Doodling Flerpy Woops and More Conning Wonder

Work Doodle: Must be Wednesday
A couple of weeks ago I had a rough day at work. Between being antagonized by our company's CTO and issues with a fairly large development project, my Wednesday was not going well. In the middle of everything I sketched out a quick doodle that pretty much summed up the entire day.

Close Quarters Eskrima

I don't like using this space to brag, but, darn it, sometimes (and I mean sometimes) I can be pretty badass:

WonderCon Anaheim 2013 - Day1 - Part 2

When last we left our heroes, or in this case Benni and me, we were finishing up with lunch and ready to go tackle the convention floor. The exhibit hall was spectacular. It was a maze fitting Greek mythology, and I think there was even someone wandering around dressed as the Minotaur. The pathways of the labyrinth were constructed of booths and vendors selling comic book related merch ranging from t-shirts, to miniatures, to posters, to collectible mugs. Even the Christian Comic Arts society was manning a booth, though they must have felt like missionaries in Gomorrah. 

By far my favorite place on the exhibit floor, and where I spent the majority of my time, was artist alley. Each booth presented very different artists with very different styles. Most of it was right up my alley (so to speak) some of it not my cup of tea. The most exciting thing about wandering artist alley for me was the opportunity to meet one or two of the artists I regularly follow on Deviantart. Both of whom were insanely cool, and as the day went on they got to be insanely busy. I think Dark Kenjie might still be icing a hand-cramp. 

We wandered for a bit, right up until it was time to go to the first panel even I attended over the weekend, Quick Draw! This was kind of "Who's Line is it Anyway" meets "Pictionary" for cartoonists. The panel included three cartoonists who would take suggestions from the moderator and from the audience and do a quick drawing of whatever was thrown at them; hilarity ensued. The artists on the panel I attended were Jeff Smith, Scott Shaw, and Bobby London. I took a few pictures.

The first challenge was "draw the best possible version of yourself, draw yourself as you wish you could be." Jeff Smith drew himself with a mustache ala Sergio Aragones, Bobby London drew himself with Popeye arms and great hair. Scott Shaw's idealized self-portrait was...different...He promised that if you stopped by his booth later he would show you what was behind the black bars. My morbid curiosity was screaming about how awesome that would be, but my desire to leave without having to tear my eyes out eventually won the day. 

The next challenges was something I'm pretty sure I've seen on "Who's Line is it Anyway?" The challenge was "If they Did 'It.'" The idea is what if these two cartoon characters, one male and one female, got together and had offspring, what would they look like.

My favorite was Bobby London's who took "Olive Oil" and "Batman." There's a broody little girl who randomly will start singing "Gotham needs me, it needs me, it needs me..."

The next challenge was for the cartoonists to draw what they think is the biggest misconception about being a cartoonist. My favorite from this group was Jeff Smith, in no small part because he worked his most well known character, Bone, into the joke. The highlight of this challenge for me was turning to Benni and saying, "One of them is going to draw a giant dollar sign," I then pointed out Bobby London, "and it will probably be that guy." Sure enough he drew a giant "money bag" with a little doodle of himself looking all happy at the riches being a cartoonist has blessed him with (which it really hasn't). 

The next challenge, and the last one I'll put here, was "what would controversy in Popeye's life look like." The clear audience favorite here, even for all the groans it solicited, was Bobby London's. To be fair, he did draw the regular Popeye comic strip for a number of years. He was apparently fired from that position, which I didn't know until he quipped, "and now you can see why I was fired."
Still, this is hilarious, and as my wife says, "they are an older couple."

It bears mentioning that when Quick Draw! was over Benni and I left the panel room and took an escalator down where we immediately ran into this. The only thing I can say about it is this is categorically something you don't see every day. What this had to do with comic books, I don't know, but it was a fun, surprising thing to walk into. 

After the Quick Draw panel Benni and I left and hit the floor to go buy stuff, and there was lots of it to be bought. At one point we ended up at a booth selling half price trades and I bought a stack of trade paper backs. 

I had a lot of fun taking several more photos of costumes, and for the most part the cosplayers had fun getting their pictures taken. The best cosplayers had obviously invested a lot of time, passion, and money into their outfits, and they were thrilled when people showed an interest.

One of the first cosplayers I photographed once we were inside was this woman in a classic Jean Gray costume. This is old-school Uncanny X-Men from back in the 60's, long before she was called "The Phoenix" and was dying ever other issue.

 There were a lot of Whovians present, myself among them. Where I was wearing a shirt bearing an image of the TARDIS and the words "You never forget your first Doctor," this woman actually dressed up as the TARDIS. There were a couple of other TARDIS costumes wandering around, but I was only able to get the one. When the TARDIS is in human form I believe she prefers to go by "Sexy."

Who doesn't love LeeLoo? Seriously? Not only is this one of my all-time favorite science fiction characters, but the woman wearing her outfit from early in the movie freaking nailed it. The best part was when the guy sitting next to her at the booth started complaining about how all she does is talk about how great chicken is and how much she looooves her multi-pass. Always nice to meet someone who's a fan of the same things you are. 

Let's get this out of the way now; yes, her boobs are epic. Now I've said what everyone's thinking and I can talk about the photo. There were other women dressed as Power Girl wandering around the Con, and all of them were profoundly...endowed...to one extent or another, but this woman's costume really caught my eye. Power Girl is supposed to be Kryptonian from an alternate earth with all of the powers of Superman, and of all the women dressed up as Power Girl that first day, the one seen here was the only one with the physique to really pull it off. Also her costume was spot. on. I asked her about it and she made everything herself. My favorite part about this photo is something I didn't see right away. The cosplayer is standing behind a drawing of Power Girl in the same pose she's striking, which is propped up over a photo of her in the Power Girl costume. Overall it's a very cool effect. 

There were a few guys on the floor dressed as Ghostbusters. The guy pictured here was the first one I ran into. Like all of them the proton pack was something he made himself, and it featured blinking lights and LEDs that made it feel really authentic. He was really funny and when I asked him how long it took him to build the proton pack he said, "not counting the years of my childhood spent wishing I could build one?"

Another pair of classic costumes. This time it's Rogue and Psylocke, two of the all-time-great female heroes in the Marvel Universe. 

Not everyone was faithful to the comic books. Some, like the two women pictured here, put their own spin on classic characters. There were other "girl Loki" costumes on the floor, but this one was by far the best, and "girl Thor" was hilarious. 

This may have been my favorite costume all day. This photo doesn't really do her outfit justice, and I'll get to the reason why in a bit, but everything she was wearing was handmade, even the goggles. Most of her costume was leather and lace, both of which are tricky things to work with. She was even carrying a modified Nerf gun made to look like a steampunk revolver. The thing that caught me, though, were her eyes. The contacts really made her stand out, so much so that I first noticed here eating lunch when Benni and I went to grab a cup of coffee. I didn't want to bother her at lunch so I just kept an eye open for her the rest of the day and finally managed to catch her just before the convention staff kicked everyone out for the night. 

