Positive Mental Attitude

New game!

2012-01-05T17:13:00.000-08:00

Check out the latest game from Firaxis! Why am I telling you about it? Because my brother-in-law was the character lead on it! That's really exciting!! Also: aliens.

Enjoy: http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2012/01/05/february-cover-revealed-xcom-enemy-unknown.aspx

Editorial cartoons now online

2012-01-02T15:42:00.000-08:00

I just found out that my Aegis and Record cartoons are online! Most of these are mine, but the ones that aren't are done by the Aegis' Friday cartoonist, Nils. At least, I think that's his name. Can you believe he and I have been cartooning there for 6 sixs and we've never met?

http://www.baltimoresun.com/explore/harford/bs-exha-aegis-editorial-cartoons-pg,0,2763383.photogallery

Check out my brother's website

2011-09-26T17:57:00.000-07:00

If you get a chance, check out my brother's website. He collects videos and other documentation of UFO sightings throughout the world. Pretty cool! Also, I designed the banner: http://www.investigateufos.com/

Classic Crabby and Hon: May 12 and 14, 2010

2011-09-26T17:20:00.000-07:00

Oh goodness. I forgot to post a strip last week, didn't I? Well, I'll make it up to you. Enjoy two strips this week, on the house:

Classic Crabby and Hon: May 10, 2010

2011-09-12T19:14:00.000-07:00

Oh my. I'm not very good at posting three times a week, am I? Let's make it once a week, on Mondays, ok? I can manage that.

This strip marks the change from three color strips a week to two colors and a black and white. Three colored strips plus two Aegis cartoons was quite a bit of work, so I talked b back to letting me to do two colors a week. From here on out, every third strip will be in black and white.

You probably feel a little ripped off today. I understand.

SPXPO and some thoughts

2011-09-11T09:53:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I attended the Small Press Expo (SPXPO) in Bethesda. I was only able to stay for a few hours, but I got to see a lot of old friends and meet a couple new people. All-in-all, it was a good day.

The highlight of the day was meeting Roz Chast. I'm a big New Yorker cartoon junkie, so meeting her was a huge honor. She even said she'd visit my website! (Ms. Chast, if you do stop by, I'm really sorry I didn't have a proper business card on me. So embarrassing!)

Anyway, when I was there, I told Ms. Chast the story of how I started out as a cartoonist. Have I told you this story?

(Warning. This is a longer version than what I told at SPXPO, because I didn't want to be more boring than I already was.)

When I was about 22, I was just out of college and working at a job I hated. One day at lunch, one of my co-workers asked "If you could do any job in the world, what would it be?" Although it may sound strange, this is a question I had never thought about before.

The answer, of course, was cartooning.

I began to do research on how I could become a cartoonist, which led me to information on how to submit work to the the New Yorker. I quickly did 10 (bad) cartoons and mailed them off.

I got rejected.

I did 10 more, and again, rejection. Then 10 more. Same result. During this time, I had created a portfolio of 30-50 New Yorker-style cartoons.

I remember being at the grocery store and waiting in line (nice segue, right? It'll make sense in a minute) and I saw the front page of my local newspaper. The cartoonist for the paper had passed away. That night, I gathered my favorite cartoons and mailed them to the paper. This is how The Aegis and The Record hired me as the new cartoonist.

Anyway, after meeting Roz yesterday and another New Yorker cartoonist of the summer, I think I'm going to start submitting stuff again. Maybe they won't buy a cartoon, but you never know what good might come of it!

Classic Crabby and Hon: May 5, 2010

2011-09-05T17:56:00.001-07:00

Uh-oh. I missed a few days, didn't I? Needless to say, the first week of school kicked my ass, but in a good way (i.e., I've just been very, very busy.) But fear not! Cartooning is still priority numero uno here at Carr-Toons headquarters! Keep checking for updates and more Crabby and Hon goodness, m'kay?

Classic Crabby and Hon: May 3, 2010

2011-08-29T20:27:00.000-07:00

I like this one. Click it. You'll like it too!

Classic Crabby and Hon: April 30, 2010

2011-08-27T10:46:00.000-07:00

Sorry folks, I forgot to post yesterday! On top of that, today's cartoon isn't even that funny!
Ah, well. If you're in the Baltimore area, you'll probably lose power soon anyway and you won't even be able to read this. Stay safe in the hurricane, everyone!

