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You know how it goes. You’re reading the comments on a blog that doesn’t have a thing to do about politics, when another commentor says something politcal that doesn’t match up with your worldview and OOO it makes me SO MAD and if nobody responds to him everyone will think he’s RIGHT and HE’LL WIN and so it’s PHYSICALLY IMPOSSIBLE FOR ME TO RESTRAIN MYSELF FROM WRITING A SCATHING TWELVE-PARAGRAPH REBUTTAL!

Well! Now, instead of putting that twelve-paragraph rebuttal in the comments section on the blog’s main page, you can say, “Prithee, sir! You have wounded the honor of my faction! I challenge you to a duel of wits in … the Cockpit!” And then everyone who’s interested can go over there and yell “Fight! Fight! Fight!” And everyone else can ignore it.

Yes, the Cockpit is a new section of the Comics Curmudgeon Community forums site. You need to register to post there if you don’t already have a forums account, but it’s free to do so. I’m not saying that anything political should be posted there, but if you find yourself getting into a heated back and forth with another poster — about politics or anything else, for that matter — then you should go over there to do it. Because if you don’t, you’ll find that the text of the posts that make up the argument on the main site will be magically replaced with a link to a thread over at the Cockpit, where said text will magically reappear. (And by “magically,” I mean “I’m going to do it.”) Feel free to bash your heads open to your heart’s content, all!

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Well, the suspense is over and I’ve picked the winner. I have to say that it was incredibly hard and part of the reason that I’ve taken so long to pick the winner is that they were all so good. In a very real sense, you’re all winners! But in an even realer sense, only one of you is the winner, and that one of you is “Lucy Van Pelt,” whose entry just seemed to exude a certain je ne sais Margo to me. For mug purposes, I’ve filled in her word balloon:

And yes, this mug is now available at my store at CafePress! Click here to order yours! Lucy herself will of course be getting a free mug in the mail.

In addition, as promised, Dave Willis‘s super-awesome Margo Warhol graphic is going on a t-shirt:

The colors of this graphic seem to work perfectly with CafePress’s new black t-shirt. They’ve just introduced black tees at CafePress and say they can’t guarantee delivery times. Hopefully it won’t take too long, as I’m definitely ordering one of these for myself!

Again, judging this contest was really, really hard for me, and of course my final decision was to a certain extent arbitrary. Perhaps you’d like to see one of the other contestants on a mug or garment of your choice! If so, just e-mail me and I’ll send you a high-quality image of any of the other photos and drawings submitted. (Here’s the lot of them, for reference.) You can then upload them to CafePress yourself and make your own counter-winner. You’ll stick it to the man! (Meaning me.)

Since I was updating my store anyway, I took the opportunity to do a little housecleaning. I’ve added a couple of new shirt styles. The first is for anyone who loves double entendres and public domain clip art.

Work it, people, work it! (If this baffles you, click here and scroll down for the context for this quote.) This shirt is available for the gents and the ladies.

And, finally, if you want to cement your status as an above-it-all hipster with a t-shirt bearing an incomprehensible slogan, check this out:

Wear this shirt to remind you where to find more information about licorice. (Again, you can click here to learn more about learning more about licorice, but it doesn’t make a ton more sense in context.) This t-shirt is great fun for a boy or a girl.

There are still classic Comics Curmudgeon garments at the store, of course: Brick House exercise gear, a Fence Post Frank hat, Canadian Jive-Talkin’ intimate wear, and, of course, “More Zippers, Mule!” Check it out!

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Baldo, 6/21/06

Hey, Baldo, not everybody who objects to improper use of quotation marks is a humorless pedant, OK? We know how to have a good time! We know how to cut loose! We do that by dressing up as characters from a soap opera comic strip!

I wouldn’t expect you to understand.

Folks, I need to say that I am totally awestruck by your response to this project. As if I wasn’t already feeling all warm and fuzzy that several thousand people a day come visit to share my obsession with all things comical, I’ve apparently convinced 15 otherwise sane individuals to dress up like a character from soap opera comic strip and send me their pictures. I’m about to cry a single majestic tear myself.

In the most important sense, you are all winners. But since this is America and we’re not commie pinkos, only one of you will actually be the winner and appear on a mug. Which one of you that will be, I cannot say at this time. I will probably dedicate a lot of thought on the subject this weekend and come to my Solomonic decision on Monday, though I guarantee nothing about that schedule. Meanwhile, though, let’s all look at and appreciate the truly amazing folks who sent me their wacky pictures.

Let’s start with the pics I posted last week. First there’s AirForbes:

RetroVirus:

Bria:

Lucy Van Pelt (including a pic she sent that I didn’t run before, altered with the magic of Photoshop filters):

And Dr. Jeff Cory, the only male type with the cojones to enter:

Now, the new batch! First off is a contestant who didn’t respond to my question about what name she’d like to be known as … I’ll just call her “Contestant #1”:

Here’s JennyFromDaBuck:

Margaret, who served as the model portion of a team that also included Justin and Dji:

Miss Molly:

A couple from mon-ma-tron, the first naturalistic, the second Photoshoppified:

Rem Koolhaas:

Talia:

tanya2s (note subtle Photoshoppery):

And, last but certainly not least, here’s an entry from a dynamic duo of sisters, tracibub and jenners (it’s not clear to me which one was behind the camera and which one was in front of it):

Then there are the drawings. Dave Willis’ Margo à la Warhol is bound for glory:

Then we have this offering from the Baldwin Gallery:

Pantsman offers this exercize in mashups/copyright violation (“This will likely make a lot more sense if you’ve actually seen the Family Guy episode in which crazy Margot Kidder has dinner with the Griffins,” he says):

Finally, there’s this compelling yet terrifying drawing from CulturePulp artist Mike Russell:

Enjoy! While I figure out how the hell I’m going to pick just one. What have I gotten myself into?

Meanwhile, don’t forget the golden rule of commenting on these pictures, which is that they are your fellow community members so BE NICE. This rule can be broken down into two categories: DON’T BE MEAN and DON’T BE CREEPY! Don’t mess up my warm and fuzzy love for you all by breaking the rules, people!

UPDATE: It’s been pointed out to me, quite rightly, that we ought to have the original for comparison. Here she is, in all her glory: