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/2609/2002 Archived Entry: "Wasn't he at Little Big Horn?"

Today I have Aching Thighs. This is all because of yesterday's Tube strike. I went to the ICA yesterday evening to hear the "Mouse Vs The Mouse(tm)" talk, which was all well and good (and I will come back to...) but then had to get back home again. Which, really, considering the number of people at all the bus stops - even at 10pm - was going to entail walking. So, I walked from Pall Mall to Highbury. Which, although it only took an hour, was fairly strenuous. Walking in the city is, I think harder on the legs than walking in the countryside. Pavements aren't as forgiving as grass. So, I'm a bit stiff today.

The ICA thing. It was fairly interesting. It was Dave McKean, Dave Gibbons, Tharg's human envoy, Matt Smith and Tom Gauld who draws a weekly strip in Time Out, all talking about how they use computers in their work - chaired by Eddie Campbell's "Man At The Crossroads" - Paul Gravett
It was not, however, perfect. Whilst the Two Daves were really interesting in what they were saying, the other two did not seem all that prepared, which was not helped by the artwork that Matt Smith brought along was on a Mac CD Rom and the ICA only had a PC. Nor by the fact that they couldn't get the video to work to show a film by Dave McKean.
Although it was interesting, too much time was spent with the various opening talks - especially when only two of the four (McKean and Tom Gauld) had artwork to show and Paul Gravett also gave a rather long talk on comics history which seemed to be fairly tangential to the subject at hand. This meant that there was only time for three or four questions from the audience and the whole thing had to stop just as it was getting started. I did get to say something though, which I am sure made everyone very happy!
My friend and fellow Buffy enthusiast, Fiona went with me, which was really good, because I get to see her so rarely (she says that her American Buffy supplier has seen the first episode of Season 7 and it's good...), so that was a definite plus point, although I also wish that Jean had been there, because I'm sure that it would have been the starting point for hours and hours of conversation. I also wish that Scott McCloud had been there to give an alternative view to the 'computers are just a tool in the production of paper comics' one that the group had. A bit of controversy and disagreement is always good.

I got home last night to discover that my computer had been come back from it's holiday at Hewlett Packard. Which, considering it only went on Monday and I wasn't expecting it back before at least Friday was a good thing. Also arrived was the latest issues of 2000AD and the Judge Dredd Megazine. So, hoorah and three cheers for that!

Anyway, I should probably get on with some work...