Wedding Planning Adventures: Save the Date

by on October 15, 2013 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Blog, News

[dc]W[/dc]ith our wedding come and gone (nearly two months ago?!), I can share some of the fun stuff I illustrated. Today, I’m showing off our custom save the date cards.

wedding save the date daniel j. hogan

Save it like it’s the first Resident Evil, y’all. WHAT. Drawing by me.

Our save the dates were the first wedding item material I illustrated, and set the tone for the rest (the wedding invitations, the ceremony programs, and the thank you cards–each appearing in a future post).

Since our wedding’s theme was “adventure,” and maps were part of our decorations, a treasure map design made sense to me (we printed the final save the dates on a thicker ‘sandy’ colored paper, and then mounted them on colored card stock).

Using my cartoony style and sense of humor, I illustrated a map for our save the dates. Stephanie loved the look and all the jokes (the “Here be ungulates” bit is for her benefit). I drew the save the dates the same way I draw my comic strips: figure out the rough idea, sketch on paper (or Bristol), ink with pens, scan, and finish it all up in Photoshop.

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Friday Six: Disney MagicBands, Daft Droid Shirt, Room 237, Free Stand-Up Tonight, Novel Opening Lines Advice, Patrick Roy Returns to NHL

by on October 11, 2013 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Blog, Friday Six

[dc]T[/dc]oday on the Friday Six: Disney MagicBands, Daft Punk-Star Wars shirt, Room 237, free stand-up comedy tonight, advice on opening lines for novels, and Patrick Roy returns to the NHL as a coach.

[ ] Big Mouse is Watching: Stephanie and I will honeymoon at Walt Disney World soon, and the House of Mouse selected us to test out their new MagicBands.

mymagic+ wristband

Oh boy! Photo by me.

TL;DR — the MagicBands combine room keys, park tickets, and fast passes, and can be linked to a credit card. A guest can enjoy the Disney parks and hotels without worrying about carrying around keys, tickets, or even cash.

Sure, on some level it is a bit scary, but if this means I don’t have to worry about losing my wallet on Mission Space after drinking around the world at EPCOT, why not? This really isn’t too different from our last visit. Our hotel key linked to our park ticket—it could be linked to a credit card too. While attending the Food and Wine Festival at EPCOT, we purchased refillable wristband money cards, so a proto-MagicBand in a way.

The MagicBand wristband combines all these features in one convenient package, securely attached to your person (no cards to lose).

Stephanie sent away for our MagicBands on Monday (you can pick your color!), and they arrived Wednesday morning, personalized too (our names are on the inside). Dang.

[ ] Geek Thing of the Week: This Daft Droid shirt by Busted Tees.

daft droid shirt

Up all night to get beepy. Image via Busted Tees.

Star Wars and Daft Punk combined? Ye metal-plated gods.

[ ] Stand-Up Comedy Tonight! I’m one of the ‘new bloods’ at Comedy Night at The Firm tonight. I’m performing a seven-minute set, so come on down if you can (229 Washington Square S, Lansing, MI). Free! The fun starts at 8 PM and goes until 10 PM (I don’t know when I’ll be on stage).

Related – Church of Comedy Recap: A great turnout for my second ever stab at stand-up this past Sunday. Ten minutes on stage, and I didn’t cry once.

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Amazon Enigmas: Return of the Halloween Dog Costumes

by on October 8, 2013 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Amazon Enigmas, Blog, Humor

[dc]A[/dc]re you ready for Halloween? More importantly, is YOUR DOG ready for Halloween? You better hope so, pal. Ain’t nothin’ sadder than a pooch with a last-minute-slapped-together Halloween Costume. Lucky for you, I have a brand new list of Halloween dog costumes I found on Amazon (the first, the second). These costumes will turn heads—in the direction of the nearest exit.

Fake Boobs + Dog = Halloween Gold

snookie dog halloween costume

I CAN’T STOP STARING. Image via Amazon.

To butcher a phrase, “If you stare into abyss, the abyss stares back into you,” which is how I feel when I look at this Snooki-tastic Halloween dog costume (sure). I just. Uh. Man. When did ‘sexy’ dog costumes become a thing for Halloween? It must be Snooki, right? Who else could it be? David Lee Roth in drag?

Happy Halloween, Mr. Dog President

Marilyn Monroe dog costume

Please don’t walk over an air vent. Please. Image via Amazon.

If you want your dog to go for classic sexy this Halloween, there is this Marilyn Monroe inspired dog costume, heaving cleavage and all. Dress another dog up as Joe DiMaggio–hey, here’s a baseball player costume–and you’ll be the life of the party. Or the first agenda item at the next Neighborhood Association meeting. Good luck finding a dog sized Arthur Miller costume though.

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Friday Six: T. Rex Head, Moebius Willow Art, New Hobbit Trailer, Emceeing Ignite MLA, Gov. Shutdown, Stand-up

by on October 4, 2013 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Blog, Friday Six, News

[dc]T[/dc]oday on the Friday Six: T. Rex head, Moebius Willow art, new Hobbit trailer, I’m emceeing Ignite MLA, Scenes From a Multiverse on the US government shutdown, and I’m performing stand-up this Sunday.

[ ] Geek Thing of The Week: This wall-mountable Tyrannosaurus Head.

t rex head mount

Watching you. Always watching you. Image via Amazon.

I spotted this bad boy on BoingBoing, and well, it might be time to retire my cat and unicorn poster. I sent the T. Rex head link to Stephanie and said, “The first wedding anniversary is the dinosaur anniversary.” She replied, “No.”

[ ] Via Tell Forward, Gorgeous concept art by Moebius for the film Willow. Too bad none of these ideas were actually used. Ah, Willow, you gotta love any film that’s a poor man’s Lord of the Rings (and has Val Kilmer as a sellsword Han Solo).

[ ] Speaking of all things Tolkien, the trailer for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug dropped this week.


[video link]

This new Hobbit trailer almost makes me forget how bloated and drawn out The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was—almost. I enjoyed An Unexpected Journey for the most part, especially the scenes setting up the Lord of the Rings films. Yet, some parts were just too much and too long (side note, here’s a comic I did about the first Hobbit film).

Minor annoyances about An Unexpected Journey aside, I’ll go see The Desolation of Smaug upon its release. Count on it.

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