A List of "Flavorite" Comics Stores

Jonathan Westoff shouted out Quimby's in this recent post. Check out Quimby's -- and Flavorwire's other 9 favorites -- HERE.

GoDaddy Shoots First, Asks Questions Later; Ignores Responses.

The headline says it all. Main site down due to bullcrap.

At about 3:30, site went live again. That's about six hours down for no good reason. I do appreciate that the reviewers took less than the 36 hours the customer service rep said they would.

Shedding a Tiny Bit of Light on the Mysterious Trader Joe's

Almost a year ago now, OO talked to Carl Willat about the awesome unsolicited commercial he made on behalf of Trader Joe's, and a few of the other "TJ's as a cultural phenomenon" standard-bearers.

Recently, Fortune Magazine covered some of the more business-oriented aspects of our favorite, and notoriously tight-lipped, grocery store. Check it out!

Adam WarRock's new version of 'Ira Glass'

Eugene Ahn, a.k.a. "geek emcee" Adam WarRock, has just released a new version of "Ira Glass," his collaboration with Ruckus Roboticus that is an ode of sorts to the NPR radio personality of that name.

Check out the entry on the Adam WarRock Web site, where you can hear the track and purchase it for a mere buck.

If you missed our interview with Ahn, check it out here to find out what the scoop on Adam WarRock and his alter ego is all about.

RIP Harvey Pekar

Harvey Pekar has passed at the age of 70. One of the unique personalities and storytellers we've seen. For more info, go here. UPDATE: Or go here. Cuz I wrote that one.

Stevia Sweetened Soda Follow-up

Today, I happened to try this, the Cherry Vanilla Creme version of Blue Sky Free, the stevia-sweetened line from Blue Sky.




It's only fair to follow up on the original article, given the very small sample size.

While this flavor definitely has the characteristic more-muted sweetness of the stevia/sugar alcohol combination, the bright, slightly tart cherry finish seems to totally mask the stevia's potential "winter green paste" effect.

So, at least for today, I'll informally crown Blue Sky Free Cherry Vanilla Creme as the king of naturally sweetened, sugar-free sodas, and formally recommend it.

Hey. We Scooped the Atlantic

I can't believe a few days after I posted my semi-rant photo essay about mulberries, the Atlantic Monthly food blog had to weigh in.
I feel so wronged! (j/k)

Let's compare:

Osmosis' opening line: "My driveway is covered in purple bird shit."
Ultimate solution: Make mulberry vodka

Atlantic's opening line: "Mulberries. Until recently, a mere mention this tree would get me going. I hate mulberry trees. They'll conquer your yard and are nearly impossible to kill. "

Solution: sorbet; panna cotta

Nice piece, Atlantic, but please excuse our vain proclamation: O.O. FOR THE WIN!

One, two, three, I vant to suck your blood

Friend of O.O. Zee Burns wrote this fun piece on Metacritic which ranks vampire shows and offers some commentary. One photo, the Count, indicates that Sesame Street isn't in the running despite the number-obsessed little bloodsucker.

Despite this egregious oversight, this is quite an enjoyable feature. Personally, number four, Angel, is my number one, and number three, True Blood, would come next (though I've only seen season one).

Hamblogger -- a new site we can appreciate

Photojournalism + burgers. Sounds promising. Check it out: http://thehamblogger.com/

666 episodes of Coverville? This calls for a theme show!

One of my favorite podcasts, Coverville -- the cover-song centric, always entertaining music show -- has reached episode 666! Brion Ibbot, host of the show (who spoke with O.O. for this article a few months ago) writes on Coverville.com:

Coverville 666: The Devil Went Down To Coverville
Really, what else could I do for episode 666? You’ll hear songs that reference all things underworldly, and a Rolling Stones cover that will shake you to your very foundations. Maybe.

Sure to be a must-listen -- check it out here, and come back often (or subscribe) if you like what you hear. (Also kinda goes with our new Web Comic, Apocalypse Meh!)

Scott Belcastro posts more art -- have a look!

Scott Belcastro, whose eerily beautiful art was featured by our very own Matt Graves a few weeks ago, has let Mr. Graves and other fans in on a little secret: five more paintings for your perusal over at his site.

I'm especially fond of "At an Immaculate Decimal."

Check 'em out.

More coffee news: $13 Coffee with Jay Caragay

Mr. Jay Caragay, whom we recently interviewed, was cited in a piece on CNN today concerning the, erm, aspirational value of certain cups of coffee.

Aside from the headline, which is just silly (though I suppose we at O.O. shouldn't be throwing headline stones), I thought it was very fair, mainstream coffee coverage. As with comics, another favored topic around here, the world of specialty coffee often gets dumbed down or stupidified in the hands of the mainstream media. So this is a nice little piece.

Creating a Ghost

Matt Graves, our multi-talented photo dude, has revealed on his own blog the manner in which he created his recent "Ghosts" photo series, which we posted on the main site last week.

