The Space Toast Pages

"Mr. Noonday"

(Fifty-five word flash fiction for EvilMustache's Challenger 3.)

"Imagine that. Sixteen different kinds of cheeses. That is simply astonishing."

"You said I-" "Shouldn't have come, I know. Oh, would you look at that." "What?" "Your ex girlfriend. She has her own demon on her back." "Really?" "No. I just thought that would make you feel better."

"When... can I get rid of you?!"

Cult 2.0

Carey Burtt's sharp and funny short film has me thinking about cults again, and specifically Cult 2.0s. The "2.0" is an irritating neologism for an irritating fact: That new cults have learned from the excesses of old cults. They've seen that certain behaviors raise red flags, and they've learned that by tinkering around the edges they can gain the same rewards -- control and wealth -- without bringing the same organized backlash. Jim Jones is dead, but Reverend Moon is one of the most powerful men in America.

Necessary to understanding the Cult 2.0 is the rejection of the 70's-style language of victimization. Cult 2.0 members are no more "victims" than smokers. Both are addicted, both are progressively harmed, both could stop at any time (but rarely do), and both chose to begin.

Traditional cult members tend to be of above average intelligence -- as is vividly illustrated in the Jonestown Tape. At the outset they perceive at least some of the methods of psychological control, but they choose to believe that the positive aspects of the organization outweigh the negatives. They "cult into" these groups; they're not tricked.

The following are the common attributes of the traditional cult. (Credit to the late Perry DeAngelis.)

Surrender to Authority

Leaders defeat autonomy

Environmental Control

Carefully control daily schedule
Leave no time to reconsider/criticize

Totalism

Us vs. Them Mentality
Make members feel needed/wanted

Loading the Language

Jargon
Common words given unique meanings

Demand for Purity

Purity defined by leadership
Any sacrifice allowed for purity

Moving beyond DeAngelis, I point out that this is a hierarchical list. The Surrender to Authority requires Environmental Control which supports Totalism which begets Loading the Language which supports the Demand for Purity. The Cult 2.0 merely accomplishes the above with soft power. It's the paper difference between slavery and sharecropping.

In a Cult 2.0 they don't control your life, but they sure always need you to do something or other for them, at all hours. They don't tell you to stop talking to your friends and family, they just don't give you the time. When your loved ones ask what you do now, it's hard to explain it all without using that new terminology. Most people wouldn't understand anyway, right? The Cult 2.0 doesn't tell you to give them all your money, but if you paid for this training retreat and the next you'd sure start to make progress, and be able to help your local outlet move forward. You want to do better, don't you? Keep that enthusiasm up. We're changing the world. And it's easy.

Cult 2.0s are the antibiotic-resistant germs of the cult world, reshuffling their features to deliver the same payload. Scientology's Narcanon and "Free Personality Test" tent are easy to spot front groups, but the for-profit Dahn Yoga corporation (Dahn Hak) is a front for nothing but itself. Cult 2.0s don't kill people; they just leave them broke, broken, ashamed, lonely, and knowing that nothing has been done to them that they haven't done to themselves.

Retired Addiction

Season Finale: The Unexpected Rise and Fall of the WB and UPN

And a reminder that Massive Attack's Mezzanine album should have been listed as a Current Addiction as well.

Feasibility of a CGI Comic Book

All I've seen are a few pages of Red Star with CGI used for hardcore mechanical illustration, but the Man says such things exist.

The first problem is character design.

In illustration, the basic unit is the line. Lines suggest shapes and masses, but they can be manipulated -- always -- to suit their own aesthetic purpose. Notice the difference between real hand-drawn animation and the stiffness of toon shaded CGI. Toon shading is cute, but it's nostalgia. If you want to draw, learn to draw.

In illustration, lines are easy, shading is hard; in computer graphics, it's exactly the opposite. Learn to light, and the software takes care of shading. Edges -- lines -- are a byproduct. Models are models. You don't draw in 3D: you sculpt. You build.

The basic unit of CGI characters is the mass, and that's where you need to go to get personality. Character design in CGI is more than trying to fudge an illustration to life in 3D. What's on what, near what, across what? How does it fit together? Solve those questions or you'll never get beyond flat, lifeless Poser-porn.

And that's only the first problem.

We Heart Superman: Episode 102: Panic at the Pelvis!

A new Wonder arrives in Metropolis -- and Lois is livid!

-- Listen --

Click here to listen to episode 102:

"We Heart Superman: Panic at the Pelvis!" (MP3 format, 16.8MB)

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-- Credit, Swag, Love --

"We Heart Superman: Panic at the Pelvis!" Written and directed by Troy Minkowsky. Featuring Mike Devine, Lindsay LeClair, Dan Miller, Melissa McCue, Tessa Parmenter, and Arturo Meneses. Sound and technical support by James Force. Original Music by Subpar Costar. Produced by Matt Rasmussen. Superman created by Joel Schuster and Jerry Seigel and property of DC Comics.

