Puppy love

My buddy Cassie (of the four-tennis-balls-in-the-mouth fame) is now a big sister with the arrival of KT (pronounced Katie). This totally adorable puff ball is not destined to be small for long. I almost think there should be a law against being this cute.

Latest edition

The tribute to Shirley and Jenny keeps rolling along with a new cartoon adorning a variety of products in my online store.

Shirley and Jenny

The story of Shirley and Jenny is a heartwarming tale of the reunion of two elephants at The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee. Unknown to anyone there initially, Shirley and Jenny had bonded 20 years earlier at a circus winter camp in Florida. Once reunited they became inseparable. When Jenny fell ill and lay dying many of the other elephants gathered around her. Shirley walked away. It was just too painful. When I heard the news I did the following cartoon for the Sanctuary. An elephant lover recently contacted me and requested I create some products featuring the cartoon...so I did. You can find them by clicking MY ONLINE STORE to the right, then clicking on ALL THINGS ELEPHANT.

Cartoon Safari Highlights

There were many special moments in this year's Cartoon Safari at the Charles M. Schulz Museum. One of them was a visit by Diana Arsenian and her daughter Micaela. Diana is a world-class Graphic Recorder. The kids got to experience their thoughts and feelings expressed collectively on a huge sheet of paper. A real treat. And that was just the beginning of the week.



Thanks to the ongoing Apollo X exhibit in the museum I wound up with a bunch of astronuts on my hands. No, I didn't misspell that. If you recall, the spacecrafts on the Apollo X mission were named Charlie Brown and Snoopy.





Later in the week we watched an episode of Buster & Me, starring my wife Robin Goodrow and her monkey persona, Vanilla. After the screening in the museum's theater we marched back to our classroom to find Vanilla the monkey waiting to greet us.

We found the fourth ball!

My new friend Cassie

It turns out my new friend Cassie is a famous dog. You've probably seen her on greeting cards sporting four tennis balls in her mouth. When I went to take my own photo today she had misplaced ball number four. Stay tuned. We're going to find that ball!

Spacing out

I got to hang out with an honest-to-god space walking astronaut yesterday at the Charles M. Schulz Museum. He was not familiar with the film DARK STAR so I was unable to lord over him with my vast deep space experience. Nevertheless it was great to meet Dan Tani and see his home movies from the orbiting space station where he lived for months. Note several bazillion Peanuts strips on the wall behind us.



I threw down the gauntlet when I got home by sending him the following picture of yours truly SURFING in deep space. Come on. Just try that sucker!

Uh luv ellay

One rainy night in Santa Monica I ducked into a pizza joint for a slice and ran into fellow actor John Ashton (Beverly Hills Cop, Midnight Run) who I hadn't seen in years. It turns out he was only in town for an audition, having moved to Fort Collins CO shortly after someone on the freeway in LA had pulled a gun on him. I did this cartoon to commemorate the move.

Take that Leno!

Now THIS is a chin:



I just found this photo of Percival C. Farnsworth, famed lecturer (and puppet). I created this lunatic for a film I created for IBM many years ago called CLEAR AS MUD. I stored the puppet in a friend's moldy barn for a long time. When I opened the trunk he had virtually disintegrated. In the world of pixels, however, he still lives.

Celtic nut

I thought Roosevelt T. Boa had shown us every yoga posture in the book, but oh no. Now he's into Celtic knots. We're talking about one talented snake here folks.

Latest trip to the moon

With niece Nina rolling into town with boyfriend Justin, fresh off the plane from vacationing in southeast Asia, it was time to hit the Charles Schulz Museum's Apollo 10 exhibit (commemorating lunar lander Snoopy and command module Charlie Brown) and do some of our own flying in their pint-sized simulator. Nina and I took the dual controls. Every time I told her to go left she went right. I was forced to slap her silly with my space glove. Fortunately she was wearing a helmet. These are just the sort of scenes that NASA never shows you. For good reason.

Sooper Puppy Online

Now you can see streaming video previews of all eleven Sooper Puppy programs for young children at www.empowerkids.com

There are five more films in the works to help young children in their recovery from molestaion.

There was a time when five Sooper Puppy films occupied half the slots on the top ten sellers list of the Simon & Schuster catalog. He's long overdue for a comeback.

Dark Star in 10 minutes

Some Brit has edited Dark Star down to 10 minutes with comical subtitling and voice over narrative. It's a hoot. Here's the link to YouTube for those of you who wonder what I look like with a lot of hair.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0f7jA1l8gk

Another fairie sighting!

