tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-39369042016242333542024-02-07T05:59:57.324-06:00Blog FlumeI am a multimedia designer and aspiring writer from Central Illinois who dreams of bigger things. You are entering the hub of my online world. Welcome. Make yourself at home, read some stuff, click a few links, maybe check out my online portfolio. And of course, if you enjoy your stay, please subscribe.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger216125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3936904201624233354.post-55576020155682357402018-05-17T17:58:00.002-05:002018-05-17T20:31:09.597-05:00Remembering TerryYou all know I love a good thrill ride. I love speeding past the landscape, the wind blowing through my hair, the feeling of my guts getting all twisty-turny, and the lightheadedness that comes along with negative G's. That's where I find my biggest thrills.<br />
<br />
But I'd like to take a moment to introduce to you a very special man who experienced his greatest thrills in the simple pleasures he found in nature. My father-in-law, Terry Safford, was a 76-year-old retired Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Air Force. He was an avid outdoorsman and absolutely treasured his time spent in Colorado and Alaska<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px;">—</span></i>or anywhere outside, for that matter, even his own backyard.<br />
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Terry was happiest when sailing his boat at Carlyle Lake in southern Illinois, hitting the freshly powdered slopes at Breckenridge or Keystone, camping in Missouri, or taking a scenic Colorado mountain hike in the middle of spring. I had the pleasure of sharing one of these hikes with him several years ago, and it was a truly incredible experience<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px;">—</span></i>one of my favorite days ever. On a lazier day you'd likely catch Terry at home in his easy chair, taking in some college football on TV or a beautiful concerto on his Bose radio, with his favorite cat in his lap.<br />
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He also loved to travel, and I suspect he sometimes enjoyed the drive itself more than what awaited him at his destination. That passion for driving...That one I'll never understand. I'm envious of it, because all I ever want to do after being behind the wheel for more than a couple of hours is to take a nap. This man was like a robot in the driver's seat. No matter the time, day or night, he could plop in that seat and drive for eight to ten hours straight with only a few minor "potty breaks." And he could do the whole thing in silence. It was a sight to behold.<br />
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Terry was recently struck down by cancer a couple weeks shy of his 77th birthday. It hit him pretty hard and fast. He was skiing in Colorado in February, and now he's just...gone.<br />
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He taught me a lot over the past 20 years or so, but the last thing Terry taught me was that despite its incredible and at times miraculous range of practical uses, there are two things duct tape can't fix: cancer, and a broken heart. The latter only time will mend. Hopefully one day we will be able to do something about the former, because what that wonderful man went through during his last days is something I'd never wish on my worst enemy.<br />
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I've been married to his daughter for over 20 years now, and that's nearly half of my life. Aside from immediate family, I haven't known too many people for that long who still have a regular presence in my life. Terry's passing is really the hardest loss I've had to face so far. It's not easy to deal with the loss of a loved one. I can do my best to honor his memory and his legacy in the way I live my life and treat others.<br />
<br />
I can stop and smell the flowers on the breeze or watch it ripple through the leaves on the trees. I can listen to the call of the birds or the lapping of the waves on a lake's shore. I can spend more time in my own yard, trying to approximate the wondrous and mysterious things he must have done to achieve such a thick, verdant lawn of his own.<br />
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Terry touched everyone he met with his love of nature, his fabulous sense of humor, his kindness and his wisdom. He will be missed more than he could ever imagine. It comforts me somewhat to visualize Terry placing a new stone atop a cairn on a cloud-covered peak he's reaching for the first time.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhos7JM7UxvTY5x7G0CHCQ-AC3z4BtKGyunUx4s7dWgDZK1D8_Nxjh18SjLWaYvw9v0SmKHlb4tjKe_FM9E9B6fQjnSWGSfOZQFZd2xgsXQ4yiTROi2zUdX5nGvd181wXnJm4GEzLkDJao/s1600/MIKE+DEFELICE+-+106_0632.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhos7JM7UxvTY5x7G0CHCQ-AC3z4BtKGyunUx4s7dWgDZK1D8_Nxjh18SjLWaYvw9v0SmKHlb4tjKe_FM9E9B6fQjnSWGSfOZQFZd2xgsXQ4yiTROi2zUdX5nGvd181wXnJm4GEzLkDJao/s640/MIKE+DEFELICE+-+106_0632.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3936904201624233354.post-65218202650223289512017-06-20T09:27:00.001-05:002017-06-20T09:27:11.477-05:00Coaster Compendium - UPDATED to 71 coasters!<span style="color: #b5b5b5; font-family: Arial;">So here I am again...It's been some time since I've been to any new parks to experience new rides, and my home Six Flags park keeps adding carnival-type rides instead of coasters. However, we are planning a possible trip back east over Labor Day weekend this year, and we'll hit Six Flags America for the first time, and maybe even revisit Six Flags Great Adventure.</span><br />
<span style="color: #b5b5b5; font-family: Arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #b5b5b5; font-family: Arial;">In the meantime, I've added two new coasters to the list, one being the second Justice League 4D I've ridden, which was in 2016 when it was new at SFGA. (By the way, my new personal high score is in the 59,000-point range. Still only in the top 1% all-time though.) The other new one I just experienced this past weekend at SFGA: The Joker Free-Fly Coaster. HOLY WOW! This is one of those that looks pretty cool in the videos, looks not quite as intimidating when you actually see it, but totally blew me away upon riding it. It was amazing but way too short for me. It was, however, plenty long for my 15-year-old son, who absolutely HATED it and refused to ever ride it again.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR6vnFuojh6caVaaOUecxsj0nPqeCutnMKwsa8hXfV9z7IpisBtPfVW9EMSGJjnCnLKy4bPYxPNvvqiNZGK42zHNV1hT9BwOhs7N2lm1PvvVEkO5mlb7RzGo6OGoLaK9EP98IDQFuhHKk/s1600/PY7C1319.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR6vnFuojh6caVaaOUecxsj0nPqeCutnMKwsa8hXfV9z7IpisBtPfVW9EMSGJjnCnLKy4bPYxPNvvqiNZGK42zHNV1hT9BwOhs7N2lm1PvvVEkO5mlb7RzGo6OGoLaK9EP98IDQFuhHKk/s320/PY7C1319.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #b5b5b5; font-family: Arial;">If you're not familiar with the concept of the free-fly coaster, let me fill you in. The harness and seat situation is similar to X-Flight in that you sit on either side of the track, two abreast, but it's there are two rows to each car so that your two seats begin by facing two other seats. The major difference is that these seats all rock back and forth--and even completely 360-degrees around--on the z-axis (like a Zipper carnival ride) throughout the entire ride--which has been designed specifically to thrillingly send you flipping end-over-end repeatedly by doubling back on itself several times throughout the duration.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqvZygWFnFjQtljHGFsEO1dYUWlVKk-IN9bXOXowklQ0aZw763ja__lKob3eOzfHrFlTKvG6x2uOqOVlnDXwJpibomJEuIOaJ3AILLpxz434h3fZXKo2R6HB4WFCLzoDujFnhglQfzSnM/s1600/IMG_8372.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqvZygWFnFjQtljHGFsEO1dYUWlVKk-IN9bXOXowklQ0aZw763ja__lKob3eOzfHrFlTKvG6x2uOqOVlnDXwJpibomJEuIOaJ3AILLpxz434h3fZXKo2R6HB4WFCLzoDujFnhglQfzSnM/s320/IMG_8372.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This was obviously taken before we rode,<br />because he was not nearly this happy afterward.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="color: #b5b5b5; font-family: Arial;">The Joker also has a completely vertical lift hill. It's literally straight up. That was pretty cool in itself. It's a one-of-a-kind experience, and it's incredible. I highly recommend this coaster. The wait wasn't too bad this weekend--about 40 minutes. It did break down the first time we waited so we came back around later to ride it as a rainstorm was blowing in, but thankfully there was no lighting so nothing got shut down.</span><br />
<span style="color: #b5b5b5; font-family: Arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #b5b5b5; font-family: Arial;">This puts me at a current count of 71 coasters. Seems like 100 is actually going to be doable, God willing. If we end up going on this Labor Day trip and also taking our 20th anniversary trip to hit both Texas Six Flags parks, I'll be creeping up there in no time.</span><br />
<span style="color: #b5b5b5; font-family: Arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #b5b5b5; font-family: Arial;">I'm kind of irritated at myself for not riding the Cyclone when I was at Coney Island a few years ago. Not that it looked particularly fun, mind you, but simply because it's such a historic coaster and a cultural icon. Oh well. Maybe I'll get another chance someday. Won't catch me passing up an opportunity like that ever again, I assure you.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #b5b5b5; font-family: Arial;">OK, so stay tuned! more to come I'm sure!</span><br />
<ul style="background-color: #183e7c; color: #b5b5b5; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0.5em 0px; padding: 0px 2.5em;">
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>American Eagle </b>(Six Flags Great America) <a href="http://shanemcgraw.blogspot.com/2013/04/coaster-compendium-detail-1.html" style="color: #826e06; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><i>[details]</i></a></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>American Thunder / Evel Knievel </b>(Six Flags St. Louis) <a href="http://shanemcgraw.blogspot.com/2013/04/coaster-compendium-detail-1.html" style="color: #826e06; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><i>[details]</i></a></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Avatar Airbender</b> (Mall of America) <a href="http://shanemcgraw.blogspot.com/2013/04/coaster-compendium-detail-1.html" style="color: #826e06; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><i>[details]</i></a></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Batman: The Ride</b> (Six Flags St. Louis)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Batman: The Ride</b> (Six Flags Over Georgia)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Batman: The Ride</b> (Six Flags Great America)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Bizarro / Medusa</b> (Six Flags Great Adventure)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Blackbeard's Lost Treasure Train</b> (Six Flags Great Adventure)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Blue Streak</b><b> </b>(Cedar Point)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><strong>Boomerang / Flashback</strong><strong> </strong>(Six Flags St. Louis)<span style="color: yellow;"> </span><span style="color: black;"><a href="http://shanemcgraw.blogspot.com/2013/06/let-talk-about-this-new-coaster.html" style="color: #826e06; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><em>[details]</em></a></span></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>The Boss</b><b> </b>(Six Flags St. Louis)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Cedar Creek Mine Train</b><b> </b>(Cedar Point)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Corkscrew</b> (Cedar Point)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Dahlonega Mine Train</b><b> </b>(Six Flags Over Georgia)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Dark Knight Coaster</b><b> </b>(Six Flags Great Adventure)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Dark Knight Coaster </b>(Six Flags Great America)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Demon</b><b> </b>(Six Flags Great America)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Disaster Transport</b><b> </b>(Cedar Point)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>El Toro</b><b> </b>(Six Flags Great Adventure)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Fairly OddParents Fairly OddCoaster</b> (Mall of America)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Gemini</b><b> </b>(Cedar Point)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Georgia Cyclone</b><b> </b>(Six Flags Over Georgia)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Georgia Scorcher</b><b> </b>(Six Flags Over Georgia)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Goliath </b>(Six Flags Great America)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Great American Scream Machine</b><b> </b>(Six Flags Over Georgia)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Green Lantern</b><b> </b>(Six Flags Great Adventure)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Iron Dragon</b> (Cedar Point)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Iron Wolf</b><b> </b>(Six Flags Great America)</li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><b>The Joker Free-Fly Coaster </b></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">(</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue Light", HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;">Six Flags Great America) </span></span><i style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: yellow;">**NEW**</span></i></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><b>Justice League Battle for Metropolis 4D</b> (</span></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue Light", HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;">Six Flags St. Louis)</span></span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><b>Justice League Battle for Metropolis 4D</b> (</span></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue Light", HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;">Six Flags Great America) </span></span><i style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: yellow;">**NEW**</span></i></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Kingda Ka</b><b> </b>(Six Flags Great Adventure)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Little Dipper</b><b> </b>(Six Flags Great America)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Magnum XL-200</b><b> </b>(Cedar Point)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Mantis</b><b> </b>(Cedar Point)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Maverick</b><b> </b>(Cedar Point)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Mean Streak</b><b> </b>(Cedar Point)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Millenium Force</b><b> </b>(Cedar Point)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Mind Bender</b> (Six Flags Over Georgia)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Mr. Freeze</b> (Six Flags St. Louis)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Mr. Freeze Reverse Blast</b><b> </b>(Six Flags St. Louis)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Ninja</b><b> </b>(Six Flags St. Louis)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Ninja</b><b> </b>(Six Flags Over Georgia)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Nitro</b><b> </b>(Six Flags Great Adventure)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Opa!