Happy Veterans' Day

Welcome to "Beyond Rodney and Jim, the Veteran's Day special".



Now notice how I have decided to be very serious with this post and changed my font to Times.



Listen to this poem, while playing patriotic music in the background:



In war, there are lives risked and lives taken
Men and women giving their best to defend what they love
They defend their country
Their honor
Their people

Some call them soldiers
Others call them heroes

Our veterans have risked their lives for us
They have lived through heck and fought with honor
Many have killed
And regret doing so

For every life, there is a soul
For every soul, there is a life
For those who have died, we show great appreciation and remembrance
For those who live, along with them live the horrific memories of battle
Some, memories of defeat
Some, memories of victory

Our veterans were more than soldiers
They were, and still are heroes.



Thank you for your reverence, and...



Happy Veterans' Day.

New Blog!

Yep, I know it's been a while since my last posting, but that's exactly the reason why I created the new blog you see to the right on the blog listing. All game-freaks, check it out!

That's all for now...

Halloween Recap

Welcome to another "Beyond Rodney and Jim".





So, how was everyone's Halloween? I hope you all had fun trick-or-treating, because ours was pretty much what you could call a bust.





See, me and Jim went over to this house a couple blocks from ours, and we set up our little show. I placed my boombox up on this branch above me, and Jim went up to the door. When the guy who was handing out candy opened it, I pressed play and Jim started dancing.

I'm thinking the guy didn't have a sense of humor, or he hated the song too. Either way, the branch I set my boombox on wasn't that sturdy, as it broke off and the boombox landed right on my head.

Now I have this massive headache, and we're probably gonna be the new laughing stock at school next week. Oh well, at least it was worth a shot. Oh, and we got some candy left too.

End transmission.

The Final Countdown

Phew, it's been a week since I last posted. However, I've been working on the banana costume that Jim's wearing for Halloween. If you saw our latest strip, you've seen how it turned out.

How did I make Jim's banana suit? Well, I guess I forgot to mention in my Five Facts post that I can hem pieces of cloth together to create things. Yes, and I threatened Jim that if he even dares to reveal that talent, I'm taking the suit away.

As for me, I was so busy making Jim's costume I didn't have time to get serious about mine. So I'm going as a robot.

Anyway, that's the end of this post.

Next time on Beyond Rodney and Jim...

CANDY TIME!!!

PAINFUL... but brilliant.

Wow, two episodes in one day?...

Okay, so just yesterday Jim checked his e-mail. He got this message from someone, and it contained this totally awful "Peanut Butter Jelly Time" video thing from the internet. We couldn't even listen to it for more than 30 seconds without almost dying from the horribleness of the clip:

It's actually been an internet phenomenon for years, so I got an idea for what Jim might be this Halloween...

See ya!

Hanging with my Brothers...

(Note: I wanted to use something different than that for the title, but I couldn't think of anything.)

Anyway, welcome to another "Beyond Rodney and Jim". Ironically, this strip focuses on everything beyond our universe. I guess the guy that gave us the strip had created a bunch of other characters as well, and I got to know them pretty well. In fact, just yesterday, I played a game of hearts with that guy and a couple of his other creations:

I got completely destroyed by the others, but oh well. I'm not sure how I manage to play with people from other worlds, but it's cool anyways. I even played Backgammon with one of them once. Good times, good times...

That's all for this rather short episode.

Five Facts Friday

Welcome to another "Beyond Rodney and Jim".

Okay, is it just me, or did this week seem to take FOREVER to end?! I almost can't believe Friday is here!

Of course, to celebrate the arrival of the end of this long, long week, I decided to let slip a couple of interesting behind-the-scenes stuffs (you know, my original reason for starting this blog in the first place?). So, here goes nothing...

1. I CAN'T SWIM...

Yes, it's weird that I made fun of Jim having an innertube when I couldn't swim from one side of the pool to the other, but come on! It was a DUCK innertube!



2. I am a Spongebob fan...

I hate to admit it, but that yellow maniac just seems to do it for me. Maybe it's just because it's good to know that me and Jim aren't the only popular pair of idiots out there (oops, did I say that out loud?).

