It’s been quite a day and tonight we’re watching Ed Wood with Johnny Depp.  Lee has seen it but she’s seen now catching me up on all the films I missed when I went back to school in my latter years.  I’m 56 now and went back to school on and off through my forties to early 50’s; at times, full-time.  Much more fun in one’s youth. LOL.  I wish I’d paid more attention my first time in school in my late teens but I guess I forgot to pay attention after forgetting to listen to my dear late mom (who had a degree in education) say, “Pay attention!!!”.

Since my first job selling records at Pal’s Music Company in downtown Hattiesburg, Ms at age 12 in 1966 until the early 2000’s, I had so many odd jobs to support my “life as a writer”, I can’t even count them all.  Had a lot of false starts too.

Anyway, fast forward to June 18, 2010. I married the woman of my dreams (Lee) atop Hot Springs Mountain with a handful of guests.  It was a gorgeous indoor/outdoor nature wedding (if there is such a thing).  We had so much fun.   We still do.

Well, most people by now know that I founded my offbeat cartoons & funny gifts, Londons Times back in 1997 but I had a few near stops, real stops etc due to health, school, etc.  Then around 6 months into our marriage Lee suggested I’d probably be happier if I started a Londons Times Gen 2 cartoon reflecting all that has occurred in the world since my early cartoons, which a lot of people still thought were fine, but they didn’t reflect the changes of today. She was onto something (I later discovered).

Since I launched that cartoon came Google, blogging, 9/11, social media (Twitter, Facebook et al), med-resistant e-coli, tornadoes that went on for months, and so much more.   So I recruited a new creative team after reviewing several hundred portfolios. This new team was/is the tops. The new toons are much larger.  The text is more to the point, and hopefully the whole finished product is more productive.

We work as a team, as most cartoons you see in the newspaper do.  I write them, and do what is called “blueprinting them” which gives more detail such the expressions on the various persons faces, their body language, the pictures on the wall (if inside); what kinds of trees, dogs etc if outdoors.  I think blueprinting might be the hardest part of the process, but the most fun.  In a way it is like being an art director in a film. I’ve watched them work and it reminds me of that (only not so complex); I mean after all it’s only a cartoon.

I now have about 5000+ cartoons on my site and over a quarter million funny gifts. The funny t-shirts,  gifts & funny greeting cards by brand name sites such as Sears & Amazon.  Over 200 or the cartoons are new Gen 2 as are about 1000+ of the offbeat gifts & collectibles. Let me preface the rest of this paragraph with I dare not put myself in the same league with the master,  Gary Larson, but I remember when he took his all down from the net and demanded all others do the same. Finally he had to threaten suit and possibly sued, I can’t remember for those who would not remove them.  I loved Gary’s personality and his work.  I never understood why he had the cartoons removed (at first).  Then one day he said in an interview, “I had them removed because they are like my babies”.  I didn’t understand it at 1^st.  5000 cartoons later, I don’t understand how anyone couldn’t understand it.

Cartooning and creating merchandising is work that can be difficult or easy; but its always fun, and sadly, it is work that most people don’t see you do.   Lee sees me work, and as a fellow designer, she knows how hard I do work. It seems like I’m always working though it seems like play.  Between all the crazy jobs I had to take to get to our little piece of paradise in the Arkansas Mountains, I can truly say it was all worth it.  But what a journey!! I have learned new digital design skills and am now making the world’s only famous love quote shoes at my shop Shoes That Amuse and a line of Sushi Shoes & Gifts at my ShoeShies Shop. I’ll feature them in a near-future blog.  Meanwhile please feel free to take a look.  About 400 of the items have also been picked up at Amazon.com and I expect Sears Marketplace to carry them this year.

PS: Since I wrote this blog my beloved wife Lee & I watched Ed Wood and it was brilliant and strange. I loved it. She loved it (again); she’s seen it many times. In the middle of the film, we received a phone call on Lee’s phone from a very close special person in our lives and she couldn’t get to the phone in time.  When we checked the message, our dear friend had sung “Happy Anniversary To You” in a voice as atonal as mine; but we absolutely loved it.  (Let me add she is a most talented woman and known around the world for various advanced skills….but like me, singing does not happen to be one of them.  But it surely was fun and we surely did laugh aloud the rest of the day.   It was a beautiful day with my amazing wife Lee on our 1st anniversary and I felt the love and support from everyone who wished us well, who have supported us in our business ventures, and been there for us. It does not go unnoticed.  We love you all.

My current one saved my life a year ago this past April with two stents.  Three of my four main heart arteries had blown out; and the only one holding things together was one that was put in a stent back in 2001.

I had gone to the hospital because edema had set in and I noticed my feet swelling.  I thought I’d get a diuretic and go home the next day. It was not to be. It required two separate procedures.

Now every 6 months, I go see (“Surfer Dude”). That is what my wife calls him (my cardiologist) as he is young, good looking and always tanned and in good shape and wore a pooka shell neclace in both surgeries; a bit discomforting at 1st but I adjusted.  A little over a year later, today, he did an EKG and checked my weight, blood pressure etc.  Everything was perfect. I explained to him that my wife Lee has been watching out for my health prodding me to eat better and exercise more. I go hiking with her every other day. I drink 1/2 gallon of our “magic 2000 year old thermal water” every other day.  I eat salads, sushi, and other health foods.  Salt has virtually disappeared from my diet.

But my blog is not about heart disease and I rarely bring it up.  But its been a little over a year and but for the grace of God I have cheated death yet again.  Don’t get me started on all my near-death experiences…there have been quite a few more than the two heart attacks; most having to do with accidents, etc.  I am a klutz as well.

