staying in the dream...

okay...

i've been trying to get up each morning and get right to work. or maybe that's 'write to work.' they say that the best time for a writer to get into it, to lose themselves in their own little worlds they create, is right when they wake up, when their minds are still fresh and fuzzy, and as yet untainted by the news or activities of the day. the brain is still coming out of that sleep period, that dream-state, and the imagination is still poised and ready to go...
i find this to be true. for me, anyway...
so i've been trying my best to skip checking my email first thing in the a.m., skip reading the news, the blogs, the facebook posts. but it's hard--we're all information junkies now, aren't we? we don't feel that we've started our day until we've 'checked in' with the internet, our lightning-fast link to the world. okay, maybe you need to do it, for your work or 'cause that's part of your job, but i'm fighting it. i'm going to start a new habit of not logging on until the end of the day, so that i can keep my mind in that 'creative phase' for as long as i can. i did it over this long weekend; got right up, went to work on some perhapanauts and mon5ter 5 stories and didn't let the world in until way after noon. and it was incredible! fantastic! i felt more imaginative, creative, productive...
it was cool.
and so, the reason i'm really writing this--or you might think 'wasting your time with this' (i hope not)--is that our little family here is full of talented and creative people, and i'm suggesting you do a little experiment of your own. take a few hours each morning on some upcoming weekend (maybe this will have to wait until after the holidays for some...) and try writing or drawing or painting or whatever you do to express yourself before you let the world in, before you open yourself up to the news of the day, before you're even really awake. try it and see what happens.

i think you'll be amazed...


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

and the roll continues...
alison sent me this the other day.



amazing! can you guess what this picture is made from?




Artist assistants stand next to 3,604 cups of coffee which have been made into a giant Mona Lisa in Sydney , Australia . The 3,604 cups of coffee were each filled with different amounts of milk to create the different shades!



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

and the
answers
to your
"five for friday!"
three-fers

1. name three robins.

dick grayson, jason todd, tim drake, carrie kelly, stephanie brown, damian wayne

2. name three of the original defenders.

dr.strange, the hulk, silver surfer, prince namor, the sub-mariner

3. name three of the justice league's headquarters.

the cave at happy harbor, rhode island, the justice league satellite, the detroit bunker, the un, the watchtower

4. name three of hank pym's various alter-egos.

ant man, giant man, goliath, yellow jacket

5. name three of the traditional (over-sized) souvenirs that are usually depicted in batman's batcave.

giant penny, giant joker card, jason todd's robin costume, dinosaur

that's it for now!
have a great monday!
smell ya later!
todd

stuffed.

okay--

quick one today. hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving and that you all enjoy the rest of the relaxing weekend!

i'm actually going to spend the day working--but it's FUN work--i have more marvel super hero squad to write--which, i must say, i am having a BALL with!! hope they're as funny in print as they are here in my office! i can't wait to show you some of the sweet art that goes with it! FUN!
asdly, this has also made me a collector of super hero squad characters. no, i'm not playing with them!--they're for research. seriously. though sometimes it's cool to take the hulk and have everyone else try to pile on him and then he gets angry and throws them all across the desk and then thor comes up and he swings his hammer and...

anyway, they're fun.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

well, alison is indeed on a roll. and i guess maybe, with all of the dog-related posts i've put up recently, she must have felt that the cats deserved some equal time...




(oops. sorry--i don't know how to make this appear larger...)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

just became facebook friends with my old friend, elisa, and she had this up as her icon or avatar or whatever you call it...i laughed out loud when i saw the sign and then harder when i read the dedication. it's true.




"five for friday!"
three-fers

1. name three robins.

2. name three of the original defenders.

3. name three of the justice league's headquarters.

4. name three of hank pym's various alter-egos.

