Things I did this weekend.

Himself with Aloysius "Nosey" Parker, and Stephen La Riviere, documentarian, at "Timegate".

For Jay Agan

LCL bath salts

Blivets from the Blithering

NOT voting never "taught" a government or party anything.

-------------------------

Theology used to be referred to as "The queen of the sciences".
There were no aeroplanes yet, but neither were there atomic weapons, air/fuel MOABs, nor universal surveillance.

-------------------------

Mrs. Clinton, "Legal status" is not code for "second-class status".
It is a statement that they are NOT legal now.
That means "illegal", lawyer lady.

-------------------------

Went to Casa Blanca Mexican Restaurant (the one on the Square, not on Hwy.72) with the Dread Dormomoo. Crowded, of course, and tintinnabulatingly loud, for they had a country duo singing. It reminded me of achingly small rural Assemblies of God congregations, where a whisper would make it clearly to the back of the room, yet they MUST have a garage band amp and speaker setup for the Praise Band to assure the need for healing the deaf Real Soon Now.
Very. Loud. and the tables were quite close together. Unpleasant. The food, however, was quite good, as was the service. Our food was done correctly, despite the songsters competing with our order for airtime. They did appear to believe that we demanded extra cilantro in the salsa, but I did my husbandly duty and ran interception with adroit chip-work.

Next year, we shall shop for Mexican food makings the day before, and do ours at home. That restaurant. Nobody goes there because it's always too crowded, as the great Yogi said.

---------------------------

Oh, Lawson Screen & Digital Products, Inc. I went to you with SUCH hope. Your website has a CHAT function, now, so maybe I could get a response, unlike my emails to you.
I entered my need for a new heating element for my dryer at the shop, and entered the required email and my name. And waited for a response. Here was your response:
Customer Service
We apologize for keeping you waiting. Our operators are busy at the moment, please leave us a message with your email address and we'll get back to you shortly.
++++++++++++++
I left you a message...ON THE CHAT
I signed in WITH MY EMAIL...ON THE CHAT.

AND, I want tacos.

----------------------------

I would comment on how much I hate the "May the Fourth Be With You" thing, but I know what would happen, so I won't.

----------------------------

Binan Koukou Chikyuu Bouei-bu Love!

Hilarious anime that turns the "Magical Girl" trope on its head. An alien pink wombat empowers the do-nothing Earth Defense Club with magical boy powers to save the earth (or at least the school) in the name of Love!

If you enjoy anime, you will recognise and appreciate all the leg-pulls. If you HATE anime, it will validate your feelings.
And no, I will not cosplay ANY of this. Not even the pink wombat.

ESPECIALLY not that.

------------------------

Z.P.G.
One of the worst movies ever made.

Mr. Wolff, I double-dog-DARE you to gainsay that.

------------------------

I am tired of being discriminated against because of who I am.
I AM DONE!
The "Young Adult" bookstore section is a MACROaggression against me and my generation.

*Insert Veddy British hand gesture as appropriate*

-------------------------

Setting up hydroponic tomato system. Baby steps toward aquaponics.
Rutgers or Beefsteak?

--------------------------

Have Something Of Note I am writing, but did not wish to leave you bereft, kiddies!

What is WRONG with me?

When I was a tot, we had a collie, yclept "Toby", for "Tobias Smollett" (Momma was an English teacher). He was tolerant, though he did nip me once when I insisted on using him as a horse. When Momma died, and went to Live Elsewhere, Toby came with me, but I paid little attention to him (I was harangued about Being Clean, and some of it took. Smelly, slobbery dog. They opted to finally give Toby to someone with a farm, and Room to Run, and all, and blamed me because I did not pay attention to him. Never had a dog again. Lots of cats in the yard (we lived on an old plantation...which had Room to Run) so I was environmentally disposed to become a Cat Person. We currently have several yard cats, and little rodent trouble.

