LOLCaption This: 6-4-07

This week's Caption This is a little different this week. Inspired by LOLCoultons, LOLCats and a suggestion by poster anony-mouse, I decided to do a LOL Caption This contest.

Use the image at the left to create a LOLCaption. (For an example of what this, may I suggest this wonderful resource or for more in-depth resource try this). You can write the LOLCaption in the comments, or you can hork the image and be true to the art form and photoshop your caption on the photo. Winner - decided by me - will get a four pack of signed Monster by Mail buttons.

Have fun and good luck!

Mystery Question 6-4-07

This week's question has to do with -- what else -- monsters.

There is an island with 10 inhabitants. One day a monster comes and says that he intends to eat every one of them but will give them a chance to survive in the following way:
In the morning, the monster will line up all the people - single file so that the last person sees the remaining 9, the next person sees the remaining 8, and so on until the first person that obviously sees no one in front of himself. The monster will then place black or white hats on their heads randomly (they can be all white, all black or any combination thereof).
The monster will offer each person starting with the last one (who sees everyone else's hats) to guess the color of his/her own hat. The answer can only be one word: "white" or "black". The monster will eat him on the spot if he guessed wrong, and will leave him alive if he guessed right. All the remaining people will hear both the guess and the outcome of the guess. The monster will then go on to the next to last person (who only sees 8 people), and so on until the end.
The monster gives them the whole night to think.

The Task:
Devise the optimal strategy that these poor natives could use to maximize their survival rate.

Assumptions:
1) All the 10 people can easily understand your strategy, and will execute it with perfect precision.
2) If the monster suspects that any of the people are giving away information to any of the remaining team members by intonation of words when answering, or any other signs, or by touch, he will eat everyone.
3) The only allowed response is a short, unemotional "white" or "black".
4) Having said that, I will add that you can put any value you like into each of these words. For example, "white" can mean "my mother did my laundry" and "black" can mean the guy in front of me is wearing a black hat.

Last week's question was correctly answered by Bill, although it looks like a cut and paste job. I may have to find another resource for my questions. Hmmm....

Hyperactive Via Drums and Piano

About a year I posted a link to this guy who does a super bang up job of editing his videos to create a totally new song. Well, he's back, this time with drums and a piano. Check it. Thanks to Scott for the link.

The Zombie Tees Have Arrived

Zombie T-Shirts - Dark
Originally uploaded by jawboneradio.

As you may or may not have noticed on this round of Monster By Mail, I am offering a Zombie T-shirt along with the Mondo Monster Package. Well, I got to see the shirts yesterday and they look THE AWSUM! (Sorry, LOLCats on the brain.)

Anyway, thanks much to my sister and brother-in-law for getting this together for me. They do good work those two. They also did the monster buttons for me as well. And here's something else pretty cool. If you sign up for the Monster By Mail mailing list (see the site for details), you are automatically entered into a drawing for Zombie T-shirts!

So you see, when I say it is the Summer of the Undead, I don't lie, folks.

You Never Forget Your First Zombie...

I started drawing the zombies tonight. And as you know, the first zombie is always the one you remember.

Anywho, to kick off the first zombie of the summer, I merged Coulton with zombies and art and this is what was churned out. On another note, I have to admit...I love the new bloody opening credits. I had fun making that. Anyway, enjoy the first zombie of the summer.

How I Did It - The Cartoon Version

How I Did It
Originally uploaded by jawboneradio.

A few weeks ago, Jonathan Coulton wrote a fairly lengthy post on his blog answering the question of how he achieved his fame on the internets. I was thinking about it today and I thought it would make a great comic. So here it is, in all it's glory, very paraphrased.

Jawbone #161: Nora's Advanced Age Rant

Rant! Rant! Rant! Yes our new podcast is a good old-fashioned rant show. We talk about the baby, The Rock Hall, Monster By Mail, Zombies, Basketball and some other stuff I"m sure. Listen in and enjoy the rant! KTHXBAI!

RUNNING TIME: 46:17

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LOLCoultons

Paul and Storm are hilarious. Plain and simple. You want proof? How about this take on the meme, LOLcats called LOLCoultons.

I have to lose some geek cred here. I didn't know what the hell anyone was talking about when they said LOLCats until I drew one for the last round of Monster By Mail. And even then I got it wrong. Now that I know what it is, I can laugh heartily and enjoy these FUR YEERZ TU CUM. In fact, here is mine:


IS I COOLZ NOW?

Also on a related note, ApeLad is starting his new art project concerning the origin of LOLCats. Huzzah!

UPDATE: I was told I got it wrong the first time so here is my second attempt.

Is that better?

Monster By Mail: Summer Of The Undead - NOW OPEN!

onthecar
Originally uploaded by lebovox.

Monster By Mail kicks off the summertime fun with a brand new theme!

As I mentioned on a previous post and on ExtraLife Radio, the new theme for MBM will be everyone's favorite - ZOMBIES!

