"On Toad’s birthday Frog closed their Series B funding."
March 11, 2016 12:09 PM Subscribe
Frog and Toad are Co-Founders. Frog and Toad co-found a startup, and learn important lessons about friendship. The author captures original Frog and Toad author Arnold Lobel's distinctive storytelling cadence. (Best enjoyed in limited doses.)
I get what the author was trying to do but it this makes me sad.
It did get me googling because I was trying to remember the Lobel book with the owl and it led me to this, which OTOH I am finding strangely delightful.
posted by selfnoise at 12:31 PM on March 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
It did get me googling because I was trying to remember the Lobel book with the owl and it led me to this, which OTOH I am finding strangely delightful.
posted by selfnoise at 12:31 PM on March 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
I completely lost it at the "Toad gives the mother of all demos" illustration. Just roll-on-the-floor donkey-braying that scared the neighbor's chickens. It is a very good thing that I am working from home today.
posted by Slap*Happy at 12:43 PM on March 11, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Slap*Happy at 12:43 PM on March 11, 2016 [2 favorites]
selfnoise, "Tear-water Tea" is much funnier than it has a right to be.
...and pencils that are too short to use!
posted by dr_dank at 12:44 PM on March 11, 2016
...and pencils that are too short to use!
posted by dr_dank at 12:44 PM on March 11, 2016
I suppose this is amusing to you kids on my lawn.
posted by humboldt32 at 12:49 PM on March 11, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by humboldt32 at 12:49 PM on March 11, 2016 [2 favorites]
I don't find the linked thing that funny, but I recently read these books to my kids after last reading them as a small child, and they are hilarious. Frog's friendly but ever so vaguely trollish attitude, Owl's ridiculous emo sweetness... the one about getting the ice cream cones still cracks me up.
selfnoise, "Tear-water Tea" is much funnier than it has a right to be.
...and pencils that are too short to use!
I want to hug Owl.
posted by selfnoise at 12:52 PM on March 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
selfnoise, "Tear-water Tea" is much funnier than it has a right to be.
...and pencils that are too short to use!
I want to hug Owl.
posted by selfnoise at 12:52 PM on March 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
I've always wondered: does anyone identify with Frog in these books (the originals)? I am so, so toad. Toad all the way. I can fake Frog-ness much of the time but really? I WILL DO THOSE DISHES TOMORROW. I WILL DO IT ALL TOMORROW.
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 1:03 PM on March 11, 2016 [8 favorites]
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 1:03 PM on March 11, 2016 [8 favorites]
The team-building one was hilarious.
posted by prepmonkey at 1:16 PM on March 11, 2016
posted by prepmonkey at 1:16 PM on March 11, 2016
Then Toad started Dockerizing his Rust.
It's like they're peeking into where I work...
posted by ralan at 1:22 PM on March 11, 2016 [4 favorites]
It's like they're peeking into where I work...
posted by ralan at 1:22 PM on March 11, 2016 [4 favorites]
Semi-related, but if you like Frog and Toad the musical show is actually quite good. If you spot a production in your area, you may want to check it out.
posted by fings at 1:27 PM on March 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by fings at 1:27 PM on March 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
I've always wondered: does anyone identify with Frog in these books (the originals)? I am so, so toad. Toad all the way.
I think everyone is Toad -- not because we’re all grumpy & only occasionally soothable (though we are! I know I am!) but because Lobel wrote them that way. They’re mostly from Toad’s perspective. I don’t think we’re ever inside Frog’s head -- alone with Frog’s thoughts -- the way we are inside Toad’s. Even the stories where Frog’s narrative is central (the one where Spring is just around the corner, or the shivery ghost story one), they’re stories that Frog is telling to Toad, and Toad supplies the emotional prompts (“You must have been tired, Frog.” “I was tired. And then it started to rain.”).
A Frog & Toad story without Frog is still a Frog & Toad story. (Or Owl at Home.) (Or Fight Club, I guess?) A Frog & Toad story without Toad is unthinkable.
