Gus Green Van Sant Jr.[1] (born July 24, 1952) is an American film director, producer, photographer and musician. He has earned acclaim as both an independent and mainstream filmmaker. His films typically deal with themes of marginalized subcultures, in particular homosexuality; Van Sant is considered one of the most prominent auteurs of the New Queer Cinema movement.

John Callahan (February 5, 1951 – July 24, 2010) was an American cartoonist, artist, and musician in Portland, Oregon. After a terrible drunken car accident, he lost the use of his legs. He found solace in the world he created through his very dark, (very funny) gag cartoons. See some of my favourite Callahan cartoons here.

The Cartoonists Lunch is a legendary, long-running tradition among New York gag cartoonists. They used to stomp around town every Wednesday (later moved to Tuesday) with an armful of cartoons, going from magazine to magazine selling their gags. They’d then finish up trading stories and talking shop for the rest of the afternoon at Pergola des Artistes, and carried on well into the evening before scattering back to their studios. When I got my first invitation to the lunch, it felt like I’d finally landed in New York. The lunch no longer happens. Nor does the in-person New Yorker cartoon pitch meeting on Tuesdays.
You can read more about the legendary cartoon lunch in the New York Times here.