So yeah, a bunch of stuff happened since last time, went hiking, started playing a MMORPG for the first time, Mary and Dan had a little girl, my sisters are all doing cool stuff, blah blah blah.  So I'm going to do one of those irresistable Myspace quizzes.

You have 10 dollars and need to buy snacks at a gas station:
Couple of hot dogs with mustard, a bag of potato chips (plain if I'm driving, otherwise sour cream and onion), and a Mr Pibb.  Then I save the remaining 5 bucks for later.


If you were reincarnated as a sea creature, what would you want to be?
If it's not bound by the laws of space-time, I'd like to be a fin whale anytime before about 1600 CE.  Otherwise, a lionfish.


Whos your favorite redhead?
Zannah-banana-puddinpie.  Was there any doubt?

What do you order when youre at IHOP?
I've eaten at IHOP three times, last time in '04.  Best I remember, I had an iffy waffle, some alright pancakes, and a hamburger like a hockey puck.  So probably pancakes.  They're in the name, right?

Last book you read?
An Army at Dawn, by Rick Atkinson.  It's interesting reading a military history about WWII published between 9/11 and the Iraq invasion.


Describe your mood.
Mellow


Describe the last time you were injured?
I cut my finger in the kitchen.  It's always fun when I cut myself because it doesn't really hurt and then I notice I'm leaving blood on everything.  Gory!

Of all your friends, who would you want to be stuck in a well with?
For what purpose?  Companionship, figuring how to get out, or for purposes of eating if we're down there too long?  Because the answer might vary.

Rock concert or symphony?
Who's playing?


What is the wallpaper of your cell phone?
Something blue?  I dunno, it's somewhere.  I keep it turned off, people kept calling me on it.

Favorite Soda?
Mr Pibb or cream soda.  Depends on my mood.

What type of shirt are you wearing?
Blue.

If you could only use one form of transportation:
I'd be pretty screwed.  I mean, if I could only walk, I'd spend most of my time walking places and I'd never really be able to take a trip.  Going to Roanoke and back would be a three day deal.  If I drove, more would get done, but I'd have to go to full-service gas stations, and who has those anymore?  Airplane - imagine spending the rest of your life sitting on a plane.  That might be what Hell is like.
I'd really like to be able to cast Teleport Without Error.  And have a crystal ball.  And live in a tower.  And be a wizard.  Whaddygonnado.

Most recent movie you have watched in theatres?
Hellboy II.  Booya!


Name an actor/actress/singer you have had the hots for:
You know Katy Perry, who sings that godawful song that they never stop playing?  Great googlymoogly, that song sucks, but yowza.
Also, Selma Blair.

Whats your favorite kind of cake?
Yellow double layer with chocolate icing.

What did you have for dinner last night?
Tacos.

Look to your left, what do you see?
A backpack and some boxes.

Do you untie your shoes when you take them off?
My sneakers, no.  Then later I have to untie them to put them on.  It's a pickle!
Other shoes either don't tie or are impossible to remove otherwise without breaking something.


Favorite toy as a child?
Star Wars.  Never got that Millenium Falcon or AT-AT, though.  Not that I'm bitter.

Do you buy your own groceries?
I eat a lot of fast food.

Do you think people talk about you behind your back?
Unless you're an orphan who's parents were stranded in a deep cave before you were conceived and you've never encountered another human being you should probably operate on the assumption that people are going to talk about you when you're not around.


Whens the last time you had gummy worms?
Seems like I got some for Christmas a couple years back.

Whats your favorite fruit?
Don't much like fruit.  Maybe cherries.

Do you have a picture of yourself doing a cartwheel?
Never done a cartwheel.  I'm not built for it.

Do you like running long distances?
My horizontal terminal velocity seems to be about 3 MPH.  So not really.

Have you ever eaten snow?
Not for sustenance.

What color are your bedsheets?
White with grey stripes.


Whats your favorite flower?
There's these small purply things that come up in the spring.  I like those.  Also honeysuckle, for the smell. 


Do you do ballet?
No.  I can waltz like nobody's business.

