Archive for June, 2009

23 items.

Ginger’s Bread – 87

June 30th, 2009 | by Carl
Ginger’s Bread – 87

Yes, since February, when her attempted home business failed, Ginger’s been working with Art and Hugh on the basics of running a small business. Most of that was boring and uninteresting, discussions of business models and such (okay, so maybe it’s a little interesting to some, but I don’t have jokes for it…). If I ever draw up some of the missing months’ comics, maybe there will be more about the process in there.

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Ginger’s Bread – 86

June 29th, 2009 | by Carl
Ginger’s Bread – 86

As the bottom of the comic says, Dewey and Merv are showing up from the wonderfully library oriented Unshelved. Bill said I could use them tastefully! (The distasteful stuff is on the “Too Hot for Webcomics” DVD…)

Libraries are really busy lately though. I know, I see a lot of people coming into ours. They’re a great resource for job hunters and during tight economic times, cheap entertainment. And most libraries have various programs throughout the year, and especially during the summer. So it’s really unfortunate some states and communities have looked at cutting library funding in a bid to save money…

But there’s the story of why Ginger is asking small business owners she knows for help directly instead of using the amazing source that is your local library. I don’t see why she needs to ask the reference desk for directions though… I mean, a lot of the small business books are 658 in the Dewey Decimal System. She’ll probably want to look at 340′s for some of the legal stuff she’d need. 641 wouldn’t hurt for more recipes. The library is bound to have a couple small business magazines she should look at. I know my library at least has a careers section, she might look for one of those. By the way, I didn’t have to look up those numbers, I KNEW THEM! Dear God, I’ve spent so much time in the stacks!

Last thought: Today’s comic is brought to you by Hyper Q, which I got from Between Failures’ JT. Go thank him for it.

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Random artwork

June 27th, 2009 | by Carl

Sometimes I make some random artwork. In this case, a picture for my Facebook page. It’s titled “The Hell?” because, aside from just playing with coloring, I have no idea what’s going on in it.

The Hell?

That’s totally me though and that may or may not be my fanciful life…

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Follow Friday – 6/26/2009

June 26th, 2009 | by Carl

Whoop whoop, it’s time for our weekly Follow Friday post. Just doing three comics this week, although one of them has four comics related to it…:

Accursed Dragon – This is the new-ish (Started in October) fantasy comic by long time cartoonist Ryan Smith. There’s a new page Monday through Thursday and it follows the magical adventures of Coven and Rawn. I’m a fan of Ryan’s writing, especially his ability to keep people guessing. (Goddamn Pete…) I haven’t seen this yet with Accursed Dragon, but I’m watching carefully for the long, hidden plot to appear and confuse…

I’ve been a fan of Ryan’s for a while, first having read his long time comic, Funny Farm, which went for over 10 years and is now in reruns (with new strips on Fridays). Ryan also occasionally does Laptop & Ferret when the other two comics don’t update. And when he finds an artist who hangs around long enough, he also writes Banished!, which our friend Jamie Anderson was the first artist of. All this but I have no Twitter account of his to link to in the tradition of #followfriday…

The Green Avenger – By Abby Lehrke (No, I can’t pronounce it), The Green Avenger was on hiatus for a long time but it came back this week! Tentatively doing a Tuesday/Thursday update schedule, we’re following the adventures of a Midwestern Superheroine. Yep, the Midwest, also known as crime central! Or was that blizzard central? Well, with a super villain present, there’s more than snow to worry about. I’ve talked to Abby through Kris Straub’s Ustreams a few times and I’m looking forward to seeing the comic back in action. She does have a twitter and you can follow her @thegreenavenger.

Tweep – By Ben… something? I don’t think his last name is anywhere. I’m calling him Ben Tweep. Mr. Tweep updates M-W-F with his slice o’ life comic. Well slice o’ life with some Rabbit Detective thrown in. There’s great writing of the character relationships and it’s one of those strips where I love seeing the growth in art from the first stuff to the current stuff, such dynamic change it be. One of the awesome things with the comic is the archives can display a month at a time, which means it’s easier to work your way through them. Mr. Tweep is on Twitter as well, he can be followed as @mrtweep.

