Turn That Frown Upside Down

A large part of my humor is taking a new twist on familiar circumstances.  I found this video on You Tube and thought the artist's approach to shooting portraits was interesting.  The models are suspended upside down and the results are rather startling.  Enjoy!

Toonful Tuesday - Arcade Fire - Rebellion (Lies)

I'm too lazy to keep up with pop music any more.  Radio is buried in the 1980s and MTV and VH1 long ago gave up actually playing music.  Therefore, I rely on my nephew to direct me towards new tunes.  Here's one of his suggestions which really caught my fancy.  Enjoy

Happy Birthday to George Booth

People often ask me who are my favorite cartoonists.  They're a bit surprised when I don't name off the usual litany (Calvin & Hobbes, Peanuts, Far Side).  It's not that I don't enjoy these cartoonists, they just aren't the ones I seek out.  Today's birthday is significant for me, because George Booth of New Yorker fame, is the single greatest influence on my work.  I love his frazzled drawings filled with the befuddled and clueless characters.  When I saw George Booth's artwork, I knew this is what I want to do - so blame him.

Happy Birthday Mr. Booth!

Happy Birthday Alex Toth

I've been traveling, so I haven't had the opportunity to blog recently.  My apologies to both my readers.

Today is the birthday of Alex Toth (pronounced with a long 'o').  Toth had a long career in comics starting in the late 1940's, but is best known for designing Space Ghost.  He was never widely recognized outside comics circles, but is quite revered by insiders.

Content With Stealing Content

I'm not a very transparent person, so writing a deeply insightful blog isn't my thing.  However, my web developer says I should post more often than I do, so I found (stole) this interview with Dan Piraro on You Tube.  Dan is the creator of Bizarro, a single panel cartoon syndicated to hundreds of newspapers.  Besides drawing a daily cartoon, Dan also does stand-up comedy, as well as beautiful paintings.  Some of his artwork is seen in the video.  Bizarro won this years top Reuben award!  

If you enjoy this video, please check out his blog at http://bizarrocomic.blogspot.com/.  His column is as funny as his comic.  Enjoy!

Shire Straits

http://madshobbithole.wordpress.com/2010/01/18/my-hand-made-hobbit-hole-bag-end-from-lord-of-the-rings/

I don't remember how I found this, but I thought it was pretty darned impressive.  Be sure to scroll down through the photos and check out the interior shots of the house.  Enjoy!

The Hilarious Roz Chast

Roz Chast is a cartoonist who's work appears in the New Yorker.  Here's a video interview discussing her new book.


Roz Chast: The Edge of Reason from Arcadia Pictures on Vimeo.

Happy Birthday Scott McCLoud

Today is the 50th birthday of Scott McCloud.  Mr. McCloud, besides being a cartoonist in his own right, is also an author, lecturer and one of the pioneers of webcomics.  His official website is here.

Scott also wrote Understanding Comics, a fascinating look into the world of creating graphic novels, cartoons and strips.  Here's a video of Scott giving a presentation outlining his theory of the future evolution of cartoon strips on the web.

Quacking Up

Today is the anniversary of the debut of Donald Duck.  Enjoy!

Happy Birthday To Scott Adams & C.C. Beck

Today is the birthday of Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert.  Adams iconic strip first appeared in 1989 and now runs in over 2000 newspapers worldwide.  I'd describe the premise of the cartoon, but who on earth hasn't read Dilbert?

Today is also the birthday of C.C. Beck.  Beck was the artist who created Captain Marvel for Fawcett Comics.  Click here to read more about Beck and his career.

Thanks!

I wanted to say 'Thank, you!' to Chuck Harrison for posting one of my cartoons on his web page.  Chuck's cartoon is called Decaffeinated Coffee (and other horrible things.)  You can see the post here.  Recognition from peers is really gratifying and I'm deeply flattered Chuck would post one of my toons.  Enjoy!

Also, David Paccia publishes interviews with cartoonists on his blog and was kind enough to include me.   It is really flattering to be included in this list of excellent humorists.  Read the interview here. 

Have a great weekend!  See you on the funny pages.

Simply Wonderful

I saw this video on the Laugh blog and thought it was enchanting.  I'm always intrigued with simplicity. 

It's entertaining when David Copperfield makes the Statue of Liberty disappear,  but I've always found something truly fascinating when coins, cards etc., vanish before my eyes.  Enjoy.

Taylor Jones Interview

Taylor Jones worked at my hometown morning newspaper.  Here's an interview at the 2010 Reuben awards.