new year's eve~!

okay...

a month or so ago i introduced you to and posted the wonderful artwork of the very talented eric henson (whom i will from here on in refer to as "our own" eric henson as he is doing a fantastic job on a perhapanauts story for us that i just can't wait for y'all to see...) through emails and such eric and i have gotten to know one another fairly well and he was kind enough to share with me this gorgeous commission he did for a friend. and then told me that it was okay to share it with you.
eric told me that his friend originally wanted something akin to the cover to friendly neighborhood spider-man #1--but with some villains thrown in for added flavor. i know you dig it the most!




colors:steve downer





and here's eric's hulk that i thought i posted a week or so ago, but with the holidays, guess i forgot...


thanks, eric~!


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

over christmas dinner, my brother and i were reminiscing about our childhood christmases and our favorite christmas presents. we both went to the year that we got our first wheels--well, maybe not the first wheels, but the biggest!

i'd asked santa for this krazy kar when i was about 8...?




and jeff got this big wheel that same year...



they were great, they were cool, they were lots of fun...separately...

but it wasn't long before we realized that if we each had three of our friends behind us pushing us at speeds that rivaled that of a 10 year old on a regular bike, we could stage some of the coolest crack-ups our block had ever seen!! we created our own smash-up derby and, without helmets or gloves or seat belts or air bags or any of that safety crap, slammed these things--and ourselves!!--and our friends!!--into one another at an alarming rate, leaving us all laying in a pile of giggling kids and plastic the likes of which has not been seen in many a year.
it's one of those things i hope they have in heaven.

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

and speaking of christmas, here's our perhapa-pal, brien powell, sporting his coolest christmas present (well, i think so anyway...)





and here is my own handsome perhapa-partner modeling his christmas present, an early prototype for our upcoming line of awesome perhapa-gear!
watch this blog for future announcements!



and, honestly, i don't know what the hell this is.




to all, say goodbye to 2010~
have a fun and happy new year!
smell ya in 2011~!
todd

the day after the day after christmas~!

okay...

we have a local radio station that, each year, in the weeks leading up to christmas, dedicate themselves entirely to christmas music, non-stop/around the clock. usually i'm not really ready for the carols to start until right after thanksgiving, but when my nephew told me that they were on back during the week after halloween, i didn't complain--i was ready to get into the spirit.
what gets me though is how quickly the station and stores all want it to be over. it's like, christmas night, at 12 o'clock, there's no sign of christmas anymore at all. wham. done. cold turkey.
hey, brother--i was main-linin' that.
ease me off that stuff.


to keep a little christmas around for another day or so, here's the delightful christmas card that i got for our pal down under, matt pott! i love matt's stuff ( see for yourself at www.mattpott.com ) and his christmas cards are always a treat!
thanks, matt!




well, we are getting socked with an awesome blizzard that has the wind howling so loud out there you have to raise your voice to talk over it and blowing the 14 or so inches of snow we've gotten so far into some staggering snowdrifts--i'd take pictures, but all you'd see is white. i just came in from several hours of shoveling and hauling in firewood and it's nice to be in and warm.

christmas in our house was very nice this year. sharon and i made the usual trek between families having a mid-day christmas dinner with her family and spending the evening with mine. we were running around so much that we didn't get to exchange presents with each other until late christmas night. but that's okay--it was all very nice.

my two cool comic related presents came from brother matt--who, as usual spent way too much. one was the hallmark super hero squad ornament that sold out in the stores around here (maybe that will show marvel how popular they are and bring the comic book back...?)





and the incredibly awesome FIN FANG FOOM bust that matt noticed i spent too much time admiring at his favorite comic shop when we visited last october. matt, you shouldn't have...but it's so friggin' cool!!






and here are the
answers to the
"FIVE FOR FRIDAY!"
Christmas Edition

1. in the original miracle on 34th street, what future willy wonka & the chocolate factory and chico and the man star plays a bit part as the sorter at the post office?

jack albertson

2. in how the grinch stole christmas, what is the name of the littlest who who the grinch lies to?

cindy lou who, who was no more than two

3. what's the name of the town george bailey lives in in it's a wonderful life?

bedford falls

4. what are the names of ralphie's two best friends in a christmas story and which one gets his tongue stuck to the flagpole?

flick and schwartz

5. what is the name of the winter warlock's brother?

aha! trick question! the winter warlock didn't have a brother, that was snow miser. (and his brother was heat miser...)

