MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Our grandson Benjamin

photo by his mother Sabrina

Book Report: MARLEY'S GHOST (a picture book for grownups)

click on pictures to make them bigger and more understandable

Off and on in the past several days I have been reading a novel, or more correctly:  looking at a novel.  It is the graphic novel MARLEY'S GHOST (aka A CHRISTMAS CAROL) by Charles Dickens.

Of course I know the story, I have heard it countless times with Uncle Scrooge (not McDuck), Tiny tim, and all the rest of Christmas Carol people.  The reason I am going through the story again is because of the illustrator:  Harvey Kurtzman.  Kurtzman did his own adaptation in 1954 (and the e-version was marked down).

The Kurtzman adaptation  was not known until it was found fairly recently.

One thing I found interesting was that it was made in 1954, just when Harvey Kurtzman was getting recognized as the editor and creator of MAD Comicbook and was the first and then the pace setter of the Zany satirist-type of comics.  He was pouring out  great quantities (and quality) of his talent and went beyond that into another field of comics,  graphic novels.

MARLEY'S GHOST takes a close look of Ebeneezer Scrooge's life and how he became what he was;  grouchy old self-centered sour old man successful in business.... and did I say penny pincher and self-righteous?

When dealing with Scrooge normally the colors were dark and gloomy, but when people were   partying and doing Christmas-spirited things  the colors became bright and jubilant. 

It also showed that you don't have to be Christian to enjoy the season and show goodwill towards your fellow man.

However, the fact that it was discovered unpublished after he had died indicates he did not make a dime on it, but hopefully his survivors did.

It was good that Kurtzman did it in the time in his life he was at his creative peak.  As he got older he came down with Parkinson disease which caused his hands to shake. 

SUNDAY FUNNIES!! HUMBUG Christmas Story

click on each picture to read the text (not to mention also to appreciate the art)

Yep, this is the final Christmas story via the 1958 Humbug satire magazine. If you are an EC comic fan you probably have noticed that many times in EC publlications all the creators are illustrated in the same room, in a twisted sort of way. And this is about what editor Harvey Kurtzman had put on the last page here. Old habits die hard.

My Style of Boxing Day

In the United Kingdom, mostly, December the 26th, the day after Christmas, is Boxing Day. 

Boxing Day is the day people give those who served them in one form or another, an annual tip.  I have no idea why they call it Boxing Day.  Please don't tell me, my mind can only hold so much.

Our (Anna and I) form of Boxing Day is actually Boxing Days.  It takes a couple of days to get the annual tips to people we that have serviced us all year long, such as the paper delivery lady, Postal people, etc.

We have five or maybe six, people we like to show our appreciation annually by giving them a tip.

Here are the tips that will be handed out free:

1. Do not buy a 1950 Studebaker in bad shape.  It might be hard to find parts for.

2. Do not think you have to have every product Amazon offers.

3.  Do not chug-a-lug a bottle of hot sauce to impress your friends.

4. Be careful when starting small talk with strangers while in line or in a waiting room or something.  You  never know what is ricocheting around in their minds.

5.  If you want to mix well with humans well, make damn sure you know and have instant recall all the statistics of every sporting game, pro and college, and every statistic of every frigging player.

Jack Davis turned 90 "What Me Retire?"

There is an article in WIRED magazine that said  Georgian Artist Jack Davis is retiring or has retired.  Jack is one of the first four illustrators of the original MAD comic book and  the only survivor  of  original  staff of five.

He also did a lot of art of EC Comics' horror comics, as TALES FROM THE CRYPT.

He also has done a lot of other art for other publications such as TIME and TV GUIDE.   Not to mention his free work  of UGA, the University of Georgia  Bulldog Mascot for the UGA Booster Club.

I  just read on Google that Jack Davis "an't"  retiring after all. It was just a rumor.

Speaking of Jack Davis and the UGA Bulldog, and By Gosh, By Golly,  it is Christmas time and here are some Jack Davis art.

