Tori Stellar by Jerry Seltzer

On the SCBWI list serve, one of the writers posted this link to an illustrator/artist's (Jerry Seltzer's) site for his Tori Stellar, Children's Book Author comic strip. From what I gather, the cartoons are cute and humorous bits of inspiration, advice, and experience for chidren's authors and aspiring writers.

Funny, and I can really identify with a couple of them (and no, I'm not talking about saying the S-word... althooo-ooough...). At the site, there are only a couple other comic strips, however, you can sign up for a free weekly newsletter, go to the newsletter archives, or e-mail Jerry with ideas.If the comic strips tickle your funnybones, check out the site.

Fill In The Blanc

Today is the birthday of one of my favorite actors of all-time, Mel Blanc, who was born in 1908. While Mr. Blanc passed away in 1989, his work will probably live on forever.

He is responsible for the voices of so many beloved characters, it would be impossible to name them all.

Or would it??

In honor of Melvin Jerome Blanc, fill in as many of his voiced characters as you can (without cheating), and I'll let you know when "Th-th-th-that's all, folks!"

Sesame Street Humor

Got these and thought they were a little funny.

Have you guys seen these before?















Whaddayathink?




















This second one is just wrong! Look at Ernie and Bert's faces. Holy Pavlov's Dog, Batman!

Right, Rhaggy!

As I was driving my kid to school this morning and getting frustrated with traffic -- although, admittedly, here in Huntsville, if you're upset with traffic, it'd probably be to your benefit for God to zap you to a place like NYC, LA, ATL, Boston, Orlando, Chicago, Dallas, or any other metropolis with REAL traffic problems so you can spend a good while in repentance for for thoughtless, ridiculous folly -- and worrying about getting to work on time, I belted out, "Heaven's to Mergatroid!" That's an old Snagglepuss interjection for those of you too young, too old, too forgetful, or too mature to have remembered. I've got another Snaggely treasure that I use frequently as well: "Exit - Stage Left!"

Hearing myself say it, well, it got me to thinking just how many cartoon exclamations or phrases have entered my vernacular on a semi-regular basis. The title of this post, "Jenkies!", and "Zoiks!" are expressions I use all the time that come from the cartoon classic Scooby Doo! Where Are You?

I think Thinklings had a similar post a while back on phrases from movies or TV that have become part of people's family dialogue. I thought it might be alright to renew that issue here in The Realm to see how much Cartoon Culture and Pop Culture is leaking into our family or our own vocabularies.

I'm sure if I examined the issue closely, or more appropos if others examined me closely, I or they might say I've let culture slip into my life too much as a Christian. It may be so. But I'm just looking at it in fun right now. Judge me later.

Anyway, here are some other words and phrases that I use a lot in my life as I know it:

"Precisely, Robin." and "Right, chum." -- from the old Superfriends shows. Used usually with my kids for fun. And in return I get answers like, "Don't call me chum!"

Also from the 60s Batman movie: "Quick, Robin, to the Batmobile!" when we're heading to the car.

"Yea-a-a, Boo-Boo!" -- from Yogi Bear cartoons to answer in the affirmative, especially with my kids.

"Shazam!" -- from the Shazam/Isis Power Hour, used in lieu of "Aha!" or "Cool!" at times.

I used to use, "You're a meathead, dead from the neck up," with old, familiar friends, from All in the Family.

And I'll still use: "What's happening, Rog?" from What's Happening? and "Whatchu talkin' 'bout, Willis?" from Different Strokes, but I use those with co-workers more than at home.

I've got more, but what about you? Anyone else have cartoon or movie/TV sayings that have infiltrated their lives and that they use every so often? Let's hear 'em!

cartoons

Chewin' the Veggies

With the fairly conservative Christian vibe (although that certainly isn't an absolute nor should it be here) I get from most of the comments here in The Realm, I probably already know the answer to this one. However, I want to throw this one out there, for posterity's sake if nothing else.

Veggie Tales - Pro or Con

Why or why not? And is their day done? If so, anyone in the know have an idea what the next big thing Christian retailers are going to put out our way for our children? I don't frequent Christian bookstores much, so there might already be something I haven't heard of. Let me know.

Consider me interested.

Veggie Tales

Good Thing Dumbo Wasn't Married

Ran across this on another site, and I thought it was funny... and Realmish.

Have I Stopped Rolling with the Times?

Question: What has happened to the CARTOON?

You know, the Saturday morning, after school special, or even nightly cartoon. Sure, I'm one to wax nostalgic about the heartfelt loves of my youth, but am I off base to ask this question? (Hopefully, it's been asked before.)

When I was young I looked forward to Saturday mornings like no other, even in the summer time when we were out of school. We had The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour, Scooby Doo, Where Are You?, Challenge of the Superfriends (Superfriends), Speed Buggy, Speed Racer (the original of the Anime coming to America), Pink Panther, even the Smurfs, and a host of other shows to devour, not to mention Schoolhouse Rock (on which I posted a Top Ten list of the best SR song/videos here).

While I'll admit -- with Batman Beyond, Batman the animated series, The Batman, Justice League (Unlimited), Spider-Man, X-Men, and Teen Titans -- that the superhero genre of cartoons has drastically improved, what about all the others? I'd hazard a guess that most people, including most kids, aren't avid superhero fans. So where does that leave us?

Well, we have all the new wave Anime shows. Aside from the card playing games of Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh series, neither of which seem very good or long-lasting although that remains to be seen, I couldn't name one -- and I've wasted time watching a few. We've replaced the likes of Bugs and Scoob with Dexter's Laboratory, Loonatics (a bad Bugs Bunny and friends makeover), and Bratz (the animated series). Puuuuuh-lease! Totally Spies is mildly watchable, and I can get along with Dora the Explorer, which is now shown on Saturday morns, but I go thru the Saturday morning listings and the Saturday morning cartoon is dying a slow and painful death. Hardly anything watchable, let alone a show with "classic" potential.

Then, there's the whole Adult Swim late night cartoon biz and also South Park and the like, which I suppose ratings bear out that adults will watch these shows (hopefully, they're adults), but I don't find them amusing at all, and they're definitely not kid-friendly. I guess The Simpsons may go down as a classic, and to a lesser degree King of the Hill, but certainly as adult humor cartoons rather than family friendly classics such as The Flintstones.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe kids are loving 2 Stupid Dogs, Ed, Edd n Eddy, and The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, as these shows seem to be either the current or past fare of Cartoon Networks prime time shows. Perhaps, I'm mixing too many things: Cartoon Network, Saturday morning cartoons, and late night cartoons. I dunno. I sit with my kids some on Saturdays or at night when they want to see a cartoon, and I get depressed. Maybe I've just grown to be an old curmudgeon. But in my opinion, kids today would sure be better off with some good, old-fashioned Scooby Doo or, barring some of the classics of the past, maybe nothing at all.

Cartoons