6. what is the name of the elf who would really like to be a dentist in rudolph the red-nosed reindeer?

herbie

7. who is the narrator of the animated special frosty the snowman?

jimmy durante

8. what were the three gifts that the wise men brought to the baby jesus?

gold, frankincense, and myrrh

9. in the movie elf, how does buddy answer the phone? "buddy the elf, what's your _________ ________?"

favorite color

10. in the popular christmas song, "all i want for christmas is __________________?"

my two front teeth or you


gotta go shovel some more--
smell ya later~!
todd

christmas eve~!

okay...

so, the way i'm picturing it is that you are finally off today for christmas eve, maybe sleeping in a bit, taking it slow, stay in your jammies a little later, an extra cup of coffee. or maybe you're running out, racing to pick up that last elusive gift, fight all the other last minute shoppers, get it home and wrap it and tuck it under the tree...

whatever you're doing, i wish you and yours a very merry christmas!

so here are some fun pics and stuff to go with your christmas eve...


LAUREN'S CHOOPIE

first off, as promised, our good friend lauren monardo made me laugh out loud (for reals!), as she usually does, with this choopie sketch that she included in her christmas card this year! lauren has a killer sense of humor and an art style that makes it pop every time! i love it!





i have always wanted to make perhapanauts christmas cards and i always think of it too late in the season. seeing lauren's card made me realize that maybe we should have a "perhapanauts christmas card contest" next year and give everyone a chance to show their holiday haps ideas! someone remind me next year...

thanks, lauren! as always, you are awesome!


MORE SCARED OF SANTA

i love that each year there seem to be more scared of santa photos floating around on the net, as well as a new book called, natuarally, scared of santa collecting a lot of the classics and some great new ones.
here are some new ones that i hadn't seen before...

i call this one, "wait for it...."



it's not santa,
that kid hates that elf costume.



vintage scared.


the howler.



"ho! ho! ho! you're a big boy now, billy. you're not scared of santa anymore, are you?"
"n-no."


scaredy cat.



"pussy."



"FIVE FOR FRIDAY!"
Christmas Edition

1. in the original miracle on 34th street, what future willy wonka & the chocolate factory and chico and the man star plays a bit part as the sorter at the post office?

2. in how the grinch stole christmas, what is the name of the littlest who who the grinch lies to?

3. what's the name of the town george bailey lives in in it's a wonderful life?

4. what are the names of ralphie's two best friends in a christmas story and which one gets his tongue stuck to the flagpole?

5. what is the name of the winter warlock's brother?

6. what is the name of the elf who would really like to be a dentist in rudolph the red-nosed reindeer?

7. who is the narrator of the animated special frosty the snowman?

8. what were the three gifts that the wise men brought to the baby jesus?

9. in the movie elf, how does buddy answer the phone? "buddy the elf, what's your _________ ________?"

10. in the popular christmas song, "all i want for christmas is __________________?"

merry, merry, everyone~!
have a wonderful christmas!
smell ya later~!
todd

christmas card 2010~!

okay...

my christmas card.
oh, how i wasn't looking forward to doing a christmas card this year...

for me, doing the card means that i need to immerse myself once again into that wacky watercolor world that i created for gretchen, hank, and jake to have their holiday fun and, even though it's been 8 months, i didn't think i was going to be able to come up with anything funny.

and i couldn't.
for weeks i agonized over what to do, but it just wasn't happening. i've continued to hear jake's 'voice' in my head these past months, but not anything very funny. i wanted he card to be the light, slightly humorous silliness that it had been in years past, but it just wasn't coming.
my heart heavy, i resigned myself to going with the somber 'silent night' piece i'd started years ago.
then, when it was finished and i'd gotten that out of my system, purged the emotional gravitas, as it were, inspiration struck.
i asked God for some help, for something humorous that i couldn't see--but it was jake's voice that said, "that cat's getting away with murder."

so here's my card for 2010!
hope you like it.
merry christmas!











stop back friday--christmas eve!!--for some more scared of santa, some fun holiday pictures, and the awesome sketch that lauren monardo included inside her christmas card that made me and sharon laugh out loud!
and some christmas trivia? should we do some trivia...?
okay--and a 'five for friday!'
smell ya later!
todd

thanks to warren and mike!

okay...

if you haven't seen this, you should.

the other day, warren sent me this awesome link knowing how much i appreciate seeing nature in action. i say awesome; i think his words were unbelievable and mind-blowing. i agree.

here's the article he sent me and you should check it out. incredible!


