friday robots

know what's awesome?

COMICS.

know what else is awesome?

DRAWING THEM.
Technically Hover Duck is only part robot, but Friday Robots has always striven to be all-inclusive.
Happy Friday everybody!

birds are birds

From the sketchbook.

aliens

From the sketchbook.


I'm thinking these guys will have to make an appearance in Falling Rock National Park.

comic con 2009 super all-star collector's edition

This year marked my first pilgrimage to NerdFest 09, also known as ComicCon. ComicCon is the largest comics convention in the world. It was the biggest thing I’ve ever seen. You could fill the Grand Canyon with the geeks, dorks, and nerds attending ComicCon. If you stacked all the comics from ComicCon, the pile would reach Saturn. Big is not a big enough word. Neither is huge or gigantic. Galactic may work, as it has the ring of science fiction. Essentially, ComicCon is the San Diego convention center overrun with comics and comic-related phenomena, spilling out into downtown.

In addition to the convention on the ground floor, the second floor hosted a continuous stream of panels and talks by some of the best cartoonists around. Sure, if you wanted to see James Cameron and Peter Jackson gab about movie stuff, you’d have to wait 2 1/2 hours in the sun. But for a brilliant cartoonist like Richard Thompson all you had to do was find the right room. I don’t have to tell you people’s priorities are messed up. On the other hand, James Cameron gave people 3D glasses. How can a newspaper cartoonist compete with 3D glasses?

I attended two panels: Richard Thompson and Stephan Pastis. Each was an hour in which the cartoonist showed a PowerPoint presentation of his work then answered questions.

Richard took us on a journey through Richard’s Poor Almanack, his weekly for the Washington Post, and the origins of the daily Cul de Sac. Cul de Sac, as I’ve mentioned before, is the best comic strip in papers today, bar none. His humor is wry and goofy at the same time, which is probably why I identify with it so strongly. He’s also one heckuva artist. Unsurprisingly, he began his career as an illustrator and, as he put it, started sneaking words in until he arrived at comics. Instead of deciding beforehand he wanted to make comics, he slowly realized comics was the best means of expression for him. It was similar (yet backwards) to my own discovery: writing came first and I slowly added pictures.
(Below is neither Cul de Sac or Falling Rock. It is an original Pogo Sunday, which I was happily allowed to photograph for free. Buying it would have put me out about 500 bucks.)
Stephan was cheered for getting his PowerPoint presentation up and running. It was somewhat surprising they had any technical difficulties at all. I would think you could page the convention floor for help: “ComicCon attendees: is there anyone in the crowd with IT experience? Does anyone know how to work a computer?”

It was not surprising to hear Stephan got his initial inspiration from Peanuts and Dilbert, as that aesthetic permeates Pearls Before Swine to great success. He told a very funny story about angering an entire country: Turkey. In one strip, he named a llama Atatürk. This is seen as sacrilege: like a Turkish cartoonist naming a doofus character Washington Lincoln Jefferson. The scandal culminated in Stephan’s receiving an admonishing letter from the Ambassador of Turkey.



In addition to panels, a good place to meet cartoonists was at their booths.

Jeff Smith signed at Cartoon Books. I was truly surprised when he recognized my comic book. I had sent him a copy a while ago, after I missed seeing him at Stumptown in Portland. The man must have the memory of an elephant, because he said he owed me a letter and made his inscription “To the creator of Falling Rock...” If there’s any cartoonist who is able to make comics accessible to readers of all ages and that don’t necessarily read comics, it’s Mr. Smith. If you haven’t read Bone, Shazam, or Rasl, do it. Now. Now!

Keith Knight (The K Chronicles) generously talked about self-syndication and gave me a badly needed boost to continue promoting Falling Rock. One booth over, Bob the Angry Flower creator Stephen Notley (in full flower regalia) signed my copy of Everybody vs. Bob the Angry Flower. While I was talking to Stephen, Keith interjected some tips aimed at Stephen about how to get Bob into more papers. Keith is not only a great cartoonist but a savvy businessman AND he looks good in a hat. Triple threat.

