Rain, by any other name it is still wet.

It has been a long time since I sat my self down here and pontificated my disturbed thoughts and wicked observations. I got caught up in outside stuff of moving rocks and dirt and then we did some traveling and then the family came to visit and back to yard work etc etc. Lousy excuses when I vowed to my self I would create one comic strip per day. It is all mental, looking at a blank piece of white paper and actually drawing out gags.
Where do the gags come from so many people have been asked and I for one see them out of the side of my eyes. If I am looking directly at something no gag will appear but somehow by staring out the sides of my eyes they come to me. Some would call it looking outside the box or is that thinking outside the box?
The other day I was reading another blog called "Hyperbole and a Half http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/
This blog is about a dog and the relationship between the dog and it's owner or human companion. The lady who writes the thing got off on a thing about the words "A Lot". Since lots of people do not realize these are two word they put them together and it comes out as an Alot. Apparently lots of people do not understand the concept of spell check but that is another story for another time. Here she was discribing what an ALOT looks like and what an ALOT eats etc. As I am reading this ode to the Alot it made me feel so secure in my insecurity in that I have come to find other people see things as other do not just as I do.
I have also wondered about those who miss use the words There and Their and I have started to wonder if tweeter or twitter is taking over the English language. I am also seeing new words apparently such as: UR, LOL, BTW and other strange ways to say simple thoughts. The French used to get upset with the fact that so many American words were starting to creep into the French language and they even held protests at the local McDonald's to protest Le Big Mac. Is it our fault Americans are loved so much in France?
Anyway tomorrow I promise to start posting my silly assed comic strip here for the foreseeable future. If the Rapture happens on Saturday night I will probably still be here on Sunday since they are only taking to good normal people and the rest of us will have to make do, for the next 1,000 years. I would suggest if you are not yet stocked up on ice cream and beer you best do it now while you still can. We do not know if the beer makers are going to go up in the first part of the rapture but I figure all the cows will since I doubt they have been doing much along the line of sinning. Anyway until tomorrow. TTFN

To pooped to pop.

I am currently building a retainer wall for a friend and have been too tired by the time I get back home to even think of anything funny. The retainer wall is to keep dirt from migrating down a hill side against a wooden privacy fence. This involves moving about 40 cubic yards of rock and dirt, constructing a 4 ton retainer wall laying down about 4 tons of cobble stones and then fixing the fence.
Currently it is 36 degrees and looks like snow is coming in and am not looking forward to moving all those big rocks today but if I don't do it, it won't get done by it's self.
Funny thing in doing stuff like this is when you start digging in someone else's yard you can come up with the darnedest things buried. Yesterday I uncovered a 16 foot long, 12 inch by 4 inch timber next to the fence. That thing has to weigh at least 150-200 pounds and the only way I can move it is to cut it in half.
Time to head out so until later.

The chase is on!

When my kids, Dan and Steve were little bitty guys, we used to watch all the wild animal documentaries on PBS. Since Animal Planet and Discovery were not yet on the scene all we had was stuff like Wild Kingdom. While watching those exciting chases of the lions and zebras or what other poor smuck got stuck with the roll of the dinner for the lions, I often wondered what it must have been like behind the scenes. Today's comic strip takes a look at what I think really happens in those Wild Kingdom animal chase scenes.

More squiggly lines

Today's comic strip examines commercial placement. I for one would never step that low! The idea of being paid to add some sort of logo or product in one of my comic strips is just plain wrong. But on the other hand some of my little characters do not have as lofty ideals as I do.

Whatsamatta U.

All my Italian-American slang I learned while watching the Sopranos, campy old mobster movies and old sitcom like Welcome Back Carter. The Sopranos and American Chopper television shows gave the American corporate ladder climbers lots of insight on how to succeed in business and how to "Fuggeddaboutit". The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show made the Whatsamatta U famous though I figure the only place you will find any graduates from that almamatta in this comic strip.
Today's comic strip for April 16, 2011.

Today's comic strip.

Where do the ideas come from?

I wonder if anyone stops to think what it is like to write site gags for cartoons day after day. Don't get me wrong I love the challenge. As one gets into this hobby or career one tends to develop ways to see things as other do not.
Today for instance I am working on a gag pertaining to Sam the wild life movie maker giving Percy the lion on what to do during the shooting of the scene. And there I am drawing out the concept and realize I didn't know what the new movie cameras look like so I pulled up Google images for the new movie cameras. As I am drawing the camera I decide to add Zak the bear as the guy who holds up the chalk board that goes click and pencil in his thoughts about primadonna actors and bang!! A brand new gag hits me like a bolt of lightening!
Sometimes ideas hit me while I am a sleep and wake me up at 2 or 3 am when I have to tell my wife who of course is asleep. She sort of wakes up and says,"That's nice." and goes back to sleep.
Ideas for gags usually happen when you least expect them or while you are working on something totally unrelated.
I once read that there are exercises to build up your gagability (brand new word) or the ability to build or create gags or jokes. In that same book the author said that most gag are in groups of three, gags have to have a surprise ending and since our life styles are changing with new inventions the gags usually refer to the here and now. Today a joke about a hand crank telephone would not work nor would most people under the age of 30 know what one would mean when stating that a phone was slammed down.
There are quite a few people who seem to think all the gags and jokes and books have been written but how can that be when I am not done yet?