Hulk Smashed

I just saw Avengers 2 and liked it, because I am a nerd.

If you are into "normal" movies, I'm not sure why you'd like it.

But then, these movies are now making many billions, collectively.

Did you know Marvel is telling a story spread out over like 20 movies? Something like this has never been attempted in cinema before, and so far it's WILDLY successful.

I think back to my comic book nerd reading past when I had to hope the LaVerdiere's drugstore had Thor #288 on that rickety spinning comic book display hidden over by the magazine rack. And they often didn't.

But now? It's like we've been transported to some reality where comic books are real and everyone lives in a comic book. It's amazing and Strange*












*Dr. Strange the movie coming to theaters June 2018.

Otherman

Can Superman even get drunk off Earth alcohol? I think not. But maybe some alternate universe Superman could. Like

Nic Cage could drink the actual alcohol clouds that span light years. Seriously, and literally, alcohol clouds in space. Now, if there were obvious punchline clouds, too, all would be complete. But there ain't, ain't there?

The greatest hero of all, but you'll never hear about him, since he's always busy saving Singapore rather than Metropolis or Gotham.

War Dancer

Grampy W. dancing with an Iraq war vet. If you recall those dark times, remember that it seemed W. got considerably dumber as his two terms went on? I saw a youtube of W. from his Texas governor run and he's sharp, quick, and responsive - totally different guy than Bush as President. What happened? Alcohol, or dementia?

2 Assads and a Queen

So there's some stuff going on in Syria. Did you know? Do you care? Most Americans don't, I figure, unless it's for temporary political purposes. The Empire only cares for the Empire, at this point. Always a turning point, for the worst, in the history of Empires.

Those are the Assad boys at bottom. Bassel, the eldest and as such the heir apparent, is long dead, in a "car crash" some time ago. So Bashar's been in large and in charge since Dad died in the year.... 2000. Things went well for a while, even surviving the Empire's invasion of neighboring Iraq. But it's going down the shitter now, and I think the Assad's reign over Syria is near an end. I don't think what replaces it will be better at all, but that's the Middle East for you!

Also too, that of course is Freddie Mercury at top. Born Farrokh Bulsara, Freddie was perhaps the greatest rock n' roll showmen of all time, leader of one of the best rock bands of all time, Queen. Also gay - in fact, I'd say he looks to be the archetypal gay man, true or not. So now I have to ask what, if any, of the "gay look" descended from Freddie Mercury, and thus from his basic Arabness. Though he was in fact a Parsi and had nothing to do with Arabs or Islam. But these are trifling details! He looks Arab enough, compared to the Bassads, right? I have no idea where this photo comes from by the by. Trying to understand it. It's the sunglasses, mustache, and short dark hair. Pretty damn gay, Bashar!

Also as well - I recently read the best interview about Queen I've ever encountered, in Astronomy magazine, of all places. It was about Brian May - who's incredible. He got his PhD in Astrophysics and he completed it after Queen ended. He also built his own guitar (Red Special) with his Dad when he was 15 and has played it ever since. Awesome bloke. His PhD was about zodiacal dust, which sounds like an album name, but is also an awesome subject. Check it all out.

So there you have it. Whatever "it" is. Let me finish by saying I read Astronomy magazine regularly - I'm a subscriber! - but never Rolling Stone, even though somehow I've been getting issues sent to me for 3 years now, even though I never signed up for it nor have been billed or paid a bill. I look at the covers and go, "meh". I'm old enough now I no longer care what the young people think is interesting. So get off ah my cloud!

"History"

Cool hair, right? I can't be bothered to look up his name, but he's one of the "experts" from the "History" Channel show "Ancient Aliens", which, of course, is a farce. But at least it has some relevance to history! As we learn aliens did everything cool in the past. Pyramids. Stonehenge. Mayan Temples. Hell, even the damn Ziggurats were Alien made. Humans suck, apparently.

Here's my old man yells at a cloud rant:

Once there was a time when the "History" Channel showed actual historical shows at all hours of the day, except for infomercial time. And lo! There once was a day when the Discovery Channel was chock a block with nature/science/history shows, rather than "NORTH COUNTRY JUSTICE". The SciFi Channel showed science fiction shows, of all things. Today, there's wrestling. The Learning Channel (TLC) showed awesome shows like "Connections" and other educational programming. Now it's all weird medical conditions and trashy people doing trashy things.