Kevin McShane, creator of ToupyDoops. When I first got to college, I checked the school paper to size up who I’d have to compete with for space. ToupyDoops was THE strip. Everyone knew it and loved it. Kevin turned out to be a great guy in addition to a talented cartoonist, and my strip, Atticus and Glen, wouldn’t have been as good if I didn’t have ToupyDoops as friendly competition. I was pleasantly surprised to see him again and glad he’s still cartooning.

Steve Lieber, Whiteout. I’m excited to read this murder mystery set in Antarctica. Steve also passed along a preview of his upcoming story Underground, about a cave in a state park in Kentucky and how differently the townspeople and park rangers see it. The townspeople want to open it to tourists and the rangers want to keep it closed for preservation. Values clash! Ed Abbey would have liked this comic, I think.

Scott C.’s Double Fine Action Comics. I’ve been following Scott’s blog for a while now, really enjoying his watercolor prints. Meeting him in person, he struck me as an older, taller, cooler, more successful version of myself. Action Comics is a web comic he later collected into a book. His day job? Video game designer. He also has a beard. Triple threat!
I made new friends; perhaps they saw a guy not dressed as a stormtrooper and thought “he can’t be in the right place.” Christian Ward, whose series Olympus is fantastic and not done with watercolor (but don’t tell anyone). Stephen McCranie is an Albuquerque cartoonist and is as talented as he is tall (he’s tall).
Of course I had to wander the movie side of the convention. It was there that I got all my cool swag, including: a Green Lantern ring that lights up (I’m thinking of going back in time and proposing to my wife with this Green Lantern ring.), a gigantic Watchmen swag bag, a Transformers seat cushion that does not transform into a robot, a light-up Astro Boy pin, an Adventureland key chain that lights up, and a few other buttons and posters that do not light up.

There were no less than two captain chairs from the deck of the USS Enterprise at the Con. One was part of a raffle. Yes, you could win Captain Kirk’s chair. Every time I walked by, someone was getting their picture taken while sitting in the chair. I was recruited for employment at Stark Industries. I saw Kenan Thompson (of Saturday Night Live) walking into a restaurant and subsequently getting stopped for pictures. Seth Green (of Robot Chicken) was doing some kind of webcast from the convention floor.
A few celebrities I did not see but were there: Kristen Bell, James Cameron, Peter Jackson, Sigourney Weaver, Johnny Depp, Tim Burton, Henry Selick & Neil Gaiman (promoting Coraline’s DVD release), Eliza Dusku, Denzel Washington (?!?!?!), and more! Since I’m already good friends with Denzel, why try to get together at the busy Con? We’ll just have a beer back at his place in Indiana.
Finally, the ComicCon experience would not be complete without a stack of new reading material to take home:

Neptune, by Aron Nels Steinke. He was not able to attend ComicCon in person, but Aron’s book made its debut in San Diego. Having finished reading it, I wholeheartedly recommend this book to people who A) have either read comics before or not, B) like books or don’t, C) think Dick Cheney should run for President or think he’s the Great Satan. All political joking aside, Neptune is, like Jeff Smith’s Bone, accessible to anyone. I hope it becomes a huge seller so I can sell my signed copy on ebay for 50 million dollars. Which reminds me, I saw an issue of Spider-Man #1 at ComicCon. That shouldn’t be out in the open. It belongs in a museum!
Owly: Tiny Tales, Andy Runton

The Gigantic Robot, Tom Gauld

Little Mouse Gets Ready, Jeff Smith

Lonely Heart, Tara McPherson

back from san diego!

I will post at length about the wonder that is San Diego Comic Con, but I just wanted to let you all know that I'm back at the ol' drawing board.

I won't say who, but I met a few of my heroes. Hint: none of them were wearing capes. (At the time.)

