« Choosing to Run at This Moment | Main | College Drunken Drownings (Finally) Investigated as Serial Murders »
April 07, 2008
Once a Cartoonist...
Back in September, I met a gentleman online who was interested in my essays and stories and we began a mutually amusing correspondence for several months. It turned out that he was a somewhat famous cartoonist who had retired a few years ago after his wife suffered a massive stroke. As a result of her confinement, "Jim" was isolated from many people and hobbies he once enjoyed.
I mentioned to him that I once dabbled in cartooning, mostly sketching little caracitures on cocktail napkins and other amateur folly.
"Once a cartoonist, always a cartoonist," he told me. It's who you are, bad drawings and all. Well, they're not really *that* bad.
One time, years ago (1995, I think), I went to Niagara-on-the-Lake with a woman who was, at the time, a sort of therapist/mother friend. Her brother and his family lived up there. It is a beautiful place. His wife was a gourmet cook and while I knew my way around a Dijon vinaigrette, I learned a few important culinary tips and musts that weekend.
They had a sumptuous dinner party the Saturday evening I was there and some discussion was had over mushrooms. I can't recall now what prompted it, but one of the guests said, "I saw this huge mushroom at the market, you know, really huge. What are they called again?"
"Portobello?" suggested someone. No, that wasn't it. A few other guesses were made. Then I said, in a sort of Science Teacher voice, "Oh, that would be the fungi humongi."
They had all had a few glasses of wine, so it took a second.
As a thank-you gift to my wonderful host and hostess, I composed and drew a comic book called, "The Fungi Humongi" which was about a giant mushroom that attacks bad restaurant cooks all across the globe who use, among other things, Kraft parmesan grated cheese in a can.
It was full of bad puns. The illustrations were crazy enough to be funny. At the end, the Fungi Humongi winds up living in Jamaica (mon) and is worshipped as a god. His apostles snip bits of his fleshy top and brew hallucinogenic tea.
I think I still have a copy around somewhere, and if I ever find it I'll scan it for your amusement.
As a child, I used to write captions and draw little balloon thoughts and mustaches, hair, glasses, whatever, in my Religion Book at Catholic school. I got into a lot of trouble for that, needless to say.
I am surely going to Hell.
Comments
You never stop surprising me, Loretta.
To think that all this time you could have been giving us illustrations with these entries....?
It looks as though you are very good at it, too.
Posted by: Mgt | April 8, 2008 04:16 AM
You know, I once found, to my detriment, that it is not a nice thing to put a mustache on St Theresa.
Who knew?
I probably would have suffered more for it, except that I was a "non-Catholic." I mean, what could they expect from such a heathen!
Posted by: vero | April 10, 2008 12:12 AM
I still think a mustache painted on a picture looks funny.
Don't tell my daughter. she still tells her son that she remembers me telling her that defacing pictures in my magazines was destroying something for no reason.
I never, ever thought she took notice of anything I said. So that surprised me.
Posted by: Mgt | April 10, 2008 09:53 AM
Must read, must see.
Posted by: loretta | April 20, 2008 01:10 PM
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/
Glenn Greenwald asks the kinds of questions we need asked. Et tu, NYT?
It's all so incestuous and corrupt. Thank god for the Internets.
Posted by: loretta | April 20, 2008 01:41 PM
http://www.slate.com/id/2189570/
Now I’ve seen it all. First, she cozies up with Rupert Murdock (and lost me forever) and now she’s kissing and making up with this slimebag, the bane of her existence, Scaife.
It’s tantamount to my letting Lora Nastase run my campaign.
Posted by: loretta | April 22, 2008 04:59 PM
I'm shocked that you would have the audacity to express shock at anyone else's audacity...didn't we make a deal regarding mentioning each other online, some time ago?
Anita Richman
P.s.-I already ran your first and only successful campaign. "MUAH!*
Posted by: Anonymous | April 23, 2008 01:32 AM
Obsessed, much?
Sheesh.
Posted by: loretta | April 23, 2008 08:37 AM
Still reading here, though.
Morning all!
Posted by: Mgt | April 24, 2008 03:57 AM
Looks like the blacks have cut the cord with Klintoon, too, after his rascist harangues. I wonder if he'll move his orifice out of Harlem.
Posted by: Captain Joe | April 26, 2008 07:37 PM