…one of Bunk’s friends got the “Rock ’em Sock ’em Robots” for Christmas. Bunk was filled with envy, until he saw what a stupid piece of carp it really was, but it was cool for 15 minutes until my friend and I decided to take it apart to find out why it was really a piece of carp. That’s when the carp hit the fan with my friend’s Mom. Bunk realized that his mom was calling about the same time and had to go. Yeah, Bunk acted like a woos, but Bunk wasn’t stupid either.
[Here’s the link, via here, for the guy who specializes in great detailed illustrations of carp: Robots and Donuts.]
Andrew Loomis was a successful graphic artist that authored several excellent “how to” books on illustration in a variety of media. The page above is from “Fun With A Pencil,” a book my grandfather had that I memorized when I was a young tad.
First published in 1939, this book has all the basics of graphic design covered, with an emphasis on cartooning and caricature of the human form. Proportion, balance, lighting, perspective are all covered with graphic examples.
I had forgotten about the book until Loomis’ name popped up at Neatorama and memory bells went off in my brain… couldn’t be the same Loomis, but it was.
Now his books, including his first one “Fun With A Pencil,” may be downloaded for free via link found at Process Junkie. The download is a .rar zip file with every page in .pdf format. I had to chase down another shareware program to open it. Believe me, the trouble is worth it.
Cincinnati, Ohio, Crosley Field – (Strutts News Services)
Red Sox relief pitcher Lannie Foosers was dismayed to find a flaw in the SoxBox of Secret Weapons. In order to “Run Faster, Jump Higher,” team management outfitted all players with baseball caps (head caps for baseball) manufactured by Keds and made entirely of Flubber.
Almost entirely. The revolutionary headgear, designed to be worn on the head as gear, was manufactured with Type X-WR Velcro, a combination of common Velcro infused with SuperGlue. The resulting chemical product was intended to secure the gear to a player’s pate to enhance his performance, without detection.
Mr. Foosers, while airborne, managed to detach his cap from his head and avoid a potentially life threatening situation.
Bob “The Bobster” Bieber (RF, bats left, no record to speak of) bruised his head repeatedly on the concrete ceiling of the dugout before Foosers became airborne. The caps were painfully removed from the rest of the team and no other problems were reported.
The Red Sox went on to win the exhibition game against the East Overshoe (PA) Scorpions of something to something else in extra innings, and nobody cared. Ditto.
Armistice Day, 1918, now referred to as Veterans’ Day. How many of you know what it means? Bonus points if you know why the USA officially joined the fight after years of Wilsonian isolationism. (Hint: Starts with the letter Z.)
Note that Germany did not surrender; the Armistice was an agreement to stop fighting, not an admission of defeat. Note also that the Armistice created sanctions that were not enforced. Note that in less than twenty years, national socialists controlled Germany. By 1939 they had rebuilt their armies and weaponry and invaded Poland. Note that there were many “dialogues” and appeasements. Note the beginning of WWII.
As for Veterans’ Day, there is an excellent publication, Military, that should be read by all. It’s not a glossy rewrite of history, but a monthly newsprint pulp, with first-person accounts from WWII, the Cold War, Korea, Viet Nam, Afganistan and Iraq. It contains snippets of world events, past and present, not normally found in the newspapers, let alone TV, Radio, or the internest news services.
Military provides current non-classified information that the popular main-stream media typically overlooks and ignores. Well worth the admission price of $21.00 a year.
www.milmag.com takes you to the subscription page. I have no monetary connections or interests with this publication, aside from being a fan and subscriber.
The publication is proudly conservative and I recommend it highly. Regardless of your political affiliation, it is not insulting to those of differing opinions. Go for it. —Bunk
According to Arbroath, this was Guiness’ most expensive television advertisement to date, costing 10m pounds (about $2.1 million US bucks). Filmed in a village in Argentina, the whole town came out to watch. If our crack webminers can find a link to a “making of” video, we’ll update this post, but it’s more likely we’ll just tip a stout and be done with it.
Totally unrelated to the video above, our crack webminers turned up a video from 1970, from the Flip Wilson Show. This broadcast changed my life… or at least a good part of it.
The band appeared at Woodstock. Yes, that Woodstock, 1969. These guys played alongside Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Crosby Stills & Nash, Mountain, Arlo Guthrie, Country Joe & the Finch, Richie Havens, Carlos Santana, Joni Mitchell, Melanie, Joan B. Depressed, Bobby Bieber and the SlimJims, Brittney Spears, etc.
Bunk was too young to attend Woodstock, but Bunk was allowed to watch TV. This is what Bunky witnessed at his grandparents house and loved it. ShaNaNa was IT.
This was Bunk’s introduction to DooWop. ShaNaNa sent me on a mission to hear the original versions by the Marcels, the Paragons, Dion, Gene Chandler, the Isley Brothers, the Zodiacs, the Del-Vikings, the Chips, the Chords, the Channels, Harvey & the Moonglows, Shep and the Limelights, the Ronnettes, the Shirelles, Leon Redbone, Led Zeppelin, Dread Zeppelin, Bob Marley and the Wailers, the Police, the Ramones, Elvis Costello, Tom Waits, the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, the Stray Cats, Frank Zappa, the Aquabats, the Skatalites, Moms Mabley and the Beat Farmers (featuring the late Country Dick Montana)… and not necessarily in that order. Oh, and I forgot the Solid Voidz featuring Big Don P.
Fill in the band(s) I might have missed in the comments section.
Alternate .mp3 version of “Wooly Bully” is available at here along with some other freebees. Rhino Records put out a Best Of compilation on vinyl decades ago, and it’s prolly available on CD.
“Hey there, Little Red Ridin’ Hood… You sure are lookin’ good… You’re everthang that a Big Bad Wolf could want… Ooooooow!”
Sorry to pop your bubble of modern-day belief, but Halloween, All Hallow’s Eve, was NOT a celebration of Satan’s birthday. It was a pagan custom designed to keep evil spirits from taking possession of their souls. The evil dead walked on this night, searching for souls to take. The preventative antidote was to dress up as the evil spirits themselves, and thus confuse them through the night so that they could take no souls.
Then Disney came along to give 5-year-olds nightmares with this:
WEEKENDER is one of my favorite Sunday newspaper glossy parchment inserts, complete with advertisements for gaudy porcelain figurines of unicorns and mermaids with dolphins, Elvis commemorative plates, weight loss testimonials, uncirculated overpriced coins, specious gossip about famous people that I don’t know and don’t care about. It usually has articles on high blood pressure, prostate cancer, senility and mammograms to give you something to discuss with your family over breakfast.
I lost my original copy of this November 2006 issue, but itch one of the best, in this Bunk’s opinion.
Tacky Raccoons 
