A Personal Cartoony Wellbeing Sorta Blog

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Showing posts from April, 2023

The Stay at Home Dad

When you're a stay-at-home dad, you can break away from those old roles society expects of you, because it's viewed by many as a positive step towards gender equality. However, if you're an unemployed mentally ill husband who only seems to leave the house for the weekly shop and to walk the dog—you're more of a parasite. Fair enough, a stay-at-home dad is expected to engage in various activities with the kids, you know, like reading to them, cooking lunch or playing games and whatever, while also keeping tabs on the housework. We all have our ways of working. Once, there was a time, when the entitled breadwinning husband, who expected a pristine house and a hot meal at the table, was the norm. We've known that's sexist for quite a while now. I'd like to call myself a house-husband, when I think of the water fights and joking around, but, I'd also like to call myself a billionaire, genius philanthropist—it's a stretch. This is where I could just hide

Was Merlin Historical?

Dive into the legend of Merlin! Was he a real advisor to a king, or a figment of imaginative storytelling? Explore historical records, captivating Arthurian myths, and the TV dramatisation of Bernard Cornwell's excellent book trilogy. Don't you just love the madness and magic of Merlin? The granddaddy of sorcerers, the true archetypal wizard, the wild man of prophecy. He has so many presentations, however, his history is primarily arcane! Merlin is fittingly portrayed as a feared druid and a crazy old oracle to the Britons of Dumnonia in Bernard Cornwell's Warlord Chronicles. This is a romantic figure glorifying a lost mysterious celtic way of life. Of course, it's very unlikely a man matching our modern vision of Merlin has ever existed; history doesn't always meet our expectations. ' I believe the Gods hate to be bored, so I do my best to amuse them. That way they smile on me. Your God,’ Merlin said sourly, ‘despises amusement, demanding grovelling worship in

Cartoony Archetypes and Characters

Archetypes and Cartoons Well, hello there! Today I came across an interesting blog by Annie Weatherwax about archetypes in relation to illustrations and cartoons. This piece grabbed my attention, given my own, previous blog on archetypes and, uh, well—I like to dabble with cartoons. With regards to a lot of media, especially cartoons, creative types automatically use archetypes. I agree with pretty everything her blog says. If we get scientific about it, could we suggest archetyping has always been our natural way of identifying social roles? Take the archetypal doting mother; it could only have been accepted as a 'thing' after people had spoken about the 'those types' of mothers who excessively nurture. We've been tokening archetypes over our history. I've probably missed something somewhere, but cartoons do play on them. It's like, before a psychiatrist brands a patient with a mental condition , many of the DSM-V boxes will need ticking first. A tad li

Saint Derfel Cadarn: King Arthur's Warrior?

The Legend of King Arthur: Derfel Cadarn . Celtic Britons While I was reading about the intimidating nature of Derfel Cadarn, I couldn't help but notice his immense power in the various poems and annales—he fought the Anglo-Saxons in Edinburgh and across England and Wales. He was a renowned man; a man who serves as the central character in Bernard Cornwell's Warlord Chronicles. T hough a work of fiction, it's based on historical events from the British wars fending off the Germanic influx of invaders. Derfel Cadarn is rightly portrayed as an exceptionally skilled and courageous fighter. This led me to wonder about the true identity of the historical figure behind the character, Saint Derfel, and what we might glean from that era. I found a man called Saint Derfel who lived in Wales during the 6th century. He was highly revered by the Catholic Church. Prior to his priesthood, he was likely a trained warrior, which is what Cornwell's book focuses on. After the great Rom

Cyborg: Victor Stone.

The Cybernetic Outcast: A Symbol for the Futurist Victor Stone, the Cyborg, always comes across as a bit of a miserable b*****d because he is the internet on legs and to be fair, just trying to log on to my bank is a right pain! Could you imagine all the popups and ads this bloke must get when he's just trying to do a spot of gardening or buying himself a new waterproof coat? Yes, he is science and technology incarnate but is that necessarily as glorious as they try to make it seem? If he already is the symbol of what we are becoming his head must be so Tik Tok sodden, Pornhubbed up to the temporal lobes, 4channed to the point of psychosis. He could be above GCHQ, Mossad, MI6 and every other secret service, but he'll be regularly coaxed into taking f*****g personality quizzes and shown videos of people punching each other in the dick, because that's what's going on now and now! All the porn and onlyfans flirts and this man has no genitalia! That would make anyone grumpy

You Can Call Me Hal!

Hal Jordan, Member of The Green Lantern Corps. Hal Jordan, the fearsome Green Lantern of Sector 2814. I've decided Hal is a bit of a pr*ck. One of those embarrassing characters who faces many challenges and setbacks but always wins because the story writers have made him a 'Barry-Sue'. This is a man who soldiers on in his stories, and sometimes, you just want him to fail. A cheesy and predictable risk taker who has to overcome the toughest obstacles just to show you that determination means success. Isn't that a ball ache? That's him in a nutshell, a pointless Top Gun-esque maverick throwback who never moved on, he might grow on you because he'll push the story and it feels like he is bringing the results, but he isn't the stories are great not this character. The character is a flaw. Admittedly, Hal Jordan simply is not as cool as any other lantern, because they are either more interesting and modern people or aliens. In fact, Jordan is without a doubt a

Joan of Arc: Whispers of the Saints.

A Historical Blog about the Amazing Joan of Arc: Treasure of France. Jeanne d'Arc, was born in the year 1412 in Domrémy, a village in north eastern France. Her father was Jacques d'Arc, a farmer, and Isabelle Romée. To English speakers she is known as Joan of Arc, and we might picture her in the same light as how the movies and entertainment might portray her: like a pious Wonder women , but raised on Catholicism instead of the old Greek gods. For all we know her personality might have been awful! Joan grew up surrounded by a community that shared a dominant religious worldview, in a land of political unrest, which she would have accepted from a very young age. This fits my mental imagining of this highly religionised unlikely warrior woman. The key to her story however, was that she told people that she heard the voices of various saints urging her to help France in it's war against England. Honestly, as a child I was told about this woman hearing voices speak to her and

The Justice League

The Justice League The New 52 Justice League: this book sets the course of the journey. I would say Vol.1 is the quintessential superhero team formation story. However, it's not that it's written will or has cracking art, but that it, err. . . it was actually written well and has cracking art, ignore me, I have a propensity for bullsh*t. I'm in my forties live these books. My excuse is that I see graphic novels as mindless easy reading fun. This first Justice League book is exactly that: fun! Following my reading order, the next book is Barry Allen's flashpoint story arc which created this universe; he returns home at the end of the book and his costume and his memories begin to change too. It was clever how he is absorbed into the new 52 version. In my forties! The dialogue in origins, vol.1, crackles with energy and wit. I always say we get better action in print—it keeps your eyes on the page. Writers took risks and pushed boundaries, creating epic story arcs whils