T-shirt # 295 - Simple Elements ... Hard to Understand

T-shirt # 295 - Simple Elements ... Hard to Understand

"Il n'y a qu'un bonheur dans la vie, c'est d'aimer et d'être aimé."
- George Sand
(There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved.)

Five years ago today, my wife Liesel and I went on our first date. I wish to share the story of our meeting, re-meeting, and falling in love.

I shared about marrying my wife in T-shirt #279, in which I reproduced our wedding ceremony script and included some choice pictures from our wedding. At that time, I wanted to relate the story of how we met, re-met, started dating, and fell in love, but the post had already grown quite long, so I decided to save that story for today, the anniversary of our first date.

Liesel and I originally met in 1990. She was dating a friend of mine, John Kasdorf. I was the host of a thing I called Cafe, which was an open mike night music and poetry (mostly poetry) wine and cheeser that I held in the English Department's lounge in Brown Hall at Western Michigan University. Around the time that John brought Liesel to some of these Cafe events my relationship at the time was ending, and I was giving up hosting the Cafe events, being replaced by the very man my girlfriend left me for, which I find a bit ironic (and not just in an Alanis Morrissette way).

Liesel developed quite a crush on me and kept an eye out for what I was doing in the years that followed. Now, Liesel does not believe the next part, but it's true. I had a little bit of a crush on her, too. I remember feeling the same thing I felt when I re-met her as when I met her originally. I thought to myself: "she's perfect for me. How come John got to meet her and date her first? Why couldn't I meet her first?" Unlike Liesel, my crush was less memorable. I did not remember her name. But from time to time over the years, I would wonder what happened to John's hot Hawaiian girlfriend who seemed so perfect for me. Heck, for years, I wondered what happened to John Kasdorf as we had lost touch.

text reads: sun, moon, earth, water, mountain
man & woman
Simple elements... hard to understand

Liesel reminded me of a hug we exchanged during one of these Cafes. I did not remember it until she recalled it for me, but I did recall it once she described it. I remembered where in the hall it took place and had a sense of what she was wearing, though I am not sure I could describe it. I felt her energy, which was a strong feeling and felt a connection with her. I also believe that may have been the moment that I thought most strongly how perfect for me she was and how disappointed I was that she was "off-limits" as she was dating and living with my friend John. In discussions about our history, we may have figured out which night this hug took place. I believe it happened after my break-up with my then girlfriend, at a time when I was either no longer host of the Cafe or in my last hosting, when I had written a story called "600 Cows" about a couple getting a divorce, drawing on my experiences with my recent break-up. I was a bit drunk that night, which may have heightened all my emotions. Whether the hug with Liesel took place that night or not, she had her crush from back then, and I had my feeling that she was perfect for me, though I forgot her name and only thought of her from time to time as that woman who seemed so perfect for me who was lost in time.

Fast forward 18 years. December third 2008. I am in Sawall health food store, and I am wearing my suit. I had just helped Chris Dilley give a presentation to the Kiwanis to raise awareness about the good work of the People's Food Co-Op. I was on the board at the time, and I was helping to gain more owners as part of our ownership drive to lead up to the PFC's expansion. I had met my friend Ryan Walters after the Kiwanis thing, and we were enroute to his place to hang out and talk comics. I had planned to change out of my suit there as I had a PFC meeting to attend in a few hours. But first, we stopped at Sawall because he worked there and needed his pay check, and I needed to buy a few things.

Liesel 2008

As I walked the aisles, I saw this BEAUTIFUL woman, and she smiled at me. I guessed she was a college student shopping with her roommate though really it was Liesel shopping with her thirteen year old daughter Piper. She looked almost exactly like she looks in the picture to the left, which I took from Facebook, printed, and carried around to show people this amazing woman I had met.

