Posted on 11/03/2006 5:52:55 PM PST by pcottraux
It is with great sadness that I, pcottraux, on this Singles thread of November 3-5, am posting my last FReeptoon. This is the end.
For those of you who may be unfamiliar, I’ve drawn a series of politically-themed cartoon strips as sort of a hobby and posted them on FR for a little over a year now. And I have to say that it has been a complete blast. When I first started, I never anticipated all the warmth, well-reception, and overall fun I’ve had not to mention all the new friends I’ve made. The web can be a great place, and as far as web sites go, FR is one of the best!
The decision to end the FReeptoons was not an easy one. Mostly, it all boiled down to time constraints. I just don’t have as much time to devote to it like I used to. When I first started, I was unemployed and kind of bored, and was able to crank out 2 a week. Nowadays, I barely have time to draw one. And because of this lack of time, I’m also unable to put as much effort into each toon, ultimately leaving me unsatisfied with the results.
As a side, I also for a long time have posted an extra “bonus” cartoon, if you will. This toon is a very old series of doodles that I used to make in High School, called the “Dinkelmeyer Zone.” (I normally just call them the “Dinkelmeyers.”) This strip chronicles the adventures of a lovable loser in HS just trying to make the best of life. There are still about 40 Dinkelmeyer strips left, so for those who request it, I’ll be sending links out about once per week of several Dinks at a time. But you absolutely MUST request it in order to receive these via PM. So while this is the end of the FReeptoons, the little bonus cartoons will still last for a few more weeks.
Also, I have the full FReeptoons archives at the bottom of my home page, and they will always remain there for anyone who wants to look.
But what am I doing blabbing on? We’re here to see…
The Last FReeptoon
But that’s not all! I’d like to take some time to briefly recall the FReeptoons history, and maybe provide a little insight into them:
The FReeptoons: A Look Back
The main driving force behind the strip is a simple concept. You read political cartoons all the time, and it’s nothing new or strange to see the Democratic Party being represented by a donkey, who says something snide, or what-have-you. However, that’s usually just one panel, and you’ve got a witty remark/sledgehammer message in one shebang. My idea was to take this and make it more like a daily strip, and actually make that symbolic representation into a character, who you get to know, who has quirks and an interesting personality.
Another driving force is also pretty simple: I like to make fun of stuff. People, situations, events, you name it. I just enjoy not taking a lot of things very seriously. When you have George Clooney or some other Hollywood blowhard getting up on a podium accepting an Oscar and snootily declaring himself to be “smarter than the American people,” that kind of pretentious garbage just screams to be ridiculed.
Where exactly the idea for the FReeptoons first came is unclear, even to me. I do remember that I wanted to get back into drawing; I hadn’t done much art since college. It just sort of hit me one day: why not start drawing political cartoons and posting them on FR? Sounded like a novel concept, and I have to say that I was pretty excited by the first chance to do it. I sort of formulated some characters/situations in my mind, and then cranked something out. Cindy Sheehan was my first target, and in an attention-grabbing flash, the cartoon first burst onto the scene:
Man, does it look a lot different now!
The first thread I posted is lost, and it wouldn’t matter because the original uploaded pics have been deleted. Sadly, the toons were off to a rocky start; it was hard to get anyone interested in reading them, plus my scanner stopped working for about a month! I almost gave up, but after deciding to hang in there a liiiiittle while longer, things started to improve. I have this thread (the Singles thread) to thank for that, because it was here I first started making FRiends, who also happened to show interest in my work. Thanks, guys!
The Characters:
The Donkey
The Donkey is the main character, and a symbolic representation of the Democratic Party. I thought it would be interesting to mostly show the strip through the views of an anti-hero. The Donkey is not a likable guy; in fictional lingo, you’d call him the “Character we love to hate.” His personality is snide, slightly arrogant, and vain; he was somewhat modeled after Dan Fielding, the John Laroquette character from “Night Court.” I hint at times that he is also a womanizer. In a weird paradox, he has a donkey-like head and hooves, but a very human-like body.
However, at times (putting on my flame suit), it’s also possible to sympathize with Donkey. In this picture, we see him reminiscing about “The good old days,” when he was less pessimistic and tougher on foreign policy:
The Shark
The Shark is a fan favorite, and may be the strip’s funniest character (I think he’s my favorite as well). He is a symbolic representation of the left-wing American media. At the beginning of the strip, I tagged a “Media” sign on him so people would know that; however, I removed it pretty quickly because I trusted my readers to know/figure out who he was themselves. Like Laurel and Hardy or R2D2 and C3PO (and like the real media and Democratic Party), Shark and Donkey are practically inseparable.
