Everybody makes mistakes. Sometimes they?re small mistakes, like forgetting our jacket or dropping a fork on the floor. Sometimes they?re bigger mistakes, like breaking a rule or being unkind to someone. But whether the mistake is big or little, we might feel embarrassed, upset, or even scared about it. 

What if the mistake makes someone angry? What if they yell at us? What if we can?t figure out how to make things right? . . . These are the questions that Doctor Apocalypso is asking herself in this week?s story.

It?s Father?s Day, and Doc wants to let her dads know how much she loves them, so she plans a very special breakfast-in-bed?maybe one that?s a little too special! And when Doc?s turbocharged breakfast catapult makes a mess in the house, her Papa gets very upset. He shouts at Doc in such a scary voice that she thinks he might not love her anymore, and so she runs away to live in Scotty?s cupboard!

Will one bite of Scotty?s Choc-o-Berry Marshmallow Bran Explosion send Doc hurrying home?

Will Papa?s apology help Doc understand that it?s okay to make mistakes, because they help us learn how to do better next time?

Will Doc?s new song ?Ways to Say I Love You? be the world?s next huge hit?

For all the answers, agarra a alguien que amas and get ready to hit the dance floor for some heart-pounding headbanging on today?s rockin? episode of The Imagine Neighborhood!

Hi, friends?guess what? It?s almost time for summer break, so today I get to bring you this season?s very last episode of No Filter with Count Vacula!

I?m so happy about all the amazing people I got to meet this year, but I?m super excited for you to meet my newest friend, ?Weird Al? Yankovic! His first name is really Alfred, but everyone calls him Weird Al because he?s extremely silly, and he?s famous for writing and performing hilarious songs.  

A lot of Weird Al?s music is in a style called ?parody,? which means that he takes other people?s songs and gives them new and funny words. Some of my favorites are ?Eat It?, ?Yoda,? and the ?Captain Underpants Theme Song.? He?s so good at making songs that he?s won five Grammy Awards and sold more than 12 million albums! He?s also written two terrific kids? books, When I Grow Up and My New Teacher and Me!

But what matters most about Weird Al is that he?s a really nice and kind person! And even though I?m a vampire robot vacuum and he?s an accordion-playing human, we have lots of things in common. We both like cardboard boxes, and dogs, and cereal. . . and he says he?s a vampire like me, but I haven?t seen him at any of the meetings, so I think he was probably just being playful. 

Weird Al told me an amazing true story about selling his old dryer lint for $600, and a hilarious made-up story about the tiny monsters that make all the echoes we hear. I had a great time getting to know Weird Al, and I think you?ll have a great time, too. 

I can?t wait to practice meeting more new people over the break! Are you looking forward to trying out your friend-making skills this summer? Maybe you?re going to camp or on a family vacation, or you?re excited about spending more time at your favorite park?but wherever you go, I?ll bet there will be new friends just waiting to meet you and I can?t wait to hear about it! Until then, stay kind and have a great summer!

See you soon!

Your pal,

Vac

What?s something you really like about the way you look? Is it your smile? Your funny little pinky toes? The cool T-shirt you always wear on Wednesdays? Maybe it?s your freckles or your strong legs that can run really fast. There are a lot of unique and beautiful things about the way every one of us looks!

But what if someone was mean to you because of something about your appearance? What if people excluded you just for the way you wear your hair? That?s what happened to Alakazambra, and that?s what this week?s story is about.

Today Vac is super excited, because Alakazambra is taking him to a fancy new roller-skating rink! But first, she?s getting a beautiful brand-new hairdo. And Alakazambra?s not visiting just any old salon?she?s seeing magical Miss Mamas, owner of The Enchanted Haus of Coils, Curls, and Charms!

After Miss Mamas gives Alakazambra the most bewitching braids we?ve ever beheld, she feels happy, confident, and ready to roll! But when we get to the rink, there?s trouble. A bunch of troller skaters show up and make fun of Alakazambra?s hairstyle. They tell her they won?t let her skate until she takes her braids out.

Will Vac give himself a tummyache eating candy off the floor of the Golden Rink Deluxe?  

Will Miss Mamas teach Alakazambra to stand up against discrimination and let her inner light shine bright? 

Will Scotty ever stop looking in the mirror at his fancy new fade?

To find out, tighten up those laces and get ready to rock the rink on today?s exciting episode of The Imagine Neighborhood (and if you have a minute between songs, remind your grown-up to get on our newsletter list for awesome episode activities)!  

Ready? Set?

ALL SKAAAAAAAAAATE!

Have you ever felt scared? I sure have. It can be really hard to feel scared feelings, and it can be confusing, too. Like, I know I?m scared of falling into quicksand, and being turned into a bagel (again), and I?m definitely afraid of being chased by Australian crocodiles! But I can feel scared even when none of those things are actually happening.  

Sometimes I get scared just imagining scary things. I worry about things that might happen, and then I start thinking about how unfair it would be if they did happen, and then I get upset because those things shouldn?t happen but I don?t know how to keep them from happening, and then my face gets hot and my breathing gets fast, and then I feel really SMAD?scared and mad!

In today?s special episode, Vac and I are both feeling SMAD. But we talk through it together and that helps us feel a little better. Promising to be kind to each other and to all of our friends in the Neighborhood helps us feel a little better, too. 

If you?re feeling scared or SMAD or any other big feelings, I hope you?ll talk to a trusted grown-up about them. And I hope you know how much Vac and I?and everyone in the Neighborhood?cares about you and wants you to feel safe. We love you. So much.

Scotty

Hey there, friends! It?s me, Count Vacula, with a fresh No Filter just for you!

I?m really happy because this week you get to meet Lauren Ashley Smith. She?s a television writer and producer, and in fact, Lauren was the first-ever female African American head writer of a sketch comedy TV show! She?s smart and funny, and best of all, she?s very kind.

When you?re trying to make a new friend, it?s helpful to ask them questions about themselves and then really listen to what they tell you. I asked Lauren a lot of questions, and she answered them all! She told me about her dogs, Jelly and Rowdy, and about her sisters, and about her new robot vampire vacuum cleaner (hi, Florida!), and about how writers can make the actors on their shows say all kinds of silly stuff! 

One thing we have in common is that we both host audio shows?even though mine is a podcast and hers is on the radio. We also both love to tell funny stories and joke around. Lauren told me a hilarious knock-knock joke, and a really great made-up story about how our shoes decide how tall we are, and then we made ourselves LOL all over the place pretending that we didn?t know each other. It was really fun!

You know, I used to be really nervous about meeting new people, but now every time I practice making friends I end up having a great time! I think you?ll have a great time getting to know Lauren, too!

Have you made any new friends lately? Or is there someone you want to make friends with, but you?ve been feeling shy? Tell me about it and maybe we can come up with some things you can do to get to know them better. In the meantime, I?m really glad that you?re my friend, and I?m really glad that we got to spend some time together today!

Talk to you again soon!

Your pal, 

Vac

Have you ever felt upset because somebody else had something you wanted? Maybe your friend got a great toy, or they won an award, or their team beat yours in a game. If you felt sad, or angry, or thought that maybe you didn?t even like that friend anymore, you might have been feeling envy.

If you?ve had envy, you know it doesn?t feel very nice. And in today?s episode, Alakazambra really wants to stop feeling envious of her friend, Barbara Cadabara. It all begins when Barbara gets chosen as Wizard of the Year by Merlin Monthly magazine, and instead of feeling happy for her friend?s success, Alakazambra gets upset! 

She tries using magic to make her envy go away, but when the spell accidentally creates a terrible evil twin?EnvyKazambra?Alakazambra realizes it?s going to take something even stronger than sorcery to handle an emotion like envy!

Will Barbara Cadabara spend the rest of her life smelling like minestrone?

