This month’s header, Bugs Bunny’s birthday

Posted on July 2, 2018 by Steve

Every July we celebrate the wascally wabbit’s birthday (7/27/1940) and all the he has brought. I found a piece of art with him playing Brunhilde from The Ring in “What’s Opera Doc?” It’s not from a real cel, it’s a piece Chuck Jones created years later. You can often tell by the angular look around Bugs’ eyes that it was drawn by Chuck sometime in the Seventies or later.

Posted in News, The Site | Tagged , | Leave a comment

“Health” took some time off on me for the Summer

Posted on July 2, 2018 by Steve

As per usual, if I’m writing, I’m feeling better and pulling it together. Part of the setback is also allergies. How I love coughing every ten minutes.

Good things happened as well, namely my nephews who live in Qatar are here for a couple weeks! Hunter, the oldest, is waiting on pins and needed for the results of his baccalaureate (I spelled it correctly on the first try!) before he starts attending university over in the Netherlands. Smart, smart kid. Well, smarter than his uncle. I don’t think there’s an international baccalaureate program for me since the world has experts on cartoons pretty well covered. It’s also great to see Hunter, Wyatt and Cannon. Five years and probably another five abroad will make them international bright young things which is a benefit. Plus I envy them, they get to avoid the toxic regime a while longer.

Me? Feh. Same old same old I’d say. Trying to figure out something to avoid the malaise which gets to me about every quarter. I think I did alright last go round. Now to push it out further and longer.

Posted in Health, News | Tagged | Leave a comment

Brief preview/blurb on the Greater Austin Comic Con

Posted on June 17, 2018 by Steve

What a weekend. I think the first one without hockey in a while and I spent a good chunk of it sponsoring, okay, shopping/spending money at our first comic convention really focused on comics. Sure, we have WizWorld near the end of the year but that’s actually a franchise with numerous cities and it claims to be about “pop culture,” hence why they invite wrestlers, athletes and other non-geek guests.

I’ll write more when I recuperate and also catch up on other stories which need to go before the breakdown of what a good time I had at this. Another major crisis is shipping a box to my niece in California…it’s very overdue.

Posted in Austintatious, Comic Books | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Stars get blown-out in game seven

Posted on June 15, 2018 by Steve

My Stars forced a seventh game against the Toronto Marlies which was impressive given how weakly they played in their final Austin-based game. However, they came up short again as the Marlies walk away with the Calder Cup and all we’ll get to hang next Fall is a banner for being Western Conference champs.

Still, I’m impressed with how far they got. Three Calder Cup appearances in nine seasons isn’t something to poo poo given the AHL is a development league, meaning the turnover of talent is much higher than the NHL. The other variable was their disappointing defense in the playoffs, the opposition was given too many scoring opportunities and even the best goalie ever (Martin Brodeur) can only deflect 19 out of 20 on any given day.

Now hockey is officially over for me until September.

Posted in Austin Stars, Hockey | Tagged | Leave a comment

Isle of Dogs: Worth Seeing

Posted on June 14, 2018 by Steve

A second chance thanks to the second-run theater in Northwest Austin! Some days I wonder why the joint carries “high brow” flicks like Isle, The Death of Stalin or The Founder. I don’t think about it too hard since I’m saving a few bucks.

Isle of Dogs is another animated feature from Wes Anderson. I’ve never seen Fantastic Mr Fox so I wasn’t sure of what to expect beyond the voices coming from actors he usually employs: Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum and Edward Norton. Now, I think I need to see Fox because Isle was well done and very intriguing. The pace may be too slow for smaller children yet I liked how the story was broken down into acts.

The premise was explained in the trailers; in the near future, a Japanese city outlaws dogs and has them exiled to the same island the residents dispose their trash to; their main reason is an outburst of dog flu and the majority comply. Six months later, a young boy flies to the island to find his beloved pet and since most of the dogs are domesticated, they help. Meanwhile, back in the city, a minority of scientists and pro-dog activists fight to have the decree overturned because a cure has been found. An exchange student from America also claims it was a conspiracy all along.

Compared to all the other crap Dreamworks mostly produces for child consumption, Isle of Dogs is a welcome respite in animation/stop-motion until Pixar releases something good again.

Posted in In Theaters, Movies | Tagged , | Leave a comment

The guts of a Tile®

Posted on June 13, 2018 by Steve

The ring area broke off my keychain just in time for its replacement to arrive.

Since the Tile people didn’t want my old, dead tiles back (they did last year), I took this busted one apart to see in there and maybe get an idea how it works.

The middle area is what reacts to the button being pressed.

As I suspected, it’s mostly a battery but the tiny printed circuit board contains all those tiny Wi-Fi and Bluetooth controllers.

