drew weing dot com

I finished a story for the upcoming SPX anthology. It’s a seven pager that’s basically in the same vein as the untitled mini I did last year. It’s a dream comic, but hopefully it turned out more interesting than such things usually do. We’ll see if they pick it up.

Two weeks ago we went to a “going away party” of sorts for our friend Chris Wright, who’s finally cleared out of Savannah after getting his masters degree. A bunch of us drove out to the beach at Tybee Island at night, drank some beer, and kicked around in the surf. Chris is an amazing cartoonist, and a big influence on me. He’ll be sorely missed – especially when we’re down drinking at Moon River.

I wish he would finish his website, so I could link to it… eh, screw it, I’ll just link to the unfinished website.

Eleanor and I finally bought a bunch of frames at Michael’s for the original art we’ve had for a while (by Chris Wright and others,) so we’ve hung it about the house. I’ve been meaning to take a bunch of pictures and put them online – I think we’re both pretty pleased with the way the place is looking.

For the 4th of July weekend, Antar and I went to visit Rose in Orlando. Orlando is one messed-up city – the epitome of urban sprawl. Everyone’s down there “flipping condos” and building developments. Anyway, we poked around the Virgin Megastore and the rest of “Downtown Disney.” There seemed to a tour group of midgets there at the same time, which (though completely un-P.C.) was very amusing. We ended up leaving on the evening of the 4th – the entire drive up 95 was punctuated by fireworks displays in the distance – and I drank 3 Red Bulls trying to keep my eyes open on the road (I had trouble sleeping the night before, and wound up lying awake and reading Burgess’s “A Clockwork Orange” instead of catching those vital Zzz’s.)

Next post: You Ain’t No Dancer!

Last Thursday, Eleanor and I stopped by her old apartment to check her mail. And guess what we found under the front porch?

Yes, a tiny, lost kitten, ceaselessly mewing. Since there was no sign of other cats or kittens around, and the porch faces out onto a very busy street, we couldn’t just leave it there. So us and a neighbor spent a good hour trying to lure her into a cat carrier, even trying elaborate tricks involving trails of food. Eventually, the neighbor just grabbed it and popped it in.

The next morning we took her to the vet, and got rid of her fleas, earmites, and other assorted bugs. According to the vet, she’s about six weeks old, and healthy for a stray. She’s too young to be tested for feline leukemia quite yet, so we’ve been keeping her isolated from Momo, Eleanor’s cat. Later this week, she’s back to the vet for a round of shots and what-not.

We’ve tentatively given her the name of Detroit Pepperoni. Even though when we found her, she was very skittish, she got completely acclimated to people in just a day or two. She’s very playful, and loves to attack shoelaces, fingers, toes, and anything else that wiggles. Here’s a short movie I took of her with my digital camera, that should play in Quicktime if nothing else.

We’re probably not going to be able to keep her. And we’re definitely not putting her in the shelter. So does anyone want a kitten?

If we can’t find a good home for her, we might end up foisting her on my mom.

Been a while since I posted… lessee, what have I been up to? I spent the better part of a week helping Eleanor move her stuff into my apartment, and rearranging everything to fit. We both have a lot of junk, so it’s been quite a Tetris puzzle. A lot of it is getting thrown or given away, inevitably. A lot of action figures, comics and other geeky stuff I’ve long since outgrown. I’m thinking about taking most of it out and selling it at Keller’s Flea Market later this summer, which should be a lot of fun. Maybe I’ll even make back the table fee. Eleanor and I also spent a good couple of days cleaning her old place, and doing some necessary repainting (Poster putty is an evil, evil invention. Don’t be drawn in by its convenience. It will extract its price later down the line).

Once we’re done rearranging the house and studio, maybe I’ll take a few pictures and post them up. It’s going to look pretty snazzy.

On a related note, it seems like everyone I know is redesigning their website recently. Maybe it’s something in the air, because I’ve been feeling like mine is a bit on the stale side as well. But only if I have the time. My main priority at the moment is trying to finish a story for the upcoming SPX anthology. After that, I’d like to finally finish my piece for the Flight anthology, if they’ll still have me. That “one panel at a time” comic I’ve been posting over the last couple months should hopefully work it’s way into a complete minicomic before SPX rolls around. I have a couple other short comic stories I’d like to get out of my system as well. Not to mention the other in-progress work I have going. Eesh. I have almost no discipline, and even less skill at prioritizing.

I saw the new trailer for Burton’s new “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” movie. A lot of people have been saying good things about it, which is strange, because I found it extremely difficult to watch. It looks like a real travesty. Maybe most people are basing their expectations on the earlier movie (which is problematic in its own way), and haven’t read the book. I have no idea what Johnny Depp is trying to do in this movie, but I don’t like it.