Monday, December 22, 2008

Stalking the Christmas Penguin 2

Click here to read the first Stalking the Christmas Penguin. It discusses the geographic illiteracy of Americans and answers the question of why God invented wars.

Christmas Penguin yard lights
Christmas penguins have appeared in this post, entitled Christmas in October (which includes talk about table grapes). This other post, mostly about Starbucks Christmas music, has a penguin picture too and here's yet another post where you can listen to a MM Christmas 30 Second Spot while looking at Christmas penguins. (Note - MM Christmas music is not recommended for people who actually like Christmas.)

All those posts will explain why my chain is yanked by Christmas penguins. This is especially true when they're shown with polar bears or igloos.

Inflatable Christmas Penguin on Igloo
Christmas Penguin & Polar Bear on box
Christmas Penguins with Polar Bear in Igloo and sign saying North Pole
Over just 3 seasons of Christmas penguin watching they've rapidly ascended the ladder of seasonal success. Even Stats, a staid Pasadena holiday decoration store, where I could find no penguins last year, had a beautiful, almost antique penguin sculpture in its main window this year. The penguin has arrived.

Christmas Penguin in Stats Window
Leslie has gotten on the Penguin bandwagon, eagerly pointing them out to me in stores and along residential streets. She seems disappointed if I don't want to bother taking another penguin photo, so I humor her. She wanted me to take this towel shot:

Christmas Penguin towels
And we have Christmas penguins in our house for the first time. We created this one together. It's made out of refrigerator magnets. (Click here to see past magnet art.)

Refrigerator Magnet Christmas Penguin
I also placed a sticker of three penguins next to the Viewsonic logo of three finches on my computer monitor.

Viewsonic Finches and Christmas Penguins
Here are a couple more Christmas penguin stickers. Ivy the cat likes to chew on them.

Christmas Penguin Sticker
Christmas Penguin Sticker
You can see a whole gallery of my Christmas penguin pictures here.

Here's a defunct blog entitled Penguins and Polar Bears Don't Mix.

Penguin Warehouse.

Here's two paragraphs of a 1999 article about Christmas penguins.

A Penguin duet plays Mixed Meters favorite Christmas tune:



ADDENDUMATA:

8 comments :

Peter (the other) said...

Ah-hah... !

So now there is a jingle bells where the rhythm is kinda screwed up, but the pitches seem reasonably in the ball park, the opposite of a couple of posts ago.

Ahhhhh-hah... ? ... . !

Me thinks you doth protest your flippery friends a bit too much.

Anonymous said...

If stalking penguins is something you enjoy, may I suggest the penguin exhibit at Sea World. As a composer, you more then most, will be in rapture over the penguin inspired musical soundtrack (on a loop). I promise

David Ocker said...

As someone married to a Marine Biologist, Seaworld is not a particularly approved destination. And, although I think penguins are cute and, no doubt, cuddly, my real interest is in Christmas Penguins in particular, not penguins in general. It's a Crypto-Biology sort of thing.

Are the penguins at Seaworld of the Christmas Penguin species? (You can identify Christmas penguins because they wear Santa hats, scarves and hang out in igloos and consort with polar bears and reindeer.)

But sure, I'd travel to San Diego to hear a tape loop.

Thanx much for the comment.

Anonymous said...

the old Buffalo or Bison argument. My sister is up in rank at the San Diego zoo and I'm regularly corrected on such matters. Don't think I took any interest in the type of Penguins they were (can they mix them together?) I was fascinated with the music and the painted backdrop that was peeling away from the wall. I'd advise you not to bring your wife. It would depress her.

ericnp said...

You're looking for truth in things Christmas? Forget about the penguins, what about the birth of Jesus? The December 25th date of Jesus' birth was chosen by the church in order to replace the pagan festival of Saturnalia.

Biblical references indicate to certain people who study such things that he may have been born in September while there are dates in March and April argued by some astronomers based on the position of the star of Bethlehem which may have actually been a comet.

The truth behind Christmas penguins is they are cute, some of them live in the cold climate of Antarctica and we like to equate cold and cute to Christmas. You know, maybe Santa Claus imported some into the North Pole. They also look good in Christmas hats and wearing brightly colored scarves. Face it, it's all marketing and marketing generally does not seem to have a huge grasp on reality.

David Ocker said...

Sheesh, RZ. Next you'll be telling us there's no Santa Claus. Way to ruin the magic.

[start repeat][ho][end repeat]

Anonymous said...

In the frostbite nite
With her flaps gone white
Shriekin' as she spot the hoop across the room

Lord, you know it must be a Penguin bound down
When you hear that terrible screamin' and
there ain't no other
Birds around...


(walking the fine line between pagan and Christian)

Anonymous said...

David -
I just want to thank you for a truly inspired time-wasting activity. I can only imagine the amount of thought and planning that went into getting all those microwave ovens to beep at the right moment. And a Happy New Year to you as well. BTW, how about Auld Lang Syne played on semi-truck horns? Maybe it's too obvious.

Dave Young