w h o a r . c o . n z

“..There’s a memorable scene in the 1984 rockumentary This is Spinal Tap in which Harry Shearer’s character, the bass player Derek Smalls, sets off an airport metal detector with a cucumber wrapped in tinfoil shoved down his trousers.

Back then, Smalls was merely humiliated.

In today’s terrorist-wary world, he wouldn’t get off so lightly.

“There’d be what they call a secondary screening,” Shearer says.

Having lampooned heavy metal stars, Shearer (well-known for voicing various characters in The Simpsons) now has more serious subjects in his sights, namely the US economic meltdown.

His new album Greed and Fear, features satirical songs such as Mr Goldman and Mr Sachs, aimed at the infamous Wall Street bankers.

“They stand for so much that went wrong this past decade,” Shearer says.

So, does writing these songs manage to sooth Shearer’s rage?

“It channels it. The rage would be soothed if I felt something was being done about all this.

Since I wrote the Goldman and Sachs song, the company has announced record profits and bonuses for its staff.

While I was laughing at them .. they’re laughing at all of us..”

go to source/story>>Guest List: Harry Shearer on… - Times Online

“..It’s a question that has exercised generations of schoolboys: Superman or Batman - who would win?

Now, finally, we have the answer.

Four days ago, a near-perfect sample of the comic book in which Superman made his debut, Action Books No 1 dated June 1938, went up for sale via an auction website.

It sold within minutes for a cool $1 million .. more than three times the previous record for a comic book.

Then last night, an equally fine example of Detective Comics No 27 – which introduced readers to “the amazing and unique adventures of The Batman” in May 1939 – went under the hammer at the Heritage Auction Galleries in Dallas, Texas.

It went for a grand total, including buyer’s premium, of $1,075,000..”

go to source/story>>Kerpow! Batman throws killer punch in comic book wars - Times Online

“..As a big fan of comic books and graphic novels, I have been patiently waiting for the medium to finally expand beyond print and into electronic distribution.

I’m not just talking about Webcomics (although their growing popularity was made clear to me when a blog entry I wrote about the best Webcomics generated the most hits my blog has ever seen).

I’m talking about comic books that are printed on paper and distributed through traditional publishers.

Some efforts have been made to enter the digital comic book realm (I’ve supported MAD Magazine and Marvel Comics when they released many of their back-issues in DVD-ROM format)..

.. but so far it has only been experimentation with various levels of limited success.

Now there is hope that the digital comic book revolution may finally be here..”

go to source/story>>Can Digital Comics Finally Go Mainstream? - Nick Leshi - Open Salon

“.. An animation by Pedro Cruz, Visualizing empires’ decline, charts the rise and fall of four European colonial empires during the 19th and 20th centuries; ..

.. it’s not strictly cartographic, but it is fun to watch—

–colonies become independent by bursting from their mother countries’ bubbles.”

Watch this one in full screen mode.

Things start getting interesting around 1940.

So long as you don’t let the pretty colors and the bubbly animation obscure the bloodshed and suffering represented here..

.. it’s a great little snapshot of history..”

(recommended-read..)

go to source/story>>Animation: Watching Empires Disappear

“..The decades-old, super-secret, audacious plans to destroy both political parties from within..”

(a tom tomorrow cartoon..)

go to source/story>>This Modern World - Salon.com

“..After paying for gas at the pump, your money gets distributed throughout the world.

But filling your gas tank with resources from Africa doesn’t actually help Africans.

This animated investigation by Oxfam follows the gas money from the pump, through the corporate profits, to the government coffers and bribes.

And how much goes to ordinary people?

Not much.

Watch:..”

go to source/story>>Animation: Where Does the Oil Money Go

“..The Family Guy character is about to get his own show.

We spoke to writer and star Mike Henry about his politically incorrect family sitcom..”

go to source/story>>Mike Henry prepares us for Family Guy spin-off The Cleveland Show - Times Online

“..Cartoonist Joe Sacco on his latest book on Palestine, how he draws .. and why he prefers “comic book” to “graphic novel.”

Amazon may call Joe Sacco a graphic novelist, but there’s nothing fictional about his work.

With the sprawling Footnotes in Gaza (Henry Holt and Company) Sacco returns to Palestine ..

.. the place that first catapulted him into the international spotlight in 1993.

His most ambitious project yet unearths a forgotten chapter in the 1954 Suez Crisis that left hundreds of Gazan civilians dead at the hands of the Israeli army.

He spoke to us about changes in Palestine, his drawing habits ..