3. I DO have a short attention span...

As amazing as it seems, stupid Mr. Dingle was right about one thing: I really do have a short atttention span. I will only be able to focus for about 5 minutes, then I just start thinking about something else. I almost (ten minutes pass) oh, sorry, I was checking my e-mail. I'm telling you, I have ADD!

4. I ride my scooter everywhere...

I learned to ride a scooter when I was four years old, and ever since, I've been pushing one everywhere I go. Walking? Thbbbbt! Biking? Pfffft! Nope, that scooter is the way to go!



5. The fact that Jim can only speak in grunts and yet we still understand every word he says...


THIS is one I'm sure everyone out there has wondering about since this strip started. Well, the big wait is over, everyone, because I'm going to reveal the ENORMOUS secret right no...




...

Oh, darn it, looks like Tina needs the computer "really badly". Sorry, I'll have to cut it off right here.

Happy Friday!

Halloween Costumes...

Welcome to another BRJ.

It's coming up on mid-October, which means it's time to consider costumes. Jim and I have been trying to think up ideas, but we just can't come up with anything. I even tried my "visual powers" on Jim to try thinking up something, but that failed. Badly.

That image of Jim as a dinosaur is still floating in my memory. Brrrrr...

Anyway, we came up with another solution: looking through a book of costumes. There were a bunch of people going down to the Banama Recreation Center to get pictures taken with their costumes on. They even created an album of all the pictures! So, of course, we picked one up, and looked through it. It took a while, too...

(Note: Don't tell Dad this, but he looked like a total dork in that football costume.)

What do we do? We may NEVER get ideas for costumes!

That's it for this episode.

Trivia Show Results!

You remember the trivia show I started some time ago. Well, it's finished now,
and our winner is:

JANICE HEAD!!!

Congratulations on participating, AND getting all the answers right!

We may have another TWR soon!

Trivia with Rodney!

Welcome to a special episode of "Rodney and Jim"! Why is this post special? Well, let me explain...

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! IF YOU ARE READING THIS POST, THEN YOU ARE NOW OFFICIAL CONTESTANTS ON:

SORRY ABOUT THE LOW QUALITY.

ON THIS SHOW, THE RULES ARE VERY SIMPLE. YOU READ THE FOLLOWING TRIVIA QUESTIONS, BASED ON WHAT YOU HAVE READ ON THIS BLOG, THEN YOU GO TO THE COMMENTS SECTION OF THIS POST, AND LEAVE YOUR ANSWERS. THE MORE PEOPLE WHO ENTER ANSWERS, THE BETTER!







NOW FOR THE QUESTIONS...

QUESTIONS:

1. Based on scientific evidence, can termites read anything?

2. What two reasons was I nervous about becoming 16?

3. A as in WHAT?

4. In percentages, how much do either Mom or Dad cook?

5. How many days a year is dinner a disaster?

6. What is one of Jim's biggest fears?

7. What did Jim do on the first day of school this year?

8. What did we name the bomb we created on the Fourth of July?

NOW GO TO THE COMMENTS SECTION AND POST YOUR ANSWERS. HERE'S HOW:

1. (answer)

2. (answer)

3. (answer)

THANKS FOR JOINING US! TUNE IN LATER ON FOR THE RESULTS!

Candidate for Most Pointless Toy of the Year Award?

Welcome to another "Beyond Rodney and Jim"



Okay, so in Fred Meyer yesterday, we were looking for a gift for my little cousin that's turning 2 in a few days, and I saw what had to be the DUMBEST looking kids toy ever...



No, I didn't do any photoshop on it, this is actually a toy I saw. See, "Frogz" is some way to get kids into the "rappa-rappa-bling-bling-hanging-with-my-homies" thing. What does this frog do? Well, if you press a button, it'll start singing:

(note that the bass is moderately high here)

IT CHUR BIRTHDAY
IT CHUR BIRTHDAY
GONNA PARTY LIKE IT CHUR BIRTHDAY.

or play some song by some rapper (hopefully it's a clean one...).

Okay, I'll just say here and now: this toy has NO target audience. Only kids like the stuffed toys, but what kids are gonna like that kind of music? Anyone???

And that's why this is a candidate for Most Pointless Toy of the Year. I'll post more pointless toys later on, but for now...

PEACE OUT, HOMIE!

...

Okay, you're right, that was pretty lame. Sorry.

UPDATE!: I found out that one toy did sing an unclean song! What are those people thinking?

