MY MOM REVIEWS MY PHOTOS
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HIGH FIVES AND HUGS TO ALL OUR FURBALL FANS
My Mom and Toby would like to say…
Dear Tumblr Friends,
A year ago Tanner invited me to take part in what I thought to be another one of his crazy antics. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that “My Mom Reviews My Photos” would last more than a day, but here we are. With his leading lady, Vicki, and best supporting actor, Rigby, and a whimsical costume designer from the streets of New York, I threw all inhibitions to the wayside and became the critic alongside my faithful dog, Toby.
Who would have thought that re-gifted furball hats would have attracted so many fans. That’s downright scary. The simplicity of Tanner’s Polaroid photos in the age of high tech, shot in random locations, spurred a curiosity among many talented PHOTOGRAPHISTS, a term new to my vocabulary. I became somewhat computer savvy and was introduced to “blogging” for the first time. Hopefully, my daily exercise of trying to think of a witty caption for daily photos has postponed early onset of Alzheimer’s.
Thanks to all of you for sharing your photos and the personal tour of your respective countries. And MUM’s the word. I have developed a PHOTOGRAPHIC MEMORY of beaches to fresh markets, John C’s beautiful daughters, the guy by the shower curtain, a name like Laviebelem which sounds very fragrant, a guy who honors his deceased family in a most adoring way, and sketches by groupies (Andre and I will not hang myself) who sent Tanner and Vicki awesome drawings. I experienced great relief when I learned that ” I WILL NOT HANG MYSELF TODAY” is only a poem. It has been my pleasure to be involved in this project and I’ve had the time of my life (just like Patrick Swayze, RIP). You guys complete me (Tom Cruise).
So my claim to fame is nearing its end and even if I had gotten on “Ellen”, my fear of flying may have gotten in the way. So I have decided to take the buyout from Tanner (which will be in the form of an IOU, most likely) and move on to being just a mom and Grammy Pammy, business as usual. I will miss getting up early in the morning to make my critiques over microwave pancakes and a mocha frappe from McDonald’s. Yep, still boycotting Starbucks over that bra-ha-ha.
I’ve been thinking that maybe the furballs could be made into wax replicas like LADY GAGA, and those God awful hats would make a wonderful contribution to the Smithsonian, right next to Monica Lewinsky’s infamous dress. Uh-huh. So today is Toby Tuesday, and sort of against my religion, but hats off to “All Over the Fucking Place” for being so daring. That’s only the third time I ever said that word out loud, I believe.
Have a wonderful holiday and maybe 2011 will inspire something new to Tumblr, who knows, maybe it will finally get the letter “e”. And if Sarah Palin “shoots her eye out”, maybe I’ll run in 2012. I’ll end with a quote by one of Tanner’s all time favs…
“Why can’t we get all the people together in the world that we really like and then just stay together? I guess that wouldn’t work. Someone would leave. Someone always leaves. Then we would have to say good-bye. I hate Goodbyes. I know what I need. I need more hellos.” — Charles M. Schulz
And we (Tanner and Vicki) would like to add…
We’re not really sure what to say except that we feel like we might cry. It’s been a really fun run and after reading my mom’s letter we’re not quite sure that we are going to be able to quit this thing for good. Time will tell…
That being said, thank you so much to everyone who has been generous to silly blog! Knowing that every now and then we’d put smiles on some of your faces has been the most rewarding part of this entire project, by far. Most of our photos were usually rather “specific” in nature and it’s really cool knowing that every now and then someone besides us would enjoy them.
It goes without saying that we sure are glad we switched over to Tumblr after spending our first three months on Word Press. The community here has been incredible and inspires us on a daily basis. We wish we had time to name name’s but we need to be on an airplane in a few hours and we hate the thought of leaving anyone out.
We would, however, like to briefly mention our friend “All Over the F*ing Place”. He was one of the first folks to “like” any of our posts and my mom literally could not get over the title of his blog. Every time I’d talk to her she’d say “Can you believe that guy’s blog name?, I wonder if his mom knows about his blog?”. For a while he disappeared off our radar and my mom would actually check in with me to see if he was doing all right. Even to this day it’s quite clear that she is still amazed by the guy who really is “all over the f*ing place”.
Once again, from the bottom of our furball hearts please accept big virtual high fives and hugs. If by chance you would like to keep up with some of our other creative projects please consider following our other tumblr, Tanner Blog.
Just like Frosty we probably will be back again some day, just probably not every day, and most likely not for a while.
