My new coffee mug's art on the side is a thing of retro-futuristic beauty -- part steampunk, part Bradbury, maybe. There is an art deco scene of a mad scientist's lab, including a robot and assorted glowing objects and tools and scattered projects -- shelves filled with curious and intriguing things.
Above that widescreen-band of art, above: "Certifiable Mad Genius." Below the art, in a smaller font: "I have a death ray, and I know how to use it."
- (There is nothing to define just what "MAD" may be - it could mean angry. It might mean mentally disturbed. It could be the acronym for Mutual Assured Destruction. It could mean all three.)
The mug is good as a standalone item. The mug also makes me think of a cartoon I have pinned on a battered cork board. It's an old, yellowing, dog-earred clipping, from a New Yorker magazine, as I remember, a cartoon by Charles Addams -- yes, that Charles Addams. The setting is in an office building, in a patent attorney's office, in perhaps the 1890s. Out the window, we see other buildings -- enough to realize the office is on the third floor, say.