That was the end of my first day at Con. I left feeling tired, sore, and definitely lighter in the pocket book, but better than I've felt in a long time. Being in that environment with people who share my interests, passions, and who want the same things I do was a profoundly emotional experience. I left feeling truly, deeply happy for the first time I can remember in a long time, and with an overwhelming sense of belonging. These are my people, and I wish I could spend every day around others just like them. 

Geeky Ring Girls and Conning Wonder from Comic Books

Geek Speak: Come in from the Rain, Ring Girl

This is going to be a long one, so I'm putting the cartoon up front. This was drawn, I kid you not, while I listened to the open enrollment presentation where I work.

If it looks a little odd it was drawn freehand in my notebook, so I didn't get an opportunity to layout proper panels and you can still see some of the "rules" from the notepaper. 

WonderCon Anaheim 2013, Day 1 - Part 1

No blog post about my time at WonderCon this year would be really complete without mentioning my friends Phoenix and her husband Benni. Phoenix is a good friend and fellow artist who was able to register with ComicCon as a professional, which comes with a couple of guest passes that she was generous enough to share with me and my wife, Mildly Sensational. Thank you, Phoenix and Benni, it's possible your generosity has changed my life. I could write several blog posts about how I felt at WonderCon, and the surge of joy I get when I so much as think about walking the floor and attending professional panels, or about the overwhelming sense of belonging I felt, but enough of that, it's time to talk about the Con itself.

Although she provided the professional registration and secured the passes, Phoenix was unable to attend herself. Benni was only able to attend on Friday, so agreed to meet and spend the day at Con together, which was a bit of a relief to me. As much as I love comics, and in for all the years I've lived in Southern California, I've never been to a comic book or science fiction convention. I hadn't the foggiest clue how to go about attending a Con, so it was nice to know I'd be with someone who could show me the ropes even if it was just that first day.

I should back up and mention that it was not at all certain that I would be going to WonderCon until the week before it happened. Around the same time that all of this was being planned Mildly Sensational and I found out we're expecting a second set of little hands. When we found out I immediately set about adding her to my insurance, which caused us some stress, but that's the subject of another blog post. In the end I was able to get her on my insurance, but any visits to her doctor in March would be out of pocket. This financial set back would have meant there was no possible way for me to go to Con, but then our tax return cleared. Although I made enough money this last year to kick us into a new tax bracket, the money we got back from the government was still substantial, and more than enough for me to go to Con without being overly worried about finances.

The first day of Con was Friday morning and I was supposed to meet Benni at the professional registration desk at 9:00. Those who don't have children will have a hard time really understanding how impossible it is to keep a schedule when you have a two year old to provide for. Between diapers, and feeding, and dressing, and playing I didn't get out of the house until almost 9:00.

As I was leaving I made sure to let Benni know I was running a little late. No problem, as it turns out he wasn't going to be able to make it. As it turned out I didn't need to be in such a rush.

My getting into WonderCon came with its own drama. As soon as I arrived I found my way to the

professional registration counter where I got into the line. You can see the photo off to the right here. As long as it looks it paled in comparison to the line for the regular guest registration. That line went out the doors I came in, up the stairs down into the hall, out the doors to the convention center and wound around the courtyard outside. Insert your own joke here about waiting in line so long your children are no longer eligible to be covered on your health insurance.

When I did get to the counter I told the person handing out badges that I had been registered as a guest of a professional and gave them Phoenix's name. Without blinking the guy said, "I can't do that. She has to pick them up." I asked him if that meant I couldn't collect my pass if she didn't pick them up in person and he said "yes" and looked behind me at the next person in line. Thus dismissed and beginning to panic I slipped out of line and sent a quick message to Benni along the lines of "The rooster is not in the hen-house, I repeat, the rooster is not in the hen-house."

We agreed to meet outside before getting back in line to give it another try. Worst case scenario I would just spend the weekend pretending I was Phoenix as her name can be given to males as well. As it turns out we didn't have to do that, Benni was able to secure my actual guest pass by explaining Phoenix's situation (who was at a wedding) and we were on our way to Con!

That's when we ended up in this line. The one behind the weird viking guy in the "coexist" shirt.

There were a few bright spots to waiting for Benni outside, then waiting in line to get into WonderCon. I did get to take some photos of particularly good costumes. Here are a few of the shots I took outside.

I took a photo of this group because I really liked the one in all black with the claws. For those not really familiar with Marvel's line up of heroes this is X-23, Wolverine's daughter by way of genetic cloning and a surrogate mother.

This woman's costume is spot-on for X-23. The other two costumes I feel like I should know, but it's also a case of, "this kids today and their crazy damn cartoons. In my day we didn't have mystic vampire foxes."

I took a picture of this guy because I like that he's dressed as Captain Hammer. I also think it's hilarious that he looks kind of like what the character from that web-series by Joss Whedon that everyone should watch would look like if he let himself go for a while.

There were several guys at Con who were dressed as characters played by Nathan Fillion. This guy's outfit was one of the best I saw all day.

I talked with him a little bit and he said most of what he was wearing he'd bought over several weeks. Some pieces were easier to get than the others. It was worth it as the results are pretty authentic.

In fact I'm pretty sure I saw this guy later being pursued, sweat faced and panicked, by a group of cosplay Kaylees and Inaras.

I saw them later. I didn't see him again. I don't want to know.




It wasn't too long before we were able to get inside. By this time it was afternoon and we were both so hungry we were about to faint. We made a beeline for the concessions where he got a dodgy looking hot dog and I got slightly less dodgy looking pizza. Dodgy or not we scarfed down the grease and calories and headed out onto the floor.

That's where I'm going to have to leave it for now, as this post is already a lot longer than my usual. More to come soon. I promise.

Easter Blasphemy with a Side of Chocolate Bunny

Geek Speak: Happy Zombie Jesus Day!

Many of the Christian holidays are a little silly, at least the way they're observed today. Easter is especially ridiculous to the point of hilarity. What chocolate bunnies hiding colored eggs have to do with the Resurrection is beyond me. Mildly Sensational and I were walking with our little Sparkle and tossing jokes back and forth about what we would put in a "Zombie Jesus Day" cartoon. Here are a couple of the ideas we came up with:

• The newly risen savior is shambling toward a group of people who spot him and flee shouting the usual, "he's come back to eat our brains." The last panel is just Jesus quite innocently saying, "Actually, I'm starving for schwarma."
• Jesus, newly risen is walking with now small degree of tenderness on feet ruined by the nails used to crucify him. He laments, "I hope thousands of years from now my suffering and sacrifice is honored with a fitting icon!" In the last panel he's joined by an adorable bunny in a bow tie sitting next to a basket full of brightly colored eggs. Jesus' response to this is a completely understandable, "ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!"

