I am probably not among the minority when I say that I’m thrilled to not have seen Gooseman Farthammer make an appearance in this year’s series of “Holidays & Deadlines” strips. Instead, we decided to take a more measured approach and be late, as opposed to delivering a product that is below our rising standards. Or, indeed, beyond our physical capacity to create.

The name of the magazine dude is holding, though? That gets me every time.

You have all heard, no doubt, of the terrorist who attempted to blow up the plane going to Detroit. I’m often surprised by how few people tend to actually go and read the news stories, rather than try and piece together their own version of events from what little snippets of information they receive from people they talk to. We’re quite literally drowning in a sea of information, and yet we’re still so uniformly uninformed.

The point is, some people have asked us why we don’t have the Gremlins do more stuff with airplanes, as was their original charge back in the day. It’s because of Shit Like This. This is why.

Holiday stuff now…

First, the (exclusive) prints I made for my immediate family. Next to some holiday cheer.

It's beginning to look a lot like a DUI.

Also, this story: During a family game of Scrabble, my mother starts laughing hysterically. She had just used three tiles to make her word, when she turns around her holder and says, “This just happened by accident!”

This is a real thing that is also real.

I absolutely adore my family.

In unrelated and significantly less happy news, I wanted to mention that Modern Warfare 2 has claimed the lives of three (3) Xboxes via the special Red Ring finishing move. Luckily, my backup unit was purchased from a nearby store that allows me to easily swap them out – however, the main unit, the one to which I feel connected, is stuck in the Microsoft repair system.

Or, rather, it would be. If I could send it to them.

Much to my chagrin, I found a Joystiq article from this summer past that outlines precisely what I plan to do:

“Mail it to Microsoft in whatever packaging you’ve got lying around (remember: they’re going to fix it regardless) and save the special, custom-fit packaging they mail it back to you in. Odds are you’ll use it again.”

Odds are, indeed.

–UPDATE–

Okay, so it turns out that I’m just a big baby. The box cost me $5.50 at the UPS Store, which is right next to my grocery store. Where I was going anyway. They even have the “coffins” on deck, ready to go. As if this kind of thing happens all the time.