Thanks, Tahoe! I read Moby Dick in college. Some parts were quite enthralling, other chapters were dull as dishwater.

I can certainly see college students finding the book tedious and enjoying seeing a pin that takes a jab at Melville.

In the January 2012 Metal Media article, Weisfeld described his father’s creation of a 60s fad button (Melville Eats Blubber) which was cited in letters written by San Francisco’s Zodiac Killer (who twisted the button into, "Melvin Eats Blubber", a swipe at lawyer Melvin Belli ) as inspiration for his button extortion plot against the city. The Zodiac threatened to blow up a school bus if he did not see people wearing "Zodiac Buttons". The school bus threat became a central element of the film Dirty Harry, a film which, ironically, had been a strong influence on on Weisfeld’s creative development when he was a teenager. The original Melvin Eats Blubber button was produced by the Horatio Button Company, named for Weisfeld when he was a child, several years before the Zodiac killings began.

Melvin Belli was interesting to observe in real life. It’s like you could see his ego. I’m sure he had friends and also a lot of foes!

Thanks for the information, folks. I’m still mystified about what countercultural message the "Melville Eats Blubber" button is designed to convey.

The pin which is smithy’s avatar was recently listed on ebay.

That’s where I nicked the image, eBay. ‘Twas a while back.

Entropy – it’s supposed to convey "We’re rebelling against reading the books we’re supposed to."
And …..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4NkkAQllfo

(The Village People have rather undermined Brando’s rather threatening and brooding image, I fear.)

Here’ another future avatar for smithy:

Thanks, Tahoe! I read Moby Dick in college. Some parts were quite enthralling, other chapters were dull as dishwater.

I can certainly see college students finding the book tedious and enjoying seeing a pin that takes a jab at Melville.

Gets my vote for the badge’s meaning. Well conveyed. I read Moby Dick as a challenge to myself. Really good actually except for the aforementioned middle bit. That was a trawl, excuse the fishing related pun.

So perhaps the description of this as a Hippie protest button is what is inaccurate and it is simply representing a protest by folks from the same age group being forced to endure boring classical literature when they could be off doing more important things?

I think some of the "counterculture" buttons from that era were not so much political in nature as just anti-establishment. Some of the "eat" buttons, of course, could have a sexual connotation as well depending on what the rest of the button said. And Ishmael and Queekweg (spelling) shared a bunk in Moby Dick, iirc, and some critics speculated they were more than just friends. Since Melville also spent time on a whaling ship, and much has been speculated as to just what the men at sea did for sexual release when they might spends months upon months on a ship, perhaps the Melville Eats Blubber slogan is also alluding to the idea that Melville engaged in some homosexual activity while at sea, which would make the slogan a veiled reference to something the establishment back then did not condone.

Ick!
I refuse to accept that interpretation so no, I’m not changing my avatar.
I may change it to U2S’s marvellous new white image, mind you. Maybe in spring.

"…In the January 2012 Metal Media article, Weisfeld described his father’s creation of a 60s fad button (Melville Eats Blubber) which was cited in letters written by San Francisco’s Zodiac Killer (who twisted the button into, "Melvin Eats Blubber", a swipe at lawyer Melvin Belli ) as inspiration for his button extortion plot against the city. The Zodiac threatened to blow up a school bus if he did not see people wearing "Zodiac Buttons". The school bus threat became a central element of the film Dirty Harry, a film which, ironically, had been a strong influence on on Weisfeld’s creative development when he was a teenager. The original Melvin Eats Blubber button was produced by the Horatio Button Company, named for Weisfeld when he was a child, several years before the Zodiac killings began."

Emphasis added. Not sure if other people have seen this, but I found that there’s a 52-page preview of the above-mentioned issue of Heavy Metal Magazine online at:

http://shop.heavymetal.com/pdf/hm0112.pdf

There are two pages of the article in question at page 36 of the pdf (page 61 of the magazine). I can’t tell if the second page is the end of the article or not… It doesn’t say too much, except that the "Melville Eats Blubber" was "something of a sequel" to the "Shakespeare Eats Bacon" button. Apparently, it was hilarious to suggest that famous authors ate things…

Maybe z was the dude who made and sold buttons And magnetic key rings marketing stuff . May be he was trying to get his sales up.

Edit.. Z has a little pecker. Now that’s a good button