Twice upon a TWICE UPON A TIME

Over thirty years after the release of TWICE UPON A TIME (a Korty Films/Lucasfilms production) Warner Bros is on the verge of re-releasing the animated film on DVD. I was flown down to the San Diego Comic Con where I spoke on the Warner Bros panel. I was the Supervising Animator and a Sequence Director on the film lo those many years ago. True to its name, here it comes again. Shot in a stop-motion, 2D, back-lit, cut-out style it is unique in many ways.

It has been many years since I was a guest at the Comic Con and it has grown into a monstrous event that engulfs a section of the city. One of the best things about being there is the opportunity to see old friends such as MAD Magazine's Sergio Aragones.

New DADDY DUCT TAPE book

Secret Agent 7 is the latest in a series of ridiculous adventures by James Guyette, saving the day once again with duct tape: featuring Obama, the Clintons, Bush and a tornado of a kid resolving the Iranian nuclear crisis. Other DADDY DUCT TAPE books are available on Amazon.

Radio interview

I was interviewed on the radio last week on the topic of making a difference with humor. I had a great time until I tried to drive out of Oakland at rush hour. Let's just say it taxed my sense of humor. I'm back with the cows now in Sonoma County and feeling better.

http://www.9thfloorradio.com/dealingwithkryptonite/2015/5/6/brian-narelle-how-to-use-humor-to-make-a-difference

Snoopyland

Once more into the fray with cartooning classes at the Schulz Museum. During my Cartoon Safari class yesterday I became aware that none of the young children in my class knew what a safari is. Is this normal? I think I was born to go on safari. I just haven't gotten around to it yet.

Dark Earth

“Don’t give me that intelligent life crap. Just find me something I can blow up!” When those words came out of Lt. Doolittle’s mouth in John Carpenter’s DARK STAR it seemed to capture so much of our foreign policy, not to mention our treatment of the environment.

Recent footage of dolphins stranding themselves (energetically) on the beaches of Barbados leads to an educated assumption that they are committing suicide as the result of being deafened by manmade acoustic assaults. A deaf dolphin is doomed to a grisly end at the hands of predation and/or starvation. “What in the world could deafen them?” you might ask. Aside from naval sonar blasts there is a worldwide underwater acoustic assault that is the product of extensive oil exploration. Ships trolling for oil deposits emit loud blasts and analyze the acoustic return in order to find deposits. The result is an auditory assault of unparalleled magnitude.

It’s not like the Koch brothers wake up in the morning plotting the deaths of sea creatures. It is merely the side effect of their corporate activities. They have to put up with the occasional protestations of pesky “environmentalists”, but at the end of the day profit motives rule.

The mission of the scout ship DARK STAR was to make space travel safe by blowing up unstable planets. It will be a dark Earth if we don’t stop blowing up this formerly stable planet. 

Turban to Turban II

Big fun last night in Mt View as Warren Peace opened with his canine poetry for another turban to turban match up with the Swami From New Jersey and Swami Beyondananda (along with a surprise appearance by the feathered pundit Glenn Beak of Fax News).

Micro-books

I am always coming with ideas for books, complete with titles and cover concepts. The problem is I would have to live on Red Bull and no sleep to actually write them all. Today it happened again.

While pondering the homicidal rage of ISIS and other extreme Muslim groups my mind wandered off into Christianity. There I found the bloody crusades, the Inquisition and the Salem witch burnings. And of course we have recently seen our Jewish brethren bombing the hell out of school children in Gaza.

All this got me thinking about the role of religious dogma in the manifestation of slaughter. Coming from a Christian background I think back to early days in church. The only concrete memory I have is the weekly singing of "Onward Christian soldier...marching as to war....with the cross of Jesus...marching on before..." Now there's a set up.

The Hopi Prophesy foretold of the return of the White Corn People. It was said that they would have taken the Hopi symbol apart. The Hopi symbol entails a cross within a circle. The spokes of the cross represent the out-flowing energy of the male while the surrounding circle represents the containing energy of the female. When the conquistadors came marching across the desert for the first time with their swords and muskets a padre led the way, holding a standard cross (without the circle around it). I can only imagine the abject horror back on Oraibi Mesa when the scout made his report. Big trouble coming, of a Christian kind.

A few years ago I read about an incident in Mexico where someone had stolen money from the church. The thief was apprehended by a local mob and beaten to death as the police struggled unsuccessfully to intervene. When the crowd dispersed the dead body hung from the church fence alongside candles and crucifixes. Mind you, this is the Roman Catholic Church we're talking about. It got me to thinking about the Roman part. In many ways it seems like we have been modeling the behavior of the Romans as much, or more, than that of Jesus.

The violent accounts of current Muslim extremist groups does not need further mention. It speaks for itself. And I know many Jews are appalled by the behavior of the government of Israel. I am left to create the next cover for the next book I will probably never write.

However, I may eventually accumulate enough of these book covers to create a book of book covers. Perhaps later down the line, long after I'm gone, some ambitious writers will come along and fill them in. Until then....

iMactuallyhere

The Swami From New Jersey's magnetic personality can now stick to your fridge as he hawks his contribution to the tech revolution with his iMactuallyhere tablet. 

http://www.cafepress.com/narelle/11617163

Cubans come to Snoopy's house

Several years ago Jeannie Schulz took five American cartoonists to Cuba (including me) where we met all the cartoonists in Havana. Now she brought three of them (wearing caps) here. What a treat to see them again!

