(no title)

The conflagration

A couple of nights ago, about 2:30 am, as usual, neighborhood was dead quiet. All of a sudden, we hear loud booms! Sounded like bombs going off. I thought that was what it was because the houses and buildings shook. And the booms were so loud.

I heard voices and then assumed it was kids with fireworks which happens once in awhile, but the booms got louder and scarier. I then thought it was kids throwing bombs. What else could it be?

I looked outside the window and saw nothing but neighbor across the street was screaming, which made it worse. She then started yelling “Fire! Fire!” And when I looked out the window again, the street started to go in flames. Literally. Suddenly dark black smoke filled the sky and the flames grew to about 25 feet high and started spreading along the street as it grew bigger.

I was sure they were going to reach the electrical wires and travel from house to house. Looking at it all this the next morning, I was amazed that didn’t happen. Maybe the wires are fire proof.

What next, I thought? More of this? I was sure we were being bombed. More and more explosions happened. One of my neighbors told me that her synagogue has 24 hour watch due to problems in the Mideast. TV news reported about localized antisemitic attacks and I thought perhaps this was an attack against someone who lived in the neighborhood. But then I just thought it had to be kids on bikes or cars with homemade bombs just randomly throwing them.

The fire department arrived very quickly and attacked the fire, which relieved me. The police arrived, too, and I thought, perhaps they can find the culprits and stop them tonight.

I went out on the balcony to see, but the sky was black from all the smoke which grew worse as the killed the fire. Was it toxic? Was it dangerous?

I started to think of the people in Israel, Gaza and Ukraine. This was a mini thing, but it was scary as hell. Random people bombing our homes? Invisible people at this point.

As soon as the fire department got it all under control, I was relieved to see it was two cars that were involved and not what I had suspected. One car blew up and caught fire. As it turned the corner, it just started popping and exploding, sounding like bombs. Each explosion caused the conflagration. Each explosion was louder and louder.

It was very close to another car, one of my neighbor’s cars, and it caused that car to catch fire because it all happened at that car’s gas tank.

It ended up being the newspaper delivery people’s car. The man and woman who deliver the Miami Herald. They were in the car driving around the bend delivering papers when their car exploded which caused the fire and all the chaos! Luckily they got out in time.

Neighbors all ran down but I watched from upstairs. I was still shaken thinking it was something else, which luckily, it wasn’t.

The fire was put out, the fire department and police left, the two cars were towed away and just a big black area in the street is all that is left. Glad that everyone is safe and the fire didn’t spread to the whole neighborhood.

This cartoon running today is weird and maybe a foreshadowing. The Herald lady wasn’t delivering my Herald. I unsubscribed the delivery part and I subscribe to it online and read the eEdition daily. So far no word of our incident in the Herald.

Receive an email each time I publish a blog post by clicking here

Pumpkin smile

This Tomversation cartoon ran today. It started out as a similar image which was almost identical to a New Yorker cartoon by Sara Lautman, which you can see here.

I drew the original cartoon last week, thinking it was a funny image, with the jack-o-lantern smiling with big white teeth, but I couldn’t think of a gag. So it just sat for a few days and then I came up with the candy corn teeth and I played around with that, making various images.

Sara came up with an excellent gag. You can see my original smiling one below without any text, since I couldn’t think of anything funny. I just thought it was never done before – a smiling, big toothed jack-o-lantern.

I hate when similar ideas happen regarding cartoons, which is quite often. It always looks as if one person got the idea from the other. Great minds . . .

Here are a few more of my candy corn variations without the text. There are more, too, believe it or not.

I’m glad I went with the top one. It fits in with the Halloween theme this week, perfectly.

Receive an email each time I publish a blog post by clicking here

Dropping cartoons

Editor and Publisher has an article on the disappearing of syndicated comic strips in newspapers. The NY Post dropped the few they had years ago and I stopped reading the Post after that – and for other reasons.

***Ginger Meggs comic strip by Jason Chatfield.***

The major hit was in Australia, where so many popular strips, including the 100 year old Ginger Meggs was dropped by hundreds of newspapers, all owned by Rupert Murdoch and Nine Entertainment – a problem and monopoly right there. By the way, Murdoch also owns the NY Post. I guess he just doesn’t like comic strips.

