The Vale of Tears.

CRUUUISIIIIN YEEEAAAHHH

2010-09-25T14:51:00.002-05:00

New comic over at 4 Color Rebellion.

ETSY

2010-08-27T17:47:00.004-05:00

I set up an Etsy shop to sell Memory Foam 1 and 2 for the time being. Pretty rudimentary, but it should to the trick until I inevitably get picked up by Marvel. If you know me personally you can ignore this message and get one from me in real life!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/tobyjones

End transmission.

Go to MIX, buy Memory Foam II

2010-08-14T16:47:00.003-05:00

MIX is happening Saturday the 21st at the Soap Factory from 9am to 5pm. Admission is free.

Maddie and I will be there selling comics. We've been working really hard on Memory Foam II lately...

It will be ready just in time for MIX. It's got lots and lots of comics in it that you haven't seen before. Hopefully you will like it.

KICKSTART THIS, FUCKER

2010-06-21T11:02:00.003-05:00

Long-time good people 2D Cloud have a Kickstarter page up, for the excellent-looking Good Minnesotan #4!

The book is going to be pretty incredible, continuing their storied tradition of showcasing the best of local comic-y things (including ME!) in a really creative way. The Kickstarting has made pretty good headway, but it needs to go all the way if this thing is going to get funded! Watch the video, bask in its glory, and throw them a few bucks if you can. Thank you for your time.

In other news, I've been working hard on Memory Foam #2 and it should be done in time for Minneapolis Indie Xpo. There should be some nice comics in there.

Detective Murphly and the Case of the Bloody Boy Body

2010-05-24T11:39:00.006-05:00

In case you missed it, here's my new movie. I recommend clicking the link below and watching full size, but do what you like. Enjoy.

Detective Murphly and the Case of the Bloody Boy Body from Toby Jones on Vimeo.

2/14/10

2010-02-18T19:56:00.002-06:00

Where Do I Put It? Where Does It Go?

2009-12-16T03:33:00.003-06:00

New comic. Read it here.

What's Gonna Happen To Me? + Scenes Incredible

2009-11-04T14:17:00.002-06:00

Also, I started a Tumblr called "Scenes Incredible". You will find incredible scenes there.

Life During Wartime + Cold Feet

2009-10-29T10:51:00.004-05:00

Life During Wartime is the new Todd Solondz film, and it's everything I've been wanting in a new movie lately.

On an unrelated note, I posted my unemployment/vacuum selling comic opus Cold Feet over at my "Live Journal" a while back and was too lazy to post it here too. In case you never got a chance to read it, it's over here.

I've been working on other stuff since then, I promise.

Better Zits

2009-09-15T18:04:00.001-05:00

is back!

PHOTOBOOTH DIARY + SHINE GET

2009-09-04T21:59:00.005-05:00

Popularized by Kel-Kel and Whitters, I present to you my "Photobooth Diary". They had laptops, so theirs were a bit more interesting.

Also, it's probably already been made clear to most who read this that Shine Get, a sorta-videogamey website I made with Dylan, is now up and running. His writeup on the site gives a good idea of what we're aiming to do with it. Lots of cool stuff on the way over there, if you're into that sort of thing.

Workin' on my next graphic novel proposal.

2009-08-25T01:47:00.001-05:00

Hummer Comic - Spring 2006 (?)

2009-07-25T16:37:00.004-05:00

Here is a comic I made about Hummers somewhere between fall 2005 and spring 2006. I spent a lot of time learning how to draw them for this. It's called "Part One" because I originally intended to do a follow-up about loud motorcycles. Enjoy!

Tip: The Pre-Emptive "Thank You" Wave

2009-06-21T22:08:00.006-05:00

Hello! This is Toby Jones, (still) unemployed filmmaker and cartoonist. Well I was almost a vacuum cleaner salesman, but I'll get to that another day. This particular post is about an amazing, indispensable trick for entering a highway I've learned (created?). I call it "The Pre-Emptive Thank You Wave".

