Must Find This Album

Just because he doesn't do what everybody else does/
I like to wear women's clothing/
I wear women's clothes

I liked the Bran Flakes before, now I like them more.

My New Addiction

I beat Wild Arms 2 last night. Tricky end of the game, they force the team to break up and have 3 of the characters fight solo, leaving the three weakest characters to fight the big boss. Oy. Ah, well, I was able to EVENTUALLY get the strongest of my weakest to take the guy out, but it was long and tedious.

So with nothing on TV and time still to kill I cracked open Dark Cloud, a PS2 game I bought while my PS2 was still with my friend Jenn.

Oh, MAN, this game's fun! It reminds me of the old Super Nintendo games Actraiser and (I believe) Soul Blazer. Basically you're looking at a game that's a combination of Zelda for the N64, D&D, and SimCity.

Basic premise, Dark Genie comes out and wipes a few towns off the face of the earth. A good wizard protected these towns at the last minute using a barrier spell, which, instead of allowing the towns to be destroyed, throws the pieces of the town to the ends of the earth.

Your characters goal is to run through dungeons, battle enemies, and find the pieces of the town, which you then set up in the field a la SimCity. Collect all the pieces for a building (building, items, and people) and you get an event, which gets you new items, or shops, etc.

I started the game last night around 8:30, and had to force myself to stop playing around midnight. Just, yeah, FUN!

Today's my first Friday of the week. Tomorrow I have a dentist appointment (ugh) and my first visit to the State Fair of the year (yay!).

Oh, and if anyone who's reading this lives in the Minneapolis metropolitan area and would like to buy a couch, email me at kanedax@excite.com, and we'll talk shop.

Second Post

So since that last post probably got kinda long and multi-subjected, I figured I might as well post and take another run at it for my review of my latest Transformer.

This thing's probably going to be the longest of most of my reviews, because there's simply more to say for Vector Prime. He's the only Cybertron figure to include a Mini-Con, which is a third classification of Transformer introduced during the Armada storyline. And, among TF collectors, he's the most controversial of all the Cybertron figures. But more on that later.

A review of the toy itself, avoiding the controversial pieces. Vector Prime's robot mode is THE reason why I've been looking forward to this figure since they first announced the line back in early 2004. Explained in the storyline as being one of the original Transformers, VP has this air of regality about him, thanks to the gold embossing and the look of a cloak given by the wings and coloring on the shoulders. His body is very proportionate to humans, without any huge arms or legs. Just a good looking figure. The Planet Key feature for this toy, however, is really bland, with it creating noise by being put into the chest. However, as it requires separate batteries I haven't gotten around to hearing it yet.

Unfortunately, it's extremely difficult to design a figure that looks great as a robot, yet allows for a complex transformation into vehicle mode. VP is no exception to that rule. It feels like they had to design a vehicle around the figure, made simply by putting the arms to the side, flipping the back piece to the top, and folding the legs into the bottom to make a spaceship-type thing. Nothing too great, but not a form I'm planning on showing him off in very often.

VP's Mini-Con, Safeguard, is typical Mini-Con fare. Meaning they're never more than two inches long, allowing for nothing special. His robot mode takes advantage of newer designs in Cybertron by giving him elbow joints.

His vehicle mode is pretty decent, a spaceship/lasergun hybrid that's made primarily to attach to VP's arm or cockpit.

This is the figure I've wanted since the line came out. However, I waited this long to get it, due in large part to the controversy around the figure.

The original pictures I saw of the toy were the Japanese version. When it was eventually released here in the US, a combination of cost-cutting and safety regulations resulted in a figure that's not only inferior to the Japanese version, but inferior to even the toy pictured on the back of the box. They gave the American version a brown, less detailed paintjob on a cheaper white plastic, skimped completely on the Planet Key, and made a lot of the plastic out of soft, bendable plastic.

Due to the major changes between the original Japanese figure and the American version, many collectors refuse to buy the Cybertron figure, preferring instead to spend $40-$50 for an otherwise $20 dollar figure, ordering the Galaxy Force version from import stores or from online.

I had been torn for a long time because of what was said about the Cybertron figure. I had been attempting to get the Galaxy Force figure on EBay for no more than $25 or $30 dollars, but over the weekend caved and bought the inferior version. Still glad I have it, he's still one of my favorite figures of the line so far. But I still have a friend in Japan hopefully keeping her eye open on store shelves for the better-looking fig.

But since I don't like holding my breath, I'm content with this guy.

Frustration & A LONG Blog

So I know it's as much my fault as anything, but I wanna kick something. I found out over the weekend that I needed to give 60-day written notice to move out.

What's frustrating is that over a month ago I had spoken to someone in my rental office, told them I was moving out at the end of September. They didn't say anything about the written notice when I spoke to them, and said they were put it in their system that I wasn't renewing. And since then they haven't given me any paperwork for a renewal, I assumed everything was kosher.

Now, unless they find someone to get into the place before Oct 1st then I'll have to pay another month of rent. Ugh.

Anyway... so, yeah, I got that out of my system, but it still sucks.

Otherwise this weekend was alright. I saw the Brothers Grimm on Friday (which I will get to later), and also got a new TF, Vector Prime (which I will ALSO get into later). Otherwise it was hanging out with a lot of video games on Saturday night and all day Sunday.

