I am not really sure what it is but I have noticed over the last several years that when sitting on the couch watching TV, I have been prone to putting a hand down the front of my pants. Not all the way mind you (or touching the package) but just enough that the palm is on the lower stomach and the fingers are in the waist band. I find it a very comfortable position. And this is completely separate than stratching. No scratching involved. My wife rags on me for it and thinks it is hilarious.
So is this some right of passage that all men go through as they age? Will I have the tendency to some day have an entire arm down my pants? Fess up gentlemen. Do you too find comfort in this position? Ladies…thoughts? I would ask if I am “nuts” but that might not be appropriate.
So I have been busy behind the scenes doing cartoons and contributing elsewhere so I thought I would give a roundup of my busy busy life.
First, the Webcomic Alliance, periodically puts out sketch challenges. A few weeks ago it was “Your favorite Marvel or DC Characters in the classic, “Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Speak No Evil”.” Now of course I went off template and included some of my favorite cartoon characters that I thought would fill the role perfectly.
Then our friend Ahmnodt Heare put on his annual “Draw Ahmnodt Week” Challenge. Never mind that only two of us submitted entries. But here is my donation to the cause.
Finally Gav over at Boys Will Be Boys put on a cartoon caption contest. Not only is he yet another Aussie friend (I don’t know how you all find me) but he has good taste and I WON!! Here was my winning original signed and sent along with a nice message that I received in the mail yesterday.
I’ve had the distinct fortune over the last few days to hear some great lectures (and a few duds) on learning theory, behavioral science and how the brain works from people like Daniel Simons and Ann Herrmann-Nehdi. As someone who hungers for new learning, I am always interested in how people process information and how the instructor can either help or hinder that process.
What I find interesting though, is that we are so quick sometimes to throw out terms like “information overload” or “brain overload” when I tend to think most of the time it is actually “information confusion”. Experts agree that we can process information much faster than the average person can talk. So if the information is presented in a logical fashion, we are more apt to be engaged and remember it. Though not absolute, I can be bombarded with information and still retain the salient parts if I can follow the logic.
However, “information confusion” more-so than overload becomes the blocker. All new information that I could process is shut off because now I am fixated on figuring out something that may have been said five minutes earlier. I find this when speakers tend to say “um” every 10 seconds. I become fixated on counting the “um’s” that I no longer pay attention to the content.
I remember having a professor in college with a strong Ukrainian accent. He was not the type of professor who liked interruptions in his lectures for silly things like questions. One day, he spent 30 minutes lecturing on Ira. I couldn’t figure out who this Ira guy was or what he had to do with science. It was only as the bell was beginning to ring, that I finally understood he was saying “iron”. Had I known that in the beginning, the entire lecture might have made sense.
Anyone else have examples of when you become fixated on something someone else said or did and can’t seem to get past it to really pay attention to their point?
So it seems that there are some American comic fanboys upset that an American icon like Superman is being cast by British actor, Henry Cavill. Henry was incredible as Duke of Suffolk, Charles Brandon in the Showtime series (I believe being rerun on BBC), The Tudors. And according to my wife, he is good eye candy so he has that going for him too.
Most of you may not get the “Jersey” line but Henry is actually from the island of Jersey. Not New Jersey, but one of the Channel Islands, part of the Crown Dependencies of Britain. Now here is where it gets confusing for an American. I learned long ago the differences between England, the United Kingdom and Great Britain. For those of you who did not, our friend Duncan recently reposted this video explaining it all. (Take note Friggin Loon. When you steal content from the Mad Hatters, at least give them credit..haha).
Here’s the confusing part for me. Many Americans might call Henry an “English Actor” but he is not from England so he cannot be. Yet, even the UK paper, the Guardian, confuses us even more when they refer to him as such. As in this article saying “As long ago as 2005, the Twilight author, Stephanie Meyer, was talking up Cavill’s abilities: “I feel really passionately about him getting the role,” she said, but the part eventually went to another English actor, Robert Pattinson.
Now that we have determined he is a British actor and not an English one, should either really matter when you are playing an alien who lives in the United States and was co-created by a Canadian?? Then again, would anyone in the UK be upset if an American played James Bond with a decidedly English accent?
There is a new talk show host in town. Piers Morgan (U.S. readers might know him as a former judge on America’s Got Talent) has taken over Larry King’s spot on CNN. In his first week alone, he interviewed Oprah, George Clooney and Howard Stern. I’ve probably watched his show more than I did Larry’s in the last 3 years combined.
Yet with such high profile guests in the early weeks, what happens when he is only left with being able to interview “celebrities” the likes of the Kardashian sisters or similar? Would he have to break down and try to nab an interview with Madonna, Howie Mandell, or Heather Mills (all according to the NY Mag are on his banned list).
