UU Goofus and Gallant

The context for this cartoon:

http://aperfectworld.blogspot.com/2009/03/actually-read-uu-world.html

I try to be UU Gallant but sometimes, unintentionally, I behave like UU Goofus.

I might try a hidden chalices drawing sometime.

Join my army of hope starved sycophants

At age 14 I aspired to become a cult leader. Not a scary, Jim Jones sort of cult leader, but more of a Bajwan Shree Rajneesh (sp?) type. People give me money and stuff in exchange for a bit of happiness and hope. One avenue for achieving my ultimate objective - getting as much money as possible in exchange for as little work as possible.

Several factors redirected my aspirations:

1. Lack of resources on how to become a cult leader. Nothing in the library at Spring High School or in the Harris County Public Library System. Too shy to ask the librarian. Allegedly, I checked out a book from my high school library on brain washing techniques and never returned it. I convinced the librarian someone else put my name on the check out card. I never dotted my i's with little hearts. That and I did not remember checking that book out or even seeing it on the shelves. The loss of that book did not become too much of a roadblock in my life.
2. Very high scores on the introvert scale. Cults require people - lots of them.
3. A lack of charisma, public speaking skills or the ability to exert a lot of control over my own life much less the lives of others.
4. Can't fake it forever. Consequences of exposure too great.
5. Lots of potential, not so much ambition.
6. I actually care and have a conscience.
7. Realized it was kind of a weird ambition and that I can affect the world in a positive way without minions. Minions would be nice once in a while. Maybe I can rent some.

Cool Alex Toth Drawings...

and a single panel of Mary Worth. I love that Terry Bryson points toward the window when she warns Toby. Phishing to agoraphobia maybe?
I found these drawings via Drawn! They are Alex Toth design sketches. Alex Toth the man responsible for some of my childhood and Adult Swim. He designed Jonny Quest, Birdman, Space Ghost, Mightor, Herculoids, Super Friends, Josie and the Pussy Cats and other "oh my god that was real and not some fever dream I had as a kid" cartoons.
Alex Toth has a bit of fun with Race Bannon and a gas mask. I want to make this an icon.
From Sealab 2020: Holy crap! Look at all those gauges and screens! That level of detail would have blown Hanna-Barbera's animation budget.
I think Roger had some lines in Sealab 2021. I like the close up drawing of the cassette tape player.

More drawings can be found at http://www.collectingfool.com/tothgallery.html

One of the presentation drawings screams 1970's. Hanna-Barbera pitched a cartoon about a bionic police dog! I wonder if that one actually made it to air?

Traces of the Trade

Last night, the church hosted a showing of the documentary, Traces of the Trade, along with a discussion afterwards.

Traces of the Trade explores the experiences of descendants of a family that made its fortune in the slave trade. A very thought-provoking documentary.

One of the discussion questions was about embarrassing or uncomfortable interactions with African-Americans.

An incident from childhood worked its way back to the front of my mind. I thought about sharing it with the group but I couldn't. It hurt too much. I thought about writing about it in this blog but only the emotions and the impact it had on both players in this incident (beyond the immediate reaction to the incident, I can only speculate as to the impact on the other person). I still cannot speak or write of the details of the incident itself.

I'm having trouble even writing about the emotions. All I can say is that it still haunts me even after over 30 years and it ranks as the dumbest thing I've ever said to another person in seriousness. I've said plenty of dumb things that were meant to be jokes; things that get taken the wrong way, intentions not made clear, ignorance or simply poor taste. I said this thing out of ignorance of such a magnitude that someone might have assumed that I had some kind of mental handicap, but I was not joking.

I find myself unable to write any further about this incident despite the emotions roiling within and the thoughts doing battle in my head. Just too much to write about in a coherent way.

Pancakes make people happy

A sign of the apocalypse - an amusing Drabble. I personally find pancakes more comforting than waffles. Probably stems from the love my grandmother put into making hers. She made pancakes in the shapes of animals. Her most impressive shape was a crescent moon with sharp points. A neat trick to perform with a semi-viscous liquid poured from a giant measuring cup.

