The End of the Wo- NO

We have probably heard over a million times that the world will end on December 21, 2012. While it is true that the Mayan calendar ends on that day, there is no mention of the end of the world. The Mayans also did not have leap years, so the calendar would already be finished. It looks like we will have Christmas after all. But since Hostess, the company that makes food that could survive the supposed apocalypse, is out of business, it sure seems like the end of the world.

World Domination!

Disney is the proud owner of ABC, ESPN, Touchstone, Pixar and, more recently, Marvel and Lucasfilms. Makes you wonder what companies they could purchase next.

Christmas Already?

On campus, and in every K-Mart and Wal-Mart I bet, they're setting up holiday decorations. I know it's a bit early, but I want to share a few holiday tips with you.

• Even with a big thick coat and thick gloves and hats, you can still feel cold. Keep moving, the energy your body gives will keep you warm.
• If you make a snowball while wearing mittens, carefully remove the snowball before throwing, as snow tends to stick to cloth in cold weather. 
• Today there are string lights that make it possible so that when one light goes out, the rest do not go out.
• Most importantly, never, ever, ever, eat a candy cane before brushing your teeth. Believe me, I know what that feels like.

Star Mouse

Ever since George Lucas sold Lucasfilm and Star Wars to the Walt Disney Company, the internet has been abuzz with videos, art, and news articles of the possible "relationships" with the characters. Actually, I think it began a little bit after Lucas let Disneyland build "Star Tours." There will be three more movies, and only time will tell if they will be as successful as the older films.

Try Me! II

I see that some of you have accepted my challenge from my blog "Try Me!" (Oct. 25) You shared some quotes of famous characters. I'm going to take another step and try to identify characters by their dress/appearance, or even color scheme. Ready?

Happy Halloween!

I made it through another Halloween night. I have had Thriller and Ghostbusters stuck in my head all day (new music mix?) I also helped Mom with our church Trunk-or-Treat dressed as a cowboy. And now I will decorate my blog for Christmas.

Try Me!

I'll let you in on a little secret; with a few minute details, I can identify a wide range of cartoon characters. Don't believe me? Think of some cartoon character, and I could identify them.

I Like Cameos

My favorite animated movies are the Toy Story movies. It's Tim Allen and Tom Hanks at their best, along with cameos from other famous toys. The new movie I was talking about earlier, Wreck-It Ralph, may have the most cameos of any single Disney movie aside from Who Framed Roger Rabbit?. There's Sonic the Hedgehog, Q-Bert, Frogger, and more. (Mario and Luigi were planned, but Disney couldn't pay Nintendo enough money to use them. Fortunately Mario's arch-enemy, Bowser, does appear.)
I think cameos are an interesting way moviemakers share their opinions of those characters.

Big Five-Oh!

This is the 50th blog that I have posted. I made changes to my blog last night, but I don't see them. Do you?

Costume Me!

I want to have a costume, too. I want to do something with cardboard panels, but what?

Ghostbusters Gangam Style

Tonight I listened to an interesting music mix involving "Gangam Style" and "Ghostbusters." Amazingly, the two fit right in with each other. The vocals of the first were mixed with the soundtrack of the second, then the reverse happened, back and forth. I guess you have to hear it for yourself to understand what I'm talking about.

Make Mine Music

I haven't blogged in a while because I want to get to sleep earlier. Goodnight everybody (just kidding!) Anyways, every year the orchestra students at BYU perform a Halloween concert revolving around a certain theme. Last year it was "Idaho Jones and the Search for the Crystal Baton." This year it's "A Christmas Ghostly Halloween Carol." Makes you wonder...   Goodnight. This has been fun (goodnight again). Now a song. (goodnight yet again.) 'Is this the real life, Is this just fantasy...'  (goodnight for realz this time.)

It seems that if you put orange and black together, it automatically means "scary." Take Clu-2, the enemy from Tron Legacy. He's pretty scary, don't you think? But put yellow and white in, and it looks like candy corn. Who wears candy corn colors?!?!?

A Change in Plans

Come to my blogspot. No pink background, candy colored spots or cartoony text await you. In keeping up with Halloween, Cartoon-in-Training is going scary. There will be no humor whatsoever! At least, not so much of it.

