Mitzi Mozzarella is a character in The Rock-afire Explosion, an animatronic robot band. A mouse and teenage cheerleader, Mitzi is obsessed with gossip, boyfriends, pop music and (appropriate for the time) Michael Jackson. The Rock-afire Explosion played shows in Showbiz Pizza Place from the restaurant chain’s founding in 1980 until the early 1990s, when the Showbiz brand was unified with Chuck E. Cheese’s and Chuck E. Cheese characters steadily replaced the band. The Rock-afire Explosion show was created and manufactured by noted inventor Aaron Fechter, through his company Creative Engineering, Inc. (also known for Whac-A-Mole) in Orlando, Florida; in addition to overseeing the production of the animatronics, Fechter also provided the voices for several characters.
Chuck E. Cheese is the mascot of Chuck E. Cheese’s, a chain of American family entertainment center restaurants. The brand derives its name from its main animatronic character Chuck E. Cheese, a comedic mouse who sings and interacts with guests. The establishment serves pizza and other menu items, complemented by arcade games, amusement rides and family-friendly animatronic displays. In 1977, Chuck E. Cheese’s Pizza Time Theatre in San Jose, California, was the first location to open. The concept was authored by Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell, credited with bringing video games such as Pong to the mainstream. Pizza Time Theatre was the first family restaurant to integrate food, animated entertainment and an indoor arcade. The chain merged with competitor Showbiz Pizza Place in 1984. In the early 1990s, the company unified the two brands renaming every location to Chuck E. Cheese’s.
Happy Leap Year! This special occasion deserves a purple squirrel. These rare creatures show up in the media about once every four years. There was a sighting in Pennsylvania earlier this month, in southern England in 2008 and in Minnesota in 1997. Most guesses about how a gray squirrel ends up colored purple involve exposure to dye, ink or paint.
Note: There is a more terrifying hypothesis posed by Krish Pillai, a Pennsylvania computer science professor. He suggests bromine-contaminated groundwater from fracking operations: “That color looks very much like Tyrian purple. It is a natural organobromide compound seen in molluscs and rarely found in land animals. The squirrel has too much bromide in its system possibly from all the bromide laced frack water its been drinking.”
A groundhog resident of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. On February 2 (Groundhog Day) of each year, the town of Punxsutawney celebrates the groundhog. During the ceremony, Phil emerges from his temporary home on Gobbler’s Knob and performs shadow-based weather prediction. A group called the Inner Circle, recognizable by their top hats and tuxedos, takes care of Phil year-round and plans the annual ceremony.
Rocket J. Squirrel is the cartoon flying squirrel protagonist of the 1959-1964 animated television series The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, produced by Jay Ward. Rocky is the brains of the “moose and squirrel” duo, though he often appears just as naïve and gullible as Bullwinkle. When he flies, he is accompanied by a jet engine sound effect.
P.S. “And now, here’s something we hope you’ll really like!”
An American cartoon character created in 1928 who has become an icon for the Walt Disney Company. The Mickey ears, they’re everywhere! Creator Walt Disney is from Chicago, Illinois.
Disney was referenced multiple times at the HOW Design Conference 2011 in Chicago during the past week. And I have finally returned to Oregon.
This is the first character in what I expect will be a long series of 8-bit college mascots. I’ve pretty much decided that I’m going to draw pixel art for a retro-style game instead of finishing my master’s thesis, Mascot Identity: The Symbolic Consumption of University Athletics Brands. So, in honor of my Oregon State University M.A. studies that intellectually prepared for making pixel art like it’s the 1980s, here is Benny Beaver.
Purple Squirrel – No. 362
Happy Leap Year! This special occasion deserves a purple squirrel. These rare creatures show up in the media about once every four years. There was a sighting in Pennsylvania earlier this month, in southern England in 2008 and in Minnesota in 1997. Most guesses about how a gray squirrel ends up colored purple involve exposure to dye, ink or paint.
Note: There is a more terrifying hypothesis posed by Krish Pillai, a Pennsylvania computer science professor. He suggests bromine-contaminated groundwater from fracking operations: “That color looks very much like Tyrian purple. It is a natural organobromide compound seen in molluscs and rarely found in land animals. The squirrel has too much bromide in its system possibly from all the bromide laced frack water its been drinking.”