Today, I wore one of my cartoon caps to Surfer Dude’s Office. I think I’ve worn it there before but he never brought it up. He was rather chatty today and aske me where I got it. I told him the story of Londons Times Cartoons and gave him one of my business cards and then asked me if I had any medical cartoons. I assured him I do (in fact probably several hundred). That’s what happens to your psyche when you are klutzy all your life and later end up with heart disease.  But I digress.

I have always heart that attitude is half the battle and taking care of oneself is the other half. I am a nonsmoker and nondrinker.  Lee and I hike 2-4+ miles depending and they are mountain miles which means you can just about double that as far as the aerobic value of it.  Plus the miles are in the middle of the most beautiful National Park in America, Hot Springs National Park, which, like the water, is very healing.  It is impossible to be suspicious of a turtle, silly to feel hatred toward frolicking squirrels, and impossible to be angry at an affectionate mockingbird who is following you just for a collaborative melody. In other words it is a safe healing place.  And I’ll be damned if more often than not, I can look at all the beautiful wildlife and flora which surrounds us, and an idea for a cartoon doesn’t pop up. So I keep a pen and paper in my pocket on every hike (though that is not why I go).

My hope is to encourage everyone, especially younger people to take care of themselves *now*; in other words it is never too early to prevent heart disease. Eat right.  If you smoke, stop. If you’ve stopped and started back, not to worry. Stop again, and again, and again. It is that important. For many it takes 10+ times. It will finally make sense as you learn to re-enjoy the taste of fresh air.

Look at your diet.  Simple is better. Fresh fruit and veggies.   Less or no salt.  The lower the sodium the better.     Exercise!!!  If you are immobile you can still exercise.  You can learn tai chi on the Internet.  Lee & I do Tai Chi before every hike.

I hope I don’t sound preachy.  If you are reading this, chances are you are probably a Londons Times Cartoon & Gifts fan and I’d like you to be with us a long time.  Plus to be honest, I don’t want you to have to go through what I’ve gone through because you truly don’t have to. It is a choice.  Seems complex but it is simple.  Choose to be healthy.  That does not mean perfect; it means conscious of healthy things vs unhealthy things from food to emotions to exercise to career.  Choose what feels healthy and the younger the start, the faster habit becomes lifestyle.  Cheers, Rick London

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Rick London is a writer, entrepreneur, designer, and outdoorsman.  He founded Londons Times Cartoons & Funny Gifts which have been the #1 offbeat webcomics & gifts on the Internet (MSN & Google ranked) since 2005.  He has founded numerous online shops which feature his cartoon images and also others which are unique fashion such as the worlds only love quote shoes, Shoes That Amuse, and ShoeShies.com, Sushi Shoes & Gifts.

A few weeks ago, an old childhood friend asked me how I can always “be funny” & added “You are #1 on the Internet.  You live on a ridgetop mountain paradise. Do you ever feel empathy or sadness?  There are different types of humor and though it all “comes from the same place, different events or visuals might trigger it. Do I feel sadness and/or anger or grief.  Of course and often lately with all the world tragedies. Just because we are somewhat buffered does not mean we don’t care what happens in our world.  What happens five thousand miles away, affects us. We all now live in a global village called “earth”.

At first I thought back to the BP Oil disaster in the Gulf Of Mexico. I grew up on that Gulf and it was magic to me as a child even up into young adulthood.  I loved everything about it. I swam there, fished there, skied there, flirted with girls there, ran with my dogs there. It was my life in many ways. In the blink of an eye it was destroyed, and though the oil is out of sight, out of mind, we all know things are not okay but a lot of chemicals; oil and dispersants have sunk to the bottom or halfway down.  Baby porpoises are floating to the beach. Sperm whales are nowhere to be found.  I created a Tony Hayward  BP cartoon which has become popular.

I had been thinking about starting Londons Times Generation Two Offbeat Cartoons, and funny gifts, but the oil spill was the only thing on my mind.  So I made a pledge to write a parody song regarding the oil spill every day until it was plugged; and I did. If I could have found a band to record them, the funds were to go to various Gulf animal and environmental causes.  Sadly, I was unable to recruit a band on spec who could do song parodies. But I was able to purge, in a jaded sarcastic way, humor, as angry as I was. Anyone who knows Lee knows how angry I was, and I could not shake it. The songwriting helped.  Posting them on my popular well-visited blog helped even more.

Then I mellowed out a bit after a number of nature hikes with Lee and though I never forgot the event, and never will (both of us have pledged never to buy gas or other BP-owned products), we have in our own way, moved past it.  Lee is from Oregon and has never seen the Gulf and all its natural beauty.

Then came the uprising in the Arab world. Though I occasionally do socio-political cartoons, it is not the norm. Most are offbeat in the spirit of, some critics have said, The Far Side, which I consider a compliment, though my goal from the start was to attempt to continue Gary Larson’s absurd spirit, but create it with less text and a more “fine-art” look. For the most part, that has worked out fine.

So I decided to create ideas about the dictators which is always fun. It gives one a chance to be iconoclastic without hurting anyone but lampoon those who has not hurt many others.  A few of the cartoons landed in a major newspaper in the Middle East and though I find nothing about nations in turmoil funny, again, I was able to find comedy in fear and anger and it happened.

Finally, there was the tsunami and nuclear disaster in Japan and a lying company called Tepco.   I can’t explain how much it felt like watching the oil leak from Deep Horizon and Tony Hayward saying things weren’t so bad, and when busted by the media added, “I just want my life back”.  It reminded me of Yogi Berra’s great quote “Just like deja vu all over again”.   Now the citizens of Japan, one of our greatest allies if not our greatest, and good friend, was being destroyed, first by a natural disaster, which I know from Katrina can eventually be fixed, but then by a firm “Tepco” which seemed to play the game exactly like BP.  The sad thing is that the Japanese media seemed to go along with it; basically reading Tepco’s press releases as news, until evidence began showing what was being released as news, was not what was really happening.  Radiation was leaking everywhere.  Tepco was insisting it was not so bad.

