DAILY MONSTER 174

Good morning. Its my last night in Florida. The folks at AIGA Jacksonville did an amazing job putting on the anual re:CHARGE conference. It was a pleasure to see everybody, and be part of a great panel discussion with Debbie Millman, Anne Willoughby, Berwyn Hung, Chris Simmons, Jeff Matz, and Cyrus Highsmith.

Thank you for visiting the monsters on a weekend. Yesterday was a sleepy one on the story front, but what came in definitely made me laugh. Please check it out:

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Monster 174 is already cued up for you:

174 seems serene. Or is it shell-shocked? Dazed? Petrified? Or truly in a state of Zen bliss? What do you think is going through its considerable head? If you feel like giving a bit of your Sunday, do please…

Postyourstoryhere

Hopefully you’re already well into a relaxing Sunday.
Please join me again tomorrow for the start of a whole
new week of Daily Monsters. And please remember:
344 LOVES YOU

10 Comments

  • sue bebie
    6 April 2008 2:39 am

    It is the real descendant out of the Greece mythology. Take a look at these wonderfull feet. It is on its way to an esoteric meditation group, where it is learning how to become a high flyer.

  • 6 April 2008 5:50 am

    Lucy had just been flying by when she noticed #173 and that giant cherry he had in his hands…so she swooped down to grab it……….*THUMP*
    That look on Lucy’s face is identical to the day she swallowed a fruitcake whole. She really needs to make better food choices. (as do we all)

  • Aiden A.
    6 April 2008 9:50 am

    Charlotte was a Trident-footed parrot. She was a model as well. Her distinguishing feature that made her beautiful was her glorious wings. She would fly and fly as the other tridents watched in astonishment. They only had small wings and could not fly. When mating season arrived, every boy in the jungle wanted to be with Charlotte. She was drowned in gifts, love, and creepy threatening calls. She finally found the guy she wanted. As she lay her egg, a mysterious thing happened. Her wings got smaller. They suddenly shrunk like they were letting out air. She now looked just like all the other Trident-footed parrots. She was sad. After that scientists looked at her and came to no conclusion of why or how it happened. They also said that there was no way to reverse it. Attention soon shifted from her to some other glossy supermodel. SHe sunk into depression. Suddenly, one day her egg started hatching. She rushed over to it. She was so excited she good barely contain herself. It hatched and Charlotte saw something amazing. The baby had the exact same glorious gigantic wings that she once had. Charlotte was happy once more

  • Andu
    6 April 2008 1:07 pm

    “Hey, Mister teacher, what’s that?”
    A little kid with three eyes pointed up to a picture of a weird kind of bird. Its head was almost as big as its impressive belly. He stood upon two small legs that looked like tridents and from his back sprouted two delicate looking wings – both body parts seemed to frail to be able to carry this enormous bird.
    The teacher looked at it through a pair of gargantuan glasses that almost seemed to rival that head of the bird. “Well, little one, this is a blackbird. Turdus merula mutatis. As you can see from the latin name, it has mutated. Once, it had been much smaller. You see, little one…this bird comes in two colors. Brown and grey for the female and black with yellow eyes and legs for the male.”
    “So that’s a male blackbird, right?”, the kid asked. The teacher nodded and looked sadly on the picture.
    “You know, like its ancestor, this blackbird could sing very beautifully. It used to sing every morning and I remember…when I was a little monster, I always woke up to its song.” The kids all ooh-ed to that. “I remember how, when it rained, there used to be a flock of blackbirds hopping across the lawn in front of our house, picking at the worms that crawled out of the earth…”
    The kid piped up again and woke the teacher from his reminiscing. “But why are you talking about it like it was in the past.”
    “Well…” The teacher sighed. “I am an old monster and my youth was in the times of the humans. You know of the war in which the humans killed themselves?” The kids nodded. “That terrible war had not only cost the life of six billions of humans and of almost the same number of monsters, but also…”
    He paused, sighing again; his shoulders slumped forward and he seemed to age rapidly in front of his pupils.
    “But also the one of all the birds, all the rabbits, the mice, the cats, the dogs and every other non-monster life there ever was on Earth. It’s over for a long time children. Now go outside, we are finished.”
    As the children stumbled outside of the Museum of Modern History, the teacher stared at the picture of the blackbird. A tear rolled down his cheek and he shook his head to stop his crying. “How I wished I could show it all to you…how the world was full of life, full of people and monsters living together in peace. But they, they had never seen the beauty they had. They were born into a war of survival and died the same way. Now, it’s too late. We are old and when we die, it will be forgotten forever. Let’s not think about that.”
    He straightened himself and, with another shaking of his head, followed his class outside.

