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"icons from our era"?


Eamonn

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I can spend hours reading comic books such as:

Asterix and Obelix

Tintin

Lucky Luc

Nero

Smurfs

Gaston

Astro Boy

 

all in French of course, back whence ...

 

As I grew older, my list is fairly comparable to that of Fuzzy's, adding the likes of Gordon Lightfoot, Terry Jacks, Lobo, etc. As for the tubes, icons would come from Leave It to Beaver, Courtship of Eddie's Father, My Three Sons, Gillian's, etc.

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... that guy with the black eye in the Viceroy commercials.

 

Ed, not Viceroy but Tareyton cigarettes (i.e. I'd rather fight than switch). Yes, my mind is full of useless information, now, where did I put my car keys?

 

My 11 year old daughter asked me to explain the phrase "Where's the beef?" to her last week. I think it came from Wendy's and then was co-opted into the presidential election in 84 (Reagan/Mondale) and now is a popular phrase for "where is the substance." I think my 11 year old thinks I made it all up.

 

 

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More icons come to mind, remember "Mr Clean" when he was almost a double to Yul Brynners' "the King and I" personna

 

Then again in the classic "Star Trek" movie The Wrath of Khan we have the following exchange between mother and son:

 

David Marcus: Remember that overgrown Boy Scout you used to

hang around with? That's excatly the kind of

guy...

Carol Marcus: Listen, kiddo, Jim Kirk was *many* things, but

he was *never* a Boy Scout!

 

To a degree Boy Scouts itself is an icon. When you are called a Boy Scout, everyone knows what it means, what attributes it implies. Such an appellation may be complementary or seen as an insult. Depends on who is saying it and how its being used.

 

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"To a degree Boy Scouts itself is an icon. "

 

As is that dreaded, out of date, dorky Scout uniform. Watch the body language of most people when they see a skater or Goth as opposed to a boy in His Scout uniform. I've seen many, many faces and eyes light up when Scouts walk thru the door on drink/potty stops coming and going on campouts. I can't say the same for the kids tearing up property with their skateboards and graffiti.

 

The dorky uniform is an icon as much as the term "Boy Scout" is.

 

But we'd have more Scouts in they got nose studs for rank instead of patches.

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"I can spend hours reading comic books such as:

Asterix and Obelix

Tintin

Lucky Luc

Nero

Smurfs

Gaston

Astro Boy

 

all in French of course, back whence ... "

 

Astro Boy is Japanese, btw.

 

For those interested, you can get all the Tintin, Asterix, and Astro Boy comics in english. All great stuff.

 

As to other comics.

 

Many Disney comics are great. I prefer the Barks Ducks stories, and those by other artist/writers in the same vein. Gemstone is doing a good job at keeping them in print, and finally introducing American readers to all the great work created overseas for Disney.

 

Don't forget that Donald's three nephews are members of the Junior Woodchucks!

 

In Italy, some of the most popular comic (all aimed at adults, not kids) are titles like Nathan Never, Martin Mystery, Dylan Dog, and DIABOLIK. Some of their adventures have been translated into English. Diabolik is one of the most popular, and there is even a movie (available on DVD) about him. Diabolik is an anti-hero, a thief and killer who always outwits the police (and other criminals) in his thiefs. Great role model! But he only kills bad people. The rest he just knocks out.

 

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I sit correct ... Astro Boy was in my native tongue at the time (the comic that was I was reading was not in Japanese). All other comics were in French eventhough all but Asterix and Obelix were Belgian's comic books. I'm very confident that they weren't in English! I didn't know how to speak English at that time ... not to say that I can today ;) )!

 

Yes, you can find some of them in English, Tintin, Asterix and Astro Boy ... and a good number of Lucky Luke strips were translated as well.

 

Nevertheless, they just don't draw comics or write musics/songs as they used to.(This message has been edited by OneHour)

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"You can have a real cruel boss, so if you say your boss is acting like "Darth Vader", "

 

Yeah. Uh, we have a problem. Yeah. I'm going to have to disagree with you, yeah. In the corporate world, we are more like to use Dilbert, Office Space, or The Office to compare our bosses to. We're more likely to say we have a Pointy-Haired Boss (PHB) or a 'Bill Lumbergh' or the like.

 

 

 

 

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Some one here mentioned corporate sponsors. In England each merit badge has a corporate sponsor. I am not in favor of that approach, but scouting throughout the world is different than it is here, as most of you know.

 

Now about Icons... All joking aside, did anyone read in September Scouter magazine about the cub scout packs using the NASCAR car kits in their recruitment? Those who used NASCAR had enrolment up comapared to those units who did not.

 

NASCAR is resonating with many youth and parent, and I think Scouting was brilliant to hook up with an Icon like NASCAR. The article is excellent and shows that Icons do have some influence.

 

Brian

 

www.savescouting.org

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Icons are not only visual....

 

"Open channel D"

 

"Little buddy"

 

"Round and round she goes and where she stops..."

 

"Plunk your magic twanger , Froggy"

 

"My time is up, I thank you for yours"

 

"Hawaya, hawaya, hawaya..."

 

""These are the voyages..."

 

"Do not attempt to adjust your set..."

 

"You open this door with the key to imagination..."

 

"Hey kids,..."

 

"And they are MILD"

 

"Let's hear it...for ...THE BEATLES!!"

 

" And awa-a-a-y we go!"

 

"ummm how sweet it is!"

 

...Here's a hard one...said only once...

 

"...G'bye, kids..."

 

YiS

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I guess for an icon for the present time it might be:

"Ditto"

or

"I'm the decider"

 

I don't remember the one about opening Channel D. What was it?

Anyone remember Arthur Smith and the Crackerjacks? I used to love a song they sang about a bird of paradise flying up someone's nose. Go figure.

But they were the singers for a southern commercial from a long time ago,

"If your snuff's too strong it's wrong, get Tuberose, mild Tuberose..." here's a teaser from:

http://www.vqronline.org/articles/2004/winter/smith-tube-rose/

 

"Sometimes we'd have the radio in the front parlor turned up to listen to "Gospel Jamboree" over the nighthawks and crickets. Some rant-revivalist would be citing scripture or saying, "Repent tonight or pay the fiery price," and they'd pause for her commercial as fireflies Morse-flashed around the abelia. Some twangy studio singers would croon, "If your snuff's too strong it's wrong, get Tube Rose, mild Tube Rose. You'll feel much better all day long with Tube Rose, mild Tube Rose." She'd smile and say, "That's a fact" and bend over to spit a stream of ambeer into the cess of her can. I had to look away."

 

And for a moment, I am a kid again.

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