Whose mind is it anyway?

Discuss Scott McCloud's current online comic project. Be sure to check out <a href="http://www.scottmccloud.com/comics/mi/mi.html">the latest improv</a>!

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Connor Moran
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Post by Connor Moran »

This is not what you're talking about, but a non-serious example of this kind of translator is the Dialectizer at www.rinkworks.com, which can be found at http://www.rinkworks.com/dialect/. It cun be-a keend ooff foonny et teemes. Um gesh dee bork, bork! (the previous sentence has been translated into sweedish chef dialect)
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Re: Her accent

Post by Rip Tanion »

Oh, how it breaks my heart to see a grown women sobb and cry.
spinclad wrote:I'd place her home ground somewhere in or near Philadelphia
If she's from Phillie, then she'd probably pronounce her long I's funny, especially when coupled with a T at the end. My cousins grew up in Orange Co., NY (home of American Chopper), not that far from the Penn and Jersey borders, and they sort of do the same thing.

Something like..."It's noight, so turn on the loight", though pehaps not as extreme as it's written.
"Park the beers, and grab the smiles. It's flight time." - LtCdr. J. Robert "Bobby" Stone, USN (R.I.P.)
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I'm loving this

Post by josner »

Scott, if you're reading this, I just wanted to let you know I am really enjoying "Whose Mind is it Anyway?" -- I don't think I've seen you treat two characters so intimately and sympathetically in the Morning Improv before. I am hoping this strip goes on for a little while. Only complaint is the accents which as others have pointed out here, are a bit over the top.
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Re: I'm loving this

Post by kaos_de_moria »

josner wrote:Scott, if you're reading this, I just wanted to let you know I am really enjoying "Whose Mind is it Anyway?" -- I don't think I've seen you treat two characters so intimately and sympathetically in the Morning Improv before. I am hoping this strip goes on for a little while. Only complaint is the accents which as others have pointed out here, are a bit over the top.
i completely agree with this. i think a roll over translation would be great. especially for not native speakers slang is difficult to decipher. but the forum solves that problem quite well.

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Post by Rip Tanion »

Me, I love da accented dialouge. Gives dem characters a real poissonality. Ya radda dey tawk good English like Ha'vid prafessas?
"Park the beers, and grab the smiles. It's flight time." - LtCdr. J. Robert "Bobby" Stone, USN (R.I.P.)
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Post by gareis »

Keep the dialect. Changing it know would look bad.

In prose, you can say, for instance, "'Unhand my beer!' he declared in a thick Scottish brogue." In comics, you only have dialogue and pictures. So you have to use defaced English to express a dialect.

The beauty is in the limitations.
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Post by Chronosome »

I love the "dialects". :)
-R o n A m o r i M
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Post by indigo »

And here I was hoping that the voices in their respective heads were the Same Character, working to get these two star-crossed kids together.

*sigh*
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Post by Bumblejumper »

I'll be very sad if this ends violently.
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Post by gareis »

In the words of Joel Hodgson, "This is not a snuff film."
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Post by Rip Tanion »

Bumblejumper wrote:I'll be very sad if this ends violently.
Ah, don't be so squeemish. I'm hoping for a little action here.

Question is which one (or two) is more dangerous. Donut girl looks harmless enough; but looks can be deceiving. I wouldn't be surprised if she's got a weapon in that bag. Hell, she looks pretty gaunt. Maybe she's really a flesh eating zombie.
"Park the beers, and grab the smiles. It's flight time." - LtCdr. J. Robert "Bobby" Stone, USN (R.I.P.)
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Post by Eric F Myers »

Rip Tanion wrote:Donut girl looks harmless enough; but looks can be deceiving. I wouldn't be surprised if she's got a weapon in that bag. Hell, she looks pretty gaunt.
That's been my thought all along. The story has been interesting so far, but nothing has really happened yet. That donut bag has something in it, and it's not made from flour. A shocking, and maybe violent, end is comming. But it won't be him that strikes, it'll be her.
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Post by Rip Tanion »

Heh! I gotta admit that the "flesh-eating zombie" idea came into my head after reading E.F.M.'s unfinished comic.
"Park the beers, and grab the smiles. It's flight time." - LtCdr. J. Robert "Bobby" Stone, USN (R.I.P.)
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Post by Bumblejumper »

It's not so much that I'm squeamish, I just really like these characters I don't want to see them beat on each other.

