Welcome
This is the journal of Paul Rios. I write about art, technology, pop culture and other complex concerns.
Get the feedArchives
Categories
Blogroll
Looking For Something?
Author Archives: Paul Rios
100 Favorite Songs of All Time (Part 13)
This post is part of a series counting down my favorite songs of all time. Follow the links at the bottom of this post to read related posts. 40. Broken Social Scene – Stars and Sons As I’ve lamented before, at some point the phrase “indie rock” ceased being a useful descriptor. Today, it’s something [...]
APE Redux: Dan Clowes and Community Building
Although I barely mentioned it last post, Dan Clowes was also in attendance at last week’s APE. His talk was a “nerdfest,” an hour dedicated to Clowes’ taste in comics and anecdotes about his run-ins with all sorts of comic artists. Basically, it was an opportunity to hear one of the finest comic artists of [...]
Going APE for the Alternative Press Expo
I’ve never been a big fan of comic conventions, but I do like the Alternative Press Expo a lot. For one, it’s technically not a comic convention. The focus is primarily comics-oriented, but you still get a diverse crowd of small press publishers, illustrators, craftspeople and zine makers. Admittedly though, I do attend for the [...]
24 Hour Comics Day: The lessons learned
Perhaps with the exception of poetry, comics probably yield the smallest return of any kind of creative effort. Unless you’re Frank Miller, there’s very little money in the business. Critical acclaim, while certainly not unheard of, is usually reserved for the social commentary of non-fiction cartoonists. Hell, most comic artists consider themselves blessed to attract [...]
All of the Above: a 24-hour comic
On Saturday, I took the 24 Hour Comics Day challenge. The goal: create a 24-page comic book in 24 hours. No planning allowed, just spontaneous creativity. The good news is that I completed the challenge with my sanity intact (mostly). The bad news is that the comic won’t be winning me any Eisners anytime soon. [...]
Dieter Rams and ten principles of good writing
In the field of industrial design, Dieter Rams is practically Moses. He did his best to lead his people to an aesthetically-pleasing promised land by offering ten commandments of good design, a list of principles that governed his approach to his craft. I was thinking about these principles the other day. I’m no industrial designer, [...]
100 favorite songs of all time (Part 12)
This post is part of a series counting down my favorite songs of all time. Follow the links at the bottom of this post to read related posts. 45. Wire – Outdoor Miner When it comes to punk rock, I’ve always preferred bands like Wire because they seem to exist outside of the context the [...]
Video games, comic books and the First Amendment
Here’s something from the funny books that’s pretty serious: last week, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund filed an amicus curiae brief in the Supreme Court case Schwarzenegger v. EMA. The case stems from a California law that would ban the sale or rental of any violent or explicit video game to minors. The law [...]
100 favorite songs of all time (Part 11)
This post is part of a series counting down my favorite songs of all time. Follow the links at the bottom of this post to read related posts. 50. Gram Parsons – In My Hour of Darkness Throughout his career, Gram Parsons strived to create a sound he envisioned as “Cosmic American Music.” Those familiar [...]
Giving Into Consumerism: Northwest Road Trip Edition
Eleven days and more than 1,600 miles later, I’m back in Sacramento after a nice tour of the Northwest. The trip was somewhat spontaneous, and so it turned out to be a bit of a whirlwind, each day filled with music, books, films, food, strangers and long days of driving. Like a typical tourist, I [...]