Caboodle Ranch!

Hello, friends!

I just wanted to leave a little news on here about my favorite Cat Rancher, Craig. He runs a place called Caboodle Ranch-it's a sanctuary for cats of all kinds. It's located on several acres of forested land here in Florida. The reason I'm telling you about it is that Craig is running this place by himself, with only donations to operate with.

This month, his donations have fallen off and the cats still need food, so...
I'm asking you to visit his very cool site, Caboodle Ranch Dot Org, look around at the galleries, read the stories and Craig's Journals of life on the ranch and see if you can manage at least a small donation for him and the cats. There is a very handy PayPal link on the home page and even a mailing address if you prefer. As Caboodle is a registered non-profit, your donation is tax-deductible.

Few people can do the work he's doing and fewer still are actually willing to do it alone. Don't let him do it alone. He needs your help! Without it, he'll have to close the shelter to new arrivals, meaning those cats that could have found a home in his open air ranch will likely end up homeless, making more feral and stray population or waiting for euthanasia at the local "shelters. "Thanks, guys!

November announcement...

It's come to my attention I've been neglecting my little possum home here. It's true. I just don't have so much clever to say these days and figured the Internets could get by without one more windbag just fine.
Also, this format was intended as a substitute for my old site and is obviously not so great for showing art, sooooo....

Catch me here, peeps. It's ComicSpace...about two thirds less creepy than MySpace, 100% more easy to navigate than Deviant Art and a lot more conducive to get feedback and snoop around in other people's art business. I gots my art galleries for different stuff there as well as dropping a comment or two in the Profile area...like a blog, I guess. I've done a lot of Windy City stuff recently for the Small Press Idol contest and it's all there with a lot more to come.

If you like the funnybooks, I'd suggest making an account there. Fans are welcome as well as aspiring, super famous, and has-been artists and writers of comics. Plus, there's drawings of mildly nekkid people to be found. This seems to be pretty important to a lot of people and is something decidedly lacking in my own art.

But seriously, unless something just steams me up or makes me unbearably excited and I just HAVE to tell the Internet right away, I'll probably not be updating here so much...even after my recent promise to do so. I live to disappoint.

Anyway, I'm sorry I missed the recent comments from Rob and Jake. I'd have had you guys escort me to the Halloween party for sure. Maybe we should just have a Life Day party instead. It's just around the corner, after all.

Oh, hey...It's still real cool to pre-order a copy of my little pro "re-debut," Mysterious Visions Anthology #7. Get it at the Dimestore site, here.

Thanks, guys!
V

This is Some Rescue!

OK. This, right here...this is why I've given up on organized "rescues."

http://tv.yahoo.com/contributor/33469/news/urn:newsml:tv.eonline.com:20071016:6e982e8c4080_4044_b941_cec226782721__ER:11495


Even when it is so clear that a rule broken is not always fatal to an animal or "bad" for it, they just push on..so very certain they are the only ones qualified to judge a "good home." And, of course, absolutely certain they are the only ones who "really care" about animals. I've seldom met a rescuer who did not have this basic belief. Makes me want to vomit!

I've been on both sides of this. So many "rescuers" are so caught up in the mission, there's no room for just common sense. I know many that actually believe that euthanizing a happy, healthy animal is more merciful than placing them in a home with little kids, or one that will have an indoor/outdoor existence, or even placing a feral cat in a wild situation with scheduled feedings. So wrong. Yeah. I do know the points there all too well, but please. Death is better than less than perfect, loving homes? Sorry, but I just don't buy into the animal heaven idea. Dead is dead. Ain't no Rainbow Bridge.

Screw you, Mutts and Moms, and all you other arrogant, crazy animal rescuers who give the rest of us such a bad name and an even harder time of finding homes for unwanted animals. Now we have a sincere, nationally broadcast reason for people to look elsewhere for their next pet. Who in their right mind would want to take the risk of losing a new pet to such an irrational organization? Imagine. No small dogs for kids under 14. Really would have changed a lot of people's childhoods, huh? Not to mention a lot of dogs' lives. When you look at it that way, how can anyone really believe this organization and others like it have the best interests of animals in mind? If this doesn't pump up the spread of professional and amateur breeding, what would?

I don't really need to tell you how I feel about that, do I?

Sad

My favorite Bond actor, Lois Maxwell, has died. Here's a pretty good article about her. It leaves out some cool things, like her running away from home at 15, during WWII, to join the Royal Canadian Army and while living in Italy, she was an amateur racecar driver...but it has a lot of other stuff. The most interesting to me was her desire to play "M" in the Bond series, after they kicked her out for a younger Miss Moneypenny. Now, that would have been something cool. What were they thinking?

