Between Friends Blog

Remembering Jim Unger

 

Jim Unger, the funny, funny creator of the comic strip, Herman has passed away.  Jim was born in London, England but emigrated to Canada in 1968.  He began his cartooning career at the Mississauga Times...which is just a hop, skip and a jump from where I live.  His panel, Herman was syndicated by Universal Press to 600 newspapers.  It was and is an extremely funny comic.  My condolences to his family and friends.

(Hat tip to Mike Lynch for the video)

Team Cul de Sac: Cartoon Art Auction for Parkinson's!

The above artwork is a cartoon I created for "Team Cul de Sac"...  

 Description: Team Cul de Sac was created to honor Richard Thompson, creator of the award-winning comic strip, Cul de Sac, after his recent Parkinson's disease diagnosis. Cartoonists, artists, illustrators, and animators have donated original artwork for this auction, with 100% of the proceeds benefitting the Michael J. Fox Foundation to support Parkinson¹s research. The auction ends June 10 at 10:00 p.m. The artwork is also collected in a book, Team Cul de Sac: Cartoonists Draw the Line at Parkinson's (Andrews McMeel Publishing), to be published June 5, 2012. A portion of the proceeds from the book will also be directed to the Michael J. Fox Foundation.

You can browse an incredible collection of this cartoon art and bid on your favourite by going to this link.

You can order a copy of this one-of-a-kind book by going here!  Not only will you have an amazing collection of cartoons by a wide array of cartoonists, you'll be assisting in the effort to find a cure for Parkinson's Disease.  You can't lose!

Reubens 2012

All the cartoonists are at the Reuben Awards weekend in Las Vegas.  Well, not all of them.  I'm here at home.  Rats.  But I'll be there in spirit.  Best of luck to all the nominees!

The Avengers (twice)

Tara and I went to see the Avengers last night.  First time for her, second time for me.  (Tim and I went to see it last week)

I really enjoyed it...but then, I like all the super hero movies. I thought the plot was a bit weak and a bit convoluted at times...but as you can see by my willingness to see it twice, it still gets a thumbs up.

Stand-outs for me:

Robert Downey Jr. to begin (and end) with, of course.  (she said her heart all a-flutter)  The guy has charisma just spilling all over the screen.

Mark Ruffalo:  When I first heard he was going to be the Hulk, I remember thinking that that was an odd choice.  But - he is by far THE best Hulk I've seen yet.

Scarlett Johansson:  She was verrrrry cool.  She really pulled off the sexy/strong/dangerous Black Widow.

Chris Hemworth:  Wow.  This guy is in great shape.  He plays the role of Thor very well.  I think with the super hero genre, the actors walk a very fine line between coming across as campy or believable.  Hemsworth pulls off believable. 

Jeremy Renner:  I generally know the super heroes but I'm not an expert by any means...so I wasn't familiar with Hawkeye and I didn't have the same expectation and anticipation that I did with the characters of Ironman, Thor or the Hulk.  But...Renner really won me over.  He was great in the final fight scene in the city...and when he jumped off the building and shot his arrow (with attaching line) into the building to stop his fall...GREAT SCENE!

Tom Hiddleston:  Loki.  I really thought he was spectacular.  In the scene between him and Black Widow...while he is imprisoned in the holding cell...(reminded me of Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster in Silence of the Lambs, playing each other to get information)...he was just sooo wicked! 

Clark Gregg:  Loved him in this movie.  He was very charismatic.  (Phil Coulson)  Trying not to spoil things here if you haven't seen the movie...but the last scene he did in the movie was very sad and very funny all at the same time.

