Through a generous arrangement with Mr. Coulton, I have now started selling some of the Visual Thing A Week artwork at my Zazzle store. I will be adding more over time, but for now, there are some cool prints, t-shirts and greeting cards of the songs Bozo's Lament, I Crush Everything, I'm A Mason Now and -- my personal favorite -- Christmas cards from Chrion Beta Prime. You can visit my Zazzle Shop here.

Hilarious...

Tonight's show we discuss office politics, problems with co-workers, wish fellow podcasters congratulations and discuss the Church of Mac. Come along for the ride!

RUNNING TIME: 47:21
SHOW NOTES:

Links:
Me and The Bean
Hometown Tales
The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd
My Zazzle Shop - Buy prints and t-shirts!
Zombie Army
Robot Army
The Instance

Music:
Jonathan Coulton | Big Bad World One

RSS feed.

Download now.

Seems like a cheap marketing ploy by Sony to give their next gen system an edge over the Wii and XBOX 360, but whatever. Check it out.

Thanks to Chad for this one.

VTAW: I'm Your Moon
Originally uploaded by jawboneradio.

Coming pretty late in the day, here is the Visual Thing A Week for Jonanthan Coulton's song, I'm Your Moon. Jonathan's description of the song makes note that Pluto's moon Charon, is actually about half the size of Pluto, and that they revolve around each other. For artistic purposes, I decided to make Charon more of a motherly figure.

In other new, I just bought a new Mac Pro. Woo-hoo!

259 Longtime Listener, First-Time Caller
Originally uploaded by halcyonsnow.

Mike AKA Halcyconsnow, one of the 700 hobo artists has immortalized me as a hobo. Words escape me. Thank you, Mike. Thank you all to hell.

Well, not really. But it is an apartment close by to where Scott is. See the horrifying photos here.

Over the course of the past year, a lot of people have expressed interest in buying some of my artwork to brighten up their workspace or to simply hang up in their home. Well, you'll be happy to know that a selection of my art is now available to purchase through Zazzle. If there is any image that you are particularly interested in that I haven't linked up, please let me know and I can work on getting it into the store. You can see pretty much everything I've drawn at my Flickr set. I believe I will make some JoCo images available as well. But I would probably have to clear that with JoCo.

Anyway, start buying....NOW!

UPDATE: With his permission, I started adding some Jonathan Coulton merch to the store. If there is any design that you folks are interested in on a T-shirt or as a print, let me know.

Via BB:

"Pes, a gifted short-film maker, has produced a video-game tribute called "Game Over". He's recreated scenes from classic arcade games in stop-motion, using household objects and synching it all to the original game sound"

Too cool!

Drew this tonight for the Zombie Army group. Guess what? You can buy it as a t-shirt!

Come on...you know you want one...

Critical mass is on its way. For those of you who can't get enough of me and my Hobo Art, you can pick up the August 14th edition of Publishers Weekly. There you will find a story by none other than FoJ, John Hodgman giving some valuable lessons on how-to become a published author. Included in the article is a hilarious reference to Ape Lad, The 700 Hobes Project and my illustration of "Hobo Zero" on Flickr.

For those intensely interested, you can read the rest of the article here: Page One and of course, Page 2.

I love it when people use my art for their videos. Here's a perfect example. A video for the JoCo song "Mr. Fancy Pants" by Mike featuring my Fancy Pants image. Whoo-hoo for Creative Commons.

Thanks to Shelly for this disturbing image of Katherine Harris. And the possum looks pretty bad too. Have at it kids!

We're on vacation in the Congo. So, while I'm here, I decide to go searching for the mystical creature known as Apelad. I find him, talk to him and make him confess about himself and the origin of his alter ego. Come along for the ride!

RUNNING TIME: 30:24
SHOW NOTES:

Links:
Hobo Controversy
Adam Koford.com
Conan Vs. Bear
I Love Cartoons
The Alphabet of Monsters - Now in T-shirt Form!



Music:
Jonathan Coulton | Under The Pines

RSS feed.

Download now.

VTAW: You Ruined Everything
Originally uploaded by jawboneradio.

This is for the song "You Ruined Everything" by JoCo. I think this is more of a personal image for me. I equated having children to leaving behind some of the other stuff I had enjoyed pre-kid. It's the same transformation that any parent has to go through. As my kids get older, I can start to enjoy some of the things I enjoyed as a kid and they can appreciate it more. Except for the Star Wars figures. Those are totally off limits.

