teacher of the year

The award "Teacher of the Year" gets tossed around a lot this time of year, and with good cause.  After all, the teachers of today are the evil masterminds of tomorrow.  We best be giving them plenty of cheap praise to inflate their delicate sense of self worth.  If we don't bury them in awards, they may wise up to the fact that they haven't been given a raise since 1974.

When I created Pam, the retired schoolteacher javelina, I knew immediately that she was a bitter chain smoker.  But I also knew she never lost her dream of writing a bestselling murder mystery series.  

Teachers may seem tough on the outside, they may seem world weary and gruff, but on the inside they are probably the most optimistic people in the world.  After a lifetime of seeing the laziest children doze through their classes, they never gave up.  Why?  Because there was bound to be that special student that made a career worth it.

And that is why today, Falling Rock National Blog is proud to announce the 2010 Teacher of the Year Award goes to Mr. Jim McAllister of Carver High School.

Mr. McAllister, played by Matthew Broderick in the film Election based upon the novel of the same name  written by Tom Perrotta, is a hardworking teacher who ultimately gets fired for ballot fraud.  (Trust me, if you haven't read the book or seen the movie, that won't spoil the story for you.)

Mr. McAllister does what he feels is right, and for that he deserves Falling Rock's Teacher of the Year Award.  Congratulations Jim, wherever you are.

friday robots: john day, again

These robots were discovered among the fossils at John Day Fossil Beds National Monument.  John Day is known for their exceptional and plentiful Friday Robot specimens.  And while you're there, be sure to consider the Oreodont.

live albums

I'm ambivalent about live albums.  On the one hand, it's nice to hear familiar tunes sung differently, especially by bands long gone or (in Bob Dylan's case, for instance) a singular performance that can never be repeated.  There are times I like the "live" version better than the album one.  They naturally have more energy; they can be looser and can be played better simply because the artist has sung them more often.  A concert album can have a better track listing than any one album by a band because the band knows nobody wants to hear those album filler songs.  Live albums can make a better all-the-way-through listen.

There are, however, very few live albums I listen to frequently (say, more than two or three times).  Most keep way too much of the audience noise.  Applause is awesome if you're up on stage, but it is annoying to hear on headphones.  If the album says "live" on the cover, we all know there was an audience.  Keep it to a minimum.

The individual songs, however good they may sound, are impossible to put on a mix.  Audience cheering is so annoying when it's cut off abruptly.  For a while I had a program that let me fade out the cheering.  And really, how many times do you want to take those extra steps for a mix?  Is the girl worth it?

I've been listening to Neil Young's Live at Massey Hall.  Recorded in 1971, right before he released a little album called Harvest, Massey Hall includes many of the as-yet-unreleased Harvest songs.  In all, I like Massey Hall.  Neil puts on a solo show, switching between guitar and piano.  The in-progress nature of much of his material lets us peek into his process as songwriter.  This is partly a way for me to geek out about music.

But how many times will I want to listen to Neil tell people not to take pictures of him while he's performing?  Or to tell the same story about 'Old Man'?  Or, most egregiously, how many times will I be able to take the nearly 5 minutes of applause before ol' Neil comes out for an encore?


Some of the same problems plague John Fogerty's live album, Premonition.  John reveals himself as a goofball who mostly talks about his guitar and amp between songs.  He has something to say about almost every song, and it usually includes jokes that are corny the first time and downright aggravating every time afterward.

The saddest part is, these are probably the best version of his Creedence Clearwater Revival songs you'll ever hear.  His band is actually competent this time, and he really tears into his older material. 


Dan Bern put out a live album that stands up to repeated listens.  Live in Los Angeles includes previously released songs as well as stuff he's never put on any album.  When I saw him (live, for real) in Portland, he said what I'd been thinking of live albums all along:

"When I hear live albums, I think, They sound like they're having a good time.  I'm not having a good time listening to this, but it sounds like it would have been fun to actually be there."

