Ep227 was a disaster for me. I wrote the cartoon out in advance like I normally do. But I didn't do my research properly. I remembered incorrectly that one of the colours removed from the original rainbow flag symbolized unity, not harmony. The punch line in the final frame hinged on unity. So when I realized this, I tried to come up with a punch line using harmony. The three part harmony gag was the best I could do. It's much harder to create a punch line to fit the cartoon, than have the cartoon flow from the punch line. In any case, Ep227 is a little fun with history.
I still haven't heard from anybody who was at Saskatchewan's Gay Pride parade. Let us know how it went !!
Tomorrow is my sister's birthday. It's a BIG one (a number with a zero!). But I won't say what number (life is too short as it is). Happy birthday Ann !!
This coming weekend is Canada Day and like all good Canadians, we'll practise hard all week at forgetting the words to the national anthem. To our Canadian readers, have a safe long weekend.
Ep226 was inspired by my own confusion. I was in Saskatoon during Gay Pride way back in 1997 and it was the first year they had a public gathering (not a parade) to celebrate Gay Pride. So there seemed to be more advertising and visibility of the events than in previous years. I was downtown standing on the corner by the Co-op building when I noticed the flags in front of their building. Without counting the strips, I thought to myself "my isn't the Co-op getting into the spirit of gay pride. They're flying the pride flag. Good for them". It was much later that I realized, the Co-op has their own flag and it's very similar to the Gay Pride flag. The Co-op's flag has 7 strips, where the pride flag has 6. Oops. Good thing I didn't go into the Co-op building to congratulate them on getting into the pride spirit!! By the way, for those of you not familiar with the Co-op, it is a co-operative retailing system that runs hardware stores, grocery stores, etc, that are member owned. You see their stores all over western Canada.
The other inspiration for EP226 was the punch line at the end. I was in an Ottawa Gay and Lesbian store a while ago and came across these little bottles near the "leather goods". They were a leather cleaning product. I thought to myself, wow these guys think of everything. Along with the stereotype of gay men being so particular about cleanliness, it all made sense. I later read somewhere that these were "poppers". And since they couldn't be sold for their real purpose, they were sold as a leather cleaning product - wink, wink. So much for me being worldly.
Lastly, Saskatchewan had their Gay Pride parade in Saskatoon this past weekend!! I heard the weather wasn't the best, but hopefully all went well. For any readers who were there, let us know how it went. I'd like to hear from you.
The jury's still out over EP225's success. I attempted visual movement of frames before in EP84, with mixed results. I'm not sure this was any better. It took a lot more planning of the layout for this episode to work. Oh well, it was a learning process. I may try it again in the future if the storyline calls for it. Father's day is coming this weekend. Sales of ties and socks will skyrocket. Be sure to give Dad a big hug on Sunday!!
There may be a fight a' brewin' in EP224. Very busy at work right now. Not much time to blog.
