"I can remember a reporter asking me for a quote,
and I didn't know what a quote was.
I thought it was some kind of soft drink."
~ Joe DiMaggio
I began writing this blog back in 2009. I quit doing so in 2012. Now it is 2019. And things have changed, but not really because those things still require expression. This blog was going to be the record of a "start-up" comic book publishing firm. Maybe just a firm of one -- there are many out there, but it was going to be my firm.
I wrote about the politics of the day and marketing strategy and all kinds of things that were not refined or even about art or my creative process. In the time I have neglected this Thing, I have learned all the tricks they don't teach/won't teach/can't teach anyone in school about Art, Design & Publishing -- lessons that even the technology didn't "improve" or the market "fixed".
I choose to call this thing Quote Cola because of DiMaggio's comment on being asked for something fit to print. I had made up my mind in 2005 that whatever I called my place of work, the point where an audience would meet something I created, it would always be Quote Cola. It is a whimsical faux pas from a stoic figure. I mean, that's art; where two opposites meet and the audience has to consume it.
(It's also a perfect Comedic Formula. Every time my family would move, the latest teacher to meet would ask me the most courteous question and I would give a seemingly curt response. Something like this: "Nice to meet you, Douglas. Where are you from?" "The apartment up the street where everyone else lives too. What." We moved around so much that, to me, it was absurd to ask where I thought I came from when I was standing right in front of you. Only years of residing in Alabama do I now "get the concept" of Where You Come From.)
It occurs to me that 'DiMaggio' kinda has the word 'Magic' in it. Maybe this is all just alchemy. It's all a bunch of shit that fizzes and pops and just does what it wants until Out Of The Fermented Mess O'Decaying Matter a piece of art vicariously appears. Of course, this description completely negates the fact that an Alchemist actually walked into their lab with a purpose and matter to resolve. I imagine People think that is how Art comes to be. And I would not have blamed my audience for thinking this very thing about this blog. It's actually preferable for People to be oblivious to pedantic tricks of Alchemists. But what I forgot was the part where the Alchemist still needed to resolve a matter and work with a purpose. It is not healthy for an Alchemist who knows how to do the work to also believe it happens vicariously.
In light of this, Quote Cola is a motto for the Vitriol of this New Age. And it will be invoked copiously to that end. We'll be making Art here and other things that stand the test of time.
I wrote about the politics of the day and marketing strategy and all kinds of things that were not refined or even about art or my creative process. In the time I have neglected this Thing, I have learned all the tricks they don't teach/won't teach/can't teach anyone in school about Art, Design & Publishing -- lessons that even the technology didn't "improve" or the market "fixed".
I choose to call this thing Quote Cola because of DiMaggio's comment on being asked for something fit to print. I had made up my mind in 2005 that whatever I called my place of work, the point where an audience would meet something I created, it would always be Quote Cola. It is a whimsical faux pas from a stoic figure. I mean, that's art; where two opposites meet and the audience has to consume it.
(It's also a perfect Comedic Formula. Every time my family would move, the latest teacher to meet would ask me the most courteous question and I would give a seemingly curt response. Something like this: "Nice to meet you, Douglas. Where are you from?" "The apartment up the street where everyone else lives too. What." We moved around so much that, to me, it was absurd to ask where I thought I came from when I was standing right in front of you. Only years of residing in Alabama do I now "get the concept" of Where You Come From.)
It occurs to me that 'DiMaggio' kinda has the word 'Magic' in it. Maybe this is all just alchemy. It's all a bunch of shit that fizzes and pops and just does what it wants until Out Of The Fermented Mess O'Decaying Matter a piece of art vicariously appears. Of course, this description completely negates the fact that an Alchemist actually walked into their lab with a purpose and matter to resolve. I imagine People think that is how Art comes to be. And I would not have blamed my audience for thinking this very thing about this blog. It's actually preferable for People to be oblivious to pedantic tricks of Alchemists. But what I forgot was the part where the Alchemist still needed to resolve a matter and work with a purpose. It is not healthy for an Alchemist who knows how to do the work to also believe it happens vicariously.
In light of this, Quote Cola is a motto for the Vitriol of this New Age. And it will be invoked copiously to that end. We'll be making Art here and other things that stand the test of time.
