tomversation

My friend Arva

arva A friend passed away yesterday – Arva Moore Parks – she was a Miami historian who knew everything there was to know about our city and she saved so many great historic places in the city.

When I was growing up, I admired her. Every time I read about her in the newspapers or saw her on tv, I was impressed.

Some years ago, I saw her on a plane. I was starstruck, totally starstruck. I didn’t say anything, but I was honored to be in her presence. She was a person of such high regard and honor.

Years later I met her at a local protest. I was covering the news for our town and she was there protesting the demolition of a 100 year old church. She came up to me and she knew me. She knew my name! She said my name! I had never met her before but she knew my name. From that day on we were friends. Not friends where we would talk all the time, but she would contact me about things and I would contact her about things and she even honored me by writing about me in her book about the history of Coconut Grove – our village.

Over the years whenever I was writing the news, fighting with politicians and trying to save the world, I would think as I was writing, “What would Arva think?” Would she agree with what I was doing? She always did.

One of our local PBS stations shows a little thing on the history of Miami every night in between programs. The first voice you hear is Arva’s and then you see her on the screen explaining one thing or another. The music at the beginning of the segment is always the same and when I hear it, I say out loud, “Cue Arva!” and I point to the tv and smile as she comes on the screen.

You can see her obit and see how great she was in this Miami Herald obit.

This is the video when I hear the music at the beginning, I know Arva is coming on next.

Jerry Stiller – Frank Costanza to you

Jerry Stiller passed away last night. As I watch all these tributes to him on tv I am finding myself needing to revisit Seinfeld. I watch now and then, but not on a regular basis. I mean I’ve seen every episode 100 times, but I haven’t watched for awhile.

When I see reruns now I can almost remember where I was when the episode was on for the first time in the 1990s. Thursday night was Must See TV.

When I am in New York, it’s all about Seinfeld and it has been over the years. It seems that every single person in New York City is a Seinfeld aficionado. Everything that happens can be compared to a Seinfeld scene.

Just last week my cousin called me from New York he had something happen to him and he said, “what does this remind you of? and I answered, “such and such episode of Seinfeld.”

When I am in the city I go up to Tom’s Diner which is the exterior for Monk’s Restaurant on Seinfeld.

My parents loved Stiller & Meara. When I was a kid we saw them in the street in the city one time and my parents were excited. They didn’t go up to them, but they pointed them out and said, “Look, there is Stilla and Meara.” They were that big at the time. But of course I know Jerry Stiller from Seinfeld and King of Queens, where he stole every scene. If you ever get a chance, check out these Seinfeld outtakes here on YouTube there are many videos of outtakes. Hysterical.

Here is a short one. I heard they had to redo this scene so many times because no one could keep a straight face while filming.

Ignorance is bliss; I got my mojo back

calvin-and-hobbes

I’ve been seeing so many good things happen this past month or so. I don’t know if it’s the whole stop and regroup thing with this sheltering-in-place or something else.

In the past, most of my life, I was always in the right place at the right time, I would will things, seriously, I would manifest whatever I wanted. I did this before The Secret was a thing, I didn’t know I was doing it, I would just do it.

I had premonitions all the time, too.

But for some reason, it all stopped. I was off kilter, I was almost in the right place at the right time, but not exactly, I was off a few degrees. I had problems willing things and the whole system shut down.

Now that it is back – and in a big way – I realize that my doing the daily news here in my town for 15 years maybe have been a big part of the problem. It was all that negativity. I myself turned negative, I got swept up into politics and things I normally would not care about. And I am sure there was a lot of hate coming toward me from people who disagreed with me. I am sure I spewed a lot of hate right back at them. It was sort of part of the job – journalism can be ugly.

I don’t want to say the whole thing was ugly, because it wasn’t. I met so many people and made so many new friends to this day. I was part of so many events too, on the inside, where I would not have normally been a part of. I got preferential treatment all over and honestly in so many instances, I was treated like a celebrity. But I like that the run is over.