Friday Robots

Friday Robots are here even if I'm in San Diego.
We've got city robots and country robots this week.

off to comic-con land

California will be one cartoonist heavier for a couple days because this blogger will be at Comic-Con. That's right! I'll be chatting it up with the biggest names in the funny biz, angling for autographs and insider information. I'm also bringing a truckload of my latest book for trading, so if anyone you know has a hankering for Falling Rock, find me wandering the Comic-Con floor. Just look for the redheaded kid with a little bit of knowledge and a whole lotta heart.

Kid Shay! He's going places.

kid shay in the sky

Photo collage. I added a touch of color to the background picture (western Colorado), as it was originally taken in black & white. Also had to extend the sky to fit my massive size. I'm huge like Godzilla.

RAWR!

forest dinosaurs

2009 AAA All-Star Game

On Wednesday, July 15, 2009, Adrianne and I had the pleasure of spending our evening at PGE Park with 16,637 of our fellow Portlanders for the AAA All-Star Game.
It was a real treat to see the best of the minors from across the country. These guys are the future of baseball, and they played like they meant it. Unlike the major league All-Star Game, the Pacific Coast League and the International League players wanted the crowd to know why they were selected for this game. It was not merely an exhibition for them, a break in the middle of the season. It was the try-out of all try-outs.

Portland was represented twice in the game. Pitcher Scott Patterson and outfielder Chad Huffman both did Portland proud. Huffman ignited the crowd when he cracked a bottom-of-the-ninth double that almost led to extra innings. Sadly the Pacific Coast League fell to the International League 5-6.
Credit must be given to one of the International League's pitchers, Pawtucket Red Sox's Jose Vaquedano. With one of the weirdest sidearm deliveries this blogger has seen, Vaquedano retired Pacific Leaguers with style.
This being the All-Star Game, the leagues brought out baseball's most distinctive and legendary mascot: the San Diego Chicken.
The Chicken certainly brought his A Game on this warm Wednesday night. He mocked the umps with deodorant spray and eye charts, and he pelted the International Leaguers with water balloons (they got him back, hurling water balloons from the dugout).

There was a moment of tension when the Chicken met Portland's mascot, a beaver named Lucky. Fortunately for all of us, the animals got along winningly. Friendship won out.

It was extremely fortunate to be able to enjoy such a game in such a beautiful park. Baseball as it was meant to be experienced.

Game day photo credit (Huffman, Vaquedano, Chicken):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/radphoto/

dane cook is this generation's woody allen

Nah, just kidding.

Friday Robots

These robots can be found near the Columbia River Gorge. They are related to robots from a few weeks ago. Those were city robots, these are country robots.

If you squint you can see wind turbines in the background. Friday Robots are in love with wind turbines; they think the turbines are soooo cute.

Harry Potter reaches middle age

Some people think that after the sad, sad events in his books, young Harry lives a happy life of bliss. I'm here to break the bad news. After having to watch almost all his friends and family die at the hands of the noseless menace Voldemort, you'd think nothing worse could happen to Harry. Far from living a charmed life, however, Harry's future is one of pain, heartbreak, and ultimately desolation.

Here are a few chapters from the rest of Harry Potter's life:

Harry Potter and the Mid-Life Crisis. Harry realizes he is no longer attractive, with his beer gut, his bizarrely-shaped bald patch, and his halitosis. He undergoes radical plastic surgery and comes out looking like an anime character.

Harry Potter and the Ingrown Toenail. It gets infected. Really gross, but for some reason Harry talks about it nonstop whenever guests are over.

Harry Potter and the Colonoscopy. Every man, wizard or not, needs one of these.

Harry Potter and the Werewoman. Harry thinks he's found a man who turns into a woman every full moon. "This is great!" Harry thinks. "I've got a new best friend AND mistress." Turns out the werewoman is just a transvestite.

Spoiler alert! For those of you who want to peer deep into Harry's future, here is what you can expect (hint: sorrow).

