volkswagens, beyonce, and lunch with the gang

okay...

so here's something that's bugging me--why is volkswagen pushing it?
punch-buggy is a great game that started way back in the 60s with the introduction of the first beetles and gaining a new generation of punchers with the introduction of the new beetle in 2003. along with being lotsa fun (i've played variations which would be better labelled "kiss-buggy"...) it is, in a very round-about way, some fantastic advertising. i play it in the car with sharon (gently, she bruises like a peach) and more aggressively with my nephew, tyler (him, i pound.) "punch-buggy blue, no punch backs!"

now volkswagen wants us to punch for every one of their products?! to treat every volkswagen like it's as special as the bug?!
for us to start recognizing every model and including it in the game...?!
i don't think so, volkswagen! you've gone too far!
this is our game and you can't change the rules...!

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on the upside, here's a fun new game. or rather, trick...? stunt? i dunno...
tyler taught it to me and because we tend to let burps fly around this house and not politely stifle them like my mother, god rest her soul, taught me to do, we love it. (sharon, of course, will deny that she participates, she will tell you that she is a lady and she is a delicate flower--but trust me, she tries.)

the game is to, when you've got a good burp coming on, to try to say "beyonce". tyler and i drank soda all last weekend and tried to do it, but it's hard. he says that jordyn (my niece) has done it twice at home, but that she's a gifted athlete. i've managed the first two syllables--"BEE-ON–" but have lost momentum and fizzled out. it's hard, at first, to condition yourself to say it, to be ready, and for the longest time, we were simply burping and following it by saying "beyonce", like, instead of excuse me. that's okay--that's part of the learning curve. but try it out and let me know how you do...

beyonce.


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another while i was away...

as i've posted here several times before, i feel blessed to live (and have grown up in) this particular section of the hudson valley, in the heart of the new york state farmlands, at the foot of the catskill mountains. it's so lush and beautiful here and every season is gorgeous. this area also is home to many talented comics professionals and, a friendly bunch, we all get together fairly regularly for lunch and to chat and catch up and see what everyone else is up to. we sit at the feet of the masters and listen to their tales of earlier days in the business and laugh and eat and take pictures.

we usually call it "having lunch with joe" as it all started as a way to get joe sinnott out of his house and get him to tell us stories of the early marvel days. on thursday, may 20, terry got us all together and we did it again, had a great time (although a part of me thinks that it wasn't so much to get joe out of the house as much as to maybe cheer me up a little--terry does things like that, but he'll never admit to them...)

so here we are.



going up one side of the table and down the other, starting from bottom left is

fred hembeck, his wife, lynn moss, bob wiacek, joe sinnott, terry austin, ron marz, dan green, jim starlin, mark sinnott, walt simonson, ramona fradon, joe staton, and me.

always so much fun, never enough time.


and before we go, here's a cute picture of a fox that dani sent me.




have a great monday!
smell ya later!
todd