A lot of artists I know have great ideas for videogames, but no programming skills. A lot of videogame makers I know wish there was more creativity and innovation happening in the field, but don’t know how best to foster it. I started the Artsy Games Incubator to try to address both issues.

We just had our first prototype set of sessions, with four of us meeting once a week for four weeks, and I kept notes. Using point-and-click game creation tools we made games and game elements for the sessions and invited feedback and discussion from the other members. It’s based on the writer’s-circle model that I’ve also used for movie making, but I wasn’t sure it’d work for games — but when the other members were playing and talking about my game Space Invader I was getting feedback as useful as I did with those other groups.

There’s going to be another iteration, so whether you’re a Toronto artist looking to get into the next group in January or an interested party who would like to get involved in some other way (Metanet and Queasy sponsorship are what made starting this possible), read more about it here.

The Perpetual Motion Roadshow was a project I started four years ago and has since sent a hundred people on tour. Three indie artists, usually strangers, would bring their vaudevillian-inspired variety show acts to seven cities in eight days, sharing costs, crashspaces, and camaraderie. Two circuits, both going to Canada and the US, meant that people could tour each month of the year.

Last month, the final tour took place. To be honest, I expected it to finish years ago after I decided to stop coordinating it, but a succession of previous tourmembers took over the coordinating duties and kept it going for two more years.

While it’s fresh, I figure now’s a good time to compile some of the things it’s taught me.

10. Dependency can be a good thing. Read the rest of this post »

Revolver #2, which consists of an excerpt of Salgood Sam and my upcoming graphic novel Therefore Repent!, has been nominated for the Expozine Alternative Press Award for best comic. It’s an offshoot of the awesome Montreal zine fair, one of the more successfully bilingual events I’ve been to. This is the second time they’ve done the award and, although I have fairly ambiguous feelings about prizes and competitions, I think the attention it draws to underexposed artists is definitely a Good Thing.

Case in point, a nominee in last year’s Expozine competition The Hero Book by Scott Waters.

Scott’s a pal, and the book is great, but he’s a curmudgeon. Not likely to tour, or do readings, or talk to people, he’s not exactly a media magnet. But awards like the Expozine Award give a context in which to talk about him. Or, in this case, interview him. Read the rest of this post »

I’m excited to announce that my fifth book will be a graphic novel: Therefore Repent! is set in the Chicagoland area after The Rapture and continues the story started in the 24 page webcomic I did last year with Michel Lacombe. Salgood Sam is illustrating this one and and we’re working towards a summer 2007 publishing date — check out a rough page from it here to get a taste of his amazing talent.

In the tradition of The Book of Revelations, it’s a pretty wild dark fantasy tale filled with demons and swords and blood. Read the rest of this post »

A lot of people assume that in an ideal world, they’d be working on their own projects 100% of the time. As someone who’s been in the lucky position of being able to do just that, I discovered a few years back that it can drive you a little crazy. Thinking about yourself all the time — realizing your vision, considering your place in the world — can actually be too much of a good thing. I noticed that when I worked on Other People’s Projects and took on another role I found it invigorating.

I’ve always been involved with a number of projects, giving people feedback and suggestions, but I’ve decided to formalize it a bit and open it up to people beyond my immediate circle through something I’m calling No Media Kings Services. Hang a shingle outside my virtual door, as it were, that reads CONSULTANT. If you’re so inclined, check out what I’ve done for the clients I’ve worked with so far and the webhosting and site design services I’m also offering.

In the last issue of This Magazine there’s a nice profile on me and the Perpetual Motion Roadshow. Audrey Gagnon even dug up an old piece I wrote on frieghthopping to frame the origins of my indie touring circuit. I quite like the picture of me, which is unusual–I credit it to the photographer Stephen Gregory indulging my request to get one of Queen St. West’s great old poles in the shot. They’re thickly layered with staples and scraps of posters, and the texture’s always seemed to me representative of the organic nature of underground culture. Click the thumb for a better look.