Look! Up in the sky! It's bird! It's a plane! No! It's my wife Robin!

Inaugural Ball

Robin and I had a great time at the Inaugural Ball. It was fun to meet Barack but boy is that guy skinny. Damn near paper thin. I hope the White House chef can fatten him up before a stiff wind blows him away. For me yesterday was the beginning of the new year. Happy New Year to all!

Sooper Puppy returns

"The pack is back" as I dust off the little miniatures I made years ago to sit on my desk as I wrote eleven Sooper Puppy films for kids in the mid to late 1980s. Now Sooper Puppy is preparing to star in five new short films for kids in order to facilitate trauma therapy. From left to right that's Big Jon (a gopher), Grandpaw, Baxter (AKA Sooper Puppy), Stoops and Grizzle in the background (the Garbage Can Gang) and Baxter's best friend Pickles on the right. When I cast puppeteer and friend Robin Goodrow as Pickles I had no idea that we would marry 15 years later. Thankfully we're both house broken.

Ho Ho Holy Mackerel

We haven't put up any Christmas lights yet this year because this house down the road has sucked all the electricity out of the grid. Fourteen years in the making all the characters climbing all over this property were hand painted by the owner. He either has a lot of spare time or drinks copious amounts of coffee. Happy Holidays!

What in the world?

I just discovered this vintage image of my wife Robin Goodrow and her alter ego Vanilla from Buster & Me, her award winning children's TV series that ran for 20 years on NBC in San Francisco. I never realized they'd both gone into outer space but I am certainly grateful to NASA for the photograph.

To see more go to busterandme.com

Ned the elephant

Ned the elephant has just been rescued by the USDA. It's only the second time the USDA has ever done that. He's currently at the Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee where he will be recuperating from his mistreatment. They have a wish list of needs that can be found by pasting the following URL into your browser:

http://www.elephants.com/estore/views.php?cat=6^108&sub_link=&desc=Ned%20Wish%20List&menu_oid=6

The Snake Whisperer

My wife Robin has an uncanny ability I have never seen before. Over the years I have had various snakes. I have never seen them respond to anyone and "come" on request, like a dog, until now. Last night Robin and Roosevelt were having one of their conversations. When he later headed in the direction of the Playsnake of the Month fold-out I made and put on the back wall of the tank Robin suggested he go up and give "her" a kiss. He did. I married a snake whisperer!

Strangle U

I've been wondering where my new snake ever learned to hide so well. With the recent arrival of his diploma I now understand.

Roosevelt T. Boa

I'd like to introduce the newest member of our family, Roosevelt T. (it stands for "the")Boa. He's a rosy boa and lives in a simulated desert right in my office. He reminds me daily not to waste energy - to be still and quiet. He's a good teacher.

Wack Wacky Wackier

Just when things were getting a little dull in comes Wacky Wendy from New York to raise the wackosity quotient. She makes amazing crazy hats out of paper plates. Say what? It must be seen to be believed. Go to www.wackywendy.com and see for yourself. But be careful. It could put a dent in your doldrums.

High elf-esteem

My wife Robin (in the white) took off for a few days with our friend Angela to let their hair down and their wings out. Somewhere in a wooded glen in Oregon they joined thousands of other fairies to commiserate about having to pretend to be normal humans most of the time.

Some turkey in Turkey

On June 15th, despite frantic last minute efforts on my part to re-secure my lapsed domain name narellecreative.com, it was purchased by a guy in Instanbul who is holding it for ransom. I have elected to change my web site to narellecreative.net...also reachable via briannarelle.com.

Another successful safari

This year's Cartoon Safari at the Charles M. Schulz Museum got off to a great start with the added Zulu zip of Baba Shibambo who agreed to bring drums and marimba for the kids to play. You can even catch a glimpse on YouTube. Just type CARTOON SAFARI into the search window and get ready to boogie!

You can hear more of Baba Shibambo at: http://myspace.com/vusishibambo

What do you know, it IS rocket science!

It's time once again for the Union of Concerned Scientists to put together their 2009 calendar to celebrate government interference in scientific research. Last year my cartoon made it onto the February page. Here's one of my entries for this year.

NEWS FLASH! UPDATE! This cartoon has been chosen as a finalist! That means I will have a whole page one month next year and I'll soon announce the web site to go to and vote. If I get the most votes of the twelve finalists this cartoon will appear on the cover of the calendar and I will be flown to Washington DC. Get ready to vote soon!

