Belated Happy Birthdays to Chrissie Hynde & Buddy Holly

Posted on September 9, 2011 by Steve

I had a little something in the works all along until I grew ill. However, they’re both too enormous like Freddie Mercury to let their milestone birthdays slide by.

Wednesday was Buddy’s 75th but you wouldn’t know it with all the 9/11 chest pounding and faux boo-hoo’ing on America’s 24-hour misinformation circuit. The man helped lay down the foundation of contemporary Pop/Rock, influenced the British Invasion more than Elvis and had he lived, probably would’ve had a second career as the old-guy producer who won’t threaten you with a gun. I have asked Lubbock residents if their city has a statue dedicated to Buddy as we do of Stevie Ray Vaughn; the answer is yes, it may be where Austin got the idea from.

When I was a kid, I first learned about him through The Buddy Holly Story via Showtime at my Uncle Skip’s house. Despite its inaccuracies (the Crickets’ names, he wasn’t the first white performer at the Apollo) and Gary Busey going on to be a train wreck, it’s a well-loved film. Maybe too well-loved which makes the The Kids in the Hall bit even funnier to fans.

;

Chrissie has had a more direct influence on my life through her band The Pretenders. All those early Eighties hits are a part of so many personal soundtracks, namely “Brass in Pocket” and “Talk of the Town.” Much like Deborah Harry, Chrissie’s breakthrough came later in life, not in her late teens/early twenties which seems to be the pattern for auto-tune addicts with little rat eyes (*cough!* Taylor Swift). Her voice is also distinctive since I can’t think of anyone I have accidentally mistook her for; Annie Lennox yes (lead singer Sherine Abeyratne of Big Pig and Julianna Raye), Chrissie Hynde never.

Last year, Chrissie blew me away with Fidelity, a collaborative record consisting of her, JP Jones and the Fairground Boys. It demonstrated that she wasn’t ready to hang it up, retire and/or join the oldies circuit which her contemporaries have done. Well, the material proved she doesn’t need to either.

I don’t know if my niece Anna has any rock n’ roll aspirations but should any moron try to discourage her by saying girls can’t rock, you can depend on Uncle Maggi to help make a list to refute such a dumb statement. Near the top (I can’t predict how agile my memory could be in the near future) will be Chrissie alongside Kate Bush, Stevie Nicks, Deborah Harry, Johnette Napolitano and Jane Wiedlin.

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Overdue treadmill update

Posted on September 9, 2011 by Steve

Not all hope was lost on my $800 exercise device. While I was home sick for the last three days, I finally remembered to go online to explain what’s (not) happening, its repair. The support people are cool, they just need to do something about their field techs, especially the one who required us to stink up the house with burning rubber or vinyl; when Somara had to crank to motor to eight miles per hour.

Supposedly, the parts will ship to my house and I should get a tracking number. Then I can call the local repair dude. Of course, it was the plan six weeks ago.

Fingers crossed but one thing is certain, I have to start over at a mile/day and find a new destination. Jose moved closer to my house. I’m mark the accomplishment at a later date.

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My rebooting of the comic book category

Posted on September 5, 2011 by Steve

Last week DC relaunched their entire continuity for the umpteenth time but this time they really mean it.

Allegedly, when Marv Wolfman and George Perez wanted to reboot the universe in 1985 with the granddaddy of all crossover-jumping-on-points Crisis on Infinite Earths, they wanted to have all titles start over from issue number one. They only succeeded in a few cases: Wonder Woman, The Flash come to mind. I guess the duo was overruled by more powerful editors overseeing Batman and Superman. It didn’t matter in the long run, those characters were given separate Eighties makeovers by Frank Miller and John Byrne respectively.

For DC’s 76th anniversary, all titles did start over at number one along with all the characters receiving makeovers to bring them into the modern era: Superman no longer has red undies, an anatomy shortcut my friend Steve explained to me.

Only time will tell if 2011 marks the start of comic books’ fourth official age. Personally, I think we’ve been in this said new period which I prefer to call the Stupid Age due to both Marvel and DC’s proclivity toward continuous reboots. Ever since the mid Eighties, they’ve behaved like gambling addicts thinking they’ll eventually win back all their compounding losses. All they need is just one more big score to start a hot streak.

