Alaska Robotics

I hear Paul is retiring. Probably a good idea to lie low for a while.

• Comic – Paul the Psychic Octowurst

I made it back from the cabin in time to catch the 4th of July and a few world cup games. I was rooting for the Netherlands in the final but wasn’t disappointed when Spain finally finished.

Spain is one of the few places I’ve traveled outside the United States. It was a while back but I still have vivid memories. They had incredible pistachio ice cream which I ate almost every day.

Seeing real castles was amazing, I toured the Alhambra and the Royal Palace of Madrid. I discovered a love for shipwreck paintings at the Prado and was overwhelmed by the badass goofy horse in Picasso’s Guernica at the Reina Sofía.

Plaza Mayor had a horse statue that was covered in bird shit. Everything was covered in bird shit.

People painted and danced in the narrow streets and the buildings were all leaned up against each other like old men with sore feet. The best day was when I was tricked into eating a plate of bologna and then lost my virginity hiding from a thunderstorm.

I need to travel more.

Update: Just found this great picture on Flickr – Octowurst. I’m reminded of the boiled hot dog and spaghetti trick, a great way to make your own – Octoweenies!

I’m heading out to the cabin at the end of the week and probably won’t have time to post new comics or films until I get back around the 4th of July.

I’m hoping to get some fishing in but it’s mostly a work trip, fix what’s broken, patch what’s leaking, try to straighten out the foundation without dropping the cabin on my head. That sort of thing.

The trip is also for Rod Selvig’s memorial service, the good mayor of Idaho Inlet. Rod lived at Nip & Tuck, about a half mile down the beach from our place, and we always stopped by for a visit when we were out that way.

We spent a lot of time playing horseshoes, drinking Rainier, and listening to his stories. He had a gravel voice and a sparkle in his eye, just looking at him you knew the guy could move a mountain if he wanted to. He was rare.

• Rodney Peter Selvig

Fake news. It’s exactly the same as the real news but slightly less absurd.

I want to make more of these but I’ve got too much work this next week and then I’m heading out to my cabin until the end of the month.

I guess the oil spill will still be here when I get back… that’s depressing.

Really, why don’t they just drop a giant boulder on the thing? Bill Nye the Science Guy says we need one that weighs about 6000 tons.

I’m trying to get out of town in June, waaaay out of town, but I have a lot of work to finish before I can leave. Good thing I’m not getting distracted by drawing comics and making short films.

• Comic – Work

In this age of werewolves and vampires I am definitely on team count. He has a contagious enthusiasm and finds joy in the mechanics of the world. I like that.

• Comic – Single

For those of you interested in such things, you can listen to the entire Ratatat LP4 on NPR. Also, new tunes from the Kleptones and an amazing repository of music at the Bomarr Blog.

New music keeps the wheels turning.

• Comic – Paper Crane

Update – I edited the comic, took out a few frames and adjusted some shading. I like it much better now.

This was a mostly true story, let’s call it historical fiction. I’m not sure what inspired the idea of exploded origami or if it’s even something original but I love the thought of all those cranes and frogs with little skeletons inside and guts that will spill out if you open them.

Hmmm… Can we call it gorygami or is that too cheesy?

Hey look at that, it’s a bonus Tarsier Monkey!!

Last week we were on the road filming in Yakutat. I love the place, the coast is incredible and our hosts, Gloria, Mandi, and Ralph were great!! We learned all about Yakutat history from the locals, picked up some language playing Tlingit Uno, and had plenty of opportunnity to go out and explore.

Good adventures. Lou tried to shoot himself out of a cannon…

Aaron drove the tank…

.. and I pulled a boomerang out of the river.

I did a few sketches on my notepad when I had time. The grade students were participating in a Tlingit Language performance and I tried to capture the hope, pride, embarrassment, and mischief in their faces. Other sketches came from the dance group practice and various meetings I attended.

Update: I posted this essay a while back but deleted it because I thought it was too meandering and boring. I got a few positive emails from the people who caught it on the RSS feed (including my naked friend!) so I decided to resurrect the post. I added a sketch of a flying whale-fish for anyone who, like me, feels a little better about large blocks of text when they are accompanied by such creatures.

I went to dinner with a group from Oceana last night. My girlfriend and cousin work there so I slipped in as a guest. I should clarify, my cousin and girlfriend are two separate people. Just didn’t want any confusion. Moving on.

We dove into conversation about oil spills, war, human nature, tea parties and shrimping. The nice thing about a massive oil spill is that it launches some great conversations, the kind of conversations that almost always end up in the realm of overwhelming questions that can’t be answered seriously. I had a friend who always ended these kind of conversations by stripping off her clothes and going to live in the woods. I haven’t heard from her in a while but she’s smart so she probably figured out how to make fire and hunt and then eventually built a little house and started the whole industrial revolution over again from scratch. Human nature.

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Hello world.

We’re doing some website spring cleaning over the next week or two, maybe you have some suggestions?

We’re looking for functional fixes, ideas about delivery. Can you find what you’re looking for when you get here? How do you get updates about the site? Facebook, Email, RSS, Carrier Pigeon?

Did you ever use the old bbPress forum? Would you like to see relevant comments preserved and migrated to WordPress?

What do you like about the site? What sucks?

I think of the website as an envelope, I want it to be functional and I want it to look presentable but mostly it just needs to be a good container for the comics and films stuffed inside. If you can’t get past the packaging we’re doing something wrong.

• Comic – Mt. Tabor

Yesterday I went running up the winding trails of Mt. Tabor in Portland. I put in several miles and was just about to head down when I saw a sign labeled “Volcano.”

The sign could have read “Tsunami” or “It’s a Trap,” and I would have followed it. I’m curious.

I ran up to the top of a giant hill and when I got there… nothing.

Disappointed, I turned to go and all my senses were hit at once. The rushing wall of heat from the pyroclastic flow, the sweet sulfuric ruin of magma, the distant drumming and countless hipsters screaming to their fell gods.

Volcanos. This is why I love Portland.