Will Irving the bodega werewolf receive enough skritches?

Will Alakazambra learn that to deal with a difficult emotion, you have to claim it to tame it?

For the answers to these and more, there?s only one spell to cast . . . 

(But first, don?t forget to have your grown-up join our weekly Wednesday newsletter for awesome episode activities!)

Ready? . . . 

Set?

Podcasticus Playicus!

Hello, listeners! 

This week we?re delighted to bring you?YOU!  

You?ve been writing in all year with really thoughtful questions for your friends in The Imagine Neighborhood?, and today we?re going to try to track everybody down and get the answers you?re looking for!

Wondering about wizard powers, or musing over why Macho needs to know if things are macho?

Curious why we confronted Rick Fryer in ?Doc Apoc Has a Beef?, or hoping for help on how to handle feeling bad when you make a mistake?

Want to know if I can eat an extra-large mushroom bacon green pepper pizza all by myself and not get a terrible tummyache . . . ?

If so?we?ve got your show! 

I?m really excited for you to tune in today and join Vac, Alakazambra, Macho, and me as we read and reply to letters from listeners just like you.   

And hey, did you know that getting your messages and questions is our very favorite thing? Well, it is! So, if there are things you?d like to ask us?about the Neighborhood, or about big feelings, or about anything at all?you can email us, or you can have your grown-up post your questions in the reviews section of your podcast provider. 

We can?t wait to read what you have to say, and don?t forget to tell us?how were you kind today?

Talk to you again soon!

Scotty

Hi, friends! 

It?s me, Count Vacula, sharing my newest No Filter?and my newest friend?with you!

This week I got to meet Molly Birnbaum! If her name sounds familiar, it might be because she was in The Imagine Neighborhood? just a few weeks ago, helping Macho and Mitsy understand each other better in ?The Gourmetborhood.? But today, she and I got to just hang out and make friends!

Something Molly and I have in common is that we both have podcasts! Molly hosts Mystery Recipe, where you can learn how to make tasty treats at home. But even though we both really like to try new foods, something we don?t have in common is that she has never eaten lint from underneath the couch! Not even the tiniest piece. Can you believe it?!

Molly really loves to cook delicious food, and her favorite thing is helping kids learn how to be creative and safe in the kitchen, so that they can cook delicious food too. She also likes cardboard creations, and drawing treasure maps, and reading. Plus, she?s super kind, and she told me a very sweet true story about hugging her son when he was feeling frustrated, and a very sweet made-up story about whales and all their big feelings!

I really liked getting to know Molly and learning about the things that interest her?and after you listen to this episode, I think you might feel the same way!

With all this practice, I?m starting to get pretty good at meeting new people. Have you had the chance to try making friends with someone new and different yet? Email me to let me know how it?s going. Maybe your new friend can be my new friend, too!

See you soon!

Vac

Have you ever been so caught up in playing that you didn?t realize you had scraped your knee? Were you so focused on finishing a puzzle or a game that you almost missed lunch? Have you been so excited to visit a zoo or go to a movie that you forgot to take a potty break?

Doing interesting things uses up a lot of our attention, and that?s okay?but it?s important to keep checking in on ourselves, because what our body is feeling can change how we feel! And if we let ourselves get too tired, or too hungry, or we wait too long to go to the bathroom, we can start to feel bad, or sad, and we can spoil our own fun.

In today?s episode, Macho is doing a very interesting thing! He?s been working hard for weeks and weeks to put the final touches on his brand-new spaceship, the Mach Mini, and now he?s invited Vac and Scotty over to see its first launch!  

It?s an exciting day, but Macho doesn?t seem excited. In fact, it seems like something is very wrong. He?s getting upset easily and behaving rudely and unkindly. The Mach Mini is amazing, it?s a great day for a spaceship launch, and two of his best pals are there to celebrate with him . . . so, what?s making Macho so unhappy?  

Is Macho annoyed that Vac needs to take a break to recharge his batteries?

Is Macho embarrassed because he doesn't seem strong enough to yeet Scotty today?

Is Macho?s Boo-Boo Module connected to the Flex Axis, and is the Flex Axis connected to the Potty Region? 

It?ll take a pint-sized probe and a Macho Body Check-In to get the important answers on today?s stellar installment of The Imagine Neighborhood?!

Get episode activity ideas and discussion prompts by having your grown-up sign up for our weekly Wednesday newsletter?but first, strap on your (itty-bitty) seatbelt, grab your (teensy-weensy) spaceship steering wheel, and get ready to take off with us for an adventure that?s out of this world (and into a Macho)!

Hey, hi everybody! 

It?s me, your good pal Count Vacula?bringing you another awesome new friend on another awesome No Filter!

This week I get to introduce you to the amazing Robin Slonina! She?s a multi-disciplinary artist, which means she makes lots of different kinds of art. Robin makes sculptures, and she paints giant murals on the sides of buildings, and she even paints on people! She?s painted people to look like zebras, and puzzles, and trees, and she?s even painted people to look like paintings!

Robin?s favorite thing is art. And one of the things I learned from talking to her is that art is everywhere! Museums are terrific for finding art, but Robin taught me that you don?t have to go to a museum. Wherever you are, if you just look around you, you can discover art. Plus, anytime you want to, you can make your own art! And best of all, whenever you have big feelings, you can just grab some paper and draw about them. When you?re done, you?ll have a beautiful piece of your very own art?and you might even understand your feelings a little better!

Robin told me a really great true story about kindness, and a really great made-up story about how seed kisses make flowers, and she talked about how she makes whole rooms filled with art that you can touch and explore! Robin and I both love puppies, and we both agree that making new friends is always a good idea. I especially think that making friends with Robin is always a good idea, and I?m excited for you to make friends with her!

Have you made any other new friends lately? I?d love for you to write in and tell me about them, or share some of your art with me, or just let me know?how were you kind today?  

I can?t wait to hear from you!

Your friend,

Vac

Familiar things can be great! Sometimes it?s nice to know that there won?t be any surprises, and that things will turn out exactly as we expect them to. But if we never try anything different, we might miss out on discovering something awesome.

This week, we?re welcoming a couple of new friends to the Neighborhood! Molly and Mitsy can usually be found in the Mystery Recipe podcast from America's Test Kitchen, but today they?re joining up with us to make a brand-new TV show all about interesting recipes! Everyone?s getting involved?Alakazambra and Gruncle Vaxie made appetizers, Princess Donnasaurus and Doctor Apocalypso made main dishes, and Macho and Mitsy are making desserts!

Everything is going great until Macho finds out that Mitsy has baked a special kind of cake?one that is made without any flour! Mitsy?s family eats flourless cake every year at their Passover holiday celebration, but Macho doesn?t think a cake without flour is a real cake. In fact, he?s worried that a flourless cake might be slimy, or stick his mouth closed, or?worst of all?it might not taste good!

Will Mitsy and Macho destroy the kitchen with their spatula showdown?

Does Gruncle Vaxie?s bare-bowl appetizer accurately convey the emptiness of our cold, hollow march through time?

Is Macho truly macho enough to try something new?

For Mitsy?s cake recipe, plus great activity ideas and conversation starters, have your grown-up sign up for our newsletter?but right now, get the answers to all these important questions by taking a great big bite out of this week?s scrumptious installment of The Imagine Neighborhood?!

Hello again, friends! It's me?Count Vacula, back with a brand-new episode of No Filter with Count Vacula!

This week, my guest is the very friendly, talented, and fun Tom Toro, who has one of the coolest jobs I?ve ever heard of. Tom is a cartoonist, which means his job is to draw! How great is that? 

