Theory Of Everything Comics (dot) Com

Analyzing Devil and the Monk

2010-03-11T04:29:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I barely use this blog. I put all my weird stuff up on my facebook profile (its private, though a reader or two have emailed me enough to let my defenses down. Otherwise, join the theory of everything comics group.) And then I post stuff from there on foundonthefloor.net

Anyway, its 4:30 in the morning and I ought to be doing other stuff, like sleeping.
So I thought I'd try to analyze "The Devil and the Monk".

Originally, I was writing "The Devil and The Monk" as part of God(tm). The guy in line, right before or right after was supposed to be a character from God(tm) somewhere in the middle of the story. Already, I was thinking non-linearly for God(tm), I wanted it to have all these tangents like Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. That sort of structure of storytelling feels like the Internet being forced to be linear and traditional.

When I write long stories, I'll work on little sections, the ones that pop into my head, key scenes, I would sketch/write them out and then work around them.

My intention of this story was to explain how reincarnation can exist in a Christian Cosmological structure, but in a funny way. When I finished my first draft of "The Devil and The Monk", I thought I had something here. I was trying to get the rust off my joints and just dived into the comic.

Page 01 & 02 - (mind you, two pages on this site create 1 page of print. I didn't like how the comic book aspect ratio required you to scroll, so I cut it in half.) So, we're at the Gates of Heaven. I wanted it to feel light. I thought a lever would be very cartoonish, plus I threw in Abraham Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln is one of those character who you can't fuck up drawing. If you were to put a top hat, suit and beard on a Chinese guy; you would know that that's supposed to be Abe Lincoln.

Page 03 & 04 - Introduction of Hell. I'll have to admit, I appropriated the Monk falling into Hell from a page in Frank Miller's Sin City (that book is why I wanted to do comics). The Devils, I wanted them to be light as well. As if they have a routine. Hell is normal for them. Hell is just as boring and exciting to them as where you live.

When I was originally designing Alavaka (yes, he's unnamed here. yes, there will be a sequel, and that's the name he will be called and that's how I think of him lately)
I was going for a classic devil look: red with horns. But I didn't want him to be the Greek god Pan. So I played around with the horns and I drew him with the horns going through his eyes. Its as if he was constantly suffering and blind: ignorant to God. And that idea of horns being more like an injury really paid off. So I designed all the other Devils with the horn-as-injury ideas.

Page 05 & 06 - The Monk breaks the routines of Hell. I wanted the reader to feel a bit of stoicism here, an oasis in Hell. As if they're looking at a statue of the Buddha. Someone on Stumbleupon criticized me for making this character a Mary Sue, a character that was much too perfect. But the Monk isn't a character to me. I didn't give him a name or history or anything. You don't even know what kind of Buddhist he is. (Okay, by the cut of his robe, he's Thai. But I'm not saying anything about Thai Buddhists, I just think their robes are the most stylish of any Buddhist monk.) To me, he's just an ideal personified.

--Back to Hell: Again, making Hell feel normal and mundane. I also used racial slurs. I'm not saying anything bad about Asians (because I'm one), I just thought this is how Devils would speak. I mean, the White Devil is racist, why not the red ones?

Page 07 & 08 - Man, I was lazy with the backgrounds. Anyway, a reader who was raised Hindu was trying to figure out what the monk was saying in Sanskrit (or Hindi-- not sure) when he said "d'oh" he figured it out and nearly fell off his chair. Anyway, here I start to establish rhythm: Torture. Ohm. Torture. Ohm.

Page 09 & 10 - I wanted the torture to be light, cartoony and childish. Warner Bros. cartoons. Milton Bradley games. Oh, and I know I misspelled "butterflies". I kept the typo because there's something funny and childish about "butterlies"

