Automatic Daddy

Scott Pilgrim vs The Marx Bros.

2010-08-23T01:25:00.000-07:00

Watching Scott Pilgrim, I realized something about Michael Cera that I had never before realized. He looks like a young Harpo Marx. I mean, he looks EXACTLY like a young Harpo Marx.

I don't know what you ought to do with this information, but I thought you might want to know.

Briliant Marketing Strategy

2010-08-22T17:25:00.000-07:00

A new post, in which I offer an example of the kind of work I might do for an ad agency that does not care about losing clients or being sued.

Oh, The Lies I Tell!

2010-07-22T19:12:00.000-07:00

After saying this blog was open for business again (the bedbug and rodent filth problems here are a thing of the past) I haven't updated in a week. I'll get around to it.

Several distractions have threatened to swallow me whole. One, the ol' HP Notebook died again. I wouldn't buy an HP life preserver if I were drowning. This is the third motherboard this thing's destroyed in a year and a half, and the second in six months' time. I've got coverage through Fry's, and to say that they're difficult in this area is a ridiculous understatement.

I am subbing for a friend of mine, teaching a cartooning class in Seattle. Just two days, but the early and the late day classes, which means working on my other work in a coffee shop in Capitol Hill waiting for the second class of the day after the first is finished. A distraction, but the nerves leading up to doing it were far more distracting. It's a great place, the kids are very cool for the most part, and I like doing it.

I'm working on a mini comic and a larger project or three as well. I like being busy, but this is a little too much.

But things are thinning out, focusing and looking up. I will have a real blog post up this weekend, and I'll update every couple of days after that. If you subscribe to this, I'll try to make it worth your while once again. If you don't subscribe, my aim is to make you do so.

Thanks

T

One Thing About This Blog

2010-07-09T00:02:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

I'm coming back to posting on this blog after an extended hiatus. In the time I've been gone, apparently viewing this blog as it was created has become difficult using some browsers.

Now, I don't know it it's a Google/Blogger thing or a Firefox thing, but many of the images posted here are not showing up when I look at this blog in Firefox. That goes for my other blogs as well. It's not me, it's not you, it is THEY. I've written to both outfits, but Mozilla is very unresponsive to any requests for assistance with Firefox and I don't think anyone works for Google anymore. Getting a tech response from them is like writing "Help" on a napkin, putting it in a bottle and tossing it into the ocean.

However, newish browser Google Chrome, while awful for some things (like navigating and using Facebook), turns out to be excellent for viewing Google brand blogs. Coincidence? I'm thinking not.

If reading this blog is what you're here for, pull up a chair. If seeing the entire blog, pictures included, was your reason for stopping by, I'd try Chrome for the time being*. I haven't checked with Safari yet, since that's on my Mac, used for real work and not for horsing off making blog posts. I'll look into it.

And IE is still a cartoonishly bad way to look at the web, so I'm not even going to try that. Ecch.

*Of course, Google Chrome, like all browsers, is totally free and downloads in minutes. If you don't like it, you can always uninstall it later. It will easily import all of your bookmarks/favorites from your other browsers for you as well at the tap of your finger, so that nightmare can't hurt you anymore.

TD

Toy Story 3- Official Trailer

2009-10-09T21:29:00.000-07:00

My New Obsession- Letters of Note

2009-10-06T16:56:00.000-07:00

I'm a history enthusiast. I love the past so much that I'm making some right now as I type this. This site, Letters of Note, is a repository of photographs, links and especially of letters. Letters written by one person, intended to communicate to select recipients. It paints a living portrait of some events from our past and I'm telling you, it's terrific.

There is a letter there from Fidel Castro, then only fourteen years old, written to Franklin Delano Roosevelt. I never knew any such letter existed. There are letters of complaint sent to the FBI detailing the dangers of exposure to Elvis Presley. Alleta Sullivan's letter, also to Roosevelt, on the occasion of the deaths of all five of her sons in Naval battle, and FDR's personal letter in response.

