~ the essence of rabbit ~

visionary work by pictoplasma

That Was The Week That Was

Possibly one of the most underpublicised events in recent times almost slipped me by (thanks Claire)!

National Rabbit Week this year focused on dietary problems for bunnies. Not least of which surely is the revelation from the website that rabbits produce two types of droppings, the first of which they re-ingest. Nice.

Rabbid Ninjas

Cute and cuddly, they are not.

They are hell bent on ruining Rayman's day

(with a pinch of world domination via clever merchandising)

Suicide Rabbit

Always ready to do a good deed, the little cartoon rabbit scooted up with an extinguisher to put out a fire. But when he sprayed the flames, they exploded into a conflagration, burning him to a crisp and leaving only his signature sunglasses intact.

Suicide Rabbit, China's whimsical Everyman, was the fall guy again, victimized this time by rapacious merchants -- seemingly ever-present in this country -- who sold him an extinguisher with chemicals that fed the fire instead of putting it out. It was another telling episode in the life of a long-suffering cartoon character who has captured the imagination of many of China's 137 million Internet users.

Suicide Rabbit, introduced in August by Liu Gang, a 35-year-old cartoonist, has attracted a swiftly increasing audience by portraying with gentle humor the million little abuses suffered by Chinese people as their society endures a bumpy transformation. Hapless but always well intentioned, he has provided a rare opportunity for Chinese young people to see someone poke fun at the small-scale venalities and social ills they encounter every day.

In a country where the censored press and television news hammer audiences with a relentless diet of success stories and new achievements by the Communist Party, Suicide Rabbit has become a sensation for daring to suggest, even faintly through tiptoe satire, that the society created by China's economic boom has its comical drawbacks.

Through Suicide Rabbit's adventures on the Web, Liu has mocked President Bush, showing him as a grotesque Statue of Liberty leading a legion of little rabbits toward a smoking Iraq. He also has pooh-poohed Japanese products sold in China, suggesting that cars from Japan collapse in the street. But he has carefully steered clear of China's own leaders or party politics, which are taboo subjects for satire under the strict supervision of official censors.

So the sympathetic little rabbit gets cheated by Japanese cosmetics firms -- their products turn his face black. He gets pushed around by low-level Beijing officials who don't want people to stop spitting because it would cut down on the income they get by imposing fines on spitters. He gets crushed by a giant roller that is destroying pirated DVDs to the cheers of officials nearby. And when he goes to the hospital, his intravenous drip gets diverted through a tube leading to a bottle marked "commission" while a greedy doctor looks on.

But he never runs into one of China's many corrupt party officials or wonders why the country's leaders are unwilling to subject themselves to popular election. Similarly, he plays the role of a woman roughed up during an anti-government demonstration in Taiwan but never of a Chinese farmer fighting riot police after having his land seized and sold to real estate developers.

"There are some topics we can't touch," Liu said in response to a query from an Internet reader.
"This rabbit only eats grains and carrots; he's not offensive," Liu said. "He's kind of like a small, unimportant character in the society. A character like that can gain a lot of sympathy."

Liu, who signs his work "You Shou," or right hand, patterned Suicide Rabbit on a character created by the British cartoonist Andy Riley, author of "The Book of Bunny Suicides." But it was not copying, he stressed, because he changed the rabbit's looks and personality drastically and put him into vastly different situations to attract a Chinese audience.

Liu has migrated toward social themes in the Suicide Rabbit cartoons. In particular, he has started emphasizing the frustrations of many Chinese at the money-grasping attitude that has emerged since the country started moving toward a free-market system 25 years ago.
"By reflecting current issues, I get more recognition from young people," he said. "They are the ones who read new things online. They are the ones who like cartoons. They are my target audience."

