everything including the mel allen sink

pinto & pals

2009-04-19T18:08:00.000-07:00

The two days that I was up in Soldier, I did two days of work on the Pinto, plus two half days of nuisance chores for my Mom. With that and a disrupted sleep pattern, no wonder it took me a little while to recuperate.

Little known fact is that the front eye bolts on the rear Pinto spring get torqued to an even 100 foot pounds. Unless the car is up on a hoist, and I don't have one, it takes a lot of grunt work in an awkward places to tighten them.

Replaced the emergency brake cable with one that didn't hang and screwed the show adjusters waaaay out. The brakes finally work. Very well too, and I'm not used to power brakes in a Pinto. The rears lock up halfway easy on gravel.

Once I got the rear buttoned in and the battery charged up, the engine started right up after sitting for the winter. The computer even kicked down the EFI idle properly.

Both the fresh engine and posi differential are still tight. The rear tires grumbled as I took a tight turn while backing up the Pinto. There isn't enough weight back there to make the differential clutches really slip.

Had fun roaring up and down the road until a lack of hood clearance knocked the throttle cable off the bell-crank and I limped back home idling in second gear. I'm going to modify that bell-crank.

Next time I'm up in Soldier, I'm going to get the turn signals to work again, change little plastic gears until the speedometer read right and other shake down things.

I almost went to see "If You Could Say It In Words" because I thought that it was a documentary about an struggling artist with undiagnosed Aspergers. Then I skipped when I found out that it was a fictional romance between this guy and a somewhat unmoored in life woman. Now I wish that I would have saw it just to pick up a reference on how an Aspies can be depicted in media (In Sci-Fi Guy!, Oly and Merv are supposed to be Aspies). At least, I could probably see it again on DVD soon enough. Also see "Billy the Kid" someday, which had been described as a real life Napoleon Dynamite.

It looks like Musclewomania is only taking one original entry per entrant. So what sort of pin-up can I do with Flexia that is original and flattering?

Selling off extra car parts on Craigslist.

vroom!

2009-04-16T16:59:00.000-07:00

Good news: I got Wee Beastie the Turbo Pinto back on the road.

Bad news: I got a bad headache tonight and will write more later.

Dumb news: I got a raccoon living in my awning. Will call animal control about it. If this was still the country, I'd just get a trap and kill the pest.

pinto posi

2009-04-13T16:38:00.000-07:00

Going up to Soldier tonight to get an early start on the Pinto tomorrow, plus take care of some business. I hope to get the rear axle buttoned up enough to have the car back on four wheels by tomorrow night or Wednesday.

BTW, it is a 8" with 3.25 gears and "Posi"....

Otherwise, I'm wondering where I misplaced me "Little Wacom" for the "Little Mac".

"Musclewomania" is having an art contest. Will probably whip up new drawings of Flex & Pex flexin' pecs. Beyond that, maybe Wingding, Hercula, or Pursia.

so bad it's good

2009-04-12T19:09:00.000-07:00

Another night being uninspired on Sci-Fi Guy! so another old clean up for Tube Punk! This time another old drawing of Montue, which was supposed to send mixed signals.

However, the context in the proposed story is that he just picked some lilies in the family garden for that wife, Leonina, and daughters, Pursia and Flexia, could tuck them behind their pointy ears and look pretty.

Also I love the description of this item:
http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/item/ES-11/PAINFULLY-LOUD-MINI-SIREN/1.html
Isn't advertising suppose to make your item sound good? >:)

Need to get over my mental block and back at Sci-Fi Guy!

Wasted some time viewing the deliberately off-key political cartoons over at Onion.com.

you can see where she gets it

2009-04-11T18:10:00.000-07:00

Dinked around with a couple of files for Tube Punk, trying to warm up for getting back going on Sci-Fi Guy!

Just cleaned up a fresh scan of this oldie from the '90s of an early depiction of Leonina and Montue, Flexia's parents. This wasn't deliberate at the time, and I didn't figure it out until a couple of years ago, but don't they have a strong Freya and Odin groove going on?

BTW, "Lovely Leo" sounds like Yvonne DeCarlo and Montue sounds like Fred Gwynne.

The mental snag with Sci-Fi Guy! now is if I do one page a week, the story comes out much too frustratingly slow. I'm trying to alter my daily routine to be more efficient to do two or so pages a week. Otherwise, I may look for another artist (after a certain really bad partnership, an idea that makes me cringe three times over) or just pull the plug.

fantasy fan

2009-04-10T19:03:00.001-07:00

I had a dream that I had a previously unknown fan that had a Yahoo Group for my non-Phat Grrl art. What I mainly saw was some pin-ups of the various incarnations of Nuklea Hampion.

Been unmotivated but dinking with Photoshop cleanup of coloring of some art for Tube Punk, although I never see that ever coming out.

Hope to get back at Sci-Fi Guy tomorrow night, even if it's just character design or promotional stuff.

Here's a jpeg of the broken spring that held up the turbo Pinto.

merkur memories

2009-04-09T18:07:00.001-07:00

Was up at the farm on Tuesday and Wednesday, working on the Pinto and sending off der Merkurs. Merkur is rumored to be pronounced Furdt Zierrrra in its native German. There is still spotty snow in the hills lingering after the late season dusting from a few days ago.

The guys came all the way up from Kansas City to get what's left of the Merkurs after I picked over the turbo Pinto worthy parts.

I did have daydreams of putting the biplane spoiler on the red Merkur and fixing it up with a Red Baron motif with a broad white boy-racer stripe* with "Der Iron Krosses" in them. Tiny silhouettes of Spads and Sopwiths painted on the driver's door. along with a certain beagle and his doghouse.

welcome to the machines

2009-04-06T17:07:00.000-07:00

The change in shifts and being dumped on for some old Small Press art took a bunch of wind out of the sails of this blog. But I'm trying to restart it yet again.

Amazons & Studebakers has been canned and dovetailed into Tube Punk. Tube Punk is put on hold. I'm now working up a web-comic called Sci-Fi Guy!

Here is a picture of Pat Pat Moriarity, Rolling Stone's Hot Cartoonist of 1996, "giant of Alternative Media", and all around nice guy, when he blew through Omaha a couple of weeks ago. He's standing in my garage, holding an ashcan of my web-comic.

you knew the job was dangerous when you took it...

2008-03-22T16:07:00.000-07:00

Trying to get back into the swing of posting these (yet again!) after a bout with a virus.

Working on a new project, a possible web comic, called "Sci-Fi Guy!". Possible slogans:
Summertime gold, right on deck!
The year that Geek broke.
The year that Nerd broke.
Think galactically, act locally.
Think cosmically, act locally.

Like any of them?

A detail of yet another pin-up of Flexia in progress. She looks as smugly as a woman who can bench press a Studebaker can.

BTW, I recently got the DVD of George of the Jungle, which features Super Chicken. And his sidekick Fred.

off on a tangent...

2008-03-01T19:08:00.000-08:00

A Tangent kit from my defunct model rocket company was sold by somebody on eBay for $151.
Link!
Is it just me or is life full of these little parodic and black humorish things?

May print this out and send a semi-nastygram to Barry F.

word jazz

2008-02-29T18:12:00.000-08:00

William F. Buckley, Junior is now flaunting his expansive verbosity in the ethereal hereafter. My late stepdad rubbed elbows with him back before he dropped out of Yale.

Former Omaha native, Buddy Miles, is also taking the dirt nap. He's famous for his jazz drumming and his uncanny resemblance to Charlie Burton.