Oh, I DID get to an interesting mini-golf course on Saturday. A place in Edina called Centennial Lakes, its a natural grass course, to the point where there are no walls or anything. Interesting stuff, but its REALLY frustrating to have to putt out of long grass. Nice location, though, it's an odd combination of park, activity area, and strip mall that I really have never seen outside of my trips to the East Coast.

Picked up a few trade paperbacks at the library for a comic called Invincible. It's been around for two years or so, there's about 16 issues in tpb format, and has recieved a LOT of praise from the comic community. I agree with the praise, its a well-written comic about the son of a Superman-type character who develops his powers when he hits puberty. A rare "good" comic from Image.

So, okay, Brothers Grimm. Good movie, but you could definitely tell that the studio had its say in it. Really mainstream feel to it, it was difficult to tell that it was a Terry Gilliam flick, when you compare it to his previous works. First off, they cast one American and one Australian in the title roles if two Germans who speak with English accents. I would think Gilliam had some different actors in mind than two heartthrob-types.

Matt Damon did a decent enough job, nothing too memorable. But I was impressed with Heath Ledger. After this movie, I've started to think of Gilliam as the anti-Peter Weir. Weir took comedic actors Jim Carrey, Robin Williams, and Harrison Ford and allowed them to show off their dramatic chops, in Truman Show, Dead Poets Society, and Witness, respectively.

Gilliam has taken dramatic, eye candy actors and let them loose. Brad Pitt got to play a loud, jerky asylum inmate with a lazy eye in Twelve Monkeys. Sean Connery had a rare shot at comedy (at the time) in Time Bandits. And Heath Ledger gets to play a twitchy, socially-awkward bookworm, the comedic one of the two, in Brothers Grimm.

Good movie, but unfortunately not very weird, a typical Gilliam hallmark.

Two Four Days!

Like my new picture? Ain't it purdy?

And my bar up on top? It's black. Spooooooky!

Big honking question mark of a weekend coming up, which is fine. My next few weekends are actually all big honkins. I'm going to the State Fair on Wednesday, but think I might want to go again during Labor Day weekend. Unfortunately, everyone's gone that weekend.

Hmmm... so I've been dinking around various webcomics lately. There's some odd ones out there. Not for work opening, would you like to see the comic strip that makes fun of hentai, complete with incest and necrophelia jokes? Or the one that takes place in a nudist colony?

EDIT: Oh, yeah, and after today my next two weeks are 4-day weekends. THAT'S where my title came from! *smacks head*

snork

Stupid allergies.

Brain Fart

Don't you hate it when you wanted to bring up something on your blog, but couldn't remember what it was? Yeah, me too...

Anyway, I'm currently in this No Man's Land for books. I finished Da Vinci Code on Monday, and am waiting for the next book in Harry Turtledove's Great War series to come to my library. So I took a trip to the library and grabbed some stuff I can read without fully investing myself. I'm currently reading Germany: A New History by Hagen Schulze. Seems like it should be a pretty good book, taking 2000 years of German history and condensing it down to 340 pages, which is what I like. Specialization of historical novels are fine, but if you get too big about a small timeframe you start getting into chapters on grain production levels in 1920's Ukraine, and that's just not fun reading.

DaVinci Code... well, what can I say about it without giving much away? It was an interesting novel, and goes along with a lot of what I learned in sociology classes about the history of Christianity. How much of what he stated is fact v. hypothesis I'm not sure of, but it was pretty neat stuff nonetheless. I could see how people could be protesting the filming, though.

Overall, though, I enjoyed the book. I don't consider it the peak of modern literature like a lot of other people do. My theory is that it gained a lot of support through word-of-mouth, so people who usually don't read books loved it without a lot to compare it to. Not a bad novel, but I've definitely read a lot more enjoyable works.

Two Transformers Reviews

You know, as I really don't have much to talk about today, beyond the fact that I found one of the better happy hours I've ever found yesterday, I figure I might as well show off two new toys I got recently, both of which I've been looking forward to for a while, and one of which I went out of my way to get as it's so flippin' rare.

First off is the Cybertron Scout figure Clocker. After seeing the pictures of the figure originally, it amazed me that the figure was going to be a scout-class, especially with the shrinkage that's occurred within this price range since Energon. It's a nice-looking figure that could easily belong in the Deluxe, $10 class if it were, you know, made a little bigger.

Being the final figure released from the Speed Planet, Clocker's alt-mode is a sleek, semi-roofless sports car. Nothing much to say about it except that it surprises me how small it is, no more than 2 1/2, 3 inches long, yet looks a lot better than even some of the larger figures out there. My only beef with my particular figure is the plastic pipes are bent a bit, giving it a look that's not so symmetric. The Planet Key feature is fairly straightforward, yet works well, with the key popping the two gun turrets out of the top of the vehicle. Some manual work is still needed to flip the cannons out, but still looks a lot better than other Key features on other figures.

Robot mode is nice. Again, its surprising how decent the figure looks, considering he's probably no taller than your average GI Joe figure. The plastic's a little iffy in some places, but it works out nicely. The main concern is kibble. He's one of the rare figures where you have to take off pieces in order to transform him, and putting them ALL back onto the figure kinda looks dumb. And if you want to give him both tailpipes as guns or claws, the main gun has to be set aside. Unlike Override, Clocker doesn't have an alternate place to put his big, bulky gun.

Nit-picking aside, Clocker's probably the best Scout figure to come out so far for the series.

The other figure to review, which I picked up last night, is Alternators Swerve.