Also, just a reminder of myself and the comic on twitter. I’m @crazycstudios and the site is @gingersbread. Some of the cast can also be followed: Ginger is @gingerpaulsen, Kelly is @kelsutherland, Ryan is @mrryanpage, and Joséphine is @countessjb.

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Ginger’s Bread – 85

June 26th, 2009 | by Carl
Ginger’s Bread – 85

Comic. Posted.

Carl. Sleep.

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Of Movies & Music

June 25th, 2009 | by Carl

So a busy week for me, these past few nights…

Tuesday night, I did as so many others did and saw Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Now, I went because I’m a geek. A healthy number of people did. But there was an unhealthy number of non-geeks there for my liking. Midnight showing are a fad now, it seems. If it’s a movie franchise, an expected big hit, instead of just the nerds who know the source material, you get these douches who are there because it’s a midnight showing. I saw this happen with Wolverine as well. This has probably been getting more and more prevalent for a while, but it’s something I’ve only noticed more recently. And it actually takes a little bit of joy out of midnight showings for me. You don’t get that campy fan atmosphere where the audience laughs together at little instead jokes and cheers at the nods to them. You get a bunch of frat kids stumbling in drunk and commenting throughout the movie about fucking Megan Fox. … I should probably talk about the movie itself but now I’m all grumpy old man about the experience… But really, it’s giant robots beating the shit out of each other. What more could you possibly need? (A plot? The whole franchise is a toy commercial… But yea, there’s some plot too.) The fights are a bit better as they had the animations for the robots better worked out and could actually have zoomed out fights. But it’s still Michael Bay action sequences, so you need to go by the robot colors. Also, given more screen time, we get more personality to some of the robots.

Last night, Wednesday, I went and saw Ha Ha Tonka play with Via Audio and that was great time. The show started after 10 but thanks to a couple websites saying 8 I ended up there early and so just hung with the bands for a couple hours. The show was excellent, with much dancing abound. The audience could have been a bit bigger though, so if you get the chance to see the bands play, you go and do it. I wish I had taken some photos or video but my digital camera is, what the French call, a brick o’ shit. Wait, that’s not a French term… Oh right, I don’t know French. So a shout out to Ha Ha Tonka, Via Audio, and Kyle, from Antenna’s Up, who was also there.

And one last bit of music fun: Friday evening, I’m helping supervise/lift stuff at the library’s “Battle of the Bands” (more of just a concert of ultra local bands… we found 3!) that’s part of the Summer Reading Program. I have to tell you, the urge to find and invite a bunch of hipsters to this thing is overwhelming, but for the sake of the kids, I probably shouldn’t. I have no idea what to expect from this show, since only one of the bands appears to have a web presence and even that is a single, poor quality YouTube video of them covering a song. It’s a band of six 6th graders. But after last night’s show, they’re going to have to rock pretty hard to entertain me.

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Ginger’s Bread – 84

June 25th, 2009 | by Carl
Ginger’s Bread – 84

Mentioning two games in one comic? Uh-oh, I’m getting pretty close to gamer strip territory…

By the by, Ginger, Kelly, Ryan, and Joséphine all have working Twitter accounts. And so the development of multiple personalities begins…

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Ginger’s Bread – 83

June 24th, 2009 | by Carl
Ginger’s Bread – 83

*Sigh* Oh, you two…

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Ginger’s Bread – 82

June 23rd, 2009 | by Carl
Ginger’s Bread – 82

Really, Ryan, that’s kind of a dick thing to do to run out of the apartment like that.

And Kelly, it’s for the same reason I’ve had friends text me about the same thing.

Today’s background is brought to you by, “Why am I still awake?”

