Perspicuity

The idea for this cartoon was suggested to me by my son James.

Caption: "Gunfight at the Bach Chorale"

Caption: "Chien. Chien! Comeback! 'Bye, Chien"

I Don't Get It
References - None (yet)
Merchandise - None (yet)

References - None (yet)

If you aren't getting this one, think "The Wizard of Oz."

If you still aren't getting it, rent "The Wizard of Oz."

I looked all through the Boston Public Library, local book stores and the Internet for this image, and I came up with nothing. Finally I rented the movie and hooked our VCR to our old Macintosh Quadra 660AV and took a bunch of snapshots. This was a hard image to represent! I had to draw Dorothy many times before I even got it this close. (Some people still think its Lewis Carroll’s Alice.)

Trepanation (sometimes called trephination) is the surgical procedure of drilling holes in one's head for either medical or spiritual reasons. It has been found in numerous, disparate (as well as desperate) civilizations including the Mayan, the Egyptian, and the Sumerian.

There is a movement in Great Britain (dating back to the late 1960s) to reintroduce trepanation as a surgical procedure. In fact, some people have been trying to get it added to the National Health Service so that it would be covered by the government.

Yo-yo Ma is a world class cellist and person. This was my attempt to free him from the extremely tired "Yo Mama" references.

Throw Momma from the Train was a 1987 movie starring Danny DeVito, Billy Crystal, and Anne Ramsey. The movie title was derived from the 1956 Irving Gordon song "Mama From the Train." The song title was derived from Pennsylvania Dutch grammar, as in "Throw Momma from the train a kiss" or "Throw Amos down the stairs his hat."

Yo-yo Ma is a world class cellist and person. This was my attempt to free him from the extremely tired "Yo Mama" references.

Throw Momma from the Train was a 1987 movie starring Danny DeVito, Billy Crystal, and Anne Ramsey. The movie title was derived from the 1956 Irving Gordon song "Mama From the Train." The song title was derived from Pennsylvania Dutch grammar, as in "Throw Momma from the train a kiss" or "Throw Amos down the stairs his hat."

I originally wanted the cartoon to be "Throw MOMA from the Train," but had absolutely no luck drawing a recognizable version of the Museum of Modern Art, much less figuring out how to propel it from a speeding locomotive.