Ludicrous Intellect, Chimney Pigeons

One of the neat things about the old Karloff style Frankenstein Monster is that in caricature, the cranium can be stretched to ludicrous proportions, and still look "right".

-- So, you've got all that space, doctor -- why not use it?? Yes, let's have a monster with not one, not two, but three brains!! Of course, as any freshman in Mad Scientist College knows, you'll have to wire up the brains just right : in series -- NOT parallel. Not done properly, instead of a creature with three times the intellect of a normal person, you'll end up with a schizo with three different personalities; this is something useful to know, even if you are not going for an advanced degree in Trespassing in Realms Not to Be Traveled By Mortal Man.

Time for some pigeons on a chimney!




Not sure what caused me to scribble this on a Post-It, but apparently, it means something along the lines of "the Geek of dead camels". Hmmmm

Spidery Pizzaz in a Jar

Today, I thought the blog could really use a sketch of some guy (maybe a strange guy!) looking at a jar of spiders. I think it's important that have something like that here...

Some random pics from my meanderings about town

This is something from my would-be feature, Snardo & Linky It was captioned: Don't you hate having to work on Company Morale?

Clown Chair Rules

Penciled this from an earlier sketch. If anybody out there is even thinking about flaunting convention, I hope this gives them pause.

A couple of pics from around the neighborhood

Wouldn't you say it's about time for another distrubing clown pic?

metamorphic abstraction of success

When does what we think of as a successful life get "locked" in to our brains? Well for some, maybe it never does, but I'd guess there are many of us who decided when we were twelve years old, or there abouts, what we wanted to "be" when we grew up. No matter how successful we may get, if it doesn't match what that twelve-year-old imagined, perhaps there will never be a feeling of total "success"...

(left click to enlarge)

Some random pics from around town

Harshing the Mellow Train

Thought up this utterly silly bit of business while sitting on the train one day:

NIGHT HIPPY -- Cursed to spend the daylight hours as Straight-Edge Square Brad Johns, Night Hippy emerges from his L7 Cocoon only after the last ray of sunshine has kissed sweet Mother Earth, and the psychedelic rainbow-black of night blows the planet's mind. As the populous lay craddled in the arms of Morpheus, Night Hippy continues his lonely, never ending trip: The Eternal battle against the mellow-harshing forces of The Man.

AND speaking of the train... more views from out the Metra window:

Atlas Exhortation, Chair Goliath

I was thinking of a sort Charles Atlas type ad that one would see in the comic books, but instead of exhorting the "98 pound weakling" to build himself up in to a confident he-man, it would just offer some course that would teach him to accept his situation. That idea eventually evolved into the "job ad" that follows:

(as usual, left click to enlarge)

More pics from the commute to work

Man -- are those people small! --- Ha, ha... No, the chair is just BIG! I ran across these happy marketeers in the Ogilivie Transportation Center on Friday, and they were nice enough to pose for some pictures.

Creep Ambiance, Salty Streets

Doodled the face below, and thought -- hey, that looks kind of creepy -- not a particularly bad looking fellow, but maybe someone who'd be part of some sordid secret society or movement back in 1920s Germany if he'd lived back then; but since he's in the modern world, he just tries to recreate the look, feel and ambiance of such a milieu.

Hey, been pretty nice weather this week in Chicago -- let's see how things looked six months ago (as viewed from the Metra commuter train):

Wow, that looked like a fun time of the year!

Another background image from the Way Too Serious strip

Public Spirited Madison Gets Clocked

See: I care about people!:

Some more Downtown pics from Tuesday

I see this every day on the way to work. I don't know if the place is even occupied.
Special to the Blog: This is something I like to call Posable armature lounging on chess clock as miniature Madison watches time tick away

Motivation 'R' Us

This cartoon is from around 1990, I think (has my "old" signature on it...)

Ha, Ha! -- my life's philosophy! ...Just Kidding, Ha, Ha! -- Hmmm -- UH, OH...

Scenes seen from Michigan Ave and and Grant Park on 7/22/08

This one is a little murky, but I like how a bit of the sun is just coming over the top of the monument, sparkling like a star in the night.

Propeller Beanie Wacker Geese

Here's a little something from 1998, Hmmm interesting; As was typical, I'm sure I was considering a change employment at the time...

This brings up an important question: Whither the Propeller Beanie?! A staple of modern Space-Age comedy, when an adult person wearing a propeller beanie appeared on screen (big or small), it would literally tap the Zeitgeist Bone of the Nation (or even the WORLD, and ......BEYOND...?); It commanded the instant reaction of "Hey, that guy's not right in the head -- but in a real zany way! Ha, Ha!!"

But, alas, I speak of the past.

Maybe I've not been looking in the right places, but I can't recall the last time I saw a new movie or TV show that had someone wearing a PB. In our mad quest for outragously insipid entertainment, have we lost something pure and magical? Has the propellor beanie gone the way of the diaper-clad, cigar-smoking, hack-coughing dwarf?

GEESE ON WACKER DRIVE!

Something I drew last Sunday for a friend of mine after we'd discussed parasols. Golly, I think it's darn whimsical: