''Is it...silent?'' ''Well, there's a percussion track''

#991; The Chipmunks, and What Came After

  — December 23rd, 2013

[ Tags: , , , ]       Permalink: https://wondermark.com/c/991/

It wasn’t until my mid-twenties that I realized the Chipmunks (which I had always known as cartoon characters from my childhood) were actually, as pop-cultural entities, much older — dating back to their eponymous novelty Christmas record in 1958 or, arguably, the “Witch Doctor” song all the way back in 1952. There was a short-lived cartoon in 1961, but the Saturday-morning cartoon that I and people of my generation are most familiar with didn’t come around until more than 20 years later (1982-1990).

The audio trick that creator Ross Bagdasarian used to create the sound of the Chipmunks’ voices was so simple, and the resulting songs so popular in the late 50s and early 60s, that I figured they must have spawned some knockoffs. Sure enough — enjoy the squeaky sounds of:

The Nutty Squirrels (singing “Uh Oh”)
The Grasshoppers (singing “Shortnin’ Bread”) (More info)
The Three Happy Crickets (“We Wish You a Merry Christmas”)
Woody Woodchuck’s Christmas Sing Song (info only)
Sing Along with the Busy Beavers (album download)
BONUS LINK: The Happy Hamsters sing “Ghostbustin'”, a few decades later. Full album here.

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Final few days for #Pintopia!

April 15, 2024 by David Malki !

I’m excited to remind folks that we are in the LAST FEW DAYS of the Pintopia campaign!

Most of the pledge tiers are for various numbers of pins, as you might expect.

But I’ve ALSO just added a new tier called PLEDGE MANAGER ONLY:

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The best deals on groups of pins can be found in the regular pledge tiers (where every additional pin is cheaper than the last, as volume pricing does its magic).

But, if you’d prefer to peruse everything later and/or make à la carte selections, you can now opt in to the Pledge Manager tier for just $2.

This will give you access to the pledge manager after the campaign (with $2 credit already on board, natch), where you can then build your own reward of individual items, including:

  • Pins – of course!
  • Stickers – individually OR in sets
  • Wondermark greeting cards

But also, a few extra things will show up in the pledge manager as well:

  • Wondermark books and prints
  • Stickers of each of the NEW pin designs
  • T-shirts! I’ll be using this post-campaign order period to determine the long-term interest in making shirts of the new designs… So an initial, limited number will be made available.

If you haven’t joined the campaign yet, you have until APRIL 18, 1PM to pledge at any level, and gain access to these items! Here is a colorful button to click:

[ Pintopia! Through APRIL 18 ]


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