winnie the pooh

Winnie The Pooh Wallpaper - Winnie the Pooh and His History


Winnie-the-Pooh is a popular children's book character created by author A.A Milne. The image of Pooh bear has been used for cuddly soft toys, clothes and even animated feature films. Many people do not know Winnie-the-Pooh was actually based on a real bear called "Winnipeg" who his son Christopher Milne liked very much. It's a touching story which caught the hearts and minds of many people after the First World War.

Christopher Robin Milne often went to see a Canadian Black Bear called Winnie at London Zoo. The bear was originally given to the Zoo on a long loan basis by Harry Colebourn. Lieutenant Colebourn was on his way to England at the time to take part in World War I when he bought the bear cub for $20 from a hunter in White River, Ontario, who had just trapped and killed its mother.

He named the bear "Winnie" after his hometown of Winnipeg, Canada. Winnipeg the bear became very popular with soldiers of the 2nd Canadian Infantry Brigade and travelled with them as their mascot. When they arrived in England it was clear that Winnipeg would not be able to accompany the Infantry Brigade any further as they had to move on to France. Harry Colebourn took the bear to the Zoological Gardens in London so they could look after it while he was away. In 1919 he returned to collect the bear and realised that it had become very popular with staff and visitors, so he decided to donate the bear to the zoo. Winnie the bear was a popular attraction at London Zoo until it died in 1934.

Christopher Robin Milne first saw Winnie on an excursion to the zoo in 1924 and actually spent time with it in the bear cage. This experience obviously had a great affect on Christopher and he went back to visit Winnie on many occasions, which led to A.A Milne keeping a journal about visiting the bear with his son. The journal entries also included other popular characters from the books such as Eyeore, Tigger, Kanga and Roo, which were his son's cuddly soft toys. Other characters in the books such as Owl and Rabbit were based on animals on Milne's country estate.

A young artist by the name of Ernest Shepard created the illustrations for the books which were inspired by A.A Milne's journal entries. The first was called "Winnie-the-Pooh" which went into print on October 14th 1926. A second book was released in 1928 called "The House at Pooh Corner". However poems and verses about the bear can also be found in other children's books called "When We Were Very Young" in 1924 and "Now We are Six" in 1927, which were also written by A.A Milne and illustrated by Ernest Shepard. All of the stories take place in Ashdown Forest which was on and around Milne's estate in Sussex.

A big fan of Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh books was Walt Disney who made the first animated theatrical featurette of the famous bear and his exploits in 1966 called the "Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree". It was at this time the hyphens were dropped from the name. Other films have been made which include "Pooh's Grand Adventure" in 1997 and "The Tigger Movie" in 2000. In 2003 "Piglet's Big Movie" was also released followed by "Pooh's Heffalump Movie"in 2005. In fact an all new full length animated Winnie the Pooh movie is in production and is slated for release in 2011.

Winnie the Pooh or Edward bear as it is sometimes known as picked up the Pooh part of its name from a swan that Milne's son once met on holiday. However, in the first chapter of "Winnie-the-Pooh" Milne does offer an explanation of his own as to why the bear is sometimes simply called "Pooh".

"But his arms were so stiff... they stayed up straight in the air for more than a week, and whenever a fly came and settled on his nose he had to blow it off. And I think - but I am not sure - that that is why he is always called Pooh."

spongebob squarepants wallpaper

Spongebob Squarepants Wallpaper - Life Lessons From SpongeBob Squarepants

It was 1999, I was 7 years old, and SpongeBob Squarepants had just arrived on television. SpongeBob quickly became one of my favorite shows, and looking back, I learned a lot of good lessons from watching the show all day. Now, when watching the show, I have noticed a lot of positive characteristics in SpongeBob's character. For one, he is the most optimistic character I have ever seen. He is also extremely supportive of all of his friends, regardless of what they think of him. If we could all grab a little piece of SpongeBob's optimism, the world would be a much better place.

1. Optimism - A cheery sponge with a shining personality. He is so optimistic, to that point that it gets annoying! When something bad happens to SpongeBob, he never panics. He analyzes the situation, and sees it from the best point of view. For example, in one of the first episodes, and my personal favorite, "Pizza Delivery", SpongeBob and Squidward get lost while trying to deliver a pizza. Squidward immediately panics, terrified of being lost, and the possibility of never coming back home. SpongeBob is completely optimistic about the situation, and has faith in his "Pioneer Navigation Skills" to bring him and Squidward back home. If SpongeBob hadn't been extremely optimistic, and allowed Squidward's low energy to resonate with him, the situation would have turned out different.

