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.

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.

Croaked Frog

When you reach my age (56), it is not unique that one remembers things that happened 50 years ago; but can’t remember what day it is. That’s me.  The one thing I will never forget is how and why I started collecting things. Let me warn you ahead of time, this story will not appeal to “greenies” nor “animal rights activists”. I should know, I am both. But at age four, when I was just beginning to explore the great outdoors, I found what became my new favorite animal, besides my beagle “Buster”.  That animal was the frog.  And since I lived near the woods, I knew I could count on my new friend, the frog, to virtually jump into my hands and into the great big jar full of grass and all kinds of marshy things I put together. It was tall enough to need no top so it generally lived a long time.  I tried to get 3-4 a night so as they could keep company and “tell frog stories”, as I imagined frogs often did.

Unlike my two siblings, my parents made a bedroom for me out of the attic of the home. This had its advantages and disadvantages. One advantage was the ability to hide frogs, even though the croak sort of gave them away. One croak was so loud, Mom ran upstairs, ran past the closet they were in, and to me. I was rubbing my tummy telling her I felt it was gas.  She gave me more Milk Of Magnesia than any human should be aloud to ingest and the croaking continued.

Mom was no dummy, even though at times I thought she was.  She asked, as I rubbed my tummy, “Where are the frogs”.  I took her to the large jar.  She let them out into the woods and explained to me that was their home and where they were happy. I readily agreed and begin collecting insects in jars.  She gave me the same lecture and we let them go.

Finally it occurred to me that I could be creative, make things, and nobody got hurt. I even begin collecting stamps.  Well into elementary school, creative writing became my love and nobody ever got hurt, except for those forced to read it.  However as time went by, I fared well at it, won a few contests and kept at it.

After college came “time to get serious” and there was not much time for creative ventures.  A funny thing happened though. Those creative ventures were still in my heart, and, when the work day was over, I would continue on creating as I pleased.  As time went by, I enjoyed 9-5 work less and less and creative endeavors more and more.  Playwriting took me to book writing, and book writing took me to screenwriting, and screenwriting took me to cartooning which is where I am now.

My cartooning began as a hobby. I had been taking care of a dying Mom and it was something to keep my mind busy.  Never in a million years would I have believed that this little hobby would grow into a business of 5000+ color cartoons and 200,000+ funny gifts & collectibles.  My cartoons are now my own little collectibles. They have replaced frogs, insects, stamps and a multitude of other items that did not serve me well (or vice versa).  Thirteen years of cartooning is a subtle hint that I might be on the right path. With Google & MSN rating my cartoon number one for 6 years, is yet another, subtle hint, this is the right thing for me to “collect”.   Anybody got a big jar?

Place Is Bugged (Click To Enlarge)

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I am a writer, designer and cartoonist who used to collect frogs, insects, stamps and other such items.  Cartoons seem to fit me better. I founded Londons Times Cartoon in 1997 which are the #1 Google & MSN ranked offbeat cartoon on the Internet. I launched several online stores that sell my funny gifts and even have my own line of designer shoes featuring graphics of famous philosophers and poets and their most famous love quotations.