I was pulling on to Main Street yesterday and glanced at a car waiting to make a left turn off of Main Street. Warren Zevon, circa 1982, was driving!

like this: Life Magazine Photo, but with a little more beard.

This adds to my list of people I’ve seen driving around or near Blacksburg, including Kurt Vonnegut and the New Kids on the Block.

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I’m currently going through the galleys for OY one last time as loose sheets of paper. (I think.) The next time I see it, it should be  a bound ARC. Can’t wait for that.

Although, there’s this weird thing about getting the galleys, the ARCs and even the finished book, where you open it up and think “yep, that’s it.” By that time you’ve spent so much time with it, you know it by heart — or at least feel like it.

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Currently reading: Woman in White by Wilkie Collins. An interesting coincidence (or is it?) since he uses multiple narrators, just like O.Y.!

Also reading: Stanford Wong Flunks Big-Time!!!

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I’m still gasping over the work of Jason Shiga. Have  you tried any of his interactive online comics?

The Spring 2010 AbramsBFYR/Amulet catalog is out and our wise pal made the cover!

And inside he’s got this awesome double spread:

How awesome is this: I’m right next to Jason Shiga in the catalog! His book “Meanwhile” is going to rock the world. It literally changes the function of illustrations. (Well, actually Shiga has been changing them for awhile now, but this is the moment when the rest of the world must take notice! Prepare the Caldecott!)

Lots more beautiful stuff in there, too! Like “Over in the Castle” and an awesome Dan Santat cover for “Attack of the Fluffy Bunnies!”

To view the catalog online go here. (Origami Yoda is on pages 38+39.)

This post isn’t about whether the movie — which I haven’t seen — is good or bad, but whether a certain scene is or ain’t Dickensian…

Here’s an excerpt from MSNBC’s review of Jim Carrey’s new CGI-animated “Christmas Carol” movie:

…surely Dickens never intended to have a tiny Scrooge running through drainpipes while being pursued by a demonic coach-and-six, no matter how much the chase pops out of the screen.

He may not have intended it, but I think he might dig it. I haven’t seen the movie or the scene in question, but Dickens liked demons — or Goblins, at least – just fine. In fact, this description reminded me of the Christmas Carol warm-up that was in the Pickwick Papers: THE STORY OF THE GOBLINS WHO STOLE A SEXTON.

‘Again the mysterious voices replied, “Gabriel Grub! Gabriel Grub!”

‘”I am afraid my friends want you, Gabriel,” said the goblin, thrusting his tongue farther into his cheek than ever—and a most astonishing tongue it was—”I’m afraid my friends want you, Gabriel,” said the goblin. ….

‘”I—I—am afraid I must leave you, Sir,” said the sexton, making an effort to move.

‘”Leave us!” said the goblin, “Gabriel Grub going to leave us. Ho! ho! ho!”

‘As the goblin laughed, the sexton observed, for one instant, a brilliant illumination within the windows of the church, as if the whole building were lighted up; it disappeared, the organ pealed forth a lively air, and whole troops of goblins, the very counterpart of the first one, poured into the churchyard, and began playing at leap-frog with the tombstones, never stopping for an instant to take breath….

The sexton’s brain whirled round with the rapidity of the motion he beheld, and his legs reeled beneath him, as the spirits flew before his eyes; when the goblin king, suddenly darting towards him, laid his hand upon his collar, and sank with him through the earth.

This could be a brief return if Kidlit Trivia is as unpopular this time as last time, but here goes:

What’s the Kidlit Connection between this yukky book of diet gags and a beloved series:

I know it’s a little silly to get excited about an Amazon or BN review, but this one is just too glorious!!!

J-Star gave us 5 stars and said:

This book was both interesting and educational and I couldn’t seem to put it down! I’m a Graduate student studying Elementary Education and I bought this book to use in my future classroom. When reading this piece I realized that I learned much about the Battle of Bull Run and the Civil War that I hadn’t previously learned, while at the same time, I was drawn into the story, wanting to know what would happen next. This book does a wonderful job of sharing factual and historical information and is presented in a manner in which students can personally relate to the character and the story. I recommend this book to everyone!

The big project this Halloween was a jack-o-lantern that could be remotely triggered to spit silly string at passers-by.

The thing was a modest success. The pumpkin was near the sidewalk, but I could fire it off from the porch. When it worked it worked great. The mechanism –mostly made of Erector set parts — actually performed really well. Surprising for one of my gizmos. 

 But it required a lot of fussing, especially when a can ran out, and I only got off a few really good shots per can of silly string. If you could get a jumbo can — which still fit inside a pumpkin — then you might get somewhere. Still, it was a fun project.

Here’s a pumpkin based on the doodles of Origami Yoda that are featured in the book…

Hundreds of people have flooded the station with the same desperate request — please show more of Sam Riddleburger as the Boxing Hotdog! Here’s a still from his most thrilling episode yet — Boxing Hotdog vs. Superman!

Notice anything terrifying about this Weeble Haunted House? That’s right … the Weebles are gone! Or are they?

For you Qwikpickers out there: Derek Kirk Kim, who did such spot-on portraits of my characters for the cover, has a new graphic novel out. I haven’t seen it yet, but it’s reviewed on Guys Lit Wire: http://guyslitwire.blogspot.com/2009/10/dont-miss-these-graphic-novels.html

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An interesting sidenote. This graphic novel and Qwikpick may be the yellowest two books in the world…

Speaking of GLW, I’ve got a post up there encouraging folks to try the librivox version of Wilkie Collins’ “Woman in White,” which I’m currently listening to. This’ll be my third and a half Wilkie Collins novel — Fallen Leaves, Moonstone and No Thru Traffic (or whatever that rather limp story he wrote with Dickens was called).

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I recently finished Ayala’s Angel by Anthony Trollope. Truthfully, I dozed through the end. The book really started off with great promise but went on for far too long. And the ending felt like Trollope was filling in a template. Worst of all — no politics! Apparently it was one of his last books and he couldn’t at first even get it published in England. I guess folks were tired of his formula. But man, when he had that formula cooking it was awesome! (See … The Way We Live Now.)

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Another note for Qwikpickers, I bought my pumpkins from Farmer Don again this year. (Real name Dan Brann.) Yes, he really did get run out of town by development, just like in my book. Now he grows the pumpkins out of town and trucks them in to, of all places, Wal-Mart.

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