Ultimately what we came up with was the idea that Jesus gets up on Easter morning and is confronted by the Easter Bunny; a creature he detests. Here's the final cartoon:

There are two small things in this strip that I had a lot of fun coming up with and drawing. The first is "Bless This House" on the wall behind Jesus and Mary Christ. You'd think that was a given. The second was the pepper grinder on the counter. There's something quirky and oddly endearing about the idea of Jesus Christ owning a pepper grinder. I had the most fun drawing the bunny and his expressions ranging from hopeful to terrified.

So there you have it. A mildly blasphemous little cartoon for Easter. Enjoy.

Geek Speaking Wonders and the Power of Audacity

Best quote I've heard in a while
"It's too early for sexy Pikachu."

Which was followed shortly thereafter by:

"It's never a good time for sexy Pikachu."

Geek Speak - The Force is...well if we're being honest, and I think honesty is best, The Force is fictional.

This is an older strip that I've had floating around my head for a long time. It's more-or-less self explanatory, but at some point I had the thought, "how awesome would it be if we could work using The Force." You'd just flex your hands a certain way and stare at the middle distance. Before you could say "Jedi" there'd be this swelling soundtrack and your keyboard would start hammering away on its own. That would be glorious, but I can't help thinking you'd end each day with the worst headache of your life.

The Wonders of Con
This year I had the unbelievable good fortune of being able to attend WonderCon through my good friends Phoenix and her husband. To put this in the proper context it's necessary to understand that I am, at heart, a passionate comic book geek. There was a time in my life that no one in my group of friends new as much about comic books or, more broadly speaking, sequential art than me. As long as I have been interested in comic books I have wanted to go to ComicCon. The annual event in San Diego has long been my idea of Mecca. I've never been able to attend. One thing or another always prevented me from going until this year when I'm attending not just WonderCon, but ComicCon as well, through the generous gift of guest passes from friends who are registered as professional attendees.

WonderCon is not ComicCon. It's not as big, it doesn't have the big-money vendors like Sony or Warner Bros., and it doesn't get the media attention, but (and this is important) while it is smaller, it is substantially more focused on comic books and their creators. In this way, as a comic book convention, it's "purer" (for lack of a better word) than ComicCon.

I'll do another post on my Con experience, but I wanted to say something else here. The last several years have been incredibly trying and frustrating ones for me. Most of each day I spend in an environment that has turned gradually more stifling and pushed me into a mold for which I'm not the most natural fit. The extent to which this was causing me to be unhappy was something I was only dimly aware of until this weekend (it's important to note this is one aspect of my life, a big one, but there are other things in my day that actually make me very happy).

WonderCon thrust me into an environment where I was surrounded by people who share my interests, my passions, and around whom I'm not the oddball. In an epiphany that almost made me fall out of my chair I realized after the first day that, for the first time in several years, I was able to spend an entire day being myself.

That seems like an odd statement when taken out of context. To understand it you need to know that most days I work as a business and technology professional. I'm a project manager heading up a team of five software developers. Project management was not a role I had envisioned for myself, but fell into when the person who'd been hired by my company to be our "certified project manager" was unprepared for calls and causing clients to ask for another project management "resource" (in this business you are not a person, you are a 'resource'). The lack of leadership was so profound that I realized no one was going to take the lead if I didn't. Years later I was promoted to project manager to make the job I was already doing more official. To do my job every day I have to adopt the persona of someone who is a business and technology professional; someone who is not me.

I don't feel as though I am exaggerating much when I say at WonderCon I rediscovered who I really am. It almost feels like I turned a corner and ran into a version of myself from seven years ago who then tells me, "Hey there! Remember me? I'm here to remind you that you were once happy, and passionate, and engaged in things that mattered to you. You can have all that again." He then walks off, fading as he recedes into the distance, leaving me to ponder what he said.

If WonderCon has taught me anything it's that you can do the things your passionate about, even be successful at them (though there are many ways to measure "success") if you have the audacity to pursue them. I work hard already, so my work-ethic isn't a problem. I have a strong sense of my responsibilities and dedication to my obligations, so being responsible isn't a problem. I know when it's time to set play things aside and get to work, so discipline isn't a problem (well, not a huge problem, again, honesty is important). If I'm lacking anything, it's audacity; the daring to take a risk on doing something that fills my heart, even if it doesn't fill my bank account.

Maybe it's time for me to be a bit more audacious.

Geek Boobs on Random Novels

Geek Speak - A Game of Boobies
I haven't had much exposure to "A Game of Thrones," either on HBO or the books themselves. The few times that I have been around when someone was watching the series my eyes have almost fallen out of my head. It's like the show can't go five minutes without some gorgeous, large busted young woman getting out of her clothes and on top of some ruggedly handsome medieval dude. With all the talk about "winter" you'd think people would be more concerned about...I don't know...keeping warm, maybe? Anyway, that was the inspiration for today's cartoon.

Random Thoughts
The downfall of our civilization won't be taxes, war, or the final season of The Simpsons. It will be the rise to power of a generation that uses the Internet chat acronym "LOL" in regular conversation...without irony.

Linux is like the weird kid next door. The disciples of Apple and the apostles of PC both look down on the Linux community as the kid sitting next to you in class who eats paste and colors outside the lines. In truth some version of Linux is used to run just about everything Windows and Mac don't. From your digital watch to your TV to your smartphone (even iOS was built on a Unix Kernel), everyone uses a device that depends on Linux every day. Linux has more market penetration than a Wall Street hooker.

NaNoWriMo Excerpt

This is from my recent attempt to complete the NaNoWriMo challenge. I didn't finish, but I didn't really expect that I would. I like the tone I've set here.

Rain had come to Uptown and a ripple of excitement ran through Undertown. At the first drops from above, the dwellers of Undertown stopped what they were doing and made for the nearest open space. Some stopped in the middle of haggling over the price of bruised, week-old apples, others fighting a brawl that no one could remember how it started stopped mid-punch and went out to the streets. Happy children ran away from their parents, to come skipping back at their shouted names. Those unable to get to the streets went to the tops of their buildings. Everyone, absolutely every man, woman, and child stopped where they were and turned their faces up. 

The drops came slowly and unevenly at first as the ingenious rigging of pipes and bins high, high above their heads collected and distributed the water. When the pipes filled to a predetermined level, the rain began. The drops began to fall tentatively, then in a steady drone of water slapping the jigsaw mash-up of pavement and bare earth. Water striking their upturned faces, the residents of Undertown, rich and poor, brutish thug and bloodied victim, Fathers and daughters, raised their arms to feel the cool drops on their skin. As one they closed their eyes and dreamed of the sky. 

