fluffy

 

ok so apparently we’re fightin werewolves?  & one of em bit Wilkin.  so we locked him in a room in this abandoned lab that looks like somethin outta Resident fuckin Evil & now we’re waitin around to see if he turns into a werewolf.  Unity says we might have to shoot him if he goes feral. 

im cool with that.

zetawoof → duskwuff !

That is all.

We're going to be in Chicago over the weekend! Eleanor's doing a signing on Saturday, July 12 (11am to noon) at the Magic Tree bookstore, and on Monday, July 13th (1:30pm) at the Baker & Taylor booth at the ALA Conference (more info on both.) So the next Set to Sea panel will be late - look for it on Wednesday.

The New Yorker just bought another cartoon.

Here is one of the rejects;


New Too Much Coffee Man cartoons up on my website.

Yes. The one woman really was wearing antlers.

Just saw Amanda Palmer at the park. I brought a cd (cds are becoming the new LPs (ie. they're from a bygone era (there's a joke in there somewhere))) for her to sign but she was surrounded by bunches of goth type people. She was reading stories Neil wrote for her. It was sort of cool but it was also a little much for me to deal with.

I just got back from my highschool reunion. About 10 people came up to me with ideas for New Yorker comics. A friend of mine said "there's not enough alcohol here to make these people interesting."

Let's say I'm submitting to Perforce, and I use "revert if unchanged" to avoid spamming the changelists.

How do I prevent P4 from creating a zombie named changelist if the submit ends up empty because all files were the same as in the depot?

When I moved to Toronto I took a computer monitor with me, and it was an CRT that I'd already had for a few years already. This was this was the monitor I used when I applied to grad school and the monitor I used when starting Dinosaur Comics.

This monitor had served me well, but the past year or so it was clearly dying. The display would get fuzzy, and then snap back. Now I use three monitors and this was on the screen I used mainly for status stuff, so it was okay. I could still read the text when I needed to!

It was getting old though, and this morning I actually thought I was watching it finally die: the screen slowly faded to black, over the course of about 30 seconds, like a movie would fade to black over a particularly dramatic coda. These were my thoughts as I watched my windows fade away. Even the little green power light on the front of the monitor faded with everything else. My old monitor faded to black I watched it die. Goodbye, faithful hardware!

BUT THEN it faded back! You guys, it faded back just as it had faded out. It was a death-bed deke, and I was totally taken in. The monitor did this cycle a few more times, but I was wise to it now. I wasn't going to be taken in again. Eventually the monitor stopped fading out entirely, and we both got back to what we were working on before.

That was this morning. Just now, it faded to black and hasn't recovered. The power light has died with the screen too, but its switch is still in the "on" position. Okay, so just now I turned the power off and on again and the monitor recovered perfectly fine. MAN I GOT DEKED AGAIN.

Okay, so clearly this monitor is sick but doesn't want to die; it wants a peek at its obituary before it goes. Well here you go, monitor, I've moved this window over to you and I'm writing this on you and this is your obituary. If you do anything awesome after I post this I'll update it appropriately, but I think this is where our two paths diverge. You have been a good and faithful monitor and I will probably not forgot many of the things I saw through you.

You were a good monitor!

http://weblogs.asp.net/fbouma/archive/2009/07/09/the-firefox-3-5-fiasco.aspx#7143969 (Comment from "A Mac user")

Dude, you're complaining about the font when the line width is too long and the line height is too small?

That's obviously a blog that the author only ever sees through the editing interface (and possibly an RSS reader), and not the actual page.

PROTIP: If you're using TextMate with Project+, and clicking into TextMate causes a several second delay every time, go into the Project+ config and make sure you don't have any unwanted VCS badges enabled.

here's my picture for the Darkstalkers Tribute Book

Convention sketch:

kinokofry.com

Sammy, a snail is not an appropriate hat for a Friday! You will be shunned by Society.

Nedroid has been teaching him some bad manners. But he will do that. Look at the irresponsible stuff that goes on in his mind.

Oh wait, that's pretty neat.

Hee hee!

Wow. Sweet backflip!