Oh yeah, re FPP: These seemed facile & kinda bummed me out. Though I acknowledge I love the Lobel books too too much to brook much messing about with them.
posted by miles per flower at 1:30 PM on March 11, 2016 [8 favorites]
I think everyone is Toad -- not because we’re all grumpy & only occasionally soothable (though we are! I know I am!) but because Lobel wrote them that way. They’re mostly from Toad’s perspective. I don’t think we’re ever inside Frog’s head -- alone with Frog’s thoughts -- the way we are inside Toad’s. Even the stories where Frog’s narrative is central (the one where Spring is just around the corner, or the shivery ghost story one), they’re stories that Frog is telling to Toad, and Toad supplies the emotional prompts (“You must have been tired, Frog.” “I was tired. And then it started to rain.”).
A Frog & Toad story without Frog is still a Frog & Toad story. (Or Owl at Home.) (Or Fight Club, I guess?) A Frog & Toad story without Toad is unthinkable.
Oh yeah, re FPP: These seemed facile & kinda bummed me out. Though I acknowledge I love the Lobel books too too much to brook much messing about with them.
posted by miles per flower at 1:30 PM on March 11, 2016 [8 favorites]
> I suppose this is amusing to you kids on my lawn.
Nah, the kids on the lawn were passing
this one around almost two years ago.
posted by fragmede at 2:17 PM on March 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
Nah, the kids on the lawn were passing
this one around almost two years ago.
posted by fragmede at 2:17 PM on March 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
Arnold Lobel is the man! Fables was my fave kids book last year.
posted by jcruelty at 2:20 PM on March 11, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by jcruelty at 2:20 PM on March 11, 2016 [2 favorites]
These are too well done. Bro.
posted by fiercecupcake at 2:44 PM on March 11, 2016
posted by fiercecupcake at 2:44 PM on March 11, 2016
I've nothing to say about the actual topic here. But hats off to Arnold Lobel.
"The Small Pig likes to sit down, and sink down, into the good soft mud. "
These words make me so happy. And they make my three year old daughter just as happy. That's some kind of magic.
posted by Elmore at 4:20 PM on March 11, 2016 [3 favorites]
"The Small Pig likes to sit down, and sink down, into the good soft mud. "
These words make me so happy. And they make my three year old daughter just as happy. That's some kind of magic.
posted by Elmore at 4:20 PM on March 11, 2016 [3 favorites]
OMG, Elmore, I haven't thought about that book in forever, but I just had a lovely time re-reading it.
posted by wildblueyonder at 5:11 PM on March 11, 2016
posted by wildblueyonder at 5:11 PM on March 11, 2016
I've always wondered: does anyone identify with Frog in these books (the originals)?
Frog, here. I think so wildly and out-of-controlly, I need a Toad in my life. I am very grateful she is here. She is much more interesting than I am, even though I am large and loud, I love that, and her.
posted by Slap*Happy at 7:27 PM on March 11, 2016 [3 favorites]
Frog, here. I think so wildly and out-of-controlly, I need a Toad in my life. I am very grateful she is here. She is much more interesting than I am, even though I am large and loud, I love that, and her.
posted by Slap*Happy at 7:27 PM on March 11, 2016 [3 favorites]
I identified with Toad so much that where most children had an imaginary friend, I had an imaginary alternate personality in which I would sometimes just start speaking in a low croaking voice and introducing myself to strangers by saying, "My name is... Toad." And whenever I did anything bad, it was Toad who had done it.
My child is just starting to really settle into longer books for reading instead of needing mostly pictures/lift-the-flap action. The picture on my phone's home screen is me reading him "Frog and Toad Are Friends."
posted by Scattercat at 1:28 AM on March 12, 2016 [4 favorites]
My child is just starting to really settle into longer books for reading instead of needing mostly pictures/lift-the-flap action. The picture on my phone's home screen is me reading him "Frog and Toad Are Friends."
posted by Scattercat at 1:28 AM on March 12, 2016 [4 favorites]
The author captures original Frog and Toad author Arnold Lobel's distinctive storytelling cadence
So completely god-fucking-awful then? Even my preschool aged children can't stand the tedious inanity. It's a joke we play sometimes when they've misbehaved: "Mind yourselves or there will be Frog and Toad tonight." Incredibly effective.
