On The Internet No One Can Hear You Groan - Part II

Twinkie The Kid Meets Superman

From a 1976 DC convention program.

For those not in the know, Twinkie The Kid quite frequently said, "Yahooo," that is why Superman is saying it to him.

Thanks To Drive In Mike's Flickr…

https://www.flickr.com/photos/34443508@N08/8687052508/

CLOWNS!!!

  I know the word "clowns" is not a pleasant one for most people. Many people suffer from fear of clowns (Coulrophobia) and others of us just find them creepy.  I am one of the few people I know that does not dislike clowns. I think the whole "scary clown" thing has been overdone and is boring by now. That being said, clown dolls and figurines are almost always creepy.

  This wondrous site is what the internet was invented for…
Thrift Store Clowns is exactly what you would expect it to be - clown items found in thrift stores.

  Enjoy these examples, if you feel the need to see more, the link is here…
http://thriftstoreclowns.com

And if you need to overcome your fear of clowns, look at this book…

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/148483948X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=148483948X&linkCode=as2&tag=arcmcp-20
Read the reviews. I am hoping that the reviewers are trying to be funny, but I don't really know if they are.

review 1:  I don't understand what the government has against taco's what with taxing them so high and all, my neighbor says that it's because the American government is trying to protect American foods like pizza and stuff so it's kinda like how I-phones are more expensive in Canada than they are here

review 2: I very accendintally purhcased this book on accendint. I tought it was a book on ohw to stop being afriad of COWS but in fact and reality it is a book on ohw to not be afriad of CLOWNS. I was evry dissappinted wen I first raed it at frist. But thne I raed it b/c I was lik wut the hek? I'll raed this book anywyas.

Ten Best Sentences In Literature!

(Creative Commons photo by Guldfisken)


The American Scholar have published a list of the Ten Best Sentences In Literature.

I thought I was pretty well read, but I find that I have only read three of these.

Here is their list…

Its vanished trees, the trees that had made way for Gatsby’s house, had once pandered in whispers to the last and greatest of all human dreams; for a transitory enchanted moment man must have held his breath in the presence of this continent, compelled into an aesthetic contemplation he neither understood nor desired, face to face for the last time in history with something commensurate to his capacity for wonder.

—F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

---

I go to encounter for the millionth time the reality of experience and to forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race.

—James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

---

This private estate was far enough away from the explosion so that its bamboos, pines, laurel, and maples were still alive, and the green place invited refugees—partly because they believed that if the Americans came back, they would bomb only buildings; partly because the foliage seemed a center of coolness and life, and the estate’s exquisitely precise rock gardens, with their quiet pools and arching bridges, were very Japanese, normal, secure; and also partly (according to some who were there) because of an irresistible, atavistic urge to hide under leaves.

—John Hersey, Hiroshima

---

It was a fine cry—loud and long—but it had no bottom and it had no top, just circles and circles of sorrow.

—Toni Morrison, Sula

---

For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbors, and laugh at them in our turn?

—Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

---

It was the United States of America in the cold late spring of 1967, and the market was steady and the G.N.P. high and a great many articulate people seemed to have a sense of high social purpose and it might have been a spring of brave hopes and national promise, but it was not, and more and more people had the uneasy apprehension that it was not.

—Joan Didion, Slouching Towards Bethlehem

---

Anger was washed away in the river along with any obligation.

—Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms

---

There are many pleasant fictions of the law in constant operation, but there is not one so pleasant or practically humorous as that which supposes every man to be of equal value in its impartial eye, and the benefits of all laws to be equally attainable by all men, without the smallest reference to the furniture of their pockets.

—Charles Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby

---

In many ways he was like America itself, big and strong, full of good intentions, a roll of fat jiggling at his belly, slow of foot but always plodding along, always there when you needed him, a believer in the virtues of simplicity and directness and hard labor.

—Tim O’Brien, The Things They Carried

---

There is nothing more atrociously cruel than an adored child.

—Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita

---

And a bonus:

Like the waters of the river, like the motorists on the highway, and like the yellow trains streaking down the Santa Fe tracks, drama, in the shape of exceptional happenings, had never stopped there.

—Truman Capote, In Cold Blood

Most of these don't seem to me to be the best sentences in literature, but maybe I would think so if I read the stories(?)

This might be my favorite…

What do you think?

