New Season New Recipe

I really like fall. The weather is just right. It gets dark early. There's football. I can't list all the reasons here and I have more important things to do.

In honor of a friend, I tried my hand at making pumpkin soup. Wow! It's fun and easy to make. It tastes great. It's healthy. Most importantly, it gives me an excuse to buy pumpkins.

Buying pumpkins makes it feel like Halloween which makes it feel like my birthday's just around the corner which makes it feel like Christmas which makes this a very long sentence.

Another post with no misspellings and it's the twelfth in a month. Every thing's coming up penguin_poet!!!

The Begining and the End

What's wrong Han? Ear splitting alarms sounding aboard the Falcon? Toothache brought on by belting down one too many nerf steaks? No? Must be the fact that you are in The Star Wars Holiday Special.

Had the special been in any way palatable, it would have launched a series of similar holiday specials for other movie franchises. Just imagine: The Rocky Holiday Special, The Star Trek Holiday Special, and Indiana Jones and the Holiday of Specialness. Heck, we'd have seen The Lord of the Rings Holiday Special and The Pirates of the Caribbean Holiday Special by now. This paragraph may now official hold the record for the most frequent use of the words holiday and special. Special holiday.

As it was, Lucas' vision did not translate too well to the small screen in November of 1978. The world was not ready to hear Bea Arthur sing about life as a cantina bartender in a galaxy far, far away. The cast of the original movie all made it back to offer up some legitimacy, but to no avail. Even the debut of a Boba Fett, a character not to be seen again for nearly two years in The Empire Strikes Back, could keep this thing afloat. The Star Wars Holiday Special was the death of the cinema related, non-religious, one-off television program.

The special was only aired once. It was never released on VHS, beta, laserdisk, DVD, etc. (You can find bootleg copies at sci-fi conventions and online.) Lucas has only recently acknowledged its existence by allowing Hasbro to produce a 3-3/4 inch action figure dubbed Animated Debut Boba Fett.

See kids? The prequels really could have been worse. A LOT worse.

DVD Relief

Thank goodness for Wal-Mart's $5 Halloween Movie Sale. The title is not official, but you now know exactly what I'm talking about. It was just what I needed after school today.

Among the many iterations of Friday the 13th and other "horror" perennials were these absolute gems. The Day the Earth Stood Still is THE sci-fi film of the 1950s. Notice that I used the word film and not movie. Sci-fi movies of the 1950s featured giant ants and lizards. This Golden Globe (TM) winning film is something else. This is science fiction at its absolute best. It has inspired generations of filmmakers. It is only broadly definable as horror, but thanks to the questionable labeling it's now mine for a fin.

Next up, Shock Treatment. Although the "sequel" to The Rocky Horror Picture Show, it absolutely does NOT belong to the horror category. (As if RHPS did.) The most frightening thing about the film is the poster. Having watched it again tonight, I am surprised at its relevance today. Released in 1982, it deals with normal, moral, people thrust in front of television cameras. It tracks the decline of said morals and the corruption of society at large. Reality TV, anyone? Now, this IS a sequel to RHPS so the above message is discernible only through the lens of campy costumes and wacky show tunes. That said, give a try sometime. Once you do, complain here in the comments section.

. . . Almost . . . October . . . .

September has been a long and tiring month for me. I feel drained all of the time. It's a chore to do just about anything. That's my lame excuse for why this blog has been so static lately. (On the bright side, September may yet end up having my highest monthly post-count so far.)

I'm glad this week is a short one for school. (Homecoming festivities are eating up all but a half-hour of Friday's regular schedule.) When we go back on Monday, it'll be a new month. For some reason, that makes me feel good.

Postscript: Spellcheck tells me I have no misspellings! That's another one for the plus-column. (I'm taking what I can get.)

Super-Geek!

Not only do I teach math and play board games; I actually try to link the two. GEEK!

I try to tell Monkey-Girl about Platonic Solids and which ones are duals of which. When I'm really into it, it takes me nearly three minutes to notice the glazed over look in her eyes. GEEK!

I bought and use a book on modular origami so that I can build geometric solids. GEEK!

I've even written a Excel spreadsheets to simulate different die rolls. (I have bar charts displaying the central tendencies or various die combinations.) GEEK!

Food of the God

I'm no polytheist and this is no ambrosia. Although, Ambrosia is the name of a chocolate company.

This is Monkey-Girl's favorite food. That's no shocker. Chocolate is many many people's favorite food. I'm just delighted by the cliche she falls into when in the sight of the stuff. We joke that I should keep a bar on hand in case of emergencies.

I, on the other hand, I fall into a different cliche. I'll just quote Benjamin Franklin: "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."

Scary Lady

Um . . . .

So, Monkey-Girl likes to play Starcraft.