Classic Crabby and Hon: April 28, 2010

2011-08-24T18:09:00.000-07:00

Not a particularly funny one, but I like how I drew it.
Click the image and all your wildest dreams will come true.*

*Based on the assumption that your wildest dreams involve a larger version of the above comic.

Classic Crabby and Hon: April 26, 2010

2011-08-22T20:03:00.000-07:00

This one's cute. Click to see it smaller. Just kidding.

Classic Crabby and Hon: April 23, 2010

2011-08-19T14:21:00.001-07:00

Not one of my favorites. I was trying to use this strip to establish that Hon's character is very sweet. Click if you want to see it larger.

Classic Crabby and Hon: April 21, 2010

2011-08-17T20:07:00.001-07:00

I always liked this one. Click to enlarge, it should be bigger now.

Classic Crabby and Hon: April 19, 2010

2011-08-15T19:31:00.001-07:00

It's funny to see how much my drawing style has changed in a year.
As always, click to enlarge.

PS - I stole this joke from my dad, who apparently stole it from his brother.

Attention, twits!

2011-08-12T13:58:00.001-07:00

Did I mention that I now have a Twitter account? Yes, I did mention it, but this news deserves its own special post.

Follow me today! @Carr_Toons.

Classic Crabby and Hon: April 16, 2010

2011-08-12T10:39:00.000-07:00

Click to see Crabby and Hon's special guest star.

Classic Crabby and Hon: April 14, 2010

2011-08-10T13:07:00.000-07:00

Click to make bigger. I'll enlarge these images next week, I swear.

April 12, 2010

2011-08-08T20:51:00.000-07:00

Click to enlarge. Duh.

Grandma, what a large banner you have!

2011-08-08T20:46:00.000-07:00

I know. I'll fix it.

But, look! I'm trying to be a serious blogger! You like this, yes? Yes.

I have a Twitter account, so I think you can follow me @carr_toons. I think that's how that works.

And also, starting right now, I'm going to start posting classic Crabby and Hon strips on the blog. I'll be posting every Monday, Wednesday and Friday until I run out of strips, or until I lose interest in this little project.

Strips I think are crap will be omitted. Sorry to all of you who love crap.

Have you hugged a designer today?

2011-08-06T14:29:00.001-07:00

So I don't want anyone to think I was putting down b, or b's graphic designer last week. I used to be a graphic designer, and I know how it is. I've never designed for a newspaper though, so I would imagine it's a lot more stressful with the added pressure of super-stringent deadlines.

When you're a designer, people are always asking you to make more changes and add content at the last minute, and it gets to a point where you can only fit so much information on a page! Changes were being made to Strange City at the zero hour, so I get that there probably wasn't a lot of time available to make it look perfect.

That being said, this week it looks great! I'm happy with the size and it's all on one row. The colors aren't what I had hoped for, but that's entirely my fault (Brush tool + newsprint = muddier colors than I had anticipated.)

So anyway, take time to appreciate the graphic designer where you work today. I'd like to give a shout-out to b's designer, but I don't actually know her and that would probably be incredibly weird for everyone.

New comic!

2011-07-27T06:45:00.000-07:00

Hey there! So there's been some big changes lately in the land of comics. Here's the rundown:

1. Crabby and Hon is no more. With b altering its format to become a once-a-week paper, it was difficult to keep C&H in its original format. That being said...

2. I've got a new strip running in b! The new strip is called Strange City. It's not my favorite title in the world, but maybe it'll grow on me. Initially, I wanted to call it "The Lottery Results" for the person who wrote in to ask if Crabby and Hon could be replaced with the lottery results. I figured it could be a little gift to the haters, but alas, my editor said no. So, now it's Strange City.

Also, in this week's edition, the strip is split into two rows (and the bottom of each panel is cropped off, ah!). The panels weren't evenly spaced as it wasn't meant to be in two rows, so it looks a little odd. I get that the paper needed more space, so hopefully future strips won't look that bad.

So that's what's going on with b. If you get a chance, pick up the paper and let me know what you think of Strange City!

This just in...

2011-05-31T16:44:00.001-07:00

Once again, I'll be signing copies of Baltimore Betty at HonFest this year! I wasn't too sure if I'd be there or not, because the store that used to host me changed names/owners, and I wasn't even sure if they still carried Betty! Fortunately, they do, and I just confirmed that I'll be there to sign, so yay!

Look for me outside of HonTown, which is the old drugstore on the Avenue. It's right across from Cafe Hon, which you can't miss due to the giant pink flamingo on the building's facade.

