My friends are dying.
Posted on April 25, 2009 | by Donna Barstow
By “friends,” I mean my favorite TV shows, but no, I’m not exaggerating. I look forward to certain shows all day or all week. And then I get a little nerdy, and run over to TWOP (Television Without Pity) to see what those guys have to say about it. (Diff shows draw different commenters. Some are smarter than others. You have been warned.) I love my TV shows.
Life on Mars is dead and buried. Prison Break has been pronounced dead by Fox for 3 months now, with just a few shows left, moved to the always dead Friday. I’ll write about them later. But Reaper, the rare comedy-drama that works both ways, and is totally, always compelling has just recently been pronounced dead by Hollywood Reporter. I think it’s a premature burial, and still very much alive. Let’s work to save the one that still has a chance first, shall we? (Full disclosure: before I became this cartoonist person, I worked in the studios for a few years, and so I think behind the scenes as much as in front of the screen.)
About Barack Obama: “I can’t believe it’s been 100 days and he’s still standing. Do you think it’s like Reaper, and he made a deal with the Devil?” © D. Barstow 2009, All rights reserved.
If you liked The Screwtape Letters, (yes, the same C. S. Lewis who wrote the Narnia books, which are much better books than movies) you’ll love Reaper. Read the rest
Getting the E Ticket to Disneyland!
Posted on April 24, 2009 | by Donna Barstow
“Nice, but the one at Disneyland was better.” All rights ©D. Barstow 2009
The topic for Illustration Friday this week is “impossibility.”
Well, the suitcase is talking, right? And sometimes it seems an impossibility that I’m a real cartoonist. More later.
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Notice anything different? I’m redoing the colors & tweaking the design. This takes forever, as I never learned CSS properly - and actually, I don’t know who has memorized the mess, anyway. Does anyone know a css app that would be helpful with this, maybe have shortcuts? Anyway, comments on the changes are welcome.
The Drawing & idea
Once upon a time, there used to be many magazines and papers that used cartoons, and one that bought a lot was called something like Travel Weekly, or Travel & Conventions. (actually, I forget the name, but it was out of NJ.) You know it’s an older cartoon because no one carries suitcases like this anymore! It’s all soft poochy things, or ones that have wheels, that have soft flexible sides. That are getting smaller each year, to fit the airlines new regulations and extra charges.
Anyway, a good portion of travel time seems to be spent at the carousel, waiting for baggage to come down, and wondering if someone, anyone, will pick me up to take me to the next destination. Cause they have to wait for me, to wait for the bags, to wait for the handlers…
It’s just a quick sketch, that took longer than I would have liked, since I didn’t know how to draw the carousel.
Which brings us to Disneyland. When I first moved out here, I kept hearing about Knott’s Berry Farm, and the name alone was enough to turn me off. Read the rest
Who doesn’t hate AIG?
Posted on March 26, 2009 | by Donna Barstow
“Now I’m confused. Is that a black hole, or the maws of AIG?” Cartoon ©D. Barstow 2009
Who doesn’t love a cartoon bashing AIG, the worst insurance company of all time? And there’s a dog in it for you, too.
I’m choosing this cartoon for the Illustration Friday assignment, Subtract. All artists know that means you better deal with the negative space, dude! (subtract it) This was for Slate, and I did it right before the big news broke about AIG asking for even more money, for those f-ing bonuses. On this day it was just “normal” money they wanted.
I thought it was an insurance company, but some cartoonists were doing it as a bank…I think it’s an insurance company FOR banks. But this whole idea that the world’s economy will collapse if AIG dies is a bunch of baloney. I don’t believe it for a minute, and I’m sure there’s at least one more cartoon heading down that road.
The Drawing
I had a somewhat modified version of this cartoon that I did years ago, when I did a whole bunch of astronomy cartoons. I knew a couple of cartoonists - Sidney Harris and Nick Downes - who were doing pretty well doing cartoons for science magazines. I decided astronomy was the most interesting part of science, aside from natural history. Read the rest
I only use Paul Newman’s legendary salad dressing.
Posted on March 19, 2009 | by Donna Barstow
“I’m thinking about putting my face on our new product line, like Paul Newman does…would that turn you on?” ©D.Barstow 2009
I heart Paul Newman! Not so much for his movies, although he was great - but for entering my own life by doing movies on location, where I found him in person.
I was dating the special effects guy on one film, and I remember he had to build a special sweat hut so Paul could sweat off all the beer he drank each day and still look trim for the film. (What, no Paul Newman beer? I think I saw a beer in his hand most of the time.) Read the rest