Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Mr Toast's USA Tour - Minnesota

Mr Toast hung out with my weinermobile collection on the day he arrived in Minneapolis.

I took him to my boyfriend matt's house, and he made friends right away.

He had the good timing to arrive in town on the first really nice day of the year! The building hadn't even put out the gas grill and patio furniture yet, but that didn't stop us.

I think mr toast is vegetarian. He liked the gardenburger.

On Wednesday, he went to his first twins game at the Metrodome! They'll be moving to the new outdoor stadium in two seasons, but for now we have to hang out inside a giant dome. which was fine, since it was kind of cold out.

I think Mr Toast is a Tampa Bay Rays fan. Pete seems wary. Notice the GIANT CROWD at the metrodome!! haha.

Nobody LIKES going to see the mall of america, but it's something you have to do when you visit minnesota, just to say you've been there.

Mr Toast went on a saturday, just when the mall was most insane. There were Elvis impersonators performing in the rotunda, and he saw a girl getting arrested for shoplifting at Old Navy. His hosts couldn't get out of the mall fast enough!

Mr Toast wanted to go on the roller coaster, but Matt's not a fan. Also, it was full of children. next time!

Mr Toast didn't know he was a huge hockey fan til he arrived in the state of hockey. He went to xcel center, which was covered in stanley cup playoff banners, and that was very exciting.

Inside, he saw his first lacrosse game, with the minnesota swarm!

After the lacrosse game, we all headed across the street to the wild viewing party. since that night's game was in denver, xcel center had set up a couple huge tv screens on top of the parking ramp. they had food and beer vendors, and a live band played during intermissions.

It was cold out, and even snowed a little! mr toast kept warm by bundling up in a camp chair. By the end of the night, we were all very comfortable indeed.

Mr Toast visited one of minneapolis' most well-known landmarks, the spoon bridge and cherry, in the sculpture garden. legend has is that there are security guards watching it all the time, to prevent people from climbing on it. Mr Toast did not test to see if this was true or not.

Here's Mr Toast hanging out with my boyfriend in the sculpture garden.

Mr Toast liked my car, but i wouldn't let him drive. His feet didn't reach the pedals. He did spend quite a while riding around in the cupholder on the dashboard, however.

We walked up the Hennepin Avenue Bridge so Mr Toast could have a good view of another of our classic landmarks, the grain belt sign overlooking the Mississippi River. The old brewery buildings are located a mile or so upstream.

We took a walk down to the riverfront in downtown Minneapolis so Mr Toast could see the Mississippi. there, he found this little fish-with-legs. I'm pretty sure it climbed out of the river one day.

Thanks Jenni for the great time in Minneapolis!

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Sooper Kookies

Sooper KookiesSooper Kookies

Sooper Kookies were Nabisco's answer to Pop Tarts in 1973.

Monday, April 28, 2008

Friday, April 25, 2008

LA Times Festival of Books

I will be set up at the LA Times Festival of Books this weekend. Saturday and Sunday at the UCLA Campus. I am in the Children's Area South right by the Inverted Fountain. The show is free but you have to pay for parking.

Demonstration

Plagiarism?

A few weeks ago I ran across a new t-shirt design on shirt.woot.com. It was titled "Mr Toast" and the story on the site goes like this "he was just a simple slice of bread, traveling with his loaf to start a new life in the place they called “The Wild West”. They caught up to his wagon just outside of Kansas. Kid Marmalade. Jesse Jam. Pat Butter and Layer O’Cheese. They took everything he had. Crumbled up his family and left them for dead. Only he wasn’t finished with them yet."

Maybe they did well selling this design but it is not really cute or fun or even interesting. So I didn't really give it a second thought.

Then right before I was leaving for NY I ran across this on Flickr.

Two bogus Mr Toasts in less then one month, who would have guessed. This one was for Threadless and it ended up scoring a 2.12 out of 5. The funniest thing was that in the comments section someone wrote "dope illustration, too bad mr. toast already exists."

It is impossible for me to know if either of these is actual plagiarism. The one thing I do know is that Mr Toast is not just one time silly image for a t-shirt. He is a character with a history and story. I am going to keep making real Mr Toast t-shirts and hopefully these weak, fake ones will disappear.....

Thursday, April 24, 2008

New York Comic Con

I love New York. It is such a great city and the NY Comic Con is such a fun show. As usually there are tons of new Mr Toast fans. I also got to hang out with old time fans like John & Natalie, Jason & Amy, Jessica T, Todd Webb, Eric Talbot, and many more. Met alot of cool industry people including some of the guys that work on Little Golden Books. I even got to do a fun signing at the MyPlasticHeart booth.

