Doctor, doctor, give me the news...

 

I thought about just putting a footnote on the Thorax, I speak for the vital organs design that it was something Dr. Seuss considered and then rejected for the Lorax (which really makes no sense at all). But then I started think about other potential ideas Dr. Seuss could have had before he arrived at his classics.

I am particularly proud of How the Winch stole Christmas! But I tend to be easily amused by my own sense of humor. I think this is nature's way of protecting my fragile ego.

The Rat in the Hat is a bit disturbing but more predictable than the Winch who stole Christmas. 

I'm hoping they are all so far from the originals that if Dr. Seuss has heirs (which a Google search says is in dispute), won't think I am any risk to the intellectual property of the man who wrote great prose like, "One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish." I could never hope to compete with that kind of genius.

And let us not forget Seuss's forays into elder abuse with Hop on Pop. And his foodie rant against Sam, I am, and his attempt to get the main character to eat green eggs and ham. How could I even come close to anything intellectually close to those gems. 

I imagine you can tell I am still bitter about Paramount challenging me over Grease Monkey. On the bright side I hear they are hemorrhaging money on their streaming service. So I suppose attacking me for the pennies I might have generated through a Grease Monkey t-shirt is justified. Can't have the rabble storming the parapets of Paramount and adding to their loses.

Speaking of getting screwed:

Okay, I'm not sure who would think I'm violating their intellectual rights on this one. Shakespeare seems beyond caring and the screws don't seem to care (though they can turn on you when you least expect it). 

I am indeed, too clever by half.

The trouble with this design is that you have to be aware that Taming of the Shrew was a Shakespeare play and a Shrew is a nasty tempered woman. Calling a woman a shrew is not politically correct these days. Taming them is also not considered politically correct either.

The irony here is that when Shakespeare wrote the play, all of the parts (male and female) were played by men. So the Shrew they were taming was another guy (non-binary or not).

The other irony is that when I was a kid and was aware of Taming of the Shrew I had just seen a movie called Killer Shrews (a shlocky Sci Fi film produced in 1959) about mutant, giant shrews on an island.  So I assumed taming shrews referred to taming giant mutant mole-like animals like the movie (where the giant shrews were actually dogs in bad make up). So you can imagine how confused I was when the Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton movie version of Taming of the Shrew came out.

The Shakespeare Shrew was probably quite tame compared to the giant mutant shrews.

Once again, I am too clever by half.