Meanwhile, I'm had a fan from the '80s come out of the woodwork and ask me to contribute to his mini-comic. While elsewhere, I've been threatened to be kicked of the Yahoo Rat Fink group. If I had to do it again I'd be less angrily defensive, but my treatment was a whole lot more inappropriate than what I posted. If an outsider music/art aesthetic applied to rowdy and ornery '80s Small Press Comics isn't on topic, it sure doesn't miss by much.

Back cover from Captain Saucer#19, 1987.

party like it's 1988!

2008-02-24T19:56:00.000-08:00

Adjusting to the shift change and still slowly cleaning through my old pages.

A fun page from InterStellar OverDrive of 1988. We all know that the writing and rendering is a little clunky, but for some reason that poster gets a lot of kudos for something that I felt was throwaway art within the art. Also a Sonic Youth influenced Noise Band.

Oh, yeah, Flange. Gotta love Flange!

pimp my ride

2008-02-23T19:04:00.000-08:00

Today is my first day on day shift. For the second go-around. Celebrated by eating at Runza.

Finished up cleaning up two more pages for Amazons & Studebakers and Tube Punk. Slowed down again by those "damaged stars". Still miss Stanford Cloud White Fluid anyway.

Got the Pimpmobile drawing mostly colored last night. This this was an overly detailed monster to do. Will go back for tweaks in about a week if I if remember it. It looks like you get cancer by just looking at the place.

all tomorrow's parties

2008-02-20T18:56:00.000-08:00

Been running outside to catch glimpses of the lunar eclipse. Some wise guy just had to schedule it on the coldest day in February.

Made some progress coloring on the never ending "Pimpmobile" drawing. Started cleaning up the Leonine InterStellar OverDrive #1(1988) and got the first four pages done. Still suffering from some tone deaf pacing and I want to choke my younger self self-referential art, but it does have a lot of positives. Retro Science Fiction before fandom got that point. A similar riff to the beginning of The Iron Giant and it has a predecessor of the "Roswell plot" years before it was cliched enough to be called the "Roswell Plot". Cribbing the Velvet Underground song title of "All Tomorrow's Parties" years before William Gibson did. Studebakers, including a truck without the hood, accurately drawn from memory. And it went on to be an A+ college journalism project.

Also ran grocery errands and cobbled together a stand for a LCD monitor that was given to me minus the case.

bad science fiction art

2008-02-19T19:18:00.000-08:00

There's good news and bad news for today.

The good news is that I got moved over to day-shift. After spending most of this decade on swing shift, I'm glad that I have from 2:30 PM on to get caught up on a bunch of projects. Or punt the projects and find my own Flexia, Winnie, Sophia, Wingding, or Thomas.

The bad news is that somebody referred to my old Small Press Comics scans as "bad science fiction art". Ouch! Over at the PVP forum, somebody said that a perceived lack in his own art would get solved when somebody shows him how. That somebody to show how was never there for me in the '80s. Belatedly saw last year's Steve Jobs and Bill Gates joint interview over at one of Wired blogs. His Royal Steveness was talking about how you really have to love something to persevere in it. Well, a lot of love got killed when dog-piled by a cancellation, a smear page, and somebody defending the smear page. Plus I have a "survival job" that's better than what Comics could give me.

Otherwise, the dentist appointment went okay. Cancelled an errand run to Soldier because of predicted 7° weather. Finished cleaning up the rest of the art for Captain Saucer #19. Excerpted is a panel from the Fanboy filler story, featuring Fanboy making a Mini-Comic.

brilliant pebbles

2008-02-18T20:23:00.000-08:00

The title is a reference to the Strategic Defense Initiative, which was sometimes tweaked in my late '80s comics.

Finished cleaning up the main story and covers for Captain Saucer #19. Hope to do the filler and related material tomorrow or Wednesday. It's just frustrating stuff. There's a great comic trying to get out but it's so hampered by clunky execution.

Tomorrow, I go to the dentist and maybe up to Soldier.

junior's farm

2008-02-17T20:43:00.000-08:00

Cleaned up five more pages from Captain Saucer #19.

Voted or Pat Pat Moriarity for a North West cartoonists award, in both illustration and the "Golden Toonie" categories. Here's hoping that he wins.

He says that I deserve some sort of award. Maybe I do, but I don't know what. "Greatest Shoulda-Been"? "More resilient Never-Quite-Was"? I'm almost happy with the bragging rights about acing "The Unpassable Test"....

big words hurt head....

2008-02-16T20:55:00.000-08:00

Cleaned up four more Captain Saucer #19 pages. How I wish that I could mail a short list back to my younger self on things to make the writing less herky-jerky. And a longer short list to make the art less herky-jerky.

I also created two more fake motivational posters, both to tickle my inner four year old. Which may or may not have shown symptoms of Autism. But nobody knew about that stuff in 1965. At least I didn't phoneticize the horrible Homestar Runner speech defect that I was fighting all the way through grade school.

nuclear grade nostalgia

2008-02-15T21:18:00.000-08:00

Cleaned up the first four pages of the 1987 Captain Saucer#19, which was sort of a warm up for the Leonine Direct Market InterStellar OverDrives. Was using a mechanical pen with a flexible nib then, which has since been long been discontinued. On the plus side, I was really going after the "Googieverse" retro look five years before the Batman; TAS retro-Deco thing and about 18 years before Brad Bird did his Googie-verse in The Incredibles. Also an early draft of what evolved into Cseworld, and I was lampooning "The Firing Line" to satnd out of the pack back when nearly everybody else in Small Press and Prodom was seemingly tweaking on Letterman. The figure rendering is still a frustration. I grabbed one of Howgarth's books at the time and was trying to apply it, but was tripped up by my own blind spot. Plus, as usual, Fandom and Prodom was resolutely never there with a tutoring hand.

my biggest fans

2008-02-14T21:28:00.001-08:00

Started cleaning up Captain Saucer #19 today. And made some more mock motivation posters.

see you later, carburetor....

2008-02-13T21:51:00.000-08:00

Holley has went bankrupt. I learned a lot about carburetors by messing around with their four barrels.

Passed a minor milestone by finishing cleaning up the art from InterStellar OverDrive #0. I do get a felling of sad irreversible loss brought by circumstance and passage of time. We're as chronologically as far removed from that thing as that thing was removed from the first Zap Underground Comic

Quickie art from 1987.

damage stars

2008-02-11T21:50:00.000-08:00

Finished up the last of the interior pages of InterStellar OverDrive #0. I probably spent more time fixing those damaged stars than I did stippling them in the first place. To celebrate, I tracked through the Camper Van Beethoven, Coffin Draggers, Hawkwind, Pearl Jam, and even Pink Floyd versions of that certain song while I was cleaning up.

Nostalgia for the '80s Small Press and Indie aspirations is so tainted with a little bit of depression because those various go-arounds of Captain Saucer and ISOD are like drafts for an overture of a much greater work that lack of commercial support prevented from happening. A lot of which can also be applied to Holverson Designs.

Also a picture that has nothing really to do with this post.

another day another hassle

2008-02-09T21:29:00.000-08:00

Ended up doing a lot of feeder and gate adjustments on DB3 and DB11 today. Plus a lot of gate replacement on DB3.

Cleaned up another InterStellar OverDrive page tonight. It's slow going when it's an outer space scene and 80% of the stars need to be touched up. Also pushed the "Pimpmobile" drawing a little farther along. Here's a detail from the other night.

going slow in overdrive

2008-02-08T21:38:00.000-08:00

Cleaned up another page of InterStellar OverDrive#0. All that flaked off white ink is really slowing down the cleanups.

Cover from InterStellar OverDrive #0, 1987. Still doing that "I wanna grow up to be a Heavy Metal artist" thing, despite that I was starting to push 30. May do an extended color redraw as a Prog gatefold style mural for the porthole panel for when I get Explodey the Pinto repainted.

