November 2 - Late Night HDTV

This should have been posted before Halloween, but I've been busy with work this week and haven't been able to until now. This animated video was made during the summer and is the sequel to a 2009 Ricki Lee & Tony cartoon, Late Night TV. As the name implies, this new one is high-definition and widescreen. Here, cousins Issac and Keisha are watching test patterns while Cousin Lee (Keisha's adopted mom) is sleeping. The keiki (kids) make jokes about Popsicle flavors and donuts while the noise wakes poor Lisa up to a bizarre TV nightmare.

October 22 - A Harvest of Costumes

It's the annual Fall Festival at Ricki Lee & Tony's church--or what some would call a safer Halloween alternative without the scary costumes and gothic enthusiasts--and everyone's dressed up as somebody, including Ricki Lee as legendary Hawaiian singer-songwriter Aunty Irmgard Aluli, Cousin Lee as a University of Hawaii cheerleader, and Isaac as an Angry Bird. Unless you live in or have visited the islands, you might not get the local kine jokes, including Auntie Della's. But have fun fo try, eh? :)

October 17 - Oktoberfest in Hawaii Nei

The traditional German festival known as Oktoberfest is celebrated in Hawaii, too--often at hotels, tourist traps and Lutheran churches. (At churches, though, it may be with root beer instead of the regular kine.) The Ricki Lee & Tony ohana, Lutherans all, are all in the Deutschlander aloha spirit in lederhosen, peasant Hausfrau dresses, feathers in their hats, and haku lei on their heads. Even Lani Girl the mongoose is in the act, holding up a stein full of root beer with her tail. Alas, little Isaac hasn't been properly brainwashed in the Oktoberfest spirit. They'll get him yet. :)

January 23 - Bad Golf Day

From the joy of New Year's Eve to the frustration of being a pathetic golfer: so much for Lee trying to be like professional golfer Paula Creamer. At least she can look like The Pink Panther, right? It doesn't help, though, when your mom and daughter really rub it in. And it really doesn't help if you have an explosive temper on the course like Lee clearly does.  :)

January 9 - Happy (Achoo!) New Year

Happy New Year! Since 2010 I have created Ricki Lee & Tony-themed New Year's cartoons in addition to my Christmas greeting cards. In this year's version the whole extended ohana in Pearl City welcomes you to 2012. Poor Ricki has come down with a cold, but that doesn't keep her from dressing up in her "Breakfast at Tiffany's" best for New Year's Eve. When her cousin Lee complimented her festive white gloves, Ricki angrily fired back "It's so I can wipe my runny nose with them!"

The cartoon was directly inspired by my own bout with a cold--the second one in a month. I myself was laid up in bed for most of the New Year's weekend, and decided to make lemonade out of lemons by incorporating it into the artwork through Ricki Lee.

The whole family as shown clockwise from left to right: Lee, her adopted daughter Keisha, her parents Della and Pete Rogers, Tony, Ricki Lee with her cold medicine and tissue paper, Xena faithfully watching over her mistress, and Ricki Lee & Tony's sons Isaac and Robert (seated).