Favorite Fictional Character --- Sam Sheepdog and Ralph Wolf

 

"Mornin' Sam." "Mornin' Ralph."

If there was ever a perfect metaphor for the drudgery of going to work day after day—repeating the same actions, getting the same results, and never achieving your goal—Sam and Ralph would be the poster children of the dead-end job.

When Sam clocks in, he’s the guardian, parked on a ledge protecting his charges. When Ralph clocks in, he’s a hungry predator, desperate to get his hands on a sheep. Sam spends a lot of his time sleeping. Ralph spends a lot of his time running around like crazy. Sam, as adorable as he is, is a little more violent than expected. Ralph, as dangerous as he looks, just doesn’t seem to have the drive needed to react in kind.

I shouldn’t find it as funny as I do. It’s an unending, 9-to-5 hamster-wheel cycle that’s hilarious as hell. No growth. No victories. No promotions. Just two guys doing exactly what they’re paid to do and getting absolutely nowhere. And somehow, that never gets old.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Daffy Duck

 

"You're deththpicable!"

Let’s be honest: would Bugs Bunny be as entertaining without Daffy Duck? I’m going to say no. As much fun as Bugs vs. Elmer or Bugs vs. Yosemite Sam can be, when Bugs and Daffy go at it, everyone had better duck and cover, because the shenanigans are about to reach catastrophic levels. That’s not even getting into the times Bugs and Daffy team up—because when those two join forces to cause a little mayhem, I know I’m in for a wild ride.

As a kid, I don’t think I could have picked between Bugs’ antics and Daffy’s temper tantrums when it came to which I found more entertaining. Looking back as an adult, though, I think Daffy may have elicited a few more belly laughs than Bugs, though it’s a very close call. Unlike Bugs, who I may not find quite as funny now as I did as a kid, my darker sense of humor gives me full permission to enjoy Daffy’s jealous machinations even more than I used to. And those temper tantrums? They’re absolute works of art.

Watching Daffy as an adult hits differently. What once felt like pure slapstick now reads as insecurity, jealousy, and a desperate need to be taken seriously. Daffy knows he’s always playing second fiddle to Bugs, and watching him unravel because of it is darkly hilarious. He’s his own worst enemy, and somehow that just makes him funnier. His fragile ego is especially on display in “Robin Hood Daffy,” where his overwhelming need for recognition turns even his noblest intentions into one disaster after another. 

I can’t do a post about Daffy without mentioning his turn as Duck Drake in “The Super Snooper.” I have a weakness for detective parodies, my love for Sesame Street’s Sherlock Hemlock will attest to that, so watching Daffy play a private investigator summoned to look into a potential murder is a true pleasure. Of course, the comedy is helped immensely by the fact that the lead suspect seems far more interested in pursuing Drake than Drake is in solving the case. It’s pure 1950s comedy gold.

Actually, if y’all don’t mind, I think I’m going to go watch it again now—because no matter how many times I’ve seen it, Daffy Duck absolutely never fails to make me laugh.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Bugs Bunny

 

Centuries ago, I would occasionally pick a monthly theme for my Favorite Fictional Character posts, and exactly 1 hour, 17 minutes, and 11 seconds ago, I decided to revive that sporadic tradition. Nothing says continuity like randomly deciding to do something you only did occasionally fifteen billion years ago.

And because the first character that popped into my head was Bugs Bunny, it looks like y’all will be reading about my love of four different Looney Tunes characters during the month of January! I can already feel the excitement pouring off of you. As I typed that, I could see Bugs in my mind giving me a blank look, blinking once or twice, and then saying, “Eh… what’s up, Doc?”

For me, as a kid born in the 1970s, I don’t remember a time when I didn’t know who Bugs Bunny was or think he was anything other than absolutely, ridiculously funny. He was Loki before Tom Hiddleston was born and is older than Deadpool and Bart Simpson combined. He is a true Trickster in every sense of the word. As a kid, I didn’t understand what a Trickster was. All I saw was a talking rabbit getting one over on hunters, loud mustached cowboys, and whirling devils and witches who wanted to eat him.

He gave perms to monsters, fought a bull, outplayed an entire baseball team, and stuck his nose up at anyone in charge. He was an astronaut, opera singer, knight, barber, and cowboy. As a kid, I thought Bugs could do just about anything.

As an old man (49) past his prime, I may not find him quite as funny as I did back then, but I still appreciate every single second I spent in his company. He entertained the hell out of me, and that’s just about all you can ask of an anthropomorphic talking rabbit.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Charlie, the Lonesome Cougar

 

As a young Gen X lad, I grew up with a lot of TV shows and movies that debuted years—if not decades—before I was ever born. I’d wager I’m not alone in that; most of my generation probably grew up watching the same shows I did: Perry Mason, Gilligan’s Island, The Big Valley, Bewitched, Batman, and The Addams Family, just to name a few. Syndication and reruns were king when I was growing up. In this regard, I actually feel a little bad for the generations that came after us, because they don’t really know what came before them. But I digress—that’s a discussion for another time.

