This is my contribution to Seduction of the Innocent, a new collection of pin-ups by various artists of pretty girls reading comics. Other contributors include Jeffrey Brown, Ivan Brunetti, Sam Henderson, Dave Kiersh, Peter Kuper, Johnny Ryan and many more, and the drawings range from the sleazy to the hilarious. You can see more sample pages and/or buy the book on publisher Kettle Drummer Books‘ website.
"Comics erode the most fundamental habits
of humane, civilized living."
Bill Pearson
of humane, civilized living."
Bill Pearson
Seduction of the Innocent
July 19th, 2010New page: The Magic Pen
July 16th, 2010
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This is the beginning of chapter three and the first of the never-previously-published brand new pages. Yay!
New pages every Wednesday and Friday.
More Horrocks film news: Dad wins in Amsterdam
July 14th, 2010
Yesterday I mentioned my sister’s new feature film, After the Waterfall, which premieres at the New Zealand Film Festival tonight. And now, continuing with the “My family is awesome” theme, my father’s short film about Len Lye, Art That Moves, has just won a prize at the Amsterdam Film Festival.
Roger Horrocks (that’s my Dad) has written various books about New Zealand-born artist and film-maker Len Lye, including the definitive biography. For his latest book, a study of Len’s work as an art of movement, Dad also made an 18-minute film – a dramatisation of key moments in Lye’s childhood and youth, when his fascination with light and motion set him on the path to becoming a pioneering kinetic artist. The film features various family and friends in the role of Lye; my hand has a brief cameo as Len’s hand drawing in a sketchbook and my 4-year old nephew Oscar appears as the Very Young Len.
The film is included on a DVD (along with some of Lye’s own films and footage of his kinetic sculpture in action) that comes with the book, also called Art That Moves (available from Amazon here).
If you’ve never come across Len Lye before, here’s one of my favourite of Lye’s films, which was made by scratching directly onto the celluloid itself:
And this is an excerpt from an earlier documentary about Lye made by my step-mother, showing one of his awe-inspiring sculptures doing its thing:
New page: The Magic Pen
July 14th, 2010
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Harvey Pekar, RIP
July 13th, 2010
As well as having an enormous influence on the development of serious, honest, personal comics, Harvey Pekar was also a genuine working-class intellectual, who worked hard to bring some real politics to America’s anemic public discourse.
Watch this great clip from 1987, when Harvey went on Late Night with David Letterman and tried to talk about the corporate crimes of General Electric (the owners of Letterman’s network NBC). Chaos ensued – and, however briefly, the veil was torn away to reveal the power of money over what gets discussed and televised. It’s an awesome thing to watch.
Harvey had a tough life, but he turned it into something beautiful and transformative. Thanks for everything, Harvey.
My sister’s movie, ‘After the Waterfall’ is out!
July 13th, 2010
My very cool sister Simone Horrocks’s new feature film has its New Zealand premiere tomorrow (July 14), at the NZ Film Festival. After the Waterfall is Simone’s first feature, but her short films have done very well, including winning a prestigious prize at the Berlin Film Festival.
Adapted from Stephen Blanchard’s novel Paraffin Child, After the Waterfall is about a man whose young daughter goes missing; itfollows his descent into darkness and slow climb back into daylight. There are many great things about this film: Antony Starr’s extraordinary performance in the lead role (the whole cast are excellent), a powerful sense of place (Auckland’s west coast and suburbs), and an emotional intensity that will leave you reeling, but greatly enriched. I’m very excited about it – and very proud of my awesome sister.
Anyway, if you’re in Auckland or Wellington, you can catch After the Waterfall at the NZ Film Festival (tickets available here). I’ll post any later release news as I hear it.
And here are some interviews with Simone and other news about the film:
A long interview with Simone on Wellywood Woman
A story about the film’s screening at a festival in Beijing, China
An interview with Simone on KiwiFM (via youtube)
After the Waterfall’s Facebook page
After the Waterfall on the NZ Film Festival website
Book tickets for After the Waterfall at the NZ Film Festival (via Ticketek)
After the Waterfall at Flicks.co.nz
New page: The Magic Pen
July 9th, 2010
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A nice clean page at last (totally safe for work). Phew!
Well, apart from the swearing, that is…
New page: The Magic Pen (ADULTS ONLY!)
July 7th, 2010
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Warning: this page is Not Safe For Work!
It’s also rather disturbing. Sorry…
New page: The Magic Pen (ADULTS ONLY!)
July 2nd, 2010
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Warning: this page is Not Safe For Work!
Mind you, wait till you see the next page…
New page: The Magic Pen
June 30th, 2010
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