RIP Estelle Harris

Posted on April 3, 2022 by Steve

She’ll forever be known George Constanza’s overbearing mother but to me Estelle was a great pairing with Don Rickles for Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head in the Toy Story flicks. There’s also Professor Farnsworth’s mother Velma from Futurama. That screeching and indignation is what really sold the characters she played. We all know her, either as our own mothers, grandmothers or an aunt at various times in our lives.

After and during Seinfeld it was nice to see her get plenty of work in so much else throughout the Nineties and Aughts, namely voice work and kid shows. Her obituary in The Guardian was quite interesting too. Estelle started out in acting but put it aside to raise her three children and when they were old enough, back into it she went from 1977 on. Not a bad second or third act in life.

Thanks for everything Mrs. Harris! You were great at being George’s mom but proved you were capable of much more. You weren’t a one-note actress.

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One World Theater sold

Posted on April 2, 2022 by Steve

Another live venue bit the dust thanks to the Pandemic as this nice little place has been gobbled up by a rich asshole who claims to be a benefactor; he also acquired the Saxon Pub and is involved with the charity HAAM. Whenever a multi-millionaire (or richer) steps in to “save” a local treasure, I’m always suspicious because they didn’t get wealthy without screwing over thousands or millions of people. Eventually they’ll shrug their shoulders to do some dick move, blaming the economy or whatever their goddess Kapitalism tells them. Worse is them trying to redeem their immoral reputation as per Carnegie, Rockefeller, Vanderbilt and Stanford by building shit for the public while it has their name all over it. I doubt Gary Keller is quite in their league or the modern Rapist Barons (Musk, Bezos, Zuckerberg) but I’m not a fan of real estate moguls, especially with how they’re doing all they can to make Austin unaffordable. In the end, I should’ve known my front-row seats to Crash Test Dummies being kicked back and then refunded meant something fishy was happening with One World Theater.

On the other hand, the Saxon Pub remains intact so I will take a wait-and-see approach despite OWT’s web site being a zombie. All the ticket and show information disappeared, I guess my CDT show wasn’t the only refund. Just the FAQ stuff remains. I do hope the  continues its booking traditions. I saw great performers over the years. The Manhattan Transfer three times, Duncan Sheik, Adrian Belew and JD Souther. Next to the Cactus Cafe, it is one of Austin’s most intimate venues, only 300 seats in the theater. More importantly, when OWT isn’t being used for concerts, the whole place is used to teach children from all over Central Texas how to appreciate music on another level. That’s why the ticket prices ran a little higher.

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Well…April 2022 does have some elements of the movie

Posted on April 1, 2022 by Steve

In memory of what was Charlton Heston’s final movie in his Dystopian Trilogy I’ve gone with Soylent Green as the theme. Planet of the Apes was way too far in the future and I’m confident The Omega Man happens closer to the time it was released. How? His character loved going to an abandoned theater that only had a documentary about Woodstock, plus other technologies lying around. Hoping to watch this as it’s on HBO Max. I did show the trailer to Jennifer and quickly noticed how the larger landscapes resembled Idiocracy; the dirt, the grime and general neglect. Given how stupid people can get, I’m grateful Mike Judge spared us the obvious possibility of people eating others with the same abandon they had with everything else.

Fifty years later, the revelation in the movie has become an easy punchline. Then there’s the people who produce the “liquid meal” going for the ironic angle. However, in their defense, the product is made from planet-based stuff, oils and minerals. Those who can’t handle dairy can drink it too. In the original story the movie used, soylent was originally the marketing name for food made of soybeans and lentils. Ugh. I think I’d take my chances on cannibalism over lentils every day. Plus it would be a flatulent world from such a diet, P-U! Before you ask, yes, I’ve consumed Soylent, the drink. It comes in a couple flavors. How was it? Rather thick and a tad gritty by the time you get to the bottom of the barrel. To finish out the last case I once had, I would mix a bottle into a big cup with a can of Monster Java. It didn’t work quite well to cover lunch until I was hungry for dinner despite it being around 400 calories a pop. Will I ever go for it again. Probably, just not anytime soon. It’s not terribly cheap at HEB and I don’t want to be stuck in a subscription, the best way to save. Have a great April!

