The voice behind Muppets Robin (Kermit’s nephew), the Count, Floyd of the Electric Mayhem, Crazy Harry, Dr. Strangepork and Marjory the Trashheap, passed away.
I feel the Onion‘s piece covered Jerry’s career and purpose pretty well.
A co-worker found this. It’s pretty bitchin’ on how some things line up against each other. There were objects in our Solar System I need to look up though, I don’t recall the planet Eris, maybe it’s out there with Pluto.
What I found more comforting is that scientists have a prefix for celestial objects beyond the tera- range. This will dovetail into mass storage devices my line of work will be support in the future, e.g. currently there are affordable 2 TB hard drives.
Some rather realistic, creepy versions of the Futurama aliens courtesy of io9 or was it badastronomy? The fact they were made through CG is pretty cool.
Phyllis was an enormous talent who was still hitting her stride when I was a kid. The first time I saw her was on Love American Style (syndicated, I’m not that old). She was playing a version of herself, making jokes about her spouse. This little sense to me. As I got older, I learned about comedians having their schticks plus Fang and his Love counterpart were fictional, Rodney Dangerfield did the same with his “wife.”
After Christopher Hitchens died, I read about his dumb statement regarding female comedians, in short he claimed women aren’t funny unless they fat, ugly or gay. Had the curmudgeon met Phyllis, he would’ve retracted his ignorant statement. Her ugly look was for the stage and to feed her inner clown-attention hound, why else would anybody be a comedian. In private, it was a different matter. Phyllis wore nice clothes, etc. Hell, I saw her do a show documenting her plastic surgery. Who doesn’t want to look attractive for one’s spouse or date?
Back to her comedy.
While Lucille Ball paved the way for women leading in sitcoms and doing slapstick, Phyllis will be remembered as the grande dame of stand-up. She paved the way Roseanne, Joan Rivers, Maria Bamford, Wanda Sykes, Bret Butler, Rita Rudner, Judy Tenuta, Jackie Kashian and a special nod to Amy Sedaris because Strangers with Candy owes some if its ugly angle to Phyllis.
I’m going to miss her signature laugh (or cackle). It was a highlight of A Bug’s Life.
Many people in my circles knew him as the obsessive, suicidal Commodore Matthew Decker from Star Trek‘s “The Doomsday Machine.” Windom’s character was special because his “son” appeared in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Commander William Decker who in turn is recycled as Command William Riker for ST:NG.
William had an even more special place in my heart as Jake’s blustery father-in-law from John Hughes’ much underrated She’s Having a Baby.
He had quite a career as a character actor as his obituary states.
There’s a delivery driver at our local Austin’s Pizza who has a Jake sticker on his car; I’ve posted it before. While I was waiting to pick up an order he offered me this picture of a birthday cake he recently saw.
Slamma-cow!
I was originally in the naysayer camp about how it was too soon for the Spider-Man franchise to be rebooted. Rumors/stories abound regarding the contract Sony has with Marvel so there was a cynical element to the complaining; allegedly, Sony can continue making Spider-Man films as long as they’re less than x number of years apart. As much as I have defended Spider-Man 3 from the purists, a fourth chapter would’ve been pretty difficult: the cast was aging, Sam Raimi was losing interest, the villain list was shrinking and where else can the story go? Sony could’ve changed everything, move on like nothing “happened.” It works for James Bond. It utterly failed with Batman.
I feel rebooting or waiting another five years were the choices. Given the contractual rumors, rebooting won.
Again, I wasn’t terribly interested. I was a huge Spider-Man fan as a little kid. Then I moved on to the X-Men during my teens/college years and graduated to DC stuff, where I remain. With the Summer 2012 choices, The Dark Knight Rises was the horse I was betting on in the superhero races despite DC having a crappy record at the box office. When there were trailers showing Denis Leary as Gwen Stacy’s father, I began to warm up to the movie. Initial reviews made me back off, especially when the endorsements came from one person I have friendly pop-culture disagreements with (we have many more shared loves though) and another who thinks Sarah Palin spouts nuggets of wisdom. (Trust me, people’s brains are wired very similarly on many subjects such as all the Libertarians who get a hard-on from Firefly.) The clincher was my comic book store being disappointed. Trust me, the crew at Rogues Gallery is very level-headed, thoughtful and polite; it’s no Android’s Dungeon.