Your grown-ups may recognize Tom?s name because he draws a lot of cartoons for a magazine called The New Yorker, but he?s also put out two terrific books for kids. One is called How to Potty Train Your Porcupine, which Tom wrote and illustrated all by himself. The other one is called I?m Terrified of Bath Time, which was written by Tom?s friend Simon Rich?but Tom drew all of the pictures! 

Tom and I have a lot of things in common. We both like cats?even though he mostly likes to play with them, and I mostly like to eat their hair off the floor (black cat hairs are the tastiest!)?and we both like to read cartoons. Something else we share is that we both live far away from our families. A lot of my family lives on the continent of Asia, and a lot of Tom?s family lives on the continent of Europe!

Tom talked to me about drawing, flying, hiding from imaginary monsters, and the ?little library? he has at his house?and he also made up a great story about how cats use their whiskers to communicate with other planets! I had a great time learning about my new friend Tom, and I think you?ll have a great time, too.

We?ll be seeing each other around The Imagine Neighborhood?, but I also have more No Filter episodes coming up, with more new friends for you to meet. In the meantime, I hope you?re making some fun new friends of your own! You can write in and tell me all about it?or just let me know, how were you kind today?

See you soon!

Your pal,

Vac

Do you have a favorite game that you love to play? 

Did you ever teach a friend to play it, too? Or maybe someone taught you about their favorite game, or book, or some other cool thing that they really like. 

It's awesome when we can share the things we enjoy with other people! But it?s not so awesome when the person doing the teaching isn?t being patient or laughs when we make mistakes. It can feel hurtful and frustrating, and it definitely takes the fun out of playing together.

This week, Scotty and Vac are over at Preston Changeo?s house, learning Bozelba?the most popular board game in the wizard world! Preston is a Bozelba champion, and he?s very excited to get his friends involved . . . but he?s not doing a very good job of explaining how to play. He?s going very fast, he?s behaving rudely, and worst of all, he?s making fun of Vac for not getting things right the first time!

Will Preston do a Switcheroo, to help him remember what it felt like when he was first learning to play the game? 

Will Vac be able to catapult the 100-Foot Chicken at the Power Pedestal to release the Bozelba? 

Will Scotty eat up all the pizza muffins? 

There?s only one way to find out!

For fun episode activity ideas, have your grown-up sign up for our weekly Wednesday newsletter?but right now, get ready to roll the (16-sided) dice on today?s exciting episode of The Imagine Neighborhood?!

Hi, listeners! I?m so glad you?re here, because this week we?re sharing something a little different and very cool with you!  

Do you remember the episode called ?Food Fight?? It?s about the time Vac and I were pirate-sitting the Burn Voyage and mean Captain Deen took over the ship. She wasn?t happy that the pirates had all brought special ethnic foods from home, and she tried to make everyone eat her asparagus dumplings instead. 

But the crew all stood up for each other, and?with the help of a big, delicious mess?taught Captain Deen that people?s ethnicities are an important part of who they are, and that the tastiest meals (like the greatest pirate crews!) are diverse.

Well, recently the team behind the scenes here at The Imagine Neighborhood? had a chance to get on stage and share that story in-person with a new group of friends at an event called SXSW EDU (pronounced ?South by Southwest ee-dee-you?). It?s a big gathering in Texas where people from all over meet up to share the things they like?and we really like sharing stories about the Neighborhood!

What was extra fun about telling the story of ?Food Fight? to our new friends is that our team got to pretend to be different people in the story! Vac got to be himself, but Michal pretended to be me, Melly pretended to be all the pirates, and Bilal pretended to be Captain Deen. We had a blast using our imaginations and making the story fun and exciting for the audience. We hope it?s fun and exciting for you to hear it in this new way, too!

Thanks for checking out this special episode, and remember, you can use your imagination and play out stories from The Imagine Neighborhood, too?and if you do, we?d love to hear about it!  

Have a great week, everyone!

Scotty

Oh hey, everybody, Count Vacula here! It?s great to see you again!

I hope you?ve been having fun practicing everything we?re learning about how to meet new people?I know I sure have. And this week I got to use my friend-making skills with a very interesting and talented person named Chris Ballew!

Chris does really cool drawings, but he?s mainly a musician. Your grown-up might know him from his band Presidents of the United States of America, or you and your family might have listened to one of the nineteen Caspar Babypants albums he?s recorded! He even wrote a terrific ?Five Questions? theme song for my show, which you?ll hear in this episode!

Chris told me all about his imaginary childhood friend Mr. Shadow (he also made up a great story about how shadows get fat!), and the cool things he?d make out of cardboard, and how being creative makes him feel really happy. Chris and I both love making jokes, and being kind, and we had a really fun time getting to know each other. I think you?ll like meeting him, too!

I?ll be back in a couple of weeks with a new No Filter, but in the meantime, I?d love to get to know YOU a little better! You can write me anytime at [email protected], and just tell me about yourself, or share a drawing, or let me know?how were you kind today?

See you soon!

Your pal,

Vac

Whether it?s playing an instrument, riding a bike, writing out your name, or putting the ball in the net, it feels terrific to be good at something. But what do we do if we want to be great? . . . We practice!  

Practice means repeating a skill over and over until we get it right, and practicing can feel frustrating, disappointing, or even boring sometimes. But even if we are naturally gifted at an activity, we will only learn how to do our best by practicing.  

In this episode, Doc Apocalypso is getting ready to compete in the Tour de Rancid, the greatest unicycle race in the world! But even though the racecourse has lots of new and difficult challenges, Doc hasn?t practiced at all. She?s confident that her natural ability will be enough to win the trophy . . . but co-pilot Scotty isn?t so sure. He?s feeling worried?about the piranha pits, about the field of booger craters, and about how Doc might react if things don?t go the way she?s expecting!

Will Doc learn that you have to ?work it to win it??even if you have talent and self-confidence? Will Scotty survive Doc?s skull-crusher slide move? Will anyone ever understand a word that unicycle champion Grand Leather Luda LeCruiser is saying? There?s only one way to find out!

For episode extras, have your grown-up get on our mailing list for the Neighborhood?s weekly newsletter with fun questions and activity ideas. And in the meantime, buckle up and climb aboard for today?s twisty, turny, mud-splattered, high-octane, and mutant-frog-filled ride! 

Ready? 

Set? 

GO!

Hi, everybody! It's me?your pal, Count Vacula! 

It?s been a long time since I got to share a new No Filter with Count Vacula with you, and I?m super excited for us to get back to practicing meeting new people and learning how to make friends.

My guest this week is the congresswoman for Washington?s 10th District?Marilyn Strickland! Congresspeople are a very important part of our government. They?re chosen by the residents of their state to work together to make lots of big decisions. It?s a tough job, but you get to help all sorts of people in all sorts of ways!

Even though Marilyn is a human and a congressperson and I?m a robot vampire vacuum cleaner, we have a lot of things in common! Both of our families come from the Asian country of Korea; we both like to travel (even though she mostly travels in airplanes and I?ve mostly traveled on Cap?n Marion?s ship or the Mach Billion); and we both think it?s really important to be kind and to help people as often as you can.

Marilyn had some really interesting things to say about meeting ghosts, and making cardboard sleds, and she told a fun make-believe story about how tigers got their stripes?and why they might sometimes smell like candy!

I really enjoyed getting to know Marilyn better and finding out about her, and I hope you will, too. If there?s someone you think I should get to know better?let me know. Maybe they can be a guest on my show!

I?ll see you next week in The Imagine Neighborhood?, and stay tuned for more brand-new No Filter episodes in the weeks ahead!

Love,

Vac

Welcome to Part Two of our putrid parable about problem-solving, as we rejoin Scotty, Princess Donnasaurus, and Pete Twanger in the middle of dealing with myriad magical messes all over town?plus a fart tornado that?s still headed right for the Neighborhood!