Replaced leveler belts inb DBs 3&11 and got into serious breakdowns of AFCSs 2&4.

the angels want to wear my red shoes

2008-02-07T21:23:00.000-08:00

Shuffled the two transmissions to a guy at work to see if they would work in his car. Ran an errand to K-Mart after work. Cleaned up another InterStellar OverDrive #0 page and spent more time coloring this in-progress monster.

Sort of shows of my long running interest in Alternate and Cracked Realities and with the piebald. This is based on some '82 art. I'm a little annoyed at myself for knocking on the door of Cyberpunk before it was popular, but not going in. OTOH, that wouldn't have dovetailed with the loopy parodic stuff that I was doing then. Plus, I like the Googie groove better.

flexia lite

2008-02-06T21:07:00.001-08:00

Another one from the vault, because it sure isn't from the light-box, a page from Captain Saucer #11.

Yet another contradictory one with attempted William F. Buckeley and George Will surrogates. I wish that my art wasn't so herky-jerky and rough. I was that my political commentary back then was more sophisticated than a long running Reaganite and hippie bash. Also with pretty Pursia, who was Flexia-lite back when ol' Fang herself was underutilized as a spear-holder/enabler for Berkshire. Pursia, a.k.a.: "Boom Boom" Bast, didn't really develop much personality until she was recast as mommy's little sycophant when I wrote "Meat is Nature's Candy".

Worked overtime today and cleaned up another page from InterStellar OverDrive #0 from 1987.

icicle built for one....

2008-02-05T21:04:00.000-08:00

Made an errand run up to Soldier that got way truncated because I was trying to work around and through a near blizzard. Did pick up my spare Ford A4LD transmissions to sell to a guy at work.

Cleaned up some pages from InterStellar OverDrive #0. Sort of slow going because there's a lot of Sanford Cloud White Fluid on those pages that have 21 years of rubbing and flaking off. Also more of a big sense of loss here, because I was trying to good something really good but was tripped up by my own blind spots and a regional fandom that was hostile when they should have been guiding. I'm especially looking at you, Des Moines.

For some reason, since I passed the threshold of half awake this morning, I've been psychosomatically smelling that farrowing house smell that just won't completely wash out of the hair and pores no matter how many times I scrub. Both old farrowing houses have been gone for years.

Maybe it had to do with a dream from last night concerning a kiddie book villain's goofy henchmen called the Poopheads. Which was pretty much what they literally were, mindlessly grinning piles for heads.

Back to overtime tomorrow.

superbowl tickets....

2008-02-02T21:35:00.000-08:00

Trying to get back into the hang of these.

Here's a timely panel from Captain Saucer #14, 1985.

With a guest appearance from Wilfred P. Feird. Not to mention my self-referential screwball art from the '80s.

amazons & studebakers

2007-08-27T15:39:00.000-07:00

Still boiling down the proposed graphic novel to something slicker and more salable. The working title is now called "Amazons & Studebakers". Trying to make cohesive wholes out of mainly assorted '80s Captain Saucers and InterStellar OverDrives. I wrote a rough for the pitch letter today. My annual vacation has only a couple of days to go and I wish that I had been motivated to draw more.

the Bast of....

2007-08-05T20:41:00.001-07:00

Pat Pat Moriarity gave me the idea to prune down the first Tube Punk book into a "best of" collection. At least that would be something that I could even get out this fall. The others would be more complete.

Here's the possible line up for the Best of:

The aborted 1998 InterStellar OverDrive revival.

The second series Captain Saucer 3+4 (CS meets Princess Nuclea + the first Weird Alien romp, possible deletes)

The second series Captain Saucer 11-13 or 14 (The Dune parody)

The MIlkmaids of Mars

1987 Leonine Press Calendar

The Leonine InterStellar OverDrive#0, Captain Saucer #19 (possible delete), Leonine ISOD #1, ISOD#3 (Cseworld, unpublished, borderline delete)

Fanboy the Comic Book That Comes Double bagged (plus the first Epic Fun Story, plus one or two Scapegoat strips)

UTI plus other misc early '90s art.

Holverson Designs + Fun Rockets (mostly the art)

previews and excerpts of the planned Work Horse Captain Saucer + ISOD revivals, and Dumpy/Tube Punk #1.

Omake: The Sisyphus Rock 'n' Roll script (very possible delete)

Any feedback on this?

I'm going to start a rough paste up to get a page count.

DGH

2007-08-02T11:11:00.000-07:00

Well, not *that* bad.

Before work today, I kick started one out of three projects that I wanted to kick start.

Will try to kick start one or two more on my day off tomorrow.

Saturday, I get moved to a split shift will work from 11AM to 7:30 PM. I'm hoping that this opens up enough of the evening to push these projects a little farther along.

"Long, long ago, in a land so very, very far away that you could only get there by Aeroflot turboprop, there was a Princess. But no ordinary princess she…"

it was a three hour tour....

2007-08-01T11:09:00.000-07:00

Here's a bit of nautical life in horribly landlocked Mondamin, Iowa.

One of those abandoned small town grocery stores that you can buy for a pauper's pittance, but cost a king's ransom to repair.

Did find out that the problem with breaking the tools was that I was using a facing tool to cut. And that I can grind these down to work again. Now to ferret the difference between cutting and facing. Like Sherline says in their lit, just because you have a machine, does not make you a machinist.

I was also told that I was every efficient at snagging repair calls at work. I feel a bit better.

crunch!

2007-07-30T10:42:00.000-07:00

I crunched a couple of bits from trying to teach myself how to use a metal lathe. I'm going to back off until get some guidance from somebody with experience.

In the past week, I've been running into the limits of being self taught. Whether it's broken figure rendering from the '80s or broken bits from Saturday.

I've decided keep pushing to do better art, and if I get better, I get better and if I don't, I don't. I'll just try not to beat myself up or go into a little personal crisis just because it's not as good as I think that it should be.

OTOH, it just would have been nice if this stuff was as virtuoso bravura as I wanted it be be to make those comics people regret losing me to the public sector.

DGH

"nice sandcastle...."

2007-07-27T19:40:00.001-07:00

I finished up the the abandoned-alien-temple-thingie drawing. At least it came out better than the teenie fanzine art groove that I thought that it was heading for. OTOH, it's still shy of the journeyman-ness, let alone the "full French" bravura, that I was aiming for. I'm having "is the best I can do?" or "the best that I can ever do?" frustrations.

Not to mention it being three decades too late for flogging that teenie "I wanna grow up to be a Heavy Metal" artist, over two decades after being excluded from the Indie Boom that isn't ever coming back, and a decade and a half into a dying Direct Market. May tlansrated Manga kick your panties and capes. You narrow-minded fanboys lost a potentially good man to the public sector.

Anyway, based on a panel from the first series Captain Saucer #2 and a nod to some '80 or '81 sketches. Oddly enough, the biggest human artifact here is a flying saucer.

creation frustration

2007-07-26T11:44:00.000-07:00

I'm a little frustrated at the Nukleia Hampion drawing and the abandoned-alien-temple-thingie one in progress (top & middle) because they aren't coming out as polished and realistic was I want them to (but I suppose the Skiffy subject matter is working against realistic part). I guess that I should be happy that they're better than the 1982 and '85 art that they're based on (bottom). Although, like the originals, despite having a lot of detail they're just not the most sophisticated things in the world.

As I get older, I'm really getting to hate being self-taught, because of all the self-referential viscous circles and all things that you just don't pick up by yourself. OTOH, like a lot of other stuff in my life, if I wasn't self-taught, how in the h*** was I ever going to learn it? School, the local community, or comics fans or pros were never there.