As I saw her shopping, I thought the exact thing I had thought when I met her all those years ago during the Cafe hostings: "She's perfect for me. Why can't I be dating her or someone like her?" Kicking myself all the time in the store, I bought my purchases and was waiting for Walters when she bought her purchases and prepared to leave. I was kicking myself because I knew she was about to walk out the door, and I would never see her again. I wanted to go up to her and say "Excuse me, you are absolutely perfect for me. I can tell. I have a feeling that we will be madly in love and I would like to take you out to dinner." But how do you tell someone something like that? I knew I wouldn't even have the courage to speak to her let alone try to make the kind of contact that would be useful (like an exchange of emails or phone numbers or even NAMES).

another picture of Liesel
and her kids circa 2008

So, I am standing by the door, when she is about to exit, and I hear her say: "you're Chris Tower." Not a question. A statement. SHE KNOWS ME!!! If my heart had wings, at that moment, it would have sprouted them, burst from my chest cavity, and soared to the sun and back. I felt such elation. I can't even properly describe it. With Piper averting her eyes and clearly radiating intense embarrassment over her mother talking to a man in a grocery store, Liesel explained who she was and how she knew me (see previous text). She introduced her daughter. I am not sure if she mentioned that she was divorced, though I left the store knowing she was single. She mentioned that she was back in touch with John, and I was unsure if she meant as friends or something more, so I remember feeling some doubt and worry that she and John were "together," which turned out to be the case. The conversation ended with us both discussing that we were on Facebook and could get in touch there. Piper really did an "Oh geez, Mom" when she mentioned being on Facebook, and we both laughed at the angsty thirteen-year-old.

this is Liesel with her mom

I went flying out of Sawall and flew through the rest of my day. I was high as a kite. I was heels over head in love at first sight. Ryan Walters can attest to this fact as I could talk of little else when we left the store. Later in the day, the entire board of the PFC, especially my good friends Chris Dilley and Hether Frayer saw me coming out of my skin with joy and excitement. I wrote my best friend Tom Meyers soon after who will relate that I was completely nuts about this woman I met in Sawall. Luckily for me, I had bumped into John Kasdorf outside Fanfare sometime that year, and we had become Facebook friends. I searched all his friends for a Liselle or a Liesel or actually any woman whose name was close to that spelling. Nothing. It took Liesel 26 hours to send me a friend request via Facebook. Meanwhile, I am dying in agony every second. What if she never makes contact on Facebook? How will I find her? Do I ask John? Are they dating? I was not even sure how to spell her name.

Liesel and Piper - 1998?

With Facebook contact initiated, flirting began. The courtship began. But there was a snag. She WAS dating John Kasdorf, again. Ten days later, I attended a KAPOW event, John's improv group: Some Kind of Pretty Woman at the Whole Art Theater. Liesel said she would attend as well but could not go out after. I had several other friends in the audience, one of whom knew what was going on with Liesel. I showed up with her and a crew of her friends because I did not want to walk in and sit alone. The other was just someone I had not seen in some time, who actually was brought on stage for the improv. Aftewards, the other friends bailed, and I was left chatting with Liesel and John. Liesel agreed to go out, but she had to take her daughter home first and make sure Ivan was all right. We all agreed to meet at the London Grille. John made it clear that when Liesel showed up that she would want to sit next to him, which did not happen. However, despite a nice time of drinking and laughing and conversation with a bunch of folks from the improv group, it was clear that Liesel and John were "together." I felt like a third wheel when they invited me to go with them as they moved the party to Sushiya, which stayed open later than the Grille. I excused myself and went home. Oddly, as I walked back to my car, I saw my friend Chris Dilley in Old Burdicks. I was feeling dejected and low. Once again, years later, this woman who was perfect for me in every way (I was more convinced of this than ever) was dating someone else, and it was THE SAME GUY.

In a weird twist of fate, I actually started dating someone else, thinking that I had lost out with Liesel. However, the Facebook communication continued. Flirting continued. And eventually there was some discussion of getting together for drinks. I could not figure out this woman, who was supposedly dating a friend of mine, and yet still paying attention to me. I was not committed to the woman I was dating, so Liesel and I made plans and had our first date on January 10th 2009. We mat at Fandango. It was a Saturday. On the way to meet Liesel, I had a conversation with my friend Elizabeth Hughey, who can also attest to how out of my mind excited I was. I did not realize that people could pre-drink before a date. When Liesel stopped at two glasses of wine, I wondered if she was a light-weight, as I wanted a third glass. I did not know she had drank before the date. Just one of the many things I learned from this amazing woman.

