The Frog Bag

The Internet is on Stike

2012-01-18T08:50:00.000-08:00

And this is why:

A bit about SOPA and PIPA

Usually I'd put up a post on Wednesday... But this is more important.

Meet New Kitten Vera

2012-01-08T20:51:00.000-08:00

Every cat loves the "Feline Dream Curl" scratching post

Yes, it's true. There's a new kitten in the Bechkman household. Her name is Vera.

She had a rough start in life so we were afraid she would be too skittish to settle in with our crazy dog Camila and our grumpy cats, but it's been almost a month now and so far, so good!

Not at all sure about that camera...

She still hides a lot of the time, but now at least she hides in the same room with us instead of trying to get as far away from us as possible. When things are quiet she's extremely affectionate, so hopefully she'll settle down before too long.

We hadn't planned on getting another kitty so soon after losing Fredo. I told my vet that we might consider a kitten if he heard of one that was black, had an extremely sad story, and really needed a home. I was confident that there would be no kittens available until the spring... Wrong! The very next day one of the techs called us. She had found a half-dead kitten two weeks before, starving in a parking lot, barely surviving off of the stale Christmas cookies that fell out of a dumpster behind a grocery store. It's likely that she was abandoned there as opposed to being born feral. Like I said, a very rough start!

Posing in front of our film collection, of course.

The tech was surprised that she had made it living like that as long as she had, and named her Amazing Grace. This being Los Angeles and Amazing Grace being a bit of a mouthful, we rechristened her with a movie star name: Vera. Doesn't she look like she could grow up to be the femme fatale in a feline film noir?

So there you have it: a new kitten for the new year. Welcome home, Vera!

Vera's first venture out of hiding, two days after moving in with us.

Wordless Wednesday featuring New Kitten Vera

2012-01-04T22:51:00.000-08:00

Betrayal of the Planet of the Apes #3 - Tomorrow!

2012-01-03T17:21:00.000-08:00

A page of Gabriel's art from BETRAYAL #3

Where did 2011 go? It's already the first week of January, which means another issue of BETRAYAL OF THE PLANET OF THE APES is hitting comic shops tomorrow.

This is the next to the last chapter of our APES story, but never fear! Another four issue miniseries is on the way, starting in March.

The new story is a sequel to BETRAYAL, called EXILE ON THE PLANET OF THE APES. It's written by me and Gabriel Hardman, with gorgeous ape art by Marc Laming. We're lucky enough to have the talented Jordie Bellaire on colors again too.

The response to BETRAYAL so far has been fantastic. Thanks so much to everyone who has given it a chance! Working on these books has been a great way to round out 2011... And begin 2012! Happy New Year, everyone!

Wordless Wednesday featuring Camila's Monster

2011-12-28T23:48:00.000-08:00

Wordless Wednesday featuring Franz and Cooper on Matching Pizza Boxes

2011-12-21T13:13:00.000-08:00

Wordless Wednesday featuring Emmett (10th edition)

2011-12-07T15:51:00.000-08:00

Wordless Wednesday featuring Cooper (Hatred of Weather Event Edition)

2011-11-30T22:18:00.000-08:00

A Frog Supporting Tapirs Reaches a Major Milestone

2011-11-27T22:38:00.000-08:00

Well, it finally happened. My etsy shop, which just happens to have the same name as this blog, had its 500th sale. The magic item was a nudibranch cat toy which I am happy to report went to a very good home. Those 500 handmade goodies have also allowed me to donate almost $700 to the Tapir Preservation Fund thus far, with 20% of every sale contributing to tapir conservation.

What does this mean to you? Well, how about free stuff? Yes, I'm talking giveaway time!

Here's what you could win:

A tiny tapir!

And a of course a frog:

and I'll throw in a nudibranch, just so they don't get lonely:

These guys are usually cat toys, but I know that not everyone has feline companions. Besides, some felines don't even like cat toys... So, you get to choose. If you win you can have them stuffed with organic catnip OR lavender.

How to enter? Just leave a comment with either "Lavender" or "Catnip". And a way to contact you, please. If you want to read some of my writing (links are on the sidebar) and tell me how great I am, feel free. If you want to browse my etsy shop and make a purchase, by all means do so. But none of that is necessary since I'll be using a random number generator to pick a winner next Sunday (that's Sunday, December 5th, 2011). Good luck!

Wordless Wednesday featuring Franz (Thanksgiving Edition)

2011-11-23T22:05:00.000-08:00

What I've Learned From 6 Months of Freelance Work

2011-11-19T00:04:00.000-08:00

This is exactly what freelance anxiety feels like.
Or it might be a photo of a baby seriema from a German newspaper.

It doesn't seem possible, but I've been working as a freelance writer for six months now. That's half a year, folks! Back in May, when I quit my day job, it felt like I was jumping into an abyss. What would the future hold? Could I find enough work? Well, so far so good. Which doesn't mean that working without the relative safety of a steady paycheck isn't continually terrifying. But it does mean that I've learned a couple of things. Maybe you're contemplating jumping into the abyss too? If so, here are some things to consider:

1. Fear is the mind-killer.

Yeah, I know. A quote from Dune. How unoriginal. But here's the thing: in this case it's true. There are ups and downs in any job. Some days you feel like a genius for solving some problem, sometimes you feel like an idiot for screwing up something simple. And some mistakes are epic. But no matter what, chances are you're used to working with people, getting daily feedback from your boss and coworkers, and knowing that you couldn't have screwed up too badly if you come to work in the morning and still have a job. When you work from home none of that's true. Oh, you may get feedback from your editor or your cowriter, but nothing like the feedback loop you find at any "normal" job. It's easy to go through a rough patch, become convinced that you're a horrible fraud, and stop working. Don't let that happen. Instead, let the fear pass over you and through you. When it is gone only you (and the work you cranked out) will remain. And if you start with a Dune quote, you damn well better end with one.

2. Remember to invoice.

It's possible that this only applies to me. In fact, it's probable. But when I finish a project I often feel like it's done. Wrong! Getting paid is really, really important if you want to pay the rent. Don't expect your editor to chase you down and remind you either, because chances are the department that signs the checks is completely separate from the one that tells you how wonderful your final draft is. Plus, many places only pay once a month so missing the invoice cutoff might leave you living off of savings for longer than you'd like.

3. Tell the truth, but don't break their hearts.

When you agree to take on a job part of the deal is doing the work by the deadline. That's a given. But sometimes bad stuff happens and you know for a fact that you're going to miss it. Personally, I hate to miss deadlines. Doing so makes me feel like the photo above. It also leads to the feedback loop mentioned in #1. So, what to do? The best policy is honesty. Tell your editor, and give them a date that they can expect the work by. Talk to them about how to mitigate the damage. But don't give them a long, sad excuse. Even if the excuse is true and really, really sad.

Here's how it should work: you say "I'm sorry, but it doesn't look like I'll be done on Friday. I can have everything to you on Tuesday though, if that's alright". They say: "That's cutting it close, but we can make it work. Although getting it in Monday would be better". You say: "Okay". Or work out what will work. But don't make them feel guilty. You're providing a service and it's up to you to get everything done. Editors are busy people. Don't make them too sad to do their jobs. And don't flood them with extraneous details.

4. Leave the house occasionally

This one's all about balance. Now that my husband and I both work from home it's very tempting to simply never go out into the world. There are people out there, and traffic, and other things that interfere with getting a lot of work done. If you find that you're counting days instead of hours since you've gone farther than your driveway, you may want to schedule in some free time for yourself.

5. Learn how to say no, or at least how to say "when my schedule opens up"

There are countless ways to fill up your time doing favors for other people. Many of these people are well-meaning, they just don't understand that "work from home" doesn't mean "unemployed and looking for something to do". It's okay to tell them that you can't do a project, meet them for lunch, pick up their dry cleaning, whatever the case may be. Why? Because you're working. Even if you aren't on deadline, even if you are working on a creator owned property, you're still working. If you let other people forget that you run the risk of forgetting it yourself.

So there you have it, my five top tips, culled from a whopping six months of experience. Now, back to work!

E is for Equus Bipes - Alphabeast!

2011-11-14T09:48:00.000-08:00

Every Monday I am fascinated by the creatures being drawn for Alpahbeasts, a weekly roundup of fictional critters from A to Z. This week is "E", so I decided to jump in and draw equus bipes, the "horse of two feet". This creature was said to be half horse, half fish... But was probably just a walrus, sea lion, or other marine mammal half-glimpsed by some tired ancient Greek sailor.

Anyway, the rules explicitly state that "no one cares weather you 'can't draw' or you're Gustave Dore". So I suppose drawing like a preteen girl is okay. As a bonus, everyone reading this now knows why I stick to writing and needlecraft.

But seriously, check out the rest of the Alphabeasts. After seeing mine the cool beasties there will look even better.

Happy Origami Day!

2011-11-11T13:02:00.000-08:00

Supposedly today is National Origami Day. So, I give you origami insects!

One disclosure: I know almost nothing about the craft of origami, so some of these may be kirigami.

Unlike origami, the practice of kirigami allows for some small cuts to me made in the sheets of paper.

All of these are from a site called Fun Time, by an artist named Taketori. Enjoy!

I'd include instructions on folding your own insect out of a sheet of paper but I've always been hopeless at making so much as a crane. Happy Origami Day to those of you who are more skilled than I!

Wordless Wednesday featuring Emmett (9th edition)

2011-11-09T20:41:00.000-08:00

A Very Late NYCC Wrap-Up

2011-11-08T22:50:00.000-08:00

Kevin Church makes us look good

Yeah, it seems like ages ago now, but we really were at New York Comicon last month. And let me say, that show is crazy. Completely, totally, unbelievably nuts.

At least that was my impression based on the tiny bit I was able to see. Gabriel and I held down our corner of Artists Alley for all four days and rarely ventured away from it. When we did, we were met by CROWDS. And those crowds were BIG. And INTENSE. So we took the path of least resistance and waited until the surging sea of humanity washed people up at our table instead.

Museum done right

For once we planned ahead and were able to spend almost the whole week in the city. We did a whirlwind tour of the Met (still odd for me to visit since I used to work there), MOMA (where we were happy to find a fabulous de Kooning show - thanks for the tip, Linda!) and the AMNH (one of my favorite spots in the known universe). We also walked and walked and walked, as the sky threatened rain and I basked in the humidity. We even rented an apartment in Chelsea for the week so it was almost like living there again. Except for the fact that all the places that we used to fear to tread even during the day now host Whole Foods and Starbucks every few blocks.

