Boxing Day

"They put the numb into number
They put the cut into cutie
They put the slum into slumber
And the boot into beauty
But from this day everyday
Will be Boxing Day"

—Elvis Costello

I decided it's time to celebrate my own holiday, in my own special way. Happy Everything and Anything to all. May this coming year bring you peace and prosperity and wit.

"I have no idea exactly what I've drawn
Some kind of change, some kind of spinning away
With every single line moving further out in time"
—Brian Eno

Turkey On Parade

Have a great Thanksgiving everybody. And thank you!

Rise, Cats, Rise.

Lily and I went to the Westchester Cat Show yesterday and we both came away with the feeling that the cats got the short end of the feathery teaser stick...

Dead Fun

Zombie Observations Part 2: Zombies are really quite sociable. Have you ever noticed they always seem to be gathering together in large groups -- usually outside of lonely country farmhouses or on the other side of chain-link fences with flimsy padlocked gates?

Zombie Observations

Lately I've been wondering, why are zombies so darned picky? I mean, if they're really that hungry why don't they just eat each other?

Thirty Six Views of Mt. Hood

I realize now that it's probably too subtle but there are 36 drawings of my head behind and around the mountain -- thus the 36 views of Mt. Hood. Should I have kept it a secret?

Better Halves

This drawing was inspired by the sense of wonder I experience everyday when I think about how lucky I am that Lisa agreed to marry me all those years ago.

Good Morning, Good Morning.

I have to admit it's getting better...

Occupy THAT, Hippie!

‎"There you are my good man. And for the privilege of keeping your hard-earned money in my bank – with which, by the way, I make a substantial profit by paying out absurdly low interest rates – I will now charge you a fee anytime you wish to make a withdrawal. "

Steve, we hardly knew ya...

Pull out gun, shoot foot.

Perry does it again, and again, and again...

Like Alice Cooper said:

When does compromise become capitulation? When does turning the other cheek become bending over?

The Big Question

Lily and I have been talking about the big question: what happens to all of our thoughts and memories after we die? My answer: let's wait and see.

Unexpected Effects of Weather

When alls said and done, the worst part was that my girls were out of town and I had to watched the Weather Channel all night by myself.

"Sorry boy, but I've been hit by purple rain."

"Thanks a lot son, just the same."

Dear friends, please forgive my absence in this sphere. I've been confronting technical difficulties in the physical, psychical, and technological realms. I hope to be fully operational again soon. Thanks for all your support and well wishes.

Corporate Drag

"Being good in business is the most fascinating kind of art. Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art." 
–Andy Warhol

So Long, Cy

"...[each line I make is] the actual experience of making the line. It does not illustrate. It is the sensation of its own realization.”


“It’s more like I’m having an experience than making a picture."


--Cy Twombly

An Imperfect Storm

 ‎"...sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together." -Marilyn Monroe

Underachievers Anonymous

Lily (my 9-year-old): Dad, do you want to be famous?
Me: Yeah, sure... that would be OK.
Lily: How're you gonna do it?
Me: Well, I'm not sure. Nothing I've done so far seems to have worked very well.
Lily: I think you need to work harder.

Where There's Never a Boast or Brag

I don't know about you, but to me celebrating the 4th of July is about honoring the idea of America, about the promise of democracy, about the potential we as a country are capable of manifesting.

I still think we can declare independence from every form of selfishness, greed, demagoguery, deck-stacking robber-barony, "I've got mine and screw the rest" kind of thinking. I think we are that great and today I celebrate by proudly flying the grand old flag, forever in peace may it wave.

It's OK I've Got A Beehive On My Head

There's no accounting for taste, but perhaps there are taste accountants. I think they're called "gallerists", "art dealers", "museum curators" and "collectors".

"I know they've got their problems, I wish I was one of them..."
--Elvis Costello

Start Over

There are some days that I wish I could just completely remake myself from scratch.

Better late than never...

Today my nine-year-old daughter was gently chiding me for posting this drawing a day late.

"Dad, more people would see your drawings if you put them up at the same time every morning. You should try to be more reliable."

"I know Sweetie, but sometimes I don't get an idea until later in the day... sometimes not even until really late at night. That's just how it goes."

"Then you should try to get your ideas to be more reliable."

Congratulations from New York.

Human Rights: 1
Bigotry: 0

The ID Movie: Original Colors

The ID started out green but I thought he looked a little too much like that character from Ghost Busters. Here's the "making of" movie that shows him in his original color scheme.

From the Well Organized Files of the Coalition of Super Villains

A bubbling mass of dark, contradictory impulses, "The Id" creates chaos everywhere he appears. His constant need for instant gratification and his amoral impulses make him a formidable opponent who will stop at nothing to get what he wants -- unless his arch nemesis "Super Ego" foils his chthonic plans first.

A New Deadly Sin for Today's Wacky World

There are many kinds of dishonesty, and honestly I've been guilty of any number of them, but there are some forms that particularly rankle me. The dishonesty of political leaders is one of them.

And it's not about doing something stupid, denying it vociferously to the world, then going on to admit that, yes, well, I did in fact do that stupid thing.

That's bad but what's worse is a leader who deliberately tells a lie and does it because they know that people want to believe that lie and will therefore vote for anyone who tells them that lie and who defends it with full-throated vigor. Here is an example from a certain politician who's star is currently rising in national politics:

"As a matter of fact, carbon dioxide is portrayed as harmful, but there isn’t even one study that can be produced that shows that carbon dioxide is a harmful gas."


Really? This is the kind of sin that can really be deadly.

It's the longest day of the year! Or does it just feel that way?

