YOW
Zippy The Pinhead epitomises what my journal and I are all about. Zippy is a simple man wandering the planet in a psychedelic clown suit, spouting wisdom and absurdity for the betterment of mankind. Only a few will understand his runic riddles, but those who do go on to feel very lonely, existentially, for the rest of their lives. In this way, population growth is slowed by some small degree, and life was worth it. Yay to you, Zippy, yay.
I believe I first met Zippy in college, reading him in either in the student newspaper or the anti-student-newspaper. And he was lurking in other out-there periodicals out there, as well, somewhere. I looked at this strange coneheaded clown with the big 5:o:clock shadow and diminuative skullcap, tossing out bizarre yet enlightened non-sequitors, and it touched my soul. "How did anyone eevn come up with this concept?!" I thought. His strange composition was just as confusing as the memes he was generating and the obtuse situations in which he appeared - always tranmogrifying like a demented circus sequence in an endless LSD trip.
Zippy The Pinhead is one of those phenomena which I loved so much, I vowed to make it central in my life, and to devote many, many hours to reading every Zippy strip and book I could discover. Unfortunately, that was never to be. Zippy and I lost touch when I was forced into years of pain and alienation by CFS, whereby I learnt there were absurdities in life far more intense than the funny ones. Maybe this is the journey we seekers must take in order to full grok the depth of Zippy.
I know I did an LJ post about Zippy a few years ago, but I either never tagged it or Putin ate it. So, here is a post about him now. In this post, you will discover the true origins of Zippy, and realise why he jibes so well with the ongoing theme of this journal, as well as with my ever-increasing insanity.
Here's a comic book nerd reviewing Zippy, calling him pretentious and discombobulating. I get it, Mister comic book man is an idiot, wagging around his normalcy emmeber in our faces. Too shallow to see the wisdom behind surface ridiculousness. It is you, sad comic book man, that Zippy mocks, that you yourself mock! We can't all be as famous as Zippy, nematode.
You noticed that Zippy The Pinhead derived from two sideshow, "freaks," of the very early 20th century. Each was born with a small skull, and went on to work in the . Schlitzie had a very sweet demeaner. In the movie, "Freaks," I believe he is shown smacking his left palm with his right-hand fingers, exclaiming, "You see! You see!" Pearls of wisdom, somewhere in his own mind, unfortunately lost in translation. But, you can see that the Bill Griffith creation - the Zippy we know and love today - is not really such a work of genius, as it is not such a long stretch from the original Schlitzie and Zip. Sweet demeaner. Pearls of unfathomable wisdom. A clown suit. Somehow, it all comes together. It's funny because it's true. We'll talk about the question of mocking the disabled soon. Here are two introductions to the inspirations for Zippy The Pinhead...
Certainly, these are sad stories. What are we doing mocking these souls, in the first place? Is it still 1900?! Well, we aren't mocking them. And, considering the times, these weren't the worst stories that ever transpired. Schlitzie was apprently happy and preoccupied when he was amongst admirers and gawkers. It is terrible how helpless people have been, and are today, shunted away as either commodities or trash, if they do not contribute to society in expected ways. But, part of the salience of oddities like Schlitzie is that people's expectations, and so tolerance and humanity, can actually be expanded through encountering, or learning about, such deviance. There are a significant number of people who will not expand their consciousness, but rather stoke disdain and hate and violence towards the abnormal. While this crowd does make the hedlines, and does sometimes hold sway for a while, I believe they are almost always in the minority and, away from the shouting, there are many more people contemplating thier own humanity, and what it really means to be human.
I, after all, am an advocate of seeing, "humanity," (like, "consciousness," and, "spiit"), as extending forever through a continuum to all forms of life, even the most basic or original. If a being only has two brain cells, then that is what, normally, it takes to be that being. That is all that is needed to be the ony self that the self is. No greater or lesser than any other. The topic of pin-head psychopaths, is something a little different, which we can discuss soon, maybe in this post. However, here is a lecture - ? - by some 'modern' guy, describing the life of Schlitzie, where, near the end, he goes into his views on the relativity of social norms or perceptions through history. We aren't as special, today, as we assume we are, and they weren't as terrible, back then, as we'd like to think. People are people. Even Homo Erectus was people. Even worms are people. And we have all met quite a few wormy people in our lives.