We all know that once someone gives you space to enter a highway, you return the favor with a Thank You Wave. But what about when the road is filled with jerks, none of whom are willing to let you in? This is where the "Pre-Emptive Thank You Wave" comes in. You simply wave as though someone DID slow down for you, and the person who sees it will be put in the position that they feel required to.

A helpful tool for big-city driving indeed. To play us out, here is United States President of the United States "Barack Obama" doing a Thank You Wave. Thank You, Barack Obama, for your service to our great nation!

What's going on here?

2009-06-13T14:09:00.005-05:00

A True Story of Unemployment and Self-Pity

2009-06-06T13:09:00.003-05:00

Dork and Jake: A Portrait

2009-05-07T22:35:00.005-05:00

Here are a few newspaper strips I drew back in fourth grade, all from a series called "Dork and Jake" that I continued (in the form of longer stories) until about 9th grade. In fact, the character from my experimental comic "Final" (and the one I'm working on now, "I Can't Help You") is directly based off the Dork character. Looks-wise, anyhow.

I actually submitted an even older version of this comic strip to Universal Press Syndicate back then, seriously expecting they'd hire me. I got a form rejection letter in return, if I remember correctly. I sent the originals.

Experimental Comics Post 03

2009-05-01T17:38:00.006-05:00

My movie is finished, but there's still quite a bit of work to do. All I know is, for some reason one of the things I'm most excited to do after graduation is rent Excitebots: Trick Racing for Wii. It looks like the stupidest, most awesome game ever.

Don't Be Sad on Earth: Rough Cut

2009-04-16T01:35:00.004-05:00

Here's a rough cut of my senior film in ugly-youtube-o-vision. Enjoy.

EDIT: I have to set the movie to 'private' while I try to get the rights to use the song at the beginning "Shaddap You Face". Sorray!

!!!

2009-04-14T21:44:00.004-05:00

Okay, I finally shot my senior film. My actors and crew did an exceptionally, amazingly good job. I was sick, so I'm just lucky I stayed conscious the whole time. It should be pretty good.

Experimental Comics Post 02

2009-03-24T12:40:00.002-05:00

Experimental Comics Post 01

2009-03-16T21:48:00.005-05:00

The assignment here was to take a given word (in this example "final") and interpret it in a non-literal manner. Experimentally.

Heaven...

2009-03-04T21:53:00.000-06:00

... is this video of a hedgehog eating cilantro.

A few things

2009-03-02T01:20:00.005-06:00

My desk, which has reached an unparalleled state of disarray due to movie-making stress:

New treats on my wall:

Drawing I did of Nite Owl II:

Drawing I did of Rorschach's psychologist:

Making movies is still hard.

NEW AWESOME BLOG

2009-02-11T17:22:00.009-06:00

BETTER ZITS! ( <- that's a link)

Maddie, Horab and I take the punchlines of "Zits" strips and make them better.

Enjoy.

PSP Mon Amour

2009-02-08T01:36:00.004-06:00

Silent Hill 3 Fan Art

2009-02-04T03:57:00.002-06:00

I decided to color this Silent Hill 3 drawing I did over Christmas break instead of working on the script for my senior project because I have no idea what the hell I'm doing.

Top 10 Films of 2008 (updated)

2009-01-02T13:56:00.009-06:00

From what I've seen.

1. My Winnipeg

- Wendy and Lucy

2. Let The Right One In

3. A Christmas Tale

4. Rachel Getting Married

5. Funny Games

- Silent Light

6. The Wrestler

7. Christmas On Mars

8. Synecdoche, New York

9. Burn After Reading

10. Waltz With Bashir

Steve and Jessica in: "Seeds of Doubt"

2008-12-16T12:01:00.010-06:00

Janitor Quest 2000

2008-12-08T01:50:00.004-06:00

I made this movie. I'm still going to change a couple things, but this is basically it.

Janitor Quest 2000 from Toby Jones on Vimeo.

I'm Not a Producer

2008-11-12T19:28:00.008-06:00

...And I am so, so glad that shooting is just about done for my movie. Click the image above for a chilling behind-the-scenes look at the "planning" that went into Janitor Quest 2000.

