This is from McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, Issue #13, 2004, guest-edited by Chris Ware, who clearly likes melancholia. The collection lacks artist bios or statements, so I don't know if Nightmare Studio was done specifically for McSweeney's, or is a reprint from elsewhere, nor if it's stand-alone or a part of...? Oh well. Even out of context it's a strong mood piece. But it's hard to say much more.

Except... my dreamscape's less gloomy. Or is it? Last night (2018/8/31) I won a scholarship to Oxford--but it was the 1920s Oxford from those BBC nostalgia dramas. Elegant... till they served us those gravy-drenched lumps they ate. Ugh! Also I got hit on by a horny alcoholic, and then a 9-year-old girl... really, except for the nice décor, it was a Panter dream--never quite nightmare, but relentlessly... off.

Except for my response. I turned into Pippi Longstocking, and walked out, seeking an off-campus Thai restaurant, and a mature, non-alcoholic date (I figured those two alarming suitors did at least prove some folks find me hot). My point? Dreamspace isn't all lost, empty streets. Don't like the neighborhood? Find a better one! Or build it.

--Chris Wayan

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