Giant kitty!

The show itself was a lot bigger than it was the last time I attended, two years ago. Gabriel went last year by himself, and I honestly don't know how he did it. He was busy doing sketches the entire time, virtually without pause. Happily, we still managed to see tons of our favorite people over the course of the weekend. We had a lovely time at the iFanboy party (held in a dungeon bar in Alphabet City, yet another place we might have hesitated to go back in the day) despite the fact that jet lag led us to believe that it was only a bit after midnight when we left... At 3:30 am. But what's a con without a bit of sleep deprivation? Tons of people stopped by our table to talk about Betrayal of the Planet of the Apes, and more than a few to talk about The Liar. All in all it was a terrific end to our con schedule for the year. So much so that I think it's taken me this long to recover!

Wordless Wednesday featuring Cooper Momentarily Interested in a Comic

2011-11-02T22:08:00.000-07:00

Betrayal of the Planet of the Apes is Here!

2011-11-02T00:03:00.000-07:00

I don't know where October went, but November is here and that means issue one of our four issue miniseries Betrayal of the Planet of the Apes is on sale at your local comic book shop!

iFanboy calls it "science fiction at its smartest"and gives it 5 out of 5 stars. Needless to say, we've been thrilled and humbled by the positive reviews so far. Spending the last several months immersed in Apes has been a bit of a dream come true for both Gabriel and me. And now we get to unleash it on the world!

Want to see for yourself? November 2nd from BOOM! Comics:

BETRAYAL OF THE PLANET OF THE APES

Not sure where your closest comic book retailer is? You can use this handy locator to find out.

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T15:52:00.000-07:00

Watch out it's... Shark Dog!

Spooky Reading... Digitally!

2011-10-30T13:20:00.000-07:00

Halloween almost snuck up on me this year. Between the hot weather, a trip to NYC, a busy writing schedule... October seems like it just started...

But fear not, horror aficionados! Our skeletons are hung in the back yard, a row of pumpkins leads to our front door, and a full roster of recently published short stories are available for your reading pleasure.

I'm really proud to have Sky Full of Fire in this month's Lovecraft eZine, a free journal of lovecraftian horror. It's about a woman who loses everything: her home, her family, even her sense of reality. All she has left is her car, and that won't run. So what is she going to do about the monsters?

Last month saw the publication of my short graphic story The Carpetbaggers, with gorgeous black and white art by Kyle Latino. It's available in Horror Double Feature #2, as a download along with another horror short for $0.99. You can get it as a PDF or as an innovative app for your iPad. If you read it on your iPad you can peel back layers and see the process art as well as commentary from the creators, including me! Read it and learn what a guilt ridden war veteran is willing to sacrifice to defeat an ancient evil.

Want something a little shorter if not sweeter? My very-very-short story Solemn Bird was published in Eschatology earlier this year. All I will say about it is this: what is that thing in the river?

Speaking of things, my horror graphic novel Heathentown, created with the incomparable Gabriel Hardman, is now available digitally from Comixology. You can download the entire thing, all 98 pages, for just $3.99. It's a frightening steal!

Still in the Halloween spirit? I've been loving Eldritch!, a six issue digital comic by Aaron Alexovich and Drew Rausch. The first three issues are available for just $0.99 each. It's crazy and funny and scary and I promise you will not be bored for a second. Science and horror colide in almost every panel, a ratio that would make Lovecraft proud.

And with that, I'm off to do some reading. And maybe to contemplate why this giant shrimp has no heart. Happy Halloween!

Wordless Wednesday featuring a Bison No More

2011-10-19T09:28:00.000-07:00

Where We'll Be in NYC

2011-10-10T12:32:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that the New York Comic-Con is just a few short days away. I missed last year due to a scheduling conflict, but this year I'm excited to be there all four days, holding down Artist Alley table N12 with my husband and co-creater Gabriel Hardman. Gabriel will be doing sketches every day. Curious about prices? Here's a breakdown:

9x12 Inked Single Character Full Figure Sketch: $100

9x12 Inked Two Character Full Figure Sketch: $200

9x12 Inked Head Sketch: $50

You can also pick up a copy of our OGN Heathentown or get a sneak peek at original pages from our upcoming miniseries Betrayal of the Planet of the Apes, coming in November from BOOM! Comics.

See you soon, NYC!

Wordless Wednesday featuring a Fish No More

2011-09-28T23:05:00.000-07:00

Wordless Wednesday featuring a Talkative Steller's Jay

2011-09-21T22:59:00.000-07:00

All About "The Fishes"

2011-09-20T10:58:00.000-07:00

Why yes, I do write prose! And not just here, on this blog. Most people know me as a zoo keeper, or as a comic book writer. And I am those things. Well, I'm not currently a zoo keeper, except at heart. I quit my job working at a small private zoo back in May to concentrate on my writing career. It was a big leap, and a rather scary one, but so far it's going well. I'm working on a Planet of the Apes miniseries for BOOM! Comics right now, called Betrayal of the Planet of the Apes. But back in May, before I had a firm writing job lined up, I wrote several short stories that are now seeing the light of day.

One of them, called THE FISHES, was published last week in the Absent Willow Review. It's a science fiction story involving a girl living in a remote farming community on a planet where the dividing line between night and day is perpetual. It's about curiosity and above all the need to connect with other living things. Oh, and there's a bit of scary sailing of alien seas involved too.

It's tough work, flipping back and forth between comic book scripting and prose writing, but it's rather freeing too. So much of what goes into a comic book relies on the artist to tell the story. The storytelling really works or fails depending on the skills of the artist in most cases. But when you're writing prose there's no one to hide behind. No one is going to elevate your work past what it is. And there is no one to blame for your boneheaded ideas.

That said, I hope you like The Fishes if you decide to give it a read. You can see more of my work by clicking on the sidebar to the right too, if you're so inclined. And keep your eye out for two more stories appearing next month, a horror short called "Sky Full of Fire" and another science fiction story called "Oceans of Darkness". Happy reading!

What We Found Under the House

2011-09-18T22:06:00.000-07:00

No, not a body. Something much better! An ancient Matchbox station wagon:

It's a Mercury, to be exact:

But there's a bit of a mystery: apparently this type of Matchbox car was made only between 1955 and 1968. Our house was built in '78. Hmmm.

Anyway, it was manufactured in England, and has seen some pretty rough times by the looks of it. I think it's fabulous, all the way from its faded lime green body to its little molded plastic passengers: two happy canines peeking out the back.

It already had a bath via the garden hose, but after a sounder scrubbing it's going strait into a display case. I dare you to prove that you found anything cooler under your house today.

Bug Walk

2011-09-17T16:45:00.000-07:00

At long last the weather has turned cool enough to go for a walk at lunch time. A lot of wildlife seems to feel the same way. Today, there were insects everywhere! We found this gal walking down the middle of the road:

She's a member of Stagmomantis californica if I'm not mistaken (someone please tell me if I am) and one of the loveliest I've seen.

We didn't want her to get squished so we scooped her up. She immediately started walking up my arm. Perhaps she wanted to try on my hat? She's so big it almost would have fit her.

We gently deposited her on a bush before she got to the hat though. Poor mantis. Maybe another day. Then we found this guy:

Sadly, he (or she) hadn't been plucked from the road in time. I think this is a black witch moth (Ascalapha odorata), which usually lives in Mexico but apparently migrates around this time of year. This guy was huge! Here's my foot for comparison.

Although it should probably be noted that I only wear a size 6 shoe. Still, rather impressive! I hope there are others around. I'd love to see one flying. Apparently some are so big that they're mistaken for bats.

So there you have it. A genuine insect safari, right outside the front door.

The Horror, the Horror!

2011-09-16T12:57:00.000-07:00

Fall is almost here, the nights are getting longer... It must be time to read some horror stories! Of course, you may believe (like me) that there is never a bad time to read a horror story. Only better times, and best times.

So, let me invite you to read The Carpetbaggers, an eight page creep fest written by me, with art by the talented Kyle Latino. It's available from Double Feature Comics as a PDF or as an innovative app for the iPad. Double Feature allows you to see not just the finished product but process art too, as well as commentary, all with the tap of a finger. And in case the name didn't tip you off, you get two stories for just $0.99. The Carpetbaggers was lucky enough to share this issue with Tim Seelley's newest Jack Kraken story. Now that's some bang for less than a buck!

Thanks in advance to anyone who decides to check out The Carpetbaggers. Now, I'm off to feed my black cat and pull down a few cobwebs. Those spiders seem to be getting uppity.

Wordless Wednesday featuring a Greedy Ground Squirrel

2011-09-14T11:36:00.000-07:00

If You're Working Labor Day and Making Overtime Pay...

2011-09-04T15:59:00.000-07:00

It's true, dogs like windows.

A three day weekend... What's that? Now that I'm working freelance from home there is just no such thing as a holiday.

But that doesn't mean that I don't miss overtime pay. True, it always had somewhere to go, like towards the mortgage, but maybe I should have put some aside for the pets. I mean, just look at this brilliant idea: a little window, installed in your fence at dog-head level, so that your canine can see what's going on across the street. It's called a Pet Peek, and to be honest I would buy one of these in a minute if it didn't mean that we'd have to also build a fence to use it. I imagine the downside would be cleaning all the nose prints from inside the plexiglass bubble.

This is pretty cool too. A cat tree house. The leaves are fake, I gather, but I imagine my cats would chew on them anyway. It would take a bit more out of one's paycheck though, at $999.

Then there's this "Bowhaus" for a bit less, at $599. It's really sauve, but I'm picturing quite the disaster when that cute pup sees a toy, takes off running, flips the martini onto the white sofa, and spills his water dish all over the bamboo floor. Or perhaps I've just said too much about how my pup behaves?

Anyway, happy Labor Day, everyone. I hope you don't have to work too hard tomorrow!

Wordless Wednesday featuring Cooper in a Sun Spot

2011-08-31T17:04:00.000-07:00

What the Fountain of Youth Means to a Jellyfish

2011-08-28T16:46:00.000-07:00

Photo from National Geographic

Immortality is the stuff of legend, right? Not for this hydrozoan, the only known animal that can potentially live forever. There's a big catch though: to do so it must repeatedly revert back to an earlier stage through a process known as transdifferentiation. What happens is this: the adult medusa stage of Turritopsis nutricula actually becomes a polyp, kind of like an adult human becoming an embryo. Every cell in its body is changed. In essence it can age backwards and forwards over and over again. No laboratory evidence exists yet to show that this can go on forever, but so far there has been no evidence found that puts an upper limit on the number of times it can happen either.