50% of Narelles

In 1898 my grandmother adopted the name Narelle as a stage name, having been inspired by tales of "Queen Narelle" of the Moruya tribe of aboriginals on the southeast coast of Australia, near where my grandmother (and father) grew up. 110 years later there appear to be only four Narelles left (by name): being my brother and his wife, my niece Nina and myself. Nina's recent visit to the Bay Area brought half of all the Narelles together for a less than massive reunion. (It was a great visit. Just not massive.)

Farewell Danny Boy

It's been almost three years since young Danny Maguire was run over by a drunk driver in southern California. Since the death of Danny's little dog Buddy (a while ago) I've been planning to deliver a little stuffed replica, which I did two weeks ago. Danny's courage and love are well documented, as are the sacrifices and efforts of his parents. On the eve of Danny's 23rd birthday (two days ago) he let go of this world and left us. Or so it seems. His testimony to love throughout his ordeal is the stuff of legend. And legends never die.

Sitting on a teenager

Lovey Dovey finally gave birth. Unfortunately it appears she has been sitting on a condor egg. If this little guy gets any bigger I'm going to have to reinforce the hanging pot with 1/4 steel chain.

Peace begins at home

We recently planted flowers in a hanging pot on our porch, right next to our front door. Mr and Mrs. Mourning Dove thought it was lovely and after working things out with their avian real estate agent decided to move in and raise a family. There is little we can do but come and go quietly, passing not 18 inches from Mrs. Dove each time. She sits on her nest with total equipoise, unflustered by our passings.

Schulz meets Bode

I had a grand time holding court at the Schulz Museum today. At the end Mark Bode and his wife Molly showed up. I met Mark in 1975 following the untimely death of his father, the late great underground cartoonist Vaughn Bode. I initially moved to the Bay Area to help continue his legacy. Mark has grown up carrying that torch, becoming a remarkable artist in his own right. Today the wife of Charles Schulz met the son of Vaughn Bode in a cosmic collision of above ground and underground cartooning history.

Good grief, Charlie Brown!

I'm moving back into Snoopy's house for the month of March for my second stint as Cartoonist-in-Residence at the Charles Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa, CA. Now, if they'd just move over a little there might be a little room for me on top of that doghouse.

Going to the dogs

My senior term paper in high school was about UFOs. It's taken me all this time to figure out why we see so few of them.

Yet another item available as cards, postcards, mugs, etc. in my online store. See link on the right.

Talking turkey to power

These postcards are available in my online store. I'm sure Nancy Pelosi has gotten some by now, but she could always use one more.

Beware the Talibank

We watched a documentary last night called MAXED OUT. It is must viewing. Who needs wacky terrorists crawling around in caves in Afganistan when you have an entire banking industry preying on the most vulnerable among us, including college students, to suck the very blood out of them via their wallets?

Watch out Hillary!

This campaign continues to gather momentum. My feeling is: with a President who's in the dog house we might as well put a dog in the White House. Hannah once licked the hand of a girl in a coma and brought her back to consciousness immediately. Show me one other candidate who can claim that! Let's get over our species bias and get out there and vote for Hannah.

Campaign going to the dogs

Hannah and Tigger are official Animal Assisted Therapy dogs. I've been visiting hospitals and psych wards with them for years. They improve the quality of life wherever they go. So I got to thinking yesterday...why not run them in the 2008 election on the Lickertarian ticket? Who knows? This might catch on. You can purchase their new campaign bumper sticker as well as a nifty coffee cup featuring the dynamic duo at my store www.cafepress.com/narelle. You can just click the link on the right side bar.
10% of profits will go to the Angel On A Leash program. Visit www.angelonaleash.com

New Promo Post Card

Hot off the press! A new post card to promote Robin and myself. My new career? Stamp licker.

Laying down on the job

Robin and I spent our sixth anniversary today laying down once again to help form the words IMPEACH and 4PEACE on the grass in Berkeley with 1000 other people for the benefit of cameramen in helicopters. It was a glorious day on a hill full of kites. It felt a bit like Pepper Land, give or take getting rid of a few Blue Meanies. We were joined by Cindy Sheehan and former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinny, shown here with Robin.

Please let me be wrong!

I would much prefer to say "I blew it with that one!" than to say "I told you so!" However, given the apparent insanity of this particular administration I just thought I'd try to get the jump on them and at least raise a little public awareness.