Adam has got his priorities right – Eve waits in queue while the Devil tries to figure it out!

You know something? We’ve found a solution to the problems of the world!

What solution?!

Here’s a clue.

Adam, Eve, and the iPad (Pen and Ink Drawing - Original Size: 12" x 12")

And I am not exaggerating…no Sir, I am not.

• When I go for my morning walk, I often see this couple (if you could call them that) walk together in complete silence – both plugged into their respective iPods.
• When I visit restaurants, I see pretty girls batting their eyelashes, patting their hair in place, fixing their make-up; all so that they could catch the attention of their boy-friends, who appear to be happily lost in their iPhones or iPads!
• And now, they tell me that Apple has reported that they’ve sold 3 Million iPads ever since they launched it on March 16th (and it’s not even two weeks since!) Whoa! I guess many more Eves would be playing second fiddle to the iPad – right?

In my opinion, if every man on earth could be given an iPad, we should be able to tackle the population problem, which is the root of all our other problems! You get my drift?

(Women? They buy iPads for sure, but they’ve got their priorities mixed up – I mean why must I want to cook dinner and not play a game on my iPad? Go figure!)

 

A Toony Pretzels Cartoon – Defining Loneliness

Loneliness once was a real feeling resulting from lack of real friends and real family. Now…they say that the feeling of loneliness still is quite real, but its drivers have changed. I grew up in a time when there was no Internet and in places where there was no television, no telephone, and at times no electricity. There were times when my family stayed in places where there were no other families around. Was I lonely? I don’t think I was. I had so much to do. I’d bind my own books, make my own dresses (and my doll’s dresses too,) study, draw, grow vegetables in my mom’s kitchen garden, and even cook. I don’t remember feeling lonely ever.

But now, I hear of loneliness ever so often. I hear of kids not knowing what to do if they didn’t have their smartphones with them, I hear of young girls and boys jumping off the high-rises because they were depressed, and I read about women in apparently happy relationships suffering from anxiety and depression. I am sure that the feeling is extremely real for them, but I can’t really get a handle on the causes…

I just wonder whether we were a stronger lot before Internet shrunk our world into a ragged ball of tangled connections.

Presenting…

Loneliness!

Loneliness is the state of feeling sad or deserted due to isolation.

If you are troubled by this cartoon, you should click the following links:

• Docs warn about teens and ‘Facebook depression’
• ‘Facebook Depression’: Do You Have It?
• And if you are complaining, complain correctly.
• No Friends on Facebook…A sad song!

PS: If your virtual life appears empty and meaningless, walk out of the door into the street. The real world too has a lot to offer. Give it a chance

 

Eurozone Debt Crisis – Part 3 of 3 – Caricature/Cartoon of Angela Merkel the Chancellor of Germany.

Read the other two parts of this story at the following links:

• Eurozone Debt Crisis – Part 1 of 3 – Explaining the Crisis and Paving way for the new Tsars of Europe – Sarkozy and Merkel!
• Eurozone Debt Crisis – Part 2 of 3 – Caricature/Cartoon of Nicolas Sarkozy as Caesar

Now presenting the fourth most powerful person in the world today – Ms. Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany… with the ropes that bind her.

Angela Merkel and the Eurozone Crisis

Angela Merkel has been criticized for dragging her feet on the Eurozone Debt Crisis Issue. She’s been asking for the PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, and Spain) to curtail their expenditure and take other fiscal measures (that were criticized as draconian by many – as they’d put more pressure on the economies of these already weak economies.) She was also against the issue of the Common Bonds by ECB, perhaps because Germany being the strongest economy in the Eurozone would suffer the most by supporting the ECBs.

Recently, the French President Nicolas Sarkozy managed to convince her (and as Sarkozy and Merkel have been working closely on this issue, the paparazzi is affectionately calling the pair, Merkozy,) that the two have to lead the Euro and the Eurozone out of this crisis.

Angela Merkel’s Shortest Bio on the Web

Angela was born in a pastor’s family in Hamburg, on July 17, 1954. She studied Physics, earned a Ph.D. in Quantum Chemistry, and then worked as a Chemist (wow! And I thought that politics and scientific aptitude could never coexist. I mean how could you be diplomatic yet objective. Imagine a scientist saying “We are deliberating over the boiling point of water and if more than half the parliamentarian say that it’s 50 degrees centigrade, it shall be “constitutional-ized” as 50 degrees.)

In 1990 (after the Berlin Wall fell), she discovered her true calling and she joined the Christian Democratic Union (which is a political party and not a religious one,) and was elected to the Bundestag, thus she became the Minister for Women and Youth (what’s the difference – I mean, between women and youth…oh…oh. I get it. All women are young, but not all youth are women!) Then Helmut Kohl the then Chancellor of Germany lost (Merkel may have had some hand in his defeat, as she criticized Kohl and said that she favored a party sans Kohl,) in the 1998 elections and she became the Sec-Gen of CDU. Though she was made the party leader in 2000, but in the 2002 elections she couldn’t become the chancellor. Eventually, in 2005 she achieved her dream and became the first female chancellor of Germany. However, her popularity grew in the coming years, and in 2009 she was re-elected with an overwhelming majority.

Merkel’s Standpoint on Multiculturalism

In October 2010, Merkel said that the Germans are attached to the Christian concept of mankind and that it defines the Germans. She also said that the immigrants should either integrate with Germany’s culture and values or leave.

Angela Merkel’s Love-Life

(You know that your favorite caricaturist is ridiculously romantic!)

It’s clear to me (it could well be make-believe too – because I can hardly see anything that’s more than a few feet away from me,) that Angela Merkel’s first love is Germany. Next in line, asking for her love and finding it perhaps is the crystal clear logic of science. It’s only after having talked about these two loves that one must speak of her first husband Ulrich Merkel or her second husband Professor Joachim Sauer, who is a quantum chemist and if we are to believe the web-rumor-mill, who may get a Nobel prize for his work. Merkel’s got no children.

(I see about 90% of the women of this world screeching, “whaaat? no kids? what’s wrong with her? That poor mite. She’s not experienced the greatest of all joys that a woman can ever experience…” And I also see Merkel shaking her head in disbelief and saying – “Hey, I’ve known a few other joys – for instance, the joy of success, the joy of knowledge, the joy of power…” but then, even she’d lose her chancellor-ship in the next elections, if she dared to voice such an opinion – but then this entire thing that I’ve written here is fiction – isn’t it?)

Some Special Merkel-Bytes:

• She was in “The World’s 100 Most Powerful women” in 2006, 7, 8, 9, and 11!
• Believe it or not, she was even given the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for the year by the Indian Government.
• She’s been called the Iron Lady, Iron Girl, Iron Frau…and has been compared to Margaret Thatcher.
• She was personally present at the M100 Media Award handover to Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, the cartoonist who was criticized for making a cartoon that inflamed the Islamist sensibilities. She’s been praised for this brave move to support freedom of speech.
• However, Merkel has also supported the introduction of islamic education in classroom.