Unlike Drabble, a non-amusing F Minus would signal the apocalypse. I so want to use that line but I never have an occasion to make a sandwich for a child. Please, someone use this line on my behalf if you encounter someone complaining about a sandwich with just the heels. I feed my bread heels to the dog. He never complains.

At least Francis managed to keep his bitterness at bay until he got out the door. He may have punted Momma before coming outside or used his huge feet to step on her.

Three comics that I would hang on my fridge

Three comics that I would hang on my fridge if I read them in a newspaper. The first two I understand the sentiments expressed in the last panel and the third one I just found sick, twisted and very funny.





Looks like readers of Mary Worth will suffer through weeks of Mary's attempt to get a man for Vera. Mary did not pay attention to Vera when she stated that she did not want to depend on a man. Oops, my heterosexism is showing. Karen Moy could take Mary Worth into controversial territory and set up Vera with a woman. Or even have Mary explore her - oh god, I just made myself ill. Yeah, right. That would be too interesting. Stick with the pedestrian so that I have something to write about.

I don't observe the movement of long hair in real life but, in the second panel, the position of Vera's ponytail versus the position of her head does not look right.

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This cartoon was inspired by my 6th grade band director at Memorial Middle School in Garland, Texas. The school is now some special type of school instead of a regular middle school. The band director whose name I've forgotten was a grade-A asshole to me and incompetent. One advantage to changing schools a lot is that I had a large sample for comparison.

I played the clarinet and I'm slightly tone deaf. Maybe band is not the best place for a slightly tone deaf person. But I stayed all the way through my senior year in high school. All this despite the best efforts of Mr. Asshole. I only suffered through Mr. Asshole's "teaching" for 5 months. Mr. Asshole's technique for helping me tune my instrument involved screaming at me - "YOU'RE FLAT!!!" Adjust your embouchure! YOU'RE STILL FLAT!!! Adjust your EMBOUCHURE! CAN'T YOU HEAR THAT!! YOU'RE STILL FLAT!!! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!!!! ADJUST YOUR EMBOUCHURE!

Not a nice thing to do in front of a whole class of 6th graders, who did not like me very much anyway. Luckily for him I did not have access to a firearm or a particularly aggressive personality. The most that I ever did to him was give him a dirty look and point out that I am adjusting the best that I can.


Later, from a different band director at a different school, I learned about adjusting the barrel on the clarinet and purchasing better reeds.

The cartoon is about incompetent people simply screaming useless advice hoping that repeated screaming will improve things.

An evil part of me hopes that Mr. Asshole died a very painful death while an incompetent doctor screamed at him, YOU'RE SICK - STOP BEING SICK!! BE HEALTHY! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU!!! WHY CAN'T YOU SEE THAT YOU ARE SICK!!!!

I would find that very funny and laugh out loud despite the disapproval of polite society. I settle for drawing a cartoon about it 23 years later.

Comic women

Looks like Harriet has had some work done. Maybe she used her third eye as stuffing for her top.

Too funny. As a kid, I remember watching a Popeye cartoon that featured the scenario of a woman U.S. President. Olive Oyl wore a pants suit and high heeled shoes and she looked good. Rather attractive according to my memory. She also exuded confidence in the way she moved about in the Oval Office. Popeye sort of stood off to the side. He wore a suit instead of the usual sailor clothes. I checked the Big Cartoon Database but came up empty. Could be the product of a fevered childhood imagination. I have trouble distinguishing childhood dreams, memories and T.V. shows. I used to think the "The Bugaloos" were one of my weird childhood dreams until I found outside confirmation. The work of Sid and Marty Krofft had that effect on a lot of people.

The Popeye sequence I think I watched was musical with Olive Oyl doing most of the singing. I'm sure it was a Fleischer produced rather than Hanna-Barbara. Does anyone else remember this?

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I'm feeling a little overwhelmed by church business but it's just all the things that need to be done before the congregational meeting. The feeling will pass.