Google's #1 Ranked Londons Times Cartoons Adds 2000 New Gifts/Collectibles

Rick London, founder of the #1 offbeat cartoon on the Internet, Londons Times, the addition to over 2000 new Londons Times Cartoons funny gifts and collectibles to his Rick London Gifts & Collectibles online shop.











When asked why he would increase the merchandise inventory in the summer (off-season) months he replied "Just felt like the right thing to do", but added "Only kidding. A lot of our clients/friends enjoy buying off-season since the prices are lower; and since a majority of our merchandise are 'year round" items, like t-shirts, mouse pads, greeting cards, and such, the time of year to add products is not usually an issue.

London started his cartoon in a vacated warehouse in rural Ms. with no knowledge of the Internet, $300, a phone line with dial up internet, a book called "Internet For Dummies" and a rescue mutt, his favorite dog (he'd owned dogs and cats all his life) name "Thor" who he says he named "Administrative Assistant", but adds, "In retrospect, I now I know I worked for Thor. He was a much smarter boss.

London is also a freelance writer and enjoys the status of "Expert Author" at Ezinearticles.com and is a regular contributor to the Herald de Paris. His fiance, Lee Hiller, of Oregon, is the Love Advice columnist for the Herald.

A percentage of all Londons Times merchandise sales benefits animal, children and environmental causes.

A New Philosophy Of Cartooning by Rick London

I entered the business of cartooning in March of 1997 having no idea what was to come. Before I embarked upon this "mysterious venture", I decided it would be to my advantage to consult with top cartoonists around the country. I was surprised how many of them were "open and available" to speak with me were. Fortunately, I was both too young and naive to know NOT to bother "the masters". So when Charles Schulz picked up his phone, I started asking the five journalistic W's (Who, what, when, why, and where). His (and others) advice turned out to be just what the doctor ordered. I was starting to "develop a philosophy" of cartooning even though I had not even yet begun my amazing adventure into online cartoon merchandising.



Why did Schulz become a cartoonist? Like me, he'd tried just about everything else and didn't do it very well. I asked him if there was any money to be made in such a venture. I could almost "see" his smile on the other side of the line. He assured me there was plenty, but not to expect it in newspapers. He told me that even if you do get syndicated, the money is still just pennies per newspaper and that the smart way to approach it, that is, to look at it as a career, is licensed merchandise, such as tees, caps, mugs, etc. He told me he made millions more in licensing than in publishing.

I told him I did not draw very well (which is true) and, that I wanted to try something very new and different. It was to be a color cartoon in which the artwork, for the most part was more "fine art" than cartoon art, and that I wanted a "different look and feel to each cartoon, but a theme, focused on wordplay and picture-play in which, at times, the viewer might have to take a second or two to "get it".

Schulz assured me that nearly 20% of all cartoons we see in the newspapers are "team efforts" that is, an artist and writer, and that if I did not feel my own artwork was "up to snuff", to recruit an artist to draw my concepts. He also encouraged me to read as much as I could about Walt Disney because what I was about to attempt was actually a "Disney model without animation"; he actually called it "Disney meets Gary Larson", which was a bit flattering to say the least.

I also spoke with several other cartoonists, most of whom created in the same genre as Gary Larson's Far Side, such as Leigh Rubin (Rubes), Dave Coverly (Speed Bump), and Jon McPherson (Close To Home). I was amazed, again, at how open and available they made themselves. In fact Leigh and I became good friends and talked regularly on the phone. He was already one of the world's leading cartoonists, and I was just starting. That didn't matter to him. I will never forget that kind of generosity and his willingness to lead me in a direction that made it work for me. And of course the same is true for Charles "Sparky" Schulz (Sparky by the way was what he liked to be called. That was the name of his favorite dog, a Schnauzer; and I knew I liked him right away. I have a tendency to "hang with" fellow animal lovers, and Schulz also had an uncanny biting wit, often held back in "Peanuts", even though it was always funny, was meant for family audiences, his target. In real life, he displayed a sense humor that reminded me a great deal of some of my British favorites such as John Cleese of Monty Python.

There seemed to be a common thread regarding "the philosophy of cartooning, amongst all of the masters. That is, "Sure, you must make a living in this world, but keep the day job. Cartooning is a labor of love, and, only 1% or so actually end up doing it for a living. One must approach it with a very open mind and a love for making people laugh, and to be flexible, as the Internet at the time, was changing the whole nature of the "cartoon business".