Some months ago, we were visited by a horse, by which I mean a black Great Dane adolescent. The Dread Dormomoo, who has had unpleasant run-ins with local dogs, was worried that the brute was after the cats, likely for a snack, so I went out as was my Manly Duty to confront the fell beast. He was, in fact, jumping at the cats, and making a snort and doing that forepaw crouch thing, and I sussed out that this was not due to hunger pangs.

Monstro wanted to play with the cats.

They studiously ignored his antics. I was utterly charmed. I did the closest approximation to his snort and puppyish crouch, but I presented too high a profile, and so he was nervous, and would not come to me. He would mirror my attempt, then dash off, stop, and do it again.

I was playing with a dog. A monstrous dog. When after weeks of his sometime visits I sat on the front steps, he came up to me and I was able...to pet the dog. He is large, and has a scent to him, and mercy, he is a drooly-Bob, but he tolerates me, and we play a bit.

I'm playing with a dog.

No, I want to roll on the grass and tussle with a dog.

What is wrong with me?
I blame Charlie. When we moved into our present business location in '05, a little dog showed up. His appearance and behavior reminded my daughter and me of the Chuck Jones dog that bedevils Porky Pig, so we named him "Charlie".




We gave him food, and all was well. He had no ID. We got him a little collar, and I reckon that clued his owners into a need to take better heed to him, because he no longer wandered the downtown area. Sadness.

We have several dogs that wander around our tiny townlet, and I know the dangers of Petting the Puppy, or worse, feeding it. We have a wandering bloodhound who we dubbed "Lady Bird", after Hank's dog on King of the Hill. There is a small we-think-part-bassett who reminds me of an early Hanna-Barbera dog named "Snuffles" who I will pet, and who has a bad habit of wandering in the shop. He is short, squat, and ancient. And adorable.

I said that. What is wrong with me? I actually consider finding homes for our katzenkinder, and getting a smallish dog, maybe a corgi, or a not smallish one like a Great Pyrenees.

Who am I, and what have I done with me?

An Aardvark Update!

My Facebook picture!

Two things to make "sustainability" happen.
1) Coastal desalinating plants. Why is this not a thing, now? (California, here's a hint...drop the high-speed rail project, and build desal facilities so you can have water!)
2) Geo-synchronous orbiting power satellites that take raw solar energy, convert it to microwave, and beam it to rectifying antennas in, say, the Mohave, the Sahara...desert, uninhabited places, where the microwaves are converted to electricity and fed onto the grid. Endless virtually free power, beyond equipment cost and maintenance. We could do this NOW.

------------------------------------

So, a pleasant chick you do not know, whose page has a lot of flag-waving and God talk, messages and wants "to chat and get to know each other better".
Isn't that sweet?

------------------------------------

The theta replacing the stars in the ecology flag is also the first letter in "thanatos", the Greek word for "death".
The environmental True Believers have been telegraphing their druthers the whole time!

--------------------------------------

Roy Rogers' horse is my trigger.

--------------------------------------

Ron Popeil...you MUST save the Earth. Make a home-bio diesel device. Pour the bacon grease, hamburger drippings, and Fry Daddy oil into the hopper, set it...AND FORGET IT!

--------------------------------------

Y'know...when you meet someone, odds are they may say something mildly offensive, or unintentionally hurtful, or somewhat abrasive to your sensibilities.
Deal with it. Few know my hot buttons, of which there are several, and thus I am "offended" with some regularity. I assume that they are not out to intentionally ruffle my feathers, or to harsh my mellow, so I let it go.
Give it a try. Feels better than swelling in a toadly fashion and assuming offense.

This post was not intended to offend.