The list is here...

http://theamericanscholar.org/ten-best-sentences/#.U1raAKXqLwK

and the reason why they are the best are here…

http://www.poynter.org/how-tos/newsgathering-storytelling/writing-tools/245081/why-these-are-the-ten-best-sentences/

POPEYE - Segar's Genius vs. The Movies

  There are basically two Popeyes…

1) E.C. Segar's work of genius. A comic strip of wit and amazing hilarious characters.
2) The animated Popeye

While the animated Popeye had its own charm (especially the Fleisher Studios series) the Popeye of the comic strip is the real Popeye in my book. The real Popeye is tough. He doesn't need spinach to get tough, he's tough all the time. He is big hearted, quick tempered and is a good single parent to his little SweePea. While the animated Popeye was always the same (a battle with Bluto or Brutus over Olive Oyl that is won by Popeye eating spinach), the comic strip is rich with satire, great characters, adventure and an amazing sense of humor.

 Here is a nice example of the comic strip Popeye…even though this one focuses on Wimpy, it is a great sampling of the humor of the strip…

Beautiful Vintage Children's Book Illustrations From Austria!

Wow….

If you want to see more amazing vintage Austrian children's book illustrations click here….

http://50watts.com/Kling-Klang-Gloria-Vintage-Children-s-Books-from-Austria

What?

Woman to sit in my bath tub full of ramen noodles (brooklyn)

compensation: $175 PT

I will pay you $175 to sit in my bath tub full of ramen noodles wearing a bathing suit

I will not be home, nor will anyone else while you do this.

I will give you the keys while we meet, and you will go to my apartment thereafter.

It will require a 30 minute soak.

The noodles will be cooked and therefore slippery.

Do not bring any sauce. I will season the sauce after I get home prior to dinner.

• do NOT contact me with unsolicited services or offers

https://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/tlg/4419333787.html

On The Internet No One Can Hear You Groan

Let the Sun Shine In

This song from The Flintstones has been going through my head all day...

Unfortunately, songs from The Flintstones go through my head all the time. I was hooked on this show when I was a kid. It was on everyday after school and I watched it (and Gilligan's Island) probably almost every weekday between 3rd and 8th grade. This was the episode where Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm (who couldn't speak yet) suddenly acquired the ability to sing and became big stars. I didn't catch the joke at the time, but the famous manager that signs them to a record deal is named Eppy Brianstone (a joke on the name of the Beatles manager Brian Epstein.) **Spoiler alert - At the end we find out that it is all a dream. I bet you didn't see that coming.
For more about the song...

Macaulay Culkin Eating a Slice of Pizza / Andy Warhol Eating a Hamburger...

I'll just leave this here...

The Merry Go Round Broke Down

Is there anyone that isn't a fan of old Warner Brother's cartoons? If you are, don't tell me… I don't want to lose any respect for you.  I find it interesting that a lot of the music that is in the old cartoons that sounds "old timey" to us was contemporary music at the time.

I recently re-discovered that the Looney Tunes theme that we all know and love was a popular song called "The Merry Go Round Broke Down." It was written in 1937 by Cliff Friend and Dave Franklin

The lyrics are here…

Oh, the Merry-Go-Round broke down
And we went round and round
Each time t'would miss, we'd steal a kiss 
And the Merry-Go-Round went
"Um-pah-pah, um-pah-pah
Um-pah! Um-pah! Um-pah-pah-pah!'
Oh, the Merry-Go-Round broke down
And it made the darndest sound,
The lights went low, we both said "Oh!"
And the Merry-Go-Round went
"Um-pah-pah, um-pah-pah
Um-pah! Um-pah! Um-pah-pah-pah!'
Oh what fun - a wonderful time
Finding love for only a dime.
Oh, the Merry-Go-Round broke down
But you don't see me frown
Things turned out fine and now she's mine -
Cause the the Merry-Go-Round went
"Um-pah-pah, um-pah-pah
Um-pah! Um-pah! Um-pah-pah-pah!"
Oh, the Merry-Go-Round broke down. 

Here is a cool version from 1937

or if you prefer to hear Daffy Duck sing it…

That's all folks!

Adults Talking About Kid Things

This video has been making the rounds on a lot of blogs lately…







Most of the places I've seen it are making it seem like this guy is the ultimate nerd or square or dweeb. I think people are missing the point of the commercial. This is supposed to be funny. It is supposed to be funny for a reason that most of us don't understand anymore. It is a grown man talking and getting excited about things that adults don't talk about. This commercial was made in 1977 and times have changed a lot. Adults talk about (and get excited about) comic books, superheroes and sci-fi movies. Adults wear T-shirts as real shirts and T-shirts with cartoon characters on them. This is not the way the world was in 1977. So, enjoy the video. Enjoy the guy talking about "laser swords," but don't think that this guy is "out of it" and is just trying to sell merchandise awkwardly. The point is that he is awkward because that is not the way "grown-ups" behave.