As I mentioned in a previous post, for Alternators Hound, the Alternators line was created specifically for the old-school TF fans, the ones who have been with the series since the 80's, and are now currently in their 20's and 30's. They're more detailed, more complex, and molded as real vehicles in a 1:24 scale.

Swerve is the third Alternator to use the Corvette as its alt mode. The first two, Tracks & Ravage, have both had their difficulties in the fan community, the former because of its scarcity, and the later because of its sucksity. Well, that's just my personal opinion, as I'm REALLY not a fan of human-based figures with animal heads, especially when the figure is supposed to be based off of a G1 character that WAS an animal.

But I digress. Swerve was supposed to alleviate the fan's issues with Tracks by being more available. Turns out it hasn't been, and I am fairly sure this will be the ONLY Swerve figure I will ever see on shelves.

His alt mode is, like the others, a Corvette. Red, this time. Nothing much to say about it, except that this particular mold came with a flame hood sticker, the first sticker I've seen in a Transformers figure in a LONG time. Thankfully it's optional.

As with the other Alternators that I own, his transformation to robot mode was frustrating. This time for different reasons than the others. Its relatively simple, without any need to break stuff in order to get it successfully accomplished. However, the parts themselves were so flipping TIGHT, that I ended up hurting my fingers trying to pry it apart.

Once I got it done, though, I was pleased with the result. The color scheme, red and gold, is fairly rare in the TF universe, and looks really good. The chest plate is really original. Similar to some of the newer Optimus Primes (G2/Scourge & Cybertron), the Alternator Corvettes are allowing the flavor of the original figure to show through without sacrificing the look of the more modern alt-mode.

And, yes, that only makes sense to me.

One other cool carry-over from the original Corvette figures is the shoulder-mounted cannons, which, unlike the kibble of the originals, can be flipped up from the back, and may even be able to be used in vehicle mode, if you wanted to be weird.

So those will probably be the last figures I get before I move. Ah, what am I saying, I'll probably end up caving and buying Vector Prime as soon as I lose my current Ebay bid for the Japanese version.

EDIT: I decided to be funky and added these pictures since I posted originally. Thought it'd be neat.

Adventures Of The Motivationally Challenged

So its been a few days since I blogged. I would LOVE to say it's because I've been so busy that I haven't had time. Or that there's been so little going on that I haven't had anything interesting to say.

But, quite frankly, I just have to say it's because I've had this complete LACK of motivation the last few days. And its made my brain disappear, too.

See, I can't even write well due to my lack of brain. I forgot to buy RenFest tickets on Friday, partially because there were only three of us answering phones and partially because I just plum forgot. And I spent most of my weekend sitting around and watching three discs of Buffy Season Seven due to lack of motivation.

But I DID do laundry. And brought three more boxes worth of stuff home, but it was stuff that never really left their boxes to begin with, so it wasn't TOO big of a deal.

What is there to say? Man, I don't know. My savings are back up over 3000, as I recieved my rental housing credit, or whatever its called, in the mail. That combined with my newly-raised paycheck was good.

I COULD talk about a TF I picked up a few days ago, Clocker, but, eh, I'll do it later.

I'm thrilling.

Curses & Double Curses

Christopher Walken isn't running for president. Figured it was a hoax, but DAMN he would so win!

"Good Evening... my... fellow aMERicans..."

Curses.

Blogger has post reply spam. It has already been deleted from my blog, but I wouldn't think it would exist.

Double curses.

But on the plus side:

Twins are only 4 out of the wild card, after Johan almost pitches a no-hitter and they sweep the White Sox.

I think we can do it. Cleveland's only a game ahead of us, they're easily passable. The Yankees are dead in the water after getting beaten AGAIN by the Devil Rays (ps: ha, ha), and Oakland's just begging for a hard fall.

Not holding my breath, though. But being 4 games out of the wild card with a month and a half left in the season, winning 5 in a row with a crappy Mariners team coming into town... we're certainly not out of it.

Also plusses:

I get Muppets tonight!

I get my friend DJ this weekend!

And I might be going to Rennaissance Festival this weekend, as well.

Good all around.

Pay attention, as I will be selling a couch on my blog soon.

Once Again

Do Not Feed The Apocalyptic Squirrels

Fancy Schmancy

So I'm proud of myself, as I'm slowly learning how to do image stuff on the computer. Mind you, this is the company computer, so my painting has basically boiled down to cutting and pasting, but, hey, I can cut and paste now!

So, um, yeah, check it, my two images for my LiveJournal so far:


Kaneda, from Akira, whom my online name originated.







MegaMan, from, um, MegaMan. Before Square released Final Fantasy III for the Super Nintendo, this was by far my favorite video game series, and this picture from today's VGCats was too funny to pass up. The link to the comic is attached to the pic.



Finally, also from VGCats (don't worry, the artist says he loves seeing his work used on journals and message boards) new signature for Seibertron and TFW2005, the two Transformers message boards I use frequently. Again, link is attached:

So, onto other stuff.

Same old same old going here. I have a taste test tonight, so I have an excuse to get out of work early (!!), then beginning the move home by dropping off a small box of books and a large box of toys. Then its sounding like sushi as I type this out, so that's all good.

Muppets are in my rental office, but due to taste test I can't get to them till Thursday. But, oh Thursday's gonna rule. hehehehe

What's In A Potter Name?

Okay, so I'm sure this isn't the first time, nor the last, that people have written about what I'm about to write, but since I'm slow to the punch I find it intriguing.

