{"id":2107,"date":"2011-03-29T20:52:02","date_gmt":"2011-03-30T02:52:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=2107"},"modified":"2011-03-29T23:08:53","modified_gmt":"2011-03-30T05:08:53","slug":"national-handlebar-moustache-particippreciaton-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=2107","title":{"rendered":"National Handlebar Moustache Particippreciaton Day"},"content":{"rendered":"


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From the mind of Dan Santat<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/center><\/p>\n


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From the mind of Ward Jenkins<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/center><\/p>\n

{I know, I know. The post title might be causing headaches, but it’s all I’ve got.} <\/p>\n

Sometimes I can hardly keep up on Facebook. As everyone knows, there’s a lot of chatter over there. That’s the point. Occasionally, it gets so loud that I just bow out for a bit. <\/p>\n

\"Tammi<\/p>\n

But today I didn’t. I was part of a Facebook conversation that has resulted in what author Tammi Sauer<\/a><\/strong> (pictured above) and I have dubbed National Handlebar Moustache Appreciation Day. That’s tomorrow. You didn’t know? Right. ‘Cause we made it up. (I’ve checked. I don’t think it actually exists.) March 30th is now National Handlebar Moustache Appreciation Day, at least in our own easily-entertained worlds. ‘Cause moustaches of such striking shape and length deserve<\/em> their own day, yes? <\/p>\n

Well, they do, but really here’s why tomorrow is National Handlebar Moustache Appreciation Day. It went a little something like this: <\/p>\n

1)<\/font><\/strong> Tammi notes on Facebook that her family had just gotten their carpets cleaned by a redhead with a handlebar moustache.<\/p>\n

2)<\/font><\/strong> I pop in with, Dude. I think you need to write a picture book involving him.<\/em> (“Dude” may or may not have been actually muttered. I like to pretend I don’t use it as often as I do. I’m supposed to be grown-up and stuff, not to mention I’m currently writing a book and should practice being articulate.) I also wonder who could best illustrate handlebar moustaches, and I type as much.<\/p>\n

3)<\/font><\/strong> Author\/illustrator Dan Santat<\/a><\/strong> (pictured below with his clone, who seems to have issues these days) pops in with the notion that, when Tammi said “redhead,” he imagined a female and wondered why she was sporting a fake handlebar moustache atop her lip. He’s just hard-wired to visualize weird stuff, he says. (I think that, as a picture book illustrator, this is lucky for us, but I digress.)<\/p>\n

4)<\/font><\/strong> So, I proclaim: DAN IT IS! At this point, mind you, it’s just a hypothetical illustration, and I’m just being Facebook-jokey.<\/p>\n

5)<\/font><\/strong> Illustrator Ward Jenkins<\/a><\/strong> (pictured left) comes in with an “ahem, ahem. Portland is Hipster Central with more handlebar moustaches than you can shake a stick at.”<\/p>\n

6)<\/font><\/strong> Dan challenges Jenkins to a draw. Witty banter ensues. I do a few finger snaps and head rolls from the sideline and tell them, should they actually do this, I’ll post both illustrations at 7-Imp and have a vote-off for the best one.<\/p>\n

7)<\/font><\/strong> Tammi declares, “may the hairiest illustrator win!” Many painfully bad puns about hair are thrown around (I may or may not be guilty of some), and fake gun sounds are typed. The duel is on.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

And. [Drum roll.] The results are pictured at the top of the post. Dan clearly still had a female in mind, Ward opted for a literal interpretation of “handlebar,” and I laughed till my sides hurt. <\/p>\n

However, instead of turning this into a competition, here’s what I’ve decided to do and where you come in, dear readers, should you want to play along: <\/p>\n

Create a caption for one or both characters. (Dude on the bike up there is zooming around the neighborhood, specifically<\/em> looking for a caption and some meaning to his life. DUDE, I just said “dude” again.) Post one or both captions here in the comments. The captions don’t necessarily have to<\/em> be related to anything 7-Imp-esque (though I’d get a kick out of those, too). Tonight, tomorrow, and the next day, folks can keep contributing, as well as read the captions and ponder their favorites. After 3PM Central Standard Time (hey, I’m near Nashville) on Thursday, March 31st, vote for your favorite caption for each character. You can vote here in the comments. The winning captions will be forever attached to the images, and I’ll post them at a page here at 7-Imp for all eternity. These moustached enigmas can be 7-Imp’s second and third mascots. (The first one is the blue monster, named “7-Imp,” who lives permanently at this page<\/a><\/strong> of the site, and keeps my assistant, Alfred, in check.) <\/p>\n

So, again: Contribute captions for one or both characters. Anyone can come back after 3PM Central Standard Time on Thursday, March 31st, and vote for your favorite caption for each. I’ll pick the winning captions soon after that. <\/p>\n

I don’t tend to do book give-aways here, but Tammi, Dan, and Ward all three offered to give away copies of their newest titles. This means the author(s) of the winning captions will receive an ARC of Dan’s new graphic novel, Sidekicks<\/a><\/em><\/strong>, scheduled to be released this June; a copy of Tammi’s newest picture book, Mr. Duck Means Business<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, illustrated by Jeff Mack<\/a><\/strong>; and a copy of Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen’s<\/a><\/strong> Chicks Run Wild<\/a><\/em><\/strong>, illustrated by Ward. Some or all may be autographed. (Er, we’re not actually that<\/em> organized, but we’ll figure it out.)<\/p>\n

Why are we doing this? ‘Cause we all have huge deadlines to meet — of the writing or illustrating kind. Duh. Best procrastination technique YET. Have fun. <\/p>\n


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* * * * * * *<\/center><\/p>\n

Do I need to say that the images are \u00a9 2011 Dan Santat and Ward Jenkins? Well, there. I did. For the record.<\/em> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the mind of Dan Santat From the mind of Ward Jenkins {I know, I know. The post title might be causing headaches, but it’s all I’ve got.} Sometimes I can hardly keep up on Facebook. As everyone knows, there’s a lot of chatter over there. That’s the point. Occasionally, it gets so loud that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-etcetera","category-picture-books"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2107"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2107\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}