August 10, 2004
In tribute, the lights on the spire of the Empire State Building will be dimmed tonight.
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06:07 AM | category: Square Pegs
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August 09, 2004
Mookie found some old horror movies on DVD in a used book store and got them for me. 
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06:09 AM | category: Family matters
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August 08, 2004
Stevie, you'll be especially happy I think.
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06:39 PM | category: Links
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Welcomed into the lineup are Big Hair, half of the crew in charge over at Left & Right.
Also, a big Yay to Dawn of Caterwauling. She has a really mean kitty cat, and I'm not afraid to use him! Beware the Short Bus of Savage Bloodletting!
With these additions, all of Brazil is celebrating, and I hear they've dedicated all of Carnival to the Hot Jets.
Yeah, it's hype season. Either that or Ricky Williams just stopped by to say bye.
Lest I forget the rest of the lineup:
Helen, of Everyday Stranger!
Gir, of Your Moosey Fate!
Tink, of Flitting Here and There!
Stevie, of Caught In The XFire!
Heather, of Angelweave!
Kat, of Mostly Fluff!
Nic, of Shoes, Ships, and Sealing Wax!
Susie, of Practical Penumbra!
Mookie, of MookieRiffic!
Sarah, of Trying To Grok!
Blogoline, of Blogoline's Journal!
LeeAnn, of The Cheese Stands Alone!
Denita, of Who Tends The Fires!
Emma, of Miss Apropos!
Lynn S., of Reflections in d minor!
Jennifer, of Jennifer's History and Stuff!
Cindy, of Squipper!
Lemur Girl, of... uh, Lemur Girl.
Posted by: Ted at
06:12 PM | category: Links
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August 07, 2004
We'll kick this off with a truly odd little flick called What's The Matter With Helen?. (does that period go there?). (or there?). (crap, this could go on forever...)
In the movie WtMwH (how doodz is that?), Debbie Reynolds and Shelley Winters play two moms who have almost nothing in common. Nothing, that is, except that their sons partnered up to commit a horrible murder and mutilation. Needing to get away, they move to Hollywood and open a dance studio for children. Debbie Reynolds character is your basic money-grubbing floozy, while Shelley Winters plays a semi-psychotic religious fanatic. That's a horrible over-simplification, because their characters actually do have depth and you're able to empathize with them both. Look for Agnes Moorehead in a cameo role.
And in case you're unclear on the subject, I give this one a hearty recommendation. Great fun.
Which brings me to something I was pondering a while back. Some reviewers give the traditional 'stars' or 'reels' or whatever-out-of-five or ten somethings. Others give the now-ubiquitous 'thumbs up' or 'thumbs down'. Online, I've even seen the awarding of 'severed thumbs', as in "three severed thumbs out of four". I like that. I was wondering if I should do something similar, like awarding Krafts (four Krafts, three and a half Krafts, etc), because Kraft claims to be the cheesiest, and that's what these reviews are all about. In the end, I decided against it, and will just describe and recommend for or against like I've been doing. Who listens to reviewers anyways?
Moving right along, I also watched Idle Hands. I thought I might've mentioned this before, but a search of the site doesn't turn anything up. Folks, this comedy/horror flick scores a 10 out of 10, all thumbs up (severed and otherwise), plus maximum cheesiness. In other words, rent this movie and you won't be sorry. Think Fast Times at Ridgemont High meets The Exorcist. Funny funny stuff, and eminently quotable. Big thanks to my beloved for thinking of me and buying this DVD. As an added bonus, Jessica Alba (Dark Angel) plays the lead character's girlfriend.
How's about a pair from Roger Corman? I watched not one, but two creature features. First up was Creature from the Haunted Sea. Bad, bad, bad. Fun, fun, fun. Every character is a stereotype, from the Bogie-impersonating bad guy to the inept secret agent (now I know where Chevy Chase got his schtick from). The storyline is nonsensical, the monster laughable, and if I ever meet that character who communicates via animal noises and birdcalls I will strangle him on sight.
Second of the Corman flicks was Beast from Haunted Cave. Something that became obvious was Corman's reliance on quirky mannerisms to define a character. The previous movie had animal-noise boy, and this movie has the gangster who never stops eating. In every scene that he's in, he's stuffing his face, even in the middle of a robbery. The plot here is better, as is the acting, and all in all I liked this one a lot more. Not that it's a great movie or anything, but you get to see Frank Sinatra's cousin in one of his major movie roles. Oh yeah, the monster is some kinda giant spider thingie. Sorta.
Lets finish up with one of those forgotten classics, eh? Revolt of the Zombies, made in 1936, was one of the very first zombie movies ever. It seems that during WWI, some French Cambodian troops were used and proved very effective at the front. They happened to be zombies, and the Cambodian priest who controlled them was imprisoned after the war in the interests of humanity. A team of Allied scientists were sent to Angkor (Wat) to discover the secret of zombification, with the task of destroying it forever. There's lots of love interest and mystery and plenty of zombies, who just happen to be living people under someone else's control - no walking dead here. For you trivia buffs, the lead is played by the same actor who later played the General in White Christmas. Find this one and enjoy it, just don't forget that it's a 30's movie and you'll be fine.
