This JoCo Cruise Crazy 2 photo comic wraps up our adventu… what? Oh, it only brings us to the end of day 2 of the cruise? Well, shit. I guess I have to do more of these. Turns out they really pack in the fun times on that boat.
This one features David and Maggie, Rob (Mr. Finediner if you’re nasty), my lovely wife, Wil, Anne, Stepto & Rochelle, Ryan & Claudette, The Army Of Steptos, DAMMIT LIZ!, and Molly & her Ukulele Melee.
Yes, I know that with Mogwai it’s getting them wet that makes them multiply and feeding after midnight that turns them into Gremlins. Let’s just assume the Stepto’s physiology is somewhat different than that of a small, animatronic puppet.
Molly Lewis put on her “Molly Gras” performance on the Lido Deck of the boat right after the first formal night. It was windy and the sound system was being tricky. As chance would have it, I’d managed to bring exactly the cables and other misc. gear in my ukulele bag that Molly needed to make her show work. We were still short one cable and someone from the audience of gathered fancy dressers just happened to have it on their fancy person. The show went off without a hitch and was one of the many highlights of the week. The DIYN (DO IT YOURSELF, NERDS) nature of the show made it all the more special. Do you have people? Do you have a place? Do you have something enjoyable to show them? BAM! You gots yourself a show. You can watch the whole thing in the video below.
COMMENTERS: What’s the best DIYN production you’ve ever seen or been a part of? Sometimes all you need is 4 or 5 people, a makeshift stage and a little good will.
Today is the first day since returning from Poseidon’s bosom (Neptune’s boobs for you Protestants) that I no longer feel the gentle, queasy swaying of Mother Ocean rocking me to sleep. Any by sleep, I mean sick. And by sick I mean, “Get your coat so I can throw up in your coat.”
Having recaptured my equilibrium, I’ve found myself scouring the Facebooks and Flickrs for additional proof beyond that of my own photos and sea-addled memories that JoCo Cruise Crazy DID ACTUALLY happen. Turns out it did, and I’m just sad it’s over and terribly missing my friends. Speaking of friends, this photo-comic is full of them. Despite the lovely David and his even lovelier wife Maggie, you will also notice the beginnings of my week long adventure with the Wheaton clan (Wil, Anne and Ryan). It is no secret that I do loves me some Wheatons. On their own (one at a time) they are merely delightful, but pile them all up together on a boat or a tropical beach and they are force of delight to be reckoned with.
My wife and I ended up splitting our time and adventures between the Wheaton’s, and The Willises (David and Maggie) + The Explosms (Rob and Heather). You will see more of the ensuing adventures in the photo-comics to come, but seeing as how this comic only encapsulates the first day I am going to have to make a concerted effort NOT to make 7 or 8 more of them. I’m hoping to cull together the “greatest hits” of the week and do 2, maybe 3 more.
Speaking of greatest hits, here’s Wil and I doing “Fuck Her Gently” by Tenacious D during JoCo Cruise Crazy open mic. I know, right?
Rob, David and I hosted an officially unofficial event on JoCo Cruise Crazy 2 called “Advanced Drinking and Drawing” (AD&D for short). The idea was, as panel one lays out, fairly simple. We (3 dude whose job it is to draw pictures on the Internet) will sit in the hot sun and drink cold drinks (purchased by YOU) and draw pictures for you until either A) said drinks run out or B) said cartoonists fall over the railing and are swallowed by what is about to be a extremely drunk whale.
I have to say it was a SMASHING success. Well, it was a success and we were SMASHED. We drew for about 3 hours and there were a good 20 or so Sea Monkeys (JoCo Cruise goers) hovering around us with cocktails and shots for most of that time. The only idea I’ve ever had that approaches the genius of “Give us free booze and we will draw dick pictures for you (I DID draw David like one of my French girls)” was “give me a living wage and I will draw dick pictures for you.” While the latter may have a greater impact on the well being of myself and my family, the former is somehow more profound. Like, I want to go set up a reverse hard-lemonade stand on the side of the road and sketch lewd Batmans while strangers poor drinks down my waiting gullet. Sadly I think the success of AD&D relied more on “right place, right time, right people” than “Best idea ever, this should work anywhere, hey is that a daycare? They have booze, right?” and thusly its ability to be replicated in the real world is certainly marred with difficulty.
One of the things that I love the most about events like JoCo Cruise Crazy is that the performers and organizers basically just set the wheels in motion. It’s the enthusiasm of the participants that keeps the whole fantastical thing moving. The days were JAM PACKED with official events. There were multiple concerts, sanctioned hangouts and late night party times EVERY SINGLE NIGHT, but in addition to all of that there were at least several dozen fan created and curated events through out the week. The Sea Monkeys were running games, teaching classes, putting on concerts, scribbling on cardstock for hard liquor… making things, and just making things better. Participation and augmentation are why a geek audience is such a special thing. They can’t help but get involved and leave things weirder, better and more covered in felt and hot glue than they found them.
I hope to get into more of the details and specifics of the AD&D shenanigans in the coming photo comics, but if you crave more Rob, David and Joel goodness, the three of us were guests on the Paul & Storm Podcast which took place live on the cruise. It should be uploaded soon and available HEREish.
[special thanks to Carrie Landers for use of her photo in panel 2 and to Sara Chicazul for requesting the Batman tryptic sketches]
COMMENTERS: What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever accepted in trade for work provided? Booze for drawing is nothing compared to barrels of squid for roof repair or a case of pickled turnips for putting a bunch of squid into barrels (to pay the roofer).
