Snow Day Judge

A belated napkin from our snow day last week:

Snow Goon with Nerf "The Judge" blaster that shoots many, many darts. (30 in groups of 3)

...because snow goons appreciate excess.

When my son suggested that I draw this particular weapon, he directed me to a couple of YouTube videos in which vloggers discuss a "leaked" snapshot of this not yet produced gun with the intensity and detail with which some might parse the Zapruder film or a grainy snapshot of Bigfoot.

Foolish me. I have only recently become able to say, or type, the word "vlogger" with a straight face, and now I have to get my mind around the concept that there are adults who professionally discuss hypothetical Nerf merchandise at great length and in great detail. And there are tens of thousands of people who watch them.

Previously, I had difficultly understanding why my sons, and thousands, if not millions, of other people wanted to endlessly watch a stranger play Minecraft on YouTube.

My sons frequently expand my aging mind to accept new concepts.
Mostly against my will.

Rudolph and Santa Take on the Snow Goons with Menorah Machine Guns

Holiday Team-up:

A belated Merry Christmas and a happy final day of #hanukkah2016! 

My kids are pleased to reap the benefits of both holidays. 

This one was a specific request, and, alas, is not drawn on a napkin. We were out of town and I was napkinless and markerless. I did have some watercolor paper and a little boxed paint set and was able to work on this rather muddy image.
I was asked to make Santa and Rudolph super buff (not my sons' term) and using menorah shaped machine guns. I added the Calvin and Hobbes style Snow Goons since it seemed like an enemy was in order.

My kids are of "mixed background" ie, as we like to say, some of us are Jewish by birth and some of us are "not." (Although those of us who are not might be able to say the entire Hanukkah blessing in Hebrew, while those of us who are might not...) At any rate, we celebrate any holiday which might involve the giving of gifts to children. Mercifully, the two holidays coincided this year.

Can you believe that no one else has used the hashtag #menorahmachinegun on Instagram ?!! Or even #machinegunmenorah

Yet another unfilled niche on the web.

You can see our other holiday (Christmas and Hanukkah) images at these links:

Christmas

Hanukkah 

Snow Day

Snow Goons visit our house...if only...

Our kids are big fans of Calvin and Hobbes.  They appreciate Calvin's imagination and constant attacks on parental authority.  While my sympathy now lies more with Calvin's parents, I do admire his incredible industriousness when it comes to building snowmen. (Take a look at "Attack of the Deranged Mutant Snow Goons" for the malicious two headed snowman.)

As you may have heard, we got a whole lot of snow in New York City yesterday.  This was initially not so inspiring to our in-house attackers of parental authority. They saw it as an opportunity for unimpeded screen time, officially condoned by the mayor of New York. (He told everyone to stay inside!)

It would have taken a visit from Calvin and Hobbes style Snow Goons to get them off the couch... maybe.

Blizzard over, we did insist that they play outside today. They built a snow fort and then collapsed it, spilling snow all over the sidewalk that their parents had just finished laboriously shoveling.

Calvin would have been proud.

After the collapse of the snow fort:
(Don't be too concerned,
there are two kids in this photo)

Dark Snowman

My younger son pointed out that we needed some bad guys for our web comic. He invented an evil, dark, non melting snowman.  I proposed that he should be made of the dirty snow that remains when a huge pile of snow melts in the city. I suppose that means he is mostly made of soot and car exhaust. 

Below is my son's far superior version of this fellow, drawn on the Number 2 train at 7:40 am.. 

Snow Goons Run Rampant in New York

Happy Snow Day:

As you may have heard, it snowed some  in NYC last night. If you don't live in the vicinity, perhaps you missed the mayor announcing on television that not only was he recommending that everyone should stay home, but that any unauthorized person found driving after 11 pm would run the risk of being arrested. The subways were shut down also, so transportation options were rather limited.

Of course the storm did not live up to its once in a lifetime, "stay home or die...or at least be arrested" predictions. 

Which leads up to the question of why was martial law declared last night?

Perhaps it was snow goons.

(If you are wondering why I say "snow goons"...I mean the Calvin and Hobbes variety: here's the book, and a gallery)

Rudolph, the Grinch, Max and the Abominable Snowman

Ghosts of Christmas Past:

The "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer" television special from 1964 (broadcast every year since of course) and "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas" (1966 version by Chuck Jones) were certainly staples of my childhood.

Not so much for my sons.   I think they would probably say that both shows are a bit boring.  Not enough weapons, too much plot.

Although I should add  that the most memorable parts of each for me were not the main characters.  My favorite part of The Grinch was always his comically put-upon dog-turned reindeer Max.  And I was somehow terrified by the "Abominable Snow Monster" (could it have been the roar?  it certainly wasn't the face).

I think my kids would probably agree that the supporting characters were the best part.

Hiccup And Toothless With Snow Dragon

How to Make Your Snow Dragon: Hiccup works while Toothless models....or maybe just lurks.

Should we ever get a significant snowfall this winter, I may regret this drawing. Previous snowman attempts in years past (most notably, Captain Rex from the Clone Wars) have always ended badly, and I doubt we would be able to pull off a convincing snow dragon.