Some thoughts that are running through my head as March roars in like a giant robotic lion that combines with four other giant robotic lions to create a human / lion robot hybrid that has a sword for no apparent reason.
Random Thought # 1: Where in hell is my Voltron movie? Every other crappy show has had a movie made about it. Hell, if I remember correctly the game of Monopoly had the movie rights sold, which will be awesome as it will mark the first time in cinematic history that a thimble will have the lead role, so why not Voltron? Giant robot lions fighting giant robot monsters along with Princess Allura. The script basically writes itself.
Random Thought # 2: You know what you never see anymore? Magic Eye posters. Those things were everywhere in the mid 90’s and now no one has them. Not a bad thing given that I was one of those people who could never figure out how to look at them to see the image (that whole look through the image was a bunch of crap.) What is really interesting is that people hung these posters up in their home as if they were fine art or at least art. In reality they were just a bunch of squiggly lines. As is a Jackson Pollack painting I suppose.
Random Thought # 3: Another facet of mid 90’s culture that has not survived is the baseball card / sports memorabilia shop. For a while every other strip mall had one of these inside where a guy who was always slightly overweight and rocking a goatee would sit behind a Plexiglas case and hope that someone would buy from his card collection. Basically the entire card industry was a ponzi scheme at that point where you always hoped that you could find someone dumber than you to pay more for your piece of cardboard than you did. Sadly, I was one of those people who ended up with lots of pieces of cardboard when the market crashed. Oh well, at least I’ll always have my Cherokee Parks rookie cards for inspiration and a reminder of market bubbles.
Random Thought # 4: I was watching Book TV on CSPAN 2 over the weekend because, well, I apparently have no life when I am not with Kim. That is probably a good thing when you think about it. Anyway, I was watching a discussion about George Orwell moderated by Christopher Hitchens, who is one of those guys I could listen to all day due to his intelligence and high end British accent. As a fan and admirer of Orwell I was really interested in the talk, which is about a new collection of Orwell essays that was released. One of the things that was discussed made me rethink something that I had been pretty set in my ways on for years.
The question was what would Orwell think about the Iraq war? The conclusion that they came to was fascinating. The first point is that Orwell would have supported the invasion as Iraq was easily one of the most brutal totalitarian regimes in the world and there is nothing that Orwell rallied against more than totalitarianism. As someone who has really bought into Orwell’s view of the world that made me rethink my position against the war as my main question has always been the necessity of it.
But they also made one big counter point. Orwell would have raged against the doublespeak and political spin that the Bush administration placed on the conflict. He would have called out all of the half truths and talking points that had no bearing on reality. Orwell could not stand governments that did not speak the truth and he held it as his duty to face unpleasant facts. In the end they almost said that Orwell would have felt that the war was justified but the way that it was justified wasn’t justified.
All this does is make me want to pick up my copy of Animal Farm again. Because all animals are equal; just some animals are more equal than others.
Showing posts with label Voltron. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Voltron. Show all posts
Monday, March 01, 2010
Sunday, December 16, 2007
The Blue Lion is Still the Coolest...
Best of 120 Minutes: Sigh. I miss the early 90’s. Not only did you still have videos but you could make them for under a hundred bucks and still get them in major rotation. I think I spent my entire junior year of college sitting around watching Pavement videos. Well that and nearly cracking under the pressure of electrical engineering classes. (I’ll tell that story one of these days. Closest I’ve ever come to giving up at anything in my life.) Not sure why I’m posting this under than I got a haircut over the weekend.
Sadly, that might be my biggest accomplishment of the entire weekend. It was just one of those weekends where my plans for going out on Saturday night were derailed by the fact that I decided to lie down at nine o’clock and could never convince myself to get back up again. As a general rule of thumb, you should never go out when you are already yawning. I wish I could say that I was tired due to a busy Saturday but in reality all I did was watch television as it snowed outside. Not a huge storm but enough to screw up the roads for awhile. It does make things pretty, I’ll give it that much.
Actually, driving down Ward Parkway after the ice storm last week was really cool. All of these old trees completely covered with ice and the branches slowly being dragged towards the ground were an awesome visual. Especially when a) they’re not my trees and b) I’m not the one worrying if they are going to hit a power line. As I’ve said in the past the one thing that worried me when I worked for the utility was an ice storm because there was nothing that you could do. You just sat there, watched your system collapse and then tried to figure out how many weeks it would take to replace all the poles. It’s never nice to feel helpless especially when it is your job we are talking about.
