STARTING OUT THE NEW YEAR 2011

It has been a while since my last post when I got addicted to my Donkey Kong game and got distracted from my blog.
This time my absence was based on a few reasons.
1.) I got a new computer and had to transfer all of my files to the new one (this took a lot more time than I'd expected).
2.) I got a case of the winter "blahs" which took away a lot of my motivation.
3.) I got addicted to yet another damn video game.

I bought a Playstation at a garage sale last summer for a dollar and had it sitting around until early December I decided to order one of my favorite old games Spyro the Dragon. I had a lot of fun replaying it again.



I had a really great holiday season and not only bought my family some great stuff, but got a few neat things for myself.

My dad gave me a $25 gift certificate to Barnes & Noble which was nice because I can always find so many cool books there that I wish I had.

I was scouring the discount and sale books when I came across "The Completely Mad Don Martin" which is Mad artist Don Martin's complete work in two large hardbound books. I saw this years ago for $150 but of course could not afford it at the time. It was marked 50% the discounted price of $25 which came out to $13. I couldn't believe I got such an excellent deal ($13 for a $150 book set). It's a large and entertaining read, I'm only 1/4 of the way through it.



I was lucky during the holidays to win a Ebay auction for a full box of Gross Bears pins which were illustrated by my favorite artist Tom Bunk in 1985. They are tough to find in general but even harder to find an original box full.

I stuck the box up on a shelf in my studio along with a new Donkey Kong figure to remind me how much enjoyment I got playing that damn game.



As far as the pins themselves, I mounted them on a board for display by my computer.





I also got myself a few Garbage Pail Kids items from my favorite card dealer Marchant Cards. They are the company I buy most of my old trading cards from. They had some excellent holiday sales and I got 3 GPK 3-d wall plaks for $4 a piece (cheap). They are 3-dimensional and have fake wooden frames.



I also ordered some other trading card crap from Marchant Cards including a full box of Trash Can Trolls from 1992. I actually remember buying these from the store when they first came out and how much they reminded me of the old GPKs. I had a full set but it was real nice to finally get a hold of the box which has fluffy troll hair on it and came in four colors.



I put it up on a shelf with my two-headed Norfin troll.



I also lucked out recently when I came across a nice bookshelf that someone had chucked to the curb. I needed one real bad for my Mad collection which had grown and threatened to collapse my old bookshelf which had began to buckle under the weight. I drug it home and it is just the size I needed.



Last of all, I finally completed my Diener space aliens/monster eraser collection. I've been trying to find them all for a while and acquired a whole bunch of other Diener erasers in the process. I've done a couple previous posts on these before but the monsters/aliens were always the ones I hoped to find the most. I filled my whole display.



One of my New Years resolutions is to blog frequently and now my only problem is what to post first. I've got a whole bunch of stuff to share, it's just a matter of where to start first.

IDLE HANDS...

It's been almost a full month since my last blog post. I get caught up in little projects and fixated sometimes and stay offline at times. I thought I'd share a few little things.

I dug out the Nintendo 64 and thought I'd take another crack at Donkey Kong. I played a few minutes of it years ago and couldn't really figure out the game and gave up but this time I got addicted pretty quick.



I spent over 60 hrs not only beating the game, but getting every single coin, golden banana, including all the secret ones. My problem with video games is I'm never satisfied with just beating them I have to get all the top scores and secret stuff. I haven't gotten hooked on a game for about five years for that reason. It's kind of like a good book you can't put down (more like a drug). It's better not to touch them as far as I'm concerned.

There was a guy who posted walkthroughs of the entire game on Youtube with commentary which I watched along with my play. By the time the game/videos were done I felt like I lost a nerdy friend which is pretty pathetic but totally me. I got used to his dorky humor and catch phrases. His Youtube name is GNRfan (Gun's and Roses fan?) he's done a lot of videos for different games and probably has about as many friends as I do.