Illustration from DevBio

Most of the time, of course, they reproduce like any other jellyfish: through the meeting of free floating sperm and egg. But when times are tough the weirdness takes over. Whole colonies can grow from just one backwards-aging medusa.

Times have been tough a lot lately it seems. These oddballs of the deep have been reported from across the world's oceans, far removed from their native Caribbean home. Numbers are spiking worldwide. Don't expect to go to the beach and see rafts of them though. Even a huge Turritopsis is no bigger than a human pinky nail. And don't confuse immortality with indestructibility. These critters are just as susceptible to death from predation, disease, and bad luck as the next metazoan. They just won't die of old age. Which is, truth be told, very different from the next metazoan.

Wordless Wednesday featuring Camila's Feet

2011-08-24T15:10:00.000-07:00

Betrayal of the Planet of the Apes!

2011-08-23T16:10:00.000-07:00

Now it can be told! The big project Gabriel Hardman and I have been working on, the one that had me constantly battling my spell checker over "gorilla soldier" vs "guerilla soldier", has been announced! We couldn't be more excited to be working on a Planet of the Apes miniseries for BOOM! Comics. Coming to a retailer near you in November:

BETRAYAL OF THE PLANET OF THE APES

Gabriel and I are co-writing it, with art by Gabriel and colors by the lovely and talented Jordie Bellaire.

Want to read more? There's a sneak peak at one of our main characters over at iFanboy. And you can check out Comic Book Resource's interview with Gabriel and me too. Everyone involved is a huge fan of all things Planet of the Apes, and we hope it shows. We also hope you'll ask your LCS (that's local comic shop, for the uninitiated) to order Betrayal this week. Do it now, then bask in the glow of Apes action in November!

International Vulture Awareness Day

2011-08-22T11:47:00.000-07:00

What are you doing for International Vulture Awareness Day 2011? Nothing, you say? Well, better start planning. There are only two weeks left before September 3rd.

Vultures have traditionally had a contentious relationship with humans. They preform a valuable service, cleaning up things we definitely don't want to, and yet they have unfairly been painted as harbingers of death in many cultures. Yes, they eat dead things. But then again, so do our pets. Most of us do too, for that matter. The difference is that vultures haven't killed what they eat. But they do eat it in a rather ostentatious manner.

Why should you care about vultures? For one thing, they're an important part of most ecosystems. In the U.S., during the 50s and 60s, turkey vultures were poisoned and shot. Their numbers plummeted. Why? because people assumed that they spread diseases and bad luck. Turns out, the complete opposite was true. Thankfully, we now have more enlightened policies about vultures in this country, and their numbers have rebounded.

That doesn't mean that vultures are out of the woods though. Around the world they are under threat from pesticides, wind turbines, hunting, and just plain ignorance. It's a sad situation, and one that gets very little press. Most people know that tigers are in trouble, but how many know that Egyptian vultures could be gone within the decade? And yet, a man in Spain is currently being prosecuted for deliberately poisoning one. Would he have done that if he knew how rare and valuable they are?

Want to help vultures? You can visit the International Vulture Awareness page to find a list of participating zoos and organizations where you can learn more and even meet a vulture up close. The Audubon Society of Portland, for example, will be hosting a meet and greet with Ruby the turkey vulture. You can also spread the word: vultures are nothing to be afraid of! Sure, they have some nasty habits, but what species doesn't? Certainly humans have a few of their own.

Wordless Wednesday featuring Fredo (Black Cat Appreciation Edition)

2011-08-17T22:39:00.000-07:00

The Liar is Here!

2011-08-16T21:44:00.000-07:00

Last Tuesday I posted about my new 8 page action-adventure-espionage graphic story that's one half of this month's Double Feature.

Well, I'm proud to say that it's available for download now and has been getting some pretty good reviews from fans of exploding stuff. "Feels like David Cronenberg making a Diehard movie" was my favorite, from Aaron Alexovich of SERENITY ROSE and ELDRITCH! fame. ELDRITCH! is one of my favorite digital comics, so seeing Aaron tweet that made me very happy.

Gabriel Hardman and I worked hard on THE LIAR, and had a lot of fun with it too. Double Feature's innovative app allows you to see commentary and process art as well as both of each month's stories for just $0.99. A steal at half the price!

If you like espionage stories, or stories about things exploding, or just really need a bit of spine-tingling action in your life I hope you'll check out THE LIAR.

Hate those things? Then skip down to the next post instead. It's a picture of my dog about to take a nap. And she hates explosions.

Wordless Wednesday featuring Camila (4th Edition)

2011-08-10T12:26:00.000-07:00

The Liar Approaches!

2011-08-09T16:20:00.000-07:00

Sneak peek of the cover!

That's right! There will be a brand new 8 page action/adventure/espionage/big explosions short graphic story from the creative team of Gabriel Hardman and Corinna Bechko on sale digitally for just $0.99 tomorrow.

Gabriel and I wrote it together and then he did the art and colors. I'm proud to say that I also did the flatting. And if you read the story, you'll see just what a challenge that was. Yeah, I know flatting isn't a big deal, but I'm very proud of the whole package, and not afraid to say so!

I'm also proud that it's one half of August's Double Feature Action #2. Double Feature is an innovative new app that features "two comics by top creators for $0.99". Every month they put out a themed "double feature": fantasy, horror, sci-fi, or action. You can purchase them for your iPad and get tons of extra content like commentary by the authors and production artwork on every page. Don't have an iPad but want to check it out? You can also purchase a DRM-free PDF.

Hope you enjoy The Liar!

Wordless Wednesday featuring Franz (7th Edition)

2011-08-03T21:14:00.000-07:00

Stan Lee, Primate Fan

2011-07-25T22:58:00.000-07:00

Photo from Wired

I don't know how I missed this news back in June, but apparently Stan "The Man" Lee is a fan of primate conservation. He, together with Dean Haspiel, contributed a strip to the online anthology Panels for Primates which benefits the Primate Rescue Center in Kentucky.

The Primate Rescue Center states that its mission is "to alleviate the suffering of primates where ever it occurs". It provides sanctuary for 11 rescued chimps and 40 monkeys but its work doesn't end there. It also educates the public about the plight of apes and monkeys, encourages compliance with laws and welfare statutes, and works to end the trade of primates both in the United States and world wide.

Rhesus macaque at the Primate Rescue Center

Stan Lee at 88 seems to have more energy than a young macaque. He the guest of honor at every comic book convention I even think about attending, which I believe must put him on the road more days out of the year than even Bob Dylan. How did he come up with the time to team up with Mr. Haspiel for this strip? I can only guess that Mr. Lee must truly care about primates. Which is terrific, because now I'll have something to talk to him about if I ever end up in a convention center elevator with him.

Wordless Wednesday featuring a Penguin with an Armband

2011-07-20T10:03:00.000-07:00

If You Were a Pigeon, Would You Have a 3D Odor Map in Your Brain?

2011-07-11T22:34:00.000-07:00

Portrait of a Pigeon by Sintwister

This morning was all about flatting. Flatting, for the uninitiated, is blocking out where color will go on a comic book page so that the colorist will be able to concentrate on more important things like the palate. It's pretty mindless work. I usually listen to science podcasts while I do it so that my brain can stay engaged while my hands and eyes do the work. Today's podcast was The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe, and my brain was only half engaged as I navigated a rather tricky drawing of a motel parking lot. But then I heard "pigeons are experts at human facial recognition" and my ears perked up.

I was not too surprised by this since pigeons, like the one in this photo by Sintwister, can do many amazing things. And one of the things that they are very good at is pattern recognition. They would be the perfect employees for jobs like airport x-ray scanner since they would go on looking for the outline of a gun or a knife long after their human counterparts became bored. In fact, a good setup would be a pigeon and a human. The human to look for novel evils, the pigeon to double check that normal evils don't make it though when the human is having a bad day. At one point there was even some thought that they might be good to have along on ocean rescue missions. Pigeons are very talented at spotting things from the air, even small things like a drowning human in a vast sea of whitecaps. Sadly though, many humans don't want to serve alongside pigeons so this plan was scrapped.

Photo from kintired's flckr

The thing that did surprise me on the podcast was a casual reference to pigeons having a great sense of smell which they use for navigation.

What? A good sense of smell? I had been under the impression that most birds have a poor to middling sense of smell, one that certainly wasn't good enough to fly by. So I did a little research.

Pigeons do navigate using landmarks that they spot from the air when they are familiar with an area. So the idea of homing pigeons looking down on the city from above is correct. But apparently they are also building up a 3D map in their brains before they ever leave their roosts for the first time. And they're doing it with smell.

Print by InkMeUp

The theory goes that this smell is based on wind direction. Maybe wind that blows from the west smells like the ocean. And wind from the east smells like the desert. Maybe wind from the north smells like a Russian bakery, for all I know. There's no way to ask the pigeons themselves. But some scientists did a very clever experiment where they blocked one of the nares on each member of a flock of homing pigeons. And the birds did indeed have more trouble getting home. Is smell the only way that these birds create a map, illustrated by the one at the right, in their brain? Probably not. There is also a good deal of evidence that they may use magnetic lines along with visual cues, supplemented by their odor map.

All of which proves that pigeons are much better than me. I can barely tell my left from my right, much less retain any sort of map in my head. Bird brained indeed!

Wordless Wednesday featuring Another Fish (which I am again too ignorant to name)

2011-07-06T21:56:00.000-07:00

235

2011-07-04T22:08:00.000-07:00

Today is July 4th, 2011. That means 235 years have passed since the Declaration of Independence was signed. 235 isn't round, or divisible by much (just 1, 5, 47, and 235) or dripping with mythology like 13. It seems like a rather prosaic number. But fear not. I've made a list to liven it up.

1. 235 in Roman numerals is CCXXXV. But you knew that.

2. 235 is a square-free number. It has exactly two non-trivial prime factors.

3. 235 is the atomic mass of the isotope of uranium that is used in nuclear reactors.

4. There are three interstates with the number 235 in the U.S. One each in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Kansas. I personally have never been to any of these states so you'll have to take Wikipedia's word for it.

5. There are 235 pixelated Star Trek characters on this poster.

As seen on Boing Boing

Hmmm. I'm out. Perhaps 235 isn't a very interesting number after all. And now I want to watch Star Trek and have a girly cocktail. Two great things, now that I think of it, that the U.S. has given the world. So, happy birthday Declaration of Independence! I'm going to go celebrate.