So there ya go. Betcha didn't know zombies originated in Cambodia. You learn the darndest things when you least expect it.
Posted by: Ted at
05:29 PM | category: Cult Flicks
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This morning as I was stripping the beds to wash the linens, I found that one of the dogs (and I know exactly which one) peed on my pillow sometime after I'd gotten up. I assume he's showing his displeasure with me about the long hours of being left alone all week. The family is out of town, and I've been leaving early and coming home late during the rocket launch.
So I grabbed the dog and rubbed his face in it, then tossed him outside. Downstairs in the pantry was another puddle, so I had to do it again. At one point, I walked into the kitchen to check something off of my to-do list and stepped in another wet spot.
That did it, stronger measures were called for. One of the things on my list was to change the water in the dog bowl, but what I actually wrote was "water dogs". What a wonderful idea.
So I grabbed both dogs, took them out front and turned the hose on 'em, which they hate. Soaked 'em both really good, then left them to sit outside and think about it.
An hour later I let them back in one at a time, meeting them at the door with a towel and another stern talking-to. They've been on their best behavior since.
Posted by: Ted at
11:59 AM | category: Square Pegs
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I said I wasn't going to fly anything of my own since I was working the sport range, and I didn't. But between the four of us who worked there all week, we launched 1,038 flights of everything from 1" tall flying saucers to a beautiful eight foot tall two-stage high-power rocket that topped out at almost 4000 feet. For the rocketeers out there, it was Ted Cochran's bird featured in the last issue of Sport Rocketry. There was one day where we shut down about an hour early because of rain, and there was another two hour rain delay on Thursday in the middle of the morning. Wednesday was brutally hot and humid, nearing 100 degrees with almost no breeze. A perfect day for rockets, but miserable for us humans hunkering under the canopies and guzzling gallons of water. But for the most part, it was big fun.
Memorable moments (for me) include Kevin and his three young kids (all under 7), having a four-way simultaneous launch of their rockets not once, not twice, but at least three times that I saw, and they got everything back every time. Mike, Jerry, and George who brought armfulls of rockets to launch every day, and when those had flown they headed back to their cars for more. Paul and his family brought RC gliders and a video camera rocket, as well as simple rockets that his kids flew. Mark and his son Eric flew their Aerotech Initiator a half-dozen times, making their 60th flight with that rocket along the way.
Lots of kids, which is the neatest part for me.
VIP-ishly, I met Vern Estes, who launched a rocket making it's 400th and some-odd flight. The rocket had flown at least once a year every year since sometime in the late 60's I believe. Bill Stine, owner of Quest Rocketry and son of G. Harry, was there flying video rockets. And in probably the most memorable flight of the meet, George Gassaway brought a huge Concorde-like glider that carried a slightly smaller version piggyback. On liftoff, the big one carried the parasite aloft, which then took off under it's own engine to go even higher. Both gliders returned under separate RC control. Too cool. Later, at least one of the gliders (and maybe both) were massively damaged when two engines CATO'd on takeoff (which is what that means: CAtastrophe at Take Off). George also won the National RC Rocket Glider Championship when he flew a simple RC glider for over 14 minutes before landing. He only needed to do a little better than 12 minutes, and the air was so good that he could have stayed up there for far longer. Carl Tulenko brought his upscaled Tres (as seen in a recent issue of Extreme Rocketry), which lifted off on three I211 motors canted outwards, before staging to an H something-or-other. Perfect flight.
The contest range held nine events for over 100 competitors in four different divisions, plus two more 'fun' contests. They did egg-lofting for altitude, for duration (how long under chute before touching ground), at least four rocket glider-type events, one for helicopter recovery, and a notably interesting event called "plastic model conversion", also known as 'raining plastic doom and destruction' since it's hard to make that Revell F15-Eagle fly safely under rocket power.
So that was my week. Lots of fun, but I'm glad it's over. We have a regular club launch on August 28th. I plan to do quite a bit of flying that day.
Rumor has it that next year, NARAM-47 will be held in Cincinnati, which is an easy drive from here. I might just have to take a truckload of my rockets and do a road-trip next August.
PS. Doug Pratt reminded me that there is a site out there called NARAM Live, with tons of pictures and video of all the stuff going on. Chris Taylor runs that, and he does an excellent job. And while I'm at it, over at Doug's place is a cool picture of the massive O3600 hybrid motor (2,048 times more powerful than an Estes D12).
Posted by: Ted at
07:57 AM | category: Rocketry
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August 03, 2004
(in the extended entry) more...
Posted by: Ted at
10:48 AM | category: Square Pegs
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August 02, 2004
Posted by: Ted at
04:36 AM | category: Rocketry
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Real. Funny. Naughty. Just made-up or whatever. Put 'em in the comments. Might even be a prize. Darned if I know what, but suggest prizes too and maybe we can work something out.
About the title: no, I'm not apathetic about this, I just thought it was funny. You don't? Oh well.
Posted by: Ted at
04:30 AM | category: Links
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