And yes, the MTV showed music videos.

Here's the "History" Channel lineup for this Friday night:

7 PM Pawn Stars
8 Pawn Stars
9 American Pickers
10 American Pickers
11 American Pickers

My point? Everything's going to LCD. For good or ill I leave to your judgement.

PS: I've been using """ marks in the sarcastic sense. ktxb

Yesterday's Nerds (Spergin' in Silence)

Think back into smoky mists of time (and they were damn smoky - candles and flames everywhere for light and warmth), to an age before the MTV and the hippety-hoppy music, before the talkies and the radio, the silent movie and peep show. Further back, past dozens and dozens of your Great-Grandmothers, to an age of silence. Think of it!

Finally home, to a cold hunk of meat, water, and a book by candlelight. Relaxing, right? But every night (if you're lucky - this guy looks rich), and can you imagine your boredom? No TV, no Net! No iPod to rock the jams. In fact, no noises at all, save the wind through your rickety roof or the rats in your walls. So damn quiet! Check out that table in detail - it's neat.

What would a nerd of this day do? If lucky, a monk or scribe of some sort. Treasurer types perhaps. Otherwise, nerds or not, they probably worked in the fields or some other grueling physical labor that crushed their snarky spirit as well as their bodies. Like most everyone else. Thus perhaps the appeal of the Monastery.

Buddha was a nerd, clearly. Also, did you know he left his wife and kid in the dead of night? Not cool, Siddhartha. He also starved/slept on nails/lived in woods under a tree alone for seven years, which is pretty good penitence I suppose. Very quiet.


Point being, however, for all we have gained - and it's a lot (greater equality, health, longevity, safety, etc) - we have lost an equal amount. Imagine living in a world of silence save for natural sounds, or the sounds you make yourself or with others. Discussion would become a major form of entertainment. Self made music or listening to friends play would be mind blowing.

You had to make your own fun, damnit! And now that we don't, I fear that part of the brain, that part of humanity, fades away to nothing. And we'll all be nerds then, if not already.

Payback at the Country Home for the Aged

Karma's gonna get ya, if you believe karma to be nothing more than the consequences of cause and effect. Endless cause and effect. On the largest of scales, great sweeps of galaxies, this is true - every action has an opposite and equal reaction. On the smallest scales, atoms give off or absorb energy in an endless cycle of redistribution. And it's also true on the human scale, in a person's very heart. Your actions, even your thoughts, will have consequences in one form or another. It is these consequences which will be your karma.

Such as, perhaps, losing a bet? Boobscarves!

Popped Culture

So, apparently the gal above had a hit song with some inane repetition of the days, or something - I've never heard the song, and don't know what her name is, yet somehow I recognize her. O Mighty Internet, how you seed my brain with visions!

This makes me realize I've officially become "old" - it happened a year and half ago, actually. All of a sudden I no longer "got" the younger generation. It's all skinny jeans and tattoos and big glasses and I don't know what the heck is going on, gosh darn it! I realize in my wiser moments this is a sure sign of generational age - you're far enough removed from the 14-20 age group that you have no clue what's "hip". If the kids still use that word.

I'm cool with it, of course. Redshirt adapts. It's just interesting how suddenly and noticeably it seemed to happen (I'm sure it was long in the making, me unawares). Like one day, POW! Get off my damn lawn.

Finnish Fashion

Some Finnish hipster kids. From a Finnish fashion blog, here. Enjoy!

To belabor the rant, let me make some superficial judgments: These kids have their own mobile phones, they play video games a good portion of the day, they chat, they text, they watch a lot of tv. What are the odds they're whiny brats? Or will grow up to be selfish jerks? Since their Finnish, perhaps less than were these lads American, but the odds lean that way. In my opinion!

How can these kid's lifestyles compare to the lives of the kids in the post below? Not much. And so you see - OBJECTIVELY - how the kids these days (since 1945 or so) are taking this world to Heck in a Hand Basket, and all the Old Coots are right: These young whipper snappers are ruining everything!

