it's yaytime!

April 16, 2004
I did a Q&A/ lecture last night for Joey Cavalieri's sophomore year class at the School of Visual Arts. It was a last minute invite, so I don't know if I was really prepared, but maybe its better to not think about these things in advance (although I did make some dittos!) What's wacky is that John Green and I are also supposed to do our annual "self publishing DIY" lecture for Klaus Janson's class on Monday so I should probably get the hang of it by then. At the very least it should be a real test for my new tonsil-less throat. Most of Joey's class was spent reflecting on John and my experiences over the past 10 years and how much things have changed in the comic book industry. It made me feel old to be talking about how there was no internet or web comics etc. and how we had to do everything the hard way.

5:05 PM

April 14, 2004

Avenue Q turned out to be pretty awesome. Even tough I'm pretty tired of twisted adult takes on Muppets and Sesame Street (Crank Yankers, Meet the Feebles, SNL sketches etc) I felt the cast and crew did a good job transcending all the parody aspects. For those who haven't seen it, Avenue Q uses the format of classic Sesame Street as their template (complete with animated sequences and lesson call outs between the sketches and bits) but focuses on lessons like "Everyone's a little bit Racist" and "The Internet is for porn" by setting them to music. Luckily all the songs happen to be really catchy and well written! Not to mention enthusiastically performed. The cast and puppeteers really come across as loving what they do--with a real affection for the source material (most of them have worked for Henson or still do). I'm not really sure why Gary Coleman was in it, but SHE turned out to be funny and likeable. If you are looking for a fun Broadway show not based on a movie, this seem to be the one to see.

1:45 PM

April 12, 2004
Brief status report.
Trying to meet insane deadlines on freelance illustration work for Juicy Fruit (more on that soon) and I have lots of comic projects I should be working on. Nick Mag is fairly busy too, lately. Luckily new CD's help keep my brain from exploding. The new They Might Be Giants EP for example came out just in time. Those guys always kick my ass and remind me how I can always be doing more. They just don't stop with the creative output. Speaking of Indestructable Objects, is it me or is this CD their most consistently"serious" effort? With the exception of "Ant" (a fun old classic brought back to life through the magic of horn sections) and "Au Contraire" (which I like a lot better now than when they played it live), these songs seem like "mature" or something. It's like they got something to prove. That "Am I Awake" song is pretty hardcore with the techno beats. I'm also enjoying Damien Rice's "O" and cursing myself for not getting tickets to his show with The Frames. They seem like such a perfect team up. Oh, well, I'm sure those people willing to pay $40 for nosebleed seats have fun. On the bright side a friend of mine hooked me up with tickets for "Avenue Q" tomorrow night, so yay puppets. Alright, back to work!

6:06 PM