(This story also reminds me of what happened to some famous cowboy who was forgotten and then fond in a nursing home and then commemorated way later - but my brain is just not pulling that up at the moment - ??)
Speaking of worms - when was the last time you read the poem at the end of my LJ profile? "Worm And Wonder." That's what I'm talking about. Long-time readers may have noticed that there really is a prevailing theme to this journal, "Wisdom is the preservation of innocence through adversity." Whether I am writing about my own travails, or whatever it is: I am always championing the wonder, potential or values of the little, innocent guy. The inner child, as opposed to the inner psychopath.
Bill Griffith was apparently of the same ilk. He saw in these, "freaks," something awesome, intriguing and inspiring. His character is an exaltation and celebration of innocence, and dunderhead absurdity. Every time the "normal" (Bill) character says something poignant or phisosophical, Zippy tops it with an utterance of seemingly complete nonsense, which is both more intrinsically profound, and a humiliating mockery of the sense we think we make. Maybe Seth MacFarland chose the name, "Peter Grifith," as a tribute to Zippy's creator.
I will say that the recent Zippy strips I've read does make me thing that Griffith is both running over old terrritory and trying to out-do himself. Trying to keep the strip fresh and trying to make it even deeper. Yet, this reminds me of how many TV comedy shows devolve into boring sentimentality, seeking to explore the deeper questions in life, just at the point where they are popular - so they become unfunny and soon get caneclled. In fact, I saw a fairly recnt Simpsons or Family Guy, (can't rmemeber), on Sunday which did the same thing. So, to me, the recent Zippy strips seem to lack as much of the spontaneous absurdity that made the early stips so amazing. But, Griffith is still blending in his own interesting background from the 1960's age of psychedelia and weird thinking. Questioning authority. Being a little over the top.
Here are some of Zippy's recent strips. The titles are always pertinant...
So, you see, absurdity and deep meaning are very much related, if not the same thing. If one is serious about thinking, then one must wander off into the margins, off into chaos and disorder. This is why all of our great change has sprung forth from dreams and mad men. Thank you, Zippy. Thank you for reminding us of our own existential skitzophrenia.
There are a few more things I could say, and a few more videos I could post, so let's just make this a part One. I am dyin' here. Spell-check can wait!
I believe I first met Zippy in college, reading him in either in the student newspaper or the anti-student-newspaper. And he was lurking in other out-there periodicals out there, as well, somewhere. I looked at this strange coneheaded clown with the big 5:o:clock shadow and diminuative skullcap, tossing out bizarre yet enlightened non-sequitors, and it touched my soul. "How did anyone eevn come up with this concept?!" I thought. His strange composition was just as confusing as the memes he was generating and the obtuse situations in which he appeared - always tranmogrifying like a demented circus sequence in an endless LSD trip.
Zippy The Pinhead is one of those phenomena which I loved so much, I vowed to make it central in my life, and to devote many, many hours to reading every Zippy strip and book I could discover. Unfortunately, that was never to be. Zippy and I lost touch when I was forced into years of pain and alienation by CFS, whereby I learnt there were absurdities in life far more intense than the funny ones. Maybe this is the journey we seekers must take in order to full grok the depth of Zippy.
I know I did an LJ post about Zippy a few years ago, but I either never tagged it or Putin ate it. So, here is a post about him now. In this post, you will discover the true origins of Zippy, and realise why he jibes so well with the ongoing theme of this journal, as well as with my ever-increasing insanity.
Here's a comic book nerd reviewing Zippy, calling him pretentious and discombobulating. I get it, Mister comic book man is an idiot, wagging around his normalcy emmeber in our faces. Too shallow to see the wisdom behind surface ridiculousness. It is you, sad comic book man, that Zippy mocks, that you yourself mock! We can't all be as famous as Zippy, nematode.