Chris Evans:  He was very good as Captain America and he and Robert Downey Jr. play off each other well.  The thing I didn't like about him wasn't his fault.  It's his costume.  I know that sounds odd as this is a super hero movie...but somehow it just seemed weird that he had to keep "suiting up" in his blue tights whenever it was time to "rock and roll".  I mean, of course, Iron Man has to put on the suit because it's the suit that has the power...and Hulk has to suit up because...well, that's pretty self-explanatory.  Thor is a god from another world so that explains his get-up.  Black Widow is in black tights...but she was ALWAYS in black tights...and really, what else would she wear while she's kung fu-ing all the bad guys? I think what really bugs me about his costume is that dorky face mask.  Once he took it off (or had it pulled off during the fight scene in the city), his costume didn't seem to bother me.  Call me sacriligious but GET RID OF THE LAME-O CAPTAIN AMERICA FACE MASK!!!  Besides...Chris Evans is far too cute to keep him covered up.

Samuel Jackson:  Love Samuel Jackson but don't like him as Nick Fury for some reason.  His performance is good...but for some reason I just don't see him in this role.

Gwyneth Paltrow:  Sigh.  I said the same thing about the original Iron Man movie...I don't think she's the right person for the role of Pepper Potts.  She just doesn't seem to fit.  In both Iron Man movies and in the Avengers, I always get the feeling she's just putting in time.  And she has zero chemistry with Robert Downey Jr.  ZERO.  And I'm not just saying that because I've got a little fan-crush on RDJ.  No, I'm not.

ANYWAY...I'm already looking forward to the next Avengers movie.  AND to the new Spider-man movie that's coming out.  Andrew Garfield and EMMA STONE!  GREAT choices for the lead characters!  (...and Martin Sheen as Ben Parker!  I ADORE Martin Sheen)

No matter what...I can't see how anyone could be disappointed in this movie! 

Five Kenosha Days to go...Original art from Mad Magazine!

There are only five days to go for the Kenosha Festival of Cartooning Kickstarter project.  Even if you can't attend, there are very cool pledge "prizes" for every level of donation...from signed festival posters and book collections to original cartoon art.  AND for those of you who are Mad Magazine fans...there are five opportunities to nab an original Mad Magazine parody page signed by the incomparable Tom Richmond.  ($400 donation)

(*your donation will only be accepted if the total financial goal of this Kickstarter goal is met)

Here's an update from Tom Richmond with some details about his original MAD MAGAZINE parody pages that are up for grabs with a $400 pledge)

"Four days left, and one of the premiums includes a signed page of original MAD art from me. These aren’t going to be lame pages from a parody of “Boston Public” either. The pages I have set aside for this are from my parodies of “Mad Men”, “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” and “Batman Begins”. In fact, thanks to the recent offer of matching newly donated funds, should all 5 of my pages get bought at the $400 level, we’d only be a few hundred short of the goal."

 

Belated Happy Mother's Day!

A belated Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there!

It's a nice idea to have days set aside that are "special".  But in the last ten years or so, I've come to enjoy the "non-special" days a whole lot more.  Either Tim or I used to book brunches and get the whole family together to take my mom out on Mother's Day but...somehow...we've all gotten kind of tired of that.  It's always so insanely busy and loud and we'd always be waiting in some kind of line, either to get into a place or at a buffet.  My mother is getting older and needs to use a cane at times which makes things a bit more difficult for her.  I find my patience wearing thin with the crowds and the hoopla.  Not that crowds and hoopla don't have their place in my world...it's just that relaxing and enjoying brunch and chatting with my family isn't one of them.  So, we've taken to enjoying Mother's Day at home.

The funny thing is...I don't really have any specific memories of those stereotypical Mother's Days brunches.  The things I remember are more intimate and casual and a lot of the time, just plain ordinary.  I took my mom to lunch last month...just to get us both out of our respective houses.  We popped into Rodman Hall (an art gallery/centre) to look at their exhibits.  I've been there various times over the years but my mom mentioned to me that this was her first time.  "Are you serious?", I asked her.  I couldn't believe that she'd never been there after living in the city for nearly 60 years. 