Meanwhile radiation was covering the planet and it has now been found in nearly every country on the planet. It will go down in history as worse than Chernobyl.  My team created a two-headed frog cartoon lounging by the leaking plant reading a newspaper. The headlines read, “Nuclear Accident Safe, No Worries”. One frog head says to the other, “Looks like the media is telling us the truth. Nothing to worry about”.

Some mistook my jaded reaction to making fun of the event.  It was anything but that.  It was a message to Tepco and the complicit media that they have no right to hide the truth from their citizens (any more than BP had a right to do all they could to hide their disaster from us).    Again, there was nothing funny about this event, and it felt like BP was happening to them this time.  I was enraged.  But from that rage I was able to find a bit of humor. It was angry humor but humor nevertheless.

Then came the flurry of tornados. One hit our hometown of Hot Springs about 7.8 miles from us and we lost some of our Arkansas citizens.  This was a very sad time and even out of anger or fear, I found nothing funny, so I just stared at the news and went on hikes when I had the energy. I created a few items, but no cartoons.  It was a time of grief as the warnings kept coming and tornados were hitting ground and destroying cities and killing people and other living creatures.  I was too sad to get much done, but I allowed myself to be that sad.  Lee understood as she too was sad.

Neither of us had ever experienced anything like it, and I grew up outside of New Orleans, tornado and hurricane alley and went through the worst of them. It had been a way of life growing up. Now with global warming and climate changes, the tornado behavior was/is too.  All I knew is we were lucky to be surrounded my mountains, and though there is always a slight chance of one landing inside such a geographic area, it is very rare.  That did not take away the sadness I felt and still feel watching the people hit in Kansas, Alabama, Mo, etc try to pick up and put their lives back together.  No way to create cartoons (or much of anything) when you know people are experiencing such a tragedy.

I don’t enjoy creating cartoons out of fear or anger. To me, they are not as funny nor do they have the same feel of professionalism as do those that come out of my head when the world feels a bit stable and I am hiking/communing with nature.

So I founded Rick London Designs which include Sushi Wear (I kid you not) and love quote gifts (again no joke).  I don’t have to feel funny to create these gifts and collectibles.  I love sushi and I love shoes, so I make shoeshies (sushi shoes) at my ShoeShies.com. These are fun creation, but I don’t have to “be funny” to create them, yet I have a wonderful outlet.

The love quote gifts and sushi items also just got picked up by our main manufacturer who is not a traditional POD but a private organization who chooses talent they want (creators cannot simply sign up with them), which means they are already beginning to show at Amazon and should soon be at Sears online and other outlets. Some of the sushi gifts at Amazon can be seen here.  The famous love quote gifts on Amazon can be seen here.

This makes me not feel angry, but that life is good.  And it is.  The world is a good world.  We live in a very good place.  Lee and I get to create for a living and she gets to hike and take photos and design products. I get to design products and think up cartoons and make gifts that make people laugh.  I can’t think of anything for which we would trade our lifestyle.  And as you can see, we still are a part of the world, feel sadness, happiness and all the other emotions persons in Metropolis feel.

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Rick London says he’s a semi-pro blogger, a designer of sorts, a cartoonist who doesn’t draw well, and a professional twitterer who doesn’t like social media all that much.  He and his wife Lee enjoy hiking, outdoors, nature and wildlife and they live in the heart of the gorgeous Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas.  Lee is a professional wildlife and nature photographer who runs the popular blog HikeOurPlanet.com. She designs beautiful designer shoes, gifts, clothing and home decor at her Lee Hiller Designs Gift Shop.

Click To Enlarge This Is Me

I bet I read 200-300 or more (mostly self-serving articles designed to get the readers to follow the author), but I started getting the idea of how it worked and as William Wordsworth once said, “To begin, begin”.  He always put a guilt-trip on my system of procrastination.

On the first day I think I managed to round up eight followers and I may have even doubled that my second.  People were posting messages to me, and I felt like I knew them; or at least the icons they portrayed to be them next to their name. I was told later most persons icons were ten to twenty years old and a lot of senior citizens were still tweeting away with their college sophomore yearbook pics.  That turned out to be true.

I also discovered that though many of Twitterers were interesting, and I still believe that, I was not only out of my league, I was out of my category, and a lot of that was my fault.  Though I had been posting for several months as an offbeat cartoonist who loved animals, that was about as much as I had in my profile.

When someone presents oneself in such an unfocused way, they are bound to attract a lot of unfocused people with unfocused agendas.  And agendas flew left and right and it would not be unusual to wake up one day and be “hated” by someone who “loved” you the day before, simply because you were friendly with someone who “done them wrong”.

My then friend Lee Hiller, now my wife Lee Hiller-London was quite a bit more savvy, more than slightly ahead of the learning curve than me.  She suggested I change my background which she happened to know how to do. I still have the same one up she installed, a wall of Londons Times Cartoons. She suggested I focus my short bio (Twitter allows about once sentence) and I did.

Click To Enlarge (Please Meet My Dear Wife Lee)

A month or so later three Twitterers opened accounts with my name claiming to be the founder of Londons Times Cartoons. That is my website and has a high visibility on the Internet. It has been Google’s #1 ranked offbeat cartoon since 2005 and MSN #1 since 2008 and remains so on both engines. It has had 7.8+ million visits.  At this time, Twitter was offering nothing aggressive to correct that, but did finally come up with a “verification system” that they provided for (mostly film, tv, and business celebrities) but also those with high-profile websites that could easily being cloned.

I filed my complaint and within three weeks, I woke up with a little blue Twitter verification next to my name.  This did not prevent “the clones”, but it did help my friends and fans to know who “the real me was and is”.

