We found the fourth ball!

My new friend Cassie

It turns out my new friend Cassie is a famous dog. You've probably seen her on greeting cards sporting four tennis balls in her mouth. When I went to take my own photo today she had misplaced ball number four. Stay tuned. We're going to find that ball!

Spacing out

I got to hang out with an honest-to-god space walking astronaut yesterday at the Charles M. Schulz Museum. He was not familiar with the film DARK STAR so I was unable to lord over him with my vast deep space experience. Nevertheless it was great to meet Dan Tani and see his home movies from the orbiting space station where he lived for months. Note several bazillion Peanuts strips on the wall behind us.



I threw down the gauntlet when I got home by sending him the following picture of yours truly SURFING in deep space. Come on. Just try that sucker!

Uh luv ellay

One rainy night in Santa Monica I ducked into a pizza joint for a slice and ran into fellow actor John Ashton (Beverly Hills Cop, Midnight Run) who I hadn't seen in years. It turns out he was only in town for an audition, having moved to Fort Collins CO shortly after someone on the freeway in LA had pulled a gun on him. I did this cartoon to commemorate the move.

Take that Leno!

Now THIS is a chin:



I just found this photo of Percival C. Farnsworth, famed lecturer (and puppet). I created this lunatic for a film I created for IBM many years ago called CLEAR AS MUD. I stored the puppet in a friend's moldy barn for a long time. When I opened the trunk he had virtually disintegrated. In the world of pixels, however, he still lives.

Celtic nut

I thought Roosevelt T. Boa had shown us every yoga posture in the book, but oh no. Now he's into Celtic knots. We're talking about one talented snake here folks.

Latest trip to the moon

With niece Nina rolling into town with boyfriend Justin, fresh off the plane from vacationing in southeast Asia, it was time to hit the Charles Schulz Museum's Apollo 10 exhibit (commemorating lunar lander Snoopy and command module Charlie Brown) and do some of our own flying in their pint-sized simulator. Nina and I took the dual controls. Every time I told her to go left she went right. I was forced to slap her silly with my space glove. Fortunately she was wearing a helmet. These are just the sort of scenes that NASA never shows you. For good reason.

Sooper Puppy Online

Now you can see streaming video previews of all eleven Sooper Puppy programs for young children at www.empowerkids.com

There are five more films in the works to help young children in their recovery from molestaion.

There was a time when five Sooper Puppy films occupied half the slots on the top ten sellers list of the Simon & Schuster catalog. He's long overdue for a comeback.

Dark Star in 10 minutes

Some Brit has edited Dark Star down to 10 minutes with comical subtitling and voice over narrative. It's a hoot. Here's the link to YouTube for those of you who wonder what I look like with a lot of hair.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0f7jA1l8gk

Another fairie sighting!

Look! Up in the sky! It's bird! It's a plane! No! It's my wife Robin!

Inaugural Ball

Robin and I had a great time at the Inaugural Ball. It was fun to meet Barack but boy is that guy skinny. Damn near paper thin. I hope the White House chef can fatten him up before a stiff wind blows him away. For me yesterday was the beginning of the new year. Happy New Year to all!

Sooper Puppy returns

"The pack is back" as I dust off the little miniatures I made years ago to sit on my desk as I wrote eleven Sooper Puppy films for kids in the mid to late 1980s. Now Sooper Puppy is preparing to star in five new short films for kids in order to facilitate trauma therapy. From left to right that's Big Jon (a gopher), Grandpaw, Baxter (AKA Sooper Puppy), Stoops and Grizzle in the background (the Garbage Can Gang) and Baxter's best friend Pickles on the right. When I cast puppeteer and friend Robin Goodrow as Pickles I had no idea that we would marry 15 years later. Thankfully we're both house broken.

Ho Ho Holy Mackerel

We haven't put up any Christmas lights yet this year because this house down the road has sucked all the electricity out of the grid. Fourteen years in the making all the characters climbing all over this property were hand painted by the owner. He either has a lot of spare time or drinks copious amounts of coffee. Happy Holidays!

What in the world?

I just discovered this vintage image of my wife Robin Goodrow and her alter ego Vanilla from Buster & Me, her award winning children's TV series that ran for 20 years on NBC in San Francisco. I never realized they'd both gone into outer space but I am certainly grateful to NASA for the photograph.

To see more go to busterandme.com

Ned the elephant

Ned the elephant has just been rescued by the USDA. It's only the second time the USDA has ever done that. He's currently at the Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee where he will be recuperating from his mistreatment. They have a wish list of needs that can be found by pasting the following URL into your browser:

http://www.elephants.com/estore/views.php?cat=6^108&sub_link=&desc=Ned%20Wish%20List&menu_oid=6

The Snake Whisperer

My wife Robin has an uncanny ability I have never seen before. Over the years I have had various snakes. I have never seen them respond to anyone and "come" on request, like a dog, until now. Last night Robin and Roosevelt were having one of their conversations. When he later headed in the direction of the Playsnake of the Month fold-out I made and put on the back wall of the tank Robin suggested he go up and give "her" a kiss. He did. I married a snake whisperer!

Strangle U

I've been wondering where my new snake ever learned to hide so well. With the recent arrival of his diploma I now understand.

Roosevelt T. Boa

I'd like to introduce the newest member of our family, Roosevelt T. (it stands for "the")Boa. He's a rosy boa and lives in a simulated desert right in my office. He reminds me daily not to waste energy - to be still and quiet. He's a good teacher.

Wack Wacky Wackier

Just when things were getting a little dull in comes Wacky Wendy from New York to raise the wackosity quotient. She makes amazing crazy hats out of paper plates. Say what? It must be seen to be believed. Go to www.wackywendy.com and see for yourself. But be careful. It could put a dent in your doldrums.

High elf-esteem

My wife Robin (in the white) took off for a few days with our friend Angela to let their hair down and their wings out. Somewhere in a wooded glen in Oregon they joined thousands of other fairies to commiserate about having to pretend to be normal humans most of the time.