Hope to see you there!

Recent thoughts...

2011-05-31T12:51:00.000-07:00

At the risk of spending hours sifting through thousands of comments on this post (Ha!), I'd like to throw a question at my readers. (Well, the one or two confused souls who accidentally stumble upon this blog once a year.)

I'm considering creating a Facebook page for Crabby and Hon. I hesitate to call it a fan page, because that would be putting it on the same level as someone with actual fans...like Justin Bieber. Really, it would be more of a feedback page. If people like the strip or dislike something specific they could post it there, or if they have ideas for future story lines...maybe I could even post previews of upcoming strips (if I'm allowed to do that...I'm just thinking out loud here.)

Anyway, for my very few followers, what do you think? Good idea/bad idea? I'm interested to here y'all's opinions!

BTTA

2011-05-31T12:41:00.001-07:00

The Baltimore Time Travel Anthology (which includes yours truly) was released last week. I don't have any awesome pictures, but the release party was held at Atomic Books in Hampden. It coincided with the release of SnoBaltimore, a new 'Zine about snowball stands in the Baltimore area. The party included free snowballs, animations, performances and cocktails. Everybody had a great time. Plus, they raffled off a copy of the anthology signed by all the artists!! I don't know who won it, but if I did know, I wouldn't mention it here because I don't want that person to worry about my hoards of readers breaking into his/her home at night to steal his/her precious signed anthology which is probably worth millions.

But I've already said too much! To protect the winner of the signed anthology, I've provided a link where you can get your OWN copy of the anthology! How cool is that? Quick! Click here and be transported back in tiiiiiiiiiiiiime!

May recap

2011-05-31T12:33:00.000-07:00

As usual, I apologize for not posting as often as I should. That being said, I've still got a few hours left of May, so here's what happened this month. (And yes, I realize that it would have made sense to promote all of this beforehand.)

FREE COMIC BOOK DAY

Free Comic Book Day took place on Saturday, May 7. It went really well this year and oddly enough, I sold more copies of Baltimore Betty than I have in the last several years...could this be a sign of economic recovery? Only time will tell!

Me sitting at my signing table. Unfortunately Greg Cox and the other signers weren't able to make it this year.

But Keith and Jams made it! (As did Donna, John and Justin.)

Promotion for FCD and the cartoon I did for that Friday's Record. I included the owner of Washington Street Books/longtime friend, John Klisavage.

You can read more about Free Comic Book Day here. Remember, it's the first Saturday in May at comic book stores around the country. If you missed out this year, mark your calendar for the next one!

Also, I think I'm going to break this recap into three posts. It'll make it look like I've accomplished more. Ha!

Q and A

2011-03-30T13:38:00.000-07:00

Did you know that there's a collection of comics about time travel in Baltimore? Did you know you can pre-order your copy now? Did you know that yours truly and a bunch of other fabulous Balto. comics artists are in it? WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!?!?!?! PRE-ORDER IT TODAY!!!!!

Also, did you know that I'm finishing my Masters degree right now? Did you know I get about four hours of sleep per night? Did you know this is why I post so infrequently? DID YOU?!??!?!?!

SPXPO

2010-09-10T03:05:00.000-07:00

Gee, it's been awhile since I've posted here. Things went well at HonFest several months ago. I guess I never got around to posting pics but I had a great time and a sold a good amount of books. I also got to meet a lot of great Crabby and Hon fans, which was the best part. There's really nothing better than someone telling you that they have one of your comics on their fridge. Especially when you didn't pay them to say that.

Anywho! I'm popping in to let y'all know that I'll be at SPXPO in Bethesda this weekend (Saturday and Sunday.) I'll be selling copies of "Hey, Hon! It's Baltimore Betty," Crabby and Hon pins, and Crabby and Hon original artwork. Be sure to stop by and check it out. I'll be sharing a table with my fellow MICA alums Melody and Catherine, who also have awesomely amazing work that you must see.

Button, button

2010-06-10T17:14:00.001-07:00

Check out the Crabby and Hon buttons I'll be selling at Honfest this weekend:

Sorry for the blurriness. I'm a cartoonist, not a photographer!

I'll also be selling Crabby and Hon prints, copies of my paper doll book, "Hey, Hon! It's Baltimore Betty!" and original artwork. Stop on by! I'll be outside of Hometown Girl this Saturday and Sunday from 11 to 3ish. See 'ya there, hons!

Come see me at Honfest, hons!

