On the Boards: Mickey Rat!

Early versions of Mickey Mouse went into the public domain this year, providing a great excuse to educate the kids on the concepts of fair use, parody, and satire.

Our family chalkboard has some Disney influence going. From top to bottom we have a Nirvana Wok Sticker, then a drawing of Mickey Rat by our resident artist who is talented enough to render things instantly after a mere glance at an image on a cell phone. Robert Armstrong’s Mickey Rat started as a t-shirt in 1971 and became an acclaimed series of underground comic books. Four books, actually. There are hundreds of issues of garbage Batman or whatever male adolescent power fantasy superhero books but there are only four issues of Mickey Rat. As it should be.

There’s a promotional $20 bill for the acclaimed Seattle cult film Fantasy A Gets A Mattress. Seems like every single prominent art hipster in Seattle has given FAGAM rave reviews, including me:

“Fantasy A Gets a Mattress is a charming guerrilla horror comedy that, like any great art, creates an oddball mood. This celebration of postering and graffiti set in a post-apocalyptic Seattle dreamscape populated with endearing social outcasts is a triumph of no budget filmmaking.”

FAGAM is selling out at film festivals and indie theaters all over the place. Incredible.

Our chalkboard also has a magnet featuring the characters from the charming animated series Bob’s Burgers. There’s a glamour shot of our aging chihuahua.

Finally, a picture of my old backyard clubhouse, a food worker card from the kids’ last Summer job, and a postcard from the Seattle Art Museum.

You pay money to be a member of the Seattle Art Museum. And then they invite you to exclusive members-only events that cost more money. All art museums should be free. If billionaires paid their fair share of taxes the government could subsidize every art museum in the country and they would all be free.

You don’t have to be a math genius to figure out that museums with an admission charge = low income people less likely to go to museums = art world elitism + poorly educated students missing out on the magic of seeing art in person. I think I’m skipping the Met Gala this year as a protest.

—Alex