"Frog Applause" at its finest...

See reader comments here.

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Frog Applause for January 30, 2024

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"Frog Applause," January 5, 2024

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Industrial hemp farming

Hemp seed is just as nutritious as sunflower seed and is much more resistant to insect pests. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison grew it for fiber. In 1942, the United States government promoted it as a necessary crop to win the war. And it’s listed among the best seeds for birds in older bird books. But it's not mentioned in any of newer bird books. Why? Hemp has been illegal to grow in the U.S. without a special permit since 1970.

Now, in 2018, with a number of states legalizing marijuana use for certain medical conditions and even for recreational use, farmers are becoming increasingly interested in growing hemp, both the cultivars used to serve the marijuana market and the “industrial hemp” varieties that have too low a psychotropic content for use as a drug.

So far, most growers are focused on hemp fiber and hemp oil for human consumption, but some grower are marketing hemp seed for bird feeding.

In the chapter “Hemp, the Devil’s Birdseed” from the book, Feeding Wild Birds in America: Culture, Commerce, and Conservation (Texas A&M University Press, 2015), Paul J. Baicich, Margaret A. Barker, and Carrol L. Henderson write about the history of industrial hemp farming. 

https://www.keloland.com/news/capitol-news-bureau/s-d-industrial-hemp-rules-get-green-light/

https://www.adn.com/opinions/2020/12/02/now-that-industrial-hemp-is-legal-alaskas-industry-must-follow-the-law/

https://www.newfoodmagazine.com/news/126122/industrial-hemp-growers/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthoban/2020/11/30/polands-war-torn-history-made-the-nation-a-leader-for-industrial-hemp/

https://hempindustrydaily.com/dutch-furniture-maker-launches-carbon-negative-hemp-chair/

https://www.texasmonthly.com/news/hemp-farming-texas-cbd/

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What the REQUISITE REQUISITE crap?!!

I just found a nice used copy of the Surveillance Pickle LP by Sister Lame at my record store that looked brand new so I took it home. I put it on and one word (REQUISITE) keeps getting stuck in the same place and repeats over and over. I've had no luck in making it go away.... tried a gentle wash with water and can't see any debris that may be causing the repeat. I guess it could be a manufacturing defect... Any ideas?

Frog Applause. November 3, 2020.

Frog Applause. November 4, 2020

What are the odds that tomorrow will contain the word "requisite" AGAIN?

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Frog Applause Descriptions, Comments, and Promotional Blurbs

I want to add to or replace the ABOUT FROG APPLAUSE quote above. If you have another description in mind, kindly share it. I'll probably list several descriptions in addition to this one. I have so many talented writers among my readership, that I doubt I could choose one, two or even three descriptions. All are welcome! Thank you.

“I can’t imagine why anyone would find this strip funny or entertaining. “—pbo67

"This is absolutely the dumbest cartoon ever.”—damifino59

“Survey says: you were drawn by a really bad cartoonist.”—Sack of Rabid Weasels

The comments above were later discovered to be ghost-puppeted by another GoComics creator (whose name is known by most of my readers), later outed here:

If you don't know this chickensh!t's identity, write to me, and I'll tell you.  He still has a cartoon on GoComics!

Frog Applause is a bizarre yet enjoyable combination of strange phrases and unexpected art.--GoComics promo

Some readers have been so upset with Frog Applause that they were suspended or banned from the GoComics website because they couldn’t temper their language or their rage. The strip brought 

out the worst in some people, and they just "lost it”. But what about Frog Applause made certain readers lose their shiitake mushrooms?

 

 

Some people were further outraged because instead of inflicting pain and suffering on Teresa with their comments, she embraced their words, spotlighted them on her blog, then offered a comment of her own, often deriding the hater for not trying harder to be original or creatively hateful enough.

Using the comments that mocked her strip, Teresa often incorporated those comments into new Frog Applause 

material, which probably wasn’t the desired result by the person who hoped to crush Teresa’s spirit.