Although with a couple of tips to improve them. especially the realistic part, would cheer me up a lot.

coming down from the hills

2007-07-24T11:07:00.000-07:00

Moving this load of stuff down from the farm made me feel almost like a hillbilly. What's almost scary is that this photo isn't even staged. There are two folding long tables, a Honda ATC 90 frame, four model rocket launch pads, and an 2.3 turbo engine block in there.

2007-07-22T11:03:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the lack of updates. I've been really sidetracked by real life. Especially buying and moving into a house.

The boat was not included.

After once being through buying a house and settling down to a career for the rest of my life and having it taken away, ten years ago, I'm really hoping that this is the last time.

TGIT

2007-04-20T13:05:00.000-07:00

Thank God It's Thursday!

The Omaha Mensa used to have Thank God It's Thursday Parties" I miss those.

Actually it's Friday, my new day-off after being switched to nights. I trying to get psyched up to start some new drawings before I drive out to the RC field and see if anybody is flying this early in the year.

Some bonehead phoned in a bomb threat to the Post Office the other night. This isn't junior high any more! But this is much more serious trouble!

Here's a detail of some Tube Punk art in progress.

The other night, I dreamed that I adopted a stray tabby that looked like that. You ought to have seen the look on Dad's face when I showed it to him.

swing shift

2007-04-14T09:38:00.000-07:00

I'm moving back to swing shift tonight. Hoping that days open up again sooner instead of later.

Reaffirming why I love my G5. I was tweaking some coloring on some pin-ups and kicked some of the 20% grays up to 30% grays and then back down to 25% grays in a matter of seconds of my time and only split seconds of the Mac doing the pixel crunching. Not to mention what I did to some other grays. My Previous Macs would take a few minutes. Plus if you had to do the grays by hand, I think they'd be considered good enough and left alone.

Here is a turbo engine and a Pinto. Because Pintos don't go fast ....

I should have had the insight to move the broom, floor jack, and engine hoist, and not muddle and confuse the composition of that one photo....

I just remembered I build that engine stand from my own design. So why do all the fanboys from Ames and Des Moines consider me to be untalented? Well, outside of one bad mouth and a lot of herd-mindedness and hypocrisy?

now comes milling time

2007-04-11T16:20:00.000-07:00

It's a rainy day off so that I'm trying to finish some pin-ups, start some pin-ups and color some others, all for Tube Punk.

The good news is that I got a new toy, a Smithy 3-in-1, with lathe, mill, and drill press. The bad news is that this is going to have the steepest learning curve of any toy that I ever owned.

The USPS is screwing up my hours and moving me back to swing shift come this Saturday. My Mom asked me if I'm upset. I send no, but I'm annoyed to no end.

At least I'm not disgruntled...

shocking developments

2007-03-09T18:07:00.000-08:00

I am probably missing something really obvious, but why do the social graces say that it's okay to abandon and betrayal and then badmouth or otherwise add insult to injury to somebody, but it's just so wrong for somebody to be hurt, angry, or defensive at getting the short end of this?

I'm guessing since these so called social graces are largely unwritten, they get really Calvinballed to coddle the "cool" people and demonize the "uncool" people.

Like how the "Populars" in high school get get away with being a bit mean and self-serving while a social leper can never do enough favors and stuff to be liked.

Otherwise, my weirdo freak cats have been occasionally renaming files and directories on my Macs while I'm gone. They even renamed of the partitions on the old G3 from "Winnie" to "J0000000000".

Bought a Wimhurst machine off from eBay for $50.00. Sated a whim that goes back to grade school. It may be a white elephant, but at least it's a cheap one.

Picture for Tube Punk in progress.

polli with the "i"

2007-02-28T17:46:00.000-08:00

Went to Rock Island and back yesterday and pulled some Merkur stuff home to Soldier. Hopefully this is the last of the big trips for car stuff for a year or two or five or ten.

I'm back in Omaha, waiting for yet another big late season snow storm. Am getting mentally hunkered in for this sort of stuff until May, like a replay of the cold spring of '82.

Forcing myself to do a some pencils, but nothing is gelling. It's all so loose and sloppy.

Here's a BW inks of "Polli with the 'i'". This is what my 1982 art was supposed to look like if I could have only pulled it off. This is in the queue to be colored.

snow job

2007-02-25T16:46:00.000-08:00

Survived the U-bolts and the root canal. Halfway through surviving the shift change.

And to celebrate being hit with a big late season blizzard, these sketches....

Probably inspired by a magazine cartoon that I don't quite remember.

TGIM

2007-02-19T17:49:00.000-08:00

After all the big freezes, everything is finally thawing out. It felt very Spring. Like brief moments of feeling about 15 again and day dreaming about Star Trek and model rockets and doing something fun and good with your life once school got out for the day, for the week, for the summer, for forever...

Ate at the same Runza that ten years ago Mom and Jimbo told me that I was going to get a good job at the Jordan Soldier Valley Telephone Company. That career was taken away a year and a half later, but lead to the Holverson Designs kits, which lead to Fun Rockets, which didn't go anywhere.

Have the next two days off. Got some U-bolts at Inland Trucking today to go up to the farm tomorrow and finally finish up the axle swap in Wee Beastie. Getting root canal Wednesday morning, something that I'm more looking forward to getting over, then to actually be doing. Will get going on InterStellar OverDrive again after that.

Started three pin-ups based on 1982 Captain Saucer art.

purple peopled out

2007-02-17T19:29:00.000-08:00

Got moved to the day shift again, opening up evenings again for drawing. Forced myself to start three pin-ups tonight. Also floggin this little purple fellow to the point of diminishing returns. Plus a character that started off as a cat-girl, but became a human-girl (sorta).

summer and lightning

2007-02-11T11:48:00.000-08:00

Finished up this picture. Notice the in-joke stickers in the rear window and in-joke names for the layers. Yes, this is for Tube Punk.

On the last ever, mythical, mystical day of summertime in the '70s, as New World's Record, Out of the Blue, or Discovery kerclunks its way through the under-dash 8-track.

I guess those black clouds could accidentally sysmbolized life's upcoming storms of dropping out of college and that aftermath.

monster of rock

2007-02-06T09:14:00.000-08:00

Here's another take on the Purple People Eater. This time to look more monsterish. Almost the last time around. Will probaby do a more streamlined version of this guy for a "Phat Grrl" gag.

purple streak

2007-02-05T10:44:00.000-08:00

Another one from the old sketch book. Tried to imagine what a Purple People Eater would look like if that silly figurine hadn't already cemented an image in my mind. Unlike that figurine, this guy probably needs to look more beastly or monstery if there's ever another draft. I also hadn't planned on it coming out this Kricfalusi like.

sure looks strange to me....

2007-02-04T11:01:00.000-08:00

Finally snapped a good picture of these rare creatures!

Actual dime store kitsch from the nifty '50s, sadly with the horn and wings broken off from too much handling from grandkids and great-grandkids.

I knew about this ceramic figure all my life but didn't know that it was based on a song until I was about 13. I guess it's one of those nobody told me because everybody thought that I already knew situations. Then I didn't hear the actual song until I was 18!

Of all the different interruptions of the Purple People eater that I eBay searched or Googled, this has got to be, by far, the most beastly. Most seem to be variations on a goofy monsterisation of big-foot style cartoon person. I'm annoyed that I'm one of the few people who didn't get to hear the song first and imagine my own visual of the creature. It was already fixed by that figurine.

Although, I am going to try to sketch up an original version tonight. Well, mostly original, because my will have a good bit of Rat FInk influence in it.

foxy kitty

2007-02-02T15:36:00.000-08:00

A '70s looking nekomimi from the ol' sketch book.

Up at the farm getting nailed by cool spell after cold spell. Also mired in my never ending day-off project, swapping a '70 Maverick 8" rear axle into my '79 Pinto. Having all sorts of problems with those U-bolts stripping out. May get another set of four and start over fresh.