All of this advice turned out to be pragmatic. The Internet changed everything. Licensed merchandise became even more of "the key" to making it work than Sparky Schulz had felt; and he had seen it coming. Today, though my cartoons appear in publications worldwide; mostly trade magazines, college textbooks and on websites, the majority of my take is from the sales of funny gifts and collectibles. When I look back over the past twelve years it has all becomes a blur. I have had the opportunity to work with some of the finest illustrators in the world, who could comprehend and render my concepts and writings, Thinking back to the words of the cartoon masters it is still a labor of love.

Although I am one of the few lucky ones who has been able to eek out a living via cartoons, even if I didn't I would probably still be doing it, or something creative, merely because I don't care for water fountain gossip and power-ties that choke my neck while doing work I despise (or simply can't do very well). In the end, if someone is entertained, or feels better because of something I have created, or a job or jobs are created because I thought of a cartoon and it was created, I go to bed thinking, "No, I didn't save the world (as I felt surely I would in the '60's), but I hopefully, when I leave it, it will be a little bit nicer place to live.



Rick London is a writer, cartoonist and designer. He is the founder of Google's #1 ranked offbeat cartoon Londons Times, founder of the Shoes That Amuse the world's only woman's shoes featuring famous philosophers and their love quotes, and is designer of Mariel Hemingway Licensed & Co-Founder of SEO firm PenAndInkInc.

Why Not To Term The Term Addict Lightly (Even "I'm A Twitter Addict".

I AM NOT A “TWITTER ADDICT” (AND NEITHER ARE YOU)

c2009 By Rick London



I grew up what one might call fortunate. I had all “the opportunities” in that I came from a successful and well-known family. Two of my family members were two of the most well-known worldwide in their trade, one a poetess, and one a U.S. Supreme Court Judge. Being “successful” is such a misnomer in our culture. As Leo Tolstoy pointed out in his opening of Anna Karenina, “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way”. . Success is not “just more money”; in fact money often has very little to do with it. It is about happiness combined with a healthy lifestyle, loving family and friends.

The western world is still learning that depression, addiction, and other emotional disorders exist and pays no mind to social status. My own family had its share of alcoholism, addiction, suicides
and much trauma. I am not sure why, I survived, but I did, after many years of “acting out”. I returned to college at age forty-four. I learned new skills and a trade. I learned to love stability, nature, know how precious family, friends and other loved ones are, the necessity of communing with nature and animals, and taking care of my body/mind/and soul.

There is still way too much stigma attached to addiction, depression, and other real medical ailments, in which the one afflicted cannot help it any more than one suffering with cancer, diabetes, heart disease, or multiple (you name the disease).

These other diseases do not have stigmas. In fact the only two disease of which I am aware in which the person suffering from the disease is “identified with the disease”. For example, if a person walking down the street with congestive heart failure is seen, nobody says “There goes a heart diseased person”, if someone with cancer is observed, nobody says “There goes a cancerous person.

But if someone has an addiction, you can almost be sure, they will be described as “their disease”. “He/she is an addict” or “He she is an alcoholic”. Same is true with depression. “There goes Bill, he's
depressed you know” (as if that is the only asset Bill has...depression).

How do we stop this stigma. I believe the first step, has more to do with society (NOT afflicted with these diseases), than those with it. For instance, as innocent as it might seem (and cute/funny) to say “He/she is addicted to Twitter” or “He she is an Internet addict”; it lessens the severity of the scope of the disease. It may seem harmless, but it is not. Do I sit in judgment? Of course not. I used to say the same thing, until it came to my attention, I was furthering the stigma, therefore making it harder for struggling people to find real medical treatment.

I have worked in writing, media, and the entertainment business for almost three decades. The media has covered it so thoroughly, and how epidemic these disease are in it, that it would be redundant to
go into here with a sermon.

So who can facilitate change? I believe the media can. Major network media. They need to understand that “it's just not funny” to compare constructive, productive social networking such as Twitter or Facebook (or whatever) with a fatal disease such as an addiction. The “leader sets the tone” and in our country, the leaders, are often in the media.

I hope that one day, a brave, insightful “major media player” will read this article and help facilitate that it is “as uncool to correlate lethal diseases, and pin tags of modern day society at work, when, all it does is further the stigma, hence the depression, and finally death of the person suffering.

Please think about it. I am not for censorship, and anyone has the right to “make light of addiction, etc with the gratuitous “I'm a Twitter Addict”, but if you can see the harm it does, perhaps you'll think twice. There are millions of sufferers in our country, who need and want help, but won't get it, simply
because of “the jokes”, though done in fun. I know nobody means harm. But it is time to be conscious of this very serious stigma that we are prolonging, and deterring sufferers from receiving help.

Thank you for allowing me to share my views.

