Friday, February 28, 2014

What I've Been Up To (youtube)



Here is stuff I made/did on youtube whilst I wasn't writing stuff on pondercouch.com

I recorded a song or two


Mostly Roger Miller songs



I did some dancing



To the Presidents of the United States of America while I made brunch.

And to my own songs for children and their families (click on this sentence to see the video, having trouble embedding it).


And I started a youtube channel in which I am reading the book "14,000 things to be happy about. THE HAPPY BOOK BY BARBARA ANN KIPFER" one page at a time, one video at a time.



And here is a link to the playlist of all the pages so far (click on this sentence)!

More other stuff soon! Soonish...


Thursday, February 13, 2014

Project CALVIN and HOBBES: Calvin's Valentine to Susie!


(for an explaination of Project CALVIN and HOBBES click here!)

Happy Valentine's Day!

On February 12, 1986 Calvin made a Valentine for Susie Derkins. (pg. 44 of the first Calvin and Hobbes book "Calvin and Hobbes", pg. 58 in "The Complete Calvin and Hobbes", book 1)

It was a hate-mail Valentine.

Here is my recreation!







And here it is with the comic in my copy of "The Complete Calving and Hobbes"!




Calvin then got her some dead flowers and gave them to Susie on Valentine's Day. Susie called him a baloney brain and gave him a Valentine of a snowball to the head and called him an "insensitive clod".

I hope your loved ones give you lots of not-hate-mail Valentines and candy!

Give me a Valentine by commenting below and sharing this article with people who like such things!

Edit/Update (4/5/14): For some reason the pictures in this post disappeared. So I took a couple more and here's a bonus pic of my stuffed tiger Sprite with the valentine!

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Project CALVIN AND HOBBES! - The Yukon Song!


Welcome to Project C.A.L.V.I.N. and H.O.B.B.E.S. !

That stands for Create A Loving Version Incarnate Namesake and Homage Of Bill's Best Entertainment Strip!

I love Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson! They were my first tattoo!



The world is sometimes a sad and scary place. I want to do my best to counteract that by adding as much joy to it as I can. What better way than to bring imaginary things from Calvin and Hobbes into actual, real life being!

I plan on making at least one thing from Calvin and Hobbes into physical existence a month.

Here's phase one: The Yukon Song (from the beginning of "Yukon Ho!", and pg. 325 of "The Complete Calvin and Hobbes" book 1)

 
 
 
Matt (the guy who writes all the DinoDrac articles) wrote a tumblr post in December about making Calvin's perfect snowball.
 
 

He made something from Calvin in Hobbes into something real!

"Hey!" I thought to myself, "I could make stuff from Calvin and Hobbes real!"

He also wrote an article on Dinosaur Dracula about how Target sells these tiger dolls that look like Hobbes mid-transition between a toy and real tiger.

So I bought one. (It's in the video with me). I named it Sprite. (Why Sprite instead of Hobbes? If you do a little research about Bill Watterson, I bet you'll be able to guess why.)

I plan on making at least one fictional thing from C and H into something real a month....

If I can think of something each month....

If I have the time...

and resources...

and skill....

Anyway, I'll post as often as I make something. And I hope you'll follow my path of creation and make some of your own Calvin and Hobbes stuff too! Leave a comment, share this blog with those who are interested, and thanks for reading!

For now, here are 3 comics I made for my Ponder and Enlightening series that involve Calvin and Hobbes in some way.

 
 

 
 
 
And one from my other comic Impending Doom!
 
 
 
 
And finally one from my other other comic Happy Seth:
 
 
 
Until the next imaginary-made-real thing, take care!
 


Saturday, February 8, 2014

Clutter: 10 Magnets on the Ponder Fridge!



As I mentioned in this article I like Clutter. Especially organized, displayed clutter like on peoples' refrigerators.

I love to look at other peoples' refrigerators. I love all the pictures, drawings, clipped comics (for those people who still get newspapers with a comics section), and, of course, magnets.

Magnets are an odd little peek into a person's life. They are usually chosen specifically by someone in the household to display on their fridge, often to remind them of someone, some place, or some other time.

I took a look at my refrigerator:

 
 
 
It's pretty cluttered!
 
 
I've decided to skip over the pictures and drawings and other fridge accumulants (not a word) in favor of my 10 favorite magnets on the Ponder Fridge. (Ponder Couch, Ponder Haus, Ponder Kitchen, Ponder Fridge).
 
 
1.
 