2010-06-06T14:58:00.001-07:00

Stop by Honfest next weekend and say "hey!" I'll be signing copies of Baltimore Betty, prints of Crabby and Hon and more! Weather permitting, I'll be outside of Hometown Girl. If it rains, I'll be inside Hometown Girl (across from Cafe Hon - i.e., the place with the giant pink flamingo on it.)

Honfest is Saturday and Sunday, June 12 and 13. See 'ya there!

I gotta module!

2010-05-24T16:30:00.000-07:00

Hey folks,

Visit bthesite.com and scroll down. On the right, you should see the brand-spanking-new Crabby and Hon module. Pretty neat, huh? Check it out for the most recent Crabby and Hon strips, and don't forget to leave a comment! That's right - you can comment on individual strips now. So what are you waiting for? Go! Go! Go!

Free comic book day recap

2010-05-10T19:02:00.000-07:00

Free comic book day/the Havre De Grace decoy festival was a huge success! The weather was beautiful, there were a ton of people who showed up to the store, and Keith brought me ice cream. It doesn't get any better! Wanna see some pics?

Me and the Dominator. I'd crack a smart ass joke, but the Dominator is a comic book that was created for a little boy who died of brain cancer. So...not too funny.

Me and sci-fi writer, Greg Cox.

Jealous, much?

Me trying to look professional while scarfing down a salad.

Ahhh, look out, Keith!

Remember, Free Comic Book Day is always the first Saturday in May. If you missed it this year, be sure to mark it on your calendar for next year!

Also, if you happen to be in Havre De Grace, be sure to stop by Washington Street Books. It's one of my favorite places and it has everything from books to antiques to comics to a life-size sculpture of Jar Jar Binks! What more could you want?!

Neeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrds!

2010-04-25T19:46:00.000-07:00

In honor of Free Comic Book Day, I'll be doing a signing at Washington Street Books in Havre De Grace, Maryland on Saturday, May 1. Unfortunately, I probably won't have anything free to give out, but I will be selling copies of Hey, Hon! It's Baltimore Betty!

Washington Street Books always has a great guest list lined up for free comic book day, and this year I've been told there will be Storm Troopers in attendance. I have no idea what this means exactly, but if Storm Troopers are involved, do you really need any more information?! You don't.

So stop on by and say "hello!" If you're not into comic books, worry not! Free Comic Book Day happens to coincide with the Havre De Grace decoy festival. I've always said that there are two types of people in the world - those who like comic books, and those who like duck decoys. So come on down to Havre De Grace on May 1 - there's sure to be something for everyone!

Oh, and did I mention FREE COMICS?!

New strip - Crabby and Hon

2010-04-12T07:36:00.000-07:00

Hey folks!

Today is the first day that b, Baltimore's free daily, is running my new strip, Crabby and Hon. Here is how b describes it:

"Crabby & Hon" stars affable, Baltimore-loving Hon and her cynical pal Crabby."

Pick up a copy of b today or visit bthesite.com and click on "Read Today's B" to check it out! The strip runs every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Be sure to email b and let them know how much you love it!

Check it out, Hon!

2010-04-08T16:08:00.001-07:00

Don't worry! I didn't die in the snowstorm! I survived, and I come bearing good news!

You can now purchase Baltimore Betty ONLINE! It's available through the Baltimore Museum of Art's NEW online store. Check it out!

I just wanna say...

2009-03-11T20:59:00.001-07:00

Microsoft Word is not a design program. It's a word processing program. That's why it's called Word.

If it were a design program, it would probably be called Design...or, I dunno, InDesign. Maybe even Quark.

But yeah, Word is not a design program. So don't ask people to design in it.

I make art

2009-03-11T20:39:00.000-07:00

So every year, the Maryland Wine Festival hosts its annual Wine Festival Poster contest. I was planning on entering this year, and I spent the past weekend coming up with a design, but then I realized how cracked-out it was and decided not to submit it.

Obviously it's not finished, but...yeah. It's a corkscrew man. And he's all psyched 'cause he just opened a bottle of wine from the wine festival, and now he's about to par-tay. And in the background are Maryland's flower, the black-eyed susan.

I don't think the Maryland Wine Festival would ever go for something like that. I could be nice and say it doesn't fit the tone of the event, or I could be honest and say they always pick work that looks like it was created by Grandma Moses because anything else would rock their fuddy-duddy socks off. 'Specially a corkscrew man.

Oh, btw, the deadline's this Friday if you wanna enter something that sucks. You might win $1,000!

