Mar 26, 2010
Zebracorn Contest Winners
[Amanda was supposed to write this, but she’s too busy devouring cake… So I’m her stand in.]
To celebrate her Birthday, Amanda Visell held a photo contest via twitter with a big bounty – her upcoming 20” Zebracorn Dunny (Kidrobot). Here’s a look at the winning entry from Natasha A. Rice. While this one is awesome, there are plenty of other sweet submissions as well. Hit the jump to see more.
The Last Toy I Bought
Otamatone by Maywa Denki. So I actually saw this thing on Vinyl Pulse first. Went to the event at Giant Robot, the toy is awesome, we bought as many as we could (one each). I geeked out on the dude and gave him a Dragon Scout. I’m guessing there was a bit of a language barrier. Its super fun, we got a white one that you have to keep plugged in and a battery operated black, which I have already drained the life from. Its hard to put down. The only song I came close to playing was the super mario bros theme.
-AV
Bwana Spoons Interview
Hi Bwana Spoons, thanks for joining us. So we are best friends, but can you tell the viewers how/where we met?
You guys always say you were stalking me at Comic Con, but in real life I saw your works and liked them, and then my old shop partner had a show booked with you and Michelle and then he bailed. You guys were supposed to be the next show and he didn’t even tell you he was leaving I think. So I maybe talked about a make-up show. Uh... Not about make up, but maybe a show for a later date. When’s that Amanda show gonna be at Grass Hut? Natural History Museum, that’s for girls.
You are a fine type artist, a toy designer, a small business owner, does it ever get boring? Sorry, my question just bored me, lets talk chickens.
Chickens are awesome, dumb, hungry all the time, cute, a little scary, and taste good. My neighbor thinks they are ducks, but that’s because I have a special neighbor.
All that other stuff- no not boring, but maybe well beyond my capacity to chew. And flat out a bad idea to make art and try to run a shop at the same time. Too much business, not enough everything else. But I can’t help it. I love seeing other peeples art on my walls, and showing the world art they may have never seen before that I know and feel more peeple need to see and love. Did that make sense?
Pics please, and how sure are you that you can taste the difference between store bought eggs and the ones you pull from your chicken's tushys?
Getting my own asseggs is the best. They are bright orange on the inside and are superior in most ways. When I get them from the coop sometimes they are still warm, occasionally even hot.
Bwana. What did you want to be when you were a kid? How weird is your job now? What would tiny you think about you now? Would you be impressed with your beard?
I think tiny me would not understand the beard. Maybe I would be impressed with me. I know I always wanted to be an artist, but couldn’t see how I would put it together. I definitely didn’t think I would be able to make a living selling and making my own art. I thought all the way thru even young adult me that I would be working for somebody else, instead of torturing my own brain with my own made up deadlines and whoforall.
When I was a kid I wanted to be a park ranger like any normal kid, but with art I thought I might be an architect when I grew up. That was the only way I could relate art to making a living. 
You have spawned a human, her name is Hazel. How does she feel about your toys? Any in particular she is creeped out by or identifies with? Do you plan on making a character to explain the birds and bees?
She definitely wants to know about birds and bees that’s for sure. Currently when she grows up she wants to be a mommy that also dances. Hazel says quite often it’s silly that I have so many toys. She really likes that this is what I do for a living, but she also doesn’t know another way. She really digs steven and killer. But is definitely more interested in dollies, and lambies, and pigs that she can make paper liatards for.
Okay I want to know what you have coming up, but I;m kinda using this interview as an excuse because you never tell me until after!
That’s because we only get to hang out a couple times a year and I am weird on the phone... Uh.. First I am making a little comic book. It’s maybe another Soft Smooth Brain. I am excited about Balls Out next Friday at GH. After that uh... Crystal rainyday globby comes out, going to Spain and Italy in June for a couple of shows, making more new toys with Gargamel and Super 7, and me and beth from brand loyalty are teaming up to make a bubble tea weilding sloth. I think that will be the first toy produced by grass hut., SDCC, some swimming, riding BMX bikes in the forest, listening to boredoms, maybe going to Japan and taiwan in November or october, then walkabout.
Oh, that sounds interesting, you must be excited.
Dingleberry! (Amanda wrote this before seeing my answers)
Hey lets cap this shit off with you talking about your walkabout.
Do you mean easter island? Yeah shooting for january, got ochile and then off to easter island, the birthplace of fantasies in my mind. I thought that peeple cut down the last tree there, and I think they did. But I heard recently that it was rats, rats were the nail in the coffin. They ate everything, so once they chopped down that last tree, there were no seeds to plant a new tree. Oops rats. Thanks amanda.
-AV
Who Needs A Toy ?
Okay so this is year 3 of my Who Needs a Vinyl Toy segment. I’m gonna try to come up with some new peeps... I still believe in my peeps I have already picked but I don’t wanna be a broken record.
His toys would be easy on the eyes, and nice boxes right? holla!
I saw that grass hut show and really liked these fire dudes and icy gnomes. Reminds me of Logan’s Run or something.
Okay this one would be a little tricky, but do it right and I think her toys could rock the house. Her illustrations are one of my favorite parts of entertainment weekly.
-AV
Amanda Pulse
Today is Amanda Visell’s birthday. You might wonder, ‘how old is she?’, 66 of course. But that’s a topic for another day involving photo ID’s and senior discounts. For the last two years, we’ve lost our minds and given Amanda free reign on the blog – a bit of insanity that we call (ok, she came up with the name) : AMANDA PULSE (imagine that in a deep announcer guy voice). So now that you know what’s up, sit back and enjoy the ride.