Squaresville

"Slow day at the bookstore. I read about dogs. Turns out that they’re color blind, and now I keep staring at my shirt, trying to decide whether it’s yellow or green. Also, I think my ears are perking up whenever I hear a high-pitched noise."

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Would it be too precious to say that I chose the square format for this book because I was deeply influenced by Gustav Klimt's Secessionist Movement? Yes? Would you believe me anyway? No? Howzabout if I said that the square format fancy-pants Holbein drawing pads I like so much are considerably cheaper than the rectangular pads? You'd buy that? So let's see: somehow you've intuited I'm pretentious, insincere and cheap. Wonderful. This has been a fine Yom Kippur all around.

Why this matters is because this panel is nominally a crowd scene, but in a square format it's hard to fit in much of a crowd. Two and a half people is what you get, and that's not much to get the feeling of Boerum Hil across. If the ratio of hipsters to normal people (1.5:1) in this image seems a little high, remember, I have to live here.

This week's dog is Jake, sent by Belinda Hoosech of Lake St. Louis, MO. I'm from University City, MO, myself, which is about 45 minutes or so east of Lake St. Louis. And while I've lived in New York for more than 20 years, because I am not some type of pinko commie, I am still loyal to the St. Louis Cardinals, who just clinched their division. I am assuming that Belinda, and also Jake, neither of whom give off a pinko commie vibe, will join in when I say: Go Cards!

One other St. Louis-area native of note, Rob Brown, the model for the protagonist of this book, is hosting a fundraiser for The Dysfunctional Theatre Company at Deacon Brodie's Bar at 370 West 46th Street from 6-10 PM this Thursday, October 1. For more info, click here. I'm going to try to drop by myself to hoist a few for a good cause.

More soon, promise. In the meantime, keep sending in dog photos (thanks to all of those I got this week!!), write me emails, make some comments on the blog, read the story so far or check out seltzerstudio.com. By the way, to see the Studio's portfolio in the same great format as Part-Time Dog, just click here.

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