I was reading an article on werewolves at American Monster (which, by the way, is a FANTASTIC database for anyone interested in learning about the history of legendary monsters in America and the rest of the world), and in their discussion about the origin of werewolf mythology I came across this paragraph:

"he (sic) Roman's carried on the Greek tradition of retelling horrific tales of Werewolves, and even did them one better by claiming that the founders of their capitol city, Remus and Romulus, were found and reared by a she-wolf, after their uncle Amulius abandoned them into the currents of the Tiber River."

I had recognized a lot of names through Rowling's work as associating with their dispositions, but Remus is one name I didn't recognize as having a connection to anything before. And the fact that Romulus has yet to be mentioned yet in Potter means that it's possible that there will be a Romulus in the next book.

So after finding this little tidbit, along with a reference to Fenrir on the site, I decided to jump onto dictionary.com and look up some more names in the Potter universe. Here's what I found, with stuff in parentheses referring to the rest of the name for those not adept in Potter characters on a first-name basis:

Sirius (Black): A star in the constellation Canis Major, the brightest star in the sky, approximately 8.6 light-years distant from Earth. Also called Dog Star, Sothis.

(Remus) Lupin: Middle English, from Old French lupin, from Latin lupnum, from neuter of lupnus, wolflike. See lupine

Lupine: Characteristic of or resembling a wolf.

Severus (Snape): Lucius (Malfoy?) Septimius. A.D. 146-211.
Emperor of Rome (193-211) who created a military monarchy and ruled as a despot.

Draco (Malfoy): 1) A constellation in the polar region of the Northern Hemisphere near Cepheus and Ursa Major. Also called Dragon.

2) Athenian lawmaker whose code of laws prescribed death for almost every offense (circa 7th century BC)

Minerva (McGonagall): goddess of wisdom; counterpart of Greek Athena.

One for those who have read Half-Blood Prince:

Fenrir (Greyback): (Norse mythology) an enormous wolf that was fathered by Loki and that killed Odin.

And finally, one for those who read HBP and may see it as a possible spoiler for Book 7:

Regulus (Black): A bright double star in the constellation Leo.

So you have Sirius and Regulus named after stars in various constellations. Sirius is named after a star in a dog constellation, and Regulus is named after a star in a lion constellation. What that means, and if it means anything, is up to Rowling.

Decisions To Make

So I just finished watching Firefly last night. Damn shame they had to cancel the show, but its definitely getting me in the mood to see Serenity next month.

I had the plan to write a fanfic for ithurtsmybrain's contest pairing Mal from Firefly with the Joker. I had the setup, the premise, and the conflict all lined up.

Then, in the last episode, they went and introduced me to Jubal Early.

I decided a while ago that, since the Joker's had DOZENS of origins between comics, movies, TV, and Elseworlds stories, it would be much simpler to create a Joker in Firefly continuity.

But now I have a huge conflict in deciding 1) how much I want to stray from the original history of the character and 2) how much I want to tie his origin in with Mal.

I have three prongs of thought:

a) Attempt to stay true to the character by making Jack Napier a pre-war criminal that fell into a chemical vat while escaping Alliance custody. This would be the closest to his original origin, but I'd have to come up with some separate motivation for his attack on the Serenity crew.

b) Tie him directly into Firefly continuity by turning Jubal into the Joker. This is possible, as he was last seen floating through space, tossed out there by Malcolm. This would give him a reason to come after the crew, and would tie his origin in directly to Mal. However, having Joker go warped and strange through a combination of cosmic radiation, oxygen deprivation, and Reaver torture would probably cheese the purists.

c) Go halfway. Create a new character, or possibly Napier himself, as a character injured and abandoned during the Civil War by Malcolm. This would make the most sense in terms of bridging the gap between origin and motivation, but the only problem is that, as the series showed, this is something Malcolm would not do. So in order to do it I'd have to do some pretty fun plotline gymnastics to make Malcolm come out the good guy while still allowing Napier to have a reason for a vendetta. Or maybe as an Alliance soldier who loses in mano-e-mano combat with Reynolds.

Something I learned in my searchings for stuff on Jubal: He's named after Civil War veteran Jubal A. Early, a southern general with direct lineage to Nathan Fillion, who plays Malcolm Reynolds on the show.

Slow day, as usual. Slow weekend. Had a BBQ with the fam on Saturday while California relatives were visiting. Finished the show Sunday. That's about all she wrote beyond beating Tomb Raider 2 and starting up Wild Arms 2.

Which I just won at EBay, so I'll have to give my old one back to GameStop.

A few fun links for today:

Great TF reference from a great comic strip. A joke that only I will get.

Cuz, you see, the Transformer's name is Hoist. And he's on Picard. It's funny! SERIOUSLY!

And linking from that same site, Walken in 2008!

Habitual Post #1

Today I have really nothing to say. Yet I feel an urgency to post during lag time at work. So I thought I'd just post and bullshit a little bit.

So of all the things I said I'd be doing yesterday, the least important thing was the one thing I ended up doing, getting my new video game. Still have shoes with holes in them, still have two library books waiting patiently for me at the library, still have toys that aren't in existence waiting for me.

But, hey, I had more friend-and-Firefly time last night, so that's always a plus.

I was gonna go get that stuff done tonight, but since the library closes at 5 I have officially decided tonight is a "sit around and do nothing" night.

