Sthinker

A blended word is one that combines two words. Google results show some examples, such as "brunch", combination of breakfast and lunch and "sitcom", combination of situation and comedy. My blended word for my image is "sthinker", combination of stinker and (Rodin's) Thinker. Obvious initial terms and blended word, I hope.

About the time I thought about Sthinker, a few TV airings came to mind about tail endings, so to speak. I'm not sure how my train of thought started and ended, but the following items inspired my article.

• Afterthoughts about Rodin's Thinker
• Michelangelo's David
• Tom and Jerry cartoons showing improbable ends or endings
• Tweety and Sylvester adventure at Children's Museum
• Smoking gum ad prank

Afterthoughts about Rodin's Thinker

Curiosities arose upon researching various tie-ins to my overall theme of entrances and exits, so to speak. As I collected info about Michelangelo's David, I also gave Rodin's Thinker a look-see. "12 Things You Didn't Know About 'The Thinker'" provides food for thought. Rodin's quote about his statue could apply to my whimsical Sthinker image, no disrespect intended.

What makes my Thinker think is that he thinks not only with his brain, with his knitted brow, his distended nostrils and compressed lips, but with every muscle of his arms, back, and legs, with his clenched fist and gripping toes.

The article mentions that the statue was originally intended to be part of larger piece of work. A tie-in to a different Michelangelo statue (not David) is at "Michelangelo’s Thinker". FWIW, "cuirass" showed up in several places, piquing me. The torso item has nothing to do with the anatomical part that the last syllable might imply. Hmmm, I suppose the whole word's pronunciation COULD sound racy.

Michelangelo's David

The similarity between David and the Thinker is that they're both well-known statues. And nekkid. However, David is standing, and Thinker is seated. David looks flexed, maybe to imply his readiness for his upcoming battle with Goliath. As for Thinker, my Rodin's Mental Floss blockquote from above might explain his anatomical flexedness.

Recently, I had watched Philomena Cunk's Cunk on Earth episode that included a narrow look at the David statue, front and back. "Philomena Cunk, the art critic" delivers an amusing rant. Cunk on Earth is a wacky retelling of the history of the world, not to be taken as the gospel truth.

The David statue has been in the news this month. Google news results for "Michelangelo's David controversy" show headlines about the Florida charter school principal forced to leave her job over a class lesson that featured the statue. Even SNL addressed the controversy with Michael Longfellow as chiseled David, aired April Fool's day. Amusingly, SNL had featured David in a skit reaching back to 2013.

Apparently, this is not the first controversy over nekkid David. "10 Facts About Michelangelo’s David" mentions the statue having been censored with a plastered fig leaf in the distant past. "10 Facts about Michelangelo’s Statue of David in Florence, Italy" provides some overlapping and additional info about David.

Tom and Jerry Cartoons Showing Improbable Ends or Endings

A few Tom and Jerry cartoons provide some warped ideas of end results that could be very misleading for children to understand. They are highly amusing for grownups, if you don't overthink loads of violence that the duo seem to constantly inflict on each other.

• "Tom and Jerry, 54 Episode - Cue Ball Cat (1950)" shows Tom swallowing Jerry's aimed bridge cue stick (~2-minute mark). The outline of the stick straightens his tail, and the bridge ends up at his mouth.
• "Key Retrieval - Tom and Jerry: Robin Hood and His Merry Mouse" depicts a key shape at Tom's tail (~30-second mark). (Tom swallowed a key, which omitted any digestive tract route.) Watch Jerry enter Tom's mouth and beyond to retrieve the key.
• "Tom and jerry show, tom swallow jerry,hd" shows Tom starting out kicking a tennis ball a la hacky sack. About 20-seconds in, Jerry, ball, and other objects are inside Tom's stomach.

Tweety and Sylvester Bonus

"Looney Tunes Extras - Museum Scream" is an adventure at the Children's Museum. A snake catches and swallows Sylvester early in the cartoon, About 1:30 mark, Sylvester, still inside snake, stands up, then walks and emerges at its mouth. Sylvester, after cleaning himself as a fastidious cat would, pursues, catches, and loses Tweety. Eye-popping and somewhat accurate, Sylvester's digestion-system journey ends with Tweety's punchline. The chase resumes with more museum touring for us, the audience, with Sylvester becoming nine colorful lives.

"Unintentionally Sympathetic / Looney Tunes provides a sympathetic look at Sylvester's mishaps in Museum Scream cartoon, along with additional history about some of some other characters in various Looney Tunes cartoons.

Smoking Gum Ad Prank

"Aunt Chippy Cigarette Prank" is like an extended version of a Candid Camera segment. A former smoker (Jimmy Kimmel's Aunt Chippy) is hired to record an anti-cigarette commercial that features cigarette gum. The rest of the people are in on the prank. The punch line is precious!

Something that struck me was that the "director" was able to progressively cajole Aunt Chippy into doing things she would start out refusing to do. I think being talked into actions happens to lots of people (cough, cough) in lots of circumstances.

"Jimmy Kimmel's Real Relationship With His Aunt Chippy" provides info about the relationship between good-sport Aunt Chippy and nephew Jimmy Kimmel.