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Ginger’s Bread – 81

June 22nd, 2009 | by Carl
Ginger’s Bread – 81

While I joined Twitter before it became such a big thing, I am guilty of poor use of social networking sites. Well, I don’t even have a MySpace, but I do have a Facebook. Which I should really update more often…

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Follow Friday – 6/19/09

June 19th, 2009 | by Carl

Barely made this post in time! Damned storm tried to prevent that. Three more comics this week and a follow up to the Springfield, MO post:

The Adventures of Dr. McNinja – A M-W-F adventure by Chris Hastings (inked by Ken Archer, and colored by Anthony Clark). Dr. McNinja is pretty much a bad ass. Aside from being a doctor and a ninja, his personality is affected by wanting to be Batman, so he’s even more badass. His office also employs a Gorilla and he has a Velociraptor. I mean, what else do you need to know? Chris Hastings on Twitter: @drhastings

Femmegasm – Tuesday/Thursday shenanigans from Robbie Allen/Pembroke/Yamcha Hibiki/he has had a lot of names over the years! And a lot of comics over the years (Fusion D and Impy & Aevy being a couple). Femmegasm is a bit different than earlier works, being slightly more crude and a lot more gag strips about, well, anything in pop culture Robbie wants to tackle. Femmegasm just finished it’s first real story line (the main characters, Shelly and June debate allowing Prembroke to move back in) so we’ll see how the series continues from here. Follow Sir Robbie Pembroke Hibiki III on twitter @PembrokeWKorgi.

Precocious – Updated daily by Christopher J Paulsen, the series is about some kids who are probably too smart for their own good. It’s a pretty great strip and a young one, having launched in January (although the about section cite 20-years in the making). This is another strip I really look forward to seeing where it goes. Chris also has “The Twitter” and is @chrispco.

And a follow up to the Springfield, MO post: I forgot to mention Antennas Up. While I haven’t gotten to actually see the band play live, I met Kyle from the band, who shared the album. It’s very good stuff, and I’ve been listening to the CD a bunch lately. From locations and bands from the Springfield, MO trip, here’s some bonus Follow Friday twitters: @sslyby @hahatonka @antennasup @parkcentrallibr @historiccstreet

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Ginger’s Bread – 80

June 19th, 2009 | by Carl
Ginger’s Bread – 80

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Ginger’s Bread – 79

June 18th, 2009 | by Carl
Ginger’s Bread – 79

Let’s see, Kelly’s “kids” include two cats, a lizard, a couple guinea pigs, two fish tanks (with an odd number of fish and three turtles), and a parakeet. Her apartment building’s rules, and the number of other animals, is why she doesn’t have a dog. Save for some of the fish, all were animals she saved.

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Ginger’s Bread – 78

June 17th, 2009 | by Carl
Ginger’s Bread – 78

Ginger learned about turtles from UHF. Needless to say, neither her nor Kelly’s turtles enjoyed the results of this education.

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Springfield, MO and Music

June 16th, 2009 | by Carl

So a couple things I thought about and wanted to share after posting Tuesday’s comic. Those things were Springfield, Mo and, closely related, music!

First, a quick shout out about the music: While right now the Internet is abuzz about Weird Al’s new video, I want to point out Ha Ha Tonka has a new album out today! Check it out! They’re on tour right now, and you can stream the new album here.

The reason I was thinking about Springfield is because it was on a trip there to see some friends that I got the 1940′s civics book that contained the inspirational image for the comic. I went to Springfield back in March to see my friends Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin with the beautiful and talented Meghan, who drew and runs their official fan site.

Springfield is a pretty awesome place, and if offered me a good job there, I’d be happy to move. (Seriously, companies in Springfield, give me a call.) We drove down and basically spent a weekend in the area. The first night we got down there, we caught a library show at the Park Central Branch. It was just Phil and Will playing (Will’s the chap with the beard) along with a few other great local bands. The next day we spent hanging out with Phil most of the day. It was during this time we checked out the flea market/thrift shop where I got the old civics book. It’s actually a pretty interesting look at thoughts and opinions from just before the U.S. entered WWII (the book’s copyrights are 1940/41) and other than knowledge, I’m bound to get more material from it. We also spent time on the Historic C-Street (Commercial Street). I really only mention this because of Pizza House and them having the best pizza in the world. This is a fact. Go and have some.

The evening we met up with Sarah, another friend, chilled at the Mudhouse for a bit, then went and saw the full band play at the Outland Ballroom. Also playing – Ha Ha Tonka. A terrific show, all around. The next day had a just little more hanging out around Springfield. We had breakfast and then checked out the St. Patrick’s day celebration in Park Central. We missed the parade because we headed with the bands to West Plains for, indeed, a third show. Again SSLYBY and Ha Ha Tonka. And again, it was awesome.