</b> (Mt. Olympus Indoor Theme Park)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Pandemonium / Tony Hawk's Big Spin</b><b> </b>(Six Flags St. Louis)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Pepsi Orange Streak</b><b> </b>(Mall of America)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Ragin' Cajun</b><b> </b>(Six Flags Great America)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Raging Bull</b><b> </b>(Six Flags Great America)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Raptor</b><b> </b>(Cedar Point)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>River King Mine Train</b><b> </b>(Six Flags St. Louis)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Rolling Thunder</b><b> </b>(Six Flags Great Adventure)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Rolling Thunder</b><b> [bobsled ride] </b>(Six Flags Great America)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Runaway Mine Train</b><b> </b>(Six Flags Great Adventure)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Screamin' Eagle</b> (Six Flags St. Louis)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Shockwave</b><b> </b>(Six Flags Great America)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Skull Mountain</b><b> </b>(Six Flags Great Adventure)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><b>Space Mountain</b> </span>(Walt Disney World)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Spongebob Squarepants Rock Bottom Plunge</b><b> </b>(Mall of America)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Superman: Ultimate Flight</b> (Six Flags Over Georgia)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Superman: Ultimate Flight</b><b> </b>(Six Flags Great America)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><b>Tidal Wave</b> </span>(Six Flags Great America)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Top Thrill Dragster</b><b> </b>(Cedar Point)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Tornado</b><b> </b>(Adventureland)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Twister</b><b> </b>(Six Flags Great Adventure)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>V2: Vertical Velocity</b><b> </b>(Six Flags Great America)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Viper</b><b> </b>(Six Flags Great America)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Whizzer</b> (Six Flags Great America)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Wicked Twister</b><b> </b>(Cedar Point)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>Wile E. Coyote Canyon Blaster</b><b> </b>(Six Flags Over Georgia)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b>X-Flight</b><b> </b>(Six Flags Great America)</li>
</ul>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3936904201624233354.post-91504665585386290122017-05-18T15:07:00.002-05:002017-05-18T15:08:38.532-05:00Recent horror gems can be found among the garbageI am a fan of horror and suspense films. Working part-time at the world's largest family-owned video rental chain for the past two years, I've seen a lot of horror titles come through those doors. Let me tell you, the digital age has been both good and bad for the indie film industry. It's truly a double-edged sword, and especially in the case of horror it's mostly the dull edge we get to see.<br />
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Digital filmmaking is great in that it puts usable creative tools into the hands of whoever wants them for a very negligible price tag compared to the expense of a major studio's equipment. So many people are shooting on digital now that an indie film can easily look quite professional if they manage to get lighting, sound, and the performances themselves right. This has really opened the door for independent filmmakers in the last 10 to 15 years. In my mind this new age of low budget horror treasures was initiated by <i>The Blair Witch Project</i>.<br />
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Say what you want about <i>BWP</i> and I'll honestly tell you it scared the bejeezus out of me. For the minuscule budget, bare-bones script and lack of recognizable cast, it was a masterpiece. But this is not a column about that film in particular. What I'm concerned with here are the handful of horror films from the last couple of years that have genuinely shaken me at least to some degree.<br />
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These are the films I recommend to people at the video store when they ask me for a good, recent scary movie. this list is <b>not </b>about mindless slasher horror, bad acting and writing, gross-out flicks like <i>Human Centipede 3</i> or torture porn garbage like <i>Green Inferno</i>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTkajbkvj1AmYGjF1e4hDEM2_tWSjK6bZlA1ELacQB4dvuxJcO7TLzuDsCeyz5iFEEHGC-f_-gX6WSHkLlz_IrqZS3ZY-gwsCeXrX2UQS2chYmHVhx5S1TsOdOmMU0IJnK3kYKnuVfIxk/s1600/as+above.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTkajbkvj1AmYGjF1e4hDEM2_tWSjK6bZlA1ELacQB4dvuxJcO7TLzuDsCeyz5iFEEHGC-f_-gX6WSHkLlz_IrqZS3ZY-gwsCeXrX2UQS2chYmHVhx5S1TsOdOmMU0IJnK3kYKnuVfIxk/s320/as+above.jpg" width="212" /></a><br />
<i>As Above So Below</i> - Mockumentary horror movie about a film crew investigating secrets in the catacombs of Paris. Shit turns scary. Shit turns bloody. Shit turns upside down. Crazy film. Somewhat unnerving. Should appeal to both the bloodbath lovers and the suspense fiends.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDOB37YzGNNVIGX4Abr_vmJmSVlCzcbxx4-2tcJldpxuEXO-GLQIp0anWWhwzc18IXIh0GpViasNZPeXgB4KgOSo52rC3jTKm99bcKrK0kUVLQRF6pkjmOK3wNdg8JYj5mhTAjkI7hfPI/s1600/It-Follows-Movie-Poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDOB37YzGNNVIGX4Abr_vmJmSVlCzcbxx4-2tcJldpxuEXO-GLQIp0anWWhwzc18IXIh0GpViasNZPeXgB4KgOSo52rC3jTKm99bcKrK0kUVLQRF6pkjmOK3wNdg8JYj5mhTAjkI7hfPI/s320/It-Follows-Movie-Poster.jpg" width="224" /></a><i>It Follows</i> - Simple, effective horror film that has a real '80s retro feel. Girl gets a supernatural curse passed on to her by losing her virginity to someone she doesn't know very well. Someone is chasing her. Following her. Slowly and methodically. Who, you ask? Hard telling. It's an entity that hops from person to person, kind of like in that Denzel movie, <i>Fallen</i>. What'll it do when it catches her? Let's hope we don't find out... The soundtrack on this one, by synthwave master Disasterpeace, is nothing short of amazing. Creepy AF.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd68aOrVoCkyVllZ2X5MKJtauu5hn2qcHtPg4Z_TDI1x1sT0veqVsl8XW82ePjUmscD4juZlv7OrVmRxyOPNcMbFZUPFOswcqr_JzcrG5SEorENat73vNCUvbQCVtTK4tQ4HNigrPckCw/s1600/thevisit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd68aOrVoCkyVllZ2X5MKJtauu5hn2qcHtPg4Z_TDI1x1sT0veqVsl8XW82ePjUmscD4juZlv7OrVmRxyOPNcMbFZUPFOswcqr_JzcrG5SEorENat73vNCUvbQCVtTK4tQ4HNigrPckCw/s320/thevisit.jpg" width="215" /></a></div>
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<i>The Visit</i> - Once throwing a seemingly endless run of gutterball after gutterball, M. Night Shyamalan finally picks up the spare with <i>The Visit</i>! This movie creeped the living shit out of me several times. A couple of kids go to meet their long-estranged grandparents for the first time after their mother finally makes amends with them online for a fight that happened before the kids were even born. Much effed-up Shyamalaniness ensues.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc51W_tMHVpK-PDNARSGjVgiqtEPBHhFirXv0bPsVDRHgQxBVMBqAazxqAnKM5qFofNYluHWAX4_RzuAiJHEvb5AMBQtmyehJ2rr2Q8PgKyk0cQ97_0nVEaNwaYsYXTD3gGCB5zgxAdvw/s1600/creep-movie-poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc51W_tMHVpK-PDNARSGjVgiqtEPBHhFirXv0bPsVDRHgQxBVMBqAazxqAnKM5qFofNYluHWAX4_RzuAiJHEvb5AMBQtmyehJ2rr2Q8PgKyk0cQ97_0nVEaNwaYsYXTD3gGCB5zgxAdvw/s320/creep-movie-poster.jpg" width="213" /></a><i>Creep</i> - First impression: "Oh no, not another low budget, first-person shot, crap horror movie with a $20 budget..." WRONG. Definitely worth a watch. A guy goes answers a classified ad to he;p someone shoot a film. It turns out that the subject of the film is chronicling the life of a terminal cancer patient (the guy who placed the ad) so that his unborn son can get to know him - you know, like that Michael Keaton movie <i>My Life</i>. Then it gets creepy to say the least. Very creepy. Only two people are on-screen throughout the whole film, but their performances are very convincing and the threat is real, present and palpable. My heart was in my throat a couple of times.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBTJhbdDr85o0fmib_Yl-SACHM5JHPIOI2NwFhIXSCVXGEXy3uY3ur3g-298KFLQOm3uts1p71UCuq_6TzonSvM5nYoQhLWzp7vhISY1leltakrZWHmpGSLQUdMd53Dzue71NeFIe3XZM/s1600/theboy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBTJhbdDr85o0fmib_Yl-SACHM5JHPIOI2NwFhIXSCVXGEXy3uY3ur3g-298KFLQOm3uts1p71UCuq_6TzonSvM5nYoQhLWzp7vhISY1leltakrZWHmpGSLQUdMd53Dzue71NeFIe3XZM/s320/theboy.jpg" width="215" /></a></div>
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<i>The Boy</i> - Yet another person answers an ad, this time it's an American woman (Lauren Cohan of <i>Walking Dead</i> fame) traveling to the UK to play nanny for a British boy. When she gets to the remote estate, she finds that the elderly parents actually want her to nanny a four-foot, poseable porcelain doll as though it's alive. They seem convinced that it's not actually even a doll, but that it is in fact their human son, Brahms. It's silly, right? But they're paying her major bankroll, so she stays. Then it turns from silly to creepy. Then it gets downright supernatural, and finally, dangerous. I really liked this one more than I expected to. I was totally along for the ride, and I experienced every revelation along with the main characters. It's not the most original, I'll admit; I've seen a lot of the plot devices done better elsewhere, but they were recycled efficiently.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk66BwuwK4evPHIyY6LDRclwmAWsJLDnMba0gH5l6Nvw8gca7t-MPkmNn55P-edyBIgD03yKbvT8OKob2NDEynATaRdv3WwETVBMdtXF0SOYUgia2IyPvCJDpCIGVfeB7VZxAzkLNCiAY/s1600/the-witch-final-poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk66BwuwK4evPHIyY6LDRclwmAWsJLDnMba0gH5l6Nvw8gca7t-MPkmNn55P-edyBIgD03yKbvT8OKob2NDEynATaRdv3WwETVBMdtXF0SOYUgia2IyPvCJDpCIGVfeB7VZxAzkLNCiAY/s320/the-witch-final-poster.jpg" width="216" /></a><i>The Witch</i> - I'll start by saying this one is NOT for everyone. And I'll give that caveat when it starts renting on May 17. It's not a "smack-you-over-the-head-with-scariness" horror movie. It's a subtle, slow creeper that builds methodically toward a horrible crescendo. It's a period film set in the mid-1600's New England, and as such, so is the language. If thou art not ready for language that speaketh as though it hails from a far distant time, thou ought not partake in this drama. A family makes their home on the edge of a forest after being ejected from town after the father committed a crime. The kids come to believe a witch lives deep in the forest. Shit starts happening that backs up that theory, not the least of which is the unexplained sudden disappearance of the baby from under his eldest sister's nose during a game of peek-a-boo. Psychological and supernatural tensions rise as the family deals with their predicament, and as the shite hitteth the fan, I squirm and want it to be over. Without spoilers, I love the final scene of this movie. I can't wait to give this film another viewing next week. Another killer soundtrack too. This one is minimal with frequently dissonant, sometimes screeching strings that brings to mind portions of Kronos Quartet's fantastically jarring <i>Black Angels</i> album. Add to that an occasional layer of Damien-worthy choir vocals and some extremely agitated chanting, and you have Mark Korven's deliciously creepy complement to this cinematic creepfest.<br />
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<i>Don't Breathe</i> - Not a supernatural horror picture, but rather a more plausible-in-real-life sort of storyline. Normally I have a hard time relating to film characters when they've displayed criminal behavior. In this case, we have a small group of young adults who decide to rob an old, blind hermit whom it's rumored has a large sum of cash in his house. Turns out this dude is a former marine and he's kinda like an old, pissed off Daredevil. He locks everyone in, secures the house, shuts out the lights, and chases these would-be criminals around the house, hunting them down one by one. It's hard not to be on the side of the millennial loser wannabe crooks by the time they become the victims. This is one nail-biter of a film that I've recommended countless times lately.<br />
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So anyway, there's a handful of recent thrillers that I'd recommend checking out. They're sparse treasures among the glut of common, low-budget dreck that litters the video store wall. Have fun with them! I'll have more recommendations for you another time.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3936904201624233354.post-45366793788443777652015-09-28T16:54:00.000-05:002015-09-29T09:44:54.908-05:00Shark Island returns...Kind ofI just discovered a true gem on Apple Music.<br />
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Back in 1989 I acquired a cassette copy of what will always be one of my favorite soundtrack albums, that of the soundtrack for <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096928/soundtrack" target="_blank">Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure</a></i>. Through it I was introduced to several new bands, the first of which was, of course, Big Pig, with their opening track "I Can't Break Away," which led me in turn to buy their album, <i>Bonk</i>, which subsequently stunned and impressed me with such great, heavily percussive, alternative(? I'm not sure there's a genre to describe Big Pig) tunes as "Big Hotel," "Hungry Town," "Devil's Song" and so many more.<br />
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That, in turn, led me to re-purchase that particular album on CD when the tape wore out. I also bought the followup CD years later. Not as good, but still managed a few good tracks. Great band. Sorry to know that they are not only defunct, but I can't really find anything substantial any one of them has gone on to do in the music industry.<br />
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But this entry is not about Big Pig.<br />