Your Vote Counts, the final chapter

Random Thoughts
Eve of the Election Ruminations

Vote tomorrow because it is the right thing to do, not so that you can use your vote as a way to shame others or to feel superior.

On the eve of the election I propose this: the choice we have to make is not black and white (so to speak). There are great divides in the ideology of the top major party candidates, and some would say that you have a basic choice to make between free-market-capitalism represented by Mitt Romney, or big-government socialism represented by Barack Obama. I don't think Romney is a good choice by any measure, but on this count specifically I suggest that it is possible to believe that one of the roles of government is providing services for the people such as a retirement guarantee or support for the elderly, health care, and public assistance for those who are struggling right now, and still maintain a thriving free-market based economy. I don't believe that providing a social safety net and capitalism need to be mutually exclusive.

Random Thought
Cross the goddamn street already
Los Angelenos I beg you, please, for the love of god, when you're crossing the street, please, walk like you have a fucking purpose. After work the other day I was driving to the Trader Joe's and had to turn onto Victory. The car in front of me, my car, and at least three cars behind me were held up almost to the point the light turned yellow while a family of four meandered across the street. They were obviously enraptured and taking in the awesome fucking grandeur of the intersection of Victory and Verdugo.

We see this all the time in Los Angeles. People just lazily ambling across the street like they're on some kind of fucking zen pilgrimage. Not so much in Denver. I think it has something to do with how cold it can get in winter. People walk like they're on a mission all year long because they've been conditioned to think "If I don't get out of this cold soon I"m going to freeze my dick (or tits) off." That conditioning never goes away. It could be the dead of summer and a guy wearing flip flops, shorts, and a Hawaiian shirt in ninety degree weather would still, at some level, be worried about frostbite on the fun stick.

The Matchbox Read My Mind
Two dear friends recently got married. At their wedding they had these adorable little matchboxes which had been wrapped with tiny children's book covers. We were sitting at the Fantastic Mr. Fox table, so that's what we got by default. In each little matchbox were a handful of refrigerator magnets. Between the two of us my wife and I could combine our magnets to come up with something meaningful, if abstract, but on our own they just didn't make sense (which is actually a kind of nice metaphor for our marriage). 

Fast forward a week or two and I'm at a mutual friend's place with the newlyweds to watch a couple of scary movies and they brought a bag with extra matchboxes, so I snagged The Cat In the Hat and Clifford the Big Red Dog. I have to admit I forgot about them for several days until tonight when I happened to see them in my laptop case, fortunately none the worse for wear for my daughter using the laptop case as a trampoline (the laptop is ok, too; I'm using it to post this). I shook the magnets out of "Clifford" and what should fall into my hand but this? Truer words never tumbled out of a children's-book-matchbox.

NaNoWriMo

I haven't done this in a while, but a part of me really wants to take on National Novel Writing Month again. Partly it's to get the creative juices going again. Partly it's an exercise in cathartic escapism that might prevent me from beating the shit out of some people who desperately deserve it. I see this as a win-win. 

Joking aside I have not had an opportunity to really sit down and write for a long time. This is something I used to find genuinely rewarding and I need to do something to get back into it. Don't get me wrong, I love cartoons and cartooning, but my first and most enduring passion has always been writing. 

It's always been the one thing I could do that set me apart from other people. In college when I decided to study acting I had professors who would say things to the effect of "You are a fine actor, but I really like your writing," or "it seems like you're almost a better writer than you are an actor." Maybe I should have seen the signs, like how you know your kid has been sniffing the dry-erase markers. 

Basically I'm putting this out there to let those of you who read this know that I'm going to try it. I don't have high hopes for finishing. No one trying to write with a young child in the house is really likely to get very far unless they're J.K. Rowling level brilliant (or a lousy parent). That said I could use your support. Ask me how it's going. I'll post excerpts here. Tell me what you think. Tell me to keep going. I could use some good will. October was a lousy month. I'm still on my feet, but in the same way Rocky Balboa was on his feet after fifteen rounds of being tenderized by Apollo Creed. 

Your Vote Counts, Two!

Romney Policy review continued

• The Deficit - This is a boogeyman the Republicans trot out every four years to scare Americans with threats of "your children's, children's, children will be paying your debts!" Unfortunately Romney's plan cannot...let's look at that again...CAN NOT be done in a way that reduces the deficit.
  
  The plan is to cut revenue, while also cutting programs and somehow arrive at a balanced budget. This doesn't work without introducing crippling austerity measures that would crush the economy in its current fragile recovery state. In addition, the Romney plan is to dramatically increase the military budget. Lower revenue, increased military spending, while making the Bush Era tax cuts permanent...in what way does this not balloon the deficit?
  
• Women's issues - Romney has been all over this issue. He's pro-choice as a governor, then immediately shifts to the right when he starts running for president, then tries to appear moderate when he gets the nomination. He can't be trusted on this. period.
  
  The Romney platform is simple 1.) Appoint justices who will roll back Roe v. Wade. 2.) End Title X Funding for family planning and preventative health services. This would seriously impact Planned Parenthood's ability to service low-income women and those without insurance.
  
  Two personal notes here; first, before my wife and I were married, and for years after, we depended on Planned Parenthood for subsidized birth control. Neither of us could have afforded it on our own. Planned Parenthood really helped us to avoid getting pregnant before we were ready. Second, my mother in law speaks in no uncertain terms about how bad things were before Roe v. Wade, when every major hospital in every major city had a septic abortion ward to treat women who had used coat hangers and worse to end an unwanted pregnancy. Conservatives say that won't happen again, but it already is in states like Texas and Arizona where they've instituted draconian laws that restrict access to a safe medical abortion. Make no mistake, a Romney presidency would be a bad thing for women.
  
• Global Warming: Romney's position on this is just as mercurial as his position on Women's issues. In the last year he's been on the public record saying he believes global warming is caused by man, and he's been on the public record saying that no one (really? no one?) knows if man is really contributing to global warming. It's politically savvy of Romney to take this position as his campaign and Super PACs are getting huge sums of money from organizations such as Americans for Prosperity that are vehemently outspoken against climate change science.
  
• Healthcare: There has been a lot of discussion on this topic, and there is a lot of heated debate about the Affordable Healthcare Act. Much of the derision for "ObamaCare" comes from those who view it as socializing our healthcare system, or creating a system of "social medicine." In the end "social medicine" is a pejorative term with no real meaning that is typically used by conservatives to throw fire on progressives trying to make real change to our health care system.
  