In the shadow of Sparky

If you had told me years ago that some day I would sit in the Grand Hall of the Charles M. Schulz Museum drawing Snoopy for kids under the watchful gaze of Sparky himself I would have thought you were nuts. But you weren't nuts. (I got writer's cramp from scribbling "apologies to Schulz" on the bottom of each one)

Whistle Blowing

A brand new German textbook that examines the issue of whistle blowing features one of my political cartoons.

Daddy Duct Tape #3

This year's addition to the Daddy Duct Tape series of books involved several dinosaurs, a flooded street in Chicago and the ingenuity of a bunch of little kids with a lot of duct tape (to build a suspension bridge in a hurry). Now if only they were in LA the other day when that water main broke....

Swami/Warren

Along with my Swami From New Jersey character, canine poet Warren Peace hit the stage yesterday in Bolinas.  He was also the opening act recently at a performance of Karma Talk, wherein my Swami joined up for the first time with Swami Beyondananda to go turban to turban in dispensing wisdom to the assemble hordes. It was a great success. Karma Talk will raise its turbaned head again in Mountain View on November 29th. Warren will be there too. Whether he will "sit" or "stay" remains to be seen. He tends to have a mind of his own.

Karma Talk Debut

Last night's Karma Talk concert in Marin brought Swami Beyondananda and the Swami From New Jersey together for the first time, turban to turban. It was a packed house and a rousing success. Renowned canine poet Warren Peace (think Rumi with fleas) opened the evening. Warren had the crowd howling. Literally!

Snoopy Anonymous

After my recent gig, graphic recording for a Deloitte/MetLife meeting in Florida, I have not been able to stop drawing Snoopy. I told Jeannie Schulz I may need a Snoopy exorcism. Meanwhile,  a retired radiologist moved in next door yesterday. I made him the following welcome card.

Sustainable World Sourcebook

The latest version of the Sustainable World Sourcebook has recently been released by the Earth Island Institute. Once again I've illustrated the book with several cartoons, including this one. The Sourcebook does more than throw a spotlight on the problems we face. It is also a valuable resource for positive action. Available at www.swcoalition.org

The Marine Mammal Center

This year's USC Alumni Service Day entailed an educational and rewarding day helping out all the sick seals at The Marine Mammal Center in Marin County. The fish kitchen smells just about how you'd expect it to. I spent much of my time scrubbing algae out of seal pools. Their new facility is something to behold...a state of the art hospital for seals of all sorts. Their heroic work is carried out by a staff of 45 and around 1000 volunteers. Bravo folks. You do amazing work.

This little elephant seal could one day weigh 4,500 pounds. Let's hope he makes it.

Warren Peace - Q&A

Whenever renowned canine poet Warren Peace performs his favorite thing is taking questions from the audience and educating humans from a canine perspective.

CLICK HERE for Warren's Q&A in Vallejo CA

Meher Baba's birthday

Today is Meher Baba's 120th birthday. While cruising the web I discovered the following video that mixes classic movie footage with the address Baba gave on "the spiritual responsibility of the motion picture industry" in 1932 at a reception thrown in his honor in Hollywood by Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks Jr.

In 1983 I ran into Steven Spielberg and the producers of Indiana Jones and Star Wars in Bombay and subsequently shared this address with all of them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVZu9wMZkCo

Vintage writings

I just rediscovered the following editorial I wrote in 2007, after seven years of the Bush Administration, or what I think of as The Era of Heightened Datlexia.


DATLEXIA By Brian Narelle (Political Humor)

OpEdNews Original Content at http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_brian_na_071003... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- October 3, 2007 Many people suffer from dyslexia, mixing up letters and numbers in their mind. Despite this handicap many have led successful lives. What's more difficult to understand is how George W. Bush has become so successful, even though suffering from datlexia. What's datlexia? It's similar to dyslexia, but instead of inverting letter and number sequences you invert reality. That way killing thousands of people becomes the road to peace. Democracy means establishing a government that you want and if it doesn't do your bidding you merely impose another one until it does. That sort of thing. Through the lens of datlexia one can more easily understand the need for a Department of Homeland Security. Of course if we had a Department of Defense we wouldn't need one, but with datlexia the Department of Defense is an offensive tool. Get it? Therefore we need a new department with which to defend ourselves. Under a datlexic administration it is also easier to understand that the Department of Interior is there to serve lumber interests, the FDA to serve the pharmaceutical giants, etc. Datlexically it makes perfect sense to get rid of habeas corpus and civil rights in order to protect people's freedom. Uncontrolled wiretapping has no impact on al Qaida. They knew enough to sneak around a long time ago. It does come in handy, I'm sure, for keeping an eye on dissidents and political opponents. That's what a datlexic would call freedom and democracy. It staggers the mind to fathom how a lightweight like George W. Bush could ascend to the White House, ravage the constitution and the Bill of Rights, start an unprovoked armed occupation of a Middle East country, throw the country into merciless debt, ignore the plight of New Orleans as well as worldwide environmental dangers to but name a few...until you realize that George and all his coconspirators are severely datlexic. Short of taking drugs or falling down Lewis Caroll's rabbit hole, most of us will never understand the logic behind the actions of this administration. Thank your lucky stars if, as you read this, all the letters appear to be in their correct order. That would indicate that you're not dyslexic. Thank them again if you think taking care of each other's health and well being, forming bonds of understanding with other cultures, and safeguarding the Constitution of the United States is important. That would indicate you're not datlexic either. Authors Website: www.narellecreative.com Authors Bio: Brian Narelle started out cartooning at the age of eight and never stopped. A graduate of USC Film School he has written and performed in a variety of films and television programs, starting with Sesame Street and John Carpenter's DARK STAR. His book LIVING IN VERTICAL TIME chronicles the spiritual teachings of a donkey named Murray. He currently teaches cartooning at the Charles Schulz Museum.