Cartoon Diary, Day 017

Trust me on this one, folks... nothing improves your day like making a life-size face mask of Neil Diamond and singing "Sweet Caroline." If everyone on Earth did this at least once a day, we'd have world peace inside of a week.

Thanks to Vicky for being so much fun to share a shift with!

Cartoon Diary, Day 016

So after I left the theatre on Thursday night I realized that I no longer had my cell phone on me. Unfortunately, I didn't realize this until after the place was already locked up. So Friday I had to borrow a key to the Dover Little Theatre, drive the 10 miles back there, search the theatre and drive the 10 miles back home. Always fun in this age of $4 gas. Thankfully, it wasn't too tough to find my phone again. I'm glad I was smart about it & just dialed my cell using the phone in the box office. It made things a lot easier.

On the way back home I heard about Tim Russert's death on the radio. Such a shame -- he was one of the good ones. In this age of declining journalistic standards, he struck me as one of the few folks in the media who actually WAS fair & balanced, instead of just saying he was. Rest in Peace, Mr. Russert.

In other news, Friday was the last day of our Employee Appreciation Week at B&N. Here's a look at the swag I got for a 40% discount:


Lost Girls was a good read. I ended up enjoying Melinda Gebbie's art more than I was expecting (her work has not been to my taste in the past). I'm almost through the Improv Comedy book, and I've found it very helpful, particulary as I'm in the midst of directing Out of Order's next show (June 28th at Dover, people!).

As for the rest of the books... well, maybe I'll have time to read them in July.

Cartoon Diary, Day 015

Thursday night was improv rehearsal with Out of Order. Since I'm directing the next show, it was up to me to run rehearsal. It started less smoothly than I would have liked. A carpooling mixup made me arrive 20 minutes later than I was planning, one actor called out sick, the temperature inside the theatre was 80 degrees, and the night was half over before we figured out the new air conditioning system. All of this combined to make me feel like a stammering, unprepared idiot.

But I think we turned it around. I think my nerves were more in my head than anything else and I gradually started to find my footing. I raided the refrigerator to get us all water, we worked out some new games for the show, and I think everybody ended up having fun. And everyone was nice enough to stay a little late without complaint, for which I'm very grateful.

So... next week's rehearsal will be even better! Onward and upward!

Out of Order's next show is at the Dover Little Theatre Saturday, June 28th. Tickets $10. Call (973)328-9202 for reservations.

Cartoon Diary, Day 014

This just happened when I realized that the word "Moff" sounds totally stupid unless it's preceded by the word "Grand." At this point, I think George Lucas' primary talent is in thinking up batshit-crazy sounding names.

I am at a loss to explain how my Peter Cushing turned out looking more like Boris Karloff, but I am DAMN proud of the names "Adequate Moff Darko" and "Larry the Moff."

And yeah, I know. I'm behind. I blame it largely on this arriving in the mail on Wednesday:

'Cause when you get a new Alan Moore comic that's all about the sexual adventures of Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz, Wendy from Peter Pan and Alice from Alice in Wonderland, other things tend to take a backseat for a bit.

Cover price $75, but I picked it up for 40% off. I love B&N employee appreciation week.

New posts coming late tonight!

Cartoon Diary, Day 013

I'm not really superstitious, but honestly -- could there be a more appropriate 13th entry than this?

I already detailed my computer problems 2 entries and 30 minutes ago, so I won't bore you with them again. The partial power outage was the weirdest thing, though -- it killed my computer, air conditioning, bathroom, hallway & stairwell lights, but left my bedroom, living room and cable service still working. If you know the layout of my apartment (Which, as faithful readers of my blog, you really SHOULD, you know), you'd know that this is pretty random. Always fun to go without AC for 3 hours when the temperatures are hovering between 80 and 100 degrees. Good times.

I'm pretty happy with the drawing & storytelling in this one. So even though I had to go through the unpleasantness of the power failure, I'm glad I got something good out of it. When life gives you lemons, you make a blog entry.

...What?

Cartoon Diary, Day 012

I already noted this in the comments section of Day 9, but I thought it was so cool that I decided to make an entry out of it. The internet really is an amazing resource for connecting with people, particularly for shy/introverted types like me. We're living in an Age of Wonders here, people.

So basically (Hi, Omar!), Monday peaked at 11:20 AM. Not a bad day by any means -- it's just tough to top getting a note from Kristen Schaal.

My internet connection died on me as I was writing this post, so I guess this Age isn't quite as Wonderful as it could be. Thank heavens for Blogspot's autosave function.

I'm Back!

Sorry for the enexplained absence. Some lightning fried my router during a rainstorm last night, making it impossible for me to get online until about 10 minutes ago. This was following about an hour & a half with various technical support people. The Cablevision guy was very knowledgeable and helpful, and the D-Link router people were quite the opposite. Apparently, the warranty on my router expired on June 1st, so there's not much they're going to do for me unless I give them some money, something which I'm not terribly inclined to do right now.

