“Walrusman” was one of the characters in the cantina scene in the Original Star Wars (that’s Episode IV, youngsters). You may not think you remember him, but here’s a clue. He’s the guy who confronts Luke at the bar and ends up getting his arm cut off by Obi Wan Kenobi. “Walrusman” is a nickname, which may well have been coined by Kenner for purposes of naming their action figure. According to online sources, the character wasn’t given a name, species and backstory in the Star Wars universe until 1989. Officially his species is “Aqualish” and the character’s name was “Ponda Baba”, but I’m just glad we have a walrus tie-in with Star Wars here on the blog.
Wanna profess your love for the tooth-walkers and still maintain your hip indie street cred? This shirt might do the trick. No one will mess with this walrus!
Voodoo Walrus T-Shirt Design
The Voodoo Walrus is a webcomic, which according to their site (and my experience) has “nothing to do with walruses and very little to do with voodoo, the design still remains surreal and iconic in its randomness.” Note that the Voodoo Walrus webcomic is an adult-oriented affair. This doesn’t necessarily mean “adult” in the nudity and cursing sense, but you don’t want to call the kids over…
I’ll look for some more info and maybe pictures related to this story. Hopefully, the coming winter will rebuild some of the ice, but it looks like bleak times for our friend the Pacific Walrus….
A new federal report today finds there’s a 40-percent chance that the Pacific walrus, a species imperiled by loss of sea ice due to global warming, will be on a pathway to extinction by the end of the century.
Global warming, regardless of your political position on the issue, or whether it represents a (geologic) short-term change or a long term shift in the planet’s climate, is a serious threat to all cold climate large animals, particularly our beloved Walrus and the polar bear.
So I’m over at my girlfriend’s house the other night, checking out all the kids books she has on her bookshelf to see if there’s anything notable that I might want to snag for my son. Lots of random titles, lots of ones I knew and had read already, classics such as The Phantom Toolbooth – and then I came across a title that knocked me back full two steps!
Very Worried Walrus – part of the old Sweet Pickles series. It’s about a Walrus who uh… worries a lot. Didn’t see that coming did you?
First of all, I totally remember this series, since I was 11 years old in 1977 and have a brother that’s five years younger – not to mention a first-grade-teaching mom who’s probably GOT this book. However, that’s not the reason that this book came as such a surprise. For that, we need a short story.
You see, most of my family gives me a hard time about being “very worried” about most things, a trait I gleefully play up whenever I can. I totally identify with the concerns of Walrus related to biking, although I admit he takes it a bit far. It should be noted that he was right about hitting a tree. So I looked at Very Worried Walrus, to paraphrase the quote, and he was me!
Or somewhere far north like that. I’ve accidentally stumbled upon the term “Igunak” in my ongoing walrus fact-exploring. What is it, you ask? Well, I’ll leave it to intrepid reporter Jackie S Quire who explains on her blog, “A Journey Northwards”
So while I never really had any interest in trying igunak… I did, unintentionally, last night… and I will probably not partake again. I tried it. Then covertly hid what was left in the pouch of my hoodie, and disposed of it in the washroom. I don’t think I fooled anyone though, haha.
So my first commenter, my friend Kristen, who co-runs the very nice boston-area foodblog North Shore Dish left the following comment:
Wow. Now all I can think of is Chumley the Walrus from the Tennessee Tuxedo cartoons. Love the site – nice and clean. Also, cracked up when one of the Google sidebar ads was for “need a carpenter?â€
Well, Kristen’s only a year or so older than I am, but I had never heard of Chumley the Walrus, and had only a passing understanding of “Tennessee Tuxedo“, although now that I have the benefit of some Googling behind me, this Tennessee Tuxedo show sounds remarkably similar to my favorite cartoon of all time, “Help! It’s the Hair Bear Bunch”
Chumley is portrayed as the dim-witted sidekick, in some ways the equivalent of “Botch” on Hair Bear, and looking at the voice talent from the two shows, the back and forth between the Don Adams-voiced Tennessee Tuxedo and Chumley must have sounded an awful lot like the verbal banter between Botch and Mr. Peevley, the zookeeper on Hair Bear. Although it should be noted that TT had a zookeeper and inept sidekick character as well.
Notable Chumley facts: Apparently Chumley is a South Pole Walrus, the only one of his kind if thats’ the case. Hence the friendship between Chumley and Tennessee Tuxedo I suppose.
What other cartoon Walruses am I missing out on – I’ve discovered two more since drafting this post, and I’ll get posts up about them very soon.
I often have a Twitter search window open for the term Walrus, to keep an eye on topics or items for future posts. It is amazing to me how many times a day, an HOUR, that someone tweets some permutation of “I am the Walrus/koo koo ka joo”. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with the Beatles – but the staying power of that phrase among the non-walrus-blogging public is amazing to me!
