Someone Animated Calvin and Hobbes

Just a short, 30-second test, but it's great.  Good work, guy whose video I found via a link on the Internet.

My Morning

This was basically my morning, except replace "school" with "work" and "Tuesdays" with "Wednesdays."

Calvin and Hobbes Mural

A friend sent this to me, and it is wicked cool. I want one.

More about it here.

Charles Addams

If you are under the age of 50 and/or never read The New Yorker, then you've probably never heard of Charles Addams. You've almost certainly heard of his most famous cartoon, however, "The Addams Family". Apparently, he was a magnificent and witty cartoonist for many years. I just discovered him (on a tip from a friend). He's a little morbid, but that's what makes his work so enjoyable.

On another note, he was related to president John Adams, even though the last name is spelled differently. By marriage, I too am somehow related to John Adams (but I'm not exactly sure how...). Maybe we're long lost cousins. Or, maybe it's just a pipe dream.

His interest in the macabre didn't just stop at the drawing table. Though people remembered him as rather suave and friendly, not 'fiendish' at all, he married his third wife in a pet cemetery. That's right. A pet cemetery.

Interesting fellow, no?

New, Kind of Random, Pencil Test

This pencil test has nothing to do with the last post about the Romanovs and the Russian Revolution; the fact they've come on the same day is entirely coincidental.

However, I have been for some time working on a comic strip/animation idea about a farm which has a bunch of communist pigs (a la Animal Farm). Here's a talking test for the Lenin Pig using none other than a clip from Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

Calvin and Hobbes

Calvin: "Let's go out for a walk"
Hobbes: "Will you lock up your possessions before leaving?"
Calvin: "Yes..."
Hobbes: "Ah-HA! Therefore, you do not believe in the innate goodness of man. You don't trust him."
Calvin: "Uh...duh. I'm John Calvin. Ever heard of Original Sin? Of course man isn't innately good."
Hobbes: "Oh."
Calvin: "C'mon, let's go for a walk. We were predestined to have a beautiful day and to enjoy it."
Hobbes: "But what if something happens? I live in continual fear and danger of violent death. My life is but solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short ."
Calvin: "Good grief. You won't die a violent death. Let's go."
Hobbes: " Now I am about to take my last voyage, a great leap in the dark."
Calvin: (to self) "Sheeeesh."

I've Fallen for Autumn

The weekend of Labor Day, temperatures in Chicago were in the 90's. Then, BAM! The bottom falls out. Now, we're struggling for 70's (though today is pretty nice). I'm not sure whether I should be happy or not that I go to the train in the morning and it is 45 degrees. I know that I am disgusted by the shortening of the days. The sun used to come up before I woke up; now it doesn't rear itself until I'm done with my shower. Life's a lot harder when you wake up and it's dark outside.

I was reflecting a bit on the end of my first post-collegiate summer, and as I am apt to do while thinking, reading Calvin and Hobbes. There are very few life cues that I would take from Calvin, but relaxing under (or in) a tree would be very nice. It's a pleasure usually reserved for those who are careless and pre-pubescent, or at least for those who haven't passed that arbitrary threshold of 18 and 'adulthood.' Unfortunately, cities don't lend themselves to that kind of escape very often. One time, one of the first really nice days of spring, a friend was sitting on a bench on the University of Chicago quad. I walked over and sat next to her, and she said "Look out there. I've counted two guys in trees and one in a bush." Sure enough, two guys (both shirtless and bearded) were taking naps in two different trees. And, also sure enough, there was another guy somehow balancing himself in the branches of a bush. I'll probably wait until it gets a little more autumnal before I climb a tree. After all, the leaves are still green. We have another month or so before that shift happens. In the meantime, I will continue to sit in my office, overlooking the treeless city of Chicago, drinking chai, and impossibly pretending that summer isn't really gone.

Big Day for Art!

WARNING--PICTURE OF NAKED MARBLE PERSON

Well, September 8th is a big day for the art world. According to Wikipedia, here and here, today marks the date in 1504 that Michelangelo's David was first unveiled to the public in Florence and also the day in 1930 when the comic strip Blondie first made its debut. Now, to be sure, I can't stand Blondie (after 78 years, it ceases to be funny...of course, that's assuming that it ever was in the first place), while I am amazed by the photos I've seen of the David. I mean, consider this: Michelangelo took a chunk of marble that was discarded for its imperfections and created one of the greatest masterpieces of all time. Whoever created Blondie (Wikipedia tells me Chic Young) made a guy with weirdly long eyes who likes to eat sandwiches. That's soooo funny. Maybe I'll have a chance to visit Florence someday to see the original David. Maybe I'll live to see the day when Blondie is stripped (pun definitely intended) from the funnies. So much to hope for.