Read the other two parts of this story at the following links:

• Eurozone Debt Crisis – Part 1 of 3 – Explaining the Crisis and Paving way for the new Tsars of Europe – Sarkozy and Merkel!
• Eurozone Debt Crisis – Part 2 of 3 – Caricature/Cartoon of Nicolas Sarkozy as Caesar

 

Eurozone Debt Crisis – Part 1 of 3 – Explaining the Crisis and Paving way for the new Tsars of Europe – Sarkozy and Merkel!

Read the other two parts of this story at the following links:

• Eurozone Debt Crisis – Part 2 of 3 – Caricature/Cartoon of Nicolas Sarkozy as Caesar
• Eurozone Debt Crisis – Part 3 of 3 – Caricature/Cartoon of Angela Merkel the Chancellor of Germany.

Do you know what the Eurozone crisis is?
Of course it’s got to do with debt – but what’s the real story?

I know that a lot of people have tried to explain the Eurozone Crisis and have attempted to simplify it – but frankly, it’s just too convoluted to explain – unless of course, you use an analogy…or tell a story to explain the whole thing. I believe storytelling is the coolest way to explain anything to lay people like us. So here I go.

For Richer and For Poorer
(A Short Story – a Fictional Parallel of the Eurozone Crisis)

In the City of Plenty, there once lived a family. There was a man and he had many wives, and his wives had borne him many children. Some of them were daughters who were married off and were happy with their husbands, but others were sons. In the City of Plenty, there was never a problem of resources, and so all these sons were able to fend for themselves and their families; they lived in the city, they met one-another often, and they were happy.

Now three of these brothers worked hard, saved some money, invested wisely, and ensured that their families too did the same. So these brothers prospered more than the other brothers, who weren’t all that organized and whose families didn’t really follow many rules – in fact, some of the other brothers even gambled were always in debt. This went on for a while, but then the lenders became wary of them – so while the credit-rating of the three prosperous brothers was good, and whenever they needed some extra cash, people would happily loan it to them without even asking them for any interest, some of the other brothers would find it really difficult to borrow.

The father and his wives fretted about those other brothers…and so they came up with an idea and played upon the emotions of the prosperous brothers.

“Why don’t you all stay together, in the same house?” asked the father.
“But why?” asked one of the prosperous sons of this father.
“Don’t you know? If all of you live together, you’d be stronger and more powerful, and nobody would ever dare to mess with you,” answered the shrewd father.
“Okay, but why would they want to stay with us, won’t their families disapprove?” asked another of the prosperous sons.
“No. They’ve got something in it for them too,” answered the mother of one not-prosperous son.
“And what is that?” asked the most cynical of the three rich brothers.
“Well. People aren’t keen to loan them any money. If they stayed with you, people will assume that you are a family, and so they’d get the credit – and then they’d use that credit to do some business, and then they’ll become as rich and affluent as you are,” said the dad.
“Will they?” asked the wife of the most prosperous son.
“Of course, they would. They are as smart as you are – if they were given a chance, they’d prove it.”

Now one of the three rich brothers wasn’t convinced about the idea, so he said he’d wait and watch. The other two rich brothers agreed to it, and they all started staying together – in one big house, and they presented a united front to the whole city. The other brothers suddenly found themselves flush with funds. People would give these brothers money asking for little or no interest. People believed in the strength of the three rich brothers.

Unfortunately, those other brothers didn’t know what to do with the money. They hadn’t had such easy money before. So, one of the brothers took his family on a cruise, another bought a lot of apartment complexes hoping to sell them for a profit, and so on and so forth. They enjoyed the money until it was there, and then one day it was gone…and then one of the brothers defaulted on the loan that he had taken.

This wasteful brother went to the richest of all brothers and asked him for help. The rich brother helped, hoping that the brother would mend his ways. He didn’t. And then…in a few months…some of those other brothers defaulted on their payments too.

All hell broke loose when one of the rich brothers wanted some loan for a project, but he was shown the door by a lender who earlier believed in him. He was told that the city had lost faith in the family. The family now faced a collective crisis, with no simple solution in sight. Breaking up the family would result in loss of face and credibility for everyone, and financing the debt-ridden brothers would drain the resources of the rich brothers. After all, they had their own families to take care of, their own obligations to fulfill!

The richest brother who ran a tight ship, be it family or business; knew that his family will have to pay for the families of the other brothers, and he wasn’t happy about it. He was of the opinion that if the family got together and raised more debt, there had to be some sort of security that the other brothers would change their ways, work hard, be frugal, and start earning…but the other brothers felt that if they were made to do all this, they’d never have enough energy to start earning any way! Thus there was a deadlock…but then the other rich brother who had stayed in the family managed to broker a deal – whether the deal would work or not, is yet to be seen.

Now, here’s a quick quiz for you. If this story was about the Eurozone crisis, then:

1. What’s the name of the family?
2. Who are three rich brothers in the story?
3. Who’s the brother who took him family on a cruise?
4. Who’s the brother who bought the apartment complexes?
5. What would be the name of the brother who bailed out the wastrel who took his family on a cruise?
6. Which rich brother stayed out of the whole deal?

Here are the answers all jumbled up.
Ireland, Greece, Germany, France, Britain, the Eurozone

Important Note:

This is a fictitious story written to bring out the highlights of the Euro-crisis. I must state that the Eurozone crisis also has other roots. For instance, during 2002-8 credit was wonderfully easy to obtain, during the same period the world experienced the real-estate bubble burst (and it affected Ireland in the worst possible way), and recession hit us all – All this exacerbated the issue…and I have not drawn analogies for them in my story.

Read the other two parts of this story at the following links:

• Eurozone Debt Crisis – Part 2 of 3 – Caricature/Cartoon of Nicolas Sarkozy as Caesar
• Eurozone Debt Crisis – Part 3 of 3 – Caricature/Cartoon of Angela Merkel the Chancellor of Germany.

 

Toony Pretzels Cartoon – Essentials of Asset Evaluation by Shrew and Shrewd!

If you haven’t done your share of Asset Evaluation, here’s a quick definition to get you going.

Asset Evaluation is the process of determining the current worth of a portfolio, company, investment, or balance sheet item. (Source: Investopedia here.)

I don’t know why but this cartoon reminds me of “The Trump Card,” a twisty tale on the matters of fidelity.

And if you aren’t touchy about the issue of fidelity (or infidelity, for that matter) enjoy some cool jokes about cheating at the following links.

• Cheating Husband Jokes (obviously they need a dedicated link.)
• Cheating Husbands, Wives, Couples etc. Jokes

 

What Happened to Rosie Huntington-Whiteley’s Panties?

