Little Elvira

I needed a good transition piece for this update and after much – oh what do you call that thing you do with your brain? Oh yes… - thinking, I decided to settle for none other than ‘Elvira, Mistress of the Dark’. See, Halloween is coming up and before that even I’ve got another ‘special event’ to work with, so… just trust me on this.

Now for you purists out there, please no threatening letters about how Elvira is a cheap knock-off of Vampira or even Morticia Addams. Of course she is but she’s had the good decency to never deny it!!

Actually, I’ve always found Elvira to be a hoot – sort of like ‘Mystery Science Theater 3000’ except with the differences of (a) she deals with really bad horror movies (vs. really bad ‘sci-fi’ movies) and (b) well, she has an incredibly nice rack (hey, I went as long as I could during this Breast Cancer Awareness series without getting sexist, cut me some slack). Besides her own little shows and the occasional dip into humor, she’s made a number of appearances in various films, even in non-Elvira character-roles such as ‘Pee-wee's Big Adventure’ (she was Biker Mama… no, I don’t remember that either).

She was also in the CLASSIC ‘Allan Quatermain and King Solomon's Mines’ starring Richard Chamberlain and Sharon Stone (wow, THE dream couple of the past 50 years in the movies!!!). She was the evil queeny person, just here on the left in the poster (hang on, this is worth a zoomed photo, too). I never saw it, but I am guessing she was really good at holding up her gold bra thing.

And for a lady about to hit 60, her ‘alter ego’, Cassandra Peterson, is still more than AOK in the looks department if you ask me. She’s also a really giving celebrity, donating her time for a number of worthy causes including PETA (essentially the ‘be nice to animals’ people) and AIDS fund-raising!!

Remember folks:
Healthy Boo-Bees are Happy Boo-Bees!!!

And please buy this shirt at zazzle.com, otherwise they might sue my butt off….

Font is creepygirl with some minor modifications.

Little Shaft

(ok, stop giggling, this is serious!!)

Richard Roundtree played the iconic 1971 character ‘Shaft’, one of the most memorable movies of the mid-1970’s! Over 20 years later (1993), he would be diagnosed with breast cancer.

He had actually found the lump while filming a movie in Costa Rica. Luckily, Roundtree admits that because he is a bit of a hypochondriac, he got it checked out once returning to the US. This would ultimately save his life!

Still, despite what was a trying and difficult fight and recovery, for years after his diagnosis and treatment for breast cancer, Roundtree kept quiet about his status as a cancer survivor. However, while at a celebrity golf tournament to raise money for a mobile breast cancer diagnostic unit, he opened up about his fight against the disease. "I just got up and told everybody that I was a breast cancer survivor. The room was totally silent. I think it dawned on people that men can be affected by this, too."

Male breast cancer comprises only 1 percent of all breast cancer cases -- not a surprising figure, since men's bodies contain only about 1 percent of the breast tissue found in women.

In 2007, there were estimated to be about 2,000 men diagnosed with breast cancer, compared with 178,000 women newly identified with the disease. Breast cancer in men most commonly appears as a lump, like the one Roundtree found in his left breast.

Roundtree, now in his late 60’s – still active and successful in acting – spends part of his time traveling around the country and speaking to different groups about his experience. "Not talking about my cancer was really tough," he says. "And now that I do talk about it all the time, it's really become a backhanded blessing. I was getting on a plane recently and a flight attendant ran up to me and said 'You saved my husband's life.'" Her husband had a lump in his chest and only agreed to get it checked out after she showed him an article about Roundtree.

IMPORTANT: studies have shown that men whose female relatives test positive for cancer-causing gene mutations are at higher risk for cancer, but often don't know it. So guys, get your girls to get checked and girls, help return the favor!!

For more, please see this very good article or other inputs about Roundtree’s successful fight.

Font based on the movie’s posters, drawn with Paint and PowerPoint!

Little Angels

I wanted to modify my recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month by deciding to concentrate on some of the many heroes who have survived this terrible disease.

Whereas I would have loved to include pictures of the many moms or friends who are part of this crowd, especially with the input from a few Facebook fans, I ultimately went with a few perhaps better known names:

From right to left:


Jaclyn Smith
She played Kelly Garrett in the TV series and was the only original female lead to remain with the series for its complete run (1976–81).

Diagnosed with breast cancer in 2002, Jaclyn Smith has this advice for anyone facing the disease: Don’t go it alone. "I believe in the power of girlfriends," Smith told Prevention magazine. "I believe that family and friends, and especially other women, can make a profound difference during cancer treatment."