The last month has been a terrifying place. Now my movie is shot, Barack Obama is president-elect, and even though I just lost my debit card things seem pretty okay. It's good to be freed from those feelings of panic and despair, at least for the time being.

An Extremely Joyous 01:54

2008-10-30T20:25:00.001-05:00

Great Boring Moments in Relationship History

2008-10-10T00:37:00.003-05:00

Hang On To Your Ego

2008-09-19T23:02:00.003-05:00

Click to enlarge... (unless the images don't work, in which case please inform me that the images don't work)

Dear Mr. President

2008-09-14T22:30:00.004-05:00

click to enlarge.

It's Much Worse

2008-09-06T14:13:00.004-05:00

I've been informed that the images in the previous post weren't working. Let's try again! Enjoy a comic. Click to enlarge.

Other Ghost Comic

2008-09-04T01:28:00.003-05:00

see above post for comic.

Ghost Comic (for Ghost Comix)

2008-08-31T00:24:00.006-05:00

You're gonna have to click these to see them big enough, dude.

Man in the Box

2008-08-27T13:38:00.003-05:00

On the first day of my comic two class with Zak Sally, we were given eight blank panels, the first of which had a drawing of a box in it. The assignment was to fill the panels however we saw fit for one hour. Here is what I came up with...

2008-08-22T14:44:00.002-05:00

YouTube is, in many ways, the summation of our current generation. A generation with no attention span, an obsession with irony and nostalgia, and a seething disdain for the act of capitalizing words or using periods at the ends of sentences. That said, I am far from being immune to its many charms. And so, I present to you...

"THE TOP 10 YOUTUBE VIDEOS OF ALL TIME"

10. "David Lynch on Product Placement"

09. "Bill O'Reilly Gets Owned by Kid"

08. "A Scene From Troll 2"

07. "Bird Poops In Mouth"

06. "Georgia Rule Deleted Scene"

05. "Fartin Granny!"

04. "Who's Your Caddy Funny Clip"

03. "Spring Break"
http://fargofilmmaking.wikia.com/wiki/Spring_Break (you can watch it here)

02. "The Grape Fall"

01. "Interview With Mario"

If you think I missed or forgot something, be sure to let me know.

Who The Hell Do You Think I Am?!

2008-08-10T01:37:00.006-05:00

"We love our customers! And we'd love to meet you. So make a fun video, post it to our site, and see your Applebee's community grow. No matter who you are or where you live, if you love Applebee's you're part of our family. As a special bonus, we might even showcase our favorite videos on our homepage!"

The video has yet to be accepted onto the website. I suppose my dream of this appearing in a commercial is already destroyed.

UPDATE: I've just now taken a look at the videos on the Applebee's site for the first time and I am in awe of how useless and crappy they are. And that's saying quite a bit, considering the one I put together.

Tooting My Own Horn

2008-07-29T23:02:00.005-05:00

In case you didn't get a good look at it when it was my Facebook "profile picture", here is a grid I put together recently.
Click to enlarge!

It's comprised entirely of other people's Facebook profile pictures. In other words, these are all images that people (mostly from North Dakota) are currently using or have used recently to represent themselves in a public realm. I hand-picked these ones from a lot of about 200-300 total images found by Morgan and myself. We all know that drunken Facebook photos are everywhere, but what I think is noteworthy here is that these are all profile pictures.

Old.

2008-07-12T11:49:00.007-05:00

More very old stuff for your viewing pleasure. This business is mostly from around 1999.

first off, we have the cover to my graphic novel based on "Sonic Adventure".

This is a page from the second issue of my action series "The Agent". The first "Agent" was twenty issues long, followed by ten issues of "The Agent: Gaiden" (Soo lame) and five of "The Agent: Manhunt".
Here is a page from my comic based on "Resident Evil".
And finally, the cover to a comic about my 7th grade art teacher.

What's hapen

2008-07-04T02:14:00.000-05:00

ED had the excellent idea that I begin to occasionally post some of my old, old comics here in blogsville, USA. This is the first issue of a two-issue series I did in fifth grade called "Oldage Mutant Ninja Bob", starring Bob Dole as the titular character. Be sure to read it all the way to the end, as the punchline is where this comic really shines. Enjoy the wonder.

