Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Why I Put Up This Blog

UPDATE CIRCA NOVEMBER 2021

As you can tell by the date of the posts it's been sometime since I've posted here or on the other blogs (OurPets & TheTexasRangersBlog) but I've kept them online because I'm weird like that. But now my good friend Charles and I are doing a podcast about comic books called, strangely enough, Jav & Charles Talk Comics. He suggests a comic book story/arc for me to read and vice versa. I usually suggest something I remember fondly from the 80's that maybe or maybe not doesn't hold up so well. He usually suggests something I haven't read that's much more recent and much better. And then we talk about it. We have fun doing the podcast and I hope if you give it a listen you enjoy it too. 

(back from 2008 below)

afterthought : 

from Merriam-Webster Dictionary circa 1661
1 : an idea occurring later
2 : something (as a part or feature) not thought of originally : something secondary

from American Heritage Dictionary circa 2000
- An idea, response, or explanation that occurs to one after an event or decision.

Short version: AfterThoughts Now - ATN is where I post my thoughts on a wide variety of topics (including, but, not limited to entertainment, pop culture stuff, sports, science, scifi, comic books, politics and other miscellaneous things) in the form of original political cartoons, non-political original cartoons / webcomics and other stuff I write, draw or find that makes me laugh/smile and/or I think is interesting.  I've lessened the political stuff on ATN recently because I just got tired-head from the same old, same old.  I think that a little levity regarding even serious subjects is a good thing. If you don't think it's funny I fart in your general direction. If you like what you see/read here please, pass it along to others that you think might enjoy it.

Long version: Why the blog (short for "web log"- I seriously didn't know that's what it stood for)? I used to email different folks here and there about things related to politics. I followed the 2008 presidential election from the primaries on pretty obsessively. And I likely follow politics more closely than most as it is. So I finally just put up a blog called PoliticalThoughtsNow.com about politics instead of bothering folks with my emails. For example, my first blog post ever (although I did have a short lived site before - jgcomicstrips.com, now defunct) was essentially an email I sent an old college roommate around the time of the second presidential election debate in 2008. FYI, I don't like pinning myself down as to a particular political persuasion. For example, I'm not a registered member of any party. That said, generally (and I dislike generalizing) I am left-of-center to liberal on most issues.

I also used to forward folks non-political stuff I'd find that would make me smile or laugh and I'm sure that at least some were annoyed by the frequency at which I'd forward them stuff and were too nice to tell me to quit. So, I figured I'd use a blog/website called ForYourViewingPleasureByJG.com / fyvpblog.com and post links and other things here that made me smile/laugh as the occassional break from politics. And if my friends want to check it out they can. Now I don't send them as many emails. I went ahead and back dated (cheating? maybe, but it goes back, in part, to the now defunct jgcomicstrips.com site) some of the posts to when I first saw the subject of the post or when I drew/wrote the cartoon (yes, I actually save stuff that makes me laugh, I have a special email folder for it).

I also write/draw some non-political cartoons and comic strips, like Our Pets and Episode. The characters from Our Pets and Episode may appear here in the future. Plus, there'll be the one-off solo cartoon every once in a while. In fact, I have a blog just for the Our Pets comic strip called OurPetsComicStrip.com. I didn't write/cartoon/post at the fyvp.com or OurPetsComicStrip.com sites often and I decided it was silly that I had 3 sites. At first I consolidated everything at PoliticalThoughtsNow.com but, not all the content was related to politics. So I moved and consolidated everything from PoliticalThoughtsNow.com, fyvpblog.com and OurPetsComicStrip.com here at ATN.

Our Pets is a comic strip in blog format (webcomic) about our pets, our 2 cats, Primo and Cindy, and our 2 dogs, Gilda and Gene.

Episode is an original, goofy comic strip about a scientist's first contact with some ET's.

If there's something that makes you laugh and want me to post it, let me know.

I write and draw (poorly - I am in no way a trained artist/cartoonist/illustrator) the cartoons that appear in this blog unless otherwise noted. I've always been a fan of the political cartoon and comic strip.

Also, I, along with some friends, blog about the Texas Rangers baseball team at TheTexasRangersBlog.com.

So basically, ATN is a blog where I share my thoughts through cartoons and stuff I write as well as posting things that I find funny.

Take it easy,

JG