Unlimited Power!!!!!!!

Here's my newest cartoon for PoliticsNJ. Head on over there to check it out, and to post comments. I want to know what you think.

And in case you don't know who Seema Singh is, here's a introduction to your Democratic Senate candidate for New Jersey's 14th District:

Singh got campaign money from people tied to utilities

Thank's David Chase

I thought my cable went out.

There we sat, my roomate and I, as Tony looks up towards the screen as he sits in the booth of a North Jersey dive, with Journey's Don't Stop Believin playing in the background.

Then it just stops.

We freaked out! I thought DirecTV had gone down, and if it had, I can assure you that I would've been done with the dish! But then the credits began to silently roll by, and at that point, I knew we'd been had.

And it's not the fact that it's anti-climatic, or that it doesn't resolve the series. I was just telling my editor that I'm all for anti-climatic endings, b/c ultimately I agree with David Chase that they're more indicative to real life. That's why Stanley Kubrick was my favorite filmmaker. But an anti-climax still has a climax, it still resolves the scene at least. It would have been better if they were in the diner, and it kept teasing with the guy at the bar, the two guys at the jukebox, and ended the scene. Having an awkward cut right in the middle just doesn't seem to do the scene justice. But the scene itself was tense, and the reviewer at the Star-Ledger is right, the nervousness that we all suffered watching that scene is how Tony has to view each and every day of his life. At least the money's good :)

And I guess I was a bit more disappointed with it too because this half of the season, minus a few bad moments like Tony's out-of-nowhere gambling problem and AJ's 2-episode transformation from suicidal anti-war freak to movie assistant, has been great. As close to the first couple of seasons as it was going to get. And for all the buildup, to have it end like this? Fuggetaboutit!

Tomine on The New Yorker

I don't know how many of you read The New Yorker, but this week's cover was done by one of my favorite artists, Adrian Tomine. Tomine produces one of the best comic books around for Drawn & Quarterly Publishing called Optic Nerve. His much awaited graphic novel (at least by me) called Shortcomings.

A note on the cover: A blogger analyzed the illustration, as well as the book the girl is reading, and put together a cool post here.

Open Space Preservation

Open-Space preservation, always an issue in densely-populated New Jersey, faces certain doom as funding for the state's preservation fund responsible for preserving open space, farmland and historic sites is on-the-line.

According to the Asbury Park Press, in order for voters to decide whether to renew the program for another 10 years by dedicating more sales tax money to it, legislative rules say 20 days must pass between committee approval and a full legislative vote. That means if a bill isn't approved by either house's appropriations committee today — and neither is scheduled to meet — it seems unlikely the measure would be approved by the Aug. 6 deadline to make the November ballot, as lawmakers prepare to break for the summer at month's end.

"This is a death knell for open space to be on the ballot this year," said Jeff Tittel, state director for the Sierra Club. "Not only is time running out, but we are running out of open space."

Land preservation seems to be at risk

Open space proponents make 11th-hour plea for money

Groups say the clock is ticking for action on open space funding


Here's the sketch:

24 new species found in Suriname

According to a story today posted by Reuters, a purple fluorescent frog is just one of 24 new species found in Suriname, a country in the northern part of South Africa.

According to Leeanne Alonso of Conservation International, which led the expedition that found the new species, "When you go to these places that are so unexplored and so remote, we do tend to find new species ... but most of them are insects. What's really exciting here is we found a lot of new species of frogs and fish as well."

To view the article, click here.

Animation vs Animator

A guy at work just show this to me. Anyone that does Flash animation will find this hilarious!

Did you vote?

My newest cartoon is up over at PoliticsNJ, so go check it out, and leave me some feedback over there. You have to register to post comments, but it's free and worth the minute it takes.

Poll numbers

New cartoons back this evening

Hey everyone, sorry for the long gap in posting. I have Comcast cable internet at home, and it's been on-the-fritz. After 2 repair men, numerous hours wasted waiting for appointments to be broken, I'm back online!!!