Everyone's going bananas over this ape thing!

2009-02-25T20:37:00.000-08:00

Well, this is a blog about cartooning and my opinions and sometimes politics, so I guess I would be remiss if I didn't say something about the NY Post monkey cartoon.

If you haven't had the misfortune of seeing it, here it is:

A lot of people are pissed off about this cartoon, because they feel like it's racist. I can definitely see how it can be intepreted it that way, but I seriously doubt that was the cartoonist's intention. (Granted, Delonas doesn't have the greatest track record.)

That's not to say the cartoonist should get off the hook. I understand that when you're working under a tight deadline, you might not have the time to sit and consider every possible way a cartoon can be interpreted, and since you're dealing with images and not words, things can very easily be misunderstood. But for something like this, when it's very obvious that people (not to be confused with politicians, haha) are hurt and offended by what you've done, it's not good enough to sit there and say "Well, you're stupid because you don't understand my cartoon and I'm not a racist and that's not what I meant and blah, blah, blah." You need to apologize. And you need to be sincere about it.

I don't agree that Delonas should get fired, but that's mostly because I doubt that the Post would hire a new cartoonist to take his place. I think this is a great example of how powerful and important cartoons can be. It saddens me that someone who is fortunate enough to have a staff editorial cartoonist position would be so careless with his work, but like I said, mistakes happen. I'm also bothered by the fact that whenever a cartoonist or a cartoon gets in the news, it's because of something negative. And never that edgy, thought-provoking negative that cartoonists strive for.

It annoyed me so much when the Obama New Yorker cover got so much attention.

Since when is the New Yorker the go-to place for political cartoons? Satire just isn't their thing. So many people called it failed-satire, but I think it just wasn't the right venue for that kind of commentary. Had that been the cover of MAD Magazine, it would be a totally different story. I don't think the cartoon itself was bad, I just think it was a weird choice for a New Yorker cover.

The NY Post monkey cartoon IS failed satire. I get the concept, it wasn't particularly clever or funny, so just apologize for doing a stupid cartoon.

That being said, I wish people would write to their papers and praise good cartoons. Maybe instead of coming off as a liability, cartoons could once again be seen as an asset. Imagine that!

I'm a bad blogger, I'm a bad cartoonist, I'm a bad employee, I'm a bad human being!!

2009-02-25T20:19:00.001-08:00

So I haven't been very good with the blogging lately. I'm sorry about that. I've had a lot on my mind lately and I've been pretty stressed out, so blogging seems to have fallen to the wayside.

Anyway, rather than bore you with the details of my pathetic life, I thought I'd share this wonderful cartoon by Keith Knight:

http://www.salon.com/comics/knig/2009/02/25/knig/

Isn't that great? It really puts things into perspective. Except I don't have a baby. I have a cat though...but it's not so cute when she bites my nose. Her teeth are sharp!

2nd mailing sent, and I don't know what to do!

2009-02-23T19:52:00.001-08:00

Last week I sent out my second mailing for Berd. I'm not going to keep making posts like this, because I promised myself that I would send Berd
to five papers each week for the next year. So either you'll get tired
of hearing about every single mailing I send, or I'll run out of
papers to send stuff to.

I feel like I'm encountering problems already. I'm not
sure if I should call the papers and follow up to make sure they
received my packet, or if I should just accept their silence as a "no."
I probably picked the worst time in the history of printed media to
start sending out cartoons, so I feel like it would just be obnoxious
to call. On the other hand, maybe I could at least get some good
feedback.

Maybe I'll call one or two and see how it goes. Or not. I don't want to be a pain.

Sorry, I haven't blogged in awhile so this particular entry sucks. I'm just
kind of thinking out loud. If you have any thoughts or input, it's
appreciated. But yeah, I just don't know what to do after I send out a
mailing?

Anyone got any ideas?

My friends are a talented bunch.

2009-02-16T20:22:00.000-08:00

My friends are so talented. Particularly Henrique Couto. He's funny, he's smart, he makes his own movies that are really good, he hosts his own podcast and he even started his own band:

But my favorite talent of his is his ability to cope with a crazy amount of pain:

How crazy is that?!

I told Henrique he needs to move out to California, sit around on some street corner and just wait to be discovered. You just wait. Give him five years and he'll be a household name. You heard it here first, folks!

1st mailing

2009-02-15T19:36:00.000-08:00

Last week I sent out my first-ever mailing for Berd. I hope it goes well. After I sent it out, I realized there was a lot I should have said about myself and about the comic that I left out.

