Mortymail 5/9/12

OK, I admit I have become a terrible correspondent to those of you who contact me via USPS. And I have been for a number of years. Burnout is liberating yet guilt-inducing.

Anyway. It is not my intention to make this a regular feature of Morty the Blog, but I thought I would report on some of the stuff I get in the mail before I send it off the to the Washington State University comix collection. In no way is this making up for Richard Krauss basically suspending Midnight Fiction, and I am not reviewing. If you are looking for a networking place, send your comix to Rick Bradford at Poopsheet.

I let my mail pile up quite a bit before I even look at it. Then I get out the jack-knife, slice those babies open after they have collected dust for a week or more, and mostly pay bills while some old movie is in the VCR. Yes, you heard me, I said VCR. Occasionally some comix stuff slips in there.

Here's what arrived this week:

Kel Crum sent me his latest, Scribbles. I'd like to know how he found legal sized paper to print this work in the classic enlarged digest size which I loved. I finally got to meet Kel at SPACE last year and admired his performance skills during the comix reading show.

Bruce Chrislip sent me a big packet of material. Included were copies of a couple jams from SPACE 2011. I found his reprint (20 years later) of Thurber of Ohio to be especially wonderful. Before Bruce and I left SPACE in Columbus last year to head for Cincinnati, we visited the Thurber House. I really enjoyed visiting the home of one great Ohio cartoonist while accompanied by another great Ohio cartoonist.

I hope one day Bruce and Joan Chrislip return to Washington State.

And finally, our old Newave comrade, Gary Fields, sent this great version of Morty the Dog! 

I love it!

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The cherry blossom petals fall like pink snowflakes

When the wind picks up the neighborhood becomes a pink snowglobe thanks to my tree and a couple others in the nearby area

Favorite Movie Quotes: Quo Vadis

"It is not enough to live well. One must die well."

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Morty Comix # 2351

Morty Comix # 2351 was left on the counter at of one those many places in Olympia where you wait 10 minutes for an overpriced cup of coffee. Getting a cup of coffee in that town is much more complicated than it needs to be. See my Bezango column in Olympia Power & Light, August 11-September 22, 2010 for an alternative.

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Favorite Movie Quotes: Quiz Show

"Cheating on a quiz show? That's sort of like plagiarizing a comic strip."

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Back room at the Spar

Olympia, Washington

Morty Comix # 2350

 

Morty Comix # 2350 was left inside a brick shed designed for office workers who take smoke breaks,

Tumwater, Washington

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Pies

Favorite Movie Quotes: Pulp Fiction

"You gotta bring the needle down in a stabbing motion."

[Reviewed in Cheaper by the Dozen 37]

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New from Rex Velvet, Seattle Super Villain

Illustrious Seattle Super Villain, Rex Velvet takes his Seattle anti-hero campaign on a viral goose chase! Play your part in ridding all major cities of their useless superheroes!

(Check out the Super Villain's car collection.)

Favorite Movie Quotes: Psycho

"It's not like my mother is a maniac or a raving thing. She just goes a little mad sometimes. We all go a little mad sometimes. Haven't you?"

[Reviewed in Cheaper by the Dozen 35]

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Mural in the Spar, a restaurant in Olympia, Washington, honoring past employees. The gentleman who is second to the end on the right was the unflappable Stan. The place was McMenaminized a few years ago and maintains some of the original flavor, but I miss the eternal flame, the rolling blackboard with sports scores, and the dark cave called the Highclimber Room.

Favorite Movie Quotes: The Producers (1968)

"I'm sorry. I don't like people touching my blue blanket. It's not important, it's a minor compulsion. I can deal with it if I want to. It's just that I've had it ever since I was a baby and I find it very comforting."

[Reviewed in Cheaper by the Dozen 31]

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Tumwater, Washington

Favorite Movie Quotes: Primary Colors

"You know, the world is getting more and more complicated and politicians have to explain things to you in simpler terms, so they can get their little oversimplified explanations on the evening news. And eventually instead of even trying to explain things they give up and just start slinging mud at each other. And it’s all to keep you excited, to keep you watching."

[Reviewed in Cheaper by the Dozen 29]

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Tumwater, Washington

Favorite Movie Quotes: The President's Analyst

"If I was a psychiatrist, which I am, I would say that I was turning into some sort of paranoid personality, which I am!"

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Dead locust trees in the rebirth of spring

Tumwater, Washington

Mitch Miller Always Gave Me the Creeps

I'm sure he was a nice person, but when I was a kid whenever his television show Sing Along With Mitch came on (early 1960s), I felt like fleeing the room. Yet I was transfixed into staying in place by what I perceived as his aura of eeeevil, commanding me to sing along whether I wanted to or not.

The fact he looked like another showman of the era, Satanist Anton LaVey, didn't help.

To this day I hate it when musical performers order an audience to obey their will with the words, "C'mon, everyone sing along! Hey! I can't hear you!" etc., etc. Listen, I came here to be entertained, not being bossed  around! What are you? A Stalinist? This is a big reason why I avoid live concerts.

I can't help but notice that the words "Satanist" and "Stalinist" are near anagrams.

Favorite Movie Quotes: Portrait of Jennie

"This was tomorrow once"

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Hey guys, just because I'm in the kitchen doesn't mean I'm going to open a can of tuna.

Morty Comix # 2349

Morty Comix # 2349 was left at a transit stop in Olympia, Washington

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Can anyone out there identify this plant?

Favorite Movie Quotes: Bird on a Wire

"You leave me at the altar, right? I mean, that was my state of mind at the time, OK? You went off with Jamie to seek your fortune and you were coming back to marry me. Now am I remembering this correctly because if I'm not I want you to correct me. You get lost in your plane, you were reported missing, were presumed dead, I attend your memorial service and I cried the tears of a grieving widow. I vowed I'll never get over you, in fact I never do. I still carry your Goddamn pictures in my wallet. Until one day I pull into a gas station, and you're alive with people chasing you. And you ask me to look at your butt?!?"

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Favorite Movie Quotes: Plan 9 From Outer Space

"And then one day it could all be gone, in one big puff of smoke and ball of fire. All that out there, the stars, the planets all just an empty void."

See also: Selected Quotes from Ed Wood's Plan 9 From Outer Space.

[Reviewed in Cheaper by the Dozen 6]

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