Global war on terror harshing your buzz? Ever thought what it'd be like if, like, all the jihadi Muslims were actually just the figment of some galactic giant's imagination? Or maybe they're, like, atoms on the fingertip of some giant? Or maybe you have a better explanation [that's still somehow giant-related?]
Ricardo Cortes, the Brooklyn artist who's previous children's book, It's Just A Plant, has helped keep literally dozens of toking parents from getting narced out by their loose-lipped kindergarteners, has a new project.
The NY Times yesterday had a story about I Don't Want To Blow You Up!, Cortes's awesomely titled coloring book intended to combat irrational prejudice against Muslims. Each spread introduces a friendly and famous Muslims like, say, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and the reassuring tagline, "He [or she] doesn't want to blow you up!"
The book's publication was delayed a couple of months while the authors decided to ignore Kareem's cease & desist letter. They did add a disclaimer, "and a new rubber stamp of a beautiful sun emerging from the clouds."
For A Book About Peace, A Dose Of Trouble [nyt]
Order I Don't Want To Blow You Up!" online, 32 pages, $9 [blowyouup.com]
Previously: It's Just A Plant: A Book to Explain Marijuana To Your Kids
Related, except that it's not Brooklyn ironic: Greenham anti-nuclear demonstration 25th anniversary colouring book
Looks like I may have to pick this up if only to figure out:
A) Why the guy in the tan shirt and tie, who obviously didn't have a handkerchief handy, instead substituted a whale to hide his face
B) If there is a plan to blow up a miniaturized Space Shuttle by ramming it into some guy's elbow
C) If Jack Nicholson -- in the lower left corner -- wants to blow me up (are those the Twin Towers behind him?)
I am not sure what I think about this, though I'd honestly feel better about it if the title were the much more reassuring, "I Definitely Will Not Ever Blow You Up, I Promise."
how clever and ironic... maybe
the ironic kids shopping at urban
outfitters will buy this and make
ironic comments about how ironic
911 was and how ironic it is that
peoples loved ones were ironiclly
murdered... this really isn't that
funny or ironic!
[If it seems ironic in comparison to the Greenham coloring book, it might be because the Greenham book is actually designed as educational material to teach a historic event to kids, while Cortes' book uses the form and tone of a children's book to make serious points to adults. If that's irony, so be it; you can agree or disagree with the points, but it doesn't mean irony is not a valid tool of criticism. Last time I checked, Kareem Abdul Jabbar was not involved in the 9/11 attacks. The cruelest irony is that several hundred thousand innocent Muslims and others have been killed in the misused name of the people who experienced those attacks: families of the dead and the residents of New York, including me and my family. And then there are the American soldiers and contractors killed and disabled to boot. So yeah, that's ironic, and no, I don't think it's funny, either. -ed.]
sweet! A good compliment to this coloring book is the gangsta rap coloring book. search it on amazon or check my post here (http://meta-dad.com/2007/05/17/and-now-our-moment-of-zen-10/. Love your site, BTW.