Ellie on Planet X

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A Little Strang Institute History

by Mission Control on April 9, 2011 at 11:14 pm
Posted In: Blog

An anonymous reader asked in the comments if the Strang Institute is affiliated with Washington University in St. Louis. I answered in the comments section, but I thought I’d add the answer here too in case anyone missed it. I didn’t know why Anonymous asked that until I Googled Washington U. So everyone knows what I’m talking about, the Strang Institute logo from 1966 (like what appears on the Symposium announcement from the last post) looks just like Brookings Hall, the main gate, at Wash U in St. Louis. I was told that the gatehouse at the Institute was designed after Trinity College at Cambridge University in England. Well, sort of. Here’s what I found out:

More fun things I didn’t know. It’s always assumed that Carver Agricultural College and Carver Hall are named for botanist George Washington Carver. Though that makes a good story, Carver was only just out of college when the agricultural college was built. It’s actually named for Aloysius Carver, a local and very successful farmer who bred new and “interesting” produce. He created the college from his success. When he died he bequeathed a portion of the campus to his good friend Cornelius Strang for his own research projects. The rest is history. Carver Agricultural College still maintains a small presence on the campus of the Strang Institute and their gardens provide all of the produce for the institute. Some of it very “interesting”.

So there you go!

└ Tags: Extra!, Strang Institute
2 Comments

45 Years Ago Today!

by Mission Control on April 8, 2011 at 8:56 pm
Posted In: Blog

There was a symposium held here at the Strang Institute forty five years ago to discuss plans to send a probe to explore Planet X, mere months after its discovery. All the while NASA was already making plans to send men to the Moon. It would be another six years before Ellie would be sent on her trip in 1972, three whole years after the Moon landing. Of course it would take her thirty years to reach her destination in 2002, and another eight years for her signals to finally reach us. That’s lots of years. Makes you wonder what’s going on there right now, eight years after the story we see unfolding before us has taken place.

I digress.

Here’s the announcement for the symposium as it appeared in some science journal or the National Geographic or some such magazine. The scientists who spoke at the event are the same people who were recorded for Ellie’s greeting. They’re the first human beings that Jeff and Muffin had ever seen!

 


└ Tags: Extra!, Strang Institute
9 Comments

Chatcast Concluded

by Mission Control on April 8, 2011 at 10:43 am
Posted In: Blog

I had a great time last night over at Comic Chatcast. David Ski put on a nice show and it was a lot of fun doing a live typed-in interview. You can go there now and read the entire interview and questions from readers of Ellie on Planet X.

Thanks David! And thanks to everyone who tuned in!

2 Comments

Chatcast Reminder

by Mission Control on April 6, 2011 at 10:26 am
Posted In: Blog

Here’s another reminder that I’ll be interviewed at Comic Chatcast tomorrow, Thursday April 7 at 9pm Eastern, 6pm Pacific! Join in and ask me anything about all things Ellie!

 Comment 

Wondercon Report

by Mission Control on April 6, 2011 at 8:59 am
Posted In: Blog

I’ve returned to my seat here at Strang Institute Mission Control from out west where I spent time with good friends and saw some amazing sights. I picked up some goodies too at Wondercon. Here’s a few:


Monster Commute is a webcomic by the good folks at Steam Crow. This is the first compilation – the second is already available and I’ll be getting that one soon too. Below, Daniel Davis, the man-half of the husband and wife team, draws me a sketch in the back of my copy.

I’ve followed Brianne Drouhard’s blog for some time and was happy to find her behind her publisher’s desk hawking her amazing children’s book Billie the Unicorn.

I’m also a fan of character designer Stephen Silver. I even took a design class with him online a year back, which helped me tremendously with my drawing skills. I picked up his latest treat of a sketchbook.

Another blog I’ve been following is that of Mann Arenas, who draws the incredible Yaxin the Fawn. I’ve watched the progress on this book over the last few years and it was a treat to finally get my hands on a copy. It’s in french though, so I’d better brush up on my foreign language reading skills.

 My best Wondercon experience, hands down, was getting to meet the creator of Bloom County and Opus the penguin himself, Berke Breathed! I didn’t have anything with me to have him sign, so I snatched a copy of volume two of his Bloom County compendium. This is right after a talk he gave about his comics, books, and movies based on his comics and books. He also showed a short clip from a failed Opus movie project. David Hyde Pierce was the voice of Opus (which I thought was rather distracting). I asked Mr. Breathed what voice he heard in his head when writing Opus and he said that of Winnie the Pooh.

Here’s a few other mentions of people I met at Wondercon: Becky Dreistadt, one half of the duo that creates the fantastic hand painted webcomic Tiny Kitten Teeth; also artist and animator Pascal Campion, who does some amazing Flash based illustrations. Check them out!

Finally, here’s me in front of Pixar Studios, where one day the Ellie on Planet X movie will be made. So I tell myself.

7 Comments
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