(Though it does look like the storm will result in my losing in the fantasy football playoffs. When you’ve spent the entire season living off of your wide receivers and the quarterbacks can’t even see them because of the snow it’s just not to be. Put up one hell of a fight though.)
I also got my Christmas shopping done or at least effectively done. That means that I have enough vague gifts to give to everyone on my list but there are a few other things that I need to pick up which shouldn’t be too challenging. Going in with a gameplan does make shopping a little easier as well as knowing when to shop. Chiefs games are always a good time in this town as is any time there is snow on the ground. I also picked up a very special gift for myself: the Black Lion edition of the Voltron DVDs. This gives me all five lions and, uh, probably something else I should hide in my apartment. Honestly, the wrestling DVDs are hidden now but Voltron and Beavis and Butthead still hold a prominent place in the collection. I’m not sure if that is a good thing.
(It doesn’t help that the Voltron series came in these ultra-cool metallic bins so they automatically attract attention. It’s just not always the type of attraction that one always wants. Having to explain that you are in your mid-thirties and collect episodes regarding robotic lions piloted by teenagers who can combine to form a super-robot with a large sword is not the easiest thing to do on a first date.)
The five random CDs for the week:
1) Ben Folds Five “Whatever and Ever Amen”
2) Sonny Landreth “The Road We’re On”
3) Kasey Chambers “The Captain”
4) Freakwater “End Time”
5) Whiskeytown “Faithless Street”
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Where doing a lap is literally doing a lap
Ok, this has nothing to do with London but I do have to mention that I picked up the Green Lion Edition of Voltron on DVD this week and I know of no better way to celebrate than by posting a picture of the lion that I will pilot as part of my dream job. While the Green Lion does not carry with it the leadership qualities of the Red Lion, nor the serenity of the Blue Lion, nor the overall awesomeness of the Black Lion it is easily the most environmentally conscious of the five lions and that is really hip right now. Plus, it is so much cooler than the Yellow Lion, which they might as well repaint given how silly it looks. Seriously, who would want to pilot a Yellow Lion? The only reason they keep it around is because they for some reason need it to form Voltron.
(Of course, just to upset me this is apparently the Pidge edition of the collection as well. Because apparently it is a law that the elite galactic fighting force have a whiny kid as a part of the team.)
Ok, time to finish off the London stories, though I may post a few more pictures later this week. One of the things that I had been meaning to mention is that just walking through London is a completely different experience than I usually have. Partly it is the fact that there is just this mass of people that never seems to go away. I think that spending the past few years in Kansas City has made me forget what crowds are like. I worked in downtown Chicago for years so I know what it is like to be in the midst of thousands of people walking in the same direction. Still, there just seems to be so many more people in London, all seemingly dressed in the latest fashions. Even if they by no right should be wearing them. You tend to go, “Wow, that woman is beautiful…ow my eyes! The goggles, they do nothing!”
The other point is just the sheer number of languages you hear as you walk down the street. That’s something you just don’t experience while trapped in Middle America. Here, if someone isn’t speaking English you have a horrible tendency to want to turn around and go “What the hell is your problem.” There is just something cool about hearing the languages of the world while you are making your way to the train.
And finally, after much delay, the longest bar story. While checking out the information in my hotel room (because when you don’t have any luggage you have to find ways to amuse yourself) I discovered that my hotel housed The Longest Bar in England. They were very proud of this fact. So I’m sitting in my hotel room thinking to myself, “I guess that I have to go down and have a drink. How many people can say that they’ve had a beer at The Longest Bar in England?”
To which I replied…
“Probably a lot of people. The bar is quite long.”
(Sadly, due to budget cuts I was by myself and therefore had to provide both sides of the witty conversation. And it does continue my trustworthy habit of being incredibly funny when there is no one around to appreciate it.)
So I make my way down to the bar and they aren’t kidding, it is a freaking long bar. Like a good forty yards long. There are about five people sitting at the bar, all at one end next to all of the staff. I look at the situation and I have to say that I was tempted to sit at the exact middle of the bar and be a good sixty feet away from the nearest patron and bartender in the process. Part of me thought that would look anti-social and cool, part of me thought that it would result in a bottle being thrown at my head by a bartender who didn’t want to walk that far.