This post doesn’t fit this blog, yet when it comes to things that don’t fit, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley’s panties win the show.

Before we discuss Rosie Huntington-Whitley‘s panties, we should first identify the lady in question. Rosie HW is the replacement of Megan Fox in the newest Transformers flick called Dark of the Moon. She’s 5 feet 9 inches tall and with her vital stats at 34-25-35 and her weight at 54 kgs, she’s the thinnest thing that you can witness in heels. In the Dark of the Moon she towers over Shia Labeouf who though equally tall looks like a dwarf beside her, primarily because the poor guy isn’t allowed those fancy six-inch needle-point heels that grace the spindly legs of this particular Victoria’s Secret model.

Those of you who’ve seen Dark of the Moon would vouch that one of the most interesting scenes in the movie was the first scene, in which the camera focuses on a thin-but-firm panty-clad butt undulating on the screen as the owner of the butt sashays up the staircase. The staircase has a lot many steps, and if I recall correctly, at least two turns. All this time the camera faithfully follows the butt and those tiny pair of  panties that work really hard to cover it. At the end of her apparently endless ascent the lady descends upon the sleeping form of our hero, and it’s then that we see the face of the lady and wonder – what the heck? But then a cute butt doesn’t always equal a cute face (and vice-versa) so we let it go, and try to concentrate on the movie.

But then Rosie Huntington-Whiteley’s panties return to challenge my reason. They make me wonder.

What happened to Rosie Huntington-Whiteley’s panties, after the scene was shot?

I am really, truly, even pathologically serious about finding an answer to this question, as the curiosity is killing me. And…before you ask…NO. I don’t want to buy them. Actually, you couldn’t even pay me to take them. This discussion is merely conceptual and is driven by the insatiable curiosity of an insane caricaturist.

Here are a few possibilities that come to my mind.

1. The panties were given to Rosie Huntington-Whitely as a perk for running about on those wicked (ouch) heels.
2. The panties were given as the weekly wages to an extra who worked in the movie.
3. The panties were used to wipe the grease off  Bumblebee‘s engine.
4. They were incinerated after the scene was shot.
5. The panties were auctioned off to the male actors/employees and the identity of the buyer was kept a secret, because he had a jealous wife.
6. The panties became a property of the director/producer.
7. Rosie Huntington-Whiteley got them framed and gifted them to Shia Labeouf as a parting gift.
8. They were rented for that particular scene, and were returned to the costume company after the scene was shot.
9. The panties indeed belonged to Rosie Huntington-Whitley and she wore the same panties home after the shot.
10. The panties were used to clean the camera lens for the next shot.
11. When Rosie Huntington-Whitley jumped upon the sleeping Shia, they split and had to be thrown away, later to be salvaged by the janitor, who auctioned them off on eBay.
12. The panties were returned to Victoria’s Secret and they secretly sold them off to an Indian celebrity who didn’t receive them in time and had to…well, go panty-less to a charity event!
13. The panties were stolen by the mice-family and they made them into a mattress for the baby mice.
14. The rumor-mill is also abuzz with the rumor that the panties were painted upon Rosie Huntington-Whiteley’s marble butt, and they got washed away when someone spilled their glass of wine on them.
15. Put up for sale in a Japanese panties vending machine? (Suggested by Nirnif.)

I know that I haven’t been able to cover every possibility, so I welcome your creative thoughts, and

I ask you, my valued reader…
What happened to Rosie Huntington-Whiteley’s panties, after the scene was shot?

 

Caricature Gallery Updated with 12 New Caricatures!

My Dear Visitors of all Genres (furry/fur-less, funny/fun-less, angry/loving, lost/found, past/future, and so on…)

I have bowed to your wishes and updated the Caricature Gallery. For a quick reference for those who’ve missed my more recent additions to this blog. Here are five of the twelve News-makers who got into the Gallery today.

Sarah Palin

The lady who’s got everything that matters. The former Alaskan Governor who could turn the US into a tax-free nation, if you’d vote for her and make her the first woman President of the US – provided she decides to stand for the 2012 Elections!

——:::——

Osama Bin Laden

You may have forgotten this chap but he hogged the International Terror News for a whole decade, until he was removed from this world along with his stash of pornography. Does that ring a bell? Here’s this caricature of OBL, which I drew while watching the news on CNN. Why six dozen presumably virtuous virgins would want him is totally beyond me.

——:::——

Muammar Gaddafi

His supporters would kindly excuse me for misspelling his name (if I did) but this guy holds the Guinness World Book record for the most variably spelled-name. Gaddafi’s caricature is one of my favorites. It shall remain contextual until Gaddafi either decides (or is made to decide,) to let go of Libya. If I were you, I’d click the following icon to check out his costume. If you are a normal non-antiperspirant-user kind of person – one look at his costume could drown you in your own sweat!

——:::——

Nicolas Sarkozy

He is the colorful President of France, known more for his wife Carla Bruni than for his work (or so I presume, because I see more of his wife’s pictures than I see his.) I should also add that now that they are expecting their first child, Sarkozy’s smile and Carla’s baby-bump are both expanding exponentially.

——:::——

Anna Hazare

This unassuming gentleman is responsible for a shortage of sleeping pills in New Delhi. The politicians have been popping them by the dozen, as Anna Hazare makes them dance to a Gandhian Remix. Whether or not he’d prevail is yet to be seen. In my humble opinion, why would an innocent young man want to ever become a politician if the carrot of corruption is made to disappear from the system?

——:::——

Thanks

 

Caricature/Cartoon of Sarah Palin – The Glamorous Ex-Governor of Alaska has got Everything that Matters!

When you go to China, you bring home Chinese Dragon Art (or in some cases, an Apple computer from a fake Apple Store), when you go to India, you bring home a replica of the Taj Mahal, when you go to Egypt, you bring home a bust of Nefertiti or Cleopatra, but when you got to Alaska, you bring home a caricature of Sarah Palin.

The Caricaturist has just returned from Alaska, and here’s what she brought along.

"Bring 'em on!" says Palin. (Beauty, Brain, and Brawn.)

 

Sarah Palin – A Biographical Sketch

Sarah Palin is someone who creates waves everywhere she goes. The fact that she was born in the Gem State of the US could have something to do with the stars favoring her, but then it could be unadulterated hard work too.Though Palin was born in Idaho, her family moved to Alaska when she was five. She grew up in Wasilla, one of the six largest cities of Alaska. Palin did move to Hawaii for higher studies but then moved back to Wasilla.

Here are some of her early achievements.

• Miss Wasilla 1984
• 3rd in Miss Alaska Beauty Pageant
• Miss Congeniality

Then she moved to Moscow, Idaho to complete her Bachelor’s in Communications and Journalism in 1987, after which she eloped with Todd Palin, her High School sweetheart.

