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October 17th, 2010

The Cartoon Blog: an ‘era of slackness’ is declared

It has been quite a weekend. First of all on Friday evening the Christian Blog (and other internet things) Awards, where I was awarded a ‘joint second best Christian blog’ certificate, with which I am very happy. I have to say that it was a rather impossible category to judge given the very different nature and purposes of the finalists’ blogs, all of which are good in their own ways. Congratulations to Jenny Baker of the Sophia Network who was the blogging winner.

Then yesterday to the internet conference, where I mingled with interesting people, gained inspiration of various kinds, chatted with friends and went to the pub. I’ll perhaps post some reflections about things I learnt through the mediums of rambling and diagrams at some future point.

Back to the awards: I’d like to say thank you to all readers for the 110% efforts that you have been putting in over the last six weeks. But now that we’re not trying to win an award I think it is time to declare an ‘era of slackness’, where the following are permitted:

Shopping list found in my supermarket trolley
This has been posted for collective analysis.

shopping list 17 October 2010

Questions for study groups
What is ‘cross’
The apple puree. For a child, or pork?
The list writer. Male or female?

Yes, I do deliberately choose shopping trolleys that have other people’s shopping lists left in them.

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26 Responses to “The Cartoon Blog: an ‘era of slackness’ is declared”


  1. Ricky Rew says:

    Hmm
    ‘chew gum’ is an item for a to-do list not a shopping list
    ‘cross’ sounds more like a state of mind

    October 17th, 2010 at 8:28 pm
  2. Charlie says:

    And why is “paper” the only item ticked? Not a very successful shopping trip.

    October 17th, 2010 at 8:32 pm
  3. Tim Goodbody says:

    Is “Chew Gum” an instruction?

    October 17th, 2010 at 8:41 pm
  4. The Church Mouse says:

    I like the way “Paper” was pre-ticked. I wonder if the author realised they were writing on a sheet at the time and notched that one up as an early win.

    Well done on coming joint second in the awards. I’ve enjoyed your increased blogging as you shamelessly chased after the affections of the judges. Despite your taunts referring to me as the Church Mousse I couldn’t bring myself to respond in kind, and I remain very fond of your Carton Church blog.

    October 17th, 2010 at 8:49 pm
  5. Moyra says:

    I am wondering when the “h” went missing from yoghurt.

    October 17th, 2010 at 9:33 pm
  6. David Keen says:

    Someone about to do an exorcism on a baby?

    October 17th, 2010 at 9:41 pm
  7. Stuart says:

    Yes you certainly picked up new fans, of which I’m one.

    October 17th, 2010 at 9:41 pm
  8. David Keen says:

    In the spirit of slackness, 2 comments in a row, if that’s ok. Thanks for letting us all off the collective hook. I hope they managed to fit all our names onto that certificate, in recognition of what a team effort this was. But the regret! If we’d put in 111%, you’d have had 2nd place all to yourself, instead of having to share it.

    October 17th, 2010 at 9:42 pm
  9. Fr. Simon says:

    Oh to have reached the giddy heights of number 2…

    October 17th, 2010 at 10:08 pm
  10. Rural Vicar James says:

    Cross = hot cross buns or croissants?

    Or perhaps I am just stuck on the idea of bread products after seeing bread at No 1…

    October 17th, 2010 at 10:14 pm
  11. Pam Smith says:

    I am wondering if ‘bread, cross, apple puree, paper’ might be a Christian variation on the game ‘paper, scissors, stone’?

    ‘Yogurts chew gum’ could be a more polite way of saying ‘yogurts kick ass.’

    I think it’s fairly clear from my deductions, therefore, that this list was written by a competitive but yogurt-loving Christian.

    October 17th, 2010 at 10:18 pm
  12. Andrew says:

    I find myself stuck to the “chew gum” item at the end of the list. Is this a reward for successfully completing an arduous shopping? Or perhaps a temporary dispensation the list writer allows themselves to help them through such a difficult process?

    Can we even assume the list writer and shopper are one and the same? A list that has been discarded at such an early stage in a trip doesn’t suggest it holds much value to the shopper. Should we organise a relief trip for the list writer who may now be in dire need of cross and apple puree.

    October 17th, 2010 at 10:24 pm
  13. Jan says:

    I was looking at all the first letters, just in case it was a secret message written in the form of an acrostic.

    But it wasn’t.

    October 17th, 2010 at 11:15 pm
  14. Dave says:

    Can I just say how much reading these replies have made me smile this evening. Apologies for slow moderation, which has meant some duplicates.

    A couple of quick responses:

    Mouse – did you notice an increase in effort? Most perceptive – I tried to hide it. For what its worth when talking to one or two people over the weekend I did say that you were the most diligent blogger of the five finalists.

