Vintage humor!

I was raised in the Northern hills of Arkansas, during the 60’s and 70’s. I was a “hillbilly” I suppose. That means a certain type of person probably springs to your mind. But, I did not marry my sister and many people still had all of their teeth. Today found a letter that I wish I knew more about—

Ethnic humor was not allowed in our house. My mom once told me that if I heard a joke I liked, and REALLY wanted to tell others, that I should replace the ethnic slur with “moron.” Such as, “How many morons does it take to change a lightbulb?” (It may not be seen as quite as “funny” but that’s because you don’t get the extra bonus of insulting someone different than you.)

Which brings me to the letter. I think it must have been typed in the 50’s, or maybe even sooner. I really have no way to know, but it was always around from my earliest memory. It would be pulled out every once and a while to have a laugh. Reading it today, it’s not super funny. Although I think the line, “She is near death’s door and we hope that the doctor can pull her through,” is pretty good!

Drops of Jupiter in My Head

I recently added the song Drops of Jupiter, by Train, to my ipod. I like the song, but I swear every time I hear it, this is the scenario that runs through my head...

We're all making stew from the same garden.

I tend to say, "We're all making stew from the same garden," whenever I see a similar creative idea coming from more than one person. Case in point, I noticed this post today on Fail Blog...

Several years ago, I wrote a few newspaper strips, for the Kansas City Star, called Scattered Thoughts. They were drawn by my friend, Rich Lapierre. The one below appeared on February 24, 2005...

I have to admit, it's a lot cooler to see it done in real life!

Monkey feet are harder to draw than they should be.

I had the urge to draw a chimpanzee holding a skull wearing a hat. It was pretty easy, but I redrew the feet 4 or 5 times before inking it.

I like that there's a few different ways to interpret this image. Is it a parody of two things put together? Is it a tragic end to a well-known children's book series? Is it merely a small monkey finding an odd item after a Day of the Dead celebration, wondering what the heck that was all about?

Vintage Top Cat Toys

I own a set of Top Cat toys from the 1960's. I believe they compose a game consisting of setting up the figures and then trying to knock them over with the accompanying shoes. Usually, when I come across an old book/toy/object, I can find it on the internet. It's fun to see the original packaging, or approximate value, etc. I can't find these anywhere!

I'm hoping someone who sees this might know more about them...

I want to change my dog's name, without him realizing it.

We have a cocker spaniel named Magoo. He smells like a corn chip (unless he's been freshly bathed). He's roughly the same color of a corn chip. I want to rename him Corn Chip.

He doesn't speak English very well, so I'm thinking I can do it without him knowing it. I would alter his name a tiny bit every month.

I believe this would also work with very young children.

A Blooper, Indeed.

I recently ran across this book, printed in 1969, The Dictionary of Bloopers & Boners.


Before you get the wrong idea around what the book is about, let me show you a couple of excerpts from the book's forward.


It goes on to examine how such things can occur.


In the body of the book, some of the entries have an accompanying cartoon.


It's a fun read highlighting misused words or ideas from various sources. The dedication page has a single statement on it...


A nice sentiment. It could only be better if it had a cartoon to go with it.

Art 102

There's a story behind this very old, sketchbook cartoon of mine. Read it, then decide if you care to read below it.

(Click to enlarge.)

Both characters represent me. I drew this in college, when I was 19-ish. I grew up in rural Arkansas and never had an art class until college. I sketched this cartoon immediately after leaving a class one day. It was a direct reaction to my struggle with which art was truly good and which art was not. A teacher had told me to be more "intellectual", a phrase I use in the cartoon. It may be the only time in my life that someone has accused me of under-thinking anything. (If you actually know me, that last sentence will make more sense.)

I stand by the writing in this, although the art's rather, um, crappy.

Doodle on my new Wacom tablet

As an artist, I should be embarrassed to admit this, but I've only had a mouse for my computer these many years. I finally broke down and got a very cheap Wacom tablet. Nothing fancy, just a "Bamboo". I doodled something that recently occurred to me. When we consider people attractive, we take a portrait of their heads, don't we?