It’s one of my favorite months in Austin. Much is happening. Much good stuff will be coming. Most importantly, April is the best Spring/Summer month weather-wise. A little cool in the morning but not oppressively hot when May rolls around.

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Doctor and therapist say I’m still “sane” for early 2022!

Posted on March 31, 2022 by Steve

A good double whammy for the Spring! Especially since personal matters are going well, work is…work, that’s why it isn’t called fun, especially with the pandemic. The bigger, ongoing concern was in the last session with my therapist, she wants to eventually be “fired,” once my life is stable. HA! I told my ex-wife, anxiety/depression is never over any more than an addict is 100% cured of their addiction. Given these times, once you have either, you don’t let them go because the wait list to get them, especially if medication is required, is months long. So much for Kapitalism solving our problems, the pandemic exacerbated them, and was exposed on how it creates them, how dare you have an empty hospital bed, that’s an opportunity cost, get rid of it! Obviously, as per Aesop’s Fables, the ant was a Communist and the grasshopper was an editor for The Economist.

Anyway, I think it’s just wise to keep these two mental healers in my life, even if it’s on the periphery (once every month or two). The wounds from divorce never go away, I think they become tougher scars. This I’ve concluded not just from my own but observations of friends at various stages in theirs. Then there’s my work, a constant frustration since it involves office politics no matter where you go and I’d be a huge success if I had a weaker moral compass, seems to be the common denominator with certain people in charge, same goes for the majority in government. Lastly, the cats. I love my little fur balls to the end and since their lives are much shorter, I’m always in tears whenever I lose one close to my heart. I continue to well up about Molly, Miette and Nemo. They were such wonderful fixtures in my life despite the last one pissing all over the floor until the day he died.

Onward to staying well-adjusted into Late Spring!

Posted in Health, News | Tagged | 3 Comments

Seeing Red: Must See

Posted on March 30, 2022 by Steve

Rather bummed that Disney didn’t have the confidence to release this semi-original idea in theaters exclusively as they do with the MCU stuff. It was stronger than Luca (the Little Italian Mermaid) and about on par with Inside/Out or Soul, the last two near-perfect movies Pixar has produced. As for the overblown controversies alongside the hate because it focused on a minority, I say, hey, it’s about time Canadians got their due! We keep using Toronto or Vancouver in the background as NYC, LA and Star City so greedy, corporate Hollywood keeps getting that sweet, sweet Canadian Welfare!

Sarcasm aside, all the people getting their underpants in a twist over the main character being a tweener girl and/or being of Chinese ancestry. Why can’t you schmucks just enjoy a fun, universal coming-of-age story set around 20 years ago? It’s not terribly original because I saw this in high school around 1986 and then it was called Teen Wolf. It also did star a Canadian. To be fair, Red is cribbing The Hulk and what I feel are the universal themes found in Sixteen Candles and Inside/Out as the super-tight bond between mother and daughter is getting severed as the daughter becomes her own person or in layperson terms, puberty. The only element making this unique is the trope of ethnic Chinese people being overachievers, especially when they live in the West.

Pixar excelled in the details through physical humor, mixing other animation techniques to convey emotions and obviously they did their homework to make the Chinese cultural stuff as accurate as possible. The main character transforming into a red panda will sell a ka-jillion toys should this take off. It could be their marketing bonanza of Cars for girls.

It’s a bummer Seeing Red won’t excel and join the ranks of Pixar’s other great movies due to the lack of it being a theater-only choice; the first, true gauge of success. However, I think Disney is too busy pushing the hell out of Encanto with it’s mediocre, insincere, ear-worm-driven songs.

Posted in In Theaters, Movies, Streaming | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Found a way to tally up the comments!