Book Blitz! Volume 4 - Ancient Ruins

2011-06-23T17:35:00.000-07:00

If there's one thing Richard Ellis can be counted on to do it's write an interesting book about the ocean. The Atlantic seems to particularly fascinate him, so I suppose it's no surprise that he'd get around to writing about Atlantis sooner or later. I wasn't particularly interested in the mythical vanished continent before picking up Imagining Atlantis. His books such as The Search for the Giant Squid and Deep Atlantic are more up my zoological alley. In fact, I'd always thought of Atlantis as something of a joke, lumping it in with ufology and the Sasquatch. I'll even go a step further. I bought this book based mostly on the exceptionally cool cover and the fact that I like Richard Ellis. Truth be told, I felt a little embarrassed carrying it around. I wanted a giant sticker on it that said "Hey! I'm a skeptical book! My owner is not into psychic surgery or crystal healing!"

But, you know what? No one should be embarrassed to carry this book. A book like this should be carried proudly. As it turns out my knowledge about all things Atlantean was very... wait for it... shallow. Yes, that's a horrible pun, but it's also true. As Ellis points out, the myth of Atlantis has real staying power. Why has it persisted for thousands of years? It's not even attached to any religion or cohesive story cycle. It seems to be an invention of Plato's, but why has this, of all things, become so ingrained in our culture? Ellis surveys the literature starting with Plato's Timaeus and Critias, passes briefly over some of the more outlandish ideas of what sunk Atlantis, continues on to actual scholarship, then to the history of catastrophe in the Mediterranean, and lastly surveys Atlantis as it's depicted in films, comics, and novels. Was Atlantis based at all in fact? Ellis tells you what he thinks. Then he gives the facts so you can form your own opinion.

What, you may ask, does The Tooth have to do with Atlantis? Not a whole hell of a lot, except that it too has an irresistible origin story. And, like Imagining Atlantis, the cover made me want to buy the book. What's inside is a joyous romp from start to finish. The gags are suitably over-the-top while the subtle expressions on the Tooth's "face" are priceless. I typically cringe at anything dental, but somehow here the idea losing a tooth over and over, only to have it come crawling back covered in gore from its latest battle made me giggle instead of gag.

My recommendation? Buy Imagining Atlantis AND The Tooth. Then book a vacation to some Greek isle and read them back to back.

Wordless Wednesday featuring Camila (Stuck in a Cone Edition)

2011-06-22T19:41:00.000-07:00

A Chat with Terence Zahner, Underwater Photographer Extraordinaire

2011-06-20T19:06:00.000-07:00

Every since "meeting" Terence Zahner, the mind behind ZahnerPhoto on etsy, I've been fascinated by his underwater photography. He takes lovely photos of things on dry land too, but it's the intimate portraits of squids, corals, fish, and other underwater denizens that seem most mysterious to me. I asked him a few questions about his artwork, and he's been kind enough to share the answers here. If what you read here doesn't make you want to visit the nearest seashore, I don't know what will!

How long have you been diving? Did you start taking photos right away?

I got certified in 2000, while on my honeymoon in Hawaii. We decided to try SCUBA at the recommendation of friends that honeymooned there the year before. After the first dive, we were so blown away by the experience that we started studying for our certification the same day. I am so fortunate to be married to my dive buddy.

I’ve always had the desire to share the underwater world with others who will never see it firsthand in the way I am privileged to. My first underwater photo attempts were with a disposable film camera. The images are abstract blobs of blue that I assure you were actually a turtle or a beautiful fish to my eye. I started shooting underwater in earnest with a compact digital camera and plastic housing in 2005. I’ve outgrown several camera systems along the way.

What's the most exotic place you've ever been on a dive?

The most off-the-map place is Saba, my new favorite place to dive. It is a tiny volcanic pinnacle in the Dutch Caribbean, a short flight from St Martin. Only about 1,400 people live there. It reminds me of Hawaii in several ways, and is much closer to home.

What's your favorite subject? I've noticed a lot of very detailed images in your shop lately, but I see a lot of tentacled creatures too. Do you play favorites?

I’m most obsessed with nudibranchs. For those who don’t know, nudibranchs are sea slugs, like snails without shells. They are typically flamboyantly colored and patterned and can be somewhat hard to find, especially in the Caribbean. I have a small but growing collection of photos that I have contributed to NudiPixel, an online nudibranch reference site: http://www.nudipixel.net/photographer/terence_zahner

I also love photographing cephalopods, in part because they are interactive. Most critters tend to ignore you or hide, but when I encounter squid or octopi there is really a sense that I am being observed and evaluated. One time an octopus even tried to take my camera. Their ability to camouflage and alter their appearance is so fascinating to watch and makes for a memorable occasion. I’m discovering that they are also very popular with my audience.

The natural labyrinth patterns formed by coral growth are another source of inspiration. I find them very relaxing to look at. Ultimately I have to be ready to photograph anything, because I almost never know what I am going to find.

What's the strangest thing you've ever seen underwater? Did you get a photo of it?

The strangest things tend come out under cover of darkness at night, my favorite time to explore the coral reef. Decorator crabs are some of the strangest things I’ve seen. They cover themselves with all sorts of debris, including other living organisms such as sponges, hydroids and algae. In addition to being cryptic, they are also very skittish. I do have a number of perfect photos that look like nothing special, until the crab is pointed out. I’m sure some people just think I am seeing things.

Anything else you'd like to tell us?

Support ocean conservation! I hope that my photographs help educate people on the incredible world that lies just below the waves.

I'd like to extend my gratitude to Terence for taking time to talk about his work and about the amazing world beneath the waves. Check out these links to see more:

ZahnerPhoto (Etsy Shop)
Twitter
Facebook

The Truth About Baby Opossums and Human Breast Milk

2011-06-17T22:51:00.000-07:00

This is not Kirstie Alley

I, like most people, am always on the lookout for opossum news. And yes, I have written about them before. But today I found this gem:

Quote:

Kirstie gives possum her publicist's breast milk

Associated Press
Nov. 2, 2004 02:10 PM

NEW YORK - Publicists are expected to do anything a star tells them to do -- but does that include breast-feeding a possum?

It does if Kirstie Alley's your boss. Vanity Fair says Alley once brought her pet possum to an event and when it started squeaking because it was hungry, Alley asked her publicist, "Say, aren't you nursing a baby right now?"

Seeing the possum's teeth, the publicist refused to breast feed it, but she did express her breast milk into a bottle, which Alley fed to her pet.

End quote.

My, what big teeth you have!

This brings up many questions, a lot of which I admit to being completely unqualified to answer. But as a Los Angeles resident, a past foster mom to dozens of baby opossums, and the acquaintance of someone who did once work for Ms. Alley, I feel that I can answer some of them. And so, as a public service, I offer my take on this story.

Question #1: Did this REALLY happen?

I have no idea. Honestly, it sounds phony as hell to me. But Kirstie Alley is a bit eccentric, and she does keep a lot of animals in her house, so I guess anything is possible.

Question #2: Aren't they called opossums, not possums?

Correct. Saying "possum" is like calling a mosquito a "skeeter". And using it in an article is called bad journalism.

Question #3: Could an opossum drink human breast milk safely?

I'm going to go with "probably" on this one, because I believe a definitive study is yet to be done. Of course opossum milk is the best thing for baby opossums, but I can't see any reason why human milk would harm them short term. A much better choice would have been baby opossum formula though. And yes, there is such a thing!

Question #4: Actually, I was wondering if it would be safe for the human.

We are super cute and rabies-free!

Oh! Well, again I'm going with "probably", even if she had been foolish enough to try to clamp the joey to her nipple. Opossums do have a mouth full of sharp teeth but they don't suckle the way a human infant does. In the wild they actually swallow the very long nipples of their mothers and stay clamped there until they are old enough to move around on their own. In captivity this means that they must either be tube fed, or, when they are old enough they will lap from a spoon or dish. A note of caution here: tube feeding babies is for trained wildlife professionals only! The tube must be carefully inserted into a very tiny stomach (avoiding the lungs) and a very small dose of milk must be administered with a great deal of precision. Don't try it at home!

Question #5: Don't opossums carry rabies and other nasty things? Why would Kirsty Alley have an animal like that out in public?

Opossums are wild animals. They should not be pets. And they are capable of contracting rabies, but at a much lower rate than most other animals. This probably has to do with the fact that they are marsupials, and as such have a lower body temperature than other North American mammals. They are simply not very hospitable hosts to most common diseases. That said, the best place for an opossum is in your yard, not your house. They are excellent mousers, ratters, slug and snail eaters, and all-around do-gooders. As to why Ms. Alley had one, I won't even hazard a guess.

For more opossum facts, check out The Opossum Society.

My Manta Ray is All Right

2011-06-16T18:32:00.000-07:00

Only 2 feet of acrylic between us!

You may have noticed that I've been on a fish kick ever since returning from the Georgia Aquarium. What can I say? There are a hell of a lot of impressive fish there. Whale sharks! Jaw fish! Piranhas! And... Manta rays!

I confess, I love rays. Growing up in Florida my grandfather used to tell me about seeing them when he went night fishing. He said they were attracted by the lights, and that they were bigger than his boat. He didn't tell me about the fish he actually caught, only the ones he saw, so I ended up with an image of him sitting silently in his boat communing with giants. Grandpa was an animal lover too, in his way.

This is not how you should treat a manta ray

It turns out that the Georgia Aquarium is one of only four places in the world that keep mantas in captivity. It's easy to see why: they're huge! At birth they already have a "wing span" of 5 feet. And I do mean birth. These rays are ovoviviparous, which means that they develop in eggs which are retained inside the mother's uterus. This results in Mama Ray giving birth to one or two live young once they've fully developed. From there they just get bigger, topping out at around 13 feet wide. Some get much larger though, and have been know to stretch more than 25 feet across.

Nandi, courtesy of the Georgia Aquarium

I think all mantas are pretty great, but one at the Georgia Aquarium is extra special. Her name is Nandi, and she was rescued from shark nets off the coast of South Africa. She was still a baby of only 8 feet when she was taken to Ushaka Marine World in Africa. She was wounded and at first refused to eat, but careful attention from resident vets and caretakers soon brought her around. She stayed there until she outgrew her 580,000 gallon tank and plans were made for her to travel to the Georgia, where she became the first manta ray to inhabit a United States aquarium. Now she resides in a 6.3 million gallon tank, surrounded by other mantas, whale sharks, and lots of other lovely sea-going fish.