Got this today from Mr. Hodgman. Check it out for a big announcement regarding hobo matters.

Hello to all new readers and listeners finding us from Drawn, Metafilter, Digg and wherever else the e-zombies seem to be popping up. I'm currently on vacation with my fam, but I just checked e-mails and found that things are going coo-coo with the zombie alphabet. Thanks for enjoying the new toy we created and enjoy our buffet. Braaaaiiins!

Zombie Letters from e-zombie.com
I'm supposed to be on vacation, but what am I doing? Writing stuff with the Zombie Alphabet. Also, cool artwork is being uploaded to the Zombie Army. Here is latest fave from Zombie Hunter, Colin:


Join the fun today!

Got this in the tubes today from FoJ John Hodgman. If you are in the Massachusetts area, this will be worth checking out:

JONATHAN COULTON WILL PLAY GUITAR NEXT TO A LOUD RIVER

The Montague Bookmill/Lady Killigrew.
Sat., Aug. 19, 8 PM
FREE

Local author and impresario John Hodgman will soon leave the Pioneer Valley area after a summer of residency and internet-theft at the Lady Killigrew Cafe and the Montague Bookmill of Montague, MA.

But before he goes, he wishes to introduce the western counties to the song stylings of JONATHAN COULTON in a night of SONGS ABOUT ZOMBIES, MATH, AND FEELINGS.

JONATHAN COULTON, in addition to his masthead position of "Contributing Troubadour" at Popular Science magazine (absolutely true), is featured prominently on the audio edition of Hodgman's bestselling book THE AREAS OF MY EXPERTISE, and his many many songs (A NEW ONE EVERY WEEK!), including "Mandlebrot Set," "Re: Your Brains," and "Baby Got Back", have been heard on PODCASTS THROUGHOUT THE LAND.

Hodgman will introduce Coulton, and following the show, he will guest-bar tend at the Lady Killigrew while Coutlton will sit at the bar and guest-drink. EVEN IF YOU LOATHE BEAUTIFUL MUSIC, COME WATCH THIS STRANGE BIT OF THEATER DEVOLVE TO ITS INEVITABLE, TRAGIC CONCLUSION!

Both will sign books and CDs and discuss TOPICS OF INTEREST.

Three copies each of Hodgman's as-yet-unreleased PAPERBACK and AUDIO EDITION of his book will be given FREE to the first six people to purchase Coulton materials.

For information, please visit Coulton or Lady Killigrew.

A new show. Whee! Lots of zombie talk, black toes, and much more. What else do you want in a podcast? Enjoy!

RUNNING TIME:59:07
SHOW NOTES:

Links:
Zombie Army Flickr Group
Spelling With Zombies
Dead Rising
Whole Lot of Nonsense
Slice of Sci-Fi

Music:
Jonathan Coulton | Drinking WIth You

RSS feed.

Download now.

Another one from Chad leaves me speechless. Help me fill in the words.

It's been a while since I've done a link dump of any note, so what better what to get back on the bandwagon then by just jumping into the dump with two feet.

Eep. That didn't sound right at all. in any event, let the dumping begin!

----

Those of you who were reading the blog over the weekend saw that I have started a new Flickr illustration group called "Zombie Army". This, along with the challenge put forth by fellow 700 Hobo member Apelad's 1 Hour Alphabet Challenge, I created a whole zombie alphabet set.

Not only that, but fellow hobomeister and Jawbone fan, Dan, created a rudimentary alphabet toy Spelling With Zombies. Obviously, it's still in it's development stages, but come on! This is all in a night's work, people!

UPDATE: Not even 24 hours old, Spelling with Zombies just got boinged!

----

Continuing the Zombie links; Dan sends me this Lordi video complete with zombie cheerleaders.

----

From Neil: Ricky Gervais AKA David Brent Video for Microsoft.

---

From Wayne in the Ukraine: Angry British Guy yells at telemarketer. Be aware, NSFW or home for that matter.

---

Finally, from Neil...I know a ton of you have been wondering what happened to 80's pop icon Billy Squier? Well, some people on the tubes are claiming it was this video that basically a killed his career Perhaps Billy was trying to tell us something about his persuasion? We'll let you decide.

And now is the time to say goodbye. Goodbye until the next link dump.

Catherine The Zombie Gal
Originally uploaded by jawboneradio.

