ME AM BACK FROM COMIC-CON!

If you wanna read my "inside scoop" from the panels I ended up getting into, I blogged about them for The Kansas City Star:

THE SIMPSONS PANEL

LOST PANEL

And, on a side note, why don't they just re-name "airplanes" with "germ filled traveling devices?!" I swear to God, I sound like I smoked 18 packs of cigarettes and my eyes burn if they're open or closed...

MY SIMPSONS FETISH CONTINUES...

Matt Groening gives another interview, this time to LA WEEKLY (who started publishing his Life in Hell strip back in the 80's!)



Then, Entertainment Weekly has a five page cover story about the movie, gives a pretty detailed summary of the plot, and has some great quotes from the writers and producers.



And finally, be sure to head on over to Burger King, order yourself a Kids Meal and start collecting the 16 TALKING SIMPSONS TOYS!!!

MATT GROENING ON THE DAILY SHOW

I don't think he understood what Jon was saying about Bart's age, (Not the fact that he doesn't age, but rather that Homer is 38 and yet knocked up Marge right out of high school...but Bart is only 10.) but he gives a great interview and I totally can't wait to stalk him out at Comic-Con next week.

DELIVER US FROM EVIL...

First off, if you haven't seen this brilliant (yet, extremely depressing) documentary, go out and rent it NOW.



Then, with the news that the Catholic Church is paying out $660 MILLION, (only 6 million away from being sadly ironic!) for allowing their priests to fondle children, Bill Maher is able to make a little sense out of it:

The Business of the Catholic Church

In this great and diverse country, one is always proud to see their own city on the front page of the national newspapers, so you can imagine my pride yesterday when Los Angeles turned out to be the place where the Catholic Church has had to pay the largest fine ever for diddling kids, $660 million. (Full disclosure: I was raised Catholic and I was sometimes alone with priests, although none ever tried anything. Which is a little insulting.)

Cardinal Mahoney announced that to help pay for the deal, the church would sell a building it owns on Wilshire and about 50 other properties they weren't using, which reminded me, oh yeah, the Catholic Church owns more property out here than Bob Hope did -- and why? Oh, yeah, because it's a business -- and not just a business, really, the greatest business in the world, in that, like all religions, it's selling an invisible product. It doesn't really get easier than that, unless you count Edgar Bergen, a ventriloquist on the RADIO.

The total payouts for abuse cases in dioceses all over America is now over $2 billion, and I imagine much of it came from people who went to Church and bought the invisible product by dropping their hard earned money into the basket (Full disclosure: when I was a child, that was my favorite part of the mass, and my father often let me put a quarter in). I wonder what those people think when they see that their money got spent on buying the privilege of touching and fucking kids. I was reading a week or so ago about Aga Khan, a very rich man who leads some tiny sect of Islam, and it's a good one to lead, since lots of the followers just send the dude money for being him.

It's the Ultimate Hustle.

I'M SERIOUSLY UPSET ABOUT THIS...

I couldn't even just turn in a simple, har-har-har strip this week...

IMPEACH THE BASTARD ALREADY...

I've seriously have had more than my share of bullshit from this Administration, but claiming "executive privilege" over the death of Pat Tilman is the last straw. What the fuck are they thinking?! For five weeks they fed us all the LIE that he was killed by enemy fire and turning him into some sort of "hero" all the while knowing full well that he was actually killed by "friendly fire."

This is a major cover-up. There needs to be an investigation and there needs to be accountability...I know, I know...that's CRAAAAAZY talk.

But enough is enough. It is unbelievibly crystal fucking clear that this President feels that he is above the law and that he's looking out for his own interests, instead of that of the Nation.

FIREFIGHTER'S UNION TELLS ANOTHER SIDE TO "RUDY GIULIANI 9/11 HERO"

Fuck "fair and balanced," these guys are New Yorkers and tell it like it is.



So McCain's about out, Giuliani is turning out to be a monster, just who the hell is going to save the GOP?!

MICHAEL MOORE BITCH-SLAPS WOLF BLITZER

Before interviewing Michael Moore (live) CNN airs a "Michael Moore Fudges The Facts" hitpiece and then all hell breaks loose!

1-18-08

If you saw Transformers, you've probably seen this (yet un-named) movie trailer from producer JJ Abrams and two writers from LOST. If not, prepare yourself for what looks to be a "monster movie" from the viewpoint of random people throughout town.

This is EXACTLY what trailers should be like. A fucking tease that leaves you wanting to know more! Not the "let's ruin everything for you in two minutes" shit that is far too common these days...

For more awesomeness, check out the websites and solve some puzzles.

THE SIMPSONS IN VANITY FAIR

Three awesome pieces of Simpsons goodness to chew on from the latest issue of Vanity Fair...

An interview with Conan O'Brien about working on the show and looking back at the series overall.

A exhausting look at the last 18 years and how insane it is for a cartoon about a family of yellow over-bites with goofy hair to become a phenomenon.

And finally, they pick their top ten episodes.

KEITH OLBERMANN: BUSH & CHENEY RESIGN NOW!

I accuse you, Mr. Bush, of lying this country into war.

I accuse you of fabricating in the minds of your own people, a false implied link between Saddam Hussein and 9/11.

I accuse you of firing the generals who told you that the plans for Iraq were disastrously insufficient.

I accuse you of causing in Iraq the needless deaths of 3,586 of our brothers and sons, and sisters and daughters, and friends and neighbors.

I accuse you of subverting the Constitution, not in some misguided but sincerely-motivated struggle to combat terrorists, but instead to stifle dissent.

I accuse you of fomenting fear among your own people, of creating the very terror you claim to have fought.

I accuse you of exploiting that unreasoning fear, the natural fear of your own people who just want to live their lives in peace, as a political tool to slander your critics and libel your opponents.

I accuse you of handing part of this republic over to a Vice President who is without conscience, and letting him run roughshod over it.

And I accuse you now, Mr. Bush, of giving, through that Vice President, carte blanche to Mr. Libby, to help defame Ambassador Joseph Wilson by any means necessary, to lie to Grand Juries and Special Counsel and before a court, in order to protect the mechanisms and particulars of that defamation, with your guarantee that Libby would never see prison, and, in so doing, as Ambassador Wilson himself phrased it here last night, of you becoming an accessory to the obstruction of justice.

KINDERCORE

Back in the day this lil' record label out of Athens, GA signed bands like I Am The World Trade Center and Of Montreal before having financial problems and were forced to shut down. Well, as this article on CMJ.com tells you, not only are they back, but they're now publishing a comic anthology that I'm lucky enough to be a part of. (I'm also going to be doing a weekly comic)

Seriously, check out the site. It's the greatest thing I've ever be associated with and hopefully it takes a few more months to realize how much of my stuff sucks compared to awesomeness like this:

KWIK-E-MART

Some lucky bastards got their 7-11's transformed into Kwik-E-Marts just in time for The Simpsons Movie. Although, it's probably for the best that they decided NOT to do one in Kansas City...as I'd be kicked out for loitering. Then again...


















...those last two are my favorite. "Up to 7% goes to actual children!" "Since 194.5!" God dammit, I could spend all day posting photos of this promotion. My addiction is out of hand...