Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Who am I, and What am I Doing Here?



I'm sure almost nobody remembers the above line from the Vice Presidential debate before the '92 election, where Ross Perot's running mate, Admiral What's-his-face (with the ideal candidate helmet of white hair) uttered the once famous line. Fuck, that guy was a world class space cadet. What a fine moment of prime time it was. He sunk Perot's already slim chances with six seconds of perfect sound bite!

As for me, Who am I, and What am I doing here? Fuck if I know either! Right now, I'm listening to this.

And it is nicely ripping my face off, but actually I'm here to report on my self employed Bohemian activities for the recent stretch. This is what I've been doing: Nothing.

Okay, maybe not nothing. I've been paying enough attention to my screen printing business to keep the wheels churning. Me 'n my boys back in the states are making pretty prints for money, and all is well in the world of work.

The real news here in Oaxaca is that my Casa has been graced with a stream of lovable guests for the entire month of March. Fun has been had, ruins have been visited, mescal has been sampled. Well, more than sampled by certain guests!

Actually, for a few days the guests decamped to the Oaxacan coast long enough for me to sit down and write perhaps 150 pages worth of comics! It was my best sustained burst of comics writing in perhaps five years, the muse commandeered my psyche for the better part of a week and whispered a wonderful narrative in my ear--it was the best sort of writing for me, where I honestly just felt I was taking dictation from some disembodied source. Now I gotta sit down and draw the damn thing, but it will be a pleasure.
I'd certainly had the idea last fall & winter that I was gonna jump into the web comics biz--and I did, enough to get my feet wet. But I gotta say, I longed for the long narrative. It's my wife & it's my life (as Lou Reed once sang). Sometimes I try to forget, but I came to this mudball to draw comic books. Books! So here we go, fine with me.

Then what, the guests return, more visitors show up, and it is good! No lie, all the flow & traffic enhances the lives of my family and pumps up our energy. What the heck, the kids are on school vacation anyway.

So, it happens to be one of the biggest holidays of the year in Mexico, Semana Santa (Easter week). On Good Friday there is to be something called "the silent procession", a sort of parade acting out the stations of the cross.
Who knew these dudes would show up in this klansman/executioner regalia? Whoooo! Brings back the bad smells & bells of my childhood! Them crazy Catholics, they sure know how to hold a parade, let alone an inquisition, as per the above photos.

6 comments:

zencomix said...

150 pages!?! Sweet Jesus, gimme two of what your having!

Admin said...

Nice post. Really liked it..
Don't forget to update it regularly.
I am looking for new updates dieing to read more stuff from you ..
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JOB-HUNT
Aims at helping the Fresh Graduates, Engineers, MBAs to get jobs in good companies
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Steve Lafler said...

Hey Zen, the week I wrote the 150 pages of comix, I think I drank lots of coffee and went for a few runs. That's about it!

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Anonymous said...

BENB KNEW YOU WOULD NOT FLINCH...KNEW YOU WOULD JUST CLINCH. I AM BUT A SIMPLE MAN. TO SPEAK FROM BOTH ENDS ....represents the bleeding heart of the black virgin ,,,birth and speech. (quinine,snake oil,3 cases of holy wafers....a hand full of hosts good for the vapours..and because of that jackstraw (gonna throw in a barrel of leechs)great after duels...see if yer kids like em ..my neice n nephew luv em. i click'd by accident a site that spelled your name as if you tanned wolverine hide jerseys for the BANF BOHEMIANS HOCKEY TEAM. sehyd'tah'm/self...gotta be steve,,,,,,,how do the mayan carvings seem face to face...you wild man!!!some time let me tell you about mayan interface of extreme presense of " "/fullmoon/indigovelvetwoman/... (no words...a simple man like myself...no shoes..only a sixstring tranq gun for curious primates.....some still do dance ..some dance against their will,,,,i laff i am still smiling from that sharing,,,though you meant it not for me i thank you.. onelastthing..we have our traditions ...stillv valid..(i started a personal,reflective....monkly SORTA thing. THE HIGHEST SEASON IS:OO:OOhr 01 AUGUST 24:59 08 AUGUST it will crack you up.....peace ole buddy,,,i get in touch inanuddertenyear.....my kid bro is like billgraham of anime/comics/film...etc,,,you guys would know what to say to each other...i mentioned you. want an intro? i am not in the art world bbbbut you guys are..peace to you and yer family.

Steve Lafler said...

OK musicjamm, what you said. I'm trying to figure out your secret identity, and I can't!
cheers
Steve