5. name three of the traditional (over-sized) souvenirs that are usually depicted in batman's batcave.

that's it!
have a great weekend!
smell ya later!
todd

HAPPY THANKSGIVING~!

i was up late last night counting my blessings...
...and i think i got you all~!





a day to give thanks!

happy thanksgiving, everybody~!
todd

thanksgiving

okay...

as a kid, i would go hunting with my father.
i know. i can hear you all now saying, "you?! a hunter?! but todd, you love animals so much?!
i know.
but as a sensitive adolescent male in the seventies with a traditional, emotionally distant, non-demonstrative dad, i was literally desperate to do anything to bond with my father and to make him proud.
and i grew up in a time and an area and a family where fishing, hunting, and trapping were the tradition. many of the stories i grew up with were hunting and fishing stories told by my uncle and my father and the men they hung around with. and some of those guys really knew how to tell a story...
plus, it was exciting. shooting guns is exciting. i was, not to brag, a fairly good shot on the range and brought home a buncha trophies for skeet and trap shooting--those are the ones with the clay pigeons--i was a dead-eye.
and hunting is exciting too. not the shooting part so much--i'll get to that--but the looking for something part. any kid who ever played hide and seek knows that feeling. tracking and sneaking, all your senses honed to one task, the anticipation of discovery...
we all need to play more hide and seek.

but this isn't a hunting story--it's a story about the experience. the experience of getting up at 4 in the morning, the kitchen light seemed so much brighter in that dark hour, my father making us a couple of bowls of oatmeal--something warm--and him having his cup of coffee. not a coffee drinker, i had hot chocolate. something warm. clean up the kitchen, lights out, down into the basement. put on the big, red, wool coat that used to be dads and out into the dark, into the truck, down the road to meet the other men. all of them excited but hiding their eagerness, cracking jokes, cracking on each other. the team would be split; sitters and drivers. i'd be a sitter these first couple of times, "give the kid a chance." my dad walked me out into the still-dark woods--we couldn't see more than ten feet all around us--and sat me at the base of a twisted cedar tree. "you'll get a good shot here. you'll be able to see everything down in the gully. i'll be just over the ridge." and then he disappeared in to the dark.

and i sat there in the dark.
dark.
i could here sounds, little sounds, leaves crunching, twigs snapping, animals calling or hooting or crying in the distance.
but it was black.


so the other night i was reminiscing with a stranger. not a stranger--i've known joe for years and we play volleyball together--but he didn't grow up here, in this small town where, in high school, all the boys would be absent those first two days of deer season. he grew up in a small town in southern new jersey where all the boys were absent the first two days of deer season. and we were talking about that time. of being boys, sitting in the woods, in the dark--pitch dark, it seemed. stygian blackness--with a gun in your hands, on your lap, your back against a tree, shivering despite the layers of warm clothes you had on, watching the world around you slowly fade from that impenetrable black to a very dim gray. watching your field of vision slowly expand. watching the woods gradually reveal itself to you.
and then...

joe used this phrase and i love it, i haven't stopped thinking about it since he said it, it just stuck with me.

"...to be in the woods when they turn the color on."

suddenly you perceive a soft, faded yellow over there. then a dim orange over there. so slowly, so random, so graceful. colors that were imperceptible, undetectable mere moments before seem to blossom with your gaze.

maybe you've seen this, maybe you've been there. maybe on a camping trip. or maybe you just stayed up all night. not the sunrise or that pre-dawn light, that band of silver that brightens the horizon in the early morning. this is starting in the middle of the dark and watching it slowly recede around you. yeah? it's magical. it's beautiful. god--it's one of the most wonderful memories i have.



along with the turkeys and the family gatherings and watching the parade on tv with my mom, that is one of my memories of thanksgiving. being with my dad and "the men" and being out in the woods. being part of the woods.

be thankful.

have a great thanksgiving!



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



mickey mouse--1934






felix the cat--1932




kermit's debut-1977

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

our good friend and perhapa-pal, mike estelle, called me the other night to say hi, catch up...and tell me he got married!
i had know that mike had proposed to his girlfriend, karen, last year on halloween--how cool is that?--but wasn't sure when exactly they have planned on making it for-real. well, apparently all of the prep and planning--and the waiting--was driving them nuts too, so they threw it all down and justice-of-the-peaced it about a week and a half ago! (the 15th, right, mike...?)
i wanted to congratulate them here on the blog, but i also wanted to wait until they got back from their impromptu honeymoon so that we could ALL say--

CONGRATUALTIONS, MIKE AND KAREN!

best wishes for a wonderful ride together!


and with that i will say
happy thanksgiving!
smell ya later!
todd

the beginning of a short week...!

okay...

sometimes people are just on a roll...
the other day i talked about repetitious emails and how rare it is these days to have something truly new and fresh and original show up in my inbox--and then alison came through with the list of "things to ponder" the other day...
i 'e'd her to thank her and--BAM!--here's another one! i've marveled in the past at those street artists that bend both perspective and reality with their amazing chalk drawings, but this...
this guy paints himself. no re-touching, no photoshop. how do i know? well, it says so right here in the first line...