Posted on March 29, 2022 by Steve

Last night, my ol’ WMUR and Marquette friend Stephen D posted three comments on the Picayune. It’s always great to see any kind of feedback! As always, my count for the upcoming contest to award whoever lands the coveted 600th post got thrown off because my little bro’ Jeremy is also the Tech Admin, so anytime he comments, it’s automatically approved. Therefore, I am always unaware of it until later. It’s not like I’m going to reject whatever he writes. Hell, I’ve even approved people who disagreed with me (a lazy Libertarian) and someone who is probably bitter that The Economist didn’t hire him (an ex-friend/St. Reagan worshipper). I only need to double check Jeremy’s entries for style, maybe some grammar (this would be my friend Cindy’s expertise!) and then I want to put it toward the count.

Now I found a plug-in to tally up all the contributors! Well, I had to since I thought WordPress already did this. Thankfully it’s based upon the contributor’s e-mail address which my site doesn’t disclose, you can also leave it blank if you wish, I made up something for those who passed away and if I couldn’t deduce it.

I spent last night going down the rabbit hole checking all 542 and correcting more than half as many were my fault when WP didn’t migrate Blojsom entirely. Sadly, comments really dropped when Jeremy and I had to cut off Picayune to anonymous postings. It was pretty cool to get nice comments from strangers who stumbled upon here to say nice things about my cat Molly, how they also met Crowded House or getting a plug from Astronomer Dr. Phil Plait for reviewing his second book. But we can all thank the dregs of the Internet: Chinese, Russian, Brazilian and American trolls/dipshits flooding the world with their noisy crap to boost Google analytics, moronic attempts at theft and selling Ugg Boots, I thought that fad was over. Security then destroyed convenience for the majority of my friends who find signing on a pain in the ass, preventing them from bothering to even write a few words as they usually do in just SMS communications.

Today, I’m promoting some incentives! If you engage by leaving 50 quality comments, you get a $20 prize. Many have a head start and one long-time friend earned it while I was concoct this. Plus I will repeat this at 100, 150, so on. You know what I mean by “quality.” No one-word responses or emojis or acronyms, etc. In this world of instant gratification, we can reflect for 5-10 minutes and leave a complete sentence. Good luck to you all. If you don’t have an account, tell me. If you forgot your password, tell me. You know where to find me and should Picayune be it, I say, wow, I’m impressed, honestly. Should the latter be oddly true, then write to giftsofthemaggi AT G mail dot com.

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Black Widow: Worth Seeing (MCU Recap 2)

Posted on March 28, 2022 by Steve

I wanted to see this movie not to just be an MCU completist (I’ve only missed one MCU movie in a theater) but as a show of support to Scarlett. The actress was a trooper in a male-dominated genre and I believe the Black Widow character receiving at least one solo adventure was long overdue. Hell, I think she should have a trilogy as the others had, especially after being in Iron Man, Captain America and The Avengers and getting stuck as the, “Hey look over there!” character. The whole Russian background was always a stretch though. I’ve never understood why the people who wrote the Ultimates timeline for Marvel selected the Black Widow over the Wasp or another heroine with a more plausible origin. Thankfully, it didn’t matter much because the movie did better than I anticipated despite several annoying tropes it continued demonstrating how the MCU is starting to fall into a rut.

The story takes place sometime after Captain America: Civil War, so Natasha is on the run, dodging the world’s authorities until Endgame. While hiding out in Scandinavia she runs afoul of a weird villain we nerds know as the Taskmaster, an opponent in the comics who can imitate any physical moves he witnesses. For the film, the gender of this Taskmaster is a mystery and their mimicry power is uploaded into them via a USB flash drive. Who or why this villain is coming after the Black Widow is puzzling since the other law-enforcement agencies interested in arresting her aren’t around. This leads to her returning to Russia as all the immediate clues indicate something involving her past association with that country’s unsavory assassin-training program and/or her youth in a sleeper cell hiding in Middle America over the Nineties. Sure it’s been about a year and little I’m writing is a spoiler but I’ll leave it up to you all to watch, let you see how it unfolds. Obviously, you will want to get through the key parts at the end as per MCU tradition, hints you’ll receive on what’s coming in the next film and/or streaming TV series on Disney+.