Shortly after (well, four years is a short time) she was elected to the Wasilla City Council in 1992. In 1996, Palin ran for the Mayor’s office and she won. She then was the Mayor for 2 consecutive terms.

Palin became the youngest and the first Woman Governor of Alaska in 2006 at the age of 42…(I love the gubernatorial services…where at 42 you are young!) It was now that Palin acquired a passport and traveled outside of the US to Kuwait (some oily issue, I bet.)

Read Palin’s complete Biography here.

So…what did Palin do as a governor?

Well, among a lot of other good things that she did for Alaska and that you can read about here, she also reduced governmental expenses (including her own). Later in her tenure Sarah Palin faced a lot of ethical charges, and she resigned stating that a lot of money (state’s and hers) was being spent to address the complaints about her ethics. John McCain selected Palin as his running mate, and Sarah found herself catapulted to the National scene.

Sarah Palin’s Books

Palin penned two books, “Going Rogue – An American Life“, her memoirs; and “America by Heart” a collection of excerpts from her speeches etc.

Palin Potpourri

• She is against Gay Marriages and Abortions.
• She supports Sex Education.
• She supports Israel.

And some other interesting links:

• The Sarah Palin Blog
• Sarah Palin’s confidence
• Sarah Palin’s Hot Pictures (I know you are going to click this one. Go ahead. I am not looking.)
• Sarah Palin’s Facebook Page
• Sarah Palin’s Twitter

 

Shafali Hitler shares Some More SEO Humor!

You may have read the SEO Humor Post that I made a while ago. While writing that post, I never thought that I’d be inspired to write another, so shortly after my first attempt at finding humor in the keywords that appear in this blog’s list.

But then what has to happen does. We can’t stop it, can we? Just like we can’t stop global warming, aging, corruption…or on the brighter side, just the way we can’t put a stop to gold-digging, cuckolding, pick-pocketing etc.; we can’t stop posts from rolling out of absurd ideas.

So here’s what I found in the treasure-chest this morning.

Search Term 1: world’s funniest drawings

My dear searcher, you reached the wrong place, didn’t you? I mean, my caricatures border on the funny – but they never go the whole way. They keep twiddling their thumbs as they stand nervously at the edge of the cliff, awash with fear – never gathering the courage to jump into the shrieking swirling waters of funny-ness. So for all the future searchers of world’s funniest drawings, I recommend that they click the “Cool Caricaturists” link on this blog, or resume their search elsewhere without wasting another minute.

Search Term 2: drawings of ugly women

What?!
Aren’t you searching for something that doesn’t exist? I mean, you could find God if you tried hard enough …but impossible to find a woman who’s ugly. If you don’t believe me, organize a random poll and ask women to rate themselves as ugly or beautiful – and check the results!

We caricaturists could make ugly caricatures of women, but women themselves are beautiful. It’s the men-folk who have a large sub-set called “ugly men”. So My Dear Sir (I don’t know why but I feel confident that this search term was born in a man’s mind,) please don’t go looking for ugly women. You are wasting your precious time on an impossible quest. Look for beautiful, pretty, lovely, wonderful, fantastic, fabulous, super, great, glamorous women instead…and you’ll be swamped!

Search Term 3: queen elizabeth’s mom princess elizabeth

I googled that information for you, dear searcher…and when I read the first line on this link, felt so optimistic that I wanted to thank you for stopping by my blog.

Why?

Well, here’s why. Queen Elizabeth II’s mom, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon was born in 1900 and she lived to a ripe old age (and I mean really truly completely ripe) of 102 years! Wow! But believe it or not Princess Alice is going to beat Queen Elizabeth Bowes Lyon’s record!

If you haven’t seen Queen Elizabeth II’s caricature on this blog, click here.

Search Term 4: Salvador Dali’s Eyebrows

Salvador Dali’s Eyebrows?!
Are you sure that you want to look at his eyebrows and not his mustaches?!
I think you should be looking at his mustaches – they are quite a pair. Here’s Salvador Dali’s Caricature – it’ll help you appreciate why this search made me wonder whether the searcher really knew was good for him.

Search Term 5: i hate my job+cartoon

Oh…oh. I am so sorry. You really hate your job? Do you? And I agree, you do become a cartoon when you begin to hate your job. In fact, you have to be Dilbert to love your work…right? In this horrible horrible world of today, who doesn’t want to be stuck inside a cartoon strip, free from the worries of loan-repayments and medical insurance premiums.

Search Term 6: half old woman half princess cartoon

You make a good point there. I think what you should be looking for is a cartoon of an old woman OR of a princess. In her mind, every old woman is a princess that she couldn’t be in real life (except of course, those anachronisms who even in this modern world stick to being Kings, Queens, Princes, and Princesses) and, every princess – from the day she’s born becomes an old woman – because she can’t do those little things that make life so much fun…because they have to corset not just their bodies but their emotions as well.

Search Term 7: unhygienic practices cartoons

Eeeyuck!
You mean – nose-picking, @$$-scratching, ever-spitting, not-flushing…etc. etc. etc. kind of cartoons??!!
But why…and where’s the humor?

Oh…I get it. Hee hee hee!

Search Terms 8a,b,c,d: indian necked men/handsome indian naked men/indian ugly man

I am curious. Who are you dear searcher…and what exactly are you looking for. It’s clear that you want to look at an Indian Man but an indian “necked” man? What’s an Indian neck? Are you looking for a Caucasian male who’s had a neck transplant so that his neck looked Indian…or an Indian who has retained his Indian neck or had got a new neck…in any of those great shades of Indian browns?

Oh…oh. it was a typo…right? I looked at the second term and it dawned upon me that you are looking for Indian men au-naturel – and handsome ones too. Now you really need to check out my first post on SEO-matters of importance here. You may not succeed in your search, my friend of either gender.

But what’s that third term? You needed to do a Google search for that? Really? I mean all you had to do was switch channels and watch some political news!

Search Term 9: art from ajit ninan

Thanks for the reminder. I shall make the promised post about the wonderful Ajit Ninan soon:)

Search Term 10: SHAFALI HITLER!!!

No. I am not. I will not take that insult, dear Sir or Ma’am or Bot! I am, and shall remain Shafali the Artist, Shafali the Caricaturist, Shafali the Egoist. Shafali Hitler is one title that I am not going to take lying down. Beware, or I’ll let Hitler the Satan loose!

 

Caricature/Cartoon – Prince William and Kate Middleton – A Wedding Present to the Royal Couple!

WISHING THE ROYAL COUPLE A LONG & HAPPY MARRIED LIFE!

(Check out what the Royal Wedding Invitation Card looks like )

The Royal Bond of Love - Kate Middleton and Prince William.

You are welcome to use this caricature on your blog/non-commercial website.

