Cavalcade of Awesome | All Pax. All Nude. All the Time. | Page 59

I visited Barnes & Noble for Star Wars Reads Day with my son

Posted in books, movies, Star Wars with tags books, bookstores, movies, roadtrip, Star Wars, Star Wars Roadtrip on December 12, 2013 by Paxton

My 3 year old has been slowly getting into the concept of Star Wars. He hasn’t seen any of the movies, he just knows some of the characters because he has several books I read to him at night featuring the more popular ones. Not surprisingly, he gravitates to the more visually interesting ones; Darth Vader, Darth Maul, Chewbacca, Boba Fett, Yoda, etc. And, of course, he loves lightsabers.

So, back in early October, when I saw that our local Barnes & Noble store celebrated Star Wars Reads Day with costumed characters, book readalongs and lots of fun activities, I knew I had to take PJ. He already loves Barnes & Noble, but to go there and see Darth Vader? Yeah, this had to happen.

We got there around 11:30am and there were several costumed characters. First PJ and I got a pic with one of my favorite types of stormtroopers, the Biker Scout.

PJ was a little shy at first seeing these giant, life size representations of the characters in his book, but he was sort of giggling with happiness as well.

Next we saw a Sandtrooper.

And then finally, the man himself. Darth Vader.

PJ was in Heaven at this point. He loved Vader. Later on he would walk up to Vader and the other stormtroopers and tell them that “his name is PJ”. So cute.

There was only one character PJ was actively afraid of. That was the Jawa. I don’t think he’d ever even seen a Jawa before, so it scared him. Consequently, he wouldn’t get a picture with it. However, afterwards, that’s the one he asked the most questions about. He wanted to know more about the Jawa.

Whenever we’ve gone back to Barnes & Noble after this, he asks if Darth Vader and the Jawa are going to be there. He also has been showing lots of interest in my Star Wars figures. I have a bunch of loose ones on display upstairs as well as a bunch stored away in plastic divider boxes. I’ve given him about 4 figures to play with; a stormtrooper, Darth Vader, Darth Maul and The Emperor. He also wants a Boba Fett really bad, but I don’t actually have one at the house except for a vintage one that is on display. I’ll have to dig into my stored boxes to find one.

I can’t wait until he can actually see these movies. I’ll probably show them to him sometime in 2015 right before the new Disney Star Wars movie is released. He’ll be five. I think that’ll be PERFECT.

Nerd Lunch Episode 111: Guilty Displeasures II

Posted in comic books, Mountain Dew, soda, TV shows with tags comic books, monsters, Mountain Dew, Nerd Lunch Podcast, podcasts, soda, zombies on December 10, 2013 by Paxton

Episode 111 of the podcast features the nerds in what the TAG Network likes to call a “3 Way Dance”. No 4th chair this week. CT, Jeeg and I gather to discuss a topic that we haven’t done since WAY back in episode 4; Guilty Displeasures.

Love/Hate

Guilty Displeasures; things we think we should love, but don’t. Expect us to discuss things like Mt Dew flavor extensions, comic books, zombies, peppermint and lots more. So come join us for some fun in discovering things that we all hate.

Download this episode from iTunes or listen to it on Feedburner.

Or listen to it online in your browser here.

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Ninja Day 2013: Scene by Scene: That Transformers episode with the female robot ninja

Posted in cartoons, holiday, Ninja Day, ninjas, Transformers, TV shows with tags cartoons, Ninja Day, ninjas, pop culture, Transformers on December 5, 2013 by Paxton

Today is Ninja Day, my friends. I celebrate it every year. It’s one of my passions. So, in the spirit of the scene by scene movie reviews I did for Revenge of the Ninja and Ninja III: The Domination, today I’m going to do a scene by scene review of the Transformers episode “Enter the Nightbird”. You know, the one with the female robot ninja.

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This is Season 2, episode 6. Here are the opening titles and title card.

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In the beginning of the episode, we see the Autobots installing new sensor pads on their floors. Wheeljack tests them by saying, “Look how they react to metal”, he touches the surface and then the sensor pad lights up. So the Autobots are putting metal detecting sensor pads in their headquarters? METAL DETECTING SENSOR PADS IN A HEADQUARTERS FILLED WITH ROBOTS. That makes sense.

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This is Dr Fujiyama, “the famous scientist” (all the explanation we are given). He calls the Autobots because he needs their help guarding his newest invention, an advanced form of robot. Optimus Prime is talking to Fujiyama on a standard two way video communicator you see in TV shows and cartoons all the time. However, they way it’s drawn, it looks like that’s a window and Fujiyama is in the next room.

