I've been doing this face for two days now...

Well I was going to post some great pics from Halloween but I dropped my external drive, where all my photos for the least several years live, and it’s totally bunk now, has to be shipped off to a hideously expensive data recovery place.  AAAAARGH!  I’ve taken my head out of the oven (at least temporarily) and if the Gods of Computers are willing, they will recover the images (aaaaaall the images, which are not backed up, I know, I know, bad bad bad) and I’ll be able to post something… eventually.  (Along with the huge backlog of other stuff I’ve been meaning to post pictures of, like APE, etc.  Sigh…)  Say a little prayer for my drive!

Nobody had heard of Groucho Marx.  No, it’s not a lost “Twilight Zone” episode, it’s what we experienced at the Halloween-Sooper-Dooper-Store in Berkeley.  This has got to be one of the 7 signs of the Apocalypse.  We were looking for a pair of classic “Groucho Glasses” only to discover that none of the three salespeople or the store manager had ever heard of Groucho, the Marx Brothers or even just “Groucho Glasses.”  The only specs in their computer inventory were Nerd Glasses with thick lenses and tape in the middle (thanks, I already own a prescription pair).  Nobody knows the Marx Brothers anymore?  Great, now I’ve got something besides global warming to fret about.

Educational Moment: these are "Groucho Glasses" and this is Groucho Marx

The other surprise was in the kiddie costume isle.  No, not the endless variations on Lil’Ho’s (Skanky the Witch!  Slutty the Cat!  Floozy the Fairy!).  Sadly those have been around long enough that they’ve lost their shock value.  What got my jaw dropping was actually in the boy’s costume section — it was a Toilet Costume.  (I guess if nothing else he’s armed and ready to t.p. someone’s house.) Unlike the model-perfect children pictured on the other packages, this poor kid was a sort of proto-geek with big silver braces.

Just a quick shout out — Babylon Burning screen printing in SF has created a little gallery space in their shop, and they’ve got some very nifty stuff up right now by Clam Lynch:

as well as some posters by Lil Tuffy.  I had to pick up this one:

If you’re in the Bay Area, you might just wanna stop in at 111 Minna tonight for Sketch Tuesdays.  (Sadly, I wont be there — I have “Scribble Every Day” here at the studio tonight.) A heap of artists will be drawing live and you can snap up (for a price) the results of their labors, while listening to DJ Sonny Phono and taking in some short films Jim Dirschberger.  Admission is FREE.

If you’ve heard the rumors, it’s all true — Lisa Petrucci and I will be descending on La Luz de Jesus on Friday, Nov. 13th at 6pm for a double signing event!  She’ll have copies of her new book “Kick Ass Cuties” and I’ll have “On Tender Hooks.”

We’re also working on a signed, numbered, limited edition button set just for the event.  Stay tuned…