introduction Hi, there. Welcome to the dumping ground err, archive of all my awesome dumb stuff: comics, radio segments, music, freelance illustration, graphic design, and other random flotsam. This is a final resting place for everything I've done, made, and forgotten about. Click on junk, or just go to my other sites, which have better crap on them. - Tom

the last three stupid things I said on twitter You should follow me on Twitter

things (sort of) worth mentioning: news & self-promotionalisms

MISC! - The Demographic has a nice little write up in the latest issue of The Valley Advocate... I am trying out zazzle for some t-shirts for The Optimist... Broken Lines issue #5 has been officially sent off to the printers, and a proof copy is forthcoming. The weird Flash thing on the website will be updated soon, as well. - Mar 11, 2010

ROCK! - My band The Demographic played our second show, another short 4-song set, captured on video by Tom M. and Sarah S. Thanks! - Feb 24, 2010

I'M PLEASED TO MEET YOU. For the first time ever, with the exception of a month in 2005, I have a business card. How grown-up. I can't wait to leave the house and 'network' at some sort of 'social gathering'. - Feb. 11, 2010

EFF YOU, BLOGGER. Well, thanks to the recent news that Blogger will be discontinuing FTP support, I will be migrating this site, the-opt.com, and lots of my old freelance clients to Wordpress. This site should be mostly switched over (the migration was fantastically easy, the template-adjusting has proven to be a little messier). I apologize in advance for a bunch of outdated links within posts I'm going to have to fix as I find them. Feel free - nay encouraged - to leave a comment on a page that has an error on it to bring it to my attention. I would like to thank Blogger in a very backhanded and sassy way for motivating me to move to a platform which is, by all accounts, much better. - Feb 4, 2010

LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT MY BAND Got a new project brewing with the talented Sturgis Cunningham called The Demographic (also on Myspace, because apparently when one is in a band, one needs to be there, too). In other news, I posted a new radio piece to The Optimist. The comic's been getting some good feedback. In other OTHER news, I've got a fresh batch of Even Lions Will Fear You in, so thanks for your patience on that, object-hungry consumers. - Jan 22, 2010

THE OPTIMIST I am very pleased to announce my new comic strip project, The Optimist. Online-only for the moment, black and white, weekly, with intermittent multimediocrity thrown in. Bookmark it, RSS feed it, read it, tell your "friends": www.the-opt.com - Jan. 5, 2010

CAFFEINATE NOW I am very pleased to announce that the third edition of the screenprint Hello Darkness, My Old Friend is now available for sale. Thank you, consumers, for your patience. - Jan 4, 2010

WRING OUT THE NEW YEAR Hey. I made a best-of list, which I consider to be rather annoying, to be honest. DO YOU CARE? Also, take a moment to behold this handsome man and his handsome t-shirt. - Jan 1, 2010

A GIFT OF MULTIMEDIA As we witness the final death rattle of 2009, I present to you a video gift. Ringing in the newer year over at www.the-opt.com, I debut Art Talk: Typography - The Video. - Dec. 29, 2009

WTF DOES 'PIN TO TASKBAR' MEAN?!? Hey. I got a new computer. DO YOU CARE? - Dec. 23, 2009

THANKS; GIVING? Ahhhh, the end of November... that magical time of the year when I realize that I should've designed some Christmas cards and then I realize that it is far too late for that. The time of year when I give thanks for all of the unfinished projects I have swirling around half-realized in my head and assorted manila envelopes. That time of year when... Anyway, here's the latest Turn It Up! radio ad: The Amazing New Improved TIU Infomercial - Nov. 30th, 2009

THIS WEEKEND: I'm gonna have a new piece on Bill Scher's radio show on Saturday (I'll upload it here Monday or Tuesday), and don't forget to check out the Flywheel Record Fair on Sunday in Easthampton. I made the flyer. - Nov. 4th, 2009

RECENT WORK: Cow Island Music recently released two new CDs that I did the art & layout on, Arty Hill's Montgomery On My Mind and The Starline Rhythm Boys' Masquerade For Heartache. Check em out on the CD Design page. Also on the freelance tip, here's a poster design for Mass Poetry. - Oct 20, 2009

WHISKEY! TANGO! MERCHANDISE!: I am very pleased to announce the release of Even Lions Will Fear You: Two Years of Whiskey! Tango! Foxtrot!, the 52-page collection of my weekly comic strip. More info here, or just buy one here. You should own a copy, because it is an item worthy of ownership. - Oct 15, 2009

EN PEE AAH: My song "It Gets Great Mileage" was featured on NPR's Car Talk on Sept 12th, 2009. Just found out. Dang, I missed hearing it on the radio. Hear the song on the solo music page. - Oct 10, 2009

RECENT WORK: There's a new radio segment available on the ol' radio page that's gonna school you on the magical and mystical world of TYPOGRAPHY. Also, in I am going to have a comic included in a new comic anthology. Aaaaand, I just posted a song/video on Blommit.com, a site where contributors respond to a new topic each week. This week's topic: Menus. Watch it here or on Blommit. Aaaaaaaaand I cranked out 50+ spot illustrations for an article in this week's Valley Advocate, about board games. - Oct 1, 2009

NORWAY OR THE HIGHWAY - Hey, I had a couple of posters in a poster show in Oslo, Norway(!), a fundraiser event for gigposters.com. Take a look at a few photos on my Gallery Shows page, or take a look at the show organizer's Flickr page. - Aug 25, 2009

MUSIC UPDATE: I wrote a song about my car, and I also posted an old song that is not about my car. Check out my music page to listen. - Aug 10, 2009

RECENT WORK - I've got a swell editorial illustration in this week's Valley Advocate of Billy Bragg doing a little sidewalk buskin'. - Jul 29, 2009

BROKEN LINES - Broken Lines Issue #4 is now available! "The Orange One" weighs in at a whopping 52 pages, and several of them are actually pretty good. WOW! Please purchase one. Also, don't forget to check out the needlessly complex Flash thingamajig on the BL website (recently updated), which explains (or possibly obscures) the plot. - May 27, 2009

I AM IN A DESIGN BOOK - Hey, I've got some work included in a nice-looking German design collection, Gestalten's Naïve: Modernism and Folklore in Contemporary Graphic Design. I just got my contributor copy, and it is a pretty, pretty book chock full of talented folks. I've got one piece included, the cover of The No-Shadow Kick's 2005 EP Spatializing Sound in the Time Domain. The book's not available for sale in the U.S. yet, but you can get a look at it at the Gestalten site. - May 21, 2009

featured pages

external links

Standard Design, my portfolio

Broken Lines, my graphic novel

The Optimist, a weekly comic strip

The Demographic, a rock band

No-Shadow Kick, another band