By Edward Cody
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, January 26, 2007

Pirate Bunny

Ahoy mateys! Come join Captain Joseph and his rowdy band of pirate bunnies as they travel the garden pond in a cabbage cup ship with carrots masts and lettuce leaf sails
Austrian artist and mother of two, Sonja Otti has created the wonderful world of Die Ottis. We’re completely charmed by her unique and imaginative characters, which include pirate bunnies, ballerina mice and all manner of beautifully handcrafted critters. Joseph is handmade from furry orange fleece with embroidered facial features and dressed in a removable striped boat shirt and black eye patch. He’s also a big fellow, nearly 17” in height from the tips of his furry ears to the pads of his paws, making him a substantial pal for your little pirate

The Only Way Is Up

Today has been declared as the "Poorest Day of the Year." Whilst Britain's personal debt levels are increasing by £1M every four minutes, the future may seem bleak for many.

Spare a thought then for those less fortunate than ourselves. Even better - Do something about it, or support someone who is!

Link Community Development is a registered charity that works with schools and communities in the most impoverished areas of Uganda, Ghana and South Africa. It is helping over half a million children to have a better start in life.

Return of the Vorpal Bunny?

It seems that the guardian to the Legendary Black Beast of Aaaaarrrrrrggghhh, has some competition......

Nabaztag 2

He listens with his Belly Button

His Ears are way to busy doing other stuff...

Nabaztag/tag

Rayman

Last Minute Christmas Shopping Deals

You'd better get your skates on if you want to register your interest in a rare copy of "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" which is expected to sell for £7,000 next Thursday. The sale at Sotheby's in London will be only the second time in the last twenty years that this particular trade edition has been offered. It was at the last auction by Christie's in New York that one of the original two hundred and fifty privately printed editions sold for £48,773.

Lights Please!

With lights blazing, the cars take to the track...

The racing is fantastic with over 90 feet of bends, chicanes and flyovers.

Pitstops are compulsory thanks to the race management software

Fireworks

What Do You Call A Group of Rabbits?

Maybe we could discuss it using Google Groups.

Get a google account and get posting!

http://groups-beta.google.com/group/mywarren

What are you looking at?

Mommy, Where's Fluffy?

Animal rights activists who broke into a circus to liberate a rare white tiger changed their minds after seeing it - and took a bunny rabbit instead. Campaigners from the Swiss faction of the Animal Liberation Front had earlier told Circus Royal director Oliver Skreinig they planned to steal the Siberian tiger and hand him to a zoo. But when they broke into the circus enclosure and saw the animal they changed their minds - and stole a rabbit instead.

The liberationists then posted pictures of themselves online wearing black army uniforms and balaclavas and holding the rabbit. Skreinig said: "The pet rabbit was not even in the show, it belonged to our clown's six-year-old daughter."

Number 92 Pits to Repair Rear Wing

Scalextric Digital is so much fun. Even more so when you decide to get creative with a bandsaw and create your own track. Against all the odds, the bespoke pit lane actually works! Now we just need to work out why the rest of the track is so temperamental. When it does all work, the racing is great, especially with five lane changes and five crossovers all adding to the realism. Perhaps Schumacher was right to retire; this must be almost as good as the real thing.

I am Bugs Bunny

"You are Bugs Bunny! You are fun, friendly, and popular. You are a real crowd pleaser. You have probably been out on the town your share of times, yet you come home with the values that your mother taught you. Don't let the people you please influence you to stray."

Honestly I did not cheat.

To find out which cartoon character you are most like, answer the following questions with the answer that most describes you!

DVD War

If you've got more money than sense, maybe you can make sense of it all

Alternatively you could hold out for a Protein Coated Disc that could be capable of holding the entire British Library Collection on one 5" disc

Psycho Knitting

What we seem have here is another insight into the twisted meanderings of Robin's mind.

They say that genius and madness are but a hair's breadth apart. These creations are surely proof.

Zombie Rabbit Yells at his Friends

Catch up with Lago, the undead rabbit, and chums at Abnormal.

See all his adventures with sidekick Oris (a plucked outgrowth of the brain who can talk and eat through his pupil, while seeing through it at the same time) and Mrew (a politically correct feline owned by Lago).

Check out issue 8 for a quick taster.