Posted in Science & Technology | Tagged | Leave a comment

Tried the “new” Quarter Pounder

Posted on June 12, 2018 by Steve

I remember the announcement last year about McDonald’s switching to fresh ground beef for their burgers in 2018. Well I finally got around to trying to taste the difference. In short, the Quarter Pounder (with cheese) doesn’t taste like the competition: Wendy’s, Burger King, Whataburger or Jack in the Box, all who do a better job on cooking the meat anyway. I think it’s how the QP is dressed which makes the difference, the onions, a couple pickles and cheese. The upside is it did taste much better. The fresher meat made it taste real unlike the weird sponginess I’ve recalled in the past.

Will I eat McDonald’s more often? Probably not. When I really want a hamburger, I prefer Pinballz or Mighty Fine. If I need to resort to Fast Food, I’ve grown accustomed to Whataburger when I’m alone and Jack when Somara is around.

Maybe I need to give it a couple more tries.

Posted in News | Tagged | Leave a comment

Webb Wilder 2018

Posted on June 11, 2018 by Steve

Another show of Webb Wilder, last of the full-grown men, at the Cactus Cafe! It was back in May so yes, yes, I’m behind thanks to the Wellness challenge and juggling some other jazz like exercise (obsessed to get 30 days in a row for June), watching TV (which generates more stuff to write about) and keeping my sleep hygiene solid.

Sorry I didn’t get any photos of Webb in action but it was a fantastic show as always, I prefer to be in the moment, rocking out. It was just Webb and his acoustic guitar playing a little something from every album. Between numbers he told quick stories about his past bands, when he used to live in Austin and how The Who re-worked “Eyesight to the Blind” (one of my favorites on Tommy) by changing the tempo. The song was originally performed by a Blues artist, something I didn’t know, I foolishly kept giving Pete Townshend the credit.

Someone who had a good seat at the show did record him in the middle of “Streets of Laredo” and on to his 1989 hit “Human Cannonball.”

As expected, we talked when the show was over. I remembered to tell him his song “The Rest Will Take Care of Itself” is on our wedding mix and he was in good company, David Bowie, Neil Finn, Queen and Bernadette Peters. He was like, if I’m up there with Neil Finn, I’ve made it. Then some side stuff which wouldn’t interest you all.

Great to see him! A great performer who never disappoints. Go to his shows should he come to your neck of the woods!

Posted in Concert, Music | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Congratulation to all the grads!

Posted on June 10, 2018 by Steve

Found this set at Creative Brick Builders but bought it twice because I wanted one for me and shipped another to my niece who recently graduated from Iowa State. A little Adobe PhotoShop® to put a year to since I didn’t want to use up the stickers.

Posted in Legos, Toys | Tagged | Leave a comment

Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell

Posted on June 9, 2018 by Steve

Originally I was annoyed when [adult swim] integrated non-animated shows into their programming block. The point was to showcase adult-oriented cartoons. Hell proved to me that in this case, they’re succeeding by making a live show with cartoonish elements.

The short version of the show is Office Space set in the Judeo-Christian depiction of Hell. It’s not all fire, brimstone, torture, etc. It’s probably what most Westerners would dread today, being stuck in a cubicle doing Sisyphean tasks without sleep, intermittent pointless staff meetings and occasional degrading punishments like the picture above, a bathroom break which is really being the “target” in a urinal for 15 minutes. The devil who bosses them around is a banal middle-manager type who hounds the various characters about getting more souls or high-profile people to convert to satanism.

Hell‘s main character is Gary, an inept demon who can’t keep his mouth shut, can’t carry out a simple task (he doesn’t like to read instructions) and is trying everything to get out of eternal torment. How he got there is a mystery. I have a feeling most people end up in Hell since Gary isn’t necessarily evil, he’s just lazy and not too bright.

The show isn’t for everyone, especially the uber religious. The writers poke fun at contemporary culture (a white trash magician who sold his soul for his powers), marketing (Claude has a social media program to get souls), Heavy Metal music and how everybody in Hell backstabs each other for personal gain, much like people do while they’re alive. Even Heaven sucks, it’s a place with a hundred golf courses and you still have to work in a cubicle ignoring all the prayers coming in on your phone line.

Give it a try. All three seasons are available through Hulu. Those pretty familiar with Dante’s Inferno will definitely get a chuckle.

Posted in TV | Tagged , | Leave a comment

My first Star Wars figure, the 40th anniversary edition

Posted on June 9, 2018 by Steve

Star Wars may have turned 40 last but it took another whole year before Kenner cranked out the first 12 figures. For reasons I don’t remember I chose a bad guy. As my brother and I accumulated more alongside Fisher Price’s Adventure People, this figure usually had two roles in my numerous space operas: some tech on the good guys’ Battlestar or an officer of the Stormtroopers fighting the good guys.