What got me to see Spider-Man then? Two things. My friend Tony who gave a good explanation on the strengths/weaknesses he saw. I was also in South Austin one Sunday and had time to kill.
The story starts from a different beginning but follows the more recent version done through Marvel’s Ultimates line of comics, the same source for this Summer’s The Avengers. Sam Raimi’s trilogy stuck closer to the original Stan Lee-Steve Ditko material from 1962. What does this mean to non-comic book geeks? Amazing opens with Peter Parker as a child playing hide and seek with his father. During their game they discover that Dr. Parker’s study had been broken into. Peter’s parents make concerned faces, quickly pack, rush over to Ben and May’s house, leave Peter there and die in a car accident. Fast forward a decade. Ben is cleaning out the basement due to a flood. He finds some old briefcase his brother left and gives it to Peter. The briefcase contains mostly personal effects: glasses, photos and newspaper articles. Then Peter finds a secret pocket containing some detailed notes surrounding a peculiar formula. This leads the hero into poking around Oscorp (Harry Osbourne’s corporation, the guy who was the Green Goblin in the previous series), in an attempt to get an audience with head researcher Dr. Curt Connors, a former partner of Dr. Parker.
The trailer covers the rest. Peter gains his spider-like powers. Dr. Connors transforms into the Lizard. Fights ensue. Peter develops a relationship with Gwen Stacy instead of Mary Jane Parker. Gwen’s father is a high-ranking cop out to capture Spider-Man. So on and so forth.
However, I did like it in some ways more than Raimi’s 2002 version. In Amazing, Uncle Ben and Aunt May are younger. They’re still working but you can tell they’re closing in on retirement. They are more integral to the story too. In 2002, Uncle Ben spouted off a cliche passing as wisdom and gets murdered. This Uncle Ben (played really well by Martin Sheen) has a stronger father-like presence in Peter’s life so when he is killed, there was a real emotional investment. Aunt May (Sally Field, equally impressive) isn’t a helpless retiree for Peter to panic about neither. The man who shot Uncle Ben does become the crux of Spider-Man’s raison d’etre yet (minor spoiler alert) Peter never catches him. Finally, this interpretation goes with Spider-Man’s traditional means of making his webbing, via gadgets strapped to his wrists.
There were things I didn’t like too. The worst was how Peter gains his powers. Raimi’s genetically altered spider has been the most plausible explanation since most people know a radioactive spider does jack, even if it survived the exposure. Amazing is just plain stupid and baffling. The other was Peter revealing his alter ego rather quickly to Gwen and Captain Stacy.
As Tony told me, the movie has trade offs and comparing it to what Raimi did well a decade ago can’t be avoided. I would still give Amazing a shot, especially if The Dark Knight Rises and The Avengers weren’t enough to scratch your superhero itch. Does it warrant a sequel? Sure. This means you should sit through the closing credits because the Marvel movie tradition is added to the Spider-Man franchise.
The Alamo treatment made it more enjoyable. I was a bit late so I didn’t get to see much of the fun they added. All I recalled was an Electric Company sequence involving the educational show’s core characters (Easy Reader! Detective Fargo North! Paul the Gorilla! Jennifer of the Jungle!) and some goofy safety tips. By now, I think Amazing is at the dollar cinemas and will hit the rental/DVD circuit by Thanksgiving.
Photo courtesy of GWD
Lately I’ve been teaming up with another team on Sunday nights for Geeks Who Drink (what GWD means if you didn’t know). This nice person named Pablo who works at Waterloo Records invited me. I feel more like a mascot because he and Ken nail round two (music-based) to give the team 25-plus points which is enough to build a pretty defensible lead. Then throw in Pablo’s girlfriend Consuelo, an employee of Book People and I’d say this team is pretty invincible. What do I contribute? What I like to jokingly call old-guy facts being the only player over 40.
Pablo’s team tended play at the Highball on Sunday evenings. They were so good, they were sponsored by the nightclub to attend this year’s Geek Bowl. By the time I was recruited, they moved to the Black Star Coop to test those waters plus there’s a nemesis plaguing them at the Highball. The nemesis bullies the quizmaster; they have no problems with losing if they lose fairly. I agree with them, why deal with another team which kills the fun. I’m also accustomed to losing.