He obviously kept this in mind when putting together his collection.  There is very little between-song chatter, minimal cheering, and no 10-minute guitar jams.

It is possible to make a superlative live album.  (Neil Young's Rust Never Sleeps, Johnny Cash's At Folsom Prison, and Sam Cooke's Live at the Harlem Square Club are also good examples.)  But beware! when you purchase a live album or record one.  It is a journey filled with peril and a path littered with failures. 

write-up in coin-op

Pinball Publishing has done a swell write-up of my latest Falling Rock book, See America First!

Here is the story.

And here is where you can purchase your very own copy of See America First!

goodnight moon: the movie poster

This can now be viewed on my website.

friday robots: bend afternoon

These robots were discovered cavorting in Smith Rock State Park, just north of Bend, Oregon.  When you're in Bend, visit Smith Rock.  Then head over to one of Bend's many local microbrewerys and have yourself a well-deserved drink.

 

friday robots are coming tomorrow

Get ready, because tomorrow is Friday!  Friday means Friday Robots, and this here is just a taste.

new business cards

I finally ran out of my old, makeshift business cards.  They were cards I never got to use from an old job, onto which I put stickers that had my name, occupation ("Full-Time Cartoonist"), and website info.  When I used the last of those up, I decided my next cards would be special. 

I went to my old friends at Pinball Publishing.  They make 3.5x5 inch pocket postcards, printed on the same chipboard I use for my comic book covers.  They're rounded at the edges, a nice touch.  I decided to continue the theme of Works Progress Administration-style art and draw a picturesque scene that visitors would find in Falling Rock National Park.  On the back, I have my name, website address and email, along with space to actually write a message and send the card through the mail.

If you see me at a comic convention, or, heck, while riding my bike, I'll hand you one of these:

They are a reminder to visit Falling Rock National Park and to support your local cartoonist.  I can't wait to give them all away.

park ranger dee

For the inevitable Falling Rock movie, my humble suggestion for the actress to play Dee:

Just sayin'.

a note to Jeff Gaspin at NBC

So I hear you're going to push back the third season of Parks and Recreation until 2011.  This is very disappointing for a variety of reasons.  Parks and Recreation is one of my favorite shows on TV right now (a tie between it and 30 Rock).  I understand you have a lot on your plate right now, what with commissioning a bunch of new shows for 10pm and finding another lanky, witty redhead to replace Jay Leno someday, but please reconsider this one move.  It doesn't help anybody.

I don't watch a lot of TV, but the Thursday night lineup of Community, Parks and Rec, The Office, and 30 Rock is just right.  In executive land, when something works you have to fix it.  Why don't we just pretend the current slate of shows doesn't work so it can stay the same?

Parks and Recreation is, in its second season, far better than most shows, ever.  With each episode the characters and the town of Pawnee, Indiana expand in natural, interesting directions.  There is not a weak link among the cast.  Ron Swanson has become the Libertarian father I never had.  Rashida Jones is always a favorite.  And of course parks are a resource I hold close to my heart.

It doesn't matter the reason: bring back Parks and Recreation this fall, not next year.  Do me this favor and I promise to watch your shows on an actual TV set instead of on the computer or DVD.

falling rock year 4 highlights

This has been a decidedly superlative year for Welcome to Falling Rock National Park.

I published my fourth book, See America First!, to rave reviews.

Two great comic shows, APE in fall 2009 and Stumptown in spring 2010.

Out of thousands of entries, I made it to the Top 50 comics in the Amazon.com/Universal Comic Strip Superstar contest.

I turned 30.

The liberal media decided it kind of likes me.  (Here, here, here.)

My fourth year of drawing Falling Rock has definitely been my most productive.  I feel like I know the characters, which means I spend less time thinking about how they will act and more on what stories to tell.  This is the fun part of writing.  As for the pictures, I'm happy with the pens I'm using, and the drawings look more like what is in my head.  Not completely there yet, but I'm getting closer every panel.