Today’s Favorite Fictional Character doesn’t come from a TV show but from one of the many live-action movies Disney made in the 1960s. For the record, I think the 1950s through the 1960s were when Disney did their best live-action work. I’m not knocking what came after (though all these live-action remakes really aren’t my thing), but there’s just something about the movies they made in that era that sets them apart. Maybe it’s pure nostalgia since they’re what I was raised on, but I stand by it.

Charlie, the Lonesome Cougar came out in 1967, while I wasn’t born until 1976. I’m almost positive I didn’t see it until sometime in the early 1980s—but don’t quote me on that. What I can say, with absolute certainty, is that I loved it from the very first moment the orphaned cougar cub, who would eventually be named Charlie, appeared on screen. For 75 minutes, I watched as this cub was raised by a logger named Jesse. As Charlie grows into a young adult (in feline years), all kinds of hijinks ensue—he wrecks a kitchen or two, makes mortal “enemies” with one of the logging camp’s dogs, takes a ride on a few logs, and eventually gets lost and ends up on his own for an entire summer. He faces danger, finds love, and grows up just enough that it’s no longer safe for him and Jesse to stay together. Charlie eventually finds a home on a nature preserve where he can live his life without hunters—or annoying dogs.

I was obsessed with cougars/mountain lions after watching this movie, and I remember wanting one sooooo badly. I’m pretty sure I was extra annoying in all my begging for my very own Charlie. I don’t know if my underdeveloped psyche connected with him because we both lost a parent, or if it was simply because I thought he was beautiful and funny—especially when he was destroying the kitchen. Whatever the reason, I fell in love.

I don’t know if I should admit this or not, but I do have a Charlie of my own who almost never leaves my bed. A friend got him for me about ten years ago, and I absolutely adore him. And if you want to meet Charlie for yourself, he's on Amazon Prime and a few other streamers as a rental. 

Murder Most Yowl by Quinn Dressler

Synopsis From Publisher:

Cat-sitting is a dangerous business.

Cameron Sherwood turned his back on law enforcement the night his investigation lead to the death of an innocent gay man.  Now Cam spends his time running a business that caters to his favorite animal, cats.  But when Cam stumbles upon the body of a friend while feeding her feline, he can't walk away.  Dealing with a sexy yet stubborn sheriff, a matchmaking sister, and a terrifying blind date, Cam must somehow track down a killer, all while keeping the cats around him fed with is gourmet cat treats. 

Let's be frank.  As much as I love a fiendishly plotted mystery, there are times I just want to read something that I don't have to think too much about.  I want there to be a mystery component, but I don't want to strain my little grey cells trying to figure out who the killer is.  I know that this is where you guys are going to start yelling at me, reminding me of my usual distaste of cozy mysteries, and you would have a valid point.  And I'm going to invite you to keep yelling at me after I say this next bit.  In my experience, most "mainstream" cozy mysteries are about as cookie cutter as you can get.  Half the time I can't tell you who the author is, because they all read the same.  The plotting, character development, and writing style all blend together, creating a very forgettable mess.  There are exceptions to that, and there are even a few authors I do enjoy, Rhys Bowen's series with Lady Georgina being one of them. For the most part though, I tend to have to go into the realms or romance to find the type of light, fluffy mystery I can get into, specifically m/m romance.  I'm sure there are some terrific m/f romance mysteries out there, but if I'm going to read romance, I want it to be relevant to my own life experiences.

And before I get yelled at anymore, I'm not saying all m/m romance mysteries are of the light and fluffy kind, because they aren't, not by a long shot.  I absolutely love the Life Lessons series by Kaje Harper, have been blown away by several Josh Lanyon books, and could name another twenty authors I've enjoyed who take a more detailed, plot driven approach to their mysteries.  But that's not the kind of mystery I felt like diving into when I picked Murder Most Yowl.  I wanted cotton candy, and I got it.