To say that the date went fabulously would be an understatement. I had fantasized that I might kiss her that evening, knowing that first dates did not usually go this way. I will not disclose all the details of that first night, but let's just say that my fantasies were more than realized. She was no longer dating John Kasdorf. She was free. We had a wonderful time.

I was completely and madly in love with her from the very start, really from the time I first set eyes on her. Liesel doesn't believe me, but it's true. I tried to safeguard my heart at first. I confessed to love much later only because I was afraid of being hurt. Though in this story "much later" is only ELEVEN days after that first date.

On March 11th, we decide to get married. On April 4th, I ask her to marry me, officially proposing. On October 3rd, 2009, we get married.

Now, I cannot imagine my life without her. Liesel is the love of my life and confirms every day that she is and always has been (and always will be) the perfect person for me to spend the rest of my life with.


I chose this shirt for today because I wanted something that would embody our spiritual connection. From the start, we felt a spiritual bond with each other, which is something we shared about at our wedding. It has to do with AKA CORDS, which is a concept of HUNA mysticism (see link).

If anything has changed, it is only that I love Liesel even more today than I did at first sight or when we got married.

Our spiritual connection has grown and strengthened, cultivating a deeper and richer experience with each passing day.

AND not only is John Kasdorf still a friend of ours, each of us, but he played drums in our wedding! Thanks John!

Here's a very select and small gallery of photos, mostly from 2009.

Liesel and I on St. Patrick's Day 2009

Liesel and I at her step-dad's wedding 2009

Liesel and I on Halloween 2009

Liesel and I at a wedding Dec. 2012

Liesel and I outside
Olde Penninsula
1312.17

COUNTDOWN TO END OF THE BLOG YEAR - 70 shirts remaining

- chris tower - first published - 1401.10 - 17:34
final publication - 1401.12 - 11:59

T-shirt #288 - Underdog

T-shirt #288 - Underdog

Today's blog entry is dedicated to my best friend Tom Meyers who arrives today for a visit and a gaming orgy. Fifty year old men playing the same game they played in their youth. Though I started playing D&D at the age of fourteen, Tom discovered it in his twenties. Neither of us had the luxury of playing it in our childhood (as many others will reminisce that they did) since the game was not "invented" until 1974.
(Yeah, yeah, if you want to get TECHNICAL, oh geeky readers, the game of Dungeons and Dragons technically began in some form with the publication of the Chainmail rules for miniature play in 1971, but the first three booklet boxed set came out in 1974; I played it for the first time in 1976.)

But today is about UNDERDOG not Dungeons and Dragons (though Underdog would make a great character in D&D).

Underdog was possibly my first superhero. First seen on NBC in 1964, Underdog predates Atom Ant (1965) whom I wrote about in T-shirt #111, according to the Underdog Wikipedia. Though I did not have a blue cape, I did have a red blanket that my mother would pin on me, so I could run around as Underdog: "There's no need to fear, Underdog is here!" But my favorite battle cry is surely:

"When Polly's in trouble I am not slow, for it's hip-hip-hip and away I go!"

Though I did not have a blue cape, I did have a ring with a secret compartment in which to hide my "Underdog Super Energy Pill," which was often a vitamin supplied by my mother, though sometimes, since I may need many energy pills per day, a tiny candy that would fit inside the ring.

Okay, I am probably not being accurate. I just remembered that Mighty Mouse first appeared in the 1940s and was a staple of CBS Saturday morning cartoons from 1955 to 1967. And the mouse had a red cape like mine. I do recall crying out "Here I come to save the day!" (Mighty Mouse's battle cry) often, so surely I played at being Mighty Mouse, but I have more vivid memories of play as Underdog. And though I would like a Mighty Mouse shirt and toy, I do not own either, and given my recent binge-spending on T-shirts and such and sundry, I am cut off (by my own hand and choice).

Underdog ran for 124 episodes until 1967 but continued in syndication until 1973. This is important because I may not have seen all the episodes that began to air when I was two years old. However, with nine years of broadcasting, I surely managed to see them all at least once and usually all of them multiple times by the time I was eleven years old.

