Cartoon Diary, Day 037

I saw Wall-E with my friends Frankie & Lissette yesterday. It was typical Pixar picture - extremely creative & terrifically entertaining. It's amazing how the Pixar folks can give computer animation the spark of life. Having worked for a video game developer for 7 years, I've seen how tough that can be.

I knew I'd do my July 4th cartoon about Wall-E, but I didn't have a good idea for it until this morning, when I remembered a certain reviled character from the 1978 Fantastic Four cartoon. If you don't remember H.E.R.B.I.E., you can find out more about him at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.E.R.B.I.E.

Cartoon Diary, Day 019, Lost Entry 002

Yeah, that's right, I'm naked in today's entry. You got a problem with that?

My back was killing me for the last few days, so I decided to have a nice soak in a hot tub with some epsom salts (God, that makes me sound old. Let me see if I can make up for it... I then got out of the tub, rollerbladed to a rave, did some X, and then played Rock Band until 4AM with a bunch of Suicide Girls. Who I slept with.)

Nope, still sound old. And hideously out of touch. Ah, screw it. Let's see what kind of shape your back is in when you turn 35.

Anyway, taking baths can be kind of a tough proposition when you're over 6' tall. You either have to prop your legs up so your torso can be in the water, or sit up so your legs can get a chance to soak. Either way is less than ideal. Plus, the stopper in my tub is less than 100% effective, so I had a good 15-20 minutes of feeling increasingly more cold on the front side of my body as the water slowly drained away.

It was refreshing, though, and my back felt a lot better when I got out. So I highly recommend a good hot bath to anyone with some aches & pains. Just do it in a 7' tub with a good stopper if you can.

Cartoon Diary, Day 018, Lost Entry 001

For Father's Day I wanted to pay tribute to the two men I've been lucky enough to call "Dad". My biological Dad, Rob, and my stepdad, Hank. Rob passed away a few years back, and I don't get to see Hank nearly as often as I'd like, but they are never far from my thoughts.

Thanks for bringing me up right, guys. I'm doing my best to live up to what you've taught me.

We Now Resume Our Regular Programming...

So... yeah. Got a little behind here.

Suffice it to say it's been a busy couple of weeks for me, and Trumbullshit was unfortunately the main casualty. It bugs me more than anybody, and I offer my sincere & humble apologies to my regular readers. Both of you.

And a hearty THANK YOU to anyone & everyone who has told me they liked the blog, asked to be featured on it, or busted my chops about its lateness. I'm very touched that inside of a month several of you have become attached enough to this blog to comment on its absence, and I will do my best not to leave you hanging in the future. And PLEASE -- continue to give me feedback! Knowing that there are people out there who actually read this thing will help keep me motivated.

Oh, and if you want to be featured in this blog, it's pretty simple -- Just do something funny or memorable enough to make me want to do a cartoon about it. Just continue being your cool, witty selves, and I'm sure you'll make it on here sometime.

I am also open to bribes. Monetary for the men, sexual and/or monetary for the ladies. Get cracking, people.

So, here's my plan: Regular postings here will resume today or tomorrow. Part of the appeal of blogging for me is the immediacy of it, so I want to stay as current has possible instead of constantly playing catch-up. I also want the cartoon diary to stay something I GET to do, not something I HAVE to do.

So we are now introducing a periodic new feature here: Trumbullshit: The Lost Entries, which will fill in the gap for June, 2008. I have a checklist for all the entires I've missed, and I'll be posting them up here in additon to the regular entries until everything is up to date.

And, since I know what's going into 99% of The Lost Entries, I can give you teasers for what they will include. Over the next few weeks, you will see cartoons about: Father's Day, Why Indiana Jones is an Asshole, Fun bar games, Inappropriate ass pats, Paul Rudd screwing me over, Job interviews, the Greatness that is George Carlin, Recognition Night, the Improv show I directed, a tribute to The Family Circus, me totally losing my shit, and Gratuitous Nudity.

Now, if that list doesn't intrigue you, I don't know what will.

Thanks for coming back!

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.