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     "So there's this guy, right? Like, middle-aged or something::::getting ready to go bald, you know. Had this kind of mean look, slanted eyebrows and all, but he was a push-over. But I mean he was staring at me::::giving me the evil eye. We were just standing there in line at FoodBasket, right? And I was like perusing the old woman's mag covers and all. And this guy was like doing me. So I look up and say::::'Dude! You gay, or what?' That shook him for sure. But I just then looked behind him, and standing there was this way pale limp bodied butt pirate staring me down like I was fucking Death or something. Boy, was I embarrassed"::::Nick laughs. He's the only one who laughs.
     "I am not homosexual, Nick."
     "Never said you were::::it was just a story!"
     "Kids, kids"::::Dick::::"If you don't stop fighting I'm going to pull off the freeway and drop you, and you can walk down there."
     "There's the border!"::::Angel.
     They all look ahead.
     "Sun. Tell us about that anime project you're working on for Weber."
     "Do I need my passport out?"
     "Naw. They just wave ya thru::::anyone can escape into Mexico::::it's getting back into the States that's the problem"::::Nick.
     "Oh. Oh, I don't know. Um, I've been working on a serial called 'Kaya'::::Baso style anime::::fully animated. Just creating it in Flash::::very simple::::and publishing it to my website. Kaya is this angel who flies around putting good thoughts in peoples heads. Flies all over the world. Well, Weber::::he's your friend, right?"
     "We grew up together::::known him since the second grade. But, naw::::say what you will. We all know Weber"::::Dick.
     "O.k. Well, a friend of a friend showed him my work. He'd been looking for a cartoon for Weberbroadcasting. We met. He talked about 'Beavis & Butthead'::::which of course I'm familiar with::::and then started talking about 'The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show'::::so I started talking about 'Rangon' and 'The Purifier'::::and he didn't know anything. I tried to explain the difference between anime and cartoon::::how we are interested in creating art, something separate from entertainment. And he got this very lost look. Then walked out of the room and I think he smoked on a joint."
     "Yeah! That's Weber!"::::Nick.
     "Well, he said he really liked 'Kaya,' but maybe instead of going around planting good thoughts::::or, maybe along with doing that, Kaya could travel all over the world planting marijuana seeds. A hook-in to 'Johnny Appleseed'::::an American myth. He also mentioned 'Paul Bunyon' and 'Davy Crockett.' It was all very scattered::::but he was excited. Told me to work-up a story-line and come back in a week. But a few days later he called and said his backers nixed the 'Johnny Marijuana-seed' idea. Then started talking about 'Yellow Submarine' and 'Monty Python'::::I would best describe the telephone conversation as incoherent."
     "Yeah. That's Weber!"::::Nick.
     "Anyway. I had long been a fan of Surrealism and Absurdism. And though there is an essential negativity to these two movements, I guessed he was wanting something more abstract."
     "Psychodelic"::::Dick.
     "Yes. But at the same time very basic::::with its feet solidly within the American cartoon tradition. It's very difficult, you know, to work on someone else's ideas when you're used to working on your own::::especially when the communication is so unclear. I watched several dozen 'Beavis & Buttheads' and found several examples of 'The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show'::::and read those American myths he mentioned. So I outlined a very simple two character piece::::kind of an homage to Beckett's 'Godot.' It is called 'Skull & Dogshit.' Skull is an existentialist::::who approached the world from a phenomenological viewpoint::::and Dogshit is a spokesman for the analytical tradition::::I use interpolations of Wittgenstein with him. Skull is drawn as a skull, who flies. Dogshit is dogshit::::who moves like an inchworm::::really kind of funny just watching him move. And, well, they go out on adventures."
     Nick goes into a fake-laughing fit..
     "Well, Weber liked it. Though he of course doesn't have a clue as to what it's about. But he's given me two artists and a state-of-the-art studio. We're combining anime with claymation and film collage in a three-dimensional landscape. Filming it frame by frame, then transferring it to digital. Quite sophisticated. And he's left us alone for the most part. But it will take us three or four more months of work before we have a package ready. Weber called me in on this trip::::said it looked like I needed a vacation::::a working vacation. So here I am."
     "Why aren't you just doing it all on screen?"
     "Well, the effects we're getting are quite unlike anything seen before. Skull and Dogshit are both drawn::::and the elements they interact with::::but the world::::the work-space, is a traditional claymation stage::::and we've set all this inside of a 3-D box. The depth is exactly equal to the human iris' perception. And by projecting film onto scrims, well, it's as if we're working in five dimensions instead of three::::really neat."
     "Cool."
     They get waved across the border. Dick nods to the policeman::::Nick waves.
     "Ah::::out of the homeland!"::::Nick.
     "What's that sign?"
     "Go to the left::::follow that lane."
     "Fuck."
     "There. That way."
     "O.k."
     "Could've winded up cruising beautiful downtown Tijuana for a couple of hours there, Dewey"::::Nick.

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