Friends

Last night I made spicy black bean soup with sausage for dinner, and I distributed the extra soup between several Ball freezer jars for us to eat later.

Making the decision to finally start freezing took me a long time. I simply didn't know how to do it. Just putting fresh cut veggies in a freezer bag didn't sound like it would keep well without getting freezer burn, and I was afraid of how a Ball glass canning jar would respond to the cold. These Ball freezer jars are great though. I love the size (perfect for two portions of soup for me + Will), I love the screw on lid, and I love that the bottom of one jar easily snaps on the top of another, so they stack nicely in the freezer. I've tried the Target brand freezer jars too, and they're not as great. I definitely like the Ball brand freezer jars.

I've got some beef stew left over from last summer that I've kept in the freezer, and it still cooks up wonderfully. I'm always amazed how frozen soup never seems to lose its integrity. I keep thinking "these potatoes are going to break apart and make a big mess" but they don't! I have yet to try frozen veggies this way, but would totally recommend soup at this point.

When I'm too stressed to cook, or we don't have groceries around (more likely), I like that I can just heat up healthy made-from-scratch soup; that makes me feel awesome.

Try it!

Originally published at Nick Bertozzi. You can comment here or there.

So hey, Freewheel official re-debuted as a webcomic today, so to celebrate, dear readers, I have a challenge for you! Obviously I want to get Freewheel in front of as many eyes as possible, so I've decided to reward anyone and everyone who helps me out by either linking to Freewheel on their Facebook page, posting about Freewheel on their Twitter feed, and/or posting about Freewheel on their blog. Here's how it works:

-The post must occur this week, so BEFORE November 14th (Saturday)

-The post must contain a link to http://www.freewheelcomics.com

-The post must comment positively on Freewheel in some way (meaning not that you should write anything false, but obviously I'm not rewarding slander or something that's just a link with no commentary)

-If you make a blog post, it must contain the following banner image:



Once you make your post(s), email me at liz@lizbaillie.com with either a link to your blog post, or a screenshot of your Facebook or Twitter feed. If you wrote a blog post, be sure to include your postal mailing address as well.

Anyone who posts on their blog will get a small, handmade thank you note mailed to them by me! Anyone who posts on their Twitter or Facebook feeds will get a digital thank you note e-mailed to them! The more awesome the blog post, the more awesome the thank you note!

From here on out, Freewheel will update on Tuesdays and Thursdays! No more minicomics! If you read the minis and enjoyed them, I hope you'll spread the word!

This is something I learned while working at the Department of Public Works as a garbage man.  If you want to fall asleep quickly start with sex fantasy.

Check out my new blog!

NEW STORE WITH REDUCED SHIPPING RATES!:

Read the rest here:
http://jessfink.com/Chester5000XYV/





( ...UNDER THE CUT for naughtiness... )

So I've had two of my pals from those countries tell me they can no longer see my strips on LJ. I'm gonna redirect you folks to the WEBCOMICS NATION SITE. Hopefully that'll help...

Click to enlarge.

Where did page 13 go? To be honest, I skipped a day in my journal during my trip and I haven’t finished drawing it yet. I wanted to get a page up today so I decided to move along to the pages that are finished. I’ll let you know when page 13 is up!

Originally published at friedwontons.com. You can comment here or there.

I wrote and recorded a test song on Saturday. It's the first recording I've ever done solo, and I refuse to discount it based on the fact that I wrote and then recorded it with garage band in an hour. The piano sounds distant because I had to put my laptop across the room in order to mask the sound of my fingers tapping the plastic keys. The vocals are a bit flat in places, but all in all, I'm pretty happy with it. Once shown, two people ignored it, one gave positive feedback, and another may not have found it sitting in their inbox, waiting to be heard. So that's two bad responses (silence isn't encouraging), one very good, and one has yet to be determined. If it turns up roses, it'll be the metaphor of the century.