Prince William – A Dash of his Biography

Prince William was born on June 21, 1982. With Prince Charles as his dad and Princess Diana as his mom, Prince William possibly became famous before he was born. He could be the King of 16 states of the Commonwealth Realm, including the United Kingdom but excluding India – thanks to the Indian Freedom Struggle

As it must be with those of royal lineage, the Prince stays busy with humanitarian causes (AIDS, Poverty in Africa), and sports (for charity). Read all about him at his Wikipedia page.

What interests me most about Prince Williams is the fact that he one among the 10% lefties in the world. I guess in all other things, he is one in a zillion. How many people are born princes or princesses – even if you include the worlds at the outer-realms of the universe?

Everything that you ever wanted to know about Kate Middleton

Kate Middleton was born on January 9, 1982 (older than the Prince – is she?) She’s known for winning the Jackpot (read: Prince William’s Heart.) She was William’s flatmate at the University, and they’d been dating ever since.

Her parents earlier worked with British Airways in Jordan, but later relocated to Britain. Nevertheless, the interesting bit is that her maternal ancestors were workers and miners (Please read Ken Follett’s “Fall of the Giants” for a detailed account of their lives) and in those days, a girl born in a miner’s family would probably never become the Queen! But thankfully, the times have changed, and Cinderella stories happen outside the fairy tales too.

As it happens, the moment you are slated to become a princess – you turn the best-dressed/most glamorous/most beautiful – so it happened with Kate too. She’s been topping the best-dressed celeb charts in the recent past. 

Here are some childhood pictures of Kate Middleton.  (She looks pretty in these pictures, doesn’t she?)

The William-Kate Marriage or the Royal Wedding 2011!

Let us now return to the topic of this post – William’s marriage with Kate. It’s going to happen on April 29, 2011 – and for some strange reason, everyone (including your caricaturist) is interested in following it. It’s always nice to see a normal person become a princess. And now that the Queen has become used to accepting “common” people like you and me in their family – life should be substantially easier for Kate than it was for Diana.

But I wonder…

• Isn’t the British royalty a tad sexist? Believe it or not, Kate Middleton might be called “Her Royal Highness Princess William of Wales” especially if Prince William decides not to become a Duke, and Kate doesn’t get the title of Duchess. Now, where did “Kate Middleton” go? Do you see her in her new title? I don’t.
• Is Kate truly happy? She might be head-over-heels in love with William, but does she have to really give up her freedom for love?
• If a whole story begins with weight-loss programs (these days, Kate Middleton’s looking thinner than a stick,) I really don’t care to read it through. (Check this out.)

The Royal Wedding Data Sheet

Other than the fact that neither the Obamas nor I am invited to the wedding (and yet, the magnanimous caricaturist draws a wedding gift for the couple,) you may find the following bits interesting.

1. The guests are requested (oops! “required”) to reach Westminster Abbey at 11 a.m. on April 29.
2. They are required to wear  military uniform, tailcoat, or business suit (Can I assume that only men are invited – or that women can attend wearing bikinis?)
3. Total Invitations: 1900 for the wedding; of the 1900, 600 for the reception; of the 600, 300 for the dinner! So, you know how “Select” you are, by assessing the extent of your invitation.
4. The dress that Kate wears for her wedding is going to be important. You can see what the designers did to poor Diana (her Mother-in-Law,) here. Imagine a dress that would generate employment for four people for four hours – It reminds me of Chief Vitalstatistix’s shield carriers. You can just hope that Kate remembers to go to the loo before she gets into a dress like that – right? By the way, you can’t hope to influence the dress-designer into designing something more practical and comfortable for Kate, because the designer’s identity is being kept a secret.

Kate and William Wedding – Humor

• Five Reasons Why Kate and William Shouldn’t Marry
• Jokes – Sick and Well.
• Four Reasons Why Kate and William will Stay Married.

But what’s this?

A Video of their marriage? (Gasp! Are they already married? Double Gasp!) But seriously, you need to look at that video – it’s hilarious!

NEWEST NEWS! – Fresh from the Royal Oven (Added: April 28, 2011)

Kate Middleton has been having nightmares in which she sees herself exchanging vows with Prince William au-naturel, naked, in the buff! In her dream she gets stern looks from the queen (naturally) and she finds herself prioritizing which part of hers she should cover first. I wonder if she got state-approval on her comment before she made it to the media, because it does conjure a colorful image of the wedding – doesn’t it?

 

Guest Post by Barbara G. Tarn, Creator of the Silvery Earth, Fantasy Fiction Writer and Artist.

Barbara G. Tarn or Barb is a writer, an artist, a cartoonist, and above all, a world creator – all neatly bundled up in one smart package. I’ve known Barb for more than an year now, and her consistent efforts towards achieving her dreams coupled with her infectious optimism have made me a loyal follower of her blog. I am currently reading her new offering, “Air – Books of the Immortals” and despite not being a regular reader of fantasy fiction whenever I click open her book on my iPad (find it on Smashwords here,) I cross over into the beautiful mystical world of Silvery Earth:) I think I may have discovered a new genre:)

I should now move away and give the stage to Barbara G. Tarn:)

The Life of a Self-proclaimed Artist

by Barbara G.Tarn – Author

http://creativebarbwire.wordpress.com

http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/barbaragtarn

I grew up with Franco-Belgian and Disney comics, and I always loved illustrated stories. If you really wanted to know the evolution of this specific artist here, you’d learn that her first comic (co-written and co-drawn with her classmate Sara) dates from 1976-1977 when she was about 10.

When I finished high school, I looked for an alternative to boring university courses (and trust me, Italian universities DO NOT prepare you for your future working life, it’s all theory and no practice, hence a waste of time AND money). I found an Illustration course which, on the program, mentioned also comics and thought “That’s it!”.

Except I didn’t come from an artistic school and my talent is more in writing than drawing. My anatomy sucks, but I’m very good at tracing pictures! So I spent two years learning to use pencils first (which was OK), then brushes – I ain’t no painter at all. Watercolors? I’m hopeless. And I didn’t even get to oil paintings because I didn’t pass the second year (of three). So, waste of money, even if I learned a couple of techniques (pencils and ink with rapidographs – and I can use the name, as I was using Rotring products -, that was the 1980, computers were still for few elected artists). And no comics whatsoever, by the way.

By the mid 1990s, I started to go to Italian comicons, and doing my own zines. Photocopied, black&white comics, or graphic novels as they are now called, because they’re not infinite series with dozens of reboots like Marvel and DC comics.

So I kept drawing (in spite of failing my illustration course) and some 1500 pages later I guess I found my style. I learned (on my own) Photoshop coloring, so my latest works (available on Lulu) are in full color. My anatomy still sucks, but as long as I get my message through, well… we’re not all divine artists, are we?

I’m not Colleen Doran nor Terry Moore (my graphic novelists heroes), but I’m doing better than most, I think – maybe not commercially, but I do keep producing stuff. Perseverance and passion, they say.

