First, this is directed at those of you who use Macs. The rest of you can talk amongst yourselves, your friendly but unhelpful suggestions will do me no good.

So: it appears my connection problem was/is largely due to MSN's providing. Fine. I'm moving to another house in a week, I'll just start over with a new ISP. But I did get a G4 so's I could move up to OS X. And Lieber and I have been trying to put it on here, system 9.2.2...

But I can't get the Installer to "see" this harddrive! There's no destination disc to install to, just a blank menu. My firmware is up to date, and my drive is extended format. Still, tried to use disc utility to Partition the drive, but you can't do much when it's invisible. I have no SCSI's that need to be capped off or anything like that. Can't find jack in googling others with similar problems.

WHAT IS IT? HOW DO I GET TO 10?!? HOW!?!

I'm at the Apple store. They've got sweet deals on pre-owned G-4s.

Do I do it? Do I join the 21st Century at last? Do I make working in Photoshop much easier than I've ever had it?

Stay tuned, but remember..... I'm a wuss!

Day 6 of No Internet Connectivity:
-More work getting done
-Excercised frequently with extra time; ate more vegetables
-Spent quality time with family, taught child words; carved canoe from tree we felled together
-Channeled writing into future lucrative projects
-Learned foreign language, musical instrument

Yes, just like when I kicked TV because I didn't want to pay for cable, life is really turning around without a monitor to hold my soul captive. Maybe I'll saunter over to that John Kerry rally here in town today, get involved in government. I can't go to the Bush one today, because they kept the location a secret to the public. Later I'll try completely reloading my system and see if that gets my connection up again, so I can return to being a complete piece of crap. Have a great weekend, Mystifyers!

Yep, I'm still gasping for air like that fish at the end of that old Faith No More video. I want Internet Connection and I Can't Haave It...

I'm going to take this out on some alternative cartoonists at that Comic Rap Battle thingy Saturday.

Maybe Mike or Steve can keep filling in for me whilst I search for spy-destroying ware. Sorry, folks.

-Yet here I am, at Lieber's house, having to post from a laptop because I can't find anything to cleanse my G3 of a bug put there by these fartheads. They seem to have attacked through MSN's dsl network, and when you go to an error page (gussied up to look like an MSN page), it gives you a number to call that tells ya all about iJaunt! So if you have any suggestions to get my TCP/IP connection working again, I'm listening. In the meantime, enjoy my circle of guestbloggers apologizing for me. Who will it be next?

I wish I could post a picture... Sigh.

Oh yeah, if you live around Portland, come out this Saturday for the COMIC ART BATTLE in which mainstream and alternative cartoonists go head to head to determine who's OG and who's a buncha sucker mc's. Wait, that's a rap battle. Same thing, pretty much.

Hey there, everyone-- Mike Wieringo here in for our beloved MYSTIFYIN' ONE. Parker called me today to tell me that he's been having lots of very frustrating problems with getting connected to the internet recently, which is why we haven't been seeing anything from him since Friday. I HAD been wondering what was up with him, since I'd sent him a couple of emails recently without a response-- so it was good to hear from him. I'm sorry he's been having cyber-problems, but I'm happy he's fine otherwise.

And so-- I'm just here to give you the scoop, and to let you know that Parker will be back as soon as he's able.

Hopefully, it's very soon!

Mike

Yes, that's my character Van Meach, in Lego form in case you were wondering. That's only the tip of the iceberg, you need to see the whole gallery of David Oakes, who legofies everything comics in his spare time. David is also helping me with research (re: doing it for me) on Interman 2, which is terrific because I'm too much of a wuss (that's how you spell that, Chuck) to write scientists with questions.

I still haven't finished my Lieber's Eleven, a list of graphic novels that every library should have. Steve has picked up this ball and is running wildly all over the field with it, stiff-arming everyone who gets in his way. Now others in the blottosphere are jumping on.



Here's the piece I did in Vampirella editor McTigue's sketchbook, explaining why it takes me so long to do a cover. Octopus attacks, of course, You know what I'm talking about.

Hey! There's a butt-kicking 5 Questions interview today at Newsarama, wherein Alan David Doane gets good stuff out of Mike Wieringo. Is there anyone in mainstream comics who puts out as much work as consistently good as Ringo? I'll answer for you: No.

That excellent piece from The Hollywood Reporter on comics is now online. This may be the only time outside of email interviews that I've ever been quoted with deadly accuracy. And they talk about Eric Powell's The Goon and Digglejock's (they're just one guy now, I saw it myself in San Diego) The Losers, worthy books you'd enjoy. This article had Hollywood folk stopping by my table like I was all interesting and whatnot.

The unexpected fallout from the Eisner Awards continues: no, not the travesty that I got beat like Sonny Liston, but feedback to the seemingly noncontroversial keynote speech from Michael Chabon. Chabon said we need to make some comics for li'l kids, and half of comicdom is wigging out. All the key links and quotes can be found here at THE BEAT, where I was surprised to see myself quoted from the comments of Fanboy Rampage. I better start thinking about what I say-- I should have said "test" after "rorschach".

I learned months ago after that interview I did at Sequential Tart with Barb that it's like dropping bloody chum into the shark tank to suggest that superhero books should mostly be for kids, but I didn't imagine that people would be against the idea of kids comics, period. This is so messed up I don't know where to begin.

Thanks to pal Jesse McCann I now have a picture of that towering display that kept me and Lieber separate and distinct all through Comicon. It's so simple, yet so imposing. That thing can hold posters and books, and still contain bagels and art supplies.

And "thanks" to Jeff Mason for unearthing this creepy link about Ed Kramer, who created the Atlanta show DragonCon. Whoo.

In case anyone came here looking for the con report link, here it is. Do us a solid and spread it around. It took so long to assemble that I at least want people to read it.

Our Lieber loves to rock and roll,

a hotdog makes him lose control...

So I think my exile from the internet is over, and I've learned a valuable lesson about sharing my blogger login and password. The shocking thing about watching my site get hijacked wasn't seeing Lieber's family replace my own, but having my cat Burma's picture replaced by Steve's cat Stinky. That was like walking into an alternate reality!

And now, because you deserve it, and you couldn't be bothered to attend yourself, the 2004 Comicon International journal as writ by Lieber and me. I'm too tired to type anymore, so please spread it to the very edge of the blogosphere, and any forums where you think people might care.

COMICON 2004

His MSN interweb connection is down, which is making it difficult for him to post the con report.

He has asked me, Steve Lieber, to post this on his blog, so that everyone would understand that he's not being lazy.

We know that you are all feeling impatient, so here is a picture of Tom Spurgeon with a squirrel head.

Even with Dreamweaver and writing ahead of time, these San Diego reports take fordamnever!!! We'll post it today, but you may be looking at the last one of these Comicon journals from us. Too much work, no pay! Oh sure, we get "ha, ha, good one" posted on message boards, maybe even a "LOL" thrown in. That don't feed the cat.
Besides, everyone writes the damn things now. How many times can you read about the same event?
But who will take up the mantle? Who will show that comics professionals are losers like everyone else, maybe moreso? Who will take time to layout all the players in the industry and show how the whole system works, only to have people ask them questions about that later? To whine, "you didn't mention MEEEEE!" Who will put up with that? WHO?
Not me, boss! Fah!


Maybe after I get some sleep I'll feel better.