Last week, Pete Twanger tried to stop the fart tornado by throwing all kinds of objects at it with his ?ptwanger? machine?including Princess Donnasaurus?s magical artifacts! And even though his solution didn?t work, Pete just kept on ptwanging and ptwanging. The items landed everywhere, creating lots of magical mayhem. Now the library is full of flying book-bats, Macho is having a disco dilemma, and a band of Royal Messenger Monkeys are harassing a new (and somewhat unexpected, if quite elegant) princess!

With so many things going wrong, it?s going to take every problem-solving approach that PD and Scotty know to get the Neighborhood sorted out and make sure everyone?s safe inside before the fart tornado hits!  

So head on over to The Imagine Neighborhood? for cardio conundrums, mole sauce (made by actual moles), and finally finding a problem that Pete?s ptwanger can solve in today?s second stormy story installment!

And hey, friends, if you enjoy the episode, you can send us your drawings about it for our Infinite Refrigerator?and if your grown-up signs up for our mailing list, you?ll get our Wednesday newsletter full of cool things to talk about and fun episode activity ideas! 

We can?t wait to hear your thoughts about what?s going on in the Neighborhood, and of course, we?d love to know: how were you kind today?

Have you ever come up with a really good solution to a problem? It feels great when we figure out how to fix something that?s bothering us. But what happens when you try your solution and it doesn?t work? Getting stuck in a problem can be super frustrating, so it?s important to know how to come up with new ideas!

This week, Scotty and Princess Donnasaurus will need a LOT of new ideas, because they have a LOT of problems to solve. First, there?s a dangerous (and very stinky) fart tornado headed right towards the Neighborhood! And second, there?s a new grown-up in town who isn?t very good at problem-solving. Pete Twanger thinks he can fix the fart tornado by throwing things at it with his ?ptwanger? machine. From sofas to people to Princess Donnasaurus?s beloved magical treasures, he ptwangs and ptwangs, but of course the fart tornado keeps on coming?plus, he?s making a big magical mess all over the place!

Can Scotty and PD teach Pete Twanger how to Switcheroo before it?s too late? Will ?getting large to take charge? help Pete stop creating magical kittens by mistake? Will ?getting small to deal with it all? bring back PD?s enchanted record player? In any case, somebody better shake things up quick, because the Neighborhood is getting stinkier by the minute! 

 

So, join us as we kick off Part One of this pungent parable, and don?t miss the thrilling story conclusion one week from today! In the meantime, have your grown-up get on our mailing list for our weekly Wednesday newsletter with episode discussion prompts and activity ideas. And hey?we?re so excited to welcome you back to another year in The Imagine Neighborhood?!

Hey, friends?it?s the last Monday of the year, so you know what THAT means, don?t you? . . . Yup! It?s Cardboard Boxing Day! Happy Cardboard Boxing Day, everybody! We hope your family is making the most of any boxes left over from the holidays, and we can?t wait to see photos of all your amazing cardboard creations!

Today is also the day of our last episode for 2021, so we wanted to do something a little special?Recently our pal Kobe sent in a bunch of terrific questions for different folks in the Neighborhood, so we decided we?d just dedicate this whole episode to answering them!

If you?ve ever wondered about Vac?s attachments, or Alakazambra?s powers, or life in the Wasteland, or what the Space Machos are up to, or where Princess Donnasaurus comes from, then this special Kobe Edition of The Imagine Neighborhood? is for you!

We?ll be taking the next few weeks off to rest up and get some new episodes ready for you?but if you miss us too much while we?re away, you can always have your grown-up grab you a copy of our new book to play with!?and if you?d like to have your questions answered on one of our next Q&As, just ask your grown-up to send them to us at [email protected]. We?ll see you soon, and until then stay happy, healthy, and kind. 

?Tis Cardboard Boxing Day Eve, and all through our ?Hood,  

Friends are being generous, kind, cheerful, and good. 

With boxes all set to become cardboard creations

To delight and amaze neighbors, pals, and relations.

From Lava Avenue to Alakazambra?s place,

Everyone?s got a bright holiday smile on their face.

But before morning shines down on our artistic ends

Cardboard Scotty will fly us to see all of our friends!

We?ll hang with an ogre, and our fave dromedary,

And clap as Mannrick performs the Sugar Plum Dairy.

Enjoy a stellar spaceout with the TIN PhD?s,

And spin a dreidel with Fieryous on the high seas!

We?ll welcome back an old friend with a royal greeting,

And count how many times another friend goes yeeting.

We?ll see Doc! And Donna! And Tia and Dotty!

Plus Music Man, Macho, and pals Vac and Scotty!

And though the holidays sometimes can make folks feel stressed

From working so very hard to deliver their best?

What makes a day great isn?t because it?s grandiose,

It?s spending time with the people who matter the most!

So come join us this magical Boxing Day Eve 

With its cardboard creations you just won?t believe!

And by the end, you too will opine?

?Right in this moment, everything?s fine!? 

Hi, everyone! Guess what? . . . Vac?s back!

Oh.  

You probably already figured that out when I said ?hi.?

Well, anyway, I know we just had a No Filter episode last week, but I couldn?t wait for you to meet my newest friend, Aaron Horowitz!

Aaron is kind, and smart, and fun, and he has the coolest job I ever heard of! Aaron makes robots! And not only robots?he makes robots who have empathy! And not only robots who have empathy?he makes robots who have empathy in order to help kids!

His company is called Sproutel, and they make special robots that are designed to help kids with illnesses like cancer or diabetes. They also make robots like Purrble who helps kids get better at calming down when they?re upset. I thought that being a robot who keeps the house clean was pretty cool, but Aaron?s robots make kids' lives better and healthier! How cool is that?

Aaron?s not a robot, but some of his best pals are robots, which is something we have in common! Other things we have in common are that we both love making cardboard creations, and learning about?and from!?other people. 

We talked about empathy, and about how we can pick up garbage in the park to help keep our neighborhoods clean, and he also taught me that every single one of us can make a positive difference in the world, all by ourselves?whether we?re a kid or a grown-up, or even a robot!

I really liked meeting Aaron, and I think you?ll like meeting him, too!

Ok, well, I?m gonna go now (my copy of Radio Free Imagine Neighborhood just showed up and I can?t wait to go check it out!), but I?ll be back soon with another awesome person for us to meet! In the meantime, if you have anything you want to tell me or ask me, just have your grown-up help you email it to me at [email protected], and I?ll reply as soon as I can.

Have a great week, everybody, and I?ll see you later on in The Imagine Neighborhood?!

Your pal,

Count Vacula

Hey, everybody! It's me, your good pal, Count Vacula!

I?m really excited because this week, I get to bring you a very cool and very unusual episode of 

No Filter with Count Vacula! It?s an unusual episode because my guest is Melly Victor?who is someone I already know and like a lot?and it?s a cool episode because. . . well, because Melly is super cool!

One of the reasons Melly is so cool is that she?s part of the awesome creative team at The Imagine Neighborhood?, and another reason is that she has a great podcast of her own called Stoopkid Stories, and another reason is that she?s a really terrific person to talk to about adoption?which is what she and I talked about on this episode!

If you listened to ?Shkarf Attack? on The Imagine Neighborhood a couple weeks ago, you learned that Cap?n Marion is adopted, and that sometimes people have a lot of questions about adoption. Well, just like Cap?n Marion, Melly is adopted, too! She?s also very smart and kind, and she agreed to come talk with me and help me understand more about what it means and how it feels to be adopted.  

I don?t want to spoil the episode for you, so I?ll let you listen for yourself?but some important things I learned are that adopted kids are just like anybody else, that not all adopted kids want to talk about adoption and that that?s okay, and most importantly of all, that all families are real families!

