Mego Playsets

09.23.2005

I'm oft to reminisce about my childhood and the toys therein (aspecially X-mas of '79). As a child I had my favorite conglomeration of toys and playsets that I would meld into some new theme of play action here and there. My childlike mind would take toys and mentally twist them into something else to elevate my playing experience even higher. With that, I remember putting 3 of my Mego-scale playsets together and creating an interstellar spaceship, where (oddly enough) Capt Kirk and The Joker would wage many a battle.

The Enterprise Bridge Playset was the command bridge of my little spacecraft. From there Capt Kirk could fly around the universe and beam down to the planet using the transporter (which it was always fun to stick a doll in the transporter and send it spinning). There has to be somebody for Kirk to command, but I'll be damned if I can remember who I had for him to boss around. Maybe the Joker was leading a double life?

The Big Jim Sky Commander served as the middle section of the spaceship. The Sky Commander was a jet/airliner playset for Big Jim. For me it was the crew quarters, galley, and whatever other rooms I may have needed. The thing I remember most about this part was the hammock/cot that would fold down from the top of the playset. Capt Kirk would get awfully tired defending the universe from the Joker, so it was amazing how many naps he had to take.

This was rounded out by the back of the Batcave serving as the back of the ship. The back of the Batcave had the flop-down door for the batmobile as seen in the '66 Batman show. So now when Capt Kirk landed the ship, he could open the rear bay door (sounds better that Batcave door on a spaceship) and then survey the planet on his Batcycle. Alternately, the Batcave rear could serve as camouflage in case of crash landings.

Thanks to eBay, all of these playsets could once again be mine. The Enterprise Bridge and Big Jim Sky Commander seem to averaging about $50 each. I've seen 1 Batcave, still in the original box, for $495. Luckily, I'm lacking in Mego sized 8" dolls, so who would defend the universe?

But I do have an awful lot of the 5" Star trek figures and playsets....

Permalink action figures/toys

What The Hell Am I Supposed To Do?

09.20.2005

Everybody has hobbies, or at least one hobby. I've got multiple hobbies, but I'm really not sure which ones are active and which are merely there for me to talk about and make me think I'm better than everybody else. With that in mind, I've been trying to organize my hobbies so that I can make better use of my free/hobby time. At first it was overwhelming, but I've since been trying to categorize the hobbies so that I can get a better handle on them. Here's what I've come up with so far.

House
No, not building a house, but home improvement projects. There are things that need to be done, such as replacing the flashing around the vents on the roof so that they will no longer leak, fixing the ceiling in the kitchen and master bath where the leaking became too much. Unfortunately, these things are all beyond my abilities, so I instead have to search someone out. I'm 0/3 on getting contractors out, so I'm still searching for names. There are other, less critical things I would like to do to the house - Paint the other bedroom and put in some more Pergo. Add motion sensitive lights to the outside of the garage.

Non-Computer
Spending all day in front of the computer at work, I need to find something to do away from the blasted thing. I've been working half-heartedly on a pen and paper version of the wrestling game I've been trying to make for the past couple of years that will eventually become a computer game. I need to figure out a combat system that makes sense. If it's going to be a true RPG, then actually going through and creating your character needs to have some non-combat characteristics that are important to the game - so what should they be? Karate also fits into this category. I'm reaching the point where I really should be practicing more out of class, so I need to make the time and the room to make it happen. I've been collecting the rules for Car Wars that I've been missing, but I don't consider that an active hobby outside of browsing eBay every once in a while.

Computer
Well, I've got to have computer hobbies. In trying to make my wrestling game, I've found out there's lots of things I don't know, mainly about 3D graphics. I've been trying to pick up some things on how to create 3D models for games, but it's hard to get started completely from scratch. Once I learn how the models work (and how to create them), actually learning the ins and outs of the game engine will come along. I don't think this one will be wrapped up anytime soon. I've also missed playing around with Poser. I've been trying to sort out all the models I've got for the program. I think I had uncompressed and installed about 1500 that I've acquired over the past 4 years of using Poser, but the files are all over the place. Time for some sub-categorization before I can really start using this one again. And there's always the little tweaks for this site (I just added my own personal review to some of the DVDs, 3 out of 572, so it may take some searching to find which movies, but here'ssomehints).

So that's my short list of what I want to do in my free time. That's assuming I have the energy/drive/will to get my lazy butt up off the couch and do something besides play X-Box (should that be another category?). Then there's all the chores that come along - laundry, cleaning, mowing, washing. I tried setting aside a special time for just doing a hobby activity, but if you're not in the right mood it feels more like a waste of time. Nothing's worse than wasting free time. Well, maybe farting as you leave an elevator leaving anyone left in the elevator to suffer, but that's outside the scope of what I'm looking at here.

Permalink boardgames random renovation/remodelling

I Spy With My Little Mind

09.16.2005

Since I didn't get nearly as much accomplished during my week of being the only one not camping, here's where my mind has wandered:

* Is there anyone really named Ebony White (WIll Eisner characters not withstanding)? It's a name that contradicts itself, so how hard would it be to grow up with a name like that?