    David – yes, I’m kicking myself for not asking for 111%. I suspect it was all lost on the non-functioning page navigation. Some judges are even now still trying to leave the site.

    As for the paper. My theory is that a man wrote it, but partially under a woman’s instruction. The puree was her idea, the ‘chew gum’ his.

    I still don’t understand the cross.

    Fr Simon :) (in joke)

    Andrew – good points, although the list will have been abandoned at the end of the trip as it was in the empty trolley. I did not grab a trolley with someone’s half-collected shopping in it, even though that might have saved me some time.

    Jan – I think bcapyc may be a youth organisation of some kind, but I’m not sure.

    October 17th, 2010 at 11:47 pm
  15. Sara says:

    I’d have posted a comment yesterday, but that would have involved effort, so really I like to feel that I was fully joining in the slacking off. I see that several folk have already observed the fact that ‘chew gum’ is a command, so I am now pointlessly commenting on a comment; is pointlessness in the same vein as general slacking off after trying to give 110% of useful and mildly relevent commenting?

    October 18th, 2010 at 11:15 am
  16. Dave says:

    Sara – your commitment to the time of 110% effort-giving was such that I think you should be allowed the occasional lapse into pointlessness.

    As for ‘cross’, I have decided that Rural Vicar James is correct – it is short for ‘croissants’. No doubt about it.

    October 18th, 2010 at 12:19 pm
  17. Jaded for Jesus says:

    Moyra, I believe yoghurt has lost its ‘h’ in the US, so perhaps the author was American. Long way to come for a cross, admittedly.

    I’m sure you’ll be fascinated to learn that, in theory at least, one retains creative rights to anything one has written, even a discarded shopping list. Which makes me wonder, have you made all reasonable efforts to track the copyright-holder prior to publication, Dave? [wink]

    October 18th, 2010 at 12:54 pm
  18. JP says:

    Ever read “A Canticle for Leibowitz”? One subplot revolves around the rediscovery of an ancient shopping list …

    October 18th, 2010 at 1:29 pm
  19. chris clark says:

    Oh dear, I hadn’t realized spolling mistokes weren’t aloud under normal circumstances. I may have to stop commenting as I have trouble with grammer as well too.

    Its not a shopping list but a sermon outline. The broken bread reminds us of the cross. Adam’s folly in Eden has been pureed we can be sure of this because of the written word of God which is true (ticked). Yogurts are only possible because of the colony of bacteria which work together to make its creamy goodness – a mirror of the Christian community. That is something for you to chew on this week – but don’t get gummed down with the detail.

    October 18th, 2010 at 1:44 pm
  20. Amanda Taylor says:

    At the risk of appearing crass, should ‘cross’ read ‘cress’?

    October 18th, 2010 at 2:53 pm
  21. Joan of Quark says:

    chris clark (uncapitalized, but I trust neither chewing gum nor cross) opines that, “the colony of bacteria … [is] a mirror of the Christian community.”

    I’ve certainly met more than a few single-celled organisms in churches, some with an uncanny ability to band together and colonise.

    October 18th, 2010 at 3:02 pm
  22. Sara says:

    At library school we had a lecture about whether things like this counted as documents; and the nature of a document and how to classify and catalogue it. I’d try to remember a few more details and make this comment more interesting, but that would be counter to the slackness.

    October 18th, 2010 at 3:12 pm
  23. Martha S. says:

    Clearly the product of an inconfident French-user uncertain of the placement of the “i” in “croissant”– a delectable so heavenly as to be easily confused for a conjunction of “cross” and “saint”!

    (What does one call a handwritten typographical error or “typo”? “Man-o” is taken.)

    October 18th, 2010 at 3:59 pm
  24. Sarah W says:

    I’m with Rural Vicar James BUT suspect that Cross is actually for Hot Cross Buns, lets face it with Christmas just over two months away, supermarkets are already beginning to push the Easter market…

    October 18th, 2010 at 8:59 pm
  25. Dramatis says:

    Did a search on Tesco.com and Sainsburys.co.uk for “cross” to see what this item could be. Still mystified. Most common results were

    Crosse & Blackwell (unlikely, who just writes a brand on a list?),
    hot cross buns (surely not given the season),
    cross cut shredder (who would bury one of those in a list of groceries?) or
    cross-action toothbrush

    I have no idea what the last item is but there are a few available so they must be good.

    Perhaps this is not a shopping list at all?

    October 20th, 2010 at 2:29 pm
  26. Squirrel says:

    blindign insight struck:
    bcapyc surely that means:
    baptism comes at price, young Christians!

    or on th eother hand, I think it is a shopping list that just dropped otu of the cassock adn it revelas soem more of the hidden reality..

    (err, it is slack time ain’t it?)
    Squirrel from the Netherlands, yup your fame reached even there!

    October 22nd, 2010 at 8:53 pm