That Wacky Billy!

I came across this item recently. Back in '90 I used to work with an individual who was quite gullible. At some point, I wondered just how gullible the person was, so I altered a panel in the newspaper comic section and said, "Have you seen today's Family Circus!?! I Xeroxed it!"

The person's response was sincere. "Oh wow. I wonder why he would do that? Do you think he's having trouble at home?"

I later confessed what I did. I'm a softy at heart. Sort of.

An Awesome Comic-Con Sketch! (Not Really.)

On my road trip to San Diego, I ended up in a doctor's office, in Oklahoma City. (I'm fine. Thank you for your moment of curiosity.) The doctor explained things to me as he drew on the rolling paper that covers the examination table. I asked if I could keep it. He said, "Sure," as he graciously torn it out and signed it. It's pretty big. 10.5" x 10.5".

The story gets more complex. I didn't make it to San Diego, but it doesn't end sadly. I ended up having a great vacation in the Palo Duro Canyon, Texas, and the Rocky Mountains, Colorado! Here's a couple of pictures from it...

The Cookie Monster Diet

Have you ever noticed that when Cookie Monster eats, very little food gets into his mouth?

This would be a great approach for a new diet! Super models could start eating like the C. Monster to keep their svelte figures!

I'm hoping this starts a fad.

I have stupid dreams.

Last night I dreamt of a new TV show. It was a spin-off from two, old sit coms. It starred the goofy farmhand from Green Acres and the "kiss my grits" waitress from Alice. The show was titled Eb & Flo. (Of course.)

Not only is "ebb and flow" a phrase I rarely use, but if you were to ask me the names of these characters during my waking hours, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have been able to think of them.

What a great use of my subconscious mind.

SOrry.

I recently received an email from a friend who needed to cancel our lunch plans. It started with "SOrry." I thought he had created a clever way of saying, "So sorry." It turns out it was merely a typo.

Too bad. It would have been cool.

Your cooperation is appreciated

While in a bathroom at a medical facility, I noticed a small door for patients to pass along urine samples. I took a picture of it with my phone.

I think it's hilarious that the word "tightly" is underlined AND highlighted!

Too tacky?

I was doodling while talking on the phone, and I accidentally drew what looked like an elegant symbol for flipping the bird. I thought, "Hmm, that could be a T-shirt." So, I made it, and am selling it on Zazzle.com. Just trying new things.

I'm not sure I'd wear it, though. I would wear my Wash Me shirt.

I would also wear the Dead Parrot I'm selling on Printfection.com. Printfection isn't as famous as Zazzle, but the print area of the shirt is larger. Perfect for this bird. (And the Wash Me above.)

The Origin of Sleep

Time for another Scattered Thoughts. The first one I shared is here. Click to enlarge.

Is There a Hole in My Logic?

It's my understanding that an apostrophe stands in for a missing letter. The apostrophe in "it's" takes the place of the missing "i" in "it is". Ol' actually means "old", etc.

This means that the word "don't" could actually mean "donut"! Yum.

I wonder if I should open my own store using this cute way of spelling doughnut?

Hmm, probably not.

The United States of Lazy

(Not a political statement.)

Have you ever noticed that the states get bigger and bigger, basically in the order that they were created?

The original thirteen are rather small and the others gradually grow, generally speaking, as they progress down and over to the west.

It's a lot like if I were drawing a pattern of stars and got tired of creating all that detail. (I'm right-handed, so it goes left.)

Did the early settlers also think, "What a pain. We'll just make 'em bigger as we go..."

How to Annoy People

A few years ago, I wrote four comic strips appearing in the Kansas City Star, which a friend of mine, Rich LaPierre, drew. I wanted to throw some random thoughts out there without having to work them into a Halo & Sprocket story. Here's one of 'em. Click to enlarge.