The mystery itself is barely structured, doesn't make a whole lot of sense by the time it's solved, and required me to suspend my disbelief on multiple occasions.  And I loved it.  It's has a quirky sense of humor that I found charming, and two leading men I found to be a blast to hang out with.  In Cam and Jake, I found two headstrong men that just seemed to fit together.  I can't imagine witnessing what Cam did when he was on the force, and come out sane.  I would have more than walked away from my career, I would have walked away from my life, and started over on some beach in Brazil where nobody knew me. In partnering with Jake to solve the murder, he is able to come back to himself a bit, which makes the love that develops between them that much sweeter. My one quibble with the romance is in the way the author broke the tension between them, which in turn allowed them to accept their feelings for each other.  The way it's handled was about as realistic as the mystery component, but strangely I'm okay with it.  When it comes to reading a romance, I don't want real life, I want fantasy.  If I wanted real life, I would read Ulysses by James Joyce, or some other tedious volume that nobody actually reads.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Underdog

I always find it fascinating when a fictional character is created for a single purpose, but ends up being so much more than that. Many times they are created as an advertising gimmick used to sell toys, greeting cards, cat food, and just about anything else you can think of.  Some of them, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer as an example, prove to be so popular that most people don't realize they were originally created to by an ad agency. There are some of that never leave the realm of advertising, Tony the Tiger for example, that still somehow manages to become bigger than the product itself.  The guy, while not as huge as Rudolph still managed to follow in his footsteps, and become more than the cereal peddler he started off as.

The superhero who always spoke in rhyming couplets, Underdog was the brainchild of General Mills, the company behind many of my favorite cereals from childhood. He, along with Tennessee Tuxedo, proved to be so popular they got their own cartoons, comic books, and merchandise.  Much like Superman, Underdog hid his greatness behind a mediocre front, Shoeshine Boy. They shared many of the same superpowers, and even had a familiar catchphrase, but that's were the similarities end.

Where Superman was focused on saving the world from extensional threats, Underdog was more concerned about saving his girl from the nefarious villains who just couldn't leave her alone.  And while he did in fact have great superpowers, he could never finish a episode without flying into a building, or causing so much collateral damage that I can't even begin to imagine the cost of his cleanups.  I would have suggested Karate Kat, who was a janitor by day, for cleanup duty, but he didn't come around until decades later. 

Being a Beast by Charles Foster

Synopsis From Dust Jacket:

How can we ever be sure that we really know the other? To test the limits of our ability to inhabit lives that are not our own, Charles Foster set out to know the ultimate other: the nonhumans, the beasts.  And to do that, he tried to be like them, choosing a badger, an otter, a fox, a deer, and a swift.  He lived alongside badgers for weeks, sleeping in a burrow on a Welsh hillside and eating earthworms, learning to sense the landscape through his nose rather than his eyes.  He tried to catch fish in his teeth while swimming like an otter, rooted through London garbage cans as an urban fox, and as a red deer he was hunted by bloodhounds and nearly died in the snow. Finally, he followed the swifts on their migration route over the Strait of Gibraltar, discovering himself to be strangely connected to the birds. 

Within the first few weeks of my Freshman year in college, I was approached to take part in what was described as an immersive overnight experience designed to give us an idea of what it was like to be homeless.  They took a handful of college Freshmen down to the "big" city of Wichita, KS, and had them spend the night among those who didn't get to sleep in a warm bed the following night.  Needless to say, I passed on the "learning" experience because I was homeless as a kid, albeit for less than a few months.  I knew what it was like to sleep in a car, and not know where your next meal was coming from.  In my eyes, this night out on the streets was nothing more than a way for middle-class kids, who never wanted for anything in their lives, to spout out false empathy for those they got to leave behind less than 12 hours later.  You can not get a real sense of what it's like to be homeless, when you know you are going back to three meals a day and a warm bed in less than 24 hours. Unless you are really feeling the fear and uncertainty they are feeling, you are just a poser, trying to make yourself look good.  Now had Charles Foster designed this experience, maybe the kids would have really learned something from it.  But in the end, even with months and months spent out in the "field", they still would have gone back to their comfy beds, and three meals a day.  And that's the crux of my issue with this book, no matter what I thought of the experiences Mr. Foster put himself through, the lessons he tried to teach himself, in the end, he's still human.  And no matter what, he still sees through human eyes and rationalizes everything through a human brain.

To give Mr. Foster his due, he is pretty upfront about the limitations he is facing in regards to the experiment he is mapping out.  The entire first chapter is an examination of the pitfalls and problems he is facing in his quest to not only live like a beast, but to think like them, to truly experience the world as they do.  What follows was a extraordinary account of a man, and at times other members of his family, as he submerged himself as much as possible in a world he was never going to fully understand.   He describes his approach and observations with a sense of humor that I found to be off putting at times, but all together charming at the same time.  Mr. Foster is a talented wordsmith, and it shows on every page as he describes the sensory input he experienced.  I swear I was able to taste earthworm in my mouth as he described his culinary experience with them.