I've been figuring that the donut bag has someone's mind in it. But I don't know if it's his or hers--and I bet she doesn't know either. So whose mind is it anyway?
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Post by Rip Tanion »

Mr. Shoppingcart wrote:Yoahway? HAH! You couldn't last ten minutes without me!
You think Scott has been watching Two Towers again?
Bumblejumper wrote:It's not so much that I'm squeamish,
I didn't think you were. I was just messin' with ya.
Bumblejumper wrote:I just really like these characters I don't want to see them beat on each other.
Why not? It would be fun. Who doesn't like cartoon violence?
Bumblejumper wrote:I've been figuring that the donut bag has someone's mind in it.
You speaking figuratively, or do you think there's literally a brain in there? If it's the latter, it definatly proves you ain't squeamish. :wink:

Actually, if we've got a brain in the bag, and my previous theory of a body in the sack in the cart is correct, then we have a potential Frankenstien thing going. Since we're in Massachusetts, they can build a John Franken Kerry. :P (Hey, I don't care who you support for President - you gotta admit the Senator looks like Herman Munster. All he's missing are the bolts in his neck. I'm surprised he doesn't have Grampa Al Lewis with him on the campaign trail.)
"Park the beers, and grab the smiles. It's flight time." - LtCdr. J. Robert "Bobby" Stone, USN (R.I.P.)
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Post by Eric F Myers »

Bumblejumper wrote:It's not so much that I'm squeamish, I just really like these characters I don't want to see them beat on each other.
All the more reason for it to turn ugly. Who cares about two parties commenting acts of horror, unless you have someone to root for. The best confrontations happen when you care about the outcome.

Rip, I'm happy that I could bring you some inspiration.
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donuts and gollum

Post by kaos_de_moria »

Rip Tanion wrote:
Mr. Shoppingcart wrote:Yoahway? HAH! You couldn't last ten minutes without me!
You think Scott has been watching Two Towers again?
exactly what i thaught and eventhough i really like the two characters and the gollum link was obvious from the beginning, this citation (or adaptation) of gollums words give me some kind of a bad vibe. i don't feel it to fit very well. but i guess it depends on the rest of the story.

if it is really a modern gollum he brings her to the bridge and kill he for the pricousss donutsss... one donut to find the all, one donut to rule them all...

kaos
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right

Post by kaos_de_moria »

gareis wrote:In prose, you can say, for instance, "'Unhand my beer!' he declared in a thick Scottish brogue." In comics, you only have dialogue and pictures. So you have to use defaced English to express a dialect.

The beauty is in the limitations.
i agree with this. of course using dialect for speech bubbles does make sense. besides it is not an unknown phenomenon in literature either. you can find it in modern children books like harry potter or in old classics from german literature like the books of jeremias gotthelf who used swiss german for all direct speech of his characters. but the problem with gotthelf is the same as the problem with scotts comic, for non native speakers the reading experience gets rather difficult and more so, if the dialect is strong. for gotthelf this was not that much of a problem, because in the first half of the nineteenth century he would address mostly native speakers. here we talk about an internet comic which automatically is addressing as well non native speakers, which i part of their beauty.

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Post by DecafSilicon »

The comic "Cerebus" uses (used?) foreign accents recognizable as German, Southern American, and so on, although the setting is a fantasy world with fictional nations. It gives the whole thing a cleverly realistic effect.
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re: Cerebus

Post by kaos_de_moria »

DecafSilicon wrote:The comic "Cerebus" uses (used?) foreign accents recognizable as German, Southern American, and so on, although the setting is a fantasy world with fictional nations. It gives the whole thing a cleverly realistic effect.
just did a quick web search. i have seen the characters af Cerebus before, but i never had the chance of actually read a volume of the comic itself. can you recommend it? which age group does it address?

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Post by Greg Stephens »

Re: Cerebus

You're likely to see a lot of discussion of Cerebus online in the next couple months, since it's finally reached its 300th and final issue this month. If you've never read any, then you may wish to try the "High Society" volume (book 2). That's the one that most people recommend starting with, as it's easily the most popular, but keep in mind that the books change style and subject matter radically over its run. What age group is Cerebus for? Probably adults, but I think teens could enjoy it as well. For more info, one of the best sites is Cerebus Fangirl.
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Post by Guest »

Being the beginning to end type of reader I am I'd definately start with Cerebus v.1, but I do agree with Greg that High Society is a good place to start if you want to immediately get into a more sophisticated narrative, but volume 1 will always have a softspot in my heart.
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Post by Kris Lachowski »

dernit the above was me I don't know what happened
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Cerebus

Post by GlenSS »

I strongly suggest reading Cerebus from the beginning. There are a lot of backward references you aren't going to get if you don't start at the beginning.
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