Stuart McMillen

I was recently invited to design a t-shirt for Brisbane-based fashion retailer Made in the Now.

The concept behind Made in the Now is ‘fast fashion’. At any given time, their website is only selling one t-shirt design, and the inspiration behind the design is a current news event. The artists typically have 4 hours (between 9:00am-1:00pm Brisbane time) in which to complete designs, choosing to a shortlist of news articles which Facebook users vote on. Once the concepts are made public at 2:00pm, users have 24 hours in which to purchase t-shirt designs before they are retired from the website. An archive of their past designs is currently on their Facebook page.

The issue I responded to was the decision by the Brazilian government to relax its forest protection laws. An international petition against this move was run by Avaaz.org, which currently has 1,182,000 signatures at the time of writing.

The idea for the graphic came to me rapidly. One of the first things I thought of when considering the Amazon rainforest is the expression that they are the ‘lungs of the Earth’, producing 20% of the planet’s oxygen.

Originally I tried two mirror-image maps of South America, but the design didn’t really work, as the reversed continental map on the left was unrecognisable. So I decided to go for a map of South America on the right, and a cross-section of a lung on the left.

I was happy to see that no one else seems to have come up with this lung/South America design before (at least, as far as my Google image searches located, anyway).

If I am invited to design other Made in the Now t-shirts I will post them here.

It’s been a while since I last published a list like this. Below is a list of the books I have read over the last two years. I’m trying to mix up my usual raft of environmental/sciencey/economic non-fiction. Newly in the mix are some classic fiction (e.g. Moby Dick, The Cather in the Rye and Treasure Island), along with modern classics from the graphic novel stable (e.g. Maus, Blankets and Sin City).

Fiction

• “Cloudstreet” – Tim Winton (1991)
• “On the Road” – Jack Kerouac (1957)
• “The Catcher in the Rye” – J.D. Salinger (1951)
• “Treasure Island” – Robert Louis Stevenson (1883)
• “Moby Dick” – Herman Melville (1851)

Comedy / humour

• “Preincarnate” – Shaun Micallef (2010)
• “Curb Your Enthusiasm: the book” – Deirdre Dolan (2006)
• “The Official Rock Paper Scissors Strategy Guide” – Douglas and Graham Walker (2004)
• “Smithereens” – Shaun Micallef (2004)
• “Diary of a Bus Clown” – The Sandman (2002)
• “Naked” – David Sedaris (1997)

Environment / sustainability / business

• “The Life and Death of the Australian Backyard” – Tony Hall (2010)
• “Confessions of a Radical Industrialist: Profits, People, Purpose–Doing Business by Respecting the Earth” – Ray Anderson (2009)
• “The Transition Handbook: Creating local sustainable communities beyond oil dependency – Australia and New Zealand edition” – Rob Hopkins (2009)
• “Worldchanging: A User’s Guide for the 21st Century” – edited by Alex Steffen (2006)
• “Organizational Change for Corporate Sustainability” – Dexter Dunphy, Andrew Griffiths and Suzanne Benn (2003)
• “Greening the Corporation” – Peter Thayer Robbins (2001)
• “Beyond Civilization: humanity’s next great adventure” – Daniel Quinn (1999)
• “The Cluetrain Manifesto: the end of business as usual” – Rick Levine, Christopher Locke, Doc Searls, and David Weinberger (1999)
• “Biomimicry: Innovation inspired by nature” – Janine Benyus (1997)
• “My Ishmael” – Daniel Quinn (1997)
• “The Sacred Balance: rediscovering our place in the world” – David Suzuki (1997)
• “Providence: The Story of a 50 Year Vision Quest” – Daniel Quinn (1996)
• “Ishmael” – Daniel Quinn (1992)
• “Gaia: a new look at life on earth” – James Lovelock (1979)

