Page 969…
Hey all…
Hope you had a great weekend.
I had a fantastic time at GMX here in Nashville.
Got to meet some wonderful people.
Thanks to all who came out and said hi.
I have busy week this week. And I hope you enjoy the flying lessons.
I’m getting ready for Baltimore this weekend.
How many of you are coming to the show?
Hope to see some of you there.
And again…hope you enjoy this week’s pages.
Scott
So is that similar to this:
The first part is easy. All it requires is simply the ability to throw yourself forward with all your weight, and the willingness not to mind that it’s going to hurt.
That is, it’s going to hurt if you fail to miss the ground. Most people fail to miss the ground, and if they are really trying properly, the likelihood is that they will fail to miss it fairly hard.
Clearly, it is the second part, the missing, which presents the difficulties.
One problem is that you have to miss the ground accidentally. It’s no good deliberately intending to miss the ground because you won’t. You have to have your attention suddenly distracted by something else when you’re halfway there, so that you are no longer thinking about falling, or about the ground, or about how much it’s going to hurt if you fail to miss it.
It is notoriously difficult to prize your attention away from these three things during the split second you have at your disposal. Hence most people’s failure, and their eventual disillusionment with this exhilarating and spectacular sport.
If, however, you are lucky enough to have your attention momentarily distracted at the crucial moment by, say, a gorgeous pair of legs (tentacles, pseudopodia, according to phyllum and/or personal inclination) or a bomb going off in your vicinty, or by suddenly spotting an extremely rare species of beetle crawling along a nearby twig, then in your astonishment you will miss the ground completely and remain bobbing just a few inches above it in what might seem to be a slightly foolish manner.
(Credit to the great Douglas Adams)
Got to love his face in the last little square. (what’s that, a panel? I am quite illiterate regarding cmics)
hahah thats cool it hurts when you fail to miss the ground… awesome!
It’s called Natural Instinct, Alex my boy!
It’s how tigers know how to hunt, wolves know to stay in the pack, flies know to stick to smelly things and annoy you, spiders to spinning webs for their nests, and deer to always stand dumbfounded when they look directly at headlights of a car!
You need to do some cons on the west coast, Scott. 😉 Oh, and SparcMan? You basically described how a satellite flies… it needs to fall without hitting the ground… the thing is to throw it hard enough to begin with. 😛
You’re correct with your terminology; the squares (or any other shape that borders a scene in a comic) are known as panels. 😀
And yes, that face are adorable.
See, I never flew in dreams as a child. Never. It wasn’t until I was an adult and started making a conscious effort to convince myself that I *can* fly in dreams that I have been able to.
Isn’t most training in that method that, in order to distract the students, they throw snakes suddenly at them before the crucial time? =B
It’s been awhile since I read the Hitchhiker’s series.
Haha, at least I’m not the only one who thought of that. 🙂
Douglas Adams was the master of words. Great novels. and a LOL!
Anyone else want to smack Alex upside the head for being an idiot? It makes perfect sense to me.
Head-smacking prolly won’t solve anything. Not getting it is the first step to understanding it.
Or was that denial…?
“A child flies like philosophy over your head, Alex. It just happens.” 😀
Sometimes I love Alex! He’s so charmingly immune to thought 😀
Heeey, awesome! New avatars! I LOVE this new blog program, Scott!
Man, Alex sure is dense… everyone knows that you can fly in dreams. It’s such a simple concept :p
I’d say the answer to the question “How do I fly?” should be 42.
Rest In Peace Douglas Adams, you will forever be missed *bows head*
Yep. Basically the satellite is falling towards the Earth as fast ast the Earth is falling away from it!
He kind of sounds more like Nicole here, doesn’t he?
Sounds like you are well on your way to lucid dreaming!
For my sake, I coudln’t fly in my dreams, I’d more make big, slow bounces, sometimes making it over the houses in my neighborhood, sometimes not!
someone should get Alex a copy of the first episode of Greatest American Hero.
