Lamano Corporate Overlord Speaks: Sammy The Mouse Release

Zak Sally says:
hey all--
heads up here; big party/ signing at Big Brain comics here this friday: it's a pre-MIX (about which more in a second) kickoff, and the release event for 3 new books: look, that's the flyer up above:

WILL DINSKI will have his debut book (from Top Shelf) FINGERPRINTS
AARON RENIER's newest, (via First Second) THE UNSINKABLE WALKER BEAN
i'll be signing/ selling copies of the brand new third issue of SAMMY THE MOUSE (Fantagraphics/ Coconino)

Will and Aaron are great cartoonists-- i'm excited to be doing this with them (and i can't wait to see their books).

and then the next day-- Minneapolis Indie Expo, or MIX.
(details above)

this thing is shaping up to be a fantastic event. Minneapolis (being the great city that it is) has a bunch of different comics events that occur over the course of the year, be it Zine Fest or Fallcon or the Rain Taxi Book fest: i like all of em, but they all serve different...niches, somehow.
but i'll tell you: both US coasts have a sizeable "Small press" convention (SPX in Maryland, APE in San Francisco, and MoCCA in NYC). all of those are great, but where the heck is the one for the midwest? i don't want to jump the gun, but there's some significant signs that the organizers of this here thing a) have their act together and b)have put a ton of work into this thing that has already paid off; from all your local knowns and unknowns to out of town heavy hitters like Sparkplug Comic Books and Top Shelf. hell, John Porcellino's coming out for this thing, and it's only the first year.
i have every belief that this thing is going to be fantastic for Small press nerds and casual "consumers" alike.

La Mano will have a table, but unfortunately i'll only be able to be there for a limited time (due to a family wedding), but i cannot urge folks enough to get down to this thing; just go check it out.
if it's terrible you can get real mad and yell at me next time i see you, but it won't be.
terrible, that is.

Minneapolis Indie Xpo (MIX)
Sammy The Mouse #3

Mt. Holly Shirts - Free! Send me shirts an a SASE (That's Self Addressed Stamped Envelope to You Whippersnappers)

Free* . . . *send me shirts and a SASE (That's a self addressed stamped envelope to you whippersnappers)

For those of you who missed the best Mt. Holly Days ever, shirts are still available. Send shirts and return postage to:

Haeg
305 Holmes St S
Mt. Holly, Mn 55379

I'll screen batches of shirts once a month.

Be on the lookout for the real-world mapping project around these little red arrows that kicks off in October.

Check out the totally B.S. Chairman Mao / Mt. Holly hybrid that I had to screen for the LaMano overlord in the clothesline photo (above).

The Dark Side of Dr. Seuss - At the Trylon Tues. Aug 10th, 2010

As Dr, Seuss, Ted Geisel delivered a lesson with every story. Such was the case with the work that he did for internal use by the US army in World War II. Tomorrow night, you can catch a glimpse of rarely seen original prints at the Trylon Microcinema. A caveat: These films were made in different times and thank goodness we have grown beyond many of the racial streotypes portrayed in these films. (The cartoon above show's that our beloved doctor, himself also outgrew them.)

Film archivist Dennis Nyback will be on hand to present his collection and to take questions.

The Trylon Micro Cinema

"Stay Off The Internet and Learn How To Play An Instrument" - Ratso Interviews Dead Moon on Chic-A-Go-Go!

Toody & Fred Cole not only blaze the hottest rock & roll in any bar today, they are a hell of a couple. If you get a chance to watch Unknown Passage the documentary about their longest running incarnation as Dead Moon, you will see how genuinely great Fred & Toody are to eachother. It's really sweet. This clip from Chicago Public Access' great Chic-A-Go-Go is equally sweet.

Chicagogo's YouTube Channel

Handgun Bluetooth Earpiece Project

Photo by Curtis Thompson

Last week, the Open API group that I've been working with at Best Buy had a hack day. It was phenomenal. Gone were our computer screens and in their places appeared soldering irons, arduinos, robots, drawdios, LEDs, tweet-a-watts, ping pong balls, Legos and even a professional lock-picking course.

Any of you who know me well enough know that I hate talking on the telephone. I really, really, really hate it. Inspired by the Retro Wireless Handset project from Make Vol. 20, I decided to mod a Bluetooth earpiece for my phone out of a kids plastic toy gun. Now, I look forward to receiving a call from the First Lady while I'm at work. I draw the gun out of my pocket, stick the barrel in my ear (the speaker is in the business end), and pull the trigger to answer the call.

Below is a larger photo of the guts (in charging mode with the cable attached). It still needs a bit of work to flush mount the microphone and I've been debating on painting it to look like a real gun. (I get equally giddy and frightened by the panic that this could cause should someone not notice that the gun is a fake or should I accidentally take a call while at the bank.) But you can see how perfectly the trigger and switch work together on this model of toy gun.