I'm still not convinced that everything Mr. Foster put himself through allowed him to experience the world as the beasts do, but I'm not sure such a thing is really possible.  Unless there is a shaman out there that can put his/herself into an animal's body, and live as they do for a few years, I'm not sure any human ever will.  I do think that he has a new understanding of the particular beasts he chose to live like, and that's just as worthy of a goal.  I don't think we need to necessarily become a beast to understand them in some small way, or to appreciate the role they have on Earth.   Being a Beast has given me a greater appreciation for the natural world, even if I'm not going to experience in quite the same way as Mr. Foster did.

I would like to thank Emily with Henry Holt & Company for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Tom & Jerry

Sometimes you need a song in order to get your point across. Whether it's Marvin Gaye, Rob Base, Katy Perry, or the Baker and his Wife, they all have it right when they sing, "It Takes Two." Occasionally, when I'm deciding who I'm going to highlight in a Favorite Fictional Character post, I end up selecting someone that is generally paired with another character.  In most cases, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson as an example, I'm able to separate them in order to highlight just one of them.  But every once in a while, I'm having to do a post about more than one character.  The Cast of Clue, Scarecrow & Mrs. King, Waldorf & Statler, and Frank & Joe Hardy, are some of the characters that I've had to do one single post on.  I dare anyone to separate those characters from each other, and love on one of them, but not the other.  It's a task that would make Sisyphus blanch.  And that's the task I was facing when I selected Tom & Jerry. You simply can't take them apart, they are a single unit, and need to be treated as such.

Is there anyone out there that doesn't love Tom & Jerry?  If the answer is yes to that, I want NASA to check them out, and make sure they are in fact human, and not from some distant planet.  Yeah, I know they can be pretty violent.  If Tom wasn't trying to capture Jerry to make him part of his meal, Jerry was busy poking Tom, trying to get him worked up.  I think between the two of them, they have been shot, stabbed, chopped in half, electrocuted, beaten by a variety of weapons, cooked, ran over, blown up, poisoned, frozen, and burned.  They are both clever little guys, but Jerry seemed to get it over on Tom most of the time, but Tom's ingenuity managed to payoff, albeit it in a very intermittent manner.

As antagonist as they could be, one of my favorite aspects of their relationship, was the sense of genuine friendship between them.  Even when they were hurting each other, it felt as if it was more of a competition, rather that true animus.  When one of them was facing some outside foe, or experiencing a problem, the other would be by their side, helping them out.  They could even, from time to time, join forces on a joint adventure.  But it's their fighting that kept me captivated as a kid.  I could watch episode after episode, enraptured by their antics.  

These guys were already a 36 years old when I was born, let alone when I was watching cartoons, but Tom & Jerry are characters that transcend age.  They are characters that are loved by kids today, and I have a feeling they still have a long life ahead of them. 

Favorite Fictional Character --- Heckle & Jeckle

There are certain characters, dreamed up in bygone eras, that I really don't think would find an audience today.  Some of them are products of their times, created to fit into an era's zeitgeist.  They could be too naive, cute, or innocent to find an audience in today's jaded marketplace.  Or they could play to a stereotype that would not be tolerated in today's world.  Others, and I'm thinking of the characters I'm featuring today when I say this, just may be too abrasive to find refuge in the living rooms of 2016.  I could be wrong, maybe these guys could find an audience, but I'm thinking their shtick would have to be tweaked a bit, maybe a lot.  But even their abrasiveness may find a home. I look at some of what's on TV these days, including cartoons, and I'm amazed by the crassness of it all.  Toilet humor runs amok, and intelligence is downplayed.  If I were a kid of today, I would be watching a whole lot of vintage cartoons, not the drivel being produced now.  When all is said and done, I'm thinking Heckle & Jeckle may be a tad bit too mean spirited enough for today's youth, especially with the way bullying seems to be such a huge issue.  Despite it all, I still love them.  It's impossible to watch a cartoon of theirs, without cracking up.

For those of you who don't know Heckle & Jeckle, it's the two magpies in the picture above.  If you go by their accents, one is English, the other is from New York.  Other than that, I'm not really sure anyone could really tell them apart.  They are both temperamental, brash, antagonistic, sarcastic, and at times, a wee bit mean spirited.  They rarely ever aren't the instigators of their little capers, and often times go on the offensive, long before their "foe" knows what's going on.  They both can be devious in their actions, but that's seems to be Jeckle's forte, more than Heckle.  They are grifters and freeloaders, and damn proud of it.  They look out for themselves, and aren't overly concerned about the damage they inflict. 

Even with all those negative things I just said about them, they are the best of friends and have the other's  back, no matter what.  As with all partnerships, they have their sniping moments, but's it's almost impossible to not see the true friendship and camaraderie between the two of them.  They are loyal to each other, like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and if they were real people, they probably would have met a similar fate.  And did I mention, they are frickin hilarious?  Unless I'm gagged, it would be impossible for me to not laugh out loud when I watch them.  I adore them, and if that makes me a mean person, I can live with it.  At least I'm a mean person with a wicked sense of humor. 