.. and what comics can do that photos and prose can’t ..”

go to source/story>>Joe Sacco: Graphic History | Mother Jones

a tom tomorrow cartoon..

go to source/story>>This Modern World - Salon.com

superheros done (sorta) picasso-style..

go to source/story>>WonderBros.com…. WONDERBROS! - Artwork - Artwork So Awesome It will Melt Your Face Off

the cartoonist tom tomorrow gives his take on 2009..

go to source/story>>This Modern World - Salon.com

“..I was a man who had outgrown cartoons.

A man who generally failed to see the humour in American cartoons ..

.. and who had begun to believe that the United States was a country bereft of political wit .. and devoid of irony.

My daughter used to watch the Simpsons, and while I was too liberal to actually stop her ..

.. I used to hope that she would soon grow out of the cartoon watching habit.

Then I saw an episode for myself.

It just came on the television before I could reach out of my chair for the remote to turn it off.

Something made me watch it.

I saw a new reality.

I saw politicisation of the (fictitious) inhabitants of Springfield.

I saw well-observed humour.

I saw satire and wonderful social comment.

Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better I saw visual irony (a shop front with the name of the store and underneath the words “Twenty Years without a Slogan”)..

.. That was the day I gave my soul to The Simpsons, unconditionally and wholeheartedly.

I was truly born again that day.

After years of solitary atheism, here I was worshipping at the shrine of the Holy Matt Groening, creator of all that is bold, witty and ironic.

I told my wife.

I told my friends.

I told my work colleagues.

I told everyone and anyone who would listen how wonderful was that cartoon world known as The Simpsons.

I had become a true evangelist .. and I wanted the world to know!

So, my friends, if you value your sanity .. and are in no hurry to change your life ..

.. and offer your very being to the all-powerful world of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, Maggie and the rest ..

.. here is what you must do..”

go to source/story>>How The Simpsons Changed My Life - Colin Morley - Open Salon

“..Of the most celebrated graphic novels recently published, R. Crumb’s illustrated version of the Book of Genesis is atypically serious ..

.. and David Mazzucchelli’s “Asterios Polyp” is the most artistically sophisticated ..

.. but “Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth,” by Apostolos Doxiadis and Christos H. Papadimitriou (illustrated by Alecos Papadatos and Annie Di Donna) ..

.. is surely the most fun.

This comes as a bit of a surprise, since the book’s subject — analytical philosophy’s search for the foundations of mathematics in the early 20th century –

– is hardly the stuff that frolics are made of.

Still, amusement and cerebration, mixed in exactly the right proportions, can result in a delightful cocktail; ..

.. Jostein Gaarder’s fantasy novel cum philosophy primer, “Sophie’s World,” proved how popular the blend can be ..

.. and “Logicomix” has followed its example onto the bestseller lists.

What “Logicomix” niftily demonstrates is how well the graphic novel form is suited to mounting sprightly explanations of abstract concepts..”

go to source/story>>Laura Miller - Salon.com

“..A little over two months ago, a cartoonist friend and I were wrestling with a book project that seemed like it was taking forever to complete.

“Wouldn’t it be nice,” said Jim George to me, “If we didn’t have to work through a publisher and editor and publicist and…”

You get the idea.

The next day, Jim woke up with a fully formed idea for a website that featured black and white dog cartoons that seem to draw themselves.

Three days later, we had a basic site up and running.

Since then, we’ve posted a new cartoon every day except for Sundays.

This is not so much due to our religious beliefs ..

.. but mostly because we are tired by then.

We already knew how much people love dogs.

But it is one thing to be aware of something, and another to experience it deeply.

Since that first week, we have received wave after wave of heartfelt stories.

Some describe their new puppies.

Other describe long-lost dogs, whose memories return when the owners take the time to share his or her stories with us.

People from 67 countries have discovered our site.

The first big wave came from Finland; we’re not sure how.

Lately, we’ve been getting a growing number of stories from the UK.

We have a few faving fans in Japan.

Along the way, we’ve been trying to think of some way to support the many thousands of dog rescue groups.

This weekend, we came up with an idea and published a color “Rescue Me” cartoon that any rescue group can use for free, as part of a fundraising effort.

I’m not sure where this will take us .. but we are having a lot of fun..”

go to source/story>>Anatomy of a Pet Project, Part 1 - Bruce Kasanoff - Open Salon

“..13 Songs That Prove South Park’s Song Superiority..”

enjoy..!

go to source/story>>Cartman’s Best Musical Moments: 13 Songs That Prove South Park’s Song Superiority (VIDEO)

you will have seen snippets of this taiwanese animation .. of tiger and the magic club..

here is the full deal…

go to source/story>>Crouching Tiger: Taiwanese TV Video - Stellaa - Open Salon

“..I don’t know much about the New Zealand Book Council ..

