with it’s sampling of The Clash as a backdrop for her voice over rap – but it only stands to testimony that some things are classics and can stand on their own. And as she borrows here from the great Joe Strummer and company, Maya wraps herself in conflict and strife of the Tamil Tigers, falsely claiming their struggle as her own, and embossed that into the minds of many with that facile, para-military, ginger holocaust styled video in which we were assaulted with on the internet for her song, Born Free.

My first inkling that M.I.A. wasn’t all she said she was came when I was watching Real Time with Bill Maher and he interviewed her asking her about the plight of her native land, to which she seemed to know less to nothing about the Sri Lankan civil war than I did.

Chris Matyszczyk, at Cnet.com, summed up my sentiments this morning, reinforcing my dislike of M.I.A. and Twitter simultaneously. Simply put, Maya Arulpragasam, is a flaming jackass! I pity anyone who bought into her shtick and purchased any of her music. Her persona is like an onion, the more you unravel the layers, the more you are brought to tears, only to then be used to make Revolution Canapé.

Now, why does this even matter to me?

A writing teacher in college once told me, “Don’t write or produce work from the point of view that you know nothing about. It will be your own undoing.” These are words to live by, as an artist. Another one might be, “Don’t shit where you eat.”

I’m the product of my working class family and my environment. Historically, I’m also the first person in the last 200 years (perhaps more) of my family to attend a college and complete my studies. I almost dropped out of college after my second year because I ran out of money, and only when I begged the school to find some need based scholarship funds was I allowed to continue my studies to get my Bachelor in Fine Arts degree of which I have remaining $12,000 in loans I pay at regular monthly intervals. I bust my ass in a graphic design/printing job that sees me as little more than a skilled hand to press buttons, just so my right-wingnut boss can live just off a golf course and make ludicrous payments on a lease for his Porsche to keep up appearances at the country club or on his Match.com dates. I come home and I’m so fucking tired, that what little time I have for myself on weekends is spent doing battle with weeds in my garden or going out looking for somebody to fist my brains out so I can forget it all for a night when I should be making artwork for appreciative clients – not the ones who run magazines who collect thousands of dollars from beer or porn company advertisements or run gay shops in trendy parts of town who can’t be bothered to dole out paltry sums of money to artists trying to make it in this world.

Ask me again why I’m upset and I will keep pointing at charlatans like M.I.A. and the people who like to play the fool.

Lucky for me, I bought my tickets way in advance as I had a feeling this sucker was going to sell out this year and that hunch paid off. My first two days at the Con was basically popping in and out of the call out sessions and staying clear of the marketplace downstairs. I did this for two reasons – to avoid people I knew and to avoid the temptation to buy stuff. If I ran into people I knew or had yet to meet – I’d stay and gab their ears off. Plus, I’m on a budget.

Taking the trolley down from my house was a godsend as that meant little to no road rage on my part. A happy and calm Drub makes everyone else around me happy and pleasant as well, plus 5 bucks for an all day pass is a no brainer.

My 3rd day was very eventful. Instead of popping in and then popping out to go home, I went around to see who was manning the Prism booth, who else that I knew had booths and check out all the cool indy published stuff. I don’t know if it was me or if it was the weather or what, but it was very very…um… cruisy. Boy-candy everywhere. Or maybe I just need to get laid. Anyways, it was a blast and I don’t think I could have wished for a better time. At this point in the posting, I’d like to point out that it’s going to get rather heady and ridiculous in here with all the name-dropping.

Last Gasp has finally released Best Erotic Comics 2009 and the printing is excellent, so I urge you all to snap up your very own copy. “Dem Bones” which originally appeared in Hard To Swallow #3 was included, and even though it has received mixed reviews, I urge you to pick it up and judge for yourself.

I had two celebrity run-ins in which I totally embarrassed myself. One being Amber Benson and the other being John Barrowman. I like to pride myself at not gushing inappropriately nor interrupting people speaking but I seemed to throw all that out the window and practically laid eggs right there on the carpet as each of these people seemed to magically appear in front of me. All said and done, Amber is as funny and down-to-earth as one can imagine. No sooner had that happened and Amber left, I told a couple friends what a geek I was, stopping in mid-sentence as I heard a distinctive voice right behind me. I turned around, gasped and turned away and my pals must have thought I lost my marbles all over the floor. I then pointed out the the actor from Torchwood, our very own Jack Barrowman, was right behind us which brought various expressions of confusion and delight to those that understood my fangasm. Soon, every gay man with a camera or iPhone was gunning for a snapshot and all I could do was watch as this maelstrom (Fagstorm?) developed right in front of my eyes. I became flush, wet palms, frozen in place, sweaty brow – the works! He touched my back! I began to get even more giddy to the point where I had to force myself to calm the fuck down. I seriously thought somebody was going to slap me to just shut me up. Pathetic displays, for sure, but at least everyone was gracious about it and it makes for a good story.

