Nothing is real

meany This weekend, my dad and boyfriend and I sat down to watch Yellow Submarine. I think they showed this annually at the student union when I was in college. Even though I usually fell asleep at some point or other, it still had a pretty formative effect on me. Beatles

Imagine my surprise when my dad (a certified baby boomer and rock & roller) told me that he barely even bothered to see Yellow Submarine when it came out in 1968. It turns out the Beatles don’t even play themselves in the film! He and his friends saw it as a commercialization of the Beatles, who had already been immortalized in a crappy TV cartoon by the same guys making Yellow Sub.

submarine Well they were right, and the Beatles themselves saw it that way as well… until they saw the final product. Turns out they liked it so much that they all appeared in a live-action “epilogue” to the film.

interior I never really thought much about Yellow Submarine, but in retrospect this makes tons of sense to me. The animation in this movie is stunning, creative, and ground-breaking – especially considering they didn’t have all the fancy computers we have now. If you haven’t seen it lately, do check it out. Fun for kids too!

Freedom Illustrated
art
The ACLU has put togther this online
USA PATRIOT Art Show collecting cartoons that deal with the “PATRIOT” act. They even included the very awesome Aaron McGruder (of Bookdocks fame).

(Maybe it’s just me, but I found the juxtaposition of these phrases on their site amusing:
“Cartooning and free speech in war time” …
“Cartoons cannot be used in any way without artist’s permission!”)