My week of day shift went well. But tomorrow I'm back doing night shift relief for somebody who is gone to training for about a month.

Had a tooth come apart today. Will get that fixed as soon as I figure out how my dental plan works.

hello, again

2007-01-30T16:37:00.000-08:00

Can you believe that it's been over a month since I last posted? One of my New Year's resolutions is to post more often.

Did get moved to day shift which opens up evenings to do creative stuff. I am halfway through working on a group pin-up to the introduction page for Tube Punk among others.

Drove across a good bit of Iowa and Minnesota to pick up a turbo engine for Wee Beastie. Some of the small towns, old buildings, windmill farms tickled both the eyes and soul.

Here's an updated list of missing Items for the Tube Punk Wish List:

Must have items:

1983 Leonine Calendar: November page, back cover

Captain Saucer #7 magazine sized version, pages 4 and 5

Would be really nice:

Published:

"Elephant Boy" strip that was filler in one of the Matt Feazell/Not Available mini-comics

J.J.’s Platters flyer of guy stuffing records into ears

Balder Dash #5 Cover and “Large Economy Size” back cover with two-tone xerography

Unpublished:

Alan Bradley sketches with “Evil Woman”

Alice Chalmers hand-colored Christmas Card

Elsa in Shower and Big T*tt*e Kitties Too

Flange short strip from early ’88

Greg Hyland InterStellar OverDrive try-out art

IWCC Dorms, photo of “Nukleia and Aliens” mural at the Dipple Hall

Kurt’s birthday pin-ups and gift drawings (many placeholder copies found)

Milkmaids of Mars II; “Battle of the Bazooms’ page 3

Photo of modified Holley jets

Radiation Letter

Maybe Published:

Poor Richard’s New and Improved Almanac: “The Further Adventures of God”

Legal Clearance:

“Phat Grrl” parodies

Greg Hyland art

Mars Martial art (maybe)

Rip Off Press items

merry christmas

2006-12-25T11:30:00.000-08:00

I'm going to be working today even if the cat isn't.

Hoping to get up to the farm and see Mom and my sister's family tomorrow.

off a cliff.....

2006-12-18T09:42:00.000-08:00

I really should update this blog more often. Maybe after Christmas, when I get more caught up.

I was reading a newspaper article about a market for clean humor. Apparently too much contrived edginess and profanity his wearing out its shock value and welcome.

Otherwise, I'm kind of proud of the Captain Saucer revival that I'm working on. It has no profanity, no real nudity, any sex is implied and off panel, but still comes off as off color as an old Underground Comic.

Looks like I'm officially skunked on that Merkur XR4Ti engine donor car for Wee Beastie. Motor parts are missing, the head and exhaust manifold are cracked, the turbo doesn't turn, and when I finally got the seller on the phone they hung up.

Here's a sketch of a planned more finished drawing for Tube Punk. A grown up take on grade-school characters, Clan the Dragon Man and Mister Fan, with a monster and a hot rod thrown in for good measure.

It's amazing about how hot rods and monsters go together in cartoons...

fangding

2006-12-03T11:18:00.000-08:00

Here's a "hybrid" that I drew on my birthday. Although, it kind of has a Halloween feel to it. Maybe Wing can dress up like Fang in some Halloween issue of the Captain Saucer Revival as sort of a in-joke.

Feeling rough. A hectic night at work plus some manditory overtime. Forcing myself to do a bunch of scanning so at least I can have some token productivity before work.

atu

2006-12-02T11:13:00.000-08:00

The other night I was asked about how much I knew about ATUs. I knew so little that this is what popped in my head.

Turned 46 the two nights ago. Mainly just another work night during a cold spell. Looking forward to after New Years when I should be buying a house and maybe even getting moved to day shift.

Still scanning in '70s and '80s stuff for Tube Punk. Going through a file drawer that's a big lode of stuff. Even found my rare "Bicentennial Summer Super Special". Starting to rough-in the paste-up for early chapters. Aiming for a release around next Christmas. Also trying to whip up some "girl and car" fan-service.

Was able to exchange those speakers at Wally World even if I didn't have the box or receipt.

primered porthole pinto

2006-11-24T11:57:00.000-08:00

Got Wee Beastie as far as having the basic rust and body work covered with primer on my last two days off. That was a big push! But when you're looking into December and January in Iowa, you figure that you may not get another above 60 degree day until Spring.

I worked on Thanksgiving day. Had a early and quick diner with Mom and my Sister and her family up in Soldier and then made a beeline to the Omaha Post Office to clock in at 2:30 PM.

i'm back!

2006-11-17T11:04:00.000-08:00

I've just been a busy with a few hectic nights at work, feeling little under the weather in the hours before work, and just sidetracked by too many real life things too boring to blog.

I'm wondering if I'm stuck in the Xeno's Paradox of auto-body work. It seems like every time try to smooth up Wee Beastie, I keep splitting the amount left to do in half without ever getting done. It looks warm for my next two days off, so maybe I'll sand down that last quantum bit of bondo and finish things off.

Scanning through a stuffed file drawer of old stuff that should take me three days short of forever to get it done. Including some cringe inducing stuff I call "Ddamaged Goodds" from the lost InterStellar OverDrive revival. Oddly, it's getting scanned but it's going directly to the "Culls" directory.

wired

2006-11-01T15:14:00.000-08:00

Too much phun with Photoshop. The last one for a while. Looks good enough to be on the hood of a planet hoping Studebaker.

halloween comes but once a year

2006-10-31T17:58:00.000-08:00

Here's some old apazine filler of Flexia dressed up like a big ol' fat black cat for Halloween.

Some people say that this is going to be a warm winter. maybe to make up for this chilly fall. I'll believe it went I see it.

Got in the Wacom groove, coloring Tube Punk stuff today. But pushed it into burn out.

freak out

2006-10-30T11:04:00.000-08:00

Scanning through the last of the '90s apazine masters and coming across season appropriate custom art.

Technically, Freakazoid didn't rip off Fanboy, although that was my emotional response at the time. It just was kind of Weird sitting through one Kids WB morning and see both a Fanboy on Freakazoid and a "Star Truck" on Animaniacs. Some people say that the Buddy scenes near the beginning of The Incredibles were cribbed from Freakazoid and his variation of Fanboy.

russkie rockets

2006-10-28T11:25:00.001-07:00

Slow day except for trying to push a bunch of old apazine scans through.

Here are a couple of films of the old Soviet N1 moon rocket launches. Lving down to stereotypes of Soviet hardware, it does look like a flying boiler. Just check out all the boiler-like plates and rivets on the bottom end.
Film #1
Film #2
Just think, until the fall of the Soviet Union, nobody in the West even really knew what the N1 looked like. Sort of why the internet is kind of neat.

More here. Warning a lot of video files don't seem to work.

holes in the head

2006-10-27T11:03:00.000-07:00

Tried to get in one last, for all times shake, valve job done at Renz Repair before he closes shop at the end of the month. It rurned out that my XR4Ti head had a valve seat that was too badly pitted that I will have to take it to a machine shop for additional work.

Renz Repair was in the building that use to be Grandpa Skow's Allis Chalmers dealership in Moorhead, Iowa. Renz use to work for my Grandpa back in the AC days. Another reminder that it "ain't 1976 no more...."

Had a dream the other night about Barry Fishman. He had a fancy office in Omaha with the lease and the Fun Rockets partnership lapsing in two weeks. Mom chewed him out for running the business into the ground and said that she would never speak to him again. I just said that I would drop by everyday until the bitter end just to see if he accidentally turns this thing around.