Now that I ended that 15 year run, I see a difference. I feel peace, I live positively and I shut out negativity. It could be the sheltering-in-place and the settling of the universe, too. But I noticed that I am able to turn the negativity off whereas in the past I was in the middle of it all whether I wanted to be or not.

Now, again I have been willing and manifesting things, I have been having lots of “good luck” and graces or whatever you want to call it and I feel like I have my mojo back and I believe it all has to do with changes I made, especially the change of not reporting the news around here and not being in the middle of all the quarrels and such. I don’t have a clue what’s going on around town and I love it! Ignorance is truly bliss!

Pandemic comics

Here are the first five Tomversation comics published this week which can be seen and followed at TomFalco.com. If you click on them here they will open larger.

All except one pandemic related, but I promise they aren’t all going to be pandemic related.

I originally had planned to post a bunch a once, you know, maybe run 12 comics at one time, so they could sort of be binge watched, like a tv show on Netflix or something, but the daily publishing seems to be working for now.

I’m enjoying being back in the game. I truly get giddy every time I complete a comic. Some of them I go back and rework but most go fast and I get my thoughts out as planned on the first go round.

Too enveloped in your work to know there is a quarantine going on?

Today’s comic, which you can see in larger format at TomFalco.com relates to how I feel. I work from home, so this shelter-in-place thing has not been too difficult since I’m doing what I usually do – stay at home and work – my regular work/job is not happening due to the shut down, but I have been drawing. And I’ll bet this is the same for so many people who work in a studio or even are addicted to things like games.

I have a cousin who is a gamer and has many followers and friends on YouTube, I don’t know his site or I would post it here, I’m not sure why I don’t know his site name, but every time I am was going to ask him, he was busy gaming and a lot of the time he was live online and I didn’t want to interrupt. But anyway, he could be gaming for hours and not really notice being quarantined. He makes a living at it. Yes, he makes money from playing games online!

A cartoonist, an artist, a cook, an architect, a writer, a designer, etc. Whomever is envelopes in their work and not really noticing the outside world is the guy in this cartoon today.

As for my gamer cousin, his brother is a performer in New York.

My cousin TJ Fox who is a musician, has been doing bi-monthly concerts from Long Island on Facebook. This Saturday, May 9, will be the third Saturday night he’s doing “Live from the Living Room.” It’s free at his Facebook page here: facebook.com/tjfoxmusic it starts at 8 pm (eastern time) and usually goes for two hours. You can request songs, he plays the guitar and sings.

If you go to the site now, you can see past concerts.

It’s become a thing with me now. I really look forward to it. I’m a create of habit, do something twice and it’s a thing from now on. What I enjoy aside from his talent is we all chat along as we listen and it’s broadcast from their Hamptons house which I sort of get homesick for since I spend some time there each summer. I’m hoping to be there this summer.

TJ is quite big up north. So many times I’m walking around NYC and I see his name on a sandwich board or marquee – “TJ Fox here tonight!” He performs in NYC and Long Island mostly. He’s also written and performs his own music as well as so many things you already know.

My new addiction

instacart

I’m getting addicted to Instacart. I’ve using them to order from Publix, but it does get expensive. I’ve noticed that the prices on Instacart are a bit higher than in the store and then you add the delivery charge and tip and it’s way up there.

The deliveries are happening fast now, usually within a few hours. At the beginning of the shelter-in-place order, they were taking up to three to four days to deliver. I felt like I was out in the wilderness, like those Alaska shows I like. There was no running out to grab something I needed, I had to plan ahead.

And at the beginning, I was tipping high, too. I read that if you tipped well you would get better and faster service. I’m a good tipper, but I was extraordinary. I’m back to being just a good tipper now.

As the days go on, I just add to the list, I shop at any time, you know, add this, add that and when I’m ready I place the order.

While I’m addicted I don’t see myself using the service after this pandemic is over because I like going to the store and seeing what’s around, what’s new, feeling the food, etc.

