Dork Tidings

Dork Tower Thursday

2009-07-02T20:18:17Z

Oh. Hey. Hi, there. Didn't see you there.

New Dork Tower cartoon up today.

Click here, there or anywhere to see it.

Sorry about reusing panels from old strips, but honestly, if I hadn't, there'd be no cartoon today, with my schedule this week...I try and be upfront about this. Pride is involved. Even if it's a "Wall" strip, I *enjoy* the drawing part of this job: plus, it's the only way you get better at it.

It frustrates the heck out of me when there's a massive time crunch like this, and a dozen deadlines seem to loom.

****

On the plus side, I spent the morning with Louisa, and saw her pull herself up, and stand up for the very first time!

An ecstatic and terrifying moment! My baby girl is eight and a half months old, and crawling like nobody's business. It's moments like these why I'm staying away from conventions until she's at least a year old.

I'm thinking about all my pals at the AAEC convention, and at CONvergence this weekend. But in all honesty, seeing Louisa stand for the first time is worth a thousand conventions, to me.

Why Glam Matters (to me)

2009-06-30T21:18:56Z

Just in case anyone's interested, here's my iTunes Glam playlist. It's been getting me through the last couple of days' worth of work.

Most of the tracks are from a double CD I picked up in London, "The Best Glam Rock Album In The World...Ever." It was pretty solid, but I added some extra Bowie, T-Rex, Slade and Sweet to the mix.

A few of the bands are crap. Mud, for instance. Even at the age of 12, I realized this was pretty fake stuff. But I left them in the mix as the entirety of this represents a very specific time and place in my life.

Glam is possibly why I always kept my taste for pop, even after Punk hit and blew me away. In a sense, it's the music that defined me: some of these bands are the first groups that I ever realized MATTERED - that their music was BETTER, for some reason I couldn't really define. This was IMPORTANT in a vague, palpable way that twelve-year-old me couldn't put into words at the time.

When Punk hit, I was a bit older, and knew why it mattered. Years afterwards, I considered Punk the prime musical influence of my life. But it took "The Best Glam Rock Album In The World...Ever" to remind me of what had shaped my musical tastes a few years before.

Ending the mix, neither "Boston tea Party," "Sound and Vision" nor "Blinded By The Light" are - technically - Glam, but I included them as bookends of a movement that in some parts evolved and in others faded surprisingly quickly. In the same mindset, I could have just as easily have thrown the Sex Pistols' "Anarchy In The UK" as the ending track, with its blazing chords a direct descendant of the heavy guitars of glam (physically, if not philosophically). England had moved from Cockney Rebel to Cockney Rejects, but roots were shared.

Like finding forgotten photos of a first girlfriend, "The Best Glam Rock Album In The World...Ever" helped me to realize that my first musical love was was a LOT hotter than I remembered.

And every now and then, it still gets me through the days.

Come on. Feel the noise.

THE RADIO MUSKRAT GLAM PLAYLIST

Killer Queen - Queen
Blockbuster - Sweet
All The Young Dudes - Mott The Hoople
John, I'm Only Dancing - David Bowie
Virginia Plain - Roxy Music
The Passenger - Iggy Pop
Children Of The Revolution - T.Rex
Elected - Alice Cooper
Mama Weer All Crazy Now - Slade
This Town Ain't Big Enough For The Both Of Us - Sparks
Let's Stick Together - Bryan Ferry
Radar Love - Golden Earring
The Man Who Sold The World - Lulu
Space Oddity - David Bowie
Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me) - Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel
Perfect Day - Lou Reed
10538 Overture - Electric Light Orchestra
Ball Park Incident - Roy Wood's Wizzard
Rock On - David Essex
I'm the Leader of the Gang - Gary Glitter
Little Willy - Sweet
See My Baby Jive - Roy Wood's Wizzard
All The Way From Memphis - Mott The Hoople
20th Century Boy - T.Rex
The Ballroom Blitz - Sweet
Tiger Feet - Mud
Life On Mars - David Bowie
Devilgate Drive - Suzi Quatro
All Because Of You - Geordie
Gudbuy T'Jane - Slade
Personality Crisis - New York Dolls
Do The Strand - Roxy Music
Once Bitten Twice Shy - Ian Hunter & Mick Ronson
Cum On Feel The Noize - Slade
Motor Bikin' - Chris Spedding
Seven Deadly Finns - Brian Eno
Cherry Bomb - The Runaways
Solid Gold Easy Action - T.Rex
Standing In The Road - Blackfoot Sue
Dyna-Mite - Mud
Angel Face - The Glitter Band
Starman David Bowie
Dance With The Devil Cozy Powell
Skweeze Me Pleeze Me Slade
New York Groove Hello
I Love Rock And Roll - The Arrows
Can The Can - Suzi Quatro
Do You Want to Touch Me - Gary Glitter
Boston Tea Party - The Sensational Alex Harvey Band
Fox On The Run - Sweet
Sound And Vision - David Bowie
Blinded By the Light - Manfred Mann's Earth Band

