Life Gaiden

Now, I'm very very tired right now so this update is going to be the least grammatical and sense-making post I will ever probably create, but, here goes:

Recently, I have been in hospital, and, having rushed in as an emergency, I did not take a great many things with me. The list goes:

1) 1 set of pyjamas
2) 3 sets of underwear
3) Some body lotion
4) Deodorant
5) My phone (but no charger)
6) Bleach Volume 32

That last item is quite indicative of my feelings about Bleach: I was feeling so ill when I left for hospital that I - foolishly, I admit - thought that I wouldn't be able read in hospital. I'd really taken the book as a talisman - something good to help me feel a connection to all the good things in my life that I associated with Bleach. However, when my condition was stabilised, I found that I needed entertainment, and so read that volume, really slowly, savouring the artwork. That took about an hour. And I was stuck in A&E for eight hours.

But, I consoled myself by thinking that maybe my parents would be going back home soon to get supplies and could bring my iPod and the graphic novels which I had recently bought (while I was too ill to really concentrate on an actual book, I could still take funny books). But then I was transferred to a hospital two hours away from where I live, in Liverpool. This, of course, meant that a trip home would be inconceivable (the petrol cost! yikes!).

Therefore, when my parents visited and bought me some new pyjamas, I also asked for the next two Scott Pilgrim volumes. I was glad I did! And, continuing my habit of listing things, I will say that my reasons for enjoying the Scott Pilgrim books my dad got me were twofold:

1) How good Scott Pilgrim is - I've recently taken to saying that 'Scott Pilgrim is the most intelligent comic book/graphic novel series I have ever read. And I've read Sandman, and Watchmen. The Watchmen.' There's a certain amount of self-aware pretentiousness in this saying, in the way that it's phrased particularly, but that doesn't make the statement any less true as an expression of my opinion. There's plenty of opinions and reviews around about which will say that Scott Pilgrim is one of the greatest comic books of the century or millenium, but there's not many reviewers who would compare it to cultural behemoths of last century such as Watchmen. Although, to give these reviewers credit, I think this has less to do with fear of doing something difficult and canon-challenging (although to do so is certainly both of those things - I don't believe that I even nearly do the subject justice) than an attempt to review the impact of the text alone, an attempt to be concise, or an acceptance of the idea that the two are doing different things. The latter is an argument which I really don't like, as it is one which I've run into before when declaring how good I found Bastion to a friend, saying that I didn't think that I'd find another game as good. His response was that I couldn't say that, partly because I hadn't played that many games to compare it to and partly because other games are trying to do different things. But can't I judge one comic book or game against another for the aesthetic unity of the thing? Or how effectively presented is feeling which the creator seeks to evoke? Or the amount of nuance used in rendering the stories or ideas which the work wishes to convey? To explain the latter what I suppose I mean by that is a reference to the boundary between art and life: the two are inextricably intertwined, and, therefore, as life is complicated and nuanced, within certain frameworks, I would say that it helps for art to be so also.

These are the criteria which allow me to compare Bastion with Bioshock for instance, and, to return to my original idea, Scott Pilgrim with Watchmen. But, I would say that the idea of nuance in treatment of themes is an especially important one with regards to Scott Pilgrim, because its two main themes - an exploration of the way that young people form and live relationships and identities - are really difficult to write about. Ok, I'll say here and now that this choice of theme does make me biased in favour of Scott Pilgrim over Watchmen, as it is one closer to my own experience, but on a more objective note, I will say that it is rare to see these subjects so maturely explored in any medium, as, unlike many, many, many, many works, it falls short of outrightly idealising romance.

(Phew, that took longer than expected.)

2) My kitchen artwork!!!!! - To explain: next year I am going to be sharing a flat at university, and, inspired by someone in the year above who did something similar, I decided to paint a canvas to hang up in the kitchen. I've been struggling, though, for inspiration. The other guy had just done pictures of My Little Pony characters and Adventure Time ones and the like. But I wanted to do something original. However, having read 'Scott Pilgrim gets it Together' (and the food section of a copy of Ideal Home magazine, in my insane boredom) an idea struck! Why not draw a picture of my friends having a great time in the kitchen, while eating pie?! (The food section had several pie recipes.) My next stage was to doodle and experiment with drawing the different people's hairstyles and clothes. But, as I was doing so, I found myself playing a little game, giving everyone's outfits different gaming stats (e.g. a friend of mine has an Assassin's Creed hoodie, so that gave him stealth points in the D and D model). This gave me the inspiration to try a Scott Pilgrim-type art style, and so far, I've done character designs for all 13 people, and one preliminary sketch. Seriously, this kept me reasonably sane in hospital. I'm quite happy with the result, although my composition needs some work, and using a page from 'Scott Pilgrim Gets it Together' as a reference is presenting its own problems, such as all people in the picture being of a similar height. I hope to scan and post the different stages of my opus in picture form here in future and to update my progress here - hence the reason why I've given this post both title and subtitle. All future updates will have 'Precious Little Life' in the title.

So there you have it: Scott Pilgrim in my life. Can you believe that I've written all this with a banging headache?