Then Lee, at that time my fiance, was building her own brand and a well-known Twitterer, not verified, used her good name to enable him to use it in his own complicated scheme.

Her brand was then at its very early vulnerable stage; not yet a few months old, but we could not provide the kind of proof (he had deleted it after we wrote him a scathing tweet), so she has continued without verification, but fortunately has such a huge following; nearly 25,000, people know they are really dealing with her, plus, she is a professional nature photographer and shares during her daily hikes the wildlife and flora that she encounters. So now, if someone tried to do a copycat scheme, they would have to re-create links to photos and merchandise she creates at her Lee Hiller Designs Shop that is distinctively part of the Hot Springs National Forest. Unless they live or move here, most would know they were “the wrong Lee Hiller-London”.

Below are some recent photos Lee took while hiking in Hot Springs National Forest for her Hike Our Planet Nature Blog. She is also a very talented gift and clothing/shoe designer where her nature pictures and original graphics appear on countless Lee Hiller Brand Products.

Meantime we Tweet along.  Our agent and syndication Great Southern Writers Syndicate @GSWSyndicate,  tweets famous quotes, and the occasional plug of one of Lee’s or my shops or Lee’s nature blog HikeOurPlanet.com. I have somehow accumulated 12,000+ followers (Lee and I call them my friends because actually they are).

Below are a few Lee Hiller Brand Products which she designed. Please click To Enlarge:

Today we are more focused.  We let our work and our products speak for us for the main part. We do work hard. We don’t just sit and tweet. It is very different than when we started on Twitter. We use a pre-scheduled Twitter client to get out information of our promotions and specific products and shops. It works, and leaves us time to create products and personally tweet with those with whom we prefer.

If someone is inappropriate, creepy, or both, (or shows signs of hate or bigotry),  we simply block them (we usually talk about it first and there has to be a very good reason). We try to give everyone a second and sometimes third chance if they “done wrong”.  Please don’t get me wrong. Most who tweet are normal people trying to get by in life, make a living and/or friends, and make a contribution.

Below are a few of my Londons Times Cartoons. You can see these and about 5000+ other full color cartoon at our main offbeat webcomics site.

Since joining Twitter I have branched out to open various types of online shops. My funny gifts shops also remain Google & MSN’s #1 ranked offbeat cartoon gift shops and have been since 2005.

All in all, Twitter is very fun. But it can be very hard work.  One has to create their own strategy for whatever reason they are there; whether it is to make friends, money, or find spouses.  Actually Lee and I were not there to find spouses. We were both promoting our Internet businesses.  We ended up spouses and glad we did.

We both have strengths where the other has a weakness (and vice versa).  Two heads, truly can work better than one, and get a lot more done, on or off Twitter.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Rick London is an Arkansas-based writer, cartoonist and designer living in the beautiful Ouachita Mountains where he regularly hikes with his wife Lee and is an avid wildlife and nature lover and active in those causes (including environment).  London founded the #1 offbeat cartoon on the Internet in 1997 titled Londons Times Cartoons.  He later founded the world’s only famous love quotes shoes, Shoes That Amuse, featured on APWire and in USA Today.  He has created four funny gift shops featuring his licensed cartoon images on gifts with an inventory of over 1/4 million sold by Google Shopping, Sears Marketplace, Amazon, and many other shopping channels.  London recently founded his own line of Sushi Shoes (ShoeShies.com) and has now expanded to sushi fine art gifts and clothing as well which he calls ABoyNamedSushi.com. To see Rick’s sushi gifts click here.

Of course the first and main reason the gratuitous slap in the face to all the life coaches, social media experts, “wisdom experts” (who either lift quotes and/or articles and take credit) or edit them just enough to insult our intelligence with their name as the credit.  I love such “writers” who do not understand that we’ve been to college, because they certainly haven’t.  Most of those are what are known as “life coaches” who are nothing more than a “gang of literary thieves”.  What they do is often attractively package and sale mundane and sometimes exciting philosophy that we learned in college and is, of course, now free on the web. They charge a fortune for books, tapes and the like, leaving their victims (clients) bleeding in the streets, but with the opportunity to become such a “literary-thief-in-training” as well. So it has a “Donald Trump/Amway MLM feel to it”.

My wife Lee and I decided a long time ago that was not for us. Don’t get us wrong. Nearly every major life coach on and off Twitter has tried to recruit us…let me rephrase that..recruit our wallets, but we decided it might be safer to put what extra we have in savings and invest in our our clean businesses which involve designing and selling gifts and collectibles. Our business is very simple, very clean, and offers products of tangible value, no regurgitated philosophy or wisdom, simply usable and/or collectible gifts, clothes, etc.

Lee is an amazing nature photographer who writes a nature blog, Hike Our Planet, and I’m sometimes told I can turn a phrase and create a cartoon that goes on all our products.  Though we often deal with POD’s (Print On Delivery) manufacturing companies, our main factory for six years now is in Rhode Island and the majority of our products sell at Amazon.  Recently the Sears Marketplace picked up a good many of my cartoon gifts. Lee has taught herself not only photography, but how to take that photography and her own unique graphics and create products such as shoes, tees and gifts at her  Lee Hiller Designs Shop. Her items are also available at associate shops all over Amazon.com. She has no snake oil for sale. It’s the real thing.

Why do I make this “comparison story” between “life coach” and legitimate businessperson?  Early on, especially in social networking, it could have so easily gone the other way. The life coaches are artists. Con artists. They are friendly. They know all the right things to say. They can win one’s hearts and minds the way no politician or army even dreamed of doing.   And they have built in radar that heads straight for the pocketbook.

Life coaches often “build a name for themselves”, then start the process of writing books, making cds and tapes, having seminars, and talking nonsense that sounds somewhat like wise philosophy, and it should, as it is more often than not lifted from major names like Emerson, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche and so many others, edited and/or watered down, and their own (the life coach’s name) placed on it. I’ve even seen them lift Biblical quotes, change them a bit, and wala, guess who the new author is?

