That was a debilitating election. I've been struggling with what to say in the wake of Bush's re-election. The standard responses have been: "we need to keep fighting," "it's not as bad as you think," and "it's been this bad before." All are different ways of saying "stay hopeful, don't get discouraged" to those on the left.

Rather than being prescriptive, I'll be descriptive. Let me tell you what it was like in one of the indigo-blue pockets of the U.S. during the week after the election. It was like being in a zombie movie. A glazed look clouded people's eyes, and people seemed to stagger forward rather than walk, as if unaware of their surroundings. Few broke the mood of heavy gloom by speaking to others. I found it eerie to imagine that huge swaths of the U.S. population were in a similar condition. Pass the soylent green, please.

Did someone just say "time to start the healing"?

As I was driving the busy 405 freeway the other day, I was taken by surprise by the work of the freeway blogger, whom I've written about before. To the side of the highway, there was a huge reproduction of the infamous hooded figure from the Abu Ghraib prison, an ominous reminder of the war.
Later that same day, I picked up the new issue of L.A. Weekly with this soulful portrait of a young John Kerry on the cover. By visiting the web site, I discovered it was one of two alternate covers, the other being a graphic representation of the Abu Ghraib photo.

I turned 40 this month, an occasion I was not particularly looking forward to. However, I did find one good reason to celebrate: it put me well past the age for the draft, even the ages 21-35 draft that has been rumored on the Internets.

I found this image on the site Enjoy the Draft, which has some useful information on why people think a U.S. draft is coming. The X-Box does seem to be the proto-warrior's console of choice these days. After the gaming companies have milked the current trend for military titles for all its worth, I think someone should make a survival horror game where you play as a veteran with PTSD trying to survive on a day-to-day basis.

I wish I could remember where I read one of my favorite stories about the draft, told by John Waters. He recounted how he was rejected by the draft board on examination and given a designation that is used rarely by the army to indicate an individual is unfit to serve. Waters said the only other person he ever met rejected with the same designation was Iggy Pop. I think that would make a great short bio film, "John Waters and Iggy Pop Before the Draft Board."

Even if you're not a gamer, you might want to check out the opening animation sequence for the Anti-Bush Game. Click "Play" to load the animation, then, since it's interactive, you'll need to click some more to keep it moving.

After you've seen the animated intro, you can take on the Bush baddies yourself by playing online or downloading the game for free. But beware! You will have to fight against the Toxic Cheney Robeast, pictured here in all his fearsome awfulness. I've heard this is what Cheney actually looks like after you've called his daughter a lesbian.

Brother, Can You Spare a Job? is a pro-voting cartoon that draws parallels between the Great Depression and the "Great Recession," a term used by economist Paul Krugman to describe the current U.S. economy. The short cleverly borrows the stylings of '30s cartoons as well as familiar characters and themes from that era.

I scrolled upon this political graphic the other day, while I was reading a wonderful screed by Dr. Menlo about the GOP and the Bush/Cheney Administration. This poster was done by Shepard Fairey of "Obey" fame. What's really great about it is you can use it as political wall art and a Halloween decoration at the same time. I'd love it if Fairey did a companion piece with Kerry as Van Helsing. Wouldn't he look great wrapped in a long flowing cape? How ironic that a cross would be his weapon.

I thought I'd take a moment to give a big shout out to the Republican National Committee! I saw your IP in my log files recently and I was absolutely blown away! Could that be you, Zell? I'm not sure why you're here, but I've heard Powell is a fan of Gizmodo and I thought, "maybe he likes comics and video games, too!" Of course, one of the main Google searches bringing readers to In Sequence is a search for "bra and panties," so maybe Ashcroft is my secret reader after all.

It's been a great week for graphics activism with the Republican National Convention going on in New York. I watched coverage of the Sunday demonstrations on CSPAN2 and felt consistently entertained reading and viewing the various anti-Bush signs people were carrying. Although it was pretty low-rent in terms of graphics, I liked today's pink slip demonstration, designed to call attention to rising unemployment rates.

