Aaaaand we’re back!  Big doings on the internet yesterday…  I will admit to spending a good amount of the evening searching twitter for the word ‘wikipedia’ to listen to the cries and gnashing of teeth from high school and college students across the land!  The outcry was… amusing.  Hopefully, some of them had the good sense to call or write their congressional “leaders”.

The news coverage was mixed regarding the internet blackout.  I did hear one rather disheartening interview… I want to say it was with Senator Orrin Hatch, but could be wrong as he did come out against PIPA yesterday (finally…).  The gist of the senator’s (or representative’s) thesis was that he was disappointed with the American people and the companies that shut down their websites as he would prefer a calm and reasoned discussion, and this amounted to a bunch of petulant children taking not getting what they want and taking their balls and going home…

Excuse me?

At what point has Congress ever welcomed a calm and reasoned discussion with the public?!?  That doesn’t sound like the Congress I know…

In any case, I was surprised at how difficult it was to shut my own sites down yesterday.

Conflicted with my own inflated sense of self-worth, I guess, but it felt a bit like locking my kids under the stairs, but SOPA/PIPA are such bad laws that you have to take a stand… even if only about twelve of you noticed!

Ah well, so we’re back, and we get to see how the News Guy deals with it… who knew an anchor’s job was hazardous to one’s health… or at least to ones digestion.  Minor change to the art in the middle two panels… thoughts?

It was with some sadness that I noted the passing of Kim Jong Il… not for the man, of course… that’s one wackadoo that this world is very much better off without!  I mean there’s crazy and then there’s Kim Crazy… and that’s a whole different ballgame.

So no… not for him, but as he died, so to did L’il Kim, and that is a real loss.  The News Guy never did get his interview…  what’s to happen next?

Just to keep the holidays rolling a little bit longer, I’d like to share a wonderful Secret Santa gift I was given by Daniel VanderWerff over at School Spirit.  I recommended that you pop over there and read his comic the other day, so I will just take a moment to remind you that there are worse ways to spend an afternoon!  Go. Read.  Now.

Merry Christmas, everyone!  I hope you are taking the time to enjoy the day with family and/or friends!

I had to finish this strip on the road away from Cintiq and stylus.  I know there are those of you out there who create beautiful works of art with only a mouse, but I absolutely do not know how you do it.  Oy Vey!

Regardless, it’s time to hit the hay and settle in for the evening so that Santa Claus can come and hopefully bring me that copy of Skyrim that I’ve been hoping for!

…cause if he doesn’t, we’re hitting the Best Buy on the way home!

Happy Holidays, folks!

Happy Halloween everyone… or halloween’s eve, actually… Devil’s night around these parts, though Detroit hasn’t burned in a while, so that’s good.

Does everyone have their costumes ready?  As soon as I post this, I have to leap back on the sewing machine and finish a poodle skirt for Laurie, and then embroider up a sweatshirt for myself… then carve the pumpkins… but hey, at least the candy is already purchased!

So, this year’s Halloween tribute strip is giving all of it’s love to Berkeley Breathed and Bloom County.  I realize a Milo, Binkley or Opus scene would have been more iconic, but John and Bobbi seemed to fit the News Guy and Jane better.  Any Bloom County fans out there?

So, Pop-Up Video has returned to television on VH1.  Thanks to my DVR, I’ve spent a goodly amount of time watching it, and I must admit that I’ve been having a good time with it.  Partly because the Pop-Up/Spin the Bottle crowd is always good for an interesting tidbit or a good life, but also because it’s just so nice to actually see music videos on on of the music channels again.  I never thought I’d see the like, you know?!?

Anyways, they are doing a pretty good job with the show.  The music is mostly from the 90′s and the Naughts, and can at time feel like the Rihanna and Jay-Z show, but they do try to keep things balanced, so of the five songs per episode, there will probably be two songs you like in and of themselves, and the pops keep you amused through the other three.

So… it’s a good thing.  Anyone else been watching?

Stupid thumb drive.  Oh well, today’s was easy enough to redraw…  I assume his eyes don’t look too close together now?

I’m currently enjoying the sights and sounds of Chicago, and it reaffirms my belief that to live in a city, you have to really, really love petrol fumes… and sewer smells… and some really malodiferous folk…

…on the other hand, every so often you turn a corner out of a tangled mass of humanity, and you find yourself in a quiet little alcove with a few trees and a few bushes and it’s… nice.  You can relax.  Slow down, and breathe the diesel fumes.

I did get to meet up with my old friends John and Wes which was a perk, did about 4.5 hours of just walking about before the huge freakin’ storm rolled it, so it was a good day.  Today… I’m feeling touristy and may hit the Art Institute….

Doesn’t do you any good to have the comics done in advance when your servers go down, and you can’t upload them.  Apparently Site 5 was suffering an issue in one of their data centers and that took out my sites for most of the night.  I stayed up until 2am hoping they’d come back up, but then fatigue took me.  Clearly, I’ll just have to upload Thursday’s today as well, and let it auto-magically post.

In any case, it’s back up now and all is well with the world.

Now, I’ve been trying to draw Jane and The News Guy with some consistency using my more cartoony style.  Thoughts?  I was also in the book store last night and noticed that something was rereleased which directly affects what I can do in this storyline… but more on that later…

Oh now those were indeed three of the best modules of the classic AD&D days!  I was in the thrift store the other day with the family (Brit likes looking for Vintage clothes and things she can use for Cosplay), and while I was digging through the books, I stumbled upon some old TSR AD&D supplements.  For the price of a quarter, I just couldn’t resist.  I also snagged a bunch of craft supplies, so a goodly trip!

This one hits a bit too close to home.  Best to stay out of the basement if you ever stop by… I really do need to get it cleaned up though… I’ll get to that right away.. really…

One of the purposes of doing a continuity is to finally learn to draw my own characters with some sort of regular “style”.  I think these are my preferred character models for Jane and the News Guy, so let’s see how this goes.