HEEEEEEEEEEERE'S an Obit Cartoon!

2009-06-23T20:24:04Z

With the death of Ed McMahon, a few - A FEW - editorial cartoonists across the country are already sharpening their pencils, and drawing as fast as they can, ready essentially for a day off after a phone-it-in.

As we all know from such cartoonists, All Celebrities Go To Heaven. So, we have the setting. But hey, why even come up with a PUNCHLINE? Here are four ready-to-use Obit ideas that took a whole of five minutes to think up[!

FIRST: The obvious idea.

SECOND: The sentimental idea. Feel free to use your character crying in the bottom right-hand corner, should you use one.

THIRD: The less obvious idea, but still a possibility, if you don't wanna seem like TOO much of a hack...just SLIGHTLY one:

LASTLY: An idea that would probably only either be done by the Onion's brilliant KELLY, as a joke, or Colorado Springs' Chuck Assay, completely seriously...

But why stop at these four? See if YOU can predict tomorrows editorial cartoons today with the Easy-To-Use Obit Cartoon Lame-O-Matic Template!

Cartooning at the Speed of Web...

2009-06-16T19:40:50Z

Oh. Hey. Hi, there. Didn't see you there.

New Dork Tower cartoon up today.

Click here, there or anywhere to see it.

****

It's a very silly joke - one I've had in the back of my mind for a while. Just never had the right set-up. Also needed a solid after-line from Matt. So, yay.

Apologies to Arby's, but (a) You lobbed the softball with the slogan, and (b) well, honestly, your food's just not that good...

I did used to love Arby's when I was a kid, and a teenager. Then I gave up red meat for 25 years. Coming back to your roast beef sandwiches wasn't QUITE as disappointing as trying a Big Mac again, but it was close...

****

The site seems zippity-fast, right now. At lest compared to the molasses-like speed it's had the last couple of months or so.

The folks at Gamespy have been working like fiends trying to fix it. Let's hope it sticks...

John

Dork Tower Super Happy Fun Time

2009-06-12T16:48:30Z

Oh. Hey. Hi, there. Didn't see you there.

New Dork Tower cartoon up yesterday morning.

Click here, there or anywhere to see it.

****

Um...errr...Also: forgot to post Tuesday's cartoon here:

Click here, there or anywhere to see it.

****

I think I broke the internets this week. Sorry about that.

****

Want to know what happens when, say, Neil Gaiman himself twitters that he likes "My Little Cthulhu," and likes the fact that there is a free papercraft version on the web site to download?

More than 11,000 folks go to download papercraft My Little Cthulhus.

Yeah. Wow. Feeling VERY humble, right now. :-)

News from WWDC

2009-06-08T18:59:35Z

For those not following the breaking news on Twitter, here are some of the highlights from the Worldwide Developers' Conference:

* Apple announces it is running out of cats to name its operating systems after. Will start on marmots, next...

* Apple announces Steve Jobs died last year: rose from the dead on the third day.

