Yet More Tributes Buried in "Mixed Cursing " Manuscript

What can I say? I owe so much to so many. It's payback time. In this case it's R. Crumb, and Monty Python. Yes, I'm afraid Mr. Natural isn't boogieing, he's merely dyskinetic. And the Ministry of Silly Walks? Same story. So much to explain, so little time!

Screen Times and Locations for My Six (Close) Brushes With Death

The Grim Reaper will stalk the Anchorage International Film Festival so relentlessly that Tony Sheppard is considering going to court for a TRO. That's right, the ANCFF plans SIX, count them SIX screenings of the harrowing autobiographical film about how I almost had no biography to auto. There is a festival-generated Schedule here or you could just look at the table below: 3:15 Saturday, Dec 3, Out North Main Theater My Six (Known) Brushes With Death Peter Dunlap-Shohl 2010 Categories: Animation, Snowdance Run time: 7 min. | USA/AK The shocking true story of a young man's fragile existence. Starting at a very young age our hero faces death and hair-raising danger time and again. 12:00 PM Sun, Dec 04 Alaska Experience Theater - Large Theater As part of the Animation World-Wide program 7:00 PM Tue, Dec 06 Alaska Out North Theatre - Gallery As part of the Animation World-Wide program 8:15 PM Thu, Dec 08 Out North Theatre - Main gallery As part of Snowdance Mixed Shorts 1 7:20 PM Fri, Dec 09 Alaska Experience Theater - Large Theater As part of the Animation worldwide program 6:00 PM Sat, Dec 10 Out North Theatre - Gallery As part of the Animation World-Wide program I will try to get to as many of the showings as possible, to answer questions and to prove I'm still alive in spite of everything.

Flaming Marshmallows of Doom to Grace Anchorage International Film Festival

Once again, the gimlet-eyed judges of the Anchorage International Film Festival have suffered an inexplicable lapse of, well, judgement. That's right, they have picked another of my micro-epic blockbuster Studio Jupiter animated shorts (Studio Jupiter motto- We may waste your time, but not much of it.) as a selection for this year's festival. It's not clear if they actually like the work or fear some sort of dreadful reprisal from me if they don't take one of my offerings. Either way, I'm flattered. I haven't had word yet on when or where it screens in town. but you can see the whole thing right here. Warning: contains scenes of graphic violence that frankly, I find disturbing, especially as they happened to me.

Drawn on the iPad using Sketchbook. Getting the witch to hold still while I drew her is not something I am eager to try again.

Graphic "Novel" Project update

Yes, the book project lives. In fact in the case of this panel it took on a life of its own. I was working on the figure on the couch to project a stiffness that would say "Parkinson's rigidity" or "Rigid Personality" to go on a page about the so-called "Parkinson's Personality". Suddenly I realized that the character I had dawn looked much like Mr. Spock, as played by Leonard Nimoy in Star Trek. A tweak of the ears and eyebrows brought him that much more into focus. Suddenly Freud was analyzing Mr. Spock which is the kind of thing that amuses me no end. "Tell me about your father, Mr. Spock..." To top things off both Mr. Spock and Freud were/are heroes of my brother Dave. So is this an accidental homage to my younger brother or a Freudian Slip of the stylus? I hear my brother intoning "There is no free will" as I write this...

Uncommon Wisdom# 44

Have you hugged an orc today?

As Promised, a book update

Rather than blowing off blogging while concentrating on the shiny new project of converting my other blog "Off and On" into a can't-miss graphic novel, I promised to update you guys on how the work was progressing. So here's a new page. I'm up to 16. Feedback, agent inquiries and publishers welcome.

Click on image to enlarge it.

Souvenirs of a recent trip

A recent road trip through some of the most spectacular country in the South 48 yielded the following drawings rendered on the iPad while Pam drove.

And if you are craving a glimpse of what the view was like from the passenger seat...

Cross-Post From Off and On, The Alaska Parinson's Rag- A sneak Peek at a New Project

Drawings ©2011, Peter Dunlap-Shohl, Click to enlarge

For years people have been prodding me with the question "Why not turn your Parkinson's Disease blog into a book?" I usually counter-prod with the question "Do we really need another book on Parkinson's Disease?" Then several months ago I ran into two friends, Scott and Julia. Scott is a great fan of graphic novels, which is a highfalutin' term for fancy comic books. We were chatting about "LOGICOMIX" which is,among other things, a comics biography of Bertrand Russell we both read and enjoyed. "You have enough in your blog to turn it into a graphic novel", Julia suggested. I told her I didn't think so. The blog doesn't really amount to a narrative, the drawings aren't connected enough. The whole thing seems like a fragmented, episodic series of observations. Not enough graphic or novel. Or maybe I'm just lazy.

Later I was talking to my friend Steve. Again the dreaded book subject came up. I raised the usual objections. But he may have given me a way to focus that will work. "You treat Parkinson's Disease like an adventure", He said. Hmmmmm. With a massive, Herculean effort, a guy might be able to make that work. I've got about eleven pages so far. They appear above. above, in case anyone is curious.

One reason I have been reluctant to start a project like this is a fear it will interfere with blogging. Then it occurred to me I could post pages here from time to time, neatly killing two flies with one swatter. Page twelve calls, must run...