In the end I sat down next to everyone else, thus showing that having The Longest Bar in England is rather inefficient. All told, we were taking up less space than The Backer. I also discovered that The Longest Bar in England does not have any beer on tap, which just astounds me. You pay to put in a bar, measure it to ensure that it has a greater length than any other establishment in the country, and you can’t be bothered to install a friggin tap? In a country that prides itself on ales and lagers? I ordered a Guinness and had it poured out of a can, which is something that I did not need to go to The Longest Bar in England to enjoy. I guess it’s true what they all say; size really doesn’t matter.
Sunday, April 01, 2007
Happiness abounds...
Hey guess what? Over the weekend I met this really cute girl who is working on her master’s in English at KU and we started talking and things started to click and as we gazed into each other’s eyes it dawned on both of us that this is the person we’ve been waiting for our entire lives.
Ha ha. April Fools. All I did this weekend was sit around and watch the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony. Nice to see that they honored the late, great Mr. Perfect Curt Hennig who was one of the best technical wrestlers of my generation. They also gave props to Jerry “The King” Lawler who was a part of the biggest angle of all time with Andy Kaufmann. Something that a decade later people were still trying to figure out which parts were real. And yes, I do pay attention to things like the hall of fame for a fake sport. We give Emmy’s to people who act like doctors, I really don’t see any difference here.
(Oh, I did make some progress at trivia as the red headed slutatorian did say that she didn’t hate me. In my world, that is considered success. I think at one point in my life someone told me that getting some self-confidence would be a good thing. I really should look into that.)
Yeah, it’s been a weird weekend for me. I watched a little of the basketball games but didn’t really focus on either of them. I predicted both correctly, which has moved me up to 11th in my pool. If Ohio State wins I’ll end up 5th, which will provide me with the pride of knowing that I am smarter than everyone else who didn’t win any money. I still can’t believe that I can predict the entire final four correctly and still not win. I must have really blown the first couple of rounds.
Ok, onto the all important Transformers discussion. Jazz is a freaking Pontiac Solstice? For the record, Jazz was the first Transformer that I ever owned precisely because he was an awesome race car. Now he’s a car I might actually own? That is so wrong. That would be like casting Neil Patrick Harris to play Flint or Rosie O’Donnell to play Lady Jane in a live action G. I. Joe film. (Which is probably in production) Autobots should always be transforming into cars that you wished you own. It doesn’t bother me that they messed with Bumblebee, I always hated him. I was interested in the little car that could. I wanted to see the big, massive robots with heavy weaponry.
I’m a little worried about the Transformers movie if only because I’ll have to then try to take the plot seriously. Ok, so we have a bunch of alien robots who land on this planet who decide to take on the shapes of motor vehicles so they will be inconspicuous. Except that they occasionally transform into giant robots by completely breaking the law of conservation of mass and engage in siege warfare using laser beams. It’s a movie where you need to check your rational mind at the door. Your entire intent for the night should be a desire to see big things go boom.
Oh, and I will look into taking my dream job as the pilot of the Green Lion in Voltron. I feel eminently qualified to be a member of the Voltron Force. I am brave, courageous and would totally try to hook up with Princess Allura. And hell, they let that annoying little kid pilot one of the lions, can’t see why I couldn’t do it. Now I just have to find the mystical lost temple and travel deep into the forest to find the hidden lion.
The five random CDs for the week:
1) The Frames “For the Birds”
2) The Mike Plume Band “Song & Dance, Man”
3) U2 “Zooropa”
4) Gillian Welch “Time (The Revelator)”
5) Paul Burch “Fool for Love”
Ha ha. April Fools. All I did this weekend was sit around and watch the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony. Nice to see that they honored the late, great Mr. Perfect Curt Hennig who was one of the best technical wrestlers of my generation. They also gave props to Jerry “The King” Lawler who was a part of the biggest angle of all time with Andy Kaufmann. Something that a decade later people were still trying to figure out which parts were real. And yes, I do pay attention to things like the hall of fame for a fake sport. We give Emmy’s to people who act like doctors, I really don’t see any difference here.
(Oh, I did make some progress at trivia as the red headed slutatorian did say that she didn’t hate me. In my world, that is considered success. I think at one point in my life someone told me that getting some self-confidence would be a good thing. I really should look into that.)
Yeah, it’s been a weird weekend for me. I watched a little of the basketball games but didn’t really focus on either of them. I predicted both correctly, which has moved me up to 11th in my pool. If Ohio State wins I’ll end up 5th, which will provide me with the pride of knowing that I am smarter than everyone else who didn’t win any money. I still can’t believe that I can predict the entire final four correctly and still not win. I must have really blown the first couple of rounds.