I'm upbeat about the way the strip is going.  I love the format of a daily, jokey comic strip.  Even though I've drawn one comic strip or another since 2002, I still don't find it stifling or boring - I get to say exactly what I want, in the best possible way.  Every time I sit down to write for Carver, Ernesto, Pam, Melissa, and Park Ranger Dee, I see new possibilities.  Their world keeps expanding, in delightful ways. 

Next year I hope to use Mr. Miserable and the park hippie a little more.

Oh, I suppose if I had my druthers I'd make people listen to certain songs while reading my comics, like a movie soundtrack.  But really, I can see why the comic strip has flourished for the past 100 years.  If done well, it never gets old.  The permutations are endless.  (Just like the three minute rock song.)

Thank you for being dear readers.

friday robots in space, again

On a starship somewhere outside the Oort Cloud, a crew of highly skilled, amiable robots go about their daily chores.  Will they reach their destination?  Not likely.  They're just chillin'.

If they see Voyager, they'll say hello.

falling rock closes the book on year 4

Today is the end of the fourth year of Welcome to Falling Rock National Park.  It's been a great year!  Carver, Ernesto, Pam, Melissa, and Park Ranger Dee will return in August will all new adventures.

Fear not, subscribers.  I will be posting on this blog all summer long.  Friday Robots, witty tangents, subtle digs at Michael Bay, and loving tributes to whatever cereal I'm eating at the time will continue unabated.

Just because Falling Rock is on hiatus for the summer doesn't mean you can't enjoy that sweet, sun-blasted goodness.  Just pick up one of my books!  Either online or at Powells City of Books.  I know you'll like them.

Mega Man, I let you down

We make promises, large and small, to nearly everyone in our lives.  As much as we'd like to keep those promises, we nearly always break them, letting our loved ones down when they need us most.  Of all the people I've personally let down during my failure of a life, the one I most want to publicly apologize to is not a real person at all.  He's a little robot video game character named Mega Man.

Mega Man, I am sorry.  I loved guiding you past all those robot bosses for many years.  I can still remember your theme music and the way you opened your mouth when you jumped (just like Michael Jordan!).  You gave me happiness at every turn, but I always disappointed you.

You see, dear readers, I got Mega Man killed literally hundreds of times.  If we were both cops, I would have been the nincompoop who led the armed drug smugglers right to my partner, Mega Man's house.  Mega Man had all the equipment to defeat the robot bosses as well as the nefarious Dr. Wily.  I was the idiot who kept dropping him off a cliff, or getting him shot up by flying robots, or crushing him to death or throwing him on spikes or guiding him into the jaws of a giant robot fish.

The worst part is that I didn't get Mega Man killed some of the time.  I got him killed EVERY SINGLE TIME.  With one or two exceptions, like that rare occasion when I beat a Mega Man game, our outings ended in Mega Man's awful demise.

For that I apologize, Mega Man.  I hope you can find it in your tin heart to forgive me someday, but I won't be surprised if you never do.

Mega Man, I love you.  I will never forget you.  But I'm no good for you.  Go, be with somebody who won't murder you all the time.

bloomtown

I was beginning to worry that our tree wasn't going to bloom this year.  After all, the neighbor's tree had been in full bloom for over a week.  Did that make our tree feel inferior?

Apparently not.  Our tree was simply biding its time.  In the past three days the familiar flowers have unfurled from their conelike cocoons.

When I sit in the living room I can hear bumble bees tink against the window.  And the best part of the summer has begun.

friday robots

This is what bugs would look like if Frank Lloyd Wright drew them.

more sketchbook animals!

These animals will appear in an upcoming Falling Rock episode involving Carver, Ernesto, and waiting in lines.  Who says comics aren't as thrilling as the latest summer blockbuster?

sketchbook frogs

As Richard Thompson says, words fail me and drawing's too hard.  I've been drawing the final Falling Rock comic strips for this school year, and what follows is a page from my sketchbook.  I needed to learn how to draw a frog for one strip.  Oh, and there's Carver in the corner because I like drawing things I already know how to draw.