It's the same principle as before - send me a Zombie name and I'll draw it. Twenty bucks gets you the original art. Thirty adds the video of the creation of your zombie. And for $45, you get the Mondo Monster Package which includes the art, the video a four pack of monster buttons (while supplies last) and a the infamous "See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Eat Brains" T-shirt.

It's a great way to celebrate zombism in general and a great way to kick off the Summer of The Undead, as it will come to be known from here on in.

Oh, and don't forget to sign up for the MBM mailing list while you're there. It will give you the heads up on new themes, new promotions, and other special surprises I have in store. Mwuhahahah!

So grab a shovel and let's start busting some zombie skulls open -- er, I mean, get some original zombie art! Go! NOW!

Say Hello To Our Daughter

Well, Nora and I went to the doctor today for her ultrasound and we were able to confirm that yes, we will be having a baby girl in the fall. I am estatic. Believe it or not, this is the first time that I have ever been to an ultrasound with Nora. With our previous kids, either I was working or we opted not to get one. In any event, she looked beautiful from what I could see, and I am really looking forward to meeting her.

In other news, the baby's due date was changed to be on my birthday. What a great birthday gift, eh? This means that both my daughters will be born right around my birthday. There is something poetic about that, I'm just not talented enough to express it.

ELR Appearance

Last night, I made another appearance on ExtraLife Radio and along with discussing what summer movies we want to see, I let people in on the theme for the next round of Monster By Mail: ZOMBIES! That's right, I'll be drawing zombies for the next round, so keep an eye out for that soon hopefully by the end of the week.

Anyway, check out the show and hear my silky voice here. And thanks to Daryl for this really cool zombie photo from a recent Canadian street fair.

The Vader Project

vaderproject19
Originally uploaded by bonniegrrl.

Dovetailing off GuitarMania, here is another totally cool art project called "The Vader Project".

"Walking through The Vader Project exhibit at Celebration IV is like taking a stroll through a Darth Vader tribute done by the coolest lowbrow and urban artists on the planet. As fans walk through the exhibit they can see the artist’s own unique style featured on each helmet. Whether it’s a Tiki-inspired design from Shag or a girlie 1940’s style pinup from Marc Ecko — it’s apparent each artist took time to pay special tribute to the headwear of the Sith."

I found out about this project from one of my Flickr contacts, Bonniegrrl, who is a Lucas employee. Man, I wish I had her job. Check out the full set of photos here.

And check out more about the Vader Project (including a video) here.

Totally Awesome Pirate Ninja Monkey Bot

I got this image over the holiday weekend and I didn't get a chance to post it until now. For the Fictional Monster Movie Theme of Monster By Mail, I drew a rather imaginative cartoon for someone named Colleen called "Attack of the Pirate-Ninja-Monkey-Bots from Outer Space". Well, a cartoonist friend of Colleen's did a take on my monster and it turned out awesome. Click on the left to see it in all it's Pirate-y Ninja Goodness.

Just so you all know, the Crytozoology phase of Monster By Mail will be ending this week and I'll have a new theme up next week along with some new surprises. It should prove to be a very exciting theme -- think braaaains. :)

Silver Surfer Promotional Coins Illegal

20th Century Fox may be in a little hot water for a promotional stunt for their upcoming release of "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer". Apparently, they were going to release 40,000 coins that featured an image of the Surfer on the back. Fox worked with the Franklin Mint to alter the coins, but the US Mint wasn't aware of the promotion:

"They’ve put the Surfer on quarters. Twentieth Century Fox and The Franklin Mint collaborated to alter 40,000 U.S. quarters. The problem with this is that the U.S. Mint was not aware of the plan. They issued a news release on Friday to inform both the studio and the mint that it is against the law to alter these coins. The law prohibits the use of coins as advertising vehicles, and fines are applicable to violators. "

Oops! I doubt these will see the light of day. But count yourself lucky if you find one. See more here.

Len TV: Guitarmania

Happy Memorial Day everyone! On this special episode of Len TV, I document the hard work done by my nephew Trevor on our Guitarmania 2007 guitar entitled "Octopus' Garden". To see the backstory on this guitar and the art project, see this post. Our design was chosen by the committee and the guitar was sponsored by Time Warner Cable. Also, our guitar was one of seven that were brought into the Rock Hall, which we feel is pretty darn good and an indictaion of something. Also, it will be on display pretty prominently here in town, so all is good. Watch the video and enjoy your holiday!

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Walk The Walk

Ah, the good old days. I remember when Emily (AKA aleprechaun, AKA Code Monkey Dance Girl) had only a handful of views of her Code Monkey Dance and I felt like I had discovered something really cool before anyone else had. Now the girl has been featured on NPR, the NYT and she has over a gazillion views of her dances. She's back again with a new dance that is slightly more focused and, for lack of a better word, professional. As professional you can get while dancing in your bedroom in your pajamas. Anyway, enjoy her new dance - a Bob Fosse-esque take on Poe's "Walk The Walk".

Caption This: 5-28-07

Mystery Question 5-28-07

No prize this week, just a fun question.

