Today’s cartoon reflects the changes at Twitter, or is it now “X”? Not sure.
I will miss the little bird. It’s been the mascot/logo since day one. I don’t think the look ever changed after all these years like so many logos do. In this case, it just became a whole new thing.
The X in this cartoon is a shuriken, a ninja star, killing the poor Twitter bird.
I don’t use Twitter these days as much as I used to. I mostly read it and get news there. I recently signed up for Threads. The new alternative to Twitter.
If you want, you can follow me on Twitter/X at: twitter.com/tomversation And Threads at: @tomvesation.toons
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It’s a pink weekend. Between the new Barbie movie and Lionel Messi. the soccer superstar’s USA debut, it’s all pink. You can swipe back and forth for both cartoons here.
Pink is of course the theme of Barbie and Messi’s color is pink. Messi’s pink a little bit lighter in color, but still, I think this deep, bright pink makes the point (cartoonwise).
I first did the Barbie cartoon and at the last minute I thought of Messi. Here in Miami, it’s Messi all over the place. Murals are appearing on buildings, soccer tickets have zoomed up in price and that’s all you hear about – Messi, Messi, Messi.
On the national news, I’ve seen lots of reports on Messi, so I thought I would add it to today’s cartoon as a second option, to add to the pink theme of the weekend.
Barbie and Messi
The Oppenheimer movie is opening this weekend, too, and people are buying tickets for both Barbie and Oppenheimer and will do a double feature, sort of like the old days. The big debate there is which one to see first so as to set the tone for the next movie.
I couldn’t fit Oppenheimer into the pink theme. It’s anything but bright and pink.
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Today’s cartoon is about the Hollywood actor’s strike. First off, let me say I am in favor of everyone being paid what they are worth. And I’m in favor of the actor’s receiving their due. I also know that the majority of actors are not paid millions of dollars and some barely make a living wage. I know that.
This is just one view of how some people see the strike. It could be because they have big names as the face of the strike, like Fran Drescher, Jason Sudekis, Susan Sarandon and Brian Cox, who are just a few that have been shown on tv talking about the issue. I know the big names get the air time.
If it was a character actor that we don’t know, then perhaps people might feel differently. But again, I understand the SAF-AFTRA issue. They want their fair share, they don’t want their likenesses used with AI formats and so on.
When I started my Huffington Post column, 10 With Tom, my goal was to interview up- and-coming artists and musicians – people who were not known, but I was asked to write about well-known people, because that’s what the readers apparently wanted to read. So it’s the same here, publicize the famous stars rather than those in the picket line who really need to strike.
I know the writers are on strike, too, and many of them barely make a living wage.
I’m hoping for a good outcome for everyone involved.
When I first wrote the cartoon, I used a husband and wife watching tv, worried about their cable bill or streaming bill going up due to the eventual outcome of the strike, but I thought the two homeless guys would make more of an impression.
Originally, this was the cartoon.
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This Our Boarding House cartoon is from July 10, 1929. Almost 100 years ago, and we are probably still drinking our coffee the same way in the U.S. – with cold milk, if we add milk.
I live in Miami, so when we order coffee at a restaurant, if you order coffee, you get Cuban Coffee, which is espresso with about eight, yes eight, teaspoons of sugar.
If you want a regular cup of coffee, you order “American Coffee” and then you’ll get it. But in many cases, they give you warm/hot milk on the side if you ask for milk or cream with it. You have to ask for cold milk, like The Major here in the cartoon.
I guess it makes no sense to have hot coffee and then put cold milk in it, but that’s how it goes in the rest of the U.S. if you’re not in Miami. For some reason I skeeve hot milk put in hot coffee. As for iced coffee, I like it ice and coffee. That’s it. No milk, no sugar. I’ve ordered it at a McDonald’s and I have to explain to them more than once that I don’t want anything else in it, just the ice and coffee. They could not wrap their minds around the fact that I didn’t want anything in it.
I live on Cold Brew Iced Coffee when I’m in New York in the summer, usually from Starbucks, I order it on the app and pick it up. These days, as you know, it’s sweltering in summer so I drink that a lot. They know me at a few of the Starbucks in NYC and they just hand me the coffee when they see me without calling my name – I’m there that often. But they get it – ice and coffee. Nothing else. Well, one thing – they used to have these little square bites – they were lemon coconut, something like that. They no longer have that as an item on the menu. So it’s just the iced coffee, nothing else, right now.
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I was telling one of my cousins last week that I watch a lot of PBS. She assumed I watched a lot of “nature shows” or educational stuff, but I told her I watch a lot of British tv – britcoms, mysteries, etc.
The lighthouse was in danger of falling off of the cliffs, as the erosion got closer and closer. So a plan was set in place to move the much-loved and historic lighthouse back 135 feet to save it for another 150 years or so.
I kept picturing people 150 years from now doing the same thing- moving the lighthouse in another 135 feet, cursing the people in 2023 for not doing it at the time. But they can’t move the lighthouse too far back, – it still serves a purpose and needs to be visible by boats at sea.
It’s a fun program, talking about the history of the lighthouse, showing the village people of Martha’s Vineyard and the actual crew doing the job of lifting the lighthouse four feet off the ground and moving it without it collapsing under its own weight.
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I went to the Brooklyn Museum the other day. I visited the art and then just before I left, I stopped by the Ancient Egypt area. And you know what? I felt at home. I literally felt at home.
I was pleased to see objects from Ramesses II and so many others, including Akhenaten.
I’m always fascinated by ancient Egypt. The exhibits have inspired me to do more Egypt-based cartoons.
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I went to the MET (Metropolitan Museum of Art) in NYC to see Starry Night. It was on loan from MOMA for a special Van Gogh exhibit called Van Gogh’s Cypresses.
To be honest, if you’ve seen much of various Van Gogh works in different museums, it’s not worth the trip. The wait can be hours to get in.
Once you are in the museum, you need to get on a wait list for Van Gogh. You scan a QR code with your phone and wait and wait and wait and wait to be pinged for your arrival into the exhibit at your allotted time.
If you are willing to wait, you could be seeing everything else in the MET while waiting, but if you just intend to see Van Gogh, prepare for the wait.
Many people are crowded in and it’s more enjoyable to see his work, especially Starry Night, at it’s regular home at MOMA where it never is a madhouse.
I was in and out, but I did of course enjoy the rest of the museum.
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There’s this crazy phenomena happening in NYC these days – plastic flowers on buildings.
I think it started during the pandemic, I remember seeing these big plastic flower arrangements popping up, mostly to disguise or prettify, the outdoor wooden structures built for seating when people were unable to eat at indoor restaurants.
After a couple of years, they got nasty – faded and broken and falling apart. But these days, I don’t see any of the craggy ones, it’s all new ones – colorful, big colorful plastic flowers – everywhere!
I think they are ugly. Just my opinion.
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I went to MOMA, the Museum of Modern Art in NYC yesterday, only to not see my favorite piece of art – Starry Night. I had forgotten that it was on loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. There’s some sort of Van Gogh exhibit going on up there and they loaned it out. Not a problem as I can easily get to the MET a few blocks uptown.
But I did find it uninteresting to see some of the new displays at MOMA. As you can see here, on display are soap boxes – no, not Warhols, something else – and there blocks of wood, a violin filled with corn, doors with bats. And some other weird things.
I did see so many of my other favorites by Picasso and Monet and so many others.
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