(wherein: guy end up with a superhero suit and loses the instruction manual. Can’t fly. Small child runs across him and says “duh, you take three running steps and leap! That’s how Superman does it!” and he does–to mixed results. Flying, yes. Steering? ha. Landing? Not exactly. But he does get airborne. And, eventually, he gets better, but only about the same time the series jumps the shark.)
I never had a problem learning to fly in my dreams. It was a survival mechanism. The school bus was chasing me down and it was either learn or get run over XD
his face in the last panel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it’s…. wonderfull:P
by the way… normalie I can’t fly in my dreams. every time I try, I just fall back to the ground!
-blink-
Posting error much?
I used to sort of.. hovercraft-fly. Easier to believe in some kind of ground effect than struggle up higher..
On the other hand, I probably deserved it. Whenever I became aware I was dreaming, all I’d do was throw myself at concrete walls and floors and marvel at it not hurting..
Sensei does make perfect sense.
I gotta wonder what Nastajia sees in a blockhead like Alex…
Anyway, Arlene’s idea is good, even if she is channeling an old TV show.
Time for the First Annual Dreamland Track & Field meet. Start with some nice easy long jumps and then start making them longer and higher, until you get so high that…Nah, something this simple could never work with Alex.
I wonder how the sensei will try to knock the stupid out of him…
Orion: “Unfortunately nobody can be told what flying is…you have to see it for yourself.”
Ahh … it’s the clueless Alex that we all know and love!
Next time on Dreamland… Orion says “soddit” and gives Alex either a glowing green ring like Green Lantern or puts some glowing nozzles on the bottom of Alex’s armour boots like Iron Man. Like Dumbo’s magic feather they do nothing but make Alex believe.
In sleep I rest, throughout the night.
I shall fly, to dizzying height
Then Nicodemeus, within my sight
Shall roar and fear, but I shall smite!
I think everyone gets it but you, Mr. Sparkly-eyes.
being cute must be a defense mechanism because I’d want to throttle him by now.
*flails abaout* IM COMING TO THE CONVENTION TO MEET YOU!!!
Im really excited! This is going to be EPIC!!!
Greatest American Hero = AWESOME!
At least in that show…he had a MANUAL.
Of course…he lost it…
You choose…
The red pill…or the blue….
WOOT!
Good Morning all!
Sorry for the dim-witted page today.
He’s still growing. But I think you’ll enjoy this week.
Alex seriously should dig into the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
Then he might realize that the whole point of the universe is that there’s no point to the universe and if he wants to fly just go and fly. (BTW: It would be very pleasing if Orion would say “Well for someone your age, it might be a good start to ‘jump at the ground and try to miss it’ ” 🙂 )
Oh: and i just realized how awesomely those trees are made. From a graphic view point they are very beautiful 🙂
Just read first comment… Oh Ictiv you should learn to read.
Yesh! I am planning to go also!! Just a warning though… I may be totally incoherent for the first few minutes of meeting you. LOL! My inner fan girl will have gone into extreme overdrive. 😀
Yes, poor Alex is trying to sound like Nicole.. all scientific and logical. Not working at all. He’s so cute when he’s clueless. 😀
I love how mysterious mr.centaur there always sounds!
ha ha ha, Alex is cute.
so….. Alex asked if Orion even understood what he said. I see we’re still aiming for the “pushing off the cliff” method 😉
Oh…you have no idea how right you are….
I haven’t commented before, but I’ve been reading daily for months. I love this comic and its storyline, and every day I look forward to seeing what happens next. Thanks for sharing Dreamland with us!
I’m really interested in seeing how Alex learns to fly. To me, it seems like lately he’s been told by everyone to grow up and be more responsible, and now he’s being told to think like a kid again and forget all that grown-up mental inhibition that’s keeping him literally grounded. Finding a balance point between those viewpoints would be really hard. I’m rooting for ya, Alex! 😉
WAITAMINNIT! Did Alex actually over-think something?! I just revel in the irony of the moment! XD !
I never fly in my dreams, but I do “float” (levitate, perhaps?). I always have dreams about lying still in bed, and then “exerting” a relaxation in my body to float upwards (almost like relaxing in water in order to stay afloat). The degree of “exertion” determines the amount of upward thrust. The motion is always slow and smooth, and quite unlike actual flying where speed is the key ingredient.