Page 11 & 12 - Page 11 is either everything I abhor about media at that time or something Christian, since this was part of God(tm). Its how Hell would be for me. Here are the shows:
1. Home Shopping Network
2. Game Shows. As a friend of mine told me, its the death of the American dream.
3. That guy from the Westboro Baptist Church. The "God Hates Fags" guy. I'm sure somebody touched him once.
4&5. Tim and Eric from Adult Swim. I really hate this show and an old roommate really loved it. This show made me nauseous. It was trying to be funny by being awful. I know there's plenty of fans out there. Now think about how you feel about Twilight and Twilight fans. This is exactly how I feel about you.
6. A Christian puppet show. Okay, a concept as crazy and mind blowing as God embodied as a human being and then suffering as a human sacrifice so that we may join God should have nothing to do with hand puppets. This is what happens when you veer away from a Liturgical and Apostolic tradition.
7. TMZ- I don't care about what celebrities are doing. Its as if they are a sort of god. Its as if the death of a young celebrity is a myth that can be analyzed by Joseph Campbell or this or that actress fits a Jungian archetype. The people who I consider celebrities make or say something powerful. Pretty faces are just pretty faces (although, a pretty face with brains, now that's awesome)
8. Jerry Springer
9. I forgot which televangelist this was, but he's obviously a foney.
10. Chris Crocker. I once went to a gallery opening he was also attending. I did not make eye contact. I don't hate on him because he's flaming. Flaming Gay Men can be really funny people with really raunchy senses of humor. I hate him because he's an annoying attention whore and he got famous for being awful.
11. The Loonatics. This was Warner Bros. relaunch of the Looney Toons. They have no idea what they're doing.
12. Jerry Fallwell (I know I spelled it wrong)
13. Flavor of Love. I hate reality shows. And I used to like Public Enemy. No, I haven't seen this show. Again, its something people watch because its awful.
14. I think this is someone attacking a midget on Jerry Springer.
15. Some Christian show
16. A Japanese tv show. That's a guy in drag.

Page 13 & 14 - This is where Alavaka's character design paid off. He's a fallen angel with swords stuck in his eyes. He's mutated and twisted and in pain. Maybe he forgot Heaven. You could sort of feel Alavaka's anger. His frustration, his regret, his ignorance. At this point he's no longer a two dimensional character. He has some complexity. In one single panel, he has a horrible past.

Page 15 & 16 - I wanted to get back into the light-hearted mood. So I drew a crappy blueprint like in a Roadrunner cartoon.

Page 17 & 18 - This was the entire reason why this comic exists. This simple scene. A monk falling into a pregnant girl. She's about 3 months pregnant, when a fetus starts to kick. And I did base her mom off of Hilary Clinton. I didn't intend to say anything political. Its just that I liked how she looked and dressed.

Page 19 & 20 - I felt sad when I drew and wrote this part. I think after I established that Alavaka was a 3 dimensional character, his emotions came out better.He had a sense of loss and emptiness. He was always empty, and he thought torturing souls would fill that. But its as if he's more aware of that emptiness by being around this monk.

Suburbia is a type of Hell.

Page 21 & 22 - When I wrote this part, it just made sense. It just seemed natural. I felt something, a satisfaction, the same sort of feeling when I finished "Speak No Evil" I originally intended it to end at page 18, but there was something about that Devil that needed to be resolved.

From some of the comments and emails I've gotten about this comic, its as if I wrote a Sutra or something. I'm not Buddhist. I might know more about Buddhism than the average American, and I've tried some Buddhist meditation. But I'm Gnostic Christian and that has a sort of "poetry" that's more closer to Buddhism than it was with American Christianity.

Paramount now owns the rights to God

2010-03-08T21:38:00.000-08:00

http://www.deadline.com/2010/03/gods-the-star-in-3-d-creation-tale/#more-27826

Eh, sort of.

I better finish this comic fast before it actually happens.

My brief career as a Duck

2010-02-21T05:02:00.000-08:00

So I was performing in this play a while ago. No lines at all, but I was a very important character.

Its actually a pretty cool show I was part of. There's five 10 minute plays. The audience votes for three to continue next week.

The one I was in, Secret Word, lasted two episodes.

But if you're ever in East Hollywood and want to check out a late show, check out Serial Killers.

"Joeb! Look Out!" Finished... "Citizen Kane Could Suck My ****" Begins

2010-01-24T19:21:00.000-08:00

If you've been paying attention, I had some computer problems lately.

I'm starting up a new section entitled "Citizen Kane Could Suck My ****"

This entire section will be in Flash, so if you have a slow connection, please be patient.

Also, I'm not updating weekly. At least for now. Maybe some time after I finish "Citizen Kane Could Suck My ****" but maybe not.

Anyway, if you haven't read "Joeb! Look Out!"

And if you haven't started at the beginning at all, go here.

Polish Potato

2010-01-23T03:01:00.000-08:00

Someone translated POTATOE! A Children's Book for Adults into Polish. I've sort of forgotten this was posted up online.

Check it out

Thanks drPepper!

Technical Difficulties

2010-01-05T22:59:00.000-08:00

In case you don't subscribe to the Rss Update feed, my good computer has hit a bad virus. So, in the meantime, check out this photoshop painting which I did on New Years Eve.