So big thanks to everyone who came out. You all made it a great show.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Thursday, April 17, 2008

NY Comic Con

This weekend is the NY Comic Con. I am flying out for the show and will be set up in the Small Press Area - it should be booth #2367.

I will also be signing at the MyPlasticHeart booth on Saturday from 1-2PM. Their booth is number #866.

New York Comic Con is held at the Jacob K. Javits Center in Midtown Manhattan. The Javits Center is located at 655 West 34th Street. Open to the Public: Friday, April 18, 3:00 PM - 8:00 PM Saturday, April 19, 10:00 AM - 7:00 PM Sunday, April 20, 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM

For more information visit: NY Comic Con

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Funny Face Cartoon

It seems that the Funny Face characters are making a comeback. I just read on the cartoonbrew.com website that "Renegade plans to produce an animated television series based on the property. The studio is currently producing a pilot episode while seeking distribution and licensing agreements. According to the press release:
The Funny Face television series will be aimed at kids from 6 to 11 and will recall the animation style and the spirit of classic, theatrical cartoons such as Tom & Jerry and Looney Tunes."

I can't wait, the designs look spot on and I am sure the kids would love it!!!

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Good Food

Puddin' Head pack

Puddin Head

Hostess Cup cakes box

Hostess Cupcakes

Toll House Cookie Mix box

Toll House Cookies

60's Hostess Twinkies

Hostess Twinkies

Baby Huey Oatmeal Cookies box

Baby Huey Oatmeal Cookies?!?!?!?!

Monday, April 14, 2008

Saturday, April 12, 2008

NY Comic Con

Next weekend is the NY Comic Con. I am flying out for the show and will be set up in the Small Press Area - it should be booth #2367.

I will also be signing at the MyPlasticHeart booth on Saturday from 1-2PM. Their booth is number #866.

New York Comic Con is held at the Jacob K. Javits Center in Midtown Manhattan. The Javits Center is located at 655 West 34th Street. Open to the Public: Friday, April 18, 3:00 PM - 8:00 PM Saturday, April 19, 10:00 AM - 7:00 PM Sunday, April 20, 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM

For more information visit: NY Comic Con

Friday, April 11, 2008

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Mr Toast's USA Tour - Missouri

Look! Up in the sky! Mr. Toast drops in for a visit!

Time to “show” this toast tourist some swell places and keen things in our happy state.

First stop at Hickory Hill Antiques where we found some cool vintage stuff.

It might’ve been a bland and dreary day, but we had fun singing “I’m Just a Bill” on the steps of the State Capital building in Jefferson City.

The sun peeked out just in the nick of time as we walked up to the famous Gateway Arch in St. Louis. Mr. Toast wished he hadn’t forgot his parachute.

Busch Stadium home of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Hall of Fame shortstop Ozzie Smith finds Mr. Toast instead of a baseball in his glove. Good catch from the Wizard!

A trip to St. Louis isn’t complete without a visit to Ted Drewes Frozen Custard. Yummy!

Mr. Toast just loves the buzz of vintage neon and an excuse for a Shamrock Shake at McDonald’s in Holts Summit.

Hanging out with some friends.

One night Clem came over for root beer and monster movies.

The next roadtrip was to Kansas City and the first stop was President Harry S. Truman’s house in Independence.

Look it’s Mayor McCheese. He said he might run for Prez this year.

Captured by Stormtroopers at Planet ComicCon! Luckily, Mr. Toast used the force and with a few Jedi mind tricks, we were safe. (Shh, don’t tell Mr. Toast, but we had to cross the border into Kansas City, KS for the Con)

It’s always fun to hob knob with celebrities, especially when they’re pop culture icons. This is Kenny Baker, the actor who played R2-D2 in all six Star Wars films.

Mr. Toast enjoyed meeting lovely scream queen, Brinke Stevens and she didn’t even take a bite out of him.

Botany Bay, it’s Walter Koenig! Known for portraying Pavel Chekov in the original Star Trek series and Alfred Bester in Babylon 5.

Yippee! It’s Drive-In movie season!

Now for a tour of the Lake of the Ozarks.

Above the historic Bagnell Dam.

Another view of Bagnell Dam. A rare look with all the working gates open.

Whoa, these Muffler Men sure are tall.

Waving hello.

Taking a ride in the General Lee.

Spring is finally here!

Enjoying an Ozark view at Ha Ha Tonka State Park in Camdenton.

Castle ruins in Missouri?

Yep right here in Ha Ha Tonka State Park.

We enjoyed having Mr. Toast as a guest and he enjoyed his tour of Missouri.

Thanks Todd for showing Mr Toast all around Missouri!