cartoon of thev week

What's the deal here in Spain . . . traditition ? - - - I think there should be a law in Pamplona - - - everyone desiring to taunt and chase the bulls every year in those narrow streets and alleyways should have their heads examined prior to entering.  Those who fail the competency test should be allowed anyway - - - at least you know the ones who are running with a brick shy of a load - - -  

Question of the day

A recent Johns Hopkins Medical University study concluded that four out of five people suffer from Diarrhea. 

( Does that mean that ONE out of five people ENJOY IT ? !  - - - man, give me a break ! )

New cartoon book - Roy Delgado's Family Funnies

Here is a peek of the brand spanking new book of cartoons by this author.  It is an anthology of some of the best and funniest cartoons for a family-oriented audience culled from major magazines and publications in the U.S.  A laugh on every page. 190 pages of clippings from, to name just a few:  Reader's Digest, Good Housekeeping, Barron's, The Wall Street Journal, Medical Economics, Cortlandt Forum, etc.

An 8x8 softback with a laminated color cover and the inside  jam-packed with black and white cartoons,  also includes an interesting bio in the preface with photos of his interesting sign company he founded and operated for 26 years!

The softback retails for $14.95 plus $5.00 S&H

Here are a few cartoons from the book.  Enjoy.

On HUMOR ( A reminder )

According to Webster's Unabridged:  HUMOR is defined as:

  " The mental factulty of discovering, expressing or appreciating ludicrous or absurdly incongrous elements, in ideas, situations, happenings or acts . . . "  A changing or uncertain of mind . . "

This pretty much really sums it up . . .

When comes the task of writing gags for cartoons . . . which is a never-ending, on going, consistent, mind exercise, week after week, month after month, year after year . . . I think most cartoonists actually use the same methods . . . I have never heard anything new.

  I would suggest to write the definition down on a piece of paper and have it close by so you see it every day. ( And remind yourself of this factual definition ) 

Wisdom -

" No matter what has happened, always behave as if nothing has happened. "

 - ARNOLD BENNETT


This reminds me of the legendary UCLA basketball coach, Bill Wooden.  This classic sentence, I believe could have easily been penned by Mr. Wooden.

Years ago I remember seeing a TV interview of one of his great centers, Dave Meyers. Dave was replying to a question by the interviewer of how the team, almost to the last man was ALWAYS cool and calm and no matter how dire the circumstances were, the poise you saw was so admirable, almost like you were watching a movie . . . and then, just like a movie, they would make that last second steal or shot that won the game . . . and the team showed just a little enthusiasm when they would squeak by . . it was as if they KNEW what the ending was going to be.

This phenomena happened because The coach had drilled it into the player's brain, that no matter how the game ended, he told the team that when they trotted off the court, NO ONE SHOULD BE ABLE TO TELL IF UCLA WON OR IF THEY LOST by their actions or the expression on their faces !

Of course it was hard to do, but man, that's what I call classic poise . . . if you can do it.

Real Church Marqee Signs in the area . . .

Having been in the sign business all my life I probably pay more attention and read more signs than the average joe - - -  I especially like to read the changeable message reader boards that are usually below the main sign which sports the name of the church.  I usually stop and make a quick note on my 3x5 pad so I can remember it - - - Here are a couple I recently saw - - - you can't make this stuff up - - - This one in Cumberland MD. - - - 

" ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IS NO MATCH FOR NATURAL STUPIDITY "

And then this one - - -

" THERE ARE SOME QUESTIONS THAT CANNOT BE ANSWERED BY GOOGLE "

Both priceless - - -

Wisdom ( Write this one down )

" Sometimes the best deals are the ones you don't make. "

BILL VEECK

My little Bill Veek story . . .  ( It's VEECK like in WRECK )
I would suggest for anyone out there who does not know about this flamboyant major league baseball owner to google him . . .

Being raised in Tucson, Arizona, I remember when about in the 5th grade, I attended Roskruge Junior High School, which was just two-and-a-half blocks from my house and I distinctly remember Bill Veek Jr., who was about one year younger than I lived in the house directly across the street from the school, on Fifth Street.  Bill Veek Jr. was a lanky smart nice kid and sported glasses.  His father, Bill Veek Sr. at the time was the owner of the Cleveland Indians, and Tucson was the winter home of the Indians.  So the family would move here for the winter warm up season every year.  I didn't know him well, but I do remember playing a little softball in the schoolyard with him.

The city of Tucson therefore was home to the minor-league Cleveland Indians franchise team: " The Tucson Cowboys ".   I went to hundreds of Tucson Cowboy games, and I also saw a few Indians Exhibition games and back in hose days, they would let you climb the wall and sneak in free . . nobody said nuttin' . . . but those days are gone, now the police handcuff and arrest you.   It's a whole new ball game ( pardon the pun ).