Do you listen to classical music?
Yes.  I really need a smoking jacket and a meerschaum pipe.
Seriously, anybody who likes Pink Floyd or Led Zepplin, or any other band that has a habit of recording 15 minute songs, can learn to like classical music.  PSA brought to you by the letter M.

What is the 1st TV Theme song that pops in your head?
Sanford and Son.  On another day it might have been Andy Griffith.  Or the A-Team

Do you watch Sponge bob?
Used to, till it started freaking me out.


What temperature is it outside right now?
MSN says 64 F.


Do people consider you smart?
Probably.  I know a lot of stuff.  There's a lot of crossover, but they're not necessarily 100% equivalent.

How many piercings do you have?
None.  I poke enough holes in myself accidentaly without paying somebody else good money to do it on purpose.

Are you signed on AIM?
Probably not, since I don't know what this means.

Have you ever tried gluing your fingers together?
I have succeeded.  It was very satisfying.  You can also smear Elmer's glue all over your hands, and when it dries you can peel it off, and it looks like your skin is peeling off.  Then you eat it, and the girls scream.  *Sigh*  I miss elementary school.

How do you feel about your family?
I'm for 'em.  They drive me nuts, I drive them nuts, and thus is equilibrium maintained.

Do you have an iPod?
Music in boxes is the Devil's sorcery.


What time do you go to bed?
When I'm tired.


What CD is currently in your CD player?
Had to go look.  Whitechocolatespaceegg by Liz Phair.  I have no idea why.

What movie do you know every line to?
Many, many.  Too many, probably, that's why those two semesters of calculus are gone with the wind.

What is your favorite salad dressing?
Honey mustard.


What do you want for Christmas this year?
An Ipod.

What family member/friend lives the farthest from you? Where?
Right now, Zannah in Minneapolis.  Soon to be Dot, in Ireland.

Do you like hugs?
It's generally less uncomfortable when somebody else initiates them.

Last time you had butterflies in your stomach?
That time I ate a mess of butterflies.  They're a little bitter at first.

Whats the way people most often mispronounce any part of your name?
"Holy-Oky?"

Last person you hugged?
Probably mama Viking.

Sorry.

So I saw Hellboy II this weekend.  Christina and Doug came down special, which was very cool.  I don't go to a lot of movies, so I kind of dig trailers in the theater since they're like little movies before the big show, like in the old days but not really.  So:

Quarentine - I thought at first this was going to turn out to be Cloverfield 2, but no.  Handheld shakycam stuff, though.  So a news crew is following firefighters in New York one night and they go on a Completely Standard Routine Call to an apartment building that turns out to be a case of zombie plague.  Or maybe vampire fever, it was hard to tell.  So before you can say "Keep that camera rolling, no matter what!" the Marines from Half-life show up outside, wrap the building in plastic, and shoot anybody dumb enough to stick a head out and yell at them.  Then as the dwindling band of panicky survivors gets picked off one by one, the lights go out so they switch to that green nightvision that sees about 6 feet and makes everyone look like a glowy-eyed freak.  Then they find a serial-killer style collage on a wall, so maybe it's a case of contagious serial-killer-itis, or maybe the Blair Witch got bored out in the woods and decided to try big city life.  Then the female reporter is alone on the floor and she does a Blair-Witch style "I'm so scared" thing to the camera and then something jumps on her.  That trailer was 4 minutes long, tops, and I'm pretty sure I saw the whole dang movie.

Miracle at St Anna - I had to look the title up because I missed it in the theater, I just saw it was by Spike Lee.  I was set for another horror movie and it took me a little while to figure this wasn't one.  So it's in the '80s, and this older black guy working in the post office just up and shoots a customer for no apparent reason, and the cops find an ancient Roman statue head worth 23 kajillion dollars in his closet.  I kept waiting for the statue head to come to life and eat people, but see above.  Some young white twerp interviews the guy in jail and it turns out it all has something to do with when the guy was in WWII in Italy as an infantryman and his unit got cut off behind enemy lines in a little mountain village where the women and children and old men who were left befriended him and his fellow black GIs, and then the Germans came back.  I'd bet my bottlecap collection that the customer the guy shot turns out to be the Nazi who killed all the villagers and other GIs, but I sorta-kinda remember something like this that happened when I was a teenager.