Favorite Fictional Character --- Quick Draw McGraw

If you haven't been able to figure out by now, I'm a huge cartoon fan.  Actually, I should probably restate that in a way, that makes me sound like I have good taste. Here it goes.  If you haven't been able to figure out by now, I'm a huge fan of cartoons from the 1980s, and earlier.  I'm sure, if you are around my age, or older, the know the reason I had to qualify my statement.  And it's a simple point.  Once you get past the very early years of the 1990s, cartoons sucked.  The quality of the animation seemed to go down hill, get horrifically sloppy.  I've tried to watch recent cartoons, and except for a few like Dora, they are not only pathetically animated, but horribly written as well.  They have devolved to the basest humor, and if that's what's on offer now, I'm glad Saturday morning cartoons are a thing of the past.  And as much as I love the cartoons of the 1980s, the cartoons my mom, and myself, grew up watching are some of my favorites.

Take this guy for example, if you don't know who he is, this is Quick Draw McGraw.  He is probably the most entertaining sheriff the Old West ever had.  Was Quick Draw the sharpest knife if the drawer, not even close, and I think he would be okay with that description of himself.  But Quick Draw had heart, he had bravery to spare, and he always strove to do the honorable thing.  It is true, he had to be bailed out, more than once, by his deputy, Baba Looey, and occasionally the bloodhound Snuffles, but he did save the day, occasionally, all by his lonesome. 

Just to put this out there, I could have done without his masked alter ego, El KaBong.  He really should have left the masked vigilantism to Zorro, who used his sword, way better than El KaBong could ever have used his guitar.  I'm not even sure how he was able to find the time to go on his incognito adventures.  I would think being sheriff would take up a lot of his time, but what do I know.

I can tell you what I do know though.  I would take Quick Draw McGraw, in any incarnation, over the drivel kids are watching today.  Whether his madcap adventures made sense or not, they were entertaining.  Not only that, as crazy as the story lines could get at time, they at least had a story to tell.  

Favorite Fictional Character --- Bookworm

Sidekicks are a tried and true archetype in the fictional world.  They don't always stand out, nor are they all that noticeable at times, but they all serve the same function.  They may perform that function in different ways, but they are all there to make their partner more relatable to the audience.  They do it through humor most of the time, but they can also act as storytellers and interpreters for their partners.  In other ways, and when they are utilized at their weakest level, they are simply there as a prop, something for their stronger counterpart to play off of.  That is the worst kind of sidekick, and one that a reader/viewer will never pay attention to, which is a waste of potential.  It robs the character of being memorable, and it robs the audience of a character they could care about.

On character that hovers around the line between being a great sidekick, and an almost overlooked one, is Bookworm from a few Merry Melodies cartoons.  He is the occasional sidekick for Sniffles, another character I absolutely adore, and though he never utters a word, he's frickin adorable.  We first meet him in Sniffles and the Bookworm from 1939, as they wind their way through various adventures in a closed bookshop, as book characters come to live.  Where Sniffles is a talkative little guy, Bookworm uses facial expressions and hand gestures, pantomime, to get his point across.  He is expressive and charming, and I wanted nothing more to hang out with the two of them as a kid.

Sadly, he was only used a handful of times, but he was the right anchor for Sniffles.  He would be scared, if Sniffles needed to be brave.  He would be cautious, if Sniffles needed to think things through a bit more.  Whatever Sniffles needed to be, Bookworm was the right catalyst for him.  Between the two of them, Bookworm is probably the one who sticks in the minds of most people, at least those reading this blog, because he was probably the more relatable to our lives.  He was a quite sort of guy, happier when he could bury his head in a book to read adventures, rather than living them himself.  At the same time, he was a true friend for Sniffles, never letting him face the world alone, ready to face his fears, if that's what was asked of him. 

Favorite Fictional Character --- Aloysius Snuffleupagus

Looking back on my childhood, you would think it would have been chock-full of imaginary friends.  Between the constant moving, and the lack of what most adults would call stability, I don't think anyone would have blamed me if I had a handful, or two, of made up playmates.  But looking back on it, I'm almost positive I didn't have a single one, at least not one I remember now.  If I did have one, and now can't remember them, I would like to take this time and apologize.  It would be a crappy, and an almost unforgivable, thing to do on my part.

No matter what, at least I wasn't in Big Bird's overly large shoes.  Who would want to have a real friend, only to be accused of having an imaginary friend instead?  It was years before any of the adults would start to believe that Big Bird's friend, Mr. Snuffleupagus, Snuffy for short, was a real friend.  I can't begin to imagine the frustration that both of them must have felt at times.