I've changed my mind. Nedroid is sitting atop the cutting edge of fashion and waving at all of us down on the other edge - the one that isn't for cutting at all.

And that is where he sits also on comics - the cutting edge of the paper. (Yesss. Totally nailed that segue).

To be not-a-total-dick for a second, I simply am unforgivably ill-prepared to adequately explain just how much respect I have for this man and his staggeringly brilliant comics and illustrations.

I'm going to say this with 100% certainty though - I have never seen or read a single thing from him I have not totally loved with my entire heart.

His comics are adorable and undeniably hilarious - they manage to capture so expertly and precisely that simple and relatable feeling of real friendship. The companionship, the embarrassment, the ignorance, the jealousy, the exploration and wonderment, and particularly that special kind of friendship that is difficult to manufacture outside of your childhood. He does that with such a misleadingly simple style that you could be forgiven for thinking it was easily done. You could be. But you'd be fucking wrong. Fucking wrong.

Honestly, everything I could say feels hopelessly inadequate.

I just... want to stammer out that the man is ... The Best. His work is like air that I need to breathe, or perhaps more like a glorious caffiene addiction that I will just go insane without. Most of my desktop wallpapers are Nedroid illustrations and I only mention that because nothing, really, ever makes me even think of my desktop wallpaper until I see a drawing of his and I realise I need an excuse to stare at it all the time.

You can see his stuff on Nedroid.com or on his LiveJournal page (like myself and many others), and he also colours Dr McNinja these days! He's a busy, busy guy and I love him for filling my world with unicorns and puppies and Cosby.

Thankyou, Nedroid!

Reminder: With any and every donation, you'll get a copy of my 45-page PDF, "My Sketchbook". Which is a scanned version of... my sketchbook.

Oh HAI, finally a review of Suckers:

Speaking of Otherworldly, this leads to one of my favorite things in the world: Vampires! And when I can have vampires, comedy, a playwright whose work I enjoy and an actor whose work is tremendous all at the same time, I am a very happy camper. Suckers was directed by Duncan Pflaster as well as written by him, and I was excited to see how that was going to work. Having recently seen his amazing Ore, or Or, I was interested to see what he was going to do with my zeal for the Ol' Fanged Ones. I was not disappointed. Pflaster did not take himself seriously at all in this piece, and it allowed the actors - and the characters - to again, as in the above discussed piece, make full, dynamic choices that made the evening so much fun to watch. When an innocent couple is taken to a coffee house by a not-so-innocent couple of vampires on the pretense of good books, a happening scene, and great coffee (while taking a small shot at pretentious coffee houses, which I adored), they actually go to the lair of the leader of a vampire clan, the absolutely fabulous Elvis (Shawn McLaughlin), who is looking for an equal to stand by his side and be his queen. His boy toy David (Joe Fanelli) is too busy living in a world where he is the star of a musical, and Elvis is drawn instead to Romaine (Paula Galloway) because she is an intellectual who is strong in spirit as well as a born leader. As the other vampires in his lair are plotting his downfall, he tries to make her see the benefits of being a vampire - and that two queens are better than one! (Moments like that in the play are so much fun).

There are fabulous moments of his hypnotizing her with sound effects, and a goth coffee barrista (Eric C. Bailey) who is under cover to undo the undead. It's a delightfully campy ride all the way from beginning to end. What steals the show for me, entirely, is Shawn McLaughlin. I saw him previously in Pflaster's Ore, or Or, and it is clear to me that no matter what type of play he is doing, be it a concerned gay roommate or the delightfully gay and diabolical Vampire, he has a quality that allows him to use his humor and way with the text to have fun on stage with his fellow characters and the audience. I look forward to seeing more of his work, in other kinds of pieces. I applaud Pflaster for directing in a way that allowed the actors to have so much fun on stage that the audience could do nothing but go along for the ride and enjoy themselves as well. Though not profound like Pflaster's other piece that I've mentioned several times now, it wasn't supposed to be. Sometimes it's great to just be prolific and allow the audience to eat it up like that great dessert you put off because of the calories but you finally give in and are so happy you did.

Some actual drawings.



Must be quite a shock to those who friended me recently that occasionally, I do post shit other than KinokoFry comics here.