  In fact the United States has had a social health care system for decades. It's called the Veteran's Health Administration. This is a government body that operates government owned health care facilities and employs health care professionals. That's the closest thing to true "socialized medicine" practiced by any modern, industrialized nation.
  
  The Affordable Care Act is actually a step toward a publicly funded health care system that is privately administered, what's known as a "single-payer" system. It's actually much closer to the the way the Canadian system operates than it is to, say, the British National Health Service.
  
  In fact the United States is woefully behind in this regard. Ours is the only western industrialized country, the only real power in the world, that does not currently provide some kind of a public option as a step toward creating a universal healthcare system. I'm sure conservatives of all stripes will proudly puff out their chests and strut about while chanting the mantras of free market economies and competition leading innovation and the dignity of being self-reliant. To what end? In a ranking of life expectancy by country the United States was 38th in the world after such socialist hellscapes as England, France, and Canada.
  
  For me it has never been stated more clearly or succinctly than it was by a doctor who was interviewed about volunteering for a free clinic in Los Angeles. She had done the same for free clinics all over the state, and also volunteered for Doctors Without Borders. What struck me was when she said that she and the other doctors see hundreds of patients at the free clinic events, and people still end up being turned away. She said the need in this country is as great as some third world countries where she's worked.

This is the United States. We can do better.

Your Vote Counts!

This started as an email to my sister but started running way too long to send her the thing in its entirety, so I decided to put it here. I don't usually like to do this, mostly because it opens me up to smug condescension from people on the conservative side of the spectrum. I decided to go ahead with this because I think this is important and there needs to be an honest, hard look at the candidates. It's wonky and long, and I apologize. I hope that after the election I'll get back to writing about comic books and drawing cartoons. 

The subject is meant to be glib, but in your case it's really true. Colorado is a battleground state this year which means your vote actually counts for something. If I were to vote for...I don't know...my neighbor's dog, and convince everyone I know to do the same, and they convinced everyone they know to do the same, and they convinced everyone they know. It would amount to squadoo in California. My state is so strongly Obama that were I to make a dedicated effort to get out the vote on the Labrador Party candidate it would result in a statistical blip at best. 

You on the other hand, and the other voters in Colorado, could actually affect the outcome of the race. Not as much as...you know...Ohio...but more so than California. 

That said, I have to follow it up with this, I don't understand why anyone who didn't drink an entire bottle of NyQuil before going to the polls would vote for Romney. Here are a few of my general thoughts about the GOP candidate:

• Don't judge a person by what they say when the cameras are rolling, when they have scripted questions to answer, and when their campaign has had an opportunity to coach the interviewer on what questions not to ask. Judge a person by what they say when his answers haven't been prepared in advance or they're not aware the camera is rolling. Romney fails this test of character time, after time, after time. From the infamous "47% of Americans don't want to be responsible for their lives" remark, to telling a student asking about federal funding for an education that he should "shop around and get the best education he can afford," to "I'm not concerned with the very poor." There have been dozens of others, but these comments really reveal Romney to me; an out-of-touch, rich, white plutocrat who's only out for himself.
• Judge a person by their ability to say something and stick to it. Romney is laughably bad at this. Laughably. It's not for nothing that he's called the "etch-a-sketch candidate." He's taken every imaginable side on just about every major issue you could name. Try it some time. Pick an issue than do a search on YouTube for both sides. I'll tee one up for you Romney believes in global warming (climate change is a euphemism created by the right to downplay the severity of the problem) AND Romney does not believe in global warming. Try this with any issue you can think of. I can all but guarantee you will find Romney making arguments on both sides. Incidentally, cap and trade was originally presented to congress in the 1980's as a way to address industrial emissions that were causing acid rain. The group that presented it was the Environmental Defense Fund, and consisted of a coalition of free-market-Republicans and environmentalists. It goes back further than that, but the argument can be made that the origins of cap-and-trade as a political concept were in the Republican party.
• There are volumes to be read in what's left unsaid. This goes back to Romney not releasing his taxes. I'm sure you're tired of this, but you should know that his father, George Romney, released five years of taxes when he ran for president. The elder Romney was also a very successful, very wealthy businessman, and yet felt it was appropriate as someone who was running for the opportunity to influence tax policy to disclose his own tax history. It shows integrity and honesty, virtues Romney lacks. When he ran for Governor he was caught lying about filing his taxes as a resident of Massachusetts.  

Those are kind of personal objections to Romney. The next points are all policy. 

• Foreign Policy - Libya: let's get this out of the way first, according to the Vienna Convention host countries are responsible for providing security. America provides its own security because we've learned the hard way that we can't always rely on the host country. A big part of the problem here is that prior to the attacks in Libya congress voted to reduce the budget of the Diplomatic Security Service by almost half-a-billion dollars. Paul Ryan voted for that reduction and neither he nor Romney have really acknowledged his part in that. Syria: Romney called it Iran's path to the sea, it's not, Iran has hundreds of miles of coast and their own Navy. If a man is going to be responsible for influencing the policy for dealing with the region he should probably know at least something about the fucking geography. China: He wants to label them a currency manipulator. In truth every candidate going back several elections, including Obama, have made this promise "I will immediately declare China a currency manipulator!" For the most part they all find upon taking office that A.) America does not (surprise surprise) dictate Chinese economic policy B.) The Chinese know they're doing it and frankly don't give a shit what we think, and C.) To label them a currency manipulator could seriously upset trade relations with them. The best way to affect Chinese economic policy, by far, is to provide incentives for American companies to make their products here instead of overseas. 
• Iran: Both sides claim to have a hard red line on Iran creating a nuclear device. What's worrisome here is Romney has all of the same foreign policy advisers as George W. Bush. It's not too far fetched they would lead Romney to decide on a preemptive strike on Iran. This would not be like attacking Afghanistan or Iraq, not remotely. Iran is a prosperous country with a well-equipped, well-trained, modern military. They also have powerful allies with vested interests in Iran's security. That said. Iran is most likely not going to be come a nuclear armed state. The minute Israel has actionable intelligence that Iran is close to developing a nuclear weapon they'll reduce Tehran to a smoking crater. Not a great move for global peace or security, but understandable. Iran has been outspoken in their desire to make Israel go away.
• Terrorism - Romney claims that Obama has allowed al-Qaeda to proliferate. While it is true that al-Qaeda affiliates exist in several countries and pose a threat, it's also true that in four years the military, CIA, and law enforcement have killed or captured more key leadership figures than at any time in Bush's presidency. Most of whom were hiding in Pakistan, as the president mentioned in the debate. While they are recruiting all the time, this kind of "brain drain" has a cost. Bin Laden is just one on a list of terror leaders who is no longer a threat thanks to the efforts of the military and intelligence communities under the leadership of the Obama administration.
• Economy - Romney wants to make a flat reduction to tax rates to the tune of 20% across the board. This is not a new concept. In almost every election someone, usually a Republican, tries to sell the country on a flat tax, or a flat reduction, or "leveling the playing field." There are two reasons this has yet to find traction with voters and/or politically 1.) It won't make filing taxes easier for anyone. It doesn't matter what the tax code is, you still arrive at the numbers using the same calculation. 2.) It explodes income inequality. In a flat tax system the very rich end up paying substantially less as a percentage of their income, while the middle class, and especially the low-income classes, pay more. Romney's plan is no exception to this. 

