Comics: Hark! A Vagrant

Recently, I found myself reading strip after strip of Hark! A Vagrant on my computer. As much as I love the strip, I wanted a more 'efficient' way of reading consecutive strips (less clicking allows for more laughing, you know), and so I figured out an elegant and simple way of doing so in Google Reader. But the easiest way to enjoy the comics are actually on your iPad (if you've got one). Read on to learn how!

For those who aren't familiar with Kate Beaton's work, you're missing out! If you've ever wondered what figures such as Jane Austen, F. Scott Fitzgerald, or Sherlock Holmes would be like in comic form, here's your answer!

Beaton makes smart little pieces that usually get a laugh out of me (and quite a lot of others too).

Linked from The Mary Sue

I get a lot of the literary, science, and pop culture references, but not a lot of the history ones. And even though I'm not a history buff, it's not a problem because Beaton always provides a little note/entry for each comic post in which she often explains the origin of the joke (Clearly, history was not my strong point in school).

Here are some of my favorites (I've also included links to the original comics below each strip in case you want to read her own notes about the strip. I highly recommend it for context and humor!).

See annotation here below the comic

See annotation here below the comic

See Beaton's notes here below the comic

Now, for those who are interested, Beaton recently published a book with some of her strips. You can view it here on Amazon.com.

But, you'll be glad to know that while it'd be awfully nice for you to buy this book and support Beaton, you can read all her comics online for free!

If you're interested in viewing them by topic, you can click here and choose strips accordingly. Or, you can read them in the order they were released by viewing the chronological archives. 

After a couple of minutes hours of reading her comics, I found out a better way to take in Beaton's little masterpieces. The secret? Google Reader! Using the right settings, your laptop can become the perfect for-personal-use comic strip theater!

How best (I think) to read Hark! AVagrant! on your computer (and iPad!) with Google Reader:
[1] Go to http://www.google.com/reader


[2] Log in with your Google username and password.

[3] On the top left corner, click on Subscribe and type in http://www.harkavagrant.com. Click Add.

[4] Now, Hark! A Vagrant should appear on your main page. Click on it.

[5] Go to Feed Settings... at the top of the page, and click on View in Reader Play.

[6] The window should now appear with a black background, and the comic will likely appear zoomed out. At the bottom of the window is a side scrolling row, which gives previews of all Beaton's posts in reverse chronological order.



However, if you leave the reader in this setting, the comic is too small to read! Do not fret, however! This probably can be easily solved.

[7] To make viewing easier (why waste time clicking when you could be reading?!), click on the Book icon on the left hand of the screen (see rectangular figure outlined in pink above). At this point, each comic will fill the width of the screen, giving you a more readable comic.

Update: After experimenting with Google Reader some more, I have found out what exactly the icons do. The Book icon shows the scrolling row at the bottom of the page. Clicking it will either open or close that row. The Eye icon zooms in on the strip. This is what makes the image fit the width of the screen. 

To make the viewing experience even more whiz-bang-wow, go to View > Enter Full Screen (depending on your browser, the exact steps may vary. I use Chrome, so those are the menu options I have.)



In this new format, you can easily scroll up and down along the strip. Then, after you've finished reading the comic and the commentary that follows, you can click on the right hand arrow to move to the next strip. It's so easy!

Look how nice and big it is! A simple scroll can move us down the page. 

Ta-da! Scrolling!

Finished with this first comic? All you gotta do is click on the right hand arrow...

...and now you've quickly jumped to the next comic! 

[8] And for those of you with an iPad, reading Beaton's comic is even easier than doing it on your computer.

Update: After playing around, I've learned that Google Reader only shows the last 10 entries for the site. This isn't that fun. The other trouble is that using Google Reader on the iPad is actually slightly problematic. A simple swipe left or right (even one that's tiny!) will move you between comics. Your best bet for reading the comic on you iPad is simple to visit the site URL in Safari. 