Click to viewYou noticed that Zippy The Pinhead derived from two sideshow, "freaks," of the very early 20th century. Each was born with a small skull, and went on to work in the . Schlitzie had a very sweet demeaner. In the movie, "Freaks," I believe he is shown smacking his left palm with his right-hand fingers, exclaiming, "You see! You see!" Pearls of wisdom, somewhere in his own mind, unfortunately lost in translation. But, you can see that the Bill Griffith creation - the Zippy we know and love today - is not really such a work of genius, as it is not such a long stretch from the original Schlitzie and Zip. Sweet demeaner. Pearls of unfathomable wisdom. A clown suit. Somehow, it all comes together. It's funny because it's true. We'll talk about the question of mocking the disabled soon. Here are two introductions to the inspirations for Zippy The Pinhead...
Certainly, these are sad stories. What are we doing mocking these souls, in the first place? Is it still 1900?! Well, we aren't mocking them. And, considering the times, these weren't the worst stories that ever transpired. Schlitzie was apprently happy and preoccupied when he was amongst admirers and gawkers. It is terrible how helpless people have been, and are today, shunted away as either commodities or trash, if they do not contribute to society in expected ways. But, part of the salience of oddities like Schlitzie is that people's expectations, and so tolerance and humanity, can actually be expanded through encountering, or learning about, such deviance. There are a significant number of people who will not expand their consciousness, but rather stoke disdain and hate and violence towards the abnormal. While this crowd does make the hedlines, and does sometimes hold sway for a while, I believe they are almost always in the minority and, away from the shouting, there are many more people contemplating thier own humanity, and what it really means to be human.
I, after all, am an advocate of seeing, "humanity," (like, "consciousness," and, "spiit"), as extending forever through a continuum to all forms of life, even the most basic or original. If a being only has two brain cells, then that is what, normally, it takes to be that being. That is all that is needed to be the ony self that the self is. No greater or lesser than any other. The topic of pin-head psychopaths, is something a little different, which we can discuss soon, maybe in this post. However, here is a lecture - ? - by some 'modern' guy, describing the life of Schlitzie, where, near the end, he goes into his views on the relativity of social norms or perceptions through history. We aren't as special, today, as we assume we are, and they weren't as terrible, back then, as we'd like to think. People are people. Even Homo Erectus was people. Even worms are people. And we have all met quite a few wormy people in our lives.
(This story also reminds me of what happened to some famous cowboy who was forgotten and then fond in a nursing home and then commemorated way later - but my brain is just not pulling that up at the moment - ??)
Speaking of worms - when was the last time you read the poem at the end of my LJ profile? "Worm And Wonder." That's what I'm talking about. Long-time readers may have noticed that there really is a prevailing theme to this journal, "Wisdom is the preservation of innocence through adversity." Whether I am writing about my own travails, or whatever it is: I am always championing the wonder, potential or values of the little, innocent guy. The inner child, as opposed to the inner psychopath.
Bill Griffith was apparently of the same ilk. He saw in these, "freaks," something awesome, intriguing and inspiring. His character is an exaltation and celebration of innocence, and dunderhead absurdity. Every time the "normal" (Bill) character says something poignant or phisosophical, Zippy tops it with an utterance of seemingly complete nonsense, which is both more intrinsically profound, and a humiliating mockery of the sense we think we make. Maybe Seth MacFarland chose the name, "Peter Grifith," as a tribute to Zippy's creator.
I will say that the recent Zippy strips I've read does make me thing that Griffith is both running over old terrritory and trying to out-do himself. Trying to keep the strip fresh and trying to make it even deeper. Yet, this reminds me of how many TV comedy shows devolve into boring sentimentality, seeking to explore the deeper questions in life, just at the point where they are popular - so they become unfunny and soon get caneclled. In fact, I saw a fairly recnt Simpsons or Family Guy, (can't rmemeber), on Sunday which did the same thing. So, to me, the recent Zippy strips seem to lack as much of the spontaneous absurdity that made the early stips so amazing. But, Griffith is still blending in his own interesting background from the 1960's age of psychedelia and weird thinking. Questioning authority. Being a little over the top.
Here are some of Zippy's recent strips. The titles are always pertinant...
So, you see, absurdity and deep meaning are very much related, if not the same thing. If one is serious about thinking, then one must wander off into the margins, off into chaos and disorder. This is why all of our great change has sprung forth from dreams and mad men. Thank you, Zippy. Thank you for reminding us of our own existential skitzophrenia.
There are a few more things I could say, and a few more videos I could post, so let's just make this a part One. I am dyin' here. Spell-check can wait!