And Now Everyone Can Get Back To Work

Blew out a fuse? OK, NOW say Beyoncé lip-synced.

The Night the lights went out in ... The Big Easy?

Superbowl XLVII is now over and everyone can go back to work. It was amazing–so little seemed to be happening this week–except for the NRA deepthroating the feet that they were busy cramming into their mouths. Everything else seemed to be Superbowl related–a possible shortage of chicken wings (when DID they become America’s snack of choice?) and speculation as to whether Beyoncé would try to lip-sync her performance. Well, there was no shortage of wings–a shortage of beer would have been a worse occurrence–and Beyoncé proved that even if she DID lipsync the Star-Spangled Banner at the Inauguration, she sure as hell didn’t HAVE to. Not the most exciting game for the first half, but after the lights came back on in the 3rd quarter, it suddenly looked like a football game. We will ignore the conspiracy theorists who speculated that the blackout was planned to break the Ravens momentum, expecially since the 49ers didn’t quite catch up (if it was ANY conspiracy, it was perpetrated by the network, hehehe). Congratulations to the Ravens but a great performance by the Niners (if you don’t count the first two quarters).

You know, when I was growing up, BASEBALL was the “National Pastime”. Football started to get on the map in 1958 with the Colts-Giants championship battle, dubbed the “Greatest” game in history–which I missed due to the NY blackout for a “local game”–like TV could cause spectators from NOT attending a championship game. There never seemed to be as much excitement for a World Series as for the Superbowl in my lifetime. Possibly because it’s easier to get excited for ONE game rather than seven. Possibly because the glory days of baseball were in the golden age from the 20s to 50s.

But the intensity of excitement for the Superbowl is incredible! A paean to American excess. Even the COMMERCIALS are considered the greatest commercials in history. You know, if I wanted to commit any sort of crime, from highway robbery to murder, I’d commit it during the Superbowl–guaranteed that even IF someone noticed during the three-hour-plus gladiatorial combat, nobody would DO anything about it until the final whistle! I guess we’re lucky in one respect–even the criminals are too busy watching the game to do anything truly nasty!

In the meantime, Yours Truly will be appearing in the DC area at Katsucon 19, the weekend of February 15-17 at the Gaylord at National Harbor, MD. I’ll be in Artists Alley so stop by and say hi–and perhaps buy a signed print or two. For those of you who CAN’T make it, go over to my Facebook fanpage and click on the LIKE button to get updates on this blog and on my other art that’s available at the conventions.

See you then!

ANNOY YOUR FRIENDS! CONFOUND YOUR ENEMIES! PRESS ONE OF THESE BUTTONS--OR ELSE!

Vote Early, Vote Often, but VOTE!

Need I say WHICH legislatures?

It’s going to be a tougher election than it should be. Tough voter ID laws have been enacted in far too many states specifically designed to make it tough for “brown” people, poor people and college students to vote. Two important states, Ohio and Florida, have precipitously cut back their early voting hours. And the United States is still filled with idiots who think Barack Obama is an atheist Muslim born in Kenya.

Mitt Romney SHOULD lose. After all, his entire plan for the country is to bankrupt it and all citizens with incomes less than a million a year and then sell it off to China. That’s his M.O. You’d think people would have caught on to it. Certainly not the Fox News-watching crowd–you know, the ones who didn’t know how big Hurricane Sandy had gotten and when they DID hear, thought: “Good–it’s time for them America-hating New Yorkers to suffer like the rest of us.”

Chris Christie got thrown under the bus for actually deigning to appear with President Obama as they toured the devastation in New Jersey. The GOP better hope the bus doesn’t overturn–Christie is a big bump in the road.

So on Tuesday, as one commentator said, America gets the choice of turning back the clock–by fifty years. Let’s hope that we as a nation are not THAT INSANE. You liberals thinking you won’t vote because you are mad at Obama for not closing Gitmo, not getting universal health and waging war by remote control–think of the alternative. Now go out and vote.

THIS WEEK, yours truly will be in the Artists Alley at ANIMEUSA in Washington DC. Anyone who is an animefan and is going to the con, please drop by my table! I’ll also be giving panels on inking your comics and how to plan your manga. And, in connection with this, I inaugurate my new Facebook Fanpage. LIKE it and get news about my other artworks as they are produced and get progress reports on my graphic novel HANAKO-SAN, now being storyboarded.

Have a good week and VOTE. See you soon.

Please to remember the 5th of November, gunpowder treason and plot,
I see no reason why gunpowder treason ever should be forgot…

A penny for the old Guy!

ANNOY YOUR FRIENDS! CONFOUND YOUR ENEMIES! PRESS ONE OF THESE BUTTONS--OR ELSE!