For those of you who don't know who Snuffy is, that's him above.  He rather looks like a woolly mammoth, sans tusks and ears, but he's not.  Snuffleupagus is not only his last name, but the name of his species as well. As a kid who loved Sesame Street, and what kid didn't, Snuffy was always one of the characters I looked forward to the most.  I knew that if he was on the screen, pre 1985, Big Bird was going to be getting in trouble pretty soon.  Snuffy, I think because of his size, always seemed to be getting into situations, and somehow those situations always fell back on Big Bird.  The adults never seemed to believe Big Bird, and though he was using his imaginary friend as a scapegoat.  It actually got pretty comical for a while, watching Snuffy disappear, seconds before the adults arrived on site.  Once the adults finally saw him, he was welcomed to Sesame Street, and became a regular denizen of the place.

I don't think the mischief the two of them found themselves in was my only draw to Snuffy, I think it was his size as well.   Despite his size, he's such a gentle soul.  Even now, I can imagine myself curling up against him for a nap, feeling safe and secure.  He looks like the best pillow imaginable, and to have a best friend as the perfect cuddler, would be perfection.  It's hard not to smile when I see a picture of him, or hear him say "Ohh, dear."  Snuffy is the perfect friend, imaginary or not. 

Favorite Fictional Character --- Sooki the Saggy Baggy Elephant

I don't think it's possible to grow up without having body issues.  I don't care what you look like, none of us are completely comfortable in our own skin.  Between thinking we are too fat, too scrawny, not cute enough, too gangly, too whatever, it's hard to be like the way we look when we look in the mirror.  It's why so many of us have eating disorders, or get obsessed with working out, building our bodies into muscle bound temples.  It's the reason why plastic surgeons rake in the money.

There aren't a lot of characters who make it okay to like the way you look, regardless of what others think.  The Ugly Duckling is one that comes to mind, but for me, that story was about how our bodies will change as we get older, how we grown into our looks.  It's Sooki, the Saggy Baggy Elephant who is a better example of a character who comes to realize he is fine just the way he is.

Sooki doesn't know that he is supposed to look a different way, that is until a parrot makes fun of the way he looks.  At first, the poor guy is heart broken.  Nobody likes to be made fun of, and Sooki is no different in that regard.  But as the book progresses, as he starts to see all the different body types that animals come in, he starts to realize that maybe his body is the way it's supposed to be. It's when he sees himself, reflected in others that look just like him, that he truly realizes he is beautiful the way he is. 

I would like to say that I took Sooki's lesson to heart as a kid, but I was that typical scrawny guy who was always wanting to have more muscle, to look like what I thought a man was supposed to look like.  As I got older, as my metabolism finally started to slow down, I had the opposite problem, I didn't like the way I looked as I started to gain a little weight.  It's really within the last few years that I've started to understand that my body is my body.  Yeah I can obsess about changing it, and I do think I can lose 10-15 pounds, but I'm pretty okay with the way I look.  I'll never be model material, but I'm okay with that.  Like Sooki, I think I'm perfect the way I am.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Poky Little Puppy

I'm pretty sure that at some point in our lives, we have been just like Poky Little Puppy.  There are always those moments when something catches our eye, and we get distracted.  It may be a really cool shirt at the store, you stop to look at it, and the next thing you know, your friends have disappeared on you.  I find myself copying Poky Little Puppy every time I'm in a bookstore, record store, or an antique mall.

You see, Poky Little Puppy just can't seem to turn his curiosity off.  He finds himself being left behind by his brothers and sisters all the time.  At first, it keeps him out of trouble, but after a while, he starts getting so behind, that he ends up in trouble.

Now I don't know about you, but when I get in a bookstore, I'm always in trouble.  I go in, thinking I'll only be in there for a 10 to 15 minutes, before I know it, I've been in there for an hour or two.  I would see the bargain stacks, get distracted by the new paperbacks, and get stuck in the cafe, staring at the cheesecake.

Poky is my hero in a way.  He doesn't allow himself to feel guilty over his curiosity, he lives his life the way he wants to, and doesn't let those around him dictate the speed he lives life.  He enjoys his life, and doesn't stress out when plans don't go quite his way, well unless he misses dessert. 

Favorite Fictional Character --- Clifford the Big Red Dog

I'm a natural dog person and it's not that I hate cats.  Okay, maybe I do just a little bit, but not enough that I would ever wish harm on one.  I actually don't mind them when they are around me, but I would never go out and purposefully bring a cat into my home.  Dogs are just nicer.

Now I know there are always exceptions, and I know a lot of you adore your cats, but in general terms, dogs are better.  They tend to be better friends.  They, at least the impression I've gotten from every dog I've ever owned, are more expressive than cats, and are way more sympathetic to their human's moods. They show their love more, and tend to be more protective of the humans in their lives as well.  They also seem to enjoy our company more, where cats want us around when we are needed, but could do without us.