Took a hike through a swampy forest,
Now I'm slathered with mosquito bites head to foot.
Happy first day of summer!

If you ask me, I'm the luckiest dad.

The Top Ten Reasons I Love My Dad
Drawing and Words by Lily age 9 (with a little editing and graphic enhancement by Dad):

1. He keeps me safe if there's danger.
2. He makes my bed when I'm at school.
3. He likes to be funny by singing songs and replacing most of the words with "kitty," "meow," "cats," and "cat food."
4. He's good at making me laugh.
5. He will eat just about anything.
6. His favorite hobby is drawing on any piece of paper he sees.
7. He only gets mad at me when I spill Xacto Blades and when I explode something in the microwave.
8. He helps me with my homework and social problems.
9. He likes to watch "Glee" on TV.
10. He reads to me at bedtime.

The Seven Not Necessarily Deadly Sins: A Series

In olden times the virtue that was said to counteract envy was kindness. That's an interesting thought: to be kind to someone is to not envy them the things they have that we desire.

These days it is thought that kindness is the act of being nice to those who have less than us, or to those that we feel in some way superior to. The distinction is telling.

Look up in the sky, it's a mensch, it's a moralizer, it's...

Another in my series of oddball superheroes.


Super Ego's arch nemesis is The Id. Super Ego strives to act in a socially appropriate manner, whereas The Id just wants instant self-gratification and does whatever the hell he wants. 


Super Ego's main super power is to incessantly remind us of the difference between right and wrong and to make us feel guilty.


His sidekick is Little Ego who is a bit confused and struggles with his temptation to join The Id on the dark side and be free and selfish and eat chocolate cake all day long. 

Clean Out: The Movie

Another experiment with animating my latest Daily Drawing and posting it on ArrghPtoo! Let me know how it works.

...of ideas

I had to take a couple days off to clean my brain a bit. It's nice to be back. I missed you.

Making A Daily Drawing

If you'd like to see how one of these drawings is made, check out this new video of the making of my most recent drawing "Dwell On It." It's kind of cool to see it in process.

And do something.

Drawing is a really interesting way of thinking - and not thinking - about things. As the great designer Milton Glaser has said, "art is a form of meditation for both maker and witness." Sometimes I let the marks I make guide me to their meaning. In the case of this iPad drawing the journey and the message are thoroughly entangled. Dwell on it and tell me what you think.

Just The Opposite

Having one of those days where all my problems seem "high class" to me. Feeling so fortunate for the life I have and for my family and friends. Everything would be just hunky dory if I could just come up with a punchline for today's post...

I'm Not Angry

Thanks to Jaakko Lisalo and everyone at Rovio for many inspiring hours of virtual physics and time-wasting fun.

King For A Day

For my old friend Kevin P. Keelan, poet, visionary, critic, and wise fool. Long may you wave.

You can read some of his vast output here.

"Well, I finally found someone to turn me upside down
And nail my feet up where my head should be
If they had a 'King of Fools,' then I could wear that crown
And you can all die laughing because I'll wear it proudly"

-Elvis Costello

Introducing a new family member: Baggie Bags, world traveler and committed environmentalist

Meet Baggie. She's ArrghPtoo's best friend and moral compass. When Baggie gets weary of sailing from tree limb to urban lamp post, and wants to stretch her handles, why Good old Mr. Ptoo wraps his Baggie around those meaty arms of his and together they go swinging through the renewed decreptitude of the Meat Market District or spend an afternoon above it all tripping the new High Line.

Stand by: having difficulties.

A day of technical problems and frustrations. I have a feeling tomorrow will be better.

It's All in ArrghPtoo's Head

Can one be too thin? ... too rich? ... too famous? These are all valid questions I feel a responsibility to explore personally.

Home Flying-insect-free Home

The great outdoors is a nice place to visit, but there are just too many bugs.

Red, White, and Blue Brain

In the Cool Cool Cool of the Evening

All that green is good for me.

Where's ArrghPtoo?

...I'm taking a break from the daily iPhone drawings for a couple of days. See you after Memorial Day!

Daft Hands?

This was my wife's idea.

I think she's trying to tell me something.

Magical Natural Phenomena

When the female cottonwood trees around here start casting off their cottony seed, it's like a snow shower in summer. Its magical to be alive.

Not knowing what to say.

Another ArrghPtoo! Weather Report.

We've gotten so much rain in the last couple of weeks that even my 9 year-old daughter thinks it's "creepy." Then again, "creepy" and "random" seem to be her two favorite words of late and she's been sprinkling them with rather a heavy hand throughout our recent conversations.

But to a desert bred Southern California boy like me, all this wild green growth the rains are bringing to the landscape around here seems a bit creepy to me too.

On the plus side, there's absolutely no talk of water rationing. Now if we can just get it to rain gasoline we'd be in business. That would be so random!!

Super Hero Fail. #1 in a series.

Sometimes something like this just happens and even I'm not sure what to make of it. I reach in with a big scoop and see what comes up. I report. You decide.

I'm just glad to be here and I'm glad you're here too. Happy Sunday.

Love,
ArrghPtoo!

Have A Nice Apocalypse! :)

"Dearly beloved
We are gathered here today
2 get through this thing called life

Electric word life
It means forever and that's a mighty long time
But I'm here 2 tell u
There's something else
The afterworld

A world of never ending happiness
U can always see the sun, day or night

So when u call up that shrink in Beverly Hills
U know the one - Dr Everything'll Be Alright
Instead of asking him how much of your time is left
Ask him how much of your mind, baby

'Cuz in this life
Things are much harder than in the afterworld
In this life
You're on your own

And if de-elevator tries 2 bring u down
Go crazy - punch a higher floor"