 
A magnet with Courage from the "Courage the Cowardly Dog" show!
 
I loved "Courage the Cowardly Dog" when it was on. It had some scary episodes, some funny episodes, and some downright strange episodes. I like all of those adjectives, so I liked this show. Plus it had what seemed like every kind of animation available at the time featured in at least one episode.
 
This magnet came from Chuck E. Cheese. I got it back in college when my friend Chris and I were considering pitching a travel show about confronting our fear of/fascination with animatronics. It would be called "In Search of Billy Bob" and we would travel the country visiting different restaurants, malls, and other establishments that featured animatronic shows. The goal of the show would be to find a complete Rock-afire Explosion band with Billy Bob the bear.
 
As we did some preliminary research for the show we visited a couple Chuck E. Cheese's and a McDonalds with a creepy animatronic Ronald McDonald holding the Happy Meal Gang (an anthropomorphic burger, fries, and drink). They sang songs. *shudder*
 
It didn't go much further than a few visits and a couple questions asked of the Chuck E. Cheese staff (who probably thought we were weird. We were... are.)
 
2.
 
 
This magnetic A + Teacher fridge clip works pretty well. It can hold a lot of coupons and other papers and still stays on the fridge, unlike
 
3.
 
 
These stupid clips. They clip pretty well, but they fall off every other time we open the fridge or walk past them. We have 5 or so on there.
 
4.
 
 
A comic book style WHAM! magnet. I like it. It adds some nerdi/geekiness to the fridge. I got this from Half Priced Books. I also got
 
5.
 
 
This stand mixer magnet and
 
6. 
 
 
This banana.
 
7.
 
 
A magnetic eraser that came with a dry erase board we bought that I have since lost. I think this is a neat idea and I'm amazed I don't see these around more often. Those Board Dudes know what they're doing.
 
8.
 
 
This pink princess castle came with a pad of paper that said "It's not easy being princess" on it. Princess Melawesome got it as part of a present from her friend. I liked the Engrish of the paper, and I love the castle magnet.
 
9.
 
 
I got these word balloon magnets to hold the child-style artwork around it to make some quick photo comics for my online comic "Ponder and Enlightening". It worked well and I beat that idea into the ground.
 
 
10.
 
 
A Gryffindor magnet holding up a "Trust Snape" sticker. That's right, we were right.
 
 
Honorable mention (number 11).
 
 



We have several rare-earth magnets that Sir Mike gave us. They are the best magnets on the fridge as far as sticking and not letting things fall off. They are awesome, but not much to look at.

That's the end!

Please leave a comment or a link to pictures of your fridge clutter!






Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Popcorn on the Cob from the Corn Palace!






Here's a review I did for my Corn Palace Blog!  So the video will go up there as well.



As I say in the video it's pretty good! Go out and buy an ear if you have the ability!



Here's a picture of the cardboard label thing at the top.



Apparently I paid $2.50 for it. It was worth it!

Here's what the popped cob looked like up close.


And here I am eating it like regular corn on the cob!


And here are the instructions inside the cardboard thing on top.



And here, finally, is the drawing I made for the stinger at the end of the video to advertise this blog!







 "For more reviews, comics, and other stuff check out pondercouch.com!"



Saturday, February 1, 2014

A Collection of Common Background Songs 2!







Read and Listen To Part 1 Here!

Here's some more background music you hear all the time but don't know what it is!

1. "Soul Bossa Nova" by Quincy Jones


Yep, the Austen Powers theme. I don't know if it's from anything else, but it is a great background song that captures a certain feeling. I like it a lot.

2.  "Somba De Uma Notaso (One Note Samba)" by Antonio Carlos Jobim, performed by Stan Getz


I hear this a lot in different shows and commercials and stuff. I can't think of specifics. Another great song.

3. "Sabre Dance" a movement from the ballet Gayane (1942) by Aram Khachaturian


 You hear this all the time whenever there is something crazy and/or complicated going on. Or circus tricks. I believe it's in "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure".

4. "Mais Que Nada" by Sergio Mendes


This seems like it's in every show about the 60's. Another great one, but aren't all of these songs great?

5. "La Vie En Rose" by Edith Piaf



This song makes me think about love. I guess it was just in How I Met Your Mother. I haven't seen that episode yet, I'm sure it's lovely. I read that it was in Wall-E too.

That's it for now! If you know of any other common backgrounds songs not mentioned in this or Part 1, please send them my way! (leave a comment, send an e-mail, etc...)