I love Brad Neely...

...and you will, too. Neely is a cartoonist working out of Austin, TX. He's created a short cartoon for Super Deluxe which I've pasted below. Enjoy!

The future of jet fuel?

Check out this interesting alternative to jet fuel. Via Treehugger.

My (Our) new book (Kampf)

People have asked me, "What did you write before Barry Trotter?" The answer is, "A lot." Over the past five months, after scouring every hard drive and filing cabinet, I've collected the best of that writing--a big chunk of which was done with supragenius Jonathan Schwarz--into a book called Our Kampf. It's now available on Amazon.com, just follow the link. I encourage you to buy as many copies as your finances and religious beliefs allow. Why is it called Our Kampf? Because no matter how many pieces we got into The New Yorker or on SNL, no matter how much admiration people in comedy and publishing expressed, we could never get a freakin' job. After five years of this, it became a cosmic-yet-deeply-personal struggle ("kampf" in German) against the forces of insiderdom and idiocy. That struggle continues to this day, more or less; which is why I don't get invited to many parties. Some of the book is tethered to that time--1989 to 2004--but most of it isn't. Admit it: who wouldn't want to read a piece called "Curious George Gets Sold For Medical Experiments"? (My parents were so proud.)

My Box in a Box

Okay, so over Christmas, my brother Jack visited us, and when he wasn't surfing, he was singing "Dick in a Box." Now, a sophomore from Penn has done a parody: "My Box in a Box." Nice idea, but truly awesome execution. Brava!

People ask me questions, stuff like...

"So, Mike, why the hell don't you post to your blog anymore? I mean, understand we never enjoy it that much, but since most of us have actual real jobs and all you do is sit around tapping away at that smudgy eMac of yours (often in your boxer shorts, don't ask us how we know this), the least you could do is spread a little blog-love." The reason the posting has been light for the last several months is this: I've been cranking out a bunch of new books. I'll let you know as they become available. The first one is a collection of some of the best stuff I wrote with friend Jonathan Schwarz during the 1990s and early 00s. That book is called Our Kampf and should be up on Amazon.com any day now. I'll give you a head's-up and the stampede of commerce can begin. There are several more projects in the hopper, in various stages of completion. Sophomore is written, designed, and should be available by Valentine's Day. (The sequel to Freshman, I think it's an even better book. Anyone who saw the movie "The Good Shepherd" will be extra-amused by it, hint-hint.) A new parody is being shopped--it's totally finished, and I'm itching to get it out there; if we can't find a buyer, I'll self-publish it for Christmas 2007. A mostly done comic novel for teens (and immature adults such as myself) is being shopped, too. As if that weren't enough--and my rampaging anxiety says it's not--I'm in the midst of plotting my first novel for adults--semi-serious, can you believe it? I plan to start writing that next week. And I've got another idea for a parody my agent Edward is about to take around. All this, plus Jon and I are about to launch a new Yale Record alumni blog--don't worry, all will be welcome, whether or not they bear the fearsome Mark of Old Owl. (You can't even take the goddamn thing off with laser-surgery. That's what they don't tell you at initiation.) Damn, it wears me out just to write all that. No wonder I feel tired. So that's why the posting's been a little light. To tide you over, friend Mollie Wilson has launched a new blog of her own: lovers of musicals are heartily encouraged to check out Restricted View. And of course there's Kate's blog, which never fails to make me laugh. In the meantime, watch this space for much upcoming news...