It's a Good Life, If You Don't Weaken by Seth.
Title: It's a Good Life, If You Don't Weaken.
Author: Seth.
Genre: Non-fiction, graphic novel, memoir.
Country: Canada.
Language: English.
Publication Date: 1996.
Summary: Seth pays homage to the wit and sophistication of the old-fashioned magazine cartoon. While trying to understand his dissatisfaction with the present, Seth discovers the life and work of Kalo, a forgotten New Yorker cartoonist from the 1940s. But his obsession blinds him to the needs of his lover and the quiet desperation of his family. Wry self-reflection and moody colours characterize this tale about learning lessons from nostalgia.
My rating: 7/10
♥ Oh brother! What are these awful trendies doing down here? If there's one thing that gets under my skin it's these kind of phonies, spending so much time and energy trying to be "different" - walking around announcing that their favourite band is Abba or AC/DC or something equally stupid just to get a jump on everyone else on the anti-fashion bandwagon. How can they even stand talking to each other? I'd rather listen to some social misfit discuss his bottle-cap collection - at least that's honest.
Oh, who am I kidding? I'm no better than them. Jesus, I'm the biggest phoney of all. A couple of years ago I'd probably be best buddies with that hateful couple. Why do I dislike these types so much? Maybe it's because they're happy walking around pretending - and I'm not.
♥ It's odd... even though I lived in there for at least 5 years, this house has nothing to do with me. I can look at it and see that it hasn't changed much. In fact, it looks pretty much the same as the last time I saw it. But still... it's not the house I lived in. That house is gone - a thing of the past. That house only exists inside me now.
Often, when you return to a place you knew only as a child, you discover how empty and unfamiliar that place has become. I don't know anything here. What I knew was how the grass looked between the curb and the sidewalk... or which tree in the backyard had the hornet's nest... or where the big puddle always formed after a rain.
♥ Look how pretty that old building looks against the night sky. It's funny. There's something in the decay of old things that provokes an evocative sadness for the vanished past. If those buildings were perfectly preserved it wouldn't be the same. It's the difference between a dilapidated old farmhouse and a pristine deco hotel lobby. Somehow that lobby doesn't convince you of the reality or the beauty of yesterday. I'd hate to think that my belief in the superiority of the past was really just a misplaced, over-rationalized, aesthetic choice. No, forget I said that. Things are obviously getting worse every year.