Anyway, some celebrity deaths really make me sad. Weird, but I guess we think of them as people we really know. Anyway, so long, Lois. I think you were charming.

Just imagine. We could elect him.

Just watch it all the way through. Just 4 minutes.

sigh.

Puppy Whistle - video powered by Metacafe

If only it were really goodbye.

I'm not going to waste anyone's time trying to say this better, so here's Bill Moyers...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmwdevPRycY

Yaaaaaaaaaay!

And: YAAAAAAAAAY!

Thank you, Steven Spielberg.


Up next: Just what the heck happened in that Small Press Idol thing, anyway?

Now's the time to vote again!

UPDATE 6/9/07: I am getting killed over there! PLEASE VOTE!!! I'm struggling to get to 13th place! C'mon, guys! Thank you!

It's that time again! My power keeps going out, messing with my e-mailing, so I'll make this brief:

Please go on over to Dimestore Productions again and vote YES for Windy City in ROUND THREE of Small Press Idol. If you have registered-great! If not, register in the upper lefthand corner in the black sidebar. Easy! Any problems, e-mail the admin Ian@dimestoreproductions.com The deadline to vote is this Sunday, 6/10 at MIDNIGHT, so please do not hesitate to vote and grab a friend or two while you're at it. This will be the toughest round to clear and I've started out late and incomplete, to boot. Only SIX entries of THIRTY will make it to Round 4, so I need everyone's help. Please call me or e-mail me if you are having trouble registering or voting. AND: Please remember to say YES in your post. Your vote will not be counted otherwise.

Ian has made the voting a lot easier, so if you couldn't get in to register, please try again! Just 2 days left to vote. If I clear this round, there WILL BE a Windy City comic. Next round will give us a 4 issue series, but this round will actually get a single book and that will be very cool to me.

Thanks to you all who voted last round-I would like to send you all thanks, but the deadlines are killing any time I have to do that. Your votes last round have ensured that this comic will be printed in an anthology of stories with other contestants. Cool, but let's shoot for the moon! PLEASE know that I do appreciate your support!

Thanks to all!
Ginny

They Also Served

As Memorial Day approaches, and almost another thousand deaths of servicepersons in Iraq and Afghanistan since the last one, it's time to remember and say Thank You.

And, I must add, don't forget the ladies....
http://www.womensmemorial.org/index.html

We now interrupt this blog...

...for a joyful message:

A HUGE Thanks to all who voted- Windy City survives and lives to fight on! We go on to Round 3!!
More voting to be done and SOON! Get registered if you have not already at Dimestore's site.

Details to follow!


While were on the subject of joy......




Jerry Falwell 1933-2007
What took you so long, bastard?

In case you have a short memory:
Slate has put together very brief highlights
Really doesn't do him justice. Here's a sampling from Slate, though.

On feminists: "I listen to feminists and all these radical gals. ... These women just need a man in the house. That's all they need. Most of the feminists need a man to tell them what time of day it is and to lead them home. And they blew it and they're mad at all men. Feminists hate men. They're sexist. They hate men; that's their problem."

Evidently, some men make it all too easy.

Good riddance to bad rubbish.



I'm sure the good reverend would support my right to free speech. (Actually, no he would not. whoops.)

Bye for now and Thanks to one and all!
Gin

The balloon has gone up!

I have turned in my Round Two Materials for voting. Please help me!! You only have until SUNDAY, May 13 to vote for WINDY CITY!

Just go to this page which is my round 2 thread, and register. You should receive confirmation fairly soon, but if you don't, contact Ian at Ian@dimestoreproductions.com
When you are confirmed, just go again to my thread, Round 2: Windy City, and do a "Quick Reply" (dialog box at bottom of page) with a "yes" to vote me through. Easy! If you have trouble, let me know by any means necessary!) By that I mean call me, beep me, when you wanna reach me...

Here's the new stuff:
Super tiny. Thanks, New Blogger. You suck.

Well, it has finally happened....

(EDIT, UPDATE!) 5/06/07:
I have turned in my Round Two Materials and will be up tomorrow, 5/7/07, for voting. Please help me!! You only have until SUNDAY, May 13 to vote for WINDY CITY! Just go
to this page which is my round 2 thread, and register. You should receive confirmation fairly soon, but if you don't, contact Ian at Ian@dimestoreproductions.com
When you are confirmed, just go again to my thread, Round 2: Windy City, and do a "Quick Reply" (dialog box at bottom of page) with a "yes" to vote me through. Easy! If you have trouble, let me know by any means necessary!)


I am posting. Ha ha. Actually, I finally got a bit of positivity going on. We'll see how it all pans out, but for now, I'm pretty happy.