Underdog is a good example of how classic cartoons of yesteryear are kept alive. In the pictures, you see me with an Underdog plush toy, an Underdog PVC doll, and an Underdog T-shirt. The shirt is worn and old. It's one of my older shirts, and it's losing its thickness. I need a new one.

The toys demonstrate two very smart marketing ideas. Toy companies and others who hold copyright on the best cartoons of our childhoods have figured out that two things will happen with the release of Underdog gear: adults will buy the stuff for themselves (as I have done) and adults will buy the stuff for their kids. The Underdog PVC sits atop my TV in my office (as seen in the photo above), and though I have not found the perfect place for the Underdog plush, he's here, sitting nearby as seen in my office tour in T-shirt #268. Also, I have more Underdog gear that I did not have easy access to for the photos.


My friend Tom Meyers arrives for a visit today, as I mentioned, and he has bequeathed to me all sorts of Underdog stuff: a lunchbox, a storage bin, and a few other things that I cannot readily recall. And of course, DVDs. With streaming video, DVD, and YouTube, it's easier than ever before for a parent to say to a child, "Hey, do you wanna watch some Underdog with me?" And the love of this great cartoon continues, like  a virus, but a virus of love.

Wednesday, when I took my own Underdog, Satchel, for a walk, I stopped to chat with the neighbor across the street and his little boy, Caleb, who was wearing a Scooby Doo cap. Caleb explained that he is a massive Scooby Doo fan and began extolling the virtues of some movies he had seen. And so, the generation gap is bridged. The love of the old cartoons continues, though unlike Underdog I believe that new Scooby Doo material is currently being produced.

I have circled the subject of growing up and letting go quite a bit. I do not believe we must let go of all things dear to our hearts from childhood as we get older as some pathetic example of being "adult," which, in my mind, is simply a form of self-imposed misery and serves no purpose but producing misery and possibly resentment. Granted, I no longer put on my little red cape and run around taking energy pills from my secret compartment ring and crying out the rallying heroism of Underdog, though I surely would play such a game with a little boy or girl who was still afloat in the deep ocean of the imagination and the animistic universe if I had the chance. But I find it immensely comforting having my Underdog PVC figure watching over me as I work, and when I see Underdog perched on the TV next to the Mystery Machine clock and Robby the Robot, I am placated. I feel secure in knowing that though many things have changed in my life since I was that little boy playing at Underdog, many things have remained the same. With the modern world, we can keep these things from our past in our hearts, we can easily reconnect with these loves of yesteryear, and smart companies new and old market brand new products that we can purchase and enjoy anew and/or share them with the small children in our lives.

I removed the tag. Can you see it?

Great cartoons like Underdog live on in our hearts and in the hearts of those whom we inspire and to which we bequeath this brilliance, kindling a new flame.

I am an adult. I pay bills; I work for a living; I have a mortgage; I shoulder responsibility. But none of that excludes me from enjoying Underdog much as I did when I was two years old, and seven years old, and nine... and anyone who expects adults to divest themselves of childhood loves is an unpleasant and bitter Scrooge, which brings me to my next subject. Ah... streamy connections.

I just finished reading Dickens' A Christmas Carol via audio, narrated by Jim Dale, who brilliantly narrated the HARRY POTTER novels. Much in the same way that Scrooge learns to keep Christmas in his heart and practice goodwill toward his fellow men year around, so too, is this blog a journey of discovery of the things I wish to keep in my heart, those things that--like Christmas--embody the spirits of love, charity, kindness, generosity, forgiveness, compassion, and so much more. As I think about what I want to share in content for each shirt, I discover more and more about myself and the things that matter to me. There's more than an affection for popular culture icons here. There's a growing aspect of my greater spiritual connection to others and to the universe, which is a subject for another time. Stay tuned.

Underdog is surely a part of the milieu of my greater journey of identity, individuation, and spiritual awakening. For real. And so the Blog Journey continues...

UNDERDOG Cartoon Intro

Compare this opening intro trailer above for Underdog with the one for Mighty Mouse.