Also, I don't have any information on my website aside from a link to this blog, so I'll need to start working on that.

If you came to this blog after receiving a mailing for Berd, thank you for taking the time to check out my work and learn more about me. I've been working as an editorial cartoonist at two Maryland papers, The Aegis and The Record, for the past three years. I am a member of the American Association of Editorial Cartoonists. Last year I won awards for cartooning and illustration from the MDDC Press Association.

I've worked on other cartooning projects during that time as well, but Berd is really the first one I've liked enough to send out to papers. In the summer of 2008, Berd came in 2nd place in the City Paper comics contest. I think it's a pretty versatile strip, and it's got a lot of potential for an alt weekly. Obviously it's a new strip, but I promise that if you give Berd a chance, you won't be disappointed.

Please don't hesitate to contact me if you think you'd like to run the strip. I really appreciate any feedback, so if you've got a suggestion for me, don't be shy! Just give me a call or shoot me an email.

Thanks again for checking out the strip!

Restoring mad science to its rightful place

2009-02-07T05:43:00.000-08:00

You know I love comics, but very few actually make me lol. This week's Big Fat Whale is an exception to that rule.

Doesn't the government know that the economic and healthcare crisis, global warming and the entire Middle East conflict can all be solved with just two words? Time machine!

It's just as simple as that!

We interrupt this blog for a special message from Ean

2009-02-02T20:04:00.001-08:00

My friend Ean just finished working on the new film Coraline. He sends along this message:

Dear Everyone,

The time has come and after more than two years Coraline is ready to be seen.

It would mean a lot to me if you all went to see it on February 6th. I can't possibly be there with all of you physically- but if you go see it that weekend, and think of me when you see two little man bears splashing in a fountain, freakish bat-dogs attacking children, or passive aggressive monsters cooking in Martha's kitchen- then I'll be there in spirit. (probably drawing little naked dog men).

To be honest I'm starting a bit of a campaign for this film. For this week. The week before opening. If you could all, just for this week, be like little elves for me, to help better spread the word on this film, that would be awesome. (I can't pay you, but I can sing little songs for you on your answering machine).

Word of mouth is extremely important on a film like this. SO please talk loudly about it in laundromats and grocery lines all week. Point at things on the street and shout, “Wow, that totally makes me think of that cool film Coraline starring Dakota Fanning and Teri Hatcher.” (It's really fun if you single out other people's children in this fashion.)

Please phone or e-mail extended family and people I don't know to tell them about this movie coming out this weekend (February 6th). Tell them that it's really awesome, that it's based on a best selling book for kids (by Neil Gaiman), and that other movies coming out that weekend give you eye cancer. (This could be true, and do you really want to put them in potential danger?)

If you work in a place with lots of people, let's say for instance, a school, college, or library- maybe you can declare this week “Coraline Week” and offer free suggestions to go see the movie on February 6th.

Show everyone this site I put up on my site, with collected trailers for the film. (including our new creepy one, you all should look too, because it's awesome).

www.eanmcnamara.com/coraline.html

(if you all crash it by doing a good job, you can always go to the official, and harder to navigate site)

www.coraline.com

I love you all and thank you all for your support and guidance.

Best wishes!

-eAN (:

What are you waiting for? You heard the man, go see Coraline!

Baltimore Examiner, we hardly knew ye!

2009-01-30T17:20:00.000-08:00

I HATE bad news about the newspaper industry, and this is just awful: The Baltimore Examiner is closing after its February 15th issue.

This does not bode well for B-more. Recently, the Tribune declared bankruptcy, and the Baltimore Sun, b and The Aegis are Tribune companies. I still don't know how that's going to work in the long run.

Is this really the death of print journalism? I don't think so. What are people gonna read when they gotta' poop?

But seriously, I think the industry is changing, not dying. I think we're going to start seeing more papers following the alt-weekly model. The biggest problem is that people don't want to pay for their news when they can get it for free on the internet. This is going to mean more ads. It might mean less dailies and more weekly or monthly publications. I think we'll see papers focusing on local issues and leaving the national stuff for the internet and television.

I enjoy getting the paper delivered. On the other hand, I get it delivered for free because I work for the paper. Would I pay for that content? I don't know. I'd like to say I would, because my paper only covers local issues, and there's really no other way to get that news (yes, there are local blogs, but they steal their content from The Aegis.)