We looked at the exhibits and the grounds and the beautiful architecture of the building. (it's a majestic home built by Thomas Rodman Merritt between 1854 and 1863 and is now owned by Brock University)  Afterwards we went for lunch  in a little cafe downtown.  It was nothing special and yet it was.

I remember taking my kids to the movies when they were younger.  We saw every kids movie that hit the big screen.  Always with popcorn.  I can recall vividly having my son sit on my lap during "A Hundred and One Dalmatians" so he could see the screen.  I recall the same with my daughter when we went to see "Tarzan".  

My daughter and I always stop for frozen yogurt when we go shopping at the mall.  It's one of the little things that seems to have a permanent place in my memory. 

I guess what I'm trying to say is that while it's nice to have "Mother's Day", I wonder if it's really all that necessary.  The card companies make money, the restaurants make money, the flower shops make money...but it's really all those other ordinary days that make the memories.

Graphic Medicine Conference in Toronto: Details!

I will be presenting at the third annual Comics & Medicine Conference in Toronto this July!  The conference is a two-day event that's open to anyone who is interested in the subject of how comics are being used in a health-care context.  This is an academic conference, not a comic-con by the way.  There will be a combination of academics and cartoonists presenting and there are also some workshops.  It looks like a very interesting few days and I'm looking forward not only to presenting but to attending as many of the programs as I can.

Keynote speakers will be Joyce Brabner (Our Cancer Year) and Joyce Farmer (Special Exits).  UK critic and journalist Paul Gravett will be opening the event.

For myself, on Monday, July 23, I will be part of the panel: The role of comics in provider patient communciation.  My panel mates will be:

Sarah Lightman:  Artist, curator and researcher.  (she is co-creator of Laydeez do Comics and the curator of the traveling exhibit, Graphic Details:  Confessional Comics by Jewish Women)

Nicola Streeten:  Illustrator and graphic novelist (Billy, Me and You) and co-creator of Laydeez do Comics.

Lesley Fairfield:  Artist and author (Tyranny)

Rosalind Penfold: Graphic novelist of Dragonslippers.

I will also present on Tuesday, July 24 in the concurrent, Health-related comics in mainstream news outlets.  I'll be showing selected cartoons from my story arcs about infertility and domestic abuse and discussing the inspiration, research and reader response.  I'll also show and discuss the strips I created for Canadian Cancer Society to assist with the campaign to promote regular mammogram screening.

Brian Fies, author of the award-winning Mom's Cancer and one of the organizers, shares his thoughts and more details about the conference on his blog.

Take a look at the registration page...and if this is a subject you're interested in, it promises to give you a lot of bang for your $100 registration buck.  (note:  after May 31, registration will increase to $135...and there is a reduced rate for students and unwaged)

Okay, then.  I think I've given you enough links to last through at least two cups of caffeine!

Mothers Day: Mom knows best

Tim, are you buying me a Mother's Day gift?

"Uh...okay...do you know what you want?"

Yes...I want a new coffee maker.

"A coffee maker...okay."

Wait a minute...don't just buy any old one...I want one that makes cappuccinos.

"Just tell me which one to get."

You know...actually...maybe I should just go out and buy myself the one I want.

"Okay, sure." (Distinct look on relief on his face)

And I did.  Tassimo on sale at Wal-mart.  And I bought a multitude of T Disks to go with it.  (Little disks of whatever you're drinking to insert into the Tassimo machine) Hot chocolate, cappuccino, Colombian coffee and orange pekoe tea. (that one was probably a waste expense-wise...I mean, who needs a machine when you can throw a tea bag in a hot cup of water?)

The Colombian coffee is a bit strong for me.  I'm going to try a breakfast blend next time.  The hot chocolate is from Cadbury's and only makes a VERY small cup...like about three quarters of a small teacup full.  But there are no lumps like the instant hot chocolate I usually buy.  (I don't drink the hot chocolate...I bought it for my kids...sheesh...even my indulgences have to be multi-inclusive)  I haven't tried the tea...I'll have some this afternoon.  The cappuccino is WONDERFUL.