Thirty Strips Old...

Geez, has time flown or what? Well, if not for you, than it has for me and Jim, because it seemed like just yesterday when we started this strip. And now, we're 30 STRIPS OLD!!!

First off, I'd like to thank Andy Brinkerhoff for hosting our strip and creating us and all that stuff.

I'd also like to thank the blog "Keeping Up with the Brinkerhoffs" for broadcasting our strip to bunches of people. If not for them, we'd probably have never gotten popular.

And finally, you, for reading it!

Next checkpoint: 1 YEAR OF STRIPS.

Thank you everyones!

Why I Don't Listen to the Radio often...

Welcome to another "Beyond Rodney and Jim".

Okay, everyone who listens to the radio on the drive to work, RAISE YOUR HAND!

...

All right, here's another question: Do any of the hosts on whatever radio show you listen to in the morning make you want to GO INTO THEIR RECORDING STUDIO AND PUSH THEM OUT A THIRD-STORY WINDOW?!!!

...

Okay, just checking. See, I wake up to the radio in the morning, to the same song: "Girls in LA" by the Rockin' Horses. No, really, EVERY MORNING I hear that song. Then, I hear someone who sounds like an exhausted Santa Claus start talking:

Uh, heh heh, hullo there, Banama. It's 5:45 AM, and boy, er, what a lovely day it is, huh? Heh heh... yes sirree is it a nice day. Doh, anyway, for this lovely morning (isn't it though?), we're talking with Margaret Simms, age 85. Yep, this lady's getting old ain't she? Well, here she is...

So Santa-Claus-Man talks with this woman, who you barely hear talking. She wheezes and sneezes and coughs throughout the whole thing, and the host is completely clueless:

So, you getting along fine with Porgenia?

It's (wheeze) PROGERIA YOU MORO-(coughcoughwheezecoughchoke...THUMP)

Hullo? Hullllllllo? Oh, it looks like she hung up. Well, once again, beautiful morning, eh? Next up is our weather today, and then more Rockin' Horses, followed by...

This is why there's so many idiots out in the world today. Good thing I'm not one of...

...

Hey, wait a second, what did you just call me?

Cellular, Modular, Interactivodular...

Up until a few days ago, I was the only one in my family without a cell phone.





BUT NOW...





I HAVE MYSELF A PHONE!

Yes sir, I have joined the crowd of cell-phone-owning teens. I am El Magnifico! I am Spartacus! I am RODNEY REDHART, CELL PHONE OWNER!

...

But who can I call?

16 in three months

Welcome to another "Beyond Rodney and Jim".

Well, my 16th birthday is in a couple of months. You're probably all thinking "Wow, Rodney, way to go!". I was highly anticipating my Sweet 16... until I found out about all the wonderful things that came with it:

1. Driving: For a long time, ever since I was 10, my scooter was my best friend (Jim, don't take that the wrong way, now it's my second best). I rode that thing EVERYWHERE. Then, one night I came home from Jim's, and Dad broke the ice...

I had NO idea that I was already that close to being behind the wheel of a car. I can't believe I'll have to drive myself everywhere! I thought for a second that I could chicken out, but Dad wouldn't let that fly, so it looks like by this time next year, I'll be a licensed driver (and that's if I don't fail my driving test...)

2. Donating blood: Both my parents have been donating blood for years, and every couple of months I see Dad or Mom come home with a bandage around their arm. I went with them a few months ago, and it was quite a sight to see. Now, I got some of my blood taken as a sample once, and even though I'm not too big on shots, this procedure was almost as painful as getting tetanus vaccine. So when I found out these people did it to kids when they turned 16, I felt a little queasy...

So now I'm a little less hyped about it, but still can't wait to see what my parents think up for my birthday this year...

That's all for now!

NOT AGAIN!

Welcome to another "Beyond Rodney and Jim"







Okay, so in biology, we've been dealing with termites. These things are tiny, and you can often try to manipulate them. We drew a pattern like this on our paper:






Then we put a termite on the pattern, and watched what it did. If it went a direction we didn't want it, we put a cotton swab in it's path to make it go another way. We did this experiment twice, too.

But what's with today's title? Well, our third experiment was to make our own experiment using termites. Me and Jim did a lab write-up, and this is what it looks like:

Title: Can Termites Read?