Biography

• “Diaries 1969–1979: The Python Years” Michael Palin (2006)
• “Saint Morrissey: A portrait of this charming man by an alarming fan“ – Mark Simpson (2004)
• “John Peel – A Tribute To The Legendary DJ and Broadcaster” – Mick Wall (2004)
• “The Unruly Life of Woody Allen” – Marion Meade (2000)
• “Andy Kaufman Revealed!” – Bob Zmuda (1999)
• “Einstein: A Life” – Denis Bryan (1997)
• “The Joker’s Wild: the biography of Jack Nicholson” – John Parker (1991)

Science / psychology / social phenomena

• “Supernormal Stimuli: How Primal Urges Overran Their Evolutionary Purpose” – Deirdre Barrett (2010)
• The 50th Law – 50 Cent and Robert Greene (2009)
• The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable – Nassim Nicholas Taleb (2007)
• “Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed” – Jared Diamond (2005)
• “The Rise of the Creative Class: And How it’s Transforming Work, Leisure, Community and Everyday Life” – Richard Florida (2002)
• “Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal” – Eric Schlosser (2001)
• “Why is Sex Fun? The Evolution of Human Sexuality” – Jared Diamond (1997)
• The Blind Watchmaker – Richard Dawkins (1986)

Comics / graphic novel

• “X’ed Out” – Charles Burns (2010)
• “Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451″ – Tim Hamilton (2009) (graphic novel adaptation of the novel “Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury, 1953)
• “Fun Home” – Alison Bechdel (2006)
• “Black Hole” – Charles Burns (2005)
• “Blankets” – Craig Thompson (2003)
• “Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again” – Frank Miller and Lynn Varley (2002)
• “The Authority: Volume 1″ – Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch (2002)
• Ghost World – Daniel Clowes (1997)
• “Maus: A Survivor’s Tale – “ – Art Spiegelman (1991)
• “Animal Man” – Grant Morrison (1991)
• “Sin City” yarns 1-7 – Frank Miller (1991-2000)
• “Blood: A Tale” – J.M. DeMatteis, Kent Williams (1987)
• “Ronin” – Frank Miller (1987)
• “American Splendor – the life and times of Harvey Pekar” – Harvey Pekar (1986)

Comics theory

• “Making Comics: Storytelling Secrets of Comics, Manga and Graphic Novels” – Scott McCloud (2006)
• “Reinventing Comics: How Imagination and Technology Are Revolutionizing an Art Form” – Scott McCloud (2000)
• “Perspective! for Comic Book Artists: How to Achieve a Professional Look in Your Artwork” – David Chelsea (1997)
• “Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art” – Scott McCloud (1993)

Music / entertainment

• “You Never Give Me Your Money: The Beatles After the Breakup” – Peter Doggett (2010)
• “Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground, 1981-1991″ – Michael Azzerad (2001)

Miscellaneous literature / non-fiction

• Bicycle Diaries – David Byrne (2009)
• “The Joy of Writing Sex” – Elizabeth Benedict (2002)

There were a lot of great titles in that list, but the two that touched me most were “Blankets” (which I read in 2010) and “Ishamel” (which I read in 2011). I will expand on my appreciation of these books in a future post on this blog!

Radio station Triple J is currently polling listeners for their “Hottest 100 Australian albums of all time”. Here’s what I voted for:

1. The Necks – Drive By (2003)
2. Further – Further! (2005)
3. You Am I – Hourly, Daily (1996)
4. You Am I – Hi Fi Way (1995)
5. Ed Kuepper – Electrical Storm (1985)
6. The Saints – (I’m) Stranded (1977)
7. Midnight Oil – 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 (1982)
8. The Drones – Wait Long by the River and the Bodies of Your Enemies Will Float By (2005)
9. Dirty Three – Dirty Three (1994)
10. Died Pretty – Free Dirt (1986)

My 25 word description for choosing Drive By as best overall:

A single 60 minute composition that slowly builds and unravels itself to listeners. Musical elements are introduced and removed in mysterious, tantalising and profound ways.