This guy paints himself, no kidding, no trick photography he just paints himself...
Especially check the last two pics ... they are amazing !!!













This one took me a minute . . . look VERY closely, he IS there


the argument now (between me and my nephew, mostly) is; which one is coolest? we're arguing over two--which one did you like?

oh, and again...thanks, alison!





the answers
to your
"five for friday!"
whatcha watchin'? edition


1. what does the 'v' stand for on the television series V?

visitors

2. in which city is the new medical drama trauma set?

san francisco

3. for how long did everybody around the world black out on the new show flashforward?

2 minutes, 17 seconds

4. where is walter's lab located on fringe?

harvard university

5. in what small indiana city does the series parks and recreation take place?

pawnee


have a good monday~!
smell ya later~!
todd

some of the numbers on my phone...

okay...

the other day i talked about the plethora of emails that make the circuit every 12 to 14 months or so, lists of this or jokes about that that find their way back into your inbox...some worth reading again, but most...reading them once was plenty.
then the other day, alison--a good friend here on the blog and my close friend since sunday school--sent me this awesome new list of 'things to ponder' and i found it so current and fresh--and fun! that i had to share it!
my college friends are already picking out which one is their favorite--how about you...?


Thoughts to ponder:

1. I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your
computer's history if you die.

2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize
you're wrong.

3. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was
younger.

4. There is great need for a sarcasm font.

5. How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

6. Was learning cursive really necessary?

7. Map Quest needs to start their directions on #5. I'm pretty sure I know
how to get out of my neighborhood.

8. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the
person died.

9. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

10. Bad decisions make good stories.

11. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work
when you know that you just aren't going to do anything productive for the
rest of the day.

12. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don't
want to have to restart my collection...again.

13.. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if
I want to save any changes to the ten-page paper that I swear I did not make
any changes to.

14. "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this --
ever.

15. I hate it when I miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Damn it!),
but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail.
What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?

16. I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing
anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

17. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to
answer when they call.

18. My 4-year old son asked me in the car the other day "Dad what would
happen if you ran over a ninja?" How the hell do I respond to that?

19. I think the freezer deserves a light as well..

20. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or
Saturday night more kisses begin with a Budweiser than Kay.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

apparently, in japan, they have a dress-up-your-rabbit contest. i am usually averse to dressing up any animal, even on halloween (though i must admit, i myself have partaken of this humiliating tradition once or twice in the past...)
but, come on. this bunny looks badass!!
badass!



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

lauren monardo--artist on such wonderful works as the slightly askew adventures of inspector ham and eggs as well as an upcoming perhapanauts story--has deigned these the official mascots of the plays well with otters studio. the one on the left is molly, the one on the right is choopie. well done, lauren! thanks!
(today must be cute day...!)




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~





"five for friday!"
whatcha watchin'? edition


1. what does the 'v' stand for on the television series V?

2. in which city is the new medical drama trauma set?

3. for how long did everybody around the world black out on the new show flashforward?

4. where is walter's lab located on fringe?

5. in what small indiana city does the series parks and recreation take place?



that's it!
have a great weekend!
smell ya later!
todd

going to the dogs

okay...

woke up this morning with absolutely no idea about what the blog could be about today.
so i cast about on my desktop to see what i had hanging around and found, in my 'saved mail' file, this from my friend (and cousin!) renee, who is, like me, a dog person.* and since i got such a nice response from the 'letters to god from dogs' post the other day, i thought that this might be a nice follow up.

* although i am told by this cat who lives here that i have been learning to embrace my feline side...

here are some nice quotes about dogs.



