Conspiracy Website Updates: Feeding Frenzy

News, Useful Information

I’ve been doing some updates to the site and adding some new features today. If you’re reading this on the site, and not in a newsreader, you can see we now have a handy bunch of site navigation on the right hand side of the page, which hopefully will make it easier for people to find what they are looking for.

Four of the links are to some new feeds we’ve added to the site:

CONSPIRE! CONSPIRACY NEWS (subscribe)

This is a feed that mixes this blog with some other conspiracy blogs, such as the just-joined-today North Carolina Webcomics Coffee Clatch, 7000 BC, and The Comic Creators Network of Kansas City’s the Kansas City Comics Scene Blog. If your cell has a blog they want added to this feed, let me know and I’ll add it. Additionally, this feed will include items I find elsewhere that seem appropriate (which is true of all the new feeds).

CONSPIRE! CONSPIRATORS (subscribe)

This is a feed mixing various conspirators feeds… any conspirator who has a feed can be added to (or removed from) this feed who wants to be… just contact me and I’ll set it up.

CONSPIRE! CARTOONING LESSONS (subscribe)

This is a feed of various posts from various feeds around the web that aim to teach something to cartoonists, animators, self-publishers, etc.

CONSPIRE! COMICS NEWS (subscribe)

This is a feed of feeds from various comics news and opinion feeds… unlike the lessons feed, it is not edited by me… it includes all of the info coming in from these news sites. If you would like your comics news feed added to this feed (or removed from it), let me know and I’ll take care of it.

All of these feeds will be updating all the time… if you’re interested, I highly recommend using a newsreader to subscribe to them. I use Google Reader, and it is an excellent one (and it lets you access it from any computer with an internet connection).

Stwalley’s New Blog

comics, hype, Useful Information

I’ve altered my personal website at Stwallskull.com to be a blog. You can subscribe to it here, if you’re inclined. It will talk a lot about comics and cartooning, as well as a multitude of other topics that interest me (old music, weirdness, animation, technology, etc, etc, etc).

In addition to the mail feed on the site, there is a feed on the right side of the page that is also “Stwallskull’s Interesting Links” a very frequently updated list of choice articles that I run across on the web on a wide variety of topics of interest, including, of course, comics and cartooning. You can subscribe to that here.

Dreamhaven Robbed, Needs Help

Minneapolis

Neil Gaiman recently posted that excellent Minneapolis comics and book store Dreamhaven Books was recently robbed, and is having serious financial troubles. This is a great time to go hit their amazing discounted graphic novel bins…

“We had a break-in on Saturday night. They got a bit of cash but wreaked terrible havoc on the store and my office. Damages will be costly but insurance should cover a lot of it. But after the lull in current business, this really will hurt. I don’t like charity but if you could encourage people to maybe buy an extra book off us soon, it may help. Three bookstores have closed in the Twin Cities in the past two months and I don’t want to make it four.” – Dreamhaven owner Greg Ketter

You can find them online at www.dreamhavenbooks.com. Their current catalogues are up there, for new and for used stuff. There’s cool new stuff. There’s stuff on sale.

Sat. Open Studio, Feb. 17, noon-4 p.m.

Events, Minneapolis

Saturday Open Studio
It’s danged cold outside edition

Sat., Feb. 17, noon-4 p.m. MCBA

We’ll be somewhere in the Book Arts Building. If you don’t see us right away, ask the friendly person working in the bookstore.

This is open studio time for all cartoonists, so come and hang out and draw. There’s plenty of room for everyone.

(During this session Stwalley may be try to convice you to draw 12 pages a month for a year. But you don’t have to agree to that in order to attend the Sat. Open Studio.)

Minnesota Center for Book Arts
(Just down the street from Big Brain Comics)
1011 Washington Ave S, Suite 100
Minneapolis, MN 55415
Phone: 612-215-2520

Future Sat. Open Studio dates:

March 17

April 21

RICE JAM – Tonight! (And we don’t mean jelly.)

Events, Jam Comics

The Rice Cartoonist Conspiracy is back in business at their new location and time from 7:00 -9:00 pm at the Rice Print Shop art gallery in the 2nd floor of 310 Division St S, in Rice, MN. We are somewhere between St. Cloud and Little Falls, not too far from Highway 10.

We usually jam, exchange or purchase comic books from each other, chat about everything under the sun, plot road trips to Minneapolis, drink caffeine-filled goodness, and order something YUMMY from the Creamery or Twin Pines for delivery paid for by VAS Littlecrow. Art supplies are available for those who lack them, but for maximum joy, bring your favorite implements of destruction.

We would like to announce the official opening of the Central, MN Branch of the Cartoonist Conspiracy library. We are always accepting donations of indie and manstream comic books of all sorts, and we have a ton of cool comics to share with the masses.

Free food, free coffee and stuff to draw with. Call our weekend line at 320-492-0475 for directions or visit the Rice Print Shop website. Hope to see you there!

February 7000 BC Meeting

7000 BC, Events

Sunday, February 11 | Noon | North Fourth Art Center | Albuquerque, NM

7000 BC’s monthly meeting will be in Albuquerque at North Fourth at 4904 Fourth Street NW (map here). We’re going to spend some time looking at the galleries, where we’ll be having a show later this year, and then move into the studio/classroom and work on comics. Business will likely happen around 4:30-5:00 to allow us time to head across the street to Garcia’s Kitchen for dinner.

New members are always welcome — visit the Web site or send an email for more info.

JAM TONIGHT IN MINNEAPOLIS! (February 1st)

Events, Jam Comics, Minneapolis

The Minneapolis Cartoonist Conspiracy meets at 6:30 until 10:00 the first Thursday of every month at Diamond’s Coffee Shoppe in Northeast.

Generally, we draw collaborative “jam” comics, socialize and drink caffienated beverages. Afterwords, we often have uncaffienated beverages somewhere else.

The meetings are open to anyone who wants to draw with us, and the results are posted here sooner or later (and sometimes even printed).

We’re currently seeking people interested in participating in beta testing a cartooning textbook… please consider participating! Read more about it here.

Diamond’s Coffee Shoppe
1618 Central Avenue Northeast
Minneapolis, Minnesota

Bus info here.

Please spend some money at Diamond’s while you’re there, even if it is just a cuppa coffee… they are excellent hosts, and we wanna stay welcome there.

Big Time Attic is now officially hosting our monthly jam meetings at Diamond’s… they will be supplying us with a big old plate of pastries or something each month. Thanks fellas!