Black Widow as a movie isn’t terribly original nor interesting which is a pisser. Again, I think Scarlett deserved better. If it weren’t an MCU flick, there’s very little separating this from every other Action Movie with a female lead over the last 20 years. It was cool to see David Harbour as the Red Guardian; Rachel Weisz as the disillusioned Russian scientist behind the program and Florence Pugh getting lined up to be (probably) the next Black Widow; I’ve heard rumors calling her White Widow. Like what Ethan Hawke said, MCU movies are the Westerns of our era, eventually everybody who is worth a crap in show biz is going to appear in one. It is a pisser Disney and all couldn’t find one actual Russian actor to play a lead role; too late now thanks to the Ukrainian invasion.

As per Honest Trailers, there’s a sky beam at the end! It’s not literally a sky beam drilling into the earth or opening a portal to some horrid dimension. It’s close though and we’re pretty numb to the threat from a decade ago when the Avengers saved NYC. The last and my biggest annoyance is the overuse of Nirvana in the opening credits; a tedious, slowed-down cover of “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” Sweet Zombie Jesus Hollywood! It’s not enough to keep reselling and recycling worn-out oldies via Guardians of the Galaxy but can there be a moratorium on the only good album Kurt Cobain had in him? I’m so frickin’ tired of Nirvana and it’s no longer 1995! Let’s move forward a culture please!

I will close with the several good things which do compensate for Black Widow‘s short-comings. The inside jokes made about the standard superhero landing stances. Too bad Mythbusters is gone, I would love to see it debunked. I was pleasantly surprised how Natasha defeated the villain, clever and painful. If you already watched all of 2020’s The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, you will be rewarded for getting through the ending credits. It isn’t clear what direction the MCU was going from there when I saw this last July. By the end of 2021, we definitely know. Lastly, I applaud the movie revealing a horrifyingly true statement the major villain makes about why his Russian KGB-esque organization kidnaps, buys and/or enslaves little girls worldwide and then molds them into killers, regardless of how many die in training. Paraphrasing him: Regardless of the culture, the male-dominated world sees women as a disposable, bottomless resource. A painful, painful fact I got a little sick thinking about.

Alamo Extras: Soviet-era movies showing dancers but set to awful Rap music; Another Soviet-era dance film which could be their take on Sinbad; What looks like Russia’s entry to the Eurovision song contest about 10-15 years ago, I think I’ve heard it a thousand times via Jennifer’s Tik Tok nonsense; Some Kung Fu fights starring Michelle Yeoh to update everybody on MCU Phase 3; Closed with a long presentation on the origins of the Black Widow character in Marvel Comics. She was originally an enemy of Iron Man with a lame Catwoman-like appearance. Eventually, Black Widow changed sides, got the costume we recognize when she teamed up with Spide-Man in 1970 and officially joined the Avengers around 1973.

Posted in Comic Books, In Theaters, Movies, The Lost Tales | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

RIP Taylor Hawkins

Posted on March 27, 2022 by Steve

Sad to hear about him passing but all the substances in his blood should never come as a surprise. Touring is hard. With any incarnation of show business, the public expects you to always be “on.”

What I’m mostly surprised about was that he managed to stay the Foo Fighters’ drummer from 1997 until his untimely death. Drummers and bassists are often the most frequent dumped/changed members bands. There are always exceptions in which the drummer is key to the band’s sound or personality: John Bonham, Neil Peart, Stewart Copeland, Roger Taylor (Queen), Charlie Watts, Phil Collins, etc. Forgive me if I’m only naming old farts, I readily admit to my ignorance of contemporary acts with a drummer who is vital to the act. I’m confident they exist so please clue me in! I want to stay relevant.