2008-06-24T02:52:00.000-05:00

I made this for Tuesday's "A Guide to Dating Myself" zine thing.

I'll be in Minneapolis to move into my new apartment on June 29th, for at least a little while.

Terrorist Fist Jab

2008-06-19T00:01:00.000-05:00

(thanks to Maddie for help!)

are you still selling watches?

2008-06-14T00:26:00.000-05:00

Movies I've seen recently and Really Liked (four stars on Netflix) in order of how much I Really Liked them...

1. Eyes Wide Shut

2. The Wayward Cloud

3. Funny Games (U.S. version, though the original is exactly the same movie and exactly as good)

4. Futurama: The Beast With a Billion Backs

5. Fires on the Plain

hope everything is going okay for everybody.

Get Lucky

2008-05-25T13:18:00.000-05:00

Some months ago experienced a victory in that There Will Be Blood ended up with a higher box office gross than Meet the Spartans. I have remained ignorant of how truly empty the victory was until this moment.

The new "romantic" "comedy" "film" What Happens in Vegas, starring Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz, now has a higher overall gross than There Will Be Blood both domestically and worldwide.

For the record, I've seen What Happens in Vegas (thanks to Hassoun free movie mania) and it's bullshit.

On the lighter side of life, I made a blueberry pie with Maddie and Ben H recently and it was wonderful.

Also, the 48 Hour Film I worked on "Precious Metals: The Otto Steinholtz Story" won a million billion awards including best writing, directing, editing, cinematography, ensemble cast, male actor, costume design, and best.. movie. I wish I could take credit for any of that, but I only acted in the thing. It was a great time.

Butter Lovers

2008-05-22T20:17:00.000-05:00

The other day I borrowed a DV camera to import footage for another "Have You Ever Guy" project and figured, why not shoot a quick movie?

I got together Maddie, Hassoun, Horab, Cody, and Ben Hanson and we put together this little piece here. No planned shots, lighting, or script. Enjoy!

"Archibald the Turquoise"

Muffin Tops Taste Like Home

2008-05-04T01:44:00.000-05:00

That's some comic from a couple of years ago. To fill space.

I don't know. I'm "blogging" only to feed my getting-shorter attention span as I slog through another bizarre freelance job for "Have You Ever Guy".

Anyway, Here is the final version of "High School Weekend". Chances are you won't be able to notice a difference from the first one, but it is different. In several tiny but important ways.

My mind is drawing a bit of a blank when it comes to what my film(s) should be next year/semester. Any ideas? I could try a movie about a meek, unhappy male?

So what? So let's dance!

2008-04-23T00:29:00.000-05:00

Here's an early look at my new movie, "High School Weekend".

and by early look, I mean the first edit. It definitely still needs some work, but all the pieces are assembled. I only put it online to show it to a friend who helped me with the story, but I figured I may as well share it with you folks as well.

In other news, I'm extremely pleased that my two primary stressors (1. The film 2. Living situation troubles) are mostly gone. It's been a rough month, but it seems that I'm mostly free of its cruel, bony clutches.

We went dutch dutch dutch

2008-04-01T21:09:00.000-05:00

Here is a movie I made recently, "Garry Marshall Serenade".

STARRING BRAD AND TUESDAY
CAMERA BY WHITNEY
CO-DREAMED BY HASSOUN

It looks way, way better when not watched on YouTube. You can't even tell it was shot on film. Oh well. Enjoy.

2008-03-27T12:39:00.001-05:00

For the last few years I've put together "Top Ten" album lists to accompany the ones I've done for movies. I didn't do one for 2007 for some reason, though. After a moderate amount of deliberation, I've only come up with two albums. Both count as number one.. I guess.

1. Okkervil River - The Stage Names

1. Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortedala

Simply because they're the two albums I've probably listened to the most.

In other news, I've never been less excited to go back to MCAD. Not because Fargo is great or Minneapolis is bad, but because of the insane amount of work ahead of me for "High School Weekend".

I miss Willoughby.