The illustration is from an UTI assignment and never used in real life.

cratered

2006-10-24T11:15:00.000-07:00

Was fiddling around with a title page for a chapter in Tube Punk this morning. I was trying to go for a '70s spot-colored, model rocket rag look. However, it's not "Centuri-y" enough for my liking. Also the cartoon is more of a post-Kricfalusi style instead of being '70s fannish.

Amazingly enough, that orange was eye-droppered off a Centuri Tabloid and not an Allis Chalmers....

on beyond zebra

2006-10-21T12:09:00.000-07:00

I tried posting yesterday but the Blogspot server was down.

P.C. Weenies made fun of Z-list bloggers. I feel more like a floob, thnad, or jogg list blogger.

Here's a sketch from October 4 for a Carisle Roc-A-Chute Mark II (extremely early model rocket) daydreaming that it's an early satellite.

pickups and pintos

2006-10-20T11:11:00.000-07:00

Worked two hours overtime last night. Looked at a two story Victorian this morning.

I was thinking about back in the '80s how I had a good late model Pinto as a daily driver and a thirty year old beater pick-up as a resto-rod project. Now I have a good late model pick-up as a dialy driver and a thirty year old beater Pinto as a resto-rod project.

napping with the cats

2006-10-19T11:39:00.000-07:00

How I sort of felt yesterday. Just tired and napping didn't help. Maybe the weather getting wet and cold with an occasional flake had something to do with it.

Back and slightly peppier and looking at houses today.

long afternoon....

2006-10-13T11:07:00.000-07:00

Been sidetracked for past few days. Got my submissions to Porndexters accepted. Dropped the rear axle out of a Maverick today and made a long afternoon seem longer. Will swap this under Wee Beastie later on.

shooting the breeze....

2006-10-12T11:23:00.000-07:00

Back when I was a stupid little kid, I imagined that electric fans could fly if only if they only had a mythical speed somewhere above high.

Finished and sent in another Porndexter pin-up to Shon.

C(cab)++

2006-10-11T20:39:00.000-07:00

Did another pin-up for Shon's Porndexters based on this thing and a cute nerdette.

Had a dream last night that Dad and Grandpa Skow were helping me move. Maybe it's precognitive for something big and good coming up. Like the old turboprop dreams in '93.

they attempt to fly but generally plummet....

2006-10-10T17:05:00.000-07:00

A riff on a Victorian inventor.

Since it's rainy and chilly on my days off, I'm staying in and trying to get those drawings done for Shon.

eye in the sky

2006-10-09T11:52:00.000-07:00

Here's a couple of puns riffing off the Von Dutch flying eye that was trendy a couple of years ago.

OTOH, if Yuppies want to milk greaser culture for coolness, they should actually know what carburetors, bumpsticks, skins, and etc., are.

The shift supervisor is becoming a grandpa for the third time over today and he's three years younder than me. Makes me feel all hopelessly single and lonely. Hopefully there's a Flexia, Winnie, or even Wingding for me. And hopefully not a Pex, Leonina, or Dumpy.

flexia fedora

2006-10-08T12:25:00.000-07:00

Here's a sketchbook drawing of Flexia wearing a hat. Which is neither really in or out of character. But at least she looks fashionable.

Looks like the temperature is going to take a dump on my days off. May stay in Omaha and try to get a little cuaght up on drawing.

rubber hose cartoon

2006-10-07T12:17:00.000-07:00

Where's the Hayes Office when you need them?

Trying to get this blog back to posting sketches and comics, even if I do have a lot of vacation and Studebaker photos left.

Today is three weeks with out Jim. The other morning I woke up with a question that I was going to ask him and then realized that I couldn't.

faux factory install

2006-10-06T17:42:00.000-07:00

Tried to finish up the rust work on Wee Beastie during my days off. The weather turned a little too cool for the fiberglop to set up, so I installed the rear speakers instead. I tried to make it look like a factory job, even though, Pintos didn't come from the factory with rear speakers. Now on to the front pair.

Need to get busy on some pin-ups for Shon Howell and a Wonder Woman illo for a Seattle charity. Will draw one based on Linda Carter. She was an influence on Flexia B.

coupe couple

2006-10-02T10:37:00.000-07:00

A couple of Coupe Expresses from the Studebaker meet. One's a hot rod and one's stock. As much as I like Hot Rods (I'm turning a Pinto into one), I do feel that Coupe Expresses are rare and beautiful enough to be left alone.

Scanning through some an old dirty apa from the '80s. Also scanned my attempt at a patent which brings back some bad memories of the thing going south.

Somebody posted '80s "lost" animated feature Twice Upon a Time on YouTube and I'm downloading while the downloading is good.

dog day of fall

2006-10-01T11:02:00.000-07:00

Unusually warm day today and I'm using it to defrost the fridge and cool off the apartment at the same time.

Here's a belated tribute to my step-dad that I was going to post yesterday, but I forgot and left the sketch book in my locker. It's been two weeks and a day. The humor may be incongruous, but I'm trying to cope.

I scanned in some stuff from old apazines that I contributed to. Next is scanning in stuff from apazines that I central mailed.

gov't spec

2006-09-30T11:53:00.000-07:00

Last night was insane at work with everything breaking down and three hours of overtime.

Scanned in a still miscellaneous stuff for Tube Punk including some fun forgotten spot illos for Timber Ridge Magazine.

Here's a couple of "Government Spec" Studebakers from the Meet, The Zip-Van and the Weasel.

"they were brothers...."

2006-09-29T10:56:00.000-07:00

A couple of '57 Silver Hawks at the Omaha Meet that are brothers to my Hawk.

Which reminds me, can anybody remember and post the lyrics to the theme of the "They Were Brothers" sketch from the Hudson Brothers summer replacement show? BTW, this sketch didn't make the transition to their Saturday morning show.

Some cereal boxes are hucking a thing called "The Pupils". These are cartoon characters with eyeball heads. That ought to give the little kids giggles or nightmares.

I wonder if the Residents know about this?

must have been the fire chief's car

2006-09-28T11:17:00.000-07:00

One of the few cars to wear red well that isn't a pickup or a sporty car.

Seeing the 1951 model as a kid got me into Studebakers in the first place. I just really dug how it looked like a Buck Rogers or Flash Gordon rocket-ship.

Caught part of the Studebaker meet this morning before work. Bugsport creator, Ted Bastien wasn't there. I left an envelope with an acquaintance of his. The Bast meeting the Bastien would have been interesting.

the resilient bullet

2006-09-27T20:01:00.001-07:00

I'm back down in Omaha and a little frazzled that the network quit seeing the network printer for no real reason. Got it to print under USB. But I'd like to know what's up.

Here's a picture of a metal-flake banana '50 Commander Starlight. You can't see it in the photo but the metal-flake is subtle until it hits you like a brick.

one stop studebaker shop

2006-09-26T18:42:00.000-07:00

Caught part of the National Studebaker Meet in Omaha today. Enough to buy $220 of repro and NOS odds and ends for the Champion and the Hawk. I think the Bugsport guy is there too. Will lay a couple of my comic drawings on him.

This is probably the most surreal Studebaker at the meet. And this is from a company that gave us unreal styling in bone stock form, from the bullet-nose to the Avanti. Maybe you could call it a "Stuuude". No, it is NOt a Photoshop phake.

The ran up to the farm and got twice as much body work done on Wee Beastie than I planned.

studebakers are coming to town....

2006-09-24T11:48:00.000-07:00

....for a national meet!

And my poor old Hawk is mired at the body shop. Plus the '41 and '47 are mired collecting dust in their sheds.

Hoping that my main machine at work is really repaired this time. It got awfully old doing a minor overhaul on a different part of the reader every work night for over a week and not get results. I thought of the Kink's line "A mechanical nightmare".

