Posts Tagged nonfiction
Nagymama reads through some of the fan letters that were sent to her during her simultaneous YouTube & MySpace Feature! Note: I printed them all out with really big text so she would have an easier time reading them.
Thank you, again, everyone, for giving my grandma her 15-minutes of fame after being alive for almost a century! (She will be 97 in April! Doesn't she look AWESOME?!)
Special thank you to
Cameraman Matt, for his assistance with capturing our family events on film.
Songs used: Brahm's Hungarian Dance No. 1, performed by
Leo Christopherson.
One warm summer, I spotted a little green snake in our back yard. I cautiously watched it slither across my line of vision, stopping only a few feet in front of me to warm itself on the sun-drenched concrete slab behind my house.
I immediately recognized it as a non-poisonous garter snake because my father sent me a book on reptiles for Christmas earlier that year. He told me that it was important to know your reptiles because he was missing one of his fingers due to a poisonous snakebite. Since I have a great affection for all of my limbs, especially my fingers, I made sure to memorize every snake.
Despite my slight apprehension, I was lulled into a trancelike state as I watched the snake gently move his head side to side, probably surveying the area for his next warm meal. I must have stood for quite some time because Nagymama started calling my name.
“Stephie! Vhat are you lookink at?”
“Shhh, be quiet, you’ll scare it away!”
“Scare vhat avay?”
“The snake! Don’t worry, it’s not-”
Before I...
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My family has never been too keen on animals, but as a young girl, I loved all critters: horses, fish, puppies, kittens – if it swam, crawled, or galloped, I doodled pictures of it all over my notebook. Unfortunately, even though I am fascinated with the gestation cycles of seahorses and the unusual mating rituals of jumping spiders, when it comes to actually interacting with animals, I’m afraid of everything.
I think some of my irrational fears stem from childhood trauma. When I was in kindergarten, I sprained my ankle on the jungle gym, so I was stuck at home for what seemed like FOREVER. Nagymama said I looked too “pale and horrid”, so one day, they took me outside to get some sun and propped my leg up on our picnic table.
No more than five minutes after I started reading one of my “Berenstain Bears” books, the neighbor’s German Sheppard saw me, jumped over the fence, and ran over. I had never actually pet a dog before, so I was a little cautious but still curious.
Anyu was in the front yard, chatting with Nagymama and vehemently pointing to...
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Preliminary American Goulash Character Designs for my Pitch Package for a Cartoon Show!
Special thanks to
Brent Smith for helping me brainstorm with some sketches! Sometimes you need an unbiased opinion to help you pick designs and move forward when you're....close....to the subject matter. Now that I've written, scanned, inked, colored, and freaking composited this darn thing, I have some meeting with Cartoon Network, Nickelodean, PBS & More!
Special Warning: These characters are "based" on my life but uh, they aren't actually "real" people. You see, essentially, cartoons need to stereotype in order to be, well, cartoons. So, um, if this is my family reading this, these are NOT cartoon depictions of you. Really. It's just a coincidence. So, uh, don't kill me. You know I love you, right?
That said, here's vhat I haf so far:
Nagymama (the 96-year-old woman of steel...and Little Debbie Snacks(tm))
Anyu (the over-protective mother with no brain-to-mouth filter)
Paprika (the dorky sheltered child who is afraid of everything)
Alia (Paprika's sassy, yet equally sheltered best friend - you guys will hear...
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(some of you might already know this story from The Quiz, but a few people asked me to elaborate so here goes:)
My family waits until the last minute for everything. My cousin Liz was about eight months pregnant before the planning and preparation for her baby shower even began. By the time we reserved the room at the church, invited everyone we knew, researched different type of party games, and painstakingly crafted baby-themed gift baskets and decorations, poor Liz was already busting at the seams.
Despite the event’s tardiness, the shower went extremely well. The room looked fantastically festive, the food was delicious, and a ton of people showed up, even Nagymama!
Of course, as soon as Nagymama stepped through the door, she pushed everyone to the side, and hustled towards Liz with a beautifully gold wrapped box with a big red bow on it. She immediately stuffed the present in Liz’s hand, kissed her on the cheek, and yelled, “Hoppy Burst-day!”
Everyone laughed and assumed that Nagymama was joking, until she walked over to us and loudly muttered in Hungarian, “Boy,...
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