#ducks by kate beaton

[compo67]

This past weekend, I had the privilege of reading "Ducks," by Kate Beaton. I have always been a fan of her work, going back to the early days of "Hark! A Vagrant." "Ducks" is phenomenal. It's so honest with grief. Can't recommend this book enough.

[evertomorrowart]

Best of YouTube 2023

Yes, I did spend the first week and change of January on this. I wish I could have had it done for New Years, but too many people came out with incredible work in December, so waiting turned out for the best.

What these creators do are a huge influence on my life, I would honestly have difficulty doing what I do without them. That isn't to say that my favorites of the year are *only* on this image--It was almost impossible to narrow down my favorites. Many creators I wanted to include couldn't fit on a single page, and too many of them made more than one video I wished I could draw too!

But, to all of you, thank you for what you do. You're an inspiration.

For those who don't know, further is an explanation.

At the bottom center is an artistic masterpiece by Defunctland: "Journey to EPCOT Center: A Symphonic History." Over the last several years, Defunctland has risen from delightfully-entertaining commentary on decommissioned theme park attractions to occasionally dropping profound statements on the creation of art itself. "Journey to EPCOT Center: A Symphonic History" is worth treating like the cinematic experience it is: No second screen, you sit your ass down in front of a TV, set down the phone, and then you *watch it.* Any Disney, theme park, or independent film fan needs to pay attention to this one.

Bottom left is Caelan Conrad with their piece "Drop the T - The Deadly Consequences of Gay Respectability Politics." While I do think they've done more visually or artistically-daring pieces before, "Drop the T" is one of the most important videos released on YouTube in today's current climate of hate. We as queer folk (and our allies) need to understand how integral every identity of the queer experience has been since the start of the Civil Rights movement (and before!). While we are not identical, we *are* inseparable, and we deserve having our real history easily accessible.

TERFs and other conservative mouthpieces need not reply. Your opinions are trash. 😘

I cannot stop watching and rewatching this video by @patricia-taxxon, "On the Ethics of Boinking Animal People." It's not just a defense of furry fandom and its eccentricities, it's a thoughtful and passionate analysis of what the artform achieves that purely human representation can't. Patricia goes outside of her usual essay format to directly speak to the viewer about the elements that define furry media (the most succinct definition I've ever heard) and just how *human* an act loving animal cartoons really is.

As an artist who can draw furry characters, but never really got into erotic furry art, this video is a treasure. Why did I choose to have her drawn as a Ghibli character, hanging out with one of the tanukis from "Pom Poko?" Guess you'll have to watch, bruh.

Philosophy Tube continuously puts out videos that I would put on this list--I'm not even sure that "A Man Plagiarised my Work: Women, Money, and the Nation" is the best work she released in 2023. However, this video got many conversations going between myself and my partner, and the twist on the tail end of the video shocked us both to such a degree that I had no choice.

At the very tail end of the year, Big Joel released "Fear of Death." On his Little Joel channel, he described it as the singularly best video he's ever done, and I'm inclined to agree. However, for this illustration, I ended up repeatedly going back to a mini-series he did earlier in the year: "Three Stories at the End of the World." All three videos are deeply moving and haunting, and I was brought to tears by "We Must Destroy What the Bomb Cannot." While it may be relatively-common knowledge that the original Gojira (Godzilla) film is horror grappling with the devastation America's rush to atomic dominance inflicted on Japan, Big Joel still manages to bring new words to the discussion. Please watch all three of the videos, but if, for some reason, you must have only one, let it be "We Must Destroy What the Bomb Cannot."

Y'all. Let me confess something. I hate football. I hate watching it, I associate seeing it from the stadiums with some of my worst childhood experiences, I despise collegiate and professional football (as institutions that destroy bodies and offer up children at the feet of its alter as a pillar of American culture)--

I. L o a t h e. Football.

But.

F.D. Signifier could get me to watch an entire hour-plus essay on why I should at least give a passing care. AND HE DID IT. I might think "F*ck the Police," the two-parter on Black conservatism, or his essay on Black men's connection to anime might be "better" videos, but this writer did the impossible and held my limited attention span towards football long enough to make a sincere case for NFL players--and reminds us that millionaires can *in fact* be workers. That alone is testament to his skill.