Don't get me wrong - I grew up in front of the tv and had one of the first Atari home game systems - Pong ruled, dawg. I'm fully immersed in the generations undergoing this transformative shift. I'm just a hypocritical fossil and like to Lament shit. But I'm up front about it.  My generation sucks, as does my Fathers, and I'm sure the generations to come will suck just as much. We all suck!

The kids these days

I'm getting old. I can sense a change in my perception over the last few years where things no longer look the same - young people on the TV look SOOOO young, but I know they're in their early 20's. But they look like kids now, and not so long ago they looked like my peers. This perception shift, with the corresponding shock at "the kids these days!", is a universal feature of getting old, and many have a hard time dealing with it without becoming cantankerous old coots.

So my rant: The kids these days! With their mobile phones and texting and piercings and generally sullen behaviors! But seriously: Imagine most kids lives over the past 60 years or so, compared to the life the kids in the picture above lived. No doubt they're living on a small farm, working hard every day, with no tv, no radio, no electricity for cryin' out loud! Candle light readings of the Bible then to bed at 8 to rise before dawn and work all day long again. Sound like fun? Hell no!

But I guarantee these were serious, dutiful children who seldom complained and were respectful of their parents and traditions. Is this good? Not entirely, but is that not a type of person we as a society say we want? Isn't that an ideal? 

Maybe. I think it at least used to be. But today? Whatever feels good, do it.

In conclusion, it's a common thread throughout all of human history that the older generation thinks the younger generation is going to hell - the Greeks were bitching about the poor morals of young Alexander's generation. You hear it all the time, from old people of course. So clearly, this is a subjective and often erroneous judgment, since younger generations can of course be "better" than their parents. But I propose that with the full blossoming of the Industrial Revolution circa 1945, a large percentage of humanity changed from the norm that existed for all of human history, and that in fact we today live in a remarkably unique time where Technology has at last completely and utterly changed us as a species.

We're going through the awkward teenage years now, armed with nukes. Perhaps if we survive, we'll mature alongside this magical Technology, and truly achieve our potential: To spread everywhere, deep into space.

So take note, young people! The absolute survival of humanity as a species depends on YOU getting your act together. Cut your damn hair for starters!

I don't wanna grow up

I wonder if Ensign NERD! here still lives at home? 8 Ball says "Signs point to yes". He looks a bit old, but I mean, a Trek costume AND a Teddy Bear?  More Frosty Pops Mom!

For real - I never want to get "old". Which I define as a hardening of the mind and spirit. You can be old at a very young age, and many people are. You can be 80 years old and still a child, on the other hand - living life with a sense of awe and wonder. And with the wisdom of age. I think the key is keeping yourself mentally engaged in all aspects of life. And cartoons.

The Water Buffalo's name is also Khan

In a screaming match, never go against a 4 year old. You'll lose. Foolish Water Buffalo.

On the side of my van

Can you see this glorious painting boldly displayed on a fully customized Chevy Econoline Van circa 1979? As an example:

I must confess, though: I was never brave enough to even go into the local Chess King back in the day. The thought of trying to wear checkered pants gave me acne. And surely, driving a pimped out custom van with a badass mural would eventually draw the wrong attention. No, better to blend in with a blue Toyota Corolla and feel the comfort of numbers.

Still, it's a sad statement that people don't express themselves with van art as often as they used to. I blame the lack of windowless vans these days. Whither have they all gone?

Gentlemen of the New Generation

I know, for a fact, that every generation bitched about the younger one, for as long as there've been people around to bitch about youngin's, to time immemorial. And for sooth, I am now old, and don't understand some of these young folk ways. But still - I detect a breakdown in the social fabric.

Yobs with no sense of self or purpose or perhaps even physical self - Gameboy Generation - so the world is a unending parade of failed expectations.

But what about the gals? What's in it for them?

Eyes on the Enterprise

I know now I'm getting old. As if by magic, suddenly everything from the 70's, 80's, and even the 90's looks beautiful to me. I mean, look at those suits! Look at Roddenberry - big Trek pimpin'. Bones is all "Far out, cat". And surely, a sudden fondness for things you once loathed is a sign of advancing years. It's biochemical, no doubt.

