K Chronicle.com Blog

I read Keef's stuff for free..How does he make any money?"

K Chronicle.com Blog

Sunday, October 29, 2006

*EMAIL OF THE WEEK..

Thank you for all the great work you do, but especially Life's Little Victories. I'm an eternal optimist, going through a hard spell right now...having believed dearly in someone who did not believe in himself, and have suffered through much lying and cheating unknowingly. LLV reminds me to focus on the good, and that little things can be victories every single day.

Much thanks,

D.
posted by keith at 6:28 PM

Thursday, October 26, 2006

*EXTRA!! EXTRA!! "PASSION", "DANCES" AND "RED-WHITE.." ARE AVAILABLE AGAIN AT THE K-CHRONICLES.COM STORE!!

But get'em while you can. They'll be going out of print sooner than you think. ("Fear.." is already there!!)

I'll have copies of the above three books at Stumptown this weekend....
posted by keith at 11:50 AM

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

*THE SCHULZ MUSEUM EVENT WAS QUITE FABULOUS..
..AND we got to see a SNEAK PREVIEW of the final Peanuts special, "He's a Bully, Charlie Brown", before it airs on ABC sometime next month.

It was way cool..and it has a pretty different ending than all the other specials, per order of the late Charles Schulz, who worked on this animated special up until he died in 2000.

*HOPE TO SEE YOU UP IN PORTLAND AT STUMPTOWN..
It'll be our first time at the event. Looking forward to visiting the new cartoonist capital of the country. We'll have the new books in tow... And webmaster/superFanBoy Bobby Gee will be in the house. Come on out and say hello. (I do hope it rains a little...)

*EMAILS OF THE WEEK..
>I was reading this week's strip about voting machines, and realized that whenever I'm reading/viewing anything online and there's a photo or a drawing of someone I don't like, I make them pick their nose.

Childish, yes. Satisfying, that too. All I do is move the cursor over the page - the one shaped like a little hand that's pointing - until the fingertip hits their nostril. It's most effective with a nice black-n-white cartoon, but it still gives me a little smile even with a photo. If it's someone I really loathe, then they get a bit more animation and really dig away at it. It's almost subconscious now, but that doesn't make it any less fun - kinda like flipping off Hummers.

S., SF

>Hi,

I just thought I'd let you know how much I enjoy your work! On my lunch break from my job in university administration, I run errands in the car and listen to Fresh Air and Democracy Now, and I come back from lunch ready to slit my wrists about the tragic state of the world...I've always believed in the healing power of humor and I think your work is just wonderful. Your art and humor really make these troubled times a little easier for me to bear...and empower me too. Keep on keepin' on!

Sincerely,

J.
posted by keith at 1:53 AM

Friday, October 20, 2006

*SEE YOU AT THE SCHULZ MUSEUM ON SATURDAY...
Pardon the delay in posting. It's been a busy, busy week filling loads of orders for the new (th)ink collection and calendar. Thanks for the business.

I'll be doing a signing and panel at the Schulz Museum on Sat. in Santa Rosa. Joining me will be some cool cartoonists: Darrin Bell, Paige Braddock and Michael Jantze..And we'll be spinning tales about the Peanuts Halloween Special. It should be fun...and I'll have the new (and old) books there...

*DO YOU THINK IT'S RIGHT TO SHOW A TRAVEL DISASTER MOVIE ON AN AIRPLANE?
They showed the crappy Posiedon Adventure remake on my flight to Germany. I know it's a ship and not a plane, but should they show a bunch of travellers a movie about travellers dying on a trip overseas?

*EMAILS OF THE WEEK...

Keef,

Sometime back, (45 seconds or so) I ordered a book from you. I immediately ran to my mailbox and the buggers still not there yet. I'm used to instant gratification and can hardly stand the wait already. It's been like two minutes now and I'm sure if I go look again it still won't be there.

Oh when will the waiting end.

Impatiently yours,

Mike from Tumwater
www.halloweenhouse.org

PS. Can't you just set the site up like my Meat of the Month club and automatically send me new stuff as you make it available? You know the routine, three easy payments, no way to ever cancel. I dig stuff like that.