I entered a contest called Small Press Idol put on by a lovely outfit called Dimestore Productions. It's awfully involved, but the long and short of it is that a lot of people have entered, wanting to get their
projects published, advertised and sold. I decided to try it out.

A Call to Action:
Here's where YOU come in. If you manage to read the rules, you will realize that Windy City will need PUBLIC VOTES to make it into Round Three. There are a LOT of entries to beat. And a lot are really well done, but really, the biggest challenge will be to GET VOTES. I need anyone who cares to help me out and anyone they can pull in and anyone they can pull in...and so on and so on. I need votes to stay in this. The people who I'm up against have more experience and more time and means to get out the vote. I have to rely on my friends and whomever I can reach to vote me through-all the way to the end.

So far, Windy City has snuck into Round 2. To pass Round one, I had to provide a cover rough (see above) and a "story pitch." If anyone is interested in following WC's progress, here's a handy dandy link to the Dimestore site:

http://www.dimestoreproductions.com/SmallPressIdol/Idol07/index.html

That'll take you to the main contest page, where you can mull over the rules and all. Here's one that takes you to my entry:

http://www.dimestoreproductions.com/SmallPressIdol/Idol07/Windy-City.html

And, for super freak-out, here's a link to Silver Bullet Comics' webzine interview with moi. OK, so they interviewed everyone who passed through Round One with a unanimous vote from the three judges. I'm still allowed to find this cool.

http://www.silverbulletcomics.com/news/story.php?a=4509

In order to vote, you have to register, I believe. It's quite easy. Just like any other site, choose Register on the left hand side of, I believe, any page of the site and follow the directions.

Do NOT vote yet. I have to assemble and send in my materials for Round Two still. The materials for this stage are character sketches and biographies. Round Two Voting will begin soon, but will continue until May 6th. This date may change. I'll update this blog soon and regularly to give anyone who is able to help current details.

The Final vote in Round 4 for the big prize will not just be a vote. You'll have to actually BUY a copy of the book on the website. That's how Dimestore makes its money. Pretty shrewd, huh? Well, at that stage, I can only hope you'll want a copy of Windy City and that you can afford it. I'm not sure how much it'll be, but probably around 3 bucks, I'm thinking....Only one vote per person, thus the registering, and only ONE Book will count as a vote. Buying multiple copies will not increase votes for any book. That's why I need everyone's help. I need a lot of different people to vote and eventually BUY a copy of the book. As an aside, if you hate it, I'll buy it back from you. How's that?

Well, that's it for now. I know it's a little sketchy, but I'm too tired to make sense. Please read the official rules at Dimestore, register, and wait for updates HERE if you are willing to help a sistuh out. You know I appreciate it and I'll be sure to make something worth buying! :)

Thanks!
Ginny

They Fight Crime

Hi Ho. Well, nothing to report on the contest. The board crumbled under the weight of all that traffic, so no results yet. Soon, I suppose.

Until then, please waste the time you intended to waste here visiting something that I personally cannot get enough of:

http://www.theyfightcrime.org

Just keep hitting the "Try Again"..I love it!

My birthday passed sleeplessly as I worked on the contest submission. Got some cards, fruit, and amusing, clever gift certificates-Thanks to those of you who remembered poor OLD me. At some point, I do intend to go a-drinking. Interested parties may contact me for details.

Also, here's some old thing I'm dredging up. I don't even know what I'm gonna pick yet. How exciting and unpredictable of me.













oooo. That was unpredictable. I saved my TIFF as a JPeg and got the weird-o color. I did it again and it was fine. Weird.

Well, I hope everyone will call a policewoman (and apparently cop a feel) instead of picking up guns from the garbage from now on.

Different kind of St. Patrick's Day.

This just in:
World wants Peace.

Another new post?! WTF?

Attention Internets:
Mistress Ginny will treat you to another pointless entry in this now fully-armed and operational battlestatio-ah, BLOG!!!

I know, Dear Readers. You are saying "but she just updated, like, the other day!" First, please don't interject the word "like" unnecessarily into your speech or writings. You'll sound like a moron. Second, I am trying out the concept of semi-regular posts. Other people do it, so why can't I?

Well, I should have run right home and told the Internet sooner, but it seems my life has officially gone to Hell. In a handbasket, or handcart, depending on your upbringing. I'm a loser in EVERY possible way! Hooray! Please send monies.

Seriously, my house has come apart. I need big cash to get it fixed up for 20th, er, 21st century livin'. Does anyone out there know a plumber who would be OK with getting paid with comic books or drawings or something? Maybe money a little at a time. Do let us hear from you!

Also, please consider adopting a lovely cat. We have a variety to choose from. I'll post pictures one day. Then you'll really be sorry.