If you’ve just started Twitter, you probably have many of them on your friends list who are following you. They seem to be predatory (the most) to newcomers who haven’t a clue.  Many of the wiser ones change their moniker to “spiritual coach”, “spiritual advisor” “life author” “coach/author”, and the list goes on and on.  In any case, watch for subtleties; the devil is in the detail and as I mentioned earlier, they are con-artists of the highest degree.

My wife Lee once quoted, “You are your own best life coach”, and she is so right.  The alleged purpose of the life coach of whom you pay thousands of dollars is to motivate.

I prefer the freebie by Walt Whitman who would laugh at any life coach. His great quote is, “To Begin, begin”.   Really, what more does one need to know?

Oh, look in the yellow-pages under “pest control” to rid ones home of rodents. I almost forgot that part of the story; but should note it since rodents and life coaches seem to be in the same category (sorry rodents, I know you’re better than that).

When I read an article, I don’t just want information, I want a remedy. A solution.

The solution is, when you find yourself being called and/or emailed by these “Oh, so nice life coaches”, and you will, cut off all ties.  Yes you will hear cries like a baby. They will “badmouth you” on Twitter, facebook and wherever.  Trust me, in the long-run, these are the types you DO want to bad-mouth you; for persons of goodwill know, that if these crooks think you are “no-good”,  you must be a person of substance.

And you really are if you were able to out-maneuver these cyber-whacky sharks by cutting them off and blocking them from your Twitter stream. It is as simple as that.  Oh and screen your calls. You may receive a few curse-word filled calls for your sinful betrayal.  That means “You Done Good”.  Congrats.  Now it’s time to play REAL Twitter. The riff-raff has suddenly disappeared and the drama and chaos has magically dissolved.  Oh, and you still have your money. Now, wasn’t that fun and easy?

On the side of the blog I’ve posted some recent products I’ve made from my various shops (the cartoon store, ShoesThatAmuse, and ABoyNameSushi) shops for your entertainment enjoyment. Oh, and please don’t be shy to purchase. If you don’t, I may have to have a life coach call you for an appointment.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Rick London is a writer, cartoonist, and designer.  He created Google and MSN’s #1 ranked offbeat cartoons, Londons Times in 1997. Less than a decade later he launched online shops which now feature over a quarter million licensed products which are featured at such shopping channels as Amazon, Sears, Shop.com, Shopping.com and many others.  He also has his own shops such as Rick London Collection where he sells his favorite cartoons on tshirts, mugs, greeting cards and other funny gifts.  London founded the world’s only famous love quote shoes in 2007, ShoesThatAmuse.com which have received the thumbs up from APWire and USA Today.  This year he launched ABoyNamedSushi, a division of his ShoeShies which are sushi artwork shoes and gifts.  London has published over 500 articles and his cartoons have appeared in the Jerusalem Post. His main Londons Times Cartoon site boasts 5000+ color offbeat cartoons which have lured 8.7 million visits.  Several of his originals are a permanent part of the Roy Orbison Collection and Mayo Clinic Medical Library.

Though sushi has been a part of civilization longer than one might imagine, it was not always in the current form in which we are used to devouring. It started as a simple “fast food” dish in 2 A.D. in China and was an excellent way to preserve food (there was no refrigeration then). In the early days chefs fermented rice, placed raw fish on the rice, threw the rice out, and ate the fish when hungry.

By 7 A.D. sushi made its way to Japan, where seafood is a staple entrée. However they started making the rice a “side order” with the fish. About 1600, Matsumoto Yoshiichi of Edo (now known as Tokyo) began experimenting with flavors such as rice vinegar and selling this “new dish”. By doing this, they created the world’s first “fast food” and it was more often than not eaten immediately.

Below is a wonderful short YouTube video by my very talented wife Lee Hiller London.

The majority of “sushi” eaten in American restaurants is nigiri (finger sushi) and California rolls, almost no resemblance to the original Chinese food known as “sushi”. An ethnic food that swept the world by storm was developed yet further by the artful experimental restaurant entrepreneurs of north American creating a fusion of food and art.

So not all, but a good deal of the history of my favorite food was familiar. Also familiar was my limited knowledge of design; that is, the best design often reflects the vision of a culture; a modern trend if you will.

Though pizza, hamburger, etc all have their “beauty”, I was not inclined or motivated to purvey the beauty of thousands of mg of trans-fat artery-clogging foods.

But sushi was and is a different story. I started with shoes (mostly womens) but now make mens too. I named the store ShoeShies.com. Then I started designing aprons, mouse pads, mugs, postage stamps, key chains, caps, and just about everything else showcasing dishes of sushi and sashimi and its all available now at Shoeshies.com. I am loving doing it and it has “recharged” me to continue to make cartoon products for Londons Times Cartoons and my love quote Shoes That Amuse…and eat more sushi.

But now, when all the sushi places are closed at 2am and I have a hunger for it, I can look at the sushi mouse pad next to my pc and drool…or drool on my shoes; knowing they will lead me to the nearest sushi bar….tomorrow.

Click To Enlarge

Today The Obama Administration decided was the right time to release his real birth certificate.  The immediate predictable announcement by Donald Trump was more or less, “I solved a big problem…Obama should have done earlier…America couldn’t have done it without me”. Blah blah yadda yadda.

To be clear, I’m no Barack Obama fan. I don’t feel he has the experience to be a President, much less a President with all that is going on in the world today. I happen not to think he has what it takes to be re-elected.

