Open Season on Bunnies

Mehitabel here with the latest field and stream report.... well, I wasn't really in a stream, but we've been having a bit of rain recently and I got all WET while I was out... um... shopping. So there I was, bringing my faithful servant a really nice present, and she rushes out and makes me DROP it, and drags me in the house, rubs me with a towel, and then SHE LETS THE BUNNY GET AWAY!!!!!!! I ask you, is this how a grateful person reacts to a charming little present? I mean I didn't even get to bite its' little head off. I may have to go back out on strike again if she keeps this up. And don't even talk to me about birds. (The brightly colored ones taste the best, you know.)

Well, that's all for now. Hopefully she'll let me out of the house soon, and then......

Panda On!

Mehitabel

My true relationship with computers, OR Technology When It Suits Me

I don't know about you, but I came late to this whole computing thing. For years I resisted, making snotty comments when my more computer savvy friends extolled the virtues of doing this or that on the computer. Finally the day came when I could no longer buy 35 mm slide film for my camera locally, not to mention get it processed. I had to break down and get a digital camera which of course meant I had to get computer. Oh woe is me. My first computer was ( and in fact still is) a small brained behemoth running windows 98 (first edition). It served me pretty well for the first year or so, until it crashed because I was trying to keep too many large file images on it. (Aren't you impressed that I know the term "large file"?) Anyway, I now have a sleek and stylish iMac, which has many mega googles or whatever they're called and I can have lots and lots of junk on it that sometimes I can even find.

By the way, Mehitabel has gone on strike and refuses to write anything until I run some more cat cartoons. "Pandas....phuufffff!" she says.

Until next time,

Panda On!

Miz B

You're not really trying unless....

It has always seemed to me that unless you are willing to fail at something, you're not really ready to succeed. Yesterday I finally felt I was ready to start sending out query letters for my book legnth collection of panda cartoons, so I picked a prestigious agency with a very wonderful and quirky website, emailed my query and was promptly rejected. Having been in the art business for over 35 years, I've had the full range of rejections. My favorite for the ultimate in impersonal dismissiveness was on a post-it note that said, "doesn't interest us." This one was kind, firm, and showed that he'd actually read my letter. I knew it was a long shot, but as the Filson Co. says, "Might as well have the best."

I will continue to send out queries and proposals and we'll see what happens. After all, being endangered is no laughing matter.

Panda On,

Miz B

Goodbye, Gretchen

A little over a week ago, the pandas lost one of their fans. We all have these ever widening circles of friends and acquaintences ( like Rabbit's friends and relations). Gretchen was not in my closest circle of friends, but we had lots of overlapping circles of friends and interests. We are both artists, we both adore cats, and now I find we are both pandaphiles. (And yes, I would fondle a panda if given the opportunity.) Life is too busy and too short to know well all those we meet in our travels. I always enjoyed running into Gretchen at the grocery store where we would talk about art or our cats or what was blooming in the garden.

Some religions believe that your journey to what ever afterlife there might be takes 7 days. I'd like to think that there was a panda guide to lead her on her passage, and a great host of pandas waiting to welcome her and offer her a "little something" to snack on till lunch time.

Panda on, Gretchen. We'll miss you.

Miz B

Voices in My Head

Generally speaking it's not a good idea to admit that you hear voices in your head, but I'm going to go public with this dirty little secret. The voices are usually attached to animals, like my cat Mehitabel, or the pandas. Mehitabel's voice is very sultry and rather cynical. Think Lauen Bacall in "The Big Sleep". The pandas have two different voices. The small pandas are kind of high pitched and exuberant and the big pandas sound a lot like Tony Soprano. It's not that I sit around ALL the time, listening to these voices, but it does make life more interesting.

Panda On!

Miz 'B'

Unfairness to Cats

In my quest to become a widely successful cartoonist, I have been doing alot of "research". As a painter, my early studies included studying the great masters of painting throughout the ages. So, I reasoned, If I want to expand my understanding of cartooning I must study from the masters. Now, you've most likely already gathered that I have a very healthy sense of the absurd. After all, I'm making cartoons about cats and pandas. Therefore, it would not be a suprise that my studies have focused on other masters of the quirky and absurd. My all time favorites are Gary Larson, Nicole Hollander, Bill Watterson, and my current favorite, Scott Adams of Dilbert fame. In a recent book he revealed the 2 of 6 rule, which states that in order for something to be funny, is must include at least 2 of the following 6 concepts:

1. cuteness

2. meaness

3. naughtiness

4. bizarreness

5. recognizability

6. cleverness

Is this guy a genius or what?

So, thanks, Scott, and all the other cartoonists out there who are making me laugh and helping us all to get through the days ahead as the new powers that be try to get us out of the mess we're all in.

Panda On!

Miz B

Panda Kindergarten

March is coming in like a ....panda? Well, I don't know what this March is coming in like, but the weather sure is wierd. One day it's 65 degrees and the next day its in the low 20's. I don't know whether to shed or go blind. (I hope that got past the censors.) I'm glad cats don't have to go to school like pandas do. Of course if there was some possibility that I would get a tuna fish sandwich in my lunch, I might just reconsider. On the other hand, it might interfere with my busy schedule of napping and scratching the couch.

Panda on!

Mehitabel