The Shark is funny because of his personality. He is unabashedly biased towards the left, but has a very apathetic attitude towards it. Like the real mainstream media…and like a real shark…he has a very cold detachment from what he does, and never seems to question why he does it. He also accepts his what’s going on around him with little interest.
I like to play around with what this character is. He eats chum, has gills, and his fins are useless, but I’ve never been able to explain how he can breathe air and walk among us. He just “goes home to his aquarium” every night.
The Elephant
Needless to say, the Elephant represents the Republican Party. And, of course, he is the Donkey’s arch-nemesis. However, to be perfectly honest, he doesn’t appear nearly as much simply because the Donkey and Shark are just more interesting characters. He’s been heroic before (during the Xmas strip, he saved Santa from the ACLU), but mostly, I try to portray him as a poor schlub who’s exhausted from his job and worn down, nervous, and stressed-out from years of politicking. Much like the real Republican party, he started off with sincere intentions but seems to be losing his way.
Hillary/The Empress
The Hillary Clinton/Evil Empress duality is a gimmicky parody of the Star Wars Emperor Palpatine/Sith Lord. Mainly, the Donkey fears her and bows to her every word, while secretly wondering how this woman took over his party. The idea comes from the fact that so many liberals compare the Republicans to the Sith and Bush to the evil Emperor, when Hillary—with her goody-goody public image disguising her sinister plans—is SO much more of a legitimate comparison.
Cindy Sheehan
Starting from the beginning, Cindy Sheehan had a recurring role. Early in the strip, the Shark drops her like a bad date, and she responds by turning into a creepy stalker desperately trying to get his attention. Not sure how different that is from real life.
Howard Dean started off with a recurring role in the strip. Originally, the partnership was a trio, with the Donkey, Shark, and Dean (who is portrayed as a completely deranged, self-destructive psychopath). However, Dean himself has kind of been out of the news for a while (I think the Dems must have him gagged and bound somewhere), so the character didn’t quite work out.
A Final WordWell, that’s it for now, guys. If you want to see the rest of it, you’ll just have to click on my homepage, scroll down, and see what’s going on!
And for those of you who have been with me from the beginning, I want to say thank you for all the fun and laughs. And for the recent readers, too…I want to thank everyone for all you’ve done, and it just wouldn’t have been worth it if not for the good times I had with everyone!
And so, on that final note, I’d like to wish everyone “a warm and heart-felt goodnight.”
Add me to the singles thread, will ya?
I will add you to our list KC..
welcome!
DollyCali
Thank you very much.
WooHoo... great Mail/male!!!!
lol
thanks Trussell
still waiting for my dog
I note you are in DC area. Do you go to the Walter Reed FReeps? I have been to two.. looking forward to one more before 2007
Did you order a new puppy for your birthday? I missed the discussion on you waiting for a dog. (or, if I didn't miss it, I seem to have lost that converstaion).
Hope it showsup soon.
I'll just have to make another table for you then ;)
I agree. When it is my son or daughter's birthday, I feel the same. It will be a lovely Birthday spending it with Mom. Sounds like a lot of fun celebrating this weekend too! :)
This AM I opened the door for a few kitties to come in & eat & forgot to close it & Toby took off. I had Josy out in van/on lead earlier, as I feed them separately as Josy eats all of Toby's food. She is Alpha!(and a piggy with the food)
Late for church. Will make it to SS if mr. Toby decides to grace me with his presence by then. We have a Practice as our class is doing special music in a few weeks.
Oh no...I'll say a prayer that he shows up very soon. It's miserable when your puppies are missing. I worry myself sick that they will get hurt. :(
Hugs!
I've bought taco kits from Kroger that are meatless and made with soy crumbles. Unfortunately their health food dept. has discontinued that line. You can't tell the difference. I would not mind using them for chili and spaghetti. I don't know how to buy just the crumbles. I have nothing against meatless meals. No grease to clean up for starters.
By the way speaking of Kroger health food dept., I am crazy about Ling Ling Vegetarian Pot Stickers. http://www.4linglings.com/all_natural/index.html . I wonder if they would be hard to make at home.