Shiina Ringo by ~theory-of-everything on deviant ART

People who hate Star Wars

2009-12-26T00:38:00.000-08:00

I had a conversation with someone a while ago. I'm a geek and my circle of friends are usually geeks. And we got into the subject of Star Wars.

Of course there was the usual criticisms of JarJar and the acting and the plot. But he just seemed a bit more angrier. I could see it in his eyes. "Fuck George Lucas!" was his every fifth or sixth sentence. He said it with the same fire as woman scorned. "He doesn't care about the fans!" And he went on and on about the Star Wars franchize and it made me feel uncomfortable. --"he should've done this" he said, "he should've done that."

Getting tired and somewhat afraid of this man, I believe I said something along the lines of "Why don't you make your own Star Wars?"

"huh?"

--I said something like, "You're an artist, too. You have an imagination, you have talent. Why don't you tell your story and make your own Star Wars instead of pretending George Lucas owes you. Why don't you do the work and write a script, then get investors, then get actors and special effects guys. How about finding a distributor and a studio. How about dealing with executive producers and Hollywood types. You know, the ones who don't understand your vision."

..."oh, wait a second! you don't have one. You expect fan dome to fill your life instead of hard work.-- How about this: fine, criticize Lucas's work. But how about criticize the artist until you've actually finished your novel or your film or something."

If you're going to be a bitter fan, why don't you be a bitter artist and make something that might be good?

Copyrighted Pope

2009-12-22T00:19:00.001-08:00

Vatican City, Dec 19, 2009 / 12:23 pm (CNA).- The Vatican made a declaration on the protection of the figure of the Pope on Saturday morning. The statement seeks to establish and safeguard the name, image and any symbols of the Pope as being expressly for official use of the Holy See unless otherwise authorized.

The statement cited a "great increase of affection and esteem for the person of the Holy Father" in recent years as contributing to a desire to use the Pontiff's name for all manner of educational and cultural institutions, civic groups and foundations.

Due to this demand, the Vatican has felt it necessary to declare that "it alone has the right to ensure the respect due to the Successors of Peter, and therefore, to protect the figure and personal identity of the Pope from the unauthorized use of his name and/or the papal coat of arms for ends and activities which have little or nothing to do with the Catholic Church."

The declaration alludes to attempts to use ecclesiastical or pontifical symbols and logos to "attribute credibility and authority to initiatives" as another reason to establish their “copyright” on the Holy Father's name, picture and coat of arms.

"Consequently, the use of anything referring directly to the person or office of the Supreme Pontiff... and/or the use of the title 'Pontifical,' must receive previous and express authorization from the Holy See," concluded the message released to the press.

I need to finish writing God(tm) because it seems that reality will write it for me.

God(tm) review @ Robot 6

2009-12-15T21:31:00.000-08:00

I was also interviewed about the project. Check it out!

http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2009/12/unbound-elan-trinidad-on-god-tm/#more-29247

A theory of Math and the Development of Early Man

2009-12-13T01:07:00.000-08:00

Okay, this theory has been in my head for a few days. I got to get it out!

Do you know that a baby's perception of numbers are very different from ours? Babyies think of numbers and quantity COMPLETELY different than adults. And children have to be taught how to count. If they are never taught how to count, they would experience numbers logarithmically. The way we think of numbers is sort of... artificial.

Honestly, instead of me trying to explain how babies and an Amazon tribe thinks logarithmically, I'm going to stick this link to RadioLab.

Take a few minutes to listen from 04:00 to the end in order to understand what Robert Krullwich, Jad Abumrad and Lulu Miller can explain much more elegantly than I.

So, almost all children in the world learn this world of numbers from their parents/school/culture. But how did we come to count like this in the first place? Did the gods teach us? Aliens?

First off, let's dance.... with a bird.

A study was done on a bird to figure out if a bird was dancing (moving its body to the rhythm of a song) or just moving to noise or other ques so it just looks like its dancing. It showed that birds can indeed dance because it takes nerves and muscles control in order for a bird to create noise to communicate, dancing might be a side-effect. Sound effects muscles.

Again, I'm not the best to explain this study, Adena Schachner and Bob MacDonald are better at it, so here's a link to Quirks & Quarks. Or just listen to the mp3.

So, imagine the first tribes of man trying to make sense of the world. A shaman has the power to talk to the gods by doing a certain dance. If the shaman, most likely high on the autistic spectrum, does this dance that he created, the rains will come, the hunt will be good, the winter will end.