Leading the charge is DC’s fifth incarnation of Justice League, their premier team book which recently crashed and burned in 60 issues this time. I myself was pretty stoked when they relaunched the title from the ashes of Identity Crisis in 2006 yet I didn’t think it was necessary to start over. Disenchantment set in quickly as continuity was destroyed by story arcs bleeding into other comics (DC finally let go of JSA and all the Methuselahs from the Golden Age) or characters disappearing due to Darkseid sending them back in time, see Batman. I didn’t mind lesser heroes such as Vixen, Plastic Man or the Japanese Dr. Light joining yet even they were put through the revolving door; making them the Guns n’ Roses of superhero teams.

So how is the new attempt? It’s too early to say in the 40 pages allotted. I will have to see after four (or more) issues to have a solid opinion. Right now, the author is sticking with the traditional origin story: the Earth’s mightiest heroes must band together to prevent an alien invasion. This time it’s Darkseid’s parademons (Cosmic Odyssey), not the Appellaxians (Sixties) or White Martians (the 2001 show). The core seven members will also be different: Martian Manhunter and Hawkgirl were swapped out for Aquaman (if he’s like John DiMaggio’s version from Batman: the Brave and the Bold, I’m sold) and Cyborg whose origin is part of the arc.

Meanwhile, I hope to include other books I continue to pick up at Rogues Gallery.

Next up, Sergio Aragonés’ Funnies from Matt Groening’s company Bongo.

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In case there’s a break in the 9/11 hype!

Posted on September 5, 2011 by Steve

The rash of grass fires surrounding Austin and Central Texas didn’t affect my neighborhood…yet. From what I could make out with Somara’s assistance (she’s the Maggi Republic’s official Internet/Reference Desk), most took place in the less dense (population-wise, not intelligence) areas.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, La Niña has contributed heavily to our ongoing drought (be ready for the inevitable food-price jackings this Winter) in the area. Hell, I can’t remember the last time it rained. I know it didn’t at all this Summer, barely this Spring. Yesterday, it was windy. The end of Summer or the current tropical storm hammering Alabama and Nawlins? Not sure yet. However, the wind was the last element needed to make the perfect outbreak. All we needed were reckless BBQs and careless smokers throwing their butts out their car windows and voila! Instant craptacular Michael Bay flick!

Now we get to see Governor Goodhair, Führer Ron Paul and Bizarro Dan Patrick (the moron from Houston, not the ESPN guy) do a 180 on FEMA helping out. Nutjob Alex Jones of (mis)infowars will be consistent by claiming the fires were a conspiracy to steal our bodily fluids.

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Happy 65th Birthday Freddie Mercury

Posted on September 5, 2011 by Steve

Here’s to the lead singer of my favorite Seventies bands when I was a kid. As my tastes evolved, changed and shifted through the years, Queen remained one act that never saw my loyalty waver on. I stuck with them during Hot Space (I remember all the flak I took for “Body Language,” never mind how these same jerks missed out on “Calling All Girls”), the resurgence of “Bohemian Rhapsody” by the fair-weathered and my personal purge of Classic Rock in my life.

Despite Freddie being the front man, Queen was more equitable with the four members, unlike The Eagles (they tried but control quickly coalesced around Henley and Frey). The band’s catalog and hits are a mix amongst them. Brian and Roger probably knew from their past experiences how songwriting could be a source of friction, hence they always encouraged bassist John to pen some tunes. It’s good thing it worked, John is responsible for three major major hits: “Another One Bites The Dust,” “You’re My Best Friend,” (played at our wedding) and “I Want To Break Free.”

Back to Freddie, it is his birthday. The man was an awesome singer and had a unique sound. I can’t recall ever getting his voice confused with anyone else’s. He wasn’t limited to Rock/Pop neither. During a pause in Queen’s Eighties’ comeback (in America, they never went away in Europe), Freddie fulfilled one personal dream…singing opera. Nowadays this doesn’t seem so odd, you often hear Queensrÿche fans bring up Geoffrey Tate’s training within 30 seconds of an argument against critics and I think this is on Mike Rowe’s resume. As I’m writing this, I need to see if Barcelona is in print. Get an honest critique from the opera expert I trust, my friend José.