Babylon AD - I thought at first this was going to be Chronicles of Riddick 2 or should that be 3, but no.  Vin Diesel is a bald guy who beats the crap out of people in the near future, and he gets hired/shanghied/blackmailed/whatever by a Russian mobster to protect a blond woman who's like Drew Barrymore in Firestarter all growed up.  But not Drew Barrymore.  Stealth bombers chase snowmobiles at one point.  Oh yeah.

Death Race - Remake of Death Race 2000, but calling things 2000 sounds really lame now.  Jason Statham is a bald guy who beats the crap out of people in the near future, wrongfully imprisoned, and he gets his freedom if he drives a Spy Hunter car in a televised, um, death race.  Big machineguns go CHUNKACHUNKACHUNKA.  Little machineguns go BRRRRRRRRAAAPPPPP.  Smoke screens go FFFWWOOOOOOOSHHH.  Oil slicks go SSSPPPPLIIIIISHHH.  Caltrops go BINGBINGBING BING BING.  Cars and trucks and things that go, go KABOOOOM.  Big Jake gets a hot chick and a black buddy, and they go off the track to take out the Man.  Who is a woman, but whatever.  I got the feeling they used most of the Car Wars footage in the trailer, but I've been wrong before.

Star Wars:  Clone Wars - If you ever wondered what happened between the end of Attack of the Clones and the beginning of Revenge of the Sith, here's your answer.  It's 100% animated, which means that George Lucas finally found a way to make movies without actors, which was a joke that Harrison Ford made in 1977, believe it or not.  Lots of lightsabery action.

Then the actual movie started.  It was pretty good, too.

Ever wonder what the number 1 song in the US was the day you were born?  Here's mine:

 ,

Tomorrow I'm officially halfway through my threescore and ten.  Biggest regret?  I'll never be quite as awesome as Billy Preston.

So yeah, been a while since I did one o' these.  Thanks (and apologies) to Oozle.

---

What kind of magnets do you have on your refrigerator?:
-The kind that stick to steel.  My favorites are two from weddings (Brian and Maryanne, Tank and Willow), one that says "I'd Rather Be Hiking The Appalachian Trail", and one that comes with a set of coupons from Firehouse Pizza.  Their pizza isn't great, but why don't more pizza places do this?


Do you have a bumper sticker on your car? What does it say?:
-Obama '08

Look directly behind you.
What do you see?:
-My collection of D&D rulebooks.  From very beginning Gary Gygax pre-AD&D (reprints, alas) to 3rd edition.  When 3.5 came out I started thinking "Why?".

Is there any art on your walls? What is it of?:
-A poster.  Clint Eastwood as the Outlaw Josey Wales.

What do you like to collect?:
-Various pointless crap.

Most annoying sound?
-Anything high and screechy.

What gives you chills (in a bad way) when you think about it?:
-Falling into deep, cold, murky water.


Do you put potato chips on your sandwich?:
-The only other time I've ever heard of anyone doing this was years ago on the Cosby Show, when Cliff was sitting on the couch trying to relax and watch the game and Claire was bugging him about something.  During the whole dialogue he had this giant sub sandwich with the top taken off sitting on his lap and he was very carefully arranging chips on it.  Maybe I'll try it the next time I have a sub. 


Ever left the remote in the refrigerator?:
-No.

Chore you hate the most?:
-Cleaning the &^%ing cat box.


Is there a chore you actually like to do?:
-I'm gonna regret this, but I actually like mowing the lawn.  It's just walking and pushing, walking and pushing.  And it's out in the fresh air.


Song you say you hate but really secretly like?:
-You know what?  I stopped worrying that people would stop liking me because I liked particular songs a while back.  I figure if they do it's their problem.


TV show and movie you secretly like but don't like to admit?:
-See above.

Do you want to be something other than an actor or singer?:
-I'm an actor or singer?  When did that happen?  Where the hell are my residual checks?

