Day 14 HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! Here's a special little mini-valentine treat!

Love, Love, Love Cartoons: Day 13

It's the day before the big day! This cartoon was from my 2012 Cat Calendar. My favorite part are the bleeding hearts dripping from Cupid.

Love, Love, Love Cartoons: Day 12

A love cartoon for the young at heart.

Love, Love, Love Cartoons: Day 11

When I was little, around 4 I think, before kindergarten, even, I had a friend from up the block named Frankie. I can't remember his last name, but we used to have tea parties on my back porch and share pretend treats. This cartoon's for you, Frankie, wherever you are.

Love, Love, Love Cartoons: Day 10

Part of being in love is making memories together. Even something trivial shared can be something significant when you look back on it...like next week.

Love, Love, Love Cartoons: Day 9

A cartoon for dog lovers. And who doesn't love bacon?

Love, Love, Love Cartoons: Day 8

This is an older Valentine's Day cartoon. I found it in my archives. You never know what's in there!

Love, Love, Love Cartoons: Day 7

Love, there's so much to say about it. Always a good subject for cartoons like this one:















And not just saying it in cartoons. I've been running a writer's group at the library for going on 9 years. It's always fun and interesting and the writers are such a terrific mix and their work ranges from poems to prose to singer/ songwriters. This year, I thought it would be fun to ask writers to contribute to a small book I put together called "Love: Write and Wronged" in honor of Valentine's Day and all about the ups and downs of love. It came out fantastically and everyone loved their copies. I wanted to make it special so I designed a great cover for it.
Here's the front:

And the back cover (my favorite part!)

Love, Love, Love Cartoons: Day 6

Everyone wants a valentine... don't they?

The 3rd Annual Kitty Awards!

Hooray! It's awards season! Now that you've sat through the dreary Golden Globes with not very nice host Ricky Gervais and gotten the nominations for the Academy Awards (ho hum) you are probably ready for something more fun! Something more different! Something MORE... so we are presenting the 3rd Annual Kitty Awards for you viewers (readers, anyway) out there!

First off...let us present our host. Not someone mean...or lame, but the man who should be our country's National Host of All Awards: Neil Patrick Harris:

Thanks for hosting, Neil!
Once again, the Kitty will go to the most deserving winners. Not the movies that cost the most, or the biggest stars. Using the Academy Awards nominees, below are the incredibly lucky stars and films that will win the Kitty!
 OK, get ready, here is the first Award:
Best Supporting Actor
Kenneth Branagh, "My Week With Marilyn"
Jonah Hill, "Moneyball"
Nick Nolte, "Warrior"
Christopher Plummer, "Beginners"
Max Von Sydow, "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close"
Let's not forget one of the creepiest supporting roles in recent films, Tom Hollander as the whistling hit man in "HANNA"!
And the winner...
Yes! It is YOU, Tom Hollander. I know you can't believe your eyes, but the Kitty is all yours!

Best Supporting Actress
Berenice Bejo, "The Artist"
Jessica Chastain, "The Help"
Melissa McCarthy, "Bridesmaids"
Janet McTeer, "Albert Nobbs"
Octavia Spencer, "The Help"
Ready? The winner is hilarious and fabulous Octavia Spencer!
Congratulations, Octavia!















Best Actor
Demian Bichir, "A Better Life"
George Clooney, "The Descendants"
Jean Dujardin, "The Artist"
Gary Oldman, "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"
Brad Pitt, "Moneyball"
I did adore Jean Dujardin in "The Artist" and he is a good bet to win the AA.
Still, there are two GLARING omissions from the nominees... Dominic Cooper as Uday Hussein and Dominic Cooper as Latif  Yahia in "The Devil's Double". You don't have to threaten the KITTY nominating committee (me!), Dominic...we are on your side(s)...

Let's add them in to the mix and see what happens. Here's the trailer for those who haven't seen his great performance(s):

Get ready, folks...and the winner is/are Dominic Cooper and Dominic Cooper! That's right, guys, you can put aside those weapons and embrace your Kitty wins!

Best Actress
Glenn Close, "Albert Nobbs"
Viola Davis, "The Help"
Rooney Mara, "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"
Meryl Streep, "The Iron Lady"
Michelle Williams, "My Week With Marilyn"
Much as I like Michelle and Rooney, once again, a deserving actress has been left out of the nominations. It is up to us to set this right. Hello, Academy Awards nominating crew...have you NOT seen Saorise Ronan in "HANNA"??? Look, you've gotten her all upset.