Ok, onto the all important Transformers discussion. Jazz is a freaking Pontiac Solstice? For the record, Jazz was the first Transformer that I ever owned precisely because he was an awesome race car. Now he’s a car I might actually own? That is so wrong. That would be like casting Neil Patrick Harris to play Flint or Rosie O’Donnell to play Lady Jane in a live action G. I. Joe film. (Which is probably in production) Autobots should always be transforming into cars that you wished you own. It doesn’t bother me that they messed with Bumblebee, I always hated him. I was interested in the little car that could. I wanted to see the big, massive robots with heavy weaponry.
I’m a little worried about the Transformers movie if only because I’ll have to then try to take the plot seriously. Ok, so we have a bunch of alien robots who land on this planet who decide to take on the shapes of motor vehicles so they will be inconspicuous. Except that they occasionally transform into giant robots by completely breaking the law of conservation of mass and engage in siege warfare using laser beams. It’s a movie where you need to check your rational mind at the door. Your entire intent for the night should be a desire to see big things go boom.
Oh, and I will look into taking my dream job as the pilot of the Green Lion in Voltron. I feel eminently qualified to be a member of the Voltron Force. I am brave, courageous and would totally try to hook up with Princess Allura. And hell, they let that annoying little kid pilot one of the lions, can’t see why I couldn’t do it. Now I just have to find the mystical lost temple and travel deep into the forest to find the hidden lion.
The five random CDs for the week:
1) The Frames “For the Birds”
2) The Mike Plume Band “Song & Dance, Man”
3) U2 “Zooropa”
4) Gillian Welch “Time (The Revelator)”
5) Paul Burch “Fool for Love”
Sunday, March 04, 2007
Red Lion Rules
Tonight marks the official changeover as I have now placed Natalie in her new home on my rather crowded desk. If there seems to be an inordinate number of spelling errors this week (or just general crabbiness on my part) understand that I am trying to learn a new computer and operating system along with the fact that while I am a very fast typist, I break every typing rule known to man. Thus, changing the size of the keyboard actually screws up my typing. It is very, very annoying.
And I have to say that naming the new machine Natalie has been very fitting. Mainly because while she is beautiful there is absolutely nothing that I can do to please this machine. Seriously, every piece of software has resulted in a war between myself and Vista. I finally got the wireless mouse to work, I have nearly succeeded in getting Office to unlock (though I’m using Works right now) and my attempt to install wireless broadband has been met with derision. It’s pretty much how I’d expect a date with Natalie Portman to go. She’d insult me for my inability to pour a glass of water correctly while all I could is sit there, drool, and go “You’re purty.”
(On the other hand, Julie and I worked together like we were soul mates. She knew exactly what I wanted and would meet me halfway on all of my hare-brained schemes. Is it right to feel like you have given up on your best relationship ever when that relationship is with a computer? It’s not like I threw her away, I’m just using her to work on my book but still. I really feel guilty about this and that is probably something I shouldn’t admit in public.
I have a few stories from the weekend that I just need to share.
Story #1: While driving past a Sonic I saw that the billboard read “Get your jumbo popcorn chicken here.” That is a rather stunning sentence when you think about it. I know what every single word in that sentence means but when placed in that order they become completely meaningless. Is the popcorn jumbo? Is there such a thing as a jumbo chicken that was created as a part of some freak genetic engineering experiment gone wrong. Is that something that I would want to experience? And is the middle of Kansas the best place to experience it? This is what I think about as I drive around town.
Story #2: I know a lot of people wonder what I do on a Saturday night. There are a lot of stories that have gone on over the years about my wild life. Well, as I was sitting in front of the television on Saturday night, watching Voltron and placing my bank statements in chronological order, I realized that this is probably how everyone envisions my life to be. It’s like I’m a twelve year old. A very organized twelve year old.
Oh, and some notes on Voltron. First, in telling the myth about the invincible Voltron they probably shouldn’t mention how the witch (who was impersonating a Goddess) cursed Voltron and separated him into the five lions. That tends to take away from the whole “invincible” claim. Second, it’s nice to see how the characters repeat the plot in every scene. I know this is something you notice as an adult but come on, did we need all five characters making the same point? Third, was Pidge always such a whiny bitch? He annoys the hell out of me. I mean, so does Sven but at least I know he gets his in the end. Finally, I think the lasting popularity of this show can be placed solely on the shoulders of Princess Allura. The rather beautiful shoulders of Princess Allura. Hey, for a ten year old you take your beauty where you can find it.