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This soundtrack also introduced me to Extreme. "Play with Me" was a blisteringly fast, melodic rock song that really blew me away. Their debut and sophomore albums were amazing and among my favorites of the era, and unlike Big Pig, they quickly found relative commercial success, but lost me along with that. Don't even get me started on Gary Cherone in Van Halen.<br />
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This post isn't about them either.<br />
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Tora Tora and Nelson both made solid appearances on the soundtrack as well (though the latter appeared as "Power Tool" due to a contract arrangement prior to their debut album release), as did a couple other even lesser-knowns. But it ain't about them either.<br />
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This is about Shark Island, one of the most underrated melodic hard rock bands of the late '80s. This group, along with Babylon A.D., has one of those non-success stories that kind of sickens me, because they were really good yet practically ignored, and I place the blame squarely on their labels. Both bands had incredible debut albums boasting a solid selection of songs with no filler, but suffered horribly from a lack of promotion and airplay.<br />
<i><br /></i><i>Law of the Order</i> was Shark Island's major label debut album, releasing the same year as the <i>Bill </i><i>& Ted</i> soundtrack, as did Extreme's eponymous debut, and Tora Tora's <i>Sneak Attack</i>. It was a fantastic set of music, start to finish. Great riffs & catchy melodies abound, and Richard Black's vocals were spot-on throughout. This album should have been a huge success. It's a crying shame that Epic just let such genius material sit and rot.<i><br /></i><br />
FFWD>> to 2007, and I'm still listening to the album with some regularity. In August that year Shark Island released a new album. They'd apparently gotten most of the original band together to bring to fruition a bunch of old material and demos they'd had sitting around in the vault. This was exciting news. Unfortunately, the prospect was far more exciting than the final project.<br />
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<i>Gathering of the Faithful</i> is a great album title, and it makes a fan of the band think, "Wow, this is an album dedicated to <i>me</i>, one of the faithful who recognized the genius of the first album and waited faithfully for 18 years for an amazing followup. I'm finally gonna get my reward." Sadly, what you get when you play the album, no matter whether you're a fan or not, is a bunch of castoff material that shouldn't have made it to an actual album release. There's a reason they didn't record this stuff 15 years earlier. It kind of sucks. And, insult to injury, the production value sucks too. The band sounds like they haven't played together for almost two decades. Major disappointment.<br />
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Today I discovered on Apple Music that there's other Shark Island material out there as well. In 2004 an independent French label had the good sense to re-release <i>Law of the Order</i> in 2-disc format, adding a disc of live material recorded at the Whisky A Go Go in July 1989, five months after the release of <i>Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure</i>, when these guys were raring for takeoff after having slogged along and slowly built up a pretty decent following after 10 years on the L.A. rock scene.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/alive-at-the-whiskey/id957749331" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBLVo9gUCx1hDgfQlbovTHGmS0ODDzEUU9QujN_5-iCijIgHKIYQjAARk9Opl0Y0tlMvPd0BEqaHbr0fwU9tw9R0-BoBDnFOJaignNwZV9wfAoiXmcvkRxQbNVs36d4ATdZ_OH6cXqXEo/s400/alive.PNG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/alive-at-the-whiskey/id957749331" target="_blank">Shark Island: Alive at the Whiskey - July 14, 1989 Bastille Day on iTunes</a></td></tr>
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That disc is now available online. Though you'll shell out $60 or more for a secondhand mint-condition LP, you can now own a digital copy through iTunes for a mere 8 bucks. It's worth every penny. Even though most of the tracks are just live versions of the same material on <i>Law of the Order</i>, they are done with such energy and passion that each selection is given new life. If you happen to be a fan of this band looking for additional listening, I would recommend the live versions of the stuff you already know on <i>Alive at the Whiskey</i> long before I'd recommend the sloppy-seconds original material you'll find on <i>Gathering of the Faithful</i>.<br />
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There is kind of a heartbreaking moment buried in the glee I was feeling in enjoying this fantastic resurrected material. As the band finishes the final notes of "Get Some Strange" and they soak in the applause and cheers, singer Richard Black slips out of the rock star persona for a second and you get the sense that he suddenly truly noticed the crowd reaction and the fact that he was on this great stage with his band, getting major exposure on a really successful film soundtrack, and things were beginning to finally happen, that all their work was finally paying off. He shouts to the crowd, "Unbelievable!" Followed up with, seemingly more to himself, "My dreams have come true."<br />
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If only he had know how badly his record company was going to fuck him over. Such a waste.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3936904201624233354.post-16709801651098634922015-08-29T22:07:00.000-05:002015-09-29T08:29:14.557-05:00A Coaster Compendium - UPDATE<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
My list now consists of 69 coasters! </div>
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Added two from Six Flags Great America--one is new, and the other is an old one I had completely forgotten about ever having ridden. Also, I finally got to ride Justice League 3D at Six Flags St. Louis a few times.</div>
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First there's Goliath, the most badass wooden coaster ever. Rode that one at the beginning of this season. Twice. Had to wait a very long time but that coaster was the only real reason I was there. It broke down three times the first time I was in line, but come hell or high water I was riding it. </div>
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SO worth the wait. It's really sort of a hybrid if you ask me. There is obviously some very slick steel track embedded in that wooden framework because it rides like BUTTER. Smoothest coaster I've ever ridden, steel or wood, hands down.</div>
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Speaking of "hands down," one particular feature of this coaster is that there is no kind of handhold whatsoever. There's a lap restrain and a shin restraint to keep you in. No shoulder harness, and no bar on the back of the seat in front of you. If you're one one those "hold on tight til it's over" people, you're gonna have real trouble figuring out what to do with those hands. I'd suggest put 'em up.</div>
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Goliath is the fastest wooden coaster in the world, at a blistering but completely smooth 72 mph. Additionally it set records for the tallest drop and steepest drop on a wooden coaster--180 feet beginning at an incline of 85 degrees.</div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">And second is the no-longer-there Tidal Wave, which consisted of a lead up track and a single, enormous loop. For my age when I rode it, that thing was pretty amazing. Kinda wish it was still around, but I guess it just lost its impact when looping coasters became so commonplace. Only thing is, that damn loop was tall. I'm sure it was taller than any other loop I've been on since.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue Light, HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Finally, there's Justice League Battle for Metropolis 4D at Six Flags St. Louis, which replaced the Scooby Doo Ghostblasters laser target shooting boat ride.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue Light, HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Eventually my patience was rewarded and we have ridden this one four or fives times so far this season. It's an indoor target shooting game that incorporates 3D effects, lasers, fog, a six axis rotating coaster car on a linear track, and complex animatronics for a really immersive experience.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue Light, HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Here's a few pics, including my personal high score after three rides on it. I scored in the top 10% of all scores registered thus far, the ride informed me at the end!</span></div>
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<ul>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">American Eagle </b>(Six Flags Great America) <a href="http://shanemcgraw.blogspot.com/2013/04/coaster-compendium-detail-1.html" target="_blank"><i>[details]</i></a></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">American Thunder / Evel Knievel </b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">(</span>Six Flags St. Louis) <a href="http://shanemcgraw.blogspot.com/2013/04/coaster-compendium-detail-1.html" target="_blank"><i>[details]</i></a></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Avatar Airbender</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> (</span>Mall of America) <a href="http://shanemcgraw.blogspot.com/2013/04/coaster-compendium-detail-1.html" target="_blank"><i>[details]</i></a></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Batman: The Ride</b> <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">(</span>Six Flags St. Louis)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Batman: The Ride</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> (</span>Six Flags Over Georgia)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Batman: The Ride</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> (</span>Six Flags Great America)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Bizarro / Medusa</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> (S</span>ix Flags Great Adventure)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Blackbeard's Lost Treasure Train</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> (</span>Six Flags Great Adventure)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Blue Streak</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b>(</span>Cedar Point)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><strong style="font-weight: bold;">Boomerang / Flashback</strong><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><strong style="font-weight: bold;"> </strong><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">(</span>Six Flags St. Louis)<span style="color: yellow;"> </span><span style="color: black;"><a href="http://shanemcgraw.blogspot.com/2013/06/let-talk-about-this-new-coaster.html" target="_blank"><em>[details]</em></a></span></span></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">The Boss</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b style="font-weight: bold;"> </b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">(</span>Six Flags St. Louis)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Cedar Creek Mine Train</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b>(</span>Cedar Point)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Corkscrew</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> (</span>Cedar Point)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Dahlonega Mine Train</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b>(</span>Six Flags Over Georgia)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Dark Knight Coaster</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b>(</span>Six Flags Great Adventure)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Dark Knight Coaster </b>(Six Flags Great America)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Demon</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b style="font-weight: bold;"> </b>(Six Flags Great America)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Disaster Transport</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b>(</span>Cedar Point)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">El Toro</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b>(</span>Six Flags Great Adventure)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Fairly OddParents Fairly OddCoaster</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> (</span>Mall of America)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Gemini</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b>(</span>Cedar Point)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Georgia Cyclone</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b>(</span>Six Flags Over Georgia)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Georgia Scorcher</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">(</span>Six Flags Over Georgia)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Goliath </b>(Six Flags Great America) <i><span style="color: yellow;">**NEW**</span></i></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Great American Scream Machine</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b>(</span>Six Flags Over Georgia)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Green Lantern</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b>(</span>Six Flags Great Adventure)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Iron Dragon</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> (</span>Cedar Point)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Iron Wolf</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b style="font-weight: bold;"> </b>(Six Flags Great America)</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><b>Justice League Battle for Metropolis 4D</b> (</span></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue Light, HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Six Flags St. Louis) </span></span><i style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: yellow;">**NEW**</span></i></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Kingda Ka</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b>(</span>Six Flags Great Adventure)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Little Dipper</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b style="font-weight: bold;"> </b>(Six Flags Great America)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Magnum XL-200</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b>(</span>Cedar Point)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Mantis</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b>(</span>Cedar Point)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Maverick</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b>(</span>Cedar Point)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Mean Streak</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b>(</span>Cedar Point)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Millenium Force</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b>(</span>Cedar Point)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Mind Bender</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> (</span>Six Flags Over Georgia)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Mr. Freeze</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">(</span>Six Flags St. Louis)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Mr. Freeze Reverse Blast</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b style="font-weight: bold;"> </b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">(</span>Six Flags St. Louis)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Ninja</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b style="font-weight: bold;"> </b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">(</span>Six Flags St. Louis)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Ninja</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b>(</span>Six Flags Over Georgia)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Nitro</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b>(</span>Six Flags Great Adventure)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Opa!