the blog quebecois

AFP/Yahoo:

Smoking scenes in "Tom and Jerry" cartoons are now banned in Britain, following a viewer's complaint to the government agency that polices the airwaves.

In one episode of the classic US cartoon series, Tom is seen smoking a roll-up cigarette in a bid to impress a female cat. In another, Tom's opponent in a tennis match was seen smoking a large cigar.

Following an investigation prompted by the anonymous viewer's complaint, regulator Ofcom said Monday that children's TV channel Boomerang has agreed to edit out scenes deemed to glamorise or condone smoking.

"We note that, in 'Tom and Jerry', smoking usually appears in a stylised manner and is frequently not condoned," said Ofcom, recalling how the cartoons were made in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s when smoking was not so controversial.

"However, while we appreciate the historic integrity of the animation, the level of editorial justification required for the inclusion of smoking in such cartoons is necessarily high."

I've written about the anti-smoking zealots before, as fierce and uncompromising in their quest for moral purity as the Wahabbists or Taliban. I suspect it won't be long before they demand that all film and television portrayals of smoking be digitally censored. It's going to be odd seeing Humphrey Bogart repeatedly putting his hands to his mouth for no apparent purpose, but it's a small price to pay to pretend that he didn't die of throat cancer.

Or as one comedian put it: Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing. (I was about to attribute the quote to another notorious smoker, Groucho Marx, but Google informs me that it was more likely Redd Foxx; happily, for the sake of symmetry, also a heavy smoker.)

Bah. Here's a Tom and Jerry game that you can play until they ban it for violence or somesuch. Warning: No smoking, thank God, but there's music, of which your boss and/or the Taliban might not approve.

Philipp Lenssen adds a Web 2.0 gloss to the romance comic.

that there's a perfectly innocent and reasonable explanation for this:

What it might be entirely escapes me, though. Other puzzling moments in comic book art here.

This is probably one of those ideas that was funnier in the conception than in the flesh; it's still worth a few giggles anyway. It takes a random quote from Friedrich Nietzche and marries it with a random Family Circus cartoon. To see different combinations, refresh the page.

Unfortunately my favorite Nietzsche quote (from Thus Spoke Zarathustra) hasn't yet come up: (link points to a slightly different translation)

Thou goest to women? Take thy whip!

To which Bertrand Russell quipped: Nietzsche seldom went to see women, because he knew that nine out of ten of them could have gotten the whip away from him.

PAGANS have pledged to perform "rain magic" to wash away cartoon character Homer Simpson who was painted next to their famous fertility symbol - the Cerne Abbas giant.

The 17th century chalk outline of the naked, sexually aroused, club-wielding giant is believed by many to be a symbol of ancient spirituality.

Many couples also believe the 180ft giant, which is carved in the hillside above Cerne Abbas, Dorset, is an aid to fertility.

A giant 180ft Homer Simpson brandishing a doughnut was painted next to the well-endowed figure today in a publicity stunt to promote The Simpsons Movie released later this month.

The lads at b3ta have their own take on it. Warning: Possibly NSFW.

Another tie-in to the Simpsons movie: This game, where Homer (you, using the arrow keys) attempts to free his family by smashing a police car with a wrecking ball. In theory, anyway -- the only thing I succeeded in smashing was Homer himself. Sound effects.

Vanity Fair:

"The Simpsons is the bane of our existence," says Matt Stone, co-creator of South Park with Trey Parker. "They have done so many parodies, tackled so many subjects. 'Simpsons did it!' is a very familiar refrain in our writers' room. Trey and I are constantly having our little cartoon compared to the best show in the history of television, The Simpsons. Why can't we be compared to According to Jim? Or Sister, Sister?"

A very entertaining piece on The Simpsons, worthy of reading whether you're a fan or not.

The New York Times, presently being driven into the ground by Punch Sulzberger and Co., nevertheless remains an interesting read for things other than politics. Here its Interactive division highlights Al Jaffee's iconic "fold-ins," a feature of Mad Magazine from its beginning.

To see them in action, click on the right hand side of the page and drag it across to the left.