The nut quote:

I went about this by shooting white styrofoam balls of varying sizes on white corrugated paper next to a large window facing west. I shot as the sun was setting so the light was coming directly through the window, which created sharp shadows from the styrofoam. That is where I concentrated my shooting, on the shadows, the "nothing in between" area.

For the rest of the story, check out Matt's blog.

Jayelle Hudson Featured at Juxtapoz

The discriminating eyes over at Juxtapoz have become hip to Jayelle Hudson, an artist that we featured last September here.

(Reminder: you can meet all of OO's featured artists on this dedicated page)

Juxtapoz's piece gets a little more in depth with Hudson, who explains some of the sensibilities behind her designs. Check it out . . . now!

Secret Origins

Some PR lady approached me the other day with an offer to join her database of blogs*, so that both content providers and product peddlers could join up for corporate interests.

Hmmm. Not really our thing. But my response to her sort of encapsulated my thoughts on O.O.:

"We cover pretty much anything our writers find interesting, from food and pop culture to literature, small business, art, photography, politics, and even sports from time to time. We function on a policy-based approach, not a content-based one . . . the policy being: if you give a sh*t, write about it. Our goal is to create content with personal resonance from the writer that will add weight to the story for the reader. . . . [and thus her service wasn't really in our bailiwick]"

Osmosis Online is mostly an effort to see what you might accomplish by banding together with people you find intriguing and talented to share your collective sensibilities with a larger audience. Not just the writers, but folks like the ultra-talented Charlene Tiedemann, who designed the logo, and the legal advice from a buddy who I would name, but I haven't cleared it with him first.

*Oh, and we're not a blog. I mean, THIS page is the O.O. blog, but we call the main site a "Web Magazine" and we're sticking to it. Blog being a mostly useless term, right, since all blog format means is publishing in a chronological top-to-bottom order . . .

Who is Mr. Silence Dogood?

One of the problems with working in politics is you can't express your true opinions. At least not to a public audience.

Enter our political insider, the pseudonymous Mr. Silence Dogood.

He chose his nom de plume based on a similar faux identity assumed by one of our nation's founding fathers. Ben Franklin = Mrs. Silence Dogood. So is Mr. Silence Dogood similarly transgendered by his (her?) pen? Or is it a trick to throw you off his/her trail?

Damned if I know.

But I like his/her stuff. Even when I don't agree.

By all accounts, it's been too busy a political environment to get any writing done, but more will be forthcoming at some point. In the meantime, Mr. Silence Dogood's contributions dominate OO's Politics Page. See what you think.

We Like People

Christopher Neseman, one of the subjects of my article on podcasting back in September ("It’s The New Dial: Popular Podcast Proprietors Talk About Talk"), recently revealed to his audience that his show "Around Comics" is being put to pasture after a rather good run. He can still be heard on other shows, including 11 O'Clock Comics, and some special projects for the gang at iFanboy.

It's a little sad for fans of the show, but it's also a good reminder that things change. As they should. The prospect of a static world is pretty frightening. But it really pounds the point home that there's a fairly limited window in which you can show your appreciation for something. I interviewed Chris and the others from that article (Peter Rojas of GDGT, Patrick Melton of NLO, Brian Ibbott of Coverville) because I dig their respective acts.

I need to credit Ken Coffelt, who recently came on board to talk movies, but has really excelled at coming through with cool interviews. It was his piece about BabyWit that prompted me to pursue the recent pieces with cartoonist Minty Lewis and entrepreneur Kristin Fraser Cotte . . . and I have a few in progress in my pocket that should be pretty great. (Here's a hint on one of them).

Add Ken's recent interviews with Jeffrey Luck Lucas and our bevvy of featured artist pieces (which, Matt tells me, has a pretty amazing entry coming soon), and maybe we're finally living up to one our original goals: to spotlight "interesting people doing interesting things."

Thanks for listening. Next up: two very different takes to Valentine's Day . . . from the same writer.

Welcome

While I've distinctly never characterized Osmosis Online as a "blog" (rather, it's a "Web Magazine"), I thought it could be a worthwhile endeavor to have an accompanying, actual blog for O.O.

So here it is.

What's the point? Well, there are a few. First, my ability to market O.O. has been severely limited, and I think from a search standpoint, and maybe "more real estate" standpoint, an accompanying blog can help get our contributors the attention they deserve (I make no such claims about my own articles, mind you. Except maybe the peeing in the pool one. Ha ha.)

I also thought it would be cool to occasionally offer some behind-the-scenes thoughts about the pieces we publish. The thought process, the internal discussions we had, etc. Like the argument Milla and I had about her very popular Sarah Palin thing. I'm not telling you who won.

In any case, I intend to "blog" in the next few days about how O.O. came to be, as well as offer some commentary on the site . . . and maybe some thoughts on other things outside of O.O.'s purview as well.

In any case, I intend to have fun writing it; if someone else enjoys it as well, all the better.