Watch STRIPPED the Documentary

Several GHPALS were Kickstarter supporters of STRIPPED, the comic strip documentary. It had a fundraising goal of $33, 560 and raised $75,550. It had its debut this week, and while we couldn't go, we urge all our readers to buy it through iTunes.

There's no better description of it than this one, copied directly from their website http://www.strippedfilm.com

STRIPPED is the ultimate love letter to comic strips. It brings together the world's best cartoonists to talk about the art form they love, and what happens to it as newspapers die. …Over 70 interviews were conducted, including the first-ever audio interview with Bill Watterson (Calvin and Hobbes), as well as Jim Davis (Garfield), Cathy Guisewite (Cathy), Mort Walker (Beetle Bailey), Mike & Jerry (Penny Arcade), Mat Inman (The Oatmeal), Jeff Keane (The Family Circus), Ryan North (Dinosaur Comics, Lynn Johnston (FBOFW)*, Zach Weiner (SMBC)**, Scott Kurtz (PvP), Scott McCloud (Understanding Comics), Richard Thompson (Cul de Sac), Jeph Jacques (Questionable Content), Stephan Pastis (Pearls Before Swine), Bill Amend (Foxtrot), Kate Beaton (Hark! A Vagrant) and more. Set to a gorgeous original score by Stefan Lessard of Dave Matthews Band, STRIPPED explores comic strips in depth, why they're so loved, and how they're navigating this dicey period between print and pixels.

* For Better or For Worse
** Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

Those GHPALS who contributed have already watched it, and loved it. Many of us still read the comics section of the paper first. Others don't get a paper but faithfully follow a web comic or two. At Comic-Con and Wonder-Con we always go to the indie comics section in the exhibit hall to see what's new and how we can support the makers of the comics we like. And an interesting group they are.

The film explains how cartoonists make it into the newspapers (the whole syndication system) and how nowadays anyone can be a cartoonist on the web. The first group is paid, the second isn't. The film makes it clear it isn't easy to make a living with a web comic, but creative folks have. The creators of Unshelved tapped into a great niche, librarians. Others, like Girl Genius and Supernatural Law have used Kidkstarter to fund printing compilations of their strips. Many sell their drawings (I remember one cartoonist telling me he stopped drawing on his tablet when he realized he wouldn't have original artwork to sell anymore.)

STRIPPED is full of good stories told by interesting people. We encourage our readers to pre-order it on iTunes and help make it the best seller on April 1.

Buy It Here on iTunes

Keep your finger on the pause button when you watch it because you will want to look at the comics.

http://www.strippedfilm.com

Volunteer at the Newport Beach Film Festival

Now's the time to volunteer for the Newport Beach Film Festival!

Despite it's name, much of it happens right here on Goat Hill, at The Triangle (or Triangle Square for us long-time locals).

Our scribe has volunteered for several years and yesterday she went to the meeting for returning volunteers.

She reports events/film showings will be at The Lido, The Triangle, Fashion Island, Big Newport, Sage Hill High School and South Coast Plaza Village. In other words, the whole Newport-Mesa area.

One of the most exciting announcements was UBER will be a sponsor. If you sign up during the festival using the code that's printed on your ticket, you'll get a $50 credit! How's that for a good deal?

Every volunteer gets a unique code that can be used to buy a certain number of half-price tickets.

Volunteers work a 4-hour shift doing everything from traditional theater activities like ticket sales to taking tickets at the door to the non-traditional, like bar tending and transportation. Our scribe sells tickets every year because everyone stops at the ticket booth.

Volunteers have to attend a training meeting and buy the volunteer T-shirt for a whopping $5! They are collectible as the color changes every year. 2014's is a muted orange.

The opening night film is Lovesick, directed by Luke Matheny, starring Matt LeBlanc and Chevy Chase. Closing out the festival is John Favreau's Chef. In between is something for everyone.


Ticket sales start April 1, and you can buy your tickets through this link.

Want to volunteer? Sign up here: Volunteer for NBFF

Comic-Con Badge Sales

Now that it's over, what do you all think of this year's Cimic-Con badge sale?

Things had to change the year Comic-Con attendees bought up all the badges for the next year's Con. Naturally those who didn't have a chance to buy one complained.

For a couple of years they had one first-come-first-served registration for those who'd attended the previous year's Con and those who hadn't.   You felt like you'd won the lottery if you got a badge for any day.

Last year was a semi-lottery, but winning partially depended on your internet connection, and your typing skill if your number was low enough. 

This year it was a total lottery. everyone had plenty of time to get enter and the same chance of having their number pulled. 

We here at GHPALS liked it. We also liked the new pricing structure. We know people bought 4-day badges when they could only go 3 days. They didn't do that this year.

Of course, they wouldn't have to limit badge sales if the Con moved to Anaheim. 

Why Don't Authors Get Residuals?

A few of us volunteer at the local library bookstores, where you can find great books dirt cheap. The store in the Newport Beach Central Library is the best because it is so convenient to donate there-it's right inside the door, and the nice volunteers will take a cart out to your car to get your donations.