Fear not though, my loyalty to Kappa Kappa Wang remains! Pablo is cool with me staying with Jeremy, Kirstin, Kate and Chip should we attend next year’s Geek Bowl (also slated for Austin in 2013! Suck it Denver!). I’m good with having options.
KKW did get to test the Highball scene Wednesday night. GWD is so popular there, the joint sponsors two evenings a week. As much as we’ve enjoyed Billy’s on Burnet, the audio is problematic, the line for food/booze was getting too long (no wait staff) and the quizmaster changed. The replacement is alright, I think he’ll improve as he gets accustomed to the regular crowd. We didn’t have a choice with our original stomping ground Mr. Tramp’s, they canceled GWD for the Mexico-US soccer game. Highball it was. The three of us who could swing it were curious about the place’s environment, food offerings and how much this GWD crowd was out for blood.
I have to admit, despite the prices being significantly higher, I really liked the setting. The quizmaster could do a visual round of video clips with the Highball’s stage and AV system. Being in the heart of “Weird” Austin, there was additional entertainment before the final scores were announced…the quizmaster had a Zoolander-esque walk off for free tickets to the upcoming Zoolander quote-along or Arena Rock sing-along (Highball is part of the Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar). I thought the Lindbergh Baby was the best one, the crowd forced it into a sudden death between The Girl From Last Night and The Shocker.
How did we fare? We expected to get clobbered. At Billy’s, it’s mostly people casually playing (hence our record score one night) and I would say Mr. Tramp’s is more aggressive since it hosted the Futurama tournament. GWD moves the themed contests around though. The Highball? If what Pablo, Jarrett and others told me was true, we were entering the lion’s den. To use a pro hockey analogy; Billy’s is the ECHL, Mr. Tramp’s is the AHL and the Highball is the NHL. I guess the Geek Bowl would be the Stanley Cup.
I digressed from how did we fare? We (going as Julia Child’s Play) tied for second! Holy cow we thought. Actually, we were feeling pretty good all night because we had a solid success rate through all the rounds: Mars stuff, songs with the word “Want” in their titles, name the Muppets in the picture, Zombie flicks/shows, etc. Unfortunately, ties aren’t allowed when a prize is on the line. In the past I’ve seen these matters settled with another round involving five more questions. The quizmaster and scorekeeper chose to be more humorous (or sadistic) by having one member of each team participate in a Yo-Momma Off. Being a ham and a moron, I volunteered. What can I say, taking public speaking courses in high school and college paid off. The hosts chose the three insult categories: ugly, stupid (stoopid maybe?) and fat.
What was I thinking?! Well, I guess I’m too loyal to a fault plus I figured, I’ve watched enough Chris Rock and I did attend one school with a significant Black American population…I got this! I could at least hold my own as my mind raced for past insults I heard in the Eighties.
My ugly and stupid were weak. I won’t even repeat them. Trust me, on the ride home I was hit with l’espirit d’escalier on those categories! The story of my life.
As the final round came about, the quizmaster took me aside, let me know it wasn’t going well (over the mike). I replied, oh I know, my Whiteness is showing. I was hoping he’d just let me concede and I could keep what remaining dignity I had. He said I had one last chance, I could win this if my fat won over the crowd. I drew a breath and went with a dig I always loved from the early Nineties courtesy of a Black co-worker.
*Ahem!*
You’re momma is so fat…when she dances, the band skips!
With the crowd’s reaction, I finally got to experience what happens when a gymnast sticks the landing. I could also see the look in my opponent’s face he had nothing as nasty yet he gave it his best shot.
Phew! It was the most difficult $25 I’ve helped win/earn in years. Winning was the better alternative than going down harder than Michael Richards’ stand-up meltdown.
Next time, I’ll take Eddie Murphy’s advice if you recognize the bit. “I’ll take the zero.”
More pictures of our Highball experience are available here! See if you can find the old, dorky guy with a mop of hair on the stage.
