The Penguin

Here are some laws of the universe. I post them here, gentle reader, so that you don't have to find them out for yourself: 1. He who tries to be loved by everyone will have the friendship of no one. 2. Rearrange a brick wall with your head, and then you will know how to change another man. 3. Tyrants change the world; Saints change themselves. 4. Here is the truest test of a wife: paddle a canoe with her for twenty miles. 5. There is nothing more hateful than a forced laugh. 6. Any man who claims to know himself is a liar; any man who tries to explain himself is a bore. 7. The grasshopper did only what he wanted, and died of cold; the ant stored up for the winter, and died surrounded by seeds. Now find the happier of the two. 8. There is such a thing as being too decisive. 9. The only way to deal with anxieties is to ignore them to death. 10. Live simply, and you'll live free.

Woo-hoo! Just finished the first rough images for our (mine and Jay's) new dinosaur comic book, currently called Redtooth. Working with dinosaurs as subject matter is a walk down memory lane for me; I used to be absolutely obsessed with the beasts, before adolescence came along and said "grow up". Well, now I'm back at it, and it's nice to know the skills haven't gone away. I'm reluctant to show the comic book roughs here; firstly, they're messy (all my roughs are - half the time I'm the only one who can figure them out). Secondly, I'd like Jay to decide whether or not he wants them posted yet; maybe he wants to keep it under wraps. I dunno. I'll ask him. At any rate, this is less of a "show me" blog and more of a "let's talk about it till our brains explode" blog. And that's exactly what we'll do. We'll talk about dinosaurs. Firstly, let me clear up something that's been a perpetual headache for a lo...

My hands are shaking uncontrollably right now. Spent all last night at Gone Wired Cafe, hashing out the upcoming comic book project with Jay (Dinosaurs!), and then all of this morning finishing up my final project for my Design and Communications class. So no sleep last night. Usually I do pretty well with it - a little loopy, but none the worse for wear (the trick is to say to yourself, "Oh, you just went to bed at 1 am, so that's why you're tuckered out this morning...you did get some sleep." Not especially convincing, but to a sleep-deprived mind it's better than nothing). The problem here is that I have to drive from Howell to Lansing - an hour's drive, on a good morning; ergo, the necessity of a bite of the bitter bean, otherwise I'd spend my morning wrapped lovingly around an unyielding object, like a tree or a concrete median barrier, due to a mid-commute snooze. The problem with one cup of coffee is that it necessitates another to get over the subs...

All lies and jest, still the man hears what he wants to hear And disregards the rest. - The Boxer , Paul Simon I'll just ponder as I wander here for a minute. We as humans - well, perhaps I should keep it local - we as 21st-century Americans seem to love being validated in what we think. What I mean is, we love to hear our own ideas repeated to us, especially by someone with "authority" (read: a PhD), in order that we may again repeat the same idea to someone else who holds the same ideas that we do. This is understandable. It's not easy to give an opposing worldview a fair shake, especially if that worldview is pumped out with a lot of aggressive rhetoric and propaganda. Each side will only choose to report that data which makes itself look good, and its opponent look bad. Thus, if you are on the same side, you'll cheer and clap; if you're on the other side, you'll fume and change the channel - and hopefully find some rhetoric you can cheer for. All this ...