* Apple pledges "really - no more cat names" following OS X Garfield.

* Apple announces Dude playing "I'm a Mac" vs. John Hodgman's "I'm a PC" on those commercials to legally change his name to "What's His Name?"

* Apple announces new Mind Control technology on iPhone 3GS. WAIT! WE MEANT VOICE CONTROL REALLY! HONEST!

* Palm announces its smartphone name "Pre" is, in fact, short for, "Pre-June 19, we might actually sell some..."

The Week in Dork Tower

2009-06-05T15:29:47Z

DORK TOWER, Thursday, May 21

2009-05-21T10:48:10Z

Oh. Hey. Hi, there. Didn't see you there.

New Dork Tower cartoon up this morning.

Click here, there or anywhere to see it.

(It amuses me more than it should that I snagged tinyurl.com/milliwheaton for this).

****

Also: forgot to post Tuesday's cartoon here:

Click here, there or anywhere to see it.

****

Here are some of the panels I'll be on at MisCon. Unfortunately, I won't be at the con on Monday, but Friday, Saturday and Sunday will be chock-full of Muskratty goodness:

Blending and Shading
Proper blending and shading is essential part of making your art look realistic. Panelists will discuss various media.

Cartooning as Art
How is cartooning an art form? Going from line art to a digital file, to publishing it online, how does it differ from traditional artwork. Tell the process and details that go into cartooning.

Game Art
John's worked with Munchkin and other games ~ He'll us about it. Talk about designing, developing and having fun creating artwork for games!

Artist's Workshop
John'll be critiquing artwork submitted by attendees, answering questions about art and his profession.

Web Comics: The How & Why
John Kovalic and fellow web-comic artist Alina Pete will discuss how they started their web-comics, why they decided to do it and why they continue to do so.

What Were You Thinking
We're asking all our Guests of Honor to answer questions about their work. We have attendees who will be bringing specific items and questions and presenting them to the guests.

Comic Books vs. Comic Strips
John Kovalic and fellow artists will discuss the major differences between published comic books and online/printed comic strips.

****

I'm feeling utterly overcommitted. I fear Miscon may be my last convention for quite a while...

No Origins, GenCon, CONvergence or Comicon. Need to take the summer off. As I just tweeted, I need to stay home and play with my baby girl, this summer. As it is, I barely see her for an hour after I come home from work, before her bedtime - and that's not nearly enough. I need the weekends with her, too. Much travel these last two months have really hammered home how much I miss her when I'm away.

As far as Lucca and Warpcon go, I very much hope Louisa and Judith can come along to those...

Dork Tower Thursday

2009-05-14T20:46:55Z

Oh. Hey. Hi, there. Didn't see you there.

New Dork Tower cartoon up this morning.

Click here, there or anywhere to see it.

****

Seriously. Heard that almost exact, word for word, on the Weather Channel the other night.

Almost.

****

Grinning like an idiot, here. I've been listed amongst Wired's "100 Geeks You Should Be Following On Twitter." Goes to show where Drunk Twittering will get you, in life.

"Twitter has of late been inundated by, shall we say, “normals.” What was once our little playground has become rather more populated. But that doesn’t make it any less effective a tool for communication. It just means we have to stick together, and keep the geek community thriving.

To this end, GeekDad has assembled the following: a list of 100 awesomely geeky-geeks. These are great, creative gamers and chiptune artists, astronomers and LEGO builders."

The list doesn't look like there's any kind of order to it. Save for Everybody's Pal Wil at #1, of course. Were it sorted by Relative Obscurity, I'd most likely be #100. Still, seriously, it IS really sorta cool, and I can't believe the company I'm in.

HEY! Yes, I'd act like I've been there before - IF I'D EVER BEEN THERE BEFORE!

Which I haven't.

Hence: grinning like a dolt.

****

Um...prolly should note here:

I'm muskrat_john on Twitter.

****

JUDITH (listening to "Wonderful Tonight" on the radio): There's nothing wrong with liking Eric Clapton, is there?

