Star
Power
The quote in the last panel of
today's comic is from the well-known astronomer
Carl Sagan, a man who made explaining the physical
intricacies of the universe, in a way that anyone
could understand, his life's work.
To me he'll always be remembered as the man who cogently
pointed out that we, and everything around us, are made of
atoms that were once part of much older stars that collapsed
and exploded, seeding the universe with their rich harvest
of atomic material both light and heavy. We are, he said,
literally made of star stuff.
As though that's not fantastic enough, this "star stuff" which
composes our solar system may be third generation material.
In other words, age-old stars blew up, reformed as new stars,
then eventually exploded again, affording new building material
for world's like our own.
Mr. Sagan, in his prime, was often lampooned as being a little
too poetic for his own good, but he will not be soon forgotten.
-----------
I knew from the start that today's comic was not
going to be all things to all people, especially those louts
who populate the churches and synagogues and what-not around
this globe, but that's their problem. Although the comic
has generated some positive critical response there is yet
some talk of a necktie party from fringe elements despondent
over the lack of inclusion of ye olde Mormons. You'd almost
think Mormons had killed their dogs or something.
While a comic emcompassing the whole of religous nuttydom
would have been the ideal solution I simply wasn't all that
keen on devoting my life to the job nor on researching the
minutia of off-sects like the Universe People or Nuwaubianism.
I mean, most people don't even know about the Mormon's Secret
Magic Underpants and it's hardly a minor sect.
But, seriously ladies and germinates, you try compressing
an entire religion into one tiny cartoon panel. It took me
much longer than I care to mention to come up with the gag
just on the Buddhist angle.
And, yes, I realize the story I'm referencing was actually
Goldilocks and the three bears, not Red Riding Hood. I swapped-in
the figure of Red on the aesthetic grounds that she's simply
more fun to draw. Hey, I'm making it up as I go along, anyway.
But don't we all?
------
 I'm
now going to take a moment or two to shine a small light
from under the door of my cell.
I'm primarily a commercial illustrator but I love to play
with Flash. Next to Adobe Illustrator it's my favorite cyber-toy.
Some years ago I took the illustrious Tom Lehrer's rip-snorting
rendition of "The Elements" and animated the living
hell out of it. I added it to my online
portfolio and I'm proud to say it has since been viewed
over a million times. Not content with that I recently created
a Youtube-d version for people everywhere to share, and you
can find it here.
Enjoy!
=Lefty=
|