Anyway, I'm sorry to see The Examiner go. It was nice to have more than one option for news in this town.

Who watches the Watchmen?

2009-01-30T16:49:00.000-08:00

I try not to get excited at the faintest glimmer of promise, but I'm a little slow, and so the cycle continues.

Case in point: The Watchmen movie trailer.

Holy shit that looks awesome. Seriously, if you haven't read The Watchmen, you need to stop reading this blog immediately and go pick up a copy. The trailer is not shitting you when it says "The Watchmen" is the most acclaimed graphic novel ever. I could go on about how it's Alan Moore at his best, about how it reinvented the genre, about how freaking cool the Owlship looks...but I won't.

Instead, I'll resort to my favorite pastime. Worrying about shit.

The Watchmen? A movie? That's gonna be a hard one to pull off. One of the best things about The Watchmen is that it WORKED as a graphic novel. The story belongs in the comic book realm and I feel like if it were brought to the big screen it would be, well, pretty damn cheesy.

I mean, there's SO much goofy shit in there. But when you're reading a comic book, I think there's something in the back of your mind that's telling you "this is a comic book. Yes, the part where Dr. Manhattan transports himself to Mars* is silly, but it's a comic book so I can forgive that."

But people hold movies to a different standard. People watch movies all the time and say "That could never happen. " I don't know if it was always that way or that sort of thinking came about as special effects became more convincing. It's like you can see a painting and accept it for what it is because it's a painting, but film is always held to this "it's gotta be like real life" standard. I don't get it. And that's why I'm scared for The Watchmen movie.

I can look at every single scene in that trailer and tell you who the character is and what's going on plot wise. It looks so close to the book it's scary. Normally I dislike it when a movie strays too much from its original source, but in this case, I can make an exception. If details need to be changed to make it work as a movie, then I'm alright with that. The trailer looks awesome, but I have a terrible feeling that I'm going to be disappointed.

I guess we'll find out in March, eh?

*Sometimes I wanna be exiled to Mars like Dr. Manhattan. Just sayin'. I also want a martian castle.

The Marriage of Art, Science & Philosophy

2009-01-28T20:12:00.000-08:00

Have you seen the latest show at the American Visionary Arts Museum?

First of all, if you're in the Baltimore area and you've never been to the AVAM, you're missing out. Seriously, that place rocks.

Anywho, the exhibition's called The Marriage of Art, Science & Philosophy, and I gotta say, it looks pretty sweet. I'm hoping to check out the show pretty soon. I haven't been to an AVAM show in awhile, but the "art and science" theme has been popping up a lot for me, so I'm intrigued.

Anyone wanna go with me? I have to warn you, it takes me hours to get through a museum. No takers? Ok, I'll make sure to review the show after I see it.

Look! On the right!

2009-01-26T21:14:00.000-08:00

I started a list of other blogs you might enjoy. Not that you don't love this one, of course.

Never make assumptions...

2009-01-21T19:46:00.000-08:00

"The dog who is so angry he cannot move. He cannot eat. He cannot sleep. He can just barely growl. Bound so tightly with tension and anger, he approaches the state of rigor mortis."

-The Angriest Dog in the World

So a few months ago I was talking to one of my fellow Spanish classmates. She's an older woman, probably about my dad's age, early 50's. Nothing particularly interesting about her right off the bat. I mean...she seemed so...normal. I just kind of assumed she was some boring lady who's taking a second language because she had nothing better to do, right?

So anyway, somehow we got on the subject of comics. And she mentioned that City Paper (Baltimore's alt-weekly) used to run her favorite comic ever, but then they dropped it in the early 90s. So I asked her what it was, and she says "The Angriest Dog in the World."

The Angriest Dog in the World. Probably one of the strangest comics strips I've ever seen in my life. That's not surprising since it was created by David Lynch, who happens to direct some of the strangest movies I've ever seen in my life. Here are a few samples of the strip:

You can check out more examples here.

Anyway, the fact that this lady dug this strip totally changed how I viewed her. I mean, I try not to judgemental of people, I don't want to make assumptions, but sometimes it happens, and that's why I love stuff like this.

I love it when you get a pleasant surprise about someone that makes you totally rethink what you had initially thought. I love finding out what makes someone different or quirky or interesting. Everyone has something, and I think the less obvious it is, the more interesting it is. The fact that this weird little strip makes that woman smile just makes me smile. I usually don't like it when I'm wrong, but it's little reality checks like this that make me appreciate the people I know, the people I'm getting to know and the people I don't know.