I remember getting Lou Boudreau's and Satchel Paige's and Bob Lemon's and Larry Doby's autographs. Usually on the back of a Hershey Bar wrapper or popcorn box . . . most of them would give you a dirty look . . . reason was that the majority of the kids had nice autograph books  . . . I remember Bob Lemon saying looking at the Hershey bar wrapper, You're not going to throw it away, are you ? . . I said, of course not, Thanks !   He said, You're welcome.

Phoenix was the winter spring training camp sometimes of the then Brooklyn Dodgers, and I got to see a lot of baseball legends who came in to play the local Cleveland Indians.  Lots of fond memories . . . I remember back then, about in 1950 is when I saw Satchel Paige up close . . Hell, he looked about 60 then, and he went on to play for years after that . . . Back to the drawing board.

Nuf sed, as Lew Card used to say.

On Philosophy

Cicero said that he liked to read on the subject of philosophy - - - because it teaches you how to die.

It is a profound statement, brilliantly put, I have to say I agree with him.  I think, when you are young and up to middle age, philosophy teaches you how to live - - -  and when you get to be a senior, it teaches you how to die, moreso, because it is a subject that creeps up every now and then.  

It teaches you how to die, even if you are young and middle aged, because you never know when your number is coming up.  Like someone said: there's a  fella  goin' around takin' names - - - I think it's a good idea to think about how you are going to live . . . but it is also important to know how to die.

nuf sed.

Wisdom ( Write this one down )

" You better be careful - ( And while your at it, double-check ) in what you believe. "

 -ROY DELGADO

American visual communication advisor and designer, artist, signpainter, cartoonist, writer, entrepreneur, businessman, philosopher.

Today

For some unknown reason, I've encountered a few problems with the last few blogs . .
When I post it, I notice that sometimes a whole line disappears in the body of copy of my rant or blather . . When it first happened, I went back and edited it and retyped in the missing words or sentence.  Unfortunately to no avail, so I tried to fix it again . . and the same thing happened . . it remained screwed up, so now, I'll just leave it with the missing words and add it to the list of unexplained phenomenas like The Bermuda Triangle, etc.

It seemed to happen more frequently when I switched to Courier Italic
thinking the typeface would have a more familiar ' newspaper-look '  to it . . so now I'll try THIS typeface: VERDANA, and see how this works.

I'll leave this with one of my personal favorite quotes, ( Whom I just found who the author was )


"If you enjoy what you do, you'll never work another day in your life. "

  - Confucius

Snow in Maysville

They called for the worse snow in 30 years . . I remember distincly the blizzard of '93 . .

 This time the snow started falling last night just before dark . . And . .  this time I thought I was going to be smart . . My big-brained plan for the next blizzard was to let it fall maybe about six inches or so, then get into my Tahoe and drive it down the driveway ( about 40 yards ) to the road.

This would create a "path" so then I could wait another hour or so, then repeat the drill, I would continue this over and over every hour or so, by constantly doing this I would not get stuck up here with 3 feet of snow like last time., and I figured that even if it snowed 3 feet again . . I would do it the smart way.

The problem with the great plan, I fell asleep watching Casablanca and when I woke up in the early A.M.., I looked outside and it was too late . . it looked like it was already over two feet and it was coming down steady . . . So I scrapped the plan . . waited till it subsided and about 9 A.M. shovelled out about six feet out from the house and quit . . little by little . . I thought I'd clear a path to my car which is still about 50 ft. from my house. 

Now the blizzard is still on, steady coming down but at least I'll get 'em next year.

All of this looks so ridiculous to a guy from Tucson, Arizona . . used to the sun and cactus 365 days a year.

I live about 3 miles out of the city of Petersburg, WV . . .   So my actual street address is in an unincorporated town called Maysville.  ( Very much like Mayberry on TV, every now and then, I swear I see Don Knotts in town, he WAS actually from West Virginia ).

Just looked out and saw six deer 20 feet from my window scrounging around looking for something to eat.

Have filled the 3 birdhouses on my porch 3 times in the last 24 hours . . They know where they can always find a good meal in a blizzard, around here the word travels fast . . . Bluejays, Cardinals, Crows, Snowbirds . . Woodpeckers, Finches . .  all within 6 feet from my window . . boy, Rocky and Midnight, my two cats go nuts just watching the feeding, their tails swaying back and forth and their ears perking up . . once, Rocky jumped and hit the glass window with his head, forgetting that he was inside the house . .

Shut up and keep drawing.