</b> <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">(</span>Mt. Olympus Indoor Theme Park)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Pandemonium / Tony Hawk's Big Spin</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b style="font-weight: bold;"> </b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">(</span>Six Flags St. Louis)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Pepsi Orange Streak</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b>(</span>Mall of America)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Ragin' Cajun</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b style="font-weight: bold;"> </b>(Six Flags Great America)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Raging Bull</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b style="font-weight: bold;"> </b>(Six Flags Great America)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Raptor</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b>(</span>Cedar Point)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">River King Mine Train</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b style="font-weight: bold;"> </b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">(</span>Six Flags St. Louis)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Rolling Thunder</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b>(</span>Six Flags Great Adventure)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Rolling Thunder</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b style="font-weight: bold;"> [bobsled ride] </b>(Six Flags Great America)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Runaway Mine Train</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b>(</span>Six Flags Great Adventure)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Screamin' Eagle</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">(</span>Six Flags St. Louis)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Shockwave</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b style="font-weight: bold;"> </b>(Six Flags Great America)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Skull Mountain</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b>(</span>Six Flags Great Adventure)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><b>Space Mountain</b> </span>(Walt Disney World)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Spongebob Squarepants Rock Bottom Plunge</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b>(</span>Mall of America)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Superman: Ultimate Flight</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> (</span>Six Flags Over Georgia)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Superman: Ultimate Flight</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b style="font-weight: bold;"> </b>(Six Flags Great America)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><b>Tidal Wave</b> </span>(Six Flags Great America) <i><span style="color: yellow;">**NEW** I'd forgotten about this one!</span></i></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Top Thrill Dragster</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b>(</span>Cedar Point)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Tornado</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b>(</span>Adventureland)</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Twister</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b>(</span>Six Flags Great Adventure)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">V2: Vertical Velocity</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b style="font-weight: bold;"> </b>(Six Flags Great America)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Viper</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b style="font-weight: bold;"> </b>(Six Flags Great America)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b>Whizzer</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> (Six Flags Great America)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Wicked Twister</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b>(</span>Cedar Point)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Wile E. Coyote Canyon Blaster</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b> </b>(</span>Six Flags Over Georgia)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">X-Flight</b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><b style="font-weight: bold;"> </b>(Six Flags Great America)</span></li>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3936904201624233354.post-90304109810792663612015-05-19T09:48:00.000-05:002015-05-19T09:48:15.971-05:00Wah wah wwaahhhhh...Grrr! Justice League is still under construction, even two trips to into the season. We will be returning to the park for July 4th and I'm very confident the ride will be open by then. Stay tuned...<br />
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On a related note, this week I'll be adding Goliath to my list of conquests. Stay tuned for more on that as well...Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3936904201624233354.post-52146651375796642632015-03-19T16:55:00.000-05:002015-03-19T16:55:00.116-05:00More coasters coming!As Six Flags season approaches yet again, I'm gearing up with some genuine excitement because of two impending additions to my coaster conquest compendium:<br />
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Six Flags St. Louis opens, as always, on Good Friday. And, as we have done many times in the past, we will be there to secure our season passes. However, the passes will have to wait, as I want to be on the first official go-round of the new Justice League 4D dark ride once the park has opened for the season.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzD0WJdW7q8LfgTtiY2e1qRo21vdnZ47pjy4q22kWb08Map499upojbKud6X9GKZI_4uKvxpTlzB6U-17iPLFc8sIQWC7VE3jCT3IC3ifHgFsGrlfQ8eD7CUZfAmV6sUZZlf_lav4UBaI/s1600/1171294.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzD0WJdW7q8LfgTtiY2e1qRo21vdnZ47pjy4q22kWb08Map499upojbKud6X9GKZI_4uKvxpTlzB6U-17iPLFc8sIQWC7VE3jCT3IC3ifHgFsGrlfQ8eD7CUZfAmV6sUZZlf_lav4UBaI/s1600/1171294.jpg" height="311" width="400" /></a></div>
Justice League Battle for Metropolis 4D is billed as the first ride of its kind in North America. It's a "dark ride," similar to the Scooby Doo Ghostblasters boat ride that previously occupied the same space in the park, save for the boat part; this one rides on rails... I think. Either that, or it maybe doesn't move at all, but rather is a more "virtual" experience.<br />
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It's also similar to Scooby Doo in that the ride involves offing baddies and various other targets with laser guns attached to the conveyance. But that is where the similarities end.<br />
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Battle for Metropolis boasts the best, most high-tech animatronic characters this side of Disney World. In addition, it somehow incorporates "4D glasses." Not sure how that works exactly, but I can tell you with certainty that those glasses are going to be in the best shape of their lives on opening day. By midsummer you'll be lucky to see anything out of them. Unless maybe they're disposables? I don't know. There's an air of mystery about them as yet.<br />
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Oh, and Six Flags says this ride has 600+ shooting targets (!) compared to Scooby Doo's pitiful 115. In addition, we know that the ride incorporates five enormous screens, special effects, custom music and top-notch voice acting. JLBFM was designed by Sally Corp. (of Ghostblasters fame) and Oceaneering provides the motion-controlled ride vehicles.<br />
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I'm pretty stoked for this one. If it doesn't ride on rails, I'll still be super-excited to ride it on opening weekend, despite not being able to add it to my coaster tally. I'm confident that we'll be riding this one as a family at least two or three times Easter weekend.<br />
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The following month, we are planning a trip to Chicago, where I'll be taking in a Laibach concert. Our plan is, as long as we're there, to hit Six Flags Great America the following day (or two). This has me even more excited than I am for the concert, and I've been a Laibach fan for over 20 years, never having been to a show before, The reason this trip has me prematurely creaming my jeans is, of course, the coaster that was new for 2014 but we didn't go last year to ride it - GOLIATH!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQq_9ZAoZ0r4vqE1TEXLWK3yZN2QSOLdJtWDo0LGcDIKoPPqWw8pqZTQknXb62yM7ZbThTu9b2NmdysSYylIfXQTYiisRLWsyj-KnDXQOJxYAthm_abw4RxfFV7YGi5hxc_1u_RfLp0pc/s1600/sfga_goliathkeyart.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQq_9ZAoZ0r4vqE1TEXLWK3yZN2QSOLdJtWDo0LGcDIKoPPqWw8pqZTQknXb62yM7ZbThTu9b2NmdysSYylIfXQTYiisRLWsyj-KnDXQOJxYAthm_abw4RxfFV7YGi5hxc_1u_RfLp0pc/s1600/sfga_goliathkeyart.jpg" height="298" width="320" /></a></div>
Shattering records as the world's tallest, fastest and steepest wooden coaster, this behemoth is the one I've been waiting all my life to ride:<br />
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<li>An initial 85-degree, 180-foot drop</li>
<li>72 MPH top speed</li>
<li>Two overbanked inversions</li>
<li>180-degree zer-G roll twist</li>
<li>Inverted zero-G stall</li>
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I'm just floored when a wooden coaster goes upside down. This baby does it several times. I cannot wait to board this sucker. I'm hoping the lines will be OK since it's a year old now.<br />
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I can't tell you how much I adore the Great America park north of Chicago. It was always my day-trip vacation destination of choice when I was a youngster, and it continues to be. The only pain in my ass now that I'm the dad is all the damn tolls along the way. That's where St. Louis takes an advantage over Great America. Actually, if you want me to be honest, the ONLY way in which Great America is better than St. Louis is in the number and quality of its rides. St. Louis has Great America beat on all other counts, including food, ticket/season pass price, weather, crowding, and the fact that there are a few rides that I'd miss if I had to only go to Chicago instead.<br />
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The Boss, American Thunder, and Screaming Eagle are the unique coasters in St. Louis that I enjoy most. Along with Screaming Eagle, the park's other iconic amusement ride is its giant Ferris Wheel, Colossus. We make a point to ride it every trip. It's a great way to decompress after a long day in the sun and on your feet.<br />
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But I digress. Obviously I'm excited to be heading to Six Flags once again. I was beginning to feel like an old fart because I haven't ridden a roller coaster in a couple years, and I literally can't remember the last time I flew from the seat of a playground swing. Thank goodness spring has arrived in Central Illinois. I need to get my ass to the playground with my kids, stat. No getting old for me just yet.<br />
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Stay tuned for more after Easter. I can't wait to tell you about the Justice League ride.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3936904201624233354.post-52384620706882069002015-03-18T14:47:00.000-05:002015-03-18T14:48:36.232-05:00March Madness, Metal-StyleHey, Manowarriors worldwide! I've got a chance for you to stand up and be counted! Speak out for your true metal heroes and make your voice heard! <a href="http://loudwire.com/" target="_blank">Loudwire</a> is taking the college sports sensation known in the States as "March Madness" and co-opted it for metalheads everywhere. They've created brackets for fans to vote on and find the best metal mascot ever.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYSLxa0HaoHNqzQPd10EFwVEu7CFCqD5rO39mI-rEJBs7ZmpmMx-0FjpSz917FZxHYfXKy8tYD6O3vEf7iLPztKyNMLGTC5bbkvvdUMyaptgZxbrFU4p6tJDdAXnayr_BwR01W5Boij4k/s1600/MMMM-630x420.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYSLxa0HaoHNqzQPd10EFwVEu7CFCqD5rO39mI-rEJBs7ZmpmMx-0FjpSz917FZxHYfXKy8tYD6O3vEf7iLPztKyNMLGTC5bbkvvdUMyaptgZxbrFU4p6tJDdAXnayr_BwR01W5Boij4k/s1600/MMMM-630x420.jpg" height="425" width="640" /></a></div>
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The first match-up is Black Sabbath's occasionally used demon known as "Henry" vs. Manowar's ubiquitous "Manowarrior." Face it, folks, the United States is heavily biased toward Sabbath, so my <strong>overseas brothers and sisters of true metal</strong> are the only ones who are gonna be able to save our beloved Manowarrior from certain defeat at the hands of a part-time mascot whom he could rip apart with his bare hands in a true brawl.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSpzlsz-tDgnUtVff4uJ46MHfBfuXJGwZCLLtovjxG0SM9YPwEe6G4rwJAaWLKtI9NU8f5m08yW1fsAaiqFMqI5etzvsV9qcA3e2wfGrFfR47NtUfZQjP6jkd2649MBFcU1Z1A0SE_7ZA/s1600/Black-Sabbath-vs-Manowar-630x420.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSpzlsz-tDgnUtVff4uJ46MHfBfuXJGwZCLLtovjxG0SM9YPwEe6G4rwJAaWLKtI9NU8f5m08yW1fsAaiqFMqI5etzvsV9qcA3e2wfGrFfR47NtUfZQjP6jkd2649MBFcU1Z1A0SE_7ZA/s1600/Black-Sabbath-vs-Manowar-630x420.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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Help me bring our Manowarrior victory! Hail and Kill! Visit <a href="http://loudwire.com/black-sabbath-vs-manowar-march-metal-mascot-madness-round-1/?fb_action_ids=10204003059259023&fb_action_types=og.shares&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map=%5B802848906436597%5D&action_type_map=%5B%22og.shares%22%5D&action_ref_map=%5B%5D" target="_blank">this round 1 voting link</a> and cast your vote today! <strong>Voting ends at noon on Monday 23 March GMT</strong>. Spread the word and take the metal world by STORM!<br />