Harry Potter Sits on a Park Bench Wondering Where the Time Went and, as the Young People Jog By with Their Blackberries and Whatnot, He Looks Down at the Expectant Pigeons and Begins to Weep.



*Still not ready for the weepfest at the multiplex? Further Potter reading can be found here:
Harry Potter by Charles Bukowski
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

nora ephron is this generation’s woody guthrie

The New Yorker has done it again. Normally known for its snarky pieces about actors and celebrities, it defied expectation and published a gushing article about Nora Ephron. Written by, apparently, a schoolgirl with a crush, the article blows Ephron’s influence and “talent” totally out of proportion.

Judging by the tone of the article, I’m going to assume the New Yorker believes Ephron to be this generation’s Woody Guthrie. Why don’t we see how their lives stack up?

Hardships

Woody Guthrie’s mother had Huntington’s Disease, a horrific neurological affliction. According to NINDS, Huntington’s “genetically programmed degeneration of brain cells, called neurons, in certain areas of the brain. This degeneration causes uncontrolled movements, loss of intellectual faculties, and emotional disturbance.” Even today, there is no cure. Woody inherited this disease. The specter of his early death hung over him his entire life.

Nora Ephron’s first husband had an affair when she was seven months pregnant with their child! It’s true. She wrote a book about it, which then became a movie starring Jack Nicholson. That must have been tough, watching her own marriage disintegrate right before her eyes in a movie theater. Maybe it wasn’t as tough because she made a million dollars off of it.

“If you want to be successful and you are a woman, you have to understand that there’s all kinds of horrible stuff that comes with it, and you simply cannot do anything about it but move on,” said Ephron, sitting in her Upper East Side apartment. Through the window you could see the sun gloriously setting on the Chrysler Building.

Ephron directed the abysmal bomb Bewitched, which lost the studio 20 million dollars, domestically. I don’t think any of Woody’s recordings ever made or lost that much, so he couldn’t even imagine the hand-wringing Sony Pictures executives went through.

Family

Woody grew up just in time for the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. After his father was badly burned and had to go live with his sister, his sister was burned to death in a tragic accident. (The Guthrie’s first house was also destroyed by fire.) In spite of, or perhaps because of, these events, Woody remained cheerful and went on to write literally thousands of songs.

Nora Ephron grew up in a house “full of apples and peaches and milk” in Beverly Hills, California. It must have been awful. Can you imagine a house stuffed with apples, peaches, and milk year-round? Unable to breathe, unable to move. The daughter of two successful screenwriters, she also grew up to be a screenwriter. To date, none of her immediate family members have been consumed by flame.

Writing Voice

Woody wrote a staggering number of songs--many still unrecorded. “This Land is Your Land” may be the greatest song ever written about the United States of America. He wrote ballads and stories, peace songs and war songs, children’s songs and protest songs. His music captures America in a time of great revival. They serve as both time capsule and timeless chorus.

Nora Ephron wrote the memoir Heartburn about her divorce from Carl Bernstein. Bernstein, as you may recall, was also a writer of some note. She also wrote: “The amount of maintenance involving hair is genuinely overwhelming.”

Friends

Woody was a friend to many contemporary folk musicians. Pete Seeger and he played together often. Leadbelly was a frequent collaborator. When Woody was in the hospital dying of Huntington’s, Bob Dylan made a pilgrimage to visit his hero.

Nora Ephron vacations on David Geffen’s yacht! She rents her house in East Hampton to Heather Mills for $200,000 a month!

Success

In May 1941, the Bonneville Power Authority hired Woody to write a few songs about a dam they were building. They figured the folk singer would lend credibility and good PR to the project. Today, the Bonneville Dam continues to power Portland, Oregon. Woody was paid the princely sum of $250 for 28 days’ work. In that time, he spoke with workers and traveled all around the dam site. He wrote 26 songs in that time, some of them the best of his career.

