May 2012
Comic Con 2011
May 22, 2012
About every other year I swear I’m not going back to Comic Con because it’s just too crazy and I get tired of sitting in line for hours. And then I realize that practically everyone else in San Diego is going to the party (at least that’s what it seems like when we’re looking for parking). In the end, there are so many amazing things to see, do, and buy, that I give in. How can you resist a steampunk, TARDIS dress?
Steampunk TARDIS Dress
To read further about Comic Con 2011, click here.
The Disease of Kings
May 21, 2012
“Ah, good morning, Mrs. Wallace.”
“Good morning, Mr. Littleton.”
“Will Mr. Wallace be arriving shortly?”
“No, his highness will be spending the day in bed.”
“His highness?”
“He fancies that being stricken with ‘the disease of kings’ makes him royalty.” She all but sniffed her disdain at her husband’s vanity.
“Good morning, Mr. Littleton.”
“Will Mr. Wallace be arriving shortly?”
“No, his highness will be spending the day in bed.”
“His highness?”
“He fancies that being stricken with ‘the disease of kings’ makes him royalty.” She all but sniffed her disdain at her husband’s vanity.
Rich Man’s Disease
[Illustration of “The Gout,” by James Gillray, published May 14, 1799 (Wikipedia link)]
“Um, well there is this one bill of lading.” He held out the sheet of paper tentatively. “It requires Mr. Wallace’s signature, and it has no recipient. This is highly irregular. I was hoping Mr. Wallace would know what to do with it.”
Mrs. Wallace took the bill from Littleton’s hand and scanned it. It was as he said; it required Reginald’s signature and lacked a destination or recipient. The contents were identified as 350 pounds of clockwork gears. Why on earth would her husband be engaged in such commerce? And who could possibly need that much clock hardware? ...
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King of Indie Animation
May 15, 2012
Surely you know that we mean Bill Plympton! We’ve been fans of his work for decades, so we seized the opportunity to see his panel at ComicCon last summer. (There will be a bloop devoted to the rest of ComicCon 2011 later.) All joking aside, he’s very animated in person and has lots of interesting stories to tell. He was there showing “Guard Dog Global Jam,” a remake of his Oscar-nominated short “Guard Dog,” but redrawn, shot for shot, by dozens of other animators using their own styles. It’s brilliant! See it if you get the chance.
But, I digress. He was also plugging his new book, Independently Animated: Bill Plympton. The deal was that if you went to his booth and bought a copy, he would sketch a quick cartoon of your choosing inside the front cover. Previous bloops have highlighted some of the drawings we’ve commissioned of D&McT. We couldn’t pass up the opportunity to have one by Bill Plympton, plus we got the awesome book too! I think we look a bit like the grandparents in the original Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
But, I digress. He was also plugging his new book, Independently Animated: Bill Plympton. The deal was that if you went to his booth and bought a copy, he would sketch a quick cartoon of your choosing inside the front cover. Previous bloops have highlighted some of the drawings we’ve commissioned of D&McT. We couldn’t pass up the opportunity to have one by Bill Plympton, plus we got the awesome book too! I think we look a bit like the grandparents in the original Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
D&McT ala Bill Plympton
The Frontier Medical Woman
May 14, 2012
The sitting room at Dr. Pogue’s residence was a comfy setting. The overstuffed chairs and couches made a neat ring around a wooden table. A score of fringed pillows had taken up residence on the sitting surfaces. The embroidered cloth on all of the furniture was of rich colors: burgundies, deep blues and teals, with intricate gold patterns. This splash of impressive decorum was a direct result of Esmeralda’s influence on Edmond’s furnishings.
The wooden table was thick and heavy, and didn’t quite fit the Victorian décor. It had been handed down through the Pogue lineage, and had originally been a worktable in the Scottish Crookston Castle located about five miles southwest of Glasgow. Edmond and Esmeralda had ancestors who had worked in the castle back in the first half of the eighteenth century. The lore surrounding the table was that one of the table legs was damaged in the bombardment of cannonballs from the famous cannon Mons Meg, when it was used to attack the castle in 1489. The table had been left unused in storage for two hundred and fifty years until it was repaired to a working state by Edmond’s great, great, great grandfather. Upon this table he performed many of his smaller workman’s tasks, including machinery repair, leather tooling, and toy construction. The table was passed down to his family upon his death, as one of many tokens of gratitude by the castle’s owner, William Graham, 2nd Duke of Montrose. ...
