Art

I swiped a bit of dialog for today's Cul de Sac (above) from an illustration I dId for Why Things Are at least 14 years ago (below). The small girl in the illustration, who's something of a proto-Alice, is my then-expected older daughter Emma, who turned out to look only slightly like that. What I like best is the drawing Emma's done. I wish I could draw like that all the time. It's probably dangerous to think you're drawing with childlike innocence and immediacy; dangerous only in that you're just kidding yourself. Adult perspective is not so lightly overthrown. But maybe if you think of it as post-expressionism it's okay, and by you of course I mean me. Wouldn't it be fun to draw the whole strip in this style? And by fun I mean for me. Probably less so for you, or for the people who complain about stylistic changes in comic strips.

And, seriously, that's a little better than most four year olds draw, if I do say so myself.

Raymond Scott, Bath Toy

In honor of the centennial of the birth of musical mad scientist Raymond Scott, the toy company Presspop has produced an action figure of the poor unsuspecting man. It's terrifyingly realistic, and includes a CD, a clavivox and a pointing finger to play the clavivox with.

You know Scott's music whether you know it or not. Likely it's permeated your consciousness through its use in old Warner Brother's cartoons via Carl Stalling. And there are a dozen or more CDs of Scott's music, some performed by him and his quintette, others by bands like the Beau Hunks. Scott himself made an appearance in Michael Chabon's Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, at a party where Salvador Dali wore a deep sea diving suit. And now you can have your very own six inch tall Raymond Scott to fill that Raymond Scott-size space on your shelf.

My thanks to Ted Pratt for pointing this out to me.

Today's Poor Almanack

I'm not sure this makes much sense, but it made me laugh when I thought it up (which is often a warning sign). Originally there was as set-back-your-clock joke in there somewhere too, but it got lost in the final. And I'm not sure if "Pecunia Fugit" is correct, because I don't know Latin.

Cul de Sac on YouTube, Updated Slightly

This is pretty cool!

Well, it was pretty cool, but it's gone now. More later.....

Update: it should be up  again next week. I'll let you know.

Comic-Con Magazine

A few months back I did a joint interview with the below-mentioned genius, Stephan Pastis, for Comic-Con Magazine, courtesy of the gracious Gary Sassaman. Well, the whole magazine is online here. You can turn the pages and everything, and little lap cards fall out of your computer screen. You'll instantly notice that Stephan is better-spoken, better-groomed and generally more thoughtful than I am. I think he's taller, too.

March

Here's a repost from last year, only because we're expecting 5 to 8 inches of snow.

What Stephan Pastis Does While Waiting for his Tuna Sandwich

Stephan Pastis, the genius behind Pearls Before Swine, orders a tuna sandwich for lunch, and amuses himself unconstructively by doing this.

Today's Poor Almanack

Here's a slice of desperate graveyard humor for the imploding newspaper business. If they could only reposition themselves as something more necessary, newspapers might survive. Did you know that you can clean glass with a newspaper and white vinegar?

Mardi Gras Parade 2009

The First Family makes its way down Wilson Blvd on Fat Tuesday (photo thanks to Jennifer Hart, Arlington), and they're followed by Gov. Palin, below (photo thanks to Bono Mitchell). I appreciate these as I was stuck at home and missed all the fun. My daughter Charlotte represented the family, kindly chaperoned by Mike Rhode and his daughter Claire.

Awaiting the Parade

Sarah and Barack can't wait to meet you at the Mardi Gras Parade, Tuesday at 8 pm, Courthouse to Clarendon on Wilson Blvd in Arlington.

Wouldn't this make a good illustration for a kinda scary children's book?

My thanks to Bono for the photo!

Oscar (R) Repeat

Here, I posted this last year, but too late to do anybody any good.

Today's Poor Almanack

This isn't entirely true. I did see Wall-E. And this may be the clumsiest lettering I've done, at least for this month.

When Worlds Collide, Part Five

Here's the grisly finale to our little story.

When Worlds Collide, Part Four

I'm proud to have done the first cartoon featuring an assorted jellies caddy. 

Mardi Gras Parade 2009

You may remember the above from last year.

Here's this year's Clarendon Mardi Gras poster. Various diverse hands have been constructing larger than life versions of some Almanac finger puppets to amaze and amuse the crowd.

Barack Obama, left, the magnificent Bono Mitchell, right.

When Worlds Collide, Part Three

Is that thing a tiki head, an Easter Island head or Abraham Lincoln? I just figure it's a pretty off-putting restaurant tchotchke and not at all condusive to fine dining.

You'll note "lowering" was changed to "glowering" in the final version, if you have time for such things.

When Worlds Collide, Part Two

Since I've got nothing to say and no time to say it, I'll just post the week's Cul de Sacs. Here are Tuesday's and Wednesday's. A commenter on gocomics suggests the P.J. stands for pepperjack, which seems reasonable.

When Worlds Collide

This week the Otterloops go to P.J.Piehole's Family Restaurant, which I stole from the Poor Almanac. It's my futile attempt to better integrate my personality.

A Valentine's Day Public Service.

And some advice; if you're on a deadline and in a hurry, draw candy. It's quick 'n' easy!

Fridge Funnies

I did this in March '04. It kinda wrote itself, and seemed to make sense. In some interview years ago Maurice Sendak said that in Dickens' books everything is alive; the chair is alive and the table is alive and the fire in the grate is alive, etc. This takes that idea to ridiculous extremes, I hope.

So a coupla years later I did another fridge cartoon. It got a little convoluted, though I like the final balloon. And I like the implication that the photograph is several rungs above the comic strip on the social ladder, and that the comic strip is a little wiseguy in a derby. I'd planned on doing some more chatty fridge-clutter cartoons; they're like those old animated cartoons from the 30s where all the books on the shelves would open up and the characters would spill out and do funny stuff.  But they're hard to draw and to think up and I'm lazy. For some reason I have no trouble drawing most of your major appliances. Stoves, washers and dryers present no difficulties. But refrigerators defeat me.