But I will give him this.  Back when the “birther issue” was gaining momentum, did you notice who was bringing it up the most?  You guessed it. Not Sarah Palin. Not Glenn Beck. Not Michelle Bachman, no not even Trump…It was  Barack Obama always “claiming innocence”.  Did that not give anyone a clue as to what he/Obama was doing?  He was luring bigots dressed as carnival barkers into starting a “He wasn’t even born here” campaign… and guess what. It worked.  Does that hurt? If so, you might want to check your soul within. Don’t hate Obama due to his color (or his perceived religion). It’s  not a reason of which God would approve.  Hate the mediocre job he is doing in the White House.  I hated that about GW Bush too; but I didn’t hate him. Obama kept the issue alive (like a good attorney) as he knew “he had the answer” in a vault.  He only had to await the right moment.  That came today.  If only Obama could use all that “legal smartness” to be a good President.  It appears he cannot.

Of course Obama knew he had the certificate from the start (obviously) and he knew he could have shown it quite promptly but didn’t.  Why didn’t he?

If you are a “Birther Tea Party-er or Republican or even a leftist” this might not sit well with you, but some lessons are the most painful.

My prediction was, for a long while, that Obama was going to pull it out when Trump called him on it in the 2012 debate (or whatever “Birther” he was at the debate podium. That would have been the ideal time and it would have been “a sure fire win” for Obama. He knew it, and of course everyone else knows it now.

Yes, as incompetent as Obama is at governing, he’s much, much, smarter than Trump (and every other Birther for that matter at “Playing Politics).  He proved today; NONE of the others were even in his league.  Does that hurt? Again, time to look within.

Obama had to pull the certificate today. Trump was overshadowing real news…Japan, Arab uprisings, War In Libya and so much other important news stories and the “birther issue” was becoming priority news, keeping us, the general public from hearing real news.

The important stories were becoming almost non-stories while Donald’s bad hair blew across our TV monitor and his headache-producing voice through our psyche.

Obama could have ignored all that and waited until his golden moment, the 2012 debates.  It would have been a no-brainer who would have won the debate no matter how good the “Birther Opponent” performed on every other issue.

Click To Enlarge

It should have been apparent to most “Birthers” when even the “former birthers” like Palin and Bachmann & Gov. Brewer of Az began removing themselves from the Birthers and the issue.  They finally figured out that Obama had them over a barrel,  and he was just waiting for the right time.  But leave it to Trump and his ego to keep it going.   His “I put this issue to an end thanks to me” is so reminiscent of Charlie Sheen’s, “Winning…winning”, that it was almost funny, if not so sad. Trump would never have imagined in a zillion years that Obama had him over a barrel. But we know now he did.

Rarely, very rarely, you will find a candidate who understands the job of a U.S. President.  Do you know what that job is? I didn’t think so.  There actually are two major jobs A. Balance The Budget…AND  B. Keep the U.S. citizens safe.

Trump has been bankrupt 3 times but told one national news reporter, “We buy these companies and go bankrupt.  Then we can make a deal that is FANTASTIC!” He doesn’t mention that the creditor gets pennies on the dollar.  America has loans owed to many countries and vice versa. We’ve been known to pay our bills as a nation. But given Trumps philosophy; if we borrow several billion, go bankrupt, and you (the other country) gets a “FANTASTIC” deal, you should be happy”.  But in reality, if that country owns an atom bomb, he’s not done much to keep the citizenry of our country safe.

Here’s something that is not going to make lefties nor right-wingers feel so great.  I worked long enough in Washington to continue to chant my mantra, “Do not vote for the party. Research each candidate, then do another research and then another. Have a friend review those research results and another friend  research his/hers.  Whichever party you have chosen, you are going to find things you don’t like; let me rephrase that, if you are honest, despise.  There will be things that click and you love, but the majority you’ll probably find is “the same old self-interest B.S.). If you really make this your voting formula, and you have at least a high-school education, you will never even think about voting “party” again.

Click To Enlarge

If you can tell me with a straight face that there’s one in office now, or one that you’ve seen running who understands that, and could perform it, never mind being “Our Moral Mommy & Daddy”, that does not even appear on the job description (though it is the reason so many vote); which makes me a shame of our education system.  It is probably why we’ve had so few decent presidents.  How many have done the real job in my lifetime?  Only Clinton. Can you name another.

The news heads tonight are going to be brutal…well beyond brutal to Trump; as well they should. He doesn’t understand it now, but of course, he is history, last years news.  Do you think anyone with any type of sanity would ever take him seriously again?

We know much of it is about race. That is a given. I am a white man who grew up in Ms. I am sensitively aware of politicians who teach me the differences between the races, rather than the similarities. I know what racism, or perceived racism) did to my beloved beautiful state of Ms. Most of us were not racist, did not wear sheets, were absolutely fine when integration occurred yet financially will and will for many years to come. Mississippi continues to come in #50 in almost every important issue from education to tourism (we’re a bit better on tourism now due to casinos but the good jobs and most monies travels out of state).  I am very surprised when I see my fellow-Mississippians go along with Trump, especially given what such racists did to us nationwide (if not worldwide). It will take Ms many years to pull out of that alligator pit.  And it won’t be in our lifetime and if they keep marching to Trump’s racist drum it won’t be in our grand children’s lifetimes.

I can look at a person and predict future meltdowns.  3 months ago I predicted to my wife Lee that I could see Glenn Beck beginning to melt down.  I gave him exactly 2.5 months left on Fox (I knew how Fox worked as I used to work there years ago when it was still Metromedia).  I was off about five days.

I think Trump will last about a month longer. After 4-5 months of the media virtually ignoring him, giving him a few crazy sound bites, he will be doing the “Glenn Beck cry” and fade away. His ego is a little stronger hence he’ll last a bit longer than Beck. But all its going to take is one news veteran to ask the right question and Trump will be back hawking his MLM pyramid scheme telling everyone he’s a billionaire (oh, many times over)

Donald, I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a bottle of Amway environmentally-friendly dish washing detergent today.  There is more shares of complaints regarding Trump’s MLM “Get Rich Quick” company on Scam.com than I care to read.  He’s done nothing to respond and/or remedy these complaints.  Too busy with his hired detective help in Hawaii, finding out things that “don’t look good at all”  (Admit it, like Obama or not, he got a BIG SMILE today).