JOHN: No. No. Of course not.

(Pause)

JOHN: Unless you're George Harrison's wife...

muskrat_john @ 2009-05-08T11:22:00

2009-05-08T16:22:46Z

My morning so far...

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

EDIT: Sorry about the earlier double-post. It was sent from my iPhone, which occasionally does such things...

Dork Tower Thursday

2009-05-07T13:47:03Z

Oh. Hey. Hi, there. Didn't see you there.

New Dork Tower cartoon up this morning.

Click here, there or anywhere to see it.

(The site seems slow at the moment, but it was displaying fine just a bit earlier.)

****

Obsessing about "Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh" by Say Hi. Man, am I loving this song.

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Mythos Buddies will, apparently, be shipping in June. Yay, yay!

Only one of the 12 designs left to announce. What will it be, oh, WHAT will it be?

****

In Austin, TX, briefly (too briefly) to talk about many cool things with Steve Jackson Games.

Many evil deeds are being hatched. Much great food is being consumed. Games shall be played.

It's a hard life, this cartooning biz.

****

Being a morning traffic reporter in Austin must be the easiest job in the world.

"It sucks."

"Right, Colt. It sure sucks."

"There you have it: traffic sucks. Now, back to the studio..."

Happy Judith Day!

2009-05-04T18:04:00Z

Thirten years and five weeks ago, today, I quit the last "real" job that I ever held.

This date is familiar to me mostly because thirteen years ago, today, I married the Lovely and Talented Judith.

Honestly, it's not been often in my life that I've made two utterly brilliant moves in a five-week space. But really, Judith had much to do with both of them, so let's call it a shared credit. :-)

It's a super-spectacular marriage, and honestly, I got stupid lucky when Judith said "yes." Which is probably as good a time to bring up the actual method of my proposal again, as any.

I adore my wife, and our thirteenth year of marriage was about as amazing as any can get. Which doesn't mean I won't be trying to make the 14th even better. But life with Judith - and now with Louisa as well - is frankly pretty freaking awesome, 24-7.

***

Need a new desktop machine: pretty badly, as it turns out.

For the first time in a decade, though, I have to wonder if it might not make more sense saving $1,000 and going with a pretty good iMac, as opposed to a pretty awesome Mac Pro, the sort of which I've had and loved for years...

***

Oh. Hey. Hi, there. Didn't see you there.

New Dork Tower cartoon up...um...last Thursday, that I forgot to mention here.

Click here, there or anywhere to see it.

The paintings

2009-04-30T04:36:12Z

Apparently, there is a very cool studio close by that can turn my kids paintings into high quality silkscreens. Which solves the problem of me not being comfortable selling originals. I'll let folks know what the prices might be as soon as I can find out.

In the meantime: two new pieces I'm working on.

Games Industry Meltdown (almost finished):

I wanted to do someone screaming. But thought it would be cliched to have them screaming over newspaper headlines. So I used the Out of the Box catalog, and voila! A self-portrait of John's psyche when a deadline nears. (Also: I *love* the juxtaposition of Gaming Fun with a Primal Scream).

Smoking Cow (just started):

The cow just looked guilty when I sketched him out. So I thought he should be smoking. And on the lookout for Mrs. Cow...

Also: for those of you in Madison, c'mon out to Gallery Night!

Here's nice preview 77 Square penned on our studio.

I'll also have all the Mythos Buddies and other toys I've done there. So: Games, Toys, Art (wit three fingers). Come see the totality of my professional existence.

Food and drinks available. I may even make Igor Bars...

Dork Tower Tuesday

2009-04-28T13:35:07Z

Oh. Hey. Hi, there. Didn't see you there.

New Dork Tower cartoon up today.

Click here, there or anywhere to see it.

REPOST: Let's make a show!

2009-04-28T13:31:28Z

(Sorry for the repost here. I thought I knew how to get LJ to hold off on a page until 8:30 am. Apparently, I didn't, and this posted at 1:30 in the morning. Grrr)

If you hit my Facebook pages, you'll prolly be quite bored with this. But I don't think I've posted them here, yet. At least not in this form.