Popular why?

What, exactly makes a success? How do things like the Super Mario Bros theme and Garfield become known worldwide, and how can certain web images be so popular?

What wall?

Have you noticed that there is a "wall" between us and the cartoon world? Sometimes a character will interact with an imaginary object in our world and respond to it. This is called "breaking the fourth wall," and it is handy to use in a cartoon series. To them, there are only three walls and the paper or screen is a window they can open anytime.

Halloween is coming! Call me crazy, call me morbid, but Halloween is one of my favorite times of year. There are some things that are a little too creepy and horrorific (try decaying zombies with parts missing) but I try to stay away from that. I was thinking about what to carve into my pumpkin this year. Any ideas?

Portals?

I just noticed that the font I selected for my blog looks strange whith letters in italics (slanted letters.) I also noticed that my blog is purple on my computer, but pink on the home computer. I hope I have not entered into another dimension!

Today was my birthday. Sure, I still had school while my brother and sister take Harvest Week off, but it was a good day. After my homework was done, we went to Taco Bell where we each got our own meal (I got a cheesy potato burrito.) We also to a new ice cream shop where they sold each scoop of ice cream for a dollar. Then I took my family on a tour of the campus at BYU-Idaho. We also went to CAL Ranch (an farming strore) and WalMart. Back at home we had white chocolate cake frosted with BYU's "Y." As for presents I got one video game, De Blob 2. I also got three books; Super Mario Series for Piano, The Everything Cartooning Book, and The Art of Epic Mickey. What a wonderful birthday!

Quiz 2

I have a new quiz, and it's going to be tougher. Each question involves each of the numbers 1-10 in some context. I promise to provide the answers next week!

1. Name the first dog on the moon
2. Name the two Smothers Brothers
3. Name the three Gorgons from Greek mythology
4. Name the states that make up "Four Corners"
5. Name the five elements in a "Take 5" candy bar
6. Name the six colors of a regular bag of M&Ms
7. Name the Seven Dwarves
8. Name the gift given on the eighth day of Christmas
9. Name the other name for Beethoven's Ninth Symphony
10. Name the tenth month's most recognizable holiday

Nothin On Ma Noggin

I have a bunch of random thoughts to share.
Cookie Monster doesn't eat the cookie, he just rips it apart and sends the peices around the room while making horrible noises.
I know what "bouncy" means; what about "trouncy," "flouncy" and "pouncy?"
"It's a bird!" "It's a plane!" What were the first two people excited about?

How do I take "pictures" of web pages?

Comic Crazy

Comic strips show us small snippets of exaggerations of real-life situations that we wish could happen to us. What is your favorite strip? (It's okay if it doesn't exist anymore.)

Meet the Muppets

Muppets. We know who they are, but we don't know what they'll do next.

My favorites are Honeydew and Beaker, Waldor and Statler, Gonzo and Animal. Who are your favorite Muppets?

Sing a Song of...

We have got a library of songs stored up on our home computer. Many of them are familiar, but we have a few that are out of the ordinary. We have some audio segments of classic movies and television shows, and cover versions of some songs. My personal favorites are the music mash-ups, in which the lyrics of one song are mixed in with the music of another. Any ideas?

I have learned the rules for making good artwork.

Never let your subject's face or structure be in the direct center of the picture.
You have three seconds to get the perfect picture at a kid's birthday party!
Use the Golden Sections (approximately 3/7 to 4/7)
The camera does not change the picture's quality, only the photograper can do that

Raining C and D

I am divided by a love of cats and dogs. So I've just decided to mention some of my favorite feline and canine stars.

Cats
Garfield

Fat cat who loves lasagna

Meowth

Cat pokemon who loves shiny objects

Sylvester

Looney Tunes character who loves chasing Tweety

Dogs
Dug

Carl Fredrickson's canine companion

Slinky Dog

Woody's canine companion

Pluto

Mickey's canine companion.

Heel-Turn Face!

In many films and books, one of the bad guys does something hero-like and becomes a hero for the rest of the story. What's your favorite example?

