1.) The biggest news of the morning is that the shipping company may not have the new book here in time for San Diego Comic-Con. Which, for an independent cartoonist like myself, is kind of devastating news. That convention is the biggest one of the year, financially -- so not having it there is a bit of a groin-kick. It...phwew...it gives me a headache to think about. I'll be so bummed if it arrives two days after the convention. But c'est la vie, eh? In the great schema of life, this is but a passing moment. All I can do now is hope that some trucker somewhere takes an extra "No-Doze" and makes my day.

2.) It's good to start with the bad news...cause then we can focus on the good news. Sheldonista Derek Pedersen has animated Saturday's toon, and it is pretty darn awesome. Please check this out...it looks so cool! Click to watch.

Derek is an artist and designer whose work can be seen at Happy Leaf Studios. Please check out his site and show him some love. And note: having tried this out on Sheldon, Derek's interested in working with other cartoonists. So especially show him some love if you can use his services!

3.) Reader pics continue to trickle in over at the store...and I'll be adding them in when I have a free moment. So if you have a fun pic you'd like to share, by all means mail it to me!

(Sheldonista Margaret C. and her framed Sunday original.)

4.) I got the chance to watch an early "Transformers" showing with about 1,000 other nerds, yesterday. It was pretty fun, I have to say. But my opinion was totally clouded by the crowd I saw it with. To give you an idea of the crowd's caliber, people were literally standing and applauding the first time Optimus Prime transformed...or spoke...or twitched an eyebrow. It was though someone had found the lost Shakespeare play "Loves Labours Won", and was performing it for the first time in 500 years. It was that sort of crowd.

So was the movie good? Who knows. It's a Michael Bay film. But I had a blast watching it with the collected uber-nerds of Southern California.

5.) But one movie I can wholeheartedly recommended is the Irish independent film "Once".

You've either learned of this movie from all your friends, or you've never, ever heard of it. I heard about it from all my screenwriting friends in LA, who praised it to unbelievable heights of hyperbole. And the scary thing is...they were right. This might be among my top five films of all time. I kid you not. It's a wonderful, intelligent, moving, funny film...with one of the best original soundtracks you'll ever hear.

In most big cities, you'll find it playing at smaller theater houses and independents. But please...take the time to seek it out. You won't regret it. In fact, if you go to see "Once", and don't like it, here is my guarantee: I will personally refund every cent of your money. Every cent.*

[*Note: Refunds only valid if you live on my street, and your name is Skip, and you have an old football knee injury which flairs up in humid weather.]

[*Special Note: No one on my street matches this description.]