You’re going to get a lot more out of today’s strip if you have either seen or are a fan of Monsters, Inc. Remember: A child’s touch is toxic to monsters!

IMHO, it was an utter travesty that Monsters, Inc. was beaten out by Shrek for the Academy’s first Best Animated Picture Oscar last year. I’ll bet my life savings that 20 years from now we’ll still curl up on the couch to watch Monsters, Inc. over Mike Myers and his overplayed Scottish brogue.

I was hoping to try something different with the strip and go at it without dialogue. I was curious to see if I could pitch a small story-arc without words. I think for the most part it succeeds. Sometimes it’s good to stretch creative muscles you don’t utilize all that often.

I bought Kingdom Hearts on Wednesday and have had a hell of a time getting it to work on my Playstation 2. I could hear the disk whirring and clicking from inside the machine, but the game would never boot up.

Well, finally – after hours and hours of attempts, I got it up and running tonight. Of course, by the time it was working, I had to sit down and do the strip for today. Right now, the game has been paused and will have to wait until late tomorrow before I can play it. I spent so much time getting the thing up and running, I’m too terrified to shut it off.

Big-ups to Syrath in the forums for suggesting I buy a lens-cleaning CD-ROM and my good buddy Jared for providing an extra one he had lying around the house.

I’d like to rant more, but to paraphrase Zach over at No Pants Tuesday, it’s late and I’m tired. Go sleepy now.