At first it was frustrating that I couldn’t get in touch with them if there was a question or issue. But the other day they gave me a lot of free things with my order – it must have been part of someone else’s order – so I got a couple of Taleneti Pistachio ice creams and beer battered fish and some other stuff. I tried to contact someone, but there was no way. I just figured I’d pay for it if they asked for it back – I have to now, I ate most of it already.

What about the face masks?

I noticed that the majority of my comics, let’s say all but a few of my comics, show people without facial coverings, you know, no masks. And the people are in groups and being just normal people. But what about the new normal? Will we ever gather in groups again? Will we sit next to each other in bars or at ball games, will we shake hands?

Here is a cartoon where the people have no masks because when I first drew it, getting hand sanitizer was the big thing, now wearing masks is the thing, so I added masks. Even the dog has one.

But showing people without masks, is this good? Is this bad? Is this keeping with the times? I noticed that even on tv news, the reporters out in the field always have masks on. Sometimes you can’t hear what they are saying correctly as they speak through the masks, but I assume they are wearing them just to prove a point and to be part of the movement since most are solo except for their camera man and in many cases they are filming themselves, so they aren’t near others.

If I add masks to my comic characters then all of the comics will have characters wearing protective masks, and when this pandemic is over, then what? Will I have a portfolio of comics where every person is wearing a mask?

It will document the times, but I’m not sure if that is how I want to be documented.

It would be funny if I went back and added masks to everyone and then when this pandemic is all over I go back and remove the masks and repost the comics mask-free.

Vanity before safety?

tom1 So I walked over to the hospital next door, usually once a week I go for a walk around their property/campus, it’s beautiful, big, wide open and on the bay. I went into Au Bon Pain which is there to get lunch. It’s usually empty, only me and the girl working there.

Well, yesterday there was a guy in scrubs, a doctor, tech, something like that. He told me I had my mask on wrong – even tough I looked at the video that a friend sent me on how to do it. Yes, I needed a video, and still got it wrong. He was a stranger getting lunch mind you, in line ahead of me. I didn’t know him.

He then proceeds to touch me! He took the mask off, fashioned it the way it’s supposed to be and then gave it back to me. Then he had the balls to Purell his hands, they had a Purell stand there. I Purelled too because it seemed like the thing to do.

So this hospital worker/doctor, who should know better is all Purelled up and I have his hands all over my face by putting the mask back on. I told him I had these flowery cloth masks at home that I was going to start using, too, but he said the one I had on was “safer.” I guess he means safer without his hand prints all over it.

I guess I was so embarrassed about having the mask on wrong and walking around like that that I didn’t care about the safety issue. Yet I did have the mask on for safety reasons. Go figure.

Tomversation comic panel starts today!

may-the-5th-4th-color-print

My daily Tomversation comic starts today!

This is my first comic. You can see it larger on the daily comics page at TomFalco.com

Hope you follow along there or if you prefer social media, the comics will be published here daily:
Instagram:
instagram.com/tomversation.toons
Facebook:
facebook.com/Tomversation.toons

The countdown begins

tomversation-may4 So I’m excited about the premier of Tomversation tomorrow, May 4th.

I did publish Tomversation years ago and I stopped because a few newspapers were interested in publishing the comic on their daily comics page, I wanted to hold all the fresh content back for them, but they gave me the run around for years. Is this how features editors behave – promise you the world and then string you along?

One editor eventually was fired for sexual harassment, so that ended that after being strung along for many years.

I see it as a good thing – I am not bound to anything and I’m on my own. I noticed that a lot of comics have millions of followers on Instagram. That’s my goal. I drew comics all weekend and the previous weeks – it helped that we are in self isolation, but I’ve been drawing comics over the years, too, so I have plenty of material.

Anyway, one more time, here are the locations for Tomversation:
Online at my website at TomFalco.com
Instagram: instagram.com/tomversation.toons
Facebook: facebook.com/Tomversation.toons

And I may add other locations in the future, I’ll let you know, but I hope you can choose one or all of these places to follow along.