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HAIL AND KILL!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3936904201624233354.post-85377314478494073582015-02-23T17:12:00.000-06:002015-02-24T15:21:10.953-06:00A new facet to the same careerI've recently begun crafting business logos as a part of my job. I'm totally down with that. How cool will it be to be able to see a logo I design on a pen, tee shirt or truck door some day?<br />
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I've done probably three logo designs in the past seven years, but lately I pumped out two, and the sentiment seems to be that they'll be becoming an ever more common part of my job.</div>
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The first I did is for a charitable institution that will be opening its doors in Peoria, Illinois once all the balls roll into place. It is to be rehabilitation center modeled after San Francisco's Delancey Street Foundation. Its board of directors asked me to come up with a logo, and after a few drafts they settled on the idea of emulating the soon-to-be-iconic gabled roof of the building chosen to house this project.</div>
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The final logo ended up like so:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzZyy1duK-KyImq6DOmoJvwcHneNKVYIA8jP2t9vgC73r8-c_oR4o_osKMuvUMQXUZbgEk4kLEyNpnRz2pwTbw8yJ4NVPg0IEG6C2WVLleHtvTSNxxjQw08s5zaHBipS4F4Jui0o3fnmU/s1600/AdamsStreetFoundation-Logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzZyy1duK-KyImq6DOmoJvwcHneNKVYIA8jP2t9vgC73r8-c_oR4o_osKMuvUMQXUZbgEk4kLEyNpnRz2pwTbw8yJ4NVPg0IEG6C2WVLleHtvTSNxxjQw08s5zaHBipS4F4Jui0o3fnmU/s1600/AdamsStreetFoundation-Logo.jpg" height="242" width="320" /></a></div>
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A few weeks later, I was approached to create a logo for a lawn service business. With little to no input from the owners I ended up with this:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZU7JtaQo3Q4Egb2Ztv1awTTfo1xhWk5TiMsgp9ekecTKmQ_gwq8IkHBkVwyNZftwZTluAF-La-rPbOQDDGzEZq-Neztki8xd8foLeboOcCv_JM3M8itn6kbA7BaNnBKEjnfSFuCGiLBY/s1600/BOCKS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZU7JtaQo3Q4Egb2Ztv1awTTfo1xhWk5TiMsgp9ekecTKmQ_gwq8IkHBkVwyNZftwZTluAF-La-rPbOQDDGzEZq-Neztki8xd8foLeboOcCv_JM3M8itn6kbA7BaNnBKEjnfSFuCGiLBY/s1600/BOCKS.jpg" height="182" width="400" /></a></div>
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As it turns out, there was a mis-communication; the company already had a logo, but they liked mine so well they decided to ditch the old one and move forward using the new one.</div>
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I had another incident like that last year with a company I thought I was designing a logo for, but instead I was trying to reproduce an existing one, sight-unseen. What I thought was creative input from a manager was instead recollection of what he'd seen on the gas station sign.</div>
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Navigating by the creative direction I'd been fed, I came up with what was almost exactly their very logo. However, since I thought I was doing an original creation, I had taken some more aesthetic detours along the way, and I think to this day that I designed one that's way better than what they've been using:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqPo5GsxRMWzWKxwLBEt6-Slfmut4tbR07fXNjgmQq5JthpBe-rk0U_Z4-0fMpARgcCnSShKMyXKR1SKCuBRI42eI9cJUacKFF_CqSgGRaGcXdNe4RdrUj-6kHgeXko7mfTeIzDM8J2RA/s1600/JACKSON-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqPo5GsxRMWzWKxwLBEt6-Slfmut4tbR07fXNjgmQq5JthpBe-rk0U_Z4-0fMpARgcCnSShKMyXKR1SKCuBRI42eI9cJUacKFF_CqSgGRaGcXdNe4RdrUj-6kHgeXko7mfTeIzDM8J2RA/s1600/JACKSON-2.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
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Jackson Express, if you're reading this, you're still always welcome to use mine instead. You know it's snazzier.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3936904201624233354.post-78025180166814822742015-01-24T13:12:00.000-06:002015-02-04T13:13:56.240-06:00It's a busy life...sure beats the alternativeIt seems like forever since I've posted anything here. I'd apologize, but I only have two regular readers, so that would be silly. It's not like there are hundreds or even dozens of people hanging on my words. Suppose I can take however much time I want between posts.<br />
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Anyway, so one of the things that's been taking my time is a newsletter I'd love to show off to you. It's quarterly, so I only spend probably a total of five to six weeks a year on this, but I'm always so very pleased with the final product. It's a much more in-depth commitment than the weekly e-newsletter I throw together every weekend and distribute through Constant Contact. This one is actually a print newsletter and I do everything for it but write. Editing, photography (or image hunting; about half of the images are shot by me, while the others are either public domain or CC-sharealike), layout, electronic conversion, etc. are all me.<br />
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Please take a look at them <a href="http://www.waterstreet.org/news" target="_blank">here</a>. Heck, if you're agriculture-minded, go ahead and inquire about signing up. It's free.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3936904201624233354.post-36405720613220628332014-10-24T11:45:00.000-05:002014-10-24T11:59:33.962-05:00A funny exchange on TwitterAT&T tried to sell <a href="https://twitter.com/TweetOfAbbadon" target="_blank">Beelzebub</a> a cable & internet package this week. Laughing my ass off.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifnfa6Vgj955LxzxQxp4dKHTL6hv1fbp1_7fpXPceXe8V-Y0qCmkzPRtgvv4mmY5tnCFfJULt6nMUgZET_2sLKGsavEzm-YovQ1Z8PmkIVPeRsrJS4QPvCXaH4pIOqbkXVaS-x4uG3uv8/s1600/HIM+Haha.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifnfa6Vgj955LxzxQxp4dKHTL6hv1fbp1_7fpXPceXe8V-Y0qCmkzPRtgvv4mmY5tnCFfJULt6nMUgZET_2sLKGsavEzm-YovQ1Z8PmkIVPeRsrJS4QPvCXaH4pIOqbkXVaS-x4uG3uv8/s1600/HIM+Haha.png" /></a></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3936904201624233354.post-28513007435035013362014-10-09T11:50:00.000-05:002014-10-09T12:51:27.295-05:00Angry Cat is the new Grumpy Cat<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFguky2toc2eN0mL9_O8qWK9343f1OvzmqOlEsvVEbkQOrBMJXzybgSGq4Jlib70Bs7jiXZr-_2wuF7rZTmpCKSNUN8xYbfbGMFAWC-UVFnz2HuwixDMyu-EUSMg-FPcXSq-x8Mn7OyCg/s1600/GarfiGrinch.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFguky2toc2eN0mL9_O8qWK9343f1OvzmqOlEsvVEbkQOrBMJXzybgSGq4Jlib70Bs7jiXZr-_2wuF7rZTmpCKSNUN8xYbfbGMFAWC-UVFnz2HuwixDMyu-EUSMg-FPcXSq-x8Mn7OyCg/s1600/GarfiGrinch.png" /></a></div>
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Meet Garfi, the Internet's newest <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/07/angry-cat-garfi-photos_n_5948950.html" target="_blank">feline of fame</a>. His Flickr/Twitter/Facebook pages are blowing up right now because he's so much more bad-ass than <a href="http://www.grumpycats.com/" target="_blank">Tard the Grumpy Cat</a> ever was. Thanks to great free exposure like the above linked HuffPo piece and <a href="https://twitter.com/nerdist" target="_blank">Chris Hardwick</a>'s Garfi-centric bit on a recent episode of his <a href="http://atmidnightcc.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">@Midnight</a> gameshow on Comedy Central, we will no doubt be seeing a lot of Garfi in the coming months. He's a meme in the making.<br />
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So the moment I saw a Santa suit photo I thought, <i>"Grinch. Someone <b>has</b> to make him the Grinch."</i> Of course I figured that if I could think of it, someone else has undoubtedly done it already...<br />
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Guess not though. FIRST!<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3936904201624233354.post-44508783021063628892014-09-30T06:27:00.000-05:002014-09-30T07:28:33.086-05:00iPhone art for you. Merry Christmas.I got a new iPhone 5c last week, and of course I've rushed to customize it, especially since Halloween is peeking at us from around the corner.<br />
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Since I'm a huge Mercyful Fate & King Diamond fan, I thought a themed lock screen/home screen would be perfect, so I grabbed a <em>Melissa</em> album cover online and doctored it up a bit to throw on there. If you like it, go ahead and grab it yourself.<br />
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Note: I changed the background from yellow to green, so it's good to go all the way through Christmas. :)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGFxVYw_LjqWvgf1RJYUf4eESh8A2dW2hNgMDju2zJ33fvjS1waCTC7x9JuMdl4QK9clVCQVb0YY-DvyHt3l2qMdAyDTbnDHzqfGazSmFwS9eAc_g0J9y78dhoXBjdtlWPgeQ62o93xyw/s1600/melissa+screen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGFxVYw_LjqWvgf1RJYUf4eESh8A2dW2hNgMDju2zJ33fvjS1waCTC7x9JuMdl4QK9clVCQVb0YY-DvyHt3l2qMdAyDTbnDHzqfGazSmFwS9eAc_g0J9y78dhoXBjdtlWPgeQ62o93xyw/s1600/melissa+screen.jpg" title="Melissa iPhone 5 art" /></a></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3936904201624233354.post-81394902908241416862014-09-02T07:47:00.001-05:002014-09-02T07:47:12.256-05:00This may be a lost causeAfter this long period of trying, fully lucid dreaming is still escaping me. However, I'm going to keep on plugging away because I've had some very interesting nighttime adventures in the last month or so.<div><br></div><div>I blame last night's crazy narrative on the DayQuil. Trans-dimensional closet gateways, possessed kids' toys freaking out my dog, an alternate-timeline doppelgänger of my son showing up, trying with my dad to disarm a voodoo tiki torch that will explode a man's head from an indeterminate distance...</div><div><br></div><div>If none of these triggered my dream self to perform a reality check, full lucidity may never occur. </div><div><br></div><div>But it's still worth trying, because crap like this is showing up more and more often when I close my eyes at night. That shit's ENTERTAINING AS HELL.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3936904201624233354.post-18802036342739479472014-08-04T07:08:00.000-05:002014-08-04T09:54:16.838-05:00A different sort of "wild ride"When I was a boy of 12 or 13 I used to read a science/pseudoscience/new age magazine called OMNI. I picked an issue up one day at Waldenbooks (remember that chain?) and instantly fell in love with it. Of course in those days I wanted to be a parapsychologist when I grew up. That was before the now-popular term "ghost hunter" came into vogue. And obviously before I understood that ghost hunting is really nothing more than a hobby at best and a swindle at worst.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfyLJdZosmfsUV88BAqc8hr0XvpHd4wJklTCHtuzKcA2aFxY18-QN9ZW4OaoznpKBWKpx9WkPAj7CHcMAmaYr7wvzC7MP2-yNWvpX1ue3I-4B1boq1DDYFkjldZwjku1jCpXEv8Q3m9uE/s1600/p.txt.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfyLJdZosmfsUV88BAqc8hr0XvpHd4wJklTCHtuzKcA2aFxY18-QN9ZW4OaoznpKBWKpx9WkPAj7CHcMAmaYr7wvzC7MP2-yNWvpX1ue3I-4B1boq1DDYFkjldZwjku1jCpXEv8Q3m9uE/s1600/p.txt.jpeg" height="210" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">David Patrick Kelly as Tommy Ray in the 1984 sci-fi thriller "Dreamscape"</td></tr>
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Anyway, one of the articles I remember had a big impact on me back then was one concerning lucid dreaming. "You can learn to CONTROL your dreams?!" I was a huge fan of the Dennis Quaid (not to be confused with Randy) movie "Dreamscape" by that age; I can't recall if I'd seen "A Nightmare on Elm Street" yet at that point, but if not I would soon come to love it as well.</div>
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When I read this particular piece I was instantly infatuated with the idea of having a fantasy world bend to my whims each night, so I began incorporating the recommended exercises into my daily routine, each day warming my mind up for the idea that upon my nightly respite a new world would come alive to me and be under my control.</div>
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The technique I employed involved two components: weaving spontaneous reality checks throughout my everyday waking reality, and muttering affirmation-type statements to myself now and again. The idea is to make these routines such a part of your life that they become typical behavior and you will eventually we've them into your dream world, where the reality check will inevitably fail, allowing you to recognize you are indeed inside a dream, at which point you are in control of the direction your dream will take.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2vQMsaj2OVTF_CFYof6FeB-Xh9ijPNr3s2J4wdkVRH6eVX-Gi-AJuHSLlJNO9tNaWGcw7k4qOgbEeUY4jjQep5UnJDcfvVEcuJ23HoxtJwg33VkQ5eymqAtRPiYG6oNrM-Dbp7ceRb84/s1600/51ur5wt8L-L._SX258_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2vQMsaj2OVTF_CFYof6FeB-Xh9ijPNr3s2J4wdkVRH6eVX-Gi-AJuHSLlJNO9tNaWGcw7k4qOgbEeUY4jjQep5UnJDcfvVEcuJ23HoxtJwg33VkQ5eymqAtRPiYG6oNrM-Dbp7ceRb84/s1600/51ur5wt8L-L._SX258_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg" height="320" width="248" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lucid dreaming issue of OMNI magazine</td></tr>
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I put my energy into these techniques and got great results. I became pretty good at it. Being a young teenager, of course, many of my lucid dreams turned sexual in nature pretty quickly. But I also flew and swam (neither of which I can do in reality), solved real-world problems that were bothering me and went on many crazy nocturnal adventures that would never be possible in the real world. Hell, some would have gotten me arrested in the real world. It was a virtual sandbox game of unlimited possibilities back when "The Legend of Zelda II" was the height of technology.</div>
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I'm not sure why I eventually quit the practice, but I did. Seems like a crazy thing to do when it's all going so swimmingly. Maybe I got lazy. I don't know. I did, though, somehow end up rejoining the ranks of the world's passive dreamers. And I was satisfied with it for decades. Somewhere along the line it became regular for me to not even remember dreaming most nights. That seems like such a waste to me. I know my brain's doing it. Why won't it at least remember where I was all night?</div>
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Last week I got the urge and decided to begin trying the techniques again. So far it's been four days, and though I have yet to experience lucidity, I have noticed that my dreams have become quite vivid and I am now remembering them every night.<br />
