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I’ve been an avid reader of the online comic, Melonpool. The comic follows the adventures of “two aliens, a telepathic dog and a 220-lb. hamster” and the interactions of the characters are as hilarious as they are intriguing.

When I stumbled upon Melonpool 5 years ago it was the result of a random Yahoo! search. Typing feveriously (65 WPM and chicken peckin’) at my keyboard I came up with something along the lines of “aliens and hampsters.” Why I linked these two together I’ll never know, but lo and behold the first link on the list was Melonpool. I sat there for a couple minutes wondering what a Melonpool was and decided it would be best to investigate the matter by clicking the link.

Upon entering the site I noticed a blue background with a white swirl and a handful of cartoon characters starring back at me. Immediatedly I read through the archives and was hooked from there on. I entered my email into the form and every Sunday received the comic strip in my Inbox. Believe me, I couldn’t wait to see what was in store for Mayberry Melonpool and the gang. Which brings me to what the comic is about; pop culture. You would think Steve Troop (the creator of Melonpool) would have gone with the cliche plot where aliens land on Earth and destroy everything in their path, including that lone flower. Rather, Troop decides to write the storylines around the subject of the aliens’ interest with Earth’s culture.

Mayberry (the Captain) is a Star Trek fan because in space they receive our television/satellite signals many light years after the series has gone off the air. To the alien, he’s impressed by the characters and ultimately gets to meet his heroes in a Time Travel plot that is immensely hard to explain without reading the archives. Which brings me to the key to this successful comic, the interactions of its characters and their curiousity of pop culture. Troop even elaborates on the fact that his comic was viewed by an executive at NBC and coincidentally the popular television show, Third Rock from the Sun, sprung into the lineup.

I had the opportunity to interview Steve Troop in 1999 for a college course I was taking. The course, Introduction to Mass Media, called for a paper that described a “media figure” and their “successful ventures”. The twist to this paper was that you had to interview the media mogul (in person) and write a 5-page paper about the interview. I chose Steve Troop for the same reasons his strip is successful among its fans; for the money.

I recieved an A+ on the paper and was indeed richer, but not with the great greenback. The wealth came from what I found out about a young boy’s dream in San Diego, California. To simply draw cartoons. Indeed, I was richer with the notion that he is in fact living his dreams come true.

Sure, there might not be the success of newspaper syndication (a goal Troop has envisioned for years) but the real success lies in the fans that support the comic strip through its compilation books and the community within the Melonpool message boards. At the moment, there are 5 books and contained within each book are several personal notations and reflections from Troop while creating each strip, something he created while in college, and other extras that you won’t see on the web site.

Do yourself a favor today and go read Melonpool. Enjoy the 1,000+ strips contained within the archive and grow with the characters.

If you’d rather read the strips offline, buy a book.

Pat yourself on the back because you’ll be supporting the continuation of a wonderful comic strip.

Flashback to two years ago, when my wife and I decided to move from California to New York. It was a gutsy decision on my part, to leave my family and friends behind — but, not forever — and start a new life in an unknown place. To this day I’m still amazed I went through it all.

The move was an interesting journey of not only starting anew, but finding myself. On the cross country trip of 2,000 miles, I traveled with my then soon-to-be father-in-law, girlfriend and computer. We were a motley crew, discussing everything from movies to life, traveling sometimes at breakneak speeds to reach our destination sooner than later. We stayed in Merriot hotels, woke up when the sun would rise and complete our day’s journey when it fell.

Along the way I learned new things, looked out the window and mostly stared into the distance thinking about my family. Wondering why I left behind something so concrete for something unknown.

We all reach crossroads in our life, sometimes people even refer to it as a fork in the road. Whenever that analogy is used, however, I always envision a fork, 40-feet high, stuck in the middle of a dusty road. When we, as human beings, stop before this fork in the road, we understand that typically there is no going back. There isn’t a rewind, fast-forward or pause button in life. Once we make a decision it effects further crossroads in our lives, changes that we aren’t always willing to accept but know deep down it will be for the betterment of not only yourself, but those who surround you.

Josh Meeter of Meetervision is like any other artistic visionary. Passionate, determined and full of creative energy. Except, in this case Josh Meeter is just 21 years old and his films have been widely recognized by some of Hollywood’s leading directors and composers. More specifically, the likes of Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and John Williams for his stop-motion animated film, The Award Showdown which premiered on the site Countingdown in 2001.

It’s not surprising that these filmmakers took notice considering Meeter’s undeniable attention to detail and timing. The Award Showdown portrays the two leading filmmakers (Lucas and Spielberg) literally duking it out to see which one deserves the award at an award ceremony. However, the key to this excellent claymation film is the variety of appearances made by several characters that have graced the screen in their productions, namely such recognizable faces as E.T, Indiana Jones, Jaws, Darth Vadar and others.

Meeter originally posted his short on the Bagel Cam Board, an area for viewers of Spielberg’s webcam setup during the filming of A.I. Eventually, Spielberg himself viewed the film and immediately requested it be featured on the Countingdown.com web site, and the rest is history.

According to Metter’s website, Josh is currently working on a complete re-production of The Award Showdown for consideration as an Oscar candidate.

Let’s hope that Josh Metter will someday have his name roll down the credits in a Hollywood feature film.

View: The Award Showdown (original version now showcased at IFilm.com)

I couldn’t agree more with Dan Cederholm’s sentiment of Alton Brown and his Food Network show, Good Eats. He is cool and for good reason. Never have I been as interested in a cooking show, aside from the occassional viewing of Iron Chef or Graham Keer, as I’ve been in Good Eats and it’s all due to Alton’s fast-paced performance. As Dan explains, Alton “is a genius at explaining superior cooking techniques in a way that’s entertaining—even humorous.”

On a more recent episode, Alton delved into the history of the common sweet potato. Maybe ignorance is bliss but I never knew a yam and a sweet potato were one in the same. I also learned on this particular episode that if you’re hunting for a good waffle maker avoid buying the plastic versions and instead go for a solid medal machine. In one particular scene in the show, Alton casually drags an extension cord into the home appliance section of what looked like Target or Walmart and proceeded to try out every machine. As he is doing this, the security guard is discussing with who appears to be the store manager about the disadvantages of a cheaper plastic waffle iron as opposed to the mightier and cost-effective medal varieties.

In just one episode I learned about the history of sweet potatos (and yams), in addition to the right choice for a waffle iron. If that’s not good television I don’t know what is.