Woman and Child First

Leunig to the Rescue

In response to your question 'What is worth doing and what is worth having?' I would like to say simply this. It is worth doing nothing and having a rest.

- Michael Leunig: The Curly Pyjama Letters (2001)

 

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THE AGE - LEUNIG: Just a cartoonist with a moral duty to speak

And Now For Some Sillyness

The drawings, film footage/animation and the humour of this cartoon are a testimony to the delightful brilliance of a younger world.

 

Cool American Babies With Sohpisticated Sense Of Humour

I've been discovering new blogs to read.Vodka Mom totally stole this from write on, yo and I'm totally stealing it from both of them. And just as an observation, I've noticed some totally brilliant humour coming out of the U.S. in the last few months which makes me think of the relationship between disaster, tragedy and consequent inspired humour. You Yanks are actually very funny! xoxo

Les Chats du Jour

Here we see feline celebritis.

In the coming days, it will become apparent that no-one in their right fashion-thinking-mind could be without a kitten like this one.

In Paris, this picture will become known as La Chat du Jour. Yes that's right. The Cat of the Day.(NB Please do not confuse this kitten with a menu item).

People from Cunnamulla to Paris, from San Fransisco to Jandowae, will be talking about this cat.

She is Minnie, our new kitten.

You know you want her. Or at least one like her.

Only this kind of style belongs to those of us with Le Spirit de le Chat.

And now, to your left, we have LE CHAT de la CENTURY:

              -Madmoiselle Velvet

Please notice the "kink at the end of her very long tail". ( Lynley Dodd's Slinky Malinki).

What a thoroughly marvellous and adaptable cat. So accomodating. She's just been wonderful to her protege and intruder, the kitten Min Pins. We've all just fallen in love with her again.

Ok, so she has slapped the little one around the head a bit, but she's the cat of the century, so she can do that.

Oh Happy Days! A Two Cat Household!

Boopness: Advice From A Domestic Goddess

When I was a kid, on Sunday afternoons, a Betty Boop cartoon would be shown between movies. It was like pure magic to watch that cartoon. Nowadays, she's a mass-produced commercial entity.

You really have to see her in a 1930's piece of animation to appreciate the innocence, cleverness and of course the humour that lay behind her controversial bottom. Hey, if I could draw some moving pictures like this now, I'd be one happy flipping camper.

Her voice came from Mae Questel, a gal from Brooklyn. (Mae also did Olive Oyl on Popeye cartoons). 

Here she is with Grampy in Housecleaning Blues. In this piece, I can see very clearly that Betty and I have always been on the same wavelength. Let me ditch the housecleaning - I wanna go for a ride!

How to Annoy People in a Friendly Way

There you all were thinking, "Wow, you know, she's just way too serious". Well you forgot about my favourite Canadian guy. The Mr. Fabulous, of whom I speak, is Untalkative Bunny. I tell ya - he's the Marcel Marceau of Wabbits! He's the best! And here he is for you, your children and all your animals at YouTube.

A Dash Of Leunig

I adore this man's work. People call him a national (Australian) treasure, but really he's a jewel for the entire planet. His drawings and insights are so beautiful and simple but oh so very dark at times too.

His curly people drawings? I love them. For me they are soul-soothing, symbols of a wry, cynical point of view, which is based in a genuine desire to be actually very friendly. But firm!

I've watched this fascinating Australian cartoonist/artist/philosopher for many years. Not long ago, he was being interviewed on Andrew Denton's Enough Rope. Click on "Play Video", it's only 5 minutes and lots of fun.

Leunig was asked this and that, about home-schooling his kids on his farm, about his original family and the rifts that had formed over the years. To most questions, he was, of course, very honest.

But (bless his heart) to a good many questions, he could only answer, after a long, long, very long pause: "I don't know...I just don't know".

I thought I'd remind you that he's still here for us all.  And that is a very, very good thing.

The Stick is his most recently published book.

If there’s a common theme through THE STICK it would have to be introversion, withdrawal from a world the artist perceives to be recklessly rattling itself apart. It’s the diary of a misfit in who suggests that maybe it’s our idea of normal that isn’t normal, after all.

Quote from here.

Here's a Moose For Ya Anyway

We don't have moose in Oz but this is a great pic. We have platypus and emu's, lot's of dead kangaroo's and wallaby's by the roadside as I drive the kids to school, birds that are really loud, too loud, snakes that'll kill you if you're stupid enough, jellyfish that'll eat you alive and etc.

From www.invisibleman.com

I just like their stuff!

The Psychiatrist

Canadian cartoon Untalkative Bunny...

Well tonight's episode (Austar/Disney channel/7.25 pm) featured Bunny losing a paper aeroplane.

The plane ends up in a shrink's office.

So the little guy goes in to retrieve his toy and is engaged in a psychotherapy session. (Snickering already I am). 

And the female psychiatrist (with a really sweet accent) instructs thus: "Now we are going to play a game. I'm going to say a word and then you will say the first thing that comes into your mind. You must talk, you must tell me..." etc.

But of course Untalkative Bunny doesn't speak. He mimes. He is after all, Untalkative Bunny.So when she says "Mother" he mimes a mother. When she says, "Angry" he mimes angry. When she says "Girl" he crosses his legs and looks sweet, demure in fact. When she says "Boy", he sticks his finger up his nose.

And of course, the shrink finds a problem with this behaviour.

Don't fret however, because UB looks to the window, where his toy aeroplane is lodged and the shrink says: "Now, looking out the window is not going to help you talk... or find the answer... I'd like you to tell me WHAT YOU REALLY WANT".

So he goes to the window and lovingly embraces his aeroplane. Then he walks out.

"Goodbye" says the psychiatrist.

To not take oneself too seriously as a shrink - be you psychiatrist/counsellor/psychologist/ -well that's going to hold us all, clients in particular, in good stead.

The unequivocal right to look like a slag, or even just a mad slag

The pressure to present as attractive is sometimes too much. I say exercise your right to wear whatever the hell you want. At least once a month. This is serious psychology, girls.

I like to wear tracksuit pants with t shirts that I've loved since 1987.Why? Because they are comfortable. Sometimes I wear stupid things. Why? Because I can. Be that woman who is described thus:

Oh, it's so sad...she's really let herself go.

Live the slag thing, even for little bits of time, let your hair resemble a bird's nest. Put an insane slant on it by saying, "Gee, I do believe I'm the prettiest girl here today". And let 'em talk.

That's not to say it's not a grand thing to walk out one's door looking and feeling 'presentably' fabulous, but I'll leave that up to your own good taste and sense of style.

You know you have it.