I recently finished reading Scott McCloud’s minor classic, Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art, and highly recommend it to anyone interested in discussions of art, comics (Euro-american and/or Japanese), and media in general. Itself is written as a comic as it defines and analyzes how comics—an often underrated art—work. In the process, McCloud brings in a good deal of art and comics history and brings clarity to what makes comics a very particular, complex, and utterly fascinating art form. The form and content of his presentation are very smart, engaging, often amusing. And you come away having learned a LOT. In particular, I think his discussion of time and narrative in comics is illuminating and in shedding light on the strangeness of the treatment of time in comics he sheds light on time in other media (photography, film, painting, novels). And his handling of how the eye and brain process iconic and symbolic visual forms has application far beyond comics. You might want to check out McCloud’s blog as well for interesting tidbits. That he mentions in his book Marshall McLuhan has prompted me to pick up another book I’ve been meaning to read for a while, McLuhan’s major classicUnderstanding Media. I think I like the prospect of “understanding” stuff if I read these books. (BTW, I’m still in the midst of reading Neil Gaiman’s Sandman comic. I think I’m about through 18 of 75 issues. Very dark, very good.)

Okinawa just had its Memorial Day today, marking the 69th anniversary of the end of the Battle of Okinawa. I’ve been to at least three June 23rd events in Okinawa, June being the time I have usually gone to the island. In addition to the formal prefectural ceremonies at Mabuni:

and the march of the Okinawa Bereaved Families Association:

there are also private observances at memorials and grave sties:

Coincidentally, today I’ve been re-reading the first chapter of my longstanding Okinawa tourism project and it’s all about the formation of war/peace memorials and even mentions the formal adoption in 1966 of June 23rd as Memorial Day (it had been established as June 22nd a couple years previous). I’m using this coincidence to get back into that project; it has been sitting for too long and I’m on leave now to finish it. I aim to have the next chapter done in a month and then another in a month after that. Maybe sooner. It’s hard to sit down with my materials and read and write without a proper study (aka. Figals’ Folly). I’m skeptical of that being completed within a month, but hopefully by August 1 new inspirational study space will be ready to use.

While there is the “Film Is Not Dead!!” Flickr group, one hallmark film type has its days numbered. Kodak announced today that it is ending its production of Kodachrome film. Demand has shrunk to practically nothing and apparently only one lab in the world still processes Kodachrome, Dwayne’s Photo in Parsons, Kansas. Kodak lost $4.58 billion in market value in 2008 and despite trying to carve a spot in digital photography, it started too late and hasn’t really produced anything worth buying. I remember my uncle in Windsor, Colorado where there was a big Eastman Kodak plant chiding me for using Fuji film because that plant was the town’s livelihood. I guess he would be cursing all digital camera users now. I guess it’s slightly sad to see Kodachrome go the way of the dodo only because I have certain childhood memories in those little yellow rectangular boxes. But I won’t miss it too much.
Now if they could put an end to that horrible Paul Simon song as well….

Vienna is known for its music, but you don’t have to go to the symphony or opera to hear it. As we wandered back from dinner one night, we encountered this young Czech man playing wine glasses on Graben (a main shopping drag and pedestrian street):

Cafes in Vienna are legendary; ones with free internet are even better. Yes, Café Prückel has a bin full of international magazines and newspapers, but I have the world at my fingertips with my MacBookMini. Sara and I just had espressos and pastries (she cherry, me apple) and just had to try out sending iPhone photos and blogging just because we could. This cafe is not one of those of fin-de-siecle fame. Well, actually it did exist back then, but was redone in the 1950s with (now) retro Fifties furnishings, so it’s rather atypical. Sara took a photo of me that she’s just finished processing and sending to me. Here it is:

And another one of me sending to a colleague (who is from Vienna and recommended Prückel) a photo of Sara on my iPhone:

Okay, time to get out of the virtual Vienna and into the real…. No wait! We need a hyper-self-referential photo of Sara reading this entry on her computer while it is on my computer at the same time:

NOW we’re ready to jump back into the analog world….

So says Friedensreich Hundertwasser. And on that principle this Austrian architect has designed buildings and dwellings that eschew level surfaces and straight lines. Perhaps his biggest achievement in this direction is the waste incinerator “Fernwarme” in Vienna. His typical whimsy with curves and spires and colors abound in this most atypical incinerator:

It’s a fantastical building and is fully functional as an incinerator. I saw dumpsters of junk being hauled into it.  In keeping with Hundertwasser’s dictum, I took out my lensbaby plastic optic and shot out-of-focus details:

For more examples of Hundertwasser’s work, follow the wiki link above. Cool stuff.

For those of you who do not follow my facebook page or on twiiter, our flight from Nashville to Vienna via DC and Munich went from a total of 14 hours to 20+ hours because of weather delays in DC. We actually sat in the plane on the tarmac for 6 full hours before finally taking off. It was rather miserable. We did, however, finally make it here three days ago. Unfortunately, the hotel Sara was put up in during the conference did not have free internet, but here at the Hotel Austria they are less primitive. It’s quite a nice hotel in City Center, but quietly located down a small cul-de-sac. Best of both worlds. Sara is napping after we each ate a giant Bosna–sausage sandwich with grilled onions and curry powder. I think the plan for this afternoon is the walk around a look at architecture and stuff, maybe a cafe and/or gelato. We did get a half-day a walking around in before the conference started. I had to show Sara the statue at the Hofburg gate which I photographed and captioned “Omigoditsgone!” when I was here 3 and a half years ago. Of course, I had to re-photograph it. Here it is, “Omigoditsgone! Revisited”:

You can see the first version here.

Sara and I are leaving for Vienna today. She for a conference and me to eat. And drink. And walk around and take photos. I also hear that they have some pretty neat cultural stuff there too which I might check out if I have the time. We’re there for a week, but have no fear, Goyablog will be online because apparently they have internet there too. So, expect posts from abroad over the next week. This will be the first international test for my MacBookMini (which btw, I upgraded by giving my mom my first one and buying a new refurbished one from Dell which has a webcam and is shinier.)

Update: We are sitting on the tarmac at Dulles airport at 6:30pm waiting for a re-route due to weather. Been here for an hour and will likely miss oyr connection to Vienna. We are hungry and there is no wiener schnitzel here… Not happy, Bob.
Final Update: We ended up in the plane for SIX HOURS before taking off. So not happy. But we made it to Vienna by dinner time Thursday, but didn’t have schnitzel–opted for Turkish lamb kebops instead….