I did see on YouTube, there’s a collection of birthday wishes to him. The usual flavors-of-the-month are there (Katy Perry namely). Miss Piggy was an odd selection. Billy Corgan, love him or hate him, he has lasted longer than many. To me, the more fitting tribute to the man’s memory is a double-album containing good covers his work. Take the Peter Gabriel route. Record (or download collection) one, Freddie/Queen’s contemporaries: Bowie (duh!), Robert Plant, Kate Bush, Stevie Nicks (seriously)…mainly singers around his age. Number two would consist of “descendants,” aka, the bands Freddie/Queen have clearly influenced: Muse, Jellyfish, OK Go (you can hear it in the guitars on their debut), so on. Believe me, it can be done. Back in 2005, there was a Queen tribute CD to coincide with a horrendous musical. There were gems: Joss Stone, Rooney, Los Lobos, Flaming Lips and Josh Kelley (he had help from Elliott Easton and Greg Hawkes of The Cars); the rest were forgettable. I “remade” it for a friend by adding better covers by Dwight Yoakam, Weird Al Yankovic (not his parody), Louis XIV, My Chemical Romance (they did a good job) and Keane. Today, I could add Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs and Metallica.

I’ll close with a little trivia courtesy of Mental Floss. Makes me wish I kept the Rock n’ Rock comic about about the band. The art was terrible yet the publisher did a good bio.

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You’re watching KPLR, channel 11, St. Louis…

Posted on September 4, 2011 by Steve

…or having a horrible flashback involving the Vancouver Canucks’ goofy jerseys. These were the accompanying Chucks I scored with the “G I Joe” set. I love these more because they do remind me of old non-network affiliated TV stations from the Seventies. How? During the commercial breaks, the station would probably do a bumper (station ID) with the stripes going across the screen followed by the number while you’d hear a voiceover say “you’re watching channel something, city.”

As for how many pairs of Chucks do I have? According to a spreadsheet, 77 active sets but I plan to do a physical census to make sure.

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Oh that’ll buff out

Posted on September 4, 2011 by Steve

Parked on the edge of Barton Creek Mall’s lot.

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Belated birthday card

Posted on September 4, 2011 by Steve

To the left is the catapult to launch the birds at the pigs.

This hand-drawn birthday card was too nice not to share with everybody. My friend’s son is rather enamored by the hit game. It reminds me of when I was his age, practically everything I drew was some Marvel or DC superhero: birthday cards, get-well wishes to Grandma and the ultimate tribute, a plastic plate I had made in first grade to give Mom.

I’m sorry it’s a bit clipped. The scanner/printer at work doesn’t handle a true 8 1/2 x 11 very well.

The other touching part was receiving a CD containing the music from Phineas and Ferb, George’s favorite show. May I be able to return the favor by introducing him to The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron because Bowling for Soup wrote the theme song to it also.

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Ten years at my house!

Posted on September 4, 2011 by Steve

It’s a good thing time travel doesn’t exist yet. I think my past selves’ heads would’ve exploded if my current self (what I call version 7.0 due to a factoid) went back to the Eighties and told them, “One day in the near future, you will stay put in a great city, unlike your parents.” Back then I was probably rooting for California which was the magical land.

How goes it a decade later? Despite the current drought brought on by La Niña and overdevelopment, not Goodhair’s failed prayer rally, quite well. The house needs some work in spots thanks to Latin America’s finest (paint on the doorbell is a fave) yet it’s pretty decent. Our reduction of crap strategy with it culminating into the grand library Alexandria in Somara’s old office has stalled for a long time, mostly due to her ongoing illnesses. I’m not sure if she recently watched Hoarders as inspiration or schadenfreude. I know it disturbed me since it gave me flashbacks over some old Springfield neighbors up the street and an anonymous relative.

Other positive factors…I haven’t had to move since. When I came back to Austin in late 1998, within the first three years I relocated six times before the house. One place lasted about a month. There were some indications this was likely to happen though. During my original residency in Austin, I did stick with the same apartment for three years, rent increases and all.

What else? We refinanced in 2008, primarily to have Somara put on the mortgage to prove how far we’d come financially. It was also to keep my parents’ mitts off should I die and they might try to take it away from her. We may not have spoken in eight years but never underestimate what can bring psychos out of the mist. Contrary to the GOP-Teabagger blame the poor screed they’re bringing up now, we refinanced what owed on the previous mortgage to a lower rate. We didn’t do anything stupid such as borrow more nor were we in an ARM. It reset the 30-year clock in exchange for a lower payment. Believe me, freeing up $140/month comes in handy with student loans, the car loan and now that I think about it, this easily covers the new time share deed ($100/month). Somara was annoyed initially. I showed her the books today and proved how it worked out to our advantage: the interest is now dropping by a buck/month while the previous loan hit this milestone in twice the time. Will we do it again? It’s tempting. Right now, maybe next year.