(Mike from Tumwater is one of my top five fanboys..-kk)

(Keef),

I'm a fan of yours for many years, and we've chatted at several of the local conventions.

Anyway, I thought I'd give you some feedback on your recent page titled 'What the Germans do better than we do'. We just got back from Koln and Berlin two weeks ago, and experienced much of what you wrote. We took pictures of a variety of oddly-formed small (but efficient) cars... (You didn't mention the fewer homeless people on their city streets…)

Two odd, 'counter' things: Not only are the cigarette machines everywhere, but the bars are horrific with the amounts of cigarette smoke (and lack of circulation). We struggled to find nighttime options that we could tolerate…

Secondly, I didn't care for the beer. It's too light and ordinary. Most of it is rather like bud or miller, and the dark beers taste of molasses. They pour their beer with lots of foam (which I don't care for, but doesn't really matter than much), but there is no adventure in their beer. They are all light and plain tasting (except for the dark ones). (I've been spoiled by the rich tastes of many good American drafts---especially of the amber variety, like Fat Tire and Full Sail.) German beer was one of the things that we looked forward to, but they were just not that interesting….

Heretically yours,

T.

(Keith),

I cannot well express how smart, funny, timely, and well-conceived your work is to me. I am proud that we share the same first name. Did I say I love your work.

Thank you so much,

Keith P.(the social worker who needs a good laugh now and again)
posted by keith at 12:26 AM

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

*DONATE SOME $$$ TO THE CARTOON PROGRAM AT THIS SCHOOL I VISITED LAST YEAR IN BLOOMINGTON, ILLINOIS (See the gallery for info)

*COLUMBUS, OH WRAP-UP..
What a great time in Columbus. Got a great tour of the Ohio State Cartoon Reasearch Library by Jenny Robb and (big cheese) Lucy Caswell. What an amazing place!! Spent most of the time perusing "Calvin and Hobbes" originals (there are 3000 of them there!). I hope to have some of my stuff in there someday...

Saturday morning, I did my "Cartooning is Serious Business" lecture to about 40 students at the Columbia College of Art and Design. Actually..they weren't all students from the school. Some folks drove out from Cincinnati to check out the lecture. It was really cool.

The final event was a luncheon put on by the Great Lakes chapter of the National Cartoonist Society. They had it at a place called the Pig Iron BBQ (nice!!). I ate like a pig and then did my little speech. Some really cool cartoonists were there, including Matt Feazell, who drove down from Detroit with his posse. The ages of the artists ranged from 7-70. It was neat.

My stay in Columbus ended with me giving a $5 bill to a transvestite lip-syncher onstage at a gay bar called Garrett's. (S)he tossed me he(r) mink stole.

Cheers!
posted by keith at 7:01 PM

Thursday, October 05, 2006

*COLUMBUS REPORT 10/5/06:

Man..I cannot begin to tell you the travel nightmare I had getting here. Let's just say I rolled into Columbus on two hours sleep...

But it didn't seem to matter, cuz Ohio State was one of the best college gigs ever!! Excellent, excellent, excellent!! An extremely diverse audience turned out after I went next door to a meeting of three Black student groups and told em that I was doing my slideshow with all these comics about race to an audience of 99% white people. I told 'em if they didn't like it after five minutes, they could leave. I got em all to postpone their meeting and watch slideshow!! It was great. Lots of laughter. Lots of good questions. Lots of sales of the NEW BOOK that made it to the campus in time. Woo Hoo!! I'll post some photos soon.

It's not over yet. I'll be doing a workshop with fellow "Beginner's Guide..." author Mat Schwarzman and a "Cartooning is Serious Business" class at the local art school on saturday.

Cheers!!
posted by keith at 8:47 PM

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

*OFF TO COLUMBUS...

So I hope to see some of you midwestern type folk as the Ohio State Cartoon Research library brings me out for some slideshows, workshops and seminars. Mat Schwarzman of Beginner's Guide fame will be there, too.

It will also be the WORLD PREMIERE of "Are We Feeling Safer Yet?", the new (th)ink anthology (if the books have arrived from the printer...we'll see) I'll try to blog a bit more when I get out there...

Cheers!
posted by keith at 8:08 PM

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