With that, I'd advise to disregard the directions below. However, there are some links to interviews at the bottom of the post! Skip down to check them out! 


All you have to do is log in to Google Reader (http://www.google.com/reader) in Safari, and the comics  fit the width of the screen, and you easily scroll down to read more. When you finish the strip, you simply click tap on Next entry back at the top of the page, and it brings you to the next comic! And then you can read for as long as your heart desires.

Open Safari. Log in to Google Reader on your iPad 

Click on any of the posts.

Enjoy current comic, and then tap on Next Item to move to the next comic. 

And voila! You can continue your uninterrupted stream of comic goodness.

And that's it! Now you can enjoy Beaton's comics with the greatest of ease on your computer's browser or your iPad. 

For those of you who are interested in hearing Beaton talk about her work firsthand, you can read her interview with The Onion A/V Club, or listen to the MaximumFun.org Sound of Young America podcast (If you follow this blog, you know how much I love this show!)


The Sound of Young America

Book: Major Pettigrew's Last Stand

I really love this book. I'm about a fifth of the way through, and I'm one of those grooves right now. I tend to jump between books of terribly clever, humorous witty works (think Anthony Bourdain or Jonathan Safran Foer), and stories that are written somewhat more restrained but told by equally self-observant writers. This book falls under the latter. There is humor, but more of the chuckle by the fireplace as I read type of laughter, and less of the 'Oh em gee that is too good. I wish I could have come up with that! Accompanied by hands gesturing enthusiastically and eyes widening.' When I read Simonson's writing, I tend to go "I completely agree. I have those sentiments myself sometimes. God, I wish I could have come up with that. Pleasant introspective sigh." (See those italicized body gestures I just conveyed? Yeah, I have an issue with the communicative limits of text. And so I am attempting to resolve that in my own special way.) 

And look, you can read the first chapter courtesy of Amazon Kindle!

Book: Otherwise Known as the Human Condition

Geoff Dyer's book contains a collection of essays on many topics--photography, journalism, literature, and more. I've read a couple that dabble in completely unfamiliar territory for me; and yet Dyer's critical writing allows me to understand the subject matter as he does. I like the angle he takes on things, and his way with words.

Because I am not such a master wordsmith, I direct you to the first essay in his book. It can be read here on Google Books. The essay is called 'Robert Capa' after the photographer, and it is about one of Capa's pictures.

Interview: Dan Harmon of Community

Dan Harmon puts on his thinking cap.

Dan Harmon's Embryos

WIRED recently interviewed Dan Harmon, creator of NBC's smash hit Community. This article is so interesting for a couple of reasons:

• Harmon reveals his 'rule of 8' embryos (see image above). Basically, every episode of Community follows this pattern. It's kind of Harmon's adaptation of Joseph Campbell's the hero-myth cycle and brainchild after scrutinizing countless TV eps and movies. 
• Harmon tells WIRED that he discovered he had Asperger's Syndrome after researching it on a whim; many have off-handedly pointed to Abed, one of the shows main characters, as a young man with Asperger's.
• Harmon talks about his thinking habits and personality. In the article, it is stated: Even Harmon’s biggest supporters acknowledge his mercurial tendencies. “It’s hard, because he’s really passionate,” Community writer Megan Ganz says. “He cares about his work in a way that he doesn’t necessarily care about other people.”

Excerpt: The Secret Lives of People in Love

'When I watch people line up at the check-in desks [at the airport], I sometimes try and make eye contact with children so when I pray to allay their fears [of flying], I can see the pools of their eyes and then drop my prayers into them like coins being dropped into a well.'
--From the short story, The Shepherd on the Rock, in Simon Van Booy's book

After reading this, I thought it was one of the most darling images I'd read in a while. I reread the sentence a few times. It brought back childhood memories of throwing a penny into a fountain, the high-pitched 'plink' as it hit the water, and the coin's slow descent to the floor. As I felt it leave my fingertips, the weight disappeared as suddenly and impressively as if I had just released a bird from my own hands.