He is replacing them or enhancing puzzles and games in the newspapers rather than print the comics.

Ginger Meggs is printed on GoComics daily, and I like some of the others that were dropped, which, like Ginger, you can read online now.

Swamp by Gary Clark is a favorite of mine – when it would pop up online somewhere. You can read that online at swamp.com.au and Snake by Allan Salisbury can be seen here: snakecartoons.com/snake.htm.

I read the comics online at various sites – GoComics, Comics Kingdom and other websites and I think the majority of readers do that these days.

After so many years of trying to be syndicated in newspapers, I don’t think that’s where I want to be now. For one thing, I think it’s a precarious place to be to make a living. Every day you may be losing clients (and money), not gaining new ones and it seems that the readers are mostly online anyway.

But I do agree that newspapers should carry cartoons and comics pages for those that read them there. It’s part of life, it’s been part of all of our lives – everyone that is alive today has lived with comic strips and panels as part of their daily newspaper. As long as the newspapers are still printed and published, why not include them? They are pop culture, part of everyday life.

Receive an email each time I publish a blog post by clicking here

I like this new boarding policy

I like United Airline’s new boarding system. I suspect many don’t.

It’s called WILMA – for window, middle, and aisle, and it starts next week.

It’s where those sitting next to the window board first. My pet peeve is that I always sit next to the window and invariably I have to deal with a person who is blocking my seat by sitting in the isle seat. The thing is, I am one of the first on the plane, I don’t know why, but I’m not comfortable until I am in my seat. Then I’m great with the rest of the flight. So even though I am one of the first on the plane, there always seems to be someone ahead of me, blocking my seat.

I had this thought just the other day when coming home from New York.

I’m always tempted to say something, but now with United’s new plan, I won’t have to.

There are a couple of drawbacks to this – first off, I’ve never flown United. I probably have flown most other airlines, but these days I mostly fly American Airlines and Delta once in awhile.

Secondly, the people who board later will complain that there is no room for their carryon bags whereas if they boarded earlier, they would have overhead space. I always put my carry on under the seat – I make it fit. I pack for that – even in winter, I manage.

People will have to buck up and deal with the new system. Until they change it back from hearing many complaints. It only seems to save a couple of minutes, so it’s not a big deal really.

Receive an email each time I publish a blog post by clicking here

From tokens to tapping, the OMNY subway system

Looks like the NYC MTA caught up with the times.

I had written about the flaw in the OMNY system which is used for the subway and busses. It’s where you tap your phone instead of using an MTA card to pay for the fare. Instead of getting a weekly pass for $33.00, you can get the “pass” automatically by swiping 12 times in a 7 day period. It adds up the $33.00. But the problem was the system worked on a specific 7 days – Monday through Sunday. So if you started using the touch system on a Friday, for instance, all the touches/swipes from Friday until Monday, would be useless.

Now it’s any day of the week. You can start the tapping any day and for the next 7 days, it will work it’s way to the free unlimited rides after the first 12. No need to wait for Monday to start.

It should have been that way from the start, I’m not sure why it didn’t. It’s a good thing, too, because apparently in 2024 they will be doing away with the metro cards and the tapping phone system will be the only way to use the subway.

I may have mentioned this before, but I have a friend who jumps the turnstiles. I know, I know. It bothers me, too. He does it when I’m not looking because he knows I am against it.

I told him about the OMNY system – how after 12 rides the rest are free. So he tried it out. After a week he said it was a ripoff. Not because of the 7-day rule where you have to start on Monday at the time, but because it isn’t forever.

I asked him, “You thought you would get 12 paid rides and then forever after that it was free?” He said, “Yes.”

So it’s back to jumping turnstiles for him. He was recently in Boston, not sure how he managed their subway (the T) there.

Receive an email each time I publish a blog post by clicking here

Sleepy Hollow

As we drove back down to the city from Highland and pumpkin picking last weekend, we stopped to see the Hudson River views in Tarrytown, NY, but as we wandered around, we wandered into the village next door which was Sleepy Hollow!

