Errata is a web journal written by Robert Davis who has neither spent a night in a ghost town nor pulled a turnip from the earth. He doesn't even know if turnips grow in the ground. Perhaps on trees, like candy corn. Therefore, Errata is a non-commercial project.

Observation #1: It may be appropriate, when leaving a movie theater, to say "mysterious."

Observation #2: It may be appropriate, when leaving a movie theater, to say "mysterious" at the top of your lungs. Bring your eyebrows together before you say it. Effective!

Observation #3: Same for books. Even at libraries.

There is a prize for people who correctly guess the thing about Metropolis, Nevada.

Except where the text specifically states otherwise, Errata's vagaries are indicated vaguely and its authors are indistinct in the traditional way of the Internet, except where the authors lay claim to their work. In some cases Robert Davis lays claim to work that is not his own but has been abandoned like so many ghost towns. Except where held presently, fistfuls of dirt are suspended via dispersal, or dispersed via suspension (in the air), and thus their dissolution is their transcendence, or their transcendence is their dissolution. And yet our eyes tear, and our vision is impaired, demonstrating for the umpteenth time that one entity's gain is another's fit of sneezes. Except where indicated, storms shall outlive the clay upon which they rain, unless storms are improperly delimited by their clouds, which dissolve, rather than by their inevitable return. Thus the clay loses, unless the clay is said to own the storm, to use it to make itself heavy, to make itself cling to white garments, refuse dispersal, cake upon the facades of abandoned buildings, and sit like Man [sic] upon the earth where it is pelted by a storm that it owns. In which case the clay still loses, if you ask us.

Some of the above is legally binding and should be considered a mental contract between Errata and those upon whom it acts. The bit about the prize should be considered an overstatement insofar as prizes differ from dirt and prize dispersal differs from dirt dispersal. Please recall that ownership is a weight and, therefore, hope that you do not win the prize.

One day Errata or its representatives will call upon you for a favor. It is expected that you will hop-to without delay.

You may contact Robert Davis by email unless it's about the rock that was thrown in anger. The rock is more properly called a clod. Why do you continue to raise the topic?

8 July 2004

McSweeney's Comic Issue

For the last month or so, James Tata has been following the appreciation of the latest issue of McSweeney's, an almost all-comic issue edited by Chris Ware. See his comments and links here, here, and here. I have the issue, but it's still in my book stack. It sure is a neat cover, though.

Just the other day I was walking down Valencia Street and for some reason I was on the opposite side of where I usually walk, which means I was on the opposite side of the McSweeney's storefront at 826 Valencia. (Yes, it's a pirate supply store. Yes, it's an after-school writing program for kids. Say what you will about Eggers and Co., but those are both pretty cool endeavors.)

I don't know how long it's been up there, but above the store, extending all the way to the top of the building's facade, is a mural by the graphically talented Mr. Ware. It's not your typical mural. It's monochromatic and uses Ware's characteristic grammar of boxes and arrows. When I read his books and comics, I pull his pictures up close to my face and rotate the page like it's the wheel of a pirate ship. I don't know what you do with a building. Cartwheels, I suppose. In fact it's pretty impossible to make out anything in that photo, and you can only see it a little better in real life, it's so high up. I stood on the sidewalk for a minute but decided to come back another day with binoculars.

I should walk on the other side more often. In general, I mean. Not so often that the other side becomes the other side. You know what I mean.

Posted by davis | Link

Reader Comments

July 16, 2004, 08:44 AM

heathervescent

walking on the other side is an excellent choice. I've never noticed the mural. I'll have to check it out next time I'm in town.

Other Recent Posts

Other Recent Episodes

Favorite Films