Stars limp across the finish line with two losses

Posted on April 20, 2013 by Steve

Despite winning the South Division and the home-ice advantage throughout the Conference, their last two home games sucked. Friday they were always behind by one goal because they keep letting the opposition score first, a problem they’ve had all season. Tonight they squandered a 3-0 lead to give the desperate Rockford Icehogs a chance at landing the eighth spot.

The playoffs allegedly kick off next Saturday but if the Stars keep playing this poorly, they may get dismissed in the first round. It would be disappointing after how well they did in the regular season. My Stars need to remember the games are 60-65 minutes long and to stop passing into the opposition’s traffic.

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Happy Record Store Day 2013

Posted on April 20, 2013 by Steve

rsd2013pinIn addition to all the pot jokes about today’s date, this Saturday is also the sixth annual Record Store Day. The record stores took a note from the successful Free Comic Book Day and found a way to celebrate another type of retailer being eliminated by the Digital Revolution. I know I’m in the Luddite camp here, maybe siding with the dreaded Hipsters, but I think the independent record store has a chance to flourish. Why? There’s the vinyl trend I often roll my eyes at; I still favor anything that keeps the lights on. The other is their competitors withdrawing from selling physical music: Target, Wal-Mart, Best Buy (financial problems) and I can’t recall seeing a big chain like Sam Goody or FYE in the mall lately; Warehouse/Blockbuster, Musicland, Tower, Peaches, Camelot and JR died off. Digital material from iTunes, Amazon and etc. only goes so far. Again, I would refer to the comic book store which also sell D&D/Warhammer books/minis. Computer versions of sophisticated games may be easier to manage, play and organize yet there’s a tactile factor missing. A co-worker with a teenage son told me about how his son is really getting into a building a Tau army unit (it’s a faction in Warhammer 40K).

Time will tell.

I braved the long line this morning to get a 12″ of Paul McCartney’s re-issued hit for a friend. Waterloo Records was much more prepared too. Oh, I did score the vinyl and a re-mastered Cream set for another. The great and awesome Chip gave me the pictured pin as a thank-you gift. The ambassador pins are rare! Last year’s ambassador was Iggy Pop too. Anyway, I was thrilled to receive it. Jack White and Dave Grohl are contemporary rock/pop stars I respect. Even when they do something musically I may not like, I continue to applaud them because they use their fame to help others. Case in point for Jack: his work with Loretta Lynn, Wanda Jackson, being a team-member in two bands, and running a record company in Nashville. He could’ve chosen to be a douche instead, like so many others (U2 readily comes to mind), line his pockets while being a fame whore. Dave Grohl loans his musical talent and elan to bring bands he loves to the spotlight: Queens of the Stone Age, Killing Joke; and the Studio City documentary demonstrates Dave’s love for the recording studio which gave him his career. If you watch the movie you’ll see how numerous classic albums were made there, namely Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours.

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Another sense of humor demonstration

Posted on April 19, 2013 by Steve

There was a boardgame theme at work for something and this was an entry from my co-workers. Danielle was a trooper.

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RIP Scott Miller of Game Theory

Posted on April 18, 2013 by Steve

Scott Miller wasn’t a household name nor was his main band Game Theory. You could say as per the cliche…he was a musician’s musician but also someone music geeks like myself would know about. An Eighties version of Big Star.

I came across Game Theory through a CD compilation by Enigma Records, back when CDs were expensive and there wasn’t much to choose from. Their single “Erica’s Word,” was pretty catchy. It kept Miller in the front lobe of my brain throughout college especially when Game Theory’s 1988 album Two Steps from the Middle Ages appeared. I hadn’t thought much about them again until I scored some remasters back in the Aughts.

It’s too bad Miller didn’t enjoy much larger success. I guess he’ll get a retroactive revival like Nick Drake, Rodriguez and Big Star.

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Head Coach Willie Desjardins wins coach-of-the-year!

Posted on April 18, 2013 by Steve

Another great feather in the Stars’ collective cap. After my team hit bottom last season, they could only go up but landing first in South is an incredible feat. Congrats!

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Stars cinch it! Aeros are leaving

Posted on April 15, 2013 by Steve

Today I take down my countdown to First for the Stars. They did it with 95 points to win their division (South). Course the current divisions have only been around for two seasons but I’m good, it means at least one banner to be raised next Fall. The odds remain favorable for them to keep home ice in the conference yet the Providence Bruins’ lead has become insurmountable for the Calder Cup, unless someone takes the Bruins out before we face them.

Congratulations team! This year was quite the turnaround.

Poor Houston is losing its team after 18-19 years. Jeremy and KK attended the last home game over the weekend. The relationship has been contentious lately plus the Houston Rockets run the venue; they figure they’ll make more money via other events. Someone forgot to tell them about Arena Pop/Rock’s decline. I think the weirder part is how Houston is the fourth (or third) largest American city and it lacks an NHL team or an alternate place the Aeros to go. The hows, whys, whats, etc., don’t matter now. The Aeroes are going to that bustling metropolis of diversity…Des Moines, IA. It is closer to Minneapolis so I give the Wild organization credit there.