It's probably a good thing that I don't live in Atlanta. I'd be at the aquarium all the time, which would not be conducive to getting work done. Maybe I'll just have to learn how to crochet, and make myself my very own manta ray, like the one below from WeBeeUniquesbyJulie.

A rather soulful manta

Wordless Wednesday featuring a Fish (which I am too ignorant to name)

2011-06-15T16:07:00.000-07:00

Heroes Con - 2011! And a Whale Shark!

2011-06-11T22:13:00.000-07:00

Mr. Niles and the Monster

HeroesCon was over almost a week ago. I think I may have finally recovered.

Gabriel and I had a great time. This was our third year visiting Charlotte, and what can I say? They really know how to throw a Con! We got to meet up with some of our very favorite people, and met some new folks as well. For example, I was thrilled to finally meet Steve Niles. One might have expected us to have crossed paths before since he also lives in Los Angeles, is a friend to animals, and frequents the same comic book shop (House of Secrets), that I do. Ah, well. I guess that's what cons are for! Steve is obviously a very cool guy since he bought one of my very favorite sketches from Gabriel: Frankenstein's Monster, the furry vest iteration.

Gabriel, about 25 sketches into the show.

We had a great location in Artist's Alley, right next to Jeff Parker and down the row from Tom Fowler. Watching Tom break out the paints and get down to work always amazes me.

I spent a lot of time at the table, but I did get away long enough to purchase a copy of Think of the Children! from Christian Sager and E.C. Steiner. I had already read it online so I thought I kew what I'd be getting. In fact, the physical product is a strange thing of beauty. The cover is actually sculpted and the book is actually bound. Click on Christian's name to see a photo on his blog.

We were fortunate enough to spend time with Robert Wilson and his wife Tiffany Monhollon, who I was pleased to learn shares my love of thrifting. Chris Roberson and his wife Allison are always entertaining company, and I was happy to tell her in person how much I've been enjoying her new blog. Dave Wachter was there too, all the way across the show floor from us but not far enough away to stop rumors of his impressive table set up from reaching us. I only wish I could be half as organized! It goes without saying that his art is awfully impressive too.

Giant Cat Head Sees What You Do

One thing I really like about Heroes is catching up so many comics fans after talking to them on Twitter all year. It's nice when someone comes by your table and you know the names of their pets and kids. That's something that just doesn't happen at a huge con like San Diego.

Charlotte is kinda quirky, in a way I like. You say you want giant crafty heads sitting in the park across from the Convention Center? Well, okay. Throw in some hoola hoopers and we've got a party.

After the show I was able to steal a couple of days to visit one of my very closest friends, Tricia who runs the lovely shop Upcycled Stuff. It was wonderful to spend time with her, and the icing on the cake was a trip to the Georgia Aquarium. Heroes Con and a whale shark? Yes! No wonder it took me a whole week to recover.

Now, that's a BIG shark

Wordless Wednesday featuring a Whole Lot of Lion Fish

2011-06-08T18:40:00.000-07:00

Wordless Wednesday featuring Emmett (Cats Hate HeroesCon Edition)

2011-06-01T16:14:00.000-07:00

Heroes Con - 2011!

2011-05-30T19:21:00.000-07:00

In just three days Gabriel Hardman and I will be back in North Carolina for our third appearance at HeroesCon. Come find us at table 305 in Artist's Alley!

Gabriel will be doing sketches (he's currently too snowed under to start a pre-order list, but drop by in the morning Friday, Saturday, or Sunday to get your request in) starting at $100 for an inked full figure or $150 for two figures. And of course we'll have copies of Heathentown. Gabriel will also be selling pages from Hulk and Agents of Atlas.

So stop by the table, introduce yourself, and say hello. And let me be the first to wish you a Happy HeroesCon!

Wordless Wednesday featuring Emmett (7th Edition)

2011-05-26T22:09:00.000-07:00

Wordless Wednesday featuring a Reflective Duck

2011-05-11T23:31:00.000-07:00

Book Blitz! Volume 3 - Ghost Stories

2011-05-10T21:18:00.000-07:00

Ghost stories! What's not to like? I'm a sucker for any sort of atmospheric horror tale. Creeping dread? Yes please! If you're a fan too, read on. Today I'm offering my opinion on two very different spooky tales. Don't agree with me? Please let me know in the comments. I'm quite curious to know what other folks thought of these.

First up is The Man in the Picture, by Susan Hill. I found this at The Elliot Bay Book Company in Seattle when we visited during the Emerald City Comicon. It's my very favorite place to shop for books, and I had high hopes for this one. It was billed as an update of the classic gothic ghost tale, complete with family secrets, chills up the spine, and an elderly academic with deep regrets, all placed in the modern era. Well, it did deliver on those things, and it was indeed much like a Victorian ghost story, but for me it somehow fell flat. The story felt a bit airless, even, dare I say, stuffy. It was an entertaining read and I don't at all regret picking it up, but I think it hued a bit too close to convention for my tastes. That said, the book itself is a thing of beauty. Palm-sized, hardbound, nicely printed, and tastefully produced: a real little gem. I hope books like these are never completely replaced by digital copies.

At the other end of the spectrum is Volume One of Joe Harris and Steve Rolston's Ghost Projekt. I have to admit, I picked this up at House of Secrets in Burbank based only on its cover. Sure, there's some sort of ghost horse on there. But even better, holding the book is a tactile experience. There's a swirly, sandy veneer to it that kind of glows in the dark. I'm usually not such a push-over for that kind of thing, but c'mon, how could I resist?

What's inside, you may ask? Well, I don't want to give anything away but I will say that it's a real romp through post-soviet Russia, if such a thing is possible. There are scary ghost-things, a possibly trustworthy cat, high stakes for the American that gets himself involved, and some quite creepy disease-like killings. I say give this one a go if you aren't afraid of touching the cover. I can't promise that it's not feeding off your soul through your fingertips.

And please, feel free to suggest some of your favorite ghost stories. I'm always on the lookout for creeping dread!

Heathentown News!

2011-05-06T14:55:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time coming, but Heathentown, my graphic novel with the brilliant artist Gabriel Hardman, is finally available in more than just a print edition. We were lucky enough to have it sell out its first run and enter a second printing last year (many, many thanks to everyone who bought a copy!) so it's time to conquer new realms by going digital.

Now (finally) you can read Heathentown right on your iPad, iPhone, Android, iPod Touch, or on the web. It's priced at only $3.99 from Comixology, and is guaranteed to give you your RDA of mammoths in just one sitting. Want to know more? Here's the way Comixology describes the book:

98 pages! When Anna travels deep within the Florida Everglades to attend her lover's funeral, she finds herself in an eerie small town where death is but a horrible beginning! In an attempt to discover the truth, she digs up her lover's coffin, starting a chain reaction which brings an ancient malevolence into the town - bent on her destruction!

Super spooky! You can learn what's lurking in the Everglades by hopping over to Comixology. Just think... Atmospheric horror for less than the price of a fancy latte!

Wordless Wednesday featuring a Sleepy Koala

2011-05-04T21:59:00.000-07:00

Wordless Wednesday featuring Franz (6th Edition)

2011-04-27T18:59:00.000-07:00

Frog Month! Fun Frogs Vol. 3

2011-04-21T21:10:00.000-07:00

April is drawing to a close, but there's still time for a few more frogs. And today's offering must be the strangest yet. Depending on how you feel about alternative forms of reproduction, you may want to save this post until after you've eaten...

Fun Frog!

Surinam toads (Pipa pipa) are just odd all the way around. First off, they're called toads, despite being very much aquatic. They inhabit the muddy or even polluted bottoms of bodies of water in the Amazon basin and only surface for gulps of air. Secondly, they look "wrong". Their eyes are tiny, lidless, and not quite in the place you'd think to look for them. Their front toes have star-shaped sense organs splayed out from the tips, and their triangular heads seem to have extra skin around the jaws. Overall, they look like rubbery, half-rotten leaves. And then there's the way they reproduce...

Photo from the Honolulu Zoo

After a complex mating dance the male positions himself so that the female can lay eggs on his stomach. He then fertilizes them, carefully rolls over, and deposits the eggs onto the sponge-like skin of the female's back. We're not talking a couple of eggs here, either. A normal clutch will contain between 60 and 100 potential froglets!

Within a day the female's skin will swell around the eggs, and in a little over a week each egg will occupy its own little chamber. And there they stay, sometimes for up to 20 weeks. The babies emerge as fully formed tiny frogs by pushing through the top membrane of their "cell". Want to see what that looks like? There's a video here. But be warned: it's the strangest thing you will see all day.

Frog Tip!

Do you own a pool? Frogs, not surprisingly, sometimes mistake pools for ponds. But once they get in they can't get out and often drown! Happily, there's a simple, low-tech, inexpensive device called a Critter Skimmer that will give frogs a way out of your pool. Want an even lower-tech option? Black snakes are major predators on many types of frogs. Buying a few plastic black snake replicas and scattering them around the perimeter of your pool may keep frogs out, but it might keep ophidiophobic folks out too, so you're probably better off just getting the skimmer.

Wordless Wednesday featuring Camila (3rd Edition)

2011-04-20T17:18:00.000-07:00

Frog Month! Fun Frogs Vol. 2

2011-04-15T18:44:00.000-07:00

Relative size difference between tadpole and adult frog

Ready for another fun frog? Of course you are! After all, this is April. Some people still think of April as Tax Month, but I think you'll agree that it's much more fun to think of it as Frog Month. And so, without further ado...

Fun Frog!

Today's offering is the paradoxical frog (Pseudis paradoxa), also know as the shrinking frog. I have to admit, the name of this frog alone makes it one of my favorites. But wait, there's a bonus! This frog is not weird in name only. Oh no, it's weird in actual fact: the tadpole stage of this amphibian is much larger than than the adult. Why this should be is something of a mystery, and highly unusual too. I would guess that this frog has evolved so that its life stages occupy quite different niches. Before the tadpole was seen to actually become the adult, they were even believed to be two different species. Prior to that exciting discovery you might have been excused for not giving this frog a second look. In fact, it would have been hard to give it a first look. In the wild they are just that cryptic.

But their bizarre ability to shrink is not their only secret. These frogs might someday help humans beat diabetes. They produce a compound which was shown in 2008 to stimulate production of insulin in compromised pancreatic cells. Even better, it the compound did it with no toxic effects. Why do these little South American frogs make a diabetes drug in their skin? It seems to have some sort of anti-microbial effect too, with the insulin production a happy accident.