I also have nightmares where I float upwards persistently, and have to hold on to furniture and avoid going outside to prevent flying off into the sky, never to return. 🙂
I know what it is.
Alex is saying “do you know what you just said?” because the dude just said “it’s like breathing. IN DREAMS.”
Think about it.
Alex is channeling his namesake and cutting through the gordian knot of rhetoric. Good for him.
of course once he realizes that flying=breathing, then he won’t need to breathe either. And yeah, then it’s a hop skip and a leap to Matrixville. 🙂
Don’t worry–flying is nearly as good as reading.
My dream flying usually starts by running really fast, and then taking off–and then I can fly anywhere I want. It’s fun to go around the trees and such. Lucid dreams are good too. And then there are the dream that will happen–sort of pre-deja vu dreams…
My dream flying…well, any of you who’ve played Kingdom Hearts, it’s EXACTLY like the gliding you get to do after the Peter Pan world. I get somewhere hight, or bounce my way up a few trees (my jumping power is much increased as well) and then I can glide any which way I want, getting gradually lower until I find something new to bounce off of, or, if I’m lucky, some good strong air currents to carry me higher.
Heheheh, Alex is so dense sometimes but in a COMPLETELY realistic way. I love that. Especially as I can picture a lot of people I know (and yes, work for :P) who would ask the EXACT same thing when presented with what is, for me, a very simple concept. Off to the cliff it is then… 😉
http://www.commanderkitty.com/index.php?strip_id=6
Call me paranoid Floyd but isn’t this an obvious tribute to Felicity?
Dreamland seems to adhere to a selective ‘mind over matter’ setting… Seems like it’s related to what you believe, but also what others believe.
For example, everyone “knows” that you can fly in dreams, so if you remember to believe you can fly, you can fly.
However, you might also believe that mind over matter extends further and you can change matter, say, turn a rock into an icecream. But that is not something many people will be inclined to believe, so you most likely won’t be able to.
A few talented and/or insane characters might be able to surpass the external belief barrier for various reasons, but most will not be able to I’d wager.
Ah, the power of stories… I wonder if there’s any narrativium in Dreamland. 😉
Yay! Gravatar works!
Don’t worry. Alex is the village idiot we’ve all grown to love. And he’s even learned a thing or two, so there’s hope.
I never flew in any of my dreams…and the few times I fell, it woke me up pretty easily (the sensation of falling/trpping while you’re asleep is intense). But then again, none of my dreams ever made any semblance of sense throughout my life. 😀
I wanted to ride dragons though. 🙁 Or gryphons. No mythical creature riding for me!
GMX was awesome. I will always return to GMX yearly if it is in my power! (And of course MTAC)
haha I love this page!! the last couple pannels attually made me laugh out loud 🙂
There is a strange parallel here with Dreamland and GAH. The most memorable episode for me was when the hero went into a man’s dreams to rescue them from nightmares so he could wake up again. The nightmare he met (a mysterious lady) told him “Your suit doesn’t work here, does it?” So in a sense, the man’s nightmares knew more about the how the suit worked than he did!
Of course, the lady could have been a manifestation of the hero’s nightmares, but that’s getting a bit wild on dream interpretation.
So, Scott. Did GAH inspire anything in DC? Or should we wait for the 1-2-3-leap in Superman pose later this week? 🙂
Or, Alex will meet a very hairy mesomorphic man who will teach him to “Jump Good.”
Had to get in the Samurai Jack reference. 🙂
OK. I’m struggling for some quotes here.
Someone smart said the hardest part about learning was to unlearn your preconceptions. In essense, going from expert to guru.
Then someone else said that it’s not possible to get to the guru stage without becoming an expert first, implying that neophytes achieving perfection by learning from the master was not possible. No shortcuts to Nirvana. I think this one is from Bhuddist philosophy or Siddhartha by Herman Hess.
In any case, Alex has to unlearn his current world/self view with a leap of faith.