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/16/frozen-lighthouse_n_797750.html




This image provided by the U.S. Coast Guard shows waves from Lake Erie crash onto Cleveland Harbor West Pierhead Lighthouse Tuesday Dec. 14, 2010 as the subzero air temperature causes the water to freeze in multiple layers, coating the entire structure in ice and making it virtually impossible for mariners to see the light.

thanks, warren!

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

also on the i-got-so-caught-up-in-things-i-haven't-had-a-chance-to-mention-it list, a month or so ago i found a neat treat in my mailbox; a copy of the the most recent issue of the celebrated weird nj from our pal and proud weird nj resident, mike estelle!





i have expounded here on the blog on the cryptic and creepy series of books that the infamous weird nj guys had published in conjunction with barnes and noble (weird my, weird ny, weird new england, etc.), but hadn't looked at a copy of the magazine in years. published twice yearly, weird nj is just the thing for those of us fascinated by the paranormal, drawn to relics of the past like abandoned factories and asylums, cemeteries and rural areas surrounded by urban legend or just the weird things you might just run into in your travels around the garden state. or anywhere.

like, i mean, what the hell is this?






(apparently, it is a statue used in the 1954 lana turner film, the prodigal. it was purchased by a resident of lumberton, nj who got a permit for it and put it up on his property along rte. 541 where it looms large over the neighborhood. of course, there are elements in the township that beg for it's removal calling in an eyesore.
i think it's beautiful.)

if you're ever in barnes and noble and you see a copy of weird nj, pick it up and give it a look. or better yet, check out the weird book they did on your state--it's curious stuff!
thanks, mike!


gotta go!
so much left to do!
how's your christmas coming together?
smell ya later~!
todd

i've never really met him...

okay...

a few months back, i shifted gears here on what i consider to be a usually positive and complimentary blog to express my abject dislike of a few commercials that were in rotation at the time. actually, just one commercial; the snippy, sarcastic, supposed-to-be-too-hip-for-his-own-good david spade singing the praises of mountain dew. hey, david~! lose the condescendingly snarky bit--it doesn't look good on you anymore. apparently, there were a lot of people who didn't dew that commercial, 'cause it was taken out of rotation rather quickly and replaced with a slightly more positive version, but that horse had already left the gate.

i said at the time that i'd mention the other ads that were rubbing me the wrong way, but decided to skip that 'cause i don't like being negative. there are lots of good commercials out there that i would rather focus on. (for those of you who are still dying to know which spots urk me, i've made a secret list of them at the bottom of this post. shh. don't tell.)

as for good commercials, i have seen it probably 10 or 11 times now and i still laugh out loud (really!) at the kevin bacon kevin bacon logitech commercial. he is so good and it is so funny and there is the feeling that he is having so much fun that you can't help but laugh. i can't anyway. and if you don't, well, then, you're an idiot.







i aslo like the commercial for i don't know what it's for but it's the russian guy with all the phones..."my name is peggy." that guy plays it so well, the attitude and the wild-eyed excitement.
and anything for victoria's secret.


how 'bout you? what are your current favs?
lemme know.


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

here are a few more random items that i found and thought i'd share.


i'll admit that i hadn't been at all impressed with any of the photos and trailers that i'd seen for thor so far and felt bad because i couldn't match matt's enthusiasm.
until now...
when matt sent me this photo taken from the actual film, i knew that this is one epic i cannot miss. i will gladly plop down my $8.50 to see anthony hopkin's one-eyed odin talking with a one-eyed dog in a lobster costume! i can't wait!
oh, and yes, that new trailer does look good...






michelangelo...?





this is genius.




and some incredible nature.




how ya doin' with that christmas shopping?
and the cards?
have a great day!
smell ya later!
todd









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

other commercials that i find irritating

~ that kit kat give me a break one where they create the song out of the cracks and crunches of people breaking their kit kat bars...who thought this was a good idea? it's not. stop it.