Thank you for listening!

Retired Addiction

Theatre of Tragedy's "Storm" album

I've been hitting Massive Attack's Mezzanine pretty hard lately too, but was too lazy to give it its own Current Addiction.

We Heart Superman: Now Podcast-Ready!

With voices for episode 102 still warm in the can from last night's recording session, we are proud to announce our podcast feed. To subscribe to We Heart Superman, point your favorite podcast program to:

http://www.spacetoast.net/STP/podcasts/superman/podcast.xml

To subscribe via iTunes:

Copy the address above
Go to iTunes
Go to the Advanced menu and select Subscribe to Podcast
Paste the address and hit OK

iTunes will now download episode 101, and all new episodes as soon as they're released. Happy podcasting!

We Heart Superman: Episode 101: Crisis of the Pink Kryptonite!

Click here to listen to episode 101:
"We Heart Superman: Crisis of the Pink Kryptonite!" (MP3 format, 16.8MB)

Visit our MySpace page at MySpace.com/WeHeartSuperman.

"We Heart Superman: Crisis of the Pink Kryptonite!" Written and directed by Troy Minkowsky. Featuring Joe Tringali, Mike Devine, Lindsay LeClair, Dan Miller, Melissa McCue, Michelle Webster, and Arturo Meneses. Sound and technical support by James Force. Original Music by Subpar Costar and Matt Cohn. Produced by Matt Rasmussen. Superman created by Joel Schuster and Jerry Seigel and property of DC Comics.

Thanks for listening!

We Heart Superman: Production Diary V

I didn't expect it to go anywhere as a project, but I liked what I'd written so I showed it to a few friends. I thought it would be fun to see it animated, but again I had no idea where to start. My friend Dan Miller suggested that I turn the script into a comic, but I didn't think I could do the art justice, nor did I know anyone willing to draw it for free. (I also didn't know if the jokes would translate.)

Enter Matt Rasmussen.

Matt had been talking about doing a radio show for podcast for a while. Like me, he had ideas, but nothing had panned out. Shortly after showing my Pink Kryptonite script around, I received an e-mail from him with a file attached. It was my script, adapted for radio.

I loved the idea. Superman has a history in radio. It was radio where Kryptionite was first introduced! (Plus, there was an overwhelming sense of "we could actually get this done.")

Things got underway...

Stay tuned for "We Heart Superman!"

-Troy Minkowsky, Writer/Director

We Heart Superman: Production Diary IV

Pink Kryptonite was a throwaway gag.

Wikipedia reads:
From Supergirl (vol. 2) 79, an alternate timeline in a 2003 Supergirl storyline by Peter David, this bizarre variety of Kryptonite apparently turned heterosexual Kryptonians temporarily and stereotypically gay; it was seen in just one panel, with Superman giving flattering compliments to Jimmy Olsen about his wardrobe and decorative sense. It spoofs the more "innocent times" of the Silver Age (Lois Lane is depicted in this story as not understanding what's gotten into Superman).

I don't know why this sent my imagination soaring. I blame my day job and the free time it gives me to think of trivial things.

I decided to tell a story of pink kryptonite, and make it work. I was more interested in what Superman would go through contemplating the change than what he would actually do as a homosexual. Being a heterosexual, I couldn't comment on being homosexual -- but I could comment on homophobia.

If you've ever been a highschool male who doesn't care about sports, you've had to deal with homophobia.

A HUGE influence on the writing was the Venture Brothers on Adult Swim. The show takes a bunch of pulp and comic book archetypes and makes them painfully human. I decided to take the same approach and make an "Adult Swim" version of Superman.

Instead of having Superman as a mythical, unknowable being (as I had in my first story) I had a Superman who was painfully human: trying to do good, but not always knowing what the right answer is.

Thus was "We Heart Superman" born.

-Troy Minkowsky, Writer/Director

We Heart Superman: Production Diary III

With dreams of becoming a comic book writer (something I've wanted to be, on and off, since I was twelve) I started work on my Superman epic. Without giving anything away (in case I do get a chance to work on it at some point) the project was very ambitious and time consuming -- even before I had committed anything to paper.

The problem was that I didn't even know where to begin, in terms of getting it published. I had been published once, in a college journal, and otherwise had only a trail of unfinished projects behind me. DC had to be the publisher since they had the rights to Superman. I couldn't shop my idea around.

I could have made up a superhero in place of Superman. A tribute -- or ripoff -- but it wouldn't have been the same. It had to be Superman.

So I set myself to the task of writing the damn thing just to get it out of my system. This was the seed of what would grow into "We Heart Superman."

-Troy Minkowsky, Writer/Director