I think Houston going without a team will be a shortly-lived situation. I will miss the rivarly in the interim. San Antonio has rarely been a serious competitor and OKC belongs to all of Texas to ridicule.

Go Stars! I think we have a good shot of bringing the Calder Cup home in 2013.

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A more philosophical die

Posted on April 15, 2013 by Steve

A great virtue yet Paultards think it is incompatible with freedom

I would say this sin is reserved for junk food at my age

What a cool way to come up with a die that has 14 sides! Half are composed of the seven sins and the other are the seven virtues. The sins did get the better font.

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Happy 45th Birthday Michael Anthony Hall

Posted on April 14, 2013 by Steve

He bailed on us last year at Wiz World’s convention but maybe he’ll come back. Not sure what he was promoting though. His USA show The Dead Zone ended and I was probably one of the few who recognized him as the reporter in The Dark Knight. Still, I would like to meet him. Michael portrayed a kindred spirit to how I felt in high school via Weird Science. When he was the villain in Edward Scissorhands, that felt like a betrayal but no one wants to be typecast.

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Playmobil diorama #1.5 – Apple Cafe expanded

Posted on April 14, 2013 by Steve

Since my little display showing the checkout line was a big hit, I decided to expand it by added employees/customers and a cafe expansion. I started off with the generic pack of 12 people but they were all white people. Apple and Austin (contrary to some whiners) are more diverse so I scored the ethnic families Terra Toys offers. Well, I stayed with the contemporary packs because the Egyptian, Roman and Medieval families would be silly. It has gone over pretty well. People do mess with it. One day I saw all the people splayed out like it was re-enactment of Jonestown.

Side view of the Cafe

Some co-workers enjoying their lunch

More people in line to pay for their food

Some Geniuses having a quick discussion before they eat

Getting some coffee from the Starbucks machine

There are future plans to expand on this. One co-worker is helping me make little paper badges for them. The cashiers want to name all the customers. Come Halloween time, I will be switching the people out with the various, whacky types Playmobil offers.

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My overdue opinion about the Austin sucking

Posted on April 14, 2013 by Steve

Having lived here for 19 years and being a resident of a half-dozen other places: Milwaukee; Raleigh-Durham; Houston; Indianapolis; various Central Illinois “cities;” and Beulah, ND; it would be an understatement to say I initially became a little defensive. Then I checked out the article by this alleged travel writer…he quickly undermines any authority he may have with his choices: Rio over Buenos Aires? Detroit over Chicago? Prague over Berlin (never mind that hipsters drained Prague dry a decade ago)? Hawaii over Costa Rica? Utah (aka Utard) over Colorado? Some aren’t even in the same category. The coup de grace proving how full of crap the author is…drum roll please…skip Austin, visit Houston. This makes Texans from all categories laugh. Go take in a metropolis where the obesity epidemic is in full swing, people have to drive everywhere and the pollution rivals LA. Using local hack Michael Corcoran doesn’t strengthen his case. Corcoran has always been a whiney bitch so most Austinites tend to ignore him and we don’t need an MLB team.

Firstly, the local government foisted the moniker “Live Music Capital of the World,” not the residents. Thanks to the invasion of Californicators and other Texas cities, the cost of living increases drove out the musicians back in the Nineties. If Stevie Ray Vaughn were starting out today, he’d probably be living in more affordable Waco or San Angelo.

Secondly, pretentious? This is up for debate and it depends upon who you speak to. I would say this award really belongs to Indianapolis. This poor excuse for a city is actually a giant suburb because it has no real city at its core. Plus its ego swelled up when the Baltimore Colts ran away to become the place’s NFL team. Some rejoiced saying they were a real city now. Sure just like Green Bay is a cultural hot spot. Raleigh-Durham is a close second. Unless you’re into college basketball and/or corporate welfare (aka RTP), it’s a cultural wasteland.

Let me revisit the question though. Visit. Visit versus reside. Maybe Austin isn’t a place to visit when there isn’t a herd event to push people through: SXSW, ACL Fest, Moontower Fest, Fun Fun Fest and Eeyore’s Birthday. It probably helps to have a resident to stay with, take you to the sites this person finds important as I did with my cousin (an overdue story). Austin doesn’t have an immediate attraction like DC, Chicago or LA. Yet it’s a decent place to live despite the lousy traffic, notable Paultard population and Lege Bashing sessions (currently, the Lege’s immediate plans are to curtail Austin’s zoning rights and bag ban). I want to turn the matter on its head with a different place…Las Vegas. Sin City is always a great time for Somara and me. Would I ever want to live there? Hell no. Many of its younger people who were born and raised there want to leave, go figure.

