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Sunday, May 11, 2008

Crazy Mama

Of all the dumb things to do on Mother's day, I decided to play soccer in Farmington.

Added to the damaged big toe on my left foot from yesterday's game, is yet another lost toenail on my right foot, plus a huge bruise on the side of that same foot from a wayward cleat. There were no subs so I ended up playing the entire game at mid field. I don't think I'd ever run so much before. I'm barely walking now. My back hurts and I'm pretty sure I'm going to have some difficulty getting myself out of bed in the morning.

On the good side, all four of the kids wished me a happy mother's day.

And we won the game.

Saturday, May 3, 2008

Blue Cat Collection China

So I'm doing this dream project I've always wanted to do with my group of seven to ten year old cartooning students. To start things off last week, I asked them to tell me the name of their favorite cartoon. My youngest student, a little Asian girl, said "Blue Cat".

I'd never heard of Blue Cat. So today, I googled it and discovered a very popular Chinese cartoon character. According to Wikipedia, this is the first full scale Mainland Chinese animation character. A lot of what Blue Cat does is introduces animated science lessons for kids. The series is produced by "Beijing Sunchime Happy Culture Company". It's one of the longest running children's animated series in the world.

The Chinese name for Blue Cat is Lan Mao. His friends include a turquoise mouse Taoqi, a light pink mouse Gali, a fat mouse Feizai, a red fox Feifei, a hen Ji Dashen, and a goat with red hair Yang Boshi.

There are Blue Cat dinosaur adventures and deep sea adventures.

Lan Mao can be very impulsive and usually ends up in trouble.

When a kid walks in to my classroom and teaches me something about another part of the world, it's just the best.

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Road Trip

Well, my daughter Julia and I just got back from a road trip to Maine. She had to visit a pair of recruits up in Topsham, Maine, which is very close to my old haunting grounds. A little further down 201 from Mount Ararat High School sits the old cabin where we'd spend our summers on the Cobbeseecontee Stream back when I was a kid. By the way, Mount Ararat is a town or two over from the shipyards of Bath.

Watching the lacrosse game was cold, but the reception Julia received was warm. The parents were all very kind. They even offered to put us up for the night. We decided rather to stay at a fifty dollar a night motel and make the rounds of the local night spots. This meant watching hockey and red sox baseball at the Sea Dog brewery sitting by the rapids of the Androscoggin river. Back in the day, this was the location of a paper mill. We also watched Celtics basketball at Joshua's in Brunswick, just a short walk from Bowdoin College.

Though she's twenty-two, my daughter could easily pass for a thirteen year old. We made quite a pair. Still, we both ended up getting hit on by locals. Some half crazed guy who talked to himself approached Julia, while a married little league dad who had imbibed a little too much became unusually friendly towards me. It made for a lot of giggles. We had a great old time.

On the trip back, we made major hauls at the outlet stores both in Freeport and Kittery, coming home tired but with a lot of cool stuff. And now, alas, it's back to the same old, same old.

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Lordi 2007 Helsinki

From Youtube: Lordi's brand new Hard Rock Hallelujah music video presented along with the actual stage show in Eurovision Song Contest 2007 Helsinki. The film is directed by Antti Jokinen and it's the most expensive music video ever made in Finland.

Of course, this song was in fact the winner of the 2007 Eurovision winner.

Monday, April 28, 2008

France Gall. Les Sucettes

This video goes along with today's cartoon. It's the 1964 hit single by France Gall. I tried to find the original video, with the psychedelic dancing lollipops, but it no longer exists on Youtube. I am sorely disappointed.

Anyhow, France Gall got a lot of flack for singing this song. Apparently, she was an innocent teen ager and didn't get any double entendres. Eventually, she slipped into the world of German Shlager.

Gall made a big splash at the 1964 Eurovision contest by winning with the first ever pop song. I wonder what kind of songs won Eurovision prior to that. Oh well. Eurovison remains a big mystery to me. That it's been around for so long gives me hope for the continued existence of our American Idol, and eternal homage to total schlock.

By the way, I kind of like France Gall's music. She has a type of sixties cool which appeals to yours truly.

: Name: Elena Steier

Elena Steier is a cartoonist whose work has appeared nationally on ESPN Monday Night Football and Nickelodeon Magazine. In addition, she has had syndicated strips, editorial cartoons and freelance illustrations appearing in various and sundry publications. Elena's self-published book, The Vampire Bed and Breakfast continues to be sporadically published while her Goth Scouts comic strip appears online daily except weekends on the Humorous Maximus website. Elena is currently happily middle-aged with grown children and a husband with whom she has shared a life for more than thirty years.

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