Back to the story--tossing positive thought pennies into the wells of children's eyes? I love it.

Book: The Secret Lives of People in Love

Recently, I revisited a book that I had only partway finished. It was Simon Van Booy's The Secret Lives of People in Love, which is a collection of short stories.

Last night, I read 'Distant Ships,' and I found a few things that Van Booy wrote to be particularly meaningful.

In a child's handwriting, language is exposed as the pained and crooked medium it really is.

• What an interesting and accurate description Van Booy came up with! I loved this statement on two accounts. First, the image of childhood handwriting and the rough texture of crayon immediately came to my mind, and for some reason (most likely nostalgia) it made me happy. Second, Van Booy got me thinking about the nature of language. Because it is almost impossible to find the right combination of words that express a sentiment precisely, language is in fact a 'pained medium.' However, I found it funny that Van Booy's (seemingly easy) proficiency with words was used to express just how difficult writing is. In fact, his entire collection of stories contains literary 'moments' that just make me pause and sigh--how can one writer express things that I believe I have felt all along, but just could never express myself? I think this gets to the heart of what all my favorite writers have in common. They write things that I, upon reading, go, "Why didn't I think of that?" They master words in a way that I don't think I ever will. They can voice thoughts and ideas with a clarity that I envy. 

My mother slipped on some ice and broke her hip, then without any warning she died in the hospital. It was like the closing of a book I never thought could end.

• When I read this, my first thought was, 'What an elegant way of expressing every child's fear.' (Even after we become adults, we are still our parents' children). For most, parents are one of the few things that are constant in our worlds. Life without them is almost unfathomable. My second thought was less of a thought and more of a feeling. I felt sad. Sad about the fact that my parents, just as every individual, would eventually reach the last Decembers of their lives. 

In this village with its damp shoes and Sunday hymns, you are old the moment someone you love dies. 

• This sentence carried a similar sadness about death and losing loved ones. I think that the act of losing a loved one is worse than having a lost loved one. The absence created by death is violently sudden, whereas the existence of a deceased loved one leaves one with a duller but constant heartache.

Sometimes when I read old chapters [the narrator referring to a journal-like work], I am suddenly in the midst of how things were--it's like being on a theater set that someone has built of your life. Memory is like life but with actors.

• Immediately out of pure association, I thought of Shakespeare's 'All the world's a stage' line. This statement by Van Booy taps into a similar train of thought--one based on the fact that actors are exactly what their name implies. They are not actually the characters they play, but simply interpret what the author or playwright has written about a character. Just as actors mostly resemble their characters, memories mostly, but not completely, represent reality. Our recollections of the past may, for the most part, tell the truth, but the fine details slowly disappear, just as the textures of rock are lost to beating tides.

I wake up to rain tapping on the window like a hundred Welsh mothers. 

• This line just makes me want to smile and giggle (and I do!). The image of a hundred Welsh mothers (Welsh? That modifier is totally unnecessary. All mothers are like that. Especially mine!) with their faces up against a window, decorated with furrowed eyebrows and wrinkled foreheads, simply delights me. 

Isn't it interesting how we use the verb 'compose' for both music and sentences? Yes, everyone knows that people compose music. But, we also compose sentences! Remember back in grade school when you took a read and writing composition class? I think it is no coincidence that the two share this verb. Both writing and music have the potential to be viscerally powerful, and only a select few can arrange the notes or words in a way that evokes that beauty. 

And so I urge you all to read. You don't have to pick something up with the intention of finishing. Read. Read until you find something you like. Even if you don't finish something, at least you better understand what your likes and dislikes are. Read until you find your literary niche--books that you are comfortable reading, and books that you enjoy reading. If want to challenge yourself, read something not typically found in your library. 

We only have one life to live (no, I would not like to discuss the afterlife, etc.), and writing allows you to experience ideas and thoughts that you may never have the chance of encountering. So read. Read...and live!