The reason a dog has so many friends
is that he wags his tail instead of his
tongue.
-Anonymous

There is no psychiatrist in the world
like a puppy licking your face.
-Ben Williams


If your dog is fat,
you aren't getting enough exercise
-Unknown





My dog is worried about the economy
because Alpo is up to $3.00 a can.
That's almost $21.00 in dog
money.
-Joe Weinstein


If you pick up a starving dog
and make him prosperous,
he will not bite you;
that is the principal difference
between a dog and a man.
-Mark Twain


Dogs are not our whole life,
but they make our lives whole.
-Roger Caras





If you think dogs can't count,
try putting three dog biscuits
in your pocket and then give
him only two of them.
- Phil Pastoret


A dog is the only thing on earth
that loves you more than he loves himself.
-Josh Billings





smell ya later!
todd

CASPER Preview!

CHUPACABRA





okay...

so the first issue of CASPER and the SPECTRALS came out a week or so ago and it's been garnering a whole bunch of really nice reviews! so that's good.
i enjoyed myself writing it--off of marc dematteis and brendan deneen's framework--but, in the process, though up a couple "further adventures" that i'd really love to have the chance to explore on my own, so hopefully it'll be a big enough hit for ardden to want to do more.
that said, the real reason i'm posting these three preview pages (below) is to spotlight the wonderful artwork! pedro delgado did a fantastic job of polishing up casper and the rest of his ghostly family --spooky and the ghostly trio-- for this 60th anniversary relaunch and succeeded in redesigning wendy and hot stuff to make them relevant for 2009! yeah, i was one of those die-hard traditionalists who said, "what?! you're gonna change them?!" but i gotta say--i really think they turned out well. the little 'attitude' we gave wendy and the new clothes certainly make her a more believable tween--i LIKE the new wendy and i love the relationship between her and casper. as for hot stuff, well, c'mon...the guy was running around in a diaper.
so here area couple pages for those of you who haven't picked the book up yet (i just got a copy yesterday...). there are no spoilers, so have fun!





~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

if you've been on the internet for more than, let's say, ten minutes, then you have no doubt received an email version of this or something like it in your short career. there are probably about two hundred of these "perennial emails" that are constantly circling the web and each will show up in your inbox usually once or twice a year. some of them are quick deletes as you mumble, "saw it." some, like this one below for me, are worth the second and sometimes third read. maybe i like this one more 'cause i'm a dog person and i've heard my dog, jake, make a few of these comments. maybe these are ones you've seen and you've had enough. if so, skip right past--it's all good. there are answers to the "five for friday!" farther down...


Dog's Prayers to God

Dear God: Is it on purpose our names are the same, only reverse?

Dear God: Why do humans smell the flowers, but seldom, if ever, smell one another?

Dear God: When we get to heaven, can we sit on your couch? Or is it still the same old story?

Dear God: Why are there cars named after the jaguar, the cougar, the mustang, the colt, the stingray, and the rabbit, but not ONE named for a Dog? How often do you see a cougar riding around? We do love a nice ride! Would it be so hard to rename the 'Chrysler Eagle' the 'Chrysler Beagle'?

Dear God: If a Dog barks his head off in the forest and no human hears him, is he still a bad Dog?

Dear God: We Dogs can understand human verbal instructions, hand signals, whistles, horns, clickers, beepers, scent ID's, electromagnetic energy fields, and Frisbee flight paths. What do humans understand?

Dear God: More meatballs, less spaghetti, please.

Dear God: Are there mailmen in Heaven? If there are, will I have to apologize?

Dear God: Let me give you a list of just some of the things I must remember to be a good Dog.
1. I will not eat the cats' food before they eat it or after they throw it up.
2. I will not roll on dead seagulls, fish, crabs, etc., just because I like the way they smell.
3. The Litter Box is not a cookie jar.
4. The sofa is not a 'face towel'.
5. The garbage collector is not stealing our stuff.
6. I will not play tug-of-war with Dad's underwear when he's on the toilet.
7. Sticking my nose into someone's crotch is an unacceptable way of saying 'hello'.
8. I don't need to suddenly stand straight up when I'm under the coffee table .
9. I must shake the rainwater out of my fur before entering the house - not after.
10. I will not come in from outside and immediately drag my butt.
11. I will not sit in the middle of the living room and lick my crotch.
12. The cat is not a 'squeaky toy' so when I play with him and he makes that noise, it's usually not a good thing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


here are the
answers to the
"five for friday!"


