Archive for anniversary

This month the Cavalcade turns 10 years old

Posted in blogging with tags , , , on March 17, 2016 by Paxton

Happy 10th anniversay to…well, myself.

COA-transparent

That’s right, 10 years ago this month, March 2006, I began The Cavalcade of Awesome. Check out the spiffy new 10 Years badge! You can give a shout to CT for that design. Tell him he did a great job. I love it.

So, 10 years. Here’s a link to that very first inauspicious article.

Actually, my blog wasn’t originally titled The Cavalcade of Awesome, the original title was What I’m Thinking.  Here’s that original blog header.

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And shortly after I changed the title to Cavalcade of Awesome.
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Here’s another early blog banner design. I used this one for a LONG time.  It’s based on Gmail’s “ninja theme”.

ninja_blog_banner

Lots of cool, crazy stuff has happened to me on this blog. I’ve met so many cool friends.  Let’s talk about a few of the highlights.

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It’s Back to the Future Day!

Posted in Back to the Future, movies, nostalgia, pop culture with tags , , , on October 21, 2015 by Paxton

Time Travelogues

October 21, 2015.  Today is the day Marty traveled to in the beginning of Back to the Future II.

back-to-the-future-ii-1

This is important enough that I wanted to interrupt my already in progress AWESOME-tober-fest to throw out a bunch of Back to the Future articles I’ve written over the years. Being as big of a fan of that movie as I am, I’ve written a ton of articles remembering that movie. And it’s sequels.

Here are a few of them.

A review of the Back to the Future Trilogy on it’s 25th Anniversary (July 2010)

Flipping through the Back to the Future Official Book of the Complete Movie Trilogy

The Back to the Future Movie Souvenir Magazine

Looking at the Back to the Future Video Games

Remembering the Official Back to the Future Fan Club

How about some Podcast listening for you today.

Check out Nerd Lunch’s appearance on The After Movie Diner to discuss the entire Back to the Future Trilogy

CT Reboots Back to the Future in Nerd Lunch Episode 92

Nerd Lunch actually spent an entire episode talking about the BTTF Trilogy. It was WAAAAAY back in Episode 2

So read some of these articles, listen to some of those podcasts and thoroughly enjoy Back to the Future Day!

The Atomic Geeks Podcast reaches episode 250 with surprisingly little casualties

Posted in podcast with tags , , on April 17, 2014 by Paxton

The Atomic Geeks

The Nerd Lunch Podcast’s big brother podcast, The Atomic Geeks, are celebrating 5 years of podcasting awesomeness. After 5 years of Geek News (well, almost 5 years of that), Atomic Picks, Meat and Potatoes, Crying Out Loud and reviewing movies at gunpoint they have finally clawed their way to their 250th episode.  And with only a few casualties along the way (Andrew “Twilight lovin'” Bloom and their dignities).

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CT has spent the better part of the last 6 months combing through the Geeks’ archive and creating the greatest clip show in broadcasting history.  And then he recruited Mark Dury to interview each of the Geeks and talk about the last 5 years and present all of these awesome clips.  Expect to hear Downs’ talking about Boxwood Brewing, Christian talking about his terrible food analogies and metaphors and Bloom’s unconditional love of Twilight.

It’s a massively entertaining show and if you are even the slightest fan of the Atomic Geeks you owe it to yourself to listen to this 2+ hour retrospective extravaganza.  It’s got EVERYTHING.  So click one of the images above to go check out the Atomic Geeks’ 250th episode celebration.

Congrats guys on the 5 years.  We hope you get at least 5 more out of it.

 

Today is the 50th Anniversary of JFK’s assassination

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

Nerdy Roadtrips

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.

Dealy Plaza

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.

TX School book Depository

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.

Sixth Floor Museum ticket

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It’s Atari National Pac-Man Day!

Posted in Pac-Man, pop culture with tags , , , , , , on April 3, 2013 by Paxton

Cavalcade Arcade

Today marks the 31st annual Atari National Pac-Man Day.

Atari National Pac-Man Day

Atari declared National Pac-Man Day on the day they released the Atari port of Pac-Man back on April 3, 1982.

Atari Pac-Man
(Via Sascha Grant)

Pac-Man was a cultural phenomenon in the early 80s. It was merchandised as thoroughly as anything is today. So on this most auspicious holiday think back on the Atari 2600 and the game of Pac-Man. Maybe head on over to an emulator site and play a game.  Enjoy one of the first video games to become a global phenomenon.

Check out these other Pac-Man specific articles:

1. On Episode 77 of the Nerd Lunch Podcast we discuss the Atari 2600 and its games (including Pac-Man)
2. First Perfect Game of Pac-Man played back in 1999
3. America’s Love Affair with a man named Pac
4. Check out some Pac-Man photos in my Video Games Flickr set