This issue of Exclaim also has a review of my Novel Amusements, where Liz Clayton describes it as an “artsy, accessible treasure trove.” I thought it was cool that the subheading for the review section identified it as a DVD zine as matter-of-factly as it identified “Book” and “Videogame”. And DVDzines are, happily, appearing here and there. Electrical Tape does offbeat and engaging interviews with Toronto indie bands–my favourite piece was a day in the life of the faux-Francais Ratsicule. Lev also sent me his DVDzine Tales of Mere Existence II, who imbues his lo-fi cartoons with deadpan humour and bittersweet personality.

Ian Daffern contacted me last year about doing a piece on the Perpetual Motion Roadshow for a new TV show he was producing called Scratch. We bandied about different possibilities, such as sending someone along to document it–I thought the people on the tour might be a bit uncomfortable with that & suggested that the crew take along my Hi8 videocamera and tape each other, then pass along the tapes at the end of it.

So the eight minute piece for the “Motion” show was made up of these clips of self-documentation as well as footage the show’s crew shot when they caught up with Jessica, Fred and More or Les in New York. I’ve posted a Quicktime .mov of it as I’m curious to hear comments on the segment from other Roadshow alumni as well as people who’ve attended the show as to whether it reflects their experience.
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In a few days the No Media Kings 5th anniversary edition of Flyboy Action Figure Comes With Gasmask will be back from the printer. Click the icon for a juicy desktop-suitable preview of the new colour scheme, masterminded as usual by Terry Lau at Beehive Design.

My first book has been out of print for the last few years. The idea of pumping money into an old project wasn’t nearly as exciting as realizing a new one, so even though I got the rights back from HarperCollins I held off for a while. But fans of the book and booksellers alike kept asking about how they could get a copy–and they almost always wanted one with the Canadian cover, so I couldn’t just tell them to buy the still-in-print US edition.

So thanks to everyone who enthused this book back into print. “It’d make a great movie!” is something people say flatteringly often, and so I got the idea of promoting the re-release with movie-style trailers for the book. Two groups of indie filmmakers were into the idea and they did a great job, producing very different but intriguing adaptations. I’ve posted the Vancouver version this month, continue reading to check it out for yourself!
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I’ve moved them to where they belong — The Cultural Gutter. My new collaborative blog has Guy Leshinski writing about comics, James Schellenberg on science-fiction, and my videogame pieces. Once a week we’ll be featuring a new piece on one of these subjects, and once a month we’ll be having a guest write about another piece of intriguing trash — an artform that’s poo-pooed but nevertheless fascinating.

Eye, where Guy and I write, was nice enough to do a cover article for the launch, which consisted of a chat between the two of us moderated by Bert “Mastermind” Archer. The incomparably clever Marc Ngui was put to the task of realizing us in our true forms for the cover illo. You can click the little cover to see the whole thing in its subtle-yet-striking glory.

I’ve got gigs on two different foreign continents over the next week or two, where I’ll be bringing the Past Due letters to Africa and Europe:

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA, Jan. 14, at 19:00: Centre for the Book (62 Queen Victoria St.) Free.
LANCASTER, UK, Jan. 18, at 19:00: The Yorkshire House (Parliament St.) w/Jess Lewin (funky flapjack, poet and songwriter) + PJ Shepherd (politically charged acoustic punk straight out of Switzerland) Free.
BIRMINGHAM, UK, Jan 19, at 19.00: Moseley CDT (153 Alcester Rd.) w/singer songwriter Tamsyn Widdon. Free.
BERLIN, GERMANY, Jan 20, at 20.30: Holz & Farbe (Prinzenallee 58) w/Daphne Owers from New Zealand. ?2.50.

This little picture is of the Centre for the Book, easily the most stately place I’ve ever performed at. Click it for a better look!

UPDATE: We’re back! For tour pics of unexpected animals, my BBC interview, seven-seated bicycles, and eminent scientists keep reading…
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Yesterday, there was a story on No Media Kings aired on Italian national public radio. The show was called Dispenser, and though I understood not a word I was impressed by how lively it seemed: there was dance music backbeat and, at one or two points, a baby’s voice. There’s a summary of the piece online here and translated into semi-coherence by Babelfish here.

It comes at a good time, too, as Craig Taylor and I are planning a mini-tour of Europe. Get in touch if you live there and are interested in helping out!

UPDATE: Filippo Angeli graciously did a much more coherent translation of the article, click to continue reading. Thanks Filippo!
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