Month: February 2007

Theater-lovers! Two announcements of great import!

I’ll be in two plays in LA and NY in the next few months…

The first, “Bedtime Stories,” is a series of world-premiere one-act plays at the National Comedy Theatre, 733 Seward St., Los Angeles. Five of the one-acts are written by my wonderful wife Gloria, and the sixth by “How I Met Your Mother” co-creator Carter Bays.

Get your tickets here!

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The second play will be in New York in May: “Skirts & Flirts” will have a one-week run at The Kraine Theatre 85 East 4th Street, NY, NY 10003.

Tickets for the show can be purchased in advance here.

The casts in both plays really shine, with actors from My Name Is Earl, Spiderman 1 & 3, Malcolm in the Middle…and one immensely attractive cartoonist.

If you’re in your 20’s or 30’s, you’ll especially dig both plays…so come on out!

Sheldon reader Ryan chimes in with this fun fact regarding the 2/28 strip:

Here’s another example of Marine Marketing in Action: most “eelskin” wallets are actually made from a species that is more commonly known as hagfish. It secretes a mucus-like substance as a defensive mechanism when agitated, perhaps one of the more disgusting forms of Darwinism.

Think anyone would want to buy hagfish, slime eel, or snotfish wallets? And would Luis Vuitton make them?

On a separate note: can I just say how much I love the name “hagfish”? That’s the kind of name that you know didn’t come from a marketing team. It came from a pioneer mountainman named “Scruffy” or “Bucky”…

“See that fish, Buford? The one what with all the slime and what not? I done named it a hagfish.”

Today I learned that adding “sea” in front of any odd or ill-sounding object makes for a great naming game. Try it at home!

Here are some of the alternates, briefly considered for today’s strip:

“Sea Snot”
“Sea Freaks”
“Sea Groin Pulls”
“Sea Earwax”
“Sea Telly Savalas”

…that last one, just for sheer randomness, is wonderful.

Sheldon reader Michelle sends word of this awesome presidential development.

This ticket has 64% more Zod than any other candidate I’ve considered.

About a year or so ago, Dr. Z made a few visits around the place. And at the time, it seemed like he had some misgivings about the whole thing.

Which one has the cooler name, I wonder…the Visigoths or the Ostrogoths? “Visigoth” sounds vaguely like an painful eye condition, while “Ostrogoth” sounds like the doctor you go to for ankle and ankle-related problems.

“Oh man, I’m sorry….I can’t go see that terrible movie ‘Ghost Rider’ with you. I’ve got an appointment at the Ostrogoth at 2:30.”

In light of today’s toon, my buddy Howard Tayler sent me a link to this shirt today….pretty funny stuff.

You’ll be happy to know that the strip transcription process is starting in earnest. The Grammarians and I have started to tuck in on transcribing each and every Sheldon comic, with the goal of being able to search the entire archives using a word, phrase, punchline, character, location, prop, etc.

In keeping with today’s strip, for example, I typed in “spider”, and got these two strips, clearly showing that this is not the first time that Arthur has encountered bugs.

Try out the search function here, and bookmark for future use…as it’s getting more and more useful with every day.

(A fun word to start with is “eat”….it brought up some funny varieties when I tried it.)

How was your Presidents Day? Did you celebrate with the traditional family meal of veal cutlets and asparagus in a white-wine reduction? Did you play the traditional Presidents Day holiday games, such as “Uno: Travel Edition” and “Trivial Pursuit: The 80’s!”? Did you sing the traditional Presidents Day songs, such as Mel Torme’s Greatest Hits, Volume 2?

Ah, Presidents Day traditions…they warm the heart, do they not?

Also: my apologies for the late toon today. I was so wrapped up in my Presidents Day traditions, I made a mistake in how I uploaded the day’s toon.

Heads up Northwesterners! Heads up Canadian Southwesterners!

The very cool Emerald City ComiCon is a ‘Con I’ve been looking forward to attending for years. And this year, I finally get to go! I and the lads from Blank Label have been invited up, and we’ll be signin’, sellin’, and sayin’ hi at booth #306. Make your plans now to drop by: March 31-April 1!

Some of my favorite cartoonists will be there, including: brother-from-another-mother Kris Straub, Scott Kurtz, Gabe & Tycho, Bill & Gene, Brad Guigar, Howard Tayler, and roundin’ out the cast…super cartoonist-chef Greg Dean.

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Also, I should clarify that I’m not going to New York Comic Con this year. Last year was an absolute blast…but in the midst of setting up the new Sheldon studio this week and next, my time is a little too crunched for travel.

But! Two of my favorite cartoonists in the world with be there, Brad Guigar and Paul Southworth…plus the lovely lads of Dumbrella…so it’s definitely a show worth goin’ to!

Giving someone the ol’ whack-a-doo in croquet is quite possibly the most satisfying thing one can do in life. There’s such a delicious “ka-rack” sound associated with it, that it becomes almost Pavlovian.

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Also, a quick request to my friends in show business: Whatever it takes, however it happens, we need to get this guy a recording contract with EMI Records.

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Questions to ask yourself after watching the video a few times:
1.) Are there more than 7 words used throughout the two-minute song?
2.) How many suit changes can you spot during the video?
3.) Can you pinpoint the moment in the video where he clearly gets tired of dancing?
4.) On a scale of 1-10, 10 being very difficult, how tricky is the “Flea Market Dance”?