Tag Archives: Disney

You Can See Yourself Out: A Collection of Fun, Irreverent, Festive, & Wild Hand-Drawn Mazes

Posted on by Standard 2
You Can See Yourself Out: A Collection of Fun, Irreverent, Festive, & Wild Hand-Drawn Mazes (Front Cover)

Well then, it’s finally here. I finished maze book number two! This one is better than the last one, I promise. The first was sort of a test run just to see how Amazon KDP works. I wholeheartedly appreciate everyone that bought that book, but this one just objectively looks better and much more time was put into its creation. It ought to be much more challenging and enjoyable, IMHO.

It’s called You Can See Yourself Out: A Collection of Fun, Irreverent, Festive, & Wild Hand-Drawn Mazes. Thanks to @brain.d.37 on Threads for suggesting the title!

This book a collection of a bunch more larger mazes, and a few small ones that I have been drawing since late 2023. There’s no common theme other than most of the mazes have a silly vibe. A few have no vibe at all. There’s aliens, rodents, yard work, holiday stuff, rock n’ roll, a treasure map, food, retail aversion, gross stuff, & more.

You Can See Yourself Out: A Collection of Fun, Irreverent, Festive, & Wild Hand-Drawn Mazes (Front Cover)
You Can See Yourself Out: A Collection of Fun, Irreverent, Festive, & Wild Hand-Drawn Mazes (Front Cover)

I hope you consider picking up a copy for yourself, & maybe even one for a friend? If not, just sharing the link to someone who you think may enjoy it, or just sharing it in general would be awesome.

The link is https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F9Y7SFXS and I’d love if you could share it, review it, favorite it or save it to a list… anything to help even if you’re not interested in a purchase. You could give me a good (or terrible) review or add it to your list on GoodReads too, if that’s your thing.

I had fun making a collage with punk ‘zine vibes for the cover. I busted out the mixed media, printed on weird paper, got two cutting, ripping, & coffee staining… and unearthed the leopard & cheetah print tape.

All of the mazes were hand-drawn, scanned in, edited (& “solved”) in paint.NET, & put together with Open Office. I haven’t stepped into the world of digital drawing yet, and I like my free programs. Someday, I’ll probably dive into GIMP a little more.

You Can See Yourself Out: A Collection of Fun, Irreverent, Festive, & Wild Hand-Drawn Mazes (Full Front & Back Cover)

I love drawing the mazes, and it’s a great creative outlet like blogging or making music or playing out live. I’m sitting on a pile of old ones that I can convert into a book… but I need to make sure they’re all solvable and do the solutions.

Find the tone! Guitar amp stack maze collage.

Some are too big to fit on my scanner, and scanning with my phone has less than desirable results… so I’m gonna have to go somewhere like a FedEx Office store and hope they can help before they all disappear. I have a problem picking up any notebook that catches my eye and is the right price, regardless of size & paper type. I like the feel & the calming of pen on paper.

Some of the ones that I have posted here in writing goofy emails/letters to companies probably can’t be included because of copyrights or trademarks when I include their products. (Unless La Choy/Conagra, Pizza Hut, Sheetz, Dollar Shave Club, Pepperidge Farm, Disney/Lucasfilm & more sign off on it, or it falls under fair use? I guess I could have included this one or these two.)

I guess I did figure this whole thing out.

Because I have been excited about this, and I made a small collage with leftover bits, I popped up some new merch designs in my TeePublic & RedBubble stores with that new collage & the book cover images. I do have some older designs there with a few of the mazes that are featured in this book too. If you have an account & follow me on either of those sites, it may help my stuff get seen a bit more. I’d appreciate any form of liking/sharing/tagging if you’re so inclined!

TeePublic "You Can See Yourself Out" merch by AIXeLsyD13
RedBubble "You Can See Yourself Out" merch by AIXeLsyD13

In fact, check out all these designs from or inspired by the book, you can get them on all kinds of merch at each store! (I ordered a sticker, a magnet, a coffee cup, & a hoodie so I’m already in the hole.)

Cover & Collage Designs:

Mazes featured in the book:

So, what do you think? Any of it catch your idea? Any ideas for maze merch? Think you’ll pick up a copy?

If you happen to get something, post a photo or video of yourself with it, & tag me on social media! I’m @AiXeLsyD13 pretty much everywhere.

The Mandalorian | Jedi Theory :: SPOILERS

Posted on by Standard Reply

I hate speculative articles about fiction, but here we are. I can’t resist. I fall for the clickbait. I feel the fervor, I feed the fervor. I needed to get t out about the Mandalorian. Don’t read this if you’re avoiding spoilers & aren’t caught up to The Mandalorian Chapter 14: The Tragedy (S2 E6).

A Jedi is coming. Eventually. It will probably occur in the last few seconds of the season ender.

As a huge Rebels fan, I had hoped Ezra Bridger, but he may feature in Ahsoka’s rumored show (hopefully with Sabine Wren) later. I doubt Luke, but you never know. I’m not a gamer, but Cameron Monaghan would probably crush it if they incorporate Cal Kestis. The choice may be much more obvious. They have a bunch more of EU to pull from, or could create a totally new character, but I feel like they have a great direction to go right in front of them.

Is it too clear-cut to be true? Did Grogu call out to Mace Windu?

At first I dismissed theories of a Mace Windu return, but it really would be a major fan-service win while remaining great storytelling.

Especially with his latest Boba team-up… it will REALLY complicate alliances.

Mace beheaded Jango in front of Boba in the prequels. Boba infiltrated the clone cadet program and tried to kill Mace and Anakin in the Clone Wars series. Now they have to work to accomplish the same goal? Protection of Grogu.

Overcoming past grievances and making new fresh decisions on continuing down a dark/light/grey path are Star Wars at its core.