"Emperor Akbar once ruled over India. He was a wise and intelligent ruler, and he had in his court the Nine Gems, his nine advisors, who were each known for a particular skill. One of these Gems was Birbal, known for his wit and wisdom. The story below is one of the examples of his wit. Do you have it in you to find out the answer?

Once Emperor Akbar ordered a horse to be delivered to Birbal so that he could easily move about the kingdom.

The stable-keeper however, was extremely jealous of Birbal, and decided to deliver a sick and weak horse to him. The horse was delivered to Birbal's stable. The next morning, when Birbal went to proudly leave his house on a horse, he found the horse was dead. Looking at the weak and frail horse, he understood what must have happened. However he could not insult the Emperor or his gift, so he kept silent.

Unfortunately for him, the Emperor observed him entering the palace grounds on foot and, when he entered the court, the Emperor immediately questioned him about the horse.

What was Birbal's diplomatic and accurate reply?"

Congrats to former Clevelander, Jen! She was the only answer and the correct one from last week and she gets a four pack of Monster By Mail buttons. Send me your address Jen and I will get them out ASAP.

Heroes Set On Flickr

Hulk
Originally uploaded by jawboneradio.

For those of you who are interested, I have started a Heroes (and possibly villian set) on Flickr. It will become a repository for my interpretations of different comic book heroes. There are only a few in there now, but I'm sure over time I will add more. I was inspired to a small painting of the Hulk last night and that's what prompted me to start it. Check it out.

GuitarMania Hits Cleveland

For those of you who don't know, Cleveland is the Rock and Roll Capital of the World. Yup, it's true. And one of the benefits of living in the Rock Capital of the World is that you get to participate in some pretty cool public art projects.

A few months ago, my nephew Trevor asked me if I would like to work with him on some designs for GuitarMania , a public art project where artists are invited to create scuplture and art out of these huge oversized guitars. It's been a pretty popular project here in town and it certainly is very prestigious, as each guitar is auctioned off at the end of the summer and also displayed all over town. Many artists from across the country, and even some celebrities, have desigend guitars for the project. I agreed to help Trevor design the guitar and lo and behold, our design, Octopus' Garden, was accepted into the project. Moreover, it got sponsored by Time Warner Cable.

Now, I must confess, my major contribution to the project was my design. Trevor did all the hard work and back-breaking labor of sculpting and painting , lugging this heavy piece to various locations and essentially bringing my artwork to life. He's an incredible artist, a very talented painter and not surpisingly, his guitar is getting a lot of attention. In fact, the sculpture will be displayed rather prominently across from Tower City, a major hub here in town.

Anywho, I was pretty excited about it's big unveiling this weekend. From what I understand, our design is in the upper eschelon of designs for the project. I have to make a trek downtown to see it in person and when I do, photos and video will be forthcoming. But in the meantime, you can see more about our guitar and the other guitars in the project here.

UPDATE: I met the guitar in person and have uploaded the photos to prove it.

The Evil Lakewood Landord

I got this link a few days ago from Michael, who was surprised to see a story on Digg out of Lakewood, Ohio. Apparently, a landlord has been forced to live in his apartment building with no heat, stove or water. The story has been all over the news here in Cleveland. But the interesting thing is that I just found out tonight that this guy used to be Neil's landlord. (Neil, occassional Jawbone guest and blogger of Fishbrick, of course). He says the guy was a pretty nice guy, but never did anything in his apartment building. Anyway, talk about a brush with fame!

Thats One Big Pig!

This has been all over the place and several people have sent me the link, but it's too good not to show.

"Jamison Stone, 11 years old, shot the wild boar that weighed in at a “staggering 1,051 pounds and measured 9-feet-4 from the tip of its snout to the base of its tail"

At first, I thought it looked fake, but the offical website tells a different story. Check it.

Happy Star Wars Day!

"It was 30 years ago today
Luke Skywalker blew the Death Star away..."

Man am I really that old? Anyway, today Star Wars turns 30 and to commemorate, I picked up a sheet of Star Wars stamps and a book of postcards from the post office.

How are you celebrating this milestone day?

Tank Girl Returns!

I was a big fan of this comic back in my college heydays. So this comes as great news:

Coming in May of 2007, Ash will work with Tank Girl co-creator/writer Alan Martin on an all-new, four-part Tank Girl adventure, Tank Girl: The Gifting. While Ash will be handling the character for the first time, Scotland-based Alan Martin is returning to the character he originated with artist Jamie Hewlett (also of Gorillaz fame). The Gifting will feature a series of non-linear stories (as you'd expect in a proper Tank Girl adventure) with such titles as "The Dogsh*t in Barney's Handbag," "Kill Jumbo," and "The Innocent Die First."

Great news for those lovers of Tank Girl. Read the whole story.

LEN TV: A Trip To The Real Zoo

Len TV returns with a brand new episode!

I decided to take a break from monsters and cryptids for a bit and go see the real fake dinosaurs at our local zoo. With my trusty companion in tow, we get a one-on-one meeting with some of the coolest pieces of mechanized rubber that Cleveland has ever seen. Enjoy!

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