With that inborn love of dogs, it's pretty obvious that I feel in love with all the fictional dogs I was exposed to as a kid.  I've featured a lot of them over the years, and I'm hanging my head down in shame that I haven't let you know before this,  how much I love Clifford the Big Red Dog.

I don't know how it would be possible to not love Clifford. You would have to hate all dogs for that to be true, and I can't understand how anybody would be of that temperament.  Even though he is 25 feet tall, he's so friendly.  I think a lot of that has to do with his owner, young Emily. When she got Clifford, he was the runt of the litter, but because of her love and care, he grew up big and strong.  He just got bigger than anyone could have anticipated. 

Even though he is so big, he is a gentle puppy at heart.  He is always ready for a good romp around his island home, or in the ocean for that matter.  He loves to play with his friends, and he understands that because of his size, he is normally the playground equipment.  He is always the first one to help someone out, but the poor guy is easy to fool.  He often gets into trouble, either because of his size, or because he tends to go with the flow when it comes to his friends.  But when he does something wrong, regardless of the reason, he is always quick to fix it.  The size of his heart is proportional to his body, and to do this day, I think Emily was one lucky girl. 

Favorite Fictional Character --- Lassie

I don't think there is a boy my age, or a girl for that matter, who wasn't envious of Timmy Martin.  Growing up, I was a sucker for dogs.  There was rarely at time when we didn't have at least one dog, and I loved them all.  I won't say I didn't have favorites, cause I did, but I'm a true dog lover, so they were all awesome to me.  Maybe one day I'll tell you guys about a few of them, but for now, I need to tell you about a particular fictional dog.  And she's one that almost all of us loved, as much as we did our household dogs.

Like most dog lovers, I'm a sucker for a story that features a dog as the hero.  In the past I've done Favorite Fictional Character posts about some of my favorite dogs, including Benji, but this about a certain Collie who will always be a household name.

The star of 11 feature films, 12 TV shows and made for TV movies, 2 radio programs, and over 50 books, Lassie is the Collie with a heart of gold and the courage of lion.  She has saved kids from danger, park rangers from being killed, and other animals from harm.  She is a guardian angel on four legs, and I prayed that someday I would have a dog just like her.

I've always thought that a large reason humans and dogs have formed such deep bonds over our history on this planet, is that dogs are such loyal creatures.  It's that loyalty and devotion, between both parties, that makes our existence on this planet tolerable.  And not matter how strong a bond exists between a dog and it's human, the bond is always stronger when their human is a child.  For me, Lassie embodies all that is right in that connection.

Regardless of who the kid was; Jeff, Timmy, Joe, or the countless others, Lassie was at her best when she was with them. She cared for them, protected them, and gave them the kind of companionship that kids everywhere yearned for.  She was the perfect dog, and turned millions of kids into dog lovers.  Even though I've ended up with my own Lassie a time or two, and I treasure those memories for all they are worth, I will always have a special place in my heart for Lassie herself, and all she represents. 

  

Favorite Fictional Character --- Mighty Mouse

I can't believe this will be the last post of my superhero month.  I was racking my brain trying to figure out who I wanted to end with, and I had so many running through my brain.  It was really hard for me to select one, but I ended up going with one that I've loved since I started watching cartoons.  I was so fascinated with this guy, and I loved the idea that he didn't have some complicated back story.  He was Mighty Mouse, no other identity or story was needed.  That's it.  He was a hero all the time.  He was the coolest mouse, and I knew he could kick Mickey Mouses's ass.

If I was being completely honest, I still think Mighty Mouse was way cooler than Superman.  He could do the same things Superman could, but he was so much smaller.  So in my head, that meant Mighty Mouse was stronger, and could kick Superman's butt as well.  Now I'm pretty sure that wouldn't be the case, but I would love to see it happen.  Truth be told, I've never been a huge Superman fan.

The other thing I loved about the cartoons was the way that Mighty Mouse, and most of the characters for that matter, was the way that they sang the entire time. It was this little operatic adventure story, that could enthrall me for long periods of time.  I didn't care about his love interests, mainly because I was too damn young to care,   I didn't even care that much for the villains, most of them were stock cats who were interchangeable.   But the singing, that grabbed, and kept my attention.  

