Blank It

It looks like the auto-updater worked, right on the button at midnight Central Time. So those of us with more nocturnal habits get to enjoy our comic delight a whole quarter-turn of the earth before those so called “early birds”. That includes me, but not entirely by choice… I’m still working at churning out more of these comic nuggets for you to chew through.

I do enjoy the Monday-Thursday schedule. It’s like starting your week off right with a fresh dose of comics, and then waits awhile before satisfying you on that comic drought of a day during the tail end of the week. But still, thanks to the three-a-week crowd, we still get a high spike of traffic on Wednesdays (this has been extrapolated extensively and exhaustively by our whole statistical single week of being live). Maybe Aric and I can come up with a comic alternative for those days. A Wednesday Treat, of sorts. I’m sure most of you would prefer just another Blank It comic, but wow, these silly little strips take up a chunk of my time, and honestly, you don’t wanna know what goes into the proverbial hot dog on these things. I’m surprised more people don’t tell comic artists to get a life… I guess it’s because they don’t want to lose their fix. But anyways, until the day comes I can devote more time to this project, I’d still like to provide as much entertainment value as possible. I’ll talk to my cohort, perhaps we’ll come up with something.

On non-comic related issues, I saw the live performance of BBC’s Walking With Dinosaurs. Given the population of the stadium and the language of the host, it’s obviously geared towards kids. But if you need to be a kid to enjoy a giant T-Rex roaring onto stage in quite literally larger-than-life size, hell… I don’t ever want to grow up. If this comes to your town, don’t miss it. You could YouTube the show to get an idea of what goes on, but it doesn’t nearly deliver on the experience.

With two weeks of webcomic strips under our belts (I said “webcomic!” Did you catch that, search engines?), I am left to ponder the origins of the phrase “under our belts.” What is under our belts? Our pants? Layers of fat, perhaps? Or maybe guns stuck in there all willy-nilly? None of these options help me visualize this arbitrary milestone. Not that four comic strips on the internet can be called a milestone. I’m just using words all willy-nilly here. Shouldn’t you be gardening or something? It’s the weekend now.

It was just announced while I was posting the comic that comedian George Carlin has died of a heart failure. He was 71, so it’s not like he burned out young, but he was definitely a cornerstone of my humor in high school so I’ll remove my hat for him.

On a happy note, Ian over at Three Panel Soul proposed to his wonderful girlfriend. Congratulations, man, I wish you two all the best.

I was just the best man in my ex-roommate’s wedding (some might remember the bride Mollu from the online comic Amuse Me!), when I procured the ring from my pocket, we played the treasure found sound effect from Legend of Zelda. It was a classic geek moment, and the humor did not go unappreciated by the congregation. Score one more for nerd culture.

Go check out the new comic at Bluestar Blues. Share the geek love.

Also, my dog just turned one years old and ate a bug.

As many of you know, I write for a comic strip called Blank It. I know you know this because you’re right here right now. But I do other comedic things. Let’s focus on one of them.

I perform in an improv group called the Mustache Rangers. We perform a 1920s sci-fi radio drama parody about adventuring through space. But it isn’t just improv. There is a podcast that is up to (giggle) 69 episodes. So there is that for you to enjoy.

But really, I’m just trying to get to the fact that this week contains the Twin Cities Improv Festival! Yes, the Mustache Rangers are performing, but many great acts from around the country will be setting down in the Twin Cities for a lot of comedy.

So if you live in Minnesota, check out the Twin Cities Improv Festival website for groups, times, and tickets.

Also, I love you. That is all.

As we slog through our third week, we’ve finally built a little momentum. The show is running well, we’ve got our routine down, and most importantly, you guys are stopping by to enjoy a sample of our comic pie.

Last night was a lot of fun on the Blank It Ustream show. Thanks to those who stopped in for a bit to enjoy the comic making process. It helps me stay on track, too, so I think this will be a regular thing. Expect another show either tonight or Sunday.

Also, we’ve been getting a good number of readers wandering in from our various Project Wonderful advertisements. I’m a fan of Project Wonderful, because it works like advertising should. We have sites we enjoy, and we advertise there knowing that you might enjoy our comic as well. In turn, we’ve decided to swap out some of our Google ads for Project Wonderful spots. It’s like the grown-up version of link swapping. Verra nice.

As he already mentioned, Aric’s going to be off shaking his improv thang for the next couple days. If you’re in the Minneapolis area, I suggest checking out the shows. The Neutrino Project is like nothing you’ve seen before.

Me? I’ll be spending most of the weekend on City of Heroes. I won’t be hard to find, my global is @Lemmo, of course.