Friday Funny: Fifty Best Cartoons

by Erik Olsen on

Sometimes I feel sorry for today’s children. They have a gazillion times more television programming available to them, but so much of it is crap, it’s often impossible to find anything worth watching ,let alone something that might be considered educational or enriching. I’m talking mostly about cartoons, and thinking that, with the exception of the Simpsons, Pixar and a few scattered standouts, most cartoons today pretty much suck.

Hey, I apologize if you’re a big fan of shows like Sponge Bob Square Pants or whatever, but I’ve watched these shows, and as far as I’m concerned they pale in comparison to the old Bugs Bunny cartoons. These lovingly hand-drawn cartoons remain great works of art and the people behind them, like Chuck Jones, are heroes in my book. I doubt anyone will be able to match them for true artistry and creative narrative.

Sure, I might be a bit of a romantic. I’ll accept that to an extent. But for today’s Friday Funny, I offer you a list of the Top 50 Cartoons of All Time, most of which can be viewed online. At the top of the list (no surprise) are several Bugs cartoons…in fact, the list features a bunch of them…and sprinkled throughout are some other wonderful indies like The Big Snit. There’s nary a Sponge Pants to be found. If you’re like me, you’ll spend the next hour or so watching some of these gems, and I can think of no more perfect way to kick off the holiday season than a healthy dose of Bugs.

Holy Foreskin, Batman!

by Erik Olsen on

A travel-writing friend of mine told me over coffee a while back that he was undertaking a secret quest (OK, not THAT secret…we actually blogged about it a while back). He was packing his bags and heading to a small town in Italy in search of a most holy relic. But this was not your ordinary holy relic…not a splinter of the cross, an amulet from a long-dead disciple or even a cupcake with the Virgin’s countenance in the dessert’s creamy frosting. No, he was in search of Jesus’ foreskin.

Yes, this sounds like a Monty Python skit, but I assure you the writer, David Farley, was dead serious about his adventure. And like any true journalist, Farley has spent the last half year or so in the Italian village of Calcata uncovering this deep, shriveled mystery.

While his efforts have so far not reached um, shall we say, full tumescence, he has a lot of fertile research to show for his efforts. As this piece in Slate Magazine reveals, Farley has been hard at work, probing the deep mysteries behind the Holy Foreskin. We learn, for example, that the mystery has taken odd turns and twists worthy of the Da Vinci Code, and that the foreskin’s disappearance and/or theft may implicate an institution no less grand than the Vatican itself.

Personally, I can think of no quest more worthy of further, dogged investigation than this one, heralding as it might new revelations into the fate of our savior and giving new meaning (to steal David’s own joke) to “the Second Coming”.

Life in Barcelona

by Erik Olsen on

I love reading blogs by people in other countries. Not only do you get an interesting, very personal glimpse of life in far off places, but you can also cull great travel advice and ideas. One such blog that I stumbled across recently is Life in Barcelona.

The blog is loaded with pictures by people who are obviously quite passionate about this most cosmopolitan of Spanish cities. Having lived in Madrid myself, I especially appreciate what this blog has to offer, and I have to say that reading through some of the posts on everything from bullfighting to food to music to, well, things best left to your imagination, made me very nostalgic for Spain. Again, one of the nice things about this blog is that the perspectives and stories are not just about tourist traps, but about the broader canvas of life there. Very cool.

Norway Big on Coffee

by Erik Olsen on

File this under the “gosh, what a big surprise” category.

Norway, a country way up North that gets about four hours light right about now, turns out to be one of the world’s most consumptive (is that a word?) coffee countries around. I’ve always thought of Norway as kind of the Seattle of Europe, so in many ways this doesn’t surprise me.

According to this piece over at the Norwegian Aftenpose newspaper in English, Norges drink about 20 pounds of coffee each a year. But here’s the thing that actually did surprise me. And I quote: “There are no Starbucks coffee shops in Norway”. That, dear friends, seems impossible.

Wet Carp Wars in Wessex

by Iva Skoch on

Right after Neil’s reminiscing about Christmas carp in Eastern Europe, comes a funny article in the Wall Street Journal today.

The British take their carp fishing pretty seriously, as evidenced by glossy mags like Carp Addict and Carp-Talk. Now, with the “invasion” of Eastern Europeans moving into Western Europe, as a result of the easing of work and travel restrictions because of EU membership, something fishy is going on.

Eastern Europeans are actually, gulp!, eating prized British carp. The Brits think nothing of spending $15 to $40 per day for the rights to test their skills against the wily fish, but they release their catch. Carp are smart, learn their lessons, and get bigger (50+ pounds even!) and more wary of fisherman, thus making fishing even more interesting.

This “tradition,” however, comes square up against traditions of folks like the Poles (and Czechs), who love to actually eat the fish for Christmas. So much for catch-and-release. One lake owner in Essex has gone so far as to ban Eastern Europeans from his property, for fear that they’ll eat his prize stock.

And it’s not that the fishing Poles are there for the sport: they say they’d happily buy the fish if it were sold at markets.