Sit down and watch "The REAL Reason NFL Running Backs Aren't Getting Paid." Any good anti-capitalist owes it to themselves.

CJ the X continuously puts out stunning, emotional videos, and can do it with the most seemingly-inconsequential starting points. A 30 second song? An incestuous commercial? Five minutes of Tangled? Sure, why not. Go destroy yourself emotionally by watching them. I'm serious. Do it.

Their video Stranger Things and the Meaning of Life manages to to remind us all why the way we react to media does, in fact, matter. Yes, even nostalgia-driven, mass-media schlock. Yes, how we interact with media matters, what it says about us matters, and we all deserve to seek out the whys.

Folding Ideas has spent the last few years articulating exactly why so much of our modern world feels broken, and because of that his voice continuously lives rent-free in my brain. While the tricks that scam artists and grifters use to try to swindle us are never new, the advancement of technology changes the aesthetics of their performances. Portions of Folding Ideas' explanations might seem dry when going into detail of how stocks work in This is Financial Advice, but every bit of it is necessary to peel back the layers of techno-babble and jargon and make sense of the results of "Meme Stocks."

Jessie Gender puts out nothing but bangers, her absolute unit of a video about Star Wars might be my new favorite thing ever, but none of her work hit so profoundly in 2023 than the two-parter "The Myth of 'Male Socialization'" and "The Trauma of Masculinity." There's so much about modern life that isolates and traumatizes us, and so much of it is just shrugged off as "normal." We owe it to ourselves to see the world in more vivid a color palette than we're initially given.

Panels drawn after Kate Beaton and "Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands."

"This is Not a Video Essay" is one of the most intense and beautiful pieces of art I've ever put into my eyeballs. Why do we create? What drives us to connect?

I don't even know what else to say about the Leftist Cooks' work, it repeatedly transcends the medium and platform. Watch every single one of their videos, but especially this one.

The likelihood you are terminally online and yet haven't heard of Hbomberguy's yearly forrays into destroying the careers of awful people is pretty slim. Just because it has millions of views doesn't mean that Hbomberguy's "Plagiarism and You(Tube)" isn't worth the hype. Too long? Shut up, it has chapters and YouTube holds your place, anyway. You think a deep dive into a handful of creators is only meaningless drama? Well, you're wrong, you wrong-opinion-haver. Plagiarism is an *everyone* problem because of the actual harm it creates--the history it erases, the labor it devalues, the art it marginalizes--which you would know if you watched "Plagiarism and You(Tube)".

Watch. The damn. Video.

In fact, watch all of them!

Thanks for reading this if you did.

[pillarsalt]

Read this in one go last night, what an absolutely heart-wrenching and beautiful book. Themes of the terrifying misogyny, sexual harassment, and rape experienced by women in a male-dominated and isolated workplace; perspectives on class in Canada and it's effect on environmental responsibility in the energy sector; gorgeously illustrated. I haven't stopped thinking about it.

[bellasbookclub]

Reccer Spotlight: Zahnie!

Even Though I Knew the End

Convenience Store Woman

Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands

Dial A for Aunties

Zahnie's got some romantic, thought-provoking, and fun contemporary recs for us. Full text available in their tab of the Bella’s Book Club Summer Reading ‘24 Reclist!

more info on BBC Summer Reading 2024

more Reccer Spotlights

[smalltownfae]

