…puts new meaning into the expression, “shit the bed.”
The documentary format isn’t my first choice for telling the story about the Federation v. Klingon Empire war that took place about 20 years before the Sixties show began. What’s most impressive is the casting for the key players discussing the past. Talk about a nerdgasm: former cast members of Battlestar Galactica, various Star Trek shows and Babylon 5.
I know it’s also not every person’s preference for stories but as a fan project, it is rather impressive.
Watch it in full screen off the YouTube site. I am looking forward to the finished movie/episode since they successfully achieved their Kickstarter goal.
The new daughter of our friends John and Regina! It happened nine days earlier but everyone knows there’s recovery time plus the immediate family gets first dibs. The big sister Savannah will have her hands full teaching ‘lotte the ropes.
As for Somara and me…we’re stoked about another little girl to shower with Playmobil!
The first big guest I wanted to meet at InvaderCon, the voice of Professor Membrane (aka Dib and Gaz’s remote, scientist father for those who’ve never seen the show) but you probably know him better as Squidward Tentacles…Rodger Bumpass!
What a thrill to meet him. Rodger’s career in voice work goes wayyyyyyyy back. I even told him how I’ve always remembered his brief part in Heavy Metal; he was the witness testifying for then against Captain Hanover Fist. It’s quite funny despite the movie’s inconsistent nature and it does cater to pre-teen boys, especially those from the late Seventies and early Eighties, me included.
There’s definitely a bit of Squidward in his DNA. When Rodger puts his arms to his side, you can see the character. As a bonus for me, he also did my favorite quote, “I listen to Public Radio!”
Sign this cat up for the Cat-Olympics! I wonder what’s in the mouse toy? Probably the strongest cat-nip on earth that would motivate even the most docile feline.
Haven’t seen the moronic duo in a long time. I guess their return on MTV hasn’t been very memorable but they do make a great mashup.
A truly fitting dedication to one the greatest spokespeople of Science and I’m glad Dr. deGrasse Tyson was able to carry on the baton alongside Bill Nye.
Anyway, the reference is from the original Cosmos show in which Sagan explains how everything on Earth is made of the same material as the stars. Namely that we’re probably second or third generation matter. The words also drew out his accent or unusual manner of speaking.
Legos are superior because there’s a tactile element to them and you have to use your brain. This “game” is mostly button mashing. Don’t take my word for it, check out this rather honest review.
The hotel’s Starbucks getting into the spirit of things
For once, really diving deep into the regional paper paid off. The puff-piece-laden attempt at local news tends to be full of plugs on businesses opening/closing and gives Congressional schmucks Michael McCaul, John Carter and Bill Flores a soapbox. Buried in it Somara discovered this fan-driven convention mostly financed by a Kickstarter campaign. When we saw that several of Invader Zim‘s key voice actors would be present, we had to go.
Who I met will be saved for part two.
Being decent fans of Nickelodeon’s odd little show, we made this our 11th anniversary celebration, hence why this post has the “Overdue Story” tag. The big guests we met will be for another time. Below are the pictures I managed to get of the fans, some who drove all the way out from the coasts to attend.
The Moose and GIR
Dib and Tak since it’s a female Irken
Invader Zim himself
Zim’s robot parents to make him seem normal
Dib again, he seems to get around
Professor Membrane
Sizz-Lorr, the Irken warlord of Foodcourtia
A must have I scored while shopping at Hot Topic for some friends’ daughters who love Frozen. You could say Tina is the anti-Elsa and anti-Anna.
The Marvelverse hits 10 with its winning streak. Will Avengers: Age of Ultron get them to 11? What’s next to get them to 12 in order to take the trophy away from Pixar. Being both Disney “hotels” on the Monopoly board, the Mouse just needs to move the trophy over to another shelf.
Back to number ten, Guardians.
Marvel seriously rolled the dice here by going with a C-list title I haven’t read since the Nineties. Even then, Guardians is a completely different comic book because the one I knew was Marvel’s competition with DC’s long-standing, often cancelled/rebooted Legion of Superheroes, their backdrop of the 31st century was all they had in common. During the Aughts, the Guardians title was kept while everything else was overhauled regardless of a movie adaptation…or maybe they had a movie in mind all along.
Guardians is set in outer space concurrently with the other Avengers-based characters, the appearance of the Collector confirms this; the Collector was the character shown at the end of the last Thor movie. Since Loki failed, Thanos now backs Ronan the Accuser to spread destruction. This isn’t a spoiler but Earth isn’t involved for once! Our planet is the main hero Star Lord’s former home is about it.
I’ll lead with what I didn’t like. The worn-out Sixties-Seventies compilation servers as Star Lord’s strongest memory of his deceased mother, nice. What I just hated was the real motivation; Hollywood teaming up with the dying Music Industry to squeeze a few more bucks out of songs we’ve heard to death on Oldies and AOR stations. Bradley Cooper’s performance as Rocket was tolerable. He’s an actor I could live without.
The great elements clobber the previous paragraph. Applause all around for Zoe Saldana for pursuing a third Sci-Fi/Space Opera franchise! She has earned the Nerd Hat Trick: Star Trek, Avatar and this. Michael Rooker as a good ol’ boy alien was amusing; Yondu in the my comics was usually a quiet sidekick you’d never miss if he died. Lastly, the tradition of sitting through all the ending credits pays off for the super diehard Marvel fans and/or comic historians.