Anyway, game has been beaten and done with. I drew a picture of Donkey Kong in my sketch book to seal the deal and remind me of those hours.



I'm too sentimental sometimes. Speaking of that, I was proud of myself for letting go of sentimentality the other day.
A lady I work with was collecting pop tabs for a donation to the Ronald McDonald House which I'm pretty familiar with as a cancer survivor. She had asked me if I had any cans I could pull the tabs off and immediately remembered the year 1997 when I decided just for fun to save the pop tabs off every can of pop I drank for an entire year. I was curious, and I know I drink a lot so on January 1st of 1997 I began pulling the tabs off every can I drank and sticking them in my back pocket. Before I went to bed every night I would stick them in a jug on my dresser. A year later on December 31 I dumped them on the carpet and counted them. There were 763. I strung them on a string and made a necklace which I've saved ever since.



So after a couple days I decided to donate my necklace to sick kids. I wanted to wear it for the last time and had my daughter Sam take a photo of me hopping around like an ape (too much Donkey Kong).



Not only did I neglect my blog/Facebook but I also try to do at least one drawing a day in my sketchbook to prevent "artist's block" and I was losing motivation. Usually when this happens I just dig around my studio for inspiration. One morning I heard a squeek and turned around to see my stuffed Gizmo doll from Gremlins fell off the shelf. He is from a mail-away from Gremlins cereal from 1984.





I decided to build some paper mogwais for a project and worked up some designs in my sketch book.







I wanted to make two brown/white furred mogwais and a black/white furred one based on an evil one from Gremlins 2.





It took about 6 hours to make the heads and another 6 to roll paper for the arms and make the bodies. The smaller they are the harder they are to cut, fold, and glue. They turned out just how I imagined they would.





I've got a couple projects on the shelf and with winter coming up I'm sure to be spending a lot more time in my studio.

CEREAL OF THE 80'S

Sit down in front of your Saturday morning cartoons and munch away on that delicious bowl of 1980s cereal. Can you resist digging the prize out of the box right away? Will the cereal turn the milk colors?
Scroll through these happy memories of your 80s breakfast.


GHOSTBUSTERS CEREAL 1985








RAINBOW BRITE CEREAL 1984




NINTENDO CEREAL SYSTEM 1988




GREMLINS CEREAL 1984


I've got this Gizmo doll in my studio. When you shake him he squeeks.


DONKEY KONG CEREAL 1983


DONKEY KONG JR. CEREAL 1983


CABBAGE PATCH KIDS CEREAL 1985


MR. T CEREAL 1984

This cereal always reminds me of Pee Wee's Big Adventure when he eats it for breakfast.






CRISPY CRITTERS 1989


CROONCHY STARS 1989


C3POS CEREAL 1984




PAC-MAN CEREAL 1980




E.T. CEREAL 1984


BARBIE CEREAL 1988


ICE CREAM CONE CEREAL 1987


Who could resist putting the little ice cream puffs on top of the cones and eating them one by one?


I have one of these green octopus wall crawlers in my studio. It still works just fine after being washed with soapy water. This was from Froot Loops (1986).


NERDS CEREAL 1985
Like the nintendo cereal this had two separate compartments that had different cereal.

The smelly markers on this box were the first mail away I ever sent for. I was in second grade and I didn't understand the concept of the postal service. The day after I sent the letter I sat in a lawn chair at the curb out front of my house waiting for the mailman to bring me my markers. I seriously believed they were coming from Willy Wonka's factory. That summer I sat on the curb every morning for over a month. Finally the day they showed up I wore them all out in about three or four hours.


G.I. JOE 1985


SMURF-BERRY CRUNCH 1985

This one must have been around for a while because I remember eating craploads of Smurf-Berry Crunch.

I hope this brought back some marshmellowriffic memories. Sorry for you kiddos that had to eat malt-o-meal. This post has been part of your complete breakfast!!