Well blow me down!

This “Popeye Mariuana Pot Guy Weed Hip Hop Hustler” t-shirt is currently for sale on ebay. I doubt it was officially licensed by King Features.

The Smoking Gun presents an assortment of iconic American cartoon stars depicted on the shirts of these recent arrestees.
(Thanks, Hiland Hall)

Who says Cartoon Brew isn’t up on the world of fashion?

Warner Bros. Studio Stores may be a thing of the past, but that hasn’t stopped the Warner Consumer Products division from selling high end designer Looney Tunes items and opening a fancy Tweety boutique in Beverly Hills.

Located at 9699 Wilshire Boulevard, and open for a limited time (through September 3rd), the boutique had a splashy opening last month with several photo ops with Hollywood starlets (including Hillary’s Duff’s sister Haylie, pictured at left). According to the press release:

The latest offerings from the Tweety collection are decidedly more designer-oriented and cater to a more sophisticated female shopper, as the line expands to include appropriately themed products from Alexandre Herchcovitch, Alexander Wang, Alice Ritter, Erickson Beamon, Issa London, Miss Davenporte, and Scoop.

Not that we need anything else to further blur the line regarding Tweety’s sexual status. For the record: He’s a man, baby!

First published in The Indianapolis Star on July 30th. Artist Gary Varvel has a great blog where he explains the thought process behind his editorial cartoons.

Today’s must read: From Wall of Sound to Huckleberry Hound: The Vinyl Side of Hanna-Barbera by Kliph Nesteroff on the always informative and entertaining (i.e. info-taining?) WFMU’S Beware of the Blog.

In addition to a bounty of obscure audio downloads by the likes of Cindy Bear, Hokey Wolf and Snuffles, rare cover records and unusual tracks by Paul Frees and Daws Butler, Nesteroff’s post tells of (and links to) other offbeat product released by Hanna Barbera Records - obscure garage bands, psychedelic rock groups, folk singers and B-movie soundtracks - during the company’s short-lived existence (1965-1967). It casts the later work of The Banana Splits and Catanooga Cats in a whole new light.

Here’s a couple of odds and ends that won’t be found on any Popeye DVD collection anytime soon…

Sounds like Jackson Beck Allen Swift doing the voice of Popeye in this commercial - and he’s not doing a bad job!

Now, sing along with this… (below, in Arabic!)

This short Reuters video tells the story of how soap stone carvers in the Kenyan village of Tabaka are earning more money than ever by turning out delectably off-model carvings of Simpsons characters. In particular, the shot of the villagers trying to watch an episode of the Simpsons is priceless. According to Reuters, the village has an official license from Fox to produce these figurines. Now the question is, where can one purchase these statues?

UPDATE: Brew reader Hunter writes in the comments that the statues will soon be available here.

(Thanks, SpockBoy and Michelle66)