One of our members is adamantly opposed to buying used books because the author receives no money from the sale. She doesn't think that'sright, and if she ran a used bookstore she would send every author a percent whenever one of his/her books sold, even though it would be expensive. If she couldn't find an author easily she would put the money in a savings account for a couple of years in case the author appeared.

Most of us think this is totally impractical, though we support her desire to support writers. But it did raise the whole subject of earnings after the initial sale.

Musicians and songwriters often get paid when their works are played on the radio, TV or movies. Some people working in Tv or film get residuals. Sometimes people who've written magazine or newspaper articles grt paid when it's reprinted.

But book authors only get paid on initial sales. Should they get a cut of retail sales? How could they, given the market is so decentralized. Authors do get paid for digital sales, however.

If an eBook is as cheap as a used copy, we think you should buy the digital version so the author gets paid. What do you think?

Reviewing Films for the Newport Beach Film Festival

It's that time of year again where several of our members are glued to their computers screening submissions to the Newport Beach Film Festival. It's a great opportunity to see a gem before the rest of the world. Or a great time waster since there's some real dreck submitted.

Screeners are sworn to confidentiality. Not only can we not share the names of the films we screen, or our opinions of them, but we cannot watch them with anyone who is not also a screener.

Once the program schedule is final, and printed, we are free to advise our readers on the films to see. And we will.

In the meantime, our scribe has watched two full-length horror films. One was truly awful and the other was very interesting, and scary. She recommended the later be shown. We'll see.

Every Captive Has A Story and There Are Many Good Ones Here

Several of us joined NetGalley and review advance copies of books. From time to time we've shared some of the ones we like. Our scribe does a lot of genealogy and was really excited about Ian Stone's book, Setting All the Captives Free. After listening to her, we are too as we think about the amazing stories each captive had to tell.

Anyone whose ancestors were part of the fight for and settlement of the Allegheny country should read this book to gain a good understanding of the risks they took, the challenges they faced, and the impacts in the already settled areas. By that, I mean everyone from French Canada to the Carolinas and even further south.

The book is very readable, well-written and easily understood by the layman. I particularly liked the explanation of the Warrior's Path traveled for centuries by the Iroquois raiding Shawnee and other southern tribes. No wonder there were conflicts when settlers cleared out fields and built homes on it.

The author tried to identify every person taken captive in the Alleghenies. By every person, he means just that. There were a lot of different kinds of people wandering around the area: traders from French Canada and Pennsylvania, Iroquois Indian raiding parties as well as settlers, plus soldiers from France Britain and the American colonies. Everyone was was taking captives and some of those poor folks traveled long distances before they were released-even to Europe! I can't imagine being captured in the wilderness and released in France or England with no easy way to get home.

Every person the author identified is listed in the appendices, along with information about each one: where and when he/she was captured and his/her ultimate fate. In many cases the author searched land and marriage, birth and death records trying to identify what happened to the person. Each person has a story, and to me each one was interesting. Sometimes several members of a family were captured at the same time and separated. I can't help wondering how a parent felt as one or two children came home and other's chose not to, becoming White Indians instead.

This book also has useful maps that actually show locations discussed in the book. All too often historical works don't have clear maps. I've been told that's because the author, not the publisher, has to pay someone to create them. If that is indeed the case, many thanks to Mr. Steele for caring enough to pay for good ones.

BUY COMICS FOR THE TROOPS

We here at GHPALS love our soldiers, seamen, airmen and marines of all genders, races, ethnic origin, etc, etc. Several of us are children of the military and have lost relatives to war.

And we love comics.

So help us in our new project: COMICS FOR THE TROOPS. We've put out  a box at our favorite store, Alakazam Comics, across the street from UC Irvine. When you buy your comics each week, pick up an extra and put it in the box. When it is full, we pick it up and send it off to our military in a far-away country. The last box went to Afghanistan, but we have troops everywhere. The next box might go to the middle of Africa.

How did we come up with this project? Well, like all good ones, it started with one person. An active member cleaned out her comic collection, deciding to keep only the ones she really, really liked. She could have sold them, but someone had told her about AnySoldier.com, where you could find someone in the military who wanted whatever you were giving away. Several wanted comic books, so she sent them off where they would be welcome.

She shared that story, and in the discussion we learned that several of us use AnySoldier to find ways to help. One mother told us her daughter sent 4 boxes of Beanie Babies to a nurse in Afghanistan who said she gives them to the local children she treats. Another saves all her Ellery Queen and Alfred Hitchcock magazines, and when a box is full she sends it off stuffed with snacks and good reading. Another buys paperback books at the Friends of the Library (Costa Mesa or Newport) Bookstores and sends them off.

The conversation wandered off onto the subject of the new DC comics (with the 3D covers) when someone had the bright idea for Comics for the Troops.

SO HELP US ENTERTAIN OUR SERVICE FOLKS and support a small business. Shop
Alakazam Comics and drop an extra book in the box.