Well-Armored

 

Thanks

 

Moving Kind of Slow, But Full of Good Intentions

 

That's About The Sighs Of It

Another 'Babelism' in our family is, rather than simply sighing, we say the word 'sigh' in an exaggerated sighing vocalization. A habit, no doubt, picked up from reading old comics, particularly Peanuts. It expresses weariness, disgust, disapproval, or melancholy without having to say another word. It is almost an ambiguous way of swearing. The peculiarity of the habit has been remarked upon.

Action Figures to Be Noted: Childhood

 

Notes:

Though not necessarily my childhood. The Frosty the Snowman looks more like the animated version and less like the stop-motion version (Christmas in July) that I already have. But put a top hat on an action figure and you have my immediate attention. The Goosebumps villains belong mostly to my nephew's childhood; Mr. Hooper from Sesame Street would make a good 'civilian' in any action figure adventure story. That odd-looking Popeye is how he first appeared in the Thimble Theatre comic strip (which he later took over and it became simply Popeye), and he originally got his great life-preserving luck by rubbing the head of Bernice the Whiffle Hen before spinach assumed a role in his life. That's Castor Oyl, Olive's brother, not a short Wimpy, in that Popeye line up: he was the original owner of the Whiffle Bird and the 'hero' of Thimble Theatre. That figure of Snoopy merely confirms that he is terrible 'from a design point of view', at least for translation into three dimensions. Sweetums and Robin both first publicly premiered in 1971 in Jim Henson's The Frog Prince (we watched the original broadcast). Oh, and there are several other Richard Scarry characters besides Huckle the Cat and Lowly Worm, a meager handful from his cast of thousands.

Auld Acquaintance

 

The holiday season has always been a time for classic Peanuts specials, which probably brought this little item to mind. It seems to date from 1972; tracings from it were often the base for 'panels' adapted for my own never-finished, long-lost epic, 'Snoopunzel,' in which the gang puts on a play based on the fairy tale. If I'm not mistaken, our copy of the coloring book still exists in the Archive (if probably missing a few pages) among the comic magazines.

For the Fluttering End of the Season

 

A Handful of Peanuts

I had meant to get back to "The Lord of Rings" summation today, but I don't know if I have the energy right now. I should have worked on it when I had lots of time and my enthusiasm was high. I hope to still do it today, but later, when business and housework are not so pressing. Meanwhile, here is a handful of Peanuts to stave off starvation, including some interesting parodies written by other hands.

Basic Reading: Comic Paperbacks

 

Basic reading. A memory collection of books, comics, and magazines I read from elementary (McQueeney) through middle school (Briesemeister). Ranging from very simple to what I would describe as ‘cusp books’, that would lead to more adult reading. They will come in batches; some are representative parts of series. Some we had; some we saw in libraries. Most have appeared on the blog before, but I think arranged here by category and time they can be more illuminating of certain aspects of my childhood.

I just wrote about the Scholastic Books Services; it was also an outlet for getting comics paperbacks. We got many Peanuts books from there, including Happiness is a Warm Puppy, though others, like Snoopy Come Home, we bought off the rack. We even got a couple of volumes of Wee Pals, which was set for a while to be a more multi-racial rival to Peanuts. Hanna/Barbera even had a show in 1972 that used a few of the voice actors from the Peanuts specials. At the time the show was seen as progressive; now the ‘representation’ seems to be viewed as rather problematic. The books were always okay.

kid power-intro - YouTube

The other books were never hunted as much as Peanuts, of course. We didn’t start pursuing B.C., The Wizard of Id, or Broom Hilda, until some time later.