Today would be Dr. Seuss’s 111th birthday! Actually, it is his 111th birthday, but Theodor Seuss Geisel is not around to celebrate it — he died in 1991, at the age of 87. In his honor, here are Six Spots of Seuss News …for all of you who yearn for Seuss. (For those who don’t, I have…
The world is too much with us; late and soon, Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;— — William Wordsworth, “The World Is Too Much With Us” (1802) SHARKNADO GO SHARK YOURSELF! — promotional material for Sharknado 2: The Second One (2014) Greetings! I’m here at Comic-Con in San Diego, delivering a glimpse of the goings-on for…
We are attending Comic-Con for the first time. It begins at the Kansas City airport, when I hear two people talking about the X-Files Reunion, and whether they can get tickets. Gillian Anderson, David Duchovny, and others will be on a panel honoring the 20th anniversary of the show’s debut. On the plane itself, nearly…
The commercials for The Lorax film say: I am the Lorax. I speak for the tweens.1 The commercials for the many Lorax tie-ins say: I am the Lorax. I speak for the SUVs.2 I am the Lorax. I speak for the pancakes.3 I am the Lorax. I speak for the diapers.4 But what does the…
Courtesy of Mark Newgarden, it’s Crockett Johnson advising you to get a check-up so that you don’t get cancer. Johnson created this 1958 pamphlet for the American Cancer Society, and I strongly suspect that he designed it, too. (Clicking on each image will produce a larger version.) Unfold to the left, and see: Next, unfold…
Although I wouldn’t argue that once upon a time “illustrators were celebrities,” it’s definitely true that they were once more celebrated than they are now. Predictably, one illustrator who comes to my mind is Crockett Johnson (my biography of Johnson and his wife Ruth Krauss will be published in the fall of 2012). In 1947, Johnson’s…
Half-way through the “Surrealism: The Poetry of Dreams” exhibit at the Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) here in Brisbane, museum-goers encounter this: A clever riff on the Surrealist game that exploits the mysteries of accidental juxtapositions, this mid-exhibit bar also offered a welcome rest to travel-weary visitors (such as your humble narrator, who visited the…
With a hat tip to Mark Newgarden‘s Facebook feed, here’s a short film made for the American Bicentennial. Funded by a Bicentennial Project Grant and produced by the United States Information Agency, the cartoon looks like its director may have viewed Yellow Submarine a few too many times. The director is Vincent Collins. Here’s a…
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco began selling Camel Orbs, Camel Sticks and Camel Strips earlier this year. “The Orbs look like Tic Tacs, the Sticks look like toothpicks and the Strips look like breath strips,” said Susan Westof, tobacco prevention specialist, with the Jefferson County Public Health Department. … “The products are packaged in a way that makes…
Born 107 years ago today in Springfield Mass., Theodor Seuss Geisel had an extraordinarily prolific career. Most people know him for the 44 books he wrote and illustrated under the name “Dr. Seuss.” But that’s only part of his career. He wrote another 13 books under the name “Theo. LeSieg,” one book as “Rosetta Stone,”…