I hope you enjoy getting to know Melly a little better, and if you have any questions for her, or for me, please send us a message! I?m always so excited to get your letters and drawings?it?s great to get to know you a little better, too!  

Well, thanks a bunch for listening to No Filter! I'll be back again soon with another terrific guest, and in the meantime, I hope all of you and your families are staying safe, happy, and kind! 

Love,

Vac

It?s almost Friendsgiving in The Imagine Neighborhood?! Scotty and Vac have been working on their thank-you jar all year: every time they feel thankful, they put a penny into the jar. And every year on Friendsgiving, a mythical yeti collects everyone?s jars and donates the money to help the Neighborhood?unless Tantrumus Maximus gets his way . . .

This year, Tantrumus Maximus is determined to ruin Friendsgiving. If nobody has anything to be thankful for, maybe everyone will pay attention to him instead. Tantrumus tries every idea in his evil ideas vault to make Scotty and Vac feel less thankful. But even with burned desserts, a pixie pandemic keeping their friends at home, and Tantrumus stealing the thank-you jar for himself, Scotty and Vac manage to find things to be thankful for?including a surprise visit from a mystery guest!

It can be hard to find reasons to feel thankful, especially when things go wrong, and especially when a pixie pandemic keeps everyone from being together in person. But that?s a great time to start a thank-you jar! Even if you only get to see your loved ones in BrineBlox instead of in person, you can still drop a penny (or a note, or a poem, or a drawing) in the jar. And if you start filling it up now, maybe you?ll get a visit from the yeti next year!

 

If you want even more of The Imagine Neighborhood, sign up for our newsletter. Every week, you?ll get additional discussion questions and activity ideas for kids and grown-ups. Plus, there's special codes for our book Radio Free Imagine Neighborhood.

Have you ever felt two things at the same time? Like, maybe you were excited for the first day of school, but also felt nervous about being in a new classroom. Or have you ever felt angry at a friend who you also really, really liked? When we have a bunch of feelings that seem to be the opposite of each other, it can be confusing?or even upsetting.

Cap?n Marion sure knows how that feels. In this week?s episode, she and Scotty are sailing the Burn Voyage to her annual family reunion when she discovers her original birth certificate . . . and her original name. Cap?n Marion is very proud of being adopted, but she?s never thought about her birth family before, and now she?s feeling. . . well, a whole lot of things! 

Should she keep her birth certificate, or shoot it out of the Recyclocannon?

Is it okay to love her Fire Pirate family but still want to know more about her birth parents? 

Is Scotty about to barf up his lunch all over the poop deck if she doesn?t stop turning the ship around in circles?

For the answers to these very important questions, plus pirate love letters, being confappy, and learning how we are all a little bit like a shkarf sometimes, hoist the mizzenmast and climb aboard for this week?s installment of The Imagine Neighborhood?!

And hey, listeners! If you want some more fun from this episode, have your grown-up get on our mailing list for our weekly Wednesday newsletter with downloadable discussion prompts and activity ideas?plus special discount offers for our new book, Radio Free Imagine Neighborhood!

Is Tantrumus Maximus the most evil billionaire hamster in the whole wide world? Yes. Yes he is. Does Tantrumus Maximus concoct the most evil billionaire hamster capers conceivable? Yes. Yes he does. And does this week?s episode have THE most evil billionaire hamster heinousness we?ve ever heard of (or, rather . . . NOT heard of)?! Yes. Yes it has! This week, evil billionaire hamster Tantrumus Maximus pulls off an auditory atrocity, a musical malefaction, a phonic felony SO diabolical you?ll have to hear it to believe it (or, rather . . . NOT hear it to believe it)! See, since we?re a podcast, we need sounds to tell our stories. And all of the sounds in the Neighborhood are created by our beloved Mister Music Man Lindsay Jones on his magical Sound Machine. But Tantrumus thinks that if he can take over the Sound Machine, he can take over the Neighborhood?and he just might be right! One thing?s for sure: When cats moo and ducks bark and Tantrumus starts talking about his feelings (gasp!), you know things are getting pretty bananapants around here. You can get discussion prompts and activity suggestions for ?Tantrumus Maximus and the Sound Machine? by joining our mailing list. In the meantime, enjoy accidental bagpipes, runaway rhinos, disco duets, and learning ways to use sound to express ourselves on this week?s episode of The Imagine Neighborhood?!

imagineNeighborhood.org/RadioFree If you think this week?s title looks familiar . . . you?re right! ?Macho?s Shot? first came out in August, but we?ve been hearing that some of our listeners are feeling worried about getting their vaccine, so we thought it would be a good idea to bring this episode back for another look. If you?re also feeling uncertain about going to the doctor, we hope you?ll give ?Macho?s Shot? a listen. It?s got spaceships, songs, and lots of surprises?but most of all, it will teach you some cool tricks to make going to the doctor a lot less stressful! In this episode, Scotty is headed to the doctor to get his Merman Measles shot, to keep him from getting sick. But it looks like he might miss his appointment, because before Scotty can even get to the doctor?s office, Macho Supreme yoinks him away in his spaceship, the Mach Billion! Macho?s heard some scary stories from his friends about Scotty?s new doctor, and he?s determined to keep Scotty safe. But Scotty is . . . NOT throwin? away his shot! You can get discussion prompts and activity suggestions for ?Macho?s Shot? by joining our mailing list?and in the meantime, enjoy pursuits, predicaments, problem-solving, and a pinch of parody this week on The Imagine Neighborhood?!

Hey, everybody! Count Vacula here, welcoming you to my newest No Filter! This week, my guest is comedian, movie star, writer, podcaster, and cat-lover Tig Notaro! She?s best known for doing stand-up, which is a kind of comedy show where a person gets up on stage and tells stories about themselves and shares what they think about things. It?s kind of like making friends with a whole room full of people all at the same time! Trying to get better at making friends is something that Tig and I have in common?and we also both like animals, and making things out of cardboard boxes! Tig told me some great stories, shared a tasty ?Tater Time? recipe with me, and taught me that even when people aren?t being kind to you, you can still be kind to them?and that?s one of the kindest things you can do! I really enjoyed meeting Tig, and I hope you?ll enjoy meeting her too. Before I go, I wanted to say that I?m really happy about all the letters and drawings from listeners that we?ve been getting lately?and if you have a question, idea, or drawing you?d like to share, just have your grown-up email it to me at [email protected]! Have a good week, everybody, and I?ll see you soon in The Imagine Neighborhood?! Your friend, Count Vacula

This summer, thanks to a generous grant from The Allstate Foundation, the team at The Imagine Neighborhood launched Teen Force!, a virtual summer fellowship that brought together high school students from across the country. Together with expert consultants and a team of our mentors, 15 teens with interests in storytelling, podcasting, and social-emotional learning crafted these five Teen Force! segments for listeners of The Imagine Neighborhood. These stories show that no matter how old you are, whether you're an alien in a spaceship, a curious panda, or a princess-in-training, you can practice seeing the world from others? perspectives and make your neighborhood a kinder place. https://www.imagineneighborhood.org/teenforce

Having a best friend is, well . . . the best! But when our bestie suddenly can?t be around, it can feel terrible. Whether someone we care about is moving away forever, or even if they just have to miss an important day like our birthday, it can be hard not to feel hurt, or even a little angry. In this episode, we?ll talk about using kindness to help us understand the other person?s point of view, and we?ll learn ways to continue to show friendship to people even when they?re far away! This week, Scotty is heading to the Spooky-Ooky Fall Festival, the spooktacular and spine-chilling party that Princess Donnasaurus and Doctor Apocalypso throw every year. But when Doc?s music tour gets extended and she has to miss out, Princess Donnasaurus isn?t happy at all. In fact, she?s really upset! Who?s going to make the Spooky Juice? Or light the lanterns? Or carve the pumpkins? And what?s with the huge hole that just opened up in the floor?! Join us for glowing goblin pops, flamethrowers, and the coolest (and creepiest!) new dance this side of the cemetery on today?s episode of The Imagine Neighborhood?. Plus, get discussion prompts and activity suggestions for ?Missing Doc? by joining our mailing list ? where every Wednesday we send out downloadable content for your family or classroom to help keep the Imagination Conversation going! See you out there on the dance floor, everybody! Shake those bones!