So for now, I'm just accessing the internet directly through my modem. I suppose I'm going to have to buy a brand new router soon, perferably from some company other than D-Link. If anyone out there in internet-land has a recommendation for a good router, I'd love to hear it.

Anyway. Enough of this stuff -- Back to the Cartoon Diary!

Cartoon Diary, Day 011

For the record, I decided to refrigerate it. Until my friend Mark told me I shouldn't.

My friends Nick & Su had a baby today. YAY!

Cartoon Diary, Day 010

This is just one of those weird ideas I get early in the morning when I'm in the process of waking up. It still seemed like a funny idea to me an hour or two later, so here we are.

My favorite thing about this cartoon is Jesus' expression. Darned if the Son of God isn't really proud of his ramshackle treehouse.

Other things I considered having Jesus build: a workbench and a soapbox racer.

Cartoon Diary, Day 009

I drew this one this morning, before I went off to work. Frankly, looking at it 14 hours later, I'm no longer sure if it makes sense to anyone who didn't see The Daily Show on Thursday night. Anyway, it was a funny bit, and if you had been watching it with me in my apartment at 1 in the morning, I'm sure you'd agree.

Oh, and to follow up on yesterday's post: I got a paycheck today, so I'm financially solvent again. Yay.

Gratuitous Plug Dept: My improv group, Out of Order, is performing at the CDC Theatre in Cranford tomorrow -- Saturday, June 7th. Tickets $10. Go to www.cdctheatre.org for details.

Cartoon Diary, Day 008

Drew this entry last night, but computer problems prevented me from posting it until today. Sorry about that.

I have another entry drawn, but the scanning, cleanup and posting will have to wait until I get back from the bookstore (10 hour shift today!). See you folks then.

Cartoon Diary, Day 007

The contrast between these two moments above was what really got me. This person & I were talking about how the community theatre world can be close-knit to the point of being incestuous. You meet someone who's been in a show with someone who's dated someone who's cheated on that someone with the first someone. So it's a good idea to watch what you say, and to whom.

Of course, not more than one minute later, this guy starts talking about one of the actors in his current show & the stuff this actor is doing wrong. I'm not really trying to come down on my theatre acquaintance -- it's a natural human impulse. I just thought it was funny.

I should also point out that I'm essentially doing the same thing by making a cartoon about this guy, so I'm just as guilty as him.

Hmmm... my cartoon about this person's hypocracy is also pointing out my own hypocracy. This post is getting so Meta...

Bonus Drawing!

Diary Entry #005 went so well last night that I was still in a drawing mood when I was done. This is one of the things I did. I was trying to capture the general feeling of that creepy-but-cool final close up of Anthony Perkins in Psycho. I like how it turned out.

Bonus movie trivia: Did you know that Hitchcock superimposed a skull over Anthony Perkins' face in this shot to make it extra creepy? Well, he did.

Cartoon Diary, Day 006

Okay, so maybe the accuracy of today's entry leaves a touch to be desired. But honestly, my 15-hour day of working the polls in today's New Jersey primary was fairly uneventful, so I felt the need to goose things up a bit. Nothing like a little Jack Kirby-style action to chase the post-election doldrums away!

Oh, and Ladies? The above depiction of my physique? Completely accurate.

Cartoon Diary, Day 005

I really like how the art for this one turned out. Normally I redraw a lot of stuff while I'm fiddling with the layout or trying to capture the right feel for the piece. This one went really smoothly right from the moment I put pencil to paper. These are the sort of days that artists live for.

I'm proud of the cat & the car - two things I don't normally draw. I also like that I worked in a Matt Feazell "ert" sound effect. A lot of times, it's the little things an artist responds to in his own work.

And for the record, the dilemma was if NOT doing something can count as a good deed, not whether or not I should have run over the cat. I may not like cats as much as dogs, but I still have my limits.

Cartoon Diary, Day 004

It can be tough to be witty & funny when you're still just trying to wake up. It ended up being a good rehearsal, though. We got our groove back shortly after this.

Out of Order's next show is at the CDC Theatre in Cranford this Saturday, June 7th! Tickets $10. Go to www.cdctheatre.org for details.

Cartoon Diary, Day 003

Today I went to a party with the cast for 12 Angry Men. We had a barbecue and watched the DVD of our show. It was fun to catch up with eveyone & see them again. I had a great time, but this little exchange with Anthony was probably my favorite moment. It was meant as a compliment & taken as such. I love it when people are blunt with me in a good-natured way.

Anthony's a talented artist in his own right, so I should take his advice & find myself some new art jobs soon.

Oh, and I realized today that I misdated my first two diary entries. They should be dated 5/29 and 5/30. This is what happens when I post these things at 2 in the morning.