Titanic

Why am I watching Titanic?? I felt like it, allright?! Leave me alone, will ya! I'll watch Titanic if I want to! I don't have to explain myself... I'll watch Last Year in Marienbad tomorrow, okay?! So, anyway... Written and directed by James Cameron

The film is some sort of pop art masterpiece. I wish Cameron had taken out some of the cheesiest lines, but asking for more three dimensional characters is kind of missing the point. I'm not sure if that would make it a better film. Actually, there should have been a scene of Billy Zane twirling his mustache. Well, he would have to grow a mustache for that. Cameron is very good in the way he introduces his female characters: Winslett in this film, Mastrantonio in The Abyss and Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2. The film never drags, but they screw it up towards the end, trying hard not to make it too much of a bummer. The scene of old Rose throwing the diamond into the sea is clearly supposed to be a big, emotional moment, but... it's not. It's kind of silly. And really, Cameron, Celine Dion?!

The Exorcist

Linda Blair pees on the carpet, masturbates with a crucifix and spins her head around. Max Von Sydow comes to the rescue. Directed by William Friedkin.

It's difficult not to notice how slow the film is. Slow seen with modern eyes, that is. The moody Iraq prologue lasts 10 minutes, for chrissake, the first bed shaking sequence comes at 45 minutes. If made today that would probably have been the first ten minutes of the film. It's slow, but we actually get to know the characters before shit starts to happen. One thing that gives the film its power is that Friedkin never shoots it as a horror film. The copy I have is the extended edition, so it also has the spiderwalk sequence. These early scenes of demonic possession are the most creepy ones. When they give Blair the makeup and start doing the different voices it actually gets less scary. I read somewhere that Jack Nicholson auditioned for the part of the young priest but Friedkin didn't want him, and I can't help but imagine how that film would have been.

Manhattan

Woody Allen can't choose between Diane Keaton and Mariel Hemingway. Also starring Meryl Streep, directed by Woody Allen.

The film looks great. There's the black and white cinematography by Gordon Willis, and Allen has found his directorial style here - the long takes and people walking in and out of the picture. But the characters are a bunch of whiny, rich people. It's just hard to care about any of them. If the film is supposed to be a satire of the Me Generation from the 70s, I guess it works a bit better. And it's a bit funny that the film ends with what is now the ultimate romantic comedy cliché: the rush to the airport or whatever for the declaration of love scene. So, in the end I find the more uneven early films more appealing. The fact that they were not perfect is part of what I like about them.

Lettering

Some handlettering for newspaper headlines found in the Bukowski story in Athos in America.

R.E.M.

Okay, top five R.E.M. albums:
1. Fables of The Reconstruction
2. Murmur
3. Life's Rich Pageant
4. Reckoning
5. Green

Bananas

Woody Allen is dumped by his girlfriend Louise Lasser and leaves for South American republic San Marcos where he gets involved in a revolution. Directed by Woody Allen.

Maybe the weakest film so far, but there are some good scenes, like the interpreter at the airport bit. There's also the scene with a young Sylvester Stallone. But a row of gags doesn't necessarily make a film and you can't help but feel a certain emptiness, with characters that are not much more than clichés and stereotypes.

Take The Money And Run

A fake documentary about Woody Allen's life as a bankrobber. Written and directed by Woody Allen.

This is the first Woody Allen film I ever saw. It was shown on Norwegian tv in the 70s. I had no idea who Woody Allen was at the time. I remember it to be quite funny. The gun of soap bit stuck in my head. Rewatching it now, it's an uneven film. The first half is funny, the second half, after the prison escape, drags a bit. The parents wearing masks gag gets old. But being a "mockumentary" (the first?) gives the film actually a certain freshness.

Love And Death

Russia, 19th century. Woody Allen and Diane Keaton decide to assassinate Napoleon. Written and directed by Woody Allen.

Well, I had to rewatch this film as well. It's uneven, especially if you've seen it a couple of times. Some jokes fall flat. But there's some pretty funny stuff as well and the Woody Allen shtick hasn't gotten old quite yet. Get off my beard, you little jerk!

Play It Again, Sam

Humphrey Bogart is giving Woody Allen tips on how to pick up girls. Also starring Diane Keaton and Tony Roberts. Directed by Herbert Ross.

A lot of the early Woody Allen films where he just tried to be funny have dated pretty badly. Of those films I think Play It Again, Sam is the best one. The blind date sequence is still hilarious. The film has one recurring gag that is dated, where Roberts keeps calling his office to let them know where he can be reached. God knows what kids make of this film. It's a bit like me seeing a Bob Hope film or something when I was a kid. So, anyway, Woody Allen is funny and Diane Keaton is irresistible. I have a crush on her from this period, the early 70s. She might even be more appealing in Love and Death, where she gets to be funny on her own and not just an object of desire for Allen.