Norah Ephron wrote and directed Sleepless in Seattle, which only partly takes place in the Pacific Northwest. It raked in $126,533,006 domestically and will play on cable TV nonstop until we’re all dead. It is not as good as another Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan movie, but I digress.
Don’t bother turning on the radio to hear “Roll Columbia Roll,” but I bet if you turn on TBS right now You’ve Got Mail is playing. Thanks, New Yorker, for giving Nora Ephron the artistic credibility she so desperately needed.

not last thoughts on bill watterson

As a kid, I cut out Calvin and Hobbes Sunday strips, laminated them, and posted them on the walls of my room. It was homemade wallpaper. I'd like to think some of that genius seeped into my brain while I slept and made me a better cartoonist. It also establishes, once and for all, my Calvin and Hobbes geek cred.

Calvin and Hobbes' strength is in its complete insularity: you knew Calvin was not going to make terrible jokes about the current news cycle, you'd never see Hobbes endorsing life insurance or cat food. Bill ensured that Calvin and Hobbes would remain firmly in our imagination and never on some billboard along I-10.

The downside of this was Bill's withdrawal from public life. Aside from the occasional intrepid journalist traveling to Watterson's abode outside Cleveland, Ohio, or a surprising book review or introduction written by the man himself, I slowly began to understand that there would be no follow-up to Calvin and Hobbes. Bill had given us everything he had for 10 years and that, he decided, was plenty.

The problem with being a genius who revitalizes an art form is, people don't forget you. Bill may have thought that dropping out of the public eye for a decade and a half would make him disappear, that we'd all become so entranced with our iphones that we would forget that comic strip about a boy and his tiger. Well, if he wanted us to forget, he shouldn't have made Calvin and Hobbes so damn good.

Seriously, forgetting about Bill Watterson is like forgetting about Bob Dylan. "Remember that guy?" "Who?" "You know, that guy who made like FIFTEEN CLASSIC ALBUMS IN A ROW?" You see my point.

My friend Alec (to whom I now owe my life) alerted me to Looking for Calvin and Hobbes, by Nevin Martell. It will be published in October. In the introductory chapter, sent to me free(!) by the author, Nevin maps out his own desire to speak with that most elusive of creatures, the retired cartoonist. Like a man stalking a tiger in the jungle, Nevin is well aware of the dangers but plunges on nevertheless. He breathlessly narrates his hopes (will he secure an interview with Bill Watterson?) and fears (Bill Watterson will hate him forever for writing this book).

I cannot wait for this book to be released. My initial apprehension that the book would be trashy, or tell-all, or in some way denigrate Bill's work, was allayed by the tone of the chapter. This guy loves Calvin and Hobbes as much as I do, and he has nothing but respect for its author. Even if Nevin doesn't get the golden interview, we still get to hear from cartoonists and friends (and cartoonist-friends) of the main man. And that ain't bad.

Now we just have to hold our collective breath to see whether Looking for Calvin and Hobbes is as illuminating as promised. I have high hopes. Even after a decade of comics, Bill Watterson has much to teach us.

Friday Robots

Borrowed from the cover of The Crowded Universe, a book I have not read but that looked interesting (especially the cover).

quote of the day

While financial incentives are a very complicated business, two simple points hold true. First, even without payment, some folk will always record music, write software, make their feature films, do their own investigative journalism, occasionally even test their own drugs. You couldn't stop them if you tried. Second, we will all be better off with more, not fewer, professional careers available for knowledge producers. Not having to stick with a day job allows creative workers to be more creative and productive, for the benefit of all.

--Peter Eckersley, "Knowledge wants to be free too", New Scientist

Portfolio: watercolor collage

Watercolor and photograph collage, stitched together in Photoshop. The landscape is New Mexican.

still searching for step two

Step 1: Draw funny comics

Step 3: Profit!

why don't they just blow up Michael Bay?

Falling Rock National Blog formally commends Entertainment Weekly. Last week, they published a fine piece of journalism on the horrific horrors perpetuated upon the public by ersatz director Michael Bay.