Weekend's looking pretty slow-going, too. Which I suppose is fine, as the next few weeks after that have the potential to be very full. Rennaissance Festival on the 20th, potential Valleyfair for the first time in 4 years on the 27th or 28th, State Fair on the 31st, along with a dentist appointment beforehand. Duluth on the 17th and 18th of September. Then I move. I'm thinking I should be enjoying the nothingness of this weekend while I can.

Oh, and I'm apparently in my first official Fantasy Football pool with my dad through his office. At least, I'm PAYING for my share of the team, so I think it means I'm official. Figure I'll be around him during most of the regular season, anyway, so that should be interesting.

See, that wasn't so painful, was it?

JOE MAD'S BACK!

My favorite comic book artist, well, ever, is coming back to a regular series!

Marvel just hasn't announced which one yet, though...

Joe Madureira drew X-Men around the time that I became a huge fan. He drew one of the best-conceptualized, but worst timed, comics, Battle Chasers. He had a HUGE hand in introducing the American Manga style into the mainstream. And he's been out of the comic book business for the last eight years.

Here's some of his art, if you're interested, its a sight to behold.

Freaking Awesome

stuffonmycat.com.

Cat + Stuff on them = really freakin odd.

But good enough to go on my links, I think. heheheheh

EDIT: Meh, maybe not.

Torn by Shakespeare

Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen, two X-Men and Royal Shakespeare alum, re-team to do an interpretation of The Merchant of Venice, thought to be in the vein of Baz Lurhman's R&J and taking place in modern-day Las Vegas.

I'm torn. In one sense I've seen both of these actors work in Shakespeare before (McKellen in Richard III and Patrick Stewart as Shylock for a BBC special), and would LOVE to see these two working together on this work. But the interpretation concerns me. Time will tell, I guess.

Num Hans

I'm assuming that the mechanics of this tower are still programmed for 90-degree heat. It's currently 71 degrees outside, but in here its an icebox. Normally I wouldn't complain, as I love the autumn and winter as much as anyone and, well, probably MORE than a lot of people. But not being prepared for the cold is something else, as I'm sitting here in short sleeves and barely feeling my fingers.

Still, can't complain about this weather, its my favorite type in the summer, 70's with rain coming in.

I'm thinking about taking a cue from my good friend Carla and making up a header for this site using pictures of characters that I like from various media. Not that anyone needs to know that, but its been on my mind since I made a really crappy-looking picture for my Live Journal persona.

Speaking of my Live Journal, the one post I have on it has come alive again. One person read my story and loved it so much she linked it from HER blog, so I've had a few more people responding to it all day. Very great to see.

So, if you're a friend, or even if you're NOT a friend, and you have read my story, and you like the story, feel free to post the link to it on your own blog. I want it to do well and I want to show off, and since I don't know how much of a "competition" it is I'm involved in over there at ithurtsmybrain I want to try to get as much positive feedback posted as possible.

And, of course, leave your own feedback, as well, if you like.

Story, story, story.

Ever write or say a word over and over again and it just starts to look like a nonsense word? I'm getting that right now.

Try it!

Story story story.

Fork fork fork fork fork fork.

gerbil gerbil gerbil gerbil gerbil.

goggles goggles goggles goggles goggles.

Tonight sounds like a good ol' fashioned chillin night. Actually, I'm planning on some errands that are becoming more and more detailed as things go. Picking up Da Vinci Code at the library (finally), possibly buying new shoes and possibly buying a video game. Then its hang out, do nothing, play video games. Thrilling a minute.

I'm feeling link happy today. Boredom has set in.

More Random Goodness

There's a writer on ESPN.com that I'm sure I've mentioned in many of your conversations. Bill Simmons, great writer, funny writer, a great mind for both sports and pop culture, but still has a everyman feel to his writing. He's gotten big on the site to the point where he has his own page, with daily links and blogs from him and his intern. I'd suggest reading him if you're looking for something to do, he's a common staple on ESPN's Page 2 section, and well worth the trouble.

Anyway, every few months he pulls out his good old mailbag section. In this he often has readers ask his opinion about ranking stuff, like Seinfeld v. Cheers, DeNiro v. Pacino, most surprising topless scenes, that kinda thing.

Today's mailbag someone asked his opinion of the top five SNL guest skits ever. He compiled a good list, and gave a few decent also-rans, too. I'm proud to say I've seen 5 of the 6 (one was a tie, two skits from one guy), the Alec Baldwin skit I had not seen. And I would have to agree with the entire list, too.

Anyway, here it is, take a gander if you're curious.

FUNNY!

I'm sure if there's a pun that I'm missing, then it's not as funny to me, but until then DAMN, apocalyptic squirrels is the hoot.

I Don't Get It

EBay auction for a Minnesota State Quarter.

Bidding starts at 1 cent.

It's Official

Always feels like a loss when you decide you're moving into your parent's basement. Of course, it IS only a temporary move, as I know I will have the resources to MAKE it a temporary move, but still... I'll be making sure to not invest in any Star Trek uniforms, I promise.

Oh, and I finally buckled under the peer pressure from, well, myself, and ordered Muppet Show Season One from Overstock. I'll have to remember that site more often, its either the same price or a little less as anything on Amazon, plus they have $1 shipping right now. And, no, I promise that's not a plug. Anyway, four disc set, 35 episodes, plus the original episode Henson made to promote the show to producers. Can't wait, and you can all borrow it eventually ;)

Finally, in yet another example of movie studios not learning from dismal failure, here's a quote from Variety:

"Disney Pictures and Spyglass Entertainment are in negotiations with helmer Frederik Du Chau to direct the live-action bigscreen version of "Underdog." "Underdog" will use a CGI-enhanced live dog to portray the eponymous hero, a talking canine with super powers."

