Friday, April 16, 2010

Bayou Jug Band

I have a fun game, but we're not going to play it. Instead we're going to play this dumb one... which of these animals would you guess has the most teeth? Here's a hint: it's not the alligator. Don't feel bad if you were wrong... unless you guessed "the guitar-playing dragon," because then you should feel kind of bad. It is actually the opossum that has the most teeth... more than any other land animal. Hopefully this information will help you win Jeopardy someday (if that's even a show still), because that's the only chance that it's ever going to come in handy. See what I mean? I told you this was a dumb game. Unfortunately I was lying about the "fun" game. There never was one.

Speaking of opossums, can you think of a single, non-spelling-based difference between opossums and possums? From what I've gathered, which is very little, it seems that possums are native to the Eastern hemisphere whereas opossums are native to the Western hemisphere. So why do so many people in the Western hemisphere call our opossums "possums?" It's the same reason we have calculators and Dancing with the Stars... because we're lazy and stupid.

13 comments:

Shaurya said...

U're d perfect artist!

Kawks! said...

lovely piece, and what looks to be a codeine induced string of words ;)

Ken Chandler said...

Your insights make my head spin.
I knew it was the opossum (I've seen one-- about 3 1/2 feet away, and he was pissed; let me see his incisors up close. Pretty impressive!). So the question now is... what do I win?

Oh, and your iguana is amazing!

Ken said...

love this... your work just gets better and better. I envy your ability to design such cool characters!

Nathan Lindsay said...

If I were on vacation I would still come visit your blog. Love this jugger.

Fossfor said...

this is great, I love your jugbands!
Oops...I thought possum was a lazy way of saying opossum or the way Aussies say it :P

Seth Hippen said...

I once put a dead possum on railroad tracks. I came back the next day and it was cut in half.

You're stuff is saturated with character. Love it.

Karalenn Hippen said...

Ewwww groady, Seth. I've never heard that story before.

I've always been confused about the whole possum/opussum thing so thanks for clearing that up. :) Your characters are so fun and that background is wonderful! Thanks for making me laugh today. I think we should get together with you and Lindy and play a fun game soon- not a dumb one.

Florian Satzinger said...

The colouring is brilliant!

Lael Henderson said...

I must admit I guessed correct opossum too. Of course those overgrown rats used to make a mess of our trash all the time in CA, and we'd trap them and call the animal control guys. Once you see a big one bare his teeth and hiss at you, you never think of them the same way again.

Lise the artiste said...

I think you should put a nutrea in with the rodent like creatures... although alligators do like to lurk in the murky murk and Racoons are the most vicious fluffy small creatures in the forest. Nutreas, on the other hand just remind me of the ROUS's-- yellow teeth, rat like tails. Gross. They're not really vicious at all. But neither are possoms. Or opossoms for that matter. :)

Ben Reynolds said...

Two simple facts:
1. Your characters rule
2. You're hilarious.

minipearljam said...

I live on a Texas bayou. I have 4 lively comical raccoons and 2 sugar sweet possums (I'm not "O"vercompulsive about that "O") that are regulars on my front porch along with more than I need of alligators that appear out of nowhere at random times around my humble abode. The Bayou Jug Band jiggles all of my good senses and leaves me smiling. I like that feeling.