1. the corova milk bar is the favorite droogie hang-out in what eye-opening anthony burgess novel?

a clockwork orange

2. knocking back the nazi propaganda machine, what boxer beat max shmeling at yankee stadium in 1938?

joe louis

3. about 2 hours from seattle by snowmobile, what canadian city will host the 2010 winter olympics?

vancouver

4. meaning "sun in the middle", what theory got galileo thrown in jail for heresy in 1633?

heliocentric

5. what renowned recliner was originally going to be saddled with monikers like "the slack-back" or "the sit'n'snooze"?

la-z-boy

YOUR TRUE TALES!

MOTHMAN





okay...

each month here on the blog, i like to swipe at least one or two short stories from the fantastic feature over on paranormal@about.com--YOUR TRUE TALES! i try to read through all of the tales that stephen wagner posts each month, stories that readers send in explaining--or trying to explain--a strange and/or chilling experience that they've had.
here are a couple that stuck with me, but head over to

http://paranormal.about.com/od/trueghoststories/a/true_tales_09t.htm

and see for yourself...


BIZARRE AUSTRALIAN CREATURE
by Jessica C.

I'm not entirely sure on the exact date of when this happened, but it would have been around 1999, maybe in spring or summer. Living in Australia, you are bound to see strange things from time to time, altough most have an explanaton behind them. This is different.

I was young at the time, probably nine or so, and my family was having a barbecue in the backyard of our house. We were all sitting at this table on the patio, eating and talking, not really paying attention to anything surrounding us. Suddenly, I heard a "plop" noise come from the leaf cover in the garden along the back fence. I immediately turned and looked to see what had made the noise.

To my horror, I saw a small, blue creature look at me then run into the shrubbery. It was about 15cm (6 inches) tall, on all fours. It didn't have any toes that I could see. Its face was vertically oval shaped with small black eyes, a long, protruding nose and a grimacing mouth filled with almost needle-like teeth. The outer of the face was dark blue, sort of like a mane, but it looked hairless. The rest of the face and body was light blue. The best I can describe the body is like that of a lion, except with short legs, no tail and less sculpted.

I looked at my brother and he said, "What the f*** was that!?" He had seen it, too. When my mum calmed us down, she took my brother and me to separate rooms of the house and got us to draw what we had seen. We both drew the same thing. I was terrified for the rest of the night. To this day, I still don't know what the creature was that I saw, but it still gives me the creeps.


BLACK EYED MAN AT WALMART
by Connie C.

Several years ago, I was standing in line at Walmart in Webb City, Missouri, ready to pay for my purchases. I usually don't look around at others in line, but I had a very uneasy feeling and smelled a peculiar odor.

I turned around and looked at a very tall man dressed in black. I looked at his eyes and they were completely black. Every hair on my body stood up! I got the sense that he was evil, maybe the Devil himself. I couldn't get out of that store fast enough.

It still creeps me out to this day just thinking about it. I know they have black contacts that cover the entire eye, but I think this was before those were in existence. Whatever it was, it wasn't human.



so how about it, perhapa-gang...?
have you ever seen some strange creature, something weird in the woods, or maybe a person who just looked or felt...not right...?
lemme know...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



before we get to this week's "five for friday!" i'd like to share an 'e' that our pal, kc carlson, sent me the other day to correct me on my dates regarding the raspberries...

Hi Todd,

Actually, the Raspberries didn't get started until the 1970s. 1970 to be exact and their first single and album didn't appear until 1972. They broke up in 1975 (after releasing 4 albums), got back together (briefly) in 1999 and recorded a new (live) CD with Eric Carmen in 2007. They also recorded a new studio CD in 2000 as a trio (w/o Carmen) and have occasionally played dates as a trio since then.

thanks, kc!
i guess i was rushing. i should have had you proof read this and check my facts.
ladies and gentlemen, should you ever need ANY information regarding the rock and/or the roll...mr. kc carlson!


and here are your
"five for friday!"

if you watched any cash cab last night you might know some of these.
'cause that's where i stole them...

1. the corova milk bar is the favorite droogie hang-out in what eye-opening anthony burgess novel?