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The wooden table was thick and heavy, and didn’t quite fit the Victorian décor. It had been handed down through the Pogue lineage, and had originally been a worktable in the Scottish Crookston Castle located about five miles southwest of Glasgow. Edmond and Esmeralda had ancestors who had worked in the castle back in the first half of the eighteenth century. The lore surrounding the table was that one of the table legs was damaged in the bombardment of cannonballs from the famous cannon Mons Meg, when it was used to attack the castle in 1489. The table had been left unused in storage for two hundred and fifty years until it was repaired to a working state by Edmond’s great, great, great grandfather. Upon this table he performed many of his smaller workman’s tasks, including machinery repair, leather tooling, and toy construction. The table was passed down to his family upon his death, as one of many tokens of gratitude by the castle’s owner, William Graham, 2nd Duke of Montrose. ...
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First Anniversary
May 09, 2012
When our buddy, John (who is the inspiration for the various, doomed incarnations of John Redshirt), “bet” us that we would only write about half a dozen episodes of D&McT before giving up, the gauntlet was thrown! We missed a couple of weeks that first year. Okay, we’ve missed a couple of episodes this year too, but who’s counting? But when we got to July 5th, 2011, we had 50 posts and miscellaneous other material on our website, and that sounded like as good a reason for a party as any.
Mad Fondant Skills
To read further about our first anniversary, click here.
The Misfortune of the Mislaid Missive
May 08, 2012
“Will you be havin’ another, Tavis?”
“Just keep them coming, Angus. There’s new gettin’ tha sight ou of me head.”
Ferguson’s Public House had been in Angus’ family for seven generations and Angus himself had learned the art of listening at his father’s elbow while perfecting his glass washing skills. Angus could wash, rinse, and dry a pint glass without ever taking his eye off a patron. And he could put three glasses back on the shelf with one hand while tapping a fresh pint with the other. He topped up a fourth pint for his old friend and faithful customer, Tavis Haversham. It wasn’t like Tavis to drink more than two at a go. He was one of those fellows who would make a big show of drinking with his lads on a Friday night, but he paced himself. The only time Angus had seen him drink as many as three was the morning after Mrs. Haversham had given birth to their first healthy child. She’d already miscarried one and the birth had been a long, hard one. Haversham was a solid sort and liked others to think him a proper, stoic Scot, but Angus knew that the only thing Tavis had feared more than the loss of his child was the loss of his beloved Moira. Whatever Haversham had seen at his mother’s cottage had frightened him even more than that. ...
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“Just keep them coming, Angus. There’s new gettin’ tha sight ou of me head.”
Ferguson’s Public House had been in Angus’ family for seven generations and Angus himself had learned the art of listening at his father’s elbow while perfecting his glass washing skills. Angus could wash, rinse, and dry a pint glass without ever taking his eye off a patron. And he could put three glasses back on the shelf with one hand while tapping a fresh pint with the other. He topped up a fourth pint for his old friend and faithful customer, Tavis Haversham. It wasn’t like Tavis to drink more than two at a go. He was one of those fellows who would make a big show of drinking with his lads on a Friday night, but he paced himself. The only time Angus had seen him drink as many as three was the morning after Mrs. Haversham had given birth to their first healthy child. She’d already miscarried one and the birth had been a long, hard one. Haversham was a solid sort and liked others to think him a proper, stoic Scot, but Angus knew that the only thing Tavis had feared more than the loss of his child was the loss of his beloved Moira. Whatever Haversham had seen at his mother’s cottage had frightened him even more than that. ...
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Empty Hand
May 02, 2012
It was well past eleven o’clock when Sparky exited the Chapel Royal through a gauntlet of hardy handshakes and “so pleased to meet you” speeches. She was practically hoarse from using her lowest octave to croak out “just call me C. L.” and “so glad we finally met” and all of the associated social niceties that one exchanges with complete strangers.
Through all of the smiles and nods, her inner voice was reciting, “Why did I follow through with this insane idea? Becoming a knight? In a society that doesn’t permit women or foreigners? And on top of all that, displeasing a monarch that now wants favors?” As she hurriedly walked away to return to her aunt’s home, she thought back over the ritualistic protocols and formalities that she just went through for three hours: the wearing of vestments and accoutrements, the call and answer chanting, and the standing and kneeling. Was this really what she wanted? ...
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Through all of the smiles and nods, her inner voice was reciting, “Why did I follow through with this insane idea? Becoming a knight? In a society that doesn’t permit women or foreigners? And on top of all that, displeasing a monarch that now wants favors?” As she hurriedly walked away to return to her aunt’s home, she thought back over the ritualistic protocols and formalities that she just went through for three hours: the wearing of vestments and accoutrements, the call and answer chanting, and the standing and kneeling. Was this really what she wanted? ...
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