"I was trying to remember when I started reading Frog Applause, and I think it was some time after I started reading Teresa’s (now defunct) blog. She had this post called,"Yes, we feel the love," (I think) and there were these really mean-spirited comments about the comic that she posted. And that was what piqued my curiosity. Could it really be that bad? I had to take a look, even though I didn't normally read comics. And then I looked, and looked, and looked, and laughed my butt off and got a GoComics membership and subscribed. So, in summary: I started following Frog Applause because somebody said it was awful." —Zelmarific

We need more cartoonists who are willing to challenge our sense of aesthetics and our cultural taboos. —Ted Mallory, mal•toons 

"Can anybody describe the comic strip Frog Applause to me? I like it, but I don't know why.” —Unknown

"So wrong, Frog Applause”—Unknown

Teresa Burritt was born in Kansas City, Missouri on National Cartoonist's Day (May 5). Her comic strip Frog Applause has been described as "enticing and welcoming like the womb of a marshmallow mermaid" and has enjoyed a cult following since 2006.--GoComics promo

Teresa Burritt has created a strange little world in Frog Applause where people morph into other people, thoughts run wild, and the fourth wall is often broken. Read early, read often - this is a one-of-a-kind strip.--GoComics promo

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Thingamajigging

 http://teachertoys.weebly.com/teacher-toys/where-do-you-find-this-stuff-2012-edition-comic-strips

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FROG APPLAUSE: non-awarding winning comic strip

Some comic strips have won awards or they are the work of creators who have won awards. What are the names of some of these awards? 

List of comics awards

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_comics_awards

List of webcomic awards

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_webcomic_awards

Has FROG APPLAUSE won any of these awards? No

Has Teresa Burritt won any awards? 
She won a good cursive penmanship award in third grade. It consisted of an orange piece of nondescript ribbon attached to a safety pin. There were no words or other details that made the award unique. The same award (albeit a different color ribbon) was given to another student for having the “tidiest desk.”

Are these questions meant primarily to arouse pity for Teresa?

Indubitably. 

Why are some comic strips widely-acclaimed and others overlooked? There are more talented creators than there are awards. Plus, they can't all win the same prize.  That said, there are many good comic strips without awards. 

Is there a reason for this disparity? Probably.

Do you think that FROG APPLAUSE has been overlooked? Probably not.

Do you think people are more likely to follow a comic strip because other people like it? People are sheep, yes.

Is FROG APPLAUSE riveting with poignant verbosity and quaint nonsensicality? Most days, no.

Is FROG APPLAUSE controversial? Most days, no.

Does FROG APPLAUSE have any redeeming social value? Most days, no.

Some comic strips are widely acclaimed because someone prominent said it was good. Who has stepped forward to applaud FROG APPLAUSE? 

So far, Reginald VelJohnson and Ruth Buzzi have remained silent.

Just because a comic strip doesn't have an award now doesn't mean it won't get one in the future, right? That sounds right.

Why doesn’t Teresa create her own award and award it to herself? She's stuck on what to call it.

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Peas click here...

There's a new door to Frog Blog on the bottom of my FROG APPLAUSE page. 

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Dance all day with FROG APPLAUSE

This is what is called a "hero" image, I think. When FROG APPLAUSE is typed into in the search bar, this is the image that appears now. The previous one was horribly outdated.

 

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Erin McKean. Wow!

 

Coming from Erin McKean, that's more than flattering. Such an amazing and talented woman. A role model. My hero!

Erin McKean is the founder of the not-for-profit Wordnik.com, the world’s biggest online dictionary. Before founding Wordnik, she was the editor-in-chief of American Dictionaries for Oxford University Press. Her goal is to make every word in the English language “lookupable” – including the 52% of unique English words that aren’t currently in any dictionary. Erin is the author of three Weird and Wonderful Words books, the best-selling novel The Secret Lives of Dresses, and (most recently) The Hundred Dresses, a field guide to dresses. She’s written regular columns for The Boston Globe and the Wall Street Journal and her writing has also appeared in The New York Times, PAPER, Foreign Affairs, and Sew News. She’s served as an advisor to the American National Corpus, the journal American Speech, the Wikimedia Foundation, and serves on the KPCB Design Council, and is an honorary fellow of the Society for Technical Communication. She blogs at dressaday.com and tweets as @emckean. When you meet her, please tell her your favorite word.

