Month: October 2007

I thought I’d share with you the ridiculous costumes my wife and I are going with for Halloween this year. This is the first costume I’ve really loved since my now famous Cap’n Crunch froma few years back.

This year’s outfits are really fun. Check out some of the ridiculous, ridiculous facial expressions this look inspires.

On Tuesday night, we’ll be ending the celebratory sale on original art! This is the only time before Christmas that originals will go on sale, so be sure to snag any gift-strips while they’re still $25 off.

Lot’s of responses to today’s (admittedly) random jokes about Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” and everyone’s favorite shape, the Dodecahedron. (If you haven’t read the short story “Amontillado”, please treat youself. It’s a suitably Halloween-y short story.)

And! Real Quick! Here’s my favorite Sheldon strip on
Halloween from year’s past. Which one is your favorite?

Rejoice my friends, rejoice! After literally decades of waiting, we can all look forward to a new album from 1980’s hip-hop/pop star “Tigra”.

And don’t stand there pretending you don’t remember that name:

“We like the cars

It was the classic 1980’s ode to cars with bass! And after decades in a self-imposed exile, where she was no doubt working on hydrogen-fueled auto technology, Tigra is back. Back.

Sad admission: I brought this up on Friday night at dinner with friends, and after we laughed for 20 minutes…we all kinda had to admit that that song rocked. My wife and I have been singing an a capella, lounge-like version all weekend. Like Mel Torme would do if he were singing Tigra and Bunny’s greatest hits.

Sad admission #2: I had to do a Google search just now to remember the name of their band: “L’Trimm”. How ridiculously rad is that name??

Kinda cool fun fact: my Google search further revealed that they were 16 when that song came out. Man! How is the rest of your life not a huuuuge let-down after you’ve recorded “We Like The Cars (The Cars That Go Boom)” at 16?

Amid the $25-off sale for original art, I’m realizing I need to clarify one quick thing…

Lots of folks have been asking me if the art for such-and-such a strip is still available. And I’m realizing I didn’t explain that part:

The Sheldon 9000 Accu-Weather Auto-Track™ System keeps track of what original art has been sold and what hasn’t. So if you see the text “Buy Today’s Original Art” under your favorite strip, it’s still available. Hurray!

But if the red text “Purchased” prompts up, then that original is no longer available. Boo!

There’s only one of each, so when they’re gone, they’re gone.

…Especially when they’re 25 smackers off! 🙂

Seems Oso wasn’t the first pug to try on a unicorn costume. Check out this photo sent in by Sheldonista Victoria G. I love this guy’s face. It’s saying “My dignity…draining away…”

Sheldonista Georg S. sent me a very funny e-mail today about the Chrysler/Mercedes “Dr. Z” (Zetsche) strips, letting me know that Daimler-Chrysler is now just called “Daimler” (…take THAT, Mr. Benz!)

But at the end of his e-mail, Georg wrote:

“Because I live in Dresden, I’ll never make it to US comics conventions like SPX. Will you offer your artwork at the convention price, for Germans like me […] who can’t make the trip?”

Well Georg (God I love that name…I want to keep writing it and writing it), you are right! I *should* do something like that for folks who can’t make it to conventions! In fact, I should’ve done that for the 2000th strip! To celebrate! So I’m doing it now, for you, Georg (…that name… so…awesome).

So it’s big ol’ sale time! From now until next Tuesday…Sheldon readers everywhere can snatch their favorite original strip for $25 off. And if, like Georg (…that name…so wonderful…no words…they should’ve sent a poet), you happen to be buying a strip using Euros or Loonies or any other currency known to man — you’re making out like a bandit with today’s dollar value. Right, Georg? (…I seriously can’t stop saying your name. This isn’t healthy.).

How do you grab your favorite strip? Just navigate to the comic you want, and click the blue “Buy Today’s Original Art” button underneath it. (And if you can’t find your favorite? Search for it, using keywords or punchlines in the super-cool Search-o-Matic!

Also, and this is critical to say one last time…“Georg”.

Today’s IKEA strip isn’t the first Sheldon toon about that Swedish emporium of awesomeness. Check out these previous IKEA toons from days past:
1,
2,

3,

4.

When I’m looking through the Sheldon archives, I often notice that I poke fun at stuff I really and truly love.

Today’s cartoon is a perfect example: it looks like I’m being harsh on IKEA…when in fact that store is one of my secret loves in life. And I do mean love. It combines, like, fifteen things that make me smile: ridiculous naming systems, super fatty meatballs sent straight from heaven, and fun little Disneyland rides for your shopping cart. That place is both ridiculous….and ridiculously rad.

(Sidenote: I could probably do a whole week’s worth of cartoons on that IKEA piston machine that they have at every store….you know the one. It sits there, poundin’ away at a chair for 10,000 hours. Thus proving that, if your butt is shaped and performs like a steel pneumatic piston, an IKEA chair is ready to take the punishment.)

Hey! In other news! My wife’s episode of “How I Met Your Mother” is tonight! Check your local listings…but it should be on at 8:00, Monday night on CBS. When you see her name, please clap heartily.

Friday, October 19th marks the 2,000 Sheldon toon, which is kinda neat…and worth noting.

I absolutely love drawing this strip, and based on the little snippets I get from your daily e-mails, it seems to bring an awful lot of folks an awful lot of joy as well.

There is nothing I’d rather do, creatively, than cartoon on a daily basis…so allow me to make this public pledge: I’m gonna keep drawing Sheldon for decades and decades and decades more to come. I may, in time, create a second (…or third?) strip, or experiment with other stuff…but Sheldon is here for good. You have my word on that.

That would not be possible, though, without your kind support. The e-mails I get, the nice posts on the forums, the kind words said to me at conventions or book signings — that stuff buoys me along for months. You have no idea. So thank you for your kindness: it really does mean the world to me.

And thanks also, for your support at the Sheldon Store — as that’s what keeps the lights on around here. (…I still take a unique kinda joy any time someone picks up a Sheldon book.)

So today, we mark strip #2,000! And here’s to the next 2,000 strips!

OK, yes, granted, I *was* looking at the Star Wars online encyclopedia for a big chunk of my day today. And yes, granted, that *does* make me a huge nerd.

But there comes a time in every nerd’s life when an invisible line is suddenly crossed. It’s a moment of sudden illumination that causes a previously fun activity — such as looking at an online Star Wars encyclopedia — to instantly become the lamest possible way you could be spending your day.

Ladies and gentlemen, that invisible line, that moment of illumination….came for me today in the form of THIS RIDICULOUS STAR WARS ENCYCLOPEDIA ENTRY.

…and here’s my followup thought, since I now have to comment on this: The duck’s homeworld is “Naboo”? Really? Is this really what we’re shooting for here? I mean, c’mon…I’m all for suspension of disbelief and immersion in a sci-fi universe, but isn’t that kinda ruined when you start listing “Ducks” as being from “Naboo”? What’s next?

“Species: Rare White Tiger. Homeworld: That weird lava planet where Anakin got served.”