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What is Fujiyama’s secret robot? Fujiyama introduces it as “The world’s first female ninja robot”. He actually says that. Not sure why the sex needs to be addressed since it is, you know, a f**king robot. And maybe in this universe a MALE ninja robot has already been created.

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This is the moment in the cartoon in which Optimus Prime awesomely says, “What is a ninja?” Prime, you’re adorable. Jazz actually explains it to him. Not one of the human characters.

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During the Q&A, this guy stands up and asks, “Why build a robot ninja, doctor?” He is then promptly escorted from the premises and beaten amongst the head and shoulders with heavy clubs.

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Here’s the full pan up of the ninja robot. Thought this was a cool shot. The robot is christened Nightbird. The Autobots are here to protect Nightbird from being stolen by the Decepticons. How the Decepticons know about this robot or why they would even care when their own robotics are light years ahead of anything even in this robot is never really explained. But it is a ninja, so, I can’t blame them for wanting it.

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Giving thanks for my new The Shadow action figures

Posted in movies, pop culture, toys with tags movies, pop culture, The Shadow, toys on November 27, 2013 by Paxton

Brian over at CoolandCollected.com is a good friend of this site and the Nerd Lunch podcast. He is also a garage sale/flea market/Craigslist guru. He finds awesome pop culture items and toys tucked away in some nooks and crannies where only the brave care to tread.

Brian posted several articles recently (here, here and here) showing a nice haul of toys he had procured and is looking to “trim the fat”. I love looking at these articles and seeing some of the treasures he has unearthed. For instance, I wasn’t even AWARE they made figures for The Last Action Hero and Demolition Man. WHAT?! That’s coconuts. Check them out:

Bananas. Anyway, a little further down, I noticed something that caught my eye. Brian had found some of Kenner’s The Shadow figures from the 1994 movie. I love that movie and I really loved those figures. I still own my Lightning Draw Shadow figure from that line that I bought back in ’94 when they were on clearance in KayBee Toys.

Kenner’s entire The Shadow figure line was amazing. Eight regular figures, a deluxe electronic figure and FOUR vehicles. The line was gorgeous, it really was. It’s too bad the movie didn’t hit like they wanted because I would have loved to have seen both a Shadow Sanctum and a Hotel Monolith playset. Oh yeah, AND A SEQUEL. But that’s a rant for another time.

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Today is the 50th Anniversary of JFK’s assassination

Posted in nostalgia, pop culture, roadtrip with tags anniversary, Nerdy Roadtrip, nostalgia, pop culture, roadtrip on November 22, 2013 by Paxton

50 years ago today, JFK was killed in Dallas. It’s up to you to interpret how or why he was killed. There are plenty of theories to choose from. Personally, I think here is more to the “Lee Harvey Oswald story” that we don’t know. I don’t think Oswald planned it on his own, though he may have actually done the deed on his own. I don’t know, a the time this occurred, I wasn’t going to be born for another 11 years. Anyway, I’m sort of fascinated by Kennedy’s assassination and the culture storm that has sort of erupted around it. I even visited the site of the assassination.

Via Newsbusters.org

I graduated college in Summer 1997 and was sent to Dallas, TX for 7 weeks of training for my new job in IT consulting. While there, I decided to take advantage and visit Dealy Plaza and the Texas School Book Depository building.

A few friends of mine and I drove there and when we arrived we decided to drive the main street in front of Dealy where Kennedy was killed. Below is a picture out of the car window at the infamous fence on the grassy knoll (on the left) next to Dealy Plaza (white structure on the right). Our car is approximately where Kennedy’s limousine was when the shots were fired. Maybe even a little bit past.

After getting out of the car and walking towards Dealy Plaza, I stood where Abraham Zapruder stood and snapped a picture of the road Kennedy traveled and the Texas School Book Depository building looming in the back (brick building far left). In Zapruder’s footage there was a street sign on the road that blocked the view back in the early 60s. The street lamp in the very middle of the picture is the same one that is in the above picture.

I’m not going to lie, standing in Dealy Plaza and on the grassy knoll looking back at the School Book Depository building was surreal and a bit eerie. Lots of living history. So much happened. It just feels ominous standing there. My group of friends and I probably didn’t talk for like 10 minutes as we walked around.

After looking around a little bit we walked towards the School Book Depository building to get a better look. The Depository is no longer operating. It was bought by the state and is now run as The Sixth Floor Museum. Tours are offered. So we bought a ticket.

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