This is a victorious bike sculpture outside Johnny Brenda’s in Philadelphia. I am posting it because I turned a book review I did about Pete Jordan’s In the City of Bikes into a bit of a screed about cycling in the states. My editor actually toned it way down. The book is worth reading. And, also, if you’re a driver: quit being a dick. 
05.24.13 /15:01
philadelphiabikesbicyclingbikingbooksPete JordanReviewUrbanismtransportation
About to do my first #openmic featuring actual #sunlight. There has already been one Uncle Cracker reference. And it is raining. #comedy (at Cafe El Beit)
05.23.13 /19:14
comedysunlightopenmic
One of my biggest #writing #problems is my #Internet addiction. So, I think of something I need to do, then I start to do it on the #computer and end up wasting my life stalking @AmericanApparel models and catching up on #webcomics. Bad. So to counter this, when I sit down to really #write, I try to keep scrap paper handy to make a list of things to do when I am done. Today I forgot the #paper, so my #list is on the heel of my #hand.
05.23.13 /10:01
webcomicslistproblemswritingwritecomputerpaperinternethand
Wannabe #novelist #writing at happy hour on his birthday. Like five people in the inside of the bar. One of them is dancing a lot. No dance floor. Even when you aren’t looking, you know he is dancing because it makes his smell waft over to you. This is a dreadlok situation.
05.22.13 /18:22
novelistwriting
Last night I went and saw The Moon at Union Pool. Man, that really shows you what a comedy show can be, when a team is willing to go the extra mile and make it all of a piece.  Every part of it was good, but the big surprise of the night was probably the Cocoon Central Dance Team. These ladies were funny. It was my first exposure to a comedic dance troupe. Well, at least an intentionally comedic dance troupe. They were on fire. Everyone loved them.  I never get tired of stand-up, but it was also fun to see something funny that wasn’t stand-up.
05.22.13 /10:57
BrooklynThe MoonNat TowsenUnion Poolcomedyshows
Tonight at Local Stories, I told the story of how I met comics artist Dean Haspiel in Brooklyn. It is the story of successful stalking. So, here’s a drawing I made of his most famous character, Billy Dogma, in my own weird #style - like a decade ago.(at Three of Cups)
05.20.13 /22:04
storyartistcomicsstylelocalstoriesbrooklynweirdodrawing
Trying to come up with an idea for a new #comic by #drawing. This was the idea I was #thinking about. Maybe not, though?
05.20.13 /11:28/♥ 1
thinkingcomicdrawing
So you go to a dance club and you see some guy getting funky with a bear costume head on and you think, “Who does that guy think he is?” An Innovator. That’s what he thinks. (h/t to stand-up comic Joey Dougherty, who has a bit about a guy raving in a bear costume that inspired me to make this doodle)
05.20.13 /08:51
dancedoodledrawingbear
Got my galley of Leigh Gallagher’s THE END OF SUBURBS (Due out Aug 1st) - I want to believe.  Meanwhile, check out my take on Moses Gates’ Hidden Cities. Up today at NextCity.
05.16.13 /14:04
suburbsbooksgalleynextcitybooksnonfiction
One year for Lent I tried to make an illustration for one passage of Ecclesiastes every day. Add “God” to the list of folks I have let down. In related news, I just realized that I have been reading the LOLspeak abbreviation “FTW” as “Fuck The World” as long as it has been a thing.
05.15.13 /16:00
biblegodillustrationliteraturelentecclesiastesdrawingftw
Found this #mag lying in a coffee shop in #Toronto. Wonder who is behind it? Nice #production values and talent. (at The Tampered Press)
05.13.13 /15:44
torontoproductionmag
On my way to Toronto for TCAF. High hopes for submitting some long ignored fiction to some publishers on the way. First, some reading. I wish I had brought some Ambien. Not so I could sleep, but so I could slip it in a drink and give it to the little kid sitting behind me.
05.10.13 /09:09
torontotcaffictionwritingcomics
I covered this book, The Third Coast, by Thomas Dyja, for Next City. You can see my review here. Then, I had a really substantive conversation with the author, which we ran an edited version of here. It was kind of an amazing talk. I had to do it over the phone and try to type out as much as I could of what he said - which I don’t like doing, because I knew I was missing a lot. It also made it hard for me to engage with what he was saying as well as I might have liked, because I was concentrating so hard on getting it down. Fortunately, I had prepared a bunch of questions in advance, so it was okay. But here’s what surprised me: he and I talked on the phone for an hour. Me asking questions, then me typing furiously as he dropped all kinds of Chicago knowledge on me.  When we were done, I did a word count on what I’d typed. 4400 words.  IN ONE HOUR! Imagine… you really could write that much in an hour if you just had the focus. NaNoWriMo? Please. NaNoWri3DaysOnCoke, you know? 
05.08.13 /14:23
writingchicagothomas dyjaThe Third CoastNextCitycities
Canvas  by  andbamnan