That is Priceless by Steve Melcher for February 25, 2021

Oh, man, who dealt that one! I can’t breath!

“How do you plan to get that in the bottle?”

It all started when one actor attempted to upstage the other two.

Oh, my GAWD! Pink and red? Really? I am calling the fashion police on you!

“..and it’ll get 6,000 miles to the galleon!”

As the king got older, he started forgetting who was who among his ministers. Therefore whenever he had an audience with the king, the Minister of the Navy started carrying around a prop to remind him.

I thought I was clear when I encouraged Wallace to get his affairs in order but apparently what he heard was, “get your ship together”

“Father, two days ago I almost bought a sword for you for your birthday, but I got you this friggin’ frigate instead. I’m a, I mean, she’s a dandy.”

You kids could never do anything right. You got the flag and you got the halyard to hoist it up. But do you see a problem with the scale?

This painting reminds me of a story told to me by my father when he was in his 80’s who was an immigrant from Sicily. He had been told the story by his grandfather when he was a boy. The story involved a merchant back in the time of the Medici’s who owned 99 ships. He swore that he would own 100 ships before he died and was ready to pay for the construction of the last ship; however, the government of the time ruled that to own 100 ships would be illegal – possibly because it would pose a threat to the state in some way either economically as a monopoly or militarily. The people knew this man to be a man of his word but they also knew that he would face harsh punishment if he had the ship built. His solution was to have a model made of precious metals and stones equal in value to the price of a full sized maritime ship. I have researched a couple of my father’s other stories like this and found them to be true (at least to a significant extent) and I am tempted to believe that this painting may in some way be associated with the legend I describe above.

Gulliver brings proof of the land of little people…

Nearly Great Moments in Nearly Phallic Portraiture (guy in red)

" It’s up THERE, man. Look! "

“And your pantaloons make you look like a sissy!”

“There’s no room for me and that in my tub.”

Nudie poster on the ceiling? No one ever did that before!

I don’t know about you, but these shoes are killing my feet.

You win — that’s the best quarantine project.

Skinny legs. check Puffed up mid section. check. Head back as if about to peck. check. The guy in white is actually a chicken!

Honestly, Sir Elon, a solar powered ship might be useful in the Mediterranean Sea, but not for invading England in November!

“And you claim this is the perfect defense against the Corsairs of Umbar?”

Let’s go to the pond and play!

Yes, yes, it looks just like the English Queen’s flagship, but that’s not what I meant when I asked for a Victoria’s Secret model.

“Without doubt, it’s the most elaborate birthday cake I’ve ever seen – but where do the candles go ?”

Yes, yes, that is all well and good but I don’t think a navy made up of mice is the answer to beating France.

The gent in the beard drew the intricate plans / Which the man in white constructed, being good with his hands. / But the guy in red’s flag was the fail / as he never understood “scale.” / Again, his incompetence his abilities outran.

C’est dommage.

Look out for the Lego police! Evidently “Lego” is plural – just ask Seth Meyers!

“Someone left the cake out in the rain..”

LOWER THAT FLAG TO HALF MAST! DON’T YOU KNOW RUSH LIMBAUGH PASSED!

“And you were supposed to build it inside the Melchizedek.”

The Presentation: 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Adolphe_Alexandre_Lesrel_-_The_Presentation.jpg 

has info and links that point to more info about this roughly jumbo envelope size painting.

http://www.burlington.co.uk/artist-biography/adolphe-alexandre-lesrel.html 

https://www.galeriearyjan.com/en/lesrel-adolphe-alexandre.htm 

https://rehs.com/Adolphe_Alexandre_Lesrel_Bio.html 

all have info, or links that point to more info, about this artist, perhaps in addition to what’s pointed to by the title URL, which indirectly points to his French Wikipedia page 

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolphe_Alexandre_Lesrel 

(currently has much more info than his English Wikipedia page, directly pointed to by the title URL; again, Google Chrome can automatically translate as necessary). So far, 2 works by him have been used here. 

https://www.gocomics.com/that-is-priceless/2021/02/23?comments=visible 

has the prior (my comment there included the same artist info URLs).

Again, a larger strip image is shown by (⌘- or Ctrl-) clicking the image in Mr. Melcher’s MASTERPIECE #2650 (February 24, 2021) blog entry, accessible by the Check out the blog! box after the last comment.

“Look son, whatever floats your boat … but it’s not gonna be me! I’m not forking over a solitary sous for construction. Now get out! And take your weird wingman with you!”

“I demand a refund on this model boat kit. You’d think Revell could at least make pieces that fit together. And some were missing, too.”

Flag? I thought it was my new cape!

But all I had was toothpicks!

“I told you to build me a fleet of ships and this is what my millions got me?”

I would have been here earlier but it took me ages to get dressed.

“You do the huckle-buck and that’s what it’s all about!”

Guy on the left, holding the flag: What did the flag say to its pole?

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Guy on the right: SayWhat?

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Guy in the middle, smirking: Are we going to do another pole dance?_

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Guy on the left: Nothing, it just waved.

You’re going to need bigger boat.

gay dande’s swap meet, almost everything you need for a new apartment.

and the great debate over pennants vs model ships rages on…

In hindsight, he should have picked what was behind door #2.

Sire, I give you this magnificent model ship to you to play with in your also magnificentBath tub!