07 February 2009

The original Muppets in 3D

Uncovered my box of Viewmaster reels a minute or two ago. Those are so much easier to look at without glasses. I suppose I never got the full impact of them as a kid then.

Looking through the pile it's interesting to see how my general interests haven't changed much over the years. The collection is mostly tv and movie tie-in stuff. And, of course, Muppets. I'd forgotten that there were 'stories' created just for Viewmasters. Sorted in with 'The Muppet Movie' and 'The Great Muppet Caper' are an Audition night story, a general meet the Muppets set, and a trip to Hawaii.

I may have to dig into this a bit more.

A sudden thought: Do I have to explain to anyone what a Viewmaster is? I sure hope not but I bet I do.

06 February 2009

It's been a Muppety week

Found some Muppet audio during the course of the week that made me happy and now I'm finally dubbing some of my current still somewhat rare Muppet video onto DVD. First there was 'The Muppets go to the Movies' and now 'A Muppet Family Christmas' is running. The best part about the latter show is the crossover in the characters. You get Muppet Show characters, Fraggle Rock characters, and Sesame Street characters altogether. The Muppet Newsman gets a rare appearance. Cookie and Animal make friends. Live action Muppet Babies. Good stuff.

Best so far is Oscar refusing to sing along with the carol. He sticks to his guns and I love that.

05 February 2009

A Few Thoughts on Comics from This Week

'Secret Warriors' #1 was the first book I read this week and I sat there staring at it once I'd finished it. The shock revelation ending is either the most exciting thing I've read in ages or it's the dumbest thing I've ever read. I'm willing to wait for another issue or two to see how this idea gets developed before deciding. It is very wow!

'Tales of the TMNT' #55 - I've gotten Turtle comics on and off for years as that's one of the first series I got to read when I was starting in the hobby (thanks again Matt). The 'Tales' series has a rotating creator base so each issue is an adventure. I generally find them enjoyable but not often exciting. This issue's story, set before the Turtles first encounter with the Shredder, has precious little action. It's almost all character development. It's also never boring and remains interesting throughout, even if you remove the 'twist' ending of the last two pages. I loved it!

'Simpsons Super Spectacular' #8 - the first story, which is filled with Will Eisner references, amused me greatly. The 'Senor Ding Dong' story was good. The 'secret true origin' of Radioactive Man didn't do it for me. Still, not a bad book on the whole.

'Black Panther' #1 - why are we restarting this book again? The story wasn't bad but the whole tease for the female Black Panther, a storyline that I'd be surprised to see last beyond a year, doesn't seem worth restarting the numbering on the book again. I dunno about this one.

'Transformers - All Hail Megatron' #7 of 12 - The thing that's been interesting and annoying about this story is the way it's being told. It's mostly in flashback. The storyline we'd seen being developed in the other Transformers series by IDW is the basis for this story where the Decepticons attack Earth after defeating the Autobots but there's a jump between those series and this one. This has made for some interesting moments and some headscratching. More of the backstory is revealed here, including an impressive panel that made me go 'whoa'. That said, I'll be glad when the story starts moving forward a bit more and reviews the past a bit less.

'Comic Book Comics' #3 - the history of comics in comic book form. And it's funny too!

Like last week, there's some other stuff I purchased, read, and enjoyed, but this is the stuff that I felt like talking about.

04 February 2009

You Might Be a Geek if...

- You can identify the number of Doctor Who episodes missing from the BBC archives and then recite the story names and episode numbers of such.

- See a background character in a Star Wars movie that has three seconds of screen-time and identify the full history of the character as laid out in a novel you read once a few years ago.

- See a vehicle, identify it's make and model and then start elaborating on the factory engine and how many horsepower it put out.

- Recite the win/loss record of your favorite sports team for a decade straight, even if that decade is not their golden era.

- Explain to others why they should read a seven book cycle of novels by summarizing it to them for over an hour.

- Dispute the chronology of a comic book character by reciting issue titles as if they were Scriptural chapter and verse.

- Be able to recite Scriptural chapter and verse out of your head.

- People don't want to play Trivial Pursuit with you anymore.

- You know the advantages and disadvantages of different types of wood when you're not a carpenter.

- Wednesday is new Comic Day!

- You rebuild your computer on a regular basis for the fun of it.

- You make lists explaining how people can tell if they're a Geek or not.

03 February 2009

Line missing?

There's a commercial for Verizon that I think has been edited since they started airing it.

It's at a boisterous family barbeque and the fellow working the grill is pointing out members of his family: his cousin that's like a brother, brother that's like a cousin, an uncle that's not really an uncle but is a keeper.

It's the uncle line that I think has been changed. I swear at first it said something to the effect of 'he's not really my uncle, but he doesn't owe me money, so he's a keeper'.

I didn't read about an uproar and an edit but I've yet to see the version with the longer line since I think I noticed it was gone. Or have I lost my mind? Did I imagine the line? If it was there, did someone consider it offensive? Stereotypical?

I just thought it was a funny reason to like a guy.

