http://www.paranoiddreams.com/ Fri, 04 Jul 2008 04:36:29 EDT ThanosRSS 120 http://www.paranoiddreams.com//rss/image.png http://www.paranoiddreams.com/ 100 88 Wed, 02 Jul 2008 22:46:01 EDT http://www.paranoiddreams.com//rss/rssComment.php?incomic=838
The coconuts that most of us see in the supermarket are actually the seeds of the coconut tree. Inside that hairy little drupe lies all the secrets of creation. And creation is usually pretty gross.
Coconut milk is usually made by grinding the endosperm (the "meat") of the coconut with some warm water. Coconut milk is not to be confused with coconut water, which is the pocket of juice in the middle of the seed. The coconut water is bitter in the adult, coarse coconuts, but is quite sweet when the coconut is young.

[Please Comment Here]]]> Mon, 30 Jun 2008 23:49:32 EDT http://www.paranoiddreams.com//rss/rssComment.php?incomic=837
I had to do some research about monkeys and coconuts. Do monkeys eat coconuts? My gut said yes, but I've never actually seen a coconut-eating monkey. So I hit the googles and found verification, but also found a cool band, " The Coconut Monkeyrocket." The music is a pretty apt fit for the tropical setting of this comic.

[Please Comment Here]]]> Fri, 27 Jun 2008 19:35:20 EDT http://www.paranoiddreams.com//rss/rssComment.php?incomic=836
As a folk hero, the gut-reaction is to align ourselves with the protagonist John Henry. And while there are redeeming virtues about his tale - pride in your work, the power of the human spirit - the overall fable comes out with a very different moral. Namely: you can't fight progress. John Henry died fighting against his mechanical equivalent. Really, what sane human thinks they can plow better than a tractor, or sew better than a sewing machine? Even if you win an individual contest, the toll in exhaustion still makes the machine the obvious winner!

[Please Comment Here]]]> Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:47:49 EDT http://www.paranoiddreams.com//rss/rssComment.php?incomic=835
A parody of a parody of a parody. At first I was hesitant to use the Ghost In The Shell "laughing man" logo for anything other than a one-time throwaway gag (~comic 708). After all, I didn't design it myself - it was designed for the anime by a company called TERRATAG. In the anime context, it's a political-statement-parody created by an anti-establishmentist who goes by "The Laughing Man" - a Salinger Reference (if the "Catcher in the Rye" text didn't tip you off). The logo is a corruption of the fictional Starchild Coffee logo, which in turn is a blatant parody of the Starbucks logo. It will become clear as the story goes on and I flesh out what this all means, but fans of the anime may already have a clue what is going on.
While I didn't create this logo myself, I think that appropriating it (and making it into a character/entity in itself) is a fair use of a culturally loaded symbol to further my story. Given the choice of creating something completely new or making a VERY loaded statement with someone else's iconography, I think I'd rather go the latter route. Is that laziness or creativity? Maybe both. But it's not like I haven't done it before.

[Please Comment Here]]]> Mon, 23 Jun 2008 18:34:53 EDT http://www.paranoiddreams.com//rss/rssComment.php?incomic=834
The ham-handed moral of the story. Cool Steve learned a lesson, I hope you all have learned something as well!

[Please Comment Here]]]> Fri, 20 Jun 2008 15:59:11 EDT http://www.paranoiddreams.com//rss/rssComment.php?incomic=833
That "hosing" inside the machine is just four wobbly rings, differently colored and tilted to various angles. It makes me think of bell pepper slices.
"Foresaw this" is VERY forced grammar, but whatever. It works.

[Please Comment Here]]]> Wed, 18 Jun 2008 13:17:27 EDT http://www.paranoiddreams.com//rss/rssComment.php?incomic=832
Making an iced latte is probably more difficult than just pouring hot espresso over ice.
I mean, for one, whipped cream. Yes please!

[Please Comment Here]]]> Fri, 13 Jun 2008 18:40:01 EDT http://www.paranoiddreams.com//rss/rssComment.php?incomic=831
This comic took WAY too long to finish.

[Please Comment Here]]]> Wed, 11 Jun 2008 14:45:59 EDT http://www.paranoiddreams.com//rss/rssComment.php?incomic=830
Once you add the bandolier, it kinda makes Cool Steve look like a boy scout.

[Please Comment Here]]]> Tue, 10 Jun 2008 04:04:46 EDT http://www.paranoiddreams.com//rss/rssComment.php?incomic=829
When I was in New Zealand with Kat, espresso was the norm (in lieu of filtered coffee). This meant that every café, every gas station, every convenience store had some fashion of espresso machine available - usually manned by a cashier/baristo/what-have-you. The lack of dedication to the art made for some pretty miserable lattes.
At one gas station outside Christchurch there was a fully automated espresso machine (much like Cool Steve's!) which did the job of bean grinding, pulling, and milk steaming. Surprisingly, it did a better job than some of the trained latte-jockies! I imagined the inevitable replacement of human hand by these robot-baristas, and I imagined the resistance such a takeover would meet. And I was amused to imagine a John Henry-esque competition of the human advocates vs. mechanism - the competition about to be drawn out here.

I apologize for my absolutely miserable rhyme. Even though this comic was a month in the planning, I didn't start it until late, and.. well.. I'm not a poet. Sorry.

[Please Comment Here]]]>