Basically, I’m telling you these are two great bands from a great place, and one of them as a new album out today. I leave you with a music video from each band. From Ha Ha Tonka’s first album “Buckle in the Bible Belt”, the song “Caney Mountain” and from Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin’s second album “Pershing”, “I Think I Wanna Die”. Enjoy!

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Ginger’s Bread – 77

June 16th, 2009 | by Carl
Ginger’s Bread – 77

This really shouldn’t be airing during the Dora the Explorer broadcast…

The source material for this, because sadly I didn’t come up with it, is this image I found in an old civics book from 1940. That’s some quality education there.

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Ginger’s Bread – 76

June 15th, 2009 | by Carl
Ginger’s Bread – 76

Ginger’s switched over to a tank top after nearly getting heatstroke, but is keeping the hat. You’d think the girls would be more supportive, but there are pokémon to be traded!

Speaking of which, earlier today? I hatched a shiny Vulpix! I should try to breed some more and trade them away for things I need/want.

I think I had something else to mention, but I don’t remember it. I’ll blog post it if I remember it and it’s important enough.

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Let’s Go Red Wings! – Edit: God dammit.

June 12th, 2009 | by Carl

Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals is tonight and we at Ginger’s Bread are rooting for the Red Wings. I fully expect to be changing this image from “Finals” to “Champions!” later this evening. Edit: God dammit. So many close shots at the end… Good series Pittsburgh, well played.
Let's go Red Wings!

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#Follow Friday – New weekly feature!

June 12th, 2009 | by Carl

Now, you might notice there are only ten comic links on the side. This is because I actually read over 50 and am constantly finding new ones. But because I want to share with people the great stuff out there, I’ve decided I’m going to take the Twitter #followfriday and each week present 3 or 4 more comics for people to check out. This week, I’m going to write a short blurb about the 10 comics on the right there. Next week, I’ll randomly grab a few more from my bookmarks. So here we go with this week’s #followfriday!

Between Failures – JT’s comic Between Failures updates M-W-F and is about the staff in under visited Megatainment chain store. The title comes from the fact the store is kind of the place people end up working between the failures in their life. It’s ripe with wit and great characters, and I wish it updated more than 3 times a week. JT on twitter is @BetweenFailures.

Blank It – By Lemuel “Lemmo” Pew and Aric McKeown, Blank It follows the adventures of two guys… somewhere white. The strip updates Monday and Thursdays, and each new update ads more oddity to the white space. Lemmo has been cartooning online for a long time, he use to do (among others) the comic Lethal Doses back in the day and was known around the net as Hot Soup. Aric as well as been around for quite a bit as well, having been the cartoonist of the comic Ashfield Online over at Keenspot. On Twitter they are @Lemmo and @Aric.

Buttersafe – Buttersafe is made by Raynato Castro and Alex Culang. It updates Tuesday/Thursday with the two of them alternating the helm. There’s no story, just a mild sense of irony or maybe awkwardness with each update. And sometimes, you learn about yourself. Or get punched by Punch Monster. It’s what he does. I don’t have any knowledge of them on Twitter.

Chainsawsuit – By one Kristopher Straub, one fourth of Half Pixel. Straub is a man with a million and one jokes in his head at any given moment. And ChainSawSuit is where they go when they don’t fit into his other comics and projects. Kris also does Starslip (Formerly Starslip Crisis) and on hiatus is F Chords. He previously did Checkboard Nightmare. He can be found on the Twitter as <@krisstraub and while talking Twitter, his weekly twitter based podblast with David Malki! of Wondermark is @tweethard.

Fancy Adventures of Jack Cannon – Hey, it’s by Jamie Anderson! He’s given me fan art! But that’s not why he’s on the list of 10. He’s there because he makes a mighty fine comic. Fancy Adventures, updating Mondays and Fridays, is about, get this, the fancy adventures had by Jack Cannon. You would have never known from the title. Jack was home schooled, very sheltered, and trained to fight by his ninja mom. Wait, what? Well, he’s just started public high school and he’s gotten into a few fights… The writing at times has a bit of a Scott Pilgrim flare to it and is a lot of fun. Jamie has cartooned for a long time and looking at the first pages of his old comic Jamie and Nick (something he won’t do), you’d never guess it was the same guy. As far as I know, Jamie doesn’t have a twitter account. But he’s probably too busy with his own fancy adventures to update it.