Occasionally I will find an old Mighty Mouse cartoon on TV or as part of a old time cartoon DVD collection, and I'm just as entranced now as I was then.  I wish they still made cartoons like this, instead of the crap that is produced now.  I'm pretty sure cartoons will never be this good again, but the inner child in me, will always wish for it.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Charlie the Tuna

I think it's almost impossible to predict which commercial characters, will stay in the collective memory of a population.  I can't even begin to imagine the graveyard that would need to be constructed to lay to rest, all of the failed commercial mascots.  Sure, some of you may remember Big Yella or The Noid, but do any of you really remember Waldo the Wizard or Frito Bandito?  Mascots fail for multiple reasons, and I'd quickly bet that the vast majority of them do in fact fail.  Even when they prove to be successful, Spuds MacKenzie, how many of them really last over a long period of time, let alone decades.

Charlie the Tuna, the mascot for Star-Kist, is one of those mascots that seems to be impossible to kill off.  Yeah, his hipster ways seemed to disappear for a while, but he's been back for a while now, and it doesn't look like he is going anywhere soon.  I'm actually a bit surprised that our current crop of hipsters haven't taken to him more.  After all, he was a hipster before most of them were a twinkle in their parent's eyes.  Between the glasses, the hat, the scarf that comes and goes, the way he talks, and his absolute conviction that he a most refined taste; it all screams hipster.  I'm actually rather shocked that today's hipsters haven't adopted the name Charlie.

Of course poor Charlie, no matter how well attuned his own personal taste is, Star-Kist keeps rejecting him. It doesn't matter if you have a keen eye for style, if you don't taste good, you don't taste good.  The country got so used to poor Charlie being rejected, that Star-Kist's response to him, became a regular part of our conversations.  "Sorry, Charlie", is part of our cultural heritage, and something quite a few of us still say to this day.

Charlie already been retired once before, so I won't be surprised if the poor guy is put out to pasture again.  What would surprise me though, is if Star-Kist were to leave him in a nursing home, never to be heard from again.  When a company has a winning mascot, that doesn't offend anyone's sensibilities, it seems rather dumb to not keep him around.  So here's to hoping that Star-Kist keeps rejecting him, and never accepts his application to be canned.  It also helps that I can't stand canned tuna.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Tony the Tiger

I was reminded the other day how the He-Man, Transformers, and G.I. Joe cartoons came to be, back in the 1980s.  They, along with about a bazillion other cartoons back then, were created to sell toys that already existed.  If you think about it, it was a brilliant move on the part of toy manufacturers.  We became so addicted to the cartoons, we had to go and beg our parents for the toys.  

So that got me thinking about all the fantastic characters that were created to sell other stuff to us as consumers.  They pitched everything from raisins, chips, cereal, tuna fish, frozen vegetables, tires, cleaning supplies, and just about everything else you can possibly think of.  

Over the next few weeks I'm going to be sharing some of my favorites; the ones that have stuck in my head over the years, or even just entertained me to no end.  I think a lot of them will be from the food aisles of the supermarket, but who knows who will show up over the next few weeks.

I thought I would start with everyone's favorite Italian-American Tiger, Tony the Tiger.  The Kellogg's Frosted Flakes mascot, has been on the job since 1951, and he's still looking good.  I could sit here and lie and tell you that I fell in love with him the first time I ever saw a commercial, but come one now.  The idea of me even remembering the first time I saw Tony is a ridiculous concept.  I was a little kid, how the heck would something like that stick in my brain?  

What I can tell you is how much I begged my mom for Frosted Flakes as a kid, and I can lame all the blame on Tony.  He was so much fun to watch on screen, and I loved the way he talked.  I even vaguely remember various family members making it into the commercials, though they didn't make that much impression on me.  I can also remember asking my mom why he didn't have a regular cartoon.  I just couldn't get it.  Here was a really cool cartoon character, without a cartoon.  It made no sense to me, and I'm still thinking Kellogg messed up when they didn't go all out with him.

To this day, when I'm going down the cereal aisle at the supermarket, I'm just a tad bit tempted to pick up Frosted Flakes.  I don't even like them that well, but my love for Tony, or his magical brainwashing abilities, gets to me every time.  And there are even times, when my inner child is screaming for attention, that I cave in, and Kellogg's Frosted Flakes makes it into the cart.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Snagglepuss

If Hanna-Barbera ever made a gay cartoon character, it would be Snagglepuss.  How else do you explain a pink mountain lion, who is always concerned about making his cave a habitable, comfortable place to live.  I mean, how spoiled can you get, even.  Heavens to Murgatroyd, how else do you account for all the stage directions that litter his dialogue.

I adored Snagglepuss as a kid.  Whether he was with teamed up with Quick Draw McGraw, who will make an appearance in this feature at some point in time, or on his own show, he was a hoot to listen too.  He was even one of my favorite characters on the Laff-A-Lympics cartoon.  He is finicky, hilarious, over the top, and just an all around cool cat.  He even has an Elmer Fudd type hunter after him all the time, and thankfully he is just as bad as poor old Elmer.  It's time to exit stage left, even!