The Sorensen Monologues

Note for Lit Nerds

I have an essay in the current issue of Whitefish Review, a cool literary journal out of Montana that focuses on life in the Rockies.

Cartoonists In Afghanistan

I should let you know that my colleagues Ted Rall, Matt Bors, and Steven Cloud are currently traveling across Afghanistan on a fact-finding mission. They’ve got an expensive satellite phone and are posting all sorts of fascinating reportage, including sketches and photos. I find the easiest way to follow everything is to tune into the Cartoonists With Attitude blog, which aggregates the feeds from Matt and Ted. You won’t want to miss the photos of them in Afghan garb!

This Week’s Cartoon: “How Straight Marriage Will Be Destroyed”

I realize that making fun of bigots’ paradoxical “protect marriage” rhetoric is practically a cliché at this point, but if they keep saying it, I suppose we need to keep mocking it. In this case, I was set off by a quote in the NYT from an anti-gay marriage attorney who, in response to the judge’s ruling, said “the right of Americans to protect marriage in their state constitutions will ultimately be upheld.” Things don’t get much more ass-backwards than that.

Webless in Seattle

I really do seem cursed when it comes to internet access. Having some problems getting broadband in the middle of Seattle, one of the tech capitals of the world. So this space will continue to be quiet for a little while.

This Week’s Cartoon: “Why We Still Need the Bush Tax Cuts”

If there was ever any indication that the Republican party does not represent a  political philosophy, but sheer self-interest of the moneyed class, it is their insistence on keeping the Bush tax cuts at the same time that they howl about deficits. They tried to shut down unemployment benefits for desperate workers, and filibustered a bill to help small businesses. They speak plaintively about “burdening our children.” But hey, if you’re still makin’ mad Benjamins, nothing compares 2 U. Have some more!

The art in the second panel was inspired by an illustration I did many years ago. You can see the original here.

This Week’s Cartoon: “This Week in Celebrity Imitation”

For more on the Lady Gaga contact lens phenomenon, check out this NYT article.

I’d heard Glenn Beck had started an online “university,” but only got around to looking at the website recently. Do you know what premium Glenn Beck website subscribers are called? INSIDER EXTREME MEMBERS. Somehow, this seems highly appropriate.  Even more appropriate? This image of Beck that appears on the INSIDER EXTREME page. Yes, this man, in a straitjacket of caution tape, is perhaps the most powerful political voice in America. Methinks it says it all.

2010 San Diego Comic-Con Photos

The majority of costumes at Comic-Con fall into standard categories — superhero, sex kitten, Ghostbuster, zombie, warrior, zombie warrior. Oh yes, and steampunk. Lots of begoggled hipsters walking around with vaguely antiquarian-looking contraptions on their backs. But some outfits rose above, and here are a few of them:

Me with flyer man. Someone said he does this every year. A Slowpoke postcard was added to the back of his head.

Gotta give it up for the Jackie O's.

Well done, sir.

In a sea of questionably-enhanced bosoms, it was refreshing to see a few dudes objectifying themselves, however goofily. I liked this guy's pluck.

As expected, the con was a grotesque juggernaut of Hollywood crap. But I did have a soft spot for this Lego Spongebob:

And this frighteningly large My Little Pony reminded me of a Jeff Koons sculpture:

Not-so-little pony

It occurred to me that Comic-Con is basically the internet personified. It’s What Reddit Looks Like. When you think of it that way, it explains a bunch of internet phenomena. Good lord, I don’t even want to imagine all the nerd humping that must have gone on in San Diego over the past few days.

Don’t get me wrong, though. I had lots of fun.

This Week’s Cartoon: “World War III: In It For the Money!”

It’s remarkable how little the self-proclaimed deficit hawks seem to talk about trimming our pork-encrusted military expenditures.  I see on CostofWar.com that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have surpassed a trillion dollars. I’m not sure I feel a trillion dollars safer. For a trillion dollars, I expect the nation to be covered in a climate-controlled biodome that vaporizes terrorists upon entry. Given that we can’t even get Star Wars right, and it took us nearly three months to plug a hole in the ground, I’m guessing a biodome is not in the cards.

Despite all that outlay of lucre, the economy still sucks, so it’s time for full-scale mobilization! And I mean mobilization, right down to the last able-bodied American. I want to see toddlers plugging rivets into tanks! Dogs hauling bags of bullets! That, my friends, is how to get things moving again. And it’s a hell of a lot more acceptable to the pundit class than, I don’t know, stimulus spending that helps people keep their jobs. Or letting the Bush tax cuts for six-figure earners expire as scheduled. Or helping the unemployed.  No, in the immortal words of The Exploited, LET’S START A WAR! But no nukes, please. That would kind of defeat the purpose.

If You Regularly Watch PBS NewsHour…

…you might see a Slowpoke strip in an upcoming segment about digital culture and the book Hamlet’s Blackberry. I don’t know exactly when the segment is scheduled to appear, and I’m too busy these days to watch much TV, so if you happen to spot it, please let me know. (Hopefully it will also be posted on their website, which I will monitor; I’m not 100% sure they’re using the comic, but it sounded probable.)

Slowpoke Does San Diego

I’ll be in attendance at the San Diego Comic-Con next week, hovering around the Andrews McMeel Universal booth. That’s number 1018, or so I’m told. Specifically, I’m scheduled to do a signing from 1-2pm on Friday, but you can probably find me at other times on the 23rd and 24th, and probably part of the 25th as well. If you’re going to the con, please stop by and say hello.

My Chat With Harvey Pekar

As you’ve likely heard by now, the great comics writer Harvey Pekar died on Monday. I didn’t know him personally, and am probably less qualified to share stories about him than those cartoonists who did, but I did get to hang out with him once. It was the summer of 2005, and I was in Cleveland for the Funny Times anniversary party. I’d arrived a little early, and found myself sitting in a small yard behind the Funny Times offices, waiting for other people to show up. I was chatting with the staffers, and maybe one or two other cartoonists, when all of a sudden Pekar appeared and sat down just a few feet away. It’s not every day Harvey Pekar pulls up a seat next to you; I hadn’t known he was coming, and was momentarily overwhelmed with surprise.

We got to talking about the American Splendor movie and his various projects, and I nerdily told him about my senior thesis that referenced a comic his wife Joyce Brabner had written. What I remember most clearly from our conversation was how disarmingly frank and down-to-earth he was about having to make a living again now that the flurry of attention from the movie had subsided. He put on no celebrity airs; he seemed preoccupied with the practical matters of life. Just like in his comics.

I had some audio equipment with me at the time, lent to me by a friend who asked me to interview cartoonists for a podcast. I remember being tempted to get Pekar on tape, but decided against it. It would have ruined the moment. I’m glad I didn’t.

This Week’s Cartoon: “All You Need Is Like”

A little while ago, I was startled to see my Facebook friends popping up on the Washington Post website. More recently, Facebook has added “like” buttons to individual comments, so you can not only like somebody’s post, but the replies to that post. Now, I’ve got nothing against positive reinforcement. I find it encouraging and helpful when people “like” one of my cartoons (which, incidentally, you can do RIGHT NOW on the Slowpoke Facebook page!). But it’s starting to feel like the internet is getting a bit too interactive. Every single infintesimal thing has to be voted upon, commented upon, socially bookmarked, and generally subjected to the fickle whims of the Zeitgeist. And usually, what comes out on top is kitties. Oh, the kitties! Makes me almost yearn for the days of one-way information beams boring directly into your skull.  Those were some good times.