June | 2019 | Mike Nobody

Last year was the 30th anniversary of the British comic book Tank Girl. There wasn’t much mention of it in the press, that I remember. It is a classic cult comic. So, why not? Admittedly, the 1995 movie stunk.

It only made $6 million against a $25 million budget. That is an apt metaphor for the post-Nirvanamania alternative craze of the 1990’s. Mega-corporations foolishly believed that they could reproduce “the next Nirvana” by slapping “grunge” or “alternative” on everything. They bought up hundreds of independent labels and signed artists left and right, regardless of any talent or experience they may possess. It doesn’t work like that. Mostly, they failed spectacularly.

But, nonetheless, I liked the idea of adapting this comic into a movie. Comic book movies are HUGE now, compared to the 1990’s. Can’t somebody else give it ago? Hey Hollywood, throw some money my way! I’ll do it!

One thing that I actually LIKED about the original movie was the animated sequences. So, firstly, animate the entire thing. Co-creator Jamie Hewlett went on to form the virtual band Gorillaz. It would be a natural fit for him to direct. And don’t wimp out with a PG version. Go for a solid R-rating. It could be badass as Heavy Metal (1981).

Second, it needs better casting. Lori Petty? Blecchh! Stay true to the source material and get an Australian cast. This takes place in a post-apocalyptic Australia. Maybe include a few Brits or Americans in certain roles. But, c’mon, Ice-T as a kangaroo? Are you shitting me? Eddie Izzard plays a great villain. Get him. I kinda liked that the fascist water company ruled everything in the original. Keep that. Put Eddie in charge. Make him a middle management Darth Vader for a multi-national monopoly.

The original soundtrack had a few good tunes. I could see staying with that sort of tone; punk rock, hip-hop, metal, indie pop, etc. Courtney Love chose songs for the original. Get Quentin Tarantino’s music supervisor to do the reboot.

If Hollywood insists on bombarding us with reboots, don’t ruin perfectly good movies PLEASE! Reboot movies that had a good premise, but were shit produced, and fix them. There is no shortage of them. Comic book movies are BIG now. So, it isn’t even much of a gamble anymore. I bet that any independent studio could do a decent job of it with a small budget. Jamie Hewlett’s success with the Gorillaz could almost guarantee a bigger budget with a few well-known actors. Someone make this happen!

I was going to shoot a video for this. But, my painting isn’t finished and I’m waiting for proofs of the zine to come back from the printer. So, I can’t show a finished copy. But, I do want a vlog to be a regular part of these blogs. I have a pretty good setup for it now. Maybe later, eh?

Anyway, I have been in constant pain for the past two months, with acute tendonitis in my right hand. Been wearing a wrist brace and gobbling ibuprofen all day. From what I have read online it can take six weeks to six months to heal. Shit.

Nonetheless, I’ve made incremental progress on my work. The seasons move faster than I do, though. I’ve been stuck on one song for awhile. Keeping a friend’s advice in mind, to do ONE THING at a time, I haven’t abandoned it or moved on to anything else, yet. I haven’t thrown out anything in awhile, so maybe that is a little improvement? Lots of things are 1/2 done or 1/3 done. Not enough is totally DONE done, though. Motivational videos and encouragement from friends helps. I try not to be so negative all of the time. Devi Ever once called me “Negative Mike”.

Having some organization keeps everything going. The less you have to think about it, the better. Planning a schedule of some sort at least tells me when something SHOULD be done (not that I can always stick to it). I don’t want to say what I am GOING to do, though. It is better to just show whatever I do when it is done.

“Have more than you show, speak less than you know.” –
William Shakespeare

The first issue of Theee Urban SpaceCat cassette-zine is FINALLY done! Is it worth the long wait? I rearranged some pieces that I had spread out over other projects to get it finished. “Done is BETTER than perfect, because perfect never gets done”, I guess. So, it really isn’t turning out like what I originally had in mind. The zine has been pathetically overdue, on a Chinese Democracy level, intended to be released every 3-4 months, not 4-5 YEARS! This is largely my own fault, not entirely, but mostly – it is. Financial and personal obstacles have contributed to endless delays and setbacks. I also keep procrastinating and shooting myself in the foot. Such as you do with mental heath problems. Theee Urban SpaceCat #2 won’t take as long to finish because the next several issues are at least partially completed already.

Because money is always tight I am publishing all issues digitally first, and will get physical copies ready to go when I have money for printing & duplication. I’m making stickers, cards, buttons, and other goodies to go inside the zines. These are also available to my supporters on Patreon.

Ideally, I would like to have X amount of material completed by each week / month / quarter. A certain percentage goes to Patreon supporters. Another percentage goes to Theee Urban SpaceCat, Island of Misfit Noise, and whatever other projects. I don’t have the money to produce a full album in a studio. But, maybe I could periodically release 7″ vinyl singles. Gradually, I could do that until there is enough recorded for an album! Now that I have my tax ID and a business account at the bank, I am setting aside a tiny budget for all of my projects. It isn’t enough to do everything at once. But, at least I can get a little bit done while I build up my resources. If I’m lucky, I can attract the interest of some small labels to front me enough money to get more stuff done sooner.

Some folks over at Electronic Cottage have shown interest in collaborating with me on the next Island of Misfit Noise album. Time permitting, I will have made enough progress on the IOMN movie to get it out this Fall. I have lots of other ideas still cooking on the back-burner. Hopefully, I can get them going a lot faster than I have been doing so far.

Here is some music from my collection. MarshaKat got me into this when we were together. So, blame her.