Also, too: Pour one out for the shuttle Enterprise. It never flew in space, and was indeed named the Enterprise due to Trekkies writing letters to President Ford. The power of Trekkies was once potent, but has now been dispersed across the great Internet. 

Also, also:

It's on my Registry.

Egads. Back boob tattoo (album name?), and since I doubt you'll ever guess who these representations are, let me tell you: Data, and two nobodies (Trip and Reed!). I pity the fool who got this on his back - the LASER removal must have been very painful.

Happy Birthday!

Mali's partying today! Woo-hoo!


Fun facts about Hippos you may not know:

1. They're vegetarian
2. They are the most dangerous big animal in Africa, killing way more people than lions or any of your usual scary predators.
3. They're very closely related to whales - the ancestors of all whales were hippo-like creatures that permanently moved into the water, and over time their arms evolved into fins. You can imagine how an animal like a hippo might make that transition in the future - they spend most of their time in the water already. Just give up the land, man!

Anyways, and this is almost always the point of this blog: I just liked this picture, and it fits the dialectic! No need to read anything else into it....

Where does it end?

News from the Kid Front: Didya know they've got graduation ceremonies for kids at every level of school, including preschool? Cute as heck, sure, but... c'mon! What's next: Birth Graduation? A diploma for being conceived?

This strikes me as "Everyone gets a Trophy" mentality. But then, I am a curmudgeon and am highly suspicious of how teenagers are dressing these days.....

Unreliability of perceptions

There was a time, some 10-20 years ago, when I would have thought this car was ugly as sin. Now, however, I find it strikingly beautiful. What changed?

Me. The times. Everything. 

The lesson: Never hold your own opinions as concrete.

Oldest Tree in the World

Here it is. I wonder if it has a name? It's a bristelcone pine, and is located at approximately 10,500 feet in the Sierra Nevada mountains. It may not look it, but it is still alive, and has been doing that old "living thing" for about 5000 years. Thus, this fellow was sprouting out of the ground when the Sumerians were putting the first stylus to stone, and inventing writing. Pretty darn old.

Up and down the world, in the area of life, there's a fairly universal element to longevity: Go slow. All the slow moving lifeforms of this world - and others, I will assume - tend to live longer, and in some cases much longer, than the fast moving ones.

As it's said, live fast, die young. Make a note of this, young people!

Indubitably more dangerous

So, mobile phones. I hate 'em, but I'm a bit grumpy like that. However, mobile phone use while driving is outright dangerous. Here's a brief blurb from a driving and talking study done in 2006:

Motorists who talked on either handheld or hands-free cell phones drove slightly slower, were 9 percent slower to hit the brakes, displayed 24 percent more variation in following distance as their attention switched between driving and conversing, were 19 percent slower to resume normal speed after braking and were more likely to crash. Three study participants rear-ended the pace car. All were talking on cell phones. None were drunk.

The conclusion was, talking on your mobile while driving is as dangerous as being drunk while driving. We all know by now how dangerous drunk driving is; and yet, people around the world are blabbing away on mobiles, oblivious in part to their surroundings. This leads me to the following:


1. It's not me! I've been going a bit crazy while driving (more later), for a variety of reasons, one of them being I don't recall people driving this badly in the past. But I have to doubt that kind of recollection, as it can be tinged or influenced by a variety of factors. However, given that I learned to drive in the mid 80's, did a good deal of driving up to 1994, and then stopped driving for the most part till 2007, and now am full time again, it occurred to me I missed the introduction of the mobile phone on the roads, and now deal with it at full strength. So, given that a mobile phone user is just like a drunk, then yes, objectively, people are much worse drivers now, and driving is more dangerous.


2. Also, I'm convinced there's an evolutionary effect going on with mobile phones. To wit: Our brains are not designed to carry on a conversation with someone who is not there. It causes our mind to attempt to create them and their surroundings, mentally. This act perforce takes away your concentration on the here and now. Which is fine if you're in your living room; not so fine when you're speeding along at 75MPH. I've seen my first scientific study partially confirming this thesis, but I can't find it to link to it right now, so trust me. I believe I'm right.


3. Remember: A car is not a toy. In fact, it's likely you will do nothing more dangerous today or any other day than drive. So take it seriously!


Old Man Redshirt, signing out.