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I've dreamt of leaving my daughter at a mysterious "summer camp" at a compound of some sort, witnessing a violent train derailment, sacrificing myself running a bomb out of a hospital, participating in a high-stakes karaoke contest run by an evil megalomaniac, being a guest in a house that turns out to slowly reveal its sinister side as the servants and my wife fall under its spell (I particularly love the bizarre image of leeches beginning to grow out of the ceiling)... This is definitely a step in the right direction. Perhaps within another week or two I'll gain some measure of lucidity and the real fun can begin.</div>
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This is easily just as much fun as a rollercoaster but more convenient and hella cheaper. I'll keep you posted on my progress, and if it truly pays off I will let you know the simple steps I employed to make it happen. I'm not a greedy man; I'll share.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3936904201624233354.post-59633587854879541832014-01-27T02:15:00.000-06:002014-01-27T12:21:39.380-06:00WTF, Manowar?I am a lifelong fan of Manowar through good times and bad, but even I am not sure what to think of the <a href="http://www.manowar.com/news_body.php?idnews=627" target="_blank">newest release</a> coming out next month.<br />
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First off, they've rerecorded a classic--nay, the <b>definitive</b><i>--</i>Manowar album, <i>Kings of Metal, </i>giving it the same treatment as <i>Battle Hymns</i>. I gotta say, even though Joey DeMaio previously has gone on record as saying the band would never stoop to rerecording and rereleasing old music, that <i>Battle Hymns </i>reboot is a killer record. I loved the original much better than many of the early releases, but since <i>BH MMXI</i> released, I hardly listen to the original release at all anymore.<br />
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I understand the desire to rerecord the debut album, or any of the first five albums, for that matter; the production value on those albums was definitely lacking. Hearing the old songs performed live really brings that realization home. The band is in its best incarnation ever <b>right now</b> with Eric, Joey, Karl and Donnie. They blow the shit out of all previous lineups, so it only makes sense to utilize their masterful playing and studio production values to breathe new life into solid but sonically dated material.<br />
<i>Kings of Metal</i>, however, is not one of the releases that particularly begs to be revamped. In my opinion, it is the first of the releases with more kickass overall production values. Later on the sound quality and oomph on the records went into even higher gear with Warriors of the World. The way I see it (or, more accurately, the way I hear it) is that there have been four eras of evolution to Manowar's sound:<br />
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1. Battle Hymns, Into Glory Ride, Hail to England<br />
2. Sign of the Hammer, Fighting the World<br />
3. Kings of Metal, The Triumph of Steel, Louder Than Hell<br />
4. Warriors of the World, Gods of War, Battle Hymns MMXI, Lord of Steel<br />
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Anything in category 1 is overdue for a freshening up. One down, two to go. Category 2 could benefit from a little dusting off. Anything in category 3 or 4 is fine as-is. With the exception of <i>Louder Than Hell</i>, which--if you're a regular reader--you might know is one of my least favorite Manowar releases.<br />
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So that's <b>reason one</b> that I'm not sure how to face the release of <i>Kings of Metal MMXIV</i>: it doesn't really need to be rerecorded. There's a reason <i>Kings of Metal</i> endures as the band's best selling album to date--it's sheer perfection already! "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."<br />
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The second reason is, well, take a look at the cover, compared with the original:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikTYaXlHahh_G4u0-S_g6MGA4Ejr0r6kjnDSwtiabItoNXcP7Me7jSQB3LJLir-dx4MMKxgcvHxJIel4obCXvQNg1OHxXx9H-bOcisdXzCVAagTeQV6QUE-bKX-ZlflAMVnPD60ruL7Us/s1600/KOM+comparison.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikTYaXlHahh_G4u0-S_g6MGA4Ejr0r6kjnDSwtiabItoNXcP7Me7jSQB3LJLir-dx4MMKxgcvHxJIel4obCXvQNg1OHxXx9H-bOcisdXzCVAagTeQV6QUE-bKX-ZlflAMVnPD60ruL7Us/s1600/KOM+comparison.png" height="320" width="640" /></a></div>
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Anything missing from the revamped cover on the right? That's right. Where the FUCK is the U.S. flag??? These guys are from New York City, for Chrissakes! Have they become so deeply involved in their overseas exploits that they've forgotten their roots completely? Joey DeMaio doesn't do anything without thinking it through very methodically. You know he and Ken Kelly communicated very specifically about which countries to represent on the new cover. This was a deliberate decision with some sort of very concise motivation behind it. Is it political in nature? What's going on? Why, before embarking on their longest U.S. tour leg in decades, would Manowar give the USA short shrift on the cover of the album they are promoting, especially when the U.S. flag held such a place of high esteem on the original cover? If <i>Warriors of the World</i> ever gets a rerelease, whose flag will our <a href="http://www.thekingdomofsteel.com/cd-warriors-of-the-world/" target="_blank">mighty warrior be holding aloft</a>? Where is the interviewer who is gonna corner Joey and ask him head-on about this?<br />
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I just don't know how to take this cover. I think it legitimately warrants an explanation from the band, just because they took an iconic album cover that represented victory through adversity and American patriotism and, upon rerelease, completely removed that element, replacing it with symbols of other nations of the world. And truly that's the ONLY thing that changed about the cover artwork. The rest is identical. It doesn't have to be addressed with the hostile attitude I've given here. Just a simple question: "Joey, what was the thought process behind the cover choice for the new album? What inspired you to make the changes you did, and is there any significance behind the absence of the U.S. flag?" Simple.<br />
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I just gotta know. Of course I'll buy the album even not knowing the answer because Manowar is in my blood. But I might hate myself a little for it. Despite the buyer's remorse, I just have to own those damn bonus tracks. To have instrumental (read KARAOKE) tracks of "Blood of the Kings," "Hail and Kill," "Heart of Steel," Kingdom Come," "Kings of Metal" and "Wheels of Fire" is going to be amazing. I'll be taking those to the karaoke bar I work at and trying them on for size. I need no lyric sheets of course. I need only the roar of the Black Wind and an open mic.<br />
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Damn you, Manowar. I can't hate you even when you piss me off.<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3936904201624233354.post-23124086703050001532013-10-17T15:30:00.000-05:002013-10-17T15:30:01.641-05:00Dirty Peanutz has an official home!OK, folks--if you've enjoyed my plying my twisted humor on these classic Peanuts strips, go on over to check out my new <a href="http://peanuttier.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: yellow;">Dirty Peanutz</span></i></a> page on Blogger. I'll be posting a new Peanutz strip there every day! If you've been following along, you'll see familiar strips for a while (with a surprise <b>bonus strip</b> coming up soon) and then after those have all been posted I'm moving on to <b><span style="color: yellow;">ALL NEW MATERIAL!</span></b><br />
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Subscribe now to make sure you get your daily fix of beloved children's characters engaged in the most tasteless endeavors you can imagine. I will no longer be posting these creations on this page; to see more you'll have to visit me at <a href="http://peanuttier.blogspot.com/"><i><span style="color: yellow;">peanuttier.blogspot.com</span></i></a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3936904201624233354.post-27629461153958416622013-09-27T15:04:00.000-05:002013-09-27T16:40:33.704-05:00Peanutz 11 & 12<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>PEANUTZ 11</strong></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTMJ_vmcCeewVzpO-Ikv70nnlGp1NBJjux_iPHEdaIC5DAyXBu9f3RUb9GRHXJeWTNBR1GkcS1oa1AOvi92U9u2O8P7MUIbue2RB_g7ZRwQgxNPmmZki1Y-al8cfuzKFmA6xKJ-dnwMdk/s1600/PEANUTZ11.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="140" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTMJ_vmcCeewVzpO-Ikv70nnlGp1NBJjux_iPHEdaIC5DAyXBu9f3RUb9GRHXJeWTNBR1GkcS1oa1AOvi92U9u2O8P7MUIbue2RB_g7ZRwQgxNPmmZki1Y-al8cfuzKFmA6xKJ-dnwMdk/s640/PEANUTZ11.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>PEANUTZ 12</strong></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhae8YGxE7TNmkXuwP6DS0OxrdrGTChDhTwqlIKELgNJWM51tLaHuINpbSHLEUM9dLnC57zkMUPX4tgnxDQLQMmfEAZ-y6Aa0ghHT40GWtuh81FjgUq1fxTESICmP1e0RxZrC2SpzTAP4g/s1600/PEANUTZ12.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="142" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhae8YGxE7TNmkXuwP6DS0OxrdrGTChDhTwqlIKELgNJWM51tLaHuINpbSHLEUM9dLnC57zkMUPX4tgnxDQLQMmfEAZ-y6Aa0ghHT40GWtuh81FjgUq1fxTESICmP1e0RxZrC2SpzTAP4g/s640/PEANUTZ12.png" width="640" /></a></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3936904201624233354.post-35538761038953368792013-09-24T15:23:00.000-05:002013-09-24T15:23:00.386-05:00I must be stopped... Or must I?I whipped up a few more crazy Peanuts strips. Hope you like them. Click on a strip if anything in the right margin is obscuring it, and it will open in a new screen.<br />
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<b style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">PEANUTZ 7</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSqHqSsRKtC127iJdJYSinIq2JEy8Tp4BDjZNHATZFizHoKttYQ-KoYsZYd-DR46g-z9_6zFyYz1IjUJ1YMym-Vt6EwaFT77hYIQZbCvTNcUu7vmztsBRpbGEo2mm4NbK3P9QAWTyKkz8/s1600/peanutz7.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSqHqSsRKtC127iJdJYSinIq2JEy8Tp4BDjZNHATZFizHoKttYQ-KoYsZYd-DR46g-z9_6zFyYz1IjUJ1YMym-Vt6EwaFT77hYIQZbCvTNcUu7vmztsBRpbGEo2mm4NbK3P9QAWTyKkz8/s1600/peanutz7.PNG" height="139" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>PEANUTZ 8</b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQFp250C88K1fj7sO_zRSYPAsWYRs7l4uiVvEpfscMb7e-f8fRgexWUSsjfQoYTMaVLjyYjvA7DnPZ51LCT8pbSEA5UluzFPAw0dpQhdhpKbfbR4q0gLTjHTSTpAiXXWxUC6rEK4lFBto/s1600/peanutz8.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQFp250C88K1fj7sO_zRSYPAsWYRs7l4uiVvEpfscMb7e-f8fRgexWUSsjfQoYTMaVLjyYjvA7DnPZ51LCT8pbSEA5UluzFPAw0dpQhdhpKbfbR4q0gLTjHTSTpAiXXWxUC6rEK4lFBto/s1600/peanutz8.PNG" height="139" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>PEANUTZ 9</b></span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFGt7or91zAiv0DeHjmpYw_q968V-spr1tfdVR_S5r_DaZXKyUctsDf7RjBuFgIPT5cIj2-0dv5yVFE3eUYlXlKhyphenhyphenOsSSq7-M0FaPLPSna-Xw1JS7hZzJqFHqNSJxamsCs6m6RuWzdINw/s1600/peanutz9.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFGt7or91zAiv0DeHjmpYw_q968V-spr1tfdVR_S5r_DaZXKyUctsDf7RjBuFgIPT5cIj2-0dv5yVFE3eUYlXlKhyphenhyphenOsSSq7-M0FaPLPSna-Xw1JS7hZzJqFHqNSJxamsCs6m6RuWzdINw/s1600/peanutz9.PNG" height="137" width="640" /></a><br />
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<strong><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">PEANUTZ 10</span></strong><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJzPVoqE9T15v2noiIdU6R5MBCS5jNVlNeqfj4rhMSd2q7HKqRGBiz_bpy5FsPJ6cKJaIiZP9tWbk9R7RLI8x_9fo251C-V_VDgQGj3v0m9h1LQdszWI5DHk-KtgdMXR7TyJww-UhJinY/s1600/peantuz10.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJzPVoqE9T15v2noiIdU6R5MBCS5jNVlNeqfj4rhMSd2q7HKqRGBiz_bpy5FsPJ6cKJaIiZP9tWbk9R7RLI8x_9fo251C-V_VDgQGj3v0m9h1LQdszWI5DHk-KtgdMXR7TyJww-UhJinY/s1600/peantuz10.PNG" height="136" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3936904201624233354.post-69618472141852602112013-09-24T06:00:00.000-05:002013-09-24T17:55:15.465-05:00Crazy Peanuts strips<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I recently discovered a great online archive of Peanuts comic strips. Now I'm a huge fan of Peanuts strips and have been all my life. However, while browsing the archive it struck me that sometimes it's funnier if you make up your own captions instead. So here are a few examples I came up with.</div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">PEANUTZ 1</span></b><br>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBh1VOqGu4QddYwYq48ErTuNUxiFBDSXckSnkAQnI5C7y8e_EW9y3NQTh8eqvEbYFZ7VGPrb4_TQZRmyNqOBmob18S5xceW-pMW-wFkqHhPZqWG111yS-f_U5OToUL6oidoBYSQMeSCp8/s1600/peanutz.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBh1VOqGu4QddYwYq48ErTuNUxiFBDSXckSnkAQnI5C7y8e_EW9y3NQTh8eqvEbYFZ7VGPrb4_TQZRmyNqOBmob18S5xceW-pMW-wFkqHhPZqWG111yS-f_U5OToUL6oidoBYSQMeSCp8/s1600/peanutz.png" height="140" width="640"></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>PEANUTZ 2</b></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjk84robqwlOhiDJmWZ3ddMYlF_vTmJ-2U3iStiTSR1aUx7_jBa16ymwV8gUFaqxM4Jbp0HTqDmEqCOFRegfFo5N660wdNcYcajIDvVzqCRocj4BkvtKcogX0i3CULQJYvhdHb9S-bbIQ/s1600/peanutz2.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjk84robqwlOhiDJmWZ3ddMYlF_vTmJ-2U3iStiTSR1aUx7_jBa16ymwV8gUFaqxM4Jbp0HTqDmEqCOFRegfFo5N660wdNcYcajIDvVzqCRocj4BkvtKcogX0i3CULQJYvhdHb9S-bbIQ/s1600/peanutz2.PNG" height="138" width="640"></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">PEANUTZ 3</span></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNDLmO3ba-lO4DGEaxzY1Ih94IXwc2L6bTbx09L4Gim2nLUA4BpFsqGh2Xi4xAFnSiYhdpzBcAyi6SqScbx47L4dUINTuu1FS2TbdNZ3jNi8Yw8hh2NWh3Bm7bDuSP8vUdet1Qd9xAuk0/s1600/PeanutZ3.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNDLmO3ba-lO4DGEaxzY1Ih94IXwc2L6bTbx09L4Gim2nLUA4BpFsqGh2Xi4xAFnSiYhdpzBcAyi6SqScbx47L4dUINTuu1FS2TbdNZ3jNi8Yw8hh2NWh3Bm7bDuSP8vUdet1Qd9xAuk0/s1600/PeanutZ3.PNG" height="137" width="640"></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>PEANUTZ 4</b></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpqSur2Nr5VFO5P0BGHBBun0el1io6gWAl0H_kRtH8KP9NW1Rik6QtkeJ7Ir1NQ8VZ6_2E69MoaZGAsimoFSmVujO6v1AoGcBM50ohRFE0TfMB1_lsJ26eFQ772tIwU5PMggZKK1_wMr8/s1600/peantuz4.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpqSur2Nr5VFO5P0BGHBBun0el1io6gWAl0H_kRtH8KP9NW1Rik6QtkeJ7Ir1NQ8VZ6_2E69MoaZGAsimoFSmVujO6v1AoGcBM50ohRFE0TfMB1_lsJ26eFQ772tIwU5PMggZKK1_wMr8/s1600/peantuz4.PNG" height="138" width="640"></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>PEANUTZ 5</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>PEANUTZ 6</b></span></div>
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Hmmm... A new hobby in the works? It sure is fun! Stay tuned.</div>
