Check out: My segment on the language radio show ‘A Way with Words’

I’m a big fan of the public radio show A Way with Words, produced in San Diego and airing on KPBS radio there & elsewhere (though it’s produced independently).

I listen to it as a podcast! (The show has a Facebook page too.)

In the show, callers ask about weird words they’ve heard or (often) that members of their family use, and hosts Grant and Martha share whatever etymologies and regional histories they can dredge up about that term.

Recently I called in and asked a language question of my own! It is about a thing my mom always says, which is “piffle”. She uses this word in place of a swear word.

Mom, I can feel you preparing to write a response to me right now, and yes, I already told them the thing you are about to tell me, which is that you like the reaction it gets out of people when they hear you say it. It’s all part of the conversation I had on the show!

My call aired on the most recent episode, “Happy as Larry,” from January 20.

If you want to listen to the whole episode, here it is (my segment starts just before minute 40), or, they also have it posted as a separate segment of just my bit.

I could also have asked my mom directly about the origin of her use of the term, but this way, I got to be on a radio show. Mom, you can call in and fill them in with all the details if you like, and I will hear it on some later episode!

Audio of “Unusual Obsessions” panel from ECCC!

At the Emerald City Comicon last weekend, I participated in this panel with Wolf Fan Dylan Meconis, Adventure Cartoonist Lucy Bellwood, and Dinosaur Nerd Kory Bing:

The Power Was In You All Along: How to Turn your Weird Talents and Unusual Obsessions into Authentic, Original Art

The creative world is full of copycats and trend-followers. It’s tempting to go with the crowd, but what if the real secret to success is…originality? And what if your best ideas lie hidden in your weirdest skills and most unusual passions?

Lucy was savvy enough to record the panel in its entirety (as she always does) and so here it is, for your listening pleasure!

It’s full of anecdotes from fun people, and I even learned stuff from it too. Thanks to Dylan for putting it together, and to those who attended in person for laughing in all the right places.

[ The Power Was In You All Along: How to Turn your Weird Talents and Unusual Obsessions into Authentic, Original Art ]

UPDATED TO ADD: Dylan has posted the slides too!

Check out: Podcast interview on ‘Comics Manifest’

SO MOTIVATIONAL

I just linked to an interview I did for a podcast! Now here’s ANOTHER ONE!

It’s called Comics Manifest, and it is about giving inspiration to and sharing war stories with creative people:

Comics Manifest is a podcast that interviews amazing and influential creators in comics. Guests share their creative journey, express what excites them today, share their worst creative moment and most memorable successes. The show aims to inspire, giving you the insight and inspiration to take your comics projects to the next level.

Did I tell some of the same stories as the last podcast? Only if they asked the same questions!!

Comics Manifest Episode 64 : David Malki ! ]

 

Check out: Podcast interview for ‘The Art of Engineering’

I made that tower, I designed it

“This podcast series explores the evolution of a career in engineering, the overlap of art & engineering, and also promotes engineering outreach and STEM / STEAM in schools.”

Recently, I was pleased to chat with Chad Harden for his podcast “The Art of Engineering.” We had a lovely talk about my background, how I got into this weird job that I have, whether I am actually an engineer (no) and many other things!

The podcast episode is here!


OBLIGATORY REMINDER:

The 2017 Wondermark Calendar is on Kickstarter this year, and the campaign closes next week, Tuesday, December 6! (I have to cut it off kinda early so I can get all the shipping and everything sorted in time.)

I’d really like to hit 250 backers (which is as many calendars as I’ve produced the last few years), and we’re about on pace for that, with a few days left to go! If you are interested in getting a copy of this year’s calendar, you have until Tuesday to back on Kickstarter.

Fork you very much

My Interview With the Inventor of the Coloring Book

actual photo

As is well known, I both (a) have an interest in things that are old, and (b) am currently promoting a Kickstarter, active right now, for my Roll-a-Sketch coloring book.

Thus, I thought it would be enlightening to speak with Col. (Ret.) Mirithus F. Coloring (b.1851), inventor of the coloring book.

Our interview took place at the Colonel’s residence.

MALKI: Colonel, you have been called both “the father of crayon-art” and also, by some, “an abomination; a scourge on the house-hold and a fiend from the Pit.” Why such a dramatic response?

COL. COLORING: Well, first I should make quite clear that any moniker regarding “crayon-art” has been fiercely opposed by Professor Crayola and his band of toughs. I have never, and certainly do not now, proscribe any implement in particular for use in my books, or recommend one over any other.

It’s just that children most often turn to crayons to fill your books.

Such has been alleged, but I have never marketed a single pamphlet as a “crayon-book.” Adults tend to use tinted pencils, I should add, and there are many more adults in the world than children.

What about the more vitriolic opinions of your work?

You must realize that when my books first began to circulate, it was a different time. Most books in the home were farming ledgers or family Bibles. The prospect of a book with no useful information in it — much less one most often perused by children, already the most useless members of the family? Mothers claimed it encouraged idleness and fancy, and fathers charged it was merely a scheme to sell penny chromo-chalks and watercolours.

Which did sell quite well, I should add.

You shouldn’t add any such thing. I never saw a nickel from the sale of any chromo-chalk; that was all my brother’s doing, capitalising on our distinctive family name. Besides, all courts have cleared me of any liability for any lung ailments they may have caused, and my brother, as you know, was lost at sea.

Last seen on a wax-freighter bound for Crete, I recall?

Yes. Ask Professor Crayola where that boat wound up.

I’d be afraid for my safety if I did. But back to the books: eventually the vitriol faded. What changed?

The old generation died off! Children who’d grown up with my books recalled them fondly when they had children of their own, and of course those who had suffered any ill effects from the chalk or anything else never survived to the age of reproduction! It was a win-win scenario.

Did you ever fear that your books were, indeed, a bad influence on children?

Pish-tosh and bubble-gum! Everything is a bad influence on children: dogs fouling in the road, or the banker’s heavy hand on the door, or the Congressional Record. My books contained nothing worse than anything a child would see in ten minutes at a rodeo.

Some would say that the generations that have grown up since the introduction of the Coloring-Book have forgotten how to respect their elders.

Any child in history that ever respected an elder is a child that ought to be reported to the authorities as a fraud.

You know, I presume, that I have a (duly licensed) coloring book project of my own, currently available. Any advice for a new entrant in the field?

Get out while you still can.


Wondermark thanks Col. Coloring for his candid answers.

Also available in the Kickstarter: Paintings from the Roll-a-Sketch Yearbook! There are six days left in the campaign!!

ROLL IT UP (don't actually do this)