Ummm... didn't they try the same thing with Rocky & Bullwinkle? And Garfield? Yeah, big hits, those...

Dude... DUDE!!!!

Muppets! Muppets! MUPPETS!

...The Hell?

Kate Holmes still in next Batman movie.

This should prove interesting. And not interesting in a good way. First, it proves that the writers have decided to continue a romantic relationship that shouldn't have been in the first movie to begin with, and was ended at the end of the film.

Second, they're going to have to do some somersaults to get the new District Attorney, Harvey Dent, into a position that seemed destined to be filled by Rachel Dawes. Again I believe that Dawes' character could have more easily and comfortably been filled by Dent in the first movie, as Bruce's best friend. Which he is in the comics. Just without smooching.

Now they have to somehow figure out a way to 1) Get Dawes out of the DA's office, and 2) get Dent in. It would have been so simple to say that Dawes, in trying to escape her past and her feelings for Bruce, leaves Gotham City to take up the postition of DA in Metropolis or some other DC Comics town. In response, Gotham would hire a young hotshot named Dent as a new Assistant DA. Over the course of the film, Dent would befriend Bruce and rise to the position of DA by the end of the film or the beginning of the third.

But with Holmes signed on for the film, it could mean one of many things:

1) She WILL be leaving the DA's office, and her signing is for a more limited role than she had in Batman Begins

2) They will be attempting to get Dent into the office despite Dawes presence. Potentially awkward storylines occur.

3) Dent will become Two Face, but not as District Attorney.

4) Dawes will become Two Face. Fandom riots ensue.

And I have one more idea that would be REALLY fun, but not likely: Joker does something that warps Dawes to the point that she becomes Harley Quinn. That would be a really fun idea, but might make things a little wonky in the BB universe.

And I'm also realizing that, in my tiredness, I'm making some really boring and uncreative writing up above. I apologize.

Other "...the hell?" moments from today:

- I know we are all happy that the space shuttle has landed safely. But its REALLY amusing and frustrating to me that the networks, after basically reducing the space program to an afterthought before the Columbia disaster, has suddenly decided that its important enough to cut into all programming to watch it land this morning. Mind, they're only breaking into more news, but pretending to care again just so they can be there in there for a screw-up is annoying.

- A suggestion or plea to people waiting for elevators: If there's a group of a dozen people waiting to get on an elevator when you arrive, and an elevator opens next to you, it's very impolite to jump in before everyone else. It may be a clump instead of a line, but there's still such a thing as polite behavior.

Okay, that's done.

4 A Day

Probably the most posts I've ever had in one day here, and its not even lunchtime yet, but I just read this, and don't know how I feel about it so far.

Rosie O'Donnell as Golde.

Mostly I don't like it, as Golde's a character that is never the focus of the play. With this casting, its almost assured that she'll be put up on a higher pedistal than she probably should be. I'm just afraid that they'll tweak the script in order to give her more stage time and maybe a solo, like when she played Rizzo in Grease or when Jerry Lewis played Applegate in Damn Yankees.

This casting is going to allow the play to be introduced to the general public in a way that modern Tevyes like Harvey Fierstein and Alfred Molina just couldn't hope to accomplish. I just hope they don't try to fix what's not broken.

Forgot to Mention

As you have all heard, Peter Jennings died of lung cancer today. I always liked him as an anchor, and always seemed like the "young buck" of the big four network news guys: Jennings, Rather, Brokaw, and Koppel. He just didn't seem 67 to me.

The biggest surprise of the tribute I saw this morning on ABC: Ted Koppel is two years younger than Jennings. As is Tom Brokaw. Dan Rather, however, is still older than dirt.

Two Odd Movie Bits

- Steve Carrell denies the internet rumor that he would be playing the Joker in the next Batman movie, but would enjoy doing it if asked. Here's to hoping he's not asked.

- Warner Brothers leaps into action after fans react to a headstone error in a recent Goblet of Fire photo. You mean there's people actually looking at these things?

Ah, who am I kidding, of course there are. There's people who see rivets in Titanic that weren't made until two years after the ship sank, of course there's people who would notice this.

Grrrrr...

Not that anyone probably noticed, but for some reason my blogroll has disappeared. Don't know why, but its gone poof completely. Argh.

Anyway, pretty slow weekend, and yet I didn't even find the energy to do any blogging. Friday night I went to the St Paul Saints game. Good time, free food, crappy seats. Too bad, too, because it was my friend Sarah's first ever Saints game, I'm gonna try to get her into the reserved seats next time.

Saturday watched some Firefly, is about it. And Sunday I did nothing but clean. Great progress, though, I did ALL the dishes, plus cleaned out some of the cupboards.

Oh, and I picked up a new Transformer, Override. I expected a pretty good toy, considering it's one of the "leaders" for the series, the 'Bot in charge of the Speed Planet. Because of that, she (yes, she, they changed his gender for the US series, despite the fact that he/she is quite mannish) has a gold-and-red Planet Key instead of the silver, which is neat.

