Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Deafblogwood Square

Greetings, folks! Eh...what'd you expect, a boxing match between Ridor and Jamie Berke? Just kiddin'! An idea brainstormed in my mind when I followed the current controversy that was sparked by the tiff between Ridor and JB. I'd like to share this with y'all, including the other fellow blogger, and JB and R. themselves.

Fellow bloggers, hope you don't get mad at me for the way I portrayed you in this cartoon or if your faces aren't drawn perfectly. This is meant as good-natured ribbing. If you lack a sense of humor, go see Doctor Man and he'll give you a couple of humor aspirins to take in the morning. Otherwise, if you have an issue, vent here or email me privately. Just understand that when you see yourself in a DMC cartoon, this means you've made it. Consider it a compliment.

Readers, let me comment further on the cartoon. I've given the honorary spot at the top to...who else?...Elisa! I really enjoyed reading her posts ever since the Gally protests started and miss her writing already. Wonder when she'll be back?

Elizabeth, sorry if I didn't portray your face accurately...I looked for your photo but can't seem to find it...I saw it when it was put up briefly, only fleetingly. I drew you based upon an impression in my mind. If you have a photo and want me to update it, I can do it.

I chose Joey Baer to represent the deaf vloggers. I see that vlogging is very "in" today and I'd like to try it sometimes in the near future.

Re the Great Blogger War: one of the commentors Mercf (in Chris Leon's current post, "Rider Threatens To Sue") said that Ridor was something of a cartoon character. So are we, even I. This is what we've become, cartoon characters. Heh...nothing wrong. It's what makes us an interesting read, what makes DeafRead unique and fun to visit. We've become much like Hollywood Square...we're stars in our own ways. So are many of the other bloggers. I'm sorry I don't have enough space in my cartoon to draw more faces. Don't feel slighted if I didn't draw you...remember, like Hollywood Square, Deafblogwood Square has different stars every week. It's organic, ever-developing, ever-changing.

Like Carl Schroeder, I'm something of an armchair philosopher myself. Let me share some philosophical stuff with you. Remember Chris Leon's "big-headed" remark? I could again take his suggestion and turn this into a drawing of how to sign "ego." As I see it - this is just an observation - we male bloggers (Ridor, Mike McConnell, Carl Schroeder and I) are all big egos. Yes, admit it, fellas. We are egos! (chuckle) There's nothing wrong with having a healthy ego. It's what keep the fire in our bellies going. Deafread wouldn't be interesting if it wasn't for our egos.

In one of her books, The Virtue of Selfishness, Philosopher Ayn Rand made a distinction between egoist and egotist. An egoist is one who acts and pursue things in self-interest. The egoist sees others as an extension of Self and thus acts in accordance with respect and care towards others as he would to himself. The egoist does not put down others but acts as if they are his equals, and each is responsible for his own path to success or desired goal. "Man—every man—is an end in himself, not the means to the ends of others. He must exist for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself. The pursuit of his own rational self-interest and of his own happiness is the highest moral purpose of his life.", Ayn Rand wrote.

An egotist, on the other hand, talks nothing but about himself. The key is simple...look for "t" in the word egotist, it stands for "talk, talk, talk." Ayn Rand also talked about the altruist, the opposite of the egoist. The altruist is one who whines, who lets others walk over him, who urges people to make "sacrifices" in the name of nobility, and who tries to make himself look "noble" through public shows of charity (whether genuine or contrived) towards people in need. I will explain more about Ayn Rand's ideas later.

Now, I don't mean to seem sexist, but I notice it seems that we male bloggers are like hunters: we tend to jump and pounce on a thing that comes across our way, then we hold it and expound points on this thing. Female bloggers like Jamie, Elizabeth and Elisa, on the other hand, are more organized and metilicous in how they blog news or information. Maybe it's in our brains? (heh heh) Just an observation!

I picked Steve Baier (Woparsb) because I find his posts a little amusing and enjoyable to read, even if I don't agree with him on everything. He's like an average American Joe with no intellectual pretensions, and his posts are honest, to the point. I see from reading his posts that he's independent, with opinions that are different from the protestors and the Fernandes supporters. Independent critical thinking is a quality I think we all bloggers need to possess. Finally, I got the last laugh (evil chuckle).

We all need laughter to break tension every once and then!

Jamie and Ricky, you're part of our family. You can see from Deafread that there are many people who admire you, whichever side they take. Why doncha...should I say this...kiss and make up?

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mike McConnell as beach bum? Hardly.

I don't recall him having this beard... LOL

Ridor said...

LOL. this is cool.

I'm already over with this garbage. It is you people who are quite obsessed with it. I just keep it going.

R-

BEG said...

Ha!

I recognized each portrait, before realising they were each labelled. I got 'em all, too. Kudos...

Deaf Tea Lady said...

Good one, Dan!

If I post my picture on my blog, will you do me?? Just kidding.

Love the one of Elisa - "gone on a break" LOL I DO wish she'd blog more but graduate school is time consuming!

Anonymous said...

Awesome! (that's my sixth time saying it today) ;)

What a great humor piece! It is certainly the very best one. Maybe it will make it to my list of 2007 bests when I review this year in Dec.

Keep up!

Jamie said...

Haha! I laughed so hard my sides hurt. Wish you had included Chris Leon...

Anonymous said...

I laughed so hart my stomach hurt. Wonderful!

Banjo said...

Oh, this is one of the best you've done so far.

Priceless.

It's great that all of the victims here has a great sense of humour as they're already making comments here.

Great job.

Anonymous said...

this is one of your best yet, Dan! keep it up! :-)

drmzz said...

Funny, I enjoyed it. Keep on drawing.