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<br>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3936904201624233354.post-32233672413516143462013-09-11T16:13:00.000-05:002013-09-11T16:13:00.450-05:00Never forget.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I was at home in Monmouth, Illinois, illegally downloading unfathomably low bit-rate music over a dial-up connection via Audiogalaxy, because Napster had recently been shut down. I was tying up our only phone line, and I didn't even have the TV on.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">My wife was at work as a phlebotomist at a hospital in the next town, 20 miles away. Her whole lab department had been watching and listening to coverage of the aftermath of the first plane strike since it began. Once the second plane struck my wife started trying to call me. The phone was busy, of course, so she couldn't reach me. Bear in mind, cell phones were not as ubiquitous then as they are now. She and I didn't have our first mobile phones until at least the following year.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">It had to have been around 8:15 a.m. CDT that my neighbor from across the street, Kelly, came knocking on the door. She said my wife had called her and asked her to come over to tell me to get off the phone line and call her immediately. Kelly asked if I was watching the TV and I said no. She briefly told me there had been a terrorist attack and two passenger planes had been purposefully crashed into the World Trade Center.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I had no idea what was about to transpire and that it would become one of those “I remember exactly where I was when that happened” moments.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I called my wife and she was very upset because her mother, at that time not yet retired from the USAF, was working on base in southern Illinois. Nobody knew what could be an upcoming potential target. I tried to reassure her that her mother was most likely very safe, that it looked like they were targeting civilians to make the greatest impact, and that her mother worked in a vault on base anyway.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">After the phone call, I stayed off the line. I sat down and glued myself to CNN coverage of the goings-on. It wasn't but a few minutes before another hijacked plane struck the Pentagon. “Oh my God,” I thought, “How many are there??” and, “They are targeting military sites too.” And then I heard about the other hijacked plane, Flight 93, that passengers were able to get calls out from. All flights over the U.S. were soon grounded.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">At around 9:00 am the South Tower of the World Trade Center fell, and the world and I watched in stunned, saddened silence. It was surreal, and it was the first time I ever recall being brought to tears by television news coverage. The impact of all those deaths we couldn't prevent was something that shook me to the core.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Not ten minutes later, the civilian heroes of flight 93 sacrificed their lives to prevent another tactical terrorist attack with their own plane. Rather than striking the White House or Pentagon, that plane was crashed in a field in rural Pennsylvania, killing everyone on board and no one not on board. Who knows how many lives were saved by the heroic actions of those passengers…</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Some 20 minutes later the North Tower collapsed. The reality and gravity of the situation once again proved too much and I broke down in tears for the innocent lives lost. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Before the collapse, I remember seeing live coverage of people leaping from the upper floors of the towers, opting for that death over the agony of burning alive. I remember the post-collapse images of ash, blood and soot-caked civilians and emergency personnel trying to do what they could to survive and help others survive. The airwaves were overrun with replays of the towers collapsing every time a new tape came in with a new angle. People scrambled for their lives like Tokyoites fleeing from a gargantuan, destructive fire-lizard as the clouds of ash and debris overtook them. I remember the helplessness and impotence the whole nation felt as we watched those events on live television. I remember newscasters losing it and getting emotional on the air. It was heart wrenching.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">We watched as those building remains burned and smoldered all through the day and into the evening. We watched as bodies were pulled out from that rubble. Mostly bodies. Very few survivors. It was a day of sickening unity across the nation.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">It was one true day of infamy and sorrow, the first one of its kind my generation had seen. This was our Pearl Harbor. This was our JFK assassination. This was our Jonestown. And we will never forget.</span><br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3936904201624233354.post-76795535025627953862013-08-10T23:00:00.001-05:002013-08-12T13:00:59.825-05:00Movie review - Elysium<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b><span style="color: red;">MILD SPOILER ALERT</span></b><br />
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Went to see the new science fiction action thriller <i>Elysium</i> this afternoon, and I really liked it, even more than <i>Pacific Rim.</i> Best sci-fi pic I've seen in a long time. <em>Elysium</em> was directed by Neill Blomkamp, who made a name for himself in the industry with his independent debut feature film, <em>District 9</em>, which was both a critical and box office success.<br />
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<em>Elysium </em>stars Matt Damon, whom I personally think is highly underrated as an actor. I've really enjoyed his performances lately in <i>We Bought a Zoo, Beyond the Candelabra, </i>and this picture. I think he brings an everyman quality to any role he plays. He makes it relatable no matter what the role. Well, maybe not so much Jason Bourne. That one's kind of a stretch to relate to.<br />
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His costar and foil in the film is Jodie Foster, whom I conversely consider to be extremely <i>overrated</i> as an actor. I just think she hit her high point way back in <i>The Silence of the Lambs </i>and has never regained that glory despite having a few hits since then. Though I did like her in <i>Contact</i> as well. I've never quite gotten why she gets such attention in Hollywood. I liked her as a child actor, but to me she's just kind of annoying nowadays in most films.</div>
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Part <em>Mad Max</em>, part <em>Cyborg, </em>part Holy Bible and part <em>Johnny Mnemonic</em>, <em>Elysium </em>takes place in the mid-22nd century. Earth has been raped and basically destroyed by the human race, so it has been left to the indigent "have-nots," while the richest and most powerful people in the world have pulled together the resources to construct for themselves an enormous, terraformed space station in orbit around the dying planet. This is Elysium.</div>
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Damon plays a factory worker named Max who has always dreamed of the day he is able to find a way to take himself and his childhood sweetheart and lifelong love to the beautiful manmade paradise of Elysium, where there is no crime, no poverty, no disease, and anyone who dies does so of old age alone.</div>
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Foster is ballsy Secretary of Defense Delacourt who takes no prisoners in stopping illegal immigration of unlicensed earth folks who constantly attempt to infiltrate Elysium security and stow away on the space station to make a better life for themselves.</div>
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When our hero is accidentally exposed to a massive dose of radiation in a manufacturing plant accident, he has no choice but to return to his former lucrative life of crime to pull one more, practically suicidal job to earn the money to pay for his ticket to Elysium. This is how he ends up crossing paths with dirty double government agents of Elysium, and his own plans of salvation entangle with Delacourt's deceitful political power play.</div>
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Action-packed and exciting, with Max an overtly Christlike figure by the end, I found the movie to be very enjoyable. I like seeing new interpretations of a bleak earth future. It was well crafted and well written, though there were a couple of issues I had that prevent me from calling it flawless. </div>
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The biggest potential distraction from full enjoyment was Jodie Foster's horrendously inconsistent accent. I <i>think</i> it was meant to be French...ish? But it was just hit-and-miss. At times it would wax and wane crazily like the ocean tides of Bespin (if it had any liquid oceans), even during the same scene. Foster's never been known for her versatility with accents, but this was worse than Mike Myers' faux Scotsman, even pre-Shrek. Not that his Shrek characterization was particularly impressive...</div>
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All in all, a nicely done film. It's not often that a sci-fi flick comes along that I can enjoy with my wife. I think the last one we both liked and saw in the theater together was <i>The Matrix. </i>The <b>first</b> one. And that was some time ago.</div>
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Well done, Neill Blomkamp. I fell asleep during <i>District 9, </i>but <b>this</b> I liked. Hmm. Perhaps I should give <em>District 9</em> another shot. I'll check Netflix this weekend. Maybe I didn't give it a fair shake. It's pretty difficult to find any negative feedback on that movie, so there must be something to it. Stay tuned on that front...</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3936904201624233354.post-25752913714160100422013-07-26T18:11:00.000-05:002013-07-26T18:11:00.093-05:00Pacific Rim not perfect by any means, still worth my nine bucksI finally went to see <em>Pacific Rim</em> last night, clinging desperately to the stellar filmmaking reputation of Guillermo del Toro and the positive reviews I've seen. Obviously that means I've either avoided or ignored the negative reviews up to this point. My friend and former coworker posted his <a href="http://www.critical-hits.com/blog/2013/07/16/review-pacific-rim/" target="_blank">review</a> (which contains mild spoilers) and I avoided it until after having seen the film myself because he prefaced it with the mention of spoilers.<br />
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I think I'll follow the same format here as he did in his review.<br />
Again, be aware: <span style="color: red;">>>>>>></span> <strong><span style="color: red;">SPOILERZ AHED <<<<<<<</span></strong><br />
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<strong>What I liked:</strong><br />
Not being a huge fan of the whole Godzilla-style monster invasion flick, I didn't come into this movie with an extensive viewing background in the genre and a bunch of preconceived notions about how the ultimate giant-monsters-versus-giant-robots story should go. I'm still not what you'd call a fan--it didn't convert me--but it was reminiscent of some of the anime I used to watch back in high school, and that felt good and nostalgic in a way.<br />
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The action can't be faulted, except maybe to say that some of the action-packed close-ups of kaiju (that's the monsters in the movie) and jaegers (what the "robots," or more accurately "mechs" [they're not automatons; they're controlled by pilots inside them] are called in the movie) are just a little too frenetic at times to really pick out exactly what's happening. But if you want to see massive destruction, monsters getting pummeled, and cities being leveled, you'll see it here.<br />
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I love the idea of alien monsters emerging from an unexplained and sudden physical and dimensional rift that has opened in the ocean floor. Too often, our would-be alien conquerors announce their visit ahead of time by traveling in huge, easily detectable spaceships. We never look down. Nice twist.<br />
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I liked that it's a PG-13 I am comfortable taking my 11-year-old to. IMDB's parents guide doesn't do the film justice. It always sounds so much worse when you read it out of context. It mentioned an f-bomb, but I certainly didn't hear it and neither did my companion. Nearly all of the violence in the picture is kaiju/jaeger centered. It's all CG. In those shots you don't even get much of the "Run for your life from Gojira!" panic in the streets as people are crushed under the foot of a marauding monster.<br />
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There's a bit of blood now and then when the pilots get tossed around inside the jaegers during combat, and we do see one man get picked up by a kaiju and basically swallowed. And there was a fistfight between two headstrong jaeger pilots where there's a little blood. But for the most part, even the more "gory" violence is really a computer-generated mech ripping a huge, computer-generated hole through a computer-generated monster to a spray of computer-generated fluorescent blue blood analogue. Not the kind of violence I'm worried about my kid seeing. And there's no sex-related material other than an herbalist trying to sell someone something for "male potency." IMDB says he makes a gesture. I imagined him using his forearm to simulate a strong, erect penis. Nope. He simply closes his hands into two fists to demonstrate virility.<br />
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<strong>What I didn't like:</strong><br />
Some things just didn't make sense to me. Did I interpret the timeline wrong, or did the first kaiju invasion take place in 2013, seven years before the events of the film, which is set in 2020? If that's the case, then how come the little Japanese girl rescued by the jaeger pilot--who appears all of six years old--is obviously in her mid-to-late 20s when the bulk of the story takes place? How does a child age at least 15 years in a span of seven? ...Or did I miss something?<br />
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Many--no, make that all--of the characters were straight out of central casting. Some of the smaller roles were blatantly stereotypical, and maybe even racially insensitive. The aforementioned Japanese girl--who as a small child, sounded like she was straight out of one of those anime videos I mentioned before, making those tiny, weird moans and gasps that nobody in real life ever makes as she picked her way through the carnage of a devastated city to face her rescuer--grew up to be not only way too old for her age, but also horribly stereotypical: demure, heavily affected with her fake Japanese accent even though she'd spent the last seven-to-twenty years being raised by a British man, and secretly a ninja.<br />
