Rumble Strip is a chilling tale about one of the major causes of preventable death - the motor car. Written and illustrated by Woodrow Phoenix, and published by Brighton-based Myriad Editions, it tells you how to kill someone without necessarily going to prison (you run them over!), why drivers get so angry and competitive behind the wheel, and why when it comes to choosing a car, fastest and biggest is best. It is not anti-car per se (Woodrow drives a red Audi A3) but should be compulsory reading for those idiot Argus correspondents (and people who write into newspapers all over the world, I shouldn't wonder) who carp on about rising fuel prices, lack of parking and how cyclists are the scum of the earth.
For a graphic novel about cars (Spam in a can) and pedestrians (just Spam), it shows no people - or cars. We are in a stark world of empty infrastructure: black roads busy with white arrows telling us where to go, vast creepy carless car parks that look like war cemeteries, but with the briefest tantalising glimpses of landscape now and again. The text is full in your face, not tucked away in a corner of the frame, often irritatingly obscuring a detail, like the vanishing point of a road, or the intricacies of an electricity pylon (of which Woodrow is now a fan). It's a take on car ads that are always located on those mythical open roads.
The look and feel builds on his previous work for Myriad, a contribution to The Brighton Book (2005), which made the reader experience the narrative first hand, Peep Show style.
A rumble strip by the way is that corrugated bit on motorways that jolt you awake should you nod off and venture too near the edges of the road.
Friday, 27 June 2008
The Copenhagen Bike Culture Blog
Copenhagenize.com - The Copenhagen Bike Culture Blog: somewhere's got it sorted! Take a look Brighton!
Two wheels
Two wheels | Health and wellbeing | Life and Health: do you shower after ever cycle journey? I don't!
Sunday, 22 June 2008
Cyclists Demand Action
Cyclists Demand Action To Tackle Dodgy Drivers (from The Argus); what a week in the Argus!!
Popular Ex-councillor Drowned Himself (from The Argus)
Popular Ex-councillor Drowned Himself (from The Argus): Ed Furey, Clarion chair and social secretary, RIP.
Cyclists V Motorists Its War
Cyclists V Motorists Its War (from The Argus); is this the promised article on parking on cycle lanes?
Cyclists Fined
Cyclists Fined For Riding On The Promenade (from The Argus); lots of debate going on here!
Thursday, 12 June 2008
Saddled With Strange Cycle Paths
Saddled With Strange Cycle Paths (from The Argus): a spread about my website - I was under the impression the feature was going to be about the problem of parking on cycle lanes!
Monday, 9 June 2008
Saturday, 7 June 2008
Friday, 6 June 2008
Thursday, 5 June 2008
Cycle lanes - a set on Flickr
Cycle lanes - a set on Flickr: recent photos revisiting some of Brighton's weird cycle lanes
Wednesday, 4 June 2008
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