Here is the official poster for Wreck-It Ralph, which already shows you some of the characters that will appear in the movie.

Of the characters on the poster, only three were created by Disney; Ralph is in the center, and on the left is a general from Hero's Duty (fake) and a rhino from Sugar Rush (also fake). The rest are characters from Q-Bert, Pac-Man, Street Fighter, and Sonic the Hedgehog. Like I said before in my early blogs, I am very excited about this film.

I am very interested in robot drawings. Why? Because there is no wrong way to make them! You can draw robots as realistic or cartoony as you want them, and
 they can be almost as human as humans!

On yesterday's blog I said that I had two classes every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I have checked, and I have made an error; I only have Beauty and Creativity on Fridays (but I still have two classes for the other two days.)

I have started my first week at BYU-Idaho today. I will go from 11:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. (with 2 1/2 hours in between classes) on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
Also, my blog sometimes is missing the tab that says, "New Post." What should I do next time this happens?

I'm sorry that I did not post the results to the "Cartoon Quiz" results on Saturday like I promised, but here are the results;

1. "I'm not getting up. I'm just going to lie here for the rest of the day."
     Charlie Brown (Peanuts)
2. "True friends are hard to come by. I need more money."
     Calvin (Calvin and Hobbes)
3. "You are a sad strange little man, and you have my pity."
     Buzz Lightyear
4. "I need more than dew and 'universe juice.'"
     Po (Kung-Fu Panda)
5. "I am not a crusty crab!"
     Patrick Star (SpongeBob Squarepants)

I will post your scores on your remarks on my blog.

I have had thoughts about what would happen if the worlds of magic and science fiction combined. There could bee astronaut knight and magic robots (other than this one!)

I can already hear some of you saying, "Why that picture? Geez!"
Anyway, I would like some inspiration.

My Milano

I got a new phone today! This is the Milano, which has a touch screen and a slide-out keyboard. Take a look!

I'm pretty excited to put some apps on it soon. I can keep in touch with others from far away! See you soon!

Fake History

I have stories about how some of the oldest comedy tricks may have started.
Pie in the face:
Man; What took you so long with that pie?
Woman; Don't you want it?
Man; Yes...
Woman; Well, you can have it! (You know what happens next!)
Parodies:
"Mad" Magazine Chairman; We need new ideas, and fast!
"Mad" Magazine Writer; I've got one! Why don't we take a famous story, change the names of all the characters and locations, add some jokes into the script, and get one guy to draw out the whole show.
MMC; That sound like the same story.
MMW; It is the same, but different!
MMC; That is plagiarism and it shows total disrespect to our modern society. In other words, it's perfect!
Banana peels:
Okay, this one escapes me. What sane person ever looked at a browning banana skin and said, "I better be careful or that peel might go on my path and I was on the ground." Has this ever been proved right or wrong?

Have you ever had a habit that you seem too "adult" for, but without it you can't do anything? I have the habit of squeezing something under my arm while I sleep. Otherwise, I have nightmares.

Cartoon Quiz

This time I'm going to give a quiz. I want you to name the character who said each of these quotes. Answers on Saturday.
1. "I'm not getting up. I'm just going to lie here for the rest of the day."
2. "True friends are hard to come by. I need more money."
3. "You are a sad strange little man, and you have my pity."
4. "I need more than dew and 'universe juice.'"
5. "I am not a crusty crab!"

I posted a comment on Erik's blog and I had to type "nsterble" (not Constantinople!) I like obscure references!

Sidekicked

I think that the sidekick characters are the best. They don't get enough credit for the jobs they do (suggestion for another animated movie, perhaps?) Without them, the hero would be nowhere near success. I give a special thanks to Donald Duck, Odie, Mushu, Pascal, Tails, M-O, Hamm, Donkey, Patrick Star, Fozzie, and every droid that appears in Star Wars (except for the Clone Wars ones.)
Who's your favorite sidekick?

When you post a comment on somebody else's blog they ask you to prove you're not a robot and type two images they show, one of a random jumble of bent letters and another of somebody's house number. Have you seen any that seem more common?

