Oh great, Amy Poehler is going to ruin TWO shows

Seems Amy Poehler has been tapped to star in the Office spinoff. It's not enough that she ruined SNL by mugging it up in nearly EVERY FREAKIN' SCENE last season, but now she gets to ruin a primetime show! Bravo, NBC! Though to be fair, the idea of an Office spinoff seems horrible to begin with, so why not? What could it hurt? Hell, if it means she'll appear in fewer SNL sketches, then it could be a great move.

And WHY does NBC feel the need to destroy The Office, anyway? Judging by last season's hit and miss episodes, they ought to concentrate on fixing the original before spinning off a NEW series.

I'll post a new Todd and Penguin comic later tonight.

Goodbye Cable

Since I lost my job last month, we've been looking at ways to get by on less money. Since having a child last year, we've already cut most of our non-essential spending. So, now we have to look at our monthly expenses and trim the fat. Of course my wife and I disagree on just what is fat. To her, cable TV qualifies as fat. To me, cable is right up there with ESSENTIAL items such as food, mortgage and oxygen. However, hard times call for hard decisions, and no matter how hard I try, there is little way to justify the continued expense. So next week, I'm going to do the unthinkable and get rid of cable.

More importantly, I will be getting rid of the Most Important and Amazing Device Ever invented.

I'm talking about the DVR, or Digital Video Recorder, that the cable company provides for an extra $6 a month.

For those who aren't familiar with the DVR, (like my parents, who have somehow watched TV their entire lives without one!), the DVR allows you to record one show while watching another. You can watch TV on your schedule. The DVR also allows you to rewind shows you are watching. Did you miss something that the detective just said on Law and Order: Criminal Intent Special Victims Homicide and Pudding Theft Division? Rewind it. Want to see that unbelievable 90 yard touchdown reception again? Rewind it.

Perhaps the best part of the DVR is that it allows you to pause a show while you're watching it when reality rudely interrupts your television viewing. No longer do you have to miss ANYTHING because of interruption.

"Honey, the kitchen is on fire!"

"Hold on, let me pause the game."

No problem!

I don't know HOW we were able to watch TV before the DVR. Well, actually I do. We didn't have a child back then.

A DVR is an absolute necessity for any house with children, particularly a house with a curious one year old who finds it necessary to taste anything that will fit in his mouth. Add to that a penchant for chasing the cats, grabbing the cats, smacking the cats in awkward attempts to pet them, and putting his fingers in places the cats don't want a finger, and you can find yourself pausing a show 2,452 times (a rough estimate) per hour.

A DVR allows me to do the things that a good parent should do, like pick the baby up and comfort him after he falls off a toy train (even though I told him 900 times not to climb on it because he always falls), and clean and bandage cat-inflicted wounds. If I miss something on TV, I can simply rewind it.

Without a DVR, I will suddenly be forced to CHOOSE between my child and television! No man should have to make that decision. Not in the age of technology when you can have both! I know, I sound like the worst parent ever. But, hey, when your team is down 3-2 with bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth, and the baby fell down (something he does about 400 times a day) he can wait a minute or two. Right?

Okay, obviously I can't ignore my son - well, not until he's old enough to ignore me (teenage years), so I will always choose him over TV.

I just hope he can limit his need for parental assistance to short two minute commercial breaks.

an update

Todd and Penguin has an update (of sorts) today. I uploaded a "best of" comic from 2006 because I haven't finished organizing my office and my computer and scanner are still sitting in a pile of wires. Good thing, too, because I am pretty unhappy with the comic I drew and need to redraw it completely.

In related news, both Todd and Penguin AND Taking Up Space will return with its unhappy comics for unhappy people next week.

Comixtalk cover

Look who graces this month's Comixtalk cover! I was pretty thrilled to be invited to draw the cover. The idea of pairing Penguin with Cookie Monster came from Comixtalk owner, Xerexes. I thought it was a great idea, provided I don't get a cease and desist from CTW. For those new to Comixtalk, you have to click 'view entire cover' to see the whole scene. I'll post the alternate version I was going to go with here tomorrow.

As for Todd and Penguin, it will be back Wednesday. I spent yesterday cleaning and organizing my studio (or as my wife calls it, my 'messy room'). Well, in order to make everything function better, I had to reorganize everything. What started as a one day project has turned into an at least two day project, if not more. My computer, scanner, keyboard and moue are all sitting in an unkempt pile of wires waiting to be sorted out and put back into place.

