Deconstructed Comics

A few years ago I discovered the quirky website Garfield Minus Garfield.  The idea was to take Garfield comic strips and simply remove Garfield.  What is left is primarily the existential angst of his owner, the lonely and depressed Jon Arbuckle.  The popularity of this website led to the publication of a “Garfield Minus Garfield” book sanctioned by none other than Jim Davis himself, the creator of Garfield.

Recently my cousin introduced me to another website that plays around with an old comic strip favorite:  3eanuts.  3eanuts alters the classic Charles Schultz comic featuring Charlie Brown and the Peanuts gang by simply omitting the final frame of the comic—the frame that usually carried the punch line.  Again, what’s left is a rather bleak world of despair.

I love the idea of taking something familiar and tweaking it just a bit to make it into something new and different and rather odd.  If you know of other altered comics like this, post a comment and let me know about it.

Kim Jong-Il Looks

I recently ran across this quirky website called Kim Jong-Il Looking at Things.  Apparently, the North Korean leader really likes looking at things.  He also seems to be fond of sunglasses and fur hats.  What a weird little man!   It’s hard to believe this squat, freakish Teletubby is one of the world’s more repressive dictators.  I find it interesting how he is always surrounded by his adoring groupies, but one can’t help but speculate their outward admiration is truly masking their fear of this unstable egomaniac.

Here are some of my favorite “looking” photos.

Kim Jong-Il looks at water.

Kim Jong-Il looks at rubber boots.

Kim Jong-Il looks at bubblegum.

Kim Jong-Il looks at inflatable toys.

Kim Jong-Il looks at corn.

Kim Jong-Il looks at dinner?

Kim Jong-Il looks at buckets.

Kim Jong-Il looks at girls.

Unused Prince Tickets

I never cease to be amazed at the odd things you can find on the internet. I recently stumbled upon the site Unused Prince Tickets.  Like the name implies, the website documents this guy’s collection of unused Prince concert tickets.  Along with his own collection, some of the tickets are scans of unused tickets owned by other people and some are meticulous digital re-creations based upon existing used ticket stubs.  Why, you may ask?  I have no idea.  But if you’re bemoaning that Prince concert you didn’t get to attend way back in 1998, and you still happen to have the unused concert ticket stuck in a drawer somewhere, don’t throw it away! I know just the buyer.

Pictory

Pictory is a wonderful website of photo stories.  The idea is simple:

1. A theme is chosen, e.g. “Danger” or “Coming Home.”
2. People submit single photos with captions related to the theme.
3. The editor selects 20 to 40 of the best submissions and posts them on the website.
4. We get to read and see the resulting beauty.

It’s really interesting to see how people interpret and respond to the various themes.  How refreshing to find a website with such heart and soul. It is obviously a labor of love.