Seriously. The fact that this lady likes "The Angriest Dog in the World" makes me want to give the world a hug.

Ok, this is getting too sappy. I'm starting to sound like I'm off my meds. Peace!

So true...

2008-12-08T08:43:00.001-08:00

Brought to you by the perceptive folks at xkcd.

Carr is Penny Sulzbach. Penny Sulzbach is Carr.

2008-09-22T20:22:00.000-07:00

Just in case you were worried about me...or thought I wasn't doing anything productive in the last several months...feast your eyes on this:

http://baltimorecitypaper.com/special/story.asp?id=16283

I'm Penny Sulzbach. I won second place in the Baltimore City Comics Contest!!!

:-D

And I totally stole my cat's name. I knew she'd be good for something.

And Berd, by Penny Sulzbach of Forest Hill, takes second, and she wins $100 for her efforts. "Smart, dry, and not afraid to be cute, Berd is reminiscent of Peanuts without imitating it," DesHarnais says. "Little twists add to the charm."

That's pretty much the nicest thing anyone's ever said about me. I'm super excited.

More Berd:

http://www.citypaper.com/special/story.asp?id=16297

I'm a quitter

2008-03-10T19:18:00.000-07:00

I quit cartooning for the UB Post. I made this decision for several reasons, but mostly because the direction I'm going in with my work really wasn't working with what the Post wanted for their comics page. Maybe quitting was a bad idea, but I think this will give me more opportunities to experiment stylistically. It's kind of a shame too, because after starting this blog, I actually got feedback on my Facebook cartoon from a Post reader. Ah, well. For any Post readers who stumble upon this blog, I will try my best to post new work here at least once a month.

Here's hoping my decision ends up being a good one! Yipes!

So long, Perry Bible Fellowship

2008-02-21T16:12:00.000-08:00

One of the most hilarious alt comics out there today, the Perry Bible Fellowship, is coming to an end.

http://pbfcomics.com/

That's sad. But on the other hand, it does free up a some space in the comics section.

Just sayin'!

Movie Review: Persepolis

2008-02-09T17:10:00.000-08:00

I'm writing to get my mind off things. I'm going to write about a movie I saw recently that I liked. Only good movies should be reviewed, unless you're Roger Ebert and your reviews of bad movies are hilarious.

Below is a trailer for the movie Persepolis, which Keith and I saw last Saturday:

Persepolis is the biography of Marjane Satrapi, an Iranian graphic novelist who currently lives in France. The movie is based on her two graphic novels, Persepolis 1: The Story of a Childhood and Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return.

http://www.amazon.com/Persepolis-Boxed-Set-Marjane-Satrapi/dp/0375423966/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1202605959&sr=8-2

After seeing this movie, it occurred to me how few movies there are that began as graphic novels and made it to the big screen as animation. Generally it seems the movie ends up being a live-action adaptation, particularly if the film is intended for adults, so I was happy that Persepolis was an animated feature.

Actually...the only graphic novel I can think of that became an animated film intended for adults (besides Persepolis) is Fritz the Cat...weird...

Probably not suitable for the office. Just sayin'.

So. Moving on.

Stylistically it stays true to the graphic novel. It's black and white with the exception of a few color scenes that take place in Marjane's present. Aesthetically it's gorgeous.

Marjane's touching coming-of-age story is intriguing, heart-wrenching and at times, funny. My friend Ean criticized it for having the grandmother as a more interesting character than Marjane. However, I don't see this as a flaw. Marjane shows the influence her grandmother had on her own personality, and uses her grandmother's wit and wisdom to show herself as a flawed character who has a need to learn, grow and mature. The reason the viewer likes Marjane's grandmother so much is because Marjane loves her grandmother, and in this movie she is sharing that with us.

My only (small) criticism of the movie is that it was entirely in French. Now, I realize that this movie was intended for a French audience, and that Marjane currently lives in France, but the movie is basically about her learning to identify herself as being Iranian, and her love/hate relationship with the country she calls home. There is even a moment in the movie when she denies being Iranian and claims that she is French, only to regret it later. I think it would have been more conceptually solid if the Iranian portions were in Persian as opposed to French, but like I said, the movie was intended for a French audience, and I suppose French people don't want to read subtitles any more than American people do.

Oh, and a note on the subtitles: Although in the clip I posted the white subtitles appear hard to read, in the theater version they had a black drop shadow and are easy to see, for all you seeing-impaired folks.