When I finish my current graphic novel SKYBAND, I’ll start a new one which will be set in the same fantasy world but many centuries earlier, when the southern kingdoms are still powerful. I’ll have to learn to draw Indian clothes and Persian palaces, but I don’t mind – throw a blond gay barbarian in that midst, and I’m all set. I thought Shafali’s blog was the perfect place to give this sneak preview on my graphic novel projects because she’s Indian and she’s reading about those southern kingdoms in my novel Air right now!

I also wanted to say that after more than fifteen years I tend to use always the same faces in my graphic novels. Often the model is easily recognizable (my Brad Pitt, Leo DiCaprio and Keanu Reeves interpretations should be famous by now, under different names! ), sometimes it’s a mix (like Ylenia of SKYBAND who is a mix of Connie Nielsen and Blas Elias). I wish I were as cute as I draw myself (see either Lady Ice or Axelle of SKYBAND), but well… blame it on my not so great drawing skills!

Anyway, I wanted to thank the Wonderful Caricaturist for having me here today and letting me ramble on art… Drawings, illustrations, caricatures – aren’t they all great?

 Barbara G.Tarn is a writer, sometimes an artist, mostly a world-creator and story-teller. She’s been building her world of Silvery Earth for a number of years – stories comprise shorts, novels and graphic novels. An indie published author, she blogs at http://creativebarbwire.wordpress.com

The Caricaturist adds:
Remember happiness is many things…

Happiness also is…

"Happiness is..." is a Visual Series by Barb. Click the picture to visit Barb's blog for more Cartoons in this series.

 

100000 Views :-) Crossing the Sound Barrier with a resounding Thank You!

Dear Visitors,

Your favorite caricature blog (ahem!) crossed the 100000 views milestone sometime last night. I am also happy to tell you that this post is my 200th post since this blog came into existence in December 2009.

I want to say that I enjoyed playing the blogging game, but I am also enjoying the score:) As Karma says, “Winning is as good as digging!”

100000 Views - Whats the big deal? Ask the Human.

I love the purity of numbers. If there were no numbers, we’d still be living without electricity, airplanes; we’d be living without the Internet! Can you imagine that?!

The 0s and the 1s – they are the fundamental building blocks of everything in this virtual world, and the number that’s my immediate favorite is made of 0s and 1s too

In my previous post “A Note of Thanks”, I thanked all those who made me smile during these 16 blogging months. In this post, I’d like to thank those who made it possible for me to blog. I’d like to thank the WordPress team for creating this fabulous blogging software and the Google Knol team for establishing the Knol platform, without which I couldn’t have written and published my book “How to Draw Caricatures – Evolution of a Caricaturist“, which has received about 40,000 views since I began writing it.

It’s customary to recount some interesting details of your journey, when such milestones are reached…so here’s the briefest of all summaries.

I’d like to say that though I was rather short of time this whole year, and I couldn’t really create as many caricatures as I’d have liked to, let alone visit other blogs; still there were some nice people who visited my blog. I also received a few nice emails and some heartening comments that kept me going. Thanks everyone (sniffle!)

That’s all for now…until I post the caricature of…the Hollywood Dracula:)

Wishing everyone the best of everything!

Regards,

Shafali

 

Caricature Gallery Updated with 15 Recent Drawings!

Dear Friends,

I’ve updated the Caricature Gallery with new caricatures in almost all sections. If you’ve begun to visit my blog recently, you might not have seen the caricatures that I’ve uploaded since November 2010, as they were not there in the Gallery until now.

The Celebrity Caricatures that have been added to the gallery include:

• Troy Polamalu
• Charlie Sheen
• Keanu Reeves
• AR Rahman
• Sachin Tendulkar
• Oprah Winfrey
• Sarah Jessica Parker
• Sherlock Holmes
• Julius Caesar
• Monalisa (yes, hers too.)

The additions to the gallery also include:

• the Pen and Ink Drawing of an extremely resourceful terrier HH Dewey Dewster of Pawsylvania and
• a Polymer Clay caricature of the Devil.

So please visit the Caricature Gallery to view the recent additions (which appear towards the end of each section.)

Smiles,
Shafali

 

Caricature/Cartoon – Sarah Jessica Parker – The Carrie Bradshaw of Sex and the City.

Know Sarah Jessica Parker?
No?
Know Carrie Bradshaw?
Of course.

Carrie Bradshaw of Sex and the City brought her four Golden Globes and many other awards. She is also a Hollywood Actress who has worked in a movie by the same name (SATC) and many other films.

The Caricature, Cartoon, Portrait, Sketch of Sarah Jessica Parker, the Carrie Bradshaw of Sex and the City - SATC

Short biography of Sarah Jessica Parker:

Sarah Jessica Parker was born in Ohio (1965) and had 8 siblings of the half and the full kind. The interesting but unfortunate bit about her lineage is that Esther Elwell, one of the women who was accused of being a witch and tried in the Salem witch trials, was her ancestor. She began acting at a very early age. Her career swung upwards in 1990s and she starred opposite Nicholas Cage, Bruce Willis, and Johnny Depp too!

However, she’s best known for her role as Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City, which was first aired in 1998. Sex and the City was an HBO sitcom, which brought her awards and fame.

Sarah has also endorsed some important brands (Garnier, Gap…) and in 2005, she even released her own perfume called, “Lovely”.

Her lovelife between 1984 and 1991 was centered on Robert Downey, Jr. (Something that I can’t understand is how can someone go through his whole life lugging someone else’s name with a Junior attached to it! I guess this must’ve been the real reason behind Downey’s drug problem, which ultimately terminated his relationship with Ms. Parker.) In 1997, she married Matthew Broderick.

Sarah Jessica Parker in News:

“I Don’t Know How She Does It” a movie based on a book by Allison Pearson will feature Sarah starring opposite Pierce Brosnan. The movie is expected to be in theaters by 2012. SJP plays a finance executive who is the breadwinner for her family, which includes her husband and children.

Read about it here.
Sarah J Parker made it to the top of the ugliest women list published by the Men’s Magazine Maxim. However, not everyone agrees – she’s got boat-loads of fans who think she’s witty and charming. (Remember something about beauty being skin-deep? This is especially true when men sit down to assess beauty!)
Read a fan’s take on Maxim’s listing here .

Sarah Jessica Parker Quotes:

Here’s a really cool SJP quote:
“After all, computers crash, people die, relationships fall apart. The best we can do is breath and reboot.”
and another one…
“I like my money right where I can see it… hanging in my closet.”
and finally…
“Can you really forgive if you can’t forget?”

The woman has a head on her shoulders…right?
read more Sarah J. Parker quotes here.

 

Coming up…Caricatures of – SJP of SATC and ARR!

