Ivy and I took way too many photos in Spain, some of which I’m still trying to wrangle after coming back from Woods Hole, but here’s something I had to share right away.

The festival guests at Vinetas desde O Atantico were frequently treated to “Pulpo a la gallega,” the region’s iconic octopus dish, but the strangest occasion had to be during our visit to A Coruna’s aquarium — in full view of real, living examples of the species. I got a cool video of one of them so here it is.

In other video news, Bert Hernandez’s magnificently insane kid’s show The Naked Cosmos is available again. Get it while you can.

A pre-launch screencast on the much-anticipated Longbox (via Dirk).

It’s not on the sidebar, but I’m actually on muggy but beautiful Cape Cod at the moment (I left barely 24 hours after we landed in L.A. from Spain) doing a government thingey (unrelated to Obama’s visit, though I realized tonight that he’s reeeeely close to here), so blogging continues to be a bit irregular. Hope to return to regular updates Monday.

…it would still be a pretty good year for movies.

Long ago, reader/cartoonist Greg Stephens created a forum for the Morning Improv. The forum, like the Improv, is dormant at the moment, but one of the cool outcomes was the creation of a goofy thread called “What Else Does Scott Understand?” which included a lot of cool fan art.

I recently found the archive Greg put together and thought you guys might enjoy it.

(Also, I figured it would distract people from the fact that I haven’t even begun to organize my pictures from Spain and with a trip to Boston tonight, my prospects of getting to that in the next couple of days are dwindling).

Ah! So THIS is what a vacation feels like.

I’ll have a long plane ride Sunday to organize my pictures and thoughts on our enchanted visit to A Coruna, but right now I’m afraid we’re having too much fun with good friends and amazing food to blog much.

Here’s a blog-worthy item though while you’re waiting. Kurt has been posting some crazy-old art on his news page including several pages of “Once More With Feeling” a short subject he wrote and I drew in the summer between high school and college. It’s kind of wonderful and kind of terrible. Enjoy.

Yes I know I was only in Barcelona a few months ago, but it’s back to Spain again this week, with Ivy, for Viñetas Desde O Atlántico.

As usual, updates may be spotty while I’m on the road, but we can hopefully offer some cool pictures and memories before we’re done.

While you’re waiting, be sure to check out Ng Suat Tong’s lengthy round-up of peoples’ reactions to Asterios Polyp, my favorite GN of the year (in case you hadn’t already guessed from my relentless plugging).

This time, courtesy of Mr. Busiek.

The Webcomic Overlook takes a look back at a 9-year-old list I wrote of 10 suggestions for beginning webcartoonists. Won’t quibble with the article’s conclusions (whether I agree or not, they’re reasonable points) but it’s a brief, funny look back at a very different time — literally the Web’s first decade (post-Mosaic).

[via Journalista]

In other news: OMG, even his bees are winning awards now.

Kane Lynch has a lot on his mind. His site features comics, videos, and photocomics, each section with its own oddball set of sensibilities. It’s hit-and-miss, but I liked several bits for different reasons which is always refreshing in a sea of mono-talents.

Of special interest to comics fans is his ongoing long-form comic The Relics. The figure drawing is pretty raw, but the story feels solid and well-planned, and you can see the art gradually improve as it runs to catch up. Given enough time, (and life drawing courses) you could see Lynch developing in a similar fashion to Jeph Jacques (compare: early JJ vs recent JJ).

Or he might just make music videos. The guy is obviously restless.

Either way, another one to keep an eye on.

Yeah, there are some things I’m kind of obligated to mention here.