Have an awesome holiday and a happy New Year!
Tanner, Vicki, Pam, Toby, and Rigby
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FURBALL FLASHBACK 2010
Please enjoy this rather bittersweet video of all 361 of our photos in under 60 seconds. For some reason I set it to an emotional score by Jon Brion and it seems quite sad. In retrospect something a bit more upbeat may have been a better choice, but I have to be on a plane in a few hours and there’s no time to change it.
Also, a big high five and hug to Fredrik for writing the following about this on his tumblr earlier today…
“I think that I… No… I KNOW that I love you! If there’s any justice in the world, everyone should embrace you and call you two the best people on earth ever. This makes me so happy that I almost cant put words to it. One of the best things this year is discovering you.”
Thank you Fredrick. Your message alone, while obviously quite a bit over the top, made this entire project worth it, seriously. Thank you so much!
Finally, please stay tuned for my Mom’s farewell letter to her fans. I just finished reading it and I have to say it’s pretty amazing, Vicki and I are literally trying not to cry.
Oh, and five Toby’s to anyone who can name what film this Jon Brion tune is from.
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Furball Film of the Year: BEST OF FURBALL FILMS 2010
So for some reason Vicki and I shot 15 or so of these “Furball Films” with our Flip Camera. Small on budget but big on love and imagination, they were pretty fun to do and I’d say in the end we had about 3 pretty good ones, 5 okay ones, and at least 7 absolutely awful train wreck mega disasters.
Anyway, we spent this past weekend picking out all the best “Furball Film” moments and setting them to the lovely song Strangers by The Kinks. It’s amazing how well some of our footage fits with the song.
Even if you don’t like our films you should still check this out if you are unfamiliar with The Kinks, it really is a beautiful song.
Cheers!
Tanner and Vicki
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Furball Film of the Week: WE WISH YOU A FURRY FURBALL
While perhaps no Citizen Kane or Ghostbusters, this week’s film is not too shabby. It has all the ingredients to be a instant holiday classic…
1. Amazing set design (you actually feel like you are in a blizzard, on christmas, at the north pole, with Santa, actually, you are Santa, and you’re on a horse)
2. Tour-de-Force Performances (we really almost look like we might really be crying… or laughing… sigh)
3. Eggs (probably the most important ingredient of all as they are in all the best stuff, namely cookies, brownies, and cake).
If you happen to enjoy this week’s Christmas tale feel free to recommend us by CLICKING HERE.
Also, big high fives and hugs to DREAMCAMERA and BITSANDBYTES for the recommendations! Thank you!
Have a happy week!
-The Furballs
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THE SWING KIDS
My Mom and Toby say…
“It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing”
5 Tobys. Dear Santa, please bring the furballs new coats. I will vouch for them… they’ve been very, very good. All agree?
And I’d like to add…
We are usually pretty good except for when we kick kids off swing sets so that we can enjoy our Big Gulps filled with the new “Four Loko Slurpee”.
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TALKING POINTS TO THE FAR LEFT
My Mom and Toby say…
Guess you could tell your boss you are tied up, literally.
5 Tobys, however, I trust this is probably the first rotary dial phone most of our bloggers have seen. Most are not even legal yet, except for the Brits. Now I know why Dustin was so eager to enroll for “Study Abroad” in London.
Laughable: Being a naive mom, when Dustin returned from London, while driving home from the airport Dad asked what was one of her favorite things — she replied, ”The Guinness Tour”. I asked her if she saw the tallest man, etc., thinking she meant the factory where they made “The Guiness Book of Records”. TRUE story.
This same daughter also gave her father the “Beer of the Month Club” for Father’s Day this year. Very embarrassing to meet the Fed Ex guy. Now that’s another story…
And I’d like to add…
Mom, if you are reading this, please take a closer look at the phone, it’s NOT a rotary (although I wish it was). However, it is an actual phone that you hook up to an actual phone line , which tragically is something “most of our bloggers” probably have never seen either, which makes me a sad panda. I really miss old stuff like typewrites and rotary phones, they were big and clunky but had genuine “personalities”, something that I feel really is lacking in most of today’s small and sleek gadgets.
And that, my friends, is probably the most serious statement I have ever made on this blog. I just really miss old stuff. I can still remember how it felt to literally turn the knob click by click on our old black and white TV. And just thinking about the whiz bang sound of my mom’s typewriter is something that stirs up all sorts of vivid childhood memories. Ironically, I’m typing all of this on a laptop with a wireless connection on a social networking website. Sigh……
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