... there was a game??

[johncomic]

I don't check LJ every morning, but this morning I did... and I see that the first yay-many posts by my Friends are all empassioned outbursts concerning a college football title. The depth of feeling and introspection and social commentary in these posts is of an incisive intensity I don't always see here.

I had no idea this game was being played, let alone who won. I didn't know that any of the games leading up to it happened, either. And now that I've been informed of this event, I'm moved by the responses of my Friends, but the event itself still means nothing to me.

I can't remember the last time I felt so much like an alien.

Comments

[ginsu.livejournal.com]

You're not an alien; you're a Canadian. The US national championship shouldn't mean anything to you; in fact, the concept of "football" shouldn't mean what it does to us.

Do you feel like an alien reading English accounts of soccer games? I just feel... American.

[johncomic.livejournal.com]

"Do you feel like an alien reading English accounts of soccer games?"

Actually, yes I do. And I feel the same way when I see news about the Stanley Cup... it's just the whole idea of these things mattering that much to anyone. :\

[ginsu.livejournal.com]

it's just the whole idea of these things mattering that much to anyone. :\

Well, I agree with you; you'll notice I didn't bother with exclamation points.

However, my feeling is that to be a good creator, one has to be in touch with one's audience... and that means, sometimes, being a consumer too. It's just a pick-and-choose at that point. I played football seriously as a kid and it has a certain regressive appeal, like the HP series or a Snickers bar.

[johncomic.livejournal.com]

...like the HP series...

See, I read this and, swear to God, for a few seconds I sat there blinking and going "'Hewlett-Packard series'?? What 'Hewlett-Packard series'?!?!" ;P

[ginsu.livejournal.com]

While we're on the subject of regressive pleasures: If you have any fondness for Marvel comics of the eighties, get your mitts on a copy of Neil Gaiman's comic novel 1602, which is a reimagined version of the Marvel Universe in the England of that year. Nick Fury of SHIELD, for instance, is Queen Elizabeth's spymaster.

I'm only ten pages in and I love it.

The writing is great, the art is great, and the inking is... they call it digital painting, so I assume it was Photoshopped, but it obviously has a very human style and touch to it. To my untrained eyes it's spectacular. This is the sort of project I wish someone could talk you into doing as a collaboration.

And Gaiman's The Books of Magic, though more lightweight as a story, is similarly well-written and completely engaging to me visually.

[sboyko.livejournal.com]

It really must be a Canadian thing. I am only vaguely aware that colleges play football. I understand it's a big thing from all the Bowls this time of year.

To each his own. I assume you don't follow curling! ;)

[ginsu.livejournal.com]

It's sort of like bowling, I think... maybe...