I have returned from JoCo Cruise Crazy 2 a littler older (a week older actually), a little drunker (a LOT drunker actually) and perhaps a little wiser (or perhaps the sunburn has started to affect my mind). For the last two days (Monday and Tuesday as of this Wednesday-writing), I have been utterly useless. I have essentially been napping, sleeping or in some preparatory state for either for the last 48 hours (JoCo Snooze Lazy, amirite?). The week long luxury cruise I just got back from has left me tired and in need of rest… from all the luxury… and this is something I suspect you will not feel sympathy towards me for.
I am finding it hard to re-adjust to land-life. First of all, I somehow managed to bring the pitching and yawing of the ocean waves back onto land with me. I’m not even sure how I got them through customs, but I am definitely struggling for equilibrium like so many a sea-fairing, shanty-singing scallawag. Supposedly this “land sickness” wears off in a few days, but it certainly makes giving a shit about much of anything with regards to productivity nearly impossible.
The second major adjustment centers around the fact the hoards of like-dressed men and women aren’t all too happy to cater to my every demand. “More prawns!” “Right away, sir.” “You, boy! A bucket of your finest everything!” “My pleasure, m’lord.” “I’d like a butter sculpture in my likeness delivered to my room and the rooms of each of my compatriots post haste! And if you forget to include a selection of toast triangles and assorted jams, it will be my cane against your backside!” “Of course, your majesty! Humblest apologies for my inevitable failure to meet your expectations.” Did you know on land they expect you to PAY for goods and services instead of just telling the merchant or shoppe keep your address? Pish and or posh!
Regardless of the many inconveniences of land-life and the onset of post-cruise-sad, I am happy to be home. This week I will be crafting mostly photo-based funnies for you from the over 1000 images I captured last week. Unfortunately, many of the photos I took feature celebrities, both Internet and actual, in various states of undress and thus must remain forever locked away in the vault (of the highest bidder… email me). There will be one more Sketch/Photo hybrid comic, followed by 2 -3 photo comics proper. Next week, regular comics will resume.
David and I were asked to draw the songbook covers for “A Night at the Empty Orchestra: The Rees/Tompkins Karaoke Invitational.” That night I sang “Mr. Roboto” by Styx .
That performance illustrates the magic of JoCo Cruise Crazy almost perfectly. The idea that you set out to do something with a preconceived notion in mind of how it’s going to play out, and through the participation and good will of others the final result is something you could never have imagined. That type of unplanned awesome just KEPT. HAPPENING. ALL. WEEK. Hell, that’s a pretty good metaphor for this whole “make stuff, put it on the Internet, try to make a living at it” thing that myself and many of the JCCC2 particpants/performers are doing. So how soon can I start the fundraiser for the next cruise?
COMMENTERS: What’s the best “we had a plan, but then something unexpected happened and now it’s MUCH cooler” moment you’ve ever witnessed or been a part of? I REALLY hope someone has a video of the JoCo Karaoke performance of “Re: Your Brains.” There was real, unicorn blood infused magic on stage that night.
JoCo Cruise Crazy II Guest Week hasn’t sunk yet! We are taking on water, but the Coulton has assured us that the crew only left on all the lifeboats to get help. How deep is the ocean? Should I be wearing long pants or would shorts be more appropriate? Hey look! Fish!
CAAAAAAAAGAAAAAAN!!! Seriously, scream his name. It’s like it was went ONLY to be screamed with your eyes gazing heavenward at a vengeful god, demanding justice for some great Internet atrocity. One of my favorite outcomes of SDCC 2011 (other than seeing Adam Savage trying on his new custom Batman armour, getting shot on stage at w00tstock 3.0 by Amy Berg, and various other “this can’t really be happening” adventures) was meeting Josh A. Cagan. I feel like we were probably introduced by Wil Wheaton, but then again it could have been that we both dodged an evil wizard’s curse a the same time and bumped heads taking cover behind a hotel lobby chair. That night is mostly a blur and I am positive there were wizard duels happening all over the place.
Josh is a screenwriter for movies and tv’s and what not. He is also a w00stock alum, one of the writers and actors for the Mtv animated serious Undergrads and last year he sold a script adapted from the highschool comedy novel “The Duff” to CBS Films. Regardless of any of this, he is one of the funniest people I have met in recent years. I strongly recommend, no DEMAND… no STRONGLY DEMAND… NO! STRONGBADLY RE-UNMAND that you follow him on Twitter. Your followage will be rewarded with real world laughs (out loud laugh or OLL’s, while not guaranteed, are highly likely). Once he tweeted me so LOL that I whatever this is.
If you are going to be in Calgary for the Calgary Expo April 27-29 you can see Josh participate in a 10 year anniversary panel for Undergrads at the convention. Fans of Clone High should definitely check out Undergrads. It was another in the long tradition of Mtv animated shows that were poorly marketed, horribly time-slotted and far too funny for that network. I will be there for the show, the panel and the after show/panel drinks as well. As Josh has told me, “I would warn all the beers, but they don’t stand a chance.”
COMMENTERS: Please make your own list of terrible guest comic ideas. Feel free to quickly and horribly photoshop any of yours or anyone else’s and link them in the comments. Alternately, what was your favorite “cancelled too soon” animated show? Which network is the worst about making sure to produce fantastic animated shows, then make them impossible to find on their schedule or constantly preempt them for sports, singing competitions or reality TV? Oh, all of them? They all do this? Do tell.