He was also a bit like Dave Grohl, a competent songwriter in his own right and during the Fighters’ off years, he had two side bands: Taylor Hawkins & the Coattail Riders (funny name as it’s a nod to how someone more famous helps out others, again, a Growl move for several acts) and The Birds of Satan (a nod to his Metal background from youth). How they differed? Taylor continued to play the drums while he sang. I’ve heard Grohl on interviews about why he delegated it by the third album, it’s a different head space and it’s just exhausting.

Farewell Taylor. Thanks for everything you’ve done, especially in the last 25 years. I’m very grateful you landed in the Foo Fighters. Being the drummer for one-album-wonder Anus Morrissette and her pre-packaged angst crap must’ve been tough to deal with. You’ve left your mark on the music world.

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I’m on the verge of quitting my credit union in the North

Posted on March 26, 2022 by Steve

I will always stand by credit unions to the end since they are living proof that Socialism works! However, today was the last straw with them handling my primary credit card. Practically every damned year, they get hit by a fraudster which then means the account or card number is terminated. Then I have to wait to have a new card shipped to me, at my expense through FedEx because I’m crippled without it; I use it as a rotating line of credit. Afterwards comes all the crap I have to change the card handled via Autopay (tolls namely or any bill I don’t want to consciously remember paying). I sweat, a fraudster just thinks about a scam and the F-ing thing is compromised. Today was the worst, my credit union said, oh we changed MasterCard providers too, so you won’t get it for several business days even if you paid for FedEx shipping…sigh!

I’m not completely screwed. I do have a second card courtesy of the other credit union which handles my mortgage. The limit is smaller but it will get me through the mess I’m dealing with into next week. This also motivated me to final take Jennifer’s advice to finally apply for the card tied to Southwest Airlines which will help out with our future travel plans. When we went to Las Vegas, we took an airline I’m not a fan of. Their safety record is shit and I think they merged with another terrible company to make an airline to rival American and Delta in overall shittiness. Southwest isn’t perfect, they’re trying to break their union and the current CEO is a crook, plus I’m still pissed in how they joined their rivals in screwing you for extra money just get a boarding pass. I dread how all the US airlines are salivating over the discount company in Ireland which charges to use the toilet and each square of toilet paper you use. On the other hand, the discounts, free tickets or whatever we may get from shaking hands with the evil Chase corporation better be worth it.

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Goalie with a funny name in Quebec

Posted on March 25, 2022 by Steve

Hockey returns tonight but I have other plans (comedy club with a friend). Fear not! I’ll be going tomorrow since I never turn away a chance to see the Milwaukee Admirals (my old team when I was there). I just wanted to post a photo from the last time we all went as my Stars lost to the Tucson Roadrunners; it’s their goalie. His surname made me laugh for a while and then of course, I had to bore Jennifer and my friend Elizabeth on what amused me via what little French I still remember/retain. Daccord resembles the expression C’est d’ac or d’accord! Which is how the French say “OK!” Ergo, the Roadrunners’ goalie is just OK or fair, he’s not great, he’s not terrible. I didn’t say this was an A-lister joke yet you have to give me credit that it’s well above Dad level.

Posted in Austin Stars, Hockey | Tagged | 1 Comment

1987: Austin’s tug-of-war battle

Posted on March 24, 2022 by Steve

It originally started in 1986 but fizzled out after the 1988, the third and last. Too bad. This silly content would’ve been nice to keep. However, losing fun and amusing stuff is the story of Austin since the Aughts as all the Tech Bro’s and their Fascist leadership continue to take over. Houstonizing and Dallasifying my adopted home.

You can read more about the story, or listen to it via this link. Back then, the battle for Austin’s soul was the divide between the north and south sides which Town Lake (really, the Colorado River) separates. This conflict or difference is nothing new. Chicago has this, not sure where their border is. Milwaukee, it’s the Menomonee River/Valley, I used to go across it in 1991 via the 16th Street Bridge after I moved to 20th and National. Phoenix is East v. West. So on. In the Eighties, if the KUT bit is credible, Austin’s two camps were the Bubbas on the South (Rednecks) v. the Yuppies on the North (IBM, Texas Instruments and 3M). I’m glad to see photos of people wearing life preservers too. The water gets deep quickly and it’s not a short drop off, at least on the North side.