@coltish: I've known Erin for about ten years, but that doesn't make me any less in awe of her. She always been approachable. You can subscribe to Erin's TinyLetter here: Things learned while looking up other things. 

Another great article about Erin here.

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Let Sisyphos explain...

 

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Adrenaline was high 23/6...

I've been reading articles titled, WHY YOUR BLOG IS A FLOP, STINKS, SUCKS AND IS A FAILURE, and the new FROG BLOG meets almost every criteria listed. Some articles list as many as 12 obvious reasons and I can easily ✔️ off most of them. The first FROG BLOG was wildly popular and had a large, engaged audience. What was I doing then that I'm not doing now? Was I spending more time finding stuff to post? Did I actually post interesting stuff? Was I maybe hungrier then? 

I just dodged a big bullet (the takedown of my 14 year-old-strip on GoComics), and you'd think I'd be full of creative spirit, ready for vindication. Instead, I'm almost resigned to accept FROG BLOG failure. 

This is where I begin to free associate. This is where my thoughts run in different directions and I watch as each thought slams into a tree that is coincidentally being struck by lightning.  

I had a very diverse group of readers in the early days. I have a diverse group now, but they are almost all fans, people who seem to like me and my comic strip. Back then,  though, I had haters --plenty of them-- and they were very vocal. Instead of shriveling up in a fetal position and crying myself into a stupor, I took on those haters. I embraced them. I mocked them. I gave them so much rope that some of them ended up hanging themselves. Good times. 

When my strip was in danger of being removed from GoComics, there was an intense drive to keep that from happening. FROG APPLAUSE was going to be evicted and I was going to be lamelessly homeless. 

Readers rallied. We also watched in amazement as something happened that many of us thought would not happen... that GoComics would reverse its decision. 

Adrenaline was high 23/6. A campaign was underway to Save the Whales. (FROG APPLAUSE = Whales). Everyone had a purpose. I had a goal, too. I needed to redeem myself. I needed to prove my worth to GoComics, and maybe to myself as well.

What do I have now? A sucky blog and no master plan that guides me toward fixing it. 

Don't worry. I won't give up. I know it will take time to build an audience again. You can't always just pick up where you left off. Maybe some people can, but I'm some people. 

If you enjoy watching a wreck in progress, a canoe capsizing, a swimmer going down for the third time, or an important sporting event being rained out, stay tuned. You may just get a front row seat to one or all of these happenings.

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Today's lesson from flightsuit

 

https://www.gocomics.com/frogapplause/2020/10/09

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How to read Nancy

"How to Read Nancy" is an essay by Mark Newgarden and Paul Karasik, originally published in The Best of Ernie Bushmiller’s Nancy by Brian Walker (Henry Holt/Comicana, 1988). The piece examines the comic strip Nancy, focusing on Bushmiller’s use of the comics language to deliver a gag.

Read the article here (pdf file)

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The Frog Applause guy...

Ei, yei, yei, Frog Applause.

There's the goofy-eyes girl and the diaper guy

talkin' about crazy things

and there's 1950s people ____?____

and the goldfish, too.

Then there's ___?_____ characters

____?____.

Ei, yei, yei, Frog Applause.

Does anyone know who this is? Somebody suggested that it was Ushindi, but I think that was just a joke.

Anyway, it's time these lyrics were updated. These are some pretty old strips.

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Reader comment...

"I'm so glad to see FrogBlog back up!

But yes, even change for the better is stressful. I think the choice to keep it simple is a good one, especially at first; then whatever adds itself will fit better. No whistles, no bells, but maybe eventually one weird guy playing a home-made bowed instrument involving washing machine parts." --FA reader

Do you mean this guy?

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