Next Wednesday 17 November I will be speaking at a lunchtime session held in the offices of the Queensland Department of Environment and Natural Resources. This free public event is one of a series of fortnightly presentations put together by Ian Eskdale, an enthusiastic DERM employee. Please contact me if you live in Brisbane and would like to join Ian’s distribution list for these events.

Creative thinking: the power of cartoons and games

Stuart McMillen (cartoonist – recombinantrecords.net)
&
Jason Turnbull (CEO & Co-Founder – Creators Club)

WHEN Wednesday 17 November 2010     12:30pm – 1:30pm
WHERE Wet Tropics Room, Level 3, 400 George Street, Brisbane

A recurrent theme through many presentations this year is the increasing complexity of our lives and the effect this has on our understanding and problem solving.

Issues such as climate change and sustainability are complex and often difficult for members of the public to grasp. Innovative methods of communication, learning and problem solving are a necessary response to supplement traditional approaches.

In this presentation we will hear two people tell their story of how they work to make a difference.

Stuart McMillen has been exploring cartoons as a communication medium since December 2008. Stuart’s website, recombinantrecords.net attracts over 50,000 readers each month from all parts of the world.

Stuart will share his experiences as a self-taught cartoonist, discuss the possibilities of comics as a communication medium, and give a sneak peek at his latest comic creation: “Green Tax Shift”.

Jason Turnbull has been exploring the power of video games and gaming communities as a teaching and learning and community engagement mechanism since 2005 when by sheer chance he worked for SEGA Studios Australia on the world renowned Total War franchise. Jason has created his own game studio working on titles for Real Arcade and Halfbrick Studios on the PC, Xbox, Playstation, iTunes and Facebook.

Jason also has Environmental Engineering and Psychology qualifications; he has 5 years experience as an environmental consultant and has also been a high school teacher in the Republic of Kiribati.

Jason will share his experience of connecting the dots between the video games industry and teaching, learning and community engagement. Jason will then highlight future opportunities for how this can be used to realise a global citizenry of well informed active environmentalists.

Other information:
· No refreshments will be provided – please feel welcome to bring your lunch.
· Although 1:30pm will be announced – all participants are invited to continue discussions until 2pm

I was recently invited to do an interview about Green Drinks Brisbane on 4ZzZ’s At the Local show. Hosted by Bernie Young and aired Saturday afternoons, At the Local focuses on events and community groups of interest to Brisbane residents.

The interview was live-to-air on 25 September, and I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of time Bernie made available to me, with the interview lasting 15 minutes. We spoke about the international origins of Green Drinks, the formation and operation of Green Drinks Brisbane, as well as my motivations for establishing the event.

You can stream the podcast below, or visit the At the Local page. My interview starts from the 21:00 mark.

Thanks to Bernie for the opportunity – it was especially pleasing because I’ve been a keen 4ZzZ listener/subscriber since moving to Brisbane in 2003. With announcers who talk like normal people and choose the music that is played during their shows, Triple Zed is a really refreshing alternative to other media sources, particularly commercial radio.

I have written about it before, but just wanted to shine some extra attention towards the Zero Carbon Australia Stationary Energy Plan. They have been getting a stack of media attention lately, as they are gearing up for the release of the full report on 14 July. A 16 page synopsis is newly available here, which is quite readable, even for non-experts like me.

Again, it is great to see such a credible, researched plan to show a path away from our current fossil fuel dependency. To quote from the report, “100% renewable electricity supply is achievable using technology that is commercially available today, with no technical barriers to their deployment. Implementing the proposed infrastructure in ten years is well within the capability of Australia’s existing industrial capacity. The required investment is the equivalent of a stimulus to the economy of 3% of GDP.”

Remember that this report just covers stationary energy (electricity and gas for heating). Upcoming Zero Carbon Australia reports will be published in the areas of:

• transport
• land use
• buildings
• industrial processes
• replacing coal export revenue

Can’t wait. For now, let’s spread the word on this proposal.