Can I Use Photoshop?

I already have Adobe, but can I get Photoshop from it for free, or do I have to pay for it? If I do have to pay, could you point me to another program that is like Photoshop?

If you must know, some of my favorite characters are listed below.

Disney; Wall-E
Star Wars; Boba Fett
Animated TV show; Perry (Phineas and Ferb)
Robot; R.O.B. (Nintendo, Super Smash Bros. universe)
Game Character; Yoshi (Super Mario Bros. series)

A Word of Reassurance

I want you to know that  you can respond to older posts, too. You don't have to be afraid to share your opinions.

Oh Bro-cabulary!

I have thought of some words that are not usually used in regular everyday vocabulary.

Spanglish: The use of blending of English and Spanish
Antidisestablishmentarianism: Against disestablisments (the longest English word)
Uncopyrightable: Unable to copy because of copyright (the longest English word without repeating characters)

If you have any ideas for uncommon words, please tell me.

Ever notice that in blogs when you share your interests with other people you know likes what you like, they respond back? Or when you ask others to comment? Are our minds wired to answer question marks? (Speaking of which, I've used three in the paragraph)

P.S.
Please look at the minifigures (August 16) and tell me which one is your favorite. Mine is the diver from series 8.

Today I had an idea for a new game to make. It would be like a robotic motocross race, but instead of being the first to the finish line, you have to be the last racer surviving to finish. How about that?

I looked up more info on Wreck-it Ralph and there are going to be cameos by Bowser from the Mario series, Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic's nemesis Dr Eggman, Q-bert, and Clyde (the orange ghost) from Pac-Man. (No Mario or Luigi, though (:-() )

P.S., Can I use any of my Microsoft programs (Word, Excel, etc.) to make pixel art?

One of my favorite comics is Mother Goose and Grimm because of the references to pop culture.
"It's good to be home, but I miss running around the comics." (Lie down on doghouse, then fall off.) "How does he do that?"

I am a big fan of Lego so it should come as no suprise that I would also fall in love with their mascot, the Minifigure. When individually packaged minifigures were being sold, I knew that it would catch on. Now they're up to Series 8 this year, so I thought I'd show the series released in the past.
Series 1

2

3

4

5

6

7

and 8

I like the robot and clown (1), the tennis player (3), the hazmat guy and hockey player (4), the graduate (5), skater girl and clockwork robot and genie (6), and the space marine and swimmer (7). I really want the alien queen, or the diver, or the football player, or Santa!

When I saw the pixel-art poster for Wreck-it Ralph I wanted to some stuff of my own (actually, I have been interested in pixel charactters since my cousins showed me some older games on an NES.) What could I "pixelize?"

A promotion for the movie, featuring a mock-up video game with working controls. In the game "Fix-it Felix Jr.", Ralph is the bad guy.

Our grandpa works part-time as a cleaner for Rocky Mountain Labs in Hamilton, Montana, and he got me some sort of jar. It has a lid with a stirring stick down the middle. It also has two spout on either side. Any suggestions on what to use it for?

Emily found the trailer for Wreck-it-Ralph. I like the cameos of famous video game characters. The trailer is at http://disney.go.com/wreck-it-ralph/?cmp=wdsmp_wir_url_dcomwreckitralph.

In other news, I am getting ready for college this month. Wish me luck!

I am a major fan of the Disney movies. My favorite movie is Toy Story 3 and my favorite character is Wall-E from... uh... Wall-E. Please tell me your favorite Disney movie and character.

I have heard that there is a new Disney movie coming out called Wreck-it-Ralph. It's about the characters that live behind the screens of video games. If you have seen any teasers or previews, please let me know.

Today we went to the baptism of our younger cousin, Anna McLean. Afterwards we rode in a wooden go-cart and ate at Tucano's in Provo, Utah for $13. When we last ate at a Brazillian restaurant, we took some extra drinks and desserts and accidentally ended up paying about $100 for our meal. While travelling home I took a nap, but I didn't keep track of time. I believe Anna will become more faithful as she grows.

I have some ideas for what I want to draw, but first I need to learn how to scan pen and ink drawings into the computer.