THIS MODERN WORLD

The Mayor’s at 861 828 699 on Amazon.

That would be what we authors like to call the Great Orange Satan Bump. (Which is to say, the book was mentioned on Daily Kos yesterday.)

… also: new reviews on the Very Silly Mayor site — including a video review from a reader who looks to be about three years old. Anyone who says that children won’t enjoy this book has never actually met a child.

Our awesome post-racial society.

Another Amazon review:

It would be a Very Silly Reader who expected Tom Tomorrow to write a children’s book that didn’t have a point to make. But it might surprise some readers to discover that point isn’t some heavy political lesson, but is actually the type of common-sense moral that has been the basis for children’s stories all the way back to Aesop.

The story and its messsage are, basically, an update on the timeless classic “The Emperor’s New Clothes”. In TVSM, Sparky the penguin, Tom Tomorrow’s longtime voice of reason in his “This Modern World” comics, discovers that the Mayor of his medium-sized town has begun acting on some ideas that are – surprise! – Very Silly, indeed. (As a resident of a medium-sized city that has had its share of Very Silly Mayors, I sympathize.) Everyone else in town seems very happy with these ideas, but Sparky discovers that they may not be as happy as they say they are.

The book is filled with highly entertaining and colorful artwork. Fans of TMW will recognize Tomorrow’s style, as well as some of his stock faces (Blinky the dog is also on hand). And if Sparky is his usual self in that he is unafraid to say what he thinks, he does so in a polite and respectful tone that is appropriate in a tale for all ages.

As a book that adults and children can all enjoy, “The Very Silly Mayor” will be quite comfortable next to my copies of such classics as “Go Dog Go” and “The Cat in the Hat”.

As I’ve said before: for the cost of a burger and fries, you can support independent cartooning and seriously independent publishing.

(More on the Very Silly Mayor site.)

Animation from 2000 or so, appropriate to the current moment.

And if you like that, check out the rest.

I haven’t written much about the album itself, because up to now I wasn’t really supposed to, but also because I’m not much good at writing about music. But I absolutely love this album. Of course, I’ve been living with this music for eight or nine months, since Eddie Vedder sent me an early demo disk with about 3/4 of the songs from the album (and one that didn’t make the final cut), and then the final mix with all the songs a few months later. All I can say is, I haven’t grown tired of it yet. And from what I’ve seen, the early reviews are overwhelmingly positive, like this one from Spin:

“Gonna See My Friend,” “Got Some,” and “The Fixer” nearly upend each other rushing out the gate, exploiting Pearl Jam’s leanest, punkest tendencies. And those traits carry through the album’s 36 minutes. No time to waste and Obama in the White House mean no political bellyaching, so when Eddie Vedder pulls out that indignant yet inclusive snarl and proclaims, “When something’s gone, I wanna fight to get it back again,” you can probably assume “it” is his band’s mojo.

Even the requisite restrained ballads feel renewed: “The End” finds Vedder channeling Cat Stevens, backed by a string and brass ensemble. Then there’s the towering anthem “Amongst the Waves,” which could bring “Alive” fans back to the fold. It even expands on that song’s theme, moving from grudging survival to jubilant exuberance (“I’ve put away my early grave”). For the first time in years, Pearl Jam are seizing the moment rather than wallowing in it.

Speaking of Spin, their current issue has three different Pearl Jam covers. The subscriber edition features art by yours truly. If you’re not a subscriber I have no idea how you can get ahold of that one, but the same art is also featured on a special poster insert in all three editions.

Also: with the album “dropping” (as we music industry insiders say), and the band about to go on tour, PJ’s management has more important things to do than worry about whether or not I’ve seen every single usage of the art. So if you see it in some weird place, let me know, and snap a picture if you can. As I said to one interviewer recently, my usual relationship to my art is that of a parent to a small child — you keep an eye on them, you know what they’re up to all the time. This is more like what I imagine a parent’s relationship to grown children must be like — they go out in the world and do all these amazing things on their own, and you kind of watch from a distance, trying to keep track of it all.