And the vehicle form is very cool. Not the nicest car of the series, but still sleek, good color scheme. Unfortunately, like Inferno and Optimus in the Energon series, the top of the head pokes out of the top of the vehicle. The Key feature bites, as it flips two small guns out of the top of the car. It's shoddily constructed, with the guns not being able to point straight forward.

The transformation is awkward, with a trigger transformation that makes half of it occur on a spring load. Which causes major frustrations in putting it back to vehicle afterwards. And I'm planning on showing her off in vehicle mode more than robot. She's blocky, mannish, and the joints are painfully loose. The crappy gunbarrels are even more noticably crooked as the handheld blaster, and its difficult to keep it held straight.

Since she's a Convoy in Japan (the basic name given to all the Planet leaders), I would have expected a stronger, more expensive figure than what I got. The other Convoys that have been released so far (Galaxy Convoy, Flame Convoy, Live Convoy) are all $20-plus, high-quality figures, and it feels like Override (aka Nitro Convoy) has been given the short end of the stick. Especially since there's only one figure from Speed Planet at over 10 dollars, I think this toy should have been a LOT better than it turned out to be.

Another figure I did pick up a week or two ago, and never put up a review for, is the new Cybertron Red Alert. Out of all the figures in the Cybertron line this is probably the truest to its previous counterpart, Armada Red Alert. Fortunately, its also been dropped down into a more reasonable size and price range. The Armada version of the figure was a 20 dollar figure, but was so simplistic and ugly-looking that it could have easily been shrunk into the $10 range.

The vehicle mode is even truer to the original, keeping the same color scheme and similar truck body. Nothing much to say about it except it looks really nice. The Planet Key feature is pretty cool, with the side panels popping out with guns blazing. Unfortunately the panels are built so close to the body that the guns are difficult to lock back in again.

Robot mode... well, what can be said except that it's a decent figure for the price range, yet also turns out to look better than the original. The legs are very neat. As the original had such a huge body with legs that looked almost feminine by comparison, these legs both look better and also have some creative transformation schematics that are difficult to describe in writing. He has one hand, with the other one explained on the website as being chopped off by Starscream. In response, Red Alert replaced it with a laser (described as a laser scalpel in the Armada storyline), and has two "alternate" hands, a claw and a hammer-thing. Both of which would have been kibble in the original G1 line, but are conveniently stored within the hood area on the legs. The Planet Key feature, again, has the lasers popping out at the shoulders, with the same difficulties locking them back in place.

Overall, I like this figure. Of the Deluxe range figures I have so far, this one probably ranks number 2 behind Hot Shot. However, quality figure, a definite upgrade to the original.

Its In My Head!

And cannot be sung at work.

Sooooo.

Log rolls down stairs, alone or in pairs,
Runs over your neighbor's dog.
It's great for a snack,
It fits on your back,
its LOG LOG LOG!

It's LOOOGGG! LOOOGGG!
It's Big, it's Heavy, it's Wood!
It's LOOOGGG! LOOOGGG!
It's better than bad, its good!

Please Be True!

The Stephen King story that MUST be adapted to the screen, one of his best stories and one that would fit SO WELL in movie format. One that has been rumored forever. It might be happening.

The Mist. Filming December 2005?

This simply must happen.

An Evening of Firsts

Well, I went and done it. Yesterday a Live Journal I've been reading for a while posted the results of a contest that it runs. In essence, the writer takes the names of, oh, 1500 characters from various geek sources, like TV, movies, and books, puts them all in a hat, and draws them out in pairs and threes. The resulting list (which is fascinating in itself) was posted yesterday.

The challenge was to find a pairing, two pairings, as many pairings as you want, and write some fan fic off of said pairing.

My creative juices kicked me in the head. I couldn't NOT attempt at least one. So I called three, and at about quarter to 1 this morning I finished my first one, and posted it to the community this morning:

#347: Dr. Evil (Austin Powers)/Anya (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

There's nothing quite as amusing to me as pairing up two of the most socially inept characters in visual film history. I hope you enjoy.

This is also my first story publicly posted to any source, so, you know, woo hoo.

The deadline is September 30th, and my hope is to get two more done by then. One relatively serious (Mal from Firefly/Joker from Batman, probably from comic book continuity) and one that has the potential to be very amusing (Devon from Buffy/Slughorn from Potter 6). I'd have to alter Joker a bit to put him into the Firefly timeline, but that's easy enough for a character who's had so many Elseworlds personas already. And with Devon's connections to so many powerful and influental people, he'd be a prime target for the Slug Club.

Also, I bought my first Transformers knock-off last night. A yellow version of the G1 Constructicon gestalt. I'm pretty proud of myself, too, I was able to put him together without any instructions beyond just looking at the picture of the whole thing. Pretty neat, and relatively durable for being a knockoff, with six robots costing less than the price of one current TF Scout figure.

Anyway, this weekend's looking pretty up in the air. Tonight I get to go to my first St Paul Saints game of the season, and my first one ever with a group. My friend Sarah had a spare ticket for her company's picnic, and invited me along.

Otherwise not much planned. I WILL clean at some point, especially now that I know I'll probably be starting to move before the 30th of September, as the location of my move is now established.

Ahhh, Nostalgia...

Just when you thought you forgot about this movie, here comes a cameo!

As I write this, its on the "index" page, but anyone who looks at it after today may have to go back to the 080305 entry in the archives.

Ahhh, Johnny Five, how we miss thee.

Oh, wait, maybe we don't. Nevermind.

