Frog Applause by Teresa Burritt for December 20, 2010

Where would we be without our Froggy? Our lives would be dull, Our minds would be foggy.

We’d never know Vlad, And those lovelies, old and young. And Fishnet Fridays would have never begun.

We’d never know the joys of Ursula Martinez, See a naked Russian, naked fruit, a poster child, Or how to hold a book upon one’s ‘penez’..

Teresa is our drug of choice, Our whimsical lass, Our daily voice.

Happy 4th anniversary!

Now where’s the cake?

I’m only slightly ugly.

Sorry, I ate the cake. Have some BLEEP instead.

4 CHEERS For Four!!!!

Can’t help it if I’m an ugly looker. Penance of a Frog Lover.

At least my mommy loves me. She thinks I’m beautiful.

I so look forward to our time together, but I can take a hint. I know when I’m not wanted. Walks away sobbing, looking back hopefully, one final time, before disappearing around a corner.

I’m living proof that reading FA for over 2 years makes you smarter and sexier, Happy 4th!

So the pretty ones look, then look away?

Marguerite, a lovely poem that expresses my sentiments precisely.

Happy fourth birthday and many happy returns of the day!

i may ugly, but i am happy with myself.

i unfortunately have never in my life been to a wild party, involved in soiree, been in a national scandal with Paris Hilton. Nor have i had blood on my hands or been guilty of treason.

but the year is not over yet.

i still got 11 days to hoot and holler.

4 years. it seems like only yesterday. well, time flies.

Teresa, what a joyous morning! I feel like Christmas has begun, and it’s going to be a week-long festival.

Happy fourth!! Did you know the fourth anniversary celebrates ideas and symbols?

http://marriage.about.com/od/4thweddinganniversary/p/4anniv.htm

A party at hOOters? What a way to spend the 4th. Happy 4th Ms T. Yes, I know where your patch is.

Yea! Happy Anniversary!

I agree with margueritem… Teresa is my drug of choice too! Very nicely done!

~gabriel

My mother always told me not to worry if I was kidnapped. “As soon as they get you in the light,” she said, “they’ll bring you right back!”

Happy fourth! Try to be family friendly today.

Dear Ms. Teresa

I had intended to conspire with Marg and others on an FA 4th Anniversary group tribute/ambush. My contribution was going to be musical in nature. I was going to write new lyrics to My Favorite Things, based on recent events at FA. The first line was:

“Josh Thirteen Sixty and Joe Allen Doty…”

Then I had health problems (I’m still passing a few feathers every now and then from an unfortunate pillow incident that occurred over at that nice Mr. Bristow’s Mad Mouse), and I just got behind. Maybe I can finish it later.

With best wishes for a happy anniversary, I remain

Yours sincerely,

Rotifer’s Mother

You talkin’ to me? You talkin’ to me? You talkin’ to me? Then who the hell else are you talking… you talking to me? Well I’m the only one here. Who the f… do you think you’re talking to? Oh yeah? OK.*

*think “Taxi Driver”

that guy barking in the blog……..no, it really wasn’t worth watching

Ugly or not. You ain’t gonna stop me from checking you out Teresa. Happy 4th, may you celebrate it with a 5th.

Happy fourth anniversary! And here’s to a great fifth year.

Congrats, T, on your 4th anniversary… to paraphrase Mr. Lee Hays,,, I don’t always understand or agree with it,, but it’s always interestin’. Thanks,,,

Thanks J2P2 and ~gabriel, shucks, ‘tweren’t nothin’, (blushes).

Mother Thalweg, you need to finish that song, it has excellent potential!

Happy Fourth. Hope I can make it to your Eighth.

Congratulations on four very strange and consciousness-expanding years.

Me ugly?

Mark Tatulli’s comment on the Pibgorn situation is ridiculous. Maybe he doesn’t take his strip seriously and doesn’t consider his strip to be art, but it’s a problem if another artist does take his art seriously? Apparently Tatulli believes no artist does it for the sake of art (AKA a “masturbatory activity”), of course ignoring the millions of people who do art for art’s sake without any expectation of making a living from it.

Yes, professional artists have to pay the rent and to some extent have to please the people who are willing to pay them, but to deride all art as work for hire is ridiculous. I’m sure Mozart wrote a few pieces for his own masturbatory pleasure and not to please the royal courts who typically paid his bills.

Of course, Tatulli is not 1/10th the artist that McEldowney is, so maybe he just can’t relate.

My goodness Nairebis! Chill out.

Teresa, I’ve been a fan since meeting you on Wordie. You’re a peach! Happy 4th!

Give me Tatulli’s regular guy-ness and apparently genuine humility over the mysticism of McEldowney’s Artistry (insert images of rainbows, cherubs and unicorns here, accompanied by the sound of lutes and lyres playing muted ruffles and flourishes in the background) any time.

Art (and comedy for that matter), whether highbrow or unsophisticated, is subjective. I would never presume that my admittedly prosaic appetite is more valid than the aesthetic taste of anyone else.

Teresa is the reason for the season!

Happy 4th Anniversary!!

These last few years would have been SO MUCH more boring without FA & FB. We appreciate your efforts for us, Teresa. :)

Hoop dee doo! Four years. Wow. And always a fresh, if somewhat skewed vantage on the world at large! Hooray for skewing! Happy anniversary, keep on keeping! Keeping us laughing keeping us amazed keeping us aware keeping us guessing keeping us crying. all and more at the same time.

Congrats and Happy 4th, Ms. T! Always a pleasure to read FA and FB. What would life be like without them - much, much bleaker and duller!

Sorry, I just think Tatulli’s remark was really obnoxious and uncalled for, on multiple levels. But I suspect I’m in the minority that believe that McEldowney’s page belongs to him and he should be able to present his work the way he wants without personal attacks, especially from his peers.

We’re looking for headless jewelry box ballerinas.

I’ll say one more thing about this McEldowney thing, and then I’ll shut up about it.

I admire anyone who is passionate about what what they do. Say what you want about McEldowney – that he’s pompous, that’s he’s pretentious, or that he can’t take criticism – I might or might not necessarily agree. But what’s clearly true is that he’s passionate about his work, and it’s obvious that he cares about it and puts himself into it. He doesn’t “mail it in,” he puts forth a lot of time and effort. And if he doesn’t always hit the mark in his stories or his humor (what cartoonist does?), I respect the high mark that he’s trying to hit.

Considering how few cartoonists these days really care about the art (I miss Berke Breathed and Watterson), let’s cut a guy some slack who still has and uses artistic talent, and still tries to create complex plots and ambitious storylines. He’s not riding the same gimmick day after day, unlike certain cartoonists I could name.

[Which is one of the reasons I like Teresa’s strip, just to bring it back to topic. You never know what you’re going to get.]

happy fourth remember, in chinese, 4 sounds like the word for death

Yay! Froggy 4th of applause!

Very very belated congratulations on your 4th anniversary. May you enjoy many more.