[Cadaverous Pallor]

I'm with George Carlin on this.

Mickey works best as a logo, a symbol. He's fun to look at. All those friendly round shapes, eh? I appreciate him from a visual point of view, same way I appreciate the logos of Coca-Cola or Star Trek. They don't have anniversaries of those symbols mentioned by your local newscaster (or do they? I haven't watched a nightly newscast since the millenium changed, at least).

Once they took his mischievous nature away he lost any merit as a character. But as a symbol, Mickey endures. Whenever they come out with new Disneyland logo shirts/hats/notebooks/whathaveyou featuring the Mouse, I still drool.

Happy Birthday, "Mickey". I miss my old hat.