  • 6 April 2008 7:04 pm

    I just LOVE your “Flamey” monster parts. Any thought of painting a “monstermobile” to drive to signings and park in front of venues? Ka-ching! Tax write-off! You can even do it with those magnetic monster parts… and lots of flamey things 😉

  • Danielle
    6 April 2008 9:03 pm

    One subtle change, one tiny breath, and that’s all it takes for Erwin to respond. Using his dorsal feathers as sensors, he turns accordingly with the wind direction. Everyday of his life, without breaks or vacations, he directs his fellow citizens to the best direction in which to fly. For generations his family was the lifeline of
    the community. Since his species were born with weak and petite wings, they had to plan out their traveling accordingly. Only a few extra yards of flying would completely wear out their wings and render them useless for days. Those days of healing would the prime moment for predators to come and attack. Through experience, they’ve learned that they can utilize the wind direction and speeds to enhance their hunting and migration success. Why Erwin? Why, because he was born differently. No other member of the community outside of his family are born with those dorsal feathers. They don’t know if the wind is blowing from left or right! Their smooth, somewhat inky, and aerodynamic build make them oblivious to the wind. Without Erwin, they could get stranded, exhausted, and without any fish or fowl to feast upon.

  • mellio
    6 April 2008 9:34 pm

    Oh no! Bonti’s tail feathers are on fire again! She can remember when her feathers were so long they trailed into the other room, but she’s gotten clumsy in her old age and keeps catching them on things and setting them on fire. This time it happened as she was taking cookies out of her old oven (instead of electricity or gas it runs on logs and fire) for her grandmonsters. She managed to save the cookies, but used the milk to put out the flame.

  • 6 April 2008 9:46 pm

    Welcome to another episode of ‘Watcha’ – you name it, we’re watchin’ it, right mates! Righhhhh.
    Today, friends, we gawt a right treat for ya. We’ve come across a Bandercoot Snauzerbeest. These gorgeous fellas have all the grandeur of a peacawk and the ferocity of a croc. Take a tackle with these blokes, and it’s belly up for one while the other flies on. A preditry bird, a snauzerbeest rily knows where to sink its claws, and b’lieve me, mates, it’s a right odd thing t’see these lamp-shade stands for feet dig into some unsuspectin’ prey.
    We’ve spied a great many birds in our day, but this’s the farst time to catch a snauzer. Isn’t he beautiful. Just gorgeous. Let’s get a little closa, shall we? There we are fella, no worries. Look at those wings. Splendid! An odd shape, t’be sure, ya? But these aren’t rily flyers. More like a turkey. An odd duck in these parts for sure. Watch as we get a little closer to see him scurry about. There we go, fella – ya, thas it. You’re aright there and here we see a bit of a thr….THE BLOODY ‘ELL!!! FIRE!!! SWEET LORD! OUT OF ME WAY YA GIT!!!!
    …….
    N’body knew these things breath fire?! Bean doin’ this show for 10 years, watchin’ birds of all kinds all over the world and none of you guys knew this thing could belch up a bar-b-que?! Crikey!!!

  • 6 April 2008 10:37 pm

    Constantly ridiculed for his chicken legs and inadequate wing span, Ralph stares into the sea of his peers’ judgmental eyes. His mother was wrong, it isn’t what’s on the inside that counts, at least not in elementary dragon school.

  • 6 April 2008 10:44 pm

    Hi b13. In re: the Monster Mobile, the idea has come up, but it seemed a bit flamboyant, even for me. :^) Now, if somebody else wants their car monsterized, that we can talk about. In the meantime, I’m glad to hear you like the flamey bits.

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