But the shaman is getting old and knows that some day he will die. If there's no one to do the dance, then the world will end. So he has to teach the next generation to dance this dance properly.

Now, I have personally done stage performance. I loosely call it "choreography" but I did need to learn a few acts.

And what's the easiest way to memorize a specific dance?

one - two - three - KICK
five - six - seven - TURN
nine - ten - eleven - STEP

So, through dance, early man thought of numbers as a sequence in time than as logarithmic quantity. And counting the beats "five - six - seven - eight" we were able to make the abstract connection between quantity and sequence.

And now we have math. The kind that eventually charted the stars and the days and the years. And then we got into measurements and geometry and calculus and physics.

I wonder if it would be easy for mathematician to learn the Cha-Cha?

...okay. I'm sure there might be a good argument against the "Dance Theory" because I wouldn't be surprised if that Amazon Tribe mentioned in RadioLab could dance. BUT dance is temporal. Time is, at least to us, sequential. So counting days might have also been a factor in the way we think of math. Think of it. Early man may have noticed that the Moon goes through its cycles. When the moon is full, its easiest to hunt at night. Then someone might have realized that it takes 28 days for the moon to cycle.

Anyway, these are just theories that might sound interesting in a comic or things I use to sound smart to my friends at a bar.

P.S. If any real scientists think I actually have something here, then put a link to my webcomics on the scientific paper you'll eventually write. www.theorofeverythingcomics.com If some other scientist had already written a paper on this, then it would be cool if you posted a link in the comments.

Webcomic Beacon - 2 years, 100 episodes

2009-12-09T01:05:00.000-08:00

At Webcomic Beacon they celebrated this week, their 2nd year of podcasting. They also featured my interpretation of their mascot, Becky, as this week cover image.

Check out their gallery to see the complete image.

Over the last year or so, they've been supportive of Theory of Everything Comics, so check them out.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

2009-12-04T00:07:00.000-08:00

help us make this video viral

Eh?

2009-11-02T03:42:00.000-08:00

At The Holy Land Experience you can watch reenactments of the death of Jesus Christ. Its a great photo op!

Since when has Jesus Christ become Mickey Mouse? And as I've said before, this is what happens when you don't have a Liturgical tradition. It just cheapens this 2,000-year-old tradition!

(Yes, I plan to visit for the sake of sarcasm and irony.)

Besides, they don't even use real nails and that's not real blood. This is why I'm proud of being Filipino.

Crowd Scenes!

2009-10-27T20:55:00.000-07:00

This was the last episode I worked on at the Simpsons. (Well, I hope its not the last) I mainly did crowd scenes and a bunch of scenes that got edited out.

Thoughts on Writing

2009-10-23T02:45:00.000-07:00

Every now and then a character runs off and does its own thing. This will happen to a writer from time to time. They would have created a plot and intended their character to follow it.

But it doesn't.

Instead it does its own thing, or at least, in order for the writer to be true to the character, the character must do something the writer never intended.

An organism is defined by the limitation its DNA gives it. A human being is a slave to his psyche, to his limitations and rules and set parameters.

This makes for interesting writing.

The human brain is the most advanced simulation system known to man. Lets say we program a character. Create its limitation. Is it male or female? race? age? did its parents die when it was a child? etc, etc.

And now you run that program in a simulation system in other words, your imagination: your "I" "Magi" "Nation". And then you see what happens.

Lets make it more interesting by throwing in other characters, other programs and see what happens. These programs seem to define themselves more. They know what they aren't because they have another program to compare itself to. They play each other. They effect each other. Or they create each other, or help each other develop.

When I create a major character, I sit down with him and talk to him. What is love? What do you hate? What did you want to be when you were ten? The program creates parameters.

And the more parameters and rules a character has, so many that at times they conflict, it has to make a decision and now it has further developed-- the more realistic he seems.

almost...

2009-10-23T02:31:00.000-07:00

Elan' Rodger Trinidad wishes for motivation and inspiration. For lighting to strike my crown, passing through my arm, to my hand, to pen, to paper: the fervent work of God Almighty or the Devil himself.

Or possibly both.

I want my mind to split open so I may receive this light of inspiration. The type that comes from the ether and inspires every child at play, and every madman to sin, and every genius to push us forward, and every saint to love.

I want it. Like an addict I want it. Like a lover torn from me, I long for it. Like a breath long held, its there but not.

Its not ready yet.
Its not there yet.