Do you like a firm mattress or soft?:
-Generally firm feels better on my back.  But soft is more comfortable.

If you had to change your name, what would it be?:
-I like my name.  I think it's a perfectly good name.  If I HAD to change it, like if the Mob was after me or something, it'd be kind of stupid to post my preference on the internet, now wouldn't it?

Carpet, ceramic or hard wood floors in living room?:
Hardwood.


Interesting fact about the town you were born in?:
-Robert E. Lee had an estate there before the Civil War.  After the war started, it was seized by the Federal government and the house became a hospital, while the grounds were used for a cemetary for Union dead.  They still are, actually.

Were you born in the town you live in now?:
-No.


Worst natural disaster you've ever been through?:
-Never really been through one.  Unless the Endless Rains of 2003 count.


Ever had a bird poop on you?:
-No, actually.


What color are the walls in your bedroom?:
-Off-white with a bluish tinge.  I'm sure there's an official name.


What is your favorite scent of air freshener?:
-New Car.

What is your favorite smell?:
-Pot roast.

Did you know your thumb is the same length of your nose?:
-You mean AS my nose?  No, I did not know that.


What sound does your pet make?:
-Whiny meow, plaintive meow, demanding meow, claws ripping flesh, purr.

Do you keep a box of baking soda in you fridge?:
-Sometimes.

If candy grew on trees what kind of tree would you plant?:
-Almond.  I like almonds.


Did you put your thumb to your nose to see if they were the same size?:
-I'm gonna take YOUR word for it?  They're almost the same length, going along the bridge.  But surface-area wise my nose is larger.

The judge officially gave him the three death sentences the jury recommended, plus 16 years for other crimes comitted during the escape.  Execution date October 21, barring appeal.  There was a ruckus when he made a (weird, threatening) presentencing statement and the widow of the security guard yelled at him.

http://www.roanoke.com/news/nrv/wb/166931

1.  There's an international fast food chain, you've probably heard of 'em, their name rhymes with Rick Ronalds, that has a new line of ads for their breakfast chicken biscuit. 

OK, that doesn't really cover it.  They have a line of ads where they tout the idea of a breakfast chicken biscuit as being slightly more exotic than chocolate covered haggis.  Think circa 1994 Adam Sandler on SNL going, "I'm Crazy Mr. Chicken Biscuits For Breakfast Man!!!  I eat Chicken on Biscuits for Breakfast!!!!  Isn't that Crazy?!!?  Why don't you gimee some candy???"

I mean, I know not everyone grew up in the South and/or near a Hardee's, but jeez.

2.  M. Night Shamalan has a movie coming out.  It's called The Happening.  As far as I can tell from the ads it involves Something, um, Happening where almost everybody commits suicide and then other people become zombies and then Marky Mark fights zombies in a farmhouse.  Being a Shamalan movie I'm guessing he saves the world through the redeeming power of love. 

Unless "His first R-rated movie" means he's going to go Pet Semetary on us, but that's probly too much to ask.

Anyway, my problem is the title.  Call me a callous jerk, but I can't hear "The Happening" without thinking of this:

OK, this with fewer spangles:

Yeah, yeah, I still don't have a Trail Days blog.  I'm too busy taking internet quizzes, like this one courtesy of Priestess Pisces:

..TR> ..TABLE>

What Type of Fruit Are You?

You Are a Strawberry

You are friendly, outgoing, and well liked by many people. You are popular, but there's nothing you ordinary or average about you. You a very interesting person, and you have many facets to your personality. Sometimes you feel very conflicted. Your different sides of your personality pull at you. You are a very sensual and passionate person. You are fiery... you can't help it. In general, you keep your passionate side under wraps. You are only wild in private.

Currently reading: Three Hearts and Three Lions (Fantasy Masterworks) By Poul Anderson

6:55 PM 

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The Adventures of Wilberforce!  An email from Last Minute reminded me of this wildly popular at the time but now forgotten film series.  Never released on DVD, copies on Betamax can fetch up to $75 apiece from film collectors.