What a find. It’s so wonderful. It reminded me a lot of Salem, MA, but also so much of Stars Hollow, the fictional town from Gilmore Girls. So quaint and such a special place to be in the fall.

So many hills and backstreets to explore. We also explored the cemetery and all the Headless Horseman locations. One problem – so did thousands of other people. The poor little town is overrun by tourists, including us. I’m not sure how the locals deal with this.

It’s one of those good things that is ruined by crowds. But even with the crowds, it was special and I would not mind visiting again, maybe in a quieter time of year when it’s out of season.

There is so much history there starting in the 1600s, including the church and grave stones.

We had lunch at a nice restaurant overlooking the Hudson River and called it a day. Exhausted by all the walking up and down hills, but very happy. A good exhaustion.

Receive an email each time I publish a blog post by clicking here

NY Comic Con 2023

Another October, another NY Comic Con.

Went to the first day of Comic Con on Thursday, it was a beautiful day, sunny, cool and perfect. The usual cosplayers took over the Javits Center.

I walked around for a long time looking for the National Cartoonist Society booth, the program provided by the convention, didn’t show their location. Finally found it after an hour of walking around and there was Jason Chatfield, right in the center, doing his thing, which I think was drawing and giving out autographs.

I didn’t get too close to the booth – too many people. But I’m always tempted to “talk shop” with him. I interviewed last year for my 10 With Tom column and that would be a good ice breaker, but I didn’t introduce myself last year and I didn’t do it this year.

You can see him in the group of photos above, chatting away at the booth.

Receive an email each time I publish a blog post by clicking here

Pumpkin and apple picking

We did our usual pumpkin and apple picking this past weekend at one of our favorite places Dubois Farms in Highland, NY, in the Hudson Valley.

The leaves didn’t turn yet but it was still beautiful and fun. The temperature finally dropped into the 50s, so it felt like fall. We had apple cider doughnuts, hot apple cider and pumpkin pie. We left with a bunch of large mum plants, too.

Driving through the winding roads in Upstate New York is really wonderful. I keep thinking that it might be a great place to live. The views of the valleys and Hudson River and beautiful, too.

On our way back to the city, we stopped at Tarrytown and Sleep Hollow, what a treat that was. I’ll post the photos here in a day or so.

Receive an email each time I publish a blog post by clicking here

At the MET in the rain

It was raining Saturday, so I headed to the MET Museum, which I probably would have done even if it was sunny. But since it was raining, it seemed like the whole city showed up, The lines to get in were endless. But since I trudged up there via subway and walked around in the rain a bit to get there, I stayed.

I did miss a couple of cool things which is weird because I’m usually in the right place at the right time, but in these two instances I was not where I should have been.

The first was a wedding proposal. I heard a loud applause in the next gallery and when I walked over, it saw that a guy proposed to a girl. I missed it, I only caught the applause and happiness part.

Then I walked into the Temple of Dendur area of the MET and I just missed a ballet performance, right up near the temple building.

Otherwise it was maddening with all the people there, but it was more fun than being out in the rain.

Receive an email each time I publish a blog post by clicking here

I gotta rock

This recent cartoon is a play on words from “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.” You know, the “I got a rock!” part.

I got a t-shirt recently with the Peanuts characters and Charlie Brown is shown saying that as the kids go trick-or-treating. I plan on waring it at NY Comic Con on Thursday.

I was wearing the shirt the other day and one of my neighbors, who reads this blog, by the way, asked me what it meant. She didn’t get it.

She’s not big into pop culture. But this cartoon been playing non-stop every October since 1966, so I don’t understand how she didn’t understand it. She’s about my age, so we have had plenty of years to see the tv show. It was funny, because I was explaining the scene to her. She asked, “You mean every time he went to another house he just got a rock? Why?”

“Because he’s Charlie Brown,” I responded.

You can get the shirt here on Amazon if you like it. It comes in different colors.

Looks like Apple tv still has the rights to the Charlie Brown specials unfortunately. I miss having the shows on CBS with Dolly Madison and Coca Cola sponsoring them.

Receive an email each time I publish a blog post by clicking here