I Was Robbed...

I bought this at the grocery store without reading the label carefully - I had passed hunger and was in the midst of a full-on hyperglycemic daze. The promise of a butterscotch waffle was more than I could handle. I imagined a light, fluffy (but not too soft) miniature waffle/cookie, coated in a creamy butterscotch icing...

So I felt utterly duped when I opened the tin in the car (in the grocery store parking lot!) and found that it was in fact hard candies, like the kind your grandmother keeps in a dish...
  

That's when I got a closer look at the full label: PANTRY CANDIES. What the hell are pantry candies? When I got home, I was still so worked up by my waffle fantasy that I considered going back to store and getting some Eggos, vanilla ice cream, butterscotch sauce, and whipped cream and making a sundae on top of a waffle. But then I talked myself down from the ledge and decided that that would be crazy and possibly really disgusting.  

Merry, Lazy, Colorful, Cozy

I Hate Elf on a Shelf

I did give him sort of a 'makeover'
He actually looks like this.

It's the craze nowadays to put this creepy elf doll on a shelf in your house and tell your kids it's watching them in order to report back to Santa daily. What the hell? Is Santa seriously outsourcing this responsibility? Or maybe he's dead and the elves had to take over. If I had to deal with this little elf creep as a kid, I'd chuck him in a snow bank. I found this good article about holiday panopticonisms.

Burgers and fries, hotdog and shake, sub and fries.

These are photos of dog toys that I took at Stop and Shop. They're sold in pairs. I bought a few of the subs and fries.  

Horrid little doodles

The best of the worst from my sketchbook. I know this first one is pretty unremarkable but I like the guy in the middle. I also included some from my 'men with no torso' series. It's something I doodle all the time. 

Happy Holidays!

Faces in Public Spaces - Part Three

I shot these photos in Paris on Rue Poulet, a strange, deserted side street with many wig shops that all seemed closed despite it being mid-day...

 

Faces in Public Spaces - Part Two

I took these photos of Benny Bufano's sculpture, "Madonna Protects the Children of the World," in Fort Mason Park, San Francisco. I love the 4-eyed face that's in mosaic, even though I get a little nauseous looking at it. I also love the clean simplicity of the Madonna face.

Faces in Public Spaces - Part One

The neighborhood of Montmartre is the highest point in Paris, so you have to climb this really long, labyrinthian, staircase in order to exit the subway station there. Fortunately, the walls are lined with these awesome, brightly painted murals of deranged, creepy children. I love the messy, textured style, and how the blue really pops.    

Giants in my kitchen...

This Dude...

A Candy with Demands...

As someone who prefers artificial banana flavoring to actual banana, I thought I would really enjoy this. Also the wrapper font is so awesome and I like how adamant the name is in its demand that it should be eaten Now AND Later, (dammit). Despite all this, I was disappointed. Inside the candy bar wrapper are 5 individually wrapped chews. I was excited by how bright yellow they are. But the flavor was so overly sweet and chemical-ly. And oddly, not at all banana-ey.  

Nice Cans

Yes. I take photos of good packaging / display design at the grocery store. And these San Marzano canned tomatoes really caught my eye.

Food Packaging / Good Design

This Manner wafer display in my local grocery store was so pretty that I had to interrupt my normal shopping to take photos of it. I get really inspired by certain color combinations. I love the muted pink with the bright yellow. The Manner font is awesome too. The whole design has a retro feel to it that I really dig.

Clown Meat

How is this legal? ... If it's a clown, then... what?... it's not cannibalism? That doesn't seem right.

Skillz

My almost 17 year old kitty had a diabetic episode this weekend, so I pulled out my rusty old vet tech skillz. Turns out they ain't so rusty! The vet gave me a bag of fluids to give at home, along with insulin. I rigged up this sweet fluid therapy set-up with an upside-down coat hanger, which I hung over my wire rack shelf unit, and we were good to go! Kitty is resting comfortably now :)

This always helps...

Whatever happens outside, it's always summer inside my house.

Denial...

As of yesterday, we're buried in snow here in New England. But this is what it still looks like in my mind... I took these photos on a walk in my neighborhood about a week ago. I'm going to remain in denial for as long as I can.

 

Ira Glass quote...

Worship

 I worship Goofy Grape .... and you?

Survey - Which of these are you going to be for Halloween this year?

So many choices this year! Please use the voting buttons at top right to make your selection. 

Pancakes! No wait...

They're mushrooms!! But they look like pancakes, don't they? This is another set of mushrooms that popped out of the ground on my walk from my office to the parking garage. What if I changed the sole focus of this blog to mushrooms that I find along my walk from my office to the parking garage. 

I love how mushrooms just spring out of the ground instantly, seemingly out of nowhere, when it rains for a few days. And then they disappear. They're such mysterious and freaky creatures.

New Episode! Baman Piderman - Fimd Da Jobs

This past weekend genius animators and pals, Lindsay Small-Butera and Alex Butera, released this new episode of Baman Piderman. It is another hilarious and wonderfully wacked creation. Enjoy!

Artist Spotlight... Jim Riel

Our ridiculously talented Undercoverfish Comic veteran, Jim Riel, completed the 24-hour comic challenge hosted by Worcester Art Museum (WAM) this weekend! Woo hoo! Congratulations Jim!

The 24-hour comic challenge is an international challenge to all cartoonists to complete a 24-page story (inked and lettered) in 24 hours. I did it one year and have no desire to repeat the experience. It's grueling. But I attended the WAM event this weekend. I hung out and worked for about 8 hours and saw Jim in action, churning out one fantastic page after another. I'm excited to see the whole piece, which is about the ghost of President Lincoln visiting President Obama. A few panels are pictured here.

Bernie and Cat Grass

A photo of the cat grass that I just grew. It's so pretty and I think Bernie Madoff likes it too. I did this quick scribbly pencil sketch of him recently for a project that I have in mind.  

Current Projects

I'm always juggling multiple projects at the same time. This is a panel from a short piece called, "Waking Up Is Hard To Do," that I'm finishing for the Detour Anthology. I just have to letter it. I'm also in the process of finishing up my book, Hot Donut Salad, which will be coming out March 2012. In addition, I'm making headway in my Sexy Vegetables (TM) trading card project. My goal is to complete 20 cards and then shop them around to publishers. Right now I'm working on Caressa Carrot and Yolanda Eggplant. And last but not least, I'm starting to write my next book! It will be a collection of one page comics, all inter-related by a theme of insights about life and wacked-out silliness.