Not enough time in the day to do everything a person wants to do!

This weekend was busy.

Friday night after I watched some soccer, Ric and I went to Fresca's for dinner. Don't eat there (see Ric's blog). Then we went to see Nacho Libre. Review to come.

Saturday I worked out in the morning, Ric and I went out to eat with my family at the Spaghetti Factory for father's day (actually it was pretty much so my grandma could see us since we don't traditionally do Father's day because my dad always forgets our birthdays--fun family!), I did laundry at the parents' place, watched some soccer, tried to go to Brendan's new place but couldn't find parking, and ended up at the ghetto La Habra theatre to see The Breakup. Review to come. What's with parents who let their 13-year-olds go to 10pm movies, and then let them call on their cell phones during the movie to check in?!

Sunday we accidentally slept in and missed church. I really need to set my alarm more often. We went shopping for father's day, bought some vonage phones, did laundry at Ric's parents' place, went out to eat at Outbacks with the in-laws, opened gifts, ate ice cream cake, and washed cars while we did more laundry, then came home to hook up the vonage. Vonage is pretty cool. Of course, I watched more soccer after that was taken care of.

Today I'm going to see the Futureheads with Erika at the Henry Fonda. I think I've heard one of their songs. Oh well. Should be fun! I wonder if Henry ever thought bands like these would be playing at a theatre named after him..

This graphic novel was praised by many critics as one of the greatest comics of 2005. I avoided buying it, though, because at the time I was getting burned out on autobiographical comics (I'm beginning to think that the autobiography is to independent comics as the superhero genre is to mainstream comics--although there are some great stories, reading just one genre all the time gets a little old). I noticed this book at the University library's new comics section, though, and decided it's worth checking out. After reading it, I'm sorry I prejudged it last year. It is one of the most interesting, original, and exciting comics I have read in a long time.

On a basic level, the graphic novel is about the author's relationship with his epileptic brother. It begins with them as children in France and continues to their adulthood. At the same time, Epileptic is about far more than that. It reveals a lot of the author's personal, internal life, and the struggles he had at the time. It's very difficult to explain in words because it is the kind of story that really can only be told in the visual comics format. That's because the events of the story are not nearly as important as how they are told.

From Wikipedia I learned that Epileptic is a poor translation of the book's title. In French, it is L'ascension du haut mal, which has multiple meanings:

haut mal is an archaic term for epilepsy meaning literally "high evil" or "great sickness" (formerly used as a medical term in English, now replaced by grand mal), and ascension can mean either rise or climbing, as seen in a recurring image of the family climbing a steep slope into unknown terrain.

Such a title is understandably difficult to translate into English, but it says a lot about the nature of the novel. David B expresses abstract ideas and emotions through visual symbols, such as a serpentine monster (for his brother's illness) and ancient armor (for his own emotional detachment).

The symbols are clearly explained when they are first introduced, but David continues to use them throughout the book, creating his own kind of visual shorthand of symbolic language. As a result, the style becomes less realistic and more symbolic and expressive as the story goes on. It's a style of storytelling like nothing else I've seen before (the closest comparison I can make is to some of Art Spiegelman's earlier work).

The writing of the novel is very dense, but never feels obtuse or unnecessarily confusing. David B isn't using this symbolic storytelling style just to be unusual or pretentious--everything he draws is for a very clear purpose, and expresses what he is saying more clearly and effectively than he could with only words. For me, this makes Epileptic a true masterpiece of the comics medium.

I felt bad for George Bush when I saw this clip. It could have happened to anyone. Yet, somehow I can't help posting it. Bush did apologize later that day and Peter Wallsten, the reporter, was very gracious. His only complaint about the whole matter was that the President didn't give a straight answer to his question in the press conference.

Bush reportedly waved at Stevie Wonder a few years ago (though Snopes says it didn't happen).