Results tagged “fun” from Uncivil Society
Speaking of Donald Duck & cultural difference, this 1939 letter in Time Magazine describes how Disney dodged a bullet in a Donald Duck cartoon. Alas, the online version (kudos for the find, Mathew!) does not include the original sketch:
Saved from Embarrassment
Sirs:
You may be glad to know that a recent article in TIME proved timely indeed to the Walt Disney Studio and saved us from considerable embarrassment.
The article (TIME, Dec. 12) described a Brooklyn divorce trial where the most important testimony concerned a gesture made by raising the hands to the forehead, extending the fingers like horns, and making an ugly face.
I was horrified to learn that this gesture, called cornuto, is a well-known symbol for cuckoldry in Latin countries—horrified because I had in my ignorance and innocence used the identical gesture as a gag in a forthcoming Donald Duck picture, The Hockey Champ.
I planned a scene where Donald emerges from a snowbank with icicles sticking on his head like horns. His three little nephews mock his appearance by making the "horns" gesture at him.
This gag got by every one in the Studio, who apparently knew as little about cornuto as I did, and would have appeared in our finished picture but for your illuminating article. Needless to say, if this had happened, the film would have got loud, unwanted laughs in Mexico, South America and Italy and would have aroused the censors. We passed the information along to the Hays office, incidentally, and they were very glad to have it.
I enclose a sketch of Donald's nephews as they very nearly appeared on the screen.
HARRY REEVES Story Department Walt Disney Productions, Ltd. Hollywood, Calif.
This Slate Q&A re dealing with a difficult board of directors has been making the nonprofit rounds. Personally, I think the following approach is rather efficient:
I'm immersed in another intense pre-Thanksgiving week, and this odd bit o' corporate culture from Weird Universe provided welcome comic relief.
Cascadian Farm sells frozen vegetables. As a way of maintaining good spirits within the company, the package design department has hidden in the veggie pics the faces of "friends and family" associated with the firm.
Apparently the notion of noshing on heads is garnering some unwanted attention, so the practice is about to be discontinued. Which I guess makes Cascadian Farm frozen foods just another cold-hearted corporation . . .
Another charity-studded week for comics, which, like fashion, has become a significant presence in do-gooder fundraising. Via the Beat, news of two worlds colliding in last night's superhero fashion event at this year's Chocolate Show.
Trade shows fascinate me, because in the nonprofit & tax-exempt world they illustrate how identity design can lead us to see business as something distinct from business. The effect becomes even more interesting when you compare nonprofit trade shows to their for-profit counterparts. The Chocolate Show is run by a for-profit PR firm, but are the exhibitors there any more businesslike than drug vendors at an AMA convention, the publishers & resellers at the San Diego Comic Con or the industry promotion at the Oscars?
And then there's my favorite tax-exempt activity--the freak shows, rigged games and rides at agricultural fairs. You may think they're an ordinary profit-making enterprise, but as we tax-savvy do-gooders know, they're one of us!
Inevitable, really, since neither Luther nor Augustine say anything about Doctor Who.
From Ask the Pastor.
Indulge me--my college major was classical Greek.
An animated series--starting with an Oscar-nominated short--that adapts recordings of Dublin children recounting Bible stories. Here's the one that started it all: the beheading of John the Baptist.
The Burlesque Hall of Fame is a Las Vegas charity dedicated to fostering an appreciation & understanding of the art of burlesque. Gothamist does the same thing in this interview with the Hall's 2008 Reigning Queen, New York's own Angie Pontani.
An instant classic:
20-30 henchmen needed for moderately-sized supervillain organisation with large expansion potential (fortresses built into geological structures, corruption of government officials, possible genesis of 'nemesis' vigilante). Electrical theme.
Applicants must be willing to learn new skills, including but not limited to operation of specialised 'lightning guns'. Applicants will also be required to wear specialised uniform when at work (functional rubber suits with my logo on front), except in cases where deception is required (posing as hostages in order to ambush vigilantes, etc).