Lick my stamp

I am now on a stamp. 100 years ago The Katzenjammer Kids was the first comic book to be published in Norway. To celebrate this four stamps are now available, showing my work as well as fellow Norwegian cartoonists Frode Överli, Lise Myhre and Christopher Nielsen.

Norm Eastman

I've earlier talked about Norman Saunders and H.J. Ward. Another pulp artist that deserves his own book is Norm Eastman. However, there are lots of his covers in the Men's Adventure Magazines book from Taschen. I'm sure they give a correct image of what went on at the nazi headquarters.

I was just wondering...

... do I have ANY clothes without ink stains? I've had favourite trousers and sweaters ruined by dropping the ink bottle or a pen and creating big ink stains, but it seems like a lot of my clothes, somewhere, have one or two tiny ink dots - not enough to throw them away, but you know it's there. Mostly I don't care about it, except for those fancier occasions, like birthdays or something, where you feel a bit bad about turning up with ink on your sleeve. Being a cartoonist you can sort of get away with it, I guess. It might even be expected. The sollution could be to only dress in black. I don't know. They never teach you anything about this in art school.

Athos in America

Final story. I chose to have this as the title story since it has a nice ring to it. There has already been Tintin in America. It also sums up the book in a way. Athos moved to America, Bukowski to Europe. Laurel and Hardy doing film noir, chasing the American Dream. Me as a European drawing America. I don't really say anything deep about the subject, it's not Lolita or anything, but I think it's sort of a theme in the book.

Stand up

So, is youtube the cartoonist's worst enemy? Was it a mistake buying a laptop? I should be working, but spend hours looking at clips, mostly documentaries or stand up comedy. After having watched lots of Eddie Izzard clips, I got the dvd box with all seven of his shows. The first four ones, Unrepeatable, Definite Article, Glorious and Dress To Kill are brilliant, the fifth, Circle, is quite good, with what is possibly his most well known sketch, the Star Wars Cantina bit. Unfortunately, the two latest ones, Sexie and Stripped, are less good, especially Sexie, where he just seemed to have an off night - lots of adlibs that go nowhere. My favourite bits of all his shows are probably Paul's Letter to the Corinthians and Cat, Are You Drilling?
Steven Wright is also very funny. I got his cd I Have a Pony. There's also a second one, I Still Have a Pony. Also brilliant. It must take him a long time to work up enough material for an hour, though. If you were going to shoot a mime, would you use a silencer?
Robin Williams can be very funny. Shows like An Evening With and Weapons of Self Destruction can be found on youtube, but his best one is probably Live at the Met.
But my favourite comedian these days would be Louis CK. He's sort of a stand up comedy version of Ivan Brunetti. Funny but quite dark. His shows Shameless and Chewed Up can be found on youtube. He also has his own show on FX, Louie, but I haven't seen that one yet.

The Smiling Horse

It's the return of the two main characters from & in Low Moon. One thing I completely screwed up in that story is that they were supposed to be Laurel and Hardy. Hence the title. It's the story of how they met. Yes, I know, I should have drawn Hardy fatter! I don't know what I was thinking... But maybe it's just as well that nobody got it, as I assume the likeness of Laurel and Hardy might be copyrighted. So if nothing else, at least it kept me from being sued.

A Cat from Heaven

The image above is the translation into French that I got from my publisher, glued into my sketchbook, the image below is thumbnail sketches. The story is influenced by Charles Bukowski, particularly the novel Women. Okay, it's a rip-off.

Nick Drake

Tom Waits on The Moon

I usually avoid thought balloons, so I wanted to do a story with only thought balloons. We follow four characters, and then something happens at the end that connects them. I did the drawings Marvel style, just the drawings, no text. Only when the drawings for all the pages were finished, did I sit down and decide their thoughts. I had to think of the background situation for each character, and if there should be some sort of theme going on. So one of the characters, a bird guy, wants to get out of a loveless marriage, and I had five pages to tell his story.

Norwegian Ninja

Commander Arne Treholt and his Ninja Force save the day. Starring Mads Ousdal, written and directed by Thomas Cappelen Malling.

Having read some good reviews of this film, I got curious and ended up ordering the dvd, and it's pretty funny. A mix of martial arts, obvious models and 80s computer graphics, it's a lot of absurdity played completely straight. The director has clearly seen more than one film by Spike Jonze, and there's touches of Wes Anderson as well. And he knows not to drag it out too long, the film clocking in at 77 minutes. It might help to be Norwegian and remember the Treholt case from the tv news in the 80s.