The Saturday Comics: Hejji by Dr. Seuss

28 Jan

January 28 2012

I wish this wasn’t so short-lived. A weekly Dr. Seuss comic strip. There isn’t much known about it so I’ll quote from wikipedia, which can’t be that far off:

Hejji was a short-lived 1935 comic strip, an early work and the only comic strip by prominent children’s author Dr. Seuss (pseudonym of Theodor Geisel). Hejji was produced by Geisel during the Great Depression, two years before the publication of his first book.

Distributed by William Randolph Hearst’s King Features Syndicate, Hejji began publication on April 7, 1935, as a Sunday strip. A comic strip with an unusually brief publication period, it was cancelled before the year’s end

The title character was a traveler who, in the first strip, entered the strange land of Baako, which had whales swimming in water-filled volcano craters, a flower broadcasting music and twin goats sharing a single beard. Hejji inadvertently plucks the sacred Trumpet Flower and is promptly arrested. He is taken to the palace of the Mighty One, who has Hejji thrown to the Seven Deadly Wombats. After Hejji escapes, the Mighty One apologizes and gives him a guided tour of Baako. They encounter various creatures and eventually arrive at the mysterious castle of the Evil One.

Characters and situations from Hejji reappeared in later Dr. Seuss work. For example, the two goats with the single beard reappeared in the musical fantasy film The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T, scripted by Geisel.

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Imponderable #33: Japan

27 Jan

January 27, 2012

This Imponderable comes from where so many other Imponderables do, Japan.

It actually makes sense to me. You cannot drive without sitting down so embedding a scanner in a seat seems totally non-intrusive to me.

Of course, as technology often does, it opens up a whole new set of troubles. The groper who grabs a woman’s ass on the subway? “Sorry Officer, I was just scanning her ass. It was all a misunderstanding, I thought she stole my car.”

I suspect that the technology was a sneaky way for Japanese scientists to conduct research on rear ends. Can you imagine the R+D that went into his? This may be the only legitimate reason for a nerd to have porn on his laptop. Caught with nudie pics by his wife? Research.

How many models and porn stars were hired by Japan’s Advanced Institute of Industrial Technology?

The question is Imponderable.

Tags: , , , , , ,

Why, Science, Why?

26 Jan

January 26, 2011

To a new world of gods and monsters! – Bride of Frankenstein

Home? I have no home. Hunted, despised, Living like an animal! The jungle is my home. But I will show the world that I can be its master! I will perfect my own race of people. A race of atomic supermen which will conquer the world! Ha ha ha ha ha ha! – Bride of the Monster

OK, one puts it a little more eloquently than the other but they make the same point.

Humanity has a long history of tampering with nature and playing God in the name of science, and it never ends well. Even my favorite novel, Flowers for Algernon, ends heartbreakingly sadly.

Beware, because life imitates art.

That’s real. That fathead ant is real. And that’s what science is working on RIGHT NOW!

Have we learned nothing from Star Trek II? Remember the Genesis device?

McCoy: Dear Lord. You think we’re intelligent enough to… suppose… what if this thing were used where life already exists
Spock: It would destroy such life in favor of its new matrix.
McCoy: Its “new matrix”? Do you have any idea what you’re saying?
Spock: I was not attempting to evaluate its moral implications, Doctor. As a matter of cosmic history, it has always been easier to destroy than to create.
McCoy: Not anymore; now we can do both at the same time! According to myth, the Earth was created in six days. Now, watch out! Here comes Genesis! We’ll do it for you in six minutes!
Spock: Really, Dr. McCoy. You must learn to govern your passions; they will be your undoing. Logic suggests…
McCoy: Logic? My God, the man’s talking about logic; we’re talking about universal Armageddon! You green-blooded, inhuman…

And now supersoldier ants. The big-headed Captain Americas of the ant world!

How long until someone starts splicing these genes into people?

What kind of life do you think this guy has? He’ll never end up with that girl.

There is more than a fine line between “we can do something” and “we should do something.” Seriously, we can make huge-headed ants. OK, what for? Other than research there is no reason to do it. And I am not anti-research, far from it, but you know that while the scientists may start out with noble intentions like curing cancer, this will soon turn into “what if we inject super-ant hormone into army recruits when they get inoculated for TB?” Don’t laugh; America has done crap like that before.

Caribbean crazy ants  are bad enough. Now imagine them the size of Michael Vick and capable of driving cross-country to your town.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 224 other followers