The long-term plan is stay here, eliminate the crap we’ve accumulated we don’t need or use anymore and tweak the joint. The alternative is to buy another, larger house. No thanks. I fear we’d grow into the space by filling it up with more stuff. Besides, 1300-square feet (121-square meters) is fine.

One thing I would like to do is have some of my far-away friends finally see this place. Hell, we might have it organized enough for them to spend the night instead of at the nearby hotel…the plan we had with Jose and Nancy.

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[adult swim] turns 10

Posted on September 2, 2011 by Steve

Events leading to the Cartoon Network’s programming block were the culmination of a few things.

  1. Multiple attempts by other networks over the last 10-plus years. Some successful: The Simpsons, King of the Hill and South Park; many weren’t but they were good: The Oblongs, Mission Hill and The Critic; and there some which fell in between: Futurama, Ren & Stimpy and Duckman. The crappy list is terribly long.
  2. Cheaper technology, namely Flash, to create material quickly with an emphasis on dialog, not animation. It’s what made Hanna Barbera successful when they started doing their eight-minute shorts for this new fangled medium called TV.
  3. An experiment CN started in 1995 with Space Ghost had proven popular on Friday nights. Plus they had done other jokes and experiments: the “Whassup!” parody using the Superfriends and an episode of Sealab 2021 in the wee hours, maybe to see who was paying attention or awake.
  4. Lastly, the line was blurry between cross-generational shows such as Spongebob Squarepants and The Powerpuff Girls, maybe it was time to gamble on a more adult crowd, give Comedy Central a run for the money.

And so, on a Sunday evening, [adult swim] made its debut. Somara and I sat down to watch it with anxious anticipation. We were also full of anxiety over my new house we’d be closing on in two days.

First out, Home Movies which made an initially bad impression. The show was the latest creation from the people behind Dr. Katz and Science Court, ergo it used the headache-inducing Squigglevision. Being a canceled UPN (the weakest of the broadcasting networks) show didn’t help neither. Since the programming block always lead with Home, it grew on us and unlike all the failures [as] took in, the program was resurrected and had three more seasons. Somehow Netflix streaming has it now. I got through the first season recently and it’s still funny.

Then I don’t remember the order of the remaining 11-to-13 minute shows yet they were funnier.

  • Harvey Birdman Attorney at Law: This was the work of the people behind Ambiguously Gay Duo. Gary Cole and Stephen Colbert were what made this work yet it fizzled after a dozen shows. It had a strong start having Harvey represent Dr. Quest in his divorce from Race Bannon.
  • The Brak Show: More of Andy Merrill doing the Brak voice. It amusingly passed the time. However, the Brak schtick is better in smaller doses, half an hour, not so much.
  • Sealab 2021: A more consistent hit using old HB footage from a forgettable Seventies cartoon. The people behind it have gone on to the do the raunchier, yet equally hilarious Archer for FX.
  • Aquateen Hunger Force: Somara has never liked it. I found it great. Much like Sealab, its strength comes from the dialog/interactions. The guest stars: Glenn Danzig, Seth McFarlane, Patton Oswalt, Scott Thompson and David Cross certainly helped.

I can’t remember how the remaining hour or so was filled out. Probably anime such as Cowboy Bebop and Big O. The cycle then repeated three hours later before returning to CN’s regular programming.

Today [as] is its own network. I discovered this while researching my piece. CN “goes off the air” at 8 PM (here) and [as] takes over until dawn. It’s like the old Nickeloedeon/Nick at Night strategy when I was in college during the Eighties. Much of the grumbling on the Internet tends to say this is too much of a good thing. Maybe but it seems to be successful despite [as] padding the time with Fox’s leftovers: King of the Hill and Seth McFarlane’s leavings. I am disappointed by all the live-action stuff. It’s hard to call oneself a cartoon network if there’s non-animated programs.

However, I want to highlight the positive accomplishments from [as].

From the banner/header, you can obviously see I’m very fond of The Venture Brothers, their only traditionally hand-drawn original. Futurama‘s resurgence owes a huge debt to [as]. It’s a shame this went to Comedy Central but they have deeper pockets to make new episodes. Robot Chicken, does it really need anything further to have said? Canceled shows got their opportunity to finish, namely Mission Hill (I have a few cels courtesy of Bill Oakley!) and The Oblongs which will be returning!