Frog Tip!

An easy one today: don't set your pet frog free in the wild! Non-native frogs (and animals of all kinds) wreak havoc with wild populations. They can introduce disease, out-compete or even eat native frogs, or may die an awful death from being set loose in an area that they can't cope with. What to do instead? Most areas have local herpetological clubs. Check out their websites for hints on ways to find a home for your unwanted frog. You'll both be happy you did!

Wordless Wednesday featuring a Lazy Malayan Tapir

2011-04-13T14:33:00.001-07:00

Frog Month! Fun Frogs Vol. 1

2011-04-12T18:56:00.000-07:00

Photo curtesy of Save the Frogs

Fun Frog!

First up for April, the Month of Frog Celebration, is the gastric-brooding frog (Rheobatrachus sp.). This unassuming little amphibian topped out at just over 2 inches long and looked like any conventional "slimy frog". But wait! She had a secret!

The females of this genus had the ability to turn off production of their gastric juices, thereby turning themselves into incubators for baby frogs. After external fertilization of her eggs by a male the female would literally swallow them. The eggs would hatch into tadpoles in her stomach and gradually morph into froglets over a six week period.

Photo from flikr, showing a new froglet

As this happened her stomach would expand, eventually filling almost her entire body cavity. Even her lungs would collapse in on themselves, necessitating increased gas transfer through her skin. Needless to say, she refrained from eating during this time. After the baby frogs were done "cooking" she would open her mouth and pop them out one by one over the span of several days. Occasionally, if spooked, she would instead projectile vomit the whole brood in one go.

Sadly, the gastric-brooding frog appears to be extinct. First discovered in the 1920s in Queensland, Australia, they haven't been seen since the 1980s. Apart from the fact that their passing makes the world a less-cool place, they also take with them the secret of how they turned off the acids in their stomachs. That bit of information held great promise for human suffers of gastric ulcers. What killed them? It's hard to say. Their preferred habitat was clear, cool, fast running water in pristine rainforest, something that's getting harder and harder to find now. Climate change and logging were probably the main factors.

Frog Tip!

Want to help extant frogs escape the fate of the gastric-brooding frog? One simple thing you can do is just use less water. Turn off the tap when you brush your teeth. Or put timers on your sprinklers. More and more water is being diverted for human use, water that once flowed through streams and rivers where frogs breed. Just think of how many tadpoles could live in the accumulated drippings from one leaky faucet! Remember, the frog you save might just cure your ulcer.

It's Frog Month!

2011-04-11T13:13:00.000-07:00

Yay, Frog Month! That magical time that only comes once a year, when frogs are busy courting and the world is busy honoring them!

So, maybe it doesn't work quite like that. Frogs do court during April, but the world pretty much ignores them. Which is too bad, really. Frogs are amazing, and up to this point in time have been unbelievably prolific. Even today there are over 5,500 species of anurans (that's frogs and toads to you and me). But frogs across the world are declining. The reasons are complex: higher levels of pollution (frogs are very absorptive critters after all), less of an ozone layer and so more solar radiation, climate change... The list is endless, and can seem overwhelming. But fear not! As a frog advocate, I'm here to tell you about some things that might make a difference to frogs. Won't you join me in celebrating Frog Month?

Let's start with an easy one: just spread the word! Many people don't ever spare a thought for frogs. It's an over-used metaphore, but frogs really are something of the "canary in the coal mine". Environmental hazards hit them before they hit other animals, humans included. But that doesn't mean that we don't drink the same water, breath the same air, and eat the same foods as our amphibian friends. Well, maybe we don't eat the same foods. But we do ingest many of the same pesticides! So just by making choices that are good for frogs and encouraging others to do the same, we can create a world that's more livable for us. It's a simple test: is that weed killer going to seep into the water supply and poison a frog? Well, then you probably don't want to drink it either. Think about frogs while you shop, and I guarantee you'll make more environmentally friendly purchases. Want to learn more? Visit Save the Frogs for more frog facts than you could shake a frog-egg-laden sodden branch at!

I'll be running frog-heavy blog posts throughout the month of April, so check back if you're a frog fan. If you happen to be a ranidaphobic (that would be a frog-fearer), on the other hand, consider yourself warned! And happy Frog Month!

All photos from Save the Frogs

Wordless Wednesday featuring Orpheus

2011-04-06T11:47:00.000-07:00

Yes, There Really is Such a Thing as a Blobfish

2011-04-05T11:19:00.000-07:00

Photo from the London Telegraph

I have to admit, this is a new one to me. I would have never known about this creature if it hadn't been for the Swimmies of Doom, but after seeing the photo I had to find out more.

Turns out, this is indeed a real critter. A critter that the Telegraph called "the world's most miserable-looking fish". Other sites call it "the world's ugliest fish" and "the world's most unattractive fish". All of this seems a bit unfair, given that the blobfish (Psychrolutes marcidus) lives at depths up to 800 m where the pressure is dozens of times that experienced in the sunlit world. Obviously, he's going to collapse into a blobby mess at sea level! After all, we don't look too good after being exposed to, oh, say, the vacuum of space.

Illustration from Wikipedia

But then again, this is a fish almost entirely made of a gelatinous fatty material. A couple of articles even refer to him as "the fat-head fish". His lifestyle is pretty blobby too: his squishy body is only slightly less dense than water so he is able to float serenely over the ocean floor waiting for food to pass in front of his mouth without expending any energy on swimming. He does, however, seem to "sit" on eggs. I tried to find out more about this adaptation, but came up empty. I suppose there aren't too many ichthyologists out there making the study of the blobfish their life's work. Sigh.

Sadly, this bizarre, inoffensive, and ironically inedible fish is being driven to the brink of extinction by deep sea trawlers. As technology allows for fishing at greater and greater depths more fish are being snagged as bycatch. As you can imagine, the blobfish isn't very good at getting out of the way of these huge nets, and so ends up being hauled to the surface where the pressure difference kills him. I don't know about you, but I feel that the world would be a poorer place without the blobfish in it!

Hyena!

2011-04-04T10:21:00.000-07:00

Hand cut aluminum hyena pin

It's been a while since I've been asked to make a hyena, but yesterday I received an order for a pair of earrings in grey. I sell my anodized aluminum jewelry in the Tapir and Friends Animal Store (the webshop of the Tapir Preservation Fund), a marketplace devoted to raising money for tapir conservation by selling fun animal items of all species.

Many people don't care for hyenas, associating them with spooky behavior and a diet of carrion. But that doesn't mean they don't have any fans. I, for one, am fascinated by their weird lifestyle and bizarre vocalizations. For instance, did you know that they can live in groups of up to 80 which are led by females? Or that, despite looking superficially like dogs they are actually more closely related to cats?

If you like hyenas too, keep reading! It turns out that you can find some interesting hyena art if you hunt a little yourself.

Like this sculpture from Fenrislorsrai's etsy shop. It's rare to see a hyena depicted as doing anything other than fighting over a scrap of bone, but here's one engaged in child rearing! I like their expressive ears.

There's also this Victorian illustration from 1894, found in Petite Poulailler's Zibbet shop, which shows some very fluffy hyenas in a more traditional manner. Funny how the artist took more care with the ruin in the background than he did with the ribcage that his subjects are fighting over.

If you want to show off your hyena pride on a wall or laptop, there's always the decal option. I can honestly say this is the first vinyl decal I've ever seen of this particular animal! It's from Lunar Scream's Artfire shop.

Or maybe you don't have room for one of the above options? There's always this tiny replica, also available in the Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

Happy hyena Monday, everyone!

Frog Bag Photos Volume 6: Cats on a Hot Day

2011-04-01T16:41:00.000-07:00

Pity the Poor Chupacabra

2011-03-31T13:21:00.000-07:00

Artwork from How Stuff Works

It seems that not a week goes by that I don't see a report about someone "discovering" a chupacabra. Sometimes they've even killed it and stuffed it in a freezer, in anticipation of the cameras and curious news crews who are sure to want a look.

The interesting thing about all these reports is that the descriptions of the animal are usually rather at odds with the desiccated corpses on display. People often describe the chupacabra (that's a "goat sucker" to you and me) as looking alien, frightening, with a ridge of feathers or scales along its back. Its eyes are said to glow red, and its teeth are supposed to be long... Perfect for sucking the blood out of unsuspecting farm animals.

What are these reports really describing? I'd say that would be feral dogs, coyotes, and even raccoons with sarcoptic mange. Sad, really, when you look at it that way. The reported "ridge of feathers or scales" is probably just the remnants of the animal's fur, running in tufts along its spine. The only good to come out of people shooting these benighted beasts is that it puts them out of their misery, and miserable you can be sure they are if they are living on a diet of farm animals. Healthy wild animals would rather stay far away from humans, hunting other wild animals.

Photo from Fox News

Just take a look at the photo on the right of a supposed chupacabra and tell me it doesn't look like a dog without hair. It was found as roadkill by a woman in Texas who claims that it sucked the blood out of 26 of her chickens. Her main basis for this seems to be that it's ugly, and doesn't look like other animals.

Want to know if something is really a chupacabra? Well, science to the rescue! There are ways to figure things like this out, even if the animal in question has never been seen before. I consulted an article in Discovery.com and found this helpful checklist, compiled by Benjamin Radford, who literally wrote the book on chupacabras:

"1) Was the animal actually seen attacking other animals?

2) If it was, was it seen or videotaped sucking blood from its victim(s)?

3) Was the suspected chupacabra victim autopsied by a qualified veterinarian or medical pathologist?

4) Did this veterinarian or pathologist conclude that blood had actually been extracted from the animal?

5) Does the suspected chupacabra have a mouth structure that would allow it to suck out blood?

6) Has the chupacabra’s saliva been scientifically tested for anti-coagulant and anaesthetic properties?

7) Has the suspected chupacabra’s digestive tract been examined for specialized vampire structures?

8) Has the chupacabra’s stomach contents been examined to determine if it lived on a diet of blood?

9) Have samples of the suspected chupacabra been subjected to DNA sequencing?

10) Has testing of samples of the suspected chupacabra’s skin conclusively ruled out sarcoptic mange?

If you can answer yes to all of the above, you might very well have the world's first scientifically legit chupacabra."

In short, don't forget to bring along some science when you go monster hunting! Think a hairless animal wouldn't fool you, that you could spot a shaved coyote a mile away? Well, check out this critter:

Photo: Belgravia Center Blog

It's a raccoon with alopecia. And it too was at first thought to be a chupacabra!

