Frog Blog

Joe Hill

I've been waiting to read this book for some time, by a new writer I've never read. His name is Joe Hill, suitably wallpaper-like and anonymous.

Closer inspection reveals that his full name is Joe Hillstrom King.

One of Stephen King's sons.

According to this, it's a secret that wasn't much of a secret.

My interest in the book has now transitioned from curious reader to voyeur, eager to peek between the words for signs of the father.

Everything Old is New Again

I just came across this at Mike Lynch's blog. On the one hand, I enjoyed the refurbished Trek. On the other, I still enjoyed it. I thought it might slap me in the face like an overloaded paint brush (my reaction to colorized movies), but somehow the updating felt right. I have an idea that when I first saw the episodes decades ago, the effects seemed as visceral and bright as the current edition. The renovated scenes, though modern, leave me feeling like a kid watching Star Trek for the first time.

I wonder if someone is working on replacing the painted backdrops on Bonanza with actual mountains? Or tweaking the levitating coffee cups on Betwitched?

Spot Sunday: Some Assembly Required

This particular kit won't be coming to a store near you, unless you happen to shop in my bedroom/office.

Something Not Usually Stocked as an Artist's Tool

Most artist's supplies aren't sold by the cord. But they should be.

Two Blogs Much Better Than Mine

While I was away from my blog, I was away from other blogs. I just caught up on two of them: Mark Anderson and Mike Lynch. If you have any questions about gag cartooning, and the swinging gag cartoonist lifestyle, you'll find the answers in both places.

It boggles my mind to imagine what my early career as a cartoonist might have been like if I'd had blogs like these to read.

I Haven't Fallen

There used to be an ad on television that featured this line: I've fallen and I can't get up. If sounding an alarm when you're sick seems too showy and shrill, the next best thing is owning a blog, which works in reverse -- when it goes quiet, someone will notice. My thanks to the observant Mark Anderson for poking me with a stick, in the approved Is-He-Dead fashion.

And speaking of dead, my thanks to Mike Lynch for bearing the good news about Deadwood.

Going to Pieces

One of the drawbacks to drawing Spot the Frog in pieces is this: if something goes wrong with the finished art by the digital stage, I can't simply rescan the original art -- I need to scan dozens of different pieces and reassemble the whole in Photoshop. That's what I'm doing this morning.

Oh, and grumbling. I'm also grumbling.

Deadwood Dead

I loved the first season of Deadwood. I watched the second season on DVD, prepared to be disappointed (that's the kind of person I am.) The first episode felt a little loose and uncertain to me, but the second and remaining episodes tightened like a noose and pulled me off the ground. And now I hear that HBO plans to leave me dangling.

This show has the feel of time travel. The DVD came with a documentary on the actual town of Deadwood, circe 1870, and the reality and the fiction could have worn the same muddy clothes. A perfect fit.

The third season, already filmed in its entirety, ready to begin this June, will be the last.

It's like reading a novel and discovering that the publisher cut the last hundred pages.

Found Gold

The only thing better than an Easter Peep that's been allowed to dry out for a month prior to the holiday (by request) is a Peep that's discovered in the back of the closet a few months later. Amazingly, the crunchy marshmallow shell is no more formidable than it was two months ago. Maybe there's a limit to how far a Peep will go to protect itself from the elements.

I have a dream, however, of one day creating a Peep with a rock-hard shell, harboring its antithesis inside itself.

Nik Scott

Nik Scott offers an inflated rendition of Spot at the gallery page.