What now? Walt now! Updates from the wacky world of Walt Jaschek.

Old Gods meet New Gods as stars of cult movie "Sons of the Saddle" reunite to discuss action figures in the parking lot of a Bread Company.

And you are there.

From left: Don "Rocky" Secrease, Rick "Moldy" Burchett, Bill "Rusty" Lux

"Family Guy" radio: like the Waltons on acid

It was freakin' sweet to brainstorm with the luminaries at World Wide Wadio some new funny spots for the syndicated launch of "Family Guy." And when I say brainstorm, I mean hanging on the phone with Paul F. while he came up with the ideas and wrote them. But let the record show I was on the phone with him while he did so. (Our pal Bill Sch. did production work on these, and was also a V.O.!) Listen!

Nancy Crocker is a talented friend...

...and not just because she can catch fish half her height. (If this photo stolen from her website can be believed, and of course it can, because she's a writer, and writers never lie.)

A more recent example of Nancy's talent is her success in doing something considered wicked difficult: getting a childen's book published. Before that, she did something else difficult: she wrote one. Two, actually. Kids' books aren't easy, even though many celebrities make it look so. (Hey! Somehow I missed Travolta's!)

Which brings us to Betty Lou Blue, the girl with the world's biggest feet. I haven't had a chance to yet read her chronicles, but I think having the world's biggest feet could be a gnarly problem, and as an inciting incident could certainly propel a story forward.

Nancy, congrats. Put down the fish and celebrate your accomplishment. Take time to say, "I did it." Then, get your next five or six published in quick succession, because my 4% of every book you sell via Walt Now could be our collective ticket to Sedona. Maybe a creative writers' retreat we all co-own. Think about that.

And go sell some books! It's Fourth Quarter, isn't it? $$$$.

"Those few fanantic fools / and your outrageous rules / kick freedom in the family jewels..." FCCFU!

Paul Fey has launched a cool new pro-Freedom o' Speech site, FCCFU.com, along with a store full of cool FCCFU products, which I helped design.
But the best part is the must-see-and-hear video, featuring Paul's relyric of "Let Freedom Ring," sung and produced at World Wide Wadio.

(These guys are so f'n talented.)

Here's the already-famous video! SING ALONG!

Some new, talented friends, and me sleeping.

Hooked up with this awesome virtual team for a project pitch. This is a detail from the cool bio materials Chuck put together. I really like my pose here. It looks as if I'm thinking when in fact I'm sleeping. No, I'm kidding. I'm thinking. I think like this.

Terry Firma: Terry and Terri on Earth Day '06.

Happy Earth Day, everybody! Let's give this battered ol' planet of ours some props, shall we? I have two great friends with homonyms for names who were an integral part of the St. Louis Earth Day celebration in Forest Park today. Here they are.

Terry Winkelmann, aka Sedona's own Juniper Joy, above, runs Home-Eco, "St. Louis's first environmentally friendly home products store." Check out the site or the store at 4611 Macklind in STL.

Meanwhile, running the whole St. Louis Earth Day show as Executive Director is Terri F. Reilly, right, and she did a great job. The 17 annual festival was bigger, better and more well-attended than ever, and Terri is much the cause. (Readers will remember TFR as having final word on my famous haircut.)

The Earth. It's good.

Why would a Nanotechnology Chemistry Ph.D. at a Supermolecular Photonics Lab read Walt Now?

We don't know either! But here's an email just in from such a person:

Hi, Walt. I was just reading one of your comics to my son. Then decided to google you. The blog site is fun .... especially the movie.

My web site is pretty dull by comparison ... I need to jazz it up. I'll be in St. Louis in a few weeks.... maybe we can meet up.

yours, mike drain, at hunter.cuny.edu

Mike, great to hear from you. Supermolecular Photonics rock. When I learned from your site that you examine "self-organizing systems composed of porphyrins and lipid bilayers," I got tingly. - Walt

It seems a little counter-intutive to post Batman™ on a so-called "comedy" site. I mean...

...look at the guy. What a frownie face all the time!

Jim Lee drew this for me in 1987. We were chatting in a St. Louis comicshop. He was signing and sketching. I requested Batman and Jim jumped in, pencilling and inking on the spot; he even had a huge marker for the solid blacks. This fantastic Dark Knight "doodle" long predated Jim's actual Bat-work. The shape of things that came.

Shortly after this moment, Jim exploded. We managed to do a What Th...? together as his fuselage was igniting.

And though I am selling a shitload old comics and related gems on eBay, you can be sure that this beloved Batman stays this me.

This weekend, may some beloved Batman stay with you.

(I'm not sure what that means, but, holy exit-lines, B-Man!)

Dave Fey has a sign for us. And the sign says:

Good sign, Dave! Let's make it this week's motto.

Readers, that's but one shot from Dave's fascinating Flickr album full o' classic St. Louis signage: the fading, the forgotten, the just plain fab. Cruise the whole set and don't miss the commentary.

Inspired, I looked to see if I had any photos of cool St. Louis signs. Turns out just one.

Yeah, Dave's are better.

Is it weird to take a photo of friends making out?

And is it weirder to post on one's blog? Well, call me weird, then -- and tell us something we don't know! Walt Now wanted to give you a glimpse of two up-and-coming literary luminaries in a way that no other blog has dared show them!

This is James Maguire, author of two new books (an Ed Sullivan tell-all and spelling bee expose, both on Amazon), culture deconstructor on MaguireOnline.com (check it out!); and Corinne Noirot, professor of French Language and Literature at Goucher College. It's okay. They're married.

If this were the kissing scene in an action movie -- and let's pretend it is -- I guess all the kids would squirm and say "ick." Silly kids! As for the bigger questions of weirdness and webublishing -- I defer. At my photo skill level, I'm just glad the flash went off.