Wordless Wednesday featuring Franz and Cooper

2011-03-30T14:08:00.000-07:00

Book Blitz! Volume 2

2011-03-30T00:28:00.000-07:00

The one constant of my life lately is busy, busy, busy. Too busy to read? Never! It was nice to have the plane ride up and back from Seattle though, during which I indulged in some quality time with the written word. If you, like me, enjoy reading about particle physics or possibly-crazy women living in Portland, I've got some books to recommend...

I've been wanting to read Massive ever since I finished Lisa Ranall's Warped Passages. As the subtitle says, it's about The Missing Particle that Sparked the Greatest Hunt in Science. What particle is this? Why, the Higgs boson, of course! The very beast that is the focus of so much press and the target of the huge particle colliders. It's been called the "God particle", a dreadful shorthand which I gather is much despised by most physicists.

Author Ian Sample does a fine job of explaining what this particle probably is and how it might work. Allow me to emphasize might, since we haven't actually proven its existence yet. But if it does exist it's what gives things mass. Let that sink in for a moment: your atoms weigh something. Photons of light do not. That's why photons travel at, well, the speed of light... And why you have to work to travel at all. Why do some particles have mass while others don't? It's a fundamental mystery. It probably has to do with something called the Higgs field, and probably also with symmetry breaking in the very early moments of the universe. Sample walks one through these difficult concepts but doesn't let them bog the narrative down.

The real fun in this book is found when Sample delves into the politics and personalities involved in the construction of the huge particle colliders. It's a wonder that any of them were ever built at all! His biographical sketches of the main players are great too, especially the introduction of the young Peter Higgs. And don't be fooled by the title. No equations needed to parse this tome! A healthy curiosity about the way things work is all the author requires of you.

Now, for something completely different. Well, sort of. Actually, I'm not entirely sure... And that's a very good thing. Paul Tobin and Colleen Coover's Gingerbread Girl isn't available in stores yet. But it is being serialized online over at Top Shelf. You can pre-order a copy now and have the book in your hands in May, but seriously, check it out now!

Coover's art is amazing, and Tobin's story really has to be read to be appreciated. All I know is that it's about Annah, a terrible, lovable tease who may or may not have a sister made out of a piece of her brain. Or she may be crazy. Many bystanders weigh in with bits of information, including her dates, a clerk, a passing pigeon... And if telling you this makes you think you know what this book is like, I promise that it isn't that way at all. Or is it? I don't know, since I've only read as much as is available so far. But I do know that I'll be happily buying the book as soon as I can!

Emerald City, 2011! The Wrap-up

2011-03-26T22:48:00.000-07:00

Squid sculpture, spotted in the wild

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not too quick out of the gate with this report from ECCC 2011. It was a couple of weeks ago now, a lifetime, in Con terms. Even C2E2 has come and gone since then!

However, I have a good excuse. I have, in fact, been working. Yes, working at my day job feeding animals, playing with parrots, and raking up bunny poop. But, also writing. For pay! Much as I love this blog, the pay for writing it is rather... Nonexistent. So, keep your eyes peeled for some fresh non-bloggery coming soon to an anthology near you.

Me, in an actual trench coat!

I love visiting Seattle at any time, and not coincidently the Emerald City Comicon is something I look forward to all year. We came into town a day early and were met with rain. Which was fine with me... It meant I could wear actual chilly weather gear. Our first stop was, of course, The Elliot Bay Book Company. Words can not express how much I love that place. It was about to move the last time we were there so it was a great relief to learn that its new digs are just as cool as the old ones. And the coffee is even better! Luckily we just about sold out of copies of Heathentown at the Con. If we hadn't I don't know how I would have fit all my new books into my luggage.

We also had time to visit the Seattle Art Museum this trip, which was a lot of fun. Bet you didn't know that there's a whole case or tiny frog sculptures hidden in one corner upstairs. That alone made it worth the trip.

Best costumes. Ever.

This was the first year that ECCC was three days long instead of two, so we didn't know what to expect on the first day. Turns out that attendance was terrific. Our table was in a great place too. Our row was full of talent: Chris Samnee, Jeff Parker, Tom Fowler, Steve Lieber... The list goes on. Gabriel was kept busy with sketches all weekend, but managed to find the time to buy some original art. And some folks even brought us dessert! A full box of cookies, some candy, and coffee all the way from Hawaii. How's that for a warm welcome? I was also happy to meet Kyle Latino and Shane White in person. Kyle and I sat next to each other for most of the weekend, which worked out great since he didn't seem to mind my endless blather about Doctor Who. And that brings me to the most amazing thing: a woman dressed as the TARDIS. I almost knocked Evan Shaner flat while attempting to get a photo of her.

So, I would say the weekend was a success. It resulted in new reading material, a bit of writing work, and a picture of a blue-haird girl dressed as my favorite fictional time machine. We also spent some time hanging out with Paul Tobin and Colleen Cover, the creators behind one of the projects I'm most excited about this year, Gingerbread Girl. If you haven't already, you really should check it out. It's strange and wonderful and completely unexpected. Colleen was even nice enough to do a sketch of one of my favorite characters from their book, Pidgy. Can't wait for ECCC 2012!

Meet the Basking Shark

2011-03-25T18:18:00.000-07:00

What could be more frightening than a giant 35 foot shark? A whole lot of things, it turns out, if the shark in question is a basking shark (Cetorhinus maximus).

Photo Credit: NOAA

I was surprised to stumble across this report and video from Panama City, Florida, showing a kayaker's encounter with one these prodigious creatures. Surprised, and also envious. I grew up in Florida, right on the gulf, and never saw anything half that spectacular. Well, aside from the sea turtles I watched nesting one night. And the dolphins we used to watch from the grounds of the Ringling Museum. Oh, and the time a couple of roseate spoonbills flew over our house... Okay, so Florida was a good place to watch wildlife way back when. But the point is, I never got to see a basking shark!

There's a good reason for that: despite the fact that their habitat spans the globe, they are very rare visitors to the waters around Florida. That's because they're usually found in more temperate waters. Which makes sense for an animal that large. Imagine the heat one must generate, even at rest. And while you're at it, try to imagine an animal this huge. Thirty-five feet of living flesh. That's a whole lot of fish!

Photo Credit: Daily Mail

But, unlike some extinct giant sharks, basking sharks are not flesh eaters. They survive instead by filtering plankton from seawater. That's the purpose of that enormous mouth: the more water they can suck in the more plankton they can filter out. Just how wide can they open that mouth? Wide enough for a fair-sized human child to stand up in: nearly four feet!

These peculiar animals, like many denizens of the deep, have been shrouded in mystery until quite recently. But tracking studies have now revealed that they can travel up to 1,500 miles in one day and remain at depths of 3,300 feet for five months at a time. Oh, and they give birth to cute little live sharks, not eggs.

So, a 35 foot shark... That must be the largest fish out there, right? Nope, that honor goes to the whale shark (Rhincodon typus), measured at up to 41 feet long. Sadly, I've never seen one of those either.

Frog Bag Photos Volume 5: Creatures from the Seattle Museum

2011-03-24T23:50:00.000-07:00

Wordless Wednesday featuring an Inquisitive Okapi

2011-03-23T19:00:00.000-07:00

Wordless Wednesday featuring Two Sleepy Polar Bears

2011-03-16T12:24:00.000-07:00

Wordless Wednesday featuring Franz (5th Edition)

2011-03-09T10:50:00.000-08:00

Wordless Wednesday featuring a Nonchalant Capybara and a Tired Tapir

2011-03-02T12:17:00.000-08:00

What Should be Seen on the Red Carpet

2011-02-27T17:17:00.000-08:00

It's Sunday. The Sunday before Emerald City Comicon, as I posted a couple of days ago. The day I should be madly shopping for sweaters, cleaning house, tracking down our box of pristine copies of Heathentown...

But instead I'm waiting for the Academy Awards to start and playing on Twitter, which is filled with Oscar tweets. And a fair amount of those are red carpet tweets. Which made me think: what would I like to see more of on the red carpet?

The answer, of course, is trilobite tattoos. Why do celebrities shun them? That's a riddle that may never be solved. Luckily, google didn't let me down though. Want to see what I found?

This one is pretty impressive, I think, and fairly true to life. Yeah, I'm a little envious.

Hey, it's a steampunk trilobite! I have no idea what body part this adorns, though, and that freaks me out a little.

Trilobite in action! This guy seems to be zinging through the Paleozoic ocean which sits atop this persons foot. This is a very jaunty trilobite tattoo in my opinion.

Yeah, I know this one isn't a trilobite, but it's quite impressive anyway.

So there you have it. A virtually content-free blog post full of pretty things. Just like watching the red carpet pre-oscar show!

Emerald City, 2011!

2011-02-24T12:25:00.000-08:00

Has it really been a whole year since the Emerald City Comicon, where you can see great art and the Space Needle?

I'm not complaining though. Gabriel and I love Seattle, so we're really happy to be back in the Emerald City next week! We'll be at Table C-07, selling copies of Heathentown, meeting tons of cool comics folks, and Gabriel will be doing sketches.

Want an original Gabriel Hardman sketch for yourself? He's not taking pre-orders this year, but you can get on his list at the con. The price list is as follows:

9x12 single character pen and ink: $75

9x12 two characters pen and ink: $125

Hope to see you there! The con is three days long this year, so take a moment to stop by and say hello. And yes, we are happy to accept donations of those fabulous chocolate covered cherry things they sell in the Pacific northwest. How nice of you to ask!

Wordless Wednesday featuring a Pensive Takin

2011-02-23T11:09:00.000-08:00

Frog Bag Photos Volume 4: Parrots I Know

2011-02-20T18:52:00.000-08:00

Winner!

2011-02-18T14:36:00.000-08:00

And the winner of the Tiny Tapir Art is.... Comment Number Three!

Laurrren will be receiving Gabriel's beautiful artwork, and I know she will give it a good home because her work is lovely too. Please don't hesitate to visit her etsy shop, The Intermission (I just love that name), for gorgeously designed graphics work.

I want to extend my thanks to everyone who entered. I really enjoyed reading the comments; this has been the most enjoyable giveaway I've done by far!

Sad you didn't win? Nothing in my etsy shop can compare with Gabriel's gorgeous tapir, but I still would like to offer everyone 20% off if you use coupon code TINYTAPIR.

Thanks again, and congrats to the winner!

Wordless Wednesday featuring a Hungry Panda

2011-02-16T14:22:00.000-08:00

Tapir Giveaway Time!