2. knocking back the nazi propaganda machine, what boxer beat max shmeling at yankee stadium in 1938?

3. about 2 hours from seattle by snowmobile, what canadian city will host the 2010 winter olympics?

4. meaning "sun in the middle", what theory got galileo thrown in jail for heresy in 1633?

5. what renowned recliner was originally going to be saddled with monikers like "the slack-back" or "the sit'n'snooze"?


have a great weekend!
smell ya later~!
todd

jason, jack, and the return of the mon5ter 5!

okay...

so, as craig and i are steadily working on the next perhapanauts story arc and i line up our terrifically talented artist friends (like matt wieringo, christian leaf, lauren monardo, leanne hannah, matt smith...) for the various--man, i don't like calling these 'back-up stories'...they are more like supporting stories...tangential stories--they really matter to the main storyline...okay, what if i call them "bonus tales!"...? "treats and treasures!"...? "perhapa-prizes"...?
i don't know. just know that the issues will have a main story by craig and will also feature stories that play off the main storyline that add more to that tale, give extra info, and new clues...
is that cool?

so, anyway, we're working on these, and i'm also kicking around the idea of a miniseries after that called "tales from the perhaps!", and jason armstrong and i are moving forward (finally! sorry, jason--didn't mean to take so long...) on some new mon5ter 5 stories.
and jason is funny.

with his incredibly dynamic layouts and storytelling style, it's no wonder that jason is such a jack kirby fan! i love working with jason 'cause his bold and brilliant charters jump right off the page in action sequences that you feel like you're actually IN!
but jason is also a comics historian and is always searching and studying, tracking down comic books and strips from years past, appreciating and absorbing the style of the masters of days gone by. he loves all of it and his passion is infectious.

so in preparation for some new mon5ter 5's--stories about a team of adventurers who were active in the late 50s and early 60s--jason found some awesome jack kirby stories from that period--a lot of the stuff he and stan did before stan decided to re-invent the superhero--and we've been looking at those to help us get the flavor, set the tone, and re-capture a time when sci-fi and fantasy comics were all the rage and movies like "the blob!", "the thing from another planet!", and "them!" kept the girls burying their faces in their boyfriends' shoulders at the local drive-ins!

i especially like the "i was-"s--with titles that riffed on the popularity of "i was a teenage werewolf!"
"i was a visitor in an alien aircraft!" or "i was the man who stopped time!" or "i was gonna eat that!"...
(maybe not that last one...)
here's a few...








makes ya wanna read the whole story, doesn't it?
well, ya can--go to;

http://monsterblog.oneroom.org/collectors_corner/kirby_monsters_never_reprinted.html

and have fun!

that's it for now--
gotta go!
smell ya later!
todd

"princess party"

okay...

had an absolutely wonderful time at craig's this weekend and it was quite the successful birthday bash for a three year old little girl! i had posted on my faceboook page last thursday that i had to go shopping for some 'princess presents' and that prompted a discussion about whether to "lean" a child in one direction or another with gender-suggestive gifts and such. but this girl is three and, believe me, she knows what she wants! and she wants everything and anything princess!! (of course, it helps that i talk to her dad about once a day and have heard these words from her very mouth) she loves the princesses!
this week.
she is greatly looking forward to disney's new movie "the princess and the frog" and, actually, so am i.
craig also points out that, while she's got a lot of barbie and princess dolls, she also has a nice little assortment of star wars figures. (though he thinks it's funny that the only male doll she has that's the same size as the barbies and princesses is samuel l. jackson as mace windu, so he's the only one they can "go out" with. and i'm sure wherever he is right now sam jackson is sayin', oh, yeah...)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

while waiting very patiently for me to get him a new mon5ter 5 script, our good pal--and mon5ter 5 co-creator--jason armstrong sent me a link to see some of artist allen sanders wonderful work. i love his fun, fresh, wonky, and suggestively nostalgic style and can't seem to look at any one of his pieces
check out
http://www.loopland.net/
without finding myself smiling from ear to ear!



right...?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

a couple of cute dogs to get your week started...