An enthusiastic letter from Philip K. Dick to the producer of the Blade Runner movie just as it was coming together is presented in it's entirety. The letters David Berkowitz sent to the media while continuing his "Son of Sam" murders are here. There you'll find a short, loving note written on the back of a significant envelope by Frida Kahlo, to Diego Rivera. Poke around and you'll see a letter to Dwight Eisenhower from no one but Jackie Robinson, demanding change in the ugly, racially discriminatory practices and regulations that at the time were strangling all of the good out of the country. Jackie effin' Robinson!

That link once more, for those too lazy to scroll up to the top of this post again: Letters of Note. I can almost guarantee you'll bookmark it and return to it again and again.

Twitter and Shame

2009-10-02T14:19:00.000-07:00

I'm, uh... I'm on Twitter now. I just accidentally the whole internet now. Ugh.

Anyway, if you're on Twitter, or if you care to check out my twittery thing, I'm this guy: @tomdougherty.

I hate myself.

For Any Who Haven't Seen It, The EMMY AWARD WINNING Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog!

2009-09-21T07:06:00.001-07:00

Although they had to virtually create a new category to do it, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences awarded Joss Whedon's Dr. Horrible with a statuette last night. If you haven't seen this short film yet, here's your big chance:

Here's the funny pre-recorded acceptance skit, featuring the whole cast:

Hollywood Name Calling Vol. 2

2009-08-26T01:35:00.000-07:00

Keith David, David Keith.

Hollywood Name Calling Vol. 1

2009-08-22T02:53:00.001-07:00

Bill Nye/Bill Nighy

Mena Suvari/Mira Sorvino

Here's a Little Something

2009-08-21T17:57:00.000-07:00

I contributed this tiny monkey doodle to Chris Estey's Get Well Quick Card last year and literally forgot all about it. His wife Heidi showed up with a little zine thing that Chris had put together all about his sickness (a kind of flesh-eating thing) and his convalescence, and this image was part of the card reproduced on the cover.

Looking at it was weird, since I had no recollection of drawing it whatsoever. I had assumed that my friend Jon Morris had drawn it, but it's a lot less sophisticated than anything you could attribute to him, even on his worst gin-and-flu soaked days. When I realized it was me what done it, I had that feeling you get when you see an old photograph of yourself. Not recognition, but resignation: yeah, that was me.

I do think it's kind of cute, and once I scan it I'll post a better version of it here. This is the cell phone version.

Another Amazing Sarah Silverman Impression

2009-08-19T11:18:00.000-07:00

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

That's Amy Phillips. She's very funny, as her website will attes t.

Previously: Audrey Plaza as Sarah Silverman.

So Where The Hell Have I Been?

2009-08-18T16:38:00.000-07:00

This is an old doodle from a project that was interrupted long ago. I thought it was an apt choice for this entry.

If you are or were a regular reader of this blog, I feel like I owe you an apology of sorts for posting so infrequently. I keep meaning to, but I'm still, STILL looking for a job, and I'm encountering a wall of apathy from potential employers that means working three times as hard to try to make something happen for myself.

Add to that the death of my computer. I'm borrowing a laptop from a friend of mine (Hi Adrianna!) until I get the call from Frys telling me mine has been resurrected. They said that, given my place in queue it would take two weeks to fix my HP. That is almost five times longer than it took Jesus to return, so I'm expecting big things.

Also, money is tight enough to cut off almost all of my circulation right now. I'm sticking close to home, polishing my guns and reading the Bible, looking for loopholes. I'll try to get back to the regular blog business soon, but in the meantime, everybody please surrender your jobs to me.

Thanks!

Look for me on Facebook. I'll be the one wearing a carnation.

Fun With Found Images

2009-08-13T23:49:00.001-07:00

Actual promotional shot from back in the day.

Now made at least a thousand times better.

Mysterious Mysteries of the Cell Phone Variety

2009-08-13T16:40:00.000-07:00

I'd given a lot of thought to posting this, and then I forgot all about it.

Last summer- four cell phones ago- I was awakened around 2 AM one July night by the ping of a text message being swallowed into my little LG. Thinking it might be important, not thinking at all, I sat up, grabbed the phone and opened the message.

