Stephan Pastis's Blog, page 24

Is This an Improvement?

Alright, I've changed the strip.  I think I like it better now. As some of the comments noted, I think the "explosive" element and car element in the prior version were too distracting (Makes you momentarily search for a physical connection between the pogo stick and the event).  Now the joke is simpler, and perhaps more relatable.

Here is the new version (Click to enlarge):

So what do you think?

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polls

I Need You to Play Comics Editor

I just finished drawing this strip.  (Click on the strip to enlarge it.)

When I came up with the idea yesterday, I liked it.  At least in my head.

Now that I see it drawn, it just seems strange.  But I'm often wrong.  So don't let me influence you.

So tell me in your own opinion, what should I do with this strip?

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opinion

It Takes a Special Kind of Cartoonist to Draw Only Himself on His Next Book Cover

For my next Pearls book (due out in March, I think), I thought I'd parody an old Elvis Presley album.

Here is the origial Elvis album:

And here is my version:

Sometime in the next couple of weeks, I have to draw the cover for the next Pearls book (the one after this, due out in the fall).   Any suggestions?

I Digress for One Quick Thought of the Day

I've been watching the NFL playoffs. Which means watching truck ads.

Why do all these trucks have to have tough, outdoorsy names?

It's all so redundant. There's the "Ranger", the "Tundra", the "Yukon", the "Silverado", and my favorite, the "Avalanche". Because nothing says tough quite like a natural disaster. Then there's the "Dodge Ram," which the deep-voiced announcer says is "RAM TOUGH!"

If any of these companies really want their truck to stand out in a crowded marketplace, why don't...

We Pause for This Commercial from "Head and Shoulders" Shampoo

More honeymoon stories to come.

But in the meantime, I recently spoke at an event in Walnut Creek, California with fellow cartoonist Darrin Bell ("Candorville").  As it turns out, the event was videotaped.

I've had it suggested to me that the videotape would make a great drinking game, where people watching could drink beer every time I scratched the back of my head.  But that's a bad idea, because you'd pass out before the end of the video and miss even more of my head scratching.

Click HERE...

Get Me Out of Brindisi, Pleasie: Honeymoon of the Damned, Part Two

It was 7 am and Staci and I were stuck in a bleak train terminal in a place called Brindisi, which I'm now certain is Italian for "you don't want to be here."

We didn't plan to get off the train in Brindisi.  That was determined by the other four passengers in our six-passenger train cabin out of Venice.  Three of them smoked the entire train ride.  That was too bad because none of them were seated by the window, so all the smoke had to first be filtered through my lungs.

I was bummed about...

Honeymoon of the Damned

In the summer of 1989, I backpacked through Europe with nothing but a Eurorail pass and a Let's Go travel guide.

Each day, I took out a big rail map of Europe and went to the places I felt like visiting.  The red light district of Amsterdam.  The cafes of Paris.  The beaches of Sicily.  I slept in railroad stations, strangers' houses and the occasional hostel.

Four years later, in 1993, I thought I'd do it again.  Same spontaneity.  Same free-spiritedness.  Same sense of adventure.

The only...

A Man, A Plan, A Bump on the Head

I don't like using public restrooms.

Because I don't like touching the door handle on the way out.

So after I wash my hands, I save the towel, and use it to open the door.

But the restroom I was in last week didn't have towels.  It had one of those blow dry things.

So in that case, I always have a Plan B.

Plan B is to extend my sweatshirt sleeve so that it covers my hand, and open the door.  The skin of my hand touches nothing.

But I wasn't wearing a sweatshirt.  I had on a t-shirt.

That's when I...

It's Enough To Make a Person Sick

Look at this list of the topselling box calendars on Amazon.

Other than The Office and Dilbert, it's filled with sickeningly sweet bunnies and kitties and puppies.  That's just too much cuteness.

Let's send those people a message and buy a calendar filled with cynical animals and death.

Like, for example, these guys:

Please.  Help strike a blow for snarkiness.

And defeat those cuddly bunnies.

Is That a Banana in Your Pocket, or a BUH-nan-uh?

"Banana" is pronounced "buh-NAN-uh."

It's a strict rule.

I know that because I tried to break it at the cafe near my house this morning.

I asked for a "BUH-nan-uh."

"A what?" asked the cafe employee.

"A BUH-nan-uh," I repeated.

"A buh-NAN-uh?" she asked, a little impatient.

"A BUH-nan-uh," I repeated.

"One of these?" she asked, pointing to a banana and looking at me as though I were a toddler.

I nodded.

She shook her head.

"You know, in my six years here, I've never heard anybody pronounce it...