25 Days of Christmas...

I was flipping around my Twitch Channels and watched a bit of Final Wars and Destroy All Monsters and then switched over to a Cartoon channel. (CartoonBlast if you wish to check it out.) Well, they've entitled their feed, "The 25 Days of Christmas" and I've decided to steal their idea. First, I watched Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983) which features some cool cameos by Jiminy Cricket, Mr. Toad, Willie the Giant, the Weasels, and others. Here's a snippet, search for the whole thing yourself.

Next Toy Tinkers (1949) with the Chippendale Dancers Chip & Dale and Donald. 

Good Will To Men (1955) is an incredibly bleak but fascinating short by Hanna Barbera. 

Finally a Silly Symphony of The Night Before Christmas.

I'll try and add some cartoons daily. There are plenty to choose from!

Meanwhile, being the 1st of December, that means it's Calendar time. Here are my Star Wars and Jurassic Park entries for this month. 

Last year's Chibi-Godzilla calendar.

Picked this up yesterday for a buck. I may find a place for this Kubrick on my tree. (If I had one.)

Since Poker night was cancelled, here's the next best thing. (Scott Hilburn)

Lastly, I just can't get away from posting Godzilla stuff. I scored 4/6 tumblers at a buck a piece and a tea cup. Far cheaper than a full price Kuji at 900 yen.

I'm off to bed soon, I have an early morning of HoHoHoing with the kiddies tomorrow!

Playing Trump.

No, I'm not getting political here (and rarely ever will), even with the big news today. My speculation is that it's a lie. A certain someone has been known to prevaricate before. I'm talking about "Trump" as in the Japanese term for playing cards. I often play cards on Friday nights so I'd love to get into a match with this table full of players.

These are the players in question though it’s difficult to discern their actual names.

The vampiric ブイイ (Buii from 旧ン連 = Former Soviet Union.) who is often portrayed phallically.

Here’s another picture to prove my point. 

I wouldn’t mind buying this if I see it at a reasonable price. 

(Those last two pics were scammed from the Net, not my book.)

In the lower right corner is a ケースマンテル (Kesmantle from Austria and I have no idea what it is).

バックベアード (Backbeard?? Some kind of strange spider-like eye from America.

Backbeard has quite the history with the Gegege gang as well. 

Your basic run of the mill ポルターガイスト (European Poltergeist).

Below him is a balding ピクラス (Pikras) from Latvia

I hope I win the pot legitimately, I don't think that this crowd takes too kindly to strangers cheating. 

Maybe if I were to wear this. (Thank you 100¥ shop.)

I have a video of this mask but am having difficulty uploading it (thank you "improved" Blogger.)

Woohoo! Success!

Today’s treat is a pack of Pocky, which I plan to send to a friend in Canada if I get around to it. 

Hey! You even get a cutout mask!

See ya tomorrow, I'm off to go play Trump...

It's In the Cards.

I'm really excited about this book by Shigeru Mizuka. It's not about your basic run-of-the-mill Japanese Yokai, it's all about international monsters all drawn by the GeGeGe creator. The inside cover frontispiece is a picture of a half-dozen demons playing poker. Not as dramatic as dogs but still pretty cool.
Starting in the upper right corner and going clockwise is a ポルターガイスト (European Poltergeist).
Below him is a balding ピクラス (Pikras from Latvia--it is tough to figure out the spelling on some of these but it appears to be some kind of Mermaid/Merman).
In the lower right corner is a ケースマンテル (Kesmantle from Austria and I have no idea what it is). Beside him is a serpentine 金し鳥 (Kinshi-cho from North Korea, again NO info available).
The vampiric ブイイ (Buii from 旧ン連 = Russia.) who is often portrayed rather phallic.
バックベアード (Backbeard?? Not Blackbeard. Some kind of strange spider-like eye from America.)

As for today's maze, help Frankenstein find his missing bolt! (Once I get the scanner working, I'll have printable versions.)

That's it for today. More goodies tomorrow!

Oh wait, here's a video for your perusal...



It's Monster School!