Jason's Blog, page 181

Aki Kaurismäki

I'll re-watch some Kaurismäki films, starting with I Hired A Contract Killer. Jean-Pierre Léaud, a Frenchman living in London, is fired from his job after 15 years of service. He decides to kill himself, but is not able to go through with it it and hires a contract killer to do the job. Then he meets Margaret, a flower seller.

Aki Kaurismäki is sort of a Finnish Jim Jarmusch. His characters don't talk much, but drink and smoke a lot and listen to tango music or rockabilly. His films are melancoly, but also very funny in a deadpan way. The films have a timeless quality, looking as if they could take place in the fifties or the seventies, since Kaurismäki tries hard not to put anything modern on the screen. People drive around in old cars and listen to vinyl records. There are no cell phones or laptops in his universe. And like Bresson, he doesn't allow his actors to show any emotions.

The film is at heart a love story, with Léaud re-valuing his life after he meets Margaret. There's often darkness in his films, but with some hope in the ending. The film also stars Serge Reggiani in a small role. Reggiani in his old French films, with his moustache, is almost a prototype for the Kaurismâkian hero. Joe Strummer also appears in a musical number and Kaurismäki himself has a cameo, selling Léaud a pair of sunglasses. The film has one of the funniest lines in all of film history. Léaud walks into some dump of a bar, and all conversation stops as the customers look him over. Léaud meets their stares and then proclaims, Where I come from we eat places like this for breakfast.

... and back cover.

Cover for single...

... by Norwegian band Ethnobabes.

Peanut Butter and Jeremy

This is a strip I made for James Kochalka, based on his characters, Peanut Butter and Jeremy.

A page not used...

... in Werewolves of Montpellier. It was supposed to come right after the page where Audrey and Sven get drunk, showing their hangover, but it didn't really achieve the effect I was hoping for. So I took it out and rather put back in the umbrella page that I originally had taken out, finding it a bit too cute, but then liking that and thinking it sort of could have been an outtake from Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Bubblegum cards packet

I've earlier shown the bubblegum cards I did as promotion for my comic book, Mjau Mjau, in the late 90s. I found this unopened packet. So this is what the cover looked like. Each packet consisted of five cards + a slice of gum, costing 10 Norwegian kroner. A bargain, if you ask me.

Bubblegum cards package

I've earlier shown the bubblegum cards I did as promotion for my comic book, Mjau Mjau, in the late 90s. I found this unopened package. So this is what the cover looked like. Each package consisted of five cards + a slice of gum, costing 10 Norwegian kroner. A bargain, if you ask me.

Another page...

... from the next book, Athos in America. This is a page from the sixth story, drawn with a lettering nib and colour pencil. I'm not sure how the redbrown colour pencil will affect the colouring by Hubert, if the colour will be included or if it will be scanned in black and white.
Text:
-Jack has escaped from prison, boss. He will be on his way here to get his cut of the money.
-Maybe, maybe not.
-Whose house are we burning down, boss?
-My mother's.

Character sketches

Things to do in Paris

1. Step in some dog shit
2. Fall in the Seine
3. Read A la recherche du Temps Perdu
4. Straighten all the croissants
5. Kiss a French woman
6. Punch out a French policeman
7. Run naked through the Luxembourg Gardens
8. Tear down the Eiffel Tower
9. Smoke a cigarette
10. Say "C'est la guerre..."