Romney dancing on the graves of our honored dead

Kitty's Random Jargon on the High Road

Very not daily doodle: Kitty Cat!

Every now and then I try to branch out and try to draw something other than people, cartoon people, naked people, and...well...more people. I really should work more on still life, landscape, and architectural drawing, among other things. That said every now and then I do lay down the graphite to produce something other than yet another humanoid rendering.

I'm pretty sure the photo reference for this drawing came from deviantart.com, but whatever the source I had a lot of fun rendering a more or less realistic cat face that is only slightly cartoony around the eyes.

I like to think this is plaintive face cats give you to lure you into petting them. Once you're touching them, that's when they strike.

Random thoughts
I drew a picture of a woman making an...ecstatic face on my notebook at work. I got away with it by calling it "The Sneeze."

Frozen Gogurt...not as good as advertised.

Have you ever driven at night with your pants off? Just to pass people on the street and think, "they have no idea i'm half naked?" I have to think that would be a liberating feeling. To get pulled over would suck, though.

Homemade food rocks. It's a lot more effort, but when you start being able to cook food without turning it into building materials or poison the results are better, and cheaper, than you can get in most restaurants.

The hardest thing about working a job where you don't feel a lot of satisfaction is watching people get bent out of shape about things you think don't matter.

Business Jargon That Needs to Die: The Asks Edition
The business school habit of turning verbs into nouns for the purpose of giving a catchy name to something that doesn't need it has perpetrated yet another obscene violation on the English language. Have you ever had a business person tell you to increase the number of "asks" in your sales process?

Comic Book Review: Taking the High Road Edition
Title: Higher Earth
Publisher: Boom
Issue: 1
Price: $1.00 (Holy shit! An affordable comic! Worth. the price. alone) 

Although this book has a high quality cover with well done, engaging artwork, I must confess that what swayed me to buy this was the price. At one dollar the price tapped into my sense of nostalgia and transported me back to the early days of my blossoming geekdom. All comics were a buck, or a buck-twenty-five, and you could spend twenty bucks and get enough reading material for a whole afternoon (back when I had the luxury of being able to spend a lazy afternoon reading comic books). Beyond the sentimental mist forming in the corner of my eyes and the great price, I wasn't expecting much from this book. I mean, c'mon, it's a dollar-comic. For that you usually get badly drawn knock off Archie-porn.

Once I cracked the pages there was a pleasant surprise waiting inside. Too often these days comics will feature a high-quality, well crafted cover drawn by a recognizable name, only to fill out the interior with artwork drawn by the Editor in Chief's six year old nephew who actually wants to be Spider-Man when he grows up. To a great degree, those were my expectations going in, but the artwork is sound throughout. Solid line work, good layout, and really well done color that evokes different locations throughout the book were a treat for my optic nerves.

With that in mind a cynical person might say, "Ok, so, the price is good and the artwork isn't crap, so the story must be utter shit." No? Maybe that was just me, but this book defied conventional wisdom again and provided a story with a good blend of excitement and carefully placed exposition, plus a solid a hook at the end that I would feel no shame in picking up issue number two.

Overall I feel good recommending this book. It's well worth the "$1.00" cover price. Even if you don't like it, you're only out a buck. So what the hell?

As with all my comic reviews the cover art and interior art are used without permission from the publisher or the creators. This is why I use small, low-resolution images and link those to the comic's listing on HeavyInk.com. If you would like to read one of the comics I've reviewed for yourself I encourage you to order from HeavyInk.com, or (even better) support your local comic book store and buy your comics from them.

Google-ize Airbender Guns

Random Thoughts
I really hope that "Google-ize" doesn't actually become a word because torturing a proper noun so it can be used as a verb like this makes me want to vomit.

I'm not narcissistic enough to be an atheist.

Fast food fried chicken is the sarcophagus inside the food pyramid. Tasty, but made of death.

The Last Airbender's Soup Catcher
I love Avatar: The Last Airbender, (the original animated series, not the live action abomination by M. Knight Shyamalan) but...Aang grew up and grew a douchey looking chin strap. That's not right. You'd think Katara would have had something to say about that. Maybe she compromised. He could keep the beard if he shaved...somewhere else. On second thought I'd rather not think about it.

Don't take my guns, bro! 
Recently a friend posted this image on facebook:

At first I read his comment as "I wish I understood this more," which I liked right away before I reread his comment and realized that he was actually saying, "I wish more understood this." After thinking about it for a little while I did something I almost never do in general, and have never done on a friend's post; I "unliked" his update. My views on our right to bear arms and gun control are complicated, and sometimes I don't fully understand them myself.

On one hand, a man much smarter than me once said, "An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life." There's something to that, and I genuinely believe that people should be allowed to defend themselves.

On the other hand, if everyone is wandering around armed they might be more inclined to engage in vigilante justice. There was an example of just this kind of shenanigan in the news recently when an armed neighborhood watch captain (seriously, what kind of neighborhood watch has freaking guns), shot and killed  an unarmed seventeen-year-old high-school student.

Are guns necessarily bad or evil? No. Guns are a tool, like a hammer or a screwdriver. They are arguably more dangerous than a hammer or a screwdriver, but guns are fundamentally just another kind of tool. Is our right to bear arms important? Yes. Does it make me feel safer? Hell no.

Look at it this way: Anyone who opts for a career that will require them to carry a gun professionally, whether military, law enforcement, or even personal security, undergoes hours and hours of training before they are full qualified to do so.  Now, of the people who will buy weapons this year, how many will take even a basic gun safety class? Never mind taking home defense classes that just might mean someone not shooting their daughter's boyfriend when he sneaks into the house at midnight. Can anyone really trust their safety and the protection of their rights to the guy down the street who bought a gun just to exercise his second amendment rights?

I'm not against more people owning guns, and I'm not even really against people carrying them publicly. That said, there needs to be some measure of accountability for owning and carrying something as potentially lethal as a gun.