02 February 2009

25 Things about me that no one will find interesting, even me

1 – My Dad was adopted when he was one. His adopted mother passed away when she was young and his adopted father remarried a few years before I was born. Most of the people I met as relatives on my Dad's side of the family were therefore step-adopted and not blood related in the least. They were hard drinking Irish folk so, in some ways, I do take after them.

2 – I have two younger brothers, Russell and Joseph.

3 – I consider myself a writer more than anything else. I hope to be an author someday soon. In my head at least, the difference is that authors get paid to write.

4 – I am good at spotting typos but only in other people's work.

5 – I talk rubbish quite often because it's fun. Unfortunately, sometimes I start to believe my rubbish.

6 – I am perfectly willing to look like an idiot, especially if this is on my own terms. I like to entertain.

7 – I wish I'd looked into getting contact lens earlier than I did (when was it now, 4 or 5 years ago?). I think if I'd gotten them in my twenties, when I was slimmer and had more hair, I could have been quite dangerous. Not awesome-dangerous, just dangerous.

8 – I don't think I look very good in pictures. Instead of avoiding pictures, I tend to gravitate towards them. I figure that the more pictures of me get taken, the more likely it'll turn out to be a good one.

9 – I believe that the larger the group of people you get together, for whatever purpose, the smaller the cumulative IQ of that group will be. This is best proved when driving. In theory everyone has the goal of getting somewhere but does everyone drive like they have a place to go? Nope!

10 – I'm probably smarter than I realize. Comparing that to what I've accomplished, I consider myself to be an underachiever. Must try harder.

11 – I've long joked about being crazy but I probably am to some degree. At the very least, I'm not what most people would consider to be normal so, by being different, I'm some sort of crazy.

12 – The year after I graduated high school, I spent about a month feeling 'suicidal'. I place that in quotes because, in retrospect, I don't think I was in any real danger of hurting myself and I don't want to trivialize someone else's more serious issues. It's more like I spent a month in a horrible mood where I questioned the reasons for my continued existence and broke myself out of it by going to see a movie with Kathy Ireland in it 4 times. See? I told you I was crazy, but you didn't believe me! Why didn't you believe me?!?

13 – I talk to myself often, both out loud and to myself. I argue with myself, mock myself, console myself, analyze myself; it can get a little weird. I think it's due to the part of my brain that processes other thought patterns for when I write.

14 – I generally never feel my age nor act it.

15 – I daydream a lot but I can always pretend it's work by using something in my writing.

16 – It's rare that I completely lose interest in something. It does happen but it's much more likely that I'll add a new interest and run out of time to pursue an older one. Unfortunately this occasionally and unintentionally happens with friends as well.

17 – I didn't see 'Return of the Jedi' until I was 12. I didn't care for it much and so 'Star Wars' (I don't care what Lucas says, the name of that film isn't 'Episode 4' or 'A New Hope', it's just 'Star Wars') and 'The Empire Strikes Back' would wait until I was 21. I therefore have no nostalgia to associate with those films.

18 – I don't expect or need to be best friends with anyone with whom I work. All that should be necessary is a mutual respect that we can both do our jobs. It is more fun to enjoy the presence of those you work with as it makes the day go by easier. I try to keep things light and friendly whenever possible and reasonable.

19 – Up until I turned 30 or so, I expected that, some day and to some one, I'd get married. Somewhere around 30 I considered that it wasn't impossible that I'd find someone I could put up with that would also be willing to put up with me, but it seemed less likely that this was going to happen. If it was a priority in my life, I would have done more to locate this young lady. Correction, I'd have done something, anything, to locate this young lady. Besides, I was already married to my collection and what woman would care to share me with it?

20 – Being somewhat different from everyone I know, I'm never completely comfortable. I'm generally comfortable until a big variation manifests itself and I'm reminded that I'm me. And there's nothing wrong with that.

21 – One of life's lessons that my Grandfather gave to my Father who then passed it to me is paraphrased as 'Why be like everyone else? Everyone else is stupid.' I've been told that I may have taken this lesson a bit too much to heart.

22 – I like to think I'm tough but I'm just a big softie at heart.

23 – I don't believe in reincarnation (regeneration,sure) but every once in awhile I go into a situation and I seem to know more about something than I should. It's probably either my brain remembering something I've read or I'm believing my own rubbish again but it feels nicely weird.

24 – I am much better at starting things than finishing them. The current untidy state of my living quarters is testimony to that.

25 – I am awesome. If you are reading this you are probably pretty awesome as well. Not as awesome as me obviously, but at least you're trying. Of course, to you, you are awesome. If you don't think so, why not? Fix that! To yourself, if no one else, you should be one of, if not the, most awesome people you know. I mean, you do all the things you like, you know all the people you like best, how can you not be awesome? And you're my friend so that's got to count for something. Right? ;)

(Yes I also posted this to Facebook today. I'm just getting full value out of the work.)

01 February 2009

Now that I've seen that

I'm not completely convinced that the Super Bowl is really a game anymore. Why wasn't that last fumble reviewed? Something doesn't seem right.