I really want one of those "I love Teresa" signs from the Democratic National Convention. I would also like an adoring admirer to carry it around behind me at all times. I have some self-esteem issues you know. I guess I'm not going to get either of those things, especially if I don't blog a bit more often.

Earlier this week, there was a big anti-Bush postering event called "Be the Revolution L.A.", featuring the work of Mear One, Shepard Fairey, and Robbie Conal. I saw all three of the posters yesterday while driving around. I wasn't familiar with Mear One, so I went to look around at his web site, which has an extensive gallery. His work is inspired by grafitti art, and I was impressed to see that his anti-Bush poster was done with a spray can. The imagery really jumps out at you when you see it in the street.

That was a very long time between posts. Sorry for the blog silence. Let's catch up, shall we?

All this time I've been sharing a computer with the Cute Little Red-Headed Girlfriend, but now she has one of her very own. I've been setting it up for her with little tweaks and software and as you may know, that can eat up some time. Especially since the computer is the first Windows unit I've owned since the days of DOS. It's an HP zt3200 notebook, which allows the Cute Little Red-Headed Girlfriend to watch all the Marina/L Word and Xena fan videos made in the proprietary Windows Media format. My Apple can't play them. In the eternal battle between sex (Marina, Lucy Lawless) and good intentions (non-Windows OSs), once again sex has won.

Like everyone else, I've been riveted by national politics, and the spate of hearings and testimony around each new scandal. I spent hours watching Richard Clarke's testimony, which confirmed my suspicion that Alias's Victor Garber patterned Jack Bristow on Clarke. I haven't read Clarke's book yet, but I finished Bob Woodward's Plan of Attack, another testimony-related title. Of course, all these hearings has me feeling nostalgic for my favorite President, Richard Milhouse Nixon. If he were alive today, I'm sure he would advise his party to act as he did in the final days: "We have to prick the god-damned boil and take the heat!"

I've been relying on other bloggers' comics recommendations, including those of Franklin and Johnny Bacardi. It's nice to know you can rely on the comics blogosphere.

I love the smell of napalm and strudel in the morning, don't you? This morning as I awoke to the results of yesterday's election, I was reminded of an old single I have in my 45s collection, the Dead Kennedy's "Kill the Poor" (A side) and "California Uber Alles" (B side).

The single is an import because though our Constitution may wind up protecting the free speech rights of telemarketers, it didn't do much for the Dead Kennedys back in 1980 when the band was trying to get their first record out. If you're not familiar with these great songs, may I suggest you "look them up" sometime soon.
I suppose Arnold's win does in a sense show the greatness of this country, and how even a poor, immigrant son of a Nazi SS officer can make it to the top with just a handful of steroids and a dream.
Last night, around 9:30 pm, when news of Arnold's win was starting to spread, I thought for sure I heard the distinctive sound of LAPD choppers headed for a fly-over the ghettos and barrios of South Los Angeles, where--coincidentally, I'm sure--there didn't seem to be enough polls for everyone to vote. I'm not surprised the cops were on their toes--it seems to me that the LAPD is in a good position to predict where all this will end. With so many members of the state's National Guard and police force getting shot at in Iraq, I wonder if our new Governor will be able to find enough people to drive in the tanks if the city starts to burn.
On other political fronts, George W. now has his own blog, though I can't bring myself to link to it right now.

If you keep up with Boing-Boing, you may already have seen this link before, because that's where I first read about the serial guerilla art campaign now being documented at nobodydied.com. The signs have been appearing along I-5 in Southern California, prompting one commentator to coin the term "freeway blogging."

I can't decide which sign is my favorite; they're all so good. However, I'm pretty fond of 32,000 Dead and I'm still paying $2.29 for unleaded. Last time I filled up my car with gas I noticed someone had put a bumper sticker with the word "Greed" on it on the front of the pump. Bursts of anger here and there. What will they add up to?