There is only one person on the horizon who understands what a President does. Governor Gary Johnson (Republican) of New Mexico was interviewed on the news several weeks ago.  He emitted so much sanity, knew exactly what a President does and doesn’t do, I felt sad.  He’s just too sane to run. And yes, he knew the two main job descriptions of a U.S. President and had very little to say, even when quizzed over and over by the reporter on anything but those two issues.  Do you think we’ll ever get a President who knows his/her job?

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Rick London is a cartoonist, designer, and funny gift manufacturer.  He founded the net’s #1 offbeat cartoons, Londons Times and its licensed shops featuring funny tees gifts etc. He also founded and designs ShoesThatAmuse.com the world’s only famous love quotes shoes, and writes music. He and his wife Lee are nature lovers and spend a lot of time hiking in the Ouichata Mountains of Arkansas.

Click To Enlarge

Above was our 1st Londons Times Cartoon logo. I remember thinking “This is brilliant”…proof, there was much work to do!!

I do now understand a little more how the cartoon became successful (there were two main elements) 1. Hard work. I mean relentlessly hard and not giving up when obstacle after obstacle arose, and they did, often fast & furiously. I couldn’t have done it alone.

I had and have an amazingly talented creative team, and supportive friends (some call them fans, but they are real friends) who are very loyal. That part often seems strange. I think it was the struggle of getting 20 people per day to visit at the start which was difficult to now; having had 8.7 million visitors since January 2005. One can imagine the surprise. Anyone would be.

Click To Enlarge

Above is our current Londons Times Cartoons & Gifts logo. Maybe not brilliant, but doesn’t it beat that Partridge Family looking thing???

By the same token, everything I’ve learned in school tells me, it would have been even more surprising if we’d not had the result not have been as it turned out. All the elements were in place. Everyone involved worked and work very hard. I am surrounded by talent I believe to be way out of my league. It works. My wife Lee is very supportive and offers consistent support. I’m grateful every day.

14 years ago, I was on the floor of an old tin shed in rural Ms. begging artists and web people to work with me for peanuts.

Click To Enlarge

Above is the View From My Hot Springs, Ar Home Office

Today I’m looking up in my office at numerous cartoons (two of which just appeared in the Jerusalem Post; one they left up for a month), and several that are in the permanent collection at Mayo Clinic Medical Library, and one that Barbara Orbison, widow of the late great Roy Orbison has placed permanently in the Roy Orbison Archives.

Click To Enlarge

This Londons Times Cartoon (and one other) is part of the permanent collection of Mayo Clinic Medical Library

We received an email from them several months ago requesting signed copies for their Medical Library which we sent. It is part of their permanent collection. The Library’s founder, Dr. Polly was “a cartoon fanatic” (in their words).

In 2001, I launched Cartoonists Against Terrorism to raise funds for the families of fallen 9/11 responders. A heart attack and resulting bad literary economy afer 9/11 put that effort on hold, but cartoonists worldwide have contributed and we are building a 9/11 Memorial Shop which will open in September 2011 to benefit 9/11 families.

Click To Enlarge

This Londons Times/Panel Hollywood Cartoon is in the permanent collection of the Roy Orbison Archives

The above cartoon is part of our “Panel Hollywood” series. It is now a permanent fixture in the Roy Orbison Archives at the request of his widow, Barbara Orbison.

My loving wife Lee is a wonderful wildlife/nature photographer. She has the popular Hike Our Planet nature blog with incredible photos of Hot Springs National Park.

Click To Enlarge

Above is the logo of Photos4Japan.Org founded by my wife Lee-Hiller London (Lee Hiller). Her user name is @LeeHillerLondon on Twitter to follow her updates.

She recently launched Photographers For Japan in which some of the best nature photographers I’ve ever seen have contributed photos to help raise money for our favorite charity Mercy Corps.

I was briefly involved with a Mercy Corps project in which both Lee and I were very impressed.

Above is a graphic of the cover of our 1st book “Londons Times Cartoons 13th Anniversary available at Lulu.com as a coffee table book or download cartoon E-book at Lulu.com and soon at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, etc (6-8 weeks from now).

I decided to launch Cartoonists to help Japan, starting with cartoons from our Londons Times collection, and placing want ads on various artist websites recruiting others (worldwide). We also placed a Mercy Corp donate button and it is becoming a popular site.

This is the logo for our Cartoonists For Japan blog. On Twitter, the user name is @cartoons4japan in case you would like to follow; we’d be honored.

Click To Enlarge

This Londons Times Cartoon & One other appeared in the Jerusalem Post Feb 2011 (stayed up a full month)

The above cartoon and one other appeared in The Jerusalem Post in February 2011. They ran this one for an entire month in their online paper during the Egyptian uprising. The other cartoon appeared for a day in their paper edition.

I sit at my desk in my Hot Springs, Ar office which overlooks the mountains of Hot Springs National Park. I think back to the start and it all seems like a blur. I can remember how few believed the project would ever work. I tended often to be on their side. My own belief in it was slim to none. But there were a few who felt I might have some talent and encouraged me. I remember them as if they are family A few are no longer with us but their spirit is. Without them, we would not have these cartoons.

Now it is too late to turn back…too late to throw in the towel. Not that I’d want to. Every day I feel like the adventure has just begun.

I’m designing shoes at my Shoes That Amuse famous love quotes shoes shop. I go hiking and absorb and enjoy nature with my wife Lee as she snaps some of the most fascinating photos I’ve ever seen. And we’re happy. Next week is the Royal Wedding of William & Catherine. Everyone is very excited so I designed a lot of gifts and collectibles with a caricature of them we created plus designed several styles of shoes. Its all available at our Shoes That Amuse Shop.

