Poncho’s Travel Notes
Like most, I found the movie Amélie to be magical and delightful and inventive and wasted no time falling madly in love with the “gamine” Audrey Tautou, (as she is invariably referred). Despite no effort whatsoever on my part she and I did not meet and live happily ever after, but many parts of the movie have remained with me, including the photos of her father’s mysteriously world-trotting garden gnome who appears posing in front of the landmarks of numerous cities.
With this in mind, I thought: wouldn’t it be great if I could put myself in a box and do the same? But then my mother reminded me that I promised to come over and clean out the eaves trough in the fall and how did I expect to do that if I was jammed in a box en route to Copenhagen? So I decided to let Poncho go in my stead.
For this adventure we turned to Lynn Wine, a sculpture graduate at the Kansas City Art Institute, to create a plush version of Poncho in all his glory. Photos of his creation can be viewed here and here.
While I know the following goes without saying – Pooch Café fans being well known as the most awesome, smart, sensitive and cavity-free comics fans in existence – this project’s success depends on everyone involved showing Poncho a good time, taking super good care of him, and then passing him on to his next host in a timely fashion. I know all you guys are the best and would do no less.
Care: If you decide to take a turn with Poncho, please make sure to keep his pearly white coat as clean as possible (you know how much he hates baths). No shots in the rain or near open tar pits and such, and make sure the ground he sits on is free of grime and mildew (what a prima donna, eh?)
Mailing: Poncho will arrive in a (hopefully) re-usable box (open box carefully for re-sealing purposes) and inside box he’ll be in another protective, water-proof bag. When you’re finished, pack him back up in both of these carefully and check in with me for the next address to which you can send him. (I believe we’ll have stickers inside that you can put over top of the previous mailing addresses). Make sure you also put your address clearly on the return-address part so that if there are any delivery problems it returns back to you. Please send the box with a high enough delivery priority (within reason, of course, no need drop serious ching ching) so that it moves along faster and has a tracking number (to decrease chances of disappearance). If the amount of money required for this is beyond your means, you can contact us here at Pooch Central and we can forward you the cash you need. Under “value of contents” just put 1 dollar (or whatever you call your local currency) and write that it is a sample of something. This should avoid the incurrence of any extra nasty tariffs or taxes or whatnot.
Pictures: Yup, the local landmarks are the real stars of any photographs. Usually. But not here. Poncho is in love with his own face, and he wants to see it displayed with equal prominence as whatever he’s standing in front of. Above are some Gnome shots from Amélie where you can see how nice and prominent in the frame the Gnome is. That’s the kind of thing that works best for Poncho. Also, he looks best from a full side view, or at most ¾ angle (he tends to look a tad bizarre from face on, so try to avoid those angles if possible). Take digital shots (any quality level will do) and send me all the results via e-mail and I’ll pop the best ones up on the Poncho’s Travels page for all to enjoy.
Want to host Poncho? Click here and send me your name, city, full mailing address, and local places you plan to show Poncho.