--------------------------------------

So, went to the Doc. Told him my problem (severe body and joint aches, with shifting severe pain/pressure in my shoulders and back, which would inexplicably stop and move to my lower back. Kept me home over the weekend this was happening), and that I needed to re-up my BP prescriptions. I have been several days without them, because the office was closed the day I went last week.
Well, your tender Aardvark, your butter-would-not-melt-in-his-mouth Aardvark, your narcotics-trade-virginal Aardvark has a little problem.
Your pure-as-the-driven-slush Aardvark is going through withdrawal. The particular type of drug that one of my BP pills is (ACE inhibitors) has a nasty habit of payback. Heh. I'm jonesin' for my Lisinopril. C'mon, Doc, you know I'm good for it....

My sweet Dread Dormomoo just handed me The Stuff.
Yeah...THAT'S the stuff!

(days pass)

Apparently, the one-two punch of my BP pill and an anti-inflammatory is easing the symptoms somewhat. I do not feel like discorporating would be a help, so that's good. Thanks for your rapt attention to my whinging. I will let you know how it goes, since so many online expressed interest and concern.
See, this is what happens when you pet the stray puppy!

(days pass)

I made it to the St. Louis con with no issues. Feeling in fine fettle now!

----------------------------------

Later. I have Things to Say.

Le roi est mort, vive le roi !

Stan Freberg is no longer with us. YouTube is full of examples of his work. His groundbreaking "funny ad" style broke seismographs on Madison Avenue. I share here one of his ads, and one of mine that his style inspired.

He was my hero.

Thunderbirds are Gone. REAL gone!

Watched the new Thunderbirds Are Go pilot. Worth the wait. Better than the Frakes movie. Hitler annexing the Sudetenland was probably better than that.

Practical sets. Real, hand-made miniature sets, filmed properly. CG characters and nicely updated ships, (almost) seamlessly integrated with the sets. Hey, it's the first episodes, they will improve, what little they need to. The pacing is rapid, not frenetic like those dreadful Fox Kids butcheries in the mid-'90s. The music is a good driver for the action, and they kept the original theme. I shan't do spoilers, but I have to say I do not want to induce blunt-force trauma on Alan.

As much.

Saaturday Week in Review!

FACEBOOK Follies!

TRIGGER WARNING
A spiritual screed for Christian-types:
There are a LOT of preachers, and a lot of voices out there, vying for your attention, and perhaps your eternal destiny. Despite the smiles, the positivity, and the promises, you will do well to examine, compare and contrast what they teach, over against what the Founder and His apostles taught. Do these teachers use buzzwords and terms foreign to Jesus, Paul, Peter, and the rest? Do they introduce "spiritual" concepts not found in Scripture? Do they challenge you to be more Christlike, loving, caring, or do they say you are fine just as you are? Is their focus on your growth, or the growth of your (and their?) bank accounts?

Jesus told His apostles-in-training regarding preaching the Good News "Freely you have received, freely give.". They were free to receive food and care from those who appreciated their service, but they were not to ask for it.
How much time does your TV Preacher of Choice spend talking about money, especially, extracting money from the Faithful? Compare that to Jesus and His apostles. A word to the wise.

-------------------------------

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2015/03/stunning-obama-administration-declassifies-document-on-israels-nuclear-power/

I'm done.
I am no end-times Israel fanboy, but the country deserves its security. The "Almighty UN" ceded the land to them in what, '48? That should be enough for these people, but NO...
Mr. Obama has just made Israel a less-safe place to be, if that were possible. His disloyalty to our ONLY ally in the Mid-East fair takes my breath away.

I wonder what secrets Israel has been keeping from respect for us....like how many Mossad agents are in Washington?

---------------------------------

THIS IS NOT MAKING FUN OF THE MEATLESS!!
It is being amused at marketing.
It is a source of endless fascination to me that the producers of vegetarian/vegan foodstuffs and recipes feel that they must present it and make it taste as close to meat as they can.

---------------------------------

Convention runners:
If you're not willing to put your guests in tents, don't put your dealers in one. THEY are paying YOU!