You should make another cartoon of Ridor in his Superman pose while people around him are banging their keyboards at him and others around him are frantically typing on their keyboards as well as the counter rolls, lol.

Anonymous said...

qThis is great!

If it had been me ... well, if it had REALLY been me drawing this, the people would barely be recognizable as people never mind recognizable by name, because I can't draw, I only scrawl! But, if I could actually draw a picture that looks like an actual picture and not like something that a two-year-old scribbled with a finger and fat globs of water paint, then I would have done Carl Schroeder with a three-fingered hand shape to stand for his ASL dragon!

I like how you snuck in the Jamie Berke/Ridor flame war! The only thing you missed in that one was all of US! Meaning, the large masses of deaf readers of these blogs sitting on the sidelines eating popcorn while watching Jamie and Ricky flame it out! (Please throw a little more heat this way, my bowl of popcorn didn't pop quite enough!) Or maybe you meant to put them in but you ran out of room so you had to hide them away out of sight in the margins of the picture? :-)

The only other thing missing is ME and MY blog! But, okay, I'm a new, wet-behind the ears baby on the block, and also not nearly as active as any of the bloggers you picked on, er. I mean, depicted. If you made a list of all the deaf bloggers, I would be somewhere around 17 ... I mean, page 17 ... assuming each page had ten columns of names, in really eensy weensy print that you have to use a magnifying glass to even see, then a microscope to actually read. Oh, and assuming that each page was 17 by 22 in size. Meters, I mean.

Please hurry up and do the other 17 pages of deaf bloggers so you can finally get to poke fun at -- er, I mean, -- glorify (?), er, well, draw me too :-)

I'm only posting this as "anonymous" because I'm too lazy to figure out how to register at this site--I'm Andrea, and my blog is at http://reunifygally.wordpress.com

Anonymous said...

Great one!! It is really nice balance between blog, vlog and cartoons! Laughter is our best medicine!

Anonymous said...

Dan, I had to post this message. I'm humbled. Nobody has ever caught my image so well like you! It was perfect! I have cartoon pictures of myself that people have drawn me over the years and it's all sitting somewhere in my cabinet. I have a dream to get my soon to be computer room within a future home set up so I can scan and post them for all to see.
Right now, I feel humbled and honored. Thank you, Dan, for the kind words you said. And keep on drawing! I expect to see more stuff out of you! We need more deaf artists! amen?

Anonymous said...

So why didn't you include me, huh? :-D

Anonymous said...

Hey Dan,

We'd met back in college and this is the kind of work I'd seen in you.

What a shrewd idea placing known deaf bloggers on the squares! So hilarious!

Thanks for lighten up the subject and for the chuckles!

Keep it going!

grantlairdjr said...

Amazing cartoon scripts!

Keep up good work :)

gwlj

Anonymous said...

Dan, you are a genius and I loved this cartoon. I was laughing so hard and it made my night.

Please create a book someday and I WILL buy it.

DeafLinux

Todd said...

Dan-

That was some good artistic work! Easily one of your better efforts I've had the pleasure of viewing so far.

Anonymous said...

Dan-

I like it a lot... Wow, you are good at expressing people's characters in drawing.. Wow! Keep it up.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the laugh, Dan. I like this a lot! :)

mishkazena

DeafCartoon.com said...

Howdy, everyone! I'm on a lunch break so checking here...wow, I'm so surprised, I didn't expect this! Glad y'all like it! :-D

Let me respond to some commenters. Here are my replies:

1. Mas, no, more likely mountain bum. Ha ha...kiddin'! Actually because it was wintertime I must've unconsciously drawn his beard full...the mountains in New Arizona can be cold in wintertime. I grew up in New England and I'd grow a full beard to keep my face warm. Did this even during my long RIT years, so it became a habit in my mind. I drew quickly from memory...I should've double-checked his photo and draw his goatee instead of a full beard. I did the same to Carl, drew his beard full. Oh, well, oops! I didn't draw myself with a beard this time because it's so warm here in S.D. now.

2. Ricky, glad to see you're over it. Yeah, what a week!

3. Cy, I can do you if you put up your photo or send me by email.

4. Teri, 2007 bests? Cool! Let me know if I make it to the list. Thanks...:-)

5. Jamie, see #3...I can draw Chris Leon if he does the same. This gives me an idea...maybe I'll do a big poster?

6. Ha ha...Andrea, I'll keep your suggestion in mind for my future entries.

7. Steve, amen. I'll post my reply on your site as soon as when I have time. Semper Fi!

8. Micah, I was ignoring you. Ha ha...no, just kidding. (grin)

9. Barb, hey! Good to hear from ya! ;-)

To other commenters - Beg, Carl, Banjo, Ken, Drmzz, Grant, DeafLinux,Todd,Aidan, and Elizabeth - thank you!

I will definitely keep my work coming. Look to my two coming entries, MSSD and Galladuet and American ASL Idol!

Time for me to go back to the drawing board. Have a great day, everyone!

Anonymous said...

hahahahahaha! Didn't see this til now. Fantastic and certainly dead-on. *grin*

Anonymous said...

I made a goof in my reply #1...I meant New Mexico! Why did I type Arizona? I must've had my dad on mind when I typed it (that's where he lives). Pardon my tired mind...I was in a rush as I typed. Heh...and in my closing remarks, I made a typo. The correct spelling is Gallaudet. Seems my mind's not completely back to 100% normal function yet since my minor heart attack last Nov.! Gracias for your patience...I'll edit myself more carefully from on!
= Grin =
Dan

Anonymous said...

HAHA I love this!! :-) Break's over :-)
ELisa