Books read in 2024: Ducks by Kate Beaton Rating: 4/5

"A triste verdade, no entanto, é que as agressões sexuais - de todos os tipos - são demasiado comuns em todos os lugares para causarem sensação." "Vi muitas pessoas adotarem imediatamente uma atitude defensiva perante a sugestão de que há violência de género em lugares como as areias petrolíferas - ou porque trabalham nessa zona e se orgulham do trabalho que fazem e das pessoas que sustentam graças a isso, ou porque conhecem e amam homens dali, e se sentem insultadas pelas instituições que os associam a algo tão detestável como uma agressão sexual." I read this graphic novel in portuguese, translated by Alda Rodrigues, and I had to start with those quotes even though I don't know how they are written in the original. Ducks is a graphic memoir by Kate Beaton about her two years working in the oil sands. I was expecting it to focus on the working conditions, but the major focus was on the sexism and sexual abuse. As the author states it could happen anywhere (there are two women that reveal they were raped when attending university, for example) and it is more likely to happen in an environment where there are a lot of men and very few women. The author mentions the point of view of some men: how they excuse bad behaviour because of loneliness, how talking with superiors about the sexual abuse either gets you nowhere or to being perceived as awful because a man might be fired, etc. It is a sad reality and I can't say it was a novelty to me. Even though the memoir focuses on those topics, that are closer to the author, that doesn't mean other topics aren't addressed. It is showed the motives that make someone work in these institutions and why they decide to stay or to leave, there are mentions of drug abuse and the dangers of certain jobs, there is the internal conflict about all the deaths and damage to workers, animals and nature in general that can't be separated from the role one has in the company and more. I wish all the topics were explored more in depth even though the book is already heavy enough as it is. It would probably be better if it was two volumes instead of one. However, I understand why the author decided to state the facts and not explore much of her own thoughts and reflections about certain events. It is hard to show your personal life to the world and I know that I will never do it. I found the author's attitudes when dealing with men very relatable and I also know how it is to work in a company with values opposite to yours. It is a privilege to be able to choose instead of thinking of the money you need to be able to make a living. In the author's case, she needed to pay her student loans, which seemed to have been an absurdly high amount of money. To anyone that wishes to read this memoir, be aware that there are a lot of sexual harassment and sexist comments depicted. There are also two rape scenes and other mentions (thankfully not graphic). This is something I would have liked to know beforehand. I usually struggle with this when it comes to personal accounts.

[nusta]

Una storia personale e collettiva, intima e generale, di donne e uomini e persone che lavorano e soffrono e resistono e hanno poche alternative e poco ascolto. Parla di ambienti di lavoro e di conseguenze individuali e sociali e generazionali. Parla di politiche economiche che ignorano o fingono di ignorare troppe cose per l'interesse di pochi, innescando circoli viziosi di dipendenza ed emigrazione sostanzialmente forzata.

È una biografia frammentata, concreta e onirica al tempo stesso, nella sua narrazione che scorre spesso senza soluzione di continuità, calata nella specifica realtà del Canada eppure piena di corrispondenze con qualunque altro posto in cui la gente va e viene e si ritrova e si perde e cerca di stare a galla nonostante tutto.

Qui in Italia è impossibile non pensare al Sud, al Nord, e a tutto quello che ha significato per il nostro paese.

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Mesi fa l'ho trovato in offerta come e-book in italiano e mi sono ricordata che Zerocalcare l'aveva consigliato e in un impeto di fiducia l'ho comprato senza leggerne nemmeno una pagina, contrariamente al solito. L'ho tenuto lì, come faccio con tanti libri, in attesa del momento giusto, che è arrivato ieri pomeriggio, in cui l'ho letto tutto di fila e poi sono pure andata a cercarmi un paio di interviste per saperne di più sull'autrice e sulla storia che ha raccontato.

So che nei prossimi tempi dovrebbe cominciare una collana della Bao a cura di Zerocalcare e se anche gli altri titoli saranno come questo, voglio proprio tenerla d'occhio.

[semper-legens]

168. Ducks, by Kate Beaton

Owned: Yes Page count: 430 My summary: Kate Beaton’s account of her time working in the oil sands, and the culture and people she encountered there. My rating: 5/5 My commentary:

I've spoken about this book before. I don't really know why I chose to reread it - I've been down with Covid lately, and I needed something to read that was meaty, but wouldn't necessarily tax my addled brain too much. A graphic novel felt like the perfect solution, and this one is always an interesting read. It's not a nice story, or an easy story, but Beaton expertly keeps it from being a constant downer by weaving in moments of light and life and happiness throughout the text. Life in Nova Scotia is hard. Many people have to migrate to more populous areas of Canada in order to find work, and when they do end up in terrible jobs with high risks that leave them spending weeks and months away from home. But this environment on the oil sands, the environment that Beaton walked into in the 00s, was oppressive in other ways too. She experienced a lot of gendered violence, from sexist microagressions to straight-up assault, but despite how miserable her job was making her, she couldn't quit because she needed the money to pay her student debts.

