Clattertron

[dc]T[/dc]his week on the Friday Six: comics, Moscow Mules, “jif” or “gif,” and cartoons.

[ ] In the USA, we (typically) consider sweet vermouth a mixer. But for some, it is a pre-meal drink on its own, served neat or with ice (serving size, a couple of ounces).

Much to Stephanie’s amusement, I tried this other method:

“Are you drinking sweet vermouth by itself?!”

“IT’S AN APERITIF…and we’re out of whiskey.” (To make a Manhattan. My “old man” drink as Stephanie calls it).

[ ] Speaking of mixed drinks, a friend talked about making a Moscow Mule on Facebook, and it reminded me of this photo I took a couple of summers ago.

Stephanie and I stopped at Shute’s in Calumet, Michigan during our Upper Peninsula vacation.

Here’s a shot of the inside of Shute’s.

The amusing part is, the copper mug cost more than the drink–$25 versus $4 (travel tip: drinks are super cheap in the UP). Shute’s (usually) requires a person leave their ID as collateral upon ordering a Moscow Mule, as these mugs can ‘walk away.’ You can find a similar copper mug on Amazon.

[ ] Comic pal Ryan Claytor has a crowd funding campaign going on Indiegogo. Ryan is hoping to raise $3000 to cover the costs of printing his recent And Then One Day story arc as one 96-page collected edition (it consists of three volumes).

From Ryan:

Autobiographical Conversations centers on a discussion between Harry Polkinhorn (a professor of English who teaches classes on the personal essay) and me (at the time, a graduate student studying Comics and Fine Art) about autobiography, comics, and the intersection of the two.”

[ ] Diesel Sweeties on the “jif” or “gif” pronunciation issue. I want to experiment with animation in my comics at some point.

[ ] There is a long history of Japanese cartoons being repackaged for viewing in the USA, such as Robotech, Speed Racer, and Voltron. In the case of Voltron, originally called Beast King Golion, considerable changes happened. Beast King Golion is much darker and violent–and a far cry from the goofy sci-fi action cartoon I loved as a kid (and inspired the name of this website).

I wonder if the opposite happens: does some country have overdubbed/chopped up episodes of DuckTales where the tone is totally different? Uncle Scrooge might be made to look as an abusive uncle who drags helpless orphans on his grave robbing adventures. Or maybe DuckTales episodes are edited to make Launch Pad the hero and star of Hot-Handed God of Pilots, and Scrooge is the goofball sidekick?

[ ] I’m slowly working my way through the new Thundercats cartoon. I like what I have seen so far, albeit only five episodes. Some of the folks behind Avatar: The Last Airbender worked on it, and their presence is clear.

A show I would love to see handled by this team is 1980s cartoon The Mysterious Cities of Gold. I watched the entire run via Netflix a year or so ago, and it is deserving of a well-done reboot.

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