Don’t take my word for it alone. Here are two endorsements from my nephews Cannon and Wyatt.
Cannon’s approval:
Wyatt’s opinion (caution, spoiler):
Alamo Extras: Marvel cartoons of the Guardians teaming up with Spider-Man and the Avengers; trailer for Starcrash and The Ice Pirates; some jokes with Chris Pratt getting monuments wrong; his appearance on Conan; tons of movies showing raccoons being cute and not crapping everywhere they go.
It has been a busy, busy week yet I really wanted to reflect on Robin’s suicide after more thought. The event was a horrible shock and in other ways it wasn’t. Being someone who has also struggled with Depression (I’m managing it much better these days, thanks), I can relate somewhat. I’m nowhere on par as Robin obviously…he was much more talented, hence I think he hit nastier highs and lows throughout his life.
To those assholes, namely on the Right, I say screw you. Depression is an apolitical problem and it’s times like now, they seriously fail to see why they’re becoming a smaller and smaller group with less power or sympathy. Plus they’re clueless about Science unless it gives them boner pills. They of all people should be able to relate for Depression can warp reality.
Fat, Nazi, gasbag aside…I want to celebrate all the great memories I have of Robin because I still fondly remember the episode of Happy Days he was a guest star in. This is when he debuted the Mork character for Richie’s college paper/report. A silly battle between Mork and the Fonz took place too. Some of you may be snickering. Hey, it was the Seventies trying to portray an ideal Fifties on network TV. Robin’s performance really resonated because it landed him his own sitcom the following Fall. Mork & Mindy kicked off Thursday nights on ABC, the slot once held by Welcome Back Kotter. My brother and I would catch it religiously. I think we were trying to incorporate Mork’s creative swearing to use around the house. The show was influential enough to warrant a T-shirt Dad bought me as a gift from a trip to Boston! How the other kids hated it. They would call me Mork the Dork.
Robin’s very long list of movies were a more mixed bag. As a kid, I was stoked to see him star in Popeye (still holds up) but I wasn’t allowed to see The World According to Garp. By the time I was in college, I felt his Mork schtick was played out, Good Morning Vietnam namely. The standup special did demonstrate he remained funny on his own terms. Being older and becoming more fluent in the language of storytelling/film, the bigger problem turned out to be directors/executives not knowing how to utilize his manic energy. The Survivors and The Best of Times are solid examples. The former I recall clearly. Pairing Robin with the more deadpan Walter Matthau was dumb. The latter could’ve been stronger had the director reined him in. He was perfect in the premise of someone agonizing over a missed football pass 12 years ago.
When he decided to pursue dramatic roles to demonstrate the acting chops he earned at Juilliard, I think the trope about Robin having a beard or not was developed. Beard? Robin Williams starring in a drama. No beard? Must be a comedy.
Maybe time will be kinder to his back catalog. Much of his Nineties films to me are the definition of mawkish: Patch Adams, Jakob the Liar, Toys, Jack, Father’s Day, Mrs. Doubtfire and Bicentennail Man. Great stuff did shine through: Aladdin, Jumanji, The Bird Cage (here I applaud him, he let Nathan Lane be the “crazy” one), Shakes the Clown, and numerous small-time appearances: The Larry Sanders Show, Friends, Hamlet (1996) and The Secret Assassin. These proved he wanted to act, not steal the spotlight from the other primary cast members.
The Aughts are when I feel Robin realized his past work was rather inconsistent so he pursued the crap (Night at the Museum) to fund the more fulfilling projects. World’s Greatest Dad remains one of my favorite dark comedies. The sincerity in his performance is what made it resonate for me. I may check out The Butler to see his take on Eisenhower, probably One Hour Photo and Insomnia.
I want to go back to the mid Eighties for a moment. He did host a great and memorable SNL during the non-Lorne Michaels era. The musical guest was Adam Ant! He did a great impersonation of William Buckley Jr. interviewing Eddie Murphy’s character warning about the dangers of Black performers spontaneously combusting; a hastily constructed skit poking fun at Michael Jackson’s recent accident. The Pet Preacher/Minister was another hilarious bit tapping into his improvisational energy; anathema to Lorne Michaels.
Off the stage, many say Robin was a generous individual. I agree. He dedicated much of his free time to Comic Relief, Amnesty International and helping other comedians break through. Marc Maron credits Robin’s appearance on his podcast WTF for helping it become more than just another interview show. Dana Gould shared an encounter from last year. Robin consoled Dana about divorce and how the dissolving of a marriage doesn’t mean you’re a terrible father.
Then there was his dark side. He struggled with addiction, a first marriage ending in an ugly divorce (he was sleeping with a waitress he met), he married the nanny who worked for him during the first marriage and allegedly gave a waitress herpes. However, Robin’s three kids meant the world to him, it’s one reason why he did Aladdin for a paltry $100,000 (Disney reneged on their agreement not to merchandise the hell out of the genie), Nintendo commercials, skits for Sesame Street and I’ll throw in the Snickers ad. Some people can be awesome parents while being awful spouses; a lesson I have learned.
Farewell Robin. May your legacy help turn around the stigma against Depression and Anxiety. Thanks for all the great times you gave me as a kid on TV. You made Thursday nights something to look forward to alongside your manic, comedic style which was radically different from the usual fare.
See if you can ace it. I got a measly 9 out of 10. As always, this quiz is courtesy of The Guardian. Click here.