I'm quite surprised to read that people have found enough depth in either character to actually identify with them. Wow.
posted by dozo at 6:22 AM on March 12, 2016
So completely god-fucking-awful then? Even my preschool aged children can't stand the tedious inanity. It's a joke we play sometimes when they've misbehaved: "Mind yourselves or there will be Frog and Toad tonight." Incredibly effective.
I'm quite surprised to read that people have found enough depth in either character to actually identify with them. Wow.
posted by dozo at 6:22 AM on March 12, 2016
As someone who works at a tech startup and loved Frog and Toad as a child, this is freaking amazing. And makes me feel a bit dirty, at the same time.
posted by jferg at 7:08 AM on March 12, 2016
posted by jferg at 7:08 AM on March 12, 2016
So completely god-fucking-awful then? Even my preschool aged children can't stand the tedious inanity. It's a joke we play sometimes when they've misbehaved: "Mind yourselves or there will be Frog and Toad tonight." Incredibly effective.
I was surprised to like them as much when I started reading them to my son. They are inane and repetitive, yes (although far from the worst, we have a book about trucks having a birthday party that I refuse to read due to how stupid it is). But the underlying stories themselves are kind of amazing in how absurd and often koan-like they can be. And boy, do they map well to startup life!
posted by ch1x0r at 8:14 AM on March 12, 2016
I was surprised to like them as much when I started reading them to my son. They are inane and repetitive, yes (although far from the worst, we have a book about trucks having a birthday party that I refuse to read due to how stupid it is). But the underlying stories themselves are kind of amazing in how absurd and often koan-like they can be. And boy, do they map well to startup life!
posted by ch1x0r at 8:14 AM on March 12, 2016
Frog and Toad stories are repetitive, but repetitive in the right way and for the right reasons, like Dr. Seuss. The rhythm and cyclical nature appeals to preschoolers, but the underlying stories aren't didactic morals; they feel to me like a sort of philosophical acceptance, a world that isn't perfect, isn't even necessarily good, but it's what we have and we can be happy in it anyway if we try. Frog and Toad are distinct in their preferences and responses, and neither of them is right all the time.
Like, there's one where Toad doesn't want anyone to see him in his bathing suit because he thinks he looks silly, and all the animals Frog asks to leave instead stick around because they now know there might be a funny-looking dude in a bathing suit to watch and laugh at, and instead of ending with the traditional children's book "Oh, we're all sorry we were so mean" or "You're not silly-looking you just needed confidence," we get Toad finally getting fed up and climbing out and everyone - including Frog - laughing at his doofy suit, to which Toad just draws his dignity around him as best he can and marches off home, the end.
That right there is a character.
posted by Scattercat at 6:06 PM on March 12, 2016 [9 favorites]
Like, there's one where Toad doesn't want anyone to see him in his bathing suit because he thinks he looks silly, and all the animals Frog asks to leave instead stick around because they now know there might be a funny-looking dude in a bathing suit to watch and laugh at, and instead of ending with the traditional children's book "Oh, we're all sorry we were so mean" or "You're not silly-looking you just needed confidence," we get Toad finally getting fed up and climbing out and everyone - including Frog - laughing at his doofy suit, to which Toad just draws his dignity around him as best he can and marches off home, the end.
That right there is a character.
posted by Scattercat at 6:06 PM on March 12, 2016 [9 favorites]
There are two authors here, Camille Fournier and Timothy Danford. You can tell because there are bylines.
posted by kenko at 8:15 PM on March 12, 2016
posted by kenko at 8:15 PM on March 12, 2016
That is my favorite Frog and Toad, Scattercat. Moral of the story: sometimes your friends are assholes to you, and you just have to say, "Fuck it."
posted by Elementary Penguin at 3:36 AM on March 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Elementary Penguin at 3:36 AM on March 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
If we're talking more generally about favorite alternate takes on Frog and Toad, this is my favorite. (Spoiler: it is very gentle Frog and Toad erotica.) I love how the author managed to add sex in the mix while perfectly maintaining the tone and cadence of the original books--there's no sexually explicit language, but it's very clear what's going on.
posted by ActionPopulated at 8:36 PM on March 14, 2016
posted by ActionPopulated at 8:36 PM on March 14, 2016
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