~ played mostly on cable networks like gsn and late night comedy central, have you seen the one for the smokeless cigarettes? with these elegantly-dressed, pretentious actors extolling the virtues of these rechargeable, blue-tipped, plastic tubes like they were the greatest development in modern science since the artificial heart? "it's just water vapor." "this is the real thing, my friend." i never wanted to punch a guy on tv so much.

~to be continued...

random

okay...

so for those times when i need a break from writing or am on the phone and need to occupy myself with some mindless game, i head on over to ebaum's world dot com where you can find all manner of flash games and the like. my current guilty pleasures are bubble-spinner ( a shoot-the-bubbles skill game ), sobics ( a stack-the-blocks coordination game ) and the always-ready proximity ( a risk-like strategy game ). they've got hundreds of others and it's a good place to stop if you need a break from...well, anything...
also featured at ebaum's, on mondays and wednesdays, are monday morning randomness and far-out asian pictorial, collecting, in the first case, a series of just funny, odd, or weird photos and pictures sure to raise either a smile or a look of utter confusion. asian pictorial focuses on japanese culture and some of the totally outrageous things that can be found in the land of the rising sun. also, lots of pin-up girls.

i check these out every week and grab, hijack, borrow--call it what you want--some of the pics i think are funny to share them here with you on the blog.

here are some of the ones that have caught my eye recently...














and this makes me laugh out loud.




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

and now, because christmas is just around the corner ( have you gotten any of that shopping done? ), here are a couple christmasy items to get you in the spirit...



the tree at 30 rock







and this that a friend sent me the other day...


Nativity Scene was erected in a church yard.
During the night the folks came across this scene.
An abandoned dog was looking for a comfortable, protected place to sleep.
He chose baby Jesus as his comfort.
No one had the heart to send him away so he was there all night.



We should all have the good sense to curl up in Jesus' lap from time to time.
(No one mentioned that the dog is a Shepherd!)


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

and now the
answers to your
"five for friday!"


1. how many ghosts come to visit scrooge in dicken's "a christmas carol"?

4
the 3 ghosts of christmases past, present, and yet-to-come, and jacob marley

2. who sang the original recording of rudolph the red-nosed reindeer?

gene autry

3. what country did dad think that his "national award" came from because of the writing stenciled on the box?

italy "fra-geeeel-ay!"

4. what book was clarence reading in "it's a wonderful life"?

the adventures of ton sawyer

5. according to the american film institute,
what are considered to be the 5 greatest films in american cinema?

a. citizen kane
b. gone with the wind
c. casablanca
d. lawrence of arabia
e. the godfather

have a great day!
smell ya later!
todd

holidays with the heroes, scared of santa, and five!

okay...

over on my facebook page i just posted a status update that was kinda acidy, asking why we're all letting the bp oil spill of last summer just fade away. it pisses me off. and not in a political way, in an environmental way. it does bother me that big corporations are allowed to get away with horrible things in this country, but, ultimately, it's the sea life and the families that have been devastated by this disaster that i'm so sad about. and lately i've heard nothing about it. that's sad too.

and now watch me try to go from that complete downer to spinning this back up to happy, holiday, time of peace and love and togetherness...


i love the holidays and i love comics and so there are few greater memories of christmas fun than when marvel and dc would pull out the eggnog and put on the santa hats and make merry for a month or so. here are some of my favorite holiday covers from days gone by--if i've missed one, send it over to me and i'll post it next week!













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

and more scared of santa...
why is this so funny?
'cause we've all been there, baby!
this crazy rite of passage as we're first made to be terrified of this jolly stranger with the big white beard, then made to love him--can't wait for him--as the symbol of giving and the spirit of the holidays, and then become him as we learn and grow to understand that giving and caring for others is really what it's all about...
i love this last kid...














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

and now your
"five for friday!"


1. how many ghosts come to visit scrooge in dicken's "a christmas carol"?

2. who sang the original recording of rudolph the red-nosed reindeer?

3. what country did dad think that his "national award" came from because of the writing stenciled on the box?

4. what book was clarence reading in "it's a wonderful life"?

5. according to the american film institute,
what are considered to be the 5 greatest films in american cinema?

a.
b.
c.
d.
e.


i gotta go do some shopping.
smell ya later!
todd