Frog Blog

Saturday, February 18, 2012

GARFIELD

art: Jay Cover, an image for Steve Saiz's zine about Garfield.

MACKEREL AND TUNA PICNIC LOAF

Yuck! What's picnicky about this?? "Encyclopedia of Creative Cooking, vol. 5 Fish Cookery".

Where Have All The “Baby on Board” Signs Gone? (And Why?)
Posted on January 27, 2011 by lskenazy
Hey Readers — Just got this sociologically stimulating note and wanted to post it for us to chew on. So chew!

Dear Free-Range Kids: The rise and fall of the “Baby on Board” signs is a fascinating case study for our topic of Free-Ranging. The signs became popular as a plea for caution from other drivers. They fell when paranoid rumors regarding kidnapping spread.

I am not sad the silly signs are gone but think about the cultural ramifications. Thinking shifted from, “If the other drivers just knew there was a child in this car, they would exercise caution to help keep us safe,” to “If those other people know there is a child in this car they will do bad things to my family.”

(I can't believe I just defended Baby on Board signs which were one of the most obnoxious and silly inventions of all time. But, they should have been banished for tackiness not paranoia.) — A Reader

VERA ZORINA

SNOW AND ORANGES

BING CROSBY (1936)

♥YES, WE FEEL THE LOVE♥

Recently, Frog Applause and a couple of other strips weren't posting on time. There was a technical glitch of some sort. Anyway, at least one reader cared enough about FA to make an inquiry. Thanks!

DRINK YOUR YEAST

RÓBERT BERÉNY (1887-1953)

Black Cat, undated.

Woman Playing Cello, 1928.

THE SPLIT

MEMBER OF SCHLARAFFIA (c. 1920s)

This older German gentleman may look like he could not make up his mind whether to dress up as Robin Hood or some sort of strange Hussar for Halloween, but he is actually wearing the uniform of the Schlaraffen, who are male members of Schlaraffia, a worldwide German-speaking society founded in Prague (Czech Republic) in 1859 with a pledge of friendship, art and humor. This organization perhaps resembles a cross between the Freemasons and the Society for Creative Anachronism. Many of the Schlaraffen are of a mellower age and in secure positions. I am guessing this photograph was taken sometime in the 1920s.

The Schlaraffen meet in midwinter (October 1 - April 30) once per week in their Schlaraffen castle (equipped in the style of a knight's tavern from the Middle Ages) for "Sippungen" (gatherings which take place in the fixed ceremonial form of a knight's play). In doing so, everyday life is satirized as well as kept alive through recitations of literary and musical forms. An antiquated language with its own vernacular for everyday things (Schlaraffen Latin - for example; "powder pot" for tobacco pipe, "gasoline horse" for car, "castle monster" for mother-in-law) gives the Sippungen their own humorous note.

New members must be introduced by a Schlaraffe (godfather), complete a probationary period before a general vote is recorded, and start their career as knave, which leads from the position of squire to knight.

The approximately 280 "reychs" (local clubs) stay in close contact with one another. Each Schlaraffe is always welcome in every reych in the world. Their "mascot" is the owl.

Reychs currently exist in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, France, Belgium, Sweden, the USA, Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil, Argentina, Thailand, South Africa and Australia. The total number of Schlaraffen amounts to about 11,000.

Important artists were and are Schlaraffen, for example: Hungarian composer Franz Lehár, Austrian poet Peter Rosegger, German actor Gustl Bayrhammer, and many more. ~via sunnybrook100.