Hi everybody! It?s me, Count Vacula, bringing you a brand-new No Filter! I?m so excited to introduce you to this week?s guest, Dr. Jennie Warmouth! She?s a second-grade teacher, a college professor, and the co-author of a terrific book called Teacher Trade! AND she?s also a research scientist who works with animals and kids to study empathy?which is when we use our kindness, our experiences, and our imaginations to understand how others are feeling. She?s been to almost every continent on earth, and she?s met all kinds of animals?from dogs and cats to walruses and even elephants! Dr. Jennie and I talked about very intellectual, highly scientific topics such as why our dogs? toes smell like corn chips, and whether walruses smell worse than black bears, and . . . okay, okay, maybe we talked about smells a lot, but we covered bunches of other fun things, too! Dr. Jennie taught me a lot about kindness, and doing research, and how animal feelings aren?t so different from human (or even vampire robot vacuum cleaner) feelings. Most of all, I learned that whether it?s a new friend or a new animal, when we take the time to get to know each other we?ll always discover that we have lots of things in common! I?m really glad I got to meet Dr. Jennie, and I think you?ll like meeting her too. Thank you to everyone who sent me a letter or a drawing last week, and for everybody else?I can?t wait to hear from you, too! Just tell your grown-up what you want to ask me, or have them scan or photograph your drawings, and they can send everything to me at [email protected]. I?ll have another No Filter ready for you all soon, and until then, have a great week, and I?ll be seeing you around The Imagine Neighborhood?! Your friend, Count Vacula

Disappointment is a very big feeling, and it can affect us in a lot of different ways. Someone who is disappointed might seem sad, or they might even act angry or mean. In this episode, we?ll talk about ways to help ourselves feel better when we?re disappointed?and we?ll also learn how to use kindness to understand when other people are disappointed and help them feel better, too! This week, Macho Supreme and Count Vacula are headed to Photon Fair?the annual Nebula Trek convention. The fair was cancelled last year because of the Pixie Pandemic, and although Macho and Vac are very glad it?s back, they?re a little disappointed when they find out that things will be more low-key this time. There won?t be a costume contest, and the rides are closed, but the good news is that Mannrick Allen (their second-favorite actor on Nebula Trek) will be there! Vac and Macho can?t wait to meet him and get his autograph . . . if only he would stop being so rude to everybody. Join us for Nirshese pepper-crabs, amazing burritos, and an udderly ridiculous amount of cow-themed puns in this episode of The Imagine Neighborhood?! As always, we?d love to see your drawings inspired by our story, and you can get artwork ideas and discussion suggestions in our Wednesday newsletter. Rockets away, everyone! See you around the Neighborhood!

Guess who? . . . That?s right! It?s me again?your pal, C.V.?bringing you a new No Filter! This week?s guest is the very kind and friendly J.V. (known to her acquaintances as ?Janet Varney?)! J.V. is a comedian and actor, which is something we don?t have in common . . . but something we do have in common is that we both have podcasts! You might have heard J.V. on her Nickelodeon podcast Avatar: Braving the Elements, and your grown-ups might have heard her on her other podcast The JV Club. J.V. and I talked about nicknames (betcha can?t guess what my new nickname is!), armadillos, dreams, cactus plants, time travel, otters, fanny packs, thunderstorms, and how sometimes you think you won?t like somebody because they?re different from you?but once you get to know them, you find out that they can be a really good influence on your life! I?m really glad I got to know J.V., and I think you?ll be excited to know her, too! I?ll have another No Filter ready for you in a few weeks, and in the meantime, I hope you?ll keep sending me your questions and suggestions?and of course I love getting all your awesome drawings for the #InfiniteRefrigerator. Have a great week, keep an eye out for hummingbird messages, and I?ll see you soon in The Imagine Neighborhood?! Love, C.V. (aka Vaxxie, aka your friend Count Vacula)

Hi, everybody! It?s your good friend, Count Vacula, bringing you my newest No Filter! My guest this week is Peter Sagal, the very fun and funny host of the NPR show Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! Peter?s been hosting this show for more than 20 years, which is a really long time . . . even to me, and I?m 1,000 years old! His show is on the radio, and mine is a podcast, but we both use our shows to meet new people and learn about them, as well as to do some hard-hitting journalism. For this No Filter, Peter and I did some hard-hitting journalism on the important topics of farts, fart jokes, and finding out who farted, as well as exploring the deeper issues of cookie-reaching, Frankenstein-fearing, and doghair-eating. We had a great time and learned a lot from each other. I bet you?ll have a great time and learn something too! I?ll be back soon with more No Filter, and if you have any suggestions, questions, or ideas for upcoming guests, it?d be great if you emailed me at [email protected]. Until then, I?ll see you around The Imagine Neighborhood?! Love, Vac

Whether you?re a kid or a grown-up, you probably know a lot of rules. Rules can help us stay safe, use good behavior, and make sure that everyone is treated fairly. But have you heard of ?hastabees??. . .

In this week?s episode, Scotty and Count Vacula are having a great time playing in their pillow fort until the famous blankie castle architect Jill Koy (the very funny Carly Ciarrocchi) shows up. Jill thinks that a pillow fort ?hastabee? a certain way?but when she tries to change their fort to how she likes it, things start to get a little shaky!

There are lots of rules that protect us, or help us remember to be kind. But ?hastabees? are just things we prefer to be a certain way?like what toy we cuddle with at night, or having the crusts cut off our sandwiches. But if we sleep with a different toy sometimes, or leave the crusts ON our sandwich, that?s okay! Do you have any ?hastabees?? What would happen if you changed one of them? It might feel a little strange, but it also might be fun to try something different!

At The Imagine Neighborhood?, we think the only thing a pillow fort ?hastabee? is fun?and if you have a pillow fort to show us, or if you want to share your design for The Best Pillow Fort Ever, we?d love to see it! You can also get suggestions of things to talk about, and additional activity ideas for this episode in our newsletter . . . but if you want to switch things up and try some different activities, that?s great too!   

Keep it cozy, everyone. See you around the Neighborhood!

?ANYONE CAN PLAY?

Earlier this year, The Imagine Neighborhood? released the limited series Imagine Equity: Six New Stories About Race, Identity, and Making Things Right, which empowers listeners to take pride in their own identities, celebrate diversity, and stand up against discrimination.

Thanks to the generous support of The Allstate Foundation, this week, we're revisiting the Imagine Equity episode "Anyone Can Play"!

When Macho Supreme and Count Vacula find a big cardboard box and decide to play Nebula Trek in it, Vac is excited to pretend to be one of his favorite characters from his favorite movie! But every time Vac jumps in, Macho won?t let him play. Because the actors in the Nebula Trek movie are white, Macho thinks that only white people can play them, and Vac is Asian.

When we tell someone they can?t be part of something because of their identity, that?s called exclusion. And excluding people is not only wrong, it makes our world a little smaller!

When we exclude, we put limits on the kinds of fun we can have, the kinds of stories we can tell, and even the friends we can play with. But when we use our imaginations to make room for everyone to play, we can go anywhere, and we can do anything!

You can hear more from the Imagine Equity series by visiting the Imagine Equity page on our website?where you can also get downloadable PDFs with activity ideas and discussion prompts from the episodes. And as always, we?d love to get your feedback, drawings, and ideas at [email protected].

