Created by: Casey, Shalin, Thomas, Gabriel and Eoin
By: Jessica
f a n t a s t i c.
Oooh... Aaaaahhh...
That there is some damn fine corpseing, people.
What a way to start a morning.
March 22, 2002 08:58 AM
By: allen
i think we have a new candidate for 'best corpse ever'. wow. this one is almost perfectly seamless, it's got a great a vertical movement; i love how the war from the top is echoed at the bottom by the gunbarrel and bullets. that clinton-nude-gunbarrelarm figure is one of my favorite images to come out of all this. satan's kingdom, indeed. wow.
March 22, 2002 09:08 AM
By: Kevin Fox
I agree. I don't say it often, and mean it each time I say it.
Best... corpse... ever!
March 22, 2002 09:51 AM
By: Lewis
I think we've all been waiting to see Clinton like that...seamless and a great corpse!
March 22, 2002 09:52 AM
By: Kevin Fox
And I really dig the left hand on the right arm. (still trying to find the seam on the Satan's Kingdom sign)
March 22, 2002 09:54 AM
By: michael
seamlessness in the extreme. love the imagery. great corpse.
March 22, 2002 10:34 AM
By: Elizabeth
Wow, great job you guys! This is a wonderful corpse! It never ceases to amaze me how themes are picked up by each person even though you get so little to work from! There's the high-priced bordello room at the top, mentions of war by the (offstage) top brass who visits his mistress there, there's the fantasy of the ex-Commander-In-Chief of having his very own boobies to play with that won't get him in trouble, and there's an echo of "pounding out the rythm of attraction like a woman was a drum, like a body was a weapon, like there was something more they wanted from the journey..."
Stunning. Truly. And the top panel really puts me in the mood to redecorate my bedroom! ;)
March 22, 2002 11:32 AM
By: Jacob
I hope I'm not redundant in saying, "Now that's surreal!"
Could the participants who did so comment on the value of editing the leading edge you are given?
March 22, 2002 01:02 PM
By: mirla
Now that I know some folks are editing the prior 15 pixels it's harder to be wowed by perfect seams (or when to be wowed), but the results look great nonetheless.
These panels, for instance, sport clever solutions and continuations of their source slices' "clues" (say that ten times fast).
March 22, 2002 02:34 PM
By: Jacob
It does seem to improve the continuity of the corpse, but I don't understand why that should be: after all, one edge is as good as the next. I was hoping someone who had used it would share their thoughts.
March 22, 2002 02:59 PM
By: mirla
I disagree with the idea that editing always improves the continuity of the corpse, Jacob. Some fantastic invisible seams have been created by artists who did not change their 15 pixel source. I personally never do (not that I'm saying my seams have been "fantastic" or anything).
My preference is not to edit the received slice - but I don't have a problem with those who want to. I'm more impressed when they don't and the result is seamless, is all I'm saying.
March 22, 2002 05:17 PM
By: Gabriel
I join with mirla in vowing that I will never edit the artwork that is passed down to me. I have also begun asking that people do not edit the slice I supply.
Figuring out how to join (visually and thematicall) with a stranger's art is the whole point of the game for me... and, yes, sometimes it is very hard.
This one turned out great everybody! I didn't mean to give Slick Willy boobs, but it sure did work out well!
March 22, 2002 06:17 PM
By: kat
this one is hysterically amusing!
and as commented already, beautiful seams.
March 22, 2002 06:47 PM
By: michael
Gabriel - "I have also begun asking that people do not edit the slice I supply."
No, no, no. Bad form. Participants should be allowed to approach their piece any way they choose, within the framework of the rules, regardless of what you think of them. As I stated before, I was on the fence about that particular rule, but px; explained his thinking on it in such a way that, as long as I choose to participate, I fully support anyone's choice in exercising it as an option. Please Gabriel, don't start making this your own game. If you choose not to edit or include the 15px slice you are given that's fine, but it's not fair of you to start asking other participants to do something which restricts their options. That's something I am totally against.