.. but if this incredible animated promotional film is any indication ..

.. it is a council of wonder, beauty, and adventure..”

go to source/story>>Animation: New Zealand Council of Wonder

“..There should be something incongruous about the sound of George Clooney’s cashmere-flannel voice coming from the mouth of a somewhat rangy-looking fox in a country gent’s corduroy suit: ..

.. Why should a matinee idol suffer the indignity of being trapped in a puppet’s body?

But from the first minute of the Wes Anderson stop-motion-animated feature “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” Clooney is that creature ..

.. the genuinely fantastic Mr. Fox of the title, a rapscallion charmer who wears many hats: husband, father, newspaperman, chicken thief.

It’s one thing for an actor to feel comfortable in his own skin; it’s another for him to feel completely at home in the body of a fake-fur and metal-armature vulpus vulpus.

And yet Clooney’s naturalism is of a piece with the joyous, marvelously detailed movie around him ..

.. adapted from Roald Dahl’s novel with adventurousness and seemingly boundless love by Anderson and Noah Baumbach.

“Fantastic Mr. Fox” is possibly the finest picture about family, community and poultry thievery ever made..”

go to source/story>>Fantastic Mr. Fox - Salon.com

“..Well last night Stephen Colbert got in on the action ..

.. calling the kids show, “America’s most insidious socialist brainwashing program.”

He used recent tea party protest memes (calling everybody Hitler and Stalin, comparing reform to the Holocaust) ..

.. and applied them to the “Sesame Street” debate..”

go to source/story>>Colbert Demolishes “Sesame Street”’s Conservative Critics (VIDEO)

“..Eric Cartman is the new Glenn Beck.

Last night on “South Park” the chubby youngster took over morning announcements ..

.. and turned them from standard bullet points .. into long screeds about the student class president.

Turns out Eric hates her and as a result devotes all his time to creating and promoting crazy conspiracy theories about her time in office.

Sound familiar?

He even wrote a book that claimed to be about how the school is suffering under her leadership ..

.. but was really just 500 pages of him calling Wendy a slut..”

go to source/story>>“South Park” Takes On Glenn Beck: Cartman Leads Campaign Against “Communist” President (VIDEO)

“..As the perennially plucky Gaul turns 50 ..

.. Michelle Pauli travels to France to meet his co-creator ..

.. and the translator who helped him conquer an English readership..”

go to source/story>>Asterix and the golden jubilee | Books | guardian.co.uk

funny..yet thoughtful/biting…

go to source/story>>The Funny Times Cartoon Treasury, Cartoon of the Week November 21, 2007 - gibbons free range chicken

all six of them made me laugh..

go to source/story>>The Funny Times cartoon magazine, October 2009

“..It’s true what they say.

Sometimes, a picture really is worth a thousand words.

Especially when those pictures are drawn by Robert Crumb.

And especially when those words come from the Bible.

For those who haven’t heard yet: Legendary comics artist Robert Crumb has just come out with his new book: The Book of Genesis, Illustrated by R. Crumb ..

.. a magnum opus, five years in the making, telling the complete, unedited book of Genesis in graphic novel form.

And I’m finding it fascinating.

It’s masterfully illustrated, of course, Crumb being among the very best creators in this burgeoning literary form.

And it’s getting Genesis across to me, deep into my brain and my imagination, in a way that it had never quite gotten there before.

Of course I’ve read Genesis.

More than once.

It’s been a little while since I’ve read the whole thing all the way through, but it’s not like it’s unfamiliar.

But there’s something about seeing the story fleshed out in images to make some of its more striking narrative turns leap out and grab your brain by the root.

There’s nothing quite like seeing the two different creation stories enacted on the page to make you go ..

.. “Hey! That’s right!

Two completely different creation stories!”

There’s nothing quite like seeing Lot offer his daughters to be gang-raped .. to make you recoil in shock and moral horror.

There’s nothing quite like seeing the crazed dread and burning determination in Abraham’s eyes as he prepares the sacrifice of his own son to make you feel the enormity of this act.

Reading these stories in words conveys the ideas; seeing them in images conveys the visceral impact.

It makes it all seem vividly, immediately, humanly real.

Now, that is something of a mixed blessing.

Spending a few days with the characters in Genesis isn’t the most relaxing literary vacation you’ll ever take.

Richard Dawkins wasn’t kidding when he said, “The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction.”

