Jen Sorensen picks up on an oddity of the burgeoning Chinese economy.What’s odd about it is that it’s kind of a flashback to our own industrial revolution. In the 19th century, there were two levels of getting away from it all:One was simply the country retreat, and a lot of upper middleclass people spent time […]

I think this sums up nicely what I hope will be the last in the saga of Peter Robbins, the actor who was the original voice behind the Peanuts character Charlie Brown.From ABC News:A judge warned Peter Robbins that he could be sent to prison for nearly four years if he violates the terms of […]

We’re still in award season. To our north, the National Newspaper Awards have been announced. This year’s winner in editorial cartooning is Serge Chapleau of Montreal La Presse. Runners-up include Andy Donato of the Toronto Sun and Brian Gable of the Globe and Mail.

Slightly off-topic, but I think of interest.Buzzfeed has a post of the 50 amazing examples of street art from around the world.Here’s one in San Diego by Os Gemeos

The Washington Post writes about the changes film studios will make to their films in order to get them past Chinese government censors so they can be released in the communist country. Iron Man 3 featured “odd and, at times outright nonsensical” footage of product placement of a milk based drink from China?s Inner Mongolia. […]

Lincoln Peirce’s comic Big Nate is being adapted to a stage production. Jason Loewith, the Big Nate playright in the Huffington Post: Our adaptation celebrates Nate’s artistic expression, while letting the audience know he’s a kid like them: struggling to do well while the elements at P.S. 38 rage against him. And we try to […]

In the current (th)Ink, Keith Knight lobs a stinkbomb at a deserving target. I keep seeing stories tagged to HuffPo in my Facebook feed, but, honestly, it’s like one of those tired old TV shows that they keep renewing and, when you see it listed on your guide, your response has long since gone from […]

Matt Bors with a delightfully grim commentary on global trade and its most prominent cheerleader.I was a business reporter at a paper on the US/Canada border when the Free Trade Agreement went through in 1988, and it was a very big deal. We’d already established enough cross-border shopping to justify building a huge mall that […]

Buzzfeed has a post by Victor Navasky and his summary of 15 of the most influential cartoons from around the world. No. 10:In more than 30 years at the helm of The Nation, only once (in the spring of 1984) did the staff march on my office with a petition (signed by 25 people in […]

While I was locked out of my blog last week, a number of important news items popped up and I wasn’t able post them. Here’s the wrap up of some of the news I wanted to post last week: Daryl Cagle responds to the criticism that by switching positions (and changing a cartoon) that he’s […]

Iron Man 3, which opened last weekend, became the second highest grossing film on opening weekend grossing $175,300,000. The highest grossing film is The Avengers ($207,438,708) which also featured Iron Man. Here’s the list of the all-time highest grossing films.Interesting observation from Ray Subers of Box Office Mojo in the USA Today: “With very few […]

First, equal time for Those Other Pets, courtesy of Dan Piraro.Nothing much to add to this except “hahahahahahaha,” which is almost always good commentary, if not terribly enlightening. But I’ve had plenty to say recently about dogs and the credulity of their owners, so there’s no reason not to feature kitty cats, too.I’m a dog […]

I’ve spoken before of how much I loved the Sunday Mark Trail strip as a kid, and how much I wish more papers would carry it now, if only to keep kids somewhat rooted in the world outside.That rant is worth going back to, but today’s strip is a good example of (A) lore, (B) […]

I always hope that people are following at least some of the links here, sometimes because I link to something cool or funny in the way of additional commentary, but first and foremost because I link to the various featured artists and (A) I hope to turn people on to new stuff and (B) it’s […]

The factory disaster in Bangladesh is showing up in political cartoons. I particularly like Matt Davies’ piece, tying it into the brutal sweatshops of our own history.But I sure don’t have much of a prescription, beyond the obvious, unlikely and unhelpful.Yes, don’t buy clothes from sweatshops. So … where then? Because affordable clothes come from […]