I wonder if the Aggies thought Austin was attempting to join its two halves? Some kind of weird Longhorn engineering feat?

Today, the rivalry between North and South would have different participants. The South side would be filled with Hipsters as they’ve overrun South Congress with the overpriced stores, taco bars and tattoo parlors. The North has continued to be Yuppie-based and I’m guilty of being one as I have a full-time job with a boring house in the ‘burbs. However, given the cancerous-level of Growth, it’s fair to say we’ve been overrun by Californicators in Round Rock, Georgetown and Cedar Park, ergo, their derogatory name is the team. It’s OK, the Hipsters are rife with assholes from Brooklyn so there’s plenty of resentment to go around. Now the burning question is, who would win? Both sides hit the gym for spin classes and yoga.

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RIP Steve Wilhite (belated)

Posted on March 24, 2022 by Steve

Mr. Wilhite is mostly known by those who really, really know their History of Computer Science or the Internet but he was the person responsible for creating the .GIF. Sadly, he passed away on March 14th from CV-19-related complications. Such a pisser too. He and his wife were just about to enjoy more of their retirement visiting nearby spots they loved to visit.

Steve Wilhite created the animated graphic format in 1987 while working for CompuServe; I always remembered in the mid-Nineties, anything with the .gif suffix meant it involved someone on that odd service. Most I encountered weren’t animated (or worked), they just had a lower number of colors in their pallet unlike a .JPEG.

Back when he worked there, getting online in the Eighties required a modem and those were extremely pokey since 14K was the best you could buy. With dial-up, compression and speed were critical. Until AOL’s decision to charge a flat fee, you paid by the minute so only crazy or wealthy people bothered to stay connected over a long period. As cable and DSL made their way into being standard, making 4K TV feasible, the .GIF evolved into what I call a form of shorthand to communicate jokes, emotion or whatever you just don’t feel like spelling out.

According to NPR, he stayed at CompuServe until 2001 (hard to believe they were still around by then), when a stroke forced him into early retirement. Steve never stopped enjoying his hobbies: computer programming and model railroads. In 2013, he received a life-time achievement Webby, the Oscars® of Internet accomplishments. During his acceptance speech, he pronounced his creation “JIF,” as in the peanut butter. I’m not sure if he was messing with us because Webster has the hard G sound (GUH, rhymes with DUH) as the first way, and I remember another NPR show trying to clear the air by saying it with the G not J sound. He wasn’t a very public guy, adding to the debate. It wouldn’t be the first time a creator lost control of how something they’re involved got pronounced. Recently, I learned how the infamous Massachusetts governor blamed for the term Gerrymandering, Elbridge Gerry, his surname was pronounced “Gary” not “Jerry” even though the famous singer behind “Baker Street” is Gerry Rafferty.

Thanks for everything Steve! The Internet is a horrible cesspool today thanks to “social” media, spam, trolls and the megaphone it gave to ignorant dumbasses like our least favorite uncle or aunt. However, you gave the world something useful, fun and creative. Something the Internet promised when it was opened up to the public in 1992. In your honor, I posted a favorite GIF I once created. An endless loop of St. Reagan being punched in the last movie he appeared in, before he went on to destroy California and later, the US and the world.

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Blades of Steel flashback!

Posted on March 23, 2022 by Steve

All the time we wasted in 1988-89 playing this instead of studying! This passed for a hockey videogame then too. Well, Blades of Steel by Konami was superior to Nintendo’s offering, which was cartoony. The version above had permission to use the NHL team names, I think, it’s been ~35 years so I only remember the key details: fighting! I also readily admit it was more fun to just play a game of hockey on a console system instead of all the bullshit EA has incorporated these days. I don’t see the joys of trying to run the entire NHL organization: salaries, trades, concessions, etc. What I’d give to bring back the simplicity of NHL 2001. Skate, pass, pass, shoot!