2. Kindness - SpongeBob also has a strong urge to help others. An example of this can be seen in an episode where he is asked to do a chore, building a telescope for Mr. Krabs. On that same day, he must go to Patrick's birthday party, and help out Sandy with a business presentation. Out of the need to help others, and fear of disappointing his friends, SpongeBob verbally commits to all 3 tasks. At the end of the episode, Patrick, Sandy, and Mr. Krabs find out that SpongeBob was trying to juggle all 3 events at once, and they feel moved by his kindness.

3. Innocence - Another strong word to describe the lovable SpongeBob Squarepants, is innocence. Looking at the kind eyes of the compassionate sponge, it is almost a given how innocent SpongeBob's soul is. Any wrong that SpongeBob commits, will cause a huge bubble of guilt inside. SpongeBob cannot live with any guilt inside, and he immediately confesses and apologizes for any wrongdoings.

4. Fearlessness/Bravery - Although SpongeBob exhibits fear in many social/work situations, he has an element of stupidity mixed with fearlessness that makes for an interesting combination. A perfect example of this would be "Krusty Krushers", where Mr. Krabs sends SpongeBob and Patrick into a wrestling arena, where they are faced with champion wrestlers who are about 30 times larger than they are. The fearlessness of SpongeBob and Patrick combined is inspiring, and no matter what scare tactics the wrestlers try out on our brave duo, or the pain they inflict, SpongeBob and Patrick never let up.

5. Relentlessness - SpongeBob is relentless, just ask Squidward! When SpongeBob wants to play games with his angry neighbor, Squidward says "NO!" about 95% of the time. SpongeBob keeps asking, literally dozens of times, until Squidward finally gives in. SpongeBob knows that Squidward is a very angry and pessimistic character, but he treats Squidward as if he were a nice man, and a best friend (which he is to SpongeBob).

I did not list all of the admirable traits of SpongeBob Squarepants, because there are many different new things that we learn about SpongeBob in each tiny 11 minute episode. What I do know, is that SpongeBob, while having certain undesirable traits (annoying, curious stupidity), his good traits far outweigh the bad. Optimism is something that SpongeBob bases his entire life off of, and that is why I admire him so much. I will forever have a place for SpongeBob and his Optimism, Bravery, Compassion, Kindness, Generosity, and Relentlessness.

spongebob squarepants

Spongebob Squarepants Wishes Your Child a Wet and Wild Birthday

With its popularity on Nickelodeon, Spongebob Squarepants is becoming quite the theme for children's parties. Take your tribe under the sea to Bikini Bottom for your child's next birthday party.

Whether you're celebrating the birthday of a boy or a girl, Spongebob Squarepants is an appropriate theme. From his brightly colored friends to his pineapple home Spongebob Squarepants has children of all ages joining in the fun.

Use pre-made party ware or invitations for your Spongebob Squarepants party. For an extra twist, cut a pineapple out of cardstock and use for the invitations. Decorate the house in brightly colored streamers and balloons adorning every corner of a room. Not all decorations need to be licensed Spongebob Squarepants materials. Use creativity and bold colors to create a festive yet inexpensive event.

A Spongebob Squarepants cake can be purchased at many local bakeries, but with his hand rectangle shape you can easily make a cake at home. Or skip the Spongebob Squarepants cake all together, and make a sandcastle or sand pail cake for guests to enjoy. With a Spongebob Squarepants theme, the ideas are abundant!

Create your own Spongebob Squarepants Party favors by having the kids make their very own Spongebob Squarepants to take home with them. Before the party, stock up on inexpensive rectangle yellow sponges. Have kids cut out pants from brown construction paper or cardstock and make legs out of pipe cleaners. Attach googlie eyes to the front of the sponge for that distinctive Spongebob look!

mickey mouse wallpaper

Mickey Mouse Wallpaper - A Mouse Stuck in Time

Mickey Mouse is now some 80 years old and seemingly the ravages of time have not left a mark on him. A couple of makeovers have left him a little rotund and to many a little misshapen. He has steadfastly refused to update his wardrobe and stuck with the clothes that have seen him through the triumphs and disasters visited on the world that he inhabits over the decades of his life. But do you know what - he doesn't look at all bad on it!