Nedroid Picture Diary – By Anthony Clark, I don’t know if Nedroid Picture Diary has an update schedule. It might not, since he also colors The Adventures of Dr. McNinja. For the most part, Nedroid consist of Beartato and Reginald comics. This dynamic bear/potato and bird duo are the best of friends and teach valuable lessons about sharing and caring. Well, maybe not that last bit. On twitter, you can find Anthony as @nedroid.

Penny Arcade – By… do I even have to write a blurb here? Gabe and Tycho (Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins) are basically the kings of the Internet. If you read online comics, you’re bound to have come across this strip somehow. It’s a M-W-F update schedule focusing mainly on video games but occasionally other realms of pop culture and life in general. Penny Arcade currently has a yearly convention in Seattle (with an east coast version due to start next year), a video game series, a super sucessful charity, and probably an amusement park or some shit. With a legion of loyal followers, let us hope they only use their power for good. On twitter, Gabe and Tycho are @cwgabriel and @TychoBrahe.

PvP – Player vs Player – By Scott Kurtz, who is another quarter of Half Pixel. He’s another big name in the community, and although he doesn’t quite have the following of Penny Arcade, he’s been around just as long. PvP updates Monday through Friday and is focused primarily on pop culture. PvP holds a special place for me because this was the first webcomic I read, having been shown it by a friend of mine. So you can blame Scott for me doing this. Scott is on Twitter as @pvponline.

Sinfest – Tatsuya Ishida does amazing line work. That’s one of the first things you’ll notice with Sinfest. It updates seven days a week, with Sundays in color. Sinfest covers a range of topics that, from religion and politics to peace and love. Tat has a very small carbon footprint online so I doubt he has a Twitter or if so, has it publicly out there.

xkcd – Randall Munroe’s stick figure smash hit. Usually updating M-W-F, this comic has caught the attention of many with its (at times) higher level writing and it’s super simplistic art. As it states “A webcomic of Romance, Sarcasm, Math, and Language”, it has found and brought to webcomics a wide audience. It has also done much to resurrect people’s fears in Velociraptors.  As far as I know, Randall has no Twitter account. He’d probably just fill it with math anyways.

And so that ends this week’s #Follow Friday Post! Next Friday, I’ll set up something to randomly pick a couple more comics to send you to. Enjoy!

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Ginger’s Bread – 75

June 12th, 2009 | by Carl
Ginger’s Bread – 75

She’s basically just working on her Pokédex and the side stuff like Contests and Battle Frontier. As to her costume, I have no idea where she found a Pokétch or if it works…

Bonus facts!

Ginger’s favorite Pokémon: Vulpix

Ginger’s least favorite: Bidoof

Ginger’s Platinum team consists of: Vulpix, Empoleon, Rotom, Starraptor, Garchomp, and Leafeon.

(My favorite is Mew, my least favorite is Bidoof)

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Ginger’s Bread – 74

June 11th, 2009 | by Carl
Ginger’s Bread – 74

When giving someone a pep talk, try not to use a fictional character who’s fighting his girlfriend’s seven evil exes to win her love.

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WE’RE BACK BABY!

June 10th, 2009 | by Carl

Check it ou! We’re back and we’re updating regularly again! Wooo! And with a new site look that’s so much better!

The forum was lost due to spam issues but hey, we’ve got comments! So we’re talk there. So yea, we’re all set to come back.

And HO! While we were gone, got some more Fanart from Kirk! Check out the fanart section!

And while this is a pretty crappy return blog post, I do intend to make better ones from here on out. AT LEAST one a week. Keep track of blog posts and comic updates with the RSS and Twitter feeds!

What else… Well, we’ve got share buttons, so please, feel free to stumble, digg, reddit, or whatever your favorite comics. Spread the word of the return! Thanks for reading!

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Ginger’s Bread – 73

June 10th, 2009 | by Carl
Ginger’s Bread – 73

And months since the last comic… Looks like Ginger’s not going to give up.

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