School is almost out for the semester. Five more weeks. It's sort of scary. Next semester I'm totally booked, but I'm so looking forward to summer that I don't care. I'm doing an internship and taking a Scriptwriting II Independent Study. By the end of the summer, I'll have written a full length film. 90-120 minutes. I've already started planning it, which is weird because I'm the most wonderful procrastinator. I'm doing it now in fact. I have a peer critique due at midnight and I'm not nearly finished. I'm actually putting it off because I can't find anything bad to say about two of my group members. We have to suggest improvements, but I honestly think that they did such a great job, I can't think of anything. It's not because they are my new awesome campus friends, but because they worked really hard. Anyway. I didn't put much stock in my Scriptwriting I course because I am an animation major. I was only taking this course because it was required. But things changed. My professor loves me and so does the class? Totally weird. Someone wants to make my short film that I'm not even finished writing. My professor was more than excited when I asked him to advise my independent study. I've always loved writing, but never found a medium that fit with me. Until now, I guess. This is the first thing that I've ever done in school that has received this kind of feedback. Two of my professors are really pushing me to apply for a writing and page internship at NBC.

This is the first time in my life that I'm doing things ALONE. I've always been afraid to show my independent work to anyone. Writings, unless connected to other people or chronicling a memory, were hidden from anyone with eyes. Songs, unless drunkenly brought to a group and changed, were played only to the cats.

I'm not trying to say, "Look at me, I'm amazing." I'm really asking, "When the fuck did I get so gutsy and why?" Just the thought of it is making me nervous.

Also, I'm moving! In August. For reals.

Requests aren't done, they will be popping up as we go, but honestly I do not need annnyymooreee! I was looking at the Wonder Women that I drew last year and started drawing her again, because she's pretty fun to draw, and surly Wonder Woman here came out. Don't settle for being a tits and tits heroine ladies, be yourself! Poor Nibbles.


Hey Montreal! I'm going to be at Expozine this weekend! You should come.

Store!

Originally published at Nick Bertozzi. You can comment here or there.

The entrance corridor to the Institute of Contemporary arts hosted a marvellous exhibition of comics, created on the spot, during the day's Comiket small press fair. A conflicting date with my book club meant I didn't arrive in time to take a turn, but I had great fun browsing the wall's panels, all based on Watchmen quotations.


Jeremy Day (cleanskies) picking the nose of burnt_jamb Marc Ellerby's drawing.



Here's a little selection:


( More drawings under the cut )

Every time I attend a media conference I learn that there's already a glut of everything I want to contribute to the world and at least 10% of the surplus is better than anything I could do anyway.

Here's a website I like: http://www.newsbobber.com/ I guess MPR just bought it + its creator.

EDIT: Never mind. Someone's going to say something stupid about that and then I'll have to hate them.

Friday:

Saturday:


Sunday:



Hello friends! Here are my comics from this weekend! I hope you like them. It got really nice outside and The Guy turned on window for me so I spent a lot of time looking out. Pretty leaves, stupid dogs.

I hope you're having a nice Monday!

Dan's got something against my car having two doors, what is up with that?
question by Flynn dancingcomic!!! His new mini "Machine Knight" is really good.

Dear readers,

I am sorry to have neglected my internet duties for so long. This comic is about how I have been suffering from writer's block for the last few months, which finally broke this weekend and I got a good handful of strips drawn, and did some work on longer projects that have been stalled. I hope to increase my posting frequency, so let's consider this the beginning of a renewed dedication to blogging!

Yours truly,
Lizzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Forgot to blog yesterday!

Yesterday's big events: nap, laundry, birthday dinner, visit Tom K, look for Wii game reviews online, retire.

A Very Special Episode of the Ink Panthers Show! Mike and Alex discuss Alex's new graphic novella, A Kidnapped Santa Claus, now available from HarperCollins. Comments Welcome!

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Originally published at Mike Dawson Comics.