--------------------------------



--------------------------------

I've been following Moller Skycar stuff since the Art Bell days in the '90s. Aside from different static pictures, and different groovy new designs, including a kind of THUNDERBIRDS thing called the "Firefly", there is NOTHING to indicate they are any closer to a marketable vehicle.
Moller International: Inventors of the Perpetual Investment Machine!
That makes me sad.
http://www.moller.com/

-------------------------------

Always be sure you're tall enough for the ride.
--Ancient carny proverb

-------------------------------

This.
Is.
Genius.



-------------------------------

(The Clarkson debacle)

The BBC is government subsidised television. They do not have to worry about turning a profit, and without the profit motive, you can make egregiously stupid decisions with little consequence.

A fellow huckster at cons sells posters. When Matt Smith became the 11th Doctor, all the posters BBC would allow for production were Smith-related. My friend still had a market for all the other Doctors' posters as well. He contacted the BBC merchandising department, and was told "We are interested in pushing the Matt Smith brand.". He could not make them understand that, yes, they would make money from the then-hot 11th Doctor, but they could ALSO profit from the others AS WELL!

Despite Clarkson's punching out his producer, despite his behavior, some other decision likely could have been reached. This is like firing Kirk for being a jerk, with no clear replacement in the wings, and Bones and Spock saying they'll quit if Kirk goes.

(A clueless commenter sez: "The show had 13 years far more than most would have given it if it was over in the states.")
OK. It was still good. It could go on for 13 more easily, because it reviews new cars. There are always new models. The thing was, they did car reviews (to me, a deadly dull idea) in entertaining ways. That's the amazing bit about the show, and I'm not even a devotee...I watch it when the kids turn it on.

The ONLY point of this is: If a TV network has profit as a motive, their decision-making will be affected by that motive. If you have no money-making aim, you do not have to listen to your audience. The BBC did not listen to their audience.

That's it.
-----------------------------

This is just a Robot Spy full of NOPE.



I've been reading comments elsewhere. "Best Jonny has looked since the '80s!'

Did you SEE him in the '80s? And when did he become Irish? That leprechaun nose...
Evil SWATCATS it looks like, although it's not, 'cos that would have been cooler.

QUESTKATEERS??!?

It will do...

All the Star Trek franchises post-Roddenberry lacked...something. Call it soul, or spark. The vision of the creator of a thing is all-important, and in this case, without a vision, the cartoon perishes. Hanna and Barbera created Tom and Jerry, and with them AT THE HELM, the duo were piloted into the ocean of entertainment. When mere deckhands took the wheel (and yes, I include Chuck Jones in that!) the vision, the course, was lost. Same with Jonny Quest's later incarnations. H-B were figureheads, not show-runners, and the vision was lost. The sextant was tied to Hard Rock, and he was tossed into the deeps.

That is the stuff that gives us "Questkateers".





----------------------

Riatsila got into the act (I have put his comments as one post):

How much "no" can you fit into one movie?

How sad is it that so the ribbing in Venture Brothers is a better homage to classic Jonny Quest than this?

The question is begged however: In this, have they actually made something worse than Real Adventures?
I personally fear so.

Overall, not a huge fan of Tom and Jerry anyway, but all these new ones completely lack something the originals had. It can be summed up in "creativity", but that fails to describe just how bad they really are.

...was that post long enough, dad?


Yeah, Chuck Jones did terribly at Tom and Jerry.

Oh, also, it's the Dragonfly, not Questjet.

Having thought about it, aside from lacking the vision from the creators, as a whole, they lack the understanding of the theory behind the gags themselves. It's all going through the motions. As you know well, think Ren and Stimpy, post John K. They knew that people liked the gross humor, but didn't understand what made the jokes actually leave an impact.

And then there's trying to update the humor with technology. Again, Chuck Jones tried that on a few occasions and it was always just dreadful. It was a sci fi angle, but still didn't work on Tom and Jerry.
The wacky adventures of Tom and Jerry on the internet will never be funny, no matter how many zany exploits they have involving cell phones.

