Okay, I’ve got your attention.

sandratayler was telling me about trailers she’d been watching over on the apple.com site, and commented that M. Night Shyamalan was the only writer/director she knew of where his name was bigger than the movie title. I got to thinking about that, and realized that for twisty, cerebral thrillers, he’s not the only one. Alfred Hitchcock was billed the same way.

I’m not about to say that Shyamalan has the chops Hitchcock did, because I’m not familiar enough with a) the genre, b) Hitchcock’s vast opus, or c) Shyamalan’s work. But from a marketing standpoint, the folks selling us Shyamalan’s films want us to think of HIM before we contemplate the subject matter of his latest film. And that’s the same thing that happened with Hitchcock films later in his career. It STILL happens. “Vertigo” is not a “Cary Grant” film. It’s a HITCHCOCK film.

So… I’m pleased with myself for drawing this comparison. I don’t dare Google “Hitchcock Shyamalan” lest I find out that someone else has had this same insight and then completely invalidated it with actual research.

–Howard

It’s been a good week for cartooning. The buffer stands at 22 (well… 21 now), and today I scripted and pencilled a full week. I plowed through something like 24 rows worth of work (6 rows colored, 9 scripted, 9 pencilled), and brainstormed with Sandra about plot points for the end of Book V and the beginning of Book VI.

I also sat on a pilates ball (is that what they’re called) at my computer for about an hour, bouncing while scanning strips and reading email. Right now my body is saying GO TO BED YOU MORON YOU’RE EXHAUSTED.

I’d better listen. I have two weeks’ worth of strips to color tomorrow, including some stray “painting” to ready Sunday’s strip for the web.

–Howard

Last night I snacked on the crepes Sandra made for breakfast.

They were simple things, a little fatter than a true crepe, but thinner than a pancake. I filled one with the requisite strawberries and whipped cream, and bit into it.

Suddenly I was back in South Africa, on my way to the Kruger park, with Sandra and the rest of our group. We were eating at Harrie’s Pancakes somewhere in the middle of the Transvaal. It was 1999.

Anyway, that first crepe I had was pretty good.

I had the other four because I wanted to see the monkeys.

I haven’t started signing books yet, no.

For the last two weeks my fourth and fifth fingers in BOTH hands have been tingling, pins-and-needles-ish.

It’s not carpal tunnel. That’s the 1st and 2nd fingers, and the doctor did a couple of quick tests for CT, both of which were mostly negative (which means I may have a little bit of CT symptoms, but it’s not serious enough to cause the numbness.)

The problem is not the tingling. The problem is that when I draw or write, my entire right arm starts to go numb. Or sometimes not, and I’m fine.

The doctor suggested an MRI. I’m not keen on spending $5,000 as a first resort, especially since it would be $5,000 of my own money. And extra-especially since a little googling turns up “thoracic outlet syndrome” as a probable diagnosis. It’s one of those damnably contested diagnoses like “chronic fatigue syndrom,” where the patient can go from doctor to doctor for years and be accused of everything from hypochondria to malingering depression.

This page talks about the symptom “tingling fingers:”
http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/sym/tingling_fingers.htm

There are lots of possibilities, but the 4th and 5th finger tingling points straight at “Thoracic outlet syndrome:”
http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/t/thoracic_outlet_syndrome/intro.htm Sure, it might also be diabetes or multiple sclerosis, but I’m not exhibiting any of those symptoms (and I’m not half hypochondriac enough to imagine them into place).

The good news is that the problem has not slowed my output. I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to crank through the sketch editions and two additional weeks of buffer with little trouble between now and May 20th. But it’s probably going to hurt a lot, unless I can get in touch with a physical therapist who thinks he can tackle the problem without forcing me to spend hojillions of dollars on (probably) unnecessary diagnostics.