I’d like to begin by thanking Ian for splashing his creativity on my blog and calling Leonardo Da Vinci, Leony Darling!

Thanks Ian. I am sure that if Da Vinci were born in our times, his mother and his numerous girlfriends and boyfriends would queue up behind me  to thank you:)

So…

I dreamed of Leony Darling (looking young and dapper.) He was standing in Verrocchio’s workshop correcting the nose of the young angel in the painting that will later be called “Baptism of Christ.” When he heard me come in, he looked up and asked me to mix some paint for him, which I did only because I knew that he was going to be one of the Greats in future. He took the paint that I had mixed on a wooden palette, our fingers touched, and he froze; a glazed look came into his eyes and his voice changed. I understood that he was struck with a vision of the future. He said something to me in a rather quaint version of Italian, which Barb of Creative Barbwire translated for me.

He said, “I see you drawing the caricatures of this woman called Sarah Jessica Parker, who has a thin, emaciated, and elongated face and a man called A.R. Rahman, who is a short, rotund, and funny looking man. You would be publishing at least one of the two caricatures on your blog in the last week of January 2011!”

Believe it or not – half of the prophecy that Leony Darling made has already come true…and I am afraid that the other half shall come true too. I wish he had said something about whose caricature would be published first, but he didn’t. So it’s now up to you and me to decide. Who’d you like to see first?

 

Caricature/Cartoon of Monalisa and the truth behind her smile!

Presenting Monalisa who mocks you from a portrait drawn by Leonardo da Vinci. It’s possible that you haven’t heard of Da Vinci, but it’s almost impossible that you don’t know about Mona Lisa and her enigmatic smile.
Here’s The Caricaturist’s rendition of the “Greatest work of Art” in the world.

What's behind that smile?

Countless historians have spent countless number of hours, days, and years, trying to answer two questions:
1. Who is Mona Lisa?
2.  What does her smile mean?

What everyone knows is that Monalisa is a portrait done by Leonardo da Vinci, one of the greatest artists of all times, who was really awful at completing his paintings. We’d never know how he motivated himself to complete this one but he managed it somehow. Monalisa won’t have become this famous if about 400 years of its being painted, a patriotic Italian won’t have tried to take it back to Italy, where he thought it belonged (forgetting completely that one of the many King Louis’ had bought it from Salai, the guy who had inherited the portrait from Leonardo da Vinci!) Anyway, Mona Lisa has lived in the Louvre Museum of Paris for most of its life and right now it’s better guarded and protected than the President of the US.

To cut a long post short, let’s quickly look at the possible answers to the two questions that many good people called art historians have spent the best parts of their lives, trying to answer!

Mona Lisa – Who’s she?

Honestly speaking, nobody knows. Here are some possibilities though.
Mona Lisa is:

• Leonardo da Vinci’s self-portrait.
• Salai, his buffoon-of-a-pupil and possible lover’s portrait.
• A pregnant Italian Noblewoman’s portrait (La Gioconda?)
• A poor unfortunate woman’s portrait.

Why is the woman (?) in the Mona Lisa portrait smiling? What’s behind that smile?

I guess this is a question that people have been asking ever since 1911 – the year in which Mona Lisa became famous because she was stolen.

Of course, interpretations abound; but here’s my viewpoint.
The “person” in the painting is smiling because:

• Leonardo da Vinci winked at him/her.
• Leonardo told a lawyer’s joke while he was painting.
• Salai, his pupil of a “special nature” told Leonardo a vegetarian joke (because Leonardo was a vegetarian) and he/she overheard it.
• Melzi, his other pupil of another “special nature” told Leonardo that Salai had finally made a recognizable portrait.
• Leonardo da Vinci didn’t realize that he had paint on his nose.
• The “person” was a man dreaming of a portrait of him riding a horse.
• The “person” was a woman dreaming of a portrait with jewels around her neck.
• The “person” was an alien wondering why Leonardo da Vinci couldn’t decide whether he wanted to be an engineer, an anatomist, a sculptor, a metal worker, or an artist…for artssakes!

And if these aren’t enough reasons for you to choose from, click here to discover what the experts have to say about Monalisa and her smile.

Amy asked me to leave the caricature untitled – so untitled it is. What in your opinion is the reason behind her smile?

 

Caricature/Cartoon – Oprah Winfrey – The Rich Talk Show host who Oprahfied two Vacationing Mice!

After a long hiatus…presenting...Oprah Winfrey, the television host of The Oprah Winfrey Show, who is the world’s only black billionaire, and well…the most influential woman in the world.

So, you see…it was essential that we waited!

Post-Oprahfiction, the Mice realize that you don't need your own money to get a tan!

Oprah Winfrey’s Shortest Biography on the Web (I hope so.)

Oprah was born on 29th January 1954, somewhere in rural Mississippi, a difficult place for an African American, even as late as 1950s. She had a difficult childhood – her mom definitely wasn’t the greatest moms in the world, possibly because she herself was a teenager when Oprah was born. Vernita, her mom was a maid who left little Oprah with her Grandmother Hattie Mae Lee. According to Wikipedia (where do you think I got about half my information from,) they were so poor that Oprah had to wear dresses made of potato sacks! Guess that was when she made up her mind to kick poverty out of her life.

Oprah’s miserable childhood wasn’t just the result of her potato-sack-clad poverty, but also the loose morals of her cousin, her uncle, and a “friend” of the family, who molested her. Oprah chose to run away when she turned 13, became pregnant at 14, and lost her child at birth. Finally, her mom sent her to the gentleman who she now calls her father (and who possibly is,) Vernon Winfrey. Her dad decided that she should study. Oprah was a bright and extremely popular student as a child. One thing led to another and she began to read news at the local black radio station.

Oprah’s popularity continued to grow and in 1983, she hosted A. M. Chicago. Within a few months, she had overtaken Phil Donahue, another media personality of great caliber. This was the time when The Oprah Winfrey Show was born.

Read Oprah’s detailed biography here.

Interesting Oprahbytes!

The Oprah Winfrey show drew its largest audience when Oprah interviewed Michael Jackson: 36.5 Million; David Letterman drew its largest audience when Letterman interviewed Oprah: 13.45 Million! Wow!

Oprah’s Personal Life

The glimpses of Oprah’s personal life can often be seen in her show. She’s suffered a good many lows in her life, including the time when her hair fell out completely (beware of getting your hair permed, if it could happen to Oprah, it could happen to anyone in the world,) and then her weight problem which was a result of her depression (no rewards for guessing who caused the depression – a man, of course. The point to note (and learn) is that in Oprah’s life, these could’ve been inflection points – but she pulled herself out before she was sucked into the whirlpool of depression.

Where is Oprah Now?

Just yesterday, Oprah received Kennedy Center Honors from Obama, along with the hero of her youth, Paul McCartney of the Beatles.

