Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Tu B'Shvat eCards 'Tu' Send!

The Orthodox Union has once again turned to a few of us cartoonists to create fun eCards to send for the latest of Jewlidays - Tu B'Shvat, the Jewish Arbor Day! Can you guess which 3 are my designs??

Be sure to support yours truly and my pal Jordan Gorfinkel - send all your family and friends our fun and funny cartoon greetings this Tu B'Shvat!! =0)

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

The Day the Music Died Goes Gold

50 years ago today the music world lost three incredibly influential and important entertainers. It's amazing how in their short careers, Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and "The Big Bopper" managed to shape the music industry as we know it today. Listening to 101.1 WCBS-FM, my favorite radio station since the age of 6, I learned a few new facts that I never knew about:
  • Buddy Holly was my age now, 23, when he passed away.
  • Holly heavily influenced The Beatles.
  • Richie Valens didn't speak Spanish. When recorded "La Bamba", his brother whispered the words to him.
  • Valens was 17 when the plane crashed.
  • "The Big Bopper's" real name was Jiles Perry Richardson, Jr. He came up with the name for his a radio show after seeing college students perform a new dance called "The Bop".
Thanks to the magic of YouTube, I was able to find videos of each of these young talented men. Enjoy!

My favorite Buddy Holly Song:


"Chantille Lace" - Sure to put a smile on your face:


I couldn't find a live video of "La Bamba", but check Richie Valens out. FYI: He also sang "Oh Donna" and "Come On Let's Go".

Monday, February 2, 2009

A Post OF BIBLICAL PROPORTIONS


A project of mine that is quickly gaining popularity is my weekly comic strip, Of Biblical Proportions. Conceived during one of my daily runs, it was formulated based on the various experiences and conversations from my 2008 PresenTense Institute Summer Fellowship.

The comic strip takes lines and stories from the Bible and adds a modern, humorous twist in the form of a comic strip. The idea was to launch it right after the holiday of Simchat Torah based on the weekly Torah portion, but more as a guideline to provide my strip with some structure than to create a real Jewish comic strip (hey, the Bible is the #1 book in the world - and is taught as literature in classes regardless if you are Jewish, Christian, Atheistic, Scientologistic, etc.)

Before I had a chance to draw one sketch of the strip, three friends/relatives sent me a link to the 2008 Jerusalem Post New Cartoonist Contest. I applied, and I won! Here was the winning submission:


I officially launched the strip as planned just for fun. After a mere 3 strips, the Orthodox Union (who had already approached me about some freelance opportunities for their website), offered to purchase exclusive online rights to the strip for the next year. I agreed, and every week my little strip that could is now included in their weekly e-Newsletter, which goes out to about 40,000 people.

My next step is to get the strip into newspapers. I'm planning my next move, and although I have already been approached by editors to include the strip in their papers, I'm trying to figure out what's the best way to get the strip out there so as broad an audience as possible. Suggestions and tips are welcome from all!

The whole point of the strip is what I love to do - take something that is old and wonderful, and make it new, accessible, & fun for today's generation. I immensely enjoy creating each strip, and look forward to seeing where this new path takes me.

Stay 'tooned for the strip each week - new comics are posted at www.ou.org on Wednesdays and archived on Fridays at www.obpcomics.com (where the complete archives can be found).

Sunday, February 1, 2009

First Post!

So after years of delaying, procrastinating, denying, nay-saying, beating around the bush, refusing, and (insert your phrase of choice here), I decided to finally give in. That's right, I have officially joined the blog world!

What, you say? But isn't www.heyyiddlediddle.com a blog? Or what about the lovely Of Biblical Proportions site, www.obpcomics.com? They both include blog formats!

Well, I've been running all over the world lately and I felt that it was pretty darn time to keep my adoring fans (hi Mom & Dad!) up to date with my latest work, projects, and adventures I've been on. Plus, the Hey Yiddle Diddle and OBP Comics websites limit what news and contents I can post on each site.

So here you go. I'm going to kick off this post with a commission that recently made its online debut: a logo design for a new company called Gym Guyz - where they bring the gym and the trainers straight to your door! Enjoy:


That's about it for now! Stay 'tooned - I've got lots going on and would love to share it with you.

Have a SUPER Sunday,

~Chari =0)