Anyway, this coming Friday, Madison is having a Gallery Night. Which has always been a well cool event to begin with. But now that I have a downtown studio, I'm aghast to find I'm actually taking part in it!

I think I've bragged about how much I love my studio before. I will most likely do so again in the future. But now, all eight artists who have ever worked in the Suhr building are putting on a show, and it should be a blast. We're just one of MANY studios having a showing, and all are welcome! I think we'll be putting on a swell shindig!

I'll mostly have some Munchkin and Dork Towers original art up. I'll also have some games going on in My Own Little Room, but oh but and, when it comes to "New" for me, I'll be exhibiting some paintings I've done for Louisa's room. These all started after I did a surprise Valentine gift for Judith, of a portrait of Maude, her cat.

This was a 14" x 14" acrylic on vinyl painting I did, that inspired me to do some pieces for Louisa's room. Like pretty much all of my work, it's whimsical, but I also wanted to try out some stuff playing with Design and Color Theory (something I'm notoriously weak at).

So next, I did a Monkey. This was actually originally for a Sekrit Jonathan Coulton project, but I appropriated it for Louisa's room.

This was followed by a Lion, that was more Pure Design:

Anyway, the Lion led (as Lions do) to a Giraffe triptych that the medievalist in me is quite fond of:

Here are some closeups: I really need to find someone to photograph these proper. An iPhone just don't cut it...

And but so...also, a piece I call "They Would Never Let Poor Rudolph Join In Any Reindeer Gangs." It is most emphatically not for Louisa's room, and based on a card I drew that I just liked werra, werra much.

I know eventually I'll put some stuff like this up for sale, but I have no idea what to charge...

One thought is to offer unique paintings of Munchkin cards. Ie, if I do a "Gazebo" painting, I'll never paint it again after that. The person who has it will have the ONLY one in existence.

But that would also mean going back and recreating my old style from 7+ years ago. Am I interested in that? Dunno...

So, anyhoo, yes, by all means...come on down Friday! Art! Cartoons! Art! Did I mention ART? Refreshments! Games! Bohemians! Alcohol! DRUNK Bohemians! Drunk Bohemians who can kick Fanny Garver Gallery's FANNY! Super happy music friend show (ie, I'll be playing my mixes in the studio).

John

Dork Tower Thursday

2009-04-23T14:02:39Z

Oh. Hey. Hi, there. Didn't see you.

New Dork Tower cartoon up today.

Click here, there or anywhere to see it.

Is it just me...

2009-04-21T18:55:22Z

...or is LiveJournal getting quieter?

Dork Tower Tuesday

2009-04-21T17:37:39Z

Oh. Hey. Hi, there. Didn't see you.

New Dork Tower cartoon up today.

Click here, there or anywhere to see it.

****

Also: very cool -

This Summer: an all-star team presents the Descent: Quest Compendium

This Summer, some of Descent's biggest fans in hobby gaming have met at the latest milepost on the road to adventure and have assembled the Descent: Journeys in the Dark Quest Compendium.

Edited by Will Hindmarch (Gameplaywright Press), the Descent: Quest Compendium presents in one 96-page hardbound volume sixteen of Descent's most cunning, deadly, and puzzling scenarios for your gaming table, brought to you by a team of acclaimed and award-winning game designers and authors.

• Monte Cook (D&D 3rd Edition) sounds an angel's plea for help to save the world from being pulled across a dimensional divide and permanently warping reality.

• Keith Baker (Eberron (D&D), Gloom) leads heroes directly into the middle of a deadly blood feud between two restless spirits of hatred embodied. Caught in the epic battle, choosing a side will be the hardest decision to make.

• Kenneth Hite (Where the Deep Ones Are) adapts a classic film to the fantastic setting of Descent and finds an unlikely ally only too happy to help uncover a precious treasure, but for a price...