There was no text, only an image. Only this image, accidentally sent from a stranger to my unwitting device. I don't remember if I replied- I probably did text back to tell the sender that they misdialed- but I do know I didn't receive a reply to my reply so that was the end of it.

Clearing some stuff off my external hard drive, I ran across the picture, which was cool enough to save. Again I don't know the subject, but I have to say that it's a terrific picture and a swell tattoo.

Everybody Panic!

2009-08-13T06:25:00.001-07:00

/old.

//still funny.

John Hughes

2009-08-06T22:03:00.000-07:00

You would have to be made of stone, with a cast-iron heart, dressed in hand-me-downs from Hitler not to be affected by this grueling scene from the John Hughes written/produced/directed "She's Having A Baby", an underrated, underseen film from 1988. Hughes, more so than even Tarantino, understood the use of evocative music and the way it shaped/manipulated moviegoers' emotions. Here, Kate Bush's "This Woman's Work" sets the waterworks flowing while Kevin Bacon relives all of his married life while waiting for good news, waiting for the birth of his and Elizabeth McGovern's first child. Reminiscent in some ways of the married life montage scene in the beginning of Pixar's "Up".

John Hughes died unexpectedly today, while walking with his family on a trip to Manhattan. He made more of an impact on film and on filmgoers than any dozen other filmmakers of his generation. Sure, he was funny, but his films and his writing had heart, and had soul, and that's really what sets him apart from some other heart-tuggers I could mention.

Here's that scene:

I'm inspired to post another heartbreaking scene, this one is taken from another of his non-teen movies. It's the achingly sweet-sad ending from "Planes, Trains and Automobiles". "Planes" boasts one of Steve Martin's best performances, showcases what is definitely John Candy's greatest turn at bat, and is one of the funniest "odd couple" road movies ever- maybe the best. That John Hughes felt comfortable ending his slapstick comic story with this sad, sweet moment is a true testament to his vision of what films should be- open, friendly, familial and warm. If you haven't seen this one, don't watch this video, as it is the actual finish of the film. Rent it and watch the whole thing.

Or, if you have the patience, the whole movie is now up on YouTube, so you can make a playlist and watch the whole enchilada instead of working. John would like that.

Rhonda!

2009-08-06T09:00:00.001-07:00

A newly emerging software program that allows the user to actually draw 3D wireframe models in real time. It's called Rhonda.

This is James Patterson creating his trademark fascinating figure drawings in the round.

The link for the software is down now, no doubt crushed by the mass of traffic it's drawn. Once it's up again, check it out at rhondaforever.

I got this video from drawn.ca where you'll find a little more information about the developer and even more information in the comments section.

Nobody Watches The Watchmen- Funny or Die!

2009-07-22T04:52:00.000-07:00

Nobody Watches the Watchmen - watch more funny videos

I'm piling up the geek videos lately! Whew!

From Funny or Die! comes the true story of the creation of the movie version of Watchmen. For those unfamiliar with the Watchmen book, consult wikipedia and read up on Watchmen and Alan Moore and all will be made clear.

Dr, Doom's Standup Set- NSFFF

2009-07-21T05:12:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the one, the only, Calamity Jon Morris. Let's give it up for CJ, evvabody!

Moon Landing Hoax Rehearsal Footage.

2009-07-21T04:09:00.001-07:00

Your eyes are not deceiving you. Link

Creepy Orkin Commercials

2009-07-19T01:07:00.001-07:00

It's the attitude and the voice of the bug that fills me with dread in these Orkin ads. It gives a "District 9" kind of vibe to the whole idea of insect intruders.

Jesus Swerves

2009-07-16T10:17:00.001-07:00

John Lassetter and Disney's 1983 Test Footage For "Where The Wild Things Are"

2009-07-15T23:45:00.000-07:00

This didn't set the Disney suits on fire back then, but now I'm sure Lassetter could have secured the rights to the Sendak classic, if Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers' version wasn't already on its way.

Ladybugs Swarm House- CNN Video.

2009-07-12T00:31:00.000-07:00

This is pretty interesting. As a lifelong lover of little ladybugs I like this a lot.

You want to know what I think is going on here?