Ahsoka used the verbiage “took” not rescued or saved in Chapter 13. At first I thought it maybe implied Palpatine. Maybe Mace took the child and disappeared?

Falling out a window is certainly an established non-death-sentence in the Star Wars universe… and Windu was too badass to go down without a fight. We have seen Maul, Palpatine, and Boba Fett return from similar perilous circumstances. Perhaps he has cybernetic enhancements or even an eye patch now? Ha ha.

Samuel L. Jackson has been vocal about his eagerness to return to the franchise. There is potential for him to also pop up in the rumored Ahsoka and Obi Wan shows. (He is also professional enough to keep tight-lipped about it, and has a well established relationship to Disney and directly to Jon Favreau through Marvel and Star Wars.)

Dave Filoni has a love for all things Star Wars including the prequels, and has shown to be fantastic at bridging (pun intended) it all together. It would feel like a circular rhyme, which George Lucas tried to explain once.

I see it as a win all around, and would love to see Grogu wield a tiny purple lightsaber (and a tiny beskar suit).

I also see, that in needing to save Grogu at some point, Din will have to take off the hemlet. Will he then draw the vengeance of the Children of the Watch?

I honestly wonder if the call will draw out a Sith, inquisitor, the Night Sisters or another dark force wielder, or perhaps discover & unite all existing Jedi for Luke to start his academy.

At any rate, I have enjoyed every minute of The Mandalorian so far, and I no doubt will continue to do just that, no matter where the story takes us.

Mace Windu: "Shit Grogu, that's all you had to say."
I wish I knew where this came from to give credit.

Anchorhead vs. Galactic Empire

Posted on by Standard 1

Anchorhead vs. Galactic Empire

Anchorhead vs. Galactic Empire

I have seen Galactic Empire blowing up lately, and I love it… but it makes me wonder what happened to Anchorhead, who was doing it first.  (Yes, I know scores of metal versions of Star Wars songs are all over the Innerwebs, but these guys are the best.)

Here’s some side-by-side comparisons…

Anchorhead:

…and check out this incredible entire live show!  Apparently all these cats ever left was one EP & a handful of performances.  Their guitars have so many strings, it takes 12 parsecs for any non-force user to make their way across the fretboard.

I did download all I could form MySpace, but all I could get of some of the stuff was some snippets of songs.  Their interpretations are proggy, masterful, eerie, and dark.  I would love to get my hands on the EP.

Galactic Empire:

Obviously, these scruffy-looking Nerf Herders rock too.  The costumes and video production are all-out.  The metal seems happier if that’s even a thing.  They used kickstarter to fund their eventual takeover of the galaxy.  Galactic credits go far with the Empire.  I’m anxious for their full-length album, too.

It looks like of the two, these guys are the only ones currently in existence.

Vote for Your Favorite:

I would love to see a fan mix of the movies using either of these guys to score the entire thing.  I don’t think Disney would go for it, unless like Darth Lucas they realize they can make more money by selling the movies again to the same people that already own all possible formats & variations.

Bonus:  Check out Sarlacc!

I Remember Halloween 🎃💀👻👽

Posted on by Standard Reply

Halloween is definitely my favorite holiday.

image

Molly was super-excited going door-to-door getting candy & telling eveyone we passed on the street “Happy Halloween!” She loved the compliments on her dress & shoes, and even got to pet a few puppies.

Ian loved his short 1½ street trip strapped on the front of me.  People fawned over him too and he ate it up.  It was a little chilly & windy so we took him home about dark to pass out candy with Grandma & BB.

At every house Molly would ask if we were going to get more, but when we circled back & she saw the other end of our street, she was ready to go home.  No fight or fuss!

We got to celebrate several times since last week’s Halloween party at the church.  I had a day off & was able to attend their library story time, and today we even hit up a trick-or-treat at Gaint Ealge.

I loved decorating pumpkins, the porch, and even gutting/carving the pumpkin with Molly this year.

Canvt wait to do it all again!

image

Disney does food allergies with the best of intentions.

Posted on by Standard 5

So, you know how I’m always saying I’d like a push from a consumer level rather than government regulations or mandates regarding food allergies?  This is what I’m talking about:

On our first trip we asked one of the chefs why they do such a wonderful job accommodating food allergic children at Disney World, he said, “We want the repeat business.”  It would be wonderful if other resorts would take this cue from Disney and realize that if they accommodate food allergic children and their families, we will return with pleasure and continue to be loyal customers.

Check out the full article by Lisa Giuriceo on Allergy Eats, it’s honest, inspiring and gives hope.  Someday we’ll be safe.  Someday accidents won’t happen.  I just may have to save my pennies & book a Disney vacation.

Former logo of the Walt Disney World Resort, u...

Sadly, my only dream is to not go into anaphylactic shock.

Related articles

The AllergyEats Blog » Dining at Disney with food allergies – a follow-up

Posted on by Standard Reply

This is an excellent blog posting with an excellent community response, and quite encouraging: The AllergyEats Blog » Dining at Disney with food allergies – a follow-up.  (You may want to read this blog first.)

I’m going to have to plan ahead and look at the meal plans when we finally decide to go to Disney.  It’s great news that chefs will come out & prepare food in front of you, it would be entertaining as well as putting you fully at ease.

Chili Cook-Off Fliers

Posted on by Standard Reply

If you know me, you know I dig making fliers. I used to make them for my old bands all the time, now I have no band, and no need of fliers… so the annual chili cook-off at my place has become my fun with fliers time. As you can see, I was a little rusty on one… not quite sure where to go. On the other… well, I think it all just fell together nicely.

Should I use both? Get rid of the corny one?

If you’re interested in the chili cook-off itself, stay tuned!