Mighty Mouse (The original cartoon theme intro)

And while I am at it, since I don't have a Mighty Heroes shirt either, I will share the Mighty Heroes theme for your edification, amusement, and as a blast from the past for those who remember.

The Mighty Heroes - theme

BTW, Why is Underdog called Underdog? What I mean is: what's he Under? Is this a reference to "underwear?" Is he down because he's a dog and he's little?

I know, I know: the underdog. The downtrodden. The unfavored. I don't think I got that connection when I was two or five or seven. Underdog was Underdog. Not because that's a comment on those who are the underdogs in our society but because that was his name.

Is Underdog a beagle? Definitely a hound of some kind.

He does look a lot like a beagle. Like my Beagle: Satchel. 

Sidenotes: I am not sure I knew this, at least I think I did, but Underdog's voice was supplied by one of my favorite actors: Wally Cox. It's good to remember what I may or may not have known and forgotten. This is part fo what my blog does for me, refreshes my memory, and what I hope it does for you.

Underdog's two main villains were voiced by Allen Swift. Simon Bar Sinister gets his name from the Bar Sinister, which is a diagonal line in medieval crests indicating a bastard birth. And Riff Raff is just a great name for a villain.

In working on this blog, I found an awesome resource: Don Markstein's Toonopedia: a vast repository of toonological knowledge.

Of course, there's an Underdog entry: UNDERDOG ON TOONOPEDIA.

CARTOON SUPERHEROES or RELATED - comic ones
Excluding traditional heroes like Superman and Spider-man, I am trying to make a list of either anthropomorphic heroes or comedy-focused cartoon heroes, which excludes favorites like Space Ghost or the Herculoids as per my list in T-shirt #101 - THE JETSONS and excluding Looney Tunes, which is an amazing category all of its own.

This is probably an incomplete list. I am always hoping with this work that someone will leave me a comment saying "Hey, you forgot.... blah blah." Like what was that one cartoon with the big robot that sort of looked like the Frankenstein monster but was giant sized and a little boy worked with him?

Mostly, I tried to keep the list to animals but that was very limiting, so there are some excursions, such as the Mighty Heroes Frankenstein, Jr., and Roger Ramjet, who are  awesome!!

THE TOP LIST

• Underdog
• Scooby Doo
• Atom Ant
• Mighty Mouse
• The Mighty Heroes
• Frankenstein, Jr.
• Sherman and Mr. Peabody!!
• Roger Ramjet
• Casper the Friendly Ghost
• Secret Squirrel
• Hong Kong Fooey
• Captain Caveman
• Popeye

THE OTHER BOTTOM LIST, not necessarily super but funny or favorite

• Gumby and Pokey
• Rocky and Bullwinkle
• Tenessee Tuxedo
• Huckleberry Hound
• Quickdraw McGraw
• Woody Woodpecker
• Heckle and Jeckle
• Sabrina the Teenage Witch ( I know she's not an animal but this was a favorite cartoon.)

MORE VIDEOS

I found episode one on You Tube but I cannot access it via Blogger. Check it out if you are interested. Meanwhile, here's two good ones (which ones are not good, after all, I mean, come on, man...).

First, "The Magnet Men" and then "Simon Says Be my Valentine."

The Underdog Show - Episode # 23 1965

The Underdog Show - Episode # 53 - 1966

My Facebook friend and neighbor
had this on his wall, so I copped it, as it seems
to fit the Underdog theme very well.

COVER GALLERY

And at the risk of making this even longer (and I was going to include comic book reviews - geez), I cannot resist including some comic book covers of Underdog Gold Key comics as well as some others I owned, like the one farther above for Frankenstein Jr.

COUNTDOWN TO END OF THE BLOG YEAR - 77 shirts remaining

- chris tower - 1401.03 - 18:20

T-shirt #264 - Alfred E. Neuman Faces - Mad Magazine

T-shirt #264 - Alfred E. Neuman Faces - Mad Magazine

I am trying to restrict myself to one subject per entry. I am finding this difficult. As I discussed yesterday, I am trying to work on shorter entries last week and this week in an attempt to save time to get ahead on the blog and work on entries of greater length. So far, I have not been 100% successful at saving time this way. Hell, I have not been 10% successful. For instance, yesterday, the entry grew and grew, and the work needed to complete it in cross-referencing and researching ate up all the time I allot for writing each day, which is around 60-90 minutes, though sometimes less, depending on the day and the work load.

