i'm working on a painted cover for a book reprinting a couple of long continuities from an old 60's/'70s daily strip. It was another era, I'm thinking to myself, while simultaneously trying to finish a long post on certain peculiarities of my own era in my medium of choice. But I just can't make it come to an uplifting conclusion, so let's grab a couple of news items and procrastinate. The first is just in from my pal Mick Evans:

Shaun Tan's a winner with weird tales from the suburbs

A WRITER-ILLUSTRATOR whose books demolish both genre and age distinctions has received the highest honour from the Children's Book Council of Australia.
Shaun Tan's Tales from Outer Suburbia was named Book of the Year for Older Readers at a ceremony yesterday at Sea World on Queensland's Gold Coast.

Interestingly the report is written by a person who seemed to evince a disdain for both the medium of comics and Shaun Tan a couple of years back. (update: Mick adds that he is on page 5 of the actual newspaper rather than hidden in the Arts section).
In other news:
Woman sues zoo over splashing dolphins

Officials "recklessly and willfully trained and encouraged the dolphins to throw water at the spectators in the stands, making the floor wet and slippery," but failed to post warning signs or lay down protective mats or strips, the suit said, according to the reports.