Sep 21 2013

Kids Trash Former NFL Player’s Home, Parents Defend Them

This is why I need to find a new Internet. One that doesn’t have stories like this.

What the hell, parents? Your kids pull this crap, take pictures, post them online, and then you defend their behavior? This is indicative of a very real problem: parents who don’t discipline their kids, and allow them to behave like jerks. If this news report is accurate (that’s a disclaimer in case it isn’t, but there are, you know, PHOTOS), the parents should pay a fine and perhaps go to jail if the law allows for such a penalty.

If you feel like getting more irritated, read the comments. Some morons are actually mad at Brian Holloway, the NFL player in question, for posting photos that WERE ALREADY POSTED ONLINE BY THE KIDS WHO BROKE INTO HIS HOUSE. Allegedly. In case the report is wrong.

Either way, I have noticed a lot of “my son/daughter would never do that” when in fact said son or daughter did in fact do that in front of dozens of witnesses. Or perhaps they posted a picture on the Internet of said action. You defend your children against bullies, stand up for their rights, love them unconditionally. You do not defend offensive behavior and make excuses.

Grrrr. And people wonder why I’ve seen the Avengers movie 12 times. Beats reading the news.

Teens trash home of ex-NFL player, teens parents threaten player (CBS Sports)

HelpMeSave300.com (website set up by Brian Holloway)


Jul 19 2013

Hug Him And Squeeze Him And Call Him George (Video)

You’ve probably heard the line “I will hug him and squeeze him and call him George.” As I just wrote on Facebook, teaching it to my children is one of my great accomplishments as a parent. (Remember, quoting yourself may be tacky, but it makes fact-checking much easier.) I always thought the line came from a Bugs Bunny cartoon. Now I’m not so sure.

I might even have the line wrong. If so, I’m not the only one.

What follows is a condensed version of my attempt to figure out where “I will hug him and squeeze him and call him George” came from, which led me down a big Internet rabbit hole (pun intended) of cartoons, John Steinbeck, and other stuff.

At first the Internet seemed to be telling me that the cartoon in question was “The Abominable Snow Rabbit”.

In the video above, the line is, “I will name him George, and I will hug him and pet him and squeeze him…” Not an exact match, but very close. (Daffy Duck has a great line as well: “I know I’m a louse. But I’m a live louse.”)

Then I stumbled across an intriguing tidbit: “The Abominable Snow Rabbit” is an homage to John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men.”

OK. Sure. Why not?

However, according to the Internet there are many cartoon homages to “Of Mice and Men.”

Really. There are.

Here is “Lonesome Lenny”, a 1946 Tex Avery cartoon, described thusly on IMDB: “Screwy Squirrel is bought in a pet shop to be the companion of a daft dog so strong that he squeezes his playmates to death.” Well all righty then. The dog’s name is Lenny, and he calls his new pal George. (Lennie and George are the main characters in “Of Mice and Men.”)

(Tip of the hat to the folks on this AWN forum page for pointing me towards “Lonesome Lenny”.)

But there is another Tex Avery short, “Of Fox And Hounds”, released in 1940, that is also an “Of Mice and Men” thing. This is where the immortal line “Which way did he go, George? Which way did he go?” came from. (I taught that one to my kids as well. I’m an awesome dad.)

(Hat tip to LanguageHat.com. No pun intended that time.)

Research note: Lest anyone think that my sources are limited to Wikipedia and pages I found via The Google, here is a link to The New York Times’ review of the 1939 film version of Steinbeck’s book (starring Burgess Meredith and Lon Chaney, Jr.), which states that “Of Mice and Men” has been “endlessly parodied in Warner Bros. and MGM cartoons”. (Personally, I prefer “homage” to “parody” in this case. But let’s not split hairs. Or hares.)

“Of Fox And Hounds” seems to be the first animated homage to “Of Mice and Men.” But, with apologies to Bono, I still haven’t found what I’m looking for. None of this tells me the source of “I will hug him and squeeze him and call him George.” Thinking that perhaps the words came from Steinbeck, I did some searching on Google Books, eventually changing my query to the phrase “Tell me about the rabbits George.” That opened a whole new rabbit hole of references.

Lennie, George and rabbits are apparently quite the thing. Who knew?

What did we learn? A lot. Haven’t answered my original question. But that’s OK.

(Thanks to the Facebook friends who inspired this post.)

Classic Looney Tunes – YouTube.


Jul 07 2013

New Batman Cartoon Looks Bad (BEWARE THE BATMAN)

There’s a new Batman cartoon coming out called Beware The Batman. It looks bad. Here’s video of the intro:

Also, a YouTube commenter — let’s call them “YouTubers” — points out the following (source):

Oficial page for the Oficial show eh? Don’t think so Oficial is spelt wrong 😛

We now return you to your regularly scheduled Internet, already in progress.

BEWARE THE BATMAN Opening Sequence Unveiled | Newsarama.com.

For more Batman (and others), check out our list of Superhero Animation on Demand.


Feb 23 2007

Bill Gates Keeps His Kids Offline

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Just because you’re the daughter of Bill Gates does not mean you get to play on your computer all day long. Read more »