Just like the crooks in the movies when they do that bit

2008-03-19T21:42:00.000-05:00

Here's a drawing I did of the five main characters from the screenplay I'm working on right now, tentatively titled "Louie Leroy and the Assassin's Bullet". A couple of you might recognize the female character- she's actually from something else, but that drawing is what I imagine when I write the character, so I used it here. Does that make sense? Maddie was nice enough to put that snazzy orange oval in the back there.

The first 40 pages are due for class on April 1st. Because I didn't want to spend the whole of my spring break hastily throwing together a script, I've been working on it for the last couple weeks or so. Up to page 34!

a massive, burning sun

2008-03-13T21:12:00.001-05:00

"I find your legs and your breasts very moving"

2008-03-06T19:06:00.000-06:00

Here is a comic about a strange occurrence that took place last week when I was filling up my car tire.

On the way to work that day I decided to grab a cup of coffee and a pastry at the all-encompassing evil puppet master of coffee shops, starbucks. The pastry came in this bag.

It reads:
"flavors my senses
sweetens my disposition
stirs my imagination
nourishes my dreams"

Referring, evidently, to the piece of blueberry coffee cake held inside.

Somehow, I didn't make this up.

Cuddl Duds

2008-03-03T18:40:00.000-06:00

UPDATE:

TOTAL BOX OFFICE GROSS

There Will Be Blood: $37,572,245

Meet The Spartans: $37,751,406

So close. So, so close.

AMOUNT MADE THIS WEEKEND

There Will Be Blood: $1,547,177

Meet The Spartans: $247,987

As you can see, Meet the Spartans is losing more and more momentum every week while There Will Be Blood has been pretty consistently hovering at around the 10-15 spot in the box office. At this rate, There Will Be Blood will almost definitely drink the milkshake of Meet the Spartans next week. How should I celebrate? How should WE celebrate, friends?

In other news..

4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days is a beautiful, astonishing film. Snow Buddies is not. My supremely creepy new movie Garry Marshall Serenade (starring Brad and Tuesday) should be finished this week. Also this week: Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Not that any of you damn hip bloggers would get excited about a video game or anything.

spicy sweet doritos taste so good, feel so bad

2008-02-28T12:17:00.000-06:00

A number of you have already read my self-obsessed sad-sack comic book opus "Super Toby", which opens in a brand new 'paper' form tomorrow night at 6pm as part of the Moorman-curated "Panels Without Borders" exhibition. There were far too many quotes and dashes in that sentence. Those of you who haven't, and I guess those of you who have should go and check it out. Two Mullen-centric bands will be playing, and there will be lots of other wonderful art on display.

I'm making a last ditch effort to make this not sound like just a plug for my work.

PANELS WITHOUT BORDERS OPENING

6PM FRIDAY

MUSIC AND ART BY EVERYONE BUT ME (?_)))_?

Broken Dreams

2008-02-18T17:19:00.000-06:00

In two weeks, "Fools Gold" (a film starring Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson as treasure hunters) financially topped what "There WIll Be Blood" made in eight.

I continue to look at the box office totals every week in hopes that "There WIll Be Blood" will eventually top "Meet the Spartans" in total gross. It is slowly, slowly inching its way toward meeting that goal. If this does not happen, I will take it as decisive proof that there is no higher power and we are all merely a bunch of molecules that happened to arrange themselves into conscious human beings, and when we die the only place this consciousness goes is nowhere.

I TOLD YOU I WOULD EAT YOU

2008-02-04T00:44:00.001-06:00

here are a few sloppy, hastily-scrawled comics that I doodled during class. Enjoy!

Most of those pets are from when I was considerably younger, explaining the lame names. Here is a film that my friend and former roommate made about our fish obsession:

we can never be unseen

2008-01-02T23:49:00.001-06:00

I lack a scanner here in Fargo, so I can't post any comics until I return to Minneapolis (the 9th, possibly earlier).