Well, ended up looking at two condos yesterday. One of which I liked a lot. I'm going to talk to my loan officer to get an estimate about how much it would cost me per month to see how it fits in with my life.

But, right now, I'm hesitant. There will be a LOT of things I'll be paying for there that I won't be taking advantage of. Mainly underground parking. Great thing if there was a direct bus line from there, but I'd either have to get up a half-hour earlier than usual to hop a bus to another bus, or park-and-ride, which defeats the whole "underground heated parking" thing.

The other place... well, the less said about that, the better. Horrible condition, would need a whole tear-out-and-start-over job. Just, yeah, sad...

So right now its looking like I'll be moving home for a few months. Which I can handle. Won't help my social life much, but since 1) I don't HAVE much of a social life, 2) Almost everyone I know will either be in another state or ALSO living at home, and 3) With my luck lately, I won't have to worry about sneaking a girlfriend into my bedroom, it should suffice.

Besides, as soon as I move in I'm going to push hard for a December move out, might even keep searching with the intent for a December close. That way I'll have 2+ months of money saved up that aren't going towards rent and utilities.

I'll still be buying my Transformers, though. I'm not a barbarian.

Can you tell I'm using this blog to motivate myself to make a decision? Irritating, isn't it?

The Last Stand...

Well, for now... I'm taking a look at the last three condos of my current run tonight. Right now my calculations are putting them all between $720-750 a month after taxes and association fees, so they're still pushing my wallet, but its a comfortable push.

So you will know tomorrow whether I'll be a homeowner or a temporary parents-basement type. And, no, I will NOT be investing in a Star Trek uni, don't worry.

Got to watch a little more Firefly last night, and I've decided a few things:

1) The movie MUST kick ass. Simply put.

2) I have to attempt an investment in the series, once my money situation gets a little more comfortable. I figure the supply of said DVD will increase once the movie comes out.

3) There's also a chance that its going to bomb furiously, as it'll confuse the mainstream audience.

4) Joss Whedon hates normal names. That's why he makes his villains have more normal-sounding names than his heroes. And if a character comes around without an odd name, its almost certain that he or she will be dead soon.

In the first episode of Buffy, the following characters were introduced: Buffy, Willow, Xander, Jesse, Cordelia, Giles. Guess which one died?

His villains are named Jonathan, Andrew, Ted, Warren. Relatively normal names like Lorne and Clem belong to demons. His heroes are named Spike, Angel, Riley, Anya, Faith, Dawn, Fred (female), Gunn, Connor. His Firefly heroes are named Mal, Wash, Jayne (male), River, and Book.

Yet another reason why I love Joss, I guess.

Oh, CNet has posted its listings of the top 10 Internet fads of all time. Looking beyond the fact that I'm currently writing on number 9, I only know half of the fads. But, oh, number 3 brings me back. Remembering college graduation, and the confused looks of 90% of the audience at the end of the Valedictorian speech... Ahhhh, memories...

Zorro... OF THE FUTURE!

No, seriously.

Fast Addition

Just reading a comic that reminded me so much of my conversations with my geek friends, especially those at my office, that its not funny:

Part 1
Part 2

Okay, well, it IS funny, but anyway...

When I was working in a room with a dozen other people, half of whom were huge geeks, we were discussing something dork-related when my boss came in, asked what was up. I said "ah, don't worry, we're talking about who would win between Wolverine and the Highlander, or something stupid like that."

To which my friends proceeded to discuss who would win in a fight between Wolverine and the Highlander.

And, again I say, READ THIS COMIC! 8-Bit Theatre rules!

Busy Weekend

So I'm currently listening to one of my new CD's, Flogging Molly's Within A Mile Of Home. Faaaaantastic album, I have a feeling this one's gonna get a lot of play. I love Irish folk to begin with, and just add some electric guitar and it takes it to the next level.

I'll probably get to William Shatner's Has Been by the end of the day, too, but I know I love the singles off of it already.

I don't by music very often anymore, too big into Radio K and sports talk. So its good to know that I've gotten three great albums in the last week, no duds.

My weekend went well. Saw Wedding Crashers on Friday, which was a really fun movie. Funny guys, very cute girls, probably would have enjoyed it more if I had been to a few more weddings to understand the social structure of them.

The final Fiddler was on Saturday night. Yowsa. Its very difficult to enjoy the show when you can't stand their Tevye. My friend and I started by just being mildly annoyed by him, but we grew to hate him by the end of the play. Which was too bad because the rest of the cast did a great job, for the most part, and it was a very strong chorus. The daughters were all fantastic singers. The male chorus was strong, which is very important in this show. The suitors, although somewhat flat at some times and too egotistical at others, played the character types well.

But, good lord, I thought I was an arm actor. This guy was flailing like Jim Carrey on speed. He reminded me of a character from The State. Louie, The Guy Who Comes In And Says His Catch Phrase Over And Over. I was sitting over on the side of the theater and I could still almost see his eyes cross goofily during particular rants. And his dramatic scene with Chava turned him into a crying bratty child.

And, of course, the audience loved him.

Ah, well, there's no accounting for taste, I guess...

Anyway, the weekend was otherwise good. I picked up another Transformer, Red Alert (must sedate this addiction), and saw another round of Batman Begins with a few friends. Plus my grandpa's 80th b-day party was on Sunday, so that was good times, good food.

Not much else to report on, well, any other front. But maybe later.