Story #3: I did watch “The Winner”, the new show on Fox with Rob Corddry that is from the makers of Family Guy. It is looking to be a great show. Love the fact that for some reason they set it in 1994, which is just a bizarre touch. Rob is hilarious as always and the kid they have acting with him is carrying his weight as well. And let’s be honest, while How I Met Your Mother is how I envision my life to be I bet more than a few people would see similarities in this show. But hey, he does become the richest man in Buffalo so I’ve got that going for me. Anyway, great show worth checking out. (Plus, best Simpson’s episode in ages tonight. Loved the music in the dark Stanley scene.)
The five random CDs for the week:
1) Allison Moorer “The Hardest Part”
2) Gomez “Bring It On”
3) Tanya Donelly “Lovesongs for Underdogs”
4) Kelly Willis “Bang Bang”
5) Billy Pilgrim “Bloom”
And I have to say that naming the new machine Natalie has been very fitting. Mainly because while she is beautiful there is absolutely nothing that I can do to please this machine. Seriously, every piece of software has resulted in a war between myself and Vista. I finally got the wireless mouse to work, I have nearly succeeded in getting Office to unlock (though I’m using Works right now) and my attempt to install wireless broadband has been met with derision. It’s pretty much how I’d expect a date with Natalie Portman to go. She’d insult me for my inability to pour a glass of water correctly while all I could is sit there, drool, and go “You’re purty.”
(On the other hand, Julie and I worked together like we were soul mates. She knew exactly what I wanted and would meet me halfway on all of my hare-brained schemes. Is it right to feel like you have given up on your best relationship ever when that relationship is with a computer? It’s not like I threw her away, I’m just using her to work on my book but still. I really feel guilty about this and that is probably something I shouldn’t admit in public.
I have a few stories from the weekend that I just need to share.
Story #1: While driving past a Sonic I saw that the billboard read “Get your jumbo popcorn chicken here.” That is a rather stunning sentence when you think about it. I know what every single word in that sentence means but when placed in that order they become completely meaningless. Is the popcorn jumbo? Is there such a thing as a jumbo chicken that was created as a part of some freak genetic engineering experiment gone wrong. Is that something that I would want to experience? And is the middle of Kansas the best place to experience it? This is what I think about as I drive around town.
Story #2: I know a lot of people wonder what I do on a Saturday night. There are a lot of stories that have gone on over the years about my wild life. Well, as I was sitting in front of the television on Saturday night, watching Voltron and placing my bank statements in chronological order, I realized that this is probably how everyone envisions my life to be. It’s like I’m a twelve year old. A very organized twelve year old.
Oh, and some notes on Voltron. First, in telling the myth about the invincible Voltron they probably shouldn’t mention how the witch (who was impersonating a Goddess) cursed Voltron and separated him into the five lions. That tends to take away from the whole “invincible” claim. Second, it’s nice to see how the characters repeat the plot in every scene. I know this is something you notice as an adult but come on, did we need all five characters making the same point? Third, was Pidge always such a whiny bitch? He annoys the hell out of me. I mean, so does Sven but at least I know he gets his in the end. Finally, I think the lasting popularity of this show can be placed solely on the shoulders of Princess Allura. The rather beautiful shoulders of Princess Allura. Hey, for a ten year old you take your beauty where you can find it.
Story #3: I did watch “The Winner”, the new show on Fox with Rob Corddry that is from the makers of Family Guy. It is looking to be a great show. Love the fact that for some reason they set it in 1994, which is just a bizarre touch. Rob is hilarious as always and the kid they have acting with him is carrying his weight as well. And let’s be honest, while How I Met Your Mother is how I envision my life to be I bet more than a few people would see similarities in this show. But hey, he does become the richest man in Buffalo so I’ve got that going for me. Anyway, great show worth checking out. (Plus, best Simpson’s episode in ages tonight. Loved the music in the dark Stanley scene.)
The five random CDs for the week:
1) Allison Moorer “The Hardest Part”
2) Gomez “Bring It On”
3) Tanya Donelly “Lovesongs for Underdogs”
4) Kelly Willis “Bang Bang”
5) Billy Pilgrim “Bloom”
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