These T Disk things are rather expensive but in the long run, I'll probably just indulge in the cappuccino ones.  Which is the reason I wanted the machine in the first place.  Also, it's cheaper than driving twenty minutes to Starbucks and buying a four dollar cuppa...right?

Anyway, this morning I have enjoyed an early Mother's Day cappuccino and a Colombian coffee and I am more than sufficiently wired to get working.  Which I desperately need to do because I'M LATE ON MY DEADLINE.

Ciao. 

UPDATE:  The Cadbury hot chocolate T Disk was supposed to be used with a hot chocolate disk PLUS a steamed milk disk.  We were only using the hot chocolate disk...which is why the serving was so small.  Tara tried the two together this afternoon and assures me it is WUNDERBAR.

Prime Minister Lundy!

Last post on this...I swear!  My daughter, Tara is now officially the Prime Minister of the Student Council for Welland Centennial High School for 2012-2013!!  Way to go TARA!

The Kenosha Festival of Cartooning Update

I'd like to give a little reminder to anyone who may be considering donating to the Kenosha Festival of Cartooning.  Even though you may not be able to attend (it's a completely free event!), you can still receive some very cool cartooning "prizes" according to your pledge amount.  Some of the offerings include cartoonist-signed festival posters, cartoonist-signed festival programs, personalized original spot drawing by the cartoonist of your choice, signed books from your cartoonist of choice, even an original daily comic strip by your cartoonist of choice! 

 

LUNDY WINS!

If you can forgive a little parental pride here...and as a follow-up to my post about baking 555 chocolate chip cookies for my daughter's Student Council campaign...I'd like to tell you... SHE WON!

Out of 6 Executive Council members this year, she is the only girl.  She's throwing her hat in the ring for Prime Minister next week.  Whatever happens with the Prime Minister position, she's worked very hard and I'm pretty proud of her...and she'll have a great year in 2012-2013 one way or the other.  Congratulations, Tara!!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Day

No cartoons today.  I'm baking 500 chocolate chip cookies for my daughter's student council election campaign.  And I'm not eating ANY of them.

No, I'm not.

Kenosha Festival of Cartooning Kickstarter

Last year I was a guest speaker at the Kenosha Festival of Cartooning.  Director, Anne Hambrock (wife and assistant of The Brilliant Mind of Edison Lee cartoonist, John Hambrock organized an amazing event that featured Paul Gilligan, John Read, Scott Stantis, Tom Richmond and Tom Bancroft...and myself.  The event was so successful and well-received that Anne is gearing up for the Kenosha Festival of Cartooning No. 2!

Today is the start of a Kickstarter fundraising campaign to raise money for the second annual Kenosha Festival of Cartooning, which will take place Sept. 27th-29th, 2012 in . . . you guessed it . . . Kenosha, WI. This year’s guest speakers:

• Stephan Pastis of Pearls Before Swine
• Greg Cravens of The Buckets
• Michael Jantze from The Norm and Jantze Animation Studios
• Norm Feuti of Retail and Gil
• Dave Coverly of Speed Bump and Parade Magazine
• Tom Racine of Tall Tale Radio will moderate panel discussions

 

The campaign offers a whole slew of gifts for different levels of contributions.  Go check it out!

 

An invasion of privacy

I don't recall if anything in particular happened to inspire this cartoon from 2009 but this is a subject that is an issue with me.  I think our society has an astounding lack of privacy.  Anyone, anywhere at almost anytime can be recorded and then splashed over the internet for all time.  A person can be having a bad day, an intimate moment, an emotional crisis, having a wardrobe malfunction or can even be in mid-chew...and be at the mercy at some inconsiderate boob with a cell phone.  It bothers me when I see photos splashed around the internet of little Suri Cruise (Tom Cruise's daughter) when she's tired and in her mother's arms or when she's upset or even just out walking with her parents.  What's worse are the captions under every photo...the critical comments because she's wearing little high heels.  They sell those little shoes in every toy store in America...the kid is playing dress-up for Pete's sake...leave her alone!

