Re-birthing
Soul searching is quite the process, fellow Gluemeaties. Looking back on who you are, what you’ve done, and what will be next; it’s quite daunting. At times it’s frustrating. Sometimes it’s bittersweet, and on occasion it’s rather gratifying. But it’s always hopeful.
Thus, I hope this will be the best step Gluemeat can take.
I have to admit that back in March, I was beginning to feel tapped from doing Gluemeat. It was the first time I had felt that since I started in November 2001. It’s not because it was a draining process or because there was some kind of uncompromising pressure. I just felt tapped, like Gluemeat had run its course. Dare I say it: it had stopped being fun.
Anyone who has ever read the comic knows that I have always said I would stop doing Gluemeat the day it would stop being fun. I felt like that day had arrived. However, I couldn’t bring myself to ending it. It was almost like that family pet you can’t bring yourself to put to sleep despite the suffering in its old age. Although the spark was gone, I couldn’t bring myself to pulling the plug out of something I had poured so much of myself into and had shared an important fraction of life with.
So the simple realisation was this: I’m not done with it yet. I haven’t pulled off everything I could. I’ve barely scratched the surface. And the way technologies and accessibility have become since I started browsing the web almost twelve years ago, there’s even more to try.
That’s the new motto of Gluemeat: “Try.” Try to create and conceive new ideas, new experiments. No, it won’t be all about the comic anymore. It will be one part blog, one part creative outlet. Some would call this a tumblelog. I call it a more personal extension of myself.
Is the comic dead? Hardly, but I’m hoping that it won’t be the sole source of fun to be had on Gluemeat, for you and myself.
Next: online identities and the fatigue who loves them.
Welcome back Case. You’ve been missed. I look forward to the new gluemeat and all that it could bring.
~Salena
Glad to see you aren’t dead.
Good to see you’re back
Why does my FFx not like the reply script you’ve got? I can only comment through IE.
[…] So yesterday I talked about the re-birth of Gluemeat in its new form and functions. But what good is a re-birth if there isn’t a re-baptism? As in a name change? No, I’m not changing the Gluemeat monicker. That’s one which is sticking around. I changed the logo, which is enough dicking around with the name (I like the new logo; what do you think?) Actually, fellow Gluemeaties, what this re-baptism is all about is quite simple. Simple, yet shocking. Yes, it’s time you were all made aware of the the terrible, horrible truth: Case Yorke is an assumed name. A pseudonym, if you will. It was something I came up with back when I started Aren’t We Real to protect my identity. Unfortunately, it sounds much more exciting than it actually was: my employer at the time was very keen on the online activities of his underlings. A couple of co-workers had been reprimanded for their shortcomings in the “idea” department because he found they spent too much time on discussion forums. Oh no, it wasn’t because they were goofing off online from their workstations and gobbling up company time with their tomfoolery; he just figured that the spare time they were using at home to go on the internet could be put to better use by thinking up new creative concepts for the company to run better. […]
Salena and Gunnar: Thanks to you both for the nice words. In fact, it\’s actually even nicer to see all you people are still around. That really is the kicker.
Jan: Good to see you too, buddy. The Firefox bug puzzles me, because I have tested this stuff on IE and Firefox, both on Macs and PCs. Are you running the latest Firefox release?
Odd. Works fine now in Firefox. Haven’t changed my config at all.
At any rate, I think I’d have been able to live with having to use IE for commenting. I’m just glad you’re back =)
What was that comment on the shoutboard about? (”I hate all my fans (you). Please don’t come back. -Case”)
Man, I can’t believe I overlooked this. I was thinking, “Man, this Mike guy sure looks a lot like Case.”
I feel like I’m at the end of a Scooby Doo cartoon, and Case/Mike just removed a mask. Only we go up and take off another mask, then another, then another, until we learn the horrible, horrible truth:
Gluemeat is a product of the twisted mind of Barbara Walters.
So if you don’t mind, Mike, I think I’ll call you “Babs” from now on.
Incidentally, I have a confession as well. My name isn’t really Sev.
It’s Severn.
Jan: I don\’t know about that comment, I didn\’t see it. But thanks, I\’m glad to be back as well.
Sev: You can be the Star Jones to my Barbara Walters, if you\’re inclined. Or should I call you… \”SEVERN.\”
Case…Mike…Case…Mike… First you leave me in want for an extended period of time, then I had to continuously read comments of what happened to you. You hate your fans, your house burned down - either actually or symbollically, etc. While I’m glad you are back I have decided to blame my lack of Gluemeat for so long on Radiohead. What did they do to you?! Mike, the artist formally known as Case, what did they do to you?! DAMN YOU RADIOHEAD! DAMN YOU!
I apologize for that outburst. Glad you’re back. And great clip…I enjoy.
Thanks Salena. Just don’t go so hard on Radiohead. It’s not my fault they INSISTED on me jumping on the tour bus with them for a couple of weeks. They were very nice. Thom is quite accomodating and shared much knowledge about stock options. Johnny smells like wet onion paper.
mmm…wet onion paper…
at least he only smells like wet onion paper, Colin is wet onion paper.
That was insensitive, TN. You should apolologize.
I’m sorry wet onion paper. I didn’t mean to associate your name with an average bass player who happens to be the brother of a very talented musician and thus gets to be a member of one of the greatest bands of the past 20 years.
[…] Tasteful Future was a subsite to Gluemeat; it was my blog, actually, where I waxed political about all sorts of really great and magnificent things, while Gluemeat was the outlet with which I put my comic venture into existence. I kept both separate and found it exhausting, especially maintaining a purely politically-minded blog. I had stopped updating TF for a while too. It had all become very tedious. So I came to a decision: shut down Tasteful Future and merge the blog with the main Gluemeat site. Keep doing silly creative stuff. Blog about whatever you want. And that’s been the course for the past few weeks since I went through with the change. I’ve even blogged about the changes here and here. So that left my inclusion in the Progressive Bloggers camp. How would the moderators enjoy having a website which isn’t 100% politics on their doorstep? […]
Hey, I’m an platter man. breathe me some respect. I became the most loved and the most despised slam in my unit.