Movies I've seen during Christmas break so far, in no particular order (constantly updated):

Juno
Porco Rosso
I Am Curious: Yellow
I Am Curious: Blue
Walk Hard
September
Before The Devil Knows You're Dead
Crimes and Misdemeanors (again)
Animal Love
Waitress
True Stories
Kiki's Delivery Service
My Life to Live
Cashback
Drop Dead Gorgeous
Le Petit Soldat
The Holy Mountain
A Real Young Girl
Alvin and the Chipmunks
Once
The God Who Wasn't There
Blade Runner (Final Cut)
Atonement
21 UP
The Decalogue III-X
There Will Be Blood

Odd, I feel like I may be missing a couple.

Abby: I'm sorry that I watched the I Am Curious movies without you. Hassoun had them on netflix, I was powerless.

I'm excited to be back in mpls, but I am so incredibly far from being excited for classes to begin again. Hope break is going well for all of you.

2007-12-04T17:18:00.001-06:00

2007-11-25T14:01:00.002-06:00

So I shoveled a bunch of comics I have on my livejournal onto this page. I will continue shoveling from now on. I just finished pencilling a two-page comic about Willoughby going to the vet and getting her anal sacs cleaned out. You're welcome.

2007-11-25T14:01:00.001-06:00

2007-11-25T14:00:00.003-06:00

2007-11-25T14:00:00.001-06:00

2007-11-25T13:59:00.001-06:00

2007-11-25T13:58:00.000-06:00

2007-02-27T17:31:00.000-06:00

click the image to get a bigger version so the text is more legible.

Rocky Balboa: kinda awesome

2007-01-14T19:12:00.000-06:00

Like many of my semi-pretentious film-loving peers, I approached Rocky Balboa with equal parts amusement, confusion, and disgust. The trailer made it abundantly clear that a laughable train wreck was the only possibility - a computer simulation brings Rocky out of retirement for one last battle? A withered Sylvester Stallone comically slurring his words was a personal highlight, and I began to anticipate what appeared to be a true knee-slapper.
When the critics weighed in and Balboa was not bombarded with dozens of "why god why" reviews, my dreams of the best ironic comedy of 2006 was shattered, along with my interest in the picture as a whole. I began to expect a completely dull, tedious exercise in forced nostalgia. On the way to the theatre I snidely remarked, "well, this is going to be worthless". If only I knew what was ahead!
Rocky Balboa- much like its titular character- is dumb, clumsy and lovable. It is completely endearing watching the aging actor stumble about, attempting to help everyone and delivering inspirational speeches to every single character. I did not know this about the character because I had never seen a Rocky film before, but evidently he is even better at motivational diatribes than he is at boxing.
In one scene Milo Ventimigilia, as the Rock's bitter son, attempts to persuade his father to back down from the upcoming battle and expresses his own troubles with living in his shadow. Like no less than half of the dialogue in this film, Ventimigilia's feelings are expressed in the form of a heartfelt, motivational monologue. In the middle of this, Rocky usurps his son's inspirational speech and then turns it around and delivers an inspirational speech to him. As if that wasn't enough, during the climactic fight Rocky flashes back to his own motivational words from earlier in the film in order to give himself the power to continue.
Stallone uses no less than two different metaphors for his aging character - the first is aging buildings, and the second is a dumpy old dog named "Punchy" who he names with a boy called "Steps". His moments with Little Marie (apparently a character from a former Rocky film) and her son Steps are some of the most amusing here, with Rocky attempting to give them love in the most bumbling and adorable ways possible. Balboa opens with Stallone's character waking up in his home, feeding turtles, doing some pull-ups, and going to a local farmer's market to get supplies for his restaurant (where he tells boxing stories to the patrons).
It is in these quiet moments where Rocky Balboa succeeds the most. The iconic character keeps his dignity despite having to endure useless nostalgia trips (such as, I am not kidding, a ghost-like flash of Adrian) and the general ridiculousness of this film existing at all. By the time the climactic fight came along I had fully accepted the camp and was genuinely engaged in the action- until the fight degraded into a mess of failed attempts at stylish direction. Congrats, Rocky Balboa: you just about tricked me into legitimately respecting and enjoying you as a film. Too bad, though, because in the end you are just some surprisingly likeable schlock.