Hello again. I didn't mean to be absent from blogging for quite so long, it just sort of happened that way. Many thanks to those who inquired or showed interest in my whereabouts--like Neilalien and Dirk Deppey--it's nice to know I've been missed. Plus, it gives me hope to think that, should Ashcroft's minions show up at my door one dark night, hard questions will be asked in the aftermath.
I wish I could report that I was doing something truly exciting offline, but I wasn't--though I did pre-cast my vote in the California election, via a convenient at-home ballot. Let me affirm now that although some people feel ashamed to live in a state that is the butt of the world's collective joke, I am not one of them. Indeed, I am proud to live in this great state, the largest and longest-running conceptual art installation in the world.
I voted "No" on the recall because I am so impressed by Gray Davis's willingness to carry around an obviously Mexican prayer card with a full color image of Jesus everywhere he goes--that kind of shameless pandering to the Latino vote cannot go unrewarded. Yet another example of the power of graphic art to sway the minds of the populace.
If we're lucky, Robbie Conal's latest political poster, "Achtung Baby!", shown here, will sway a few voters as well. The poster's small print contains a quote from Arnold, "I was always dreaming of very powerful people, dictators and things like that." If you're in the L.A. area, look for it on a public wall or lamppost near you.
I also dutifully cast my vote for Cruz Bustamante, though I found it hard to bypass Larry Flynt, Angelyne, and so many other interesting possibilities once the full six-page array of candidate names was laid out before me. It was like choosing off a deli menu. A very expensive deli menu.

The weekend before last, the Cute Little Red-Headed Girlfriend and I went to see a talk by political graphic artists at Track 16 Gallery in Santa Monica. The talk was sold out in advance, and there was even a sizable waiting list and a press of people trying to get in the door when we arrived. Not a bad turn out for an arts event that wasn't about French impressionism.

I suppose one could attribute the demand to pent-up political frustration, since there was definitely a radical edge to all the speakers and to the audience members as well. In fact, it was quite refreshing to be in the same room with so many card-carrying pinkos.

Before the event started, we wandered around Track 16, looking at the two art exhibits on display. The first exhibit was a group show called "Le Dernier Cri: Legendary Publishers of the International Underground", which included some prints by comic artist Julie Doucet.

The second show, "East-West Graphics of Resistance", was devoted to two political graphic artists, U. G. Sato of Japan, and Lex Drewinski of Poland. Although they are from different areas of the world, they are both minimalists and share several interests, including anti-nuclear and anti-war activism. Both artists also engage in the practice of "fax art," which involves using fax documents both to create and to distribute graphic art.

The first speaker was Robbie Conal, who I've written about here on several occasions. He spoke energetically about being raised by left political activists and discussed some of the financial challenges of being a political graphic artist. Interestingly, he cautioned would-be graphic artists on the difficulties of distributing one's work on the street, indicating how much time and energy is required to reach an audience that is diverse but fairly limited.

Next was Shepard Fairey, who is best known for his Obey Giant campaign. Charming and unassuming, he talked about growing up in a mainstream family in South Carolina and the huge impact that punk and skateboard culture had on him in the development of his artwork. While I had seen the "Obey Giant" images before, I felt that I gained a great deal from hearing Fairey discuss the project, which he sees as using the imagery and language of advertising to critique consumerism and its manipulation of our impulses--specifically, impulses to obey or not to obey.

The last speaker, Barbara Carrasco, was the artist the least known to me, but after seeing her speak, I plan on keeping an eye out for her work in the future. Carrasco is primarily a muralist, but also does other types of work, including jewelry and prints. As a graphic artist, she has for a long time been associated with Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, and the United Farm Workers. She is incredibly humble, but her life has been filled with such dedication and integrity--I found her quite inspiring. She spoke about her experience as a teacher and also her experience with censorship, a topic that was touched on by all the participants.

I can't recall an occasion where I have heard artists speak so simply and so personally about their work. In each case, the artist's impulse towards political graphics came from an intensely personal experience of frustration or inspiration.