I do hope this upcoming Sunday will either be a clear victory or a clear defeat. I’m getting too old for making a complete ass of myself in public. I can’t do much about private.
This cool artist did a mash-up or interpretation of the key Star Wars characters as the Eighties high-school archetypes, maybe a touch of college. I say the early Eighties since half the fashions shown fell out of favor by the time I was graduating from Marquette. Too bad these aren’t for sale as prints. I figure Lucasfilm’s litigious nature would squash it despite parodies being protected speech. I would go the parody route since I don’t know if tributes have held up in court. Maybe the two lawyers who sometimes post can answer this.
The guy (I looked up his profile) does offer the artwork as downloadable files yet I thought it was more polite to just repost my fave, then have a link to send anybody who’s curious. Plus he has done some Wild West versions of the Justice League and other things. I’m glad to see a little something to give me a brief moment of joy when thinking about Star Wars. Lucas killed it through his prequels and Clone Wars has grown tiresome; after watching three seasons, the whole conflict it a long, boring draw.
My Aggie nephews (because they live in College Station now and their parents are both graduates of Texas A&M) gave me this bitchin’ Justice League lunchbox. Inside were some cool Toy Joy-like trinkets but the lunchbox is the star. The big five are on it!
The immediate plans are to keep some computer stuff (HDs) in it.
Maybe I’m oblivious but there seems to be numerous versions of this Legend of Zelda joke going around. I knew something would eventually push out the Contra button combo to make your character invincible.
The original poster at work was in black and white. Sure everyone knows the “tags” are supposed to be security guys, aka redshirts, yet color cinches this.
Julia was instrumental to the birth of American public television and expanding our interests in “foreign” cuisine. Somara is the bigger expert on the famous lady. She’s read at least two books about Julia but the greater connection is them both being attendees of the Cordon Bleu culinary school.
Many people know Julia for cooking. During WWII, she was a member of the OSS, the pre-cursor of the CIA. Being a member is where she met her husband. I think the more unusual matter to learn about Julia was her randy humor. Somehow people incorrectly think the past’s residents were all prudes. No, only the jerks and hypocrites want you to remember things that way.
Stumbled upon this amongst the kid-art gallery at the Braker Lane branch of Austin’s Pizza last weekend. I knew there was a reason besides taste for avoid Papa John’s bread-tangle crap posed as food.
Do not make Jake use the Fist of Death from Dilbert
My friend/co-worker Ben gave me the stretchy-powere Jake with BMO (“Beemo”). Now my talking Bender won’t have to feign interest in what Henchman #21 is blathering on about. These action figures decorate my cubicle although I prefer Douglas Coupland’s term from Generation X…veal fattening pen.
I received many cool things and I’ll get to photographing them to post, namely what my Aggie-based nephews gave me.
The best gifts I did get was everybody’s presence at the Pinballz bash!
This horrendously awful interpretation or (in Hollywoodspeak) re-imagining of Greek mythology, makes the rebooted Clash of the Titans seem intellectual.
The story focuses on the Titans being incarcerated in Mount Tartarus by the Gods and there’s only one thing that can free them, a magical bow. Where is the bow? Nobody but the oracle knows. Besides, who wants to set the Titans free, they’re jerks. Enter King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke doing his creepy thing). His family died and he blames the Gods. To exact revenge on the Gods, Hyperion roams Greece with a freaky army, killing/raping everything in sight, searching for the bow. When the violence reaches this small village, peasant Theseus is drawn into the mess. Mess is about as good as it gets.
Our old-style TV may not be high-def yet the colors used in Immortals were as muddy as the plot. The ultra-violence also covers up the plot holes. Had I not paid attention to the credits, I could’ve sworn this was really the outtakes from 300 or something done by an intern who worked with Zack Snyder. The Gods not intervening was rather weird. Firstly, they often meddled in people’s affairs according to mythology, hence the problems in the world. Secondly, they do a couple times, especially when Theseus is pretty screwed. Lastly, I guess the Greek economy was experiencing austerity measures in the past due the pantheon being limited to six Gods for this movie.
I could go on for another couple hundred words yet why bother. You’ve been warned ahead of time if you waste the electrons and bandwidth via Netflix to watch this chariot wreck trying to make mythology come alive.