Here's a picture of me from my Seattle vacation with an old truck that's neither a Studebaker nor wholly authentic. It has a late model Ford six-banger and automatic transmission.

i saw whales!

2006-09-21T11:40:00.000-07:00

The last few days have been insane at work regarding machine problems. I hope that I rounded a corner now.

Outside of work, I'm scanning through the third box out of four of old odds and ends plus some water damaged originals for a dirty apazine from the early '90s. Also looking forward to the Studebakers coming to town.

Mom's raw treatment by step-family had too many icky similarities to some bad politics in fandom. The priming the rumor mill. The big blowhard at the center of it. The person who should have broke from the group and stood up but didn't. The closing of ranks.

One goofy lost opportunity would have been making an InterStellar OverDrive promo video back when Jimbo was still in good health. I think that he would have made a grand Wilfred P. Feird bellowing and huckstering. I guess that if you want to do these things, do them sooner because time and people won't always be around.

Which reminds me, I have to make time to see the Sinks in Burlington, Iowa.

Had a dream the other night that Grandpa Skow was still around and he was driving the Farmer's Cadillac while I was riding along. He fiddled with electric mirror until it broke and fiddled with the dash until it broke. In the waking world, I realized that this was contrary to character.

Also had a dream that my Dad was still around and I got him a cheepie peecee starter computer. He asked me all these fretting newbie questions about viruses and ilk. Then I realized that I should have gotten him a Mac Mini.

Here's a picture of whales that I saw with Pat and family. There's a whole regional tourist industry just giving whale tours with boats and pontoon planes all over.

frost on the pinto....

2006-09-20T18:32:00.000-07:00

At least that's what I saw early this morning.

Otherwise, this was the first get on with your life day after Jim died. Like when after Dad died, the grandparents died, Fun Rockets or the Rip Off Press InterStellar OverDrive tanked, the JSV lay-off, etc. I did some body work and some speaker installation on Wee Beastie. Fixed Mom's riding mower when it died due to an overly clogged air filter. Had a pizza supper with Mom and watched the sun set. Did think of Jimbo during a parts run and remembered going with him and Mom to a couple of RCHTAs, a NARAM, and that Arogonia launch that really blew.

You're born, you do a bunch of stuff, and then die. Friends and family tie up some loose ends and divvy up your goodies. A few days later, the world runs on without you. Which is probably how things should be.

this isn't 1991 anymore....

2006-09-19T18:55:00.000-07:00

I feel like I lost my step-dad twice. Once through divorce and once through death. No more Christmases with him or anything.

The funeral was today. Mom was treated a bit rawly by his family. Not being included with that family, but treated as a casual guest.

Did some bodywork on Wee Beastie this afternoon, figured out where to put the speakers, and couple of other odds and ends. Replaced that burnt out chip on the in-dash player a few days ago.

This was the first day of Fall jacket weather.

Had a heads up to pick up the remaining Studebaker pick-ups at Van Der Haag Auto Salvage in Spencer, Iowa in the next few days or they'll be crushed. Decided to let it pass. This isn't 1991 anymore. Did post about it on a few Studebaker Yahoo Groups. And if you want them, go ahead and get them.

funeral leave

2006-09-18T10:47:00.000-07:00

I was thinking about how my ex-step-dad missed out on a perfectly gorgeous fall weekend. And dampened one for everybody else.

The funeral is tomorrow. Got funeral leave tonight to drive up to Soldier.

Replaced some bearings and I believe that I fixed my machine last night.

Been scanning through the second of four boxes and collecting a lot of '80s odds and ends for Tube Punk. Including some forgotten Rat Fink inspired art and some early stuff that evolved into Cseworld. Also a surprising amount of automotive custom and fantasy art from back then. Now scanning through a early '90s apazine.

Here's a picture of some cranes in the Seattle sound. I just liked the composition and the contrast of the mechanical with the natural distant background.

wake me when september ends

2006-09-17T10:23:00.000-07:00

Not only did I have bad news about my former step-dad yesterday, but my machine at work gave me nothing but trouble, flunking the 400 card test over and over again. Even after many adjustments and repairs. I think that it may be a growly bearing in the reader, will check and fix tonight.

Also had a tornado watch bringing everything to a stop and in the basement for a half hour at work.

Scanning through the second of four boxes of miscellaneous stuff for Tube Punk, this morning.

Here's that picture of the band at the Seattle ferry dock that Pat Pat thought was cheesy but photo worthy.

sometimes this world makes no sense....

2006-09-16T10:56:00.000-07:00

Last night, my ex-stepfather lethally shot himself. Sometimes this world makes no sense.

Scanning through the first produce box out of four of old stuff to fill in the gaps in Tube Punk. Mostly rarities from '80s apazines and Tetragrammation Fragments issues, among other things.

five years later....

2006-09-11T11:12:00.000-07:00

Today is the fifth anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. What a punch in the face welcome to the 21st Century. Still has the biggest most leaden effect on our national conscious.

PS: I removed that silly vacation photo because I realized that it may be incongruous and disrespectful to today's occasion.

medical ed

2006-09-10T11:45:00.000-07:00

Another gimmick from the Ye Olde Curiosity Shop which a 19th century taxidermist's creation that medical students could take apart and put back together.

The Merkur was delivered to the farm in the middle of yesterday afternoon. Won't get up to see it until Tuesday. It's been raining for most of the past 24 hours. Isn't it a bit contradictory about how rain both cleanses and rinses things but also muddies things up?

merkur blues

2006-09-09T11:57:00.000-07:00

Because the people delivering the Merkur are running increasingly late, it hopefully will be delivered this afternoon. Since, I'll be at work, Mom should be commanderring the unloading.

Here's Pat's favorite prank of nature and associated pun at Ye Olde Curiosity Shop in Seattle.

dirt angles, mud devils, and terrain queens...

2006-09-08T11:01:00.000-07:00

Those were slang terms for Honda ATC 90s in a dream that I had a couple of nights ago.

The donor car for Wee Beastie should get delivered to Soldier and 12PM. I'm leaving work at Omaha when the shift ends at 11PM and driving directly up there. I starting to wonder if I really like my Pinto that.

Here's a photo of mummy and me at the Ye Olde Curiosity Shop in Seattle.

gone on swinger wings....

2006-09-06T19:16:00.000-07:00

Got rid of the last of the foam Swingers today, Yeah! Closed that chapter in my life.

Inspiration bit and I wrote eight pages of omake story script to insert in the Tube Punk reprinting of the '80s Captain Saucer #16. Some of it reads like Wayne is having a jittery dream. I like the natural high of a burst of creativity.

Here's a picture of me and a iron structure in downtown Seattle.

propellor-heads

2006-09-05T11:09:00.000-07:00

Here's a picture of me by the shipbuilder's memorial in Bremerton. Pat though it would make a cool picture because of the thing's resemblance to the propellor-headed Fanboy and Mr. Fan. There's an amazing amount of elaborate etching and relief sculpturing on this propellor.

the stars out of reach....

2006-09-04T09:55:00.000-07:00

I come here to praise summer and to bury it. Any summer is nice while you can grab it. Even if this one orbited to much around that Pinto. Maybe if I had to do it again, I wouldn't have bought that car on whim and more deliberately go searching for an SO. Maybe not.....

Well, it's Labor Day and I'm "celebrating" it by working.

OTOH, it seems that when it comes to the inverse, nearly everyday is Management Day. And they got the endless pointless meetings with Powerpoint presentations to prove it.

Here's a sketch of a Quewey. And not particularly a good one. They usually travel in groups, called rules, of three. It was a fantasy thing that I created on the first day of summer vacation in 1976. On the last day of that summer, I caught one and stored it in the attic for some future fun.