The God character in Genesis is cruel, violent, callous, insecure, power-hungry, paranoid, hot-tempered, morally fickle…

.. I could go on and on.

And God’s followers aren’t much better.

They lie, they scheme, they cheat one another, they conquer other villages with bloodthirsty imperialist glee, they kill at the drop of a hat.

This isn’t Beatrix Potter here.

It’s more like Dangerous Liaisons by way of Quentin Tarantino.

With tents, sand, and sheep..”

go to source/story>>An Atheist’s Review of the Book of Genesis Illustrated by a Legendary Comics Artist | | AlterNet

“..When my kid went up, up and away …”

go to source/story>>The K Chronicles | Salon Comics

“..Aardman to lead project to release creativity of primary school pupils

It’s animators have won Academy Awards for series including Wallace and Gromit and Creature Comforts ..

.. producing films such as Chicken Run and even Tony Hart’s Plasticine character Morph.

But the latest Aardman Animations film will be produced by some less well-known artists: thousands of primary school children.

The British animation company is working with the Tate Gallery to produce the first Tate movie –

– a 20-minute animated film drawn entirely by children aged between five and 11.

Aardman said it wanted to encourage creativity in children by helping them to design characters and backgrounds, record sounds and voices and contribute individually.

“In this age of the creative economy where ideas are the driving force, discovering and nurturing creative ideas in children is of vital importance,” said David Sproxton, the company’s co-founder.

“We want children to be involved at every level ..

.. and believe that the spontaneity and creativity of the children .. combined with our professional film-making team ..

.. will create a film that is as inspiring as it is entertaining.”

go to source/story>>Animation film to be made by a million children - News, Films - The Independent

(a tom tomorrow cartoon..)

go to source/story>>This Modern World | Salon Comics

“..You know that darling intro that Pixar plays before all its movies in which a little lamp squashes the letter ‘I’ in Pixar and takes its place.

Well turns out that lamp is committing murder ..

.. and in an alternate universe, created by College Humor ..

.. it’s sent to the chair as a result..”

go to source/story>>PIXAR INTRO PARODY! Company Logo Gets The Chair In College Humor Send-Up (VIDEO)

“..Check out this stunning graphic portrayal of the unrest that’s ripped through Honduras..”

go to source/story>>Striking Graphic Novel Tells Story of Honduras Coup and Unrest | | AlterNet

“..Below is a sample collection of photos from my visit to St. Just-le-Martel, France for the Salon International Du Dessins de Presse et d’Humor.

A ten day affair in its 28th year, it’s a wonderful event that involves the whole town.

Visitors come from all over, as do the participating cartoonists.

This year, there were cartoonists from Algeria, Lebanon, Spain, Argentina, Germany, Corsica, Portugal, England, Scotland, Holland, Eastern Europe..

.. and more..”

go to source/story>>International Cartoon Festival, St. Just le Martel, France - liza Donnelly - Open Salon

“..Marge is about to do something Homer might not approve of.

Playboy magazine is turning over its cover to the matriarch of Springfield’s first family: Marge Simpson.

It’s a first for the magazine, which has had everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Cindy Crawford to the Girls of Hooters ..

.. and even the likes of Jerry Seinfeld on the cover.

But it’s never had a cartoon character before.

Marge and her pile of bright blue hair are set to grace the cover of the November issue of Playboy.

It will hit the newsstands October 16.

Marge isn’t going to bare all, though ..

.. as the magazine says there will only be “implied nudity” in the 3-page pictorial..”

go to source/story>>Marge Simpson’s Playboy Cover (PHOTO)

“..K Chronicles challenges the notion that America is now a post-racial nation..”

go to source/story>>WireTap Magazine - K Chronicles: The Race Card

“…A Hawkes Bay man has been revealed as the inspiration for British comic book character Dennis the Menace - and he couldn’t be happier.

Robert Fair, 62, emigrated from Scotland nearly 40 years ago ..

.. but as a child in the early 1950s he would accompany his parents on visits to the home of family friend David Law.

The young Mr Fair provided Mr Law - a cartoonist - with an unlikely muse.

The comic strip was created in The Beano in 1951.

Mr Fair only learned of his place in literary history after Mr Law’s daughter, Rosemary Moffat, revealed the secret identity to the British media at the weekend.

Her father had never told Mr Fair’s parents because he didn’t want to offend them, she said..”

go to source/story>>Dennis the Menace was ‘Robert the brat’ - National - NZ Herald News

(a tom tomorrow cartoon..)

go to source/story>>This Modern World | Salon Comics

“..Seth Rogen has fulfilled a dream, and he’s not talking about starring in the box-office hit “Knocked Up” ..