If you are a follower, you may have also noticed that I generally post most often in the morning. But lately, I have taken to spreading out the blog work throughout the day so as to get to work (on my actual jobs) sooner. If I let it, the blog will carry me away like the tide or pull me down like a gravity well. So I must remain diligent, disciplined, and strong. Not an easy thing to do when the blog provides such a wonderful and fun escape from WORKING. Though my jobs are not that bad and actually rather enjoyable (most of the time), it's not like I am always super motivated or excited to start working for the day. Anyway, today is one of those days to spread out work on the blog. The only way you will realize I am doing this is that the blog will be published later in the day, so if you are following via Facebook or Twitter, you won't see a notification this morning. I am not sure if anyone is watching that closely. :-)


I have discovered that the blog's readership often spikes on Sunday, which is why I try to plan entries of substance for those days, which is why I keep putting off the entry I had planned for last Sunday because it will be one of substance, but it's not so substantial yet. My point being that I would keep an eye out for Sunday posts of value. I am trying to deliver good quality all the time, but as often on Sundays as I can manage, which means working ahead, as I generally like to be lazy and have a day of R&R on Sundays because if I don't get one day of R&R per week (and one is about all I can manage with my work schedule), I become VERY VERY grouchy. And, YES, that was a damn LONG sentence, but I do think it is grammatically correct.

Also, I wanted to mention that my readership jumped to 103 hits on Sunday December Eighth. According to my stats analysis, the entry for T-shirt #241: Advice from a Volcano continues to be a top viewed item, which I find odd. I am not sure why this is the case.

All of which has very little to do with today's subject, which is Mad Magazine, and it's brand-name face, trademark, and franchise identity: Alfred E. Neuman.

This is and has been one of my favorite shirts for a very long time. I would judge the shirt to be at least ten years old if not older. I think it's a very clever joke and very much in the vein of Mad Magazine to have the back of Alfred E. Neuman's head on the front of the shirt and the front of his face on the back of the shirt. Very clever indeed, which is why I indulged in extra pictures of it. See two clothes hanger, off-body pics farther below.

I previously wrote about Mad Magazine in T-shirt #92. I had pictures taken at Fanfare with two of the people who work there, whom I count as friends. It was also the week I decided to start the Weekly Comics List feature, and so it is the first entry in that category (or the last, the oldest, if you click on the category and dial backwards).

At the time when I wrote T-shirt #92, June 21, I was soon to leave for Ann Arbor to see a concert (which I wrote about in T-shirt #112 and T-shirt #113), and intending to shop for the Mad Magazine paperbacks from the 1970s published by Signet and by Warner. In T-shirt #92, I expressed my interest in collecting all the paperbacks from this time period. You can see the extent of my collection so far displayed in pictures beside, above, and below. In addition to wanting to obtain all the Doc Savage Bantam paperbacks, I want to obtain the Mad Magazine books as well though I would prefer to find them in bookstores. I have looked in both used shoppes in Ann Arbor and the great Powell's of Portland, OR as well as local Kalamazoo shops and have found none. In today's world, the Internet (EBay especially) provides many options for acquiring what I want. Earlier this year, I bought 40-50 of the Doc Savage books this way, though I have not yet shelved these as I have not yet completed my office remodeling, which includes creating display shelves for both sets of paperbacks (the Doc Savage and these Mad Magazine books).

As for whether I will resort to Internet purchases or scour more used bookstores for what I want remains to be seen and is question I am attempting to answer for myself.

Also, as I mentioned in T-shirt #92, I continue to give Ivan a subscription to Mad Magazine simply as an excuse to get current issues in the house. Though the appeal of the brand of satire (brand Ecch) is noy as strong as it once was, I do enjoy flipping through the current issues.