I know I will have my night, when hand and mind are one. When my heart is poured upon panel to panel to panel and my word balloons are poetry to those of the right zeitgeist and persuasion.

I have no choice but to be patient. My storm shall come and it will hit me. And I will wake up and remember exactly why I do this and remember that few women can present a love that rivals this feeling.

I want it.
I can taste it.
Its almost ready.
A few nights? a week?

Its almost here.

Found On The Floor (dot) Net!

2009-10-14T13:51:00.000-07:00

I have a talent for finding weird shit, so I thought I'd make a site for it.

www.foundonthefloor.net

I might repost things I've already posted here.

Super Typhoon Parma to hit the Philippines

2009-10-01T02:18:00.000-07:00

http://bakitwhy.com/super-typhoon-threatens-to-hit-philippines

The Northern Island of Luzon was just hit by Typhoon Ondoy. Now its about to be hit by Super Typhoon Parma. Thousands of people have already lost their homes, over 200 people have died, there probably isn't any clean water after the flooding, probably more people will die of unsanitary living conditions, and now they have to worry about a fucking SUPER Typhoon!

My Dad's side of the family is from Luzon. I know I have some family in Manila, as well as close friends of my parents and good friends I've met and stayed with when I've visited. If you were thinking of sending a few bucks my way via paypal, please send it to the Red Cross in the Philippines.

photo linked from boston.com

http://www.redcross.org.ph/Site/PNRC/Default.aspx?S=48&SS=972

The Supergirls: The History of Comic Book Heroines

2009-09-29T00:00:00.001-07:00

Nine Unassuming Fetishes

2009-09-28T11:10:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been fascinated by fetishes. Not just any fetish. The type that you could show to anyone, and when they're told that its a fetish, its just creepy. The type that only a select few can get off on. This list will help clarify things.

EAR FETISH

I forgot exactly where I read it, in Japan, a mother or wife would pick one's ears with your head on her lap. Its done by someone who has an intimate relationship with you. So its understandable how intimacy becomes sex becomes ears.

CROOKED TEETH FETISH

Maybe this is more of a preference than a fetish. But if you're in a country where most people don't have braces and most of the women you've been attracted to in your life have crooked teeth, then this might become a preference.

SNEEZING FETISH

Let's presume that some people have slightly different nerves than others. And let's say that physical stimuli could become sexual stimuli. Okay, I'll give em that.

GLASSES FETISH

I have this fetish/preference.

GIANTESS CRUSHING STUFF FETISH

Except for the hotpants, I understand none of this.

HICCUP FETISH

See SNEEZE FETISH

KIGURUMI

there's something aesthetically pleasing about this. Sometimes I'd rather see a cosplayer wear anime masks instead of their faces. But the unfortunate side of kigurumi is that it usually involves a middle aged man dressed up as his favorite anime girl. sort of achieving a oneness with the fictitious character.

It would be a beautiful concept IF IT WASN'T SO DAMNED CREEPY!!!

EYE PATCH/BANDAGE FETISH

I assume it has to do with S&M.

A LITTLE SOMETHING EXTRA

FURRIES

I've heard there's some sort of tactile sensation and the idea of being an animal. But....yeah.... I don't understand.

A poll taken of Japanese fetishes
Some seem more like preferences to me.

A LITTLE SOMETHING EXTRA

Sadness of the handicapped pets!

2009-09-17T22:53:00.000-07:00

I was doing some research for GOD(tm) and I had to share this with you.

NNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

WWWHHHHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!

Okay, this is just surreal.

Revenge of the Homicidal Pumpkins

2009-09-17T21:56:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine, Shannon Cronin, wrote a comic for zudacomics.com

Its a fun gory little piece that will probably lead to a killer plant doing something evil.

Please check it out. Register at zudacomics.com, and if you feel inclined to do so, vote (click on the little box that says "vote", for "Revenge of the Homicidal Pumpkins".

http://zudacomics.com/node/1452

Stevie Wonder

2009-09-17T19:19:00.000-07:00

My brother unexpectedly performed with Stevie Wonder. Check out his account of the story at his blog.

http://elsongs.com/eblog/?p=64

PUP-PEH!

2009-09-08T11:15:00.000-07:00

Because I promised not to post this up on facebook until a friend who had a bad day did it first.

If I could live in a country where I could draw penises on random buildings, I'd be happy too.

2009-09-05T15:20:00.000-07:00

I mean, that would just be the funniest thing. But, to be a bit more serious:

Bhutan: the last Shangri-la