Question: Can a termite read an important message and not kill himself?

Hypothesis: Probably not.

Procedure:

1. On the piece of paper, write:

"Step on the X and you will die."

2. Draw a really big "X" near it.

3. If the termite steps on the "X", take a hammer and smash it's guts out.

Observations: He got smashed.

Conclusion: I was right. Termites can't read.

Well, my teacher didn't approve, and gave me an "F-Minus-Minus-Minus-Minus-Minus..."

Darn it, another FAIL! This time, Dad was angry, and took my video games away for a week. But why oh why did my teacher give me an "F"? Isn't anyone interested in whether termites can read or not?

THE WORLD MAY NEVER KNOW.

That's it for this episode.

100 PERCENT, BABY!

If you read my post describing my schedule, you'll see that I didn't get the point of World Cultures. I STILL don't get the point, but I have to give it credit for making my day. On a geography quiz we did last Friday, I got a 100%. A-plus. PERFECT SCORE!

A as in AWESOME. A as in AMAZING. A as in APPLE.

...



Uh, I think that's about it. That's all for now!

Dad IS the Better Chef!

Welcome to another "Beyond Rodney and Jim".

If the "Cooking with Rodney" episode didn't tip you off, my Mom is a terrible cook. My Dad actually cooks pretty well, but he's usually busy with something, so Mom cooks more often. Here's a pie chart:

That means 328.5 days out of the year, dinner is just next to disaster. Luckily, I often go over to Jim's for the afternoon to get out of eating it. Tina caught on to my plan, and has gone over to one of her friend's houses for one afternoon a week. She has like 5 friends, so every five weeks they pull straws to see who can keep her over first, second, third, etc.

It wouldn't be so bad if she didn't cook nasty stuff like spinach casserole (don't ask), geogia pudding (it's got black topping and gray filling), and even spam sandwiches (she often forgets to take it out of the can).

Okay, it's Blogger Participation time! Anyone who reads this post needs to tell about ONE, maybe TWO memorable disasters in the kitchen. As for me, this is Rodney Redhart signing out. That's all folks!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Welcome to yet another episode of "Beyond Rodney and Jim", which goes behind the scenes of yet another strip.

Okay, so in Sophomore English, my teacher, Mr. Dingle, is a total jerk. Well, to me anyway. It seems like he gives everyone else the respect they deserve, and then he comes to me and he gets a signal, saying, "Redhead on monitor. Will make life miserable!". That's when he changes his facial expression and does what the signal told him to.

Today, however, was our first graded assignment, and something bad happened. Not just bad, REALLY REALLY BAD. This image from an upcoming strip should explain everything:

Yep, just when it seems like old Mr. Dingle can't get any worse, look what happens. Oh, and if you think that I was upset, you should've seen Dad. Man, he hit the roof when he saw my first graded paper for Sophomore English. He then came to his senses and calmed down. He let me off the hook, but said that I need to be studying a lot more... but hey, that's WAY better than what he did when I broke his camera on accident (let's not talk about that, okay?).

As for Mr. Dingle, he better be prepared, because Rodney Redhart has one big bone to pick with him tomorrow afternoon...

That's it for this episode!

Phobias!, part two

Welcome back to BRJ. Today, I'm continuing on yesterday's post.

Last night, I had Jim over, and we all sat down and watched a movie we rented.

Which movie? See for yourself:

I'm sorry, but any movie that revolves around a hugging robot rampaging through a city on some distant planet is probably going to suck. And it did, too. 82 minutes of big-time hugging action. Yeah, right.

In fact, I would've gotten up and left if it wasn't for Jim being there. See, this brings me back on the subject of unusual phobias. I couldn't even keep my eyes on the screen, so I was watching Jim, who was right next to me. I expected him to probably love it, but I guessed wrong. His eyes were huge, and he was shaking really bad. I almost didn't think it could be for real at first, but I found that there was no other explanation...

Jim had Hugbotphobia.

For those who don't speak phobia language, let me put it in english: Jim was afraid of Hugbot. Every time he appeared on screen he got tense. I then got a brilliant idea: put on a Hugbot costume and scare the living crud out of Jim at school tomorrow! I didn't get to do it yesterday, so tomorrow is the big moment...

Stay tuned!