I would feel better if I knew the gun owners in my neighborhood had completed a gun safety course, had spent some predetermined number of hours at a range, and some kind of course in defensive shooting before they were even allowed to bring the gun home. I would feel better about the gun owners in my neighborhood carrying weapons publicly if I knew they had met even more rigorous standards before being issued a permit to carry. Last, I would feel better about people owning guns and carrying them publicly if there were very, very serious consequences for harming another person with a gun.

Our right to bear arms is an important part of the freedoms we enjoy, but the responsibility that comes with it must be taken very seriously.

Business jargon that needs to die: High Level
When I'm playing a video game and I'm nearing the ultimate conflict in the game, or ready to face the final boss fight, that's a high level. Martial artists who achieve more than a third-degree-black-belt, that's a high level. When you're talking very generally about things related to a project, that is not a high level. In fact if that conversation is with anyone but the CEO and his closest sycophantic suck-ups (company officers) it's really very low level. Take "high level" out of your business vocabulary. Drag it out in the street and shoot it. Then run it over with something big that spews a lot of really toxic pollution.

The rise of Linux! or...not...
Every year or so there is a flurry of articles in trade journals and online news sites dedicated to Linux that this year will be "THE YEAR OF LINUX." Why? Is this year really going to see more users adopting an operating system that A.) Won't run the software they want to use unless they happen to be relatively well versed in Linux B.) Has more distributions than Mitt Romney has opinions on a single issue?

I have used Linux and liked it, but to get work done I stick with Windows because it runs all the programs I use, I can play the games I like, and I don't have to be a super-geek, uber-user to make it work. Admittedly most Linux desktop distributions have gotten better about this, but a lot of intermediate to advanced use of even the best Linux based operating systems (Mint, Ubuntu, Fedora) require at least some knowledge of using a command line interface and a working knowledge of Linux syntax.

If Linux is ever going to be a contender it needs to do better than being a scrappy second string operating system for enthusiasts and people who inherited an older second hand computer that won't run any other modern operating system. Any Linux distribution needs to step into the ring with a stinging jab and killer right hook if it ever hopes to take minds and hearts away from Windows and MacOS.

The doodle (giving up on "daily")

I'm a huge fan of Doctor Who and the Daleks can be really scary (when you forget they're an upended bin with bits glued on). Also, the unofficial mission statement of Google is "don't be evil." Something occurred to me one day. When you're blinded by love, can  you tell the object of your affection is truly evil.

That, and I thought an Android going to hug a Dalek would be funny.

Random business private school thoughts

Random thoughts

More money is not the same thing as more happiness.

"And remember to have fun!" is only ever said by people who A: don't have to do whatever it is everyone else is doing, and B: when "fun" is not a likely outcome.

I don't really love my job, but there are days I love some of the people I work with. Had an hour long conversation a couple of weeks ago about the classic children's film, The Dark Crystal. After a brutal two (now up to six) weeks, the levity was really refreshing.

Business terms that need to die, episode 1: "Thought Leader"
I hate this expression. Absolutely hate it. If it were a six year old yelling "I hate you" I'd yell, "well fuck you you little shit, die, die, DIE!" Ok, I wouldn't actually say that to a six-year-old, as a dad I know you can't do that to kids that young. They should be teenagers at least.

To say that you or your organization are a "thought leader" in anything just sounds smug and smarmy and...other disparaging things that begin with the letter "s."

Private School Blues (and that's just the uniform)
Listening to the radio a while ago there was a discussion about education reform. The debate was more or less what you probably expect, i.e., whether or not there's a crisis in public education and is privatization (for profit education) the answer. While this wasn't exactly gripping radio it raised a kind of disturbing question. If teaching to the test is failing our schools and our students, how does teaching for profit solve that problem?

My formative years in the school system, from kindergarten to sixth grade, were spent in a private, Catholic school. My parents, like many others of a similar conservative leaning mentality, were convinced that public education was equivalent to socializing the teaching of our country's children. Like many other conservative leaning people they felt the best education could only be found in private schools run on a tuition basis.

While attending private school we were indoctrinated to think of public school as a kind of purgatory where mean, dumb kids were sent. Horror stories about the goings on in public school abounded. We scared each other with stories about knives, school yard fights, and atomic wedgies. We were also told the education we were receiving was far superior, and we would be so much better off later in life because we were in a private school.


First, I got the shit beat out of me more in a month attending private school than I did in seven years I spent in public school when my parents could no longer afford tuition. So...the whole image of public schools as anarchic hellholes where bad kids go to eat good kids for lunch was exposed for what it was: bullshit.

Second, we were told that private school would better prepare us for when we became adults. I am now an adult and have been for some time. When I look back I don't feel that I was any better prepared for classes, tests, or new subjects just because of my private school education. If I performed better than my peers in a given class that had everything to do with my own aptitudes, abilities, and hard work than any kind of "privileged" educational background. Thus, the notion that private schools do a better job of preparing students for adulthood is also bullshit.

When this debate comes up the discussion very often turns to teachers, and how they are failing our students. There's a lot of chest-thumping on both sides of this argument. I tend to side with the argument for teachers as overworked, underpaid, and grossly unsung heroes. That said, teachers provide a framework for learning and present students with information. They are professional educators. The actual teaching of our country's youth begins long before they step into a classroom. Teaching must begin with the parents.

This is what makes any discussion of private education or public education at once moot, and much more complicated. If parents aren't doing the things they need to do to nurture learning in the home, there is next to nothing teachers can do, whether they work in a for profit charter or private school or as part of a public school program. If any child gets to high school and can't read at a minimum of a fifth grade level, that's the fault of the parents, not their teachers.

I don't think privatization of education addresses this problem. In the end all privatization of education will ultimately do is make sending kids to school more difficult for the lower end of middle class, and low income parents. The moneyed elite will get the best education money can buy, while everyone else either makes do with what they can afford, or goes without. Right now, rich or poor, most people can read; they've had at least that much education. Can we as a country really afford to change that? Can we afford to go backward to a time when most everyone knew at least one person who couldn't read at all?

Those in favor of privatization of education would argue this would never happen. That parents would have more choice. These are the people who would benefit most if we were to move in this direction. The risk here is the same people who will argue that parents have more choice aren't remotely interested in offering a choice. They're interested in control. First control over who can afford a good education and who can't, then control over the content of that education itself. This is a dangerous road to follow, and I sincerely hope we don't start down that path.

Random thoughts
Things that are true are rarely ever uplifting. My wife and I talked about this after reading a t-shirt slogan. Think about it, even optimistic platitudes like "every silver lining has a dark cloud" aren't really all that uplifting. Fine! Great! There's a silver lining! Bully for the silver lining! You're still surrounded on all sides by a fucking dark cloud.

I can't believe this actually happened: http://goo.gl/iAadG
It's like RIM is actually trying to go out of business. Maybe under the right circumstances total failure as a business is more profitable to the guys at the top than being successful. Someone tell Mel Brooks these guys are stealing his moves.