*Is "Bobby Flay" Bobby Flay's real name? It sounds too made up for a chef. Of course,if it was made up, he would probably be "Bobby Flay-ver". This led me down the path of trying to pit Bobby Flay against something to get a good play on words with "versus" in there, but the best I could come up with was "Bobby Flay Versus Age", which translates into "Bobby Flavor Sus-age". If that makes any sense to you, you're less sane than I.

*Why do I keep getting beat up by girls (2 now) in karate class? Sure, I could kick their asses if it came down to it, but I think I would get in trouble with my mom.

*If you measure around my chest, I lack 12 inches being as big around as I am tall. If you measure around my shoulders, I'm way farther around than tall because I'm positive I've got more than 6 inches of circumference per side of shoulder.

If my mind would spend less time wandering about the mundane and instead concentrating on the important things, I would get a lot more done.

Permalink rambling random

I've Got The Power (It's Gettin' Kind Of Hectic)

09.14.2005

This week is the annual Spiritus Camping Trip, or as I call it "You guys go hike for a week while I stay here sleeping in the bed with air conditioning". I've never been one for camping so I don't really feel like I'm missing anything. Plus, there's all the preparation beforehand which I get to hear about, followed by the stories of what happened when they return. So, except for actually going through all the discomfort that I associate with camping - and this is real, pack crap on your back and tote it around for survival camping, not pitching a tent 20 feet from the car camping that I remember from my childhood - it's like I was really there.

The only true drawback is that while everyone is gone, I'm in charge. I'm good with that as long as nothing breaks. Yesterday, something broke. We have a maintenance contract with a group of lawyers downtown. One of said lawyers computers was acting as if infected with a virus. 3 virus checkers and a lot of rebooting later, 97 spyware cookies were removed but no notice of virus removal. Once I left, I got a call that the computer was acting all virusy again.

I make web pages, what do I know about viruses?

So I've been searching for other tools and causes of the symptoms (the system reboots randomly, usually after a keypress). It sounds like the Zotob worm, except they're running WinXP. It's just blasted frustrating! Let me go back to making web pages and I can get stuff done! Or maybe Greg will hurry back and make everything better. He's good at that. Don't get eaten by any bears, Greg!

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It's a Mad Mad Mad Max

09.07.2005

Taking advantage of the extended holiday weekend, I took the opportunity to plop down on the couch and indulge in some movie watching. With the everpresent news coverage of Hurricane Katrina and the affected rising gas prices, I was in the mood to watch some old fashioned Mad Max movies. I had enjoyed them back in the day (circa '85), and thought 20 years was a good anniversary to celebrate by watching them again. In retrospect, it may not have been the best idea.

The 80's gave birth on celluloid to the Post-Apocolyptic era. In the near future something bad happens, all the cool parts of civilization crumble, man pulls a cockroach method of survival and muddles on with whatever's been salvaged. There aren't a lot of Post-Apocolyptic movies made anymore. I think there's a reason. Here's what I learned in my 20 year review of the MAd Max trilogy.

* Mad Max (1979): This isn't really Post-Apocolyptic, it's just lawless motorcycle gangs that can get away with pretty much anything against the Australian Police Force of 7 officers. Max get's "the last of the V-8s", but other than that it's your generic low-budget movie that went on to earn $100 million since its original 1979 release.

* Road Warrior/Mad Max 2 (1981): In the opening montage they show scenes from Mad Max interspersed with WW2 footage and a story about how tribes went to war and bad mojo came from it. Max, along with the bad guys, are in an ever present search for gas. I'm amazed at how in Post-Apocolyptic Australia, the good guys defending a petroleum refinery all have white football shoulder pads and the women have gone a little crazy with a hair-crimper. In the end, Max takes a tanker full of dirt to distract the bad guy in a hockey mask from the escaping good guys as they blow up the refinery. I've always wondered if Max was supposed to know that he was the decoy with the dirt?

* Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome/Mad Max 3 (1985): This is realy 2 movies in 1. In the first part, Max goes to a Tina Turner video shoot and tussles with a misunderstood bad guy in the cage match Thunder Dome. This leads to the 2nd movie, where Max enters a remake of Lord of the Flies and is mistaken for Peter Pan. Max ends up returning to the Tina Turner video shoot to save an Umpa Loompa. Being the true hero, Max stays behind so our rag tag fugitive fleet of Fly Lords and Umpa Loompas can fly to Neverland, or maybe Post-Apocolyptic Sydney. Meanwhile, Tina keeps calling Max "Raggedy Man" while driving off and leaving him in the desert.

See, those were nothing like the movies I remembered. They lacked the cutting edge coolness that I remembered. Or maybe I've gotten old enough to look at a picture and think "I wouldn't want to be trying to survive in the desert in black leather".

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