Mediocrity. Pretentiousness. These are a matter of opinion. Trust me. My parents love Raleigh-Durham. It has been their adopted home for 20 years. Chicago is my brother’s for at least a decade while Nelson has little love for it. Nelson prefers Cleveland, a city which has been a punchline for four decades.

In the end, I’ll keep my mediocre, MLB-less city. The diversity accusation is becoming less of an issue and compared to everywhere else I’ve been, it is the first place I’ve ever resided in where having a college education wasn’t a liability.

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RIP Jonathan Winters

Posted on April 14, 2013 by Steve

Illness slowed me from getting this post out on time (I’m doing better, hopefully I won’t be in the obit pages soon). I was bummed to read the news via the AV Club.

Jonathan’s heyday was mostly over when I became more aware of comedy, etc. He remained an influential force through a special on HBO showcasing his abilities to portray various personalities at a baseball game and I think he used to do commercials for an Arby’s-like chain. Jonathan’s legacy lived on through Robin Williams, who was his biggest fan. Although I thought Mork and Mindy getting married would ruin the show, their son Merth played by Jonathan was the bright spot in what became the program’s final season.

After Mork & Mindy, I only recall hearing him as voice on various cartoons, namely Johnny Bravo, Ahhh! Real Monsters and Animaniacs. It was pretty cool to see him in Alec Baldwin’s superhero franchise attempt The Shadow.

Marc Maron reposted his interview with him two years ago. I definitely need to listen to it soon. Get a better clue regarding modern comedy in its formative years.

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Randomizers from Teacher Heaven

Posted on April 12, 2013 by Steve

Dice maker Koplow has been holding out with the gaming stores! I found these beauties at a teacher-supply store in North Austin called Teacher Heaven. I was there hunting down stickers of apples and I saw the joint had a dice section. I couldn’t resist the ones with fractions on them. They would solve numerous arguments while introducing some new variables for D&D.

I haven’t figured out a use with the Roman numerals or colors yet.

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Fourteen years with Apple

Posted on April 12, 2013 by Steve

I’ll keep it brief but Somara made me laugh when she pulled out my original badge photo from 1998. It was taken during the Summer/Fall of 1998 while I was a temp. I thought it was funny enough to keep after I got the permanent offer. Apple changed badge readers years ago, forcing us to have new pictures taken.

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Thatcher’s rotten legacy lives on in the UK and the West

Posted on April 11, 2013 by Steve

I love the chutzpah of the Right with their claims for civility via “don’t speak ill about the recently departed.” Nevermind their shittalking when Howard Zinn, Ted Kennedy and Paul Wellstone died. I’m confident they’ve been preparing some nasty, backhanded obits for Jimmy Carter.

To the Economist and their whitewashing allies behind Reagan’s deification, I say bollocks to you!

We agree that the UK had much more serious problems than the US when she became the prime minister. From what I’ve read and studied over years, the UK kept major elements of the economy in war mode well after 1945. The Hayek/Thatcherite apologists conveniently forget that the UK was already on the downward slide after WWI. The German u-boats sank much of their commercial fleet and the stupid conflict put the gears in motion to end their empire. The UK needed serious reform. Instead it received an anti-Robin Hood as she stole from the poor and gave to the rich through her politics of hate.

I’m more familiar with her odious foreign-policy record. Thatcher was no champion of freedom, especially if you resided in Chile, South Africa or Northern Ireland. She concocted her own Gulf Distraction with the 1983 Falklands/Malvinas War to call an election. The British Navy…mobilized to take back some worthless rocks and sheep.

Much like her American counterpart Reagan, Thatcher is given too much credit for the Soviets’ demise; I would say the label just changed, Russia isn’t any different 20 years later. To be more accurate, she helped spread instability in the world by putting the UK into lockstep with American sabre rattling, dictator support and polluting.

The Economist‘s lead says Thatcher will leave “…an ideological legacy to rival that of Marx, Mao, Gandhi or Reagan” They’re about half right, see number two and four. Her real, immediate legacy is turning the Labour Party into the Tory Lite Party (see Blair), making the Tories push even worse austerity measures under Cameron, widening the wealth gap amongst the British people and getting a bloated, overpriced funeral. After I’m dead, Thatcher will be lucky to be a footnote. She was no Disraeli or Churchill. Just a mean, divisive predecessor who made the world safe for Sarah Palin.

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Princess gave birth again

Posted on April 11, 2013 by Steve

This morning Princesses distended belly was flatter so in the next fews we will probably discover her third batch of kittens somewhere in the backyard. I promise this will be her last. Currently I’m trying to schedule when to take in her oldest remaining daughter Neffie but the little stinker hasn’t been around to eat.

I told Somara the other day I wanted to name these offspring after characters from The Powerpuff Girls, maybe I’ll go with Norse gods due to the cold weather.

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