Dark Gnomes ... Reverse Napping

I love stand-up comedy. I follow a variety of funny people, including Bert Kreischer, Michelle Wolf, Kate Micucci, Jimmy Cash, Saaniya, and Adam Conover. As a consequence, my social media feeds are loaded with suggested videos of stand-up bits from a variety of comedians. I stumbled into Shahak Shapira this way. This guy is pretty incredible.

Born in Israel, immigrated to Germany as a boy, one of Shapira's grandfathers survived the Holocaust, and the other was murdered during the infamous Munich Olympic Games. He has made a name for himself as an activist by challenging Twitter for being unwilling to take down racist and antisemitic tweets, and working with Die Parte to undermine Nazi Party social media groups. 

He also does stand-up, which I'm grateful for. In the clip above, he begins a bit about the Dark Web, but gets hijacked by an audience member. I am also grateful for this woman from Slovakia who shared with everyone the very real (probably) website called Get Gnomed. The site promises to "gnome" a target's house with garden gnomes for a fee. Tappy tap the image below for the Know Your Meme entry, complete with videos. 

AniGnomiacs

One of the greatest cartoons since the 40s was produced in the 1990s. Disney had a bit of a television animation renaissance in the late 80s and early 90s. They produced some great shows, including Duck Tales (woo hoo), Tailspin, and the Gargoyles. In response, Warner Brothers, through Nickelodeon, produced their own set of unique programming, including Ren and Stimpy, Doug, and Rugrats. 

In 1995, though, on their CW network, Warner Brothers' produced 

The Animaniacs. 

An animated shorts compilation, this show ran for 5 seasons, and combined classic Looney Tunes tropes and cartoon structure with modern humor, including orchestral accompaniment. This show is the greatest. Like classic cartoon shorts, this show was silly enough to cater to kids, but also clever enough to make adults laugh. It introduced the Warner Brothers and Warner Sister, Pinky and the Brain, and others. In 2020, Hulu co-produced a rebooted show.  

One of the new features on this rebooted show is a short called The Incredible Gnome in Peoples' Mouths. 

This is obviously the best part of the show by far, and certainly the greatest innovation in the reboot.

 

He's a gnome, who lives in peoples' mouths and jumps out to yell at others, giving them unfiltered opinions and truths. He is the inner monologue coming out to voice itself. The voice of reason. Jiminy Cricket, if he was an angry mensch. His first appearance is in Episode 9. 

 

DIY Christmas decorations can be pretty clever and fun, and put people in good spirits. And since we've all been sitting around doing nothing (if we follow good advice), there has been lots of free time to do arts and crafts. The Holland Sentinel from Holland, Michigan, reported about this nice lady who made gnomes out of tomato cages and boughs of evergreen trees for area assisted living residents. 

The story of this mitzvah is linked below, with better pictures. Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year!

Whats a Gnome to a Goblin?

Virtual Reality gaming is new and exciting, and still in its commercial infancy. However, there are production companies out there, working to bring better, affordable products to the masses.

Jon Favreau, the film director/writer/actor, not the political activist/speech writer, is currently dabbling in VR gaming in partnership with Wevr productions. His pet project is called Gnomes & Goblins. The interactive trailer was released in 2016.

It looks really good. The page from the production company gives information and testimonials on the creative process. I linked to it right here and on the picture above. It apparently hasn't been finished yet, and I could find no press releases or stories about why, or if it is still in production, or has been canceled. I will assume it has been in production for the last 3 years. Hopefully we can all see a finished product eventually.

Comrades in Gnomes

Apparently this isn't the only all encompassing gnome blog on the Internet. I'm not that shocked, the Internet is vast. Over on Word Press, there is a blog called The Drunk Gnome. Head on over there to check out posts largely about gnome collecting, gnome festivals/gatherings, and a lot of weirdness.

Reserving the World Record

England seems to have a thing for gnomes like no other place. In West Putford, there is a 4 acre park called the Gnome Reserve dedicated to gnomish adventure! Their website proudly welcomes everyone to "enjoy a magical day out for the whole family". They have seamlessly woven over 2000 garden gnomes with 250 species of flowers and native plants. 

Created in 1979 by Ann Atkin. Her art inspired a vision of a gnome paradise. The collection of 2000+ gnomes is a Guinness World Record. This privately owned park integrates outdoor past times like hiking and fishing into gnome tom-foolery. They give out gnome hats at the door so "the gnomes think you are one of them". Their website is linked here, and also on that picture above. Pictures below....

Gnomes: Two Weeks at a Time

Gnomes pop up all over the place, hence this blog. Sometimes they show up in weird places, like video games. I posted before about World of Warcraft, and Fable. And now, this game.

Fortnite was released in 2017 by Epic and quickly captured the hearts and minds and all the spare time for everyone under 21. It's basically a first person shooter game, much like Call of Duty, Battlefront, Overwatch, and many others. Fortnite added the ability to build defenses, and has  seemingly endless personalization/customization skins.

Why do I care? Normally, I don't. I'm not really into online melee games like the ones mentioned above. I'm not into playing with others. Except Mario Kart, and FIFA. But... I discovered today that this game has gnomes!

Apparently the Battle Royale mode includes treasure hunts, daily challenges that hide objects all over the landscape. Sometimes they make you search for gnomes! This, of course, is very much like the quest in Fable III. They even laugh when you get too close.... so, actually very much like Fable III.

In addition to these scavenger hunts, Fortnite has also included a skin (of course) that allows players to dress like gnomes, while they muck about, shooting zombies and each other, or whatever it is you do in this game. Grimble is his name... and he looks terrifying.

it's not unsettling... not at all