March 22, 2002 06:47 PM
By: cris
Wow, this is like music for the deaf.
March 22, 2002 07:41 PM
By: Jacob
When playing the traditional paper game, each person deliberately draws lines that extend past the fold, to indicate the direction and shape of the lines to the next person, who draws new lines that overlap with those drawn by his or her predecessor.
Isn't editing the edge the same?
March 22, 2002 08:14 PM
By: mirla
Interesting. I've googled "exquisite corpse" and I can't find authoritative proof that the surrealists edited their source bits by drawing overlapping lines, in the original drawing adaptation of the original word game. Anyhow, I don't think we ought to use anyone else's version of the exquisite corpse to bust each other on "our" exquisite corpse. We're not assigning body parts to each of the panelists either. This particular version is a creature evolved for this medium, by Phineas and cohorts.
I'm ambivalent about whether Gabriel has the "right" or not to request (he didn't say "demand") that the next panelist not edit his slice. After all, his successor doesn't have to comply, though I understand that he/she probably will feel pressured to do so.
Do what you want, I say. The rest of us will like it or not, and you can like what we think or not, but let's each stop trying to convince others that their way is bad or wrong if that method is supported by the official rules. Those of us who haven't been editing our source pixels are not "more wrong" than those who have (especially since I'm pretty sure that's how the game was originally understood), and vice versa. Our tastes may differ, but variety is the spice of life, after all.
And now, I'll stop with the bad cliches.
March 24, 2002 05:35 PM
By: Jacob
I didn't mean to say that any particular surrealist specifically defined the game as involving overlapping lines. When you play the game on paper, the fold naturally defines where each person's part starts and ends, so the lines that extend into the next part may certainly be overlapped. There is etiquette here too; extending the lines too far into the next part imposes too much on the next person, so they're best kept short.
I can think of several reasons why someone might be offended that the following artist editing their edge: because they consider the edge they provided to lead particularly well; because they consider all 200 rows of their image to fall within their "folds of the page"; and especially because they fear that the next person will change their lines.
That fear is understandable; on paper, drawing with pens, it wouldn't be possible to remove someone else's lines. With digital images, the next person can obliterate part of your work with a quick punch of the delete key.
I think it might be fun to see what the possibilities are with a zone of interactive, neither-yours-nor-mine art between each segment and the next. I'm going to try thinking of my work as a 185-pixel boxcar with a 15-pixel link for the next, all being pulled by the engine of the first image. Then again, I might find a reason to make it 170 pixels myself.
March 24, 2002 10:01 PM
By: Jacob
P.S. If asked, I promise not to edit the edge you pass me.
March 24, 2002 10:05 PM
By: Eoin
I'd also agree not to edit the line, and haven't done so to date.
While I do think it's the choice of whoever's doing it to complete their slice as they choose; I also think the whole point of this excercise is to continue from the information you've been given.
To alter that 15px slice is, for me at least, to miss the point of the whole thing.
March 25, 2002 07:26 AM
By: PhotoDude
Well, I'll add my opinion: I think editing the received slice is cheating. But it is apparently cheating that's allowed, and has been allowed for some time.
I just never picked up on it. Silly me, I went by the Original Rules, which say: "That strip of pixels will now dictate to some degree what you can do with your space. You have to pick up where those tail ends leave off."
That seems perfectly clear to me ... you cannot alter those pixels in that strip, merely pick up where they leave off. And that's the approach I take.
March 25, 2002 09:16 AM
By: Gina
Well, if we're going to quot from the rules, what about the part that says: "...fill your 90,000 pixels with whatever strikes your fancy, keeping this in mind... DON'T FINISH IT!. By which I mean, don't get to the bottom of yr 200px depth and have everything nice and buttoned up. "
March 26, 2002 06:45 AM