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I kept expecting a close-up of that Russian dude saying to a kaiju in his best fake Dolph Lundgren-Russian accent, "I vill break you." I don't remember their names. They possibly weren't even mentioned. I shall call them Boris and Natasha because that's how stereotypical they were in appearance. Also, all the other nationalities dressed alike but like no other subset of people. It was just weird and made the future look like, "Yes, we all came together as a united world to stop the menace of the kaiju, but there's no way we'll dress like one another or begin to assimilate into one world culture." I half-expected the Chinese to all look like rice farmers in their stereotypical cartoon Chinaman crash-cymbal hats.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiylwVoQf2q_f4G-y2fw6aRIgAJVmUl4yI9juypp4-nYiNlZqHfuByycwmkNvK_xgwfu68me2k-ErUQkER3g2FNMv49bwoALoCn-V_okzbpF-Ba7Vy9NHx3CFUUpITKgHBL2rpWmDVoOxc/s1600/7301.dl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiylwVoQf2q_f4G-y2fw6aRIgAJVmUl4yI9juypp4-nYiNlZqHfuByycwmkNvK_xgwfu68me2k-ErUQkER3g2FNMv49bwoALoCn-V_okzbpF-Ba7Vy9NHx3CFUUpITKgHBL2rpWmDVoOxc/s1600/7301.dl.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a>I'm going to do my best Seth Myers now: My, how our technology has advanced in a mere seven years. My companion pointed out that necessity is, after all, the mother of invention. But really, <em>Pacific Rim</em>? Really? 50-story, airtight, fully-articulated robots that are controlled via a Vulcan mind-meld of two pilots with the robot's command matrix? Really? We have 3-D holographic computer interfaces all over this world? Not that unbelievable, I guess, but at the same time we have a timer measuring how long since the monsters appeared, and it's a humongous FLIP-NUMBER-CLOCK? Really?? And can some one explain to me how the old, series three or whatever jaegers are ANALOG in nature versus the DIGITAL ones that were knocked out by the EM pulse kaiju? "Analog?" REALLY?<br />
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One more big question: If the rift needs to detect kaiju matter in order to open to a traveler, how did the jaeger escape pods make it back through to our world?<br />
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And there's one last minor thing that bothered me. Apparently the jaeger design teams took at least one cue from Inspector Gadget. It seems like in order to deploy any special feature on the mech (elbow rocket, plasma cannon, sword), a pilot has to announce it aloud first. The only thing it was missing was the preliminary "Go-go, Gadget," as in "Go-go, Gadget Umbrella!"<br />
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I'm starting to talk myself out of having liked this movie as much as I previously thought. Better stop now, because I think I'll have to take my son this weekend to a matinee. I want to enjoy the second screening too, and not be constantly reminded of that nitpicky review I read that purported to be positive but ended up kinda panning the whole affair. Wait, I <i>wrote</i> that review, didn't I? Crap. </div>
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A sequel? I'd be interested in seeing that. I'd rather see <em>At the Mountains of Madness</em>, but if GDT can really nail it with <i>The Strain </i>and <i>Hellboy 3</i>, and if Richard Stanley can truly deliver on his proposed adaptation of <i>The Colour Out of Space, </i>I can settle for <em>Pacific Rim 2. </em>At least, for now...</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3936904201624233354.post-61306909960729346342013-07-25T16:17:00.000-05:002013-07-26T13:18:53.631-05:00Macklemore destroys our differences and brings world peace<div style="text-align: left;">
Buried amid an unexpectedly fantastic and inspirational pop/rap song about tolerance and acceptance is this even more unexpectedly wise phrase that, when extracted from the whole of the text, really stands alone in its universal importance:</div>
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<strong></strong><strong>"Whatever god you believe in, we come from the same one. Strip away the fear, [and] underneath it's all the same love."</strong></div>
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I don't know if rapper Macklemore realizes just how very deep this sentiment is. It's the first song lyric to ever jump out of a pop song, slap me in the face, and command me to spend time truly pondering it in a deeply personal manner. I wish that everyone in the world, believers and nonbelievers alike, could sit alone in a room and quietly ruminate over this lyric excerpt for a good 30 minutes. Maybe even up to an hour. It could be an attitude- and life-changing experience for many. It could be the first step down the road of understanding and enlightenment for all. That's how heavily this lyric impacted me. It's like a light went on where there was before only darkness.</div>
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Before you ask--no, I'm still an atheist.</div>
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<strong>"No matter what god you believe in... We come from the same one."</strong> >> We can't all be right. My god and your god might go by different names and have different methods of handing down their edicts or suggestions for a holy life, but must not their titles be but differing ways to refer to the same being? For as the bard suggested, "a rose by any other name would smell as sweet," would it not? No matter who you believe your god is... if there is a creator, I think we can all agree that--much like the Highlander--there can be only one. </div>
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<strong>"Strip away the fear, underneath it's all the same love."</strong> >> In the end, if you distill each of our faiths down to their respective cores, aren't they all about loving your god, your fellow man and yourself? Let's put aside the differences and concentrate on the similarities. Let's do things that please our god <em>and</em> make this life on earth more bearable and pleasant for us. For despite who you think your god is, we are ALL his children, even those of us who believe he is someone else entirely or that he doesn't even exist. Why can't we just leave the judgment to him and just concentrate on helping our fellow man have a rich and rewarding experience here on this earth, where we have unquestioning control of our lives and our impact on the lives of others?</div>
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Heavy philosophical words bringing a very deep line of thought for a pop song ostensibly about the support of gay marriage--a topic not to be taken lightly, for sure. If you think about it, though, were we to simply worry about taking care of ourselves and loving others, all people would be equally included. No preferences based on race, sex, gender identity, age, color, religion (or lack thereof), class...</div>
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Respecting each man, woman and child as a beloved creation of the god of your choosing, (for I don't know about your god, but the one I grew up on loves ALL of his creations, even animals with no souls) erases our imaginary dividing lines. It brings us together like nothing else can, save the elimination of religion entirely from the face of the earth.</div>
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Hey, someone has to play the logician's advocate here. One aforementioned scenario is unfortunately no more likely than the other. The people of this world will never see eye to eye. There's a third possibility that has the potential to bring an unprecedented unity to the people of earth, and that is the discovery of intelligent alien life. Like a legitimate first contact situation. It could cause mass chaos, but my hope is that it will force people to at least think, "Wow. This universe just got smaller. Maybe I was wrong about EVERYTHING. Let's start over."</div>
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But knowing the people of this planet, it would be more like, "Hey, there is a whole universe of people-ish creatures we can turn our xenophobic disdain upon. There's no more reason to fight amongst ourselves. We're all humans here. The real threat is OUT THERE."</div>
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It's not perfect, and it could potentially destroy our entire planet, but at least, for that short period of time, we'd all be together focusing on our newly found solidarity. Sorry, Macklemore. I know you tried.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3936904201624233354.post-46985250184888844112013-07-24T23:43:00.002-05:002013-07-25T06:51:14.873-05:00"The Mound" turned out to not be fashioned of dirt, if you know what I mean<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I was excited at the prospect of reading this story after having read another of Lovecraft's collaborations with Zealia Bishop, "The Curse of Yig," back near the beginning of my literary odyssey. Alas, while "The Mound" began with a lot of promise, in the end it completely failed to deliver the thrills as "Yig" did. A very disappointing climax indeed, especially given the really incredible bump-and-set that kicks off the first half of the story.<br />
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"The Mound" is ostensibly about an ethnologist who studies American Indian tribes--surely the same character who seeks out the story in "The Curse of Yig." So anyway, he comes to an Oklahoma town called Binger in order to research supernatural stories about a large mound or small hill a few miles outside town. Apparently, it's haunted--or possibly patrolled--by two ghosts.<br />
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In the daylight hours, an Indian man paces atop the mound, only to vanish if approached. In the night, the patrol is taken over by a headless Indian squaw. And so it has gone for the past century or so. Many of the daring explorers brave enough to investigate have either disappeared NEVER TO BE SEEN AGAIN or have returned after a brief period of absence to find themselves apparently mad and babbling typical Lovecraftian cosmic nonsense.<br />
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Pretty cool setup. I'll give them that.<br />
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So our hero goes up alone (he could find nobody in town stupid enough to join him) to dig and find out what's up. That's where he finds, after a decent afternoon of digging, a strange metallic tube containing ancient documents. As dark approaches, he decides to hoof it back to town and give the mysterious documents a thorough once-over.<br />
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The pages are the notes of famed 16th-Century explorer Francisco de Coronado...'s hired man, Panfilo de Zamacona. *sigh*<br />
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The bulk of the story is the ethnologist's reading of Zamacona's journal about his extended visit to an underworld inhabited by strange men with strange powers. I really don't want to get into the details, but it takes up a good 5 of the 7 chapters. Suffice it to say he found a primeval, subterranean society of telepathic, teleporting man-things and came to be more or less accepted by them, trading their knowledge, living quarters, food and all for his knowledge of the outside world.<br />
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This land, called K'n-yan by the natives, turns out to not be the only inner-earth world thriving with its own form of life. For beyond the shimmering blue iridescent light of K'n-yan, one can find sub-subterranean passages to a red-lit world even deeper in the planet. The natives of the blue world, of course, do not get along with those of the red, and nor do the red folk get along with the viscous black blob-like shapeshifters that can be found in the coal-dark sub-sub-subterranean world to be found even deeper beyond their own. *yawn* OK, I'm sufficiently bored.<br />
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Back to the blue world beneath the green (that's ours). The interesting bits are that they are a Cthuluhu- and Yig-worshipping, technologically advanced super-society that now has a genetically engineered slave class to do all the heavy lifting so they can just concentrate on educational, philosophical, artistic and sexual gratification. Also used as slaves are the people who would not conform--criminals, rogues, etc. First they are thrown in a gladiatorial coliseum and maimed in whatever horrible ways imaginable, to the delight of the crowds. This maiming includes but is not limited to: cutting, scraping, bruising, dismemberment, disemboweling, and death. This underground "civilization" also has the power to reanimate the dead, giving them a sole purpose--to please the living.<br />
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Anyway, Zamacona spends decades with them before he realizes he's run out of things to say and is pretty sure he's bound for the coliseum, so he tries to escape with the help of his lady-thing friend. He is able to get his missive to the surface, but that's all we know other than they got caught in their escape attempt. She faces a stiff punishment, but he is given another chance.<br />
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I am really cutting a <i>ton</i> of shit out of this shit-filled story; you have no idea. You're welcome.<br />
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So our hero decides he's gonna rediscover this society that Zamacona wrote about, and he sets off in the morning to continue digging.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">SPOILERS BELOW! SPOILERS BELOW! </span></b>Of course if you haven't already read it, you probably shouldn't. Maybe just finish this review and call it quits for this story.<br />
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When he gets to the top of the mound, his shovel and pickaxe are missing. He figures it's a prank by some wise-ass villager watching through binoculars, so he just mans up and digs with his bowie knife instead, eventually being swallowed up by a sinkhole or something and ending up in a subterranean cave described by Zamacona.<br />
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He follows the passage, finding along the way his shovel and pickaxe, and an undead, highly maimed sentry. Oh shit. It's Zamacona.<br />
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The end.<br />
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Seriously. Yep. It ends that poorly. Very disappointing. I think HPL must have just been sick of writing it even though it was only a two-month project. In any event, it was considered a collaboration and wasn't printed until after his death anyway. At least he never had to see it published.<br />
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As I said, it started out so cool and promising. That's what made the ending even worse. This had the potential to be a sci-fi masterpiece. Too bad nobody has picked that idea up and written more tales in this setting. I'm sure the blue inner-world folk have many interesting and thrilling stories to offer the green earth, but this wasn't one of them.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0