If you didn’t get to draw in Lynx Delirium‘s “Snow White” book, you missed out on a lot of laughs and fun.

Now completely high on life, I decided to check out some video games Sean Z had suggested I check out. Aion looks amazing though I don’t know if I could ever spend time on an online game such as this, with the subscriptions and whatnot, but it was definitely breathtaking. I also enjoyed the demos for City of Heroes – again another MMORPG with magnificent graphics and details though with my iMac I’d have to boot both into boot camp to run the Windows emulator.

Aman’s Big Gay Dinner at Bandar. So full of food. So crazy. So fun. Especially with Steve MacIsaac, Sam Saturday, and Eden Bradley.

Some other things worth checking out:

Sina Grace‘s Cedric Hollows in Dial M for Magic – an illustrated novel about a sorcerer sleuth in Orange County. The graphic design alone will make you tingly.

Ed Luce’s Wuvable Oaf. If you don’t pick up this comic, you’re missing out. I grabbed a copy after seeing what he did in the Bent Comix Sampler. It’s got great line work, excellent story telling, and lots of bears and kitties.

Sean Z’s Myth – Do check out the online comic and buy the prelude book to get caught up if you aren’t already in ‘the know’ on the developing story.

Palanca, my friend and the artist, needs your help. He was diagnosed with HIV/HEPATITIS B & his health is very delicate. He has severely lost weight and needs to start his antiretroviral  treatment. He lives in Peru and it’s very hard to get the pills he needs and this is where you come in…

Please follow the link to his website and contact Durk (ddehner@tomoffinlandfoundation.org), Chris Maher (supermarkynose@att.net), or Palanca (palanca_feet@yahoo.com), contribute or donate money for medical expenses, or buy some of his excellent work! I’ve personally commissioned a piece from him and I’ve inquired about two others he has on his site.

He needs TENOFOVIR (VIREAD) and the NGO that sells it in Peru says it’s cost prohibitive and rare – and sell out all of their stock. There are people in America, Canada, and the UK that are prescribed this drug and do not need to pay for it. Spare a pill, save an artist! Get in touch now and help this great artist.

Thank you very much!

The Seattle Erotic Art Festival was a resounding success – not just for me personally, but for the event holders as well. Hundreds of pieces entered and 78 sold (with tons of smaller works moved out of the expanded store section at an amazing pace), two of which were my skate decks entered and created specifically for the show. Initially, I was going to do a series of these decks – but I now feel it would be best if these pieces are one-of-a-kind dealies. I skipped out on the Thursday night VIP session and relaxed after my wonderful flight up on Virgin America, only to find on Friday afternoon that both of my pieces had sold before the general public even set eyes on them!

Mixing, mingling, ogling, flirting, viewing and drinking my way through the night catching up with old friends, making new ones, and putting faces with artist’s names I’ve only known of through the web or through comic books. I was riding high on my good fortune and gambled that it would last throughout the weekend event.

Saturday morning brought several of us together for the Intro To Gay Erotic Comics panel at the Sharma Center. Starting only a few minutes late, we quickly filled the room to standing room only bantering about our process and creative approaches to creating what we felt made a good erotic comic book story. Writer Dale Lazarov (Manly, Sticky, and many other great books) lead a spirited discussion with Patrick Fillion (of Class Comics fame) and Steve MacIsaac (Shirtlifter and Sticky comics) speaking deftly over what little knowledge I have with 3 short stories under my belt. Truth be told, I felt a bit intimidated as my strengths are more editorial and in the pin-up arena, but I’m working hard to change that. The audience had great stories and suggestions that we might take into consideration and I really loved the experience. I’d do it again in a snap! We moseyed over to the gallery show to take in some quieter moments with the art and ventured off to discuss ‘how sausage was made’ (we talked shop) over sushi.