I saw a photo on facebook once...it was a photo of a mom and dad and a toddler sitting at a table in a fast food restaurant.  The toddler was crying and having a tantrum, the mother and father were obviously agitated and reacting to the tantrum.  They both looked tired.  The expressions that were immortalized by some moron sitting near them with a cell phone were less than flattering.  And then the comments under the photo...they were critical and mocking and mean.

This infuriates me.  My kids are older now but I felt nothing but empathy for that young family.  I've been there...I've had a crusher day with a killer deadline, my husband has had an extremely busy day at work, maybe having been called out during the night (my husband is a Funeral Director) and not had much sleep, a child who is maybe tired or has a cold coming on.  And we decide to go out for a burger to make life a little easier...but it backfires.  And what was supposed to help only makes things worse.

That's what I thought about when I saw that photo.  This family of private citizens were just trying to get through a bad day and someone recorded the moment and threw it up on their facebook page for some very low-brow entertainment.  I know that's the world we live in now but I don't think it's right.

What's brought on this rant?  I don't know...but it probably has something to do with my desperate need for a hair cut...

 

 

 

Milestone

Things have been a little hectic here and are going to be even more crazy in the next two weeks...every April it's a busy time for me.  My brother's birthday, his partner's birthday, Easter (if it doesn't happen to fall in March), my son's birthday and even my birthday.

So yesterday, my son turned 18.  EIGHTEEN.  He's old enough to join the military and get shot at (as he was telling me) but not old enough to drink.  He came home with 5 lottery tickets yesterday.  I didn't realize the significance of this until he actually mentioned that you have to be 18 to buy them.  (When lottery tickets became available "way back whenever", I was already past the age of 18 so the age restriction just didn't occur to me)

The big thing for me, aside from the fact THAT MY SON IS EIGHTEEN, is that I don't have to call the school anymore to get him excused from class for an appointment or to cover his butt because he had a late night and wanted to skip his first period class and sleep in.  (Yes...yes, I HAVE done that on occasion when he's been drowning in projects and essays and been scheduled to work and had to pull a very late-nighter to stay on top of things.)

I don't why this is such a big thing with me but I hate calling the school to get one of my kids excused from class.  I guess it's because between the two of them, it seems like I'm calling all the time...the sleep in thing as mentioned above, when they're sick, orthodontist appointments...these are the regular-type reasons.  Believe me, there are many, many irregular and unusual reasons I cover for them too.

The attendance lady at the school is very nice and we've even shared a chuckle now and then.  But I still always try to call very early in the morning or late at night so I get the voice mail.  Neurotic?  Maybe.  But the biggest thing is, I now have one less thing I have to remember to do.  A little more available RAM?  I'll take it.

This will make you smile: Bon Jovi and Welland students

The Welland Mayor's Youth Council spearheaded this video and invited several high schools and groups to participate.  My daughter is at 57 seconds...she's the one in the middle of three students with the long curls.  (shot of them taken through a doorway).  Her school is Centennial and anyone wearing the blue hoodie is from Centennial's student council.

 

Check out the teacher from DSBN Academy at 1:40.  I don't know who he is...but I'm guessing he's a big favourite with the students at his school. :)

On my way home from shopping last night...

...I hit a deer.

I was driving home with my daughter after some shopping last night and I took the back road rather than the highway.  It's less busy and there are fewer stop signs and stop lights.  It's not a totally rural route, we pass the university and there's a little strip mall, a golf course and a few homes scattered around.  But it is on the cusp of some wooded areas.

