The Manga Version of Charlie Brown

Memo to all those Japanophiles out there: not everything needs a manga makeover. Lucy was just fine as a flat-chested prepubescent fussbudget. Linus was better holding his blanket instead of discreetly letting it hang out of his back pocket. And above all, Charlie Brown should never make a cameo in Dragon Ball Z.

This is wrong. Actually, let me use stronger language. This is an abominable blight. It must be stopped. We must stop the further conversion of our most beloved cartoons into manga.

Although, if I could recommend one Western cartoon that deserves the manga treatment, it would be Pokemon. I don't know why nobody has tried that yet.

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Popeye Arms

Apparently, the new cool thing amongst body builders is to create Popeye arms. That is to say, arms that are potentially bigger than their legs. To anyone who is not hoping to turn themselves into a cartoon, this is gross, unattractive, and tragically wrong.

The culprit of these Popeye arms is synthol, a mixture of oils that are injected between the muscle fibres. The effect is purely cosmetic. One's muscles do not improve in strength. Beyond that, though, synthol is potentially fatal to one's health as injection into a major blood vessel can cause embolism. Since the only benefit is in looking like Popeye, it is hard for me to see the benefit.

As for what directly causes this Popeye effect, as gravity does its part, tissues become inflamed. The blood vessels tighten, and the nerves cramp from getting squashed. All told, one is merely guaranteeing deformity through synthol's use.

It's hard for me to believe people would undergo such risk, but as you can see in the picture above, it happens.

Gung-ho for the Chung

This painting is called Major Inconvenience!! and was created by David Chung, a.k.a The Chung. It is a serious art piece as noted by the fact it was created with acrylic on wood. Sad to say, it is already sold.

I say it is sad because this really is something I myself would buy. The Chung seems to have the ability to meld together "cute" and "absurd" in one unbelievable package. It is cartoonish, but not in the awful manga style that everybody seems so enthused about but which seems so uniform. Rather, what makes cartoons so exciting to me is that you can do things one cannot with flesh and bone. This artwork is a vivid example of what I mean.

Then again, what else can I expect from a crippled Dance Dance Revolution superstar?

A Real Life Replica of the Simpsons' House

This house has an eerie similarity to the Simpsons' house, don't you think? It's got the same garage, the same pathway, the same windows. Sure, it could be just a coincidence. But when you look at the interior, you begin to realize there is a deep obsession going on here.



Yes, this is the couch at the opening credit. The following picture now is the stairwell. Now tell me this is a coincidence.



Of course, apart from just dismissing this house as the work of a zealous fan who has a little too much money, another viewpoint is that this could be a good investment. Graceland is still making millions of dollars, and Elvis Presley was practically a cartoon. So why not use those tourist dollars towards characters who are genuine cartoons?

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A Genuine Political Cartoon by Dr. Seuss

It is certainly a treat to present to you this little known editorial cartoon by Dr. Seuss. Apparently, between the years of 1941-43, Dr. Seuss worked for PM — a left-wing New York daily. During this time, he made sure to air his opinions on Nazism, isolationism, racism, and conservatism.

Anyone familiar with his books realizes that Dr. Seuss very much concerned himself with politics. The Butter Battle Book, for instance, is a parable of the cold war and Horton Hears a Who is about the American occupation of Japan. With this said, who know that the hat in The Cat in the Hat found its origin in one of Dr. Seuss' political cartoons depicting Uncle Sam? Indeed, if he did not find his way into children's literature, he may well be celebrated today as an imaginative editorialist.

Just in case you want to view more of Dr. Seuss' political cartoons, take a look here.

More Slowed Down Chipmunk Songs

David Cassel of 10 Zen Monkeys emailed me today to tell me that more slowed down songs of The Chipmunks have been discovered.

I saw a link to your article about the slowed-down Chipmunk Christmas mashup, and thought you'd appreciate this story. Apparently "Alvin & the Chipmunks" career included dark detours.

Thanks for the heads up, David! Let me add my opinion that The Chipmunks career, at the moment, still qualifies as a "dark detour". Rumour has it that a computer-rendered/live action movie is in the works. Such a setup has never worked save for Who Killed Roger Rabbit when much of the success owed itself to the sheer novelty factor.

As for the songs, we have David Seville's (a.k.a. Ross Bagdadsarian) voice triple-tracked, first at regular speed, then slowed down. Here's another one of him performing as all three Chipmunks. Finally, we also have the scat-singing imitation Nutty Squirrels. If you slow the song down, you can hear the distinct voice of jazzman Don Elliot.

My original post about this topic can be found here.

The Shaggs - My Pal Foot Foot

If you don't know who The Shaggs are, you probably won't appreciate this. If you do, you'll find this to be a fitting tribute to the "best worst band" of all time. Like I said, if you have never encountered The Shaggs before, you will find this disconcerting. Actually, that's an understatement.

Anyway, someone has made an animated video for "My Pal Foot Foot". I think this pretty much shows everything that really made The Shaggs special. You either accept them as is, or you don't. But if you do, you'll find their music — and this video — to be endearing.

The Chipmunk Song Slowed Down

The puzzle is solved. Now you can know what the real voices of The Chipmunks are like. Someone has slowed down the chipmunk song. And you know what? I like it.

Here are my impressions: the guys singing sound like a bunch of sweater-wearing frat boys from the 1960s. That is to say their voices have a veneer of clean to them but I would not be surprised if these guys like to break out the brewskies. I dare say they sound quite similar to Frankie Avalon, if you remember him.

As for the slowed down nature of the song, I find it more beautiful than the regular version. It has more of a plodding, driving nature that greatly appeals to me. I give it two thumbs up.