2011-02-10T11:08:00.000-08:00

Wow, over 500 followers on this blog! Thanks so much to everyone who drops by, follower or not. I really appreciate it! And, I do believe it calls for a giveaway.

Gabriel Hardman, talented comic book artist for Marvel and story board artist for films such as Inception, has graciously agreed to provide a baby tapir sketch card to one lucky winner. Sketch cards, for those who don't know, are tiny pieces of art, 2 inches by 3.5 inches. This one was done in pen and ink.

Enter quick, or I'm keeping this!

Like Gabriel's work? Then you should check out his etsy shop and his twitter feed!

And, because one of my missions in life is promotion of tapir awareness, that's the theme of this giveaway. To enter, all you have to do is comment on this post with one fact about tapirs. Never heard of a tapir before? You're not alone. Check out the Tapir Preservation Fund's website for a plethora of facts. Then come back here and enter to win! I'll use a random number generator on Thursday, February 17th, 2011 to pick the winner. Good luck, everyone!

Wordless Wednesday featuring a Hungry Giraffe

2011-02-09T09:40:00.000-08:00

Gone to Be Snakes Now... And Again

2011-02-08T20:56:00.000-08:00

A donkey and a zebra grow tired of hearing about Gone to Be Snakes Now

I know everyone is sick of hearing about Gone to Be Snakes Now, the novel by Neal Bell that I was plowing through in a previous post. So why am I posting about it again? For one very simple reason: it blew my mind with its unrelenting disregard for plot, character, consistency, and anything approaching a coherent world view. Heck, it didn't even have a coherent timeline! Folks, a book this weirdly, spastically, one might even say aggressively, incoherent deserves an audience. This was not your garden variety bad novel. This is a forgotten gem of awfulness amid the ruble of sci-fi philosophizing.

It did leave me with some questions though:

* Was the fire that burned down the gigantic pickle barrel supposed to be allegorical, or merely tragic?

* Where did all the chickens come from?

* Where did the man dressed as a giant bird get his supply of strontium 90 water? And aren't there quicker ways of killing someone than giving them bone cancer? I mean, if your goal is to eat them that evening?

* What killed all the snakes? Did they come back to life in order to terrorize the community theater company, or were those different snakes?

* And while we're on the subject of snakes, wasn't it a bit heavy-handed to call the mutant snake woman Eve?

I could go one. I could write an entire post about the shear inanity of the fact that many of the characters lived in giant gas pumps. But I won't. I will, however, leave you with this image, because I can't sum up this book without resorting to Lolcats. The Frog Bag Blog: appreciating terrible science fiction so you don't have to. You're welcome!

Wordless Wednesday featuring Cooper (Award for Bravery Edition)

2011-02-02T14:08:00.000-08:00

Frog Bag Photos Volume 3: The Many Faces of Camila

2011-02-01T16:24:00.000-08:00

Gone to Be Snakes Now... Sure, Why Not?

2011-01-30T12:08:00.000-08:00

What you see in the photo is my new obsession. I found it in my stocking Christmas morning (well, fake Christmas morning. I had to work on Christmas so we celebrated a day late) and all I can say is: Santa must know me pretty darn well. I mean, look at that cover! The triptastic patterning surrounding and penetrating the reproachful elderly gentleman... To say nothing of the brilliant title! It's the title that really gets me, of course. Is it a colloquialism? A warning? Kidspeak? I'm only halfway through, and I still don't know. It seems to be all of those, and more, and decidedly less.

For, you see, this book is awful. I mean, really, really, no holds barred, gloriously awful. I don't think the author even intended kitsch. The story seems to be meant as allegory more than actual science fiction. And I think this book is the real deal, somebody's heartfelt look at the "modern" era, and growing up. There are girls who are sexual and mysterious and know things about the "outside". There's a rebellious boy who's still a virgin but doesn't want to be. There are lots of trouser snakes. There's a hyper-sexualized mutated creature who haunts the town, killing men and taking willing girls back to his cave. No one can remember what came before their grandparents got to the town, or knows how they got there.

Oh, and did I mention that the town is named Exxon? And that the only other towns are named Mobile and Texaco? How about the part where everyone lives in giant, non-functioning gas stations? We learn early on that the main character is the "heir to the pumps of Exxon". And for some reason there is lots of talk about Henry James, despite the fact that few of the characters seem to know what books are.... Oh, and don't get me started on the play that some of the kids decide to put on in the swamp. It involves lots of poetry, and sex, and a girl dressed as a mushroom as other kids lift her into the air while intoning "boom, boom, boom". Really!

So, of course I had to do a little research to find out who this mad genius of an author might be. Turns out that Neal Bell was just a youth himself when this book was published in 1974. He did, in fact, receive his MFA that year! Aha! I think that may explain an awful lot here. Today he is a professor of Practice of Theater Studies at Duke University. He has a ton of produced plays to his name, as well as many television credits, including stints as a writer on One Life to Live and Knots Landing. Which somehow makes perfect sense... As does the fact that Gone to Be Snakes Now is his only published novel.

Thanks, Santa!

Wordless Wednesday featuring Lady Macbeth (3rd Edition)

2011-01-26T09:37:00.000-08:00

Frog Bag Photos Volume 2: The Peacocks Take Over!

2011-01-25T11:35:00.000-08:00

Book Blitz! Volume 1

2011-01-20T12:26:00.000-08:00

I don't know about the rest of the world, but in this house the New Year always starts off with a lot of new books. Christmas here is definitely book-giving season, and so is my birthday. I'm something of a book pack rat: if I don't have a backlog of reading material several months long I feel insecure. What if our bank account was hacked and emptied and I couldn't buy books? Better have several dozen waiting to read just in case...

One book that I only just got around to is Swimming in Stone: The Amazing Gogo Fossils of the Kimberley by John Long. My husband and I saw Dr. Long speak at Cal Tech University several months back and I was impressed enough to pick it up.

Although "Gogo fossil" sounds like some sort of 70's slang it in fact refers to amazingly well preserved Devonian era reef remains in Western Australia. This area was once covered in a shallow warm sea, and, lucky for us, many of the details of the ecosystem that thrived here have been preserved. Unlike many sites where long-dead animals have only left impressions in the rocks, here whole skeletons still exist. This is important because it was during this time that fish were making many of the evolutionary steps that would someday lead to us. Steps like jaws, for instance. Not to mention limbs, and lungs.

Dr. Long does a nice job of outlining the importance of the fossils, the infighting that can stymie research, and the personalities of the major players. I find myself awed by the shear weight of the ages that separate us from these amazing animals and amazed that we can still learn so much from them. It must caution you, though: if you have no interest in fossils, fish, or evolution you may find the going a bit dry. Dr. Long does not shy away from technical terms or latin labels.

A completely different reading experience can be found in the pages of Jason Little's Motel Art Improvement Service. It's the rare graphic novel that isn't afraid to depict banal settings, trusting that the protagonists will make the story interesting. And here they do. Motels both cheap and slickly corporate are imbued with suspense and pathos through Little's clean art and masterful narrative structure.

I should issue a warning here too: this is not a kiddie comic. Anyone too young to understand the menstrual cycle as a plot device should definitely stay away: if they persist they will only be met with sex, drugs, and complex ideas about the role of art in society. Folks old enough to enjoy coffee should find it a definite lark though.

So, that's what I've read so far this year. What's on your bedside table?

Wordless Wednesday featuring Fredo (2nd Edition)

2011-01-19T09:44:00.000-08:00

Frog Bag Photos: Volume 1

2011-01-17T18:01:00.000-08:00

Since I actually remembered to take my camera to work with me this morning I thought I'd post a few photos here... so...

...

Of Hawks and Doves

2011-01-16T22:19:00.000-08:00

Let me tell you a little story:

I'm at work, minding my own business, when someone from another department approaches me. They're out of breath. It's an emergency!

What happened? Did an animal escape?

No, they say. It's that damn hawk! It caught another pigeon! Come quick!

Okay, I'll say. There isn't much we can do. It's just nature taking its course.

At this point they stop and stare at me. What? How can you say that? It's hurt!

I've had this scenario repeated with doves, pigeons, even a wild duck which I saw plucked from one of the ponds by a huge female red tail. All of which brings me to my point: it sucks to see animals harmed, and killed. But, the hawk's gotta eat too.

(Full disclosure: I'm a vegetarian. I'd never eat a dove. Or a duck. Or a hawk, for that matter. But this is a choice. I'm human, and one of the benefits of this condition is that I can make choices. The hawk can't. Even if he could reason out the implications of a vegetarian diet, he's an obligate carnivore).

And the pigeons? They want to stay alive. They don't want to be eaten... But there are a lot more of them in the world than there are hawks. They thrive in an urban environment. Often the hawks are just hanging on.

So, you may be wondering, what happened to the pigeon that was caught by the hawk? Well, as luck would have it, the hawk was startled when my co-worker approached it. He dropped the little white bird and flew off. The pigeon ran under a bush, and from there I cornered him. He wasn't too badly hurt: nothing was broken and the wounds were superficial. I cleaned him up, patched up his cuts (I'm a certified wildlife rehabber) and placed him on "cage rest" in a clean crate with plenty of warmth, food, and water. In a couple of days he was good as new, ready to face off against the hawks of the world again.

So, my advice to anyone who comes across a similar situation? Let the hawk be. Turn away if you must. But don't scare the hawk away from her meal. You will be left with an injured and frightened victim who's suffering has just been prolonged, and who will often die of an infection later if his wounds aren't treated. The hawk will have to spend extra energy hunting, and her babies may go hungry.

Of course, if you find a bird who has been injured by a now-departed hawk, please get him help. All animals feel pain and the lowly pigeon is no exception (personally, I love pigeons, and doves in general, having worked with scores of them). If you don't know bird first aid, find a local wildlife rehabber.

And to everyone who cares enough to worry about doves, hawks, and wildlife in general... THANK YOU!

Wordless Wednesday featuring Franz (4th Edition)

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From Randomness, a Winner!

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And the winner of last week's giveaway is... Number 15, Michelle! That's right, the universe has spoken. I used a random number generator and, to my surprise, it picked the very last entry. How's that for random?

Congrats to the winner! She chose the Elegant Daily News Bracelet as her prize, and will be getting it as soon as Upcycled Stuff digs out from the monster snow storm that has blanked the south east.

Many thanks to everyone who entered. I'll have another giveaway soon (I have something good planned for when this blog reaches 500 followers. Shhh!) but in the mean time, stay warm out there avoid driving on that black ice!