Thursday, April 24, 2014

This is cool

So Zak Sally (Recidivist, Sammy the Mouse, Autoptic) and Dan Ibarra (Aesthetic Apparatus) are starting an experimental school for design and comics and printing and the like. As they say: Stop worrying and learn to love the halftone. I know Zak is a great teacher because I've heard the students at MCAD talk about him (and done a couple joint critiques with him, too). And Dan is one of the most ridiculously talented designers on the planet. The Winters here suck, but there are some really great things happening in Minneapolis.

Monday, April 14, 2014

Universal Studios Prop Rental

My first day in L.A. I went with Todd to return some rentals to the Universal Studios Prop House and we wandered around for a little while checking the wares. They have at least one of everything. When I'm abroad I try to visit local city museums, which are often wonderfully idiosyncratic. This felt like a version of that. Ancient artifacts, somewhat random, somewhat strange. But LA.

So, plastic ice cream:
Saint Francis droning on about the languages of the birds. Sir Francis Haddock getting fed up with his bullshit and wandering off to go see if the Wolfman has any spare change:
Nah, man. No change, sorry. Good luck, though.
What? The languages of what? Hello? Hello? There's no dial tone on this thing. Hello?

Saint Francis also talks to cats.
And to... uh... frogs? Beaked lizards? What is this thing? I don't know, but I like the little orange suit.

Fake chemicals:

Disembodied nervous systems:

Happy skeleton, bemused musculature.

Skulls come in all variety of creepy.

Foam man, sleeping.

Fake blood samples for sudden world-wide zombie epidemic blockbuster emergency room scene:

Etc.

Piles of fake casualties for same:


and lastly, a blank mannikin head. I felt very at home.

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

The End in L.A.

I'll be in L.A. this weekend for the L.A. Book Awards. The End was nominated in the comic and graphic novel category. I'll also be on a panel at the LA Book Festival, Saturday at noon, with Mimi Pond, Ben Katchor and Vanessa Davis... and signing books and the like. Come say hello.