So, you may be wondering, "who's this 'we'?" I'm just a little tired is all. We'll be fine after some sleepies.uuuuu Hah! That last bit was Cat-Typing(TM). Actual Cat-Typing(TM). That's when some cat of mine lunges across the keyboard. In related news, I have a whole Bookmark folder full of Cat-Internet Searches(TM). It's weird the places they take you. Usually a lot of numbers and thrilling backdoor locations on forbidden Websites. Those crazy cats!

Alert: If you are tired of my job complaints, skip waaay down.
OK. Also, I need another job or I'm just going to lose it. Really just lose it some day soon. People, please tip well-or don't order delivery. Just sayin'. Incidentally, anything under 3 or 4 bucks is not a good tip. Cost of living goes up for us all, and gas is sooo not going to be less than 2 bucks ever again. Did I forget to mention the problem of robbery? If I'm going to risk my life for your convenience, please pay me accordingly. My life is totally worth more than 78 cents. Assholes. OOp! My first Blog expletive? I dunno.

I was recently offered a position at a bookstore, well, I should say a warehouse for the purpose of storing books to be sold on the Internet. That's how it's all done now. This very lovely person who frequented my former bookstore, offered me 7 bucks an hour to start. More, that is, 25 or 50 cents more per month over, say, 6 months, if he "liked my work." Part time and temporary until he was caught up. Did I mention he had known me for years and knew I had worked in this store for 13 years? A couple as manager. In all seriousness, I was offered less than half of my former wage to work for a store 45 minutes away. A less tolerant and jaded person would have been pretty darn insulted. I was just incredulous, speechless, and ultimately, had to turn down this generous offer. Honestly, no bookguy is going to be able to offer a lot of money. He's a nice guy and I wish I could have done it. I'd have been tempted if the place had been closer. I just honestly love books. I love to clean them, restore them, just handle them. Yes, I love me some books. But not enough to be sitting below the approaching minimum wage. I'm no good at haggling. I just don't feel I should do it. If you don't want me to work for you, just offer me a lousy wage. I'll just turn you down. I can't beg for more. It's just too stupid to play a game like that. When do you stop? I have to say it. I do. I just can't picture a man with the same experience being offered that wage. Don't agree? I'm not surprised.

I've been encouraged to pursue teaching as a profession. A fine and noble pursuit. Thing is, I think a teacher should be way smarter than I am. I hate to think my teachers were this underqualified. I guess they weren't, though. Standards are a lot lower now, I bet. No offense, V. You are an exception and are truly way smart. Also, my dad was a professor and so is my sister. I don't wanna look like I'm copying. But MAINLY, I remember that whole "...Those who can't - teach" thing. Super depressing for an artist to face. Even a spectaculary failed artist such as myself. *wades purposefully into Nile* Move aside, crocodile.

Then there's my personal life-oh! Look at the time!

Later, my humps!

Yaaaawwwwnn. ooo. Happy Anniversary, Blog.

rubs eyes
stretches
looks around
"Still no good."

Oh, well. Time to wake up, anyway.
So, my humps, I see the comments never flagged around here-thanks to Rob and Jake. Well, sooo much has happened and un-happened in the several months since last I blog-ged. No need to go into detail. Suffice to say nothing has changed at all.

I have lost a few of my dear little kittens, but I'm the only one who would care, so nevermind. I'll just start a cat lady blog and bore different people with all that.

I think I'll start drawing again. There's a contest I've been eyeing to that purpose. More on that as it either develops or fails to develop.

I'm glad Jakester has picked up a WACOM. I couldn't do without mine. I highly recommend it to all-drawers or no. Jake, do be mindful of the dread carpal tunnel syndrome, please. The stylus will lend itself to repetitive motion, especially when coloring. You go, boy! See you next weekend.

Let's see...so much has happened in the world lately. Oh, well who cares what I think about all that? If you know me, you already are tired of hearing about it.

I'll give a shout out to my sister and her husband for running the big River Run here in a couple of days. I think it's either their 4th or 5th. Way to go, oldtimers!!!:)
Yes. I just did that :) thing. So what?

I'll shout out a big March Birthday thing here...Happy birthday to the following:
Vesper...the 12th?
Frank...the 15th
Me and 'Retha Franklin...the 25th.
I'll add more as my ancient memory allows.

'Kaaaay. I'll go now. Wouldn't want to spoil you with an insightful entry-oh incidentally, I do have to ask a pointed, rhetorical question..
Do many bloggers blog about cool, real-life stories in which they always win and are the most clever person they know? I know of at least one.

Excelsior!
G

PS: Check this lovely shot Frank sent in. He must comb the interwobs a lot.