Do you think Donald Trump feels sadness?  Do you think he would ever show it?  Do you think he ever apologizes for something?  Like, if he ran over one of his kids' bikes while backing out of the garage from a house he was renting with his family for the summer years ago, and one of his sons accidentally left it on its side in the driveway when he ran to catch up with his friends who were running through a sprinkler in a neighbor's yard, do you think he would say sorry to the son, acting like a Dad, even though it wasn't really his fault, to make the son feel better because he was on the edge of crying because he was sorry and loved that bike, or do you think he would yell at him, making it clear to the son (and everyone around) that it was the son's fault, for leaving his bike where his Dad couldn't see it, because he was a little embarrassed he ran it over?

I had an idea (and wrote a thing) a while ago about how I thought the MTA should hire people to peel oranges in random subway cars. They could even just give oranges away in subway stations. Whenever I smell an orange being peeled it makes my day a little better. I mentioned this to a friend and she said she didn't like the smell of oranges (so I told her she was a nutso) which I thought was so weird because I thought everyone liked the smell of an orange being peeled. In other news, they could do this in airports too!

I looked up after reading an article about going to a Fetty Wap concert (that made me want to go to a Fetty Wap concert) and saw this man trimming the edges off of $5 bills (that seemed very crisp and I assumed were fake because there were so many of them and who trims the edges off of real money?) from a small pile in front of him.  He looked at me.  I looked down and grabbed my tray and drink cup and coat and pad and threw out my garbage and put my pad and phone in my pocket and walked past him.  I drew him from the back because I was afraid of him.  I think this is the second weirdest thing I have seen in that 14th Street Taco Bell.  Both of these happened before (I was initially going to post the nail clipper (he was doing it over his plate. that is so disgusting.) when I was at the cafe but decided not to because I didn't want anyone going over there with a frying pan to hit him over the head).  Also, sorry for the photoshopping the picture looked kind of gross so I added random colors (to also crop out things).

Cookie Monster Comics #39

I was very excited seeing people posting about getting my Every Person in New York book for Christmas and I had an idea.  I thought I would have a contest where one person could win all of this stuff (a bunch of my other books and drawings and prints and a signed copy of my book in case you want to give the unsigned one to someone else, or the signed one to someone else if you do not like signed things, and a bunch of other things. . .) for posting about my book.  This is how you can enter this contest:  1. post a picture of the Every Person in New York book on instagram or twitter or facebook or wherever else (the notification board at your local Panera bread) and add the hashtag #everypersoninnewyork (if you have already posted about the book that is fine for this contest too (and thanks!) just add the hashtag to your post so I can see it), 2. you could write a blog or magazine post/article about the book (this gets you extra points), 3. or you could get Kim Kardashian to hold a copy of my book and post it on her instagram.  AND THEN EMAIL ME jason.polan@gmail.com YOUR MAILING ADDRESS for contest winning consideration. Those are the only three ways to enter!  just kidding, there are other ways to enter I probably haven't thought of, but make sure to email me your address and what you did so I can enter you into this official contest (it is official i am sending all of these things to someone--I will post the list of stuff below).  There might be some runners up because mail is fun, SO ENTER! IT IS FUN!  No purchase necessary, you can even just go to a book shop and take a picture of my book and post that, but maybe wear your pajamas or something so it looks like you are at home with my book so it looks like you bought it and it would be funnier for me and the people in the book store.  The winner will be picked January 11 so get at it by January 10 at midnight if you want to win. (also, I probably owe all of you something (I am working on that, hopefully more information soon) for bearing with me (you are still here) during the promotion for this book.  It has definitely been a learning experience for me.)

The Björk picture by Jürgen Teller of her eating the black squid ink spaghetti is from 2007.  I think that was the first time I saw that bright black pasta and I wanted to try it but was also a little scared of it (she looked a little crazy/like a vampire in the picture).  I found some last week when I was in Oakland.  I wanted to taste it and I also wanted to draw with it.  I made this picture tonight (sorry it is bad. I made it on the top of my washing machine and the lighting is a little difficult) just now and ate mouthfuls in between getting annoyed at how sticky it was while drawing.  I liked it though.  The squid ink pasta tasted pretty close to pasta I was used to (and I was hungry). 

I will have copies of my book at the art book fair starting tomorrow night at PS1! #nyabf #everypersoninnewyork

This is my comfortable chair TV watching set up don't judge me I don't have any chairs yet.

I think Tom Selleck's middle name is Ato.

I only have one copy of this book.  It has totally been driving me nuts that I can't show it to everyone yet (the run of the first edition comes out August 18).  I have showed it to some of my family and a couple friends (like three).  I was thinking about this and I had an idea.  Invite me over to your house or apartment and I will have a reading (most of the drawings have captions (also I have stories about a lot of the drawings too)) of the book there for you.  I will bring my own chair or I can sit on the floor.  The reading/visit will take approximately fifteen minutes.  I will read some of the book and you can look through it a bit if you'd like.  If you are in it I will maybe gently push you in that direction (you are getting warmer, warmer, oh wait colder, warmer!).  I will do this for friends and/or strangers (but please do not murder me).  I am so proud of this book and want to share it with everyone (I am not sure I can get to everyone's apartment before August 18 though).  Email me for available times jason.polan@gmail.com

This is the first stamp that the Mr. Zip character appeared on. It is from January of 1964. He was introduced two years earlier for a bank by mail campaign (I am not sure what that means) by an advertising agency, then through AT&T (maybe they acquired the rights to the image?), and then on toward the postal service (if you are interested, maybe give wikipedia/the rest of the internet a look because I may have way oversimplified that story). Did you know that the ZIP in zip code stands for Zone Improvement Plan (I didn't)? I was excited to get this today. I just had the random thought that I wanted the first stamp he appeared on because I like the graphic a lot so I looked it up and told the man at the stamp shop and he said he probably had that. He found it and sold the block (there are four stamps on this) to me for 75¢.