Ernie Pook's Reflections On Being

October 24, 2008 8:27 PM

Lynda Barry update Magazine Book Gorgon New Website

myspace
before
via

posted by hortense (17 comments total)

crap. I forgot some punctuation, needs more comma.
posted by hortense at 8:30 PM on October 24, 2008

decaf
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 8:33 PM on October 24, 2008

Lynda Barry's drawing is so much better than it used to be.
posted by jamjam at 8:48 PM on October 24, 2008

what
posted by R_Nebblesworth at 9:04 PM on October 24, 2008

I forgot some punctuation

You forgot all punctuation.
posted by neuron at 9:31 PM on October 24, 2008

Yeah, What It Is, is really good. I totally appreciate the direction Lynda's growing and changing bit by bit over the years.
posted by not_on_display at 9:34 PM on October 24, 2008

Interviewed her recently. Wish we were best friends.
posted by [NOT HERMITOSIS-IST] at 9:52 PM on October 24, 2008 [2 favorites]

My hero(ine). Cruddy is just an astounding piece of work, let alone the comics which have provided much joy (and solace) over the years. My friends and I still quote parts of Big Ideas to each other, especially her love advice from Your Guide to Painful Separation.
posted by jokeefe at 10:49 PM on October 24, 2008

Love everything she's ever done, ever. CRUDDY is one of my favorite books; wish I could write anything as amazing as that. I don't know what else to say about Lynda Barry except that she's my imaginary next-door neighbor and I wish we were best friends in REAL life.
posted by OolooKitty at 10:53 PM on October 24, 2008

I adore Lynda Barry. She has this uncanny ability to capture the way children really think, write and speak. She can create the saddest, most dismal scenarios (CRUDDY is good, but it's also pretty depressing) yet can also tell you how to cast the monsters of doubt from the room when you dance. She is truly the Funk Queen of the Universe.

I'm still kicking myself for being a starstruck dork when I ran into her on the street in Chicago.
She was drinking a humungous Slurpee, I was late for class. I said "....!" She said "?" I felt like a big loser for not telling how amazing I thought she was.
posted by louche mustachio at 11:30 PM on October 24, 2008 [1 favorite]

I have loved Lynda Barry's stuff since I was the age of her characters. I understood her right away then, and I hope I still do now. Must have this new book.

(Did she ever write about what became of her relationship with her mother, whether she's still alive, whether she ever forgave her? Is it in One Hundred Demons which I inexplicably do not have? That woman is terrifying.)
posted by Countess Elena at 7:06 AM on October 25, 2008

Yeah should't this post have started with:

Lynda! Barry! Update! Magazine! Book! Gorgon! New! Website!
posted by Potomac Avenue at 8:39 AM on October 25, 2008 [2 favorites]

Thank you for that, hermitosis, it delights me to hear she likes Carrie in the same way I do:

"The other thing that is revolutionary about that movie is she kills her own mother. What’s interesting is that De Palma does it with flying knives which is great except for the extra crucifixion sauce he pours on the scene.

It's been a couple of decades since I've seen it, but I thought the final shot of Carrie's dead mom was meant to remind the viewer irresistibly of Ruben's St. Sebastian.
posted by jamjam at 10:15 AM on October 25, 2008

I find her storytelling absolutely transcendent, which makes me all the more sad to find that she has to make her money in peripheral pursuits. The syndication income on her comeek alone really just make me want to give up. Is there really no market for good art anymore?
posted by sonascope at 12:03 PM on October 25, 2008 [1 favorite]

Is there really no market for good art anymore?

I wonder if she could take lessons from Chris Onstad. He seems to make a living from Achewood merchandising, and Achewood is hell of art. But then, she may have looked the new comic-merchandising business up and down already, and decided not to.
posted by Countess Elena at 2:19 PM on October 25, 2008

It is St. Sebastian, jamjam, but the pose her mother is in, with arms outstretched, is really very crucifixion-esque.
posted by [NOT HERMITOSIS-IST] at 3:08 PM on October 25, 2008

I just saw her give an interview and reading (and singing, and joke-telling) in Toronto today. She's a brilliant, hilarious, insightful and incredibly engaged and engaging speaker. And she had nice things to say about Canada (by which I mean she said she had a "boner for Canada", emphasized by a hard-to-describe but thoroughly unambiguous arm movement).
posted by transient at 8:59 PM on October 25, 2008 [1 favorite]