Don't worry, I'm done for the day.

IMPORTANT THINGS ARE GOING HERE

The other day, I was rushing about in the city trying to make my way to various print shops before they closed when I was politely stopped by two nice looking guys holding clipboards and envelopes.

Now, we all, I think, have this reaction in us no matter what our honest opinions and beliefs are, to try and look away, ignore them, say, "Sorry, I'm in a rush!" or do whatever the hell you have to do to run the fuck away. I know I do.

But this time, and I was in a genuine rush, I pulled myself back from escaping. I said, quite honestly, that I had a whole bunch of stuff to do but hell, I DID have a minute to spare. Because I fucking did.

This guy was incredibly polite and talked swiftly - for my benefit - about The Australian Conservation Fountation and some of its beliefs and hopes and good deeds, and about the most pertinent of facts regarding Australia's position politically on lot of important fucking issues regarding the way we are destroying the Earth. I felt like a fool in the sense that all I could do was nod and say, "Yes" and "exactly!" although what I really meant inside my head was, "Oh my god, yes a thousand times. You are saying exactly the most important and smartest and reasonable things that I myself struggle with daily, trying to explain to people and to understand better myself. I am so happy you have not only the passion but the right, most useful and sensible thoughts and attitudes".

I told him, plainly, that my biggest misgiving was just the fact that I am always poor, and it had never really been truer than now, and I am a cartoonist with no regular income whatsoever and so signing up for monthly withdrawels from my bank account filled me with fear.

He told me, and this tipped me over the edge, that I can call up whenever I like to put the payments on hold for one or several months.

That was that.

I thought, "I have always wanted to do this. Foundations like this are wonderful and I've wanted to do this for years but always made excuses. Fuck it, it doesn't get easier that this. I CAN afford $10 a fucking month because I am not DEAD. I still buy coffees occasionally. To wait until I am out of financial trouble is RIDICULOUS because it may never happen. People always live beyond their means. I'm doin' this shit".

And I did do that shit, and I felt so happy and proud and I still do right now.

Those guys were great and I want to thank them publicly for what they do.

I don't expect any of you to click on this link to the Australian Conservation Foundation, or to find the equivalent in your own country. But I just wanted to tell you my experience because if it changes even one person's thinking, if it encourages just one of you to stop and talk with these people with an open mind the next time you're absolutely-definitely-in-a-hurry and absolutely-definitely-can't-afford-to-become-a member-and-give-them-some-coffee-money, then I'll be very, very happy.

These guys, even more than the money really, need the membership because it gives them political power which is about the most important thing for making real, practical changes in the world.

There are a million other ways I and other people can try to encourage people to think more positively about the environment, and I'm sure I could have drawn up a big colourful comic that entertains you and strikes at your heart... but maybe someone else will do that. I'd rather write all of this NOW so that some of you can read it before I waste my time not doing something else that takes more time.

EDIT: Some of you might like to Follow the ACF on Twitter to hear the latest info.

I'm filled to the brim with frustration at how much my head is bursting with thoughts and ideas and how little I manage to get done.

HOOOWWWWWW DO YOU STAAAAAND IT? And by you, I guess I mean, "me". The answer is: I don't know. I don't. But I am tired of trying to write and rewrite things to "perfection" only to then be unsatisfied with them a week later. So my answer for the time being, simply as something new and fun to do, is just just do more until I can't possibly help what I produce being better.

There just isn't time in my day to spend 10~20 hours on each comic and get caught up illustrating, but sometimes I just wanna throw something out there anyway.



I'm often amazed when I throw a file into my "art" directory and I DON'T get a box telling me the filename already exists. So this is the first "love.png".

here's a picture I did with Persona

This might be the only drawing I ever did of the entire Narbonic cast.

In a little over an hour (on the West Coast, that is), the time and date will be:

12:34:56 7/8/9

Neat!

This week's Li'l Mell is just a sketch I found in my old notebooks, but Andrew's got a full new installment of The Chronicles of William Bazillion. Damn those Bazillion cliffhangers!

I went through this phase where I was totally into drawing Bjork.