Saturday, Shatterday...(Please don't sue me, Mr. Ellison!)

Tonight:
Svengoolie: King Kong Vs. Godzilla
PLUS! One of the five WORST Star Trek episodes, "The Alternative Factor".



This CANNOT end well....

The week

We are planning on doing more things like horror cons, and that means we need different shirt designs. One thing I am considering is printing one-sheets from classic public-domain movies like The Tingler and Night of the Living Dead. I also plan some anaglyphic 3-D designs, including a 3-D Police Box shirt. A pair of the red/blue glasses will be included!

Unka Mikey, couldja help me find some 3-D films in the public domain, SF and Horror?

-----------------------------
Potshots form the Book of Face this week:

" ...Scientism claims that science alone can render truth about the world and reality. Scientism's single-minded adherence to only the empirical, or testable, makes it a strictly scientifc worldview...." --PBS
Does this sound familiar?
Technocracy: A government or social system controlled by technicians, especially scientists and technical experts.

More familiar? The white-coated and clipboard-carrying priesthood has been a mainstay of Western popular culture since the Thirties. It has brought us to where we are today. Now, as much as they can, Al Gore's "climate deniers should be punished" ideas begin to make as much sense as they can.




----------------------------------




It all comes down to what you are willing to do, how far out of the box are you willing to go. Civil disobedience...refusing to pay the government...marching on the seats of power, tar and feathers in hand...calling in to chat shows and ranting on social media won't cut it. Those grant the illusion that I Have Participated, that I Have Done Something, when nothing substantive has been done at all.
---------------------------------------

Thursday night:
Watching Magic Boy on Warner Archive, a Japanese animated movie from 1959 dubbed by MGM. Matinee fodder. Not at all bad. This was the second anime film from Japan, the first being The Magic Serpent.





--------------------------------

All the angst and serious faces over "comic" books. (This regarding the Joker/Batgirl cover)

--------------------------------

Grandiloquent Word of the Day: Réchauffé
(ray•show•FAY)
Noun:
-A dish of warmed-up food left over from a previous meal.

--------------------------------

"Bae" is not an English word.
I think it may be a speech impediment....

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/12/the-lamentable-death-of-bae/384086/
--------------------------------

OK, I would appreciate prayers. In order to head off incipient blood-sugar (and existing blood pressure) issues, I REALLY need to drop about 50 pounds. This will also help return me to my former hotness.
*pauses to allow the guffaws to subside*
Seriously, I need to do this for my health, so I announce this here for both entreaty and accountability reasons. If you know this is a thing, I may be better encouraged to stick to the hard work of it, knowing that YOU know as well. I am doing the low-carb eating, which is (1) indicated by my issues, and (2) the only thing that works well for me. The amusing thing is that the medication I take for BP has caused the heightened blood sugar. Wait. That's not amusing at ALL!

Thank you.
--------------------------------

"The Most Popular Beer In America Is Bud Light"
That's it. We're done.
Turn the lights off when you leave.

--------------------------------



If only I could duplicate the faded color...
maybe add some bleach to the brine.
Yeah! That's the ticket!

----------------------------------

It is 80 degrees.
That used to be the threshold we had for getting out the pool for the kids. "No, you have to wait 'til it's 80."
Sunny day. Time to go to the Water Park.
This is Aardvark code for going to clean and strip screens at the carwash.

----------------------------------
If the IKEA instructions say "Use screw 'R'", but you feel like using locknut 'M' instead, the thing is NOT gonna hold together.
(Ed. note: This has nothing to do with kit construction)

-----------------------------------



------------------------------------

I declare shenanigans AND sexism! Kalso, the Earth Shoe company, no longer makes men's styles. They used to. Men do not need better posture and not-sore backs, clearly.

------------------------------------



At ConGT in Clarksville, TN.