Anyway, it was a lot of fun when this guy on our floor at Mashuda the current NES as a birthday gift from his girlfriend. In adjusted dollars, it wasn’t a cheap present. We’d joke with him in the hallway by “singing” the Super Mario Brothers song as he’d walk by. One day we even used his VCR to slow down the Duck Hunt game to see how it worked. None of us being CS or Engineering people concluded that when the gun was fired, the screen turned black for a split second to check if you hit these squares where the ducks were with light projected from the gun. The gun probably reported back it illuminated the dark space to say “miss” and vice versa for a “hit.” Not a terrible hypothesis from a Communications or Pre-Med undergrad. I’m confident the answer is posted somewhere on Wikipedia, but I really don’t feel like it. I’m having more fun sharing the nostalgia over my roommate Paul kicking my ass at these games. It used to matter then and now it seems so foolish. I should’ve thanked him because he was preparing me for the day when tweeners would be doing this to me on a regular basis!

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Aftermath of the tornado from last night

Posted on March 22, 2022 by Steve

The blue line is where the government is sending drones to inspect the damage but the tornado(es) didn’t necessarily touch down. I’ll probably see some of it tomorrow when I got drive north to Round Rock to get my weekly comic books. The rest of last night was uneventful. The rain fizzled out before midnight. I checked my car for hail damage this morning, none, woo hoo! Part of my fence was pretty loose but birds farting could’ve caused it by now, time for a new fence draws closer and closer!

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Meet my Mission Hill avatar or self?

Posted on March 22, 2022 by Steve

I know what you’re thinking! You’re thinking, “What? How exactly is that you? You also look like a dirty Hippie! Is this some kind of fantasy?” The short answer is, NO. I despise Hippies since the majority were Boomers and the Neo-Hippies of my generation are equally sickening. The other short answer is the reference this really cool artist used is based upon a picture of me circa 1998. Keep in mind with animation, details and subtleties are axed make it easier for the animators.

Now the longer answer…Mission Hill was set around the turn of the 20th/21st Century so I decided, in order to fit in better, I had to go with my rough appearance around the show’s conception and brief appearance on the WB network. Its creators, Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein, are also two years older than I am and their cameos/avatars were tweaked to be credible extras too. Personally, I love the show since it epitomizes Gen X with many of the vanguard’s gripes (aka, Gen Xers who were 30ish when it aired) with the trappings of contemporary members and/or the older Millenials (which I would be Kevin as), namely some tech elements. Ergo, I did look like a slob around the time. Out of boredom I grew out my hair to such a messy length to pass the days in Really-Dullum until I could escape back to Austin. I didn’t shave very much neither. I figured it wasn’t going to matter again because Apple didn’t have an annoying dress code.

Fear not, I did ditch the long hair within a couple months. Although I’m not balding as rapidly as my peers (thankfully), I have fine/thin hair and length is its enemy through split ends. Besides, I also got settled in enough to start (or wanted to start) dating until an  unplanned move happened. Facial hair returned (and stayed) in 2007 for José’s wedding.

In the Mission Hill world, what I look like is perfect! Cosmopolis (the show’s fictional city) is a great surrogate for my favorite Slacker days in Milwaukee and Austin. You can’t see it easily, the orange shirt I’m wearing is the Garbage Version 2.0 tour I’m wearing, a fave album at the time. I also envision/fantasize my character being a co-worker of Jim’s at the ad firm. Obviously I’m the Mac tech from his IT department. Plus, I happened to be a fellow Caveman who attended Bochmore University with Andy! I am still me in one regard, drugs. No thanks. I know my avatar looks like I’m holdin’ but I found that touch to be very fitting. My former roommate Paul can attest to this problem in my life, especially when I was at Marquette…complete strangers often asked me if I knew where to score weed, coke and speed. UGH! No. I sometimes just look half awake and I was often a slob in my youth. I’m alright with other people frying their brains, it’s their business, it just was never for me, I was never “cool enough” for them and I prefer to be conscious and aware of what’s happening. Can’t wait to see who else is rendered as a resident!

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