His main film work seems to have dried up of late and he hasn't had the offer a movie in over three years. He suffered the ignominy of having his last one go straight to video but he has managed to put a brave face on things and indeed that face remains one of the most iconic images in the world today even beating Santa to that particular record. His employers Disney threw a big a massive party for the Mickey's 75th birthday a few years back so his has decided hold back on any further large extravaganzas for the time being.

Somewhat strangely Mickey's story started with a rabbit - Oswald the Lucky Rabbit to be precise. Back in the mists of time Disney Brothers Studio was just part Universal Pictures' animation. Walt Disney created Oswald in 1927 his round, white face, big button nose and floppy black ears made him an instant hit and Universal approved a series of shorts. Walt Disney met the Universal executives in 1928 with a view to negotiating a new contract. Oswald was still riding high in the charts and Disney assumed that a deal on his terms would be cut and dried. The studio had other ideas and informed him told him that it had hired away all of his employees whilst retaining the complete artistic rights to Oswald. The studio offered to keep Disney on but only if he took a salary cut which he of course refused.

He and Ub Iwerks the one animator who stayed loyal to Disney, started on a session of brainstorming sessions burning the midnight oil to come up with a replacement for Oswald. Oswald's ears were shortened, some extra padding around the middle, and low and behold the rabbit tuned into a mouse originally as we all new named Mortimer. This name didn't last and he became known as Mickey Mouse.

The first two Mickey shorts were not successful but then came Steamboat Willy a cutting edge animation - the first to feature synchronized music and sound effects to hit the big screen. The film fist premiered in New York on Nov. 18, 1928 and was immediately acclaimed a huge success. A series of Mickey Mouse shorts soon appeared including, Plane Crazy which actually predated Steamboat Willy. Mickey Mouse became a national icon by the end of the year and it was then that Walt Disney propelled the mouse to true superstar status by starting up a line of Mickey merchandise and not long after the Mickey Mouse Club was formed.

In 1935 Mickey his first makeover by an animator called Fred Moore, earlier Mickey had been drawn as a series of circles which was somewhat restrictive to his movement Moore, who later went on to animate Fantasia's Sorcerer's, innovatively gave him a pear-shaped body, pupils, white gloves and a shortened nose with express intention of making him cuter. Mickey also appeared in colour for the first time that year.

By the time that 1937 came around Disney Studios was producing Mickey Mouse shorts at the rate of one a month. Disney himself was providing the mouse's distinctive high-pitched voice. Mickey went on to reflect the world in all it's various guises, becoming at various stages a football hero, a hunter, a tailor, and even a symphony conductor. He rescued Pluto from the dog pound, crashed his car, fell behind on his rent, enlisted in the army and had his house repossessed. By this time his life companion Minnie had arrived on the scene and she was always being captured by dastardly villains always later being rescued by Mickey of course, the epitome of the all American hero.

In the 1950s Mickey had his own theme park and newspaper comic strip, and he had branched out on to the new up and coming medium television. Sadly for Mickey Mouse, block buster Disney feature films like Bambi and Sleeping Beauty began to take the accolades and poor old Mickey began to fade away. There was an enforced retirement of 30 years between 1953 with the cartoon short The Simple Things and the 1983 Christmas special Mickey's Christmas Carol.

Yet despite all this Mickey's ears are still one of the most famous cultural icons of the 20th and 21st centuries. He has posed for photographs with almost every U.S. President whilst the sale of Mickey Mouse merchandise have declined from their all time high in 1997 they still make up a staggering 40% of the company's consumable revenue.

Mickey's last appearance the big screen was a cameo performance in the 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit along with Warner Brothers' Bugs Bunny. Such was the ego of both these characters that equal on screen time was insisted upon for each. He was even printed on a t-shirt and stretched across Sarah Jessica Parker's chest for an episode of Sex in the City and our Mickey has entered the fashionable boutique world. In 2002, he mad an appearance in the PlayStation2 video game Kingdom Hearts.

All in all Mickey Mouse still manages to pull in an audience even one used to all the kit and caboodle of our technocratic. Not bad for an 80 year old...