Christmas Singing at Signature Nursing & Rehab

Sunday we visited Anna's mother Marie and were putting on our jackets getting ready to go when we heard a roar down the hall.  It got louder and turned into music.  Then we realized it was Angles!   Of course I  whipped out my camera and started videoing.

Lookie:

Only 6 Months Until Christmas

And I'm keeping a list!!

Adam the Hero

Above – a picture off of Google showing what can happen with flame flare-up when deep frying a turkey.

On Christmas day we had the family over for dinner. The first ones that arrived was my son Adam and his friend Savvy. It was in the plans for Adam to come early and do some electronic fixing and correcting for us.

I was keeping my focus on a beef tenderloin roast we were cooking on the grill on the deck. Adam came out and told me there was a fire at the house across the street. We quickly walked and ran over to the house. Big flames were leaping up behind their carport. Adam rung their door bell and knocked on the door but no one came. Their cars were in the driveway but I for whatever reason they did not come to the door. Adam hollered out, “Your house is on fire!”

And that got their attention. They all ran out and I think it was the lady of the house that grabbed a water hose and put the fire out. It couldn’t tell what was burning from my position but I think it was the lattice on the back of their carport. It was surprising that it was extinguished so quickly. Well, good.
They thanked us but somehow I sensed they were wishing we would mind our own business. We more or less said, “Aww shucks, we are just glad y’all are OK.”

We went back. I went back tending to the roast on the grill and Adam went back to the electronic fixing our electronic screw-ups.

Then I heard sirens. Up pulled three police cars and three fire trucks. I found out later that Savvy called 911. One police car drove down the street slowly looking for a problem and apparently saw none. He looked at me and I pointed to the neighbor’s house. He looked at me more puzzled. I, again, pointed at the neighbor’s house. He stopped and got out and said he didn’t understand what I was motioning. I told him it was that house over there that had the fire and added that they put it out already.

He went over to look and so did the rest, including the firemen. From their actions I saw that there was still a problem. They ran back to the truck and got equipment including two ladders. While they were in the back a big belch of smoke shot up from the roof. They stayed there between 30 minutes to an hour, and as far as I know, solved their fire problem.


A little later my neighbor Bob came over and asked what did the police want with me and I told him about the fire. Bob walked over to the house to the spot the fire was in and came back and told me apparently they were deep frying a turkey and were not watching it, and it was right in the middle of some scrap wood… so poof! It was ignited.

Thanks to Adam and the firemen, their house was not burned down.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Rule

Hey Kiddies! Remember, I only deliver presents to good little boys and girls. If you don't get many presents on Christmas morning and the rich kid you know did, it just means he was a good little boy, you should be nice to him.

And then, after the good little boys and girls I will deliver the big fat bonuses to all the CEOs and the Wall Street crowd. The regular hourly workers you say? FORGET IT!!! HO HO HO!

Lumps of Coal for Everyone!!!

Final Christmas story from HUMBUG 1958

Yep, this is the final Christmas story via the 1958 Humbug satire magazine. If you are an EC comic fan you probably have noticed that many times in EC publlications all the creators are illustrated in the same room, in a twisted sort of way. And this is about what editor Harvey Kurtzman had put on the last page here. Old habits die hard.

Another Christmas Story from HUMBUG in 1958

Oh Me

More From Humbug Christmas Issue, 1958

Wait! This post is running late! Tack it on the LET THERE BE LIGHTS! on yesterday's post.

What We Did On Our Anniversary

The other day was our 44th anniversary. Wow! We have been married 44 years.

We started out the day by going to the Governor’s Mansion. We read that the mansion is decorated for Christmas and it is a sight to see. We also read it is opened from 9:30 to 12:30 daily.

When we drove onto the Governor’s Mansion grounds a Georgia State Patrolman asked us could he help us. We told him we would like to see the mansion, He had a clipboard. He asked for my driver’s license then he walked around and wrote down our license plate number. He told us to proceed up the hill and we were directed where to park.