It’s amazing how much technology has improved the likeness and accuracy of this background character the heroes gun down rescuing Princess Leia or blew up with Luke’s lucky shot to destroy the Death Star. Below is what I was thrilled beyond belief to get it 40 years ago at Ayr-Way in Champaign-Urbana, IL…

The Kenner people did a good job compromising on what they could re-capture with the technology of the late Seventies, the helmet isn’t even close. I’m guessing they made the outfit gray because the little details wouldn’t show up in black. They did keep the belt. This guy received a promotion too thanks to the red and blue stripes on his uniform. The 10/11-year-old me didn’t care. The above version was close enough. Besides, the movie wasn’t available on easily-accessible technologies (the Internet, VCRs) for the general public to accurately nitpick with one exception, the trading cards

I wasn’t alone in thinking about getting extra Death Squad Commanders to repaint into Rebel troopers. The Adventure People fireman were what I had to use. Back then I would just need white paint to change the helmets, blue for the shirt, a tad of black to make the vests and brown for the pants. Somebody went further by attaching the head of the DSC to a repainted General Madine figure. Impressive!

Before I close, I will answer one burning question. Yes, I will take the figure out of the “box,” since all toys are meant to be enjoyed, not hoarded. Much like comics, the only way you’ll make a profit collecting things is by finding someone dumber than you, usually.

Posted in Action Figures, Toys | Tagged , | Leave a comment

RIP Anthony Bourdain

Posted on June 8, 2018 by Steve

Such a shame that he took his own life, he gave so much to the world in his journeys, writing and TV shows.

I became familiar with him through Somara’s keen interest in culinary school. I think she read at least one of his books. Bourdain came off as tough and coarse but on the upside, he was honest. He had some pretty thick skin based upon all the people he shared food/drink with and also the stuff he ate to our amusement.

Posted in TV | Tagged | Leave a comment

Those were the days

Posted on June 7, 2018 by Steve

Not everything on FaceBook is crap, ads (worse crap) or posts from friends too lazy to write a simple e-mail, let alone call with all those unused minutes. Sometimes you can join useful groups related to your hobbies (Pathfinder, Starfinder), shopping tendencies (many of my T-shirt sources, Converse) and obviously political mindset (Progress Texas, ACLU). My favorite bright spot over the last year is the Night Flight group. They love to post pictures to make old fart Generation Xers nostalgic for the pre-Internet age. Above is an old add for Technics electronics. How I wish I had most of that equipment in the picture when I was a teenager. The VCRs appear a tad large but the rest are sweet pieces of gear. I have a feeling most of them would still be operational too.

Below would be my cassettes of favorites, transferred from my vinyl copies for portability and to preserve the albums.

Posted in Music, Science & Technology | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Nixon’s baaaaaaaack!

Posted on June 6, 2018 by Steve

I recently acquired someone’s (mostly) complete set of Futurama action figures. This one is a favorite because Billy West’s impression of Tricky Dick has always been hilarious. The writers often went after phrases and words that brought out 37th’s presidents jowly voice.

Maybe Somara can photograph the rest for me. Matt Groening’s designs are a tad creepy when the characters are turned into three-dimensional objects. Only exception are the robot characters Bender, the Robot Devil and URL.

Posted in Action Figures, Toys | Tagged | Leave a comment

The Death of Stalin: Acquired Taste

Posted on June 2, 2018 by Steve

My final entry for Marx’s birthday. It’s late but I still want to write about seeing this at the nearby discount theater which never ceases to amaze me in what they carry.

Believe it or not, The Death of Stalin is based upon a comic book portraying the historical event. I will have to seek it out.

As for a movie and History buff, I enjoyed Stalin immensely despite the dark subject matter. Even if the Cold War were continuing, I would still see this.

The film is loosely based upon the power struggle that happened after the Soviet dictator Stalin dies from a stroke. We all know in the end who won, spoiler, Khrushchev. Yet during the initial days, the “throne” was up for grabs between Stalin’s deputy Malenkov (technically the designated successor); the head of the murderous NKVD (secret police, probably what Orwell’s thought police were based upon), Beria; obviously Khrushchev; and the Soviet Union’s highest-ranking military officer, Field Marshall Zhukov; and all the other cabinet members. Beria appears to be in the lead as his NKVD operatives are executing and arresting anyone who was near Stalin prior to his death; they also keep the other contenders scared with the exception of Zhukov.

Where is the comedy? It’s in the peer pressure with their committee meetings. The preparation for the funeral (Malenkov is vain). The actual funeral. The terror Stalin inspired, namely at the movie’s beginning when the tyrant demands a recorded copy of concert broadcast on the radio. It’s all from how the various players scheme and backstab each other. Not an easy feat given the millions Stalin had murdered during his reign of terror; many times more than Hitler. 

If you’re a History fanatic like me, watch this when it appears on Cable/Streaming. Everybody else, you’ll probably be bored.

Posted in History, In Theaters, Movies | Tagged , , | Leave a comment