I had just passed the university and just, just passed the little strip mall when I spotted two deer on the other side of the road.  It was dark as it was about 9 o'clock.  I saw them but it didn't quite register what I was seeing.  I'd taken Tara to the orthodontist earlier in the day and I had been chatting with a woman about coyotes.  There was a photo of a coyote in the paper a few days ago and my mom had told me my brother had spotted one near where he lives.  The woman had been telling me how she sees coyotes quite often where she lives and how they needed a good fence to keep their dog safe.

Things happened so quickly.  In a split second, I saw the deer...at first wondered if I was seeing coyotes...started to break...the deer darted out.

I couldn't stop in time.  The first deer made it across but the second one didn't...at least not entirely.  In slow motion in my mind, it seems to me like the second hesitated a bit just before it got to the other side of the road...or that he was blocked by the first deer in front of him.  (or her?)

I didn't run over it.  But my front passenger side and the deer's back end connected and there was a big thump.  I pulled the car over.  Another car slowed down but then kept going.  I couldn't see anything in the field beside me but it was pretty dark.

I called Tim and asked him what I should do...call the Humance Society?  He suggested calling the police.  I just didn't want to leave the poor thing suffering if it had been badly hurt.  I decided to back up my van and pulled into a position so my headlights were shining into the field.  (As much as I could on the side of the road)  I wanted to go out and see if I could see if the deer were actually in the field or not.  Tara was adamant that I should not get out of the car...I think she thought I was going to approach the animal if I saw it, which of course I wasn't going to do.  I was walking up and down the road a bit and couldn't see much of anything...but I'm pretty certain the deer were gone.  They were rather large animals and if it had been hurt badly enough not to be able to walk, it wouldn't have gotten far enough to be out of sight.  I think.

As I was walking back and forth, a car stopped.  (Tara told me she locked our van when she saw it.)  I approached the passenger side and an elderly man had rolled down the window.  He asked if I needed help.  I told him about the deer.  Now I was starting to feel a little shaken about the whole thing.  He told me that that had happened to him a few times as he lived in a country area.  I told him I didn't want to leave the animal if it was suffering but I couldn't see it.  He said that it was probably twenty miles away by now.  I asked him if he thought I should just go.  He said, "Yes.  I think that's what you should do.  You should go."

And I guess he was right.  I couldn't go searching the fields in the dark and if the deer was seriously injured, it probably would have been within sight.  I hope so anyway.

And as I was driving home, inbetween fretting about the deer...I was thinking how nice it was for that man to stop...by a van...in the dark...to see if someone needed help.  I mean, who knows today?  He was very calm and he made me feel a bit better.  Not "better"...but you know how it helps to have someone to talk to when something of consequence happens?

Sigh.

At home, Tim and I checked the front of the van where I hit the deer.  Nothing was dented or broken...and there was no blood.  I know I didn't drive over the deer...so I'm hoping it just got bumped.  I hope nothing got broken.

Sigh...again.   

Happiness (or is it relief?) is...

...Submitting a strip you think is kinda lame because you're WAAAAY behind on deadline...and then reading it a few weeks later and finding it funny.

Maeve's hair...again

Well...I tried Maeve's new hair style out for a while.  And I DON'T LIKE IT.  As of last week ( the first week of April in comic strip time ) she is beginning to grow it longer again.  No, there isn't a whole week of strips about Maeve kvetching about the length of her hair.  I'm just drawing it a little longer.

Is this flip flopping a good idea in comic strip land?  Should a character maintain a certain visage for identifiability?  ( I'm not sure that's even a word...but what the heck...I'm letting it go.  Not even going to hit the spell check. )  I say no.  At least not in my strip. 

I mean...if a woman can't change her hairstyle once in a while, what can she do?  Control her own reproductive health maybe? 

Hello San Francisco Chronicle!

Today my e-mail brought me some exciting news...Between Friends is now appearing on the comic pages of the San Francisco Chronicle!  Several women readers wrote to me about it which is very cool.

Hello San Francisco!