"Pretty Chitty...Bang Bang"

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang must be the worst "family film" ever. Ian Fleming wrote the book, Roald Dahl the screenplay, "Cubby" Broccoli produced it, Ken Adam was the production designer. Sound familiar? All James Bond, PARTICULARLY the star in the Connery crown You Only Live Twice.
So HOW did we wind up with a close-on to two-and-a-half-hour kid's movie? This film redefines "eternity". The Abyss seems shorter! ALL of the songs are precisely twice as long as they should be, except for "Toot Sweets". That one is four times the proper length. The process work for the flying scenes introduced children of all ages to the dread Blue Line, that artifact of bluescreen compositing.

I ran across this glittering jewel of fail at the convention last weekend, after hours on TV and could only stand 20 minutes or so.

The high point of the movie is that Dick van Dyke did not attempt another English accent.

Like · · Share

Aardvark's Harrowing Tales of Commerce!

Last week was Snow Week in the Southeast, first a little, then a lot. I was scheduled to go to St. Louis for KawaKon this past weekend, so we watched with some not-inconsiderable trepidation as TN and KY roads were shut down, and slowly began to be cleared. Most states have reasonably helpful DOT websites with nifty color-codes to let you know how progress is being made. Noel and I left for the con around four-ish in the PM on Thursday, and overall, the roads were excellent. Many areas permitted normal highway speeds. As we began to make our way through KY, we considered taking an alternate (non-interstate) route, but as we approached the exit, we saw brake lights ahead. Three miles from the Hopkinsville-Cadiz exit, I-24 became a parking lot. Noeru kept checking on his Android, and I called home. The wait was estimated at two hundred minutes (apparently, there may-or-may-not have been a truck accident, or two truck accidents, with-or-without a fatality) which was increased to four hours. Well into that dreadful expanse of time, Dale, the trucker ahead of us, walked back to check on us, offering heat and food if we needed it, and news that trucks up ahead had gone dark, and apparently there would be no movement 'til morning. We thanked him for his kindness, but we were comfy, with a 3/4-full gas tank and blankets. We listened to John B. Wells and Old Time Radio programmes, and felt increasingly isolated, what with having zero info as to what was actually going on. Noel was contacted by a friend in the area on Facebook, and I suggested that she call the Highway Patrol, we were westbound...eastbound traffic was zooming past, but we saw zero evidence of police, state nor local. After an hour or more, we saw Close Encounters-like flashing lights on the horizon, and the State Patrol contacted each vehicle, telling us that we were there 'til morning.

Joy.

We bundled up in the blankets, and I would run the heater to hothouse levels, then turn off the car accept for acc. power, and we would sleep 'til it became uncomfortable, which level was reached, because the temperature finally leveled off at -13 F. That's MINUS, kiddies! We used a quarter-tank of gas in all, which wasn't bad. Noeru meanwhile had downloaded the Waze app, which is a combo of social networking and a GPS map function. Members can report on road issues or conditions, and it enabled us to feel not as isolated. We were able to get some data. We slept, braved sub-zero temperatures to empty the wing tanks, and come 7AM, we began to move.

We were aware of dodgy interstate conditions beyond, so we took the exit, and detoured for about an hour through a National Park of lakes, with decrepit bridges of the sort which cause me to revert to my charismatic roots. I am rarely speaking English on one of those spans by the time we get over it. But we made the more-icy-than-the-interstate back roads, and hit a clear I-24, and onward. We found a Cracker Barrel un-blockaded by ice, snow, and J.B.Hunt trucks, and breakfasted in style and comfort. We had not had supper the night before, so we were ready for a feed. Their blueberry pancakes use REAL blueberries, not sweet blue industrial goo-bits.

We made it to the con in time to set up before the dealer room opened. We did as well as we ever do at this convention, which means no growth. We must consider this next year. Here is the shirt design they sent us to print on their shirts:


The irony, she is palpable.

We did OK, though, got home safely, and now report to you.

Yours truly,
Johnny Dollar