Thanks to Frank Frisina and his mother, Linda, who were kind enough to comment regarding the Sicily storyline that I wrote in honor of Frank's dog who died last August 9. For those new to the comic, Penguin met Sicily when he ran away. Sicily then found herself living with Penguin. On a happy note, in his comment, Frank tells us that he is about to get a puppy from Sicily's mother.

an update on the cat situation

Thanks to everyone who has been posting in the blogs and emailing me. I'm honored that so many of you were touched by Sicily's story.

No new comic until Monday. I spent the day watching Baby Wright, who demanded my full attention. When he wasn't chasing the cats (we're still trying to teach him to pet softly), he was either running around the living room with one of various balls, or tagging me as "it" so I would chase him.

Speaking of the cats, we've decided that he is attempting to be nice to the kitties and not mean when he swats at them. He just gets excited and pets too hard, pulls chunks of fur or worse, a tail. Sweetie Cat endures quite and is the most frequent target of Baby's abuse. She craves attention, though, so she puts up with it. She's probably hoping that she will make a friend who will pet her all the time and give her Pounce treats. Baby's latest move is to try to cuddle with the cat, and by cuddle, I mean lay next to while holding tightly or laying on top of. It's actually a pretty funny site which I will have to catch a photo of.

Last week, the day after I made my post about the cat situation, Charlie Monster bit Baby. Luckily it was a minor wound. You'd think Baby would learn not to go after Charlie, but that doesn't seem to be the case. The next day, while in preschool, Baby was reaching for another child's food when the child, who is about the same age (14 months), bit him on the same arm as the cat bite! Two bites in 24 hours -- it's rough being a baby!

Happy 4th to everyone who will be celebrating. See you all on Monday.

Thanks to everyone who emailed or posted on the blogs in reference to the recent Sicily storyline. Today's Todd and Penguin closes out the story.

In other news: Check out Tony Piro's Calamaties of Nature which turned one on Tuesday. The comic is one of my new favorites. If you're a fan of Taking Up Space, you'll really enjoy it. Trust me. I enjoy Tony's drawing style and his use of color and his ability to draw really nice landscapes. And of course, the comic is funny and enjoyable.

In yet other news, Comixtalk was kind enough to invite me to draw the cover for the July issue. I believe it will debut sometime this weekend or Monday. I'd love to tell you what I drew, but I don't want to ruin it. You'll see two VERY familiar faces in the comic is all I will say for now.

an ending.

Friday's comic wraps up the current storyline. Check it out BEFORE reading the post below (which contains spoilers). If you want to start from the beginning, you can do so here.






I doubt many will be shocked by the ending, given my penchant for dour things such as miscarriages and the soul wrenching aftermath, car crashes and near death experiences. On a side note, there was discussion on another site about how miscarriages in comic strips are a frequent and cheap gimmick. I don't know if Todd and Penguin was the first comic to tackle a miscarriage story (if not first, it was the first I knew of when I did it) however, I believe I handled it in a very realistic manner which had LONG lasting effects (though I still wish I had taken the time to write it better). The characters were NOT the same.

Sicily's story wasn't designed to shock or cement my status as the guy who kills off major characters and whips up weird storylines every two years. The Sicily storyline is in honor of Frank Frisina's dog, Sicily who died last year (on my birthday, oddly enough). Frank asked if I would do something in honor of his dog. I said yes, just give me some time to figure out HOW I wanted to do it. Well, I wrote out a storyline which began with Penguin running away last Halloween. The story which followed took MUCH longer than planned as the demands on my time became more and more and updates became less and less frequent. What results is a herky jerky story which takes longer than I would have liked and wasn't as well written as I'd planned. However, I think some parts worked well. I hope I did Sicily's memory justice.

Surprisingly, since introducing the dog, I've received a LOT of email from people saying how much they like Sicily. I considered keeping her around, because let's face it, nobody wants to see the dog die or to see Penguin's devastation. However, I always stay true to the story and the characters. I couldn't and wouldn't change the story. Hopefully readers will understand.

I'm glad the storyline is over after several months. I look forward to bringing Todd and Penguin back to its happy and whimsical roots and exploring the family dynamic with the baby.

as always, thanks for reading,
david