Are You #%^1n' Kiddin' Me #9

I used to think the Royal Canadian Mint was a kind of cool institution. I imagined serious, expert engravers and artists crafting collector and circulation coins that would have real cultural meaning to Canadians.

Apparently American cartoons now fit that description.

When I first saw that ad I thought it must be some kind of sneaky poser mint pretending to be the Real mint. Not so. The Real mint has gone into the cheesy licensed image collector coin business. I don't know why this seems like a betrayal to me, but it really does.

I have no doubt that the Mint employs many wonderful people with very well developed artistic, historical and cultural sensibilities. If this kind of crap pains me as a proud Canadian, I can only imagine what it is doing to them.

I guess I should be glad the Canadian mint isn't doing Disney Princess coins. They're just reselling the New Zealand mint's Disney Princess Coins:

Is this what the producers of legal currency around the world have come to? For God's sake, why? I mean, WHY? AAARRGGHH! Are You #%^1n' Kiddin' Me?

Yer Pal,

R A N T W I C K

PS - I sure didn't think so, but I guess there's a chance that the Mint has been involved in this kind of thing for decades. If so, it doesn't make it any less repugnant to me.

PPS - Now I see that thanks to my searching on the topic to see if anyone else was incensed, there's an ad on my site (I don't exactly pick 'em) to go buy one of these damn things! Insult, meet injury and irony.

PPS - I feel the need to report that upon typing the words "injury and irony" above, the tune "ebony and ivory" sprung to mind. I am trying to stop myself from composing a full damn word-substitution Weird Al - style "Injury and Irony" song right now. Wish me luck.

Gone Campin'

The Rantwick clan is going camping next week, for the first time in quite a while. I will not be writing blog posts during that time, but if you're just addicted to the small details of my life I will likely be tweeting pictures of anything cool we come across. There's a Twitter "follow" button in the sidebar if you're so inclined.

We're going to Bruce Peninsula National Park near Tobermory Ontario, so not too far from home. We've been there before but the kids were too little to enjoy the excellent hiking and stuff that's available. Should be awesome.  

Yer Pal,

R A N T W I C K