Calm down, Saorise, we have not forgotten you. In fact, here she is in the trailer for anyone who missed her outstanding performance:

And the winner... Saorise Ronan! Wow! Is that an upset or what???

Congratulations, Saorise!!! Well deserved!!!
Best Director
Woody Allen, "Midnight in Paris"
Michel Hazanavicius, "The Artist"
Terrence Malick, "The Tree of Life"
Alexander Payne, "The Descendants"
Martin Scorsese, "Hugo"
Can't you guys get it right?
Here are the Kitty's additional nominees:
Joe Wright "HANNA"
Joe Cornish "Attack the Block"
Duncan Jones "Source Code"
The winner is...Joe Wright for "HANNA"!

"HANNA" was a perfect movie, Joe! You and Saoirse deserved those Kitties!

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year
Bullhead (Belgium)
Footnote (Israel)
In Darkness (Poland)
Monsieur Lazhar (Canada)
A Separation (Iran)
The judges didn't see any new Foreign Language pictures in the movies this year (unless you count "The Artist") , but we DID have total immersion in the 3 Swedish DVD versions of the Stieg Larrson books "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo", "The Girl Who played With Fire" and "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest" so the  award goes to ALL THREE!  Noomi Rapace was totally kick-ass as Lisbeth Salander...so here you go, Noomi! Your very own Kitty!

Original Score
"The Adventures of Tintin," John Williams
"The Artist," Ludovic Bource
"Hugo," Howard Shore
"Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy," Alberto Iglesias
"War Horse," John Williams
WHAT! The Chemical Brothers were NOT nominated for the fantastic score for "HANNA"? We are hearby nominating them.  Just listen to this:
Hanna Soundtrack

And the winner is, of course, "HANNA"!!!

Best Original Song
"Man or Muppet," The Muppets; Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie
"Real in Rio," Rio; Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown, Lyric by Siedah Garrett
For once the AA have gotten something right. Who can resist the delightful power ballad "Man or Muppet"? Have a listen:

The winner is "Man or Muppet" ! Yay!
 And finally... the BIGGEST award of the night. Which picture will get the Kitty? It's exciting, yes...as it all comes down to this. What will it be? The nominees are for:
Best Picture
"The Artist"
"The Descendants"
"Extremely Loud  and Incredibly Close"
"Hugo"
"Midnight in Paris"
"The Help"
"Moneyball"
"War Horse"
"The Tree of Life"
OK,OK, "the Artist" should probably win this, but again, it will most likely win the AA, and even though we love it, sigh, three important films have been left off  the Academy Awards list:
"Source Code"
"Hanna"
and "Attack the Block"!!!
All three of these are fantastic films! "Hanna" has won numerous prizes, here, tonight...so the committee feels like it should go to a super deserving film with an important social message and a terrific cast! The Kitty goes to:

"Attack the Block"
Check out the official trailer here:
Don't worry, guys. It's REALLY yours. Congratulations!

What a night! Hard to believe all the glamour and excitement has come to an end. Enjoy all these movies when they come to DVD at home or at the Farmington Film Society at the Goodwin Library who bring you the best of the best ( as long as they are licensed by Movie Licensing USA!). Take a break Neil. You need it after all that work!

 And, don't forget to join us next year for another great KITTY AWARDS show!

Love, Love, Love Cartoons: Day 5

This cartoon is for you passionate artists out there.

And don't forget to tune in tonight at 8, right here, for the 3rd Annual Kitty Awards!!!

Love, Love, Love Cartoons: Day 4

Another option for Facebook. Declarations!

Love, Love, Love Cartoons: Day 3

Being a mom is one of the best things you can ever do. Here's a cartoon celebrating moms... in honor of my Mom, whose birthday this was.

And here's a photo I found of her looking very glamorous:

         Goldie Rosen Hammerling

Love, Love, Love Cartoons: Day 2

I love drawing kitties. Especially grumpy ones! Big Eric...I'm talking to you, sweetie!

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Cartoons

Ah! It's the time of year to celebrate LOVE! And what better way to do it than to draw love and valentine cartoons about the ups and downs of everyone's favorite subject. I'll be posting some new and old cartoons now till V Day. Hope you enjoy them!