Eleanor of Discovery Trails writes the following:

Dear Friends,

I am so sorry, everyone. The Discovery Trails program did not make it onto Pepsi’s February List. I was sure we would be on the list because I was one of the first 100 to apply, but it is clear we are not at www.refresheverything.com. I have resubmitted. But this time, I will wait until March 1 to see if we are there before I ask anyone to vote.

This is really disappointing because fundraising is really not working very well this year!

Meanwhile, there are a lot of classy programs on the Pepsi list. Do vote!

Thanks for all your help. Will you please let your friends and contacts know of this glitch? Thanks.

Eleanor

Remember when Fraction and I did the program with the kids at the Kansas School for the Blind? These are the same folks:

PLEASE VOTE FOR the DISCOVERY TRAILS PROGRAM

Your vote is worth $50,000 to us!

The Discovery Trails Program is part of the Pepsi Refresh Project.

We could win $50,000 in February if all our friends and all YOUR friends vote for us every day in February.

Here’s what to do:

•  Every day in February, go to http://www.refresheverything.com

•  Find the “Arts and Culture” voting option

•  Look for “Discovery Trails” in the list of programs

• VOTE FOR DISCOVERY TRAILS to receive $50,000

•  Do this every single day in February.

If you have more than one computer, you can cast a vote from each computer each day.

You can visit the website before Feb 1^st and click on a button on the right hand side “alert me when voting begins.”

This is a national competition.  There are 1000 competitors!  We need every vote we can get to have a chance at that $50,000.

PLEASE VOTE EARLY AND OFTEN!!

Thanks so very much!

If you’re not following my friend Dave’s MY YEAR OF EVERYTHING project, here’s a good example of why you might want to start:

The Enemy Of My Enemy Is Kind Of A Dick:

This morning, I found out that Glenn Beck is simulcasting his Christmas show ‘The Christmas Sweater: A Return To Redemption’ in theaters nationwide this Thursday, and that one of those theaters is not far from my new house. I think Glenn Beck is a jackass, so I immediately emailed three good friends and made plans to go. I mean, how can you miss a return to redemption? You sneak in a flask of bourbon, and you’ve got material for weeks. Comedy writer heaven. Better than ‘New Moon.’

I posted my intention to go on Twitter, figuring the more the merrier, and went to work. A couple of hours later, I logged back on and found reply after reply to the effect of: ‘your a looser!’/’boy, glenn beck gets all the brainiacs!’/’your so stupid!’ Huh? Anyone who even sort of knows me knows I’m kidding, right?

Reading back, the mishegoss started with a message from the Twitter account of an anti-Glenn Beck website: ‘It’s not just Scott Baio, now Former MTV VJ @DaveHolmes has come out as a Glenn Beck fan!’ And since this account doesn’t follow me, it would appear that he just does Twitter searches for ‘Glenn Beck’ and rolls his sleeves up for a slapfight. Even with political kingmakers like Scott Baio. This is how we define ‘activism’ in 2009. Fantastic.

I don’t mind being called names. (I do mind the misspellings, but what are you gonna do?) Here’s what galls me: this guy sent out incorrect information with my contact info on it, a clear incitement for his followers to send me vitriolic messages, and his bio reads: ‘I’ve had enough of Glenn Beck’s vitriol, misinformation, race baiting, & incitement of violence – and so should you.’ Too bad I’m white, because we had a good shot at an irony grand slam.”

(Via My Year Of Everything.)

pinkillo1sm, originally uploaded by Laurenn.

Hey, so, this is usually not my style–calling attention to my, erm, “modeling” such as it is–but if you know me at all you know that Laurenn McCubbin is one of my nearest and very dearest and she has a tendency to inspire me to behave out of character. (Like, sing on the treadmill or choreograph drill-team-esque dance numbers in the weight room.) (It’s horrifying really, but I can’t stop myself.)

SO. Anyway.

Here’s the deal: McCubbin’s in grad school and she’s got a crazy-fascinating art show* to put up in February of next year. In order for said show to happen, she needs to put out about a grand in early January. Wanna guess when her school loans come through? That’s right: MID-January. Which puts her in the position of needing to raise about a grand in… the month of December. During a recession. Not exactly the time when people are dying to make donations to art projects, you know?

To that end, Laurenn’s putting up some small, affordable prints of her work on Etsy. If you’ve ever looked at her stuff before, you know it’s generally available as larger prints in the $50-$150 range. Right now, because of these very special circumstances, you can purchase small prints IN TIME FOR HOLIDAY GIFT-GIVING for $20 or THREE FOR $40.

That pretty much just doesn’t happen.

If you’ve ever coveted one of Laurenn’s prints before, THIS IS YOUR CHANCE. If you don’t want one of the images she’s posted, YOU CAN REQUEST ANYTHING FROM HER PORTFOLIO. If she can make it happen for you, she absolutely will.

Peruse her illustrations right here. Then contact her through her Etsy shop to let her know which image you favor.

If, for some reason your wiring is screwy and you would be further enticed to make this purchase by the fact that I modeled for some of these drawings… well, there’s no accounting for taste. But to nudge you into parting with your monies, I tried to group together all the illos featuring my mug — even the cowgirl one that I despise. (Do you see? Do you see my love and sacrifice?) I think I got them all. After trying various Flickr grouping methods, I found the easiest was to put them in this gallery.

*When Laurenn puts details about the show up on the web somewhere, I’ll link.

HEADS UP: McCubbin needs to raise $ for a plane ticket & rental car so that she can interview the women of The Mustang Ranch for her Master’s thesis.

You can suborn this madness by purchasing a print from her Etsy store right here.

I just got an opportunity to go to Reno and interview women at the Mustang Ranch.This is going to be HUGE for my thesis, and I have to go quick – the only time they can fit me in is Sunday the 15th. So I am trying to get money for the plane ticket & rental car, & I put 3 new prints up in my Etsy store.

Hellcat and Casanova both made Io9’s Best of 2008 list! Yay!

Originally uploaded by stuartimmonen

I adore you.

I’m trying to figure out if there’s any way we can get there for the show. Fraction and I will actually be in the DC area on Friday. Fraction’s signing the next morning and we’ll have the baby with us, so it doesn’t seem likely, but man…

• I love this picture.  And speaking of the X-Men, thanks to Ian Brill for pointers to these two articles. 
• I somehow missed this Splash Page piece on Casanova when issue #14 first came out. 
• Tori Amos on The Comic Book Tattoo.  (Wherein I have two stories: one with Andy MacDonald and one with Laurenn McCubbin, whose blog is now fixed.)
• Seriously, can anyone hook me up with a fan scan of any of Toru Shinohara’s work…? 
• I almost did “horror anthologies” for my I [HEART] Comics piece, but I went a different direction at the last minute.  I’m left wondering, however, if my beloved HOUSE OF MYSTERY and HOUSE OF SECRETS books hold up.  Hm.  What about PLOP!, hm?
• I totally want to join the Iron Cupcake Challenge.  EDITED TO ADD: I totally did. 
• Women I left out of the “Women” section of the I [HEART] Comics piece because I was going on too long already: Natalia Knight/Nocturna and Vampirella.