Side note: Piers was a hard one to caricature for me. After many attempts, what you see above I was finally happy with and my wife was able to identify without prompting. But now the more I look at it, I can’t stop seeing Eric Stoltz in Mask. Sorry Piers.
Update: Ok I was completely kidding when I said the Kardashian joke but I guess he indeed did interview them last week and it was not a ratings success.
Undercover Boss is a series in the U.S. that showcases company executives disguising themselves as out of work average joes working different entry level jobs in their own company. It was originally a British series and now has expanded to Australia (source). It is not only a ratings success but also a PR success for any company lucky enough to be featured on it.
Well it seems that Cincinnati’s own Mayor Mark Mallory was asked to participate as the first mayor in the country featured on the show. Cincinnati needs some good PR so I think it was a great idea. Well it seems some city council members do not. Leslie Ghiz complained “…he’s not the boss..The manager’s the boss. He’s nobody’s boss.” (source). While it it true that our city is run by a city manager, the mayor is still seen as playing a prominent role in how people view the city and therefore it is not inappropriate for him to take on this task.
And Chris Bortz said “he might put forth a motion to sue the production company to make sure the show doesn’t air, saying Mallory was simply “advancing a personal agenda.” Seems they only wanted him involved more in the budget process so they have one more person to point the finger when things go wrong.
Oh and Mayor Mallory is fairly recognized in the city (see bio) so rumors were that they gave him different facial hair and dreadlocks, thus the picture.
Anyone watch UB? Do you think it would be good or bad for your city if your mayor appeared on the show?
Normally, when I take a well deserved break from cartooning for a few weeks, I kick my heels up at home and just take a mental break from blogging/internet. But this Christmas, we went away on a trip to Costa Rica. I have been to Belize and Mexico but never had any intestinal issues before. Even in Costa Rica, I kept with the experts advice to only drink the water at the hotels or bottled water. And yet I spent more time in the bathroom than I have in the last six months combined.
But it didn’t keep me from seeing the incredible sites of Costa Rica and experiencing the extremely genuinely nice people of that country. The only thing I missed out on doing was the zip line tour. I didn’t want to have to crap on people from the trees as I swung by…even though I saw a few monkeys do it.
So for anyone preparing a trip to Costa Rica, I offer you the ten things I learned that I didn’t know about this wonderful country before I went.
They disbanded their army in 1948
More so than other Central American countries, Costa Ricans are mostly of European descent. Some sites claim that disease brought by the Spanish settlers killed off much of the indigenous population.
Costa Rican woman have a high self-esteem. Which was explained to us by a guide as we passed a large woman, who may or may not have recently given birth, wearing a bikini.
Even in the dry season it rains (a lot).
You can find souvenir vendors all over the place but what they don’t sell but need to are battery operated fans and sweat towels.
Bob Marley must have been Costa Rican and NOT Jamaican (as evidenced by the number of Marley beach towels and tshirts for sale everywhere.
For a country that prides itself on tourism, it doesn’t take much pride in completing roads to get you anywhere. If you are lucky you get a two lane paved road. I saw one road construction worker the entire time I was there, and he was on his lunch break.
If you are on a antacid like Nexium, Prilosac, etc., you may be more prone to intestinal issues as the reduced acid in your stomach allows the bacteria to take hold in your stomach.
Due to issues with processing toilet paper in water treatment facilities, most public restrooms have a garbage can next to the toilet for you to deposit your used TP. I thought it was surprising that it didn’t smell. My wife said several of the women’s restrooms did. I think men are more courteous and wrap their poopy TP nicer than the women.
Given the previous two points, it seems only fitting that they named their currency the COLON.
When I returned from vacation, I was pleasantly surprised to find a guest cartoon from the illustrious Noel Curry waiting in my inbox. Noel is the mind behind both DJ Bogtrotter Cartoons and Milton’s Life Cartoon. And if that weren’t enough, he is a prolific twitterer and the mind behind Tuesday Sketch.
Tuesday Sketch is a weekly challenge for anyone who wants to put pencil to paper and draw the weekly challenge. Follow Noel on Twitter and each Tuesday he announces the topic and those willing post their results to the Tuesday Sketch Flickr Group. Yours truly has submitted in the past (see here and here).
And last but not least of the guest cartoons is George Ford of Addanac City. George continues to claim that his cartoon is PG but with little ones like this cartoon, I beg to differ.
I love how George has me actually owning my own business as if I had an ounce of entrepreneurial skills. George thanks for coming through yet again and a big shout out to all the guest cartoonists the past couple weeks.
Today’s guest cartoon comes from the multi-talented Aidan Casserly of Scapula fame. I have a short attention span so I tend to shy away from comics with extended story lines. But Aidan keeps the humor going in each weekly strip and his artwork is amazing so he has me hooked.
I don’t know why The Bearman doesn’t take hold. Maybe in a future story, Aidan can write how all this rejection turns him bad (or good).