Maybe it's too much Dead Rising on the XBOX, or it's just my Monster Art pushed to a new level. But I just started a new Flickr group called "Zombie Army". In much the same way as the 700 Hoboes Project, I am encouraging artists of all skill levels to contribute images of zombies to the ever-growing Zombie Army. Pictured here is Catherine, The Zombie Gal, a homage to the female undead in WoW. Keep on the lookout for more zombies as I draw them. And please, feel free to contribute to the project.

Re: Your Brains
Originally uploaded by jawboneradio.

This song was the reason I started doing the VTAW, and I never got a chance to draw it. So here it is. The song Re: Your Brains by Jonathan Coulton done for the upcoming karaoke CD. if you check my Flickr set, you will also see a badge I did of Bob the Zombie for a possible T-shirt design.

VTAW: Mr. Fancy Pants
Originally uploaded by jawboneradio.

His pants are fancy. And the people love him. What can I say?

Is this for real? I think it's fake. Anywho, it's kind of funny. And please, be warned before you click the link. Thanks to Scott for the link.

Bollywood here he comes. Thanks to Monica for the link.

This came through my Google Alerts yesterday. Someone in the podosphere just started a new blog and one of the VERY FIRST posts is a recommendation of our podcast!

"Remember the feeling when you were in elementary school and you realized that today was the day the Scholastic books came in? The heightened anticipation of imminent MadLibs!

That’s the way I feel every time iTunes starts to download a new Jawbone Radio. Jawbone is that rare breed of “Couplecast” which is actually about a couple, not pandering to the lowest common demoninator."

Thank you to the blogger who loves our show enough to compare us to MadLibs. We love them too!

I just hit level 59 over the weekend and I'm about 1/4 of the way to level 60. I am a loser to be sure, but if I play and get XP over the next few weeks, I should be hitting level 60 soon. Which means we'll do an episode of Jawbone live from WoW to celebrate me hitting 60. If there are any WoW players listening or reading this blog, get yourself on Earthen Ring and look for a character named Worradius. I'm hoping to do Strat soon and start picking up some cool gear in anticipation of the next release in Fall.

I am such a geek. I know.

Thanks to Wayne in the Ukraine for this spot.

Ever wonder how Donkey Kong got his name? Or why Coca-Cola is called Coca-Cola? Look no further than this blog. Good stuff! Thanks to the invisible Mr. X for this one.

Hey gang! Very cool news from FoJ (Friend of Jawbone) Dave Devries. Dave has been hard at work developing a new video game based on his Monster Engine concept. And we've got some exclusive preliminary images from the game!

"The Monster Engine Massive Multi-player Online Game (MMOG) is a place where kids rule and straight lines aren't welcome. Why? Because every last 3D piece of this world is built from actual kid's drawings."

Totally rockin! Talking to Dave about this, the game is in very early developmental stages, but promises to be very cool. You can see the whole preview right here. If you scroll down about midway, you can see some of the preliminary artwork that my oldest boys helped create for the game. How cool is that? If I were 9 or 11 and I was helping develop a video game, I think my head would have exploded. So, we thank Dave for affording our kids the opportunity to contribute to such a unique project. Be sure to listen to Jawbone and watch the blog for updates as it moves forward.

ON EDIT: Could this be the world's first MMMOG (Massive Multiplayer Monsteriffic Online Game)? I call that term, if it is. :)

Also, for those of your who are interested, Dave has updated the art section of his site and has added the images of Max's and Sisi's monsters. A few weeks back we shared the preliminary images that were given to Dave by our kids to work on. And now, without further ado, you can finally see Max's entry "The Good Man" here and Siena's entry "Ninja School" here.

Apologies to all from Dan. Have at it.

Neil joins us tonight for a show, where we discuss more catchphrases, including "Snakes On A Plane!" and "Bees In A Basket!" We also fill in our listeners about the rest of the turkey incident, and we go searching for the best fried chicken in the country. All on one show, folks! That's entertainment, I tells ya! Plus, we welcome our first real sponsor to Jawbone Radio: Chillpak. All this and Jonathan Coulton's Thing A Week.

RUNNING TIME: 1 hour 2 minutes
SHOW NOTES:





Please visit our sponsor ChillPak! Visit www.chillpak.com, type in the coupon code "JAWBONE" and recieve 15% off your purchase!






Links:
Snakes on A Plane Personalized Message from Samuel L. Jackson. Thanks to Wayne in the Ukraine for the heads up.
Who Wants to Be A Superhero?
V for Vendetta
Underworld | Underworld: Evolution
Portable Media Expo
The Town Fryer

Help us find the best fried chicken in the country! Send us suggestions here.

