Dinner (and Comics) for Five
Jul 08Evan Dorkin has a nifty contest going wherein you must name the five comics-related folks you would like to have dinner with…and then the five who would “make for the worst night you can imagine.” Lots of interesting responses in both categories — so much so that Evan added a postscript asking people to please keep it civil (why is this always necessary, fellow fanpeople? Don’t we ever learn?).
Anyway, I decided not to enter the contest (I can’t quite bring myself to answer the second part of the question!), but putting together a Dinner for Five-type list is so simultaneously delicious and painful that I must at least do that part. This is not necessarily a “five favorite creators of all time” type of thing, but rather, who I want to have dinner with RIGHT NOW. This list would probably be different if I were to write it next month or even later tonight. Feel free to share your own picks in the comments (or go enter Evan’s contest and then post here as well).
Clones Have Feelings, Too
Jul 07I’m trying to keep an open mind about The Clone Wars…
Okay, who am I kidding? I’m not sure if I even give two shits about The Clone Wars. But I’ll go see it opening weekend. Such is life as a Star Wars geek these days.
Anyway, here’s a featurette. The story/character elements are intriguing; the animation? Still looks like ASS. On a movie screen, it will look like BIG ASS.
Getting All Wired Up
Jul 06Okay, so I’m trying to get all my shit together with regard to the internet.
I realize that’s a bit of an oxymoron, since spending as much time as I do on the internet sorta defines the exact opposite of having any shit together at all. Yet here we are.
I was in Columbus, OH visiting family this long holiday weekend, and out of nowhere, I was suddenly struck with an urge to see if I could use my Blackberry Pearl to send pictures of the 4th of July parade out onto the web.
This led to installing a Flickr app to my phone for my long-dormant Flickr account, which also led to setting up an e-mail address whereby I can send pictures to Flickr and have them automatically appear at my Pop Geek blog as well. So one e-mail gets a pic onto my blog and into my Flickr. Not bad.
THEN I got an itch to wind Twitter all up more tightly in my schiznit. So I used TwitterFeed to make sure all my blog posts are automatically sent to my Twitter account. Now when I post to AN or PG, it will automatically Twit to my account. I’m considering doing the same for my Flickr account, except that I’m not sure yet how extensively I’ll be using it–you can basically make that happen thru TwitterFeed for anything with RSS.
The last piece I would like to implement is to have my Twitter posts automatically generate into a blog post every day, just like the great Johnny Bacardi has set up over on his LiveJournal. I just can’t get LoudTwitter to work for me, for whatever reason.
Oh, and I want a little bluetooth wireless keyboard so I can go all Warren Ellis and write novels in pubs on my cell phone.
I have come to realize that I enjoy using consumer electronics to accomplish tasks that they probably weren’t designed to accomplish. Such as watching movies on my Nintendo DS, reading comic books on my laptop, or photographing a hot dog with my phone and posting that photo to my blog.
Some would ask WHY, I ask WHY NOT.
Ghostbustin' in Bexley, OH, 7/4/08
Jul 06
Ghostbusters 1
Originally uploaded by MattSpringer
So I just recently learned how to work Flickr, which I know makes me a moron, and the first thing I managed to do is to photograph some shots of the Bexley, OH 4th of July parade while visiting family, including these dapper gents showing off their bestest homemade busting gear.
They were out to promote a showing of the classic Ghostbusters at the Drexel Theatre in nextdoor Columbus.
As I saw them up the street, I immediately shouted, “Here come the nerds. My people!”
Abandon Ship! Children and drink menus first!
Jul 03
So, as mentioned previously, The Star Trek Experience at the Las Vegas Hilton is coming to an end, leaving a less nerdy world in its wake. According to their website, this was as planned – being Vegas, the experience was only intended to be 10 years long. I would have to see something from 1998 to believe that, but for now, I shall defer to the PR blurbing on their site.
No more Star Trek weddings. No more themed dinner missions. No more heavily costumed wait staff.
And no more themed drinks. BELAY THAT ORDER!
The drinks must live, and to that end, I’m on a mission to retro-engineer them as best I can. I say retro, instead of reverse, because I’ve never had any of them. But if you can mix booze, fruit juice, ice, and Star Trek, I’m in. And based on their website, I think there’s a good shot at recreating their, well, shots.
Warp Core Breach
10 oz (1 and 1/4 cups) of 5 rums
Razzmatazz (Americans, please explain)
Fruit juices (this will be the tricky part – was it citrusy or smooth?)
Ice from Exo III (or in a pinch, dry ice from the grocery store, planet Earth)
Risa Colada
(Lt. Commander Rupert Holmes approved)
Coconut Rum
Blue Curacao
Pina Colada (mix, presumably)
Ice cream (vanilla or coconut?)
– blend, whip cream on top
Systems Overload
(hint – tastes like an Astropop)
Blavod Black Vodka (or vodka with all the colours in the food colour box)
99 Apples (a liqueur. If you get 99 actual apples, you’re doing it wrong)
Melon Liqueur
Grenadine
Sour Mix
– Layer grenadine, green stuff in the middle (melon and 99 apples? with or without sour mix), black vodka on top. Rim of martini glass covered in crystals – sour mix? green coloured sugar?
Cardassian Cooler
Melon Liqueur
Citrus Vodka
Triple Sec
Sour Mix
– All I know about mixed drinks is that Triple Sec should be used lightly compared to the straight booze.
If anyone would like to pick one and experiment along with me, I wouldn’t say no – let me know which one you pick, for organizational purposes.
[UPDATE!] – I’ve found a supposed recreation of the ST: Experience recipe for a Warp Core Breach, which will take the guess work out of the rum balance – still, we need someone who’s tried one to confirm the taste (and yes, the dry ice is important, as it carbonates the mix.)
