I’m not sure if I have mentioned Jim Woodring here before, but I know I link to him on the site. I came across this link to an animated version of a Frank comic that Mr. Woodring did, and I think I just pooped my pants. This is so cool, and it did two things for me: 1) it stayed true to Woodring’s original comic, his style, and his weirdness (which I mean in a good way); and 2) it made the story flow even better than the statically rendered book form.

Some of Woodring’s amazing drawing skill is lost in the translation to the 3-D digital format, and I have to say that Real is my least favorite web video fomat, but damn, that’s awesome.

You may have noticed a startling lack of monkeys on this site, considering it is called “The Bunch of Monkeys Workshop.” I’m okay with that, as I consider my self enough of a monkey to satisfy the title of the site, but if you really need some monkeys, please take a look at these beautiful portraits by Jill Greenberg.

link via kottke.org

When people enter Carleton College, they are asked to send in a photo to be included in what we called a “Zoo Book,” which is essentially a visual reference to help you rememer the names of all the people you meet throughout your day.

Back in the spring of 1995, my freshman year at Carleton, I was hanging out in the room of one of my dorm-floor neighbors. My friend is a couple years older than I am, so he had the Zoo Book from his entering class. I was absent-mindedly flipping through his zoo book, when I came across the photo of a woman I had seen a few times around campus. In the photo she is sitting against a tree (probably an oak), wearing a fisherman’s hat, looking into the distance off to the right. In my travels across campus, the woman had caught my eye every time she walked by for whatever reason, and now, there she was again.

I showed the picture to my friend, and said, “She’s cute.”

To which he replied, “Oh my god! She is one of my oldest, best friends in my whole entire life!”

The two had apparently gone to junior high school together, and by happy accident ended up at the same collge years later. I don’t remember if he offered to introduce me, but I do know that I thought about it, and chickened out.

Cailin never believes me when I tell that story, but it is the honest truth. I didn’t really get to meet her until a year later, half-way around the world, in New Zealand. I fell in love with her on a tiny island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean on the edge of the Great Barrier Reef, surrounded by mutton birds, sea turtles, and sunshine. And I married her, three years ago today.

Happy Anniversary, Cailin. I love you.