I guess this . . . woman (?) is in it.

I don't know.

Maybe I shouldn't have gotten it for her for Valentine's Day.

Defender of the Universe

Monkey-Girl's childhood hero was Voltron III. You may be remembering him as just plain old Voltron; but , as many Japanese imports, it's more complicated than that.

Voltron III, the first shown in America, was the second cartoon produced in Japan. He's made up of five robotic lions. The story is set the furthest from Earth.

Voltron I, the second shown in America, was based on an earlier Japanese show. He's made up of fifteen vehicles. The story is set the closest to Earth.

Voltron II, a show never seen in America (but I remember seeing the toys at Kay Bee as a little penguin), was supposed to be based on yet another Japanese cartoon. He's made up of three smaller humanoid robots. The story's location was somewhere between the other two.

So, there you have it. The roman numerals are reflective of the Americanized characters' relative proximity to the Earth. It must have made sense to someone.

Anyway, the only socially relevant Voltron is Voltron III. For that, he gets to drop the roman numerals.

The first birthday present I ever got for Monkey-Girl was a reissue of the old Matchbox Voltron III gift set. (The box just calls him Voltron now.) All five die-cast metal lions were recreated for the set. I never had this Voltron growing up, but I'm happy to see him surveying Money-Girl's office today.

BIG Announcement

I've come to the decision that this week (Monday to Sunday, how European of me!) will be Monkey-Girl week. I'll be dedicating each post to some wonderful aspect of my better half. Why? 'Cause.

So, why does today's entry feature a couple of toys? Well, this is an archive photo of the present Monkey-Girl got for me while in Florida. When I returned from my visit to Wisconsin this summer, I opened the trunk to drop my luggage in when what should I discover but the object of my childhood's unanswered prayer: the Imperial Walker a.k.a. AT-AT.

When I was a little penguin, this thing was ALWAYS on my wish list. I never got it. My assumption is that it was just too darn expensive. I shared this little tidbit with Monkey-Girl once. (When you've known someone for over 10 years, there's little they DON'T know about you.)

I guess she must have missed me. She actually went into Toys 'R' Us (WHAT!?!) and lugged this huge box up to the counter. When asked why, she said that she wanted me to know how much she appreciated all that I did for her this summer. Wow!

Knowing how much my toy collecting is "tolerated" by Monkey-Girl, and how pricey this thing is, I can only say I'm floored. This is the greatest physical gift anyone has ever given me.

Yet, the AT-AT had fallen victim to it's original and greatest flaw. It's just too expensive. I couldn't keep it and not feel guilty about it. Monkey-Girl understood how torn I was and gave me permission to do what I felt was necessary. We returned it from whence it came.

I made sure to take a ton of pictures. This one features my 12-inch tall Optimus Prime for size comparison. (The AT-AT could totally kick any one on my Transformers' asses.)

Thank you, Monkey-Girl!

A Rest from Our Labors

Monkey-Girl and I took a little time to relax and enjoy each other's company. It was really nice. We've been taking care of the house and our respective schools lately: cohabiting. It was nice to sit on the sofa and do nothing but listen to music and be with each other.

At times like these, I play with Monkey-Girl's toes. I guess it's one of those primate social grooming type thingies. It's comforting to be that intimate with someone. I like it.

As you can see, it's not so bad for her either.

Up Late? Thank a Union.

I'm up late on a Sunday. That's because I don't work tomorrow. I'm one of only 8% of the national workforce that's unionized. If you're off tomorrow and don't pay union dues, you're welcome. (I'm just teasing.)

I stumbled on this picture moments ago. Apparently, Disney isn't making enough money off of normal holidays anymore. Here is a "pin in pin" set commemorating the unofficial end of summer. That's not all! This is just the Walt Disney World Labor Day pin for 2008. There is also a Disneyland pin. I'm sure there will be a Labor Day 2008 pin for both coasts as well.

If you'd like to know more about how Disney is planning to replace calandars with pins, go here.

Now go grill something quick. Wal-Mart's putting out Halloween decorations already!

We Went to a Luau. Dealt with THAT!

To kick things off (yet again), the seminary threw a good, old-fashioned, Tennessee-mountain-top, luau. The meat was barbecued, the decorations were kitchy, and we were all festooned in Hawaiian prints.

It was nice to talk to my friends within the community. (Thank you Eric for the title to this post.) I made plans to play HeroScape with Gordon on Monday. The brisket was delicious. My "dish to pass" was complimented. It was a really nice time.

As for the picture, I completely acknowledge its offensiveness. I choose to deal with it by appreciating the artist's chosen aesthetic. I see that it draws its inspiration from a more naive time. I'm okay with it.

How will you deal with it? You have to deal with it. You can't not deal with it. Can you?