Archive for ‘Blog’
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He, everybody! Time for a blog post of various topics! (Emboldened for your convenience!)
The other day at my “day-job” work, one of my customers was the third cousin of Wayne Allwine, the voice of Mickey Mouse from 1977 until his death just over a year ago, the longest time on that job spent by any of Mickey’s voices. That’s right; I’m the kind of person who would ask about that kind of thing.
A significant majority of the comments I’m getting on the blog seem to be spam. If you have a legitimate comment, here are some things you can do to make sure I don’t delete it:
- Post it in English. Nothing at all against any other language, but English is the native language of the strip, and I’m going to assume anybody who can read it can probably manage to compose a blog post that way.
- If you have a website to which your username will link, make sure it has some content besides YouTube-style video clips that does not immediately scream “spam” to viewers.
- Be specific. Although I like “great post as usual,” but I’ll probably still delete it on the above two bases. ”Today’s comic was particularly funny” will tell me that you actually know you’re posting on a site featuring a comic strip. If responding to blog post info, it’s easy enough to refer back to a particular topic.
…But do keep those legitimate comments coming!
Comment
I’m trying to find some blog material not directly related to drawing comics, but the comic is new enough that you (the audience) and I (the hack) don’t know each other that well yet.
As I’m trying to be a bit more regular in my blog posts, I’m trying to put the kind of content into it that I enjoy reading in other cartoonists’ blogs, websites, etc. I’m always fascinated to know of particularly strong influences and creative heroes that different cartoonists have. On the other hand, with only a handful of strips (of dubious artistic consistency) up, a pretty small readership and little community interaction, it seems like a vanity move to put my own out there.
But then I realized that, in this particular instance, it’s also something that is a pretty big key in getting to know me, period, so I’m going to go ahead and throw it out there. I love the Muppets. Their material on Sesame Street and The Muppet Show is probably the biggest influence on any creative thing I do. The particular way of driving material with characters, mixed with just enough random comedy, neither of which was afraid to be silly, is the kind of thing I’ve aspired to all my life.
I’m not afraid to admit an absurd level of nerdiness. Parts of the Onion article I Appreciate The Muppets on a Much Deeper Level Than You are an eerily accurate view into what goes on in my head (except I give Steve Whitmire’s Ernie about a B average, and I think The Muppet Christmas Carol is pretty great).
So the pick of this week is: watch a Muppet movie. If you’re 20 or over, I would definitely recommend starting with The Muppet Movie. I think it can be convincingly argued as the best of all possible Muppet movies. But if you’re young enough that a pretty strong late-’70s feel to a movie makes it dated enough to be distracting, you could maybe start with The Muppets Take Manhattan (to an ’80s child like myself, it strikes a very familiar chord).
Actually, let me give you some more instant gratification. Check out the Sesame Street video player for either a great nostalgia trip or to discover that there was really some pretty great comedy on that show. And for us real geeks, you can check out the Muppet Wiki for all your information needs and Tough Pigs for your news and online-community needs.
P.S. – I would qualify my obsession with a timeframe up to around 1993 or 4. After Jim Henson’s death, things obviously weren’t the same, and sometime in the mid-90s is where I’d say that started not only affecting tone but quality. But that’s another conversation for another time. I’m sure this won’t be the last you hear about this from me.