Desired (but not necessarily required) in applicants:
-interesting deformations/obsessions/powers(?) giving rise to interesting nicknames (e.g. Claws, Pyro, Buzzsaw, and similar)
-unwavering loyalty
-being a corruptible government official
-ability to work as part of a close-knit team (unless interesting obsession is of the 'lone wolf' variety)
-grudge against any well-known vigilante
-flexible moral code
Equal opportunies employer. Both henchmen and femmes fatales absolutely welcome.
Great promotion opportunities - right-hand-man position constantly being unexpectedly opened. Would look good on any future supervillain resume/CV.
Send an email with details of any prior henchman work, or details of what is driving you to join the ranks of a supervillain organisation. Will reply to all serious applicants. Hope to hear from you, and with luck, welcome you into a rewarding and promising career!
- Jacque (The Zapper) Zerapi
Y'know, I've never read this story featured on today's Daily Cover, but I think the only way I'd be satisfied is if this were truly what Supergirl did with her exes.
My favorite part: her obligatory self-indulgent laugh. Ha ha!
Can you spot the attendee grabbing the chance to celebrate life at this New York benefit?
That's how the maker of the following early '80s restaurant ad describes himself, and who am I to disagree? Sheer genius ahead:
Via Wil Wheaton, whose blog(s) I've read for years for their compelling exploration of the quest to express identity in creative work . . .
And for stuff like this:
Here's a rarity: a pin-up calendar from 1957 lampooning the popular crusade against comics as a corrupter of the youth, chronicled most recently in David Hadju's The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America.
The poem:
They're searching for a cause behind
Our kids' delinquent capers;
But whatever do they hope to find
Behind the funny papers?
Via Today's Inspiration, whose Flickr archive of comic strip advertising is essential reading for anyone interested in the history of commercial rhetoric. TI also offers this wonderful 1932 quote from a copywriter about the people who read comic strips:
Sterrett [a popular cartoonist] is frequently asked where he met Polly and her family, where they lived and so on. Such credulousness is only found among the sub-morons among his readers. But, Sterrett believes that that quality of realism which fools the cretins is what delights the morons as well.
Typos and the trademark symbol overkill make for unintentionally sexualized cause marketing PR from Milk-Boner (sic):
From: (Some Clueless Person)
Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2008 11:38 AM
Subject: MILK-BONER, AMERICA'S FAVORITE DOG SNACK, DONATES MORE THAN 40,000 POUNDS OF PRODUCT TO FEED THE CHILDREN IN CELEBRATION OF ITS 100TH ANNIVERSARY
______________________________________________________________________
PRESS RELEASE
MILK-BONE®, AMERICA’S FAVORITE DOG SNACK,
Donates MORE THAN 40,000 POUNDS of Product to fEED THE CHILDREN IN CELEBRATION OF ITS 100TH ANNIVERSARY
Read the whole thing at the Bad Pitch Blog, which charitably doesn't call attention to the bigger question raised by this press release: should we really "feed the children" with dog food?
And of course, who can forget the classic Batman boner-thon in the Joker's Comedy of Errors.
A brief moment of freeze-frame cartoon sex makes this NSFW for about three seconds, but hey, I teach this stuff so it is my work. Via Osocio, here's the perfect pick-me-up for a grey Monday morning: the Telugu condom song, a Bollywood-style PSA from India that features dancing prophylactics and a rather peppy chorus:
Given his strong nearsightedness Mr. Magoo might have been a better fit for an American Academy of Opthalmology vid, but then again, corrective lenses would have ruined his whole shtick.
Via the essential NewsFromME
[On ****.com] I met an awesome guy called Ryan that worked at Ultra Gas Station. He impregnated me and we moved to Europe where hes in mergers and aquisitions for a large company. Since then I have recommended all my friends to join a good dating site like *****.com.Date online and get impregnated by a guy who works at a gas station--now why didn't Match.com think of that? Of course, he did go from there to global M&A deals . . .