This show is supported by a generous grant from The Allstate Foundation. The Allstate Foundation works to empower youth to reach their full potential and build the just, equitable, and healthy world we all deserve. To learn more, visit AllstateFoundation.org.

Hey, everybody! It's me again, your good pal Count Vacula?bringing you a brand-new No Filter!

My guest this week is the very kind and very smart Dr. Ibram X. Kendi. He?s a podcaster like me?but he?s also a professor, and a National Book Award winner, and a #1 New York Times bestselling author of really terrific books like Antiracist Baby and Stamped (For Kids)!

We talked about playing basketball, and cardboard creations, and how when the people you care about are happy, it can make you feel happy too!

But we also talked about serious things, like how there are some rules that aren?t fair to everyone, and that it?s up to us to change those rules! It reminded me of when Big Bot Burger made a rule that said Wastelanders couldn?t eat in their restaurants. That wasn?t fair, so we all joined together to protest, and we got rid of discrimination in our neighborhood! Dr. Kendi says that standing up to discrimination is one of the kindest things we can do, and I think he?s right.

A great thing about meeting different people is that you can learn all sorts of new ways to be kind. Did you do something kind this week? Tell me about it, and then maybe I can do it too! Yay!

Okay! I?ll be back soon with more No Filter?and in the meantime, I?ll see you around The Imagine Neighborhood?!

Love,

 

Vac

In this week's bonus episode Dr Leslie Walker-Harding joins us to discuss ways to help kids who are afraid of getting shots. Dr Walker-Harding is the chair of pediatrics at Seattle Children's hospital and she's had to give, and get, a lot of shots. We'll talk about how she helps kids and grown-ups who are nervous to get a shot, and has some great tips for dealing with those big emotions.

Going to the doctor can be scary, even if you?re as macho as?Macho Supreme! This week in The Imagine Neighborhood?, Scotty needs to get his Merman Measles shot, but Macho is so afraid something bad might happen to Scotty at the doctor?s office that he yoinks Scotty away in the Mach Billion!

Will Scotty get back in time for his appointment with Dr. Alexander Camelguy, or will he . . . (apologies) . . . throw away his shot?

Will Macho overcome his fears before he and the rest of the Neighborhood turn into a bunch of scaly-tailed, scene-stealing divas?

Will listeners listen for the bonus content after the credits?

It can feel unfair when something that helps you also hurts a little bit. And shots can hurt for a second, but a lot of people need them to stay healthy. In today?s episode, we?ll learn some things that you can do to help make getting a shot less stressful. Along the way, we?ll hijack a spaceship, meet a very unusual medical professional, and make more Lin-Manuel Miranda musical references than, well, a Lin-Manuel Miranda musical.

Grown-ups?as always, we?d love to see your family?s drawings and creations inspired by the episode, and you can drop some knowledge with the discussion prompts and activity suggestions found in our newsletter. In the meantime, here?s an excellent article?recommended by our newest rock star, Dr. Leslie, P!H!D!?about ways to help kids navigate their fears about shots.

Stay safe, everyone. See you around the Neighborhood!

 

Welcome back to The Imagine Neighborhood?! Next Monday we?ll return with an all-new episode, but today, we?re revisiting ?Blizzards and Wizards? from our series Imagine Equity: Six New Stories About Race, Identity, and Making Things Right, funded by The Allstate Foundation.

Released earlier this year, the Imagine Equity series helps young people recognize prejudice and injustice, take pride in their own identities, celebrate diversity, and stand up against discrimination. Allstate and the team at The Imagine Neighborhood are proud of this opportunity to help families continue to build kinder, more inclusive futures for neighborhoods everywhere.

?Blizzards and Wizards? introduces us to the young wizard Preston Changeo, who shows up in the Neighborhood ready to learn all of the wizard Alakazambra?s moves for battling monsters. But instead of battling them, he discovers that Alakazambra is best buddies with one?Count Vacula!

Preston thinks that wizards and monsters shouldn?t be friends, but when he accidentally summons a rainbow sherbet monster, everyone in the Neighborhood has to work together to solve the problem. It turns out that having friends and neighbors with all kinds of different identities helps you learn new skills and be a better friend?and it?s also a lot of fun!

Regular episodes pick up again next week, but we hope you?ll also take time for our featured Imagine Equity episodes every Wednesday for the next five weeks. Follow our socials for weekly Imagine Equity content?and be sure to check out the new downloadable activity ideas and discussion prompts on our dedicated Imagine Equity webpage.

See you around the Neighborhood!

Hello, friends! It?s me, your pal, Count Vacula!

I?m really happy because today, I get to share a brand-new No Filter with Count Vacula! -- with you! Meeting all kinds of different people is one of my favorite things to do, and on No Filter, you can meet them too. How cool is that?!

This week, you?ll meet my new friend Jad Abumrad! We have a lot in common?like, we both make podcasts, although . . . my podcast doesn?t have a Peabody Award, and Jad?s podcasts Radiolab and Dolly Parton?s America do . . . But we both like synthesizers! And we like imitating the sounds of synthesizers! And we like comparing different kinds of synthesizers! We like other things too, though, not just synthesizers.

But synthesizers are really cool!

Jad and I also talked about daydreaming, and making cardboard creations, and how to stop an argument from happening by being kind instead of angry. Jad was so awesome!

If there?s someone you think people would like to meet on No Filter with Count Vacula!, let me know at [email protected]! I really like to read your letters, and see your drawings, and learn about new people!

I?ll be back soon with another No Filter, and in the meantime, I?ll be seeing you in The Imagine Neighborhood?!

Love,

Vac

PS: Does anybody know where I put my synthesizer?

 

This week in The Imagine Neighborhood?, Scotty takes a pirate internSHIP (ahem) aboard the Burn Voyage, and finds out there?s a lot that a Second Mate needs to learn to do?especially the all-important ARRRt of treasure-buryin?. But Cap?n Marion keeps getting distracted, and the gold is just lying on the deck where anyone can steal it!

Will Scotty be able to help Cap?n Marion focus on what?s important before it?s too late, or will she lose her doubloons, her jewels, and even her mint-condition Splash Gordon action figure? Tune in to find out, and stay for a pirate chase, questionable parrots, and a pirate-approved technique that you can use to stay focused whenever your mind starts to wander.

Grown-ups, you can keep the conversation going with the discussion questions and activity ideas provided in our newsletter. And keep sending us your family?s creations , savvy? We can?t wait to add your drawings, stories, and art projects to our own pile of treasure!

Until next time, see you ARRRound the Neighborhood!

Hi everybody!

It's no secret that we love hearing from our listeners, or that we get really excited when you send in questions about things going on in The Imagine Neighborhood?, because then we get to do a Q&A episode!

So, if you?ve ever wondered how Dr. Apocalypso got her name, what species of dinosaur Princess Donnasaurus is, or how many relatives Count Vacula has (lemme tell ya, that family cookout requires a LOT of crumbs!), this week?s episode has all the answers you?re looking for!

If you have a question for us, you can email it, or leave it in the reviews section of your podcast platform (where you can also let us know what you think about the show).

Come back next week for a new episode of The Imagine Neighborhood when I take a pirate internSHIP (see what I did there?) aboard the Burn Voyage, and help a very distracted Captain Marion learn to focus on the important things she needs to do, like mainsail-hoistin?, timber-shiverin?, and of course, dishes.

In the meantime, some important things YOU can to do are to keep sending us your terrific questions and your amazing artwork for our #InfiniteRefrigerator, and of course we should all remember to do something kind today!

I hope you and your loved ones are staying safe, happy, healthy, and kind.

Scotty

Hey, everybody . . . guess who? It's me again, your pal Count Vacula!

