Skip to main content
Tag

outside the box

What do Doug and Sisyphus have in common

By Dung Beetles

My thanks to Gus, one of the first to ‘like’ my new Facebook Page. He liked Doug so much (and who wouldn’t), he suggested Doug finds a suitable roll model. For those not up with ancient Greek mythology, you can read about poor Sisyphus, who was banished to an eternity of having to roll a rock up a mountain, only to have it roll back down again…and so it goes on. If you read a bit more about him, you can’t feel too sorry for him, as he doesn’t appear to be the nicest person to have ever roamed the planet.

Snow White heads Down Under

By That's life

Thanks to my friend Mark for this idea. Funnily enough, he assists people with migration to Australia. I’m not sure if Snow White is one of his current clients. So a small plug for Mark, if you want to migrate, check out his website, www.ozrma.com, for further details.

Happy Dinosaur Valentines

By Dinosaurs

…and just a few Valentines day quotes.

‘If love is the answer, could you please rephrase the question?’ Lily Tomlin

‘My boyfriend and I broke up. He wanted to get married and I didn’t want him to.’ Rita Rudner.

‘I require three things in a man. He must be handsome, ruthless and stupid.’ Dorothy Parker.

‘Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love.’ Albert Einstein

Doug becomes a Dad

By Dung Beetles

My thanks to Troy for this contribution.

Did you know there are 3 kinds of dung beetles? Rollers, tunnellers and dwellers (Doug is a rock ‘n’ roller).

A roller sculpts a chunk of dung into a ball and rolls his prize away from its initial source. It’s then used for food later on, or the female lays her eggs in it (so the babies won’t starve on birth). A tunneller will fly to find it’s prey, then dive into it and undergo a sub terrain excavation to bury as much of the prize as possible, within an underground tunnel. And my favourite – the dweller, who takes up residence in the dung pile (well, its the eggs that do this. the adult lays their eggs in the dung so that when they hatch they have ample food to get them started). Who could ask for a better home?

Strong gravitational pull ahead

By Bill and Ben the little green alien men

Yes, this might look familiar to some, but if you look carefully, you’ll note the hazard sign is different. Besides, it was time for another Bill and Ben cartoon.

And while we’re on the topic of Bill and Ben, being 2 of the 3 judges, they’ve been keenly viewing all submissions to the competition (now at 29 entries). I hear a raucous of laughter from outside my studio every now and then and discover them viewing the latest entries.  So if you haven’t entered, there’s still time, plus you have the weekend ahead to think about it.

Love your job

By Dung Beetles

Two things I’ve learnt so far:

  1. a job for life if you don’t love it, is more of a prison sentence than a life enhancer
  2. when experiencing ‘cartooning block’ go for toilet humour

So long and thanks for the fish

By Pot Luck

Who would have thought that the humble message in a bottle idea could spark so many ideas and interpretations? I Googled the phrase for fun and came up with businesses selling messages in a bottle (weddings, messages of love – you name it), of course who could forget the song by the Police, and then there are the real life stories of people finding messages in a bottle.

I found this one particularly interesting – an interview with message in a bottle hobbiest Harold Hackett. The green in me couldn’t help but wonder how many seals and whales also found one of his 4,800 bottles.

And on the competition front, things are starting to rev up with 9 entries to date.  Have you never won anything in your life? Well, with odds like this, things are looking pretty good for winning. Go on, lay your wit on the table and enter now. Click here to enter.

Ever had that feeling someone is watching you?

By Pot Luck

I found in drawing this cartoon, that trying to draw someone, as if they’re inside a box looking out at the viewer was not as easy as I had imagined. I hope my drawing didn’t let me down.

I was inspired to create this after reflecting on one of my all time favourite cartoons created by the amazing Chuck Jones – Duck Amuck. Australians love underdogs in preference to tall poppies. Daffy certainly is an underdog in this cartoon where the animator Bugs Bunny wreaks havoc on Daffy, who is only trying to do his best and meet his animation contract. I found the cartoon on You Tube. Still brings tears to my eyes.

Just Outside the Box Cartoon Competition #1

By Competitions

By popular demand, I’m holding the first competition for this site.  It also includes a first prize!

Tell me more!

Well, if you think you’re funny (and I’ve had a number of you tell me how funny you are), then you’ll love this competition – Create a cartoon caption for the cartoon

Click here to zip you through to the Competition page details.

Good luck and may the funniest entrant win! Marti.

PS. If you visit the Home page, you’ll see I’ve added a page called Competitions to the Main Menu. This may help you find it in future.

Arriving before you leave – the life of a neutrino

By Space and Aliens

My thanks to Hugh for bringing me up to speed (bit of a pun and I didn’t even mean it) on the latest Hoo-ha going on in the land of particle physics.

Although this CERN experiment is still undergoing scrutiny, if found true it would shake up Einstein’s theory on general relativity (i.e., nothing travels faster than light). Here are a couple of articles related to the findings. Click me for CERN Press release and me for a ‘dummies’ explanation after an interview with CERN’s chief spokesman.