Londons Times Cartoons Offering $500 Gift Certificate To Lucky Twitter

TOP GOOGLE OFFBEAT CARTOONIST/& OFFBEAT GIFT SHOP OWNER GIVING $500 GIFT CERTIFICATES TO LUCKY TWITTER


Dateline: Hot Springs, Ar. March 11, 2009: Cartoonist E-entreneur Rick London

announced today his firm, Rick London Group, LLC., is offering a $500 gift

certificate to his award-wining top-ranked offbeat cartoon funny gift stores, if Twitters

will put him at the top of Twitter. Making it “to the top” simply

means having the most followers. (His user name is “ricklondon”) on Twitter.

London's six award-winning Internet stores feature over 165,000 gift items

such as coffee mugs, T-shirts, gourmet coffee gift baskets (his own line of

farm-fresh coffee beans with cartoon mugs and coasters, teddy bears, maternity

wear, magnets, buttons, jogging suits, caps, aprons, hoodies, shoes, wall and

desk clocks, and much more more.

London is also the designer of (Shoes That Amuse) women's casual sneakers with

famous love quotations and graphics of the famous person who penned them,

featured recently in USA Today and AP Wire which will also be included in the

contest.

London adds, “But not to worry, even if I don't make it to the top, (Obama is

there now), I am giving a $100 certificate for the most 'retweets'. So I really

don't have to be at the top for other Twitters to win. Simply following me and

retweeting, and one can still win a $100 gift certificate,

easily, without even a drawing. We simply count the retweets of each Twitter

member at the end of the contest.

A re-tweet is when another blogger at Twitter copies and pastes your tweet with an

“RT” in front of it which stands for “retweet”, giving the original blogger credit

for the post, and, sharing it with , often a whole separate network of followers.

London will allow 120 days for the contest to end, and a name to be drawn at

random on his birthday which is July 16th. . London plans to print his page of

followers, cut the names into squares, place them in a box, and draw one.

London adds, “In addition, we plan to issue a press release, if the winner wishes,

including his/her name and web address to the wire services for yet more value to

the prizes. Londons adds, “There also will be a second prize winner, of a $100 gift

certificate.

In addition, a $50 second prize for the second most “retweets”.

The gift certificates will be good at all of London's stores. He founded Londons

Times on March 22, 1997, and it has grown to be one of the most visible sites on the

Internet, and Google's #1 ranked offbeat cartoon and gifts since 2005.

He will also add an extra $25 bonus gift certificate if the winner has visited his

main cartoon site and signs up for his monthly newsletter.

His stores include

Rick London Special Editions Top-selling funny gifts

Rick LondonWear Rare line of funny rock star memorabilia and other novelty gifts

Rick London Collection Huge variety of best-selling funny gift ideas

Londons Times Superstore Londons largest funny gift store and exclusively sells world's only gourmet coffee cartoon gift basket (Londons Own Line).



Rick London Organics (organic cotton tees) bearing his top-selling cartoon images.

Shoes That Amuse (World's Only Famous Love Quotation Shoes) These are not cartoon products but women's casual shoes he designs.

For more information: contact: info@londonstimes.us

For Spreadsheet (Temp Blog)

Londons Times Cartoons Gets Ok From Keds For Offbeat Cartoons

Londons Times Cartoons Becomes First Single-Panel Offbeat Cartoon On Shoes

Cartoonist/writer Rick London announced today that Keds has given the green light to at least 15 of his offbeat cartoons that now appear on a line of U.S. Keds for women on both slip-ons and lace-ups.

This development comes on the 11th year anniversary of Londons Times Cartoons. Rick London founded the cartoon in an abandoned Mississippi metal warehouse on a used pc in very bad shape, a few dollars, and a phone line.

That was in 1997. Today it is the most visible cartoon on the Internet with over 8000 images, luring over 3 million annual visitors and has ranked the #1 offbeat cartoon on Google since 2005.

These funky shoes can be seen at Rick London Funny Gifts.

Londons Times Cartoons Now On Woman's U.S. Keds

Londons Times Cartoons Becomes First Single-Panel Offbeat Cartoon On Shoes

Cartoonist/writer Rick London announced today that Keds has given the green light to at least 15 of his offbeat cartoons that now appear on a line of U.S. Keds for women on both slip-on and lace-ups.

This development comes on the 11th year anniversary of Londons Times Cartoons. Rick London founded the cartoon in an abandoned Mississippi metal warehouse on a used pc in very bad shape, a few dollars, and a phone line.

That was in 1997. Today it is the most visible cartoon on the Internet with over 8000 images, luring over 3 million annual visitors and has ranked the #1 offbeat cartoon on Google since
2005.

The offbeat cartoon Keds can be seen at Funny Shoes