Pacifism is a modern, first world point of view. Maybe it's because I'm reading Dies the Fire by S.M. Sterling, but it occurs to me that pacifism is an outgrowth of the rise of super powers and modern technology. Imagine a world without mass transit or mass communication, hell most people have trouble imagining a world with out fucking iTunes and Starbucks. In this world you eat only what you can grow or raise, or hunt on your own; at the very least you have to grow part of everything you eat. Those who can't, or won't, either starve or roam the land taking what they need to survive even if that means killing people. Who is really going to say "I respect your personhood" to the guy who wants to disembowel him for the world's last package of Skittles?

Whiteboard wise guys
As much as possible I try to stay far, far way from talking about work in this space. Once upon a time I wasn't so careful. That ended tragically. There was wailing and gnashing in the street. The worst was the gnashing. Every now and then, however, something happens that I think is worth sharing.

We have a number of walls with large whiteboard surfaces for use by our various teams. On one a company visionary wrote "the most important knowledge is the ability to anticipate the future," then proceeded to credit themselves for the quote.

The temptation to add to that, "Satirists quote themselves ironically, narcissists do so in earnest" and add my name to it is terrible. Not only does it have a funny ironic twist, but it's a nice poke in the eye of pretentiousness.

Today's (so very not) Daily Doodle:

It's not just that I seem to be saying "mea culpa" at work a lot these days, but at some point the notion of a steaming cup of culpa popped into my head. Completely unbidden came the idea of a ballgame vendor walking the stands with piping hot paper packages of Culpa for five bucks. So while I was sitting in one of a seemingly endless series of sync meetings while the drone of business jargon and self-congratulatory rhetoric slowly liquefied my brain I drew a picture of just that. I wonder what Culpa would taste like. I like to think that it would almost have to be bitter. 

Random Birthday Muscle Porn

Random thought of the day
If you were to eat an "Airborne" table, would it boil your mouth, or just make your breath effervescent?

Old enough to be president
This year marks a milestone in my life; I have joined the ranks of the "mid-thirties" crowd. I am now old enough to run for president, if I were ever to be brainwashed into thinking that taking the job would be a good idea. This was also my first birthday as a new dad. Given that my daughter's birthday is also this month, my birthday was pretty much what I expected, that is it passed mainly unnoticed in the looming event of my daughter's first birthday. Which is ok, I think that's as it should be. I've had thirty-five birthday's now, and this will be her first. It should be a bigger deal.

That said events of this week have been difficult to bear. Work is...not going well, and on top of it the baby was sick, which meant I had to be out of work for a couple of days. Add to that the frustration of having to turn down a call back, not an audition, a fucking call back, because I needed to be home with my sick daughter, there was no alternative, and work piling up on me and this birthday was something I have never experienced. Namely, I just wanted the fucking day to be over with already. No more passive aggressive bullshit at work, no more sick baby, no more of feeling guilty for trying to be a good dad even if it means missing out on paid acting work, just no more. Just be done with the whole goddamn day.

I've never felt that way about my birthday. The one shining light in my day, and arguably my week, was my wife made lemon bars. For anyone who's had the good fortune to sample the ambrosia that flows from our oven when my wife decides to bake you'll understand what I mean when I say that I'd been looking forward to tasting these all day. When I finally did get to bite down through the sticky, crumbly, crunchy, sweet, tart treat it made so much of my week up to that point melt away. Every bite was worth the wait. My week, and possibly my birthday, may have been shit. But my wife made the best lemon bars I've ever had.

The (who am I kidding) daily doodle: for the ladies

When I'm just doodling my tendency is to draw women, more often than not. It's not anything puerile (usually) I just enjoy drawing what I think to be beautiful women.

It occurred to me that I would not be complete as an artist if I just focused on that. The running horse from my last post came from a similar impulse. To round out my understanding of anatomy and the human form I would need to draw men.

Once again I turned to the holy bible of figure drawing resources known as DeviantArt.com. It yielded a lot of photos of guys making self portraits of their junk, but mixed into the forest of dong shots (with varying degrees of shrubbery) I found a few gems.

Truth be told there are a lot of very serious artists on DeviantArt.com, many of whom produce beautiful work, like the photo I used as a reference for this drawing. I'm not sure why I picked it. I think the lighting and the model's expression evoked a kind of bashful melancholy that called out to me.

I call this drawing "muscle porn."

Random Fable Horsies

Random thoughts
I'm having a passionate tech love affair with Down Them All. It's a Firefox plugin that will let you download multiple documents or images from a web page in a multi-threaded (yay tech-speak) process, so that you don't have to do one download at a time. Don't tell Google Wave, it gets jealous.

We're watching Downton Abbey which is an absolutely amazing show full of mumble-y British people. In one episode the heir of the estate is explaining that his job (oh, scandal) won't interfere with the day-to-day running of Downton Abbey because there are always the evenings and weekends (help, I feel a swoon). To this Maggie Smith, in the amazing way she has of delivering her lines says, "What's a weekend?" It made me realize that we take for granted some things that are fairly recent developments in the scheme of things. In fact, the 40 hour work week wasn't a national institution until 1937 with the Fair Labor Standards act. Saturday morning sounds that much sweeter when taken in that context, doesn't it?

Why are there so many birthdays in March? It's really hard to imagine all those young couples humping to the tune of "My Country 'Tis of Thee."

Fables

I know I'm kind of going on about this series but I just finished books ten and eleven of the awesome ongoing story of Fables. When I come across writing of this caliber and stories this well constructed it makes me shed a few tears for the state of literacy in our country that so many are ready to turn up their noses to graphic novels, but they'll religiously follow Jersey Shore.

Fables 10 is a particularly good story that takes a famous fable with whom we are all familiar, but casts him as a strong and heroic figure. For those who've read a little bit of Fables, this character is one who's been a beloved fixture of the supporting cast since book one. The arc he takes in this book is the best example the transformation, or awakening of an unlikely hero that I've ever read.

If I have a complaint about the Fables books it's that you can't just dive right in. If you haven't followed the story from the beginning, the latest issue of the comic book on the shelves of your local comic book store is going to leave you feeling lost. That said, get the trades. The entire series is worth a read.

The (laughably not) daily doodle

For a while I'd been drawing faces, cartoons, weird aliens, and boobies...more boobies than I would be likely to confess to drawing, if I'm being honest. I realized that I'd never really tried to draw an animal, much less an animal in some kind of dynamic pose. So I turned to the magnificent treasure trove of (boobies) art that is DeviantArt.com. In it I found a picture of a horse running, which led to the drawing here. I hadn't finished cleaning up this drawing when I scanned it, and you can still see the guide marks I made for the horse's face and body.