Senior Year (1933) – Set at fictional Strathmore University in Indiana (exteriors filmed at UCLA) this is the story of Thomas O'Brien.  First member of his family to go to college, as he faces graduation he is torn between going into the family business and a big city career as an architect.  Subplots include O'Brien's romance with a local girl and his efforts to tutor a hapless freshman named Bartholomew Wilberforce.  Big scenes include the Homecoming football game against rival school Buxton and the famous "duck race".  Stock footage from these two scenes was used in several of the sequels, which focused on Wilberforce and his friends.

Wilberforce Pulls Ahead (1935) – Sequel to Senior Year, following Wilberforce's adventures at Strathmore.  With his roommate Jake the football player he forms "the gang": along with Randolph the art major; Theodore Seymour Buffington or "Buffy", the rich kid; and Lizzy, the smoking, pants-wearing coed.  After students from Buxton steal Strathmore's duck mascot the gang steals it back, along with Buxton's turkey mascot, just in time for the Homecoming game.

Wilberforce Goes to Town (1936) – Wilberforce gets a summer job as a sales clerk in a department store.  Jake is a soda jerk, Randolph is a stock boy, Lizzy is in the perfume department (much to her disgust), and Buffy is next door at the bank.  Since the bank is owned by his father he spends most of his time hanging out in the department store.  Wilberforce falls in love with a girl in the hat department but her old boyfriend, who goes to Buxton, is determined to sabotage the new relationship.  Everyone ends up friends after the hospital down the street catches fire and they all join in to rescue the patients.  (Note – Linda, the girl in the hat department, disappears from the series with no explanation.  The actress, Vivian Leigh, wasn't under contract and was snatched up by MGM) 

Wilberforce on the Spree (1937) – Trouble comes to Strathmore, in the form of Artie Copeland, a transfer from Buxton who left there under mysterious circumstances.  He befriends Wilberforce and introduces him to the pleasures of forcing hay wagons into the ditch with a speeding roadster and drinking hard liquor in jazz clubs.  The gang is alarmed by the change in Wilberforce, but he refuses to believe anything bad about Copeland.  Lizzy overhears Copeland plotting with some shady characters to fix Strathmore's annual duck race for betting purposes and blame it on his "patsy" Wilberforce.  Copeland is expelled and arrested, and our hero pledges to amend his ways.

Wilberforce Makes the Grade (1938) – Wilberforce needs a subject for his final project at Strathmore.  He and the gang decide to do a joint project: a rainmaking machine, since there's a drought going on. The duck pond is almost empty and no Strathmore class has ever graduated without first holding the traditional duck race.  Trouble comes when they test the machine and rain out the Homecoming game with Buxton.  Threatened with expulsion, they figure out what went wrong just in time to save the day for graduation. 

 .

Wilberforce Joins the Navy (1940) – Wilberforce, Jake, and Randolph were all in college on the ROTC program so to fulfill their obligation they join the Navy, as ensigns.  Turns out Lizzy is an admiral's daughter, so she gets a job as her father's secretary.  Buffy can't stand to be parted from his friends so he joins up too.  Being Buffy he accidentally enlists in the Marines, as a private.  After some shore-based shenanigans the boys all wind up on the same battleship, cruising the South Pacific.  First Wilberforce movie not set at Strathmore, filmed mostly on location with the cooperation of the Navy.

Wilberforce Comes Back (1954) – Unsuccessful attempt to restart the franchise.  Wilberforce is married to Lizzy, retired from the Navy and teaching at Strathmore.  He takes a little group of high-spirited students under his wing.  David Martin, who played Buffy, plays Buffy's brother, Martin Buffington, who owns the bank and hates anything to do with Strathmore, especially Wilberforce.  (The implication is that he blames Wilberforce for Buffy getting killed in WWII, but that idea, fairly dark for this series, is never made explicit)  Martin tries to foreclose on Wilberforce's mortgage but is foiled at the last minute by the students, who hold a bake sale for their mentor.  The duck race scene was refilmed for the first time since 1933, since the stock footage was black and white and the new film was in color