While I absolutely refuse to see the latest abomination of my childhood heroes (the Autobots, duh), Entertainment Weekly has done a fine job of showing me exactly what I'm missing. They go one further than boilerplate review, however. They list exactly what is extraneous about Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and suggest edits that would improve the movie.

Why didn't the editors, Roger Barton, Tom Muldoon, Joel Negron, and Paul Rubell, do their job before the movie hit theaters? Why does the American public have to sit through fart jokes for almost three hours when all they want is hot robot-on-robot action? Why won't Megan Fox eat a burrito, for chrissakes? These are all questions somebody, for the love of god, should have asked Michael Bay before he was allowed to put this monstrosity onto film.

Some guy at Industrial Light & Magic sat for weeks at his computer meticulously animating Optimus Prime pretending to take a leak on the Eiffel Tower. This is the same guy who animated Ironman. This is the same company that made dinosaurs walk among us. Do you see the wasted potential here? Does it make you as crazy as it makes me??

I take Entertainment Weekly up on their offer but suggest one better: cut Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen down to twenty minutes, remove all the humans, and air it at 7AM on Saturdays. That's the way Transformers is supposed to be. They save the world while you eat your Honey Nut Cheerios.

Death to Michael Bay. Long live Optimus Prime.

full circle

Newsday, a real, actual newspaper, published my post about hating camp. You read it here first, and now you (or those of you living in the Long Island area) can read it in print.

For the record, my opinion has not changed. I remain the same camp-hating blogger you have come to know and love.

Happy 4th of July everybody! For those of you stuck in some camp right now, I am sorry. Email me and I will try to bust you out.

Friday Robots

The first Friday Robots of July. These robots are getting signals from outer space. The signals contain a recipe for black bean and yam burritos. Yum!


On a related note, my investigative journalism skillz came in handy when I caught these real-life Friday Robots on film. (Digital film.) I may have to see if there are more Robots among us waiting to be discovered.

how awesome is Denzel Washington?

SO AWESOME.

For those of you living off-planet for the past twenty years, Denzel Washington is perhaps the greatest living actor. He can do drama, action, comedy. He can play characters or he can play himself. He can be the good guy or the bad guy. He can take a crap movie and make it watchable, and a decent movie great. Don't even get me started on what he does in a truly awesome movie. (Hint: he makes it AWESOMER.) He totally got robbed by the Academy by not winning the Oscar for Hurricane (they made it up to him later).

He is so awesome I originally wanted my book, Dancing With Jack Ketch, to be a movie with him in the lead. Can you imagine Denzel as pirate captain? I sure can. Due to my lack of movie connections, the film fell apart in pre-pre-production, but you can still read my story. Whenever they say "Jackson," think "Denzel."

What follows is a list of Denzel's best movies.

1. Malcolm X - The definitive Denzel. An epic movie that doesn't feel 800 hours long, thanks to Spike Lee's kinetic camerawork and a good editor.

2. He Got Game - Denzel as the self-serving, incarcerated dad of a college basketball recruit. The man uses his own son to get out of jail. Cold.

3. Inside Man - Denzel's definitive Good Guy Cop. It really helps that this was a good Spike Lee movie; these two seem to bring the best out in each other.

4. The Mighty Quinn - Denzel's first movie with a Bob Dylan connection. He plays Xavier Quinn, the Chief of Police in Jamaica. Includes a regge version of the song The Mighty Quinn. In Chronicles Vol. 1, Bob puts his seal of approval on Denzel's performance. That's all the reason I need to love this movie.

5. The Manchurian Candidate - There was no reason to remake the original; it had all the markings of a timeless classic political thriller. Somehow, this movie managed to become its own thing. It is modern and just as terrifying as the original.

6. The Siege - Especially prescient in the wake of September 11. Denzel plays an FBI agent hunting down terrorist cells in Brooklyn. Co-stars Bruce Willis as a flag-waving, power-mad general who uses the exact same logic as Dick Cheney. At least Bruce was just acting.