Stephan Pastis's Blog, page 32

Intimate Moments in the Life of Stephan Pastis

I'm posting very compelling videos of myself on Facebook, but for some reason or other, WordPress isn't allowing me to post them here.  So friend me on Facebook, and see these masterpieces of cinema.

Even Slacker Cartoonists Need Vacations

I am going to Lake Tahoe.  I am going to teach my son Thomas to gamble.  He is only eleven, but we will exploit that to charm the blackjack dealers.

Riches await.  As does Thomas' learning of a valuable life-skill.

They just don't make fathers better than me.

Something I Know I'm Going To Regret Admitting About My Cell Phone

Two things seem to happen to me a whole lot when I use my cell phone in the car.

Either (1) The battery fails, or (2) I lose reception and the call is dropped.

Out of courtesy for the person on the other end of the phone, I try to warn them in advance that I might lose the call either because my battery is showing it's down to one bar or the reception in the area I'm driving through is bad.

It happens so often that people inevitably ask me why I don't get one of those chargers that plug into the ci

And Now a Few Words From the Creator of One of the World's Most Beloved Family Comics

On Thursday night, I was drinking at a bar in the Gaslamp district of San Diego.  There I ran into 'Family Circus' creator Jeff Keane.  My spotlight panel at Comic-Con was scheduled for the next day.

"Hey Jeff, you have to come to my panel tomorrow," I told him.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because every time I do a panel, someone inevitably asks me what other cartoonists think when I parody their strips."'

"So?" he said.

"So if somebody asks that question, I can surprise everyone by introducing you and showing

Drowning Out the Voices in my Head

I do not like our icemaker.

It's in the door of the refrigerator that my wife Staci bought.  And it's too loud.   I'm not sure what it's doing back there, but it can drown out a bugle.

I also do not like our answering machine.   It's next to the phone I never answer.  And when I don't answer it, the person talks into the machine.  But I don't want to hear their voice.  So I try to lower the volume, but it's at the back of the machine, and when I pull the machine out, the cord won't budge and all t

The Pearls iGoogle page

Just got back from Comic-Con in San Diego.  Thanks for all those who came to my talk and to the book signings. I had a great time.

And, I just heard that Google is now giving people the chance to personalize their Google page with Pearls Before Swine art.  The art rotates throughout the day too, giving you a whole bunch of different Pearls designs.

Click HERE for the Google art.

Just a Reminder

I will be at this year's Comic-Con, taking place this week in San Diego, California.

I will be on two panels.  The first is this one on Friday, July 24:

Friday, 4:00 – 5:00 pm Spotlight on Stephan Pastis: Stephan Pastis (Pearls Before Swine) shares his unlikely tale of how he went from being a full-time lawyer to one of the most popular syndicated cartoonists in newspapers today, including a rundown of some his most popular strips, and some that weren't so popular.  Room 2

The second panel is a gr

I May Be Contacting a Lawyer

For those of you wondering if I've seen today's Family Circus, the answer is yes.  In it, creator Jeff Keane mocks Pearls Before Swine.

If you haven't yet seen the strip, I present it below.  Please take a close look at the book in Daddy Keane's hands.

If you can't read it, the book's title is "Pig and Rat Get Lost."  And it bores the Keane kids so much, they leave the room.

I am now thinking about filing a lawsuit against the Keane family for their appropriation of my characters' names.  But havin

Some News About Courage

I am afraid of everything.

Dogs.  Earthquakes.  Flying.  Family.

I am also a whiner.  A whiner who needs to control his surroundings.

That means that everything needs to be just the way I like it,  especially when it comes to writing the strip.

The drapes have to be closed.  The right music has to be on my iPod.  The little Kleenex that sticks up from the top of the box cannot be sticking up from the top of the box (I tuck it back in).  And if my boxers are too tight, I will change them.

These two ba

Radio Free Pearls

Hey, for those of you who have absolutely nothing better to do tonight, come listen to my boring voice live on KSRO News Talk. I'm supposed to be on live from 5 pm to 5:40 or so (Pacific Standard Time). Maybe we should turn it into a drinking game, where you have to drink every time someone says "Pearls."
To stream the show, just click on the link below:
KSRO News Radio

And please, drink responsibly.

www.ksro.com