The mansion was decorated in all sorts of trees and figurines and things. Each room had a docent, which was always a charming, with a Georgia accent, well dressed lady who gave you the run-down on what you were looking at. The first room, the lady introduced herself as “Sandra Deal, wife of the Governor. “ We had a nice conversation with Mrs. Deal. We were the last of the group that just went through, so she talked more on a one on one. She told us it was a big nice place, but they lived upstairs and used only about 3 of the rooms, an office, sitting room, and the bedroom, “3 rooms, just like we do back at home”, she added.

I asked if I could take her picture and she said of course I could. She told us a good deal (get it?)about the design of the house, using Greek names and different styles from trends and/or fashion. I asked her where she was from and she said Gainesville. I asked her if she knew any of Englands in Gainesville. And she said something like Godfrey England worked for them. I told her my last name was Hunter and the Hunters and the England intertwined in their marriages in Union County, Georgia, and some of the Englands overflowed into Hall County (Gainesville).




She gave me a quick polite smile and greeted the newest arrivals and started talking to them. Our audience with the First Lady of Georgia was over.

The decorations were great. Each room has a theme of a sort of a certain area of Georgia. One room had a Christmas tree with sea shells and star fish on it that represented the coast. Another tree in another room had picked cotton all over it, that represented one of south Georgia’s principle crop.

The room that represented north Georgia had Cabbage Patch Dolls (Cleveland), and other things typical of of the area but what stands out is the Spanish Moss hanging from a fireplace. Was that a joke?

Two rooms had children singing groups singing Christmas songs. See the video above.

Mrs. Deal pointed out that if we come back sometime when it wasn’t the Christmas season, with all the decorations gone, we could see more of other such in the house, and I think she meant historical things on display.

















In the basement in a room where one group of kids were singing were portraits of all the governors of Georgia. I made a point to find the below one and photograph it. It is a portrait of Button Gwinnett. Button was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. If that isn’t interesting enough, he was killed in a duel. He was an exciting person, wasn’t he?




Also in the same room in the basement singing was a big table where the staff, or volunteers, were overseeing the cookies baked from the mansion’s cookies and apple cider. With the people standing on the other side of the table watching who took how many, I only took one cookie – it would be embarrassing, at 70 years old, to get my hand slapped.



The Governor’s Mansion grounds were impressive landscaped and well trimmed. Georgia has come a long way since Governor Gene Tallmadge brought his cows to the capital to graze on the grass. I haven’t heard if Gene put cattle at the mansion grounds or not. Then, the mansion was Ansley Park, which was not much in the public view, so I dout it, Gene Tallmadge was a master showman.





We went to Atlantic Station to do some Christmas shopping. Atlantic Station looked like a chunk of New York City, maybe a 5 block square, was ripped up and it sailed away and landed off Northside Drive in Atlanta. That section could pass for a section of Manhattan. Apparently, if it was a chunk of New York City was somehow lifted up and scaled down to Atlanta, the cheap street food venders fell off along the way. By the way, I think it was named Atlantic Station because it is the same area that the old Atlantic Steel yards were at. Some of you readers, will mumble something like, “I thought everybody knew that."





We had lunch at Which Wich. Which Wich is a unique sandwich shop. You fill out your order on a brown paper sack by filling out the blanks and multiple choices. Then you give the brown paper bag to the cashier who adds it up on the cash register, put it on a clothes hangers and sends it down an assembly line. Then at the pickup area people are patiently waiting for their order to come. And then, in our case, you look for a normal height chairs with a normal height table instead of those high seats and chairs that they mostly have. We shared a turkey sandwich WHICH was pretty good.






In the evening we had reservations at the Canoe Restaurant on the river. The waitress was a firm believer, I think, in making the customer feel comfortable and right. And also we were absolutely right on everything we said, like, “Excellent choice!” I had lamb sirloin and Anna had the most tend part of a cow, if I understood correctly, it is along the spine. However, as nice as it was, we were seated by a plate glass, of a glassed in porch. It was cold.

Then, after we left one of the better restaurants in the Metro Atlanta area we went to Big Lots to look for more clear Christmas lights and they were out.