Time Didn't Permit...

...me to post again yesterday. However, that's for the best, as I kept Mark so preoccupied, meaning he had less time to obsess over whatever bile Bill O'Reilly (the Morton Downey Jr. of the 21st Century!) is spilling these days. What a putz (Bill, not Mark).

Yesterday turned out to be a pretty intense day at the Center for Cartoon Studies, though all good. I was nowhere near a computer until, uh, now.

Anyhoot, CCS: Glad to be at last into the new semester, it's all open sailing ahead! The biggest treat of the day was the afternoon session with my amigo and fellow VT cartoonist Skip Morrow, whose two hours with the students proved most engaging and illuminating. Skip was a bit frustrated that he didn't get to everything he'd hoped to cover, but still, an excellent and comprehensive kick-off for the semester's impressive lineup of visiting artists -- thanks, Skip! For those of you interested, click on over to

Skip's website,

and enjoy.



Skip and I will also be at tonight's opening at

the Helen Day Art Center site,

from 5:30 to 7:30 PM. This follows up on last year's Brattleboro Museum exhibition of Vermont cartoonists for a more expansive gallery showing of Green Mountain cartoonists's work via "Fine Toon: The Art of Vermont Cartoonists," curated by the charming Idoline Duke. She scoured the state and has pulled together originals by yours truly, Skip, Alison Bechdel, Harry Bliss, Jeff Danziger, Gareth Hinds, James Kochalka, Edward Koren, Hal Mayforth, Frank Miller, Tim Newcomb, and my old buddy Rick Veitch and fellow inky compadre James Sturm.

I'm really looking forward to seeing what the gallery has brought together. This is, bar none, the most extensive and comprehensive collection of Vermont cartooning in any gallery to date, and as such worthy of notice. Stowe's a great town to visit any time of year -- this should provide some of you a destination worth the trip.

Tonight's event is just the beginning; the show runs from January 26th through March 31st, and spills over a bit into my scheduled April 17th presentation on VT comics and graphic novels (more on that later). Anyhoot, for more info and a complete schedule, click

here,

or contact: Helen Day Art Center, Stowe, Vermont; phone: 802-253-6131.

Alas, no time as yet to get into Pan's Labyrinth; I'll get to that this weekend. Got a full day ahead, including breakfast with my son Dan -- so, later, gators!

PS: Mark, I haven't followed the Vermont case O'Reilly has made into a national hubbub. I read a bit about it last year in our local papers, but not enough to knowledgeably comment on it, much less get into the substance of it. All I know is a judge was more lenient than O'Reilly, torture-loving right-wing hate-mongering fuckhead he is, thinks the judge should have been. In the dreams of O'Reilly fans everywhere, they'd prefer to see O'Reilly on the bench, no doubt, doling out true American justice -- which would be fine in that (a) we wouldn't have to stomach his presence in the pop culture "journalism" landscape if he were a judge, 'cuz none of us would have heard of (much less from) him if he were a judge instead of a media screed monkey -- unless, that is, (b) you were the poor sonuvabitch who found themselves facing Judge O'Reilly. The man is an insufferable braggart and a bully. 'Nuff said!