Music:
Jonathan Coulton | Creepy Doll

RSS feed.

Download now.

VTAW: Big Bad World One
Originally uploaded by jawboneradio.

I really liked doing this VTAW this week. I remember watching those ABC After School Specials growing up, and after listening to JoCo's latest song "Big Bad World One", I thought "Man, this could be a theme song for one of those episodes." Or a Judy Blume-esque book. Or both. Blame my indecison on this one.

I hope this jars some good memories for everyone and you go reminisce about ABC AfterSchool Specials this week. Have a great weekend everyone!

Actually, they're caterpillars. Thousands of them. And they seem to be encasing this poor Swedish town in cocoons. Check out the photos here. But prepare yourself. Scroll quickly down the page for the real, jaw-dropping, skin-crawling goodness. Via BB.

221 Crispy Morton
Originally uploaded by Ape Lad.

*cue fashionista music*

Today, Jawbone host Len is sporting a brand new black and white Crispy Morton jersey courtesy of Ape Lad. The heatwave has finally broken and it's safe to wear semi-lomg sleeves again. Pick up your own Crispy Morton tee here.

And when I say JoCo, please know I mean the musician Jonathan Coulton and not the new host of Rocketboom, Joanne Colan, who is also being called JoCo. Joanne may have the sexy accent and the cute face, but how can she beat this: A Machina video and live performance of Re: Your Brains. This is one cool video and the fact that it's being performed live is even better.

Yet, you ask me, how Len, how can you possibly beat that? Well, how about cool icons created from my Visual Things A Week! The best part is the Creepy Doll icon. Totally smokin'.

This is by far a way better way to explain Net Neutrality than Senator Stevens: We Are The Web. Be sure to watch the whole video to see all the "celebs" on the site. Thanks to DJ Hojo for the link.

In a lot of ways, Ed reminds me of me. Is he a Showman or an Entreprenuer? Could he be an Showtreprenuer? You decide.

More about Ed here.

Ok, so I just had an idea for a little viral experiment. Let's call it the "Spread Some Ed" Campaign. I'm interested to see how far we, collectively as the net, can throw Ed in one week. Feel free to use the link to the animation of Ed. Or just grab it and host it on your site. Whatever you have to do, I don't care, just spread Ed anyway you can. Make a blog post with him in it. Post it to Digg.com. E-mail him to a friend. If anyone stops you, just say that you are participating in a wide Internet experiment to "Spread Some Ed". if they still look at you weird, run. And then blame Mel Gibson. That's pretty fashionable these days. In any event, I'd be interested to see where Ed ends up. If you reference this blog post, make sure you use the trackback URL so we can all see. And also share some links in the comments for this post.

So what are you waiting for? Get out there and Spread Some Ed this week!

It may be almost 100 degrees in the Midwest today, but damn -- this college video is WAY hotter. This is an unintentionally funny college recruitment video with one of the worst jingles ever written. As one YouTube visitor commented: "I wish I could unwatch it." So true. Via BB.

UPDATE: ASU is claiming the video is a "gag reel" and not an actual recruitment video: Read the NPR story here.

Zombie
Originally uploaded by Ape Lad.

I'm proud to say that today I am wearing my new Zombie T-shirt courtesy of ApeLad. Thanks for the apparel Apelad! The shirt rocks. Incidentally, I also picked up a Crispy Morton jersey, but since it's almost 100 degrees here today, it will be a while until I can wear the longer sleeves.

You can purchase your very own Zombie T-shirt today. I highly recommend it.

This should keep you interested. Check it out.

Funny stuff.

"On Monday's night's episode of The Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert addressed the online resource Wikipedia, the encyclopedia that anyone can read or edit. Colbert praised Wikipedia for "wikiality," the reality that exists if you make something up and enough people agree with you - it becomes reality. Colbert's subsequent examples to prove "wikiality" would cause chaos on the site, and lead an administrator to subsequently block his account."

Check this out: A playset based on the Apple 1984 spot directed by Ridley Scott from PodBrix:

"The 1984 Playset was envisioned from the beginning of PodBrix but only now has been realized. Including an intricately detailed "runner" minifig, two riot police minifigs and an audience of twelve figures, this brick-based work is inspired by the classic TV commercial and features over eighty parts. A static LED backlit movie screen complete with a minifig style "Big Brother" completes the effect."

Thanks to Mr. X for the link.