The book is an honest and raw memoir of Beaton's experiences and struggles while working on the oil sands for two years. There seems to be a split in the people she worked with - young women, like herself, there to pay a debt or earn some money and having to deal with a toxic workplace culture; young men, out to seek their fortune being inducted into this life; and older men, usually former fishermen or miners or other blue-collar workers who couldn't get jobs in other industries. It's usually the latter who are responsible for much of the low-level misogyny prevalent on the oil sands, with the younger men learning this behaviour at their feet. What I liked about this graphic novel was that, although her telling is obviously coloured by her perception and experiences, it's still a largely neutral telling, with many moments that humanise the older men and contextualise their behaviour. Men who worked on the ships before that industry died, men who worked in the mines before that industry die…it's no wonder they're bitter and suffering as much as they are. There's a layer of guilt, too. Beaton got to leave. For many, this is their permanent life. But none of that excuses what happened to her, and Beaton doesn't go too hard either way, laying out the facts as they happened, adding how she felt but trying not to condemn too hard. It's a thought-provoking read with more questions than answers, and I'd highly recommend it to anyone interested either in Beaton's life or in this sort of working-class story.

Next up, a man is found dead on a beach.

[wrishwrosh]

who here has read ducks by kate beaton. if you have read ducks you should come talk to me about ducks and if you have not read ducks you should read ducks

[intellectualradical]

Celina Harpe

From Ducks: two years in the oil sands

by Kate Beaton

[bizarredawdler]

Finished reading "Ducks" by Kate Beaton.

Really poignant story about the author's experience working in the Alberta oil sands that hit close to home for me on some occasions.

I definitely recommend this!

[morgan--reads]

Ducks - Kate Beaton

Summary: A graphic memoir of Beaton’s two years working in the Alberta oil sands to try and pay off her student loans.

Quote: 

My rating: 4.5/5.0   Goodreads: 4.45/5.0 

Review: A spare story, and all the more beautiful for it. Beaton doesn’t preach, instead making her points by simply showing daily life in the sands. Sexual harassment and sexual violence are at the core of that experience, but so is worker exploitation and the solidarity that emerges because of it. Beaton shows both, without sentimentality but never without sympathy. The beautiful blue-wash art is appropriate for this lonely, melancholic memoir. 

To read: Beaton is most famous for her Hark! A Vagrant comic, which shares a similar art style, but is very different in tone.

[robocorn-fun]

Finished Ducks 2 days ago and I'm still fucked up.

[rustandruin]

Ducks by Kate Beaton

Tuesday, 25 April, 2023

Beaton’s latest work is a complex, unflinching memoir that recounts the two years she spent working in Canada’s oil sands. While Beaton has a very established and recognisable style, the deceptive simplicity of what she pulls off is sometimes not recognised for how impressive it is. Ducks takes all that levels it up a bit, as she includes slightly more complex and intricate spreads than reads of her regular comics might be used to — which is awesome.

Since this is a memoir, I will not be commenting on the “story” itself, but I will say I am very impressed with some of the sequences in which she showcases certain aspects of her life. The highs and lows of that time are hard to escape, and the emotions they no doubt evoked in her. She conveys all that clearly and concisely, meaning there’s no room to hide. Which makes her overall message all the more potent; that industries like this are both godsends to the people working there but also devastating in so many ways both little and big.

It took me a few tries to read this, but that was more on me and just how busy and stressed I’ve been. But once I had a moment, it was easy to sink into and follow along, even in the parts you don’t want to. The again, that’s Beaton’s skill as a storyteller on display.

I cannot wait to see what else she gives us. I’m sure it’ll be a treat.

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

[sorrellegiance]

summer reading challenge progress 91% bitches!!

[kimabutch]

My sister got me Kate Beaton’s Ducks graphic memoir and the good news is it’s already almost made me cry

[pluckywallflower]

Ducks: two years in oil sands it absolutely fantastic.

Read it