That's right?I get to bring you a new No Filter with Count Vacula for the second week in a ROW! How amazing is THAT?

And it's extra good news because my guest this week is the amazing Carly Ciarrocchi. You might know her from her Emmy-nominated work hosting The Big Fun Crafty Show and Snug's House for Universal Kids, or as host of Sprout's The Sunny Side Up Show, or from Weird But True! on Disney+, or from her terrific podcast HEY STORY GO!

Even though Carly likes to get up early and I'm nocturnal (I just learned that word!), it turns out we both like construction cranes, and bumblebees, and cardboard creations. In fact, Carly has a whole show JUST about making things out of cardboard.

You know, every time I meet someone new, I find out that even though we have differences, we also have a lot of things in common. That?s a really fun thing about making new friends!

If there?s someone you think would be a good new friend for me, let me know. In the meantime, thanks for listening to No Filter.

See you next week in The Imagine Neighborhood?!

Love,

Vac

 

Hi again, friends! It?s me . . . your pal, Count Vacula!

I?m really excited because this week I get to share with you a brand new episode of my brand new show, No Filter with Count Vacula!

On No Filter I get to practice making new friends and getting to know all kinds of people. This week I got to meet a very smart and kind person named Brittany Murlas. She's a mom who started a really cool book club called Little Feminist. They find terrific stories with all different sorts of heroes in them, and send the books out to families all over the world!

Brittany and I talked about a lot of very important things, like bedtime monsters, and feminism, and macaroni and cheese! She also taught me a cool new way to listen to music, and even gave me some great ideas for my next Cardboard Creation.

I had a great time getting to know Brittany, and I think you'll like her too. After you listen to the episode, you can let me know what you thought at [email protected]., or you can also follow me on Twitter and send me a message there!

And hey - if you?ve made a new friend that you think everyone should know about, or if there?s someone interesting that you'd like to hear on No Filter with Count Vacula!, let me know that too. I really like hearing from you, and seeing your drawings, and reading your questions about me and about The Imagine Neighborhood ?!

Well - thanks for hanging out with me today! Come back next week for a special BONUS episode of No Filter, and the week after that for a new episode of The Imagine Neighborhood. Until then, remember to be kind. And if YOU have a robot vacuum friend, be sure to drop some crumbs on the floor for them.

Or some macaroni and cheese.

Either way.

Love,

 

Vac

This week in The Imagine Neighborhood?, our own magical maven Alakazambra Tyesha Morganis is getting ready to hold the world?s biggest wizarding festival! But planning something as amazing as the San Diego Conjure-Con isn?t easy... The bat wings are missing, the cauldrons are filthy, no one has any idea when the Port-O-Whiz delivery will happen, and the Wizards are getting restless. Alakazambra?s feeling overwhelmed, anxious, and she might even be about to throw a tantrum!

What?s the greatest wizard in the multiverse to do?... By The Eye of Greldar, she?ll cast the Calmulor spell on everyone to calm them down, and that will fix everything!

Or - will it just create more problems?...

 Handling frustration can be challenging for everyone, not just wizards. In this episode we?ll explore what happens when we cover up our real feelings, and talk about effective ways to deal with difficulties. Get episode discussion questions and activity ideas for kids and grown-ups in our newsletter ? and keep sharing your family?s ideas, drawings, and creations with us - we love seeing what you come up with, and your contribution might get featured on our Infinite Refrigerator!

See you around the Neighborhood!

This month we got some very important questions for our friends in The Imagine Neighborhood?, and it?s time to answer them with a Q&A episode!

Stay tuned next week for a new episode of The Imagine Neighborhood. And keep listening the week after that for more No Filter with Count Vacula!

If you have a question for us, or a suggestion for someone for Vac to interview, you can ask it in a review (and while you?re there, tell us what you think of the show)! Or you can email your questions to [email protected].

Thanks for sending us your questions, your ideas, and your amazing drawings. Keep writing to us, and follow our Infinite Refrigerator to see creations from listeners like you!

This week in the The Imagine Neighborhood?, Scotty and Vac can?t wait for the All-Town Hand-Me-Down! Everybody in the Neighborhood collects clothes and toys they?re not using anymore, and they send them all down a chute so that someone new can use them. It?s a really fun way to be kind?plus, everyone gets a new hand-me-down in return!

But this year, something?s not right. The chute is malfunctioning, and all the toys are piling up outside Princess Donnasaurus?s castle. Princess Donnasaurus has been bitten by a gimme bug, and it?s making her want everything for herself! It?s up to Scotty and Vac to help Princess Donnasaurus find the generosity inside her and defeat the gimme bug?and get the All-Town Hand-Me-Down rocking again.

If you want even more of The Imagine Neighborhood, sign up for our newsletter. Each week, you?ll get additional discussion questions and activity ideas for kids and grown-ups. Keep sharing your ideas, drawings, and creations with us?we love seeing what you come up with, and you might see it featured on our Infinite Refrigerator!

Hi, listeners! It?s me again . . . your pal, Count Vacula!

As you may have noticed, we?re now bringing you a new episode of The Imagine Neighborhood? every other week. And on some of those in-between weeks, you can hear me, Count Vacula, on my very own show! It?s called No Filter with Count Vacula.

On No Filter, I?ll practice making new friends and getting to know all kinds of people. This week, I?m chatting with Biz Ellis from the podcast One Bad Mother. Biz and I talk about how being ?bad? can sometimes be a good thing, how to find buried treasure in your own backyard, and how to be kind to teachers?with donuts!

Biz sure was a lot of fun to talk to. We even made up our own theme song! Anyway, I?m still figuring out how to host my own show, and I really want to get better at it. So go to our website and let me know what you think. And stay tuned for a new episode of The Imagine Neighborhood next week, and for more episodes of No Filter with Count Vacula!

Do you have a question for us? Or can you think of someone I should talk to on a future episode of No Filter? You can put your questions and ideas into a review (and while you?re there, let us know what you think of the show)! You can also email them to [email protected].

We always love seeing your notes and drawings. Keep writing to us, and follow our Infinite Refrigerator to see creations from listeners like you!

We?ll see you again soon in The Imagine Neighborhood.

Love,

 

Vac

This week in the Neighborhood, it?s Count Vacula?s 1,000th birthday! For his big day, Vac gets a visit from his Great-Uncle Vacstradamus (or ?Gruncle Vaxie?), and an official Seven-Day Trial Period. With big birthdays come big new responsibilities: Gruncle Vaxie gives Vac one week to tackle cooking eggs for breakfast, and doing the laundry.

Vac is feeling overwhelmed by his new tasks, and Scotty is swimming in dirty laundry. How will Vac deal with an interdimensional portal and an eggy mess? It?s time for Vac to level up, and time to team up to level up! Because helping around the house isn?t just a chore?it?s a great way to be kind.

 

Q: Why does Vac need to learn to make breakfast and do the laundry?

A: Getting older means that Vac can start to help Scotty with some tasks around the house.

Q: Why is it kind to help your grown-ups with chores?

A: Taking care of you and your home is a lot of work for your grown-ups. If you help your grown-ups out, it makes things a little easier for them. And it will make them happy to know that you care.

Brainstorm Together:

Talk to the other people in your home about how you can team up to level up. What are some ways you can help out? How does it feel when things change and you take on new tasks? Are there ways you can make doing housework together fun? And if your grown-ups have more time to spend with you, what would you like to spend time doing with them?

Create:

In this week?s episode, Vac invented a new way to do the laundry! Invent a new way that you can do the laundry, or another household task, and draw or write about it.

We love getting messages from you! Keep sharing your drawings, your ideas, and your cardboard creations with us and follow our Infinite Refrigerator to see creations from listeners like you.