Comic Notes

Kris
ended
hers. Derek has started
something new. Kevin too.
Christopher came
back to us at the beginning of this month, but you knew that, right? And surely
you knew about what Scott
is doing, technical
difficulties
aside.

I keep forgetting to mention the fabulousness of Otis,
Svetlana and Hope,
those who joined Girlamatic
since the launch. And Patrick
gave us some spiders
and is working on scorpions.
Jen
took the 24-hour
plunge. Dylan’s in the home stretch and Erika pops in and out.

Of those who have ducked out recently, Bill
is full of promises
and Barry
scrapes wallpaper as he plots his next move.

And I am simply behind on all the rest. You could always go and check
out what’s available through BitPass.

More boring than usual

Yes, yes, I know, even I usually post a wee bit more than I have been. What can I say, except I have been busy, not only with socializing but with the day job and working on things that I should be able to present here before the new year and any writing time I’ve had has gone to story scripting and an attempt to keep up on correspondence.

Though I did have a particularily pleasant evening this week. Kip’s been having to put in monstrous amount of overtime the past couple of weeks (in fact he has to work tomorrow, ugh) so I’ve actually made dinner this week. This is unusual for many reasons, the charming politics of which I only tell over a suitable beverage in Kip’s presence, but also because I only like to cook when I am in the mood. And by cook I mean more than a making a tuna fish sandwich or opening a can of soup.

Anyway, since it had just officially became Fall, I decided to cheer Kip up with making mushroom pie. The fact I came home to an already clean kitchen started me off in a good mood, and in the mood to cook. After the painful task of chopping two cups of onions, I put on Tom Waits’ Alice, poured myself a nice glass of red wine and continued by chopping the mushrooms then sauteing them with the onions and thyme, then added the cream cheese and so on. I had just finished rolling out the sour cream based crust when Kip came home with the movie we had agreed to rent for the evening, The Big Lebowski.

I’ve been in the mood to see this movie all week as a weird meme had started at the day job of randomly quoting The Big Lebowski. (eh, it’s been a stressful couple of weeks) And I got to thinking how odd it was that I’ve seen this particular Coen Brothers movie only the once. This was in the theater when it first released during production week of the late, great, Anodyne, so I actually kinda nodded off at points.

What a great movie! Absolutely quotable, so no surprise that there’s an online The Big Lebowski Random Quote Generator and the inescapable Which Big Lebowski Character Are You? quiz. Very good second viewing experience in that I had had forgotten just enough to make the story worth experiencing again and knew it just enough to enjoy peripheral details. And I do believe this is the movie I made the realization that all the comedy movies that the Brothers Coen made had narrators, whereas the thrillers do not. Yeah, The Man Who Wasn’t There broke that rule, but, then, it’s not my favorite movie by them, either.

However, my favorite part of this viewing of The Big Lebowski was at the end when a definitely cheered up Kip proclaimed, “Wow, that movie has aged really well!” I laughed. “Yeah, Kip, hrd to believe it came out all of five years ago.” Well, actually, it does feel longer than that, I admit it. Anodyne had collapsed and Kip and I had a whole new house and century to play in since then.

Hmmm. Didn’t plan on typing this much. But one last thought. To the critic who proclaimed that Coen Brothers movies have no heart: you, sir, are a moron.

Back to the drawing board, the lot of you

So exactly what does it take for me to actually hook-up with the cartoonists
I know and adore in Portland? Why, for an out-of-town cartoonist to come visiting
of course! This time it was the one and only Kris Dresen, or, as I now call her, “Little Miss Sunshine,”* as well as a return visit from Christopher Baldwin, man of action.

Friday night, Kris’s first night in town, Kip and I ran into Kris and Nate Lilly outside the Hawthorne Fred Meyer and from there we went to grab coffee. It was great to finally meet Kris in the flesh. It was also good to hang out with Nate, who lives in Portland and is a really great guy who I haven’t seen in, oh, a year.

And I haven’t seen that much of Barry lately either heck, not since July! I mean we’ve both been really busy, he’s just bought a house after all, on top of taking on all sorts of swanky cartooning gigs. Luckily he was available to have breakfast with Kris, Nate, Kip and I Saturday morning as well as bop around downtown Portland for a bit. Of course, I think my favorite part was the fact that Nate drove us all downtown in his ‘63 Galaxy 500—not only is that thing built like a boat, but the engine sounds just like an outboard motor.

Then on Sunday, a spontaneous visit by Christopher–all the way from Olympia.
So that meant I actually got to spend some quality time with Kevin Moore, as well as Christopher. And you know, with the projection of Christopher coming down about once a month, I will probably see more of him than I did when he actually lived in Portland. Yeesh.

But Monday night was the big score. Rallying around Kris’s presence I got to see not only Steve Lieber (and Sara Ryan), but also Indigo Kelleigh, Robert Lewis and
Linda Medley. (No, the heavens did not open up to reveal an alternate dimension.) Special bonus, I got to hear Linda explain how one might rig up a tattoo gun while in prison.

Of course all this rampant socializing has effected my drawing schedule—I’m, uh, way ahead of where I usually am. I have no idea how this happened, especially with me breaking the sanctity of not just one but both my drawing days. Must‘ve tapped into some good cartooning vibes. Or vampirically leeched some. Kris did seem awfully tired tonight…

*Yeah, Kris, it will take me a while to be tired of that one.

What difference does a day make?

Apparently, tomorrow, September 19th, is Talk Like a Pirate Day. I learned
this fact only tonight while walking down to the India Oven with Kip,
Amy and Aaron,
despite a Dave Barry column in 2002. Heck, there’s even an official
website that not only graciously provides tips on how
to talk like a pirate, but documents its
beginnings on a racquetball court in 1995.

And why not, says I. It’s not like tomorrow was being used for much else. I
mean, for Saint days it’s between Theodore of Canterbury (who?) and Januarius
(patron saint of blood banks and volcanic eruptions). Nor does it seem terribly
auspicious—James Garfield died of his gunshot wounds in 1881 and in 1957
the US conducted its first underground nuclear test in the Nevada desert. And
who doesn’t remember
the Post Office Scandal of 1903?

Although, Arthur
Rackham was born on September 19th in 1867. Also, William
Golding. (I love his book The
Spire.
has anyone else read The Spire?) And Mickey Mouse makes his animated
debut in 1928 in the short Plane Crazy. (More of a Bugs Bunny woman myself,
but, hey, still stands for something I suppose.) The Montgolfier brothers used
a bunch of barnyard animals to demonstrate how their hot balloon worked in 1783.

So not such a bad day. Probably won’t talk like a pirate myself. Maybe
just watch the Black Adder II episode, “Potato.”

(I still get a giggle out of the Pirate
Keyboard, by the way.)

That time of year again

So, it has just become Kip’s Birthday.

He’s already in bed, asleep with the cats. I think the very idea of turning 35 has exhausted him.

Those who are so inclined as to send Birthday greetings to Kip, please do. I am sure it would both please and embarrass him. And when he gets embarrassed he blushes to the tip of his ears.

I first got to see this when I first celebrated his birthday with him all these many moons ago. We were at some restaurant in Northampton MA whose name I forget. All I did was ask the waiter to bring some dessert out with a flaming candle. Flustered Kip for pretty much the rest of the evening. It was really quite cute.

Happy Birthday, love.

And don’t even think about waking me up with mock annoyance when you see this post. Or no pressies for you! And for god’s sake, pick a restaurant already or I’m taking you to McDonald’s!