The Plateau-iest Thing I saw Today

At the parents' house the other week my Dad showed me a book he had found.

The book was untitled, but the author/illustrator was me!

Here is a page from the adventure I illustrated over 20 years ago :


As you can see, my drawing skills plateaued quite early on.

My handwriting has gone far downhill....

The Scariest Blog I saw Today.

Today I have to lure you to another drawing blog that I have grown to love so much.

Monster Attack!

The blog is an ever growing collection of drawings by Eli, the 4 year old son of comic artist James Kochalka. James is a favorite of mine too.

Eli has quite the clever little mind and his drawings always bring my heart back to days of innocence and unbridled imagination.




I had thought about promoting him before, but todays' picture sealed the deal:

I dare you to find a better drawing of R2D2.

I DARE you!

Ok, wait, don't show me one, it will crush my spirit!

Instead:

All images swiped (saved and reloaded) from http://www.americanelf.com/comics/monsterattack.php

The Prince-iest Thing I Saw Today

So the other day I was taking the bus to First Avenue to see Mike Doughty with my friend. My friend is cool. First Avenue is also cool and it was also where parts of Purple Rain were filmed.

Just imagine me standing on that floor with lots of eye makeup, ripped tank top and spiky bangs.

Anyways...this First Avenue fact is relevant because on the bus I saw:

(Sing it with me to the tune of The Replacements "Kiss Me on the Bus")

Prince Guy on the Bus!

PS: The "Kiss Me on the Bus" video is pretty entertaining if you have any remaining tolerance for 1980's nostalgia and enjoy community produced television in Dearborn, Michigan.

The Most Faithful Thing I Saw/Heard Today!

Saturday I was at the grocery store in minding my own business browsing the meat department. The place was bustling with happy shoppers preparing for their Sunday feasts.

One shopper saw a friend and exclaimed with great delight:


This made me smile and it amused me a lot because, as you may know from A Prairie Home Companion, this just is not how Minnesota Lutherans behave.

Here is a list of are some true Minnesotan values (set to avoid making other people uncomfortable) that were broken in this scene :

1. No shouting in grocery stores.
2. Remain humble, do not make others jealous or bother others with your glee.
3. No shouting in grocery stores.
4. Do not parade your faith about town.
5. Both women are wearing a racy amount of lipstick.

Times they are a changin'.......ain't that right, very vocal former Minnesotan Bob Dylan?

**********************News Flash**********************

Creepy Pants Cats and this one bachelor Math teacher I had in 5th grade can rejoice and sing praises because their favorite pants have risen from the dead.

In the article you will find this gem:
"There really isn't anything like a family in matching Zubaz attire"

No, there really isn't.

Peeps on the web

Well, my Peeps did not wion, but they were posted on the internet this time!

This year readers can vote on the pieces too......all 400 some entries. People are so creative and clever! I love it.

Here are some other peep dioramas:

Happy PI Day!!!

Give a shout at 3:14pm!

Another Creepy Pants Cat!

Last Friday I posted a couple of drawings between a friend and I that was probably a little too much of an inside joke, but we both drew what we imagined "AH! Creepy pants cats! LOL." was referring to.

I did get one submission from Starshrines:

Check it out, yo:

Remember the fairy tale Puss in Boots? I always found the illustrations a little creepy:

I mean, they were more like hip waders than boots. And hip waders are kind of like creepy pants. So here is my creepy pants cat!

So very true! I love this rendition of Puss in Boots. I hope it does not give your cat any ideas.

Although.....hip waders might be an interesting Project Runway challenge: "Fly Fishing Fashion".

The Plain Stupidest Thing I saw today.

This incident occurred whilst I was transferring buses downtown on a lighty snowy day last week.

It was a gorgeous morning, cold, light glittery snow falling with the sun peaking out around the skyline.

Ah.

It was also hella slippery because there is ice everywhere hiding under that glittery snowfall.

I stopped at the lightrail tracks over to my waiting bus because the lightrail train was already dinging away at the station, calling out "Look out, I am a big train and I am moving now."

A young man who apparently does not speak lightrail train came rushing up behind me:



I literally screamed! He ran out right in front of that train to get to a bus that was waiting at a stoplight for the train to pass. I am sorry, but what a self-centered idiot!

In his leap to beat the train, he could have slipped and fell and really been clobbered by that train...or the train might not have been able to stop..wait...one should just ALWAYS assume that the train will not be able to stop!

PLUS, the guy got on a bus to the University, and at that time of day those buses come about once every 3 minutes.

After the train passed, I crossed the tracks and got on the same bus the guy got on. I stood in front of him in the aisle fuming. I could not decide what to say to him. I could have just said, "Good thing you risked your life and the mental health of that train driver to get on this bus that is still stuck at the friggin' stoplight!" or "You are a f-in idiot for running in front of a MOVING TRAIN!".

Of course, being a Minnesotan (see #6 at this link), I did not drudge up the courage to directly confront him before he hopped off on the West Bank campus. I really need to shake off that part of my Minnesotan-ness.

The Peepiest thing I made today!

A local newspaper runs a contest where one can submit a diorama made of Peeps (or the bunnies, which are not really Peeps in my book, just a Peep subsidiary!) for review and prizes! the Washington Post started having the contest last year too.

My friend Sky and I have made an entry every year except last year (because I was getting married, I know: LAME!).

I am not linking to the newspaper because they have continually lost or not published our entries. I don't read that paper, I just enter their Peep contest hoping against hope for attention to our art and our freedom of expression.

Here is the entry I submitted for this year, The HandPeep's Tale:

(click to expand)

In this scene we find OfPeep heading towards a checkpoint with her shopping partner OfJustBorn. They are passing one the Wives tending to some flowers. Two Guardians of the Faith await them at the checkpoint.

Much thanks to Margaret Atwood and my awesome bookclub! Woot!

Here are our past entries:

Mount Choice-No-More: In recognition of South Dakota banning a woman's right to choose:


A nice Peep wedding:

And this was to Honor our then upcoming trip to Washington DC for the March for Women's Lives:

The creepiest pants cats I saw today!

The Pariah and I did some imagining yesterday. It is fun to imagine.

You see, we both have the same "cat-a-day" calendar which I purchased on clearance from Target after the holidays. Together we enjoy some silly cats and our own commentary on the cats.

Yesterday, The Pariah was away from her calendar when I shot her an email that said"AH! Creepy pants cats! LOL."

Since The Pariah had to wait in great anticipation to see the creepy pants cats, she decided to venture a guess at what they looked like (click to enlarge):
And even though I KNEW what the creepy pants cats looked like, I drew my vision for them too:


What do you imagine the creepy pants cats look like???

If you want to draw your vision I will post them for you!