I took in some sights and sounds, did a little shopping, hiking, hung out with friends, fine dining, and even scored a steamy hot commission I’m about to embark upon! This year, I couldn’t be a more happy pervert.

It’s time to set your comic geek free for a bit and maybe loosen your trousers and let it all hang out once again. Two comics are out that you might want to put your hands on as they are a great way to escape all the crap going on in the economy and the endless stream of lies you are fed by the government.

First up, Manly, the co-creation between writer Dale Lazarov & Amy Colburn (yes! a lady! awesome.) who bring us several cum-soaked tales of man on man encounters. The illustrative style of Amy Colburn and the non-verbal tenderness in the storytelling of Dale Lazarov are perfectly matched for this anthology of their work. Boxers, federal agents, hot hunky librarians all make this a great addition to your growing collection or a fitting gift for that guy you want to get all sticky.

Second, my good buddies Dave Davenport and Justin Hall have just wrapped up their big release of Hard To Swallow #4 at the Isotope Comics Lounge on the first night of the Folsom St. Fair in San Fran. Kick ass and congrats to you two on another comic completed and under your belts and to guest artist Brad Rader. I look forward to getting my own mits on this issue as soon as possible! I’m sure the place was filled with hunky, humpy, hairy men which most definitely beats the time I tried to talk to Brad Rader at ComiCon when he had his own booth and this absolute douche bag sitting next to him in another booth hijacked the conversation distracting me from talking with him about self publishing. I digress, so kudos to you all!

Years ago, I drew a Predator anally raping a soldier on a mud bank for my monster-lovin’ buddy, Lewd. The Predator from the movie of the same name is his favorite monster, so I was happy to oblige as I found it different from most of the stuff that is out there and I respect and appreciate that. Plus, it helped that he did some stuff with devils and demons… and it, well, helped me out some nights. He’s been one busy guy and recently, we came in contact again and he offered to do a manipulation of me – bringing out my inner demon.

Go on over to Monsterbait and check out what he came up with! While you are there, check out the rest of anthropomorphic nastiness and maybe get him to do something for you or jerk off to it. Do whatever you do to support live artists.

I recently finished my contribution to one of the best independent queer comics around – Hard To Swallow Comix, Issue #3. I was initially approached to participate in issue #2, but the more I worked on the story I originally crafted, the more I thought it was a big, wet fart. So I did what anyone would do in my position, I put it in the shredder so nobody would ever see it.

I’ve been knocking around some characters that I want to eventually flesh out in a mini-series and condensed a scene into a short story for HTS 3. It’s called Dem Bones. Happily, it came together and the artwork has enough sex, mystery and moodiness in it’s 6 pages that I’m free to develop the main character further without putting him into a box right out of the blocks. I hope people like it when it comes out this fall!

In the meantime, check out the two talented guys who’ve brought it to you in the first place – Dogspunk’s tattoo and illustration site and Justin Hall‘s website. Also, check out Dogspunk’s blog when you get a moment.

When I saw Player’s work, I was overcome. A friend of mine showed it to me when I was over his place and I had to know more about who the creator of these Rockwell-esque dirty works was. Check out his website Playermen.com. In 2001 I commissioned a painting of my own from him and it’s in my bedroom.

Kind of apt, no?

Hey! Look! Justin Chin has another book out of his poetry out on Manic D Press. I’d give him a hard time, but he’d just tell me to shut up and then I’d laugh and I’d eat way too much sushi or something. I haven’t seen him in a couple of years, but he did give me a COLOR ME ARNOLD: The Unofficial Arnold Schwarzenegger Coloring and Activity Book when I moved to California.

He’s the only poet that I know, so please support him. His new book, Gutted (ISBN 1-933149-07-8), talks about his life and that unfortunate world that surrounds us all in that wry way he delights in describing it. Besides all that good perspective, he’s got to keep himself in fancy tattoos and food. I’m sure his work is just as good as his last two books. I got an idea, buy them all! He’ll thank you buy doing more books in the future.

Also, if you don’t know already, STICKY (ISBN 3861879719) is now a hardcover collected book. It’s that slice-of-life, gay erotic comics written by, Dale Lazarov, and drawn by Steve MacIsaac. The book is published by Bruno Gmunder Verlag and distributed by all major book distributors.

For your enjoyment, check out this interview with Steve and Dale.