Unless I buy another Mad Magazine shirt before the end of the blog year (or am given one as a gift), I am out of such shirts for now, which is all right because I do not have volumes of content to deliver about Mad Magazine.

However, before I sign off for the day, I looked up a bunch of resources via the Internet to share on the subject of Mad Magazine. You may find them interesting.

I found TWO such posts of collections of someone's idea of the ten best Mad Magazine covers of all time. Though the sets of ten overlap with some of the same, there are notable differences. I will combine these into a selection of five (no need to overwhelm) covers. Okay, I intended to do five. I did more. Keep reading.

 Enjoy.

MAD MAGAZINE RESOURCES

Mad Magazine has its own MAD TUMBLR. Who knew?

Some guy named Tom Richmond runs a daily MAD BLOG. Some people have a lot of time on their hands. A DAILY blog? Crazy. Totally insane. Where does he find the time?

Great post about Mad Magazine called What, Me Worry by Uncle John.

A very MAD collector site. The Internet has made it possible for all sorts of odd folks to come out of the woodwork and put themselves on display, like this chap at Dick's Mad Stuff. Here a mad, MAD collector, dedicates the site to another MAD MAD creator named Dick and collects all sorts of Mad Magazine ephemera in one place. Links to sites from other countries, cover sites, vital links, and many links to sites for that "Usual Gang of Idiots," the Mad creators. Great site collecting most of what is relevant with Mad Magazine on the Internet.

MAD MAGAZINE OFFICIAL SITE - duh.

One of the premiere (or top of the search results) Mad Magazine cover web sites:

Doug Gilford's MAD Cover Site

There are MANY cover sites on the Internet all collected in Dick's Mad Stuff. But this one reigned supreme at the top of the Google search.

Okay, some guy I have never heard of who has his own CNN show, though he looks like he never touched a copy of Mad Magazine in his life, though he wants you to think he's "cool enough" to have done so, Jake Tapper, did an "Inside Mad" piece for his show.

Though CNN is owned by Time Warner who also owns Mad Magazine, it's an interesting enough story.

INSIDE MAD MAGAZINE WITH JAKE TAPPER

Some quotes after the image below.

I liked this bit: "One of Mad's core reasons to exist is to question authority, because as you get older you'll realize that basically everybody has an agenda and everybody is lying to you," said longtime editor John Ficarra. "Mad really doesn't make up anything, we just sort of look at what's going on in society and say, 'Isn't this kind of weird, or stupid, or dumb?'"
and this bit: "The hope is that jokes aren't just funny, but formative. 'We feed to a counterculture, we feed to that 'question authority, they're lying to you,'" said Ficarra. "It's amazing that almost every generation has to relearn that, and Mad is there to teach it to them in some way.'"

Did you know that before MAD TV, there was a Mad TV pilot created in 1974? Neither did I. TV network executives deemed the humor "too crude for television" and it never aired. Here is a link.

The Mad Magazine TV Special 1974

And so, this brings me to my last subject: WHEN WE WENT MAD: THE KICKSTARTER.

Alan Bernstein from Royal Oak, MI is making a documentary about Mad Magazine, billed as "MAD Magazine poked fun at everything - and changed the world. A peek behind the scenes at this culture rotting institution."

Though Bernstein and company have reached their goal, they are still accepting contributions to :"make the frosting all that much sweeter." By the time you have read this, I will have kicked in my part because I want an awesome T-shirt and DVD of the movie!

COVER GALLERY
There are many sites that compile "Best of" Mad Magazine covers. Here's two top tens.

FLAVORWIRE - 10 GREATEST MAD COVERS OF ALL TIME - 2012

COMICS ALLIANCE - 10 GREATEST MAD COVERS OF ALL TIME - 2010

Let's see if I can keep my group to five. I bet I can't. And I cheated as I already have two posted above.

How about lucky thirteen? What me worry? heh.

This may not be one of the best
but I am partial to it as I own it.

I am partial to this one
as I bought it
in an attempt to get back into Mad.

COUNTDOWN TO THE END OF THE BLOG YEAR: 101 shirts remaining

- chris tower - 1312.10 - 19:30