Click To Enlarge

Above is the lace-up style of Royal Wedding Shoes I designed on U.S. Keds. (Champion Keds for women). I also made tees, mousepads, etc and two slip on shoe designs at our ShoesThatAmuse.com shop.

Click To Enlarge

Looking back and seeing what happens (when one gets out of one’s own way), one can easily have faith that God really does want us to be happy. I happen to believe that; not to worry though, in case you don’t share that belief, it doesn’t matter to me. I wish everyone joy, happiness and laughter. Get your work done, but go out and play, no matter what your age!!

Above was our 1st Londons Times Cartoon logo. I remember thinking "This is brilliant"…proof, there was much work to do!!

      I do now understand a little more how the cartoon became successful (there were two main elements) 1. Hard work. I mean relentlessly hard and not giving up when obstacle after obstacle arose, and they did, often fast & furiously.   I couldn’t have done it alone.

I had and have an amazingly talented creative team, and supportive friends (some call them fans, but they are real friends) who are very loyal. That part often seems strange.  I think it was the struggle of getting 20 people per day to visit at the start which was difficult to now; having had 8.7 million visitors since January 2005. One can imagine the surprise. Anyone would be. 

Above is our current Londons Times Cartoons & Gifts logo. Maybe not brilliant, but doesn’t it beat that Partridge Family looking thing??? 

     By the same token, everything I’ve learned in school tells me, it would have been even more surprising if we’d not had the result not have been as it turned out.  All the elements were in place. Everyone involved worked and work very hard.  I am surrounded by talent I believe to be way out of my league.  It works.  My wife Lee is very supportive and offers consistent support. I’m grateful every day.

      14 years ago, I was on the floor of an old tin shed in rural Ms. begging artists and web people to work with me for peanuts. 

       Today I’m looking up in my office at numerous cartoons (two of which just appeared in the Jerusalem Post; one they left up for a month), and several that are in the permanent collection at Mayo Clinic Medical Library, and one that Barbara Orbison, widow of the late great Roy Orbison has placed permanently in the Roy Orbison Archives. 

The above cartoon is one of two we did about Mayo Clinic. We received an email from them several months ago requesting signed copies for their Medical Library which we sent. It is part of their permanent collection. The Library’s founder, Dr. Polly was "a cartoon fanatic" (in their words). 

       In 2001, I launched Cartoonists Against Terrorism to raise funds for the families of fallen 9/11 responders. A heart attack and resulting bad literary economy afer 9/11 put that effort on hold, but cartoonists worldwide have contributed and we are building a 9/11 Memorial Shop which will open in September 2011 to benefit the families. 

The above cartoon is part of our  "Panel Hollywood" series. It is now a permanent  fixture in the Roy Orbison Archives at the request of his widow, Barbara Orbison. 

      My loving wife Lee is a wonderful wildlife/nature photographer. She has the popular Hike Our Planet nature blog with incredible photos of Hot Springs National Park. 

Above is the logo of Photos4Japan.Org founded by my wife Lee-Hiller London (Lee Hiller). Her user name is @LeeHillerLondon on Twitter  to follow her updates.  

       She recently launched Photographers For Japan in which some of the best nature photographers I’ve ever seen have contributed photos to help raise money for our favorite charity Mercy Corps. 

       I was briefly involved with a Mercy Corps project in which both Lee and I were very impressed. 

Above is a graphic of the cover of our 1st book "Londons Times Cartoons 13th Anniversary available at Lulu.com as a coffee table book or download cartoon E-book. 

      I decided to launch Cartoonists to help Japan, starting with cartoons from our Londons Times collection, and placing want ads on various artist websites recruiting others (worldwide).   We also placed a Mercy Corp donate button and it is becoming a popular site. 

This is the logo for our Cartoonists For Japan blog. On Twitter, the user name is @cartoons4japan in case you would like to follow; we’d be honored. 

The above cartoon and one other appeared in The Jerusalem Post in February 2011. They ran this one for an entire month in their online paper during the Egyptian uprising.  The other cartoon appeared for a day in their paper edition. 

      I sit at my desk in my Hot Springs, Ar office which overlooks the mountains of Hot Springs National Park.  I think back to the start and it all seems like a blur. I can remember how few believed the project would ever work.  I tended often to be on their side. My own belief in it was slim to none.  But there were a few who felt I might have some talent and encouraged me. I remember them as if they are family  A few are no longer with us but their spirit is. Without them, we would not have these cartoons.

     Now it is too late to turn back…too late to throw in the towel. Not that I’d want to.  Every day I feel like the adventure has just begun. 

      I am working on my second book Londons Times Generation Two Cartoons which should be out before the 2011 holidays. 

      I’m designing shoes at my Shoes That Amuse famous love quotes shoes shop.  I go hiking and absorb and enjoy nature with my wife Lee as she snaps some of the most fascinating photos I’ve ever seen.  And we’re happy.   Next week is the Royal Wedding of William & Catherine.  Everyone is very excited so I designed a lot of gifts and collectibles with a caricature of them we created plus designed several styles of shoes.  Its all available at our Shoes That Amuse Shop. 

Above is the lace-up style of Royal Wedding Shoes I designed on U.S. Keds. (Champion Keds for women). I also made tees, mousepads, etc and two slip on shoe designs at our ShoesThatAmuse.com shop.  

      Looking back and seeing what happens (when one gets out of one’s own way), one can easily have faith that God really does want us to be happy. I happen to believe that; not to worry though, in case you don’t share that belief,  it doesn’t matter to me.  I wish everyone joy, happiness and laughter.  Get your work done, but go out and play, no matter what your age!!