Whimsy: March 2008 Archives
Fold-Ins, Past and Present - The New York Times
From the inside back cover of MAD magazine, a collection of Al Jaffee's best fold-ins, covering his long career and a wide range of topics. (Via Mister Snitch!)
IndieLondon: Obituary: Brian Wilde
Wilde, who died last week at age 80, was on one of my favorite British sitcoms, Last of the Summer Wine. (It's not the usual zany madcap humor or a sharp irony you might associate with British comedy.
It's gentler humor -- imagine the characters in the comic strip Pogo transplanted from the Okefenokee Swamp to the hills of Yorkshire.) Wilde played ex-Army Cpl. Foggy Dewhurst, the third in a trio of retirees who wondered about the villages and countryside getting into mischief. Wilde was one of a series of bossy know-it-alls (a series that began with Michael Bates -- the one who played Montogmery in Patton) alongside Bill Owen as scruffy Compo and Peter Sallis as meek Norman Clegg.
Hundreds of 'em. (Via Club for Growth.)
Mister Snitch!: The final Calvin & Hobbes strip?
"Not the genuine article, but a poignant idea." Sad in a way that speaks volumes about childhood, imagination, and overmedication.
The classic short story by Arthur C. Clarke, who passed away this week at the age of 90.
Crunchy Con: You wanna feel old?
That Late Eighties Show? "A new sitcom starting this fall depicting a year as far removed from today as Happy Days was from 1974 would have to begin its drama in ... 1989."
Tulsa Now Forum - My WinStar Casino Project
Tulsa artist William Franklin presents photos of his work-in-progress for the Chickasaw Nation's WinStar Casino -- murals for 30' and 50' domes in five themed areas -- Paris, Beijing, Rome, London and Madrid. Beautiful.
Look At This...: The 8 Most Ridiculous Dance Crazes
... and many other odd lists, including 5 Works of Art That Can Probably Kill You and The 8 Worst Possible SkyMall Impulse Purchases. Via Violins and Starships.
If Celebs Moved to Oklahoma | Wintrest.com
Someone's photoshopped Hollywood faces on to Hulbert bodies! What would Britney, Paris, Sarah Jessica, Cameron, and Travolta look like if they were deprived of their hairstylists, designer fashions, and personal trainers? (Michael Douglas looks an awful lot like an evangelist who preached our spring revival one year. And am I wrong to think the Olson twins look better with a little meat on their bones?)
Tom McMahon distills riddles, people, events, and home truths into pithy, often laugh-out-loud funny, four-block diagrams
Strange Maps: 254 - Ludacris' Rap Map of US Area Codes
Where Ludacris keeps his weeding implements. Why does he hate the Nine-One-Eight?
Who needs security when you have a robot? | ajc.com
The owner of O'Terrill's Irish Pub in downtown Atlanta has built a robot to shoo away vagrants and drug dealers loitering on his property and that of a nearby daycare center. The robot has a bright spotlight, a sound system tied to the owner's walkie-talkie, and a low-power water cannon. "Terrill says deploying the robot has helped keep crime in check, preventing car break-ins and drug deals and stopping vandals from trashing the day care center." Here's video of the "Bum-Bot" in action. (Via Engadget and Ace.)
Will I still be blogging at age 108? Olive Riley from Australia is! (Via On the Other Foot.)
Altered art: "Who would have guessed that when you remove Garfield from the Garfield comic strips, the result is an even better comic about schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and the empty desperation of modern life?" (Via Julie R. Neidlinger.)