.. or playing a superhero in the upcoming “The Green Hornet.”

Rogen co-wrote an episode of “The Simpsons” ..

.. and lends his voice to a character in the episode that airs in the US on Sunday, kicking off the Fox show’s 21st season.

He’s only the second visiting celebrity to both write and act, following in the 2006 footsteps of Ricky Gervais.

“As a writer, it always just seemed like the Holy Grail,” Rogen said of the animated series..

“I can die a happy man now.”

The episode, by Rogen and writing partner Evan Goldberg in collaboration with the show’s writers..

.. plays off the actor’s pre-filming fitness regimen for “Green Hornet.”

The movie is in production and set for release in 2010.

In “Homer the Whopper,” Rogen plays a trainer assigned to get Homer Simpson in superhero shape to play Everyman..

.. a hero created by Comic Book Guy .. and played by the rotund couch potato.

“We wanted to comment on how Hollywood generally ruins these movies.

The whole joke is Homer is cast to play a guy who’s an everyman .. and they try to make him into this physically fit guy,” Rogen said.

Recording with the cast was “one of the highlights of my life,” said the seriously devoted “Simpsons” fan ..

.. (favourite episodes include “Itchy & Scratchy Land” .. and the one in which Bart sells his soul to Milhouse).”

go to source/story>>Seth Rogen’s Simpsons episode | Stuff.co.nz

cartoonist tom tomorrow gives his take on ‘the race-card’..

go to source/story>>This Modern World | Salon Comics

cartoonist keith knight gives his take on ‘the race-card’..

go to source/story>>The K Chronicles | Salon Comics

(a comic-critique/review of the latest ‘burning man’ festival..)

go to source/story>>WayLay | Salon Comics

“…We’re excited to launch a new video interview series on Open Salon called Expert Witness.

Over the next few weeks we’ll be having video-chats with people who are known for being the best at what they do —

– and in coming installments we’ll be soliciting your questions for them.

Today we’re kicking it off with Mike Judge, master satirist of the American workplace.

Salon critic Stephanie Zacharek called his latest film “Extract,” the “kind of smart, openhearted comedy that doesn’t come along every day,” ..

.. going on to say that “considering that so much movie entertainment these days comes to us pre-chewed, the appearance of ‘Extract’ in these last days of summer feels like a gift.”

This Sunday his long-running, Emmy-winning animated TV series “King of the Hill” will be airing its final episode after 13 seasons..”

go to source/story>>Expert Witness: Mike Judge - Expert Witness - Open Salon

“..Following in the footsteps of fellow zygote-ian twits Vanessa Hudgens and Rihanna..

.. the most recent set of nudie pics leaked to the internets belong to tadpole Ashley Greene of “Twilight” fame.

Apparently she’s someone I should be aware of.

I’ve actually never seen “Twilight,” but soon after ogling Greene’s nubile young body I frantically placed it at the top of my Netflix Queue.

I admit I felt a bit grubby slobbering over the photos, but what the hell, I’m no monument to morality!

Besides, is it my fault that she was careless enough to let her private intimate bits turn into public internet hits?

I dare say not.

The thing that I always wonder whenever I hear about one of these types of leaks is who and/or what these photos were initially intended for.

Was it simply a bit of naughtiness shared between two willing and consenting perverts..

.. or were these young ladies merely conscientiously screening for moles with irregular borders?

Unfortunately for them, whatever the impetus might have been, these once personal images have now become onanistic fodder for the masses.

Across the land and behind closed doors, a generation of boys is bathed in the glow of a million smudgy monitors, singlehandedly keeping Kleenex afloat.

It’s a shaved new world, I tell you.

Ever since Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan started stepping out of cars, flaunting one’s nether regions has become a national syndrome.

Young girls everywhere have now incorporated this type of behavior as a basic part of how they relate to the outside world.

Take a look at a typical Facebook or Myspace profile, and the evidence is clear.

All you see are scantily clad young things twisting their coltish bodies into the most provocative of poses just as naturally as if they were taking a school picture.

Interestingly, this syndrome isn’t simply relegated to the fairer sex..

.. young boys have gotten in on the action as well, promenading their shirtless torsos about like a veritable Marky Mark army.

What might the future hold for the young men and women of tomorrow?

Will this photographic experimentation be empowering .. or will it only further promulgate our culture of objectification?

Perhaps the answer is more ambiguous..”

go to source/story>>Porn, Glenn Beck and Nudie Pics: Is Our Mass Culture Turning Kids Into Sex Crazed, Right-Wing Automatons? | | AlterNet