Kate Jackson
Played Sabrina Duncan in the series.

Jackson is a breast cancer survivor of two battles with the disease, in 1987 and again in 1989. After a partial mastectomy and radiation, she won her fight and shared her experience to highlight the importance of mammograms. She also serves as a spokeswoman for the American Heart Association.

Kate's dimensions were 'stretched' in terms of her vertical differences to her colleagues and less pronounced in 'other areas', not because I think she was significantly different there but she was definitely dressed that way!


Farrah Fawcett, or Farrah Fawcett-Majors
as she is still known to many, played Jill Munroe in the first season of the series in 1976.

Her iconic swimsuit poster – on which this illustration is based and also helped spur my own body into puberty – is still ranked easily as the best selling poster print ever. Her hairstyle went on to become an international trend, with women sporting a "Farrah Do" or "Farrah Hair." Her hair style predominated American women's hair styles well into the 1980s.

Sadly, she was diagnosed with anal cancer in 2006 which required intense chemotherapy and invasive surgery. After believing to be cancer-free, she was rediagnosed with the disease some months later. She died on June 25, 2009.


Font is 8-track, with some squishing and fancy colorizing involved. But what a great name for such a groovy 70's style font!!

Little Gaia (aka Mother Earth, Mother Nature)

This one was actually done by special request. I wanted to combine both the activities for Breast Cancer Awareness Month with the Climate Awareness 'Work Day' on 10/10/10 (see 350.org for more info).

In this case, my 'Gaia' has hair of sparkling water, an ivy wreath adorning her brow, sunset eyes, hyacinth breasts with sweet Chrysanthenams (sp?) through which she can feed her children, a lovely field of white flowers for arms and Our Home continuing to be guarded in her very womb. Wow, that was actually quite poetic!!

However, her legs show the wear and tear of the climate change - or corrections - or however you want to look at it. KEY: whether you believe in 'warming' or not, no one can deny that changes are occuring in our environment.

My own personal take is that it is 'global correction' (trademark pending), which is going to be oh so much worse than the global warming folks think it will be. I just think the Earth has found a way to recover from some bad stuff over time, and doesn't give a heck-darn about the fact that fixing things might just be bad for us little humanoid insects crawling around everywhere.

Important: I do however believe that we can positively influence BOTH these causes!! Let's keep all our lovely ladies alive and healthy for the rest of their 'natural' lives, ok?

Font is vtks focus and I think it is really awesome (I doubled it up a bit and played with the 'internal' shadowing, but it's very cool indeed)!

Little Cleo

This is the 2nd in my series for Breast Cancer Awareness Month!

Although history seems to argue a bit about Cleopatra's 'features' - she is reported to have been attractive despite possessing a good sized schnozz (supported by some pretty amazing coins found with her profile) - you can't argue with her 'successes' with some of that era's most powerful men. Ergo, methinks she had at least some nice healthy puppies going for her, nudge nudge say no more!

Strange though, this is now our 2nd historically significant woman in this series - and both had issues with snakes. Go figure.

Also interesting was that of all the films or other 'showings' found featuring the Cleopatra character, the most risqué outfit was from a silent film in 1917!! Wowzers. I'd have to say though from personal taste, I prefer Claudette Colbert's take on her, with Monica Bellucci a close 2nd!

For a good ‘research’ collection, check out this link!

Font is modified silubr.

Little Eve

In honor and acknowledgement of 'Breast Cancer Awareness Month', I decided on doing a series of selections of your (read: my) Favorite Boobies from throughout History!! I also wanted to push myself back in a direction where the pics were a bit more 'simplified' (with several previous inputs being a bit too 'involved'), but that's besides the point.

In this case, you have Eve, who we have serious doubts if she was blonde, Caucasian or even had such nice skin, despite what the Kansas Board of Education wants us to think!! But she did hold to the adage - well, at least once - of 'an apple a day keeps the doctor away'... Of course, they always forget to add 'yes, you may be healthy but God will be really mad at you!!'

REMEMBER: checked puppies are happy puppies!! I have no idea what that means (hee hee), but a heroic friend of mine who has survived this terrible disease told me that!!

Title font is 'Theodore Fancy Open'.

EPILOGUE:

Note that despite several requests, we will NOT be presenting a FAVORITE, uh, WEENIES from throughout History series... After all, we do have some sense of decency (oh ha ha, I crack myself up sometimes)...