~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

and here are the
answers to the
"five for friday!"
'70s music special!

match the rockers with the band

1. keith richards

e. the rolling stones

2. brad delp and tommy scholz

d. boston

3. eric carmen

a. the raspberries

4. john mcvie and mick fleetwood

c. fleetwood mac

5. jack bruce and ginger baker

b. cream



-five for friday extra!-
name the song--!

1. "you got me on my knees, i beg you, darlin', please, darlin', won't you ease my worried mind..."

layla by eric clapton (derek and the dominos)

2. "every time that i look in the mirror, all these lines on my face gettin' clearer..."

dream on by aerosmith

3. "cut loose like a deuce, another runner in the night..."

blinded by the light by manfred mann's earth band (written by bruce)

4. "she's always dancin' down the street, with her suede-blue eyes..."

my best friend's girl by the cars

5. "pretty women out walkin' their gorillas down my street, from my window i'm starin' while my coffee grows cold..."

is she really going out with him by joe jackson

i DO realize--or did while i was writing it and forgot to go back and correct it before i posted it--that this should have said "60's and 70s music special", since cream was only really a band from '65 to '68, the raspberries were more of a 60s thing and, while they were still together and viable in the 70s (and 80s and 90s and the oughts...), the stones started their journey in the 60s too...
oh, well...
thanks to all you trivia whizzes who saw that and didn't jump on me about it!

have a great monday!
smell ya later!
todd

haps halloween contest: and the WINNER is...

okay...

well--FINALLY!--the results are in and our three judges have entered their picks for the winner of the perhapanauts scary halloween contest!

before i get to that, however, i'd really like to thank EVERYBODY who participated by sharing with us their time and talent to produce such an awesome array of stories and artwork! what an incredibly talented "family" we have here and i honestly wish that i could hand out twelve first prizes! thank you so much!
i'd also like to thank my three judges--who will remain anonymous should i need to call on their services again--and thank my last minute judge for jumping in when one of them had to opt out! i really appreciate the three of you taking your time with this and making some picks so i didn't have to! thanks!

starting off with the honorary mentions, 'cause the judges were nice enough to give me some feedback on their respective choices, we have:

~ garry spoor's "horror in the pumpkin patch!"; one judge called it "chilling!" and another said that the cover made them want to open the issue and read the story!

~ uriel duran's piece brought a different flavor and "a different tradition" to the contest!

~ to both ernie cooper and christian leaf for their stories, "perhap-o-ween!" and "a tall drink of blood!" respectively.
said the judges; Ernie Coopers “Perhap-o-ween” : I just love the idea of choopie and the gremlins going out like that.
and "Tall drink of blood” : made me laugh, and Bloody Mary has always scared the crap out of me.

~ said one judge; "...and Brien Powell’s mock cover makes me laugh every time I look at it."

~ and matt belskis' "haps zombies!" because, one judge said, "zombies are just cool!"


and, again--i hate contests 'cause i think everybody did so well and put so much of themselves into this...
but there can only be one winner and this year it is...


nic carcieri's "pukwudgie!"

said one judge; "it has to be [this]. this story had me on the edge of my seat!" and another; "this had the entire package, fun story, different cryptids, pictures, great presentation, and a cliffhanger ending! Poor Todd, will we ever find him?"


everyone should go back and read it!
(hell--read 'em all!)
congratulations, nic!
a really nice job!
i'll 'e' you to get your address and t-shirt size...
congrats!!

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dani sent me an email with some cute pics of some cute animals and i thought i'd share some of them here today...
enjoy!












http://www.myspace.com/garthgreen

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the return of the
"five for friday!"
'70s music special!

match the rockers with the band

1. keith richards

2. brad delp and tommy scholz

3. eric carmen

4. john mcvie and mick fleetwood

5. jack bruce and ginger baker


a. the raspberries

b. cream

c. fleetwood mac

d. boston

e. the rolling stones


-five for friday extra!-
name the song--!

1. "you got me on my knees, i beg you, darlin', please, darlin', won't you ease my worried mind..."

2. "every time that i look in the mirror, all these lines on my face gettin' clearer..."

3. "cut loose like a deuce, another runner in the night..."

4. "she's always dancin' down the street, with her suede-blue eyes..."

5. "pretty women out walkin' their gorillas down my street, from my window i'm starin' while my coffee grows cold..."

have a great weekend!
smell ya later!
todd