Random Acts of Creativity
The Southern Branch Web Cartoon
Shortly after my layoff from The Daily News in 2010, I collaborated with Braintree Studios to develop a web cartoon. Aaron Morse, the brain behind Braintree Studios, had a loose concept for an adult cartoon he wanted to make and asked me to help him flesh it out (create a show bible) and write a pilot script. While looking for a new job and worrying about paying the mortgage on a condo I had purchased shortly before my layoff, I began working on the idea that would become The Southern Branch. Aaron’s initial idea—“What if a witty but unambitious nerd-culture-obsessed layabout found himself acting as the devil’s PR agent?”—became a fully fleshed-out concept with a cast of unique characters, a lively world, and an interesting story with enough occult references and esoterica to choke an Aleister Crowley acolyte.
Shortly after my layoff from The Daily News in 2010, I collaborated with Braintree Studios to develop a web cartoon. Aaron Morse, the brain behind Braintree Studios, had a loose concept for an adult cartoon he wanted to make and asked me to help him flesh it out (create a show bible) and write a pilot script. While looking for a new job and worrying about paying the mortgage on a condo I had purchased shortly before my layoff, I began working on the idea that would become The Southern Branch. Aaron’s initial idea—“What if a witty but unambitious nerd-culture-obsessed layabout found himself acting as the devil’s PR agent?”—became a fully fleshed-out concept with a cast of unique characters, a lively world, and an interesting story with enough occult references and esoterica to choke an Aleister Crowley acolyte.
Memes
I’m a big fan of memes. Perhaps it’s because they remind me a bit of old offbeat comic strips such as Gary Larson’s The Far Side and Max Cannon’s Red Meat. I appreciate memes’ ability to tell a story or convey a complex idea in a small space (often a single panel). I also think memes can see highly effective use in delivering advertising messages to specific audiences—Gen Zers, for example. Indeed, nearly everything I know about Gen Z culture comes from my work as an amateur meme researcher. I even make my own memes from time to time.