Yes, I am aware of the parallels in the first Matrix movie and Neo’s attempt to leap between buildings.
huh, really? for me i jump around and wave my arms like an idiot for about two seconds, and then make superman fists and i just fly! its soooo fun!!! and then i start to float to the ground after about ten minutes, and i can’t fly for about another five minutes… sigh…
anyone know how to lucid dream? any tips? i’ve only done it once, and i’m not quite sure i was totally, fully aware i was dreaming….. i could change my shirt from a cute blue tshirt to a yellow star trek shirt and i couldnt change it to a blue star trek shirt, so i gave up and walked away, and i totally forgot i was dreaming!!!
LTBTB (laughs to beat the band)
i feel like the boy hear … it makes sense sorta … till I think hard about it
lots of FUN … keep it up Scott!!!
Yeah, that was me, I usually did bounding with a parachute or something. And yes, I did get the idea from a lucid dreaming website! My sister is one of those lucky snits that, as soon as she found out she should be able to control her dreams, she could, while I have yet to be able to really bring my conscious mind into the dream world. The most I can achieve is kind of a half-awareness that still isn’t really under my control.
I think a “Gibbs Smack” would be more appropriate. 😉
Nice tie in to The Matrix, Arlene. lol
haha.. Gibbs smack.. gotta love NCIS <3
Lucky… I’ve never reeeeeally flown. I have had a few dreams of swimming in the air — much effort, not terribly quick, and a bit tiring and awkward. And generally not very high either, though that may be because I’m afraid of heights!
There’s something called “reality checking” that you have to train yourself to do. That thing about not being able to read in dreams? BS, I’ve done it. But, no matter what, time won’t stay put. So start checking your watch, even when you’re awake. STARE at it, willing the numbers to change. If they don’t, you’re awake. But I’ve never had a dream when they didn’t start changing randomly, which leads me to the (as yet) half-aware conclusion that I must be dreaming. Once I got to that point, flying became easier.
“You think that’s air you’re breathing” [surprisingly appropriate to this… heh.]
Heh. Amusing how he tries to go for logic when he’s talking to a SIX FOOT TALL HALF HUMAN-HALF HORSE CREATURE….
Even Spock would give up at this point.
Okay, maybe not Spock, he was too logical… But Data would’ve by now.
I don’t know how to lucid dream–I only know when it’s most likely. That is, when I am half waking up, but still asleep and dreaming. Then I can partially control what happens.
*boots Alex off the cliff* >:D
Well, actually it’s moving along a circular path at the precise speed at which its centrifugal force (not centripetal) pushing it away from the Earth is equal to the force of gravity pulling it toward the Earth.
In our next lesson we’ll learn about Geostationary (“Clarke”) orbits.
– brought to you by a non-professional “enthusiast” physics geek
😉
I think Alex broke a brain cell or three coming up with the plan to save Felicity …
😉
eeww Morpheus…crack open a window will ya?
My dream-trigger, oddly enough, is simply knowing what is and isn’t possible in the wake. I’m attuned to spot certain things that are only possible in the dreamscape… which immediately lets me know that I can control things.
But then I had to learn very fast when I was younger. Sort of comes from being backed into a corner with a wave of flesh-eating worms slithering towards you at speed. In situations like that sometimes you don’t know what you CAN do, but you know what you HAVE to do… and what I had to do was push the worms back and then somehow fly out of there. So I did. Pushed forward on them, then pushed down to go up. Kept pushing down until I was on top of the building I’d backed myself up against.
Wasn’t all that different against the face-stealer in the forest. It definitely had me physically outmatched, and I suspected I couldn’t escape easily from it… but I knew that if I helped telekinetically accelerate my hands from the back, and applied a pushing pressure over a very narrow area from each of my fingertips… I essentially could telekinetically claw the damned thing to pieces. And so in a state of panic I eviscerated the hideous thing. Blood everywhere. Ripped the face-stealer’s own face clean off and shredded it.
… Air-jumping? So you do the same thing I do?
I guess you might be a vector-kinetic too.
It can get kinda difficult to continuously apply the downward force to keep going upwards, can’t it?
Brain cells well spent.
Maybe they should push him off the cliff