Comedian Chris Rock parodied the situation by saying, ‘No one deserves this award more than Oprah Winfrey, but no one needs it less,’ comedian Chris Rock said to laughter from the audience.

The Oprah Effect and Oprahfication

And finally, if you could get those smart, cunning, difficult-to-impress marketers to speak of the Oprah Effect, you must really be something! Quoting from the Wikipedia entry on Oprah Winfrey, “The power of Winfrey’s opinions and endorsement to influence public opinion, especially consumer purchasing choices, has been dubbed The Oprah Effect” Then there’s something called “Oprahfication“, which is the act of making a public confession and being cured, in the process. Oprah thus, is almost a religious institution where you could make a confession and relieve yourself of your sins.

Now about the question that’s I can hear coming from the depths of your heart…

How much does Oprah Winfrey Earn?

Good question. Around 300 Million USD a year!

So…you know how much it must’ve cost me to bring her to my blog. Well, now that she’s here…go get Oprahfied!

 

November Blog Carnival Hits a Record Low with One Entry!

and the Caricaturist steps into the dark abyss of depression…HELP! SOS! Where’s the pulley?!!!

What will inspire them?!

The November Blog Carnival was a washout.  Here’s the only story that Romeo and Juliet could manage to wheedle out.

“The Love of my Life” a Short Story by the Canine Storyteller, the WiseK9 Oorvi.

This is the story of a modern day Juliet, her Romeo, and their servant Paris. The tale has a twist in its tail, which is natural because Oorvi’s own tail has a beautiful twist at its end.  BTW,  all those visitors who like my work might want to download the story in .pdf form too, as it contains a high-resolution, full-page image of the Colored Romeo and Juliet Caricature! I don’t do a lot of color (blame it on my aversion for time-consuming activities.)

But then there’s some good news too

1. Oprah Winfrey the Greatest Talk Show Host ever, and Sachin Tendulkar the God of Cricket are ready to make their appearance here. I am happy that they accepted my invitation. Right now, they are backstage, waiting for their cue to appear on the blog-stage and delight you. Amazing…isn’t it? Such famous people waiting for their turn to appear on my humble blog. Wow!

2. I, the renowned artist (yes, yes – go ahead…laugh all you want, but in my house everyone knows me – the picture above proves my claim,) known for her alacrity in matters of artistic workarounds that save time and effort, managed to push herself into creating her first pen-and-ink pet drawing. I’ve done pen-and-ink drawings before, but a pet, especially one who looks  like Albus Dumbledore is a very different and considerably formidable challenge. Every morning, I’d wake up wanting to do the drawing, but then I’d look at the sketch and think – what if I couldn’t?

I know no heavens would’ve fallen if I couldn’t…and I had the much easier option of reaching out for my color pencils – but I didn’t want to give in. This particular pet has a very special place in my heart and wanted to create what I had first thought of creating – a glamorous pen-and-ink drawing!

Yesterday, I drove myself to put the pen to the drawing…and then I just went on drawing! Then I set it on my table and moved back a few paces. Any artist would know that this was the time of reckoning – especially for a pen & ink drawing. You see, you don’t make corrections in these drawings because you can’t. So I moved back and looked at the drawing and the dear dog smiled back at me through his silky beard!

So, the Dungeon of Sloth is a thing of past. The payback to Oprah is done, and everything is back to normal

 

Can you Pull yourself up?! The Caricaturist asked and Confused herself.

Can you pull yourself up?

Imagine that you are sitting in a loop at one end of a rope passing over a pulley attached to the ceiling, holding the other end of the rope in your hand (please recall a similar dilemma, which our dear pathetic Romeo faced,)  The question is – can you pull yourself up? What’s your answer?

1. No way! Nobody could do that!
2. I can’t do it but I am sure that Schwarzenegger could.
3. I can’t but Keira Knightley could. (BTW, interesting picture on that link…the third when you scroll down – 99% of the women in this world won’t be able to wear that dress without making it look vulgar.)
4. I can but nobody else can.

What do you say?

I’ll share my personal experience. I was down in the dungeon of Sloth, waiting for the devil to send his minions to get me – so that I could burn in hell for my deadly sin when I had this inspiration. I thought that I’d shed sloth and confess my sins on my blog, and everything’d slide back to normal! So I tried to pull myself up and out…and I wore myself out the last three days trying to get out, but I failed.  Fortunately, just before the minions arrived, Oprah Winfrey came to me with a conditional pardon from Hell. I am under observation and if I don’t become lazy again, I might be a free woman again.

So, despite the complete lack of response for the Story Carnival, I am smiling:) I’ll post a caricature of the sad me soon, when I share my Story Carnival woes with you. In the meantime, I’m back on duty – Oprah wants a payback for her good deed:-)

 

Announcement – Blog Carnival for Bloggers – Tell the Story-in-the-Caricature – November 2010 – Edition 6!

Dear Visitors, Aliens, Occasional-stopperbys, and Everyone Else in this Beautiful Virtual world,

The October Carnival ended on October 31, 2010 – on a really low note (sniff!) I guess the drawing failed to get your creative juices flowing. But two brave-hearts persisted.

Here are their stories:

• Robin & Beth, a lovely romantic story with an unusual twist,  by Creative Barbwire .
• The Trump Card , an eye-for-an-eye story by currently Blog-less Oorvi.

Now if you are wondering why I am still keen on continuing the Blog Carnival, the answer is:  I have a lot of faith in my fellow bloggers. I know that there are many who are sitting on a gold-mine of talent (including some who’ve recently visited mine,) and that one day, I’ll come up with a caricature, which will make them want to write a fabulous story.

So, here’s the Caricature for the November Story-in-the-Caricature Blog Carnival, which I hope will inspire you to write:)

O Romeo, Romeo, Wherefore art thou?

The rules remain the same, but I am adding a new constraint.

Your story SHOULD have a Romeo and a Juliet, who are called Romeo and Juliet, respectively!

Here are the rules:

1. Write a story, small or big, about this caricature.

2. Publish the story on your blog, along with this caricature (A link to this blog would be appreciated, but it isn’t necessary.)

3. Leave the link to your post, as a comment to this post here.

4. The festival ends at the midnight of November 30, 2010 (Tuesday.)

The Three Rewards for this Story Carnival:

1. All the story links added until the last date, will be published on this blog in November 2010, along with the blog-address, and a link to the About Page of your blog.

2. The blog addresses of the participating bloggers will find way into my “The Storytellers” blogroll.

3. We will also request all the story-writers to publish the links of other story-writers in a blog-post on their respective blogs. This will help the story writers find more readers – but of course, this would be voluntary.

An Important Note:

This blog has absolutely no tolerance for pornography and abusive language and so any comment/story containing such material will automatically disqualify from the Carnival.

Waiting to hear from you, O fellow bloggers! Tell us your story!