Whenever we’re housesitting for a friend with cable or watching TV in Vegas, [as] is one reason why I miss having cable. I’m quickly cured after sitting through (I counted) a 13-in-a-row commercial break stretching over six minutes during a recent Futurama.

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This isn’t Science…

Posted on September 2, 2011 by Steve

…it’s a load of crap just as Intelligent Design happens to be. If I were the person who collected the money on these advertising spaces, I’d make these losers paid cash. Maybe extra for making the Sci-Fi…sorry, SyFy Channel even suckier than it was.

Having a convention for this nonsense in Texas isn’t a stretch though, especially with Gov. Goodhair pandering to the willfully ignorant GOP base in this state; I don’t think he believes much, he’s just Boss Hogg in a dark suit. But why Austin? The other larger cities have a higher ratio of godbarns and the Hippie faction which may buy into this has died off, or grown up.

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Death’s Summer hat trick

Posted on September 1, 2011 by Steve

I can imagine the mediocre joke in Jay Leno’s monologue tonight, probably something recycled from the Bertuzzi-Moore incident. Then will come all the editorials about hockey’s tough image, how these guys were hooked on painkillers, blah blah blah.

When the second guy died, Rypien, the useless commissioner went with the boilerplate statement: take a more serious review over the league’s substance-abused policy. I doubt much will come of it.

The ugly reality isn’t caused by the sport per se, drug problems exist in all professions, especially athletics since these people get banged up for many years. Even in “wimpy” sports like golf and tennis. Besides, drinking, pills and other crap have been happening for decades. The NHL just got a “winning” lottery ticket in the off-season.

It still won’t deter the critics and Damien Cox from lecturing.

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RIP: Cactus Pryor

Posted on August 31, 2011 by Steve

Another little piece of Austin passed away, local commentator/comedian Cactus Pryor. I readily admit to only knowing about him in bits and pieces yet I sensed he was important because the bitching blowhard of KLBJ-FM (Dudley) would shut up to let Cactus speak.

To me, he represented the old Austin. A time when it was still a quiet college town. The city my mother denigrated after her visit in 1983.

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Back to school cool

Posted on August 30, 2011 by Steve

Lucas will probably include this line in the upcoming Blu-Ray editions.

Why didn’t Hot Topic exist when I was a teenager? I still would’ve been an uncool kid but at least I could’ve had shirts of bands/cartoons/inside jokes my nerdy friends and I understood. Another friend once dismissed it as a Mall Goth store which I felt was an unfair criticism since the staff has always been friendly, non-judgmental and very helpful…traits you don’t find in the stereotype of Goths.

Moving along, HT was having a sale on shirts. I had to be in the neighborhood to pick up a special order for my nephew Nick (he likes Guns n’ Roses so he’s definitely his father’s son). Then I was inspired (by the discounts) into scoring something for Hunter who recently turned 12. Thanks to a string of unlimited SMS communications to his mother, I pinned down that he likes RHCP amongst the others she listed off: Beatles, Train, The Fray, Chicago, Def Leppard, Green Day and Black Eyed Peas. Hard to believe HT lacked even just one Beatles or Green Day shirt, they’re like staples with this retailer.

Hunter has two younger brothers who aren’t at the age when musical identity begins to set in, thus they got things little dudes like. Above is the funny shirt I scored Wyatt. We adults will get a chuckle. The kids will give confused stares.

Now they have one extra shirt to wear at school to maintain their reputations as cool dudes in bitchin’ threads. It’s what DINK uncles and aunts excel at providing.

However, I had to wrestle with the moral dilemma over not buying any of them a discounted Social Distortion shirt (it was the current album cover). I ended up passing since I feared it would make them be perceived as mini-Hipsters, not as kids with strong Indie Rock credibility.

Posted in Funny Ones, Shirts | Leave a comment

Demonstrate your vocabulary!

Posted on August 28, 2011 by Steve

I probably would’ve done better on the SAT’s verbal part if the Webster people had this around. Wait, the Internet we’re accustomed to would be a vital requirement.

Just what I need though to slow down my writing further! I frequently rely on this site to help me confirm the meanings of words or find better choices.

What’s your best score? I can never do better than 9/10. I’m betting Cindy, Helen and Lester will ace it within three attempts.

Posted in Diversions | 1 Comment