I wonder if it's still up there....

This also got me thinking about 30 years ago and starting my sophomore year in High School. Mr. Lippold, who has somewhat supportive, or at least tolerant, of my creative aspirations by publishing the Star Truck and The Feirds in the school paper, had moved on to a job in a better school. His psycho bat replacements were non-supportive, if not outright punitive.

Since then bits of Star Truck, The Feirds, and related have been picked over for ideas used in Captain Saucer, InterStellar OverDrive, and even the "Cyclopses" TV proposal.

The vacation pictures start again tomorrow.

low man on the totem pole....

2006-09-03T10:33:00.000-07:00

Here's a picture of me clowning around the totem pole right next to the ferry dock at Port Orchard. Jack is wondering what is going on.

The main Holverson Designs items have been posted at Ye Olde Rocket Shoppe. That's s good symbolic washing my hands of this thing and getting along with my life point.

seattle bound

2006-09-02T11:22:00.000-07:00

Missed yesterday's posting because I had to run up to the farm and the family accountant to take care of some business before work.

Well, during the two weeks I was gone, they scrapped OCR5 and put in the CIOSS. Also moved all the ET lockers from the second floor up to the less convenient second floor mezzanine where they're protected with a door lock combination out of Space Balls. Also got a shipment of new radios which not only do that walkie-talkie schitck but also seem to have some messenger and cell phone functions.

The world has barely waddled into September and you can already feel cooler Fall weather settling in. Plus it has been either sprinkling or raining for a good deal of the day so far.

Here's a picture of Pat Pat, Jack, and me on the ferry to Seattle.

Belatedly thinking about two pieces of original art at the Science Fiction Museum. One was a Virgil Finlay etching from the '50s which was so clean, pristine, precise, and small. Possibly printed without reduction. The other was a '40s or '50s goodly sized Chesley Bonestell oil painting of Jupiter as seen from one of its moons. Jupiter was photo-realistically rendered looming large in the background while the moon's landscape in the foreground was a little looser and impressionistic. Sort of a stylistic gimmick, but it also echoes the depth of focus of a camera.

hi ho hi ho....

2006-08-31T09:52:00.000-07:00

Back to work today.

Here's a picture of the sunset view from Pat Pat's living room. Lucky b*st*rd! One of Jack's contrivances is in the foreground.

Forgot to mention the video game exhibit at the Science Museum. Never was much for the games but some of the obsolete tech was fun like the '60s DEC PDP-1 or the original '81 IBM PC. So was some of the original concept art. Plus I saw things that I haven't seen since Reagan like Xevious.

the vacation of tomorrow- today!

2006-08-30T18:15:00.000-07:00

Got back from Seattle late last night. I feel rough and am recovering today. Hope to start blogging again on a more regular basis after this.

Thursday was a travel day. Got down to Phoenix, Arizona for a connection just in time for a thunderstorm. And the place has a reputation as arid. Things got slowed down and delayed as all take-offs were shuffled and squeezed to one runway. Just think, I was in Centuri City, but 30 years too late. Got to the Seattle airport about an hour and a half late. Pat and Jack picked me up and then we were all bogged in I-5 traffic all the way down to Port Orchid. Did unwind to see the Navy ships on the far side of the bay and a wonderful sunset.

Friday morning, Pat introduced me to comix writer Dennis Eichhorn and gay Country musician Pat Hagerty. Pat, Jack, and I the little ferry to Bremerton and the big ferry to Seattle. We all ate at Ivar's Pier 54. The late Mr. Ivar was apparently a real colorful local character that liked gimmicks like waffle fries when a train full of syrup wrecked and punny mottos like "Stay Calm". Pat showed me downtown and a lot of its wonderful 19th century buildings. Even saw the street that gave us the term Skid Row back in Seattle's early days as a mud road logging town. Then strolled over to the wonderfully labyrinthine Farmer's Market, which reminded me a lot of those odd places with a lot of odd little shops full of exotic and arcane stuff that you see in dreams. Then back to the ferries and Port Orchard.

Pat pulled strings with an old friend of his and got him, Lori, Jack, and me on a whale spotting boat. This pretty much took up most of Saturday. Sailed up to San Juan and saw a sea lion, a porpoise, and various baby and old orcas from the J, K, and L pods. There seemed to be as many tourist boats out there as whales along with two pontoon planes spotting them for everybody. The rest of the day was sent recuperating from the sea and Dramamine and just winding down.

Sunday, Pat was working on some paying projects, so I took the ferry and then bus trip to the Seattle Center alone. Saw the exterior of the Space Needle, but somehow didn't pay the $14 to ride to the top of the "Eiffel Tower of Googie". Did spend most of the time at the Science Museum. Of course, if you've ever been eight years old, you'll find that the animated Dinosaur display was a standout. Also caught an outside show of "Danger Science" and the Planetarium Show on the inside. I don't think that I've been in a planetarium since I was 10. A big topic of conversation there was the recent defrocking of Pluto. One kindergarten prodigy knew his Plutoian Dwarf Planets down to their astronomical catalog numbers.

After the Museum, I met up with Vicky Lee, who was a friend of the family since way back when. I gave her an Alpha DVD-R of "Tube Punk" and explained the difference and connection between Mr. Fan and Fanboy. She drove me to a couple of her favorite scenic points. One of these had a semi-circular concrete bench which gave great bathtub-like resonant echo. "Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!" The she gave me a before hours tour of the palatial Paramount Theater. I even got to play air guitar on stage in the empty auditorium. Vicky and me then ate supper down by the dock. After that I ferried back down to Port Orchard.

Monday was my last full day in Washington. Pat, Jack, and I went to the Seattle Center. First was lunch in this WPA Deco building that was like a community center and a like a mall food court. Then we went to the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame. Lots of old magazine covers and articles or xeroxes of the same, plus movie props or fan recreations of the same. H. G. Wells' War of the Worlds got both sides of one wall plus one stand a lone display case. The general, but not detailed, description of the Martian war walkers give for a lot of varied interpretations. It's amazing how rough some if the movie and TV props were. You could see the painted over globs of glue holding the buttons down on a contol panel from the Enterprise from the original Star Trek.

Then the three of us saw the free section of the Experience Music Exhibit at the EMP building, which was mostly various performers costumes, including George Reeves' padded deltoid Super Suit. How can anyone look at the KISS costumes and not have a nostalgic smile? Some people say that the lumpy EMP building is suppose to evoke a guitar. Maybe one of those toddler guitars with the little crank which the toddler had left in the rear window of the family car for a little too long.

My trio walked to the piers and then ran then last mile to catch the ferry to Bremmerton in time to catch the last ferry to Port Orchard.

Tuesday was the other traveling day. Pat dropped me off to catch the Katsip Airporter bus. Then it was taking Dramamine naps on the planes back to Omaha.

Today is my last day before going back to work. It sort of reminds me of the last day of Summer Vacation as a kid, when you had your last melancholy dwindling hours to catch some fun before school starts.

shifting gears

2006-08-23T17:10:00.000-07:00

This is sort of a shifting gears day. Didn't work on the car at all. Just picked up around the house, did some last minute washing, and got some bills and packages in the mail, and took care of a lot of other business.

Did wish that I could have slipped in seeing if the heater motor is shorted or adjusting the choke and idle before I leave.

Tomorrow, I'm flying out to Seattle to see Pat Pat. Wish me luck. The flight leaves at 6:30 AM.

Here's the "Lion Lady" with corrected face and leg from that work in progress.

PS: Squeezed off several model rockets in a sunset launch after last night's blog. Am glad that I didn't wait because the breeze sure picked up today.

Overheard at the convenience store: "If I had that I'd drop a 302 in it."