• Mike Selinker (Yetisburg) entraps the heroes within a demonic puzzle that threatens to destroy the world we know in a whirl of chaos.

• John Kovalic (Dork Tower) takes you back to an old haunt on an unexpected mission on behalf of a former enemy, featuring some of John Kovalic's trademark wit and commentary.

Slightly terrifying to be in such esteemed company. But I'm a huge Descent fan. So, here's hoping I don't let the team down...

Music for Modern Muskrats, Vol. 10

2009-04-18T23:55:45Z

I'm actually getting to really enjoy this latest mix tape (read: iTunes Playlist):

Turpentine - Elvis Costello & The Attractions
Swords of a Thousand Men - Tenpole Tudor
My Love - The Bird and the Bee
That's Not My Name - The Ting Tings
The Laws Have Changed - The New Pornographers
Sold! To the Nice Rich Man - The Welcome Wagon
He Doesn't Know Why - Fleet Foxes
Take On Me - A.C. Newman
Happy Birthday - The Ting Tings
WeFight/WeLove (feat. Raphael Saadiq) - Q-Tip
Joining A Fan Club - Puffy AmiYumi
Rocky Took a Lover - Bell X1
Lake Michigan - Rogue Wave
Close To You - Paul Weller
Wedding Bell Blues - The 5th Dimension
Letter from an Occupant - The New Pornographers
Hey, Won't Somebody Come Out and Play - The Little Ones
You Bowed Down - Elvis Costello
Daughter - Loudon Wainwright III

Still needs a couple of tweaks, and I want to mash "My Love" and "That's Not My Name" together. But overall, I think it's getting there.

John, the ex-punk, of course now melts every time he hears "Daughter" (discovered in the closing credits of "Knocked Up.") And the mix reflects my recent obsession with New Pornographers, but what ya gonna do?

Needs a stronger opening, I think, but I do love EC's "Turpentine..."

Anyway, this will get me across the Atlantic and back to my girls...

Dork Tower Thursday

2009-04-16T16:25:52Z

Oh. Hey. Hi, there. Didn't see you. How's it goin'?

New Dork Tower cartoon up today.

Click here, there or anywhere to see it.

My mom!

2009-04-15T21:29:48Z

Happy 75th birthday, mom!

Thanks for making me who I am.

Love my life, and love YOU!

Dork Tower Tuesday

2009-04-14T16:59:39Z

Oh. Hey. Hi, there. New Dork Tower cartoon up today.

Click here, there or anywhere to see it.

New Dork Tower posted - plus, Feed mill

2009-04-10T15:19:44Z

Oh. Hey. Hi, there. New Dork Tower cartoon up yesterday.

Click here, there or anywhere to see it.

Sorry. Forgot to mention it yesterday. Busy.

There's also now an RSS feed you can get at DorkTower.com, which should notify you when updates occur. Yup, DorkTower.com joins the 21st century. 2002, to be precise...

Also added: Atom feed. Is that something I should have known about?

Rest in peace, Dave

2009-04-08T20:08:15Z

According to a family friend who spoke to Dave Arneson's daughter, Dave passed from this world last night.

Our world is a far richer place for having had him here.

UPDATE: Memorial at the funeral home April 20th. Public welcome. Bradshaw Funeral Home, 678 Snelling Ave South, St Paul, MN 55116

UPDATE 2: Dear Escapist magazine: Great. NOW you've still got "Dave Arneson is alive" up. Thanks for making all this much, much easier on those who knew and loved Dave.

UPDATE 3: Received a very thoughtful note from Escapist magazine associate editor John Funk, letting me know that the changes have been made, and offering sincere apologies for any confusion. I appreciate that greatly. Let us now all celebrate Dave's life.

Thanks, Dave...

2009-04-08T15:25:41Z

Oh. Hey. New Dork Tower cartoon up today.

Click here, there or anywhere to see it.

This is an extra cartoon - the storyline started yesterday continues tomorrow - so I didn't have time to draw it out fully, like I normally try to.

I just wanted to try to let Dave know how much he means to me, while I still could.