On Monday, we had a going away party for the plant manager. He's being promoted to a vice-president position, but he won't be directly over our plant anymore. He's a good guy. He's a born-again Christian, and he's been very open and politely vocal about his faith. He also loves movies. People in management have gone to meetings where he's asked everyone to watch a movie with him, and he pulls lessons from the movie to illustrate how he sees our efforts for the plant. His faith and his interest in movies causes me to think of Dolly when I think of him.
On Wednesday, we had a social gathering at a plantation home that is adjacent to the plant. We own the home because doing so gives us better security and we wanted to see it restored. After most of us had eaten, a guy walked into the room and asked whether anyone was a snake expert. I said that I knew a bit about snakes, and he asked me to follow him. He took me outside where a four foot Texas rat snake had crawled from somewhere and was near the drink coolers. I caught him and stood there holding him. One of the managers doesn't like snakes and was standing there getting the heebie-geebies. The site superintendent, "2nd in command" at the plant, came out and was shocked. As I took the snake around the house to find some bushes for it to hide, I stopped at a window when someone pointed. A few people walked over to look. The plant manager grimaced a little, but he's used to me being odd. I thought about keeping the rat snake, but he's really doesn't fit into my overall plan, and I think he'd be plenty happy at the plantation home.
My own snakes seem to be doing well. All three of them ate this week. We had a cold snap, and one of their cages got a little too cold one night. Fortunately, the snake was smart enough to crawl to the warm side and make herself comfortable. Some of them aren't smart enough to do that and will sit there until they catch a respiratory infection.
The reptile show in Baton Rouge is always small. I'm not sure why the show here is small while other shows in the state are larger. I mostly go to show support in hopes that it will grow someday. One of my friends lost many of her snakes to an electrical mishap a month or so ago. That was sad, and I had been seriously considering buying one of the snakes that had been lost. Another guy had hatchlings of a species that I want. I've ordered some from an out-of-state breeder, but if something happens with one of them, I'll go to this local guy.
I'm certain that there are some reptile shows in the Cleveland area. I found one organization that holds them fairly regularly. Their address is http://www.freewebs.com/shrz/index.htm . Their website says that they'll have two more shows this year.
On Tuesday, I went to vote early. I had worked quite a few hours extra the previous week, so I was okay with going to vote. My district really doesn't have a competitive House race. The Democrats didn't field a candidate, and the Republican has won with about 70% of the vote in most elections. The neighboring district has a very competitive race where the GOP could pick up a seat this time. I've been doing volunteer work for that candidate throughout this campaign. When I looked at my ballot, they had given me the wrong district. My ethical quandry was whether to vote in the race where I wanted to vote becasue they gave me that ballot or to tell them of their mistake. I told them their mistake. At first, they doubted, but they checked. Eventually, they gave me the right ballot, but it was frustrating having to give up a chance to vote for the candidate for whom I'd been volunteering.
I spent this morning putting out flyers at churches. I have mixed feelings about this kind of campaigning, but I help because I want to help the campaign. I may try to do a little more today. I'll likely make some calls tomorrow evening, and I'll spend election day checking turnout.
That's the news in my life. I hope all is well with all of you.
Bill
I have not been any to the Freeps. Not sure I should go since I am in the Navy reserves. I have been to a couple of dinners and the inauguration party.
I think the active duty personel must be in civies..not sure if that is even okay although I know there are active duty who have been with us.
you could ask some of them on the thread... I guess you have seen the after adction reports.
Here is my thread on the inauguration.. maybe I have a pix of you along the way!
Inauguration Pix THE LAST THREAD OF 2005 ???? [Inaugural Ball]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1335332/posts
Hey Bill,
Good to hear from you. Thats pretty funny about the rat snake, I hope you didn't scare too many people!
When I had my boa, she would become very dormant in the winter time. I think there was one period when she didn't eat for about 6 months, no matter how hard I tried. I knew it was meal time when she started following my foot, as I waved it in front of her cage when I was on the phone. How many snakes do you have now? What type are you looking to get?
I think you did the right thing with your voting district. I sent in my absentee ballot for my district in IA, though I moved to Alaska in Sept. I was registered there, and I didn't register in time to vote in the Alaska elections. I believe you need to do so 30 days before an election. I would like to get involved with GOP efforts here in coming elections.
Alaska is amazing and I love it. I received 4 offers so far (I'm waiting on my 'official' offer from one of the large firms here) and I am very excited about the opportunities here.
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