The only problem is, I have a lot more work to do, so check back early this evening, and I'll have some goodies for you.

Can't get to sleep?

My newest cartoon is up over at PoliticsNJ, so go check it out, and leave me some feedback over there. You have to register to post comments, but it's free and worth the minute it takes.

The Breakup

For those of you that might not have heard, a report from the The New York Times stated that Gov. Corzine gave union leader Carla Katz more than $6 million at the end of their two-year relationship in 2004. This of couse revives questions of impropriety that have circled around the two lovebirds.

They weren't married, so why did Corzine feel the need to give Katz $6 million after two years? Is he just a generous guy? Is he silencing her? He has been shifty when asked about it, and only owned up to giving her $470,000 to pay off her house before this new amount came to light.

How much will he have given her before it's all said and done?

And how much influence did it buy?

Romance Over, Union Chief Has Corzine’s Number

Report: Corzine gives Katz $6 million

Remembering the troops

Ooops. I almost forgot to post my Memorial Day cartoon on Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day; here are some toons.

Global warming is not the REAL threat

Here's the sketch:

Driving Ms. Cunningham

My newest cartoon is up over at PoliticsNJ, so go check it out, and leave me some feedback over there.

Society of Professional Journalists

Thought I'd post a bit of great news. Much to my surprise, I've won 2nd place for the cartoon above in the New Jersey Chapter Society Of Professional Journalists Excellence In Journalism For 2006 Awards (I know, hell-of-a-title).

I lost out to that blasted Jimmy Margulies. Who does that guy think he is! Just kidding, Jimmy is a great guy and an even better cartoonist. He's the editorial cartoonist at The Record in Bergen County, and if you want to check out the cartoon he won with, click here. And below is Jimmy and I in his studio located in the Record's office building. He has got, far and away, the coolest working studio ever, with tons of cartoons from cartoonists across the country. It's very inspiring.

So this is the first major award I've won for my cartoons, and I'm thrilled. I've been at it now for a little over a year, and I look back at some of my older cartoons and cringe. I think this one holds up pretty well.

Anyway, a museum exhibition and an award for cartooning. Not a bad first year! Now to just find a full-time job doing it (any editors out there, if you're offering, I'm listening :)

No more jet-setting for Corzine

Did the 177th declare war against South Jersey?

The wildfire that has ravaged South Jersey, and caused several developments in Stafford and Barnegat Townships to be evacuated, started this afternoon with a flare dropped by an F-16 on a training run at the Warren Grove Gunnery Range.

This got me thinking immediately about the fighter a couple of years ago that shot at an elementary school Little Egg Harbor Township, dropping 27 rounds onto the school from its 20-millimeter cannon.

Turns out they're both from the 177th Fighter Wing of the New Jersey Air National Guard out of Galloway, Atlantic County. Oooops!

And according to the New York Times article, there are several other occurances of problems with the fighters in New Jersey.

In January 2002, a New Jersey Air National Guard jet crashed near the Garden State Parkway, but the pilot parachuted safely, and no one was injured. In June 2001, an F-16 on practice run dropped a 25-pound smoke bomb that burned 1,600 acres of pine forests in Ocean County. And in 1999, another bombing run went awry and 11,000 acres of pine forests burned.

Forest fire 10 percent contained; caused by training flare

Stafford, Barnegat evacuate communities as fire spreads

Wildfire at Warren Groove (video)

Warplane Strafes a School in New Jersey (11/5/04)

Don't you know who I AM!?!?!?

My newest cartoon is up over at PoliticsNJ, so go check it out, and leave me some feedback over there. All comments are good comments, even (and especially) if you hate my cartoons!

Political cartoonists in Iraq have no shortage of material.

There's an interesting story in today's USA Today. about the dangers that face Iraqi cartoonists in their violent and war-torn country.

One of the more interesting aspects mentioned in the piece discusses the Iraqi Cartoonists Association, and how membership has dwindled down to 50 members due to cartoonists fleeing the country because of non-stop violence and death threats.

You can check out the story here.